#parents are rarely interested in answers in situation like this anyway.

[stromuprisahat]

- You ignore my orders. Go off on a suicide mission. And instead of donning a breastplate, you dash into battle, shirt open, navel and whatnot exposed!

~ YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER, ROCHE! YOU'VE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT TO WEAR!

Dunno, but this sounds exactly like a stepfather/stepdaughter argument.

[lorcandidlucienwill]

Hiiii!! First your posts give me life!!! I’m always waiting for the next one because I know you’re going to spit gems and speak facts 💁‍♀️.

I have a question/thought about the mates situation. People keep saying SJM will be exploring the rejected mating bond concept, specifically in Elain’s book….When did she say that? WHERE? From what I’ve seen and read, she did say it was an interesting concept (fate, mating bond vs agency and all that good stuff) but she also said she didn’t know if she would be exploring it in the future, let alone in Elain’s book or the ACOTAR series. So HOW in the world do people take that as a confirmation that she will absolutely do it in Elain’s book? Even the whole “what if the cauldron is wrong” argument. Well maybe she’ll use Elain’s book to demonstrate that in fact the cauldron is never wrong because it actually doesn’t decide anything. This frustrates me to no end.

Anyway, keep slaying Queen 💅!

My dear Anon, we shall have an Autumn wedding.

This is what SJM said:

“That’s something I find to be very interesting,” she replies. “What if the forces that be put you with the wrong person? Or what if you just decide, eh, I’m not interested. … There’s a lot to explore within the concept of mates and your agency about it. 

“I’m not going to say if I am exploring it in future books or not,” she continues, “but it definitely offers a wealth of things to explore with this concept of freewill and what is true love. Is it something that’s destined? Or is it something that you make? Is it both?”

She did NOT confirm that she would be exploring it at ANY point!!!! I do NOT know why people are acting like it is a guarantee.

What if the Cauldron was wrong? COULD be foreshadowing yes, but the answer is rarely that obvious LMAO. Amren told Nesta that there were other ways to fight beside a sword, but Nesta became a warrior. Most likely it's talking about Elain. So is it really so hard to believe that this is NOT talking about Elain at all, but someone else entirely?

The three most likely options for a rejected mating trope are as follows:

LoA-Helion: we get to explore the pain and angst of knowing a mate has married and had children with another, and dealing with the rejected trope for centuries, but will eventually get together in the end. SJM is not about to give Lucien's parents a tragic ending lmfao. And in her world, rejected mates=tragedy.

Mor-Eris: if we go in the direction that mating bonds can only occur between males and females and Mor and Eris are both gay, so they can never have feelings for each other. In which case we explore the difficulties associated with a bond that neither person wants yet the instincts are still there.

Tamlin-Amarantha: did anyone wonder WHY tf Amarantha was so obsessed with Tamlin? Like, I know he's hot and all, but goddamnit girl what the fuck? Now, if they were mates and Tamlin rejected her, it would make sense. It would also add more nuance to Tamlin AND Amarantha's characters, and we'd get to explore Tamlin's trauma post-UTM after being forced to reject and kill his mate and how that drove him a little mad.

But, the rejected bond is NOT a guarantee, so there may NOT be any rejected bonds. These are all just theories at this point. One thing I am CERTAIN of is that the rejected bond will CERTAINLY NOT be Elain and Lucien. Especially not when SJM dangled Gwyn in front of us. Now THAT one is fucking obvious lol.

[magicalmanhattanproject]

hey y'all remember soul eater? i just randomly remembered soul eater existed and then my brain got taken over by cubitos about it. if you don't remember soul eater, the important thing to know is that some people can shapeshift into magical weapons wielded by partners called meisters. technically anyone can become a meister, but it is a thing you do have to train to do while being a weapon is something you're born with. anyway, this first post is just characters' first impressions of each other and i'll make another post with more secrets and truths if ppl are interested (i was gonna make it this one but this post is getting Long)

First Residents

FitMC and Spreen

Spreen is a cocky and extremely well trained meister who is used to working with his brother Missa or his Good Pal Roier who are both relatively laid back and used to his shenanigans. He absolutely deserves to be cocky given how absurdly skilled he is, but he clashes badly with fiercely independent, reserved, and paranoid grenade launcher Fit of 2b2t. Fit sees Spreen as an entitled brat and they simply do not vibe with each other well enough for Spreen to wield him.

Fit will let Ramón wield him fairly freely because it's important for kids to learn these things early, but prefers to handle any situation where Ramón might actually be in danger by himself.

Quackity Luzu and Wilbur

Quackity is a single chainsaw in search of a meister. Luzu and Wilbur are both meisters not in search of weapons. Luzu has his own shit going on with an AI taking over his body sometimes so he's mostly out of the picture. Wilbur was trained as a meister by his father but isn't all that interested in the job and just wants to play music. Besides, he has skinny little noodle arms and chainsaws are heavy and hard to wield.

Neither Tilín and Talluluh have ever received any formal meister training.

Philza and Missa

Phil is an old and skilled meister in need of a new weapon. Missa is a macuahuitl of pretty middling experience. He's certainly not incompetent and he and Phil are capable of working together well enough, but it's hard to get to know each other well enough to truly bond when Missa isn't around very often. Still, they probably have the most effective combat record out of any of the Federation assigned partnerships.

Chayanne is also a macuahuitl and the only weapon among the eggs. He is far more eager to learn the craft than either of his parents are for him to learn.

Slime and Mariana

Slime and Mariana are probably the Least effective duo in combat. They're both weapons, for one thing. Mariana is an extraordinarily powerful gauntlet and Slime is a 9mm glock. Mariana has at least a bare minimum of meister training, but neither of them are actually like. Any good at it. Or very good at being weapons for that matter. Or in tune with each others' wavelengths enough to wield each other. At least they're trying.

Juanaflippa could dual wield her papas on the rare occasions she could get them to both show up for her.

Roier and Jaiden

These two are another weapon4weapon pair but much stabler than Slime and Mariana. Jaiden is a scythe but she's always had an interest in learning how to be a meister. Roier has learned a trick or two from Spreen that he's willing to pass along and he's got enough experience as a weapon on his own to cover for her if she messes up. He's a backsword and he's learned how to wield himself and gotten pretty good at it, especially since Spreen betrayed him.

Bobby preferred his guns to wielding either of his parents and never got any formal meister training either.

DanTDM and Maximus

Maxo knows that he's a meister and that SOFIA isn't a weapon. That's all he can say for sure. He never knew Dan or Trump well enough to say.

BadBoyHalo

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Whatever he knows, he won't give a straight answer about it. Everyone is pretty sure his counterpart is probably Skeppy.

Dapper has been seen to wield an array of different red and black or cyan colored weapons when Bad isn't around, but so far Bad has always had an alibi and there's no solid proof Skeppy even exists.

Foolish and Vegetta

A pair of outliers. Foolish is an ex-meister long since turned pacifist and Vegetta exclusively wields weapons that don't shapeshift into humans. He says it's because he has no time for weapon drama <- the most dramatic bitch on the island.

Leo is very skilled with many weapons, but again, not the kind that shapeshift into people.

The Brazilians

Mike and Pac

One of the strongest partnerships on the island, these two have been fighting together forever. Pac is Mike's egg, but also his trusty rifle. Mike is a decent sniper, but mostly Pac just gets waved in peoples' faces when Mike is mad about something. Pac can reload himself absurdly fast, but also will frequently just jam himself and refuse to fire if Mike is making decisions he doesn't agree with.

Cellbit Forever and Felps

Felps is the rare meister who will dual wield weapons who don't come paired already. He spent years with Cellbit, a main gauche dagger, and the pair of them got along fine. A lot of what he did was keep Cellbit's bloodlust in check, but it worked. Then they added Forever, a rapier, to their little trio and Cellbit found his comfortable place as a parrying dagger defending Felps with Forever on the offensive.

Richarlyson

A baby meister in training, Richas is learning the most from Felps since Mike has been keeping his distance since the bull incident. At least he was before Felps went missing.

The French

Kameto

Kameto is a self wielding guillotine perfectly capable of handling himself, so wherever he's gotten himself off to, he's probably fine.

Antoine and Baghera

Antoine and Baghera are easily the least experienced pair on the island, but they make up for that with their sharp intelligence and the fact that they have excellent mentors. Antoine is a poleaxe with Baghera as his meister.

Etoiles and Aypierre

Etoiles and Aypierre aren't the most experienced pair on the island, but they're close to the most experienced working with each other and definitely the most dangerous. They were mentoring Antoine and Baghera when the plane crashed. Etoiles is a bec de corbin so he has a lot of relevant experience for Antoine. He is also extremely independent and capable of wielding himself to the point where he sometimes gets mistaken for a shapeshifting weapon. Between that and Pierre using non-magic weapons like Vegetta, they both spend more time apart than together.

Pomme

Pomme is going to be a meister someday, but for now, Etoiles is just teaching her how to the individual weapons that make up him and Antoine since he can defend her better on her own than by trying to have her wield him.

[arcxnumvitae]

1. does your muse enjoy watching the stars?

He loves it.

2. does your muse have any long-term, life plans?

Weirdly, no? He feels lame about that too. Other than his general goal to integrate Seelie more into the outside world, he feels like all he's been doing so far has been putting out one fire after another. He's still trying to settle things down before he can think of future plans. That's not even getting into personal plans outside of his duties as king. The only one he currently really has is catching his parents' killer/s.

3. how does your muse manage strong emotions?

Not well. Aur is someone who doesn't feel much or doesn't allow himself to feel much, so when he does it's an explosion. Akin to a volcano going absolutely buckwild before simmering down once again, spent.

4. how many blankets does your muse sleep with?

A thin one on top and a second, thicker one or like comforter if it's colder.

5. has you muse ever experienced sleep paralysis? 

Nightmares, yep. Sleep paralysis specifically, no.

6. what style of music does your muse like the most?

He's not a "music" guy. That aside, Seelie's music isn't as varied or as modern of course as the music in the mortal plane. While he lived there for a brief time, Aur still wasn't much of a music guy. Rather boring answer.

7. what’s the furthest from home your muse has traveled?

The years he spent in the mortal plane as a hunter for the Bastion of the Veil back when he had amnesia. Then again, distance is a bit relative when you're talking about planes. Before that point though he had rarely been allowed to go even outside of the palace, but of course the wonder of the new experiences was lost since he couldn't remember anything anyways.

8. does your muse have any unusual fears? what are they? 

Hm, dang, no, of all his fears I can't think of any that would seem strange or odd.

9. is your muse / would your muse be active on social media?

Ha. As if he could figure out how to work the technology. Even if he did, he wouldn't have any particular interest in social media.

10. does your muse get sick often? what’s their go-to remedies?

Fae don't naturally get sick, not accounting for the fun variety of poisons and things that exist in Seelie.

11. is your muse quick thinking? are they able to focus when stressed?

Eh, I wouldn't say he stands out in any particular regard. Like, he's not so exceptionally slow that it would merit mention, but also not exceptionally quick. Aur focuses better in combat situations under stress due to his time in the Bastion than he does social ones. The fun of being an awkward guy.

12. what is your muse’s most helpful coping skill, healthy or unhealthy?

Spending time beneath the stars or simply out in some piece of nature, be it listening to the wind in the trees, taking a dip in a crystal clear lake, or whatever. Ironically, now that he's far more stressed with the duties of being king, it's because he's king that it's harder for him to slip away to said places outside of the palace where he can relax.

13. what is the strangest / least comfortable place your muse has slept?

He's had a variety of places he's had to sleep for Bastion missions. Some might expect an answer like "outside camping" or whatever, but any who know Aur knows that's his jam. Nah, the least comfortable would be in hotels in really big cities. Iron and technology and all sorts of stuff everywhere, it wasn't comfortable.

14. where does your muse’s strength lie? physical strength? mental? emotional?

Aur himself would like to know. He doesn't feel physically strong in any special way. He also doesn't feel particularly unfaltering mentally or emotionally. Personally, I'd say that the fact that he's still trucking on after losing his parents and all of the rest of the stuff he's gone through counts for something alright.

15. if your muse had the option, would they prefer to go to space or explore the ocean?

Ocean, he guesses.

16. how skilled is your muse in the kitchen? what is the most complicated dish they know how to make?

Hah............

He doesn't know how to cook. Had no reason to learn as a prince, of course. Was a constant traveler and still didn't know the basics as a hunter (and unable to operate a phone or anything to try and teach himself). And once again as a king he has no reason to learn. The most complicated dish he knows how to make is boiling water, and even then he might accidentally let it boil over.

[the-widow-sisters]

Hi!!! I don't know if you're taking requests, but if you are can, you write Melina and Alexi revisiting the compound and meeting the others. But they lose Melina and find her in the lab with Darcy, and Natasha's immediate thought is that they need to separate the two.

A/N: Thank you so, so much for this request! 💖💖💖

Wow, it's been a while since I've written something for the parents 😅 It's the first time I've ever written anything from Melina's POV so hopefully it's good 💗 I'm still in a serious motivation slump, but for some reason, this request just hit me and I had to write it.

I hope y'all enjoy!

Word Count: 4.9k+

   “So… Is Captain America ready for another fight?!”

   “Alexei, no,” Natasha answered instantly, trying to deter him but it did not seem to affect him in the least.

   “It is understandable. I practically crushed him like tiny bug last time!” Alexei boasted, and Yelena rolled her eyes, eating the last few chips in her bag.

   “And he crushed you many times before that, Dad,” Yelena answered, and Alexei scoffed in reply to her, reaching his hand over to her chip bag.

   “It was tough fight but I won,” Alexei proudly announced, and Yelena slapped his hand away from her chip bag. He grunted unhappily, shooting her a grumpy glare.

   Alexei and Melina had come for yet another visit, Alexei the pig in tow, and after they had slept off the jetlag, Alexei had instantly expressed an interest in coming to visit the compound again. Natasha had not been entirely sure about the whole thing, but when Melina had added on that she wanted to get a look at the place again, Natasha had hesitantly agreed.

   Kate had happened to catch them as they were leaving for the compound, she herself coming to hang out at the widow sisters’ place when she spotted Alexei and Melina with them. She had gotten in the car with them, and Natasha had driven them to the compound, their parents catching up with Kate and Natasha fruitlessly warning them to behave as Yelena munched on chips and alternated between picking on Kate and making sarcastic quips toward Alexei.

   In Natasha’s opinion, Alexei had honestly deserved everything Yelena had so sassily said to him so far. All he had done is talk about wanting to see Captain America again. Natasha had been ready to say quite a few things herself, but she held back, choosing to be the adult in the situation.

   Interrupting Natasha’s contemplation of her desire to knock her father out, Kate looked at the group with a giant smile, practically bouncing in front of them all.

   “Maybe you can’t go and fight Steve right now, but would you like to meet our friends instead? Carol and Darcy should be here somewhere,”

   “That would be nice,” Melina conceded kindly, and Kate instantly brightened considerably as she eyed her with barely contained excitement.

   “Trust me, you’re going to love them. Give me just a second, I’ll go grab them,” Kate declared before practically bounding off down the hall.

   Natasha watched her fondly, her heart warming at the sight of Kate’s excitement and Melina hummed shortly.

   “She is good girl,” Melina expressed, an undisguised affection in her voice that rarely showed in the woman.

   Natasha supposed that there was just something about Kate that brought out the softness in people. Her joy and her shining personality were adorable and enough to put anyone in a good mood.

   “One of the best.”

   “What am I? Chopped kidney?” Yelena spoke up, utterly offended.

   “Liver,” Natasha gently corrected, unable to help a soft chuckle at Yelena’s misuse of the saying. Yelena raised her eyebrows, and despite the fact that Natasha clearly knew that Yelena was aware of what she meant, Yelena decided to be dramatic anyways.

   “I am chopped liver?!”

   “No,” Natasha replied with fond exasperation, rolling her eyes before reaching out to her. She wrapped her arm around her neck and kissed her cheek affectionately. Yelena leaned into her side with no hesitation, and Melina huffed with a small smile as she looked up at Alexei.

   “Just like when they were kids,” Melina reminisced, and Alexei chuckled, starting to speak.

   “Mom, no,” Natasha argued instantly, interrupting as her arm fell away from Yelena.

   Yelena leaned into her side a little harder, making a small noise of protest at Natasha’s release of her before straightening hesitantly.

   After all, she had a vested interest in keeping the embarrassing stories at a minimum as well. The last thing she wanted was for anyone outside of the four of them to ever find out some of the things she did as a child.

   “What? I am having nostalgia,” Melina tried to defend in her somewhat broken English. Alexei just nodded along with her, serving as Melina’s personal ally in this situation as he oftentimes did.

   “No stories of our childhood here, okay?”

   “Yes, no public humiliation today, please,” Yelena backed Natasha’s statement. Alexei suddenly looked excited as he turned his attentions to Melina.

   “Ooh, wait, what about that one story of when little Yelena and Natasha went out to play with neighbor children and they were all younger than Natasha and Natasha—”

   “Definitely not that one,” Natasha declared, embarrassment flooding her at that memory. She definitely did not want to remember that time.

   It was when the kids had decided to play cops and robbers and Natasha had somehow been elected to be the only cop. She supposed it was fitting because somehow by the end of it all, the little robbers had all decided to tie her to a tree. Yelena had been the only one against the idea and the other kids had told her that if she did not like it, she would have to quit the game.

   Needless to say, when they started chanting about burning Natasha at the stake, Yelena had completely freaked out and made a run for the house. Natasha, of course, had known that they were not really going to burn her, so she did not forcefully break out of the binds as they had sloppily thrown her in for the game.

   Yelena had eventually come running back with Melina in tow, and Melina had just calmly informed them that Natasha and Yelena had to come back home and help her with something, untying Natasha and bringing her back home.

   It was one of the few times that Natasha could recollect Melina truly and heartfeltly laughing, and while it was an embarrassing memory due to the fact she was caught and tied up by a bunch of little kids, it was also a strangely fond memory if only for Melina’s happiness.

   “That was good memory, Natasha. I still remember how Yelena ran in yelling about neighbor children killing you,” Melina chuckled warmly, the memory apparently still bringing a laugh to her.

   Yelena groaned, and Natasha could not help but look at Melina with some amount of fondness despite the fact that she definitely did not want that story told.

   “Definitely not that one. That one is especially embarrassing for me,” Yelena grumbled, and Melina hummed in response, an uncharacteristic mirth in her gaze.

   “Would you prefer time that Natasha was helping wash you?” Melina suggested, and Alexei furrowed his brow, trying to remember that particular moment.

   “When was that?” Alexei questioned, and Natasha groaned, remembering the moment quickly. Like their father, Yelena seemed confused as well, and she waited for Melina to explain.

   “A few months after we began the mission. You pooped in the bathtub and she ran out of the room,” Melina explained, and Alexei laughed heartily. Yelena’s eyes went wide in horror and Natasha wrinkled her nose at the memory.

   “Oh, my—”

   “I remember that now!” Alexei happily declared. Natasha shook her head.

   “Was that even normal for a child her age?”

   “I am not familiar with children outside of the two of you, so I would not know. But I cannot think it was too uncommon,” Melina simply answered, and Yelena shook her head as she interrupted.

   “Look, no talking about pooping in the bathtub or anything else embarrassing or weird, got it?”

   “Who’s pooping in the bathtub?” Carol’s voice sounded off, and they all directed their attention to her. Carol was trailing along next to Kate.

   “Nobody,” Yelena instantly replied much too quickly. However, before Carol could question it, Kate offered them all an apologetic smile and spoke.

   “Sorry, I could only get Carol. D was busy working in the lab on the meteor she discovered a while back,” Kate informed them, moving over to sit on the couch.

   Natasha noticed how Melina instantly paid attention at the mention of the laboratory, and she mentally made a note to try to keep her away from all of that. She could not imagine that Melina would ever leave the compound if she discovered all the science things in there.

   And Natasha definitely did not want them staying at the compound and potentially embarrassing her any further than they probably already would before it was all over with.

   “Hey, Carol, Kate probably told you, but my parents wanted to meet you since they didn’t get to on their last visit here,” Natasha said, and Carol raised her eyebrows.

   “You’ve got parents?” Carol questioned, and Natasha could not help but fondly remember Carol’s surprise when she had first discovered that Natasha had a sister.

   “Yeah. Imagine that. A sister and parents. She is practically like a normal person,” Yelena deadpanned, moving around Carol as she made room for her to step up to meet the pair. Carol just huffed in reply to her, rolling her eyes but mostly keeping her attention centered on the two before her.

   “These are Alexei and Melina,” Natasha introduced, gesturing to the couple in question.

   “And this here is Carol Danvers, the one and only Boomer,” Yelena added on, patting Carol’s shoulder from where she was walking around behind her.

   Carol threw a smile and a raised eyebrow over her shoulder in Yelena’s direction. Yelena, catching the fondness and the unspoken teasing in Carol’s gaze, just huffed and waved her away as she plopped down on the couch not too far from Kate.

   Carol turned her attentions back to the two before her and she wiped her hands on her pants.

   “Sorry, I’m a little sweaty. I was just working out with my boyfriend and his friends,” Carol apologized, offering her hand. Alexei took it, shaking her hand as he looked at her kindly.

   “I take it that Steve didn’t want another enchanting meeting with Alexei,” Natasha deadpanned, and Carol blinked, slightly confused, and Alexei’s eyes suddenly turned bright as he made the connection in his head.

   “Wait… Steve Rogers?! Captain America?!”

   “Yeah…?” Carol trailed off uncertainly, and Alexei furrowed his brow before looking at her with surprise, his hand still holding onto Carol’s.

   “Wait… he is your boyfriend?”

   “Yeah,” Carol answered hesitantly but surely. Natasha could see how uncertain she was. Carol glanced in Natasha’s direction, wordlessly asking for some manner of explanation. Natasha just shook her head, mouthing “go with it” to the poor woman.

   “You are Captain America’s girl?!” Alexei cried, utterly beyond excited as he found out a new tidbit about his arch nemesis.

   Natasha knew that he was mostly happy because Carol looked mostly unassuming despite her barely hidden muscles underneath her oversized Def Leppard t-shirt. He thought that he had somehow gotten in a win over Steve because Alexei’s own girl was one of the most efficient widows ever.

   Carol just looked at him somewhat strangely, chuckling a little as she glanced at Natasha before seemingly taking her advice on how to handle the whole thing.

   “Yeah… Why?”

   “He and I, we are nemesis to each other!” he excitedly declared, grabbing her hand with his other one as he shook her hand more vigorously in the midst of his happiness.

   Carol raised her eyebrows, offering him a onceover. Her thoughts were so loud at that moment that Natasha could practically hear them coursing through her mind.

   “Oh… Like Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd?” Carol finally dropped her one-liner.

   Natasha almost laughed out loud, but she held herself back, knowing that it probably would not be the polite thing to do despite how humorous it had been.

   Yelena, however, did no such thing, and she practically guffawed without any reservations as Carol somehow managed to keep a straight face. Kate instantly launched into giggling along with Yelena’s loud cackling.

   Alexei furrowed his brow, confusion taking hold as he looked at her and tried to understand the reference that she had just made. Melina, however, stepped in, taking hold of Alexei’s wrist as she tried to pull his hand away from Carol’s since he still had a pretty firm hold on him.

   “I apologize for his… hands-on approach to things,” Melina expressed, finally getting him to release her as he still stared at Carol incredulously. “He is passionate about Captain America. They have long history.”

   “Don’t worry about it. If he kept holding on, I only would’ve shocked him once,” Carol assured her with a playful grin, taking Melina’s hand as she shook it for a much briefer period than Alexei did.

