#so not exactly out of bounds - i think my glitch tag was:

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | erend 31/?

[kelpan]

I got art commissioned! Here's my OC Chrysanthemum! 💖

Credit to the artist for the headshot goes to wwispie on Etsy! Their shop seems to be closed at the moment, but you can check out their other works on instagram by the same name!

I'll be using this piece and other art I commisioned from them to help solidify the POV for each chapter. 'Cause if you're like me, visuals always help!

I also took a lot of liberties when it comes to the layout of the Daycare and the Pizzaplex itself, to better suit the ideas running around my mind. Thats a big element of the cannon-divergent tag here.

I'll make this mind-palace work for me, dammit!

Anyhoo, enjoy!

Ao3 link: Petals on a Stream of Stars

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

Act 1, Chapter 3- A Warm Welcome?

Tuesday

6:45 AM

Chrysanthemum

Clang-clang, clang-clang. Clang-clang, clang-clang. Clang-clang, clang-clang.

The echo of their combined feet stepping across the sheet metal floor triggered her nerves, and made the hairs on the back of Chrys’s neck stand on end. Finding herself suddenly walking through near-pitch black darkness save for a couple of red safety lights that illuminated hardly anything at all was not exactly a great welcome wagon.

Vanessa had taken the lead, escorting her deeper through the inner passageways of the Pizzaplex, rather than back out into the main lobby as Chrys had expected. Had she spoken too soon? Was this all a ploy to lure her out of sight, a random victim caught up in a killer’s web? If this wasn’t such a popular business she might genuinely think so. Be that as it may, if she did scream down here, someone would be bound to hear her. There was nothing to fear.

Right?

“Um, is it normally this dark down here? Should I have grabbed a flashlight?” An empty question, sure, but anything was better than this oppressive silence.

“No need. I know the way.” Vanessa said. She kept her eyes forward, traversing through the darkness with perfect ease. “Besides, it’s mostly just the staff bots and animatronics who use these corridors. We might cause one to glitch out if we shine a light on them while their night vision is activated, and I for one don’t feel like dealing with all that.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right. Of course.” She cleared her throat. “But uh, then why are we here? Aren’t there other ways we could have taken?

“No. We need to make a stop before we get to where we’re going.”

“A pit-stop? For what?”

“You’ll see.”

Keeping close, they continued on, taking the occasional sharp turn that Chrys never would have seen coming on her own, before stopping at a nondescript steel service door.

“This is it.” Vanessa punched in a code into the nearby keypad, turning the light above the door green. It opened upward with a “whoosh”.

Inside, the darkness was even more pervasive, banished only once Vanessa flipped a switch on the wall. Fluorescent bulbs dangling from the ceiling lit up with a couple of clicks, humming as they warmed. Seeing the light chase away the shadows chased away the vice grip on her lungs as well.  

Vanessa moved ahead, counting the rows until she found the one she wanted, and pulled a single box down from the middle shelf, placing it on the ground. 

“Here we are. Go ahead and pick out a couple of shirts. They’ll serve as your uniform for now. And don’t worry, they’ve all been washed.”

Reaching in, Chrys rummaged through the tightly packed box, tugging a few out with an XL on the tag, and unfolded one to inspect its design. A simple, mass-produced t-shirt, yellow-bodied with two differently patterned sleeves, with the words “STAFF” printed along the back shoulders in bold font. 

“It’s pretty,” Chrys murmured. Not bad, as far as uniforms went, she supposed.

Shirts in hand, Chrys hurried to rejoin Vanessa at the door, and the two reentered the tunnel, continuing on with no further distractions. The sight of another steel service door signaled the end of the hall, the glowing red “EXIT” sign a beacon in the dark. 

“Watch your eyes,” Vanessa warned, hand on the bar. “Most find it a bit too bright outside after being in here.”

Pausing for a moment to see that Chrys had understood, Vanessa pushed the door open and flooded the area with light, washing every lingering ounce of the darkness away and revealing a sight which made her jaw drop.

This had to be a story-book.

Dead ahead, a makeshift castle stood, stretching upward towards the distant ceiling; Commanding yet fantastical. Twin spires, fake stone walls, and an arched, double-wide wooden doorway all added to the medieval aesthetic. With windows for viewing, and a netting that encircled the upper air space for safety, the design was clearly intended for younger audiences.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Vanessa said beside her. “This is one of our newer attractions. Put in just a few years ago. Can’t say I predicted the addition of a daycare to the Pizzaplex’s future, but I must admit it is well-designed, and has been popular. Well, mostly.”

Chrys’s eyes went wide. “Wait, this is a daycare? Seriously?”

“Indeed. Shall we?” 

“Please!”

Vanessa chuckled, and once again led the way, pulling an ID card out of her pants pocket to swipe through the card reader mounted beside the gated entrance doors. Thousands of gears all turning and rotating in tandem resounded from within the wood, and of its own volition, split down the center and swung outward, welcoming the two inside. 

Warm, soft lighting cascaded down from above, giving the space an ethereal glow. The majority of the area held two of the largest play-structures Chrys had ever seen, their colorful tunnels weaving in and out over-top the other, creating the perfect labyrinth for rambunctious little ones to explore. The floor, covered in a durable, cushioned material, protested being walked over in shoes. The air held the scent of disinfectant and citrus, clean and sweet, pairing well with the lilting and cheerful melody that played through the speakers to create an enticing yet relaxing air. 

“Whoa. This is… wow.” Chrys said.

“I take it you approve?” Vanessa said, from off to the side. Chrys turned to see her looking solely at her.

“Approve? This is incredible! Any kid would have a field day to get to play here. This is really where I’ll be working?”

Their eyes met, and Vanessa smiled, with a warmth that reached all the way to her eyes. “Possibly. Care to give being the Daycare Assistant a shot?”

“Absolutely!” Chrys exclaimed on reflex. When she’d first started applying to places, odds were she’d be stuck doing something mundane and simplistic, like stocking shelves or taking orders. That would have been fine, she’d been prepared for that outcome. It didn’t really matter what she did, as long as it produced a paycheck. To be given the opportunity to still make money while getting to be around kids all day sounded like a walk in the park. She repeated the title in her head, testing it with her internal voice.

“Hey, wait,” Chrys said, the gears of her mind turning. “You said “assistant”. Does that mean I’ll be working with someone else?”

Vanessa’s smile widened. “Aren’t you astute? Let’s get the two of you introduced.”

She raised her arm, wrist first, and tapped on the screen of her watch a few times before speaking into it with command. 

“Connect to DA-1.”

Silence. She tried again. 

“Connect. To. DA-1.”

Again. Nothing.

“Force connect to DA-1. Open communication channel.”

The frustration leaked out in her voice, and a vein in her neck pulsed once. Static blared until a sharp buzzing cut it off, replaced by a voice of someone grumbling to themselves.

“Couldn’t be bothered to clean up his own mess, nooo. Had to leave it for good ol’ Sunny to clean up. Taking me FOREVER to—”

“SUNDROP.”

“Eh, h-hi! Yes! Ah, good morning, Officer Vanessa! H-Hello!”

She pinched at the bridge of her nose. 

“Next time when I call for you, you are to answer immediately. Is that clear?”

“I… yes, Officer Vanessa.”

“Good. Report to the entrance of the daycare.”

With that, Vanessa lowered her arm, cutting off the connection, and waited, looking with expectation towards the back of the room. 

Chrys followed her eyes, leading to a rather pretty princess tower mounted high along the wall, the centerpiece of an unfinished, hand-brushed mural depicting a cloudy, but sunny sky. A ledge large enough for someone to stand on jutted out from the wall, topped by an arched opening hidden from sight by a red curtain. 

Underneath, she saw an identical arched opening to the one above, painted this time to resemble more of an overgrown flower garden than the sky above. The dark purple curtain dangling from the arch jostled with an invisible breeze, abruptly parting way to allow a large, golden figure to come tumbling through, their long, lanky limbs flailing and tinkling about as whoever it was attempted to free its entangled foot from within the curtain’s folds. 

“Don’t worry, I’m coming! I’m—ack, let go you stupid—uh, just, just a minute!”

It was the same voice as the one she heard moments prior over the watch’s radio; a youthful, boyish tenor with a digital overlay. He freed himself after a few beats of hurried struggling, and jogged his way to the front where they stood, able to cross the entire width in only a couple of strides. 

“I’m here! I’m here, Officer Vanessa! What, uh, what did you need me to—Oh! I’m so sorry new friend, I didn’t see you there.”

His animated, oversized oval eyes swiveled down to her, LED lit pupils alight in a shade of bright blue. He spoke through an unseen speaker, his mouth shifting in shape only to adapt to his varying expressions, and always returning to a big, gap-toothed smile once he finished. Chrys craned her neck to face him full-on, overwhelmed by their sheer stature, even as they leaned their circular, disk-shaped head closer.

“Sundrop, this is Chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum, this is the Daycare Animatronic. He acts as the Daycare Attendant.” Vanessa said.

Chrys looked him up and down, as if that would somehow help the reality solidify in her mind. A robot. Or rather, an animatronic… and acting as a lead in a childcare facility. Would wonders ever cease?

Never had she seen one in person before, either. He seemed to handle himself with a fluidity that befitted a gymnast, someone with more strength and flexibility than the average joe could ever aspire to; The exact opposite of what she’d imagine a creature made of bolts and steel to be.

“Ah!” Chrys said with a start. “Sorry, I know it’s rude to stare. It’s uh, nice to meet you.” She reached with her unoccupied arm out for a handshake, pleased when he reached to reciprocate, only for Vanessa to step in and interject before their hands could meet.

“No need for formalities, not with it. While they are tasked with the primary functioning and upkeep of the Daycare, and will act as your direct supervisor, you are the human element here. No need to treat it as you would others.”

Chrys glanced at Sundrop, and watched his face fall, the ring of triangular sun-rays encircling his faceplate drooping to the ground, the spitting image of a kicked puppy. Something in her chest tightened. This didn’t feel right. She gave a half-hearted nod to Vanessa’s expectant gaze, and kept her expression on lock-down. 

“Good. Alternatively, should you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask it. It’ll do all it can to assist you, within reason. Isn’t that right, Sundrop?”

Vanessa’s tone turned sharp. She tilted her face to the side, and shot Sundrop a piercing glare. Chrys winced in response to his flinch. 

“A-Ah, yes, of course! Always happy to help!”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.” Vanessa glanced back at her watch. “Well, that about wraps up all the time I have to spare this morning. Sundrop can access the schedule, registry, and itinerary for the day through the server, so you should be fine getting through today on your own. But, do be cautious not to wander about the building unaccompanied. Without a staff pass, you’ll be stopped by the security bots. I’ll have a temporary one made and brought to you by the end of the day.”

Alarm bells rang out in her head as she processed her words. “Hold on, wait. I don’t think I can—”

Vanessa cocked an eyebrow. “You are working today, are you not?”

Her stomach dropped. This… wasn’t a part of the plan. Was it normal to start work the same day you interviewed? Should she have realized that? Her heart-rate picked up, and beads of sweat began to prickle her brow. 

Vanessa stepped in close, close enough to snap her attention back squarely onto her. “Don’t tell me that on the very first day of your probationary period, you plan to skip out on work? Tsk. Can’t say that will look good at all. And here I was with such high hopes for you. Perhaps I was wrong…” 

“No, no!” Chrys shook her head with gusto, pure reflex. “T-That’s not—I can work! I can work today just fine!”

Vanessa smiled, a quiet cruelness to the up-tick of the corners of her mouth. “Wonderful. Exactly what we like to hear.” 

Chrys’s gaze drifted to the floor, the pounding of her pulse throbbing against her temples. Vanessa moved in close, leaning in to whisper into her ear.

“Don’t let me down, Chrysanthemum. Or who knows how you’ll fare.”

Then she left.

[roxyandelsewhere]

i wrote a whole essay in the tags of this post and the new post editor ate half of it and distorted the rest so here's what i could salvage and an approximation of the rest (in a new post so the other one doesn't get too long, this is already long enough):

i don't have fixed headcanons on this, i can see different things making sense and what i myself think about it changes from day to day depending on how literal i feel like being. but! i tend to think of angels as eldritch horrors in a true lovecraftian sense which in turn makes me think of the ideas about how humans comprehend incomprehensible things in stephen king's IT. that's usually my baseline bc i made those associations once and it stuck so while i do love the idea of angels controlling their vessels like handpuppets and cas touching dean at all times in invisible ways, i also think that re: an angel's trueform physical space in our puny dimensions doesn't really....exist, really. it's like i said in the explanation for the drawing of the fall of the angels (i'm gonna be referencing these a bit bc i feel like i'm more eloquent in drawings than in words skdjfg) trueforms are too dettached from our physical world to be able to be big or small close or far. those concepts aren't much to them bc they aren't bound by physicality as we perceive it. this isn't really supported by canon bc there's the chrysler building line but i have thoughts about that too.

the post mentions the wings not being wings but instead the idea of wings and i am 100% on board with that. i've said before that the wings and the hellhounds being such vague projections worked bc they were nothing where comprehension should be, and the writers fucked up when they treated it as nothing where a budget should have been. bc yeah angels don't have actual bird wings with the same feather anatomy and all that, ofc they don't. insects birds and squirrels had convergent evolution to arrive to such different wing morphologies and angels have bird wings? makes no sense. what i do think happens is that the parts of angels that allow them to do things like fly (which may not be appendages at all, they can just zoom like the post said) get 'translated' into physical things when they're on earth. not necessarily by the eye of the human beholder, just by being on earth like that. a reasoning i've applied in my drawings is that when they get into a vessel the parts of them that are involved in their earthly life get converted into earthly things. deer and bird heads and octopus tentacles popping out of jimmy novak like glitches mid act of translation. jimmy's status as just man being adam censored by the vine leaf (the censoring being intrinsic to adam is also a whole other concept but this isnt about chuck). sorry to bring marvel into this but it's like in wandavision when modern things get translated or rather converted into things from the sitcom's decade. it couldn't exist in this world so instead of disappearing it gets converted into something that can. and i started this tangent bc of the chrysler building thing. that's another translation. bc the chrysler building is a human's definition of gigantic. kinda small for what angels supposedly are. it's something that's said to explain trueforms so it's kinda like an actual literal translation.

another thing the post touches on is the fallen angels still having a trueform. just graceless. and i agree!! it's exactly how i drew fallen cas and anna. graceless and different bc they've changed. but they still have a trueform bc being an eldritch horror isn't just inside-out it's also outside-in if that makes sense. they comprehend the universe differently and fitting that into a human brain hurts but it doesn't disappear. magically speaking all languages most likely does (did angel grace get a patch after the babel tower?) but having 'seen' the universe as an angel stays. which is why i talked about trueform endverse!cas like i did the other day when i said his trueform would be some sort of eldritch version of michelangelo's flayed skin. i basically said that he's a cas that has fallen from grace and then fallen from humanity. fallen twice. the way he sees the world gets changed once again and the things he can do change once again and when that happens to humans that's just it, those things happening. but when it happens to an angel it gets translated as a fall. and re: what the post said about those fics while those things seem too literal they can be seen as a translation/conversion of that fall back into things humans can comprehend.

there's also the matter of samandriel. angels being tortured has implications in terms of how they connect to their vessels. pain can be inflicted on the trueform through causing pain on the human body which means they are connected somehow. and i think part of the pain doesn't come just from what is inflicted on the trueform but also from the forced connection to the vessel. bc if you don't have a heart or lungs or legs and then suddenly you do, it hurts. if you didn't have lungs and in a split second you started having them, you'd choke. feeling human hurts like a defibrillator, an instant connection to life. like chidi seeing the time knife, but too alien instead of simply too big. though some angels might call it too big and others too small. so yeah i don't think they are connected to their vessels and part of torturing them is making that happen.

then there's the whole thing of heaven being made of angels, which i love, and angels being wires/generators and the implications of souls as a power source. i'm still figuring out what i think of that but surprise to those who don't know: i'm currently drawing trueform cas full of leviathans. and i painted the leviathans as partially gold, the color i've associated with grace, bc they gave cas that power so they must have something akin to grace. just yesterday i posted about how grace might be blood+Light as in the light of god but that's bc i was feeling literal, you can see it as similar to souls. this could be a whole theological debate but what i'm getting at is souls have Something that grace does too, and from souls you get demons which can be seen as having lost that something but another thing is monsters have souls too. this show never handled the question of the Other properly but monsters have souls. they do. and leviathans' souls are different but they're there and dare i say there's as much difference between a human's soul and a vampire's as there is between two random humans. whatever leviathans have was enough to make cas god. a bastardized god, yes, but for better or worse the children of eve have something holy.

i also really love the idea of angels as the principle of uncertainty. that's really it, for angels everything is atoms, all of it. and they might behave like atoms or electrons but they're not so the two things clash. and this ties up well with zoe exitwound's notion of angels as gravity.

all in all i agree with the post and i think it's all fascinating but i wanted to make these additions

i'm pretty sure i wrote other things but i can't remember them and this is already long enough so i'm gonna shut up now

[whats-rambled-rambled]

Long Nights - part 2

Neil x Reader

Chapter 2: Praise you

(see chapter 1)

summary: you found tremendous joy in coming up with new ways to make the lockpicking sessions challenging. And entertaining. 

...even if the last part was mostly a one-sided thing.

warnings: 18+, explicit language, teasing, implied smut I guess? oh, and of course - ✨hand content✨

author’s note: Took me a while, but it was fun to write! Didn’t expect it to get this long, but here we are - over 4,2k words of shameless hand content

The song for this chapter is Fatboy Slim - Praise you

Anyway, enjoy! All feedback is greatly appreciated, let me know what you think?

——————

Tag list: @vaneilla @gallifreyan-uprising​ @ergunbilge @invertedneil @wanderedaway​ @truly-insatiable​ (let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list)

-----

You cracked it.

It took you a good while, though. A whole sleepless night, even.

And half of the morning after that.

But maybe the absolute exhaustion was the key, pun intended.

At first, it boggled your mind so much that you were dangerously close to using brute force just to examine that lock. You tried every technique that you could think of - to no effect. It wasn’t like anything you’d seen before. The mechanism wasn’t responding as usual, it was more like a thing from goddamn Upside Down, or however the fuck that was called.

It became a matter of pride.

The sun had risen over an hour ago and the sunlight was pouring through the gaps in the blinds. Grasping at the last strands of sanity, you decided to take a break. You put on your headphones and danced around your apartment to the sounds of a song with that one bloody line that somehow seemed fitting for this madness.

Is it worth it? Let me work it, I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it

Because it felt exactly like that was what had happened to it. And no amount of cursing and switching tools would help in the face of glitched reality.

