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abrcmswrld · 7 months

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Treacherous | Mike Schmidt x Reader

Summary: Reader and Mike have been best friends since childhood. After a fight, Reader is given a surprise visit.

Warnings: General Angst, General Fluff, a suggestive make out scene in the nude but nothing too crazy, mentions of feminine clothing in one part but overall gender neutral

Author's Note: IM EDITING THIS RN SO PLEASE JUST IGNORE THE MISTAKES AND LIKE DUMB STUFF This is my first fic for Mike so bear with me! I tried so hard to adhere to the movie timeline but if it seems shaky please just ignore it lmao. I'm also bad at pacing sorry. I’d love to make this a series cause I’m in love with a good friends to lovers trope.

Mike had always been a bit of a mess. All of the time that you've known him, this has never changed. You can recall times on the playground of boys calling him names for his sensitivities. How were they to know the gravity of his situation? How were you to know? But you always felt called to stand up for him either way.

So you'd hound them off. You'd grab his hand and pull him off the dirt and to a quiet corner of the playground. The two of you would sit on the wooden border, picking at the grass and watching the other kids play.

His sensitivities would quickly turn to a certain hardness that you'd never fully come to understand, even in your late twenties. He'd open up the tiniest bit in high school, after his mother had passed away. He was only 17 years old. You were still children.

You have memories of standing uncomfortably in the dress your mother had insisted you wear to the funeral. You didn't know how to approach him then. He sat alone in a chair on the far side of the funeral home, a blank expression on his face. You couldn't say a word as you took tiny footsteps towards him. And he didn't say a word either, just looked up with bloodshot eyes. You'd hugged him then, feeling his shoulders shakes against you.

Soon it was time for the two of you to start thinking about college and your lives outside of the scope of small town high school. Talks of plans to find something new and excited were quickly stomped out by the failures of his father. You can recall a 23 year old Mike begging for your company on late nights when his father's drinking had reached a climax.

And you'd gladly show up for him. Abby was only six by that time, and Mike was all she had. Mike spoke about his father with disdain to you. Never crying the way he had as child, but you could see a sad anger within the conversations. And really, you couldn't blame him.

You can remember a night on the roof of your childhood home. It wasn’t your first time sneaking Mike through the window of your bedroom. It was a cold December night, and you were home for the holidays.

“I don’t think my dad’s coming back.”

Your knees were pulled up and under your chin as you rest your head and listened to his worries. “What do you mean?”

He sighed. “I mean, he hasn’t been back for three days and I think this might finally be it.”

You furrowed your brows and met his gaze.

“I’ll move back here.”

In that moment he had begged you not to. You were so close to finishing your degree and he insisted that he could not be the reason you didn’t finish. So you heeded to his wishes. You finished your final semester.

In the 6 months that you were gone after that night, his dad had not returned. Mike had stepped up to be a guardian for his sister. Family court would later assure this in legal documentation.

You had hugged him tightly the first night you were home and assured him that you would be there, for the both of them.

━━━

You would prove that to him when his original babysitter had ghosted him.

“Probably got tired of not being paid.” He had said when you asked why.

You don’t ask for pay. You had a day job that kept you stable enough to live. And as Mike’s hours were night shift, there was really no problem with the arrangement.

It would go on for a few weeks. You hadn’t seen pay, but you didn’t mind. Mike would cook you breakfast when he got home. That was payment enough for you.

But you could notice he wasn’t doing well. Dark circles had formed under his eyes. He had confided in you about the actions of his Aunt Jane. He showed you the papers with bold letters proclaiming a request for a change of custody. His stress and worry made sense to you now.

He would have to prove he was fit, a big ask in a court setting, especially for someone like Mike. You had encouraged him the best you could.

But everything had come to a head on a night when Mike had intended to actually pay you.

He woke you from your light sleep on his couch, alerting you that he was home. He sat his tired body on the recliner.

“There’s a 20 dollar bill in my jacket pocket.”

His eyes are closed as he speaks. It seems the night has been a rough one for him. “You don’t have to, but thank you.” You find the jacket lying on the kitchen table. You feel slightly bad as you reach your hand in to find the bill, but your guilt falls into confusion as your fingers brush the tiny bottle inside.

You let your eyes travel over the orange bottle in your hands. You furrow your brows. You turn to face the recliner he sits in.

"Mike."

He turns his head to face you, tired eyes falling on yours. He sees the bottle in your hands and you can see a sense of uncertainty and dread fall across his features.

"What are these? Sleeping pills?"

He immediately tenses, as if he had been avoiding this topic with everyone. But he responds quietly, “Yes.”

You fall silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. Realistically, there was nothing wrong with sleeping pills. People use them all of the time to sleep. But Mike seems hesitant to cover the topic of these pills and why he uses them.

An additional concern comes up in the way he had stuffed them in his jacket pocket. Why was he taking them to work? You hate the way your thoughts sound like the micromanagement of a mother, but all you can see is the bright yellow of the custody papers and Abby’s sweet face in your mind.

“Have you been taking these at work?”

He’s silent. It’s enough of an answer for you. You sigh as you sit the bottle down on the kitchen counter. You’ve known he wasn’t well. The incident that had gotten him fired from his last job, the dark circles under his eyes, the hardness about him, it all worried you. But you had always chose to let him live. Let him make his mistakes.

“Mike, talk to me. What’s going on with you?”

He lets out a spiteful scoff as if the conversation is beneath his worries at the moment. He lets out a shaky sigh. “I feel connected to him there. I don’t know why, but I do.”

There’s no doubt in your mind who he is referring to. His baby brother. The one he couldn’t save. You let him continue.

“If I can put myself into the right state of mind, I can see it. I can watch it over and over. And if I try hard enough maybe I might see who took him.”

He voice drifts off to a quiet and weak tone, “That’s all that matters to me.”

You can tell he’s hurt by the way that his voice comes out strained and weak, and it hurts you too. It’s not as if you couldn’t understand the pain of the situation. He’d cried to you all those years back when it first occurred. What you can’t understand is how he could let it ruin his relationship with Abby. Abby who is alive and well. Abby who, even if discreet, sees Mike as the moon and stars.

“And what about that little girl who sits around and draws you all day long?”

It makes you feel like a bitch to even say such a thing to him, but if it gives him a shake maybe it’d be worth it. “What about her?”

He stands still as a statue, emotions shifting across his face as he processes the words you’ve shot at him. You’re sure they strike like a bullet. His mouth opens and closes again, so you speak again.

“I know how badly you want to bring him back, Mike. To bring him back and be able to pretend none of that ever happened.”

He furrows his brows and you can the see the hurt flood his expression.

“But you’re going to lose them both if you don’t get your shit together.”

You sigh. You hate the way you sound like a mother scolding a child. You take a shaky breath. “Do you think that this job is really good for you? I mean-“ He cuts you off with a scoff and a laugh.

His tense attitude has you uncomfortable and defensive. You hate the way your voice becomes strained as you speak. “I just think it’s taking a toll on you.”

“I need this job, otherwise I’m never gonna see her again.”

And of course you know that. He needs a job to look good for a court that’s supposed to be able to decide if he’s right to take care of his sister. But what good does a job do on paper if the court can clearly see the way his mental stability is shaky? He hesitates and meets your eyes with a tense look as he speaks,

“You’re here to babysit Abby, not me.”

You stand silently in front of him for a moment before grabbing your coat. You turn toward him. You can see the quirk of regret on his expression, but he doesn’t speak, doesn’t take it back.

“It’s gonna take more than a shitty job that drives you crazy to keep her. I think you should find somebody else to babysit Abby.”

There’s malice in your tone and you hate it. But you can’t make excuses for him. You ignore his voice as he says your name quietly. You just let the door close behind you a you walk to your car. You wait for the door to open again behind your back. It doesn’t.

He doesn’t text you either. In fact, you don’t hear from him for another week and you wonder if he’s already replaced you and plans on holding the grudge.

You assume he must have. He must have found another babysitter for Abby. It seemed he was saving money to actually pay whoever took that role.

You can’t stop yourself from becoming more and more sad as the week goes on. You find yourself worrying more and more about Mike. And Abby. There’s no doubt in your mind that Jane was still adamant on proving in court that Mike was an unfit guardian.

You don’t know why you feel as though your presence could somehow remedy that. You don’t know why you feel an ache so deep in your heart. Friendship breakups are common. But Mike was different.

You still don’t let yourself text him. You would give him the power to choose that route. To choose you and the friendship you had given him since you were both children. And by the end of the week you have to force yourself to sleep.

And by the end of the week you get what you had secretly hoped for.

━━━

The knock on your door is urgent. You're half asleep as you rise out of the comfort of your bed. Your feet press against the cold floor as you rush to see who it could be. As you glance through the peephole you're met with those familiar black curls.

You open the door swiftly, shivering at the cool breeze that flows in. He looks like hell. Abby stands at his side. You're stunned, "Oh my God." You open the door wider and usher the two of them in.

Abby seems to be physically uninjured, while Mike's face is bloodied and bruised. You whisper to Mike,

"What the hell happened?"

He looks to Abby before he answers. "Abby should get some rest while we talk." You nod immediately. "Of course. She can sleep in my bed while I patch you up."

You lead the young girl to the bed and ensure she's tucked in. She thanks you quietly before you leave the room. You grab some first aid supplies from the bathroom cabinet on your way back.

"Sit."

You point Mike in the direction of the couch. He winces as you wipe the open cuts with alcohol wipes. You raise an eyebrow, “ You look like hell, Mike.” He scoffs in response.

“So you gonna tell me who did this to you, or am I just gonna have to keep wondering?”

Mike hesitates. You stop your movements to look at him with concern. He shakes his head, “You’re gonna think I’m crazy.” You sigh,

“Mike, I know you. Just tell me.”

And so he does. He explains everything down to the little details he can remember. It sounds crazy, it absolutely does. But you can’t bring yourself to think he’s faking it.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I know what I saw. She knows what she saw.” He points in the direction of the room Abby was soundly sleeping in.

“I believe you.”

He closes his eyes and exhales a large breath. You continue to clean the cuts along his face and head. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches.” He nods. There’s still an awkward tension between the two of you. He’s upset with himself for letting you leave the way you had, and you’re ashamed of yourself for letting him push you away. You break the silence at the same time,

“You know-“

“I’m sorry-“

You can’t help but laugh a little, and he smiles weakly back at you.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry too.” You continue.

He shrugs. “You were just looking out for me. I understand that now.” It means a lot coming from Mike. He’s stubborn, not usually one to admit when he’s wrong. It makes the moment all the more sincere. You smile slightly, letting a hand brush his cheek where a bruise is blossoming under the skin.

“I wouldn’t have said what I did if I didn’t care about you.”

He nods slowly and leans his cheek into your caress. You can feel the warmth of his hand as he lets it fall to your hip. His voice falls to a whisper.

“I care about you too.”

You smile and swipe a thumb over his bottom lip, where the plush skin has split from impact and smeared blood across his pale chin. He groans as he leans up, it’s only then that you notice the large gash on his side.

He attempts to stand, hobbling on his injured leg. “Mike,” He turns toward your bedroom, ready to grab Abby and get out of your hair. When he turns his back, you can see the blood seeping through his shirt and the large tear across his back. You grab his hand,

“Mike.”

He faces you again, letting a quick glance fall to your now connected hands. “Let her sleep, she’s alright. Let me help you.”

He stands awkwardly in front of your bathroom counter. His muscles flex with each touch of your fingers around his wounds, his fingers gripping the counter until his knuckles are white.

“I think it’d be best if you took this off.”

You’re awkwardly fiddling with the hem of his long sleeve shirt. He meets your gaze in the mirror and you feel small. Your voice is nearly a whisper, “I- I just can’t see.”

You stare at the floor as he pulls the shirt over his head. The gash is messy, but not deep enough to require stitches. Regardless, it’s covered in a thick layer of blood and sweat. You usher him to turn, and you see that the cut on his side is not better.

He can see the way your eyebrows screw together. “Is it that bad?” His voice has a touch of dread hidden in its tone. “I mean,” You glance at him.

“I don’t think you’ll need stitches, but you need to clean them or they’re gonna get infected.”

He swallows and nods. You walk to the shower, turning the knobs and adjusting the water to an appropriate and comfortable temperature. You clear your throat, “Here. I’ll, uh, I’ll let you…do your thing.”

You turn on your heels to give him privacy. As soon as your fingers touch the metallic surface of the doorknob, his hand catches your free hand, pulling gently. You turn toward him, meeting his eye. He pulls you closer and carefully pulls you into an embrace. You’re worried you’ll catch his wounds with your hands so you let them hover above his skin, not actually touching. But you want to.

You can feel his breath on your neck where he’s buried his face. He speaks into the sensitive skin, “Thank you. I don’t thank you enough.” That’s the moment you finally let your hands rest on his skin.

“You don’t have to thank me, Mike. I do it because I care about you.” You gently brush your fingers across his upper back, avoiding his cut. “Besides, you’d do it for me.”

He pulls himself from your neck, and you drop your hands from his back gently, expecting him to pull out of the embrace. But he stays close to you and only pulls back enough to see your face. Your cheeks are so hot. You can feel it and you know he can probably see it. He keeps his hands at your sides, just above your hips in a way that feels respectful. You allow yourself to put your hands on his forearms, thumbs resting in the bend of his elbows.

“Your water is gonna get cold.”

It’s a whisper as it comes out. He simply nods but doesn’t drop his hands from your sides. You smile shyly at him.

“Come with me.”

Your face is instantly hot and you’re suddenly hyper aware of the steam that’s building in the room and around the two of you. With your eyes wide and your mouth opening but no words coming out, he looks at you with hesitation, like he can’t believe the words actually left his mouth.

You can see the fear building on his expression the longer the silence drags on. Thoughts are racing through your head. You’d be lying if you said you’d never thought of this. You loved him. There’d always been a flutter in your stomach and a heat in your cheeks that let you know that perhaps it could be more than a friendship. You want that. But is this really how it’s going to happen?

You imagine the two of you going from childhood friends to becoming well acquainted with each other’s bodies in the span of one stressful night after not speaking for nearly a week. But there are no alarm bells going off in your head. You can’t bring yourself to feel ashamed.

So you kiss him. With his arms still around you and the heat from his bare chest creating a sense of protection from everything. With the whirl of water hitting the tub filling your ears. With the image of Abby sleeping soundly in your bedroom in your mind.

When you pull away, he looks at you with a sense of longing you’ve not seen on him before. You don’t want to say a word, not right now. It’ll be complicated. You know it will be. And you’ll have to have that conversation eventually, but right now the only thing you want is the heat of the water and the silk of his skin against yours.

So you finally unwrap yourself from him to begin working the buttons on your shirt. You’ve turned your brain off momentarily. Your fingers are on autopilot as they remove each article of clothing. If you allowed yourself to think, you’d surely turn in on yourself from the shame.

But when you’re finally bare and displayed in front of him, he doesn’t speak. He only looks with a fondness in his eyes that goes beyond a lustful stare. He slowly works his pants off his injured figure, wincing in the process, and soon he’s just as bare as you.

You’re shaking and cursing yourself internally for doing so. God, why were you shaking? You know he notices as he reaches his hand out to touch your arm lightly, grounding you in reality, and speaks, “Are you okay?”

