#like cable is gonna come back and fix it right???????????????

[x-mensirens]

Something about seeing the Godzilla Sentinel’s green ray in literally the first episode just……………………………

[willowser]

oh my god, fine, i didn't go to bed because 🥺 what about nerd kirishima 🥺

like it's sero's fault that you even meet him, because he keeps flinging shit at you across your shared desk, and you get into this stupid war with office supplies that turns VIOLENT, until one of you — him, for sure — gets their foot caught in the web of wires under the table and yanks them all out, causing both your computer screens to go dark.

"you idiot, you're gonna get us fired!"

and he's like, "chill, chill, chill, i can fix this."

and his idea of "fixing it" is calling the company's support desk and asking for his buddy kirishima to come down to your department because he's got something cool to show him. and the "something cool" is the absolute disaster of dusty, unplugged cables that are hanging loose on the floor.

the first thing you notice about him — because how couldn't you — is how big he is ????? this little dweeb from support, who is actually not little at all. six foot something, with a white button-up that's clearly too tight on him, his red hair pulled back into a bun, and some STUPID. LITTLE. GLASSES. WAAAAAHHH.

and he gets on his knees — slacks straining over his thighs — to look under your desk to fix this mess, and he keeps having to readjust his STUPID. GLASSES. and you're just sitting perched on the edge 😌 watching him 😌

you ask him, "want me to hold that for you??" and he SMACKS his head into the underside of your desk, hissing out a little "ow, shit!" before rearing back to look up at you, a lil wide-eyed, pink-cheeked !!!

very quickly, his eyes cut to where your legs are crossed in your skirt, right by his head, before he's asking, "sorry, what?"

and he's just so stinking AKFHFUSLALHDLALA that you nod to his shirt pocket where he's got his phone, the flashlight on, struggling to see under the desk. "i said, do you want me to hold that for you?"

"oh, no, no!" kirishima is quick to look away, down to his wide, now-dusty hands. "that's—no, i don't want you to have to do that! thanks, though!"

"you should," sero pipes up, sitting in the chair at his desk, useless. and he's probably got, like, twizzlers or something from the vending machine, chewing on them as he grins at kirishima. "should get down on your knees and—"

"dude!" kirishima grits, neck bobbing as he swallows. and now even his ears are pink, so you can't help but to ask—

"you don't want me to help you?"

and he's like, stressed !!! like, "oh, no, no, that's not what i meant! if you wanna get down here, then i'd be glad—or, y'know, if you—"

but the more he keeps talking, the more nervous you can see him getting, and the more your smile stretches until he's just ducking back under the desk before you can tell that he's starting to sweat akfjeisjdjalndhak

[tojisbbg]

✭ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 ✭

❝i just wanna see you shine ‘cause i know you are a stargirl.❞

♡ shinichiro sano ♡

pt.1, pt. 2 

a/n: this is my first time writing on tumblr so i decided to write about shinichiro first cuz finding fluff/smut about him is so rare. i hope you enjoy! let me know your thoughts in the comments. <3

➢ content: childhood friends, fluff, romance, friends to lovers, shinichiro is whipped for y/n, smut, not checked for grammatical errors.                                  

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶  ︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶     ︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

“what’s wrong?” you asked the driver, watching the man grunting in frustration as he kept on trying to churn the ignition key to get your car started again, but the car refused to budge. 

“not too sure, ma’am. it was working perfectly fine this morning when you sent me out to pick up your luggages. maybe the cables aren’t working too well or something. sorry, i’ll try to fix the car up as soon as possible.” he slightly stuttered, getting a bit nervous as he thought that you’d be like one of those cruel bosses that fire employees for things that they’re not responsible for. 

“hey, don’t get so worked up, it’s okay. i think i have a solution.” you grinned, making your driver look at you with pure confusion. 

“you know how to fix cars?” the look on his face was priceless, as he stared at you dumbfounded. 

“no, but i know someone who does. i’m gonna uber there, meanwhile, you stay here and have the car towed at this location. i’ll see you then.” you suggested, making your driver shrug as he went along with your plan. 

you arrived in tokyo early this morning, not even having the time to get some sleep at your own house. 

well, new house, to you at least. you brought your parents a huge place a few months back, which wasn’t too far away from where you lived before. but, it’s been about five years since you’ve last stepped your foot back in japan. 

you’ve been studying in the states, getting cast in for movies and tv shows during your rookie years, which surprisingly shot you straight into fame. you’ve been quite busy with your acting career, not even having the time to tend your own needs, such as making time to focus on your mental and physical health. 

you’ve shed off a couple pounds, probably a little more than just baby fat. either way, you were happy and satisfied with the way you looked before and now. after all, a certain someone would always remind you of how gorgeous you’d always look in his eyes. 

you felt really guilty for losing connection with all of your friends and families, barely even having the time to speak with your own parents. which is why you were happy that you were back home. hopefully, everyone would cut you some slack. 

your uber finally came to a stop, politely announcing that you’ve arrived to your destination. you grabbed your purse and thanked the uber driver as you got out of the car. you looked in front of you, the huge shop that had many motorcyles lined up, glistening from the bright lighting from inside as you beaked from the glass windows. 

s.s motorcycle shop.

unknowingly, your lips curled upwards into a smile. happy was an underestimating term to describe how you were feeling right now. you just felt so proud of shinichiro for being able to make his dream come into reality. you always knew that he could make it, and you weren’t wrong. 

he’s just too fucking amazing.

for some reason, your knees felt heavy and your heart pounded inside your chest from anxiety. you felt it a little difficult to breathe, turning away as you tried to decide whether you should step in or not. 

would he still remember you? is he mad at you for not calling him for thanksgiving or on christmas? what about mikey, will he ever forgive you for not calling to wish him a happy birthday? 

the question that bothered you the most was, what if shin had a girlfriend? were you too late?

the mere thought of that made your eyes water, as you quickly tried to shoo it away, not wanting to ruin the eyeliner that took you ages to perfect. 

fuck it. 

you breathed out before pushing the glass door, hearing a small chime of little bells on top of your head, indicating that someone came. 

“inupi! could you take that for me?” you heard someone in the back yell, immediately recognizing who owned the voice. to your surprise, his voice didn’t change much, aside from getting an octave deeper. 

“yeah, i gotchu, shin!” the other person responded, to which you soon saw a fairly tall man walking towards your direction from the back. he was in an all blue jumpsuit, wiping his greasy hands on the rag as he inched closer. 

he had shoulder-length blonde hair, a huge scar covering the upper left side of his face. 

“welcome to s.s motorcycle shop, what can i help you with?” he asked, offering you a small smile. 

“uh, can i talk to shinichiro?” you fiddled with the rings on your fingers, getting a bit awkward from the conversation. the guy thinned his lips, shaking his head. 

“sorry, he’s a little busy right now. but, i got him covered at the moment. so, what seems to be the problem? flat tire? oil change? engine leaks?” this inupi guy tried to insist you on allowing him to help you with your services. 

“i don’t think shin’s gonna mind sparing a few minutes of his time to catch up with his childhood best friend.” you bluntly responded, catching him off guard as inui looked at you with a face of slight disbelief. 

“huh?” he blurted out.

“oh, by the way, i’m y/n. the tow company is bringing my car here in a bit. my driver should be there too, so just give him my name. thanks, inupi.” you patted his shoulder before walking off to head towards the back of the shop, leaving poor inui confused and flustered. 

you turned the corner and saw a small room where a beautiful lavender colored motorcycle was currently being worked on. you leaned on the doorway, watching shinichiro tighten some screws with a wrench as his back was turned towards you, him being completely unaware of your presence. the surrounding ground was littered with different tools. 

“you think you could squeeze in some time to look at my car for me, sano?” you asked, a smirk dancing on your lips as you saw shinichiro’s movements coming to a halt. his head turned to look at you, his eyes widening to the size of two full moons. 

“what the fu.. y/n?!” he frantically yelled, dropping the wrench out of his hand as he quickly got up, rushing over to you as he caged you in a hug. you chuckled in his embrace, feeling his arms tightening around your waist as he dug his face in the crook of your neck, as if he was afraid that you’d run away from him again. 

the familiar smell of gasoline and other vehicle parts filled your nose, a strange form of comfort to say the least. you remember the days in your middle school and high school days where you’d spent the evenings in front of shin’s garage as he fixed his grandpa’s car or mikey’s old worn-out moped while your deftones playlist was on shuffle in the background. 

“i missed you so much, y/n.” his voice came out as a muffled croak, as you soon felt something wet on your shoulders. shinichiro sniffled, a little embarrassed to pull away and have you see him crying to you like a baby when he was supposed to be a grown man. 

but, he couldn’t help it. 

he still remembers as clear as day, waiting for you in front of your house patiently so that you both could walk to school together as per usual. he had big plans for that day, wanting to try out the new noodle place that opened up down the block. after some time had passed, he realized that it was pretty unusual of you to be this late. 

so, he went up to your door and knocked. your mother soon opened it and saw the boy look at her with a concerned face, quickly asking if you were okay. she tried to explain the situation as calmly as possible, not wanting to hurt him as she knew how close you both were. 

the woman saw how his face dropped, eyes becoming glossy as he tried to avoid making eye contact. your mother felt bad for him, but she tried to reassure him that you’d be calling him soon and that your return would also be soon as well. she told him to come over for dinner that night with the rest of his family. 

shinichiro walked to school alone that day, for the first time ever. the days where you couldn’t make it to school would be if you were sick, to which shin would miss school as well in order to nurse you back to health. so, walking alone to school felt weird and wrong, but it was something that he would get used to as many years passed by.

to shinichiro’s dismay, he never got a phone call or text from you. he tried many times to reach out to you, leaving so many voicemails and emails to your business and private numbers and emails. he even tried to contact your manager, to which she told him that he should hear back from you shortly. but of course, with the sea of emails and voicemails from directors and fans, shin’s methods of trying to get a hold of you would go down in the drain. 

“i missed you too, shin. i’m so sorry for not calling.” your voice broke, eyes stinging with tears as you felt him crying a little harder in your arms. you stroked the back of his head, mumbling so many ‘sorry’s’ to him. 

he suddenly pulled away, looking down at you with a pretty smile. he was still as handsome as ever, even if he was just wearing a simple white t-shirt and black jeans. shinichiro wiped away his tears before cupping your face between his warm calloused palms, a pout forming on your lips as he squished your cheeks slightly. 

“i can’t believe my stargirl is back. woahh, look at that gorgeous face that i missed looking at every day. damn, y/n. i missed it all so much. those pretty doey eyes staring at me while fixed a tire or something, this cute little nose, squishy cheeks and your cute litle lips. fuck, i really missed you, y/n.” he breathed out, leaning forwards to place a loving kiss on your cheeks, a small tint of pink now painting them. 

“you’re still smooth with your words, sano. you’re making me feel like i’m in high school all over again.” you giggled, ruffling his hair as he chuckled. 

“hey, tell you what. i’ll leave the shop early today so that we could have dinner together with mikey and emma. mikey will most likely have a stroke, but i can’t blame him, he missed you so much for the past five years. in the meantime, i’ll have your car fixed up by tomorrow morning.” shinichiro smiled, looking at you with the most gentle eyes known to mankind. it set your soul on fire, to have a man look at you with such love and adoration. it was like you never left, he never changed, always being as generous as he could. 

“sounds like a plan, i’ll see you at dinner then.” you excitedly beamed, going on your tippy-toes to press a soft kiss on his cheek. he stood there, awe struck as he looked at you with hearts in his eyes. 

you waved him goodbye before leaving the small room as you walked to the front of the shop. you pulled the glass doors to exit the shop, seeing your car parked on the side, you driver attentively watching the blonde who was examining the condition of your car’s engine. 

“miss y/n!” your driver called out. inupi now redirected his attention to you as you walked closer to them. 

“thanks for getting my car here, you could go home for today.” you dismissed the driver as he thanked you before leaving. 

“you famous around here or something, miss y/n?” inupi asked, slightly mocking you which you found to be quite amusing. 

“uhm, something like that. i’m an actress.” you replied, seeing him cock an eyebrow. 

“that’s pretty cool, never knew shin had famous people on his friends list.” he mumbled to himself, trying to connect some of the cables that were latched onto your engine. 

“i’m not as famous as angelina jolie or something. still pretty much a rookie, so i have a long way to go.” you added on, trying to not come off as an arogant person.

“i see, well, i’ll be sure to search you up later on and watch some of your movies for sure.” inupi chirped, making you laugh as you both waved each other goodbye before you went your own separate way. 

...

the clock struck eight in the evening and you just finished spraying on some perfume. it was a simple dinner at the sano’s, just like the olden times, so you decided to keep it simple and casual with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. 

you made sure to grab the three gift bags that you prepared with care all evening, your room now a huge mess from how messily you rummaged through your luggage to pull out these presents. 

“y/n, give this to shin for me, please.” your mom gave you a foil pan that you knew was filled with her famous tirimisu. 

“will do, ma’am. i’ll see you later, mom.” you said, opening the door before closing it behind you, deciding to walk to shin’s house since it was two short blocks away. 

you arrived shortly, ringing the doorbell as you waited for a couple of seconds. the wooden door opened, revealing your best friend who was in a very cheezy apron. 

“y/n! i just finished setting the table, come in.” he scooted to the side, giving you space to get inside. there was a particular smell in the sano residence that made you feel at home, the scent of comfort and memories. 

not a single thing has changed about how his house looks like, it’s exactly the way it looked like five years ago on the night where you last had dinner with them. 

“i brought tirimisu, my mom made it.” you informed him as you walked into the kitchen, nearly bumping into his back. 

“really? damn, how did she know that i’ve been craving for her tirimisu recently.” shin chuckled, taking the foil pan from your hands to put it in the fridge. 

“where’s mikey and emma?” you looked around, eyes scanning the living room but the both of them are nowhere to be found. 

“emma’s at hina’s house and mikey is at one of his toman meetings. but, i called them both a few minutes ago, they’re on their way.” he answered while reaching his hands back to untie the knot of the apron. you saw his eyebrow furrow as he ‘tsked’ in annoyance, he accidentally pulled the wrong string and tightened the knot. you saw him struggling, going behind him to offer your help. 

“here, let me help.” your hands brushed against his, a small electrical current running between the brief touch, as you soft fingers began to untie the knot. 

for absolute no reason at all, this strong urge to hug the man in front of you overwhelmed you. you couldn’t register nor process why.

was it because he smelled like home? how his touches bandaged all the wounds littered on your body? his voice like some kind of drug to calm down your nerves? 

without thinking twice, you closed the distance between both of your bodies. you wrapped your arms tightly against his waist, snuggling against the muscular clothed surface of your back as you breathed him in. 

shinichiro froze on the spot, not knowing how to react at all. it’s been five years, and it felt like time was going a little too slow for him. all those days where he stayed awake late at night, thinking about how you were doing and why you didn’t talk to him in any form of communication. 

for the longest, he thought that maybe you forgot about him. shinichiro wasn’t a hard man to read, in fact, he was like an open-book to be honest. there’s no way that you could miss the flirty comments, or how his cheeks and the tips of his ears would go red when he got flustered, how he dressed extra nice when you both would go out to eat after school and even much smaller actions. 

making sure to have you walk on the sidewalk where you weren’t near the road, holding your hand while crossing and looking both ways for you when you were too busy reading the upcoming play’s script, making sure to remind you to eat and drink water, and just to breathe and relax. 

you were just a little too slow to realize. 

shinichiro remembered breaking his own heart with the mere thought of you getting into a relationship with another man. of course, he would support you and cheer you on no matter what. but, it would be hard to always give you a bittersweet smile and pretend that everything was okay. 

he saw the way you helped him raise his siblings, envisioning a life where the two of you would date, get married and start a family. whenever he had a bad day, dreaming about that would instantly make him smile. 

he only wished that it was reality. 

“i’ll never leave you again shin, i’m so sorry for not calling or texting. when i came back to japan and saw you for the first time in five years, i felt like a piece of me was finally restored. god, i can’t explain to you how much i missed you and how much i yearned for you. you’re home for me, shin.” your voice came out a muffles as your embrace tightened a little with each word, not wanting to ever let go of him. 

“i’m so happy you didn’t forget me, y/n. i was so scared to lose you, holding onto the little bits of hope left inside my heart and mind that one day you’d come back and surprise me in my shop. but back then, it was only a scenario that i would think of before going to sleep.” shinichiro turned around, stroking your hair before leaning down to plant a soft kiss on your forehead. 

the little moment you both share would soon be interrupted as a series of doorbells rang. 

“it’s them! you could hide in my room, y/n. go, go, go!” he exclaimed, pushing you towards the stairs in a hurry. he waited for your footsteps to reach all the way to the top, hearing the sound of his door closing before heading to open the door. 

“what took you so long, shin? i thought i was gonna die from hunger.” mikey complained the second his older brother opened the door, quickly entering the house as he kicked his shoes off. 

“this little brat made me wait ten minutes in front of that hina girl’s house because of some silly fashion show they were having in her room.” grandpa sano mumbled under his breath as he followed in after mikey. 

“any complaints from you, emma?” shinichiro chuckled, but the blonde simply shook her head. 

“i’m not overdramatical like them, i had a pretty good day. what about you, shin?” she asked as she was the last one to come inside, shinichiro locking the door behind as emma sat on the couch to open her shoes. 

“that’s good to hear. my day was pretty okay, a little busy at the shop.” he smiled, bending down to help unbuckle her heels. 

in the span of just a few minutes, all three of the sanos that just arrived home freshened up and were ready to dine in together to the freshly home-cooked meal prepared by the elder sano sibling. 

you crept up behind a wall, seeing all of them slowly being seated, mikey being the one faced away from you. 

