#it is taking a while to make

[topazshadowwolf]

GoopTales: Part 20 Grilled Cheese

Lyra to the rescue! And a certain guardian gets the rest he badly needs.

Domestic fluff!

Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20(you are here)/34

AO3: Ch 1 (1-4), Ch 2 (4-8), Ch 3 (9-12), Ch 4 (13-16) Ch 5 (17-19), Ch 6 (20-23), Ch 7 (24-27), Ch 8 (28-31), Ch 9 (32-34)

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Lyra folded her arms as she looked at the other guardian, who looked back up at her with an eyelight so fuzzy it could barely be seen. Nightmare sat on the bed, the boys surrounding him and clinging to him protectively. They could sense she was angry. She shouldn’t be angry, but she was. 

Actually, no, she had the right to be angry about this. It was wrong to deny that she should feel this way when she could have prevented this. They had agreed to start dating, to begin forming a relationship, yet he still would rather act independently to the point that he looked like a wilted plant. Nightmare clearly did not understand how it hurt her to see him like that.

There was no reason for him to look so tired and run down when she was just a phone call away. No. When she could have been here all along! There were so many things she could and wanted to say if the children were not here in the room. She would even grab him by that coat, pull him onto his feet, and plant one kiss he wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon if it would make him understand that she cares! Unfortunately, that would be highly inappropriate to do around children so young.

Besides, she also needed to understand this was all still so new to Nightmare. The dark guardian was still adjusting to having someone he could turn to for help. He has had allies before, but not in the role of Lyra. Her help had no strings attached; no deals needed to be made save for being there when she needed him. Which… was something she was not used to as well. Remembering she had not called on his help yet did act as the water to cool her anger. Considering that he is not used to this, she was just as much to blame for his condition by not being more insistent or checking in on him.

That was it; she was putting her foot down.

“I am not going to be leaving when this is done,” She stated flatly, glaring down at him.

“Lyra,” Nightmare started, and Lyra had enough.

“I do not want to hear it. I know that they are your…,” She looked at the children who stared up at her in their fuzzy pajamas. She needed to be mindful of the words she used around them. “Responsibility. But, I am insisting, no, demanding you let me help.”

“Thank you,” Nightmare signed and smiled at her, and that surprised her.

“No argument this time?” She asked while tilting her head.

“I was going to ask you to stay,” Nightmare said, then stood and looked at the boys. “I admit defeat. They are indeed my responsibility, but it was one I will now accept that I was not ready for.”

He looked back at her, and she sighed, feeling her anger settle further. Well, at least that is sorted out. “Good… Now, to bed with you,” She said.

“aren’t you going to give him a good night kiss?” Killer asked with a big smile. She suspected that one knew what he was doing at this point.

“I do not think that will be,” Nightmare started, but no, Lyra would not let this moment slide. Now, she couldn’t place the kind of kiss she wanted with the young audience they currently had. But she could get away with a nice little peck on the head.

Leaning over, she gave Nightmare a small kiss on the top of his skull and grinned as he froze. His face got that adorable blush she loved so much. “There, now, bed.”

“Be good for Lyra,” Nightmare said quietly to the boys while staring at the floor. Oh, who would have suspected that the dark guardian, who was so bold and confident at most times, could be turned into someone so bashful with a single kiss? It will be a secret of his she will keep, as it is actually a sorrowful testament to how unaccustomed he is to affection. 

Once he could, he looked up at Lyra, “and… thank you.”

“we will!” Replied Killer.

“don’t worry, mr. night! we will be on our bestest behavior!” Cross added.

“It is just best, Cross. Best means that you will be excelling and unable to do any better,” Nightmare gently corrected before yawning. He made his way out the door, tendrils dragging on the floor behind him. The poor dear truly was exhausted, and yet, here he was, still doing what he could for the boys. It was rather endearing how devoted of a father figure he was, even if he will deny it.