You nod. More than okay.

The water feels heavenly as it beats against the skin of your back. Mike hobbles into the shower after you. He’s hesitant as you usher him to switch with you. It’s gonna hurt, but it’s necessary.

Your fingers lightly brush the wound on his back. He'd already been wincing slightly from the sting of the water, but your touch has him tensing immediately. You grab a cloth and dampen it enough to be effective in cleaning the general blood and grime from the afflicted wound.

The moment your cloth cover hand touches the wound, he cries out through closed teeth, "Fucking- fuck!" His hands are planted against the shower wall in front of him. He bites his lip, holding in the whimpers of pain, trying his hardest not to wake Abby.

"Shh. It's okay, Mikey."

You let a gentle hand fall to his non injured side, brushing his skin. You're trying to sooth his tense and pained form as much as possible.

Soon enough you have both gashes cleaned up and ready to be bandaged. Mike turns to face you in the shower. His face still has a slight touch of discomfort to it, but he smiles weakly at you.

“Thank you.”

You smile back and nod. You’ve hardly said a word outside of attempting to sooth his pain with sweet words. The cold is starting to seep in from the tiny crack in the shower curtain. You can feel tiny goosebumps beginning to form on your skin. He frowns slightly and breaks the silence again.

“Did I cross a line…with this?”

Your head is already shaking before you can even comprehend the question. Like your body knows the answer before your mind does. “No, Mike.” He hesitates in his response, standing still and quiet before stepping towards you.

He seems to be able to move around a little better. You’re not sure if it’s the water cleaning the previously irritated wounds or if it’s the adrenaline pumping through his body. Either way you’re thankful as his hands are grabbing at your face and pulling you into another kiss.

It’s sloppier than the previous kiss you had shared, and he’s pushed you back so far that your back is hitting the cold tile of the shower wall. A fog has taken over your mind as you reach around his shoulders, digging your fingers into the plush muscle of his back.

The feeling of his tongue swiping into your mouth has sent you entirely mad. You’re whining slightly at the feeling and your eyes are half lidded. You can’t even think of the fact that this is your childhood best friend kissing you. Making you shudder. You can’t find it in you to care, you want him.

“Mikey…”

It’s a whispered moan as you let your head fall back against the tile, exposing the delicate skin of your neck to his wandering mouth.

Despite his injured form, his hands are tight around you. You'd thought of this before, in the heat of the night alone in your high school bedroom, hormones taking over completely.

You'd imagined the strong grip of his hands and the contrast of his plush lips. The bite of white teeth and soothing warmth of the hot water.

It’s absolutely divine, you think. He is divine. You know you’ll have dark bruises on your neck from the way he bites. You can’t help but run a hand through the hair on the back of his head and tug slightly. The moan is elicits rumbles through your neck and you want more.

You’re absolutely drunk off of the feeling of his body being this close to yours, nearly intertwined. You don’t even think when your nails swipe the cut on his back. That is until he lets out a yelp in the crook of your neck and promptly jump back.

You’re wide eyed immediately, realizing what you’d just done.

“I’m- I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Mike.”

You can still see the remnants of a wince on his face but he laughs. And you find yourself letting out a nervous laugh with him. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

You laugh again, holding the palm of your head to your forehead.

“We should probably get out. It’s getting cold.”

You nod.

━━━

You manage to sneak past Abby’s sleeping figure long enough to grab old clothes from your room. You find yourself thanking the universe than Abby is a heavy sleeper.

You’re also thankful that you hadn’t given Mike back an old t-shirt that he had left in your home years ago. He smiles at you when you hand it to him. He puts it on and examines the familiar print on the front.

“You’ve been holding this one hostage, huh?”

You gently nudge his shoulder and let out a chuckle. “Shut up.”

You’ve layered blankets in the middle of your living room floor. You speak as you lay pillows down on the makeshift palette. “Abby is sleeping peacefully, I’m not letting you drive home tonight, and there’s no way I’m letting you sleep on my tiny couch.”

You point exaggeratedly at the “bed” you’ve created for the two of you. “Ta-da.” You let yourself fall back onto the layers of pillows and blankets. It’s surprisingly cushioned. You sigh. “Actually not that bad, Mikey.”

He watches you with a smile from his seat on your couch. “You’ve really out done yourself.” He slides off the couch and into the layers of blankets and pillows next to you. He turns to rest on his uninjured side, facing you. It’s dark in the room, but you’ve left one lamp on. You can see his features glow under the warm light. You brush a hand on his cheek lightly.

“I’m glad you didn’t die tonight, Mike.”

He snickers, but you’re serious. The thought of his face on the news, just another tragedy at Freddy’s, haunts you. “I’m serious.”

He simply stares at you. “You’re not gonna go back there, right?” He closes his eyes and shakes his head slowly.

“I don’t know how I’m gonna take care of her. I can’t keep a job.”

Your thumb brushes at his cheek, soothing his tension. “I’ll help you. When have I ever left you alone in this?” You shiver as you think of the only time you’d walked out on him after that heated argument. You push the thought away and close your eyes.

“Really love you, Mike. You’re my best friend.”

You open your eyes hesitantly and you can see the shine of moisture in his. “Love you too.”

You place a kiss on his lips. It’s chaste, but full of a deep warmth. It leaves you wondering what comes next.

You tuck yourself in close to him.

“Goodnight, Mike.”

#mike schmidt x reader #mike schmidt x you #mike schmidt #mike schmidt angst #mike schmidt fluff

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tulipswoo · 11 days

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will you play with me? (always, my love) - lee seokmin

word count: 2k

warnings: brief mention of bullying(?)

pairings: lee seokmin x afab reader

genre: playmates to friends, friends to lovers, lovers to ???? hahaha, fluff fluff fluff

a/n: this is a long one guys im sorry. of course, inspired by that song: Play With Me by Pagaehun & KKANBYEONGZ :)

*NOT YET PROOF READ! its 1:30am and i am tired! will proof read in the morning :)

*for this fic, lets just all pretend we are the same age as our beloved seokmin!! also, im basing the age and education level off of the korean education system!

when seokmin was 4 years old

''why are you guys picking on him?'' you said angrily with furrorwed eyebrows as you stomped over to the group of boys as fast as you could with your tiny feet. your tiny angry stomps coming closer to where your playmates (classmates?) were at. it had been playtime; free and easy. of course, there were your teachers to look after all of you kids, but the playground was so big! the teacher can't keep up with all kids, especially when a third of you were playing hide and seek.

''seokmin takes too long to find us! he's not very good at being IT, we don't want to play with him anymore!'' sunny, your classmate explained frustratedly with a pout, her arms folding over her small frame. ''you guys are so mean! doesn't that just mean that you guys are good at hiding? how can you blame seokminie!'' you defended your kindergarten classmate. this time, minseok, another classmate spoke up, ''he is just too slow! because of him, we are running out of playtime! we will have to go home soon and can't play anymore until tomorrow!'' how could they possibly blame him! you thought to yourself.

without bothering to say another word to your classmates, you held your small, delicate hand out to seokmin who was squatting sadly in the middle of all your other classmates while they surrounded him in a circle. ''come on, seokminie, if they don't want to play with you, it's okay! i'll play with you! is that okay? will you play with me seokminie?''

seokmin has heard tons of fairytales by age 4; some from kindergarten when the teachers were telling stories during recess, but also from mom and dad when they read him bedtime stories. so obviously, seokmin knows what love is. he knows how happily ever afters start and how they end because afterall, the teacher and his parents would never tell him things that are untrue, right? so, seokmin thinks to himself: she must be the one. because why else would you come to his rescue? that's how all fairytales start! and there must a reason why his cheeks are hot and his heart is beating so hard and fast. he thinks it could be because of the sun and the hot weather, but with him squating in the middle of 6 kids crowding around him in a circle while they are standing, he doubts its because of the sun and hot weather because he is in a well protected shade thanks to the kids.

seokmin held out his hand to reach for yours. he knows he should still be upset over what his classmates did but as soon as his hand touches yours, all the hurtful feelings and sad thoughts leaves his mind. suddenly, all he can think about is how safe your tiny hands feel and that you must be his knight in shining armour.

when seokmin was 15 years old

it was a change in environment for seokmin for sure, he was finally in high school with you, yes same school and same class. and right now, he is having his first gym class of the year. as soon as you were done with stretching, you hear your coach say ''alright, i want you guys to group yourselves in either a group of 3 or a pair and then we can start off with badminton .'' seokmin PANICS because today is only the second day of school and he is sad to admit that other than you, he hasn't made any new friends. he didn't seem to think it was important.

seokmin's eyes roamed around the basketball court hoping to find a partner only to realise he is the only one without a partner or a group. seokmin tried to discretly look over to you to see if you have a group or partner and guess what? you do. in fact, you're in a group of 3 and disappointment slowly washes over him as he turns back around. almost telepathically , your eyes started searching for seokmin and landed on the back of his head. you shoulders sag a little when you realise that seokmin doesn't have a paartner or a group. ''hey sorry you guys,'' you said to your 2 classmates, ''i think im going to join my friend over there.''

you quietly walked over to seokmin, almost in tippy toes. ''seokmin ah, can i join you?'' you asked with a soft smile. ''but what about your group?'' he questioned. ''they can play as a pair, dont worry about them!'' you answered. ''are you sure you wanna partner with me?'' seokmin's eyes turn to look down at his feet. ''yes i'm sure,'' your hand unconsciously reaches out for his. ''come on, play with me! badminton is about to start! let's go against my 2 friends!''

''i don't know y/n, im not very good at badminton.'' seakmin said as he lifts his other free hand to scratch the back of his neck. ''that's how it gets fun seokmin! by making clumsy mistakes! now come on, will you play with me?'' and seokmin simply answers with a nod; he doesn't trust himself now to answer you verbally. he is scared you'll hear how happy and relieved he is. he is afraid his trembling and stuttering voice will give away how he can feel his blood pumping through his veins and into his hammering heart; all because you are holding his hand.

when seokmin was 21 years old

''no, i do not want to go to that party.'' was what seokmin said 2 hours ago, and now? he's sitting on the living room couch watching you play beer pong with your friends. his stomach does a little flip when he sees your lips forming into a pout because you were failing horribly at the game. ''seokmin ah,'' you called out to him (more like shouting over the loud music and the swamp of people in the flat. ''come play beer pong with me!'' seokmin gets up from the couch and starts to walk towards you just as you manage to get a tennis ball into a red cup, seokmin watches your down that cup of beer. as soon as he reaches you, he lets out a deep audible sigh; not that anymore can hear him either. it is way too noisy in here.

he reaches for your empty cup and sets it aside. '' alright, that's enough for the night. you had a lot of pre-game drinks. you drank way too much tonight. it's late, let's get you back to your flat mhm?'' he pleaded with such soft eyes. you wonder if he knows just how in love you are with him. you could stare into his eyes and get lost in them forever if the universe allows. but you know thats not possible. ''can we go after we finish this game? pleeeeease? pretty pretty please? i keep losing and you're good at beer pong! play with me! wongil is joining minho so we can play 2 vs 2.''

''now why would i do that?''

''oh come on! minho and wongil only have 2 cups left, the game will end quickly! they're good at it.''

you watch seokmin and see his pondering over that. ''it'll be really quick i promise!'' seokmin then says: ''do i really have to?''

''will you play with me? please seokminieeeee.'' seokmin lets out a playfully dramatic sigh, pretending like he isn't happy that you asked him for help.

when seokmin is 23

around the corner of the street, leading to a big empty field right beside the mall, just so happens to be a carnival so the two of you decide to take a look around, maybe buy some snacks.

''seokmin look! they have a giant bouncy castle! can we please go?'' you asked, giving him the best puppy dog eyes you can. ''but what if you bounced too hard and land on a kid? that's not gonna be pretty.'' seokmin laughed.

''don't be dramatic, that wont happen!''

''you go ahead, sweetheart. im scared i'll hurt a kid accidentally.''

''we can play by ourselves at that corner,'' you pointed at the very back of the right corner where there is no one there. ''is that enough convincing? will you play with me? please please please'' you begged. ''of course, sweetheart.''

when seokmin was 27

tonight seokmin is taking you out on yet another date. except this time, seokmin tells you about how fancy the restauant is. he had told you that its a new place he's been wanting to try out but hasn't got the chance yet. the truth is, he's only telling you how fancy it is to try to hint at you that you should dress angelically; not that you don't but he thinks: just incase.

he simply just wants you to feel beautiful and worthy when he pops the question.

so here you are, sitting across seokmin at a fancy restaurant in your elegant pink silk dress. seokmin lays his hand across the table, you took the cue and do the same, hand finding his to intertwine your fingers and holding it softly.

''do you know i've been in love with you since we were 4?'' seokmin asks. you giggle in disbelief as you said ''oh really? and why is that? what made you fall in love with me when you were 4?'' you rolled your eyes playfully. ''because you asked me to play with you. you were so cool that day. you were my knight in shining armour!'' he laughs while thinking back to that day. we used to be such kids he thinks.

''babe, i dont think you even know what love is at age 4.'' now it was your turn to laugh. ''maybe not the way adults know love to be, but it was what i knew love to be when i was 4. like my favourite stuffed animal, my favourite toy truck. i loved you then the same way i loved the things i loved.'' he shrugged sheepishly.

''did you just compare me to your toys?'' you teased. ''god no, thats not what i meant.'' he lets go of your hand to rub his face and then comes back to hold your hand again. ''what i'm trying to say is that, that is my favourite thing about you.''

''what is?'' you questioned. ''you asking me to play with you. you always did throughout all these years. be it when we were 4, 15, 21, 23 and everywhere else inbetween,'' he pauses to take a sip of water and to catch his breath before he continues. ''and i realise...while you were asking me to play with you all these years, i've realised that looking back, i have not once asked you to play with me.''

seokmin lets go of your hand once again, but this time he is reaching into his pocket. you watch as he lifts a red velvet box up to the table. ''what i'm really trying to say is: i loved playing with you when we were 4, and i loved it more and more each and every time you ask me to play with you. i want to play fun, stupid and meaninglessly with you everyday for the rest of my life if you'd let me.''

seokmin gets up from his seat and goes by your side. you felt tears fall down your cheek, you're sure your nose is bright red as of now. ''y/n,'' he said as he opened the box as he knelt down in front of you.

''will you play with? will you play with me for the rest of your life?''

seokmin feels relief washing over him as he breaks into a smile when he hears you say ''always, my love.'' he takes your hand and slid the ring on. ''i love you, so so much.'' seokmin confesses. ''i love you too.''