   “You have powers?” Alexei asked, surprise written in his features once more.

   “Yeah. Wanna test them?” Carol questioned, extending her hand. He squinted a little but nevertheless complied. She gave him a light shock to the hand, and he jumped, quickly yanking his hand back.

   “What was that?!” he yelped.

   “Exactly what I said when we first met,” Yelena spoke up, her voice still affected by her laughter. Kate let out a deep breath, evidently still trying to control her urge to laugh since it had not exactly been a nice thing to laugh at him about.

   “I told you. I’ve got powers,” Carol laughed a little, and Alexei cast her a glance, unhappy as he seemed to realize that Carol was not quite as ordinary as he had thought. He could not quite one-up Steve in this area unfortunately.

   “I need to visit restroom. Natasha, where is it?” Melina abruptly declared, lacking the finesse that one would ordinarily use to introduce such a thought in a conversation. Of course, finesse was not exactly one of Melina’s strong suits when it came to socialization.

   Everyone paused for a moment, and Natasha got her thoughts together enough to answer.

   “You go down the hall and turn left at the end of it and it’s the third door you see on the right,” Natasha instructed, and Melina nodded as she straightened a little and turned to head to the restroom.

   “Do you need me to walk you there?” Natasha offered, some amount of gentleness slipping into her tone despite the definitive exasperation at Alexei’s antics. Melina shook her head, waving off her concerns.

   “No, I am fine. I will find way.”

   And so Melina headed down the hallway.

   Natasha watched her until she turned the corner and she let out a soft breath. For some reason, she had a not-so-great feeling about this that she could not exactly explain, but she did not say anything, keeping it to herself as she returned her attentions to Carol and Alexei.

   “Let me tell you about times I defeated Captain America. I have done it twice now!”

   Natasha groaned, forgetting about Melina for the moment.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

   Once Melina had finished up in the restroom, she walked slowly on her way back, actually going so far as to go down a few uncharted hallways as she put off going back to her family just yet.

   Ever since Kate had said something about her friend and more specifically the laboratory that was located here, Melina had been curious. Tony Stark’s technological advancements were significant and she could only imagine the types of scientific discoveries that could be in the actual Avengers laboratory. This had been her primary motivation in wanting to go to the compound, in fact.

   She had so far only managed to find the gym where Steve, Bucky, and Sam were sparring as well as some other rooms that varied from offices to server rooms. She knew that she had to be getting closer by the time that she found the server rooms.

   To her immense gratification, she soon found the laboratory. She looked around the room briefly before stepping further in and inspecting some of the technology surrounding her.

   It was a huge laboratory and it reminded her of the time she spent in the Red Room working in their laboratories. She was impressed with the size of the thing, and she was even more impressed with the technology within. There were several holograms and autonomous sample inspection chambers as well.

   “Hey, woah, umm… This is a science-technology laboratory and kind of off-limits,” someone suddenly warned somewhere behind Melina.

   She paused as she turned to look at the right side of the laboratory room more fully.

   To her surprise, there was a brunette on the other side of the room sitting on a stool at a table. She was wearing glasses and her hair was up in a messy bun and she looked to be somewhere around either Natasha’s or Yelena’s age. It was obvious by her coat that she was some manner of scientist, and Melina studied her carefully and curiously, quickly chalking up her mental assessment of her.

   It was something that the older woman did on impulse at this point. After so long of working in espionage, one tended to automatically assess every person as some manner of threat or target. Or at least in the same manner as they would analyze one of those two.

   “Do not worry. I just lost my way. This is big place,” Melina assured her, maintaining a levelness in her tone.

   It was the truth, but she also had not put a lot of effort into trying to find her way back from the bathroom, wanting to find the laboratory that Kate had discussed.

   Her scientific tendencies were in overdrive, and she had a one-track mind when it came to the pursuit of knowledge.

   “Amen to that, sister. I got lost like four thousand times when I first started living here,” the girl wryly admitted, not looking at Melina with quite as much suspicion as she had been when Melina first walked in. She seemed to have lost her bristles and she did not seem nearly as unwelcoming as she originally appeared.

   Melina was honestly surprised that the girl had not asked about her accent, but it seemed that she was far too absorbed in her current work.

   “But, um… Are you on a tour or something? My friend usually runs those, so I can call her and get her to swing around and pick you up so you can rejoin the group,” she offered kindly.

   She was fairly distracted still, her gaze frequently shifting between Melina and the project. It appeared that she was looking at some manner of virtual display with what looked to be a meteor and she had her computer for writing. What she was typing appeared to be popping up on the hologram for her to more easily observe in concern to her data that was charted on the display as well.

   “No, I am here for visit,” Melina stated. The glasses-clad girl not too far from her offered her a brief onceover, apparently trying to figure out who she was with and why she had come to visit.

   “Oh. Okay, then,” the girl seemed to be thinking it over but finally nodded, starting to get up from her work as she let out a long, unhappy sigh. Melina tilted her head, watching as the girl cast the display a not-so-subtle dirty glare.

   Melina turned her attentions to the images on the hologram, considering the meteor as she read the theory that the girl was starting to formulate.

   “So… Who are—”

   “You are having problems with making theory?” Melina pointed out astutely.

   The girl paused, looking behind her at her notes and turning back to Melina curiously.

   “Yeah… Just some issues with the full formulation of it. I was hypothesizing the impact of the atomic makeup of the material in the meteor with respect to the environment surrounding the meteor’s contact point along with its potential long-term effects on human exposure—"

   The younger girl abruptly stopped, looking at Melina uncertainly before chuckling somewhat awkwardly.

   “Sorry… Umm… Probably too much science language. Sorry about that,” she apologized somewhat sheepishly.

   Already launching into the scientific side of herself, Melina squinted a little, reading the analyzation of the meteor’s atoms and coming to the conclusion that it had not been as well-inspected as it probably should have been considering the subject matter of the writing.

   “Have you been able to conduct full examination of atomic structure of the sample? Then you can consider potential reactivities based on number of valence electrons in outermost shell,” Melina declared. The girl completely froze as she stared at Melina as if she had sprouted two extra heads.

   “Well… Not as full of one as I maybe admittedly should have… How do you know all that?” she asked Melina, a certain incredulousness in her voice as she regarded her in a new light.

   “That? That is simply child’s play,” Melina dismissed, stepping nearer as she largely kept her gaze on the hologram. She could see the girl just staring at her unashamedly out of her peripheral vision.

   “In the field of astrophysics, it’s a little basic, but still… That’s a lot for the common person to know,” she persisted, and Melina shrugged.

   “Well, truthfully, I am something of scientist myself,” Melina answered coolly, already mentally drafting some ideas for a statement that the girl could use. She raised her eyebrows in surprise at Melina, taking in that fact.

   “I apologize for statement being basic,” Melina started, trying to remember the proper way to phrase the statement, “but in my time as young scientist, I was often too caught up in work and too eager for results to consider simple solutions.”

   “No, don’t be sorry, I’m the same way. I just… It’s not every day I run into a fellow lady scientist around here,” the girl laughed a little.

   “Do you want help with your work?” Melina asked, and the girl blinked, thinking it over for just a moment before nodding.

   “Yeah, if you’re not busy with your visit and don’t have to get back.”

   “I have time.”

   “Okay. Well, in that case, I’m Darcy,” she offered her hand for Melina to shake, and Melina responded in kind, offering a small smile in reply.

   “Melina,” she replied. Darcy smiled, friendliness in her eyes as she reached for a nearby coat and offered it to Melina. Melina pulled it on, preparing to get down to business.

   Darcy sighed, looking over the notes before turning back to face her.

   “So, Melina… What do you know about astrophysics and extraplanetary materials?”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

   “You did not.”

   “I did!”

   “You couldn’t have.”

   “I did! I insist to you, I did.”

   “It simply isn’t possible. Steve was still frozen in that time,” Carol dismissed, and Alexei was looking increasingly distraught as he tried to explain to her how exactly that he had fought Captain America.

   They had all sat down at this point and Carol was sitting across from Alexei, Natasha, Yelena, and Kate as she listened to his stories about fighting Steve. She had not been very impressed so far, and honestly Carol’s deadpans and smarmy comments had left the women of the room in stitches. Or in Natasha’s case, barely held back laughter.

   “It happened!” Alexei was practically whining at this point.

   “I’m sorry, but I need some pictures or something,” Carol shook her head, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips, and Alexei narrowed his eyes.

   “Pictures?! There is no time for pictures in middle of fight!” Alexei cried. Carol raised an eyebrow, but she did nod, conceding that point at least.

   “Maybe not, but I still don’t believe it happened,” Carol told him, and Alexei smacked his hand on the coffee table between them, leaning forward as she looked at him.

   “Listen, I give you my word as Red Guardian,” he assured her, and Carol squinted at him.

   “What is a Red Guardian? It sounds like it should be the mascot for Old Spice,” Carol commented.

   “It is not mascot name! It is the hero of Russia! I told you, I am Captain America’s contemporary!” Alexei was practically beside himself, and Carol was just as calm as could be as Yelena laughed and laughed at his expense.

   “So you keep saying, but I’m still not seeing it,” Carol sighed, shaking her head, and the whine was building in Alexei’s throat as he prepared to continue with his fit.

   “Okay, you two, that’s enough. Where is Melina?” Natasha interrupted them, stopping the arguing and bringing up a valuable question.

   They all paused, looking around.

   “She headed to bathroom, right?” Carol questioned, and Yelena shrugged.

   “Maybe it was an emergency situation. She said she had to go so suddenly,” Yelena suggested.

   “Maybe she got lost?” Kate suggested, looking as if she might get up to go and see if she could find and help Melina come back.

   “My Melina is very good at remembering things. She would never get lost on way to bathroom,” Alexei declared proudly.

   Natasha sighed, thinking it over as she considered what could be taking Melina so long. She was instantly reminded of that bad feeling, and she could not help but think that perhaps Melina had not come straight back to them like Natasha had presumed that she would.

   But where would she go if she did not come back immediately…

   Natasha instantly had a thought, and she groaned, almost sure that she was right before she had even confirmed it for herself.

   “C’mon, guys, I think I know where she might be.”

   Natasha led them through the halls, the others having to hurry to catch up with her as she maneuvered around.

   “Why are you moving so fast?!” Alexei complained, and Natasha simply ignored him, weaving down another hallway as she hurried along.

   If Melina was where Natasha thought she was, she definitely did not want her to stay there for long.

   Before long, they were heading through the doors of the laboratory. Natasha instantly spotted Melina, and she was standing alongside Darcy, examining a sample of the meteor that Darcy had discovered on the camping trip that the girls had gone on a while back.

   Natasha sighed deeply, instantly concerned about what Darcy might have told her. One thing that she had wanted to avoid was Melina finding out more than she should. Natasha already felt sorry for the pigs that lived on Melina’s farm. She could not imagine what worse things they could be exposed to in the middle of Melina’s insane experiments.

    And now she likely had even more ideas as a result of being in the laboratory unmonitored for so long. Not to mention the fact that Darcy probably did not hold back on answering any questions she had about anything in there.

   “You are an actual wonder,” Darcy complimented Melina with a wide smile, writing something down on her notepad as Melina pulled back from the sample inspection chamber where she had been working.

   “Oh, no, if you are impressed with limited knowledge of astrophysics, you should see my work in biotechnology. I have developed many serums using pigs. I could give you demonstration of work if you want—”

   “Okay, Melina, that’s enough,” Natasha interrupted, and Darcy quickly paused as she turned and looked in Natasha’s direction. Kate waved to her, and Darcy happily waved back. She stopped and squinted a little as she realized that Natasha had known the woman’s name.

   “Wait… You know her?”

   “That’s my mother.”

   “Oh, wow! Mama Romanoff?!” Darcy questioned, looking at Melina with surprise as she regarded her with a whole new respect.

   “Vostokoff,” Melina answered kindly yet with that typical bluntness that she could not ever seem to escape. Darcy furrowed her brow, squinting a bit as she looked between Natasha and Melina and tried to understand the situation.

   “It’s complicated,” Natasha explained to Darcy simply before looking back at Melina.

   “What are you doing? We were waiting on you back in the common room,” Natasha told her, and Melina shrugged, a certain slyness in her features.

   “It is big place, Natasha. I lost my way,” Melina stated simply. Natasha narrowed her eyes, knowing it was a lie. Despite the fact that Alexei knew as well, he completely passed by that fact and let her off the hook, choosing to instead change the subject to Darcy and Melina’s work.

   “What have you been doing here all this time, lyubimyy?” he questioned, and Melina just smiled at him calmly, looking back at Darcy kindly.

   “I assisted in Darcy’s hypothesis about new discoveries. I do not know much about astrophysics, but enough to make conversation and apparently perform some tests. She was just saying we should stop and get food from kitchen,” Melina explained.

   Darcy nodded, grinning as everyone except for Natasha slowly started to head for the door. They all seemed to be fans of the idea of getting some food, and Alexei and Yelena were of course the ones leading the pack. The prospect of food always drew their attention.

   “Seriously, you’re a genius. And we’ve got to feed the machine if we’re going to get in even more research today,” Darcy told her, and Melina nodded as she maneuvered around Natasha where she was still standing and watching in horror.

   Natasha groaned deeply and tiredly, rubbing her head as she felt the headache coming on. This was exactly what she had not wanted to happen.

   However, distracting her from her woe, Melina tapped her back critically as she passed by her.

   “Straighten back. You will get back hunch.”

   There was a pause but everyone laughed at the sudden declaration, and Natasha flushed just barely.

   After this trip, she definitely had to keep Melina and Alexei away from the compound from now on.

[ofgildedhearts]

♙      ⸻      ·   。…      [     charlotte spencer  +  twenty-eight  + cis woman  +  she/her      ]      the  city  of  new  york  welcomes  isla sinclair  to  the  social  season  of  1887,  the  cousin  of  arundel family.  known  to  be  gracious  and  astute,  their  rumored  aloof  and  unimpressed  tendencies  might  prove  to  be  their  unmaking.  the  street  musicians  often  string  along  a  tune  that  sounds  like  the history of man  by  maisie peters  whenever  they  are  near,  hoping  for  a  coin  or  two  as  a  reward.  unbeknown  to  their  peers,  isla  views  the  social  season  as  sometimes it's endless and tiresome obligation but not without its flashes of interest and joy. mostly it's an escape. but  when  holding  a  secret  such  as  secret engagement that had love win out over logic, leading to a lapse in judgement and a pregnancy scare ,  it  would  be  best  to  keep  their  opinions  to  themselves.   

full name: isla alexandra sinclair nicknames or aliases: will only answer to isla or the correct form of address age: twenty-eight date  of  birth: 29th august occupation: landed gentry ( daughter of a viscount ) parents: alexander sinclair & elspeth sinclair née arundel siblings: campbell sinclair extended family: the arundels ( maternal cousins ) marital status: engaged ( secretly ) sexuality: demisexual

the secret: -

isla usually always puts logic over emotion, rarely letting her heart guide her in anyway. she remained neutral on the idea of marriage, happy to content herself to an amicable match if they could at least achieve something together. what she didn't count on was falling in love and she finally set aside reason long enough to enter into a secret understanding. the pair are engaged but things have cooled slightly since she'd briefly though she'd fallen pregnant. it was enough to bring her back down to earth and begin to reconsider things.

thoughts  on  high  society: -

society is something of a double edged sword for her. on the one hand she thinks she'd be stupid not to see the benefit of it and despite finding it boring at times, she'd never be one to sever her ties from it entirely. she enjoys being influential in some way and the security it gives her. isla knows she is good enough at playing the perfect lady that she doesn't find it a struggle, just dislikes how monotonous it can be when she'd rather have a challenge or be left to her own devices. new york provides her with a sense of escape, new dynamics able to form without the spectres of her estranged father and brother to hang over her.

personality: -

traits: haughty, astute, cautious, quick-witted, ambivalent, condescending, thorough, strategic, sceptical, observant, judgemental, loyal, dependable, guarded, impartial. zodiac: virgo moon, taurus sun, capricon rising - individuals display a personality that is practical, disciplined, and focused. they are methodical in their approach to life and are always striving to improve themselves and their surroundings. hardworking, reliable, and dedicated to achieving their goals, they have high standards for themselves and others, which can make them appear critical or demanding. however, they genuinely want the best for themselves and those around them. they also have an appreciation for beauty and art, which manifests in their love for the finer things in life. enjoy living comfortably and appreciate a stable, predictable routine. when it comes to emotions, individuals with this combination can be reserved and slow to express themselves. however, they are still highly sensitive and can be deeply affected by emotional situations. moral alignment: lawful neutral temperament: melancholic

headcanons: -

tl;dr - isla grew up with a disinterested viscount father and a resentful brother, never fully accepted by the men in her family. while her mother was warm there was only so much she could do to reduce the chill felt in the sinclair home. her mother's side of the family, the arundels, always welcomed her and so she finally found those close family ties that she had been denied. loyalty to them runs strong and she will always do her best for them, using intellect to try to do whatever might be beneficial for them.

tw for miscarriage/infertility

the marriage between alexander sinclair, a viscount, and elspeth arundel was not a happy one but the pair managed a functional relationship. the viscount was cold to all, clinical and cutthroat but successul in retaining the wealth that he come with the inheritance of his title. they had a son quickly after their married, campbell, but struggled with fertility for years after. elspeth suffered miscarriages before eventually having isla.

alexander was not impressed by a daughter, the reason that he'd kept trying being that he'd wanted a 'spare'. he was disinterested in his daughter aside from the fact that he might be able to secure a connection with a match for her when she was older. elspeth, however, was thrilled after years of heartbreak, finding comfort in her children while she got none from her husband.

but where her father simply seemed apathetic towards her, campbell was outright resentful. for eight years he had had the undivided attention of his parents and while isla was no competition for their father's focus let alone affection, elspeth doted on her. her mother treated both children with equal care and love but to a son unused to sharing it seemed as though his mother's attention had been diminished by isla.

as much as she might be loathed to ever admit it she was still her father's daughter. his intelligence and calculating manner was something she seemed to have inherited. their similarities went unnoticed by most, however, with only her mother noticing and deciding that isla should spend more time with her cousins lest her lonliness drive her towards a cruel nature.

the arundels provided her with the warmth and welcome that she had been denied and she quickly became attached to them. reluctant to leave and always begging to return. her mother indulged the relationship as much as possible, taking frequent trips to see her brother with isla.

a close relationship meant that when she was finally introduced to society her cousin, alastair, was happy to begin to include her in family business. finally feeling valued, isla thrived in the environment using the skills her mother had instilled in her to be the perfect lady and win people over whilst still being impartial enough to give shrewd advice.

there was a brief spell where her father took an interest in her, seeing what she had been capable of but while he opened the door slightly to her being included campbell slammed it shut. after that she firmly distanced herself from the sinclairs aside from writing to her mother.

on the surface all is well with her family, her father and brother would never risk the scandal or whispers that knowledge of the dysfunction would bring so isla enjoys a healthy allowance as long as she brings no shame to their name. it's this that she used to help her cousins wherever she can and enjoy freedom away from her father.

connections: -

friends - while isla does prefer to keep a small, close circle those that she does include would be seen as almost family to her. she would probably have to see them as equals in some way but there's a variety of ways this could be accomplished!

pen pals - isla likes to be well connected!! they could be connected through her father somehow or anyone who might have been to the UK.

fellow aesthetes - she's a bit of an enjoyer of art and architecture though it's probably not something she offers particularly readily. but anyone who might share those views with her and lead to her talking about something she genuinely enjoys.

suitors ( past or present! ) - wealthy and titled, isla would be a valuable match for anyone and it's likely that a fair few have tried, unsuccessfully. whether it be due to isla's own disinterest or perhaps her father not deeming the match good enough, there's likely been a few spurned. there's an option for the dynamic to have turned positive though! perhaps a friendship developed or some mutual respect or perhaps they just avoid each other and pretend it never happened.

probably lots more, open to everything tbh!!

[cq-studios]

All of your WIP titles are very interesting, haha, but if I can only pick a few, what are Ghosts of the Past AU and Brain's Dead Daughter monologue about?

(You can choose however many you’d like. I love to ramble about my things, and sharing stuff actually motivates me to work on them. So if there’s others you’re interested in shoot me another ask ^^)

(For This)

I’ll start with Brain’s Dead Daughter Monologue ‘cause I think it’ll be shorter to explain.

So this one is a part of Nameless AU, which is an AU where Eraqus’ parents die and Brain has to take care of him (which is most definitely an oversimplification of it but that’s the gist). This was originally a part of The End of Normal but I decided to make that all from Eraqus’ perspective instead of having it switch between the two of them. I think this might end up as an interlude chapter, but I’m not sure.

Here’s what I have so far. I want to add more but I might just leave it as is. Who knows?

How could he be grieving for someone he barely knew? He had sent her away. They’d rarely spoken. And yet Brain felt that familiar emptiness of loss anyways. Maybe what he was feeling was failure? A failure to do his job as a parent. A failure to form a bond with his child even after promising he’d try. What had he really lost from this, other than a relationship he never had? Maybe that’s what he was truly grieving. Not his daughter but what he hadn’t been able to do with her.

This was the feeling he was trying to avoid. That pain. He never wanted to feel it again and yet there it was inside him, ringing like a bell. Once again someone he should’ve been responsible for was gone. It was an almost unbearable sting that reminded him vaguely of how he felt when he first realized the Dandelions had been lost.

Annoyance rose up inside him. That thought bothered him most of all. This was a completely different situation and yet his mind still found a way to connect the hurt he felt to the Dandelions. It was so long ago he should be over it. But still that failure haunted him. And even now, when he should be grieving something completely different, he found himself stuck on them instead. Why couldn’t he move past it?

His daughter just died and here he was sitting in a room alone thinking about people he knew even less from hundreds of years ago. How pathetic was that?

As for the Ghost’s of the Past AU

This is still in the planning phase, so things here might get completely changed in future, but it’s currently two Subject X is Skuld themed fics (and a Sea Salt Trio + Isa one later on) where she starts seeing Ephemer’s ghost (but is it really him or her subconscious???). He can’t tell her any information she doesn’t already know but he can guide her towards the answers she’s looking for.

The first fic follows her just before and then after she escapes. She ends up in Zootopia and has to try and learn how to navigate that environment while still trying to find leads on her past (with the help of her ghost companion). Which is certainly helped by the fact that, as soon as she shows up, so do the heartless. She is blamed for them originally but then they find out she can defeat them (she uses magic, not her keyblade as she doesn’t remember she has it) and they make it her job to get rid of them. And the plot of Zootopia happens but with darkness instead of nighthowlers, you know KH Disney world stuff, and she finds some memories along the way.

The second one is from the Sea Salt Gang’s perspective (Skuld's too sometimes but not often), where they go through worlds looking for X and find her in Zootopia (since she’s literally the only human there she’s not hard to find). It would focus more so around Xion and Roxas forgiving Isa and Isa reconciling for his past actions and abuse towards them. And have a reunion at the end.

Like I said earlier I don’t have much solid writing for these fics yet but I did write this one small scene that takes place between X disappearing and Lea and Isa becoming nobodies. It is technically canon complaint but I wrote it for this AU so I’ll put it here.

“Hey!” Lea called. The boy, Ienzo, stopped and turned his head to face him almost robotically. Yeesh, what do they do to the kids here? No, not important, stay on task. Lea shook his head to clear it, “Do you know where the notes, or files, or whatever, on…” Oh, what was it they were using his friend to research again? Damn. He really should’ve planned this better. He could practically hear Isa making fun of him in his head. Lea, only a moron like you could forget something like that. It’s ironic really. Ironic? Right! “on memories. Do you know where I can find the papers about that?”

