#i tried to trick my brain into chilling out

[unimportantweirdo]

i literally got a new phone that was identical to my old one to reduce the stress of change but i still feel sick

the autism was not tricked

[inbabylontheywept]

i once accidentally dated someone for a few months. its very difficult to explain how this happened, but the gist is that i thought we were hanging out, and she thought we were on dates, and it was just a very painfully highschool thing.

she was a little bit confused that i hadnt tried to pull any moves, at all, even a little. like, didnt even try holding hands because, and i cannot emphasize this enough, i did not know we were dating.

so, halloween rolled around, and she thought, you know, why wait for destiny, when you can grab it? so she hit me with a clue by four.

babylon, she said. babylon. my mom's gonna be out of town on halloween, and im gonna have the house to myself, and it's going to be kind of lonely. would you like to come to my house and watch scary movies with me?

you know, kind of a netflix and chill thing. except, and i cannot emphasize this enough, i did not know we were dating. also autism. so i took it at face value and said: oh! yeah! thatd be fun! and she thought she got her point across, but she didnt and it was a mess.

skip forward to halloween: my family has a block party every year, right? and at that point i was too old to really trick or treat, but we still wore costumes for our role in the block party, which in my case, was handing out cotton candy. so i took the first shift, and my costume was this homemade abomination minion thing. i had full yellow body paint, and goggles, and a bald cap, and overalls. the kids who saw it were like, uh, hm. overly realistic minion. and adults were like, oh, some kind of hills have eyes hillbilly with jaundice. very scary.

(it was not my best costume.)

my little brother swapped me out for second shift, and i was getting ready to change out to head to her house when i was like: no, she'll get a real kick out of this. this is one of the worst things i have ever worn. so i kept it on and just brought a change of clothes thinking i could shower real quick and change at her place after she saw my nightmare getup.

so i left after that, got there, knocked on her door, and she said come on in. so i went in, and there was this very long hall with an abrupt right turn into her living room where the tv was, and i went down the hall, and i made the turn, and my field of view went from beige drywal to her, on the couch, naked. naked in the paint me like one of your french girls pose. super naked.

i panicked. this was my first time seeing a real person like, full on sex naked,which is a totally different beast from other kinds of naked. you see one kind of naked and you think yeah, im ready for all the kinds of naked, but you arent. i wasnt at least. i really wasn't.

so my brain crashed to BIOS. she also crashed to BIOS, but for different reasons. of all the ways this could have turned me, having me show up in yellow body paint and overalls was pretty pretty low down the list.

so we sat there a while, and you know, she wasn't getting any less naked, which really wasn't helping me get my brain sorted out. it really wasnt much of a surprise when she got her bearings first and started asking questions.

"babylon," she said. "babylon. what are you wearing?"

and i was like, kind of rebooted, but i was nowhere near full functionality, so symbolic language wasnt loaded in yet. i had nothing running but my trusty autism.exe, so i said

"overalls"

and she looked at me like i was the dumbest person in the entire world, and i looked at her like she was the first naked person i had seen in real life who got naked specifically for me, and my upper level cognitive process went: "listen man, we are not going to get our shit together as long as 80% of your brain power is devoted to not blinking. you gotta get out of here."

and if id communicated that, maybe things would have been less of a mess, but instead i just kind of turned around and walked back to my car. i figured i could drive a few loops around the block, get my brain in order, and figure out what the hell we were gonna do.

the only thing i had said to her since arriving was, again, overalls.

first loop around, i was like: oh god fucking damnit. oh shit. oh shit. shes gonna get like, an eating disorder from this. oh no.

second loop around i was like: oh NOOOOO oh WHAT THE FUCK oh SWEET JESUS PLEASE. i dont wanna go back man. i just wanna bury this and forget about it. please. please. let this bitter cup pass from my lips.

and after my third loop, i went and i knocked on her door again.

she answered it this time, and i counted my lucky stars that she'd changed into some pajamas. she was all teary eyed which was the saddest thing ever, and we sat down in her kitchen and talked. it was pretty bad - i figured out we'd been dating, and she figured out that trying to jump from home plate to 3rd base is considered ballsy in baseball, least of all dating. no real winners there. and i can remember after all that, we sat there a bit a bit longer, just steadying ourselves, and i was like "well, im actually really glad we figured that out. guess i'll see you at school tomorow' and she said "WAIT. wait."

"lets watch shrek 2."

so we did and it was horrible. we did not look at each other. we did not say a word. we just sat in stony silence, while shrek 2 played in the background, and when it was done we shook hands. i think we might have been able to salvage that as a friendship if it hadnt been for shrek. as it was she turned white as a sheet and ran away every time she even got a glimpse of me at school, and that summer she moved to a new state to live with her dad. all her friends said she moved just so she wouldn't have to go to school with me anymore, and i dont actually think they were lying.

every time i hear relationship counselors talk about how important communication is, and i'm tempted to roll my eyes, i look back and go, alright. alright. theres probably some poor bastard, somewhere in the world, who doesnt even know that hes married.

and god help him when he figures it out.

other bad dating story here.

[almond-tofuuu]

Maybe dawnbreak! Zayne eventually finds a way to get to the world he 'dreams' about, and meets the mc. (yandere tho???)

Oooh I love this idea!!!! Thank you anon!!!

Hope you enjoy 💕

The Reaper's Embrace

Dawnbreaker! Zayne x reader

Warnings: slight yandere/possessive elements, possibly ooc Zayne/Dawnbreaker (I tried my best)

lmk if I missed anything ☺️

Something was wrong with Zayne.

When you left work to find him waiting for you outside the building, a strange sense of unfamiliarity washed over you, as though your subconscious was screaming about a danger your brain couldn't register. Which was absurd, right? Zayne wasn't a stranger, far from it.

Maybe it was the clothes he was wearing. The sleek, black suit hugged his broad shoulders perfectly, and the long, dark coat he wore over the top blended seamlessly into the night. He looked intimidating, almost scary, his imposing form striking an eerie resemblance to that of the grim reaper.

You shake your head in an attempt to clear your mind, "I'm being ridiculous! It's just Zayne, so what if he's dressed a little differently. I must be even more exhausted than I thought" after mentally reprimanding yourself, you make your way over to Zayne, ignoring the unsettling chill running down your spine.

"You must've gotten off work early today if you're here to pick me up! Sorry if I kept you waiting" you greet him warmly, soft smile on your face despite the increasing paranoia building inside your mind.

Zayne doesn't respond, his eyes that are usually filled with a tenderness and warmth now appear cold and lifeless, but there's a hint of something else in his gaze, something almost crazed and predatory. It makes your blood run cold, as if the ice of his evol was flooding your veins. It's as though you're in a trance, your mind is begging you to run, to get away from the man in front of you, but your body won't respond, frozen under the intensity of his gaze.

Zayne takes a careful step towards you, one hand slowly reaching out but stopping just short of touching your cheek. He hesitates, as though he's afraid to actually touch you. And he is. He's afraid that this is just another dream, a cruel trick his mind is playing, and the moment he touches you, you'll disappear, slipping through his fingers like the early morning mist.

Zayne has dreamt of this moment for so long, thoughts of you haunting him, consuming every fibre of his being until the only thing he could think about was you, you, you. For years he had been forced to watch you through the eyes of the doctor, taunted by the other version of himself that got to hold you.

But not anymore. Now that he had finally found his way to you, he wasn't going to let you go. The doctor could never love you the way he did. You were a ray of sunlight that broke through the darkness that shrouded his life. You were his saviour, his guiding light, you were his.

As Zayne's hand hovers inches from your cheek, you feel a shiver run down your spine, a primal instinct urging you to flee. But you're rooted to the spot, unable to tear your gaze away from his intense, icy eyes. With a trembling breath, you brace yourself for his touch, unsure of what to expect.

Finally, his fingertips brush against your skin, sending a jolt of electricity coursing through your body. His touch is surprisingly gentle, almost tender, but beneath the surface, there's a palpable intensity that sets your nerves on edge. For a moment, the world falls away, and all you can focus on is the sensation of his touch, the way it sends a rush of conflicting emotions swirling through your mind. Fear, desire, uncertainty—they all mingle together in a chaotic symphony that threatens to overwhelm you.

And Zayne feels it too. The warmth of your skin underneath his cold, calloused fingertips is enough to cloud his mind with desire, all thoughts of logic and reason are forgotten as his eyes darken. The tender hold he had on your cheek turns into a bruising grip of your jaw, his other hand encircling your waist, pressing your body tightly against his, strong arm preventing you from escaping. Lowering his face beside your head, 'Zayne' finally speaks, warm breath fanning over your cheek. And although the smooth, deep voice is familiar to you, the darkness of his tone has your body trembling in fear.

"I've waited for this moment for so long. Finally, you're mine. And now that I've got you, I'm never going to let you go."

[justcallmecj]

Seeing Your Dragon Form: First Years

(I feel like this chapter of the series may be crappier than the previous ones. I'm slowly running out of ideas and have used up quite a bit of my writing energy recently. I've come to realize that writing for the First Year Squad is just harder for me because I'm used to the pure crackhead energy the fandom gives them, but I'm still going strong! Oh well, I really want to write, so here I am!)

^Original note from Quotev that I put prior to the chapter. As a sort of mini explanation for my mindset going into this one.

Ace

Ace wanted to look unimpressed and chill, but he was currently losing it, and you could tell.

When you finally settled down, he approached you with his hands behind his head, really trying to hit home the idea he wasn't fanboying over you right now.

You brought your head down to allow him to get a closer look as well as touch your horns and snout.

He was a lot gentler than you thought he'd be.

He carefully ran his hand up and down your snout, making you hum in the process.

He tried talking to you, getting frustrated when you'd only hum and growl, before those two working brain cells in his head worked and he figured out that you couldn't actually talk.

He doesn't know, for some reason, a part of his brain just assumed you'd be able to talk.

Despite the current situation, Ace's behavior didn't change. He still tried to tease you, coming up basically unsuccessful because that's just how it is between the two of you, didn't stop him though.

Once, when you weren't paying attention, he tried to climb onto your back, not expecting the reaction that you'd have.

When you realized, you rolled over, trapping him under you. Due to the size difference, he was completely stuck, despite how much effort he put into trying to push you off him. You made sure not to hurt him though, and you didn't.

He could practically hear you laughing, even if it just came out as draconic grumbles.

sigh "You really never change, huh? You big bully! Though honestly, what can I say? I'm the same way, and I wouldn't want you any other way."

Deuce

Deuce was certainly nervous.

No fear. His brazen, delinquent years prepared him to take on any challenge that may be thrown at him, but this was definitely different.

He was stunned for a decent while after you transformed. Just kinda standing there, frozen in place.

Pretty sure his brain fried for a moment.

When he finally came back to his sense, he tried to play it all off with compliments, but really, there was no tricking you, but you gave him the benefit of the doubt and ignored it.

He was the most interesting by your wings.

(If I remember correctly)One of the reasons he likes being on the Track Team/Magical Wheel(?Can't remember which), is feeling the wind rush past him when he picks up speed. Because of this, he really admired your wings, which could do the same thing but ten fold.

He really wanted to ask you to take him on a flight with you, but was too shy to ask out loud. Maybe one day he'll have the confidence.

He made sure to be extra careful around parts like your horns, tail and other parts that may be considered sensitive/vulnerable. He didn't want to risk being even a little to rough and hurting you. He'd never forgive himself if he hurt you. (He doesn't realize how tough dragon skin and scales are, just give him a while).

All in all, it was a pleasant experience for the both of you. He had fun getting to see a new side of you, and you got to have a breather in your dragon form with no worries about who's around you.

"This is truly amazing. I can't believe you're capable of something like this. You really make NRC much more fun than it would be if you weren't here."

Jack

His reaction was much different from the others.

You and him are pretty similar in more ways than some may think.

Both of you are non-human beings capable of turning into a natural animal form. Him a wolf, you a dragon.

He was calm, but astounded. He didn't think you'd be quite so big.

He gets bigger than a normal wolf when he uses his Unique Magic, but he always assumed that was because he's a bigger person himself. Maybe it's just natural for anyone capable of this ability.

He was cautious to approach, not fully aware of how conscious you are, taking his own wolf state into account.

You just sat down, tail resting on the forest floor, wings at rest, showing just how comfortable you were in the situation. That convinced him that nothing had changed except how you looked.

He sat next to you, showing the same peaceful signs. Tail resting and ears calm.

You came closer, laying your head down next to his side. He reached out a hand and gently stroked the top of your head.

You two just stayed there like that for a while. Peacefully enjoying each others calm presence, until he stopped petting you.

You had gotten so used to the feeling and were so close to falling asleep, him stopping upset you.

In retaliation, you picked up your head and placed it down in his lap. He panicked for a moment before freezing, not knowing quite what to do.

He soon recognized the affectionate action. It was one his younger sister and brother would do when they wanted affection without actually saying they wanted affection. A silent plea.

He placed his hand back on your head, petting you like he was not even a minute ago. Sometimes he'd move his hand and scratch behind your ear, which caused you to hum and delight.

"We really are more alike than I thought. Are you sure you're not just a dog in disguise?" You grumbled at the playful tease, making him laugh.

Epel

Epel actually reacted much differently than you expected.

The moment he saw your dragon form, he wasted no time in rushing over and didn't even attempt to hide his complete adoration.

He jump up and down, bouncing on the heel of his feet. He rushed around, taking in every detail about you that he could.

His attention to speech completely leaves his mind and his natural accent slips in until he's speaking with such a think accent it's sometimes hard to understand what he's saying.

This may very well be the most excited you've seen Epel act, other than when he's getting competitive.

When he was finally able to wrap his head around everything and calm down, his demeanor changed on the dime, much like his personality can.

He softly took hold of your snout and held if close to his chest with his arms holding onto the underside of your head, something he likes to do even when you're in your normal form. For him, it's a show of trust, one he knew you'd understand.

A soft hum found its way out of your throat. He giggled at the affection.

You both took a rest and talked. It may have been a one-sided conversation, but he didn't mind.

He rambled on and on to fill the silence, accompanied with the occasional scratch under the chin.

There was a moment where he got jealous about how much bigger you were than him normally, let alone now. But, he soon got over it after thinking about how it must have just been natural since you weren't human.

"As much as I think it's unfair you can do all these cool things about how you look while I'm stuck like this, I'm still really happy that you opened up to me. I know what it's like to not be content with how you look, but we can do our own thing together!"

Sebek

Now, normally, Sebek is really respectful towards you. A byproduct from how he treats Malleus and how similar the two of you are.

Throughout the school year, it's taken some work, but you've gotten him to truly see you as a friend, not just another fae.

But, things did change a little bit after seeing your dragon form.

He's never seen Malleus's, because Malleus sees no use in taking his dragon form most of the time, so he didn't quite know what he was expecting to see from you.

When he watched a massive, spike covered, ice coated dragon walked out of the mist that practically came out of now where, he was honestly a little scared.

He remembered a story Lilia had told him and Silver once. It was about how once, when Malleus was young, he changed forms after throwing a temper-tantrum. After that, Sebek just started associating the idea with anger.

But, his time as a guard(and your friend) allowed him to be more observant than some. He saw every cue that would tell your current mood. There was no anger, only a calm curiosity. A curiosity towards him.

The idea of you watching him with the intention to see how he'd react embarrassed him. He turned his head to hide the reddening of his cheeks, but he didn't realize the red had crept up his ears and right into your watchful gaze.

You made a sound, one he didn't recognize, but it sounded faintly like laughter.

You were laughing at him!!!

He stomped a foot and grumbled under his breath, only causing you make more of the laughing sounds.

After that whole fiasco, Sebek finally felt comfortable enough to let down his guard.

