#me thinks i could have still put a giffie

[lowkeyclueless5137]

Day 5-No au

Prompt: deceiving appearance

Pair: Vil X Cater X Rook

Title:???

Warning! Heavy Spoilers for episode/book 1-6 from Twst, along violence, slight gore and blood mentions/presence...

Smol notice: this is just a headcannon revolving around Cater as an agent... So please take it as it is and not as cannon...

Full no one pov!

"So... You won't be able to come today?" "No... I'm busy... You know... My job is really demanding lately..." Cater said with a small smile over the phone. "It's alright... I understand... photography is quite the demanding job... Especially since it's the period of most events... Just concentrate on your work... Oh... And Rook says that you will do a beautiful job..." Vil said on the other end of the phone. "Tell him I send him kisses~" the ginger beamed.

BANG! splat!

"What was that?" Vil asked. "Ah... Nothing... Just a kiddo playing video-games. At this point I am unfazed by this." the ginger mused. "Alright... Call me or Rook when you are finished... We will be at Ramshackle, discussing about the outcome of the VDC..." Vil mused. "I will... Love you! Bye!" Cater beamed as he closed the call.

After that, his face twisted in annoyance.

"Could you splatter your guts a bit more silently, please? Some people have their important phone calls..." The boy said sarcastically towards the struggling Phanthom under his foot. The being was bearly alive, shot multiple times and blot oozing out of it like a river. Cater groaned and just shoot it one last time, leaving on the ground the lifeless body of the Phanthom that was slowly turning into nothingness.

If you asked Cater what his job was, he would tell without any hesitation that he's freelancing photography. Something simple for a guy who is still in college and need some money.

But if you actually knew Cater, you would be aware of his real job: a hitman. The ginger never liked that term so he would prefer being called just a field agent or in some cases, field chemest, after how he got the nickname of smokey death from other agents... Cater used mostly bullets made with his own chemecals or smoke bombs that would leave in his way corpses of the Overblots in a heartbeat. After all, working for STIX does pay well. Not even his family knows about it. They were all surprised to see how much the ginger could be able to get, yet Cater never shared his misterious ways.

Exhaling, the boy only got wiped himself off and put the gun in it's destinate holder on his leg pocket. Gently pressing his earpiece, Cater looked one last time at the spot where the Phanthom was used to be, grabbing a small black rock that was left. "I cleared it, boss... The residues? Yeah... Gottem too... I'll come to the Isle in a giffy..." The ginger hummed as he twirled in between his fingers the said rock.

It was only a few days since the VDC ended on a sour note for NRC. Grim disappeared and everyone was trying to go back to a somewhat normalcy.

Cater would never admit it out loud, but he was worried. If it wasn't for STIX's underground ways, more Overblots could have been registered. Technology evolving also meant that more and more people were becoming careless with their magic, thinking that the technology part will back them up. The NRC sudden OverBlot incidents weren't really a surprise for the ginger.

Cater only exhaled as he plopped on a couch from the STIX headquarters. He had a supposed meeting with one of his boss's underlings as he called them. Just give them the rock and Cater will just be free to do how he pleases. Maybe getting back to his boyfriends and demand cuddles would be a great compensation for today!

Thinking to his said reward, Cater was just smiling to himself, all fuzzy inside at the thought of what he could receive. Maybe a skincare session? Or even try new hairstyles along his boyfriends. Ah... Should he do his nails? Vil said he had a nice nail polish. And his nails look like they could receive too some spoiling.

"Cater Diamond..." A voice snapped Cater from his daydream. Looking at the owner of it, Cater froze in place.

It was Ortho Shroud.

"Wha? Wait... Aren't you supposed to be with Idia at NRC?!" The ginger jumped out of his seat. "I am afraid you are mistaken... We have gotten orders from the higher-ups to come here and acompany the subjects that were brought in from Night Raven College... Come on now! Nii-san said he wants to talk to you a bit..." Ortho mused.

Subjects? Cater wasn't informed about that. And Idia? Talking to him? Actually socialising?! Did Cater wake up in another universe?

Reaching to the older Shroud, Cater crossed his arms. "Why wasn't I informed of this? It could've blown away my cover..." "It was a short notice... I bearly knew about this too..." Idia groaned. "You got the residues?" "Yes... Here..." Cater put in Idia's palm the said black Rock. "Perfect... Now... We have a small problem..." "A problem?" Cater asked, confused.

"Well... You'll see... I'll need you in here..." "for what?" "Moral support..." Idia trembled. Cater only rolled his eyes and exhaled with a small smile. "You got it, boss... You can socialise..." the ginger lightly patted the blue head's shoulder.

The cargo with the said subjects arrived. Idia only took a statue like position as Cater watched as the door of the cargo opened. From there, 5 people fell down unceremoniously.

"Welcome! To the STIX headquarters!" Ortho beamed. Cater was frozen in place as well as Idia once he meet the purple eyes of his lover. Vil, as well as the other Dormheads and Jamil, were having their eyes wide and mouths largely open like a gaping fish.

"CATER?! IDIA?!" "uhhhh.... Surprise?" The ginger awkwardly made a jazzy hand motion as Idia looked like he could fainth any moment. Ortho was the only one oblivious of the said tension.

It was by no means something light to laugh about it. Cater wished it was though. Because the glare Vil send him could freeze an entire desert in seconds. After their simulations, the boys were left in the meeting room, with Idia and ortho with Cater as bodyguards and advisors. "Uhhh... I see we have tension..." Idia butted in awkwardly, nudged by Ortho. "ma-" Vil started but he was interrupted by the alarms going off. "Hmm?" Idia only pressed something at the panels, before screaming in surprise.

"Bonjour! I am Rook Hunt! Le chasseur du Love! I have come along monsieur crappaple and monsieur trickster to deliver something to our dear roi du poison!" the blonde hunter dramatically said outside, facing the charons that werr guarding the place. "OI IDIA SHROUD! I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE! GIVE ME BACK MY FIRE BREATHING FURRY CAT SON!" the Ramshackle perfect screamed. "OTHERWISE WE WILL BLOW UP YOUR ROOM IN IGNIHYDE!" Epel threatened.

Cater and Vil palmfaced hard.

Idia turned towards Cater. "Diamond... Neutralise them..." he demanded. "Y-" "Cater! I Forbid you from attacking them." Vil demanded. Now the ginger was in a turmoil. "Go! I am his boss." "stay! And I am his boyfriend!" both Vil and Idia were demanding something entirely opposite. The others were only silent, watching and judging the situation. Either way, Cater will receive the judgement from them. Either way Riddle will be angry onto him.

"Yes, boss... I'll take care of it in a minute..." the ginger made a light bow. He averted as much as he could his gaze from meeting Vil's or any other guest in the room as he leaved it, going on the halls as fast as he could.

Idia said to neutralise Rook, so grabbing a tranquilliser, Cater loaded his weapon of choice, a set of small vaccine like shots, before he got out to deal with the problem.

It was quick, not even Rook could Perceive it from the distraction the charons made. The blonde hunter only felt someone hugging him from behind and a poke at his neck before he fainted. "S-senpai?!" Epel and the perfect were stunned as Cater only took a deep breath, knocking them out quickly. "Take them into the guest rooms... Boss's orders..." The ginger demanded as the charons complied.

Cater was so dreading what was to come next.

Vil was fuming. "I want a private moment with Hunt and Diamond..." "I-" "I do not take no for an answer! Did. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" Vil pressed onto his words as he grabbed Idia's collar in an iron grip. The blue firehead only nodded quickly in the iminent fear he had. Once he was left free from the grip, Idia pressed his earpiece. "Diamond... Come here with Hunt... Yes... I am dying right here... Hurry up please... How long? 20 minutes..." Idia shuttered as Vil's murderous gaze was still fixated on him.

Cater was anxious. The unconscious Rook from the couch he stood on didn't help either. Vil had his arms crossed. "Wake him up..." He demanded. Cater only nodded and got from his leg pocket a small pill that he broke it under Rook's nose, waking up quickly the hunter.

"Ah! Roi du poison! Roi du diamonds?" Rook quickly became confused at the sight of the ginger. Cater smiled weakly. "Hi..." He mused. Vil dragged his voice.

"first... Rook... Not are you reckless enoug to break into STIX, but to also bring along you 2 first years..." Vil mused. "Bu-" "no buts... Second..." Cater felt the iminent glare Vil sent him.

"Cater Diamond... To be apart of this mess and overall contributing to it? We all promised to never have any secret in between us... With how much did you lie to me, to us, Cater? Do you think we can even continue like this?" the model asked. Rook was silent too.

Cater bit his lip. Now that he thought about it. With how much he lied. The ginger wouldn't even trust himself anymore or even avoid himself forever if he was in Vil or Rook's shoes.

But... Cater also knew what will happen once the examination Idia was forced to do will end. Even if he will make a progress and just out himself... They will forget and they will return in square one.

So fuck it!

Cater let his tears to roll over his cheeks. "I'm sorry... Alright? I d-didn't want to... I didn't know they'll come after you... I didn't want to hurt any of you..." The ginger felt weak as he cried his feelings out. If they are going to forget, better lay everything on the table.

"I am so sorry... It's just... I work here... STIX recruited me from the government agency and... I know it's better in here... But I really didn't want to hide it from you... It's hard... Every day to lie to you that I'm alright... When I literally have myself covered in blood of the ones I'm required to kill.... I'm sorry... Vil... Rook... And you will all forget this ever took place... I-I... Can't anymore..." the ginger cried, his eyes puffy.

Cater felt a gentle hand over his. It was Rook's, who smiled warmly. "My dear roi du Diamonds... It's alright... I understand..." The blonde reassured as he gently kissed the hand of Cater. Vil hummed and grabbed the other hand.

"Are we filmed?" the blonde asked. Cater nodded, before he threw a small bomb in a camera, making some pink gummy substance to cover it completely. "Not anymore." the ginger mused. "Impressive!" Rook complimented.

Vil dragged again his voice. "I want you to do me a favor... And tell me and Rook everything that happened in here..." "B-but... That means going against the rules-" "I want to remember you Cater... The true you... Not the facade you always have... We Finally saw what you truly are... And I would never want to go back to it..." the model mused as he gently got one of Cater's hands, putting it on his cheek. "You realise how close we are now... Do you even think I would want to give out this because of some damn ploticy?" The model mused.

"Oui... We would never want to give you up... You are the most beautiful when you are yourself... We would never want to lose such a beauty when it's standing right next to us..." the hunter mused.

Cater lightly giggled once he felt the ticklish sensation of a kiss onto his cheeks from the other 2. "You really don't want to get rid of me? Vil looked like he would murder Idia in a heartbeat." the ginger mused. "This is how my face works with him now..." the model replied.

"So... I'm forgiven but my boss isn't?" "No... Both aren't forgiven..." "ouch..." the ginger giggled lightly.

And luckily, after all of those incidents in STIX... Idia indulged on not erasing anyone's memory. Cater was happy. Extremely happy one may say. Finally they were going back to a somewhat normalcy

"So... Any plans for next Saturday?" Vil asked in his room. "No~ boss finally gave me the weekend off~" Cater slurred as he rolled on the bed like a cat. "Non! I have no plans~" Rook dramatised. "Then... Shall we have a date?" "Perfe-" Cater was intrerrupted by a ping of his phone. Looking at it, the ginger hummed and put the phone in his pocket. "Ah... Gotta go~ A mission..."

Vil smiled weakly along Rook as they both pecked the ginger's cheeks. "come back quick..." "Oui! I plan to see you enter NRC back!" Rook beamed since last time he failed, making out of it a whole contest of hide and seek. Cater only smiled. "I will! I'll always come back~" The ginger mused as he left the room.

He loved his boyfriends... And now... He liked his job even more!

[tigerkirby215]

Let’s talk about the new UA because that’s what we did back then

(We post Kha’zix because the Thri-Kreen have a racial stat block now. Artwork by Sean “Raiko” Ray and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/travelers-multiverse

I don’t have much of a blurb about this since I kinda just woke up lol. This UA doesn’t have much of a “theme” beyond “hey look races”, and some are more interesting than others.

Astral Elf

Wouldn’t be a new set of races without another goddamn elf, eh? Well in terms of elves this is certainly one of the better ones. For a start it does the thing that I have said elves have needed to do for awhile (IE have a fucking identity beyond “is good with a bow.”)

Sacred Flame is easily the best option from Astral Fire, although granted when you other options are Light and Dancing Lights that isn’t much of a contest. The fact that this race can choose the stat that dictates their casting (while High Elves can’t lmao) is huge as you can take Sacred Flame on a variety of classes that wouldn’t normally get good damaging cantrips. The two that come to mind are Druid (yes Magic Initiate was an option but this is much more free) and Bard (no need for Divine Soul Sorcerer.)

Radiant Soul was one of the better features of the Undying Warlock (not the Undead Warlock) and it’s kinda interesting that it’s just being added to a base race. It’s not that big of a heal but it’s essentially slightly better Death Ward once per day. Ironically I think this has way more impact early on than in the late game. And yeah you technically have the chance to roll bad and not get to use this ability regardless, but with three coin flips one is bound to be a success.

Trance Proficiencies offers a lot of options for a select few classes: Rogues can now get longbows or heavy crossbows without multiclassing, Monks can pick whatever they fancy for Dedicated Weapon, Druids and Clerics can grab weapons that aren’t in their proficiency list, and you can make a Gish without investing in Gish classes. At first I thought this ability was a lot stronger since I assumed you could also grab skills, but only being able to grab weapons or tools isn’t that good really. Still it’s nice to have one guy who’s guaranteed to be able to use the cool magic weapon the party found.

Autognome

See I considered putting a World of Warcraft Mechagnome as the image for this post but then I remembered that I don’t support rapists.

The choice to make them pure constructs is... odd, especially since WoTC seemingly wants to have their cake and eat it too by making it so you can still be healed by Cure Wounds, Healing Word, and Raise Dead. (Interestingly enough not other healing spells like Mass Healing Word.) I just think if the freaking Warforged can be affected by Hold Person this race should be affected by it too.

Innate Mage Armor race though. I find it odd that their AC is based on DEX as constructs, as I think CON-based AC (like the Loxodons) would’ve made more sense. But I guess after Loxodons they realized how strong that is?

Having a bunch of Blesses in your pocket is boring but definitely useful. It’s a nice trait but it doesn’t feel overly unique. Other than that the tool proficiencies don’t add much (again Warforged lost Integrated Design and then this gets added?) and the rest of the features are just standard construct stuff.

True Life is very interesting though! It essentially gives you access to reliable out-of-combat healing 24/7, or even in-combat if you’re desperate enough. I think you can make a lot of interesting builds with this ability in mind. Ironically enough despite mentioning WoW Mechagnomes I think using this to replicate Bastion from Overwatch would work quite well. But I’m pretty sure Bastion is losing his Self-Repair in Overwatch 2 or whatever...

Giff

Is it just me or is this race a little... boring? You only get two racial abilities: two very strong racial abilities, but still just two abilities.

Innate Savage Attacker is mediocre. It’s been proven numerous times that Savage Attacker is lackluster at best. Advantage on all Strength checks and saves is pretty big but ironically it actually encourages the race to build for stats other than Strength, since Advantage will often work as a safety net for you.

Overall this race is a step down from Loxodons, who I still think are one of if not the best races in 5e in terms of design.

Hadozee

Dexterous Feet are a meme (anyone who’s played a Thief Rogue can tell you that.) The glide trait is mediocre. Race is objectively worse than Simic Hybrid and pretty meh overall. Will be fun to roleplay though.

