#i used to use the switch as my lunch break gaming device but it's been ipad for a while now for genshin reasons

[gyuluttony]

Camera Weight

oooh once again, if i'm not given something, i'm just going to keep pushing out the minwon mutual gain fics because something about them has my brain like hardwired rn sdfjhs i hope y'all don't get sick of me writing them in situations like this. i mainly write scenarios that get my rocks off so a lot of them are similar because i like this stuff SDFJS

As a warning, this is a feederism fic and features weight gain, mutual gaining, weight gain denial and dry humping. Don't like, don't read.

The setting for this one is that Wonwoo is an office worker who didn't end up going to the office post pandemic so works from home and Mingyu is a mukbanger. You can see where I'm going here.

Wonwoo closed the laptop that he had for work, making sure that the fake smile he wore stayed on for a couple of moments even after being aware that the camera was long hidden. When he heard the sound of the device powering down, he let out a sigh of relief.

Every work meeting was so tiring. He could only be so amused in seeing Seungkwan and Soonyoung butt heads and it seemed that Jihoon shared the same sentiment considering he looked just as tired when the meeting finished. When the team leads had such vast creative differences, it was a miracle any work could be done.

The miracle in question being named Jeon Wonwoo. Looking at his wristwatch, Wonwoo hurriedly pushed his laptop to the side as he started his home desktop, a set up that was used for much more important matters than organizing spreadsheets and data.

His phone buzzed and he saw Jihoon's contact name as well as a text: "Have fun on your date 😘" Wonwoo felt his face grow warm as he grimaced. Of course he would have slipped while drunk and accidentally confided one of his darkest secrets in a while to his best friend, but he didn't realize it was a free pass to jab at him whenever.

As his screen switched on, there was a small smile that came across his face as he opened Youtube, eager to see the face that he had grown a little parasocially attached to in the past couple of months. The wide smile of the other man pulled at the corners of his mouth as he watched him.

"Wow, it's like the turn out gets bigger for every live that I have!" He waved eagerly and Wonwoo shyly waved back at the screen, almost as if the other man could see him through it. Wonwoo reached for the bag that was at the side of his desk, pulling out his meal.

He had always been a peculiar case when it came to remembering to eat. In school, he had no problem with it because everyone around him ate around the same time but if there was no one to eat with, he just didn't feel the urge to. It was a rather atrocious habit to have but it didn't affect him all too much.

Until he got to work and working from home with his new position. Now, it wasn't out of the blue for him to work the whole day and spend his lunch playing games until Jihoon called him out for it because he was concerned at how much weight Wonwoo had lost in the past couple of months. He was well aware of his friend's habit when it came to eating so he recommended that tried just watching some mukbang streams on his lunch break so it was like he had company.

It was helpful actually! Slowly, he was remembering to eat and just eating properly in general. That was until he found Kimgyu. A mukbang channel that had grown in popularity around the time Wonwoo started paying attention. Originally, he just wanted to see what all the hype was about until he actually tuned in.

A fit, handsome young man who cooked meals for himself for videos and streamed his mukbangs afterwards. The meals he cooked looked good and honestly, Wonwoo admitted that the one making the meals looked even better so he became something of a dedicated fan.

"Today, I made a lot actually... I don't know if I can finish everything that's in here but we'll see." Wonwoo opened his own matching containers as he prepared to eat.

Did they mess up his order? It looked bigger than usual. As he popped a dumpling into his mouth, he shrugged it off since it tasted as good as it usually did. Kimgyu was rather popular for telling stories and anecdotes and realizing he shared a little too much on livestreams but the ditz factor was something that Wonwoo liked (and would rather die than admit).

Kimgyu slurped the noodles in his pan full of them and chewed while he read some responses, "Oh, you're going to get puffy if you're eating that much." A smile comes across his face, "Ah, you're talking about my face. I am getting a lot puffier in general though, don't you think?"

Wonwoo felt his face grow hot, watching Kimgyu show off his new belly in profile on the camera. It was starting to pooch out and he had barely eaten anything. That wasn't there when he first started watching him and... it was making him feel all sorts of things.

Squirming in his computer chair, Wonwoo felt the warmth spread into his system more as he listened, "I do work out still but honestly, I'm starting to explore dishes a lot more instead and I can only do so much cardio." There was a whining tone in Kimgyu's voice that sent shivers down Wonwoo's spine before he was interrupted. "Oh, but I think everyone's enjoying themselves lately it's fine!"

All the chat became a chorus asking why he came to that conclusion and Wonwoo was now hyperaware of the fat around his face, only making his pout more babylike. "I think everyone is just having better food these days! There's..." It was Kimgyu's turn to blush as the chat teased him and encouraged him to continue and he looked rather shy.

Wonwoo wiped his hands on his hoodie as he typed, 'There's what?'

The hand on Kimgyu's face hid a smile as he admitted, "You guys... need to make sure this stays between us. I'm not saying it in a mean way!" Wonwoo nodded, acting like it was a one-on-one conversation while he ate large bites of his rice bowl.

"There's a guy in my building and when I moved in a year ago, he was like... small. Which, there's nothing wrong with! But, he was around my height and I was worried like even the wind would blow him over. But, when I see him recently, he's gotten more sturdy so now, I think it's not like putting on weight is a bad thing."

The chat began to tease him and Kimgyu looked flustered as he explained hurriedly, "I- I mean he's always looked good but he looks even better n- I think I'm just going to stop talking about it." Stuffing his face with a large mouthful of noodles, Kimgyu stated, "So, don't worry about me getting puffy! I'm eating well."

The stream continued and Wonwoo was left wondering why he was feeling the most turned on he's felt in a while. Was... Kimgyu into guys that put on weight? It was one thing to know that he was into guys but it was another that it was a possible fetish as to why he had been getting bigger recently.

Wonwoo opened some videos after the stream, looking at the videos he found when he located Kimgyu's channel for the first time. His arm muscles were bulging because he admitted to doing cooking videos after his workouts. His pecs were large and firm, always making their presence known in his clothes and his ass was doing the same down lower.

But, in the recent videos, these same clothes showed just how much he had been enjoying those meals. Gone was the small waist that Wonwoo drooled over on a couple of occasions, replaced with something that was burgeoning with fat and pressing into his shirt by the end of his streams. At the end of today's, he could have sworn he saw golden skin spill out of the fabric and his hand slipped under his pants to stroke himself at the thought. He had been eating himself bigger everyday and let his massive internet fanbase know about it.

It was hard not to pay attention after. Seeing the way his gut was starting to rest on counters while he was mixing, making the appendage jiggle. Wonwoo couldn't really say that he was only watching because he needed the company to eat. He was watching because he was getting his rocks off on seeing Kimgyu get fatter with each passing week.

From the shots that lingered on his ass that only got wider and stretching the seams of his pants with each and every video or the belly that was no longer able to be contained in shirts, he was going to sleep to the sound of Kimgyu's voice, giving directions on how to cook kimchi fried rice that does good in a caloric deficit while his body showed itself to be in a heavy surplus.

He was still eating with him during the mukbang streams but Wonwoo found himself eating a lot longer considering Kimgyu's portion sizes were growing each time as well. But, it was hard not to get side tracked as he moaned about how full he was, even slipping his hand under his shirt to rub the bloated belly that Wonwoo had pictured plenty of times before seeing white in his vision.

It was a little upsetting he missed the final livestream celebration for his two million subscriber milestone. He was working overtime on a project and most people could sense the grumpy energy from Wonwoo as he typed away at his computer in the office.

"Yo." Jihoon's easygoing gesture was met with a rather cold side eye that would have swayed anyone away. Unfortunately for Wonwoo, Jihoon was well aware that Wonwoo just looked like that and it wasn't pointed... mostly.

"Remind me to never let Seungkwan and Soonyoung lead a project again." A chuckle comes from his friend, laughing at his misery. "Well, this was one of the company's biggest successes in a while so I have some bad news for you."

Wonwoo's groan must have been music to Jihoon's ears at the way his laughter sounded so triumphant before he said, "Let's go grab dinner. We're free tonight from their hell temporarily."

His original plan was to watch the stream VOD while getting dinner but he missed his friend so he shut down the computer after a couple of moments, making sure everything was in check. "Okay, your treat."

Wonwoo wasn't a heavyweight per say, but he definitely could handle his alcohol. He was prepared to get even with Jihoon constantly teasing him about his parasocial boyfriend and he had to hold his tongue at the way he was watching him put on weight over the past couple of months and the amount of things he's done to those videos.

So, using his wallet to get drunk and eat whatever he wanted was payback enough. Jihoon rolled his eyes as Wonwoo got out of his car with a little difficulty, stumbling from the alcohol he drank and the food that he ate. "Maybe mukbangs were a bad influence because I don't think any person should have that much food in one sitting."

Wonwoo smiled as he stuck his tongue out, "Sucks. You offered to pay." Jihoon smiled as he muttered some curses, "Get upstairs safely!" He drove off after watching Wonwoo enter the building but in the lobby, it was really starting to hit him how much he drank.

He felt himself swaying before something supported him. It was large and sturdy. "Are you okay? You're not walking straight and I saw you almost fall while going to the elevator."

Wonwoo hummed in response, "Mm, I'm fine. Just had a lot to drink so thanks for ca-" The words got caught in his throat when his eyes focused and he saw the face that was staring at him.

"Kimgyu-" The words left his mouth before he could realize and both of them looked rather flustered by the admission so plainly. Wonwoo moved away, albeit somewhat shaky and Kimgyu saw the movement before moving back, his hand placed at Wonwoo's waist, "Sorry, I'm not used to being called that in real life. Just call me Mingyu and... let me help you up."

His fans were right because the puppy dog eyes that were pleading were near lethal to him at this moment in time as Wonwoo conceded, "Thanks." Mingyu's smile was wide as he moved Wonwoo's arm around his broad shoulders and supported him the whole way.

It was a difficult trip considering Wonwoo was going insane feeling the immense presence of the man next to him and the realization that they lived in the same building. He felt Mingyu's belly pressing into his side and saw it sway in his peripheral with each step they took and they ended up in the elevator.

Mingyu awkwardly chuckled, "Y'know, it doesn't hit me that people know me until they say my username but thank you for your support..." He trailed off, almost expectant before Wonwoo nearly facepalmed, "Ah, my name's Wonwoo. Sorry, I was..."

"Starstruck?" Mingyu's smile was charming which was doing no favours considering Wonwoo was oogling the body that was lingering a little close to him.

Wonwoo sighed, a smile on his face, "Trying not to fall." Mingyu looked flustered that his attempt at flirting fell through before Wonwoo added, "And maybe a little." He could practically see a tail wagging from behind the other man before the elevator arrived at his floor.

He was feeling a little better already because the shock helped him sober up but as the door open, Mingyu was ready to head to his floor before Wonwoo asked. "Did... you want to come to my apartment? I'm sure there's something I can share with you."

He stepped out in case the invitation was declined and Mingyu smiled as he followed, "I know all I do on stream is eat but you don't have to offer me food." His stomach gurgled as he flushed, "But, I wouldn't say no."

Wonwoo chuckled warmly as they entered his apartment.

Despite the first time meeting, it was easy to talk to Mingyu. Wonwoo even surprised himself by saying why he started watching his videos in the first place and Wonwoo looked amused as he looked at the other man sitting next to him on the couch.

"Woah, are you crying? It's not that sad though?"

"Hyung, stop teasing me! It just makes me happy that I could help..." A sniffle broke the silence before Wonwoo laughed warmly, patting Mingyu on the shoulder.

"It's fine! I've gotten to eat regularly... just like you have been." A gentle pat on Mingyu's stomach that pressed into his lap. It was more sinful in person as he looked at the result of months of indulgence on the other man. His muscle was still there but there was a majority of fat that rested on his body.

Mingyu looked at him with a different expression as he leaned in closer and Wonwoo was ready to receive that body pressing against his. Although he froze when he felt a hand on his stomach and squeezed it, now aware of the excess fat that was on his own body.

Mingyu stopped, almost concerned at the reaction while Wonwoo rebooted, "Is it alright?"

Wonwoo moved his hand to Mingyu's, now aware of the spread of his gut as he stated quietly, "I... didn't realize I had gotten so big."

Mingyu seemed to be taken aback by the statement before the same look in his eyes popped up as he asked, "Where's your bathroom?" Wonwoo pointed to the closed door as he was flustered from standing so quickly as Mingyu took him.

Taking him to the mirror, Wonwoo stood in front while Mingyu stood behind him, feeling his gut pressing against the curve of his back as he took in the sight.

Everything was making more sense now. Why he was eating longer during Mingyu's streams. Why he took longer in the shower while cleaning himself. Why the bottom of his stomach felt cold when brushing his teeth. Why the floors creaked if he walked quickly to get his take out that he ordered. Why he got out of breath when taking the stairs for his one day a week at work.

He had gotten fat. Mingyu's hands cupped his belly and he gasped, "Remember when I said I was looking at the guy who got bigger? I was talking about you, hyung." Lifting his belly, the sound of the clothed protruding body part echoed in the bathroom as Wonwoo whimpered.

"It was one thing that you didn't even know you were getting bigger but this? You even burst a button and didn't even know." Mingyu's hand slipped into the gap of his button down that he didn't notice until now. Did Jihoon notice when this happened? Is that why he looked at him funnily after he ordered more food? Was the proof of his gluttony somewhere in the restaurant they went to?

Mingyu's hands played with Wonwoo's fat body as he whimpered from the touch. "Hyung, I did this by choice." He brought Wonwoo's hands to his own belly as he groaned, feeling Mingyu press him against the counter with their combined weight.

"But you? You did this without even realizing. Look how massive you are everywhere." Mingyu's hands roamed around Wonwoo's body, making him more aware of the fat that bulged all over him. His moobs that rested on his gut. They were properly rivaling Mingyu's and he moaned when the other man squeezed them.

"You won't ever fit into this again." Mingyu pulled the button down apart, ripping the buttons off as they were freed from the strain of Wonwoo's fat body as he braced himself on the counter, so horny it was hard to stand up. His plump ass ground into Mingyu's crotch, eliciting a sigh of pleasure from him before he felt Mingyu's hands on his waist, sinking into the fat as his belly pressed onto Wonwoo's back, gurgling from the snacks that he had filled up on.

Wonwoo looked in the mirror and saw how much they had both blown up in the past couple of months as the apex of his belly felt cool from the counter it was squishing against, spilling nearly all over the sink area as Mingyu grinded his crotch into Wonwoo's wide ass.

It was hard to last long when realizing just how much he had blown up and all the praise Mingyu was feeding him. He was already stuffed full of food and memories of how much he had done it before, rubbing his gut not even aware of how much his computer chair creaked after each meal because it was starting to strain to hold Wonwoo's obese body. He felt Mingyu convulse as the cloth now sounded wet and Wonwoo felt himself release at the realization that Mingyu was so turned on by how fat he was and how he felt their combined weight with his awareness and the way Mingyu jiggled as he rode out his high.

Catching their breaths, Mingyu clutched Wonwoo's stomach as it got a shuddering sigh from the other man.

"So, should I expect a guest for my next mukbang?"

[cafedanslanuit]

how would the obey me boys would react to drunk mc touching them inappropriately in front of everyone? thanks for the jumin eating commoners food hc, it was great! since its already my 3rd request, call me anon Su ^^

Hello, anon Su! Hope you’re doing well <3 And I’m glad you liked the hc for Juju eating commoners food ~ Here’s your request for the obey me boys! Small warning about a bit of nsfw themes lol, but nothing too explicit.

Lucifer

You’re both having lunch with Diavolo an Barbatos. The menu is better than when you used to eat with the other brothers and you plan on making a group demand about better food because Beel deserves better.

Lucifer is going over with Diavolo about a tournament that will take place in RAD but you’re not really paying attention. You eat a bite and even though it’s delicious you can’t help but feel bored. So you keep drinking more and more wine, trying to distract yourself. Before you know it, you notice yourself a little dizzy.

Your boyfriend keeps talking and you decide to have a little fun with him. You wait until he takes a sip of his wine and leaves a ghost of a violet trace in his lower lips. You lean closer and wipe it slowly with your thumb, making sure to look at him in the eyes just in the way you know he likes. You smirk at him when you’re done and go back to your position, taken a bite of the steak in front of you, never breaking eye contact with him.

Everyone goes silent for a moment. Diavolo laughs softly and starts talking with Lucifer again and just when you thought you had lost, you feel a hand under the table squeezing your knee harshly. You can’t help but grin as you wonder how will the first born will make you pay for this.

Mammon

You’re both drunk. Not only you, but every brother is the drunkest they’ve ever been. You had organized an impromptu party and somehow, everyone had agreed. Even Levi, who was very passionately explaining a TSL story on a board.

Mammon is louder than ever, and now that you’re both dating, he can’t keep his hands off you. His arm is always around your waist, holding you close and bringing you with him wherever he goes. You can’t stop laughing at it, even when he needs to use both hands, he finds a way to keep touching you.

For the first time in the night, it seems he finally has to let you go. The beers had taken a toll on him and by the way his legs were squirming, you know he has to go to the bathroom. He excuses himself and promises he will be right back.

You don’t know what got into you, but before you can think about it, you slap Mammon’s ass as he stands up so loud that every brother stops what they’re doing and look at you both.

Your face is deep red but you manage to laugh it out and add a flirty: “Well, don’t make me wait”, at a very confused and equally embarrassed Mammon, who just manages to quickly leave the hall as everyone shares a laugh and go back to their previous endeavours.

Leviathan

Same demon brothers’ impromptu party.

Only this time, Levi wasn’t really up for it. He brought his Switch to the party and keeps playing, ignoring everyone and refusing to drink. At Satan’s insistence, he accepted a bottle of beer but still didn’t try to join the party.

You’ve tried everything by now, from batting your lashes to literally trying to take the device of his hands, but nothing seemed to work. So you started drinking. A lot.

You didn’t realise how much time has gone by, but you were officially drunk now. You were drinking by Asmo’s side when you saw Mammon teasing Levi.

“Asmo’s gonna steal your girl if ya’ don’t stop playing, Levi! Hey, listen to me!”

You giggled a little, knowing that won’t stop your boyfriend from playing. Mammon, pretty drunk himself, kept pushing him and you tried your best to ignore it, until you heard somethin that ticked you off.

“This is why people don’t like otakus, ya’ know? They’re boring”.

Not under your watch.

Levi may not be a party guy, but he definitely wasn't boring. And you weren’t going to let anyone diminish him, when you had been working so hard on making him love himself more.

So, you walked to the couch and kneel beside Levi. Not caring about what could anyone say, you hug Levi tightly to your chest, his face buried in your breasts. You’re so drunk you don’t realize the sexual tension in your hug, thinking you’re just cuddling your lover. You almost miss the sound of Levi’s Switch falling on the floor.

“Hey, don’t mess with my man!” you argued with Mammon and sticked your tongue out. “He’s not boring, he’s really cool, you just can’t realize it. I’m in love with this otaku, and I think he loves me too”

“Well, he definitely loves your breasts” an inebriated Asmo teased you, making everybody laugh.

You looked at him, confused, until you look down and realize Levi’s face is still pressed to your chest. You let him go and tried really hard not to laugh at how red his face was and how he was unable to talk. You whisper an apology and sit next to him. You turned your head at him.

“You okay?” you asked. 

“That was… nice” he replied his face flushed. You laughed softly and picked up his Switch from the floor, handing it to him.

He turned it off

you can fight me on this but levi is a boobs man i will die on this hill

Satan

You both loved wine. More than wine, you loved drinking wine together. It was a Friday night, school was over and you had gone to Satan’s room to share a bottle of wine with him, while you chatted about whatever topic your boyfriend had been reading about recently. You loved debating with him and even researching about it on his library mid-debate.

A bottle of wine became two, and three and four. You were really drunk and whilst he wasn’t as drunk as you, he definitely looked a little more disheveled than usual.

“I’m hungry” you announced, kneeling on Satan’s bed. He arched an eyebrow, smiling at you.

“So?”

“Cook me something? Please?” you asked, pouting a little. Satan smiled, pecking you on the lips.

“No. But we can order something” he replied. You nodded and let yourself fall on his bed dramatically while he used his D.D.D. to order food.

“Hope I’m still alive by then” you sighed, gaining an honest laugh from your boyfriend, who put himself on top of you. He looked at you intensely, and you could see in his eyes the wine had definitely done something to him.

“C’mon, let’s make use of this thirty minute wait” he suggested, smirking. Before you could reply, he clashed his lips on yours, eliciting a moan.

Thirty minutes came faster than you expected (as did you, sorry not sorry for that pun). Both of you decided to go to the kitchen and prepare everything so you could go back to his room. Satan put his pants and shirt on, while you also put your uniform blouse and skirt the best that you could.

When you got to the kitchen, your food was already on the table. “You’re lucky Beel is out” Belphie commented, sitting on the kitchen counter while he idly ate some cereal. Asmo was also there, and giggled at both yours and Satan’s clothing choice. “You stink of alcohol and sex. Please keep in mind my proposal, Satan, remember the more the merrier” he winked, making you laugh.

Satan just chuckled at the comment, concentrating at separating both your orders in two plates. You hugged him from the back possessively, sticking your tongue out to Asmo.

“Mine!” you joked. You pressed your cheek on Satan’s back, your hands roaming around his stomach, feeling delighted his abs. The alcohol still in your body made you feel bold, as you let your hands wander underneath Satan’s shirt. You felt his muscles clenching as you caressed his chest and abs. Just when you were about to make your way down south, you heard a frustrated groan from behind.

Belphie was still sitting on the counter with a disgusted face. “Please go back to your room, this isn’t a brothel. And Asmo is about to jump on you both”. You saw a pink aura around Asmo and how his eyes were a little bit darker. By then, Satan had finished preparing the tray, so you turned around and went back to your room, not before grabbing another bottle of wine.

Asmodeus

You didn’t really need alcohol to get handsy with him, not caring who was around you.

It soon became old to have any of the brothers walk in on you when you were both making love in any room of the house. Poor Beel really wanted his custard, but didn’t know how to politely tell you both so top fucking against the refrigerator.

One day you were both on Asmo’s bath, drinking champagne and taking your time to relax together. You suddenly thought of something fun to do that you hadn’t tried before and when you told Asmo about your plan he was so in.

For the first part of your plan, you had gone to Levi’s room. You knocked the door and when he finally opened it, you told him there was a package from Akuzon in the living room, which you thought was for him. He run down the stairs and you took your chance to enter his room alongside Asmo, hiding behind one of Levi’s shelves.

Levi came back, murmuring something about you wasting his time because the package definitely said Satan, not Leviathan. He put his headphones back on and resumed his videogame. You gestured to Asmodeus to be quiet and winked at him. He quickly was all over you, pressing you against the wall. You could feel how hard he was already, the idea of both of you making love in front of Levi while he didn’t notice was something you hadn’t tried before. You were wearing a dress because of its easy access and Asmo was wearing a pair of loose leggings.

Not long before, Asmo was pulling down your panties and thrusting inside of you. You put a hand on your mouth, trying your best to not make any sound. You looked at Levi, his back to you both, and was still playing his video game, unaware you two were fucking behind him. The thrill of this new experience made you come quicker than you usually did. Taking joy in not having been discovered so far, you helped Asmo finish by kneeling and taking him into your mouth.

Both of you were done and felt like laughing when you realized Levi was still innocently playing. Just as you were about to plan a way to escape, Levi left the room, presumably to go to the kitchen. A couple of seconds later Asmo and you looked at each other and took your chance, running out of Levi’s room, dissolving in giggles the moment you arrived back in Asmo’s room.

Beelzebub

Back to the brothers’ hall impromptu party.

Beel is contently sitting on one couch, while you’re sitting on his lap. You have had the idea of trying to keep up with him and his drinking, which was probably the worst idea you’ve ever had. You were really drunk and Beel wasn’t even dizzy. You wished you had thought he was almost double your size, triple your weight and A DEMON, of course he could handle more alcohol than you.