His sharp hearing allowed him to quickly pick up on the different meanings of certain sounds, enough to have a semi-coherent conversation. He made sure to keep his voice quieter than usual, only being able to guess how sensitive your hearing may be right now.

Eventually, the interaction between the two of you fell into a comfortable and familiar conversation, like nothing was different about this scenario than usual.

"I really should be finding Waka-sama right now, but as Silver has told me, I may need to lighten up. So, we'll stay here for a while longer." His voice got just a bit quieter, "Thank you for showing me this."

And then the original note I put on Quotev after the chapter-

(Well, I think this set actually came out a lot better than I initially though it would. These five weren't as hard to write for as they usually are once I actually started soooo- YAY!!)

You can see the mindset change, wow.

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

ok here i go full hc prompt🥳🤩🤩

m6 in the ✨✋Future🤚✨ or at least to them, relatively, from their medievaissance-y mixed bag nonspecified time period to something resembling our times! i personally like to consider it still Their World, fictional, which just progressed to look like ours now (it literally makes zero difference to anybody except the inner machinations of my annoying ass but yeah ifykyk) basically yknow shooting a medieval peasant into 2023 & giving him mountain dew type beat

The Arcana HCs: M6 in the Future

~ @tetsuooooooooooo this was so much fun, thank you for sending it in and I hope you enjoy these!! ~

-- for headcanon purposes, MC is from the future and is tasked with taking care of M6 during their 24 hours there --

Julian

It takes him less than two minutes to figure out where (read: when) he is and his response is nothing short of enthusiastic

Please, he's been around the world, and he's got a delightful guide, and he really, really wants to know if his theories about leeches ended up being correct

He actually gets a little emotional when a quick google search shows him how wrong he was and you end up having to take him exploring to cheer him up and distract him from his failures

You have a really hard time explaining to him that clinics don't allow doctors without medical degrees to waltz in and observe random patients getting treatments

You take him to see a movie and he's transfixed

The screen is so big. The actor's faces are so clear. The drama is so much more than anything he could have imagined. And they come with music?? Hums the soundtrack for the rest of the day

If you show him that one version of Jurassic Park with Jeff Goldblum in it Julian will imitate him sporadically afterwards

Enjoys fast food way more than he should. Especially instant noodles. Will spend half an hour trying to pack some to take back

Fascinated by the concept of typing

You hit a button to make the next letter appear instead of writing it? But MC, this means that everything he wants to communicate through text could be easily readable. Imagine!

Freaks out a bit when you try to take him in a car. He's surprisingly comfortable in a metro, though, so you'll have to do with public transportation and bicycles

Oh yeah, he loves bicycles. He only crashed into three trees, a wall, and a stranger's parked car before getting the hang of it

He's convinced that earbuds don't actually play music, they just trick your brain into thinking that you can hear it

Almost exploded when you gave him coldbrew coffee

Asra

They know instantly that they're in a different version of reality. Sure, they've never traveled through time, but they've traveled through plenty of other dimensions

He's the least ruffled, and unfortunately, the least impressed. Don't get him wrong, this looks super cool, but this isn't any more otherworldly to him than the otherworldly places he's already been

Wants to go on a food tour immediately. Not the nice stuff though

No, they want the questionable food. The is-this-going-to-make-me-regret-existing food. The food that, if it was shown in an anime, would be pixelated and have threatening auras around it

So chill about what you tell him to do it's almost concerning

"Here Asra, climb into this four-wheeled hunk of metal that can travel over 100 miles an hour and hold yourself in with a single fabric strap while I pilot this through hundreds of other things just like it, driven by people we don't know and can't predict."

"Cool. Where do I put Faust?"

Don't tell them about edibles unless you want them to spend their day hunting some down and absolutely going to town on them

You swear you saw his hair stand on end the first time he tried popping candy

When you took them to get their radioactive meal (a.k.a. the closest fast food chain with the fewest ethical violations) they insisted on picking up one of every sauce packet to try them all

... and when he saw a nine-year-old mixing two different fountain drinks, he of course grabbed the largest cup available and went down the line so he could taste all of them at once too

You've never seen them this jittery and sugar high, so of course the next place to go is a trampoline park, with the bright lights and loud music and bodies hurtling through the air

He should not be getting the amount of air time that he does

Has a meltdown over modern fluffy blankets. They're so soft

Nadia

Gobsmacked. As in, she's a highly intelligent woman, and therefore able to really wrap her head around what she's seeing

The future!! She's in the future, Arcana help her

But she's got you and she adores you and she knows she can trust you so she's going to be okay. That said, start explaining. Now.

First things first: how's the infrastructure? She can't see any canals or aqueducts. Or fireplaces or lanterns, for that matter, what do you do for light? And cooking? (Cooking uses fire, right?)

Literally cannot walk past anything new without stopping to try to figure out how it works and if there's a way to recreate it herself

Bicycles on a rack? She's spinning the pedal and trying to figure out the balancing dynamics of two-wheeled movement

Almost lost it when she found out that it was possible to lift the hood of a car and look at the engine inside that makes it go. You decided to take her on public transportation instead

Which turned into all kinds of excited brainstorming about public carriages, and gondolas built for 20 people ferrying people along the aqueducts, and new and terrifying uses for the catacombs

Wasn't very impressed with the fashion she saw

She knows what good quality cloth looks like. This is a women who grew up in silks and fine linens, polyester does not impress her

Except for the stretchiness. She does like that

The perfume counter, on the other hand, takes up a good hour and a half of her time. She's smelled plenty of fine scents before, but she's never been in a shop where she could sniff so many at a time

This one smells like Prakra. This one smells like Vesuvia. This one smells like the beach. This one smells like the woods. This one ...

Yeah, it was an excellent opportunity to take a nap, if you're the napping sort. You wake up to her testing perfumes on you because she ran out of space on herself

Gets so frustrated when you explain your government setup to her

Muriel

Oh no, please be very gentle with him

He likes to live in the woods because it is peaceful and quiet and it's one place he doesn't stand out in

He stands out in this place very, very much and he doesn't like it

Refuses to leave the room he appeared in until his appearance is as unremarkable as possible (which is not easy to do, by the way, the man is a mountain. modern clothes in his size are hard to find)

Does not want to go in the car. It's way too fast and it makes him seasick when he closes his eyes to shut it out

Buses are somehow easiest - they feel the least claustrophobic when they're not crowded and it's rude to stare on them

You two end up going to a natural history museum in the middle of a weekday when hardly anybody is there, and he lights up

There are so many animals, and there are enough other people in the world who find those animals interesting that they gathered so much knowledge people had to make a building to hold it all

Has never heard evolutionary theory before and is fascinated by it

Once he starts talking, it's hard for him to stop

He's not being loud at all - you can only hear him so clearly because you two are holding hands so he can't lose you - but he's being quietly submerged in his own special interest and he loves it

He just wishes there weren't so many skeletons. But he's glad the species they belonged to aren't forgotten this way

Long story short, Muriel's inner Nerd is unleashed and he goes hoarse from the amount of murmuring he does all day

Does not like getting food in public. Does not like eating food in public. Does not like being publicly perceived. As soon as it gets into afternoon and it gets busy, he wants to go home

Which is where you show him what the internet is and he's in awe

People can work from home? People can make friends without leaving their house?? People can talk without being seen???

Portia

Spends five minutes hopping in place and squealing into her clothes to let out her nerves and excitement before you can decide what to do

Then insists on taking half an hour to hear you describe every single fun or interesting thing to do so she can make a list

Yes, she's determined to hit every single one in one day

First things first: food. Take her to a cafe and watch her sigh over all the baked goods and sugar-loaded caffeine beverages

Then (if there is one nearby) a mall, so she can see all the stuff that people buy so they can have the lifestyle they do. You have to drag her out of both Bath & Body Words and Bed, Bath, & Beyond

Please, it's full of fluffy fuzzy things and good smelling mystery goo, she wants to live in it also what do you mean "no stopping at the pet store", what even is a "pet store" -

Oh. OH -

You will have to physically pull her away before she adopts all the kittens. She does cry about it later, just a for a bit, they're so cute

Next is a library and cafe, of course, because she lives for books

This place is way bigger than the Palace library! The one in the Palace is just a large room, this is a whole building!! And people get to come here, whenever they want, just to read, for free?! What?!

You had to remind her about the "no loud noises in the library" rule several times. She's doing her best, she's just passionate

Completely demolishes her first chocolate croissant

Goes feral at the amusement park she has you take her to afterwards. This woman is an adrenaline fiend. You're cursing the pop up add for it by the fourth consecutive free fall ride

The only way to get her to leave is to tell her that one of her favorite stories was turned into a movie and that you'd have to go home to watch it. Don't take her to Target to get snacks. She'll disappear

Flicks the lightswitch 30 times in a row because she can

Lucio

He's immediately panicking. Not because he's in the future, no, but because of what it's done to his arm

It's changed. It's not running on magic any more. The only way to resolve his design is for it to be some kind of high-tech electrical prosthetic that even modern scientists would have difficulty with

Once he's adjusted to using it, you're good to go

Lights up like a firework the first time he rides in a car

MC. MC how fast does it go. MC that's a very high number. MC, he wants to drive. Please. Please! Pleeeaaaassssseeee

DO NOT LET HIM DRIVE.

Makes you pull over after seeing ads for Sephora because he's convinced that he could pull off that eye makeup even better

Tries every single makeup sampler and then gets offended when one of the poor employees suggests an anti-aging cream

Him? Aged?? How dare they - oh wait that really does brighten his eyes. He'll take ten, please, they're so small, they can't cost much -

You'll have to pull him out before he sees you use a credit card, because once he does he's going to keep asking to use it and you're not sure he understands why maxing it out is a bad thing

His arm does run out of battery at one point, which does cause some panic. All of a sudden he's stuck with a limp hunk of metal swinging from his shoulder, it's not ideal

You're able to find the retractable charging cable on the side and plug him in, but then he's stuck sitting in the same spot for two hours and a bored Lucio is a dangerous Lucio

There is a solution to this, of course. You can give him an iPad with games on it. He won't move a muscle after that

The caveat is that he will turn into an iPad kid and get glued to every single screen he sees afterwards. You don't know how to fix it

Falls in love with vending machines and tries Cheetos because the leopard on them looks cool. Develops an artificial cheese addiction

[therobotmonster]

The Fae Thought He Had Her, but She's Had Lots of Practice

Actual Title: "On Foreign Soil."

The fae was having a grand old time with his latest toy. Mortals were easily befuddled with the magic of contract-and-courtesy. He'd taken pretty much all he could from the family: several names, the mother's attention, the son's concept of friendship... Even the life of the father.

He'd taken that one taking just the right moment of his time, the one where he moved just out of the oncoming car's path. That also took out the youngest daughter and making a new neverwas to lurk in the pockets of lost time around the home.

The tricks made him strong. The sense of betrayal and regret humans had when they realized how screwed they truly were was like honey: rich, sweet, and immune to spoilage. If anything, in the last sixty-some-odd years he'd been home the humans had gotten more petulant and even easier to trick.

It was a veritable buffet.

So when the eldest daughter returned home from college, he expected her to be easy pickings. The young were always foolish and prideful, and very often rude. They gave him so many opportunities.

So when she threw open the door, and stared at him with cold green eyes, he immediately laughed in delight. His face took on a distinctively 'David Bowiesq' aspect, a trick he found worked well the last time he'd been to the mortal lands.

"Oh, hello. May I have your name, lass?" He cooed in a cocky-yet-soothing voice.

"My name is Alex, and no." She said.

He raised a brow. She was canny, or at least half-canny. She knew enough to object to him taking it. Still, she had answered, and by the laws of the fae, the latter objection did not override the former offer.

So why wasn't he Alex now?

It was odd, but sometimes mortals were a little resistant to magic. He worried for a moment she was a skeptic, but she couldn't be. Her response meant she knew, or at least suspected, what he was. Moreover, he didn't feel the painful chill and sluggishness empiressence caused, nor the crushing weight of the explicable upon his bird-hollow bones.

No, she was just lucky, or was carrying an iron horseshoe, nothing he couldn't handle in his, or someone else's sleep.

"And what the fuck are you calling yourself, asshole?"

He blinked.

The impudence hit him like a slap. She'd just given him the opening to do anything he wanted, but the raw temerity of the insult, it's artless crudeness, it's utter lack of respect stunned him too much to enjoy it. His rage and petulance rushed into the hole left by his shock, and he sputtered.

"You rude little beast, you have no idea what you've brought upon yourself!"

He raised one pale hand, the flesh fading from it to leave nothing but blackened bone, and he pointed the index finger at her in a silent gesture. He let fly his curse. Not just any curse, but his, the one he had made for just such an occasion.

Alex stared at him. Arms crossed. Her hair was the color of the fae's own rage.

"What's the matter, cat got your brain?"

The fae's confidence wavered and the flesh returned to his hand.

"Where are the spiders?" He said. "There... there ought to be spiders! There should be spiders!"

She rolled her eyes.

"You broke the laws of courtesy and decorum! I can do as I please as a wronged noble! You should be spiders!"

"Whose laws?" It was Alex's turn to smile.

"Why, the only ones that matter, the laws of Faerie, as laid down by Oberon and Tita-"

"And Titsforbrains, yeah. I was five once and I can read. I know your dumb politics. Slight problem. Where are you now?"

"The mortal realm?"

"More specifically?"

"The Earth. The United States."

"Exactly." Alex smiled. "And while you might come the land of the platonic ideal of inbred nepobabies, in the United States of America, no law says I can't call a fuckface a fuckface. Fuckface."

The fae tried a different curse, yet Alex was not being twisted into any sort of goat, ironic or otherwise. "But, that doesn't matter! We're a higher form of being, our laws override yours."

"No they don't." Alex said with a confidence reserved for honey badgers and humans of age three. "Now undo all your bullshit and get out of my house."

"Nuh-uh!" The Fae's cocky smirk returned. With a flourish, he pulled out a deed. "It's my house, I got it off your mother, fair-and-square. She traded it for the heart your little brother so foolishly traded me. So you should get out of MY house."

"Contracts signed under duress are non-enforceable." She said in a bored, dismissive tone.

The Fae started to object, but the contract was already crumbling into dried daffodil petals in his hand. He tried to pretend this wasn't terrifying. Inexplicable happenings were supposed to be caused by him, not happen to him. "Are you a wizard?"

"Don't be stupid. I just know my rights." She said. "I'm betting you didn't disclose the full terms of the contracts either?"

The Fae shook his head, more from fear than as a response to the question. Of course he hadn't. If the mortals didn't do their due diligence and couldn't read Linear-B, that wasn't his fau-

The thirty years he stole from the youngest boy ripped themselves out of his body. A half dozen other deals began popping at the seams.

"How are you doing this?" He gasped.

"I'm not doing it. You are. You're idiot who runs on rules and laws who decided to come scam innocent people for your own profit and amusement."

"But it always worked before-" The Fae ran his mind through all his previous romps. Every single human had whined and begged about how unfair things were. Why was this one different?

He ran through those memories again. They were among his favorites so it was easy for him to see every detail. An old man trying to argue Fae law with him. A shepherd girl trying to use her own word games to trap him. A hippie saying almost the exact same words about non-enforceable contracts.

Almost.

He ran through the memories again and again. Always impressed or terrified or blinded by greed, the mortals always argued on his terms, always went back to his wording of the deal or contract, always appealed to the laws of his people and his own noble position.

None of them had ever argued jurisdiction. Once one of them had, it applied, not just now, not just to these toys, but retroactively, and, from how it felt, with interest.

"Oh." Was all the Fae could say.

"Yes. 'Oh.'" Alex smiled like the cat that ate the proverbial canary. "Children can't sign contracts, either, you know."