Ienzo blinked at him twice, otherwise unmoving. Lea did the opposite, definitely moving as he shifted uncomfortably. Seriously, what is up with this kid? 

Without a word, the tiny scientist began walking away.

Should’ve known better than to ask the mute kid for directions. Lea realized, way too late.

“Is that a yes? ‘Cause even if it wasn’t I’m following you anyways”.

[chaotic---calm]

Hi! So, I've been debating sending another ask to continue the conversation or not, mostly because despite wanting to, all I could think of was a lot of "*SQUEAL*" and "EXACTLY!" and "AHDSHHS I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THAT!", with all the energy of a sugar-hypped child. So, after putting down your answer and coming back to it a bit calmer, I can finally point something that I can make into a proper conversation: the topic of LQR.

I have to tell you, I was so surprised when you mentioned having thought of making him side with the elders! It's not that I haven't seen him characterized as an antagonist (mostly in WWX/WangXian-centered fics), but somehow I didn't consider him facing against LXC here. In a way, I understand, he's a traditionalist through and through, which naturally points to perpetuating gender roles. And yet I believe so wholeheartedly in his love for his nephews (nevermind if that love is perfect, it isn't, but neither is JC's to JL and that doesn't make it less all encompassing, though obviously the next generation intentionally tries hard to be better than the previous one and it shows —I always think of the LQR/Jiang parents-LWJ/JC parallels, but they can be cross examinated too), that I think this version of him suits him better. I think the difference for LQR lies in the fact that LXC cannot choose to not be an omega and LQR knows it, while I think he never understands that LWJ doesn't choose to be gay, and certainly standing by WWX is a choice LWJ makes, and the choice is what LQR disapproves of, I think.

I also think it curious that LQR is a beta here, the dynamics of him parenting and omega LXC and alpha LWJ make me really curious (add the fact of o!LXC being not just older than a!LWJ but also the future head —as opposed to JYL being eldest but not in the line of succession, planting her firmly in the caregiver position— and the family structure and power dynamics across the years must have been quite something). It surely helps him sympathize with LXC, though the fact that he gets mistreated by the elders makes me wonder about gender demographics. How rare or common are each gender? Are all the elders alphas? Sounds… weird. How are elders appointed? If by bloodline, it sounds ridiculous that there wouldn't be any betas (maybe not omegas since they get female-coded sexism —speaking of which, what about female alphas? where do they fit here?—, but at least betas, since surely some families don't get lucky with getting an alpha in the first or even second try, like some people get four daughters and no sons). If they get appointed by picking from between the disciples, who does the picking? Why are they not choosing non-alphas (besides sexism)?

Adgagd I said I wanted to talk about something, but then I couldn't help moving the conversation somewhere else, sorry, I'm so easily sidetracked. Anyway, the main point of this ask (besides pointing out my thoughts on LQR) is to say thank you! I'm really happy that you enjoy my rambling comments and are okay giving me such nice answers. I've been ignored before and once got something like "wow that's 700+ words" and nothing more, it totally broke my heart, so it's really reassuring when you're so enthusiastic (even when the last ask was far longer than 700 words, or twice that). Yeah , thank you for being so nice! *sending bunny hugs if you want them* - S.D.P. 🐰💛

Hey! Good to hear from you again. As a quick aside, your first two asks have both led people to come looking for my story because they were intrigued by what you were saying and how excited you were about the story, so thank you so much for that! 💜

LQR is an interesting character, particularly to me. I think the logic you wrote out regarding the way he would differently approach this situation and the way he approached LWJ/WWX is spot on. Something that can’t be controlled versus a choice (or a perceived choice, as far as LQR not understanding that sexuality isn’t a choice) is a big determining factor for his characterization. And I also think that’s why, in the end, it didn’t feel right to me to make him an antagonist here; it just didn’t feel true to character. Now, comparatively, I have a different short story I wrote that was after the Guanyin Temple incident where it’s revealed that LXC is pregnant with JGY’s baby, and the elders and LQR are all upset about it. Their stance and expectations are extreme, but again, his unwillingness to side with LXC in that moment stems from not understanding the choice to fall in love with someone like JGY, and a refusal/inability to see LXC’s alternative perspective where all he saw was the genuine love that JGY treated him with.

Like I’ve said about LQR earlier, he’s a bit difficult for me to figure out when writing in stories because I’m admittedly a little biased against him, but just because of my own personal experiences. He reminds me a lot of people I know who are very set in traditionalist mindsets who are bigoted or unwilling to become more progressive as the world changes and as we learn new things. And his extreme stern strictness reminds me of aspects of how I was raised, like not being allowed to ever “talk back” (re: try to express my own feelings and look for middle ground). But, I did read an important post one time talking about how cultural differences were important to remember too, and that from an eastern perspective, LQR’s actions aren’t nearly so awful as they can seem from a western perspective, which is true as well.

The gender demographics…are definitely not something I probably thought about enough before starting this story, lol. So far, we’ve really only seen a lot of focus on the Lan sect. For their sect, all of the elders are alpha. I’ve always figured that the positions of elders, if not elected per se, were at least appointed positions where those in power got to choose who held that position, much like how in the U.S. the Supreme Court isn’t an elected position, it’s positions appointed by whichever president is in power at the time a new spot needs to be filled. It’s a flawed system that allows for party favoritism (insofar as my understanding of politics; please, no one come at me in the comments, I’m not in the mood). In regards to the Lan Sect, they lean hard into gender stereotypes, so the alphas hold the power and feel they should continue holding power, and so they keep putting more alphas into positions of power rather than considering betas or omegas. Other sects are different. I feel like the Nies are primarily alpha but do include betas. The Jins have included all three in the past, but JGS is a gross bitch, so omegas in particular tend to be leery of working close to him. The Jiangs have had the best mix in the past, largely due to the influence of JC’s mother who was omega but not at all stereotypical, and even more so now that JC is rebuilding his sect, as there’s a noticeable majority of betas and omegas more willing to follow a “damaged” alpha compared with alphas. Honestly, the way I’m writing this is leaning onto those stereotypes just as much; I guess I’m just a little bit more invested in or focused on the relationship between JC and LXC than the overall politics and social situation, lol. But yeah, that’s kind of how I’ve got it all explained/organized in my own head.

To answer your other questions, female alphas are less common than male alphas, but they do exist and are generally treated similarly as other alphas. As far as line of succession for families, alphas are preferred, betas are accepted, and omegas are expected to marry out. Perhaps what some sects will do is if a first-in-line heir presents beta, they are considered the interim heir unless a younger sibling presents alpha. The Lans could have chosen that option, but even before presenting, LWJ was showing signs of not being good for leadership in comparison to LXC, so they chose to lie rather than be honest. And it bit them in the ass.

lolol. So, in regards to how many words you wrote last time, it was around 2500! I put it into my word processor to check—not because I thought it was bad, mind you!—but because I was absolutely astounded that anyone could find my writing so engaging as to have so much to say about it. You’re a rock star, and I really appreciate you.

On a side note, I’m sorry you’ve not had the best reception with other times you’ve reached out to other authors. While some people might just be assholes, my guess is that most aren’t. I know a lot of fanfic writers don’t respond to commenters at all or very in depth. Sometimes it’s because they just don’t have the time, and sometimes it’s because they don’t feel comfortable engaging with strangers, and sometimes it’s just because they feel uncomfortable gushing about their own work. Whatever the case may be, I do have experience from your side of things as well; I also tend to be a big loquacious, especially when I’m excited about something, so comments like yours don’t faze me in the slightest. 💜

Also! As long as I keep my shit together, Chapter 3 should be coming out later today, so keep an eye out for it! 😁

(Including a link to the story here and in future responses to asks from you to help out anyone who might be interested in reading it after our conversations: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48148945)

[semiverbal-culture-is]

could i be semi verbal if i’m able to speak mostly fine with trusted friends and with my parents (i’m even hyper verbal when i’m alone and rambling about my special interest to myself lmao), but with literall everyone else i can’t speak as well??

eg, with extended family i cant speak and i struggle to even answer simple questions they ask. at school as a kid i was completely silent in class. i went to a more autistic friendly school last year where i still struggled talking in class but it was a small class with all my friends and i knew the teachers better, so it was slightly easier towards the end of the year, but i still couldn’t get the right words and would mess up speaking a lot and it was a lot of effort. 

all my life i was told i have social anxiety but most of what other people saw as my anxiety was actually traits of my autism and the anxiety i do have is also caused by my autism. so i don’t know if me being unable to speak in certain situations counts as being semi verbal or something or if it’s just anxiety because i do get a little anxious when i speak but not a lot and definitely not enough to be unable to speak so my block must be caused by something else

i have very occasionally experiencing losing speech entirely but it’s rare and only when i’ve had a bad overload. also i mask very highly all the time and i suspect i would actually be quite a lot less verbal if i allowed myself to unmask because idk i just don’t like speaking to other people i guess.

sorry for sending such a long ask i’m just very confused and maybe having a minor crisis lmao😭

Sorry to all the people who've sent asks recently, I've been kinda busy IRL and have no spoons. I'll try and get to them all.

Anyways anon to me that sounds a bit like selective mutism (being unable to speak in certain situations) but I'm not selectively mute myself so I'm not an expert in that. If any selectively mute people want to add on or if you want to send another ask feel free.

[funkymbtifiction]

Hi charity , hope you are doing well

I have to ask you about a question that's been in my head for some time now. Why are some people like " I have to see it to believe it or I have to experience it myself to understand it". I was like this when I was young ie in my teens. I rebelled against conventional wisdom thinking that I would understand it better when I see it for myself. Now at 23 I no longer care about being against societal conventions. I am indifferent. How do some teens not rebel against the norms. Do they envision the future or are they just too afraid to against the grain

Usually that refers to a strong introverted function of some kind -- Fi not relating until it's experienced the emotions of that situation, Ti not believing it until it has analyzed the logic, Si not believing it until it has seen it with its own two eyes (an "experience"), or Ni refusing something that doesn't fit into its understanding of the world (this doesn't align with my vision of reality, so I reject it).

Most young people are under the assumption that they are smarter, wiser, and more mature than they are, so they go through a rebellious teenage phase of 'separating' themselves from their parents, only to get out in the real world and realize... oh. I was not born knowing everything and having answers to all of life's problems, and this thing called adulting and making wise decisions is harder than I thought. It's a phase of psychological development to rebel against your parents and attempt to become more of an "individual." And by the time you are twenty, that phase has often ended, since you now see yourself as separate from everyone else. That's why, for example, it's not recommended to type yourself until after 20.

I can't speak for all teens, but I never saw the usefulness of rebelling against the norms -- firstly, because everyone else was doing it and I had no interest in being just like everyone else. If everyone is rebelling in order to be unique, they are all just copying each other. Ha, ha. And I never did anything without serious thought, and that thought rarely lead to direct action, so I never got around to being rebellious. I would just abstract away from it, and start analyzing why others felt a need to be rebellious, and what that said about their motivations, and their psychological state. Ahh, head type intuition problems....

Anyway. Why don't people rebel? Too lazy. Too disinterested. Don't see the point. Don't want to alienate their parents or their peers. Their religion tells them not to. They want to be liked. You name it.

[vonkarma2]

🙉 for Rocio, 📸 for Angel, 🔪 for Jacinto, 🎀 for Gloria, ☄️ for Lucia + 🌙 for anyone you want to

This got pretty long so I’m putting it under a cut :)

🙉 for Rocio

🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?

I literally don’t know I’m so sorry. Second time in a row I’m not doing the Rocio one. This is hard bc there are so many potential answers and idrk what the worst one could possibly be. Ok MAYBE if someone told her like it was all for nothing but she would probably just ignore them and not care it would only be bad for her if she believed it. Maybe if someone told them like exactly what happened to their parents and how they’ve like been dead all along thus confirming their worst suspicions. Even just anyone else suggesting the idea would be enough to haunt them so I think if we are talking specific things people would say that’d be the worst.

📸 for Angel

📸 CAMERA - do they enjoy having their picture taken? what's their go-to pose? do they like taking photos? what do they take photos of?

Well it is 1940 but it’s also fantasy 1940 so first let me check what level of camera technology they had back then. Wow this person on Quora knows an insane amount about cameras <my level of rigorous research and fact checking. 

Ok I like the idea of there for the most part only being old timey flash cameras + although anyone COULD own one most people wouldn’t or at least would only use it on special occasions. Angel probably wouldn’t have one (and if he had he wouldn’t have been able to get them developed anyway). So if he DID get his picture taken he would probably be pretty excited to see the result cause he thinks it’s like a cool thing. Lucia definitely has one so she might take his picture for him if he asked. If he got his OWN camera he’d definitely enjoy it and take pictures of anything he thought looked cool, he has in the past wanted to be an artist but he gave up because it was too difficult. So photography would feel to him like being able to capture something perfectly without having to draw it and he would really enjoy it.

🔪 for Jacinto

🔪 KNIFE - how do they react to injury / misfortune befalling their loved ones (significant other, family, friends)? do they put themselves at blame?

Honestly they do blame themselves regardless of whether or not they could have done anything (except in like very extreme cases, but they feel like they shouldn’t have let other people get into dangerous situations in the first place. And even if they didn’t know about it they count not knowing as a failure on their part as well.) This is because personal connections with other people are incredibly rare for them (you really have to get to know them and they really have to get to know you, so you’d both have to be extremely mutually interested in doing so, and there typically is no reason for this to happen, so they’re pretty much entirely isolated :P oh well) so they view it as their responsibility to protect other people and keep them out of danger, since they see that as the main thing they can contribute to other peoples’ lives. If they fail this they feel like they have offered absolutely nothing to the other person and get very guilty over it.

🎀 for Gloria

🎀 RIBBON - how would they fit into other worlds / aus? what aus would you like to try out? what fictional world would they fit / not fit into?

She is in a couple of aus, not doing particularly great in either of them:

-Star Trek au (yeah yeah cringe and all) she’s a Bajoran who was able to escape off the planet during the occupation, pretty much exactly the same personality except slightly more mature and significantly more traumatized. 

-in the alternate universe where Tiago lived and Jacinto and Kyungsun were killed,

So I guess she would be the best off in the universe where Kyungsun lived. Actually if all of her parents lived that’d probably be the best. She would do the best in an au where everything was fine she’d flourish there basically. As for other fictional worlds ummm I think she’d be a good Pokémon trainer. Pokemon world is pretty much a utopia that is threatened with destruction every few years but she wouldn’t care so that’d work out as well. And then taking care of animals with superpowers would give her something to do. 

☄️ for Lucia 

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

She’s pretty shy and awkward (I know I’ve literally said the opposite of this in the past I basically changed a lot abt her character but do not worry her current state of existence is permanent) and when talking to people she is very sincere. She comes across as smart or at least knowledgeable to a lot of people which is pretty much true but she gets easily frustrated during arguments so it makes people think she’s pretentious or arrogant when she really is not at all (she’s actually very insecure it’s just that 1) when she does believe in something she believes in it really strongly and expresses it immediately 2) she gets frustrated easily and whenever she gets frustrated she gets emotional easily. It’s very embarrassing to her).

🌙 for anyone you want to

🌙 MOON - what is your oc's greatest wish? how far are they willing to go for it?

For this question I’m going to do some side characters I don’t talk about as much so I can spend some time developing them as well :)

Salem: She doesn’t really know and is deeply frustrated by this. She wants to be able to do whatever she wants without being controlled by other people or any kind of rules at all, but she also wants someone to understand her and feel bad for her. And also forgiveness for all the bad shit she’s done. So basically all these things at once, and she wants them really badly. The problem is that she WOULD do anything to achieve them, but she kind of can’t either because they’re impossible or because she wants them to be genuine and as such can’t force other people to do them.

Tiago: Actually very straightforward, just to not be alone. Like with a positive close relationship with someone else not just literally being around people, he’s had shitty toxic friendships and familial relationships in the past and does not want to repeat any of that. He tends to give up on individual attempts at this pretty easily though, like he doesn’t have a lot of social skills and he doesn’t want to bother anyone or get them to hate him, so he tends to stay on his own. If he did meet someone he trusted though he’d really commit to them he’d make sure to be helpful and really nice to them, not just out of a fear of them leaving but for the most part just to express his appreciation or whatever.

Joseph: During the story what he actually wants is for everything to go back to normal. He is literally 13 and feels like he has to prevent a war/coup/series of illegal and unethical experiments/arms race singlehandedly, so he feels like he HAS to do this bc no one else can bc no one else has the information that he does and he doesn’t know if he can trust anyone/whether he’d be putting them in danger. But what he wants is for this to have been a dream and none of it to have happened in the first place, or even just to get amnesia and forget everything so whatever happened wouldn’t be his fault.

Victor: During the story his greatest wish is just to survive, he would LIKE to escape and he would LIKE to be supported or helped by someone else, but all of that is secondary to the desire to stay alive. It’s almost compulsive how often he is thinking of this. He would do almost anything (short of like killing a child but he’d kill someone his own age) even though he would not want to at all and he’d feel really bad about it, he’d be able to justify it by saying he needed to do it to accomplish his most important goal, that being not dying.

Laura: Hmm probably to be respected or to be taken seriously, when she was younger it might have been to change the world for the better but as she got older the need for respect became more powerful and kinda drowned that out. She would go very far including lying to and betraying people, and would even consider killing someone if it was necessary (although it like. Probably would not be), but she wouldn’t hurt anyone she considers to be innocent, at least not directly.

[dani-says-stuff]

Hi I just saw your post on the W*lbur situation (i totally agree with you) and I just wanted to ask if you are going to remake the Disney days with another interest or maybe just platonic between a few people. (I just really like the concept not so much the love interest)

I also wanted to ask about something, I have been listening to love joy for a while and idk if listening to there music supports w*lbur because a few of them are my comfort song but I don’t want to support someone like him, most of the people I have spoken to about it have said that if I do download the song from YouTube by using a mp3 downloader it should be fine but I just wanted to get someone else opinion on it

Much love

(I just read over it and I am sorry if it sounds rude I am 100% with Shelby I just really like the idea of going to Disney land since where I am from I don’t get the experience)

hi! no worries, it’s not rude at all!

i’ve definitely been thinking about a disney days remake, i just have to restructure a couple of my original ideas and fix some stuff. it may end up with me taking down the last one and restarting the entire fic and masterlist. to be honest it might just end up being platonic with the same people (minus the obvious) bc i love the idea of reader, charlie, and tommy just running around like chaotic siblings w phil & kristen as the exhausted parents lmao.

as for lovejoy, i completely understand what you’re saying im kind of in the same boat, it’s definitely a more tricky question. there are other people in the band, so it’s not like it would only be supporting him like continuing to follow his personal accounts and actions would, but unfortunately he is still the lead. i get what a lot of people are saying with the “strip the art from the artist” thing, but it’s definitely a lot harder when he is so much more of an obvious part of the songs when listening. but then again, comfort songs (at least for me) are rarely about who is singing them, but more about the lyrics or premise behind the song, so its not like your going out of your way to support him by listening to a song.

i don’t think it’s necessary to strip any lovejoy songs from playlist they may already be in, if they come on it’s no big deal (at least in my opinion after going in circles about it for a while) but if you have a moment where you need to binge songs or listen to them over and over (idk if that’s just me, but i do that with my own comfort songs sometimes) then i would definitely go with the mp3 download option for the main songs or just finding them uploaded to a different account. a fan lyric video or random reupload from a random account won’t support him in anyway, so those are safe as well.

yikes that was a long one— i hope it answers everything! if you have any follow up questions or wish to say anything else let me know 😊🫶💕

[jayeray-hq]

Twin Kittens (Part 1)

Hey everyone! This is my part for the Paws and Claws Collab that was with @katslutski The theme of the collab was hybrids (puppy/kitty/bunny etc) so if you’re interested check it out!

Unfortunately as usual I got excessively wordy, so this is going to be split into three parts. This part alone is about 20K words and we're only about a third of the way through! so it definitely had to be split up.

If you like this feel free to check out my Atsumu or my Osamu masterlists!

While there is no smut in this part there will be in the future thus this story is 18+ minors DNI please!

TW: Previous mentions of past abuse, gaslighting, verbal, death threats, hybrids have been treated like slaves before

This story is Fem Reader x Atsumu x Osamu but there will be no actual incest. While there will be a threesome at the end the boys won't ever touch one another sexually.

“Are you alright?” your neighbor Ojirou asked, a concerned look on his face as he watched you listlessly stir your drink with the straw, playing with the melting ice in the glass.

The two of you were actually good friends, having lived peacefully side by side for over five years now. You’d met on the very first day when you moved in, you’d been struggling to open the door with a large box in your arms and he’d rushed to the rescue. He and his hybrids diligent Kita, the blue merle border collie, and sly, sleek Suna the Siamese cat, had all pitched in to help you get moved in and settled. You’d been good friends with all three of them ever since.

It was his turn to host your traditional Friday night dinner, so you’d gone over to his apartment determined to enjoy yourself. However, something must’ve given away the rough day you’d had, because all three of them had been casting you concerned looks all night and trading glances when they thought you couldn’t see.

It was apparently Aran’s job to confront you about it, though both hybrids were looking at you expectantly. Well, Kita was looking at you expectantly, Suna was pretending not to pay attention, his phone in his hands, but you could see him watching out of the corner of his eye.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” you asked determined to at least give it a try.

The stern look you got from Kita and the sympathetic smile from Ojiro told you how ultimately fruitless the effort had been, so you caved in with a sigh, pushing your glass away so you could slump face down on the table burying your head in your arms. You’d tell them, but that didn’t mean you wanted to be necessarily looking them in the eye when you did.

“You know how I went to that thing with some of my girl friends today?” you asked tiredly.

There were acknowledging hums all around even from Suna who you saw from the corner of your eye was no longer pretending to look at his phone and instead watching you like some rare breed of animal in a zoo doing something particularly fascinating.

“Well it was fun, great even,” you told them with a small quirk of your lips, “Right up until we started talking about significant others. Apparently two of them are getting married soon, one has a baby on the way, and the rest are in steady loving relationships or have openly declared they aren’t interested in that kind of thing. So guess who was the only sad single there?”

“Ah,” Ojirou acknowledged a well of sympathy in his voice.

“And of course once they found out, they were like ‘oh I think my husband has a brother’ or ‘oh I have this great friend from work you’d just love,” you ranted, earning a quiet snicker from Suna, which prompted you to lift your head up so you could dig back at the cat hybrid who looked to be having far too much fun at your expense.

“They even asked me why I didn’t date my nice neighbor, the one I’m always hanging out with,” you added on ruthlessly, ignoring Ojirou’s shocked sputters, “But I told them he was in a committed relationship. They were skeptical at first, but then I told them that I was sure because someone is extremely loud, enough that I’m forced to use headphones to drown out the yowling.”

Poor Ojirou was coughing, clearly dying of embarrassment, and even Kita had the faintest red tinge to his cheeks. Unfortunately, Suna, unbothered as ever, simply smirked at you, which confirmed some of your suspicions that he’d been doing it on purpose, the brat.

Heaving another forlorn sigh you decided to give up and give poor Ojirou a break, making a mental note to make it up to him somehow. The poor guy really didn’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire between you and Suna.

“So, I spent the time being relentlessly hounded until it was time to leave,” you continued on, pretending not to notice Kita patting Ojirou’s back sympathetically, “I tried to explain to them that I just don’t have the time and energy it takes to go out and start dating people, that work was taking up too much of my time, but they weren’t having any of it.”

“It sounds like a rough time,” Ojirou told you, with genuine sympathy, the man too kind even after you’d embarrassed the hell out of him, “like when I go home and baa-chan asks when I’m going to settle down and get married.”