Beel had ordered food because he couldn’t just drink. Everyone had eaten from his large order, and now the only thing that was left was a small pool of chocolate on a plate were previously had held fruit bathed in dark chocolate.

All the brothers were drinking and sharing a moment, when your drunk shelf put decided to put their finger on the plate and then pass it across Beel’s cheek.

Everybody looked at you confused, but the most adorable of all was Beel, whose eyes were open and, far from being mad, was wondering why was you just put some melted chocolate on his cheek.

Before he could ask, you gave a long lick to his cheek, wiping the chocolate off of Beel.

“Get a room” Satan commented, rolling his eyes and taking another sip of his drink.

Asmo cuddled up on Beel’s other side and made heart eyes at him. “You know, if MC is into this, we could really get creative with our leftovers and…”

“Asmo, no” Beelzebub said, not even looking at him. His eyes were still lost on your face, not knowing how to react to your boldness. You gave him a sheepishly grin and gave his cheek a peck.

“I’m sorry, I’m drunk” you excused yourself, a little hiccup leaving your body. Beel tenderly chuckled and mirrored you, staining your cheek with leftover melted chocolate and licking it. You bit your lip and you both left the party, ignoring Mammon’s complains and Asmo’s disappointed sigh.

“So… any room I can crash in tonight?” Belphie asked.

Belphie

This baby is not one for physical touching.

But oh boy, when he’s drunk… he can’t stop touching you. It’s not as clear as Mammon, but it’s almost as possessive as Lucifer’s. 

If you’re talking with someone, he’ll shamelessly put his hand on your thigh and caress it up and down, until the other person is so uncomfortable they’ll just leave.

At first you were a bit concerned about this behaviour, but then you realized it was only while he was drunk. Once he sobered up, he wouldn’t act so jealous.

At the brothers’ party, you started drinking heavily and decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Belphie was talking with Satan when you sat down next to him. Before he could do anything, you put a hand of his thigh, waiting for him to act on it. You thought he would touch your thigh as well, make a sarcastic comment about it or let you touch him in silence, but you were greatly surprised when you felt Belphie grabbing your hand and putting it on top of his crotch.

You gasped in surprise and Satan choked on his drink, excusing himself quickly.

“Don’t test me, MC” Belphie warned in a slurred tone that indicated you he was as drunk as you were. You took that as a dare more than a warning.

You leaned over and pressed a kiss between his ear and the point were his jaw began. You felt a known twitch under your hand that hadn’t moved from where Belphie had put it.

“C’mon” Belphie quickly muttered, taking your hand and leaving the hall together.

[themadauthorshatter]

Henry Stickmin Headcanons Part 2, to "celebrate" the finale of the Toppat!Charles AU(Press F to pay respects). I'll be going in and oit of the AU as well, but that will be seperate from the other headcanons

In Triple Threat, and in order, the tallest is Ellie, standing at 5'9" and Henry is the shortest at 5'4". Charles sits comfortably between them at 5'7". Neither use their powers for evil, even though it's tempting to literally something over his head sometimes.

Each member of Triple Threat has their reactions toward horror in general.

Charles is pretty unfazed by games like FNAF or anything with heavy jumpscares. He will not watch a movie with bad jumpscares(jumpscares used poorly.) He was a baby watching Sinister, The VVitch, and Lighthouse.

Ellie gets scared by just about anything, but breaks whenever she sees evil clowns specifically.

Nothing really scares Henry. Or at least he tells himself that. He's less open by getting scared, but don't tell Ellie or Charles.

Ellie and Heney, because they were in a mischief mood, tried scaring Charles. He punched Henry in the face on accident.

Charles sings really well, but only when he thinks there's no one around.

Ellie is the smartest of the trio. That doesn't mean Charles and Henry are idiots, even though they've done things that have warranted them a spot in the dumbass hall of fame.

When Rupert first joined, he'd literally never been more annoyed than when he met Charles, who, in his opinion, talked too much and didn't take anything seriously. It didn't really help that Galeforce always partnered the two, as to keep Charles safe on the ground when he couldn't directly see him. Rupert was mad at the fact he'd gone through a lot of training and was promoted to government babysitter, and it boiled out of him when Charles asked if he was okay. Rupert snapped at him, shouting at the pilot to just shut up for five minutes and actually do his part in missions, which was have Rupert's back or keep him informed of anything around them. He also yelled that Charles is incompetent and shouldn't even be in the military, as all he does is talk. He had brought this up with Galeforce, when the two got back and Charles excused himself to allow Rupert to give the report on their mission, but got a very proper scolding. He apologized to Charles when the YOUNGEST PILOT EVER got them both out of a sticky situation using some incredibly evasive maneuvers that Rupert was sure would get them killed.

After the deaths and funeral of Mr. And Mrs. Calvin, Galeforce adopted Charles, something that was in the couple's will. Charles did not talk to him for a long time, not until a rainy day that prevented any work that needed to be done. Galeforce noticed Charles sitting near either a patio door or by a window staring up at the clouds. He carefully sat next to him and admitted that he missed Charles's parents, too, saying they were very good friends of his and were always good to turn to for a smile or just to take a breather. He couldn't imagine how Charles felt, but he still missed them and was sorry all the same. That's when Galeforce noticed a card Charles was holding to his chest; a birthday card, one that read, "Charlie, if you're reading this, know that your father and I love you very much. No matter what, always remember that. We couldn't have asked for a better son, one as silly, smart, and ambitious as you. We will always love you. I'm sorry. Love, Mom," from Charles's mother and, "Hey, hawk. If you're reading this, it means something really bad happened to us both. Sorry we won't make it back for your birthday, more specifically that I broke my promise to you. You deserve to be happy, and I hope you can do that again someday. Charles, you can miss us, you can be sad, you can cry, it's more than okay to. I just hope one day you can smile and be happy again for us. I'm sorry. Your mother loves you, Charlie. I love you so much, son. Love, Dad," from Charles's father. There smugdes on some parts of the card, some old and some new, and it especially struck Galeforce that the two extremely sad messages shouldn't have been on a nine year old's birthday card. Galeforce apologized for not being Charles's parents, though told him that he'd try to be what they were, maybe more. He didn't talk, but Charles did huddle closer to his side and Galeforce put an arm around him as they continued watching the rain.

Do not challenge Charles to a foot race. He will outrun you.

Do not challenge Ellie to an arm wrestling match. She will always win.

Do not challenge Henry to an underwater how-long-can-I-hold-my-breathe challenge. You will most likely drown.

Triple Threat beat each other in their respective challenges/contests by cheating/sabotaging each other; Henry will try tackling Charles while Ellie will try to trip him, Charles will try kicking Ellie's chair to push it away while Henry teams up with him to try and push her arm down, and Ellie will throw little pool torpedoes at Henry, which is more passive than Charles shouting, "This is the greatest PLAAAAAAN!" and cannonballing in before wrestling Henry back above water.

Charles wakes up Ellie and Henry in various methods, since he's usually up first: He'll usually use an alarm, but sometimes, when he's really energetic, he bangs pots and pans together, gets a teakettle singing, uses and airhorn, and, the most extreme he's ever gone, taped a brown lunch bag to a leaf blower and brought a really bright light into both their rooms, rigging the devices to a light switch. With a snicker, he began to play that army/military wake up song on a trumpet with a megaphone taped to it and flipped the switch.

Both of them were ready to kill him.

Henry was initially left at an orphanage, but he was adopted at the age of seven. He was brought up well enough, until one of his parents started noticing that he was acting "weird," as in his 'ability' to see his choices and fails. This parent started ignoring him and told him to start acting normal or he'd be sent back to the orphanage. The other parent, the one that also noticed but didn't want to talk about it, still loved him, though started to get a little irritated when their partner left out of spite; "Either I go or the crazy brat goes." The other parent re-married and this new step-parent was nicer, but happened to wirk as a janitor for the CCC, and warned Henry to be careful with his 'powers' because the people the step-parent worked for weren't nice and would do bad things to him. The step-parent meant well, but Henry, having the memories of the parent that left fresh in his mind, took it as a threat to behave, which made him a very anxious kid. Anxious enough to become a kleptomaniac and pickpocket to relieve stress.

Ellie had the most normal life, having two parents and a brother, but turned to a life of thieving because the pressure of being a good person and her family's view of a black and white world drove her crazy.

You would have to be crazy to try and take on all three members of Triple Threat at once.

The trio sometimes share a room and bed, because of nightmares and they don't want to be alone.

Yeah. Triple Threat is basically a found family.

Ellie is the father and Henry and Charles are her two, wonderful, dumbass children, even though there are times the two take turns being the mother.

Now, ONTO SOME POST TOPPAT!CHARLES AU STUFF! This is kind of like an Epilogue, so buckle in.

Triple Threat gets two weeks off to fully recover. (Thank goodness)

They return to their apartment and go straight to bed, though they actually just camp out in the living room.

They still sleep like the dead; they wake up LATE the next day, at 4 in the afternoon.

Breakfast for dinner.

Even when they know they should go back to sleep around 10 pm, they stay up and watch movies. They let Charles pick, and he chooses a collection of Looney Tunes, Merry Melodies, and even the Looney Tunes Show.

Henry and Ellie notice him giggling whenever Daffy's on screen, and can't help but wonder why, though they don't ask when he also gets tears in his eyes. He explains later that he used to watch the old version of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies with his parents and even Galeforce, sometimes, even though it was something that happened less frequently as Charles grew and became a more solid part of the military.

They stay up all night, taking turns watching movies, making small talk, and just enjoying each other's company.

Charles does have an episode when they're making lunch the next day when he accidentally drops a glass and has a flashback of Right killing the pilot of a destroyer sent to rescue him. It is a nerve wracking memory and it leads him to breaking down on the floor. Henry and Ellie do help him out of it, but he refuses to share what he saw with them. They don't push it and tell him to feel free to share whenever he's ready.

They keep an eye on him when he takes his ADD medicine, just to be safe.

They often go outside to do workouts, because they don't want to break anything in the apartment. Charles keeps up with them, and they simply enjoy the breeze and the outside when they're done.

Henry and Ellie do talk about what she told Henry back in Part 6, and she apologizes for not telling Henry sooner, also admitting that she was scared he would abandon her, if she told him. Needless to say, Henry's just glad the three of them are together.

Charles is welcomed back much more warmly when they return from their break.

First daybback and it's out of the frying pan and into the flame, because they have another group of thieves to deal with, smaller than the Toppat Clan, but still noticable: a biker gang that's here to steal stuff by any means necessary and be an insane headache for police and people on the road.

They don't know much now, but they will when the gang is followed in the air.

Galeforce offers Charles to fly and get some possible intell, though says that if he isn't comfortable with it he can back out.

Charles agrees, and says with an excited, nervous smile that he's missed being in the air.

Galeforce makes sure Henry and Ellie keep an eye on him, which they promise to do, before everyone sets out, Charles taking a seat in his fixed up helicopter with Henry and Ellie behind him.

With a deep breath, they head out, ready to do some government recon, which they're successful in.

At The Wall, Dmitri is grumbly and still a little pissed at how Henry got away AGAIN, but has to admit it's good to not have to worry about the Toppat Clan anymore, most of whom being in maximum security cells.

Right is bored as hell, but is glad that his cellmate is Reginald; Right's missing his cybernetic arm from the elbow down, his legs have been downgraded to be normal legs, and he is no longer OP.

Reg apologizes for letting this happen to the clan, but Right assures him it's not his fault, self deprecatingly admitting that he may have been stupid for MAYBE crossing the line. Reg can't help but softly chide him for it.

Right promises that they'll get out, though Reginald only snuggles into him more, saying it can happen in good time, but right now he just wants to be close to Right a little longer.

The CCC hasn't gotten a single major chaos reading since the orbital station was destroyed and the clan was arrested. Bill Bullet chuckles a simple, "Not bad, kid," as he leaves his readers to their work.

Terrence is kicking back in his new room, lying in a bed as he reads a book. He's enjoyed having regular, warm showers, access to a razor to shave, and, mostly, a sky that didn't have the orbital station in it; it leaves a bad taste in his mouth that Reginald actually outdid him, sending the clan in space for a short time.

He chuckles at the fact that Henry would've been a damned good leader, mostly because he could see overthrowing HIM to be easy. "Too bad he joined the government instead," Terrence sighs with a shrug before he burts into laughter, mad, hysterical laughter. It really would've been fun to see Henry as the leader of the Toppat Clan.😉

Back with Triple Threat, after their mission as they sit on a hill that would've held Charles grave, if this was Valiant Hero. They're quiet, enjoying the sunset and the sound of the waves below, not ready to go home yet.

Even though they're all quiet, Charles tips his head back and takes a deep breath, taking in the sun, the air, everything, before returning his gaze to the sunset.

"Man," he breathes, "I've... really missed this."

Ellie replies that she has as well, Henry nodding in agreement.

They all watch the remainder of the sunset, though, quite nicely, all three are holding each other's hands and smiling to themselves

[iyatsumu]

It’s Not All Games; Kenma Kozume

Genre: Fluff, Arcade Date

Word Count: 4.3K

Author’s Note: Hi everyone! This is my first Haikyuu oneshot and I hope you will support my work and future ones. I’ve only recently watched it (I know pretty late right?) and I’m already in love with the series. This was definitely a tricky story to write especially since it was only requested and I’m not a person that goes to arcades so I was not sure about things that happen in arcades. I hope you enjoy my oneshots! See you in the next one :))

"Everyone make sure to rest well this weekend and enjoy the day. We'll return to vigorous training starting next week since we have friendly match against Furokodani Academy. Don't take this game lightly for we all know their members enjoy a challenging game, especially Bokuto Koutarou. So, I want everyone to be in their best shapes by then. Dismissed." Another tired sigh left Kenma's lips as he stuffs his jersey that reeked of sweat and drenched towels into a specific compartment in his gym bag. Sticking his hand into a smaller zipper, he pulls out his Nintendo Switch and starts playing another video game. "Kenma, how are things with you and Y/N?" Kuroo, their captain asked as he slung his bag over his shoulders, a curious grin played on his lips. Kenma glances up to take a glimpse of his senior's grin and focuses back to his game, giving Kuroo a small nod as an answer. Clearly annoyed at the dullness of his friend, Tetsurou grabs the gadget and switches it off. Nothing changed in Kenma's expression as he stared at his captain dead in the eyes, void of any emotions. Grabbing the gadget from Tetsurou, he stuffs it back into his bag and simply hangs his head low as the other break into conversations.   "Do you even go out on dates?" Taketora asks as he snakes his arm over Kenma's shoulders. "Dates?" Kenma asked softly, his voice almost inaudible. Taketora then nods, waiting for his friend's reply. "Uh, she travels to Nerima to watch some practice games from time to time." Kenma answers and the rest of the group stare at the boy in disbelief. Kuroo smacks the back of Kenma's head as he walks in front of the group. "That is not a date Kenma. Does Y/N even have reassurance that you like her? It seems as if she's more of a fan than your girlfriend if she has to travel to our school to see you." The older boy says and the rest agrees. "So?" At that moment, Tetsurou simply wanted to pummel the younger boy into a pulp. "Seriously Kenma? Do you actually like Y/N?" Taketora asks as the group finally exits the school gates. Kenma Kozume was a very dull person. He was somewhat emotionless, he shows no reactions, despite being in pain or facing difficulties, Kenma would never show any signs of weakness. You knew getting into a relationship would be hard, however you were willing to risk it for Kenma. You first met during a tournament in middle school. Kenma was your schoolmate, he was a year older and was a part of the boys’ volleyball team while you were a freshman and the spiker of the girls’ volleyball team. Both of you would often bump into each other since the school did not have enough space for separate courts to cater both teams. There were times where both coaches had to agree on schedules for the court, but when tournaments are around the corner, both teams had to adjust and practice together.

During these games, Kenma would often be the setter while you were one of the spikers. Both coaches believed that both of you had a great combination, with Kenma's tactical style of play and your accurate ball placements and powerful spikes, the duo was nigh on perfect. However, that was all that you were to each other. Partners during combined practices. Outside the court, Kenma and you never talked or even paid attention to each other.  You moved to Furokodani Academy at the start of high school while Kenma transferred to Nekoma so both of you drifted apart. Not until you met during another tournament last year. Another fact about you is that, the reason you were a well-known spiker in the women's division was because you were Y/N Koutarou, the younger sister of Bokuto Koutarou, one of the Top 5 players in Japan. Since you were young, Bokuto would always drag you into mini challenges to know who was the better spiker, of course with the help of your mother acting as setter for both of you. Obviously, Bokuto would always win, he was a natural at it. However, that never bothered you, because after all that, Bokuto would encourage and help you improve yourself. With that, you have become one of the most fearsome spikers in the prefecture and claimed the position of team 'Ace' despite only being a freshman. 

