#someone please draw this i might fucking explode

[arc-archernar]

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[hayatoseyepatch]

⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅☾☼☽⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅

∘∙⊱Description: Who would our little less experienced characters go to for help in pleasing their partner?

∘∙⊱Featuring:  Haruka Sakura, Jo Togame, Kyotaro Sugishita, Hajime Umemiya, Akihiko Nirei, Hayato Suo x fem!reader

∘∙⊱Words: 2.7k (I might have gotten a wee bit carried away, oops)

∘∙⊱Tags: fem!reader, minor spoiler warning for the manga (nothing too specific mentioned), aged up, smut, threesome, cunnilingus, fingering, edging, teasing, dom/sub dynamics, petnames, praising, degradation, dacryphilia, oral (m&f receiving), etc.

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a/n: Please be gentle with me I haven’t written anything proper in like 2 years lmao. But I’m currently obsessed with windbreaker and figured I’d take matters into my own hands for creating some content for these boys. Enjoy some spicy headcannons! You know the drill, 18+ content MDNI.

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-Sakura is a damn mess. I love this boy so much but he is. Because lets be honest, even getting together with Sakura was a project. This poor baby never even had someone show him friendship let alone love.

-(Slight Manga Spoilers) Sakura has gone to Togame for help before when it came to  the battle with Noroshi, and Togame has proven himself to be someone Sakura can rely on. Sakura treats everything like a fight, this is no different.

-Togame, in comparison, had much more experience. Being in Shishitoren was a lot on Togame before he met Sakura, so he had his fair share of sexual partners to relieve some stress.

-Sakura was new to relying on others, and even newer to asking for help. His face a bright red and a deep furrow in his brows. Togame took one look at his expression, eyebrows raising in curiosity. “What’s up Sakura, you good?” He had asked lazy crooked smile in place, tough he’d be lying if he wasn’t a bit concerned.

-Sakura’s scowl only deepened in response. “I need your help with something.” When Togame had urged him to go on, between clenched teeth he had asked him to help him pleasing his partner.

-To say Togame was shocked would be an understatement. Sakura’s furrow in his brow deepened. “Listen, I know your much more experienced than I am, I just.. I want to make sure she feels good too. But I fucking swear one smart ass comment and I’ll beat your ass into next week. You got it?” Togame’s eyes softened he knew how Sakura was, how hard it was for him to ask for help. He must really care for you. He agreed without a second thought.

-It wasn’t long before he found himself in your shared bedroom. His eyes wide at your form clad in nothing but a cute matching set the both of your cheeks adorned with the same bright red hue. He had to remind himself why he was here. He was here to help his friend, but gods were you so damn beautiful.

You felt so exposed, tears collecting on your lashes, as Togame has you spread open for Sakura. Your back resting against Togame’s chest, your thighs hooked over his, fully exposing your dripping center to Sakura’s hungry gaze. Togame’s long fingers drawing lazy circles over your needy clit. Your essence was dripping from your opening onto the sheets below, it had felt like Togame had been teasing your for hours, mind already swimming and neither of them had even filled your cunt. Togame’s other hand gently thumbing at your nipple, had you wiggling desperately in his grasp.

“See, Sakura, you need to take your time. You see how much of a mess her pretty pussy is making?” He chuckles, deep and breathy, right into your ear. “All that wetness is gonna make it feel so much better for the both of you. Plus just see for yourself how sexy it sounds”

Sakura felt like he was going to explode, his cheeks radiating warmth with how red they were, his cock straining against his pants, aching for attention.  All Sakura could do is nod eyes locked on your dripping cunt. “Go ahead Sakura, slowly slip two fingers inside, that’s it, see how easy it is?” he grins at the look on Sakura’s face at the squelching sound your cunt makes, coupled with the sound that falls from your lips at the feeling of his fingers stretching your once empty cunt. “sh-shut the fuck up I know how to put my fingers inside, asshole” Sakura grumbles, but he couldn’t deny Togame was right, they’ve never slipped in with such ease before.

Togame chuckles once more. “Oh she’s so responsive, how adorable~” Sakura’s eyes are wide, he’s never heard you make that sound before, he quickly gets drunk on your reactions, fingers gliding in and out of your cunt with ease with how wet you were. Togame continues to guide Sakura, telling him just how to position his fingers in such a way that he is repeatedly hitting the spot deep inside you that has your vision going white.

“Oh! H-Haruka, right there, please please I’m gonna~” You cry out, embarrassed at how loud your volume had gotten as you beg for release. Togame finally picks up speed, his fingers no longer drawing lazy patterns but circling your clit faster now. “That’s it doll, don’t hold back, show Sakura how good he’s making you feel.” Sakura watches intently, mesmerized, feeling your walls clamp down on his fingers body trembling as he and Togame’s fingers guide you through your orgasm. Sakura surging forward, lips claiming yours hungrily, swallowing your moans. Coming down from you high, breaths panting as you try and calm your racing heart and trembling thighs.

“Alright Sugar, I think your ready for the main event.” Both you and Sakura’s eyes widen at Togame’s words, you were both in for a long night.

Umemiya & Sugishita

-Let’s be honest here, Sugishita is trusting NO ONE other than Umemiya. He hold so much respect for him and I feel like if he’s going to anyone its him.

-I feel like his partner also spends plenty of time with Umemiya, so it wouldn’t be a stranger who is being invited into their bedroom. A good bit of Sugishita’s time is spent helping Umemiya in the garden or with meetings, so its safe to say that his partner spends a good bit of their time on the rooftop with them.

-Sugishita also knows that Umemiya will be gentle and not push any boundaries that  him or his partner are uncomfortable with. He finds some relief knowing Umemiya isn’t going to go all sadistic on his partner.

-That being said Sugishita is still so nervous to ask for help. He’s worried in some way he’d be disappointed in him for not being able to fulfill his partners needs. Umemiya is so caught off-guard when he asks too, Sugishita rarely ever asks for help so as the leader and viewing Furin’s members as his siblings of course he’s happy to help! Though Sugishita’s next words were ones he couldn’t have guessed even if he tried.

-When the time comes, and the three of you are in the comfort of your bed, they dwarf your frame. These boys are BIG, Sugishita is 6’3” and Umemiya is 6’2” so honeybun I’m praying for you for real.

-Umemiya is so patient, his gentle words guiding both of your actions, he is fully in hold of the reins. He has the both of you hanging on to his every word.

“That’s it Sugishita, be gentle, ease into her. She how much easier it slides in after warming her up?” Umemiya’s voice is tender, guiding Sugishita’s actions and easing your mind. His deep baritone spoken directly in your ear has you letting out shudder. Sugishita lets out a deep groan, you were always tight, normally struggling to take his girth. But your velvet walls pulled him in the wetness from the last hour Umemiya spent between your thighs making him slide in with ease.

“So.. fucking.. tight” Sugishita grunts, heeding his mentor’s word, resisting the urge to slam into you desperate to feel more of you. You whimper at the stretch, Umemiya titling your chin upwards, lips meeting your own. His tongue exploring your mouth, large hands roaming your body. One hand circles a sensitive nipple, the other has his fingers tracing mindless shapes on your clit. Effectively distracting you from the stretch of Sugishita entering your tight heat. The both of you moan loudly as Sugishita bottoms out, feeling filled to the brim and he hadnt even gotten started. “That’s it, give her a moment, let her get accustomed. Its okay sweetheart, poor little thing your tight little pussy is so full isn’t it baby?” The gentle tone of Umemiya’s voice contradicts the absolute filth that leaves his mouth. His words having you wiggling your hips desperate for more. “Please, Kyo, more.. please fuck me”

Umemiya grins, the desperate tone in your voice has his own cock straining against the tight fabric of his boxers. “Go on Sugishita, she asked so nicely, are you gonna make her beg?” He teases, having both of your cheeks flushing pink, as Sugishia begins to move. His hips rutting into yours,  your head being tossed back, resting on Umemiya’s shoulder. “Please.. please.. touch me Ume” You beg, your voice sounding foreign to your own ears in your desperation.

The older man grins, lips attaching themselves to your neck, his fingers resuming their ministrations on your sensitive spots. Letting out a deep growl, Sugishita picks up the pace hips slamming into your own. “You see that Sugishita, you see how deep you are inside her?” He teases, pointing out the bulge in your tummy where he can practically see just how deep he was thrusting inside you. He gritted his teeth willing himself not to cum, not yet. Not when you felt so good, not when you were making such beautiful sounds.

Your hand reaches behind you, slipping inside Umemiya’s boxers, your small hand wrapping around his cock, giving an experimental tug not wanting to leave him out. He curses into your neck. His hips thrusting into you hand as you begin pumping his length in your hand. Sugishita couldn’t take it anymore, you felt too good, your sounds doing too much to him. You too were on the edge. “Kyo, Kyo, please gonna..” You come undone with a cry, Sugishita matching your actions, spilling himself into your waiting cunt. After catching your breath, you and Sugshita have a silent conversation with your eyes, his response being an approving nod and a grunt, as you turn your half lidded gaze up to Umemiya.

