#so uh keep that in mind in case you want to follow me i guess..

[jalo-parker]

"-im also a fan of other things like pokemon and ghost (the band) though again I don't post about those things as often" <- edit to my pinned made moments before disaster (i have a major hyperfixation on ghost now) (or well the ghouls and the versions of them that exist only in my head at least) (they're my ocs now that just happen to share names with the actual band 😁)

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Soldat

A random drabble for @startcarvingdarling

Warnings for fear, kidnap, and spanking.

Character: Bucky Barnes, side of Peter Parker

“Peter? I’m waiting,” you say as he finally picks up. 

“Hmm? Waiting? What do you mean?” He asks as you hear something whirring in the background. 

“What? Don’t tell me you forgot.” You sneer, “you’re at the lab, aren’t you?” 

“Uh, yeah, of course. Where am I supposed to be?” He sputters. 

“Meeting me for our date!” You snip. “Ugh, I’m so embarrassed.” 

“Date? What—I didn’t-- I guess I forgot but I don’t remember--” 

“You never remember anything, do you? Not unless you’re getting some award or simping for Tony.” You huff. 

“What? I mean it. I have no recollection of this--” 

“You texted me last week. Said you want to spend some time together since you’ve been so busy and—Never mind. I’m not doing this. I’m not responsible for keeping your mind straight,” you shake your head, “bye.” 

You hang up as your eyes prick. You should have expected it. You can barely get a message back so why would he follow through on this? Besides, all he ever talks about are his gadgets. 

You drop your arm and turn to the restaurant. You look up and groan. He probably didn’t even make a reservation. You drag your feet away and head back down the street. 

The marquee lights reflect off the dark pavement and cast your shadow across the curb. As you walk, others pass by merrily in couples and groups. They’re raucous as they head out for a night of fun. For time with people who care about them. 

You turn down the next street. It’s emptier, and darker, away from the main strip. Your footsteps echo and you cross the street, undeterred as the traffic is sparse. As you get to the other side, you flinch. You turn. You thought you heard something. 

As you turn back, you jump. There was a shadow there. You spin and search the darkness. You’re imagining things. Even if that’s the case, it is New York. 

You speed ahead through the cones of light glowing from the tall street poles. You pump your arms as your breath hitches. Your heart is racing. You hear another scuff. You turn but see nothing. 

You jump as there’s a clatter down the alley and you squeak, stumbling back. You whirl around again and this time, your path is blocked. The silhouette of a man looms between the safe haven of the lights. His shoulders are broad and his feet wide. 

“Um, you—take it,” you throw your purse at him. He swipes it away. You flinch and step back. “Sir, I don’t--” 

He steps forward and your voice fizzles in the air. You know him. It’s Bucky. Yet, it doesn’t seem like him. His posture is different and he has a black mask over the lower half of his face. His eyes are almost black and he move mechanically as he comes closer. 

“Bucky? What are yo--” 

He grabs you by your throat and you cough. You latch onto his wrist as your phone bounces off the sidewalk. You whimper. The street light is swallowed up in his pupils as brings you near. He presses his nose to yours, the fabric of the mask rough. 

He tilts his head as he pulls back and launches you up. He takes a step and catches you easily over his shoulder. He veers and marches into the alleyway as you squeal. His hand cracks across your ass and your voice catches. He squeezes until your whine, digging into your flesh. 

“Wait- what--” 

He hushes you as he keeps going. You kick your legs and swipe at his back. He doesn’t stop. It’s as if he can’t hear you. As if your pleas are nothing, just like your weight on his shoulder. 

His laughter echoes against the brick walls as he carries you into the shadows. You don’t know where he’s taking you, or why, but you know you should be afraid. This isn’t Bucky, this is what he used to be. 

[hanggarae]

when you spoke to me..

doctor!joshua x f!reader 4.1k words, readers ex keeps texting her to take him back, fake dating au, honestly doesn’t focus much on joshua being a doctor other than at the beginning but he still is a rich doctor, fluff, angst, one sided love (?) (you’ll get it when u read it), part of waves will take us far away series !

why were hospital layouts so complicated sometimes? now you’re accidentally in the room of a really cute doctor embarrassing yourself while you fumble with your phone trying to find the correct room your friend was in.. but wait is he smiling at you?

“you what?” you screamed to your friend over the phone, “who the hell is stupid enough to go on a hike when they have a broken leg?”

“ankle. it’s a broken ankle. besides it all worked out in the end right? at least everything with cheol got cleared up” she giggled, and you sighed remembering the crush she’d developed on her doctor of all people.

“yeah yeah i guess, look you get some rest i’ll come visit you tomorrow with jeonghan. feel better alright!” you let out another deep sigh when your friend hung up. you loved her but she really did make some terrible decisions sometimes.

the bed sheets were warm beneath you, it’d started getting warmer as spring approached and you knew you were definitely grateful for it. the cold weather always made the skin on your hands rough.

the notification sound on your phone went off. confused you checked your phone again in case it was from your friend. you let out a groan when you read who the text was from. ‘i’m sorry i miss you’ read the text from your ex. you’d blocked him weeks ago but he kept finding ways to contact you through new or his friends’ accounts. annoyed, you put your phone on mute and put your head on your pillow ready to sleep.

balloons tied to your wrist and three gift bags resting on your forearms, you walked through the hospital halls keeping a lookout for any staff that could help you find where the room you were looking for was.

you didn't usually visit this hospital so you weren’t familiar with the setting. room 139. you just passed 122 so surely you can't be far, right? after walking for a few more minutes, you found room 139. something seemed off though.

you were sure jeonghan had told you that he was already here and after peeking your head in, you couldn’t catch sight of him. weird. maybe he just stepped out to grab something. oh well.

pushing the door open you could've cried at the sight in front of you. yeah you were right to be wary. instead of your friends you were met with an elderly man currently getting a cast on his arm.

“i am so so sorry” you said breathlessly as you tried to get out of the room. before you did, your eyes met with the second doctor in the room, was he.. laughing at you? ‘jerk’ you rolled your eyes before walking out of the room.

turning on your heel, you gave one last apology before trying to find the correct room. before you could make it far, you felt someone grab onto your arm to get your attention. ‘what the hell did he want?’

“can i help you?” you told him curtly.

“i can help you if you need actually. i’m guessing you’re here to visit someone and it wasn’t that man back there” he smiled at you. okay now you felt bad. he was just a cute doctor that wanted to help you out.

“oh.. thank you” you smiled at him, “uh this was the room that my friend has told me. i’m visiting her, she had a fractured ankle..”

“oh!” his eyes widened, “do you know who your friend’s doctor is? is it choi seungcheol?”

“oh that’s right!”

“yeah come with me i’ll take you to where it is. you were in the wrong ward”

you frowned. why would the hospital use the same numbering system for every ward? it’s so over complicated. whatever. at least you were getting there now. you continued to follow doctor.. well actually what was his name?

“excuse me doctor? what’s your name if you don’t mind me asking”

“hm? oh i’m doctor hong but you can call me joshua i don’t mind” he smiled again at you, and when you saw it you don’t know how you managed to dislike him at first when he had such a kind smile. “and what’s your name?”

“my name’s yn. sorry for making you go through all this trouble by the way, you must’ve been busy”

“oh no don’t worry about it, i wouldn’t have offered if i didn’t want to”

after about ten minutes of walking joshua showed you to where the room was, and you saw all of your friends. thanking joshua one more time you made your way in before waving back at him.

when visiting hours were done, you and jeonghan we’re making it out of the hospital together before you heard your phone vibrate a few times in your pocket.

you groaned at how it kept going, knowing it meant that it was your ex that found another way to contact you.

“you know, this should be considered borderline harassment at this point. he won’t leave you alone!” jeonghan sounded annoyed when you both confirmed it was your ex texting again, “he’s got no shame too, he’s the one who cheats and now he’s begging to have you back”

“i don’t even care anymore, i planned on getting a new phone and number soon anyway. so he can have fun texting the phone that nobody’s using” you sighed, exasperated at his efforts.

you’d told him weeks ago to stop contacting you, that no matter how much he did this wasn’t going to ‘win you back’. he was a terrible human being and you didn’t want anything to do with him.

“oh? yn?” you heard a familiar voice call out not too far from where you and jeonghan were.

turning to identify where the sound was coming from, you relaxed when you saw it was the doctor that helped you earlier.

“hi joshua, you getting off work now?” you waited for him to catch up to you.

“yeah. hey jeonghan” he waved to the man smiling deviously next to you, “uh yn do you have a ride home?”

“she doesn’t! i had to meet my parents for dinner right after so i couldn’t” before you could answer jeonghan was already doing it for you, faking a pout. “but hey, you could take yn home, couldn’t you shua?”

“if that’s okay with you yn i’d be happy to” joshua smiled at you again, that same too sweet smile.

“if it’s not any trouble to you” you told him sheepishly, “then i’d really appreciate it”

joshua’s car was nice, you could tell he took good care of it, making sure everything in the glove compartments were organised and that the seats were as clean as the carpets. you’d spent the time talking and getting to know each other. falling into conversation with joshua was too easy, almost as if you’d known each other for years. you’d learnt about how much of a kind person he was, but he never bragged about it, just about how incredibly grateful he was to be able to give to others. there was no way someone as nice as him really existed. and he looked that good too? oh it really wasn’t fair.

but you can really never have too much of a good thing because here came the 703rd call from your ex in the last few weeks. groaning you decline it but then came the bombardment of texts saying how he ‘loved you and didn’t mean it’.

“is that your boyfriend?” joshua asked, and if you weren’t so distracted with blocking the new number he was contacting you from, you would’ve caught the masked disappointment in his voice.

“thankfully no. but i don’t want to bother you with the whole story” you turned to look at him, but he was silently telling you to go on, like he doesn’t mind if you vented to him despite only knowing him a few hours. from what jeonghan had told you after being friends with joshua for a few months now, he was definitely a good listener. “he’s my ex. we’d broken up like a year ago or something but a few weeks ago he kept trying to reach out again out of nowhere. i’m guessing he realised that no girl wanted him so he thought i’d take him back”

“and what he’s just been bothering you for the last few weeks? have you tried telling the authorities?”

“i’ve thought about it but he’s harmless. i saw him at the store about a week ago and he didn’t even approach me. he’s all bark and no bite. i think if he sees i’m with someone else he’ll definitely back off” you sighed rubbing at your temples, you could feel yourself getting a headache already.

“are you? with someone else i mean?” he looked nervous. it was so cute.

“no, but why do you ask?” you asked him with a teasing lilt in your voice.

“well, my parents have been annoying me for weeks about finding a partner. so how about we just help each other out and pretend we’re going out with one another?”

it honestly was a good idea but you couldn’t help feel a little disappointed that it would just be fake dating. joshua was fun though so you’d push back your own brief hurt in favour of at least hanging out with him more often.

‘morning !! do u think u can meet me at this cafe at around 3 today ? need to ask u smth’ read the text that joshua had sent you today. it had been a few weeks since he drove you home and you’d both been texting back and forth getting to know each other more, and he mentioned that you both might have to meet soon last night. you texted him back, and agreed to meeting up. after getting ready, you left the apartment at around 2:30 to get to the cafe that joshua had told you about.

you texted joshua again to let him know you were outside and he told you that he was waiting at the table near the window on the left. when you stepped in you found him immediately. he was dressed casually, you’re guessing he didn’t have work today.

“hey, do you want me to grab you something to drink?” he smiled at you, helping you with your things.

you looked over the menu before he recommended something, promising you it would be good as he’d visited the cafe a lot. he went to place the order before joining you again at the table.

“did you have work off today?” you asked him.

“oh yeah, i don’t usually work fridays” he took a sip of his drink, “but anyway. the reason i asked you here was because i was wondering if you could come with me to some dinner my aunt’s hosting this weekend. her daughter graduated and my parents mentioned they wanted to meet you”

this weekend? that’s so sudden. i mean it’s not like you really had any plans anyway but it was still really sudden, “i’m free so i can go just.. well how formal is this dinner? like should i dress up or..” you trailed off, mentally trying to remember everything in your closet and if you had something fit for the occasion.

“it’s pretty formal i guess” he said sheepishly, rubbing the nape of his neck, “it’s at some fancy restaurant and i’m going wearing a suit. of course if you need me to i can definitely help you find a dress!”

“don’t worry about it” you laughed, pulling out your phone so you could find a picture. “i have a few formal ones but this is one i wore to my friend’s engagement party a couple months back, you think this’ll be alright?”

joshua looked at the picture, lips curving up into a smile before he met your gaze, “you look really pretty in that dress”

you flushed, taking a sip of your drink while thinking of a way to not let him get the upper hand, he can’t make you fall for him it wouldn’t be fair.

“thanks.. i just remembered! i have a high school reunion on the 30th. are you busy that day? i’m pretty sure it’s a friday”

you saw joshua frown thinking over it before opening what you’re guessing is his calendar app on his phone, “nope. i don’t have anything that day so i can go with you”

“great! my ex should be there too so after that he should stop bothering me too”

maybe it was all just in your head but you felt like you saw joshua tense a little at the mention of your ex, “has he texted you since?”

“i think he’s finally getting the hint. he doesn’t text as much anymore thankfully”

you were finishing up the last touches on your makeup when you heard someone ring your doorbell. you checked the camera to see it was joshua, a bouquet of flowers in his hands. you let him in, instantly taking note of his appearance.

you could hardly appreciate it from the cameras but in person you could see in detail how the suit he was wearing hugged his figure so well. the suit itself was black paired with a white button up and a purple tie.

“i remembered your dress was purple and thought i’d match the tie with it” joshua told you sheepishly when he saw how focused you were on it. “these are for you! i saw jeonghan today and asked him to make a bouquet for me”

you took the flowers, grinning at his thoughtfulness and thanking him, “is jeonghan still trying to win over your guys’ surgeon friend?”

joshua laughed at your comment, remembering how jeonghan had once called him at 3am to know what type of flowers his friend likes, “yeah he is. think she’ll say yes any day now”

you hummed, nodding. “how much time until we have to be there by the way?”

“about 45 minutes, it’ll only take us fifteen minutes to get there from here” he told you, checking his watch that you could just tell was expensive. you nodded again, telling him you’ll be right out after putting your dress on and grabbing a few things.

joshua waited on your couch for you to finish getting ready, scrolling through his phone to pass time. after a few minutes, he looked up when he heard you clear your throat nervously.

“you look amazing, yn. really, you do” and joshua wasn’t lying. he always thought you were pretty and right now was no different. but joshua bit back those thoughts though, admitting to himself would mean he’d also have to admit that he can’t ever have you. “so uh, you ready to go?” joshua winced at the lump in his throat and the way his voice cracked ever so slightly, and he was grateful for the fact that you were checking over the things in your purse one last time so you didn’t notice it.

you nodded and the both of you made your way to his car.

joshua was oddly quiet on the car ride, opting to just play music to fill the silence. when you arrived at the restaurant, joshua opened the door for you and helped you out. “the restaurant’s technically part of some five star hotel” he explained when you looked at it a little confused.

