#so yeah on the one hand yay organization

[justalittlebluetiefling]

The big problem with getting my bookshelves up and my books on it is that I am remembering that I used to dream of owning all of the Wheel of Time books in hardcover.

[seenthisepisode]

~~~

[worth-the-chaos]

Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 14

Chapter Summary: Nancy and Robin take a shot in the dark and Steve tries to protect you from the supernatural. When the darkness comes to get you, will his love be enough to protect you?

Content Warning: Upside Down scary stuff, swearing

Word Count: 6.0k

Author’s Note: Sorry this chapter took longer; I’m involved in a lot at college and I’m in some executive positions in the organizations I’m a part of and somehow everything is going wrong at the same time (yay!) so I’ve been putting out a lot of fires (like a girl boss of course). I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Message me to be added to the taglist and get updated when the next chapter is posted!

Series Masterlist | Part 13 | Next Part

***

“Do you guys understand any of this?” Steve asked Lucas and Dustin as the three of them sat in the Wheelers’ basement. He was staring at the words on the article Nancy and Robin had found and none of it was making any sense to him. He was scared. Not knowing what was going to happen to you and when was tearing him apart and he needed to understand so that he could find some way to fix it. To protect you.

To save you.

A chill ran down his spine as he thought about it. He thought back to the way you had stood there, locked inside your own body and twitching slightly as you were trapped in a nightmare he couldn’t wake you from. He thought back to your activities afterwards. How you felt when he had shown you just how much he loved you. The way your body moved against his. He thought about how you were all he ever wanted—no, needed—and he couldn’t bear the thought of living a life without you in it.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” Dustin stared at him judgmentally.

“Oh, ‘straightforward’? Really?” Steve asked, not adoring the condescension in the freshman’s tone.

“So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude that Nancy found. He’s the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it’s him,” Dustin explained. Steve could see a glint of optimism in the young boy’s eyes and he desperately wished he felt the same way. This situation just felt so hopeless though. How the fuck were they supposed to combat an otherworldly threat when the attacks were occurring cross-dimensionally?

“That’s assuming he was even cursed, Henderson, which we just don’t know,” Steve spat back, frustrated with the lack of answers. “How could Vecna have existed in the 50s? It just doesn’t make sense.”

Steve dragged a hand down his face in an attempt to keep his frustration at bay. He snapped his head up when he heard your voice lilt down the stairs, getting closer as you descended them.

“As far as we know, Eleven didn’t create the Upside Down; she just opened a gate to it,” you specified as you joined the group. Steve was quick to throw an arm around your waist, pulling you into him. Now that you knew that your time may be limited, Steve was extremely touchy. It was as if he thought that holding onto you would prevent another vision. You knew better, but still leaned into him, soaking up the comfort of his affection. You flushed as you remembered your activities from last night, desperately wishing that you had more time so that you could have more nights wrapped up in each other’s presence.

“Yeah, the Upside Down has probably existed for thousands of years…millions even. I wouldn’t be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs,” Dustin hypothesized, and you glanced over to see Lucas roll his eyes a bit. You couldn’t help but chuckle. Even at the end of the world, those kids could still make you laugh.

“Dinosaurs? What are we even talking about? Come on Dustin, you can’t just—“ Steve started but Lucas cut him off to refocus the conversation.

“Okay, but if there wasn’t a gate in the 50s, how did Vecna get through? How is he getting through now?”

“And why now?” You added.

“And why then? What he just pops out in the 50s, kills one family and he’s like, ‘I’m good’ just to come back thirty years later to kill some random teens? No offense,” Steve quickly added the last part turning to you as you glared up at him. You rolled your eyes and pulled away from him a bit before reaching into your back pocket.

“I almost forgot,” you said, fishing three sealed envelopes out of your back pocket. “These are for you guys.”

You handed them the envelopes. Steve furrowed his brows as he looked at you confused, studying the sealed letter in his hand. Dustin began to open it but you stopped him quickly. “No! What are you doing? That’s not for now. Don’t open it now!”

“Okay,” Dustin replied confused, stopping his previous movements. “I’m sorry, but what is this?” He held up the envelope and waved it slightly to emphasize his question.

“It’s…it’s a fail-safe,” you answered, your voice small. You caught Steve’s expression fall as you said it and you felt your heart ache in your chest as you thought about how you wouldn’t be able to be there for him to help him grieve. You felt a pang of guilt as you realized you would be the one causing his pain. “For after…you know, if things don’t work out.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, y/n?” Steve took a step towards you and grabbed your hand.

“Steve,” you looked him in the eyes, a pained expression across your face. Before he could continue arguing with you, Nancy, Robin, and Max bounded down the stairs. You all turned your attention towards the girls as Nancy opened her mouth to speak.

“Okay…we have a plan,” she smiled at all of you and suddenly you felt a feeling in your chest that you hadn’t felt in a while:

Hope.

You all quickly moved to sit on the various couches in the basement, Steve sitting next to you with a hand on your thigh as you listened to Nancy’s game plan.

“Than’s to Nancy’s newspaper minions, we are now rockstar psychology students at the University of Notre Dame,” Robin started, handing you and Steve each a folder containing the fraudulent academic files for one Ruth and Rose.

“Nice GPA,” you smirked, looking at Nancy and she smiled back at you. It felt nice to be optimistic for once.

“So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we’d like to speak with Creel for a thesis we’re co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics—“ Nancy continued, but Max cut her off, having been there for the whole conversation.

“To which they said no,” the redhead explained.

“But, we landed a three o’clock with the director. Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor,” Robin added on.

“Yeah, we’ve been doing our Victor Creel homework,” Steve started, holding up the article printout, “We’ve got a lot of questions.”

“A lot,” Lucas emphasized.

“So do we. Hopefully Victor has the answers,” Nancy answered.

“Wait a second,” you spoke up, staring down at the file folder in your hand. “Where’s mine?”

“What?” Nancy’s face scrunched up, clearly confused by your question.

“I said, where’s mine?” You repeated yourself, holding up the file folder, your jaw beginning to set as you realized you weren’t being included.

“You’re not going,” Nancy replied, reaching over to grab the file from you.

“I think the fuck I am!” You stood up quickly, pulling the folder out of her reach. Steve quickly grabbed you by your belt loop, rolling his eyes and tugging you back down to sit next to him. You sat in a huff and he quickly pulled the folder away from you. “Hey!”

“Y/n, you’re not going. End of discussion,” he said plainly, handing the folder back to Nancy.

“I can’t do anything here Nancy! Maybe I could help with this asylum director guy….or-or-or I could ask Victor the right questions; I know what it’s like after all,” you defended yourself, but you could tell by the looks you were getting that no one was going to change their mind. Nancy opened her mouth to speak, but Robin spoke up before she could get a word out.

“Look, y/n. It’s too dangerous. Just let us do the heavy lifting, and you stay here where it’s safe.”

“Nowhere is safe, Robin. It doesn’t make a damn difference where the fuck I am,” you spat. Robin’s heart sank at your words because they were true; it didn’t really matter where you were. Vecna would find you regardless.

“Y/n, if you won’t do it for yourself, would you do it for me?” Steve spoke up. The expression on his face made you break, letting out an angry puff of air before you responded.

“Whatever,” you grumbled, quickly standing up and going upstairs. Your eyes were welling with tears and you didn’t want everyone to see you in your vulnerable state, even if it was completely understandable. Steve started to stand to go after you, but Dustin stopped him.

“Just, let me try and handle this,” the boy spoke up. Steve wasn’t sure why he was letting him, but shrugged. He knew how much you cared about the kids, especially Henderson, so it was worth a shot at least.

“Y/n?” Dustin asked after he had ascended the staircase. He caught sight of you wiping tears from your eyes before you were able to turn away and hide it.

“What do you want Dustin?” You asked, your voice sounding watery as you continued to cry, a small sob escaping your body.

“We’re doing everything we can,” he started, “and I know it doesn’t feel like enough, but it’s the best we can do. And I know you want to be in on all of the action, but I think it’s okay for you to take the backseat on this one.”

“I can’t just sit around here doing nothing,” you cried out, still trying to gain your composure as you turned around, wiping at the tears falling down your face. “I mean, I just…I just want to be out there so-so I can fix it. I don’t want any of you guys getting hurt,” you added, trying to swallow the lump in your throat as you looked at Dustin.

“Then stay here and protect us. Okay? You’ve always done a kick-ass job at it, so be here for us now. The most important thing is that when all is said and done, you’re still here. So let Nancy and Robin sort it out because I know they will. We all will,” Dustin reassured you. You walked over to the boy and pulled him into a tight hug. You still felt guilty about the way he had to grow up so fast, fighting unimaginable horrors while trying to figure out who he was and where he fit in. You couldn’t even imagine what that would have been like at his age.

With the pang in your chest, you felt pain return to your head, groaning as you let go of Dustin and put a hand to your temples. You felt something warm trickle from your nose, reaching up to wipe at it, fresh blood smearing across the back of your hand.

“Y/n, are-are you okay?” Dustin stared up at you, wide-eyed and frantic. You took a deep breath and the pain subsided a little, as you nodded at the boy.

“I’m still here, aren’t I?” You replied, giving him a weak smile in an attempt to hide the many ways you were not in fact okay.

You tried to take your own words to heart as the two of you made your way back down to the basement.

I’m still here.

***

Nancy and Robin had gone off to go try and talk to Victor Creel, leaving you, Steve, Lucas, Dustin, and Max to twiddle your thumbs in the Wheelers’ basement while you waited for answers that likely weren’t coming. You were sat next to Steve and he was running his warm hand in circles across your back as you sat there, head in your hands and foot anxiously tapping.

You were restless. You couldn’t sit here doing nothing; you had loose ends to tie up in case Nancy and Robin’s investigation didn’t turn up roses. You needed to make sure you were ready to leave this world behind, and presently you weren’t.

Suddenly you stood up, causing Steve to jump as he had zoned out, his thoughts drifting elsewhere before your sudden movement had brought him back to the present. You marched across the room and picked up Dustin’s walkie.

“If we go to East Hawkins, will this still reach Pennhurst?” You asked, inspecting the gadget in your hand.

“Of course, yeah,” Dustin replied.

“Woah, why are we talking about East Hawkins?” Steve stood up, taking a slow step towards you. He looked concerned and confused; a brutal combination. You gave him a look that immediately had his anxiety skyrocketing. “No…no! Absolutely not!”

You paused, you and Steve staring each other down as if you were about to have a shootout in an old western movie. Much like reaching for the draw, you slowly reached into your pocked, grabbing the contents before lifting your hand up and dangling Steve’s car keys in between you. His mouth gaped open, his mind not quick enough to process what was happening before you grabbed your backpack off a folding chair and bolted up the stairs.

Steve stood frozen for a second, in disbelief that any of this could really be real before darting after you. “Y/n! Y/n, come back here! I’m serious!”

It didn’t do much to stop you, seeing as you were already out the door quickly pacing towards the familiar BMW. “Y/n…Y/n! Seriously, I’m not fucking joking. I’m not driving you anywhere!” Steve shouted after you as he started to catch up.

“Steve, if you think I’m going to spend what might possibly be the last day of my fucking life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler’s basement, then you’re out of your mind,” you shot back, still sauntering towards the car. If your life wasn’t in jeopardy, Steve would have thought it was hot; the swish of your hips, the way your hair bounced with each assertive step you took, the way your jeans hugged your ass. But now was not the time to get distracted.

“I don’t think you heard me, y/n. I’m not fucking driving you.”

“Oh I heard you loud and clear, Harrington. But if you won’t drive me, then I guess I’ll have to drive myself,” you said, unlocking the driver’s side door to Steve’s car.

“Um, fuck no!” Steve exclaimed, putting a hand on his car door to hold it shut as you attempted to open it. You whipped around, your eyes shooting daggers at your boyfriend. His face was mere inches away from yours as he leaned on his arm, his bodyweight keeping the door shut tight. You continued to stare into his eyes, your stern expression causing his to break as he sighed and relented, dropping his arm in exasperation. “Fine. But I’m driving.”

You tossed him the keys as you smirked, walking around the car as you eagerly hopped into the passenger seat.

“That was kind of wild,” Lucas mumbled to Dustin and Max who all stood dumbfounded by the encounter between the two of you.

“Yeah, she’s got him wrapped around her finger,” Max chuckled, “good for her.”

The three kids piled into the backseat of Steve’s car and Steve drove off after making sure everyone was appropriately buckled. The radio that was usually always on remained silent, no one really in the mood to listen to whatever overplayed tune was undoubtedly being broadcasted across your small town. You navigated, hesitant to tell Steve where you actually needed to go. You could tell he was nervous, his right hand reaching across the center console to squeeze your upper thigh, needing to hold onto you.

After you had spent a decent amount of time driving, you finally saw the sign you’d been looking for. “Turn here,” you spoke up, clearing your throat uncomfortably as you said it. Steve looked at you questioningly but followed your instructions, slowly turning into the Roane Hill Cemetery.

“I’ll just be a minute,” you assured Steve as you began to unbuckle to get out of the car. He gently grabbed your elbow, stopping your all fire hurry to exit the vehicle. “Steve—“

“Y/n, I get it. I just want you to know that I’m here for you, okay? We all are. You don’t have to go through this alone,” he spoke gently. You turned over your shoulder and saw the sincerity in everyone’s eyes.

“This,” you replied, looking out the car window up the small hill of the cemetery, “this is something I have to do alone.”

Steve nodded, giving your arm a gentle squeeze before letting go and looking at you with sympathy as you began making your way towards the clearing at the top of the hill. When you made it to the top, you took a deep breath as you read the name on the gravestone. Jim Hopper.

You hadn’t interacted much with Hawkins’ Chief of Police much before the Upside Down had entered your life. In fact, though you knew he was an effective cop, you wrote him off as an egotistical asshole, rolling your eyes at his usually irritating antics. However, after all that you had been through together, he became the kind of person you wanted to emulate. He did the best that he could to protect all of you kids. He would do anything to make sure you were all safe. He’d even given his life for it; the ultimate sacrifice.

He was truly a hero. But now he was gone, nothing left of him besides the grave in this cemetery and the memories in your heart. You felt guilt tear through your chest as you noticed that the flowers you had left the last time you came had began to wither and wilt.

“I don’t really know what to say,” you started off, tears beginning to well in your eyes. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t fix any of this. I’m sorry that I couldn’t keep the kids safe like I should’ve. I’m sorry that you can’t be there for El. I’m sorry that you didn’t get to see her grow up…that-that you don’t get to see her smile anymore. Every time I keep telling myself that all of this is over. I-I keep lying to myself and acting like everything is fine and that I’m happy and that everything is going to turn out alright, but I think deep down I know that it isn’t going to be.”

Tears began to stream down your face. “We all deserved to have these normal lives that we always pretend to have, you know? Those kids deserve to have normal lives. They shouldn’t have to worry about monsters underneath their feet and alternate dimensions that want to do them harm. They deserve to have the kind of lives that you wanted them to have, and I’m sorry I couldn’t make that happen Hopper. This all just feels like one big mistake…or-or a nightmare I can’t wake up from. And I feel guilty every time I look at Steve and my heart lets me feel lucky for even just a fraction of a second because if anything is true, we are not fucking lucky.”

You squeezed your eyes shut as you wiped your nose on the back of your sleeve, breathing in a shaky breath as you tried to fight the sobs that your body desperately needed to let out. You felt guilty admitting it, but the happiness in your relationship with Steve did scare you. You didn’t deserve to be happy; you were sure of it.

When you opened your eyes, your heart stopped in your chest. The clear skies that had been there once before were now overcast as fog poured around you into the cemetery. You heard distorted laughter that sounded like it came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. A chill ran down your spine as you heard a voice ring out.

“Y/n.”

***

Steve looked up the hill towards you. You were still sitting in front of a gravestone and you looked okay enough, but Steve didn’t trust any of it. He had a bad feeling deep within his gut, and he began to unbuckle his seatbelt. “Alright, it’s been long enough.”

“Steve, just give her some time,” Max spoke up. She knew that you were going through some things and knew you needed the space.

“I have, alright Mayfield? I’m calling it. If she wants to be mad at me, she can be fucking mad at me,” he grumbled as he slammed the car door shut, making his way up the hill. Cemeteries always made him feel uneasy, but he was confident that the pit in his stomach was unrelated as he swiftly jogged up the hill towards you.

“Y/n, baby? It’s time to go, alright? I know it’s hard, but we really need to get—“ Steve’s words died on his tongue as he saw you sitting there, unresponsive. Your eyes were rolled in the back of your head and blood began dripping down your nose.

“Y/n? Y/n! No, no, no, baby wake up! Wake up, y/n, you’re scaring me,” Steve’s words were short and shaky as he quickly went to wipe your nose, his first instinct being to take care of you. “Guys!”

Steve yelled down the hill and the three kids came running. Steve continued to shake you, watching as your body jolted around but you stayed catatonic, somewhere else in the moment, no doubt in some terror filled nightmare. A far off whimper escaped your lips and if Steve wasn’t already losing it, he would’ve lost it right then and there.

“Y/n! Please wake up!” Max shouted, snapping in front of your eyes, hoping it would draw them forward and alert, but they stayed rolled back in your head, eyelids twitching and fluttering.

“Come on, y/n. Get out of there!” Lucas yelled, beginning to shake your shoulders too. Steve turned towards Dustin, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

“Call Nancy and Robin! Just go! Call Nancy and Robin!” He shoved the boy, and he fell backwards, tumbling over as he scrambled to make his way back to the car. He had never seen Steve so desperate before and they had been through a lot together. Dustin felt his blood run cold. This was life or death.

“Y/n, come on baby. I love you, please come back to me!” Steve cried out, squeezing your hand in his, hoping that wherever you were that you could hear him somehow. “Think of all the things we haven’t gotten to do together yet…I mean, we-we have a whole life ahead of us! I want to do it all with you, but you have to come back to me.”

His voice cracked, and when you didn’t respond he began shaking your shoulders again, feeling sick to his stomach at the way your head lolled in every which way, your neck unable to support the weight of it. Your nose continued to bleed and your limbs were twitching. He could see your neck straining and it reminded him of the way you looked as you tried to breathe through a panic attack.

“Y/n! You gotta get out of there!” Lucas shouted.

“Y/n! Please! You’ve got this, come on!” Max chimed in.

Dustin finally came bounding up the hill, dropping Max’s walkman and a bunch of cassettes in front of them that he had dug out of Steve’s glovebox. “Steve! What’s her favorite song?!”

“Why?” Lucas asked, panic radiating from his voice.

“It’s too much to explain right now! What’s her favorite song?!” Dustin screamed.

Steve didn’t need to be told twice, rifling through the tapes until he found the one with a label and his shitty handwriting on it. His hands were shaking as he fumbled the cassette, shoving it into the walkman before quickly and haphazardly placing the headphones over your ears. His hands trailed to either side of your face as he looked at you, his eyes frantically searching your face, hoping that whatever fix Dustin seemed to think he found would be instantaneous.

The cassette tape had all of the songs you guys would belt out in the car when they played on the radio. He loved hearing you sing off key to the songs and the way you’d dance in the passenger seat making faces to fit the lyrics of the songs. He had finally decided he couldn’t wait around for the radio to play all of your favorites, desperately wanting to watch you dance every time he had a chance to, so he made you a mixtape with all your favorites. He was saving it to give you for your first anniversary, which was now four months away. But after all, in this situation, it was either early or never, so he pressed play and Running up that Hill by Kate Bush began to blare through the headphones.

It had been a second and nothing was happening. Your eyes were still rolled in the back of your head and you were still twitching. “It’s not working Dustin!” Steve shouted, his hands falling from your face as he turned towards the Henderson boy. No sooner had he lost contact with you did your body begin to lift off of the ground, your legs coming uncrossed as you levitated out of reach from your friends down below.

“No! Y/n!” Steve shouted. He wished he hadn’t let you go. Maybe if he hadn’t he could have kept whatever was about to happen from happening. He thought back to all of the horrors Eddie had described and he began to hyperventilate. He couldn’t watch that happen to you. You were his everything.

In your nightmare, you were tied up by vines, pressed against some sort of pillar staring straight at Vecna. He kept insisting you belonged there, reminding you of how much danger you put the kids in. You deserved to stay here in this dark and dreary hellscape. You had seen Chrissy and Fred and you felt like you could vomit thinking about your body being contorted in the same way.

“Let me go!” You choked out, hardly able to speak with the vine around your throat cutting off your access to oxygen. Suddenly you heard something familiar as a melody drifted towards your ears, building slowly in the background until the music swelled and nearly became all that you could hear. You turned ever so slightly to your left and saw a glimpse into the real world. Your heart stopped as you watched your boyfriend desperately calling your name, your body hovering several feet above his head.

“They can’t help you, y/n,” Vecna assured you, his crooked hand coming up towards your face.

“You’re wrong,” you choked out and suddenly the vine behind you snapped and you fell forward, breaking out into a sprint towards the tunnel of reality just out of reach. You tried to keep your footing, but you slipped several times on thick red pools of blood, the sticky liquid soaking into your clothes. You tried to ignore it as you continued to sprint. Your legs kept wanting to give up, but you just kept thinking about all you had left to live for and channeled that into your sprint.

You thought about Steve and the life you wanted to build together. You thought about the way you knocked on his door that fateful day. You thought about the way he let you in even though he didn’t have to; the way he changed for you, the way he tried every day to be better for you. You thought about the jokes he told that made you laugh so hard you cried and the way he’d carry you up the stairs when you fell asleep on the couch. You thought about the kisses he’d pepper across your skin whenever he had the chance to. You thought about the way you felt when you were wrapped up in him the night before and how you didn’t want your first time to be the last time. You thought about the way his brown eyes stared into yours, the way they said so much without him ever having to open his mouth.

You were going to look into those eyes again. So you sprinted. Past falling debris, through rough terrain, and towards him.

Towards home.

Your eyes peeled open and you gasped, staring at the tree line in a way you’d never seen it before. Your stomach dropped as you began falling to the ground, plummeting back towards earth. You hit the ground hard, and you were hyperventilating as everyone immediately surrounded you. Steve pushed past the kids and wrapped his arms around you, clinging to you as if you’d disappear again.

“Y/n! I thought I lost you!” Steve cried out as he placed a frantic kiss against your lips. He pulled back to look at you for a second, fear and panic across his face before he leaned in and kissed you again. You were his oxygen and he needed you to breathe right now.

You pulled away, gripping his bicep as you attempted to calm down your breathing. “I’m still…I’m still here,” you reassured him, tears falling from your eyes.

He was quick to wipe them away before he buried his face in your neck, taking a deep breath as he reveled in the comfort of your familiar scent. He placed a gentle kiss against your neck and pulled you towards him even tighter.

You were still here, and he wasn’t going to let anything like that happen ever again.

***

You all had spent the night at the Wheelers’ again, deciding now more than ever it was vital to stick together. Nancy had had to fight Steve to get him to sleep, convincing him that the rest of you were more than capable of taking turns watching you to make sure that you were okay.

“Dustin…Earth to Dustin,” Eddie’s voice rang out over the walkie talkie. Steve groaned as he woke up. He was sore from the way that his body was positioned in the chair he had been sleeping in. He grabbed the walkie off of the coffee table, pressing down the button to speak into it.