#seventeen #seventeen fluff #seventeen imagine #svt #svt fluff #svt angst #svt x reader #fanfic #lee seokmin #seokmin x reader #seok min fluff #seokmin seventeen #dk seventeen #seventeen dokyeom #dk x reader #dokyeom x reader #dokyeom fluff #dk fluff #Spotify

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mono-dot-jpeg · 10 months

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morning routine - jingyuan

summary; just a lion and his cub waking up

genre/extra tags; fluff, quite a bit of fluff, jingyuan is a single father no drama (/ref), reader is younger than yanqing

[platonic] [5-9 year old! reader] [gender neutral reader]

word count; 523

a/n; this made me realize that i dont remember the last time i watched the lion king. but nonetheless, i am a man of the people and i give them what they want (within reason). it's kind of close to the scene im pretty sure you're talking abt but i just changed it a bit. hope you enjoy!

also i realized, looking at jingyuan's art, mimi has a mane so mimi would realistically be a boy, no? but like mimi is referred to it/its. i mean honestly mimi being a boy is cute to me KSDJKSJ and also it makes sense since mimi had a mane and lionesses dont. whatever-

daylight burns into the window, waking you up earlier than your lazybones dad. but to be fair, anyone could wake up earlier than him. he was a hardworking man. for the most part. but he was a single father too. your father.

you cherish the time you spend with him every day. you may not know everything but he teaches you everything. he tells you of the world you both live in, how there is war and peace, how someday you would have to lead alongside him and yanqing. you were enamored with the world that people have helped build. and you were determined to help protect it.

but for now, you can still be a kid.

"dad!" you press a hand on his face, squishing his cheek. "dad wake up!" you push against him, hearing his grumbling as he turns to face away from you. "dad!" you whined. you brush your head against his heavy white locks as if you were a cat. "we were gonna spend the day together. wake up!"

"you wake up earlier than me, are you sure you're my kid?" he jokes tiredly as he laughs.

"come on! let's go papa!" you climb over him, earning a grunt and groan as you slide off the bed. you make your way to get ready. you see mimi striding out of his bed, yawning and stretching. "hi mimi! good morning!" you greeted the large lion, who brushes against you chuffing a tired greeting. "papa! hurry!" you called out to him, you can hear your father shuffling around the bedroom and grumbling his responses.

you feel yourself get picked up before you can open the bathroom door. you laugh as jingyuan tosses you up for a moment and catches you, holding you under his arm like a sack of flour. "you already have too much energy in the morning. we have some time to relax."

"you promised you would teach me today!" you squirmed in his hold as he opens the door to the bathroom.

"well, let's not get too hasty." he hummed, placing you on your feet and onto your step stool in the bathroom. he doesn't say it out loud but he wonders how much faster you're going to grow up or how much faster you want to grow up. "i'll teach you when the time is right. for now, you have to learn how to be a kid."

"but 'm already a kid! i wanna be like you!" you start to brush your teeth. jingyuan takes his time to get you ready as he's fixing your bedhead and pinching your cheeks, making you whine through your brushing.

he smiles gently, "you don't need to be me. you can be you. the world is yours, alright?" he pats your head as you nodded rapidly.

when you finish brushing your teeth, you raise your arms to him to get carried. he obliges and you hug him tightly. "i'm gonna make this world the best for us!"

"well, you have to get out of your pajamas first for that." he chuckles, pressing his forehead against yours as a sign of affection.

#honkai star rail x reader #honkai jing yuan #honkai x reader #honkai jingyuan x reader #jingyuan x reader #hsr jingyuan #hsr jing yuan #hsr x reader #honkai star rail #hsr jingyuan x reader

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marvelnatasha12346 · 6 months

Text

Morning Cuddles

Soft Natasha

Natasha x Female Reader

summary You and Nat have a snuggle party with your kids in the morning.

The alarm goes off. Nat turns off the alarm. “Baby it’s time to get up,” she whispers. “Ugh no five more minutes,” you say not wanting to get out of your warm bed. “Ok fine five more minutes,” Nat says. You hear little footsteps coming, “Never mind about the five more minutes.”you say. “Good morning mommy and mama,” Natalie your youngest says holding her arms up. You oblige and kiss her head.

Natalie snuggles into you. “Hi Andy how did you sleep bud?” you ask your second youngest well Nat helps him on the bed. “Me tired mommy,” he says. “Me too bud,” you say. “How did you two sleep?” my wife asks our two oldests. “Good I guess but Natalie woke me up. I wanted more sleep,” complains Ali our oldest getting in between the two of us. “Well she’s like mama a morning person,” you say with a laugh. “I slept ok but Natalie woke me up too unfortunately,” our second oldest Nick says sitting in between you and Ali. “Natalie please don’t wake up your brother and sister next time baby,” you say. Natalie crawls over everyone and gets to Nat. Andy dose the same and gets on your lap and cuddles with you. “But mama woke you up I just wanted to wake up Ali and Nick so we could start our day. Mama says early birds gets the worm I forgot what that means but it sounds disgusting,” Natalie says proudly. “It means early people get a better chance to get what they want to get done today,” Nat explains.

“Really mama so that’s why Taila woke us up because she is copying you,” Ali says annoyed. “Well what can I say Taila likes to copy everything I do. Isn’t that right princess,” Nat says tickling Taila. “Mama stop please,” Taila says between fits of laughter. You just sit there watching this moment between Nat and Taila with love. “Nope not going to baby. Anyone want to help me tickle this little monster?” Nat asks. Ali and Nick start tickling her as well soon enough every kid joins in. “Mommy help me please,” Taila begs. You scoop Taila up stopping the onslaught of tickle attacks. “Thanks mommy you’re the best,” she says catching her breath. “I feel hurt that you think mommy’s the best,” Nat says putting a hand over chest and fake crying. “Don’t cry mama I’m sorry you’re the best too,” Taila says. She crawls over to Nat and wipes her tears away kissing her head. You have to keep a hand over your mouth to keep from awwing at the sight in front of you. “Oh I’m ok baby girl. Your mommy’s the best though I have to agree,” Nat says. Andy whines wanting attention. You pick him up snuggling him. You try to put your arm over Ali, “Mom I’m to old for cuddles,” she says. “Oh ok sorry you want cuddle with me Nick?” you ask. “No thanks mom im too old to cuddle with you and mama sorry,” he says. “Ok if you guys still want to cuddle me and mama will be waiting,” you say. “Why no cuddles with me and mommy,” Andy asks curious. “Because bud they are getting older and think they don’t need cuddles so that means you , Talia, and mama get all my cuddles. “Yay me get all dhe cuddles,” Andy says. “No I do,” Taila argues. “I do I’m older,” Ali says snuggling into her mama’s side. “I thought you were too old for cuddles mалышка (little girl),” Nat says with a smirk. “Yeah ok but I like your cuddles mama,” she says. Nick cuddle up with you. “I guess you aren’t too old to get a cuddle from your parents huh,” you say. “No I guess not,” Nick says cuddling closer to you. This is how you like to spend your weekend mornings cuddling with your family. You and Nat wouldn’t trade moments like these for the world.

#natasha x you #natasha x daughter!reader #natasha romanoff #natasha x reader #black widow x reader

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brandonduhaimes · 1 year

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Returning home

Gif credits to owner

Authors note: Quinn would be the best dad you will never change my mind.

Pairing: Quinn hughes x gn reader

Word count: 900

Preface: After a long roadie Quinn is back home only to find a very stressed significant other.

You werent really sure where the overwhelming urge to cry had come from. You had watched the kids for long periods of time before but for some reason today was too much. A two week trip shouldn't have been a breaking point but Jackson was teething and miserable for the entirety of it.

You hadn't noticed the front door opening and closing as you sat on the couch crying silently. Your son however noticed and immediately started scream crying. You rushed to his bedroom to quiet him before he woke up your three year old who was sleeping silently.

"Shhhh its okay sweetheart." You murmur "you're okay just breathe." The screaming continued and you tried everything you could think of, but couldn't get him to calm down.

"Babe why don't you let me try?" Quinn asks and you jump not expecting him to be here.

"How are you? You had some really good games while you were gone." You ask as he walks up wraps his arm around your waist and places a kiss on your temple.

"Dad? When did you get home?" Your daughter asks from the hallway, her reaction not as excited because of the tired look in her eyes.

"I just got home kiddo." He looks at you and takes Jackson from your arms. "Why don't you go get in bed and i'll come and tuck you in in a few minutes?"

"Okay!" With this your daughter bounds back up the stairs to her bedroom and you let out a sigh of relief as just being held by Quinn, Jackson begins to calm down a little bit.

A few minutes later Jackson is back in his crib fast asleep and the two of you make your way upstairs to tuck Ellie in. When you walked up the stairs you noticed that she had already fallen asleep.

Quinn pulled her blanket over her and then gave her a kiss on the forehead and you did the same before closing the door quietly. You made your way back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"I have some leftovers in the fridge from the Chinese place if you want them."

Quinn doesn't say anything, but wraps his arms around you and pulls you into his chest. He rests his chin on your shoulder and kisses your cheek. "Thank you for taking care of the kids while I was gone." He squeezes you tightly before placing a kiss on your shoulder.

"Its part of having kids though I signed up for it." You have a slight break to your voice and Quinn knows immediately that it had been a rough two weeks.

"You should go take a shower or a bath, give yourself some quiet time. I've got the kids now," Quinn says quietly.

"Okay, if Jackson wakes up again he has some teething rings in the freezer and the Orajel is on the changing table." You reply and Quinn places his lips on yours gently.

"Thank you. Now I've got the kids you need some you time." Quinn finishes ushering you into the bathroom. You smile as he shuts the door knowing that you picked the right one to be their father.

You shower slowly, singing and embracing the time alone. As you finish up you make your way back to the bedroom where you find Quinn lying on the bed with Jackson laying on his chest asleep. You curl up next to him and try not to wake the sleeping child.

"Im going to go put him back into bed ill be back in a second."

You smiled as you listened to Quinn put Jackson down again for the night. "You are getting so big little one. We better pick out your first pair of skates soon."

Quinn put the baby down and came back to your room. He laid down beside you and pulled you into his arms. "Maybe we should get a nanny, at least for once a week while I'm gone so you have time to yourself."

"It wasn't usually this hard but almost every day Jackson had a break down because of his teeth hurting. I felt like I was failing at parenting." You say quietly and Quinn pulls you closer.

"You are the best parent these kids could have. You make it easy for the kids to be kids and thats what they need. I'm sorry I wasn't here for you during this."

"Its not your fault Quinn. It's part of your job we both signed up for it." You reply and he holds you tightly.

"Lets get a nanny, I'm off for the weekend we can do whatever you want to." He smiles into your shoulder "but right now we should get some sleep since the three year old menace to society will be up in about six hours."

"She gets that from you," you reply and Quinn laughs.

"I'd like to think uncle Jack taught her that."

You smile and turn to give him a quick kiss "You may be right about that but right now we need to sleep so we can talk about it more in the morning."

"I love you y/n thank you for everything you do for us." Quinn hums and you smile.

"I love you too Quinner."

With that the two of you sleep silently the smiles not leaving your faces the whole night.

#quinn hughes #quinn hughes fluff #vancouver canucks #nhl fic #nhl hockey #hockey boys #quinn hughes x reader #quinn hughes fanfiction #quinn hughes blurb

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didiersdragon · 2 years

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silly little thought that circulates my mind everyday but lloyd subconsciously leaning on the ninja or smthn whenever he's tired and the ninja immediately noticing it and doing something about it

maybe they're at the commissioner's office after a battle, reporting to him what happened when Kai feels someone leaning against him. he looks down and sees lloyd loosely wrap his hand around Kai's fingers as he subtly shifts his body weight onto the side leaning against Kai. His face remains focused on the words Nya and Zane were speaking but on a closer glance, Kai saw the way the kid's eyes were blinking fast as if to delay sleep and how he pursed his lips to keep his yawn in

he's clearly exhausted but is fighting it. and Kai was not letting that happen

thus begins Operation: Bedtime™️

Kai settled his eyes on Cole and waited till the other noticed before he tilted his head slightly towards the kid and the earth master instantly understood. cole nudges jay and with one quick glance and jay was already- metaphorically- rolling up his sleeves

Jay: GUYS! I- uh, FORGOT TO TURN OFF MY TOASTER AGAIN! Whoops, haha! silly me :D

Nya: jay how many times have i told you to stop making eggs in your toastoH OH YEAH ME TOO

the second he hears toaster, zane is already asking pixal to send their vehicles and that Operation: Bedtime™️ is a go

rushing bc im hungry but basically the Commish is like ????tf ing but Cole is already picking up Lloyd who is startled for a hot second before Kai pets his hair and he literally just *shlump* against Cole while Zane has opened the door and Nya and Jay are trying to explain the commisioner that they'll text the rest of the deets later and just. runs.

six minutes and at least three broken traffic laws, they're back at the monastery and are running-as gently as possible- to Lloyd's room where Pixal and Master Wu has already turned on the night light, made sure the humidifier is running and the beds ready

with a flurry of movement and sharp whispers, Lloyd is finally asleep tucked into bed with Kai's old dragon plushie cuddled to his chest and warm blankets covering him as the ninja pat themselves on the back as a "mission accomplished" and also look at their little greenie fondly

this doesnt happen often though bc after bad experiences with lloyd not sleeping properly and him almost getting hurt due to it, zane has like an internal alarm for Lloyd's bedtime and if he is not in bed five minutes after the alarm by himself, the ninja will Not Hesitate

Operation: Bedtime™️ is an extremely sensitive, high priority mission that needs to be executed perfectly because the only time it's intiated is when lloyd shows signs of tiredness which he is usually very good at hiding (to a concerning amount)

#ninjago #lego ninjago #this got longer than expected #the dragon plushie idea is from twig-sprigs awesome corrupted kai au btw def check it out #just imagine these early 20 something year olds going into parent mode when their kid-teenage brother shows any sign of sleepiness #let lloyd garmadon just be a kid #lloyd garmadon #kai smith #zane julien #cole brookstone #jay walker #nya smith #ninjago lloyd #this was nice maybe ill ramble more #but am very shy #ok goodbye

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pink-strawberry-kissess · 1 year

Note

Plsss more headcanons of Leon with a baby/toddler daughter :3

okay :3

leon would be terrified of having kids, bonus if they have twins cause that's a lot of changes from no babies to suddenly TWO BABIES. DOUBLE TERRIFIED

but if we have just the one, he just wants to protect her from the world

he has moments when he realizes that he might not be able to, that the world is cruel at times

all babies eyes are like blueish when they're born, but i can kinda see that if that happens, ada hopes that the baby's eye colour stays and looks like leon's eyes

i love tropey- genes don't matter in fics lol and sure a half asian baby can be blonde who gives a shit lmao

leon being very careful with combing her hair, making sure she likes it, she starts to like it longer "like daddy's hair," and likes little butterfly clips and likes to have daddy pick out the colours hehe

i already wrote this several times but the idea of leon and ada with twins, and one is already asleep on his chest, and the other playing with his hair, and ada's trying to pluck off the one playing and braiding with leon's hair and is like "daddy's very tired, how about we get you to bed, your sister is already asleep," and ada tries to get one of them ready for bed.

while leon's half asleep and he feels the weight of one of his babies being lifted so he immediately wakes up and is like "WHERE ARE MY CHILDRENS," and then realizes ada has one and goes back to sleep

leon would teach them how to ride a bike etc, and encourage them to oh this is too old. baby toddler...

i think that they would also try to have their kid grow up bilingual or multiple languages if possible, he would try to speak mandarin to their baby but it's just not great sounding 💀

he loves whenever he's holding onto his baby, almost won't let go unless he gives her to ada to hold.