“Ume.. please fuck me.. wanna make you feel good too.” The white haired male’s eyes widening at your forwardness, but as he said to Sugishita earlier, he wasn’t going to make you beg when you asked so nicely.

-See these two here… I think this arrangement is a bit different from the others. Unlike Sakura & Sugishita, it isn't Nirei going to Suo for help for his partner, but rather Suo helping Nirei get some experience under his belt.

-Suo is already training Nirei, taking him under his wing to show him how to defend himself, to him this was just another lesson for him to give the blonde.

-Nirei was confused when Suo had texted him telling him to meet him at his apartment rather than their usual meeting spot for training. Regardless, he followed instruction, curious as to where Suo lived. After all these years of knowing him, he still only knew what Suo let him know about him he was a mystery to him.

-He met Nirei at the door his signature closed eye smile adorning his face, laced with mischief, as he led him inside. “y/n isnt here, Suo?” Nirei had asked curiously, also with a twinge of nervousness.

-Suo was extremely perceptive, he noticed the cherry red that dusted Nirei’s cheeks whenever you greeted him or made idle chatter. How could he not? You were breathtaking after all. So Suo would throw one of his closest friends a bone. Tilting his head with a smile. “Oh no, she’s here, just in the bedroom waiting for our lesson.”

-Nirei didnt know what he was expecting when he followed Suo into their bedroom, but he nearly fainted seeing you sat on the bed waiting patiently in nothing but your bra and panties. Before he could profusely apologize for catching you in such a state of undress and run, his friend had placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Today’s lesson is going to be a bit different, today me and y/n are going to be teaching you about inflicting pleasure rather than pain.”

-The nervous blonde thought his heart might just beat right out of his chest, was this a cruel prank from you both? Had Suo caught him staring at you and decided to give him a humiliating punishment?

-He would be a liar if he said he hadn’t imagined being with you before. If he hadn’t spent late nights fucking his fist, imagining it was you touching him instead. If he didn’t whimper your name in his pillow as he came.

-But when your big doe eyes met his, a delicate hand reached out to welcome him into the bed with a comforting nod of your head offering your consent, who was he to say no?

“He’s awfully eager isn’t he darling? Oops it seems like your mouths a bit full, how silly of me~” Suo chuckled, tone in his voice teasing, as he stuffed your mouth full of his cock. His eye softening as he looked down at you, fingers carding gently before tugging just the way he knew you liked, forcing more of his cock down your throat.

Your moans sent vibrations around Suo’s cock, he was right, Nirei was surely eager. His tongue lapping at your pussy like a man starved. His inexperienced tongue was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Suo needing to remind him to take breaths. Said man, chuckled once more, teasing voice filling the room.

“Nirei, she isn’t going anywhere we’re just getting started, make sure your focusing on her clit, that’s a boy just like, fuck, just like that.” The tail end of his sentence he wasn’t sure which of you it was directed at, the way you bobbed your head taking him expertly in your throat had the normally composed man losing his bearings. Using his grip on your hair he lifted you off his length.

“Come here.” He instructs the blonde, who reluctantly removed his face from its position buried between your thighs. You beckon Nirei to you with your hand in his, pressing your lips together in a heated kiss. Tongue quickly overtaking his own, allowing him to taste Suo on his tongue, a stark reminder of who you belonged to. This seemed to please your boyfriend, enough for him to slot himself between your legs. His cock sliding in with ease due to the wetness from Nirei’s saliva and your own arousal.

You moan, desperately into Nieri’s mouth, head being tossed back at the feeling of Suo’s cock filling you so deeply. His groan making both if you shudder. No time is wasted, you were quick to replace the empty feeling in your mouth with the blonde’s cock. He let out a loud desperate moan as the warmth of your mouth welcomes him in, hollowing your cheeks as you begin to suck. Suo sets a brutal pace from the beginning, determined to have all three of you coming undone at the same time.

You and Nirei’s moans and whimpers bounce off the walls, leaving no question of who was solely in control of you both in this moment. Suo felt the familiar spasm of your walls around him, indicating your impending release. “That’s it my love, come on, let go for me. Show Nirei how beautiful you look coming undone on my cock.”

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t close, the stimulation of your earlier ministrations bringing him to the edge faster than he normally would. Nirei is the first of you to come, a loud cry falling from his lips, tears streaming down his cheeks as he unloads into your waiting mouth. Nearly coming a second time just from the sight of you swallowing his cum, just so you would be able to cry out Suo’s name as you came on his cock. Suo was the last to topple over the ledge, your orgasm triggering his own. Hands gripping your plush hips in an iron grip as he paints your walls white. The room is silent save for the sounds of panting, all three of you catching your breaths from such intense releases. Suo’s voice is the first to break the silence.

“Alright Nirei, go on, if you clean her up real nice with your tongue I might just let you fuck her pretty cunt after.~”

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed, and as always likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated. This is my first time writing for these characters so I hope I did them some justice. See you in the next one!

[beomiracles]

⌞ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 ⌝

DREAM RECALL ⸝⸝ Despite everything, he’s still crying. Shiny droplets rolling down his cheeks almost rhythmically as he pants under you. — Your stomach twists as your attention falls on the dark hues adorning his neck and collarbone. Not only had he fucked her, he’d let her do that to him as well, and he came home wearing it, like some fucking souvenir. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⸝⸝

wc -> 2.6k

pairings non idol!yeonjun x fem!reader warnings infidelity, cheater!yeonjun, hurt no comfort, angst, yeonjun cries a lot, handjob, unprotected sex + pullout, meandom!reader, sub!yeonjun, pathetic/desperate yeonjun, nipple play, slapping, degrading, use of "whore", implied marking, big time sad.

#serene adds ✎ I wasn't planning on writing this today but you know the saying of "striking when the iron is hot", well yeah it was practically on fire so I kind of had to. this is not proofread in the slightest oops.

Your usually cozy and warm bedroom feels dark and distant. The air is cold and it causes goosebumps to rise on the naked skin of your arms. Low and hushed sobs fill the dense atmosphere as Yeonjun huddles by your feet. — It was an almost pitiful sight, seeing his disheveled hair, the fat droplets of tears that rolled down his flushed cheeks, bottom lip quivering as he gulped down a breath of air. 

But you did not pity him. In fact, you think you might even hate him. Because when you regard his pathetic frame, trembling hands clawing at the hem of your skirt as his wet face leaves damp spots on the fabric, you feel nothing but disgust. His touch no longer felt warm, nor did it feel comforting. It felt foreign, dirty and tainted with something else, someone else. 

“Please, p-please baby it wasn’t like that!” 

He pleads and he pleads, fingers curling around the flimsy cotton as he tugs himself closer, shuffling on the floor beneath you. A vile grimace darkens your expression as you peer down at him with disdain. — “Get off of me.” 

Yeonjun’s eyes snap up to yours, they’re wide and terrified as he shakes his head. “B-Baby please, you have to believe me!” — Believe him? What an ironic thought indeed. Time and time again, you had believed him, told yourself that you were overreacting, that you were being delusional, that you were a bad girlfriend. You believed him when he told you not to worry about the late nights he worked, about the sudden business meetings, about the team dinners; about the nights you spent alone in bed, foolishly waiting for someone you thought longed to get home to you. 

With the small kick off your heel to his stomach, Yeonjun tumbles back, landing on his ass with a thud and he blinks up at you with teary eyes. “Believe you?” You huff, pulling out your phone as you wave the device in front of him. “Is this what you want me to believe? That this was intended for me, and not that colleague of yours?” 

You watch as his dilated pupils practically explode when they land on the hotel reservation being presented before him, and he audibly swallows. He knows that he’s gotten caught, yet he still tries to lie his way out of it. — It hurts. Not only because he cheated. But because it wasn’t with just anyone. She was special. Yeonjun had never looked at you like that, not once during the three years in which you had been together, the three years in which you had done everything for him. 

Tears threaten to spill down your cheeks and you draw in a shaky breath. He wouldn’t get to see you cry, not anymore and never again. 

“Let’s end things.” 

The statement shouldn’t have taken him by surprise but it seems to have as Yeonjun feebly shakes his head, a loud sob ripping from his throat. “No!” He wails, immediately crawling back to wrap his arms around your legs, pressing his cheek flat against your thighs as he resumes his pitiful crying. — You want to push him off, tell him that he’s disgusting and that you want nothing more to do with him. 

“P-Please..” His voice is hushed, jagged and ruined by him choking on his own tears, “i-it was a mistake I s-swear! I would n-never do that to y-you, I- I love you!” By the end he sounds almost strained, high-pitched and desperate as he clings to you. — Love. What a pathetic emotion. If this was love then you didn’t want it. 