Plasmoid

Finally something interesting! Man I wish this race existed when I made my Zac build lmao.

Most of these traits are about what I expected from a slime race, but that doesn’t mean it’s weak. The amorphous trait is reserved as a very high level ability for some subclasses (Aberrant Mind) so having it at level 1 is proven to be strong. Resistance to Acid is situational (still useful) but resistance to Poison is very strong as Poison is easily one of the most common damage types.

Having essentially a 10 foot long Mage Hand is... interesting. I don’t know how much it’ll impact gameplay since (again) Mage Hand is so readily accessible. If it was 20 feet this would maybe be a good alternative to Mage Hand but at 10 feet this kinda just feels like a way to play No-Face from Spirited Away.

Thri-Kreen

I think next to Gnolls the Thri-Kreen are the race I’ve been wanting the most as a playable option, although granted that might be because whenever I search “weapons” on D&D Beyond I get “Thri-Kreen (Weapons Variant)” so they may have just been engrained into my memory.

Another innate Mage Armor class although I like the visual of a camouflage carapace! Most of the time when races get Stealth proficiency / advantage it isn’t explained well so I’m glad that this race has some visual association for the player. Having the Aspect of the Moon Eldritch Invocation innately is also pretty nice, as it allows you to do downtime stuff during sleep time as long as it isn’t “strenuous activity.” I have always liked roleplaying races with weird sleeping patterns so I approve of this trait as well.

Secondary Arms is admittedly the most interesting ability... shame that it isn’t all that interesting. Nothing that we haven’t seen from Loxodon, put simply. I like that you can use Light weapons as depending on the DM you can do some interesting things to have a Bonus Action Dual-Wielding attack while still fighting normally. (General Grievous build, anyone?) The other obvious implication is that you can wield an Arcane Focus in your secondary arms, meaning that you can play a Gish with a two-handed weapon. It does have some interesting implications but it’s not earth-shattering. I sort of hoped for more with such a trait.

That’s what Thri-kreen Telepathy provides, ironically enough! I’m a big advocate for innate telepathy and being able to bypass language barriers with this ability makes an already strong race even stronger. Of course the person you’re talking to has to be willing (which has a lot of significance) but overall this does mean that you can easily play a more social role with your bugman.

Final Rankings, I guess

Astral Elf - “Yup that’s definitely an Elf” but it’s far more interesting than the average Elf. 7/10

Autognome - Disappointed with how arguably better this race is when compared to Warforged, but has some unique abilities that present interesting build options. 8/10

Giff - Very boring I’m sorry. There was so much more you could’ve done with this. Not even innate AC? 2/10

Hadozee - Will be played because they’re monke, not because they’re good. 2/10

Plasmoid - One of the more interesting races in this playtest. Some abilities that sound bland but are a lot cooler in practice and some abilities that sound cool but probably won’t have much impact on gameplay overall. 8/10

Thri-kreen - Ironically one of the strongest races in this package for very minor reasons? Has a ton of great utility between ignoring sleep (somewhat), extra arms (not as useful as one might think), and telepathy that bypasses language barriers. Not “overpowered” obviously but the race has perhaps too many good traits. 9/10

If I had to rank the races based on power level it would probably look something like Thri-kreen > Astral Elf > Autognome > Plasmoid > Giff > Hadozee. I absolutely expect Thri-kreen nerfs, nerfs to Astral Elf, and full reworks to everything else lol. Only race that I honestly consider “balanced” at the moment is Plasmoids ironically, although Autognomes are nearly there. (It’s just the weird implications of being a Construct who can take healing spells.)

This UA felt very experimental and I like that. It certainly wasn’t an early progress UA or anything like that, but Wizards of the Coast is clearly far more willing to experiment with the upcoming book and that has me quite hopeful.

I still want Gnolls, WoTC.

[haziel-luz]

Will It Be the Same?

Chapter 3:  Whatever Happens, is Meant to Happen  

(Lucifer x Reader)

Getting through the day with the weak amount of energy you had today was stressful enough, but trying to get by with just a string of your sanity is overbearing. You're hunched over the microscope, focusing on any sort of difference between each sample, even if it’s a slight difference. This helps you distract yourself from accidentally looking through peoples mind or discover something else.

“(Y/n), how’s it going there bestie!” Ella popped up from beside you with a pat on your back. The surprising greeting made you flinch away in fear. Ella quickly frowned, confusion and worry, this was just so sudden.

“Oh sorry Els, it’s going good. I found the difference between these samples from the crime scene. They almost tried to sneak past me.” You smiled nervously and tried to add some humor to lighten the mood you ruined.

“That’s great..Hey, are you okay? You’ve been really fidgety since this morning, it’s like you’ve been avoiding stuff.” Ella gets closer and holds both of your arms gently, trying to soothe you.

“Just a nightmare I had last night. Nothing I can’t handle.” You composed yourself and smiled at her reassuringly. Ella didn’t seemed too convinced, but she let it go anyways

“Alright, try not to work so hard. I want you to come with me at the next crime scene. I’m gonna go get us some coffee before we go.” Ella rubs your arm and walks out of the lab room. You felt like you probably should’ve been more convincing. If she could see you all jumpy then everyone else can too, and you don’t need that kind of attention. You rubbed your temples and breathed in and out to see if you can calm your own nerves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey Decker, I’m gonna steal your partner. Be back in a giffy!” Ella pops at Chloe’s desk out of nowhere, startling her a bit. Ella wasted no time to drag Lucifer towards the coffee and snack area, leaving Chloe confused. Lucifer tried to protest but Ella didn’t even give him the chance to complain.

“Sorry about that but I need your help with something.” Ella’s serious tone caught Lucifer’s attention. Lucifer seemed interested and surprised by Ella’s change of expression.

“I believe you’ve forgotten the old Lopez charm back there.” Lucifer pointed out with a grin. Ella isn’t one to have serious expressions.

“I’m serious Lucifer...it’s about (Y/n). I was wondering if you can give Linda a call so that (Y/n) can go see her. I don’t have much right now but I’ll chip in as much as I can.” Ella poured coffee on both mugs, and looked at him pleadingly.

“Now why on earth would (Y/n) want to see the good doctor?” Lucifer raised an eyebrow at Ella, trying to dig for more information on (Y/n).

“I couldn’t say anything even if I wanted to. You see Lucifer, I’ve been trying to be patient for her to tell me all her problems but it isn’t working. She might just need professional help. So can you do me a favor and call Linda?” Ella sighs tiredly and picks up both mugs.

“Alright Ms.Lopez, I’ll pay for the appointment myself, although you do owe me a favor later on. Deal?” Lucifer grins at Ella.

“Deal. Thanks Lucifer, it means alot.” Ella smiles happily at Lucifer and turns to go back to the lab you both were in.

“Indeed..” Lucifer grins and takes out his flask and takes a sip. If he couldn’t bring out more information about you directly, then maybe he can ask Linda everything she knows about you. Lucifer takes out his phone and dials the number of his therapist.

“Lucifer? I hope this is something important.” Linda sighs tiredly through the phone.

“Why yes it is doctor.” Lucifer turns to see you laughing with Ella in the lab. Lucifer’s grin falters into a concern gaze when he realizes how tired you looked. With one simple look at you and somehow he just wants to help you anyway he can, and it really frustrates him. Why the hell would he be automatically more concerned about you than his situation with the detective?

‘What the bloody hell is this?!’ Lucifer thought to himself and sighs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sooo~ you have any plans after this?” Ella asked, taking pictures of the corpse. It made you shiver each time you saw a dead body but you made sure you didn’t show it. You wanted to help Ella in every way you could.

“Nah, not really. Why got something in mind?” You were taking notes of the crime scene and what Ella observes.

“I do, and uh..” Her voice falters when she takes a moment to look at you. You look exhausted and it broke her heart that you aren’t willing to take the time to process and resolve your traumatic experience. It was hell for Ella, waiting for months just to know you were okay, and more months to see you again for her own eyes.

“And what? Are you alright Els?” You gave her a confused look, Els was never one to stop mid-sentence. Ella stayed silent for a moment, battling her inner thoughts while looking at the dead body. You don’t interrupt her thinking or even invade her thoughts.

“Have..you ever thought about going to a therapist?” Ella’s sudden question caught you off guard. She took some more pictures to fill in some silence on your part. She could somehow alway see right through you. It surprises you most of the time, but right now you really wished she didn’t pay attention to your invisible suffering.

“Uh..sometimes.” You answered, crouching down next to her. You knew this was a conversation only between you two.

“How come you haven’t tried?” She sighed and lowered her camera.

“Think about it Els, you're the only one who knows I can read minds. The story behind that isn’t...believable. What kind of therapist would take me seriously?” You told her and rubbed your temple. Ella noticed that your headache was starting again, she quickly pulled out pain killers and gave them to you. Thanking her, you took the pills and hoped that they kicked in sooner before it got stronger.

“I know a therapist that can help, she’s a good friend of mine. It would really mean alot if you at least gave her a shot. Please?” Ella looked at you with serious and pleading eyes. Damn her charms! You really can’t say no to that. You groaned and watched her grin at her victory.

“Fine. I’ll only try it once, and if it doesn’t work well, then can we drop the therapy subject?” You huffed while taking notes.

“Yup!” Ella hugged you tightly and you couldn’t but smile while you were taking notes. You have such a soft spot for Ella, and she knows it.

“Hey Ella, (Y/n). What do we have?” Chloe smiled while approaching with Lucifer. Ella broke from her embrace and started looking at the corpse.

“This is Wesly Rogers, choked to death by a wire while watching sports.” Ella pointed to the t.v behind them and continued. “Apparently he was just a science teacher, such a normal dude for a brutal death. He didn’t even get to see who won. Shame.” Ella sighed and shook her head.

“What’s more shameful is his outfit, such a nice house and he can’t even dress like he does.” Lucifer looks around the living room and then back at Wesly with disgust. You chuckled at his change of topic and Ella shook her head with a small snort. Chloe looked at Lucifer and rolled her eyes.

“That’s it? Just a crime of passion?” Chloe raised an eyebrow at the corpse and back to Ella.

“The evidence points to that direction but whoever murdered him is pretty much a pro. Wesly here fought back and normally you would scratch people or something, but his fingernails are squeaky clean. There’s no sign of fingerprints and no force entry.” You spoke up and stood up with Ella.

“That’s weird..does he have any family? A background?” Chloe asked and you gave her your notes.

“From what we got, he was just an orphan and has never been adopted. No girlfriend, wife, kids, nada. Dude just hangs out with teachers and students.” Ella responded and shrugs, packing her camera.

“Well, I guess he doesn’t need a love life since he’s so used to being lonely.” Chloe commented bitterly while giving you your notes back. You mentally winced at the comment, you looked at Lucifer and he stared at her with a frown. ‘Not today guys...’ You packed your notes.

Before Lucifer could say a word, Chloe took the file from an officer and left. You and Ella looked at each other, you were visibly uncomfortable. You can tell that she was trying to communicate with you through her thoughts, so you took the invitation.

‘Got any idea on what that’s about?’ Ella asked acting naturally while looking through some other notes you didn’t put away.

‘Two words. Living. Nightmare.’ You quietly huffed.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ She frowned slightly at your response.

‘I may have accidentally...split my subconscious from my body in my sleep, and maybe my subconscious side was somehow placed in Lucifer’s penthouse.’ You kept your head down in embarrassment, staring at the notes.

‘Okay? What does that have to do with their relationship drama?’ Ella seemed confused.

‘I uh-I witnessed them doing..sexual activities and then argued right after. Literally a second after they were done..’ You elaborated and her eyes widened like saucers.

“Hello? Is there something in those notes that are more interesting than yours truly?” Lucifer waved his hands in front of you two, making you both snap out of your inner conversation.

“Sorry bro, uh we were just going through this one last time.” Ella explained and gave you the rest of the notes for you to pack.

“As I was saying, would either of you be interested in my assistance today?” Lucifer asked.

“That’s sweet Lucifer, but we got everything under control here.” You sympathetically smiled at the poor guy.

“Yes, of course..” Lucifer sighed and turned to walk out the crime scene. Unfortunately, having an optimistic friend that loves to help out those in need couldn’t just give you a break.

“But! We might need some help with files, papers, and all that sorts of stuff. I still got some research to do on this dead guy, so (Y/n) will be really lonely. Wouldn’t want to stress her out, you know?” Ella smiled at Lucifer while patting your shoulder, your eyes went to Ella’s.

‘Seriously? After what I told you, you're gonna have me stuck in a room with him?’ You groaned mentally.

‘Oh grow up, it’s just sex and drama. The typical love life if you ask me. Come on, look at him, he looks sad.’ Ella lightly scolded you and you turned to look at Lucifer. You noticed he had a gleam of hope in his eyes and you mentally sighed.

“Yea, I forgot you were busy too Els. I wouldn’t mind having extra help.” You gave him a smile, hopefully convincing him that you're alright with this.

“Perfect! I’ll be there when you're ready.” Lucifer smiled and left the crime scene.

‘You owe me for this Els.’

‘Don’t I always?’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How can you live with these boring duties?” Lucifer pulled out his flask and took a swig.

“You wanted to help with the boring stuff, welcome to hell buddy, not everything is as exciting as being in the field.” You scoffed lightly at his complaint.

“Trust me, this is much more exciting than hell itself.” Lucifer snorts and shakes his head. You put the files away, thankful that the endless piles of papers are over.

“I don’t know about that, I’m actually mentally preparing myself when the time comes." You jokingly said while texting Ella about your completed task. You were expecting a laugh but all you heard was silence. His silence was getting a little uncomfortable until he finally spoke.

"What would make you believe that you belong in hell?" His voice was surprisingly soft. You stopped typing and your eyes met his. From your point of view, you saw concern and curiosity. His eyebrows furrow in confusion, he's trying to understand you.

"Just a feeling, you know? I'm not very Christian, although I do believe in the 'big guy' as Ella would call him." You chuckled, thinking about your friend. "I'm far from perfect, like way far. For me, it all depends on what you die for instead of what you live for. You can be a saint all your life and still go to hell." You continued your explanation while finishing your text to Ella. It's strange that you're having this conversation with him of all people.

"What, so you have faith in dear ol' dad on your death? Despite everything he could've helped you go through in your life, you deliberately choose to trust him in your last seconds of life?" Lucifer scoffs and stands from his stool to walk towards you. You're surprised by his argument, this topic must be really sensitive. 'Dear ol' dad? Seriously?'

"He might've made me Lucifer, but he didn't create my future, because if he did then I should feel like I'm going somewhere. This isn't about who I believe in at the end of the day. Why are you so in depth with this conversation anyways?" You raised your eyebrow at him while he towered over you.

“You shouldn’t be speaking so freely about death, especially where you’ll end up. Unless… there’s something you regret dearly, your deepest darkest desire perhaps?” Lucifer loses his irritated pose and leans a bit, making you cautiously lean back.

“Uh-Lucifer, I don’t know what you're trying to pull out of this conversation but since we’re done here, how about I go catch up with Ella and you can see what Chloe is up to.” You stood up from your stool and walked around him to the door. You’re really trying to stay out of his thoughts, somehow it’s harder with him and you just don’t get it. ‘Come on chica, you were doing so well today.’ You scolded yourself mentally.

Just when you opened the door, an arm reached out from behind you and closed it. You yelped when you were sharply turned around and pinned against the door by your shoulders. Your startled eyes quickly made contact with Lucifer’s frustrated orbs. You don’t know what came over him. One moment you two were having a playful conversation and then it was somehow flipped upside down.