“What the fuck do you want Munson?” Steve spat.

“Oh, Harrington. Um, I’m going to need a food delivery, unless you want me going out into the world.”

“Don’t fucking do that. Just stay where you are and we’ll be there as soon as we can” Steve grumbled, sighing as he aggressively went to set the walkie back down, but Eddie’s voice rang out again.

“Hey, can you pick me up a six-pack? I know it’s dumb to be drinking right now, but a cold beer would really cool my nerves you know?”

As Eddie said it, Steve rolled his eyes, turning back towards the couch you were sleeping on, needing to remind himself of your constant kindness to calm himself down. It had the opposite effect when he saw the empty space, you being nowhere to be found.

“I’m gonna have to call you back,” Steve quickly relayed to Eddie before dropping the walkie talkie and bounding across the basement to wake up Dustin. “Dipshit! What the fuck?! You’re supposed to be watching y/n!” Steve spat as the boy finally opened his eyes.

“Yeah…yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“Where the fuck is she?!”

“She’s right there,” Dustin started, but his heart dropped as he looked over and saw that you were gone, “she was right there a second ago. I just dozed off for…an hour.”

His eyes got wide as he looked at his watch and the two boys bounded up the stairs. Steve finally cooled off when he saw you sitting at the kitchen table with Holly. You were helping her color a coloring book page, stopping every once in a while to help her cut her pancake. Steve felt his heart skip at how domestic and maternal you looked, hoping you would all get past this so that he could have the future with you that he envisioned, with perfect little combinations of the two of you sitting at your own kitchen table.

“Everything okay?” Mrs. Wheeler asked. Steve just nodded making his way towards the kitchen table. Nancy had woken up when the boys had not so quietly ascended the stairs and she was rubbing her eyes as she also made her way to the kitchen.

“I think it’s so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this,” Mrs. Wheeler continued, pulling Nancy into a very stiff and awkward side hug that she did not reciprocate.

“You could try sticking together at a different house for a change,” Mr. Wheeler chimed in, not even looking up from his newspaper.

“Hey, are you okay?” Steve asked, sitting down next to you, his hand going to the small of your back.

“Yeah,” you gave him a weak smile. “It’s just kind of hard to sleep after…everything.” You chose your words carefully so as to not let Nancy’s parents in on the reality of the absurdity that was your life. “But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons and we’ve been having a fun morning.”

You smiled at the small girl and Steve felt his heart explode. Nancy stood next to you and spoke up. “Is this what you saw last night? Do you think he’s just trying to scare you?”

“Yeah, but this stuff is different,” you said, gesturing to the drawings in front of you. “I don’t think he wanted me to see any of this.”

“Maybe you invaded his mind,” Dustin suggested, “I mean, that’s what he’s been doing to you, is it that big of leap to suggest that somehow you wound up in his?”

“Yeah, maybe the answer’s somewhere in this incredibly…vague drawing,” Steve added on, holding up a piece of paper and rotating it. “Damn, we need Will.”

“I know, but I tried them again this morning and it’s the same busy signal,” you replied, putting your head in your hands.

Nancy suddenly started reorganizing the papers, folding them and overlapping them until they made an image that made some semblance of sense.

“It’s…it’s a house,” you spoke breathlessly. You weren’t sure how you had managed to draw a deconstructed house considering you weren’t even close to being an artist, but hey accidental accomplishments are accomplishments nonetheless.

“Not just any house,” Nancy looked at you wide eyed. “It’s Victor Creel’s house.”

You shuddered as Nancy and Dustin quickly moved downstairs to tell the others about their discovery. You got up and moved the other way towards the Wheelers’ family room, desperately needing to remove yourself from the oblivious remainder of the Wheelers that were in the kitchen. Steve quickly followed you, gently grabbing your hand as he spoke up.

“Hey, baby…what’s wrong?”

“Steve, I just don’t have a good feeling about this,” anxiety was etched across your face as you said it. He squeezed your hand and pulled you towards him.

“I know, y/n. But answers are good…that means we’re getting somewhere,” he reminded you.

“But that’s the thing,” you started, “just because we’re getting somewhere doesn’t mean it’s anywhere good. Vecna’s smart, he knows what he’s doing. I mean, what….what-what if we’re walking into a trap! What if this is exactly what he wants us to do? We can’t keep just following every thread he gives us. He’s weaving a web, Steve. And if we’re not careful, we’re all going to end up getting caught in it.”

“We have to try though, right? We can’t just give up or else we’re putting everyone—not just us—everyone in jeopardy,” he tried to appeal to your selflessness and world-saving tendencies, but really deep down, he only wanted to follow this thread because it meant they had a shot at saving you.

He dropped your hand, holding his up between the two of you, and you were met with the familiar sight of his extended pinky.

“To saving the world?” He asked, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. Your face relaxed for a moment, your lips breaking into a small smile.

“To saving the world,” you agreed as you wrapped your pinky around his before leaning in and placing a gentle kiss to his lips.

You didn’t like where this was headed, but you could at least give it your best shot. If it meant that you and Steve could have more pinky promises and more soft kisses, then it would be worth it.

You just hoped that it wouldn’t ruin you in the process.

***

a/n: I hope y’all enjoyed the chapter. Reblog to give me a much needed boost of serotonin ;)

taglist:

@season4steve @sassyheroneckgiant @tangledinthegreatxscape @maeve-wileyy @palachannie @chaerfull @usaguisenpaisblog @emilieluckwood @sabrinadelreyy @mochminnie @xprloki @kitdjarin1 @kissmxcheek @daemonskitty @bethsvrse @aheadfullofsteverogers @quinnsadilla @chervbs @sheisjoeschateau @goosy-goose

[craacked-splatters]

ur crossover prison dimension au intrigues me @imagionationstation do u have any more stuff to share about it? 👉👈

Sleep deprived so feeling a lil loopy(sorry for any incoherent babble) but Shsjdks yeah yeah adding this 2 the "stuff 2 draw for" pile here

I kept coming back to this au. More specifically the part where Dee and Leon r trapped in the prison dimension. Like Rise animators did a cool job on animating the squishy fleshy organic dead alien race stuff in the movie! Look at this!

Ooey gooey icky ew ^^^ I love it

And also the prison dimension looks so sick and cool

I imagine surviving in a dead wasteland full of decay and corpses and echoes with a lunatic hunting u down 24/7 wouldn't be fun. What horrors do u think they would witness while trying not to bleed out and die? What trauma would Kraang inflict on these two? Revenge and rage are the only things fueling that war criminal & truly I don't think there's anything holding that guy back (for the love of everything I hope the bois don't have to fight any other rise kraang tech, it's genuinely terrifying they're literally gonna die Do NOT let that maniac get their tentacles on anything else besides the weird corpse armour they're wearing plz & thank u)

These poor kids. Leon went from the movie events to this, and Donnie literally got poofed to atoms before popping up in the middle of a child murder. Wowza how overwhelming. The one thing that keeps popping up into my mind is the two of them huddling together under some ruins or holding hands bcuz they're too afraid 2 end up separating and dying alone. How strange would it be. To have a different version of ur brother(- not quite a stranger bcuz there's still similarities that he shares with ur own, he's a brother, he's not urs but there's another versión of u running around, there's a whole nother universe bcuz of course there is and somehow ur still bros in it and he's here instead of his home he's right here) how strange it must be to this different face, different voice and eyes and mannerisms an entire new soul as ur only anchor. To be the only thing to keep u from falling apart. To see each other as a constant reminder of what they wished they had, of wanting to their families, of wanting to just leave this hellscape where things don't make sense and just go home.

But when they do finally get rescued there is no feeling of safety or realness or even a home to greet them. Only a sense of wrong & confusion & hurt & the equally trembling hand holding ur own and those scared haunted eyes that followed u since the horror show of the prison dimension.

(Trauma bond!! Yay🎉)

How would Leon and Dee interact with each other at first and how did it change as they continued to survive? What was it exactly that made them start clinging to each other? Would it become a habit for them both to go reaching for the other even when nothing is said or done?

And and!! I was thinking about the 2 angst paths u set out too. They're both sooo good!! Honestly u have such a big brain where do u keep coming up with these genius ideas! The custody battle route is very angsty :)) heehehehe. Rise splints and Don having no problem stopping Dee from going home with his family for Leon is so sweet and also AUUUGHH!! They're literally willing 2 do whatever is needed to keep their family safe & happy and I cry but then I remember the 2012 fam being the same & then i cry again

Also ur so right d 2012 bros have never been apart for long, they literally spent 15 yrs of their life together bcuz together meant safe and safe meant home. They're literally heat seeking missiles for each other even in the show. With them it's either they all die or none of them do. How painful it must be to be ripped apart so suddenly like that :((

Um anyways so yeah very good au👍 will continue to doodle gonna sleep now

[eldritch-spouse]

[Part 5 of Gifted. Fem reader.]

Previous poll winner: Grimbly (56.7%)

TW: Creepy one-sided mommy kink, later becomes mutual.

New choice! [VOTE]

When your leg lightly pokes the smaller monster, his previously cute expression morphs into a smarmy, gross smirk.

" Hah. Looks like you might wanna reconsider. " His hands are on his waist as he regards the wraith.

" Fool. They're not in the right mind to be making decisions. " The other counters.

" Mm. Cope harder. "

No matter how hard you try to keep your eyelids open, they flutter repeatedly, eventually shutting for good. Your consciousness fades on Morell's chopping table.

...

There's a chirp. Then another. You hear something rushing nearby. A liquid. The noise, paired with a slight chilly sensation, becomes uncomfortable, forcing you to gradually wake up.

Eyes eventually parting, the shapes of the revolving world finally begin to make sense, and you find yourself in a garden. Not just any garden, the same one where all this madness started. Alertness seeping back into your form, wary hues scatter until they find a fountain.. If you can call it that. Yes, it's not exactly standard. The thing takes on a strange, bent shape which seems to loop in itself like an optical illusion designed to confound the mind. Water rushes down its sides, then up, then diagonally- Like it's crawling around it, alive. You'd imagine this is what a being who has never seen a fountain in their life would make, putting aside the way this thing very clearly defies physics.

You've been around here for a while however, and as such, you know better than to question the logistics of this location. The how and why of this reality is irrelevant. Nevertheless, the sound of water cascading and dripping aimlessly is the least bit soothing to your overworked, stressed brain, so, with a quiet sigh, you glance at the flowers who have been chirping all this time- Swaying and twirling at each other as if to communicate. To think those things have teeth. That they bit you. Cursed garden indeed...

" It's beautiful in its own way, right? "

Your heart, that poor, miserable organ which has been tested thoroughly throughout this entire day, threatens to leap out your ribcage for what feels like the hundredth time.

" Geez silly, it's just me. "

Bulging eyeballs zero in on the monster sitting next to you. Grimbly... Ah yes! The one you picked, good. He's far too close, thigh brushing yours actually. How had you not noticed him before? Shortly after this initial observation, you realize you're on a bench, and a quick self-check reveals that you're wearing an entirely different get-up. In fact, you're clad in what looks to be a pastel pink Summer dress with subtle floral patterns. Huh. Well, you suppose it's better than torn, bloodied scraps?

The bat monster notes your disoriented staring and pipes up. " Ah, I hope you don't mind. It's just, you looked so bad in that trash, I found something much better for you. " Bright magenta hues almost seem to sparkle at you. " You love it, don't you? "

Yeah, sure. You love being minimally covered. Now that you think about it, he must have undressed and garbed you himself while you were out cold. Slimy fucker. Regardless, a free dress is a free dress, so you nod cautiously.

" Yay. I'm really glad, mommy! "

Fucking what now?

You give the monster a subtle side-glance. This is a grown adult. He may be small in stature but this is definitely an adult. There is no way in Heaven or Hell he's actually mistaking you for his mother, this is very clearly a "thing". A thing he's involved you in without asking. God damn it, and here you thought this one could be slightly more normal. Serves you right.

" Uhum. " Because what else are you supposed to say? That he's a creepy loser? So are the others. You can only hope that he's a less powerful creepy loser. Hell, if all he wants to do is pretend you're his "mommy" and have you pet his head, then you'll consider yourself very lucky.

Wary eyes glance around again. It's noon-ish? Indeed, between being inside, with all that ruckus and calamity, you much prefer this twisted garden. You can still hear people in the vicinity, but nowhere near the amount indoors. All the chattering, cackling and yelling was getting in your brain far before you were even handed to Morell like a tasty morsel. This... This is much better, it has saved you from a pounding headache, and your body is only somewhat sore. You must not have slept on this bench.

Hold on.

You're in the garden. And what a large garden it is- But that's hardly the point! What matters is that, if you can get this one off your hairs, you could maybe try to find a way out of here. After all, if you're fast enough, clever and quiet like a mouse, would it truly be impossible to just leave? There has to be an exit. Somewhere. For all intents and purposes, this is the closest you've been to freedom ever since being dumped here by the Icon of carnality. Yes... Good.

A small weight on top of your right hand jolts you. You didn't even realize you had them fisted around the hems of your dress until he gently grasped one. Forcing a deep breath out of your lungs, you meet his big, rounded eyes.

" I know your day has been tough so far. How are you feeling now? "

That calm breath was fruitless, for those words alone instill insurmountable tension within you. How dare he? How are you feeling?! Fucking hopeless, how about that! Tarnished. Frightened. Panicked. You want out. You just want out. You want to go home, you want to see your family and you want to pretend that none of this happened. That you weren't picked to be some appetizer, some distraction brought on by a demonlord.

Tears slide down your cheeks faster than you realize you're crying.

" Oh. Oh no, please don't cry mommy, I didn't mean to- I promise! "

Grimbly scoots even closer, smaller, four-fingered hands reaching for your cheeks and softly wiping away the waterworks. Although you freeze, expecting some sort of catch behind the act, he only spares you a soft smile. Before sitting sideways on your lap that is. Ugh.

" It's okay, you don't need to cry anymore. You have me now, after all. " The bat half-jokes, earning only a sniffle in return as you try to gather your bearings.

Shaky hands hover, having nowhere to poise, until the waiter rolls his bright eyes and grabs them, manually wrapping them around himself in a clumsy embrace. He's smooth, surprisingly soft. " We can talk about anything you want, okay? "

What is there to talk about, your cynical side snarks. Yet, if he's responsive to conversation, for whatever reason, then maybe you can make the most out of it.

" How many floors are there in this building? "

" It depends. " Grimbly shrugs. " Today there's extra ones, because we're kinda flooded with clients. I just hope they don't rush to the aquarium, serving there is no fun, everything's wet and slippery and I don't know how to swim. "

" Do you know how to swim, mommy? "

Your eyelid twitches. " ... Yes. "

The monster gasps. " Oh! Can you teach me someday? "

You don't even know if you'll make it past today. " Uh, sure. "

God, this is awkward.

The waiter purrs loudly, exactly like an overgrown kitten, as he dips his face into your chest, struggling with his own horns. " Thank you! " He's nuzzling, you can feel the pointed tips of those fangs dragging on your skin as he tries to shove his face on your tits. You've no doubt he picked a dress with significant cleavage for this very reason. You don't think too much of your chest, but he seems fixated on it nonetheless.

Silent, passive seconds pass. You're not too sure what you signed up for before passing out, though, thinking back on it, maybe you made the right choice? The mysterious figure in the hood was so ominous, at least this one seems way less intense. Clingy definitely, but way less intimidating.

" You're so nice... " The monster attempting to become one with your tits purrs in a saccharine tone.

" Am I? " A sort of corrosive dryness seeps from you. Your patience for games is dwindling.

" Yeah. You're not like the other ones. " Grimbly hugs you tight, sighing in a way that sounds much too infatuated while he adjusts his position on your lap, tail swatting behind his lithe figure. " You're not screaming, trying to run, or calling me names- I knew I was right when I said you were special. "

Maybe you're just too tired to do those things. Or, better yet, you know it would worsen your chances of survival. The urge to yell and flail is right around the corner, but so it the other voice asking you if you'd like to live to see another day.

" You're perfect. " He swoons, shifting his legs on your lap. " You love me already, don't you? "

Your chin is grasped, forcing you to face the hysterical-looking monster on top of you. Ah. So you were wrong. He's not any safer than the other ones, in fact, he's apparently a lot less stable. Something in the blade-thin pupils of those sweet round eyes tells you it's a horrible idea to antagonize him.

" O- Of course. " You stammer, trying to smile in a comforting way but very aware that your discomfort is shining through crystal clear. Grimbly tilts his head expectantly, and your eyelid twitches a little. " ... Sweetie. " For good measure, you give him a couple of pats on the head.

It seems you've gouged what he wanted correctly, because the waiter relaxes, leaning into the touch. " I knew it. " He lilts. It almost feels threatening.

You try to focus on the relatively calm surroundings, hearing some flapping and thumping in the distance. Not for long however, because a claw hooks onto the front of your dress and slips your tits out. You can only tense, observing the small bat hybrid excite himself with the sight of them. It certainly doesn't help that the slight breeze has your nipples rock hard like pointers. Small hands practically dart to hold your now exposed breasts, the touch greedy and self-serving more than anything. He's clearly not intending to massage you, more so rolling them for his own lurid entertainment.

A not half bad suggestion crosses your mind. What if... What if you used his own kink against him for a second? Would that work? Worth a try.

" Grimbly! " You call sternly, making the hypnotized monster blush and jump slightly. " What do you think you're doing?! Is this any way to behave? " A small part of you writhes, cringing.

" Buh- "

" But nothing. " You insist.

The smaller monster's face goes from velvet to crimson, although whether that's good or bad is up in the air. He covers his groin, expression deflating. For a moment, you almost believe he's going to come to his senses and let it die, your expectations are shifted upside down when he gives you a teary-eyed look.

" But I was so good! " His fists ball. " I didn't touch you while I was dressing you up even if I wanted to so bad! " A shiver crawls up your spine. " I'm being good for you! Aren't I? "

No. But the way the pitch in his voice rises makes you second-guess the effectiveness of pursuing this. " Mommy, why are you being so mean to me?! "

God, he's creepy.

Fine then, he wants you to play nice? Might as well get this over with.

Rolling your eyes, you shove his face between your tits, snickering at the surprised yelp he lets out, which very quickly morphs into a content murr. Those threatening pinprick points you can only guess function as fangs drag across the sensitive tissue of your breasts, and you vaguely wonder if he's going to bite at any point. Puncture into your chest. The mental image makes you shudder. His arms dart to squeeze the soft skin around himself more, and you take advantage of it by sliding a hand right down his body, to the sopping wet slit he tried to hide before.

Grimbly whimpers.

You don't know what to make of this guy.

He's definitely desperate, and even if he's got admittedly adorable looks, his attitude is invasive and abrasive. You can see through his little disguise, or maybe he's just become sloppy in his excitement, but this little fucker is toxic enough to smell. You'll have to be careful with him. For now though, you can afford being a little rougher. You deserve it even, after all that's happened to you. It's a miracle your poor body isn't sore. It should be.

With little to no hesitation, you slip two fingers into that eager hole, getting rewarded with moans that the monster tries to muffle against your skin, now merely holding onto you. The way you pump them is merciless, fingerfucking that pouch and ignoring the swollen cock begging to be freed. The bat's legs twitch, parting, his claws digging into your sides.

" Ghh- " He tries to form a sad excuse of a word, but you don't relent, getting some kicks out of torturing him this way. The sound of his slit greedily swallowing your fingers is lewd and loud.

" Mm, what was that? " You cruelly egg.

" Ngh- Mommy- "

" Yeah? " Grimbly makes another senseless noise and tries to buck into your motions. Your placid hand rises to grab him by the hip, and although you didn't expect it, you're able to keep him perfectly still. Or maybe he's letting you? You sense you have more strength over him.

" Words. " You demand.

" P- Please- Please let it out! It hurts- I need it! "

Your digits all but rip out of his hole, leaving it flexing solemnly before a short chubby cock pokes out. A smooth and slick member bobs in the air, featuring a tapered tip. He's the smallest you've seen today, but that's actually quite comforting. Just enough to make you feel good, and not have to worry about how your body is even accommodating it. Again, you're sure Vesper tampered with you in unwanted ways.

Not giving the needy waiter a moment of respite, you fist your hand around his pretty dick, pumping him fast and hard, occasionally stopping to toy with the odd tip and figuring out what feels best there. The monster atop you twitches and gasp, legs jerking while his body juggles excess sensation. But by God, if the look on his face isn't one of pure ecstasy, open-mouthed and eyes rolled, blinking with each new flare of heat.

It feels good to finally exert some sort of power over someone here. You're not foolish enough to believe you're safe, much less that you can intimidate this odd monster, but you can trick your desperate sense of control, pet it like one would a frightened animal, whisper that everything is fine- Because here you are, making the waiter choke on his own pleasured noises.

Some mean, wounded part of you wants to make Grimbly come from a harsh, merciless handjob. You want him to quiver and soak himself hopelessly, experience just a taste of the powerlessness you've been restricted to since the beginning of this cursed game, this obscene adventure born out of the depths of the Icon of Lust's debased psyche. You want to make sure he reaches that precious peak of pleasure, and then rip all touch away, see him buck like a stupid animal after your hand, cry and strangle out noises of despairing frustration as his orgasm is ruined.

For a brief instant, you stun yourself with the peculiar nature of your desires. You never once experienced a need to be so domineering and cruel... This place is sinking its filthy claws in your brain and it hasn't even been a full day yet. It's a horrifying possibility. Besides, you don't think it'd be a particularly bright idea to feed those urges.

" O-Ohn- N- Not yet! "

The waiter's ambiguous whining forces you to attention. He's thrashing a bit more, no longer the simple squirming of an overstimulated body but genuine attempts to halt things. You stop the moment he taps at your hand insistently.

Grimbly sighs, offering you a glazed smile. " I don't want to come yet, mommy. Not without you... "

Although the look he puts on is cute, you're too riled up to give him any leash, sliding him off your legs and placing him down with jarring ease. He weighs so little, it's bizarre, he definitely doesn't feel that light, and your upper body strength isn't anything to gawk at either. Huh. While he observes you vapidly, the dress is hiked up as you shift to straddle the small monster instead.

He's positively dwarfed by you, which is equal parts satisfying and arousing. The crimson burn on his cheeks agrees completely.

Although you hover tantalizingly over Grimbly's twitching cock, you don't touch or line the monster up with you, enjoying the frustrated brow crease wrinkling his otherwise smooth features. When the bat cares to look up from between plush legs, he finds you boring holes into him.

" A- Ah! " He flusters, breaking eye contact.

" What do you want? "

" Mmm... I want- " Magenta orbs flicker between the sight of your bare pussy to your eyes, begging wordlessly.

" You want? " Grabbing his member, you don't offer the bat any stimulation, even as his legs tremble and he bites his lips at the feeling of your pussy lips juuust grazing his tip.

" Please mommy! " He whines loud and high.

You actually can't contain the laugh that rips out your throat. " Please what? "

Grimbly cracks, voice acquiring a growled edge that wasn't there before. " I want your pussy! I want mommy's sweet pussy I Hhng- "

Gross. You sink onto him like an anchor.