“Do you think shit will be okay just because you said that?” You seethe, fingers curling into fists by your sides as you fight off the urge to kick him off once more. Yeonjun doesn’t say anything, merely hugging himself closer as he cries into your skirt, biting back whimpers as he snivels. — “Do you think I'll forgive you? That I’ll kiss you and tell you that everything is fine?” 

He hiccups at your words, shaking his head shamefully as his fingers twist against the smooth fabric of your clothes. “Is that what you want?” You ask, your voice suddenly shifting into an eerily calm one, but Yeonjun doesn’t seem to pick up on the change as he continues to sob. — “Answer me.” Your demand makes his head jerk up and he hesitates for only a second before he nods, biting his swollen bottom lip carefully. With a small huff you avert your gaze, taking a step back as you shrug him off once more. 

Then you kneel down, the rich carpet is soft under your bare legs and you regard your boyfriend with a look of fabricated sympathy. Yeonjun on the other hand looks wary as he awkwardly swallows, his gaze flitting between your eyes nervously as he exhales. — He lets out a noise of surprise when you suddenly cup his cheek, leaning in to press a small kiss against his wobbling lips. Though he quickly falls into your embrace as he lets your tongue dwell deep inside his waiting mouth, gliding along his own as he whimpers. 

It didn’t feel the same. It wasn’t the same. And you hated it. 

With a small hiss you withdraw, making him look at you with an alarmed expression as he tries to speak, though no words come out. — “On the bed.” Is all you say, your voice suddenly cold and demanding. The subtle shift makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand and Yeonjun scrambles to his feet as he hurries for the bed, gingerly plopping down on the mattress. 

You’re quick to follow behind, looming over his uncertain figure as you study him closely. “Undress.” — “W-What?” His question makes you groan and you reach for the collar of his shirt, yanking the first few buttons open. “This is what you wanted, no? For things to go back to normal, for me to say that it’s all okay.” 

He parts his lips but remains silent, slowly nodding as his hands raise to resume the work you’d started on his sweater. — Once the garment falls from his shoulders, you push him back, making yourself comfortable on his lap as you straddle him. He looks confused, but there’s an undeniable glimmer of hope flickering behind his eyes as you reach for your own blouse, slowly pulling it over your head. 

“You want to pretend like nothing’s ever happened?” You wonder as you lean forward, the tip of your finger resting on his chin and Yeonjun nods. He was so used to you complying, used to you believing him, he had grown comfortable with your naivety. And now you were paying the price for it. — “Yeah? You want to pretend like you never fucked that woman?” — His face falls at the statement and he immediately objects, just like you had expected him to. “Baby I didn’t I swear, it’s a misunderstanding you have to believe-” 

Smack! 

The slap echoes through the air and Yeonjun’s rant immediately cuts short as his eyes blow wide. Your hand stings but you ignore it, instead focusing on the red mark blooming across his cheek, satisfaction beating within your chest. — “You fucking liar.” Your voice is close to breaking but you don’t care. Thumb and index finger digging into his cheeks as he tries shaking his head, as he tries denying the blatant truth once more. 

Tears spill from his eyes yet again, his nose becoming stuffed as he fights to inhale through it. You pay him little mind, your hand wandering down his stomach until you reach the hem of his pants. A final glance his way shows that he’s both anticipating and fearful of your next move, his body squirming under you as he tries to make sense of the situation. 

He gasps when your fingers wrap around his semi-erect cock, working quickly to get him hard as you pull back to spit on your hand. “Probably won’t be as good as your previous fuck I fear”, you mutter as your thumb rubs his tip harshly, making him whine as his hips buck. — The wet streaks on his cheek have yet to stop and he continues to sob, mindlessly shaking his head as small hiccups of “no’s” and “wasn’t like that”, leaves his lips. 

“No I bet it wasn’t”, you drawl, pulling him from his briefs as you lean back to work your hand along his throbbing cock. “I bet it was just a mistake”, you sigh, slowing down momentarily as your gaze shifts to his face. Yeonjun’s eyes are wide as he stares up at the ceiling, short pants passing his parted lips and his face is puffy and red from crying. — “Was it?” You repeat your question, and it makes his head lull forward as he nods. 

“Y-Yes! W-Was a m-mistake!” He breathes, chest heaving as he tries to win you over, tries to win you back. You have to bite back the insults already waiting on your tongue as you regard his pathetic attempts at showing remorse. “And you’re sorry?” — The hand on his cock has almost completely stopped now and Yeonjun writhers uncomfortably under you as he nods feebly. “Y-Yes, I’m s-sorry, please baby!” He chokes the words out between his tears.  

It was tempting to give in, to believe him, just like you always did. The thought of falling back into your old habit of ignorant bliss, of unawareness and your life in the dark.. It scared you more than anything. You refused to become that person once more. You refused to put up with the shit that Yeonjun would make you endure, all because you wanted to be a good girlfriend. That obviously wasn’t enough. 

Instead you lift your skirt up, instructing him to hold it for you as you slide your panties to the side, drawing a lazy finger across your unenthusiastic cunt. Yeonjun practically whimpers at the sight of you touching yourself before him, cock twitching as it demands attention. But you can’t muster another feeling besides disgust. Bet he couldn’t wait to fuck the next thing that as much as moved. 

He emits a strangled moan as you slide down on him, nestling him between your legs just like you had so many times before. Except everything was different today. — His hands are on your hips as he tugs you forward, desperate for you to meet his eager thrusts as he buries himself deep inside of your tight and burning core. 

Despite everything, he’s still crying. Shiny droplets rolling down his cheeks almost rhythmically as he pants under you. — Your stomach twists as your attention falls on the dark hues adorning his neck and collarbone. Not only had he fucked her, he’d let her do that to him as well, and he came home wearing it, like some fucking souvenir. 

“What a fucking whore.” You mutter, nails scraping across the marks and Yeonjun whimpers at the contact to the sensitive skin. There was no denying his actions now, he knew it too, lip trembling as he followed your lingering gaze. — “A liar and a whore, what else are you?” Your pace is slow as you grind against him, feeling his cock twitch with every clench of your cunt around him. He doesn’t answer, the only sounds he emits are wailing cries and whimpers as he loses himself in a guilt-ridden state of ecstasy. 

“Do you like it? Do you like being covered in the filth of another woman?” You practically yell, making him whimper as he shakes his head, breath catching in his throat as he fumbles for words. — Biting the inside of your cheek, you let your hands splay across his chest, not bothering to leave any marks of your own, you didn’t want him to have a single piece of you left. Instead your focus shifts to his perked nipples, fingers coming up to play with the sensitive buds as Yeonjun arches off the mattress with a weak moan. 

“Disgusting fucking whore”, you grit, fighting off the tears as you increased your pace on him, hips snapping against his. “Doesn't matter who it is as long as you get your dick wet.” — He’s stopped trying to object, merely accepting his fate as he sobs out into the dark room, his hands on your hips trembling as he tries pulling you closer. 

“Get your hands off of me”, you grunt, prying him from your body before your fingers reattach themselves around his nipples, pulling and twisting them as you gauge his reaction. Yeonjun whines as his head falls back against the pillow, drool forming in the corner of his mouth before it slowly rolls down the side of his chin. “Mhhn, p-please baby..” He mumbles, his expression dazed as he struggles to see straight. 

Unbelievable. He still had the nerve to ask such a thing. “You’re funny if you honestly think I’m going to let you come anywhere near me, let alone inside”, you spit, watching as his brows draw together in a confused frown, fingers twisting in the bed sheets as he swallows a small wail. 

His cock continues to twitch inside of you and with a quiet huff you pull off, to which Yeonjun groans as his hips buck in an attempt to chase after you. — It felt good, seeing him like this, completely worn out and spent before you. His hair standing in all directions, body glistening in a sheer layer of sweat, his cheeks red and puffed as they lay coated in his tears. It didn’t matter that he’d cheated, because even if he did, you were the one who got to see him like this, you were the one who made him like this. 

Your hand returns to stroke him, relishing in the way he caught his bottom lip between his teeth to muffle the noises he’d previously been letting out so shamelessly. And when he comes you let it splatter across his stomach, adding to the filth and dirt already covering him as he cries in your grasp. But you didn’t take pity on him, not once. Because when did he ever take pity on you? 

As his breathing evens out, his cock softening, and his tears gradually subsiding, Yeonjun finally lifts his gaze to look at you. His expression is best described as hopeful. He still thinks he’s got you wrapped around his finger. He still thinks that you’ll forgive him for everything he’s done. — But you won’t.

“Get out.” 

He looks surprised, startled even, adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. “What?” He croaks, his voice hoarse as he props himself up on his elbows. You frown, eyes boring into his, “I said get out, did you not hear me?” — “We’re over, Yeonjun.” 

Just as you thought he would finally stop crying, does his tears resurface. You wondered why he cried. Because he surely wasn’t mourning the loss of you, he’d made that very clear the second he got in another woman’s bed. You don’t care for his tears, not anymore. You don’t care for him anymore. And even if Yeonjun did care about you, in his own twisted and fucked up way, it was far too late now, he knew that too. 

