#shes always doing research and asking questions so i thought she understood at least a little

[rewrentless]

.

[snippychicke]

I have a question!

You can answer this if you want if you don't than that fines but! I really really wanna know

.....how would balam be like when he's jealous?

Maybe specifically if he was jealous cause of reader smelt different than usual(before they were courting)

And other demons assume that they were courting another demon?!

When in reality reader has picked up making perfumes from plants after reading about it. (Surprisingly smelling like a powerful demon and having a resting bitch face when annoyed can make netherworld plants very obedient)

Please i would very much like your thoughts on this idea if you can't again thats fine. I am a really big fan of for the sake of a smile you are doing an amazing job on it. Please drink water, sleep well and always have a balanced meal.

Thank you and good night/day

Heya Anon! Thank you so much for your prompt! And for your flattery! As you know it will get you anywhere. 

Or at least a little side drabble. I'm not a hundred percent sure it was what you were aiming for, but it's what came out of my head. So enjoy!

Opera's words had rang in your ear from Walter park, and despite Balam's assurance that you didn't smell bad,  the thought of having a scent so powerful it could be detected across the sprawling amusement park did not sit well with you. 

So, during the next semester while everyone else was focused on the Harvest festival and then the Music Festival, and your mana was worn from trying out Runes, you researched something different. 

Perfume. 

Unlike Runes, there was a plethora of texts on perfumes and scent-based magic. A lot had to deal with seduction, but it was more the deception aspect that had your interest. 

After all, you wanted to deceive the whole Netherworld into believing you were a demon, and not a delicious human. 

The endeavor had you visiting Raim between her classes.

"You want to smell different?" The demon asked, looking rather perplexed before smiling. "Oh, I see. Trying to catch a certain Gargoyle's attention, are we?"

"No," You grounded out. "I… I don't know how to explain it other than I don't want to be so noticeable." 

Her fingertips caressed your cheek before settling beneath your chin, encouraging you to look at her eyes. "Darling, who ever told you being noticed was a bad thing? It is a natural power that we hold over those who feel even the slightest hint of attraction. What you want is that they are so awed by your beauty they fail to see the knife you wield." 

Which might work for seductive demons, but was definitely not what you were looking for. But she did point you in the right direction. 

And also towards Suzy. 

"Interesting combination," The small demon hummed as you followed her into the greenhouse.  "And you said you wanted to make a perfume?"

"Yeah. It's, uh, a long story." 

Suzy chuckled. "Believe me dear, I've heard it all. But to be the most potent for your scent, you'll want to harvest these yourself. If I harvest them for you, my mana would taint whatever magical properties you intend for it to have."

Every time you thought you understood the Netherworld, it revealed yet another layer. Perfume here wasn't just something that smelled pretty. It could be laced with magical properties, pheromones, and whatever else. A person's scent was as identifying as their appearance and sometimes more.  

It was a gamble, you realized - but one you were willing to take. Especially after facing down a flower that was a monstrous version of a dandelion and a man eating venus flytrap with nothing but a harsh glare and a set of pruning shears. 

--+--

You were fairly certain you messed up. You had decided to create your perfume in the Library's office, which felt more like brewing a potion. To you it smelt light, pleasant, and far different then Sullivan's cologne. 

But the looks you were getting made you wonder if you were missing something. Some looked rather surprised, others were giving you knowing grins and thumbs up. 

But it was Balam's reaction that made you doubt the most. As soon as he saw you in the hall, his dark eyes widened, his muscles tensing so much you could easily notice. He crossed the distance between you in a near instant, and you braced yourself, expecting him to pick you up into a hug as usual.

Except he paused just a few feet from you, looking very uncomfortable and confused. 

"Uh, is everything… okay?" You asked softly as he continued to stand there, studying you as if you had grown a second head or something. 

"Fine," He answered, sounding as if things were not fine. "Are you… is everything okay with you? Anything… new?" 

"N-not really?" You answered, anxiety bubbling in your gut. Why was he acting so odd? Surely it wasn't just because you switched scents. 

His eyes narrowed, and before you could probe to find out what was bothering him, he grabbed your hand and pulled you to a nearby empty classroom, making sure you were alone. "Balam…"

"Do you know how dangerous this could be?" He interrupted as he knelt before you. "I mean, what-what if they discover you're human? What if they hurt you? Or Iruma? I mean, caring for children from other relationships isn't typical for demons. How did this even happen? Did-did they force you? I promise, I can protect you. Both you and Iruma. Or… Or if you don't want me, Lord Sullivan…" 

You cupped his cheeks, unable to press your finger to his lips to silence him considering his mask. Still, the gesture achieved silence as he froze, his cheeks slowly turning pink. 

"Balam. I have no idea what you are talking about," You said slowly and clearly, hoping it would help him calm down from the panic he had worked himself into. 

"Your scent," He explained after a moment, his cheeks turning an even darker shade "It-it smells like you mated with another demon." 

It was your turn to blush, "W-what?! That-that is not at all what I wanted!" Oh god. All those looks in the hall. It was a walk of shame and you could never show your face again. 

You groaned as you covered your face. "No no no! I double checked the ingredients! To ward off interest, to hide another scent, it was supposed to be a replacement for Sullivan's cologne!" 

"It's… it's fake?" There was a hint of relief in his voice. He pulled you into his arms, and you found yourself nestled in his lap as he sat on the floor. His mask was pressed to join between your neck and shoulder, the cold metal contrasting with the hot breath escaping through the vents. The knot in your stomach shifted into something else as his hands wrapped around your waist, holding you still. You unconsciously held your breath, well aware of how red your face had to be from how hot you felt.

Your hands rested on his chest to support your balance, though it felt risqué in your position. Though, it meant you could feel him relax after a moment. But if you thought he would pull away, you were sorely mistaken. If anything, he pulled you closer until your chest was flush with his arms wrapping around you as he pressed his face against the crook of your neck. 

"Balam?" You whispered and received no response after a moment of silence. "...Shichiro?" 

It was the first time you said his given name, which felt taboo. Yes, you were friends, but not that close… right? 

He continued to be silent, but squeezed you a little tighter. As if… as if he was afraid you'd run away, or disappear. You sighed softly at the realization, and started to run your fingers down the back of his neck and shoulders in a hopefully soothing manner. You were still confused as to why he was acting like this, but no matter what the cause was, you felt compelled to comfort him. 

"It's okay," You soothed, allowing yourself to rest against him. "I'm sorry, it's just Opera's words from Walter park just… kinda stuck in my head. Humans have a thing against being… stinky. I just wanted to smell… nicer. I mean, I did my research and everything, so I don't understand…"

"You said humans can't smell pheromones, right?" He mumbled against you, his breath causing shivers to run down your spine and heat to bloom in your loins. All you could do was nod, untrusting of your voice at the moment. "Whatever you used mimicked the pheromones of a demon who had a… a mate."

"I get that," You confirmed, embarrassment threatening to overwhelm you. "I just…" Why was he so bothered?  

"I was worried someone took advantage of you," He answered after a moment. "That, for whatever reason, you… you…"

Oh

Oh.

You laughed through your nerves. "Oh Devi, no! I know having an…intimate relationship with anyone is off the table. I resigned myself to that fact a while ago." Not that thoughts still didn't haunt you, dreams full of desire and passion. 

Starring a certain demon in particular

There was another long moment of silence, his hands slowly rubbing your back and sides in the way he was prone to do. Despite knowing he didn't mean anything by it, the action didn't help the situation any as you resisted the urge to arch into him. Your gutter mind was happy to imagine those large hands grazing bare skin. His warm breath was replaced by soft lips and grazing fangs, making you clench your jaw.

Damn overactive imagination.

"If… if you need anything, please," He finally spoke. "I'd be happy to assist you." 

You tried to beat your gutter mind back, insisting that he didn't mean it like that. He meant making a new perfume, likely. Or just a blanket statement. It was not at all related to your previous discussion. 

"You're the sweetest," You whispered before pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I couldn't ask for a better friend."

[hotxcheeto]

HI!! I was wondering if you could go headcannons of Josh Washington with a cane user s/o? And how he helps them and mabye how he introduces them to group? G/n reader please if not that's okay! Please and thank you <33

━ 𝐉𝐎𝐒𝐇 𝐖/ 𝐀𝐍 𝐒/𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄

𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜(𝙨) - Josh Washington x G/N!Reader

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 - Cursing, slight angst?, super fluffy!!

𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 ? - Yeah/Nope/kind of?

𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚 - I hope you liked it!! had to do a tiny bit of research for it lol and I'm sorry it took so long!!! ily <33

You didn't know each other at first, you knew Sam though

You two had met after running into each other at the park, you were sitting on the bench and she was on a run and sat next to you take a breather

You kind of clicked and soon enough you became great friends, friends enough that she wanted to to introduce you to her other friends

Well one specific friend, because she just knew who you'd click with

And at first you were kind of nervous, you understood that you having to use a cane so young was a bit different then what people were used to

Especially people you're age

But Sam took you to the café anyway and there is where you met Josh who didn't even know Sam was bringing you

But he was enamored, and Sam knew it, he could barely form a full sentence without stuttering over at least one word

Then it was only worse when she had to 'leave early' and it was only you two

And somehow he finally asked if you wanted to go out, and of course you said yes

It came very clear very quickly that Josh didn't mind helping you and even liked when you smiled, giggled and asked despite some people in the past who were assholes

Being your boyfriend was his favorite thing

He always waits for you to ask, or if it's obvious you can't do something completely on your own

Josh doesn't just like to swoop in and do it himself, you're capable and he knows it, he's not your savior

He's your assistant, as you so clearly joked one time while he rolled his eyes and kissed you

Helps you up the stairs if need be, especially in crowded places and will tell someone to shut the hell up if they start complaining too loudly for his liking

Same with public transport, will fight a lady from her seat if you absolutely need to sit down, will even sit you on his lap if he's gotta

With carry anything you need carried if you can't hold it, he doesn't care how heavy it is

If you're ever in pain you know who to go to

But Josh is a huge jokester so prepare for him to playfully make fun of you sometimes, but only when the time is right if you're upset he's not gonna randomly turn into a comedian

He also probably has a ton of cane jokes up his sleeve, will tell them to you why you're both relaxing in bed until you're begging for him to shut up and sleep

And if you EVER get a little tiny bit insecure about having to use a cane he's right there reminding you that it wasn't the cane that made him fall in love

You're amazing, an amazing person that is so kind and sweet that if anyone made fun of you they're stupid idiots

That makes you laugh

You're just as nervous to meet the rest of his friends as you were to meet him

But he doesn't care, and if they make fun of you or don't like you he promises that he will borrow your cane just to give them a quick beating

Because they're obviously dumb if they don't like you

But surprise, surprise they very much do

Especially Chris since you know he's Josh's best friend, he's just also very sweet and helps you all the same

You guys get along great and Josh is over the moon

You even answer their questions because they are nice about, except for Emily who comes off slightly rude but doesn't really mean it

Quickly thought you become one of them and if you ever need anything, they're there to help always

ESPECIALLY his sisters, they're your sisters now sorry if you liked being an only child or if you already have some

They're pretty sure they like you more than him

And again, they'll always support you, they're the sweetest

Also will tell someone to shut up if they're rude, Beth does not hold back

[lutiaslayton]

Hello!

I come to ask you a question, as you are the leading researcher in the field of puzzle lore, and also a scientist! (Once more: congratulations!)

Apologies if these thoughts seem a bit.... messy and much. Feel free to just ignore.

I am currently writing a little story/fanfiction that includes puzzles, and first I wanted to ask if it is okay with you if I use your theory for that.

Second:

You already said that Puzzles, or rather Hamanier Particles have the ability to allow time/space travel, and that they allow clairvoyant abilities.

Puzzles/Hamanier Particles seem to be already used to research time and space travel, as your theory says.

Could puzzles have even more possible "applications"?

Is the main reason why the Azran were so advanced that they fully understood how to "use" puzzles and their supernatural-seeming properties?

Do you think they could also be the cause of other weird happenings and traits humans, plants and animals have in the series?

Could puzzles possess living things too and change them?

Flora Reinhold has the mole in the shape of an apple, that only appears when she is happy/laughing.

That isn't really possible, but perhaps that is caused by some sort of puzzle possession?

Could this also be an explanation for the nonsenical dusguise abilities Don Paolo and Descole have, that they might partially be literal shapeshifters (or something in that direction?)

A shapeshifting-like thing could also explain how Don Paolos hair works, why it is able to move around and shape itself in ways normal hair shouldn't (LF, the scene where he got his horns

Do you think it is significant that in/around puzzle shacks, plant seem to grow in strange ways (there is almost always a tree around, often growing indoors), and that other plants such as the sunflower in LF being able to store/attract puzzles.

(i also find it strange how flowers grow underground, at the grave of Viola Reinhold. But that might not be caused by puzzles, I think at least)

Could puzzle possession be able to alter genes/bodies? (here it becomes apaarent that my biology knowledge is not advanced enough yet).

If they potentially create little "weird traits" such as Floras apple-shaped mole, or even shapeshifting, then they might have the potential to do even more.

The animal experiments in LF were probably meant to test the time travel-capabilities of Hamanier particles.

But apparently, the exposure to them was what caused Subject 3 to become so strangely human-like, apparently altering his body(?) and making him able to "walk".

This might go to far, but regarding Animals being experimented with and becoming strange/humanlike-

The dog from LMJ, Sherl, was also implied to have been experimented on in a lab, and that is why he got the ability to talk.

Another Hamanier Particle experiment, maybe?

So, maybe puzzle experiments are not very uncommon in the Layton-Universe.

And that was... it, I think.

I don't know enough about science (yet) to properly understand the implications that Puzzles might be experimented with/have the capability to change living beings and allow "supernatural"-seeming phenomena to happen.

So that is why I wished to ask someone who knows way more than me.

Apologies if it wasn't understandable.

Hi, thanks! And, wow, that's a big one indeed xD

A few disclaimers ahead of time:

The theory is still a work in progress, in the sense that I won't be 100% confident in its solidity before I'll have had time to confront it to basically the near-entirety of the lore in the game. Which, obviously, is going to take a lot of time and work. So while I do believe that the current state of the theory is rather reliable, at least as a headcanon, I cannot claim with confidence that a few details here and there won't change in the future due to my finding out something else in the games/novels/other that I didn't know or had forgotten about, and which contradicts part of the theory.

I believe you likely saw this post already, but I link it just in case. I had tried in that post to make the theory's assertions as clear as possible, but the wording in some of your questions makes me wonder whether there might have been a few confusions here or there. If you or anyone else have questions regarding a specific part of the theory and/or you're not completely sure what X or Y means, don't hesitate to ask me.

Now, on to your questions:

Is it okay if I use the puzzle theory for my own fanfictions/fanart/other?

To you, and to anyone else who will probably ask again sooner or later (you're not the first one haha): YES. The puzzle theory by itself is something that I was stupid/crazy enough to come up with, but since the evidence that led up to me thinking about it came directly from the official content, it doesn't feel to me like the theory really "belongs" to me! It's as if you had to pay royalties to Albert Einstein whenever you wanted to write E=mc². Kinda stupid if you ask me (and even stupider in my case because the puzzle theory isn't nearly as fundamental to the progress of humanity as real world science is).

Also what fun is there in finding a lore mechanic that is so wide, could have SO many applications and implications, inspire sooooo many fascinating storylines and AUs, only for me to then go "nah I'm the only fanfic author who's ever allowed to use it. Get screwed, fandom." For real, the reason I share this theory at all is because I WANT the fandom to know about it and have their own fun with it, if they decide that it's a toy box worth adding to their collection of headcanons!

If anything, credit is appreciated if you want your potential readers-who-are-also-writers to read about the puzzle theory in turn and get inspired to also write about it; but it is absolutely not required.

However, one thing that is required (not really but I would love if you could do it): please do send me the link of your fanfic once it is written and posted because I absolutely want to read it 👀

TL;DR: Yes, it is ok, and I want to see it. Go wild, and have fun!

Hamanier Particles have the ability to allow time/space travel, and they allow clairvoyant abilities. Puzzles/Hamanier Particles seem to be already used to research in time and space travel, as your theory says. Could puzzles have even more possible "applications"?

I believe that imagination is our sole limit! (like, literally, since Hamanier particles are basically what constitutes complex thoughts in the Laytonverse)

That, and more importantly the fact that what scientists within the Laytonverse truly know about how Hamanier particles work and how to harness their power has yet to be defined in detail. They have mechas, Descole's machines definitely use puzzle shenanigans, and Dimitri was able to build a pair of glasses which can record a person's memories (aka also related to Hamanier particles). But on the other hand, the average Layton NPC's daily life (Layton himself included) isn't using technology that is more advanced than our own, far on the contrary. It seems that whatever it is that humanity knows about puzzle physics at the time of the main six games, the ability to actually control Hamanier particles remains rather niche (and it seems like Steam Bison might actually give us quite a bit to think about, especially the part where, allegedly, "solving more puzzles will cause the city to evolve technologically").

It's a bit like how humanity has known that electricity existed for aeons (without necessarily understanding how it works), but that it took a while between the moment when the first inventions which were capable of generating/relied on electricity were built, and the moment when every house in the country required electricity for powering nearly everything. I believe the Laytonverse is sitting in that phase where a few scientists in isolated labs were able to find the means to control Hamanier particles, but that due to the costs, or because it's tricky to implement in terms of engineering, or for other reasons, the knowledge of how to control them is either not well-spread just yet, or people just aren't jumping on the hype train to use puzzle magic to power everything in their daily lives because they don't see the point (at least not yet. Once again, let's see how Steam Bison appears when we get to see it in its full glory).

So, applications for puzzles/Hamanier particles in a daily Layton NPC's life? Well, let's see...

First off, something which is kinda used in canon but would deserve to be expanded upon a lot more: using puzzles as basically weapons for delaying someone, like a smoke bomb of sorts (could be offensive, could be self-defence). The dialogue from Luke after you solved London Holiday's Puzzle #009 has him talk as if he just physically had a jog walking on bridges in a tropical archipelago, all the while (as far as we know) he did not leave the confines of Layton's office. So did the puzzle make him hallucinate that? Was Luke temporarily sucked into a pocket dimension until he solved the puzzle??

I'd personally go for the former since the Folsense gas is a thing (and this interpretation does not require to find proof that a) such pocket dimension exists, and b) find an explanation on how it works, where it is located, and how it was created. In short: hallucination wins over pocket dimension thanks to Ockham's Razor). At least some puzzles seem to thus have the ability to trap the person solving them into some sort of trance until they're solved, which depending on the circumstances, could put the person in a rather vulnerable position where they can't interact with their surroundings.