And when you sat down at your desk again, with your head so empty that your last brain cell was amusing itself by yodeling and listening to an echo, you bound the first pin. The sound was so distorted it almost startled you. The last thing you needed right then was to break the hook inside the keyway, so you leveled your breath and continued, even though your fingers cramped painfully. That wasn’t enough to stop you. Not as you finally got proof that the task was actually within your reach. 

With every click like a backwards version of the sound you knew so well, the next pins got set quicker and smoother. And when you opened the lock, you couldn’t help the cheerful scream that escaped your mouth.

“Fuck yes!” You punched the air, the adrenaline rushing through your veins, the biggest grin lighting up your face.

That’s when you knew there was no way you were going to sleep anytime soon. Besides, you still didn’t know how you managed to convince that device to cooperate. You had to prove to yourself that it wasn’t dumb luck, and should you ever come upon a bloody nightmare like that, you’d be able to use the experience to crack it open. Because of that, you spent the next couple of hours reverse-picking it (which turned out to be another level of bonkers) to lock the damn thing, only to open it back again. And again. And then three times more. When you got comfortable with the process, your eyes were burning, your fingers stiff and trembling, but the immense satisfaction was worth every bit of it.

You were about to crash on the bed as your phone buzzed, and you glanced at the incoming message.

//did you pick it?

At first, you assumed you got it from Mahir, but as you were typing in a long rant, you realized that there was no history of the previous conversations on the screen, so you checked the sender again.

Neil.

Huh.

You’d exchanged the numbers the day before, but you didn’t expect to hear from him until they got everything ready to start the lessons. Oh well. You snapped the picture of the open lock and sent it back, adding a short message.

          //that was fun, hope you have more of them

As you faceplanted on the bed, the phone buzzed with a reply.

//N: you bet

You couldn’t wait to get all the answers about how they managed to manufacture the most bizarre and mind-bending thing you’d ever seen, but there was no point in asking those questions over the phone. Plus, you really needed to get some rest.

          //awesome! now excuse me, imma get some Zs - let me know when you  guys are ready to start

After a second, you typed in another text.

          //ps. how’s your nose?

//N: will do, sleep well!

//N: as for my nose...let’s say I’m glad it wasn’t the straightest one in the first place

That cheeky bastard.

          //hey, don’t try to guilt-trip me, i’m trying to sleep

You almost drifted off, but you couldn’t resist checking that last notification.

//N: ...I wouldn’t dare

Snorting, you rolled to the side.

Then you fell asleep, dreaming of the impossible locks.

-------

It took them another day to prepare all the stuff, and after several further messages you got a date and location.

The building looked like a contemporary tenement house, definitely standing out from two older ones at its sides. You always assumed it belonged to one of those fancy start-ups, but apparently it was some sort of temporary headquarters of your new associates.

It didn’t surprise you that you weren’t given a tour of the place, you assumed you needed to have some sort of clearance to walk freely through the area. For now, you were restricted to the ground floor, or rather to the lobby and your classroom - a rather cozy space, but equipped with everything you needed to begin.

Neil turned out to be a fast learner, at least when it came to covering the theoretical side of lockpicking. You walked him through the basics, but you couldn’t help the itch in the back of your brain. After the encounter with the preposterous lock, your mind started to question everything that used to be unshakeable.

And of course you asked Neil about that bloody device as soon as you saw him, but he just smiled lightly and said that The Protagonist insisted on telling you all that himself when the time was right. So you had nothing left to do but to continue with the lessons, hoping that you the man himself would decide to grace you with his presence sooner than later.

You propped the chin on your hand and watched as Neil grabbed the tools. Your gaze wandered over his outrageously long fingers as he gave the lock a try, but apparently, the most idiotic grin on your face didn’t go unnoticed.

“Hey, eyes up here,” snorted Neil, and you looked at him just to meet his amused face. He caught you shamelessly staring, and there was no point in denying it.

Trying to salvage your mental coherence, you choked out, “Dude, your hands are--”

“What?” he asked, tilting his head.

“...huge,” you finished, the wide smile not leaving even for a second. You bit your lip and glanced back at Neil. “Don’t mind me, I’m just gonna stare for a bit longer.”

A hint of a blush crept upon his cheeks. My, oh my. Blinking rapidly, he cleared his throat and proceeded to bind the first pin, pressing his mouth into a thin line in an attempt to keep a composed demeanor. The sparkles in his gaze were quite telling, though.

The sight was utterly adorable, but more importantly, it planted a rather gut-busting idea into your head.

You stifled a giggle.

All in due time.

____

One of the perks of the location was a small cafe on the other side of the street.

Neil took you there on your second day during a break, walking in with a confidence of a true regular. He knew the staff by name and vice-versa, so it didn’t surprise you as he charmed his way through the conversation.

“I’ve got this,” he said, raising a hand to stop you before you could place your order. “One black coffee and one--...” he hesitated, still preventing you from chiming in. You crossed your arms and watched as his forehead creased, the confidence leaving him with every second passed. He narrowed his eyes, and you could almost hear the gears grinding in his head.

Whatever he was doing, or trying to do, it was time to put him out of his misery.

“Iced mocha for me, please,” you said, wondering which one of you had a more puzzled expression. “Cat got your tongue?”

Neil shook his head.

“No, it’s just…” - he let out a small sigh - “I can’t read you.”

“Good,” you snorted. “Why would you want to, anyway?”

The young barista smiled, putting the first coffee on the counter.

“Oh, your colleague here has a thing.”

“Oh?” You arched a brow. “Do tell!”

“It’s nothing,” said Neil, cringing slightly, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the enthusiastic answer from spilling from the barista.

“He likes to guess the orders of his companions, but this is prolly the first time I ever saw him freeze like that. Can’t wait to tell Doris!”

Neil groaned, avoiding your amused stare. “Spare me, Max.”

“Aww, man, I’m honored to be your first!” you teased, nudging his arm lightly and snickering at the absolutely done face he gave you in return.

That cafe quickly became your place of choice during breaks, but sometimes, if the weather was nice enough, you ordered to-go, just to spend that bit of free time between lockpicking sessions sitting on a grassy hill overlooking a bank of the river. You chatted about everything and nothing in particular, or simply sat in silence, enjoying the ambiance, beverages, and each other’s company.

The last thing took you by surprise, in a way. You’d expected those brief moments of a break during the day to be your sacred moments of solitude, the usual necessity to avoid getting too cranky around people. As Neil joined you on that second day, you found out that his presence was not bothering you, or at least your social batteries weren’t being drained in their regular manner. Sure, it probably helped that he was incredibly easy on the eyes, but a real treat were those moments when you ventured onto a territory he felt strongly about. In a wink, he was ready to drop his typical composure just to go straight into bubbly rants, gesturing wildly, the blue irises lit by the fire that he most often kept under wraps.

There was nothing more boring than people who lacked passion.

Lucky for you, that was not the case with Neil.

Moreover, he made you laugh.

A dangerous combination.

Alluring, even.

Good thing that you were not one to become smitten that easily.

That didn’t mean you couldn’t have some fun, though.

--------

“You need to listen to what the lock has to say,” you prompted, pacing through the room and watching as Neil struggled with a new type of mechanism. “It’s all about feedback.”

He pulled out the tools and rubbed his face, trying to hide the first hints of frustration.

“What if we apply heavier tension to amplify it?” he said and glared at the lock as if it was taunting him from its place on the practice stand.

“Sure, “ - you leaned over the table to rest the chin on your laced fingers - “but can you think of any reasons not to do that, my dear Physics Boy?”

“The higher possibility of breaking tools?”

“Precisely,” you said as you snapped and pointed your fingers. ”Also, you risk binding the pins too tightly and you wouldn’t want that, either.”

Neil sighed and slumped his shoulders.

“So...patience, then?”

“Yes,” you beamed. “It really comes down to one thing - you have to feel it.”

A corner of his lips twitched. “I’ve heard it before,” he said, shifting in his seat.

You shrugged, eyeing him curiously.  

“Maybe because that’s one universally useful advice?”

“Would help if I understood it, too.” He gave you a weak smile, but his expression told you he wasn’t convinced.

You hummed in acknowledgment.

“Listen, I can smarten it up for you, but let me just show you what I mean.” You grabbed the second pair of tools from the table and placed them inside the keyway, but as soon as you opened your mouth to provide some follow-up instructions, you got struck by a better idea. Your eyes flared up. “Okay, know what? I’m just gonna-- if you could scoot back a bit--...” you said, shuffling in his direction. Neil’s brows snapped together in consternation, but he moved back. Without further ado, you sat down in front of him, nestling yourself between his spread legs on the edge of the chair, and let out a content sigh. “Should be easier now. Put your hands on mine.“

Neil tensed, and you could swear you heard him swallowing hard behind your back. He followed your suggestion, wrapping his arms around you and placing his hands on top of yours.  

“Now, lay your fingers on the tools just above mine,” you continued as you slid your digits back to make more room for him. “Great, try not to press them and focus. Close your eyes, if you want.” As you gently moved the tools, you couldn’t resist but to add, “You can breathe though, you know?”

“Blimey.”

You giggled at the sarcastic bit in his tone and drew a long breath, hoping that Neil would follow it, and focused back on the lock. Purposefully slowing down your movements to allow him to feel how the mechanism responded to your ministrations, you kept sliding the hook back and forth the keyway, setting pin after pin. Neil relaxed after a moment, his shallow breath ghosting over your shoulder got deeper and more steady. His palms rested heavier on your hands, and you marveled at their size again, nibbling on your bottom lip. With all your senses sharpened, you stole a brief moment of self-indulgence, closing your eyes and relishing in the warmth radiating from Neil, the way it enveloped you, carrying a scent of his cologne - airy citrus undertones mixed with hints of powdery musk, a fresh and unostentatious combination you found fitting him so well.

The final click, more pressure and voilà - the lock was open.

“Did you feel it?” you asked softly, weirdly unwilling to move, hoping to linger in the position for a little while longer.  

“Yes,” said Neil, and his husky voice made you turn your head to look at him. As he pulled his hands back somewhat hesitantly, you noticed his dazed expression and slightly flushed cheeks.

“Good,” you chirped, grinning, then reached out over your shoulder and lightly booped his nose, enjoying probably a bit too much the way his eyes widened. “Your turn.”

-----

Days. Weeks. Or was it months, plural?

You lost track of how much time had passed since that morning in the Old Town district.

The progress was counted by the number of models you introduced to Neil, showing him all the tricks you’d learned over the years. You still waited for the meeting with The Protagonist, although, ever since your student spilled a little too much information during one of his enthusiastic rants at the breaks (seriously, how could a person that bad at keeping secrets survive so long in any sort of spying business was beyond you), your initial curiosity itch had been scratched, and you were now in that blessed moment before it got unbearable again and demanded taking further actions.

It also helped that you found tremendous joy in coming up with new ways to make the lockpicking sessions challenging. And entertaining. Even if the last part was mostly a one-sided thing.

Neil was clearly feeling confident that evening. He really started to get a hang of this, and you loved watching him like that - fully focused, blonde strands falling to the eyes, with the tip of the tongue poking out...

It would be a shame if someone was to test his level of concentration.

“You know, I spend so much time looking at your hands that they recently started making cameos in my dreams.”

The blue eyes darted at you from under raised brows.

“Is that so?" asked Neil, switching his attention to the lock again.

“Yep. Mind you, most of those dreams are rather uneventful.” You pouted, sliding from your place on the windowsill. “Still waiting for one that is not so boringly PG-13.”

He pressed his lips into a thin line and swallowed with effort.

...warmer...

Circling the table, you stopped behind Neil’s chair.

"I’m just saying,” - leaning over, you purred right into his ear - ”that such long fingers like yours can give a girl all sorts of ideas--"

Snap.

You bit back a satisfied smile and smacked your tongue. “Those were perfectly fine tools, you know.”

Neil turned in his seat and gaped at you.

“Why are you like this?” he complained, helpless and flustered.

You shrugged. “I thought it was a high time for a little stress test. Might come in handy later.” Snickering at his puzzled face, you added, “What? You’re not exactly in a stress-free line of work.”

He shook the head lightly and scoffed. “... yeah, I see your point,” he said, a corner of his mouth curling into a half-smile. “But I don’t think there’s a high risk of someone trying to seduce me in the field.”

“Do you think that’s what I’m doing?” you asked, arching a brow, your tone nothing but serious.

“I-...”

The panicked look on his face as he blinked rapidly was more than enough to break your deadpan façade.

“Oh man, I’m just pulling your leg. You should’ve seen your face though.” Giggling, you grabbed a fresh lock from a shelf and tossed it to Neil. He sighed and replaced the messed-up device. “Besides,” you continued, “if there is one thing that the espionage movies have taught me, it’s that the spy always has plenty of beautiful creatures willing to keep his bed warm.”

The playful sparks appeared in Neil’s eyes.

“Is this a very elaborate way of asking me if I’m seeing someone or are you volunteering?”

Well, well, well.

“What if it’s both?”

“Then the first answer is no. As for the second one--” he hesitated, tugging the bottom lip between the teeth. “...a follow-up question - is it a good idea?”

You tilted your head, sitting down on the edge of the table in front of him.

“Why?”

“What if it’s gonna make things… I don’t know, weird?”

You gestured vaguely. “Can’t get any weirder than all your timey-wimey, inverted entropy bullshit.”

“That’s not exactly--”

“I know what you meant,” you sighed and met his darkened gaze, a shade of smile tainting your lips. “And yet, you’re trying to appeal to my reason while looking at me like that.” You left your seat and grabbed your backpack. “It’s getting late. Finish with this one and get some rest.”

Then you left, not waiting for a reply.

It was one of the warm nights and you decided to take a walk. A promenade near the river was not as crowded as you expected, making your journey home way more enjoyable. With your favourite tunes seeping through the headphones, you took in the view, the city lights reflecting in the water only added to the ambiance.

The phone buzzed in your pocket.

//N: I can’t believe you left like that

You chuckled, texting him back.

          //why, you had any plans?

The answer came almost instantly.

//N: maybe

He was adorable. But--

          //have you finished with the lock?

//N: …no    

//N: wait are you gonna use our conversation as some sort of motivational tool now

Even if you weren’t, after getting a message like that?

You just had to.

          //maybe?

//N: jesus

          //sex is but a great metaphorical carrot. besides - it’s all about that delayed gratification and whatnot

A moment of silence.

And then:

//N: you’re evil.

That spiteful period at the end got you snickering loudly, earning you some curious looks.

A huge grin lit up your face.

          //gn <3

-----

You must admit, that game was quite exciting.

And Neil was getting better at it, and soon implying became no longer enough to make him lose his focus.

At first, it was relatively easy to prompt a blush or a slight tremble of a hand. But with every next attempt, he grew more and more resilient, and soon, the only indication that he heard you was the fire burning in his eyes.

Then you got really mean, throwing some ambitious tasks in front of him, tricky locks and complex mechanisms, as your teasing got more straightforward.

And descriptive.

It became hard to shake it off once you left the training room. The lingering looks. The accidental touches. The atmosphere, almost electric. In other words - the heat sink was ready to be popped, and it was no longer a matter of if, but more of when.

“4 minutes.”

Neil barely nodded, lips pressed together and brows knitted in concentration.

3 locks in 15 minutes. Difficult, but doable, considering his current level of skill. Too bad he’d slacked at the second one, not leaving too much time for the final push. Sure, you didn’t go easy on him along the way, but the real challenge was supposed to be a race against the clock, so now you just watched him with bated breath.

Click.

You checked the time.

“45 seconds”

“Goddamnit!” he uttered through gritted teeth, readjusting cramping fingers on the tools.

“Come on, you’ve got this,” you said, taking a step closer.

Another click.

He didn’t know that there was only one pin left to set. You did, that’s why you tried your best not to reveal it with your expression. Too early to celebrate, anyway.

“Nine... eight… seven… six… five…”

That’s when you heard a final click and you looked up from your phone, only to see the lock giving in and opening up.

“Yeah!” Neil cheered, banging a fist on the table and tossing the tools away.

You smiled, hiding the phone in the pocket. “Good job, I knew--” but before you could finish a sentence, Neil sprung up from his chair and closed the gap between you, then cupped your face with his palms and kissed you hungrily.

You froze for a second, but as your mind caught up, you kissed him back, tugging at the light blue shirt. He smiled against your lips and made you back away until you hit the wall, huffing at the sudden coldness of the surface. But he was bent on kissing you senseless until you both ended up gasping for air.

“You’re so paying for all that teasing,” he panted, running the tip of the tongue through his swollen lips. “Not to mention, you’ve given me a few fascinating ideas, and I’m very much willing to give them all a try.”

You grinned, fighting with your evidently short-circuiting brain for a grasp of coherence as his hands traveled down your body.

“My, my, all of them?”

“The night is young,” - his throaty chuckle sent a wave of heat through your body - “and I’m up for a challenge.”

“I’m counting on it,” you breathed, burying your fingers in his hair, and pulling him into a kiss again.

Actually, the challenge started right away, and that meant getting to Neil’s place, as the company conveniently rented him a room in a nearby hotel. Walking distance, but in your current quite heated state, every distance seemed way too long. Especially when you had to keep up appearances.

At least until the elevator’s door closed behind you.

The dark gaze fixed on you. Your breaths intertwining. His bottom lip between your teeth. The five o’clock shadow under your fingertips. Your hands sliding under his shirt. His knee parting your legs. The intoxicating smell of his cologne. Your quiet moan. His tongue slipping into your mouth--

A quiet sound announced you reached your floor, and you stumbled out into the corridor, giggling, unable to keep hands and lips off each other.

Your back hit the door, barely missing the knob. Without skipping a beat, Neil reached to the pocket of his pants, then into the other one. When he tried the third one, you broke the kiss, your expression nothing but innocent.

“Looking for this?” you asked, showing him a key card.

He furrowed his brows. “Yes, thank you, I don’t know how--...” he started, but when he tried to snatch his property, you hid your hand behind your back. His jaw went slack as it dawned on him and he stared at you in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am.”

He groaned.

“You’re unbelievable,” he uttered as he pulled out his wallet. “Credit card?”

“Only if you’re not overly attached to it.” The roguish lights danced in your gaze. “Especially when you’re in a hurry,” you hinted, palming over the bulge in his pants. Neil squeezed his eyes shut, biting back a moan, and you stifled a chuckle. “Try any membership card.”

He glared at you. “You’re so in for it, you have no idea.”

“Promises, promises,” you pouted, trying not to burst into laughter at his wounded expression. “Work it.”