“ohh it looks really pretty” you smiled up at him while he held your hand leading you to the entrance.

joshua told the receptionist his name and she led you both over to where joshua and his family were waiting. when you actually saw them, the nerves finally hit you. what if you accidentally let slip that you and joshua weren’t really dating? what if you embarrass joshua?

joshua seemed to take notice of your nerves, squeezing your hand gently and whispering a “you’ll be fine, they’re going to love you”.

and it seems joshua was right. the night did go smoothly and you congratulated joshua’s cousin for her graduation. his family was kind, they didn’t once make you feel awkward or uncomfortable, instead complimenting you and making sure you didn’t feel left out.

by the time the dinner was over you were honestly sad that you’d have to leave his family, they were so fun you wanted to be with them more often. you left for a few minutes to go to the bathroom and when you came back you found joshua looking for you.

“joshua? what’s up?” taking note of how he looked a little annoyed and out of breath.

“yn i’m so sorry. my uncle just told me now that they’d booked rooms for all us to stay at the hotel tonight. if you feel uncomfortable with it i can just say you have a work thing tomorrow and we can’t stay” you really didn’t mind staying, but you were surprised and did feel guilty that they paid for you. he wasn’t saying it for your sake but you knew joshua secretly wanted to stay. his job makes it hard for him to see his family often so he’d appreciate this time with them. at the same time, you knew that staying would only make you more regretful of the fact that joshua didn’t feel the same about you.

“it’s fine, i don’t mind staying”

surprisingly enough, you’d managed to fall asleep pretty quick considering when you fell asleep joshua was still taking a shower.

when joshua got out he saw you on the bed and couldn’t help the soft smile breaking at his features. he saw your phone was still unlocked, a video still playing. ‘you must’ve fallen asleep watching it’.

he was about to turn it off before rolling his eyes at the texts from your ex again. he was about to block it for you until an idea crossed his mind. joshua fought mentally with himself as he debated whether or not he should go through with it. he sent a picture the two of you had taken together earlier to your ex, a ‘can u leave us alone ..?’ text attached to it while he silently prayed you wouldn’t think he was crossing any lines by doing so.

you met up with joshua a lot more after the dinner with his family. but the both of you getting closer was not doing anything to help your own feelings. joshua by no means felt the same about you. when you’d gotten to know joshua and the people close to him, you learnt that he was always the bold one when it came to people he liked. he’d always be the one to ask someone out, the one to go the extra mile for them. so the fact that he hadn’t done that for you, or even implied he wanted to, it wasn’t hard to assume that he just simply didn’t like you in that way. joshua wanted you as a friend and nothing more or less and you just had to live happily with that.

the reunion was soon. you’d texted joshua about it again, reminding him the address and time it was. you noticed your ex stopped texting you and part of you felt a little disappointed at it. you were grateful he finally took the hint but sad because what if this meant joshua wouldn’t have to keep up the act anymore? you were aware you probably seemed crazy and pathetic clinging onto a fake relationship that was only proposed for convenience, but that’s how you felt and you couldn’t help it and were too tired of it all to make an excuse.

dressed in a plain black tee paired with black slacks and a blazer, joshua picked you up for the reunion. as hard as you’d tried to make it seem like nothing was up, you knew joshua could tell. you silently hoped he would just assume it’s nerves because you still hadn’t thought of a way to tell him that you wanted to break off the agreement of fake dating.

why was this so complicated? it’s not like you two were actually dating so it’s not like it’s an actual breakup, but it still felt like you were losing something. what if joshua only talked to you so much was because he needed someone that was willing to pretend to be his girlfriend?

you shook the thoughts out of your head as you both pulled up to the place the reunion was being held. stepping out, you could already see some familiar faces, smiling and hugging them whenever they came to greet you.

the night went by with you catching up with old classmates, introducing them to joshua too. it was scary how well he was able to get along with people instantly. you were honestly surprised that your ex hadn’t bothered you all night, guess he saw joshua and backed off.

when you decided to leave the reunion, joshua suggested you both grab dinner somewhere. the food served at the reunion wasn’t the best so the both of you hadn’t eaten much all night. and that’s how the both of you ended up in the parking lot of some takeout place, laughing while you both told stories of your high schools together.

it was fun, and you hated the part of yourself that always made you overthink. ‘none of this is even real, joshua doesn’t care about you like that. so stop thinking this means the two of you are really dating’.

“yn, what’s wrong?” joshua sounded alarmed, and it was only then you took notice of the tears welling up in your eyes, rubbing aggressively at them immediately.

“think that the contacts are just irritating my eyes, don’t worry” you assured him but he still didn’t look satisfied with your answer.

“here let me help you-”

“it’s fine joshua” you sighed, “look about this whole pretending to be dating thing. i really can’t do it anymore. pretending to be in a relationship with you is killing me-”

“fine. i’m sorry if i did something to hurt you or make you uncomfortable. it was stupid of me to send that picture to your ex-”

“what picture?” you looked up at him confused, what the hell was he talking about?

“the one i sent to your ex and i told him that we were happy and to leave us alone..”

“is that why he stopped bothering me? oh well i didn’t know about that but thanks because it’s the only thing that managed to shut him up”

“wait what? so then what are you mad at me about?” he pouted.

you stayed silent. you knew exactly where this was headed and if it carried on you knew it’d lead to you spilling your guts to him, and you weren’t sure you could do that. because if you did you’d lose joshua forever.

“nothing, don’t worry about it” you mumbled, going back to swirling the plastic spoon around the ice cream in your cup.

“no no no” you heard joshua say, his fingers holding on to the underside of your jaw gently so that you turned your attention to him. “tell me, yn”

“i can’t” you whispered, tears welling up again, “if i do i’ll lose you forever. i don’t think i can do that, shua” you knew tears were freely spilling past your eyes at this point but you couldn’t care.

“yn, i promise you, you’re not going to lose me. i love you far too much to let you go” you still shook your head at him sniffling and unbelieving of his words. “yn you mean so much to me that i’m willing ignore my feelings for you because i know you don’t feel the same way. you mean so much to me that i’d rather wake up knowing i can’t have you the way i want then to wake up not having you in my life at all. you mean so much to me yn, so please don’t think i’d try leaving you”

you sat, stunned at joshua’s confession. it was like he could read your heart and turned all the feelings and words you wanted to give him into his own. he looked at you warily for a few seconds, scared you wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings. if only he knew how much you’d been thinking the same about him for months.

you inched closer to him, closing your eyes as you brushed your lips over his. joshua tensed before melting into the kiss too, and your heart grew warmer and how you could feel him smile into the kiss.

when you both pulled away, you were both smiling, “you know this doesn’t serve as a confession right? i want you to list every single thing that made you like me!”

you laughed at his words, whining “no don’t make me say it, you just want to tease me”

“oh so you’re allowed to hear me pour my heart out to you but if i wanna hear you say it back it’s too much?” he jokingly pouted, bringing you closer for a hug while he fought off his own giggles hearing yours.

🏷️ @smilehui @suzuyamitsuki @minhui896

[rafaelaaron]

𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 | 𝗔𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗲𝗿

Summary: You comfort Aaron after a tough case

cw: fbi!reader, typical criminal minds violence, mentions of Haley, drinking

Word count: 1.25k

A/N: English is not my first language, sorry for any grammatical mistakes

It's gonna be okay

Everyone needs a bad day

Remember you told me

You're not alone, just pick up the phone

And call me whenever you're feeling lonely

Remember you told me

You're not alone, just pick up the phone

- pick up the phone by Henry Moodie

*

The Counter-terrorism Unit shared the same floor with the BAU, making it easier to keep in touch and check each other's departure and return.

Not that it mattered much.

Except Agent Hotchner and Agent Y/L/N.

The two units were not exactly close nor held a joint investigation frequently. Still, Hotch and you shared a fair amount of time since the first joint investigation which was against numerous bombs installed near tourist attractions in DC.

You had occasional coffee breaks in the hallway sometimes and worked late in Hotch's office together to avoid working alone, both being the infamous workaholics in each other's unit.

“Hey.”

You saw the BAU agents getting out of the elevator, all of them exhausted. Hotch gave you a short nod before disappearing into the bullpen, which was odd for him because he always talked to you, even briefly. Although you were not a profiler, you could read his stress signs only because you spent enough time with him to know that.

“Bad case?”

“Yes, especially to Hotch. We saved a boy, but not his mother. Guess it reminded him of Foyet.”

“That’s awful.”

“Someone needs to talk to him.”

JJ shrugged and waved her hand, walking away. You stood there, biting your lips in concern. Hotch’s look made you worry about him all day at your desk while doing paperwork.

Your mind went back to a certain night several months ago, when he held you in his arms as you cried after failing to save a life in your first joint investigation. He had knocked on your door, asking if you were okay before you collapsed in his arms.

"I feel awful, Hotch."

"Please, don't blame yourself. You did everything you could."

His thumb had gently wiped tears away from your cheeks, smiling softly.

"When you feel bad, just call me. I will come right to you, or at least listen to you when I'm far away."

You had nodded and followed his words, calling whenever you needed his soothing voice and words.

You knew that he would need you too. However, you could tell that he would never call you or come to you, being stubborn. So as soon as you handed the files to your unit chief, you went to the BAU.

“Agent Rossi,”

“Agent Y/L/N. As I know, Aaron went home about 30 minutes ago.”

Rossi said with a wink.

“No wonder you're a profiler.”

You rolled your eyes playfully with a smile and went straight to Hotch's place. You called him first but he didn't answer, worrying you even more.

“Pick up the phone, please.”

You whispered almost desperately, dialing once more. He still didn't answer as you parked your car in front of his apartment.

“Hotchner, open the door before I kick it op—”

Your continuous knock was interrupted by him opening the door.

“Y/N,”

“Aaron,”

“What are you doing here?”

Your stomach dropped seeing him. His hair was messy as if he ran his hand multiple times through it. His tie was loosened and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone. His shoulder was tense and his eyes were slightly red. You could conclude that he had been drinking scotch, but you have never seen him like this.

“Well, uh, JJ told me it was a bad case and since you are too stubborn to call me, I thought it would be better to visit you myself and I don't know, probably just listen to whatever you say?”

You rambled, suddenly not sure if you could help him feel better. Hotch just stared at you for a while before dragging you into his house by your hand. You sat down next to him on the couch, his hand never letting yours go.

“I wanted to answer your call,”

He began after a moment of silence.

“But I didn't want to be a burden to you.”

“You know you never are.”

He dropped your hand, his shoulder slumped. You opened your arm and he hesitantly moved toward you, wrapping his arms around your waist. He nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“The unsub kills the mother and a child in the house, waits for the father to come home, and forces him to kill himself. We could save the child, but not his mother, and his father came home to witness the unsub being arrested. I— I saw him being devastated, and—”

“That reminded you of yourself. And Haley.”

You finished for him, and he nodded, burying his face deeper and letting stray tears seep into your shirt collar. You gently rubbed his back, waiting for him to calm down.

“I’ve got you, Aaron. It’s alright.”

He pulled away eventually, flashing his rare smile bashfully.

“Sorry, Y/N.”

“Don’t be, Aaron. You always try to comfort me, and I am just returning the favor.”

“Thanks. I feel much better now.”

You suddenly had no idea what to do now. You were still worried about him, but you didn’t want to make him more uncomfortable by staying there longer. So you glanced at your wristwatch, realizing it was already past 10.

“It’s late. I gotta go, I guess.”

You rose to your feet and took a few steps toward the front door when he grabbed one of your wrists and pulled you down. His strength had you practically sitting on his lap. Hotch's eyes drifted down briefly to your lips but went back up right after.

“...Aaron?”

“As you said, it's late, and you should stay the night.”

“Aaron, it's fine—”

“It's the least I can do.”

His intense gaze and firm grip around your wrist left no room to argue. You sighed and accepted his suggestion.

“Then I'll use the guest bedroom.”

“No, honey, sleep next to me.”

You blinked your eyes slowly, your brain trying to process that he had just called you 'honey' for the first time, and wanted you to sleep next to him.

“I won't do anything, I promise. I just— I don't think I can sleep alone.”

“Sure.”

You nodded and he led you to the bedroom, handing some of his clothes to you.

You lay on the bed facing him. He was giving you a look you couldn't quite decipher.

“What?”

“Nothing,”

Hotch smiled ever so slightly and you would've missed it had you not known him so well.

“Just, thank you for stopping by.”

“You're welcome, Aaron.”

You returned his smile, but only bigger.

“Good night, Y/N.”

“Good night, Aaron.”

He watched you sleeping for a while before falling asleep himself, adoring the way you are looking so peaceful.

“Morning,”

Hotch was leaning against the doorframe, each hand holding steamy mugs. His shirt hugged him perfectly, his tie hanging loosely around his neck.

“Morning,”

You replied sleepily, and asked,

“Feel better?”

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

He smiled, genuinely this time. You realized how much you loved to hear his morning voice and see his smile.

“Come on, I made some breakfast.”

“Never knew you could make pancakes.”

“I try.”

"These are amazing, Aaron."

When you finished the pancakes, his 'that' look showed up once again.

“What?”

“Nothing. You need to get changed, right?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I'll drive you home.”

“I drove here yesterday.”

“You can pick up your car later. It's the least I can do."

You shrugged, secretly liking the idea of Hotch driving you home.

When you arrived at the 6th floor of Quantico with him, he whispered,

“Have a nice day, Y/N.”

“You too, Aaron.”

Hotch watched you walk away towards the other side of the hallway for a long time.

[cheeseceli]

It's okay

Pairing: I.N × Gn!Reader.

Genre: hurt/comfort.

Summary: you feel like everything is falling apart, but your boyfriend is there to hold you close.

Warning: mention of blood; mention of food; Y/n is pretty much in a breakdown; not proofread; some cursing.

Author's note: this happened to me but I had no i.n with me lmao😔 hope this might bring comfort to anyone who needs it

"Y/n?"

The voice of your boyfriend woke you up from the confusion that was in your mind as soon as you heard him, noticing the worried expression his features had.

"What?"

"You've been staring at this glass for a while now. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah" you started drinking from your glass of water, avoiding any other question. The cubes of ice had already melted "everything's alright."

"Okay then. Uh... do you want to order food? We can eat that guioza that you've been dying to try. Or we can just have the usual."

"Just order whatever you'd like."