___ Wiping the sweat that dripped from your forehead, you grab your water bottle and chug the remaining contents as the captain gave out assignments for the cleanup of today's practice. It was finally Friday, and practice had just ended. You started packing after placing all the balls back into the cart and pushing it into the storage room. From outside the club's room, you could hear your obnoxious brother's voice. "Y/N! Y/N, hurry. I have news!" You groan and turn to face your groupmates, bowing and saying your goodbye as you grabbed your bag and walked out the room. Bokuto was jumping up and down as he anticipated you to ask him what he wanted to say. "What do you want?" You asked as both of you walked out the school campus. "Our coach arranged a friendly match with Nekoma High. It's 2 weeks from now. Do you want to come with us? Watch me beat them and get Tetsurou to buy me a big bowl of ramen." He says excitedly, a devilish laugh following after. Bokuto may be one of the top players in Japan, but to you, he was a joke. Your brother had the mind of a 9-year-old boy with the body structure of a 20-year-old guy. Bokuto was buff with wide shoulders, but don't let his physical appearance fool you, he was the type of person to scream "mommy" on a Ferris wheel. "Good luck getting through Tetsurou's blocks. That guy is an amazing blocker with good judgement." You teased and Bokuto tensed up. He hated it when someone looked down on his talents, especially his spikes. "Y/N, Kuroo has nothing on my spikes. Besides, I too, am pretty smart." With that, you laughed loudly, Bokuto clearly confused with your sudden burst of laughter. "Don't make me laugh Bokuto. Tetsurou is an amazing blocker and captain, getting through him will be tougher than you think it is." You pointed out and grabbed your phone that was buzzing in your pocket. "You're probably just salty because I'm going to beat your precious boy, Kenma." Bokuto spat and you could feel your cheeks burn. Kenma and you were always the low-profile kind of relationship. Sure, you were official, however it was never a big deal to let the world know about the relationship. So far, only his team members know, courtesy to Kuroo Tetsurou for screaming it out loud during a practice and of course Bokuto and Akaashi. Not even your teammates knew about it, simply because you didn't want them geeking out about it. "Y/N?" It was a message from Kenma. Surprised was written all over your face, Kenma Kozume was never the type to send a message first. Usually, you would be the one to send a message after practice to talk about your day, but this was definitely new. You typed in your reply as you and Bokuto got into the bus to head back home. It was Saturday tomorrow so you could rest a lot when you finally got back. The Inter High Preliminaries ended a few weeks back and of course, both teams from Furokodani made it in. "Tetsurou forced me to ask you to go out tomorrow. If you're free." Your heart did mini backflips as you read the message. It's been a few weeks since you last saw Kenma. He invited you to have lunch with him and his friends after their match during the preliminaries, which they obviously won. "Sure, I'll message you when you arrive home." With that, you let out a pleased sigh and relax on the seat, closing your eyes to find comfort in the quiet bus. ___ After dinner, you immediately went into your room and got comfortable in the bed. Grabbing your phone, you typed in a message and sent it to Kenma. "I was wondering if you'd like to meet in Shinjuku? We can have some lunch and maybe visit my favorite arcade?" This was another thing that you absolutely loved about Kenma. He was a very simple person and it didn't take much to please him. Games and some sweet words from you would melt his heart. Kenma Kozume may seem like someone who was not into this relationship thing, he gives off vibes that may be misinterpreted as uninterested or dry, but Kenma was the opposite of that. He tries to be open about his emotions and lets you in mind from time to time. It took a few months before he was comfortable enough to let you in his mind, but the wait was worth it. For deep inside, Kenma was simply a little baby. He loved talking about his games with you, he enjoyed practicing your spikes with his tosses, and he absolutely adored it when you would borrow his gaming devices to try and beat his high scores. As months passed, Kenma slowly opened up to you about every little thing in his mind, he was no longer the dry Kozume that you met in middle school. "I think that sounds great Kenma. I'll see you tomorrow then?" You asked and he replied with a simple yes. The conversation went from there, as he talked about how he got annoyed by Taketora and Tetsurou constantly arguing during practice. It was almost midnight when Kenma finally decided he was sleepy and that you should rest too. So, with that, he messaged you goodnight and headed to bed. You smiled at his message and replied with the same one, switching off the phone and setting it aside. ___ The sound of numerous text messages woke Kenma up from his peaceful sleep. Grabbing his phone, he squinted at the device to make out the name "Captain" on his screen. It was Kuroo Tetsurou. "Hey, don't you have a date with Y/N?" "It's already 10." "You're going to be late." "You have to wait for her in Shinjuku you know?" "Kenma!" "Yeah Y/N is going to break up with you. Goodluck." Kenma sighed as he switched the device off and got out of bed. Hopping into the shower, Kenma washed up as quick as he could in order to catch the bus and not keep you waiting at the station. He wore a simple white t-shirt, grey sweatpants and an oversized black hoodie over his t-shirt. Kenma’s fashion style was always a casual and comfortable one, unlike Tetsurou who tends to wear blazers and chukka boots to bring out his classy persona. After sending you a message that he was on his way to Shinjuku, Kenma exits the house and walks towards the closest bus stop, which was about 3 minutes away from their house. He pulls out his earphones and plugs it into his gaming device, entering a new level as he makes his way towards the stop. You on the other hand was already on a bus headed for Shinjuku, although it would take you a few more minutes to arrive since you came from Edogawa, compared to Kenma who would probably come from Nerima. Focusing on the road ahead, you tap on the next song as you adjusted your earphones. It would take another 15 to 20 minutes before you would arrive in Shinjuku so you decided to relax in the bus. ___ Finally stepping out of the bus, Kenma pulled out his phone and sent you a message, indicating that he was already in Shinjuku. He said he would be waiting for you in one of the benches so you simply needed to send him a message if you've already arrived. You read his message and replied with a simple 'okay' as you adjusted the strap of your mini backpack. Based on the road, you were already close to the station so you prepared to leave. You were obviously excited to spend the day with Kenma, you couldn't even get the thought out of your mind when he asked you out last night. "Hey, how was the ride?" Kenma greeted the moment you stepped out of the bus. He was already waiting by the exit door of the bus when it pulled up in front of him. You smiled and nodded at him, indicating that it was pretty good. Kenma holds out his hand in front of you and you placed your hand atop his, he then intertwines your fingers and both of you walk towards one of the nearest shopping malls in Shinjuku. Both of you agreed to have some lunch first before heading to the arcade. Spotting a small booth by the windows, you tugged Kenma towards it and both of you got seated as a waiter follows after with the menus. You were in a small cozy restaurant in one of the malls of Shinjuku. "What do you want to have?" You asked Kenma as he looks through the menu. You had already decided on a bowl of Tonkotsu ramen and some green tea soda. It may not seem like it, but Kenma can eat a lot depending on his mood so you were anticipating his orders. "Maybe some rice with curry, two servings of tempura, miso soup and I'll also have a green tea soda." If you look at Kenma, that meal would probably be too much for him, however aside from games, Kenma also loved food, so you nodded happily and repeated your orders to the waiter. "How's your practice in school? You didn't tell me about its last night." Kenma initiated the conversation and you laughed. Due to being too exhausted last night, you weren't able to talk about your day. It was mostly Kenma doing the talking while you listened and tried not to fall asleep. "It's good. Our captain, Maki is still torn on what to do with Sara." You groaned, your mind wandering to the outburst of Maki yesterday. It was like any normal day in practice, the two of them could never get along with each other. Maki was the team captain and right-side spiker while Sara was the regular setter. They've been playing for 2 years but Maki could still not keep up with Sara's tosses and Sara wouldn't adjust for Maki either. To simplify their problem, Sara was never a team player. She hated it when people told her to change something in her play style or when others would point out a mistake in her tosses or timing. It always pissed Maki off but they couldn't do anything about it because the substitute setter was still a freshman just like you and she was slightly inexperienced. "Hmm, why don’t you just kick her out of the team?" Kenma asked and you shook your head. If that was possible, Sara would have been out of the team a long time ago. "The coach won't allow it. He says Sara is a great setter, we just need to find a way to get her to play for the team in a professional way." You sigh and Kenma stares at you emotionless. "If a setter can't adjust for his or her team, why bother playing? Volleyball is a team sport so if you can't play as a team, the meaning of the sport is rendered useless." Kenma says and your jaw dropped. He was always the smarter between the two of you. He spoke with such intelligence and facts that sometimes you'd forget that he was an emotionless person. Kenma takes pride in what he believes in and will argue you with what he deems as right, that is if he is the mood to do so. If not, he'll simply ignore you and walk away.   "That's the thing. But I can't do anything about it, Maki is still our captain and Sara is a year older than me, so I feel like I have no position to say anything." You admitted and Kenma shook his head. "Y/N, you're the team's ace. You have a valuable position and Sara as your setter, who refuses to cooperate with the team, how will you be able to perform well? She'll simply drag the team down." He pointed out and of course, he was right. With Sara and Maki's constant bickering, practice always seemed to be tensed. Sara's tosses were difficult to catch up with and that alone messes up your spikes. If it continues to happen, the team's performance will be a mess during the actual competition. The conversation went on until the food was served. The glint in Kenma's eyes were visible the moment the waiter placed his meals on the table. This guy and his love for food, seriously. ___ "Alright, so what game do you want to try first?" Kenma asked as his eyes scan around the arcade. Neon lights brightened up the place and there were not many people around. You stared at Kenma and at that moment, all your thoughts left your mind. He was bewitching, his blonde streaks appeared golden under the neon lights and his expressionless features with a small, almost invisible smile made him even more beautiful. Kenma Kozume couldn't be labeled as the 'heartbreaker' type of beauty, he was more of an adorable baby. Kenma had soft features and a heartwarming vibe, he may seem cold on the outside, but he was an absolute sweetheart when he is fully comfortable with you. "Uhm, Y/N?" He asked softly, his hand slowly waving up and down in front of you. "Oh, sorry. You just caught my attention." You admitted sheepishly and Kenma stood there, unable to find the proper words to answer you. He could feel a soft eruption in his stomach but he had no idea what it indicated, all he knew was you were adorable and knowing that he managed to catch your attention, made him all fuzzy inside. "But, anyways, I want to try some games that will win me some tickets. I really want to get that stuffed kitty." You pointed at the striped black and yellow plushed cat at the top shelf of the registrar. Kenma nodded and led you towards a racing game. "If you can get first place in the race, it'll give you a bunch of tickets. We could also try out the Pacman game after, but you'd have to beat some of the high scores to get tickets. Are you down?" He asked and you nodded excitedly. Both of you got seated on the plastic car seat as you insert coins to join the race. Bokuto always played this game and most of the time, he'd spill some tips on how he manages to pull up first place, so maybe you could use that to your advantage. As the race begins, you step on the accelerator and the animated car jolts forward. Although it was just a game, the thrill was definitely creeping up in your body and that made you want to enjoy the game even more. Kenma, who was beside you, was really focusing on the race. He mentioned that you do need to have focus in order to avoid obstacles in the game, and that seemed to work well for him. You were currently in second place while Kenma took the lead. The games were somehow connected, maybe because the manager intended it to be, but you had no complaints, being able to race with Kenma was fun. It didn't matter who would win, as long as you both enjoyed the game. In the end, Kenma won and he got the tickets. Handing it to you, he tugs you towards the pacman gaming machine, a smile lingering on his lips. "Let me beat the high scores, just buy me some mochis to snack on and I’ll get you that plushie." Kenma assures and you nodded, walking towards one of the stands outside of the arcade to buy a serving of 4 mochis. "Do you want me to feed it to you while you play?" You asked and Kenma nodded, inserting a few coins into the machine and waiting for it to start. Grabbing a strawberry mochi, you brought it up to Kenma's lips as he takes a big bite of it. You smiled as his face puffed up and his eyes lighting up at the details of the game. Kenma really enjoyed playing games like these and knowing that he's also doing it to get you what you wanted, it made you adore the boy even more. Kenma is not everyone's ideal type of guy. He can be really distant and secretive, sometimes he could even ignore you because he simply did not want to talk. But you must have patience, because it's just who he is. Kenma is not used to having someone persistent to encourage him to speak up, but when he does, he's just like everyone else, a guy who has annoying friends, works hard for school and finds a reason to enjoy volleyball. Most importantly, he's just a guy with a big crush on you but he's too shy to tell you about it. So, to him, when you started dating and finally made it official, it was one of the best days of his life. It was a warm feeling that engulfed him throughout the day, and he only felt that way for you. "Y/N! I did it, look! I'm on the top!" He shouts with excitement as his display name popped up on the top of the ranks. Y/N Koz "Y/N Koz? What's with that name?" You asked as Kenma stood up and handed you a bunch of tickets. "It's your name and my Kozume." He answers, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. You blinked in astonishment and Kenma holds your hand, dragging you away from the game machine. "You kissed my forehead." You said, still shocked from Kenma's gesture. The boy simply laughed and inserted another bunch of coins into a different game. "If you'll feed me again, I might do it again." He teases and you punch his arm lightly. Both of you ended up laughing and trying out every game in the arcade, which ended up with you and a basket of tickets. Kenma definitely was a regular in this arcade, he knew every game there was in this arcade and he managed to beat most of the high scores of each machine. ___ At the end of the day, Kenma was able to gather enough tickets to get you the stuffed kitty that you wanted. You held it up beside Kenma and smiled while the boy was obviously confused. "It reminds me of you Ken." You pointed out and Kenma blushed a light hue of pink. Another wave of fuzziness washed up in his system. You always had that effect on him, it confused him as to why, however he loved it and he had no complaints. Kenma grabs your hand and both of you exit the arcade. It was about 5 in the afternoon and he insisted on taking you home before heading back himself. It would be a pretty exhausting ride since it took about an hour from Shinjuku to Edogawa using a bus, and another hour from Edogawa to Nerima. "Are you sure you want to accompany me home? It's going to be tiring for you Ken." You said and Kenma simply shook his head as both of you walk towards the bus station of Shinjuku. "Tetsurou said something that made me realize that maybe I do not show you enough love." He admits and at that moment, your heart melted into a pudding. Kenma was never this open about his thoughts, he did not like being too clingy or sappy. Both of you shared casual conversations and maybe some affectionate messages from time to time, but not to the extent that he would let you into the deepest parts of his mind. "Ken, I accept you for what you are. I don't mind your silence, I love it when you slowly open your heart to me, and I understand your personality. You may not be the most affectionate person, but you make me feel loved in your own little way. That alone is enough for me to know that I've got you and you've got me. I know you love me Kozume." You said and b0th of you enter the bus headed for Edogawa. Finding a seat for 2, you tug Kenma towards the back row and settled on the plush seats. Kenma squeezes your hand and places it on his lap. His head snuggled on your shoulders as you rub circles on the back of his palm. "Y/N." Kenma whispered as you hummed, the comfort of the quiet bus, only the sound of other vehicles zipping by engulfed you. "I want you to know, my life, it's not all games, I have you and I'm happier because of that." Kenma spoke quietly and you knew how whipped you were for this guy. His simple acts of holding your hand, gripping your shirt when someone was flirty with you and whispers of affection was enough reason for you to stay with him, even when times were rocky. "I love you Y/N." Kenma whispered once more and finally drifted into a nap. He must've been exhausted playing all those games just for tickets. You placed a soft kiss on his head and smiled, whispering an 'I love you' back to the boy who owned your heart. You were lucky to have Kenma, and you knew he felt the same way. --The End--

[keiscait]

Hi! I just wanted to say from the match-ups I have seen that you are such a great writer! If it’s not too much I was wondering if I could get a living room and bedroom matchup for a male character. If both are too much, feel free to do one whichever one you feel like you can write better. I wanna do this anon so the emoji you can use for me is: <33

Info:

Pronouns: She/Hers

Personality: I am a very goal orientated person and I can become very hard on myself sometimes if I don’t achieve things as well as I wanted to. I tend to be quiet but not shy per say. I do not have trouble talking to people and making friends and I can become very outgoing but in the friend group itself I usually keep to myself. If I am comfortable with you I will make witty remarks and make fun of you in a playful friend banter kinda way but I would like to say I am a good listener so I can get serious real quick. I am really big on trust and I used to trust too easily and now I am a bit more closed off where it is a bit harder for me to trust others.

Relationships: When it comes to relationships, I believe in communication and I haven’t had a big problem with it in the past. I wouldn’t mind a small pda such as hand holding or a small kiss here and there but nothing over the top because you gotta keep the important stuff private ya know. My love language is quality time because I tend to be really busy once school starts and so making effort to see each other even through our busy schedules is really important to keep the relationship healthy.

Hobbies: I believe that you need a good balance between work and play though so some other hobbies I have are painting (acrylic and watercolor), baking, and skateboarding. I also listen to music everyday and watch like an episode before I go to sleep if I have school but binge watch on break. I also try to game a bit too like league, minecraft, and my switch. I also like hiking and runs in the mornings before class because it really clears my head and I used to be on the swim team but I don’t competitively do it anymore.

Bedroom: I believe I would be a switch that leans more submissive. However, I am really cautious to do anything because I need to trust them to be submissive. I would consider myself very open to different kinks and what not and aftercare is a must. I’m not super into degrading because I’m sensitive af. I just would want someone who is observant with me and my body as well as someone who helps me with my insecurities. Once I’m comfortable though I definitely become a brat. Just want someone who would manhandle but still tell me i’m the prettiest girl they’ve ever met hahaha.

Zodiac: Pisces (sun), Cancer (rising), and Leo (moon)

Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw

Future Plans/ Dreams: I am working to become a biomedical engineer one day to help make medical devices to help people. Right now I am leaning towards possibly doing physical therapy and making prosthetics.

Looks: I’m 5’6/5’7 and have a medium build. I am tan kinda like a honey color with black wavy/slightly curly hair that is about at my breast length. My eyes are hazel but mainly light brown and I have pretty big doe like eyes.

Sorry if it’s too much or too little but thank you so much! and I have such respect for writers so keep being you :) HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND STAY SAFE

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

Hello and welcome, my darling! So sorry for the long wait, and thank you SO MUCH for your kind words! (⌒‿⌒)❤️ Let’s get right to it then! ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶

I was reading your description, and I think the person I had in mind for you also fits your bedroom matchup!

Our lovely guest keeping us company in both rooms is...

(Runner up: Ushijima Wakatoshi)

Kageyama is a very complex character. He’s one of the few characters ever who we actually see slips back into his old bad habits every now and then, but is immediately remorseful and shows signs of him knowing better. He’s always striving for progress, and he understands more than others what it’s like to dislike your past self.

- Tobio here is somehow both incredibly observant yet so fricking DENSE

- I imagine that however it is that you two meet, he’ll be super formal at first. It’ll take a little while for a romance to build because he’s not used to opening up, and he’ll need to really trust the person for him to let his walls down

- however, as soon as you guys establish a friendship, he’d be drawn to you and how goal-oriented you are, especially since he is, too

- He’d take interest in you, notice all your little quirks, and would even find himself blushing whenever you playfully tease him

- Problem is, he has no fucking clue why HAHAH

- I love him sm but boy doesn’t know what it is to like someone

- Hinata would try to explain it to him and he’d just be like cr- cru--... c-CRUSH?? ...what is that?

- Man is in desperate need of wingman someone help him

- Anyway, once his friends get Operation: Get Tobio A Girlfriend in motion, he just turns into his pouty blushy self whenever he sees you

- The other boys will probably go overboard that he’ll be forced to take matters into his own hands

- The confession would be a damn mess but in an adorable way

- He’d 100% yell his feelings at you while pouting/blushing

- You’d have to shush him TBH 

- shush him with a kiss maybe? that’s a great way to shut him up ( 　･ิω･ิ)

- Kageyama_Tobio.exe stopped responding

- anyway I think he’d just be such a soft, protective boyfriend, especially since you’re kind of quiet

- You two would understand each other so well. He’d protect you and your quiet side, while you would help him be more relatable in order to make friends. It’s also perfect that you two are both goal-oriented, because then you’d be on the same page when it comes to co-dependence/independence. One would understand the other when it comes to pressure, deadlines, and hard work, and you’d just be super supportive of each other all the time

- I think you’re better at communicating than he is, so you may have to inform him a bit on how it should work between the two of you. He’d pick up on this really fast tho so no need to worry! Kags has got you ;)

- Dates would be really productive ones. Study dates, work dates, workout dates; anything that would be beneficial to your improvement

- Early morning hikes with Kags :’( beautiful

- He really appreciates that you’re not big on PDA because that puts a lot less pressure on himself to be someone he’s not. PLUS I imagine he’s the same as you, who really treasures the private moments between the two of you because you’re both so busy

- Once you guys have some private time, he’d take it as an opportunity to release all his pent up energy and emotions. He’d be so needy and clingy when he knows others can’t see

- ( 　･ิω･ิ) ( 　･ิω･ิ) ( 　･ิω･ิ) also u kno whassup when you guys finally get some private time ( 　･ิω･ิ) ( 　･ิω･ิ)( 　･ิω･ิ)

- I don’t think Kags is the very kinky type. He’d be a dom, but I don’t think the freaky stuff would really appeal to him, especially if it’s degradation, since the man worships you?? He’s just like... why tho 

- He may get into some stuff that emphasizes his strength, mostly how he grabs you and handles your body

- Picks up on your sweet spots really quick, and I imagine he can even deduce which parts are sensitive without you having to tell him

- Apologizes if he ever makes you uncomfortable :’( he’d just be SO tender and protective

- I don’t think he knows what aftercare is, or like the specifics of it, but I think despite that, he’d just naturally want to take care of you and check in on you afterwards. He’d ask if you’re okay, if you need anything, if you’re feeling any kind of pain, if there’s anything he can improve on. And he’d definitely scan your body for any bruises.

~

You were walking home from an exhausting day at work. 

There were more than a few setbacks today - an annoying coworker took credit for your hard work, your precisely detailed schedule wasn’t honored by others, and because of this, you weren’t able to have lunch. It was now 6:30PM. The rain poured as you waited at the bus stop. You were famished, soaked, and, quite frankly, so done with this day. 

You sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. You were so out of it today that you haven’t had the chance to check on your unread messages. Your boyfriend, Tobio, had left a few missed calls over the past hour, causing some worry. He didn’t usually call, given how busy he was all the time. You texted him first to check in.

You: Everything okay, bub?

K: Yes. Sorry about all the missed calls. Where are you right now?

Y: At the bus stop near my building. Why?

K: Which one?

K: Never mind. I see you

What? You whipped your head left and right, then saw your boyfriend’s figure standing a few meters away, umbrella in hand. He was truly a sight for sore eyes right now - he wasn’t wearing anything special, juts his usual tracksuit, but he was wrapped in a scarf and held a soft expression on his face. It was just the warmth you needed right now. He jogged over to you, closing the umbrella as he made it under the roof. 

“Hi love,” you started, “what on earth are you doing here?” A huge weight seems to have been lifted off of you.

He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around you, rubbing your body to give extra warmth. Pulling back, he took off his scarf so that he could wrap it around your neck. 

“It’s been raining all day but I noticed you left your umbrella at home. I was hoping to catch you before you left work so that you don’t have to walk in the rain.” You couldn’t help the smile that was erupting through the exhaustion. This felt like an all new Tobio. “I guess I was a little too late, I’m sorry.”

You shook your head. “No, don’t worry about it. Thank you for thinking of me, bub.” You allowed yourself to slump onto him, wrapping your arms around his waist. You felt him loosen up, strong arms making their way around your form. You looked up at him without pulling away. Your big doe eyes stared into his blue ones, totally sinking into each other’s gaze. He planted a small kiss onto your nose. It wasn’t normal for you to be so affectionate outdoors, but right now, it seemed apt. You scrunched up your nose in response.

Had it not been for the honking of the bus, the two of you could’ve cuddled in the rain for much longer, ridding each other of the lousiness of the day.

~

I hope that was alright with you, darling! Thank you so much for trusting me with your matchup. Hope you’re having a wonderful new year so far!! Please don’t hesitate to sit and have a chat with me anytime ❤️

Thanks for stopping by! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

[blackbutterfliescal]

With Eyes To Hear

A Michael Clifford One Shot

Pairing: Barista!Michael Clifford x Deaf!Reader

Word count: 3.4K

Rating: Fluff

Requested by: N/A

Content: second person POV, gender neutral reader insert, Deaf!reader (uses sign language & lip reading primarily), first date, singular mention of smoking

A/N: The Deaf community is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve been taking ASL classes for just over 2 years but I’m not Deaf/HoH. I will not claim to be a voice for this community but if you are Deaf/HoH, I welcome any thoughts you want to share with me. If you want to read a really sweet Luke fic by someone who is hearing impaired, check out Can You Hear Me? and Valentine by Frankie. 💕 Also!! big big shout-out to my bby Adri for making this pretty moodboard for me 😇😘

✨ Masterlist ✨

Get added to my taglist here 🌺

AO3 Link

Feedback is always appreciated! 😊

———

This afternoon was proving to be the longest in recorded history. At least that’s what it felt like to Michael. The cafe had been dead since he got there after lunch and it was nearing closing time. He felt like he could count this shift’s customers on one hand. Rainy days were always slow, but today seemed never ending.

Michael could hear the rain falling outside the door, which Calum left propped open for one last smoke break. As he moved around the pastry case to sweep the small seating area, Michael glanced out the windows to see that any hint of daylight was gone. The street lights had flickered on outside the cafe and reflected brightly off the rain-slick pavement.

He resumed his sweeping, determined to leave on time today. He broke out of his cleaning trance at the jingle of the bell above the front door. He did his best to plaster on a smile, knowing he had less than ten minutes until close.

“Oh, sorry we’re-” He stopped short.

Heavy boots hit the floor repeatedly in an effort to knock the water off on the welcome mat. The door slammed shut behind you and, though you didn’t seem to notice him, Michael winced slightly at the sound. You shrugged the oversized rain jacket off your shoulders and hung it on the coat rack by the door.

So much for leaving on time tonight,he thought.

He made his way to the register as you approached. You gave him a small smile and wave and he couldn’t help the tired grin on his face. “Sorry,” you mouthed, eyebrows furrowed. You really wouldn’t be out for coffee so late if you weren’t desperate. And you were trying hard not to track the rain all over his clean floor.

“What can I get you?” he asked. The exhaustion was evident on his face.

“Do you have a pen and paper?” you signed.

“Ummmm…” Michael dug in the pockets of his apron quickly for the notepad and pencil he usually kept. He handed them over to you in a hurry and you let out a giggle at his frantic actions. Michael’s stomach picked up with butterflies and his face cracked into a smile at the sound. You slid the notepad back across the counter with your order and your name scrawled at the bottom. When he looked up to meet your face, you gave him a timid smile.

He read out your name as he leaned down to grab a to-go cup and started to make your coffee “I used to go to have a babysitter with the same name. They were so strict! I remember this one time….” He trailed off as he turned to the machine behind him. Michael always rambled when he got nervous. And he was always nervous around people he thought were cute. When he faced toward you again, you noticed his lips moving and waved your hand to get his attention.

“I’m deaf. I can’t hear you. But I’m pretty good at reading lips! Just face me when you talk.” You kept the polite smile on your face as his cheeks flushed red. This wasn’t new territory for you by any means and you had become an expert at navigating situations like this, unfortunately.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking.” he sighed and looked at his feet.

You waved again to draw his gaze back to you. “It’s fine! Just remember to look at me when you speak.” Michael smiled at you sheepishly with a small nod. “Okay.” He wasn’t familiar with the signs you were using, but he could piece together what you needed from him.

He quickly finished the order and placed the coffee on the counter, telling you not to worry about paying for it. Besides, he’d already counted the money drawer and didn’t want to have to do it again for a single coffee. You held his gaze with a toothy grin for a few beats before pointing at the door awkwardly.

“I’m...going to go. Thank you very much! I’ll see you around,” you signed.

You pulled the raincoat on again and wrapped your hands around the warm coffee before disappearing into the rain, letting the door slam behind you.

Michael stared at the door long after you’d gone. It wasn’t until Calum came back in to do some last minute clean-up that he snapped out of it.

———

That night when Michael got home, he sat in his usual spot at the computer. His phone buzzed on the table next to him, lighting up briefly to show a text from Calum.

Are you joining the game or not, man? We’re getting our asses kicked.

Michael had been at this for hours and could probably use a break to play. After a moment of thought, he shot back a quick reply.

Not tonight.I’ve got something else going on.

He sat his phone face down, causing him to miss Calum’s cheeky response, and glanced at the clock at the bottom of his computer screen. He’d been researching for hours. He decided to watch one more video before calling it a night. A yawn that stretched across his face as he clicked play on yet another video titled Deaf Culture 101.

———

It had been almost a week and Michael was still hoping to see you come back into the cafe. He’d been working on signs for anything he thought might be helpful but practicing your name was his favorite. He made Calum quiz him every day when the mid-afternoon lull hit. Calum completely understood where his friend was coming from but sometimes Michael got on a soapbox about inaccessibility for hours and that always made Calum roll his eyes, regretting his decision to be helpful.

When you appeared in the cafe that morning, Calum threw a wink at Michael and watched as a nervous blush crept across his face and neck. Calum gave him a small thumbs up and made sure to stay out of his way as you got closer to the front of the line.

“Good morning!” He spelled your name out at an agonizingly slow pace. “How….are you…..today?”

A wide smile took over your face and you suddenly felt a little embarrassed that you didn’t get his name last time you came in. You quickly found the name tag pinned to his apron and let out a sigh of relief before replying politely. You did your best to use signs you thought he might recognize and give him time to register them.

It took a lot of concentration for him to remember the right signs now that you were here and you could tell that he was panicking and clearly flustered. He remembered your order and your smile reached your eyes at his thoughtfulness.

“And one of these!” you said, leaning forward to point at your favorite treat in the pastry case for clarity. When you looked up from the baked goods, you met Michael’s light eyes. He must be the sweetest thing in here, you thought while holding his gaze. Your eyes went wide with shock at your own mind, causing you to glance around the rest of the shop before realizing the two of you were holding up the line.You quickly shuffled to the cash register where Michael rang up your breakfast.

As he gathered the change in his hand, you motioned for him to keep it and he slid it into the tip jar. “Thank you!” he signed with a smile. His nervous brain got ahead of him and he couldn’t come up with the right signs before he blurted out, “I wanted to ask if you’d want to hang out this weekend? I’m available Sunday afternoon?” You smiled again, reading the question on his lips. “Sure! That sounds great! Do you want to text me and make plans?” you asked, looking around for a pen and paper to write down your cell number.

Shock and excitement ran across his features as he picked up your coffee cup from the counter. He scribbled his phone number on the cardboard protector and handed it to you. Michael always felt so awkward making small talk and a new language made him even more nervous. He genuinely couldn’t believe you had agreed to a date with him. You gave him a small wave as you pivoted toward the door, giving him another smile over your shoulder before making it outside.