“Lucifer, what are you doing? Let go!” Your voice was loud enough to become a warning, but not enough to alert the noisy precinct. You tried to struggle but his grip only tightened on your shoulders.

“I’ve clearly had enough with the ‘innocent human’ facade, my dear. A six month  disappearance and you come back as someone ‘special’? Ray has certainly been cautious around you but I would love to get to the bloody point.” Lucifer scoffs at your acting, which was something you weren’t doing at all. You froze at the mention of your disappearance and Ray-Ray. That information made you scared and confused.

“H-how do you know about that and R-Ray-Ray?” Your eyes widen, turning pale. You thought that you and Ella were the only ones that could see the ghost. Just like you thought no one else knew about those six months you refused to think about.

“I have my connections. Now that we’ve cleared the air, how about you answer my questions. Did my father send you to meddle with my life?” Lucifer glared, making you feel tiny and weak. He wasn’t the Lucifer you first met, he’s darker...almost dangerous.

“Your father? Lucifer what the fuck has gotten into you, I didn’t know you even existed until you broke into Ella’s apartment. Now let me go!” You couldn’t take the forceful interrogation any longer, this behavior has just opened old wounds you never wanted to think of again. You tried kicking him off of you, but he stayed in place like a fucking wall, not even a centimeter away from you.

“Ugh, stubborn as a mule. Very well then, you brought this upon yourself.” Lucifer grumbled, making you stand up straight against the door. He straightened out his shoulders and leaned in, his dark orbs piercing into your delicate ones. “What, do tell, is your deepest desire?” His voice rumbled darkly, like he’s putting a spell on you.

The second he asked that question, your eyes couldn’t look away from his. It was as if his eyes were the strongest magnets in the universe. You couldn’t concentrate on your own thoughts, your surroundings, or the situation. Your mind was filled with many memories all at once. The memories that were spilling out weren’t sweet, they were horrible. It was a recap of the woman you used to be to the woman you are now.

Tears started to blur your eyes. The woman you were before was the woman you wanted to be now. Not this..freak of nature..

Lucifer was concentrating even harder, he was amused by the strong willpower she had to refuse to confess her desires. Noticing her tears, Lucifer froze in place and stared at her tear stained cheeks. Watching them fall, his face changed from menacing to guilt. Here he was, angry at the thought of his father tweaking his life as if he needed a path to follow, that he didn’t notice the pain he was inflicting on to you.

Lucifer stopped his mojo and loosened his grip on your shoulders, but it was too late. Your breathing was shallow, tears continuing to fall. You were starting to hear those voices again, the ones in your memories, from the precinct, and the one in front of you. You instinctively put your hands up to cover your ears, knowing that it wouldn’t help. You whimpered and you were finally able to close your eyes. Your fear, anger, and desperation got the best of you...and your abilities.

‘Let me GO! LET ME GO!’ A voice rang out in an empty dark room. Lucifer’s eyes widened and turned his head to the corner of the room. The corner of the forensic room was darker than it originally was. He saw a girl, with disheveled hair, bloody clothes, just a fragile and weak form.

‘Please..someone help me please...LET ME OUT!’ The girl hit the wall with a heart wrenching sob. Her face finally revealed to be...you. Lucifer’s breath hitched and he turned back to you, your eyes were closed tight and you kept covering your eyes, as if you were desperately trying to block the horrible scene. Lucifer was shocked, it was impossible for a mortal to do such things. His father would never allow it, not even if it was meant to set him on some kind of path. This was something that neither heaven or hell has ever created.

Lucifer reached out to your hands covering your ears and tried to talk calmly over the suffering voice in the corner of the lab. “(Y/n), listen to me, it’s over now. There’s nothing for you to suffer from anymore.” His calm voice made you open your blurry teary eyes. Your hands were trembling under his touch.

“There you go, now take a deep breath and concentrate on me, can you do that?” Lucifer took a hold of your hands gently. You took a deep breath and stared into his eyes, your vision clearing up from all the tears. “That’s right, come back to me darling.” He put his hands on your cheeks to wipe away your tears. All you saw in his eyes was nothing but care and guilt. Your mind came back to reality, voices and memories fading away, coming back to the light.

Lucifer turned to see if the other suffering you was still there but it was gone. It was just the original corner of the white forensic lab. Staring at his confusion, you realized he saw a snippet of your memories from your disappearance. He turned towards you again and removed his hands from your face slowly.

Processing and remembering what led to this point, you backed up a bit and glared at him. You were boiling mad, the way he somehow forced you to open those wounds again. How he was controlling and manipulating your mind for his own benefit. He noticed your body language and he tried to reach out to your cheeks again.

“I...I’m sor-” You slapped his hands away harshly and bolted out the door. Lucifer tried to follow you but you stopped short when you bumped into Ella and Chloe. Right on cue.

“(Y/n)? Hey, what happened?” Ella looked into your eyes with warmth and comfort. You choked a sob and hugged her close to you, burying your face in her shoulder. Ella held you close, surprised that you broke into tears. She wanted to desperately understand what you're going through, like she always wanted to when you came back.

Lucifer was close by, this made Chloe tense. Did he show you his true form? Ella’s attention went to Lucifer’s guilty form, making her in protective mode.

“What the hell did you do?" Ella glared at him and held you closer like a momma bear with her cub. Lucifer’s mouth opened slightly but closed again, he didn’t know how to explain this, especially since Ella doesn’t know his true form. Chloe observed him carefully, he seemed hesitant to get closer and he wanted to speak up, at least to you since his eyes never left your sad state.

“I’ll take him with me to finish the case, and talk some sense into him along the way. You can stay with (Y/n) for the rest of the day, thank you for your help Ella. I hope you feel better (Y/n).” Chloe genuinely comforts you and calms Ella’s protective posture. She walks towards Lucifer and gives him a stern look while nodding to the other direction, away from the two of you.

Lucifer nods back and gives you one last look before walking off with her. Chloe didn’t fail to notice that he was hesitant on leaving when he looked back. She didn’t know what’s going on in his head, but what she did know from just a glance was that he wanted to be there for you. To comfort you.

Chloe felt a slight pain in her chest, the comfort and kindness he wanted to give you was something he hasn’t shown the past two months. Their emotional and physical intimacy hasn’t been the same. She wonders if God had other plans for Lucifer. Maybe she wasn’t enough for the devil she was created for. Chloe shook her head and focused her way out of the insecurities.

‘Whatever happens, is meant to happen.’

/////////////////////////////////////

Stay tuned for the next chapter!~~ Feedback is always welcome my lovelies💖

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MASTERLIST

[sushiandstarlight]

Cookies: Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 6 includes today’s prompt, submitted by @hellandholywater, “flustered.”

Chapters 1-3 / Chapter 4 

Previous Story in the Series: Of All The Beds In All The Hotels In All The World

Read this chapter on AO3

Rating: G, soft PG

It took over an hour for tea and conversation to run dry. Gladys cleared the cups and bid her goodnight- “bright and early, Crowley, and that means 6am not 10!”- leaving them alone in the firelight.

“Do you suppose we have to get up that early to sneak up on the butter?”

Aziraphale snorted, “Maybe you have to milk the cows first.”

“You- you don't think that's really the case? I signed up for cookies, not cows.”

“I can't recall seeing a cow here last time, but maybe she's got one. You never know.”

“Be serious.”

“I think there's probably just a whole lot to do, darling. Shall we go to bed?”

“Yeah, I suppose so. I'll be cranky at 6am regardless, but might as well not make it worse.”

“I think that was a sentence.”

Crowley stuck out his tongue at him then rose and offered him his hand. Aziraphale took it and followed him up the stairs and to the room they had been instructed was theirs. Crowley thought, for sure, that Aziraphale had forgotten his promises earlier. He'd seemed so calm about being downstairs the whole time and even offering to go to bed was a choice about sleeping, he didn't seem rushed.

So he was shocked when he found himself pressed against the inside of the door as soon as it clicked shut. He had just enough presence of mind to turn the lock before he got lost in Aziraphale's kisses and the paths of his strong, warm hands.

“Promise is a promise, it's time to warm up my serpent,” Aziraphale smirked at him knowingly, “tea on the inside, that's not enough.”

“That's not the only hot thing I want on the inside.”

Aziraphale bit his lip and pulled him back towards the, frankly absurdly large, honeymoon suite bed.

-

Crowley was in a soft, cozy place. It smelled of him and Aziraphale. That's all that mattered, really. The rest of the world could sod off and he would be none the sadder for it if he could stay right here.

Except Aziraphale, who had been pressed all along his back, was pulling away. Crowley shot a hand out, under the blankets, and clutched his- still naked, hmm- hip.

“Nuh, where'ya'goin'?” He hadn't decided if this was emergency enough to open his eyes. He hoped it wasn't. Aziraphale chuckled and pressed back against him, kissing his jaw and sneaking a hand back around his waist.

“I smell warm sugar.”

The words didn't exactly make sense. But, that was okay, Aziraphale was wrapped back around him and that's all that mattered. Crowley started to drift back off.

“I'm going to investigate. Maybe get some coffee."

“n'coffee,” Crowley whined, “jus' more sleep.” He hadn't let go of the angel's hip.

“You can sleep. I'll be back to wake you up at 6.”

“But you're warm. You'll take it with you.”

“I'll bring it back, later.”

“You love baked things more than me.” It was a last ditch effort and he knew it. He put the full force of his pout into his words. Or, well, he tried. He was still half-asleep.

“Sometimes.”

“Hey!”

“I'm joking, dear. But, really, you sleep some more. I'll be back.”

Crowley could feel himself drifting again, half against his will. Aziraphale pulled away and a moment later more weight settled over him, pressing him firmer into the mattress. He sighed softly and let sleep take him again.

-

An indeterminate amount of time later he woke. Rolling over he checked his phone: 5:37am. He could lay here and luxuriate for a while longer. That held it's advantages, not the least of which was that Aziraphale would be back and he could try to tempt him back into bed for a cuddle. Odds were, though, the angel would not be moved. He might as well get up now and save the disappointment.

Pulling back the covers he realized there were more than there were last night. Aziraphale had added another before he left. Crowley's heart did a funny little flip. His angel loved him, cared for him. He wanted to go on being cared for this way the rest of his days while working to return that care with everything he had. He smoothed the blanket with his fingers, deep in mushy thoughts.

When he finally did manage to get up, he dressed quickly in tight, dark wash jeans and a buttery soft black v-neck jumper. Stopping of in their bathroom, he tried to do something with his hair. After a couple swipes of his fingers he realized there was no helping it. He went to his bag and pulled out a grey scarf, wrapping it around his head and tying it off at the top. This would probably be best anyway, he decided, with sugar and flour being tossed up everywhere. He paused a moment over the cosmetics bag he had packed and then gave himself a flourish: a little bit of mascara and eyeliner. Slipping on his sunglasses, he meandered downstairs.

-

Crowley was halfway down the stairs when he noticed the strange lights coming from the sun room. He detoured there instead of going straight for the kitchen, even though the smell of strong, dark coffee was nearly intoxicating.

He couldn't be sure that there wasn't a Christmas tree standing in the room the night before. He had come by the sun room, but he hadn't gone in it. It was possible the tree was off along with all the other lights. He wracked his mind to remember, but he couldn't.

There was a tree now, though, decked out in soft white lights. No ornaments to be seen, although there were boxes sitting around with “Christmas” written on them in neat, curly handwriting. He shrugged, turning and following the smell of the coffee through the foyer, past the front desk. He was nearly to the kitchen when he heard Aziraphale's soft, deprecating chuckle. He hadn't heard that noise in a while, having worked to bolster the angel's confidence over the last few months. He had every reason to be happy, proud even, of who he was and what he had accomplished with his time. The sound was followed by a happy sigh.

“You really do love him, don't you?” It was Gladys speaking in a gentle way that she never really used with Crowley.

“I really, really do.” Aziraphale's voice was hushed and reverent, as if speaking of something holy or precious. Crowley's heart melted into some kind of syrup. He could feel a dopey look spread across his face.

“Then it will all work out just fine, you'll see.”

Crowley strode in as Gladys was patting Aziraphale's hand. He crossed the room and hugged the angel from behind, kissing the side of his forehead.

“It's going to be fine, is it?”

“How,” he felt Aziraphale flinch under his touch, “how much did you hear?”

“More secrets?”

“Christmas secrets.”

“Ah, those are the okay ones.”

“You'll enjoy your gift more if it's a surprise.”

“So you don't want to know that I heard everything?” Crowley smirked over his head at Gladys who frowned at him, for some reason, “okay, okay, I just heard that you love me. That's all. That's not a secret, is it?”

Aziraphale took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Hey,” Crowley leaned over his shoulder so he could see his face, “no need to get all flustered. I was only messing with you.”

“I know.”

“I'm sorry.”

“It's okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I'm sure. Sorry I got all worked up,” he placed a palm on Crowley's cheek and pulled him in for a quick kiss, “Really, I'm alright.” He smiled. It was still a little nervous around the edges.

“I see there's a tree in the sun room now. That wasn't there last night.” He handed it out as a distraction for all, sprawling in the chair next to Aziraphale's. Gladys handed him a cup of coffee and he nodded gratefully.

“Yes, Aziraphale went out and chopped it down this morning, if you'll believe it!”

Crowley looked at Aziraphale who made a pulling down motion with his hand.

“Uh huh, well that was nice of him.”

“Wasn't it? I was lamenting that I hadn't had time to put one up and then in he comes with that one. Put the lights on, too.” She winked at Aziraphale who waved her off, “I might be hoping he'll help with the ornaments, but I don't want to take advantage.”

“I would love to, Gladys, truly. I'll get started on it now if I can have a cup of coffee to go.”

Gladys turned around to fix his cup and Crowley took the opportunity to drop his glasses down his nose and wink at Aziraphale. Pink bloomed over his cheeks as his eyes widened.

“You're beautiful, darling, I like it.” He sounded a little bit breathless and it made goosebumps break out and spread down Crowley's spine.

He made sure the glasses were back up when Gladys turned back around, handing a mug to Aziraphale. Crowley could see marshmallows bobbing in the milky coffee.

“I'm going to borrow Crowley for a minute, if that's okay?”

“Oh, alright, but only a minute. It's almost half past six now.”

“I'll send him back in a giffy!” Aziraphale drug Crowley from the room by his wrist. He carefully placed his coffee on a table outside the door and pulled the demon in, kissing him hot and open until they were both panting and then he stepped back.

“You can't just spring that on me, dear,” Aziraphale licked his lips and patted down his clothes before retrieving his mug, “Not when I know I can't have you again until tonight. Off you go, cookies for orphans to bake.” He made a shooing motion.

“Off I go,” Crowley replied, dazedly, touching his bottom lip as he turned back towards the kitchen.

Chapter 7 is up!

[overobsessivewhumper]

Mutt’s new Master

This one’s a bit messy and not that whumpy. But there is more suffering coming, do not worry. I might write out a bit of Caleb’s time with Mr. Hughes if anyone’s got any interest in that (I’m gonna write it anyway, just won’t post it all to soon if no one’s interested)

Previous Next

Content warning: Reference to past abuse, idolisation of abuser

Tag list: @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @burtlederp @im-not-rare-im-rarr @comfortforthepain @18-toe-beans @haro-whumps @deluxewhump @kungpao-giffy

Caleb wakes up to his own screaming an flailing, and eventually a sharp pain when he hits his head on the coffee table. Then he is his hit by the pain of all his other injuries flaring up in protest as he hits the floor. It also hits him that this isn’t his Masters house. This isn’t where he’s supposed to be! Tears well up in his eyes as he tries to figure out where he could be and where his Master could have went. That’s when someone came running down the stairs, wielding a vase in one hand, and looking rather distraught. But the thing was, Caleb knew that someone. His new Master, Gavin.