Dust was becoming fidgety as he watched Nightmare leave. Thankfully, Ferrous walked over, and the small boy started to pet the dog. It seemed to calm Dust enough that he looked back at her without so much nervousness. 

Lyra looked at the group and hummed. “Alright, I am about to make dinner. Can I trust you four to play quietly in here while Mr. Night sleeps?”

Cross raised his hand, and she chuckled at how cute that was. Killer’s hand shot up shortly after, and she nodded. “Alright, Cross first, what is it?”

“can i help make dinner?” Cross asked.

“me too! that’s what i wanted to ask!” Killer added.

“wasn’t it your ‘helping’ that made mr. night call a babysitter?” Horror asked with a frown.

“that’s because i was helping by myself. this time, she will be there!” Killer answered.

“Alright, why don’t you all come with me instead? You can either help or play quietly in the kitchen while I work on dinner,” Lyra replied. That seemed to appease them, and they followed her as they left the room. At one point, she glanced back to do a quick head count… Killer… Cross… Horror…

Looking further down the hall, she saw Dust standing still as he stared in the direction of Nightmare’s bedroom. Lyra stopped and turned fully; the others stopped and followed her gaze back to the little skeleton clinging to his dog while staring at Nightmare’s door. “Wait here,” she told the others as she made her way to Dust. She knelt down near the young skeleton and asked, “Child, what is wrong?”

“if i say i’m not hungry, can i go take a nap with mr. night…?,” There were tears in the boy’s sockets. Nightmare had said that Dust, as an adult, tended to hang around him more than the others, especially on ‘bad days.’ Considering the child’s past and the peace and safety Nightmare has likely been providing Dust’s younger self, that shadow behavior appears to have turned into clinginess.

“I think Mr. Night would like you to have dinner to keep your body strong and healthy. Do you not agree?” She asked.

Dust looked at the ground and nodded.

“How about this? Since we both know Mr. Night would want you to have dinner, you come with me and eat first. If you are tired after you eat and promise to be quiet and sleep, I see no reason why you could not go nap with him,” Lyra compromised. “Does that sound fair?”

That seemed to do the trick, and the child nodded. “ferrous, too?”

“Ah…” Oh dear… would Nightmare want the dog in his bed? “Well, we will see. Maybe Ferrous will want some outside time after dinner instead.”

“oh… okay,” Dust replied and looked at the dog as he petted him.

Lyra stood and offered a hand to Dust. He looked at the hand for a moment, then reached up and put his tiny hand in hers. Together, they walked over to the others and then down the hall. Killer insisted on holding her other hand, which led to Horror holding Killer’s free hand and Cross holding Dust’s free hand.

Once the children were all gathered again, they continued to the kitchen. Along the way, she had asked them what they wanted for dinner. After some discussion amongst each other, they had decided on tomato soup and grilled cheese, or three out of four did. Dust was quiet and just shrugged when asked if that was okay. Based on things said, they had tomato soup once already, so he knew what that was. But the complaint from Killer about how long it had been since he had a grilled cheese hinted that was why Dust was so quiet. It may be new food for him, but it shouldn’t be too hard on him if he still has some sensitivity after all this time.

She had each child help make their sandwich after she had doctored the canned soup, so it was the best it could be. They stood on the stool two at a time and flipped their sandwiches when she said so. Then, once the food was ready, she plated the grilled cheeses and poured the tomato soup into mugs while telling the boys to go sit. They sat at the table and ate, looking as pleased as possible.

“thank you for helping, ma’am,” Horror then said.

“You are welcome,” Lyra smiled.

“mr. night was very happy to see you! i think… we caused him too much trouble,” Killer sighed and looked down at his crumb-filled plate. “we didn’t mean to be trouble, ms. lyra.”

“I know you did not, and so does Mr. Night. I warned him, though, that four children is a lot of responsibility for anyone to take on without prior experience with raising one,” She picked up a napkin and handed it to Killer. “I am sure he was doing well for a while there, but now he has me to help him.”