Everything the Fae had done to the boy snapped back at once. It felt like every seventh tendon in his body had been snipped simultaneously with tiny scissors.

"Nor can someone sign away the right to kill them to someone else, or sell themselves or others into slavery."

Alex's father reappeared in the living room, looking dazed. In his lap was Alex's youngest sister, now remembered by all present as a person that existed. The return of the father's moment was a minor loss, but there was one less neverwas in the Castle of Paradox, and the Baron would blame him for its unmaking.

"Also, names aren't transferable between people, nor are they the whole and sum of a person's identity in this country. The closest thing we have to that is a social security number. And if you steal one of those, well, identity theft is a crime here."

Mr. Baxter, Mrs. Baxter, Julie and Sam's lights all turned on at once, though they were still groggy and half-asleep and would be for hours to come.

A fortune in names, first, middle, last, with nicknames and pet-names and all between, all vanished from the Fae's purse. He could feel its lightness in his pocket.

The Fae turned on his heels. "I fear I must take my leave, so sorry for the inconvenience!"

He was halfway to the door. The impact on the back of his skull knocked him forward off his feet, sending him slamming into the polished wood floor. The projectile that laid him out bounced and landed by his head.

He'd been right about her having an iron horseshoe.

"You don't get to walk away." She said. He felt her steel-toed boot, soles made of entirely synthetic rubber and cleats of cold steel, press against the base of his spine. His hollow, bird-bone spine. "You don't get to fuck with people, say 'my bad' when you get caught, and run."

"Y-your law!" He gasped. He felt his bones cracking. He wanted to turn into something else but he couldn't focus. She was pressing down harder now, because she was half-kneeling. Her hand picked up the fallen horseshoe. "You have to let me go, or arrest me, turn me over to your police, right? You can't just murder me!"

"What are you?"

"I- I'm a Faerie of Arcadia, a sub-Prince of the House of-"

"So not a human. And not an animal." She kept him pinned.

"No!" He growled. Blood the color of an oil slick on the highway began to fill his mouth. The pain made him forget his fear for a moment, and he bared his true face, something between a bug, a wax store mannequin, and a pug-dog. "We-we're a higher form of life! Far beyond anything this miserable pile of dung you call a planet has to offer! You will pay for this impertinence the moment you break the law that holds me!"

"You're a lot of things. A bully, a pest, a liar. But you're not human. And you're not an animal. In fact, as far as the laws of this land are concerned, you aren't real."

Alex lifted her boot to kick him onto his back, then pinned him again.

"Th-then you can't kill me!" He laughs. "You can't kill something that's not real! You've trapped yourself! You'll have to let me go!"

"You haven't been to our 'pile of dung' in some time have you?" Alex asked. She nodded to a strange white book-shaped object that sat unopened, upright, next to the television, next to a pair of white and black crescent-moon shaped objects studded with small white and black buttons.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

--

Six hours later, a notification popped up on Alex's dorm room computer.

[unfinishedslurs]

prophetic nightmares of the dead (steddie)

Eddie’s been dreaming of dying. 

It started his first round of senior year, some kind of prophetic fuck-up from his brain. No one knows except Wayne. Wayne gets it, kinda, from his time in ‘Nam. Knows how vivid nightmares can get, knows all the tricks to waking up and remembering you’re alive. 

“It’s that damn music,” he mutters to make Eddie laugh through tears, after Eddie’s woken him up again with his shrieking and stumbling out of his room. “Or that game. Your imagination is vivid enough without you feeding it, boy.”

“You’re right,” Eddie responds unsteadily. “No more of that devil shit for me. I’m going on the straight and narrow. From now on it’ll be…fucking church hymns and songs about the Lord.”

Wayne hums in absent agreement, still rubbing Eddie’s back. The glass of cold water sits heavy in his hands. He takes a drink. 

It was practically routine. 

He got better at waking up silently, at not running to his uncle after the fourth, seventh, twentieth nightmare in a row. Avoided sleeping at all, showed up to school with bags under his eyes and cranky as all hell. His grades dropped lower than ever, Wayne got more and more concerned, and Eddie kept dying every night. 

The Queen of Hawkins High wasn’t the person he was expecting to understand his predicament. 

“Do you ever feel like you’re losing your mind?”

“Um, you know, just... on a daily basis.” He smiles, tries to make her laugh. Every day until I get out of this damned town. 

Slowly, he wheedles it out of her. 

“I keep having these dreams,” she admits. “Nightmares. Every night, for years. It’s always…it’s always the same.”

A chill goes down his spine. 

“I’m sorry, I sound crazy.”

“No, no, no,” he scrambles to reassure her. “Keep going, it’s okay. Safe space, right? It’s just me, you, and the trees here.”

She nods, unsteady. “There’s…a monster. And he…he’s after me. And when he catches me, I always…the dream always ends with me…” She raises a trembling hand to her eyes, not bothering to wipe away her tears. Almost like she’s checking if they’re still there. 

His blood runs cold. 

“Dying,” he whispers. Chrissy lets out a sob. “Every night, since ‘83, you’ve dreamed of dying.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because it’s me, too, Chrissy.” He jumps up, pacing in circles. “I…every single night, since that Byers kid went missing. It’s not the same as yours but this is…this is fucking crazy, what are the odds—oof!”

Chrissy has barreled into his chest, clinging to him with her arms around his neck. He can feel the collar of his t-shirt getting damp. 

“Uh,” he stammers as she sniffles into his shirt. His hands hover around her, not sure what to do until he settles them around her back. “There, there?” He tries to soothe. It’s not very soothing, with the way his voice shakes. “It’s okay.”

“Something’s wrong with me,” she gasps. “It’s following me. I keep seeing things when I’m awake, my mother and a clock and a monster—“

“Shit,” he says, a sinking feeling in his chest. He’s not exactly superstitious, but he has a feeling there’s more to this than dreams. “Hey, listen, Chrissy, you’re gonna be okay. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

She just shakes her head, burrows in closer like she can worm into his skin if she tries hard enough. He’s never been hugged like this in his life, and he has no idea what to do with the scared teenager in his arms. 

“Here, hold on,” he says, and carefully removes her arms from his neck. She wipes her eyes, looking away. 

“I’m sorry, I just…”

“No, no, it’s cool,” he says. “Promise. I just wanted to give you this.” 

Fumbling, he drapes his leather jacket over her shoulders. Her cheerleading jacket can’t be very warm, especially combined with the skirt she’s wearing. 

She pulls it tight around herself, even though it probably sticks like weed and cigarettes and Eddie’s BO. He’s a little too preoccupied to be embarrassed about that right now, though. 

The bell rings, signaling the end of class. Chrissy startles like a scared rabbit, dread coloring her whole face, and Eddie makes a decision. 

“Do you want to get out of here?”

Looks like Hellfire’s getting postponed after all. 

They make a stop at Family Video, partially to rent a movie or two, but mainly because Henderson never shuts up about Steve fucking Harrington so now Eddie knows exactly where he works. Why the little rich boy is working a dead end job with Keith as his manager is a mystery, but it’s not one he’s interested in uncovering. Hopefully he’s on shift today. 

All of Eddie’s shit luck must have worked to make the stars align, because there he is at the counter, in all his ex-kingly glory. He doesn’t look up as the bell rings, apparently focused on whatever he has in hand. 

“Welcome to Family Video,” he calls, chewing on a pen. “Let me know if you need help finding anything.”

“Is that Blue Jeans?” Eddie asks, walking up to the counter as Chrissy goes to look through the shelves. Harrington jumps, slamming the magazine shut. 

“Hi, what can I get you—Munson?”

“Harrington,” he grins, reveling in the frown he gets in response. Harrington meets his eyes for one startled second before his gaze travels down to his Hellfire shirt, over his vest and bare forearms, and taking in the belt and ripped jeans. Eddie smiles wider. He oh so loves intimidating the jocks and moral majority of this town. 

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Harrington finally asks, eyes jumping back up to meet his gaze. 

“That’s actually why I’m here, I need you to pass on a message for me. We’re skipping, and—“

“We?”

“Hey Eddie,” Chrissy says, appearing behind him. She lays three movies on the counter. “I picked some out, I hope that’s okay.”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘course,” he says as Harrington’s eyebrows jut up. Chrissy is still wearing his jacket, and he realizes exactly what this looks like. Shit, is Harrington friends with Carver? They probably have some jock bro code that’s totally going to end in Eddie getting beat up, shit—

“Hey Chrissy,” Harrington says agreeably. “Finally dump Carver?”

She blinks, startled at the insinuation. Her cheeks flush. “Oh, no—“

“It’s not like that,” Eddie breaks in, laughing to cover up the panic he feels. Trying to walk the delicate line between not a queer and not stealing a jock’s girlfriend. “Chrissy here just needs some company.”

Harrington nods, clearly not believing them. 

“Seriously,” he presses. “I mean, can you really see a girl like her with a guy like me?”

Chrissy frowns, but Harrington looks him up and down again. 

“I mean, yeah,” he says. “But it’s really none of my business, I don’t get paid to care who dates who.”

Eddie blinks. It almost sounds like Harrington was calling him hot or something.

Before he can figure out what Harrington actually meant, he starts scanning the tapes. He pauses on the last one, brow furrowing, before he looks between Eddie and Chrissy with understanding in his eyes. Eddie doesn’t know why the sudden change of heart. 

“Rocky Horror Picture Show?”

Shit. 

He has to clear his throat. “You have that here?” 

They don’t. They shouldn’t. It’s not exactly small town video store material. Eddie had to go to Indianapolis to find it again, he knows damn well it’s not at Family Video in fucking Hawkins. 

But the cover stares up at him anyway. 

“I found it on one of the shelves,” Chrissy says. “It looked like it doesn’t get checked out a whole lot. Is it any good?”

Eddie braces himself for the slurs. For the bored retail worker to disappear and the Bible thumping, red blooded American to come out. It’s not Chrissy’s fault, she didn’t know any better, but if Harrington knows this movie and now he knows that Eddie knows this movie, there’s some bruises in his near future. 

“It’s pretty good,” Harrington says easily. Eddie blinks his eyes open to see him smiling warmly at Chrissy, handing her the tapes. “For a, ah, certain type of people.

Well color him surprised. This is an interesting turn of events. 

“I own it,” Eddie blurts out without meaning to. Harrington’s eyes snap to him, widening at the confession. “It’s, uh, hard to find, I had to go out of town for it. That’s why I was surprised.” 

 “Oh, I guess we don’t need to rent it, then,” Chrissy says, completely unaware of the staring contest that’s happening between him and Harrington. 

Harrington looks away first. “Right,” he coughs, and goes to cancel it. Chrissy pulls cash out of her pocket. 

“Oh, Chrissy, you don’t need to—“

“Don’t be dumb,” she says. “I picked the movies, I’m paying for them.”

He shrugs, unable to fight the logic in that. He’s not exactly in the mood to spend money right now, anyways, since he’s definitely giving her a discount on the drugs after this.

“What was it you needed me to do?” Harrington asks as he prints the receipt. 

“What?”

“You said you had a message.”

“Right,” Eddie says. He completely forgot about that. “You’re going to the game tonight, right?”

“How did you know that?”

“Sinclair said you go to all his games.”

“He talks about me?”

“Dude, those kids never shut the fuck up about you,” Eddie says. “Makes me want to pull my hair out.”

“It’s mutual,” Harrington snorts, looking a bit touched. “Henderson already phoned me to ask to join the campaign, man, I’m not filling in—“

“He asked you?”

“Yeah? Wait, if this isn’t about that, then what is it?”

“Tell Henderson he got his wish,” Eddie says, putting his hands in his pockets. “I’m postponing the campaign.”

“Wait, really? Lucas is going to lose his mind, he was gonna be so bummed if he missed your nerd game—wait, why are you telling me?”

“‘Cause we’re ditching, Harrington, catch up.” Sinclair was excited for the end of his campaign? It makes him feel a little bit guilty, somewhere deep in his nonexistent soul. Oh, well. He’s postponing now. 

“I’m going to wait in the car,” Chrissy says, and takes the tapes and Eddie’s keys with her. 

“I see what this is,” Harrington says, leaning closer to Eddie and pillowing his chin on his hand. “You got them all riled up, and now you want them to shoot the messenger.”

“You caught me.” He grabs his chest, pretending to be shot. Then he leans forward with a grin. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

“Maybe I won’t tell them, make them wait for the entire time for you to show up. Henderson’ll do it, you know. Then who’ll be in trouble?”

Eddie laughs without meaning to. He doesn’t believe for a second that Harrington will do it, which surprises him. But it seems like Harrington is full of surprises this afternoon. 

“So she really hasn’t broken up with him yet?”

“Huh?”

Harrington nods behind him, to where Chrissy is in the van. It seems like she’s playing music, nodding along with a small smile. 

“I told you, man, we’re not—“

“That’s not what I meant, it’s just…” he grimaces. “She’s way too good for him. And she’s never seemed…you know. Happy.”

“Really? I’d have thought you and Carver would get along, you know, jock bonding or something.”

“The only jock I’m friends with these days is Sinclair, and he’s as much of a nerd as the rest of ‘em. Anyways, even if I was still on the team, it’s like…I dunno. He sounds like a preacher.”

“The devil knows scripture, too?”

“Something like that.” He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. How’d you two end up hanging out anyway?”

“Oh, you know,” Eddie says lightly. “Shared visions, strange dreams, things like that.”

He waits for Harrington to laugh it off, to roll his eyes and go back to his girly magazine. It doesn’t happen. If anything, Harrington grows sharp, gets a cutting edge Eddie’s never seen on him before. Not even for the time he spent as king, looking for peasants to push around. 

“Visions? Did you see any weird dust, or animals? People acting weird? Or anything else like that?”

“What?” Eddie blinks, startled. “No? They’re just nightmares, dude.”

Actually, his dreams do involve weird looking animals. A bunch of ugly bats, with teeth that hurt. Whoever said you can’t feel pain in dreams was a fucking liar. 

They’re not just nightmares, Eddie knows. At least, not for Chrissy. Not if she’s outright hallucinating. There’s something wrong with both of them, and Eddie’s of half a mind to just drive them both down to Pennhurst and get it over with. But that’s their business, and he’ll be damned if he tells King Steve Chrissy’s secrets. Even if he doesn’t seem that bad, now, out of the fluorescent lights of their school. 

“Right, right, of course.” He laughs, dragging a hand down his face. “Sorry, I’m just…on edge, I guess. Didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

“I know the feeling.”

“Right,” he says again. “Well, have a good day, I guess. Tell Chrissy her tapes are due back in five days. And, uh, thank you for choosing Family Video.”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Eddie says, feeling equally unsteady after the weird turn their conversation has taken. He heads for the door, only pausing when Harrington calls out. 

“Oh, and, uh, Eddie?”

“What?” He pauses, one hand on the door. 

“If anything…weird happens, let me know, all right?”

He has no idea what that means. “Don’t worry, Harrington,” he says, throwing a smile over his shoulder. “I live weird.”

When he gets back in the van, Chrissy studies him closely. 

“What?”

“What did you and Steve have to talk about? I didn't know you were friends.”

“We’re not,” he snorts. “Me, friends with the King? Can you imagine? Nah, we share custody of some of the freshmen in Hellfire.”

“I don’t know,” she says. “I feel like…” she trails off, biting her lip raw. 

“Like what?” He encourages. 

“You called me a queen. Does that mean we can’t be friends?”

“Uh…” Eddie says, stumbling a bit. He does want to be friends with Chrissy. Even without the fact that they’re probably going to end up at the same cell in the nuthouse, she’s sweet and quiet in a way that makes him want to ask if anyone’s ever told her she can be loud. Her eyes are big and sad, but he can see a smile glancing along the edges of her mouth when he looks at her. She’s clever, he’ll give her that. He’s been caught hook, line, and sinker. “No, I’d— I’d like that. To be friends with you.”