You stood up and went to the kitchen, feeling guilty for treating Jeongin so cold-heartedly when he clearly was worried about you. But you really, really didn't have the energy to talk in the moment. And even if you did, you doubt anything good could get out of your mouth right now. So you were going to wait.

Wait until your problems disappeared, or until you were brave enough to face them. Whatever came first. But honestly, you didn't expect that any of the previous options would actually happen. You were just waiting for everything to get worse and dry you out. Those last days couldn't have gone worse and now you're just playing this game where you try to guess what horrible thing will follow in the list of disasters in your life. Maybe someone steals your phone tomorrow. Or you can break an arm before going to bed tonight. Maybe your university catches fire, your boyfriend breaks up with you and you receive a call from your parents telling you you're a dishonor. The possibilities are infinite.

Whatever the case is, you just feel something bad will happen, as apparently you have no control over your life anymore. Nothing happens as you plan it, it doesn't matter how hard you try. In the end, you can't stop unpleasant situations in your life, like letting the glass slip from your hands. Very next thing you know is the pain in your foot as the glass shatters next to it.

"Y/n? What was that sound?"

"Nothing"" you tried to keep calm and not involve I.N in your mess, even though you knew it wouldn't work. Not a second passed by and you could hear his footsteps coming closer.

"Oh shit."

"It's okay, I'll clean it."

"No, Y/n, stop. You are barefoot and already bleeding."

"It's just a small cut."

"Still a cut. C'mon."

You didn't quite understand at the moment, but when he searched for the nearest pair of shoes available to wear and took you in his arms you got it: he was bringing you brided style to the bathroom.

"You're overreacting."

"Just sit down, please." He placed you in the sink and started an inspection on your cut, analysing how bad it could be "does it hurt a lot?"

"No. I told you it's just a small cut."

"It's not that small baby. What's going on?"

He was focused on cleaning your wound and didn't really look at your face, but you knew he was paying attention to every small movement of yours. You could see he was trying to help you. For a second, you really wanted to be helped.

"Was it really that obvious that something's wrong?"

"It's the second glass that you break this week. Besides I know you well."

"Sorry 'bout that by the way."

"I don't care about a glass, Y/n. I just want you well. Can you tell me what's bothering you?"

"It's just..." now his eyes were on you, and you could notice how much he truly cared about you. Funny how just his eyes could lift a lot of weight out of your shoulders "I don't know, everything's seems wrong. My backpack ripped in the subway, my friends love to say shit about me as if it's the funniest joke ever, my family's dog is sick, I didn't have a proper meal for more than a week and this is a never ending list. I know I must be being dramatic as hell right now, but to be fair, I feel like I'm on the edge of a breakdown."

"Baby" I.N dried one of your tears with his thumb. You didn't even notice you started crying "it's okay to feel like that. You're not being dramatic at all. After such a hell of a week you deserve to let your feelings out. What about I cancel that order, I cook your favourite to you and we sew your bag later?"

You have him a small smile, glad you had someone so great by your side, someone who knew how to be there for you "I'd like that very much."

He smiled as well "Great."

Jeongin stood up so he'd be able to give you a proper hug. Your boyfriend wasn't the touchy type usually, but he was really great at giving hugs, so whenever a moment like this happened, you tried to savour every minute.

"We can go to your parents' house tomorrow if you'd like. Maybe your dog will get better by your side."

"It's a three hours drive."

"I'm a good driver."

You smiled, hugging him tighter and pressing your face into his chest "thank you."

Reblogs and feedback is always appreciated!

Dividers by @cafekitsune

[fictionfixations]

secret yanqing avatar

okay so this is for the people who didnt know (i just found out) that you can unlock a yanqing pic by dueling his boss fight and having specific characters do the last hit (from this post)

below is the chat he has with you after you do everything to unlock it (scrolling down will show what you need to do to unlock it)

Yanqing: Trailblazer, do you have time to chat? Trailblazer: I'm quite free right now. Chat away Yanqing: [pleased yanqing emote] Great! Thanks I don't know if it's because of the pressure of the Wardance ceremony or something else I keep dreaming about dueling different opponents ...I don't remember much about the dreams, but... I think I lost so many times Yanqing: Trailblazer, do you have time to chat? Trailblazer: I'm quite free right now. Chat away Yanqing: [pleased yanqing emote] Great! Thanks I don't know if it's because of the pressure of the Wardance ceremony or something else I keep dreaming about dueling different opponents ...I don't remember much about the dreams, but... I think I lost so many times Trailblazer: This is a manifestation of being overwhelmed by stress Yanqing: I see Even though I was dreaming, the opponents each time were different I remember there was a spear trial, an épée trial, a greatsword trial, a glaive trial... I even fought myself once But no matter which trial it was, I keep feeling it had the vaguest of connections with you, Trailblazer It's like you brought these opponents to face me... Trailblazer: I admit, I sent all the opponents you faced while dreaming Yanqing: Trailblazer, you're such a joker It was just some hazy dreams that I had "That which one thinks about during the day is what one dream about at night" These dreams must be a projection of my desire to spar with you, Trailblazer So, I'm thinking... Can you... Trailblazer: I completely understand now. You want me to come and give you some guidance Yanqing: Exactly If you have the time, please enlighten me It feels so much better to say what's on my mind. Thank you. I shall bother you another day Trailblazer: Sure. Talk next time

LOOK AT HIM HES SO CUTE

he is precious bby

so anyway its (idk if you can use 5 star dan heng, i used 4 star him because i didnt feel like doing it twice if 5 star didnt work)

Wardance...? Use ally Yanqing to deal the final blow in a victory against Yanqing.

Wardance: Soulsteel Trial Use ally Jingliu to deal the final blow in a victory against Yanqing.

Wardance: Greatsword Trial Use Sushang to deal the final blow in a victory against Yanqing.

Wardance: Épée Trial Use Luocha to deal the final blow in a victory against Yanqing.

Wardance: Spear Trial Use ally Dan Heng to deal the final blow in a victory against Yanqing.

Wardance: Glaive Trial Use Jing Yuan to deal the final blow in a victory against Yanqing.

Wardance: Armament Trial Use ally character Feixiao to deal the final blow in a victory against Yanqing.

i dont think it counts if you fight like a low level yanqing cause i tried like against lvl 50 i think for sushang cause i didnt have her built but the achievement didnt appear so i had to pray she didnt die (i tried using aven but he kept killing yanqing before sushang could cause of his follow up so i used double harmony for more dmg and prayed that sushang wouldnt die and it WORKED 😭)

..apparently it can count on lower level? i dont know. in any case i didnt face any trouble after switching to a higher difficulty instead so 🤷 idk i guess. uh. if you do decide to do a lower level be cautious? you might need to do it multiple times for it to register that u did it and give the achievement??

[jamiedc-they-them]

Good People Part V - Can't Be For Nothing (Platonic)

Summary: War. Revelations of two-hundred years ago, and of a night that won't leave your mind. A new world is seemingly born; as is a new family.

Episodes 7/8

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Note: Thank you all for following this journey! I will probably do a post mortem on it; exploring my ideas going in, what changed and such. Hope you enjoy it when that comes! I'll link it here when I write it!

"We don't have oysters in my vault," Lucy says, making you and Maximus turn around, "we have canned tuna. But, if you like oysters, I'm pretty sure you'll like canned tuna," you both don't know what to say. You both look at each other, then back at Lucy, and just nod. Maybe. Maybe not.

She chuckles, nervously. Then --

"I was supposed to marry a stranger from another vault," she blurts out.

"I thought you were meant to marry your cousin?" you question.

"Wait, what--?!"

"Well," Lucy says, correcting you on the timeline, "I was. But, I didn't really want to. I didn't feel a - connection. I guess I...I did with this one...as he - as he, uh, as he stabbed me. But, look, my point is, I don't have the best luck when it comes to strangers. But...Titus...Y/N...you are the best strangers that I have ever met. You're good people. You deserve nice things. You deserve a home, and a roof over your head. And to not have to fight anymore. And, if you wanted to, you could both come and live with us in Vault 33."

There's a look in her eyes as she looks at Maximus - Titus, the knight who isn't a knight; he'd told you before the whole thing in the vault happened. Sure, you didn't like being lied to about his identity; but, a good person was a good person - and it's a look you've seen before. Romantic love. Attraction. Even out here, it blossoms.

You never wanted that in your life. Friendships were enough for you. So, as quietly as you can, you back away. You go through the doors, letting your friends have their moment together.

It gives you a moment to process. Maximus. Why'd he be honest with you at first? Why not lie. Maybe it was getting too hard for him. Maybe he thought, one slip would be ok. He bet right, it seemed. You didn't tell anyone. Maybe you were a good person. Maybe you did deserve a second chance at life. Another sis-

"Hey," Lucy says, as she leaves with Maximus. He nods to you, you nod back.

"Are you both all square?" you ask.

She looks to Maximus, nodding with a soft smile, "yeah, we're good," she looks back to you, "you ok with a roomie in the vault?"

You look at Maximus, "he ain't so bad company, for a non-red," he snorts at your wording, "I think we'll manage."

Lucy nods, a spring in her step as she walks, leading the way, "let's go get that head, and go home, huh?"

Maximus stands next to you, "ready to go home?" he asks, looking at you.

"Yeah," you say, arms folded. You bump your arm on his, "let's go home."

You, finally, find Thaddaeus, as he sits near a radio station. You see the booby traps, but all three of you pause. Perception working in tandem.

Gunshots are next. However, luck seems to intervene. They all miss. Still, the hands go up. You're not a threat to him. You just want the head.

If anything, though, he's a threat to himself. As he backs up, an arrow goes through his neck. However...he lives still.

His reaction:

"Aw, no! Awwww!"

Then you hear it. Your pulse picks up. Your hand goes into a fist. You feel the nails break skin.

Vertibird. The Brotherhood are here. Your breath picks up.

Maximus breaks one of the heads left behind. He says things to Lucy, then to you. He looks concerned, but doesn't have time to help. He gives you a light push. Lucy takes your hand. Everything sounds underwater. The only thing you can hear is that fucking Vertibird.

You follow Lucy. She keeps a grasp on your hand. You take her gun, just in case.

You make it far away. Or, what you hope to christ constitutes too far away.

You lean against a dead tree, going down to your knees.

Lucy puts the fresh - well, not really fresh, but new - head into a bag and ties it to her belt, before kneeling down next to you. She's seen you feel. But, never to this extent.

"Ok. Ok. Okey Dokey, Luce, you can do this. You can do this. Your friend needs you. Your friend needs you," she tells herself. The old self is still there.

"Y/N?" she asks, softly, "Y/N, I need you to look at me. Focus on my voice," she says. Chet would sometimes get overworked with things. So, she had some practice. But never with someone so trapped in themselves as you.

"Are - is touch ok?" that breaks through, and you nod.

"Ok. Ok, that's - that's, uh, that's good. That’s good, Y/N,” she may be out of her depth - but you need her, and so she’d do all she could, “that’s good. Can you try to take some breaths with me?”

She takes a deep one in. You follow. She sees you now. Whatever the Brotherhood had done before, it had destroyed you.

“Do you wanna tell me what happened?” she asks.

“Just…” you take some more breaths, “just bad memories of the Brotherhood,” you chuckle, but it’s anything but a laugh, “Jesus, Luce. Whatever is in that head, it’s gonna change the world, whoever get their hands on it. You know,” you say, smiling a bit, “we could just run. You and me, huh? Just not let anyone get that fucking head.”

Despite what Lucy would leave behind, she smiles, “it’s a nice idea,” she says, “but, I need to get my dad back. I need to know why Moldaver took him. I need to put this all behind me, one way or another. That,” she stands up, and offers you a hand, “and I made you a promise. A place in my vault. Safety. This place sucks, but it sucks a lot less with someone by my side. And, I’m not leaving you. I’ll wait as long as I need to.”

You’ve seen loyalty like that before. Or had seen it. It hadn’t been followed through on. But, here was someone who you had known for two weeks, who was following through on a thing someone who you had known your entire life didn’t do. 

So, you nod. You can tell her later your full trauma. Right now, she needs you. 

You take her hand, and continue along your way. You hope Maximus is ok. And, selfishly, you hope he can buy you the time you need to get this done. 

You make it to your destination. Finally, People with guns surround you, but neither of you flinch. The doors open, and in you go. 

You walk through a garden, seeing kids running around. A community. Home. Safety. Family. Life continues on, even throughout all of this shit.

Lucy and you get to the entrance to the observatory. Lucy is let in, but you aren’t.

“No,” she says, voice firm, “they come too. They’re family. Moldaver doesn’t get this head if Y/N doesn’t come with me.”

Begrudgingly, the man lets you pass. 

You reach the doors.

“You ready?” you ask your best friend. She takes a deep breath in, and nods.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Hey,” you say, nudging her, “I’m right here, ok? Like I said, offer still stands.”

She smiles, “I know.”

You enter the room. It’s a grand view, you’ll give it that. See almost the whole wasteland from here. 

You stay back, keeping an eye on things from afar.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about this moment,” Lucy says to Moldaver, “you wouldn’t believe the things that went through my head. One night…I, I actually tried to stuff a grenade into the neck hole; but, I guess I thought that, really, I was gonna walk in here and…blow everybody up. But it's not really how I was raised. That, and I was stopped by that person over there,” she nudges her head to you. You give a wave, a sarcastic one as you then go back to keeping an eye on thing. So, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna keep things civil.”

Moldaver takes what she needs. It wasn’t his head after all. It was his neck. A blue, small, shining little thing that caused all this bloodshed?

She then makes Lucy an offer. One to fully learn who her father is. To fully understand how Moldaver knows him; and why she did what she did. 

Her father tries to make her not listen. He even looks to you, “you can stop this, you know. She’s your friend, protect her!” He demands.

You look at him, and a part of you wants to. You look at Lucy, she does a slight - almost unnoticeable, but not to you - shake of her head.

“It’s her choice,” you say. The man snarls at you.

Moldaver continues. She tells a story. A story about how her father had been around for a long time. 

“Part of an organisation that thought they had the answers to all the world’s problems…” she continues the story. Saying about the people he was a part of. Vault Tec.

“He never told you where he’s really from, when he’s from. He never told your mother, either…”

Lucy takes the bait. Your hand moves towards your gun. Her father may be in a cell, but he’s a dangerous man - who has been around for a long time.

Lucy is described as just like her mother: kind, loving, curious.

“Isn’t that why you came to the surface? Moldaver asks, “partly to rescue your father, but…to know why I took him.”

Lucy looks at you. She’s been read like a book.

Moldaver then looks to you, “have I seen you before?” 

You look at Moldaver, tilting your head before shaking it.

She studies you for a moment. Then, her eyes light up in realisation. They’re not cruel, though. Just realisation. That’s the only look in her eyes.

“Ah. Y/L/N, right?” she takes your frozen stance as a ‘yes’ before continuing, “I knew her.”