“if only y/n was here then you wouldn’t have been so lonely all the time, big bro. she needs to come back soon, i still miss her. she probably forgot about us.” mikey sadly said, lowering his gaze towards his food as he suddenly felt a loss of his appetite when he glanced at the empty space between him and shinichiro where you would sit during meals. 

your heart shattered to pieces when hearing his words, no longer being able to hide away. you tip-toed towards him, your presence catching emma and grandpa sano’s attention as they both looked at you with wide eyes. 

emma was nearly ready to scream but you quickly place a finger on your lips to signal her to not make a sound. 

“what’s the matter? you seem like you saw a ghost, emma.” mikey laughed. 

you covered his eyes, the pair of chopsticks in his hands dropping as he tried to take your hands off of his face. 

“the hell?! emma, is this one of your stupid friends from school again?? listen here, i’m not hanging out with you after school alright!” the blonde said through gritted teeth, making you bite back a laugh. 

you slowly release you hand as you craned down you face to meet his eyes. 

“not even me, ‘jiro?” you said and he stared at you blankly. 

“i think i’m going nuts.” mikey stammered out. you gave him a warm smile before pulling him into your chest. 

it took him a minute to finally realize that it was really you. 

“y/n? OH MY GOD, Y/N!!” he screamed on the top of his lungs, nearly popping your ear drums before pulling you into a hug that made it difficult to breathe. 

“you grew up so much, little sano. oh my, look at your hair!!” you squealed while ruffling the long blonde locks, the boy in your arms sobbing as he refused to let you go. 

“i missed you so much, y/n. you big fat jerk, how dare you not call us!! i waited every birthday for you to wish me, trying to predict a lucky day that would come where you would return.” mikey hiccuped as you rubbed your hand on his back, trying to soothe him as you apologized.

shinichiro looked at you lovingly, his eyes sparkling at how tenderly you treated his siblings. the way you gently caressed mikey’s hair while patting emma’s back as she sobbed into you chest. 

you were perfect. 

you’ll always be his stargirl, shining brightly even through his darkest times. 

he never realized how madly in love he was with you, not until you were thousands of miles away. shinichiro still sometimes felt that feeling of his heart sinking at the thought of you never coming back. 

but you did and he never wanted to let you go again. 

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

The Eclipses Show

Pairing: None

Word Count: 1,348 Words

Summary: Solar discovers issues with the two new arrivals to his universe even after fixes.

Warnings: Death (mentioned), Fear Of Death, Injury, Cursing, let me know if I should add anything else.

Chapter 4: Feels Like We Had Matching Wounds

“Solar?” Umbra asked.

It had been a couple hours since they had first had the explanation from Phase on what had happened since Umbra went offline. The majority they were doing was cleaning out a party room for the three of them to sleep and charge in.

Phase was setting up his twin bed with black sheets and white designs on them of clouds. Solars was set up already by now and Solar was laying on his orange and brown themed bed. Umbra’s grey and purple bed was just finished up and Umbra was sitting on it uncomfortably.

“Yeah?” He asked back.

“I don’t…really know what I’m doing. I mean, I lost so much. I lost about a third of the time I’ve been active. What if I fall asleep charging tonight and I can’t wake back up again?” Umbra asked.

Solar sighed at this. Umbra was right, they had next to no idea if his AI would just simply shut off while he was sleeping and charging tonight. They had no idea if Phase would either. Solar didn’t even know if their charging cables were undamaged and were able to charge them yet because the charging cords they had were in the most vulnerable spots in their heads.

“Well, I guess you can bunk with me or Phase probably until that fear eases.” Solar told him.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.” Phase agreed. “I’m kinda worried about it too, honestly.”

“Both of you, come sit.” Solar demanded them, patting his bed. Both Phase and Umbra crawled onto Solar’s bed instantly and let him do whatever he was planning.

“I’m not gonna hurt you.” Solar assured them as he moved Umbra so Umbra’s back was facing him. Solar gently held wires out of the way and carefully freed Umbra’s charging cable.

Upon freeing the cable, Solar could see that something had clearly eaten through the charging wire and it wasn’t a safe wire anymore. But the wire wasn’t changable because of the machinery it was connected to. There was also significant damage both blunt force, gnawing, claw marks, and water damage to Umbra’s circuit board.

“Jesus fuck, Umbra. What got to you?” Solar asked.

“I don’t know. Is something damaged?” Umbra asked, trying not to move.

“A lot is damaged. You basically need a whole new circuit board.” Solar told him.

“But those aren’t replaceable.” Umbra tried not to move despite the fact that he was shaking.

“Alright, I was gonna do it for you both eventually anyway but now seems like a good time. I have the old bodies from two animatronics Fazbear never implemented here. I can move your AI to the new body and you won’t have any issues.” Solar assured him.

“You can?” Umbra asked.

“I can. Come on. Both of you. Because you’re not gonna make it a week if your charging cable is like this.” Solar told him, hooking his arms under Umbra’s arms and standing him up when Solar stood.

Solar led the two to Parts & Service, holding onto them as he went to assure himself they were still there, that they were real. This entire situation had felt unreal, honestly. But it was kinda of…nice to have people around who somewhat understood him.

“Alright, you go on the transfer table and I’ll get the body.” Solar told him, grabbing the Sky model. He placed it on the other transfer table, plugging the body into the transfer table.

“Okay. I’m gonna transfer your data and memory to the new body. It’s gonna feel spacey for a minute but you should wake up almost instantly.” Solar assured him.

“Okay. I’m trusting you.” Umbra told him as Solar carefully plugged Umbra into the table for the transfer.

“I’ll see you in a minute, Umbra.” Solar told him, pressing the button.

“Anyone want anything while I’m ouuuuuuuuu-“ Umbra asked as his eyelights faded until they went dark. It took a minute but the eyes in the Sky model opened up glowing and Umbra gave a groan, moving his head in his new body.

“Uh… hi again.” Umbra chuckled.

“Good morning.” Solar rolled his eyes.

“You made it!” Phase tackled Umbra with a hug.

“You’re next, Phase.” Solar reminded him.

“Awww, you love me giving me a new body too.” Phase teased. Solar couldn’t respond to that, what could he say even? ‘You’re a better brother than the one I have, I’m already attached’? He couldn’t admit that.

“Get on the table, Phasey.” Umbra told him. Solar smiled softly, hooking his arms under Umbra’s old body and lifting it off the table, placing it in a stasis tube for unused animatronics. When he came back, Umbra was helping plug Phase into the transfer table.

“You two are already two steps ahead, ain’t ya?” Solar asked.

“Yep. Seven, actually. I have the button up, we just need the new body.” Umbra told him.

“Oh god, there’s three smart ones now.” Solar sighed, picking up the Star model and placing it on the table with a sheet over its body, since Phase was wearing the Star model’s outfit currently. Solar plugged it in and looked to Phase, who Umbra poked on the nose.

“See you on the other side.” Phase teased Umbra as Solar pressed the transfer button. Phase woke up in the Star model’s body and gave a sigh as his eyes flickered their eyelights.

“Oh my god, the pain is gone.” Phase sighed out as he disconnected the transfer wire and sat up holding the blanket up over his chest. “Can you um…” Phase asked.

“Oh yeah, right.” Solar covered his eyes with his hand and turned around and Umbra shut off his optics given Phase would need help moving his old body to undress it.

“It’s safe now, Solar!” Phase told him a few minutes later. Solar turned back and Umbra was turning back on his optics. Phase’s old body was covered with the blanket now and Phase was fully dressed.

Umbra’s new model was a sun type with purples and grey integrated to it, two sets of four point rays with one bigger and one smaller. It looked like a dusky night sky. The pants were purple with grey diamonds on them in a polka dot pattern and his shirt had the same, his ruffles purple with grey stripes.

Phase’s new model was a sun type as well but monochromatic black and white. He had a double set of five point rays with one set smaller than the other. He was modeled after the constellations, all of them appearing in white on his black shirt and pants as its pattern. His black ruffles had white stripes on them.

Solar thought the models fit them quite well, actually. Sun types but their own ways of being a sun. The stars they had both desperately wanted at one point. A bit poetic if Solar thought about it.

“Alright, it’s past midnight now. We should charge to open tomorrow.” Solar told them as he put Phase’s old body into the stasis tube with the blanket around it. Both Umbra and Phase cheered and both bolted back toward the daycare together.

Solar rolled his eyes and followed them, finding them both in Solar’s bed giggling like kids as they plugged in to charge. They turned on the TV to Netflix and were looking around on it. Solar smiled and plugged himself in to lay with them, ending up with one on each shoulder as they’d picked The Addams Family.

Before long, Umbra and Phase were asleep and Solar sat up watching the two sleep. It felt good, actually. It felt right to have them here. It felt like they were more of brothers than Crescent and Corona were, they were nicer to have around than Crescent at the very least and there was no guilt of killing one of them like Corona.

Solar fell asleep holding Umbra and Phase to his shoulders, Phase snoring and drooling. Umbra was giving little noises in his sleep, Solar quietly sleeping and sleeping deeply for the first time in a while.

[spectralsleuth]

Candling

(A short preview for the post-movie/apocalypse fix-it fic I'm working on! As a consolation to all the 'Portal Panic' readers, since I'm putting it on hiatus! Love all you guys, I hope you end up enjoying what I come up with. This is WIP, obviously. The working title is 'FLIPSIDE'.)

“Leo, I swear to Gram-Gram, if you do not sit your ass down I will sit it down for you.” Raph threatened, from his seat at Donnie’s medical table. He wasn’t wearing anything but his patchwork canvas pants, red haramaki, and tattered mask. Sitting as he was, tail curled down and off of the industrial strength steel, Raph’s slightly stooped head still almost brushed against the vaulted ceiling, which was studded with rods of sunny yellow chemical lights and inactive bulbs of emergency lighting.

The lab stretched out an impressive distance, as long as a football field and shaped like the inside of a military hangar with its peaked roof, and thickly cabled bridge cranes stretching wall to wall down the length like the ribs of some dying carcass. Electricity hummed everywhere, even within the solid rock walls to either side, which were honeycombed with outgoing connections and wrist-thick cables going to every corner and cranny of the resistance base.

Donnie himself mostly used the front half of the lab, only retreating to the further wide open shop spaces when things needed to be fabricated, or repaired in one whole mass. Right now the back half of the lab was mostly empty- outside of a rack of plant growing projects thriving quietly under the light of a massive UV lamp, and a semi submersible all terrain vehicle that had been made useless by the drying of the oceans four weeks and two battles ago.

Leo held his hands up defensively at Raph’s growling, finally taking a seat on one of the rolling chairs, his feet tapping restlessly from the back heel all the way up to the knee, in an unreadable rhythm. “Yeesh, sorry. I’m just uh.” He scratched under his mask, over one of the double red stripes lining one cheek. “Nervous? I guess?”

“We’re all nervous.” Raph grumbled, shifting to pull a knee up, and brace himself with one heavily taloned hand. “But you pacing and making a mess of Donnie’s lab ain’t gonna help matters any. You’d think one a you idiots was the one having an egg.”

Mikey was hovering peaceably over their heads, swimming as gracefully through the air as any fish through water. It wasn’t always possible for him to fly so easily; but the thought of the day ahead, and the appointment they were all meeting for, had Mikey’s thoughts so happy and light that floating was easier than not at the moment. Leo was half tempted to tie a string to his ankle, and keep him from finding and floating his way up through the exhaust pipes and to the apocalypse-torn surface.

“Raph, one more time. Please.” Mikey asked sweetly, upside down and cape dangling enough that Raph was trying to snort it away from his face in annoyance, like a bull with a fly. “Just let me touch it, I know I can get something from it. My little nibling wants to tell me, we don’t need Donnie’s nasty ole camera-”

“Shut it Mikey; and keep your glowing little paws to yourself.” Raph pushed Mikey away with a hand that engulfed his entire head, and sent him bobbing away across the lab, affront written across his upside down face.

Mikey rumbled indignantly, like a small dog with a bone- and as he did, April, Donnie, and Casey entered the lab.

“WHERE’S MY SON?” Casey demanded, stomping in and giving Mikey’s head a shove as well. It was forceful enough to send him gently spinning back towards his brothers, cape dangling and tilting slightly on his axis.

“Ya don’t know it’s gonna be a boy.” Raph protested, as Leo rolled his chair quickly out of Casey’s way. “It could be a girl! Oh. A little girl turtle…” Raph started to look dewy eyed at the thought, and Casey made a retching noise.

“Don’t be gross! A mother always knows.” She said loftily, moving between Raph’s knees to crowd into the space there. There was plenty of room- even with the egg cradled carefully in one hand, balanced between his knees like a precious jewel, Raph could have fit five more Casey’s in the space she occupied.

Casey leaned up on her top toes and Raph obligingly tilted down to meet her, pressing a toothy kiss to her mouth.

“Now let me see him before one of these morons drops him.”

“Scoff. If you’re that worried about someone dropping it you should have let me make the prosthesis like I planned-“

“You’re not putting my baby in a robot, Donnie.” Raph warned easily, as Casey bundled the egg into her arms with feral eagerness. It was about eight inches across, perfectly round, and colored a delicate creamy yellow that was the same shade as the pinstripe lines on Leo’s throat and chin.

Leo was insufferable about it, even if he was too scared to hold the egg.

[vinetae]

Can you make a fic or story where jungkook is obsessed and can’t stop slapping the reader’s ass 😂 much love to you and your writing 🫶🏽

I love this lmao! I could totally see Kookie being such an ass lover.

You can pick it's tittle lmao.

UPDATE: I'm going to be writing another (better written) ACTUAL response. I apologize for this mess, it'll improve I promise.

Genre: Mature, a little smut because come on;

It's me.

___________________________________________________________

If there was one thing Jeon Jungkook would love to die under;

that'd be you.

Well, your bum anyways.

...

You'd been chatting with Hoseok, as the two of you stood in the frame of his doorway. You'd been here for a couple of hours already because Jungkook had forgotten -again- the routine for their upcoming release. So naturally, being Bangtan's ultimate Hip-Hop dancer, Hoseok showed the maknae a few moves, then it had been time to leave once more.

"How's Mina doing with her business? I heard she's made over one-hundred sales!" Hoseok nods, crossing his arms over his chest while leaning against the doorframe.

"Yep, bout to be 300 for this week alone. People sure do love lipsticks." You both chuckle at the conversation as Jungkook sneaks up behind you. He wraps your small frame in his big puffer jacket, squishing you to press against his chest.

"Jungkook, stop that.." You whine, trying to release yourself from his grasp. He hums in satisfaction, knowing damn well he's atleast 100 times stronger than you.

"No way jagiya." He leans down, brushing the pads of his lips across the shell of your ear. His tone hushed and shielded from his Hyung's notice.

"You've been teasing me with this sweet ass for one too many seconds."

You felt the palm of your hand reach between the space of you two, gripping your behind tightly in his palms.

You gasp at the motion, as Hoseok had been going on about his girlfriend's newly birthed lipstick business. You push back into his hand, knocking him backwards. "Stop doesn't mean keep going, Kook." You whisper, before turning your attention back to Hoseok.

Then next time this happened was when you were in the middle of trying to fix the TV's panel. Your head had been buried deep into the dark back of the TV's shadow, as your bum had been stupidly in perfect smacking position.

And that's exactly what Jungkook did.

One minute you'd by trying to figure out which HDMI cable hooked into what outlet, and the next your felt a large hand plant a firm smack to your ass. Your booty cut shorts hadn't been the smartest idea that day..

Jungkook stands up, admiring his sized red handprint forming on the plush of your ass. You whine at the sting, as you reach behind you, rubbing soothing circles into the raw flesh before trying to turn your attention back to the miss matched cables. You can hear Jungkook's deep chuckle echo through the living room.

"Wanting more, baby? Better hide this juicy ass from me-" He leans down, bending over your own frame before whispering into your left ear.

"Or i'll make your pretty ass match the color of santa's sleigh."

...

The third time had been during..

well...

sessy time.

"Yeahhh, baby. Fuck- taking all my cock- oh shittttt" He groans out, as one of his palms rests firmly on the round of your ass, as his free one had been applying harsh spankings to your bum for the last five minutes.

"Yeah that's right baby. You love it when I spank you like the dirty slut you are, huh? My little baby so naughty for me. Wanting to be punished? How dirty of you." He smirks, as his thrusts oppose the pattern of his spanks. You moan out, the sounds of your pleasure being drowned out from his black silk pillows. Your hands reach forward, trying to grip onto any sense of reality as he literally rocks your world.

"Fuuuuck! Oh shit baby! Gonna fucking c-cum!"

...

Yeah.

And here you are now, at a dinner meeting with his parents.

Need I remind you once more.

His parents.

As you both are faring them a goodbye, Jungkook's once again wrapped you in the -not so safety- of his black puffer jacket to protect you from the harsh winter winds.

When in reality he only did this so he could smack your ass lightly without any weird looks.

So while you're trying to talk to his parents as normal as possible, he's behind you making love taps against your arse.

But hey.

If it makes him happy, then it makes you happy.

If only his happiness didn't hurt so damn much...

______________________________________________________________

I hope this is what you were asking for! I couldn't decide if i wanted to do a general short story of just explaining little bits of Jungkook's obsession, or a whole fic. Guess you can tell what i went with XDD

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! <3

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || A Friend To All

Previous

"Seriously?" Natalia groaned, when the bike had broke down, on their way home.