Her smile feels brighter than the sun. 

“Then what’s so weird about being friends with Steve?” She asks, glancing towards the Family Video window. Harrington looks like he’s back to reading his magazine, but glances up like he can feel them watching him. Eddie looks away and starts the van. 

“Well, for one thing, you’re not one of the assholes who called me names and pushed me and my friends around.”

Harrington’s not either, really. Too busy standing around and being self obsessed to bother. His friends did all the pushing around for him. Wouldn’t do to get his hands dirtied with the freak. The familiar bitterness rises in his chest, and he tries to push it down. Looks at Chrissy out of the corner of his eye as he pulls out of his parking spot. 

Her smile has faded, and he could kick himself. “Jason is, though,” she says quietly. 

“How long have you guys been dating, anyway?” He asks, eager to change the subject. He pulls out of the lot, all too ready to leave the video store and the man who resides in it behind. 

“Three years.”

Eddie chokes, not expecting that answer in the least. “Three years?”

“We got together when we were fifteen,” she says, a grimace pulling at her mouth when he glances at her. Shit, maybe Harrington was right and there is trouble in paradise. 

“How do you stand him?”

“He loves me,” she says. It’s not an answer. 

“Yeah, but Chrissy, he’s like, a major dick.”

“He loves me,” she repeats. “He wants to go to college together. He wants to live in Hawkins, and have a pretty white wedding, and a job that pays and a wife that’s pretty and sweet and doesn’t have nightmares about dying every night. A wife that’s not crazy. And she’ll have his kids, all two and a half of them, and she’ll always smile and stay at home and never do anything with her life because she gave up all her dreams for him—“ 

He pulls onto the side of the road. “Jesus,” he breathes, twisting in his seat. “Chrissy. That’s not love.”

“He’s safe.” She looks at him imploringly, eyes wet. “I just have to make it until summer. He can have his pretty little girlfriend, his pretty little life. He can have whatever he wants. I just have to make it to summer.”

He swallows back bile. “What’s summer?”

She looks down. “I got an early admission. University of Chicago. I have scholarships. I’ll pack everything, and run away there, and I’ll never have to see him or my mom or anyone else in this fucking place ever again.”

“I used to hate Steve,” she whispers. “Even if he was nice to me, I used to…just wish he didn’t exist.”

“Shit, Chris, so did I. He was an asshole.”

She shakes her head. “No, because it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t because of that. I was just…jealous.”

“Of Harrington? I think everyone’s been jealous of him at some point.”

Her face screws up. “You don’t get it,” she says. “I didn’t want his house, or his money, or his car, I just wanted…”

“Him?”

“No!” She pulls her hair in front of face, looking at him desperately. “I wanted to be him, because he was…”

He really doesn’t know where this is going. “Because he was…?”

“Nancy,” she breathes with a sigh. “He had Nancy Wheeler, and she was pretty, and smart, and I…I wanted it to be me.”

Oh. Oh. Holy shit, Chrissy Cunningham is coming out to him on his ratty couch. He’s safe, she’d said about Jason, and he’d thought she was talking about all the other ways he was convenient, but… there’s safety in a shield. Easier to hide behind a boyfriend then have people asking questions you can’t answer. He’ll eat his shoes if Jason knows, but at least he’s good for something. 

She’s turning pale. “I’m—I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—I don’t know why I thought—“

“Woah, woah, woah,” he says, grasping her hand as she tries to flee. “Chrissy, I—Chrissy, wait. Me too, okay?” 

She freezes. “You too?”

“Yeah, Chris, me too.”

“Like you had a crush on Nancy too?”

The look he gives her speaks volumes. 

“Oh.” She settles back down on the couch, her too-thin wrist trembling in his grip. “Okay.”

“Okay?” He asks, just to make sure. 

“Okay,” she says. 

“Good.” He sighs, lets go of her hand to run his fingers through his hair. “So, Wheeler, huh?”

A flush blooms across her face. 

Steve breaks the surface again, looking panicked, before being dragged back under. 

Immediately it’s chaos. 

“Steve?” Nancy calls, looking over the side of the boat frantically. “Steve?”

Robin jumps in. 

“Woah, woah, woah,” Eddie says, as something determined flashes over Nancy’s face. “Let’s think about this—“

She takes a deep breath and dives in after her. 

“Shit!” He looks at Chrissy, eyes wide with dread. “We’re not going in there, are we?”

Sounds echo from the shore. Shit, the police. 

They’ll probably die if they go down there. But if the cops find them, they’ll take Chrissy’s Walkman, and then she’ll definitely die. 

He sees the same resolve settle over her face. 

“This is crazy,” he mutters. “This is crazy! Dammit, dammit, dammit!”

 She takes his hand. “On three?”

He lets out a hysterical laugh, gripping her hand tightly. 

Chrissy counts to three. 

They jump. 

He spits blood. It dribbles down his chin, and Eddie follows it down, down, watches a few drops land on that glorious chest and thanks every god there is that he’s too scared for the frankly impressive boner that wants to form. 

Chrissy elbows him. 

“Hey! What was that for?”

“You’re drooling,” she whispers. 

“Can you blame me?” He hisses back. “Look at him! That was some fucking Ozzy shit right there!”

She gives him a look. 

He toes one of the dead bats by his foot. Ugly little fucker, with sharp teeth. It’s almost familiar. 

He doesn’t get too far with that train of thought. 

“Sense of humor still intact, that’s good.” She chuckles nervously. Then she shakes him. 

“Ow, Rob!”

“You have to stop doing shit like this! ‘Hur, dur, I’m Steve, I’m going to go into the highly dangerous portal and get eaten by bats because I’m stupid—“

“I don’t sound like that!” He bats her hands away from his torso. “Also, you seem to be forgetting the part where I was dragged against my will.”

“You can’t take any more concussions, Steve!”

“No concussion,” he says, and takes her hands in his. She pauses to breathe. They look like they’re in their own little world, and something bitter twinges in Eddie’s chest. “No rabies, no concussion, I’m okay.”

“You’re definitely not,” Nancy says as she moves in to wrap his injuries. He grunts in pain. 

“I’m fine,” he insists, and Eddie snorts. He gets a scathing look in return. 

“We are not fine,” Eddie says. “We’re in some sort of hell dimension, shit, I…” he turns in a circle, finally taking in the world they’re in. Everything is grey and barren. Red lightning cracks across the sky. 

It looks exactly like his dream. 

He lets out a nervous laugh. “What the fuck,” he says. “What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck—“

“Eddie?” Chrissy grabs his hand, and he turns to her with wide eyes. 

“Chrissy, it’s just like my dream. This world, those weird fucking creatures, it’s exactly like…”

She turns pale. 

“Dream?” Nancy asks, sharp. “What dream?”

“It’s crazy,” Eddie says weakly. He’s starting to believe it less and less. 

“It’s both of us.” Chrissy straightens, raising her chin. “It’s always the same thing. For me, it’s a monster. He takes my eyes, snaps my limbs.” Mercifully, none of them point out the similarities with the recent killings, although all three of them straighten. “For Eddie, it’s…”

“Bats,” he says. “Ugly fucking bats, with sharp teeth. Everything is grey and desolate, and there’s this kid���“

The other three exchange what can only be described as a look. 

“I’m crazy,” Eddie pleads, trembling. Please, for the love of God, please tell me I’m crazy. Stick me in the loony bin, tie me up and leave me on the front steps of Pennhurst. Please. 

“You’re not crazy,” Nancy confirms. It feels like a death sentence. 

“So, what’s the story there?” Eddie asks, tripping over a rock. “How’d you figure out the whole ‘Prophetic Nightmares mean death’ thing, anyway?”

Steve furrows his brow. “You’re taking this surprisingly well.”

“I’m not.” Eddie lets out a laugh. “Trust me, I’m not at all. But I think some part of me had always known, you know? Like, it was too real to be just my imagination.”

Steve nods. “As far as we can tell, it’s only people who die from the Upside-Down,” he tells Eddie. “Has to be directly from it, no second-hand murder or anything.”

“Great.”

“Yeah.” He grimaces. “And it can change, you know? You might be having nightmares one night, and then you do something significant enough to change your…fate or whatever, and they’re gone. Or maybe something happens, and you start having them. It’s not always set in stone, you know?”

“Well, good,” Eddie breathes. There’s a chance they get out of this. “That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know all this? Like, do people just come up to you and tell you their nightmares? Do you go around asking everyone in Hawkins what they dream about?”

“As far as we can tell, it started with Barb.”

“Barb?”

“Yeah, uh, Barbara Holland?”

“The one who died from the chemical leak?”

There’s a heavy silence, where Steve looks at Nancy. There’s regret in his eyes. 

“She had a nightmare, the night Will disappeared. Told Nancy a monster took her, something with no face and lots of teeth. Nancy told her to lay off the horror movies.”

Something sinks in his stomach. 

“That night, they came over to my house, you know? We were messing around, being stupid, and Barb cut herself. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, we told her to go home and went inside. The next day, she was missing.”

“Shit,” Eddie breathes. “The chemical leak?”

“Bullshit,” Steve confirms. 

“Shit.”

Steve blinks, eyes jumping back up to his. “What?” He asks, sounding breathless. Poor guy. Those bites must hurt like hell. “Sorry, I didn’t hear that.”

“It’s fine,” Eddie says, even though his mood sours a bit at the idea of Steve not listening to him. “I was just saying, you and Wheeler looked pretty cozy. I think you’ve got a chance.”

Steve stares at him. “…what?”

“Christ, Harrington, your ex-girlfriend! Nancy Wheeler, who leapt after you without a second thought and was giving you eyes the whole time she was patching you up. I’m telling you to win her back.” Sorry, Chrissy. She'd told him she was over that particular crush, though, so he figures it's fair game.

“Nancy? You want me to date Nancy again?” He asks, as if the idea is so far out of the realm of possibility that it’s baffling. 

“Do you not?”

“Not really.”

“Why?” Eddie asks, because if there’s anything he’s learning about himself these days it’s that he’s a bit of a masochist. “Isn’t she the perfect girl for you?”

She is. They fit so well, Eddie could see it from space. Nancy Wheeler, with her determination and fearlessness, guns in her room and fire in her heart. Steve Harrington, the hero, the protector, standing at her side where he belongs. It’s so storybook it practically writes itself. 

But Steve’s shaking his head. “We weren’t…good together,” he says haltingly, as if he’s debating on whether to even tell Eddie this. “I wanted to ignore it all. I was scared of what I’d seen, scared of the government guys whose NDA’s I signed, just…scared. I wanted to pretend like it never happened, like  everything was normal. Nancy couldn’t do that. She lost Barb, and I…told her to forget. I told her to just put out the story the Feds were selling, because I was a coward. Barb’s parents sold their house to hire an investigator for a girl we knew was dead, and god, Nancy’s face…”

Eddie doesn’t know if he wants to hear this. He looks back up at the girls walking ahead. Nancy looks as fiercely determined as usual, but for the first time, he wonders what’s behind it. 

“I hurt her, and she hurt me,” Steve continues. “I…shit, I really thought she loved me, you know? I thought we would get married, have kids, the whole nine yards. Realizing it was all…well, bullshit, that was almost worse than any concussion I’ve had, but I don't blame her. I wasn’t what she needed.”

“And now? I mean, you’re clearly a different guy than you were back then,” Eddie says, because he’s kind of nosy at heart. Steve’s being all introspective and shit, just giving up all this information for free, and he wants to know more. It’s not at all because something in him turns smug when faced with the fact that the world’s most fated couple aren’t fated at all. Are actually kind of terrible together, if Steve’s to be believed. 

“It’d just be the same thing all over again. I’ll always love her, but we want different things. Different priorities and stuff. I wouldn’t be able to keep up, and she’s not going to slow down for me.”

It doesn’t mean he has a chance. Eddie’s got, like, negative chances with Steve Harrington. Still, the little peacock in him preens. 

“What does she need, then?” 

Steve’s face is almost wistful. “She needs someone like Jonathan. He’s got…drive, or whatever. He’s someone you know you can trust to do what needs to be done. The two of them made sure the stuff about the chemical leak was published, you know that? Nancy needed closure, and Jonathan made it happen. He’s cool like that. And he’s good to have in a fight, too. Throws a mean punch.” He smiles wryly at that, touching his temple like he’s lost in a memory. “He’s passionate, and caring, and he’s so stressed all the time, but he still manages to be, like, soothing. And he’s got those eyes, you know? They’re big and sad and like, wet all the time. He always looks like he’s about to cry, but it works for him. He’s just…he’s good at making people feel safe.”

Eddie barely processes the words, too busy staring at Steve in confusion, jealousy churning in his gut. Which is to be expected, given that he’s been pushing said jealousy down for this entire conversation, but he doesn’t know how they went from Steve’s relationship with Nancy to how pretty Jonathan Byers’s eyes are. 

He’s good at making people feel safe. God, he had it all wrong. In the wake of finding out they’d lived through three world-ending apocalypses, that might be the greatest confession of love he’s ever heard. And it’s from King Steve, about a boy that humbled him so bad he drop-kicked his crown straight across the country. 

Steve catches him staring and shuts his mouth with a click. Everything has a washed, gray tinge to it, but he swears his cheeks flush.

“I’m rambling,” he laughs, looking slightly panicked. “I was just trying to say that Nancy and I don’t fit together. Not like that. I don’t really know if we ever did.”

“Yeah,” Eddie says, “I’m starting to see why.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  

“Nothing,” he squeaks. Well, in for a penny, out for a pond, right? He’s already in hell, might as well try and sus Harrington out while he’s at it. “Just…Byers? Really?”

“I don’t—“

“Didn’t he kick your ass?”

“Not you too!” Steve groans. “I already got the third degree from Robin. I was asking for that beatdown. Shit, some of the stuff I said was so nasty it makes me want to take a shower when I think of it.”

His eyebrows fly up at how easily he’d given up denial. “Gotta say, I didn’t think he’d be King Steve’s type.”

“He—I—he’s not—“ he stammers. Never mind, then. Denial still firmly in place. 

At least until Steve lets out a sigh. “I don’t know why I’m trying to deny it. I can see that hanky in your pocket.”

Eddie’s eyes widen innocently. “Oh, this?” He asks, tugging it a bit for emphasis. It stays firmly in place, because he’ll be damned if he doesn’t pin it. He learned after the first three he lost to miscellaneous chaos. 

“Don’t play dumb, that’s my job,” Steve complains. “Shit, I can’t believe I said all that. That’s fucking embarrassing.”

“I mean, I just tried to get you to win back your ex-girlfriend when you’re in love with her boyfriend,” Eddie says mildly. “I feel like we’re both embarrassed here.”

Steve’s flush would be visible from outer space. “I’m not in love with him.” 

“Who are you trying to convince here?”

“I’m not!” He protests. “Like, yeah, I used to be, but I’ve moved on. Firmly moved on. I love him in the same way I love Nancy, you know? Like, she’s the first person I ever loved, and he made me realize that I like both. They’re always going to be part of me. But I’m not in love with him anymore.”

Eddie’s heart takes off without his permission. 

“Don’t tell Lucas,” she pleads. 

“I won’t,” Steve promises. 

Max hesitates.

“You don’t have to tell me if—“

“I’ve been having Nightmares.”

Eddie sucks in a breath. 

“What?” Steve sounds…shit, there’s not a way to describe how broken Steve’s voice is with just those four words. 

“Ever since Billy died,” Max says. “I can’t…it’s Vecna. I know it is. He gets me.”