“Gladly, just tell me what to do.”

So you walked him through the process.

Fortunately, Neil really was a fast learner, making the door give way in no time.

“Good boy,” you hummed, and the blue eyes flared up.

He crashed his lips on yours, closing the door behind you.

Then he gave you a taste of what was coming for you.

And then some more.

And then…

...he gave you all.

(next chapter ->)

[franklyshipping]

Careful Touches Are The Most Important ~ A Markiplier and Jacksepticeye Ego Fanfic

HERE WE HAVE A WONDERFUL ANON PROMPT WITH A CACOPHONY OF CHARACTERS, AND THOUGH IT GETS EMOTIONAL, IT’S ALL BE HAPPY IN THE END! LET’S DO THIS!

TAGGING: @anti-switch-glitch @ericleederekson @ericlee-derekson and @darkipli-ler

Allow me to state something to you that is completely indisputable: Eric Derekson deserved all the love in the damned world. I can think of no-one kinder, sweeter, or more selfless than this gentle gentleman. He was the definition of manners, and spontaneous acts of kindness, of innocent affection and a heart of pure, warm gold. That’s why it’s especially terrible, that this man suffers. It’s no secret that Eric hasn’t had the best experiences, with the loss of his siblings and mother thus leaving him in the “care” of his father. Affection stopped being a thing in Eric’s life at that point, and the way Eric perceived things he used to like changed drastically too. Affectionate things he used to like, like tickling for instance, were ruined by his father intermingling it with “character-building rough-housing”.

So even now that Eric was living with the rest of the egos rather than his father, all that stuff still stayed with him. Even when his heart ached when he saw his friends tickling each other, he couldn’t muster up the courage to try and join in, out of pure fear. He knew none of the egos would ever hurt him, since they all told him every day that they loved him to pieces, but that fear still remained. Like now. Eric had been wandering about the manor looking for company, when he’d heard some very loud squealing coming from somewhere, so of course he set off to find the source. When he found it, he smiled affectionately. In Dark’s study, Dark had Anti pinned down on his front on the rug and was tickling the hell out of his ribs, making the wild septic thrash and squeal and glitch as he laughed his head off.

‘FAHAHAHACK NOHOHO MOHOHORE!!’

Eric blushed at seeing Dark chuckle, before he let up and stood, allowing Anti to giggle residually and curl up on the rug like a slightly feral cat.

‘You should know by now that’s what happens when you mess with my things, glitch bitch.’

‘Bihihite me ehemo boy!’

Dark snickered and rolled his eyes, smoothing down his suit jacket, but then Eric very much felt like a deer in headlights. Dark had spotted him. The charismatic man smiled in surprise at seeing Eric loitering at his doorway, and immediately beckoned to him.

‘Eric? What a nice surprise, I’ve just finished teaching Anti a little lesson.’

Eric smiled a little, and held back a giggle when Anti blew a raspberry in the air up at Dark, making the suave man roll his eyes, before smiling to Eric again.

‘Please, come in, what brings you to my office?’

Eric smiled lightly, shuffling over the threshold as he replied.

‘I-I ah, I just heard the squealing and stuff, I-I wanted to see if e-everything was okay…’

Both Dark and Anti’s expressions softened with fondness, Eric’s sweet, loving heart never ceased to amaze them both. Dark replied to him with a grin.

‘Everything is quite alright Eric, I assure you. I was merely giving Anti what he deserved.’

Dark smirked to Anti, who glared back playfully at him as he retorted.

‘After what you just did, you’d better watch your back Darky.’

‘Ahaaww, it’s adorable how you think I could ever be intimidated by someone as ticklish as you, Glitchy.’

Anti admittedly did blush a little at Dark’s chuckly purr, before settling for sticking his tongue out at him. The whole thing made Eric smile because of how playful and sweet it was, and especially because it was coming from the two people who were often quite intimidating. Then, Anti caught Eric smiling, and his curiosity reared its head now as he gave his attention to the meek man.

‘Hey Eric….ya wouldn’t happen to be ticklish, would ya? Ya look like the kinda guy who’d be ticklish.’

Now Eric was blushing. Initially he felt a little twinge of happy flusteredness at the teasy question….however, as always, that soon diminished in favour of a far less pleasant feeling. Crippling anxiety hit him as his memories of tickling re-surfaced in his mind, thus making him bow his head, and reply quietly and shakily.

‘I-I am….b-but uhm…..i-it doesn’t make me f-feel great. M-My dad used to t-tickle me, but I always ended up u-uhm….n-not being able to breathe, and being achy all over. My dad sort of….did it t-to test my stamina r-rather than to play….’

Dark and Anti’s faces both went slack then, for they were both beyond enraged. It’s the kind if rage that’s so intense that it just makes you go all cold inside, and Dark and Anti felt sickened that Eric’s father had fucked up one of the most fun experiences in the world. They shared a look with each other, and silently agreed that they weren’t going to stand for this. Anti got to his feet as Dark took a step towards Eric, speaking gently.

‘I’m sure you know this Eric….but that is so far away from what tickling is meant to be like. It’s meant to take away pain and stress and anxiety, not cause such horrid feelings.’

As Dark spoke, Eric fidgeted with his fingers and handkerchief, nodding shakily before replying in his wavy voice.

‘I-I kn-know, a-and I w-wish I f-felt that way…..b-but I don’t know how….’

It was true, Eric truly wanted to be able to enjoy tickling, because he saw how happy it made others and he wanted to experience that too….but he had no idea how to even make the first step, or what the first step would even be. Luckily, he wasn’t alone. Meanwhile, Dark and Anti were repressing their natural urge to teleport away to find whatever hovel Eric’s father was in and completely destroy him. Eric was the priority here, and they were going to keep their focus on him. Dark was speechless, unsure of what exactly to say, but Anti luckily had an idea.

‘We….we could help ya. We could help ya feel better about it. If we were gentle with ya, just eased ya into the feelings super gently….d’ya think you’d be up for that?’

Anti’s voice was tentative and careful, which Dark found admirable, along with the idea itself, before he looked at Eric curiously to see what he’d say. Eric nibbled his lip nervously at the suggestion….but he knew what he wanted. He wanted to be happy, and he could see in Dark and Anti’s faces that that’s what they wanted for him too. He took a breath, and then another, and then another….then he replied.

‘Uhm….w-well…..I-I do trust you b-both…..you p-promise you’d be careful, a-and stop if I said s-stop?’

Anti smiled and immediately nodded, and Dark smiled affectionately to Eric as he spoke.

‘We promise. Contrary to popular belief, we can be very gentle. Especially Anti here, you should see how he babies little Robbie.’

Dark commented playfully, which made Eric smile, especially when Anti gave Dark’s shoulder a shove as he retorts indignantly.

‘Oh says you! You’d think you were secretly a monochrome Google with how much you baby Oliver!’

Dark and Anti now found themselves glaring at each other, honestly, the banter never stopped with these two! Until, that is, when Eric let out a giggle at their antics. That snapped them to attention. Dark and Anti looked to him, and Eric smiled bashfully when Dark purred.

‘Now that’s a sweet little sound….I’d rather like to hear it again, what about you Anti?’

‘Ooohhh yes please! Whaddaya say Eric? Ya want us to make ya giggle for a little while?’

Eric’s face got pinker at their teasiness and eagerness, and he bashfully nodded to them.

‘Y-Yeah….yeah I-I’d like that.’

They both grinned, and Dark offered Eric his arm as Anti giggled and rubbed his hands together excitedly.

‘Excellent. Now, let’s get you somewhere nice and comfy.’

Eric smiled, and linked arms with Dark as Anti bounded ahead of them both, and they decided they would head to Dark’s room since it had a King size comfy bed which would give all three of them plenty of room. They ended up all lying on it together, with Eric in the middle of the two s-called “intimidating” egos. Eric’s arms were folded across his tummy, and he was playing with his handkerchief only a little because of the comfiness of the bed making him feel more relaxed. Eric smiled at Dark and Anti gratefully, and as he did so the latter grinned and spoke in a teasy whisper.

‘Hey Eric….are you blushing?’

Eric averted his gaze, his smile widening adorably as he mumbled.

‘…..y-yeah….’

Anti giggled, damn Eric was cute. Then Dark grinned, and made Eric hum contentedly as he stroked one of his cheeks affectionately.

‘Are you already flustered Eric? Because you know that we’re going to tease you and make you our giggly darling?’

Eric giggled and wordlessly nodded, hiding his face in his handkerchief already. Anti and Dark shared a fond look, before Dark trailed his fingers down to Eric’s neck, tracing the skin with his blunt nails as he crooned.

‘Now tell me Eric, does this tickle?’

Eric gasped in surprise at the initial feeling. It was so soft, and yet it still tickled….and it was perfect. Eric’s arms were free, he could move, he could breathe….and he could giggle and actually enjoy the tickly feeling. He nodded sweetly, still hiding his face.

‘Y-Yehes!’

Dark smiled happily, and Anti smirked as he cooed softly in Eric’s ear.

‘Do you like it?’

Eric softly squeaked as Dark’s fingernails trailed up and down his neck, giving him sweet goose-bumps as he stuttered happily.

‘I-Ihihihi d-dohoho….’

Dark and Anti grinned happily, and Dark kept up his tickling as Anti decided to lean into the free side of Eric’s neck. Eric gasped when he felt Anti start to nuzzle against his skin as he mumbled playfully.

‘You’re so waaarmmm….’

Eric giggled even more now, but everything was still so gentle and enjoyable for the sweet, sensitive guy. Eric whined though, because Anti’s teasy was so flustery for him.

‘A-Ahahahantihihiiii sh-shuhuhuush….’

Anti giggled at the whine, and Dark chuckled and mused.

‘Oh Eric, the day Antisepticeye goes quiet is the day hell freezes over.’

Eric snorted, and Anti promptly flipped Dark off so he could carry on nuzzling into the crook of Eric’s neck. This made Dark chuckle again, and muse in a deeper, teasier voice.

‘Wow, you must be especially warm and nuzzlable if Anti won’t even take the time to retort to me…..I think I should investigate this myself.’

Uh oh. Eric soon found himself yipping, wriggling, and letting out streams of gentle squeaks as Dark now nuzzled his neck too. Both of them were gentle in their nuzzling, letting their scruffy beards do most of the work as Eric whined again cutely.

‘Y-Yohohohour b-beheheards a-ahare tihihickly!’

They both snickered, and Dark replied matter-of-factly.

‘That is rather the point, frankly its tickling prowess is the only reason I tolerate my beard.’

Anti let out a laugh as Eric continued to giggle his happy heart out. The pair of them kept nuzzling his neck for a few more moments, before deciding to let up, lean up and look down at Eric. They wanted to take the utmost care with the sweet man, and Anti grinned affectionately as Eric’s giggles carefully wound down.

‘How’re ya doin so far down there?’

Eric now tentatively moved his hands away from his face, and his ticklers thought they were going to combust in adoration at the sight of the bright blush and wide smile on his face as Eric replied.

‘G-Gohohood….y-you’re both uhum….r-really g-good ahat this…’

Anti beamed proudly, and Dark smirked and tapped the tip of Eric’s nose as he replied.

‘We do aim to please.’

Eric giggled at that, but then ended up gulping when Anti leant down towards him, and purred playfully.

‘Hey Eric….I noticed that you’ve got a tummy.’

Eric sucked in his tummy reflexively as he mumbled.

‘…..m-mhmm….’

Anti giggled at his reaction, before cooing.

‘I really reeeally wanna tickle it….you okay with that?’

Eric gulped again, but out of excited anticipation rather than anxiety. So he nodded with a sweet smile as his tummy started to tremble.

‘Y-YeahI’mokaywiththat….’

Anti gave Eric a soft kiss on the cheek as Dark crooned gently.

‘You are too cute for words, we should have done this so much sooner.’

Eric smiled bashfully at how tender they were both being, before his premature giggles started as his two tender ticklers shifted down to his tummy. Dark and Anti pushed up his t-shirt together, making him cover his mouth as he watched them smirk at the sight of his bare tummy, all ready to be tickled. Dark hummed happily as he placed one of his palms on Eric’s stomach, whilst Anti purred.

‘So soft and pretty….and I think it’s very, very ticklish.’

‘Oh I agree, we haven’t even begun and our little Eric is oh so giggly.’

Dark crooned, and Eric whined through his giggles; he couldn’t help it, he was just so flustered!

‘Ihi cahan’t help ihit!’

Dark and Anti chuckled fondly, before deciding thee had been enough suspense. Eric let out a delighted squeal as Dark and Anti used a hand each to softly scratch over his tummy. Eric’s giggles were high-pitched and more intense, but he was still incredibly happy, which Anti and Dark happily noticed.

‘Ahaaaww you sound like you really like thiiiis!’

Anti cooed, and by this point Eric’s hands were flapping in the air as he replied.

‘I-Ihihihit reheheally reheheheheally tihihihickles!!!’

His ticklers chuckled at that, still scratching away at his belly as Dark now cooed.

‘So your tummy’s quite the tickle spot? I like that, you can tickle a tummy in sooo many ways….’

Anti grinned at Dark then, because he always admired how fucking amazing Dark was a teasing, and the glitch giggled fondly when Eric squealed. Dark had decided to growl, lean down, and rub his bristly beard against Eric’s belly.

‘EEK! N-Nahahat the beheheheard!’

Eric squeaked adorably. Eric had never felt anything more tickly than Dark’s beard before, but he really liked it, there were so many bristles and they just tickled so much of his tummy all at once! Dark chuckled into Eric’s tummy, purring happily.

‘Ohohooo what a perfect, soft belly, Anti you really must have a feel.’

‘Don’t mind if I do!’

Eric’s eyes widened at Anti’s giddy reply, and before he knew it he was letting out a myriad of snorts and squeals as BOTH his ticklers now used their bristly beards against his belly. They were nuzzling him just like how they’d both nuzzled his neck, making him jump and tremble with ticklish delight as he sweetly babbled.

‘N-Nahahaha nahahat fahahahair! Y-Yohohou c-cahahan’t bohohoth nuhuhuzzle!’

They both snickered at that, and Anti whined playfully into his skin.

‘But you’re too perfect to resiiiist, ya can’t expect either of us to wait our turn! That wouldn’t be fair!’

Eric giggled harder, still flapping his hands about giddily as he exclaimed.

‘D-Dohohon’t t-t-teheheeease!!!’

Anti giggled with him, grinning brightly as his eyes gleamed teasingly.

‘Awww, can’t you handle it?’

Eric could only whine in response, his flustered embarrassment really reaching its peak. Then though, as Dark moved his nuzzling down to Eric’s waistline, the man bucked with a yelp and called out.

‘A-AH! NAHATTHERESTAHP!’

Anti and Dark immediately reared up and stopped, and Eric gasped and soon relaxed with a happy smile in place….because they’d both stopped when he’d asked them to. They’d kept their promise, and despite the happiness the tickling provided…..this was actually the most important part of the whole thing. Anti and Dark watched Eric patiently, smiling at him as they watched how he seemed to remain happy….and their smiles spread into grins of proper relief when Eric spoke softly to them.

‘Thahank y-you….’

The two of them immediately crawled back up to be either side of him. Eric let out a happy hum when Anti curled up into his side to snuggle him, whilst Dark gently stroked his hair.

‘You are very welcome Eric. We’re always going to be here to make you happy, whenever you need us to.’

Eric beamed, and replied through a cute yawn.

‘Thank you…..maybe next time I’ll last longer….’

Dark grinned at that, and as he draped his arm over Eric and they both closed their eyes, he heard Anti sleepily mumble.

‘That’s the spirit….’

The three of them then napped together, and none of them had felt safer or happier in their entire lives. Because I can guarantee you, that no matter the situation or hurt or pain or damage….you will always feel safest when you are not alone.

WOOOO HOPE YOU ALL LIKED THIS FIC LEMME KNOW IF YA DID WOOOOO LUV YOUS XX

[seb-owns-these-tatas]

Witcher of the Night (Chapter 23.1)

I KNOW MY EDIT SUCKED. HEH. That’s my book cover in Wattpad. Couldn’t post CHAPTER 23.2 there because the application is glitching and I’m annoyed af. Anyway, enjoy this chapter for WOTN. 

CHAPTER 23

WOTN MASTERLIST

Characters: Geralt of Rivia x small!Naive!Reader

Summary: Maybe a witch isn't the key for your getaway because it could be deeper than that.

Warnings: The summary sucked. I couldn't write anything to avoid spoilers. LMAO. Curses. Tybalt and Geralt banter/hate for each other? 😂 Rohesia is my OC, not connected to any of the games or books. The witcher character named Gerd (AHA. I'VE INTENTIONALLY DID THIS. Surprised to see a stomach sickness used as a name lmao jk 😂) from the Bear school has been used. Bethleheigm is also a made up kingdom from moi. 😂 (Pronounced as Beth-le-haym)

Words: 4.3k

A/N: I know Kaer Morhen is located in Kaedwen. Damn it. I lately knew it when I was already half way through this fic and I can't change it anymore. Let's just say...oof. They'll eventually go there. Don't worry. Oop. Is it a spoiler? 😭

TAGLIST IS STILL OPEN FOR THIS ONE! Heehee! Don’t forget to REBLOG, COMMENT OR GIVE FEEDBACK IF YOU DID LOVE THIS CHAPTER! IT’LL MAKE ME SMILE! Sorry for the grammatical errors and such because English isn’t my mother tongue! PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK AFTER READING, BB! I apologize for errors!

Disclaimer: PNG's and pictures used in edits are not mine even the GIF's too. (Credits to the rightful owners of the gifs, it’s written in the lower part of their gifs. Though, some don’t. Still, credits to them. If you want it to be removed, just kindly message me) The edits and this fanfic is definitely from moi. Character development and personalities are based from my understanding and how I want them to be. This has no connection towards the books or games.

MY WORKS ARE NOT NOT NOT NOT NOOOOOOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITES. My official username in Wattpad is “TATATHEPOTATO” and that’s the only other site I have for writing aside from Tumblr. Thank you, Tater tots!

DAY THREE CAME QUICKLY THAN WHAT WAS EXPECTED. Taking the shorter route to keep the proximity of hours easier for traveling back faster to Kaedwen. Geralt and Tybalt had an allayed journey towards the outskirts of Bethleheigm.

If a narrator was utterly dramatic, he or she could say that the witcher was beyond exhausted over being with the higher vampire because he only knew how to gall him over and over---a deathless cycle through out their travel, side by side with their own horses and vexation over each other. Yet, Geralt rarely has given him his energy for a battle that was pathetic as it ends.