A risky move, but fortunately, he's small enough that it went smoothly. While you blink and gasp in strong shocks of pleasure, Grimbly cries out like a needy whore, and you bet at least some people inside that blasted building heard it. Let them hear, fuck it.

He's still panting by the time dark hands hold onto your hips, throbbing inside you. Pent up little man, you doubt he'll last much longer. Drunk on the control, you can't take much more stillness, starting to ride the monster as hard as you know he wants it.

Grimbly's eyes widen and his mouth parts soundlessly, you grab the back of the bench to support yourself and grin as you fuck down onto his pretty cock, shivering at every choked out whimper he offers. What a pretty slut, maybe that's what the other ones saw when they took you. And you can't blame them for being weak to it.

The monster clips out moans with each bounce, your legs more powerful than his, jostling his lithe figure somewhat the harder you crash onto him. It's addicting, something you never thought you'd need so bad. Chasing your own pleasure becomes a secondary goal, overshadowed entirely by wanting to ruin the winged monster beneath you.

Grimbly seems entirely hypnotized by the sway of your tits, it would almost be hilarious if it didn't help make you feel so gorgeous and desired. One palm leaves the discolored bench to shove his face directly against your boobs, hearing him groan in rapture. The waiter boy gets to work fast, rolling a slick tongue around your nipple and kissing from one to the other, only ever stopping to drool and moan out what could be mindless pleas.

You don't ever slow down.

Fevered with a foreign sense of glee, Grimbly's ripped back from your now soaked tits by the horns, you dip to share a domineering kiss with him, giggling into his mouth, peeling away only to stuff two fingers between his lips. He sucks on them automatically, and your hips snap as harshly as you can when he bites down, breaking the skin. The slight bit of alarm such sudden pain causes you is shadowed by curiosity -Then realization- As you see Grimbly swallow what few rivulets of blood he can leech out of you.

Vampiric. There's something you didn't see coming.

Apparently, the view of you flushed and debased above him, paired with the flavor of your blood and the delicious clench of your cunt around him is the perfect recipe for the monster to see stars, a mangled feminine cry released past your fingers as he seizes and pistons up pointlessly, his orgasm taking hold of him by the neck. Even then, only you remain in control, deciding how hard to milk his poor cock and taking every last bit of cum as deep as possible.

You only slow down when Grimbly begins crying and begging you for a break. Even still, you'd love to continue torturing him, maybe wring a second one out of his mess of a body. You allow yourself a couple of deep, calming breaths, trying to gather your mind in the haze of unfulfilled pleasure. Gentle palms scritch at the bat's chin and cheek, earning a satisfied, adorable purr.

" Mommy y-you... " He starts, when you rise off his spent cock, wiping some of his own seed on him with no shame. " You didn't get to come. "

" I'll live. " You shrug, watching him slump. Truth be told, your legs are a little sore from being tense with need all this time, from deliberately cunt-teasing yourself, but it's better this way.

While Grimbly slumps onto the wood of the bench and catches his breath, you focus on standing up to straighten the dress, comb over your hair, make sure the bleeding stopped, cover your breasts and think.

Your limbs are free, you're clothed and he's disoriented. The surroundings are basically devoid of others, it's calm. If ever there was a golden opportunity to dash away, this would be it. Hesitating, you glance this way and that, trying to estimate how far the garden stretches, if there's anything like gates in the distance. Which would be the fastest way out for that matter? There's almost a sort of smog effect in the air. Truth be told, the more time you spend out there, the less you like it, the more you feel like you shouldn't be here at all.

Which is true, you never should have been anywhere near this fucking hellpit. But it wasn't your choice now, was it?

Lacking any sort of direction, bare feet step onto the stone pathway that you assume leads North. It's hard to tell given how late it's getting and how blurred the sky appears from here.

You don't make it past three steps.

Something coils around your wrist, yanking hard. When you lose balance, stumbling, Grimbly meets your curved form with an eerie deadpan. When had the little shit gotten up? You didn't hear a thing! Your blood freezes.

" Where do you think you're going, mommy? "

" N-Nowhere, baby boy. " You try, as clear a lie as it is.

The bat tuts. " I really thought you loved me, you know? " It's ominous that you can't tell how serious he's being right now.

In seconds, more of a blink really, you're flung onto the very same bench. It takes a couple of stunted, very slow moments, for your brain to click that- Yes, the short thing you easily lifted minutes ago did, in fact, just launch you around like you weigh less than a feather.

You knew it was too good to hope that Grimbly was nothing more than a frail-armed little pipsqueak...

You try to stand again, jolted by pain on your right arm, which took the brunt of the impact. Something can be heard rolling on the stony ground, and when you think to track the waiter, his long tail slides an object from behind that twisted fountain. A transparent spherical shape is snatched in a four-fingered hand, you can spot something alive writhing within it. Fear starts taking a hold of you.

Grimbly unscrews the container and promptly discards the top half, by the time you realize it's imperative to start running, something foreign and wet has collided with your turning body. Frantic, you find... Strings? Tubes? Worms? Oh God, that's disgusting, they're alive and squirming like tentacles, what the fuck are you even looking at?

The purple and blue-ish things sprout to action upon the first blind palping of your skin, wrapping around your upper body tightly and latching wetly onto the back of the bench, jarringly forcing you to sit. It happens so fast that all you can do is bleat in terror and shake your head. The things pulse around your arms and torso, featuring a heartbeat of their own, invasively caressing your form. Your strength is moot against them, there's very little give no matter how hard you flex.

Panic-stricken, you can only look to Grimbly for answers. He appears perfectly calm, having taken the time to clean himself while you were bound.

" See? This is what happens when I can't trust you, mommy. " He pouts. " Trust is the foundation of every good relationship, you know? "

" What- What the fuck are you doing? "

" Nothing! " The waiter perks up, trotting over to your form and placing a light kiss on your forehead. You openly glare at him. " I need you to stay right here for me while I take care of some things in the restaurant, okay? "

" Yay! I'll be right back! After all, we aren't done. " The bat winks, seeming very excited even as he zooms past you. The last thing you hear from him being no more than a rushed- " Don't miss me too much! "

It takes a long while before you realize he wants an actual answer, to which you groan and nod, furious.

A tired, drawn-out sigh flows out your lips.

How many more times will you have to be tied up in a single day? It's getting ridiculous. From present wrapping to ropes to whatever these organic constructs twined around you are. It just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?

Minutes pass. Darkness starts to creep in. You have no way of telling the time and have long since stopped trying to twist out of the tendrils. Or bite them off. You really wish you could hit your head against the wall, maybe drag the bench out with you, but it's firmly planted into the pathway.

There's nothing to do except stare longingly at the open garden, freedom taunting you like the cruel mistress it is. To think that if, maybe, if you hadn't hesitated, put thought into it, you could have been a great distance away from here already... Miserable.

You're trying to roll your shoulders against the oppressive force of the mass around you when the sound of chatter becomes louder. Footsteps, laughter, shouting. Monsters. People are exiting to the outside area of the building. Perhaps for an event? You can't tell, but it's not important.

What matters is that you can't be seen by groups right now, especially defenseless as you are. That'll be your death sentence, the final chapter of your life's book. More alert than ever before, you start squirming in earnest. Like Hell Grimbly's coming for you. You're fucked!

" Damn it! Stupid fucking things- "

Your aggravated growl rings out as you kick and jerk pointlessly, only serving to tire yourself out. Eventually, a forced sense of calmness, resignation effectively, takes hold. You slump without grace and allow the back of your head to rest on the uncomfortable metal frame supporting the wooden bench. When your eyes open, expecting to see nothing but the distorted sky's bleeding hues, two monsters stare down at you from the rooftop of the gothic infrastructure.

No... That's a monster with two heads. A winged, horned monster with paper bags covering its two heads. One of which has a hole ripped onto it, a red glow coming from within.

The fuck is that one supposed to be?

You squint. Demon? But what is he doing on the roof? In spite of the darkening surroundings, you catch glimpses of blue skin, spotted and sprinkled along his bulky body in a pattern that's not too distinct from the one on the stone paths on the ground... Oh.

Oh. It's a gargoyle. Wow. You never actually saw one of those before in your life. They're not very common. Did he... Are the bags stuck on his heads? Is he meant to have two heads?

Momentary shock set aside, it dawns on you that this monster has been curiously eyeing you for a while now. You have no idea for how long he's been staring, perched there silently like a vulture. Perhaps he's hungry, and you're starting to look like a decent appetizer to him. An easy kill. Trepidation has you gulping, though as soon as you open your mouth to try and communicate with him, ready to have to beg if need be, a grating chorus scrapes at your brain.

Another voice joins the choir of strangers conversing not too far away, this one much more obnoxious and harsh, drowning out all the others. The clicking of boots can be heard.

" Can you believe that's all they had for a starter? Absolutely disgraceful! And to think I've been hearing about this dump like it's the be all end all of recreational establishments- I've seen better entrées in the slop bucket shitheaps of Gluttony! "

Oh, there's that headache you were fearing.

" ... Yes, m'lord. "

Two figures approach faster than the rest of the crowd.

One is a towering, very pale demon with sharp facial features and a completely ridiculous attire. The cape is just the cherry on top. Nevertheless, the fact that he's accompanied by a golden-eyed imp in a dress, looking bored out of her mind, must mean he's of some relevance. You glance between the small four-horned demoness and the one ranting angrily as they settle far too close to you for comfort.

The imp takes out a cigarette from her black dress' pocket and lights it to her red lips. She can definitely see you sweating bullets, though just as clearly doesn't give half a fuck. The other one is still much too busy yapping to no one, eyes cast elsewhere.

" I'm not staying here all day, I have better things to do with my time, I'm not like those abject failures getting ruined in there- It's madness, this whole thing! I can't believe I agreed to it in the first place. Are you even listening?! "

The servant jolts, choking on her cigarette for a second as the distant haze fades from her eyes. " H-Huh? Yes, yes of course your majesty! "

Majesty... Uh oh.

You remember the gargoyle above you, checking to see if he's still there. Surprise surprise, he is. Exactly in the same spot, though a lot more tense in the vicinity of this new pair. Between this dubiously intentioned gargoyle and the guy nagging at his imp, you're not sure who to reach out to for help.

Neither option is particularly appealing.

[snootlestheangel]

The brain rot is attacking me so I’m sharing the love

GazRoach but with Asexual Roach

Yay, more brainrot!!

I'm going with the idea that Roach is a burn victim and so he sometimes he has issues feeling comfortable in his skin (cause I just cannot unsee him as such because of all the beautiful art and writings I've seen depicting him as such). This has nothing to do with his asexuality, he was ace before the accident!

(also somehow fucked up the formatting and deleted two whole questions and the answers so like sorry if the first few questions are kinda rushed. I was mad at myself cause I had already written the answers just to immediately delete them)

Who was the one to propose? Gaz. It was the cutest, sweetest, most beautiful thing and Roach refused to stop hugging him.

Who stressed more over wedding planning? Roach probably. He wants Gaz to have the best wedding ever, but Gaz couldn't care less about the circumstances, just the fact he gets to marry his best friend :)

Who decorated the house? Gaz has style and it definitely started out as him, but Roach keeps bringing in little knick-knacks so eventually, there are rooms where guests can tell Roach had a hand in it's decor

Who does the cooking? Both can cook pretty decently, so typically they take turns. However, Roach often cooks more than Gaz. I don't know why, I just feel like Roach, even though he's a menace, can really whip up some gourmet shit.

Who is more organized? Roach, actually. Gaz is plenty organized, as a result of years being in the military and needing to keep his shit tidy, but Roach is the actual organized one. Yeah, he's bug boy, bugs have very complex systems and maintain those with diligence. -Roach's motto

Who suggested kids first? Gaz, probably. They don't think they ever will have kids, but Gaz is the one to ask about it first.

Who's the big cuddler? Gaz, but sometimes he gets banished to the floor when Roach feels constricted.

Who's the big spoon/little spoon? Gaz is little spoon. Whatever you do, don't imagine Roach burying his face in between Gaz's shoulders after a really tough day and just holding onto Gaz like he's his very lifeline (he is), and don't picture Gaz humming a little bit cause he knows the vibrations calm Roach down. Don't imagine them falling asleep like this, don't imagine Gaz staying in bed well past the time he should all because Roach is sleeping so peacefully, still wrapped around him.

Favorite non-sexual activity? Everything. They're such adrenaline junkies, despite their traumas, and like to push each other. They're actually working on Gaz's absolute terror of heights, bit by bit. Gaz wants to be able to ride a roller-coaster again without having flashbacks :')

Who comes home drunk at 3am? I don't see either of them being really heavy drinkers like this, if I'm being honest. Unless Soap is there and offers to drive both back to their place, neither really gets drunk.

Who kills the spiders? Gaz wants to kill them but Roach refuses to let him. Bugs are friends :) *Roach is very much committed to the bit*

Who falls asleep first? Gaz. I feel like he's so normal about things like that. Like he can just easily fall asleep, whereas Roach is laying there thinking about that ant he stepped on earlier.

A head-canon? Roach, being a burn victim, has a pretty tough time every now and then feeling like he fits in his skin. It doesn't help he's definitely got some Sensory Processing Issues, and so sometimes he really wants to claw off his skin. His burns do cover a good portion of his torso and upper legs. Sometimes when people give him a hard time about being ace, cause we all know there's those assholes, he just uses the excuse of his burns to make them uncomfortable. He came out ace well before the incident, but we all know he's not been taken seriously until he started blaming it on the incident. The two are still pretty intimate with each other; Roach loves when Gaz applies the creams/meds to his scarring, mostly cause the whole time Gaz is whispering praise in his ear, saying how proud he is, how pretty Roach is, etc. Not to mention, some of the places are hard for him to reach, and there's scarring up near his crotch (which is incredibly uncomfortable on Roach's bad days when he's reminded a lot of his skin isn't technically his own and he's overtly aware of the sensation of Gaz's hands on him), and so sometimes there's a lot of reassurance on both sides, from Roach saying he's good to keep going, and from Gaz to say "just a bit more, Bug, okay? You're doing good" Roach adores Gaz's physique, and is constantly photographing him; there's so many photos of Gaz in all sorts of different circumstances. The fall/cozy sweater pictures that are scattered around the flat, the ones of Gaz in the snow, or shirtless in the bright summer sun just looking like he's thriving. There's a secret stash of all of the nudes Roach has taken of Gaz. They're all so artistic and beautiful and non-sexualized photos of Gaz just simply ~Existing~ and those photos are Roach's most prized possessions. Roach just loves when Gaz isn't wearing clothes in general, and he's definitely stealing all his shirts so Gaz has 'no choice' but to walk around shirtless. Roach's favorite time of year is gray sweatpant season cause he gets the perfect view of Gaz's hips, the lines leading down and disappearing underneath his pants, the way Roach can still see the very minute dimples on Gaz's lower back, just visible above his pants.

Do they have any "rituals"? Only the process of applying creams/meds to Roach's burn areas. Gaz puts on a whole theatric basically to help put Roach into a good mood, and Gaz has to have the right playlist, the right stuff to cover the rather unpleasant scent of the medication cream, etc. (this is kind of a stressful thing for Roach, he's still pretty sensitive in certain areas/easy to trigger cause the trauma is still relatively fresh)

Who has the most patience? Gaz, most definitely. He's still glaring at you if you're annoying him, but it'll take a while before he ever loses his cool. Roach is just feral :D

Gif that sums up the relationship?

The silliest of sillies :)

[maddipoof]

There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort 🌷: maybe a study session turned cuddle with tasm peter parker?

I don't know if you were expecting science but I just cannot. So r has a test on Othello and yeah, it's cute, I like it. thank you for requesting <3 I had fun writing it

WC: 910 (yay my first blurb under 1000 words, improvement)

The very second you sat back down at your desk, half convinced you’re focused enough from another session of pacing around your room, the buzzer went off. You’d almost be annoyed but you didn’t have the time with the half second it took you to realize it had to be Peter. Any other day you’d run over to the door, but today the exhaustion was getting to you. Settling for a rushed walk instead, you leaned down to speak into the little microphone. “Come on up, bugboy.”

“Actually,” you nearly screamed at the voice from outside your half open window. You had your hand over your heart and your back leaning on the wall while Peter watched, hanging upside down with that stupidly adorable smile. “Spiders are arachnids, not bugs.” He lowered himself to the floor and pulled the web down from your fire escape and you practically ran to open the window the rest of the way. You didn’t give him the chance to duck under the window on his own with the way you pulled him down with a hand to the back of his neck. He had to hold himself up with one hand on the sill and the other on the wrist of your hand in his hair. The kiss itself was much gentler than the way you wrapped him into it, but he was alright with that, though with how much he missed you he wouldn’t have minded more. “I haven’t seen you all day.”

“I know, it’s been too long.”

“Mhm, 12 whole hours, basically eternity.”

“If I remember correctly, it’s been 13.”

“Probably right,” he nudged you back a bit so he could climb in and shut the window without turning from you. “And how many of those did you sleep?”

“Hm,” you clicked your tongue while thinking of the best answer that wouldn’t get you sent to bed immediately, but decided the truth was enough. “Um, 5?” Wrong answer, you could see it on his face. “And a half, 5 and a half.”

“And what were you doing all the other 7.5?”

“I don’t know what it is about this essay but I can’t get it right.” You dropped your face into his shoulder and he tried scratching at the back of your neck in an attempt to comfort you.

“For your lit class? When’s it due?”

“That’s the thing,” you rested your chin on his chest and looked up at him with pleading eyes, not really knowing what you were asking for. “I’m just writing it as a practice for my exam, it’s in two days and if I can’t answer the essay question, what’s the point?”

“She gave you the essay question?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s just to analyze a scene and talk about what it means and blah blah blah whatever,” you talked while he pulled you into your room. “But I can’t focus and it’s like my eyeballs want me to fail.”

You stood behind him while he looked over your desk of loose index cards, open binders and notebooks with margins overrun with scribbles, and of course the half written essay on your laptop.

“You wanna sit down and I’ll quiz you on it? So you don’t have to strain your eyes anymore?” He started picking up the notecards before you even answered, just to organize for you if nothing else. You listened and sat on your bed with your back against the wall. 

“Yeah, that’s ok.”

“Good, ok, yeah. These ones?” He held up the colorful neon flash cards. 

“Mhm, Othello.”

Peter hasn’t even thought of Shakespeare since Macbeth senior year. Too wrapped up in more scientific studies and uh, spiderman-ing. But he’d do it for you. 

Three-quarters of the way through the set he could see your breath evening out and your eyes fluttering. 

“Here, lay down,” he guided you forward by the shoulder. 

“Hm?” 

“I’ll read to you.” He slid in behind you on the bed and pulled the blankets over both of you. 

“You don’t have your glasses.”

“I’ll manage,” he reached over to grab the book off the table then relaxed back down to pull you to his chest. 

“You’ll strain your eyes.” As if he didn’t arrive by swinging from building to building, that’s the danger you were worried about. 

“I’ll manage.” 

Your head was on his chest and he read over your shoulder. 

“Start here,” you pointed to the section your essay was focused on, half way through a passage. 

“She gave me for my pains a world of sighs: She swore, in faith, ‘twas strange, 'twas passing strange, 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful: She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me, And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, I should but teach him how to tell my story. And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake: She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, And I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used: Here comes the lady; let her witness it.”

He looked down at you to find you sleeping, happy that you finally found a moment’s rest. He kissed your forehead, wherever he could reach. “I love you.” He wasn’t even sure you could hear, but he needed you to know anyway. 

“I love you,” you mumbled into his chest.

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Be Careful of Bad Men

Translations may not always capture the exact nuances or tone of the original text. Expect grammatical errors. Slightly Suggestive.

Mai: “Kicho, do you have any plans for the following days?”

I asked about his schedule when he returned from the bath.

Mai: “I might be able to take a day off, so if you’re free, um...”

Kicho: “Is that an invitation for a date?”

Mai: “Yes. Is it too sudden?”

I looked at him with a hopeful expression, thinking he would refuse.

Kicho: “I was actually thinking of asking you to the festival at a nearby shrine.”

Mai: “Really!?”

Kicho: “Yeah, if you’re interested, why don’t we go?”

Mai: “Okay!”

(Yay, I’m going to the festival with Kicho!)

Kicho: “You look happy. Do you like festivals?”

Mai: “That’s part of it, but I’m also excited to go with you.”

Kicho: “Mai...”

Kicho: “You really say the cutest things.”

Smiling, Kicho gave me a gentle kiss, and I accepted it, feeling excited about our date.

However一

Mai: “It’s raining again.”

I sighed as I looked up at the pouring sky.

Because of the rain, the area around the shrine got all muddy, so they had to cancel the festival.

Kicho: “It’s too bad about the festival. You were probably looking forward to it.”

Mai: “I can’t control the weather, so it can’t be helped.”

Mai: “I’m happy to stay in this room as long as I’m with you.”

I put on a smile so as not to show my disappointment.

Kicho: “Don’t worry, Mai. I’ll make sure we can go to the festival.”

Mai: “But there won’t be any festivals for a while.”

Kicho: “It’s your wish, so I’ll make it come true no matter what it takes.”

I felt like his eyes briefly gleamed mysteriously.

Mai: “Kicho?”

Kicho: “But for now, I want to enjoy this moment.”

Mai: “Mm...”

I gently leaned into him on the windowsill as our lips overlapped.

A few days later一

Mai: “What’s this?”

I entered his room when he called me and saw an array of colorful yukatas.

Kicho: “I arranged these for the festival. Choose whichever one you like.”

Mai: “Huh? But the festival was canceled.”

Kicho: “I told you I’d grant your wish.”

Mai: “But what does that mean?”

Kicho: “You’ll find out when we go.”

He gave me a meaningful smile while I was still feeling confused.

That same day, he took me to a castle.

Kicho: “The festival is being held here.”

Mai: “Huh? A festival in a castle!?”

(I’ve never heard of that before.)

I tilted my head in confusion as the townspeople passed through the castle gate, one after another.

Kicho: "Mai, let's go."

Mai: "O-Okay."

I followed him inside the castle, encouraged by his smile.

Mai: "Wow!"

Just as Kicho said, the inside of the castle was lined with stalls, and the corridors and rooms were decorated with lanterns.

Mai: "This is amazing. It really is a festival!"

Kicho: "There are also open-air stalls in the garden. When the sun goes down, they'll have bon dances around the tower."

(It's more elaborate than I thought!)

He smiled knowingly and took my hand.

Kicho: "With this, we can enjoy the festival without worrying about the weather. Let's go."

Mai: "Okay!"

I replied with a smile and walked hand in hand with him through the castle.

That night一

Mai: "That was so fun. I never thought I'd get to carry a mikoshi with you."

Kicho: "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

He fanned me with a festival fan as I got out of the bath.

Mai: "But why was the festival held in the castle?"

Kicho: "The daimyo probably organized the festival for the sake of his people, who were disappointed that the shrine festival got canceled."

He shook the fan with a blank expression on his face.