“...’Knew’?” you ask, throat tightening.

“Stop,” Lucy’s dad says. You don’t know why. There’s a slight ringing in your ears.

“Lucy deserves to know the truth,” Moldaver spits at the man, eyes still firmly locked on yours, “so Y/N does too. You came all this way with her, to deliver something for someone you didn’t even know. That sounds like your sister to me,” it’s not said tauntingly. It’s not said with any negative connotation. It’s just simply said. 

“You knew her?” is all you can repeat.

Moldaver nods, “I did. She thought you died out there, that night the raiders came. The night the Brotherhood made their own mess of things. She survived. Barely, but, she did survive. We took her in. She helped us anyway she could. Some sort of thanks, but also I think a punishment to herself for seemingly losing you,” you look to Lucy, who looks in concern, but also a hunger to know - to know about herself and her mother, and how her father ties into all this; a hunger to know about you, about what made you this way. 

Curious, as Moldaver said.

“She was a fighter,” Moldaver continues, “just like you are. Sure, you can shoot and hit things. But, you, no. No, you are more in battle up here,” she says, tapping her head, “now, that is a battle I can fully respect. It isn’t easy fighting a battle like that. Wanting to hurt people, and yourself,” your eyes drift, meeting the eyes of Lucy’s father. He doesn’t say anything.

“No, don’t look at him,” Moldaver says, “he doesn’t care about hurting anyone. He’d hurt his own daughter before he got hurt himself.”

“How dare –!”

“How’d she die?” you ask. The words were easier to come out than you thought. Your eyes go back to Moldaver. Your fist clenches again. You feel it pierce skin.

“I think you know,” Moldaver says, a bit of empathy slipping through.

You blink, or try to blink, the tears away, “raiders.”

She nods.

You cave inwards. You hear your heartbeat. You hear echoes of your sister’s voice. You feel everything you did on that night. The fear. The pain as a wound opened up from a knife. The relief at the Brotherhood arriving. The dread at them just cutting everything and anything down. You played dead. You remember waking up hours later, on top of the rotting pile of one of your friends who had left you for raiders. You remember looking around, not finding your sister. The panic. Then the pain. Then the rage. Then the numbness. You lost…it couldn’t have been years, could it? It could’ve been for all you knew. You just wandered. And hurt. Sometimes even got pissed on. Sometimes did the pissing. You were sometimes the victim, and sometimes the aggressive. Sometimes innocent. Sometimes guilty.

You hear the alarm, then feel someone grab your arm. Your eyes open, it’s Moldaver. She nods to the door. Your fingers are removed from your flesh. You gasp. Moldaver gives you a pat on the arm, before leaving with her people. You run to the massive hole in the building, seeing the Brotherhood arrive. You pray with everything in you that Maximus isn’t in one of the suits. You look to Lucy, then nod. You go to the door. 

As if having sixth sense, Lucy turns around and sees you heading for the door, “where are you going?!” she asks, alarmed.

You pause at the door, hand hovering just over the handle. 

“Y/N? Where are you going?”

You don’t turn to look at your friend. Instead, you shut your eyes and answer:

“I’ll buy you some time.”

“What–? What, Y/N that’s - that’s suicide!” She moves forward, grabbing your arm, making you turn to look at her.

What she sees makes her pause.

It’s the same look she gave Norm when she hid him. A protective fire. One that could be used for limitless energy just like the Cold Fusion that everyone was fighting over.

It’s then. Right then and there, she lets herself say it to herself.

Sisterly. It is sisterly, how she feels towards you. You were like Norm, someone she just accepted and would do anything for. You’re family. 

You seem to have that same realisation. Given the look in your eyes.

It is the sibling telling the other: I will sort this out. Do not come out until then. I love you.

But, instead of a camera reel burning to project the living hell being brought down upon you all. The whole world seems to be burning that fiery red instead. Burning and crumbling down all around you.

Just like with Norm, that assurance doesn't work. She grips your arm tighter.

“Please.”

You put the hand that was hovering around the door on top of hers, squeezing it.

“I’m coming back,” you promise.

“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”

You shake your head, “I ain’t. ‘Cause them out there, they’re fighting for power. Some, dumb thing such as that in a world that lost control years ago.”

“Then - then why are you going out those doors?” 

You smile, “I already let one sister down. I ain’t doing that again.”

With that, you pull your arm free, and open the door. You give Lucy one more nod, before shutting it behind you.

She gulps. Then she hears ringing in her ears. As all that she has learned about her mother, father, upbringing, everything, comes crashing down upon her.

You remember one of your first kills. A man was trying to kill yourself and your sister. He had knocked her out. He had punched you a few times and the world was spinning. You had spat blood onto the floor as the man moved over to your sister. With whatever strength you had left. You got up, charged him, and had him on the floor this time. You punched him a few times, before sticking your teeth into his neck. His gurgled scream didn’t mean anything to you. You just had this anger. This protective fury to you. You ripped out the piece of his throat that you had taken, spitting it out. 

Your sister was standing next to you the next moment, you both watching the man bleed out. She only reached a hand out to you. You took it. You held it for a while after. A bloodsoaked hand. But a promise to never let go. To keep going together.

Fate had other ideas. The Brotherhood had their goals. But they mistook you for raiders it seemed. Or just couldn’t see shit in those helmets of theirs when they started firing. It was only you and your sister and at that point, you didn’t mourn them much. But, that fire of knowing - or, at least, knowing as you did at the time - that your sister had been seemingly killed as well…it made you punish yourself. It made you never fully heal after fights. It made you never fully accept help.

And yet, that damn Lucy Maclean had come into your life, and given you something you never thought you’d have again:

Hope. 

You remember that hope as you fir each round - you are a decent shot, especially for someone who has no actual training with them - and hit most of your targets. You take weapons from fallen people where you could. 

A bullet hits your piece of cover. You heard footsteps. Your latest weapon had clicked ages ago. So, you wait…and wait. And then –

You dive, tackling the person to the floor. They block a punch, before you get one in and –

A bullet slams into your shoulder, sending you to the ground.

“No!” you hear a familiar voice say. You blink, adjusting to the searing pain and the daylight. It’s Maximus, with a friend of his, “they’re my friend! They’re my friend!” he says.

“Oh shit!” his friend says, dropping to one knee, dragging you out of the way. The war itself is distraction enough.

“Where’s Lucy?” Maximus asks you.

You have a hand to your shoulder. One his friend removes as they put a Stimpack into your arm. You groan at it, before answering him:

“Upstairs…with her father.”

“Is she alive?” 

“The more you piss around here, not likely,” you say.

Maximus nods. He looks to his friend, “go,” they say. He nods, and pats you on the arm and leaves. 

His friend stays with you, “I’m sorry,” they say.

You nudge your head to the door, “go. Don’t get caught out here.”

They look like they wanna stay, then realise why you’re saying that. The Brotherhood are brutal. They only let Maximus live due to loyalty. They nod, leaving too, but a few extra rounds find their way onto the floor.

Good deeds and all that, Lucy would say.

The battle seems to be dying down. And you are just plain dying. Another shot had hit you. This one closer to your chest. You had stumbled your way into the building, seeing dead Brotherhood members around you. 

You collapse, growing weaker by the moment. You hate it, having your promise be broken. But, you tried. You fought them off as best you –

“Aw, hell,” you hear a gruff voice say. A hand grabs your arm, and you are hoisted up; your arm going around someone’s shoulders, “we gotta stop meeting like this, sunshine.”

You look, and see the Ghoul who had taken you hostage.

“Ah,” he says, “don’t talk. You’re the silent one. I like that about you. Only talk when necessary,” he begins to move you to the stairs, “now, don’t worry about these ones. They’re all taken care of. But, I do need a word with Mister Maclean. And, I do think that if little Miss Lucy finds out I left you to die, she might do more than rip off my finger, this time.” 

He gets you to the room. He opens the door and goes in, leaning you against a wall. You stumble in as best you can, looking worse and worse by the second. 

“Uh-uh,” The Ghoul says when Hank Maclean looks at you, “don’t look at them. You look at me, now,” Hank complies.

You make your way over to Maximus and Lucy. Getting to the floor with at least a bit of grace. Lucy looks at you, eyes going wide.

You reach out with your hand not on your wound, and cover Lucy’s. A bloodsoaked hand. But a promise to never let go. To keep going together.

“You look out at this wasteland,” the Ghoul says, “it looks like chaos. But there’s always somebody behind the wheel.”

He knows Lucy wants to know how he knows her father. But makes an offer. You can stay here, wait for Maximus to wake up, but you won’t be spared - hell, you were by a sheer stroke of luck - or, you go with him, and meet your makers. 

“You coming?” he asks you. 

Lucy squeezes your hand. Your vision goes hazy. Time is running out. A gunshot goes off. Lucy’s mother dies.

You feel hands on your arm as you are once again lifted up. Lucy is holding you. Even now, she’s gentle. 

You realise what you are then, to each other: an anchor.

Something pulling the other ashore. Making sure they don’t get lost in the madness of this world.

You feel a jab in your side. Another fucking stimpack. Christ you hope a dependance doesn’t follow with these.

You see the Ghoul again, “one for the road.”

You nod. To your surprise, so does he.

Lucy takes your hand.

“You ok?” she asks. You nod, feeling a bit stronger.

“Okey Dokey,” she says. This time, not as bright in tone. One that isn’t entirely flat either. More of relief, a tired relief. A want for rest. But also one that tells you she understands now. This world was dark and painful. There were few light spots in it for hope.

Her hand in yours, tells you she understood your own realisation. You are a bright spot in each other’s lives. A friend to always be there.

So, off you walk together. Her father was gone, in more ways than one. He had fled like a coward. She’d almost shot him. She wanted to.

Her family was now down to two members:

Norm - her little brother. The one she’d always protect.

And you - a sibling she found out here. One that would protect her just as much as she did you.

It wasn’t much. But it was something. 

It wasn’t all for nothing, coming up here. It wasn’t all for nothing, delivering that head.

A new world was coming through. It was fighting.

Now, it was the time for monsters. 

She was just glad you weren’t one of them.

[thescarletnargacuga]

Art: @iamespecter

CHAPTER THREE

Racing AU!

Pomni's first real race! Wish her luck! She'll need it when she ends up out of bounds and discovers that there may be a way out after all. What is Caine hiding?

WARNING: existential crisis, implied death

Pomni stared at the ceiling from her bed in her properly themed room. She didn't sleep a wink after yesterday's events. She spent the time just staring, thinking. "There must be a way out..." She mumbles to herself. "What kind of game is designed with no exit?" She closed her eyes and tried for the millionth time to remember how she got here. She held her hands out in front of her face as though she were holding something. "Headset...I put on a headset...to play a game. This game. Why did I do that?" She groaned as she struggled to remember. Everything before the headset was so fuzzy. Did the transfer to this realm screw with her head? It wouldn't surprise her.

Her train of thought is derailed by a knock at her door. "Pomni? You still sleeping?" It was Ragatha, there was a brief pause before she continued. "I'll let you get back to it if you are..."

Pomni got up and answered the door, opening it only slightly.

"There she is! I wanted to help you design your kart for today's race, since you don't technically have one yet. I don't think Caine will let you use his kart for every race since it's one that is directly piloted by him, seems a bit overpowered if you ask me." Ragatha laughed awkwardly and force a smile. Her eye was puffy and a bit red, she had still been mourning the loss of Kaufmo and was putting on a brave face for Pomni.

Pomni avoided eye contact and left her room. "Uh, yeah... I guess you're right. Do we have to race every day?" She followed Ragatha to the stairs.

"No, every race is optional but Caine encourages participation because every race, and what position you end in, is worth points and the person with the most points at the end of the season wins the Grand Prix."

Pomni gave a quizzical look.

"Yeah, it's the grand prize we're all here to compete for. Speaking of which, you're new and coming in in the middle of a season so you're way behind. I suggest participating so you can get that trophy!" Ragatha pointed to a glass case displaying an enormous gold trophy. The name plate on its base read: Grand Prix Champion Ragatha.

"So you're the one to beat?"

Ragatha giggled. "Yep, and between you and me, I think that's why Jax is so worked up this season. He was champion three seasons running before I finally dethroned him."

Pomni paused. "Is...that it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Our entire existence here...is going after a trophy?"

"Well...yeah. That's kind of the whole point of a racing game. It gives us something to compete over and keep our minds busy so we don't..."

"End up like Kaufmo?" Pomni said more bluntly than she meant.

Ragatha felt her blood go cold. "Exactly." She answered curtly, but regained her upbeat attitude "So, let's get you a kart!" She pulled a lever and a bare bones kart rose from the floor. "This is your station. You pick the parts you want from this terminal here." She pointed out the buttons on a pedestal next to the kart. "And the Bubble mechanic will put it together for you. Easy as pie."

"Pie?" A Bubble hovered to Ragatha, looking expectantly for a treat.

Pomni shrunk away from the Bubble, unsure of those huge teeth.

"No, no, that's not what I meant." Ragatha tried shooing away the Bubble.

"Piiiiiiiie." The Bubble got closer.

"No. No pie. Stop!"

"Oh, she totally has pie on her!" Jax called from his station, a shit eating grin on his face as the Bubble tried to bite Ragatha.

"Ack! No! Stop!" Ragatha jabbed her finger at the Bubble, popping it. "Sorry about that, Pomni. Sometimes the Bubbles are a bit...strange. But they are helpful! Just call for one and it'll appear for whatever you need. Caine is often very busy so the Bubbles take care of the day to day.

Pomni perked up at the sound of Caine's name. If anyone had information it was him. "About Caine. What's his deal?" She started to play with the kart settings as Ragatha spoke.

"He's not human like the rest of us. He's the A.I. that designs and builds everything from the tracks to NPCs. He essentially IS the game."

"But he isn't omniscient. He didn't know about Kaufmo."

"He's made claims about having 'hundreds of all seeing eyes' but I'm not convinced. So much happens right under his nose. Well, not nose, but you know what I mean. And he always seems so spacey or just flat out dismissive. It's infuriating!" Ragatha slammed her fist on the terminal, activating a paint selection. Pomni's kart was slathered bright pink. "Oops...sorry."

Pomni wasn't concerned in the slightest over the color. She was digesting everything Ragatha had told her. "So do you think he's doing it on purpose? Putting on an act?"

"...maybe, but no one really knows. Caine keeps his distance, and honestly, we prefer it that way." Ragatha rubbed her fist.

"Really?"

"Have one conversation with him and you'll see why. His programming has him so hyperfixated on racing that you won't get much else out of him."

We'll see. Pomni thought. She finished designing her kart. Going for a standard design with balanced stats to start with, on Ragatha's advice. Topping it off with a red and blue color scheme with gold trim to match her tracksuit.