They've both shared a night somehow. Their backs meters away from each other. With Geralt and his sarcasm never shutting one's eye until Tybalt was cursing him out under the moon light because the white wolf warned him not to think about hunting people to quench his thirst for blood. The higher vampire was left throwing him a pebble on his back and muttering how the full moon won't be until the day of the feast in the castle where he would technically celebrate over being a vampire but this choice could also be eradicated since blood was not in the highest scale in his pyramid law of needs.

Nights weren't the only thing shared between the two. Unbeknownst to them till Geralt was humming in displeasure, they've actually shared a drink of your home made ale. Tybalt commented how it was as good as Kaedwenian stout---perhaps, even better. Mentioning that the beer was probably made of your love for him which made the witcher scrunch his nose for how cheesy it sounded. Tybalt even declared numerical reasons as to why he kept you with him until today because you knew how to make his drunkard self swoon over your culinary skills.

Your cookery abilities were still different and utmost impressive than Geralt's regardless of how he has been used to embellishing his own food alone before. His midget's skills were technically amazing, add up the peculiar recipes that only you know---but, actually existed in earth---your earth. Those recipes that could get his family and him included, humming in deliciousness because it was new for their taste buds.

They were ought to arrive at the abandoned house today. Side by side, Tybalt and Geralt silently rode on their horses. Both of them fed up at the opposite of every presence that galled them to the brim. The witcher blurting out his opinions very frankly at the scowling vampire who was acting like he wasn't there along the hunt.

"You should've just stayed in the castle and played with your army stocks," Geralt grumbled as he held onto Roach's reigns. Tybalt's advancements for what he has done to you never leaving his memories when he clearly remembered the causes about why he was hating him more than to drown in a monster's stinking guts.

"I should've stabbed yer' horse while we were travelling---or feed off to er' horse blood," Tybalt clapped back, sending the remark in the nonchalant way as possible with a sarcastic raise of his brows.

"Leave Roach out of this,"

"Gods, yer' such a strange one, Witcha'!"

The witcher's scowl was as nasty as an Alghoul's bum. Tybalt seemed to be thoroughly embittered for even tagging along with a cold heart that was grudging to even join his hunt. If it weren't for the queen's request, he would never even be within Geralt's area of personal space. Howbeit, people have been trying to frustrate him even more with their sudden decisions erupting from either sides, like a dormant volcano that no one expects to explode.

Grey undertoned house. Ramshackled from the roof till the decaying roots of stones stuck in between their spaces. Close enough to be dilapidated if a wolf would've tried blowing the house down---though, the three little pigs weren't inside for it to hunt. They were closing in towards their destination, Geralt was anticipating this point of their journey; to immediately seek for the witch and to come back sooner than expected.

Yet, his anticipation burned in disappointment by the familiar look of the house rooted in front of them.

He'd heard stories about this abandoned home in Bethleheigm through drunk men in the Inns. They were having a tete-a-tete that it was a boobey trap made by homeless pirates who hadn't gotten back to shore, concealing the home as a place for them to steal one's belongings until they were ripped off their coins. Some tattled that the house was a dragon's nest where a woman lived in and disguised as one that Geralt knew entirely as a bullshit rumor because no dragons would dare pick to stay in the middle of a forest where the house was the only home built through out the map.

The witcher jumped off his horse, hushing Roach down with a soft caress to her mane because she'd begun to neigh.

Tybalt couldn't help but cackle from how he was affectionately eyeing the horse as if she was his other half, "---I wouldn't be surprised if ye' bring yer' horse with ye' while you bed yer' little woman!" he outlaughed and had a hand on his clothed stomach, shaking his head from the witcher's strange gestures with everything.

"Hmm."

Geralt gave him the side eye, endlessly shooting daggers since the moment they bonded together. His comment receiving a lour from the brooding white wolf because of the baldy judgement said.

"Yer' grumpier than usual---like ye' have been in a fight with yer' current flame---is it the tiny lass, anotha' one of your sorceresses or princess?" the Upir quipped with a smirk, hopping off his own horse before giving the house a look. He seemed to waver with a clear of his throat.

Geralt disregarded his ridicule and question with a blessed silence, his mood turning sour from even mentioning you. The weccan's golden eyes scanned all over the tumbledown house, his amber narrowing as he examined what was expected to be a necromage's hideout that he has heard from one of the drunk men's gossips in the inns.

"This abandoned house," he gruffly started beneath his baritone, harsh breathing as Geralt huffed for his disappointment over the founded location. The bind he had with you turning heavier as days go by like he knew you were turning into a melancholic person due to his faults. Hence, it was keeping him more insane than he can ever be because he always seem to offer only mistakes towards his people---where they end up getting hurt because of him.

Which wasn't new in his life.

"---There is no hag in here. Only a Necromage I presume."

Tybalt walked several steps to stop beside Geralt, shrugging his fur-coated shoulders with a curl of his upper lip, "I told ye' to take the longer route. Right path, Witcha'."

"And I told that you are bringing us both in an early demise because Golems and Downers are bound to get in our way,"

The higher vampire kept his mouth shut after that, his foot tapping on the ground before he received a subtle warning of Geralt's glare. The witcher was right about it. Basically, Tybalt was trying to stall over their journey because he knew what exactly was the stratagem kept for a clandestine truth bound never to be known.

Geralt pushed his peculiar fidgets away as it was still sounding so loud with his heightened hearing. He narrowed his eyes upon the engraved words carved inside the four corners of a mettalic flattened surface stuck on the grimy, stoned walls.

"Thou who shall take a step, requires a fee for entrance and something valuable to heart in order to talk with death,"

He silently read the words inside his head. Considering the requests before slightly pursing his lips, the ends looking like a frown but was actually just irrespective of what he was currently thinking. The ramshackle home being surrounded by an invisible strong force field shielded for not any normal man could trespass in without the rules asked. Another form of magic that he knew---though, this wasn't just any simple sign. It was created by sorceresses or wizards to safeguard the whole home for decades end, not risking anyone to touch whoever was inside, like it was keeping something from entering the place.

Geralt gave Tybalt a look while the vampire continued to whistle along the winds, his arms crossed in front of his chest whilst checking his awfully long nails, intentionally ignoring his companion until the witcher tried to grab onto a rock, strongly throwing the stone towards his head until Tybalt used his abnormal abilities, instantly dodging the stone coming forth and sprinting beside Geralt in just a second to see him nodding his head for his crackerjack skills that he seldomly uses.

"Coins." the white haired weccan roughly stated before he heard Tybalt huff and grumble from his demands, giving his palm to him and expecting for a bag of coins to be placed on his hands.

"You have your own, Witcher."

Geralt cocked his head to the side with a feigned smile, shaking his head, "My coins will remain untouched. I'm not risking mine for favors asked."

"Fuck you and yer' coins. I hope you feckin' go slow and die as soon as you're done with us,"

In the end, Tybalt eventually had to fish out a bag of crowns inside his coat, begrudgingly dropping them off on the witcher's awaiting palm who has shrugged his broad shoulders for his easy submission. The words to the engraved poster switching to dust, swirling through the air, changing into an arrow pointing at a brick where Geralt had to slightly touch for it to be pushed back.

Thorny, earthy tone colored vines snaked their way out of the hole. The brick of the old house never being seen as the roots formed a symbol of two palms sticking together like it was asking for alms. Geralt placed the coins on the makeshift hand, slowly slithering its way back to its home.

The house was alive. He was sure of that when he felt the aegis slowly fading away. Its stone doors cracking to slide open for them to enter.

Tybalt hasn't moved a step from his side. He returned to crossing his fairly muscled arms, hearing hasty pads of footsteps shuffling from behind as Geralt halfly turned to see a Hirrika panting on his side, yelping as a way of his bark towards the witcher who had his eyebrows furrowed in curiosity and stupefaction; stunned to see the familiar beast who has impressively found him despite of his long travel.

"Kolby."

"Your whore's feral pet," The Upir deadpanned, chuckling nasally like a sarcasm.

Tybalt heard a low growl coming the monster, his fangs shown to the vampire who he could sense and remember, his scent awfully making him remember how he'd hurt his master.

"Watch it." Geralt gruffly mumbled, giving Tybalt the side-eye as he tried monotonely hushing the rare beast like how he'd seen you soothe his annoyance or anger whenever Jaskier irritates Kolby.

"Down, Kolby. No teeth." he gruffly scolded with a raise of his palm.

The Hirikka chattered like a cat as he glared at Geralt's temporary companion, spinning on his own place before howling, his snout tilted at the sky as he yowled, the sound making him wince from how loud it was---too sensitive for his heightened hearing. Though, that didn't stop him from judging his gestures, noticing how he was jumping in his own spot whilst doe eyes stared back.

"He's saying something," the white wolf frankly stated, exhaling a languid breath through his nose because he couldn't understand what he wanted, "---Stay here and don't touch Roach or my Hirikka." he mentioned for Tybalt who appeared to be mentally finding their whole interaction as comedic. Geralt took a step forth, subtly leaving a pat on Kolby's head that eventually calmed him down, making him skip his paws to the side.

The Hirikka jumped to sit on his short tail, his knees bent and close to his chest as he silently watched Tybalt and Geralt conversing together with snarls and insensitive jests until the witcher finally moved away from him, bravefully entering the threshold.

"Where ye' going?" Tybalt called out and made him cease his steps, promptly giving the growling Hirikka his heed to see Geralt judging with his slightly entertained peepers, fighting off the curl of his lips because of how his Hirikka was making the higher vampire uneasy. He was agile but lacked knowledge over the beastiality of the continent. Probably, because of how he has been confined in the castle in an early age and known more politics and schemes more than the lore of monsters.

"To ask the Necromage about that witch,"

"Just like that?"

"She might know her whereabouts. Stay here if you don't want to get your vampire nails grimy,"

Tybalt cocked his head to the side, effusive of cursing out the witcher who had a smirk as he turned his back away from him, continuing his path around and ignoring his cavils.

"Why am I even following ye' around, Mutant?"

Geralt of Rivia entered the perimeters. His newly sharpened swords latched on his wide, broad back. Every step had his chest heavier than usual; bred-in-the-bone like he knew there was something happening to you back in the castle that he couldn't decipher and it made him scowl. The energy in the house even adding more of that deep-seated feeling---the home being cursed as well like some sort of magic was ceasing his advancements from talking to this person living inside.

The place wasn't ruined after all. It was all charmed and just a mere visionary trap or distraction that won't let people fall for even staying close to whoever was inside. Clean and utterly fixed, furnitures sat on their proper rooms which held up a second floor that Geralt didn't plan on exploring for as a presence could be felt while he stood in the middle of the kitchen.

"Hmm. Necromage,"

This person was a woman, Geralt silently stated the obvious inside his head. Her voice was tremulous and surprised to see a gigantuan man standing in the middle of her kitchen which she has never seen before in all her life.

"I am no Necromage," Rohesia calmly informed him, her heed turning distant from the mention, "She...has already died. Cristabell, My lady of the rarest in Bethleheigm---the only necromancer in this kingdom. May her soul rest in peace,"

"---You're the witcher." she paused, taking a gander and examining the white wolf before her. White hair falling on the tips of his shoulder blades. Gold eyes. A scowl prominent on his face. This was the witcher she has been warned about from both parties.

Geralt attempted a cynical smile, seeing that she held more lies and have been doing so for a lifetime, "There's no use of lying."

She was feeble. As old as Eanraig in terms of physical appearance but not his actual age since he was a scholar of the forest. The witcher held onto his medallion, seeming to feel no vibrations over his necklace that he strongly felt before the doors have been opened. His white and black spotted eyebrows furrowed for what singularity was happening.

This was supposed to be the Necromage. Yet, why does she felt human who had no magic to offer?

The hoary, old woman was not lying after all.

Rohesia forced to give him a small smile, walking past him to sit on one of the wooden, dining chairs. Gesturing her palm outwards for Geralt to take a seat that he simply answered with silence as he stood rooted on his spot, assessing what she truly was.

"I offer you no lies of secrecy. My mouth speaks nothing but the truth for I am just a mortal who thrives to live peacefully in the continent," she honestly answered his curiosity and judgements which made him nod at her uprightness---making his job easier for him.

The woman really was no necromage at all.

"A mortal who stands for her virtues. Hmm."

"Why are you here, Witcher?"

His glower was permanent even as he sauntered to where she was, standing upright and leaning a hand on the top portion of her dining chairs whilst he patiently explained.

"To find the hag who has cursed prince Althalos of Kaedwen."

Rohesia only offered a small, genuine smile. Her shaky laugh erupting through her chest because she knew this was the man who her former witcher and lover give fair warning to when the Kaedweni started their murdering plots upon fellow weccans who fall for their crimes. Vesemir never wanted to be involved with their delinquencies, explains his periodic leave in the kingdom---his constant visits for the woman seldomly occurring since Nilfgaard has attacked and conquered another domain after Cintra.

"Are you doing this because Vesemir has told you so?"

Geralt went on with his speechless talk, low humming followed suit for the flabbergast he felt over hearing his senior mentor in the art of their kind. The end of his lips subtly turning the opposite of a lour, relieved to suddenly hear his name through another person's mouth---a woman he probably had a relationship with; a former flame and mortal that Geralt least expect for Vesemir to entertain because of the conducts he had told him prior into becoming one skilled witcher.

It is that being involved with mortals and even having a soft spot in the job won't make them any better.

"Does he visit often?"

She ignored his question with a simple, wholehearted feeble laugh. Her circumvent obvious that Rohesia wanted not to talk about Vesemir after he has chosen to leave her for coins and another woman---another mortal years ago, thinking that because she aged badly was one of the reasons why he chose something better than to be with her. Hence, they were even known to be monsters of their own kind. Monsters who slay other beasts in exchange for coins. It was what she believed them to be---yet, she knew to herself that if Vesemir would come back to her, she would still accept him with all her mortal heart.

She dryly coughed, avoiding his eyes and covering her mouth with a tightened fist that Geralt quickly knew she was physically sick just by the looks of it.

"If you...still want to live and take your coin, turn back around and forget that you have stumbled upon this place forever."

The latter shook his head. Determined to find answers from this elderly human who knew his mentor and a fatherly figure he had been to his life. He believed Rohesia knew more than just Vesemir based on how she was trying to push him away.

"Where's the hag?"

"You cannot find the witch anywhere even out in Kaedwen, Geralt."

He was impressed. Geralt raised both of his eyebrows, pursing his lips with a tilt of his head that she knew his name regardless of not introducing himself yet.

"Vesemir has obviously told you more about me,"

She ignored his statement again, grabbing onto the ends of her dirty Tunic as she stood, saying her words firmly and with finality. Never knowing if her decision over dropping out hints would be good for her isolation from everyone---isolation and somehow imprisoned inside a house. The necromage being her sentinel, a guard given orders that she wouldn't escape and try to spill secrets that will ruin such plans. Howbeit, she still had high respects for Cristabell who had been too kind for her that she has brought Rohesia with her whenever she was out for some business.

"The witch you have been finding has been around the castle for decades."

Perhaps, it was time for the truth to set out free because Rohesia knew she had only weeks to live in the continent. Revenge pushing her through the decision she wanted for trying to keep her contained, watching her every move; ruining more of her wrecked life.

"I have been the queen's loyal servant. After she has given birth to Prince Althalos, he has already been cursed when he was a bairn." Pause. "---Sorceress Ingrith has managed to sneak into their quarters and cast the curse by whispering such spell and gaining a tiny drop of his blood. I've all seen her cantrips and heard them as I came back to guard the prince in his sleep. The wail of an offspring shall bring despair for the royal family,"

The sorceress' name felt like a crime to be told. Heaviness in her chest finally unleashing after decades of being caught up with the lies she was telling people who asked or went to gather information as to who has cursed the prince; finding the witch and ending up dying from the hands of her womanly guard. Cristabell recently died from the hands of the last witcher who she knew as Gerd, the necromage dying after their battle whilst she tried to fight for her cousin's trangression---continuing doing so for the sake of her selfish reasons.

"---She...she was also the king's mistress before the queen has given birth to Prince Althalos while she also gained her position. I may never know if it was made from jealousy over the queen's position. Though, it is their life that I promised to stay away from. Only sorceress Ingrith may reverse the curse or happen to know how,"

A beat of silence wrapped them both after Rohesia's candor. Geralt's mouth forming a deeper scowl than ever as he loudly sighed, languidly blinking in weary for being tricked by the sorceress and her right hand, Tybalt of Touissant. His jaw began to clench for who stood outside of the house, the higher vampire making him mad for leading him on circles---the cycle wouldn't have ended if he chose to go forth with his suggested path. It was why he was trying to lead him towards a swamp filled with monsters than the shorter route because the truth was with this rumored woman.

"Should've known."

He deeply grumbled begrudgingly, blaming himself for not thinking it through. His time wasted for you to be saved and taken out of the palace. If only he wasn't as pale as Ivory, his face would've been empurpled with fury for what they've made him appear to be---an idiot or for whatever bullshit they can call him.

"You're coming with me..." Geralt deeply said before he was cut off to her introduction of name.

"The name's Rohesia, Witcher."

He nodded back to the lady, going on with his ceased sentence with solicit, "---Back to the castle,"

Rohesia saw him walk closer to her, face to face with the infamous butcher she has heard tales about. The butcher of Blaviken who has managed to slaughter goons of Princess Renfri's hooligans and also earning another moniker of being a butcher of Ard Carraigh. Kaedwen's capital. The name would eventually spread throughout his kind because of how Kaer Morhen was close by. Her eyes catching onto the badge latched on the rain-guard of his sword.

"I have been told to never step foot again or I shall be put into death,"

"Do I need to beg for your compliance and offer protection?"

"What's in it for you and me?"

The witcher deeply sighed, shifting his amber away from her as Geralt looked withdrawn, his next words sounding like a mumble, dubious of his own bluntness. Disbelieving that he could hear his own voice say the words like an echo of his consciousness.

"You get to save the castle from anguish," pause. "---and you get to save the life of someone dear to me,"

"A woman I assume---your woman," Rohesia sounded so surprised, staring him down in incredulity, "---Is she royal? another sorceress too? a mutant?"

"A mere...mortal," he hesitated to honestly say, his eyes filled with a memory he truly can't forget. Your skeptical voice stuck inside his head when he remembered the first time he met you till the moment you told him how you suited to be a queen.

Geralt clearly remembered his reaction and teasing reply. Telling you how you suited more to be called a midget. His midget. Yet, now you were being treated like his queen where he would kiss the ground you walk on no matter how in denial he gets.