"Give it a sec." He told her, trying to start it up, again, but had failed. "Alright, get off, sit there." He pointed at a spot on the ground, chucking her his poncho to sit on, whilst he got off, examining his bike.

Natalia folded it back up, sitting on the ground, hugging the poncho to her.

"Shit." He cursed, looking at the side.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Going for a walk." He nodded for Natalia to follow, which she did, eagerly getting up and joining his side as they walked along the woods.

"Fixable?"

"Hope so." He answered her, but shared no other info on his precious first born.

They had managed to reach an car, Daryl popped the lid, pulling out a connecting wire of sorts, he tossed that to the side, then grabbed another, but apparently that wasn't useful either, so he dropped the lid, moving over to a truck, with a bed.

He did the same thing, popping the hood and looking for something, but then he put down his bag, Natalia picked it up almost instantly, as she leaned against the truck, watching her husband as he crawled under it.

"No good?" She asked, when he came back up, empty handed.

"Nope." He replied, setting his sites on the next car, walking over to it.

She followed.

Daryl initially ignored the walker inside the car, popping the hood to look for whatever it was he needed, whilst Natalia pulled out a knife.

"Careful." Daryl glanced over at her, as she was about to open the door.

"Seriously?" She repeated the word.

"Of getting blood on yer cast, girls' go nuts if you ruin their art."

"Oh, yeah, right." She nodded, carrying on with opening the door, keeping her broken arm behind her back as she let the walker fall out of the car, reaching for her, she stood on it's back, bending down and stabbing it in the head. "No blood." She confirmed, wiping her knife on the walkers clothes, before standing straight.

"Nice going." He dropped the hood, climbing under the car and ripping out another wire. "Got it"

"Dream team." She applauded him, as they made their way back to where he left the bike.

Natalia sat back on the ground as he went to his bike, but then she watched as he checked his pockets, seeming to be trying to find something.

"What's up, baby?" She asked, standing up and going to his side.

"Ma tool chain." He told her. "Gave it to Bam last week, an' forgot to get it back."

"You gave our daughter your thingy?" Natalia asked.

"Hey, you gave Daisy a knife, she felt left out." He defended himself. "Alright, I need ya, come here." He grabbed Natalia by her beltloops, pulling her towards him. "Need ya to get yer smallest knife and then reach in there." He instructed, as she pull out a tiny switchblade from her sock.

"I don't know what I'm doing, Daryl." She told him.

"S'alright, I'll teach ya." He grabbed her hand. "Alright, need ya to get in there, y'see that wire?"

"Yeah."

"Cut it."

"For real?"

"Yeah, baby, you ain't gonna do much more damage to it."

"More?"

"Fine! Just cut, woman" He pressed.

"Don't yell at me!" She told him, cutting the wire.

"I ain't yelling, you're yelling." He kept his voice the same calm level.

"Okay, I got it." She said, pulling it out.

"There ya go, now y'needa replace it."

"Why can't you do this? It's getting dark, soon"

"You got smaller hands then me. 'Sides, you can tell Bambi you fixed up ma bike."

"Why's that matter?"

"Cause, girls can do everything boys can." He shrugged. "Kids look up ta you, an' she likes bikes."

"Fine, pass it here." She put her hand out expectantly, and he placed the cable in her hand.

Daryl held up the torch, when it got dark, as he talked her through fixing up his bike.

"Done." She called, taking a step back.

"Alright." Daryl rubbed his hands together, mounting the bike. "Do me a favour and trade that in for my tool chain, with Bammy."

"Good luck kiss." Natalia said quickly, kissing him before he started it.

"Good luck kiss?" He raised his brows.

"Yeah, and so you'll be less mad when I've totally fucked it."

"You ain't fucked it." He sighed, kicking down on the pedal, and nodded when it roared to life. "Didn't fuck it." He grabbed her face, kissing her roughly before patting down his bike with love. "Come on, let's go home."

It was early in the morning when they returned, Dog was the first to greet them, running to Natalia first.

"Hi, boy! Hey, boy, I missed you!" She petted him, as he gave kisses, jumping up at her. "Did you miss me, too, yeah, you did, you're such a good boy."

"Mom." Evie interrupted, Archie was on her hip, the twins following, quickly.

"Hey, where's the others?" Natalia asked.

"Here, take him, Mom." Evie diverged her father from taking the baby, passing him to their mother. "Jude and RJ are with Uncle Aaron, an' Lydia's helping out, everything's nearly fixed."

"There a reason you look so tense?" Daryl asked.

"Yep!" Evie slapped a hand over Daisy's mouth, quickly.

"Look, just remember that you were both gone for two days, and I'm only seventeen, but... uh, and that you're carrying Archie."

"Evie, just spit it out." Natalia told her, adjusting Archie in her arms.

"Okay, I just wanna make sure you're gonna stay calm, and not freak out."

"Aunt Carol ripped out the wall!" Daisy burst, pulling Evie's hand away from her mouth.

"What?" Natalia's tone was almost thunderous.

"Way to go, big mouth!" Evie glared at her little sister.

"There was a rat." Bambi supplied.

"Couldn'a killed the rat?" Daryl asked.

"She tried trapping it, but then it ran away" Daisy put her hands up. "So now our walls gone."

"But the new guy and Negan are helping fix it, but they're having a break." Bambi added.

Natalia held Daryl's arm, gripping it tightly.

"Daryl, you better fix this. She was banned from the house, and now our wall is gone."

"I will." He sighed. "I'll fix it."

"Woah, Daddy, is that a deer?" Daisy gaped at the animal.

"Yeah, yer Mom shot it."

"Hear that, Bam, Mommy's gonna shoot you next." Daisy leered.

"Mommy!" She shrieked, running away from her sister, who chased her.

"Daisy, stop taunting yer sister." Daryl told her, "Both of you can help me get this to inventory to portion up for everybody."

"I don't wanna." Bambi complained. "It makes me sad."

"Go with your father." Natalia told her.

"Can I use my knife?" Daisy asked.

"Yup."

"Natalia!" Turns out the new guy and Negan had returned to fix her wall. "You're back, awesome."

"Do what you came here to do." She told the man, who took the hint, entering her kitchen through the garage door.

"I can stay." Daryl told her, deeply disappointing Daisy.

"If you guys are staying, I'm gonna go find Gage." Evie let them know.

"Make good decisions." Natalia told her.

"Yeah, I don't want you hanging out with him, alone." Daryl added.

"So, the opposite of you and Dad, got it. By the way, Mom, that's disgusting, you have children." Evie pointed at her own neck.

Natalia covered her throat, at her daughters judgy stare, whilst the twins were trying to get a look.

"What's wrong with Mommy's neck?" Bambi asked.

"Don't worry about it, girls you and Daddy are gonna go sort out that deer, alright, right, Daryl?"

"Naw, I was thinking-" He shook his head, looking at the garage.

"You are" Natalia cut him off, nodding.

"I can use this!" Bambi held up her new toy, given to her by her father.

"Gimme that, you can have this, instead." She took it out of Bambi's hand, tossing it to Daryl, and exchanging it for an identical knife to Daisy's, she wasn't giving up her switchblade cause he fucked up. "Alright. Go."

"Nat-"

"Don't make me repeat myself, I said go." She stared at him.

"Dad, come on, or Mommy's gonna put you in the naughty corner." Daisy tugged her father along, Bambi helping.

"I don't got a naughty corner, you do." He corrected, with an attitude at being told off.

"Oh yeah, go tell Mommy you're not gonna do what she says." The six year old challenged.

"No." He grumbled.

"That's what I thought."

"How much longer are you both gonna be doing this for?" Natalia asked, heading towards the garage.

"Well, considering Carol knocked it all out, a while." Negan answered, waving at Archie, who waved his own little hand.

"You're Nat, right?" The other man, Cole asked.

"Natalia, hi." She greeted with a polite smile.

"Who's this lil guy?"

"This is Archie, my youngest." She introduced the baby, swiping at his cheek.

"With Dixon?" He raised a brow.

"Yes, he is my husband." She fake laughed.

"Right, you guys meet before of after?" He continued with the questions.

"Before, yeah, we were together a long time before all this shit went down, who'd think that we're still very much in love."

"And they're all... his kids." Cole didn't let up, not noticing the strange look Negan was giving the pair of them.

"Excuse me?" She tried to stay positive, whilst she held her son.

"Don' get me wrong, that's a Dixon." He pointed at Archie. "But all of them? I just find it hard to believe that a woman like you managed to put up with a guy like that, for so long, I mean, you're just way out of anyone's league, here, most of all, that guy."

Natalia's kind expression dropped.

"You can put that down and get out of my house." She told him. "The both of you."

"We ain't finished." Cole said.

"That's alright, my husband will finish it, he's quite good at that, exceptional, really." It was low, but Natalia could never help herself.

"Let's go." Negan patted the man on the back, but there was a little force behind it.

"Whatever." He sighed, "See ya lil Archie."

"Bye-bye." The boy waved.

"See ya around, Natalie." He then left her property, returning back to wherever Maggie's people were staying.

Natalia's eyes raised to Negan and his tall stature.

"You've gotten better." He told her. "You don't twirl your hair when you lie, anymore, guess you got him to thank for that." Negan pointed at Archie.

"If people could leave me and my marriage alone, there'd be no reason to lie."

He smirked at that.

"Nat. -"

"Natalia." She cut him off.

"Alright, Natalia. I was hoping you could do me a favour."

"And why the hell would I do that?" She asked.

"Out of the kindness of your heart... the fact I've saved your kids life, helped save your life last week."

"You got a lot to make up for."

"Look, all I'm asking for, is that you put in a good word for your friend Maggie, I ain't the same man she knew, get her to let it go."

Natalia stared at him in silence, and as he patiently waited for a response, he was met with her fist against his nose, a sharp crack filled the quiet air.

"Glenn was a good man, and he would of been the best father there ever was, he hadn't even done a handful of bad in his whole life, and you butchered him, in front of his pregnant wife and his family, you tell me about your wife and you attempt to make me feel pity for you, the best thing that ever happened to your wife was that she died from cancer. You could spend your whole life trying to make up for what you've done, and it still would never be enough. Don't ever talk to me as though we are ever equal to one another, or are you forgetting what you put me through? Now get the fuck out of my house."

Negan held his bleeding nose as he sighed in defeat, waving bye to the baby as he left. Natalia looked across the road, meeting eyes with Maggie Greene, and her son Hershel Jr, a small smirk on her face.

Natalia nodded at her before walking further into her house.

Two weeks had passed, Natalia had been able to get her stitches cut out, as well as her cast taken off. Her hair covered the scar along her hairline, and the one along her cheek was not as bad as she had been expecting, she was also told that she was lucky with how her arm had healed, that if she kept up the Physio Therapy exercises, it would be good as new.

Daryl had found an army base that a group would be exploring once he made the plans, Maggie would be joining them, and Natalia had been relieved of the bench.

And in other news, Carol had personally banished Negan from Alexandria, after being the one to bail him out in the first place, though, like most things regarding Carol and Negan, Natalia hadn't taken it lightly when Carol had revealed that she had housed the man in their old cabin, forever ruining the home they spent three years in.

But his exile hadn't lasted long, not at all.

Considering the fact that the man had waltzed towards the Alexandrian gates, setting his sites on Maggie, Natalia, Carol, Daryl and Hershel, all stood around supplies, as they made arrangements for the excursion.

"Oh, what the fuck." Natalia sighed.

"Language." Hershel told her.

Daryl let out a small snort.

"Sorry, kid." Natalia winced.

Carol shared a look with the three adults, before walking ahead, to go talk with the largely hated man.

"Nose still looks messed up." Maggie commented, quietly.

"Good. Maybe it'll teach him to keep it out of my business." Natalia glanced at her.

"Where's the A-Team off to?" They overhead Negan ask.

"Looking for food at an army base Daryl found." Carol answered him. "If we find anything, I'll bring some by your cabin."

“Your cabin.” Natalia cruelly mocked.

Then he spoke to her quietly, so soft that they weren't able to eavesdrop, anymore.

"What the fuck is she up to, they're smiling." Natalia sounded frustrated.

"Ahem." Hershel cleared his throat.

"Alright, kid, the earth ain't gonna collapse." Natalia patted his cap.

He nodded at Carol, walking further in Alexandria, turning to smirk at the two women as he ventured into their home.

Daryl had been in charge of his army base mission, which meant he called the shots.

"We're ready." Natalia held his side, sharing the view he had been fixated on as they prepped to go in through the skylight into a pit of sleeping walkers, that were mostly made of bones and dust.

"You don' gotta go down." Daryl said.

"No, but I want to, seems fun." She smiled.

"Y'need a hobby." He told her.

"We are taking care of seven kids, this is my hobby."

"Should try knitting."

"Come on, you can do the honours of being in charge of my rope."

"Like I'd let anyone else do it." He grumbled as they walked towards the others.

Maggie, Natalia, Rosita, Kelly, Magna, Lydia and Carol were the ones to be hoisted down.

"Don't die." Daryl told Natalia, as he made sure the rope around her waist was secure.

"Not gonna." She brushed her lips against his.

"Let's do this." Rosita winked at her, exchanging a low high-five. "Gonna be fun."

"Yer both messed up."

"And looking for a great time." Daryl pinched Natalia's waist at that comment.

The women had been lowered silently and carefully, to the ground, in order not to wake any of the walkers.

Only one seemed to be stirring, groaning to itself in the dark.

They turned, spotting a door, and Natalia signalled that was their location, it was just a matter of tiptoeing over the bodies, without accidently tripping.

Natalia looked up, nodding at her husband, with a small smile, before venturing on.

Magna, the skilled woman that she is, was the one to pick the lock, whilst the others stood guard.

Carol looked around at the weapons that lay on the floor, whilst they stood there, with a look back, she was met with unapproving stares an shaking heads, from Maggie and Natalia, wasn't worth the risk.

When the padlock clanged open, Magna held her breath as they searched for movement, but when there was none, they carried on.

They entered a hallway, walking towards the last room, an Inventory, Maggie and Natalia stayed guard whilst Magna and Kelly took out the two walkers on the floor, that had still been asleep, then they scavenged.

The next part of the plan was relaying the bags back up, using their ropes that they were brought down by.

It was going great, until the rope Alden was pulling up decided to snap, sending the bag down, but Daryl was quick enough to catch it, ripping his arm open in the process.

As though it were happening in slow-motion, a drop of blood dripped down his arm, landing on the face of an asleep walker, that was now.... not so asleep.

As the walker growled itself awake, the noise and movement had stirred the others to wake up from their coma.

Natalia drew her knives as the others drew their bows, Lydia was quick with her stick and Rosita with her spiked knife.

Natalia jumped to action, kicking and pelting her knives into their heads.

And then gunshots started, glancing around she looked at Carol and Maggie, as they shot at walkers.

"Hey, I want one of those!" She called.

"Go!" Carol called, as Lydia and Kelly got hoisted up.

"No fun." She grumbled, attaching herself as she was lifted back into the sky with the others.

Carol was the last to come up, but in usual Carol fashion, she had spotted something that caught her eye, unclipping herself to go after it, the others had to pitch in to help before she could come back.

"You okay?" Natalia asked Daryl, checking his arm, when everyone was back up safely.

"M'fine." He kissed her hair. "You alright?"

"Always." She smiled. "No one died, and we got what we needed, mission accomplished.”

When they made their way back to Alexandria, with a bag full of food, they were greeted with the small Grimes and Dixon kids,

"Mommy!" The twins cheered.

"Yeah, I survived, too." Daryl commented, as he hugged Judith and RJ.

"My babies, awee, I missed you." Natalia squeezed her girls peppering kisses on their cheeks.

"Dadda." Archie stretched his hands up to be picked up when they stood, again.

"Least he still cares." Daryl grumbled at the twins, picking up the boy.

"Dad, Archie bit, again." Daisy told him.

"What?" Natalia asked. "Who?"

"RJ" Judith answered. "But it wasn't bad, see, he's not even bleeding."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one he bit." RJ told her.

"Sorry, 'bout that bud." Daryl told him, checking Archies gums, whilst Natalia examined RJ's arm. "Ow! Sonava bitch, bit me too." Daryl shook his hand, away from where Archie had just bit his finger.

"Daryl, you wanna repeat what you just said?" Natalia asked, taking Archie out of his hold.

"Son of a- M'sorry." He mumbled. "But he bit me."

"He's a baby."

"Archie can do no wrong in Mommy's eyes." Daisy scoffed to the other kids, Bambi giving an eyeroll.

"He's only little." Judith excused.

"Archie, say sorry." Natalia said expectantly. "That wasn't very nice. Sorry?"

"Sorry." Archie pouted, looking down as he grabbed at Natalia's hair.

"Noo, can you say sorry to Daddy?" Natalia poked the man, speaking gently to her son.

"Sorry, Dadda."

"And give kiss?" She poked Daryl's cheek.

Archie reached over, kissing his fathers cheek, and he responded, kissing him back.

"Good boy, now can you say sorry to RJ?" Natalia put him down in front of the other boy. "For biting him."

"Sorry, AreGee."

"And give your cousin a hug?" The baby hugged the boy, and RJ hugged him back.

"That's okay, Archie."

"Good boy." Natalia picked him up again. "And you're not gonna bite again, are you?"

The baby shook his head.

"Good, or the next time that you bite someone, I will bite you, and Mommy doesn't want to do that, because that's not kind, got it?"

Archie responded by giving Natalia a kiss, and wiggling for his father to hold him, again.

"There, settled. Parenting." Natalia mini bowed to her twins.

They weren't massively thrilled, when they had to report to an council meeting that day, but alas, they suffered, together.