The bedroom door shuts minutes later and you’re left alone, just as alone as you had been all those nights without him. It didn’t feel much different, and you wondered why you hadn’t done this sooner.

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[maezysworld]

test subject x the ghoul pt 1

Pairing: cooper howard x fem! cat mutant & sniper reader (thats a mouth full lol)

I've never really written stories like this but i think this is a fun idea so ill try my best anyways please please please msg me if you have ideas and or suggestions (i am sensitive please be nice LMAO)

Warnings: slow burn, writer is dyslexic, might be slightly out of character, a whole lot of guns, not proof read

context: you are part cat due to being experimented on you have the cat ears and eyes along with all there senses (i do plan on making a full backstory)

your on the search for a doctor who has a large sum of caps over his head, you could care less about the caps you don't have a lot to do in this world so you take any opportunity you can to have some fun no matter how risky it could be. considering the amount of caps, you already know it will be quite the task but you don't mind playing with your food.

you've asked around the wasteland a little (not that a lot of people really said anything useful) but any information you got led you to a town called filly. you entered filly walking in trying your best not to draw more attention to yourself, the gasmask your wearing doesn't really help with that but you don't really need people knowing you have animal ears and eyes. you take in your surroundings as you walk with a crowd looking for the highest most excluded building you could see when a ghoul catches your eyes, you walk a bit slower admiring him for a moment watching him roll a vile in between his fingers before snapping out of your trans and picking up you pace again.

you get to the top of the building staying low to the ground making sure no one sees you up here before laying on your stomach and pulling out your sniper riffle. you sit and watch everything for about 7 minutes until a familiar doctor falls into you glance. you don't even bother lining up your scope to his head, you don't feel the need to someone else is bound to get him after you shoot him regardless but that's more then okay with you, you don't mind playing a waiting game.

you see him talking to a vault dweller just before an older woman who seems to run a shop approach them, you try you best to listen in but all you can seem to make out is the shop owner saying something about getting out of here. "this gasmask is fucking me over" you whisper with a sigh readjusting your arm a bit to be more comfortable.

suddenly the ghoul stands up, along with a few people just now noticing there's a ghoul in the town as they cautiously speed walk away from the area. the ghoul shouts something about this doctor having a hefty price over his head as almost everyone moves away from the man. a sly smile grows on your face now knowing hes involved with this bounty as well. the shop owner says something and before she can even finish her sentence the ghoul shoots the mans foot off, the poor vault dweller just stands there in fear and confusion, a wave of sympathy overcomes you knowing you were just like her you almost wish you still were.

the old woman shouts "i gotta 1000 bottle caps for who ever kills that fucker!!... but you dont get SHIT if i kill em first!". your not to sure why but after hearing that you start to focus your scope on anyone who starts to even look at him. the ghoul holds his gun out gun on the trigger ready to shoot just waiting for someone to make the first move as he looks around in a circle. a man in a black hat and googles pulls out his gun but before he can even pull the trigger the ghoul shoots him in the chest, his bullet exploding on impact. immediately after more people start shooting at him, he turns in a circle again shooting anyone who try's to get near him as you shoot the people from a distance. in all honesty you know he probably doesn't need your help but still you continue with out a reason to be doing so. you see someone trying to come at him with a knife from behind and just as the ghoul turns around to attack you shoot the man with the knife and the glare of your scope hits the ghouls eye and he looks up as you give a slight wave right before pointing to signal behind him as a brother a steel knight shows up.

you see the old woman and the vault dweller go run and hide into the shop bringing the doctor with him. you know you wont to much to the walking tin man so you decide to go down and listen in. you try your best to sneak in with out anyone seeing you but as the ghoul is on some broken steps you look over at him and with out a doubt he was looking dead at you before getting right back into combat. you ignore it and continue to snoop in on the others.

you keep your back pressed tightly agents the wall. hear the woman convince the vault dweller to take the doctor to moldaver, you've heard of the woman but have never had any encounters with her based off the things you've heard you know this will be a good time (you would have never found anything about this situation fun before the war). you start making your way out of the building after hearing that its plenty for you to go off along with now having both the doctor and the vault dwellers sent. you decide to hide in a ally and wait for things to die down before leaving.

after about 9 minutest you don't hear metal clacking or guns shooting you start to leave filly. you didnt get to far outside of the town before you hear a gun cock behind you "aint you a little over prepared?" you hear a mans voice with a southern accent referring to your gas mask. you turn to face the voice seeing the ghoul you've been eyeing this whole trip "doesn't effect you now does it? is the gun really nectary after i helped you?" you scoff offended but knowing youd do the same "now i aint ask you to do that for me, did i?" he says finger on the trigger. you think for a moment 'rude ass' you think to yourself "i guess not, but a thank you would be nice" you say with sarcasm in your voice. The Ghoul keeps his eyes upon you as you speak, the gun never moving. He lets out a short laugh at your attempt to engage. "You want a thank you for a job half done? bailed in the middle of a fight.. not that id thank you anyways i didnt need your help smooth skin. what's you goal here you tryn to steal my bounty" he says sounding more relaxed than he should be. "not necessarily, i don't want the caps if that's what your worried about." the gun never wavers even as you speak. "so just what do you want then?". "entertainment, not much to do in this world." you say with a smile on your face, not that he can see it. The Ghoul is surprised by your answer. He lowers his gun slightly, looking you up and down, but still doesn't trust you. "You ain't got better things to do with your time? Like finding food, or water, or caps?". those things are all fairly easy to come across for you, your sneaky and when you want something you take it. "lets say that all comes easy" Something you said intrigues him, and his gaze lingers on you a little longer. He shifts his weight to his left foot, and holsters his gun. "You saying food, water, caps just comes to you?". you relax abit more now that his guns down "i never said that, its just easy to get. now i have some information that may be of use to you, and im more then happy to give it under one condition" The Ghoul's interest is piqued. His curiosity getting the better of him, he nods his head. He wants to see if what you're peddling is actually worth something. "And what would that condition be?". you feel excited, youve never traveld with someone much less had company in years and the though of him agreeing (even if its not very friendly) makes you happy "i come with you on your bounty." He considers it, still not fully trusting you, but also intrigued by your offer. "And why the Hell would I want you along for a bounty hunt? Why should I trust you? What's to stop you from just turning on me? "he responds "you interest me, my weapons aren't out now are they? if i wanted to kill you i would have done it while i was on the roof" you say slightly muffled from your gas mask. He looks at you for a moment, thinking it over. He didn't like the idea of traveling with someone he didn't know, but he wouldnt mind the help from someone who knows how use to use a gun(not that he'd ever admit that). "Fine, we'll go after the bounty. But the second I even get a hint you're planning something, I'll kill you where you stand. We clear?". "understood." you say trying your hardest not to sound excited. He nods, then turns and begins walking away the dog standing behind him following. He calls over his shoulder to you.

please let me know what you guys think of this and im open to any suggestions and ideas ( i would also love name ideas for this) :)

notes: @s-lock-doctordonna I LOVED YOUR IDEAS AND I WILL BE USEING THANK YOU <3

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

When love and hate Collide

Summary; Eddie and yn can't stand each other and it drives the Hellfire boys crazy...

There's a thin line between love and hate... Right?

Warnings; illusion to smut, arguing, enemies to lovers.

If you enjoyed this story please consider giving it a reblog, comment, etc.

I don't give anyone permission to copy my work.

I might make a part two if anyone wants that 💞

💞💞

Eddie stalked into Hellfire Club with a sour look on his face, an epic rant was coming and Dustin, Lucas, and Mike exchanged knowing looks at who could put Eddie in such a mood.

Gareth sighs and counts under his breath.

"3...2...1"

"Do you know what yn did this time" Eddie explodes and Gareth grins. It was like clockwork with Eddie and his favorite cheerleader.

"Not really but I'm sure you'll tell us," Jeff says rolling his eyes. Eddie either misses the sarcastic tone or ignores it completely.

He paces the floor, playing with the rings on his hand as he mutters to himself.

"Who does she think she is? Running around in that stupid little cheer skirt, all sweet smiles and shit. She's a viper!"

Dustin frowns.

"Dude what did she do?" Eddie turns to Dustin his big brown eyes wide.

"She said... words fail Eddie for a moment, she implied that I pick fights with her and not the other way around! She gets under my fucking skin! She's everywhere I look and it's driving me nuts. I can't stand her"

They heard the same argument from Eddie every day, sometimes twice. Heard the arguments in the halls, seen the tension and the way Eddie and yn were like magnets that drew them together.

They saw how anytime the other was distracted by something or someone else how annoyed they would get.

They noticed Eddie staring at her all the time and they noticed the way yn would flounce around in front of Eddie and get his attention.

The two of them drove each other crazy and were beginning to have the same effect on the Hellfire Club.