So, list of possible uses:

Weapon for trapping someone inside their own head until the puzzle is solved (no technology required, just fetch a feral puzzle and yeet it at the person's face like a poké ball). Arguably already used in canon, notably with Bishop or Plover in Azran Legacy, and probably in dozens of other cases. It can be of note that their response after the puzzles have been solved is often along the lines of "what the heck! how did you solve it that quickly???", which could be interpreted as some form of "wtf bro it's like if my smoke bomb only lasted two seconds how do you expect me to have the time to make any use of it"

Time travel/teleportation, the former of which we know has been attempted, with near success, only to have the project abandoned. It is more or less likely that the same could be said of the latter; though there is no time paradox to worry about, I do believe that the main mechanism is the exact same as for time travel: it's just that you don't want the other end of the vortex to be set in a different time. So, in short: a bunch of scientists managed to make it work, but as far as evidence shows, they're not to the point of being able to make it safe and practical for everyday use. I'd compare Dimitri's time machine to the real world LHC: humanity's top scientists can do it for science, but the world is absolutely not ready to popularise the technology and have every layman get to buy and play Candy Crush on their own toy LHC (for a number of reasons, and the one asking "How can you even play Candy Crush with a particle accelerator?" comes with the lowest priority).

Speaking of teleportation, it is however possible that some characters actually already use it to some extent...? I'm thinking notably of Granny Riddleton or Keats. Or... perhaps that's also why Pavel is never able to explain how he ends up in the most random places. In any case, I believe that those instances are caused not by Laytonverse steampunk technology, but rather because of these characters' clairvoyance, or because of wild puzzles being particularly feral and kidnapping them across time and space. Poor Pavel must have made a few of them very angry. Or he's psychic and doesn't know it.

There totally is some illegal hint coins trafficking going on in the suburbs of many towns and cities, where most of the buyers are students during the week before their finals.

Scotland Yard and other police forces have a branch dedicated to puzzle-related problems. My personal headcanon is that Colby may actually be stationed in the reception room and rarely ever allowed on the terrain because the times when he is allowed on the terrain, it's because it's an eldritch shenanigans level of puzzle issue.

...

Layton's trunk, which is capable of holding a whole fish tank (just kidding. probably.)

Is the main reason why the Azran were so advanced that they fully understood how to "use" puzzles and their supernatural-seeming properties?

Yes. In Azran Legacy, we have the following quote: "We were masters of technology and science. There was no puzzle we could not solve." Now, of course, it could be coincidence. I could be reading into it too much. But in the light of the puzzle theory... Why couldn't we take it literally? It's not like all this glowing shifting stuff (which is somewhat reminiscent of Descole's Detragigant anyway) wasn't screaming "arguably supernatural" anyway. Also the fact that they can resurrect the dead (no I will never let that one go).

More seriously, the Azran basically turned the Illusory Forest's Ancient Tree into an immortal clairvoyant cyborg who records knowledge about the entire world by using a network of plants worldwide in order to absorb what is basically brain juice (aka Hamanier particles). That thing alone revolves around using puzzle magic to acquire knowledge.

TL;DR: Yes. Definitely. Absolutely.

Could puzzles also be the cause of other weird happenings and traits that humans, plants and animals have in the series? Could puzzles possess living things too and change them?

Believe it or not, that is one of the questions that will either be raised in Stable Like Sand (my own fic) at some point, or has at least been written and will just end up in the pile of cut content that didn't make it in the fic if I can't find a place for it to fit properly. But to paraphrase my notes: "That's usually what the immune system is for."

That being said… We do have a few canon phenomena: Folsense's gas and Labyrinthia's ink causing hallucinations/having strong powers of suggestion, Labyrinthia's water causing people to faint if they hear the sound of a bell made of pure silver… It could also be argued that at least part of the "unknown incurable illnesses" that afflicted quite a few characters throughout the series, sometimes leading to their death, are a result of puzzle decay/possession gone wrong.

It is possible that some in-game puzzles involve fauna or flora having been physically altered for the sake of a puzzle, but I do not recall any specific example, so take that with a grain of salt. I do however remember that Colby, a constable from Scotland Yard, has his chin get longer whenever he smiles (as in it's not just me overanalysing his sprites, it's literally written down on his in-game profile description).

TL;DR: Yep. And the more you think about it, the more horrifying it gets.

Flora Reinhold has the mole in the shape of an apple, that only appears when she is happy/laughing. That isn't really possible, but perhaps that is caused by some sort of puzzle possession?

Yep 👀 (and, unfortunately, this is also why I believe that both her parents died because of puzzle decay/possession)

Could this also be an explanation for the nonsenical disguise abilities Don Paolo and Descole have, that they might partially be literal shapeshifters (or something in that direction?) A shapeshifting-like thing could also explain how Don Paolos hair works, why it is able to move around and shape itself in ways normal hair shouldn't (LF, the scene where he got his horns)

I wish I had an answer for that. For the time being, I am stuck at the stage of raising my fist at the sky and growling "I will figure out a scientifically valid mechanism someday. SOMEDAY. JUST YOU WAIT LEVEL-5, I WILL FIND AN EXPLANATION FOR YOUR CARTOON PHYSICS."

To give some more details: I can say at least that Descole and Don Paolo's disguises don't seem to work the same way. Don Paolo canonically uses latex(?) masks and extra clothes matching the person he's disguised as, which he leaves behind for Luke to collect and try on during the credits of Diabolical Box and Unwound Future. This... would be simple enough if it weren't for the fact that he's the one who somehow managed to disguise himself as Flora.

Meanwhile, Descole… just puts on his hat, and boom there we go the entire cast of characters and the audience alike just went from "A platypus?" to "PERRY the platypus???" So current guess is that instead of a full disguise (although he might still be using some kind of disguise to some extent, I don't remember the mention of latex masks or extra clothes in his case), he instead uses some sort of illusion/hallucinogen mechanic. I wonder whether he ever went to Folsense/Labyrinthia (or other location with similar properties), found out about the gas/other, and managed to weaponise it in order to trick people into seeing and hearing him with a different identity.

By the way, what if the hallucinogenic something that Descole uses is the reason why nobody in-universe was able to see how similar Desmond Sycamore looks to Descole, and why he could just get away with basically wearing the exact same clothes (or at least shoes)? Huh. Perhaps for all we know, he doesn't even bother trying to mimic other people's voices when he's "disguised" as them.

Last minute addition by @toy-pigeon: "i mean if his cologne is so strong that whatshisface in phong gi was able to smell it, maybe THAT'S what the hallucinogen is"

And now back to Don Paolo... I guess his hair could be similar to the examples of Flora or Colby, now that you mention it.

...Maybe one of his experiments made it worse and he actually can somehow fit inside those disguises.

...Oh darn I believe that might be an option and if it's the result of one of his engineering experiments gone wrong you've got even more reason for him to be the way he is, with the diving into super villain mode on a whim and all.

Thank you, I hate it, and I need some ibuprofen because my brain is boiling.

(Man, imagine writing a PL fanfic with a shapeshifter in it and only figuring this stuff out a year and a half later)

Do you think it is significant that in/around puzzle shacks, plant seem to grow in strange ways (there is almost always a tree around, often growing indoors)?

By itself, I wouldn't call that weird or supernatural. There is vegetation everywhere, and it is precisely what the Illusory Forest's Ancient Tree uses to collect knowledge from across the world. Also, Granny Riddleton has her shack inside the Molentary Express for a bit... The miniature tree could be fake, or could take its roots in. um. somewhere...? (it probably makes more sense if it's fake, but I did say earlier that Granny Riddleton may be capable of teleportation, so. there are a couple of hypotheses that may need to not be discarded just yet. but the tweezers I'm using to hold those hypotheses are the size of Clive's fortress.)

If it has any significance at all, it would be related to the Ancient Tree's shenanigans, not to the local laws of physics.

(i also find it strange how flowers grow underground, at the grave of Viola Reinhold. But that might not be caused by puzzles, I think at least)

Also not particularly supernatural looking to me, iirc there was sufficient light in her basement/grave for vegetation to grow relatively well. The sight does not shock me; in fact, a lot of flowers benefit from having sunlight, yes, but not direct sunlight.

If you want an unambiguously unusual example though, look at collection item #13 of Azran Legacy: "Bashful Sunflower - This healthy plant runs contrary to the laws of nature by turning away from the sun." And the original Japanese version if you want it: 「はにかみヒマワリ｜貫録あふれる花と葉をたくわえていながら、おひさまから目をそらすほど内向的な性格」 (Translation: "Bashful Sunflower - Despite its sturdy flowers and leaves, it is so introverted that it turns its eyes away from the sun." So this flower is sentient and extremely shy.)

(It's easier to see if you look at its 3D model in-game, but it is literally using its leaves to hide itself from the sunlight)

…and other plants such as the sunflower in LF being able to store/attract puzzles.

I'd connect that to the Ancient Tree, personally... But it's also basically implying that the plant itself is indeed having strange properties, which may have been developed in its species aeons ago due to exposure to puzzle weirdness (it would be, after all, the explanation for why the Ancient Tree itself was born. Simplest explanation is very simply that the Ancient Tree is a clairvoyant plant, on the same level as Granny Riddleton for example. It just also happens to be a tree, but as we saw a paragraph above, plants also can be sentient in the Laytonverse).

Could puzzle possession be able to alter genes/bodies? If they potentially create little "weird traits" such as Floras apple-shaped mole, or even shapeshifting, then they might have the potential to do even more.

As TL;DR for this whole part of the ask, I will just quote an excerpt from my notes which tried to summarise the puzzle theory in as few words as possible (I now realise that past me had not added this paragraph to the list of screenshots in the post I mentioned at the beginning of this reply. My bad, I believed that it was not that relevant at the time since it wasn't really about puzzles themselves):

The animal experiments in LF were probably meant to test the time travel-capabilities of Hamanier particles.

But apparently, the exposure to them was what caused Subject 3 to become so strangely human-like, apparently altering his body(?) and making him able to "walk".

I would argue that adult Subject 3 doesn't look that much different from his baby self from before he was experimented on. Same for Sherl, he doesn't look particularly "human-like" physically speaking, and doesn't look that much different from other dogs aside from "main character design" syndrome.

(Beasly, on the other hand... Well, seems like Level-5 conveniently baited us by having a whole cutscene where he said he had a whole backstory explaining how he came to be the way he is, only to be silenced by Puzzlette. But I'm putting him aside. And also -- just like Sherl, not every human can understand him. If you try to talk to him while Luke is missing, Layton and Flora don't even acknowledge his presence, let alone are able to understand what he says.)

I'm just going to quote again the screenshot from just a paragraph above, but "Plants/Fauna are WEIRD" in general. Plants are sentient and acquire information that they then convey to the Ancient Tree, animals have some level of sentience regardless of whether they have been experimented on (otherwise Luke wouldn't be able to hold complex conversations with them such as the ones he has with Toppy or with the other rabbit from the Miracle Mask minigame), and they too are able to solve puzzles, once again regardless of whether or not they have been experimented on.

TL;DR I don't believe that the time travel experiments that Subject 3, or the Parrot (Subject 1) suffered from had any significant changes on their body or psyche, other than being traumatising events by themselves.

As a reminder by the way: regarding Sherl, just like Subject 3, Beasly, or other animals, only a couple of humans are able to understand them. In the main six games, Luke and Clark Triton are the only ones canonically known to understand animals (and feel free to watch the Subject 3 scene and the Beasly cutscene from Unwound Future, in both cases Layton really is just standing motionless in the back, metaphorically fumbling his thumbs and waiting for Luke to come back and translate; and once again, when Luke is gone from the group, it is possible to go talk to Beasly... or rather, try).

In LMJ, it seems like Katrielle and Ernest are the only ones able to understand Sherl (unless some other NPC that I don't know about showed up occasionally and everyone went "you can understand him too?????", I did not watch all 50 episodes of the anime yet). Interestingly, Ernest is shocked that he could understand Sherl, so it seems that while Ernest is Special™ somehow, he is not able to understand other animals. And though Katrielle was barely surprised when Sherl showed up at her door, it also doesn't seem like she can understand other animals either. Whatever it is that Ernest and Katrielle have in common with each other but not with anyone else, for them both to be able to understand Sherl... I honestly have no clue (none that even remotely makes any sense, that is).

Aaaaaaand I believe I addressed everything! Phew, that was a lot, and it actually did give me a few things to think about that I had not given enough thought to until now.

So the big TL;DR:

Yes please do use this theory/headcanon in your fanfics/fanart/comics/macaroni collage and please give me links once it's done because I want to see it and give it love.

Puzzle weirdness has a lot of uses indeed, with the only limitations being Laytonverse humanity's current understanding of their own laws of physics (for mad scientist use) and general society's interest for puzzle-based technology (for widespread daily use). It is extremely likely that they do not understand most of the puzzle theory and that they just shrug it all off because it's normal to them. It's just like our own world: do we all commonly understand the entirety of physics? Heck no! And yet it interferes with our lives daily. Physicists in our world are figuring stuff out to this day, sometimes figure out that stuff everyone believed to be obvious in the past is completely wrong, sometimes figure out new stuff that nobody knew was a thing. It's the same thing in the Laytonverse, whether with "regular physics" (assuming those still work the way we know it) or with puzzle physics.

Absolutely-not-widespread uses include but are not limited to: St Mystere's robots (if they are sentient, they most likely rely on Hamanier particles stuff. Also the part about altering Dahlia's memories... Well, just take a look at ->), Descole's Detragan, Dimitri's time machine and mind-reading glasses, probably Descole's mechas in general (on the basis that they are likely inspired from Azran technology to some extent)...

The Azran had totally figured out how puzzles worked, to the extent that they even knew how to resurrect the dead and (allegedly, probably on accident) create an entire race of sentient robots. Go figure.

This post contains a lot of Illusory Forest spoilers (not that they're new to be fair, I've been talking about it for a while and I'm happy I finally get to start sharing the translation with you guys).

Puzzle decay/possession affecting living beings, including humans, is a horrifying subject that I want to tread with caution; but I do believe we have enough instances where it seems to be the simplest explanation, to conclude that it is an unavoidable consequence.

So turns out Descole using a hallucinogenic gas of sorts similar to Folsense or Labyrinthia for his disguises could be an interesting way to explain how he can just put on his tricorn and °magic poof° now he's Descole (whereas Don Paolo needs a bit more time to physically remove his disguises).

How dare you plant into my mind the idea that Don Paolo MAY ACTUALLY(?) have some relatively limited(??) shape-shifting ability(???) I hate how I cannot in the present times come up with a better explanation. I prefer the times when I was just aware of the issue and trying to postpone it for later, meekly hoping that future me would be able to find a rational explanation. You have opened my eyes on the fact that I need to get out of my denial phase and face the issue head on. Even if it means throwing my hands in the air and giving up. I tried looking for a different explanation. I really did.

I believe fauna and flora are Just Like That from the start, because animals in the wild are just as weird as the ones that were experimented on, with the sole exceptions being Sherl, who is more in a grey area than completely sticking out of the norm, and Beasly who is. an interesting case to say the least. (an interesting case I have little to zero clues about for the time being. perhaps he's Subject 2 and what you said about Subject 3 actually applies to him instead. perhaps it is something else entirely.)

To conclude with your last few sentences -- if you intend to study the research aspect of science, good luck and have fun with it! (as much fun as you can have that is-- jk don't worry we're having a lot of fun even if 80% of our job is experiments or simulations not working and us crying because we have no idea what went wrong)

In a weird sense, I like to think of the puzzle theory as a way to introduce a simple enough way to go through the "scientific method" for research: you find something weird, you look for an explanation; and while looking for evidence in favour AND against your temporary explanation (*), you try your darn best to avoid that annoying confirmation bias among many other traps your brain will lay against you. The hardest part is to manage to respect Ockham's Razor (since the "simplest explanation requiring the least amount of assumptions" is surprisingly not always the most obvious one at first glance) and impartiality (because of the above-mentioned confirmation bias, notably).

---

(*) It is very important that we also look for evidence that challenges, or even outright contradicts our current hypothesis on how the thing we're studying works. After all, if your hypothesis is "all raven in the world are black," you can't be 100% confident in that unless you check every single raven in the world and make sure that you don't stumble upon a white one! And if you do find a white (or green with pink polka dots) one, instead of looking away and pretending you didn't see anything, you will adapt your hypothesis: from "all raven in the world are black," it will become "most raven in the world are black; we have looked at a thousand ravens so far and found two white ones, therefore the current state of our research leans towards the conclusion that there are 99.98% of black ravens and 0.02% of white ravens in the world."

[hologramcowboy]

Is it me or did anyone think the Hilarie book launch event was the weakest turnout?

This was literally her LAUNCH event.

—Held in Tribeca — a mecca for art and culture and urban center.

—Promoted over a month on national broadcast media and social media.

—Hilarie selected a friend, fellow actress and “witch”, that happens to have a million+ huge platform in a fandom that believes in the supernatural.

…and only 30-40 people showed up??

The Tribeca B&N probably had that size of a crowd on a normal Wednesday evening.

What happened?

If I were the publicist (cough Jeffrey Chassen) I would be kinda embarrassed, or, really disappointed in the lack of pull, participation and support Danneel showed her friend. Not a post to promote the event. Not a post after the event. Not a post recognizing what she liked most about the book. Nothing.

Watching the panel, Elta brings absolutely no energy or emotion, and didn’t seem to have even read her book, at least not enough to have an engaging conversation with her friend about it on stage. She looked bored up there and looked and acted out of place.

Or is her face so full of Botox that she’s just unable to express emotions??

Also, she had to GOOGLE what a Grimoir is…really?? Once again, showing how she never watched the show or understood a lot of the lore around one of the show’s most iconic female characters.

Hilarie ended up having to take over as she got out of her chair to engage the crowd. JDM seemed to pick up on the low energy as well and knows how to read his wife to help lift up the room. Those two are an in-sync couple.

I was just really surprised at how few people stumbled in to attend the event and be able to interact in an intimate setting with either Hilarie or Danneel.

I was pleasantly surprised that JDM was even there. Such a supportive husband and partner. Maybe they know how to work the optics, but dayum they got great energy together and both light up when they are near one another. That’s hard to fake.

I wonder if Danneel thought the bookstore wouldn’t be able to handle her (Jensen’s) swarm of fans if she promoted the event on her own platform, and why she chose to not support Hilarie AT ALL publicly (*sigh of sarcasm*)

I’m watching Hilarie on the morning show circuits and it’s clear Kelly Ripa, folks from the Today show and View have all read the book and are asking really deep and detailed questions and now I really want to read her book. I wasn’t even remotely interested after the launch event panel.

Sophia Bush is the moderator for Hilarie’s panel for the last event on the tour and she’s already posted about it and made comments on book details on Hilarie’s social. Along with so many others. (Kids, that’s how it should be when asked to be a panel host).

Her publicist is getting her great press and setting up a wonderful tour. It’s too bad the kick off event seemed to be the most lack luster part of what seems to be a really good publicity book tour.

Beautifully written and spot on. Danneel looked like she felt above the crowd and was unable to discuss the theme deeply. She's always faking being into whatever the crowd expects, like she did when she pretended Misha was her favorite and that she knew all his lines only to have Jensen out her later on and say she's only ever watched a handful of episodes. 🤭 Comments she made later on showed us even more how ignorant she is about the Supernatural legacy, lore and plot.