Suna let out an involuntary hiss at that, and Kita’s shoulders stiffened up a bit. Even though hybrid-human relationships were accepted and even almost expected between them and their owners these days, it didn’t mean that everyone accepted them as ‘true’ relationships. There were a good chunk of people, mostly conservatives and the older generation who believed that human/human relationships were the only valid ones.

This was no doubt because of the fact that most hybrid children, once they hit eighteen chose to go to hybrid adoption centers rather than staying with their parents. This was partly because it was one of the few good ways to get out from under your parents roof.

Hybrid rights had come a long way from when they’d first been implemented a few decades ago, back when they were considered something of a toy and a pet, not better than a slave. However, they technically still required a human ‘owner’ to do things like go to school, find a job, or even be out in public unsupervised.

There were people working to change that of course, and you’d donated heavily to the cause and actively supported it, but change was slow going, so for now it was what it was. It didn’t help that there were a good deal of people around like Ojirou’s grandma who viewed hybrids as less than human, and would probably never acknowledge his relationship or any children they had, especially if the children were hybrids too.

It was something you’d listened to him vent about more than once, happy to lend him a listening ear, especially since he’d done the same for you plenty of times over the years.

“It wasn’t quite that bad,” you admitted, giving him your own sympathetic smile, “but it was rather depressing.”

“Do ya even want a companion like that?” Kita asked her reasonably, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard ya talk about wantin’ a relationship other than rantin’ about a few failed dates here and there. If ya don’t I don’t see why it should be a problem, and not any of their business either.”

“Except I think I kind of do,” you admitted with a grimace, to the practical dog-hybrid who always gave solid, dependable advice, “I never planned to spend the rest of my life alone you know? I just always put my career first figuring relationships could come later, when I had more time, but now I’m starting to wonder if later will ever come.”

“And ya don’t want to date?” Kita asked with a slight frown, “I’m sure ya could make time if ya really wanted to, we could change our dinners around fer a while maybe?”

“No way,” you protested immediately, “Dinners with you guys are my only bastion of sanity. Plus I’m not even sure I want to go out and meet people, frankly at this point I’m not even sure I know how. It just… gets a little lonely coming home to an empty apartment sometimes you know?”

“So why don’t you get a hybrid?” Ojirou asked, his tone eminently reasonable despite the shock of what he’d said.

“A hybrid?” you repeated a little dumbfounded, “Me?!”

“Well why not?” he defended, stroking his recently grown goatee with his thumb and forefinger, “You’re wealthy enough to afford one, it would solve your companionship issue, and you wouldn’t have to date anyone, just go to a hybrid adoption center and find someone you’re compatible with.”

When he put it like that it did sound reasonable, even if it wasn’t an idea that had ever occurred to you. A lot of your friends, not just Ojirou, had hybrid companions, one of the weddings discussed earlier that day was even to a hybrid even if it wouldn’t be official until they could get proper legislature passed. You just had never really considered it an option for yourself.

“Do you think I could?” you asked with a light frown, turning the idea over in your mind, the question directed more at Kita than anyone else, both because he was always the most reasonable of the three and because as a hybrid you thought he’d probably be more qualified to answer whether you were a fit ‘owner’.

However to your surprise it wasn’t Kita, but Suna who answered first informing you in his normal lazy drawl, “You’d do well with a hybrid I think, probably something lower energy, like a cat, and we’re pretty self-sufficient as you know, so you wouldn’t have to worry about leaving it home alone like you would a pet.”

“He’s right,” Kita agreed, after a thoughtful pause, “Personally I believe ya would do well with a hybrid, ya get along with us well enough. Plus if yer worried we can help ya look after them. Suna needs a playmate anyway, he’s been getting’ up ta too much mischief lately when Aran and I ain’t here.”

Suna didn’t even bother to protest, just shrugged, completely unbothered by the accusation. Figuring you might as well take advantage of the situation you asked a few more questions, all of which were answered by your friends who all had a lot of input on what kind of hybrid you should get.

You left that night with your head stuffed full of information, after telling them you needed time to think it over. Getting a hybrid was a lifechanging thing and you didn’t want to run off half-cocked. It had gotten you an approving nod from Kita and a supportive pat on the shoulder from Ojirou. Suna had simply given you a knowing smirk, as if the smug cat hybrid already knew exactly what you were going to do as you walked out the door.

You stared up at the hybrid adoption center, not quite sure how you’d ended up here. For the last week or so, ever since Ojirou had brought it up you’d had hybrids on the brain. You’d found your eyes wandering to look at them when they passed you in the street and idly daydreaming in your down time what it might be like to have one waiting when you came home and fantasizing about what kind you might get.

Normally you were very focused and productive at work, but somehow, you’d found yourself scrolling through different sites, putting in research into what kind of facility you should visit and what you’d need to do. It had gotten bad enough that some of your coworkers had noticed your distraction, which was the final nail in the coffin.

You’d already known which center Ojirou had used to choose Kita and Suna, and so at the end of a particularly long day, quietly dreading heading home to your empty apartment you’d instead found yourself driving over to the center.

It was on the smaller side when it came to hybrid adoption centers, privately run and owned by Azumane Industries, a fashion line that created clothes that specifically catered to hybrids. Ojirou had, had nothing but good things to say, and so gathering your courage you left your car to head resolutely inside.

The lobby was rather quiet, only one other patron and two people manning the desks, both of whom looked up when you entered. You were a bit surprised to see the only two workers in sight were hybrids, one a silver cat of some type and the other clearly a German shepherd.

In hindsight it made a lot of sense to have hybrids be in charge of the adoption of other hybrids as they would likely know best how to match people up. However, you rarely saw that kind of practicality when it came to hybrids especially because you knew there was a lot of prejudice out there.

You offered the cat a hesitant smile, stepping up to the desk, the smile he gave back one that was both kind and welcoming as he introduced, “Welcome to Azumane Industries Hybrid Adoption Center. My name is Sugawara, how can I help you today?”

“I’m looking to adopt,” you admitted, unsure what else to say you tacked on, “My friend recommended this place to me, so here I am.”

“Well, we’ll take good care of you,” he assured you calmly, “Usually we do this by appointment, but you’re lucky. It’s a slow day and we have an opening, so I’d be happy to start the process with you if you’re willing.”

“Great,” you told him with a quiet sigh of relief, glad that he could fit you in. Honestly you should’ve known that a place like this would require a call ahead at least. It would’ve served you right for being so impulsive if they hadn’t been able to squeeze you in, “Just tell me what I need to do.”

Sugawara offered you a sly grin, one that reminded you of Suna as he promptly pushed a large stack of paperwork in your direction and handed you a pen. You grimaced at the sight of it but set to work, quietly filling out the forms one by one and handing each of them to Sugawara after so he could log them into his computer.

The forms reminded you of a loan or job application in a lot of ways, asking after your health, your income, your living situation, if you had a criminal record, any previous experience with hybrids etc. It took you quite a while to fill them all out, and by the end of it your wrist was sore and you’d signed your name more times than you cared to remember. However, since Sugawara had been filling in as you went you didn’t have to wait long to move on to the next step.

“Congratulations,” he told you with an amused smile, watching as you massaged your wrist, “You’ve been approved to adopt from our center, which means we now get to the fun part.”

“Fun part?” you questioned a little warily, having learned from Suna that a cat hybrid smiling at you didn’t necessarily mean good things for your sanity.

“Tell me about what kind of hybrid you’d like,” he told you leaning forward, elbows braced on the desk as he watched you intently, “Do you have any preferences? I’ve read all your information as we’ve gone along so I have some ideas, but I’d like to hear from you what you think you want.”

“I’m not sure where to start,” you admitted, feeling a little overwhelmed.

“That’s alright,” he assured you, “That’s what I’m here for. Let’s start with species, that’s always good and will narrow things down a bit.”

“I know I want a cat or dog hybrid,” you told him immediately glad to have some kind of answer for him, “Rabbit and rodent hybrids have heats and ruts too often for me to handle given how busy work keeps me.”

Heats and ruts were one of the big things that separated hybrids from humans and were part of the reason it was hard for them to find and hold down jobs. There were two kinds of hybrid within each species, alphas and omegas.

Alphas were usually more aggressive, stubborn, and willful. You needed to have a more dominant personality to have an alpha hybrid otherwise they’d walk all over you. Alphas also had a period called a rut, where their hormones skyrocketed and made them want to breed with anything and everything. It was a really uncomfortable time for them, and made them even more aggressive.

Omegas were generally more passive, quiet and compliant. They tended to be favored over Alpha hybrids as companions because of their more docile nature. They had periods called heats, which were similar to an Alphas rut, the only difference being they wanted to be bred rather than to breed. It made them needy and clingy the entire time.

Both heats and ruts lasted anywhere from a couple of days to a week depending on the species of hybrid. Dogs and cats had week long heats, but they only happened two to three times a year, whereas rabbit and rodent hybrids only lasted a few days, but happened every week and a half to two weeks.

You knew it wasn’t necessarily expected for a hybrid owner to stay home when their hybrid was in heat or rut, but you also knew it was those times that hybrids tended to be more reckless. Most of the research you did advised that you should if you could, even if you weren’t the one who was going to be sexually intimate with your hybrid. There were of course hybrid heat centers, where hybrids could go to find willing partners and get their needs taken care of, but you’d heard horror stories about places like that and didn’t want to use one unless you absolutely had to.

“There are medications to manage heats and ruts,” Sugawara pointed out reasonably, a slight frown on his face.

“I know,” you agreed, “But I did some research and it looks like most hybrids don’t like to take them because they have nasty side effects, like potential infertility, mood drops, and weight gain. If there’s a rodent or rabbit hybrid that wants to voluntarily take the medication then that could be fine, but I’ve heard only a few ever want to risk it.”

Sugawara looked surprised for a moment, then slowly nodded, “It’s good you’ve looked into things, and it’s nice to see someone who’s come prepared. I’ve heard a bit of that too, so no rabbits or rodents. Do you have any preference Alpha versus Omega?”

“Not really,” you admitted with a helpless shrug, feeling a little bad for not being able to narrow down the criteria for him, “I’m pretty open so long as they can fit into my lifestyle, are a little more independent, and think they’ll get along with me.”

“Well you’ll at least have lots of options,” Sugwara assured you, with a smile that told you he wasn’t off put by the fact that you didn’t know exactly what you wanted either, “Does that mean you don’t have a preference for breed either?”

“That’s right,” you agreed with a firm nod, “I just want someone who’s going to be compatible with me, everything else is secondary.”

“Okay,” he told you cheerfully, “I’m sure we can do that! Though it might take us a little bit to narrow things down. Since you aren’t picky you might as well come with me to start looking. Daichi can you manage the desk on your own?”

“Sure,” the german shepherd hybrid agreed, from where he’d been sitting quietly, keeping watch over the two of you and typing away on his computer, since there was literally no one else in the lobby, “Just keep a radio on you so I can call you back up here if it gets busy Suga.”

Your soon to be guide agreed with a smile, plucking one of the aforementioned radios up and attaching it to his belt, before standing up from the desk. He stretched in a very feline manner, then ushered you towards a door that led toward the back of the building, tail swishing peacefully behind him.

“Each species of hybrid has its own floor,” Sugawara explained as he led you through the hall, “Bunnies are on the top floor, rodents underneath them, cats on the second floor and dogs here on the first. Each floor has four separate wings, separated into categories depending on whether the hybrid in question is male or female, alpha or omega. These wings have private rooms in them and are connected by a shared space.”

“We’ll be going into the shared space,” he explained pausing outside one of the doors, “It’s where hybrids come both to hang out, and to meet people. If a hybrid isn’t interested in being adopted by a specific human they’ll simply return to their rooms until the human leaves. This way we ensure that no one gets coerced into adoption. We also keep a close eye on things with security cameras in the shared space, for both the safety of humans and hybrids. Before we enter the room, I need you to give me verbal consent to allow yourself to be filmed.”

“That’s fine,” you told him, more than a bit impressed with how thorough and organized the whole thing was, along with the lengths they went to, to ensure everyone’s comfort.

“Alright then, let’s introduce you to the dogs,” he teased, with a confident smile.

The minute the door opened, almost every head turned in your direction, making you feel a bit awkward and unsure. Some of the hybrids were in their human forms, ears and tails the only hint of their non-human status, while others were lounging around in their secondary animal form.

The animal form of a hybrid was indistinguishable from a normal animal of the same breed. The only thing that might give it away was the high level of intelligence. Your research told you that hybrids tended to act more on their instincts when in animal form, which could be both a good thing and a bad thing.

Case in point, the minute you entered with Sugawara one enormous grey and white speckled dog came bounding over barking his head off. He was absolutely huge, and only the madly wagging tail kept you from cringing back as he charged over, his barking immediately setting off a few of the others.

You got the wind knocked out of you a bit as he collided with you, though thankfully the door was behind you, and kept you from being knocked off your feet as he placed enormous paws on your shoulders, burying his face in your hair and sniffing enthusiastically. You froze, unsure exactly what to do in this situation, and more than a bit uncomfortable.

Luckily Sugawara immediately came to your rescue, shoving the big dog off as he scolded, “Bokuto! What have I told you about jumping up on our guests!”

The big dog immediately began to whine, tail tucked between his legs, and you wanted to feel bad for him, except you were still a bit unnerved.

“Sorry about him,” Sugawara apologized with a sigh, “He’s harmless I promise, just incredibly enthusiastic about new people.”

“It’s okay,” you assured him, hesitantly reaching out to Bokuto palms first to see if he might be interested, only to have him turn away. Unsure what to do you glanced at Sugawara, whose tail was swishing in clear agitation.

“Ignore him,” the silver haired cat hybrid told you, “He’s just sulking because he got scolded. In fact, better yet ignore all of them, since they can’t stop being rude and barking.”

This last bit, along with the fierce glare that accompanied it was leveled at the room in general, earning some sheepish looks from a couple of the dog hybrids who were in human form, and managing to quiet several of the barking ones who were in animal form.

“Come on,” he urged with one last flick of his tail, “I should’ve started you with the cats anyway. You seem like a cat person to me, and I assure you they’ll have much better manners. If you don’t find what you’re looking for there, we’ll come back, but let’s explore the cat option first and give them time to recall their manners.”

You allowed him to usher you out of the room and toward the elevator, trusting his judgment. It was funny that he’d said you were a cat person, as he was actually the third cat hybrid to have told you so, Suna being one and the Siamese hybrid of one of your coworkers being the other.

It took you less than a minute to get up to the next floor, and when Sugawara ushered you into the cat hybrid room you could immediately feel the difference. There was no noise for one, just a bunch of curious eyes turned in your direction, but it didn’t feel hostile at all.

Sugawara quickly introduced you to the cat hybrids, telling them you’d come to adopt and had ‘just been slobbered all over by the dog hybrids’ so if they could all ‘mind their manners’ that would be great. You were a little amused at the exasperated hybrid’s antics, and you weren’t the only one, if the quiet snickering from a hybrid with particularly messy hair was any indication. However you were also grateful to him for being so diligent as he introduced you to everyone.

Slowly, several cat hybrids meandered up to you, some in human form, some in cat form, though some also stayed in place clearly observing everything. You chatted lightly with the ones in human form, while letting the ones in cat form do as they pleased, answering their questions and asking a few of your own.

It was a much more relaxed experience, something you were infinitely grateful for after the sudden chaos of the dog hybrid room, and you had to wonder if the cat hybrids who’d pegged you as a cat person hadn’t been right after all. You were in the middle of quietly talking to a lovely female alpha hybrid named Shimizu when Sugawara’s radio blared to life. Apparently, the front had gotten rather busy and Daichi desperately needed his help.

“Will you be alright if I leave you here?” Sugawara asked you seriously, “This shouldn’t take too long, and Shimizu is more than capable of looking after you.”

“Sure,” you agreed, after a quick glance at the hybrid in question, who gave an acknowledging nod of her head, “I don’t mind.”

“Good,” he agreed with a bright grin, before rounding on the rest of the room, “And all the rest of you better behave or I’ll hear why!”

With one last warning glare around the room he turned on his heel and left, leaving you in Shimizu’s capable hands. The two of you continued to talk amiably as several cat hybrids came by in one form or another to sniff at you or listen in on the conversation from nearby. A number of them only came over for a few minutes, lingered a bit and then left, spreading back out to the room or going into the hallways that led to their private rooms, however a good chunk of them stayed nearby as well.

Chatting lightly with Shimizu and a few of the others you found you really liked the poised and graceful cat hybrid and might’ve looked into adopting her. Unfortunately, Shimizu quickly made it clear that she had some plans of her own, that included getting herself and her young and adorable munchkin kitten hybrid Yachi adopted by one of their frequent visitors.

She was however, more than happy to give her own opinion on some of the other hybrids around, most of whom seemed to respect both her and her opinion a lot. You were listening to Shimizu tell you a bit more about Yachi, who was watching from a safe distance, clearly anxious, but also unwilling to leave, when you felt something paw at your leg.

A quick glance down revealed a long haired fluffy looking cat, in shades of silver and white who was staring up at you expectantly. None of the other cat hybrids had actually dared to touch you, a few coming close, but none making actual moves to greet you.

A little intrigued you crouched down so you’d be closer to his eye level, and extended your hands for him the same way you did for Suna when he was in his cat form, giving him a choice about whether he wanted to be touched or not. The cat hybrid eyed your hands thoughtfully for a minute, before sauntering within reach, nudging his head against your palm.

Taking your cue you allowed yourself to pet him, gently rubbing at his silky ears and enjoying the feeling of his thick, plush coat. His back arched pressing closer into your hands, eyelids lowering in contentment as you carefully massaged your fingers through his fur in a way you knew Suna enjoyed.

A rumbling purr escaped his throat and you couldn’t help the pleased smile that crossed your lips at the sound as he pressed his way closer to your torso, entering the circle of your arms and keeping himself there. You were caught up in petting him for a moment and didn’t immediately notice, but after a few seconds you realized the room had gotten very quiet.

It had been quiet before, as cat hybrids didn’t make a lot of noise in general, but now it was almost deathly still outside the small purring sounds from the cat under your hands. You immediately froze and glanced up at Kiyoko who was watching the two of you with wide eyes.

“Is something wrong?” you asked, more than a bit concerned.

“You pet him,” Shimizu murmured, more to herself than to you.

“Should I not have?” you asked worriedly, moving to pull your hands away, “I’m sorry I didn’t realize. I pet my neighbor’s cat hybrid all the time when he’s in the mood for it.”

The cat hybrid under your hands made a noise of protest as you pulled your hands away, giving Shimizu what you assumed to be a rather annoyed look based on her baffled and slightly contrite expression.

“No,” she assured you quickly, “We like to be pet, physical affection is important to hybrids. It’s just that particular one doesn’t usually allow anyone to touch him.”

“Do you mind?” you asked the hybrid in question, holding out your hands again.

He gave an agreeing mew and pressed his head to your palm, which you assumed meant you could resume petting. The fur under your fingers was clearly well taken care of, soft and plush and you truly wouldn’t have minded continuing to pet him until he got sick of you.

However, you were interrupted by a furious yowling sound that immediately made you jump, your head snapping up to search for the source of the noise. It turned out to be another long haired fluffy cat, this one in shades of gold and white who came charging out of the halls and ran straight at you.

You didn’t even have a second to react as the cat that had been in your arms darted around to hide behind you. Not that it stopped the oncoming golden one who didn’t even bother to go around and instead went right over you, claws digging into your arm as he attempted to get at the silver one.

You let out a yelp of surprise and pain, as he launched himself off your shoulder at the silver cat behind you who immediately darted out of reach, running around you in dizzying circles with the golden one fast on his heels both of them yowling, hissing and spitting, clearly having some kind of argument.

It only took a moment for you to regain your bearings and decide you needed to put an end to whatever this was, since poor Shimizu didn’t look at all ready to step in, an utterly appalled look on her face. Luckily you had quick reflexes and managed to snag both cats around the middle and stand up quickly, the abrupt shift immediately silencing both, no doubt shocked by your interruption.

“I think that’s quite enough of that,” you scolded firmly, as you hefted the two carefully, keeping them firmly separated. They were a bit heavier than they looked but certainly not too much for you to keep aloft.

“You,” you scolded the golden one, gently shaking him, who had turned to stare up at you with wide copper colored eyes, “I don’t know what he did to you or why, but I’m sure whatever it was could’ve been resolved without the ruckus. I also don’t appreciate being climbed on or used as a spring board.

“And you,” you gently shook the silver one in turn, who looked equally surprised to be addressed, “I’m not sure if he deserved whatever you did or not, but you shouldn’t have been causing a ruckus either, and I don’t appreciate you using me as a shield.”

“From what I understand, in order to be here you have to be considered adults,” you continued firmly, “So I suggest you act like it, and figure this out between yourselves without dragging innocent bystanders into your mess!”

With that you loosened your grip, fully expecting both of them to jump to the floor. However, both continued to simply hang limply in your grasp, watching you with curious eyes that you realized rather abruptly were almost completely identical.

“Siblings huh?” you asked no one in particular, nodding to yourself, “I suppose that explains a lot.”

“Are you alright?” Shimizu asked you worriedly, “You’re bleeding.”

A quick glance at your arm showed you were indeed bleeding, small pinpricks of blood welling up from where the golden cat had dug his claws into you. It stung a bit, but you didn’t think it was too bad.

“I’m alright,” you assured her, kneeling down and releasing both cats, since they seemed disinclined to continue fighting, and you wanted your hands free, “Though I’d appreciate some disinfectant and some band aids if you’ve got them.”

“Of course,” Shimizu assured you with a quick nod, “Just let me get them and I’ll be right back.”

The elegant hybrid moved with enviable grace and speed as she exited the room, leaving you alone. A quick look around the room showed that almost every eye was now on you, and you heaved a sigh, not exactly pleased to be the center of attention, especially since none of them did anything but stare, none of them bothering to approach, just look.

You glanced down in surprise when you felt something touching your leg, only to find the golden cat headbutting your shin, rubbing his face against your calf affectionately as he twined his way through your legs.

“Does that mean you’re sorry,” you asked, crouching back down and offering your hands to the pretty, fluffy cat.

He immediately rubbed his face against your hands too, which you took as permission to continue your petting, rubbing your hand affectionately over his head and earning a happy purr from the feline who arched happily into your hands.

You were distracted from your petting by a paw, which came to rest on one of your wrists, the silver cat watching with obvious envy in his pretty copper colored eyes. Luckily for both of you, you had two hands, and you reached out to pet him too after assuring it was okay. The golden cat clearly wasn’t too happy about his brother’s presence, but didn’t kick up a fuss, instead pressing himself closer and becoming more insistent as he purred ever louder. The silver cat didn’t seemed to pay him any attention though, simply soaking up your attention and affection.

“Here,” Shimizu offered as she came back, first aid kit in hand, “Do you need any help getting bandaged up?”

You were about to accept her offer, as attempting to bandage your dominant arm was always a pain, when you felt something strange under your hand. You turned your attention back to the cat hybrids you’d been petting just in time to see the silver one shift, form becoming large, limbs extending, body lengthening and bulking up until he stood in front of you in human form.

You blinked, utterly startled as you stared up at him, taking in his appearance. He was incredibly handsome in his human form, with the same silvery grey hair as his fur in cat form in an undercut and bright bronze eyes that peered out at you from under heavy lids. He had a strong, slightly square jaw and thick eyebrows, with blunt cheekbones and cupids bow lips.