"Can we lock them in an empty room and they can just argue it all out?" Lucas suggests and Gareth whispers to Jeff so the younger members don't hear.

"Lock them in Eddie's trailer so they can fuck it out more like" Eddie glares at him.

"What was that?" Gareth shrugs.

"Nothing, can't we start with the campaign now man? Get your mind off yn?" to all their relief he agrees.

💖💖

All Mike wanted to do was ask Eddie about the new campaign but the metalhead's attention was elsewhere.

His burning gaze was directed to the cheerleading table and on yn and Eric one of the basketball team's star players.

Eric was gazing at her with a glazed look in his eyes, eyeing her up and down and looking like he was in some amazing dream.

"It's pathetic, Eddie snaps. Look at the asshole. He's practically eye fucking her. It's nauseating when I'm trying to eat"

"Well don't look," Mike tells him annoyed and Eddie huffs.

"How can I not Wheeler? It's so bad I can't tear my eyes away" thankfully his attention is eventually drawn away by one of his heavy metal magazines.

All is quiet.

Gareth has a shit-eating grin on his face and turns to Eddie.

"Dude, oh my God. She's kissing him" Eddie turns around so fast he almost hurts his neck and finds yn and Eric in the same position, not kissing and glares at Gareth.

"Not cool douchebag" he then begins to draw or write in his Hellfire notebook then tears out the page, scrunches it up, and throws it over to yn.

It lands on her lunch tray and she opens it and then turns to Eddie her attention firmly on him.

"Eddie Munson!" to Mike's bafflement Eddie is trying to hide his smile and is it just him or does yn look secretly relieved that Eddie threw that note?

Girls were weird, he adored Eddie but sometimes Mike couldn't understand the Dungeon Master either.

Did they actually like fighting? Did Eddie secretly just want all of her attention on him?

El was a superhero, super-powered and she was less complicated than these two.

💞💞

Eddie was late for the team meeting. He was never late. On top of the worry about their DM, Dustin had overhead Chrissy ask Robin worriedly if she had seen yn anywhere.

With both of them missing alarm filled the Hellfire boys.

"You don't think they actually killed each other do you?" Lucas asks in horror and Jeff calms him down.

"No, Eddie would never hurt her, and vice versa, it's all words and annoying the hell out of each other, they'll show up"

Meanwhile in the woods...

They had been arguing again, she wasn't sure what over this time. Eddie said something sarcastic, she replied, and then they were fighting.

Now they were lost in the woods near the school, and due to the yelling at each other, neither of them noticed how far in the woods they were.

"This is all your fault," she tells Eddie who stops pacing and rolls his eyes.

"My fault! I was in the middle of a deal when you came marching up to me and accused me of stealing your precious boyfriend's letterman jacket"

"Eric is not my boyfriend" she replies and feels a headache coming on. He was impossible, he never listened.

"Whatever princess" the princess nickname made her fume and she stalks up to him.

"Why do I have to be stuck in the woods with you of all people? You are arrogant, rude, mean" he chimes in.

"Oh like you're a Saint? Remember Nicola Brown? She sat beside me and asked me if I would like to hang out and you got all angry because my attention wasn't on you for five minutes, you're bitchy, you're mean and dramatic"

"Says you? Eddie Munson who makes a scene every day in the cafeteria. God, I can't stand you"

Eddie smirks, he's so close to her now and her whole body feels like it's on fire.

"Feelings very mutual princess" the tension between them explodes and before she can even think about what she's doing she kisses him or maybe he kisses her?

Either way, fireworks go off in her head and Eddie is moaning softly he backs her up against a tree, her legs wrap around his waist and it feels so good that she doesn't want to stop.

Their clothes begin to litter the forest ground and she can't think of anything except Eddie being buried deep inside her and their moans that fill the air.

💞💞

Eddie walks into the club meeting with a strange look on his face. It's a mix of being totally blissed out and freaked out.

"What the fuck happened to you man?" Jeff asks and he shakes his head.

"Woods, got lost"

"What and you got tangled up in a bush?" Gareth jokes and motions to the twigs and leaves in Eddie's hair.

"I got tangled up in something" he replies dazed and sits down leaving the boys at a loss to what the hell happened in the woods.

💞💞

[in-omni-scientia]

Someone has to put a WHOOPEE CUSHION under ⬆️THIS FUCKING THING⬆️ AS HE SITS DOWN on his THRONE and directly cause him to FUCKING EXPLODE

(extra art + biiiig and I mean BIG ramble abt skill designs under the cut. yahoo !)

The thing about me is that I looooove to have images for characters so so clear in my mind. And then Not do that. Like I have designs for Ency and Empathy and Authority soo clear in my brain but then I still don't draw them how I envision them. Sad !

I hope Everyone here knows I have Designs for them in my brain even if they're not featured here. Like not just General designs how I envision them in the game but SPECIFIC to their skillsposting blogs. Smiles. Anyways here are some notes

Most of the skills as I imagine them in the game are literally just walking around naked to me and Ency's and Rhetoric's designs here are remnants of that

I want to draw Ency with like one of those judge cloaks and some glasses with the little chains on them to hold them. Not for any specific reason I just think he might look cute. Grins

Empathy doesn't have like. Clear legs. It's more like glowing fog making the shape of them. Same for the bottom of the dress-looking thing I just got sidetracked. The top pair of arms is permanently close to their chest area but they can move it to give hugs and stuff. Also funny clouds too like in their pfp I forgot that

Authority's design in the first image is based on what the Authority account said to the turtle abt what they look me. Auth to me is like. A head and arms and no lower body. It's just a shadow if you look under there. Sorry for lying by giving him legs. He can adjust his height however he wants to tower over others. hes probably wearing like roman armour under the cloak in that image. idk. smiles

Technically Conceptualization is the smallest skill because the only "natural" (permanent and unchangeable) parts of them is what is in their portrait to me, but they can manifest limbs and stuff like that; they are just outlines, a little like the shoulder-looking part of their portrait in the bottom left

Drama is the Shortest because to me they are just a little tiny octopus. Kind of like the bit in Octodad when he's not disguised as a human, but with shorter arms? I really want to draw them properly and not on my laptop touchscreen slash phone at some point because I need to illustrate just how LITTLE they are to me. Slimeball........

Suggestion is sooo easy bruh it's just how they draw themselves. Smiles

Rhetoric's front guy he's eating is just the upper body and he's like carrying it with an extra pair of arms I think. IDK. I don't know if you've noticed but I'm a little shit at coming up with fancy designs. Rhetoric is actually Normal-Guy Sized, he's just as small as Conceptualization and Drama in that image because I couldn't really figure out a way to make it look Normal otherwise. I'm tired I can't explain anything

Right now I can best describe everyone else as being like, mixes of brainrotdotorg's and scribblemakes' skill designs because they are soooo awesome I want to Eat them. Ah! So sorry!

If any other skillsposters are reading this and have a specific Thing in mind for their skill. Please do let me know. I would Love Love Love to draw things at some stage. Smiles

[wishlikes]

holy shit. looks at you with my massive autistic eyes. what’s bad future time traveler ritsu PLEASE share with the class. and if you don’t want to share with the class that is ok but also please if you are so inclined then at least share with the me

Well. You see.

It all started when I was running low on time to finish Whumptober prompts and... well, I had just come from the rottmnt fandom. I had 'character time travels from a bad future' on the mind. So I drew this and thought 'surely no more will come of this'.

And yet the concept stayed in my mind. I drew this sketch page several months later. Someone's tag on it inspired me to actually write the story, as explained here (along with more info, though I'm going to change some things from what's written here).

There's also these two drawings that take place in the bad future, although I didn't draw Ritsu old enough in the second one, because I hadn't figured out the timeline yet when I drew it. (warnings for blood and injury on both of them)

I've figured out the timeline of the bad future now, though. And I am cursed with the knowledge that the very little I'd already written needs to be rewritten to suit it. This writing/rewriting will not be happening until I am done with my current wip (which is almost done... but might need a sequel because i am cursed).

So I myself know very little about what's going to happen in the bad future time travel fic that i had better fucking write because I desperately need to know what happens.

Some Key Events of the Bad Future:

Sep 2015 - [Redacted] is murdered

Nov 2018 - First anti-esper laws drop

Jan 2020 - Shou 'goes missing', his father is 'convinced' to identify several espers- including the one he couldn't beat

Feb 2020 - Shou escapes custody in an incident his father doesn't survive, Shou is labeled a terrorist, Mob is arrested, Shou and Ritsu go into hiding together

Dec 2021 - Shou is killed (among others), Ritsu fakes his own death

Jun 2023 - [Redacted] informs Mob of Ritsu's 'death'. As you can imagine, this is a bit like setting off a bomb. A bomb that can self-heal and keep exploding until the rage burns out, until only despair remains, until there is no longer even the barest sub-conscious thread left of self-preservation. And so the wounds stop healing, and power dies down, and only then can Ritsu come close enough to help, to show that he's still alive. But it's too late, too late. This place, this time is not safe for Ritsu; they would kill him. And Shigeo has not seen him in over three years and he looks so awful now, and Shigeo cannot protect him. He has to send him away, away to somewhere safe. And then Ritsu is gone, safe. And there is nothing left for him here.