100% the dad who has their kid on his back or just constantly running around to make sure she's not off doing something dangerous T_T

leon always having a random hair clip in his hair because either the kids clip them in, and he forgets they're there. and it's more convenient cause his hair is out of the way and he doesn't notice

omg leon with a butterfly headband with his bangs pushed back sdjkfbskjfs

leon at the grocery store, with the babies IM SCREAMIN

#ask heart #heart answers #anon #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy #ada wong #aeon #leon x ada #leon kennedy x ada wong #resident evil #leon s kennedy x ada wong #aeon kids #aeon babies #leon kennedy headcanons

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toomuchracket · 7 months

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ok idk what universe or how the circumstances lead to this. but im having dad matty brainrot. maybe girlie is busy and matty has to watch the kids but hes meant to be getting a new tattoo (maybe hes supposed to go with the guys, which is why he cant cancel). but he has to bring the kiddos with him and while hes getting tattooed another artist or maybe even one of the guys doodles on kiddis arm so they can match their dad :(

fuck it, og dad!matty universe! it's the last couple of weeks of the summer holidays and you're mildly concerned about the fact your husband is planning on taking your 6 year old and 8 year old with him and the boys while they get new tattoos (maybe to celebrate an album anniversary or some shit), but when george comes to pick them up he reassures you like "it's fine! it's a nice day, we'll go into the shop one at a time, whoever's not in can just be at the park down the road with dyl and lena". a good idea in theory, and it works for a little bit while matty's playing football with his babies and giving them piggybacks and whatnot; when it's matty's turn to go in and get his tattoo, though, elena's (who's been a bit more shy and reserved lately - you think she might be a bit nervous to go back to school) little lip starts to wobble like she's going to cry, and she clings to his leg and will not let go even when adam's like "el! we'll go and get ice cream, yeah? your dad won't be long, you know that". matty has to crouch to her level like "i'll be twenty minutes, munchkin. four bluey episodes long. that's all! my big, brave girl, you'll be alright without me for that long, won't you?", and she shakes her little curly head quite vehemently - when the sniffles begin, matty just hugs her into him and softly shushes her like "alright, darling, you can come in with me. but you have to sit nice next to me, yeah? no running around in case you get hurt". so then obv dylan wants to come in, too, not because she's also upset but because she's curious about the tattoos "cos you and mum both have them but i don't know how you get them" lol; she drags ross in too, because that's bestie, and he sits with a kid on each knee and patiently explains to them what's going on while their dad gets another tattoo. the tattoo artists are really sweet - the guy doing matty's is like "oh! it's nice to finally meet the two of you, it was me who did the tattoos your mummy and daddy got when you were both born" (a.n. i have no idea what these look like actually), which impresses them a lot. but he doesn't impress them nearly as much as the other girl, who they say looks like a tattooed isabela madrigal (she laughs really hard at this and calls them adorable) and who lets them look through the sample book; they both pick out the ones they'll get when they're big enough (matty shakes his head at this, but he and ross giggle. how could they not?), and the girl gives them a couple of little temporary tattoo strips to "take home and get mum to help you put on. i think i would save them for parties, though" (matty thinks this is a genius suggestion, because he knows full well his daughters would have begged for them to be put on immediately otherwise lol). the doodling happens between dylan and elena themselves, i think - one of them gets hold of a pen and says "let me draw on you so you can match daddy?", and her sister is like "YEAH and then i can do it on you", while matty's half crying at how cute they are and half stressing about taking them home covered in pen lol. but yeah, the girls are good as gold, so good that their dad can't not treat them to an ice cream AND a tango ice blast to share afterwards, followed by another run around in the park to tire them out before it's time to go home and then pick up mummy from work. a lovely day <3

#mads answers asks #matty asks #fluff asks #flatmate!matty #dad!matty #dylan #elena

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markosbabymama · 10 months

Note

yipppeee!!! :) in that case can i pls get a ck matchup?

i’m 5’3” (160 cm) , i have stone blue eyes but they change to green or grey depending on the day. my hair is wavy and shoulder length and it’s the color of cinnamon. i have dark freckles under my right eye but not my left. im on the lighter-tannish side and i have a sharp button nose.

i’m an aquarius rising and sun , and i’m a pisces moon. i’m an introverted extrovert and an entp. i have anxiety and adhd. i tend to hyperfixate on things very easily. i love film, and writing, and reading. horror is my favorite genre of book and movie. my love language is physical touch and words of affirmation. my aesthetic per-say is modern downtown girl meets 70s downtown girl.

i love music si much it’s a big part of my life. i’m learning to speak spanish and i tend to talk a lot if you couldn’t already tell. rambling is a big habit of mine.

i’m so sorry ml for writing like 3 full paragraphs 😭😭 mwah mwah tysm <3333

u are literally the cutest ever?!🩷🥹

you are made for miguel sorry i don’t make the rules

UGH HEIGHT DIFFERENCE !!

he loves to lean down and kiss u literally his favorite thing ever.

he’ll randomly give u piggy back rides or pick u up bridal style and thinks it’s the funniest thing ever

loves loves LOVES UR EYES!!!!

literally kisses ur eyelids bc he loves your eyes sm

*looks down at u while ur cuddling him* “when we get married and have kids they better have your eyes, or else i don’t want em.” *slaps his chest* “miguel!”

takes random pics of ur eyes while they’re in light

loves to run his hands threw ur hair. it’s therapeutic for him.

definitely tried to braid it and fails miserably but it’s the thought that counts.

randomly buys u claw clips and hair ties🥹

has a hair tie on his wrists at all times just in case.

once tired to kiss all the freckles on ur face to see if he could do it LOL

obvi he couldn’t but it’s okay cus he loves to kith u lol.

always admired ur freckles. thinks it’s the prettiest thing on the planet.

NOSE KISSES ARE A DAILY THING.

kisses ur nose as many times as human can.

loves to pinch ur nose as well lolz

he loves ur nose sm

he’s honestly always by you’re side since he knows it takes time for u to warm up to ppl

especially at party’s.

he will never leave ur side EVER.

only time he does is to get u a drink. but even then he’s like “u sure ur okay by urself? promsie??”

and let’s say u have an anxiety attack/ ur overwhelmed by something

MY GOD HES WAISTING NO TIME

he will run to your side so fast to make sure you’re okay.

will do breathing exercises with you, rub your back, give you water, talk u threw it, he will literally not move from ur side unless you say to.

loves how u get so invested in something

like he will literally go out of his way to make sure he knows everything abt ur hyper fixation

no matter wtf it is. it could be abt rocks and this man will search how many there are, JUST to talk to u abt it.

adores reading horror books/ watching horror movies with u.

he’ll wrap his whole body around u with twelve blankets on a couch and just sit there listening to you tell him about facts abt the movie, the cast, where it was filmed, ect.

loves watching u write

will literally just sit next to u and watch

HE ADORES EVERYTHING U DO MAN🥹

loves how passionate u are abt music

makes a special playlist just for u.

is proud when u add a song from his playlist to urs

“U LIKE THIS SONG???” *smiles like a six year old*

i honestly believe miguel is touchy too so he LOVES when u can’t keep ur hands off him

not in a sexual way, in a loving, caring, sweet way🖤

holds onto ur waist all the time

y’all definitely link arms all the time

he’s always touching u and the other way around. y’all can’t keep each others hands off the other.

“you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, mi amor.”

loves ur style and loves going shopping with u.

will hold up a pair of boots and go

“omg this would look so pretty on u mi amor.”

also loves finding lil hats for u to wear.

will blow every last dollar he has to buy u clothes.

*walks in with 5 giant bags* “Y/N, I HAVE A SUPRISE FOR YOUUU!!”

UGH LOVES CUS UR LEARNING SPANISH??!?!?!

literally is ur tutor

“Eres el amor de mi vida.” *looks over to him* “what did u just say, miguel? *smiles from ear to ear.* “nothiiinggg.”

u find out like three days later and kiss the shit out of him. LMAO

leaves lil love notes in spanish in ur locker everyday 🥹

so proud of u when u have your first full convo in spanish.

“YOU DID IT!!! IM SO PROUD OF YOU MI AMOR!” *tackles u and kisses ur face.*

so much shit talking happens at school.

miguel: “¿Viste su traje?”

y/n: “Sí, oh Dios mío. ella se parece a mi abuela.”

*both of u dying of laughter*

A/N: THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE MY GOODNESSSSSS. i really hope u enjoy this cause i had a blast writing it. love ya!!🩷🥹

#cobra kai #miguel diaz x reader #cobra kai imagines #eli moskowitz x reader #miguel diaz #cobra kai x reader #robby keene x reader #tory nichols #miguel diaz oneshot #miguel diaz imagine

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annika-thelostlove · 1 year

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Battery Life \\ a Simon Feck x fem!reader

[Knight and Day (2010 film)]

A\N: I have been stuck on this fic for months 😭 I'm posting it as it is, and so there will be sooooo many mistakes I'm so sorry. This one just came out of the blue, but I hope you still enjoy some Simon Feck love ❤️

Summary: Simon is a genius, and youre nothing special. But he's kind enough to let you sleep in his bed while he plays video games. How dare you fall in love with him!

Warnings: angst (my usual brand I'm sorry) misunderstanding, lack of communication, mutual pinning, low self-esteem, depression, minor dubious consent kiss, happy ending!

Word count: 3374

You're not sure when it begun, youve been spending months on his sofa watching him play games, eating his food from his pantry, laying under his sheets when he let's you take a nap on his futon when you're tired. Hours of time to think to yourself what the hell is really going on, but you couldn't pinpoint the moment when you knew that you loved him.

Six months ago you only knew Simon as the kid-genius that goes to the same school as you. He was always busy, getting offered scholarships, skipping classes that he's already passed, getting featured on tech magazines, for him to ever know that you existed. He's an 18 year old engineering genius, they said. He's been offered a full ride through MIT or Yale or something like that. Or so you've heard.

You also heard a recent rumor that he lives by himself. They've given him his own apartment after turning 18. Its closer to his soon-to-be campus.

Simon is just too busy to notice anyone, too busy to make friends. You think you have that in common.

Except that you skip school not for extra education like Simon, but because you can't get out of bed. Sometimes you feel too empty.

Or when you have no lunch in your bag. Youre too embarrassed. Or if you haven't showered in a while. Just feels too ashamed.

People tend to ignore you, it's fine with you. To you everything in life is temporary. You're now in your final foster home until you're 18. They've been the best family so far, it been four years with them.

They really care about you. They probably even love you. But you still find it hard to really let them know when there's something wrong with you. You feel like you're a burden, they would disagree with that. But they just don't understand.

So for the whole of highschool you don't cross paths with the star pupil of the school Simon Feck. Apart from catching glances at him sometimes from down the hall. He's so tall, its hard to miss. Always talking to a teacher, he doesn't seem to have friends. Just like you.

You have never had one moment with him until graduation year.

Thinking back, you think he might have looked handsome asking you if you were okay standing in the cold. In truth, at that moment you were thinking that he looked nerdy in his glasses and striped shirt, and he was someone who definitely hasn't learned how to shave properly yet, with that tuft of hair on his chin.

"Are you waiting for someone?" his first words to you.

Youve been standing by the school building, pretending to be waiting to be picked up. But the truth was, you just didn't want to go home yet. One of your little sisters was taken back by her biological mother just the day before. It was just too hard to be there without her.

"Uh, I'm.. not really…" feet awkwardly shuffling. "-are you doing anything now?" You quickly change the subject. Simon's expression changes to a look of surprise.

"Now? Im just, gonna go home."

"Do you play video games?"

"Yes…do you play?"

"No, oh." You sadly respond. He swayed side to side, It took him a few more moments of hesitant contemplation to finally say. "Did you..want to- play?"

"Yes" you say without hesitation.

"Oh, like like, at my house?"

"Yes"

"Okay, um, my car is just around the side here." He points at the direction. "Well, you don't have to get in my car. If, if that seem inappropriate I-"

"Let's go. I don't care about any of that"

You follow eachother closely. He's neck is flushed, unsure where his situation is going. Once he gets you in his passenger seat he gets in and pauses.

"So, my name is Simon"

"I know"

He turns red all of a sudden. "Oh" he asks for your name, and you tell him. He repeats it to himself under his breath. Memorizing it.

—-

That had been months ago now. That first evening in his apartment you quietly watched him play his game untill you drifted into a deep sleep that you haven't had in so long. His sofa was cosy, and a few hours later you woke up to vision of Simon still playing his game beside you. But now there was blanket draped over your body that smelled like fabric softener, a little bit of moth ball and a third soft musk that you later on recognize to be Simon's distinct smell. It comforts you.

You've overstayed, and had to get home at 6pm.

Simon and you had never discussed about it. But it went on just like that everyday after school from then on. Watching Simon play, falling asleep, eating his snacks, sometimes crawling into his bed. He never touched you, he just let you exist in his space. Always asked if you liked the food. Never asked you if you needed anything else. He always just gave without needing to ask. Like giving blankets, the soda he now buys because you liked them, or the extra cable wire he bought so your phone can charge. Even though his own devices are incompatible to it. He must have bought it just for you.

You feel something, this burning in your chest. He loves you. Maybe. You don't know. You've never been in love before. You've never had anyone really love you before. So how can you recognize it?

But then every time you step into his space, he starts the hot water for tea, and passes you the comfiest pillow on the couch, you talk about anything and everything, you make him laugh, sometimes he make you laugh too, you listen to his tech rambling, despite not understanding. And you think that maybe this must be what love is like.

Maybe we're only friends. A friend you would dream about being together like this forever.

But that couldn't be right, he never speaks to you at school. Even now. Never looks towards you when youre in the same room, (you know since you look at him every chance you get). So whatever hope you have of Simon liking you back, it vanishes at the logic.

_____

Then it began, falling asleep on his shoulder, youve sat so close to him lately. You curled into his side like you were meant to fit there.

Simon still says nothing, he accepts it like he normaly does, it irks you that he feels nothing. Some days you just want to provoke him.

What are you to him?

A piece of decor in his room?

A friend?

Someone more?

He had become your gravity, you orbit around him as he exists like the sun. But you, you feel like a tiny rock just drifting through his universe, pulled by his gravity, and burning up once you got to close.

How can two people be so different? How can one be so brilliant, bright and important? Full of purpose and direction? While you drift along this life, aimless, and empty.

Where will you be after all of this? When Simon will eventually be in bright shiny places on day, where will you be?

_________

One late evening you wake to laying on top of him on his sofa, he fell asleep, his game is shut down and controller on the floor, he must have not wanted to disturb your sleep even though he's finished his game. He's been tired lately, they've been pushing him with some new battery project he's developing. You wish you could help him get more rest. You wish you had anything to really give him.

While you stared at the unique shape of his nose and lips, his eyes fluttered open. Seeing you so close, you felt his heart speed up, those few seconds you weren't ever sure who did it first, but one second you were lost in his green eyes, the next you were kissing him.

_______

Suddenly pulling away, you're panicked after you realize he's staying completely still beneath you. His eyes staring blankly at his ceiling. Shame floods through your body.

"I'm so sorry" you both say at once. But it's him that continues. "That shouldn't have happened, it was a mistake" mistake? He thought it was a mistake. You quickly try to patch up your rejection, with whatever came out of your mouth next.