“Max, why wouldn’t you tell us? We could have—“

“I thought it would be easier,” she tells him, voice cracking. “If I just pulled away, I thought maybe it would hurt less when I finally go. And I think—I think I wanted to—“

She cuts off with a sob, and Eddie’s heart fucking shatters. 

“Max,” Steve says helplessly. 

“I’m sorry,” she cries. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, and I’m sorry I haven’t been here, and I’m sorry for thinking I wanted to die but Steve I don’t, I don’t, I’m not ready to go. I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to, Steve, I don’t know what to do—“

Steve pulls her into his chest. She curls her fingers into his shirt, and he meets Eddie’s eyes over her head. Eddie sees tears streaking down his face before he ducks his head back down. 

“I’m here, Max,” Steve promises. “We’re gonna figure this out, okay? I’ll do everything I can to fix this. You just keep that Walkman on.”

She nods into his shoulder, still crying. It’s violent, her sobs shaking her entire body. She looks smaller every time Eddie sees her, like she’s retreating into herself, and now she looks tiny. Looks all her fifteen years, clinging to the only adult in the vicinity she trusts like he’s her lifeline. And Eddie sees the resolve settle on Steve’s face, knows without a doubt that he’s going to do something stupid. 

“Yes, we do,” Max says quietly. Even from here, Eddie can see her trembling. 

“No,” Steve says. “No, no, no, no, no.”

She’s got a whole plan though. Outlines it with steel in her voice, confident enough that everyone nods along. If Eddie didn’t know better, he’d believe in it too. 

Steve looks damn near apocalyptic. “Max,” he says through gritted teeth, “can I talk to you in the other room?”

Lucas stands up with her, but Steve stops him with a look. Still, he doesn’t sit back down until Max puts a hand on his arm. 

“It’s just Steve,” she tells him quietly. “We just need a minute.”

No one says anything as they close the door to Max’s room behind them. A deafening click of the latch in the silence. 

As soon as the door is closed, Dustin and Erica have their ears pressed to the wood. Chrissy isn’t far behind. 

“Guys,” Nancy hisses, even as she creeps closer, “really?”

“This should be a private conversation,” Robin whispers, wringing her hands as Lucas tiptoes across the room to join them. “Like, you know how Steve gets about you munchkins, obviously he wouldn’t take this well. Honestly, I’m not taking this well, and I’m not your guy's babysitter-slash-big brother-slash-dad. But it’s the best plan we’ve got, unless we want to just let Vecna-slash-Henry-slash-One to give up and find his fourth victim somewhere else and we wouldn’t know who it was and then he really will open the gates and kill everyone we know—“

She’s shushed by four different people. 

Eddie gives in, crossing the room as silently as he can to join their little eavesdropping party. Robin follows him. 

“—said you weren’t ready,” Steve is snapping, voice barely muffled through the door. Thank God for shitty trailer soundproofing. “I told you all you had to do was keep the goddamn Walkman on, and that’s what you’re going to do! We’ll find another way.”

“There is no other way, Steve!” There’s a light thump that Eddie thinks might be the stomping of a foot. “It’s our only shot at winning this. It has to be me.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“What are we gonna do? Wait for him to target someone else? Wait for them to die, because I was too selfish? Because I’m a fucking coward?”

“Yes!” Steve hisses, clear as day. Their little group of eavesdroppers look at each other with wide eyes. “Fuck, Max, if that’s what it fucking takes to keep you alive. He’ll find another target—“

“Are you kidding me right now?”

“I’m not letting you die on my watch, Mayfield. I’m not letting you die, period.”

Max sounds close to pulling her hair out. “You’re not letting me do jack shit. I know the risks. I’m willing to do what it takes.”

Eddie’s heart twists. Jesus, she’s a fucking kid. He’s with Steve, on this one. 

“Well I’m not,” Steve replies harshly. “And if those guys out there knew, they wouldn’t be so gung-ho about it either. You know damn well if you told them you were having Nightmares—“

Dustin loses his balance, and falls on the floor with a thud that seems to echo in the sudden silence that follows. Everyone freezes. 

When Steve opens the door, he’s glowering. Eddie can’t help but notice the tears in his eyes. 

“Seriously?” He demands. 

“You’re having Nightmares?” Lucas asks Max, heartbroken. 

Max’s face is thundering. “That was a private conversation.”

“If you wanted privacy, maybe you should have better soundproofing,” Dustin snarks. “We could have heard you from the living room.”

“Sorry for assuming we didn’t have to ask after closing the goddamn door,” Steve growls. 

Max pushes past them all, heading straight for the back door. 

“Max, wait—“

“Max!”

“Hold on—“

Steve starts after her, stopping them all in their tracks with a glare when they try to follow. He doesn’t say anything, just lets out a derisive huff before slamming the door shut behind him. 

They stand there, crowded in the tiny hallway, frozen. 

“I think we may have fudged that one up,” Robin says quietly. No one disagrees with her. 

By the time they come back inside, everyone else is scavenging for apology food. Max is wiping her eyes, and Steve’s hands shake like he needs a cigarette. 

“I’m the bait,” Steve announces. No preamble, no room for debate, just laying it down and expecting everyone to go along with it. 

Obviously, he was hoping for too much given the kids they hang out with. 

“Will that even work?” Erica scrunches her nose. 

“Yes.”

“Wanna elaborate on that?” Robin asks quietly, moving into his space. He gives her a look, but lets her close the distance between them until she’s taking his arm and dragging him to the couch. He sits obediently, and Max immediately moves to the side Robin’s not on, leaving a bit of distance between them like she wants to be close but is scared to touch. 

“Nope.”

“How do we even know if it’ll work?” Dustin asks. “You can’t just decide Vecna will go for you instead, that’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works.”

“He’s right, Steve,” Nancy says apologetically. She backtracks at Steve’s deadly look. “Obviously, we won’t use Max anymore if she’s having Nightmares, but we have no way of knowing if Henry will come for you.”

“I could do it,” Chrissy offers quietly. Bile floods Eddie’s mouth, and he swallows it back with his protests. “He might still come for me, since I was cursed.”

“You’re not cursed anymore,” Steve reminds her. “You don’t even need the Walkman. Plus, he wants someone El knows. We don’t know that he’d come for you.”

“We don’t know that he’d come for you, either,” Lucas says. 

“He will.”

“He will,” Max affirms quietly. When Eddie looks at her, she’s staring at her own hands. 

“How do you know?” Erica asks. 

“Because I had my first vision while we were outside,” Steve says. 

That shuts them up. 

They’re distracted by Robin standing up abruptly enough to knock over her chair, yelling something incomprehensible at Steve about his “stupid box,” and where he can shove it, whatever that means, and storming off. Steve stays sitting exactly where he is, head down, looking defeated. 

Eddie and Dustin exchange startled glances. 

Chrissy creeps up to Steve cautiously. “Are you going to go after her?”

He shakes his head. When he raises it, Eddie notices his eyes are rimmed red. “You should,” he mumbles. “You’d probably help more than I would, right now.”

She nods and slips away. Eddie sends Dustin in the Sinclair’s direction, and plops down in Robin’s empty seat. 

“She not doing too hot with all this?”

Steve grimaces. “I told her where my will is.”

“Ah,” Eddie says, genuinely at a loss for words. “Well, fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“You not leave her anything?” It’s a shit joke, one that he kicks himself for making, but he laughs. It’s hoarse and cold and all too fake, but it’s a laugh. 

“Like, almost everything I have. To be divided as she sees fit.”

“Making her do all that? No wonder she’s pissed.”

Steve’s snort is real this time.

[maybank-archives]

Can I get one with Jj, one where the reader has a skin condition like eczema. And they are at a pool party and the reader is having an Eczema flare up, and they practically drag her to the pool not knowing she has eczema?

no matter what - jj maybank

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

warning: mention of self esteem but other than none i think? lemme know if i miss something.

pairing(s): jj maybank x fem!reader

word count: 0.6k

author's notes: just like jj said: you look smokin' hot. to all my eczema people, love y'all be safe and don't let a skin condition stop you to feel beautiful and have fun.

masterlist

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Sarah Cameron knew how to throw a pool party, everybody knows that, so when you refuse to go, your friends and boyfriend practically carry you to her place.It was incredibly hard to get away, almost everyday they came up with something and most of the time, out when the sun is peaking.

It was frustrating living in a place aka an island, where summer lasts forever. You were almost running out of excuses, a pool party filled with the tourons and young mean people was not what you needed right now. Avoiding the questions was your best way out so you agreed on going.

You stared at yourself in the mirror, seeing if there was any missing spot, the sunscreen and moisturizer was applied at every bump on your skin, you couldn’t help thinking about your look, our brain loves to trick us but no matter how much you tried to avoid being mean to yourself, the comparison and embarrassment always seems to be there.

It was always “easy” to cover the rashes but recently, due to the extremely hot weather plus stress of your work, it was impossible to not wear something covering your body. You left the house covered in moisturizer, you had your hat, sunglasses and a long sleeve cover up on, you walked to Sarah’s house overthinking all your decisions.

I glanced over at JJ, who was totally in his element, having a blast with our friends by the pool. He looked carefree, all smiles, and I really didn't want to throw a wrench into his day. Truth is, I'd been dodging the pool like it was hot lava, making up lame excuses about not feeling like swimming or not wanting to get wet. But the real deal was that I was trying to keep my eczema under wraps.

JJ, being the observant dude he is, picked up on my hesitation and came over with a concerned look on his face. "Hey, ma’am, why aren't you taking a dip? It's hotter than Hades out here," he said, giving my shoulder a friendly slap.

I nibbled on my lip, trying to play it cool. "Ah, you know, I'm just not feeling the whole swimming thing today," I replied, hoping my voice sounded casual enough.

JJ raised an eyebrow, clearly smelling the bullshit. He lifted my chin, forcing me to make eye contact. "Y/N, what's the deal? You're usually the first one to suggest late night swims. C’mon, cut the crap."

“JJ…” I heaved a sigh, feeling a lump in my throat. "It's my skin k?," I admitted, barely louder than a whisper. "My eczema is acting up, It used to be like nothing and my whole fracking body is covered and I did not want people talking about it."

JJ's face softened as he absorbed my confession. "Babe, you don't have to put on an act for me or anyone else. We're all friends here, and they'll get it." JJ said, reaching for your hand. "C’mon, you look smokin' hot, just like always. It's gonna be really tough to change that, y'know?" 

I probably did not look convinced enough cause JJ was analyzing my face before pulling me to a hug. It felt like a weight off my chest, having JJ in my corner. "I just didn't want to make a big fuss or become the star of the show," I admitted.

"You don’t need to worry about that, I got ya. Your comfort is numero uno. We can head inside, whip out some drinks or chill far from the sun, and you don't have to swim if you don't want to, but you sure oughta be havin' some fun. Don’t let this shit stop you now,”

He was right, hiding my eczema had only given me unnecessary stress, it felt good to see that in another's perspective and realize that all that overthinking was useless. JJ's understanding and support were like gold, and I knew I hit the jackpot with him.

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© maybank-archives 2023 — no one has permission to copy or translate any of my works, if you see any of my work being reproduced in another platform please contact me! :)

[someslothcheese]

Some more Zombie AU designs *kicks feet* (Headcanon under the cut (it's long!!!))

Vik, he's a wandering trader that likely travels alone,(or with the other Brits -like Apple and Ozza- still thinking). He's the guy you trade with and immediately say "What a weird guy" and assume that's the last you'll ever see of him because he's definitely gonna die. He never seems to though, and keeps popping up with more and more bags of stuff at the most random places at the most random times. He's not skilled in any way and is extremely loud. No one understands how he lives.

Speedy I like to think is an escaped convict, idk what crimes he's doing but the idea he's this super shady guy who is one of the few remaining is appealing to my brain. I think he doesn't trust anyone at first, excluding Side - the two of them are "raiders" and trick or threaten people into handing over their loot. Speedy meets the main group by pretending to be a chill guy, infiltrating and trying to subtly get them killed, using loud weapons, accidentally eating someone's food, tripping you into a zombie - stuff that's shifty but you can't exactly say he's doing to hurt you. Eventually, he decides he likes the group enough to not harm them.

Sidearms is a wildcard, he wears a full biker suit and really sucks at driving his motorbike. He never takes off his helmet and for some reason is too good at shooting a sniper. He helps Speedy out of Prison on the second day (he's still locked in his cell - Side is looting) and the two of them work together from there. He's friendly enough but also wants to live. Courtilly is in the main group, she has a revolver that Chilled doesn't like her using (it's too loud!!) and is really skilled at climbing around. She's the best at getting a read on people but never trusts her gut instinct. She spends too much time dealing with Cheesy, Junk and Chilled to keep a clear head - but she has a good eye. The more people that get added it gets both easier to stay alert and easier to get distracted in conversation. Ze has always been a good ally to her though. Junkyard is literally some random ass man the group meets, though probably the first member to get added. He's replaced his leg with some mechanical thinga-ma-bobs because he got a bite on it and now lives in the city quiet and alone. He probably had others here but he's alone now, he helps the group navigate through the city of zombies and upon saying goodbye they insist he comes with them. Though he'd like to stay and keep clearing the streets for anyone else who may be there, he decides it's better to move with people he knows are alive rather then ghosts and thoughts.

Also tried to use their among us colours in their designs.

[peachiekeaneart]

(feat. my actual mobility aids and my actual medications)

ramblings under the cut:

been working on this one since July. I don’t often make art that is extremely personal or intimate bc I’m a clown. However this one is very important to me.

I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that I am (and kind of always have been?) disabled. I struggle with so much - jobs, learning, daily pain and fatigue, mental illness, emotional regulation, dysfunctional eating, trauma - and on top of it all, I struggle with imposter syndrome. Sure, I seem to struggle more than the average person, but what if im accidentally making it all up?

For about as long as I can remember, I have been told to suck it up or muscle through it or to tough it out. So I did. I tried this for a long ass time. frankly a looney tunes amount of time.

As it turns out, when your shit is chronic, there’s no such thing as breaking through to the other side. You can’t get over it like a cold. I’m not trudging through a temporary rough patch of mud towards a smooth, paved sidewalk that I can see just a few feet away. The idea of a Promised Land where my one and only brain and body on this god forsaken earth just ~functions normally~ is a damn lie, a mirage on the desert horizon. It’s a beautiful trick that’s used against me to make me push myself beyond my limits.

And like a good little fool, i fucking fell for it, over and over again, for a literal decade, without anything to show for my journey. Not only am I just as far away from this Promised Land as I ever was, but years of overextending and overworking myself has yielded nothing but more injuries, more stress, and more insecurities.

So I made this colorful little piece. It has 100 bespoke layers and took me a grand total of 30 hours to complete. My meds look like candy because I love taking them. I’m in my comfy clothes even though they don’t always reflect my gender accurately. I display my wrist brace and my cane without guilt. For this one, I actively disregarded Art Rules in favor of following whatever was pleasing to my eye.

This one is for me, exactly the way I am: I am a mess, I care too much, I have no chill, I’ve got big feelings, and I’m incapable of half-assing anything no matter how much I want to. This is my way of honoring everything I’ve muscled through, regardless of how privately or publicly I did so. It’s a reminder to myself.

Anyway. tl;dr this baby contains multitudes *slaps it like the hood of a car*

[stellewriites]

did someone say wip wednesday??

for my ghoap x gn!reader that i’m still trying to finish. reallllyyyy raw and unedited and maybe confusing out of context but here it is!

tw hinted non con touching, at most

You woke slowly, warm and comfortable for the first time since arriving and surrounded by a pleasant smoky, masculine scent you subconsciously connected to Johnny. It only grew stronger as you nuzzled further into the pillow and covers.