Jun 2011 - Future!Ritsu arrives

So. Ah. I got a bit carried away there. I wouldn't normally include that much, but Future Ritsu is such an emotionally devastated wreck of a man that I can't bear to write from his pov, so i don't know how much of all that ^ is gonna make it into the fic anyway.

What I do know is that Ritsu thinks he's been sent to the past specifically to Fix Everything. And that's the only thing keeping him from just lying down and not getting up again. The knowledge that his brother only wanted to save him would probably make him worse actually.

[masked-and-doomed]

NEW ME NEW INTRO!!

Hello, I'm Kat/Kats (or Yomotsu), welcome!! I am so normal about my boyfriends.

Please feel free to ask me about my OC, UG!! Hell, even cooler if you do it in a roleplay kinda way.

Other places you can find me:

@katsdoodles - art blog/archive.

Discord: thatonekats

👆 just in case. Tumblr explodes. Talk to me if you wanna ig (I am not good at conversing. So. Keep that in mind.)

Ao3: ThatOneKat2

👆 Might as well have it here. I've been more in a writing mood this year.

Twitter: @ThatOneKats

I have a twitter now I fucking guess. A bit of bonus content there (a little bit more of unhinged thoughts) but you're not missing much if you don't go there.

--

Suspected BPD, have been diagnosed autistic. I will feel things very intensely either forever or feel nothing about it in the next hour max. You may see vent posts. Every now and then. Check the tagging system to block em out.

I am deeply in love and sickly affectionate for my 4 darlings. They're my boyfriends, girlfriends, besties- our relationship? Is uhh whatever man. It's love. It's love. (Also not the best fathers but hey I take what I can get)

First two being Yomotsu Hirasaka (pfp), and Takao Hiyama. They are my most intense hyperfixation of 2 years.! They are from Mirai Nikki/Future Diary. An anime/manga which I don't really like.

The next beloved is Pocketcat! He is from Fear and Hunger. He's. A silly :) There's so much intrigue of him aaaghhh ough he is so sad.

Last one !! Faust. From Guilty Gear. He's a. He's somebody. Got him on Valentine's Day. He makes me a different kind of ill. Alas, this doctor cannot cure me.

They're 💙 just like me fr. I love them. URL is them btw. Masked men, doomed.

(comfortable with sharing and gushing together with everyone. I don't mind if you send or @ me in stuff that has Faust shipped with someone, (I like appreciating art of Faust in any form :] ) just know I'm uncomfy with all (canon x canon) Faust ships except Happy Chaos, meaning that I won't talk about them (eg., fau.slayer) together.)

I am. Also obsessed with my lambs as well. (The Conclave, consisting of Axus, Libraria, Baldias, and Chronus) They mean a lot to me. I wish to give them happiness they didn't have the time nor place for. You will see me reblog lambs and tag it as them. Feel free to send me lamb pictures, effectively beaming Conclave to me.

NOTE! I do sometimes post about needing my darlings to kill themselves, or wish great harm upon them. I will not always have positive things to say about them. I am a hater as much as I am a lover. (Not the "I want him dead" (lovingly) (though I do have sadism and would enjoy killing them for the fun of it), I have genuine hatred towards them all (Libraria the least) and I loathe their existence.

(if I had to guess, this is the bpd doing its thing)

--

Yayaya tagging system time!

#ah rambling - general yapping tag

#[MN/funger] rambling - ramblings of MN or funger

#[MN/funger] bangers - memes/shitposts of that fandom

#oc time - posts about the little OCs I have (currently empty. DW about it)

#unnamed girlie - posts about my self insert. (UG for short)

#UG spoilers - in case you wanna go through the UG tag but not be spoiled about the endings and such.

#guy in my head - headcanon posts

#doodle tag - stuff not high effort enough to put into my art blog goes here

#reblog moment - reblogs! So you can filter them out

#lovesick - yandere / obsessive behaviour

#gatito - kitty tag.

#belalang beloveds - grasshopper tag. Belalang is grasshopper in Malay :)

#art save - images I wanna draw (typically memes I wanna draw with my guys)

#art reference material - reblogs of posts with helpful art stuff

#general reference material - reblogs of posts with whatever that isn't art. Not really 'general' perse but I don't have another word

#epic meowtual art - art by the meowtuals!

#ask game - reblogs of ask game posts

#ask game answer - answers to asks abt the ask game

#hello asker - ask tag

#tag game - reblog of posts that are meant to have you tag other ppl to continue the chain

#negative. And #/negative are used for vent posts. Make those sometimes.

#hxrny aroace on main - (mind the x) epic posts where I feel feelings for some characters (carnally)

#fanfic shit idfk - posts related to fanfics I'm reading (or something like that)

#girl what you on?? - posts where I'm in some sort of delirium, talking to my beloveds. And being ill about them.

#shit I send to fictional guy - posts I'd send to fictional characters. Will prob have their name tagged too.

#unnamed oc core - wow it's just like him fr. Many things will be tagged this btw. They are not okay. (Same person as UG jsyk)

#pocketkitty - for posts I don't want in the pocket.cat tag or reblogging posts that are like pocket.cat. (only applies to him everyone else gets tagged with their name in posts that are like them)

#robot nephew - similar to pocketkitty just that it's. Mr robo.t K.y

#silly doctor man - I fell into gui.lty g.ear and now I'm in love with this bozo. When I don't want it to be in the main tag. Yes like pocketkitty and robo bo.

#mister omelette - guy that asks which came first the chicken or the egg. Answers himself, it's omelette.

#mask quartet - fucking stupid masked bitches trying to save humanity gone wrong

Liveblog tags:

Guilty gear: #pride in my gears: sign, #pride in my gears: rev, #pride in my gears: overture, #pride in my gears: strive

--

Tag me in stuff you think I like!! I don't mind! Or like tag games.

There's also a *cough cough* side blog. For degenerate thoughts of mine. If you want it just give a DM ig.

--

Pictures i want here

(This applies mostly to Faust. Sorry not sorry Faust. I will give you the worst horrors.)

(This is me any time someone mentions Conclave. I wish I could say I was exaggerating. I'll just say that Conclave has spiked my libido and I've been the fastest to draw suggestive art of them and write smut of them than of any other character I've fallen in love with. I need them carnally. And I tell you, it is a need.)

[batstorm93672]

Damian sat up from his bed, a good nap did him good a--

"Timothy. What are you doing in my room?"

Tim was watching T.V. and turned around "Hiding out"

"Why?"

"...I thought Jason's helmet was my leftovers from the chicken place and put it in the microwave"

Damian blinked a few times, wondering if what he heard was real or a dream.

"Then the helmet exploded... and so did the microwave"

"I'm going back to sleep. Maybe I'll be lulled to sleep through your screams of agony when Jason finds you"

Before Damian could lie back down, another door opening and closing came. Sitting back up to see Dick looking frantic. "Hey! Timmy, you crashing here?" "Come to join the fun?" "Haha yep" Damian rubbed his eyes, no more sleep it seems "And what did you do Richard?" "...I was swinging on the chandelier in the living room and it crashed..." Tim looked stunned "Bruce might kill you" "I know! That's why I'm hiding"

"Ugh fine, someone pass me my sketchbook and pencils so I can at least keep myself entertained"

Damian sketched many cats, it was fun playing around with their regal elegance on paper-- ...He made a dark line out of where he was drawing from another sound of opening of the door.

Jason walked in and Tim almost leaped up, he managed to compose himself enough "Hey Jaybird! What are you in for?" "I broke a vase" "Which one?" "...yes...one..." "How did you manage that?" "...I thought I saw a rat..." "...and?" "I tried shooting it" Everyone but Jason and Damian (though he was snickering a bit) bust out in laughter. "A RAT!?" "OH MY GOSH THAT'S HYSTERICAL" "I'm disappointed you were planning to shoot such a defenseless rodent whom didn't harm you" "Yeah... I know"

"Now to my real question, why is everyone in my room!"

In unison as if it was a choir.

"It's the last place anyone would look"

Damian groaned and shook his head "Fine, do as you please. Don't come crying back when you all get in trouble"

.

A few moments of a cheesy 80s rom-com and footsteps stormed close. "DICK, TIM, JASON!"

Dick looked at the others in fear "Scatter!"

The three in a blink were gone and Bruce opened the door "Damian. Forgive me for barging in" "Do as you please, I've heard enough amounts of excuses"

Bruce cleared his throat "Dick get out of the dresser. Tim out from under the bed. Jason get back inside and stop hanging from the window" Dick opened the dresser and stepped out, Tim crawled out from the bed and Jason who dangled out from the window climbed back in.