Oh yeah. That’s right. His old Master sold… no. Gave him away. He had been bad one too many times. His Master was forced to give him away. Caleb wanted to cry even more now.

His current Master was looking around frantically, still wielding the vase.

“You’re the only one here, right?” Caleb answers his Master with a nod. Gavin sighs, looks at the vase, then puts it down on the table that Caleb hit his head on. “For a moment I thought someone broke in or something…” He sits on the couch, and looks at Caleb. “Nightmare, huh?”

Caleb shakes his head. He still remembered his dream vividly. It was about his old Master. It was impossible for a Pet to have a nightmare about his Master, especially if that Master was as ridiculously lenient, good-hearted and kind as his old Master.

“N… Not… Not a nightmare. Jus… just a… a dream.”

“Oh… Okay.” He silently studies Caleb for a moment. Caleb looks down at his hands. “Would… you like me to help you back up onto the couch?” Caleb looked up at him. He knew that Gavin apparently allows him onto furniture, but it feels so wrong to him.

“If… if it’s all the sa… same to y… you Master, I… I’d rather stay on the flo… floor…” Caleb hopes his Master doesn’t see this as defiance.

“Oh… I… okay then. Want to talk about it?”

Still looking at his new Master, Caleb shifted, clenching his teeth to prevent any noise from escaping his lips. He didn’t want to talk about it. Not really. He’d dreamt about things in the past. How he’d been bad, and had to be corrected. He didn’t want to tell his new Master about how horribly bad he had been in the past. He’d find out himself soon enough. So he shook his head.

“Oh… Well… I can understand that.”

Picking at one of the bandages that covered his knee, Caleb thought. He knew it was bad to think too much, but he couldn’t help it, especially with all the things that had happened in such a short time. He’d been bad enough for Master to give him away! He couldn’t just not think about it. But he couldn’t change it, and instead was grateful for how kind his Master had been to him in their time together, and how much better he’d made him and how Master had given him to a new Master, instead of having him put down.

Carefully, trying not to seem nosy, Caleb looked up at his new Master out of the corner of his eye. His Master just sat there, staring out into the distance.

Caleb thought his new Master was… well… Odd. Not in a judging way! Imagine the disrespect! A Pet judging his Master! No. More in the sense of that Caleb didn’t understand him yet and it was all just so… Confusing!

First off obviously was that he wanted to be called Gavin. Caleb couldn’t understand why. And secondly, where were the rules?! It scared Caleb, not knowing whether he was doing something his Master permitted, or not! It scared him that his Master told him nothing about how to behave and how he can be better for him. For a moment, Caleb wishes he’d be back with his old Master. There he knew how to make Master happy, how he could be a good Pet for him and how he’d be punished if he was bad. But here, he knew nothing. Not even what kind of punishments Master would deal out. He doesn’t even have his collar or muzzle anymore.

But he quickly pushed that taught away. He should be grateful that he had a Master at all. Being a Pet in a privilege, and striving to become good for a Master is a gift. So that’s what he does. He gets onto his knees, biting his lip to keep in the scream that threatens to leave his mouth, and looks up at Gavin.

“Thank y… you for letting me… me rest Mast… Master. Wh… What can I do to… to repay y… you?” He focuses his eyes on his Master , giving him his undivided attention. Caleb’s old Master taught him that Pet’s biggest focus must always be their Master, and Caleb lived by that. His old Master was a very wise man.

“Ex… Excuse me, what?” Gavin’s eyes widen, and his eyebrows are scrunched together. Caleb has no idea what this is supposed to mean, so he just answers his Masters question.

“It… It is a Pet’s gre… greatest privilege to ser… serve their Master. Pl… pl… please let me serve y… you Master! I ca… can be very useful! Please let me… me be useful…” Caleb doesn’t look away form Gavin, not even for a moment. Gavin looks back at him, also not looking away.

“Could… could you excuse me for a moment?” Caleb’s Master gets up, and almost bolts away into the kitchen. Caleb hopes he hasn’t been bad again, but suppresses the tears that build up in his eyes. He knows that if he’s been bad, Master will correct him, and he will learn to be better. Maybe even good.

 In the kitchen, Gavin lets himself slide to the floor against the closed door. What on earth was he going to do?!  His boss had fucked Caleb up, and fucked him up bad. Gavin wasn’t good at things like this. Gavin wasn’t a doctor, nor was he a psychologist. Resting his face in his hands, he tried not to freak out. If he didn’t play along, Caleb would most likely freak out, thinking he’d been bad, but Gavin couldn’t just make the injured man… do work for him! He had to do something…

Caleb obviously wasn’t just going to… change his views of himself. Beating himself up about it hard, Gavin decided to find something for Caleb to do. Something easy, with no walking about involved. Cleaning was way off the agenda, and so was cooking. There wasn’t much to do…

But then Gavin had an idea. He got up, rushed past Caleb, adding a hasty “I’ll be back in a moment!” whilst going past. He went upstairs to his bedroom and started pulling his neatly folded clothes out of the cupboard and drawers, undoing his own handy work in favour of giving Caleb something to do which let him sit down whilst doing it. Looking at the mess he’d made with his cloths, he decided that this would do, and went to get Caleb.

The whole time Caleb went up the stairs (He refused to take any help and promised he could do it by himself) Gavin stayed closely behind the shaky, limping man, ready to catch him if ever he’d fall. He did the same whilst Caleb walked down the hall to the room Gavin had pointed him to.

“Can you fold clothes?” Caleb nodded, not looking back at him. Gavin kept his mouth shut for the last few meters to his room.

Once in the room, Gavin pointed to the bed.

“Those are… my cloths. They need to be… uh… folded. Take your time so that they are… folded… um… nicely.” Caleb nodded and moved to kneel down next to the bed. “Oh and I want you sitting on the bed.” Caleb gives him a slightly confused look, but sits on the bed anyway. “I’ll be… in my office. That’s the next room to the right from here. Just ask if you don’t understand something.” When Caleb nods and begins folding clothes, Gavin goes to his office room.

There he sits down at the desk and lays his head on the surface of the table. Gavin can’t believe he’s the owner of a Pet, and is actually making the poor man do house chores for him! Feeling like a massive asshole, Gavin opens his laptop and searches the internet for anything useful concerning trauma. Gavin just hopes he did the right thing by making Caleb do work already now.

[whumpywhumper]

Soup

So @0idril0 authorized me to go ahead and post the next section of her Nico series which I wrote :) It is original author approved  

Continued from: here

Tagging: @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @captivity-whump @kungpao-giffy @doityourselfbombs @comfy-whumpee @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @whumptywhumpdump @whumpitywhumpwhump @walkingchemicalfire @genesissane @imagination1reality0 @voidwhump

*** 

Sorina hummed while she worked, kneading the bread to go with her slowly simmering bone broth. She’d roasted the chicken before carefully separating the meat from the bones, adding them to her already chopped vegetables and water. 

The rest of the pack house was quiet. She’d woken a few hours after her fainting spell-and hadn’t that been embarrassing-to being warm and comfortable. Cocooned in sheets and a quilt she didn’t recognize, surrounded by the scent of soap and safety. It took her a moment  to recall where she was, but, as soon as she had, she crept from the room into the darkened hallway. Open doors revealed no one in the extra rooms, and absolutely no bedding on them. 

On silent feet (and she felt a flutter in her stomach when she realized Evan probably removed her shoes), she stole into the living room and found Kristy and her friends. Moonlight spilled over their sleeping forms, giving its soft illuminescence to the room. She had to smile at them, even in spite of the circumstances that made them do it, because it was just too fuckin’ cute. 

Kristy and Brian were on a pallet on the floor, every spare blanket, pillow, and cushion in the middle of the living room. The sucubi had braided her hair to sleep, taming her normally riotous curls, and the end of the braid was curled in Brian’s fingers, where he’d apparently fallen asleep playing with it. 

They were curled toward each other, his other arm under his head, like he’d been leaning on it to get a better look at her while they talked. Kristy’s face was slack with sleep, arms held crossed over her chest like she had since she was little. Their blanket was bunched around her, barely covering Brian, but it was obvious that she hadn’t just stolen them. 

Sorina shook her head, amused. I wonder how long that’s been going on. 

Clint had stretched himself out on the couch, one of his hands laying across Nico’s forearm like he couldn’t bear to not touch him even in sleep. The corners of her lips turned down, and she huffed the ghost of a sigh. She needed the full story. 

Propped in a chair next to Nico was Evan, his head tipped back and neck stretched at an awkward angle. His mouth was open, and every slight inhale drew out a small snore. In his lap was a clipboard, full of papers with times, medication names, and stats carefully listed. He clutched a damp rag in one hand, the other dangling to the side, a pencil underneath the chair from where it had dropped through sleep numb fingers. 

She smiled, letting her eyes soften and reached toward him, letting her magic soothe the worry lines from inbetween his brows. He needed to sleep. There was a lot of responsibility on him, he couldn’t afford to be so out of it. 

Stepping forward, around her sleeping sister and her unrealized paramour, her hand crept into Evan’s hair. The graying strands were soft under her fingers, but she didn’t linger. Gently, she tipped his head forward so that he wouldn’t wake with a crick in his neck. The exhausted man didn’t stir, only letting out a small snuffle of air as he settled in. 

They were all so tired, absolutely drained of energy, and all due to one poor victim of a crime she didn’t fully understand. Said victim looked like he was finally asleep. Actually resting instead of the delirious half-conscious state he had been in previously. His chest rose and fell rhythmically, the wet wheeze still audible, but he wasn’t panicked, and the rapid eye movement and twitching was gone. 

Leaning over the arm of the couch, she checked on Nico, touching the back of her hand to his forehead. The sweltering heat from before had lessened. Now, it was no longer the heat of a desert dune midday, but it was still warm, like she was holding her hand too close to a candle. 

Checking the clipboard in Evan’s lap, she saw that his last medication was listed about 2:15 a.m. Barely twenty minutes before. Evan must have fallen asleep fast and hard. 

Turning back, she brushed her hand through his hair softly, like her mother used to do when she was sick, and noticed it was cleaner than before. Evaluating him further, she noticed that his bandages were fresh and clean. They’d bathed him, apparently, the speckles and smears of blood that had been present across his skin washed clean. 

A curl of satisfaction unfurled itself in her belly,  hopeful that her work had actually made a difference to saving his life. He certainly looked stronger, and there’s no way he would have tolerated a bath in the state he was when she arrived. 

Settling on the arm of the lounger, she curled her hand against Nico’s fingers, mindful of the broken and misaligned bones. His fingers twitched, but he didn’t stir. 

Looking past the ulcerated wounds on his face and neck, Sorina noted his pale complexion, more than just blood loss and lack of sunlight. His blue eyes as he’d panicked while she worked and examined him called out to her, and she couldn’t help but be reminded of her little brother. That name still rang in her head like the biggest of bells in a church steeple. 

Nico. 

She wiped at a tear that tried to form in her eye, recalling her own brother’s cherubic cheeks and curly black hair. How both of them had looked so much like their mother that her father joked that when they were older people would think they were triplets. 

Viciously, Sorina chased away the image of them both laying still and unmoving on the asphalt, blood pooling across the black surface as she’d tried to get up and get away from the men with guns. Her face throbbing as she pushed her way into running, hands cut to shreds on glass. 

I don’t want to think about that. Stop it.

She took a deep breath, exhaling her pain as she laid Nico’s hand back to his stomach. Her Nico was dead and gone, but this one still needed help. The IV bag that Evan had set up would have fluids to keep him hydrated, but the injured man still needed nutrients. Everything he could get packed into a medium he could keep down. Plus, everyone else would need to eat too. 

So, a few hours later, Sorina found herself in a strange kitchen kneading dough. A red, plaid apron was wrapped around her, protecting her clothes from flour streaks. The kitchen was surprisingly well stocked, and she hadn’t found any difficulty in finding any ingredient she needed. 

Once it was closer to actual morning, she would make some real breakfast food, but the soup she was making had a majority of the nutrients Nico would need while being easy enough on his stomach to keep it down. Plus, she was making enough of it to last for days. 

She’d checked on Nico every fifteen minutes while she worked, making sure that he was still sleeping and stable. She had the feeling that Evan wouldn’t be very happy that he’d fallen asleep, but Nico was safe, and he needed the sleep. 

While she was separating the dough for its last rising, a strangled snort and the quiet thump of something on the carpet made her turn around. Wiping her hands on the apron, she went into the living room to find Evan leaning over Nico. His clipboard was on the floor, probably escaped when he shifted in his sleep, but it was ignored now. The beast master’s fingers were on the boy’s throat, checking his pulse and the tight wind of his shoulders relaxed as he found it.

“He’s alright, Evan,” she said softly, not wanting to wake the others. 

Surprised, he jumped and twirled on her, eyes flashing red for just a split second before he recognized her. He put a hand to his chest, breathing heavily as he leaned over his knees. “God, you scared the shit out of me,” he whispered. 

“Sorry,” a grin stretched her face and made her eyes crinkle. “I’ve been checking on him every fifteen minutes for the last two hours. I haven’t noticed any change.” 

Straightening, Evan signed, rolling his neck and running a hand through his hair. “Thank you, I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Here I was berating Brian for leaving him alone, and I went and did the same thing.” 

Sorina shook her head, coming further into the room to put a hand on his shoulder. “You needed the sleep, don’t beat yourself up. Nothing’s happened.” 

“But it could have.” 

“Anything could happen, but it didn’t,” she said firmly, cutting off that line of thought. It wouldn’t serve any of them. “Why don’t you check him over, soothe some of your worries, and I’ll bring you some tea.” 

He nodded, rubbing at the bags under his eyes and displacing his glasses before leaning back over Nico. 

When she came back, she held a steaming cup of tea in one hand, and a bowl of the chicken bone broth in the other. The broth was carefully strained with no heavy seasonings, but it still smelled wonderful to her. 

Evan was busy administering something to Nico through his IV port, but he tilted his head in question toward the bowl, eyebrow raised. 

“Figured he needs all of the liquids and nutrients he can get, especially if those are pain meds and antibiotics you’re giving him. It’s easy on the stomach, homemade, I think he can handle it just fine.” 

“Yeah, that sounds fine. You said homemade?” 

He sounded surprised, and she felt a wave of dry amusement. “Not all twenty first century women shun the kitchen,” she said, mock sternly. 

“My mistake,” Evan laughed, blushing sweetly. If she wanted, she could probably see the yellow, golden shivers of happiness twisting around the edges of his aura. But she was tired, and she wanted to look at the smile lines around the corners of his mouth more. 

Evan moved out of her way, taking the tea from her with a grateful smile. She settled on the arm of the lounger again, carefully setting the bowl on the side table so that she could spread a towel across Nico’s chest and neck. 

“Would you mind grabbing one of those small pillows, Evan?” She whispered, pointing at one of the ones that had escaped Brian and Kristy’s nest. 

Handing it to her, he settled back in his chair, watching her carefully. Sorina didn’t mind the scrutiny, it was far beyond her first time helping someone sick eat. 

Cradling Nico’s head in one of her small hands, she brought him up slightly, rubbing her thumb across his skin. Eyelids crinkling, Nico stirred, stiffening as he came closer to consciousness. “Hush, Cola,” she murmured, “it’s okay, just need to get some food in you, yeah?” 

Nico didn’t offer any protest when she slipped the pillow behind his head, blue eyes opening slightly to gaze glassily around the room. He didn’t seem to really focus on anything, but she started to feel the waves of fear building. 