Mai: "Huh? But the owner of that castle sounds familiar. Wait, he's your business partner."

Kicho: "That's just a coincidence."

(Is it really just a coincidence?)

Mai: "Did you arrange the festival?"

Kicho: "Do you really think a mere merchant could have that much power?"

Mai: "I don't know, but you said you'd make my wish come true no matter what it takes."

Mai: "If that's the case, maybe you did something behind the scenes."

Kicho: "I won't go into details, but I've decided to make anything impossible possible if it's what you want."

He told me this with a bright smile.

Mai: "You're quite the schemer, aren't you?"

Kicho: "Do you hate bad guys?"

Mai: "Of course not."

Kicho: "Then was it a nuisance?"

He stopped fanning and peered into my face.

(He probably used some pretty forceful methods.)

(I feel bad for making him do something like that for my sake, but...)

Mai: "Nope. Just happy and embarrassed."

I shook my head and honestly conveyed my feelings.

He made our festival date a reality because he was thinking of me. It was an undeniable fact, and I felt his love for me.

Kicho: "I see."

With a happy expression, he narrowed his eyes and kissed me.

Mai: "Mmm...!"

The tip of his tongue slipped between my lips and melted into my mouth.

When our lips parted, he softly lifted me up.

Kicho: "From here on, it's just the two of us."

The feverish voice whispering in my ear stimulated the pit of my stomach, making my heart race like it was about to burst.

He gently laid me down on the bed and kissed me deeply again.

Mai: "Nnn...haa..."

He teased my earlobe between our kisses, causing a shiver to run through my shoulders.

Even though his touch was gentle, my body heated up from that sensation alone.

Eventually, our lips parted, and he gazed at me thoughtfully.

Kicho: "Mai, how do you want me to love you?"

(Huh?)

Mai: "Even if you ask me how, I..."

I looked at him, puzzled, and he reached out and took my hand.

Kicho: "If you want, I could shower affection on these adorable hands of yours."

Mai: "Hyaa..."

He kept his eyes on me, kissed my fingers, and gently licked them.

Kicho: "Or I could be bolder than that and shower you with kisses all over your body."

Mai: "Nn...ahh..."

He kissed my collarbone, and a tingling sensation spread from that spot.

He smiled slightly and gently untied my obi.

Kicho: "Do you prefer the feeling of my fingers caressing your body? Or maybe you prefer to be touched here?"

Mai: "A-Ahh..."

He slid his hand over my thigh and teased the sensitive spot between my legs.

Kicho: "Does this spot look good to you?"

He stroked my skin and asked this seductively.

(What should I do? This is so embarrassing.)

I blushed, unable to answer due to shame. Suddenly, I noticed a cloud pass over his face.

Kicho: "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

(Huh?)

He withdrew his hand, playing with my skin, and kissed me on the ear.

Kicho: "I just want to fulfill all your wishes."

Kicho: "When it comes to you, I seem to lose control."

Mai: "Kicho."

My heart was filled with love as I gazed into his eyes.

Mai: "Please don't apologize. I want you to love me as you wish."

Kicho: "Is that okay with you?"

Mai: "Yes. Accepting your feelings is the greatest happiness for me."

Kicho: "Mai..."

He called my name tenderly, his lips forming a smile.

Kicho: "Hearing such words from you makes it even harder for me to hold back."

Kicho: “I apologize in advance if I push you too far tonight."

Mai: "Nn…"

The bed loudly creaked as he dropped a biting kiss.

(I want to accept both his gentle and intense love.)

We embrace each other tightly, confirming our passion and feelings in the deepest part of ourselves.

[julebirdie]

Sea Glass

Feat: Jade Leech/Floyd Leech (Separate)

Reader is Gender-Neutral

Not Requested

Disclaimers: Affectionate pet names (angel, dear, dearest, honey, etc), established relationships, Jade and Floyd sorta give the reader no personal space for a bit 😭, Floyd is a menace to Grim for a bit

♡- Jade Leech

"Alright! One bag of multi-color sea glass, and would you be interested in adding an enchanted book that reads the content to you to the purchase? It's half off!" Sam said, wrapping a white tie onto the opening of the burlap sack.

"No thanks, Sam. Just the sea glass." You said, picking your wallet out of your pocket.

"Very well, that'll be 1500 thaumarks!" He said, popping open the register. Handing him the currency, he organized it into the slots and handed you the bag. “Thank you for your purchase, little imp!”

You waved goodbye as you left the store. Once on the field, you opened the bag. Staring at awe at the beautiful stones that clinked together at every motion, excitement grew. You couldn’t wait to give to him.

‘Wait, he’s working!”

But, as long as you’re a customer, there’s no harm in visiting the lounge. Closing the bag, you began to walk towards the main campus with a goal in mind.

----

Entering the lounge, you felt yourself relax at the jazz music that was playing. Picking one of the booths closest to the aquarium, you watched the aquatic animals swim and glide past the glass. You wondered how they got there, and why some of them were glowing. However, you couldn’t ponder too much as a familiar voice broke your train of thought.

"Good afternoon and welcome to the Mostro Lounge, what can I get you to drink?” Turning from the glass, you found your boyfriend standing at the end of the table.

“Jade!”

“Hello dearest. How has your day been?”

“Good, good. Um, I’ll just have a water.”

“Very well. Take a look at our foodstuff and I’ll be back momentarily.”

As Jade left, you felt your excitement grow. Bouncing your leg, you thought of ways to give him the bag. What if you did a big show of it, or gave him it while he was distracted, which one of your ideas would he enjoy the most?

“Here’s your water,” Jade said, placing it onto a paper coaster, “and what would you like to eat?”

“Uhh, fries?” You said, being caught off guard.

“And why do you sound uncertain?” Glancing around for his employer and his brother, Jade slid into the empty spot next to you.

“Uhh, just thinking about fish.” You lied, scooting away from him.

“Fish?” He moved closer, smiling cheekily at you.

“Mhm, the fishies. Like that glowing yellow one.”

“The Yellow Tang? I never considered it to be glowing,” Jade said, pulling you to him in an embrace. But as he did that, the sea glass in your pocket clinked together at the movement.

”What was that? Sounded like Floyd dropped a glass.” You said incredulously, not making eye contact with the heterochromatic eyes that were staring straight at you.

“Why blame Floyd? It came from your pocket dear.” He said.

Looking at his entertained face, you caved. “Alright, I give.” You said, pulling out the burlap sack and handing it to Jade. He stared at the bag for a moment before opening it.

“Sea glass?” He asked.

“Yeah! I saw it in Sam’s shop and I thought you would like it. I-If not I can-“

“Oh, hush. I love it.”

At those words, the biggest smile spread across your face. Wrapping your arms around his shoulder, you pressed a long kiss to his nose.

“Yay! I’m so happy you like it!”

“Any gift my angel gives me will forever bring me joy.” Jade responded, placing the bag onto the table before returning the hug.

The two of you sat like that for a moment, before you noticed other customers and employees staring. “Okay, you should get back to work. Will you stay at the dorm tonight?” You asked, letting go of his shoulders.

“Of course, just be sure Grim doesn’t attempt to bite bits of my hair off again,” Jade chuckled, placing the bag of sea glass into his pocket, “and will you be getting fries after all?”

“Mhm! I love you honey, thank youu.”

“Love you too dear.”

After he delivered your fries, you could hear the sea glass clink in his pocket as he moved around the lounge. And apparently, you weren’t the only one who heard it.

“What in the Seven did you give Jade? He sounds like a wind-chime.” Azul grumbled, standing next to your table with a tray in hand.

“Just a teensey gift.” You giggled, making Azul sigh.

♡- Floyd Leech

Something tells you that telling Floyd you had a surprise for him was a terrible idea.

“Azul! Sorry to bother you while you’re working, but have you seen Floyd?” You said, dashing into the lounge and towards him.

“No, I haven’t. In fact, I assumed he was with you.” Azul said, before walking away to serve a table. Glancing at Jade, who gave you a shrug, the wires in your mind connected.

He was flipping Ramshackle upside down looking for his gift.

Your eyes widened and you turned away, running through the entrance of the lounge. Thank heaven that your dorm was on campus, because if it was through the Hall of Mirrors it’d probably be on fire now.

As you approached the gate, you waved hello to Malleus and Silver. You couldn’t catch much, but you understood that Malleus was giving a lecture on why gargoyles and statues were not the same thing.

“Oh, (Y/N). I understand that you and one of the Leech twins are partners, but proceed with caution. I saw him run into the dorm and he has yet to leave.” Malleus warned, before returning to his speech.

You nodded, a silent thanks, before running past the gate and up the path. Slowly, you opened the creaky door and stepped into the common area, closing the entrance behind you.

"Myah, (Y/N)! You’re home! The scary twin is digging through your things! And he tied me to this chair!" Grim yelled as you hunched over, trying to catch your breath. You watched as he tried to untie the restraints that bound him to a dusty chair, only rocking it in the process. "Grim, I'm more worried about the fact he tied you to a chair." You said. Standing up straight, you walked behind the chair. Picking at the knots until they loosened, Grim leaped out and into your arms.

“Thank you (Y/N)! I was so scared- I mean, I was so angry that he dared tie me up!” You smiled, petting him between his fluffy ears. You let Grim adjust himself in your arms before ascending the stairs, hearing very loud rustling from your room.

Peeking past the door frame, you saw a tall frame with wild turquoise hair tussling the blankets and pillows you had on your bed. "Floyd? What're you doing?" You said.

At the sound of his name, Floyd lifted his head from your mattress with a small blanket on his head. If he weren't destroying the tranquility of your room, you'd find it adorable.

"Shrimpy, you're back!" Floyd said cheerfully, moving in to hug you. However, he stopped when he saw Grim in your arms.

“Aww, you untied Baby Seal. And I worked so hard to tie him up.” He whined.

“Floyd, answer my question.”

“I was looking for the surprise!”

You sighed, exasperated. You saw the disarray that your room had become, and you had spent so much time organizing it this morning too.

“Floyd, if you had told me you were here you would've gotten your gift quicker,” You said. You felt Grim start to move, and you loosened your arms. Once you did, he jumped onto your shoulder and into the hallway, whispering about 'how dangerous saying that was,' and 'how you're on your own if you get hurt,' but you knew he was just outside, watching for any signs of danger.

“But it was fun snooping, I found cool things!" Floyd said, hugging you now that Grim was out of the way. "Like what, hun?" You said, running your hand through his tussled hair. "Like my hoodie that you took! I spent weeks looking for that!" He grumbled, digging his head deeper into the crook of your neck.

"Oopsies," you giggled, "will you forgive me if I give you your gift?"

As you finished your sentence, Floyd's head whipped up from your neck. He stared intensely at you, before nodding frantically.

"Alright little eel, no need for such intensity." You said, moving to your dresser. Pushing it forward, you grabbed a burlap sack you had taped behind the mirror. You could hear the sea glass clink together, and so could Floyd.

Turning around, you came face-to-face with your boyfriend, who was drawn in by the noise.

"Here it is babe. Take a look, tell me if you like it." You said, smiling, extending it to him.

Floyd picked up the bag from your outstretched hands, shaking it near his ear. Opening the bag, his eyes widened as he stared at the multi-colored pieces of eroded glass. It reminded him of home, of stalking the beach with Jade and Azul during the night looking for pretty stones.

Getting anxious at his lack of response, you decided to do the best thing you could think of. "Floyd? I-I'm sorry, I should've gotten you something else. I'll return it and-" Before you could reach out to grab the bag, Floyd pulled in his arms and held the bag out of your reach.

"You're returning nothin', I love it." He said, suddenly scarily serious.

"Are you sure? Don't feel bad-"

"Shrimpy, I'm sure. I love itt." He drawled, now back to normal. Burying the bag into his pocket, he pulled you to him and began to cover your face in small kisses.

"Hahah! Floyd stop, that tickles!" You laughed, tossing your arms around his neck to pull him closer, despite what you were saying.

"You really like the gift?" You asked, placing a stray hair behind his ear. Floyd stopped kissing you for just a second, saying "Yes, I'm sure baby," before continuing with the kisses.

You sighed, relieved. "I'm guessing this means you're staying here tonight?" You asked, brushing Floyd's hair with your fingers. "Mhm! But I want my hoodie." He said.

"Alright, but no more tying Grim to chairs."

"No promises Shrimpy."

"Floyd."

"Alright, no more tying up Baby Seal."

[asleep-in-the-keep-sideblog]

Asleep In The Keep: A DP x BNHA fic

Summary: Danny and Aizawa talk and bond

Word count: 3284

Chapter 23: You Hungry?

Danny and the Mummy stood awkwardly in the store. Maybe Danny was the only awkward one, considering that the man not only saw him during a low point, but Danny also thought he was his dad in his haze. Danny sighed, just trying to get it out. Everything would be so much easier if the man didn’t help Danny (he would’ve been fine on his own), now he felt like he owed the man some kind of explanation. 

‘Oh hey, thanks for helping except totally didn’t need it cause I’m already dead, yay!’ and what, would he just say, ‘oh totally cool and normal, have a good day!’ and leave? The ancients wouldn’t be so kind.   

At least he respected Danny’s “no” for a doctor- more than he could say for most of the adults in his life. There still could be something he could do. 

“Uhhh you want something to drink?” Danny pointed his thumb behind him at the counter, which he just noticed was covered in frost. He looked at the man and saw the same frost on his arms. Mummy man followed his eyes, and wiped it off, not letting his facial features betray anything. Danny eyed him suspiciously, but let it go. The guy had been the opposite of a threat so far (but that didn’t mean that he won’t be). Danny had to silence that part of him, he didn’t sense any malicious intent from the man. He was probably still strung up from his little episode earlier. 

Danny walked behind the counter, entering customer service mode. The man followed behind him but at a distance to make Danny comfortable. He appreciated it.  

“I’ll take a black coffee.” Danny eyed him again, but not from suspicion. 

“Are you sure?” He chuckled, “You had to choke it down last time, and I haven’t gotten the best reviews since then.”

“I’m sure. I like your coffee. It’s…” He paused, obviously thinking deeply, “like an old fashioned dark roast.” his face didn’t betray him, so Danny decided to believe it. 

“If you say so,” Danny rolled his eyes and started cleaning up the mess. “uhhh it’s gonna take me a minute to clean everything up, you can just sit down somewhere” he gestured to tables and booths. Fortunately the tables were screwed into the floor, so they were mostly alright. Same could not be said for the chairs. Danny groaned. 

“I got it,” Mummy said, already moving to put the chairs up. There was something casual in the way he said it, like he had known Danny for a while and it was expected. 

He did know Danny was Phantom, right? Like, that was what the whole, “I won’t tell anyone,” was about, yeah? Maybe he just hadn’t seen the news? Or maybe he just didn't care? Regardless, Danny would still keep an eye on him. It wouldn’t make sense for his luck to suddenly turn to gold.

Mummy had gotten a few chairs up when he moved to the door. He flipped the ‘OPEN’ sign to ‘CLOSED’. 

“Thanks,” Danny called out, but his voice felt too sudden, “I probably would’ve forgotten and then someone would come in, which would be hard to explain.” He scratched his neck.

“You’re welcome,” he nodded, “I’m going to shut the blinds as well, you should try to get the power back on.

“What?”

“The power-”

“No, I heard you. What do you mean it's-oh my god!” Danny facepalm. He blew the power out. “Uhhh just stay there.” 

It’s not that Danny trusted the man alone, it was more ‘what more damage could he do?’ than straight trust. He ran out the back to the fuse-box, leaving the door open to see inside. He flipped the switch but the lights remained off. Danny growled in frustration as he kept flipping it on and off, with no results. 

“Work you stupid thing!” He felt a zap from his fingers and all the lights turned on. He yanked his hand away and stared at the box. He can think about that later…

The man was closing the last of the blinds by the time Danny walked in. Danny really needed to learn this guy’s name, especially if he was gonna come here often, which seemed to be the case. Instead of asking, Danny turned around to make the coffee. 

It was quiet in the cafe, save for the sounds of machines and chairs scraping. There was a tense air that floated between the two, something that wouldn’t exist until it was spoken. After all the chairs were set up, the man just sat at the same table he did last time and pretended to look at the wall. They were both in a secret staring contest. 

Danny only wasted 3 cups of coffee until he got one that wasn’t burnt, and walked it over to him. The man took it gingerly, and placed it down, using a napkin as a coaster. He eyed the seat in front of him. 

“How about you take a break?” He said. He tried to make his voice sound smooth but it ended up being more forced, like a kid standing at the front of class. 

“I still have a lot to do before the end of my shift.” Danny wasn’t lying. Although the chairs and machines were cleaned, there was still a lot of debris on the floor. Coffee grinds crunched under his foot with each step he took. 

“You’ve done enough for now, it’s important to take breaks. Otherwise, the people who care about you get worried.” Danny laughed at that. Even when he did have people like that, he would always lie about how much work he was doing to make them feel better. He missed that…

“Do you have people who care about you?” the man asked. 

“Not anymore.” Danny sat down across from him, watching his reaction. He nodded, seemingly excepting that answer. “Does anyone care about you?” The question came off harsher than Danny wanted, but there was a smile in the man’s eyes.

“I do,” His face relaxed slightly and his lip twitched into an almost a smile, “I have a husband and a very good friend.” he rubbed his ring, and it clanked on the side of his cup. Danny didn’t say anything in response. 

“Do you have a place you’re staying at? Somewhere safe?” Concern leaked into every word. He seemed to be genuine, but it was clear he was hiding something, adults always were. Kids' motivations were easier to understand, especially when they wore their heart on their sleeve like Deku. Adults always wanted something or had an angle. 

“Yes. I’m safe.” That is all that he would give him. 

“That’s good,” The man watched him and Danny felt studied. He became violently aware that he was still in his ghost form (his true form). He never felt self conscious of it before. In Amity, when they saw Phantom, they just saw the persona, not Danny (except the few who knew). The man in front of him saw Danny completely. It felt violating, like a stranger reading his diary. 

Danny closed his eyes and pictured his human self, the life he lived before and was owed. Tingles like limbs falling asleep traveled down his body. When he opened his eyes, the man’s mouth in front of him was open. 

Danny shrugged, trying to make it seem like a smaller deal. He had forgotten that people don’t usually show their quirks off in public. He may have just crossed a social norm and made him uncomfortable. 

Good, the bitter teenager side of him said. He didn’t know this man enough to care. 

Zzz

Tommy replaced Phantom in front of him. Shouta tried to suppress the shock on his face, but honestly how do you react to something like that? It looked like his face was melting off, only to have another face underneath the goo. At least now he knew how Phantom turned into Tommy. Phantom glared at him in a way only teenagers are able. Shouta shut his mouth and took a sip of coffee. He gagged slightly as the flavor hit his tongue. It tasted like spoiled burnt rubber, a slight improvement from last time. Fortunately he was better at hiding his disgust this time since Phantom stopped glaring. 

“So,” Shouta wasn’t sure what to say, “Is that a quirk of yours?” He pretended to take another sip of coffee, his eyes scanning the teen over the brim of the cup. 

“Yes.” He answered curtly. Shouta didn’t know if the boy was being honest or not, but he had to take it for what it was. If it was true, maybe his quirk was similar to Ectoplasm’s, both being able to manipulate the unique matter. In Ectoplasm’s case, he could only make clones while some of Phantom’s body seemed to be made of it. That would line up with what was said in the reports, at least with the fight last night. 

The list of his quirks were so far; ice/cold manipulation and flight, both seen in the Nomu incident. Intangibility, witnessed by Fat Gum. Perhaps some form of invisibility, as detailed in the report when he disappeared. Although the last two may be limited since he doesn’t seem to be using them more. And then as he witnessed today, electrification, similar to Kaminari’s except that it doesn't affect his cognition. That could either be because he’s trained with it more or it's a different strand. And finally, ectoplasm. It was suspected Phantom also had some kind of regeneration quirk based on the reports when Stain cut him, but that could be explained by the ectoplasm. It could be that his base quirk was the ectoplasm since it's a mutation type quirk, and those can't be manipulated, then everything else was jammed in later. The source of his glowing was unknown since Ectoplasm’s quirk didn't seem to do that. He could very possibly have more powers that no one has witnessed yet. All in all, he had almost every power from a ghost, just rammed up to 11. 

Shouta could feel a headache coming on. 

“You hungry?” Shouta said, partly to distract himself, and partly for the boy’s sake. Using energy based powers, regardless of what they were, took a toll on the body. He was surprised the boy hadn’t blacked out yet. Possible result of quirk endurance training by All For One.

“I’m fine.” At least he was answering Shouta’s questions. At any point, Phantom could get up or kick Shouta out, and yet they both still sit together. There must be some part of him, however deep, that must want help. 

“Are you sure, kid?” Shouta eyed him skeptically, “You just used your quirk a lot, you must be feeling exhausted.” On the outside, it almost looked like a quirk awakening. However, based on how causally Phantom was reacting, it must’ve been a common occurrence. That line of thought only brought up painful possibilities. 

“What are you, my mom?” Although the kid sounded playful, he was starting to look uncomfortable at Shouta’s questioning. Shouta could understand that. As a teenager, he was annoyed when people asked about his well being. He wasn’t used to it. It felt like they only pretended to care, or that he was being talked down to like a child. How could he get Phantom to understand that he meant it?

“For right now, yes.” He responded dryly. Phantom rolled his eyes at that, which mitigated the tension. Shouta let a small smile travel across his face, but it only lasted a second. “I can pay for it if that’s the issue?” He intentionally didn’t let pity into his tone, in case Phantom might react negatively to it. 

“No, it’s not that, uhhh,” Phantom started playing with his gloves again, “I have a…special diet?” He sounded unsure. 

Shouta signed, “Alright.” It could be true, or it could be a lie, the result was the same. 

“Let me grab something,” Phantom got up, but before he ran off he asked, “You like tuna?” Shouta just nodded, and with that Phantom disappeared behind the counter. 

Shouta went back to focusing on his coffee. It was half gone, but even that didn’t ease him. His tongue was numb as a trauma response. It made what he was about to do a little easier. He rose it to his lips, and gulped down the rest. Although he couldn’t taste it, he could still feel it slide down his throat. He shivered. 

Phantom returned before long. In one hand, he held a plate, balanced on his palm like they do at a fine dining restaurant, in the other, he limply help onto a metal cylinder. He placed the plate onto the table but kept the cylinder on his lap.

“What’s that?” Shouta asked, glancing at the chunk of metal.

“A tuna wrap. Why? Never seen one before?” Phantom cocked his eyebrow playfully at Shouta. He leaned back in his chair, “That was the only sandwich left, so you have to eat it.” 

The kid obviously knew what he meant but was ignoring him on purpose it. Shouta wasn’t gonna get any answers by asking again, so instead, decided to quietly eat the wrap. Phantom was bobbing his head and body while rhombically humming, clearly thinking about something. He would occasionally glance over at Shouta, then look away. Shouta just ignored him. Teenagers were like cats; if they knew you wanted their attention, they wouldn’t give it to you. It had to be on their terms. 