He was also surprisingly big, at least six feet tall, and maybe a bit more than that, with broad shoulders and a trim waist. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt that clung to his chest, showing off the definition of his muscles. To top it all off he had two cat ears poking out from his silvery hair and a fluffy tail that was slowly waving back and forth as he looked at you.

“I’ll do it,” he told the two of you, his voice pleasant and lightly accented, his hand held out to Kiyoko gesturing for her to pass him the first aid kit, “I’ll bandage ya up. It’s only fair since the moron who scratched ya is too busy bein’ pampered.”

That earned a hiss from the golden cat, who immediately began to shift under your hands. You watched in surprise and no small amount of awe as he turned into a carbon copy of the other man who’d appeared, only with golden hair, ears and tail. You’d realized the two were related, but you hadn’t realized they were identical twins. Twins were really rare for hybrids, even more rare than human twins. As such they were usually snapped up for adoption right away, so it was rare to see them in any sort of center.

“If ya hadn’t stolen my puddin’ I wouldn’t have chased ya and scratched her in the first place,” the golden cat hybrid hissed at his brother.

“Well if ya hadn’t eaten my onigiri, maybe I wouldn’t have had to eat yer puddin’” the silver haired one retorted, his tone and expression both flatter compared to his sibling who looked like he might lunge at his twin at any moment.

Not wanting to get in the middle of a literal cat fight you held your own hand out to Kiyoko, who gratefully placed the first aid kit in your hands, then plopped down to sit cross legged on the floor. Your sudden movement startled both cat hybrids who turned to look at you, but you pointedly ignored them as you worked on opening the kit, and pulling out the things you’d need.

“Here I got it,” the golden haired one told you, plopping down beside you, “That scrub ain’t right about a lot of things, but he is right about this. I scratched ya, and I should fix ya.”

You gratefully held your arm out to him, and watched as he gently dabbed the scratches with disinfectant, grimacing slightly at the sting. You were distracted enough by his careful movements that you almost didn’t notice the other twin, right up until he gently smeared Neosporin over the scratches, placing small bandages over the deeper punctures.

“Thank you,” you told them both when they finished, automatically reaching up to pet their heads, but then pausing as you realized the gesture might not be as welcome in their human form.

Your worries were quickly allayed through as the golden one practically fell into your palm, soft, happy purring noises leaving his mouth as you gently scratched the base of his ears. His twin however didn’t immediately move for you, and you turned concerned eyes on him, worried he might be offended. The minute he saw you looking though he immediately leaned forward, pressing his head to your palm, his own soft purrs leaving his throat as you carded your fingers through his hair.

“I’m back,” a familiar voice sang, the door to the room sliding open to reveal Sugawara, with a cheerful grin on his face, a grin that was immediately replaced by wide eyed shock as he saw you and the two hybrids who were nearly in your lap with how close they were pressing towards you.

However, shock melted into fury as his eyes saw the open first aid kit and the bandages on your arm, his words nearly a hiss as he demanded, “What happened?!”

Both hybrids immediately stiffened under your hands, drawing closer to you, either looking to protect you or looking for protection you weren’t sure. Either way you allowed it, rubbing your hands over the backs of their necks in a way that always seemed to sooth Suna as you answered, “We just had a bit of a mishap is all, but we’ve cleared it up.”

“Are you sure?” Sugawara demanded anxiously, “We were told when they were brought in that they’d had a bit of trouble before, but they never mentioned that they might attack humans.”

The golden-haired twin seemed to bristle, and if he were in cat form you were sure all his fur would be puffed out as he glared at Sugawara. His twin didn’t look nearly as bothered on the surface, but close as you were, you could see how tight the muscles in his neck and shoulders were as if he was about to spring forward at any moment.

Instinctively you pulled the golden twin toward you, tipping him over into your lap. Despite his size it wasn’t all that difficult given he’d been practically leaning all his weight on you. He let out a yelp of surprise, but stayed still as you buried your fingers in his hair, keeping his cheek pillowed on your thigh. Your other hand gently squeezed the back of the silver twin’s neck, both holding him still and reminding him of your presence.

“It wasn’t an attack, simply an accident,” you assured Sugawara, as you soothed your thumb over the tense muscles of the silver one’s neck, hoping to get him to relax, “A bit like what happened with the dog hybrid earlier.”

“If you’re sure,” Sugawara told you, watching your pet the twins with wide eyes, like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, “Does that mean you’ve decided to take them then? I know you were a little worried about adopting one hybrid so I never imagined you’d want two at once.”

“What?” you asked, a little overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of information, and the assumption he’d made.

“You’d have to take both of them,” Sugawara explained gently, “Admittedly sometimes twins are separated, but we don’t do that unless they want to be separated, and in this case both of them have stated they want to stay together.”

“That makes sense,” you agreed, with a smile. It was good that the center accommodated things like that, and you made a mental note to thank Ojirou for directing you to such an upstanding place.

“Should I get paperwork started?” Sugawara asked, with an answering smile, “If you’re taking the twins it will take a bit more work than usual, so I’d like to get started right away. No pressure though, you don’t have to make a decision today if you don’t want to.”

“I hadn’t really thought about adopting them,” you admitted, and felt both twins stiffen under your hands, so hurried to reassure them, “We haven’t had a chance to chat much yet. I’d like to talk to them a little bit first before we make any decisions.”

“Of course,” the kindly hybrid agreed with an understanding nod, “We’ll give the three of you some space and let you get to know one another a bit better.”

“Thank you,” you told him politely, waiting until he’d ushered Kiyoko a little bit away, clearly trying to give you some sense of privacy despite the fact that they were still well within earshot for hybrids, and likely interrogate the elegant female about what exactly had happened while he was gone.

“Do ya not want us,” the golden haired one asked you, once the two were gone, rolling over in your lap to peer up at you with wide copper eyes, the hint of a pout on his lips, and a little bit of hurt in his eyes.

“I don’t know yet,” you told him honestly, gently stroking his golden hair away from his eyes, “We don’t know each other, yet do we? Do you even know if you want to come with me?”

The two cat hybrids glanced at each other, clearly communicating silently with each other for a moment before turning back to you. The golden haired one had apparently been elected spokesperson because he was the one to admit, “We wouldn’t mind goin’ home with ya.”

“But you don’t even know my name, do you? And I don’t know yours either,” you pointed out, utterly baffled that they’d apparently already decided.

“I heard mister pleasant over there when he introduced ya,” the silver haired one told you with a shrug, “But if it matters so much to ya, I’m Miya Osamu and he’s Atsumu.”

“I can introduce myself ya know,” the golden haired on hissed, doing his best to glare at his brother, though you were sure the effect was entirely lost considering he was apparently refusing to move from your lap and was upside down, “And I didn’t get to hear yer name.”

“That’s because ya were sulkin’ in our room,” Osamu pointed out.

“And whose fault is that huh?” Atsumu demanded with a grimace.

“Yer own,” Osamu countered, looking utterly bored as he peered down at his brother. Atsumu made to lunge out of your lap, but was stopped by your hand pressed firmly to his forehead holding him in place. You took advantage of his moment of distraction to introduce yourself, gently rubbing behind his ears until he started purring again.

“And ya wonder why we want to go with ya,” Osamu told you sardonically, watching the two of you, “I ain’t ever seen anybody who could get ahold of Tsumu like that.”

“Do the two of you always squabble like that?” you asked, a little amused and a little concerned, “If I didn’t know better I would’ve thought one of you was a dog hybrid with how well you’re getting along right now.”

“It ain’t always so bad,” Osamu told you, turning his face away though you thought you saw the faintest hint of pink to his cheeks, “We’re just a little restless is all. We haven’t been here long so it’s just new, not as much freedom as we’re used to either bein’ cooped up for most of the day.”

“Surely they let you out if you want out,” you questioned, a little appalled that the center might be keeping hybrids like prisoners.

“Well sure,” Osamu answered turning back to you, his head tilted to the side as he studied you, “But there are only so many places a hybrid is allowed without an owner ya know.”

You winced slightly at the blunt statement, but couldn’t refute it. The law stated that all hybrids had to have a registered owner, and it was then up to that owner to set limits on the hybrid, about where they could go and what they could do. This was because if the hybrid caused any trouble, it was always on its owner to take responsibility which made things quite limited for them at times. There were lobbyists working to change that of course, as it was viewed as inhumane, but for now the law was the law.

“Did you have more freedom before here then?” you asked curiously, “I’ve heard this place is pretty good.”

“It’s not bad,” Atsumu piped in, his voice content and rumbly as he turned languid eyes in your direction, clearly not wanting to be left out of the conversation, “Better than the first center we were at when we first went up for adoption.”

“So you’ve been adopted before? Or did you just get moved from one of the other centers?” you asked curiously, only to have Atsumu go absolutely rigid under your hands as Osamu hissed at him, clearly angry with his brother, who’d apparently revealed something he shouldn’t if the way he shrank away instead of hissing back said anything.

You glanced between the two of them warily, unsure what to do as Atsumu pulled himself out of your lap so he could look at Osamu. The two of them were clearly communicating, both their tails swishing back and forth in clear agitation.

“We had an owner,” Osamu admitted at last, his words clearly careful as he peered at you from underneath the fringe of his hair, “But we didn’t get along with him so he surrendered us ta the shelter again and they sent us here.”

A part of you really wanted to ask why exactly they hadn’t gotten along with their old owner, but given the way Atsumu was refusing to meet your eyes, his nails practically digging into his thighs where he sat next to you, you got the feeling it would be kinder not to. Instead you carefully redirected the conversation back on topic and asked, “And what makes you think you’ll get along better with me than your previous owner?”

“Yer nothin’ like him,” Osamu told you bluntly, effectively shutting that avenue of conversation down.

“If you say so,” you told him calmly, holding his gaze until he glanced away, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

It was clearly a sensitive topic, and you didn’t want to push. You’d just met the two of them today after all, you certainly wouldn’t have liked it if they tried to pry into your past, fair was fair after all.

“What do you picture yourselves doing all day?” you asked instead, figuring you might as well.

“Doing?” Atsumu repeated confused, tilting his head in a manner that you couldn’t help but find rather adorable.

“I’ll be at work most of the day during the week,” you explained patiently, “Which means you’ll be by yourselves for quite a bit of time. You’d be more than welcome to laze around if you really wanted to, but I figured I’d ask.”

“What kind of things are we allowed to do?” Osamu asked slowly, a strange look on his face that you couldn’t quite interpret.

“Anything within reason,” you told him with a helpless shrug, “I have money, it’s not an issue, so long as it’s legal, and doesn’t have the potential to hurt me, you or anyone else then I see no reason to place restrictions. My neighbor has a dog-hybrid who works a small rice farm that Ojirou bought him, but his cat-hybrid Suna spends most of his time either lounging around their apartment or playing sports with some of the other hybrids who live in the neighborhood.”

“Which sport?” Atsumu asked, eyes bright, all hesitation forgotten in the face of this new information.

“Volleyball I think,” you told him with a shrug, “Ojirou and I have gone to watch a few games, though I don’t think it’s just volleyball either.”

If Atsumu had been a dog-hybrid you were sure his tail would’ve been wagging a hundred miles an hour with how eager he looked, copper eyes bright in his face as he told you, “I like volleyball. Do you think he’d let me play?”

“You’d have to take it up with Suna, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t,” you admitted cautiously, earning a happy smile from the hybrid.

“What about you Osamu?” you prompted gently, “Do you play too, or is there something else you’re interested in?”

The silver furred hybrid looked startled to be addressed, but then slowly admitted, “I like to cook.”

“That’s amazing,” you praised, “I live on take out a lot of the time, unless I’m headed over to Ojirou’s or Kita, his dog-hybrid makes an extra bento for me. I really should cook more, but I tend to be on the go a lot and don’t want to dedicate the time.”

“It’s a bit of a shame though,” you admitted, feeling more than a bit sheepish, “One of the best features of my apartment is the kitchen and I hardly ever use it.”

You continued to chat lightly with the twins learning quite a bit about the two of them in the process. Atsumu was definitely the louder twin, always eager and a bit blunt with his words, always saying the first thing that came to mind. Osamu was quieter than his twin, letting his golden furred brother do most of the talking for the two of them. He wasn’t necessarily shy per se, and would answer when spoken to, but he seemed content for the most part to quietly observe before adding his two cents in.

The two of them together were utterly charming, which made you wonder just how they hadn’t been adopted yet. You were fairly sure it must have something to do with the reason they’d been returned to their adoption center, though for the life of you, you couldn’t guess what that reason might’ve been.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Sugawara cut in gently, interrupting Atsumu telling you all about the last volleyball game he’d played in, “But the center is closing to visitors in a few minutes.”

“I’m sorry,” you apologized immediately, hurriedly scrambling to your feet, feeling more than a bit guilty, “I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.”

“That’s alright,” Sugawara assured you with a kind smile, “It sounds like the three of you are getting along well.”

“I think so,” you admitted, glancing at the twins who’d both risen to their feet as well, both of them far more graceful than you could ever hope to be.

Both of them were watching you, Atsumu with tentative hope clear on his face, and Osamu completely unreadable except for the agitated twitch of his tail which told you he wasn’t pleased your conversation had been interrupted.

“I’m glad,” Sugawara told you, “Do we have any kind of decision made?”

“I…” you started glancing between the twins, who were both looking at you. Gut instinct meant you wanted to say yes. You’d gotten along well and you thought you might continue to enjoy one another’s company. They seemed like they’d slot into your life pretty easily. However you were still a bit hesitant. Adopting one hybrid had seemed like a big deal, but adopting two?

Plus you’d only met them today. Maybe you were being overly cautious but a single day didn’t seem like nearly enough time to get to know someone before inviting them to live with you, no matter how much your heart urged you to say yes.

“Actually, it doesn’t matter,” Sugawara interrupted, an apologetic expression on his face, pulling you from your thoughts as he explained, “We wouldn’t have time to finish the paperwork before it’s time to close, so you wouldn’t be able to take them home with you anyway, not today at least.”

“But…!” Atsumu tried to protest, but quelled as Sugawara shot him a stern look.

“I think that it will be good for all of you to sleep on your decision,” the cat-hybrid told all three of you firmly, gently beginning to usher you from the room, before telling you, “You can come back tomorrow if you like. We’re open at the same times then.”

“Alright,” you agreed, following after him without a fuss, only to pause in your tracks at a heartbreaking mewling sound.

You turned around to see Atsumu staring after you with devastation written all over his handsome features, his hand outstretched like he was trying to reach out and physically stop you from leaving. Before you’d really thought about it your feet had carried you back, and you’d pulled the hybrid into your arms.

Atsumu clutched you tightly, burying his face in your neck and rubbing his cheek against yours in a move you recognized as scenting. You let him do as he pleased without protest, gently running your fingers through his soft golden hair. However, you were conscious of Sugawara waiting for you, so you gently extracted yourself after a few minutes.

Turning you saw Osamu watching you with an unreadable expression on his face, but you stepped toward him, offering your open arms anyway, waiting patiently. You were rewarded for that patience as he stepped into your hold, nuzzling at you the same way his twin had on the opposite side.

“I’ll come back,” you found yourself promising, “I have work tomorrow, but after I’ll be here.”

Osamu drew back and peered into your face, copper eyes boring into your own, clearly searching for something before nodding, “We’ll hold ya to that.”

You let Sugawara usher you out after that, but found yourself tearing up a bit as you followed after him. You desperately didn’t want to leave the twins behind. Somehow, someway you’d gotten terribly attached to them in just a few short hours.

Your sniffling apparently caught Sugawara’s attention, because he turned around and hurriedly fumbled a packet of tissues from one of his pockets.

“I’m sorry,” he told you apologetically, “I thought maybe you wanted more time to think things over. We can still do paperwork tonight if you want I don’t mind staying a bit late.”

You looked at him, startled that he’d apparently picked up on your hesitation as you gratefully accepted the tissues, dabbing at your eyes and blowing your nose before replying, “No, no you’re right. It’s not a decision I should make impulsively. I do want to think it over I just…”

You trailed off helplessly, unsure what to say or how to explain that you’d gotten incredibly attached and were currently having a crisis as your head and heart were at war with each other. However, Sugawara apparently understood as he nodded in clear sympathy.

“Don’t worry,” he assured you, “That’s completely understandable, adopting a hybrid is no small thing. Those troublesome twins will still be here waiting for you tomorrow, so take all the time you need to think it over.”

“I will,” you told him, then tacked on sincerely, “Thank you, for all your help today. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he told you with a bright, pleased smile as he walked you to the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow,” you agreed with a smile, letting yourself out and heading back for your car.

The drive home your thoughts were absolutely full of the twins, and what it might be like to have them with you. Your heart and your mind were at war with one another, your heart desperate to run back to the center as soon as it opened in the morning for the cat hybrids, and your head worrying about what it might mean to have both of them and why they’d been returned to the center by their previous owner.

You were so preoccupied with your thoughts that you almost didn’t notice Suna as you walked passed Ojirou’s door, headed to your own.

“What is that?” Suna demanded, his voice making you pause in your tracks.

“What is what?” you asked him baffled as he strode toward you nose in the air, clearly picking up something.

“You smell like hybrid,” he informed you his tone accusatory, watching you with narrowed golden eyes.

“Do I?” you asked mildly.

“You do,” he affirmed, “Doesn’t she Kita?”

“Doesn’t she what?” the collie hybrid asked, emerging from somewhere deeper in the apartment.

“Smell like hybrid,” Suna explained, his tail twitching languidly behind him and eyes alight with interest.

“You do,” Kita agreed, after carefully scenting the air, “Two of them actually.”

“Really?” Suna asked, clearly surprised, moving closer to sniff at you again, “You sure?”

You held still, too used to his behavior to be bothered by it, partly amused and partly annoyed at the cat hybrid who was clearly digging for information.

“Yes I’m sure,” Kita told him calmly, “They’re very similar, but there.”

“They’re identical twins,” you explained, figuring the jig was up anyway, and hoping maybe Ojirou or Kita would have some advice that might help you with your quandary.

“Ho?” Suna asked a purr of interest in his voice as he inhaled and nodded to himself, then asked slyly, “And what were you doing with these twins to have their scent on you so thoroughly?”

“Is Ojirou home?” you asked Kita, completely ignoring Suna’s question, earning a chuckle of amusement from the Siamese.

“He’s here,” Kita agreed, “Did you need to speak with him?”

“Both of you, if you have a minute?” you questioned hopefully.

“For you? Always,” Kita assured you kindly ushering you in.

“Oya, I think I’m hurt,” Suna told you as he followed along behind, a feline smirk on his face, “What about me? Don’t you want my advice too? After all they’re cat hybrids aren’t they?”

“They are,” you agreed with a huff as you plopped into your normal chair, “But are you going to give me good advice, or are you going to say whatever you think will be most amusing for you?”

“What’s this about cat-hybrids?” Ojirou asked, emerging from the hallway, where Kita had gone to fetch him.

“She’s thinking about adopting twin cat-hybrids,” Suna informed him before you had the chance to speak up, smug as the cat who got the canary.

“Are you really?” Ojirou questioned with a grin, taking his own seat.

“Yes,” you agreed, shooting the smug Siamese a look for interrupting and stealing your thunder, “I went to that adoption center you recommended today.”

“That’s great,” Ojirou told you, leaning forward in his chair eagerly, “How did it go?”

You explained your meeting with the twins, happily accepting the drink Kita pressed into your hands, which was your favorite, as the collie hybrid got everyone settled and then settled in himself to listen. You talked about how much you liked them, but your wariness about getting not one but two hybrids, and the strange issue with them having a previous owner and being so cagey about it.

“I can see why you’re wary about used goods,” Suna noted.

“Don’t call them that,” you snapped, despite the fact that you could hear the tinge of sarcasm in his voice and knew he didn’t really mean it, unable to help yourself, “people aren’t like items, and shouldn’t be treated like them.”

“She’s right,” Kita told the Siamese sternly, “Even as a joke, that was a rude way to refer to them.”

Suna slouched in his seat, looking thoroughly chastised as he admitted, “I know you don’t see them like that. You’ve always treated us just like normal people.”

“That’s because you are just like normal people,” you told him, stroking your fingers through his hair to let him know you forgave him, “Just with enhanced senses and a different set of instincts at times.”

“I don’t know why you think you need our advice,” Ojirou pointed out reasonably, “It sounds like you’ve pretty much already made up your mind, you clearly adore them already.”

“It’s just a lot,” you admitted, “Do you think I can handle twin hybrids? Especially since I’ve never even had one before? I mean, I’m not like you, none of my family ever had one growing up, and the only ones I really know are Kita, Suna, and a couple that come into the office with Tendou from time to time.”

“We’re not exactly children,” Kita reasoned, logically, “We don’t actually require all that much care outside of the basics, which I know you’re monetarily able to provide, and companionship, which is the whole reason you decided to seek out a hybrid in the first place. One or two, does it really matter? It might even be better as they’ll be able to keep each other company if they get lonely when you’re gone, and I see no reason we can’t help you look after them too.”

“You’d do that?” you asked the collie hybrid, surprised.

“Of course,” he agreed with a tiny smile, “We’re friends are we not?”

You smiled at him, touched, and extremely reassured by his ever cool logic. It did make sense, and quelled some of your worries, plus knowing the extremely reliable hybrid would help you out if you needed it was incredibly comforting.

“I wouldn’t worry about them being returned to their center,” Suna told you, surprisingly serious, “Hybrids get returned for all sorts of reasons, but most of the time its owner incompatibility rather than behavioral issues. Plus that center wouldn’t let you adopt them if they thought they’d give you trouble.”

“But Sugawara did say they’d heard the twins gave someone trouble,” you admitted, recalling the conversation with the worried cat-hybrid.

“Yes, but they didn’t give you trouble,” Suna pointed out, “We cat hybrids tend to make up our minds pretty quickly about people. It sounds like they decided they liked you, and unless something really terrible happens they’ll keep liking you, we’re terribly stubborn that way.”

“If you’re really worried you can always ask the center about it,” Ojirou told you, “They keep records, and would probably tell you, especially if it’s a concern about their adoptability.”

“I don’t want to pry into something and lose their trust,” you admitted, even as part of you was incredibly tempted to do just that.

“Then maybe try asking if the center if they think whatever the issue was, will be an issue with you,” Suna reasoned, “And if they say no then let it lie and adopt them, and if they say maybe or yes, then tell the twins you can’t accept them if they can’t tell you what the issue was.”

“That seems fair to me,” Kita agreed with a nod, “Just make sure you’re honest and tell them you asked, just in case.”

“Okay,” you agreed, letting out a relieved breath, “Okay that sounds really reasonable to me. It’s just… do you think I’m rushing into this too fast? I mean going to the center today was an impulse.”

“I don’t think so,” Ojirou assured her thoughtfully, “You’ve been thinking about it for a while, haven’t you?”

“She’s put so much thought into it she’s actually over thought it,” Suna interjected wryly before you had a chance to answer.

You made a face at him but couldn’t actually argue. He might have a point about overthinking it. Reassured you spent a good couple hours talking with your neighbor and the two hybrids as they answered more of your questions, and you told them about the twins.

Eventually however you headed home, determined now to get at least a little bit prepared for the arrival of your two new housemates tomorrow. Luckily it wasn’t dirty, but running a load of laundry and doing a little vacuuming never hurt anyone. You didn’t have a whole lot for them and didn’t know what kind of things they might have or need, but hopefully your office with pull out futon and guest bedroom would suffice for now until you could take them shopping.

Falling into bed that night you let yourself feel your excitement for the first time. You were adopting a hybrid, not just one but adorable twin hybrids. You couldn’t wait to bring them home and maybe put an end to your loneliness once and for all.