With a sigh you gladly resigned yourself to sleeping in instead of getting a head start on your sight seeing like you’d originally planned. Tackling the steep hills over the last few days had taken it out of you more than you’d realised.

A deep groan from behind you had your eyes flying open however and you shot up into a seated position, sleep and comfort forgotten in an instant.

At the sight of Johnny laid next to you, bare chested and sleepily grinning, you felt anger burn in your chest at being tricked, being stupid enough to trust him to keep his word in the first place. He scratched at his hairy pecs with one hand and rubbed at his eyes with the other, smothering a satisfied yawn.

“What the fuck?” You seethed as you tried to figure out if you were more freaked out or pissed off. How had you not noticed when he’d joined you last night? You’d not woken even once. Had you been that tired?

“Sorry bon, must’a had one too many bevvy’s last night with Si, got a li’l drunk and came to bed out’a habit instead of staying on the sofa like ah’d promised,” he said and your eyebrows raised as you realised that was the extent of his apology. “Swear I didnae touch ye though. Nothing untoward.”

You continued to frown down at him as your half-asleep brain tried to process everything he said. The chill of the morning air seeped into your skin where the blankets had been thrown off in your panic causing you to shiver. johnny looked down at your bare arms and let the neck of his fingers run up and down soothingly, trying to warm you back up.

“Right,” you said tightly, voice high but thankfully calm. You needed to handle this without incident.

“Ye ok?” Johnny checked, raising up to his elbows and watching you closely. Eerily unblinking as he waited.

“Yeah. Sure,” you assured him, hiding the wobble in your voice. “It was an accident, right? Nothing happened, it’s fine.”

You made a note silently, deciding you were finding a new place to stay that day, no matter the price. This had all gotten far too weird.

[onegianthotmess]

MK1 Rants:

💚🐍Syzoth’s Hissing Habit🐍💚

MY SWEET BABIE BOY SYZOTH, I HAVE FINALLY WRITTEN A RANT FOR HIM!!!

OKAY! OKAY! SO-

You know how Syzoth hisses? Like in his intro dialogues when he’s irked or angered and all that?

Well, my little wormy brain did some thinking and thought about it. What if Syzoth’s hissing was purely out of instinct or habit? Like he hisses when irked or angered, emotions like that.

So, and hear me out on this, I think that Syzoth also hisses at things he finds threatening or dangerous at a first glance. Now big threats like people trying to kill those he cares about or destroy the realms are a no-brainer, but what about normal Earthrealm things?

Like, you brought Syzoth to Earthrealm because he had a day off and he wanted to see where you came from. And you just spent the day in your house just chilling and explaining what a T.V. was and how, no, a dead little girl wasn’t going to crawl out of it like in The Ring, why in the damn Jesus take the wheel fuck did Johnny show you that movie, sweetie-?

Babie boy isn’t a fan of horror films-

And when you start to get hungry for a snack, you ask Syzoth if he wants some fruit. He nods and politely waits for you on the couch while you go to the kitchen to grab some watermelon for you two to share. So you got a big bowl, put some watermelon you already cut up in it, and grabbed two forks before walking back out into the living room.

You set the bowl of watermelon down on the coffee table and held out one of the forks to Syzoth and-

*HISSSSSSSSS!*

The-

The fuck-?

You looked over at Syzoth to see him backed away a bit, glaring at the fork in your hand like it had committed fucking genocide. Was he okay?

You tried to hand him the fork again and-

*HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!*

He-

He hissed at the fork again and backed away even more, still glaring at the utensil.

It took a second, but you eventually put two and two together and started laughing your ass off. And this made Syzoth very confused.

Why were you laughing when there was something dangerous in your hand? Something that could very easily hurt you or him!

What in the name of Argus were you holding anyway? It didn’t matter because it looked like AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS WEAPON!

After you stopped laughing, you explained to him what a fork was. Even after your explanation, Syzoth still didn’t trust the fork, so you just showed him how a fork was used by using it to pick up a piece of watermelon and eat it.

Syzoth didn’t really trust the fork until you tricked him into opening his mouth long enough and wide enough so that you could feed him some watermelon with the fork. Needless to say, it shut him up and got him to trust the fork. You did have to teach him how to use it a bit, but he was pretty good at using it, despite having hardly ever needing utensils to eat in his life.

My mans literally has a long ass tongue to snatch bugs up from the air, hands-free mode-

But seriously, imagine Syzoth hissing at every normal Earthrealm thing like it’s plotting against him.

It’d be so cute and funny-

Syzoth is seriously one of my favorite MK1 boys! He’s so traumatized, yet so adorable and wholesome; my favorite kind of boy! Also the gif I used, which is my favorite Syzoth gif I’ve ever seen, is perfect for this, fucking prove me wrong 😑

[darkpoisonouslove]

I already mentioned that the final iteration of my latest video is actually version 3.8. Here's the (unfinished, raw and not-colored) ending of the original version inspired by this post, followed by trivia on the final version:

The idea was that Griffin knew the Trix were descendants of the Ancestral Witches and for some reason they were the only ones who could free Valtor. Once they stopped listening to her, she did everything she could to steer events in such a way that they would end up in Omega and free Valtor. However, the Trix, sensing that there's something Valtor is hiding from them, spy on his conversation with Griffin and attempt to gain control of him the same way that their ancestors were pulling his strings. Griffin ends up imprisoning them before they can despite Valtor's refusal to believe that they could pull it off since they're clearly unaware of who he is and what that entails for the power balance between them.

The reasons why I ultimately gave up on this were because a) it was overly convoluted and hard to convey, b) it actually doesn't make sense when you start examining the events and character motivations and c) it moves the focus away from the emotional mess between Griffin and Valtor. I am instead filing this idea away for potential future projects.

Version 2.0 was just an oversight on my end. I somehow forgot that in this AU Griffin only "betrayed" Valtor because the Ancestral Witches threatened her with harm coming to him. I had built this emotional arc about him refusing to trust her after her betrayal which just... doesn't make sense considering the reason why she left.

Thankfully, I did write notes on the story arc I had in mind and reading through them once I'd taken a step away from the project and my brain wasn't running in circles helped me notice my mistake. Which is how the latest direction for the storyline emerged from the clusterfuck of thoughts I had on this. After that I had to tweak certain moments here and there to make the story more coherent.

Now I'll share some thoughts and insights about the final video, this time using gifs instead of stills.

I decided that Griffin can see in Omega, yeah. She can take a page out of Faragonda's book and place a tracking spell on the Trix right before they were taken to Omega so she can see what they're up to in there. I originally hadn't thought of adding the effect to make it look as if the viewers are also looking through her seeing orb but then the revelation hit and here we are.

Idk, I just like how this works considering that it's just the same footage only played in reverse to make it look like she disappears and then reappears in a very quick succession. I used that trick towards the end of the video again when Valtor loses control of himself and starts slipping into his demon form.

I really have no idea what she expected. He has remained with the impression that she betrayed him and, furthermore, she wasn't the one to free him. She just chilled for 17 years while he was literally chilled in Omega. The fact is that she couldn't really free him because the Ancestral Witches took precautions when they forced her to leave by making sure that he will be as trapped as them if she tries something but the Trix being their descendants was enough to free him. However, she's not using her words (for concerns that end up being substantial and completely founded later on) so this was only ever going to go one way.

Sneak Faragonda attack! He did not expect her and Griffin didn't call her either. This part I feel doesn't come through clearly in the video (mainly because I still had no idea what I was doing here and then I had already blocked everything and I couldn't really change it). Valtor basically caught Griffin off guard but Faragonda showed up, having her back as always. Griffin's friendship with the Company was real but she was also very much using their resources to look for a way to free Valtor from the Ancestral Witches. Frankly, she hasn't figured out how she's supposed to balance her relationship with Valtor and her friendship with Faragonda and Saladin yet but she can do it! She will do it! Even Valtor won't manage to fuck this up for her, you'll see!

I am proud of managing this effect, simply. It's been a while since then (this really took forever to make) but I'm sure I tried at least 5 different things here and, believe it or not, this was actually kind of an accident. A lucky one, for certain! Also, Griffin finally figured out she might need to actually clue him in on the truth behind her actions.

Possibly my most favorite moment of the video? Top 3 at least! I would have loved to see some kind of interaction between Griffin and the Ancestral Witches (which is highly unrealistic but they also had the perfect chance for it in Magical Adventure since light magic was extinct and she's a witch, who used to be part of the Company? She should have been there along with Saladin and Hagen at least). Also, I colored the part where Belladonna threatens Valtor separately once before then coloring it along with the rest of the video in order to convey that it's a vision that they showed Griffin. Love the way he reacts to it as well!

He instantly decided that he now has to go and imprison her because she knows his weakness and is too dangerous to be left to her own devices. He's equally repulsed and tempted by the idea that she knows about his demon form. If she can accept him like that and still love him, well... Then he'd have no reason to doubt her ever again. But it's also humiliating that someone else would know about his... situation.

This time she takes a page out of Valtor's book and does his walking-through-walls trick. He really didn't expect that but he has to update his idea of her abilities. It has been 17 years, after all (not to mention that he's on her terf). I just love how he traps her and she escapes right under his nose only to proceed to attack him. She's sick of his bullshit.

My initial vision for this was different as I was considering showing Griffin falling (using the footage from 1x19 where she jumps off a ledge (completely needlessly, might I add) to save her students) but that wasn't going to work so eventually I settled on this. It works super well as a Valtor PoV sequence since he wouldn't see exactly what she's doing and I am quite proud of it!

Griffin is well and truly done with his shit here. She didn't go through all the trouble that dealing with his outbursts is only for him to not believe her feelings just because of his own hang-ups (about his demon form) rather than for any rational reason (she admits she's given him justification to doubt her). And she holds her ground when she catches a glimpse of his demon form, which she hadn't seen until now, but she is done trying to convince him if he will undermine them both on every step of the way.

This doesn't need much elaboration per se. Admittedly, he seems to be having mood swings in this part of the video but the truth is that he's decided to take her at her word that she wants to be with him again. If she steers off path once more, he has all the tools in his disposal to course-correct her. It'd be a waste to ignore how powerful she's grown, not to mention that she truly didn't bat an eye at the sight of his demon form. He's eager to explore the opportunities this situation has to offer so he admits he's willing to believe her if she's willing to prove her words by quitting her (completely deserved) attacks on him. (Who started this, Valtor???)

[gourdkeeper]

Drunken Brawlin'

A self-insert/reader/world tour character 🍋 fic with Jamie Siu. Reader is gender neutral.

4k+ words

Warnings: Drunken sex, light bondage, public setting, semi-public sex, blowjobs, masturbation and mild name calling, switching, lesson goes too far. Canon compliant but not plot heavy (there's no plot almost lol this is straight up porn)

Disclaimer: I am not a writer. Specially not an erotica writer and this was all very self indulgent so please forgive the simplicity of the sentences and amateur-like writing.

Part 2

The sound of a new message rings and you check your phone. It's Li-Fen, again. You sigh in annoyance. She was a very sweet girl but she could easily overload you with small requests that would amount to massive chores if you don't learn to tell her no. Started when you helped her track down Bao Bao Bro and now it's never ending.

This time she had you fetch some weird coupon that allowed her to order milkshakes and boba tea for free once a week via drone delivery. "Sure," you thought "Can't be that hard." Indeed it wasn't such a hard task, but it took your whole morning away and you pray that she doesn't ask anything else of you.

"Did you find it yet?"

You reply with a thumbs up sticker.

"Cool! I'm still chilling with Jiejie here."

You're not far from Chinatown so you decide to take a stroll over there and handover the damned coupon to get this over with.

As soon as you enter the alleyway your eyes meet Chun Li who is once more teaching the locals. She gestures a small wave and a smile at you and you retribute, never did it dawn you that you'd be friends with such a well-regarded and skilled fighter such as her but here you are trading smiles. A little more ahead is Li-Fen, perched up on a little chair, eyes trained on her laptop. Either up to no good or browsing FooTube, who knows.

She doesn't seem to notice you right away so you clear your throat. She looks up at once and sets her sticker filled laptop aside, prancing at you with a full smile. You reach your pocket to get the coupon and notice another small folded paper together with it "Huh, weird when did this get here?" You mutter to yourself. Regardless you hand the prized coupon over and you wish her farewell as you have more business to attend to. She even gave you a Bao Bao Bro sticker as "reward" of some sort. She was happy and that's good enough of a reward as is.

As you turn around and walk away you take a look at the other mysterious paper. Unfolding it revealed the message: "Rooftop, at night."

Wow sure, someone wanted to be weird. You look around your surroundings trying to figure out who must've slipped the message into your pocket but nothing catches your attention. Your feet start moving again, eyes still on the paper. You take a quick final glance over your shoulder to see that someone was just watching you from the corner before swiftly disappearing.

Without any thought or time to waste you turn on your heels and begin sprinting towards the small alley. As soon as you make the corner. No one. Just some merchants going about their day. You know your eyes weren't playing tricks on you.

Well, no reason to stand around. If anyone tries anything funny you know you can stand your ground. "I'll just go about my day and return at night..." Whatever could be worse than another gang bothering you anyway?

---

The message had been in the back of your brain all day now that the sun is setting.

Come to think of it, that same alley was where you had met that long haired guy who was a "peacekeeper" or whatever it was he spouted out of his drunk mouth. He knocked out a couple of gang members and nearly had you beat as well as he had confused you for one. He seemed like a weirdo vigilante to you, albeit a weirdo you'd like to know more about. His fighting style was interesting and unique, you'd be lying if you said you didn't want to learn some of those moves as well.

Perhaps he was the one who had left the message?

With the sky now dark you make way to Chinatown for the second time this day, a couple of cardboard-box-headed fools try to pester you but you quickly brush them off. You don't have time for their stupid brawls.

You make way up the little ladders and onto one of the rooftops and there he is. The exact same drunk guy that singlehandedly beat a swarm of gangsters, facing away from you, staring off into the sky.

You approach cautiously, remembering how the last time you had seen him you nearly tasted asphalt.

The braided man seems to have heard your footsteps and turns around with a welcoming smile on his face, arms rested beside his torso, laying on the railing without a sign of malice. "Yo! I'm glad you got my message! Name's Jamie."

You awkwardly introduce yourself back, slowly closing the gap between the two of you.

"You dropped this that other night and I've been meaning to give it back but figured we could have a chat as well?"

He hands you your own ID, you haven't even noticed it was gone until now, almost makes you wonder if he didn't swipe it off you just to have an excuse.

"Oh uh, thanks!" You take it back and join him by the railling and look down on the humble alleyway. It's quite a nice view you can't lie.

Jamie bumps the back of his hand on your shoulder, motioning his gourd at you inviting you to take a swig with him. You politely decline "I don't really drink much, I don't think I'd be able to keep my drink well."

"Oh this?" Jamie looks at you, eyebrows raised "No no, not at all! This isn't booze, it's more like a uuuh herbal energy drink? Sure it is strong but it won't leave you with a nasty hangover. Family recipe!"

He has a kind smile on his face, he's... Really pretty honestly, the moonlight reflects off his eyes and skin, your eyes drift downwards meeting his bare midriff. It's making you feel things. You are smitten by him. The view *sure* is nice in here. Focus, you're not here for that.

"Try it really! I'll even teach you some of my moves so you can be *almost* as cool as the great Jamie Siu!"

You laugh at his cockiness. He's kind of arrogant but in a joking manner, like he doesn't fully take himself seriously? It's endearing. Plus he just offered to teach you his style and that's pretty much what you wanted. Surely can't hurt to give it a shot.

You nod and accept the drink. Jamie's smile stretches across his face and quickly grabs you a small cup and kicks a bench upright for you to sit on. "Really, best that you take a sit incase *it is* too strong for you."