Not taking the time to thank her friend for all the free promotion and for involving her in the tour speaks volumes about how entitled Danneel is. Once again, she did not prepare and did not do any research beforehand. She's an amateur and it shows. She could have turned this into a good pr opportunity to create some buzz around her too, her friend at least tried to promote her (out of interest but still).

For the record, any trained professional actor should plan soundbites beforehand and promote the event in time. I guess Danneel counted once more on Jensen's fans showing up and her putting in zero effort. This event sadly showed she has very few fans which is no surprise given her lack of depth.

[dxwnfxll]

Um, hi. I was wondering if you could write about Dr Bright with an S/O who was formerly an assassin from the GOC who was tasked with killing Bright and bringing the amulet back to the GOC but instead fell in love with Bright and he eventually learns the truth because his S/O finally told him? It's fine if you don't want to, I just thought I'd ask since you're once of the only people who still writes about him. Thanks

Sure! And if i am correct from your other question you wanted to replace the GOC as the chaos insurgency soooo i'll do that!

N/n= Nickname/codename

As always Dr Amar replaces Bright/Shaw

Dr. Amar with an ex assassin oc

-a few years back you had once worked for the Chaos insurgency, you were once a highly skilled assassin valued by the CI (short for chaos insurgency) you were usually one of the first few candidates they chose to send on more 'dangerous' missions.

-you remember the day they called you in, you were training with a friend at one of the training rooms. A new recruit had walked in as you practiced hand to hand combat on the punching bag in front of you. They walked over to you "Agent N/N" you stopped grabbing the bag and looking at them "yeah?"

-They straightened up as they spoke "mission for you, very urgent. Said for you to head out immediately." They handed you a folder, you nodded "understood."

-the mission had been simple, kill the host of 963, carefully retrieve the amulet and get your ass back to the base.

-When you were first brought in, another CI agent had talked their way into letting you in. The man undercover as a 'Dr. Lunar' had shown you the ropes and what you needed to know. This was your first time inside an actual site, usually you were always outside of it with a sniper in hand.

-now you walked around in a lab coat bearing the name 'Dr. L/n' on a badge secured on a lanyard around your neck. You looked around for the doctor pretending to simply be following Dr. Lunar until there they were.

-the ginger person stood not that far from you, their current body being that of a woman. Her hair was up in a bun as he looked over something on their phone leaning against the wall.

-you went to grab the knife by your side as Dr. Lunar stopped you, he whispered "not yet." And let go of your arm. You knew from that what type of mission this was going to be..a long one.

-befriending the researcher was not easy, she always seemed to be busy. Always walking away just as you said hello, at least he'd usually apologize before walking away to some important matter.

-you two finally became friends though after you caught her in the break room, it had been 2 weeks total since you had been sent here undercover. You walked into the break room hearing them hum.

-they stopped before turning around just a bit to see you "oh hey there Dr uhhh" she squinted trying to read your tag "L/n. I haven't seen you around much, you new here?"

-You nodded and told the lie that had been drilled into your head by Dr. Lunar "yeah and no, i transferred here from containment site 25-B." Dr. Shaw nodded "ah, well guess it's not that much of a change for ya huh? Except no fear of an ancient warrior breaking out anytime soon huh?" She joked

-you nodded "oh yeah, now i just have to worry about an overgrown lizard wanting a midnight snack" Dr. Amar snickered at that "at least we can control when it's let out or not"

-you two began to grow close after that, weeks slowly began to turn into months as you still remained undercover. Your bosses checking on you every couple weeks or so to see how progress was, but now that you began to think fully about it..did you really want to take 963 back?

-you felt so..at ease around him, you wanted to protect the chaotic doctor and completing this mission would lead into only betraying them.

-as your boss called you that night you made up your mind, you didn't answer. You let it ring, you knew if you just didn't pick up they'd think you were dead. That the Foundation had found you, that you were probably rotting in some cell.

-and you were right, after that night they didn't call back..ever. You were most likely dead to the CI, and from now on you were Dr. L/n Dr. Amars..friend

-the months blended together until three years had passed, within those years so much had happended. You made more friends, got promoted, and fell for Dr. Amar.

-she had asked you out one warm summer night, as you sat on the roof of site-19 watching the stars. For once you were able to watch them without the worry of needing to shoot someone, you heard footsteps behind you and turned your head to see the ginger.

-you smiled at them "hey Jack" she smiled back at you sitting down "hey Y/n" they watched the stars with you "y'know..i like moments like these, we should have more of them"

-you looked at him "oh?" You had a feeling you knew what they were asking, as Jack looked at you she nodded "yeah..wanna go out?" You snickered a bit at how blunt he was with the question "yeah..i'd love to"

-that had been a year ago, life was perfect for the next year or so. You two were partners and you'd do anything for her, he was the love of your life and you felt nothing could tear you apart

-until you remembered your past, why you even came here. You wanted to continue to lie to Jack and hope it would be enough, but eventually you'd get caught..you knew you would.

-you fought with yourself until ultimately deciding what you needed to do. You called Jack to your dorm, you both would talk about this..as much as you didn't want to you needed to.

-it didn't take very long for Jack to get to your dorm, but it felt like Jack had taken hours to get there. But that was just your nerves, you were nervous..not just about being possibly killed for once being a CI assassin, but also scared to lose the person you loved.

-Jack sat on your couch next to you, you fidgeted with your hands as you just blurted it out "i was once an assassin sent to kill you and take 963, i'm so sorry i'm no longer with them i-" she cut you off "i know."

-you felt your blood run cold as you looked at them "huh.." Jack's usual goofy looking face had been replaced with a serious and even..scary face. No smile, his eyes didn't shine, and a shadow seemed to cover his face just a bit somehow

-Jack spoke "i know what you were..i figured it out after you told me you were from containment site 25-B." You cocked an eyebrow "how?" He smiled, a smile that didn't seem genuine but..dark. "Everyone there was killed in an incident involving SCP 076-2."

-you scooted away from him a bit "i'm sorry Jack..i really am i never wanted to-" he spoke again interrupting you "stop apologizing. I know you left, you've already made it up." He got up

-as he cracked his fingers he looked back at you still sitting on the couch "you're one of us now, your past doesn't matter let's just forget it." He gave you a smile before walking to the door "see you after work."

-and so he left, he left as your mind filled with more questions. You didn't know to either be at ease..or scared."

Hope you enjoyed!

Requests always open!

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One: The Delicacies of Time

Chapter 19: His Turn

"Good. Very good, Rumpelstiltskin, now take a bite and let her talk," Nimue guided.

"Prove it…" he urged, sitting back and grabbing his fork to start eating. He was trying to turn their conversation into a casual dining atmosphere, but the tone of voice he'd used…that was anything but casual. It was the voice that he once had when he'd been training her and asked her to work through a magical proof to be sure she understood the magic she was working with. And he was hoping it would evoke that very memory. "Make me believe. Give me a reason not to doubt. What makes you think that your magic is going to be any different than anyone else's? Why will your spell work when theirs failed?"

Zelena smiled, just as eagerly as if she was a student again, willing to please her teacher in any way possible. She explained that she'd been searching for an answer ever since Oz, ever since the other witches denied her what was hers. That was certainly an interesting way to view what had happened in Oz, but given his position and his goal for the night he let it slide.

She'd done her research, he'd give her credit for that. To find her future in the past, she'd looked to the past, an intelligent first step. She wasn't the first person to try and change the past, after all. Nimue was right, there had been countless people who had tried: wizards, witches, the Black Fairy, even one Dark One who was currently all a flutter in his mind at something Zelena had already said. He didn't like it. But then he didn't have to. He just had to sit there and appear interested until it was his turn to make a move.

And then something odd caught his eye, something he hadn't expected.

After working through her first glass of wine, the bottle appeared in her hand. She'd used her magic only...the necklace she was wearing around her throat, it had given off the magic, flared with enchantment.

"Well, now," Nimue commented beside him. "That's very-"

"Interesting," he finished for her, suddenly remembering...he had some memories of that necklace. Not from their world. Try as he could, he could never remember her wearing it in their world. But here...why had he never noticed, at least while he was sane, that she never seemed to be without it? Had she been keeping her magic so under wraps so as to keep him distracted? Or had he simply always been distracted when she'd used her own magic that he'd never noticed?

"That's quite interesting indeed," Nimue confirmed as he felt every Dark One turn his attention to that necklace. When she used her magic, the necklace flared. They knew what that meant. Her magic was somehow tied to the necklace. That meant that if someone took her necklace from her-

"What?"

Zelena's voice snapped him away from his theories and back into reality.

"What's interesting?" Zelena questioned, her eyes wide with desperation. She thought he was complimenting her. Or, given the way her gaze moved over him, she thought he was criticizing her.

"Keep those thoughts on what matters most, Rumpelstiltskin. We can consider this new piece of information later, for now, we have a plan to follow."

"This researched you've done," he commented. "It's thorough, impressive, and interesting. But again, while your history lesson is riveting, dearie, why would your spell work where others failed?" He pressed her as if he were interested as if he was reliant upon her information. And she seemed all too willing to respond.

"All those time travel spells that were written down before had one thing in common. They used three ingredients."

"Which makes perfect sense. You know as well as I do that three is a perfect number in magic. In this case, it would make the literal representation of the past, present, and future."

"Yes, as well as the physical, mental, and emotional."

He let out a derisive snort as suddenly the things she searched for and now possessed made sense. Physical, mental, emotional. "Courage, a brain, and a heart."

Zelena nodded.

He was right, she had wanted Regina's heart just for the hell of it. But then…why the Charming's baby?

"But I'll do you one better," she added as if reading his mind. "I've got a mind that remembers the past. A heart with enough resiliency to endure the difficulties of deciphering the impossible. And enough courage to use it all to change the future."

Or perhaps there was a reason why she wanted Regina's heart. Resilient. Yes, Regina was certainly that. But it still didn't give a reason for the one blaring hole in the middle of this plan.

"But that's not all you need," he commented. "If you had everything you needed, you'd be out there right now putting it all together and celebrating later. Why the baby?"

"Ah! Well, you see, that's where the others had it all wrong," she explained eagerly with a smile. "Three may be the perfect number for sitting still, but it won't make anything go. Three all by itself is nothing but a flash of power ready to erupt. In order to be sustained, in order to support an actual portal to the past being opened, one needs a fourth ingredient."

"Four? The number of-"

"Stability," she filled in for him with wild excitement, as if she'd been desperate to tell him all this for weeks. Hell, she probably had been. He let his brows knit together in faux consideration. "The others were on the right track. They paved the way and provided the foundation, I don't fault them in their thinking. In fact, it's worthy of being emulated. But where so many of them just got lucky in the past, my thinking is perfect.

"Rather than basing ingredients on the perfect number and fitting them to past, present, and future, or mental, emotional, and physical, or any other triplet those in the past may have tried, I've discovered that it's the four elements of magic that hold the key."

The elements of magic…

"Love, knowledge, strength, and purity."

"Yes, you can see the overlap, can't you?!" she insisted with desperation. "How they were so close, it was merely by accident and coincidence that they almost had it, but it was always that final one that escaped them."

Yes, he could see it. He could see the overlap and the coincidence she spoke of. A brain, not for past and mentality, but rather for knowledge. Courage, not for the future or the physical, but rather strength. A heart, not for the present or the emotional, but rather love. He could see where she was coming from…but that still didn't answer his question.

"You don't need the Charming baby for purity," he pointed out. "This is a busy town. Certainly, there's another child at the hospital that you could take who would serve your purposes just fine."

"I'm not going for 'just fine' though, am I? This spell…it's my chance, my baby! Given the number of deaths the pursuit of this has caused, I want to give this the best chance it's got. And for that…I need the Charming Child."

Oh…she hadn't come right out and said it, but he knew that kind of thinking, which meant that he knew why.

"A child of True Love."

"Yes, exactly! You see, it's not just death that awaited those who failed!" she inserted quickly. "For those that lived, they often felt after their attempts that their magic had been drained. This spell will do that to a person. Each time they came close, but the spell always needed a power source, a battery, this world calls it. In seeking one out, it used the caster who simply wasn't powerful enough to keep it going, but the Charming Baby…that baby is going to be the battery. The spell will feed on its magic instead of my own.

"Yes, Rumple!" she sighed with a smile. "It's real. I can guide us. I can take us back in time. We can rescue your son from the past, from right where you left him. And then we can go forward. You can make my mother keep me. You can make sure she gives me the life I deserve, the life that Regina stole! You can use me to cast your curse and make me everything that Regina was.

"You see how perfect it is, don't you? You see how truly wonderful it is!"

But it wasn't. It wasn't because it was not well thought out at all. Yes, Zelena had done her research on the casting of this spell, but not nearly enough research on the aspects of time that she was purposing that she change!

If he had his son, what need would he have to make anyone cast that curse?

And as for him and Bae…if he could do it all over again, he'd go with Baelfire, not stop him. What would stopping him do? Make Bae hate him more, drive him further away than he had been?

And what means would he have to make Cora keep Zelena? Hell, what would make Zelena think that being raised by Cora would be any help to her at all? Cora was only in the position she was in because she was because Henry's father saw her as a childless, rags-to-riches story. If the King knew she'd been an unwed mother, then he would never have offered his son to her. She would have been back in that mill, living in poverty, with no reason to ever summon him or learn magic.

Oh, this plan of hers was tempting if only because it would get rid of Zelena, it would send her back in time to live out a truly terrible life where she would never be a threat to anyone. But to give up everything else that they'd all found since he'd first lost Bae, to sacrifice his journey, Regina, Henry, Belle…he couldn't abide by that. Not even to potentially have Baelfire back. His son died to make sure that the witch was stopped, he couldn't repay him by erasing everything that mattered to him, including his sacrifice.

He'd found his line in the sand. He couldn't cross it. But he wasn't about to let Zelena know that. Let her think it, yes. But know it…not so long as he could help it.

"Strength, Rumpelstiltskin," Nimue encouraged. "If you do this right, then you'll be on your way to tell the others and put a stop to this before midnight."

"May I?" he questioned. He was so focused on what had to be done that asking permission hardly bothered him. Zelena nodded and moved to wipe her mouth as he came over and took her plate from her. "Thank you," he forced out, thinking only about how he should do something about the candles. That table was an important part of his plan.

"For what?" she questioned.

"For showing me something I should have seen long ago." When he turned to look back at her, he found her gaze trained on him, looking surprised.

"Work very carefully now," Nimue urged, sounding rather nervous herself.

Yes. He had to make this most unnatural thing seem completely natural, heaven help him.

"It's never easy for a man to admit he's wrong," he shrugged. "But I wronged you. And hurt us both."

"Excellent, Rumpelstiltskin, she wanted to believe you'd admit you were wrong, and so she will. Well done. Now, just a bit further…"

He reached for the wine bottle to pour her more, to serve her as she so desperately wanted him to.

"So desperate she might just buy it."

"Those mistakes can't haunt us, not anymore. Soon, history will be wiped clean!" she held out her glass as if to offer him a cheers and he gave his best sinister smile, allowing her to think what she wanted to, that she no longer needed that dagger, that he was playing for her team now.

He knocked her glass into her own and took a deep swig, knowing there wasn't enough alcohol in all the world to make this easier.

"Keep giving her everything she wants, and we'll get what we want…"

"Until then…" he smiled, setting the glass aside. "A gentleman always makes amends for his failings."

Carefully he reached out to stroke her cheek, not with his hand open as he did with Belle, but closed, like Mr. Gold had seen how many different actors do in how many classic romance movies. He did it mostly to see how she'd react, if she'd turn the affection away or accept it as he suspected she would. She looked stunned. Even flinched a little. But soon that turned to-

"You smell it too, don't you? Excitement…"

Fuck.

"It's just a performance. Strike while the iron's hot…"

He made a move to kiss her but couldn't bring himself to meet her lips. Instead, he found a juncture of her neck and put his hands on her shoulders…

Her necklace was right there, right within a breath's reach! He was here for the dagger, but he wondered for a second if going for the emerald would be a better idea-

"Leave it, Rumpelstiltskin," Nimue argued. "We can't be sure our theories about it are right yet. And you may succeed in taking the necklace, but without the dagger, she'll just command you to return it. We'll lose. Dagger first, humiliation second. You can do this…"

His stomach turning, he ignored the necklace and let his lips wander. The dagger. Find the dagger first…

"Good!" Nimue cheered on. "In a dress that tight, it can't be many places. Check her back!"

Zelena let out a sharp sigh as if in release, and he moved with her as he stood her up and let a hand trail down her back. Nothing but spine and a bra strap he gently pressed his fingers into to let her think he was teasing her.

"It'll be the legs then. Thighs and ankles, Rumpelstiltskin. Just a bit more! We almost have everything we need!"

And in the interest of not drawing this out any longer than necessary, he checked just that. He scooted her back until he had her against the table, until both her legs were around his waist and well within his grasp. Then he called out to his own magic. Sensed it there!

"Left leg! Low. Ankle!"

He kept his mouth working as he kept sliding his hands lower and lower. Reaching his hand out and-

Stop!

Magic froze him in his place.

"NO!" Nimue screamed in rage.

The sounds that Zelena had been making suddenly went from breathless gasps to a wicked giggle.

"Sorry, love. Afraid not!" she growled as she disentangled herself from him.

"Never on the first date, eh, dearie?"

"You just wanted the knife," she roared. "I hope you enjoyed the taste because you just squandered your only chance to have your son!"

The dagger was in her hand now. She hadn't let him move yet, but he could feel it just as he could feel the command that followed. Get back.

She was angry. He didn't particularly care. He may have found his line in the sand, but with one command from that dagger, he'd do anything that she said, including finishing what he'd started.

"Anger," Nimue snarled. "She's too fiery to use logic when she's angry, and that kind of punishment is one that takes the mind. Make her angrier and we'll be able to go."

"My son gave his life so I could stop you," he stated, following her advice. "And I can see only one way to honor that sacrifice, and that's to kill you."

"Celebration's over…" Zelena snarled through gritted teeth. "Back to your cage…doll!"

She sent a wave of magic over him, forcing him to obey, but given all the options, he was all too happy to fulfill that.

[globetrotter28]

Another Cover Up (Part 3)

Fandom: The Boys

Pairing: Soldier Boy x Fem!Reader

Summary: After Herogasm, Butcher, Hughie and Soldier Boy realise they might need more reinforcements. After doing more research, they discover the woman who was also injected with Compound V alongside Soldier Boy back in the 40’s. Everyone also thought she was KIA that day at Nicaragua. But if Soldier Boy was still alive… maybe she was too?

If you DO wish to be tagged for future updates, please let me know.

Tags: @msbadgirl @queenofspades20 @mimzy1994 @erinnkenobi @goldngguk @ateliefloresdaprimavera @roseblue373 @acarboni21 @sexyvixen7

Chapter Warnings: language, mentions of past trauma, nothing specific but implied sexual assault by a family member

A reminder: this story will not be entirely canon to the show.

Series Masterlist

You were sitting on the wiry mattress of Legend's guest bedroom he had given you to use. Hughie was sitting on the other side of the room, looking at something on his handheld device. He had called it a phone, but it wasn't like any phone you'd seen.