"One week." Gabriel explained the food shortage, to them, after witnessing the fight that was breaking out between the people.

"That's it? In that last run, just a week?" Daryl asked.

"We can make it work." Aaron was in deep thought.

"How? We just took in two new communities." Carol started. "We have no crops, no back stock."

"We can get there. Got people out there right now, scavenging houses for materials" Aaron continued.

"And they're slowing down. It's a little hard to put up a wall with broken tools and an empty stomach."

"Our people are good hunters. Frost and I could take a group out." Agatha, one of Maggie's people, volunteered.

"Ground's all spent. The last big horde scared all the animals away." Daryl broke the news to them.

"Yeah, we struggled enough just bringing that deer back, like, two weeks ago." Natalia commented, twirling her hair.

"We can find new territory." Daryl suggested.

"We don't have time. We need food. Lots of it. Now." Gabriel shot him down.

It was silent, for a moment, before Maggie broke it.

"I know one more place. The place I lived before this. Where we lived." She looked to her people. "Meridian. It's got plenty of food, water, crops, and animals."

"Yeah, and now it's gone." Elijah reminded.

"So, what happened out there?" Rosita asked.

"We were on a mission. Leading walkers away. Duncan, Agatha, and Frost took the last shift at the front of the herd. Going miles out. I circled back with Elijah and Cole. On the way back home, things kept going sideways and we got stuck out on the road. Looking back now, I don't think that was an accident. All of a sudden, we heard these screams in the distance. We raced back home. But it was too late. Most of our people had been slaughtered. And the rest of us barely got away with our lives. The people that attacked us... we only knew two things about them. They come at night, and by the time you see them, you're already dead. That was before we caught one."

She looked at Daryl, which made Natalia look at Daryl, he did what?...

"Daryl was with me. He came after us alone. Why? Because there aren't that many of them. They're at Meridian now. There's plenty of food to feed Alexandria 'til we get this place back up and running again. That's why they took it. We just need to take it back."

"So... you're leaving to fight ghosts. That's the plan?" Aaron asked her.

"You have a better one?"

"Shore up Alexandria, for starters. The walls are not stable. Walkers will get inside. That's not if, it's when. Alexandria needs us."

"This is for Alexandria. My son is here. I have skin in the game, too."

"Yeah, but if they slaughtered everyone once, what the hell makes this situation any different?" Rosita questioned.

"Duncan, Agatha, and Frost are Meridian's best fighters, and now I have them. And hopefully, some of you, too."

Daryl and Natalia shared a look, she reached to him, linking her index finger with his.

"Maggie, this sounds like a suicide mission." Rosita sighed, not convinced at all.

"Well, if we don't have food, it's not gonna matter, anyway." Daryl let go, standing up. "I'll go. Anybody else?"

Gabriel was the only one of their people to volunteer.

"Natalia?" Maggie looked at her, speaking quietly, as though they were having a private conversation. "Please. We could really use having you on our team."

She sighed, glancing at her husband, then Rosita. Before making a decision.

“Would you watch the kids?”

“Of course” Rosita nodded at her.

"Fuck it." She sighed. "What's one more bed-time story to tell the kids."

Daryl ruffled her hair, as they left the building, ready to head off to Meridian, to fight ghosts.

Next

[udekai]

MattFoggy 27?

27.) Things you said through a closed door

Matt hesitates before knocking. He's standing in the hallway with a grocery bag on his wrist and more under his eyes. He has a spare key in his pocket, but Foggy had left the office with a melodrama he didn't usually manage, and he doesn't want to assume that he's welcome at the moment.

For once, it's not his fault.

This case has been killing all of them, one by one. Karen excuses herself three times a day to get angry at everyone involved. It's a disgusting use of copyright law; Mrs. Clark lost her son in May, who was an illustrator. Before he passed, he made some beautiful drawings for his mother, but the contract he had signed meant they belonged to the company. They wanted to keep the prints in their vault for their own use.

Mrs. Clark was willing to pay. She shouldn't. She would, though, to keep some memories of her son. They wouldn't even let her have that.

Foggy had the floor today, and he stammered; he let the cold, dead eyes of the bailiff intimidate him, and he dropped the ball. It was a rough tumble from there, and they'd be lucky to settle.

He wasn't happy.

Matt isn't much good at this; He's never found the right things to say to make failure feel better, because nobody else has, either. He knocks anyway.

"Leave it in front of the door," Foggy groans.

Matt sighs.

"It's me."

There's a beat of silence.

"I'm fine, Matt."

When Matt lies about being fine, he tries to make it convincing. Foggy does no such thing. He says it in a way that implies he'll prove how fine he is by biting him. Matt is not well-known for his sense of self-preservation.

"I know," he replies. "Can I come in, anyway?"

A shuffle. A couple of footsteps. And then a little thud on the door as Foggy bonks his head against it.

"I don't want to be an asshole, Matt, but I really just want to... sit down. For a while. Y'know?"

"Alone?" he asks.

There is another beat of silence.

"You're not the only one gets brooding time, Murdock. I can brood. I can brood hard."

Matt's already smiling, but he feels it widen from something sad into amusement.

"I can tell. You're knocking me out of the park here."

"I... Can you do court without me? Tomorrow?"

This coming from the guy who wiped the floor with Matt in college debates.

"Maybe. I don't want to, though."

"I just don't know if I can look her in the eyes, man," Foggy says. He doesn't bother raising his voice to speak through the door. He knows Matt can hear him.

Matt drops his head into the wood right where he knows Foggy's is on the other side, and knows he can feel it. The jokes aren't working, and Foggy blames himself. Even these little hiccups of self-doubt make Matt feel like he needs to extol his every virtue in front of a crowd, assuming he could even list all of them before he ran out of breath and died.

"C'mon Fogs," he begs, frustrated. "It's one slip-up. How many times have you ever actually made a mistake in court?"

"This one's kind of a doozy, Matt," he bites back.

It was. Matt couldn't deny that. He switches strategies.

"We're partners, right?"

"Obviously. It says so on the sign," Foggy replies, more tired than annoyed.

"And partners let partners into their apartment to eat ice cream and figure out how to fix the case?"

There's a scoff of laughter. The door shakes a little with it.

"You seriously brought me ice cream?"

Matt grins. Every time he wins him over, he feels like the biggest hotshot on the planet.

"Yeah," he says. "With the little chemically-brownie bits in it. I'm standing in a puddle of thawed condensation, by the way."

The door wrenches open, and Matt has to jerk away from it before his body weight goes with it.

"Lead with that! Jesus, my landlord's gonna have my ass on the wall."

Foggy drags Matt in by the front of his shirt, and he lets himself be herded out of the hallway.

They spend the evening watching awful movies that still get aired on cable, eating ice cream, and pouring over case files in rotating shifts. Foggy's warmer with him than Matt can ever remember, and it feels easy.

They win the case by a landslide.

_

Thank you for the prompt :D

[whatwooshkai]

OC drabble because I'm mentally unwell about them. yeah

Quint looks up over the data pad. Baz is staring at him from the doorway, his yellow and blue optics glowing bright in the dark room. He drops his helm back against the pillows on the berth. "I'm not entertaining this. Go away."

Baz tilts his helm, the strange haziness of his field wafting over Quint- a telltale sign he's having one of his moments. His pedesteps are nearly silent, but Quint knows his conjunx better than that. So he forces himself back into a slightly propped up position, watching Baz creep towards him.

"What do you want this time?" Quint asks aloud, noting the lack of drawn blades. Sometimes talking helps. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes he isn't sure Baz can hear him at all. "Not to fight, clearly. You would've already pounced. Based on where we are and what you're doing, you're gonna try and push me. Which you know how much I hate, but it still never seems to stop your weird feral alter ego."

Weird feral alter ego Baz doesn't answer, just crawls onto the berth beside him. He pulls his limbs in close. Quint knows what's coming next.

The firetruck drops the datapad beside him, bracing himself. "It's pretty late, if you set my sirens off Quicksilver'll be pissed-"

Baz pounces.

When Baz is being normal, sometimes Quint will let him drag his claws across his frame. Through some sort of strange intuition, he always knows exactly where all the most sensitive places to press or stroke on the firetruck's frame are- even places he himself didn't know were sensitive. It's fine when Baz is being normal, because he's gentle and sweet and never goes far, but when he's like this-

Weird feral alter ego Baz straddles Quint's hips, shoving his claws in between the plating of his torso, right to the spots just below his chassis.

Quint vents harshly, grabbing Baz's forearms as he stifles an embarrassing noise, squeezing his optics shut. Calm. Down. Don't give him the reaction he wants.

Easier said than done, as Baz digs his claws into the protoform, and Quint has to divert half his attention to making sure his sirens don't go off. But still, he continues to tamp down the urge to throw Baz off him and does his best to just. Stay. Still.

Baz, frustration pulsing through his hazy field, pulls his claws back to instead dig his thumbs into the spaces just above Quint's pelvis. The firetruck swallows another noise, cracking his optics open.

His conjunx's optics meet his own, wide and unfocused. Then his back hits the berth, hard, as Baz presses their chest together and bites down on the sensitive cables of his neck.

Quint snaps his battle mask shut to stifle the noise, but it seems to do the trick, and Baz doesn't linger any longer and sits back over Quint's hips.

Baz's expression is painfully neutral for a moments, his hazy field suddenly swirling. His wide optics flash, his helm tilts, and it's like a switch is flipped.

"Oh, Primus," Baz says, quickly freeing Quint and stumbling back over the edge of the berth. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Quint mutters, feeling very much not fine. "You?"

"You're bleeding," Baz says, staring helplessly at Quint's battle mask, which he keeps stubbornly shut. There's blood on his claws, and leaking slightly from Quint's torso plates. "Let me clean you up."

"No need," Quint says quickly, wracking his processor to try and figure out the best way to tell his conjunx to please refrain from touching him any more, even though the moment is over.

"You're going to get blood on the sheets," Baz points out, swinging his legs over the edge of the berth. "...please?"

"Fine," Quint mumbles, trailing behind his conjunx as he leads him to the washracks.

He really wishes there was a better way to do this. He hates being touched after this, but Baz needs the reassurance, needs to "fix" it. And then he'll want to cuddle. And Quint... needs to figure out a better way to do this.

"I'm sorry," Baz says as he dabs away at the blood coagulating on Quint's torso plates. "I really am, I really don't mean to-"

"I know," Quint says with a vent. He knocks on Baz's helm, earning him a frown. "Just a side effect of having your processor scrambled, I get it. But it didn't last as long this time, and you weren't as rough. Little wins, yeah?"

Baz doesn't look convinced, optics drifting over to Quint's neck, where there's no doubt a noticeable bite mark. "...I guess."

They fall into easy silence.

When they collapse back into berth, Quint wraps his arms around Baz and holds him close, despite the way his lines crawl at every point of contact. Baz vents out, content overtaking all the negativity in his field.

Quint keeps his tucked tight to his frame.

I need to find a better way to do this.

[misslisamiray]

Time for Chapter 8 of Down With the Rickness!

Morty has, at least for the time being, finally convinced Rick to give up on tying to get rid of his cold through highly dangerous scientific experiments. Now it's time for our favorite dysfunctional duo to take it easy and relax watching Interdimensional Cable.

What, you think I'm lying and that's not what's going to happen? That I'm adding another issue to make poor Rick's day even worse? Well, maybe. Why not read what's below the cut and find out for yourself?

A few moments later, they were back in the living room. More worn out than he cared to admit from the struggle in the garage, Rick immediately collapsed onto the couch, dropping the trash can that he’d once again brought with him onto the floor.

“You just relax and get comfortable, and I’ll find us something to watch on good ol’ Interdimensional Cable. We’re gonna, gonna have a real easy day the rest of the day. You’ll see.” Morty said cheerfully, grabbing the remote. Rick mumbled something unintelligible in response. Whether he was agreeing, arguing, or trying to suppress another coughing fit, Morty wasn’t sure.

“I know it sucks that you’re sick. But try to look on the bright side. It gives us a perfect excuse to just, kinda hang out together but not really have to do anything. It’s been a while. Rick and Morty, taking the day off, y’know?”

“Uh-huh. Just hurry up and find something. *Cough!*” Rick grumbled, stretching out more and shoving a throw pillow under his head. Morty turned on the TV to find loud, black & white static. No big deal. Next station. This one had wavy lines in varying shades of gray instead. Morty flipped the channel again, this time finding pink static with almost no sound.

“Huh. Well, I mean… infinite channels from infinite realities. At any given time, some are bound to be having technical difficulties, right? Kinda weird it’s three in a row. Haven’t seen that happen before. But I’m sure it’s fine!” Morty muttered, trying to ignore the bad feeling he had about this. Rick eyed the set suspiciously. Morty continued to flip through channels, only to find something wrong with each one. Some had static, others wavy lines, and a handful were badly pixelated. Most had either no sound or static noise, but some garbled words came through on a few.

“Coming soon: the sequel no one asked for, but everyone is getting!” Click. Silent black and white static. Click. Wavy green lines.

“Previously on our recap edition of the special edition of Soap Opera Summaries…” Click. Wavy pink lines. Click. A solid blue, silent screen. Click.

“New and improved, it’s Plumbus 2.0!” Click. Solid black screen with a faint hissing noise. Click. Red static accompanied by a horrible high-pitched noise. Morty flipped through the channels even faster, but still couldn’t find one coming in properly.

“Ummm…” he worried, shaking the remote in the vain hope that would do something.

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” Rick said gruffly, dragging himself off the couch and over to the TV. He sat on the floor and grabbed the cable box. After studying it for a moment, he said, “Dammit, the quarantine forcefield interfered with the signal, just like I thought. Can I get one fucking break today?!”

“Oh. Can you fix it?” Morty asked timidly.

“Of course I can fix it, Morty. Hmmm. Besides the signal getting jammed, this crystal’s nearly worn out. So, I would’ve had to do this in like, a few more weeks max, anyway. *Cough!* Would’ve rather dealt with it then, but it’s whatever. At least this should be a quick fix.”

Rick tossed the worn-out crystal aside and pulled a similar, but not identical one from a pocket. It took a minute, since this crystal didn’t fit properly, but he managed to jam it into the cable box. Seeing that did nothing to improve the wavy picture on the TV screen, he scowled and tried to lift the top off the box.

Morty watched closely – there was something very off about Rick’s attempt to fix the cable box. Aside from the crystal not being right and him apparently not noticing that, he seemed unsure how to open the thing. Morty couldn’t understand why he wasn’t either smashing it against the floor like when he’d first installed the Interdimensional Cable or taking it apart with the array of tools built into his hands.

“Come on. Work already!” Rick muttered under his breath, shaking his right hand and trying to produce a screwdriver. Nothing happened. He punched the box with his left hand. Still no tools appeared, but at least he’d hit it hard enough to make the top of the cable box pop open.

“Rick, are your implants not working right because of your cold? Is this like, a thing that happens when you have a fever?” Morty asked hesitantly as he realized what was going on.

“Christ, is it that obvious?” Rick groaned, pausing his attempt to fix the cable box.  

“Kinda, yeah. But also just sort of a lucky guess. I mean, you’re the one who said your temperature sensor things weren’t working, and it looks like you’re having sort of a hard time over there. But it wouldn’t be… as obvious to someone who didn’t know you like I do, if that’s what you meant.” Morty said. That got a heavy, disgusted sigh from Rick, who was getting some tools out from his labcoat pockets.

“Rick, you know it’s not a big deal if you can’t fix the cable today, right?”

“I can fix it, and I’m gonna! *Cough!* *Cough!* Fucking hell, Morty. It’s not like I’m on my deathbed here. A few of my implants malfunctioning a little doesn’t mean I can’t function at all, you know!” Rick snapped as he went back to tinkering with the cable box. He spent a few minutes tightening some screws and loosening others. This did nothing to improve the waves on the TV screen. Rick’s scowl deepened as he looked back and forth between the cable box and TV set.

“Hmmm. Maybe…this?” he asked himself, snipping a blue wire with a small pair of pliers. This produced a few sparks, but no improvements to the picture. Rick snipped a few more wires, one red and one yellow, then crossed the three of them together. This resulted in considerably more sparks, hotter than the first ones.

“Oww! Dammit, I thought that would work!” he complained, jumping back about a foot.

“Uh-huh. You okay? Or at least, not less okay than you already were?” Morty asked.

“Yeah. But that should have worked! Maybe if I just…”

“Rick, no. Whatever you’re gonna try, save it for when you’re thinking a little clearer, please. For now, you should stop before you electrocute yourself. More than you just did.”

“Even if the stupid forcefield messed up the signal, that should *SNIFF!* have been resolved once it was down. Changing the crystal didn’t do anything, either. Hmmm. I might need to check something on the *Cough!* roof.” Rick mused, completely ignoring Morty. He started to get up but stumbled and fell.

“Absolutely not. Rick, you can’t even stand up. You’re not going on the fucking roof! And, and if you try, well… I won’t take your blankets away again, but I will do my best to turn them into a strait jacket. Got it?” Morty said sternly. Rick rolled his eyes.

“I can too stand up, Morty. I just don’t want to right now. But fine, no roof. It’s not like I really wanna do that, either.” he grumbled in an attempt to save face. He haphazardly put the cable box back together, then threw the whole thing back into place. Suddenly, there was a picture on the screen.

“There was a 3 car accident this morning on the corner of First and Main. Be advised that this is causing traffic jams in all directions.” a bored sounding reporter droned, adding with slightly more enthusiasm, “And now here’s Janet with the weather.”