It makes you question the contents of the drink but sure. You chug it down in one gulp and. Oh. Oh no. God. He was not lying. This is strong. Maybe too strong. You've dropped the cup and you're seeing double, one Jamie is enough, thank you.

You stupidly try to get up and trip over yourself, thankfully he grabbed you and stopped you from falling.

"Yooo are you okay?" Absolutely not.

"Try to regain balance, c'mon." He lightly slaps your cheek to get your focus on him and you just fall towards him. He lays you down. "Ok maybe there is a *little* bit of alcohol. Jeez you sure cannot hold your drink. Sorry about that."

Your head is still spinning, you're clueless as to how anyone can stand up, let alone fight after drinking whatever that gourd contains. Out the corner of your eye you see Jamie take his puffer jacket off, leaving his chest bare.

"Woaah..." You mouth, causing him to chuckle at you.

He lifts your heads and slides it under for support. "Just lay down for a couple 'k? We'll get onto the fighting part once you can clear your head a bit."

Whatever he says just does not register, your mind's in cloud nine and you can't unglue your eyes off of him.

Sure you realized he was attractive already but, goddamn, he is beautiful and you cannot stop yourself from stammering it outloud.

"So I've been told!“

He doesn't take you seriously, under the impression it's just the drink talking but you are dead serious.

You were there to catch fists, not feelings damnit.

Your breath is heavy and dragged, your eyes half lidded and your head feels entirely too hot, it's like you're going to explode.

You look up and he's hunched over, hands on his knees, staring right at you smiling.

"You're quite pretty too, y'know that?" God. You just want him to kiss you honestly.

"Anyway," He continues, "If you're lucid enough to admire my beauty... I'm sure you're lucid enough to get up and fight, no?"

You whine quietly at the callout and do your best to get up on your feet.

Jamie takes on his stance and you mimic it.

He starts explaining the basics and gesturing simple moves for you to copy.

You're following along but there's nothing but static in your brain, you can only think how badly you want this beautiful dark haired man standing in front of you half naked. This isn't the usual you, you're a fighter, and fighters show restraint, they don't show whatever this newfound weakness is.

He goads you onto attacking him. "Give it your all. Go on." You try to jab him but he deflects it effortlessly. You take a backstep and throw a kick. Deflected, throwing your balance off. You catch it and waste no time bringing your opposite arm forth with another punch and your feel your arm get stopped in it's tracks and circled around you. You get hit a couple of times and before you realize, you're locked in place, defeated.

"Tsk tsk" he clicks his tongue, "that's no good. Try again."

Once more, the same result.

"Again."

Every time, taking the same stance and defeating you without breaking a sweat while you can barely even maintain your composure.

This time he locks you in place and ends with his fingers pinched over your windpipe.

Right beside your ear, "I could have killed you easily. You need to do better." He growls.

His sudden serious low tone brings a shiver to your spine. Once more you're feeling things that shouldn't be felt, not here or now at least.

His stern voice. His breath right next to your ear, his naked chest pressed onto you, unable to move. This could prove to be a real problem.

You let out a pitiful whine and stare at him through the corner of your eye. He looks like a predator who had caught his prey.

"Are you... Gonna let go of me so we can try again?“ You enquire half nervously.

"No. Break out of it yourself."

You gulp down hard. He has a devious smirk on his face for a moment and the drink is still impending you from lying.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Oh?"

He squeezes his grip on you like a snake trying to strangle his prey and applies pressure on your neck causing you to squirm and yelp in pain.

"What do you mean by that? Are you giving up already? Not cool... I thought we had a fighter here and not a loser..."

"I'm..." the words stutter out of you, "Too distracted... By you..."

Your cheeks are burning in embarrassment, why can't you just be quiet. Stupid drink. That was the biggest mistake ever. Mom truly was right, never take anything from strangers.

One moment you don't know each other and the other you're undressing them with your eyes because you took one, *one* single swig of an unknown liquid. Stupid stupid stupid.

"Is that so?" He tightens even further. "Tell me, what about me makes you so distracted, hm?"

"Can't be my amazing skill as a fighter, I assume." He mocks, clearly enjoying this. "Is it my handsome physique?“ Tone still mocking.

With the limited motion you have you simply nod slightly and let out a breathy "huh uh" out that sounds more like a moan than an answer.

"I see. It's alright, I would be a flustered mess if I saw myself too." He jokes, cracking a smile and letting go of you.

You regain your breath and balance, assuming a fighting stance once more.

"Oh no no, I don't think so. That's enough fighting today, you need to sleep." Jamie says waving his index finger sideways. "Do you have a place to crash at?“

You tell him you just stay at a hideout near Beat Square but that you're not done. You came here expecting to learn something.

"Fair enough, but I did warn you." He takes on his stance as well and once more has you beat in record time, ending with you pinned underneath him. Wrists gripped by his hand above your head and his leg directly under your crotch.

You squirm and try to break free to no avail, once more he tightens his grip and pushes his knee up.

"It seems to me like you're losing on purpose now... I'm not quite sure I catch your drift."

"Maybe I am..." You reply flustered.

"What is it you want?" His face coming dangerously close to yours.

"You." You nearly moan, "I want you... I think."

"You think? “ he wastes no time and your mouths connect, making you gasp when you feel your lips touch and his tongue intrude.

He pulls back, flustered now too, "How's that for a thought?"

"More." Nothing else is in your mind but him, you need him. You only need Jamie, nothing else.

He smiles and gets back on attack, obliging, this time you feel his free hand roam on your chest, feeling you around and groping while your tongues fight for dominance.

He breaks away from the kiss as if asking for permission to move further and you nod. You've started grinding on his legs, you're getting desperate.

You moan his name softly as you attempt to please yourself with his leg and he scoffs. "Tsk, an hour ago you didn't even know my name and now you're moaning it... Pathetic. Do it again." He goads you, just like he did earlier to deflect your jabs, only this time he takes your open mouth as an invitation for his fingers. "That's right, open up for Jamie... Be on your best behavior..."

Jamie's fucking your mouth with his fingers in and out, smearing your drool on your chin while keeping you in place wanting for more. He withdraws his digits and wipes them off on your cheek. "Tsk, maybe I was right, you are indeed a loser." The smile on his face isn't one of bad intentions though, he's just being light-hearted but it does get you going and you once more moan a "huh uh" at him. "Good. I do like reminding losers where they belong." He lets go off your hands for a moment to rip you out of your pants and turn you around. "Follow my instructions, yeah? Lift your ass up."

You do as he says without a second thought. "Good, hold it like that." Without a second to waste he starts rubbing you through your underwear and you have trouble staying in the position. Hell, you have trouble not collapsing completely. You can't even believe that you're doing this. On a rooftop of all places!

"You're beautiful like this..."

He's picking up the speed and you're having trouble not being loud. You don't want the entire neighborhood to hear you but it gets harder and harder, you are quaking, quivering, if he keeps this up you will come undone without a doubt.

"Jamie... Please"

"Please what?“

"Please, Jamie, I'm going to... Aah"

He pulls his hand away leaving you twitching and panting.

"Not yet."

He lightly kicks you to the side making you lose balance and roll over.

Gasping for air and staring at him through heavy lidded eyes.

His braid has come loose since, and his long black hair is a mess, strands clinging to his sweaty glistening forehead and torso.

"On your knees." He commands and you scramble to assume position, wondering if he's doing what you think he's doing.

You expect him to undo his pants but it never happens.

Instead he removes your top, leaving you bare. Completely naked and vulnerable. You can only wish that no one can see you like this. Last thing you need is a random gangster trying to blackmail you over this.

"Spread your legs for me and lean back... Like that, good. Do that for me... Good." He's so mesmerising, his flowy hair, the way he talks, his body, he has you melt like butter. He has you completely in his grasp.

You see him hold onto his gourd but don't question it and simply do as he says.

He crouches next to you and resumes, applying pressure in all the right spots, rubbing at the perfect pace, getting you worked up once more.

"Open your mouth."

You slightly open one eye and part your lips.

"Face up." He tilts your chin forcibly and positions you as he wants. "Open wider."

His busy hand speeds up as he slightly loses his temper. "I said. Wider."

Suddenly there's liquid pouring over your mouth, chin and chest.

"Drink up, loser. Don't you want to be as strong as me? Learn to stomach it then."

Your chest heaves up and down, trying to not choke up on the drink while fighting the growing orgasm inbetween your legs. It's almost too much to bear.

He picks up the pace, faster than before. "Soon you'll be having something else in your mouth."

Now it was definitely too much. You inhale and you feel the climax crashing and you choke on the drink, coughing and gasping for air as your arms grow tired and let yourself collapse on the ground.

He lays down next to you, taking a swig of his own drink and wiping his mouth with his arm.

"You good?"

You regain your breath and exhale while nodding.

"Good, I'm not through with you."

He rests his palm on your cheek while gazing into your eyes and approaches for a kiss once more.

"Hm, you taste much better now" you're both giggling like school girls, you reek like his drink and you look like a mess. You *feel* like a mess, hell, you probably can't even walk straight at this point.

"Do you still want it?“

"Hm?“ You look at him, confused.

"The other "something" in your mouth?“

You can't help but let out a laugh and nod. You do. You want all of him.

"You sure right?"

It's sweet of him to confirm with you even though you're both clearly plastered.

You reassure him and crawl over to him and start undoing his sweatpants.

He's leaning back on his arms, cheeks burning red and with a smile on his lips.

"Eager eh? You sure are a good student, the best for sure."

"Oh so you just do this with everyone?“

A belly laugh comes crashing from his side. "No no, absolutely not. First time doing this to be honest."

Huh. His answer and honesty perplexes you. First time sinning on the rooftops with someone he's trying to teach or? First time, first time? You push for clarification.

"Of course the great Jamie Siu has had sex, duh of course." His eyes averting from you now. "No one can resist my charm, I mean, look at me. It worked on you!"

You already know the confidence is a bit of a façade, no use making him feel bad even if he's a terrible liar. You're done removing his pants and you start teasing him. Giggling at him while you ghost your finger tips on his thighs and above the elastic of his boxer shorts.

"Is this revenge or something?" He asks with a cocked eyebrow.

"Nah, I just like seeing how you react."

You peel his underwear off of him. The way his sex springs up makes you hunger even more for him. He's so wet already, coated in his own precome. Would be a real shame to tease him further...

You crawl inbetween his legs, taking one into your grasp and kissing up from his calve to his thigh and do the same on the other one. Lightly touching his ankles, the back of his knees, the inside of his thighs. The more he shivers under you the more you want to devour him.

"Please" his brow is furrowed and his cock is heaving up and down together with his chest. "Please just touch it already..."

"Since you've asked so nicely..."

Your lips touch his tip, just a small kiss before reaching down with your tongue at the base of his shaft and dragging it up painfully slow causing him to squirm. He bucks his hips upwards trying to connect with your mouth and you take hold off them and push them down, pinning him to the ground.

He moans in response.

"Hm? What? Do you like being under my grasp as well?"

"Maybe so." He's pouting slightly, somehow redder than before. It's honestly cute and it only makes you want to push further.

You run your tongue lightly up and down his sex. Everytime it goes near the frenulum he almost loses it. It's like you're making love to it.

'Ah's' and 'oh's' together with a myriad of other noises keep escaping his lips.

You pin him harder to the ground and decide to take his entire lenght in your mouth. Hollowing out your cheeks, his pubes tickling your nose. You apply some pressure and go up. And down. And up, alternating between circling the head with your tongue and licking the base of his cock with every motion. He's squirming, panting and his hips twitching.

He's swearing something in Cantonese and it makes you proud of your skills. He's so beautiful, specially like this. It makes you wish you could see him in this state every day.

You feel his hand reach up to the back of your head pushing you down and you slap it away immediately, taking a hold of his wrist and pinning it on the ground. You do the same to his other hand that was laying about comfortably.

Judging by the moans leaving him, that was the right move.

You close your eyes shut as you work him up.

No. This is not enough, you decide last minute.

With a pop you withdraw your mouth from his cock. Jamie produces the whiniest moan you've ever heard from anyone.

"N-no please, I'm so close please, please please"

His pleading is adorable.

"Oh yeah? Do you want to come?"

"Please, god yes please! It was so good please" He pleads thru his teeth, grimacing, teeth gritted, eyebrow furrowed, tears swelling up at his eyes, redder than the lanterns in Chinatown and his hair clinging to his sweat. If you didn't know any better you'd think he was in pain. He's back to swearing in his language, switching back and forth between the swears and the pleading.

"Oh come on? I thought you were the great Jamie Siu? Protector of Chinatown? You're getting destroyed in a rooftop and you're being so loud about how badly you want more? If you don't watch out you'll be branded as the whore of Chinatown instead." You tease.

He stills and gulps down, not even realizing how much of a loudmouth he was being. Embarrassed and thankful that you reminded him of his whereabouts, now whimpering quietly.

"If you want to come to badly, you'll have to be quiet, ok? 'O great Jamie Siu..." You mock and his cock twitches at the words.

He nods quickly, trying to stammer out a "Yes please, I'll be quiet!"

"Good boy."

His world froze. *Boy? Good boy?* How could you talk to him in this matter. First calling him a whore and now this... He didn't like that his body betrayed him in this way, he should be offended, whooping your ass even, but truthfully nothing has ever excited him like this before.

You see the gears in his head turning and repeat yourself. "That's my good boy..." His breath is ragged and you return your mouth to his cock.

You release one of his wrists briefly only to slam your knee over it instead and with your now free hand you start jerking him off along with your mouth, squeezing ever so slightly when it's close to the head. You keep pumping up and down. Making eye contact with him. He's a mess. Biting down on his lip, trying to be a good boy for you. His fists balled up, trying to ride these sensations out for as long as he possibly can. Sadly for him it all comes crashing down. He can't take it any longer. His body convulses underneath you as he blows air out of his nose and his forehead almost goes purple. With the most beautiful expression painted on his face. He comes, hard. Spurting for what feels like an eternity in your mouth. You doing your best to not let a single drip out.

He collapses, defeated. Body drained of strenght and mind of judgement.

You've let go off him by now and swallowed most of his come. Crawling up to him you decide to kiss him. You swirl your tongue, dancing together with his, giving him a taste of himself to which he scrunches his nose with a look of disgust now that the clarity is hitting him. "Good boy." You whisper as you back out of the kiss.

He flops onto his back and stares at the sky.

"I can't believe we just did this." He's incredulous.

You're both laughing again.

"We should probably get dressed again and call it a night." You remind him.

"Uh yeah definitely..." his tone seems a bit sad now, "Do you uh, want me to walk you home?"

"Oh you don't have to, I can handle myself-"

"No really, I want to, I insist."

"Well," you look back at Jamie with the grin of someone who's about to mock him again, "if the great Jamie Siu insists who am I to decline?"

---

You're both standing at your doorway now, saying goodbyes. You've tried inviting him in but he politely declined, you can only hope you haven't scared him off. You'd hate for this to be the last time you see him.

Just as he's about to walk off you exclaim "Wait!“

You pull the Bao Bao Bro sticker that Li-Fen handed you earlier.

"You're gonna give me a sticker?? Really?“

"No dumbass," he's bewildered. You pull a pen out and scribble your number into the back of it. "It's more than a sticker. Here." You hand it to him and kiss him once more before seeing him off.

You turn on the lights to the small apartment (if you can even call it that) and kick your shoes off just as you hear your message tone again.

*Sigh.*

"Please tell me she doesn't want to send me on a wild goose chase again."

It's not Li-Fen this time, instead it's an unknown number.

"Tomorrow, rooftops? xx"

Now that was fast! A smile curls at your lips. Tomorrow, rooftops for sure.