"Yes, I- we shouldn't have done that, I don't know what came over me. Hah, I- it was a mistake, sorry Simon"

"No, no, I'm sorry too." He winced.

_____

Then the moment was promptly ignored. Never talked about it again. You felt lost about it all. It was helpless to keep loving someone who would never love someone like you.

You tried to go on a date or two trying to shake off that the memory with Simon. But you quickly stopped all of that just after two dates. Why did it feel like betrayal? When before each date all Simon ever said to you from finding out were, 'thats fine'. His eyes not once leaving the TV screen.

"Simon this guy asked me on a date, i- i wont be here that evening"

"That sounds fine, have fun"

"Simon I think I'll give him a chance"

"Sure fine" each blow to the heart pushes you more towards giving up.

Youre not even together. So you dont know why it hurts so much. It was impossible for you to even think about dating someone else now. So you just suck it up and endure it.

It was okay for a while, right until he started talking about other girls.

It came out of nowhere you think. But one week after another, there were issues and stories with a new girl each week, someone from his scholarship program. Someone from an expo. A guest speaker he admired. All of them he expressed how beautiful women can be, and that he can't seem to believe it sometimes. He would look over to you with gleam in his eyes. It felt like punishment, there was no way you could compete with that. They were all in his league, they were intelligent and strong and have bright futures. You have none of those things, you're entire existence brings down his bright one.

You remind yourself that after graduation, this should all be over. Just a few more weeks of unrequited love, and it can end.

It's better this way anyway, you think. You know you aren't meant for him.

One day Simon is going to invent something that would change the world, and then he will fly to somewhere like the white house, and they'll give him a bigger apartment, and his own lab, and they'll take him to countries like in Europe and talk to presidents, and he'll be so far away from you.

And you might just stay here and maybe get a job at the supermarket, and then you might stay there for a few years just to sort out a few things. Then maybe you'll move up in management at a nicer workplace, you're not quite sure of your plan is yet. Your two worlds are so different.

You smile sadly to yourself, and think of how happy your Simon is going to be. How proud you are to even know him. You can't really help it, but each night your tears slide down your cheek to your pillow thinking about him. His clear soothing voice, his delicate hands, his clueless similes. His hand on your shoulder, his stripped shirts and multiple sets of cargo pants. His scent on his shoulder, his lips on yours just that one time. You love him. And you don't know how to make it stop.

But that is all it can ever go. He doesnt want you, he deserves much more. So you kept to yourself, close to your heart. That's the only place it can belong.

_______

Then the night came, new years eve. There were fireworks out on the Street of his apartment. You watched it through his open window, the countdown in the last 6 seconds, at first you counted down, but his green eyes locked to yours so briefly, you think he looked nervous. You didn't even realize it struck midnight. In that next second his lips were on yours. A quick peck. All it was.

He pulled away and you stood there frozen. This was not fair. This hurts too much. You can't stand to be here any longer with the love you can never have. Your ears ring from your rage.

"What was that Simon"

"A-a-a new year's kiss."

"Yes, but i- you can't do that, it's not- DONT do this to me simon"

"Im sorry, I didn't mean anything i- i thought- I'm so dumb- i should have asked-"

So it doesn't mean anything to him?

"Yes, you should have. Do you have any idea what youve just- Nevermind. I'm, I'm going home" rush you snatch your things off his table and the floor

"Hey, where are you going? Do your ur parents expect you home?"

"No, I. I just can't do this anymore"

"What?"

"I'm too, I'm just too confused by you okay?"

"What what do you mean? Confused how? You cant mean you- you have- "

"What simon?" You wish By some miracle he says your confession.

"...do you have feelings for me?" There it is.

"...but you were so clear that you would never get feelings for me! You said! Well, no, you never said anything" His face full of shock

You can't respond, your breath just comes out in hard puffs.

"You never told me! I thought, well. You IGNORE me at school- " he laughs in disbelief, and ruffles his own hair.

"What? Its you that ignore me simon! Youre the one repulsed by me!

"What!? I'm not repulsed by you! Youre the one who made sure that what we have was so secret! You barely talk to me at school"

"I was not! You did that! You had your older smart friends, and Yale acceptances, and your stupid expensive sneakers! And you all looked at me, like I'm stupid, im the school idiot–" You don't understand why your the only one so mad and about to breakdown, while Simon just looked like he figured out the correct formula to something.

"Hey, You are not an idiot–"

"i AM. im STUPID, the dumbest girl you'll ever get to know. Im the one who has gotten myself, into this situation. And someone like me could never get to your level, into your circle. I can NEVER be a guest speaker for science, or get a Scholarship, i will never be an expert at anything like the girls you like so much!" You don't realize it hurt this much till you said it all.

"What do you have to do with them? I-i mean-"

"You think i dont know that? That i have nothing to do with them? And i'm here just holding my breath, knowing that youre about to pick another girl to fall madly in love with, KNOWING that im not on the fucking list of choices. but simon you dont even have the guts to ask one of them out!"

You silence Simon, and you think you've really hurt him this time. But he just looks disappointed and confused by the whole argument and sighs, he begins to speak so gently. "You- what are you- that's not true, i know my weakness, okay? I haven't gotten the courage yet to tell the girl I like that I want to be with her. Im- that's not fair, when you're the one who gives up on all your dates. Its like you date just to waste their time you know?. You don't even know what youre looking for. Your whole shtick is to never do anything with yor life, and to never ever be happy. You're just DETERMINED. Just so bent on wasting time! Like you waste MY time!"

"Ohh, I- " he's angry, really angry. You didn't anticipate how deep you cut him. How deep he would cut you. Tears begin to blur your vision.

"Oh, i- im sorry." He hides behind his palms now, and shaking them in front of him. "I just can't believe this right now, i- i just have a few days left to work on the battery…I knew doing this with you can't be good for me" He fists his hair and mumbles the hurtful words. He's moving quickly cleaning up around his apartment

You are not good for him. Of course, you knew this. You've always known that. But it hurt to confirm it.

"Yeah-" you hold your breath "I know" you voice breaks on the last word. "I know I'm not, in sorry."

"Hey, no, that's not what i-"

"I think, we should stop this thing that we're doing. Goodbye Simon." There was no time to look back, you ran out of his apartment.

—---

You stop coming over. You want him to finish his work in peace, soon he'll be in Yale, then get a fancy job somewhere far away, and you'll still be here in this town.

You cry every night, you're sure one day you'll run out of the pain. But now it's every night you just miss holding him.

—--

2 months later

You're phone doesn't even ring. There's just a voice message there from a strange number. On the rare occasion you have credit to hear your voice messages, this was one of them. You put the phone to your ear and hear the voice you've been missing. Two days after your fight, Simon disappeared without a trace. Worried sick you report him missing, but the police cleared the report saying Simon is safe but doesn't want to be found. It was just more secretive stuff you know are a part of Simon's world. It made you feel like Simon was some secret agent, it brought a little smile on your face.

But now after 2 months and nothing, you lost hope that he thought of you at all.

"You have one, new message"

"Hello? This is Simon. Are you there? Please tell me you're getting this message. God..They look my phone away, so I couldn't get to you. Its - its just the CIA. Don't worry im, I'm safe. I mean, maybe youre not actually even worried about me. Well, but. Um. But then I built a phone? Um for me to say something..important. I need to say this."

"I think get it, ive been thinking about it, that maybe you thought I never cared about you, because im an IDIOT. Just, whatever you think...and I cant even believe you might think this…its just not true. You are worth so much, you are the most important person to me, to my life. You keep me going, you calm me, you inspire me. You are NOT and idiot. I just- that i just have an unusually large brain compared to others!"

You could hear him cringing through the phone after saying that, and you let out a short laugh.

"P-Please I don't know if you've just moved on from me, but i-i. I have to let you know. I think- I think, I mean, I KNOW I actually love you. I mean, I do. I love you. Ive felt this way for a long time. And, and, I want to take you on a date, and we can call each other nicknames. And..kiss, and hold hands. I just miss you, so much. Um, so if you maybe feel the same, I hope you um, respond to this message. My encrypted email is ***@mail.co um okay. Email me, please. I love you."

His voice shook through the entire message, like the same way he would ask favors from a stranger. A nervous wreck.

Tears were streaming down your face. His voice was like home.

You dial back the mystery number.

One hour later, the CIA was at your door. You catch Simon's bashful face toeing in behind them. More tears spring to your eyes, but this time there are happy ones.

----------

A/N: you didn't even use the email. Just called the CIA and got into trouble 😃

#paul dano x reader #danonation #paul dano #my fic #simon feck #simon feck x reader #knight and day #fanfic #battery life

56 notes · View notes

midnightcreator12 · 3 days

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And We'll Keep Marching On Chapter 20 - Distorted Memories

AO3

(Im sorry its late but it's over 10k words which is a lot for my fics and I hope y'all enjoy!)(Also, big thank you to @tired-o-fighter for helping me with this one!)

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

Casey would never admit it. Not ever, not one word would ever be released into the wind, not even whispered to Raph or anyone.

But having Scrap made the trip so much easier.

The snow was a lot heavier at night and the lack of light made all the trees look the same and completely hid all the landmarks Casey had been using.

But Scrap had a headlamp, a really bright one, that clearly showed Casey the path. And along with that was his holographic map that had a helpful arrow indicator to help Casey know which way he was facing.

But he would never tell a soul how much the little bucket of bolts helped. Nope, not one person.

Even with the help, however, it still took him longer than he’d like to get to the little dirt road. He made up a little time on the packed dirt, pelting up it as his own breath puffed out of his mouth in massive clouds, but it still felt like far too long.

Scrap beeped quietly when the shack came into view, feet tapping on Casey’s shoulder as he let out a warble.

“All the fancy bells and whistles and you can’t speak English?” Casey panted as he crouched at the tree line. “Shut that off before he sees it.”

Scrap made an annoyed beep but his headlamp went dark, leaving only the dim moonlight for Casey to see by.

Through the cracks in the plywood windows, Casey could see the lights were on inside the cabin. He hissed at that, because if the old dude was up and about it was going to make it harder to get in and out unnoticed.

Scrap jumped down, for once not making a sound as he hunkered down in the snow and crept closer. Casey followed after him, mentally cursing his mostly black clothing, it worked great in the city year-round but out here? He probably stood out like…like a kid dressed in all black on white snow.

Scrap got to the house first, pausing under a window before slowly making his way towards the door. Casey made a sound, gesturing wildly at the bot to not try just barging in the front door. And, somehow, when he turned Casey got the feeling he was getting an ‘then what are we gonna do?’ look.

And…Casey honestly wasn’t sure. Normally he’d opt for a window but they were all boarded up and he didn’t see if there was a back door earlier.

But they were on a time crunch. He didn’t know what was going on with the guys but he doubted it was anything good. So he gestured for Scrap to wait and carefully slid his way around the shack.

He smirked when his hunt yielded a back door with a very old and rusted lock. Even if he hadn’t bothered to fully kit up for this, there were a few tools he always had on hand, especially after a few weeks of hanging out with the guys.

And, though he would never tell the guy, Donnie had taught him the value of always having a screwdriver on hand.

The lock was definitely broken by the time Casey was done with it but that was a secondary concern. It wasn’t like he was planning to come back anytime soon. He was gonna dig around in the freaky room he’d found before, hopefully get ahold of something to help the guys, and get out.

He carefully pushed the door open, thankful that it didn’t squeak on its hinges, and slipped inside.

The cabin didn’t look much better inside than it did on the outside. It was like when they’d first arrived at the farmhouse weeks ago, falling apart and abandoned-looking. The wallpaper was peeling, the wood floors were rough and splintering, dust stuck to the sparse amount of furniture like a coat of paint. And papers. Dozens of crumpled up papers and notebooks scattered over the entire floor.

Casey hadn’t paid them any mind before, assuming it was trash. Now, he curiously picked up a page and un-crinkled it. Dozens of numbers and letters greeted him, scribbled on top of each other, around complex-looking equations in messy scrawl, along with the words ‘stay awake’ written over and over in the margins.

Creepy.

Casey dropped the page again and continued towards the room he’d found before.

It was the cleanest place on the ground floor, in the fact that the papers in there were tacked to the walls rather than scattered on the floor and it was free of dust and cobwebs. Large desks were shoved against the two side walls, holding a host of gadgets, tools and gizmos that would look right at home in a mad scientist's lab. At the far wall was something large and bulky hidden under a cloth tarp, only a shiny steel base peeking out from the bottom and a podium next to it.

The book on the podium was what had caught Casey’s attention before. It was encased in glass and it looked really old, the spine creased and the cover worn and ‘Obturaclum Somniorum’ written on two stripes of painter's tape stuck to the top.

But what really made Casey run back here was the image on the cover, a triangle inside a circle, except the circle itself was made up of a bunch of simplified illustrations of animals. Most prominently, beavers.

Casey remembered thinking that was weird, of all the animals to put on a creepy old book, why beavers?

The question still poked at the back of his mind as he opened the glass case up and pulled the book out. He frowned at the weight in his hands, he’d thought a book as thick as this one would be heavier.

His hand reached for the leather tie keeping the cover shut.

He was interrupted by something banging loudly in the hallway behind him.

Casey spun around, letting out a choked sound when he saw the old man silhouetted in the doorway.

“You!” the guy squealed out, shuffling closer.

Casey stepped back, eyes flicking around, trying to figure out the best path to freedom.

The old man ambled closer, still pointing, yellowing teeth almost bared in a snarl, “You….you ain’t asleep…why ain’t you asleep? They must’ve seen ya, or, or felt ya! ….unless…unless…”

“Oh, hey, lookit the time!” Casey carefully started moving to the side, pressing against one of the desks. “Hey man, really sorry about the intrusion. Just needed to get outta the snow for a sec, you know how it is!”

“You’re working with them, ain’t you?”

Casey, stupidly, paused mid-step, “Eh?”

The guy's eyes moved to look behind Casey…where there was a very open glass case on a very obvious podium. The guy's jaw clicked, eyes narrowing as his head snapped back towards Casey, “You are working with the Dream Beavers! Give that back!”

“Nope!” Casey jumped, barely dodging when the old guy charged at him “Geez, how are you so quick?”

“Give it!” The man demanded again, trying to grab at Casey.

He skirted around the attempts to snatch the book. Even if this guy was quicker than Casey expected, he had nothing on all the mutants and ninjas in New York.

Casey twisted away from a dive, planting one foot on the edge of a desk and using it to launch himself towards the door. He rolled his landing, keeping his momentum so he was running the moment his feet were on the floor again.

He heard the man screech behind him, the sound piercing and…almost desperate?

…well, Casey was too. He could bring back the book later.

All the crap littered around made it tricky to mad dash for his exit, but Casey managed to make it back outside with minimal stumbling. Cold air bit at his face and hands and more snow had fallen into thick drifts.

Casey focused on just circling back to the front of the house and in the direction of the O’Neil property. Scrap definitely heard the commotion so he would probably run towards Casey before he hit the tree line.

Well, he hoped so anyway.

Really, really hoped the little bot caught up before he got himself lost in the woods.

Casey waded through the ankle-deep snow, keeping a hand on the shack temporarily, just until he was back by the front door-

Except when he rounded the last corner and started to move away, the shack’s front door burst open with a loud motorized whirr.