“Wasn’t this morning’s sunrise beautiful, folks? It was truly one for the record books. I hope you all enjoyed it, because we’re getting nothing but rain for the next 10 days. If you missed it, well, sucks to be you!” a pretty redhead announced. Her voice remained perky and energetic even when it was contradictory to what she was saying.

“Like I *Achoo!* needed you to tell me that.” Rick groused, searching in his pockets for something again.

“Let’s see what else is on.” Morty suggested as he changed the channel. The next station had an infomercial for tires. Ordinary tires, shown on a variety of ordinary cars. Not one spaceship or tire with retractable razor blades in sight. Next station – golf. Morty couldn’t help noticing that all the golfers looked human, and not one golf club was turning into a weapon or flying away. He flipped through a few more channels, all equally boring and surprisingly… terrestrial. Settling on a fishing show, Morty had a realization.

“Rick, you didn’t fix Interdimensional Cable, but it looks like you at least got the regular TV working again. That might have to be good enough for today.”

“Yeah, fine. Whatever. Works for me. Ugh. Morty, weren’t you supposed to get me more blankets if I agreed to leave the garage? I held up my end of the bargain, soooo…” Rick agreed. With some effort, he got up again and dragged himself back to the couch, settling into a corner. He finally found the handkerchief he’d been searching for and blew his nose again.

“Oh, right. You still can’t get warm, huh?” Morty asked, his concern growing again. He noticed Rick shiver a little as he adjusted the three blankets he currently had.

Equally annoyed by Morty’s question and the chills that wouldn’t go away, he answered, “Obviously not, no. So maybe do something about it instead of *Cough!* standing there? ‘Every blanket in the whole damn house’ is probably overkill, but don’t, don’t be stingy with them, either.” Rick could hear the whininess in his voice and hated it. He hoped Morty didn’t notice.

“I won’t. Just stay here, and I’ll be back in a few minutes. You need anything else, Rick?” Morty was, with good reason, clearly reluctant to leave the room.

“*SNIFF!* More tissues. I’d forgotten just how much extra mucus the human body makes when infected with a cold virus. Eww. This is gross. I mean, it’s kind of impressive. But still gross. You wanna see?” Rick replied. He stared at the contents of his used handkerchief with a mix of disgust and scientific curiosity.

“No thank you! Trust me, I’m good. Okay, blankets and tissues. Tissues and blankets. Got it. B-R-B.” Morty kept looking over his shoulder as he left the room. Rick studied the handkerchief for a few more seconds before deciding there was no saving it and tossing it into the trashcan. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, half listening to the man on TV list facts about trout.

“When was the last time I got sick, anyway? Obviously not counting being hungover or poisoned. Sure, I’ve died a handful of times. Of the actual bones left in my body that I haven’t replaced with titanium, there’s maybe two that have never been broken at this point. No, wait. One. *COUGH!* But actually catching a virus from some random person? And a lameass, Earth-originating virus at that? The last time was definitely before I moved in with the family. Like, a lot before. Maybe after one of the times I pulled Morty out of kindergarten or first grade for a day?” Rick said to himself. He took a drink from his flask, grateful he’d remembered to refill it before starting on his recent failed experiment.

Putting it away and closing his eyes, he continued, “Elementary schools are basically dirty, oversized petri dishes. I remember that from when Beth was little. Shit, I remember it from when I was little. Some things don’t change, I guess. So yeah. Between kids being snot nosed germ factories, and my otherwise never being around other humans at the time, that checks out. *Cough!* *COUGH!* Happened more than once, now that I think about it. Might’ve been why I stopped doing that. Eh, it was still *YAWN!* worth it, though.” Despite how awful Rick felt, and most of what he was thinking about being unpleasant, a smile crossed his face, and he started to drift off. 

Just then, Jerry walked in, holding a tape up in the air and triumphantly yelling, "I found it! Now I just need to watch the episode 2, maybe 3 times to make sure I don't miss anything. Once I've done that, I'll be ready to cure Rick. And then we'll see whose plan is stupid, Morty!"

"Obviously yours is, Jerry." Rick groaned before starting to cough again.

"What? You're in here?! Shouldn't you be in bed, or back in the garage, or maybe some kind of quarantine bubble?" Jerry asked, jumping back a little and nearly dropping his supplies. Besides the tape, he was also carrying a notebook, pen and pencil. Getting no answer from Rick, he quickly reassured himself, " Easy, Jerry. There's nothing to worry about. You've got everything you need to solve our little crisis right here."

Smiling smugly, he continued, "So does this weird sickness you have work slower in humans? The way you made it sound, it transforms from one awful thing to another pretty quickly. But it's been hours now, and you still seem stuck on these cold symptoms."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Rick asked groggily, opening one eye slightly. After a few seconds, he remembered his cover story. "Oh, right. That. Yeah. Good *COUGH!* job, Jerry. You hit the nail on the head. How long Mimicking Disease makes you think you have any one illness varies, but it does typically progress slower in humans. In fact, it can be so slow, I m-might just be stuck like this the whole time I'm sick." Jerry side-eyed him, and just missed putting two and two together.

"Well, that would be a lucky break, wouldn't it? You contract some alien virus that can make you feel like you have any disease in the universe, and all it does is imitate a bad cold? Sounds like you'll be getting off easy if that's what happens, Rick."

"Of course you'd think that. Personally, I'd rather deal with Venutian varicella or Floopfloopian ass fever or Morgluxian measles any day over five more minutes of this bullshit. *Cough! Cough!* Anyway, talking to you is more exhausting than usual right now, and I'd like to stop. So whatta you want, Jerry?"

Jerry took a few hesitant steps closer to the couch, asking, "Are those real diseases, or are you just making shit up? Are these things I have to worry about you bringing into my home?!"

"Calm down, Jerry. Everyone in the house, you included, is vaccinated against the one that exists and has a vaccine. One of the others has no preventive measures, and one I just made up to mess with you. No, I'm not telling you which is which. My throat feels like I swallowed glass, and this conversation needs to end. So for the last time, what do you *ACHOO!* need?"

“Well, I need the VCR so I can watch this tape, so I can help you, Rick.” Jerry replied.

“Uh-huh. So sit down and watch it. Interdimensional Cable’s down, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly invested in the plot of ‘Guy Who Looks Like Gene With a Beard Stands in a Boat and Talks About Fish’.” Rick said gruffly, patting the couch and inviting Jerry to join him.

“Ummm, couple problems with that. First of all, I know you keep saying what you have isn’t dangerous, but until I’ve finished my research and am just about to cure you, I’d rather not get any closer than this. No offense, Rick.”

“Eh, none taken. That’s actually the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Of course, that might be *SNIFF!* just the fever or the crappy medicine talking. I’m… not really sure. Anyway, you could just sit further from me and watch whatever that is you’re holding.” Rick agreed, turning to face Jerry.

“I guess I could, but with all your hacking and sniffling, I won’t be able to hear anything. And it’s very important that I pay close attention to this tape, otherwise I might miss some key details, and my plan won’t work. *SIGH!* Not to mention, if I try to explain my idea to you, you’ll just trash it and mock me like usual. So I’d rather not tell you anything until I’m just about to put my plan into action.”

“Look, you’re *COUGH!* right about the noises. Can’t really *Sniff!* do anything about that besides hope whatever the uh, Mimicking Disease moves onto next is quieter. But I’ll admit, I’m intrigued by this plan of yours, Jerry. And whatever it is can’t be worse than Morty’s idea of helping me so far. So go ahead and tell me more.”

“You’re serious? You want to hear my idea, and you’re not just saying that to fuck with me?” Jerry asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. Rick, who really did need a break from talking, nodded.Jerry debated it briefly, then sat in a chair, saying, “Alright. I’m still not going to actually watch it with you, and I’d prefer to limit time spent in the same room. But I suppose it won’t hurt to sit here for a few minutes and fill you in on the details. I know you’re more familiar with Sailor Moon than Morty is, so this is already a better use of time than trying to talk to him was.” Rick stared at Jerry, slightly more alert now and curious as to what the hell that was supposed to mean.

[problematic-faves-appreciation]

There are such amazing female villains in the Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld. Trying not to spoiler, because its sadly not very well known anymore.

There is Dr Cable, the no nonsense cyborg mad scientist leader of the Cities secret service, who regularly outsmarts the heroes and has a super fun sadistic sense of humor. She seems like our typical YA dystopia villain at first, but while she has a lot lesser scenes than I remembered (reread recently) you can always sense that there is more to her. She believes she just prevents humanity from destroying itself again by fairly horrible means, and sometimes you are so close to being on her side. Her schtick is also that she deliberately surged herself to look scary, with eerie grey eyes and a crooked nose and a very angular face, but just conventionally attractive enough to still respect her, which is a cool concept.

Then there is Shay, the main character Tallys rebellious best friend, who is so angry and desperate at the system, and also has this very messy, homoerotic, jealous friendship with Tally, and ends up on different sides to her again and again. Her mental health also nosedives over the course of the series, and she becomes more and more ruthless and unhinged. I wish I could write more about that, because Tally/Shay is the most fascinating aspect of this series, and IMO it is a similar dynamic to Catradora, though its sadly only implied, not canon, and it also shows the scars this leaves a lot more and how long it takes the girls to fix it at the end.

And Tally Youngblood herself. Wow. She already starts out as an anti-hero; and many fans hate her for that, but I personally find it refreshing, trying her best but also being terrified and naive and an immature 16-year-old and having a knack for accidentally hurting her friends and ruining all her relationships. But in the third book she becomes a villain protagonist, and its amazing. And she never fully gets back to being a hero, she always stays slightly... unhinged.

(I have to warn you though, the second and third book majorly include depictions of self harm and eating disorders, and its not particularly well handled; while IMO the author does not glorify it, the characters very intensely do)

Ah, the Uglies Series. The book covers always grabbed my attention, but I never gave this series a shot. I should remedy that; the characters sound interesting! An anti-heroic protagonist who remains morally complicated after turning away from villainhood? Hell yes!

There's an Uglies movie coming out sometime this year. Don't think I'm gonna wait for the film adaptation to check out the story. The books are right there!

[desdemonafictional]

Vortex Speed Write Commission

dubcon/idk consent issues due to robot fetish baiting

On AO3

for @bitegore

"This is stupid," Dirge said, taking up position against the doorjamb. "You know he's gonna fry your chips, right?"

Ramjet ignored him and stuck a hand out at the creepy fragger lurking under the cleaning supplies like one of those little eight legged earth gremlins.

"Pay up first," Ramjet said. "Let's see the goods."

Although he didn't actually have a face to speak of, Vortex gave the impression of smiling. He dug in his subspace and held out what he'd found.

"As agreed," Vortex said, "one un-cashed chip from Hedonia's gambling palace, a 15% off coupon for Swindle's contraband cabinet, and a packet of jelly babies."

"Yesss," Ramjet said, and swiped the lot of it.

"I've gotta ask," Vortex said, "what do you even want with the jelly babies? You can't eat them. I tried."

"We're gonna lure away one of those earth trucks and make it our pet," Ramjet said, stuffing his illicit gains into his own pockets. "It's earth food, so earth animals can eat it. Fool proof."

"Well, can't argue with that logic," Vortex said brightly.

"He's gonna fry you," Dirge said again.

"He's not gonna fry me!" Ramjet twisted around and thumped the plating over his subspace. "He paid me. So it's fine!"

"Yeah, Dirge," said Vortex, "it's fine."

Dirge sighed. "He's literally an interrogator."

Ramjet flipped open his cable compartment and jerked one loose. Vortex's unblinking visored gaze fixed on every twitch of Ramjet's hands, helm swaying. Ramjet checked to make sure it wasn't, like, fraying at the joint or something. But no. It was just a normal data cable.

"What the fuck else would he want with your motherboard except to scramble it?" Dirge went on.

"Don't be like thaaat," Vortex said, his gaze still laser-focused on the cablehead in Ramjet's hand. "I'm only asking for a one way connection, it's not dangerous at all!"

"Right," Ramjet said. "So what data do you want anyway? I saw Rosana in concert once back on Cybertron, pretty cool set."

"Oh, no," Vortex said, slinking a little closer. "Any old thing you've got lying around is fine. In fact, every old thing you've got lying around."

"What, like, breakfast?" Ramjet said, fully boggled.

"Like junk data," Vortex said. "Whatever you've been meaning to clean out and haven't gotten around to. Lemme have all of it."

"Uhhhh. why?"

"Because I gave you a poker chip, a coupon, and a bag of jelly babies," Vortex said, patiently. "And if you don't, I'll switch modes and chop this room up like sushi with you in it. Now plug in."

With slightly more trepidation, but unwilling to admit it, Ramjet stepped closer. Vortex pulled open not only the main plug site on his abdomen, but every other one on his frame--some in shapes and sizes that didn't look fit for any kind of Cybertronian Ramjet had ever met. Ramjet stuck with the familiar and plugged in under Vortex's chest plate.

"Okay," Vortex said. "Now the rest."

"What, all of them? I've only got two more."

"Use those then," Vortex said. "Come on, chop chop."

Ramjet unspooled the other two and plugged himself in. As soon as he'd gotten the last one clicked in, a sudden sharp pinch hit him over three points at once. He stared, agog, at the holes he'd just stuck himself into.

"He bit me! You bit me!"

"Don't be a minibot," Vortex said, "it's just a clamp so you can't pull out too early. It won't hurt you."

"Definitely gonna fry your brains," Dirge said.

"Shut up!" Ramjet called back.

Vortex wound one of his hands in the cable plugged into his shoulder and yanked it. Ramjet didn't feel much, other than the same dull pinch, but Vortex shuddered a little at the feedback from the delicate inside of the port.

"See?" Vortex said. "It's fine. Now how about that data?"

Ramjet went into his defrag folders and dug out all the junk he'd had laying around since the last time he'd gotten an actual good night's recharge. It was basically the dust bunny of the processor, maybe even a little gross to grab with your bare hands, but whatever, if the weirdo wanted it.

He initiated a handshake protocol, Vortex accepted, and then--presumably--all the nonsense and broken junk went pouring down the line into Vortex at once. Ramjet couldn't exactly feel it land, without a reciprocal connection, but he could see Vortex's visor fizzle and his rotors stiffen.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Vortex said. "Triplicate it. One feed down each cable."

Ramjet and Dirge exchanged a confused look, but it wasn't as if it cost him anything, so Ramjet obliged.

All Vortex's ventilation panels lifted and started audibly sucking air, fans whirring. Well, it was a lot of data, especially if you were going to try and parse each bit individually instead of letting it pass directly into mass defrag routines.

Right about now the bandwidth in Vortex's processor would be filling up exponentially with garbage, blocking off other sensory avenues, pulling resources from everywhere short of life support to manage the barrage of data.

"Wrap your hands in my cables and twist," Vortex said.

"Uhhh..."

"Now."

Ramjet threaded his fingers into the unused cables and obeyed. This was not... normally the kind of thing mechs did when exchanging data.

Vortex's voice had gone ragged, staticky. "More," he said.

"More data...?"

Vortex, now with his hands so twisted in cables that it was like a net tied around him, made an incoherent pleading noise.

"Holy scrap," Dirge said, from the door. "Look at his crotch plate."

Ramjet blinked, and then leaned back far enough to get a view of Vortex's thighs. Pale lubricant was bubbling out from underneath his modesty panel, smearing where he rubbed his legs together.

"What the frag," Ramjet said.

Vortex let out a breathy laugh, visor glitching and flickering as he wound himself closer to Ramjet by the cables mooring them together.

Ramjet jerked back, but he couldn't get loose. The clamps were pinching harder now, and their hands were tangled now in the delicate machinery of data interface. Ripping one of those out of the joint would hurt worse than a hole in the wing, and be harder to replace.

While Ramjet was wrestling with Vortex's grip on him, Dirge wandered over to get a closer look. He reached down between Vortex's absently shifting thighs and rubbed the sticky panel.

"He's hot," Dirge said.

Vortex laughed again, high and breathy.

Dirge fingered the wet seams thoughtfully, and then all at once he pushed the two intertwined bots, knocking them off balance and into a heap on the floor.

"You know what," Dirge said, "I changed my mind. This was a great idea Ramjet. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it."

Over Vortex's shoulder, Ramjet watched Dirge reach down and palm his rapidly pressurizing spike.

"Let's give him what he wants."

[ghost-of-you]

we just danced backwards into each other - ch - part 8

Paring: Calum Hood x Original Female Character.

Warnings: Swearing, mildly angsty vibes.

Word Count: 8k

Authors note: sorry this one took so long, i got stuck on a scene here and nothing i wrote about it was working, but finally got it and things started flowing a lot better, i actually already have a good chunk of the next part written, so hopefully ill update soon

Read it on AO3

Part 7 Part 9

Masterlist

_______

Lena smiles from her place on the floor when Calum greets her, fixing the last of the cables, before scrambling to her feet and out of the booth. She had asked him to meet her in the studio with little notice so even though he told her he'd be there, she's excited to see him.

“I had an idea,” she says, bouncing on her feet as she stops in front of him, looking up at him expectantly, making him chuckle.

"Okay?”

"You know how we agree that voice note is like, the best version of the song?" She asks, waiting for him to agree before continuing, "what if we did the song as a live take? I can clean it and mix it and if it sounds good we go with it, if it doesn’t we’ll try something else." 

“Sounds like a plan,” he nods and she grins at him. 

“So you’re in?”

“It’s your song,” he laughs and she frowns at him. 

“Come on, it’s ours,” she playfully shoves his shoulder making him chuckle, “I just thought that like this it would stay, you know, ours,” she shrugs, turning around to get her notebook in her backpack.