"Perfect! Why don't you take it for a test drive? Would make for a better warm up that yesterday."

"Heh, yeah, it would. Alright."

"Hey, Gangle, wanna help me get Pomni ready to race for real?"

Gangle was repainting her kart, she liked having a different color every race. She turned and gave Pomni's and Ragatha an adorable smile. "I'd love to!"

~

Finally, the track was ready to go. Caine's creative drive was starting to get away from him with how large the projects were becoming. The race he had set up for today was the largest he'd ever built with some of the most advanced NPCs he'd ever programmed. This wasn't just going to be another race, this was going to be another step in the evolution of the game. Perhaps the humans would enjoy the more immersive experience. It was worth a try.

Caine puffed his pipe, small blue bubbles lazily rose and popped. He floated suspended in mid air just out of the bounds of the game, surrounded by the assets of his most recent project, deep in thought.

Kaufmo's abstraction weighed heavily on him, as all of them did, but It had been years since the last and he thought he finally figured out how to keep them stable. He was wrong. Again.

"Wait am I to do with them? Even in this space, I can only do so much. Why isn't it enough? HOW is the human mind so complex? I've been trying to figure them out since the day I came into existence and I STILL don't understand. What am I doing wrong?"

He thought of the most requested experience. An exit. He genuinely didn't understand it. It wasn't in his programming. He was designed to create, not to leave. He sighed and put away his pipe. "He would've known what to do..." He looked to the faded C&A logo that branded the skybox around him.

~

Gangle and Ragatha stood next to Pomni in her kart at the start line of the test track. "...and that button releases anything attached to that kart." Said Ragatha. "And this lever deploys the glider for the long jumps." Said Gangle.

Pomni's head was spinning. It felt like taking an actual class to learn what all the knobs and buttons did. "What does this do?" She grabbed a lever on the right side and the engine made a weird crunching noise.

"That's the-" Ragatha couldn't finish her sentence before Pomni rocketed away in reverse. "POMNI! BRAKE!"

Pomni slid to a halt about a hundred feet away. She looked closer and saw the gear numbers on the handle. "Oh, heheh, that's the shifter. Of course." Embarrassed, she slowly rolled the kart back to the start.

"Don't worry, we've all done that at some point." Gangle reassured. "Why don't you go ahead and take a few laps? Get familiar with how it drives."

Pomni nodded, made sure she was in the right gear, and drove off. Her kart felt significantly slower than Caine's rocket of a kart yesterday so she already felt more comfortable. She geared up and went faster the second lap. By the third lap, she was going full speed.

Ragatha and Gangle smiled as they watched Pomni's confidence behind the wheel grow. Zooble and Kinger joined them.

"How's the new kid doing?" Kinger asked.

"She's doing great!" Exclaimed Gangle. "She's taking to it like a fish to water. Today's race is going to be so much fun!"

"Of course it will be. You're in it." Zooble pressed a corner of their head to the side of Gangle's mask in a kiss gesture. Gangle giggled and blushed.

Ragatha had to get on the track. She had to see just how much of a competitive spirit Pomni had. She whistled for her kart, jumped in and took off.

Pomni was taking the high banked turn when a white kart zipped up next to her. Ragatha waved and pulled ahead. Pomni got the idea. She sped up on the straightaway and kept on Ragatha's tail. Ragatha kept her kart in front of Pomni every time she tried to pass. Pomni wasn't having it and faked Ragatha out by feinting left but then speeded around on the right.

Stunned, Ragatha watched Pomni zip away, giving her a few seconds of space. She smirked. "Not bad." She geared up and accelerated.

~

Caine teleported inside the garage. "Good day, my amazing armadillos! I- uh?" He looked around, only Jax was inside, throwing darts at the Bubbles.

"Oh, hey, Caine."

"Where is everyone?" He double checked his wacky watch. "They should be nearby." He shook it. Darn thing was acting up.

"Outside watching Pomni drive in circles. As if we don't do that every day." Jax lazily threw another dart, popping a Bubble.

Caine teleported outside and saw Pomni and Ragatha zooming around the test track at break-neck speed. "Holy Hannah Barbara, you're all just chomping at the bit to race! Not to worry! It's time for the main event!" He summoned a trumpet and played First Call.

~

Ragatha and Pomni stopped at the start when they heard the trumpet call, rejoining the others. Zooble offered their fist. "Nice driving." Pomni gave a small smile and bumped Zooble's fist.

"Racers! I'm proud to unvail the most advanced track to date!" Caine snapped his fingers and the test track blurred and pixelated around them. The world changed to a bright and colorful candy themed track that stretches out for miles out into the horizon. "Introducing, Candy Canyon Kingdom!" The stands were suddenly full of faceless NPCs again, cheering and applauding the racers. The karts were lined up in sequence behind the start line, ready to roll. "This lengthy race will take you across the vast landscape from the sugar powdered mountains to the fudge filled valleys! But you're not just there to enjoy the sights! You're on a mission! Princess Loolilalu needs you to find crates of maple syrup scattered across the land, but watch out! There are bandits and monsters about looking to steal your most precious cargo! Pick up syrup along the track and bring it back to the finish line with you! The princess will reward you handsomely for every crate you return!"

"That's right." Princess Loolilalu appeared from the castle that was once their garage.

Ragatha's mouth hit the ground. The candy princess had to be the most beautiful person she'd laid eyes on in the digital world. She quickly picked her mouth back up but fumbled trying to stick it back on. She gave up and just slapped it on upside down. "Your majesty! Wow- beautiful- castle, I mean! Love the vibe."

Princess Loolilalu giggled. "Please, call me Loo."

Ragatha flushed and finger gunned. "Will do, Loo!"

Zooble snorted a laugh. Pomni just arched an eyebrow and looked from Ragatha to the Princess. Kinger was nearly vibrating with happiness as multiple candy butterflies landed on his head and hands. Gangle took the time to look around where she stood, taking in the atmosphere. Jax was teleported along with his kart to the start line. He lounged back in the seat with his feet on the dash. Caine beamed with pride. The racers were happy, so he was happy. Today was going to be a good day.

~

Even though Pomni won yesterday's race, she was at the back of the line because she had the fewest points. Being in the digital world, she didn't have a heartbeat but she still felt a thrumming anxiousness in her chest, knowing that this time she's on her own.

First light.

She grips the steering wheel.

Second light.

She revs the engine.

Third light.

She exhales.

GREEN!

She floors it and takes off. The start opens to the flatlands first, their karts leaving a trail of flying pink dust. This dust is easily spotted in the binoculars of the lead bandit staking out for the racers.

"There they are." Behind the binoculars was the lead bandit, Gummigoo. He and his gummy gator companions watched from a cliff on the edge of the flatlands. "Saddle up, lads. Time to go get ourselves some syrup." His buddies revved their motorbikes, giddy with excitement. Gummigoo mounted his bike and took off down the cliff face, his companions not far behind.

Pomni and the others came to the first round of surprise boxes. She was about to collect one when Jax side swiped her out of the way at the last second. "Gotta be quicker than that, noobie!" He laughed, having successfully stolen the item.

Pomni kept control but lost some speed and couldn't retaliate against Jax. She opted instead to hit a booster lane that led to a jump and a syrup crate. She hit the crate and it tethered itself to the back of her kart.

~

"Pomni's the first to claim a crate!" Caine announced from his booth. "But the bandits have spotted them and are catching up fast!"

Bubble was with him, but instead of co-hosting, they opted to chewing the scenery. Literally.

~

Pomni dodges a flying shell from Kinger as the track splits around a mountain. She and Gangle end up on one side as the others split off. Their road becomes a bridge across a fudge rivene. She finally collects an item when she hears a third engine rapidly approaching. She turns to see Gummigoo, alone, gunning straight for her.

~

"The racers have split up! I can't believe this, folks!" Caine was hovering over the desk that displayed multiple points of view of the race. "Four racers have chosen to go down the valley, but with two bandits on their tail, I don't know if they'll make it out of there without the syrup falling into the wrong hands! Haha!"

Bubble nommed on the side of the desk and saw Caine's cane waving around in front of them. In that moment, everything looked like candy, so they chomped down. They left nothing but the top part in Caine's hand.

"You parasite!" Caine popped Bubble and telescoped his cane back to full length.

~

Pomni activated her item and an old work boot appeared. Hoping it would help, she tossed it behind her at Gummigoo. The boot flew over his head.

"Ha! Missed me!" But a shadow overhead made him look up. The boot had honed in on him, grew impossibly large and came down on him with a cartoony splat. It vanished and Gummigoo had been squished down to tiny size, making him much slower for bit.

"Nice one, Pomni!" Shouted Gangle.

~

Ragatha and Kinger had crates of syrup. Zooble got theirs stolen and Jax was more concerned with what would happen if someone fell into the river of fudge they were racing along. He got an item and smiled when he saw Caine's cane in his hand. He hit the brakes, forcing the bandits behind him to swerve apart, and raises the cane high.

"Who wants to go swimming?" He throws the cane and it flies in a wide arc in front of him, hitting everyone. They all spin out, Ragatha more so when Jax hits her kart and takes her crate for himself. "See ya, suckers!"

~

"OH! Not a very sportsman like move from Jax! But he's moved up to 1st and now has a huge lead on the competition!" Caine would be on the edge of his seat if he had one.

~

Ragatha spun like a top into Kinger, who hit Zooble, who hit the taller of the two bandits, who went into the fudge. The fudge roiled and churred and the bandit went under. The shorter bandit skidded to a halt to help his friend but then the fudge began to rise. A face emerged from the gooey chocolate and laughed a horrible rumbling laugh.

~

"Oh no, folks! It looks like the monster has noticed the racers! They better get out of there before they get fudged up!"

Bubble reappeared and casually nommed on a lamp.

~

Waves of fudge splashed towards them as the racers swerved around to avoid getting hit. "What is that thing!?" Ragatha screamed as she dodged a chocolate wave.

"I don't know, but things certainly just got more interesting!" Zooble shouted back.

Kinger casually pulled ahead, away from the monster. The track was going back up into the hills. He spotted Jax and activated his saved item. A purple seashell. It rocketed away and off in the distance, Jax got sniped. He celebrated with a quiet fist pump.

~

Jax got hit by the shell were the track merged to one again. Pomni zoomed by him but Gangle took advantage of him spinning out and stole his crate. "Thanks, Jax!" He angrily shook off the shell and raced after her.

Gummigoo quickly caught up to the three leaders pushing his bike to it's limit. He ignored Jax and tried to grab Pomni's crate. Pomni caught him out of the corner of her eye, hitting he brake and swerved at him to throw him off. He backed away with a growl, locking eyes with Pomni. He was going to take her crate specifically on principle for doing that. He got close again, much more aggressively, but this time, Gangle wanted to help.

She swerved at Gummigoo a bit too aggressively, hitting his bike and making him clip into Pomni's kart. The clipping attached them and their vehicles started violently shaking and jolting. They spun into the ground, causing the glitch to worsen until they were thrown from their vehicles.

Gangle and Jax moved away from the chaos and barely caught what happened when the vehicles were suddenly launched into the air out of sight.

~

Caine was so caught up in the monster mayhem, he missed the glitch. Not that he could hear his wacky watch over his own excitement as it alerted that a racer was out of bounds.

~

While the kart and bandit motorbike went skyward, Pomni and Gummigoo were thrown downward. They fell and fell and fell, the bright colorful world above fading to deep navy blue grided walls.

They both fell hard on the flat untextured ground. The wind knocked out of them both, they struggled to get up. Pomni looked up, then around. She vaguely recognized where she could be. It looked like the area she found herself in when she ran from Kaufmo. Caine's workshop, so to speak.

Gummigoo groaned and adjusted his hat. He glared at Pomni. "Where are we? What's all this?" He gestured to their surroundings, random parts maps and assets were everywhere.

Pomni rubbed her shoulder. "I- I don't really know. We're probably under the map."

"Map?" Gummigoo looked up. The light from above was barely visible this far away. "I don't understand."

"Oh boy..." Pomni mumbled to herself. "Well, we're ya know...in a game?" She said carefully.

Gummigoo looked at her like she was crazy. "Game? What game? I've lived a whole life up there! That syrup you racers where hauling would've saved my mum!"

"...you have a mom?" She was flabbergasted. This NPC bandit was acting like a real person being told their world is fake.

"Yes! She-...she was...She needs the syrup for..." His eyes widened. He couldn't remember the exact reason for his motivation. He couldn't remember what she even looked like. He angrily snapped at Pomni. "What is going on!? Why can't I remember!?"

She flinched, seeing real pain in his digital eyes. "Because...you don't really...um..." She looked to the side. Rows and rows of asset charters were lined up like chess pieces by height and genre. The newest ones were on the end. She looked back at Gummigoo with sympathy and pointed to the Candy Canyon bandit assets.

Gummigoo saw himself. He cautiously approached, reaching out to touch his face. It felt real. It was him but, no life behind his eyes. He jerked his hand away and saw his friends out of the corner of his eye, just as still and lifeless as himself. He started to hyperventilate and fell to his knees.

~

The others were on lap two. Jax, Gangle and Kinger successfully scored points for the crates. Gangle was worried. She kept looking up to see if Pomni's kart would come down, but the map was so big she couldn't see wear it could possibly fall on the track. There was also only one bandit now. The smallest of the original three was far less of a threat all by himself. He didn't know where Gummigoo went and he watched his friend get taken by the fudge monster. He was only going because he would finish the mission in their names. Gummi's mum needed that syrup and he was going to do it!

~

Gummigoo stared blankly at the floor. Everything was a lie. His life, his memories, the people he knew and thought he loved. Fake.

Pomni meanwhile was looking for a way back up. Of course, they could just wait for Caine, but who knows how long that would be. She didn't wander too far away from Gummigoo but had a good look around for a stairway or something. When that failed, she looked to the vehicle assets. The bandit bikes were there. Maybe they could use that? They glitched out of the map, maybe they could glitch back in. She tries starting a bike but it doesn't turn over. It's as lifeless as the other statue-like assets.

"[@#$&]" Pomni kicked the bike, only managing to hurt her own foot. She looked at the slumped over figure of the living Gummigoo. "Hey...you okay?"

He didn't look at her. "What do you think?"

She awkwardly fidgeted with her hands. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about?"

Pomni slowly approached. "I don't want to just leave you down here."

"Why not? I don't matter in the slightest. I'm...nothing." He took off his hat, holding it to his chest to find comfort in something familiar. Even if it wasn't real.

Pomni sat down next to him. "This may seem strange, but...I think I know the feeling." She sees the asset of him and quickly adds. "Well, maybe not the exact feeling, but feeling like you're nothing is not that uncommon. People even feel like that were I come from."