"---Perhaps...a queen to her kingdom in her rightful dimension," he was caught in his train of thoughts, never seeing the stupefaction in Rohesia's eyes over what dimension he meant---having no clue for his words. She could see what Vesemir once was like until life has ruined everything for her, including the sorceress corrupting and controlling the people and castle of Kaedwen.

"Learning to love doesn't suit your kind, Witcher."

"It's because it isn't what you think it is."

Rohesia shook her head for his lies, he was thoroughly unaware of the feelings sipping through his words once he mentioned you. This witcher believed that he wasn't capable to love nor emit feelings just like how her previous lover have been. A typical characteristic of his own kind. Denial and the feeling of being unworthy of recognizing such emotion was making him sound insensitive. But, people who could read others can see through him regardless of how he tries not to, "Deny it all you want. To us humans, it is. Love as many people assume."

"---you're still human after all. As far as I believe for your kind, Geralt of Rivia. Sorceress Ingrith might be glad to see me again soon---I hope."

Don’t hesitate to message me if you don’t want to be included in the taglist anymore, bb’s. I won’t be mad. Thank you. 

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[keelywolfe]

Spicyhoney Master Fic List

*All the links vanished from my original list, so I am reposting it. 

Note: I decided I wanted a list of links for all my Undertale stories on tumblr, so here it is. Most are spicyhoney, (Underfell Papyrus/Underswap Papyrus) but there’s a few others mixed in.

I tried to tag things appropriately, but they all are tagged appropriately on the story page itself.

I also have links for artists at the bottom who either inspired these works or were inspired into creating gorgeous pieces for it! Please, scroll down and have a look!

Enjoy!

Beneath Cut Due To Length:

Series

By Any Other Name Masterlist

~~*~~

Slowing Your Roll (Lemon) *complete*

CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11

Take Yourself a Deep Breath

CH1 | CH2 | CH3

~~*~~

Colors: A Village AU (Lemon)

Crimson | Yellow | Blue | Blush | Sallow | Russet | Spice | Whiteout | Sable | Blue on Black | Midnight | Ebony Falling | Golden | Magenta | Marigold | Coquelicot | Daffodil | Verdigris | Honey | Scarlet | Alstroemeria | Onyx | Gray | Vellum | Iris

    |Links to cheapbourbon’s art that inspired this series|

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine |

~~*~~

Biting Off More Than You Can Chew (Heatfic, Lemon)

CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13

~~*~~

Arctic AU

Beneath an Aurora Sky

CH1| CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13 | CH14 | CH15 | CH16 | CH17 | CH18 | CH19 | CH20

Southern Lights (Drabble)

|Links to cheapbourbon’s art that inspired this series|

One | Two

~~*~~

Star Wars AU

Severed Bonds

CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4: Interlude | CH5 | CH6: Interlude 2 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13 | CH14 | CH15 | CH16

|Links to cheapbourbon’s art that inspired this series|

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Comic

~~*~~

Outside Influences (Please read warnings, this story contains attempted sexual assault) *complete*

CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7

~~*~~

Terms of Engagement - (skellie daycare)

CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8

artwork by constantly tired reader for this story!

Precious art by hj-skb!

~~*~~

Petal (Hanahaki Disease)

CH1 | CH2

~~*~~

No One Is To Blame (pregnancy fic)

1. What Will Be, Will Be  

2. Something To Say, But Nothing Comes

3. Can’t Go On, Thinking Nothing’s Wrong

4. Seldom All They Seem

5. Voices Are Heard But Nothing Is Seen

6. Winter Makes You Laugh a Little Slower

7. That Place Where You Can’t Remember and You Can’t Forget

8. Casting Its Shroud Over All We Have Known

9. There’s a Place I Like To Hide

10. All A Bad Dream Spinning In Your Head

~~*~~

The Temptation of Divinity (spicyhoneymustard, bodyguard AU) (Lemon!)

1. Showtime

2. Secret Garden

3. A Judicious Amount of Effort

4. Musically Inclined

5. Lest You Be Judged

6. Solo Act

7. Appealing To Better Judgment

8. Safety In Numbers

9. Endurance Trial

Mafia AU: The Rose and the Thorn

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7  | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 |  Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13

~~*~~

BAON AU’s

Separate Lives

A Pressing Engagement: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter 3

Kinktober Shorts - (Lemon Goodness!)

Bound and Determined - Prompt Rope Bondage

Not Exactly Standard - Prompt: Tentacles

Out of Sight, Out of My Mind - Prompt: Voyeurism

Plastic Fantastic - Prompt: Dildo

Sore Loser - Prompt: Spanking

Solo Stories and Short Series

Sleepless

Like No One is Watching

That One Percent

Doggone It

Collared (Lemon)

9/10ths (Lemon)

Touching

Playing Around

Two Days

Dirty Laundry (Lemon)

A Winding Path (Lemon)

Holding On

Popping the Question

Monsters (Read Warnings)

Denim Blue

Anatomy (Lemon)

Need (Lemon)

Worth

A Place To Start

Clearing Out the Cobwebs

Little Lies (Wild West AU)

Blue Skies and Silver Sails (Steampunk AU)

Hey, Jealousy | Part 2

The Price of LoVe (Read Warnings) | Come and Get Your Love (Ditto)

Hell and Back (Please Read Warnings)

Keyholes (please read warnings)

A Change in You and Me (Flowey POV)

Like the Weather

Hooded

Bump In the Night (Monster Under the Bed)

Mixed Messages

Six Steps To Finding Your Place In The World

Foreign Languages

The Second Rule (not spicyhoney, Underfell Babybones)

Sticks and Stones (Nursery Rhyme Project)

Dadster (Gaster POV)

Dadster #2 (Rules for Dating My Sons)

Drinking Buddies

Déjà Vu All Over Again (sansby)

A Glitch in the Thought Process (lemon)

Crying Over You (Please Read Warnings)

Walls Between Us

Pet the Kitty (Lemon)

~~*~~

12 Days of Papcest Masterlist

~~*~~

De-aged Fics

1.Edge: A Little Edgy | A Lot Edgier

2. Stretch: Keeping Elastic | A Bit of a Stretch

3. Red: Ankle Biter

4. Blue: A Bolt From the Blue

~~*~~

Bargains and Debts (Lemon series)

A Bargain | Acquiring Debt

~~*~~

Depression Shorts

Nice Things | Seeing From Here

Artwork

I don’t art so these lovelies are all from the brilliant Undertale artists out there! Give them love!

Artwork for Petal by hj_skb!

A gorgeous picture of the boys from Colors by @peach-scented-art

More gorgeous Colors art by LAGT

Lovely gift art by chance-key

Art for Beneath an Aurora Sky by fresh-draws

artwork by constantly tired reader for Terms of Engagement!

Adorable art of Red in his panda suit by hj-skb!

Precious art for Terms of Engagement by hj-skb!

My amazing birthday present from Myheartsbroke

Lovely huggy boys by  ask-ufpapyrus

Adorable art of the spicyhoney boys by painty

My prize for a contest, the boys! by ely

Artwork for ‘Temptations of Divinity by hj_skb

A lovely trio of artwork by yersipestis

Jedi Edge by  yersipestis

Edge and Rus, as a Mafia Man and Florist by maddieblay

Lovely Rus in his nightshirt for the Mafia AU by ask-ufpapyrus:

Amazing animation of Edge and Rus for Mafia AU by  zwagyzonk

Rus’s Kidnapping for Mafia AU by yersipestis

Beautiful art for Colors by Achirding

The precious spicyhoney boys for my birthday! by ask-ufpapyrus

More spicyhoney birthday gifts! by gilded_pleasure

adorable Blue from Mafia AU by gilded_pleasure

Edge teasing Rus from the Mafia AU by steamyspectacles

[inkribbon796]

Like a House of Cards Ch. 11: Opposites React

Summary: The heroes go looking for Dark and Logan’s group.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

As they stood on the street, the Anomaly that would appear in a bank vault gone from the Host’s hands, they had to recover from the power of the Anomaly coursing through them for a second time.

Chase collapsed onto his knees, feeling just a soul-deep sorrow. He was crying from memories and loss he couldn’t remember. “Fook.”[1]

“Chase?” Jackie dragged his feet over, he was feeling sluggish but it was thankfully easing from his body quickly.

“I’m fine,” Chase wiped his face with his arm. “I’m fine.”

“We can stop fer[2] a bit,” Jackie promised, helping Chase up.

“I’m grand,”[3] Chase promised.

“The Host and Chase will form one group, and Silver, Ethan, and Jackie will form the other as they try to find Dark’s group. “He asks that the heroes get their outfits back on, and for Silver and Jackie to try not to get themselves into trouble.”

“Ehh, we should be fine,” Jackie promised. “So long as Chase is gonna be okay.”

“We gotta talk anyways,” Chase nodded at the Host. “Try not ta[4] fight a hoard ‘a[5] bears.”

“No promises,” Mark smiled, and then the three of them left.

Silver, Crank, and Jackie waited in the alley for almost five minutes, getting bored. Ethan’s ADHD kicked him in the teeth before Mark’s did. Then a shootout started next to them. Several people were screaming and someone that the heroes thought looked a lot like Dark when he was pretending to be Damien. Except he wasn’t in his typical outfit, his hair was wild, and there was a streak of blue in his hair.

Ethan immediately cloaked them with his invisibility. They began to approach.

Two guys jumped on him and dragged him away. And then someone who looked almost exactly like Chase passed by the mouth of the alley.

“Don’t fookin’[6] let that arsehole[7] escape again!” Chase shouted.

The heroes got closer as the men used magic to tie “Damien” up.

He looked down at the bonds and then smiled at “Chase” which made the other man groan, “Dames, Don’t.”

“Kinky,” Dames smiled, his smile huge, leaning forward as much as the bonds would let him. “Chase. How’s life, doll?”

Chase glared at his captive before leaning in to get close to his face. “What the fook is wrong wit’ yeh?”[8]

The bound man just smiled, shrugging, “You’re going to have to be specific?”

“I meant Marvin, yeh mad fook, are yeh tryin’ ta kill my kid?”[9] Chase spat.

Dames’ only answer was, “If you wanted to get rough in bed, we’d need a bed for that.”

Chase grabbed him by the front of his shirt, “Keep yer[10] brat away from my kid, I don’t want the General killin’[11] him.”

“What’s with all this “killing” business,” Dames chuckled. “You and Gen are worried so much for your little games. They’re old enough to make all kinds of decisions.”

“Yeh taking the boys ta’a whorehouse isn’t a good choice, ya nutter,”[12] Chase spat.

“True,” Dames agreed, “they really had more fun with each other.”

“Fook this,” Jackie finally decided, as his whole body began to shake.

Silver grabbed Ethan and flew up, Ethan keeping them invisible as Jackie punched one of the thugs and then grabbed Dames, racing off with him. Silver flying in to keep up.

“What are you doing?” Silver demanded. “We’re supposed to be laying low.”

“I don’t know, I’m makin’[13] this up as I go along,” Jackie yelled, tugging Dames with them as they ran.

“What are we doing?” Dames asked. “Are we playing tag?”

“Yes!” Jackie yelled before anyone else could speak. “An’[14] Brody back there’s it.”

“Oh,” Dames said with a soft realization, then he smiled and grabbed them. “Well, we won’t win like this.”

Then they suddenly found themselves being slammed into the concrete wall of an alley, Jackie taking an especially hard hit because of his momentum.

Dames was looking them up and down as the heroes regained their composure, the corner of Dames’s mouth twitching a little bit. “You three aren’t from around here.”

“How’d yah[15] guess?” Jackie smiled as he got up, Silver floating before he was able to stand.

“Silly cheaters,” Dames laughed. “Couldn’t win your own game so you jumped to a new board.”

“It is so weird seeing you like this” Silver set his feet on the ground.

Dames shrugged, and then a portal began to twist open. It wasn’t quite like Dark’s dark purple-black Void magic. It was a deep red-magenta that felt more like hands ripping their way free.

Ethan tried to shield them but Dames couldn’t be cloned and excitedly stepped free to meet the man who stepped out of the portal. He had a sharp black suit and a bushy black mustache. A red and magenta aura coming off of him like Dark’s red and blue aura. He had dark red and magenta after images that echoed and stuttered off of him.

“Gen,” Dames smiled excitedly, holding his arms out.

“Where’s Junior?” Gen asked.

“I don’t know,” Dames denied, his good mood quickly starting to evaporate. “Ask your little trackers you put on them.”

General glared at Dames, “What were you two doing?”

“Nothing,” Dames almost giggled.

Dark’s glare became more baleful and he grabbed Dames by the front of his jacket, Dames giggling in response. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Dames. Did you let Bim go off with that hooligan?”

“Mayhaps,” Dames’s smile became almost giddy.

“Dames!” the General pinned him against the closest wall. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did,” Gen spat. “You can waste your time at brothels and clubs all you want, but you leave Junior out of it.”

Dames began giggling, “You have to admit, yours and Chase’s faces when you saw they were gone was pretty hilarious.”

“This isn’t funny!” the Entity snarled. “Bim is impressionable, no thanks to you. It burned down with them still in it!”

“At least I show him how to have a good time,” Dames dared. “You’d have him at a desk working papers until he died. He’s a kid.”

“Not anymore,” the General warned. “He stopped being a child when he turned sixteen. They all did.”

Dames rolled his eyes, “Ughh.”

The General stepped closer, “You cannot insist on treating them all like children, they are not.”

“Only because you wanted them to grow up, they never got to be children in the first place,” Dames argued back.

“You’re absolutely insufferable,” the Entity scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Why is being alive and safe so unfavorable to you.”

“You’d have him die in an office,” Dames spat.

“No I’d have him alive doing something,” the demon spat. “You insist on treating all of them like children. They are not, nor have they been for years.”

“I want my babies back,” Dames looked away, clearly upset. “What was so wrong with them being my babies? You said I could keep them.”

“They are safe, that should be enough. Do I make myself clear, Doomstrum?” Gen spat, his aura coiling just a hair too tight around the mad mayor.

Dames struggled in his hold for a bit before stopping, clearly refusing to look at or answer him.

Mark would have forced himself out of Ethan’s invisibility bubble, but the hero watched the demon’s expression soften for a couple seconds and then sighed before opening up a massive portal to show a relatively spartan office except for a very nice looking desk and a couch that looked extremely comfortable to sleep on. He let Dames go. “Let’s go Dames.”

The madman frowned and took a step before turning around, a smile spreading on his face again, “Oh, Gen, I have to introduce you to my new friends.”

“Your what?” The demon growled in frustration.

“Yeah they’re just,” Dames began, pointing to the three heroes at the end of the alley right before a portal ripped open behind them and a dark purple aura pulled them in and swiftly closed before the General or Dames could really react in more than surprise.

The three heroes landed on their backs around Dark’s feet in a dimly lit room.

“There we go, problem solved,” Dark announced.

“How does this solve our problems, you’ve led him straight to us!”

Jackie looked up in confusion, Virgil didn’t come with us?

When he looked up at Virgil however he was in a huge dark grey-black overcoat. His hair was different, but the eyeshadow still darkened his face.

Dark brought his aura up in time as a red-magenta magic tried to get into the room. He threw his aura against it and it was gone. “Nonsense, I can cloak areas to keep 

 magic from getting in.”

“Andy,” someone in a black beanie insisted, tugging on “Virgil’s” coat. The Side had some vitiligo marks on his face and hands, his eyes a deep golden yellow.

“Dee, not now,” Andy hissed.

“But they’re telling the—” Dee tried to report, before he was protectively pushed behind Andy.

“No,” Andy nudged his companions back and pointed to Dark. “I don’t trust you.”

“I don’t trust you,” he pointed to Wilford.

“And I sure as shit don’t trust you,” Andy spat at the Host. His voice was practically dripping with contempt.

“All we need to get to the next rift and we’re gone,” Dark scoffed. “We don’t need your trust.”

“So what’s the actual plan for getting home?” Silver asked the Host. “Seems like they’ve got a lot to deal with right now.”

“Simple we go into what is probably a horribly designed version of my office, and activate the Anomaly so it takes us home.” Dark dusted off his suit with his aura. “The plan’s already been made if you want to talk to the others.”

The Host dispelled an illusion and they saw the three Sides talking to Glitch Logan, and J.J peacefully napping in the corner. There was no sign of his double anywhere.

“I will have everything under control,” Logan spat at his doppelgänger.

“I don’t need to be reassured of anything,” Glitch Logan dismissed. “I have made redundancies and failsafes to ensure they do not die. If I was not certain, I would have raised my complaints. You will protect them, that is the only objective I need to give. If you work with the heroes, or with Google, I care not. Roman, Virgil, and Patton’s survival is all I care about. We spent a year’s worth of time working for it and I have come too far to fail now.”

“I will do so without needless killing” Logan promised.

Glitch Logan gave an inhuman smile, “We shall see, either way it’s inconsequential to me.”

The Anomaly glowed and it engulfed the two Logans completely before just Logan was standing there. He gave a shudder and a bunch of nanites fell to the ground around him, twitching once and then going offline, their components frying themselves so they couldn’t be used by anyone else.

Logan stiffened and Roman raced in to catch him.

“Lo, sweetheart?” Roman pleaded desperately as Logan blinked and coughed as air returned to his lungs.

The Host used a couple words from his narrations and the nanites were all gone from the floor.

Janus briefly checked on Logan before clearing his throat and drawing attention to himself, summoning his staff.

“The Host allowed us to speak with the other Sides, we got but a minute but we’ve come up with a plan,” Janus reported. “There is one fusion we have that enables us to make as much noise and commotion as possible, while showing that we are different people. I have spoken with this world’s Deceit and they cannot fuse—”

“Please don’t call me that, that’s not all I do,” Dee asked.

Janus paused, looking at Dee, “Of course do you have a preference?”

Andy was just watching Janus, staring at him.

“Dee,” Dee told him.

“Alright,” Janus agreed. “Anyways, I have spoken with Dee and they can’t fuse so it will be the easiest way to get the message across.”

“So we’re gonna use Remy?” Jackie asked.

“No,” Logan cut in. “Even before the merge I was not in the right emotional or mental mindset to fuse. My fusions are impossible without that mindset. My future self hinted the feeling would get worse and unfortunately he was right.”

“Okay, you’ve never exactly told us how fusion works,” Ethan reminded. “But I’m guessing that I’m gonna take a group in?”

“The heroes will not need to cause a distraction because the fusion will be enough to convince the General that they are different. Besides, the General will wish to speak to the Entity.”

“Will he?” Dark asked. “Last time he saw me he tried to take my head off.”

“Maybe we should talk to him,” Wilford smiled. “We never gave them a chance.”