The three got out and looked embarrassed, Bruce crossed his arms "Who did what and what happened?" It became silent and Damian sighed.

"Timothy took Jason's helmet and put it in the microwave thinking it was his meal packaged thus exploding the helmet and the microwave. Richard broke the chandelier climbing on it like a moron. Jason shot numerous vases thinking it was a rodent"

"TIM WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY HELMET!?" "ME!? WHAT ABOUT DICK HANGING AROUND FURNITURE EVEN THOUGH THE RULES STATE NOT TO" "YEAH WELL JASON IS AFRAID OF RATS" Tim, Jason, Bruce and Damian looked at Dick. Dick couldn't contain his snickering "I know it doesn't count into this, but that fact is hysterical"

"Okay. So here's what's gonna happen. I'm not going to ground any of you"

The three looked surprised "You see, I'm not going to because soon Alfred will be back from his visit" They gasped in horror and Damian smirked "This seems fun" "Why did you tattle on us Demon!?" "...You all barged into my room, I couldn't go back to sleep and then my art was messed up. If anything it was only a matter of time before father found out" They all murmured in subtle agreement as Bruce grinned devilishly "Yes. Now you three can just wait for Alfred"

"We're gonna die"

"Jason I'm sorry for accidentally blowing up your helmet"

"It's okay Replacment, I forgive you"

"As the first Robin, I commend you all a great job on making it this far past our issues"

"As the second Robin, I share the sentiment. May we all find peace in the fury of Alfred"

"As the third Robin, I'd like to say that it's been an honor with you all. Let us think fondly on our moments together in joy"

Damian shook his head as Bruce sat down beside him "They are not dramatic at all" "I believe we've obtained it from you and Richard" "Hah I suppose you all did. That's a nice drawing" "It was slightly ruined when Jason opened the door, but I think I can make do. I wonder what Pennyworth will do to them all when he arrives" "3...2...1..." Bruce pointed at the door, right on cue.

"MASTER TIMOTHY, MASTER DICK AND MASTER JASON I REQUEST YOUR PRESENCE THIS INSTANT"

Everyone jumped up, the three looking terrified and pale.

[isleofdarkness]

Like C already said, don't worry about it, you're a human being and we all forget stuff from time to time. Now here's, as always, my review of your fantastic work:

These Mim kids never fail to make me blue; the way Mara can't even verbalize she's wounded let alone her needing help and how “Gods, she really was Riah's sister”, how “Mara didn't speak but Maverick didn't need her to” and Mav's “expression worried but eyes soft in a way he'd never seen them”, Mara's small smile and Maverick's “Alright, my Salamander, more hurt or more scared?”. They're so soft and caring but can't show it because this is the Isle and it would get them used against each other and also their need to not depend on anyone but themselves because when they did they got hurt. They make me so ill, I want to bite their brains (affectionate)

Molly is crying and so am I, poor thing deserves the world :(

Now, I don't know who Mirabel or Jane might be but I do remember that Belle's gonna change her name to Tiana in the future, so maybe she's Tiana? Probably not, since Tiana is a cryptonym and then it wouldn't really work, but who knows.

Of course trying to read Maverick's mind would make your brain explode, of fucking course (light-hearted and joking)

“He's trying to keep all of you at arm's length because he's afraid he's unintentionally hurting you. But he isn't capable of it. I swear he isn't.” I don't even know what to say about this one, just- I love him and his capable-of-mass-destruction magick that he won't use. That's my kid, your honor, he wouldn't harm a fly but gods if he can (funny phrase because everyone can hurt a fly but you know what I mean).

I love how oblivious they are, “I'm blind and even I can see it!” Molly's so funny and so so right.

Magickal Evie is all I've been asking for. I love the way you write her.

These are the type of moments where I wish I knew how to draw because Maverick's outfit sounds so fucking cool.

Poor Maverick, she deserves to have a mental breakdown without anyone commenting on it, Ben.

Holy shit, dude. That was an amazing monologue and I mean it. I'm shaking, what the hell. I don't know how Ben didn't start crying right fucking there, because if Maverick fucking Mim said that to me ain't way I'm recovering from that.

You're an amazing writer.

Thank you so, so much

The wounds from Mara's surgery two days ago reopened. They'd been trying to let her heal naturally because healing with magic can cause complications, but clearly they aren't going to have the time. The three of them (technically the four, because Mordred is also part of the group) are so very close, it's so sweet.

Most Isle kids don't show fear, it's been trained out of them because it can only make things worse. The fact that Molly cried in fear after having a gun pointed at cos head, an entirely reasonable reaction from a seven-year-old, says a lot.

Belle isn't Tiana, that would be too easy to figure out. Tiana is a bit younger, around Harry's age, and does work in a restaurant when not busy with gang business. Mirabel is notable as someone without magic surrounded by people who do. And Jane is an unexpected ally from a world they thought they would never see, a world they never really imagined, the world beyond the barrier.

There is so much stress in her brain that trying to read her mind will kill you in an instant/j

Riah's power, in his mind, is a nuke. It stays on the shelf. Though, in that particular instance, Maverick was talking about his charmspeak abilities that the other Isle kids don't know about. Of course, they're all about to find out.

Molly hasn't even interacted with Riah and yet co knows.

Evie deserves magic and I'm glad you like my take on her.

I'm glad you like her Destiny outfit, too.

Ben, baby, please give Maverick literally one (1) break and don't get into an argument with her until she's calmed down.

Maverick really woke up today and chose violence against Ben and I am absolutely thrilled by your response.

Thank you so, so much

[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Thunderbrush 15

Never Call It Piss Magic Again

A conwoman disguised as a noble and the delegation of university students studying her have arrived in the jungle city of Thunderbrush, ruled by ancient dryads and organized crime. Will they manage to stay uninvolved in shady conspiracies? (No.)

Story so far | Session log index | Previous session

Last time, the players extricated themselves from an awkward situation with some ghost dryad mafia protection racketeers, and hurried off to the local brothel to go cure a vampire of her vampirosity. They did a bang-up job of it, despite some close calls- and now it's time for them to decompress after a job well-done.

Also grapple with the nightmarish implications of Saelhen's powers. And drive Looseleaf to the brink of a complete mental breakdown vis-a-vis backstory trauma. And receive extremely troubling news about the Stump conspiracy's agenda. And have nightmares.

So, first order of business: the party needs to flirt with some NPCs. Saelhen manages to apologize for all the craziness that's been going on during this sports-watching date... while also being the smoothest operator in the world somehow. This prompts...

After some further ruthless ladykilling, Zzaiya flees the scene in a fit of embarrassment, unable to process the idea of someone being romantically interested in her. Allegedly, her house is nearby.

Meanwhile, Oliver is trying to put the moves on the recently-shirtless Sam Sweethoney...

...but runs into a brick wall of total obliviousness. Sam Sweethoney is seemingly incapable of realizing that anyone is ever being serious about anything, and takes incoming flirtation as a hilarious joke that he's in on.

While Oliver is striking out with the world's densest shirtless halfling tattoo artist, Looseleaf and Saelhen try to have a serious conversation about... all that shit that just happened.

The thing is... Saelhen's invested a great deal of emotional attachment into this thing that lets her turn invisible- for reasons that she'd prefer not be discussed in mixed company.

While they're in the middle of discussing how dangerous their personal magic powers are, and whether it's ethically permissible to use them at all... Oliver shows up, very curious about Looseleaf's magic powers.

Looseleaf is set on edge by this question.

Oliver is surprised about the apparent deadliness of teaching spirit magic- and has a billion follow-up questions, none of which please Looseleaf to hear.

Oliver keeps pressing... and Looseleaf explodes.

Looseleaf: "I don't fucking know, okay? I'm not a specialist in this! I was supposed to be an anthropologist before everything happened and now I am a mage wielding a near-extinct line of magic because nobody else can do it and so I have to figure out how to do all the things that THEY were supposed to be responsible for doing!" "I don't know! I'm relearning this from scratch! You want answers but I don't have any!" "Nobody has answers anymore!" By the end of it Looseleaf's speech is seeming… weirdly discongruous and jilted, each syllable coming out jerky and staccato. "You know what, you want it so badly, maybe you can actually learn and then I can go do other things with my worthless life-" Oliver Highhollow-Selby: Oliver is stepping backwards and looking scared/worried/horrified as Looseleaf is basically suddenly unraveling. Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Okay, well, it appears that question time might be over, pleasure to meet you, Mr. Highhollow, I think we are going to get something in your stomach, dear heart, and perhaps a nice bath and — save everything else for later, yes? Sounds good?"

Oliver tries to apologize and calm her down, but it doesn't go well.

Saelhen diplomatically defuses the situation, drawing attention to her own role in today's debacle to reduce tensions. Looseleaf apologizes to Oliver for her outburst, an olive branch is proffered... and then Looseleaf remembers she needs to change the subject.