Casey’s eyes went wide when he saw the old man stomp outside, hefting an active chainsaw as he turned on Casey, “You’ll never take me alive, ya hear!?”

“What the hell is- yeow!” Casey jumped back to avoid the spinning blade swinging at his head. “Dude! What is wrong with you?!”

“What?” the guy shouted, still swinging the chain saw….very, very clumsily. “I can’t hear ya over the saw!”

Casey frowned as he rolled under another attack. The only thing this guy had going for him was the fact he had the chainsaw, but he was kind of just wildly waving it around, his entire body veering with the machine on each swing.

It left the guy very open for a few seconds after each attack.

Casey moved back, planting his feet and gritting his teeth, watching as the guy wound up for another attack, ready to pounce when he had an opening-

The chainsaw suddenly cut off.

Because the old man had dropped it.

Along with himself.

And when he hit the snow, limbs twitching erratically, Scrap stood proudly on the guy's back, shock prong out and crackling.

Casey blinked, “....thanks.”

Scrap beeped, hopping off of the guy and tapping a foot to his head, making him groan. Casey picked himself up, dusting snow off himself as he made his way over. He kicked the chainsaw aside before using his foot to roll the guy over onto his back, “Okay, you’re gonna tell me all you know about these dream beaver things….without attacking me this time.”

The old man groaned, blinking hard as he stared up at Casey, “Hoooow’d you do that?”

Scrap beeped and Casey felt his weight crawl up his back and settle on his shoulder before a spotlight flicked on in the old man’s face.

He squawked, stiffly rolling away and getting himself to his knees.

Casey’s jaw ticked and he waved the book in the air, “Dude, my friends are in trouble! If you know somethin’, you better start talking before I sick the murder bot on you!”

Scrap beeped, low and threatening.

The guy squinted at Scrap for a few moments, then slowly turned to Casey, “Your…friends?”

“Yes!” Casey waved the book around. “My friends! They’re all asleep and we can’t wake ‘em up and the only thing that’s off is the crazy dude in the woods yellin’ about demons and not going to sleep!”

“I’m not crazy, I’m Bernie!” The man nodded…longer than was socially comfortable. “And your friends are doomed. Best stay awake so you don’t end up like them!”

Scrap beeped harshly.

Casey didn’t have a clue what he said but the sentiment of ‘what the fuck’ was universal.

And he very much agreed as he moved to crouch in front of Bernie and jabbed his chest with the book, “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

Bernie swayed, like he was nodding off, then sat up again very suddenly, “So, see now, I was experimenting. I’m a physicist! And I was experimenting to prove the human brain goes…somewhere else when we sleep!”

Casey stared. There was no way this guy was for real…no, Casey couldn’t think that because he’d seen and heard weirder.

And this was his only lead so he let Bernie keep rambling.

“I got close too! All I needed…needed proof! But something went wrong…yes, very wrong. I accidentally opened some kinda hole and those dream beavers…they almost got through to our world! I had to stop them, keep everyone safe or they’d eat them! So I’ve been guarding the Obturaclum Somniorum for the last forty years! As long as it’s operational, they can’t break into our world!”

“The obtur-” Casey looked at the object in his hand. “The fuckin’ book!?”

Scrap head swiveled, blue scanner tracking over the book.

Bernie, finally managing to stand again, shakily pointed to the blue scanning light, “Hey, that won’t compromise my work, will it? They don’t regulate those robotic kids toys ya know. Lot of ‘em spontaneously combust!”

If Scrap was offended by the ‘toy’ comment, he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he projected a transparent version of the book, one that showed a collection of circuits around a flat object hidden inside the cover.

No wonder the thing felt so light!

Casey turned back to Bernie, grabbing the guy by the shirt front, “You are gonna help me wake up my friends!”

“Ah, no, no, sorry,” Bernie shrugged. “Tried that before! It’s why I moved out here, the beavers will invade the dreams of anyone who gets close to me and eat their nightmares until their hearts give out! It’s why I haven’t slept in forty years!”

Casey growled, grip tightening as he started to forcibly drag Bernie with him, “Well you better think of a way to wake ‘em up than. Because if they die? Bunch of beavers are gonna be the least of your worries.”

Scrap gave a threatening beep of agreement.

—-------------------------------------

Mikey kept himself firmly between Leo and the beavers, watching as all four leered at Raven.

Well, three of them leered. Dave grinned and happily slapped his tail against the ground.

“Finally some good food!” Orange beaver crowed, charging right towards old lady Raven.

Mikey watched, horrified, as she did not move out of the way, “Ray! Look o-!”

His warning turned out to be unneeded. Because when Orange got close he jumped, claws extended and ready to cleave into Raven.

Only for his entire body to accordion to a stop when he hit a blue field that surrounded Raven. Raven bared her teeth at him, rifle raising and sending the beaver rolling back again with a blast of red light.

“Still locking us out I see,” the red beaver mused, stalking over his fallen companion to circle around Raven’s force field. “I’m a bit hurt! We are just simple guardians of dreams-”

Raven leveled the rifle again, “Don’t try that kriffing story with me.”

“Ahhh, you’re not as dumb as you look!” The beaver reared up, slamming its paws against the force field. “But it doesn’t matter, I’m Dark Beaver, I always get what I want.”

“And how’re you planning to do that?” Purple beaver growled. “She’s still got that stupid shield, even in the shared dream space!”

“Why, it’s simple Dire.” Dark grinned, claws drumming on Raven’s shield. “We just have a little power snack to help us break it down.”

Four pairs of eyes snapped to the turtles, sparking hungrily.

Dire looked down at Orange, kicking his side, “Up and at ‘em Dread! Turtle soup is on the menu tonight!”

“Yes!” Dave bounded across the distance, barreling down on the cluster of the turtles.

Mikey bared his teeth, conjuring up his nunchucks again and dashing to meet the beaver halfway. He brought his chucks down on his head with a loud “Booyakasha!”

Dave groaned, stars dancing around his head.

“Great going Dave,” Dread muttered, standing up on his hind legs. “Maybe let the capable dreams maker do the work? Like always.”

Mikey edged back, spinning his chucks. He felt a presence move to stand next to him. Kinda short, had to be Raph.

His suspicion was confirmed when Raph’s voice muttered, “How the hell do you have your weapons?”

“It’s a dream dude, there are no rules!”

“Indeed,” Dread agreed with a smirk.

The manhole cover beside him rattled, drawing Mikey and Raph's attention. Mikey glanced over his shoulder for a moment, seeing Raph had his beak scrunched up and clenching his hands, probably trying to summon his sais.

Mikey opened his mouth to offer help when the steel cover exploded upwards, sailing away and unleashing a swarm of gangly, red-skinned, beady-eyed mutants.

“Squirrelanoids!” Mieky shrieked, scrabbling to shove Raph out of the way.

The squirrel mutants scattered about, some going after Mikey and Raph, a few splitting off to clash and bash at Raven’s shield, a couple dashing towards where Donnie and Leo were.

Raph shoved Mikey off so he had room to slug a Squirrlanoid in the jaw, “It’s just a dream! These things ain’t real!”

“But they’re still freaky!” Mikey argued, even as he joined Raph in attacking the dream constructs.

Blaster shots rang out, dissipating the Squirrelanoids as the shots landed. Mikey glanced over, grinning when he saw Raven’s mental shield was still standing strong as she laid down cover fire for them.

She noticed him looking and barked out sharply, “Mikey, remember the stuff I’ve been teaching you!”

“Oh, right!” Mikey used the Squirrlanoid closest to him as a springboard, flipping up and landing on a fire escape. “Okay, focus, safe space, think of somewhere safe with walls-”

A Squirrlanoid hissed, taking a running jump towards Mikey. Only to be stopped short by an invisible wall.

“Booya! Nailed it!” Mikey cheered.

Hot air puffed right behind him and Mikey turned to find himself face-to-face with Dire Beaver.

Mikey squeaked, trying to move back, but Dire was quicker. A heavy tail smack shattered the meager shield Mikey had made and sent him flying back to the ground.

Well, technically, sent him flying into Donnie.

Donnie yelped as both of them were sent tumbling in a tangled pile of turtle limbs, “Mikey!”

“He snuck up on me!” Mikey defended as he tried to wiggle out from under Donnie. “I was focusing!”

“Clearly not well enou- ayyy!”

Donnie’s weight suddenly disappeared and Mikey looked up to see another dream projection had joined the fray. An oversized version of a mouser, one made from darker material and pointer teeth that had clamped down on Donnie’s shoulder strap.

An enraged shout made the robot turn, just in time for Leo to crash into the thing's head. Leo slammed his fist into the single glowing eye, breaking the glass and making the light inside go dark. The Mouser stumbled, dropping Donnie before toppling over and vanishing.

“Leo!” Raph’s voice barked from a bit away. “Get outta here!”

“Where, exactly, do you want me to go?!” Leo shouted back as he dragged Donnie and Mikey to their feet.

And didn’t that distract Mikey for a moment? Seeing Leo’s mouth move and proper words spill out, even if Leo’s voice was kinda squeaky for some reason.

Was that part of his nightmare? Him getting his voice back but it being wrong?

He didn’t get to dwell on that thought much longer, because there was a roar from an alleyway and a massive form came lumbering out. Mikey choked when he recognized the blue scales, spikey shell and black mask of Slash. Fear crept up his shell as the echo of pain zipped through him, the feeling of being totally safe with Raph to being slammed into the rooftop.

Leo planted himself between Slash and his brothers, hands clenching like he was holding something.

Mikey swallowed hard, starting to spin his chucks again as Slash approached, features becoming more and more frightening the closer he got.

Leo muttered something under his breath and his hands tightened. And, between one blink and the next, his hands went from empty to holding his twin katanas. The blades sang as Leo sliced through the air to meet the massive fist that came barreling at him.

The fear that tried clogged Mikey’s mind suddenly cleared, leaving him feeling invigorated as he cheered. He zipped around Leo, moving behind Slash and extending the chain and blade on his chucks, throwing it into an arc that cleaved down and dissipated the dream Slash.

“Impressive,” Dark rumbled from where he was still circling Raven’s protected bubble. “But it won’t help you much.”

Raven’s head snapped around from where she was shooting Squirralnoids, eyes furious as she snatched a pistol from her hip and sent a flurry of shots at Dark.

His form wavered like smoke but he didn’t seem phased by the attack. He merely snorted and his eyes started to glow.

Mikey spun, looking around for whatever was going to come at them next. Leo moved so they were shell to shell, one blade turning so Mikey could see it out of the corner of his eye.

And he really wished he hadn’t when the words ‘LAME-O-NARDO’ scrawled across the unblemished steel in bold, black block letters. Words he’d help mark Leo’s most prized possession with.

He heard a strangled sound from Donnie and a sharp inhale from Raph, and knew both of them had seen it too.

But they didn’t have time to dwell. Especially when a long, lithe form slithered from the rooftops, white scales gleaming and form growing larger and larger the closer to the ground she got.

Karai’s snake form loomed over them, maw opening wide to show rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. One of the smaller snake heads on her arms shot forward, forcing the turtles to scatter to avoid being snapped up.

Mikey screamed as more squirrelanoids tried to grab him, claws scraping along his shell. The air above him shifted and Mikey dived just in time to avoid the giant mutant wasp that tried to stab at him.

He looked around wildly, seeing more old enemies slinking and charging out of the alleys around them, forcing them all further and further apart.

Raph’s eyes went wide as a mutated Spy-Roach changed at him, saw whirring out of one arm and swinging to try to slice Raphs neck. Donnie was backing away from a monstrous version of Metalhead with pink eyes, clenching his hands like Leo had done to manifest his katanas. Leo was facing off with the giant Karai snake, keeping himself on the defensive but doing so meant she was free to push him around with her attacks.

Karai’s tail swiped out, slamming hard into Leo and sending him flying into a wall. The brink crumbled and Leo cried out in pain, making all the brothers turn with a unanimous shout of, “Leo!”

Mikey started to panic again, breath coming in quick pants as he tried to fight his way through the throngs of mutants, trying to get to Leo before Karai, before something worse snuck up on him-!

But there were too many, clawing and punching and kicking him further from his brothers. Mikey started to hyperventilate, panic overtaking him and making his chest hurt as he desperately tried to gain any footing-

Something shifted. The air itself seemed to stutter, then lightened.

And with the shift, everything froze except the turtles and the beavers.

And Raven.

She was glaring up at Dark, shoulders back and feet evenly planted. Dark was grinning, almost salivating as he loomed over her, “Well?”

“Agree to my terms,” Raven snapped back. “You stay out of their heads, I let you into mine.”

“What?” Mikey scrabbled up, trying to shove the frozen dream mutants out of the way. “No, Raven, don’t!”

“We have a deal!” Dark crowed, rearing up on his hind legs.

Mikey tried to wiggle his way between two squirrelanoids.

And then the ground gave away.

Mikey screeched as he tumbled down in an uncontrolled spin, desperately trying to correct himself.

He didn’t manage it, because his face planted solidly into a white metallic floor. And based on the thumps around him, the others hadn’t corrected either.

They all groaned but instinct forced them up, they were still in danger and could not afford to be caught laying down on the job!

Mikey looked around and inhaled sharply as he took in the new space. White walls enclosed them on all sides, the only break being windows almost too far up the walls to see properly. Mikey could just make out eyes behind the glass. Big, solid black eyes that stared unblinking down at them.

Donnie let out a soft gasp, “What the-”

Mikey let his gaze move down again, looking around and finding….people. A lot of people. Their faces were blurred but the other details were almost exactly the same. Dark skin, short black hair, the same red clothing and black boots. Hundreds, in every direction Mikey could see, milling around in endless lines.

All but one, standing a bit away from the turtles.

Raven still looked as she had before, taller. older, wearing her white and muted purple armor. Her back was to the turtles and her gaze seemed to be fixated on something at the far end of the room.

But Mikey didn’t really care what it could be. He just acted, zipping forward and grabbing Raven’s arm, “Dude!”

Raven spun, eyes going wide when they landed on Mikey, “Wh-”

“Why’d you do that?” Mikey cried as he dragged Raven back towards his brothers. “They couldn’t get at you!”

Raven’s expression…broke. That was really the only way Mikey could describe it. Her mouth dropped open and anguish washed over her face, “No, they-” and then the expression shifted into one of rage.

Raven spun, shouting up at the windows of the room, “Hey! We had a deal! Why are they still here?”

Darks laugh echoed around the room, “I just said I’d stay out of their nightmares. You didn’t say I could throw them into yours.”

“You kriffing lying-”

Another voice echoed into the room, sharp and direct, “CT-five-eight-three-one, please report to the medbay for reconditioning.”

The mass of people around them shifted, splitting apart until there was a clear path to a large doorway. A…something stood there. It was tall, most of the height coming from its long neck, wearing a loose-fitting dress of some kind. And it had huge, black, dead eyes that seemed to stare into Mikey’s soul.

The alien's mouth moved, the words echoing from every direction, “CT-five-eight-three-one, we’ve found you defective, please report to the medbay for reconditioning.”

“What’s-”

Raph didn’t get to finish his question. Because Raven spun and bodily shoved all four of them into the mass of humans.