“Is that why we’re alone?” He asks, sounding confused as he sits in one of the chairs next to the board. 

“I am qualified, you know?" She shrugs, sitting next to him. It wasn't easy to get her team to allow this to happen, but she had worked as an engineer for herself on other tracks of the album, so there wasn't a real excuse to not let her do it for this one. "There's a catch though, they need to be on while we record," she says, pointing through the glass into the booth to the 2 cameras set up around the piano, "and if you don't want that we can figure something-" she trails off as he looks at her, an amused glint in his eyes.

“Are you nervous?” He teases and she looks at him in disbelief.

“Yeah? I only ever did this for myself, having someone else in the studio is intimidating."

“It’s just me,” he chuckles and she rolls her eyes. 

“Shut up, do you know how many number-one albums you have? Right now you’re not the boy who used to copy my math homework," she complains, running her hands through her hair and he laughs. 

"The boy who copied your math homework? That's all I am?"

"Oh, yeah, absolutely, just the kid that sat behind me." 

“Love,” he says, tilting his head and she can tell he can see she’s spiraling.

“I want this to work,” she tells him, glancing at the controls, before dropping her head, “I need this to work." 

"It's gonna work. Are you done setting up?" 

"Yeah," she nods, and he grabs her hand, pulling her up.

"Okay, come on," he says, moving them to the booth. 

“Sit down,” Calum says, patting the seat beside him and she narrows her eyes at him.

“Why?”

“I’m teaching you the song,” he says, reaching for her hand and pulling her towards him, and she rolls her eyes, sitting down.

“You know can’t play that.” 

“Nonsense.”

“I really can’t.”

“Just trust me.”

“Me trusting you doesn’t change the fact I can’t play the piano.”

"Can you hit a key on the right tempo?"

“I can’t make any guarantees,” she laughs, hitting some random notes just prove her point.

“I believe in you,” he teases, and she sighs, looking at her hands before looking back at him.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

Lena didn't plan on making that noise into the microphone. She didn't plan on making that noise at all. Given the way it had echoed through the arena, calling it a squeal didn't feel big enough. A shriek? A flat-out scream? All she knew is that every eye in the area around the stage and the soundboard was on her and Sylvia was looking at her fondly annoyed.

"Sorry, everyone," she apologized into the mic, making a point of keeping her voice as soft as she could through the excitement coursing through her veins, backing away from it at the same time she met Calum's questioning eyes as he moved closer to the stage from the floor. 

He'd been watching her soundcheck lately. It sometimes made her wonder if he knew her songs were all about feelings she had about him. When he'd ask her to sing a song she hadn't thought about in a while, the ones that are bubbly and fun and so painfully hopeful and that she was always surprised to find out he even knew. She'd always sing them though, fumbling through notes on the ones she hadn't played in a while just because it seemed to make him happy. 

It actually took a lot of effort for her not to just jump off the stage into his arms once he got close enough for her to do it. So she settled on sitting on the edge reaching a hand out for him and he had barely finished helping her down before she was throwing her arms around his neck.

"What happened?" He laughed, the hands he still had on her waist moving to wrap around her.

"I just got nominated for best new artist," she said, hiding her face in his neck and moving to step away from him but he kept his arm around her, locking her in place, smiling widely at her.

"Okay, that noise makes sense now," he teased and she pouted, "congratulations, love," he added.

"Thanks," she grinned, moving to hug him again before stepping back. This time he let her go but grabbed her hand dragging her with him around the arena before she could question what he was doing. Not that she thought really hard about questioning. She was done with soundcheck, and they needed to clear the area for the band's soundcheck with the fans anyway.

When he pushed a door open and pulled her inside a room, she was tempted to ask though. She didn't have to, he was pressing her against the door he'd just closed, lips finding hers before she even began to form a question. 

Lena would like to say she was used to what it felt like to kiss Calum. She would also be lying. But now she was allowed to kiss him, most times it was more soothing than dizzying. 

But then, sometimes, he'd surprise her like that and she'd forget that she needed oxygen. Hell, she'd forget her own name. His lips on hers and his hands digging into her waist and his hair under her fingers and the thundering noise her heart made were the only thing that existed. 

Calum was the one that pulled away. Maybe pulled away was an exaggeration. He was still very much in her space, forehead against hers as she gasped for the air he stole from around her.  

"I'll take it you're proud of me," she laughed, still feeling breathless.

"We're celebrating." 

"It's just a nomination," she giggled but he shook his head.

"It's your first nomination, love, we're celebrating." 

"When you say celebrating," she trailed off when he moved to kiss a path across her jaw and down her neck. 

"I mean, partying,” Calum said the words to her skin, hands sneaking under her shirt, “and then taking advantage of the way there's no show tomorrow and a hotel room with my name on it."

"I like the way you think, Hood,” she said, a little breathless, as his hands moved higher, “but you need to chill out because I'm not letting you fuck me in a supply closet in a venue," she pulled back, turning them so he would be the one against the door, but stepping back from him, and he smirks at her, a knowing look that made her cheeks burn, "that was one time! And it was an office, not a closet," she complained as he pulled her back to him with a laugh.

"Does it change anything?" He asked, lips pressed to her neck and she giggled.

"For starters, clean surfaces, and you know, a door that locked." 

"I'm pretty sure this door also locks," he chuckled, feeling around the door until the lock clicked.

"That's not the point." She got cut off when he kissed her again, more insistent this time and it was hard to think while his hands moved on her. "Nope, not happening, also you need to go to your soundcheck," she moved a hand to his chest, and he pouted at her as she felt around for the lock, “but I’ll make it up to you tonight,” she punctuated her words with a kiss to his cheek while she pushed the door open.

"Why did we never write together before?" Lena asks, turning to look at him. They've done a few takes and she thinks she has enough to work with, but the thought of moving away from the bench is incredibly unappealing. So she's stalling.

"We never talked about it," Calum shrugs and she pouts.

"Why?" 

"I don't know, why did you never bring it up?" 

"Because I was writing about you and I thought it would be awkward," she deadpans, startling a laugh out of him, "but hey, we're good together, the song is good, so like, why have we never done this before?" She asks again and he watches her for a second before answering.

"It just never seemed like a good moment to ask."

"Why?" 

"We never got around to it when we were in school and the only other time it could've happened was on tour and-" he cuts himself, making her frown.

"What?" 

"Honestly? I think it was gonna make us talk about what it all meant." 

"And that would definitely be awkward."

"But, if you're up for it, we can do it again, I know you write with Luke so, maybe," he shrugs and she smiles at him.

"Well, my album is done and from what Luke told me so is yours, so maybe we can revisit this conversation when we start working on the next one, or if any of us has an idea that could work," she offers and he nods.

"Deal."

"Okay, I'm pretty sure I have all I need, so we should get out of here," Lena says after a beat of silence, getting up from the bench.

"Wait, I got you something," Calum says, pulling a jewelry box from his pocket and she frowns at him.

"Why?" She asks, eyeing the box as she takes it.

"You keep reaching for your neck," he shrugs as she opens it and pulls the necklace there out so she could look at it. It's a little silver sun, the shape kind of looks like the one from Tangled and she smiles at how detailed the charm is for something so small.

"Why a sun?" She asks, still studying the charm, somewhat fascinated about the way the little gems in it catch the light when she moves it. 

"It made me think of you." The way he says it makes her focus shift to him, watching his face, unsure of how to feel. 

"Thank you," she breathes, still looking at him as he smiles at her, "can you?" She asks, handing him the necklace and turning around, moving her hair out of the way for him to put it on for her, smiling down at it before turning back to him.

"Does this mean I need to get you a moon or something like that now?" She laughs, reaching for his necklace hanging on the front of his shirt, her bracelet dangling next to it.

"I don't think we need to match every gift we get each other," he laughs, shaking his head and she scrunches her nose looking at him.

"Well, but you got me this because you don't want me to want the bass," she says and he shrugs.

"It's not like you can play the bass." 

"Yes, I can!" She protests and he frowns at her.

"Since when?" 

"My second album? I'm playing the bass in like, half the tracks."

"You are?" His face softens, sounding surprised and a little bit impressed and she huffs.

"Don't sound so surprised, I'm not as good as you are but it's not like I'm playing anything particularly elaborate." 

"When did you even?"

"It was during this wave of stuff I did while trying to distract myself after, the bass was adjacent enough to the guitar that I didn't absolutely suck at the first try so I stuck with it? But I tried a bunch of shit, I tried painting and playing random instruments, I went to a pottery class once, that sucked, calligraphy, crochet, knitting, sewing, it was crazy." 

"When did you even sleep?" 

"I had trouble sleeping while I was working on that album, so I was keeping occupied, it was better than tossing and turning, it made me feel productive," she shrugs, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Love," Calum starts, but he seems unsure of what to say and she shakes her head.

"Hey, you know how bad I am at sleeping, it's fine."

"You know, Andy told me you put yourself in the hospital back then, kinda hard to believe it was fine," he says, raising an eyebrow at her and she groans

"He makes that sound so much worse than it was."

"Did you pass out on campus?"

"Yeah."

"Did you spend the night at the hospital?"

"Yeah."

"Then I think it was bad, love," he chuckles and she rolls her eyes.

"It's not like I dropped in the middle of the street, I was in the health center."

"Not the defense you think it is.”

"Okay, it wasn't fine, but it wasn't as bad as it looked, that was just a bad week, and now I can play more instruments, I know I suck at crafting, and I'm decent at painting, it's fine," she says, motioning vaguely around her and he laughs.

"If you say so."

"I do say so, now let's go face the photographers that are definitely out there and just get out of here already." 

_______

Lena had somehow seen Calum every day for the past two weeks. Mostly not on purpose, the little encounters were never planned. They were also way too short, leaving her feeling the need to see more of him. They text every day too. Nothing like they used to when they were teens, when they would spend most of the day together in school and then text the rest of it because they somehow never ran out of things to say to each other, but still enough to make her wait for the notifications to come. 

If she decides to be completely honest about it, she doesn't like the feeling. And she doesn't like that she doesn't like it. She hates it, actually. She hates that she can't get out of her own head for long enough to just… relax. That her anxious brain keeps telling her overly excited heart to calm down. To back off. To stop doing this hopeful little dance every time her phone rings. But it's not like she can make it stop. Old habits die hard and all that. And apparently in all ways because she can't help her feelings any more than she can't stop fighting against them. Leaving her playing an exhausting game of tug of war with herself. 

She doesn’t even know what she’s overthinking, because she doesn't know what she wants from Calum. For a long time, she didn't really know anything when it came to him. And now she doesn't know what to believe, so she doesn't know how to feel. When he's right there it's easy for her not to think about all the bad things, it’s as easy as it always was. But then she's alone. And then she’s spiraling. 

"L, are you even listening?" Michael's voice came followed by a poke in her ribs, that made her squeak and drop her pen, before looking up from her homework to him, green eyes glowing with a familiar mischief that made her laugh.

"Sorry, what did Cal do? I wasn't paying attention," she asked, closing her notebook and leaning back into the chair, her elbow on Calum's desk, watching as Michael's grin got wilder as he leaned against the desk beside hers and Calum let out an exasperated groan.

"He has a date," he explained and Lena's eyes widened. She couldn't exactly say that was completely unexpected, he had talked about a girl he was interested in. Not to her all that much though, so she didn't know everything about the situation. But the information made her heart clench. 

"What?" She frowned, looking between the boys, Michael's eyes narrowing at her in the few seconds it took for her to realize she didn't sound teasing, she sounded hurt, "someone agreed to go out with you?" She quickly added, teasingly, trying to match the grin on Michael's face as she turned to Calum.

"Not you too," he said, rolling his eyes and she laughed.

"It's just surprising," she said, pressing her lips together while Michael let out a "Right?" that made her laugh.

"I hate you both," he said and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't act like you don't give me hell every time I ask someone out," Michael said, giving him an unimpressed look that made Lena giggle.

"You do fall in love like every other week, dude," she said but Michael shook his head.

"This isn't about me, it's about him," he pointed at Calum who dropped his head to his desk with a groan, but before anyone could say anything else, their teacher walked in, making Michael scramble to go sit. 

"You know we're just teasing, right?" She whispered, leaning her chin on her arm still on Calum's desk and he nodded at her, before leaning down to get his notebook and she turned forward, reopening hers, and staring blankly at the board, twirling a pen between her fingers.

Why did the thought of Calum on a date with someone make her upset? Both of them had spent years going on about how they were just friends. She shouldn't be upset about it. She loved Calum. She wanted him to be happy. 

Wait, she loved him. She loved him? Like loved loved him? She was aware she might have a slight crush on him, how could she not, but was she in love with him? Did the thought of him dating someone else made her feel like that because she wanted him to date her? 

"Oh shit," she mumbled under her breath at the same time the pen slipped from her fingers, startling her as it landed somewhere behind her. Her heart was picking up speed as she leaned to the side, looking around the floor for the lost pen and Calum leaned down too, grabbing it next to his foot, sitting up straight while she turned to him when he reached to hand it back to her.

"Thanks," she breathed, taking the pen back and feeling her heart go crazy in her chest when he grinned and winked at her as she was turning back.

So Lena doesn't know how they ended up here. She was on edge, the song was coming out, so she was stressed and this was the last time she was gonna see Calum for who even knows how long because the band was leaving for promo the next day and she was doing promo for their single alone and she's so unbelievably anxious about it, it's making her more sensitive. She knows that. But now she's moving around the building, with Calum trailing behind her, trying to get her to talk to him. It's not his fault, the comment about them being back together was innocent enough, the issue wasn't the comment, but the way Calum turned to look at her, a flash of guilt on his face, that put her right back in that dressing room.

So she doesn't want to talk to him, because she will say something stupid and she knows it's not his fault so it will just be creating an unnecessary fight. 

But he's not letting her get away from him.

"I don't want to talk about it, Calum," she tells him again, this time stopping to turn to look at him.

"But you need-"

"No, I don't," she interrupts him, and he frowns.

"Lena."

"When you start talking about it I stop seeing my best friend and I start seeing the guy who walked out on me," she says, taking a step back away from him and he gives her a helpless look, "and I don't want to think about that anymore."

"Doesn't seem like you can stop," he all but rolls his eyes and she groans.

"What? You think that knowing how you felt during that is gonna change anything?"

"Come on, that tour was hell."

"I know, I was there," she does roll her eyes and the frown on his face deepens.

"I was doing what I could."

"And I was trailing behind," she motions vaguely around her, "I know what went down, and I know how you felt because I knew you, but it doesn't matter."

"No, you just think you know," he challenges, stepping closer to her and she huffs.

"Yeah, well, I don't need a detailed explanation on exactly how not enough for you I am." 

Lena regrets the words before she finishes saying them. Before Calum steps back away from her like she shoved him. Before the hurt look in his eyes makes her freeze. 

But it really kills her as she stays rooted in place watching him walk away from her.

________________

"Andy?" Lena knocks on the door to his room, even though it's the middle of the night, after hearing the telltale sounds of whatever game he's into now that shows her that he's still up.

"Are you finally ready to tell me why you're spiraling?" Andy calls from inside the room and she frowns as she takes that as an invitation to go in.  

"Come on," she complains, sitting on the edge of his bed as he turns around in his chair and rolls himself closer to the bed.

"What? You've been like this for weeks,” he says, stopping in front of her, “and you haven't talked to me all day, just tell me maybe I can help."

"I don't know how to explain it," she runs a hand through her hair, dropping back.

"Voice your thoughts, I'm really good at translating you."

"It's…" She trails off, fidgeting with the necklace Calum gave her, fighting to get the words out.

"Le, babe, I promise you, anything that leaves you this stressed it's not stupid," he says, a comforting hand on her knee and she pushes herself up leaning on her elbows so she could look at him.

"It's just…" 

"Words, Lena."

"I'm stressed about Calum," she blurts out and he huffs.

"Now tell me the part I don't know."

"I… it's just I can't stop thinking," she says, sitting up and he nods.

"About?"

"He said he's winning me back, and I was enjoying the effort."

"But?"

"When I left,” she pauses when he gives her a pointed look, “when I ran, I said I was done, but I didn't turn it all off, you know? I couldn't. But I also couldn't keep feeling like it was always gonna be like that, all the pining. No, not pining, pining it's too calm, too calm for whatever we had going. I was burning and I was drowning and I was tired, but I still loved him, I still wanted it."

"Okay."

“And I can’t stop thinking about everything that happened between us because I still do, you know? I still love him, and I want it so badly. I want things to work out, I want the stupid story of us finding a way back, I'd be lying if I say I don't, but I’m also scared." 

"Of?" Andy asks after she doesn't continue and she sighs.

"That he doesn't really want me. That he’s just enjoying the chase, and there's too much fucked up shit in the middle for us to ever be okay again and when we agreed on the whole thing, I said he can't kiss me."

"Yeah."

"Because he has this effect that gives me tunnel vision and makes me only see what he wants," she trails off, fidgeting with the edge of her shirt and he chuckles.

"Oh, I know, but you're spiraling, why exactly?" He asks and she looks at him, chewing on her bottom lip while she contemplates how to say it.

"I'm scared I'm the one who's just enjoying the chase," she admits and he frowns, tilting his head to the side.

"What do you mean?"

"All I ever wanted was for him to try, and he's trying, I basically forced the man to take me out so I could see what it would be like." 

"Didn't he say he wanted to fix things?"

"Yeah, but what if we're beyond fixing?"

"L, wait," Michael said, turning the car off when she reached for her shoes, and she sighed, unbuckling the seatbelt. Lena was feeling hazy, definitely still drunk, but the cool night air had cleared her head enough to know what Michael was going to say.