Seconds ticked like minutes as Shouta just sat and ate. It wasn’t uncomfortable, Shouta actually enjoyed quiet meals (or where Hizashi would talk and he would listen), but there was some sort of anticipation between then, like winding up a jack-in-the-box. 

Phantom decided to act. He placed the mysterious cylinder on the table and started fiddling with something. The cylinder looked to be made of meddled together scrap metal with a few dents on the side. It looked old too, what clearly was once a silver color clouded over time and looked like iron. There were a few patches of color, neon green and black ascended the weird object. The green was a similar color to Phantom’s eyes, or at least in his true-form. Now he sported a more human blue with a slight green ring around the pupil. 

It was interesting, although he was clearly looking at the boy, he wasn’t able to imagine him in his other form. If it wasn’t for the weird vibe he gave off or the white streak in his hair, Shoua wasn’t sure he would be able to pick Phantom out in a line up. Some type of hypnosis quirk? No that wouldn’t make sense. In the reports, witness weren’t able to describe him consistantly, even from far away. He would also have to be constantly emitting it, even if he didn’t think people were around. Perhaps it had to due with why he glowed? There were studies about different types of light affecting your brain, that could have something to do with it. Shouta looked at Phantoms face, studying every feature he could. Phantom was still wrapped up in whatever he was doing to notice. Shouta closed his eyes and concentrated on that visual, but it faded away like a blurry after-image. But Phantom wasn’t glowing anymore. Could it be that you only need to see it once to affect you? No wait- 

Shouta looked closer at the boy. There was a slight sheen to him, around his outline and especially his eyes. He still glowed, it was just softer now, like a glowstick in a lite room. Is that intentional, or just a result of overloading his quirk earlier? No, it seemed to be intentional. The glow vanished as soon as he changed forms. It could be he uses a less powerful light since he doesn’t need to worry as much about being recognized as “Tommy” than Phantom. It could also help conserve his energy. Smart kid…

There were a few beeps across the table and Phantom smiled. It was too wide and full of teeth. Strangely, it fit the boy in front of him. 

“I just had to charge it up a little and, voilà~”  The thing whirled to life, lighting up a few buttons in odd places. “This thing hasn’t been charged since, I don’t know, since I woke up?” he shrugged, but his eyes were giddy with excitement. Phantom was talking as if it had been years, rather than the few hours between then and now. “It worked earlier, but I think that was because of the radiat- anyway” He laughed. 

What was he gonna say? Before the question could escape his lips, Phantom hit another button and a loud ‘pop’ sounded out, surprising Shouta, and the top part of it opened. Phantom peered into it with one eye and swished it around. It glowed slightly, but Shouta wasn’t sure if it was from the device or the stuff inside. Without wasting another second, Phantom raised it to his lips and chugged it. 

“Is that…a thermos?” Shouta was gobsmacked and just watched with an open mouth as the boy kept chugging. It seemed too impractical for everyday use, not if you had to do that everytime. Well, Phantom did say he has a ‘special diet’, maybe it had to be kept at a certain temperature? And all those buttons could be a security measure. 

There were a few raids on abandoned warehouses and underground bunkers. They were believed to belong to All For One, and in them were found vats of a green liquid holding Nomu’s in different stages of development. Only 3 were recovered for testing. Perhaps the thermos held that same fluid to keep Phantom stable with so many quirks. How much more does he have left? 

After a few gulps of, whatever that was, the color returned to Phantom’s cheeks. Whether that be an indication of his health or quirk power was anyone’s guess. It could’ve been both if what Shouta thought was true. 

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Shouta couldn’t help the concern leaking into his voice. Phantom just looked at him, wiping some green goo of his face like it was a milkshake. 

“I already told you, I’m fine.” Phantom’s body was immediately tense. How many people had hurt him for him to be so distrustful? “I can take care of myself.” He sat straighter and there was a look of determination in his eyes. 

“I know you can.” The boy had already come this far after all, “But you can’t do everything alone.” Shouta slowly reached into his pocket for his card, watching Phantom. The boy seem to almost unravel and his form changed again- not to  his true form, but a mix between the two. His hair becoming more wispy, like smoke and his sclera turned an inky black but his pupils kept a touch of blue. He vibrated in his seat. It was like he was trying to hold it in. 

Shouta took his hand out of his pocket, showing nothing was in it. 

“I think I should go,” Shouta slowly stood up, careful to keep his body langue open and readable to show he wasn’t a threat. Phantom was still sat down, looking at Shouta like a feral animal. He looked so scared in that moment. 

“I really do want to help,” But he couldn’t help him like this, he couldn’t force him to accept it. 

★

“I know you do,” Danny said to an empty room.

But the man wasn't there.

[littlerainyghoul]

i saw your reblog and im here to say id love if youd write little rain with crutches

I'd absolutely love to! Sorry this took so long - I was really busy for a while hehe :]]]

Without further ado -

Crutches and Comfort

Summary: Rain collapses on the stairs, feeling regressed. Cumulus is there for the rescue.

Pairings: Regressed Rain, Caregiver Cumulus and Dewdrop.

Words: 1100

Slight CW for mention of injury.

Rain did not see that coming.

He started to feel small for a while when his legs started to give way. His usual confident and statured pose gave way to a shakier and smaller version of him. As he called out on his steps in his room, he collapsed on the stairs. 

“Mmmmmrph” Rain snuffed as he silently wanted to curse, his body descended on the freezing floor. He lay on the ground as pain crawled on his body, specifically the area where he landed - his right knee. 

Cumulus heard the drop and headed to the water ghoul's rescue. The air ghoullete's essence seemed to cradle Rain, offering support and reassurance. She was by his side in a matter of moments. 

“Rain, honey, are you okay?” She cooed softly, as she saw the collapsed ghoul on the cold, hard floor. 

“Mmmm, owie” was all that Rain could get himself to say. 

“You have an owie, Rain?" Cumulus eventually spoke, her voice raspy yet carrying an angelic tone laced with care and warmth.  

“Mmmmph. Yes” Rain continued to speak, his voice wavering with pain. He pointed to his knee where he landed on - "owie".

Cumulus gently lifted Rain in her ethereal embrace, carrying him as if he weighed nothing. Her form enveloped him, providing a soothing sensation that eased his discomfort.

“Let me see where it hurts, my sweet Rain,” Cumulus whispered. Rain winced slightly but allowed her to examine him. She gently laid them on the stairs as she examined their leg. 

"No visible injuries, dear" she softly cooed as she rubbed his knee, her touch gentle and healing. 

“Can...I have...my crutchies, Lus?" Rain spoke softly. 

”Of course, honey bunny" Cumulus stood up and disappeared for a few moments.

The room was adorned with a soft glow as Cumulus returned, holding the raincloud-stickered crutches. She carefully handed them to Rain, who gratefully took hold of them.

"Thankies, Lus," Rain murmured, using the crutches to prop himself up. Cumulus continued to hover around him, her ethereal presence radiating comfort.

Rain, with a determined yet cautious look on their face, gingerly placed the crutches under their arms. The raincloud-stickered handles were firm in his grip as he adjusted his stance, relying on them for support.  Each step was a deliberate dance of balance and coordination. With the crutches firmly planted, Rain shifted their weight. He moved forward tentatively, the sound of the rubber tips meeting the floor punctuating his efforts.

"Feeling a bit small there, Rain?" Cumulus inquired, her words dripping with genuine concern and care.

“mmm...yeah..." Rain murmured after a moment. "Owie. It still really hurts" he continued to speak, as shifted his weight back and forth.

Cumulus remained attentive, her raspy yet soothing voice offering a constant stream of comfort. "Take it slow, my sweet Rainy. We'll get through this together," she reassured, the soft glow in the room casting a calming ambiance as Rain continued carrying himself on the crutches supported by the care and warmth of Cumulus.

She leaned in, planting soft kisses on their forehead, each one carrying a touch of healing and comfort. 

"There, there, Rainy," she cooed, her voice wrapping around him like a soothing melody. "Let these kisses bring you some peace and healing. Now, how about we go on the couch with your stuffies and let you rest?" 

"Yay, Lus" Rain continued, as he tried to steady is voice a little bit more. 

Cumulus, with the same ethereal grace that defined her every movement, led Rain to the cozy embrace of the couch. As they settled in, Cumulus conjured a soft blanket, blue with rainclouds, draping it over Rain with gentle tenderness and ease. The room retained its warm glow, and the air felt lighter, infused with a sense of serenity. She took a seat next to the tiny water ghoul, as she let them wrap their arms around her. 

Rain, nestled on the couch with Cumulus, his head laid on her chest, as he heard her heartbeat, only raising their head when they spotted Dewdrop passing by. 

Dewdrop had a look of concern on his face as he witnessed the scene before him. Walking over, Dewdrop greeted them with a gentle ripple of fire that sparkled in the soft glow of the room.

"Hey there, Rain. What happened?" Dewdrop inquired, their voice echoing in the room. He noticed Rain shivering slightly, his eyes wide open. 

"Fell down the stairs. Am small" Rain spoke quietly, and gently, as he nuzzled himself against Cumulus once more, trembling. 

"Aww, are you cold, Rainbow?" Dewdrop couldn't help but aquire.

Cumulus, with a grin on her face extended a welcoming gesture to Dewdrop. "Join us, Dew. Rain could use the company. Besides,

you're literally a walking heater" 

Dewdrop, embracing the opportunity, pounced onto the sofa next to Rain, wrapping his fiery arm around the water ghoul and stroking his hair with gentle warmth. 

“Can...I have my...stuffie?“ Rain whispered, a vulnerable request that hung in the air. Cumulus, with a tender smile, gestured to the surrounding area, where the plush companions awaited.

"Of course, my sweet," she replied, her voice filled with warmth and understanding.

Cumulus conjured a shark plush, and nestled it beside Rain on the couch. Resting on the fluffy shark was Rain's favorite stuffie, a small water droplet plush with a smile that seemed to radiate comfort.

Rain nodded, a sense of gratitude washing over him. The trio—Rain, Cumulus, and Dewdrop—formed a unique synergy, a harmonious blend of air, water and fire, offering comfort and companionship. In the hushed moments that followed, the room became a sanctuary, where the troubles of the outside world seemed to fade away, leaving only the gentle sounds of raindrops and the ethereal glow that enveloped them in a protective embrace.

As the cacoon of warmth gently embraced the room, Rain, feeling the weight of weariness, snuggled closer to the plushie, as well as his companions on the couch. The warmth emanating from Cumulus, the soft glow of Dewdrop's body and the tales of resilience worked like a lullaby, soothing not just the lingering pain in Rain's knee but also cradling their soul into the land of sleep.

"Mmrph, might eep" Rain felt himself say, as he softly purred on the couch.

Cumulus, noticing the signs of drowsiness in Rain's eyes, continued to weave a gentle breeze around them, creating an atmosphere that whispered of dreams and tranquility. Dewdrop, with a soft crackling sound, adjusted his flames to emit a warmth that mirrored the coziness of a hearth.

With a contented sigh, Rain allowed themselves to fully surrender to the embrace of slumber. 

Cumulus, with a tender smile, extended an ethereal touch to Rain's forehead, planting a gentle kiss that carried the essence of care. "Rest well, sweet. May your dreams be as gentle as a summer rain."

[idkyouyet23]

‘On My Mind’

~ a LITG Max fanfic ~ 

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

Chapter Three - First Dates

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞 💌:

As I’ve said, I’m not going by the script only in a few parts as I want it to be creative and so I can use my imagination in my writing, 

I’m gonna start writing from Max’s pov soon too :)

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and I’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts in the comments!!!

~Jess

you can read below or on AO3, whatever you like :)

𝐉𝐚𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐯:

I couldn’t help but squeal with the girls after the text about our first dates, 

mine being with Max of course! 

Just before I head to the dressing room, Max approaches me

‘Can I pull you for a quick chat?’

‘Sure’, The two of us go and sit on the swing seat

‘I just wanted to say how excited I am for this date with you Jazzy and from your squealing, I’m guessing that you are too’

Max grins 

‘Of course I am! I can’t wait to get to know you better Max’, I can’t help but smile at him, 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦

‘Great now let’s go get ready!’,

He holds his hand out and I take it as he pulls me up, we race up the stairs to the dressing rooms 

‘Jazzy I have to know what you’re wearing’, Bea announces and I look through my part of the wardrobe 

‘I’m thinking this light blue co-ord set, 

but what do you guys think?’ I ask and Emel is the first to speak up

‘You should definitely wear that’

‘I agree, Jazzy you will look so hot!’, Bea exclaims and I try it on 

‘Woah, when did it get so hot in here?’

Claudia teases 

‘I’m guessing that means you guys like it?’

‘We definitely do! I wish I could take 

you on a date’

‘Bea I’d be honoured to go on a date with you’, I give her a soft smile 

𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘢𝘹!

‘Max won’t be able to take his eyes off you’, Emel announces 

Max and I take a stroll to our date,

once we arrive we see a table with chairs for us along with champagne on the table 

Max pulls out my chair for me and I sit down 

‘What a gentleman you are!’

‘Only the best for you’, Max winks as he starts to pour champagne into my glass,

I glance at him and Max is wearing a grey top with jeans along with his chain 

‘You really are the prettiest boy ever’,

I blurt out and I feel myself turn red and I watch as Max beams 

‘Ooh am I? I think you look absolutely stunning right now, you always do but especially right now’

‘Aww thanks, yes you definitely are! 

I honestly think that you’re so handsome’

I notice Max blush 

‘Thank you too! May I ask you about your last relationship?’, He asks and I nod

‘Yeah sure, I was with him for 5 years from 15 to 20 and I’ve been single ever since’

‘5 years is a long time, what happened?’

‘He cheated on me twice with the girl that he told me not to worry about’ 

Max’s eyes soften 

‘His loss though’

‘Exactly! At least I got to come here to have fun and hopefully find the love of my life’  

‘Do you reckon the you’ve found the one here yet?’, Max inquires 

‘I think he might be sitting

 right in front of me’, this time I wink at Max

‘I hope that you’re right Jazzy’

‘Me too, have you had much relationships?’

‘I’ve only had two relationships, 

but I’m here to find the love of my life too’

I take another sip of my champagne

‘I’m glad to hear that but now let’s talk music’

‘Sure it’s one of the things that we have in common’

‘Do you enjoy concerts?’ I ask Max

‘Yeah of course! I wanna see you live though, I bet you’d be amazing especially from the concert videos of yours that I’ve seen’

‘Aww yeah I’ve planned a tour for next year so you can have tickets’

‘Yay! I’m excited for that’

𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘹’𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘵 

‘Might have to bring you to all the shows’

‘Yeah maybe you should, I also love parties I nearly always wake up at 12pm’

‘I love parties too! I nearly always have to be dragged out of bed so we’re very similar’, I giggle as Max chuckles 

‘Maybe we’re meant to be!’

We lock eyes while smiling at each other,

‘Hopefully we are, do you have any pets?’

I watch as Max’s eyes light up

‘Yes I have a chameleon’

‘Oh my gosh, that sounds like 

the coolest pet ever!’ 

‘Yeah it really is’

𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥’𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳.

We walk back together while holding hands, the two of us giggling and blushing as well 

‘Everyone else must have gotten back from their dates before us’, I say 

‘Yeah they must have’

I know that we’re right when I hear their voices 

‘Look at you two cuties!’, Bea remarks 

‘How was your date?’ Shawn asks us and before either of us could reply, Liam speaks up

‘Well mine and Bea’s went amazingly’,

I notice that Bea doesn’t seem too impressed by Liam 

‘It was a 10/10 date definitely!’, Max answers 

‘More like 20/10 Max!’, I beam 

‘I couldn’t agree more with that Jazz’ 

𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦

‘Right let’s have our debriefs’, Kyle adds

and with that we split into our own girls and boys’ groups

‘I have a feeling that Liam isn’t a good listener’ Bea sighs 

‘Why?’ I ask 

‘All he did was talk about himself, barely asked about me’

‘What a prick!’, Claudia exclaims and I nod my head in agreement 

‘My date with Kyle went really well but I think Max is cute and I like him so I’m keeping my options open’, 

Emel announces and my smile fades from my face 

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘹, 𝘌𝘮𝘦𝘭?

I don’t say anything but all I do is get up and rush away, the boys notice me from across the lawn 

‘Jazz you okay?’

I hear Max ask me 

‘Emel why would you upset Jazzy like that?’, Bea yells 

‘I didn’t think that it would upset her’

‘You’re delusional ‘cause she clearly likes Max and he likes her’, Claudia barked back at Emel 

I walk inside and up to the terrance,

 not too long after I hear footsteps up 

‘What’s happened?’ Kyle asks and I look to see Max with him 

‘Emel likes you as well as Max too, Emel says that she’s keeping her options open’

I notice Kyle’s jaw clench 

‘Thank you for telling me’, he stomps out leaving Max with me, 

he sits beside me and he takes my hands 

‘Jazz there’s no need to be upset,

come on look at me’,

I turn and I look directly into his eyes

‘I know that it’s only been a day but honestly I only have eyes for you here, nobody else could change how I feel about you’

‘You really mean that Max?’

‘Of course I do, so you wanna stay here for a while?’

‘Yes please, I don’t really want to see Emel right now’

‘If Emel comes near me or tries to ruin us,

I simply won’t let it happen and you have my word for that’

Max puts an arm around me and I snuggle closer to him 

‘Good ‘cause I don’t want to lose you Max’

‘Jazz you’ll never lose me’

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢?! 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.

[ramzawrites]

Petty Love - Rise!Leonardo x Reader

FEM

Pairings: Leonardo x Reader

Characters included: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, Big Mama, Draxum

Warnings: swearing

Series: A request!

Summary: From the first moment Y/N and Leo interacted with each other, the two knew they despised the other. Leo was an annoying, egotistical ninja while Y/N was an annoying, egotistical ninja herself. What was the saying again? Opposite attract and similar repel? Surprisingly though over time the two had to admit they did enjoy the fights the two had. It was fun to test their mettle on each other whenever they had the chance. When another person enters Y/N’s life and begins to challenge her how Leo used to do, he had to admit, this didn’t sit quite well with him.

An enemies to friend to lovers fic

Word count: 13950

Authors Note: 1) If you saw this fic before, no you didn’t. Okay, yeah I posted it before but I was kind of really unhappy with the way it ended and a few other things but this means I looked it over more and 2k words more! Yay? I don’t know, this is the biggest one part fic i ever wrote. My fic that has 4 parts has only like 2k more words than this lmao 2) I hope I caught most mistake, I did my best, please tell me if this all feels maybe too disjointed or so, I read this so often now that I have no idea how it all flows (besides i can always appreciate some feedback)

Request: The request can be found here and was by @/mitarashi01 (dunno if I can tag you, so xD)

Big Mama has always been a thorn in the mutants’ sides. Mostly because she wasn’t just an enemy they could fight and that’s it. No, she had a whole organization behind her. They could try but frankly she might just be out of commission for a few days and even during that time her henchmen would keep her business up.

So, the best they could do was sometimes keep an eye on the spider yokai and deal with any weird schemes they come across. Personally, they liked to believe they have become just such a big thorn in her side similar how she has been to them. Wasn’t there a saying of do unto others as you wish they did on yourself? Something like that.

Keeping eyes on Big Mama usually meant sneaking around her hotel and trying to see what info the group can find out. At one point Leo did try to get information out of multiple employees but that usually resulted in them being chased out by big yokai with big weapons.

Now they never gave up though. They won against the Shredder! They fought back a whole alien invasion, preventing a horrible apocalypse! A measly little, but actually kind of big, spider wouldn’t deter them!

It was one of those casual sneak-in missions, that also doubled as stealth training, because might as well, when they spotted someone unusual in the hotel.

Most yokai there wore the hotel’s uniform. Those who didn’t usually belonged to security or were the guests. But even between those people this woman stood out. She was shrouded in dark cloth. Silver wrappings around her ankles and hands, closed off sandals on her feet, a silvery scarf was wrapped around her neck, two ends flying behind her back. The dark cloth was also wrapped around their head, a mask pulled over her nose. A katana was strapped to her hip. Besides the few flashy accents, they would say that this person looked like your stereotypical ninja.

This of course pulled the turtle ninja’s attention, even more so when she walked through the hotel towards Big Mama’s office as if she had done it a thousand times already. Her movements smooth and quiet against the carpeted floor. Over the years the brothers could at least tell when someone clearly had some sort of training, which this woman definitely had with the way she carried herself.

It took only a few glances between all of them that they knew that this was a person they all should follow for now. Maybe a new contractor of Big Mama’s? Maybe an assassin even, Leo mused. Either way it was probably a good idea to find out exactly why she was here and marching through the hotel straight towards Big Mama’s office.

The group broke off, Leo and Mikey stayed inside to try to get through the vents to maybe hear what is going on while Raph and Donnie tried to gather intel from outside using one of Donnie’s machines.

There was indeed a vent that still led straight through Big Mama’s office on the ceiling. Honestly it was a miracle she hadn’t made a move to close off said vent in any way, but Leo didn’t want to look a gifted horse in the mouth. With Mikey at his side, both inched closer to a grate to also try to take a look into the room.

Leo knew for a fact that Raph and Donnie were in position, but he couldn’t spot them when he looked at the huge window. Seems like the constant sneak training was actually doing something.

The door to Big Mama’s office opened and the weird ninja woman stepped inside, it was only when she closed the door that Big Mama finally looked off her paperwork. Her expression was at first a stern, annoyed one, probably assuming it was someone else interrupting her work, but when her eyes landed on the ninja, she sported a big smile.

She stood up to walk over to her guest, her arms wide open “Ah! There you are my little Sneaklypoo!”

Leo really had to pull himself together to not laugh at that name. He could only assume how the mystery woman might be grimacing behind her mask. The way Mikey’s shoulders shook for a moment, he assumed he had to withhold a laugh as well. Honestly it wouldn’t be the first time that one of their sneak missions went south because of a rogue laugh.

The ninja in the room took a deep bow to greet the spider yokai “It’s nice to see you again, Big Mama.” Her voice was steadfast. No ounce of fear seeped through. Either she might be overly confident right now or she really didn’t have a reason to fear Big Mama.

“I’m so happy to see you again. Now come over, little one, I reckon you know why I have called you?” Big Mama walked back over to desk to sit down on to her pretty gaudy chair.

The mystery ninja followed suit and sat down on the chair in front of the yokai. She pulled her legs up to sit crossed legged on it. The way the other employees reacted to Big Mama usually, Leo figured he’d never see anyone sit as nonchalantly as she did in this office. Once again either this was because she was stupid or was actually capable. Maybe a mix of both.

The ninja sighed “Yeah, I’m here for my missing payment and you probably want to schedule more fights but also I had a request to make concerning those.”

Oh, bad move. You do not bargain with Big Mama in any way. There were too many strings attached. Or webs attached. You know since she is a spider.