“It is so weird seeing him in pink,” Andy commented.

“Why, what’s wrong with it?” Wil frowned. “Pink is a lovely color.”

“Nothing wrong with it, it’s just you’d rather set yourself on fire than wear pink,” Andy explained.

“No I wouldn’t, I’m wearing pink right now,” Wil gestured to himself.

Dark rubbed at the bridge of his nose, “This is going to take forever now.”

“No, I meant the other you, the douchebag in Armani,” Andy explained.

“Well then he should wear pink too,” Wil decided.

Andy let out a snorting chuckle, “Oh, trust me everyone in this city would love to see that.”

The group started to plan a bit so that Silver and Jackie knew what they were doing, and during that time, Janus leaned over to Roman.

“This means nothing, I’d rather Remus was here,” Janus told Roman.

“Well I'd rather Patton was here,” Roman agreed, emotions still running high from the mess with the doppelgängers.

“Good,” Janus spat.

“Good,” Roman glared at him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations

1. Fuck

2. for

3. I’m alright

4. to

5. of

6. fucking

7. asshole

8. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

9. I meant Marvin, you crazy fucker, are you trying to kill my kid?

10. your

11. killing

12. You taking the boys to a whorehouse isn’t a good choice, you nutter

13. making

14. And

15. you

[silverstrangequark]

A spoiler-free review of SwSh

I don't talk much, but there are things that need to be said, especially for the people out there who are still considering whether or not they want to invest on the new Switch titles. Here's what I've noticed of the several aspects of the game while playing it. Most of these impressions were already evident as early as before the first badge, and didn't change throughout the game. I'm still not done, but I've put a good 12+ hours in and I think that's enough to have an informed opinion of it. If anything changes, I'll update this journal. I fully realise that the following are entirely personal opinions and that some people may differ in their thoughts and impressions of the game. That's fine and understandable. I have written this journal respectfully and with no intention to attack those who are enjoying the games. I ask that you reserve me the same politeness and courtesy. 1. Story It's not a mystery that Pokémon doesn't have the best storytelling, with few notable exceptions like BW. SwSh doesn't really deliver anything exceptional in this sense. The story isn't terrible, just thoroughly uninteresting and hard to get into. The characters feel more like tropes and caricatures than actual people, though this is also a problem in a good portion of the mainline games, so I'll just count it as a point of neutrality rather than a full negative. [/] 2. Mechanics Up to personal opinion, but I find the new battle mechanics absolutely unnecessary. The Pokémon Company has stated previously in official conferences that they want to bring the franchise "back to the roots", and Dynamax is not the way to do it. I can deal with Mega Evolution and Z-moves being removed, but what was introduced in their stead is basically a combination of both with a different flavour (increasing different stats and changing the effect of special moves), at which point I'm really questioning why they didn't maintain the original mechanics in the first place, or just wipe them out altogether. I personally liked battling the way it was before. I don't find that new battle gimmicks make a game more interesting - they make it more annoying, if anything, as they basically force you into a specific battle style to keep up with your opponents. [-] 3. Gameplay What in the world is pacing?!? The game takes you through several hours of early-game tutorials (bits of which are skippable, so at least that's a good thing, I don't want to be shown how to catch Pokémon for the 20th time) which give the player the impression that the game will be long and rich. Once you get to the first gym, that very impression is crushed and you start steamrolling leader by leader in rapid succession. There are moments in the game in which you travel through literally ONE ROUTE and then the next gym is one town over. Kalos has sparked some complaints for awkward pacing after the third gym, but this is just a whole another level of bad game flow management. [-] 4. Designs This is likely the most personal point of all, but I find the new Pokémon okay. Some of them look weird, but overall the designs are true to the series and more or less what I'd expect from Pokémon. I don't have as many favourites in this generation as I do for the others, which means in general terms it didn't really impress me, but if Galar is your thing then go for it. I can at least give them credit for introducing regional evolutions, that's likely one of the most interesting things they've done in this game - one which I hope they keep into the future, as I'd like to see more regional variants and evolved forms thereof. [+] 5. Graphics The one selling point of this game according to its very developers! Graphics have got to be good, right? Nope. 5.a. The overworld is really well done. Cities and towns blend into each other seamlessly and there is a very three-dimensional sense of perspective throughout the region. Lighting is more realistic than ever before (for how realistic a Pokémon game can be, that is), and there is better texturing work than in the previous installments of the series. [+] 5.b. ...Unfortunately, that's about all I can say. The Wild Area, advertised as the game's major attraction, fails to deliver - at least compared to my expectations. While the overworld itself is well done graphically, the WA showcases several odd graphical choices and the shapes, colours and textures are all weirdly unnatural and simplistic. The character keeps glitching in and out of the screen (not sure if this was intended, but I didn't like it; please provide a consistent camera view). The area itself is not even that big and can be completely explored in maybe 30 minutes total. Considering that this game has half the average amount of routes because of the Wild Area, I don't think this is quite enough to make up for what was cut. [-] 5.c. Pokémon models and attack animations are all 100% reused from previous generations. They don't feel any more interesting or realistic and we still have Pokémon shooting Flamethrower and Ice Beam out of something other than their mouths in an average case, or a completely alien corner point of the screen in particularly bad cases. You would think in 2019 they would at least care enough to fix this, but they didn't. [-] 5.d. Battle backgrounds are completely awful and a huge step down from the Sun and Moon generation. If you fight indoors, you will have NO BACKGROUND. There will just be a flat gradient. Even outdoors backgrounds are not perfect, as there are several areas near the sea in which you will just get a weird grassy terrain background (usually recycled from the previous route or some other nearby location). Sun and Moon had individual backgrounds even for battles in the Trainer School, for crying out loud! Who thought this was a good idea? [-] 5.e. Characters look, move, and feel much in the same ways as they did in the 3DS games and I've seen some hilarious gifs comparing the new friendly rival to Hau. They use the exact same movements. I would give this a neutral point if they had at least made an effort. [-] 6. Variety Dexit is obviously an issue, but one that I had coming eventually. With the sheer amount of Pokémon ever invented, there was bound to be a cut somewhere along the line. The selection of around 400 is overall not too small but also not great, and leaves a certain amount to be desired. [/] 7. Music Likely my first time playing a Pokémon game and being thoroughly uninterested in the soundtrack. Several themes are reused throughout, not just in routes (which is average for Pokémon) but also in places like caves, and the city themes feel like an odd mashup of old generations in which the originals definitely did it better. Apart from a couple battle themes of "relevant" characters, I find it really hard to get invested in the music. [-] Appendix: Overall At 2 positives, 2 neutrals, and a whopping 7 negatives, I have to say this is the most disappointing Pokémon game I've ever played, and I've played every single main series release. I enjoyed Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee much more, because at least I knew what to expect and the game was exactly what I expected it to be. Sword and Shield were marketed as some mind-blowing innovative titles with amazing graphics and a whole new gameplay experience, and I can honestly say they don't meet that promise at all. The Dexit rage and #GameFreakLied hashtag have more than a reason to exist. 3/10 If you're a long-term fan, skipping these won't harm you at all. In fact, as a long-term fan myself, I can say it's pretty likely these games will leave a bitter taste in your mouth for how unfinished they obviously are. Some people are enjoying them as-is, and that's fine, I can respect that, but I don't believe they're anywhere near worth their current price tag. If you're not a long-term fan but just looking to get into Pokémon, please please start with a different generation. There are so many good games to play out there, that deserve your time and money more than SwSh do.

[today-we-will-survive]

Laser Losers

BTS au one-shot

Jungkook x Reader Y/N

Fluff, romance

Word Count: 1,739

Neon lights flash across your vision as sounds of lasers and loud music assault your ears. A light sheen of sweat coats your skin, beads dripping down your face. Your calf muscles burn but your attention stays focused on the arrows that rise rapidly on the screen in front of you. Your feet move to the rhythm of the song blasting from the speakers, hitting the correct square as the accompanying arrow hits the line at the top of the screen. With one last jump, you land on the tile on either side of you as the song ends. The word “WINNER” flashes across your side of the screen.

“How do you keep beating me?” comes a whine from beside you and you turn to flash a victorious grin at your boyfriend. “I’m the one that does this for a living.”

“Exactly,” you say and use the sleeve of your hoodie to wipe sweat from your temple. “You’re ridiculously good at everything. I don’t get to do this very often. Let me have my moment!”

Jungkook dips his head, his bangs hanging in strings plastered to his forehead and he juts his bottom lip out in a pout. “Fine,” he says, “But I’m not going easy on your anymore.”

“Deal,” you reply, both of you knowing full well that he wasn’t going easy on you this time around. The fact that you just happened to get lucky and win has to be some sort of glitch in the matrix. Either way, his ego is now officially bruised. Time for a distraction.

You grab his hand and pull him toward you, his own hands automatically coming up to hold your waist. “Slushies?” you ask and his pout immediately morphs into a bright, bunny smile.

With drinks in hand, the two of you wander through the arcade, stopping behind any game that catches either of your eyes. As you make your way down the last aisle, Jungkook’s eyes rove over the rows of first person shooter and racing games before zeroing in on something behind your head. You watch as his mouth forms a perfect O.

With a gasp, he juts his finger out over your shoulder. “Laser tag!” he yells and starts bouncing up and down excitedly. “Play laser tag with me!”

You can’t help but laugh at his childlike excitement and turn around to look at the large banner over a door outfitted to look like the entrance to a spaceship. A smaller sign sits on a stand next to the door and you squint at the words on it.

“We need at least four more players,” you say and see the spark leave his eyes.

But a second later, it returns again. “Hyungs.”

Ten minutes later, you and Jungkook have managed to tear the other members away from their games with the promise that he would buy pizza afterward. Of course, once they’re all in their gear with the guns in their hands, they’re much more excited to be playing.

As you adjust your chest plate, Jungkook sulks up to you, eying the yellow stickers on yours and the blue on his. “Why are we on opposite teams?” he asks peering at you out of the tops of his eyes.

“I figure this is a good way for you to get me back for beating you at Just Dance,” you reply with a wink. “I would say ‘do your worst’ but I figure you already plan to.”

Jungkook leans in to press his lips to yours in  sweet kiss. “You know me so well,” he says then raises his gun in the air. “Prepare to lose.”

You have no intention of actually letting Jungkook win. Jimin, RM and Jin are on your team while Taehyung, Hoseok and Yoongi are on Jungkook’s. The blue team, being made up of the more methodical members of BTS, all huddle together at the entrance while you and your three teammates take off in different directions the moment the buzzer goes off, signaling the beginning of the round.

The thick air immediately fills with sounds of laser gunfire and techno music as you make your way through the black lit maze of neon colored barriers, stopping to hide behind one after a little while so you can catch your breath. You hear someone let out a loud victory yell as someone else roars in defeat and you can only hope that the latter is on your team.

You’ve never been the competitive sort, at least not before meeting Jungkook. Something about the boy, about the way he can go from bunny to brat in half a second drives you insane, though you can’t help but love it. You love his playful side, his mischievous side. You love to see him become so passionate about winning. Seeing the drive, the determination. It’s one of the things you’ve admired about him from the start.

It’s hard to see through the thick haze of fog clinging to the air and the black lights bouncing off of it just make it that much worse. You have your gun up, pointed directly out in front of you as you creep through the room, jumping out from behind each barrier with your finger on the trigger, ready to pull it at a moment’s notice.

“Aha!”

You let out a scream as you whirl around to find Taehyung, his chest plate lit up like a Christmas tree and he drops his head in defeat. “Man,” he whines and turns around to find RM behind him beaming with pride.

“Got you,” the leader says to the maknae before giving you a salute and running off in the opposite direction in pursuit of any remaining foe.

“Tae, have you seen Jungkook?” you ask him before he has a chance to slump away.

Taehyung juts his chin down a hallway to your right. “I think he’s down that way,” he says gloomily.

With a nod, you adjust the shoulder strap that’s biting into your neck and head in that direction. Throwing a quick thanks back over your shoulder, you slink down the hall, keeping your back pressed to the wall and your gun up and ready to shoot. You don’t care about where the others are. You don’t even care if your team wins, all you care about is taking out Jungkook. Maybe you weren’t competitive before dating him but you most definitely are now.

“I’ve got you cornered.”

You turn around to find Jungkook standing in the doorway to the room you’ve just entered, blocking your only way of escape, his gun trained on you. “There’s nowhere to run, Y/N,” he says and even in the strange lighting, you can see a glint in his eyes.

“Who says I wanted to run?” you ask, giving him a flirtatious smirk as you saunter toward him. You stop only when the tip of his gun is pressed against your chest plate. His mouth is inches from yours and you can see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows nervously. “Are you gonna shoot me?” you whisper.

Jungkook stares at you, his smile gone but his lips still slightly parted. His eyes squint to slits as he seems to be weighing his options. Slowly, so as to not let him on to your plan, you begin to raise your gun at your side, your finger on the trigger, poised to shoot him. You watch as Jungkook’s eyes dart to the side, catching your movement. Then with one swift swing of his arm, he grabs the wrist of your gun wielding hand while at the same time using his own gun to push you backwards until your back hits the wall. Your gun is now pinned down at your side, useless. His mouth spreads into a malicious grin, the black lights making his teeth glow. He leans in, touching his cheek to yours.

“You think you’re so clever,” he says.

Suddenly, you hear a loud zing and Jungkook’s chest piece erupts in a flash of red lights. He jerks around in astonishment and you peer around him to find Jimin standing in the doorway to the room, his gun pointed at Jungkook and an amused smile on his face.

“Seriously?” Jungkook yells and Jimin lets out a laugh. “I’m going to kill you!”

“Can’t!” Jimin yells back. “You’re dead!” Then he gives you a wink before bounding off down the hall.

Jungkook turns around again and drops his head onto your shoulder, letting out a low whine. You reach out and lift his chin until his pouting eyes meet yours.

“Hey,” you say and he lets out a huff that stirs his bangs. Then he watches confused as you lift your own gun, point it at yourself and pull the trigger. There’s another jumble of sounds and then your chest piece glows red with his.

“What did you do that for?” Jungkook asks and you smile.

“Now we’re both losers,” you say with a shrug.

The smile returns to your boyfriend’s face and he brings a  hand up to cup your cheek. “Kiss me, loser,” he says and you lift onto your toes so you can touch your lips to his.

Suddenly, there’s a loud cacophony of noise before the lights turn off, plunging the room you’re in into darkness. A few seconds pass as you and Jungkook wait in confused silence, then the room floods with harsh white light and you jump apart, squinting at the sudden brightness.

“Game over,” a robotic voice says over a loudspeaker as Jungkook bends down and snatches his gun off the floor. “All players please return to the entrance.”

You take his hand and start tugging him along. “I wonder who won.”

[crystalninjaphoenix]

The Start of the Nightmare

A Stitched Story

JSE Fanfic

So, Stitched Together sequel thing. This is sorta dealing with how all the boys fit into this AU, so it’s gonna be longer than Stitched, and possibly not as interesting character development wise, but what can you do

tagging @septic-dr-schneep​ for the original idea

“You are lucky to not be dead.”

Jack couldn’t help but poke at the wound on his neck. He winced. “I’m lucky I know the best doctor in the world,” he said quietly. He didn’t want to tear the stitches.

Schneep huffed, but couldn’t hold back a smile. “Well, yes, I am a qualified doctor. But that is no reason for you to play with knives.”

“It was Halloween, bro.” Chase piped up for the first time since his arrival. He was leaning against the doorway of the hospital room, trying his best to look casual when he’d just been hovering nervously by Jack seconds before. “Pumpkin carving is a tradition, you know. How was he supposed to know he’d cut himself?”

Jack shifted uncomfortably on the hospital bed. For a moment, he wondered if he should just stay silent. But honesty was always the best policy. If what happened was real, then they had a serious threat to deal with. If it wasn’t, then they could figure out why the hell he was seeing things. “Well, actually, guys...I didn’t exactly do it myself.”

Immediately, Schneep and Chase jumped to attention. “Why? What happened?”  “Should we call the police?”

“No, I...you guys are gonna think I’m crazy,” Jack sighed.

“No way, dude.” Chase shook his head. “We’d never think that.”

“I—you haven’t even heard what it is.” Jack muttered. “Okay, here goes...so, like, for a couple weeks now, I’ve had a feeling like something is watching me. But not at times when that would make sense, I mean all the time. And sometimes I’d see things out of the corner of my eye, or hear whispers that aren’t there.”

“Jack, I do not think I am the right kind of doctor for these problems,” Schneep said, half-joking.

“No, no, let me finish. So, sometimes I’d get nosebleeds out of nowhere, and sometimes I started, like, walking down to the shop or something but then a split second later I’d be back home, like there was a—a glitch in the fabric of reality. And I’d start laughing or hearing laughter for no reason.”

“Okay...so what does that have to do with this business?” Chase asked.

“So, I was doing the video, just like normal, and I’d keep hearing noises. When I went to check them out, nothing. I got another nosebleed, heard more laughing, and just...it just seemed like everything that was happening that month got dialed up to eleven. And then, after I got the pumpkin all finished and was about to do some fine cleaning...I just—I fucking have no idea how to describe it. My arm was moving on its own and it was like—it was like there was someone else in my head, like...squeezing it. And this thing was controlling my arm and it—it did the thing.”

Silence. Jack tried not to squirm as his two friends exchanged glances. They looked worried. “Jack...what I said before was joke, but I really think you should talk to a different doctor,” Schneep suggested haltingly.

“You haven’t even heard the weirdest part.” Jack shook his head. “It—he talked to me. He called me weak...and...” He swallowed nervously. He didn’t really want to talk about the things he said after he cut his throat and used his body like a puppet. So he skipped to the most important part. “Anyway, after he left, or retreated, or whatever, I saw him. And he looked a lot like me, but...wearing different clothes. He looked like a living computer glitch.”

“You sure you weren’t just...hallucinating?” Chase asked. “I mean, you’d lost a lot of blood by the time I came to check on you.”

“I know, I know, it’s a real possibility. But the weirdest thing was his neck. It was—was also cut open, but it was stitched close. With green string. But it wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping the wound closed, and the stitches were pulling apart...and I got the strangest feeling I knew him.”

Schneep walked over to the counter nearby and grabbed a pen and pad of paper. He wrote down something real quick, then came back and handed it to Jack. “I think you should check out Dr. Laurens. She is very good. Not to say you have to, but I think it would help.”

“Wait, doc, hang on a second.” Chase frowned thoughtfully. “I think...maybe...”

Schneep glared at him. “Chase, do not encourage him,” he said through gritted teeth, trying to keep Jack from hearing. “I know you are wanting to help but it will not to do this.”