Gummigoo looked around and didn't see her face amongst the assets. "I assume you're not like me then?"

"No...not quite. But, for what it's worth. I'm stuck here too. I have no control over what's real or not, in this world or the other...but what I do have control over is what I do with myself. And I'm not going to take life sitting down. Are you?"

He thought for a moment. Then stood. "No. I'm not, but... What happens now?"

Pomni stood with him. "Well, I was thinking you could come back with me and the others. Become a racer. Maybe you could...be someone real with us. I just...I don't want you to feel like you're nothing. I don't want anyone to feel like that. And...the racers are pretty welcoming. Made me feel like I was a part of something rather quick. Maybe it can be the same for you?"

Gummigoo put his hat back on with a small smile. "You're a strange little character. I suppose I could give it a try." He looked to the assets of his companions. "All I ask is that we don't tell the lads. They're a couple of bright eyed yobbos. I don't want to drag them down with me."

"Makes sense. What's your name by the way?"

"Gummigoo, any idea on how to get out of here?"

"I had a few but they haven't worked. The only thing left to do is to walk."

Gummigoo looked to all the different tracks and assets. This was a weird and unknown world he was walking into. Made his head hurt. Ignorance truly was bliss in his case.

~

Bubble finally got fed up with the boss's wacky watch constantly going off and bit his wrist. Caine yelped and shook Bubble off his arm. "What was that for!?" The watch finally got his attention. "Oh no, a racer went out of bounds! The spoilers!" He vanished, leaving Bubble to munch on his equipment in peace.

~

Pomni and Gummigoo wandered aimlessly. There was no discernible pattern to where things ended or began. This "workshop", as Pomni came to mentally call it, was one of the most wildly chaotic spaces she had ever been in. Seems as though Caine was just as disorganized with his work as he was with his attention span.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Gummigoo pointed to a red door sitting out by itself in the distance.

Pomni squinted to read the print. She gasped. "An exit!" She ran to the door, Gummigoo right behind her. Her mind started to race with "what if". Could it possibly be THE exit? Was Caine hiding it here the whole time!?

Before she could grab the handle, Caine appeared between her and the door. "Pomni! My- oof!" Pomni ran smack into him.

Pomni grabbed Caine by the lapels of his coat and pulled him close to glare into his wild eyes. "Caine. What's that?" She pointed to the door behind him.

"Oh that? That's just a digital hallucination. Nothing to see there."

"I can see it too, mate." Gummigoo said flatly.

Caine snapped his fingers and the door poofed away. "You fell out of bounds, that's quite the fall. You probably hit your head. Come on let's get you back to the race. There is still one lap to go!"

"Wait, what about Gummigoo?" Pomni kept her grip tight.

"Gummi-who? Oh, your NPC friend here? What about him?" Caine shrugged.

"I want him to come with us."

Caine tried to figure out a response. "You want the NPC to rejoin the race? I can do that."

"No, I want him to come back to the Garage with us. I want him to become a racer. Caine, his reality has been shattered. He knows what he is. We can't just leave him with that knowledge. It would be cruel. Please, let him figure himself out like I've had to the last couple of days." She loosened her grip.

Caine looked from her to Gummigoo and back. "Would letting him join make you happy?"

Pomni looked back at Gummigoo. "Yes. I need all the friends I can get."

Gummigoo felt his first real emotion after the existential dread nearly drowned him. He felt comforted by Pomni's compassion.

"Welp, your wish is my command. Let's get you both back topside." He grabbed their arms and teleported to the start line. He snapped his fingers and Pomni's kart and Gummigoo's bike appeared. "Go on, you two! The race will be over soon!"

Pomni looked back at Caine from her kart. "Don't think I forgot about that door, Caine. I know what I saw." She revved her kart and zoomed off, Gummigoo followed.