Mikey’s breath stuttered. Sure, he’d love to be around this many people day to day, but fifteen years of ingrained habits to avoid huge crowds weren’t easy to shake. But he could feel Raven’s hand on his shell, pressing him forward, guiding them all through the mess.

“Oooh, this’ll be fun!” Dire cackled.

The ground tilted, sending the group sliding back into the nothing space of freefalling for a few moments.

Dust clogged Mikey’s sinuses when he landed this time, making him want to cough but Raven was hoisting him up, dragging his brothers along and shouting for them to keep moving.

Shouting, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to hear her over the screams of blasters and ship engines, of mental squealing as it was torn apart and of men crying out in pain.

Mikey looked around at…at the war zone they’d landed in. Dust clouded most of it but he could still see flashes. See more humans dressed in armor like Ravens, firing blasters at robots. There were different kinds of robots, most were thin and fragile-looking things that buckled under just about any attack. But there were also huge silvery robots, uncaringly stomping their way through the carnage around them and holding one arm up to fire angry red lasers at the humans. There were even bigger ones that rolled across their path before unfurling into terrifying-looking contraptions that mowed down anyone who got too close.

An explosion rocked the ground, a massive charge fired from a tank of some form, hovering its way towards a line one large machines that slowly walked on six legs.

Mikey stumbled, all the noise and smells and sights overwhelming him.

Raven’s hand shot out and dragged him along as she kept shouting, “Don’t look just keep moving! Move, move, move!”

Another giggle echoed around them, making Mikey shudder as Daves's high voice pitched in, “Oh, oh, I got one!”

The scene shifted, between one blink and the next they went from an active warzone to a low-lit room.

Raven skidded to a stop, looking around and Mikey did the same.

The room wasn’t that big…or at least, he didn’t think it was. It was hard to gauge how big the space actually was because of the box-filled shelves all around them. That was all there was here, aside from a lone person who stood before Raven.

They were huge! Towering over all of them, their shoulders taking up most of the space between the shelves. They wore black armor with golden stripes, but the stripes kept shifting, the color and shape subtlety changing every time Mikey looked at it. Their face was mostly concealed, the only distant features being a smiling mouth with pointed teeth and huge, bright green eyes.

Raven’s choked sound was drowned out by Dark yelling, “What the hell is this?”

“Well, um, I-” Dave spluttered from… wherever the beavers were watching. “It felt like a terrifying one-”

Three groans drowned out Dave’s stutters and Dread's voice piped up, “That isn’t a nightmare you idiot! This-”

The entire room spun, sending the turtles and Raven flying apart.

Mikey, finally, managed to stick his landing and could instantly take in the new space. It looked like an interior. A really old one. He wasn’t sure what the walls around them were made of but it looked like it was falling apart. The floor under him was cracked and crumbling, and there was something large and glowing coming from the center of the room.

Raven was standing in the way, so Mikey couldn’t make out what was glowing but it looked like it was connected to some giant pillar and there were smaller ones that surrounded it-

Raven made a choking sound and was suddenly lifted off the floor and slammed into one of the smaller pillars.

Mikey felt his chest seize, he heard his brothers gasp, as some… nightmarish version of the Shredder stepped out from behind the central pillar.

He was taller than the Shredder they knew. And darker. Most of his form was shadowed, detail fuzzy or not there at all, the spikes along his shoulders shifting and morphing constantly.

But some things were clear. The gleam of dark metal, vents on the faceplate that made it look like a skull motif, a subtle clanking sound with every step he took-

And his eyes. Bright, burning and red. Like someone had taken two flames and shoved them into the helm.

And with this…nightmare Shredder’s appearance, a dark feeling entered the air. Heavy and choking, like the shadows around them had started to physically press in and squeeze the air from their lungs.

Mikey spun when he heard a thump behind him, “Leo!”

Leo was on the ground, eyes wide and panicked and fixed on the Shredder, breath heaving in and out of his lungs in wheezy pants and his entire body shaking.

Raph was at his side in an instant, grabbing Leo and pulling him close, tucking his head into his shoulder. Raph’s fist clenched and suddenly his sai appeared, ready to attack anyone who got too close.

Donnie moved to plant himself firmly between Leo and the Shredder, eyes going white and finally managing to conjure his naginata.

Mikey looked back towards the center room, sucking in a panicked breath when he saw Raven kicking wildly, pinned by some invisible force and unable to free herself. He managed to make himself move, despite the feeling of death trying to weigh him down.

He let out a feral growl, throat too choked to manage his normal battle cries, and charged. The chain of his chucks rattled as he made a beeline for the Shredder, eyes flicking to the tubes plugged into his chest plate and helmet.

Maybe, if he could-

Something grabbed him. Something he couldn’t see or grab or hit but he could feel something akin to a massive hand slam shut around his middle. He cried out, kicking and trying to shove the crushing feeling away as he was lifted off the ground.

“Mikey!” Raph and Donnie cried in unison as Mikey was lifted up and slammed back into the ground.

He knew this was a dream. He could tell from the start that everything flying around them was always just a dream.

But the hits still hurt, still felt real enough. The impact made old injuries on his shell twing and he panted through the burst of pain.

The invisible hand lifted him again and Mikey looked up. His entire body felt like ice as Shredder twisted his hand. Mikey floated close, eyes getting wider and wider as Shredder’s fist closed.

There was a whoosh of energy as three blazing prongs unsheathed from Shredder’s gauntlet, tinting his dark shifting form a bloody red-

“Enough!” Raven roared.

Raven, and another, much louder roar.

The figure from before, the one clad in gold-striped armor, came charging out of nowhere. Literally. One moment it was just Shredder and the next a massive beast of a person was slamming into him and sending him flying.

Mikey dropped to the ground, landing on his hands and knees, breathing heavily as the feeling of terror and impending doom started to dissipate.

“Mikey!”

He looked up at the call, saw Raven standing, her rifle back in her hands and pointed towards the fight. She shouted again over the roaring, “Mikey, go help your brothers shield. You have to make a mental shield!”

Mikey picked himself up, watching in silent awe as Raven turned and started firing. Each laser hit true, forcing the Shredder back even more. Fog rolled in from seemingly nowhere, right next to Raven. There was a hum from it and blue light dissipated the fog, showing another tall figure.

This one was leaner than the first. Most of them were obscured by Raven’s body being in the way but Mikey could make out billowing robes, pointed, cat-like ears, a sword made of light-

Hands hooked around him and yanked. Mikey chirped in surprise, looking up to see Donnie had grabbed him and was dragging him to where Raph was pushing Leo further from the fight.

“We’re in way over our heads!” Raph snapped. “We gotta get out of here.”

“How?!” Donnie’s voice cracked as he panted out his reply. “If we could…wake up we would’ve….would have by now!”

“Dude,” Mikey hissed, reaching up to press his palm to Donnie’s racing heart. “Dude, you gotta calm down!”

“I- I ahhh,” Donnie heaved, like he genuinely couldn’t breath

“Shit, shit, Donnie,” Raph grabbed his brother, pulling him close. “Donnie, this isn’t real, remember? We’re just dreaming!”

“It feels real!” Donnie's voice cracked horribly at the end, making him crumple to the floor in a coughing fit.

Mikey stood, frozen again, not knowing what to do.

He looked to Leo, because Leo was the plans guy, Leo always had a plan ready to get them out of any situation.

Except Leo’s eyes were fixed on the fight going on behind Mikey, fixed on the huge, imposing Shredder that had somehow managed to make the air feel toxic and had somehow thrown Mikey around without even touching him.

Mikey spun back around, watching as Raven and the two unknown people kept pushing the Shredder back, away from where the turtles were huddled.

And then he remembered, remembered a quiet afternoon in the woods where he’d asked Raven how she shielded her mind.

“It helps to give things a form,” she’d explained. “Like, picture actual walls around your mind. Picture somewhere safe where no one can get you, and picture the people you know would never let anyone hurt you.”

That must be what she was doing now, calling mental versions of the people she was close to so they could protect her.

Mikey moved back to crouch next to Raph, “We gotta focus on Master Splinter!”

“What?!” Raph was starting to panic too, Mikey could hear it in his voice.

He pressed his hand hard into Raph’s shell and repeated, “We gotta, like, meditate but focus on bringing sensei here!”

“What the hell are you talking-”

“Just trust me!” Mikey shut his eyes so he could focus. “Just…think about Master Splinter! Imagine he’s here protecting us!”

Raph made a choked sound in his throat.

Mikey elected to not reply to it, choosing instead to focus inward. He focused on home, the warmth they managed to make in the middle of the dank New York sewers. He focused on the dojo, on the massive tree that sat as a centerpiece to it, of sunlight filtering down through the leaves.

Something thudded to the ground close by. Donnie gasped and Mikey felt him pressing in closer.

He focused on Master Splinter. On his warm eyes and gentle smile, the softness of his robes and fur, the feeling of safety whenever he was close by. Dark thoughts flickered at the edge of the vision but Mikey forced them away. He just focused on happy times, from before…before…

A roar shook the chamber, close enough that Mikey’s eyes snapped open.

Dire stood only a few feet away, reared up on his hind legs, face twisted into a murderous expression.

A wavering projection of Master Splinter stood between the beaver and the turtles, details missing, the edges foggy, but solid enough to send the monster back with a swipe of his cane.

Mikey grinned, a mischievous, almost feral thing as he muttered, “Yeah, take that you jerk.”

Behind Dire, the other beavers had shown up at some point. They were circling around Raven, trying to directly attack her. But the two figures met their blows, moving faster than physically possible to intercept each attack and knock the beavers back.

“No fair!” Dave cried out as he was forced back by the glowing sword. “You said we could come in!”

“Never said I wouldn’t fight back.” Raven snarled as she fired her rifle towards Dread.

Dark was slinking around, keeping low, letting the bigger person push him around the battlefield.

Mikey’s focus wavered a bit as he watched him, not liking how the ‘leader’ of the group didn’t seem to be contributing.

The larger figure spun a staff that crackled with electricity at the ends. They swung it more like a club than a staff, with massive and powerful arcs that left scorch marks in their wake. The person was still smiling, eyes sparking as they drove Dark further and furth back.

The person opened their mouth and a voice echoed in the chamber, “Ha! This is too easy! I won’t even charge you for this one!”

Except…the voice was…off.

It sounded garbled, like there was an undertone of static to it, distorting what the speaker truly sounded like. And Dark was at an angle that Mikey could see a huge grin forming on his face.

Dark scurried away from the dream person, climbing up a pillar before turning his head around and shouting, “Say, who’s that big ol’ fellow with the shock prod? Can’t quite seem to make out their face!”

Raven fumbled with her rifle before pointing it at Dark, “Shut your damn mouth!”

“Come ooon, we already have a name!” Dark vanished in a puff of smoke before reappearing on another pillar. “Chula Verd. Very exotic. But we can’t quiiiite see her face! Which is weird because she’s very clearly important to you!”

Dark vanished again before a laser bolt shattered the pillar.

Raven was shaking, breathing hard as she spun. The other beavers had started to circle again, watching the scene unfold with hungry eyes. All but Dire, who was still trying to get around the Splinter construction.

Dark stalked forward, moving to the taller figure, who had stopped moving at some point. She was still smiling, her eyes still shone brightly in the dark chamber. But her features were still shadowed, her armor shade still shifted like…like the exact color was unknown.

Dark stood on his hind legs, casting a massive shadow over Raven and her two guardians, partially purring as he said, “Can’t you remember her face?”

Raven was shaking harder, backing away as tears gathered in her eyes.

Mikey started to stand, ready to go help her. But Raph had a death grip on his belt. And when he looked, he saw Raph’s gaze was fixed on the projection of Splinter, eyes glassy and trembling almost as hard as Leo and Donnie.

Damnit, Mikey couldn’t help hold the Splinter protection and help Raven! None of his brothers were in any shape to fight back and he was pretty sure Raph hanging onto everyone was the only thing keeping him grounded.

Mikey looked back to Raven…but his eye caught something else.

He could see the second person more clearly now. What he’d thought were ears were actually flat horns that looked a lot like cat ears. They were blue, a darker shade down their scalp and lighter around their face. Their eyes were black, only a ring of amber irises breaking the darkness up.

But that wasn’t what caught Mikey’s attention.

See, stuff that was part of the dreams? Stuff he and his brother and the beavers and Raven manifested into the world? They had a certain look. Like something about them was shifted a little too much to one side or the colors were not quite as vibrant.

He’d known when his real brothers had appeared that they were real, not more memories pulled out of his mind by Dave. He’d known Raven was real, even if she looked so much older.

And the blue person in the brown robes, who had been fuzzy and desaturated and a little too far to the left…wasn’t anymore.

Their eyes were sharp now, focused, centered on Raven’s back. Their hand reached out, solid and real and in almost the same way the dream Shredder had reached before the invisible hands pinned Mikey down-

Dire roared and reared up, slamming both front paws down onto the projection of Splinter. The image shattered, dissipating into a deep maroon mist. Raph cried out, clutching them all closer as the tears finally spilled over.

Mikey could hear both Donnie and Leo breathing too fast and heavy, could feel Raph right behind them, could see Raven starting to waver, the barrel of her rifle dropping.

The bigger woman, Chula Verd, dissipated.

The person in the robes did not.

And Mikey wasn’t sure why but he looked at the projection that wasn’t a projection anymore and mentally begged. ‘Please, help us.’

Bright, amber eyes looked right at him, seeming to bore into his soul-

And then something shattered.

Huge white cracks distorted and shook the room. Mikey watched in equal parts horror and fascination as the world literally broke apart around them. He would have kept watching if Raph's arm didn’t hook more firmly around him and dragged his beak down into Raph’s shoulder.

“What’s happening?” Dread shouted over the sounds of shattering and cracking.

“No, no!” Dark screamed. “What has that idiot done!?”

“Wha- where- Hey!” Dave spluttered and stumbled over his words Which one of you is doing this?!”

“None of us are, idiot!” Dire howled over the noise. “The seal must’ve broken!”

“Of course it broke! This wouldn’t be happening if it was intact!” Dark’s voice cracked from how loud he was shouting. “Finish them off, now! Before-!”

There was a pop.

And then everything went black.

And the next thing Mikey knew, he was blinking drowsily, laying on his shell, staring up at an old, peeling, water-stained roof.

One that was definitely real.

Mikey sat bolt upright and regretted it in an instant when his entire body twinged. Like he was sore from training but he knew he hadn’t done any in a while.

Or had he?

“Casey!”

April’s panicked voice made Mikey look up. His eye went wide when he saw Casey in the doorway to the room and a massive white crack. Fog was leaking out of it, soft technicolor floating down to the floor before dissipating.

Mikey rolled, trying to get to his feet but his muscles ached and his chest felt like it was on fire. So he could do little else but get to his knees and watch as the crack started to glow, brighter and brighter-

And then it was gone, leaving behind an open book and four, multi-colored beavers.

Who were much, much smaller than they had been in the dream world.

All present company blinked down at the four normal-sized beavers now sitting in the house. Hell, now that Mikey was looking, he was pretty sure they were smaller than normal beavers.

Dark’s tail slapped the ground angrily as he snatched up the book, metal pieces fell out when he did and that just seemed to make him angrier, “What idiot went and destroyed the seal?! Now we're stuck here with no power!”