Her heart cracked at that, and she shushed him again, rubbing her thumb across the middle of his forehead, “it’s okay, just some broth, nothing to be scared of.” 

No answer was forthcoming, but she saw his lips move slightly with unintelligible words. Steadying herself, she grabbed the bowl, dipping the spoon inside before blowing on the hot liquid. Testing it first, she didn’t want to burn Nico, she finally brought the spoon to his mouth. 

A cut off whimper made her pause, but Nico didn’t pull away, opening his mouth obediently at the feel of metal against his lips. Sorina took a quick breath, feeling her eyes widen slightly. She didn’t know what that meant exactly, but she could guess. 

Shuddering, she pushed her horror away. He needed this, she couldn’t get in his way. It wasn’t time to catalogue everything that had been done to him. 

Pouring droplets of the broth into his mouth, she murmured to him, “Drink, little bear.” 

His chapped and dry mouth worked slightly, letting the liquid slide down his throat. Sorina sighed when he didn’t choke or cough, bringing more liquid to his mouth quickly to take advantage of his limited strength. 

Apparently she was too fast, and he choked on a scared whine, face turning away from her. A low rumble to her side made her jerk, spilling a few hot drops of soup over her thumb. Clint raised his head, hair muzzy and eyelids sleep heavy, but the wolf’s yellow eyes locked on to her in an instant. Lip curling, she saw his incisors elongate, and she bopped him on the nose with the spoon.   

He flinched, startled, crossing his eyes to look at the spoon held threateningly in front of his face. “Knock it off, Rover, don’t make me spill this.” 

Evan snorted, slurping at his tea in an obvious effort not to laugh at his friend. She felt oddly accomplished. 

Clint grumbled, but his teeth returned to normal as he sat himself up, rubbing at his face. “What time is it?” 

“Same time it was yesterday,” she answered, bringing another spoonful to Nico’s mouth and getting him to swallow a few more drops. 

“Hardy har har,” Clint scowled, watching her feed his mate. 

Evan took pity on the barely awake werewolf. “It’s a little after five, we’re just trying to get something on his stomach for the new round of meds.” 

Yawning, Clint nodded, his shoulders slumping as he looked Nico over. He turned to Sorina, and the naked gratitude in his face made part of her anger at him crack. “Thank you, thank you so much for helpin’ him.” 

“My pleasure,” she acknowledged, concentrating on feeding Nico the broth. “Get some more sleep, Clint. The stronger you are, the more the bond can work to help him heal.” 

“Yes ma’am.” He laid back down, hand coming back to brush against Nico as he closed his eyes. 

Cutting her gaze over to Evan, she saw the lingering fatigue in how he slumped over his cup of tea. Gazing into the cooling liquid with a blank face. “You should go lay down, Evan, get a few more hours of sleep. He’s got his meds, and I’m wide awake. Still making bread in the kitchen, and I’ll have breakfast ready before his next dose is due. I’ll wake you up if anything changes.” 

Evan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking his glasses off. “You’re right. Thank you, Selene.” Getting to his feet with a heavy slouch, he set his tea aside and grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch. The other end of the sectional couch was empty, and he sprawled out on it easily. It only took a few minutes before she heard the sound of soft snores. 

Sorina helped Nico with a few more mouthfuls of broth, gently wiping his face of the drips that escaped his mouth. His eyelashes, what remained of them, fluttered against his cheeks as he ran out of energy. 

She set the bowl to the side, it was nearly empty anyway, and reached out to brush his hair back from his forehead. Humming, she settled him with soft touches, words starting to fall out of her mouth in a simple melody. One her mother sang to them when they were going to sleep. 

One she’d sung to Nico when he had nightmares, and kept singing as Kristy came into her life. When she got to the refrain, she trailed off, pressing a kiss to her fingers and placing it on Nico’s forehead. 

His eyelids fluttered, and he leaned into her touch. “Th..ks..’Rina,” he murmured, barely audible, barely intelligible, before sighing into sleep. 

She froze. Wide eyed. Breath caught in her throat. 

[gold-from-straw]

Divergence - ch5

Sorry this is late!! I had a shite weekend! This chapter includes Erik being super protective and angry and angsty... TW for hints of past suicidal ideation at the very end. I hope you enjoy though!!

Read from the beginning on AO3 if you prefer!

They gathered together in one of the living rooms, all eyes on the three Charleses (Charlesen? What plural could possibly work here?) together on the couch. Raven in particular couldn’t stop staring at the two newcomers.

“Where do you think they came from, Professor?” Alex asked.

“Hopefully Hank will be able to answer that,” Charles said, forcing a smile.

Hank pushed his glasses up on his nose and peered down at the readout on his device. “It’s fascinating, they both seem to have slightly different isotopic balances. Almost like they’ve come from different universes.”

Sean shook his head. “Woah. Time travelling from a different universe, man.”

“I should be able to work out a way to send them back soon enough,” said Hank, smiling up at the Charlesen, who all nodded sagely.

“Send them back?” demanded Erik. “Why on Earth would you do that?”

The room was silent for a moment. Hank cleared his throat. “Well, they are children. They’ve got to be sent back to their parents.”

“So they can be treated like that?” Erik gestured sharply at teenage Charles’ face. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Erik,” said Charles softly, looking up at him.

Why didn’t you tell me? Erik asked, directly into Charles’ mind. You let me mock you for growing up here when you had to endure… this!

“Really, Erik?” Charles said aloud, glaring at him. “You expect me to bother you, of all people, with the… the insignificant hurts of my childhood?”

Erik huffed and gestured to the teenager’s face again. “You call this insignificant?”

Charles turned to his younger self, his brow crinkling up in distress. “No, I…! Oh, I’m sorry, I never...” He sighed and closed his eyes, biting his lip.

“It’s OK,” said young Charles softly.

“No… no, it’s not,” said Charles, cupping the boy’s cheek and looking at the mess of his face. “It’s not OK at all.” He huffed something like a laugh. “It’s… easier to be compassionate with you than with myself. I’m sorry.”

“I’m with Erik here,” said Sean, and Erik raised his eyebrows in surprise. “But if you two stay, we’re gonna have to think of new names for all of you. I’ve been calling you Baby Charles and Young Charles in my head and it’s not working out for me.”

Erik rolled his eyes, but everyone else laughed, clinging to anything to relieve the tension. “And what are you calling me, dare I ask?” Charles said.

“Professor,” replied Sean promptly.

Charles laughed again. “Well, I’m fine with that.”

“I’m not calling you Professor,” Erik said. The others laughed once more, and Erik let them, but he was serious. He wasn’t happy about calling either of the children Charles either, not when that name had come to mean the only good part of the world to him, encompassing frustration and debate, admiration and the deepest, yearning love.

He heard the slight gasp and looked up to see the teenager staring at him, wide eyed and pink cheeked.

Shit. Obviously Charles developed his morals a little older than that.

The boy hunched slightly, and Charles - Erik’s Charles (even if he never truly would be Erik’s…) took the boy’s hand with a worried glance.

“N-nothing,” the boy said, then gulped and flushed again as he realised he’d answered a telepathic question out loud. He looked around at the roomful of people. “Uh, I don’t mind being called Francis. It’s my - our - middle name.”

“Can I be Arthur?” asked the smallest Charles, jumping up and down in his seat. “Like in the Sword in the Stone, he--” Then he froze, and looked around warily. “That is… if I’m allowed?” He hunched his shoulders. “I suppose I wouldn’t be a very good king, not like Arthur.”

“You’d be an amazing King Arthur,” said Raven firmly. Her voice sounded strangled.

Little Charles - Arthur - sat up straight again and beamed at her. Charles smiled down at him fondly, and Erik looked away from him before he started projecting his emotions to anyone else. He cleared his throat and caught Francis’ eye. “Come on,” he said, jerking his head to the side. “I’ll teach you to throw a punch.”

“Erik, no!” Charles cried. “He’s only a boy!”

“A boy who’s having the crap beaten out of him on a regular basis, by the look of it,” Erik said. He started walking out, and Charles scrambled to catch him.

“Erik, please. Look, if he is going to be staying here, he won’t have to worry about Kurt, so you don’t need to--”

“There’s more than one bastard in the world,” Erik said. He stopped suddenly and glared down at Charles, trying to forget that he wanted nothing more than to gather this impossible, beautiful man up, with his ridiculous hair and stupid hidden hurts, and fold him close. Pretend Erik could be soft for him. Lovable.

He swallowed it all down. “You know, at a certain point, pacifism isn’t a moral stance, Charles. It’s just a word a battered boy uses to fool himself into thinking he’s got a choice. Turning the other cheek doesn’t count if someone’s holding your face.”

Charles looked broken for an instant before his face closed off. Immediately, Erik regretted all of it. “Charles,” he said, reaching for him, but Charles pushed past.

And there, right behind him, cowering close to the wall, was Francis.

“Did you hear all of that?”

Francis’ eyes darted here and there, but he nodded once, sharply.

Erik sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel Francis’ distress rolling off him in waves, and for a moment he seriously considered walking away, letting someone more qualified than him find the boy and fix the mess he’d made. “Come on,” he said at last. “I promised you a lesson.”

Francis hesitated, then trotted after Erik. In the gym, he turned to the boy and strapped a pair of knuckle gloves on his hands. “Right. Let’s see you throw a punch.” He gestured to the nearest punch bag.

Francis glanced up at him, took a couple of shallow breaths, then swung wildly at the bag, his floppy brown hair falling over his scrunched up eyes.

“Hurts, hmm?” Erik said, raising an eyebrow.

Francis hunched slightly. “N-no, sir.”

“The way you just hit the bag, I’m amazed you haven’t broken a thumb. Here.” He pulled Francis’ glove back off. “Bend your knuckles one, then two, then put your thumb on the outside. No, not there, those big knuckles are the part you hit with. Down across the second knuckles, that’s it.” He held Francis’ wrist and slapped the flat of his fist. “Remember that, yes?”

“One, two, three,” said Francis, opening and closing his hand.

Erik replaced the glove and held out his hand, forming a fist as he’d just shown the boy. “Remember - one, two, three. No more loose fists. Now, try again.”

Francis punched the bag. “Good,” said Erik. “Again. And again. Again.”

Francis threw punch after punch at the bag, until his hair was lying lank and sweaty against his forehead. “We’ll leave it there for today,” Erik said, unwrapping Francis’ gloves again. The boy sagged in relief, and Erik chuckled. “Go get a drink and a shower.”

Francis turned to the door, then hesitated. “Do you really feel that way about him? About us, I suppose?”

Erik gritted his teeth and looked at Francis. Why couldn’t he just let it go? Francis hunched again. “Sorry, sorry, I’ll just…”

“Just him,” Erik said gruffly. “You’re from a different world. You’re not him. And more than that, you’re sixteen, you’re a child. Whatever you overhear of my feelings for him, they’re no threat to you.” He frowned. “Or him, of course, but--”

“I didn’t think that! I just…” he swallowed and wrung the blazer in his hands. “I was just… is he? Homosexual?”

“I don’t--”

“Because I think I…” Francis sniffed and looked down, then visibly steeled himself. “I think… there’s a boy in my school and I--”

Erik groaned. He was not made for these kinds of conversations! “I don’t know, Francis, you’d have to ask him.”

“But what if… what if we’re different? That way? What if I’m just a… a freak, and he’s disgusted by me - or what if he’s ashamed of the way I think - the way he was?”

Erik put both hands on Francis’ shoulders. “No, Charles is nothing like that. He would never make you feel that way.”

Francis bit his lip and his chin wobbled. Erik sighed. “If you like, I’ll have a word with him first. Let him know how much it means to you, that he accepts you?”

Francis shook his head violently. “Then he’ll know… he might be sick of me because I’m so pathetic and needy… and--”

“Hey, hey!” Erik squeezed his shoulders, embarrassment and exasperation with the conversation fading away to concern. “You’re none of those things, you hear me? Now, would you say those things - or even think them - about your younger self? About Arthur?”

Francis shook his head, tears sliding down his cheeks. Erik tugged him into a hug. “Then you have nothing to worry about from Charles. You won’t have changed that much in ten years.”

He held Francis as he wept quietly, and wondered if the same could be said of him. If his sixteen-year-old self would recognise him, or if he’d be terrified of him. If he’d be proud of all he’d achieved, or still wish he’d died in the camps.

I have a permanent tag list for this, if you’d like to be added please let me know! Otherwise I just add people who interacted with the last chapter! Thank you <3 @insertmeaningfulusername, @mathmusicreading, @colonelsebbiemoran, @ethanstcoulson, @gerec, @kungpao-giffy, @mnemo-ink, @writing-with-melon, @melonreblogsstories, @these-maginot-lines, @unluvablemisfit, @fullmetalcarer, @lyricfulloflight, @marveltrashblog, @ketchavies-thoorrrr666, @ketch-em-all, @cheeseplatypusandiceskates, @threecheer, @like-a-never-ending-rainstorm, @princ3ss-of-the-m00n, @kernezelda, @thepaintingsafake, @askprofessorx, @kaeden4, @akasanata, @st4rprinc3ss, @suriya-12, @thechaoticwave

[undertaleartistshit]

A Little Big Dance

As Ink searched the AUs of his Multiverse for trouble, he came across a little rumor. Well, actually it was a HUGE rumor, one that exploded in the millions of AUs seemingly overnight. Ink was interested, not only because the rumor was of a concert, but because of the person hosting it. Some strange being from another Multiverse, and that was where the rumor seemed to get unstable. No name, no description, no age, no nothing. Just someone.

He entered the Omega Timeline, despite his hatred for white, but instead of focusing on that accursed color, he couldn't help but listen to the gossip and pause, amazed at how consistent the information was. He shook his head, continuing his search for the one being who could help him figure out maybe a sliver of information that was 100% true, not just the unreliable gossip he would have to sift through without them. He passed Sans after Frisk after Papyrus after King and Queen, but he just could not find that damned-

Oh. There they were. The gray and black child was standing in a crowd of shouting and... angry, Ink decided, monsters and humans. They didn't chant any mantras as one would expect, but they all were shouting something. Ink took his time winding through the aggressive group, taking care not to hurt anyone despite having to shove his way into the center. "O-oh, thank the HEAVENS you're here Ink!" Core gasped, their hollow eyes creasing in utter relief as Ink popped into the small circle Core was trapped in. Ink smiled, happy to see Core.

"Yeah, well I'm glad I found you, because as life has it I've got a question." Some people where daring to try to yank Ink away from Core, to which Ink slapped their hands and claws away, glaring threateningly at them, to which they sourly shouted and yelled in response. "Ok, nevermind, three questions. Three." Ink raised his voice a little, doubting Core could hear him if he were to speak normally.

Core smiled patiently. "Alright. Could you take care of my little, um, predicament first?" Ink chuckled, unsheathing his handy dandy brush, making a portal in front of them. Core jumped in first, Ink following them, closing the portal before any ticked people managed to stampede on over in the AU. Speaking of which, it was the beloved OuterTale, one of the more popular AUs among the Multiverse. Ink could understand as to why though, since OuterTale was beautiful and calming. Core sighed, sitting down on the small floating island rock. Ink sat down beside them, his eye lights flickering with relief and curiosity.

"First question, what the heck was their problem?" Ink asked, genuinely sounding frustrated for once, albeit mildly. Core sighed yet again, cupping their forehead in their small hands, looking and sounding defeated. "Because of a rumor that I have been looking into, that group is particularly angry with the fact that we are just letting someone in our Multiverse that we don't even know for a concert we can't be sure even exists. I'm feeling... impatient, and I hate it," Core explained.