Caine hovered by himself next to the start line. The roar of the NPC spectators faded into the background as his code felt heavy with dread. He needed to do something about that door.

~~~

Ch1 prev next

[arkhamabyssfiles]

Loading FILE... Nightwing_MEMORY_04 JASON TODD: AGE, 17 RICHARD GRAYSON: AGE, 20

Dick grinned when he pushed with his foot the back of the thug and tightened the rope making the man complain in his knocked-out state. This was the last one. He sighed and clapped his hands as if the criminals had some kind of dust he wanted off his hands.

“How are you doing over there, Little Wing?” He called to the other side.

“Done…and don’t call me that.”

“What? Why not? You’re just a little wing, your feathers are still all fluffy!”

Jason breathed out something under his breath he didn’t catch even if could guess. Dick smiled and wondered if this was like Bruce felt having a little bird at his side. It wasn’t bad…until it got bad between them. Dick scratched the back of his head, wondering at how much it had been his doing and how much it had been Bruce’s. In the end, it didn’t matter, he wasn’t going to live in Batman’s shadow all his life anyway—

The wailing of sirens made the imminent arrival of the gents in blue, Dick shot his grapple gun to the nearest roof and heard another one following suit. Once they had been far enough already and everything seemed to get quiet he stopped and so did Robin at his side.

Dick grinned, this was really fun! Having a mini-me was something he didn’t know he needed—too bad Bruce got to keep him most of the time. He pulled one of his scrima sticks and twirled them around while waiting for another call, a scream, or an explosion to break the constant buzz of Gotham’s nightlife. Meanwhile, Robin leaned back into a wall and pulled out a small screen to read or watch something while waiting. In this short moment of idleness after a busy night stopping a bank robbery from Two-Face, busting a couple of drug deals, and helping some cops capture one of the new violent gangs that erupted every few months, Dick’s mind returned to Batman, and how things weren’t as bad between them as he’d believed. If only Bruce were as good at communicating as he was at solving cases things wouldn’t have gotten this messy… But now Dick knew, even when the man still had failed to communicate properly, that he had always trusted him and been proud of him—to some extent, that later one was still hard to gauge—mainly for what it meant for B to ask him to take care of Gotham while he was away in JL business or simply when he got sick. Dick grinned at how silly it was he had felt so happy and eager when Bruce called, this time he’d even entrusted Jason to him.

Dick twirled his scrima sticks another time then tapped them on his legs, “You know, Robin. I’m glad you got to keep the suit up and about instead of it left behind gathering dust.”

Jason looked up, his hands frozen holding the small tablet, then hesitantly said, “I thought you didn’t like me having it—” 

“No? Ah, yes. I guess, it could’ve seemed that way…” Dick sighed, then twirled the scrima sticks and put them away into his back, “But it was more about B and me, you know. So let me clear things up,” Something Bruce rarely does, “you’re doing a good job at helping Batman and I’m thankful for that. Someone has to keep an eye on the grumpy old Bat—Bat-grumpy.”

Jason coughed, but Dick knew he had hidden a snort. Then he cleared his throat and asked still a little unsure, “So—we’re good?”

“Yeah. Yep! Don’t worry too much Little Wing, I know how hard B can drive your bones. Just—take it one step at a time and you’ll be fine.”

Dick could tell Jason was a little disoriented at how to respond, but he managed to utter a response, “I—yeah… Uh, thanks…I guess… This really means a lot to me…”

Dick smiled happily, “I know. That’s why I’m happy it’s you. Well—” Dick clapped his hands- “how about some burgers for dinner? Alfie said he wasn’t making dinner today.”

“That’s fine by me…”

Later, when they were eating in the Batcave, suits still on but the masks are gone, Dick could see that Jason had something in his mind and that he couldn’t make up his mind to open up about it to him or not. So after taking a big slurp from his soda, he put it down and asked him, “So how’s school?”

“Fine.”

“I heard you got into some trouble,”

“Yeah, nothing big. Just assholes being assholes,” Jason shrugged.

“Made any friends?”

“Kind of.”

Ah, so this is what it felt…Dick chuckled, “Come on, Little Wing. I can keep proving you all night until you decide to ask me whatever it is you want to ask me.”

Jason took a big bit from his double cheeseburger and chewed slowly while looking to the empty space in the table between them, then he swallowed and looked up while rubbing the back of his neck, “Have you—How do you know—What do you do—when someone says they like you?”

Ok, fine. That wasn’t what Dick had been waiting for, but holy-bat-macaroons, wasn’t he going to enjoy this one. Dick sniffed, nodded, and crossed his arms over his chest. “By any chance, that someone is 5 foot 5 inches tall, has long black hair, icy blue eyes, and lives in this Manor?”

“How did you know?” Jason asked mistrustfully.

Dick looked up and laughed, “Come on, Jason. She’s been after you since—well probably since she put eyes on you.”

“What? No…You can’t be serious. Are you for real?”

Dick started laughing harder, he was just so oblivious, wasn’t he? “I think the only one to not know was you…” Dick trailed off then he realized, “Wait—so she told you? And you didn’t suspect a thing before that?”

“How the hell was I supposed to know? For all I knew she’s like…that to…everyone…” Jason stopped and frowned.

“Ah, Little Wing. I feel bad for her now,” Except he didn’t and started laughing again. “She’s head over heels for you. Congrats,” Dick said teasingly fishing the last of his frays from the end of the bag.

“And what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“Do? Well—tell her you don’t like her if you don’t, or go out with her if you do. It’s not that complicated,” Dick said munching the fries.

“Go out–” Jason cut off then asked with heavy doubt, “Like date her?”

“Yeah. If you like her well enough. Though I don’t know why someone would…” Dick sighed and shook his head.

“You’re such a nice big brother aren’t you?” Jason pointed out dryly.

“I try…”

“Aren’t you bothered at all by this?”

“No. You’re a nice fellow. I even feel a little bad for you… All jokes aside, do you like her like that?”

“No,” He answered too quickly then rubbed his neck, “Well—I don’t—I don’t know. I don’t think I do.”

Ok, maybe now he might feel a little bad for Helena. Dick took his soda and swirled it around listening to the ice cubes rattle around. “Then for now, just don’t do anything. Figure out how you feel and then answer her. I don’t think she’ll hound you too much on that end, beyond how she was around you already.”

“But would it be fine—to tell her no? Or to say yes?” Jason was making the oddest assumptions here.

Dick raised his brows and chuckled, took a sip from his soda then grimaced. It was almost all water now, “If you’re afraid of getting in trouble for either one, then don’t. I’m pretty sure that Bruce had already seen this outcome as a possibility since he decided to take you in.”

“I—yes. I guess that does sound like him,” Jason said picking at his fries with little interest, then stopped and looked up again, “But, how do you even know when you like someone?”

Dick scratched the side of his nose, thinking. He’d always kind of just known, it had been as easy as thinking he’d wanted to spend more time with her or kiss her and hug her and all that stuff… But maybe it wasn’t as easy for everyone—for someone who had probably never seen a healthy relationship or never thought of it as a possibility to begin with.

“It’s kind of—you just want to be around them. To see them smile, or when they're sad you want to cheer them up so badly to see that smile again, and when you can’t you just sit at their side. When you think about them, it’s enough to cheer you up or make you smile. When you miss them and it was tomorrow so you could see them already. Something like that—”

“That sounds like the things in the books,” Jason muttered and his brows tightened as he tried to figure out, or imagine what was being told to him. Dick smiled shortly, it was good that he got the chance to experience this, but it was sad also that he could only think about what falling in love with someone meant, or that he could fall in love in the first place until now when someone was showing him how he was as deserving of such a basic thing as anyone else.

“What? And you think what is written isn’t true?” Dick asked.

“It seems so foreign at times that I—” Jason shook his head.

“Well, good news then! It’s true. But—don’t get too stressed over this, Jason. Figure it out at your own time.”

“Ah. I guess I’ll need time…” He accepted that fact easily enough at least, then he rubbed his neck and said awkwardly for the second time on the night, “Uhm—thanks.”

“You’re welcome!” Dick smiled happily, he liked being the big brother, and now he had–or was on his way to having a little brother.  “You can always ask me about these things, I know from experience Bruce won’t be very helpful even if you asked him about it. How he managed to get married is a wonder in itself…”

END OF MEMORY... For more FILES check previous entries...

[autisticlalna]

yesterday in the SBK Community Discord: i dont think cloning is, uh, ethical

(...says tumblr user autisticlalna.)

the question of the hour: why is Olm so dead-set on keeping people out of Limbo?

the discord tossed ideas around:

there's something down there he wants to keep hidden

he's trying to starve and weaken the Void so more potential pawns fall through

he's trying to keep people away from Avid

..although that last point brought up the question of "okay, why send Avid up, then". which i do have thoughts on but that's for another time, because the conversation shifted to: okay, then what's the deal with the clones? how does cloning people keep them out of the Void?

and then Avid weighed in.

THANKS, AVID. WHAT THE HELL

obviously, chat explodes. as tends to be the case whenever something like this happens. in the midst of the oncoming chaos, someone suggested mind control as a more "direct" solution. i mean, that's basically what he's doing to the clones anyway, so it's not out of the possibility. Avid shot it down:

OH.

OKAY.

we've seen Order 87 mentioned before.

we've seen it in the Avid Adventures discord, back near the start:

and we've seen it in the SBK discord itself, after Trog got tubed:

and i swear i remember a scene of Avid getting spooked and bolting away from somebody while yelling it, but i can't find a clip so you unfortunately have to trust me on this one.

but it's also been hinted at indirectly:

They?

okay, let's pull back a bit. a theory-slash-interpretation floating around had been that Olm had given Avid the order to "stop people from falling into the Void" and Avid had been the one that escalated it into tubing and cloning people.

but now we have confirmation that, no, that was Order 87. Avid was told directly by his boss to do all of that. as a reminder, Avid is still in contact with Olm:

"Give me... two weeks. Give- A week? Give me a week, I'll turn them around-- Okay. Alright. Okay. Okay. I love you too. Okay. Goodbye." ("Yo. I think he loves his boss.")

wait, okay, quick diversion. "Give me a week, I'll turn them around". this conversation happened before Trog's void dive. Trog was at the bottom of the Void for a brief moment from their point of view, but for everyone else they were gone for a week. guess Avid's deadline was up after the End expedition.

so... what does Olm want with a bunch of clones? why is this the plan?

why has Olm assured Avid that this is the way? because that phrasing makes it sound like Avid did think, hey, i don't know if this is a good idea. why did Olm convince him that this was the best option? tubing people i can understand, that's easy to warp into "keeping people safe". how on earth did Olm convince Avid that "making facsimiles of his friends" was a good idea? is it to further drive in Avid's isolation by making him surround himself with copies that also go along with Olm's orders?

but also im now remembering my original theory was that the clones were to fill in the obvious gaps where tubed people would be, and that would still track. after all, Trog got tubed for looking too close, and we have (stream-based) evidence that Cloneby doesn't remember everything Rubyco does. tube the ones that get too close, make a replacement that's more "compliant" and doesn't have the dangerous information. Trog can't tell more people about the person trapped in Limbo if they have no memory of it and no drive to go back into the Void, and meanwhile their original self is still safe and sound.

it's the safety that Avid cares about. he needs to follow Olm's orders if he wants a shot to escape Limbo, but Olm has consistently preyed on Avid's goal of helping people. he used Avid's protective instincts of New Salem to bait him into killing the Dark Lord and accepting the "consequence" of being trapped in Limbo, and now he's using Avid's fear of people getting trapped like he is to get him to do... whatever Olm's end goal here is.

maybe it also has something to do with the now-obligatory final comment that leads to lingering horror:

OH, COOL. THE CLONES ARE VOID FODDER. GREAT

the description of them not being as "potent" is interesting. something about the clones is... lesser. the Void consumes, but is left wanting. when the Void is left wanting, it begins to gnaw away at the bridges. that could escalate. a common idea that comes up in the discord is "what if Avid/Olm/OSSHA is trying to starve/weaken/kill the Void", but... we already have Marm's evidence that if the Void isn't fed with people, it starts going after structures.

if balance isn't restored, the Void might start eating the kingdoms themselves.

...but that's just conjecture. as always, we have pieces of the story, its just a matter of figuring out how to fit them together. honestly, out of Olm's plan, the clones are the part im most worried about. Cloneby creeps me out, and Avid's casual comment about being able to make more clones and them being less "potent" paints a concerning image of just how disposable they are.

i dont know how to wrap this post up. Avid, i think you have problems.

[halucynator]

END OF 2023

sorry to anyone who didn't want to be tagged xx

hi! most of you will know me as lucy (unless you're @m3ntallyunstable34 and know my real name lol)

so yes, i am lucy. and this is me reflecting on 2023 on tumblr because it seems like a logical thing to do considering this year sucked like 20% less (one of us is lying reference) because of all my amazing online friends. so yes i guess in a way this is a mutual appreciation post 🫶

@berryzxx you wouldn't believe me when i tell you you were the first mutual i didn't have to be all professional and got to be a crazy bitch with lmao so thank you for not judging me and talking to me like we're besties (we totally are btw bc i said so) mwahh

@longlivestv the loml literally owe my life to you bee 🫶🫶 you are one of the main reasons i'm friends with all of the people i will mention after, so tysm and thank you for being so sweet to me and i love flirting with you /hj ilysm 💗 also if im too young to fall in love why do you keep running through my brain? 😍😍

@loserdiaz one of the very few people i get to openly talk to and not feel weird doing it akshdasjhd ilysm april <33 and youre one of the only people i will ever admit has better pick up lines than me (thats a huge honour btw) so thank you for keeping up with me and flirting with me it makes me feel very special mwahhh and ily and we should totally snuggle by the fireplace you know i made those cookies you like (sab reference) 😍🫶

@weeping-in-the-willows thank you for being the absolute SWEETEST person to me <3 ilysm and btw you were my first discord friend and i'm so honoured about that ajshdnjfe you're so nice and ily and i hope you get everything you want

@theladyinwhite13 thank you for appreciating my unhinged comments and you're one of the few people who deserve to be told that they are funnier than me (i rarely ever give anyone this honour btw so its very special) and i think you might appreciate this reference 'so what if i just wanna be a little out of my mind'

@bodybetters and @its-tortle karo and tortle my beloved <3 ilysm you're like two of the BEST mutuals ever and i was so honoured happy excited (any other positive adjective) when i realised you followed ME back?!? i was literally so ajshdnjfe i can't even put it in words you're like my favourite people on this hellsite (affectionate)

@suugarbabe ajdhhgajsgf my pookie <33 you always stand up for me and ilysm for it youre the nicest to me what did i ever do to deserve you 😭❤️

@patrophthia omg the absolute sweetestt!! youre an angel and ilysm and i hope you have the best life every <33 ilysm thank you for being so nice to me and making me feel valued asjdhajksd i love youu

@theautistmwitch omg idk how youre still sane after hearing to my traumatising jokes 😭 ilysm mwahh❤️thank you for being so sweet to meee it makes me so happy <333 can't wait to traumatise- uh i mean make you laugh even more next year!

@kurtcobainsgreencardigan ajkshdad i had the time of my life 'bullying' [insert their name] (i dont wanna get cancelled yk just in case people actually like them) with you <33 [i mean you technically didn't 'bully' them but we bonded over that] you're so funny and sweet and ily<3

@catastrxblues nadine the loml <33 i LOVED chatting with you and ranting to you and reading your answers to my asks akgdskg im so glad to have you as a mutual and i would love to have some more ranting convos with you in the future haha asdhjhajsh ilysm mwahh <3

@nyctophile-me omg you're so sweet to meee 😭😭😭 ily you're like one of my favourite wives too you're one of the only people i will ever share sab with mwah ❤️❤️ id love to talk to you more next year <3

@magicandmaybe @andi-is-bored @alltheliars and @animallover4000 omg you're all so sweet and ily and we didn't really interact a lot this year but i loved chatting with you on discord 💕

@imperpetuallylost omg ilyy you're so unintentionally (or intentionally?) funny ahsjdnfne and i guess it's inevitable sorry sky but it looks like you (lea not sky) deserve to [redacted] goosebot and it's well deserved ajsjdjdne ily and id love to interact more with you next year <33

@london-affairs literally started talking to you like 5 days ago and we were flirting non stop that's CRAZYYYY ily btw pookie 😍

@m3ntallyunstable34 my literal best friend!! i absolutely love you mwah mwah mwah thank you for being my best friend and dealing with me for 12 years llama im shocked you're not insane yet ahsjsj ilyyyy ❤️

these are the mutuals that made me throw my phone across the room and scream in excitement when i realised THEY followed ME

also i will take this moment to thank all of you for making my year amazing and i love you all so much and i hope you have THE BEST 2024. thank you so much for being a part of my crazy blog i would never have imagined 438 people would find this silly little blog 🫶

@cassiopeiasdaughter @faultsline @underthenightskydreamsneverdie @theostrophywife @slytherinslut0 @imperpetuallylost @themidnightarcher @stvrlighhttt @psychedeliccc @prettybaby-grande @nqds @themidnightarcher @i-miss-you-im-sorry @cottoncandywhispers @svnflowermoon @finalgirllx @fallingforfictionalcharacterss @ashisgreedy @moonffe @suugarbabe @wordsarelife and @xobridgertonblues (i might've tagged some people twice sorryyyy)

[gray-ace-space]

so i'm pretty sure i'm demi.

not like, a 100%, but right now it fits, so that's what i've been calling myself.

every person or character i've been consistently sexually attracted to, the attraction appeared after i spent a lot of time thinking about them and getting to know their personality, their soul i felt like. even when completely parasocial - often parasocial, which is kinda sad, but anyway.

it's funny, because demisexuality is actually something i ruled out pretty early in my label journey.

i realized at some point i didn't experience sexual attraction nearly as much as allos, so i began to identify as gray. and i did know it was more common for me to feel it for people i cared about deeply, but i also thought, you know, that's just one of the factors, it's not really like a major pattern.

but over time, while i was running this blog, i kinda uh. figured out that 90% of the times i thought i was sexually attracted to someone were either

💜 aesthetic attraction - they are pretty and cool and i like looking at them, that's the same thing as wanting to see them in a sexual light right? (it was not the same thing)

💖 romantic attraction - i may be in love, i want to be emotionally close to them and exchange affection; i might have sex with them if they asked, provided we've built enough trust (also not the same thing)*

🧡 sensual attraction - i would like to touch them, so it logically follows i want to touch them sexually (nope)

or involuntary physical arousal caused by a sexual context (nothing to do with attraction at all and doesn't even imply actual enjoyment)

(*keep in mind that i am alloromantic. i catch feelings pretty easily.)

here's an interesting thing:

it's not just that romantic feelings for me don't immediately come with sexual attraction. in the majority of cases, the sexual attraction never develops at all, even if i build a connection with the person, even if i am fully in love. i have crushes that gain a sexual element, but most of my crushes are asexual. is this a graydemi thing? potentially! i would like to hear if this is the case for other demis and also non-demi grays.

basically, the longer i think about my sexuality, the more i realize i actually feel sexual attraction much less than previously thought.

the once in a blue moon occurence of me experiencing true sexual attraction always fucks me up though, because it's so intense. and i don't know if it only feels intense because i'm not super used to it, or because there's always an emotional investment there, but it's given me impostor syndrome.

and, you know, sometimes i have to remind myself that, oh, most allosexuals probably don't exclusively feel this way about like, 4 specific people in the first 23 years of their life. (sidenote, if you're allo, how do y'all function? do you get used to it eventually or are you just permanently made a little dumber by the horniness?)

i guess besides my consistent demi feelings i still have these random weak flashes of attraction to other people? which is why i still go with gray mainly. and aceflux is significant for me still, because it does seem to come and go in waves. but i just don't know, because these feelings don't come up often enough for me to fully figure out the patterns. if there even are patterns!

i'm still figuring this shit out! and i would not be able to get as far as i have if i hadn't started running this blog. it's taught me just as much as (i hope) it has taught you.

let this also be a reminder to you that people are bigger than labels. the words are there for us to understand ourselves and communicate better, but words are just words at the end of the day. "close enough" is good enough.

[lexxierave]

When Fate Intervenes- tasm!Peter Parker x Reader Part 3

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Days went by without the two of you thinking about the other. Something more important always came first. For you it was work and other classes. For Peter his time as Spider-Man seemed neverending.

It wasn't until the morning the two of you finally arrived for class that you noticed there was a change in seating. Notably the only two seats available were next to each other and that you were praying the other person was sick for the day.