Michael was stuck in the same place with a goofy grin on his face until the next customer made their way to the register. Calum clapped his hand across his friend's shoulders to pull him back to reality but he didn’t come down from cloud nine for the rest of the day.

———

The two of you exchanged constant messages until Sunday rolled around. Your conversations were effortless and, most of the time, about nothing. You’d discussed every favorite you could think of, the strangest orders he’d taken each day, the interesting people you saw on your commutes, and he’d even snapped you hilariously edited candids of Calum. Poor guy had no idea his friend was turning him into a pirate or a pilot or a heavy metal rockstar.

You’d gotten a slow start to your morning as you made breakfast and sat down to watch the news until it switched to local programming around eleven o’clock. As you were getting ready for your afternoon with Michael, you realized the two of you had never decided what you were doing. He did ask you to hang out after all, so you hoped he had something in mind. When you messaged him to ask, you felt the tiniest bit guilty nixing a couple of his ideas immediately. Movies just weren’t practical since captioning devices were notoriously bad and, though a nice restaurant sounded lovely, the lighting was almost always too dim to read lips. He was throwing ideas around pretty quickly, so you thought it a little odd when he disappeared for a few minutes after a couple of rejected ideas. You knew he wouldn’t just leave you hanging, so you sat your phone down and continued your routine, deciding that if you didn’t hear from him by the time you were done, you would pitch a few plans of your own. After about ten minutes of silence, just as you picked it up to propose a place to go, your phone buzzed and lit up with Michael's name at the top of the screen.

I have a plan but it’s a surprise. I’ll send you the address but promise me you won’t look it up! Oh, and wear sunscreen 😎

You can’t help the amused smile that took over your face as you promised not to ruin his surprise. You wondered what in the world you’ve gotten yourself into but knew you’d have a good time with Michael no matter what.

After another half hour, Michael texted you that he’s ready when you are. He sent you the address and you couldn’t help trying to piece it together. You were somewhat familiar with the part of town where you were meeting, but not enough to figure out what he had planned. You let him know that you were on your way, sunscreen and sunglasses in tow.

After a short drive across town, you pulled into a fairly empty parking lot. Panic started to creep into your stomach until you spotted Michael standing outside his car at the other end, waving happily with a big grin on his face. As you parked, he came to the side of your door to help you out. He was always so sweet and thoughtful that it caused a permanent blush on your cheeks.

“Hi! How are you? I’m excited to see you again,” he signed, much improved from the last time you’d seen him. The smile on your face always seemed to accompany the warm blush when you were with Michael. “Me too!” you said as you looked around to see where he’d brought you. Your brows furrowed as you turned back to meet his gaze, “What are we doing here?” Determined to keep it a surprise, he told you that you would just have to be patient and wait. 

Patience is a virtue but not one you were known to possess, so you quickly pulled the things you needed out of your car and locked it up. Michael took your hand and led you down the sidewalk. You knew you were near the banks and you could smell the water but you still were at a loss for what you were doing.

The two of you strolled hand-in-hand for a few blocks, content with the silence between you. You had only known each other for a short time, but it made you happy to see that he had so quickly become comfortable with you. He wasn’t the same nervous, rambling man you first met, though you will admit you found him charming either way. When it came to navigating the hearing world, you were almost always outside of conversations and it made you feel warm that Michael didn’t see the need for mindless jabber. He was waiting until he could properly sign with you and that meant more than you could let him know. Instead, as you made your way wherever, you both watched the sparse tourists out and about the area for the afternoon. 

As you came upon a small path toward the banks, he motioned to the side to let you know that’s where you were headed. After a few more steps, you cleared the last row of buildings and saw the pier stretched out in front of you. Of course it was the pier and you couldn’t believe you didn’t realize sooner! You stopped for a second to take it in. It had been a while since you had gone to the pier because it was always a draw for visitors and you tended to avoid the large crowds. You took in the rows of carnival games and fried food stands outfitted in flashing lights before seeing a pair of tourists flying from one end to the other on a giant zipline. Your eyes went wide with shock and you shot a quick, worried glance at Michael. He began to laugh before he replied, “don’t worry - we’re just here for games and food!” He barely finished signing to reassure you before he wrapped your hand in his again and he took off, pulling you toward a pair of whack-a-mole seats.

The light crowd that afternoon meant that you could walk up to any stand without a wait to play and you were convinced Michael wanted to play every game there. When you were both beat out at whack-a-mole by the ten-year old next to you, you decided buzzer games probably weren’t your strong suit. The two of you raced between game stands in a never-ending fit of laughter. Some games had you competing against each other and the playful trash-talk amused the game attendants. Then, just as quickly as you’d started your banter, you’d find a single player game and become each other’s biggest cheerleader.

After losing at the cat rack, tin can alley, and the balloon bust, Michael wanted to try his hand at a game of chance, since clearly precision was not for him. His pace between games had slowed down considerably since you’d arrived and he was determined to win something to take home. He just hadn’t found much luck. The two of you wandered down the wooden platform with your fingers lazily entwined until you found the ring toss booth. You dropped his hand and signed excitedly to him that you’d find another game to try.

When he came very close to winning on several rings from the first bucket, Michael decided to give it a second go. The two of you tossed one red ring after another, almost making it many times but always watching them bounce off to the side. You picked up the last two rings in the bucket and handed one to Michael. His eyes met yours and you both nodded before turning back toward the game. He used his free hand to count down from three and you both sent the rings sailing through the air. You watched intently as they bounced around the bottle tops before Michael’s landed squarely around the golden glass bottle in the center.

He threw his arms up in the arm in victory as you looked at him with surprise and celebration on your face. His arms came down around your shoulders in a quick hug before the game attendant came over to help him claim a prize. Without hesitation, he turned to you and asked “Which one do you want?” You glanced up at the options and pointed out a small stuffed animal hanging right above you. As if on instinct, you hugged it to your chest when the attendant handed it over and thanked them and Michael. Smile on your face, stuffed animal in one hand, and Michael in the other hand, you couldn’t have been happier as you wandered between stalls.

The smell of something sweet caught your attention as you looked around to find the source. Michael must have read your mind because he began guiding you in the direction of the food stand without warning. To your surprise, the person inside the booth knew enough sign language to take your order without needing a pen and paper. Michael beamed from ear to ear watching your happiness as you were able to order treats for both of you. He only caught every second or third word, but he could see the elated smile on your face. Michael had needed to step in at most of the games throughout the afternoon, so you felt very excited to find someone who spoke your language.

Once you’d retrieved your treats and thanked the worker again, you began to walk back toward the parking lot leisurely. Just as you finished your snacks and were about to approach the end of the pier, you spotted a small photo booth kiosk. You grabbed Michael’s hand and tugged him off in that direction without much of a choice.The two of you piled onto the narrow seat and closed the curtain before you fed money into the machine. You selected a decorative frame with the date in the corner and the onscreen countdown began.

For the first pose, you held up the prize Michael won you with a toothy grin and he threw up a thumbs up, earning a laugh from you. You both pulled a funny face in the next pose and when it popped up on screen, you noticed that Michael had the tiniest bit of food stuck on the outside corner of his lips. You turned toward him and reached your hand up to rest on his cheek as your thumb swiped away the residue. Michael let out a small gasp as his face turned to you. The camera flash for the third picture caught you off guard and caused you to pull away as heat flushed over your cheeks. Before his confidence faltered, Michael cupped your face and brought his lips to meet yours. Your eyes fluttered closed briefly before he pulled away and looked into your eyes. You could read the hesitance in his expression until you placed a peck on his lips to tell him that it was okay. His mouth stretched into a wide smile and you felt your cheeks burn even hotter as you pulled back and glanced timidly at the stuffed animal in your lap.

Michael reached for the copies of the printed film strip at the bottom of the machine and flushed as he realized the last picture was of your kiss. He handed you a copy as he signed “cute” with a smile before opening the curtain and stepping out of the kiosk. You carried the photo strip in the same hand as your ring toss prize so you could hold Michael’s hand in the other. As you made your way back down the sidewalk to your parked cars, you leaned your head against his shoulder. He placed a sweet kiss to the top of your head with a smile, earning a contented hum from you before you fell back into silence for the next few blocks. You had known you would have a good afternoon with Michael, but it had exceeded all expectations.

———

taglist: @easierlftv @haikucal @kingcals @youngblood199456 @bookercth @atlcalm @another-lonely-heart @ashtonsos @castaway-cashton @itsjen223 @softbabiestan​

[northwestofinsanity]

I was tagged by @ritchieblackless Thank you!

1. Why did you choose your url?

The “Northwest” comes from “Northwestern”.  As far as that part goes, it’s a long, complicated story, involving a character from some original stories I used to write for my younger cousins when they were kids, and my favorite vessel on Deadliest Catch (it used to be a good show).  “Insanity” comes from exactly what it sounds like.  I’m never fully sane... but majority of the time, I’m not entirely insane, so I played a pun on what became my online name to suggest I’m just a little up the road to the north and west of true insanity.

2. Any side blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

None so far.

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

February 2017... so that’s a little over 4 years as of now.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

No, and I don’t really use the queue.  I’m not active enough on Tumblr to have much use for it, and I pretty much just post whenever the mood strikes me, and when I have time to search and focus on what my hyperfixation du jour is.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

The community I was in on DeviantArt (not band-related) was melting down in a really nasty way, and one of my closer friends there became abusive, so once I got everything I was in charge of there handed over, I abandoned my account.  I was in some *intense* emotional pain, and I needed distraction, and distance from the fandom.  I basically came to Tumblr to hyperfixate on my favorite bands more -it was something I’d considered, but didn’t have the time before that to commit to it.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

My icon is Jeff Pilson and George Lynch.  Dokken was one of the bands I was most hyperfixated on in 2017, and they, along with a friend who is also a fan of them, really were helping me get through that hard time when I made this account.  Besides that, Jeff and George have a really wholesome friendship despite the turbulent history of Dokken.  As for my pfp, I just chose generic guitars I found on Google Images to create a minimalist background.  I have a tight data limit, and I tend to force every ounce of life out of my devices, so I make my own stuff as easy to load as possible, and most likely to function even if an outdated, semi-incompatible browser doesn’t format things quite right.

7. Why did you choose your header?

“Classic Rockhaven” (I assume that’s the header?) comes from my love for classic rock, and the idea of rock and roll being a safe-haven for me at the time.  “Rockhaven” also closely resembles the name of a neighborhood a few miles away from my own in my hometown, so I knew it would flow right.

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I have 14 as of now.  I’ve lost a few due to some people leaving, or switching accounts

10. How many followers do you have?

429.  Some are unfortunately fomer-porn accounts I haven’t had a chance to weed out and block.  A good number are just empty, lurker accounts as well, but as long as those followers are enjoying classic rock content, that’s fine by me.  I’m grateful for the followers I have who do enjoy and interact with my posts.

11. How many people do you follow?

Officially, 38, but there are a good number of accounts I “unofficially” follow, by visiting blogs every night I have the chance.  I’d love to follow more, and am looking to officially follow a few of those, since a few of the people I already follow have gone inactive or left.  With my lifestyle, and data limits, I just have a hard time keeping up with my dashboard even with the tiny amount of people I follow, so I like to really get to know blogs first, and then slowly add them to my follow list so I don’t get overwhelmed. 

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

I believe so, depending on where you draw the line on that.  (at least in my definition, I have).  Do snarky posts about Tumblr’s glitches and that time I drowned my phone at work count?  Or the crazy, crack-fic cartoons I drew in quarantine?

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

On my weekends/off-days, whenever I want and can.  On my 12-hour workdays, I check my dash before I leave home, once over data while I’m on my lunch break, and then at least once when I get home.  If I’m getting home on time, and not late because the evening ran long, I’ll check on blogs I watch without following yet.

14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

Not that I’m aware of... I’ve made neutral posts discouraging other blogs from fighting though, because I’ve seen plenty of traumatic things internet fights can lead to in the events leading to me joining here, and I don’t want to see anyone go through that when usually, nobody wins.  At best, I think I had someone misunderstand what I said on a post where there was affectionate teasing of a certain 80s guitarist, and I meant to play along with the joke to say “don’t tease him, he’s a nervous wreck” -and added some band history for any watchers who didn’t know the story behind why said guitarist is so nervous... but it didn’t come to anything.

15. How do you feel about "you need to reblog this" posts?

9 times out of 10, I agree with what they’re saying, but I don’t like reblogging these things, because it feels like it’s being crammed down everyone’s throat -I’m much more receptive to things that don’t feel forced, along with plenty others.  To begin with, they’re not really what I’m here for.  Tumblr is a place I joined for a mental escape from the world’s problems -not a place to ruminate on them.  And when I’m seeing them when I’m half-mentally numb in the middle of a 12-hour shift with only 1 gigabyte per month of data to work with, or when I’m home after that day and dead on my feet, it just turns me off.

16. Do you like tag games?

I like doing them when I have the time at home to sit down and do them over Wi-fi.  The only thing I’m iffy with is tagging others, because I don’t want to make someone feel pressured into doing it.

17. Do you like ask games?

As long as the questions aren’t about a certain few things I will not share about, I have fun with those.  I just have to find one to reblog from someone I follow that comes up at a time I know I’ll have time at home to answer.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I don’t know if anyone truly is, but @mccoys-killer-queen ’s sideblog is pretty well known.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

No, but I do care for a number of my mutuals (including a couple I haven’t officially followed yet) a great deal, and can say I wish nothing but happiness for them, and if they were to leave, I would truly miss them (but also support it if they deemed it best -as I have with a few past mutuals).

20. Tags

Anybody who wants to!

[imaginesforyourfandom]

Sick of This - USWNT Imagine

(Y/N) POV:

“This is bullshit.” I mumbled letting out another cough. I groaned trying to take a breath but remaining unsuccessful.

“No, what’s bullshit are all the side effects of this cold medicine.” Pinoe mumbled as she and Ash were both reading the back of the box. I rolled my eyes as I tried to sit up but was immediately pushed back down Alex.

“Lay down.” She scolded as I frowned at her. “You’re not well.”

“I found a thermometer.” Tobin said grinning as she walked into the room with Kelley and Allie trailing behind her. “On an unrelated note, the medical staff will be missing one in a few hours.”

“I don’t care. Give it.” Christen said coming towards me. She tried to take my temperature but was unable to due to my pushing her away. “Stop. Let me take your temperature.”

“No” I groaned as I tried to move away again but was scolded by everyone in the room.

“Let her take your temperature.” JJ scolded as I shot her a look.

“Let me sit up first.” I said glaring at everyone. Christen moved to take it again when I pulled away.

“Fine. Sit up.” Kelley said knowing I wasn’t going to comply unless they let me move around a little.

I sat up feeling a little better and allowed Christen to take my temperature. She frowned putting the back of her hand against my forehead. The thermometer beeped and she looked at it with her frown deepening.

“Its 102” she said looking around at everyone who immediately adopted worried looks of their own. I rolled my eyes feeling irritation over all of them being so worried.

“Big deal. I can just take some medicine and then I’ll be fine.”

“Maybe we should take her to the hospital.” Alex said ignoring me as I turned to her with an irritated look.

“No, that’s a horrible idea.” I said as she turned to me with a doubtful look on her face.

“Maybe…let’s give her some medicine now and then we will check again later.” Ash said as I rolled my eyes again.

“I can speak for myself.” I mumbled earning more glares from everyone in the room. I then frowned when my stomach felt like it was flipping. I shot out of the bed and into the bathroom releasing the contents of my stomach into the toilet. I leaned against it feeling someone behind me rubbing my back. I turned to see JJ giving me a small smile. I washed my mouth out and then walked back into the room. I wiped my nose before climbing back into the bed.

“This medicine has a lot of side effects.” Pinoe said holding up the box as Christen took it reading the side effects out loud.

“Dizziness, drowsiness, headache, nausea, nervousness, or trouble sleeping may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, contact your doctor or pharmacist promptly.”

“Yeah I’ll take my chances” I said reaching for the box only for her to slap my hand away. “You can’t be serious.”

“These are dangerous side effects.” She argued giving me a look. I stared at her in disbelief.

“You’re not going to vaccinate your kids either are you?” I said getting a death glare from her as I quickly snatched the box from her. I opened it and took some out before popping them in my mouth. I accepted the glass of water from Tobin and swallowed them down. “See…I’ll be better in no time.”

“I am going to vaccinate my kids for the record.” She said as I smiled at her.

“I know.” I mumbled leaning back on the bed. Everyone in the room then moved to make themselves comfortable as they all started talking amongst themselves. I tried to participate, but it wasn’t long before I found myself drifting to sleep.

Ash POV Switch

We all watched as (Y/N) fell into a deep sleep. She had been fighting sleep for the last 15 minutes which had been quite amusing. I know I wasn’t the only one relieved when she finally relaxed into her bed.

“Finally, she’s down.” JJ mumbled as we all nodded our heads in agreement.

“Say what you want….she is one stubborn cookie.” Pinoe said as I nodded my head.

“Is that not the thing we love about her the most…?” Kelley said smiling softly in the direction of (Y/N).

“It’s nice on the field. Not so much when we are trying to get her to relax.” Alex said rubbing her fingers over (Y/N)’s hair. I watched as the younger midfielder nudged Alex’s hand a little in her sleep. This only caused the forwards smile to soften.

“She’s our kid.” I said as they all nodded their heads. “No matter what we are going to fuss over her, and she will hate every moment of it.”

“I don’t give a damn.” Christen mumbled earning surprised looks from everyone. “What? She’s our baby. I don’t care what she says. I would do anything for this kid.”

“Amen to that sister.” Pinoe said earning a few laughs from everyone.

“God help anyone who breaks her heart.” JJ said as we all smiled watching her sleep.

“God help anyone who dates her…” I said getting a few nods around the room.

“I’ll kill anyone who hurts her.” Kelley said with a serious look on her face.

“I’m glad we can all agree on that” Alex said not taking her eyes from (Y/N). We all continued watching her sleep as we made our small talk about everything from games to current events.

“I’m going on a lunch run.” Pinoe said standing up. “Anyone want to go with?”

“I’ll go. Text us what you want.” Kelley said standing up and following Pinoe out the door.

“Okay.” We all said continuing our respective conversations.

(Y/N) POV Switch

I woke up feeling incredibly drowsy. I let out a cough and tried to sit up. I closed my eyes feeling a low pounding in my head. I felt an arm around my back to help me with support. I turned to see JJ giving me a small smile. I smiled in return letting myself rest against the defender turned midfielder.

“Hi” I mumbled as she let out a low chuckle.

“Hello.” She said as I closed my eyes. I could hear movement around the room before someone was taking my temperature again. “No…”

“Just let it happen.” I heard christen say as the device beeped. It was pulled away as she read it out loud. “101.2. Okay it’s down a little.”

“Do you want to try to eat something?” Alex asked me softly as I opened my eyes to look at the forward. I nodded my head slightly before a bowl of soup was passed to me. I frowned a little not sure how long it had been sitting there. I held it in my hands and noticed it was still warm. I opened the lid before the soup was taken from me. I turned to see Kelley opening my silverware. She dipped the spoon in the soup and held it to my lips. I frowned before accepting the soup.

“I can feed myself.” I complained getting smiles from everyone in the room.

“It’s better this way.” She argued as she gave me another bite. I ended up eating half of the bowl before I didn’t want anymore.

“I’m sick of this.” I groaned as I let out another cough. “I hate being sick and I hate being babied.”

“We know.” Christen said though she said it more condescending as I stared at her with a blank face. “You should rest.”

“You should rest.” I mocked as I let myself lean against JJ again. The midfielder accepted it and slowly laid me back down on the bed. I felt my eyelids get heavier as I drifted back to sleep. I don’t know how long I was asleep, but I was definitely feeling better when I woke up again. I surveyed the room and for the most part everyone was still there.

Alex was sitting in the bed next to me watching something on the tv. I had my head rested on her thigh as I was hugging her whole leg. Christen was on the other side of me reading a book. Tobin and Kelley were both at the end of the bed playing cards with Pinoe who had pulled a chair up. Ash was talking with Ali, Allie, Crystal, and JJ over on the other bed. I laid there for a moment before pushing myself up and stretching slightly. I felt a hand on my back as I turned towards Christen who gave me a look of concern.

“Let me take your temp.” she said as I let her take my temperature. She seemed grateful as we waited for the device to beep. “98.7”

There were a few relieved smiles around the room as I continued stretching out my back. I leaned back against the headboard resting my head against Alex’s shoulder. I pulled the covers closer to me and crossed my arms watching the tv. I ignored all the smiles across the room feeling tired still.

“Go away.” I mumbled as they all grinned at me. I shook my head as Christen then leaned against me giving me cuddles. I groaned but allowed myself to be cuddled by the forward. This caused everyone to let out small chuckles as I sent glares to everyone around the room.

“Let us know if her fever changes.” Crystal said as she and JJ both exited the room. There were nods from everyone as Ash, Pinoe, and Ali then left right behind them. Tobin and Kelley moved to the other bed with Allie and started talking while continuing their card game. I let myself be cuddled by the two forwards that were left on my bed. I would never say it, but I was grateful for their care that they had given me. I wasn’t going to tell them though because they would never let me live it down. Though, I think they knew I appreciated it.

The End.

[brianc521]

Dad

It feels like the world is against you today, nothing was going the way you planned it.

You woke up late, your alarm not going off like you set it the night before; leaving you to quickly throw on an outfit and not have enough time to make breakfast. Which meant sending both Collin, you’re 9 year old, and Lucas, your 5 year old, to school with breakfast and lunch money.

You were late to your 9 o’clock meeting because the bitchy soccer mom, Becky, needed to talk to you, at that exact moment about how you were on snack duty for the next soccer game. That alone set you back another 10 minutes.

Now your boss is asking you to stay late to finish the project you’re in charge of, that way it can be sent first thing in the morning.

Your head is in your hand, phone pressed to your ear as you did the only thing you could think to do at the moment.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” You sigh, shoulders slumping.

“Hey Honey, how’s your day?” Shawn asks, and you can practically see his beaming smile.

“Pretty shitty actually.” You look up at your desktop that has tabs upon tabs of apps open.

“Oh,” he hums, “what happened?”

“I really don’t have time to talk about it right now.”

“Okay, then what can I do?” He was switching into his protective boyfriend mode.

“I was late this morning,” you say softly, “so now my boss wants me to stay late and finish the project.”

“Okay.”

“But I have to pick up Lucas.”

“Oh. I’ll do it, he’s at school?”

“Yeah, are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, Honey. What about Collin?” you can hear he is already grabbing his keys, probably knowing that pick up was in a few minutes and he’d have to wait forever in line if he was any later than that.

“Collin is riding home with a friend today, he’s got to work on a project.”

“My working bees,” He grins, and you hear the shutting of the Jeep door.

“Thank you for this,” You whisper as your boss walks past your desk.

“Don’t thank me,” he chuckles, setting his phone on the dock and clicking the speaker button. “I wanna help as much as I can, I’m glad you called.”

You smile, nodding even though he can’t see you. “Okay, I have to go, tell Lucas I’m sorry I couldn’t pick him up. I’ll be home for dinner.”

“Okay Love, take a breather, get some coffee and get back to work.”

“Okay, Collin should be home by 4 by the way.”

“Okay, I love you,”

“I love you too,” you smile, hanging up and letting out a sigh of relief knowing that one thing on your plate was being taken care of.

********

Shawn hums along to the radio, looking at the surroundings of the school when someone taps on his window. He looks over startled, clicking the button to roll down the glass, smiling when he comes face to face with what looks to be a parent volunteer.

“Hi!”

“Hi there, who are you here for?”

“Lucas,” He grins, already seeing the little munchkin with the rest of his class.

“Lucas?”