“he came home hurt a few times,” Dust said quietly, and that startled her.

“Hurt?” She asked.

“uh huh, and we don’t know why, ms. Lyra,” Cross confirmed, then frowned. “he would go out to buy groceries or something but reappear later and say that he will try again later. he said they didn’t have what he was looking for or stuff like that and for us to play quietly. but we could see he was hurt.”

Nightmare… why did you wait so long? But she knew why. It wasn’t just stubbornness but the fact he was not used to turning to others for help. Sure, he had his henchmen, but they were not usually so dependent on him. Still, he does care for them and sees them as his responsibility.

He forgets she is willing to share in that, even when they are rambunctious adults.

“ms. lyra?” Dust spoke up, and she looked over at the child. “may i go take a nap now?”

“Are the rest of you tired?” She asked.

“nu-uh! i’m not ready for bed yet!” Killer replied.

“can we play for a while longer?” Cross asked.

“i’m not tired yet, either,” Horror added.

“Alright, wait here at the table. I will be right back,” she said before scooping up Dust. The child clung to her and nuzzled his face against her shoulder. In silence, they made their way to Nightmare’s room, and she quietly knocked. When there was no reply, she walked in and over to the large bed, one clearly made for a king. 

That was Nightmare, a fan of the finer things in life.

It appears he had changed into pajamas but didn’t get any further than opening his covers and lying down before passing out. Nightmare was sleeping on his stomach, which made sense with the tentacles attached to his back. One of which was hanging off the bed and touching the floor. With care to not wake the sleeping guardian or disrupt Dust in her arms, she used her foot to lift the tendril up part of the way, then reached with a hand to grab it and place it on the bed.

She then placed Dust on the bed next to Nightmare. The child crawled closer and snuggled up to Nightmare’s shoulder. The dark skeleton shifted a little but did not wake. The tentacle closest to Dust moved and curled around the child protectively. Lyra smiled before tucking them both in under the blankets. Leaning over, she gave Dust a kiss on the head, then gave one more “goodnight kiss” to the sleeping guardian. With them settled, she left the room so they could sleep peacefully.

She now had three others to attend to, plus the pets. Ferrous followed her down the hall as she walked, reminding her with his presence of all the responsibilities she now had. Nightmare might have wanted her to wake him after ten minutes, but she wasn’t going to do that. It has been close to an hour, and he still needed rest. He can trust her to care for the boys and their animals, but if he genuinely believed she was going to wake him so soon, then he was sorely mistaken. Lyra was going to make sure he got the rest he needed.

Once he has his needed rest, then they can share this workload.

---

next

[theshadowrealmitself]

I like to think that Vulcans who come to understand that Humans just can’t try to process emotions the same way as them, it’s just healthiest to let it out in harmless ways, decide that venting and stuff should be taken just as seriously as Vulcan’s meditation time, and will encourage the Humans around them to complain about what’s upsetting them

People who are used to aloof Vulcans who avoid Humans at all cost running into one comforting a Human

“-and then they said my cheesecake was subpar, and they didn’t even bring a dish!!!”

“The purpose of this event was that every participant brings a food item of sorts, correct?”

“Yeah!!”

“And they did not follow this rule while insulting dishes that were brought?”

“Mostly just my dish but yeah >:(“

“How illogical”

“That’s what I’m saying!!!”

[elodieunderglass]

changes and trends in horror-genre films are linked to the anxieties of the culture in its time and place. Vampires are the manifestation of grappling with sexuality; aliens, of foreign influence. Horror from the Cold War is about apathy and annihilation; classic Japanese horror is characterised by “nature’s revenge”; psychological horror plays with anxieties that absorbed its audience, like pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, femininity. Some horror presses on the bruise of being trapped in a situation with upsetting tasks to complete, especially ones that compromise you as a person - reflecting the horrors and anxieties of capitalism etc etc etc. Cosmic horror is slightly out of fashion because our culture is more comfortable with, even wistful for, “the unknown.” Monster horror now has to be aware of itself, as a contingent of people now live in the freedom and comfort of saying “I would willingly, gladly, even preferentially fuck that monster.” But I don’t know much about films or genres: that ground has been covered by cleverer people.