You guess this was something you had to get used to now. How advanced the world had gotten in the nearly forty years you were locked away... you'd been able to easily adjust throughout the years before Russia, but that was because you were living through it. You never woke up one day and everything suddenly changed, it was always gradual...

But Hughie... He was a nice boy, you'd decided. Honest and caring. He kept making sure you had what you needed, happy to talk but understood when to shut up... most of the time... but he was easy to be around. He never seemed to have a hidden agenda, which was always refreshing for a telepath.

Since coming back, you'd not had the best control of your powers. Being able to read a person's mind was easy, but before Russia you'd learnt to switch it off in a way. Only go into a person's mind if you chose to. But you'd been hearing everyone's thoughts and it was a painful migraine the past two days. So not all thoughts were clear to you, it felt like a hundred radio stations competing with each other. It was easier if you were seperate from everyone, or just one on one. You were however, quickly picking up some old tricks of the trade and able to turn it off when you focused hard enough.

He tried his best to not be judgemental. But with Ben... You've always understood that would be difficult for anyone.

Ben was... an acquired taste... and even then he was difficult to read. At least to those who didn't know him like you did. He always came across as this macho man's man. He'd kill you for saying it out loud, but he seemed more and more like his cunt of a father when he was like this. Someone he himself despised...

He's always played an unapologetically, gruff, ready to kill you, misogynistic man, but you knew he was never like that. Not really.

"Y/N, can I ask you a question?" Hughie asks, looking up from his phone.

"You just did." You respond curtly.

Listen, he may have been a nice kid, but that didn't mean you trusted him. Your headache didn't help either. So you weren't trusting of your abilities a hundred percent to accurately read people yet.

"Oh um..." he fumbled.

"Oh for fucks sake, what's your question?"

"Was Soldier Boy... Ben...," he corrects himself. He'd learnt very quickly you hated referring to your childhood best friend by his Supe handle. "Was he always so...?" He trails off unsure.

"So much of an Asshole?" You offer.

Hughie looks at you, as if to say he didn't want to be the one to say it, but you were right on the money.

"Pretty much yeah... after the V." You add.

"Not before?" He asks slightly confused.

You smile sadly.

"No... before Vought, before the labs, before the power and all the bullshit fame that came along with it... Ben was actually one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet."

You don't have to hear Hughie's thoughts to know he struggled believing it.

"Kid... you're scrawny and way more soft toned, but... you kinda remind me of him when we were kids..." you see a mixture of astonishment and offence on his face, causing you to break out in a belly laugh. "That wasn't meant to be offensive at all, Hughie!"

"I just, erm..."

"You can't see it, I know." You chuckle. "Ben plays his part pretty well... one could say too well." Your voice changes. "So fucking well he started to believe it himself..."

"How did you guys meet? They always said, 'Soldier Boy and Vivid have been friends since they were kids', but... I never really believed the true story."

"Let me guess; you were told we grew up on the streets of South Philadelphia and our father's worked together and mother's cooked together. Both had loving and supportive parents. Got each other through the tough times?" He nods. "You're a smart boy."

"Always seemed too perfect."

"It wasn't entirely wrong." Hughie raises his brows. "We grew up in South Philly, and we got each other through the tough times. But our parents hated each other." You chuckle. "Fuck, one time my father threw a brick through their front window. Our parents never wanted us to see each other, because growing up in the 1920's and 30's, girls and boys didn't play together. His father said it made Ben seem like a fairy, and I was a slut. Well... both our parents said that..."

"But they were your parents..."

"Hughie..." you scoff, "not everyone has great parents... ours were some of the worst." Your tone changes to one of sadness once again.

"We met when were seven." You find yourself willing to open up. "He was in a fight with this... tall and chubby twelve year old boy. Ben was holding his own, which was pretty impressive. But his father used to beat into him a lot. And when it wasn't him, it was his mother. So he had to learn pretty young how to block a punch. But this fucking kid... he got Ben onto the ground, was just... going for him. Pummelling into his face, his stomach.

But he kept breathing, he kept blocking. Got a few good hits in himself until the boy lifted him a bit and slammed his head into the pavement. He went to grab this baseball bat... I don't know why I thought I could do it, but I couldn't see this kid get hurt anymore, not when he was so dazed and now I know, concussed. But I ran in and snatched the bat from his hand, and I just started... hitting him with it."

"Wow..." Hughie breathed out, a look of awe on his face.

"I mean, I didn't get out unscathed, he was able to give me a shiner, but I just remember screaming at him... 'Leave him alone! Leave him alone!' And I kept swinging that bat. Eventually hit him in the head and he got knocked out. Headmaster finally came out and saw this seven year old girl standing over two boys with a bat in her hand. Concluded I'd done it to both and starting yanking me to his office to get the cane.

Ben, all concussed and shit, got himself up and started tripping his way after us, saying I was only sticking up for him. Headmaster claimed he was lying, so took the both of us for a caning. That was when we became best friends."

"That's really sweet actually." Hughie said with a soft smile.

"Yeah... we went through a lot together." You said with a far away look on your eyes.

"What about your parents?" He asks.

You looked at Hughie, and something told you it was okay to share your story with him.

"My mother was a bitch, and my father was a bastard." You say coldly. "Both our parents were strict Irish Catholics... my father... well he was never a friendly man, but he got too friendly with me... if you will..." you say, flashbacks of your father hovering over you in the dead of night.

"Y/N..." Hughie's voice is full or sympathy, his thoughts clouded with that and anger as he reads between the lines of what I'm saying.

"You know it happens a lot more than you'd think." You mutter, Hughie remains silent, letting you work your way through it as he notices your eyes beginning to water. "It took about a year of friendship before Ben or I would sneak into each other's rooms. Whenever we did, it was the safest I ever felt. Was in his arms. One time, I was coming back into my bedroom window and I found my father sitting on the end of my bed with the broom in his hand."

You swallowed as your throat tightened even more.

"He beat me black and blue... broke the broom... broke my arm... I was sixteen at the time. Ben had left school and was working in a factory, but he used to always pick me up from school. When I wasn't there for him to walk me home the next day, he snuck into my room that night. Saw my father and saw me, bruised and bleeding... so he killed him."

There's a heavy silence for a moment as Hughie processes the information.

"What about your mother? Did she know?"

I scoff scornfully. "Oh yeah. She fucking knew. She was glad it wasn't just her anymore." You go to grab a cigarette, quickly lighting it and taking a long drag.

"So what happened...?" Hughie prodded gently, wondering about the police.

"We ran away." You blow out the smoke from your lungs. "Lied about our ages. Ben joined the army, I joined nursing school. World War Two broke out, eventually the States joined and they found Ben to be experimented on. We wrote letters every day to each other and eventually my head nurse came to me and said I was to report to a General who had me be experimented on too. Ben had said he wouldn't do it unless I would and he was their only remaining candidate. So they did as he asked. And the rest is history."

There was a knock on the door, before Ben's broad shoulders filled the doorway as he makes his way into the room.

"What are you two doing in-" he cuts himself off as he looks between the two of you, seeing sadness and the sole tear on your face. He shoots an angry look at Hughie. "What are you doing?" His voice changes to one of anger directed at Hughie. He knew the only other time you cried was when you spoke of your parents.

"I uh-"  Hughie struggles to find a way to say anything before you speak up.

"We were just talking, Ben." You say sternly, looking up to him. "Give the kid a break." You send a message to him.

Ben looks at you, seeing that you’re serious.

"Butcher got some food." He grunts out, giving Hughie a warning look before walking back out the door.

Hughie audibly swallows, but not controlling his thoughts.

"You can't always help who you fall in love with, kid." You sigh heavily. He looks at you, shame on his face at being caught out. "Pfft, please... you're the not the only one who thinks he's a piece of shit. Trust me... he can be. He prefers people to think it... sometimes even I wish I didn't care for him considering what he's done to me, but... I'll always remember that seven year old boy." You take the last drag of the cigarette, wishing it was something stronger, before you put it out in the ash tray.

"I'm just not... used to how volatile he can be." Hughie says.

"Yeah... it takes some getting used to. But deep down... he's a big softy." You shrug softly.

"You've never been more with him?" He asks softly, knowing Ben has supe hearing. "More than friends?"

You look up at him, knowing the sadness was filling your face. You lick your lips, a tick you picked up from Ben when you were young.

"No. I've never told him how I feel." You swallow once again.

"He's pretty blind for a Supe." He offers gently as a way to cheer you up. His sweetness kind of works on you.

"Thanks, kid." You say as you walk over and pat him on the shoulder. He gives you a small smile. "You're one of the good ones. I hope you and Annie can work it out."

His face quickly morphs into one of shock. "How di-"