Shawn gives your last name and the lady looks confused. “And your name?” she asks, an unimpressed look on her face as she flips to Lucas’s name on her clipboard.

Shawn gulps, worried he might not be on the list to take Lucas home. “Shawn Mendes.” He tries to peer at the clipboard.

“Oh I see, you’re right here,” She nods, turning and walking to get Lucas.

Shawn smiles, something bursting in his chest when he realizes that you’ve put him down on Lucas’s pick up sheet.

He hops out of his Jeep, finding that the mom is also to the car with Lucas.

“Who is that?” She asks with a smile, making Lucas look up from his feet.

“That’s my Dad!” Lucas cheers, breaking free from the mom’s hold to run to Shawn.

Shawn freezes for a moment, Lucas has never called him that before. “Hey Bud!” He crouches down to pick up the blonde haired boy.

“Dad?” The mom questions, eyeing Shawn with suspicion since Lucas looks nothing like Shawn.

“Step,” Shawn corrects shortly, unhappy that she’s ruining his moment.

“Hey Dad,” Lucas pulls Shawn’s face back to facing him.

“Mhm?”

“Can we get ice cream?” He asks, big gap toothed smile wearing away at Shawn’s response of “No”. “Please!” he begs oh so cutely.

“Okay, but don’t tell Mom,” Shawn grins, helping Lucas into his booster in the backseat.

**********

Later that night, after both Lucas and Collin are in bed, tucked in and kissed goodnight, Shawn looks to you, a big grin on his face.

“What?” you ask, pulling back in fear that you have something on your face or that your hair was a mess.

“Lucas called me Dad today,” Shawn hums, high on the feeling of being accepted into this family.

“I picked up on that at dinner.”

“That’s the first time he’s called me that.”

“Is that okay? If you don’t want him to I can tell him not-”

“Are you kidding? Like, tell me you’re joking,” Shawn deadpans. “This has been one of the best days of my life, please don’t take it away.” He shakes his head, and then stops, “Unless you don’t want him calling me that, I totally understand, I’m not-”

This time Shawn gets cut off, your hand covering his mouth. “I love it,” You remove your hand, pecking his lips. “Has Collin said it?”

Shawn shakes his head. “That’s okay, he’s older, understands the divorce better and everything,” he says referring to your divorce from Rob, Lucas and Collin's dad.

“Yeah, he was still young, but I get your point,”

“I’ll be thrilled if he does, but I won’t be hurt if he doesn’t either,” Shawn nods, letting you snuggle close to him. “Thank you for letting me be apart of your family.” He kisses the top of your head. You nod, kissing his chest and falling into him.

*****

It’s a few weeks later, you and Shawn are renting a movie, clad in your pajamas, having a little movie night since it’s Rob’s night with the boys.

Your head is on Shawn’s chest, as he has both his arms wrapped around you holding you close while you watch a thriller of some paranormal family.

You jump when your phone starts buzzing, making you and Shawn whip your heads towards it. You lean over, looking to see if it might be a call you could ignore for the moment but sit up urgently when you see Collin’s name running across your screen.

You had gotten him the phone a few months after the custody agreement went into place, both of you deciding that he was old enough.

You pick it up, pressing the device to your ear, “Collin? Honey, are you okay?”

“Mom?” He whimpers softly.

“What’s wrong?” You push the blanket off your lap, looking to Shawn with wide eyes.

“Dad went out awhile ago,” He stutters, clearly upset and scared.

“Mhm, take a breath for me honey.”

“I don’t know where he went, and we didn’t have dinner, and I’m hungry and Lucas keeps saying he doesn’t feel good. He’s all warm Mom, I’m scared.”

You stand up, Shawn hot on your heels, as he watches you start to slip your sandals on.

“Did you call your Dad?” You ask, looking for your keys but watching Shawn hold his up.

“Yeah a few times but he won’t answer, Mom can you get us? He’s been gone for hours.”

You nod frantically, “Yep we’re on our way, pack your things and get your brother's as well. Tell him we’re coming,”

“We?” Collin asks.

“Shawn and I.”

Shawn looks to you when you say his name, and to your surprise Collin lets out a sigh of relief over the phone.

“Okay, I’ll pack, see you in a few,”

“Okay, I love you,”

“Love you too,” he says and the line goes dead.

You take a deep breath, your calm demeanor now out the window as you get into the Jeep. It’s past nine o’clock, that means the boys haven’t had dinner and they haven’t eaten since their lunch at school. You look to Shawn with wide eyes.

“I am gonna-” You start.

Shawn shakes his head, hand reaching over for your leg, “Don’t,” he says firmly, knowing what you were gonna say.

You knew that Rob was struggling, which is why you wanted the divorce. But the custody agreement was in place, as much as you hated it, the boys had to see their father.

“It’s not your fault. That jackass knows what he needs to do and what he wants to do, his priorities aren’t straight, and that’s not your fault.” Shawn says, and you know he’s right, but those are your kids and you can’t believe they are in that situation.

You pull up and Shawn unlocks the car. “Stay here,” he says popping his door open.

“Shawn,”

“Stay here!” He looks to you again.

You watch as he stomps up the porch, knocking on the door and peaking in. He sees nothing, opens the door more and calls fairly loudly, “Collin, it’s Shawn.”

Collin turns the corner, seeing Shawn in the doorway and breaks into a sprint, “Dad!” He calls in relief, running into Shawn’s arms and burying his face in Shawn’s shirt.

“Shh,” Shawn says, wanting to really appreciate the moment the first time Collin called him Dad, but the want of getting his boys out of this house and into his safe one more important. “Where’s your brother?”

“On the couch,” Collin points to the brown couch.

“Okay, can you grab your bags?” Shawn points to the two backpacks.

Collin nods, watching Shawn crouch next to Lucas, caressing his cheek and then hauling him up into his arms. “Okay,” Shawn whispers, “Let’s go, Mom’s in the car.”

He takes Collin’s hand and leads the boys out of the house.

He opens the door to his Jeep, allowing Collin to climb in first, and then setting Lucas down and buckling him up.

“My babies,” you coo, looking back at your two boys, noticing the distraught look of your nine year old and the red cheeked face of your five year old.

“Fever,” Shawn hums, when your gaze lingers on Lucas.

Shawn gets into the driver's seat, pulling out of the driveway and onto the main road, glancing in his mirror to the boys in the back. Collin is stressed, and he keeps bouncing his leg, you can feel it against the back seat.

Shawn looks to you, and your same stressed face.

He reaches back, touching Collin’s bouncing leg getting it to calm for a moment and Collin’s attention to snap to Shawn.

“You’re okay,” Shawn whispers, making eye contact with Collin the mirror. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”

Collin nods, reaching for Shawn’s fingers and grasping them tightly. “Thanks Dad,” He whispers, and you gasp, looking between the boys.

“What do you wanna eat?” Shawn asks, “I can get you something at the store, or I can stop somewhere.”

“Can you make me your scrambled eggs and some toast?” Collin asks, and Shawn’s brows furrow in confusion at the oddly specific request.

“Mine?”

“Yeah, it’s my favorite,”

“Um, sure,” He nods. “Just gotta stop by the store to get your brother some medicine first okay?”

Collin nods, and looks out the window, never letting go of Shawn’s hand.

You look down at their conjoined hands, and then smiling up at Shawn. “Honey,” You whisper, getting Shawn’s attention. “Thank you for completing our family.”

[parkersharthook]

All My Sides Ch. 3

(Peter Parker x female!reader)

warnings: tension, stupid decisions, kidnapping

3.5k+ words

Ch 2

“Spider-man… I have something you want.”

Peter’s blood ran cold as the video panned over to Y/n who continued to hold her head high despite the fear in her eyes. She had a bruise forming around her right eye and blood spotted on her bottom lip. Her wrists were bound behind her back and her feet were tied to the chair she was currently sitting in. There was a gag in her mouth. Peter sprung to his feet, running to get his suit on immediately.

“Spider-man… this is a live video that is playing on every news station and screen available. Every billboard in Times Square, every phone in civilians’ hands, every radio and TV station… they will see your beloved Y/n Y/l/n die if you don’t listen to every instruction I give.” Peter watched on the TV in his room as Dr. Connors appeared with a sinister grin. “Meet me in Time Square in thirty minutes or…” he glanced back to Y/n, “well you can guess.”

“Mr. Parker, Sir is calling you.”

“Decline.” Peter’s voice came out rough and gritted as he pulled on his civilian clothes over his Spiderman suit and shoved his mask into his backpack. He slung it over his shoulder and sprinted down the steps of the tall tower, and continued running the short distance to Times Square. He saw the hordes of people stopped and staring at the billboards and then to the sky as numerous avengers began to appear in the sky overhead. Peter pulled up his hood and dropped his head. He knew what Dr. Connors was looking for, and if he let Y/n get hurt due to his stupidity… he would never let himself live it down.

The mad scientist came back onto the screen, “I’m glad you followed my orders Spider-man. But I see you didn’t show up as you… I’m proud. You remembered our little game. Citizens of New York!” His voice bellowed out of every speaker nearby, “We’ve been missing a certain web slinger for the past week. No one knew why, until now. Our friendly neighborhood Spiderman,” he spat out every word, “has lost his powers.” Gasps rippled through the crowd.

He continued, “He is just an ordinary boy. But this is no ordinary girl, you see. This is Y/n y/l/n. Not only is she the daughter of former police captain but she has a special relationship with Spidey. And if he doesn’t cooperate then at 6:30 pm her body will be dropped from the bell tower of St. Margaret’s church. You know the one.” Y/n’s eyes filled with terror and her body tensed against its restraints. “So… Spidey. You know where to meet me. It’s where we first met. Just you and me. You have twenty minutes.”

Peter could still see the avengers with the ability of flight soaring through the sky scanning the people below them. They were looking for him, trying to stop him from doing something stupid. He noticed Sam tuck his wings and turn tightly around, heading towards the large church in search of Y/n. Peter shook his head and fell into the crowd of people. He knew that Y/n wouldn’t be there. He quickened his steps as he walked towards what might be the place of his demise. He had shit to do.

~.~

“Can anyone see him?” Tony barked out from his spot above the pointing crowd

“Nothing.” Bucky muttered as he pushed through the crowd.

“He should be here!” Steve growled out into the comms.

“That guy said that this was a game.” Wanda stated, looking down back alleys for him. “They’ve done this before.”

“So Peter’s not here?”

“He said that Spiderman showed up but not as ‘him’.” Natasha muttered and then it clicked, “he’s not out as Spiderman.”

“Fuck.” Steve muttered, “We’re never going to find him.” He turned his head towards the sky as Sam began to fly back in, “Sam?”

“She’s not there. Nobody is.”

“It’s a game guys.” Wanda repeated, heading towards the rendezvous point. “Nothing is going to be straight forward. Stark, don’t you have some kind of tracking on his suit?”

“If he even has the suit…” Tony muttered, “But it’s only activated when he has the mask on.”

“Well we know he’s going to confront this guy either way. We’re just gonna have to wait.” Sam suggested.

“Not gonna happen.” Bucky growled out.

“Bucky’s right.” Clint said, “let’s find out everything we can about this guy.”

“We can’t waste time going back and forth between the tower and here.” Natasha met Bucky’s eyes from across the crowd and nodded slightly. “Meet me and Bucky on the corner of Broadway and 7th. I have a plan.”

~.~

“Seriously guys?” Tony said with a raised eyebrow as he stepped through the doorway into the small apartment. Natasha rolled her eyes and walked to a small linen closet.

“We don’t tell you everything Stark.”

Tony sat down in an office chair and spun around slowly, “but maybe you should.”

Wanda picked up a throw pillow with a small smirk, “it’s cute.”

Bucky fought back a groan, “don’t make us regret this.”

Clint folded his arms and leaned against the wall, “so what’s the point of this. Why are we here?”

Natasha pulled out 2 large metal briefcases from the closet and set them on the dining room table, “It’s close to times square and St. Margaret. We can use this as a base until we know for sure what is happening. It saves time and energy.”

“We have more resources at the tower.” Tony drawled out in a complain

Steve rolled his eyes, “Natasha has everything we need right here, and I know you have your mobile computer with you. You take it everywhere.”

Tony grumbled under his breath but still pulled out a rectangular device. He flicked it in the open space causing blue holographic projections of the news to appear. Wanda and Clint took a step closer to examine each broadcast and headline. Anything that could give them a clue.

They all worked in silence for a while, trying to solve the mystery when Tony spoke up, “A secret apartment? Really?” Everyone groaned in annoyance, “next thing we know, you’ll be telling us that you two are married.”

Natasha walked by him with a stack of reports. She sent him a devious wink, “maybe we are.” She sat down at the table with the folders and opened them up one by one.

Steve, who had been looking over her shoulder, stopped her movements. “Check out this one.”

“But you guys aren’t… right?” Tony turned to Bucky who was concentrating on the profile of Dr. Connors, “married, I mean.” Bucky glanced up at the older man but offered no answer as he just got back to work.

“What’s important about this one?”

“Look at these.” He spread out the photos of a fight that Spiderman had been in a few years ago.

“What about them?” Wanda asked as she came up to the table. “It’s just Peter fighting a big lizard.”

“Right but look at this one.” Steve repositioned a grainy photo of Peter fighting a large lizard who had a shredded lab coat on his back.

Clint picked up the photo and looked at it closer, “I remember this. It was something with Oscorp before they went out of business. SHIELD try to uncover the details, but everything was pretty much burned to the ground.”

“Gross… Oscorp.” Tony said with an exaggerated gag

“Do you remember anything else about it?” Steve asked Clint. Behind them Bucky’s eyes had widened as he read a particular file sheet.

Clint scratched his head like the old man he was. “I think that this lizard guy was some guy who experimented on himself. Went completely wrong, as they always do. But after the battle with Spiderman he didn’t show up for a while. We assumed he died.”

“Guys…”

“Why hasn’t anyone asked Peter about this?” Wanda asked

“It never came up, I guess.” Natasha supplied

“Guys…”

“Well after all of this is over we need to get more details on this.”

“Agreed.”

“Guys!” everyone turned to Bucky who had grown paler. “The lizard is Dr. Connors.”

“What?”

“Look here.” Bucky showed them all the written report on the scientist, “He was a scientist at Oscorp for years and then he suddenly went off the grid after that incident. He lost an arm from an accident and his main topic of research was regeneration of tissue.”

It clicked for Tony, “he tried to regrow his arm and turned himself into a lizard.”

Wanda furrowed her brows, “please connect the dots.”

Tony swiveled to face her, “lizards have a regenerative property. Dr. Connors probably studied them and mixed their genetic makeup with something else producing a mix of the super soldier, hulk, and Spiderman serum. He injected it into himself and it went wrong.”

“Meaning that he turned into a big ass lizard?” Steve asked, obviously still not convinced.

“Think about it. This doctor guy suddenly disappears after this incident with a large lizard which is the animal he happened to experiment on. Then he suddenly comes back looking for revenge on Spiderman?” Bucky said, “It’s obviously him.”

“Okay but how would he know Peter’s identity? Or his connection to Y/n?”

Wanda smacked her forehead, “Y/n had an internship with Oscorp back in Highschool. She literally worked next to the guy.”

“Okay but Peter and she weren’t dating back then.”

“But they were still friends.” Wanda supplied, “she told me that her and Peter would sometimes meet up for lunch during her break and talk about all this sciencey stuff. Dr. Connors even approached Peter about him working there full time.”

“But he decline because he had an ‘internship’ with Tony Stark.” Natasha supplied. Wanda nodded at her.

“Okay but how does he know that Peter is Spiderman?”

“Ladies and gentlemen! The main act has arrived!” The TV which had not been previously on, switched to life with the live broadcast.

Clint frowned deeply as he stared at the television, “oh shit here we go.”

~.~

Peter froze as the broadcast came over his phone.

“Hello there Spiderman! Still dressed as a civilian I see… good boy.” Dr. Connors’s voice was chilling. He continued on, “I’m proud of you for going where I wanted you to, but you aren’t finished yet.”

“Leave her alone!” Peter’s voice came out rough and hoarse.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Not so impatient young man. But congratulations are in order as you have solved my previous riddle. But alas neither I nor this fair maiden is there.” Peter moved to turn around and walk right back out of the sewer, but Dr. Connors’s voice stopped him. “Awww, don’t leave yet Spidey. In fact, I don’t think you can.” He laugh maniacally, “I have a camera on you right now. You turn around… you reveal who you are.”

Everyone tensed. Everyone in that apartment full of superheroes, everyone on the streets of New York, everyone who had a radio in their car, everyone who was hearing this tightened their muscles.

Natasha, though nervous for the boy, still had her mind in spy mode and took notice that Peter seemed to be in an abandoned subway tunnel.

“He has his backpack.” Wanda whispered, “That means he has his suit.” At least that was some good news.

“But Spiderman you seemed to overlook a few key details. Yes… it is true. I wanted you to end up where you are, but that isn’t where we first met. Think hard, Spidey. You can do it… you’re a smart boy.”

“Why don’t you just reveal my identity now? Why do this? What’s your end game?” Peter called, his back still turned to the camera

“What’s all the fun with that?” he cackled loudly. “You have 30 minutes to get where you need to be. And please… do show up as Spiderman. It’ll just make it that much more dramatic.” The screens went blank and it took a few moments for the shock to wear off.

Peter got moving immediately. He knew exactly where he had to go.

~.~

“Where is he going?” Tony asked in frustration as he slammed down some paper on the table

Steve pressed a finger to his ear, “Sam? Status?”

“Empty.” The voice came back static, but everyone still heard the message. They deflated.

“If he isn’t at the Oscorp building and he isn’t at his apartment, then where could that fucking mad man be?”

Natasha sat in silence, fingers pressed together as she thought over everything. She turned to Bucky who was in a similar position as her, “where did Y/n intern?”

“Oscorp Industries.” Bucky replied stoically.

“Yeah I know that. But where? Which location.”

“What do you mean which location?” Natasha rolled her eyes at her sometimes clueless boyfriend and pulled some papers closer to her. She checked them over once, twice, and then a third time again. Something wasn’t adding up. Click.

She opened her laptop quickly and typed out a quick google search. She let a small smile slip over her lips. “Boy oh boy, are you guys lucky to have me on the team.”

“What do you mean? What did you find?”

Natasha turned her laptop around as everyone crowded around, “The location listed under Y/n’s place of work is the Oscorp in Midtown. But if you go through the records of their listed employees she isn’t listed there.”

“An unpaid intern?” Wanda asked. Natasha shook her head and pulled Dr. Connors’s file closer.

“Look at his. Place of work, same building Red Division.” She pointed to something on her screen, “This Oscorp building was very open to the public. It had tours and interns and schematics online, but as we know Oscorp was into some very shady stuff.”

“They had a secret division with a secret building.” Tony said as he smacked his forehead, “how could we be so stupid?”

“But we would have found out about that when Oscorp fell.” Clint pointed out.

“Not if it was listed under a different name. That Oscorp building was organized into 3 colors or access levels: blue, green, purple. And if Y/n was as high up as she is labeled as, she would be in blue. There is no red.”

“Then where did Connors work?” Wanda asked, studying the file and still not making sense of anything.

“Here.” She typed out a quick search and spun the screen back around towards her teammates.

“Location not found?” Clint gave her a look

“Exactly. It doesn’t exist… anymore.”

“Wait… that address. That seems familiar.”

Bucky looked at the paper, “that’s because it was the Red Line Grocery Market back when we were kids. We worked there for two summers.” he looked up at Natasha, “but the address would still exist.”

“Not if they redid the gridlines in that neighborhood. That grocery store is still in business, bought by one Norman Osborn almost 2 decades ago. They moved locations once the gridlines were redone to a new and upcoming neighborhood… in Queens.”

“How did you even find that out?” Wanda asked somewhat amazed.

Natasha shrugged, “googled red division with Oscorp. The article that the Red Line Market was under new ownership came up. Researched the given address, linked it to its old address and the gridline renewal. Found its current location.”

“So, that’s where he’s hiding Y/n? In a grocery store?’

“Not exactly. A block from that store is a supply warehouse where they keep their inventory. I bet you, that’s where we find them.”

Bucky slowly shook his head, “I don’t doubt that this is all a connection but how on earth would Peter have his first meeting with Connors at this warehouse that no one affiliates with Oscorp?”

“I’m honestly not sure, but we’re gonna find out.”

~.~

Peter took a deep breath and walked through the warehouse doors. He didn’t even remember this place for the longest time, but as he took in his surroundings the memory came flooding back.

“Hey Peter!” Y/n called as she walked down the sidewalk with a new-found energy. Peter spun around, his bag of groceries hanging from his fingers. He smiled widely.

“Hey Y/n! What are you doing down here?”

“My boss sent me to pick up some supplies from the warehouse around the corner. I’m meeting another scientist there.”

Peter chuckled slowly as they fell into a steady rhythm, “no offense but that sounds kind of shady.”

Y/n laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “I thought so too honestly but a ton of the other interns have been here before and have met this Doctor, so I think everything will be okay.”

“Do you want me to walk you?” Peter suggested lightly, “Just in case?”

Y/n bit her lip and looked up at Peter through her eyelashes, “I’d like that.”

Peter pulled the mask over his face and threw his backpack behind some random shelf. He didn’t really care if he lost this one. “Spiderman!” The loud booming voice came through a set of speakers on the wall. Peter shivered, knowing that the man behind the voice was much closer.

“Welcome everybody! To the final act! This next performance will truly test your precious Spidey’s heroics… if he really is the hero you believe him to be.”

“Let her go!”

“Sorry Spidey… no can do.” his words came out slow and taunting. Peter wanted to punch him in the face. “do you remember?”

“remember what?”

“the first time we met. You stood in front of me, shook my hand, smiled, worked beside me.”

Peter shook his head and frowned, “I wish I never met you.”

“hey now. Don’t say anything that you’ll regret.” He stepped out of the shadows, crazed look in his eye. He cocked his head to the side and smirked, “words hurt you know.”

“Where is Y/n?”

He clicked his tongue, “oh don’t worry… I’ve been taking very good care of her.”

~.~

“Guys! Guys!” Wanda yelled loudly pulling everyone out of their heads. “he’s back on.”

Bucky leaned against the back of the couch as he stared at the TV, “well Nat he looks like he’s in a warehouse.”

“And you’re surprised because?” She smirked as she loaded a gun and slipped it into her thigh holster. “Now what are you waiting for? Let’s go get our boy.”

~.~

Connors pointed his finger at Peter and stepped towards a large door, “follow me Spiderman, I’ll take you to her.” Peter took a hesitant step forward as Connors whirled around to face him again, “oh by the way you’re still being broadcasted. Say hello to New York!” He waved his hand excitedly into the air.

“Dr. Connors, you’re sick. You’re not stable.” Peter said calmly and slowly

Connors’s eye twitched and he shook slightly, “I’m fine! But your girl won’t be if you continue like this.” he breath heavily, “now… follow me.”

“Dr. Connors, you know me. You know Y/n. You don’t want to hurt us, and I don’t want to hurt you.” He raised his hands steadying them. His web shooters pointed directly at the man.

He cackled maniacally, “You think that I know you can’t handle your web shooters? You have no powers! You are nothing right now! Oh silly silly boy.” He pulled a small button out of her pocket and hovered his thumb over it dangerously close. “I press this, and she’s gone.”

“What?” Peter’s voice cracked slightly

“There is a gun.” Peter swore he stopped breathing, “Sitting directly in front of Y/n. Fully loaded and ready to be fired. now guess what the button does.”

Peter didn’t know what to do. he was lost. He had never been in this situation.

“now, if you’re’ ready to cooperate. Follow me.” Peter took slow hesitant steps behind the crazy doctor until the two entered a large empty room. In the middle was a metal chair, she was tied to it. Her hair was matted to her face with sweat, small dribbles of blood were falling down her face. A gun sat directly in front of her face. She shook with fear.