I don’t actually like horror or movies. What interests me at the moment is how horror of the 2020s has an element of perception and paying attention.

Multiple movies in one year discussed monsters that killed you if you perceived them. There are monsters you can’t look at; monsters that kill you instantly if you get their attention. Monsters where you have to be silent, look down, hold still: pray that they pass over you. M Zombies have changed from a hand-waved virus that covers extras in splashy gore, to insidious spores. A disaster film is called Don’t Look Up, a horror film is called Nope. Even trashy nun horror sets up strange premises of keeping your eyes fixed on something as the devil GETS you.

No idea if this is anything. (I haven’t seen any of these things because, unfortunately, I hate them.) Someone who understands better than me could say something clever here, and I hope they do.

But the thing I’m thinking about is what this will look like to the future, as the Victorian sex vampires and Cold War anxieties look to us. I think they’ll have a little sympathy, but they probably won’t. You poor little prey animals, the kids will say, you were awfully afraid of facing up to things, weren’t you?

[lgbtlunaverse]

There's a version of the "don't go grocery shopping while hungry" rule specifically for writers where you should never under any circumstances be allowed to touch your draft within 3 hours of reading a really good story. Because sometimes when you read something great your head goes "fuck this is so much better than my stuff I should make that more like THIS instead!" Look at me. That's the devil talking and you should close the document NOW.

[samairuart]

Pocket sized for convenience 🫴🏽

[joshuamj]

Okay, but what if EoW!Zelda had to impersonate Link

[mipexch]

I WAS MADE FOR YOU // YOU WERE MADE FOR ME

[watchingwisteria]

listen there really was just something about how in the book, snow’s 3-page descent from hesitant lover boy to deluded mfer happens entirely in his mind. lucy gray gives him no indication whatsoever that she suspects him, that she’s going to leave or betray him. he’s just sitting quietly in the cabin waiting for her to return when that seed of calculated suspicion, which he has needed to survive the capitol, takes a hold of him and chokes the life out of any goodness left inside him. it really drives home your terror as a reader that “oh my god did he kill her? did she escape? what happened to her? why would he even think that?” in a way that when the movie had to adjust for visualization it lost some of that holy shit this guy has lost it emphasis.

[northernfireart]

i can't find the original post of this idea but im obsessed completely with Sam Reich! Master

upd: The original idea was by @ace-whovian-neuroscientist!!!

[egophiliac]

was this anyone else's first thought, or

[poobirdy]

xin mo did not become the demonic op sword of all three realms for this!!! for @kawouwu who asked for binggeyuan sillies! thank you for your donation to svsss' gotcha 4 gaza!

[bathroom-sand]

paramount and spyglass are trying so hard right now to save face because jenna ortega rightfully left the scream franchise after they fired melissa for supprting palestine. nobody is dumb enough to believe the excuse that it’s a scheduling conflict hours after rumors she was trying to get out of her contract cause she was pissed. i’m very thankful that jenna is risking her career and using her position to do the right thing. she’s been outspoken about palestine for years now. i hope this begins a trend of zionist losing money for their support and complacency with an active genocide

[cxntpxppy]

i hope all trans men with huge tits who want top surgery know that u are not wasting your boobs you’re sending them to heaven so they can be reincarnated onto a beautiful trans woman’s chest <3

[beybuniki]

they should go on a fishing trip pt.1

[thunderpot]

Macbeth moshang,

[thepriceofsurvival]

This is very unfinished but I needed everyone to see the vision I had