Leo had to physically shake his head to figuratively throw out his joke, this was not the time to joke. Well, there was no harm in it really, but Leo should really concentrate on what was happening. Not only was Big Mama paying this ninja for something, but this ninja had the gall to ask a request of her as well.

“Mhm, I told you your payment would arrive in due time.” She didn’t look at the ninja, staring down at one of the papers, tapping her pen that she was suddenly holding against the desk.

“Mama” the ninja spoke. Her voice now stern and laced with what Leo assumed was a wordless threat. Strike two. Strike three and he can already see her getting chased out the building by security.

“Y/N.” Big Mama responded with the same kind of vitriol.

Mystery ninja had a name! It was getting quite annoying to call her just the ninja. Quite forthcoming of Big Mama to reveal it.

Mikey side-eyed Leo as if to also silently confirm that he caught the name as well. The name didn’t stick out to Leo. Never once heard of her, so he huffed a quiet breath out, shrugging as a silent answer. As a response Mikey nodded. This sounded more like something they would have to ask Barry about. If anyone would maybe know about the people that worked with Big Mama, it might be him.

Y/N let out a big, disappointed sigh. If he could, Leo would tell her “Told you so, can’t bargain with Big Mama like a normal person.”

Instead of Y/N laying in on Big Mama more to maybe brute force her way through this discussion, Leo assumed that’s just something she would do, she just moved her open hand into the air, which in return made Big Mama raise one of her eyebrows.

This time when she spoke her voice was almost playful, she seemed to almost chide the crime boss teasingly in front of her, a stark contrast from before “Mama, I thought this was a private discussion!”

It was now that Leo had to painfully realize that Y/N was pointing with her hand towards the vent. The vent that both Leo and Mikey were squished inside. Mikey must have realized this as well by the way he looked at Leo with a painful grimace.

Big Mama sighed exasperatedly “Not again. Oh, turtleypoos! Come out!” She looked at Y/N for a second “I have a new playmate for you guys!” How did she immediately know it was them? Well, maybe it made sense seeing how often they have been annoying her recently.

“I’ll pay you triple your usual fee if you deal with them.”

At this point Leo tried his best to crawl back out but he forgot how small vents could be. Especially to turtles with big shells. Oops. He couldn’t even grab his swords to teleport out of this cramped space.

“Well, you are my boss! Wouldn’t want to disappoint you.” Y/N chuckled.

Leo had to watch in horror as Y/N gracefully jumped up, held on to the grid of the vent, seemed to open it without much trouble, pulled herself up and just stared at him and Mikey. Her eyes glinting in the darkness of the vent.

“Nice to meet you, I would shake your hand, but I am kind of indisposed.” Leo chuckled. His coping mechanism was still humor and will be for the rest of his life. Mikey just let his head fall down onto the cold metal, making a loud clung sound in response.

There wasn’t even so much a twitch in the facial expression that Leo could see on Y/N’s face.

“And you are the guys that have been Big Mama’s pain in the neck? How cute.”

Something about that comment just hit Leo in a way that made him uncharacteristically angry. Sure, they weren’t in the ideal position right now, but they were plenty capable. Probably more capable than her! They’ve been at this for how long now? This is the first time he even heard of her. Sure, ninja and all if she even is one, but also where the hell did she get her confidence from? She was just another henchman of Big Mama’s.

Before Leo could respond though Y/N disappeared. Falling back down onto the ground, standing directly under the vents. Then there was the horrible sound of metal colliding with metal followed by the sudden feeling of vertigo as the front part of the vent flew down, gravity literally pulling both Mikey and Leo out of it.

Both reacted immediately, pulling their weapons out, expecting to see Big Mama in her huge yokai form. But she was standing at the back, still in her human business attire. Her arms crossed as she just observed what was happening with amusement.

That said Y/N was standing in front of the two turtles with her katana out. She moved it up towards her head. Falling into some sort of fighting stance, further proving to Leo that she must have had some sort of training.

“Oh, two Battle Nexus Champions are about to fight, it’s a shame this isn’t being recorded. But that is life, no? Deal with them however you wish, my little magpie.” Big Mama waved her hand, as if finally giving Y/N the sign to attack.

By the way her legs tensed she would have if Raph and Donnie didn’t came crashing through the window in a big red glow. Raph immediately landed in front of his brothers, Donnie had his bo-staff in hand, standing at his eldest brother’s side.

“Sorry Big Mama but no entertainment for you today. Me and my brothers are leaving.” Raph growled, twirling his sais in his hands.

Leo would have expected for Big Mama to call in reinforcements, gnash her teeth together, finally transform, but no. She just stood there as if the four mutants weren’t ready to beat her up once again. As if she was just watching a show.

“Guys, jump! I’ll catch you!” Raph yelled out, running over to the now broken window but before he could reach the window, Y/N suddenly stood in front of him. As soon as he moved, Y/N quite literally jumped into action to cut their escape off.

“Already leaving the party, big guy? That’s rude you know?”

She fell back into her fighting stance “Besides, I’m finally getting my chance to test my mettle against the turtleypoos? I’m not giving this up. Let’s tango.”

Something about her was just so infuriating to Leo. Maybe it was just because she simply was the enemy. He should be annoyed at the enemy, right? But even with Hypno or Big Mama he could keep his composure rather well. Maybe her attitude just reminded him too much of himself. Damn, was this how his enemies felt when they had to fight him? Nah, she was just genuinely infuriating.

Leo got his katanas out “You wanna dance? Then let’s dance.” His mind wandering back to what Big Mama said before “Champion versus Champion” It shouldn’t surprise him that a Big Mama’s henchman might fight in the Battle Nexus as well. He had to admit, he was intrigued as to what her abilities were.

“Nardo, let’s just leave while we can.“ Donnie sounded more than annoyed.

Yet Leo stepped forward, ignoring the pointed looks of his brothers. Was this selfish? Yeah. Was this stupid? Yeah. It’s just, he couldn’t wrap his head around the person standing in front of him. She exuded confidence, Big Mama seemed to trust her as well, more than the average employee at least. Besides, couldn’t hurt to test out the abilities of their new enemy, right? After all she clearly worked for Big Mama.

“Alright, Blue.” Y/N’s eyes were now fully trained on Leo. Her eyes making sure to catch any sudden movements of his.

He rolled his shoulders before he too got into his own fighting stance “Leonardo.”

“Leonardo.” She repeated.

Both sprang into action. Leo tried using his height to attack her from the top with both of his swords, Y/N must have seen through this, ducking down, her own sword sliding across the two blades to stop them from colliding with her head, while she used her own momentum to slip past him. Her knees hitting the ground only for a second before she jumped up and was suddenly standing behind the turtle.

Both turning around to look at each other. Leo had to admit he was impressed and by the slightly narrowed eyes combined with the small crinkles around them, he assumed that she must be smiling beneath her mask. Oh, so she was enjoying this? Let’s see for how long.

He jumped again towards her, this time before he could even properly get into contact with her, he opened a portal to fly through and drop down on her from a different angle. Her eyes widened as she saw him disappear, only barely being able to dodge the turtle that was literally flying down on her from the back.

As she rolled to the side, she angled her hips and swung her legs around. Connecting with Leo’s ankles as he made contact with the ground again. He lost his balance, forcing him to catch himself with his hands. Y/N took the chance to jump back up on her own feet again. Trying to swipe at the turtle in the process but Leo just had to push himself off the ground and away from her. He immediately jumped back up, his sword in a defensive position, expecting Y/N to attack him but she didn’t.

No, why would she attack him if she could play with him? She didn’t even take this seriously, did she? At this point Leo was sure he could see her smiling beneath her mask! She definitely knew what she was doing. It was different than fighting any of the other villains. In a weird way, both their fighting styles just flowed seamlessly together. He had to wonder what kind of aces she might have up her sleeves if the two started to go full out.

“Leo! We are going!” Raph spoke up before either Leo or Y/N could attack each other again. There was a finality to his tone, a promise of getting chewed out later at home for this frankly reckless stunt. Genuinely Leo was incredibly lucky that Big Mama seemed to get enough entertainment from this and wasn’t annoyed enough to call security. And the worst part was, he knew that.

Leo took another glance at Y/N who was still ready to fight. His grip tightened around the hilts of his swords. The next time he swung them was to open a blue portal in front of his siblings. All four didn’t waste a second to jump through. Landing in the living room of their lair.

Once the portal was closed all three of his brothers turned to Leo.

“What was that?!” Raph asked. Oh, he was angry, and Leo couldn’t even fault him.

Leo put his swords back on his shell, his hands on his face as he groaned “I don’t know! I guess I wanted to know what she can do? A ninja looking person working for Big Mama? I- I don’t know.” He sighed “I know this was stupid. This could have gone really bad, I know. This is on me.”

He really meant it. He didn’t go through an almost apocalypse without learning a few things. This included how to best work in a team, and this was not it. Even if there was an admittedly intriguing person out there that just managed to somehow really get under his skin with simple taunts.

Raph sighed, his own shoulders relaxing as he let the tension out “Well. It all went well, let’s just make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Leo might be the leader now, but Raph will always be the big brother.

Mikey and Donnie still seemed somewhat skeptical.

“So, what do we do? Should we try learning more about her? Is learning about Y/N even… useful? She is one of many employees of Big Mama after all.” Mikey spoke up, probably trying to keep things going so there wasn’t any room for more arguments. He knew that Leo would beat himself up for this enough anyhow.

Dr. Feelings or even Dr. Delicate Touch might come around for a visit.

“We could ask Draxum? If she was or is the current Battle Nexus Champion, then there is a chance that he might know about her? She might have done some work for Big Mama beforehand that he caught wind of. If he does know something we can still decide if she is another person to keep tabs on.” Donnie offered.

So as soon as they could, the group visited their other dad. The relationship between the turtles and Draxum was still on the tense side, but they were working on it. Mikey firmly believed that he was a good person and if he was willing to offer Draxum this chance, they might as well follow suit for now.

Draxum sat awkwardly at the table while the turtles sat at the other side. All of them had a cup of tea but no one, including Draxum himself, but Mikey dared to touch it.

The yokai sighed “I haven’t heard much about a Y/N if at all but from the description I would wager that she is indeed the current Battle Nexus Champion. I don’t keep up with frivolous things like that, but the Champion is usually pretty well known in the Hidden City.”

Really? And Leo never got the chance to properly take advantage of that? Damn.

He leaned forward “I think her stage name might be Silver Magpie. Always thought it was a rather… weak name. Too showy.”

“Says the Warring Warrior Scientist.” Leo deadpanned.

Draxum scoffed “It’s a strong name!”

Before Leo could make another quip Donnie interrupted him “The name does make sense though, right? Wore silver and Big Mama did call her magpie once. So, let’s assume the current champion is Y/N. What else do you know about her, Draxum?”

“Only that she isn’t always in the Battle Nexus. There were talks about her if she will even defend her title since she tends to disappear for a while before returning. That’s all I can really tell you. I can only hypothesize that if she keeps fighting in the Arena, that Big Mama might use her talents for her business. Makes sense, no?”

“Nothing more?” Leo asked.

Draxum nodded “Like I told you. I never much cared for the Battle Nexus. Not like the average viewer might at least.”

Leo narrowed his eyes at that. He didn’t particular like the sound of that.

“So, what do we do?” Raph asked his brothers “Should we try to seek her out and what, ask what her deal is? Or do we just keep our ears and eyes open for what might happen.”

Leo huffed, not particularly liking what he is about to say “Frankly, I think it wouldn’t do us any good to chase her down. Sure, she works for Big Mama but what will we do? Ask her why and then beg her to stop? Something tells me this won’t work. Besides, maybe we are lucky, and she disappears again for a while, and we won’t have to deal with her.”

His brothers eyed him warily. Draxum eyed the display curiously.

“What?” Leo cut through the silence, feeling the judgment of his brothers.

Mikey rose one side of his eyebrow ridge in an accusing gaze “And here I thought you would jump at the opportunity to fight her again.”

“It was one time!”

“We only met her once, bro, and you have never done anything like that before. Well, not for a while.” Mikey explained.

“Okay, she annoyed me! Happy? Besides we now know that she isn’t just hot air.” Sure, they barely fought and the fact that she was Champion could have tipped him off as well but now it was proven fact. He didn’t need to explain himself, okay? Actually, his brothers deserved an explanation, there just wasn’t a good one.

Either way the turtles kept their usual routine up from that point on. Acting like this meeting never happened in the first place. They went patrolling at night when they could, sometimes fought off some of their usual enemies, trained, watched movies and the like. Life was flowing along normally.

Y/N didn’t make another appearance for months.

Then suddenly she did. The group was fighting off Hypno on a school campus and Y/N just suddenly jumped in. Deflecting all of Hypno’s attacks on their own. Leo had to admit he was a bit in awe seeing how focused she was as she fought back. Showing amazing control over her own blade. How long has she been training and fighting to gain such skill?

When Hypno threw his weapons and they came flying around, Leo jumped in automatically to deflect those attacks. Standing back-to-back with Y/N as his brothers took the chance to destroy the loudspeakers that he hid all around. Why he jumped in to protect his enemy? Out of the good of his heart of course. Letting two enemies distract each other could have been easy but sadly he had morals.

“Miss me?” Leo grunted as he deflected yet another attack.

Y/N laughed “You wish! Saw you struggling and decided you needed a hand.”

“Pretty sure if I didn’t deflect the last few attacks, you’d be sliced cheese.”

The two switched positions so Leo was now the one attacking Hypno directly while Y/N dealt with the attacks flying towards the two. It was a wordless transition. Their feet and bodies moving around almost as if they weren’t fighting but dancing.

“That’s what you think! I’m quite nimble, not the slow turtle type, you know?” She gasped out as one projectile connected with her blade.

He could practically hear her smirking which made him involuntarily roll his eyes.

A few loud crashes and suddenly heaps of electronics flew towards the ground, turning into scrap metal.

His brothers took care of the loudspeakers before Hypno could use them on people. It was actually only by pure coincidence that they caught him as he was just setting his stuff up.

With his brothers back in action it didn’t take long for them to send Hypno limping away. Before he could flee though, Y/N approached him and grabbed a necklace he had around his neck. It was a red ruby with a golden chain. So, Leo wasn’t just imagining it, it probably was a new item.

“You intervened just for the jewelry?” Leo asked as Y/N pocketed the necklace, “So you are a thief? Do we need to beat you up after all? And here I thought you wanted to collect some good karma.”

Y/N snorted “I still am. I’m here on the behalf of the original owner. Wants his little amplifier back.”

Leo narrowed his eyes “You know by the company you keep I do have to wonder what kind of person this owner is. I have to ask. Are you just evil or are you so naïve to trust anybody around the Hidden City? I’m leaning more towards you just being simply stupid.” He was clearly referencing their first meet at Big Mama’s place.

“Say, do you always belittle the people around you when you feel inferior or is this just your quirky personality coming out?”

“Inferior? Me? I’d beat you any day.” He snarled out, trying to hide his annoyance with a smug smile.

Y/N was still holding on to her own katana, twirling it around, both Leo and her began circling each other “Wanna put money where your mouth is because by the looks of it I did save your bacon today.”

Sensing that the tension was rising Mikey jumped over to Leo “Come on. Let’s go home. We just got out of a fight let’s not start a new one.”

“Yeah, listen to him, Leonardo.” The way she spoke his name was full of distaste “Don’t start fights you can’t finish.”

Donnie and Raph walked past Leo, pulling him along.

“Home. Now. We don’t wanna hang out with Big Mama’s guard dog.” Donnie spoke.

Right. Leo didn’t want to waste more time if he could be at home and be eating something nice. Before he walked through his own portal though, he looked back to look at Y/N but she was already gone. Probably took the chance when his brothers pulled him along. He couldn’t decide if he was disappointed or happy about this.

From that point on the group sometimes met Y/N again. Usually, she would come in in the middle of fights, help here and there but only when it aligned with her own goal. These could range from everything to collecting a bounty in the Hidden City to grabbing something one of the people carried with them.

Either way, whenever Y/N and Leo’s eyes met, insults flew. Throwing whatever petty comment they had at their disposal. Both taking any chances they had to exchange blows. Often enough they would start fighting each other while simultaneously fighting the same enemy. These fights were always very interesting. If you’d ask them, they both would deny that they enjoyed the little fights, but others would see their smiles whenever the two readied their weapons. Excitement shining in their eyes.

Now, Leo’s brothers didn’t particular care about Y/N as well, but the way Leo reacted around her was more extreme. Whenever she insulted his abilities, he would immediately respond with a venom filled quip. It was only after yet another meet between the two, when the three figured it must be because the two were more similar than Leo might realize. After all, opposite attract and similar repel.

Both were sassy, flashy and flamboyant with their attitude, fought similarly and it certainly didn’t help that both were also at some point Champion of the Battle Nexus.

Things began shifting though when Leo one night was sitting on one of his favorite roofs alone. Just wanting to spend time on his own. He held his sword in front of him in his lap, looking at the blade. Watching how the lights of the city reflected off the cold metal. He moved it around a bit to see how the colorful specks of lights danced across it.

There were soft footsteps behind him, and a black, silvery reflection appeared on his blade.

“Appreciating your own looks, are we?” Y/N spoke.

Leo ignored her, just huffing out to show how unimpressed he was.

Yet Y/N took it as an invitation, sitting down next to him, letting one of her legs dangle off the roof. Maybe Leo should have been more alarmed when she appeared but one thing he soon learned was that she did follow some sort of honor code. Never once has she attacked him without the two making it clear that they wanted to fight each other.

“I didn’t think I would see you out without your brothers.”

Leo frowned and finally he looked over at her, she had her eyes firmly up into the sky, probably watching the moon and the clouds moving along.

“What do you want?” His voice cold, not trusting this situation at all. Leo’s grip around the hilt of the sword got stronger.

Y/N finally turned to pay attention to him. She seemed to mull something over. Her eyes practically burning through him. It made him uncomfortable to say the least. It was like she was trying to communicate something to him. Then suddenly she moved her hands to remove the hood and mask, showing of her full face to Leo.

He felt almost embarrassed. Felt like this was some sort of show of trust, never expecting her to show herself like that to one of her enemies. It felt private even. This time he could watch as the corner of her mouth turned up into a smug smile as she noticed how his eyes darted all over her face, as he gulped, surprised by this action.

Taking in the new sight. He had to admit she didn’t look half bad. She was his rival after all, only natural he supposed. Not that he would ever tell her that.

He cleared his throat “Hi.”

She smiled “Hi.”

And for a moment there was just the background noise of the city. Leo trying to understand what was going on and getting used to the new sight while she seemed to analyze his reaction.

“What’s the occasion?” he eyed her curiously, burning her facial features into his memory. Thinking this might be his only chance.

Even though she had right now a bit of a playful expression on her face he could see something hardened there as well. Something he only saw on other people who went through their own battles over time. He could have guessed that by her fighting abilities but now he could actually see it.

That was an actual person in front of him and not just the ninja that annoyed him. She was still that but there was more now. Leo couldn’t decide if he preferred this or not.

She shrugged “I’m not here for business. Thought it would be rude.”

“So, you aren’t here to stab me in the back?” He retorted. It was a rhetorical question.

“Clearly missed my window for that.” She quipped.

Leo nodded, turning his gaze back to the city. Both fell into a comfortable silence. Frankly he didn’t even know it was possible between them. Maybe he was more tired today than he realized. Tired of fighting. Of fighting her.

“Can I ask you something?” Leo tried. Might as well satisfy his own curiosity while this was happening.

Y/N just gave him an affirmative hum. If this was her way to be non-committal or if she was earnestly open to answer questions he couldn’t tell.

“What is your deal? How did you get wrapped into all this nonsense?”

“You mean the constant fighting?”

He nodded, not even looking if Y/N saw it.

She sighed as she no doubt looked for the right words “I- I’d wager it would be similar to you guys. I think at least. Not that I’d know. It’s just something I was born into. Something I could do.”

“You were born into being a ninja?”

“Something like that, yeah. My family belongs to an old clan that used to live in Japan and came over to America ages ago. I just know this is the reason why I was always aware of Topside and the Hidden City. Mom and Dad started with my training mostly to just ensure I’d be safe but then I figured I might as well use my talents and knowledge.”

Leo chuckled “So, Big Mama was your first choice, or…”

Y/N let out a soft laugh as well. A rare treat to Leo’s ears. Usually, her laugh was steeped in sarcasm and mockery. This was a light and easy one.

“No, it’s mostly a thing of she is using me, and I am using her. I use her Battle Nexus as training.”

Now this pulled Leo away from the city lights to look at Y/N who had at this point her back on the roof. Her arms behind her head. The silver scarf almost framing her face.

“Really? Training? The Battle Nexus?”

She moved her head a bit so she could look better at the turtle who was now leaning back on his hands, one side of his eyebrow ridge pulled up in disbelief.

“Honestly, it’s the best place to train. It’s also the only reason I’m wearing this gaudy scarf. The Battle Nexus appreciates a good show and if you give them that they give you interesting fights.”

Leo hummed as something seemed to click in his mind “The Silver Magpie, huh?” The name must be part of showing off.

He laughed when Y/N broke out into an embarrassed blush and she purposefully looked away, not daring to look into his eyes any longer “Not my idea. It was Big Mama’s. But if it meant that I could have interesting fights I was willing to go along.”

“Because you clearly would have better ideas.”

“I’m sure my ideas would be better than yours. Besides, I will forever life in the knowledge that Big Mama probably would have just called you Blue because you’d never make it to main stage.”

He rolled his eyes “May I remind you, I was Champion as well.”

She moved her head up so she had an easier time to snap her finger before dropping her head again “Yeah. Was.”

“So were you! Didn’t this bull yokai become the new champion?”

“Mhm, but you forget.” She mused with a grin “All that counts is that I’d be able to beat you if we ever got the proper chance to fight.”

Leo would have loved to retort that now was the perfect time since his brothers weren’t here to intervene but surprisingly, he didn’t want to.

It was the first time he talked to her and didn’t feel incredibly aggravated. Maybe it was the causal environment. Maybe both just got tired over the months. Maybe it was just somehow a special night.

Instead, he too laid down on his back, propping his head on his arms “Nope. I’d win easily. I have actual magical powers. Don’t think you have any, do you?”

“Don’t need them. I actually use my head.”

This time as they argued it didn’t feel as filled with venom like it usually was. Leo managed to somehow connect to Y/N. She didn’t come over as malicious. Thinking back on it she never once stopped a fleeing enemy to continue the fight and she did jump in multiple times to help the four turtles out. Protecting them.

Maybe it really was a big worst first impression for the two. Yet it still didn’t sit with him all to comfortably that she worked for Big Mama just so she could continue fighting in the Battle Nexus. It wasn’t worry for her but more disappointment of her decisions.

When the Mad Dogs met Y/N once again as they chased someone through the Hidden City, a group stole from the police department which was very ironic and funny to Leo, the new dynamic between Y/N and Leo was immediately noticeable.

Instead of the immediate curses and insults they gave each other a quick nod. As if they were going mentally through the plan of catching these guys. Hell, Leo even teleported Y/N so she could be in front of the thieves and cut their escape of. Mikey used the chance to wrap his Kusari-fundo around them, holding them in place for the Hidden City police to collect them.