“Y/n….” Peter barely whispered. he moved to reach her, but Dr. Connors just moved his thumb closer to the button. Peter stopped and tore his eyes away from Y/n to look at Dr. Connors, “lower the trigger. What do you want? Money? Security?”

Dr. Connors laughed and shook his head, “don’t be ridiculous Spiderman. I know you don’t have any money and the minute that your little Y/n is here, I know you’d send those little friends of yours to find me. No, I want something else. Something that only you can give me.” His smile widened, and Peter felt his blood run cold.

He watched as Dr. Connors slowly walked over to Y/n and pushed the chair forward by an inch, the gun almost pressing against her skin. She whimpered in fear and squeezed her eye tightly.

Peter’s voice wavered, “what do you want? I’ll do anything.”

“I know…”

“please, Dr. Connors.” Peter was one threat away from dropping to his knees and begging.

He laid a surprisingly soft hand on Y/n’s head, but she flinched away anyways. “I want you to take off your mask, Spiderman. Reveal yourself for who you truly are.”

Ch 4

taglist: @awkwardfangirl2014 @givinggoodvibes @unhealthyobsessionwithmarvel

[terranatior]

Parts and Services; Repairing Bonnie the Bunny

Scott gets tasked to repair Bonnie when the rabbit’s guitar isn’t quite in tune for a performance. 

Characters: Scott Calder (My Phone Guy); Bonnie the Bunny; Nameless Fazbear Manager

Notes: This takes place before Scott actually loses his arm to Foxy, thus he does have use of both hands. It’s kind of in an undefined point in time but it is in the location from the first FNAF game.

Audio prompts from the VR game have been tweaked to suit the setting. 

This isn’t beta’d or anything so pwease be nice considering any grammatical errors or anything!!

---

Brown eyes drifted between the closed door and his manager, a frown crinkling across Scott’s face as he contemplated the assignment that had been thrust upon him the moment he’d gotten back from his lunch break. Punch card had barely been placed back in the correct slot before the vulture had descended, metaphorical talons sinking in without a second thought.

“I’m not a m-m-mechanic though…I uh. W-We have someone who actually is.”

“Yeah and he’s on vacation! Listen Calder! I gotta get Bonnie fixed. You want these kids to NOT have a freakin’ guitar playing rabbit at their birthday? Huh? What kinda animal band doesn’t have a guitar-playing rabbit?”

“N-No sir–I-I just. I. W-What if I screw it up? I-I’ve never...”

“Then the damage is going to be docked outta your pay. But listen. It’s easy. There’s an instructional tape I’ve got. You just gotta find out what’s screwing up his guitar. Fix it. BAM! We’re back in business.”

“R-R-Right…” Throat was cleared and Scott glanced down at his hands, fingers twitching with nerves. Repairing an animatronic sounded anything but easy, and he was certain there were far more suitable candidates to tackle the task. Why hadn’t they been cornered and asked? Why was it always him?

“I-I-I’ll uh. I-I’ll try..?” What else could he say? There was no weaseling out of the job. No way he’d be able to smoothly talk himself out of it or volunteer another employee.

His supervisor grinned, clapping a heavy hand upon his shoulder. “Attaboy! He’s back in parts and services. Make sure you keep the door closed so no one ends up wandering in. The last thing we need is some kid spotting Bonnie with his face mask up.”

“R-Right…”

Dress shoes clicked lightly against the tiles of the Pizzeria as he made his way down the hall, easing open the proper door and peeking inside. A hand reached sideways, fumbling for the light switch before catching it and illuminating the room in an abysmally dim light.

Of course.

A deep inhale was given, steeling his nerves before he eased into the room and shut the door behind him. Tools were strewn out about the tables–various odds and ends for repairing the animatronics and performing general tasks around the Pizzeria. Wires and pieces of gears–things he wasn’t entirely sure how to handle. Half-formed endoskeletons and mascot heads sitting pretty on the shelves. Waiting for their time to shine. Attention finally shifted to the over-sized rabbit positioned on one of the stools, the metal-reinforced to handle such a heavy weight. His red guitar was firmly grasped in over-sized paws and two bowl-shaped devices were placed to his right and left, the smell of some sort of cleaning solution filling the air.

Uncertain steps were taken forward and Scott was reminded just how small he actually was compared to the machine. It was easy to forget just how large the animatronics were when they remained on stage during the day. It was amazing–how he’d never truly been intimidated by them as a child.

At least…not until after…

Head shook, waving away the thought and he took a mental stock of the items around himself should he need them. The animatronics weren’t supposed to be aggressive during the day shift–he knew that. Knew they wouldn’t try anything. But the door was shut and he was alone; who knew what the bunny could actually try to do?

“H-H-Hello Hello Bonnie…I uh. I-I-I’m uh. I.” Fuck. Breathe Calder. “I’m s-s-supposed to be uh…finding out w-w-what’s wrong with your guitar today! I uh. I-I-I know I’m not really trained for this but..just bare with me. Okay–? A-And we’ll uh. We’ll get through this a-a-and you can be back on stage with your friends. I-I mean...they aren’t much of a band without t-th-the guitarist. You know?”

A nervous smile was offered and Scott let out a shaky sigh, unsure what he’d actually hoped to gain from the spiel but it felt…necessary. It wasn’t as if he’d want someone just leering into his personal space without an explanation.

Personal space…of an animatronic. Ugh. What was he saying?

Head swiveled, locating the cassette tape and player with the instructions on it and he took a moment to pop it into the device before hitting play. The same voice that did the majority of the Fazbear training filled the small space and he pulled up his own stool, plopping down in front of Bonnie’s looming form to wait out the beginning portion of the tape.

“…To re-calibrate Bonnie’s guitar in the case of any note being out of tune…” Scott perked up, leaning back and making sure he was paying closer attention. “First you’ll have to access his harmonization module located inside the secondary throat pipe. Please remember–these animatronics are sensitive equipment and should only be tampered with, tinkered with, or repaired by trained Fazbear personnel.”

“W-Well..that’s not happening t-t-today…”

“To access the secondary throat pipe both eyes must first be removed. You must be as precise as possible when removing the eyes from their respective sockets. First. Firmly grip Bonnie’s left eye and CAREFULLY remove it from its socket.“

Scott reached forward, pressing pause on the tape before swallowing hard and looking upwards at Bonnie’s face.

“R-Right…okay.” Hands flexed and he stood, taking a cautious step forward. Bonnie’s left eye–so the opposite of his own when facing the rabbit. “I’m uh. I-I-I’m going to be as careful as possible okay p-p-pal–? P-Please don’t uh. Don’t panic. D-Don’t panic.”

Despite his assurance, to both himself and Bonnie, his hand still shook furiously as he inched it closer to the animatronics face. Fingers curled around the ping pong-esque orb, obscuring pink and he moved to pull it out. Careful. Careful. Not allowing anything to touch the sides of the head–like a delicate game of operation. Only when it was a few inches from the Rabbit’s face did he back up and take a moment to glance down at it in curiosity, turning it over carefully in his hand. It was lighter than he’d expected…but he found he much preferred it inside the rabbit’s face when he spotted the red glowing dot staring out at him from its previous location.

His free hand reached to the side to resume the instructional tape.

“Great job!” The words were filled with falsified emotion and he shook his head, hoping he never sounded like that in his own training instructions. “Deposit the left eye in the cleaning receptacle on your left. You should only use the approved cleaning solutions as detailed in the Company Policy.”

Head tilted towards the bowls from earlier and he carefully sat the eye into the device, watching as it was swirled around and the smell of the cleaning agent grew stronger. Once it was done it rolled down the small ramp, waiting to be replaced.

“Well done. Now. Firmly grip Bonnie’s right eye and carefully remove it from its proper socket as previously detailed. If you feel the need to repeat the instructions, please rewind the tape.”

Again, Scott paused the tape before leaning closer to the large animatronic. Fingers grasped the right eye–a mumbled apology seeming too loud in the otherwise quiet room. The right eye was fished out and placed in the other bowl, swirling around as its opposite had.

Tape was resumed and a line of sweat broke out upon the man’s brow, deeply uncomfortable at the glowing red dots that greeted him from Bonnie’s sockets. The sooner he finished this up, the better.

“To open Bonnie’s faceplate, carefully press the two buttons located on either side of Bonnie’s lower jaw. Please be cautious of your finger locations, as we are not responsible for any resulting injury that may occur due to improper conduct. When done correctly, you should hear two small clicks.”

Odd.

He had never known the animatronics to have buttons along their lower jaw…it seemed far too obvious. What was there to stop a child from pressing them? Beyond height? Nevertheless, he moved forward once more, flexing his hands before carefully feeling along the surface and locating the buttons in question. Did he press them at the same time? One right after the other? The tape hadn’t been specific enough. It hadn’t clarified.  

His pulse was pounding in his ears as he pressed one of the buttons, followed immediately by the other, two small clicks given before Bonnie’s faceplate abruptly flipped up with a hiss of machinery. The entire animatronic shifted with the force and Scott let out a terrified yelp, scrambling back–arms coming upward to shield his face. He was so certain that he’d done something wrong–that he’d triggered the animatronic and it was going to attack. Leaving him to die in the back room, saving Bonnie the trip! How kind of him! There was no shortage of places to hide the body–no shortage of suits. His chest heaved with panic but nothing further ever came, even as the moments ticked into minutes. Long enough for something to have happened. When he peered out, Bonnie was still just sitting there. Guitar in his paws as the two glowing eyes stared out at him amongst the silver machinery of the rabbit’s endoskeleton face.

Hands scrubbed down his face as he straightened back up. How in the world did the actual mechanics manage to do this? It felt like a constant gamble and Scott was not a gambling man.

The tape had drone onward and he splayed a hand over his chest, willing his heart to calm its erratic beating before fumbling to rewind backward to receive the rest of his instructions. The sooner he got this done, the sooner he could close Bonnie’s face back up and return to the main section of the Pizzeria, no longer locked in with the same animatronic who saw fit to torment him during the Night Shift.

“Well done. You now have access to Bonnie’s harmonization module. Press the blinking button located inside Bonnie’s secondary throat pipe to enter calibration mode.���

“T-T-That’s it..?” Scott questioned, frowning and leaning forward to press the button in question. It indented with a click before the animatronics paw moved, strumming in pre-counted motions. One of the chords gave an uncomfortable twang and his frown grew as Bonnie stilled once more. Attention flickered towards the instruction tape--waiting to see what he was supposed to do in such a situation.

“If you encounter an anomaly in Bonnie’s pre-recorded audio, please direct your attention to the tuning keys and carefully twist the colored peg that is producing the incorrect sound. To confirm the recalibration press the blinking button located inside Bonnie’s secondary throat pipe again.”

Panic dawned on the male’s face as he paused the tape once more, the implication that he not only had to actually tune an instrument he knew nothing about but confirm the selection and deem it correct. Deem it correct for the animatronic to return to the stage and perform with the settings he chose. That’s it? Oh, he could punch himself for speaking such things out loud as if he just jinxed himself!

Fingers twitched, looking between the strings of the guitar, the tuning pegs, and Bonnie’s faceless head, the glowing button taunting him. The red pinpoints of Bonnie’s endoskeleton staring up at him. Waiting. Waiting for him to screw something up...waiting to surge forward and grab hold of his shoulders before shoving him to one of the empty suits.

Hands flexed and Scott let out a breath, reaching out and hesitantly giving the guitar an experimental strum, listening to the resulting sound each produced. Somewhere within the last few, the same uneven twinge sounded and fingers splayed across the guitar carefully, silencing it and following the length to see which pegs they were connected to before twisting it just slightly.

The actions were repeated several times, each done with an increasingly shaky hand. He was stalling...that much was obvious. He knew it was. But--it was a lot of pressure, knowing that whatever selection he input would be what Bonnie played now. If he screwed it up, what was to say he wouldn’t be here again? What was to say his luck would continue onward?

Worse yet, what was to say he wouldn’t be fired for messing up?

A prolonged inhale was given before he let it out immediately after, reaching forward and pressing the button. Bonnie’s paws moved, in the same pre-counted motions and the guitar played through the cords. No twang came this time and, once the last played, Bonnie’s form stilled once more. Waiting. Watching. Waiting. Watching.

Scott’s expression brightened and he raised a hand to his hat, removing the pink and white accessory. He used the brim to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on his brow during the whole operation away.

“T-Thanks for letting me help you, Bonnie. Let's uh. Let’s get you back in order…” The cap was replaced and he turned to resume the training tape. More instructions concerning the various things that could be wrong with the guitar were voiced and Scott gave a soft noise of discontent, hand moving in an ‘on with it’ motion. He could fast forward, obviously, but there was a chance he might miss what he was waiting to hear. Then he’d waste more time trying to rewind it back.

Never mind the fact that it was rude...to ignore someone’s work like that. He knew his own instructions weren’t always listened to. That some of the employees who...were no longer with the company had a tendency to mute his stuttering advice.

“Great Job! Bonnie should now be in tune and ready to return to the stage soon. Let’s close him back up.”

“Thank you!” He leaned forward, nodding in satisfaction. He was ready to get this over with.

“Simply replace Bonnie’s eyes in the order you removed them to prevent crossing his wires. Then close up the faceplate by pressing the buttons on the sides of the lower jaw once more.”

“T-That doesn’t really make sense…but uh. I-I guess...you’re the boss.” He turned to the containers with the eyes and fished the first up, standing before Bonnie and the unwavering crimson gaze that greeted him. Left eye to Bonnie’s left.

Inserted it back in was easier than he’d expected, pieces matching together like a puzzle. Right eye next. Somehow the eyes staring out at him along with the endoskeleton was worse. He shuddered before shaking his head. Fingers found the buttons he’d depressed earlier and he jolted back as the rabbit’s face came swinging back down with a heavy and dangerous click, hiding away the inner workings and revealing the familiar face of Bonnie.

“Well done. Bonnie is spic and span and ready to return to the stage. Thus concludes this audio-tape.”

Click.

He’d done it. He’d actually done it correctly. Hands were silently raised in a victorious fist pump and he righted the work space, placing things back where they’d been. He held down the button to rewind the training tape to the very beginning, for the next time or the next employee who might need it. Scott turned, ready to get himself out of the backroom. To tell his Boss the good news and return to the floor...keeping the animatronics a safe distance away. As he reached the door, a metallic clink sounded behind him and he froze, mind immediately rushing to the worst possible option.

He’d done something wrong; the animatronic would be in pieces. Bonnie must not have been pleased with his treatment. Strong grip would wrap around his throat--he wouldn’t leave this room. Slowly, like a child not wanting to face a nightmare, he turned his head and looked back...but the rabbit hadn’t moved. None of the tools were out of place. His head was still on his shoulders and his faceplate was still where it was meant to be.

So what--? What had made the noise? He paused, catching something glinting in the dim light that hadn’t been there previously. Cautious steps were taken forward and he stopped directly before it.

A token...for one of the arcade machines. Freddy’s face greeted him from the metallic surface and he arched an eyebrow, wondering just where it’d come from. He knelt to pick it up, keeping an eye on Bonnie all the while, before straightening back up and running a thumb over the imprinted surface as he turned it between his fingers.

It definitely hadn’t been there before. He would have noticed. Would have stepped on it beneath his feet while he worked. Brown eyes stared down at it before he blinked up at Bonnie, wondering, for just a moment if it was possible that it had come from the rabbit as a reward.

No...no that was just silly. How could he?

He pocketed the currency and turned from the work space, making it to the door and out this time. The sound of children’s laughter and brighter light spilled into the room as he retreated to the main hall of the Pizzeria, flipping the light switch to parts and services as he went.

He didn’t see how pink eyes seemed to follow his movement out nor did he see the twitch of a paw from the guitar playing rabbit as he was left to the darkness once more.

[mpmwrites]

“stop making empty promises!” or “maybe in another world.” for Hankvin || or || “i love you.” and “well, it’s the thought that counts.” for reed900

Hey I did them all! They’re already up on AO3, but here they are together! Partners, Hurt, Lesson, and Enough

Partners

“Oh, you dick!” Gavin seethed with mock annoyance. “It’s afuckin’ partner game, you just intentionally knocked me out!” He complained,straightening before slumping back into the couch at Hank’s side. Hank chuckedat his frustration and sat back too as the chime of coins being awarded to themblipped on the screen.

“It’s just fucking Mario Party, Gav. We both get coinseither way.” He sported a genuine smile at Gavin, both from the company and therare time they got to just have fun together.

“Yeah, but we’re still losing! I refuse to fucking letDaisy beat me.” Gavin explained as he leaned forward to take his turn.

“Us, beat us. Partner game.” Hank goaded, smilingto himself.

“Fuck off.” Gavin scowled as the mini-game screenappeared.

“Oh I’m good at this one.” Hank smirked, Gavinglared sideways at him.

“You’re only good at it because I’m not.”

“That might be true, but it’s kind of funny how shityou are at the timing games.” Hank said as the game started with arhythmic whistle. A cheerful song played and they began trying to punctuate thenotes with shakes of their controllers. Gavin missed the first, and the second,and didn’t fail to notice how Hank got each of them perfectly. On the thirdone, he elbowed Hank quickly. “Hey, asshole. That’s cheating.”

“Maybe.” He leaned against Hank on the fourthpass, harsher, but grinning. “You the Mario Party Police?”

“Gavin, you can fuck with me all you want, but you’restill gonna lose this one.” Hank chuckled, shrugging the smaller man awayfrom him forcefully. Gavin fell to the cushions in an overly dramatic reaction,laughing with mirth as he stretched his sock-covered feet into Hank’s lap and accidentally made Hank drop thecontroller.

“Doesn’t mean you’re gonna win.” he shrugged when Hankswung an incredulous look on him. The shit-eating grin he held barely abatedhis laughter at Hank’s shock.

“I’m gonna kick your ass next time we playversus.” Hank promised, giving a weak punch to Gavin’s thigh beforepushing his feet back onto the floor. Gavin took the hint and sat back up,their shoulders pressed together comfortably.

“Stop making empty promises.” Gavin teased as Hankstarted his next dice roll and he let his head drop to Hank’s shoulder.

Hurt

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Gavin laughed,rolling his eyes, though he felt like shaking apart from a different emotionentirely. Hank didn’t answer immediately, and Gavin was yelling again,“This whole time, this whole fuckingtime you’ve been planning this, haven’t you?!” Shirtless, he flicked ahand through his hair,  his other fisttensing and digging short nails into the heel of his palm. “Just leadingme on until you thought you didn’t have a goddamn choice!”

“I never fucking lied to you, Gav.” Hank’s voice,though he wasn’t yelling, was obviously straining to keep his tone even andrestrained. “You knew about Nat before we even started this shit.” Heavoided eye contact, knowing that it would only make this whole thing worse. Justlooking at Gavin in just those navy sweatpants that he liked to put on, withnothing underneath, when he knew Hank was coming over was enough to shootanother bolt of guilt through him. He felt too warm, but knew taking off hisjacket would be some kind of concession, one he couldn’t allow himself.

“Yeah I fuckin’ knew! Fuck, I’m so fuckingstupid.” Gavin seethed, beginning to pace on the sealed concrete floors ofhis reclaimed apartment. Hank watched the way his shoulders flexed with pent upanger and had to forcibly ignore the pang of lust that the sight ignited.

“Don’t say that. It’s my damn fault.” Hankadmitted. “I shouldn’t have let this go so fucking far.” Because,that was really the truth of it. He was dating Natalie for only two weeksbefore Gavin had transferred into central, and had been precariously balancingthe two of them for two months before he caved and let Gavin blow him after adinner date with Nat. He knew then, that Nat was maybe who he could settle downwith, but he wasn’t gonna be able to just walk away from Gavin.

He told Gavin a week after he proposed that they should stopall of it. Gavin answered by dragging him to his bedroom and keeping him up allnight. Part of Hank wanted this argument to end the same way. A big part of him.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have.” Gavin wasn’t yellinganymore, but he breathed spite. “Takes two to fucking tango.”

“Yeah, and when there’s three you start tripping overeach other’s feet.” Hank bit back. “I tried this months ago, Gavin.I’m fucking sorry that you wouldn’tlet me, and that I couldn’t make myself actually do it.” He sighed. Gavinstopped moving, looking at his feet with his arms wrapped around his chest.Hank recognized the same look from that night exactly eight and a half monthsago, because Gavin looked so small and hurt and that was exactly why Hank wasdoing it all over again. Gavin was trying to hide all of it from Hank, and Hankwas pretty sure the worst part of it was the fact the he could see Gavin falling apart from theinside.  "She doesn’t deserve this,Gavin, you have to know that.“

"Yeah, and I fucking do.” The final word came out as a sob and Gavin flinched atthe restraint that failed him. He raised a furious palm to his face to rub hiseyes. “Fuck.” He cursed at himself, turning away from Hank. Hankmoved closer anyway, standing just behind Gavin and feeling like an ass. Which,he knew, he definitely was.

“You don’t.” Was all Hank could think to say.Gavin spun on him, all wet cheeks and fury as he shoved Hank as hard as hecould.

“If you really fucking believed that, this wouldn’t behappening. I don’t know what the fuck you thought was going to happen tonight, Anderson.” That solidified thetruth for Hank, and he knew enough just to keep his mouth shut. “Did youthink that you were gonna show up and tell me this and I was just gonna smileand nod?! Maybe in another world, Hank! I don’t give a fuck about her feelings!I don’t fucking care if this is the right thing to do! I’m selfish and I’msaying that this isn’t fucking okay! You can’t make it be okay! She doesn’t even have a goddamn clue about any ofthis and I’m the one that has to just fucking sit here and be the one leftbehind while you get your shitty white fucking fence!” His voice grewhoarse as he ranted, a deep red flush traveling down his neck.

Hank wanted to yell back. He wanted to tell Gavin that thisdidn’t feel good for him either. He needed Gavin to know that he was right, andthis wasn’t fair. He wanted Gavin to hurtthe way he was; to tell him that Gavin wasn’t capable of committing the waythat she was, and that’s what Hank had been waiting to see in Gavin over thepast two years.

He didn’t say anything as Gavin panted, waiting for aretort.

He stepped closer, and planted a kiss on Gavin’s cheek, andsaid goodbye.

Lesson

Gavin smiled as RK manipulated the fingers on his righthand. Sitting across from the android at Starbucks, they’d taken their lunchbreak as another lesson in communication. Learning sign was easy enough, butGavin struggled with matching his expressions properly to the motion of hishands. True, there were times when he had to ask RK to fingerspell a sign hehadn’t learned yet, or encourage him to slow down, please, but they weregetting there.

Pointer, pinky, and thumb extended, RK released his hand, satisfiedwith its arrangement.

“What’s that mean?” Gavin spoke.

‘I, L, Y’ the successive letters came in quick response. Ifall letters were presented at the same time, it formed the sign that Gavin hadbeen shown. Gavin waited for further explanation.

RK pointed to himself, crossed his arms, and then pointed toGavin.

Gavin started back at his honest expression, not surewhether or not this was all a genuine confession or simply a lesson he waslooking to closely at. After a beat, RK was signing frantically, his eyesshifting way nervously and Gavin caught less than half of what he was saying.

“Slow down, I can't…” Gavin protested, shaking hishead. “RK.” He tried again, his voice louder. The android froze,looking stunned. “You serious?” He implored carefully.

‘Gavin, I love you.’ RK repeated, frowning slightly. 'I’msorry.’

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Gavin sighed,“I love you too.”

Enough

Gavin swung opened his front door as he took off his jacket,tossing it on the recliner nearby and toeing off his shoes quickly.“Hey,” He greeted the android currently seated on his couch,engrossed in something on Gavin’s portable. Rafe didn’t move in the slightest,offing no greeting. Gavin moved over to the couch, leaning over the back of itto look over Rafe’s shoulder “I said Hey.What’re you so interested in?” Before Rafe switched over to the whiteboardapp, Gavin caught a look at a website he’d seen before. The site wasn’tsomething Gavin used personally, but had seen Rafe use to find techs that couldperform repairs or software changes if he needed them. He had told Gavin thatsince Cyberlife had done little for his well being, he had no interest infurther interference form the company, reclaimed or not.