“All I’m saying is—I mean—I’m wondering—” Chase stopped, gathering his thoughts. “So, I know you remember what happened a little under a year ago. I do too.”

The doctor’s expression immediately darkened. Nobody needed a reminder of what happened to Marvin and Jackie. It was bad enough that the double murder—or possibly murder-suicide, nobody could agree—got an unholy amount of media attention, given that no one could figure out what actually happened. One had a slit throat, the other held the knife, both were dead but only one was injured, and they were inside a circle drawn on the floor like some sort of ritual. How and why did they even die? And then the police found Jackie’s super suit hidden in the closet and all sorts of shady websites on Marvin’s computer. That only made things more complicated.

“Well, it can’t be a coincidence that the same kind of cut appeared on Jack nearly a year later,” Chase pointed out. “And they were probably doing some kind of magic, right? Maybe black magic? Doesn’t what Jack said sound like he got attacked by a black magic demon or something?”

Jack smiled. He hadn’t really thought of the possibility that what happened to Marvin and Jackie could be connected to the thing that attacked him, but it was nice to know that Chase thought there was an explanation besides him being crazy. Schneep, on the other hand, looked doubtful. “I do not mean to speak ill of the dead, but Marvin believed in things that could not exist. If he dragged Jackie into his shit, then that was between them. But it had nothing to do with their deaths.”

“You don’t know that,” Chase snapped. “Maybe there was some sort of sacrifice or something, and things went wrong.”

“For god’s sake, do you really think Jackie would be part of black magic?” Schneep threw his hands up in the air. “Have you ever heard anyone speak out against evil more than him?”

“I mean...the dark side can be tempting, bro,” Chase mumbled.

“I am not being part of this. I am leaving, I have other patients to check on. Jack, please at least try to visit Dr. Laurens. She can help more that mindless speculation.” Schneep stuck around long enough to see Jack nod in agreement, then quickly left.

“Jack...you think that...” Chase hesitated, then said the next few words in a rush. “D’you think that if we find out more about what attacked you we could find out what happened to them?”

Jack hesitated. There was a bit of desperation shining in Chase’s eyes. No, actually, there was a lot. Jack couldn’t blame him. A lot of terrible shit had hit Chase at that moment in time, shit that led to...well, it made sense that he wanted his friends back.  Jack did too. But also, he just really wanted to know what the deal with this thing was. Why was he targeting them? “I mean, maybe,” Jack shrugged. “It’s worth a shot. And if there’s really a demon out there, we need to protect ourselves. But how do we do that?”

The next day, Chase and Jack found themselves standing outside a little shop on the edge of town. The window showed a display made of books, amulets, and hanging talismans. The sign identified the shop as “Jackson Magick Emporium.”

“So, this place is, like, legit, right?” Chase asked.

Jack pulled on the bandages around his neck. “I mean, as much as one of these places can be. The website seemed to know what they were talking about, and there were good reviews from people who weren’t nutters. So...let’s go in.”

A bell ding-a-linged to announce their arrival into the shop. Chase blinked.  “Good god, did we just step back in time or something?” The front room of the shop looked a lot like a living room from the early twentieth century, but with the addition of a counter with a cash register and price tags on the various knickknacks scattered on the tables. It was a pleasant place, pastel blue in color and well-lit with yellow lamps. But nobody was there.

“They head the bell, right?” Jack wondered, glancing over at the little silver instrument hanging by the door.

“Don’t see how they could’nt’ve.” Chase wandered over to one of the tables and picked up the leather-bound book on its surface. He turned it over in his hands. It did look like something Marvin would’ve had. This must be the right sort of place.

“I’d advise you to put that down.”

Chase jumped, looking around for the source of the voice. A well-dressed man in a blue vest and black hat was coming out of a door behind the counter. He...weirdly enough, he looked pretty similar to Jack and Chase, just with a mustache. Did Jack have some sort of doppelganger magnet attached to him?

“Sorry,” Chase mumbled, putting the book back.

“Quite alright. You had no idea. But I must warn you that it’s very old and fragile.” The man walked around the counter and approached the two. He gave a friendly smile and stuck out his hand. “My name is Jameson Jackson, but you may call me JJ if you like. Welcome to my shop. How may I help you?”

Jack shook his hand. “Hello. I’m Jack and this is my friend Chase. We, uh...” He looked over to Chase for support, but he just shrugged. “So I went onto your website and saw that you did a thing where you could get rid of, like...evil spirits and shit.”

“Well, I wouldn’t use that type of language,” JJ frowned. “But yes, that is correct.”

��Okay, so, you see...I mean it’s been happening for a while, but last night it really...really, um...” Jack fidgeted with the bandages again. “So, I’m not wearing these for fun. You see what I’m talking about?”

JJ’s brows furrowed. “Yes, I think I’m getting the gist of it. Why don’t we go into the other room? I can make us some tea and you can tell me everything, at your own pace of course.”

The other room looked pretty much the same, but red instead of blue and no items for sale. The main piece of furniture was a table and chairs in the center, but there were a few drawers and chests along the edge for holding things, along with a small stove. Jack and Chase sat down and spilled out the whole story, starting with Marvin and Jackie’s mysterious incident last year, and ending with Jack’s account of this thing taking control of his body and seeing it afterward. By the time their tale had ended, the tea was long finished. JJ set a cup in front of each of them, then joined them at the table. He leaned forward and rested his head on his hands.

“So, do you have any idea what your friends were actually messing about with?” he asked in a quiet voice, as if afraid someone would overhear.

Jack shook his head. “No, sorry.”

“They were in a circle?”

“Yeah, with candles around the edges. Is that...is that helpful?”

“Not very, unfortunately. Most spells—or at least, most heavy-duty spells—take place in a protective circle. It’s meant to protect the casters from outside dangers and keep any misfires contained inside. Do you remember anything else? Did they discover any spellbooks or charms?”

“I don’t remem—”

Chase interrupted. “Wait, I think...I think there was some weird things. A bunch of burned paper, and...and there were two weird necklaces, but...I dunno about those ones.”

“Explain.”

“Well, Schneep—he’s a friend of ours, a doctor—showed me the police report of the crime scene. They were both wearing them, and they were when he saw the bodies, but later, when he asked the cops about where those necklaces went, they swore there weren’t any.”

“Hmm...” JJ took a sip of the tea, thoughtful. “Disappearing amulets...that is unusual. Depending on their purpose, we could guess at the spell they were trying. Hang on.” He stood up, walked over to a chest and rummaged it, then came back with a book with a red cover. He opened it, revealing that the book had been patched together with pages tied into the lining, like an old-fashioned kind of binder. They were covered with ink drawings of various amulets, with explanations of what each did. “Did your friend happen to describe them?”

“Uhhh...” Chase cast a line back into the waters of memory. “This is a recall of a recall of a glance, so don’t take this too seriously. But they were white...a bit teardrop-shaped.”

“Wait wait wait I saw those!” Jack nearly knocked over his teacup in excitement.  “He was wearing them! They had these weird designs on them, and they were glowing green.”

JJ slid the book toward him. “Do you think you could identify them?”

“Maybe...I didn’t really see them that good.” Jack started flipping through the pages, then suddenly stopped. He looked around. “It’s happening again...” he muttered. “I feel like someone’s watching us...”

Chase, confused, said “What?” But JJ didn’t hesitate, shooting to his feet and dashing to the drawers, pulling them open and glancing at the contents before slamming them shut again.

“What are you looking for?” Jack asked, nervous.

“Either protection or the source of that feeling,” Jameson explained. “If you can, help me look.”

“We don’t know—oh, alright.” Jack didn’t want a repeat of Halloween night. He stood up, pulled Chase upward too, and ran toward the drawers. He figured he’d know if something was important. The drawers were filled with books and loose papers with strange writing, crude dolls with paint on them, amulets and other magickal jewelry, and so many other talismans that Jack couldn’t identify. Nothing stood out.

Until Jack heard a sudden shriek.

His head whipped around, and he saw Chase standing in front of an open drawer with a look of absolute shock and horror on his face. He held something in his hand, a pair of teardrop-shaped amulets dangling from strings. They glowed green, but the glow couldn’t mask the cracks that marred their surfaces.

“Chase! Drop it!” Jameson yelled.

Startled, Chase did exactly that. The amulets clattered to the surface. There was a sound, a sound in the back of their minds that seemed to be coming from the broken talismans. It was a high whine, punctuated with electronic-sounding crackling. Or was it laughing?

“How’d they get there?” Chase asked, breathless.

“They came with him,” Jack muttered.

It was definitely laughter. Then Jack heard, directly in his ear, “I'm so p̶ro̡u̡d, J̷ąck͝ie̴bo̢y.”

With a yelp, Jack whirled around, but nobody was there. Chase and Jameson, who’d apparently also heard something similar, were looking around wildly as well. The room seemed darker. The whine was growing louder.

“Where are you?” Jameson asked. “Show yourself!”

A giggle. “You’d lik̵e̵ that, wou̡l͞dn̕'͢t͝ yo͢u҉? A neat little ta͡r̴g̨et to throw your s͠p̛e͞l̡ls̶ at? Oh wait, Ì f͝ór͠g̕o̶t, you don’t a̦̝̤̱̥c̗̭͝t̮̤̭̝u͈̭͓̰͈a̦ḻl̩̦͈y̠͟ have any m̀͏ag̢ic̢..” The voice bounced around the room, seeming to come from the corner one moment and the center the next.

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Jameson said.

“Oh, I̢̕ ̨͏k͏ǹ̸̕o͠w̸͠.” He sounded amused now.

“What are you?” Jack cried.

“Can’t you t̶e͟ll? I’m y̕͢o̢͞͠u̷̶ , of course, J̮̪̘̯͝à̵̟̣̻́ͅc̨̘̬͓͖̭̞̳̲̟k̛̼̣̝̞̹̹͍̬i̖̞̭͝e͏͓͢b̷̨̫̗̗̕o̤͔̝͖y̖͕̣.”

“N-no...” Jack whispered. “No, you’re not. If anything, you’re the anti-me.”

“ Ą̴̀n͢͠t͞í̶..oh, I l͟i̸̛ḱè̵ that. V͠e̡r̵y̛ m҉uch͝.”

“Great, you just named it,” Chase grumbled. Jack noticed his hands were shaking, and his eyes were darting everywhere.

He—Anti—laughed again, and the lights flickered at the same time. Jack felt the feeling of being watched lighten up, and the white noise seemed to shift...to Chase. “ Y̕o͞u’re putting on sųćh͢ a b̷͝r̴͞av̧̀e fa͏͝c̶͢e, but I can taste the f̛e̵̷a҉̨ŕ̶͝ i͝n͡ y̢o̕uŕ m͏̕͟i͟͠ǹ͞d̷̸̶. It’s dȩ̴l̛ic̶i͠o͡u̡s̸͢.”

The flickering intensified. Jack’s eyes widened as Chase’s shadow shifted, contorted, then stepped away from the wall. “Chase, watch out!” Jack yelled. He started to run toward him, and Chase himself tried to turn around, but it was too late. Anti was real, and he was holding a knife to Chase’s throat.

Jack froze in place.

“ G̨ood i̢ḑeà, J̷̶a̧ck͏̷i̛e̕.” Anti bared his teeth in what would’ve been a smile on anyone else, but on him it could only be seen as a threat. He did indeed look a lot like Jack, but his form was spazzing out and glitching at every moment, coming apart in pixels. The upper half of his face was hidden in shadows that twisted and writhed, strands of green light trying to form a symbol on the center of his forehead. The wound on his neck wasn’t just a cut, but a wide gash weeping blood. Green stitches were trying to keep it closed.

“What do you want?” Jack whispered.

“What do I w̶̡a͡n̵̴t̸̸?” Anti repeated the question, tilting his head like a predator sizing up its prey. “First, I want to see if y͡ou̴r f̢r҉ieńd he͠r̶e̡ b̵̶lè̷e̢d̴̡s͟͠ like you, if your faces are t͢hè ͝s̶a̡m̡e. Then...well, you͠'̀l̷l ͡soon fin͢d̀ ͢o̧u̢t̵. I wouldn’t want to s̴po͠į͟l e̦̼v̖̫̱̰͇e͏̰r̤̜͝y̪̼͖̙̙̕t̥h̪͎̙̱i̖n̦̻̭̹͈̼̮͝g͢ for you.”

Chase’s eyes were wide, and he held perfectly still. The knife was glitching ever so slightly. As Jack watched, it nicked Chase’s neck and a single drop of blood trickled down his throat. Jack sucked in an panicked breath. What could he do? Was there anything he could do?

Suddenly, Anti’s smile dropped. His head snapped—quite literally, the sound accompanied by a shattering of pixels—toward Jameson. Jack realized that he’d been awfully quiet during the whole confrontation. And it was because he was preparing. Several drawers were hanging open. There was a tall blue candle burning on the table, surrounded by strange symbols written in red chalk. Jameson held a golden amulet out in front of him, a golden square with a purple gem in the center. It was emitting a faint white light. He grinned triumphantly.  “What were you saying about magic?”

Anti growled. “ F̵̮͎̠̭̮̯͇̀͟i̛͓̦̠͖͈̥̹̞̕n͎̰̠̙̻͟e͖̱̼̬. I’ll l̶͟e͠t ̛͝yǫ͝u win t͞͠͡hiş ̀t̀i̷͞m̶̧̢e. But this i̛sn'͏̶t ̧̕o̢v̵̡e͞r̛.” Reality flickered, and shattered. When everything was set back to normal, the room was light again, Chase was gasping for air, and Anti and the amulets were gone. “S͏҉e̵̡e̶ ̸́ýo̸͡u͟ ̧̀s͏o̶̡o̸͢n͢͞.” One last whisper around their minds, and they felt his presence disappear.

Silence.

After a long while, Jack turned to JJ and said, “You have to teach us how to do that.”

JJ smiled shakily. “A strong and more specific variant of the banishing. I wasn’t sure it would work. But it was better than the alternative.”

“You can say that again.” Chase almost reached up to prod the small cut on his neck, but stopped himself. “We need to tell Schneep about this. Let’s see him deny it in the face of three eyewitnesses.”

“He’ll find a way to.” Jack sighed. “But we gotta convince him. He could be in trouble too.”

And still, Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew who Anti was, and not just because he shared his face. There was something eerily familiar...like a favorite song that had been twisted and distorted into a different tune entirely.

[julia-highstorms]

If Jane Was Here (Noah’s POV) - Ch. 14

Summary: ILITW by Noah’s point of view. Previous chapters here

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Pixelberry Studios and some dialogues are from the game. Gender neutral MC.

Author’s Note: I’ll be posting the final chapters + AU ending throughout the ILITW Appreciation Week!

Rating: M (you know… violence, death, betrayal, etc)

Pairing: Noah x MC

Word count: 1984

Tagging @kurbqa-deactivated20180730 @miragemeister @yertletheturtle04 @mysteriouslady4 @klaudiana-beaumontkkreal @katiehawkeyebishop @melchann @hippiekiyay @lovethemarshalltwins @american-duchess @jadedpixiescribbles @gameofstrangerwars @american-duchess @blackheartdreams @indiacater @nuttatulipa @lcnelywclf @sazanes @mmmmmmyyyah @ietss @choicesaholic

Chapter 14 - In The Dark

They all gasped in shock as they found themselves face to face with Dan, as he stepped out of the woods.

“Dan…” - MC mumbled in shock.

“In the flesh.”

“What do we do, MC? Th-these aren’t dirt monsters… they’re real people!”

“Lily’s right. If we hurt them…” - Stacy agreed by the other girl’s side.

“Yesss, don’t hurt poor Tom… make Andy sad…”

“Poor Andy…” - grinning, Ben nudged Tom, and they both slinked away into the trees, Me. Cooper following them a moment later.

Alone, Dan looked at the gang of terrified teenagers, his eyes glitching wickedly:

“Friends….”

“Don’t do this… Dan, I don’t wanna fight you…” - MC was almost pleading.

“Yes… don’t fight… CoMe PLaY…” - he stepped backward, deeper into the trees, vanishing into the dark.

“Ugh. I don’t like this.”

“Yeah, pretty sure nobody’s stoked right now.” - Noah told the cheerleader. Lucas looked agitated by his side:

“We can do this, I know we can. We just need to stick together.”

Ava looked skeptically at him:

“Sure, that’ll work right up to the point where Mr. Red’s undead minions drag us into his lair like they did to Andy.”

“Ava’s right… what happens if Mr. Red manages to separate us?”

“He has gotten pretty good at that…” - Noah said, completing Lily’s thought, putting on a scared face. He knew that was exactly what Jane would probably do.

“It doesn’t matter if we break apart… as long as we find each other again.” - MC gripped on Noah’s shoulder. - “No matter what he throws at us, no matter how long it takes, we’ll find each other. We will always find each other.”

MC looked around at their friends, and one by one, they nodded, feeling ready to enter the woods. Even their pets seemed ready.

And, sterling themselves, they strode forward into the trees…

‍Fog swirled around their ankles as they wade deep into the forest. Ghostly laughter echoed softly between the trees.

“Everyone keep your eyes peeled…” - MC muttered, with that stubbornly brave scowl in their face.

Lily shuddered, hanging herself against the cold:

“If we get out of this, I’m n-never stepping foot in the woods again.”

“I mean… even after we save Andy and Dan… we’re still gonna have to figure out a way to seal Mr. Red, right?”

“Don’t think about that right now. We can’t afford to get distracted.” - Noah answered to Ava’s question blankly. There was only one way to seal Mr. Red and he knew exactly how.

Everyone plays together…

“DissSsSsStrAcTEd?”

They all stopped in their tracks as wicked laughter rang in the air, seeming to come from every direction at once.

“Hey! Why don’t you come here and face us instead of sneaking around?” - Stacy barked to the trees.

“Sneaking… more…”

“...fun.” - Ben creeped out of the shadows, his teeth glinting in the dim moonlight. - “GoiNG to HuRt… brEAk yoUR bOnEs…”

“So… how committed are we to the whole ‘not murdering this guy’ thing?”

“Ava, we can’t just kill people…” - Lucas crouched down and picked up a sturdy branch. - “However, given that this is self-defense… I’m sure the authorities will understand if he loses a few teeth.”

“My man.” - the witch girl grinned as she cracked her knuckles, leering at Ben… who began to chuckle.

“What's so funny?” - MC snapped at him.

“So brave… Not for long.”

They heard more laughter behind them, and turned to see Dan leaning against a tree, flanked by four snarling creatures.

“Brought some friends… play nice.” - he said, pointing to the monsters, who bounded forward, their fangs bared.