Osamu glanced slowly around the room, trying not to look at his twin, the clock, or the doors to the main area of the shared living space the way Atsumu was. Yesterday had been a bit of a revelation. He’d never actually expected to approach the woman who’d shown up looking to adopt. After what happened with their last owner he’d never expected to ever actually want to be adopted again. However, somehow he’d found himself entranced by her, and he had no one but himself to blame.

When he’d initially strolled over, it was because he’d known via his bond to his older twin that he’d finally realized that Osamu had snagged his pudding for himself and was throwing a fit about it. He’d thought that his twin wouldn’t dare make a fuss if he was with a potential owner.

The rules of this place were pretty lax compared to the first center they’d lived in. It allowed them a lot more freedoms. It let them come and go from their rooms as they pleased rather than on a regimented schedule, and allowed them to turn down any potential adopter that they didn’t like, which had felt utterly shocking and unprecedented when he’d first been told about it. They gave them a small allowance they could spend or save as they chose, and even let them deal with their heats and ruts in whatever way they chose, including with other tenants so long as birth control was used.

It honestly felt like heaven compared to the first center they’d been at, and maybe even better than living with their previous owner even before everything had gone to shit. He wasn’t sure he’d even ever wanted to leave, which he’d been assured by several other tenants was also an option if he so desired.

However, the one rule that was the same between both centers was that they weren’t allowed to cause trouble with the humans that came looking to adopt. This was only good sense considering how much the law favored humans in cases of hybrid vs human issues. However, unlike the first center they’d lived, this one at least didn’t threaten to put them down if they misbehaved.

They’d been young back then, everyone in that center was, all of them below the age of twenty-one, because anyone who reached their twenty-second birthday disappeared and was never seen again. Thus he hadn’t known it was actually against the law to kill hybrids, none of them had known and the caretakers had perpetuated the rumor that those who reached twenty-two were killed instead of shipped off to other centers in order to make them that much more desperate to be adopted.

It had made him more than a bit bitter once he’d been with their new owner long enough to learn more about what was and wasn’t allowed when it came to human hybrid interactions. The man had actually found their previous beliefs amusing and had laughed at them more than once for being so naïve.

It was positively galling, and had made his hackles rise more than once. However he’d known better than to lash out and had better impulse control than Atsumu who’d been punished by their previous owner more than once for acting aggressively. Fortunately, Osamu had never liked being made fun of, and spite was a powerful motivator, meaning he’d practically memorized any and all of the laws that had to do with hybrids.

It meant the few times their owner had toed the line with Atsumu’s punishments that he’d been able to cite the law to pull him back, right up until their owner had decided he no longer cared and pushed too far, leading to them being removed from his home and put back up for adoption at this new center.

They had been here for just over a month and while several people had been interested in adopting the ‘rare gold and silver hybrid twins’ he had absolutely refused to engage with any of them. It was probably why that female alpha hybrid had been so shocked when he’d first approached.

He’d fully intended to just use the human to keep Atsumu at bay, right up until she’d crouched down and offered her hands to him and he’d gotten a whiff of her scent. He’d known from the few lessons their ma had bothered to teach them that hybrids relied a lot more on their sense of smell than humans did, and that scent was the basis of the instinct that told them who would be a good mate and who wouldn’t.

He’d originally thought compatibility could only be found with other hybrids, after all he’d met plenty of humans before both when he’d lived in the adoption centers and with his previous owner and never once had he gotten a hint of compatibility with any of them. He thought he could be forgiven for completely losing his head and giving over to his instincts as he caught the scent of the most compatible person he’d ever met.

Her scent was honestly indescribable, and his instincts had him purring within seconds as he tried to rub her scent all over himself. She’d obliged, petting him with fingers that had felt magical, her touch kind and soothing and perfect as she rubbed his ears, carded fingers through his fur and rubbed her hand along his back.

He’d been lost in a dizzy haze of touch and scent and probably would’ve remained that way if not for the fury of his brother, which had jolted him out of it. It had been like a bucket of cold water dumped over his head pulling him from his happy haze and reminding him of the whole reason he’d come up to the human in the first place.

He probably should’ve run off, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to move very far, instead darting around to hide behind her. He’d thought that once Atsumu saw her he’d stop and at least hold off attempting to get vengeance until later, but he’d overestimated his brother again, who was apparently more incensed than he’d guessed about the lost pudding.

Instinct had kicked in and before he’d really thought about it he was running away from his brother, darting around her legs in a game of chase that was both amusing and a bit annoying, especially when he could tell how much it was pissing his brother off, his sibling’s annoyance pulsing down their bond in waves of sparks.

He wasn’t sure how long it would’ve continued, as they’d actually run around like this until someone got tired before, usually Atsumu as he got fed up and didn’t have the patience to keep going. However, he’d suddenly found himself plucked right up into the air.

He’d been amused when she’d scolded Atsumu, though the amusement had faded a bit when she’d decided to scold him too, leaving him feeling properly chastised. He’d been more than a bit pissed off with his brother when he’d realized the nice smelling woman was bleeding because of him, though there’d also been a small frisson of fear, wondering what the consequences would be.

However, to his surprise she hadn’t actually seemed all that angry with either of them. Instead she’d immediately accepted Atsumu’s apologies as his brother, who’d managed to get a lungful of her scent had cuddled up to her. He could feel Atsumu’s deep interest in the human. His brother clearly also scented compatibility with her, which wasn’t surprising given they’d shared almost everything else in their lives.

He’d found himself more than a little bit jealous as he’d watched his brother soak up her attention. It had always been like that to an extent. Atsumu had always been the more outgoing one, the one who attracted attention, who wore his heart on his sleeve and somehow managed to win people over despite his often crass personality. Osamu had always kind of faded into the background as he was much quieter and had better control over his emotions, the silver to his gold, the shadow to his light.

Normally he didn’t mind, but this time being forgotten had stung. They’d always competed with each other, but most of the time he’d been humoring his brother, or simply hadn’t wanted Atsumu to win rather than wanting the prize of winning himself. This time though it had felt like more than that. No way was he going to let his brother steal her all to himself.

Before he’d really thought about it he’d reached out a paw, and to her credit she’d immediately offered him a sweet smile and resumed her wonderful petting. Atsumu hadn’t been pleased, but he hadn’t cared a bit.

It hadn’t surprised him at all that when Shimizu had come back with the first aid kit that Atsumu had insisted on taking over when he’d been the one to offer first. The two of them had continued to quietly compete over her attention as they fixed up her scratches, though he could at least feel his brother’s guilt for inflicting them on her in the first place, which did help sooth some of his annoyance with his older twin.

It was utterly gratifying that even when she had Atsumu literally in the palm of her hand, she’d still looked for him too. He’d tried to shove the feeling down and away, trying to remind himself that neither he nor his brother actually wanted another owner, but found it wasn’t working well. The combination of her scent and her fingers as she massaged her fingers through his hair enough to make him want to curl up in her lap and never leave.

He’d thought they might get in trouble when Sugawara returned. His fellow silver cat-hybrid belonged to the owner of the center, and took his job very seriously. He wouldn’t allow any of them to make trouble, and while he respected him, and admittedly envied him a bit for the clear trusting and loving relationship he had with his owner it didn’t stop him from wanting to claw his eyes out for bringing up their past in front of her.

Right when he was considering attempting to verbally eviscerate the other hybrid and damn the consequences his brother’s shock had pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned just in time to see her pull his twin into her lap. The feel of her hand gently squeezing his neck from behind practically made him limp with pleasure as Atsumu’s own bliss at being so close to her combined with his own to thoroughly distract the two of them, though not so much he didn’t notice her excusing their behavior and ensuring they didn’t get in trouble.

However, both of them had snapped to attention when the other hybrid had asked her if she wanted to adopt the two of them. He’d been able to feel his twin’s building hope, his impulsive brother apparently forgetting all about not wanting another owner, already clearly more than half in love with her despite not even knowing her for a day.

It was a trait he both hated and envied in his twin, the ability to be so impulsive, to move on so quickly and let go of past hurts. It wasn’t something he was capable of. He knew he was a grudge holder and far slower to trust than his brother was. He liked to think it served him well and kept him from being as naïve as Atsumu could be, though there were times it made things difficult too.

He’d been unsure whether he wanted her to state her intention to adopt them or not, right up until she’d said she hadn’t even considered it. It stung more than he’d expected, his own small hurt amplified by his brother’s though both of them had been somewhat soothed by her explanation that she wanted to know them better.

It was extremely reasonable and made him like her all the more, knowing she was the cautious type, more like him than like Atsumu, even if he simultaneously wished she’d been a little more impulsive just this one time and said yes instead. Though he found himself heartened by her honesty. That she’d actually asked them if they wanted to go with her rather than making any sort of assumption had settled things for him.

He hadn’t needed Atsumu’s silent pleading to forget their original plans to agree that maybe they should give this human a chance, though it did make it easier in the end to agree as he wasn’t the only one who wanted it.

They’d both tried to win her over, and though they’d accidentally fallen into squabbling more than once she’d handled it like a champ, not at all put off and even amused by it if the smile was any indication. However, despite the fact that they were the ones trying to win her over, it seemed every word she spoke was actually meant to win them over instead.

She was nothing like their previous owner, who’d been strict with his rules and harsh with his punishments. In fact she didn’t speak about punishments at all. He wasn’t naïve enough to think there wouldn’t be any if they misbehaved, but the freedoms she was offering in turn more than made up for anything she might throw their way.

The biggest hiccup had been when Atsumu mentioned their previous owner. The horror and guilt he’d felt from his twin was the only reason he’d managed to keep himself from doing more than hiss at him. His stomach had sunk when she’d gently pressed them for answers, but he knew they had to give her something.

He’d tried to give her as little as possible unwilling to volunteer the information, both because he hated even thinking about their time with their previous owner and because he was afraid she might somehow decide she didn’t want them because of it. In the end she’d changed the subject herself, and not brought it up again, but as she’d walked away from them with Sugawara, leaving them behind he’d wondered rather despairingly if that hadn’t been a mistake.

It didn’t matter that she’d turned around to comfort them when Atsumu had been unable to keep his heartbreak quiet. He’d known the minute she walked out the doors the chances of her coming back were slim to none. That was the other thing that remained consistent between this shelter and the last. Once a potential owner walked away claiming they needed to ‘think on it’ they never came back.

Still he hadn’t been able to turn away from her embrace, or to stop himself from scent marking the opposite side of your neck from the one his twin had claimed, laying his own personal stamp with the faint hope it would remind you to come back for them. However, no matter what you’d said, he couldn’t bring himself to hope. He knew hoping would only lead to more disappointment, and he wasn’t like Atsumu he wouldn’t be able to bounce back from it.

Not that his twin was making it easy on him. His brother’s hope was so fierce it was almost painful and he could feel the slightly desperate edge to it. He’d gotten attached to her, not that he could blame him, he was more attached than he wanted to be too. However unlike him, Atsumu had fill faith you were coming back, so much so he’d actually packed up his room into the bags they’d brought from his old place and was ready to go.

Nothing Osamu or any of the others, who also seemed to understand how small the chance was that she’d come back for them, said could sway him. The moment it had passed three o’clock Atsumu had brought hjs bags out to the shared living area and began to sit vigil, waiting for her to come back.

Stubborn as ever his twin had ignored all the pitying looks sent his way and the fact that slowly but surely time had slipped by, leaving just half an hour until they were supposed to close. Though his face was resolute, his brother wasn’t actually stupid and Osamu knew it was only stubborn pride keeping him in place. He could feel the slow onset of his twin’s hurt and despair as each minute ticked down.

He’d contemplated leaving him, going to his own room to wallow, but he knew he could never abandon his twin. They’d been through everything together, and he certainly wasn’t going to leave him now.

He was trying to figure out if he could coax his brother into leaving his post when the door swung open, revealing Sugawara, who had a wide beaming smile on his face. His fellow silver hybrid cast a quick glance behind him before ushering his follower into the room.

He barely caught a glimpse of her before his brother practically launched himself at her, but it was enough to freeze him in his place, because it was her. She’d actually come back after all.

His brother had wrapped himself around her, burying his face in her neck and clinging to her like favorite a stuffed toy, not that she seemed to mind, if the hands she was running over his hair and back meant anything. He couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, the words too quiet to hear over the sudden near painful hope and the rapid beat of his own heart at the thought that she’d come for them.

Atsumu’s joy was practically burning through him, combined with his restored faith and smug satisfaction that he’d been right all along about her coming back for them. It probably should’ve annoyed him, but he found that all he could really feel was a bone deep sort of relief.

“Where’s your brother?” she asked, as she finally managed to gently extract herself a bit from his twin’s embrace, though he noticed he didn’t let go entirely, one of his hands laced firmly with hers.

He immediately stood, letting himself fall back into his more human skin as he made his way toward them, not waiting for his brother to out him. She seemed to spot him immediately and the relieved smile on her face was enough to make his traitorous heart skip a beat.

“Osamu,” she greeted warmly, more warmly than he thought he’d ever been greeted by anyone before as she opened her free arm in an inviting gesture. It was maybe a little pathetic how readily he accepted that embrace, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, as he fell into her hold, face automatically nuzzling against the side of her neck that Atsumu had left unclaimed. A rumbling purr left his lips as he felt her press her face against his affectionately, as he allowed himself to cling to her for a bit.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she murmured to him quietly, her arm squeezing affectionately around his waist, genuine regret in her tone, “My boss made me stay a little longer than usual, and then there was an accident on the freeway. I called ahead though and Sugawara has almost all the paperwork done. I just need to collect the two of you, do some signing and we’ll go home okay?”

“Really? Yer takin’ us home?” he almost didn’t recognize his own voice given how weak it sounded, the quaver in it making him feel utterly ridiculous and overly emotional, something that was supposed to be his twin’s job, and frustrated him enough that he bit his lip nearly hard enough to bleed as he wrestled with himself, trying to get back in control of his emotions.

“Yeah, as long as you want to come, then I’ll gladly take you,” she offered with a gentle smile that made his heart squeeze nearly painfully in his chest, “Though there’s something I need to admit to first.”

He froze a little at that, staring at her anxiously as Atsumu also looked on, his blabbermouth brother finally silent and clearly wary. She carefully released him, though she still reached for his hand, peering between the two of them, anxious but also obviously determined. He allowed her to grasp her fingers, squeezing them automatically, anxiety making his heartrate skyrocket and bile rise in his throat.

“I asked the center about your previous owner,” she confessed, the words automatically making his heart drop, as he wondered numbly what they could’ve told her. Had she asked for the details? Was she afraid now? Had she changed her mind or decided to add some stipulations to their adoption?”

“I didn’t ask for details,” she clarified, her voice managing to cut through the haze of panic that had been rising in his chest, “All I asked was if they thought whatever had happened with your previous owner would cause trouble for me, or put any of us in any sort of danger.”

That didn’t actually sound so bad, and was even fairly reasonable the storm of hurt and anger that had been building behind his anxiety slowly dispersing the more he thought about it. He noticed that his grip on her hand had loosened a bit, and he retightened his hold, hoping the center had responded in a way that reassured her. Given that she was here, talking to them, he thought it wasn’t unreasonable to be hopeful.

“They said none of us would be in any danger, otherwise they never would’ve offered to take you both in, in the first place, and that they were sure you’d be alright with me,” she explained, her hand gently squeezing his in return.

He wasn’t sure if the bone deep relief he felt was his or his brother’s but he couldn’t bring himself to care, too caught up in the surging hope that followed it as she asked, “So, even knowing that I asked that, are the two of you still willing to come home with me?”

“O course we want to go with ya, right Samu?” his brother replied instantly, nuzzling into her neck insistently, clearly begging for attention, attention she seemed more than willing to give if the affectionate smile on her face was any indication. When she looked at him for confirmation all he could do was nod in agreement, unable to find the words for how very much he did want it and unwilling to sound ridiculous again.

The next half hour passed in a strange almost dream like haze, as he packed himself up, his smug brother clinging to her and gloating over how he was already finished, soaking up her attention as he made a mental note to get back at his annoying twin later. Once he finished packing all there really was, was a couple of signatures before he found himself in a nice car that was speeding along the highway.

Atsumu was chatting away in the front seat, practically bouncing as he asked their amused new owner anything that popped into his head as he tried to digest what had happened. Somehow, someway, they had an owner again.

You smiled to yourself as you listened to Atsumu babble away happily in the seat next to you. The golden furred twin hadn’t stopped bouncing since you’d showed up at the shelter, clearly over the moon that you’d come back for him. Osamu was quiet in the back seat, and you might’ve been worried he was happy to come with you if not for the way he’d scent marked you, almost frantically his hand clutched tightly to yours as you’d signed the paperwork to take them home.

It was pretty clear both twins had thought you weren’t coming back for them, and it had broken your heart a bit, and made you even more resolute that you’d done the right thing for all of you. You’d been anxious the whole day to get back to them, not nearly as focused on work as you probably should’ve been, which had been part of the reason for your delay in the first place.

You’d panicked more than a bit when you’d encountered the accident on the way there, afraid that you’d break your promise to the twins. It had only been Sugawara’s kind voice, assuring you that he’d start the paperwork while you drove and even stay open late if necessary for you to get there, that had kept your guilt and panic at bay.

Now that you had them with you weren’t quite sure how you felt. Dazed that it was actually happening, excited for what the future might bring, and a little anxious about all the changes you’d have to make in your life even as you looked forward to those changes more than anything.

However, before you headed for home there were a couple things you needed to do first. Luckily you would hopefully find everything you needed in one place, at least for today. You wanted to give them time to settle in a bit, more shopping could come later when they’d decided what they needed.

“Where’s this?” Atsumu asked, pausing in his excited babble to look at you with confusion, as you pulled into the large parking lot, “Ya don’t live here do ya?”

“Don’t be stupid,” his brother huffed from the backseat, “Yer gonna make her think we’re some kind of bumpkins, ya know what a mall is Tsumu.”

“O course I know what a mall is,” Atsumu blustered, twisting around in his seat to glare at his twin, “I just thought maybe she had an apartment nearby is all. Who knows how rich people live?”

You huffed in amusement, reaching out without thought to ruffle his ears affectionately. The golden haired hybrid froze for a minute under your touch, and you wondered if you’d done something wrong, freezing as well, before a rumbling purr left his chest as he pressed his head further into your hand.

“You’re too cute,” you murmured almost to yourself as you gently scratched his ears and stroked your hand over his face and neck, unable to keep the smile from your lips.

“We’re only stopped here for a quick couple errands,” you explained to both twins, reluctantly pulling away from Atsumu who offered a pout but didn’t protest, “I noticed you don’t have as much as I thought you would, and I want to get you more comfortable collars to wear when we’re in public.”

Both twins hands immediately flew to the simple brown leather bands around their necks. All hybrids were required to wear collars in public to identify them as belonging to someone. The collars had a tag on them, which was essentially a small chip that had all their owner’s information in it, that when scanned would tell someone how to get in contact with their owner. It was to ensure they behaved and that if they didn’t their owner could be forced to take responsibility for their actions. Any hybrid who walked around without a collar immediately had the police called and was brought in and held until they could figure out why they were without.

You’d heard horror stories about the way such hybrids were treated, innocent hybrids who’d accidentally lost a collar somewhere and been so traumatized when they were finally returned to their owners that they were never the same again. Which of course was why you were determined it was never going to happen to your twins, even if a part of you balked at the idea of putting a symbol of ownership on another sentient being. Judging from the looks on their faces, Atsumu’s much easier to read than Osamu’s they’d heard stories too, and neither of them bothered to protest.

“Come on,” you urged gently, climbing out of the car yourself, “The sooner we get the unpleasant stuff done the sooner we get to the good stuff. I’ve got a couple things in mind I’d like to get you both as welcome home presents, but if there’s anything else you think you want or need feel free to ask.”

“Presents?” Atsumu asked eagerly, practically bounding out of the car.

“That’s right,” you agreed with a small laugh, watching him sulk a bit as he realized his brother had beaten him in securing your free hand, Osamu’s fingers laced with your own and a smug smirk on the silver hybrid’s face, “So keep close and let’s get going okay?”

Luckily the mall wasn’t too crowded, and while the twins got more then their fair share of admiring looks, doubtless both because of how good looking they were and how rare twin hybrids in general were, no one actually dared to approach your group, even as Atsumu practically bounced around glancing around the mall in fascination and reminding you more of an eager puppy than a supposedly slightly older cat hybrid.

Osamu was much more dignified and kept close to your side, though judging from his wide-eyed look that he couldn’t quite hide behind his stoic façade he was just as in awe as his brother. You were starting to get an impression of their previous owner and it was far from good.

You’d known that some owners kept their hybrids close to home, either because they were overly protective or possessive, and it had always rubbed you the wrong way. Ojirou had always allowed Kita and Suna to do as they pleased for the most part, treating them as capable adults and equals, more like roommates than the pets some treated their hybrids as and his was the example you were going to strive to follow.

It was why your errands today were so important, because while you would happily have let your twin hybrids run around as they pleased dressed however they pleased a collar was unfortunately the one thing they couldn’t be without, especially if they were going to go outside without you.

Luckily the mall was outfitted with several hybrid specialty stores and it didn’t take you long to find one dedicated entirely to collars. Both twins were a little wide eyed at the selection, and neither seemed to know quite what to say as you roamed through the aisles together looking at the selection.

Several of them made you grimace in outright distaste, the collars boasting accessories like inward facing spikes or tracking devices that would alert the owner if the hybrid tried to leave their home. It made you feel a little sick to your stomach, so you instead turned to the less intrusive ones.

“Do you see anything you like?” you asked the twins, squeezing Osamu’s hand affectionately, “You don’t have to wear collars in the house if you don’t want to, but you’re going to need them if you want to leave when I’m not home, which means you’ll probably be wearing them a lot, so make sure to pick something you like. You can even pick a couple if you want it to match your outfit for the day or whatever I don’t mind spending a little more to get a handful of chips programmed.”

Both twins blinked at you owlishly clearly startled by the offer, which made your heart hurt for them, even as they hesitantly turned back toward the displays, looking more closely than they had before.

“Do ya have any restrictions?” Osamu asked bluntly, not quite looking at you as he eyed a display of thick leather ones that didn’t look comfortable in the slightest.

“No,” you assured him, “I’m not the one who has to wear it.”

Osamu nodded slowly, and seemed to be taking his time as he perused the collars. You let him do as he liked, allowing him to lead. You’d only loosened your hold on him once, thinking he may like to wander the store like his brother and not have to tow you along with him, but the way his hand had reflexively tightened on yours in response had put paid to that assumption and you’d immediately re-laced your fingers together.

In the end Atsumu approached you first, holding a collar out to you hopefully. It actually looked like it was meant more for a dog hybrid, thick black leather with steel spikes on it, making it look fairly fierce. Personally you thought it was gaudy and was probably going to be uncomfortable, but you tried not to let your distaste show, after all you’d said anything they wanted and you’d meant it. Luckily in the end you didn’t need to say anything.

“What the hell is that?” Osamu demanded when he caught sight of the collar in his brother’s hands, the disgusted look on his face letting you know his feelings quite clearly.

“It’s a collar scrub, what else would it be?” Atsumu replied with a sneer for his twin you were beginning to think was automatic.

“I’m not the scrub you are,” the silver twin sneered, “Because only a scrub would wear somethin’ like that.”

“Oy,” Atsumu interjected, with a fierce glare, “She said we could have what we wanted.”

“Yeah but she probably thought ya had some sort of taste, she doesn’t know you well enough to know how scrubby ya are scrub,” Osamu hissed back.