“What?!” Mikey jumped at the unfamiliar voice and yelped when an old man shoved Casey out of the doorway and stared down at the knot of beavers. “You’re telling me I’ve been protecting the world from plush toys?!”

“Because you’ve been starving us you fool!” Dark chucked the book at the man, but it only bounced harmlessly off his shoes. “These idiots were our first meal in years!”

Mikey blinked as Dark kept stomping around and yelling. It was…kinda weird, going from being terrified of the guy to watching him throw a tantrum.

Dread rolled his eyes and ambled over to the book, “Well let's just go back to the dream world and start over.”

“We can’t you idiot!” Dark’s tail smack Dread in the side. “That seal was the only thing maintaining the connection between our world and this one! And this idiot broke it!”

“So he can fix it!” Dave stood on his hind legs and pointed a claw at the old man. “Hey, you, do what you did before when you opened the gateway between our worlds!”

“Shut up Dave!” The other three shouted in unison.

Old guy was not listening to them in the slightest, he was staring at the book and muttering under his breath.

There was a low, long beep at Mikey’s side and, when he looked down, he saw Scrap stalking his way towards the beavers. The sound got their attention, four pairs of beady eyes whipping around as the long beep started to get louder.

Scrap's ears wiggled moments before he charged, leaping on top of Dread and jamming his shock prod into the beaver's back.

Dread squawked in pain and rolled, managing to get Scrap off his back, “What the hell is that?!”

Scrap let out a series of beeps that sounded like an evil laugh, picking himself up and crouching to pounce again.

“Every beaver for themselves!” Dire howled as he scampered out the door. Dave and Dread were right behind him, leaving only Dark to face off with Scrap. He looked at the bot, at the people surrounding him, at Casey when he pushed his way back into the doorway with a baseball bat at the ready.

He growled, tail giving one last angry slap before he scampered after the others.

There was quiet for a few moments.

Then Scrap bewooped and sprang over to Mikey, scanner glowing and ready.

“Oh my god,” April breathed from where she was sitting, a dazed and confused Donnie partially in her lap. “Oh my god, you’re all okay!”

Donnie groaned, curling onto his side and holding his chest, “Don’t feel like it.”

“Oh, yeah, the beavers cause their victims to have heart attacks!” the old man piped in, far too cheerily. “Good thing you’re a hallucination!”

Casey gave the man a very, very unimpressed look, “Right…well, you can go now.”

“You’re right!” the man nodded and walked out of view, voice loud enough that Mikey could still hear him. “The beavers are defeated! I can finally return to my real work! And this time I’ll be-”

He cut off suddenly with a loud thump.

Casey groaned, “He passed out.”

“Who?” Raph's voice croaked out.

Casey waved a hand, “Don’t worry about it. Hey, Red, help me get him in the van!”

“Now?” April hissed, gesturing to the room at large.

“They’ll be fine for a few minutes. Plus, do you wanna put up with this wack job any longer?”

April made an aggravated sound in her throat, looking down at Donnie. He nodded slowly, gingerly pushing himself into a sitting position, “W-we’ll be fine. I…I don’t think any of us….actually had a heart attack.”

“You sure?” Mikey couldn’t help but ask.

Leo made a raspy chirp of agreement.

“Scrap…can do scans,” Donnie limply gestured towards the door. “Just…get him outta here…before he…wakes up.”

April still looked hesitant but she nodded and got to her feet. Casey grinned, shooting a finger gun towards Donnie, “Ay, glad you didn’t get eaten by beavers dude!”

Donnie groaned, moving so he could lean on the bed, “Thanks.”

Mikey let his attention wander now, taking in his brothers and their surroundings. They were all in Leo’s room and the first rays of dawn were peaking their way in through the blinds.

Leo was curled up on the bed, lightly trembling and hugging his chest but his eyes were open and alert, flicking between Mikey and Donnie. He let out a questioning chirp and Raph dragged himself out of his nest to slowly crawl onto the bed with an answering churr of comfort.

The sounds soothed Mikey’s racing heart a bit. Scrap finished up his scan and moved on to Donnie, beeping as he started it up again. Donnie nodded, a bit numbly but he managed to focus on the little bot and ask, “Show me….when you’re done?”

Scrap beeped a ‘yes’.

Mikey frowned, twisting to look around the room. If Scrap was here then Raven couldn’t be much further. And she had been in the combined dream too so she had to be-

He spotted her in the furthest corner of the room, back in the teen form that Mikey was familiar with, curled up in a tight ball, using her arms to hide her face and shivering.

Mikey felt his chest twing, torn once again between his friend and his brothers. He looked back towards the bed, where Scrap had clambered up and started scanning Leo. Raph had managed to drag himself next to Leo and Mikey was pretty sure the only reason he hadn’t snatched Leo up in a hug was because Scrap was working.

He looked at Donnie, hoping for some kind of solution. But Donnie was still wheezy, leaning on the side of the bed with his eyes closed and a hand pressed to his chest.

Mikey debated in his head. He had questions for Raven, like, was she okay, was her chest on fire too, what was up with all those freaky dreams!

Not to mention the…other thing…

Mikey looked back at Raven and swallowed, “Ray-Ray?”

Her arm shifted, just enough for one wide eye to peek out, red and watery and tear tracks running down her face.

Mikey swallowed, trying to figure out what to say.

Raph beat him to the punch, twisting around so he could stare at her, “How the hell do you know the Shredder?”

Raven blinked, then slowly lifted her head from her arms. Her voice was thick with emotion and smothered cries when she asked, “Who?”

“That guy in the last…the last guy,” Raph huffed out.

“Yeah,” Donnie turned, draping his upper body over the bed so he could look at Raven too. “How…how do you know….about him? ….and why does…he look like…that in your head?”

“He doesn’t go by ‘Shredder’,” Raven rubbed her face in a vain attempt to push her tears away. “He’s just Oroku. He’d pop up in our designated sector a lot and we’d have to deal with him.”

“That…that doesn’t make sense,” Raph grumbled. “Shredder doesn’t look like…that! And you said you’ve never heard of Earth.”

Raven shrugged, “Pretty sure he’s not from Earth.”

Raph started to throw his hands in the air.

Then aborted the motion halfway there, curling his arms back around himself with a soft, “Ow.”

Mikey frowned, brow furrowing as he tried to puzzle this out. Because that had clearly been the Shredder, even if the details were fuzzy and he was cast mostly in shadow…

A thought occurred to him.

One he quickly voiced to the rest of the room, “What if she’s from another dimension?”

All eyes turned to Mikey, each varying versions of confusion.

Mikey cleared his throat awkwardly, “Like…you remember when we went into that Kraang hallway of portals? We saw a bunch of places and one of them was other versions of us.”

“What’re you….gettin’ at?” Donnie asked.

“Just..I dunno. There were other versions of us so…why not another version of Shredder?”

Raph groaned and buried his head in his hands, “Great, dimension-hopping beavers, Kraang and now super soldiers.”

“It…would explain a few things,” Donnie mused quietly. “But…we don’t really….have a way to….to test.”

“The hell are you all talking about?” Raven’s voice was pitched higher than normal.

“Alternate realities,” Donnie explained. “It’s…not something …I know a lot about but…the Kraang do so…maybe the ship has something?”

“That freaky Shredder didn’t come here with you, right?” Raph snapped. “One is more than enough.”

Leo, still lying prone but following the conversation with his eyes, curled up more when Raph mentioned the Shredder, tucking his head down between his shoulders as much as the bandages would allow.

Raven shook her head and sniffed, “No, he would’ve shown up by now. And then there was…that…portal-” she hiccuped and more tears spilled over. “Gods, kriff, shab, olsik….stop it, shit, damnit-”

Mikey frowned deeper, pulling himself fully to his feet and slowly moving toward Raven. He sunk to the floor next to her, leaning into her side. Scrap moved as if to follow, pausing on the edge of the bed and shifting uncertainly, likely trying to decide between presenting his scans to Donnie or comforting Raven.

Mikey held up his hand in a ‘wait’ gesture before turning to Raven. He tilted his head so it rested on her shoulder and, in his most solemn of tones, said, “You shouldn’t swear. There are children present.”

The room went quiet.

…then Raven giggled, a wet, choked giggle but a genuine giggle. She rubbed at her eyes, shaking her head, “Mag would kriffing adore you.”

“I’m irresistible,” Mikey agreed.

He smirked when the reply elicited groans from his brothers. Scrap gave a cheery beep before turning and projecting his scan to Donnie.

The quiet returned for a bit, but it was thankfully lighter now.

After Donnie examined the scans he spoke, “Okay…looks like we didn’t actually have heart attacks…I think….but we should still take things easy for a bit.”

“Yeah,” Raph agreed. “....anyone wanna watch Mikey’s dumb show?”

“Excuse you,” Mikey huffed. “Crognard is an awesome show and you know it.”

Leo let out a breathy little laugh.

—------------------------------------------------------

By the time Casey and April came back, they’d all moved to the living room. Mikey and Raven had placed themselves in charge of snacks and Raven put Scrap on ‘make sure these three stay still’ duty.

Crognard had ended a while ago, but this particular channel aired a lot of old shows and Mikey was secretly hoping an episode of Space Heros would come on and chase away the wary look that Leo couldn’t quite seem to get rid of.

Casey and April showered before joining them and Mikey felt a small thrill that April was finally not hiding from them. She’d been acting weird ever since the Mom-Thing incident…which was fair but, come on, she knew they weren’t gonna judge her!

Scrap had gone into rest mode at some point, curled up in Raven’s lap like a little metal cat. Mikey absently wondered if he should go grab Ick before remembering it was still morning and she liked to nap during morning.

Leo was tucked up in the armchair, Raph sitting on the floor next to it, while April, Donnie and Raven held spots on the couch. Casey had settled in the rocker, which left Mikey sitting on the floor, next to Raven’s leg.

They’d gone quiet, just relaxing and enjoying the shows.

There was a marathon of shorts playing now, of a big ugly bird trying to trap a puppy so he could eat it, but the pup was far too quick and kept messing up the bird’s traps.

The fifth time the ugly bird tumbled down a ravine, a thought occurred to Mikey.

He leaned back so that he could rest his head on the couch and look up at Raven, “Hey?”

Raven glanced down, raising an eyebrow with a quiet, “Hmm?”

“The person in the dream Dave made?”

Raven’s face pinched for a moment, “....what about her?”

“You conjured her to protect you,” Mieky said slowly. “Buuut you felt scared in that memory?”

Raven shrugged, “I mean, that was when I told her I was a woman. It was pretty terrifying.”

Mikey blinked, “...why would that be scary?”

“Seriously?” Casey’s voice made Mikey lift his head again. “Come on dude, doesn’t matter how nice the people around you are. Coming out is scary as hell.”

Mikey blinked again.

Raph sat up from where he was slumped against the armchair, “The heck are you talking about? Coming out of where? A storage room?”

“More like a closet,” Casey snickered. Than stopped short when he noticed no one else was laughing, “Wait, you’re serious?”

April frowned, slowly turning to Raven, “You’re…gay?”

“Uh,” Now Raven looked confused. “Like, happy?”

“Oh my god, she trans!” Casey groaned. “How did none of you figure that out? She makes, like, zero effort to skim around that! Donnie, aren’t you the smart one?”

“Trans…trans what?” Donnie asked. “What is she crossing?”

“Oh my god!” Casey repeated. “Seriously? Did all of you grow up under a rock?”

Several pairs of eyes gave Casey a flat look.

Then April’s widened in realization, “Oh! You’re…oh….oh?”

“Excuse me?” Raph growled. “Does someone want to please explain what you’re all talking about?”

Casey stared at the turtles, “You know, transgender? LGBTQIA?”

“Oh, is that’s what it’s called here?” Raven asked. “Yeah, that’s a good name.”

“What do you call it?” Casey said.

“Well….a lot of worlds have different names and…some don’t translate well. Commander Verd and I used the term gender transcendence.”

“Yeesh,” Casey hissed. “That’s a mouthful.”

“Yeah, transgender is much better.”

“Hello!” Raph barked out. “Can someone please explain already?”

Leo nodded in agreement with a quiet, “Hai, hrrrmm….hai?”

Casey rolled his eyes, “It’s not that complicated. Raven was cloned after a dude but she’s not a dude. Right?”

Raven shrugged, “Pretty much.”

“You can just…do that?” Donnie asked. “Pick if you want to be a boy or a girl?”

“It’s…not exactly a choice,” Raven started slowly. “I mean, in Tipoca City, all we knew was what the Kaminoans taught us and self-expression of our identities wasn’t something they encouraged. But when I was deployed, I experienced a lot of things very quickly, saw a lot of things too. I always felt…not wrong or incomplete just…not fully myself I guess? It’s hard to explain but I eventually figured it out. Commander Verd and General Astra helped me as much as they could, no one was sure how the command for the GAR or the long necks would react so we decided to not risk the surgery and hormone treatments at the time. But when we were stranded, Crow offered the corrective procedure so I thought, why not?”

“Fyi?” Casey piped up. “Us Earthlings call it ‘gender affirming surgery’.”

“How do you know all this?” April asked. “We’re the same age and I don’t know all that.”

“Well, firstly, I’m Bi,” Casey stated. “Second, why don’t you know this? It’s twenty-thirteen, there’s loads of info on the internet!”

“I…um,” April flushed.

Donnie got to his feet, moving out of the room and muttering, “Where’s my laptop?”

“Let me know if you want help filtering Don!” Casey hollered after him.

Mikey looked between Casey and Raven before settling on Casey, “What’s Bi?”

“Means I’ll date boys and girls,” Casey explained. “Figured it out when I was, oh, thirteen? But seriously, how do none of you know about LGBT-plus?”

“Dude, we never left the sewer until a year ago!” Raph threw his hands up in exasperation. “Gha, why are humans so…so complicated!”

Casey cackled, “Get used to it Raphie! Because when Don gets back I am educating all of you!”

“Casey…educating,” April shook her head. “That’s a first.”

“I’m full of surprises Red, should give me a chance more often.”

April just rolled her eyes and settled back into the couch.

Mikey tipped his head back to look at Raven again, “But she was nice, right? When you told your commander?”

Raven smiled, soft and sad in equal parts, “Yeah…yeah, she supported me from day one.”

“Cool,” Mikey turned so he could fold his arms on the couch cushions. “I hope she shows up soon, I wanna meet her.”

He expected Raven to reply, say that Commander Verd would like him too, or talk about her more.

But Raven remained quiet, hand petting absently over Scrap as her eyes stayed fixed on the TV.

Mikey frowned but decided to not dwell. Instead, he tucked his shell into the nook made between Rave’s leg and the couch and waited for Donnie to come back so they could get educated about LGBT…LG…LQI…

He was gonna have to get Casey to write it down somewhere. That was a lot of letters to remember.

He glanced around one more time, gauging reactions. Raph still looked huffy, but Mikey was pretty sure it was because it took so long for Casey and Raven to explain. April had moved on, absently watching the TV like she had before.

Leo…looked pensive, eyes fixed on Raven.

Mikey decided to shrug it off. Leo always did like to mull over new information, especially new information about humans. This was definitely no different and he’d move on once Donnie came back with his laptop.

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #lone hunter and turtle #tmnt au #fanfic #oc #star wars

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