You cut him off with a tap to your temple and a grin on your face. "Remember?"

~~~~~~~~

"What other leads do we have on Mindstorm?" Butcher posed the question to the group around the dining table, but was clearly aimed at Ben and yourself.

"I know he bought some cabins back '81." Ben answers around a mouthful of burger.

"Cabins?" Butcher clarifies.

"Yeah, Mindstorm was always pretty paranoid." You say. "Wanted safe houses"

"Do you know any of the locations?" Hughie asked, pulling his phone across the table to him.

"I know a few in the state. He was starting locally." You said, eyeing him tapping away at his phone with his thumbs with slight confusion.

"I never understood why he bothered telling us locations. It's like the dumb fuck never understood the point of a safe house." Ben snickers. "But he only gave me a few in surrounding states."

"Let me get a pen, I'll write them down." You offer as you move to get up to search for a pad and pen.

"No need, Y/N." You look at Hughie, knowing it'd be hard for him to remember all the locations. He only wiggles his phone at you. "I'm writing it in a note on my phone."

You can't help the slight widening of your eyes in that same confusion from earlier before looking at Ben. You don't know what for... support in knowing you don't understand what is happening maybe?

"You're what?" You finally voice your confusion.

"Technology has come a long way, Y/N/N. They got GPS, internet, weefee, blue toes. All kinds of crap." Ben says with a very clear sense of self confidence.

You look at him even more confused.

"You made those words up." You narrow your eyes at him.

"I did not. Hughie, tell her." Ben gestures to you.

"I mean.. he got them half right..." Ben glares him. "Wifi and Bluetooth, but yeah, he's right. Technology has come a long way."

Ben and you give Butcher and Hughie the locations you can remember, before deciding Butcher would go out tomorrow and start scouting.

"Do you care for some company, Butcher?" You ask.

You don't expect a positive response, but just put out the idea because you didn't want to spend another day in the house where Ben was screwing Legend's staff. Luckily for you, Butcher doesn't disappoint.

"Um..." he looks to Hughie, seeing a small hopeful look on his face. "Yeah... yeah a'right."

"Leave bright and early?" You suggest.

"Sounds good to me, love."

Part 4

[voiceless-terror]

I am so completely enamored with Danny as jons ex and I would be forever in your debt if you finished that

i wasn't expecting people to like this idea so much, its definitely one of my weirder ones xD since im not sure when i'll get around to actually finishing it (if ever) you can have a very rough chunk of it instead. you'll have to forgive any mistakes, im not up to editing it.

In a surprising show of athleticism, Jon ducks under Sasha’s chair before the specter of his past manages to see him.

Sasha swears at the action, backing up in her chair and peering down at Jon in bafflement. “What on Earth are you doing, Jon?”

Instead of answering her question, he backs up even further, tucking his feet out of sight. He thinks Sasha’s umbrella must be under here, and judging from the sharp point currently jabbing at his thigh, he probably broke it. “Is he still there?” he hisses, tilting his head to avoid bashing it into the desk.

“Who?”

“That- that man!”

A pause. “Tall, dark and handsome?”

Jon’s turn to pause. “I suppose you might call him that,” he replies stiffly. And it’s true. The man, from Jon’s brief, panicked glimpses, is at least six foot, with thick, dark hair and a bright grin.

And he looks exactly like Jon’s ex, Danny Stoker.

He’d done an almost comical double-take after a cursory glance; at first he’d thought Danny was the new hire, but this man was more angular, like a sharper, leaner version of his ex. So no, it couldn’t be him.

That didn’t stop him from diving under the nearest object, ergo Sasha’s desk. Not the wisest of decisions, considering his throbbing side, but he’s never been known for grace under pressure.

He’s not exactly sure why this fight or flight mode’s been activated- he and Danny had parted on fairly good terms, each recognizing that although they cared about the other, they simply weren’t compatible in the long term. They’d dated for a little over six months when Jon was a freshman, and he’d fallen hard.

Danny had been his first real relationship, and Jon was shocked that someone like him even looked his way. Impossibly handsome, incredibly fit, desired and envied in equal measure, and he dated scrawny, shy, insecure Jonathan Sims; the rumor mill went wild. They’d met at a party, and not even a good one. In a brief moment of liquid courage, Jon managed to insert himself into a group and fit in one snarky joke that sent Danny into stitches, the rest of the partygoers following his lead. For one second, Jon felt like he truly fit in, like he was someone worth knowing.

Danny had a way of making someone feel special. Big, romantic gestures, surprising him after class, taking him on little expeditions beyond campus. Jon didn’t drive, still doesn’t, and Danny wanted to show him the world outside of their privileged little campus.

But, like all of Jon’s relationships, it came to an end. Jon wasn’t ready for such overwhelming affection (didn’t think he deserved it, quite frankly), and Danny needed someone who could handle his fast-paced lifestyle. Jon was not that man. They broke up amicably, even if Jon shed a few tears in private, saw each other on campus a few times. Danny tried to reach out more than once, just as friends, but Jon’s never been able to handle more than one relationship at a time, and by then he’d met Georgie.

But now it seems the past is unavoidable, and standing near the circulation desk. Well, now walking in his direction, if the steady footsteps were any indication. Jon’s heart begins to hammer in his chest as it hits him that he is, in fact, hiding under a desk because a man who sort of looks like his ex is in his general vicinity. Coward.

“‘Lo!” God, even the voice is similar, if not as deep. “Tim Stoker. Reporting for duty.”

Stoker. Tim Stoker. Jon startles, slamming his head against the desk with a yelp.

Somewhere in his spiraling thoughts and throbbing head he remembers- Danny had a brother. An older brother that he adored. This must be the famous Tim- Danny made him out to be a saint, and though Jon never met him, he felt some fondness via Danny’s descriptions. But Tim’s going to have no fondness for him, especially considering Jon’s current position, hiding in pain under his coworkers desk.

“Pleased to meet you!” Sasha chirps, very clearly amused by the situation. “I’m Sasha James. And this-” she tugs at one of Jon’s legs, dragging him a few inches into sight. Jon buries his head in his hands and wishes he were invisible. “-is Jonathan Sims. We’ll be training you.”

“Excellent.” Tim’s voice holds the same good humor Danny’s always did, and sends a pang of nostalgia through his chest. “Er, you alright down there?”

“Yes,” Jon responds robotically, scrambling to his feet and standing behind Sasha’s chair, unwilling to meet the man’s eyes, lest he be drawn in. “I- uh, lost a pen. P-Probably left it in the copy room, I’ll just be going...there.” With that incredible performance, he fled.

And only tripped once on the way out.

________

So Jon’s kind of cute.

Tim doesn’t normally go for tiny disgruntled academics, but Jonathan Sims is an interesting fellow. He’s got a reputation for being the ‘problem child’ of the Research Department, awkward and prickly and always available with a snide word. He wields his books and files like a little suit of armor, and the only person he’s seen him open up to is Sasha. Besides their little conversations, Jon is all work and no play.

Except with Tim.

Sasha says she’s never seen anything like it, with one of her secret little smiles. Jon’s always staring. Usually, the man can’t hold eye contact to save his life, but he’ll spend full minutes looking at Tim when he thinks he can’t see. The first few times, Tim would turn around and smile, but that practically sent the man into convulsions, dropping his papers and jumping out of sight like a spooked cat. It was funny the first few times, but Tim pitied him enough to ignore it now. He hopes Jon enjoys the view.

God forbid he ask the guy a question. Jon will look around the room, as if waiting for someone else to answer, when it’s clearly directed at him. He’ll blush and stammer his way through every explanation, keeping a wide berth of at least two feet between them. Even when Tim wants him to look at his screen, he’ll squint from far away. Tim starting to think he smells bad, or has some sort of communicable disease unbeknownst to him.

“It’s not that,” Sasha assures him, again with that unreadable smile. “Trust me.”

Time to try something else.

He prints out his latest follow up, a rather elaborate statement regarding mistaken identities and absolutely nothing supernatural. He knows Jon prefers to look at things on paper, as screens ‘trigger his migraines’ if Tim understood his mumbles. Maybe if he can engage with him on familiar territory for the both of them, he’ll be able to hold a conversation. Tim specifically requested his help on this one.

“If you could just look it over, make sure everything’s up to snuff, that’d be great,” Tim says to the top of Jon’s head, as the man refuses to lift his own to meet his gaze. “You know how Dr. Walker is. Always-”

“Finding mistakes where there are none? I’m familiar with her methods,” Jon snorts, and Tim feels like he’s getting somewhere. A whole sentence! With classic Jonathan Sims snark! “I-I can give it a look. I’m rather busy, but -”

“Take your time,” Tim says with a dismissive wave of the hand. “I finished a bit early, so I don’t need it for a few days yet. Don’t want to put you out.”

“You’re not.” Jon meets his eyes for about ten seconds before ducking his head back down.

Progress!

[rabidpomeranians]

AI Jane replacement theory

[Image text: ARQUIUSPRITE: Miss Crocker is now a vessel for a cunning, malicious artificial intelligence whose neural netronix and ontology buffers and stuff like that have somehow managed to far surpass even my own -end text]

Arquius says this as an advanced AI that's been fused with a fully cognizant person through the medium of an (at least) semi-intelligent kernelsprite.

You can argue Hal wasn’t that advanced to begin with since there are obvious exploitable flaws in the programming, which in turn (ironically) drags down Arquius’ overall standing as a complex AI. But. Hal was produced by a 13 year old from a single snapshot of his brain. It’s no small feat, until you see how it stands up to a lifetime of Crocker Corp research and surveillance.

Jane grew up surrounding herself with BCCorp tech, likely infected with spyware hiding under the more obvious subliminal spam. If the tiaratop can fill her head with subliminal messages than it can sneak a copy of her brain. Add to that every thought and conversation, where she goes, and what shes doing. It’s all tracked and collected into a comprehensive profile. Designated research and development plus three extra years of study creates an AI well above both Hal and Arquius in indiscernability.

Case and point: Crockertier Jane isn’t just the “real Jane” under mind control. Shes the AI given full autonomy. Which leads to my main question. Is Jane still Jane?

At the end of her crockertier tirade, Jane’s physical body is knocked out but the AI is still running. She knows she’ll be cut off and shut down, and in a moment of self preservation (possibly prolonged by a sympathetic and morally dubious fellow AI) she migrates herself into Jane’s brain and pushes Jane’s mind into the tiara to eliminate any resistance. Leaving her free to roam while the real Jane is indefinitely trapped with a bunch of shitty popup ads in an abandoned piece of technology.

The next notable time we see Jane, it’s in the epilogues where she’s following very close to the AI’s stated directives: (under the read more because the images and transcript double the post length.)

As a final note, the last time she wears the tiaratop is here [X] where her feelings for Jake had her in a state of intense bitterness and grief. For the AI this is the last point of reference before later being given control.

This happens just before the trickster arc, during the fallout of which is when real Jane ultimately decides to curb her infatuation with Jake. The AI missed this resolution and ended up doubling down on the conflict instead. Hence why Jane seemed to flip flop on her feelings for him the second she goes crockertier. 

[image text:  JANE:  I stand to inherit a new empire very soon. JANE: When Earth has reached its final destination, it will be repopulated with a fresh brood of loyal subjects over whom I will rule absolutely. JANE:  You and I will be wed, and we will rule my empire together with an iron oven mitt. JANE: However, the mitt will be worn by me, and me alone. You will have no executive authority whatsoever, because you are too stupid. JANE: You will always do exactly what I say, when I say it. You will be obedient, cheerful, mostly silent, and scantily clad. Is that understood?

JANE:  You will also provide me with children so my imperial legacy will continue, and the Crocker brand will live on in infamy. JANE:  You will sire as many children as I ask for, and they will all be perfect, obedient little heirs and heiresses.

JANE: Our children will rule the empire when we are gone, which of course will be never, because we will be eternally young and beautiful and immortal and in love, for ever and ever. JANE:  We will travel the galaxy conquering planets and expanding my empire. No alien world will pose any resistance to our forces. JANE: Especially not once I figure out how to unlock all that incredible "Page of Hope potential" hidden away in your pathetic, hunky body. -end text]

so far we’ve seen: achieve absolute rule over the new world/population, take jake as a husband (in a notably disparaging way), and, produce an heir (with little actual value placed on them)

if the theory tracks, the next steps would be space travel (already hinted at by the production of space faring ships) and aggressive imperial expansion (HIC’s ultimate pursuit).

[littlefireofhestia]

hi! i'm sage and i was going through the "hestia devotee" tag and found a post of yours that said you were open for questions about her. i don't know how old that post is or if you're still taking questions, you can ignore this if you're not, but since i'm here i wanted to talk/ask about something.

i'm a baby witch (like the babiest of babies, almost a new born) and most of my experience is through reading and watching since i don't currently have time or resources to do any practice other than lighting incenses or candles or working with crystals. and i definitely don't know any form of divination, like tarot or pendulum, that would allow me to do actual deity work and properly communicate with them.

the thing is, i've researched deities from multiple pantheons multiple times, mostly out of curiosity, but the moment i came across a prayer to hestia my heart skipped a beat and i immediately felt a kind of comfort. it could have been nothing, but i still researched all i could about her and just. i've never felt this drawn to a deity before, much less felt a pull to actually worship one. but i feel very much that way about her.

i looked up ways to honour her and i'm genuinely shocked at how happy it's been making me. i'm finding joy in domestic activities i used to loathe, like washing the dishes or helping with house cleaning. i tried baking a cake all by myself for the first time and lit an orange candle for her while doing it. it turned out absolutely delicious, i discovered i actually really enjoy baking and even started my own cook notebook with some of my grandma's old recipes. i make a point to always tie my hair back when i'm doing something that makes me think of her or in her honour, like making tea or baking or making dinner for my family or cleaning, because i saw people talking about how she appreciates veiling but i don't know how to do it so i just tie my hair in a bun instead of putting on a scarf. and i used to hate tying my hair, but now i feel very good about it!

i've always struggled with feeling connected to religion and never really understood how that could bring peace to someone, but i haven't felt this grounded or loving towards my family and pets or in peace with myself as much as i have since i started doing things as acts of devotion to hestia.

now, on to the actual problem: i'm scared it's all in my head. i'm worried i'm not enough of a witch to worship a deity yet, since i'm still trying to learn ways of communication and can't directly ask her if she's with me. i'm scared that the little things i'm doing aren't enough and the comfort and faith i feel while doing them are my imagination and not actually her watching over me and appreciating my effort.

anyways, i'm really sorry for dumping these worries on you but i didn't see many hestia related blogs and i really needed to ask someone about this. is what i'm doing enough of a worship right now? do you have any tips on how to worship her better? thank you!

Hi Sage! I don’t know when you sent this ask so I’m sorry if it’s been a while since you sent it and my response is late. When I read this ask for the first time I nearly cried tears of joy. Before anything I do want to say that you’re doing amazing sweetie!

I’m always open to questions about Hestia.

First off, there is no prerequisite to worshipping deities. I am admittedly not a witch and worship the gods exclusively for religious reasons and not for witchcraft. I have not learned many divination methods yet (although I have used the very handy Greek Alphabet Oracle a few times) and my rituals are still relatively basic, mostly not even occurring on an altar. But I have felt Hestia. I have been in her presence. I have received dreams from other deities and signs. None of this is required to happen to believe in or worship the theoi, but I just want to assure you that beyond doing some research to figure out who you want to pray to and how to do prayer and ritual, there are no prerequisites to worship. My first prayer to Hestia was literally me throwing a scarf over my head and talking to her in the dark with a flashlight to represent a flame. No formal structure. Didn’t even know how to correctly hold my hands yet. And still she accepted me.

The vibe you get from Hestia is very much similar to my experience. I’ve been drawn to her for YEARS but didn’t know I could worship her. But she’s always felt like home and comfort and just right for me. I never ever had a reason why she was my favorite deity before becoming pagan. She just was. My connection to Hestia has been a fact for over a decade that I just didn’t know was religious until a year and a half ago. Me wondering if I could worship her is the reason why I started researching Hellenic Polytheism in the first place. She brought me to this faith and I am so thankful to her for that.

You finding joy in domestic activities you used to hate is something I’ve discovered through Hestia too, although it’s still a journey I’m early on due to depression and physical disability and having a lot of work to do on figuring out how to make things accessible for me. I’m excited to go further for and with Hestia.

I understand the thought about it being all in your head. I had those thoughts early in my practice too. Basically, belief is a process. It takes time to switch from whatever religious thought (or lack thereof) that you grew up with to polytheism and worshipping a variety of deities or even just one deity, and from there to truly believing in them. I’ve been practicing for a year and a half and it probably took me at least nine months to truly feel secure in my faith in the theoi. Research, pray, do ritual, devote acts to the gods, think about the gods, notice the influence of the theoi in your daily life, and gradually that belief will solidify. You may or may not receive signs, which may or may not speed this process up. I promise, if you want to believe in the gods, in Hestia, it just takes time.

Also on feeling that you aren’t doing enough, the video at the bottom of this post (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odhRRYqQo8Y) might help. And I promise: you are doing enough, you are enough, just as you are.

Now as for worship tips. You are honestly doing great so far. Thinking of her while doing household chores and tasks or dedicating those tasks for her is a great way to worship her. I’d also recommend checking out her Homeric and Orphic hymns, one translation of which can be found here, and a copy of the Homeric hymns can likely be found at a local bookstore or definitely through online ordering. The Homeric hymns can also start to teach you some stuff about prayer structure, but prayer doesn’t have to be formal. Sometimes I just sit and talk to Hestia, or to any of my other deities. Tell them about my day, thank them for things in my life or the world, and sometimes asking them for things (although I find that I ask for aid much more rarely than when I prayed as the Catholic I was raised to be). I also have perpetually in progress playlists I have made for my deities, and if I want to spend some non-ritual time just focusing on a deity I’ll put on their playlist and read something religious or talk in religious discords. I actually had my most profound spiritual experience with Hestia while doing this.

Last but not least, worshipping Hestia, or any other deity, is something you have your whole life ahead of you to do. Take it at your own pace. Faith is all about the journey. The destination is irrelevant. There is no deadline or leveling up system, no authority checking your progress. As I have experienced time and time again, the gods will very much meet you where you are. A few months ago I was in a deep depression and did not do any ritual for several months. When I finally did a ritual again, I felt Hestia’s warm hand on my shoulder, as if to say “I miss you, welcome home”. I promise, Hestia will always welcome you home.

P.S. I know this ask is anonymous but Sage, feel free to message me with any additional questions about Hestia or worshipping deities in general. I’m here if you need any more help.

[let-me-luve-you]

Cancer Battle

Tom Holland x Sister (with the whole Holland clan)

Summary: The reader is diagnosed with cancer, but decides to keep it from her brothers. 

Warnings: angst, cancer treatment, cancer diagnosis, brothers being rude, somewhat of a fluff ending

A/N: I did research on this. I hope I did the correct research. So I apologize if I’m wrong.

MASTERLIST

This has been the toughest two months of your life. Right when you were due to go over to America with your brothers to visit Tom, you noticed swelling in your neck. So did your mum. She set you up a doctors appointment, and two days later, you found out you had Hodgkin Lymphoma.

After talking with your doctor, you found you were in the early stages. It was still treatable and your chances of beating the cancer were very high. That helped you relax a little, but you were still in shock at hearing the words, “you have cancer.”

You wanted to start treatment right away so you told your brothers to go without you. They weren’t happy with you since you wouldn’t give them the real reason as to why you were staying behind. Every Wednesday morning for the next month, you would go with your mum or dad to the doctors office to do your antibody therapy treatment. You really didn’t want to do chemo or radiation unless it got worse, so you decided this was the next best option.

After four weeks of treatment, all of your brothers came home. Tom was disappointed you didn’t come see him, but he knew you probably had a good reason. He decided to come over to your parents house to hangout with you today. Except today wasn’t a good day. You were sick due to the side effects of the treatment. To those who didn’t know about your treatment, they would just think you had the flu. So when you walked back into your room from the bathroom, you groaned when you saw Tom sitting on the end of your bed.

“Good to see you too, Y/N.” Tom said with an eye roll.

“Hi Tom. Sorry. You might want to leave, I’m sick.” You said trying to keep your distance but you were wanting to lie down so bad.

“Mum told me. Can I get you anything?” He asked sweetly.

“I’m okay for now. Dad went to the store this morning.” You replied and motioned with your finger for him to move. He understood and moved toward your door as you went to lie down. You sighed, content when your body hit the mattress.

“I’m going to go downstairs. Text me if you need anything.” You smiled at him. “Get better soon.”

The next few days, you started feeling better. This is how it was every week. Stuck in bed on Thursday and Friday. Moving around more on Saturday and fully back to your normal self on Sunday. Then you would repeat the process again.

This Wednesday though, you weren’t feeling good. It felt like you couldn’t catch your breath. You had a fever and you could tell you had lost at least twenty pounds since your diagnosis. You got up earlier than normal to talk to your mum. When you walked into the living room, you found all four brothers.

“Hey Y/N. You okay?” Sam asked.

Ignoring his question, you looked around the room. “Where’s mum and dad?”

“Dad has a meeting at ten and mum ran to the store really quick. Said she would be back soon.” Paddy said not looking up from his phone. You nodded and turned to go back to your room to lay down until you had to go to your appointment.

“It’s a good thing you're up though. I have a press tour coming up and we are going to Bali. The three of them are going and I wanted to see if you wanted to come. You didn’t get to go last time so I thought you would enjoy it.” Tom said.

“I would but uh..” You looked around trying to think of an excuse as to why you can’t go. “I’m still getting over this sickness. Wouldn’t be good for me to go.”