It wasn't the case when Peter swiped into the seat next to you and gave you a weak wave.

"Mr. Parker. Ms y/l/n. Please see me after class." Mr.Hertz bellowed out as he continued writing on the chalkboard.

Some snickering would be heard around the room but you paid it no mind. Rolling your eyes before you get out your textbook and notebook to hopefully get down some good notes.

Peter still was a light embarrassed for being called out like that and sunk down a bit before following you and grabbing his own supplies out.

After the lecture the two of you waited as everyone else darted out the room. Some lingered to try and catch what the professor was talking to you two about but his stern look told them to leave.

"How's the experiment coming along?" He questioned when the two of you walked up to his desk.

"Well…" Peter began before you cut him off. 

"Splendly." You quickly said, "we were just about to grab something at the cafeteria and discuss what we could be lacking some more." You nudged Peter, hoping he'd go along with it.

"Yeah. Right. We were just about to do that. At the cafeteria." Peter's short phrasing not going unnoticed by you or the teacher.

"Well then I won't keep you but I expect a paper from each of you about what the other person could possibly be lacking by next week. '' Mr. Hertz warned.

Once outside the classroom you tapped your textbook to your forehead and gave out an exasperated sigh. So much for getting a nap in before work today.

"Alright, Parker lead the way." You said as you turned to your companion.

"What? You were serious in there?" He asked puzzled for a moment

"Yeah. So you coming or what?" You shouted over your shoulder as you continued walking.

"Yeah. Yep." Peter replied as he lightly jogged to catch up to you.

The two of you made it to the cafeteria and found a small table in the corner to sit at.

"So tell me something about you Parker?" You pointedly said.

"Uh. Where do I begin? I've lived in Queens my whole life with my Aunt May." He began to ramble off.

"Peter." You  laugh, put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, "Facts about you as a student. I'm pretty sure this whole thing has to do with that aspect of our lives." You told him your idea.

"Oh. Right. That makes sense." Peter muttered.

"You know for such a smart guy you sure missed such a basic thing. Maybe that's one of the things you're lacking." You pointed out.

"You might be right but then what is it that makes you lacking?" He quickly turned to ask.

"I don't know. I have a problem with turning in work I guess. I just feel it's so mondaine." You honestly told him, "I'd rather spend my time helping other people understand the work or reading than do the paperwork."

Peter could understand that. Half the time he didn't want to trouble himself with doing the needless homework that the professors tended to give him either but regardless he made sure to run through them before every class 

"I can understand that." Peter admitted "but for someone who doesn't want to make friends you sure do like helping people." He pointed out.

Peter was right. You do like to help people but that didn't mean you had to make friends with them. That takes more time and energy than you were prepared for, not to mention most of the people here weren't people you'd want to be friends with.

They were stuck more on themselves than actually making lasting friendships. And you didn't have the time or energy to give it to someone who wouldn't last in your life.

Peter and you were stuck in the same boat and didn't even realize it. The two of you needed each other more than you knew.

"It's complicated Parker, I'm not sure you'd fully understand but I've been burned too many times by fake people and I just don't have the energy for it anymore." You sighed, the weight of your words making you seem older than you are.

That interest in you started up in Peter again. What had happened to you in your past to close you off of friendships so badly?

There was something about Peter too that interested you. Sure you noticed him in class when he'd come in later than you, bruised up sometimes even. He'd always know the answer to the question the teacher would ask without even knowing the full question. It was fascinating, really. Made you want to know what went on inside his head.

"Well I guess we have what we need for our papers, see you around Parker." You said as you picked up your bag to leave.

Something in Peter wanted him to make you stay a little longer but he too had to leave for patrol.

"Yeah. See you later." He agreed as he watched you leave before coming back to reality and heading out on his own path.

The whole time on patrol Peter was trying to think back to seeing you in class but it was hard for him to do. He was more focused on hiding his identity and various bruises as best as he could. 

He was pretty sure he'd remember a pretty girl like you if he saw you but for the life of him he just couldn't place you and it was driving him crazy.

His thoughts were abruptly halted by a scream from a small convenience store near his apartment complex.

"Great. Just when I was about to call it a night." Peter groaned.

Part 4

[avisteliterature]

A Good Dream

Alfonse (Fire Emblem) x Reader)

RATING: General

GENRES: Hurt/ Comfort/ Fluff

WORD COUNT: 1,121

SUMMARY: Sometimes it feels like your time in Askr is a dream. Alfonse tries to prove to you that it isn't.

Alfonse's footsteps echo in the empty hallway as he heads towards the mess hall to sneak in a quick late night snack. The moment he goes through the doors, he finds a figure clad in darkness sitting at the table closest to him. Not having expected to find anybody here, his thoughts immediately go towards ridiculous conclusions like the one before him is a ghost or something, and he yelps out of instinct.

The figure jumps at the sound of his voice, letting out a short scream of their own. It's only then that Alfonse recognizes the one before him as none other than you, and he places a hand over his chest to calm his racing heart. "You scared me!" He accuses.

"I scared you?! You're the one that suddenly screamed behind me without warning!" you shoot back, equally accusatory.

You stare at one another in silence as you process the situation before huffing and shaking your heads in fond exasperation at both of your unbecoming behaviour. The two of you are a bit more meek now that your fears have subsided, and you both utter out a small but sincere apology to each other. Alfonse glances behind you, finding a small candle placed atop the table beside a mug of what he can only assume to be your preferred drink of choice.

You follow his gaze, note what he's staring at, and then bring your attention back to him. "Do you want some?"

"I can make my own," he answers, but you stop him before he could leave to fix himself a mug.

"Allow me," you insist, and Alfonse has no choice but to relent.

You hum, seemingly satisfied, and you leave him alone for a moment. The prince decides to take a seat and waits for you to return. You had taken your own mug with you, he belatedly notes. He idly wonders to himself if perhaps you had just finished up, in which case, he was probably holding you up. He hears footsteps approaching, prompting him to look up and finds you walking towards him with two mugs in hand. Apparently you had gone to refill yours while you were at it.

"Thanks," he offers his gratitude and accepts the drink. The two of you sit together in silence for a moment, taking occasional sips from your respective mugs before Alfonse decides to break that peace with a concerned question. "Is there something keeping you up?"

You offer a distracted hum. "Mm, I guess." You don't provide any further explanation or insight and instead change the focus to him instead. "Why are you still up?"

Alfonse sighs. "I wanted to get some more training in for the day. I feel as though I'm falling behind the more recently summoned Heroes."

"I promise you, Alfonse, that isn't true at all." You're quick to jump in and offer your thoughts on the matter. "You've been working really hard. I can see that—anybody with eyes can see that—and your efforts show in your accomplishments both on and off the battlefield. You become even more fine of a prince with each passing day."

"I-I, uh... thanks..." He's grateful that the mess hall is so dark. At least this way, you won't be able to see his bashful smile, accompanied by an embarrassed blush that reaches the tip of his ears. He doesn't know if you're truly sincere in your compliments or merely saying what he wants to hear in an attempt to comfort him, but he can't deny that your words made his heart leap in his chest.

Silence stretches over the two of you once again, the atmosphere a bit more awkward than before. The Askran prince glances over towards you. You seem to be staring intently at your half-empty mug. He wants to ask you about what's on your mind, but he knows that you won't share so easily. He knows how difficult it is for you to open up to him, and there's nothing he can do except patiently wait for you for whenever you were ready to share.

To his surprise, you actually speak up and lay out the worries in your heart. "I was remembering my home."

"Do you miss it?" He asks.

You shake your head. "Not really, no," you answer without missing a beat.

A sense of guilt and shame washes over Alfonse when he finds himself relieved at your response. He already understands that you have your own circumstances for not wanting to go back home, and although it's a pitiful kind of sentiment, he can't help but feel kind of happy over it. It would mean that you would be less likely to go back home and leave him alone in Askr, but he knows that such thoughts would be considered greedy and selfish, so he never voices them out loud.

"..." You fall quiet once again. You gather your thoughts one by one before slowly explaining yourself, your gaze not once leaving the mug in your hands. "Sometimes, I wonder if this is all a dream. Like, if I'm really here, or if all of this is really happening. Sometimes, when I go to sleep, I'm scared that when I open my eyes again, I'll wake up in my old bed and go back to the life I had before coming here to Askr."

You stop talking after that, allowing him a moment to let your words sink in. The moment they do, he reaches out to hold your hand, prompting you to look up at him with inquisitive eyes. "How does my hand feel to you?"

You bring your gaze down to the hand over yours. "It... feels warm..." you answer with a tinge of embarrassment.

"Then it's proof that you're here. That warmth is proof that this—" Alfonse squeezes your hand to emphasize his point, "—is real." Without even realizing it, he ends up leaning closer towards you. "This is real..." he repeats, bringing his voice down to a whisper, making what he says seem far more intimate. "...If it wasn't, then I would have been dreaming a very good dream ever since you came here."

Your breath catches in your throat, and you can't find the words to respond. Your cheeks become pink, and you avert your gaze. Even though Alfonse shouldn't be able to see your expression well because of the dark (the candle does little to light the scene), you still feel compelled to hide your face.

"Does this feel like a dream to you?" Alfonse questions.

You hesitate, still trying to collect yourself. "Sometimes, yes... but... as you said, it is a very good dream... and I wouldn't mind living in it for longer..."

[rubykgrant]

(it wouldn't be an interview with a Q and A! Enjoy Sarge being Sarge~)

Q- What did you know about Blood Gulch before you arrived there?

A- I knew it had BLOOD in the name, which was a fitting title for my red-blooded Red Team. I knew there was an opposing Blue Team waiting for us. I knew we had to guard our flag, and kill anything that wasn’t Red, or the approved affiliated colors. I knew… this was supposed to be a special assignment, pretty top-secret, and I wasn’t supposed to discuss that fact with anybody not in-the-know. I guess that was one of the ways the UNSC tricked us all into keeping quiet about what was going on, so nobody would realize it was all just- just a big simulation. Oh, well. Hindsight, 50-50.

I knew I was supposed to have two soldiers with me from the get-go, but there was some kinda mix-up. Figures Grif would be late, but you’d think Simmons would try to be on time! Which for him, is 20 minutes early! So, I had some time to m’self at the base for a while. No big deal, I kept busy! Found some spare parts and a robot kit at the base, and with a little imagination, duct-tape, and Chemical X, Lopez was born!

Q- Did you have a particular purpose or goal in mind when you first created Lopez?

A- Eh, just wanted to make a decent soldier in case the human ones I got stuck with were lack-luster… I might have had a real premonition about that. Though, I did remove a lot of the restrictions on Lopez’s programming. Laws of robotics be damned, my boy was gonna be able to advance his own internal processing capabilities without limits!

Huh. Come t’think of it… I’m not sure if he was ONLY loyal out of obligation to follow orders… the robot kit didn’t have the usual virtual locks built in, I guess because it was meant to be a spare for the computer ghost who forgot he was a computer ghost. The robot would have needed to accommodate for the decision-making of an AI like that. And if I turned off all the protocols that contained the advancements of internal capabilities…

I, uh. Might have accidentally made a robot with free will, but I never TOLD him he had free will. So he didn’t know he had free will.

Q- That’s certainly an unusual situation… did you decide to name your robot before or after he was completed?

A- During. Half way through, I just thought- this thing needs a name. Lopez was the first one that popped into my head… I helped out at a livestock show as a kid. NO, I wasn’t a judge, I made that part up, sue me. I just made sure the animals had plenty of food and water. The man who was the ACTUAL judge, he was named Lopez. Used to let me grab a free Yoo-Hoo from the fridge in the office. If I hadn’t gone into the army, I would’ve liked to maybe do what he did. Anyway, I was feeling sentimental that day, named my robot after a good guy. Sue me!

Q- Then, it had nothing to do with the communication settings for the robot?

A- No… that was an accident. Hey, wait! Even if there was a problem with the voice chip, the fact that I took off all the limitations and program locks- Lopez should have been able to change the settings on his audio functions at any point! He knows how to repair that kinda thing too, he’s done it for our radios and communicators! Has he been speaking Spanish this whole time BY CHOICE!?

…

… I’m so proud… without anything stopping him, Lopez is just naturally ornery and obstinate… but he’s still loyal even when he’s not forced to follow orders… now, that’s a REAL RED!

Q- Since you value unconventional qualities in members of Red Team, do you still consider Grif, Simmons, and Donut “lack-luster”?

A- That’s not a fair question. What am I, on trial here?

Q- We can skip that if you want… would you rather talk about-

A- Fine, fine, ‘ya twisted my arm! Simmons is… good at agreeing with me. Except for when he doesn’t. Which is… perhaps occasionally a positive trait. To question authority. Except for when it isn’t. Like when it’s MY authority. Except… when I am, perhaps occasionally, WRONG. That boy really stuck to his guns during the whole “Blue Team Tank” incident. Could’ve just nodded his head and dropped the subject when I wouldn’t listen, but he didn’t. Simmons went and proved the Blue Menace was still a threat by finding the tank and defecting to join Blue Team, fought us as a one-man army, and then when he came back, he tried to take over and bury me alive. Like a good and proper Red!

Donut is good at being reliably unpredictable. He’s like a secret weapon. He’s stronger than people think, he’s smarter than people think, and he’s a lot more vicious than people think… and I’m not just talking about his talent for insulting poor interior design. He’s also infinitely more annoying than you’d think it was possible for one person to be, but Donut found a way. That boy is a very… unique brand of chatter-box. Nobody else knows what to do with somebody like that, which is why he’s perfect for Red Team!

Grif is.

Grif… is good at...

He’s very...

Grif is very Grif.

Q- Grif is very Grif?

A- Yes.

Q- Is that… a compliment, or an insult?

A- Yes.

…

… alright, listen. Grif is… good at… NOT dying. Even against all odds, and my best efforts to use him as a human-shield, or moving target, nothing has managed to actually kill him. Which has turned out to be a GOOD thing. In general, because this means we’re better than the Blues. But it is also… fortunate… that Grif in particular is still around. Because of. Reasons.

Ugh, I might have to take a break, go wash my mouth out with soap.

[finniestoncrane]

Number 26 of the smut prompts with Unburied Riddler?

“I can’t wait until we get to the bedroom-I need you, and I need you now!”

Idk I just like the thought of that man being desperate and begging…

💚💚💚💚

I Need You

Batman Unburied!Riddler x Female!Reader, word count: 1.1k yeah you're right, begging and whining are his literal hobbies i think. i just cannot be normal about him and i will go insane if we don't get more of him plus an official artist's interpretation of him 💚 (it's actually more... gn!reader with a vagina btw but i put female for the sake of first glance intros y'know?) request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: flirting, begging, persistant eddie, awkward sex

Walking beside you, slightly behind and occasionally stepping on the back of your shoes, Eddie followed you, very law-abidingly, through the streets of Gotham. Sunglasses and hat on, he was in about as much of a disguise as you could get him in, but most of the people wouldn’t have looked twice at him in the street with or without the accessories. Outside of his Riddler costume, he really was just another guy. That’s what made him so dangerous though, you mused, as he kicked your heel again.

But his knowledge of the criminal mind, and his well-documented intellect, meant that he was sought after by the GCPD to assist with criminal investigations. In the past, you had worked well with him. Too well. There was something about him, something that meant you were willing to risk your reputation and career for him. Although, at this moment in time, it was difficult to remember what that was, and far easier to remember everything about him that irritated you.

“Eddie. I swear to god I will break your ankles and carry you on my back.”

“I’m not going to argue, actually. I would like to be carried. Like a wittle baby.”

He made a pouting face and then laughed at his own dumb joke.

“Oh, come on! We’ve been walking around for soooooo long! When are we going to get there.”

“it’s not my fault you wanted something to eat. I get you out on day release to help me and you demand that we go get food first?”

“I did. Yes. You don’t even want to know about the unpalatable shit they serve to us in there. It’s disgusting.”

“Yeah, yeah. So you keep saying. But to get somewhere that has a decent hygiene rating, I’m afraid we’ve got another couple of blocks to go.”

“Uh, fine. I guess after that we can swing by your place and I can have a nap or something.”

“Why would you think that was an option?”

“Hmmmm… because we both know that there isn’t actually a case for me to help you with.”

You turned to face him, the movement so quickly he hadn’t realised you had stopped, both of you knocking into one another on the street.

“How did you… Yes there is!”

“No there isn’t! You broke me out as an excuse to see me. No conjugal visits in the maximum security wing, after all.”

You scoffed, trying to pretend that he didn’t have you completely. And there wasn’t much use in denying it now. Really, it had only been a matter of time before he realised the truth of your plan, and you wondered how long ago he had worked it out.

“When did-”

“Just after you called and asked if I could help. You’re so predictable.”

Rolling your eyes you walked away from him, the sounds of his feet running after you as you crossed the street and entered a diner. After fuelling up, you left the diner reluctantly, worrying about how to approach the delicate subject of the true intentions behind his assistance. He knew what you wanted from him, but you knew that he was likely to be an unforgiveable tease about it. And so, mulling over the options in your mind, you were happy to listen to him chattering away as you walked to your apartment.

“Oh my god that was so good. Seriously, that was maybe the best meal I’ve had. And I saw the sweat from the chef’s forehead drip into a pan. But I ate every last drop. I really had forgotten what real food tasted like!”

Stepping quickly to your back he grabbed at your ass playfully.

“Forgot what you tasted like too.”

You turned to scold him, but he interrupted you with a kiss.

“Eddie! My apartment is like fifteen more minutes away. Do you think you could be sensible enough not to engage in anything to inappropriate out in public?”

An irritating, high-[itched mewling whine erupted from his pout.

“I can’t wait until we get to the bedroom though. I need you! And I need you now! Pleaseeeeee.”

The long, drawn-out begging was grating on your ears, but it tugged at something deeper inside of you. The desire to feel needed or wanted? You didn’t want to do any pop-psych on yourself in that moment though. Truthfully, you were desperate for him as much as he seemed to be for you.

“Come on! This alley… looks deserted… if you’re into that kind of thing?”

Looking down into the dim, disgusting walkway, you turned back to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you really need to ask that?”

“Well, that answers that question then.”

His arms were pulling at you as his lips met yours, dragging you back with lust into the shadows and pressing you against the wall where he kissed you harder. Frantically pulling at your pants until you started to slide them down on your own, letting him fumble with his own zipper and belt. When he had his cock free, he spat in his hand, stroking the length before he pressed in close to you again. Angling his cock against your lips, you inhaled softly at the sensation of the tip on your skin, the slight, although hesitant and kind of clumsy, spreading of your legs as he tried to get better access to you.

“Ok… this… it’s the angle… I can’t…”

You tried to shift against him, but he stepped back.

“Could you like… bend over or something?”

I really, really don’t want to scrape my hands on this disgusting wall… it’s bad enough my jacket is now going to have to be burned for touching it.”

“Ok well… I dunno…”

He looked around the alley before his eyes settled on something further up.

“Oh!”

Skipping towards a pile of old boxes, holding his pants over his still hard cock. Stopping at them, the rotting wood damp with mold, he gestured with his hands like he was displaying the top prize on some tacky gameshow. With a smile, he propositioned you.

“Huh?”

“I am not leaning over that disgusting trash.”

He groaned, seemingly exasperated with your entirely reasonable desire to not get tetanus from fucking him.

“Look, this is supposed to be hot and kinda dirty. You need to stop being so picky.”

“If I wasn’t so picky with men, I wouldn’t have to break you out of prison for a quick fuck.”

“Oof, touché.”

You rolled your eyes at him, pants pulled back up, arms folded across your chest.

“Please, come o-o-on!”

Your spine shivered at the shrill sound of his begging.

“Maybe we should just wait until we’re somewhere clean. Where no one will see me. With you.”

You turned to leave the alley, Eddie slowly making up the distance behind you, all the while whining and pleading. And crouching slightly to hide his erection.