[hughjidiot]

Total Drama Island Reboot Season Two: Episodes 2, 3 and 4

Okay wow, was not expecting three new episodes at once. Again I am baffled by both the local and international release schedules. But I'm continuing to watch and enjoy this reboot, here are my rough impressions of all the characters in all three episodes. Spoilers below the cut, obviously.

Chase is out second. Pretty obvious boot with how he behaved in the challenge, but that's just how TDI is sometimes. Glad he went early if I'm being honest since his whole subplot with Emma had run its course and there wasn't much more to get out of Chase. Speaking of which though...

Emma was out fourth, which kind of surprised me. I thought she might get an arc of finally forgetting about Chase and moving on, but then she goes and gets eliminated. Maybe they're saving an Emma arc for if gen 4 gets a third season? Who knows. A little disappointing but not a huge loss.

And between them, Millie is out third. Not surprising if I'm being honest; Millie had a chance to train up to be a stronger player with Priya's help, but neglected to actually study for it. And then in episode 2 when she tries to think creatively to help her team win, her lack of social skills is what did her in when she failed to consider how pissed her team would be for tricking Damien down the most dangerous slide. Her elimination feels like a natural consequence of her own actions and shortcomings instead of the contrived coincidences that Total Drama was guilty of many times in past seasons.

Then there's Damien himself. So far he still hasn't done a whole lot, but he's definitely shown to have become more self-confident with the way he called out Millie and how he was willing to brave that rickety bridge in episode 3. Time will tell if he makes it far.

Zee continues to be hilarious. Not really having much of an impact in terms of plotlines with other characters, but he always gets a laugh out of me. "Not thinking is my specialty!"

Gotta say, I thought Priya would have at least shown a little more of a reaction to her bestie being voted off. Still her plotline with Caleb is interesting. I can picture this leading to drama down the road where she realizes Caleb has just been trying to build an alliance rather than flirt with her. Or who knows, maybe Caleb will develop genuine feelings for her and it becomes a ship. Could go either way.

Speaking of Caleb, he represents the biggest difference between the writing of the reboot and previous seasons. Not once does the show portray him as antagonistic in trying to manipulate Priya into an alliance; he's just trying to form a strong partnership to make it farther in the game. Helps immensely that Caleb isn't actively cruel like Heather and Alejandro; he's genuinely chill despite his determination. Him literally carrying most of his team in episode 3 was awesome, not gonna lie.

Nichelle continues to dominate and be awesome in challenges. However I can't help but notice she's not really trying to get close to anyone, like Caleb is with Priya for example. I have a feeling that could come back to bite her if people vote her off for being a potential threat ala Caleb in season one.

I'm loving Axel so far. She's much better about being a team player but also hasn't lost her edge. I also like how we're getting depth to her, like her love of poetry. And then there's her romance with Ripper which I did not see coming. More on that later.

Holy shit, I was hoping for more of the MK/Julia alliance, but I wasn't expecting this much! I'm loving MK's unorthodox strategy of disguising as an intern to get inside information, it's very unique.

Oh and MKulia might become a thing. "Oh stop it, you'll make me blush!" "If MK's brain drove a cool car, I would totally date it." Watching these episodes I was like Wait are they gonna go there? Oh my god they might actually go there! And if they do, I am here for it!

Wayne and Raj continue to be very wholesome and hilarious! I love the dynamic they bring to Team Skunk Butt, wanting to play fair while Julia and MK cheat. And stuck in the middle...

is Bowie. I'm loving the drama of his character arc: he's still willing to pull the same underhanded tactics he used in season one and is all in on MK's strategy, but now has Wayne and especially Raj are acting as his morality pets. Some are predicting this could lead to a Rajbow break up, but I honestly don't think they'd do that. What I think will happen is Team Skunk Butt loses a challenge despite MKulia cheating again with Bowie's knowledge, Bowie feels terrible, and to make it up he offers to eliminate himself if one of the Hocky Bros is about to be voted off.

Last but not least, Ripper. Gonna be honest, he was my least favorite of gen 4 in season one; I didn't care for his focus on gross-out humor and he survived eliminations over characters I liked more. I didn't expect much from him going into season two so I was blindsided here. Not only is his gross out humor significantly toned down (but still present) but he proved to be quite endearing with his insecurity over his crush on Axel. I was especially stunned in episode four when he actually tried to connect with Axel's interest in poetry and actually wrote a poem for her, something I could never see season 1 Ripper doing. And Axel reciprocating with a kiss despite not seeming interested in him earlier? My haw hit the floor. Before I was hoping he'd be an early boot, but now I find myself actually wanting to see Ripper stick around and see where things go with him as a character and his potential relationship with Axel. I... actually like Ripper now, which is a sentence I never thought I'd say.

A few minor issues aside, I am loving this new season so far. I haven't genuinely enjoyed Total Drama since the original TDI 15 years ago.

[onceuponastory]

into the deep - bucky barnes x reader

Plot: There’s something hiding under the sea in the cove that Y/N visits. Something that knows her name. Pairing: Siren!Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader Warnings: 18+ Please, this is a dark fic! Implied drowning/death, kidnapping, blood, violence and wounds, manipulation and dubcon, specifically kissing. Also mentions of Y/N seeing things that aren’t there or at least, she thinks they aren’t there. Again, if you have a fear of the sea, this is not the story for you! As always, if I miss any triggers please let me know! Notes: Wow, another water based fic from me? Shocking, I know. Not beta’d, so any mistakes are my own.

One cold, moonlit night, Y/N sits on the sand, leaning back against a rock. The cool water laps around her legs as she sinks her toes into the sand. Looking out across the horizon, the silvery moonlight shining down on the water, Y/N sighs happily. She loves coming to this cove. She can take some time to herself to collect her thoughts here. It’s her own special place, hidden away from humanity, and the villagers who exclude her, despite her attempts to fit in. Nobody here understands her. But at the cove, she can be herself, with nobody here to judge her. She can’t believe people say it’s cursed, and that there’s something dangerous here, ready to snatch away anyone who strays too far or who dives too deep. As far as Y/N’s concerned, they’re just fairy stories, cautionary tales told by parents to keep their children away from the water. There’s nothing dangerous about this place. Not when it’s so beautiful, and when it provides her with a place to relax when it all gets too much. As the hours pass, Y/N sits there in peace, listening to the rhythmic lapping of the water against her legs, and against the rocks beside her. 

And then she hears something. The noise is so quiet, she has to take a moment to adjust. At first, she thinks it’s just the wind, her tired mind playing tricks on her and making her hear things that aren’t there. But then she hears it again. It’s faint, but there’s definitely a whisper in the wind. “Hello? Is there someone there?” She looks around, but there is nobody to be seen. Y/N chuckles. It’s definitely her brain playing tricks on her. And that means it’s time for her to go home. Yet, as she stands up and collects her things, she hears the whisper again. 

“Y/N….” the noise causes the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up, and a chill runs down her spine. This time, it’s not caused by the chilly sea breeze. “Y/N….”

“It’s just my imagination.” She murmurs, hurriedly wrapping her sweater closer around her body. “Now it’s definitely time to go home.” 

Yet as she turns and begins the walk home, she can’t help but hear the whisper once more, and notice how the water seems to ripple differently…almost as if something is under there. Something that’s watching her.

Since that night, Y/N has been unable to get the cove out of her mind. Every night, she dreams of its silvery water, and whatever is lurking beneath it. Whatever it is, it knows her name.

“Y/N….” The voice still haunts her every waking moment, tempting her back and making goosebumps appear on every inch of her skin. And this time, it has a new message for her. “Come back…Come back….” The longer she stays away, the louder and more frequent the voice seems to be. She has no idea who it belongs to. All she knows is that it sounds like a male voice. When it speaks, she even feels an icy touch on her skin. And she recognises the chillness of the touch right away. It’s as cold as the water in the cove was as it lapped against her feet and between her toes. So cold that it’s as if someone or something in the water is touching her. That thought makes her even more afraid. 

Y/N tries to block out the voice as much as she can, convincing herself it’s just her vivid imagination working overtime, but each time she does, the voice reappears, each time stronger and more seductive. Almost like it’s taunting her, pulling her closer and closer until she does as it asks. But she won’t let it get to her. Even though it’s driving her crazy.

One day, she makes a trip to her local library, and spends the day combing through thick, leather bound books, searching for any evidence of a creature who could do something like this. A rational, scientific explanation. Yet, there’s still a thought in the back of her mind. The one telling her that perhaps the curse everyone talks about is real after all, and has her in its grasp. When her search turns up nothing, she’s relieved. After all this time, it is just her imagination. It’s not real. She’s not going crazy.

But as she leaves, she hears the whisper in the wind again. And once more, it’s calling her name.

A few nights later, Y/N climbs into bed, ready for another night filled with dreams of the sea. At least now she knows what’s causing it. She wraps her blanket around her body, just in case any more imaginary icy sea breezes wake her up. Yet for once, her room is eerily quiet. Perhaps her imaginary tormentor has finally chosen to leave her alone. Laying down, she closes her eyes, hoping the lack of wind or voice means she’s in for a night of interrupted sleep. Yet, just before she falls asleep,

“Y/N….” Echoes through her ears again. Y/N’s stomach sinks. Or maybe she won’t have a good night’s sleep after all. “Come back….”

“You’re not real. You’re just my imagination.” She whispers, keeping her eyes closed, hoping that with enough challenge, the voice will stop.

“I am real. Come and see for yourself.” The words make her eyes fly open, and she quickly sits up in bed.

“What?” she gasps. It’s never said that to her before. Yet, there is no reply. “Come on, speak!” She demands, calling into the darkness of her room. Despite her demands, the room is silent. Y/N’s stomach churns, and she angrily grips the blanket. “Answer me!” She demands the voice to reply again and again, and still there is nothing. “Right.” she hisses, throwing the blanket off of her. “This stops now.”

Y/N returns to the cove in seemingly no time at all. Almost as if pulled there by some imaginary force. Angrily, she walks around, her toes sinking into the sand once more. She has no idea what she’s expecting to find there. She just wants the voice to stop. Yet, there is nothing to be found, and aside from the familiar sound of waves crashing against the rocks, there is nothing but silence. “What is it? I’m here. What do you want?” She asks, calling out into the darkness. Nothing answers, and she sighs. “I’m talking to an imaginary person. I’m going fucking insane. Fuck this.” 

Yet, as she turns to leave, the voice sounds again, this time louder than ever before.

“Y/N…I’m here. Come find me.” As if in a trance, Y/N turns back around and begins walking in the voice’s direction as it beckons her closer. She registers the feel of the water lapping against her feet, and the feeling of her feet being cut by the rocks surrounding her, yet she doesn’t react to them. She doesn’t even notice how she’s being led further and further away from her village, from safety, and closer and closer to a secluded part of the cove, one barely explored. All she’s focused on is the voice. As it speaks, she still feels a chill, but this time it’s different. This time, the chill fills her entire body. And she likes it. It’s intoxicating. 

And then, suddenly, it’s over. But before Y/N is freed from her trance, the sound of singing starts. The most beautiful singing that Y/N has ever heard. And it’s drawing her even closer to the water’s edge. Slowly, the water begins to ripple. Almost as if whatever’s hiding beneath is ready to come out. The water ripples once more, and soon a head pops out of the water. Y/N opens her mouth in shock, but no noise comes out. She’s purely transfixed by the sight in front of her. A pair of icy blue eyes, the same colour as the water, stare back at her. As the man emerges from the surface, droplets of water fall from the ends of his long brunette hair, dripping into the water. He runs a hand through his hair, his toned chest and muscular arms on full display. Immediately, Y/N’s breath hitches in shock.

Fuck, this man is attractive. Is he really the one who’s been calling to her all this time? Does he want her?

“Hello Y/N.” The man speaks. Right away, she has her answer. The voice is a perfect match. Yet, now he’s actually in front of her, she picks up on the huskiness present in it. And it makes her go weak in the knees. “I’ve been calling you for a long time. I’m glad you’ve finally made it.” When she doesn’t reply, he chuckles. “Speechless, are you? I understand. It must be quite a shock to see someone like me.” She nods, and he smiles. Despite the chilly air, seeing the man smile makes Y/N feel warm. “Come, sit.” He beckons, his voice alluring, like a sweet melody. Instantly, Y/N does as he asks, not even caring about the wet sand and water ruining her pyjamas…or that she’s in her pyjamas in front of someone as good looking as him. All she’s focused on is the man in front of her.

“Who are you? Why have you been calling me?” She asks.

“I’m Bucky.” He props himself up, leaning in closer. So close she can feel his breath on her cheek, enough to make her shiver. “And you’re someone who’s very important to me, Y/N.” Just then, Y/N notices his shimmery gills reflecting in the moonlight. She gasps, her eyes glancing down. Half of a silvery tail emerges from the water. He’s a merman, like something out of a fantasy book. “No, no…shhh. Don’t be scared.” Bucky whispers, grasping her chin and turning her head back to him. “I know about you, and how you come here when you need to get away from it all. They’re so mean to you, aren’t they Y/N? They don’t understand you, do they? Nobody does. But I do.” His whisper is cold against her cheek, and she nods. Right away, she’s back under his spell again, ready to do whatever he asks. “I need you. We need you.” His icy blue eyes focus on her, and he smiles. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Someone to rule with me in my kingdom. My princess.” He kisses her then, deep and hungry. Y/N moans, and Bucky chuckles. “That’s it, good girl.”

Gently, he lays her down on the sand, climbing on top of her. Y/N can feel the wet sand soaking her hair and back, but she’s too consumed by Bucky to even care. “You’re so perfect.” He peppers kisses along her cheeks and jawline, the coolness of his scales pressing against her skin. “Stay with me. Forever.” That pulls her out of her trance, and she gasps.

“No.” she murmurs as Bucky continues to kiss her. “Not forever. I have a life here.” 

“But they don’t love you, my darling. Not like I do.” Suddenly, he kisses the sweet spot on her neck, and she moans. In an instant, she’s his once more. Although she’s not ready for a life under the waves, she could definitely get used to being kissed by a merman, having him as her true love, her own little secret.

“There it is.” He smirks. Bucky removes his lips from her jaw. Y/N lays there, eyes closed and waiting for his next move. “Now. It’s time for you to join me.” 

And then, something slices her cheek. Quickly, Y/N opens her eyes. Two rows of razor-sharp teeth stare down at her, open and ready to bite again. Y/N screams. He’s not her true love, he’s a monster. And he’s going to kill her. Immediately, the spell Bucky has on her is broken, and she knows she has to get away as soon as possible. She scrambles up, trying to crawl away. “Oh no, I don’t think so.” Something cold and scaly grabs her ankle. Y/N kicks back, hoping to strike Bucky, yet he dodges each one. “Stop fighting me. Come, be with me.” She knows he’s trying to cast his spell on her again, and she knows part of her is falling for it, but she has to resist it. 

As Bucky drags her back towards the sea, Y/N tries to grab anything she can to brace herself. She grabs a rock, hoping it’s big enough and buried deep enough for her to hold on. Unfortunately, she continues to slip back.

“No, no, please….” She whimpers. In a last-ditch attempt to survive, she digs her fingers into the soft sand, trying to pull herself to survival. 

“Why did you have to fight? This is only going to make things worse for you.” Bucky sighs. And with one last pull on her leg, Y/N is yanked backwards, back towards the sea. She screams for help, but nobody comes. Bucky wraps his muscular arms around her, pulling her close. He presses her body against hers, despite how she thrashes against his grasp, kicking the water up and around them. “Don’t worry.” He grins, baring his fangs once more. “You’ll stay with me. Forever.” As he pulls her under the sea, he sinks his teeth into her once more.

Another scream fills the air, blood fills the sea…and then the waves are still once more.

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