“Alright guys,” you interjected gently, squeezing Osamu’s hand and reaching out to gently ruffle Atsumu’s ears, aware of the eyes of the cashier which had definitely turned in your direction given the twins were getting louder and louder by the second, “Let’s try to keep it to polite volume levels in public hmm?”

“Sorry,” both twins grumbled, identical pouts on their faces that made you giggle.

“It’s alright,” you assured them fondly, “Just try to be good okay?”

They nodded though Osamu clearly needed to get the last word in as he turned to you with pleading eyes, “Ya think it’s an abomination too don’t ya?”

“I said you could have whatever you wanted,” you told him diplomatically, “If this is what Atsumu likes, then of course he can have it.”

“Ha, see!” Osamu demanded of his twin, clearly seeing right through your attempt at diplomacy, “She thinks it’s ugly too!”

“Do ya really think it’s ugly?” Atsumu asked you sulkily eyeing the collar in his hands.

You’d known before that you were weak to pleading eyes, but it turned out you were even more weak to the pleading copper eyes of your hybrid, the thought that he might be sad tugging at your heartstrings.

“I just worry you’ll be uncomfortable,” you assured him, letting go of Osamu’s hand and gently cupping his face in your hands, rubbing your thumbs along his cheeks affectionately, the same way you did for one of the hybrids that occasionally came to your office to sulk when his owner brought him to work but didn’t pay attention to him.

Atsumu immediately leaned into your palms, heavy lidded eyes half-shut with bliss as you explained, “It’s summer right now, and there’s no padding so it will be hot, heavy and probably chafe. Plus didn’t you say you wanted to play volleyball? Won’t it get in the way? I can definitely get it for you if you like it, but maybe pick something else too, okay?”

“Kay,” your golden twin agreed, sounding completely and utterly content as he nuzzled into your hands, making your heart melt in your chest.

“What about this one?” Osamu offered, pulling your attention away from his brother.

He was holding a collar in his hands, one that actually looked more like a necklace a thin but sturdy looking cord of leather fastened with a silver chain in the front that clasped on both ends to a silver hoop that suspended a solid silver disc in the middle that on close inspection revealed that it housed the chip needed for identification.

“That looks really nice,” you praised, letting out a breath of relief at his choice. You weren’t a big fan of the collars in general, but seeing it look more like a necklace made it seem far more tolerable. Plus it was black and silver and thus would probably go with just about anything he chose to wear.

Letting go of Atsumu to take the collar from his twin, you completely missed the smug smirk directed over your shoulder by Osamu as you inspected it, though Atsumu certainly didn’t, giving his twin an annoyed glare above your head.

In the end, while Atsumu sulked and complained about it, he did actually put the original collar he’d offered back and go with Osamu’s choice, even though you offered to get him both. He refused, sulking slightly all the while, but remained insistent that he only needed the one, even though you ended up buying four collars total, so you could have two back-ups. Though he did insist on holding your hand to make up for the disappointment.

Luckily the manager didn’t seem to mind having to program all four collars, tapping away at the computer, while Atsumu sulked a bit by your side and Osamu somehow managed to all but radiate smug superiority. The cashier carefully ringing up your purchases for you as you pulled your wallet out.

“A word of advice?” the cashier offered as you waited for the programmed collars, surprising you with his forwardness.

“You’re too indulgent with them,” he continued on, not giving you the chance to refute the need for him to speak, “Hybrid’s need a firm hand. You’ll spoil them if you let them get away with raising their voices in public and causing a scene. Don’t ever let them forget their place.”

You felt more than saw both twins bristle on either side of you, and gently squeezed Atsumu’s hand, before laying your hand over the back of Osamu’s neck. You wouldn’t care a bit if they wanted to verbally eviscerate the man who was eying them with clear distaste, a distaste you were almost sure stemmed from jealousy given the lascivious looks he probably thought you hadn’t noticed levelled in your direction. Unfortunately, you also didn’t want them to get into trouble, and weren’t quite sure what the law said about how hybrids were allowed to defend themselves from humans, something you planned to rectify as soon as possible.

For now however you weren’t about to let the twins get in trouble and cut in your tone as cold as you could make it, “I don’t remember asking for your opinion, nor do I care about what you think in the least. I’ll treat them how I want to treat them, which means I’ll spoil and pamper them as much as I like. I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself in the future if you want to keep this business running. As it is I’ll be sending my complaint to your superiors. Let’s go guys, we can find other collars elsewhere. It’s not like they’re hard to find.”

“Wait! The chips are already programmed and you haven’t paid,” the manager protested, standing up from the computer looking utterly appalled.

“Should’ve thought of that before your employee opened his mouth, and decided to spew his unwanted bile everywhere,” you countered with a shrug, “I’d consider finding better employees in the future if I were you, or at least teach them to keep their mouths shut.”

“But the chips can’t be removed from these collars, they’ll be completely ruined,” the manager put in, sounding more than a bit despairing.

“I’m sorry,” you told her, feeling genuinely bad for the woman, after all it wasn’t her fault the other employee was an ass, “But that’s not my problem. I refuse to support any sort of business that would treat its customers like this.”

The glare she leveled on her fellow employee was utterly ferocious and had him cowering back in his seat. Not that you could blame her for being upset, each collar was about three hundred USD so the sale they were losing out on was enormous.

“I can offer you a discount?” she tried hopefully, “Fifty percent off?”

You tilted your head thoughtfully, but didn’t reply instead turning to look at the twins who’d clearly been more than ready to follow you out of the store, “What do you think?”

“Us?” Atsumu asked, clearly baffled.

“Yes, you,” you told him with a fond smile, “You’re the ones who got insulted, not me, and they’re your collars. I’m happy to buy you whatever you like from wherever you want it, whether that’s here or somewhere else.”

“Seventy-five percent off,” Osamu bargained from her other side, taking you by surprise. You turned to see him watching the manager with shrewd eyes, and when it looked like she would protest he added in, “Seventy-five percent off and we won’t leave bad reviews on every site we can or send letters of complaint to upper management.”

“Agreed,” the manager huffed, shooting another vicious look at her employee, one that clearly read that it would be coming out of his salary.

You huffed, amused at Osamu’s bargaining, gently massaging your thumb against the base of his neck affectionately before releasing both twins and moving to pay, only spending a quarter of what you’d originally planned.

“Nice work,” you praised the silver hybrid once the three of you were out of the store and out of earshot.

Osamu shot you a sly smirk, looking exceedingly pleased with himself as he walked beside you. Atsumu had claimed your hand this time, so he was carrying the bags, though it didn’t seem to bother him in the least.

“Now that, that’s taken care of, let’s go grab your gifts,” you told the twins, tugging them along to the PineApple store.

“Presents?” Atsumu asked eagerly, practically bounding along beside you, your intertwined hands swinging back and forth between you.

Laughing you simply pulled him with you into the store. Both twins were wide-eyed as you browsed through, clearly unused to the cutting edge technology on display, both of them exceedingly cautious with the expensive looking tech. It took some gentle urging, but eventually you managed to get phones and laptops picked out for each of them.

“Isn’t this too much,” Osamu asked you in an undertone, clearly worried as an employee walked Atsumu through getting his laptop set up. It turned out that of the twins Osamu was definitely more technically savvy and loved his new laptop, though Atsumu had already managed to download several apps and games on to his phone and was thoroughly enjoying them as well, “It’s expensive.”

“I have the money,” you assured him gently, “And besides, everyone has a phone these days. I want you guys to have them in case you get in trouble when I’m not home and need to reach me, like if you got lost or hurt or simply need a human to ensure you’re treated fairly. I’d feel awful if you needed me and I didn’t know.”

“The laptops are so you don’t get too bored at home, though I hope you’ll find things to enjoy outside the apartment too,” you continued, absently stroking your hand up and down his back.

“Will you be wanting hybrid trackers in the new phones?” the employee asked, her voice professional as she began to ring up your purchases.

You hesitated. On one hand you hated the idea of invading the twins privacy, and on the other you knew that you fully intended to let them roam as they pleased so wouldn’t it be better to have the tracker just in case? A quick glance showed that Osamu was impassive as ever, and even Atsumu just looked bored, not paying any attention whatsoever, instead tapping away at his new phone.

“What do you think?” you asked them, more than willing to hear their opinions on the matter.

“You’re the owner,” Osamu told her, apparently speaking for both of them as he gave an unconcerned shrug, which wasn’t helpful in the least.

You grimaced a bit trying to think of a compromise before finally pulling out your own phone and asking the employee, “Is there anyway to ensure all three of the phones will track each other?”

“Let me go ask,” she told you politely, turning away to go grab someone more knowledgeable.

“That’s fair right?” you asked hesitantly, “This way you know where I am too and can come find me if you need me.”

“Yeah,” Osamu agreed, giving you a look that you thought might be something as close to awe as you’d seen on the silver haired hybrid, “Yeah that’s fair.”

The employee quickly returned and confirmed they could indeed make all three phones track one another, and in the span of a few minutes managed to get your purchases complete. Feeling like that was probably enough for now, you led them back towards the car.

It was starting to get pretty late, and the minute you’d exited the mall Osamu’s stomach had given a loud rumbling growl. Atsumu had made fun of him for all of a minute, before his own stomach betrayed him. You’d shaken your head at their antics, but allowed a surprisingly eager Osamu to order whatever he wanted for carryout from the Chinese place near your apartment.

One quick stop for the food, and you finally managed to bring your new hybrids home. Both of them were a little quiet as you led them up to your apartment, staring around and clearly taking everything in. Either Ojirou, Kita and Suna weren’t home, or they’d decided to give you time to settle with the twins as they didn’t emerge from their apartment as you arrived in the hallway and fumbled the door open.

“Here we are,” you told them, hitting the lights, “Home sweet home.”

Both twins were laden with things, carrying their purchases, the food, and their things from the adoption center. Still looking at them was enough to make your heart clench. It had only taken one trip to bring everything up, but despite hybrids being stronger than normal humans it still made your heart clench to see how very little the twins actually had. Each of them only had a medium sized suitcase of things, and Atsumu had a worn volleyball but that was it aside from the things you’d bought them. It was something you were determined to fix for the future, but for now you’d make do.

“I know you’re hungry, so unless you want to settle in for a bit first we can eat and then I’ll show you around,” you offered.

The twins exchanged looks, but nodded in clear agreement. You pointed out the bathroom just in case, but then brought them to the kitchen, trying to show them where everything was as you pulled utensils from the drawers. Osamu clearly paid much more attention to her explanations than Atsumu did, though both diligently helped her set the table.

The food was really good, and thankfully sparked more conversation, even if it was more subdued than earlier, all of them worn out from the long day they’d had. Osamu was clearly very interested in food, and not just in eating it the way his brother was. You managed to coax out that he’d cooked for their previous owner from time to time, and told him that as long as he was careful he was more than free to use her kitchen and anything in it for whatever he wanted earning what felt like her first real smile from the silver haired twin.

Despite how tired they clearly were, both twins helped you clean up. For the first time since you’d first discovered the lovely little Chinese restaurant there weren’t actually any leftovers, the twins having consumed everything you said you didn’t want. As they worked you noted it really was kind of nice, even if things were quiet, to have the company as they went about their tasks.

“Alright, so I wasn’t sure if you’d want your own rooms or if you’d want to share,” you told them, gesturing for them to follow, “We’re going to have to do some shopping either way, since they’re your rooms and I want you to be able to personalize them any way you want, but I think they’re pretty equal in size.”

The twins stared at you, clearly surprised, glancing at each other, to the rooms you’d offered, to you, and back again, the gesture making her more than a bit nervous. You’d thought there was plenty of space for the two of them, but maybe they didn’t see it that way?

“We get our own rooms?” Atsumu asked at last, finally breaking the silence, his voice quiet and disbelieving, copper eyes huge in his face.

“If you want them, then of course they’re yours,” you assured him, concerned, “I still have to clean out my study, but I didn’t want to delay adopting you and I don’t think it will take too long. There’s a pull out futon in there, though you’re more than free to share if you want a bed, or I can take the futon and one of you can have my bed for now. I’ve certainly slept on the futon before and I don’t mind.”

“You’d give up your bed?” Osamu repeated, looking like you’d just smacked him over the head with a fish, more surprise on his face then you’d thought him capable of showing.

“Just until we find something for you,” you told him, a little puzzled at his surprise but with the sinking feeling that your suspicions about their former owner were correct.

“But, why?” Atsumu asked you, wide eyed and a little teary.

“Because, you’re mine now,” you assured him, unable to quite find the words you wanted to say, but hoping you were conveying your feelings at the very least, “And I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe and happy.”

The sad mewling sound he made in response to your words was enough to break your heart, as he pitched forward squeezing you into his chest and burying his face in your shoulder. You pressed your cheek to his hair, rubbing his back soothingly with one arm even as you automatically opened the other one for his twin, a gesture that was slowly becoming more and more familiar to you.

Osamu didn’t sob the way his twin did, but the way he squeezed you tight let you know he was just as moved as Atsumu even if he was quieter about it. Seeing their genuine gratitude for what you felt was common courtesy broke your heart, but even as it ached and you did your best to soothe them you swore to yourself, to love and care for your new hybrids so they’d never want for anything ever again to be the best owner it was possible to be after all they deserved nothing less.

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[absolutepokemontrash]

MC is Half Demon and They Look Awfully Familiar

(Lessons 1-5!)

Part 1 Part 2 Lessons 5-6 Group Retreat Lessons 10-12 Lessons 13-15 Part 3 Part 4

So we obviously know that things would run a little differently with L!MC instead of a normal human MC, but just how differently do things go?

No Mammon, you are not allowed to babysit!

Unlike in canon, Mammon needs to be kept away from MC at the start. Why? He’s known this kid for less than a day, he’s gonna try and use them for scams.

Everyone else in the house? Well, they’re of... observing MC. This is a first, a half human kid just wandering around the house...

MC and Lucifer, despite their amicable meeting, were in this really awkward beginning stage where they didn’t really know what to do with each other.

“So...” MC resisted the urge to twiddle their thumbs as they followed their father through the halls of the House of Lamentation. This was their home for the next year. It was very grand... and also very creepy in some places. “Where’s my room?”

“Right here.” Lucifer stopped suddenly in front of a door in the hallway, nearly causing MC to crash into him. He opened up the door, the room was very very pink. “Asmodeus decorated, you can redecorate as you see fit.”

MC popped their head in and looked around, there were approximately a thousand pillows scattered around the bed. It was the perfect amount! The very pink colour scheme was... okay. Maybe they’d be able to switch some of it out for a nice blue.

“It’s nice! Thank you,” MC was about to say Lucifer, then father, then just shut their mouth. What were they supposed to call him? They had known each other for like... an hour. He seemed like the type to want to be called father, he was too posh to be ‘dad’ or ‘pops’, and calling their father by his first name seemed way too casual as well... Parental Figure..? Guardian? Sir..? Should they call him sir???

The fact that MC ended their sentence like they were going to continue it left the two in a very awkward silence. A+ job at conversation.

“Anyway,” Lucifer finally broke the silence. “If you need time to settle in, we can pick up the tour later.”

“N-no, it’s okay! I didn’t really bring anything so...” MC was in the middle of mentally cursing themselves out, they thought they had successfully avoided falling into the awkward middle schooler stereotype! “We can keep the tour going.”

“Alright then.” Lucifer turned and motioned for MC to follow. Wow... he was very... curt? Was that the right word to use? MC hoped this was as awkward for him as it was for them.

The next stop was the portrait staircase, Lucifer explained each one down to each minute detail, MC listened in rapt attention.

“We received that one from a painter from the sixth layer of the Devildom, it was quite a rare find.”

“How many layers are there?”

“Nine, we’re in the centre most layer. This is the most highly defended part of the Devildom.” Lucifer explained.

“Oh,” MC smiled. “Cool, so it’s like how Dante described it in the Divine Comedy?”

“Mostly, some changes have been made since that time.”

“Ah, okay.” MC nodded, a thought came to them which made them clear their throat to suppress a giggle. “May I ask a question that might bother you?”

Lucifer turned and raised an eyebrow at them. “You may ask one such question.”

“Why did Dante say you were frozen in an ice lake?”

Lucifer looked around, once he was sure that no one was listening, he turned back to MC, his voice was slightly lower when he answered. “I was ice skating with Lord Diavolo, I fell through the ice and into the lake right as Virgil and Dante arrived. Of course, Dante had to embellish or I’d smite him, if only he left out the ice part.”

To MC’s credit, they didn’t laugh, but they weren’t doing a very good job of hiding how hard it was to not burst into laughter. “Oh my... how upsetting...”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “I’d tell you not to tell anyone but,” his lips quirked up into a smile. “No one would believe you if you said anything anyway.”

MC gasped, but the gasp ended up releasing the laugh they were holding in.

The half demon noticed some of the other portraits on the wall, each of the brothers had a portrait, there were two demons that MC didn’t recognize. So that was their family... they wondered if their picture might be on that wall one day...

“Who’s he?” MC pointed at the portrait between Mammon’s and Satan’s.

“That’s Leviathan, the third eldest, the Avatar of Envy, and the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy.”

‘Oooo, so he’s a military guy!’ MC thought to themselves. ‘And the third most powerful brother? Wow... he must be crazy scary...’

“What about him?” MC pointed at the seventh and final portrait.

It may have just been MC’s imagination, but they swore they saw Lucifer’s expression sour slightly.

“That’s Belphegor, the youngest and the Avatar of Sloth.” Lucifer explained. “He is currently in the human world as an exchange student.”

“Oh,” MC studied the portraits a bit more. “Cool! I hope he’s having a good time up there.”

“As do I.” Lucifer replied. “Now we should move on to the Underground-”

“LUCIFER!” Asmodeus cried. “MAMMON’S BEING STUPID AGAIN!”

Lucifer sighed and dragged a gloved hand down his face. “We’ll continue this tour later, MC. Feel free to explore some more, try not to break anything.”

“Because the things might be cursed?”

“That and the things are old and expensive.”

MC spends the rest of the day chilling in the house with Asmo, who peppers MC with ALL the questions.

They does their best to answer... but it’s clear Asmo was hoping for something a little more interesting.

“So, do you run the human world?”

“No. No I do not.”

Finally, Mammon escapes whatever punishment Lucifer’s got him caught up in and tried to get MC involved in something that’ll probably make them lose their money.

Mini HC! A demon’s wings, tail, or horns might pop out randomly if they aren’t paying attention! The demon doesn’t even need to be in their true demonic form for this to happen. It happens more often with younger demons like MC!

Mammon stops his little scheme when he notices that MC’s wings have popped out and left a few stray feathers lying about... he can hear the CHA CHING sound already.

Our favourite dummy tried to Mission Impossible his way into MC’s room but MC caught him trying to make off with some loose feathers after they came back with a dustpan to clean them up.

Eventually, it was dinner time, and Levi was still camped out in his room. Mammon got sent to get him out, and he decided to drag MC along with him.

“I don’t think we should bother him-”

“Sh! We gotta get him out of his stupid room or he’s gonna stay in there until the exchange year’s over.” Mammon snapped, stopping in front of Leviathan’s door.

“I still don’t think we should-”

Mammon rudely interrupted poor, aghast MC by slamming his fists against the door. “LEVI! GET UP! DINNER’S READY!”

The only response was someone increasing the volume on whatever show was playing behind the door. Wow, petty. MC suppressed a snort until they realized exactly what they were hearing.

Was that...

“Is that the Sailor Moon theme?” MC turned to Mammon and asked. The moment the question left their lips the pair heard someone practically bolt to the door. It swung open and hit Mammon right in the face.

“MOTHER FUCKER-”

“You!”

Ah, so this was the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy. MC didn’t know that track pants and headphones were a part of the uniform.

“You like anime?!” Levi asked, MC slowly nodded.

“Y-yeah..?”

Quick as lightning, MC was pulled into the room, and Levi slammed the door shut, tragically, the door hit Mammon again.

“LEVI YOU ASS-”

Leviathan didn’t seem too interested in Mammon’s chorus of curse words and angry knocks, he was grabbing some figurines off shelves and showing some to MC.

“Do you know who this is?!”

“That’s White Blood Cell from Cells at Work. What about Mamm-”

“How about this!”

“Violet Evergarden from the show of the same name, now Levia-”

“Whose this?!”

“LEVIATHAN!” MC stomped their foot and pointed at the door. “Mammon said we need to go eat dinner.”

“Don’t interrupt me, human!” Levi hissed, MC rolled their eyes and snorted.

“Nice to meet you, by the way.” MC crossed their arms and let their wings appear and puff up behind them.

“...w-whu-WHAT?!”

“We have to go to-” MC was cut off yet again by Levi passing out. Wow... what a day...

Mammon was still pounding on the door, MC rolled their eyes and opened it.

“He passed out, can you carry him?”

Mammon was decidedly not careful with his dear little brother when he dragged him out of his room and into the dining room. When Levi finally woke up, he got an earful from Lucifer, and tried to kill Mammon.

Apparently money was owed that Mammon wasn’t about to pay.

So yeah, MC and Levi’s alliance did not stem from desperation, it stems from otaku-camaraderie.

MC and Levi planned their credit-card hostage situation over a fun evening of watching anime.

Mammon never knew what hit him...

“Okay Mammon, pay up or your credit card gets cut up.” MC playfully opened and closed the scissors before poising them to cut up the helpless credit card. Mammon let out a shriek and shook his head.

“NONONONONO- don’t do that!” Mammon put his hands up and let out a nervous laugh. “MC... wh-what’s with all the animosity..? We’re buddies, right?”

MC snorted and rolled their eyes. “Buddies don’t try and make money off each other’s feathers.”

“You heard them, Mammon.” Levi snickered. “Pay me back the money you owe me!”

“I don’t have the money right now!”

MC shook their head. “Pity... oh well, bye bye Goldie-”

“The money’s in my sock drawer- just please put the scissors down!”

They slowly lowered the scissors. “What do you think, Levi?”

“Hmmm... you have two minutes.” Levi said, Mammon took off in a sprint out of the kitchen.

“Nice job Agent L!” MC chirped, holding their hand out for a high five, Levi looked positively elated and gleefully hit his hand against MC’s.

“We did it! I’m finally going to have enough money to go to the live show! Couldn’t have done it without your help, Agent Near.”

“Wait- why am I Near?” MC asked. “You get to be L and I have to be Near?”

Levi crossed his arms and huffed. “Would you rather be Mellow?”

“No! I want to be Light! We agreed that I’d be Light!” MC hissed. Levi, literally hissed back.

Rude.

Anyway, Levi got paid, and everyone had a very entertaining breakfast. Well, Mammon didn’t have a very good time, but boo hoo he should have paid Levi back sooner.

I think MC felt legitimately bad for Mammon, all the insults and jabs being aimed at him made MC feel a little guilty...

MC took care to be extra sweet that day, and it made Mammon feel a bit better. You know what made both of them feel amazing?

Screwing with the dipshits that were talking crap about the two of them.

MC didn’t need super-hearing to notice that some of the demons at RAD found it to be peak comedy that Mammon got slapped with babysitting duty.

“...do you want to mess with them?”

“What?”

“Too late, I’m doing it with or without you.”

Mammon was totally in, obviously. A little magic to move some of the lesser demons’ things around and voila! They were all at each other’s throats and Mammon and MC got to enjoy a fun lunchtime show!

The Purgatory Hall crew got to meet MC too, of course!

“And this,” Lucifer gestured to MC. “Is the other human exchange student.”

MC popped up from behind one of the rows of desks and gave the three newcomers a toothy grin. “Nice to meet you!”

Simeon’s calm and serene expression dropped almost immediately as he quickly looked from Lucifer to MC. The latter just gave him an innocent smile and tilted their head.