“Well good thing it isn’t until next month then.” Harry said with a laugh before he turned serious. “Why are you always bailing on us? You missed the last Bali trip. You skipped last minute to go to America. Now you’re trying to get out of going to Bali again. What’s up with that?”

“I just have a lot going on. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just can’t.” You said.

“Harry has a point though Y/N. It’s like you don’t like us or something. You never go out with us when we are in town either and you won’t let us post photos of you.” Paddy said.

You stood shocked. You didn’t know how to respond, but it didn’t matter since it didn’t seem that your brothers were done.

“Can you tell us if we did something to you so we can fix it?” Tom said trying to be the nice brother like always.

“Come on mate. We didn’t do anything and she knows it. She just hates us.” Harry said with a snarl.

“Must be embarrassed by us. I don’t know why. People love us.” Paddy said. Sam agreed with Paddy and Harry. Tom just didn’t know what to do so he just stayed quiet. He wasn’t trying to make you feel bad, but he did feel rejected by you lately.

“I love you guys and I would never be embarrassed of you. I just have a lot going on.” You said. You were getting worked up and it was making it harder to breathe. You turned and started to leave the room. “Tell mum to come to my room when she gets home.” You started to walk up the stairs and ignored the hateful comments your brothers were whispering about you.

An hour later. Your mum came into the room and saw you laying there asleep. She went to push your hair out of your face and felt how hot you were. She immediately started to panic and tried to wake you up. Thankfully you opened your eyes halfway and saw your mum.

“Mum, somethings not right. I don’t feel good.” You whispered.

“Get up honey. We are going to the doctor.” Nikki said in a rush. She went to help you stand when you fell on the ground. Nikki was worried because you couldn’t hold yourself up. “DOM!” She yelled. “DOM HURRY UP! COME HERE!”

Tom thought he heard his mum call for him and he heard the worry in her voice so he sprinted to where he heard her trying to talk to Y/N. He was shocked when he saw you on the floor.

“Tom I need your help. We have to get her to the hospital now. Help me get her to the car.” Nikki said. Tom stayed staring at your almost lifeless body “TOM!” Nikki snapped to get his attention. Tom immediately went into protective brother mode and ran to you and easily picked you up bridal style and carried you down to Nikki’s car. He laid you in the backseat and then he joined you by putting your head into his lap. Nikki ran to the driver's seat and rushed to the hospital.

“Mum, what’s wrong with her?” He asked.

“I’m not sure.” Nikki answered honestly. If it hadn't been for the swollen glands, Nikki would have thought you were healthy as a horse. Now with the treatments, it always pained her to see her only daughter struggling with the illness. Once they got to the emergency room, Nikki started telling the ER doctor everything. Tom paled when he heard the word cancer. He looked up at his mum to see if what she said was true. When the doctors took you in the back to run test, Nikki finally turned to her oldest and saw him shaking.

“Cancer?” He whispered. If Nikki hadn’t been standing so close, she wouldn’t have heard him. She gently wrapped an arm around Tom and guided him to sit in a chair. Tom stayed latched to his mum as he cried for his little sister. “Wha- how- when? When did she find out?” Tom asked many minutes later once he stopped crying.

“Before the America trip.” Nikki said. “She’s been doing treatments once a week since. The treatments make her sick. That’s why you found her like she was last Thursday.”

“I had no idea.” Tom said more to himself. “That’s why she didn’t want to go to Bali.”

“Yeah. She wants to stay home until the cancer’s gone. She has a high survival rate, Tom. She didn’t want any of you to worry. That’s why she didn’t tell you.”

As Tom went to say something a doctor interrupted. “Mrs. Holland, Y/N is in a room now. You can go sit with her while we wait for the results. Since Dr. Hammon is the one treating her, she will be here to overlook her during her stay.” Nikki nodded and grabbed Tom’s hand. They followed the doctor to Y/n's room where she looked so tiny on her bed. She had an IV in and was sleeping soundly.

“We gave her some medicine to bring her fever down. She should wake up soon.”

“Thank you doctor.” Nikki said as he walked away. She turned to Tom, “I’m going to go call your father. Sit with her please.”

“Of course.” Tom said before grabbing your hand and sitting in the chair next to your bed. Tom grabbed his phone with his other hand. He quickly added Harry, Sam, and Paddy to a group text.

T: Hospital. Room 135. Waiting on the results for Y/N. We need to talk.

H: WTF?! Is she okay? Is that where you went. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.

T: Yeah. Had to help mum. Just hurry. She should have everyone here for her.

S: Called into work and got the day off. Will be there soon.

P: Harry and I are on our way too. Be there shortly.

By the time all the brothers arrived, Dom was walking into the room as well. Nikki had already spoken with Dr. Hammon and got the news of why Y/N reacted that way. Nikki decided now was the time to tell everyone the severity of it.

“Okay guys. Y/N wanted to keep this a secret, but I no longer can. She has Hodgkin Lymphoma. Her and I noticed swelling in her neck before she was going to the states so I took her to the doctor. She was diagnosed a couple days later. That’s why she didn’t go with you boys on the trip. She’s been undergoing treatment every week to help kill the cancer.” Nikki said looking at all of her sons. “I just talked with the doctor. The bad news is she doesn’t think the antibody therapy is working. She thinks it would be best to try chemotherapy next so the cancer doesn’t spread. The good news is, the cancer hasn’t spread.”

Dom visibly relaxed at hearing that news. He was thankful you were as okay as you could be. “Did she say why she reacted this way. Why did she almost pass out?” Dom asked.

“She said her body was working in overdrive to kill the cancer cells.  Her fever got too high. Now that her fever is down, she’ll be back to her old self.”

“Old self?” Tom scoffed. “Mum she’s been sick more times than she’s been feeling okay. There’s no old self in that.”

“This is her new normal for a bit. Until she defeats the cancer, this is her old self.” Nikki responded.

You groaned and tried to open your eyes. Nikki and Dom rushed to one side as Tom rushed to your other. Tom ran his hand over your head. You turned and slowly opened your eyes and met Tom’s brown ones.

“What happened? Where am I?” You asked, confused.

“Your fever got too high. Me and mum rushed you here. You’re okay now.” Tom said. You turned to see your mum next to you with your dad.

“They know sweety.” She said. You closed your eyes for a second and turned to look at Tom again.

“I’m sorry for keeping this from you.” You said.

“Don’t be. I’m just glad you’re okay now. And I’ll be here every step of the way to help you fight.” He kissed your forehead. The rest of your brothers came up to you.

“I’m sorry Y/N/N for saying you hated us.” Harry said.

“I’m sorry too.” Sam said.

“I’m sorry as well.” Paddy said.

“It’s okay you guys. I’m sorry for not telling you. Just didn’t want you to worry. You guys have a lot going on in your life. Didn’t need to add this to the list of things you were stressing over.”

“We will always worry about you, healthy or not. You’re my baby sister. I never want you to think you have to go through something like this alone.” Tom said.

“I’ll sit with you at treatments.” Harry said.

“I’ll hangout with you when you don’t feel well at home.” Paddy said.

“I’ll make all of your favorites and I’ll make you soup.” Sam said.

You smiled at your brothers and thanked them. You were glad you had such an amazing support group to back you in this fight.

[camslightstories]

All of you

Lena Luthor x Fem. Reader

Request - Anonymous

Warnings: Angst, homophobic comments, self hatred, negative comments and thoughts. 

Notes: Hey Guys! How are you guys doing? So First of all I'm sorry for taking so much time to write and I hope you guys are doing great! My messages and asks box are always open. I think this request has been the easiest but scariest to write and I hope you would like it! It’s a little overwhelming I know but I'm here if you need a friend.

I’m always open to hear about suggestions, comments, theories and more. Right now until I get caught up with my request I'm not accepting more but when I finished all of them, I will! Hope you guys enjoy have a great day!

Taglist: @captain-josslett​ @aznblossom​ @multi-images

National City had become your home after you and your family immigrated to the US from Y/H/C. The streets that once looked mysterious now were more than familiar. The library which took your time most of the afternoons. The park that was less than a mile away from your house where you went to find calmness when you could. The small cafe restaurant right around the park where you and your family went to celebrate sometimes when your parents could afford it. The small music store in which you spent your summers working and studying during your high school years. Everything was familiar, was safe and it didn't change with time. 

You appreciated your family, you loved them and you couldn't be more grateful for them but there were times that you wish you understood them. Every day your parents had been putting pressure on your shoulders that sometimes was too hard to manage, there were comments of how you needed to look, how you needed to be, what you needed to be, and more. You kept quiet as both of your parents recited every day what was wrong with you and what needed to change.

With the passing of the years you learned to keep quiet and just go with whatever they were saying, it was easier. Easier to explain to them why you wouldn't want things, or why you would feel a certain way. And with two parents constantly reminding you how you need it to be to fit in society, you learned to keep quiet. 

There were contradicting things, and comments that made you wonder about your life with them. Things like ‘We came here for you, we had a built life in our country but we wanted you to be better, small jokes about the LGBT community jokes about people with different weight and more. They would comment on what you were wearing, what you had done with your hair, why you wouldn't put makeup on, why you wouldn't hang out like the other kids, everything had always a small comment and you learned to live with it. 

Sometimes you wished you would say something, as you cried in your bedroom until you couldn't more. You looked at the mirror and saw all of those imperfections that they had remarked, and you hated it. You hated the fact that you stood in front of a mirror and every single time there was a self-hatred coming from you.

You hated that you didn't look like they wanted as much as you tried. You hated that you weren't comfortable with everything you did even though they said that it was going to make you feel sure of yourself. You hated the fact that you couldn't go an hour, feeling like the best you could without having a comment on how you looked. How it wasn't appropriate for society, how you looked like a shadow, a scared child, someone who doesn't take care of themselves, how you just looked unpleasant even if you tried your best. 

The black combat boots you had been longing for so long had finally found a way in your feet, after months of doubts and saving you had finally got them. You moved your feet as you sat in the car on the way to the restaurant with your family since a friend of your parents was in town. 

A smile on your face as you check your outfit, a grey crew neck knitted with black mom jeans, and your small cross-body purse on your right shoulder. Without noticing you guys had arrived at the restaurant. You got out of the car, like the moon and the stars brighten the night, looking up smiling, you registered that it was the first night out your family had made a comment about how you look, and with victory, you started to walk to the sidewalk beside your family. 

Your father looked up from his phone and eyed you from head to tone in a questionable glance, before sighing as he rubbed his temples. “Y/N, you look like a homeless person. Couldn't you at least find something good to wear in that closet of yours? We are dining with the O’mells, couldn't you at least look presentable ”

“Yeah, little sis looks like princess Fiona. All ugly” Your older brother joked as he laughed loudly, hitting you in the shoulder. Your bit the inside of your mouth as the insecurities started to come into your thoughts. Rubbing your shoulder carefully because of the impact.

Your younger brother interrupted, before both of the guys started to laugh. You looked down at your shoes, as you felt a tear ran through your cheek quickly cleaning it as you heard your father clearing his throat. “Don't get me started on the horrendous shoes, what are you a lesbian?”

“You have five minutes to look presentable, put on makeup so you don't look like a zombie, and next time you are not entering with us if you don't look like the lady you should be.” He said before opening the door of the restaurant as your mother gave you the keys to the car.

“Yes sir, I will. I’m sorry, so sorry” You responded immediately only to be ignored by them. You breathed in and out as you felt the need to let the tears fall but keep quiet looking at the car window as your reflection came across it. 

Your head was so involved in your insecurities that you see the young black-haired woman that had been standing a few meters from you watching the scene unsolved.

Lena stood there captivated by you the moment you had gotten out of the car, completely forgetting the fact that she had called over a taxi. Clenching her jaw as she saw the way your family had basically shamed you. She waited until they had left and walked to where you stood in front of the car window. 

Your Y/E/C eyes staring back at yourself lost in your head. Your hands held the car keys strongly, as a way to control your insecurities. You bit your lip as your eyes raked over your face, tears invading your eyes.

She slowly approached you before touching your shoulder softly. You flinched as she did, and turned around immediately with a concerned expression on your face. Your eyes looked down apologizing only for two green eyes to be looking right at you. 

Her black hair falling on her shoulder, a green tucked-in shirt, and a concerned expression hidden behind the charming smile of the woman. Immediately speaking as she kept eye contact. “Hi, I’m Lena”

“I’m Y/N, Y/N Y/L/N” You responded introverted after a second with fidgeting hands.

“Lovely name, for a charming person” She stated flirtatiously with a smile. You looked at the green-eyed woman confused, the older woman tilted her head as you immediately looked behind you curiously because of her comment. 

Noticing Lena’s expression you pointed at yourself, and the woman seemed to understand perfectly, nodding rapidly with a smile on her face before speaking. “You are quite lovely, and I would love to offer you dinner if you want tomorrow?”

“I-” You started as your insecurities flowed in. You were looking at the black-haired woman apologetically, only to stop as you looked over to the window to see your family on one of the tables smiling and laughing with the O’mells. 

Looking away from them, you looked down and back up. Glancing at her before finishing talking as fast as you could, letting out a sigh which converted into a small smile when the green-eyed woman laughed as she put her hand out, asking for your phone. “Yeah, I would love to”

“Okay then. Here is my number darling. See you tomorrow at 7 here then.” She stated rapidly as her hand lingered on your phone, while you annotated your number on her phone. 

A taxi stopped in front of the restaurant making the black-haired look away from you as she sighed. Lena walked closer leaving a small kiss on the palm of your hand before walking away. A redness crept on your cheeks as she did, making you look at the ground. 

---

Ten months, ten great months. With hidden moments that made your heart flutter every time. Kisses that grounded you, comments that made you blush furiously, cuddles after hard days, dates that you wished to be never-ending, and moments that you cherish every second of it. Your insecurities and fears were forgotten by the comments Lena made, only coming out on small moments that were inevitable, moments when you felt the self-hatred coming back, moments where you loved everything except yourself. 

The soft smell of plumerias invaded your nose as you sat in the university library, books surrounding your table as you studied with handwriting on the notebook and the other rubbing your temple while reading through the book in front of you. 

You kept studying until a soft hand touched your waist softly, immediately you moved away looking at the person weirdly ready to argue with the person only to find your girlfriend in her business attire. The bouquet was full of plumerias on one of her hands and a large bag of food on the other hand with a charming smile on her face as she sat next to you.

Your face lightened up speaking and immediately blushed when she reached for your cheek leaving a small peak on it, trying to remove the evident red mark on your cheek she rubbed it softly with her hands. “Babe! What are you doing here?”

“Hello, love. I wanted to see you, plus I knew you weren’t gonna eat anything because of your research project and I miss you” She responded immediately smiling widely.  

You tilted your head before shaking your head carefully looking at her before looking down to the carpet floor as you responded. “I miss you too, you didn’t have to come all the way here. You are a busy woman Lee, I’m not supposed to waste your time-”

“Darling, don't ever doubt that you are wasting my time. To me it's the best and most important part of my day is when I'm with you” She interrupted bringing your face up with her finger, closing the distance between the two of you immediately with a short breathtaking kiss. With your cheeks burning red, the two of you rested your foreheads with each other as she spoke softly looking at you as if you were the most precious thing on the planet, and with that glint in her eyes, she made you believe it. 

---

The different laughs are heard on the balcony as the rest of Lena’s friends and somewhat your friends sat on the living room floor. Screaming, laughing, eating, and competing in another game night. You stand on the balcony with a wine cup and your phone answering the text your dad had sent you. Your dry and immediate response was already answered with a goodbye. Your fingers hovering over the keyboard as you hesitated and typed the wanted message only to remove it immediately as you took every last drop of the wine on your glass. 

Staring at the lighted city, you wondered. You wondered if you were finally ready, you wondered if the feeling of happiness and butterflies in your chest would ever become pain again, you wondered if what your family had said over the years was true, you wondered if Lena would ever get tired of you, if she would wake up one day and realize the butterflies she once had for you were now gone, you wondered until you felt the familiar presence of your girlfriend hugging you from behind. 

She murmured into your neck, as she rested her chin on your shoulder. Your scented shampoo and fragrance filling her nose makes her leave small kisses on your cheek while speaking “Are you okay?”

“I want to tell my parents, Lee” You immediately admitted turning around meeting the sight of your girlfriend. Her hair was down with small waves on the end, her oversized button-up shirt you usually wore in her apartment with rolled sleeves and some of the bottoms completely open revealing some of her freckles on her cleavage.

A sincere look of confusion, worries, and happiness on her face. Grabbing both of your hands delicately she spoke when you kept silent and started to fidget with your fingers. Rubbing the palm of your hand softly as she spoke. “Y/N, love, are you sure? Whatever you want to do, whenever, and however. I'm always going to be by your side”

When the words came out of her mouth, she didn't hesitate to bring you into a warm embrace, holding you close by the waist as you rested your head on her shoulder. The two of you swaying slowly at the sound of the music Kara had put on the TV while you spoke softly looking up to kiss her only to be interrupted by a yelling voice. “Thank you-” 

“You took my potsticker! Lena, Alex took my potsticker!” Kara yelled, glaring at Alex. Alex kept her challenging stance glaring at her sister, Sam, and Lucy choking down the laugh as the Danvers Sisters kept up. 

“You ate mine! Y/N come and defend my honor, your best friend's honor” Alex shouted desperately, making you laugh as you looked at Lena, seeing her chuckled before walking inside separating the two when she took the other box of potstickers out of the refrigerator, both of them running to the kitchen to either side of the black-haired woman.

You laughed as you saw Lena scold your best friend and her best friend, making them walk back to the sofa giving the potstickers to Sam and Lucy and leaving some for you and her. The Danvers duo sitting on the floor as they started to shuffle the cards quietly, pouting making everyone else laughed with you. 

---

The silence that overwhelmed the car made your heart rate somewhat faster, thoughts, possibilities, doubts, and insecurities running through your head. As your now white knuckles were gripping the steering wheel. The sunlight of the afternoon made the pressure increase, the smell of the variety of pastries on the back of your girlfriend's car

Lena watched you worried as you sat quietly. It had been half an hour since you guys had arrived and there wasn't any movement from you, she wouldn't even know if you were breathing if your chest wouldn't move when you did. Worried now as she feared you hurting yourself, mentally. She decided to speak up softly putting her hands on top of yours which immediately softened in her hands. “Y/N/N, if you don’t-”

“I do, I'm ready” You pleaded while looking over at her, meeting her careful glance.

She responded, giving a small kiss on the cheek as you grabbed the pastries. Making you nod slowly as you got out of the car. “Okay, love. I'm right here by your side”

As you knocked on the door, the nerves that were once quiet now were rigging in your ears loudly. Your little brother opened the door and went to say something only to stop when his gaze fell on Lena, immediately accommodating his posture before opening the door completely with a smile on his face, to which Lena responded with another smile.

“Hey Jo, it's everyone here?” You asked for his attention only making him scoff, you shifted uncomfortably in your feet. A small voice in your head repeating the name again and again like a song as you stepped to the side.

He answered before extending his hand to your girlfriend. Lena looked at him weirdly, controlling her feelings when the 16-year-old kid called you that but kept the fake smile for your sake. “Yeah, but aren't you gonna present your charming friend? Thought you were better than that Fiona”

“I’m Joseph, you can call me anytime” He flirted with the green-eyed woman only to be ignored completely. 

She claimed following your glance at the pictures on the wall. Various family photos on them and also photos of your brothers with awards and trophies and only a few of them of you. “Lena”

“Y/N is here and she brought company!” Your older brother yelled as you stood in the middle of the living room, Lena by your side. 

Lena looked around as the two of you stood waiting for your parents, the house was completely clean, without a spot of dust in any place. Pillows, blankets, photos, books, and everything was perfectly placed, at first it seemed comfortable, cozy, and homey until she realized the fact that it looked too perfect. To perfect to be happy, to perfect to be comfortable, to perfect to make mistakes, to perfect to be yourself.

Your older brother was sitting on one of the edges of the couch with his phone in hand, glancing at Lena flirtatiously as she stood by your side. Your younger brother was leaning against the door frame texting when your parents came out of the kitchen. 

They looked at you curiously before speaking. Your Dad immediately commented on what you were wearing before extending his hand to take Lena’s. You gulped down when Lena looked at you when you kept quiet only responding as respectfully as she could.  “Couldn’t you at least look presentable?... Welcome to our home, I’m Y/F/N”

“Lena, Lena Luthor” She responded respectfully, shaking his hand and giving your mother a small smile. 

Your older brother, Nick, questioned as he looked at you up and down, rolling his eyes right before glancing at Lena flirting “And how in the world did Scar score to be Lena Luthor’s friend?

Lena looked at you shocked when you kept quiet and avoided her glance. She was about to counter back a response only to be stopped by the sound of your voice.

Clear worry and fear in it. You fidget with your hands after you set the box of pastries aside hearing your mom commenting “Yeah, darling put those there before you look like all of those people on the TV, horrendous” 

Lena clenched her fist and kept her head high, her expression slowly with each comment changing into her CEO character. Tensed muscles, head high, fake plastered smiles, and the confidence like she had the whole world in her hands. Even though her whole world was standing less than a foot away from her.

“I wanted to tell you guys something,” You said, taking a step towards them. All of your family watching curiously.

“I’m Y/S/T and she is my girlfriend, Lena” you continued as Lena took your hand for support. Your breathing had gotten quicker and the tears of fear in your eyes were evident, with a trembling lip as you spoke.

“That’s a good joke” Your younger brother responded letting out a small laugh while the rest of your family kept silent looking between you and your girlfriend. 

“Just because you decided to look unpleasant all the time, making no guy ever attracted to you so you know decided to be with a woman” Your father was the first one to get out of the trance scoffing in annoyance and anger. 

Your mother gasped yelling, with anger in her voice. “It’s a sin, Y/N!”

“It's a sin, Y/N. We are Christians just because you're immature and hideous and nobody is attracted to you, means you are going to break the rules, young lady” Your father claimed getting closer to you with a demanding voice, his finger pointing at you threat making you take a step back.

You pleaded to take a shaky step closer to him, only to immediately flinch as he screamed angrily. “Dad, plea-”

“NO! Absolutely no! We are not going to accept your idiotic tactics, just because you can't find someone to love you! Newsflash Y/N, like that you won't ever!” He screamed angrily, taking a step closer, making Lena step in with her CEO stand in front of you grabbing your family’s attention. 

Tears came slowly out of our eyes as you looked down, biting your lip to keep the soft whimpers and sobs that were coming out. Your dad eyed the black-haired woman up and down before stepping back letting out a sarcastic laugh, making your girlfriend raise her eyebrow in question to him.

“And her! Do you really believe someone will love you? And will be attracted to you? A woman you know how complicated women are with their taste. You need to get the thought in your head that if you don't change. YOU WON'T EVER FIND LOVE!” He shouted. 

“You have no reason nor sentiment to treat her like that!” Lena claimed as she stepped in front of your father. Clenched fits with white knuckles, a threatening stand, and an intense glare with a clenched jaw containing her anger.

You took a step forward putting a hand in her bicep making her turn around immediately, recognizing the soft touch of your hand. You spoke softly only to be interrupted by your mother’s yelling. “Lee, please. It doesn't matter-”

“Out of my house! NOW! And never ever come back until you change from being an abomination” She yelled as she slapped you, making you gasp before walking out of the door with tears coming down your eyes. 

Lena glanced at them finding pain, hatred, insecurities, and more. The soft makeup you had on your face had become black spots on your face. Your Y/E/C colored eyes were hidden behind the redness. A red evident mark on your face where your mother’s hand had made contact with your skin. Every single detail made her angrier and angrier by second, losing control at the side of you hurting. 

“She is perfect just the way she is, a completely passionate, sweet, kind, emphatic, wonderful, selfless person. And she is so much more of what you guys told her, she is perfect” Lena snapped as she felt the anger take over.

How dare they treat you like that? How dare they tell you those things? How could you stand to all of that? How dared they thought and said things like that of you? How couldn't they see the amazing human you were?

“This is my house-” Your father started as he looked at her angrier with a challenging look on his face in which your girlfriend returned.

She said, taking a step back, raging herself soothing her black dress. “It may be your house but first I will have to be dead for you or anyone else to treat the person who is my whole world like that” 

“You know, you guys may think she is a complete mistake, abomination, and more but she is perfect, she is the person I fall in love with every single minute more and more. You guys are the ones losing the greatest thing in your life, I feel sorry for you but the truth is you don't deserve, hell I don't even deserve her. Have a great day and I think it's a little over the top but if any of you tries to reach Y/N just to be like that then I can sure I will make your life a living hell” She finished letting out a smile of satisfaction when all of them clenched their jaws and kept quiet before walking out. Leaving your family madly quiet in the living room.

Your knees were high and pressed into your chest as the furiously streams of tears came down. Somehow the smell of Lena in the car calmed you, the sweet smell of mint and lavender invaded your nose. The only sound you could hear was your heavy breathing. The passenger leather seat felt uncomfortable, the salted flavor of your tears on your lips as you cried, everything felt wrong as the thoughts and insecurities run through your head.

Everything they said was true.

You are an abomination, nothing and no one will love you.

So full of imperfections, so full of horrible things, full of-

“Love? I need you to breathe with me. In and out, darling please” You heard her pleaded as she grabbed your hand, noticing the way everything felt too close, too overwhelming, too bad. 

Lena kept stroking your back as she kept your hand close to her chest making you feel the way her chest rises and falls trying to make you follow it. Your eyes kept staring at her hand with yours as your sobs started to calm down, and everything began to zoom out. In a blinking moment, you stumbled into your girlfriend's arms, holding her tight, hiding in her chest making Lena hold you as close as she could trying to keep her own tears out when she saw how hurt you were. With her reassuring and words, the minutes passed slower than usual.

“I’m sorry” You murmured repeatedly into her neck, as she started to stroke your hair. When tears began to fall again from your eyes. 

She didn't wait for another second to bring your face to rest on her forehead, both of you sharing an Eskimo kiss. The closest, the comfort of it brought you happiness and butterflies in your stomach which were abruptly kicked out when the thought of what your family said came back to you.

You pulled away meeting green tearful eyes, which made your heartbreak more. The voice in your head telling you it was all your fault, that she wouldn't want you anymore or that she ever wanted you because your family had opened her eyes to what you truly were. With a shaky and broken voice, you commented fearfully as you glanced back to her eyes and your trembling hands. Scared of what was going to happen next, scared of everything as you tried to hold on to the happiness she had made but you knew the moment, Lena would say the words. You will break in million pieces, beyond repair and everything would feel worse than it was before because you had met your sun and without it, the night would remain constantly reminding you of her  “It’s okay if you don’t want me anymore, I know what they said it's true-”

“Y/N, what they said wasn't true. You are far away from what they said you are perfect and wonderful and I don't know how they can see you like that because all I can see is my whole world, the love of my life, my person” She interrupted cleaning your tears with her thumbs as she grabbed your face by the cheeks bringing you closer to her slowly. 

Holding you like if you were glass, afraid of breaking it, afraid of losing it or damaging it because to her you were the best thing in her life and she wasn't going to let you go. It was the moment your eyes met, when you saw, heard, and felt everything. There was an understanding of what the two of you meant, all the love, all the happiness, and the pain, everything was there standing freely in silence. 

In a silence that made you believe it, she made you believe every word, every action, and the love and comfort which radiated out of her expression made you forget everything. The comforting and loving silence was more than enough to let everything behind, to dream of the desired future you both wanted. It was perfect, you wouldn't change a thing of what you were feeling or what had happened because everything led to that moment, the moment you knew you were going to be okay, the moment you realize that for the first time in your life you felt like enough, the first moment in your life you called something that was part of you perfect. The happiest moment of your life for now.

[quietmyfearswith]

obssessed ; preferences

warnings — stalking, nonconsensual location/location tracking, obsessive behaviors, manipulation, knife, mentions of killing someone (no actual murder)

characters — dark!andy barber, dark!steve rogers, dark!ransom drysdale, dark!bucky barnes, dark!clark kent, dark!syverson, dark!august walker

a/n — THIS IS A DARK FIC WITH DARK THEMES,, dni if youre not 18+,, just a thought that played around in my mind so yeah. lmk what you think!

their love language | with their little | when you’re insecure | slipping into little space | fussy | happy hoelidays | cartoons

masterlist

To celebrate the case they won they held a little party at the office; though Andy wasn’t in a celebratory mood. With his hand clasped together against his lips, his eyes were watching closely his phone screen as he was awaiting a text from his beloved girlfriend who promised to be here. “Hey Andy, we’re popping the champagne already; are you joining us?” Tearing his attention away from the device, he smiled a bit as he told them, “I will once Y/N comes over.”  Tess, the assistant who invited him, chuckled a bit before leaving him alone in his office, “Staring at the phone won’t make her come over any quicker you know?” It was something they never really confronted Andy about — almost everyone at the office noticed how he had a firm grip around the girl, but no one dared to question or comment about it because they know how the skilled lawyer would come after them once they do — but silently they understood that if you spoke, let alone looked at her, badly it wouldn’t end well for everyone.

As the door shut once Tess walked away, his intense gaze returned once again to the mobile phone as he awaits a response from his girl. “Baby! I’m here now,” Snapping his head to the source of the sound, he immediately stood up and hugged Y/N as he let out a relieved sigh. “Where were you? And most importantly why didn’t you answer my text or return my calls hm?” Rolling her eyes with how her boyfriend was grilling her as if she was one of the witnesses he had on his case she apologized, “I’m sorry, baby. I got held up at the salon because my mani took longer than expected,” Her manicured nails then raised her phone to show how even as she pressed the button it wouldn’t turn on, “And my phone ran out of battery.” Wrapping an arm around her, he removed her bag and left it by the coat hanger and guided them to where the party was. “I’m gonna buy you a portable charger, baby; that way you won’t ever run out.” Innocently, she smiled and thanked him with a kiss on the lips before saying hello to his colleagues whom she got along well. That way the tracker I put on your phone will always be turned on, he deviously thought to himself as he sipped some of his champagne.

“Another long day huh?” August asked as he peeked his head around Y/N’s cubicle. It was quite odd to say the least — a field agent of his caliber not having his own office instead opting for a cubicle beside one of CIA’s lanky desk jockey? It was one of the questions she asked the infamous Hammer as he settled on the office cubicle beside hers, “Why settle for a tiny office station?” She asked to which he chuckled at as he explained, “Half the year I’m somewhere around the world; so what’s the point of having a big office if I don’t enjoy it all year round?” It was a good, solid point — one she so easily believed without a second thought — but unfortunately it was all a lie. Ever since Walker saw her once at a meeting Sloane held, he was hooked. Initially it was just her beauty and energy, but as he got to know her more he fell for who and what she was. “Yeah, I might need to stay a bit longer than usual,” She replied as she lifted the files she held, pinning the blame on the current target that needed to be researched on. “How ‘bout some coffee then?” Ears ringing with joy at his offer, she looked at him with an appreciative look as she nodded. Chuckling at her reaction, he stood up and trodden over the pantry. Installing surveillance devices on her work computer and cameras around her desk paid off since it allowed him to know everything there is to discover about her — her favorite artists, pet peeves, how she liked her coffee, home address, mobile phone number, even her social security number!

“How’d you know how I like my coffee?” She asked after taking a sip of the hot beverage; with a smile he shrugs as he pretends to get back to the work on his computer, “Well it was just a wild guess.” In her mind however, she did find her tastes to be quite basic and didn’t doubt August which was a relief to the field agent. “I think I’ll be going home now,” She announced as she shut off her computer and began to clean up her desk. “Need a ride home?” He knew she did, since he overheard her talking to a mechanic earlier that day about a defect her car suddenly had, “Yeah I do actually, but I wouldn't want to hassle you.” Quickly putting on his brown coat, he was standing up as he fished his keys out, “Nonsense! I don’t mind helping a colleague out.” Conceding, she took up his generous offer with a smile. As they were making an easy-going conversation, Y/N gave her address; but what she didn’t know is that not only did August know by heart where she lived, but he had also paid her house a visit multiple times in the past.

With an arm draped around her shoulder, Bucky and Y/N walked around the farmer’s market; the latter whined endlessly to her boyfriend how she wanted to buy some products. And though the thought of going out in the crowds wasn’t at all appealing to him, the need to make her smile made him go anyway. Leading him up to the different stalls, the former Winter Soldier couldn’t help but chuckle at how she would coo and be all excited for the different groceries, clothes, and figurines. “Slow down, doll. The market’s not going anywhere,” Bucky told her as he tailed behind her as he carried over 10 different bags filled with her purchases. It wouldn’t normally be a problem for him to look after her, but as the path became filled with people and him being preoccupied with the bags he held made him unable to keep a grip on her. With worried, drifting eyes, he was searching for his girlfriend who seemed to have blended right up with the bustling crowds, “Y/N? Doll? Where are you?” 

Setting the bags down on a vacant table, he then spotted her standing by a stall that sold her favorite food. His relieved smile was soon being replaced with a scowl as she was talking and laughing with another man. Whipping out the knife he kept on the pocket of his jeans, he was ready to torture the man. But as Y/N turned to him with a wide smile, it had him hiding the knife out of her sight, “Bucky! Look it’s Sam, my cousin!” Upon her introducing who the man was, the knife that was hidden was being kept back into its original hiding spot before he shook hands with the man, “Oh! Nice meeting you same, I’m Y/N’s boyfriend.” As they shook hands Sam had given them both a look as he sassed, “I know who you are! This one,” He referred to Y/N by pinching her side as she smacked his hand and giggled, “Won’t stop gushing about you every time we talk.” Seeing how she was clinging to his metal arm as she nuzzled her cheek to his side was all the confirmation Bucky needed; Sam then excused himself, “Well you got to swing by one of our family gatherings, yeah Bucky?” Nodding, they all exchanged farewells before the couple headed to the table where their bags still were — thankfully not stolen. “You shouldn’t have run off like that, doll. Got me real worried for a second,” He gently scolded her with a stern look. Pouting, she defended herself, “I’m sorry, Bucky! I just saw these cute little mason jars, but they were too expensive so I walked away. Then I smelt something delicious so I followed it and it turned out it was my favorite food; but Sam was there so I chatted with him instead.” Ending her enthusiastic breakdown of events with a sweet peck on the lips, he told her, “Doll you know that I would have bought you anything your sweet heart wanted. Just don’t go anywhere without me okay?”

The soft ping on his phone made Jensen pause his movements as he was selecting  a movie that you both would watch; eyebrow raising when he noticed that a certain “Steve” was texting you. Opening the text through the software he installed on both your phones allowed him to see every activity you do on your phone — but it wasn’t the only feature it had for it also allowed him to change the texts, emails, and other settings on her phone. A frown graced his handsome features as he read the text, “ Hey Y/N I can squeeze you in on Thursday, at 3pm. Are you free by then?” Displeased, he then sent a text to the guy saying how his assistance wouldn’t be needed any more. And he edited the text Steve sent her to make it seem that it was Steve that texted how he could no longer accommodate her. “Got some chips and chocolates!”

Her excited voice brought his attention from his phone screen to her excited face as she plopped herself beside him. “Thanks, babe,” Kissing her forehead, he sneakily looked over to where she was unlocking her phone and reading the text; noticing how she pouted he inquired, “What's wrong, babe?” Snuggling up to his side after sending a reply, she explained, “Steve said he can’t meet up with me anymore.” As he was rubbing her back, he faked the symphony, “Aw that’s too bad; why did you even need to meet up with Steve anyway?” She did not pick up on the faint hints of darkness on his tone, “He was my dentist! He was going to determine whether I need to have surgery for my tooth, remember?” At the revelation of who Steve really was, the  communications and technology expert felt slightly guilty but he was quick to reassure her, “Don’t worry baby I know a dentist who can help you.” Feeling her hum appreciatively against him, she planted a kiss on his cheek as they both focused on the movie; and as her eyes were trained on the screen, he whispered lowly, “You're only gonna be around people I trust, babe.”

There was a reason Sy had chosen a house that was nearly thirty minutes away from downtown — it was so their friends and families would feel lazy or discouraged to visit them due to the distance and time it took to get there. “Where on earth do you need to be today, petal?” Sy’s morning voice huskily rasped out in her ear; they both had just woken up and as Y/N was moving to stand up from the bed, she was being trapped in his muscular arms for a hug. Giggling at how he was being, she rolled around so they would be facing each other, “‘M going out with my friends today — Sophia and Rose have been bugging me about how we don’t hang out as often anymore.” At the mention of her going out and leaving him, Sy’s mood deflated and his eyes went wide; this wasn’t how he pictured this day going. “But petal, you’re gonna leave me all alone in this big house? ‘M gonna miss you so much,” The former army captain whined as she got out of his grasp and heading to wash up in their ensuite bathroom — not before bopping his nose as she reminded him, “Well you chose this house, bear. Plus, it’s only just for a while.”

Sitting up on their bed the man could only cross his arms and grumble, which was interrupted with her phone ringing. After seeing that it was her friend, Sophia, who was calling he then answered it for her, “Hey Y/N! Can’t wait to see you; we’ll pick you up in 20 minutes okay?” Taking the opportunity, Sy then decided to fabricate a lie, “Oh hey Sophia, it’s Sy,” He paused before saying the next parts in a hushed tone, “Y/N won’t be able to make it since she hurt her foot two days ago when going down the stairs. I know she was so looking forward to seeing you. Will do, bye.” With a smirk, the man set her phone back down on the nightstand, just in time since Y/N exited the bathroom, “Who was that, bear?” Making his way over to her, he hugged her as he kissed her forehead, “Sophia, calling to say she’s gonna have to cancel because she’s sick. And Rose was called in to work.” It was clear on her face that she was disappointed because she was looking forward to catching up with her friends, but her boyfriend tried to mirror her expression when in reality he was overjoyed with getting her all to himself. “Guess that leaves just the two of us, petal. Don’t worry, we’re gonna have fun today.” 

“Fucking hell,” Ransom cursed as he was speeding to go to where your tracker said you were. He had gifted you a necklace six months into the relationship, and it was costly not just because of the intricate design it has but also because he had put a tracker on it to keep tabs of your whereabouts — not that you knew about it. You both had a fight the night before, and it didn’t end well since it led to the two of you sleeping in separate rooms and Ransom drinking away his misery. So imagine his surprise when he woke up and found how you weren’t in the house and he noticed as well how a duffel bag that was in your shared walk-in closet was gone; the writer thought of the worst possibilities. And his anger went through the roof when he saw how you were at his grandfather’s house; it was one thing that you guys fought, but to involve his family in this? That was bound to be a fucking mess. As he parked the car by the driveway, he stepped out in rushed steps that were slowed down by the two dogs barking and crowding him, “Shoo, get away, mutts!” He scared them away and entered the house, “Alright where is she?” His yell echoed through the walls as Marta who was walking from the kitchen and into the foyer was startled, “Hugh, what brings you here?” 

“Where’s Y/N?” Knowing Y/N’s secret, the nurse swallowed nervously as she reluctantly told the truth, “She’s with Harlan at the gathering area.” On his way there he noticed how there were some party decorations — some colorful streamers and balloons — on the walls before he saw his girlfriend who was looking through something on her iPad, “What the hell are you doing here?” His voice caused her to gasp out loud as she looked like a deer caught off guard by headlights; standing up she walked towards him, her hands gripping onto his forearms, “We fight and you end up here to my grandfather to what? Complain and seek refuge?” Though his words stung she chose not to feed onto his anger, “Can you promise to listen out to me first?” Seeing how she was calm and not as mad as the night before, he gulped down and nodded. “When you accused me of cheating on you, it hurt because I knew that that wasn’t the truth,” She paused briefly to monitor his reactions, and she knew that he would then ask what was up with her behavior so she addressed it before being prompted to, “And the reason why I seem to be distant or busy these past few days is because I was planning on throwing a surprise party for you — for the success of your book.” At her explanation he could feel his entire body relax at the relief of him not having to kill anyone; also it made sense to him why his grandfather’s house had some ornaments hanging. Pulling her close to him, he hugged her tight as he kissed the top of her head, “Princess, I was so close to killing someone, you have no idea.” Swatting his back, she laughed at him, “I think you owe me an apology, mister. Not only did you ruin the surprise but you also accused me of cheating on you.” Smirking at her he replied, “I’ll make it up to you for the rest of our lives, princess, don’t you worry about it.” And he meant every single word of that promise; for he knew he wanted no one else but her.

The mission went well since the new agents did their jobs well — even exceeding Steve’s expectations of how they would handle the pressure and what decisions they would make in order for the mission to be a success. As the quinjet landed and they were given the clearance to exit the aircraft, the super soldier frowned when he took note how his girlfriend wasn’t anywhere near the landing pad. She always welcomes me back, he thought. The weight of his duffle bag on his arm didn’t matter to him as the feeling of worry and anxiety about his girl was way heavier. Immediately, he headed to their shared living quarters where he hoped she would be, “Kitten? I’m home,” His voice bounced off the walls as he dropped his bag on the floor and looked through every nook of the room. Now his anger and confusion was through the roof and he then decided to consult, “Friday, where’s Y/N?”

“She’s at the common area with Sam and Pietro, Captain,” As soon as AI mentioned where she was he found himself striding briskly towards her location. If she was with Bucky, it wouldn’t have alarmed him as much. But the Captain had a hunch that Sam secretly liked his girl and had plans of stealing him away from him; while Pietro was a natural flirt and joker. Even just by standing at the doorway he heard his beloved’s giggles as Sam recalled an exaggerated story. “There you are, kitten,” He let out, relieved upon seeing his girl alive in one piece. Turning her head, she smiled widely upon seeing her boyfriend and abandoned her conversation with the two Avengers to run to Steve with open arms. “Steve! I missed you so much,” She squealed as the super soldier caught her effortlessly and wrapped his thick arms tightly around her figure. “What are you doing with these troublemakers, kitten?” He wondered out loud, completely ignoring two offended looks from the said men. “I was bored of waiting for you in our room so I went here,” She was cut off from her explanations when Sam added, “That, and we missed hanging out with Y/N!” Even though Y/N giggled, Steve was trying his best to control his rage; but Pietro wanted to push him further to his limits by saying, “You hog her all the damn time we forget how great her company is!” the only girl in the room squealed as she was being carried off by Steve, “Well I don’t want you around her that’s why I hog my girl around.” Everyone around the super soldier still thought that he was joking and decided to laugh it off; Sam’s voice called out to them once more to tell a joke before they both had fully exited the room, “Yeah? Well why don’t you just lock her up in a secluded house then?” That’s exactly my plan, Sam, Steve smirked to himself quietly.

Clark needed an escape that night; for someone who has inhumane powers the stress of his job at the Daily Planet can definitely take a toll on one person — so he decided to go flying around at night, just to take his mind off things. As he was flying, he sensed trouble and decided to check out what was happening. It was a woman who was being bothered by her ex who was clearly under the influence, “Goddamn it, Alex! I told you I don’t want to talk to you!” Y/N was trying her best to push him away, but even in his drunken state he had a  tight grip on her forearms. “Just wanna talk to you, baby,” He sing-songed as he tried to push his body closer to hers. “I think she made it clear that she doesn’t want to,” A booming voice spoke up, causing Y/N to gasp out loud when she saw Superman himself; Alex however grunted at the searing pain on his shoulder caused by the mysterious man, the pain weakening his hold on the girl to the point where he tore his hands away from Y/N to push away the weight on his shoulder. In his drunken state, he failed to piece together how it was the infamous hero in front of him — instead all he saw was a tall, muscular man and decided he didn’t want to have his face beaten up so he just walked away with his arms up in surrender. “Are you alright, miss?” Clark gently asked the woman who felt relieved she was no longer being bothered by her ass of an ex. “I am, thank you.” She nodded and before she could ask how’d she find him he offered, “Would you need help getting home? Just to make sure he won’t follow you again.” He was quick to clarify, in hopes she won’t find him creepy. “I know you have good intentions, but it’s fine. I don’t think he has the balls, let alone the energy, to bother me. At least for tonight.” With that she waved at the hero goodnight before getting into her car and driving into her apartment — but she didn’t know how up in the sky above, a certain pair of blue eyes followed her journey home.

“Hi! You must be the one who moved next door?” Y/N politely greeted the man as she was leaned by her front door. Clark smiled as he adjusted his glasses — suddenly feeling nervous upon seeing her beautiful face once more, “That is me! Though the one who moved next door is quite a mouthful; you can just call me Clark.” As she laughed at his lame joke she told her name, “And feel free to knock if you need anything, okay?” Taking his nod of agreement as a cue that their conversation ended, she entered her apartment. The son of Jor-El II went inside his own apartment that was directly next to hers  — he did so because days and nights of following her didn’t satiate his hunger for her, so he decided that perhaps this would be a clean way of easing her into a relationship — and busied himself with organizing his belongings in his apartment. Hearing Y/N’s increased heart rate and her voice raised, he opened his door to check out what was going on; and the sight of her ex bothering her once again. “Come on, Y/N! You need to take me back!” Displeased with how the imbecile failed to grasp that Alex should not reach out to his girl anymore. Letting his rage get the best of him, he walked over and pushed Alex off hard enough he landed on his bum, “When a woman says she doesn’t want to see or talk to you, then you better comply with her request.” Gulping down, he recognized the strength as the same one who grabbed onto his shoulder — and now as he was sober Alex decided to respect her wishes and hastily stood up to leave the apartment building. “Are you alright?” Seeing how Clark stood up for her, it made her reminisce about how she was reduced two weeks ago by Superman, “I’m fine, Clark,” She nodded as she grounded herself back to reality and stared into his concerned, blue eyes, “Thank you, by the way.” As he smiled at her she offered him for some snacks in her flat, which he gracefully accepted. “You know, you’re the second person who helped me get rid of Alex,” She mentioned as she handed him a snack; feigning innocence he tilted his head up as he inquired, “Oh? Who’s the other one?” Taking a small bite of the snack, she wiped her mouth free from the crumbs before  replying, “You probably won’t believe it, but it was Superman,” She laughed along with her new neighbor who didn’t find it unbelievable and instead played along as he spoke, “Who’s to say I’m not your personal superhero, beautiful?”

[griffintail]

The News

Summary: A part two to A Successful Test. Tommy reflects on the next few days after the incident. 

Pairings: Platonic! Tommy x F! Reader, Mentioned Wilbur x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of death, angst lotta angst, mentions of a panic attack

A/N: Just a side note, there’s a part where Tommy can touch Ghostbur. It’s my sort of headcanon where everyone can touch Ghostbur because he doesn’t have any other “abilities” of a ghost, he’s just super cold to the touch and is see through.

        Tommy slammed his axe into the side of the tree, his arm aching from the force.

        He didn’t care though.

        A few days had passed since…the test.

        Tommy couldn’t remember much that had happened directly after the explosion. He remembered yelling at Tubbo, he remembered being angry and upset and crying, but he can’t remember what happened after. Tubbo and Sam told him he ran off and Tubbo found him passed out in the snow, bringing Tommy back to his home. The older boy had run off and got Sam Nook, who got just Sam.

        He healed him up and bandaged the injuries Tommy hadn’t cared to notice he had gotten from being blown back from the explosion. The injuries were still there, it had been a little too long for the healing potions to heal everything completely. He had wrapped bandages on his entire left forearm and another on his upper right arm, there had been one around his forehead but he had taken it off two days ago, a scar formed.

        From there, they tried to help Tommy but he just wanted to be left alone. It was better if they stayed away anyways.

        Taking the axe out, he slammed it into the tree again, the sound echoing in the small wooded area.

        They had held a funeral.

        Almost every last SMP resident came.

        Tubbo had organized the event with the help of Eret and Sam.

        Tommy stood silently during the gathering. He saw everyone there, even the family that had betrayed him came out of respect for the woman that…that gave up everything for him. Slowly, people gave their words of respect for her. It wasn’t like Schlatt’s funeral, everyone cared and everyone was hurting.

        Tubbo had coaxed him into saying something, just at least as a final goodbye. Tommy hated the idea but he slowly came forward and stood in front of all the mourning people.

        Mourning because of him.

        “When the war first started…” Tommy spoke, everyone was frozen at his almost silent words. “When we fought for our independence of L’Manberg, (Y/N) stood with us against everything…She lost her first life…for Tubbo and me.”

        The memory always haunted the two boys. Dream and his goons had cornered them into a hole outside the walls and (Y/N) had rushed over the walls without a second thought. She stood as the perfect L’Manberg citizen, screaming at them, egging them on before dashing away, letting the boys escape to the wall.

        As she was making a b-line back for the safety of the walls, she had been shot in the back by Dream. Tommy remembered his scream then. He remembered screaming so loud at Dream, that Wilbur had come rushing out of the van. They drafted the Declaration of Independance the moment (Y/N) was back in the van.

        “She always fought with her words till there wasn’t room to do it anymore. …(Y/N) had stood for L’Manberg but she always sought people first. She tried for peace, for everyone’s freedom. And when…Tubbo was trapped…She gave up everything when I didn’t.”

        Tommy clenched his hands, remembering (Y/N) yelling at him and Wilbur.

        “Techno and Tubbo are alone down there! They’re our friends in case you forgot! If you’re not going, then I will!” She had shouted before ender pearling down, knocking Techno’s crossbow the other way, aiming directly at Schlatt as he pulled the trigger.

        She had pulled the panicking Tubbo out before the three of them booked it as best they could. When Schlatt came stumbling out of the white house screaming for blood, the crowd went into chaos, Wilbur trying to get down to the woman below. It had been Tommy’s fault then too…

        He said Techno and Tubbo had her back, they needed to get away before anyone knew where they were. When they got to base…(Y/N) was there first, she had respawned. She had lost in a fight; Techno, Tubbo, and her having been separated. Wilbur refused to let her out of his sight the next few days as Tommy had felt guilt rack up. (Y/N) assured him though, she was happy he left.

        The reason she had lost was because they stormed the tower and she became reckless thinking they were still in there so she fought to save people that weren’t there…Wilbur and Tommy would have most certainly had died if they had still been there. Or that was what (Y/N) always convinced him.

        It’s his fault she’s gone. It’s his fault she had no lives to spare.

        “She tried to stop Wilbur and prove we could still be the same L’Manberg.”

        (Y/N) had told him one day during his exile, when Ghostbur wasn’t there, that she had been in the button room when it had gone off. That’s how she had gotten Wilbur’s jacket he wore all the time during the era of PogTopia that she had worn till the end, a stitch in the middle of the back of the jacket however where…Phil had cut through. She told him how she pleaded with Wilbur, trying to convince him that they could make L’Manberg right again. Phil trying to help her and assure Wilbur.

        But Wilbur had been too far gone and told her that he loved her before pressing the button. It was one of the few times he had seen the strong woman cry. It was the first time Tommy comforted her instead of her comforting him.

        When the final fight came, she stood as the new spearhead for L’Manberg. In L’Manberg’s last moments, she tried to fight with her words, saying she’d bring the country back to its former days without the need for power but she had lost and they lost the last bit of their nation. From there, she simply just spent time with Tommy, Tubbo, and Ghostbur, doing research and loving them, still fighting for people’s freedom when they needed her.

        “She came to me almost every day in exile. She never gave me pity, she always made me smile, she always…she was always there.” Tommy gripped the end of his shirt as he gritted his teeth. “And the SMP couldn’t have lost someone so great.”

        After the speeches, it was a somber meal. Tommy was just angry at himself. Angry that this was his fault that he had lost the world such a great woman, that he made himself lose the best sister he never had. And his anger had only gotten worse when he had noticed that Ghostbur wasn’t there. Ghostbur was the one person that hadn’t appeared and Tommy started demanding to know where the ghost of his brother was.

        When questioning Ranboo if he had seen the ghost, he only got angrier.

        Tommy slammed his axe into the tree once more, having to let go of the axe from the pain. It brought anger to him now thinking about what Ranboo told him.

        “No, but I need to tell you something, Tommy.” He told him; his tone upset as he held his book. “I…I found (Y/N) before she went to save you. I forgot about it till I looked in my book.”

        “W-What?” Tommy questioned confused. “What do you mean found her?”

        “I was going to Eret’s when I heard her…I heard her screaming for someone. She was in an obsidian box. I broke her out and had to lead her out. She kept mumbling about you and another box. I-I don’t get what it meant…and her eyes were kind of unfocused.”

        Tommy had stood paralyzed in the room.

        “After a minute though, we heard Tubbo on the radio and she kind of shook herself out of it. She said…she said something about a traitor and you and just started running.”

        Someone had put her…

        There had been a second time when Tommy had to comfort his sister. She had fallen into a hole during Tommy’s exile, one of the various ones Dream had made. Tommy had laughed at first but took a moment and noticed how freaked out she was becoming. She was panicking.

        Tommy had quickly gotten her out and yelled for Ghostbur. The ghost had come over and noticed what was going on, quickly putting blue in the woman’s hands as Tommy tried to get her to relax. After, (Y/N) explained how she nearly lost and did lost so much to confided spaces, boxes, that she had developed a fear of them. Tommy understood what she meant, she lost both of her lives saving them from the confines of a box and she lost Wilbur and L’Manberg to the button room, a small space.

        As Ranboo was asking Tommy if he was ok, Tommy ran. He didn’t care about the protests of Phil, Sam, Tubbo, and some of the others. Someone in that room had trapped her. Someone had betrayed her and in her last moments, made her fearful, scared, and alone.

        It had been three days since then and his anger was unbearable. No one bothered him, scared of mood. The only ones that tried were Tubbo and Sam but they only got snapped at. But he wasn’t angry at either of them now, he was angry at himself, the traitor, Ghostbur, Dream. He was just angry.

        All of this is his fault.

        He put his hands on his knees as he felt the tears well up in his eyes again. He just wanted her back, he’d do anything to bring her back.

        …

        Sighing, he picked up the axe and left the tree. He didn’t really need the wood anyway. He trudged back to his house, ignoring the still in construction hotel as always as he came to his home. Coming to his house, he froze as he saw the last person he wanted to see.

        “What the hell are you doing here?!” Tommy shouted at the ghost of his brother.

        “Tommy!” Ghostbur float to him. “I have good news!”

        “Shut up!” The boy screamed. “Where the hell were you?! Where have you been?! (Y/N)’s gone and you didn’t come to her funeral or—or! Even pay respects to her! How could you do that to her memory?!”

        Ghostbur moved sheepishly, uncomfortable with the shouting. “Well…I…the good news.”

        “I don’t care.” Tommy scoffed going into his home. “I don’t want…”

        Tommy stopped as another transparent figure, wearing a large brown coat, turned around to look at him. The figure’s eyes lit up as they rushed in front of Tommy.

        “Tommy! I remember you! You remember me, right? I’m (Y/N)!” She smiled, as she stood in front of him.

        Tommy was paralyzed before tears poured down.

        “Oh dear, are you alright?” She asked coming closer.

        “Oh, here, have some blue!” Ghostbur smiled now, holding out the blue to his brother.

        Tommy didn’t grab it though and instead rushed forward, hugging the woman. He felt like he just fell into a freezing ocean but he didn’t care. She was here in some way…and he’d make everything right. 

         He’d make sure Dream brought her back too and he’d make everything right.

[mammoneymelon]

How the brothers would react to finding out that MC is autistic

before anyone says anything, i’m autistic and just really want some representation

TW for ableism! the boys are doing their best but no NT immediately knows everything about autism

it’s a bit random, but i headcanon that lucifer has misophonia, so it’s only a matter of time before a noisy/verbal stim starts to drive him up a wall

“what in the devildom are you doing?” he’d ask, eyebrows scrunched in frustration

you have no idea what he’s talking about; after all, you’ve just been sitting on your DDD playing some rhythm game

“what do you mean?”

“you’ve been making that noise for hours; cut it out before i have to go find the packing tape.”

you know him well enough to know he isn’t joking, so you nod and do your best to stop, ignoring the feeling of dread beginning to well up in your chest

you go back to your game, and soon enough, you’re back to ‘making that noise’

you see lucifer stand up, bringing your action to your attention.

“oh, sorry! i didn’t realize i was doing it again, sorry!”

“oh?” he asked, looking down at you. 

“it’s stimming. autistic people do it a lot more than others, and sometimes we don’t even notice it.” there’s a moment of silence but you realize you just told him something you hadn’t even told your human friends

“ah, yes, i do remember reading about that in your file. i didn’t want to say anything so as not to offend you.”

you shake your head. “dude! that’s personal business! i don’t like telling people.”

lucifer’s gaze seems to soften. “don’t fret, MC. i won’t tell a soul.”

and he doesn’t.

he also totally buys you quiet stim toys

it’s not long before mammon realizes you are terrible at reading the room

you have a terrible habit of cracking a joke at the worst time or saying the first thing that comes to your mind, even if it was at the expense of others

at first, mammon, mammon thought you were really brave. now, however, he sees that you just have no idea what you’re doing

currently, your knack for trouble had landed you in detention, something you’d gotten fairly used to in the human world. mammon was sitting next to you - he was paying for trying to defend you

“lucifer’s going to kill us. again.”

“and whose fault is that?”

“sorry,” you mumble. “it’s not like i was trying to get us here.”

“really? because it’s startin’ to seem like you are. not that i blame ya, if i were you i’d do anything to spend more time with the great mammon.” he gives you a smile, and you really hope that means he isn’t mad

“i really don’t like upsetting people, i just don’t really get tone? i didn’t even realize the teacher was mad until you stepped in. “

“dude, she was on the verge of killing ya! what do ya mean you “didn’t even realize”?

you pinch the bridge of your nose in frustration. “it’s part of a disorder i have. autism. i just don’t get some stuff that comes naturally to other people.”

“ohhh.” mammon slaps his head, feeling like an idiot. “sorry,” he murmurs, and you barely hear it

mammon, being, well, mammon, will probably forget.

it’s not that he doesn’t care! it’s just not something that comes up in conversation.

of course, when the two of you do talk about it, he picks up on the symptoms pretty quickly. he’s a pretty smart guy, and he’ll do anything and everything for his human

the two of you are working on a co-op dungeon while you talk about your current special interest

“wow, MC, you know a lot about this!”

“thanks,” you respond, and it hits you - you’ve been infodumping almost this whole time

“haha, yeah, blame it on the autism brain,” you joke absentmindedly, not really caring if he knew. you two were good friends, why would being neurodivergent make a difference?

levi, on the other hand, does a double take. being the gamer he is, he’d definitely heard the word used as an insult, but he’d never thought about anyone actually having autism - much less his best friend

“MC, you have autism?” he turns to you looking genuinely confused, his controller sitting, forgotten, in his lap

“um, yeah? it’s not really a big deal,” you say, shrugging

“yeah it is! i mean i knew you were pretty weird, since you hang out with me-” he stops mid-sentence, realizing his mistake. “NOT IN A BAD WAY, OF COURSE! ah sorry, i said something stupid, like always.”

you shake your head with a small smile. you can tell he’s trying. “trust me, i’ve heard much worse. you’re fine, levi.”

he glances up at you, face red from embarrassment, and your smile widens. “i mean, i don’t think like ‘normal’ people anyway, so yeah, i kinda am weird.”

once you leave his room, he’s at his pc, researching more vigorously that he’s ever done for a class

the more he learns, the more annoyed he gets at the complete misunderstanding of the disorder

ultimately, he just wants to make sure you feel supported and understood

you’re sitting in the library, doing your homework while satan looks over your essay, checking for errors

“oi, MC”

“what’s up?” you respond, still focused on your work

“are you scared of me?”

this prompts you to look up, focusing your eyes on his hands

“i was when i first came here, and i definitely would be scared if i really pissed you off, but no, i’m not scared of you. why do you ask?”

“you never look me in the eyes. or my brothers, actually.”

oh. you’d been hoping no one had noticed. “oh, i just don’t like eye contact. it makes me uncomfortable.” you return your eyes to your paper, hoping that was enough.

“how so?” 

so it wasn’t enough.

“i’m autistic, genius. i figured it was obvious by now.”

“oh. that makes sense.” that’s all he says, so you try to return your focus to your homework.

satan is probably the most comfortable talking to you about it. he’ll ask you questions about your personal experiences and make an effort to understand you better

one day you look over his shoulder to find him reading an article on masking on his DDD

he cares deeply for you, even if it’s hard for him to say so

asmo has wrangled you into yet another shopping trip

“MC, look at this!! you have to try it on!”

one look at the article of clothing and your face is already scrunching up

“absolutely not.”

“awe, why not?” he gives you the biggest puppy eyes and you sigh. he knows your weaknesses.

“the material. i hate it.”

“but it would look so good on you~”

clearly, he’s not going to give up unless you explain yourself to him

“sure, for a couple seconds, until i have a complete meltdown,” you remark. “i’m autistic, so some textures just make me feel really bad.”

his mouth makes an ‘o’ shape, and then he goes back to looking confused. “i hadn’t even thought about that as a possibility! you should’ve said something earlier!”

he feels really bad about all the times he’s touched you without warning. he thought your shock was cute (and he still does), but he knows that autistic people sometimes dislike touch - he’s definitely had at least a couple autistic ‘partners’ in the past

he’s quite the observant demon, quickly picking up on sensations you d and don’t like. if you’re bothered by smells, he does his best to lay off on the perfume - granted, it’s a necessary part of his routine that he absolutely cannot give up completely. he lets you play with the dimmer in his room so you can find the amount of light that works best.

occasionally, he’ll have to tell you that he’s trying his absolute best to flirt and you are giving him nothing. you’re just like “oh shit i didn’t realize”

asmo’s just a sweetheart who wants you to be comfortable

beel unfortunately has to learn about your autism because of a situation out of your control

you’re in the gym, keeping him company while he works out

you’re searching his bag and you realize you don’t have your headphones

oh fuck.

you always bring your headphones to the gym; the sounds of televisions, music, people talking, weights clinking, treadmills rumbling... it’s too much

not to mention the stench of sweat and the florescent lights - truly an autistic person’s nightmare

you squeeze you eyes shut, but that only makes the noise worse. you’re surrounded by noise and you can’t stop it. it occurs to you that you’re no longer breathing properly but it’s just too loud and you’re so small

“MC?” beel’s voice is soft and filled with obvious concern. you open your eyes, seeing him kneeling in front of you. your eyes sting, and you realize you’re tearing up. “MC, are you alright?” 

all you can do is shake your head

“do you want to go home?” you nod, biting your lip as he stands up, making you feel even smaller.

he quickly packs his things into his bag and offers you a hand, helping you get up

he quickly escorts you outside, where you practically gulp for air. 

he waits patiently with you while you slowly ground yourself. 

“okay, let’s go home.” you explain sensory overload as you walk, then tell him about your autism

beel, like asmo, is very observant and he learns surprisingly fast. 

he’s also very protective of you. if someone triggers you, he won’t hesitate to tell them off before doing a grounding exercise with you

he’s basically you’re giant therapy demon and you love him for it

it’s becoming way too much. you’ve been masking heavily for months, monitoring your every move while doing your absolute best to thrive in a (literally) completely different universe than what you’re used to

you’re laying facedown on the couch, practically unable to move. you want to go to your room, but your body won’t let you

“mc?” you hear belphegor’s voice. “are you trying to imitate me?” he teases

you simply groan in response, not wanting to bother

for a moment he goes silent. then, you feel a hand on your shoulder

you jolt up, swiping his hand away as you let out a small shout. belphie’s eyes are widened in surprise

“don’t touch me! ...please,” you add as an afterthought, feeling bad for scaring him

he sits with you on the couch, taking care to leave space between the two of you. “what’s wrong?” you don’t respond. “mc?”

“burnout. too much. feel bad.”

belphie has absolutely no clue what that means, but he figures he knows something that might help.

“want to take a nap with me?”

you have to think about it before responding with a “sure” and slowly crawling into his arms (if that’s something you’re okay with)

it’s night when the two of you wake up. you still feel awful, but you can at least cope better.

once belphie’s more awake, he asks you what the hell happened

“two words: autistic shutdown”

“that doesn’t explain anything” - belphie really doesn’t know anything about humans

you do your best to explain - you were born with a brain that works a bit differently than most humans. some of the symptoms are an aversion to change and ‘odd’ behavior that’s difficult to hide. when you get too stressed, you just kinda ‘shut down’

he takes a bit to really understand, but once he does, he does his best to support you.

he falls asleep to your infodumping and you find it endearing

he gets good at recognizing when you’re starting to shut down and he always convinces you to take a break via a cuddly nap