Ink was surprised yet again. Core, one of the most patient people Ink has ever met, was getting impatient now. All because of some concert. Ink couldn't lie, he wanted to go to that concert if it really existed, but he didn't know if it was dangerous, and he knew nothing about the other Multiverse that this proclaimed person is said to have originated.

Ink took a deep breath, looked over at Core, and asked sternly, almost barking out an order. "Can you get me all information about this concert and deliver it to the HQ tomorrow?" Core nodded, sensing the order. "I'll get it done in a giffy."

"Core. Since when did you not get a panic attack after being in a crowd for so long?"

~~~[]~~~

Dream heard about the rumor from DanceTale. As far as music and culture went, DanceTale was Dream's favorite place to be if he wanted to escape the stresses of being a "Star Sans". However it seemed that this time there was a new pressure, one huge thing taking the place by storm. What caught Dream's attention at first and even now was the sheer volume of people talking about the concert. Dream had to ask, what was the big deal? Why in the stars were to many people wanting to go?

He jogged over to this universe's Sans, who was stretching for what seemed like training. "heya dream," he greeted, smiling at the positive aura. Dream grinned, "Nice to see you Dance. I have a question, if that's not too much to ask." Dance chuckled at the most likely unintentional and stupid pun, but replied, "shoot for it dude."

"What can you tell me about this multiversal concert? I'm afraid I'm terribly uninformed, haha." Dream smiled patiently, awaiting an answer as Dance took a moment to think. Dance tapped his jaw in thought. "the only thing that i can say for sure is that whatever this is is hosted by someone not from this multiverse. no idea who though. maybe ink can tell you more?" Dream thought for a moment, dumbfounded in a way. How could Dream forget? Ink was probably all over it by now! "Oh my stars Dance, I can't believe I never thought of that before! I'll ask him right away! Thanks for the pointer, I owe ya one." Dance chuckled as Dream jumped away into another AU. Dance blushed mildly. Dream was so amazing, so positive. He'd never remember a copy like Dance for long, never in a milennia.

Dance went back to stretching, turning on the radio. People talking about the concert left and right, gossip and rumors running rampant. Dance wanted nothing more than a solid time and place, but no one talked about that. No one.

Dream landed in OuterTale, of course. Either Ink was here or in the Doodle Sphere. He never went into the Omega Timeline unless there was an emergency, and if there was an emergency he would have called Dream and Blue. But the was no call, not a word from Ink. He wouldn't risk panicking in public, right..?

Well, whatever the case, Dream found Ink talking to... Core Frisk... on a remote island in the middle of nowhere. Dream didn't like Core all that much, although he'd never admit it. It unnerves Dream that he can never sense any emotion coming from the little human, which both annoys him and worries him. Were they bottling it up or could they even feel? Why do they look like they should feel hollow? Do they feel hollow? So many questions ran through Dream's skull every time he saw Core.

Nonetheless, Dream ushered over to them, in hearing range as he heard a sentence come from Ink, who was facing away from Dream. "Since when did you not get a panic attack after being in a crowd for so long?" Dream froze, ducking behind a large boulder. What? Panic attack? Did Core have claustrophobia or haphephobia or something? Why would they-

"And why didn't you freak out after being in a place that's practically only white?" Core shot back, sounding uncharacteristic. Dream flinched. Did they go in the AntiVoid? No, there are no crowds there. The Omega Timeline? But Ink didn't call the others... didn't call Dream.

"Well in my defense I was a little preoccupied with that rumor. It's interesting but I'm worried and I don't want anyone to go just in case it's a trap plus I don't know when or where it's supposed to be-" "You're rambling." "Sorry, but you get me right?" Core nodded. "The Protector's job, I know. I think the consert will be a good idea though, you need to unwind with people, not just drawing." Ink flustered at that, feeling embarrassed about drawing, plus Core mentioning it. "Yeah yeah..."

"But it's not just about me," Ink sighed. "If the Dark Sanses go there and start a riot..." Dream blinked, suddenly feeling guilty. How could he have forgotten that? Dream suddenly became aware of the strong negative emotions coming from not only himself, but from the two in front of him. It hurt, and he couldn't just ignore it like normal. Ink was stressed and worried out of his mind, Core was... Dream paused in realization. He could sense Core! His demeanor immediately improved, reducing the pain.

"Funny how someone's pain could make the God of Positivity feel so good," a baritone voice chuckled in the space. Ink and Core froze, Dream brandished his bow and arrow, ready for an attack, still hidden from Ink's view. Damn you Nightmare! Dream growled in his mind.

"God of... DREAM WHAT THE FREAK." Ink's voice went from mildly confused to surprisingly ticked real fast. Dream jumped out from his cover, sliding over to Ink, who was now standing protectively over Core with his brush in hand. Dream scowled. "I'll explain later," he mumbled. "You'd better."

Nightmare materialized right before their eyes, from a shadow of course. The tall goopy skeleton walked leisurely over to the small group. His eye was devoid of emotion as always, his posture relaxed and nonthreatening if it weren't for the long powerful tentacles twitching on his back. The King of Negativity stood about two meters away, showing no signs of aggression, but no sign of backing down. His grin was as sharp and as cruel as ever.

"Go back to where you came, Nightmare," Ink hissed, his eye lights flaring in a dangerous maroon. Nightmare put his clawed phalanges up, as if he were caught by the nonexistent police force. "Hey, hey, chill. Just need to ask a favor." Dream glared, but Ink had to hold in a fit of laughter. "Why would we help?" Nightmare shrugged, putting his hands back in his pockets. "I heard a little rumor, and I want more info."

Ink rolled his eyes, not buying the story. "Why does this even concern you?" Ink jabbed, getting angry and hoping to make Nightmare uncomfortable. It... didn't work. Nightmare fed off of the negative energy, cocking a brow. "Uh... rude? I just wanna know." Dream sighed, letting in. Why oh why was he so weak when it came to his brother?

"We don't know much, just about the concert and nothing much else," Dream answered truthfully. Ink stared daggers at Dream, as he growled, "Dream.." Dream put his bow and arrow away, looking back at Ink, and replied with a sassy monotone nod, "Ink."

Nightmare rolled his eye light at the display. It was familiar, but he'd never admit it. His gang made similar interactions, quite often. But it was a confirmation that Dream released some true information, at least. Nightmare opened a portal, to which Killer and Cross came out, carrying...

"BLUE!" Ink and Dream shouted simultaneously. Killer glanced at the two, stating, "Attack us and we won't hesitate to kill Blue." Ink huffed, as Core whispered something to Ink. Ink nodded, making a portal and then sticking his brush back on his back. Core jumped in the portal and disappeared.

Killer and Cross untied Blue quickly, starting to get uncomfortable being around all three Star Sanses at once. Blue gasped as they undid the rope around his mouth. "You could have made it a bit looser!" Killer smirked, chuckling. "And risk you getting out? Fat fucking chance." Killer took out his knife, to which Ink had to resist the urge to smash Killer's skull in the ground, and Killer cut the rest of the rope off. Blue stood up, brushing himself off. He walked cautiously back over to Ink and Dream, to which Ink just stared open mouthed at the three Dark Sanses. "Why did you kidnap Blue if you didn't even threaten us?!" Ink screeched.

Nightmare grinned. "Backup plan." All six went back to their respective HQs. And Core? They were scribbling every rumor down, in every timeline, trying to find a constant or a source, and it would take a long time before either side would find much else out about this concert and it's host. Or, as the constant says, the hostess.

[tmntl0verthings]

Forbidden Love

So this is something new i thought of. Don't judge its just a Fun idea for a fanfic. please just enjoy :D  

What would you say if you actually met your true love but You were taken by someone you already loved and He the same?

So after you helped April deliver a couch to a back alley Thanks to casey being a lazy ass. "Okay..now that we're in an alley. Now what. I mean..its a brand new couch in a dingy alley." "hang on.." she put her finger up in the air shushing you as she was calling someone. You crossed your arms raising a brow. Then she started talking Lacking your interest in this whole thing. you looked away and turned your body to face the Long alley down to the City itself to see people passing and barging their way through the hustle and bustle. Then you turned around to see Men..3 Green shelled men. Your eyes widened to see a Red clad turtle lift up the couch from behind all on his own using his Gargantuan muscles to then look down on you with his shadow covering you. You backed away as you saw april talking to  the purple and orange clad turtle. "where's leo?" she asked. "eh; He had some Leader thing to take care of." "mikey..He had to go start dinner. How is that a leader thing?" Don asked "I don't know. Everything he does is leadery." Mikey explained as don rolled his eyes as April showed a smile. "you know..Its not to late to be my Girl." he used his Casanova voice with a slant of his brows as he leaned on her shoulder. "knock it off" raphael demanded. "Fine fine.." Raphael had his head looking over his shoulder to then turned his whole body to lift up April onto his shoulder with the couch on the other. She smiled as he then kissed her lips. Your life swirled around you as your eyes Widened making your pupils dilate. "WHAT IS HAPPENING!!" you screamed. April looked over her shoulder "Oh your still here?" "YES! I am still here!" you gestured your whole body. "Who are these people! And What is happening..what what--" "its ok, its ok." Donnie tried to calm you down as he walked over to you. "Dont! Come..near me." you backed away. "Its ok. seriously. We aren't gonna hurt you. I'm Donnie. IF that makes you feel better." which oddly it did. You relaxed your shoulders a little as you then looked through his glasses to see his eyes. "And i'm Michelangelo. But the ladies call me Mikey." He winked at you as he was standing behind you. You exhaled as you blubbered your lips leaving your eyes wide then relaxing your eye lids. "wow..This is allot to take in..Then who's that?" you pointed over to raphael. "Thats raph." "raph.." you spoke quietly. "Come on. Its ok. Why don't you come with us. You did help us get a new couch." donnie offered as he held his arm out as a way of letting you go first. "Where are we going?" Donnie clicked a button making The garage door in the alley lifted up like a door with trashcans glued to it. Your eyes widened with Excitement "WOW Thats AWESOME!" "heh yo think thats awesome. You should see out crib." Mikey talked to you Literally the entire time you guys walked there.

~~You entered their home to see its was lit with Christmas Lights Even though it was no where near Christmas. It was actually June. you looked around their home to see what was just..wow. "THis is where you live! Its amazing!" "guyssss did you seriously bring someone down here?" leo complained. "Isn't she a cutie." Mikey told his brother as he hugged you under his one arm. Leo crossed his arms as his eyes looked from his brother to you  As you looked at him. his eyes were beyond blue. Incredibly blue. You then looked to your right to see the red clad man Carry the couch Right by you Like a titanic as he then set it down 15 feet away from where you were. You watched him as he intrigued you more so than the others. Was it because he Intimated you when you first saw him? Was it the curiousity on April's relations with him? It wasn't easy to tell why. But you did. You were gonna walk over to him to then see April beat you to him to give him a kiss on his jaw as she stood on her tippy toes.

Later~!~

You were talking and laughing with all of them like you knew them for years. "okay okay its y/n's turn." "I still can't believe you got me to play this childish game." you laughed "awe come on and spin the bottle already." mikey whined "alright alright." You spun it as you saw it lean and wobble to one side more than the other as a hollow whistle filled the air. It slowed down passed Mikey, leo and crookedly landed on Raph. "ooooh :3" mikey oohed. raph growled at Mikey "shad up." he barked. "alright now you gotta kiss him." "I dunno. He's got a giffy and all." "Giffy?" "Girlfriend." "XD you'll  be fine." leo laughed. "okaayyy." it was weirder cause april wasn't even around. You crawled over across the tile to raphael to then sit on your knees and pushed yourself up to his lips. This spark poked at his heart One time but it was enough for him to know This was what was missing. This thing.. ~ You released your lips from him as you strangely longed for him more. "Alriigghttt." mikey clapped. you smiled as you bit your bottom lip leaving him alone as you backed up. You all then watched a movie afterwards with Pizza. 5 pizzas if i must be specific. You had two slices. For some reason you appetite wasn't to strong today. Then after that there was another movie to then Make 3 of the brothers go to bed. You and raphael were the last up. You were bonding over scary movie 3. You two made fun and lil' parodies of it as well. It was 1:52 am. You watched the blue TV lighting bounce off their home as it was pitch black. "Not gonna lie it's weird being up while everyone else is sleeping." "tell me about it. I'm usually in bed before fearless is. I guess you could say I'm lazy." "naahhh its not lazy to love your bed." you teased with a laugh as you bit your lip after the laugh. He was realizing it was your thing when you laughed You would bite your lip sometimes. It was kinda cute. "So how did you and april meet?" you asked "She was following us after saving people from a heist and then it lead from there. She tried going out with casey but she didn't like him." "casey?" you questioned. "He's another dork on the team." he used his thumb to point behind him Like someone was actually there. "not gonna lie, He's a real wannabe." "Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want." you sang quietly "Hahaaha XD nice"  Half an hour later you two laughed with and at each other. You two looked at each as you laughed like your stomachs would burst to stare at each others eyes. the TV at a blank Blue screen from the VHS that stopped running as Everyone was asleep. It was just you..and him. Alone. Together. You looked at each other as you looked down at his lips while he looked into your (Ocean eyes/Forest of colors/Pearl Embers/Caramel drops/Richest of chocolate eyes) His lips almost said something as he then looked away and didn't. You coughed into a fist "I-I have to go. its seriously late." you stood up off the couch and walked out of their home. He exhaled as he sunk into their New Cushioned couch. He looked at the ceiling as he felt the world spin around him. His arms spread out along the couches arch. Thinking about April...He thought about those good times he's had with her but there was always; Always something missing He could never place it. Even during the most intense Sexual moments. He couldn't feel that special feeling that was leaving a crack in his heart that would never fill. But when he was with you. His heart Overflowed with whatever it was..Something about you brought it out. You made him happier than ever before. And its such a sad thing to confess when you thought it was with someone else and it turns out..its not. What do i do? he asked himself as his eyes pleaded for an answer.

3 weeks later~~ you visited them for a few days during each week. You did have a life of your own to maintain but Seeing raphael every time was the best part. He would light up as he saw you walk into the room. It was the same for you. You two immediately clicked. And always had something to talk about.

You woke up with your sunBlinds Burning your eyes with sunlit rays of dust. "nnrrr." you groaned as you rubbed your eyes with your wrist to see you cat/Dog sleeping next to you. you smiled softly as you rubbed its head with your nails softly as it (Purred/Just let you rub their head it rolled around a little). You then looked up at the city from afar through your blinds to remember last night. "this is stupid." you spoke aloud annoyed. You got up out of bed to ignore your phone that has a Text on it saying "morning beautiful" from your boyfriend. You went into the bathroom and went potty. Cleaned yourself up. Got ready for work at Channel 6. You were an intern. More like Vernon's Intern. You yawned as you bit into a raw Bagel on your way out of your Apartment. Yea..You actually have your own apartment. Your parents pulled some strings with the landlord. Blah blah blah  You had your every Day; Day but you just thought of Raphael all day. Like he was your boyfriend or crush. You exhaled as you left the building "hey y/n!" you heard called from behind you. You turned around to see april jogging after you "ey' whats up." "wanted to know if you wanted to come and see the guys with me today." You two started walking "I'm gonna stay home today. Feeling weird." "oh sick?" "meh not sure." you lied. "alright." She fasted walked ahead of you to go see raphael as fast as she could. You sighed as you took the rubber band around your wrist and let go of it hitting your raw skin. You flinched as This technique was not working. you've been doing it all day long with no success. "I hate this..." you spoke solemnly. "WHy must i have this when I already have someone. For real.. I mean come on." you thought to yourself. You missed the simpler days when no boys were in your life. You felt a chill on your back as you continued walking. ~~You arrived home as you placed the keys on the tray to see raphael in your apartment. "how..did you know i lived here." "I followed you." "well thats not creepy at all." "y/n..There's something i need to tell you. I've known you for so short of a time span But I feel something. Its wrong for me to come here and just pour out to you but With april..its happy and fun i guess but with you. Its something New! This new happiness. And its not that your a verity. I know verity; i know the difference. Your YOU and your something I need in my life. Please. If I dumped april would you be with me." You were stupefied with this. What could you say. let alone do? You wanted to say yes..but you have someone too. "I-I--" you started as you saw his eyes leading you in. "I don't know. I've..felt the same with you. This interesting; Loving; Fresh feeling. Its like the world got brighter. But...I have someone and you do too. I couldn't possibly.." "okay..I understand." He then climbed out the window to leave you standing there like Non of it happened. You were honestly regretting your decision..cause you wanted him. You wanted the whole thing to rewind so you could say yes. Yes raphael! i will be yours! I will give up everything..just to be with you.