'Nothing of importance. Welcome home.’ Rafe doodled on theblank screen, offering a smile that Gavin had seen him practicing in the mirrorbefore. The whiteboard app wasn’t as efficient as simply offering Gavin aninstant text readout of Rafe’s thoughts, but Rafe preferred the personal aspectof writing them himself.

“Don’t say it’s fuckin’ nothing.” Gavin frowned,reaching for the device. Rafe held it out of his reach and fitted Gavin with anannoyed look.

'You have no concept of privacy.’

“Yeah, you’re using myportable. I don’t know if it counts as invading your privacy.” Gavinsmiled, hopping over the back of the sectional and landing half in Rafe’s lap.“Just fucking tell me.” Gavin frowned, leaning heavily on theandroid.

'I unintentionally insulted you this morning.’

“Shit happens.” Gavin shrugged, though he felt a pangof hurt at the memory of the argument.

'It would not have happened if I was fully functioning.’ Theexplanation was written smaller, the letters formed slowly and withapprehension. Gavin’s eyes twitched over the words and he straightened.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? You never saidyou were hurt.” Again, that same feeling rang through his chest, tintedwith guilt at having not noticed.

'You misunderstand. I am not hurt.’ Rafe offered quickly. Heerased it again almost as quickly as Gavin could read it. 'I am trying to findsomeone who can install an auditory output function.’ The admission came with afrown, his eyes downcast.

“You want to talk.”

'Yes.’

“Why?” Gavin frowned harder, his eyebrows creasingtogether, “I mean, you never said so before and now all of a sudden?Because of this morning? Did I fucking make you feel like you need it?”Gavin stood, tension keeping him from staying still.

'No. I want to communicate with you.’ The writinggrew slightly less precise as Rafe rushed what he wanted to say. Gavin crossedhis arms.

“You don’t get to fucking say that when you won’t evenexplain to me what the fuck is going on.” He watched as Rafe blinkedslowly, his face remaining impassive. He shook his head briefly as his handwent white where it held the portable up in front of him. Words began fillingthe screen, almost faster than Gavin could read them. His lips parted as hiseyes flickered back and forth to take in what Rafe had to say.

'Like this morning and just now, I can only show you text. Icannot give you inflection or emphasis or feelingin what I wish to say to you. It’s become challenging for you and I to enjoyeach other’s company because of this. You misunderstand what I say because Icannot express it properly, and it frustrates me to see you upset. The logicalanswer seemed to repair my faults so that when I tell you I Love You, you canunderstand how I feel.’

He watched as Gavin read, tension bleeding off of him in thesilence and the ease visibly showing in his posture. When the text stoppedscrolling, he watched Gavin’s eyes pass between his face and the screen severaltimes. He watched as Gavin hung his head for a moment, rubbing his eyes andbiting his lip, exactly the way he usually did when he was fighting over whichthoughts were anxiety and unnecessary irritation. He waited as Gavin foughtagainst himself for what he really wanted to say.

“You know, I’m not that great at this either.”There was still a rough, defensive edge to his words “And my voice worksjust fuckin’ fine.” he sighed, dropping back to the couch with one legfolded under him. He ran a hand through his hair briskly.

'I know.’

“Yeah, well, you should know then, that having or nothaving a damn voice isn’t what makes you a shitty communicator.” Hefinally looked up to meet Rafe’s eyes, then looked away again. “I like youjust fine the way you are.” He admitted quietly. “It’s the thoughtthat counts, but I don’t need you to change for me.” he nodded, staringdown the cat, who was listening intently to his every word. He shifted slightlyand looked to Rafe again, holding his gaze. “But it’s important to you,and I’m going to try to be a better listener.” He made an attempt at anapologetic smile, “Can’t that be enough?” He begged.

Rafe lurched toward him, dropping the tablet to the cushionbetween them and enveloping Gavin in a grateful embrace.

[ghostgothgeek]

Mistletoe.

This is my Christmas Truce gift for @ceciliaspen, Merry Christmas!! 

A few random things: I had to include one of your posts in this because it was just too perfect to not be included. Hope that’s okay! Here is some Danny/Sam Christmas fluff! I hope you like it!

AO3 || FFN

It was a crisp, cold December afternoon in Amity Park. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were walking home from lunch at the Nasty Burger. Now that school was out for the holidays, their schedules became much more flexible. They could actually hang out during the day and fight the straggling ghosts without worrying about strictly following Mr. Lancer’s attendance policy or trying to cram for exams that ghost fighting took study time away from.

It was almost Christmas, but there oddly wasn’t any snow on the ground in the Midwest town yet. Tucker made the mistake of bringing that fact up, which started Sam on a long tirade about global warming. Danny tuned most of it out. In fact, he tried to tune most of the holidays out. He pretended not to notice the festive decorations, the cheery music, and peppy holiday wishes everyone granted to each other. On a particularly bad day, he almost ectoblasted a group of carolers. They didn’t do anything wrong, per se. Oh no, Danny Fenton just did not enjoy the holidays.

After his little tantrum freshman year, his parents tried to keep The Great Santa Debate to a minimum, at least around Danny. However, Danny was a junior now, which meant Jazz was off at Brown most of the time and couldn’t mediate her parents the way she used to. His parents’ antics ensued, though they tried to do their best at making amends with their family by hosting what was this year’s Second Annual Fenton Family Christmas Eve Party.

“Pleaseeee tell me your parents will let you come over for my family’s Christmas Eve party. My parents will say they’ll put their bickering on hold for a few hours only to try and round up their friends to take sides in The Great Santa Debate. Jazz will be home for winter break, but she at least has the excuse to study and get ahead on her work, so she can ignore them. I need you guys there to keep me sane. I hate the holidays.” Danny groaned and shoved his hands in his coat pockets.

“Hey man! You know I’m there! As long as I’m home before curfew. My parents actually want me to come back closer to curfew, no earlier, no later. They want to ‘spend time catching up’. Eww.” Tucker shivered, though it wasn’t because of the cold air.

“Now that Hanukkah is over, it’s pretty much back to the normal boring antics at the Manson house. I’ll be there. And Danny, there’s really nothing to hate about the holidays. The holidays are great! Most people usually are more generous, once they get past all their corporate greed. There’s no school, the ghosts still have the Christmas Truce, and lots of places are shut down. It’s actually quite peaceful.” Sam smiled to herself.

“No, I still hate it. How is it that you of all people are happiest this time of year and I’m not? Did we switch personalities or something?”

Sam scoffed, “Just because I’m a goth doesn’t mean I have to be angry and broody all the time.”

“Sam, you’re still the cheeriest goth we know.” Tucker pointed out.

“I’m the only goth you two know. Seriously, Danny. Take advantage of the Truce. Enjoy this time of year. Take some time off. You certainly earned it.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s conditioned in my brain to not enjoy it no matter how hard I try. Look, three months of Jazz away at college and I’m talking like her already. Soon I’ll be filling in for her as my own therapist.”

“Bah, Humbug!” Tucker shouted and laughed.

Sam shot Tucker an unamused look. “I can help you enjoy Christmas, Danny. I mean...Tucker and I can. Right, Tuck?”

“Right! First thing you gotta do is find some mistletoe and dangle it from a hat,” his two friends rolled their eyes, “Don’t get it confused with holly though, because then it’ll just look stupid and you’ll get laughed at…”

“Wow, Sam. You look...really nice.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably as he greeted his friend at the door. It’s not that he never told her she looked nice before, she was just more formal than he had been expecting.

Sam was wearing a velvet black long sleeved dress with a white collar, black stockings, and her usual boots. Her hair was all the way down and slightly wavy in places. She was carrying a large shopping bag, probably filled with presents.

“My mother said I had to look nice for your parents’ party. She wanted to put me in this red sparkly thing. She let me wear this instead,” Sam said with a satisfying smirk. “I don’t think she realizes it’s from one of my old Wednesday Addams costumes.”

Danny chuckled as he escorted her inside. “I’m glad you’re here. Tucker is driving me crazy.”

“More so than usual?” Sam raised an eyebrow and let out a small laugh.

“We’ll get to that…” Danny promised, weaving in between the groups of adults happily chatting away, dodging his parents in the process. Sam looked around the Fenton house. It was eloquently decorated - stockings with each family member’s initials hung across the fireplace mantle, Christmas music was playing from an old turntable, though it could barely be heard over the loud conversations. Jazz was in the corner chair reading a book, using the Christmas tree as her light source.

“That’s a beautiful tree,” Sam gawked at it as they passed it on their way upstairs to find Tucker.

“Thanks, I guess. Jazz was in charge this year. I just don’t see the point. I mean, who even thought of Christmas trees? What misguided sap looked at a tree and thought ‘I’m going to bring it inside and decorate it with glass balls’? It’s pointless!”

“It stems off the Pagan tradition of bringing in decorated branches to celebrate the winter solstice, although it was the Germans who-” she paused at his scowl, “but that’s not really the point you’re trying to make. Actually, I kind of agree with you about Christmas trees. They’re beautiful, but why chop down a big beautiful living tree just to set it up in your house, under water it for a month, then toss it out on the curb the day after Christmas?”

Danny smiled triumphantly, “there’s my grumpy goth!”

Sam rolled her eyes, though softly smiling, and followed him into his room, where Tucker was sitting at Danny’s computer chair playing some game that involved shooting snowmen with candy canes. He was playing exceptionally terrible, even for Tucker, missing nearly all the snowmen. “Fuck!”

Sam raised an eyebrow at Danny. Danny laughed, “I think my dad accidentally gave Tuck his adult eggnog and kept the non-alcoholic version for himself. I’m hiding him up here so no one notices. Hopefully he’ll be fine by the time he has to go home.”

She nodded and took a seat on Danny’s bed, while he crawled under it to fish gifts out.

“Finally! Present time!” Tucker paused his game at the sound of his friends’ voices and clapped his hands together, swiveling around to face his friends.

“Tucker, you didn’t even bring anything!” Sam objected, noticing he was empty handed.

“I forgot your gifts at home!”

“He didn’t forget. He’s broke.” Danny chimed in, coming out from under the bed with the gifts he had been “hiding” there.

“Nuh-uh! I got you guys something!” Tuckers words slurred a little.

“That must have been some eggnog,” Sam offered.

“That, or Tucker is probably just a lightweight.” Danny laughed. Sam chuckled as well, ignoring Tucker’s protest that he was, indeed, not a lightweight due to his strict all-meat diet. He shut up when Sam handed him a small cleanly wrapped box, and kept a bigger blue-wrapped box on her lap. Danny handed Tucker a box similar to the one Sam gave him, though it was clear he wrapped this one. He handed Sam a poorly wrapped log of a gift. It was cylindrical shaped, which granted is a tricky shape to wrap, but it looked like about halfway through the wrapping process he gave up and just wrapped the entire roll of tape around the gift to keep the paper on. “Merry Christmas, or whatever.”

Sam laughed, “Danny, what is this? It looks like it’s been though the Ghost Zone and back a few times.”

Danny sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, “It did. Only once though! Klemper caught me off guard when I had it on me and I had to put him back in the ghost zone, no big.”

Sam smiled and rolled her eyes for about the one-hundredth time that night, carefully examining the disastrously wrapped gift after exchanging with Danny the box from her lap. Tucker, of course, had already unwrapped his presents. “Wow! I love you guys, you’re the best, thank you! I love you so much, you’re the best.” He slurred and pulled his two best friends into a hug neither was prepared for, their faces smushed against Tucker’s chest.

Sam and Danny had decided (well rather, Sam let Danny join in on her idea) to give Tucker the newest portable gaming system, complete with a few new games and upgrades. Between Sam’s bank account and Danny’s connections as Phantom, they were able to get their hands on some yet-to-be-released gaming software.

Sam pushed herself away from Tucker, breaking the embrace. She smiled when Danny’s face lit up upon opening her gift to him: a vintage NASA hoodie. “Sam, this is awesome!” He immediately pulled it on. “How did you get this? They don’t make these anymore!”

Sam smiled, “I have a few goth friends who are into vintage clothing stores. Do you like it?” She glanced at Tucker, who was sitting criss-crossed on the floor and already trying to set up his new device.

“I love it! It’s amazing! Though, I don’t really get all that cold anymore since I figured out my ice powers.” He snuggled into the sweatshirt regardless.

“Well you may not be cold anymore, but I’m certainly still not used to your ghost core dropping the temperature of the room. When you wear warmer clothes, it helps me not become a human popsicle. I dunno, I just thought it would keep you motivated towards your career goals and whatnot despite all the ghost hunting getting in the way. And I didn’t want to get you the same thing I got Tucker, especially because you already knew what I was giving to Tucker, but-”

“Hey, Sam. Chill out.” He grinned cheesily at his pun, which she punched him in the shoulder for. “This is great, I’m going to wear it all the time. Open yours, it may help my ice core too.” He smiled softly.

“I’m glad you like it. You should have seen how happy you were when you opened it.” She smiled. “Operation Make Danny’s Christmas Less Sucky is being executed as planned.”

It took a little muscle to break past Danny’s heavy taping job. Sam’s jaw dropped slightly when she saw what was inside his disaster wrapping job.

In Sam’s hands laid a purple, black, and gray scarf. A homemade scarf. She could tell because it certainly didn’t look perfect or store bought. There were a few pulls in it, but she immediately loved it. “You made this.” She stated incredulously, looking up at him.

He nodded, a soft blush forming at his cheeks. “Well, you kinda have everything and you can be very hard to shop for since you’re not into materialistic things and corporate greed and all the stuff you preach about. But this can keep you warm if my ice core goes out of control. My grandma helped me start it and showed me what to do, but yeah I made it, which is why it looks like a perfectly sloppy representation of my life. I’m sorry. I can buy you a new one you’ll like that’s organic or gluten-free or something.”

Sam laughed at his speech, particularly at his misunderstanding. He put so much thought and effort into it. And of course, he knew what was important to her: thoughtfulness and a caring friend. It was actually the perfect gift. “Danny shut up, I love it.” She stood and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.” She began wrapping it around her neck.

“Gross, get a room.” Tucker was sprawled out on the floor, pressing buttons on his device, staring at the blank screen.

Danny and Sam’s faces heated up in a deep red blush as they looked away from each other, muttering “not lovebirds” or something along the lines of it underneath their breath. “We are in a room, Tucker. My room. And you’re making it even messier with all these gadget pieces!”

Tucker’s portable gaming system suddenly sputtered to life, a welcoming melody assuring the user it booted up correctly. Sam and Danny stared at it.

“I’m kinda amazed he was able to set it up that fast while tipsy. It’s actually kind of scary.” Sam muttered.

“Here’s my gift to you, loooovebirds!” Tucker tossed Danny his hat, the one with mistletoe dangling from it.

“Tuck, that’s for Danny, not for me. I’m not wearing that. And I’m holding you accountable for not keeping up our gift exchange tradition.” Sam crossed her arms over her chest.

“Nooooo Danny uses it on you! Thank you, you’re welcome, Tucker! You’re a genius and a stud.” Tucker rambled and shoved the hat on Danny’s head and shoved Sam towards him before he continued pushing buttons on his new device.

“Uhh…” Danny threw the hat to the ground as if it had been crawling with spiders.

His entire face felt like it was burning. It’s not that he didn’t want to kiss Sam, because he did. He really liked her. Sam was just an anomaly to him. He could never read her. One misread action and he would have bruises deeper than those ghosts gave him. It was better for him to not say anything for the sake of their friendship. Plus, he still wasn’t even sure if he liked her liked her. That sounded so juvenile. Sam was his best friend, of course, but he felt something different with her than he did with Tucker. Way different. It was a different kind of love. He didn’t love Sam like she was his sister. It was deeper than that. Sam of course had already come to that conclusion years ago, not that either boys knew it. For Danny, it was something he still couldn’t quite wrap his head around.

Danny looked over at Sam, whose face was as red as Rudolph's nose. Of course Tucker’s actions would make her uncomfortable, too. She was the only girl of the group, which meant she was constantly teased to be dating one of them (usually Danny) or both of them (gross) from bystanders, but never from her friends.

Tucker frowned and picked the hat back up and put it on Danny’s head. “No take backs!”

Danny looked over at Sam apologetically. Surely, they both knew they didn’t have to apologize to each other for their friend’s antics. But it was Danny’s clueless father who accidentally made Tucker more obnoxious than usual. “Sorry, I think he’s drunk.” Danny and Sam both scowled as Tucker tried pushing their heads together. “Enough Tucker!”

Tucker stared at them blankly, hands still on each of them.

Sam groaned. “Just get him to shut up! It will just be like another fake out make out.” She grabbed Danny’s face with both of her hands and gently pressed a kiss upon his lips. That got the boys to shut up.

“Tucker, take your stupid hat back,” she tore it from Danny’s head and threw it at Tucker, hitting him square in the face. “I can’t deal with you right now. Come on, Danny. I still promised to make your fucking Christmas fun, damnit.” She said grumpily, grabbed her bag and Danny’s wrist and dragged him out of the room, leaving Tucker in Danny’s room alone to play with his new toys.

Danny blinked a few times and followed her. He still hadn’t gotten used to kissing her. Granted, this was only the fourth time and all of the previous times served as identity-saving distractions, but it still made his head spin. He shook his head and laughed, “Now who’s the Scrooge?” He wagged his eyebrows up and down stupidly, which immediately broke her trance and she laughed. “So, what’s next then, Mrs. Claus?”

“Don’t call me that.” She led them up to the op center, not quite ready to go back to the high-energy party happening downstairs, and certainly not wanting to see Tucker again until he either sobered up or passed out. Sam dug in her bag and handed Danny a tupperware container.

“Cookies? You made cookies?!” He opened the lid and examined them.

“Hey, I can bake! I don’t know much about Christmas traditions since I’m technically Jewish, but I looked some up and apparently decorating annoyingly adorable cookies is a tradition. Are you filled with cheer yet?”

“You baked the cookies. YOU did?” He picked one up and gently pressed the tip of his tongue to the cookie, testing it out.

“Yes, asshole. I baked them. And they’re not vegan, so you may actually like them.”

“Oh,” he said stupidly. He took a bite into the cookie and raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Wow, you really can bake. These are actually really awesome, Sam.” He smiled and finished the rest in one bite, grabbing another immediately.

Her glowering face softened up as she smiled. “Come on, I’m not done yet.” She pointed to the roof, signaling Danny to go ghost and phase them up there. She pulled out some blankets from her bag and laid down on one, signaling for him to follow. She snuggled into her new scarf until he changed back to his human form. “So tomorrow, if you can get away from your family for a bit, you and Tucker and I are going to do all those cliche Christmassy things. Sledding if it snows, ice skating, we’ll drink hot chocolate and build gingerbread houses, and we can make fun of corny Christmas movies. But I’m not fucking singing any Christmas carols. I draw the line there.”

Danny smiled as he sat down next to her, looking up at the stars, an immediate habit for him.

She noticed his quick serenity. “See? It’s so quiet and peaceful up here. Everyone is inside enjoying their families, you can still see the stars somehow shining brighter through the small amount of clouds, and they aren’t masked from all of the houses and their Christmas lights. It’s beautiful. You can get that calm and quiet you desperately need.” She laughed, her breath creating a small ghost sense of her own in front of her.

“You didn’t need to do this all for me, Sam. I appreciate it, though, I really do. But of all the things you’ve given to me today or signed me up for tomorrow....this is actually my favorite part.” He smiled and changed his focus from the sky to her.

“I know. You’ve always been a sucker for the sky.” She smirked.

He laughed and grinned wider; a genuine, large smile. “I meant that it’s nice to get away from everything and just hang with you.”

Sam blushed and glanced at the small snowflakes now dusting her hair. She looked up at the sky and smiled. “Okay, I’ll admit I didn’t plan for it to snow, but there’s no way you could hate Christmas now.”

Danny didn’t say anything. He watched his beautiful best friend enjoy nature, trying to catch a few snowflakes on her tongue. He liked the way the stars made the snow in her hair sparkle. And then it hit him. That deep feeling again. Like a love that was more than love. He gently grabbed her face and turned her towards him, pressing a sweet kiss on her cold lips.

When they broke apart, Sam looked around, puzzled. “There’s no mistletoe?”

“No mistletoe.” He confirmed nervously, smiling when she came to the same conclusion he did. They both knew the feeling was mutual. This time, she leaned into him, initiating the kiss. It felt hot against the cold air. She tasted like peppermint from the candy she was eating earlier. Danny’s heart pounded. He felt like his whole life led up to this one moment here. He wrapped his arms around her as she tangled her hands in his hair. Sam pulled back to whisper “Merry Christmas, Danny,” before kissing him again. He smiled into it.

Maybe Christmas isn’t so terrible after all.

[braincoins]

Allura skirted around the whole “I’m an alien princess” thing. She put it as having a power she hadn’t known about, which was true. She did also demonstrate her shifting ability for them, returning to her true form. It was... weird, to do it around people who weren’t Takashi or Coran. She was still a little wary - they work at Galra! - but she trusted Shiro. 

More than that, they had to do something. She’d been worrying for all this time about protecting her love, about keeping him safe. She’d thought that just keeping him from crime-fighting would be enough. She’d thought that, so long as he was with her, he was safe. 

She looked at the arm, sitting on the coffee table in the living room. I was wrong. If he could be hurt that badly here, where he should have been at his safest, then the only way to protect him was to deal with Zarkon and Dr. King directly. I won’t let you hurt him again. I won’t.

But for now, their new allies were being brought up to speed. Ulaz looked especially interested in quintessence, perhaps a touch unnervingly so. Krolia seemed sympathetic and Keith just looked like he wanted to punch Zarkon straight in the face. Yeah, I think I’m going to like you, she thought as she looked at the young man. 

She and Shiro were taking turns explaining, but she had to cover most of what went on in the Galra office break-in, obviously. She tried to keep herself calm, tried to push the panic down and keep it out of her voice. Takashi took her hand in his own and gave it a squeeze; it was the only thing that kept her going. 

Keith and Krolia were able to chime in when it came to the rescue, and after that, everyone was caught up, except for...

“Just now, with the... spasms or pain attacks or whatever you want to call them,” Shiro said, “I started to get this feeling... like it was me but it wasn’t me and it was a woman, a pregnant woman, and they were torturing her. She said - I felt - that she didn’t sign up for this, that they didn’t care about the child.”

And then Krolia let out a stream of words bluer than the ocean and ended them with, “...the clinic.”

“You aren’t serious,” Keith said.

“It would make sense,” Ulaz said. Before Allura could ask, he explained, “Galra runs a low-income clinic for poor people. Basic services mostly - checkups, non-opioid prescriptions, basic sex education, birth control and free condoms.”

“I work there twice a week,” Krolia put in. “There’s flyers all over the place about studies they can take part in to earn some extra money. That’s part of why we run it: we pay for plasma donations, sperm and egg donations, and recruit people for studies.”

“But why a pregnant woman?!” Keith yelped. 

Ulaz looked to Allura. “You said you can apparently manipulate quintessence? What else can you do with it?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I’m still figuring this out.”

“Can you feel if quintessence is Shiro’s or not?”

She thought about that. “Probably. You want me to test the arm?”

He nodded and she picked it up again. It had twitched and spasmed on its own a few times since being removed, but it had been still for awhile. She closed her eyes and felt for... There. It felt like tea that had been left out to cool, like it wasn’t quite right anymore, but it was there, undeniably. “This isn’t Shiro’s,” she confirmed. She opened her eyes.

“It’s only a guess,” Ulaz mused aloud, “but they probably used this woman’s quintessence to power the arm. They took in volunteers for a study and found a way to take and trap some of her quintessence. If quintessence is ‘attenuated,’ then...”