And when Leo caught up with her, he just made a quip of that he couldn’t believe he had to help Y/N only because she was way too slow. Apparently, it was hard to watch.

And she chuckled. She chuckled!

The fighting was tame, still biting but tamer nonetheless. Nothing like how it used to be. It was obvious that the group missed something between the two.

Once they all were back in the lair, they immediately interrogated Leo. He gave them a quick rundown of Y/N’s apparent deal.

Mikey went on the tip of his toes to lay his arm on Leo’s shoulder “I can’t believe you actually were the bigger person and didn’t immediately go for the kill. You actually talked to her.”

Leo scratched the back of his head embarrassed “Well, I think she was the bigger person. She just sat down and took her mask off.”

“Wait you saw her face?” Raph’s eyes were wide.

“And here I thought similar repel.” Donnie spoke and Leo could only watch in confusion as both Raph and Mikey nodded along. He was sure he was missing out on something.

“But this confirms it! Y/N isn’t a bad person. She might be a little confused, but she’s got the spirit.” Mikey suddenly exclaimed.

To which Raph shrugged “Eh, I figured but I do trust your sense on these things more than mine. Haven’t been wrong about Draxum, yet.”

A big toothy grin appeared on Mikey’s face as he hugged Raph “I know. I’m always correct when it comes to these things.”

Soon Leo and Y/N met every few weeks on the same roof. Just sitting and talking. Both vowing that this place was neutral land. No ninjas. Just two tired warriors talking. The two even exchanged phone numbers and when Y/N suddenly stood inside the lair to the surprise of Raph, Mikey and Donnie, they quickly realized that they went from being enemies to finally being friends.

In fact, this was Leo’s first friend that wasn’t also his brother’s friend. Y/N was doing fine with them but somehow Leo and Y/N just clicked. It almost seemed like the whole Cass situation all over again. An enemy becoming a friend.

“I’m-a going, bros!” Leo yelled through the lair, ready to open a portal.

“Going out to meet Y/N?” Raph leaned into the living room where Leo was standing.

He nodded “Yep. She decided she wanted to get back into Battle Nexus and asked me if I wanted to come along.”

Raph looked at him, worried “You… Will you fight?”

Leo blew a raspberry “I might firmly believe that I could beat Y/N and be champion over her, our scores are currently 18 to 17 in my favor after all, but I honestly don’t want to deal with Big Mama and her stupid deals. No, I’m just watching and playing coach. Also I can make sure this was nothing weird is happening.”

His brother relaxed at that “Okay. Good. Not that I don’t trust you, but-“

“I know.” Leo smiled “Just worried, I get it. Now, I gotta go or she will think I screwed up my teleport.”

“Have fun!” but Leo was already through the portal. With a shrug Raph returned back to his own room.

He stepped out of the portal and arrived in the Hidden City. Y/N was already standing close by. The way she had her eyebrows pulled up he already knew what was coming.

“Did you mi-“

“Nope. No wrong teleports. Just a worried brother.”

Y/N chuckled, lightly patting the back of his shell “Sorry, forgot. Sore topic. Still on training wheels and all.”

“What does that even mean?”

“You are still a novice, now let’s move. I wanna get into the Battle Nexus and train and warm up before the first fight starts. Come on, old man.”

Y/N pulled her ninja hood up and moved the mask over her mouth. Leo couldn’t help but miss her full face. Now he can’t see how her mouth always quirked up right before she tries to deliver a new quip. The prouder she felt the more shit eating was that grin. He liked that grin.

Before the two entered the building Leo turned to her with a snicker “Do I gotta start referring to you as the Silver Magpie?”

Y/N poked his plastron, looking up into his eyes with her own narrowed ones “Oh no you don’t. I’ll kick you if you do.”

Now he was actually laughing, moving his hands up in defeat “Alright! Alright! Feisty today, aren’t we?”

With a roll of her eyes, Y/N moved again, grabbing Leo’s wrist to make sure he would come along.

They walked through the doors, Y/N ignored the counter with a secretary right in front of them but instead walked down a flight of stairs to walk into a small office. Never letting go of Leo who was walking along as if he was a lost child.

In the office sat a tired looking alligator yokai. When Y/N saw him, she hissed in surprise. At first this alarmed Leo, but Y/N let out a snort.

“What did you do to get put down on sign-in duty?”

The yokai let out a deep grumble what Leo thought must be his way to sigh.

“The nexus isn’t doing so hot at the moment. I’m filling in.”

For some reason Leo felt like he has seen this particular yokai before. So, he clearly worked for Big Mama, this wasn’t his usual position and Leo saw him somewhere.

That’s when it hit him “It’s you!” He but yelled out. Finger pointing at him.

The Alligator sighed again “Yeah. Well. You are lucky I’m off duty. I’m not the security chief right now. My second in command took over for the time being and frankly I’m way too tired to chase after you, turtle.”

Guess some of his adversaries only chase him around for the paycheck. No passion for their jobs nowadays.

“Anyway, Leatherhead. Write me down for the fights. I want my belt back. And, oh, he is my coach. Never had one but I think I have to tell you that. Might wanna use a nickname for him.”

He nodded “Yep. You got it. One Silver Magpie accompanied by Blue Bird written down.” Suddenly he stopped moving and stared at the paper in front of him, before he looked up again at Y/N with a mischievous expression. As mischievous as it can be with his teeth and huge snout.

“It’s good that you decided to come back again now.”

Y/N looked at him, eyebrows pulled together in a silent question.

“The people will be happy to see The Silver Magpie again. If you help bring Big Mama the money back in again, I’m sure she would be grateful towards you. Do good and I’m sure Mama will be happy to pay you extra.”

There was an understanding glint in Y/N’s eyes. At this point Leo knew her well enough to know that she must be grinning.

“Coach and I will go train then. I need to be ready to show off.”

He waved his huge, clawed hand dismissively towards her “Go ahead. You are a regular, I think I can fill the rest out for you.”

“You are a sweetheart!” Y/N just said and begun pulling Leo along again. Walking down the corridor to reach an open space outside with sandy ground. Other yokai were walking around, doing shadowboxing, swinging around weapons or fighting each other. Apparently this was one of the smaller arenas the Nexus sometimes used.

“So, as your coach I can order you to run like fifty rounds around here, right?” Leo asked as Y/N settled at one corner of the place, beginning to do her stretches.

“You could but I won’t do it. As a fellow ninja I can respect your abilities, but I doubt you warm up like that.”

Before Leo could retort to one of her rare compliments, that definitely didn’t inflate his ego at all, there was suddenly a fox yokai standing behind Y/N, coughing to get her attention.

He wore traditional Japanese clothing and with the sword at his side it screamed Samurai to him.

He had one of his eyebrows pulled up as he carefully eyed Y/N up and down “You… are a ninja?” His voice was smooth as he spoke. He sounded well put together. Not the type of person Leo would think to meet here.

A bit confused by him suddenly approaching Y/N, she slowly nodded her head “Uh, yeah. Trained as a ninja. Curious or do you want to try to fight a ninja?”

The fox scoffed.

As if to see if Leo also heard that Y/N looked at him before pulling their attention back on the fox who took a few steps around them.

And then he let out a laugh.

“You are not ninja.”

“What the hell dude. I’m not walking around telling people what they are and what they aren’t. What’s your problem?” Y/N crossed her arms, squaring her shoulders. Leo took unconsciously a step towards her. As a fellow ninja he felt insulted on her behalf.

“Tell me, ninja.” He practically spat out the word “How come that you are here when you are meant to be in the shadows. This place is not for ninja. You might believe you are, but you are lying to yourself.”

“Well, this ninja wants to earn a good paycheck and get better at martial arts. The way you speak I’m surprised you are still walking around and not dust already with how ancient your views are.”

Leo recognized this tone of voice. It’s the one Y/N used to direct towards him. Now that he was not involved, he was surprised how hostile it sounded. Maybe now that the two were friends his memory was skewed?

“Who are you that you can tell her what she can and can’t do?” Leo finally spoke. Not liking the look of all of this.

The fox looked at Leo “I’m Akira and I’m a samurai. I’m here for glory and honor.”

Y/N and Leo immediately locked eyes, both bursting into laughter. It took a few moments for them to calm themselves down again. Oh, this was too good.

Y/N wiped a tear away that threatened to run down towards her dark mask “Oh man. Listen Akira, you won’t find honor here. Glory? Money? Maybe. But honor? No. Not when you deal with Big Mama in any capacity.” She might be a lot of things but not self-aware wasn’t one of them. Well, sometimes.

“Why should I trust the word of a ninja. You work from the shadows, you are tricksters, you don’t know the first thing about honor.” Akira was fast to retort.

Y/N moved closer, putting her hands on her hips “Listen here furball. You were the one who approached me! You were the one who made wild accusations out of nowhere! I’m telling you how it is! You can either take it or leave it! I’ll be training and hey if you are lucky, we both will meet one day to fight in the arena. I’ve been fighting here for years now. I know how this works and I can tell you, with your attitude, you will sink. And believe me, I will watch. Now move along and leave me be. I have actually important things to do. I don’t need to try to belittle my opponents, so I have a chance to win because I’m actually good at what I do.”

The yokai scoffed, turning around to do whatever he was doing before he thought this was a good idea.

“God damn superiority complex.” Y/N grumbled as she turned around towards Leo.

Leo looked at her for a long second “Do you tend to make enemies wherever you go?”

He expected a laugh from Y/N, but she just stared at him.

“No. This is only a thing I do for special people apparently. Fair, when we two met, I was a bit cocky and all, but I was trying to impress Big Mama, but this here was just plain unnecessary. I don’t want to waste my thoughts on this weirdo. Let’s train, Leo.”

“Well training it is. Don’t want you to eat dirt here, as your coach this would look horrible on me.”

This finally elicited a chuckle from Y/N.

According to Y/N the first few fights were mostly against monsters. Some sort of plant, beast like beings. Those were mostly there to weed out the weaklings. Haha, get it? It does start with four people in the same ring as they try to defeat as many as possible.

Leo was allowed to sit at the sidelines since he was officially written down as her coach. It was just as a way so that he didn’t have to be stuck with the other viewers and Y/N promised she’d deal with Big Mama should she catch wind of him being there. And apparently Leo lives in a crazy enough world now where he trusted Y/N like that.

When Y/N walked into the arena with the other three fighters, Leo could already see how tense she was with how she was swinging her sword around in anticipation. And judging by the simple fact that Akira stood next to her with crossed arms, he wagered that her being tense wasn’t because of the upcoming fight.

As expected, Y/N didn’t have a lot of trouble with the monsters. Flipping and jumping around as if this was just another Thursday, which to her very much was. After all it wasn’t her first time going into the ring.

Leo did understand Y/N’s outfit a bit more now. The way that the silver scarf flew behind her, combined with the lights of the arena, it did kind of look like silvery wings. Only if you squinted though.

There were people in the audience who held up posters and cards, screaming out Y/N’s stage name. Sometimes he forgot that she was a known quantity here.

At one point Y/N stood in the middle of the arena while the other fighters fought, she moved her hands up in a manner to encourage the audience to cheer louder. Even doing some spinning flips to egg them on. It worked. The lights were on Y/N like a spotlight and between all the general yelling and screaming there were a few “Silver Magpie!” No wonder Big Mama appreciated her the way she was able to make the audience roar.

This must have annoyed Akira since from that point every time Y/N was about to deal with another newly grown plant monster, he swooped in and dealt with it in her stead. Leo didn’t need to be in the ring to see how Y/N was getting more and more frustrated. She tried her best to combat his aggressive attacks by using her speed to weave through the chaos and deal her own strikes.

At this point the other two contestants were forgotten. This was clearly now only a power struggle between Y/N and Akira. The time was up, and the fighters walked out of the arena. It took a good few minutes before Y/N returned. Leo was greeted by an icy stare, the last time he saw that one was way back when he and Y/N had another one of their fights and he just kept teleporting her a few feet away from him, all the while he made comments about her being all out of breath while he was fine. This was a day where he particularly pissed her off.

He grimaced “Hey, fighter. You did awesome!”

She grabbed his arm and began pulling him out of the Battle Nexus “Big Mama will have to pay me if I have to keep dealing with that asshole.”

“Doesn’t she already pay you?”

“Only for special fights. Basically, buys me to fight for her to rile up the people. This? This here is all about the price money at the end. It’s also the best way to get your name out and for me it’s amazing for training since all kinds of new people appear but also shows that I’m still useful to Big Mama.”

She stopped moving when they were out of the building. Heaving a heavy sigh.

“That bad, huh?”

“I’m this close to committing manslaughter, Leo.” When she held her fingers up to show the exact amount, her fingers were touching.

Leo blinked “Oh, damn. You already killed him? Do I need to help to hide the body?”

“No, just the amount is so small it’s hard to see. Let’s just go. The next fight will be in the next few days. Actually no, wanna train a bit? We haven’t fought in a while. Like properly. I need to work through my frustration.”

When Leo laughed, Y/N just stared at him confused.

“It’s just weird. This is how you used to react to me and now I’m the person helping you through your anger.”

“Oh, this is nothing. There were times where you got under my skin worse than this.” She chuckled and laid her hand on his shoulder “Don’t worry, Leo. You will always be my number one.”

“Good because if I get beaten by that weird dude that would be a bit of a blow to my ego, not gonna lie. I worked hard for that position.”

During training for the championship Akira would sometimes approach Y/N and the two just began spitting out insults. The fights where both were involved riled the audience up more since it was obvious the two tried to show each other up.

Made only sense that the Battle Nexus would begin pairing the two up for every challenge.

This meant though that Y/N would meet up with Leo and just grumble about Akira and what stupid stuff he said last time during prep or during fights.

One day Y/N burst into Leo’s room unannounced, throwing herself on his bed with a huge groan.

“Knock knock. Who’s there? Y/N, can I come in? Yes, of course my lovely friend, you may! It’s nice to see you! Aw, thank you Leo! It’s so good to see you!”

He gave her a pointed look, but she had her hands on her face, a muffled yell came out behind them.

“Okay. So. What’s up?” He sat down next to her on the bed.

She was an emotional person so it didn’t surprise him to see her like this and yet something big must have happened.

Only a muffled mess came out of her mouth, Leo couldn’t understand anything. So, he just carefully grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her despair ridden expression.

“Can you say that again now?”

Her wrists still in his gentle grasp.

“He got a name!”

Leo narrowed his eyes “I feel like I’m missing something essential here. Almost sounds like your son received a name and you, as the horrible mother that you are, are in despair over that.”

Y/N just rolled her eyes. Not even a chuckle. Yikes.

“No, you don’t get it. Big Mama gave Akira a stage name. The Samurai Blitz. Stupid name but that’s just Big Mama, I guess. Do you know what that means though?”

When Leo shook his head, Y/N sat up, never removing her arms out of Leo’s own hands. He was at this point rubbing circles with his thumb into her skin, trying to distract her a bit from her anger.

“Basically, that means Big Mama is sponsoring him. He is going to be one of the main fighters in the Battle Nexus and do you know what that in return means?”

Once again, he shook his head.

“I’m stuck with him! Knowing Big Mama, she will try to schedule fights between us, and you know me. I’d love nothing more than to beat the snot out of him but it’s just… frustrating!”

“Well, he is a newcomer, and you are like one of their star fighters. Just beat him up in the fight then maybe Big Mama will drop him?” Frankly he had no idea, and this sounded easier than it was, but he wanted to ease her anger and worries a bit.

“Maybe. I hope. Let’s just do something else so I can ignore this whole part of my life for a moment?”

“I came up with a new skating trick using portals. Wanna see?”

Y/N laughed, Leo has been trying to teach her skateboarding since this was apparently something she never did “Yes, of course. Go ahead, Master Leonardo.”

The next time Akira’s name came up was when Y/N and he had to fight for the next spot in the championship. Y/N really began to drill herself and basically trained every free moment. She was tense. Her temper short and downright petty at moments. Being frankly used to her being petty towards him, Leo tried his best to help where he could.

Leo wanted to watch her big fight but alas crime doesn’t like to call in to make an appointment.

When he did have time though he made his way towards the Battle Nexus, expecting to see Y/N in front of it after having texted her that he would be coming over. When he couldn’t find her, he snuck in to investigate the pre-fight locker rooms.

Y/N was still sitting on a bench. Her arms propped on her legs, leaning over.

“Hey, Y/N.” he almost whispered, trying not to scare her.

It took a moment for her to look up, her expression was somber. Leo couldn’t help the small pang of guilt seeing her like that. Wishing he could have been there for her fight since whatever happened made her upset. He preferred her smile much more than seeing her like this.

“Did you… loose?”

Honestly, it happens. She knows it. But he also knew that one loss wouldn’t hit her that hard. Sure, might be annoyed but this wasn’t the reaction he imagined on her. Something else happened.

“N-No…”

Now that confused him “So, you won? Why are you looking like someone just kicked your puppy?”

“Leo. He forfeited.”

“He… what? Why? That’s good though, right?”

She slowly nodded “Yeah. I guess. It’s just. We fought and suddenly he apologized and forfeited.”

Leo sat down on the bench in front of her “He apologized? For forfeiting?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. It felt like he tried to apologize for his comments before? But maybe not? I don’t know. It was weird. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. It’s just-“she stopped herself. Since her mask was down Leo could see her biting her lip. She was conflicted.

“It’s what?”

She shrugged “I don’t know. He was kind of sad. I worked myself up so much for this fight and then he just stood there all depressed and then he did this. I think I’m just still reeling from it all. I’m just confused.”

Not really knowing what to do, Leo moved to sit down next to her. Putting his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him “Well. Let’s get out of here. To me this means you won and that means I’m treating you to some good grub.”

She leaned softly against him “Food does sound good right now.”

“Onwards! To Run Of The Mill Pizza!” he exclaimed, throwing his fist into the air as if he was about to run into battle.

“What did your dad do wrong that you guys are so obsessed with pizza? Or is it a mutant thing?”

“So, you are saying no to pizza?”

“No! No. Pizza is good.”

At first Leo didn’t think much about all of this. Akira somehow might have changed his mind or someone else laid into him for being stupid. With his personality? Very possible. Or he simply didn’t saw any honor in fighting Y/N but if that was the case, he knew that Y/N would have caught on that fact and would have been even more angry.

Then Y/N told Leo that she met Akira in the Hidden City. A chance meeting apparently. And while she still grumbled about him acting all high and mighty the two did apparently start talking. After all Y/N was very much curious as to why he forfeited the fight.

It was then that a thought entered Leo’s mind “Huh, that sounds very much like what me and Y/N went through. Funny.” It wasn’t funny. Somehow it made him feel uneasy even.

Leo was on the phone with Y/N while she had to spend some time with her family, and he was busy taking care of his weapons. They might be mystical and stuff, but they still needed care.

“Ah, sorry. I’m busy on Saturday. Got a fight and you know how much I love my fights.” Her voice came from his phone that he had at this point on his desk.

“Oh, I know, Bruiser. Knuckles. Gym Bro.” He counted off more stupid martial arts related nicknames, making Y/N sigh.

“I swear. Give a man a bruise once and he will never let you forget it.”

Leo paused “Y/N. You gave me more bruises than I can count. You almost broke my wrist once!”

“Oh, don’t start this, Leo! It takes two to tango! Because of you I couldn’t use my right foot for like four weeks! You sprained it!” It was a bit funny how the static of the phone speaker mixed in with her loud exclamations. It really added to her mock anger.

“Alright! Got it! We both suck. Anyway, what kind of fight is it on Saturday? Thought there wasn’t anything scheduled for you then, Miss Champion.”

When Akira forfeited, her biggest danger to victory disappeared as well. To Leo it just made sense that she managed to reclaim her title. She was good at what she did, he knew from firsthand experience after all.

She hummed thoughtfully “Mhm, yeah. I’m just meeting up with Akira for a fight.”

Wait did he hear that correctly?

“You are meeting up with Akira? You know the guy that you love to complain about? The dude who insulted your whole family one time?”

Reminding her of this, she let out an annoyed groan “Yeah, I know! It’s just… Apparently things happened, and he wants to fight me in a less official manner. So, we decided on a neutral space to meet up and just fight. You know. For training purposes.”

This really reminded him of… well him and her. The exact same happened. The roof being a neutral space where they met up just to talk about whatever. When it all started, they also met up often to fight. Trying to figure each other out.

“Huh.”

“I don’t need to see your face to know that something about this isn’t sitting well with you. What’s up? I promise I won’t be stupid.”

“No, it’s not that.” He paused. He didn’t know what to say, really. It just felt weird to him. Something about this just rubbed him the wrong way “Do you want a referee? I could play one.”

There was an awkward silence. Maybe it was just awkward to him. He hoped it was.

“It’s not that I don’t want you there, it’s just… You know how he is not a people person and this kind of just feels personal? I don’t know. It’s a thing between the two of us.”

“Oh, yeah. Got it. No problem.” He chuckled. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Luckily Y/N picked the conversation up again by talking about what she has been up to with her family as well as talking about her favorite topic, training. Soon the conversation flowed more naturally again.

He couldn’t let go of the weird pit in his stomach. It even stayed the day after. He just felt like there was something up with Akira. He said sorry, forfeited and now he searched her out? He seemed to have such a low opinion of ninja in general as well. Leo knew something was wrong, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

But what he knew was that Y/N wanted to meet him on Saturday and he bet he even knew where. He sparred with her enough to know a lot of her favorite training places.

Maybe it was rude for him to sneak into the Hidden City to keep an eye on Y/N. Maybe it was petty even. But he just wanted to make sure she would be fine! Usually, his gut feeling was pretty accurate, after all. Besides he’ll stay far enough away that she won’t notice him. Even as a fellow ninja.

This wasn’t him not trusting her, this was him just being a worried friend. If anything, he didn’t trust Akira. At all. Y/N could be an ass at times, but she was also forgiving, and he feared that Akira took advantage of that.

He found her at the Hidden City beach with Akira. The two were just casually chatting. He could sometimes see the two cocking one of their eyebrows up accusingly. And for a while they just stood there talking. He wasn’t close enough to hear anything, but he could tell both were somewhat tense. Both had their hands each on their own sword.

Suddenly Y/N’s hands moved to remove her hood and mask. Leo couldn’t fathom why she would do that. Not to Akira. Hell, it even took a while for her to show her face to his brothers.

And then both shook their hands with a smile. Letting go to walk a few paces back. She got her sword out and Akira followed suit.

Both fought with only one sword, but each had their own stance. Akira’s exuded more aggression while Y/N’s was more defensive.

And then they dashed at each other.

Their sword making immediate contact. Akira wasn’t deterred, trying to push with his strength and weight against Y/N. In return Y/N pressed once with all her strength at his sword, giving her the chance to jump back a few feet.

Akira immediately pursued her. Striking at her with all he got but Y/N being nimble dodges his strikes. Jumping around him, flipping over his head to try to strike his back.