“Is something the matter?” MC asked, through the corner of their eye they saw Lucifer smirk slightly.

“N...” Simeon snapped back to reality. “No, nothing’s the matter, it’s nice to meet you, MC.”

“You awful demons!” A much younger voice yapped. “You brought a human child down here?! Shame on you!”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “I’m overwhelmed with guilt, put me out of my misery.”

“Oh!” MC gasped. “You’re the chihuahua!”

“Wh-what?!”

“What?” MC shook their head and shrugged. “What’s the matter with me being a kid? You look like you’re ten.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m well over-”

“Am I just going to go ignored?” The third and final stranger asked, a cheeky/very suspicious looking grin on his face.

“Right, you.” Lucifer sighed. “This is Solomon, another human exchange student.”

“It’s nice to finally meet the other... human exchange student.” Solomon offered a nod.

“Likewise.” MC pretended not to notice the pause before he said human.

The first bell that meant “haul your ass to next period because if the cleaning staff finds you skipping class you will be maimed” sounded. MC slung their bag over their shoulder and brushed past their fellow students.

“Have a nice rest of your day, everyone!” MC chirped as they and Lucifer headed off to their next class.

“What do you stand to gain by pretending you aren’t my child?” Lucifer asked.

MC snickered. “It’s funny! Didn’t you see their faces?”

Lucifer half smiled and shook his head. “Perhaps.”

—————

“That kid is Lucifer’s.” Solomon said the moment Lucifer and MC were out of earshot.

“Oh thank heavens someone else saw too... I thought I was going crazy...” Simeon sighed in relief.

“Hey! We’ll be late to class if you guys don’t hurry!” Luke called from down the hall.

Solomon chuckled under his breath. “This whole year just got way more interesting...”

A lot of MC’s time got devoted to getting to know their newly found family.

Satan was proving to be very... polite? Almost weirdly so? He’d address MC like he would address a formal acquaintance, not like one would address a family member... or even a roommate.

MC tried the delicate dance of trying to respect his boundaries and trying to get him to like them...

Once the glasses incident happened everything kinda caved. MC had been quite rudely shunned by Satan and they were quite done trying to be his friend! Hmph!

...hmph :(

At least Beel was nice... despite MC being a little intimidated by his size and resting bitch face, MC soon found out that Beel was a massive cinnamon roll.

In return for all the snacks Beel shared with MC, they introduced him to at least five human world cooking shows.

“MC, why is the music so dramatic? They’re just revealing the cooking supplies.”

“It’s a reality TV thing... everything is 10 times more dramatic than it needs to be. The music’s doing its job though, I’m very impressed by that pie dish.”

Overall, MC’s first week at RAD was pretty decent! Until... well... until Friday.

MC could only hide their demonic side for so long...

“That’s them?”

MC slowed their steps and turned to look for the source of the voice.

“Yep.” A second voice confirmed. “Human kid, like I said.”

Ugh... of all the times to have needed to stay late after school... the hallway MC was in was completely empty and they had no clue where anyone they actually knew was-

“Boo.”

MC whirled around to see the two gossiping demons standing right behind them. They instinctively took a few steps back before the taller of the two demons grabbed them by the wrist and yanked them forward.

“Geez, are all humans this tiny?” The taller one asked as he slowly lifted MC off the ground. MC fixed him with the nastiest glare possible, he tried to scowl back, but ended up looking away and laughing to the shorter demon. “Look at them, barely enough for a snack, no wonder Beel hasn’t eaten them yet.”

Turning to the shorter demon, MC gave them a similar glare. “Put me down.”

“Tsk, quiet.” The taller demon snapped, he turned back to the shorter demon. “So if we just nab them now, how much do you think someone’ll take for their soul?”

“I-uh...” the shorter demon couldn’t pry their gaze away from MC’s as they tried to sputter a response. “I don’t think we should...”

“Why not? The exchange program’s still in its trial phase anyway, we kill this human and they’ll just bring in another one.”

The way he was speaking about them made MC’s skin crawl. How dare he? How dare he talk about them like they were just common trash? Who did this... person think he was?

An old familiar feeling bubbled beneath the surface. It had always been there, the intense, sometimes overwhelming desire to let the whole world know that they were better. The feeling coiled its way up MC’s spine and wormed its way into their head where it settled.

“You can’t be spoken to like that.”

Every single time this feeling had flared up, MC had done their best to suppress it. They didn’t know what would happen if they gave in, and frankly, they didn’t want to know.

“Let them know you’re not to be trifled with.”

The burning desire to crush the two demons like ants was almost impossible to ignore. MC felt their hands twitch and sparks snap between their fingertips.

“I’m not going to tell you again,” MC growled. “Put. Me. Down.”

“Human,” the taller demon turned back and cooed, his mocking tone made MC want to rip his throat out. “I said be quiet.”

His grip on MC’s wrist tightened until a sickening crack echoed through the empty hallway.

Bile immediately rose in MC’s throat as they let out an earsplitting scream. Their wrist seared in pain and their heart began to race hammer against their ribcage.

The desire to give in only grew and became harder to control, MC could feel themselves slipping. The feeling only had one simple question to ask, one that MC knew the answer to.

“Are you going to let them get away with that?”

Their face morphed into a cheek splitting grin despite the pain, their head tilted to the left as they stared down the two demons.

“No.”

Horns twisted and burst out of their skull as they dug their rapidly sharpening nails into the demon’s arm. Their teeth grew and sharpened while formerly hidden fangs burst through their upper gums. The agonizing pain of their bones growing, snapping, and shifting in and out of place as their demonic form took hold for the first time numbed as MC revelled in their new power.

Through the reflection in the taller demon’s horrified stare, MC could see their pupils stretch into almost catlike slits. He dropped them onto the floor while he and the shorter demon backed up. MC’s impossibly wide smile only grew as they watched the realization dawn upon the lesser demon as he stitched together what he had just done. The human he had decided to bother wasn’t quite so human after all.

“Oh?” MC cooed as their wings split through their back and unfurled behind them. “Where do you think you two are going? We haven’t even gotten started yet.”

—————

Lucifer was jolted from his conversation by a sharp blast of blue light and the sound of screams from a nearby hallway. He instinctively rolled his eyes.

“Lord Diavolo, pardon me but I need to go deal with a disturbance in the halls.” Lucifer said, Diavolo sighed mournfully on the other end of the call.

“Alright, if you must, but make sure to come over later! There are events that need to be scheduled.”

Lucifer knew full well that Diavolo was making half of the school events up as an excuse for basic social interaction. Oh well, it wasn’t the time to think on his prince’s social woes, he had a problem to solve.

How many times did he have to tell some of those idiotic students to take their petty squabbles outside?

Lucifer made his way over to where the fight was happening, he wasn’t walking with particular urgency, a fight on school property wasn’t too unusual, until a massive shockwave spilled through the hallways and slammed into him.

The Avatar of Pride felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up, that was his magical signature... wasn’t it? No, it was just different enough...

“Dammit.” Lucifer doubled his pace, when he reached the end of the hallway, the sight was just what he feared.

MC stood straight in the middle of the hallway with their back to him, two other demons were lying in crumpled heaps on the ground, one was next to an incredibly dented row of lockers while the other was lying next to an almost completely broken drinking fountain.

Lucifer’s own true form was out in a flash as MC turned to look at him. their eyes glowing a shining blue. Their lips curled into a snarl as they let out an otherworldly growl.

“Go away.”

“MC, calm yourself down.” Lucifer said slowly as he approached them. “Return to your normal form.”

The half demon bowed their head slightly and took a few steps back as he stepped closer. Lucifer almost patted himself on the back for such a show of authority, until MC paused and looked up defiantly. The glow in their eyes doubled as any sense of fear left them completely.

“I said, GO AWAY!”

They lunged at him, which he easily sidestepped, only for MC to quickly turn and latch their claws into his arm.

The child packed a surprising amount of force into their strikes, but he was able to block and redirect almost every single one. If this were any normal fight, Lucifer would have just swatted them away and have been done with it, but this wasn’t any ordinary opponent.

MC was his child, the exchange student, and going through their first transformation. They weren’t exactly rational or directly responsible for any of their actions at that moment.

During a first transformation the demon is almost completely relying on base instincts to function, they’ll go completely ballistic for a while, trying to tear through anything in their way until they run out of energy and pass out. Which is why during a demon’s first transformation usually happened much earlier in their lives under the watchful eyes of parents or guardians.

It was clear to anyone with even casual knowledge of demons that MC had fully given themselves over to their pride and wouldn’t stop trying to prove their superiority until they passed out.

Even though Lucifer was blocking and avoiding most of the blows, MC had managed to get in a few good scratches.

They snapped at Lucifer’s right hand, narrowly missing it and aimed their elbow at his jaw. Almost casually batting the hit away, he hissed in frustration.

“Damn it... MC, control yourself!”

MC snarled and sloppily lunged forward, only for Lucifer to use his wings to bat them to the side. They slid across the floor, their glasses falling off and skidding away from them. MC lay still for a few moments, their chest rising and falling rapidly.

Lucifer stood in place, waiting for any sudden movement. For a few moments, the hallway was quiet, save for the massive gulps of air MC was taking and the occasional groan of pain from one of the demons on the floor. MC slowly sat up and blinked a few times, then looked from side to side.

Something important dawned on Lucifer, he didn’t know just how blind MC was without their glasses.

MC’s rapid breathing began to slow as they continued to squint and search the area around them for their glasses. Lucifer almost audibly sighed in relief as the blue glow in his child’s eyes began to dull.

“MC.” Lucifer allowed his demon form to disappear as he slowly moved towards them, making sure MC could hear him approaching.

The half demon stopped scanning the area for their glasses and looked up at him, they awkwardly covered a yawn with their hand as their wings sleepily fluttered behind them. It would have been much cuter if MC wasn’t spattered with blood.

Lucifer slowly offered his hand, which MC eyed suspiciously. “Come on, let’s go.”

MC blinked a few times, then yawned again and awkwardly accepted his hand. “Mmph... m’tired...”

“That’s good,” Lucifer said quietly. “Everything’s okay.”

MC half nodded and awkwardly stumbled as they tried to find their footing. Lucifer tried to help steady them, but it proved ineffective as MC collapsed into his arms. Sighing, he picked them up and began to walk back to the House of Lamentation.

Just before leaving the school, Lucifer passed by Simeon and Solomon, who looked from MC, who had curled their wings around themselves and was sleeping soundly, to Lucifer, who had a few scratch marks on his face and whose hair was a complete mess.

“Ah, you two, one of you do me a favour.” Lucifer said as he brushed past them. “One of you go to the biology hallway and pick up MC’s glasses.”

Simeon and Solomon nodded and mumbled out an affirmation as Lucifer left the school with MC. Hmph, it seemed MC was right, their confused/shocked faces were quite funny.

MC woke up the next morning with the worst muscle pain they had ever and hopefully would ever feel. On the bright side, their wrist wasn’t broken anymore :D

They had literally built their true form. Their skeleton just stretched and rearranged itself, horns grew out from their cranium, their wings broke through their back and a new set of fangs decided to break through their gums... and then all of that new stuff was gone as MC lay in bed in their normal form like a deflated beach ball.

Not wanting to seem like a wimp, MC dragged themselves to breakfast, and everyone was all: “MC, go back to bed, you can’t do anything when you’re like this.”

“Quiet, I’m fine.”

“MC, if you’re fine, then give Beel a high five, make sure it makes the slap sound.”

“Alright then, Beel, come here.”

Beel didn’t exactly think to take MC’s shorter stature into account when holding up his hand for a high five. He’s tall, okay?

MC then proceeded to grit their teeth and try not to scream as they lifted their arm to weakly hit their hand against Beel’s.

“It made the noise..!”

“No it didn’t, I didn’t hear it.”

“Fatherrrr!”

“Couldn’t hear it, go back upstairs.”

When MC trudged upstairs, Asmo practically squealed and pointed out that MC had called Lucifer father for the first time. It’s a shame no one took a picture of happy/surprised Lucifer.

Side note: after the whole event calmed down, Lucifer was crazy proud that his kid kicked the asses of two grown demons.

Funnily enough, this incident is what kickstarted MC and Luke’s friendship! Luke heard MC got into a fight and brought over get-well cookies! Sure... Beel, Mammon and Levi stole most of the cookies but they were still good!

At school on Monday... hooooooo boy... the two demons that tried to kill MC had lived to tell the tale thanks to MC getting distracted by Lucifer, and now the entire student body knew NOT to fuck with MC.

A few weeks into the exchange year, things had settled into a somewhat normal routine... until one really shitty night in particular.

MC was curled up in bed, their new comforter and sheets were a pain to put in, but they suited MC’s taste much better than the pink that had been there previously. Sighing in contentment, MC felt themselves drifting off to sleep-

Mother fucker who was texting at the ungodly hour of 10:30 pm on a Sunday? ‘Twas the lord’s day and the lord of the house stated that everyone needed to get their asses to bed at a reasonable hour.

MC picked up their phone and put on their glasses. After being blinded by the light of the phone for a brief moment, MC read the text.

Not-Rich Uncle Pennybags 💰🕶: Oi! MC! U want a snack?

Not-Rich Uncle Pennybags💰🕶: I’m in the kitchen! Get down here!

After debating whether or not to throw Mammon to the wolves and rat him out, MC decided that they did in fact want a snack and hopped out of bed to go to the kitchen.

“Hey kiddo!” Mammon said through a mouthful of something in a container, a loose note hung limply from a piece of tape that was stuck on the Tupperware. “Next time, hurry it up, got it? Ya can’t keep me waitin’ like this!”

“Mm...” MC grumbled, rubbing their eyes and looking around the kitchen. “What are you eating?”

“Custard!” Mammon smiled brightly. “Ya gotta try this!”

Oooo, custard! MC grabbed a spoon and practically skipped over to try some. Right before they were about to try a bit of the heavenly deliciousness, MC paused and finally caught a glimpse of what the note said.

‘Property of Beelzebub, you eat it, you die.’

Uh oh-

———————

Okay, the next few bits of this WILL come out in order, I promise! Kinda... not really... eh... but it matters not! I hope you all enjoyed this! I didn’t leave you with a cliffhanger this time considering Lessons 5-6 are already out ^_^

So uh- wanna fight the demons that tried to hurt MC? I’m bringing the pitchforks, who’s driving?

[cryptocism]

wanted to say your Too Many Thad's au is super fun and all your clone designs rule! Five's whole deal is really interesting to me (he's the oldest AND youngest? rough) and his (physically) older design kinda jumped out at me. i like how he's more heavily built than his teen counterparts but also isn't like. uncomfortably ripped?? and the scruff peeking out is inspired. do you think Bart himself would look similar when he's older, or is Five different from him in that way?

yeah yeah yeah!! they've all got weird aging situations going on but Five definitely has it the weirdest.

how I've got the timeline rn means that CRAYDL actually created baby Eight and Nine in the cloning chamber before Three uses it to create Five and Six. unbeknownst to Three, CRAYDL's tampering with the machinery leads to complications when creating Five and Six, which leads to Five having to be sprung from stasis early and the exponential age issue. by the time he's chronologically 1 he's physically 3 or 4, by the time he's chronologically 2 he's physically 12, and Three manages to fix his aging before he hits 3, at which point he would've been physically 42ish. (the rate is about 250%) So he ends up in the mid-30s range.

which has gotta be! weird! for everyone involved. Three spends just over 2 years raising a rapidly growing kid, which is, first of all; rife with comedy potential. there's just a whole child in there and Three is constantly having to run around taking care of him, and CRAYDL is no help at all because they've got two 10 year olds they're taking care of hidden in the next room. Five is teething within six weeks, walking within six months, talking in full sentences by the end of the year. Three spends all his time reading parenting guides and recalibrating the VR learning system so that Five can get a semblance of understanding of his whole situation.

Five is in the extremely unique position of becoming physically much older than the person who raised him, which has gotta be? extremely weird. Five remembers vividly only coming up to Three's elbow because it was literally 2 years ago. now he's a full head and shoulders taller than Three and has to deal with a body and mind that are much older than he's really been prepared for.

and i do really want to avoid the 'mind of a child' trope because it's uhhh. bad! his capability for learning was accelerated just as much as his body was, and ya boy does have superspeed so getting a lot of booklearnin done in a very short amount of time is no problem. it's more that he just very literally hasn't been around as long as the other Thads have. As soon as Six got sprung from stasis he pretty much immediately started fucking around with time travel, meaning his chronological age grew an incalculable amount, despite him technically being created after Five.

so the other Thads besides Three really underestimate Five due to his lack of life experience. plus he's sort of quiet and doesn't like arguments or confrontation, and on top of that I cannot overemphasize how shitty of a conversation partner every single one of these little assholes would be. Five also genuinely cares about Three, and is the only one loyal to him without any coercion or manipulation on Three's part. They've all got fucked relationship dynamics but with Five and Three especially it's like a weird "thats my dad but also he's younger than me and i want to protect him like a son" recursive loop.

and on the rare occasions where Three and Five interact with anyone other than the clones, like when Three took them to get Four's body, Five is faced with the extremely odd situation of being perceived as the de-facto authority figure between the two of them. A stranger referring to Three as "your son" was probably the moment where Five was fully faced with the disconnect between his whole situation and the real word.

anyway to answer your question yeah i think Bart would probably look similar to Five when he gets older... possibly taller, but that's just bc I think it'd be funny if Bart starts out as like a 5'1" 13/14 year old and by the time he's 20 he's grown like a foot and a half. although I haven't really hashed out Five's design without the mask so he may get the blonde hair and/or blue eyes of the Thawne lineage who knows!!

[infernalrevenge]

HCs abt an S/O of Lady D's who's struggling to get her daughters' approval? It's rarely addressed in fanfics, but y'all.. becoming a stepparent is a hard and frustrating journey, especially when mama and kids have such tight bonds. Makes small wins feel so rewarding, tho! What are your thoughts on that? How would D react, how would she help? (or make it harder, in true possessive Mother Hen™ fashion..) Which flybaby would warm up to S/O first? How would S/O try to win each of them over, etc..?

Oooh this is a really cool thought! Not that I have a lot of experience with stepparents but yeah, changes and adjustments in family dynamics like that can't be easy. I think I'm gonna have some fun with this.

When the Dimitrescu sisters found out you were the human dating their mother, at first they were mostly indifferent. Not like it's their business as to who Alcina gets it on with anyway (and they could also be thinking you would quickly turn to lunch if you fuck up badly enough, in which case they would gladly join her in the feast.)

They might quip with you sometimes, but for the most part, you're left alone.

But when they realized you were here to stay and might become a parental figure in their life... oh boy.

You're telling them they have to answer to you now? A mere mortal? On what grounds? Just because you have sex with their mom? They think the fuck not.

Hell, they're individually old enough to be your parent, so truly... what the fuck?

(Part of that fear of you joining the family may come from thinking that Alcina now has someone else to preoccupy herself with, so there's less time for them. Perhaps even less love for them. They can't have that. That can't happen.)

As for your partner's reaction? She's kind of torn. On one hand, she understands how her daughters feel about having a new family member suddenly join the dynamic -- someone they barely know relative to each other. You could have been around for a few years, but they've been all together for more than half a century, and they're doing just fine.

On the other, she wants to see you all getting along. She loves you and wants you to be a part of her life, and of course she also loves her daughters with all her heart.

She's not really sure what to do, so she kind of... ends up not doing anything.

But she is curious as to what you'll do about the situation though, since the sisters would hardly make it a secret that your presence is an annoyance at best, completely unwanted and unwelcome at worst.

Bela, surprisingly, might be the hardest to win over. You would think that, as the eldest, she should be the one to lead by example and be the mature one. Plus, she's always looking for her mother's approval, so approving of you may get her on her good side (and yours.)

But she's very opposed to change, especially one that affects her life this much when it's not her choice.

She lets Cassandra and Daniela get away with pulling harmless pranks on you to get under your skin, or make Alcina mad at you. She pretends to not have a direct hand in them and would passive-aggressively remark on whatever they did.

Oh, your clothes were misplaced and looking for new ones made you late to a date with the Lady? "None of them were very nice anyway. This is doing you a favor."

You found dog poop under your bed and now you reek? "I don't smell that much of a difference."

Getting doused in sticky honey and molasses somehow? "At least Mother has a reason to think you're sweet now."

They would never do anything to hurt you, not unless they want to incur their mother's wrath or sadness, just... little things (hopefully enough to get you to leave.)

But luckily, if you're a patient and persistent person, they (ever so) slowly warm up to you in different ways.

The most important thing to remember is that they're different people despite having a lot of things in common, so your manner of approaching them will have to vary for each sister.

Daniela might be the easiest to win over, such a sociable little fly. She might try to be standoffish at first, but if you bring up a book series that she enjoys reading as a topic for conversation, she can and will keep you there for hours talking about the characters, dissecting certain themes, and explaining her theories of the inner machinations of the plot.

If you actually start reading it upon her recommendation, she becomes ecstatic. Finally, someone other than her sisters she can explain these theories to! And someone who can actually relate and add on to them!

Eventually, she'll come to realize that having you around won't mean the end of their family. It just means they're getting more out of it -- a new member to love, and one who loves them.

Cassandra might be a little territorial about her current interests, so you'll have to take on a different approach.

Maybe try introducing her to something that peripherally matches what she likes now. She seems to really like hunting and torture to take her aggression out on, so uh... maybe try martial arts?

It would be more fun if it was something the both of you were new at, so you could bond over attempting to do things together. Nothing says "I want to get to know my stepdaughter better" like letting her throw you to the mat and laugh in excitement when she gets the technique right.

She is still very stubborn though, so she may take a while to fully convince. Even when it seems like you're on her good side, there's a tiny bit of denial. But she'll come around, no matter how reluctant.

Finally, as for Bela, she just needs to see that, though most of her family now genuinely likes you, that it doesn't have to change a thing about how they feel about her either. They're not going to abandon her or anything that drastic just because someone new has entered their lives.

Seeing her sisters approve of you can be jarring, no matter how long or gradual the process may have been. Like, weren't they switching out your shampoos and putting snakes in your closet last year? Why is everyone buddy buddy now? (Why are they leaving her behind?)

She'll start to act bitter toward everyone, feeling like she's been betrayed and shut herself away. She doesn't even want to see her own mother anymore.

But eventually, you have to talk to Alcina to do something too -- she could see you were making an effort, but she's not making it clear to her daughters what exactly was happening. She should be the first to approach Bela regarding the subject, along with her sisters.

You may need some time alone with her as well to drive the point home too. Having more people in the family doesn't mean less love, but in fact it means more, because now you're there to care for her too.

And she has to admit that seeing her mother care for you, having her sisters like you, it didn't really feel like they were any different towards her. They were more insistent in getting her to spend time with you, sure, but other than that... things were mostly the same.

The acceptance may be begrudging at first, but when she actually gets used to this new norm, she'll come around.

If you want to bond with her, you can teach her something. She likes learning new things, and she'll start to warm up to you more if she has reason to keep going to you to get this new information.

It can be anything -- music, arts, sports, cooking, you name it. Even introducing her to new technology will help get on her good side. You'd be surprised at how quickly she gets into it that you start to wonder why it was so hard to get her to like you in the first place.

Also, just talk to her. As a person, as your new daughter, whatever. Just acknowledge her and be honest. She appreciates the little things.

All in all, it's going to be tough. The journey will have its ups and downs, and not everything is going to be smooth sailing. Communication is key, though, as with any sort of relationship. Let the girls know you care for them just as much as you love and care for their mother. In a way, that's all they really want.

But they're not calling you "mom/dad/parental unit". First name basis with a stepparent (affectionate) all the way.