"Mike, please don't," she pleaded, mechanically putting her shoes on as she avoided the way she could feel his eyes on her. 

"What?

"Defend him," she sighed, finally turning to look at him. He had a very familiar look on his face. The ride-or-die type look that let everyone know that he'd take Calum's side no matter what. Michael had perfected it over the years but it always had the I-need-to-stand-by-him glint that she found staring back at her.

"But you gotta know," he started, but she shook her head. 

"I respect that you wanna do something, I do, but don't do it."

"But he's," he tried again but she interrupted him again. 

"Look, I don't wanna know that you think he looks miserable without me, or however the hell you were about to put it. Did he tell you that? Did he even tell you what happened between us? Or did he just say we had a fight and told you to drop it?"

"He didn't, but I know he is, he really fucking misses you, L," he tried to argue and Lena wanted to believe him. Desperately. But she couldn't.

"Look, dude, I gotta work with what I know. The facts here are he walked out on me and that he hasn't tried to talk to me since then, so anything else is not enough," she shrugged and he gave her a disbelief look.

"So you just got in a screaming match at a party over not enough?"

"Yeah, and he still had nothing to say."

"You know how he can get."

"Oh, I do," she said, rolling her eyes but Michael kept talking.

"And you always forgive him."

"It fucking sucks that I have to," she complained, running a hand through her hair.

"You're not exactly perfect either, L," he said, raising an eyebrow at her and she frowned at him.

"Never said I was, but this one is on him, it's only on him, it's why he doesn't have the guts to try to fix it."

"What the fuck did he do?" He asked and she groaned.

"I don't wanna talk to you about it, Michael."

"I'm your friend too, Lena," he matched her tone, rolling his eyes at her and she sighed.

"But you would let him get away with anything."

"So would you."

"I can't do it this time, he really hurt me, okay? It wasn't some stupid argument that we both knew wasn't gonna last, he knew the choice he was making and he did it anyway and I'm allowed to be mad at him," she said, looking down, twisting her hands in her lap.

"I'm not saying you're not allowed to be mad, I'm saying you're both miserable without each other, so why are you dragging this out?" He asked and it made her pout. 

"Who said I'm miserable?" Lena complained, glancing at him and she probably wasn't helping her point if the way Michael raised an eyebrow at her was any indication.

"Your face."

"That's-"

"We both know you're still in love with him," he said and her eyes widened as her head snapped up and she turned to look at him.

"Who said I'm in love with him?" She tried but Michael scoffed.

"Don't act like I don't know you, you've been in love with him since we were in school, it's painfully obvious."

"I… You knew? Since when?" 

"Since he left for that football camp, you were a basketcase while he was gone." 

"It wasn't that bad."

"Oh, it was worse, I thought you would tell him back then."

"I did," she said, holding Michael's gaze as his face turned into shock. She could see it in the way his eyes went from wide to narrowing on her face that he was combing through his memories trying to figure out when it could've happened. And she didn't want him to ask, "well, it doesn't matter anymore."

"Now you're just being stubborn."

"So?"

"Talk to him, do something other than sitting around since you’re both miserable and this can’t keep going-"

"Mike!” she screeched, interrupting him, "He dumped me, he doesn't love me and I can't make him love me so I can't fix it."

"What do you mean he doesn't love you? Of course he loves you," he was looking at her like she was crazy for even suggesting that and it made her want to disappear into the leather seats. 

"His words okay?" Her voice was small and Michael looked so confused by it that she felt on the verge of tears, "so now I'm just the idiot that’s been in love with him since middle school."

"L," Michael's voice was soft now, and he was watching her carefully, eyes scanning her face as she continued to talk.

"Being away from him is killing me, but I can't. I can’t move on from him if he's still around, and I can't fix us so I can't talk to him."

"Why?"

"Because if I'm not mad at him, then I'm breaking and I can't take it anymore." She paused, blinking back tears, "thank you for the ride, Mike, I know I'm not much company right now but I did miss you and I appreciate it."

"Lena."

"I'll see you around," She said, patting his knee before slipping out of the car. She was surprised to hear his door slamming after hers.

"Lena," Michael's voice was insistent and it made her stop on the sidewalk watching as he walked around the car.

"Yeah?" She asked, frowning at him as he scanned her face. 

"Just come here," he said, pulling her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and she wrapped her arms around his waist on instinct. She missed Michael, that wasn't a lie, they may not be as close to each other as they were to Calum, but he was a constant enough presence in her life to add to the emptiness Calum had left behind. But the way she just relaxed against him was disarming, "sorry I haven't checked in," he said to her hair and she huffed out a chuckle, stepping back from him.

"It's fine, I knew he would get you in the divorce."

"You don't have to tell me what he did, but how bad was it?" 

"How many times have you seen me trying to get away from him?" She asked because she didn't think she could talk about it without crying. She wasn't sure she wouldn't start crying anyway.

"Point taken." 

"Look, I can't talk about it because I can't think about it because I don't want to believe it happened, I thought we were more than we actually were and that's on me but he was just," she stopped, sniffing through the tears that were falling without her permission, "there were kinder ways to do what he did and I can't move past it."

"Sorry I pushed it." 

"It's fine, you know how stubborn we both can get, you had no way of knowing this wasn't just us being stubborn."

"For whatever is worth, I do think he regrets it."

"Well, he's the one that needs to do something about it,’ she shrugged and Michael gave her a sad smile, "sorry you got caught in the middle." 

"I'm your friend too, you know?"

"Do you feel that way?" 

"I don’t know, I'm not known for making good decisions when he's involved. So I freaked out and I picked a fight with him because he was about to leave. And I know it’s just a few days but at the same time I couldn’t deal with the way I need him around and he’s all the way across the world now and I don’t know what to do, because,” she sniffs, looking up to try and stop the tears she can feel forming in her eyes, “what if this is just going to explode in our faces again and I'm dragging it out because of a memory of a feeling?"

"Is it just a memory?"

"What?"

"When you think about it, are you just trying to find the way he made you feel again, or are you just trying to find a way to feel what you feel for him without letting it destroy you?" Andy asks and she blinks at him, taken aback for a second.

"That was deep, we should write that down," she jokes because she doesn't know how to answer.

"I'm serious, I've picked you up from the floor over him for years now and it's alright if you don't want him anymore, but it's also okay for you to want him but only after you're sure you're not setting yourself up for failure."

"What are you saying?"

"That it's okay if you need safety before giving in and that doesn't mean you're using him, it just means you're hurt and want to know what you're falling into."

“But I feel like-”

"Look, I've watched you try to contain the way you feel about him for as long as I've known you, you keep fighting against it or trying to make it something that won't scare him away, and that never worked," he says, tilting his head, and she sighs.

"It's just that, I don't know how to stop and I keep thinking about-"

“Le, the more you overthink this the more you’ll have to overthink and you’re gonna go nowhere.”

“But-”

“You’re not gonna find the answer trapping yourself in your head, you can’t change what happened and you can’t predict what’s going to, you just need to find out if you’re willing to trust he won't hurt you again,” he says and she drops back, throwing her arms across her face.

“But what if I can’t trust myself? I don’t want to hurt him either and right now I don’t think I can help it and his face when he walked away from me, I-”

“Lena," he says, and she feels the mattress dip when he sits beside her, moving her arms from her face so she would have to look at him, "if whatever you said makes him stop trying then you guys are going nowhere anyway.”

"What do I do then?" She asks, throwing her arms over her head and he huffs, poking her side.

“You stop hiding and you call him."

“Call him? I can’t call him,” she squirms away from his hand, looking at him like he's crazy for suggesting that, and he gives her an unimpressed look.

“Knowing you, you won’t be able to do anything until you find out if you pushed him too far. Did you even sleep last night?"

“But I have to, I can’t need him, And.”

“You also can’t change the fact that you already do. You've been fighting it for years, Le." His voice is sympathetic and she feels herself start to tear up as she meets his eyes. “Just call him."

_________

The periodic buzzing is not what makes Calum raise his head. What makes him raise his head is how he can feel Luke's eyes on him every time the damn phone does buzz. So when it happens again he meets Luke's careful gaze with a questioning look.

"That's Lena." It's not a question. But Luke nods anyway. Lena hadn't talked to him since the fight and he was following her lead with it. If she wants space he'll give it to her. It's actually easier than he expected with half a world between them and unaligned timezones. At least that's what he keeps telling himself.

"She wants me to let her know when we're back at the hotel." They only have another interview in their schedule, the one they are currently waiting for, so it shouldn't be long, but why would Lena ask? And what else did she say that got Luke watching him like that?

"Okay, what does this have to do with me?" He asks, raising an eyebrow and Luke frowns at him.

"Did you get into a fight or something?" 

"Or something."

"Do you want me not to tell her?" Luke puts his phone down, a silent we can talk about it if you want, but he shakes his head.

"No, it's okay." 

"You sure?" He checks, but Calum doesn't get a chance to answer, because they are being called to the studio and he can't keep thinking about it.

Maybe she's ready to try to talk to him. If she's even asking because she wants to know when he can answer. He tries to ignore that line of thought until they’ve been back at the hotel for at least half an hour and there’s no call. 

But then his phone lights up with a very familiar picture of Lena and him.

"Hello?"

"Hi," Lena sounds anxious, he can hear it in her breathing and something about it makes him do the math in his head about what time it's for her.

"Lena, where are you?" He can imagine the way she's frowning just by the confused little gasp she lets out. 

"Home, where else would I be?" 

"Isn't it, like, 3 am for you?" 

"Time is fake," she mumbles, and he hears fabric ruffling in the background, so maybe she is in bed. Not that the thought makes him worry less.

"Sure," he frowns and she sighs.

"I couldn't sleep, I needed to apologize." 

"Okay." 

"Because I am sorry, I… I don't have an excuse, I'm just sorry." 

"Lena," he says, more to buy himself time to think of the right thing to say than anything else but the sharp intake of breath he hears makes him regret it.

"You don't have to say anything, it's fine, I just wanted to say it, we can talk when you get back. Or whenever you want. Shit, you know, I shouldn't have called, I'm sorry." Her voice is wobbly and it sounds like she’s about to hang up.

"Lena, wait."  

"I can't." 

"Why not?"

"Because I'm about to start crying and then you'll feel the need to make me feel better and this becomes about me and that's not why I called." 

"Then why did you call?" He asks, and she sniffs, before taking a deep breath as if she’s trying to calm herself down.

"Can I claim temporary insanity? Sleep deprivation? I don't know, okay? I thought talking to you would make me feel better but that's not on your job so I shouldn't-"

"Lena, can you just listen to me for once in your life?"

"Yeah?" 

"You seriously think I'm about to let you cry yourself to sleep?" 

"I'm not crying," she tells him and he huffs.

"I can hear you crying." 

"I'm just tired and It doesn't-"

"Of course it matters." 

"Why?" 

"Because I fucking care about you. That doesn't stop being true just because we got into a fight." 

"I know that, it's just-"

"Do you? Know it? It doesn't seem like you do," 

"Can I be honest?"

"Please," Calum breathes, waiting for a tense second as she doesn't say anything.

"I talk myself out of it."

"Of trusting me?" He asks, frowning and he can hear the fabric ruffling as she probably shakes her head.

"No, of expecting you to be there." That one stings. He knows he can't blame her for it, it's his own fault, but hearing her saying it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Why?" 

"Because I can't need you to be there! For fucks sake we get into one fight and I'm losing my mind? I've been feeling like I can't breathe and I can't do this again." 

"Do what?" 

"Lose you, Calum, I can't lose you again, but I can't keep feeling this way either I can't focus I can't sleep I feel like a bitch then I just lose my fucking mind and can’t feel this way I can’t need you-" Not for the first time since he last saw her, he catches himself wishing he wasn't halfway across the world, but this time is because the way she's talking, fast and without pauses, makes him think she's about to talk herself into a panic he can't talk her out of over the phone.

"Love, love, breathe," he interrupts, and she takes a few sharp breaths before talking again.

"See, I shouldn't have called, you're allowed to be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you."

"Why not? You should." 

"Why?"

"Because I was a bitch to you."

"It was a fight, and it wasn't even that bad."

"You sounded mad at me when you answered the phone."

"You apologized, we can talk about it when I get back, but I'm not mad, so you should go to sleep and I'll see you in a few days." 

"Unfortunately I wasn't exaggerating when I said I can't sleep, I've been tossing and turning for hours."

"You want me to talk to you until you fall asleep?"

The way Lena was slowly blinking and how her reactions were delayed was just as funny as it was adorable even in the dimly lit room. It made the story Calum was telling seem way more entertaining than it actually was, with the way she was trying to keep up while stifling yawns and rubbing her eyes to get him to keep talking. 

"Love?" Calum asked when she dropped her head back against the headboard of his bed and it took a few seconds for her to look at him, "do you want me to drive you back to your dorm?" She should've left already since she had classes the next day, so maybe he should just let her leave this time. She looked like she would fall asleep in the car though. And her car was at his place. The logistics of it all weren't good. 

"Not yet, we're talking," she mumbled, shifting her whole body while sitting up. 

"No, I'm talking, you're legally drunk," he joked, making her pout. 

"'m not," she complained, stretching out like a cat and sighing, "how are you not tired?" 

"Jetlag," he shrugged and she blinked at him before nodding, staring at him with one eye closed. 

"Well, then we keep talking." 

"I keep talking, you keep looking at me like you're seeing a giant pillow.”

"You do make a great pillow," she said, looking at him like she was contemplating the possibility, or maybe just thinking about the times she fell asleep on him, making him laugh. "Have you ever been so tired you just don't know how to sleep?" She asked, running a hand through her hair and dropping her head back.

"No,” he chuckled, shaking his head, “and you're trying to stay awake," he pointed out, bopping her nose and she smiled sheepishly at him.

"Yes, but I don't think I would fall asleep that easily right now." He seriously doubted that. He was actually sure she would be out in seconds if she just stopped moving.

"What time do your classes start tomorrow?" He asked, checking the old alarm clock on the table. Technically he should've said today. It was past 1 am. Maybe he shouldn't keep her awake that long on a weekday.

"Not until the afternoon," she said, sliding down and hugging the pillow under her head.

"You wanna stay over? We can continue this conversation in the morning when I know you'll remember what I'm telling you.”

"Does that mean you won't be mad if I fall asleep?" 

"Do you want to sleep?"

"I just told you don't know how," she laughed, settling more heavily against the pillow and rubbing her eye.

"Alright, come here," he said, scooting down and opening his arms and she shuffled around before settling with her head on his shoulder and an arm across his chest.

"I missed you," she mumbled, closing her eyes and he started to absentmindedly run his fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, me too,” he said, leaning his cheek against her head, “now go to sleep." 

"I can't fall asleep on command like you do, just keep telling me the story, what happened after Mike said that?"

"So you were listening?"

"Always, now talk," she said, shifting around a bit and he continued to tell the story, running his hand through her hair. It only took a few minutes for her to stop reacting to it and for her breathing to even out. That wasn’t the surprising part. The surprising part was how he fell asleep a few minutes later too.

"You don't have to," Lena says, voice small and he chuckles.

"I'm not asking if I have to, I'm asking if you want me to." There's a pause that's long enough for him to question if it was the right thing to say, before she sighs.

"Yeah."

"Are you comfortable?"

"As comfortable as I can get," she says after some shuffling and he settles in bed too.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, just tell me about the trip." So he does. With as many details as he can. About the place. The people. The joke Luke told in the van that morning. The restaurant they had lunch in. It makes him think about when he first moved and the rare occasions when their schedule managed to align enough for him to call and Lena would make him tell her everything about everywhere he had been. He talks while listening as Lena shifts around in her bed or lets out little reactions to what he's saying like huffed-out laughs or curious mumbling about what happened next until the shuffling stops and her breathing evens out. He stays on the line for a few more minutes, making sure she's really asleep then a few more because now he doesn't want to hang up. He considers how he could say anything to her right now. He could tell her he misses her. Make some promise about not hurting her again that she wouldn't believe in and he's not sure he can keep. Or a promise about always trying anyway that he really hopes he can. He doesn't say anything though. He just listens to her steady breathing until he can't justify staying on the line anymore.

_______

I don’t have a taglist but hit me up if you want to be tagged.