“They caused her pain specifically to cause Shiro pain,” Allura finished, feeling pale.

“They called her back in for it,” Krolia agreed, sounding hollow. “She probably wasn’t pregnant when they took it initially - that phase of the study would have been last year - but now she is, and they just said they wanted to check on the fetus, they used it as a pretext just to get her in there.”

“You think they’ve figured out he’s Paladin?” Keith asked.

“Don’t know,” Shiro said. “But what point would there be to just making me hurt like hell?”

“If the body endures too much pain, sometimes it will just shut down,” Krolia said. “Like flipping an off switch.”

“Possibly,” Ulaz said. He was still in his contemplative mode. “But try not to think like an evil genius or a superhero.” He looked to Keith. “You have a device. The device malfunctions suddenly - badly. It is under warranty. What would you do with it?”

“Take it in to get it fixed,” Keith said instantly.

Krolia got to the point. “They wanted to lure him in. He’d either go to the ER - where they could find him easily - or come in tomorrow to have us look at it.”

Ulaz nodded. “One way or the other, they could pick him up. But I don’t think they know he’s Paladin.”

“Why not?” Allura asked. “Why else would they want him?”

“If they know anything about Paladin, it’s that he can teleport,” Ulaz pointed out. “He can just get away again.”

“Unless they have Sendak knock me back out,” Shiro replied. 

“They’d have to get Sendak to you,” Ulaz countered. “You’d see him coming and you’d be gone.”

“That doesn’t answer the other question,” Keith said. “Why bring Shiro in?”

“The Incident,” Allura replied as it came to her. “The same incident where Dr. King and her assistants lost their bodies. Shiro lost his arm in it.”

“They think there’s something they can get from him?” Krolia asked.

“That sounds more likely. But we shouldn’t discount the Paladin idea entirely,” Ulaz said. “I don’t think they know, but then I also thought Dr. King was dead.” He shrugged. “We do not know what they’re capable of. It’s good to have more theories on the table.”

“Okay but what do we do?” Keith pressed. 

Oh yes, I like you a lot, Allura decided. “We need more information.”

“I can volunteer hours at the clinic,” Krolia said. “To kind of keep an eye on things down there. Doctor, you should talk to Thace. Some way that doesn’t look suspicious. He can cover our tracks as well as dig up some dirt.”

“Do you know when he takes lunch?” Ulaz asked. “I can pretend I am finally caving to your romantic pressures.”

She snorted. “’Pretend’, my ass,” she muttered, but she nodded. “Usually at 11. Send him an email no later than 10:30 though; he normally eats at his desk, but if you ask him to join you in the cafeteria, I’m sure he’ll show up.”

“Excellent.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Allura asked.

Shiro grinned. “Krolia’s been trying to set our good doctor up with this guy in IT for a while now.”

“For forever. They’ve got the hots for each other so bad, it’s ridiculous,” Krolia said. “And Thace is a good guy. I’ve already said I was willing to bring him in on this.”

“Anyone you bring in on this is in danger,” he reminded her.

“Yes, yes,” she said, waving his concerns away, “you went through all of this when you were still trying to pretend you were nothing but a reporter. He’ll want to help.”

“You can’t come in for checkups ever again,” Ulaz said, “obviously. And you’ll have to go back to your old prosthetic.”

“Good thing I kept it... handy.” Shiro grinned while everyone else groaned.

“I’d like to have Coran look at the arm, if you don’t mind?” Allura asked.

“Don’t see why not,” Shiro answered. She watched his face light up. “Do you think you could find the match? Like... using the quintessence in the arm, could you locate the woman it belongs to?”

“Maybe? It’s worth trying,” she agreed. “But I’m worried about her. We need to make sure she’s safe. You don’t think they’re going to just torture her and let her go, do you?”

“She won’t go to the police,” Krolia replied, sounding confident of that. “They’ll pay her well to keep her mouth shut. If she’s going to the low-income clinic, she probably needs the money badly. She’ll go through hell if it means she has money to feed herself and her baby. Trust me.”

“We have to find her then,” Shiro said. “And get her somewhere safe, somewhere they can’t find her and hurt her again.”

“Where they can’t use her against you, either,” Allura agreed. “I’ll do what I can. Coran can help me. We’ll find her.”

“Okay, so we need a way to keep in touch with each other that’s not really obvious,” Keith said. “I hang out with Shiro a lot already, so there’s that.”

“Code words! And codenames!” Krolia declared excitedly. 

“No, Mom,” Keith groaned.

“I can text the doc?” Shiro added. 

“Allura, do you ever buy Mary Kay?” Krolia asked, sweet as honey.

“No, why?”

She grinned. “I found a way to keep in touch with Allura then! And I suppose we can keep Thace in the loop through Ulaz?”

“I suppose,” she allowed.

“I don’t know any other way to do it,” Ulaz said with a shrug. “I don’t really know him that well.”

“Well, he’s hot, but you knew that,” Krolia said. Allura watched Ulaz blush. “He rides his bike to and from work, he’s a computer nerd, always playing that one game...”

“Which one game?” Shiro asked, sounding interested.

“Uh oh,” Keith said. “Mom, did you not know Shiro’s a huge nerd, too?”

“Oh, I don’t remember what it’s called,” Krolia said. “He’s got one of those super nerdy names in it, too. Noxious Killdemon or something.”

“Wait, wait... do you mean Nix Killdevil?” Shiro asked in hushed tones.

Krolia brightened. “Yeah, that’s it! How’d you know?”

“Ohhhh, I know him,” he said. “I know him real well.”

“Nerds,” Keith said, rolling his eyes. “Can you talk to him in the game?”

“If he knows to expect me?” He glanced to Ulaz. “Tell your boyfriend...”

Ulaz protested immediately, “He’s not my boyfriend!” 

Shiro just kept talking. “...to send a Strife.net message to Jiro Sunblade. I’ll be looking for him.”

“Okay, so... anything else?” Allura asked. “Shiro and I will work on tracking down the woman; Krolia will keep an eye on the clinic patients; Ulaz and Thace will get us information.”

“I’ll do what I can to keep the police off your back,” Keith put in.

“What?” Shiro asked. “What’s going on?”

“There’s a lot of grumbling about Starlight and Paladin having just disappeared. You, uh... might need to do some community outreach, as it were. Just clean up the streets a little?”

“We’re on it,” Allura declared.

“We are?” Shiro asked, turning to smile at her.

She nodded and squeezed his hand. “We’ll go out tomorrow night.” She looked back to their allies. “Starlight and Paladin will return.”

{The Adventures of Starlight & Paladin}

[czeriahshiptank]

Zelink Month 2nd - Photograph

disclaimer : I don’t own Legend of zelda etcetc...  This is my second time writing in this fandom ! English isn’t my first language so sorry about any mistake i could have missed !

The first time Zelda used the Sheikah Slate photograph rune, it has been a complete surprise. The device had been working for literally less than a couple of hours when her finger ended up pressing the mysterious sign by mistake.

At first, she didn’t really understand what she had been seeing, has the slate became transparent? She tried turning it around, but the other side was still the Sheikah eye.

Going back to the screen she took some time reading all the small informations and, again totally by mistake ended up pressing the button to switch the focus of the camera.

She looked at herself on the screen for a long time, not understanding how this could work, when Purah had come out of the lab and found her looking at herself in the slate.

“Zelda! You found the Snap Rune!”

“The Snap Rune?”

“Yes, I call it that because of the noise, here, let me.”

The scientist grabbed the device before the princess could do anything else and Zelda let herself being grabbed by the tall scientist. Pressed uncomfortably against the exuberant Sheikah woman, the young girl could only watch as she brought the slate at face level and pressed with dexterity the tiny round bouton that was on the side of the screen. the device emitted a clear ‘snap’ sound.

“Here, now you go back to the main screen and tap right there.”

Zelda watched the scientist pulling out the ‘photograph’ as she called it. She could see her own face taking half the screen while Purah was next to her, the side of their faces smash together and the woman red glasses half askew.

No need to say that Zelda spent the rest of the afternoon running around and taking pictures to fill the slate compendium.

**

The second time the princess used the slate’s Snap Rune has been the first time she met the boy who would later became her appointed knight.

The afternoon was well started, and she was just finishing her after-lunch devotion to the Goddess.

She had taken seat in one of the small gardens in one of the cloisters of the castle, setting around her the book she was planning on studying, some pens, and her journal.

She was taking a small break, snapping picture of the maid and stewarts she could see working, when a blond head of hair caught her attention.

The boy wasn’t tall by any means, and the imposing size of her father next to him was making him look even smaller. His hair seems to have a slightly darker shade than hers, but as he approached, she could see the cerulean blue of his iris shining through his eyelashes. He was wearing a green tunic who seems to have seen better day and on his back was strapped what looked like a tall sword.

She snapped a picture.

What was this boy doing here with her father? And why did he still have this very large blade? She was pretty sure commoners were not supposed to enter the castle, even less heavily armed like that?

She brought the slate back up and used the zoom to see the face of the stranger better. He looked so young...maybe a year more of less than her? What did his father want with him?

She snapped another picture.

He was quite cute, if shy. He hadn’t said a word since the two men entered the garden, she could hear the rumbling voice of her father, not distinct because of the distance, but unless the boy was talking very softly, she didn’t think he has uttered a single word yet.

She looked at her picture, maybe a messenger? He had to have some importance if her father was personally taking care of him. were they looking for her? And why a messenger would carry such a big blade? Monsters were getting larger in number in the wild but was the situation that bad?

The more she looked at the picture, the more the boy looked strangely familiar. As if she had seen him once in a dream, or ...

“Zelda, here you are. I called you, didn’t you hear?”

The princess pressed haltingly the off button of the device before looking up at her father who was now next to her.

How hadn’t she heard him? He was looking down at her, waiting for her to raise and greet him and this strange boy. She quickly got up and curtseyed.

“Hello Father, I’m sorry I didn’t hear you, I just arrived from the goddess temple…”

“No need for explanation, child. I want you to meet Link. From now on, he will be at your side at all time. I want him to be your new appointed knight. He drew the sword in the Korok forest and is therefore the designated champion of the country.”

**

For a while, she didn’t understand why she always wanted to take pictures of him. It’s not like she liked him after all, he was incredibly annoying.

First, he didn’t talk. How could she understand something that didn’t talk to her? Even flowers and rocks, and the Sheikah technology had some sort of language that she could comprehend, if not really explain, but goddesses almighty, Link was just so quiet!

But somehow, each night, she ended up with hundreds of pictures of him, some of them she didn’t even remember snapping.

And each night, she spent a couple of hours watching them, sometime blushing, sometime fuming with annoyance before deleting all of it one by one.

Well, maybe not all of it.

**

The last time she used the slate snapping rune, was the day before her seventeenth birthday.

The final ceremony for the champions introduction was finishing. The next day, Zelda was to make her way to the final spring, in mount Lanayru, for a final chance to unlock her power.

The sixth of them were taking some time in the garden to make some plan for the next day. Urbosa has insisted that they would all go with her to the spring.

“I wouldn’t want my little Bird to spend her birthday alone.” she had said. “And who knows, it might just help.”

It was Mipha who had insisted for the picture. Zelda had been too worried to think of anything else but the day to come. She could feel the worried glance Link was giving her. They had talked earlier that day, again trying to make her believe in herself more. He was adamant that her powers were just here, that some things proved it and that she just had to believe in herself.

He was trying to be so supportive. Their relationship had started to improve since the Yiga attack, and she could easily say ow that it had evolved in a powerful friendship.

Well. That was what she would tell people anyway.

She was painfully in love with him. Sometimes, she could even believe that he, too, was caring deeply for her. But how could she say anything with the situation being what it was?

Link’s hand on her biceps took her out of her own thoughts.

“Zelda, come here, Mipha wants us to take a picture with all of us together, to celebrate.”

The both made their way toward their friends all turned around, their attention to the slate’s screen. His arm still around her shoulder, her cheeks a little red from the proximity.

They parted way before anyone could see them.

Note : I've searched everywhere to find when exactly was the group photo taken, and the answer is that either nobody cares about it or nobody knows xD it's not really said in game so I decided that it would be just before Zelda's birthday for plot sake.

edit : Yes, i know it’s from the inaugural ceremony, but it is not said WHEN this ceremony takes place. Is it at the same time that Link is appointed as Zelda’s knight ? Is it before they all leave for mount Lanaryu ? Is it at a totaly other moment ? 

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Viridian Vanguard (Part 21)

In line with what Yang said, the three Furies plus Penny agreed to dedicate the rest of the morning to opposition research.

Reputation-wise, the original Furies were unremarkable. Individually, all of them were still at the lowest possible bracket, and as a team, they were still unranked; all of their official matches were open sign-ups, random selection, or took advantage of Sayuri being a weaver; and none of them were ever mentioned by name in the intros and the ads, much more folks clearly paying specifically to see them.

“They’re what we call ‘Grist,’ newbies and amateurs the management sets against each other to fill up the shows in between the big-name bouts,” she explained further. “Most folks forget about them after their fights, and they usually only get flat fees upfront for their footage, seeing as it tends to be generic highlights, B-rolls, or compilations, like people taking bad hits to the nuts.”

“Seriously?” Weiss asked.

“Yes, seriously!” Yang replied. “Anyway, don’t take their being Dust league to mean that they’re going to be weak! Everyone that rises up past that is a certified badass among decent fighters, and some folks willingly stay there as official, or self-appointed quality control, keep things exciting for Stone and beyond.”

Weiss and Pyrrha started to see just how much dangerous they were as they started renting holos, and watching the original Furies in action.

Fzzssh!

A lightning ball struck a muscular rhino Fae, she gritted her teeth and stiffened as her whole body visibly coursed with electricity, sparks flying everywhere. Keren launched Vigne into the air, a rain of throwing spears isolated the stunned rhino from her allies. Vigne and Sayuri chased them off immediately after, either forcing them to dodge and weave around a flurry of dance-like kicks and slashes from her talons, or blowing them away with a compressed air explosion.

The rhino recovered, just in time to see Keren charging for her; the two of them figuratively and literally locked horns, kicking up huge clouds of dirt as they wrestled.

WHAM!

Keren headbutted her opponent, dazing her long enough to pick her up, and hurl her into both of their teammates’ ways!

Vigne’s eyes widened and her feathers rose straight up, before she tackled Sayuri into the dirt, lightning discharging into the ground, several throwing spears spilling out of her quiver and clattering onto the dirt.

Their opponents smiled as they readied their weapons over their prone forms… then, their rhino friend slammed into them both, sending the whole trio flying and rolling out of bounds, right into the arms of a waiting spotter team.

“That was sloppy,” Pyrrha said, frowning. “She could have seriously injured her teammates, too; left them vulnerable to attack; and caused unnecessary down time in the middle of the combat, not giving any heads-up whatsoever like that.”

“Yeah, that tends to be the reason folks like her stay in Dust league,” Yang said.

The original Furies were eliminated soon after, and they moved on to another match. KO/scoring; objective-based fights like capture the flag; or special rule sets and arenas, they found that the Furies won some, lost some, and generally worked well together, until someone made a reckless mistake (Keren), a risky, flashy, elaborate maneuver ended in catastrophe (Vigne), or they simply ran out of energy (Sayuri).

By 1PM, they wrapped it up, both for lunch, and the Schnee sisters being due at the Terrace at 2.

“… So let me get this straight,” Winter asked as they ate, “you’ve only just registered, haven’t even had a single official match, and already you have sworn enemies, and will be having an important, possibly career-jeopardizing bout with them in a month?”

“Pretty much,” Weiss said as she picked up some more savory pie with her fork. “Looks like that mysterious force that’s been constantly fucking me over has regained its momentum, after its two week break. On the bright side, maybe I’ll finally start becoming desensitized, and this constant cavalcade of crap will start feeling less awful,” she said, before she put it into her mouth.

“Aww, c’mon, Weiss, don’t be like that!” Nora said, talking with her mouth full and gesturing wildly with her hands and utensils as she spoke. “This’ll be a great opportunity for you Furies to earn some serious brownie points with the audience!:

“Fighting for the right to keep your name from jealous rivals? The whole Fae VS Human/Hybrid dynamic you’ve got going? Your reputations each?

“All that’s going to make you stand out from the crowd now—definitely end of act 1 material for your future documentary holo, for sure!” she said, nodding.

Weiss swallowed, and asked, “And if we happen to lose?”

“You can still turn it around to your favour!” Nora replied.

“You can hope that the original Furies become your long-term rivals, matching you rank for rank as you both climb up the ladder, drive each other to improve, all the while developing a deep, mutual respect for one another as fellow Pit fighters, and milking for all its worth in your advertising!

“You can take the defeat as a baptism by fire, that one match you never, ever forget, and flashback to it when you’re on the verge of defeat, before using it to turn the tables and kick ass to victory! Or, you can use as the story for your big motivational speeches, inspiring you and everyone you’re fighting with to win the big tournaments, especially around promotion season!

“Then, when you’re finally in the Etherite league, and you happen to run into the original Furies off-field and set, and you can tell them, ‘Thanks for beating us in that match-up way back when. I’m sure we wouldn’t have made it this far if it weren’t for that fight.’” Nora said, making a poor impression of Weiss’ voice.

“I mean, technically it could go in a whole lot of other, less awesome ways, like you quitting the Pits because you can’t earn enough Shinies to make a decent living out of it,  but honestly, I’m not getting that sort of vibe from the conclusions of the arcs you’ve already been through, so I doubt this’ll end up being just a one-off event during the early or middle episodes, before being forgotten entirely as the plot revolves around some other recurring conflict for the rest of this season.”

Weiss, Winter, Jaune, and Pyrrha blankly stared at her.

“Nora tends to see the world in terms of story structure, character archetypes, and how certain works in specific genres tend to go, thanks to all her HV consumption over the years,” Ren explained calmly.

“Before you ask: no, the menders have yet to declare her excessive HV consumption as a problem, as none of her behaviours directly related to it have significantly impeded her daily living, nor caused her or anyone else any clear, significant distress and/or harm,” Penny chimed in as she charged on the counter.

Pyrrha nodded slowly. “I don’t mean any offense, but that seems like an overly simplistic way to understand the world—It’s infinitely more complex and unpredictable than fiction ever could be, for one.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know!” Nora replied. “But in my defense, that’s only when you expect the wrong kind of development and events to happen to a certain character! If you know what role someone is playing in a story, then predicting what’s going to happen next or what they’ll do will be easy—take Weiss being a protagonist, for example.”

Weiss stopped in the middle of bringing more food to her mouth. “Excuse me? No, you know what? Nevermind, can we please switch topics?”

“Sure!” Nora said. “How about the game plan for how you’re totally going to kick the original Furies asses in your big duel?!”

“Eh, it’s really only just vague ideas at the moment!” Yang said, waving her off. “We’ve still got at least 2-3 official match-ups before we tussle with Keren’s team; still need to find weapons Pyrrha wants to stick with; and still need to see just how much Weiss can do while that collar’s still on her.

“Speaking of which: Weiss, do me a favour and try and sign up for combat training today, alright? We need to know ASAP if the worst you can do to someone is throw a nasty snowball at them.”

“Will do,” Weiss replied.

The rest of the conversation moved on to recommendations about Fae weapons and their associated styles that Pyrrha had yet to try and might suit her, before Weiss and Winter headed back to their home and started gearing up for their trip to the Weaver’s Terrace.

With Idun and five other summons in the soul stones on Winter’s belt, and Penny hitched on Weiss’ back like a bag, they headed out.

The Terrace was even busier than usual when they got there, the Water Quadrant surrounded with what looked to be an area-wide, semi-translucent barrier, with numerous warning signs, cycling notices, and numerical counters slowly revolving around it.

Even from the very edge, it was easy to see the giant aquatic and amphibious animals, elementals, and summons constantly diving into and emerging from numerous points all over the water; massive construction equipment and maker/weaver teams working by the docks, the shallows, and the destroyed buildings and trees; and the convoys constantly bringing in materials and supplies from outside, or taking away debris and salvaged equipment from within.

The other three quadrants were no exception to the construction and logistics blitz.

Everywhere you looked, there were canvas tents, mud buildings, and huts so recent the leaves on their roofs were sometimes still fresh, being used as temporary shelters, or upgraded into more solid buildings. Alongside them were no shortage of industrial water pumps; pools of all sizes; and cooling devices from outdoor air conditioners, temperature-controlled enclosures, or even just refrigerators to keep drinking water, beverages, potions, cold packs, and the occasional overheated elemental cold.

The myriad research, projects, and training were still mostly going on as usual, but evidently the crowding was making some of the more space-consuming and adventurous of them difficult—the folks underneath the more fragile huts clearly did not appreciate the air and fire weavers flying overhead and nearly ripping their roofs off.

In spite of Weiss being one of the root causes of this whole predicament, however, it seemed no one really held a grudge against her, or cared to show it to her face; she and Winter were calmly informed of which quadrant they were assigned to for the day, and though heads turned and folks talked, it seemed to be without malice, and they willingly gave them seats on a large flying ship that was about to head out.

Granted, this time, they were expected to help power up the turbines and propellers along with everyone else.

<Weavers, ready?!> said the Fae standing at the fore.

<Aye!> everyone cried back, their summons making similar noises.

<ONWARDS!>

Everyone cheered and roared as the interior lit up with all manner of colours of magic, until they merged into a uniform blue-green. The pipes started to rattle and hum from the pressure, the turbines roared to life, most of the folks and some of their summons broke into a chantey, before the vehicle flew off, into the dense thickets and floating islands of the Air Quadrant.

Eventually, they disembarked a busy shipping dock, the ancient wooden floors crowded with folks, animals, elementals, and cargo moving, boarding or being loaded on the ships landing and taking off like clockwork.

“Weiss! Winter!” Bee yelled over the hubbub, only the glowing, pulsing tip of her staff visible from where the sisters stood. “Over here!”

“I think you should go ahead without me,” Winter said as she watched her summons return to her, each one of them “sweating” and struggling to keep their forms stable. “They all look like they could use a long soak in mana water for a while.”

“It’s fine, we’ll meet up later!” Weiss said, giving Winter a quick hug before she tried to slip into the crowds.

“Try not to cause any more massive disasters in the meanwhile!” Winter called out cheerfully.

Weiss scowled and tried to shoot her a look, but the crowds were already pushing her further away, blocking her from view; with a quiet sigh, she turned her eyes back to Bee’s staff and worked her way through the crush.

“Good afternoon, Weiss!” Bee said as Weiss stepped up to her. “You ready to resume your training?”

“Yes, but is there any chance I might be able to focus on combat?” Weiss asked. “I’m pretty sure this has made my control and excessive output problems non-issues for now,” she said, touching her collar.

“Already way ahead of you, Weiss!” Bee said, grinning. “I’ve been sending out requests to the other teachers to borrow their own students, to make the minimum headcount for a combat class with special cases much like yourself. It was almost dissolved today, actually, but then the one student we needed to make it suddenly came begging for the last slot, right out of the blue!”

“That’s convenient!” Weiss said, smiling. “A little too convenient,” she continued, frowning.

“Is something rubbing you the wrong way about this, Weiss?” Bee asked.

“Just a hunch that the universe is going to compensate for this in the most awful way possible, as usual,” Weiss replied.

Before Bee could reply, she noticed someone behind Weiss. “Oh, speak of the devil, there she is right now!” she said as she raised her staff and waved it in the air again. “Over here, Sayuri!”

For a brief moment, Weiss considered that perhaps “Sayuri” was just a common name among Valley Fae, and that this was an entirely different Sayuri altogether, much like how you could find a great deal of people named “John” and variations thereof...

… But as offended screeching pierced through the air, and a tiny, angry, sparking meerkat quickly stormed up to Bee, she remembered she just wasn’t that lucky.