6pm~~  you entered your room after a home cooked dinner you had cooking in the crock pot all day ready for you. You exhailed as you closed the door with your back closing the door. You closed your eyes as you slid down the door (with your hair brushing against it/With your hair Clumping up into a pile a'top your head). 'Its for the best.' you tried convincing yourself. You then stood up to take your top off and place it on the chair at your desk. You turned around from your bed to face the window but instead faced someones shell plate. You looked up with only your bra and Jeans on to see his green orbs look down at you. You backed away from your bed "whatcha doin.." you asked uncertain. "Whats so great about being a hero when you can't break the rules once in a while." Raphael stated as he then plastered you to the wall breaking down the walls between you two and denying he even had someone. But he wanted you instead. Only you. He wanted to know everything about you. What made you tick. What made you so..he couldn't explain it even in his own mind. Your eyes widened from his words "But-" your words were cut off by his kiss that moved along your lips. Your eyes relaxed and rolled to the back of your head as you allowed it. You didn't wanna fight it. You never did. You were just going along with what someone else might think of you But at this point. You didn't care. His breath hit your skin as did yours to him. You had this kind of passion. A passion that was unreachable to anyone else. It was mysterious, sensual and above all..a turn on. You Knew what this new feeling was and It was Not lust. It was the yearning for Raphael. To be one with him. "y/n.." he spoke his deep throat voice through the kiss.. "Ye?" you breathed "Will you be mine?" "Like marriage?" you asked as you pulled away and stood in front of him; cleavage and all "no XD no " "oh~ phew." "no i mean as my woman. No one else's." "What about april" you asked worried for her. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it. Don't need you to worry." you smiled as you then leaned up as he knelt down to kiss you some more. His chilled hands felt up your body from your showing Hips to your waist to your shoulders to your jaw. He loved every second of it. "So it that a yes?" he breathed "mhm." you answered. He smiled through the kiss as he then hugged you while he continued. He then pushed you against the wall gently as he started to kiss your neck then Your shoulder back up to your neck.

I know that we are upside down; So just hear me out. I know we are made to break so what i don't miiindddd

Are you gonna stay the night!🎶

He unzipped your pants and pulled them off of you as you then saw him do the same to his pair of jeans

Doesn't mean were bound for liiffeee 🎶

He pressed you into the comforters as he continued to kiss you

Oh a'wow a'wow Are you gonnnaaaa stay the Night He then had you completely naked as was he. The blanket covered the both of  you up. Engulfing both of you. Are you gonna stay the night, Doesn't mean we're bound for life~! Your face filled with pleasure and somewhat pain from him being inside of you. He was bigger than most men. your face blushed as your eyes closed; teeth clinched. I am a fire; Gasoline; Come pour yourself all over me..

He held your body in his arms as he felt this new sexual; Generative; State of being. Nothing like april. Better. And He loved it. He felt like he found the one he wanted to be with forever. Even if Marriage wasn't in your cards. He didn't care. He wanted you..Forever.

Are you gonna stay the night?

You two relaxed in a full sized bed as his calves hung off the end of the bed while your were curled up next to him keeping your cold legs warm under the sheets n' blankets. His arm around your waist as his other arm propped his head up from the pillow. He looked over to you as his pupils dilated bigger like he couldn't get enough of you. He needed to see more of you. He then kissed your forehead and leaned his head against yours as he looked at the stick on Glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. "I do love you y/n." "mm..(you smiled (: ) I love you too.. Its incredible how shortly we've known each other for.." "I know.." he huffed a laugh at the end in astonishment. You closed your eyes as you laid on him. The end..

[silverglimse-productions]

An Undermare You Can’t Wake From

Summary: Phil is stuck in a Undertale-like world, having the role as Sans. He lives together with Dan that plays the role of Papyrus, but nothing seems quite right about him. One day when Phil must greet the human in a new playthrough, the human has changed appearance to look like Dan, that claims he is the real Dan and has come to save Phil…

Wordcount: 1054

Chapter 01 of ?

TW warning: I don’t think there is any, but if there is please let me know!

AN: Hi everybody! This is my first fanfiction EVER, so please tell me if there is anything you think should improve, also make sure to tell me what you think of this story so far! I will try to update the story as often as I can, but I am not sure yet how often that is…

Chapter 01: Just Another Reset... Or Is It?

Dunk, dunk. Phil had been awakened by an obnoxious knock from his housemate Dan. He didn’t want to open his eyes, since he was afraid of what was awaiting him. “ARE YOU UP YET, PHIL? WE HAVE A LONG DAY AHEAD OF US! WE MUST BE READY, IF A HUMAN COMES BY! I, UH, I MEAN WE HAVE TO CAPTURE IT! PLUS, WE HAVE TO MEET WITH THE DOGS TODAY TOO!” Phil sighed. It had happened once again… the God of this world had reset the timeline again. Once again, he had to go look for humans, and once again he had to celebrate the guard dogs wedding day. This was getting repetitive. Phil opened his eyes and looked around his messy bedroom. Yep, the God had reset the timeline. Damn it! And we had just gotten to the surface too!

DUNK, DUNK. Another obnoxious knock. “PHIL? WAKE UP ALREADY, OR I AM GOING TO LEAVE WITHOUT YOU! AND I AM GOING TO TAKE THE BONE WITH ME!” Dan began to sound a bit irritated. The bone was a celebration gift to the dogs “Don’t worry Dan… I will be ready bone-for you know it.” “SERIOSLY PHIL? IT IS TO EARLY FOR THIS!” Phil could almost hear Dan facepalming outside the door. Dan soon gave up, and went downstairs. Phil knew this because every single step on the staircase creaked.

Phil hesitantly got out of bed, and walked over to his closet to get changed into something, he could wear outside. On the way, he took a glance at his big, secret-holding chest where he had used to have props in, that he could use in future videos. There were still props in, but it also contained other things, like TABINOF, DABGO and other things from their lives as Youtubers…

He put on his t-shirt with all sorts of Avengers things on it, since it was the only shirt he had from his earlier life. He stood for a moment and just looked at Dan’s Eclipse t-shirt, which Phil had stored in the back of the closet. It was in Phil’s closet and not in Dan’s closet, because Dan had thrown it out, while saying things like “It isn’t practical in Snowdin, to have a t-shirt.” And “Why did I even own this? It is so not me…” It had broken Phil’s heart to see his best friend throw one of the most iconic Dan thingstm out, so when Dan had been distracted whit talking to a neighbour about Louise, Phil had picked it up and hid it in his closet.

He couldn’t put it off any longer, so he hastily put on the rest of his clothes, and went downstairs. Dan was sitting in the red sofa with a bowl of cereal, watching a colourful break screen, with the text Stay tuned for more! written on it, on the TV. “OH, THERE YOU ARE PHIL. I WAS JUST ABOUT TO LEAVE, I JUST NEED TO FINISH MY BREAKFAST FIRST. YOU GO ON AHEAD. I WILL BE THERE IN A GIFFY!”

Dan had changed a lot since they had gotten down here. He didn’t swear in the slightest, and he didn’t have any existential crisis’, but he had also gotten more childlike and gullible. He wasn’t Dan anymore. Sure, he still looked the same. The same slightly tanned skin, the same brown fringe, and the same brown eyes with specks of gold in them, but his personality was not the Dan personality, Phil knew and loved. The personality change may have something to do with the fact that, Dan – like all other characters in this world, except Phil – got his memories wiped every time, the God reset the timeline. Of course, Dan wasn’t the only one who had had a personality change, so had Phil. His vision of the world had become bleak, and it became bleaker and bleaker, every time the God reset the timeline. He didn’t believe that he would ever get back to the world that he had once known. He had gotten teleportation powers, sure, but it didn’t help, because the only other world he could teleport to, was to this world’s Surface World. It had driven Phil crazy, the fact that the timeline just keeps getting reset, without any hope for him ever getting out of it. I guess ignorance is bliss after all.

How did they get here? Phil had no idea. The only thing he knew was that he had just uploaded a video to YouTube, and when had headed straight to bed. When he had opened his eyes the next morning, he had been here.

Phil went outside into the cold weather. He had to be in possession before the human – AKA the God of this world – arrives. Phil made sure no one was looking, and then snapped his fingers. He flew through one of his many teleport tunnels, and ended up behind a bush, just outside the ruins. He sneaked a little into the forest behind him, and found his hidden treehouse, there was just enough into the forest that it would be hard for the human to see the treehouse, but not so far into the forest, that Phil couldn’t keep a close eye on the giant door to the ruins. And then he just had to wait. In the little treehouse were a couple of blankets, some old comic books and manga, so he could do something while he waited.

About an hour went by before anything happened, but finally, after Phil had just finished reading his third comic, the door to the ruin opened, and out came the human. Phil was not close enough to see the features of the human, but he had greeted them so many times before, that he probably could draw them in his sleep. He sneaked closer, waiting for just the right moment to come out of the forest. He soon came so close to the human, that he could see it’s features, but it was not how the human normally looked…

…Instead of the yellow skin, the striped shirt, the emotionless face and brown bowl cut, that the human usually had, it had slightly tanned skin, a black t-shirt, a slightly scared look on their face, and a brown fringe.

The human looked just like Dan!

AN: And that was chapter 01, hope you liked it! Thank you for reading and have a nice day <3

Ps: I have an ao3 too, if you want to follow the story, without any distractions: http://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverGlimse_Productions

[openbookwrose-blog]

Waiting for Labor

So it’s been awhile since i posted something to my so called “ blog” 

How do I even start, well, I was told by my OB that I was due on May 25-30 to be exact. And of course as excited as I am, I have told my family especially my husband that was our expected date to finally see our baby boy. 

Apparently, it didn’t go as planned or calendar noted. My anxiety was rising, I could’t sleep of thinking what if my baby poop his first dirt inside me, I would lose him or myself. What would I tell my husband or to my family. I kept monitoring his movements just to make sure he was still IN there. Yes, I was getting paranoid as usual, typical Rose who overthinks alot. But this was MY baby we’re talking about, my very first boy. 

I asked/talked to every experienced mommy I know, but they all have the same answers that everything will be fine and that I had to wait for a little while. I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. I was more worried about him, what he feels inside me, what he wanted, what he needed from me. I googled and googled for answers just to ease my brain from exploding. 

June 01 2017 (06:10 am)

My bloody plug finally came out, but I knew that labor won’t start yet until 24 hours or so. I was quite relieved of seeing it, I knew he was on his way. I settled down and conserve much energy as I can. Mom my wouldnt’ quit bugging me to walk and walk, it was quite annoying really as she repeated it several times even though she knew i heard her. Well who could blame someone who’s to excited to see his grandchild. I was happy to see my husband calm and patient, he would walk with me, watch me eat my not so delish meal ( awful just awful meal at the hospital) brought me MCDONALDS, yes! I’m talking about nuggets! The funny thing about my last trimester ( a week before I delivered my boy) was I was crazily craving for cold and sweets bites and drinks non stop, I knew it wasn’t good for both of us. Knowingly I had a gestational diabetes.  Honey, it was difficult to resist the good foods that are easy to be handed on the palm of your hands. :D That night, which was actually my last night of being pregnant (that i don’t have a knowledge of) a kind nurse asked me if I wanted to take a warm shower, I said hell YES (for not washing your hair for 3 days) I badly needed it, plus the uniform that I was wearing kept giving me this weird smell on my body. I had my shower, it felt like it was my first shower for centuries, I took a little walk before heading to my room, I wondered why am I hearing babies every hour or 2 hours. Is it because I was just near the “ baby room “ where they kept the babies clean or take their long naps. But hell no, I was actually in the delivery room, rooms where mamas give birth, my eyes widened as I heard a lady and the doctor exchanging words of “ push “ and “ ugh” here goes my anxiety again, wtf why was I not told that I was already in the delivery room, all those times I was thinking it was my private room to sleep and rest while waiting for the big day and as the big day comes, I would be transferred again to another room. LOL wtf how stupid of me. Maybe I didn’t heard the DR that well where I was to be put after confirming that I needed to be admitted 3 days ago. Probably I was so overwhelmed that I was finally going to stay at the hospital and wait. Anyways, i returned to my room as fast as I can after hearing that “ push “ I was having a panic attack and went straight to bed even my hair was still wet. 

June 02 2017 (06:15 am)

My water BROKE! for the first time in my life, I felt a big push from my stomach, water started to gush all over me and on the bed, I was blackout for awhile, what to do? should I stand up and clean myself? I just showered for taco’s sake. OH there was also a heart monitor for the baby where they strap it to your belly every once in awhile for 1-2 hours that I find it so annoying and uncomfortable, especially when I had the urge to go to the bathroom. Strapped around you like your a mental patient. Quite room with no phone, alone, strapped = MENTAL (literally i would go mental) I was glad I had a roomie before I started my labor, she was having her contractions already, and since she was chinese, I would only hear small noise from her ( the ughhhhh ) but in a virgin kinda way LOL maybe because I was still calm and didn’t know that my contractions as well is approaching. I tried to stay calm as much as possible. Conserve energy I say, as I knew I would badly need it. I kept looking at the clock, waiting for 1pm for visiting hours. MY husband, he was always who I think of apart from my son. Hmmmm what food would he bring this time?

Bloody hell, 08:15 my contractions started. PAINFUL as it was I tried to keep my composure, Its going to be fine, its just labor, after that, a big push and baby would be right there in a giffy, 6 hours had passed and the contractions are getting worse, I was shouting, pushing as much as I can even if it wasn’t time to push, but it eases when I pushed. For the love of fries, it was killing me. and that stupid strap was still on me, i tried to fight the pain, fuckin hell it was just pain, it was death to me. I held so tight on the edge of my bed, it was a protection board from falling, I didn’t want anyone touching me or asking me to lay down properly. It was just to painful. Dan came at 1pm, he saw me in a different condition, sweating, cursing every word I knew, crying, screaming. He tried to comfort me, no comfort in this world would ease what I was going through. Please let this be over, I didn’t want it anymore, I wanted to go home and not feel it ever again. The hours in between, DRs would come and check on me and my V access every 30 minutes. Put 2 fingers inside me which wasn’t pleasurable, speaking in chinese which I couldn’t understand well because I was too distracted from the pain. I wanted to curse the shit out of them, but they were there to help. FINALLY, 01:45pm they decided to put me in the operation room as my son wouldn’t cooperate with the pushing, he would still go up to my stomach, damn son you really made my life a living hell at that very moment. I signed the papers, that I was very OKAY to have a C section, just to get over it. I’m still glad that it was just a 6 hours labor, more than that. I’d probably have my eyes whiten and bubbles on my mouth hahaha 