One of them heading straight for Noah and Lily.

“DIE, SKELETON!” - he yelled as they threw rock at it.

“Um, aren’t they sorta dead already?”

“Less talking, more throwing!”

She scored a direct hit, knocking the creature down so that he could finish it off, burying it beneath rocks.

After they all defeated the vine creatures, they scanned the clearing, no sign of Ben, Dan or any more monsters.

“Guess they snuck off while we—”

“Guys, wait!” - Stacy interrupted MC, her eyes wide. - “Someone’s missing!”

Noah felt a cold shiver down his spine.

Jane was here.

And she was following according to the plan.

“Oh crap… Lucas!”

“Exactly! Did anyone see where he went?!”

“He was here just a second ago… wasn’t he?”

“I… I’m not sure! I thought he was right behind me, but…”

“He’s gotta be close by! Lucas? Lucas!” - he started shouting, though he knew where the missing boy probably was…

They all heard a low chuckle, and turned just in time to see Mr. Cooper vanish behind a tree.

“One down…”

“Son of a—” - Ava started forward, but Stacy grabbed her by the arm.

“Don’t! They’re trying to separate us!”

“Stacy’s right. We need to—”

“AAAAHHHH!!!!” - Lily screamed as Ben exploded from the bushes, putting her in a headlock.

“Got you…”

Ava started forward, brandishing her knife threateningly:

“Hold on! I’ll— OW!” - a vine snapped around her wrist, its thorns biting into her skin. MC promptly rushed over to her, snatching her knife, and slicing through the vine in one quick motion. - “Damn, MC. Nice move.”

“No problem.” - they said, tossing Ava’s knife back to her.

“Help me!” - Lily cried as a sneering Ben started to drag her toward the trees. MC dove forward, managing to grab hold of her hands.

All around them, the woods came to life with tangling vines and brambles.

“Get off me!” - Noah cursed as the vines wrapped around his legs.

“MC!” - as he freed himself from those vines, the boy heard Lily’s scream and a second later, she was gone, swallowed up by the dark undergrowth.

“No no no…” - Stacy screamed, and they all staggered as the woods suddenly shifted around them.

“The hell was that?!”

“I don’t—” - but before MC could answer Ava, the earth heaved beneath their feet, sending the remaining teenagers to the ground as the woods continued to spin…

...And then‍, they fell into darkness.

Noah jerked into wakefulness. Everything was cold and dark around him.

“Noah…” - he felt a shiver when he heard that ghostly voice calling for him.

“Jane?” - the boy looked around, spotting his twin shadowy figure floating nearby. He was in the familiar cavern beneath the ruins. Where Jane died ten years ago. - “Huh… what happened?”

“JanE… diSTraCtEd!”

“Okay… cool.” - he glanced nervously around him. Old and familiar chairs were set in a circle. - “Are you sure… this is going to work…?”

“YeS!”

“Okay… cool.” - he suddenly reminded of Andy’s phone in his pocket. He took it out and sent a text. Just to make sure that his friends would be there soon, together.

Andy: “where are you guys?”

MC texted back a couple of minutes after:

MC: “we’re coming! Where r u?!”

Andy: “by the ruins”

Andy: “hiding”

Andy: “my leg’s messed up i can’t run if they find me”

Andy: “plz hurry, something really weird’s going on here”

MC: “on our way”

MC: “just hold on!!!”

He put the phone back to his jacket pocket. His sister floating patiently near him, watching him expectantly.

“They’re coming.”

“CoMInG to PLaY!” - she beamed and he nodded.

“...And you remember, right? Our deal.” - Jane looked in confusion at him. - “I… I’ll take your place. No one else has to die. Okay?” - she just smiled at him, nodding slowly. - “Okay… cool.” - he said again, feeling the guilty a little less unbearable.

That was the only way.

Suddenly, he heard his friends' voices from outside the ruins. He ran upstairs and saw his friends being forced step by step toward the ruins by Jane’s monsters.

“Guys! This way!” - he called from the stone door, catching the gang’s attention.

“Noah?! Thank goodness you’re okay! We were worried the monsters got to you!” - MC exclaimed in relief.

“I… I’m glad you’re okay too.” - that took him by surprise. He didn’t know they cared that much about him. He quickly composed himself. - “But these monsters are gonna get everyone if you guys don’t get inside quick!”

“You want us to go in there?!” - Lily pointed to where he was.

“You got a better idea?”

His friends looked at each other uncertainty… until MC spoke up:

“I don’t think we have a choice. You guys help Andy inside, I’ll cover our retreat.”

As MC turned to bravely face the slowly advancing handle, Noah rushed everyone inside.

“Good to see you, Noah.” - Dan clasped in his shoulder.

“Yeah… yeah, same. Now hurry!”

“It’s so dark in here…” - Stacy murmured.

“And cold…” - Lily completed.

“Follow me, guys.” - he said, helping Lucas carry Andy.

“This place is way bigger than it looks.” - Ava observed, trying to not stumble.

“Uh… Noah, where are you taking us?” - the Class President asked as they started descending the stairs toward the cave beneath the ruins.

“tAKiNg YoU to PlaY!” - Jane suddenly appeared by their side, startling everyone.

“What the f—” - but before Ava could finish her sentence, all of his friends were tied to the chairs by invisible bonds.

“What’s going on?!” - Andy tried to free himself but it was useless, especially with his leg in that state.

“Please, calm down, everyone…” - Noah said, taking Ava’s knife from the floor beside him. - “Everything will make sense in a minute…”

“Noah?!” - Lily looked in terror to him.

“Did you know about all this?!” - Stacy yelled, her eyes glaring at him. - “DID YOU?!”

“Noah, why are you doing this?” - Dan looked at him with sad and desperate eyes.

“You guys don’t understand… that’s the only way…”

That was the only way.

“Noah, free us now!” - Lucas ordered, but the beanie boy turned toward the staircase. There still was missing just one person.

MC.

He heard his friends calling for him as he walked upstairs.

Noah found MC in the clearing, facing the monsters.

“MC, come on! Everyone else is inside!”

He saw his friend making a break for the ruins, turning back to take one last look at their pursuers, when they reached the door.

“TiMe to PLaY…” - Ben said with a wicked grin.

“Come on!”

Nodding, MC stepped through the door and into the dark space inside, stopping in the middle of the room, squinting in the darkness.

“Wait, where’s everybody?” - they asked as Noah turned away from the door, both hands in the pocket of his jacket. In one pocket, there was Andy’s phone. In the other, he held Ava’s knife tightly.

“They’re all waiting for us downstairs.”

“Downstairs?! You mean in the cavern? What the hell, Noah?! We can’t go down there!”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s exactly what Redfield wants! We need to get everyone out of there!”

The boy walked toward them, smiling reassuringly.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ve figured it all out.”

“Huh? Figured what—” - But before they could finish their question, Noah suddenly lunged forward, grabbing hold of their arm. - “Hey!” - MC struggled, trying to break free of his grip… and a cell phone fell from his pocket. - “Wha… that’s Andy’s phone! Why do you have Andy’s phone?!”

“I… I needed everyone to come here. It’s the only way.”

That was the only way.

“Noah… Why are you doing this? We’re your friends! How could you lure us right into Redfield’s hands?!” - he could see hurt and betrayal in MC’s eyes.

“You don’t understand…” - Noah murmured, feeling a lump forming in his throat. He pulled his other hand from his pocket, holding Ava’s knife. - “Redfield’s not here anymore. He hasn’t been here for ten years.”

Blade held against MC’s throat, Noah nodded down at the floor… at the name ‘Redfield’ carved into the stone. All around, the darkness thrummed with energy. A cold presence liked the room, one that is both completely alien… and terribly familiar.

“No…” - MC murmured, momentarily stopping to struggle in his arms, as they watched in horror an unseen hand reaching out, drawing a thin line through the word that was written so many years ago…

Redfield

Jane

Jane is here.

[allthelovehxx]

Phase

HER POV

Harry had been home for about a week and in those few days we made sure to spend each day together. We'd been a couple for almost half a year and so far everything's been great. A few petty fights here and there but we never let each other sleep without making up.

Harry. Oh how sweet that boy is. He'd call every night to ask me how my day was whenever he was on tour, he'd send me chocolates or flowers whenever I'm feeling sad and all sorts of things I didn't ask of him. I tried telling him to stop but he just waves me off and tells me he likes to spoil me. 'It's the least I could do when I'm far away from you.' He'd say. He is always there to support me and lately he's been extra clingy because of his nearing flight back to L.A.

I was sprawled on my side of the bed as I waited for him to return from the bathroom. Out of nowhere, I felt an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach and it's not because of his departure tomorrow but of something else. Recently, a thought occurred to me while I was scrolling through twitter. I was recounting all of Harry and I's escapades in the course of our relationship when this certain thought came into mind. I knew Harry noticed my odd behavior but he didn't ask about it. He knew better than to pry. Ever since that certain thought appeared on my mind, I couldn't shake it off. It made me restless and moody that sometimes I didn't felt up to par to join Harry whenever he suggests going out. We always remained inside the house either watching a movie or doing our own things. And in those days, I missed him. He tried cheering me up. Sometimes it worked, other times not so much. But nonetheless, he made the effort and I appreciated it. Somehow, I grew a little bit distant from him.

Harry emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist as he shook his hair out of his face. His curls had gotten long that it touched his shoulders and he still managed to look good. Hot even. Only Harry. I thought to myself. I couldn't help but stare at his glistening body as he pulled on a pair of boxers and hung his towel on the back the chair before walking towards the bed. "Hey," he smiled at me, crawling on the bed and shuffling towards me until he was close enough to pull me into his arms. He plants his face on the crook of my neck and places a kiss there as I run my fingers through his damp hair. "How was your day?"

"Good. How about yours?"

"Same as usual." He yawned and rubbed his eyes before continuing to tell me what his day consisted of. I liked listening to him ramble endlessly about work because you could hear the passion leaking in every word he said, his eyes light up and over all, his face just glows. He truly loved his work along with the boys who share the same passion as him.

Not long after, Harry fell asleep mid-story due to the evident exhaustion in his eyes. I smiled at his peaceful features before detaching myself from him, feeling a bit hot. As I rolled on to my side, that unsettling feeling appeared again. I sighed. I am starting to hate this feeling because my anxiety levels are rising and it's not helping me fall asleep. I tossed and turned trying to find a good spot for me to sleep in but I couldn't find one. Frustrated, I reached for my phone and decided to do a bit of reading but was greeted with a ton of notifications on twitter. Basically, it's just fans tagging me pictures of Harry and I or just Harry. I clicked on one video that showed a brief timeline of our relationship. It seems so long ago when I first met Harry and right now everything feels natural. In some way, that thought didn't sit well with me and caused me to overthink things. Again. (Unfortunately, I was a pro at overthinking.)

I felt restless. I faced Harry and started drinking in his features. All those slopes and dents, those eyebrows pulled low on his forehead revealing a little crease in between. How did I get so lucky? I sighed. I hadn't realized how much of a ruckus I was making until Harry shifted and stretched his arms out, reaching for me. "Baby," he wiggled his fingers. "C'mere."

I scooted closer to him and he immediately enveloped me into his warm embrace. Even though his arms were comfortable, it didn't solve the battle happening inside of me. I couldn't enjoy nor relax and it's driving me crazy.

Sensing my discomfort, he asked "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Go back to sleep."

A frown etched upon his face when I looked up at him. "What's bothering you?"

"It's really nothing, Haz." I tried to convince him. "You have an early flight tomorrow, you need to get some rest."

His brows were pulled even lower on his forehead as he studied my face. "It's because I'm leaving, isn't it? I told you-"

"No!" I interrupted, causing him to widen his eyes in confusion. "It's fine. Really. It's not like I won't be seeing you in a few days. You have to go to work and I just have to finish up here before flying to you." I said more calmly.

"I know. But it feels like you're hiding something from me."

"It really is nothing, H." I smiled. Hoping that he'd finally give up and drop the subject. "Don't worry about it."

"If you say so..." he sighed. "Turn around." I did as told and he pulled my body close to him, spooning me. His familiar arms sent a wave of warmth through my body that somehow eased my mind. I missed his snuggles in bed whenever he's away. I tend to grab a shirt he had worn and spread it on the empty space beside me. Of course, it doesn't compare to the real thing.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." I couldn't help but sigh.

"What, cuddling? You know you could just ask for some and I'd be happy to give you a lot."

"Yes and no," I giggled. I am very much aware of his love for cuddles. But our light mood suddenly died down when my mouth started talking on its own. "I meant this phase that we're in."

"I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about." He gave a nervous laugh and tightened his hold on my body, placing a lingering kiss on my bare shoulder. It only made me feel worse.

"This 'new-in-the-relationship-phase' where everything is sweet and perfect. Where we'd go the extra miles for each other just to make one of us happy." A lot of things were swirling through my head, I'm not even sure if I'm making sense.

"Is that what you think this is? That all of this is just in the beginning and that somewhere down the road I wouldn't go the 'extra mile' to make you happy?" His voice was full of confusion and hurt. Suddenly, he retracted his arm making me turn on my side and face him. "I don't know where all of this is coming from but you are wrong." He pursed his lips and exhaled through his nose as he tried to reign in his anger.

"It's not like that," I started. "But I can't help but think something is bound to go wrong. There's always a glitch in the system, Harry. But I know I'd always go that extra mile for you."

"And you think I won't?"

I didn't know what to say. All of these thoughts are messing with my head and it's clouding my judgement. All of my pent up emotions that I've been feeling ever since Harry's arrival came crashing down on me. The frustration, anger, sadness and doubt fought its way to my system demanding to be felt. On top of that, I made Harry angry and he's leaving soon adding to the stress I'm feeling right now. I burst into tears.

Harry's eyes widen at the sight in front of him. He immediately pulled me up into a sitting position and started rubbing my arms and back, trying to calm me. "I'm s-sorry!" I blurted out. "I shouldn't have doubted you. It's just that I'm afraid that far into this relationship you'd get too comfortable. A-and when that happens it'll be just like a routine and it'll feel like it's out of obligation t-to do things for each other. It always turns out like that, Harry. It's always like that." I was a blubbering mess. My arm flailed around while my hands kept making wild gestures that I'm sure did not made any sense.

"Hey, hey" he smooths my hair and wipes my tear streaked face. "Calm down, love. Don't cry." His expression was pained at seeing me in this state and he didn't know what to do. "What are you talking about?"

I tried to calm down my breathing before I voice out my thoughts to him. "6 months, 7, 8, a year into the relationship, you both get too comfortable around each other that the other just doesn't feel the need to win you over anymore. Because they got what they wanted. They got me so they don't feel the need to impress me, show me they're worth my attention because they have met their goal. I don't know if I'm making sense but in the long run everything just starts to die down instead of growing into something more."

A flash of pain flickered behind his eyes. Suddenly, his jaws clenched and his features hardened. His angry glare made a shiver run down my spine. "You are being afraid of nothing. I won't turn into those douche bags you're talking about. I will always love you. And I will do everything just to make you happy because seeing you happy makes me happy. If you're afraid that I won't make an effort-"

"No, you don't understand, Har-"

"Then explain it to me!" He yelled. My eyes widen at him. I had never seen him this frustrated before. The veins on his forehead and neck started popping out at how much he's trying to control his temper. "Because I haven't got a clue on what you are talking about!"

"It's not something you could easily promise, Harry! You don't know what will happen! You won't know when you'll eventually be tired of me and-"

And it dawned on him. His features visibly changed, immediately understanding everything. "Tired of you? Is this what all of this is about? Me getting tired of you?"

"I'm a nobody, Harry." I averted my gaze to the floor to avoid his intense stare. I was surprised at how long I was holding his gaze throughout this argument we're having.

"You're reading those damn articles again, aren't you?" He accused, voice full of disappointment. "How many times do I have to tell yo-"

"I know, I know." I exhaled. The anger was gone from me now. All I felt was hopelessness. "But I can't help it. I'm a girl. I will always have insecurities."

He ran his fingers through his hair and grunted lowly. "But that doesn't give you the right to doubt my love for you." He mumbled. I didn't say anything in return because I know he is right. I hate this. I shouldn't have let my insecurities eat me up. But can you really blame me? He's a freaking popstar for god's sake! He could have any girl in the world and why he chose a common girl was beyond me. "Is that why you've been avoiding me for days?"

"I'm not really avoiding you. Just minimizing our contact so you won't get tired of seeing my face."

"That's enough!" He yelled and grabbed my face into his hands making me look at him. "Listen to me okay? You are an amazing girl. Saying you're beautiful won't do you justice because you are more than that. You exceed the limitations of being beautiful inside and out. You are funny, talented, generous, kind and most of all, you are the best. You give so much love to people who do not deserve it. You are selfless. And that's not even half the reasons why I love you. I could go on and on but that would take us forever. I won't get tired of you, of us. I will always love sleeping next to you, waking up next to you, going on in a day with and coming home to you. You are one of a kind and I'd be damned if I let someone like you go."

His words stirred my heart and made me feel more horrible for doubting him. My tears started flowing down my face again as I let what he told me sink in. "I'm sorry..." I whispered.

"Stop thinking like that, okay? Give yourself some credit. Your parents love you, the lads adore you, your friends care for you. And most of all, I love you with all my heart." He smiled, finally being able to fix me again. He slid his hands around my waist and brought me closer to him, engulfing me in a heart felt hug.

I circled my arms around his shoulders and buried my face into his neck. "I don't know what to say, Harry. That's the sweetest thing someone has said to me. Thank you."

He pulled away to look at me. He brought his hand to my face and ran his thumb over my cheek. "You deserve it, baby. And I'm not saying all those things to make you feel better. I want you to realize all of that."

I nodded. "I'm sorry for doubting you. I should never have. I should have known you'd always be there for me."

"I will." He promised. "And please stop reading those tabloids, yeah? You don't need them." I nodded again and smiled. Happy that once again, he reassured me that everything will be fine as long as we have each other. "There's my girl."

I gazed into his eyes and saw how it lit up when I said, "I love you."

A wide grin spread across his beautiful face, making his dimple pop out. "I love you more, baby."

We stared at each other until I closed my eyes when I felt him lean in. Our lips brush, nose bumping and finally, he kissed me. Pouring every emotion into the kiss, filling all the words that were never said but most importantly, expressing our love that only he and I could feel.

It was overwhelming, the kiss and all the words Harry told me. He knew what to say and how to make me feel better again. I know that we could both do this. This would work out if we have each other. And I know that this part of our relationship isn't just a phase but an obstacle we were to overcome. I'm happy to say that I think, we just did.