[ambreiiigns]

Ok wait. Yes tell me what episodes are good and everything else you said in the tags, but does rick and morty have lore? I thought it was episodic?

ok first Yes there's lore. there's like. the backdrop premise of rick having just came back into his daughter's life after being absent since she was a child for undisclosed reasons but it is a big part of beth's characterization and why he gets away w all the shit he gets away with. but there's also Lore that ties w rick's crybaby backstory™ and like the universe in general is probably more. Complicated? Expanded? than you'd think? bc yea it SHOULD be episodic and self contained but the team is at war w that concept since s2 if not s1 already. it's why i'm annoyed at people complaining abt the random filler episodes in s7 like girl that's the Normal Episodes. the Lore Heavy Episodes are the little special treat for you not the standard?? it's a sitcom unfort.

so. maybe still my favorite episode is STILL from s1 ep8. rixty minutes aka interdimensional cable ONE!!! let me set the scene. a few episodes earlier morty's school was doing prom and he asked rick to make him a love potion to get the girl he has a crush on to go to prom w him. rick fucks up SEVERELY bc his nihilistic scientist brain didn't understand love (??? i mean we know he Does. but it was s1) and he accidentally turns everyone first into morty stans who wont him desperately and then into straight up Monsters. he can't figure out how to fix it so what he does instead is move morty and himself into a new dimension where the incident had also happened but that dimension's rick had fixed the problem And gotten himself and morty killed accidentally. so they swoop in and dig a grave for Themselves and take those rick and morty's place. for rick it's Nothing it's Normal he's been doing this a while he's closely aware of the many dimensions and many versions of himself etc in fact it becomes a Huge plotpoint soon. but morty's still new to this and having to? handle his dead body? and put it in the ground? and take its place like nothing happened? that's tough for him! baby's traumatized. rip

but everything's been self contained enough so far that you sort of dismiss it right. then two episodes later interdimensional cable happens. aka rick fucks around w their tv to hook it up to. interdimensional. cable. so they can watch stuff from every other reality out there (whoa!) and as they binge they bump into jerry being interviewed on some late night show and they're like HUH???? THERE'S A VERSION OF REALITY OUT THERE WHERE JERRY'S RICH AND FAMOUS???? so now beth and summer are also wondering what They're up to in other realities and rick gives them some goggles that let you see what different versions of you are doing. rick himself and morty are the only ones who don't care and just keep watching silly tv having a laff. in the meanwhile summer complains that every version of her is doing nothing cool while her parents are hitting the jackpot and beth offhandedly mentions that "if we accomplished our dreams it probably means you were never born" which is obviously HORRIBLE TO HEAR so summer being an angsty dramatic teen wants to Run Away From Home and beth and jerry start fighting abt how you ruined my life and all. morty smells blood in the water so he goes upstairs to cheer up summer and she's like. they had you on purpose as a symptom of their problems you're not the Cause of their problems you can't make me feel better. so morty points out his and rick's graves in the yard outside the window and tells her he's not even her real brother he's as much of an incident as she is rn and now that he eats breakfast a few feet away from his corpse he knows better than most how meaningless all of this is anyway. and he tells her. something that still brings tears to my eyes. he goes "nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody's gonna die. come watch tv?"

ARGH! HE'S JUST A 14 YEAR OLD BOY WITH AN INSANE MAD SCIENTIST GRANDPA WHO'S BEEN DRAGGING HIM ON FUCKED UP ELDRITCH SPACE ADVENTURES THAT HAVE BEEN SHATTERING HIS INNOCENCE AND UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE! AND NOW HE JUST WANTS TO WATCH TV WITH HIS SISTER! it kills me it's so humane and childish and it was REALLY gutting to me. cause i didn't expect a callback at that point. i didn't expect the trauma to impact the characters. it was completely out of left field and it made me say oh. so this is good. so this is actually worth watching.

[bettyweir]

My Bandmates A Vampire

Chapter 3.

Word Count: 1.6k

[First] [Prev] [All] [Next] [Ao3]

Benny walks up to the door, plate of cling wrapped chocolate chip cookies in hand, and looks over his shoulder. His eyes meet with his grandma who's standing a few feet behind him, giving the boy a wicked stare.

She was gonna make sure he introduced himself.

He gulps and hesitantly rings the doorbell.

After a bit of waiting, and hearing many shuffling footsteps, there's a crack in the door. A single brown eye meets him.

"Hi?"

"Ahem, Hello. My Name is Benny Weir.” He says in a monotone, scripted voice. ”Is this the Morgan residence?"

"Uh. Are you a solicitor or something?" the voice answers “my parents aren’t home.”

“Am I a what?!?”

“You know, like a solicitor,” The eye glances around ”are you trying to sell me something?”

“Oh… No.”

Benny thought. Never mind.

"I just moved in next door and I wanted to introduce myself” he shuffles in place “and I brought cookies.”

“That’s funny I just moved in too,” the door fully opens. “Come on in.”

Benny finally gets to see the entire person standing behind the door.

It’s the same brown headed keyboarder he saw earlier. He held himself in an overly anxious posture, not knowing what to do with himself.

“So, what's your name and where can I put this?”

"Uhhhh,” he says with a shaky voice, gesturing to the coffee table. “you can put the plate over there.”

“And..?” Benny walks into the living room, awaiting a response.

"Uh… Ethan. Morgan." he says as if he wasn't sure of himself.

As Benny sets down the plate he notices the lit xbox controller and tangled headphones on the table, and looks at the tv.

"Yooo omg,” He stares at the gray pause screen “you have Left for Dead TWO?!?"

"Yeah." he laughs "My teammates are probably pissed at me for leaving."

"Oh my goddd multiplayer" Benny puts his head back "I'm so jealous"

"Have you not played it yet?"

"Augh yeah, I haven't had much time for videogames ever since I started my band." He boasts, shooting a smirk towards his new neighbor.

"You have a band?"

"Well er,” his confidence quickly deflates “used to."

"Oh, what happened?"

"I. Had to move." Benny’s smile is completely gone.

"Aw that sucks." Ethan twiddles his thumbs, Benny obviously didn’t wanna talk about this, "Do u wanna play left for dead?"

"WOULD I?" he excitedly jumps to Ethans couch, making himself comfortable.

"Shit, wait, I only have one controller." Ethan wasn’t used to having so many IRL people interested in playing video games with him.

Benny pogs "Omg, I totally got one at home! I'll be right back"

Before Ethan could even object, Benny rushes out the door and breezes past his grandma.

"Was it that bad?" She shouts

"NO!!” he yells, tripping over himself “I GOTTA GET MY XBOX CONTROLLER!!"

Grandma stands puzzled but assumes that means he’ll be coming back.

Benny rushes up stairs, winded and out of breath, he quickly digs through his backpack and remembers how everything was soaked.

He finds the hopefully not broken, white xbox controller and sprints back to Ethans.

"Hi. Hello.” he says in between pants. “I’m back."

"Idk. if this works. but." he hands Ethan the controller and puts his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Ethan untangles the long windy cable wrapped around the controller and plugs it in.

"Hmmm,” Ethan says, holding and releasing the large X button over and over “It's not turning on"

"Bummer." Benny sighs.

"Do ya know what happened to it?"

"Yeah..." He sets himself on Ethan’s couch, rubbing the nape of his neck "All of my stuff kinda got wet since It was pouring from the airport til’ I got home."

"Rough," Ethan unplugs the controller, tilting it around to examine the damage, "I could try fixing it."

"Really?" Benny jumps out of his seat and puts both of his arms on Ethan’s shoulders “You can do that?!”

"I can try,” Ethan says failing to mask his blush, “I've never really done water damage before though."

"Well,” Benny lets go of him. “I mean it's not like you can break it even more."

"You'd be surprised." Ethan looks off to the side, remembering the box of broken electronics rotting on his To Do list. “Here, I have some tools in my room.”

“Woahh tools,” Benny teases, following Ethan up stairs “very manly."

They enter his box filled room.

Benny scoffs. "Haven't finished unpacking but still had your videogames out" he shakes his head.

"Augh hey! Blame Jane, not me."

"Who's jane?"

"Ah my.. half- wait step sister."

Benny impulsively says "Is she hot?"

Ethan’s heart sinks at the comment "She's eight."

"Ah," Benny uncomfortably tugs at his polo collar “Sorry.”

Ethan shakes his head as he scrolls though his phone, pulling up a how to wikia page.

“Hmmm,” he glances over the steps. “Yeah I can totally do this.”

“That's awesome, thank you dude!” Benny cheers looking over his shoulder.

“No problem.” Ethan starts digging through a large brown box labeled TOOLS and pulls out a screwdriver. “Wanna give me a hand?”

“Sure thing, Just tell me what to do!” Benny says positioning himself over the box.

Ethan tries to unscrew the controller's casing, “Ah, it's way too big.”

“That’s what she said.” Benny laughs

Ethan shoots him a very, very judgmental look. “Can you, um, hand me another screwdriver?”

“Of course” He says, replacing the one he was holding with a smaller one.

He tests it and replies “too small”

“That’s what she said…”

“Actually.”

Ethan starts to regret his life choices. “You can just go. Play downstairs or something. I got this.”

Benny pogs “OH MY GOD REALLY?”

“Yeah sure, you seem excited to play it. I don't wanna keep you waiting.”

Benny shakes him “you're the best man!” he practically sprints down stairs, skipping every other step.

Ethan quietly remarks to himself “Of course I get a crush on the first guy I see.”

He shakes his head and finally unscrews the first bolt on the controller's shell.

Benny plops down on Ethan's couch downstairs and scammers for the controller to start up the xbox

Benny's hands shake excitedly watching the xbox logo form on screen.

He puts on the flimsy gray headset.

Right when the xbox menu loads up, he sees a message from one of Ethan’s friends pop up on the screen.

"Xx_420Ror-ster_xX: dude did ur power go out or somethng???”

He then gets a party invite from said user Xx_420Ror-ster_xX

Benny accepts it and joins the call.

"Hey E wuz up?" a squeaky voice asks

Benny stays silent.

"Bro?"

Suddenly he gets a mischievous idea and a stupid smile spreads across his face.

"Muahahahaha! I hacked this account!"

Rory screams in terror. “No!”

“Yes!” Benny coughs, "I really just hacked him so I could play Left for Dead 2. Can you teach me how to play?"

"Why would I play with a hacker like you? I could get banned!!"

"Do it or I'll leak your ip."

They play a few rounds together.

Ethan's dad comes home and is startled to see a lengthy teenage boy sitting in his living room.

“Hello?”

"Hi." Benny says, eyes glued on the screen.

"Um,” He looks around, “why are you in my house?"

"Oh Ethan let me in!"

"Uh, Where's Ethan?"

“Oh, uh he’s in his room.” He says, putting all his attention on the screen in front of him. "Can't. Really. Talk Rn!"

He tilts his head and heads up stairs to Ethan's room.

There Ethan offers his dad a way better explanation.

"Oh he's our next door neighbor and wanted to meet us!"

"Why is he just playing video games downstairs by himself though?"

"Because only one controller works..."

"Alright...” Ethan’s Dad shakes his head “Why didn't he just say that??"

He walks off disgruntled.

After an hour or so, Ethan comes out of his room. Exhausted and tired waving Benny’s now perfectly refurbished, white xbox controller.

"Aw that's great dude!”

Benny has been playing for hours and wants to take a break before he plays with Ethan, they go to the kitchen to snack on grandma’s homemade cookies.

Ethan takes a bite out of one while pouring them a glass of milk and chews on it, trying to mask his disgust.

Benny takes one bite out of it and spits it out.

“Ew you like this stuff?”

“No… I don't,” Ethan puts down the half eaten cookie back on the plate. “I was just trying to be polite.”

“Omg dude don't worry I didn’t even make these,” Benny Laughs “my grandma did.”

“Oh thank god,” He shakes his head, putting the milk back in the fridge "Sooo what do you play?"

"Oh uh I guess mostly Xbox and PC games lik-"

"No no," Ethan cuts him off "I mean like what instrument did you play for your band?"

"Ohh. I played the drums and guitar and i was the lead singer!" he adds on.

"That's sick! Could I hear your stuff?"

"yeah! I can burn a CD for you!"

Suddenly there's a knock at the door, Ethan answers it and its grandma weir!

"Come on lets go Benny its time for dinner."

"Awe come on i didn't even get to play any video games with him yet!"

"But you've been here for hours!"

"Yeah but-"

"Lets go, you can come back later."

"Augh okay" he looks over at Ethan solemnly, heading towards the door.

"Wait,” Ethan stops him, “do you want your controller back?"

"Nah keep it, you fixed it anyways.” He smiles “Thanks for letting me play."

"Hey it's no problem," he holds Benny back a second longer. Trying to find the courage to say "could we play together some time?"

"Oh for sure! How does tomorrow sound?"

"Tomorrow sounds great." Ethan peeps.

[ben10ocfanfic]

Tale of 10 chapter 6

1. The group of boys Continued to ride. Jesse Took a very deep breath. He looked at the scene around him and took note of the damages to the rv. Admittedly it wasnt as bad as it could be considering what happened.

2. It still didnt make Dj feel any better apon seeing one of his oldest freinds looking so distraught. This RV was Jesses home. He worked since he was 15 for this truck. He almost dropped out junior year to keep his job.

3. Dj walked over to his old freind."If theres anything i can do please tell me jess." Jesse just smiled." I love this thing. But thats all it is brother just a thing. Id rather lose it then you guys."

4. In silent agreement Rick an josè nodded there heads."yeah an besides we can always help fix it." José said cheerfully. Jesse raised a brow."you know how to replace a dashboard broken windshelid an numrous holes along the back?"

5. Jose chuckled nervously "well we can always watch you do it." Jess rolled his eyes." Thats what I thought now lets figure this out" jess pointed at Dj.

6. Two hours later. Progress had been slow. Rick had been trying to focus on how Djs biology worked. Honestly he had no clue." My best guess is you're currently some sort of alien. "

7. Everyone sorta just looked at him confused."how did you come up with that one Sherlock?" José asked sarcastically. Rick sighed." Well, those robot things seemed to come from space. An im guessing they were after you since I dont see any other reason to attack."

8.while not satifyed the boys accepted it as jesse started tapping hard on the hourglass symbol." Jess you good dude?"Dj asked. Jess didnt awnser right away but spoke after a minute or two."I think you should be able to push this down but it looks stuck."

9. Dj nodded before thinking for a moment. He then started repeatedly smacking the symbol. After a few minutes a red flash blinded everyone before everyone saw the form of Dj.

10. Dj looked down observing his body. Everything seemed normal even his cloths were back untill he look as his wrist. There on his wrist was a green an black watch. The frimliar hour glass symbol was also present. However parts of the watch looked damaged.

11. The hourglass symbol had a noticeable crack although its was faint an didn't distort the symbol. Some parts looked to have exposed wiring. As if the covering had been removed. But most noticble part was that something was effecting the skin around Djs arm. Little, thick, green, square ,like lines. It almost looked like a tattoo of some sort.

12. It made Dj feel uncomfortable. He immediately reach for it. Attempting to rip it off him. He struggled for a minute before his face went pale. Rick then noticed djs face as jose an jesse inspected the rest of djs body for any injuries. "Hey buddy uh whats wrong?" Rick asked as Dj stared at him.

13. Jose an Jesse were now concerned as well. "Hola hermano ¿estás bien? Estamos preocupados por ti. ...Te ves pálido" José questioned. Jesse shook his freind slightly trying to get him to react.

14. Finally he spoke. "Its stuck." The boys all go quiet. "Its fused to MY FUCKING SKIN!!!!" Dj started to scream while waving his arm wildly while the boys try to calm him.

15. After nearly an hour of panicked screaming the boys gather around Dj. At this point the boys had been trying to remove the watch using various tools most of witch were broken. The boys were now trying something new

16."Guys this is a bad idea." Said Dj as jose attached jummper cables to the watch. Rick an Jesse looked back at there freind an shrugged. "Its fine our plan is solid" Rick then chimed in. "Its this or the hacksaw.". Dj gulped. "Hey dont worry man I got only one arm an im fine."

17. " I still don't like this I dont care what happens to me but what if you guys get hurt trying to hack this thing.!" Jesse just laughed. "Dont worry besides were not hacking anything were gonna use ricks laptop to create a electrical feedback loop. Witch will hopefully cause a system overload loop to shut down whats restraining you."

18. Dj an jose give him a blank stare. Rick sighs an face palm. "Doctor redneck here is trying to fry the watch." The two nod. "Yeah frying the alien watch still sounds like a bad idea. I just don't want my best freinds getting vaporized. " dj said before he sighed." But I can't really stop you from helping."

19."Dam right now lets fry some bacon!" Yelled jesse as he started. The computer humed to life along with the watch. Jose and ruck kept a hand around each clamp incase the needed to stop.

20. Dj tryed his best to stay calm. Jose smiled "see essay were good nothing can go wrong." Rick jesse an dj gave him a stink eye as the watcu started to glow. "You just had to say it." Said dj. Jesses panicked an started to press the keys quickly. "Shit! Get thoses off him! Now!"

21. without hesitation the boys started to pull hard but soon found the clamps were stuck."Guys forget me run!" Jose pulled harded the vain in his arm showing. " HELL NO. Were brothers amigo! We wont leave you behind!"

22. Rick strained as well pulling with both hands. "It will be a cold day in hell before we abadon- whats happing to our hands?" In response José looked down at his hand an noticed it was turning a dark green while ricks were turning black.

23. They looked to jesse who held up two unnaturally white hands before a green light took over there vision. A Shockwave of green energy erupted from the watch an knocked them unconscious.

24. Meanwhile far off in space on the planet Galvin prime.

25.A small 3 inch gray alien in green robes tinkered away. He have a smirk on his face as the small machine came to life. It looked like a mechanical spider. "Theses new drones should make repairs easier. Of course this is only a prototype."

26.As the alien admired his work another alien rushed in yelling nonsense as he tryed to get the others attention. This alien wore a lab coat with large oversized googles.

27. The first alien sighed. "Darwin please I know taking the role as my new assistant has gotten you nervous but I cant understand you. Witch is saying something as I know over 12000 different languages. At least breathe"

28. The alien took a deep breathe. "My apologies first thinker asmuth. But its happened. The omnitrix is back online. An I think it done something to earth."

29. Dawrin handed a tablet to asmuth. The first thinker sighed." It seems the past is catching up with us. It looks like someone tryed overloading the omnitrix but only cuased it to release a wave of dna across the planet. This is very bad. I must seek audience with the guardians of Oa an gain permission to one again return to earth.

30. Darwin gulped. "First thinker they banned you from returning after the incident. " asmuth chuckled "its only an incident if i did something on accident. Whatever the case earth is in grave danger. I only hope the new guardian is as worthy as Tennyson. May his gods watch over him. Because i doubt were the only ones who took notice."