As they push my bed to the operation room, I knew what was coming. MY baby boy, all I could think of was him, nothing but him. Eager to hear his first cry, see his face, and kiss him.

The operation only took 6 minutes, I heard my son cry and I started crying too. There he was perfect and fragile. My whole universe just right beside me….

[sushiandstarlight]

Cookies: Chapter 9

This chapter contains today’s prompt “gifts.”

Previous story: Of All The Beds In All The Hotels In All The World

Chapters 1-3 / Chapter 4 / Chapters 5 & 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8

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Rated: Light Teen for suggestions, nothing explicit

He woke in the night to roaming hands and a sweet voice in his ear, telling of the indulgent dreams he'd had about him. Half asleep, but fully willing, he opened to the angel and, when both were fully satisfied and boneless, drifted back to sleep almost immediately.

His next awakening wasn't nearly as pleasant. It was a shake of his shoulder which he ignored at first, but grumbled when it became more insistent.

“Come on, dear, you really ought to get up,” Aziraphale was standing beside the bed, bent over him so his face was the first thing Crowley saw when he opened his eyes, “it's nearly six and Gladys will be looking for you soon.”

Crowley made a sloppy swipe for the angel's middle which Aziraphale danced away from, chuckling.

“None of that now! She likes me, so far. If I keep distracting you, that may change.”

Crowley grumbled, wrapping himself around his pillow instead.

“I shouldn't have woken you last night.” Aziraphale sounded sad. Aziraphale should never, ever sound sad. Especially about that. Crowley worked at switching on his higher functions, rolling over and stretching so the blankets slid down his torso. He watched the angel watch, his gaze belying what he had just said.

“I'm glad you did. I don't regret it,” Crowley felt his jaw stretch into a yawn even as he sat up properly, “but, you keep looking at me like that and we'll both be in for a good yell.”

“Quite right, yes,” Aziraphale looked away bashfully, “it's just... well, I might've left a few marks.”

Crowley looked down and there was a trail down his chest. He imagined it ran right up his neck, too. There was something Aziraphale really, really liked about him smelling of baked goods. He was logging that in the back of his head, along with a few of the simpler recipes. If his angel liked him to bake for him... He could do that. But, that was his brain getting side-tracked in just the way he'd warned about. He could feel his blood rushing decidedly south.

“Alright, out with you.”

Aziraphale pouted, very dramatically and put on.

“I'm not getting out of bed until you leave. I know what's going to happen if I try to right now.”

An innocently look now.

“Out,” Crowley laughed, “I'll see you for lunch.”

Crowley headed for the shower after the angel left, ice cold before gradually turning it hotter and going about his ablutions. He opted for just a little eyeliner today. Aziraphale had liked it, very much, apparently. Who was he to argue with results. Stepping back into their room he miracled the jeans from yesterday clean and slipped into them, this time with a dark charcoal turtleneck. It covered all the amorous marks his angel had left behind, if only barely. Slipping on his glasses, he headed downstairs for another day of baking.

-

He passed Aziraphale near the front desk, standing on a stepladder and hanging gold and silver garland. He tapped his hip as he walked by.

“Alright, Angel?”

“Yes, dear.” Aziraphale leaned down and pecked his forehead, “best get in there, you're late.”

“Crowley! I hear you out there! Stop canoodling with your boyfriend!”

They exchanged matching lopsided smirks.

“I'm coming, Gladys!”

“So's Christmas!”

He playfully swatted Aziraphale's bum- it couldn't be helped, it was right there- and the angel squawked.

“You keep that up, I'll take you right back upstairs!” He hissed, with no real venom.

“Hope you're into voyeurism because she'd be up there in a giffy.” Giffy, what was happening to him.

Aziraphale fake pouted and went back to his garland hanging.

Crowley strode into the kitchen.

“You're late.”

“It's only half past six!”

“Still late.”

“Well, if you wanted to smell me all day- and I don't mean in a pleasant way- I could have been on time.”

“Also if your boyfriend didn't keep you up all night.”

Crowley's words, which were really meant to be a full sentence, came out garbled as they tripped over one another. Gladys took pity on him, breaking into one of her enigmatic smiles.

“Get over here and help me, today's going to be a bit more hectic.”

Crowley grabbed the ruffled apron and tied it in place, joining her at the counter. She had some of the dough from yesterday out and she was doling it out on cookie sheets with a small ice cream scoop.

“You come behind me, press the center with your thumb, and fill it with the jam.”

“Got it.”

The morning went quickly in a cloud of flour and bits of dough: they trayed up and baked cookies from the dough they made yesterday. While those were baking, they made more dough and tucked it away in the refrigerator. Once the cookies they baked were cooled, they stacked them in large plastic tubs and put them in the walk in freezer.

He occasionally caught sight of Aziraphale as the angel passed by the door, going one way or another with boxes of decorations. After lunch, the angel once again retired to the porch for some reading. Gladys pulled Crowley back into the kitchen for more dough making. They were in the middle of the third bowl of dough- a peanut butter oatmeal concoction- when she spoke again.

“Your gift to Aziraphale...”

“Yeah?”

“You're going to propose, aren't you?”

“Shhhh!” Crowley hissed through his teeth, nearly dropping the knife he was using to level off the peanut butter in the measuring cup, “He could hear you.”

“Nah, he's outside.”

“You can't know that. He could come back in!”

“I know. He's outside, you're fine. Your secret's safe with me, dear.”

“... a, well, a proposal, of sorts.”

“Mmhmm, and what does that mean?” She tipped the mess that Crowley had made into her bowl and started mixing it together with her spatula. This left Crowley with nothing to keep his hands busy so he pressed them to the counter.

“I don't think human ritual is something we need. Big ceremony, all that. Unless it's something he wants,” Crowley was keeping his voice pitched down, just in case, “Just... I wanted to give him a symbol of commitment. Something to say I'm in this for good.”

“Human ritual?” Gladys chuckled as she wrapped the bowl in plastic and walked it over to the fridge, “ No, I get it. It's not about showing off to a bunch of people. You want him to know.”

“Yes.”

“Have I completely derailed your plans?” She was back at the counter, not-measuring out ingredients into a fresh bowl. Really, she was a cookie-making machine. Crowley wondered just how much help Edie provided. Maybe she provided the gossip while they worked. Not for the first time, Crowley wondered if Gladys could have done this on her own, after all.

“No,” Crowley sighed, “Not really. It's not a big plan. I can do it here just as surely as I could do it back home.”

“He'll say yes.”

“Hopefully.”

“He will,” Gladys put down her sifter and turned to him, hands on his cheeks, “that man loves you, it's all over his face whenever he sees you. I have no idea what you've been through and, really, I don't need to know. It's made you a unit. That's plain to see watching you both.”

Crowley just stared at her, swallowing around the lump in his throat.

“I saw it when you first got here, the two of you. Idiots. You deserve one another. I wouldn't have pushed you if I didn't think so. Got it?” She waited for Crowley to nod and then turned back to her bowl, “I think you should take a break tonight and take your man out on the town. He likes nice things, give him some.”

“You won't need my help cleaning up?”

“Not tonight, shoo.”

“Okay, maybe a little wine and dine and he won't mind staying through Christmas.”

“He won't mind.”

“You're always so sure of things.”

“The things I'm sure of, now get out of here before I change my mind.”

Chapter 10 is now up!

[whumpywhumper]

Markus & Clint

So @0idril0 wanted to see how Markus and Clint met, so I wrote this up. It’s pure, cheesy fluff which has been much needed for myself. 

Tagging Markus & Clint’s usual fanbase: @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @imagination1reality0 @insanitywishes @walkingchemicalfire @comfy-whumpee @vickytokio @whumpitywhumpwhump @genesissane @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @voidwhump @captivity-whump @kungpao-giffy @comfortforthepain

Edit for Masterpost

V***V

Markus threw his head back and laughed at Evan’s description of the pug he’d treated earlier that day. Apparently, “little old man” and “farts like a skunk” were nothing compared to it’s personality. 

“I swear to god, Markus,” Evan laughed, wiping tears from his eyes, “I could barely keep a straight fucking face with this little pug bitching it’s owner out as I examined him. I had to pretend to fucking stick myself with a damn needle when he told her that if she let me stick my finger in his bum one more time that he was going to shit in her mouth while she slept.” He raised his beer bottle to his lips, the glass slick with condensation between his fingers, chortling when he continued. “She called the damn codger a ‘smoopsykins.’ ” 

“Oh my god, oh my god, Evan stop!” He held his stomach as he continued to laugh, “You’re going to fucking kill me.” 

Evan thumped him on the back when he tried to take a drink of his own rum and coke, a huge smile on his face as Markus started hacking to keep the burning liquid from pouring out of his nose. “Don’t die on me, bud! Who would I have to keep Brian from braining himself when he goes after some of your sisters?” 

Chuckling, Markus rubbed at his eye with the heel of his hand. “He needs to stick with pining after Kristy, cause Deanna and Keihl are gonna eat him alive.” 

They looked over the bar where Brian was trying to charm one of Markus’s coven sisters, the dark skinned woman concealing a twinkling smirk at the younger man’s antics. Her partner was practically licking her lips, her black nails tracing them while the siren was completely oblivious to the danger he was in. 

Evan snorted, getting to his feet and shaking his head. “I better go save him.” 

Markus smiled as he watched his friend go and clap Brian on the shoulder, feeling the warmth of several drinks and the company of friends curling in his belly. He’s pretty sure that the only person who actually knew why he’d pulled all of his friends, and their friends, together was Theo, and he’d sworn her to secrecy. 

A heavy thump in Evan’s vacated seat made Markus turn back, eyebrow raised as a large man in a leather jacket made himself comfortable. Green eyes, reddish blond hair, and a white, rakish smile had Markus rolling his eyes and smirking internally before he’d even opened his mouth. “Is this seat taken, Hun?” 

The witch could feel the good natured charm rolling off of the stranger in and waves, and he couldn’t help his own smile as he answered. “It is now.” 

His smile grew slightly larger at Markus’s lack of rebuff, shouldering off his jacket as he motioned their bartender for a Guinness. His eyes caught on the play of muscle below the other’s sweater, the warmth of liquor in his system making him less than subtle. 

Chuckling, his visitor put his elbow on the bar and leaned into Markus’s space, like he was trying to make himself heard over the crowd. Even though it really wasn’t that loud. “Come here often?” 

Markus’s snort at the cheesy pick up line gave way to real laughter when the other’s smile only widened at his reaction, genuine warmth residing in the creases next to the other man’s eyes. Indulging him, he turned completely, letting his feet swing off of the bar stool and one of his long legs stretch in-between the other’s. “Not often enough for my liking, you?” 

He took a long drink of his rum and coke, looking underneath his lashes at tall, bright, and charming, feeling a flicker of satisfaction when he followed the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. “First time actually, was ordered to bring a cake for a surprise party by my friend Theo, but I can’t resist getting to know a pretty thing like you, Sugar.” 

At the mention of Theo, cake, and a surprise party Markus’s expression dropped from flirtatious to horrified. Eyes widening, he rocked back in his seat and his head whipped around in search of that dark haired traitor. “Theo!” he screeched, trying to jump to his feet and nearly toppling himself and the barstool over in his tipsy haste. 

“Woah, Darlin’!” Two hands caught him across the shoulders as he nose dived toward the floor, righting him and the stool with an impressive lack of effort. “I didn’t think you were trying for a date with the floor!” 

“I’m going to strangle that witch with the grahm I made for her!” Markus groaned, thumping his head against the bar and pulling his hair. “I told her! She swore! Fuck!”

Hissing through his teeth, the other man clapped him on the shoulder, “I think I just fucked up. Please tell me you’re not Markus?” 

Scowling, Markus turned to hold out his hand, head still on the bar, “Nice to meet you.” 

“Aw, damnit,” sighing, a calloused hand took his own, “Clint.” 

Markus noticed the warmth coming from Clint, not just his hand but his extra senses as well, taking in his innate goodness and instantly trusting him. It felt like coming home to a good dog, your entire heart opening up and your worries rolling away. But under that, was the distinct predatory undertone, a snarling magic that was simmering under the surface. Definitely a supernatural, probably were, but what kind? 

Other than a base curiosity, it really didn’t matter in the long run. Raising his head, he motioned to the bar tender, “Tequila, please, Jeremiah.” 

“Make that two, on me,” Clint added. 

They clinked glasses before shooting the alcohol, each throwing their head back at the same time. The alcohol burned on the way down, and Markus grimaced, clacking the glass back to the bar and biting into the accompanying lime. 

“What the fuck happened while I was gone to make you shoot tequila?” Evan’s voice made him turn, just as recognition dawned on the beast master’s face. “Well no wonder if this motherfucker’s involved-” a huge smile broke across his face, “-Clint!” 

“Evan!” Laughing, Clint jumped up and grabbed Evan around the waist, spinning him around in a circle. Evan’s feet swung next to someone’s head, and Markus winced. But no harm, no foul. 

“I take it you two know each other?” 

Evan grinned as Clint set him back on his feet, clapping the other man on the arms. “Yeah! Clint’s the one that brought in those [cryptid] a few months ago. I commissioned that salve from you, remember?” 

Markus sat up straighter, very clearly remembering the ordeal. “Yeah, you said he got them from some poachers, right?” 

Nodding, Clint answered, “yeah, motherfuckers had trapped ‘em.” He grins, and suddenly Markus can very clearly see the wolf just under the surface as his eyes flash yellow. “They learned there mistake rather quickly.” 

They lost some tome talking shop, until Markus looked over and saw Brian, and his eyes widened. Deanna was sitting in Brian’s lap, playing with the stick from her martini and sucking on the olive at the end. Keihl was leaning over Brian’s shoulder, showing him something on her phone. He turned to Evan, hissing, “I thought you saved Brian earlier?!”  

Shrugging, Evan sighed, ”Man, I tried, but it’s like a dog with a bone. He knows he’d rather go and talk to Kristy, but his damn young brain can’t pull himself away.” He chuckled, lips quirking in an amused smile, “Plus, Deanna and Keihl are having too much fun to just let him go.” 

Clint motioned for another shot and grinned at them. “Let a predator play with the other predators.” Knocking the tequila back, he headed over, a sauntering roll to his hips that had more than one set of eyes following him. 

Deanna and Keihl didn’t stand a chance. Clint plucked Brian out of the two women’s clutches and sent him off smiling, looking happy for walking away toward Markus and Evan. 

“He does know that now he’s the one that’s trapped right?” Evan murmured to him, motioning to Jeremiah for another beer. 

Markus grinned, watching how Deanna’s eyes had finally lit up and she was actually smiling, how Keihl’s eyes softened and she was looking at Deanna like she was the moon. “I think they’re trapped with him, actually.” 

His grin slid off his face when he saw Theo, and he immediately tried to slide off of the bar stool and to the floor. So he could crawl out the door without anyone seeing him. 

But it was too late. 

Evan caught him by the shoulders as everyone turned to him and started to sing. 

Happy birthday to you, 

Happy birthday to you, 

Happy birthday dear Markus, 

Happy birthday to youuuu!!!!

Theo grinned at him as she set the cake on the bar in front of him, everyone crowding in behind her as she said, “Make a wish, birthday boy!”

The cake said “Happy (Secret) 26th Birthday!” In neon green letters over the black frosted cake. Scowling and pointing a playfully threatening finger at Theo, he turned to the cake and took a deep breath. Blowing out all of the candles at once.

He started cackling, throwing his head back in a full body laugh, when they flickered back to life. Even a real witch loved trick candles.