Right! That situation! Looseleaf still doesn't divulge how she knows this, but Oliver's on the back foot and kind of has to trust her about this. He intends to report in to Evelyn at his nearest opportunity.

Still- it's getting late, and they happen to be at a place that is technically an inn (and brothel and live music venue and bar and grill and lesser temple of Karou), and the Sweethoneys are happy to put the party up for the night. But first... dinner! Vampire surgery is hungry work.

At the bar, they meet Dall, who's beyond relieved that her girlfriend is alive despite the odds. She treats them to drinks, and- after Looseleaf invoices her to the tune of two hundred gold- begins explaining the Iron Section incident that led to this whole vampire issue.

The Iron Section, Dall explains, was a mining division. Specifically the iron mining division, as the name implies. Dall tells you, with increasingly slurred speech, about the Iron Section incident. They had a mineshaft that was going deeper than usual- the kind of dig that risks unearthing monsters. As a result, the mineshaft was completely sealed off, and the workforce quarantined to the dig site for the duration of the expedition- until the entire shaft was cleared out and warded and declared safe. This isn't that unusual for dwarven mining companies- it's akin to going out on a lobster boat for a while, you get paid handsomely for the long and arduous multi-day work shift. The dig site was sealed off to ensure no one would come or go, besides the iron carts- and because of this, there wasn't much oversight, besides the foreman in charge and his subordinate management. Which means when the foreman somehow became a vampire- and was the first to become a vampire- there was no one above him to countermand his orders. Gelly had explained to her- the foreman cared about his workers, he didn't want them to die, so he didn't feed on them to the point of exsanguination- but when a vampire feeds on you without killing you, you get thralls. And he wasn't as heartless as Cabana Jim- when his thralls hungered, he didn't starve them half to death to keep them compliant. He fed them. And so it proceeded until the entire Iron Section was vampirized- and then they were out of blood. And so they got increasingly hungry and desperate and left the quarantine mine, in a sudden attack on the surface. This got the attention of the Ecumene of Harmony, led by bishop Celeste Yonder. The ecumene led a cleanup crew and killed them all.

Yeesh.

The party asks a few questions about the monster issue- which Dall isn't super knowledgeable about. Apparently if you dig deep enough, monsters can just spawn in the depths, in any sufficiently large hollow space deep underground. There's ways to block this from happening, but Dall can't quite remember what kind of magic is involved.

Afterwards, they hit the hay. Looseleaf, through a soul link, detects that Oyobi is coincidentally also in this establishment, upstairs in a private room with someone. Weird.

Looseleaf also takes some time to contact Miriko Watchwood via telepathy. Apparently, Miriko has "disposed of" Jess Chainer- by which she means, locking her up in a cell underneath the ghost dryad Ana, to have her life force fed upon. Miriko's met back up with her employer, and everything seems hunky-dory for her... but Looseleaf detects a wrong note.

Like... shouldn't Miriko be mad at her boss? The one who knew she was enslaved at Cabana Jim's, and used that as an opportunity to extract information from rich tourists instead of, say, rescuing her?

Miriko denies this.

Looseleaf gets a crit roll on Something's Fishy.

Trauma aside, the party tucks in for a good night's sleep.

Looseleaf has a dream.

Looseleaf has this same dream for the next few nights- each time a bit less obscured and difficult to remember. There is a last time that she has this dream, later on- at which point it is fully revealed. She's yet to discuss it with anyone, though.

Saelhen, by contrast, has this same dream, revealed from the very first time- but she can't remember it when she jolts awake in panic.

:) :) :)

Next time. Looseleaf and Oliver go to school and have a nice time and learn some things! That's all! Don't worry!

[vilelittlecritter]

Jesus Christ the plot of OmorOff is starting to get really complicated...

I might need to restart lol.

I have so many ideas and trying to build a coherent lore around it is insane.

Then again I think if I tweak some things it'll start looking out a lot better. Alot of the ideas I have the now I really like but they're still really foggy and hard to make sense of.

I have decided to place more emphasis on Sunny with some chapters being solely from his point of view. Also I think stranger is going to be there. His side of the story is going to be about him stuck in his room and exploring the world in his dreams to some extent.

I'm also stuck on the fence on whether I want Omori's character arc to be about bromance or being gay. I know I said they were aro/ace but I'm a fucking loser when it comes to romance. I'm probs going to stick with bromance but hey the bitch might be gay.

Also decided that Mari is a scary mf. Not even just threatening or powerful she is absolutely terrifying. She isn't the villian but I do intend for her to do some pretty bad shit.

She does have a reason for it but she's still fucked up.

I'm going to go to sleep now, tomorrow I might write down and try to elaborate more on the ideas I have. I'm also going to draw a physical timeline of events so I can actually know wtf is happening lol.

So yeah if this ever gets written. It's probably going to be so fuckin weird lol.

Again if anyone's interested or would like to even help make this please don't hesitate to drop a dm or anything really. I know I say this alot but if I don't bounce these ideas off someone else I might explode.

Anyway nighty night

[shinxeysartgallery]

so I was curious and read your toyhouse rules for drawing your ocs. You have a few rules that are really hyper-specific like the one about not giving kids to your ocs, and it got me thinking

Has anyone ever actually fucking done some of this shit to you for you to need to make it a rule???

A large majority of the rules I put into place are basically "this is what I am and am not comfortable with" that wouldn't necessarily be common sense. Like, "don't draw porn of my characters" should be pretty obvious, but if I don't explicitly say no, people might assume I'd be fine with it. People shouldn't be making/sending unsolicited NSFW of peoples' characters to them, but some people have the idea that "user is 18+ and doesn't explicitly say 'no NSFW content'" = "user is okay with me drawing porn of their characters", and I didn't want to give people that impression. (And yes, I haven seen this actually happen to people. I don't think it's all meant maliciously, but bros, have some fucking common sense!) There are a few other minor ones like "don't do human versions of my non-human OCs" that wouldn't necessarily come to the forefront of peoples' minds when considering drawing someone else's OCs.

Other stuff is for clarity's sake on some of it, with a lot of that being based around similar rules I've seen other people make. For example, I've seen a few people say no to drawing their characters together or they're REALLY anal about how they want you to depict their characters to the point they'll pitch a fit if you don't use the exact hex values to color them. A few of those points in my ruleset were basically "stylize however you want, exact colors don't matter, and simplifying designs without taking away the character's identity is okay". That way people know that I'm not going to pitch a fit if the colors aren't exact, or if they might've forgotten a button on the character's shirt, or if they make gradients be flat colors because they're too hard for them to do. I'm not that petty and I don't want people scared to draw my characters because they're worried I'm going to explode on them if it's not "perfect". I've also seen a few very rude content creators say things like that beginner artists or people with "bad art styles" shouldn't draw their characters because their art is "bad". Because of people like that, there are a lot of beginner artists that don't end up drawing/sharing their art because they're scared that the content creator will hate them or their art. So part of my thing was also saying that I'm fine with ALL styles and skill levels. I cherish all the art I get of my OCs and I don't care how "bad" people think the art is; it just makes me happy to know that someone loved my characters enough to want to draw them. :)

Others were there because I either actually had it happen to me or because I saw it happen to someone else and wanted to pre-emptively say no so that anyone with any semblance of respect would go "okay I won't do that". I had to make an addition to the "no NSFW" rule because someone unironically asked me if they could draw one of my OCs with giant boobs. So basically had to add "yes, exaggerating the tits, ass, or genitals DOES count as porn imo". The one you mentioned about "don't give my OCs kids they don't have" happened to someone I know a while back. This weird dude got attached to one of her OCs and made a bunch of fankids of his and her OCs and she got really uncomfortable with that (as you would). So that was a pre-emptive "yeah, please don't do that". Same friend also unfortunately got hit with another dude drawing her sona in lingerine, and that's partially where the "you can change my OCs' clothes, but not into anything sexual" one came from.

Everything else was about any exceptions to the rules I had, because I do have a few. For example, one rule was "no gore", but an exception is made for robot gore regarding my robot characters (sans Skystrike). I said no to maid outfits and swimsuits because people tend to fetishize/sexualize those so much, but I did say that if I posted an image of the character wearing one, that design (and ONLY that design) was fine to use. And a third example was "don't depict my OCs as dead", but an exception is made for Family Guy/Yamcha death pose memes because those are silly.

[lisatelramor]

In Another World

So for funsies my brain decided it would be hilarious if Robo!Kaito characters met Neighbors!Saguru/Kaito and then this sort of ... happened. It’s probably not going to make a ton of sense without the context of Not Left To Stand Alone or Be a Better Me, but eh. It literally was just playing, posting because someone else might find it funny too.

*

“I told you that wouldn’t work,” Ayato said to the idiots who’d been doing dubious experiments in the basement. He grimaced and rubbed soot off his face. “Ugh. It had to be something exploding, didn’t it?”

“Apologies,” Hakuba said in the stiff, formal tone that Ayato hated. “But according to the calculations, it should have worked.”

“Back to the drawing board,” