#shout out to my buddy socks :D

[canine-teethed-sheets]

BABY JUMPSCARE

BEHOLD!! HOOD'S AND SPAZZ'S NON CANONICAL CHILD, VERIDIAN!! OR MINT!! (they both nickname her Verdi)

yes!! her soul is a firelike shape!! kinda tipping from my DT brother's soul headcanon but shhh

Mint is a small curious child who's really pouty most of the time but she means well <:)

she was found in a box while the two were taking a walk in an AU and Spazz WAILED that she wanted to give her mercy on the poor littol babey

bonus:

Mint: *points to Flower* doggy!!

Flower: wh- N O—

(@socksandbuttons look a baby!! :D)

[typingdyslexiaisathing]

Talk of Old Times

Summary: Vash and Wolfwood talk with their newest friend about when Wolfwood first met their traveling buddy. Which Vash finds very unsettling at first.

Characters: Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, OC

Content: established relationship, casual talk, mention of intimacy, mention of alcohol, smoking, romance

I was too busy doing maintenance on Vash's prosthetic arm to really pay attention to whatever Vash and Wolfwood were talking about. Until Vash let out a sharp shout that had me jump in my seat on the bed. So I looked up to see Vash was on his feet and his chair on the ground. His face all flushed to be looking from Wolfwood to me and back again. While Wolfwood wore a grin of sheer confidence and amusement to be lounging in his chair. So I huffed out a breath to get my hair out of my face. "Tuning back into reality. Just what did you decide to say to our very upset friend, Nicholas?"

Vash started doing that making noises that didn't make words thing he tended to do whenever he was flustered. So I looked to Wolfwood to raise an eyebrow at him and wait for someone to make sense. So Wolfwood took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it to answer my question. "Vash had no idea we were a couple back in the day. So he is having issues with us being former lovers." That has my face flush to then huff out a breath. "Your word for the day is 'subtle' you grinning pest. You probably also had the gall to mention you're my first."

Both Wolfwood and Vash go wide eyed to openly stare at me. Which has me go even redder to rub at my head. "What? I know I told you that when we first got serious enough to be picking each others clothes up off the floor come morning. You also were a gem about helping me not get all self conscious when we met back up on the bus. So why are you making it all weird now?"

For a brief moment, my mind goes back to that long ago night. With a few too many drinks and only enough money between us to rent a single room. Which had started with many heated kisses to end with a leisurely morning after. Wolfwood had been very attentive and all but left me melted into a puddle of elated mush once we had stopped to breathe. Just the memory alone had my toes curl in my socks. But I soon gave myself a mental tap to focus on the now.

Vash finally does something that isn't random squeaking noises to just stomp over to me. His frown apparent as he just drops his ass on the bed to then hug me tight with his only arm. Making me squeak in surprise to hug him back. But then Vash turns us around so he's openly glaring at Wolfwood like the man is about to steal the last doughnut off the plate. "Well you aren't getting any second or third chances with her, Nick! Retha is mine now! So you can be damn sure I am keeping her all for myself! You try anything and I will kneecap you!"

Wolfwood openly smirked to look highly amused at us. While I gave a sigh of warmth to just let my annoyance go and choose instead to enjoy how Vash was getting all protective of me. So I took a moment to attach his arm back on for him so he might use it to give me a proper hug. Which he did once the setting was secure to all but squish me. His frown soon turning into a worried pout as I shook my head. "Well I do have the right to get defensive... But maybe I should have put that different... You aren't annoyed with me, are you?"

My answer is to turn so I may hug Vash back. My lips finding his to give him a couple of soft kisses. Which he squeaks into before melting at my chuckle into his mouth. A few more kisses shared before I speak against his lips. "Silly crimson bird I love so much. You make my heart sing and my soul laugh. It's kind of cute how you got all macho on us." Vash pouts to give an irritated grump into my mouth. But he soon chooses instead to lean in and nuzzle his nose to my neck. Which has me giggle at how much that tickles. Wolfwood just watching to look just as amused as myself to take a few good puffs on his cigarette. His words laced with the fog of his cigarette. "I'd say get a room. But we technically are in your room. So I have no right to bitch. But I agree with Retha."

Vash raises an eyebrow for Wolfwood to get that mocking grin. His words laced with sarcasm and mirth. "You do look cute when you try to be macho."

[luna-eclipse2000]

How I met your mother Armin x reader, modern AU

*Based off an episode of Criminal Minds where Spencer Reid has to have a normal conversation with someone, causing him to meet a girl in a park

——————————————————————————

Armin POV

“Daddy!” I hear my children call out to me as they run into my office. I put my pen down and swivel in my seat onto have two blond heads of hair jump up, and sit on my lap. “Ok, ok!” I say with a laugh. “Did you make mommy mad?”

“No.” (s/n) says with a shake of his head, causing his hair to move across his forehead. He looks exactly like me from when I was a child, and (s/n) has her mother’s (e/c) eyes. “But we wanna know how you met her!” (d/n) tells me. “You want to know how we met?” I ask surprised. “You won’t find it yucky?”

“Nuh-uh!” They respond in unison. “Alright, but I’m holding your word to it.” I tells them.

~~~

“Armin,” My best friend, Eren, says my name from my doorway. “Do you want to come to the lakeshore with Mikasa and I?

“I have to study for my European geography test.” I answer him from my desk, slumped over my review sheets. “Yeesh, dude. There’s so many mugs in this room, we might get a weather network coming to take a reading soon.” Eren says as he looks around my room.

I have sticky notes of various colours and sizes absolutely everywhere, text books piled high, and over five mugs of coffee- some hot, some cold, and some finished. Mikasa, Eren and I are roommates for college, deciding that renting an apartment would be better for us than on-campus residence.

“Alright, buddy.” Eren says as I hear him enter my room. “C’mon, let’s go.” I feel him start to wheel my chair out of my room. “You need to get out of this room for more than coffee and a piss.”

“Eren! This test is important!” I inform him as we head down the hall. “If I fail, I could lose my chance at being a geography professor!”

“You’ll ace this test just like every other one you’ve ever had in your life. Don’t stress yourself out.” Eren tells me as we stop in the living room. I sigh in defeat, knowing that that fact is correct. “Armin, get changed.” Mikasa orders. “You look horrible.”

“Fine. I’ll be right back.” I say and head back to my room. “If you’re not out in five minutes, I’m coming to get you!” Eren calls after me. I get out my blue sweater, jeans, white button up and socks. I then head into the washroom and cringe at my unhygienic look. “When was the last time I brushed my hair? My teeth?” I ask myself as I apply toothpaste to my toothbrush and start to scrub.

I then brush out my messy hair, and clean my glasses. I then head back to the living room to put my shoes on so we can leave.

~~~

We’ve been out for about an hour and I’m already itching to get back home. “Are we almost ready to go?” I ask my friends. “For the last time, Armin, no.” Mikasa deadpans. “You need to let loose, man.” Eren says. “Maybe you need to... you know...”

He moves his hands to try and emphasize what he’s saying but I don’t understand at all. “Become a mime?” I ask slowly. “No! A girlfriend!” Eren finally spits it out. “Eren, no way!” I disagree. “I’m way too socially awkward to even talk to a girl! Besides, must I remind you about my last date? Grade 11, Marley’s Diner, Annie Leonhart?”

“Oh, right, she threw that milkshake on you and called you a mop-headed idiot.” Eren remembers. “But that was four years ago, Armin.” Mikasa reminds me. “You don’t have any friends outside of me and Eren, so you stay inside and study to deal with your crippling loneliness.”

“I would’ve probably gone softer but, yeah.” Eren agrees and I pout. “So, here’s what’s gonna happen.” Eren starts. “You’re going to stay outside for six hours, I’ll have a timer going, and you’re going to try and have a conversation with a stranger. Have it in the Starbucks line as you wait for your drink, go to a bookstore and talk to someone about how good the one they picked up is, I don’t really care. Just have a conversation.”

“And if you don’t, I’m going to beat your ass.” Mikasa promises. I nod in acceptance because I know she’ll drop me like a hot potato. You don’t become a self-defence instructor for nothing. “Great! See you at 5!” Eren says and walks away with Mikasa as he puts his phone in his back pocket after setting the timer. I just stand there awkwardly for a few seconds before walking towards the street.

“There’s a good bookstore down the street. I’ll just go hang out there for a bit.” I say to myself as I start to walk towards it. “Oh, damnit all!” I hear someone shout. The tone of the voice causes me to search it out and I see a young woman with (h/l) (h/c) hair walk into the sidewalk. “Of course it decided to break down. Can’t have one nice day, can I?”

I feel bad for her so I decide to see if I can help. “Uh... is everything alright?”

She looks at me with the brightest (e/c) eyes and prettiest face I’ve ever seen. “Oh, no.” She dismisses kindly with frustration lacing her voice. “My car decided to break down and I don’t live signing walking distance. Thank you, though.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I apologize. “It’s not your fault, this old fucker was about ready to expire for the past year or so. I just don’t want to pay the towing fee.” She says. “I’m absolutely drowning in student loans.”

I see hear start to tear up a bit as she starts to get a bit overwhelmed. “Hey, hey, hey. Look at me.” I tell the girl softly and she does. “Take some deep breaths, just like me. Watch me.”

I take a deep breath in and then slowly release it. She copies what I do. “There we go. How about you go do something relaxing to get your mind off this for a while?” I suggest. She nods. “Did you want to join me?” She asks me in such a cute voice that I can’t respond. “If you’re not doing anything, of course! You just... seemed to be by yourself, too.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. My friends ditched me because they want me to get out and meet people because I’ve got crippling loneliness’.” I say the last part dramatically. She giggles at me. “Then let’s be lonely together! I’m (y/n).”

“Armin. It’s nice to meet you.” I say and then we start to walk away from the car. “So, where did you want to go?”

“Well, I’m a bit hungry. There’s a nice bistro down the street next to a cute little bookstore. Wanna have some lunch?” (Y/n) asks me. I nod my head, so we head towards the bistro in a comfortable silence. Once we get a table, I decide to ask her something. “You mentioned student loans, so you’re in college, right? What for?”

“Oh, I’m in for (dream job). I go to Paradis College.” She informs me. “No way! That’s where I go to school! (“Really? That’s so cool! What for?”) Geography. I want to be a professor for it at a private school my parents taught at. I was going to go into history, since I love it, but then I decided on geography because I love it more. I originally wanted to be a history director at a museum on the Titan Era.” I tell her. “Oh, wow! I could never pay attention to that unit I’m high school, I was too scared.” She admits with an embarrassed blush. “Cute.”

“At first, I was the same. It was such a nerve wracking time for humanity. But then I remembered that there were people who swallowed their fear and actually faced the titans.” I say. “True, yeah. Isn’t it funny?” (F/n) asks me rhetorically. “We’ve only known each other an hour at this point, yet we’re talking like old friends.”

I give an airy laugh and nod at her true statement.

~~~

We end up hanging out for the whole six hours that I was bound to the outside world. But I didn’t want to let her go yet, not meaning to sound creepy. “Guess I better call for a tow truck now.” She says as we make it back to her car. I nod and watch her pull out her phone. “Alright, Armin, think! Use that high IQ of yours and think of a way to see her again!... Just ask for her number, idiot!” I come up with my plan as she hangs up her phone. “Goddamnit. (“What’s wrong?”) They say that I can’t ride with them to the auto shop.” She tells me as she runs a hand through her hair. “Well, I can drive you home once they get here.” I offer. “You’re so sweet, Armin. Thank you.” She thanks me. “It’s no problem. I like hanging out with you.” I admit shyly. “So, uh, can I have your number? So we can talk more?”

“Of course! Here.” She hands over her phone to me. “You put yours in mine and I’ll put mine in yours.”

I take her phone and then unlock mine before handing it over to her. “There we go.” I say to myself as I save it and hand hers back. Right as we finish, the truck comes and tows (y/n) car away. “Thank you!” She calls after them. It’s then that I remember that I don’t have a car. “Oh, shit. I, uh... I just remembered that I don’t have a car with me...”

(Y/n) starts to laugh at the situation, and I find myself doing the same. “I’ll call us a cab.” I say through fits of laughter. She nods and wipes tears away from her eyes.

~~~

We get into the cab and make it to her house rather quickly. “Well, I’ll see you some other time, Armin.” (Y/n) says. “Let me get the door for you.” I offer as I leave my side and open her door. “You’re such a gentleman.” (Y/n) says as she exits the car. I take a breath as I come up with a last second effort to get to stay with her longer. “Then would you consider joining me for dinner tonight? I’ll have my car so there won’t be won’t be a cab pulling up.” I ask. She gives me that beautiful smile of here that I’ve melted over every time she’s done it. “What time will you be here and what should I wear?”

On the outside, I’m slightly giddy with excitement, but on the inside I’m celebrating the hell out of this moment. “Does 6:30 work? (“Mhm.”) Want to go to Braus’ Kitchen? The owner’s an old friend of mine, but my roommates see her fairly often.” I suggest. “Then I’ll see you at 6:30, Armin.” (Y/n) tells me and then kisses my cheek before heading into her apartment building.

~~~

“And that’s how I met your mother.” I finish telling them the story. They look in awe at it which causes me to giggle. “Armin! Baby!” I hear (y/n) call from the living room. “Yes, sweetie?” I respond. “No! The baby!” (Y/n) restates. “The baby?” I ask quietly before realizing. “THE BABY! OOOOH KAY! Ok!”

I take the kids off my lap. “I’m gonna call Uncle Mikasa and Aunt Eren- I mean, Uncle Eren and Aunt Mikasa to watch you as I take mommy to go have your new baby sister, ok?” I tell them and then bolt out of my office to get the hospital bag from the master bathroom while calling Eren to watch the kids.

[trashyswitch]

Afton's Disturbing Pet

William and Henry are removing stuff from Freddy Fazbear, when Henry jumps back at the look of a big spider. Henry, however, learns not only is William not scared of spiders, he befriends them!

WARNING! This plot includes mentions of arachnophobia and features a slight spider character. If you hate spiders as well, you can either click off and look for another fanfic, or read at your own risk and enjoy the relatable moments. Besides that, I hope you enjoy!

Henry was fixing up Freddy Fazbear for the next week of birthday parties coming up. After opening up the belly plate on Freddy Fazbear, Henry took a quick look inside to make sure there weren't any lost and found items hidden in Freddy’s machinery. Funnily enough, there were about 6 different items in Freddy Fazbear this time!

“Gosh...When will children learn to keep their stuff to themselves?” Henry asked.

William chuckled. “When they’re too old to come back, probably.” William replied.

Henry rolled his eyes. “I mean, look at this!” Henry told him. William walked up to the Freddy Fazbear animatronic and looked inside. “A kid lost a pair of shoes! What parent lets their kid leave the restaurant with socked feet?!” Henry exclaimed.

William smiled. “A parent that probably doesn’t care.” William replied.

Henry sighed as he grabbed the pair of shoes out of the machinery and threw them into the lost and found bin. “Hmm...I see a toy car...a paper airplane…Hey look: a Chica bobblehead.” Henry reacted, showing him. William took the bobblehead, flicked the head and watched the head bobble around.

“...UUUUH…WILL, HELP.” Henry yelled suddenly.

William put the bobblehead in his pocket and looked up. “Yes?” He replied.

Henry slowly walked himself backwards and grabbed onto William’s arm tightly.

“Spider. There’s a spider. K-Kill it.” Henry ordered.

William smiled and chuckled at him. “That’s all?” William started walking up to the suit. “Come on man...It can’t be that big a d-” William took one glance at the spider and widened his eyes. It was HUGE! “Wow...okay! That’s pretty big, I’ll admit.” William reacted, leaning forward and bringing his hand towards it. “Hey buddy. What are you doing, hiding in the big bear?” William asked, flattening his hand so the spider could get on. The spider moved its front 2 legs back nervously, but slowly brought its legs back and walked onto William’s hand. William smiled and brought the spider out of the suit’s middle and looked at it closer.

Henry yelped and jumped back, while William watched the spider crawl around on his hand. It was a black spider with beige dots lining the bottom middle body, and 8 thin legs spread out to keep it crawling. The spider was using those legs to crawl around on the back of William’s hand. Somewhat slowly, the spider crawled itself up William’s shirt, onto the wrist and lower arm. “I think I’m gonna call you...AJ. For Afton Junior.” William told him in a slightly high-pitched voice.

Henry was both amused by the strangely adorable scene, and also cowering at the idea of a spider being less than 3 feet away from him. “Why don’t you name him Willy?” Henry asked, still the slightest bit of fright in his voice.

“Cause Willy is just a dirty version of the name William.” William explained. Then, William smirked and looked at Henry. “Or i can name him Henry Junior…” William mentioned.

Henry’s eyes widened as he let out a whimper. “Mmmm-no. Bad idea. Please no.” Henry told him.

William’s smile grew wider and wider as the spider scaled his forearm, crawled past the elbow and skittered up the side of his bicep. “You’re almost there buddy. Come on…” William cheered.

Henry looked like he was going to lose his mind. “HOW, can you just...sit still! While that spider is just-” Henry threw his arms up and just gave up on reasoning. “You know what? No. not even gonna TRY and figure that out.” Henry decided.

After a few more skitters, the spider successfully reached William’s shoulder. William chuckled at Henry’s reaction as he started admiring the big spider on his shoulder. “Look...I have my own little spider friend!” William told him.

“Mm hmm...fascinating. Quick question: how are you so calm?” Henry asked.

William chuckled. “It’s simple, really:” William started as he reached his fingers out to his shoulder to pick up the spider. “I'm not afraid of spiders.” WIlliam explained.

“But HOW?! That’s a wolf spider! They bite!” Henry told him.

William laughed at the irony as the spider crawled on his palm. “You say you hate spiders, and yet you’re perfectly willing to find a book on spiders that are harmless versus spiders that bite.” William reacted.

“That was meant to help my fear of spiders. And you know what? It helped a lot more than you expect!” Henry reacted.

“Did it now?” William asked.

“Yes...actually it did.” Henry told Will. “It helped me learn what spiders I shouldn’t be afraid of, and which spiders I should be afraid of.” Henry explained.

“Interesting.” William told him half-heartedly. Then, William started giving the spider very gentle pats on the head. “Look at you! Such a big strong boy!” William said as he patted its head some more.

Henry nervously watched as the spider moved its front legs around on William’s upper wrist. Suddenly, William jolted and widened his eyes for only a few moments. But his surprised face quickly turned into slight anger as he leaned his head closer to the spider. “You little bastard…” William muttered.

Henry widened his own eyes in surprise and worry. “What just happened?” Henry asked, fearing the worst.

“Well, I think Junior just bit me.” William replied calmly.

“WHAT?!” Henry shouted in horror.

Henry grabbed William’s hand and attempted to pull it closer. “OW!” William shouted, pulling his hand away and holding it with his back towards Henry. “Careful! It hurts!” William yelled, rubbing it.

“You’re gonna infect it! Just let me look at it!” Henry begged.

“No! You’re gonna infect it more than I will!” William exclaimed as he carefully put his spider into his shirt pocket.

“No I won’t.” Henry grabbed the back of William’s right hand and gently brought it closer to himself. “See?” Henry asked. William nodded and relaxed a little before finally letting a smile show up on his lips.

Henry looked around William’s upper and lower wrist. But weirdly enough, there were no marks on there. “I...don’t see anything.” Henry commented as he checked the rest of his hand. His entire hand was completely markless. Henry lifted an eyebrow in confusion. But everything quickly clicked into place when William let out a single snicker.

...Excuse me?

“You...little SHIT!” Henry proclaimed in anger. William finally let the facade fall and bursted out laughing. Henry growled and pushed him away. “Why?!” Henry asked.

William continued to laugh at him. “Cause it was funny!” William told him as he lifted his hand up with the spider on his fingertips.

“I was worried!” Henry told him.

“For 5 seconds, but that’s it.” William replied.

“5 seconds too many.” Henry added.

“It was just a small prank. Can’t you handle a small prank?” William asked.

“Not a prank that potentially risks your life.” Henry shot back.

Despite the laughs, William was feeling a bit of guilt as well. As he calmed down, William tried to come up with what to tell him. He could tell him he regretted it, but...that would be straight up lying because that prank was fun to do despite the angry reaction. He could tell him he was sorry, but...he was worried that wasn’t enough in this situation. He could at least start with that, but he needed something else to say, in order for the apology to flow into something nicer.

William decided to let the first part out and let the second phrase come out naturally.

“Listen: I’m sorry, Henry. I’m sorry I freaked you out and made you worry over nothing.” William told him. But his snickers were still slightly showing through his apology, so it most likely couldn’t be taken like he hoped.

All that left Henry, was a scoff. William figured he would say that. So...he used a bit of logic. “Listen...Little Junior may have fangs. But as long as you don’t threaten it, it won’t bite you.” William explained.

Henry’s attitude seemed to slightly improve, but he was still annoyed. “You patted its head. I’m surprised it didn’t actually bite you.” Henry responded.

“I’ll be honest, I’m surprised by that too.” William said, pausing for a moment. “But there’s something I want you to know:” William added. Henry turned his head towards William with his frown somewhat softened. “Your reaction broke me.” William told him.

Henry narrowed his eyes and let a smile show up on his face as he turned more to face his friend. “How so?” Henry asked.

“Well...It made me happy to see just how much you care.” William said briefly, but nicely.

“...Wait, really?” Henry reacted.

“Really!” William replied.

Henry let out a laugh and shook his head with a smile on his face. “Wow. So you’re not exactly the most heartless being on the planet then…” Henry joked.

William gasped and placed a hand on his chest. “Ow! I’m offended by that statement!” William exclaimed dramatically.

“Oooh! Being sassy now, huh?” Henry clarified with a smirk. “I may need to punish you for that.” Henry warned.

William guffawed. “Puh-lease...What are you gonna do? Put me on a time out?” William joked.

Henry took one look at William’s pocket and smirked. “Hmmm...Nope!” Henry replied before looking towards the dining tables. “Chica! William stole something!” Henry told her.

Almost immediately, Chica’s eyes glowed and his body moved to face her creator. Quickly, Chica walked herself over with Carl the cupcake in hand and stared at Henry the whole way while she walked. “You reported a thief in the pizzeria! Please name who may be a suspect.” Chica ordered.

Henry chuckled, but went along with it. “William Afton.” Henry told her.

Chica turned to William and pointed at him. “You are being suspected of stealing. If you stole something, please give it back or I will have to body search you.” Chica ordered.

William sent Henry a disappointed expression. “...Seriously?” William asked.

Henry nodded his head. “I wanted to test this out, anyway. And since were being a douche a few seconds earlier…” Henry explained before trailing off.

Chica scanned William with her eyes and stared at his shoulder. “There’s a spider on your shoulder.” Chica mentioned.

“I know.” William said.

“William Afton has a bobblehead in his pocket. I will remove it for you.” Chica told him.

William shook his head and zipped up the zipper on his pants before his pocket was touched. Chica picked up William with one hand and attempted to pull the pocket open.

“Thahat’s not how it- WHOHOhohohohoa! Chihihica, cahahaharefuhuhuhul!” William jumped suddenly. Chica ignored his pleas and only continued to try and get into the man’s pocket. William doubled over and continued to laugh and giggle. “Plehehehease stahahahap ihihihihit! Yohohohou’re tihihicklihihing mehehehe!” William protested.

Chica’s hand seemed to have stopped for only a moment. The lens in both her eyes started to zoom in and out as Chica went through an animatronic version of ‘processing’. William must’ve noticed a change in her eyes, because the man quickly became weary and defensive, despite the height and weight difference between the two.

Chica brought William closer, turned him around so Afton’s back was facing Chica’s beak and started squeezing William’s hips. “AAAAH! NAHAHAHAHA- NOHOHOHOHOHO!” William shouted.

“Mr. Afton refuses to give back the toy. So some persuading is needed to convince him…” Chica explained as she continued to squeeze his sensitive hips.

William’s laughter grew and died down with each and every squeeze, leading to some very interesting and amusing reactions. Not only was his happy face genuinely fun to watch, but his giggles and instinctively kicks of the feet seemed to present a more...cuter side of William.

Henry smiled happily at his friend. “Ain’t this an adorable sight to behold? It looks like William over here, is very ticklish!” Henry reacted.

William laughed heavily with his head tipped back. “IHI’M GOHOHONNA DROHOHOHOP AHAY-JAHAHAHAY!” William begged. Chica didn’t listen though, and continued to squeeze his hips in patterns.

Quickly, Henry ran up to Chica. “Chica! Stop!” He ordered.

Upon the command, Chica stopped squeezing and looked to her left side. “Yes, Mr. Emily?” Chica greeted.

“That spider on William’s shoulder...is AJ.” Henry explained. “William befriended it.” Henry told Chica with a slight shudder. Chica looked towards the spider and offered her hand to it. Funnily enough, the spider grew to trust Chica super quickly because before long, the spider was sitting still on Chica’s big hand.

Chica turned towards Henry and brought her hand closer. “Can you hold this for me?” Chica asked.

Almost instinctively, Henry jumped back and nervously held his arms up in defence. He shook his head profusely. “No. No no no no no. I hate spiders. That-that thing can be set free, for all I care.” Henry said, stuttering a little bit.

William frowned. “Hey! Be nice!” William warned.

Henry moved his arms into the surrender position. “What?! You’re lucky I can actually control what comes out of my mouth!” Henry reacted.

“Let me guess: you wanna set it on fire and let it burn alive?” William guessed.

Henry hung his head guiltily. “...I mean…” Henry muttered.

William scoffed and shook his head. “Knew it.” William replied in a slight annoyed voice.

Chica placed the wolf spider onto the stage and almost immediately tried tickling William again. William squeaked and bursted out laughing as he struggled to get her hand away from him. Finally, William decided to give up.

“Ohohokahahay, ohohohokahahahahayyy! Ihihi’ll gihihihive ihit uhuhup, just STAHAhahahahap!” William shouted at her.

Chica smiled and stopped her hand. William took a moment to breath before he unzipped his pocket and pulled the bobblehead out. Chica opened her jaw in surprise as she grabbed the bobblehead and stared at it. “Wow! It’s me!” Chica declared happily.

“Yes it is.” William replied.

Chica placed William down and walked away with the bobblehead. Henry walked up to William and started poking him in the sides and squeezing him in the hips.

“Wahahahait, Henry nohohoho! Yohohohou-” William giggled as he attempted to return the pokes. But Henry didn’t react at all, and only doubled his poking! “WHAHAHAHAT?! YOHOHOU’RE NOHOHOT-”

“Nope! Not ticklish there!” Henry declared triumphantly as he started scratching and squeezing the jackpot spots.

It didn’t take long for William to fall onto his knees in weakness. When that happened, Henry moved in front of his friend and happily increased the tickles dramatically, forcing William to fall onto his back in hysterics. The best part (or the worst part for William), was that Henry couldn’t be tickled back no matter how much William tried! And trust me, he tried EVERYWHERE!

The sides were no good, the ribs just hurt slightly, and the armpits were utterly pointless! His belly was a bust, his belly button was just as useless, and his hips didn’t even increase Henry’s smile. He was insensitive to a tee, and it left William frustrated as he laughed, squealed and cackled.

But finally, as if Chica was given empathy, Henry screamed and stumbled back, halting the tickle attack altogether. William looked at him in confusion, before realizing the reason when Carl winked at him: Chica (or Carl) must’ve grabbed AJ and shoved him down Henry’s back! William bursted out laughing at the hilarious moment. Soon though, pity finally overtook William and helped AJ get out from under his shirt. By the time AJ was back in William’s hands, Henry was trembling like a flame and stuttering from the feeling of 8 legs crawling all over his back and shoulders. William ended up having to give AJ to Chica so he could hug the poor man. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Henry to go back to his old self and resume the tickle attack. And with William in his arms, Henry had proudly trapped a wild Afton in his fingers forever!

...Or, until he lets him go, of course...

[my-brothers-corrupted]

Chapter Four - Part 4

The boys try to relax after meeting Dark, but Dapper is ticked off at Anti and there is still tension between Trickshot and Dok.

Tws for alcohol, images of dead bodies, and mentions of torture.

Part 4 - Dark's Memory

“Oh, but Dok, I’m tiredddddd.”

He draws it out like a kid who doesn’t want to do his chores, slipping down into the water until it reaches up to his chin, pouting against the waves of the pool. Dok grins at him and reaches out to snag his hand, leading him around in circles against the wall.

“Come on, my friend. Can’t be sitting around all day even if you’re tired.”

“Help me float?” asks Blue, getting up again and turning his back to Dok.

“Okay, if you want.”

He puts his hand against Blue’s back. Blue lies down against the water and lets Dok steady him, til he’s just resting on the surface of the water, drifting.

“No sleeping though,” says Dok, and Blue laughs. They both wear their shirts in the water. Dok itches at his chest. Through the kitchen window, you can see Trick cooking, and Red sits a few feet away from them, watching the forest and tap-tap-tapping his foot. Dok told him he should do something other than stand guard all day, but he hasn’t thought of anything yet.

pine-storm-season asked: Hello! How are you all doing?

Red looks up and smiles at you. “Aw, been better, but you know. It’s okay.”

He glances over at Dok and Blue. “Getting really worried about Blue after how he was acting last night, but sun comes up and he wakes up and seems okay again. A little nausea this morning. I asked him if he was pregnant. He said that would be more fun than this.”

Red grins and kicks his feet. “He’s grumpy about it, but I just hope he keeps trying to stay up. I don’t blame him for being unhappy. I think, um. He really needs more help than he’s getting. But I don’t know how to get him it. Which is frustrating. I’m not really in charge right now, but I’m still big brother. I’m supposed to be looking after them. And I can’t.”

He shrugs. “But I’ll keep trying. I’ll keep the monster away if I can.”

He still has that kitchen knife, sitting on the grass beside him. He itches at the bandaid on his broken nose.

“How are you?”

Anonymous asked: Whatcha cooking, trick? Breakfast?

“Lunch, technically!”

He stirs enthusiastically at a pan full of ground beef, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and peas. “Making kima. Trying to use the perishables first. So we don’t have to get hungry just cause all the food goes bad. The fridge is really full! Hey, do you know what prosciutto is? There’s a ton in there, but I don’t wanna give Dok ham.”

Anonymous asked: (Chill scenes are totally cool! And I love reading anything you write so it's awesome) But hey! Pool time sounds like it could be fun and/or relaxing. And it could be good for Blue's (or any of yalls) health. -Pink

“Just don’t tell Dap we’re outside,” sighs Blue, standing up and running his hands through his hair. After a few weeks since he shaved it down to white, it’s beginning to grow out again, just a little, and he savors the growing strands. “He won’t stop talking about that thing in our yard. He says he won’t come into the house’s territory, but he wanted us to spend all day hiding. But we figured it already knows we’re here.”

He shrugs and looks back at Dok just in time to get splashed in the face by a sweep of Dok’s arm through the water. He gasps and slaps the water in front of him, sending it spraying up into Dok’s face. He laughs and retreats, cutting water with his hands as he backs away.

“Ass,” gripes Blue, smiling as he follows after him.

Anonymous asked: where is dap, if you don't mind me asking? is he upstairs?

“No, he’s hiding from Anti,” says Dok. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

“Anti’s so pissed at him he only looked for him once,” adds Blue. “He found him in the top cupboard of the pantry behind the juice-boxes and tried to drag him back upstairs, but Dapper wouldn’t stop throwing a fit, and Anti got so irritated he left before - to quote Anti - he pulled him apart tooth by tooth. You might be able to find him on the cameras if you try since Anti’s stopped coming for him. I hope that he’ll come when Trick has lunch. He eats like a shrew. A dieting shrew.”

“I need to have him out here exercising too,” sighs Dok. “He never get out of his little room most of the time.”

Anonymous asked: It's basically fancy italian ham, so says Google. Maybe Noodle and the rest of you would like it but yeah not the best choice for dok

“Noodle! Come here, baby!”

Trick kisses for his cat til he comes and gets him a slice of prosciutto. Noodle is delighted.

“You’re getting so big,” says Trick, petting his back. He’s a very long cat and getting longer, leggy and thin, still golden as the day he was born.

Anonymous asked: Red maybe you should take up drawing or coloring, just something to do with your hands. I know you have a lot worrying you but maybe it will help you de-stress and focus? I find it helps me anyway. A hobby might be good for you right now

Red nods, considering it. Yeah. He stands up. Sits down again. Stands up. Sits down.

He puts his chin in his hand and sighs, kicking at the grass.

“I haven’t… I don’t really have hobbies, ha. Usually I’m the one with the money for the month, you know, so I have to be thinking about food and entertainment and shit in one handful of cash. And when I do get entertainment stuff, it’s for Dap cause he’s alone in his room, or sometimes for the twins if Dok’s having to cut people up or Trick’s depressed and they need something to take their minds off it. Cause that’s what it is, yeah? Entertainment, it’s a need. In those cases at least. And if it’s not a need I don’t get it. That’s the rule. That’s how you stop your brothers from starving.”

He stands up again, staring out at the forest. “But now I guess I can go draw if I want, and it won’t be wrong. Cause it would have been wrong, yeah? To buy paper and pencils for myself. Dapper would need them more or we would need shit to eat more. And now we’re in this nice place after Dap and I about starved in Colombia and I’m just supposed to act like this is our normal and to do whatever I want. I don’t know how to do whatever I want. And I don’t want… I don’t want Anti to pretend this is our normal. Cause it isn’t. I been hungry too many times to let him try to tell me that.”

He pauses, shrugging. “Sorry, I went off. I do want to go find something to do. I wish I had something to color, that sounds fun. I could go look for books or something with black and white pictures. And art shit. I don’t know if there’s any here.”

Anonymous asked: hey, dap? how are you doing?

For a second, there is no sign of him - or not of him moving, anyway. He seems to have shucked off everything he didn’t want to wear as he ran, his tight black dress shoes discarded in the hallway, his clean white dress shirt dangling off the coat hook. There are cuff-links waiting to be stepped on. He may or may not be wearing pants.

But in the office with the grand brown desk and the high, glass-covered shelf full of alcohol in progressively fancy bottles, a slight motion alerts you to an irritated, red-rimmed eye peering slowly out from the side of the desk to check on the beeping noise from the camera - and then, just as quickly, ducking out of sight again.

Anonymous asked: hello, dap! is something wrong?

Liquid sloshes. Dapper glances back at you again, his mouth miserably down-turned and his eyes angry. He hides away again for a few minutes. He’s sick of Anti looking at him all the time.

“I hate Dark,” he spits finally, adjusting a little so you can see him. He’s got a blanket on and all his stuffed animals arranged beneath it around his legs. His pencils are scattered beneath the desk, his sketchpad covered in meaningless circles of colors he can’t tell the difference between. He throws back a bottle of Jameson and drinks deep and hateful. “I hate Anti for bringing us here. I want him to go away!” He coughs as the whiskey burns.

Anonymous asked: Ah... why are your clothes on the floor Dap?

“I don’t want to wear all this stupid shit he puts me in,” he signs. “I don’t want to be cute and perfect, I’m not his perfect little pet thing, not his dog to dress up in a tutu, not cute all the time, sometimes I want to be a man, or I at least want him to know I’m a man, not treat me like a little boy. I only want to dress up when I want to dress up and I don’t want any more stupid little kid hoodies or dumb socks unless I pick the dumb socks. I, I, me!”

He shakes his head, distress creasing through his anger, and he drinks like he’s got something to prove, his face red with crying and alcohol.

“Stupid baby stuck in my fucking crib all day.”

He sobs and then strikes the side of the desk, gritting his teeth. “Stupid little boy never runs from his dad.”

Anonymous asked: anti's not here right now, though. do you want to go be with your brothers for the time being? anti isn't here to be able to do anything to any of you.

“He shouted at me all morning, he’s angry,” grouses Dapper, flicking his golden Christmas knife up and down in his hand. “He said he’ll tie me up upside down until the blood rushes back into my head and makes me stop acting stupid; I said if he tries to make me stay in that room again I’ll bite his ear off in his sleep; he slapped me til I cried.”

His ear is bruised purple on the right and there are nail marks around his wrists. He shivers and curls in on himself, bitter and tired, scratching at a hippo stuffie with textured fur.

“I don’t want to go where everybody’s staring at me, I don’t want to go where Dark can see me, I don’t want to…”

Anonymous asked: Huh boy. Would you mind some drinking buddies? We don't have booze but I can act like a conversational bartender that takes all your problems and sound then into advice. Can't guarantee it'll fix things but we're listening

“That was most of my rant unless you get me started again,” says Dapper wearily, slumping back against the desk so his head disappears and you just see his skinny chest and legs poking out. The thought of it is funny and you hear him giggle, flipping over on his side to hide his face in his blankets.

“I’m sad. Comfort me, Panchito.”

He draws his stuffed Peruvian bear to his mouth for a kiss. It’s hard to tell if that’s his dry sarcasm again or not. He might just be drunk.

“My heart hurts.”

Anonymous asked: How much did you drink so far? Not too much to be dangerous for you I hope

He huffs out a tired sigh and shows you the bottle. There’s more than half of it left.

“You’re going to babysit me too? Not eighteen yet? Just because I don’t age. I didn’t ask for that. I didn’t ask to watch everybody else get older around me while I still look so much younger. I didn’t ask for everybody to make me the baby. What’s wrong with being quiet and nice and cute sometimes? I still want my brother to respect me. I’m not little… I’m mute and I’m psychotic and I like being nice and wearing jumpers and sleeping with a bear. That doesn’t mean I’m not a grown-up. I am a grown-up and I’m clever and tough and I want things. I want to make choices. I’m not five. Not. And if I had got to make a choice, I wouldn’t have chosen to come back to be toyed with by somebody who hurt me.”

His face scrunches up like he might cry, but he doesn’t. He rubs at his ruddy cheeks.

“But I still never go away… so maybe I’m just all talk. Just his baby brother.”

He stares down at the gold of the alcohol.

Anonymous asked: okay, that's fair, dap. do you want us to ask one of them to come be with you here instead? it might make you feel better to have someone like blue with you instead of being alone.

“I don’t want to get scolded,” his hands confess. “I know I’m being stupid. No one else has to share my stupid with me. I know I’m being grouchy and negative and unhappy. I know. They don’t have to put up with me while I’m like this.”

He is very small beneath the largeness of the empty office.

“Even Anti doesn’t put up with me when I’m being a brat, and I’m supposed to be his. Everybody likes me better when I’m smiling and put together. He always just leaves and comes back when I’m too tired or when I’m done sulking. That’s what he thinks he can do this time, just wait for me to decide it’s not worth it. And I always do. I always let it go. Because I know he doesn’t care, so why fight about it? Things are worse when he’s mad at me. But he really hurt me yesterday. That’s worse than when he used to smack me around all the time, before I snapped and he realized how scared he used to make me.”

nikkilbook asked: Red, what if you go find Dap and ask him to draw with you? Let you keep each other company while you do something for you.

“Where he at, though?” asks Red, ducking into the house. “Dap?”

No answer from the wide halls. He trails through the house looking for him.

Anonymous asked: If you want to be mad, J, be mad! Be drunk! These are your decisions and your emotions so express them. We want you to be safe but if you trust your judgement to drink responsibly by yourself, go for it, my guy.

“Be mad, be drunk,” he repeats a little more enthusiastically. After a moment he lowers his bottle and sighs.

“I am not being responsible, though. You are right. I don’t want my brothers to think I’m trying to hurt myself again.”

He sets the bottle gently aside, at least for a few minutes.

Anonymous asked: i don't think they'll mind much, dap. anti cares more about control than love, but the others don't. everyone has unhappy days, especially people in bad situations. we don't have to ask, and they don't have to agree, but we'll ask if you think it would make you feel better, okay? we can ask them not to scold you or anything too.

“He is my heart,” says Dapper cryptically, holding his knees to his chest. “That’s the rope he makes me wear.”

He turns at the sound of someone calling for him. He puts his head against his knees, mouth pursed, but after a moment, he tells you, “They can come see me if they want. But they can go, too, if they want. I have never been there for any of them, truth be told. Not for a long time, anyway. And even then, wasn’t I always just the needy little victim…”

He’s spiraling, his eyes getting dark. He covers his face with his hands.

Anonymous asked: i think they'll be happy to see you, dap. red's looking for you, he wants to know how you're doing. do you want us tell him where you are?

“I think it would be okay. I don’t want him to be disappointed in me.”

He stares down at the floorboards.

“There was a while when Dok and Trick first broke when none of my brothers knew anything about me, just my name and that Anti loved me better than them. I couldn’t talk to them and I couldn’t see them, but I would hear them through the walls and pretend they loved me too. It was lonelier having them in the house than when it was just me and Anti. But even when I felt totally… just… unloved, even when he didn’t even know me, Red would sometimes buy presents for me and leave them outside my door. And it was like there was a little remnant of what we had that was still alive. Or like even if he didn’t even know me, he still would be my brother and look after me however he could.”

He blinks. “I’m rambling again. I am drunk. I don’t want him to have loved me better before he knew me than now, when he’s beginning to see who I am, that’s all.”

Anonymous asked: Dap, you are one of the bravest, strongest, most downright terrifyingly intelligent men i have ever seen. And heck, im a grown up. I still sleep with my stuffed animals! And I color just to color and i eat candy for breakfast from time to time. I watch cartoons and i cry and I do all sorts of things. But im still an adult, and yes, you are too. You are strong, and you'll get through this. -Pink

“Yes, I’m terrifying,” agrees Dapper, nodding his head, determined to believe it. “I’ve killed, like, a lot of people.”

He pauses, touches his mouth, scrunches up his face in thought.

“I guess that is the opposite side of the spectrum. In terms of being taken seriously, I want to be somewhere between Strawberry Shortcake and unattended luggage in an American airport, thank you.”

nikkilbook asked: Room with a desk and alcohol, Red.

Red turns towards the right side of the house, shooting you a confused look at half of Dapper’s clothes scattered around the hallway. He pushes on and into the office, stopping short in the doorway.

Dapper stares back at him with wide eyes and a trembling frown, wiping at his face and clutching his bear to his stomach. The Jameson shudders on the floor nearby, drained by a couple glasses. Red blinks.

He sighs through his nose and then moves to sit down beside Dapper, squishing himself into the space beneath the desk at his side. Dapper sniffles and looks anywhere but Red’s eyes, downcast and humiliated.

“Okay,” says Red, making himself comfy. “Give me that.”

Dapper startles and turns to him. He glances between Red and the bottle, blinking.

“Yeah, come on!”

Dapper lets a sigh drift out of him, disappointed. He is just the little kid of the family. He turns the bottle over to his brother.

“Yeah, that’s right,” says Red. “No fucking drinking alone.”

He tilts the bottle back and drinks. Dapper laughs, turning towards him, clasping his hands together over his heart.

“Red,” he signs, giggling.

“Fuck, that burns!” spits Red, shaking his head and his hands. “That’s nasty!”

“Can’t handle it?” teases Dapper, scooting closer to him, delighted.

“Hey, I haven’t had a drink in a long time, okay?”

“Chug, chug, chug, chug - ”

“Don’t even start!”

Red and Dap laugh, huddled over the alcohol and the stuffies, squished together beneath the desk. Dapper clasps his hand through the blanket, leaning forward to set his head down against his shoulder.

Anonymous asked: How's the liquor Red? Bad? Well probably not since this was a rich dude's stash but the difference between expensive and cheap probably doesn't matter for someone's whose goal is to get drunk

“That is correct, for one,” coughs Red. “And also I know jack-shit about alcohol, unfortunately.”

“It’s good!” says Dapper. “It’s really good.”

“Babe, it’s nasty.”

Dapper laughs. “You can’t tell.”

“I can’t tell. All alcohol is disgusting. I mean I just - I don’t get the appeal. If it’s not like the fruity ones that actually taste nice? It’s nasty. I have never find an alcohol I want more than just, like, a nice orange soda.”

“Do you guys want lunch?” hollers Trick from the other side of the house.

Anonymous asked: Get one of ur brothers to bring the food up like a delivery boy lol

“Heyyyy,” hollers Red down the hallway. “Bring me food!”

“No,” shouts back Dok.

“What does he want?”

“Someone to bring him food.”

“No!”

“Blue, you’re supposed to be my twin!”

“I’m sick! You should be bringing food to me, if anything! Aw, look, Trick’s got me a plate already. That’s why he’s my favorite.”

“Hey!”

“All of you shut the fuck up!” shouts Anti.

Just to piss him off, Dapper stands up and sticks his fingers in his mouth, whistling as loud as he can until Red leaps up and makes his stop, laughing and horrified at the same time. “You are one dumb, bold, black and white firecracker, little brother.”

“Guess that’s why we get along,” answers Dap.

Anonymous asked: damn, orange soda!! that is the best soda, you are an individual of refined taste, red. in terms of lunch, trick's making kima - Indian dish with veggies and beef, basically - it looks p good. are y'all gonna want any?

“I want kima. Come on, bud.”

“There’s the monster in the forest.”

“They’re not going to snatch you while I’m here, bud.”

“You don’t know that,” answers Dapper wearily, but he lets Red lead him towards the hall.

aether-mae asked: Y’all need to eat, and also drink some water or you’ll get hangovers. *paps both ur heads* stay safe kids

“Yes, we do,” agrees Red fondly, pulling him down the hall. “Come on, so. Hey! Whoa, man. How drunk are you?”

Dapper has crashed into his chest, blinking fast. “Dizzy,” he signs.

“You shouldn’t have had that much.”

“I didn’t!”

“Let’s just get you some food and water, okay? You’ll feel better.”

He leads him into the kitchen and then decides against sitting him down at the island, turning to leave him beside Blue on the couch. Dapper sways dizzily, rubbing at his head.

“Hey, my darling, what’s wrong?” asks Blue, reaching out for him. “Dok, come here.”

“He’s okay,” Red insists. “He just, uh. Got into the liquor!”

“Hey!” cries Dok, anger and alarm slicing through his face. “Hey, why! Why would you do that?”

“Dok, come on,” Red protests.

“No, don’t ‘come on’ me! Alcoholism runs in our family and he had a suicide attempt this month. Not to mention Haldol interacts with alcohol! You’ll be dizzy all day.”

Dapper shakes his head, staring up at Dok with big blue eyes. He didn’t know that.

“Don’t give the doctor puppy eyes! It’s stupid, Dap! You want to get to drinking everyday, huh? You want a fun hangover so someone has to look after you? You want to be drunk all the time and then I can’t get you to wake up and it’s four in the morning and I told you to stop, I told you not to have so much, I keep telling you - !”

“Dok!” Trick cuts him off.

Dok stops, closing his eyes.

Trick’s face is guilty and drawn in the kitchen. He turns heavily back to his cooking, dishing meat and veggies onto flatbread.

immabethehero asked: Ooh what are you having???

“We are having kima,” says Trick wearily. “It’s meat and vegatables with paprika and curry powder. You put it on flatbread.”

Everyone’s gone mostly quiet, Red shuffling his feet against the carpet. Blue lets his head fall against Dapper’s shoulder. “I’m taking a nap, good night.”

Dapper presses his head against Blue’s. Trick brushes his hand against Dok’s back as he passes his brother, still standing in the middle of the room, scowling down at the floor.

Anonymous asked: Liquor on an empty stomach leads to a nasty hangover. Go get yall some lunch! And drink some water too. Please and thank you!

“Yes, eat,” insists Dok with a sigh, taking a plate from Trick and giving it to Dapper. “So you’re not sick. Can’t be drinking without food. And water. I’ll get you a bottle if I can find one.”

He goes digging around for a water bottle in the kitchen while Trick passes out food. He slices up a huge white peach and gives everybody a sweet, thick slice as footsteps come down the stairs and Anti appears on the banister, staring moodily down at them. Red and black burns disappear into his shirt from his shoulders and neck, but he doesn’t flinch or whimper, just scowls.

Dapper is tense. Dok tries to ignore their brother as he brings him a water bottle clinking with ice, sitting cautiously down beside Blue and Dapper. Red hovers in front of them, folding his kima into a taco and taking a bite in a pretty good semblance of normality.

“It’s good, Trick.”

“Don’t have to sound surprised.”

“Thanks for cooking.”

“Course.”

immabethehero asked: You know what you should try? Red Lobster cheddar biscuits. They’re from America and they’re delicious!

Everyone glances at the camera. “Uh, yeah,” says Trick. “Those sound good. I’d have to have a way to look the recipe up. But I can make good biscuits. Better than KFC, seriously.”

“I think maybe Blue did actually fall asleep on me,” says Dapper uncertainly, trying not to move too much.

Red sits down beside his brother and props up the plate of kima on his twin’s thighs, just in case he spills, taking enthusiastic bites of his lunch. “You’ll let him stay with us again tonight, yeah, Anti? He’s so tired. You don’t want to wear a body like this right now anyway, right?”

Anti shrugs, his eyes flickering. He turns away, playing with his knife, glancing back up the stairs.

Anonymous asked: Laying it on a little thick there, Dok. I understand you're upset but you don't need to reprimand him in front of everyone, least of all Trick. Taking care of others mistakes that they knowingly make can be hard, but harsh words won't improve things.

Dok raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. Trick sighs, shaking out his head.

“Let Dok have his reaction and Dok will let Dapper have his,” he says. “He already backed off. I don’t need to be coddled like I can’t handle the consequences of the choices I’ve made. But thank you.”

cest-mellow asked: you guys should have a pool party ! take your mind of all the stress, dark shouldnt come to your house territory anyway right..?

“Yes, right,” says Red, watching out of the corner of his eye as Anti decides to head back upstairs, stomping with every step. He’s gotten used to watching for Anti’s warning signs with his other siblings, but he has no idea how his brother will react to Dapper resisting like this. He’s never seen the two of them fight in front of the others, and he’s never seen Dapper quite this mad at him. Any of his other siblings could have lost fingers for the things Dapper’s done in the past twenty-four hours. Red shivers and shakes the thought off. “Yeah, Anti says Dark won’t come into the boundaries of the house, whatever that means. And if they show up in the yard again, I’ll fucking take a knife to them, swear by it!”

“Don’t talk like that,” mumbles Blue, rubbing at his eyes. “They’re not something you should mess with, I don’t think.”

“Well, I think we should go outside and sit around the pool, anyway,” says Red, reaching out to start tugging on pants legs - oh, Dapper is wearing slacks after all. Red grins up at his siblings. “Come on, come on! Need some sun!”

“We were just in Peru!”

“And still so pasty white!”

They end up sitting around the pool, Trick and Dok side-by-side at the far end, kicking their legs in the water and making sure the other eats enough while Dapper sinks down into the water like a tiger on the hunt, warm in the water. Red sits Blue down in the pool chairs at the side and they take a moment to look at each other, mimicking each other’s expressions as a game until Red makes a face so stupid Blue snorts with laughter and breaks character, sitting back in his chair, smiling in the sun.

aether-mae asked: Y’all keep an eye on Dap while he’s in the pool in case he’s still dizzy

“Good idea,” agrees Dok.

Dapper puts a hand to his forehead and faints dramatically, slumping back into the water. Red actually does leap up to his feet before Dapper surfaces again, grinning.

“Not funny, Dapper!”

“Dapper, that’s not funny!”

“Carver! Don’t!”

He giggles under the weight of their disapproval and they seem to roll their eyes at him as a collective, smiles flickering on their mouths.

Anonymous asked: Ah the facade of normality, so sweet yet so frail

Red and Blue glance over at you, eyebrows shooting up. Blue doesn’t seem to appreciate the message; Red looks a little unnerved.

“Don’t be weird,” grumbles Blue, turning back to his family.

“That’s my job,” says Red, kneading his hands together. “To make things feel normal when they’re not. Or safe when they’re not. Or okay when they’re not. I - ”

Blue puts a hand on his knee. “It was a weird message,” he says, squeezing his knee. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

Red nods, turning his attention back to him.

“Hey, will you go get me more water?” asks Blue.

Red is happy to do so. He gets up, taking their cups with him.

It is then that your screen changes in a way it has never glitched, fizzled, or blacked out before.

Someone has taken an Illumination effect to your screens and turned the color all the way down, down, leaving everything monochrome and night-struck, casting them all into shadow. Blue sips at his water as Red returns and you see something smoky and liquid fill up the glass as he puts it against his mouth. In his chair, Red tilts slowly back, until his body is stiff and unmoving against the back of the chair. Dapper is not rising from the pool. Dok and Trick have fallen asleep against each other, and their faces, as you watch, grow more and more hollow. The skin tears on their grey cheeks and white bones glimmer in the dead light of the sun as the color of the pool darkens and darkens and darkens. Blood drips from Blue’s mouth as his eyes flicker and close.

“But you know the truth, don’t you?” comes a cold, drawling voice, deep enough to drown in. “It is just a face - sweet as honey. Frail as mortal bone.”

There is an echo to the voice, not layered like Anti’s, but repeating after it, sometimes changing the way they said it.

“Frail as mortal bone…” it whispers.

“I suppose he put you up to this. You always do whatever he tells you. Play any game he gives you. His loyal, naive little followers. But it doesn’t much matter,” shrugs Dark, flickering into view, blue and red, at the edge of the forest, standing on a cane. They do not appear to you the way they appeared to Anti. Gone is the rot, the decay, the death of them. They are upright and beautiful, with black eyes that glitter like the stomach of the night sky. Black hair curls neatly around their ears and eyes. They are dressed neater even than Dapper, a suit perfectly tailored along the fine curves of their strong body.

They look harmless, respectable, attractive. They are smiling at you.

“I like playing games, you see, with anyone other than him. He’s not here right now,” their voice drawls, low and whispered, as though to make you lean closer to your screen. “So I have a proposition for you, old friend.”

“I have a proposition for you, old friend,” spits the echo.

“It looks like you’ve been watching these poor pets a long time. Attached, are you? I can see glimpses, here and there… illness, torture, sickness in their minds… does it just kill you to watch them being hurt again and again, never getting away?”

“Never getting away? Trapped? Does it just kill you…”

“Bring one of them to me,” says Dark, smiling broadly at you. Their teeth are white like a snake’s. “Bring all of them to me, if you want. And I’ll be kind. I promise. They can rest a while. I have people who can give them anything they want.”

“Anything they want.”

“And no one will hurt them while they’re with me.”

“While they’re with us.”

“But if you don’t… I have more creative ways to bring them with me.”

They smile at you, dark eyes flashing. At the poolside, Red is on the ground, unmoving. Dok and Trick’s chests bleed as twins. Dapper seems to be glitching, thrashing with drowning one moment, still the next, thrashing, still, thrashing, still.

“Don’t disappoint me,” Dark whispers.

They wink. They disappear.

“Thank you, Gigi,” you hear faintly, and then it is all over.

Your screens are normal again. It is a sunny, beautiful day. The boys are unharmed, Dapper chasing a tiny frog around the side of the pool while Red and Blue split another peach and Dok and Trick splash water at each other, laughing. A bird calls, overhead. Everyone is fine.

pine-storm-season asked: Cameras went weird for a moment, was that just for us? It's probably not anything important, I'm just curious if you guys noticed anything about it too.

“Cameras went weird?”

Red turns to pick up a handheld, turning it in circles as he examines it.

“Looks fine,” says Blue.

“Yeah, I don’t know. We weren’t paying close attention, though.”

Anonymous asked: The boys might not have noticed that... "thing", but did Anti also see it?

Anti shoots you a look from his bed, where he’s sitting with about six computers surrounding him or perched on his lap. “I don’t know what the hell you assholes are talking about, but nothing happened in my systems. If something happened, it went through your end of the system, so sucks to be you if you have a virus other than me, but I’m fine.”

He doesn’t look fine. He looks pissed off and exhausted and unhappy. But that’s probably unrelated.

Anonymous asked: Uh Anti should you really just be going sucks to be us considering that the one who sort of appeared to us seems to be threatening your boys...

Anti stares at you for a moment. Then he bursts into laughter, incredulous. “Yeah, I reckon they fucking did! I was the one who invited them to play this game, you know that right? Fuck. Obviously they threatened them, I told them to try and goddamn kidnap them! Oh, goodness… sometimes I wonder about the lot of you.”

Anonymous asked: So what's your plan here then, Anti? Wouldn't you want to keep them safe from other stuff??

“I thought I explained. I never understand why humans don’t understand when I explain things. I don’t understand what they don’t understand.” He pounds on his keyboard as he types, frowning. “I told you this is someone I… trust. I mean, it’s Dark. They’re my… they wouldn’t hurt my pets. We’re just playing games, that’s all. Dark knows me. I know Dark.”

cest-mellow asked: why would you want dark to kidnap the boys, anti? what happens if they succeed?

“If they snag one of them, they can have Dap for a little while,” says Anti, grinning. “That was the deal we made in the forest. But if not, they’ll help me like I want them to. And that’s the thing, really - even if they do win, I bet they’ll still help me do what I want. Just might have to make up for it in… other ways.”

His smile only grows. He glances out the window like he’s waiting to see Dark again, swaying slightly on the bed.

Anonymous asked: Doesn't it worry you that they know about the cameras and can show us things that you can't see? You don't see that going sideways?

“Fucking Gigi! I’ll kill him! He got into my cameras?”

He leaps to his feet and stands at the window, peering out at the forest, beaming. “Fuck, I knew that little cheat would ask the others for help. Well, doesn’t matter. Gigi may be a force to be reckoned with, but I bet Red can out-hack him. I’ll get him a computer.”

Anti turns back to you, a fang poking out of his mouth. “Besides, I don’t care what they show you. There’s nothing you can do about any of this.”

bupine asked: what other ways, anti? hopefully not something like sacrificing another brother. trick wouldn't like that, would he?

Anti snorts. “Oh, fuck… no. You misunderstand. I meant… other things. But I assume some of you are minors, so I won’t go into detail.“

Anonymous asked: I volunteer Trick

Trick blinks, huddling down at Dok’s side. “Hey! What am I being volunteered for? Guys? Ha, Dok, they’re Hunger Games-ing me. You gotta be my Katniss.”

Dok doesn’t look back at him. His eyes are fixed on the doorway to Trick and Red’s room.

“Dok,” Trick insists, pushing at his shoulders. “Hey, the cameras are talking, you like that. Did you float away on me again?”

Dok shakes his head, turning back to his twin for a moment. “What? Oh, no. I’m here.”

“You’re jumpy all day,” whispers Trick, nuzzling his head down against his shoulder.

“It’s past eight,” says Dok. “Anti should have come to get Blue and Dapper and I. But he hasn’t.”

“He’s just having a hard couple days. Let him rest. It’s okay.”

Dok just stares at the door.

The night has come quietly. He is not the only one who’s tense. Red and Dapper are huddled on the windowsill signing and whispering, Blue laid sleepily across Red’s lap, though his keen blue eyes, at the sound of Trick and Dok speaking, turn and fix on you.

Anonymous asked: Blue, you doing okay?

Red and Dapper pause to look at their sibling and Blue sits up, waving their concern away. “Getting into bed,” he mumbles.

“Okay,” Red answers him, reaching out to pull his head in for a kiss.

Blue crawls into bed, carrying a handheld with him. His eyes shift around the room in warning.

“I thought Anti would come back and make us go upstairs with us, but he’s left us alone. That means he’s planning something. It’ll be worse than just dragging us up the stairs or knocking our heads against sinks until we stop fighting.”

He sighs, deep and hurting.

“I don’t know how to protect them from it. Any of them. Even if he doesn’t touch Trick, he gets his trauma secondhand from watching the rest of us get beat and then it’s all buried under this veneer of amnesia and fake love. Even if he doesn’t touch Dapper, he’ll shove him back into a headspace he hates and make him a slave again. Even if he doesn’t touch me, I have to feel him beneath the skin.”

He pulls a pillow to his chest for a hug, closing his eyes. He needs to calm down.

“I think I could almost convince Red to get them and go,” he whispers. “But there’s that thing in the forest…”

He shakes his head and sighs. His eyes flash open. He looks at you. “I promise Dok and I are working on things,” he whispers, so quiet you can barely hear him over the sound of Pot Noodle hopping up onto the bed and padding towards him to purr like a motorboat in his ears. “I promise…”

Anonymous asked: You're doing great, Blue. This is a really hard situation. You're doing incredibly well, okay? We're here to help, and you have your brothers with you too.

“Thank you,” he says. “That’s nice, really. I want to - I want you to have a better story to read. I think about that sometimes. I want you to see us happier. I want that.”

Dapper giggles in the windowsill and Blue looks up, some of the stress fading into warmth on his face. He and Red are huddled together over one of Dapper’s old sketchbooks, coloring together, the colored pencils you got him for Christmas scattered across the ledge. Blue hums a little, his foggy eyes seeming to clear, if only for a moment.

“Yeah, they’re here. They’re with me.”

Anonymous asked: dok, you good?

Dok is humming to himself, something you’re not sure you’ve ever heard him do. It is a discordant melody. His leg bounces in time with the beat. Trick doesn’t let himself look worried. He wraps his arms around Dok’s shoulders and pulls his body close. He expects Dok to go stiff and silent like he sometimes does. The best thing to do has always just been trying to bring him back down to earth.

“Yes, fine,” says Dok.

His face tightens with pain. Trick is hurting him from holding on too tight. But his twin doesn’t know he’s been beat, cut, and strung up by chain all within the last few nights, and he won’t let him know. He can’t. He can’t go upstairs again. He can’t stay upstairs again. There are spiders in the closet. There are spiders on his skin. He’s crying.

“I am right here,” says Trick, again and again, buried low against his shoulder, pushing you slightly away with his foot. “I am right here.”

“He’s going to come hurt me,” whimpers Dok, hiding against him. “Every night, I… I…”

“I think it’s ‘they,’ buddy,” Trick corrects him gently. “They won’t get you long as you’re in the house.”

Anonymous asked: Trick I know you mean well but I don't think anything you could say to Dok would make him feel better. Everything's a bit off but just... stay with him.

“That’s my job, to make him feel better,” whispers Trick, and something in his voice is wounded and aware. Something in his voice knows this is not wrong. “That’s my job…”

He leans back a little to look at him, but Dok just follows his body, chasing the side of his face with his own and pressing them back together like puzzle pieces stuck together in the box. Trick touches the back of his head.

“You are still a half a world away from me,” mourns Henrik, touching Trick’s wrist. “Wo ist mein zwilling?”

“Here,” protests Trick. “Hey, don’t say that, don’t, I… ich bin da. Always.”

Henrik thumbs at the pulse in his wrist.

Anonymous asked: trick, be gentle with him, okay? i don't think he wants to be squished right now. dok, you're gonna be okay. i know, it's scary and confusing and awful. but you're not in danger right now, bud. try to remember that, okay? you're not in danger right now.

Trick eases his grip around him, confused enough that he glances over to you for guidance. He strokes gently at his back. “It’s true. Not in danger.”

“Never feels that way anymore,” mumbles Dok. “Never.”

Trick bites down hard on his lip. He’s known Dok could probably use counseling for a long time, but it scares him every time he feels like he can hear Dok reading out of a DSM when he’s talking about himself. He scratches his fingers across his brother’s scalp.

“Tell me one thing I could do to make today better,” Trick urges him, trying to smile. “Yeah? If you don’t want to tell me what’s wrong or what’s going on, you don’t have to. I’ll just be here. Tell me instead something that’ll make tonight better, okay? Cause we got just about everything we want in this big ol’ house. Right?”

A smile pulls at Dok’s tired lips.

“Yeah, there. Come on. What’s something that could make right now better?”

“I don’t know,” says Dok. “I don’t know, I… I’m sorry, I don’t have ideas.”

Anonymous asked: blue, and i suppose everyone, do you wanna know something funny? dark is anti's Complicated lover haha

Did I say that Blue was exhausted? Have you seen the dark bags beneath his eyes, the aching way he holds himself, the leaning of his body against the thin strength of the cane? Have you seen Blue’s fatigue in every line of his skin?

Suddenly, he is wide awake.

“No. Fucking. Way!” You hear him cry, and immediately he’s laughing so hard he shakes Noodle on his chest. “Holy shit, holy shit!”

“That’s horrible,” cries Red. “Hey, don’t even joke about that! That thing looked like a goddamn skeleton!”

“No way, no way!” howls Blue. “Nooooo, that’s too funny, holy shit! Are you kidding me? No, how does Anti even pretend to be anything’s ‘lover?’ Holy cow… oh, I don’t want to imagine the things I’m imagining, hahaha!”

Dapper rolls his eyes so hard they might get stuck back there and gags.

Anonymous asked: maybe a blanket, or a bit of food, dok? or should we see if there's something else you'd like?

“I could build you a fort,” says Trick, grinning. “With pillows and blankets.”

Dok smiles at him, entertained by his enthusiasm. He shakes his head.

“No? I could… wrap you up like a burrito. With Noodle on top.” He pulls his cat off the bed and presents him to Dok. “Do you want to be all wrapped up with your Uncle, Noodle Pot?”

Noodle meows, sniffing at Dok’s face. Dok closes his eyes, feeling his whiskers across his cheeks.

“I could feed you, yeah, all you want,” says Trick, touching his brother’s ribs, proud to feel a little weight on his body again. He hates the magicians for a lot of things, but at least they fed him well. “There’s brownie mix in the cupboard, you know. I been saving it.”

Dok tilts his head, biting on his lip. “That… might be good.”

“Yeah?”

Dok nods, smiling.

“Come with me,” says Trick, leading him to his feet. “You can curl up in the loveseat and I’ll make you brownies, okay?”

Dok loves him.

“Yes,” he says. “Okay.”

Anonymous asked: just gonna throw this out there but trick uh, anti hurts him. you could help him by keeping him away from anti, and not mentioning him. if you don't believe us, look at his bruises

“Red and Dap are getting along,” says Trick. “Look at them, oh-so-secret, bent over their little book together.”

He almost wants to make fun of them - usually, that makes Dok laugh - but he can’t. Not at that. It’s… nice. It’s good.

“Good for Dapper not to be alone,” murmurs Dok, sitting in the loveseat as promised, petting Noodle luxuriously. His brother’s cat squirms his way up his body and rests against his neck, purring warmly. “And he isn’t the only one getting on better with Red.”

Trick glances back at his twin almost guiltily, stirring brownie mix and eggs and milk together. “I… don’t want to be at odds with him, I decided. We fight, but we’re brothers too.”

He pauses, pouring the mix into a pan. “That’s… okay, right?”

“Why would it not be okay?” asks Dok, confused.

“I don’t know. I just want it to be okay that I - that I sometimes - that you’re not the only person I love.”

Dok stares at him from the chair.

“Like - I want you to know you’re still important, even if I have other people. It doesn’t mean I love you any less if I love somebody else.”

Trick’s cheek stings suddenly. He startles, reaching up to touch his face. He can almost feel the indent of fingers against his skin. He doesn’t know why. It disturbs him.

“Hey, dummkopf,” says Dok, and he turns to see his brother staring warmly back at him.

“Love’s not brownie mix,” Dok tells him, grinning. “It doesn’t thin out as you spread it.”

Trick grins back at him, huffing out a laugh and popping open the fridge. “So what you’re saying is it’s more of a viscous Jello of some kind?”

“That sounds horrible.”

“You started it.”

“I don’t know what it is, I just know it’s not caramel cluster brownie mix.”

Trick laughs.

Dok’s voice has gone soft and earnest by the time he speaks again.

“You do not belong to anyone, my brother,” he says. “Your heart doesn’t. It was meant to be free.”

“You could write poetry for Blue,” answers Trick, only barely teasing. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Dok repeats, with feeling.

“What bruises?”

“What?”

Trick’s voice has changed in an instant, flinty and trembling. Dok looks up from Noodle, confused. Trick is staring at the camera. Then his eyes flicker over to Dok, hard. “What bruises, Dok?”

Dok pulls their cat closer to his stomach, shaking his head. He turns his eyes away from his twin.

“Why do you keep getting bruises? Show me.”

“No,” says Dok. “Leave it alone, Trickshot.”

Anonymous asked: hey, trick? please leave it be for now. come back to that later, maybe, but i think it would be good for you two to just hang out with each other and be happy for a bit.

Trick’s eyes flash between you and Dok, advancing on his brother. For a moment, he considers it - you see it in the uncertainty that crosses through his face.

But Trick, though he often forgets his aggressor, is, in many ways, fighting just as hard as Blue and Dok are. And he knows something is wrong.

“This is scary,” he says, his voice cracking. “Don’t you get that?”

Dok laughs loud and broken. “Do I get that? Do I?”

“This is the first time in my life you’ve kept something from me,” Trick keeps on. “Someone’s hurting you - or you’re hurting yourself. And you won’t tell me about it.”

“I need you to trust me - ”

“No, I need you to trust me!”

“Well, I don’t!” screams Dok, loud enough to startle Noodle off his lap. Their cat streaks away, racing back towards their room. “I don’t! You think I’m fucking hypnotized when you’re the one whose head is messed up! You wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you! I can’t count on you! I can’t trust you! Fuck, it’s like you’re not even my brother half the time!”

Trick’s mouth hangs open. His eyes aren’t even hurt - just horrified.

Dok hears himself breathing heavy. Hears the echo of the words like an afterimage on his tongue.

“I - I - ”

Trick can’t speak around his stammer. His hand flutters and comes to rest over his heart.

And then he regains himself again.

And he straightens up.

And he looks at Dok again, kneeling gently down beside him.

Dok feels his own eyes burn. He doesn’t even know why.

Trick touches the open palm of his hand and they breathe together, side-by-side.

Long minutes pass. Trick lets his anger and his hurt go.

Just like that. It doesn’t matter. He’s what matters. His zwilling.

When he pulls back the long sleeve of Dok’s torn coat and finds dark fingerprints in his wrist, Dok does not stop him. Trick rests his forehead against the bruises and grieves them.

“Just… tell me?”

Dok is threading his fingers through his hair. He doesn’t reply.

Anonymous asked: trick, please. i'm not gonna tell you what to do or not to do, but just,,, be aware? pushing dok on this will hurt both of you. like, emotionally. you're picking the scab on an infected wound here. do what you will, but think about what it is you want to do here

Trick sighs very long and very deep. He gives a shaken laugh. Doesn’t know why.

“Does someone know?” he whispers. “Someone who loves you?”

Dok nods.

“Yes, I promise.”

“Is it going to stop soon?”

Dok blinks and tears run down his cheeks. “I really hope so, my brother.”

Trick kisses his bruised wrist, resting his head against Dok’s lap.

“I want to take you to Singapore,” he says suddenly, curling his fingers around Dok’s. “I really think you would have liked it there. I thought about you every time I was happy. I could show you all the places I liked.”

“That would be fun,” says Dok. “I want to push you in the Lion fountain.”

“Ohhh, Dok,” says Trick, because what the fuck else is he meant to say? “Ohhh, Dok.”

He would like to give him worlds and worlds, but all he has are brownies.

Anonymous asked: dok, are you going to say? you don't have to though, love, it's an honest question.

“I just - I just want to see you trying to think for yourself again,” whispers Dok. “Please? It scares me when you don’t act like yourself. I think maybe, secretly, he’s suicidal or wanting to hurt himself again.”

“No, Dok, I feel good,” protests Trick, clutching at him. “I promise, I promise! I would tell you, I promise.”

“But there are these moments where you’re not okay. I keep seeing them! Like suddenly you’re freaking out and you need to break in half.”

“It’s just - I don’t know why that happens, but it never lasts long, bro, it never does.”

“I’m scared you’d get angry at me if I told you the truth,” admits Dok in a croak. “I’m scared I would see just how much you’re really not yourself. That maybe I would think you aren’t going to be yourself again.”

“Hey, stop,” answers Trick. “Look, that… don’t, that fucking stings. Don’t say shit like that. Like I’m losing you. Hey, it’s not fair. I’m trying to be a good brother.”

“I’m sorry.”

Trick rubs at his reddened face, sniffling as he gets up to check the brownies.

Dok turns away. “I think you already know who did this anyway,” he adds, so soft you’re not sure Trick hears it. “But it’s too terrible for you to admit.”

Whether or not he did, Trick doesn’t turn around. He is getting the brownies out of the oven. He doesn’t turn around. He doesn’t.

Maybe he didn’t hear it. Maybe.

“I think you already know,” repeats Dok, even quieter. “I think you do.”

Anonymous asked: hey, dok? you and trick and your other brothers will be okay. i know it might be hard to believe that, but don't lose hope, okay? you're gonna be okay. things will get better. i promise.

“Every time I look at him I think, over and over again, ‘I have to get him out of here, I have to get him out of here, I have to get him out of here,’“ says Dok in a hush. “It’s the worst part of the torture. I have to get him out of here. He doesn’t even know.”

He digs his fingernails into his palms and closes his eyes, trying to find his strength again, his hope, like you said.

“I don’t want to be tortured anymore,” he says, his voice creasing. “Things have to get better. I’m scared all the time. But we’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. We’ll get out of here. You promised, yeah? You promise…”

Anonymous asked: Hows the coloring coming guys?-Pink

“Good,” says Red cheerfully, bonking his head against Dapper’s as a sign of affection. Unfortunately, Dapper is not familiar with this form of affection, and he reels back like a startled cat, nearly falling off the windowsill. Red doesn’t notice. “Dap said I could color his old drawings since he never uses color. And I was like, bro, I don’t want to ruin your drawings! They’re yours! But he says he can hardly tell the difference and he doesn’t mind.”

“I have dozens of sketch books,” says Dapper. “These old ones aren’t even that good.”

“Hey, don’t be a dumb-ass,” protests Red, genuinely affronted on his behalf. “They’re really good!”

He holds up a black and white hummingbird. Color is seeping into its feathers, starting at the breast. Red is not particularly neat in his coloring, but his colors have an organization of their own to them, like he’s giving motion to the body of the bird.

“They’re all good!”

Red begins flipping through pages. A bear with its teeth showing. A city in Japan through a small window. Anti. A raccoon, a pinata, a half-dozen clocks, a dark figure with swept-back hair.

Red blinks.

Red stops.

Red stares.

“Hey,” he says. “Hey, that’s the Darkness.”

He stares up at Dapper. Dapper stares down at the floor, mouth twisted.

Eyes scared.

“Dapper? What’s going on?”

Anonymous asked: dap, do you feel like saying? it's okay if you don't, this is an extremely stressful situation and i think red will understand.

“Red, Anti won’t listen,” signs Dapper rapidly. “He doesn’t understand. For once, it’s not his fault, but he doesn’t.”

“If he won’t listen to you, that is his fault,” answers Red humorlessly, and you hear a little of his twin’s bitterness in his mouth.

“Be that as it may. You and me and - well, Max - ”

“Max,” repeats Red, for no reason at all.

“We’re the only ones who know about what I did!”

Red sighs, trying to think. “Slow down, slow down. You’re talking about… when you snapped?”

Dapper’s eyes are wide, soaking in moonlight. He nods once. “Do you remember?”

pine-storm-season asked: Could you elaborate, please, Dap? I don't think we really know what happened. You don't have to, though.

“We talked about it. How our old master forgot.”

Red’s eyebrows raise. “Right… Max said he went to see that guy, J - ”

Dapper shoves his hands over Red’s mouth, eyes wide. He pauses for a second before drawing away, making sure Red gets the message.

“Right,” says Red, flushed. “Guess that isn’t a safe name to say.”

“Our old master forgot us,” says Dapper. “Our creator. Even though he made us. When Anti got his hands on him, I was psychotic and I was scared for him. I snapped - and created a whole separate timeline from the correct one.”

“Right,” says Red. “Like a timeline where we shouldn’t even exist. Where none of us happened, so Anti can never hurt him. That’s why the cameras said there should be videos of us on that Youtube channel, but there aren’t. Because this is a different timeline.”

“Yes.”

“Dap, we better pray Anti is asleep.”

“He’ll just think we’re losing it if he hears us talking like this. But that’s the timeline we’re in now, Red - one where it’s like we never even existed.”

Red pauses, picking at his lip. “So no one would know we exist.”

“Right.”

“Even people we used to know, people we know we had connections with… to them, it’s like we never existed.”

“Right!” cries Dapper. “That’s what you have to remember me saying, or the rest doesn’t make sense. I snapped the timeline. That’s why our old creator doesn’t remember us. That’s why no one remembers us. Like we talked about at the motel in Colombia. Okay? So listen: I broke the timeline trying to protect our creator and I spliced different pieces together. Now, it’s like no one created us at all, like we just came to be. So no one remembers us at all, even if we think they should. Understand?”

Red laughs. “But, Dap, that’s not true!”

Dapper blinks, drawing back from him. “How do you mean?”

“People do remember us,” Red insists. And then, softer: “Max remembers me.”

Dapper looks away, thinking. He rubs at his mustache. Red can almost see his little brother’s brain whirring away like the inside of a computer.

“But… the old master doesn’t remember us.”

“Well, that’s not really true either,” says Red, making Dapper’s head snap up. “Remember? The way he reacted to Max coming to his door wasn’t normal. He didn’t act like Max was crazy. Max said he kept saying our names. Over and over and over.”

“Like he was trying to remember,” says Dapper uncertainly.

“Yeah.”

“Like, even though the timelines snapped…”

“There’s still some people who remember us. Even though it’s like we didn’t exist.”

“Why would they do that?”

Red shrugs, looking down at his hands, fidgeting. “Dap, I - when I found Max, it wasn’t like he was… new. I mean, I forgot everything about him, yeah. But it was still like… like he was a piece of me.”

Dapper looks down at his hands.

“Maybe,” he says after a moment. “Maybe it’s possible, that even though I broke the timeline and made it like we just popped into existence instead of being created… maybe there were some people who were so much a part of us, and us so much a part of them, that I couldn’t just take us away from them.”

“And they remember,” agrees Red softly. “Like we’re trying to remember. Like… girls who smell like cigarettes. Like Trick said. She’s a part of him no matter what happens and what Anti takes or what timelines you shift. Some things - some things don’t get erased. Not even by powerful magic. Some people are too important to forget even if you did snap the timeline.”

Dapper pulls at his beard, silenced by the realization. Red turns his head, peering out the window, where the great darkness of the forest waits, looking back at him.

“So the question is… was Anti important enough to Dark for them to remember him?”

Dapper curls his hands together over his heart, closing his eyes.

“And what will they do to us if they don’t?”

[tibbinswrites]

Suptober Day 23 - No Exit

Warning for Major Character Death in this one.

Dean pulled out his phone, grimacing as the movement sent a fresh wave of warm blood gushing from the wound in his stomach. He had to use both hands to hold it, which meant no one was keeping pressure on the wound, which sucked. He had to try several times to unlock the thing, his fingers were sticky and the touch wasn’t really registering. What the hell had been so wrong with buttons that phone companies decided to do away with them altogether? Maybe Bobby had had a point in his aversion to computers, or maybe Dean he had just gotten old enough to be falling behind. At least he had signal in here. He tapped on the name and it began to ring. Dean winced as he reapplied pressure to his stomach with one hand, not that it would do much,

“Hello Dean,” The voice was as warm and gritty as wet sand and Dean instantly relaxed, slumping back against the wall, though that wasn’t the voice he’d been expecting to hear.

“Where’s Sam?”

“He’s meeting with that paranoid office worker, he said he had some information on the thing’s location but made Sam promise to leave his phone behind.”

“Oh yeah, ’cause that’s not concerning.” He tried to push back the crushing disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to hear his baby brother’s voice one more time. He still had Cas.

“Sam said you’d say that,” Cas said, the hint of a smile in his voice. “Don’t worry, we checked him out beforehand, went through his whole life story in paperwork, he is who he says and ‘he’s not the droid we’re looking for’.”

Dean laughed, okay, it was half a laugh, half an extended, pained cough. It was a horrible, hacking sound, not one that could be passed off as anything other than concerning. “Man, I’m so glad I made you watch Star Wars.”

“What’s wrong?” Cas asked, voice instantly hardened, serious, “are you alright?”

“Uhh...” He considered lying, he did. He already missed the warmth of happy, calm Cas. Then he shifted and coughed again and knew that Cas would never forgive him if he lied now. “No, buddy.”

“Where are you?” Cas was all business now, and he could hear the light static of air passing through the speaker as the phone moved, keys jingled in the background, the sound of a door.

“Cas-” it was too late, he wanted to say, Cas wouldn’t get here in time. Dean was lying in a pool of what he judged to be about five pints of his own blood. He was woozy and feverish, steadily dripping out more, and to top it all off, he was in a solid stone room so even if Cas made it before Dean croaked, getting in would take more time than he had.

“Where!” Cas shouted.

“The… the theme park outside of town. The maze room. Thing was a freaking minotaur, you believe that? Not heard of them outside of Greece before.”

“Was,” Cas repeated the sound of a car engine rumbling through the phone, “You killed it?”

“I think you could say we killed each other at the same time,” Dean said, glancing over to where the misshapen lump of the minotaur lay. “I just… haven’t gotten around to dying yet.”

“Don’t talk like that. I’m on my way, you’re gonna be fine.”

“I’m bleeding out, Cas. If I go quiet don’t think I’m ignorin’ ya, alright?”

He could feel it, the sleepiness that came with blood loss, the way his head kept dipping. It wasn’t too bad yet, he’d had practise at this after all, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to fight it much longer. The minotaur had gored him, and then it had thrown him backwards just as Dean had managed to get the wire around the thing’s neck, unknowingly killing itself when it threw Dean away, the wire slicing through spine and muscle and tendons half a second before Dean hit the wall.

“Hold on,” Cas ordered, voice desperate. Dean would bet Baby that the gas pedal was on the floor. Even so, the theme park was a quarter of an hour away. “Hold on just a little longer. Please, Dean.”

“I’m glad you picked up,” Dean confessed. “I don’t… I don’t wanna be alone.”

“I’m right here.”

“Yeah,” Dean said quietly. “You’re always here when it counts.”

There was a small sniff from the other end of the line, or at least that’s what Dean thought, but blood loss and pain could do all sorts of funky things. He pressed a little harder to the wound and hissed as it shot lightning through all his pain receptors.

“What the hell made you go after this thing alone?” Cas demanded, “You couldn’t have called me?”

“Save the lecture till after I’m dead, Cas.” He said, trying to sound jokey, but it rang hollow.

“Don’t-”

“Thing jumped me anyway. Knocked me out. I woke up in the middle of the maze. Only know that’s where it is ’cause we were in here, what, two days ago?”

When the three of them had first rolled into town the first thing Dean had seen was the theme park, and seeing as they would’ve had to wait until the next day to get started on the case anyway they decided to go. It had been a great day. Dean dragged Cas to the bumper cars and laughed his ass off as the guy drove around the track like a jittery grandmother.

But as it turned out, Cas loved roller-coasters.

In the maze they’d split up. Sam had followed a thread of interesting murals while Dean and Cas went searching for the centre; Sam text them while they were getting lost to let them know he’d already found the middle and the exit and that he was going to go get them candy apples while he waited. They found it eventually, a cool and dimly lit stone room with a bell suspended on wire in the middle to ring to prove you’d made it. Apparently there was also a huge stone slab that could be (and was currently being) used as a door, rolled into position and fixed in place by some mechanism that he couldn’t see and didn’t care to investigate. In fact, it was that very door that he was now bleeding out on. He had to hand it to the minotaur, this was the ideal spot for squirrelling away victims after hours, as long as those victims weren’t viciously well-trained and resourceful, of course, but that was no fault of the location.

“Dean?”

Dean shook himself, he’d been dangerously close to drifting off into his own head for a second there, “Yeah, sorry.”

“Keep talking to me,” Cas instructed, “I’m almost there.”

“Cas, you’re not gonna-” Dean began.

“Shut up!”

“Keep talking, shut up, I’m getting mixed signals here, buddy.” Dean said, his words ending in a wheeze, apparently he needed to stick to shorter sentences if he still wanted to breathe.

“Oh please, you invented mixed signals.” Cas retorted, clearly just grasping on to the thread of conversation to keep Dean talking, he couldn’t blame him, were the situations reversed he knew he’d do the same. He heard the crunch of gravel and figured that Cas had hit the theme park parking lot.

“And what’s that s’pposed to mean?” He heard his voice beginning to slur and he fought it as best he could. He was shocky, had been since about the third pint of blood ventured out into the wide world, shock he was an old hand at but now he was approaching pint six and his vision was dipping.

“We are not having this conversation now.” Cas said fiercely, and he was running, Dean wasn’t sure he’d even switched off the car engine but he could hear the rhythmic pound of footsteps, the slight hitch in Cas’ breathing, more at the force of his feet hitting ground rather than any bodily strain, damn angels. “You said the middle of the maze?”

“Yeah,” Dean said, feeling himself start to slip, the darkness was so inviting, it hurt where he was, sat on the cold stone, his own blood soaking into his socks. “S’okay, Cas.”

“Don’t you dare fall asleep, you hear me?!” Cas yelled into the phone, panicked now, his voice remarkably stable for someone sprinting full speed, Dean loved his voice, he loved how it could be soft and badass at the same time, he loved the way it formed itself around words and made them become emotion by association. “I’m almost there.”

“Mmm.”

“Dean!”

“You say my name weird.” Dean said, mostly to stop Cas from yelling at him.

“I do?”

“Yeah, like it means somethin’, not just a name, you know? But me.”

“You do mean something,” Cas insisted. “You mean a lot, you mean everything.”

“Dramatic bastard.”

Cas let out a sound then, half a sob, half relief, and then there was a bang on the solid block of stone behind him, vibrating it, making his skull ring like that damned bell.

“Ow,” he complained.

“Dean!” Cas called, his voice tinny through the phone and muffled through the door. “Can you hear me?”

Dean allowed the phone to slip from his fingers and into the pool of blood with a sick plop.

“Yeah, Cas. I hear ya.”

“How do I open the door?”

“Dunno, buddy. The thing had keys, maybe that.”

“Can you slide them under the door?”

“Can’t reach ’em.”

“Try!”

So Dean half-heartedly lifted a heavy arm before letting it drop, “Ain’t happening.”

“Not even to save yourself?” He sounded angry, good, angry was better than upset, he deserved angry.

“Cas, I don’t think I could move to save Sam right now,” he confessed.

There was a pause then, a brief one, and if he wasn’t mistaken a sob burbled up from the blood-soaked phone that didn’t make it through the door.

“Okay,” Cas said, that glorious voice remarkably gentle now, “Okay, then I’ll find another way in.”

Another pause, and then the whole room trembled, dust floated down from the ceiling and Dean grimaced at the pain even that slight movement caused. That tremble came again, and again, and a fourth time.

“Are you trying to punch your way through?” Dean asked, half-incredulous, half-impressed. He’d also probably be a little turned on if he had any blood to spare.

“Yes.”

“Well stop it, you’re giving me a headache.”

“Dean-”

“Dammit, Cas! Just talk to me.”

If Cas heard the note of fear in his voice, he was kind enough not to mention it, though it wasn’t the dying that frightened Dean, he’d been down that road more times than he could count, no, he just… he didn’t want to spend his last minutes in a stone box listening to Cas lose his freaking mind.

“I can save you.”

“No, you can’t.” Dean said quietly.

It was definitely a sob this time, one last, tiny thump, and the sound of Cas falling to the ground, either on his knees or on his ass Dean couldn’t be sure.

“It’s okay, Cas. You’ll be okay.”

“Don’t bullshit me,” Cas said. “I’ve lost you before, I know that I won’t.”

“Yeah, well… You’ve still got Sam, and he’s gonna need you too.”

“Sam… what… what am I gonna tell him?”

“You’ll tell him that you stayed with me. You’ll tell him I told him to cut his damn hair.”

Cas laughed wetly. “He won’t.”

Dean smiled, despite himself, “Yeah, I know.”

There was a brief silence while Dean struggled to stay conscious just a little longer. He wished he could see Cas, touch him, watch his eyes turn soft and focused, looking at him like he was something beautiful and brilliant and loved.

“Never thought it would be like this,” he said after a minute, because he knew Cas was about to call his name again, shaky, and not expecting a reply.

“You never factored in ‘minotaur’?”

“Funny, right? I’ve got a long list of ways I thought I’d get taken out, but never once thought of a minotaur.”

“Sounds like bad planning on your part.” Cas replied, with forced calm.

“Right?”

Another few seconds passed, then, because Dean just couldn’t stand it anymore, “I love you.”

He heard the gasp, heard the gulp and the choke, hated himself for it, because Cas would have to live with this moment forever. Dean would be dead with the words no longer stoppering his lungs but Cas would have to carry them around with him for the rest of his life, or at least until he learned how to set them down and leave them behind. Dean didn’t like to think about either option.

“Sorry,” he continued, “I know, Winchesters don’t do deathbed confessions.”

“So, why-?”

“Because you deserve to hear it. Because I fuckin’ love you and I can be such an asshole sometimes and I’m not sure you know.”

“I know,” Cas said thickly. “I was waiting for you to say it, to be ready.”

“I’ve got the worst timing.”

“Yes, you do.”

Dean practically heard the teary smile, even as the room faded to blackness, he was still conscious, just, could still hear, but keeping his eyes open was just… too much.

“I love you too.” Cas said, “bad timing and all.”

“Good, or that would’ve been awkward.”

“Any other deathbed confessions while we’re here?”

“Just one, but if you tell Sam, I’m gonna haunt your ass.”

“What?” Cas’ voice was like a breath of clean air after a storm, air that he could barely get into his lungs now.

“I’m scared.” The words came out in a puff of air, barely audible now, “How dumb is that? I don’t want Heaven, Cas, I just wanna go home.”

“I know.” Cas said quietly. “You’re the one person who won’t be content with paradise.”

“Mem’ries ’rn’t the same.” He mumbled, his tongue thick and unwieldy in his mouth.

“But we had some good ones, didn’t we?” Cas murmured through the door. “Like the time I first made you laugh in that brothel? And when we...”

Cas’ voice faded out, a soothing rhythm of pleasant memories and feelings.

Maybe he hadn’t had minotaur on his list, but this wasn’t the worst way to go, all things considered.

@winchester-reload

If you liked this, please consider buying me a coffee.

[darkjanet2]

Drusilla's Soul Chapter 11 Part 1

Odaiba, Japan

A young boy woke up in the morning. TK was now 11 and it was his first day of school. He got up and yawned as he stretched his body. He had a good night's sleep. He glanced at his clock. It was 7:00 AM. before going to school. He got off the bed and looked at the calendar that marked a circle on schedule.

‘So today is the first day of school, and everything is normal.’ TK thought.

He looked outside the window, it was a normal day. People were busy and the vehicles passing by.

‘It’s been 3 years we've defeated Apocalymon.’ TK thought went to the bathroom to take a shower. He turned on a shower knob when the water was running. He undressed his pajama and threw into the laundry bin, and got into a nice, hot shower to wet his ivory skin. TK sighed blissfully as he grabbed a bar soap and loofah sponge rubbed together as it became suds and washed his body. He grabbed a 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner and poured onto his head and washed it.

After he finished showering, he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist, and got out of the shower, and he began brushing his teeth. When he was done brushing his teeth for 5 minutes, he went to his bedroom to change clothes. He picked out his underwear, shorts, and socks from the dresser. He put on his underwear under a towel, then disrobed the towel. He then put on shorts and socks. He went to the closet and grabbed a yellow, long-sleeved and green torso shirt and put it on. TK brushed his blond hair to make it perfect.

TK went to the kitchen to make breakfast. He opened the cupboard and grabbed his favorite cereal was Honey Comb, then he grabbed a bowl and poured a cereal into a bowl, and then he opened a fridge to grab a milk, poured into the bowl, put the milk back in the fridge. And he started eating his breakfast.

After he finished his cereal, he was ready to go to school.

“I’m done, Mom. I’m leaving.” TK called his mother in her room.

“"I'm sorry that I can't go with you on your first day of school. I have to finish the article today." apologized Nancy, typing the keyboard.

“It’s okay, I can go by myself.” said TK, carrying a backpack while putting on a bucket hat, slipping into his green boots.

“See you later!” He bidded farewell to his mother.

He exited his home and went on his way to the elevator. He met two neighbors inside the elevator. There was a girl with long lavender hair that ran down her waist, a blue bandana that tied over her head, round glasses, wearing a dark pink dress under a light pink blouse, wearing dark purple tights that matched socks, and she had pink shoes.

And the small boy with brown hair in a short bowl cut, wearing a purple shirt, gray pants and brown shoes.

"How's it going?" The boy greeted them causally.

"Fine, thank you." The girl nodded her head at him and replied politely.

"Great!" The blonde boy smiled. "My name's TK, and my mom and I just moved into the building. I'm in fifth grade, class A, nice to meet you."

The girl brightened instantly. "Oh hi! My name is Yolei. Would you like to walk to school with us? We can talk as we walk, so we'll be able to get to know each other better. It'll be fun." Yolei gestured to the boy next to her. "Oh, and this is Cody."

Cody bowed politely, “Welcome to the building. Now come on, we don’t want to be late on our first day.” he smiled at the older boy.

"Let's do it." TK nodded at the both of them, and the lift closed behind him and carried on down towards the ground floor of the building.

"Hey Yolei, can you come over after school and fix my computer again?" Cody asked the lavender haired girl as they neared the school gates.

"Only if I get some of your mom's brownies, you know how much I love them!" Yolei bartered, always ready to jump on a chance for some of his mom's delicious brownies.

"Sure, she always makes extra anyway." Cody grinned. She didn't really, but he'd already asked her to make some for Yolei, having guessed what his friend would want in exchange for her services.

As the trio walked through the gate, they heard the sounds of a football game being played. TK glanced at the players briefly, but stopped dead when he saw sunlight glittering on a player's forehead - more specifically, on a player's goggles.

‘Tai?” TK thought.

Wild, messy dark brown hair, goggles nestled within it, and bright and warm amber eyes, blue t-shirt, brown shorts playing in the soccer field.

‘Am I seeing things?’ TK thought as he blinked his eyes. It morphed into a different boy who had frizzy burgundy hair, and dark brown eyes. He wears a dark blue short-sleeved hoodie, brown shorts, and socks and orange boots.

‘Besides, he’s in high school now. I’m seeing things.’ TK thought.

The player kicked the ball to the googled boy, but the player’s aim went flying straight to the blond boy, and he caught it.

"Thanks. Great catch." Davis walked up to TK, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"You look familiar." TK smiled, and tossed the ball to the football player. "Must be the goggles."

“Huh?” The burgundy haired boy had a puzzled look on his face.

“Hey! What are you doing? Bring the ball here!” The player shouted.

He snapped out of it, and booted the ball again.

TK walked away laughing softly to himself, shaking his head thinking to himself 'How could I ever have mistaken that kid for Tai? Tai's in high school now'.

Just as the bell was ringing for the first class of the day, Davis walked into his classroom. He sighed with relief when he saw his crush was still in the same class as him.

"What luck, you're in my class again Kari!" He called out to her as he went to sit down on the desk to her right. His crush stood and turned to face him. She hadn't changed much over the holiday, still wearing pink shirts, pink long fingerless gloves and yellow shorts, and still wearing the camera around her neck.

Kari smiled at him. "I wouldn't call that luck." And she sat down at her desk, eager to start the lesson for some reason.

"Hey, the weirdest thing just happened. This new kid said I reminded him of someone. Probably thinks I'm a movie star." Davis grinned at the brown haired girl in front of him, but she just cocked her head and made a "huh" noise.

A few minutes later

"I'm Mr. Hamisaki, I'll be your teacher." said Mr. Hamisaki.

Davis slumped in his desk as the teacher droned on. ‘Why did he have to be in the class with the BORING teacher?’ Davis thought as he glanced at Kari.

‘Well, at least I’m in Kari’s class’ He consoled himself.

"And I'd like you all to welcome a new student." He said, smiling.

‘Wait, what?’ Davis was suddenly at attention, staring at the blonde boy who thought he had looked familiar earlier.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm TK." The blonde boy introduced himself, smiling at the class.

"Please take a seat next to the girl with the camera around her neck." As the teacher directed TK, Davis looked around rapidly and groaned. Just his luck, blondie would have to sit next to Kari.

Kari turned and smiled at TK as he sat next to her. That was normal for Kari, she smiled at everyone. The surprise came for Davis when the boy opened his mouth and talked to Kari.

"Together again, huh, Kari?" As he greeted her.

“Just like old times.” Kari smiled.

‘ He’s trying to make a move on with my girl!’ Davis thought in jealousy.

And the teacher began to lecture about the algebra, TK and Kari talked quietly and energetically.

“Our teacher looks like... Ogremon.” joked TK.

Kari couldn’t help but laugh at the joke.

At Lockers Room

"So TK, how does your mom like the new apartment?" Kari asked her best friend as she put her bag into her locker.

"She hasn't seen it yet, she's been on the computer the whole time." TK laughed, doing the same thing. Before they could delve any further into idle chit chat, Davis turned the corner of the hallway, panting incredibly hard.

"Hey buddy!" Davis glared angrily right at the hat wearing boy. Kari and TK stared at him, confused as to why he was so angry with TK.

“His name is not ‘Buddy’, it’s TK.” said Kari, annoyed.

"Alright TJ or JB, or whatever it is. How do you know Kari!?” Davis glared angrily at TK.

TK looked confused. “Huh? How do I know her?” He tilted his head and laughed. “ Oh, I get it! You're jealous of me”

"I'm not jealous of anybody!" yelled Davis.

Davis looked ready to throw a punch, but was stopped by the sound of footsteps behind him. A purple-haired girl holding a folded sheet of paper turned the corner Davis had turned not a long time ago and yelled "HEY!"

TK recognized her instantly. "Oh, hi Yolei."

"You're Kari Kamiya, aren't you?" Yolei asked as she walked up to Kari.

"That's right. Why do you ask?" Kari replied, looking puzzled as to why she was being asked who she was by a girl TK knew.

"Well," Yolei started, then opened the piece of paper. "Are you related to Tai? He sent this to my computer." Kari and TK stared in shock for a moment at the text on the page.

“My brother needs us!” said Kari.

The four of them run down the hallway and along the way they run into none other than the computer genius and bearer of the Crest of Knowledge, Izzy Izumi wearing his uniform and walking up the stairs.

“Izzy!” exclaimed Yolei.

“Hey Yolei, I'm glad I found you. I need to use the computer room right away!” said Izzy.

Yolei clasped her hand in excitement. “You mean the legendary former computer club president is actually looking for me, I'm honoured!”

“What's up Izzy?” asked TK.

Kari quickly showed Izzy the email. “Tai sent us an urgent email!”

Izzy nodded, “Yeah, I know; I got one too! I was just about to send Tai an answer when the battery ran out on my D-terminal. I knew I should've recharged it after I played Trigonometry Privy on the internet last night. Oh, boy, talk about fun. I got him!” said Izzy, sending a message to Tai.

Yolei was intrigued by the Digital World.

“What's the Digital World? Is that a new amusement park? I bet they have some great rides.” said Yolei.

TK and Kari tried to come up with something, not sure how to respond and Davis realized he had heard "Digital World" somewhere before.

“I've heard about it from Tai once, he said there were a lot of Digimon there, whatever they are.” said Davis.

“You know Tai?” asked TK.

“They play on the same soccer team.” said Kari.

“Hey guys, I've got an idea, how 'bout we all go to the Digital World?” asked Yolei.

Luckily, they are saved by the untimely arrival of Cody.

“Yolei, weren't you coming over? Remember you were gonna fix my computer.” inquired Cody.

“Oh…sorry I forgot!” Yolei apologized and went to Cody to fix his computer.

“If Tai's there, the gate to the Digital World's open!” Izzy said. “We’re going back to the Digital World! Prodigious!”

Davis said, “I'm going with you!” He wanted to come to the Digital World, as long as Izzy, TK, and Kari have their Digivices out and they can’t do anything to help Davis right now.

“That's impossible. Not just anybody can go, y'know. You need a Digivice.” said TK.

Davis began to argue. “Listen, TC, if you can go, so can I.”

Suddenly, the screen flashed and 3 beams of light flew out of the screen. The blue light stopped right in Davis' hand and the red and yellow flew out of the hallway into Yolei and Cody's hands.

Davis showed what he just received and it was a Digivice but it was much different. This Digivice was mostly the shape of an oval with a bigger antenna. There were more buttons and blue highlights on both sides.

“Whoa! What’s this?!” Davis exclaimed, holding out a blue Digivice.

“A Digivice!” surprised TK.

“It's a different model than the ones we have.” said Kari, glanced at her original digivice.

Izzy looked at the gate. “We'd better go now while the gate to the Digital World is still open.”

“Yeah, but how long will it stay open for?” asked TK.

“I don't care. I'm going to help my brother.” said Kari.

“Hey, can I get Donkey Madness on this thing?” Davis asked.

Izzy shook his head. “It's not a game; if the Digital World sends you a Digivice then there's a reason and you should take it seriously.”

Kari sighed. “ I'm not waiting any longer!” Kari aimed her Digivice at the screen and it shone with a brilliant blast of light that sucked her in.

“I'm with you!” TK aimed his Digivice as well and got sucked in too.

Davis had his mouth open in absolute shock.

“It's your turn, unless you're scared.” said Izzy.

Davis shrugged it off and aimed his Digivice too.He got sucked into the computer as well and the flash of light can be seen in the hallway. Izzy prepared to go with them until Yolei and Cody rushed in after seeing the light.

“Whoa! What's going on in here?!” exclaimed Yolei.

Izzy almost dropped his Digivice in shock and hid it behind his back with a funny and innocent expression.

“Nothing! Heh, heh!” Izzy laughed nervously.

Yolei and Cody walked up to him in confusion.

Yolei put her hands on her hips. “Izzy, what was that light!?” she asked that she knew Izzy was lying.

Izzy scratched the back of head nervously. “Uh…the computer must need a new screen saver.” He continued nervously laughing, hoping to fool them.

Meanwhile at the Digital World

Kari, TK, and Davis flew through the streams of data in the Digital Gate. Once they arrived and Davis was in awe.

“Whoa, my first time being downloaded, pretty cool. So, this is the Digital World, huh?” Davis said, he took a look around his new surroundings before exclaiming in surprise at the new clothes he was wearing. Davis wears a dark blue bomber jacket with a red and yellow flame pattern at the bottom and over a light green shirt. He also wears dark olive green shorts, dark blue socks, and orange and white boots.

“Whoa! This place comes with a new wardrobe!” Davis liked his style.

Unbeknownst to them, the Digimon Emperor had spotted them and was watching over them.

He had spiky, blue hair in varying shades of blue and light blue, he wore yellow sunglasses with purple lenses, a blue, gray and white jumpsuit, black shoes, cuffs on his wrists and ankles, a dark gray belt with a yellow buckle on it, and also a blue cape with a yellow lining that looked very much like insect wings, with golden-yellow shoulder pads.

Digimon Emperor grinned on screen. “Looks like we have some visitors in my garden and they weren't even on the guest list.”

Kari looked at her Digivice and it was showing 1 Digivice signal that was orange.

“He’s over this way.” said Kari.

“This place doesn't seem so scary; the way Tai put it there are monsters everywhere.” said Davis, he stopped as he spotted a vending machine. “Hey guys, check it out, there's a vending machine. I am a little thirsty.”

[rangoatemybabynsfw]

Lotor, after successfully capturing and brainwashing Keith, has managed to catch Lance while he attempted to rescue his teammate (and long time secret crush). Tied to a chair, Lotor knows how much his pet wants a taste of the Blue paladin's cock, and permits him to warm it with his mouth while he interrogates Lance.

It’s hella long & I’m putting it under a read more since it features NON-CON stuff and I know not everyone is into reading that.

He never thought he’d get caught. Lance’s plan was to break in there, discreetly, and break Keith out. Lotor’s had the red paladin for nearly two months and that’s two months too long for Lance. He’s going to get his friend (and long-time crush) out of that hell hole because god knows what kind of torture they were putting Keith through.

He’d made it all the way to the cell blocks and he was so sure he went undetected. He thought he had the right cell. Called in for Keith and heard a response inside. It sounded like Keith saying Lance’s name. Lance then responded with a ‘hold on buddy’ and ‘I’ll get you out’. The door opened and the second he stepped inside–blackout.

Now he’s waking up in an interrogation room, tied to a chair with the Galra Prince himself in front of him.

“Damn it,” Lance grumbles with a wince. “What…what hit me?”

“You can thank him for that,” Lotor smirks and nods his head to the other corner of the room.

On the floor kneeling is Keith. Lance can’t believe it. There he is! And he’s not restrained! They can get out! Together! 

“Keith! Keith, get off the floor! Tackle Lotor and…” Lance trails off. Something is off. His eyes…they’re clouded like he’s not all there. So Lance glares at Lotor. “What did you do to him?” he growls.

“Just a little attitude adjustment,” Lotor says as he paces over to Keith. He pats his head and Keith turns his face down to the floor in submission. “Harder than I thought it would be but… He’s so pliable now,” Lotor smiles.

Lotor snaps and Keith stands. Keith stares straight ahead, his eyes never straying to Lance. Lotor caresses Keith’s cheek and slides his fingers down his neck. Keith does nothing to stop him, just stands there as the hand travels. Lotor grabs Keith chin and tilts him to look in Lance’s direction before parting his mouth and licking a stripe down his neck.

“Stop that! Leave him alone!” Lance shouts. 

“What? Worried he doesn’t like it?” Lotor chuckles. “I’m afraid he likes being watched. You wouldn’t believe the secrets he spilled to me while I played with him.”

“Liar!” Lance grits his teeth. “Keith’s stronger than you are. You didn’t break him!” he insists.

“I did,” Lotor says. “And with the proper leverage…I’ll break you too. So make it easy on me and simply…join me.”

“Keith! Wake up! It’s me! It’s Lance!” the blue paladin tries but to no avail. 

“He won’t talk to you,” Lotor smirks. “Because every time he spoke out of turn this is what I did to him.”

Lotor clicks a button and Lance jolts as electricity courses through his body at the neck. He hadn’t realized he was wearing a shock collar. Keith must be wearing one too. After a few seconds of spasming and pained cries the torture stops. Lance pants and winces.

“F-Fuck you,” Lance curses at him.

“It didn’t work very well for him either, so I had to add other things too,” Lotor grins. “Pain isn’t the only way to get into someone’s head,” he tells Lance. 

Lotor rounds the chair and returns to Keith. He whispers in his ear and for a second Lance sees a light in Keith’s eyes. A flicker of the real Keith and he looks afraid. But then it goes back to stoic as he nods.

“Yes sir,” Keith says. 

Keith approaches Lance and his hand flies, smacking Lance hard. Lance is shocked more than hurt and Lotor laughs heartily. 

“That’s a good my pet,” Lotor chuckles. “Hit him again. Let him know that his rescue attempt was futile because you don’t want to leave, isn’t that right?”

“Yes sir,” Keith says and he sounds like a broken record.

“Keith!” Lance shouts. “Why are you– you don’t have to listen to him!”

Keith smacks him again, backhand. When he tries to hit again this time Lance swerves his head and Keith misses. Lotor frowns and taps his foot. 

“You know what happens if you miss this time, my pet,” Lotor warns. “Do you want me to take over?”

That flicker of fear comes back but like before for only a second. 

“No sir,” Keith breathes out. “I’ll do it…”

Keith reaches out and threads his fingers into Lance’s hair. It’s tentative, almost gentle but Keith tightens his fist to hold tight making Lance wince. Keith mouths something but no words come out. It looks like ‘I’m sorry’ right before Keith socks him in the gut, knocking the wind from him. He hits him again, his jaw clenched as his fist hits Lance’s face, splitting his lip.

“K-Kei…th…” Lance chokes out. “Please…don’t do this…”

“Lance, I–”

Keith was going to speak but then his body contorts as his own collar sparks and buckles him to his knees. The charge is much more powerful than Lance’s, it’s clear. Lotor is frowning, his finger holding down the button to shock Keith into shutting up. He lets up after zapping him for twenty seconds straight. Keith’s on his knees with his hands on the floor, biting back a whimper of pain.

“You speak out of turn again and I’ll handle everything from here,” Lotor threatens. “Do you want that?”

“No sir,” Keith rasps out. “Please…let me do it.”

Now it makes sense to Lance. Keith would never do this, hit his own friend if he had a choice. Keith knows that him hitting Lance is better than Lotor hitting him. Thinks that maybe Lance will be able to handle it if Keith does it. And of course, Lotor doesn’t mind because he’s turning comrades against each other. 

“Then resume,” Lotor tells him. “Do it right or I’ll punish you both.”

“Yes sir,” Keith nods and returns to beating Lance one punch at a time.

Keith says nothing as he hits Lance. He builds up a stoic wall that cracks a little each time Lance cries out in pain. Keith just takes a breath and rebuilds the wall, though his hands sometimes tremble with what he’s doing. More than once Keith does that hair grab thing again. Gentle like he doesn’t want to hurt Lance but before Lotor can suspect any kindness he pulls tight with a guilt-ridden look on his face. 

“Good job, my pet,” Lotor says and Keith lowers his readied fist. “He looks…properly tenderized,” he chuckles. “Certain you don’t want to change your mind and join me instead? You’d make a great servant, just like your friend.”

“N-Never,” Lance spits. “Keith…it’s okay…I…I’m okay. I can take it.”

“Mmm, well. You do make for excellent entertainment,” Lotor sighs. “Suppose I could just keep you as a prisoner. It’ll certainly help keep him in line. Won’t it, my pet?”

Lotor caresses Keith’s face again but this time Lance sees the look on Keith’s face for what it is. Disgust mixed with fear. Keith’s actually trembling a little as Lotor’s claws brush over his cheek. That means there’s hope. The real Keith is still there but trapped inside thanks to months of torture from Lotor.

“Since pain isn’t plying you like I hoped, then we’ll have to move on to the next technique,” Lotor shrugs and whispers into Keith’s ear. “Do that thing you do so well, my pet…maybe he’ll change his mind and…stay here with you.”

Why does Keith look so hopeful at that comment? 

“Keith?”

“Go on, you know you want him,” Lotor croons into his ear. “Think of it as a reward for being such a good pet. And if you keep being good…I’ll let you keep him.”

“Keep him?” Keith swallows. 

“Yes, he’ll be all yours and kept safe, provided you behave yourself and do as you’re told,” Lotor quietly promises with a snake-like smile. “But if you cause trouble–I’ll slit his throat and dump him out of an airlock,” he says, his tone serious.

The fear brings Keith’s pupils to pinpricks. Before, Keith couldn’t fight or they’d kill him and he couldn’t allow that. He had to get back to his team so he did all he could to stay alive. But now Lotor has better leverage–Lance. He can’t allow Lotor to kill Lance.

All he’s ever wanted was Lance.

Lance couldn’t hear anything after Keith said ‘keep him’. Then Lotor said something that brought back a full force look of panic in his eyes. Something terrifying enough that the hope in Keith’s eyes was instantly dashed. 

“So which is it? Obedient slave or a dead paladin?” Lotor asks again, this time loud enough for Lance to hear.

“I will…obey…” Keith says.

“That’s a good pet,” Lotor smiles and pats his head patronizingly. “I’ll even remove this…” he says as he removes the shock collar. “But remember…he’s still wearing his.”

Keith says nothing. He just nods his understanding. Lance will get shocked to death if Keith fights back.

“Keith, don’t listen to him! Fight him!” Lance shouts and struggles in his binds. 

He thought Keith was going to start hitting him again but Keith drops to his knees at Lance’s feet. Then his hands, trembling slightly, land on Lance’s knees. 

“Keith?”

His hand travels upward and pulls at his belt. It’s removed and tossed aside. Keith’s hand palms the outside of his suit right at the crotch and Lance jolts.

“Keith, what are you d–”

Keith continues to palm and squeeze at Lance’s crotch, his head turned down and face flushing with heat. Lance swallows back a noise and looks around the room. Lotor is watching from the corner with a devilish smile on his face. 

Keith tears open Lance’s suit and lowers his watering mouth to Lance’s exposed cock. Lance gasps and tries not to think about the words ‘hot’, ‘wet’, and ‘tongue’ in regards to the mouth on him. Against his will, his cock hardens in Keith’s mouth. Keith lets out a moan that speaks of relief and pleasure, like it’s the only good thing to have happened to him in two months.

Lance bites back every sound that wants to erupt from his throat as Keith slides up and down his cock hungrily. Like he’s starved for this. Lance knows he shouldn’t enjoy this. Keith’s not doing this because he wants to but because he’s being forced.

“Feels good, doesn’t it, Paladin?” Lotor asks. When did he cross the room to stand behind him? “You can admit it. He’s very good at that.”

“Sh-Shut up,” Lance growls. “K-Keith, you don’t…have to…do this…” he pants out and gasps when Keith deepthroats him with a choked moan.

“But he wants to,” Lotor whispers. “Remember when I said he spilled secrets to me? He was drugged out of his mind but all the words were true. You were one of his little secrets.”

“Liar!”

“Ask him,” Lotor tells him. “Or rather, I’ll do it. Pet, look up,” he commands and Keith obeys. He continues to stroke Lance’s cock with his hand as he listens. “Who’s face comes to mind when you suck me off? Who do you cry out for when I fuck you into submission?”

Keith’s face is flushed with shame but his eyes flick to Lance’s as he swallows thickly. 

“Can you guess who Paladin? Because it’s not me obviously,” Lotor grins and caresses Lance’s face.

“Me? Keith? Is…is it true?” 

Keith merely nods and plunges that cock back into his mouth. Lance’s head snaps back this time with a moan he can’t restrain. Keith thinks about him when he’s forced to service Lotor’s whims. Despite the situation (which honestly is a shitty situation) that knowledge makes him happy. Keith wants him…

“Look at him, so eager,” Lotor chuckles. “He’s never that eager unless I have him blindfolded. Guess because then he can pretend it’s you. But now he doesn’t have to pretend.”

“Lance,” Keith pants, licking at the head of his cock. “Hah…please…”

“K-Keith!” Lance moans as he approaches climax. 

“Lance…I want…to keep you…safe,” Keith says, his eyes in the haze. “Please…this is…the only way I…can keep you.”

“Yes, let him keep you Paladin…he wants you so bad…” Lotor teases, petting his hair and licking at his neck. “It would be a shame to split up such a good team.”

At that, Keith grips tightly onto Lance’s legs as it’s the only way he can clutch to Lance. To anchor himself there. Keith doesn’t want Lotor to split them up either. Keith wants to keep him together even if it means doing as Lotor says. 

As long as they have each other…they can get through this.

“K-Keith–AahH!” Lance cries out as the last of his control diminishes. 

Lance comes all over Keith’s face and in his open mouth. He wishes he could feel bad about it but Keith looks…so good dirtied up like this. He wishes…he wasn’t tied up so he could return the favor but that’s unlikely to happen any time soon.

“Clean him up, my pet,” Lotor commands, scraping his sharp claws over Lance’s neck to encourage him not to dally. 

Keith does as he’s told, licks up the mess from Lance and wipes the come from his face. With a snap, Keith gets to his feet and stands at attention again. Lotor chuckles and runs his claws through Lance’s hair. 

“Hmm…I suppose you did as you were told,” Lotor muses. “I won’t kill him then. I’ll let you keep him.”

“Thank you…sir,” Keith manages to utter.

“But only after you satisfy me just as fully,” Lotor grins.

 Keith clenches his jaw, looking down with shame. But he nods his understanding. He must obey or else…Lance will be killed. 

“Yes sir,” he says and makes a move to take to his knees again. 

“No, not like that,” Lotor tsks and gives them his most devious smile yet. “I have a better idea in mind for you two.”

(And that’s all for this prompt so far. It’s getting kinda long haha. Maybe I’ll write a part two sometime?? If people are into that? I love writing this kidnapped/brainwashed stuff.)

[lee-minhc]

//Pocket Sized Seo Changbin\\

gif not mine,credit to owner

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\

i wake up to the soft pitter patter of feet on the hardwood floor.i sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes,groaning out softly at the sunlight leaking in through the drapes.

"changbin?"i mutter as i look to his small bed.i frown as i see it empty.i stand up and sleepily stumble into the hallway,making my way to the livingroom.

"binnie?what are you d-?"i cut myself off in shock at the state of my apartment.widening my eyes as i look around.

socks thrown around the room.the board games all opened and the pieces all lined up in rows.my puffy winter jacket haphazardly tossed over the coffee table.ribbons waving through the air as they are tied to the blades of the ceiling fan.

standing in the middle of it all,was a proud looking changbin.i gape at the room,not able to form words for a few minutes.

"what?how?why?"i stutter out."changbin.why did you do this?"i breath out as i walk further into the room.

"you didn't give me any attention last night!i stayed up while you studied,waiting for you to finish so i could get cuddles!"he accused"i fell asleep while you were still studying!"he says as he crosses his arms.

"you did this because you are jealous"i mutter.he smirks and nods his head.

i rub my eyes in stress,and quietly clean up everything."w-wait.you aren't mad.right?"he asks after i finish putting away to board games.

i decide to not answer,and pull the ribbons off the fan.i roll them back up and put them back in the sewing cabnit."please don't be mad"he says sadly.

i clean up the socks,tossing them back in the laundry,and place my puffy jacket back onto the rack.

i turn back to changbin and see him standing on the arm of the couch,with glassy eyes as he watches me clean up."you're mad"he says weakly as he fidgets with his thumbs.

"changbin.that was-"i cut myself off with a sigh.i watch as he shrinks in on himself sadly"that was,the cutest jealous induced rage i've ever seen"i giggle out.his head snaps up at me with a surprised look.

"w-what?"he stutters out."it was cute.just don't do it again"i say softly.i walk to the couch and sit down,changbin instantly jumping into my lap,pulling himself up to my chest.

he lays his head on my upper chest,just below the base of my neck,and holds onto the fabric of my sweater."i'm sorry"he mutters.

i bring my hand up and lightly rest it against his body."it's okay binnie.i still love all 5 inches of you"i giggle out.

"I'M AT LEAST 6 INCHES TALL"he shouts in protest.

"what ever you say binnie"i say softly as i turn on a movie,settling down for the next couple hours,giving my little pocket buddy the attention he has been wanting.

[fundeadasylum]

This Photo of Us Part 1: Lips Like Strawberry Wine

To literally no one’s surprise it’s more Micoverse. Let’s just say I listened to Blake Robin’s Unhealthy Obsession one too many times. 

Warnings: none for this chapter

Part 2 / Part 3

**********************************

On a wet, rainy autumn afternoon, Jacob Pierly disappeared.

----

Months before, just as spring was nudging aside the last, clingy vestiges of winter and stubbornly sprouting flowers against the still chilly mornings, Jacob Pierly met a girl. He’d ducked a coffee shop, eager to warm fingers cold from poor circulation and a breeze that had been biting since the early afternoon. Instead he got a shirt soaked with piping hot coco and a frantic, scrambling apology from the young woman who’d spilled her drink on him.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention--it was a total accident--I’ll pay for the cleaning! I’ll--I’ll buy you a new shirt! I’m so, so sorry!”

“I, uh, n-no, it’s f-fine, it’s just--it’ll come right out. It’s not a big deal,” Jake stepped back, awkwardly raising his hands to fend off the woman’s frantic cascade of paper napkins, “It was my fault, I was distracted. Let--let me buy you another one.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t--”

“Please?”

The young woman bit her lip, dirty blonde hair in disarray, twenty or so napkins clutched in her grasp, “I...okay.” She smiled, shy and relenting, straightening up and trying to compose herself.

Jake’s heart skipped a beat for reasons entirely unrelated to preexisting medical conditions.

----

Her name was Rosanna Pearl and she was studying for a medical degree at a nearby college.

“With a minor in chemistry,” She added as they sat at a table in the cafe, each anxiously clutching at their drinks and avoiding direct eye contact, “And you can call me Rosie. Everyone else does.”

“Jake Pierly,” He said, the corner of his mouth twitching in an awkward smile, “Stay at home editor.”

Rosie giggled, “Pierly. Sounds like Pearl. Our last names kind of match. That’s a little funny. Maybe it’s fate we ran into each other.”

“Ah, maybe,” Jake could feel his ears burning as he chuckled, “But next time fate intervenes, I hope it involves less spilled hot chocolate.”

Rosie laughed, a real, resonating laugh that made her cheeks turn pink. It was such a sweet laugh that Jake found himself laughing too.

“What do you edit, if you don’t mind me asking?” Rosie asked when they had settled down.

Jake swallowed a mouthful of decaf, shrugged one shoulder and looked out the window so he didn’t have to face his problems, “Nothing special. Usually whatever anyone throws my way. Creative writing, mostly. Sometimes academic papers but there’s a lot of jargon I don’t get in those so I have to decline a lot of them. I can’t tell you how many awful books get handed off to me by these wanna-be novelists that think they’re going to be the next Stephen King or something.” He rolled his eyes, caught Rosie’s glance, and flushed, “D-don’t tell them I said that, I mean, I do the work. P-pays the bills, you know. Heh.”

“Oh no, don’t apologize, I’m pretty sure I know the type,” Rosie raised her eyebrows, “I used to work at a salon and you would not believe the bitches--the kinds of people who came through there! Awful people. Just. Terrible.”

Jake hid a smile behind the lid of his coffee cup, “Sounds like you’ve got some horror stories.”

Rosie smirked, “I’ll regale you with them sometime.” She glanced at her phone sitting on the table next to her, “But right now I really have to head out. Tell you what, coffee’s on me next time and I’ll spill all the dirty client secrets. Deal?”

Jake hummed, “Deal. What’s your number?”

----

“DAD! DAD! JAKE HAS A DATE! JAKE HAS A DATE!”

Dan looked up from the stove so fast he banged his head on the cabinet. Head smarting and eyes watering, he turned to face the teenager spilling head over heels into the kitchen, “Ow! What!? Milo, stop shouting! What did you say?”

“He didn’t say anything!” Jake shouted, spilling into the kitchen and nearly wiping out on the tile as his socks slid underneath him.

“JAKE’S GOING ON A DATE!”

Dan stared at Milo and then looked at Jake who appeared as though he’d like nothing better than to vanish through the floor, never to show himself again. His face was bright red and he was twisting his shirt into knots between his fingers, gaze darting across the room, shoulders hunched to his ears as he curled in on himself. In contrast, Milo was bouncing up and down, a wide grin on his face, snickering madly at having shared a piece of juicy gossip.

“Jake?” And even though Dan said it carefully he could still hear the eggshells popping under his feet.

“Ih-it’s not a date!” Jake said to the floor, “It’s just a coffee…meetup. Thing. To talk about work. Strictly--strictly platonic. M-maybe even business related. We only just met today and barely know each other but sh-she seems nice and stuff and we were joking around and so we’re just--just going to meet for coffee next week. It’s not a date! It’s nothing!”

Dan winked at him, “Of course, Jake. Not a date. Strictly professional. Got it.”

“You both are the worst.” Jake groaned and Milo cackled with glee.

-----

Dan and Milo left him alone about it for the time preceding the coffee meetup (though Jake suspected Milo only did so with much bribing and pleading from Dan). Jake was grateful for that much because he honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten out of the house with friends apart from Dan and...well, these days it was just Dan. So this would be a nice change of pace from the usual fanfare.

Still, that didn’t stop him from fretting the morning of and changing his shirt three times. He couldn’t help it, he wanted to be presentable. That’s just who he was. He only settled down when Milo caught him trying to match ties and asked him what “his date’s favorite color was”. Dan had to stop Jake from chasing the teenager around the house with a dress shoe and threatening to smack the smile right off his face.

“When do you think you’ll be home?” Dan asked as he ushered Milo away to find something more productive to do with his time.

“Um, no later than 5?” Jake hazard, pulling on a jacket, “I’ve got a video call with a client I don’t want to look like roadkill for tomorrow, so I’ll be home in time for dinner and a decent night’s sleep.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Yes, dear,” Jake chided gently, “I’ll keep my phone on and I promise not to sleep with any strangers.”

“Jake…”

“Whoa! Dad’s cheating on dad!”

“Milo, go to your room!”

“This house is a nightmare!”

Jake could only laugh as he stepped outside and pulled the door shut.

The drive to the cafe was short but enough for Jake to work himself back up into a nervous frenzy all over again. He nearly shut his leg in the car door and tripped over his own feet as he stepped into the cafe.

A glance around and he met Rosie’s pretty brown eyes at a seat near the back, private and away from the crowd, sheltered mostly by a bakery display. She smiled and waved and he made his way over, slinging his jacket over the back of the chair as he sat down.

“Hi, um, hello Rosie, sorry. I hope you haven’t been waiting long. You haven’t, have you? It’s just I had to wrangle Milo and--”

“No, no, you’re fine, I’ve only been here a couple of minutes,” She assured him with a smile, “Who’s Milo? Your cat?”

Jake choked on his own breath of air and struggled not to laugh, “Oh my g--no, if he heard you call him that--good lord. No, no, Milo’s my son. Adopted son. My roommate Dan and I are looking after him since his dad, our friend, um…” He swallowed, the lies tasting foul in his mouth.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain. I’m sorry I asked.” Rosie said quietly. She shifted in her seat, glancing away from him, “Wow, what a way to start the day. Good job, Rosie.”

“Ah, it’s not...a big deal. It’s been ten years.” Jake pushed his finger across the linoleum tabletop in an absent manner, “Anyway, weren’t you going to--what was it?--regale me with epic tales of your worst clients?”

Rosie smirked, “I don’t think I said it quite like that. But why don’t I get us our drinks and tell you about this lady who wanted every shade of pink in her hair.”

----

It carried on, as these things tended to.

Every few weeks, Jake and Rosie would meet up at a cafe or a restaurant, and share drinks, a meal, and stories of their lives. Jake told her about college, about the red head father of his adopted son, something he hadn’t talked about to anyone for ages. In response, Rosie admitted her crippling fear of academic failure and disappointing the legacy of her dead parents. They got along incredibly well for a pair of mostly introverts, enthusiastically discussing music almost every time they met up. It made Jake light up in a way that even Dan couldn’t remember seeing before.

So of course, it had to end and end badly. Because life just couldn’t be fair to Jacob Pierly.

Dan came home from his shift one evening to find Jake slumped bonelessly on the couch in the sitting room, his expression tired and forlorn, his shirt unbuttoned and rumpled, and an empty package of Oreos open beside him. The television was stuck on the retro channel, playing old reruns of shows from the 70’s and 80’s, audio muffled by age and then cleaned up by modern tech.

“Jake…?” Dan asked tentatively, setting his coat down on the back of the couch, “Hey, buddy, you okay? Is Milo sick again?”

“Huh?” Jake blinked, coming back to himself with a small jolt and looking around as if unsure of where he was, “Oh, no, he’s over at Cody’s right now. He’s fine.”

“But...you’re not.” Dan said, easing onto the couch as if afraid he would startle his friend away, “Wanna talk about it?”

“Mm...I dunno…” Jake sighed, letting his head roll back onto the couch cushions, “Not really, but…” He sighed again, “I screwed up, Dan.”

“How’s that?”

“I...I asked Rosie out.”

Dan brightened but then immediately sobered, “Ah, that was, um, real brave of you.”

“Tch,” Jake snorted and his lip curled and for a second, Dan saw a flash of forgotten bitterness and old anger bubble to the surface, “Yeah, sure. Would have been great except she...she said no.” He deflated all over again, staring at his fingers curled loosely in his lap, looking more drawn and tired than ever, “Said I must’ve gotten the wrong impression, that she never wanted to be more than just friends. Said...we should probably...not see each other for a while.”

“Aw, Jake,” Dan murmured, “Jake, buddy, I’m sorry.”

Jake shrugged and sniffed as if he could dismiss the dreary atmosphere hanging in a cloud over his head, “‘S whatever.”

“Nooooo, no it’s noooottt,” Dan cooed, scooting closer to his friend on the couch, “Come here, Jake, let Dan hug all your sorrow away. Hug Machine Dan is here for you.”

“No, no, no Hug Machine Dan!” Jake backed up, but Dan pinned him against the arm rest and crushed him into a hug, “DAN! DAN LEGGO!”

“Are you done being sad?”

“YES!”

“Lies. I’m gonna keep hugging you!”

“I’m going to tell Milo to eat your cookie stash.”

----

Jake’s funk lasted for weeks.

But, eventually, as summer tumbled awkwardly into autumn, apologized, and politely stepped out of the way, he got over it. Jake tended to hang onto things and hang onto them hard and it took work for him to let them go. But he was trying and Dan could see he was trying and told him he was proud and Jake shoved him and they laughed and tried to pretend they didn’t miss the echo of a third laugh that should have been there but wasn’t.

Things were getting better. Things were looking up.

And then, on a wet, rainy autumn afternoon, Jacob Pierly disappeared.

[iba-hime]

Temporary Partner

Happy birthday to the amazing and magical @hakuyamazakisensei!!! I hope you like this little Cop Au drabble! 

---++---

“Saitō-kun,” With a knock on the door, Yamazaki entered the hospital room. The night had been rough and sleepless. During the bust that he and Saitō had been on, things got out of control before back-up could come in time which resulted in Saitō sustaining an injury form a gunshot. The two had managed to hold their own until their back-up arrived and only then was Yamazaki able to apply a very rough first aid until a medic was able to get to Saitō.

Saitō’s dark blue eyes shifted to him, giving him a slight nod in greeting as he sat up and straightened his back.

“How are you feeling?”

“Thanks to you, my injury is not severe. I will be able to come back to the field in less than two months.”

Yamazaki let out a small breath of relief. “I’m very glad to hear that, Saitō-kun.”

“However, I must take a leave of absence…” He shut his eyes and let out a regretful sigh. “Captain Hijikata already ordered it so.”

“It is better to let your leg heal rather than to push yourself. I can handle our current case loads or assist with others. Once Captain Hijikata allows it, I have no doubt you can come in and help from the office.”

“I apologize, Yamazaki.” Saitō hung his head. He was extremely disappointed with himself that not been faster and more vigilant of his surroundings.

“Think nothing of it, Saitō-kun. I trust that you will be on your feet in no time. I know I will not have to wait long.” He gave him a slight smile.

Saitō’s lips turned up in a slight smile. “Yes, I can promise that, Yamazaki.”

--

Yamazaki headed back to the station after confirming the details of Saitō’s discharge to make sure he’d be there to drive him back to his apartment and assist him with whatever he needed.

His violet eyes shifted around the station as he walked, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

After checking Captain Hijikata’s office and finding it empty, he thought it was best to find him later. He didn’t doubt that he was in Chief Kondō’s office, and his door was closed. They obviously did not want to be disturbed, because the window blinds were also shut. He’d learned the hard way what the Chief and Captain were doing when the door was shut but not locked. Of course, Yamazaki had kept it to himself, as he did most things he saw around the station. He did report note-worthy things to the Captain when necessary.

Yamazaki decided to brief Captain Hijikata about Saitō’s discharge date and details at a more convenient time. Instead, he made his way to his desk.

“A whole fucking week?!”

“I know, Dearest,” A pitiful sigh.

Yamazaki’s eyes flitted to the couple that sat across from his and Saitō’s desks.

Ever since Iba and Kaneko started seeing each other, the atmosphere around the two of them had changed drastically. Kaneko had been very unapproachable when she first joined the squad, although that did not deter Okita from antagonizing her. He could remember that Okita had commented that it was like having “a second Hijikata-san that actually threw a punch.” Like with many things, Okita found Kaneko’s reactions amusing.

Iba joined the squad a couple months later, and he had dared to take the desk directly across from her after Captain Hijikata had partnered them up. Women and men swooned over Iba when he first arrived, though people still walked by just to get a glimpse of him, much to Kaneko’s disdain.

“Babe,” Kaneko grabbed Iba by the cheeks and glared at him. Iba merely gave her a sheepish smile as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “It’ll be hell here. Okita’s gonna have a stupid remark everyday and I’m gonna wind up shooting him in the face.”

“Darling, you’ll be fine. A week will pass quickly. Father wants me to go to a few of his press conferences.” He kissed her forehead.

Once every few months, Iba went to visit his parents for about a week, and during that week, Kaneko tended to be very on edge if she wasn’t busy on a case-or several.

Yamazaki had logged onto his computer to check anything pressing he had to do. He had some paperwork to catch on. As he opened his drawer to look for a particular file, he sighed and caught the rubber snake that jumped out at him. He raised an eyebrow and looked over at Okita who gave him a cat-like smile. Yamazaki stood up and placed it on his desk. “You left this in my desk, Okita-kun.”

Okita chuckled and grabbed the snake, holding it up to Chinatsu’s face, causing her to squeal a little as her face ran into it. “I thought he’d be your new friend, Yamazaki-kun.”

“Okita-kun, I will ask again that you refrain from messing around in my desk.” He quickly turned on his heels before the other detective could get another word in.

---

“You. Me. Graveyard shift.”

Yamazaki’s violet eyes shifted up. Kaneko had pulled up a chair next to him and she stared him down. “Kaneko-kun? Didn’t you work this morning?”

“Yep.” She pulled her wavy long hair into a ponytail. “Let’s go out and patrol. There’s always trouble out in the streets that needs correcting.”

Yamazaki grabbed his holster from the table and strapped it on over his light green button up shirt. “Very well, Kaneko-kun, I will accompany you.”

---

Yamazaki was tempted to order something from the bar. The pulsing lights, the loud, thundering music from the speakers, and the people on the dance floor. He felt out of his element, though Kaneko looked like she belonged here. She had changed into a strapless dress and was mingling among the dancers. He noticed a large dragon tattoo on her back. The symbol was rather familiar…he’d seen it before on the backs of other members of a mafia that called themselves The Dragons. He wouldn’t pry much into it since Kaneko was rather secretive about her past, and he respected her privacy.

He quickly turned around when he heard a couple women scream and the shouts of a few men. He immediately stood up when he saw her being surrounded by other men in suits, no doubt from a mafia.

Kaneko reached out and flipped the nearest man to her and tripped another that lunged at her. Yamazaki fought his way through until he was back to back with her as they took them down.

“Fuck. Dragons.” Kaneko muttered as she spotted a horde of men and women in purple suits come into the club they were in as other club-goers were quickly exiting the club once the Dragons started piling in.

Yamazaki looked over at her. “…Do we run, or do we fight?” He took steady breaths as their eyes continued to observe the unfolding situation in front of them.

“Dragons don’t give you that choice. We fight or we’ll be killed, Yamazaki.” Kaneko hissed under her breath as she took out a dagger from the holster from one of her thighs.

“Very well then.” Yamazaki reached inside his coat to take out two daggers.

“It’s the Princess! Orders are to bring her in!” One of the Dragons shouted as they surrounded her.

The two detectives fought off the Dragons as best they could, but there was just so many of them.

Yamazaki couldn’t have been more thankful to hear sirens outside. Officers filled the club and started detaining Dragons before they could escape.

“We have to go, we were fighting them. These aren’t our blues. They won’t recognized us.” Kaneko hissed as she grabbed Yamazaki’s wrist to lead him to the back of the club to slip out.

Yamazaki’s eyes widened as something pulled on the back of of his shirt. Both he and Kaneko were pulled back and a pair of handcuffs was slapped on their wrists. “I’m afraid we have the whole place surrounded.” A deep voice rumbled behind them. “I’ll be taking down you both down to the station.”

Cyan blue eyes met his violet eyes, both were panicked. Did they move out of their jurisdiction?

---

“Oi! You, Onigiri!”

“It’s Amagiri-san, Kaneko-kun…” Yamazaki whispered, wincing as the handcuff rubbed against his wrist when Kaneko pulled his wrist up when she tried to unsuccessfully bend the bars of the holding cell. They’d already placed their call to Captain Hijikata, thanks to Yamazaki’s memory of the Captain’s cellphone number.

“We’re detectives from the Makoto Precinct! You can’t hold us here forever!” She shouted at the red-haired officer that had brought them in, who was busy giving directions to other officers. Yamazaki noticed that they regarded him with a deep respect.

“Kaneko-kun, please settle down. Captain Hijikata will be here at any moment.” Yamazaki murmured, trying to get her to sit down. His arm was getting sore by the way she kept dragging him around.

“Kaneko! Yamazaki!”

The pair immediately stood up and saluted as Hijikata stormed over to their holding cell. His violet eyes shifted between the pair, Yamazaki had his head down, clearly mortified with the whole situation, and Kaneko was huffing in impatience. The Captain shut his eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh.

“What’re you doin’ here, Hijikata?” A playful but smooth voice had them all turning to the right to see a rather handsome man with short, wavy pale violet hair and a friendly grin.

“Sakamoto…” Hijikata crossed his arms and turned to face him. “These two are detectives from my precinct. I’d appreciate if you tell me what’s goin’ on here, Sakamoto.” By the frown on their Captain’s face, he was familiar with Sakamoto, and he was not pleased to see him.

Sakamoto chuckled and rubbed his chin. “Ah, yeah, your two detectives here, especially that cute one there in the dress, she was causin’ trouble at a club nearby.”

Hijikata’s eyes shifted to Kaneko, as if saying, of course. “And what really happened, Kaneko?”

“Some jackass groped me. I socked him, he called his buddy and Dragons got involved.” She said through gritted teeth. “And then Onigiri over there-”

“Amagiri-san,” Yamazaki quickly corrected her.

“Slapped some handcuffs on me an’ Yamazaki. Now here we are.”

Sakamoto let out a low whistle and nodded as his eyes flickered over her, and she definitely noticed. “So that’s how the whole trouble started then. Well, they were a big help, we busted a lot of Dragons tonight.”

“Then, release my detectives. They’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Wrong, Hijikata,” As soon as they heard that sneer, Hijikata practically bared his teeth at the blonde man behind them.

“Ah, Chief!” Sakamoto greeted him with a toothy grin.

Kazama stepped in front of the holding cell. “They caused a disturbance. We can’t let them leave.”

After a long beat of silence and staring each other down, Hijikata finally let out another sigh and glared at Kazama.“What will it take for you to release my detectives, Kazama?”

Kazama’s ruby red eyes gleamed and he smirked. “Admit it.”

---

Yamzaki nor Kaneko questioned what Captain Hijikata was forced to admit to Chief Kazama, nor would ever say.

The ride in Hijikata’s car to their precinct was a silent one. Not even Kaneko said a word, much to Yamazaki’s surprise.

“Captain…I’m very sorry for the trouble.” Yamazaki was the first to speak up.

“It is what it is, and no doubt it was Kaneko’s idea, wasn’t it?”

“Captain, to be fair, we brought in over fifteen Dragons.”

“Yeah, to Kazama’s station. Would’ve been nice to have that bust on our side.” Hijikata snorted. “Do you think you can keep out of trouble until Hachirō comes back?”

“No promises.” Kaneko laughed and slapped Yamazaki on the back. “But I will be sticking with Yamazaki.”

Yamazaki let out a small sigh. His week was going to be interesting with Kaneko as his temporary partner.

-----+++-----

Chinatsu belongs to @resshiiram

[bubblybumblebee44]

11 Questions

(Can I just say that I'm honored someone wanted to get to know me enough to tag me in this? Thanks so much to @imreallyhereforplance for tagging me!💟)

Rules:

1. Always post the rules.

2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you.

3. Write 11 questions of your own.

4. Tag 11 people you want to get to know better (or however many you want).

Okie dokie let's get to it^-^

1. When you take different internet quizzes on a common topic, do you ever consistently get the same result? If so, what result?

Yes, I do. Whenever I take a "What Hogwarts House Are You In?" quiz (this includes Pottermore) I nearly always get Ravenclaw.

2. Who’s your favorite sidekick / side character in any media?

I can't choose between Nino and Alya from Miraculous Ladybug because they're both so awesome and they're even better together^-^

3. How’s your sleep schedule?

My sleep schedule is completely out of wack. You don't even wanna know.

4. If you had to design a crest for yourself, what animal, shape, and color would you choose?

My animal would totally be an owl, my shape would probably be a circle, and the color would definitely be red(the best color).

5. RPG time: In Skyrim, what is your weapon of choice and what is your favorite shout? (If you don’t play, and even if you do: What is your D&D alignment?)

I don't play Skyrim or D&D, though I am familiar with the D&D alignments. I'd probably be either chaotic good or chaotic neutral, depending on how I'm feeling.

6. What is your favorite article of clothing?

I LOVE socks. Whoever invented socks did mankind a great service. I love to mismatch them. I always mismatch the socks I'm wearing unless they'd mess up my outfit.

7. When you go in a pool, how do you swim (doggie paddle, flailing, strokes)?

I generally just float around a pool when I go swimming, but if I had to pick a swimming style it would probably be the breaststroke.

8. What dream/nightmare do you remember the most vividly? Describe it and when you had it.

Okay, this is gonna be long and weird. So, I'm in my elementary school(though I'm still a teenager), for some reason, and school has ended. I go to where my locker apparently is in the hallway(even though if we did have lockers in my elementary school they were in the classrooms with us), but instead of a locker I find those nets that you put stuff in on roller coasters, except they're gigantic. These things were like as big as hammocks. I get my stuff and go outside. On the outside it doesn't look like my elementary school at all. As I'm trying to get to my bus there's some kind of mysterious force keeping me from getting there on time. I miss the bus and a car pulls up behind me. Out of the driver's seat comes my best friend Loralie(who wasn't quite old enough to drive when I had this dream) and she asks me if I need a ride home. Before I can answer I see these two giant birds in the sky, except they don't look quite like birds. One of them falls out of the air for seemingly no reason at all. Loralie and I go to where it crashed into the ground and when I get there I see it's actually a pterodactyl, not a bird. Then I wake up. I had this dream less than a year ago. (I am so sorry for making you read all that.)

9. What’s a story idea that you’ve had but never bothered to write/finish?

Every time I create original characters I create a story for them that I never actually write out. There are too many stories to count.

10. If you got to star in a movie, what would the genre be and who would you want to co-star with? This can be anyone, famous or no.

Easy. I would want to be in a buddy film comedy with my previousely mentioned best friend Loralie.

11. What is your favorite shade of blue?

Sky blue. It's my third favorite color.

-----------------------------

Okay, time for my questions:

1. Do you like bananas?

2. What do you think the worst superpower to have is?

3.  Have you ever seen a tv show called Leverage?(If not, you should totally watch it)

4. Who do/would you main in Super Smash Bros.?

5.Which do you like better: Hotdogs or Hamburgers?

6. Did that last question make you hungry?

7. What is your zodiac sign?

8. Do you have any pets?

9. What is your favorite Dum Dum Lollipop flavor?

10. What's the last thing you put into your Google search bar?

11. Is Thomas Sanders the sweetest person in the world?

-----------------------------

I'll tag @anavocado-thankss @bushybeardedbear @blue7-7boy @contemptuouscommander @ima-space-child @jamazilblog @katlynnie @owlinadayswork @plancinginthemoonlight @the-officially-kat and @weasleylovechild

[trashyswitch]

The Obvious Ship

Roman and Virgil would make the PERFECT COUPLE! Or, that's what Patton believes. Now, he sets out to try and get the two boys together: Fanboy style!

I turned Patton into a pure, obsessed fanboy...Sorry not sorry...

It was a normal morning in the mind palace. Roman had gotten up early, fixed up his hair, and put on his make up. As Roman was putting on his costume, he realized that his sash was missing! What?! Where could it have possibly gone? Roman looked just about everywhere in his room. It was nowhere to be found. So...Roman, feeling quite disappointed, decided to try and stay positive and where his costume without the sash.

Meanwhile, Virgil had gotten up late. He put on his black eye shadow, and had begun looking for his clothes. But...his favourite sweater was missing for some reason. Strange...he placed it on the end of his bed last night, and it wasn't under his bed either. Virgil sighed as he stood in the middle of his room with his ripped jeans, and his t-shirt on. His mood was generally not the greatest in the morning, but thanks to the missing sweater, his mood had grown slightly worse.

Soon, both characters joined the other characters in the kitchen, with their obviously missing items. Logan was drinking his coffee and reading, while Deceit was playing with a deck of cards.

"Morning." Virgil muttered, walking out in his purple t-shirt.

"Goooood MORNING everyone!...I'm missing my sash. Have any of you guys seen it?" Roman declared dramatically, wearing his white costume without his sash.

"Uuuh...Nope, haven't seen it." Logan replied.

"The dryer was empty from last night." Deceit stated.

"Go-Good point. Did it end up in the wash from yesterday?" Logan asked. Roman huffed and walked into the laundry room. Opening the dryer, Roman moved his hand through the dry clothes. After checking every single piece of clothing in the dryer, Roman concluded that no: his sash was NOT in the dryer.

"Nope. No sash." Roman replied, pouting as he walked back in the room. "Also Deceit, the dryer was full of clothing. Some of it is yours." Roman mentioned.

"Oh, I was CoMpLeTeLy unaware." Deceit stated sarcastically. Roman rolled his eyes as he looked around.

Virgil -following the advice from the previous conversation- walked up to the dryer to check for his hoodie. After rooting through the wash for a bit, Virgil discovered that his sweater wasn't washed, and therefore, wasn't in the dryer. Virgil let out a frustrated growl. When he went back out to the kitchen, he was presented with an interesting sight:

Patton was standing in the middle of the room, walking to Logan. But more importantly, Patton was wearing Virgil's sweater and Roman's sash over top. Roman was staring at the strange sight, struggling to figure out if he should laugh at the sight, or discipline Patton for the theft.

"Patton...WHY! Why are you wearing my sweater!" Virgil asked, frustrated.

"AND, my sash!" Roman added.

Patton giggled. "Can't you tell? I'm Prinxiety!" Patton proclaimed. Virgil and Roman both froze. Both their eyes were widened.

"...Interesting...Elaborate, please." Logan instructed.

"Okay. You two, have failed to make ANY MOVES TO MAKE PRINXIETY HAPPEN!" Patton explained, rather loudly. "I've tried helping you two! The whole world wants it!" Patton declared.

"D-Do you ship us?" Virgil asked him.

Patton let a big smirk grow onto his face. "Maaaaayyyybe?" Patton replied.

"I don't see it. They are NOT shippable aT aLL!" Deceit stated.

"See? Even Deceit sees it!" Patton reacted, pointing to him.

"Oh my go- JUST GIVE US OUR CLOTHES BACK!" Roman yelled.

"And spoil an adorable opportunity?! I don't think so..." Patton said with an evil grin.

Virgil looked Patton up and down. Virgil could tell what Patton wanted. It was practically written on Patton's face!

"I think the only way we're gonna get it back...is by chasing him down ourselves..." Virgil explained. Roman looked towards Virgil, and began to grin evilly.

"You wouldn't want us to go for desperate measures, now would you Patton?" Roman asked.

Patton's eyes widened, as his mouth followed suit. This just confirmed Virgil's beliefs.

"Ohoho...He wants it alright..." Virgil explained. "Wanna team up?" Virgil asked, holding out his hand for a handshake.

Roman smirked. "Well, of course, emo nightmare." Roman replied eagerly, before shaking his hand.

Patton gasped, and began jumping and clapping his hands like a fangirl, before pulling out a notebook and pen to write something down.

"What's that?" Deceit asked. Patton paused his writing, and slowly turned his head towards the man behind him.

"...nooooothing?" Patton attempted to lie, before going back to writing.

"Nevermind. I don't wanna see it." Deceit stated. Patton, after finished writing, threw the notebook towards him before getting himself ready for a chase.

Suddenly, Patton started sprinting away from them.

"HEY! GIVE ME BACK MY SASH, YOU THIEF!" Roman shouted before chasing Patton.

Virgil's smile grew wider as he happily followed suit.

While all of that was happening, Deceit took the time to read the notebook. Upon reading the title, Deceit bursted out laughing. ____________________________________ Prinxiety (Roman and Virgil): Proof of Potential Couple: -Screaming while holding hands (They started SCREAMING! Potential crush on each other?) -Roman helping Virgil feel welcome to the light sides (HE FREAKING WANTS HIM WITH US!) -Virgil checking him out (MULTIPLE TIMES!) -ROMAN checking him out (ESPECIALLY WHEN VIRGIL CHANGED TO PURPLE! AAAAH!) -The bickering between the two (Opposites attract, right?) -Their matching love for Disney (PRINCE X EMO = DISNEY LOVERS?!) Conclusion: I APPROVE! Next step: GET THOSE COWARDS TOGETHER! ____________________________________

"This is a useless list...you won't wanna see this..." Deceit said, handing it to Logan.

Suddenly, Patton came zooming past Deceit and Logan, and sprinted up the stairs. Following him, you guessed it, was Roman and Virgil. Somehow, it's taken 10 minutes of sprinting to actually catch him.

Soon though, Logan had lost his train of thought thanks to a crash from upstairs. Logan smiled to himself. That must mean Patton was caught.

Sure enough, Logan was correct! Patton had been tackled down by Roman from behind. With Patton laying on the ground and Roman on top of him, Virgil set to work removing Patton's shoes and socks.

"WAIT! VIRGIL! I'M SORRY I TOOK YOUR SWEATER! I just- I needed to get you two working together! And this was the only way to do it!" Patton explained.

Virgil chuckled at that. "Yeah, you accomplished that alright. Now you'll have to survive the evil wrath of 'Prinxiety'." Virgil teased playfully.

"Wait, really?! Great!...So...what are you gonna do?" Patton asked, growing slightly nervous.

Roman looked towards Virgil, with a potential idea in mind. Virgil looked back at Roman with a curious look. Roman, wanting to show him his idea, used his magic to create a red feather.

"A fe-...Oh...Ooooh, I like that." Virgil said with a slightly eager smile.

"Really?" Roman clarified, unable to fathom the happy smile showing up on Virgil's face.

"Yup. You lead the way." Virgil reassured. Roman eagerly fist pumped the air, before sliding himself off of Patton. Roman rolled the father onto his back, before sitting onto the front of Patton's waist.

"Now, I would use this feather on him...but feathers are actually useless on Patton!" Roman explained.

"Wait, seriously?!" Virgil asked.

"Yeah! So..." Roman replied, before using his magic to create a new item. "a make-up brush would work a lot better for this!" Roman said eagerly, creating a powder brush.

"Hmm...alright. Let's make it stiff, but soft. Okay?" Virgil suggested.

"Noted." Roman replied, before turning the powder brush into a small concealer brush.

Patton let out a squeal at the mere thought of such a thing being used for this purpose.

"Ready?" Roman asked, suspense fully. Patton squealed, both nervous and excited. Roman started slowly lowering it as he continued teasing. "Cause I'm...goooooonna..." Roman teased evilly.

Virgil huffed impatiently, and pushed Roman's hand down, causing the brush to fall into Patton's belly button rather quickly.

"AAAH! Vihihihihirgihihil! Whyhyhyhy?!" Patton asked.

"Ya Virgil..." Roman asked, looking at him.

"Easy: I'm impatient." Virgil replied, slouching as he watched Roman swirl the makeup brush in his belly button.

"Wahahahahait! Ihihihi'm sohohohohorry! Ihihihihi'm SOHOhohohohorry!" Patton attempted to apologize.

"Too late for apologies, buddy. Now be a good little boy and face your punishment." Roman replied with a smile. Patton continued to giggle as he watched Roman play around with the brush in hand. Roman continued to do this for 5 more minutes, before removing the brush. Patton took the moment to recuperate the small amount of breath he'd lost. When he looked up to Roman however, Patton's eyes widened dramatically, as a long and horrified squeal left his mouth.

Roman had used his magic to change make up brushes. What did he choose this time? A large blush brush! And to make matters worse, Roman was teasing him with the handheld object by bouncing it up and down off Patton's tummy like a bouncy trampoline!

"Ooooh! Good choice!" Virgil reacted.

"Why thank you, darling!" Roman replied. Patton let a small smile grow onto his lips. In his mind, Patton was fangirling rapidly. Every small thought that entered his mind, went in and out in a couple seconds, before a new thought took the very same trail, in and out of his brain.

All of a sudden, those thoughts took a dramatic pause, as that damned brush was fluttering itself all over Patton's tummy. Every single instinct in his body, immediately switched to forcing bouts of laughter out of Patton's body. The brush was so soft, so gentle, and unsurprisingly: SUPER TICKLISH! Patton's head shook back and forth as more cheerful laughter left his mouth.

"You seem to be enjoying this...What about swirls? Do you like swirls?" Roman asked, before drawing circles with the bristles of the blush brush. Patton's laughter grew higher a little bit, as his body squirmed and attempted to get away from such a ticklish brush. Such a thing should not exist for such an occasion! But, Roman was clever with his tools. He's learned through many tickle fights, that makeup brushes are a lot more useful than first advertised. Not only can they help apply make up, but they can tickle a person as well!

"ROHOHOHOHOMAHAHAN! IHIHIHIT TIHIHIHIHIHICKLES!" Patton yelled through his laughter.

"Well, I'd hope so! Otherwise, this would be preeeeetty awkward..." Roman replied.

"Hey, have you tried his armpits yet?" Virgil asked.

"Nope! I haven't. If you hold up his arms, I'll gladly try it out!" Roman offered. Virgil nodded in agreement and lifted Patton's arms up.

"Ihihi nehehever imagined yohohou twohoho wohohohorking tohogether." Patton said, letting some leftover giggles leave his mouth, even as Roman stopped the brush.

"Well, you'd better believe it! Disney prince and Disney emo are working together." Roman stated.

Virgil chuckled. "Disney emo...good one." Virgil reacted, slightly flattered at the nickname.

Roman took the time to fluff up his brush a little bit, before starting. Patton squirmed and whimpered nervously as Roman fluttered the brush back and forth, against the palm of his non-dominant hand. Now, Roman was ready. Before using the brush, he tried lightly scratching with his finger first. This earned him a squeal and a high pitched giggle. Finally, after what felt like forever, Roman placed the brush against Patton's armpit and fluttered it.

Patton threw his head back and let out a loud scream! "WAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEHEHEASE!" Patton pleaded through his laughter.

"Please what? Please tickle my other armpit? Why, a great idea you have! I'd love to!" Roman teased, before moving onto the second armpit.

"THAHAHAHAHAT'S NAHAHAHAT WHAHAHAHAT IHIHIHI MEHEHEHEHEANT!" Patton yelled through his never ending laughter.

"I know. I just wanted to switch armpits." Roman replied with a smile. After a couple more minutes of tickling, Roman removed the brush and made it disappear.

"Why are you stopping?" Virgil asked.

"Because I think Patton has learned his lesson. Patton?" Roman said, looking to Patton and waiting for an answer.

"Ya?" Patton replied, confused as to what he was supposed to say.

"Did...Did you learn your lesson?" Roman clarified.

"Yes. I learned my lesson." Patton replied.

Virgil let go of his arms and got off the man. "Alright. What did you learn?" Virgil asked.

"Oh! That's easy! I learned that you two are definitely an adorable couple!" Patton happily exclaimed.

Virgil let out a groan, while Roman growled in anger.

"WE! ARE NOT! A COUPLE!" Roman yelled.

"Aww, come on! You're gay, you're opposites, and you've been dropping hints for the longest time! JUST DO SOMETHING ALREADY!" Patton shouted.

"Okay. I'll take back my sash, thank you." Roman demanded subtly, lifting the sash right off Patton.

"And I'll take my sweater back." Virgil said next, unzipping the zipper and slipping off Patton's shoulders.

"Is it comfy?" Roman asked Patton.

"The sweater? Yeah! It's really comfy!" Patton replied.

Roman looked to Virgil, who already had one arm in one of the sleeves. Virgil looked back at Roman, who was basically giving him the desperate puppy eyes.

Virgil sighed, and slipped the sweater off. "Fine." Virgil said, handing him the sweater. Roman cheered excitedly, before taking it and slipping it right on.

Roman gasped, and wiggled back and forth. "IT'S SO COMFY!!" Roman yelled excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is the only time you can wear it, so enjoy it while you can." Virgil warned.

Patton gasped in pure excitement.

Roman conjured up a tall mirror, and started admiring himself in the mirror. Virgil rolled his eyes and let a small smile grow onto his face, before walking up to the prince.

"Looking good, Roman. Purple looks...really nice on you, actually." Virgil complimented.

"R-really?" Roman reacted, his face slightly turning red as he watched Virgil zip up the zipper and fix his hair. Virgil began placing bits of Roman's bangs in front of his face, to look more...emo. Roman smiled genuinely, and put his hands in Virgil's hoodie pockets, letting Virgil do his thing. To end it off, Virgil grabbed the hood, delicately placed it on his head, and made it so that his bangs and face were noticeable under the hood.

"Oh, my GAHD, JUSTKISSALREADY!" Patton yelled impatiently.

Roman sighed as he turned his head and looked at Patton with the most honest 'I'm sick of your shit' face. Virgil took one quick glance at Roman's face, and clutched his stomach as he doubled over laughing.

"Patton...we don't like each other...not in that way...please...try to respect that." Roman attempted. Patton's impatience seemed to soften a little bit.

"...Oh, alright...you don't need to date each other..." Patton said, disappointed but compromising. Roman let out a long sigh of relief. Patton's disappointed face soon morphed into a mischievous face. "But, that doesn't stop me from writing down the MILLION REASONS why you two SHOULD BE DATING EACH OTHER!" Patton added excitedly.

...

...

...Let's just say, there was a lot more yelling and laughter echoing through the house after that...

[knockbeforeyouspeak]

cavity cavity boom

tom hiddleston x reader this is for @justsomewritingprompts writing challenge (which you can find right here). the prompts i use are listed below:

scenarios: 12. Cold Night, No Heater

quote: 6. “I’m going to get a cavity because you’re so sweet."

items: 14. Blankets

summary: Tom and pick-up lines didn't happen together.

“I’m going to get a cavity, because you’re so sweet."

It was the dead at night. Like, really really dead. It was two freaking a.m. and the third day of you not being able to sleep before dawn. Which was, kind of a big deal considering a long-ass list of things you should get to finish in the morning. You have to wake up—that if you even be able to actually catch some beauty rest. You have to do some chores. You have to go to the store across the traffic. And this you-have-to list would lose its real value if you didn't announce the most important event real soon:

You have to bake gingerbreads.

Not only a jar, but several. About ten, if you remembered it right. You thought you were right. For God's sake, you never knew running a small business of making cakes during the holiday season could inflict such huge appeal. You even only had advertised it on your social media, through the Instagram story, because it's holiday and it meant having a break from work, and you were a very energetic person who couldn't stand still without doing anything. People said, "Grow your hobby! Turn it into business! Make money from it!" One time you were wisdom enough to put that inspiring life advice into the real world.

And then your very best friend ordered ten jars of gingerbreads. At D-minus-two Christmas. And you accepted it happily, mistaking the number 10 on her message for 2.

Incredibly dedicated. Ambitious. And, stupid. Why would one person order ten jars of gingerbreads anyway? Why? How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends???

But why not. Challenge accepted, buddy!

It was the dead at night. Like, really really dead. You were to start baking like superman—woman—in only few hours. You had been determined to blink your insomnia away, focusing on your breathing and the quietness surrounding you, trying hard to fall asleep. The last thing you could possibly need was a distraction in the form of Tom cracking a cheesy pick-up line.

And yet he did.

He literally did.

He just. Did.

A huge pause settled over. The kind of silence with a giant level of awkwardness, as if someone had shouted that he had been an alien all his life and finally got reunited with his beloved lost-for-centuries space ship. Okay, not the best analogy, but you've made your point.

You stared at the ceiling for a solid minute before turned your head aside. Tom was still as rock, his gaze glued to the ceiling. You couldn't tell what he was thinking, so you said, "... What?"

To be honest, your voice held a tinge of accusation in it.

Tom took it the wrong way. Insteaf of explaining what exactly he was talking about, he repeated his sentence for you. "I’m going to get a cavity, because you’re so sweet."

"... And I'm going to kick you off the bed, because you just made me cringe."

He blew a raspberry. You watched the corner of his eyes crinkled, and his wide grin wasn't for the ceiling anymore. He turned to face the inside of the bed, mouth half-opened as if to say something. It didn't happen because he bumped his nose against yours first thing. You made a small noise of protest. Not hurt, not at all, but he was so cloooooose from grazing over your right cheek. You had cut your cheek two days ago, the result of your (pointless, worthless, undefined, foolish) experiment with some multiblade cutting devices. It just so happened to slip from your fingers while you were distracted. Then of all it had chosen to jump straight for your face, specifically your cheek, leaving a thin, nice, beautiful, endearing cut and a trickle of blood dripping down your chin in the process.

You remembered that had been horrible. Like, hooooooorible. With a plenty of o's. Sure it had been hurt and stung and whatnot, but the most unnerving hadn't been the wound itself. It was the realization that you could have cut your ... other important body parts. Clue: the one that could see. Okay, eyes, right. YOU COULD'VE CUT YOUR EYES. THAT HAD BEEN SO CLOSE. A few inches upward and—okay, okay, let's just stop right here.

Realized of what he could've done, Tom froze. "Did I touch your wound?"

"No."

He let out a breath of relief. "Good. When you get hurt, I feel it too. That must because we share the same fate."

HOLY HELL THAT WAS ABSURD.

You were too speechless to respond. He said nothing further. Both Tom's and your gaze returned to the ceiling. You decided not to think much of his previous statement. Perhaps he was just drifting off to sleep. Repeat, perhaps he was thinking​ of some pick-up lines when he started drifting off to sleep. That's what people did, right? Mumbling something when they were sleepy enough. Nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing. People thinking of such trivial things in such improper situation? Nothing wrong!

"Darling."

You blinked. "Yeah?"

"How about some sleep?"

"Exactly what I'm trying to get for the past three hours."

"Another sleepless night?"

You started to think Tom was sharing an equally restless night with you. Just like a couple sharing burdens together. Aww. How sweet. "I think so."

"Are you cold?"

You hadn't given it much thought, but come to think of it, tonight was cold. Really cold. Like, ginormous cold. You were wearing a long-sleeve along with a sweater. You stole Tom's beanie and in exchange gave him your favorite, super-warm, totally-comfy, woolly scarf. You had bought it two winters ago and it hadn't even lost a single strand. Well, it had to, considering the price you had to pay, otherwise you would lash out to the seller.

"It's cold."

That wasn't you. It was Tom answering his own question​. But you had the same answer​, so that didn't matter. Even a man as healthful and good-shaped as Tom couldn't take a better fight against the cold at this degree. He doubled his shirt. He put on a pair of socks. Your scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, making him look like a patient whose neck was broken. Quite amusing to see.

It didn't take long for you to declare that blanket is the most useful invention of all times. The invention in question itself was covering him and you up until your chin. You didn't​know what you would have done in this current situation if someone hadn't invented blanket; best chance was turning on the heater, worst chance was freezing to death.

Cross that turning on the heater. The heater was currently​ out of order, which was the sole reason why Tom and you were forced to bundle up and lay on the bed a little too close than usual.

Man, this was cold.

You gestured to the blanket. "Yes, but not too much anymore though—”

"Because I can warm you up all fast."

... Okay. That's not sweet. At all. That's not breath-taking, let alone made your heart flutter. That was ... ironically​ brain-bending.

Tom must sense your dumbstruck stance because he laughed a little, poking your side it made you jerk slightly. "Oh, come on, don't think so hard."

You kicked his calf under the blanket with all strength you could muster in the middle of a dead night combined with the dropping temperature. You ended up only nudging. "You're aaaaawful."

"I'm not awful," Tom frowned disapprovingly. Only for a split second, because he continued with, "I'm your past, present, and future."

You're going to die. Very soon. You felt like you already saw the pure, white light at the end of the way. You're going to go to Hell and never came back. But if you managed quite hard, your wish might be granted by the Demon. You would come back and haunt Tom for the rest of his life. Perfect plan.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Tom propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at you. "Anything."

"What's with all the cheesy pick-up lines you suddenly come up with?"

He didn't even pause to form an answer. You got the feeling that he had this planned all along. "I'm just trying to lull you to sleep.”

You failed to see the correlation. You weren't one with the smartest and brightest mind, but somehow you were quite sure Tom had mistaken pick-up lines for lullaby. "Is that supposed to work?"

"If you let it to."

"How?"

"I'm ..." he glanced at his right to look for an answer. He decided to stick with, "I'm making a distraction.”

"Distraction."

"Uh huh."

You stared at him with your brain functioning hard. Here's what you said: "Okay, great, distraction."

Here's what you didn't say: "Those are the worst distraction ever. I was about to fall asleep because I finally finished counting the hundredth sheep. And a hundred sheeps wasn't a small number. They were enough to feed this whole block for weeks. Come to think of it, in all honesty, I haven't ever eaten sheep. Have you? But that's not the point. What I'm trying to say here is stop being flattery and sing a lullaby instead. That'll be more useful. Kind of. Or, actually just shut up and let me meditate in silence."

He noticed your death stare and chuckled. "Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you, I can't help but smile."

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk, I'm just intoxicated by you."

... Oh my God.

[soft-boy-stefan]

He Really Loves Cuddling [a Barry Allen AU] (Part 12)

a/n: not a request, but i feel like u needed more; i needed more after a day of mid-terms

| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 |

Mornings seem to envy Barry. He feels your arms shift around his torso and does his best to stifle his whines, forcing his eyes to stay closed for just a little longer. He doesn't want to get up and take his pill. He hates pills! And it's so warm in your arms… Maybe if he holds your limbs to his just a bit tighter…

“Barr, we gotta get up, sweetheart.” you mumble behind his ear, reaching your arm up to stroke the growing hair on his pale cheek. His lips pucker into a pout at he nuzzles his face into the light blue pillow case. A sigh drops from your mouth; it's always tough getting him out of bed. “It's Eddie’s birthday today… Do you wanna shave?” you ask in a gentle tone.

He shakes his head on the pillow, fluffing his milk chocolate locks in the process. Another sigh flutters past your lips while you heave him up in a sitting position, much to his disappointment. His shoulders slump but he manages to get his legs untangled from the sheets. He knows that if he doesn't get up, you will pull him out of the bed, like you did a few days ago.

Smiling proudly, you grab his lanky hand, leading his long hairy legs to the bathroom. He sleeps in his dark gray boxer briefs and a ratty old CCPD shirt. Your penguin pajama bottoms sway against your skin and your bare feet come into contact with the warm baby blue bathroom tiles.

When you turn the sink handle, you peer up at your boyfriend, who stares at you with tired eyes. Giggling faintly, you wet a washcloth, reaching up to wipe his face. “Someone’s sleepy.” you grin, seeing him blink at the cool dampness. The wet washcloth thumps on the counter. Your pale yellow spaghetti strap tank top brushes in front of him when you reach for the two toothbrushes, handing him his.

After the daily routine, you drag him back to the bedroom, standing in front of the small closet. Barry sighs, bringing a shaky hand up to scratch his jawline. He pulls on a pair of jeans, follows by an oversized red speckled sweater, plopping on the bed while you shimmy on a pair of black skinny jeans and a striped blue long sleeve shirt. “D-do we go-gotta -”

“We’re going, Barry.” you say curtly, gesturing to head downstairs. His polkadot socks pad down the stairs very slowly, followed by your neon purple socks. When he heads to the living room, you grab his bicep, yanking him to the kitchen. “Pill time.” you mumble, opening the cabinet to get the bottle.

The brunette whines in protest, eyeing the water filling up the glass. But, when you fork over the pill, he takes it ‘like a man’. It still tastes awful. His face scrunches after he drinks the water, giving you the the glass back; he almost drops it. You save it just in time. “S-sorry…” he frowns, corners of lips dropping to his brown scruff.

You shrug it off, setting the glass on the counter before walking to the door. Slowly, he slips his shaky feet into his black and white converse. You know he's trying to be late; you know your Barry. When you get on your black Vans, you notice he still doesn't have his shoes tied. “Here, sweetheart.” You bend over, quickly knotting the laces.

A blush morphs on his cheeks and he pecks your lips when you stand up. “I-I lo-love you.” he hums, grinning when he feels your hand on the side of his face. He loves your touch. It comforts him.

“I love you too, my pretty boy.” you beam, adoring the way his face flushes. “Now, come along, handsome.” You grab Eddie’s birthday present and keys off the side table before going out the door. Barry's twitching hand takes the bright yellow sparkly bag, letting you unlock the car. He opens the driver's door for you, allowing you to slide into the leather seat before climbing into the passenger seat.

Through the drive, his left hand clasps your right, thumb doodling on Y/C/S. He pays attention to your quiet singing and feels his chest loosen, letting him breathe. Yet, when he sees the lineup of cars at Eddie and Iris’ house, he has to grip your hand tighter, making sure you're still here. Parking, you lean over, kissing him deeply, “You’re gonna have fun, trust me, pretty boy.” you promise, popping open the door.

A huff dangles from his lips and after staring at the gift for a minute, he exits the car, following you up the stairs. Your knuckles rap on the oak door and you smile from ear to ear as soon as it swings open. “Happy birthday, Eddie!” you yell, hugging the young detective, scrunching his dark green Henley.

Eddie puts on a goofy smile, rubbing your back shortly before pulling away. “Ah, thanks Y/N!” he says bashfully, peering over your shoulder, “Barr! So glad you made it, buddy! Everyone's here!” he exclaims, tugging your boyfriend inside the cosy home.  

You trail behind the duo, eyes widening a fraction when you realize the size of the party. Practically the entire CCPD is here! Oh no, your Barry… You can see him shake like a leaf as Eddie talks with the other police officers, arm around his shoulders. “Y/N! You guys made it!” Iris shouts, one hand on your forearm and the other on your upper back, lips cracked in a perfect smile.

You chuckle awkwardly, fixing your hair, keeping an eye on your tall brunette. “Yeah, I’m really excited to be here! And not just for the cake!” you joke, toying with the end of your sweater while she leads you to the back, “Oh! Hello! I’m Y/N!” you grin, introducing yourself to a group of people.

*TIME SKIP*

Okay, you got too into the conversation and now you can't find Barry. “I, um, need to use the bathroom?” you ask more than state, excusing yourself. As you brush by a few people, you notice Eddie laughing at the dinner table, finishing off his last piece of cake- by the way, the cake was delicious. But, no Barry with him.

“- shaved? Soon you're gonna lose your boyish charm, Allen. Maybe even your girl… Still got that twitch, I see.” You hear a few gruff laughs and your blood starts to ignite. Oh, nobody says something like that to your boy!

Stomping into the living room, your ice colored shirt sways against your stomach and your heart drops when you see Barry. He's slumped on the couch with his head ducked down, hands curled into tight fists at his sides. “Oh handsome!” you call out, causing his head to snap up, “I wanna go home and cuddle.” you pout, making the ‘come here’ motion with your index finger.

A couple of the guys’ mouths drop to the floor. “O-okay!” he shouts, hopping from the couch and racing toward you, stumbling a lot. But, cuddles! Oh boy, he loves, loves, loves cuddling with you! “I-I ge-get c-c-cuddles?” he asks, mocking a puppy as he bends over, arm outstretched due to your fast pace.

You nod, waving goodbye to Eddie. “Uh-huh, you get all the cuddles!” you say in a cheerful tone, masking your anger while you hop down the porch steps. Dropping his hand, you pull the keys out of your pocket, unlocking the car.

“Y-Yes…” he hums under his breath.

[dragonasheswrites-blog]

Stars in the Deep, Chapter 5: The Wheel Turns

The night is darkest right before dawn.

Something awful happens, and Frisk must deal with the consequences.

First: Chapter 1: Skeletons on the Roof

Previous: Chapter 4: The Date

Next: Chapter 6: A Heart of Stone

Click here for the story overview.

WARNING: Read the tags.

Almost four months to the day since Sans cancelled that first homework evening, he all but disappeared.  Papyrus reported hearing him bumping about in his room from time to time, but he wouldn’t respond to knocks.  A quick investigation by his friends revealed that he’d called in sick from all his jobs (or all the ones they knew about, at least; he had a surprising number of them) and that even Grillby hadn’t seen him.

He didn’t call or text Toriel or Frisk to explain his absence, as he usually did; he just...stopped showing up.  Papyrus was forced to cancel that month’s stargazing party, unsure of what else to do.  Frisk was worried at first that Sans had found out about her embarrassing crush, but he wasn’t just ignoring her.  Alphys’s posts on the Undernet were growing frantic; he hadn’t been seen with his girlfriend in almost two weeks.  Frisk tried to remain calm.  He didn’t owe her anything, after all, and though she missed him she trusted him to come back when he was ready.

The thought filled her with DETERMINATION.

Then…

Then Papyrus called.

He was panicking.  Frisk and Toriel both jumped into their minivan without a second thought; Asgore was out of town at a conference; weather concerns were forcing him to return early, so Toriel had the minivan fueled and ready to go.  She navigated the icy roads with the ease of practice while Frisk tried to calm Papyrus down.  It took the entire ride over to get a semi-coherent story out of him.

He’d opened Sans’s door, hoping to nag his brother into eating.  Sans, to his surprise, had actually been there...in a way.  He didn’t specify what “in a way” meant.  Frisk felt dread growing in her stomach.

The front door to the skeleton brothers’ home was propped open; never a good sign.  She ran straight up to Sans’s room, following the sound of Papyrus’s sobs.

He was holding Sans’s jacket.  Spread across his knees, across the bedspread, was…

...dust.

Frisk stared.  She heard her mother coming up the stairs, felt her mother move her out of the way to see into the room, but she didn’t...didn’t register it.

What had happened?

Why?

She slid down the wall, tuning out the sounds of Toriel trying to pry Sans’s jacket away from Papyrus.  Something about gathering dust.

Sans...was Sans really gone?

She stared at pink house slippers, lightly sprinkled with gray where they had fallen on the ground next to the bed.  Next to them, half-shoved under the bed, was something long and metallic.  Sharp…?

Papyrus described, through his sobs, how he’d thought he heard something the night before.  He hadn’t known what it was, just that it was coming from Sans’s room.  He’d knocked on the door and offered a meal and a hug and general brothering, but had gotten no response.  That wasn’t unusual, at least for the past couple of weeks.  He’d left Sans for a full day - something he was regretting deeply - and had finally broken into his brother’s room just in time to hold him one last, brief time.

No.

Frisk wasn’t going to let this ending stand.  Not after everything.  A tiny voice in her head said that you deserve to RESET, you deserve a better ending, but she ignored it.  This wasn’t about her.  She reached out for her last SAVE…

...and found herself back in her room, the evening before.

She was grateful that she’d SAVEd after finishing her homework, because ain’t nobody got time for that.

She nearly tripped on her way down the stairs, scaring her mother.  She could read the slight deja-vu in Toriel’s eyes; she felt a little guilty for the LOAD, but it was for a good cause.  It was worth it.  It had to be worth it.

*Mom?  I have a bad feeling.*

“I...I do as well, my child. I can’t tell why, but…”

*We need to check on Sans.*

“Yes.”

He didn’t pick up his phone, which Frisk expected.  Papyrus didn’t pick up his phone either, which she had not expected.

*I think we need to go over.*

“Very well.  I hope that they are simply busy with something, but with Sans acting the way he has been lately...I fear something is terribly wrong.”

They were both quiet on the drive over, but Frisk’s mind was racing.  It was nearly 24 hours before...well, before, so Sans should be fine.  Papyrus had seen Sans in the process of dusting (her mind stuttered in horror at the thought), so at the moment he should be fine.

Right?

But...Papyrus said he’d heard something the evening before, which meant the current evening.  What if they were too late?

What if they were too early, and Sans got suspicious?  What if they pushed him into doing whatever it was he’d done?

The walk up to the brothers’ front door had never seemed longer.  Frisk tried to walk right in, the memory of a half-open door still fresh in her mind, but it was locked.

She retrieved the appropriate key from her phone’s key ring with shaking hands, trying very, very hard not to think of dust.  Toriel, thankfully, didn’t scold her for breaking into the brothers’ home instead of adhering to social norms and knocking.

Frisk ran straight up to Sans’s room, ignoring Papyrus’s shouts from the kitchen.  Her mother would take care of him.

Carefully - not wanting to disturb anyone before she had a chance to scout - Frisk turned the handle to Sans’s room, and to her surprise, it opened.  She hesitated.  He usually kept his bedroom door locked.  What if...what if…

He was there, lying on his side on the bed, facing away from the door.  She thought at first that he hadn’t heard her, and tried to think of something to say…

“hey, kiddo.”  His voice sounded hoarse.

“Hey.”  Frisk didn’t sound much better, but she was used to that.

“so, what’s…”

She ran across the room and tackled him in a hug, winding her arms around his ribcage from behind.  Belatedly, she remembered to be careful.

“h-hey, buddy, what’s…”

“Don’t go,” Frisk whispered.  The love in her heart - friend-love, crush-love, and everything in between - bubbled over into tears.  “Please, please, please don’t go…”

“not planning on going anywhere.”

She could hear the lie in his voice.

“...why don’t you go back downstairs, talk to paps for a bit?”

“No.”

“kid, i-”

“No.”

“G o   d o w n s t a i r s ,   F r i s k.”

She shuddered under the weight of his words.  Her throat closed; she couldn’t force the words out.  Instead, she signed against his ribs, hoping he would understand.  *No no no.*

Then...she was across the room, her back aching from its impact with the closet door.  Sans - now facing her - sat up slowly, his left eye flickering blue and yellow.  One bare hand was stretched towards her, fingers bent in a grotesque claw.  It was a scene from her very worst nightmares, the ones where she RESET the world again and again until she choked on time and dust.

She tried to focus on Sans, tried to regulate her breathing and clear her head.  There were light smudges on his jacket, she realized.  Some...grey powder.  Her fingers trembled as she tried to lift them, but they wouldn’t cooperate.  “Sans…”

He didn’t respond.

Frisk tried to stand up, but...she couldn’t.  The blue magic that held her body to the ground was far too strong, so she settled back down.  Even though she’d never experienced it for herself, her night terrors seemed to indicate that Sans was a formidable foe once he mustered up the effort to try.  She had no doubt that he had the power to hold her down against her will and didn’t want to strain his magic by struggling.

Instead, she continued her analysis of the skeleton half-kneeling on the bed instead.  It took her a moment to realize it, but he wasn’t wearing a shirt under his jacket.  His ribs were exposed where it fell open and she could see the the center of his collarbone and the first several sets of ribs.

There was a neat gash running vertically down one side of his ribcage, just beside his sternum, and something red and viscous was seeping through.  Four of the ribs that formed his upper chest were halfway sawed through, like someone was in the process of carving his chest open.  It was a thought that shook Frisk even more than Sans’s sudden inclination to violence.

She could see, just behind the slash, the glow of his incredibly delicate, infinitely precious soul beating in time with his sharp breathing.

Sans followed her gaze to his own chest.  He looked a little bewildered for a moment, as if he had forgotten about his injury, then snarled and closed his jacket.  The movement took both hands and Frisk revelled in the lightened load on her body.

*Sans, are you okay?* She signed.  He wasn’t looking at her, so she repeated the question aloud.

He still wasn’t responding.  Frisk wracked her brain for something, anything that she could say to make this better...and failed.  She wasn’t any more than a casual friend, after all.  What could she possibly say - possibly do - to make this better?

Slowly, keeping her hands in full view and giving him plenty of time to escape, she shuffled back over to him on her knees.  The trip across Sans’s bedroom floor seemed to take an eternity, especially when Sans was apparently offline.  She slid detritus out of the way - abandoned socks, chip bags, and his favorite mug - and knelt by the bed.  She was close enough to touch his knee, but she didn’t think he’d welcome the contact.

“Sans, are you okay?"  Her voice cracked from stress, but she didn’t dare clear her throat.

This time, he looked over at her.  He didn’t move his bones, but that one flashing eye (yellow-blue-yellow-blue) met hers.  She tried to focus on both his sockets, but with his left eye socket dark and his right impersonating a strobe light it was...difficult.

Finally - finally! - he seemed to come to his senses.  He glanced to the side and closed his eye sockets.  “...no,” he said, so softly Frisk nearly missed it.

She took that as her cue to initiate comfort.  She hoisted herself up onto the bed next to him (still moving a little gingerly) and wrapped both arms loosely around him.  Very, very slowly, he started leaning into her.  He didn’t hug her back, but he...accepted the hug.

Tears escaped Frisk’s eyes when she shifted a hip and felt the bone saw on the bed next to her.  She wanted to yell, to scream, to ask why would you ever and what made you do it and maybe even what were you trying to accomplish, but she knew from experience that it wouldn’t help.  Instead, she held him - careful of his ribs - and tried to push every bit of love and affection she had into her hug.  It wasn’t enough to make him happy, she understood that now, and if he knew the truth of her stupid feelings he’d probably reject her outright.

Still, she hoped it was enough for this.

Toriel and Papyrus found them like that, Frisk giving Sans a full-body hug and Sans limp in her grasp.  It surprised her to realize that it had barely been a few minutes since her mad dash into the brothers’ home; it felt like so much longer.

Sans tried to pull away, and Frisk almost let him, but she could feel his magic gathering in preparation to teleport.  She wasn’t going to let him go anywhere without her, not until she was convinced he was in a safe frame of mind.  Besides, he was shaking again, which probably meant he was too distraught or too low on magic to land safely.

“Sans?”  Toriel asked.  Her tone was the one she used when one of her students got angry: kind, but firm as the mountain.  “I do not understand what happened, but are you alright now?”

He was quiet, which was all the confirmation anyone really needed.  Out of the corner of her eye, Frisk could see her mother moving further into the room, trying to get a better look at the both of them.  There was a very obvious flinch as the damaged ribs came into view, and she hoped Sans didn’t notice.

If she’d been asked to guess Sans’s reaction to being found in an apparent suicide attempt (or a self-injury attempt that had the same result), Frisk would have said that he would be angry, defensive, and generally ornery.  She would’ve anticipated jokes and deflection.  She would’ve expected him to try to justify his actions.

He did none of that.  He merely sat in her arms, propped up against her and ignoring all proceedings as Toriel maneuvered around them and healed the injuries she found.  There were other injuries beside the obvious one, as it turned out.  There was some half-healed bruising around one of his wrists, a few chips along the delicate bones of his hands, and a worrying crack along the back of his head.

No one could get out of him where they’d come from, or if it had anything to do with his recent disappearance.

“Papyrus, why don’t you pack bags for yourself and your brother and come over to our house for a few days?”  Toriel asked, frowning.

Papyrus looked unusually subdued.  “You and King Asgore won’t mind?”

“Asgore is returning early from his meeting, so I am in charge of who stays with us right now.  I would appreciate the company, and - forgive me, Sans - I do not think either of you should be alone right now.”

“BUT I-”

“Papyrus, I know that there is nothing you would not do for your brother, but you do not need to help him through this alone.  Believe me when I say that caring for a sick family member wears you down very quickly.  Please, let us help you.”

Frisk didn’t hear the remainder of the conversation.  Sans had started to shift in her arms, hissing when the movement pulled at his healing injuries.  “Shh,” she said.  Her throat hurt like she’d been screaming, which made no sense.  “Shhh.”

“ugh...kid?  frisk?”

“Yeah.  Are you back with us?”

“you okay?  you sound awful.”

“Yeah, well, you gave us a pretty big scare.”  Would he remember how he’d crumbled to dust?  She hoped not.  The memory of one’s own death was a trauma she wouldn’t wish on anyone.

“why...didn’t you l-leave?”

“You’re my friend, Sans.  What kind of friend would I be if I let you hurt yourself?”

He didn’t respond to that.

Toriel turned back towards them.  “Sans?”

“yeah?”

“Do you need to let Terry know where you are?”

“i...no.  she...uh, we broke up about a month back.”

“O-oh!  I apologize; I’ve seen so many pictures…”

“yeah, well, we’re still friends.  just decided it was better that way.”

There was a look on Toriel’s face that Frisk was glad the skeleton in her arms didn’t see.  Heck, she was glad he couldn’t see her own face, for that matter.  Better off??  On the one hand, Sans was now a free agent and that made her little heart skip a beat.  On the other, the very idea that someone had rejected Sans - had been offered a partnership with him and decided ‘hey, no, I’ll look somewhere else’ - made her burn with anger.

And if Sans wasn’t distraught over a break-up...why had he hurt himself so much?

“Well.  Regardless, we will be taking you home with us.  Any objections?”

The Mom Voice was in full effect.  Frisk shuddered.

“...no?”

“Excellent!”  She turned and walked out of the room, following the sounds of a very loud skeleton’s debate on how many pots and pans he should bring with him.

Sans shifted and looked up.  Faint tracks of...something led down his face from his eye sockets.  “you sure you’re okay, buddy?”

“I should be asking you that.”

“you really do sound bad.  and, uh, i’m 95% sure i just threw you into a wall there.  unless i didn’t, which would make this reeeeaaally awkward.  so...if anyone needs healing, i’d say it’s you.”

“I’m fine; I know you didn’t mean it.  And my throat hurts for some reason.”

“oh.  you can, uh.  sign.  if it’s easier for ya.”

“Thanks, but you’ve got my hands.”

“o-oh, right.”

Frisk wished she hadn’t said anything, since - predictably - Sans pulled away from her after that.  He was rubbing his eye sockets with his sleeves, removing all traces of what she could only guess were tears.

*Sorry,* she signed once he’d composed himself a little.

“what?  why are you sorry?”

Because she’d LOADed when she’d made a promise to herself to never be like the Frisks in her nightmares, abusing their powers over time.  Because, despite her intentions, she hadn’t followed his wishes.  *Because I don’t think I’ve been a very good friend to you.*

“what?  aww, don’t tell me you’re taking undyne’s nonsense seriously!  you’re a great-”

*You were hurting, and I didn’t see it.  I should’ve seen it.  I’m so, so sorry.*

“psh.  it’s not your fault, pal.  it’s not your job to keep me happy.”

*Then what are friends for?*

“it’s...look, it was stupid to think i could handle it alone.  i didn’t mean to worry you.  but...i guess you know all about that, huh.”

*All about...what?*

He stared at her.

*Sans?  What do I know about*

“uh...the medical files?  dr. g’s stuff?”

*I’m not sure what you’re talking about.*

“then...how did you know what i was doing?  how did you know i was in trouble?”

*I just...knew.*  A lame excuse, but she wasn’t sure how to express the intricacies of time/space in sign language.

Sans was eyeing her with mild suspicion.  That was okay; she didn’t exactly believe him, either.  Besides, he could probably figure things out pretty easily once he was thinking clearly.

*So.  Wanna pick out your own clothes, or should Mom and I do it for you?*

That got him moving, at least.

If you or anyone you love has suicidal desires or feelings, please talk to someone you trust, seek professional help, and/or call a suicide hotline.  The site suicide.org maintains a list of international hotlines and other resources for your use.

Life isn’t always great, but it can get better.  It isn’t always easy to see the bright side of life, and sometimes it seems like there’s nothing worth living for, but it passes.  It really does.

Stay safe, everyone.