The two almost fell in a bit of a dance. Their swords making contact every now and again. Y/N moving around Akira in fluid motion while he attacked with powerful and precise blows. Sometimes she would throw throwing stars towards him to distract him, but he was able to block them with his sword, not scared to use his feet or shoulder to push her.

While their fight was impressive and interesting to watch how both were able to work off of each other, Leo’s attention was on something else.

They were smiling. Both looked focused when they started out but as they kept going, getting a sense of each other’s fighting style, smiles snuck onto their faces.

They had fun and Leo did not like that. That was something he and Y/N used to do. Meeting up at a quiet place to fight. Test each other’s mettle. It’s how they got to know each other! It’s how they became friends. It was their thing. Hell, this was one of their first places they met for a sparring match.

Leo ducked down behind the rock he was hiding. Grimacing. He was jealous, wasn’t he? Of Akira? No, what Y/N and he had was special. They worked hard to earn each other’s trust, their friendship being stronger for it. But here the two were, fighting each other like how Leo and Y/N used to do and smiling with awe and excitement in their eyes. What was this all about anyway?

Was this even the first time the two fought like that? Y/N would tell him if she met up with Akira, right? Why wouldn’t she? Well, she did say this was something personal.

He hated it. The mixed feelings and the uncertainty and the worst part of all of this was that normally when he was conflicted like that he would go to Y/N with it. He can’t possibly go to Y/N right now. But then again, maybe she’d understand? This was horrible. Annoying. He wanted to bash his hand against the surface of the rock.

A few hours later, when Y/N returned to her own apartment, she didn’t expect to see Leo standing in front of her door in his casual human get up. She didn’t get any texts from him on her phone as well, so this was definitely a surprise.

“How long have you been standing here?” She asked, her keys hanging uselessly from her finger.

Leo gasped in surprised, he was too deep in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice her walking up to her own home.

“Uh, wha-?”

“How long have you been waiting in front of my home? Also scoot so I can unlock my door.” She was light on her feet. Acting like she just came back from a grocery run instead from a fight with an incredibly annoying person she should dislike.

He did as she asked so she could let herself and Leo into her apartment. He had been in here a couple of times. A few of those times the two might have broken a few things when they began rough housing a bit. Rest in peace coffee table. You held their snacks bravely until both Y/N and Leo jumped up on you.

“Not long. Wanted to check up on you. How was the battle? Did you commit manslaughter?” Not his finest work, it still made Y/N chuckle, making his heart beat faster in relief.

She walked with Leo into the kitchen, pushing off the hood and mask, grabbing some things out of the fridge to make a sandwich. In a silent question she held the bread into the air.

“Not hungry.” He settled down on the chair at her kitchen table. He was a bit unsettled that she didn’t immediately start to complain about Akira like she used to.

She moved her back to Leo, now concentrating on preparing her food.

“No, by the way. No manslaughter committed. Just a fair fight. Won this one, though.” She sounded happy. Naturally but she didn’t gloat like Leo expected her too.

Leo furrowed his brows “This one?”

“Well technically we fought before in the arena. This was just the first time we actually finished it.”

“And he actually was fighting fair?”

She chuckled “Yep. He did. He does take his honor seriously after all, even if his people skills say otherwise.”

“And you are okay with all of this? Not wondering what’s up with his sudden change of mind and all? It is a bit suspicious, right?”

This time Y/N finally turned around, her brows furrowed as well but out of confusion not anger “Leo, what is going on? If you have something to say, then just say it.”

He huffed, hesitating for a moment. What did he want to tell her? There was a lot actually but nothing too coherent. There were emotions that swirled around in him, unpleasant ones. “I don’t think you should meet up with Akira alone like that. Could be dangerous.”

“What?” She was genuinely confused at his statement. It did kind of come out of nowhere.

“Sure, he didn’t pull anything this time but who knows what will happen next time. Are you sure he isn’t taking advantage of your good nature?”

She scoffed “What? You think I’m that stupid to let something like that happen? Besides, I know a few things about him now. Don’t get me wrong I’m still kind of pissed at him for certain things but his behavior makes sense now, you know?”

At this point Leo was bouncing his leg. Nervous but also anger slowly making their way to the forefront of his mind. She was just dismissing these valid worries without a second thought! What possibly could he have told her to make her change her mind like that.

“Are you certain he didn’t just dish you a sob story, so he had an easier time to get on your good side?”

Leo flinched when Y/N suddenly slammed her hands on the table. He must have hit a nerve.

“Oh, because you would know, right? You talked to him and heard his side of all of this, right? Leo, I didn’t forget all the stupid things he said but I’m ready to move on!”

His eyes traveled to her hands that were slowly forming into fists “Why, though? Why does he deserve that?” It was a simple question.

To her though, she looked at him like he just said something incredibly stupid “Are you- Are you serious?”

Leo leaned forward, his eyes firmly locked onto hers “I am. I think this all is a huge mistake.”

She let out a huge sigh, as if she was trying to release the emotions that were slowly building up inside of her “May I remind you that if I hadn’t been so gracious to offer my hand to you first, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation? I know what I’m doing! I’m being cautious! You are acting like he will kill me!”

Leo threw his hands into the air “He is from the Hidden City! There are yokai around that threaten and do eat each other when they just make weird eye contact with each other! But right, you work for Big Mama, as if you’d have actually a good sense when it comes to people from there.”

“Oh, fuck you, Leo! I probably know more about the Hidden City and its people than you! The hell is your problem!”

He groaned, feeling like they were going around in circles “If you’d listen to me you would know! Just listen for once! I’m positive that Akira has some sort of- of- of hidden agenda!”

Y/N laughed in disbelief “Oh my god, you have lost it! What could he possible do with me that would be beneficial to him like that? If anything, we both know he is your typical honor boy, he wouldn’t pull anything weird! This is all so hypocritical of you! You were not long ago in Akira’s shoes yourself! If I would do as you said I would also have to cut contact with you, you absolute idiot!”

At this point, both were raising their voices. The tension was getting worse by the second as both stared angrily at each other. Leo was just trying to warn her, but she just ignored everything he said!

“Hey, you know we both worked on trusting each other! We put actual work into it! Do you think a nice walk and sparring match at the beach is enough?! Come on! Use your head!”

“I am! That’s why I’m so frustrated with you because you-“ she stopped yelling at him, her eyes widening as realization hit her, “The beach? Leo. How did you know that?”

God damn it. He screwed up. Big time.

“You- You watched us! You spied on me! I knew something felt off!” Her voice cut right into Leo, guilt settled down in his gut like a heavy boulder.

“No! I just- I had to be sure he didn’t try anything… I had one of those feelings and-“

He barely managed to stumble through the sentence before Y/N cut him off, shaking her head “No! That is not a good enough reason to fucking spy on me! I can understand you not trusting Akira, but you clearly don’t even trust me! You just said that we worked on building up this trust but, Leo, what trust? Not only do you not trust me when I want to work on getting past this animosity I have with Akira, but you also felt the need to spy on me as if I didn’t know how to defend myself if push came to shove! I know what I’m doing!”

Finally, Leo stood up as well, he might tower over Y/N by a good few inches, but she didn’t look intimidated at all. She just kept staring right into his eyes, silently challenging him.

“I do trust you! I really do! I was just-“

Again Y/N interrupted him, which infuriated the turtle even more “You are such a hypocrite! At first you are trying to forbid me from hanging out with Akira when you never once took the chance to talk to him yourself and now as it turns out you spy on me! Have you done this before? Was this even the first time? It’s so obvious you are just grasping for straws at this point!”

When Leo tried to open his mouth to retort, Y/N was faster “You are such an ass, Leonardo.”

Leo growled as his frustration finally reached the boiling point “I was jealous, okay!?”

This time when Y/N opened her mouth it was out of shock. No sound coming out of her as she processed these words.

Leo clenched his jaw “Okay, here. I admit it. I was jealous! I did have a bad feeling about him, which is why I followed you, and then I saw you fight and… and I couldn’t help but think that was our thing! And I know it’s stupid! It’s just- Fuck. Y/N I’m crushing on you hard and when I saw you two fight, I was just- I was scared, okay? I was scared I’d somehow lose you!”

Y/N was sometimes opening her mouth as if trying to say something only to snap her jaws shut again. She was visibly fighting with herself as she searched for the right words, no doubt overwhelmed with this whole situation.

Leo acted ridiculous, hurt her trust in him and then just suddenly dropped this bombshell on her. That was a lot. When her eyes glazed over in unshed tears, Leo’s feeling of guilt pulled even heavier on him.

He took a deep breath, trying to ground himself again. Most of the hot air seemed to have left both of them.

“I’m genuinely sorry, Y/N. My emotions took the better of me and I didn’t fight that at all. It all started because I had a bad feeling when it came to Akira because I thought he would do something but at the beach I realized I was jealous. The worst part is, I then took me frustration out on you of all people. I wanted to talk this through with you but… emotions… You don’t deserve this.”

God, he was an idiot. What did he expect to happen? He knew what the problem was. He was the problem from the very start and here he tried to push it on Akira and Y/N. That was unfair. That’s not how friends should treat each other. He broke the trust the two worked so hard on establishing.

He really was a hypocrite and an ass.

“I’m gonna leave you be. This is my fault not yours. If you want to talk this through, I’ll be there. If you don’t wanna talk to me for a while or at all, I can understand.”

Y/N was still standing in the kitchen like a statue. Her wide eyes following his movements as he suddenly went from angry to sad. Suddenly admitting to what was the underlying issue here. She knew that something else must have happened since this argument from the start was weird but this, she did not expect.

When she didn’t react, Leo slowly turned around and took a few steps to walk out of her apartment, but a warm hand landed on his arm. Stopping him in his tracks.

Surprised Leo turned around to see Y/N standing right in front of him.

“Y/N?”

Instead of saying anything she just pulled Leo into a big hug. Wrapping her arms around his neck. Confused by this, frankly undeserving, display of affection, Leo couldn’t help but stare at her as she let out a soft sob mixed with a chuckle.

She let go of him to wipe at her eyes, her other hand still laying on his shoulder “God. You are stupid.”

He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle himself “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

“We really need to work on our communication.”

“Well, I do, for sure. This time this is all on me, but I’m, uh, you still want to be friends? Even after this stupid thing I pulled? Because I can understand it if you need some time for yourself and all.” Even after the hug he was still surprised by this. He was overjoyed if this was the case, but he still expected her to take a few days for herself to sort through this all.

The smile on her face softened, her eyes were now full with an unexplained warm expression Leo couldn’t pinpoint. He just knew it was far removed from the expression a minute ago when the two were still arguing.

“You remember when I told you, you will always be my number one?”

He nodded.

Instead of answering him, Y/N laid her arms back around his neck and slowly pulled him down, while she leaned up. Planting her lips softly on his own.

What?

Leo was happy, overjoyed even, as she suddenly kissed him, but he was equally as confused at this point. He didn’t deserve this.

Y/N broke the kiss off “I really meant it when I said it.”

“But- I just- I was so- Why?”

“I’ve had a crush on you for ages, numbnuts.”

Finally, the heat rushed to Leo’s head. He was sure that his blush was obvious at this point and together with his flabbergasted expression, this must look quite amusing.

“I screwed up though…” He almost whispered.

She nodded, agreeing with him “Yeah, but you apologized and call me crazy, but I know that I can talk this through with you. We used to literally beat each other up multiple times a week and we managed to get through that. I’m willing to work through this as well. Are you?”

Of course, he was. Leo nodded. In awe at her forgiveness but also still reeling from her own confession.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am. I’m really, really sorry.”

“I know.”

Suddenly Leo laughed “Oh my god, you like me!”

Y/N burst out into laughter as well “Yeah, I do! Glad you caught up!”

“Can… Can I kiss you?”

She let out an amused snort that he knew she thought was embarrassing but he thought was adorable “Yeah. You can. Let’s chill out today and tomorrow we can talk about all of this.”

He didn’t give her a proper reply. Instead, his hand flew towards her neck, pulling her up against him again, placing his own lips softly on hers.

[petsbup]

Hey! Hope your doing great :>

May I request a Viper fic where reader forces her to go to the protocols annual Halloween party?

I like this Idea! Thanks for the request! This is my first fic, so forgive me if it’s not the best! I played around with this where there are a few hints that Viper has a crush on reader. Hope that’s alright! 

Spooky Season! Viper x Gn! Reader!

It was Halloween night, and the protocol were all attending the protocol’s annual Halloween party to take a break from work. Brimstone organized the event, complete with cupcakes, snacks, food, and various drinks, along with a giant cake with fake spiders and frosted webs. There was even a large dance floor, (That Killjoy definitely didn't have to help him set up after he got annoyed trying to figure out how to switch the colors.) and a bunch of decorations and lights. Sage, Jett, and Neon were all tearing up the dance floor, Cypher was dressed up as a mummy while chatting with Reyna who was dressed up as a goul, Fade a necromancer, and brimstone as a pirate, while the the others dressed up in scary or fun costumes. 

you frowned.

everyone was here, having a good time, except for one particular woman who toxin professional who was no where to be in site.

"Yo! Y/n? Who gonna hit the dance floor or what?" asked Phoenix who was dressed up as a skeleton.

"Yeah! I'm just gonna head out for a minute, I'll be back!"

"Alright! I'll be destroying Jett on the dance floor if you need me!" He said walking off onto dance floor.

You laughed, and exited the room and started walking to Viper’s lab.

You approached Sabine’s lab door and knocked. No answer. You knocked again, No answer.

You opened the door, despite knowing how much she hated it when someone went into her lab. Viper was sitting down in her chair at her desk, working with what you assumed were new toxins.

“Sabine?”

“What Y/n?” She asked annoyed, still working on her toxins.

While if anyone else came into her lab unannounced like this, it wouldn’t have ended well for them, while she would allow only you to come in without making you run for dear life. 

“Sabine, I know you’re working hard, but you need to take a break. you’ve been working all week. Why don’t you join us? We’re all throwing a Halloween party! Dressing up and dancing and stuff like that!”

“No.” She said coldly.

“Please? it’ll be fun.”

She sighed. Y/n, I have work to do. I don’t have time for pointless events.”

You frowned. You put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Work can wait. You need to let yourself have some fun. You deserve it.”

Sabine looked down. She couldn’t argue with your logic. She had been working nonstop the past week, not even realizing that the protocols annual party was around the corner, and she didn’t even see a point in going, but she was so tired and it was true that she had grown a soft spot for you, like letting you in her lab while the others were never allowed to. She had started to enjoy your presence and listening to you talk with her, and your laugh was something she adored every time she heard it. of course she had never told you any of this.   

“Fine.”

You grinned.

“Yay! C’mon, get a costume on and head to the party with me!”

She stood up and walked out of the lab, with you following close behind. She turned and closed the lab door and looked at you. 

“Go on, I’ll be there shortly.” 

You looked at her, excited.

“Sounds great! I’ll see you there!”

You were chatting with Skye who was dressed up as a nature person? you weren’t quite sure as It was rather heard to tell if she was mother nature or a tree. You were only half listening to what she was saying, as Viper had told you to head to the party and that she would be there shortly. 

So where was she?

it had been half an hour since you talked, and she still wasn’t here. You were starting to think that she had just decided to not go and just went back to work, or went somewhere else but then the doors opened, and there she was. 

You were awestruck. She was wearing a witch outfit, complete with green silk, a witch hat, and even a silver snake on top of her hat(Not alive of course. at least you hoped not.) she walked over towards you and stood. it took you a second before you could form words.

“Viper...”

“Is it too much?” 

“You look amazing!!!” you said excitedly.

her facial expression didn’t change, but you thought you could see a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks under the colored lights.

“Well? Are you going to just stand there or are we going to dance?”

you smiled excitedly. She grabbed your hand and took you on the dance floor and started to dance with you, the spooky music playing, she held you as you both made movements on the dance floor. Just focused on each other.

“You were right Y/n, I needed this. Thank you.” She said. You continued to dance with her.

 “Of course Sabine.” 

[angel-with-paper-wings]

Hello friend! *throws these at you*

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Hello! *clumsily catches items* thanks!! 🥰

🍓 How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Ever since I was informed about what fanfic was by a good childhood friend, I was writing down little one-shots/headcanons about whatever fandom I was into at the time (Doctor Who I think). I was like 12, and thank GOD I decided not to post those anywhere, because yikes 🥴 Anyway, over the past few years I started writing longer-form fanfic as a hobby in my spare time, letting the ideas build until they were actual coherent stories. This led to me gaining confidence in my writing and eventually creating an AO3 account to share what I was working on.

🧃 Share some personal lore you never posted about before

Ooo! Okay…I am right-handed, but my eyesight is stronger out of my left eye so I perform certain tasks as if I am left-handed. I found this out when I started learning archery, and I instinctively picked up the bow with my right hand and aimed the arrow with my left eye. So, I own a left-handed bow even though I write and do basically everything else with my right hand.  

🍄 Share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

Yay! I’ll do Erik/Christine because of course 🥰

Erik is always the first one awake in the mornings; he is an early bird not really by choice, but just because his body is used to being sleep deprived so he isn’t used to sleeping for a long time. He is also a very light sleeper and will snap to full attention if he hears the slightest noise in the middle of the night. If he can’t go back to sleep, he will either get up and do something productive, or he will stay in bed and just stare at Christine sleeping peacefully beside him until she wakes up.

On the other hand, Christine is a VERY heavy sleeper (you know the scene in the musical immediately after MOTN, when Erik is banging away on his organ and Christine is just snoozin? Yeah that). She can be groggy when she wakes up in the mornings, but a nice cup of coffee made by her husband always perks her right up. 😊

🍬  Post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Okay this might seem counterintuitive to what I just talked about in the previous question, but in the canon story, I don’t think Christine should have ended up with Erik. Notice I said IN THE CANON STORY—only in an AU where a LOT of canon elements are changed (mostly the murder-y, kidnapping bits) am I comfortable with the idea of Erik and Christine being able to have a functioning, mutually beneficial relationship.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean I think Christine should have ended up with Raoul either! Although he is definitely the better of the two options, I am not entirely sure how long their whirlwind romance based on childhood friendship and shared trauma would last. In my opinion, I think the ideal option would be all parties taking some personal time to themselves without the risk of heartache so they can truly discover what is best for each of them.

🔪 What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Haha besides the classic “how long does it take to die from a *blank* wound?” or “period-accurate underwear” searches, the only other thing that’s coming to mind is my frantic searching on Google Maps to approximate the distances of routes between certain places (particularly to and from Perros-Guirec, France). Using that, I would then try and extrapolate how long it would take to travel between locations in a horse-drawn carriage, 19th-century train, and other vehicles that are much less obvious and efficient than what is currently available.

[antlerx-art]

GOOD OMENS 2 EPISODE 4 REACTION - CONTAINS SPOILERS‼️

NAZI ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS IM SO NOT READY

aziraphale why do you have to be so pretty

modern heh🤩 but not bebop🤨 HES CUTEE

OH. MY. GOD.

OH MY

NOT MOONLIGHT SERENADE

IF THIS PLAYS LATER IN THE EPISODE IN THE FLASHBACK IM GOING TO ACTUALLY FEEL SICK NEIL GAIMAN YOURE CRAZY YOURE SO CRAZY OHHHH MY GOD

okay i’m normal again

SHAX?

DONT TOUCH HIM LEAVE HIM ALONE

oh i don’t think we’ve ever seen aziraphale talking to a demon other than crowley have we?

“im a little bemused as to why crowley would risk destruction for you, you don’t seem his type at all” EHHEHHEHE aziraphale knows he is

POOR OLD FURFUR? WHAT DO YOU MEAN TICKET TO THE BIG TIME

aziraphale uhm i love you but that was VERY naive you’ll have to run her over with the car now 👍🏻

OHHH YES LONDON 1941 LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO

AAAAAAAAA its the same scene but the nazis are about to become zombie flesh eaters

furfur face reveal?

LOL THE NAZIS WENT TO HELL

ah yes nice fresh cup of fire

THE LIFT HOMEEEEEEEEE

aziraphale’s face 🫶🏻😭 “shut upppp”

“on behalf of my………..good friend here” michael sheen had an aziraphale moment in that one interview

YAY ITS AZIRAPHALE’S MAGIC SHOW

okay so furfur uses the nazis to spy on aziracrow HEHEHEH they’re gonna interrupt them during the dinner aren’t they

miracle blocker 💀

the proof being?? an almost kiss ?? i’m delusional

yummm tasty human flesh meal

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THEYRE IN THE BOOKSHOP

“oh there’s no need to thank me that’s what……… friends……..do” AZIRAPHALEEEEEEEEEEE

“to mr fell (that’s me😊) a wonderful student”

AZIRAPHALE MOVING AROUND BEING EXCITED FOR THE MAGIC ACT AND CROWLEY PLAYING THE PUBLIC OH THEYRE SO THEYRE SOOOO

also what made crowley so embarrassed about it in the future?

“the farthing has vanished!!!!”

“you, my nefertiti fooling fellow~ are about to perform on the west end stage! if that doesn’t make you a professional conjurer, i don’t know what does” CROWLEY YOU HAVE TO PUT A ROMANCE WARNING BEFORE SPEAKING THIS IS SO ADORABLE

AND JUSSSST THW WAY AZIRAPHALE SMILES AT HIM????

oh my is this going to be the boa scene? 🫢

“natural dexterity” yeah now i see why crowley’s embarrassed

why does aziraphale have a firearm license HOW MANY LICENSES DOES HE HAVE

“you wot?”

CROWLEY’S GOING TO BE THE ASSISTANT I KNEW IT (THE HAND ON THE ARM!!!)

THEY HELD HANDS AZIRAPHALE PUT HIS LEFT HAND ON CROWLEYS TOO OOOOOHHHH MY GOD THE AMOUNT OF SLOWED GIFS PEOPLE ARE GOING TO MAKE OF THIS MOMENT

these nazi zombies are crap what was their plan anyway

HELP they’re all soldiers

THE MIRACLE BLOCKER NOOO

OOOHHH ITS NOT GONNA END WELL IS IT

shit they took the picture

i’m actually sweating

POOR CROWLEY’S TREMBLING

WOOOO IT WORKED

AZIRAPHALE IS SO GAY WITH THAT BOA STOP STOP BEING GAY YOURE TOO SWEET

“aziraphalala” me reading his name for the first time

girl put that picture on fire it’s literally in your own hands

aziraphale has stolen the evidence with a magic trick hasn’t he

HAHA YESS HE DID

OHHHHHHHHHH THE DINNER THE DINNERRRRRR

SHADES OF GRAY VERY DARK GRAY AND VERY LIGHT GRAY ITS THEM OH ITS SO THEM IM IN TEARS

do demons even have vital organs?

“CROWLEY’S PET”😨

don’t touch his bookshop.

nina break up with them that relationship is so stressful please

NAH CROWLEY TALKING TO THE BENTLEY LIKE A DOG 💀

THEYRE GOING TO HAVE THE BALL YEAAAAAAH

tagging @neil-gaiman since he said he was interested in reading live reactions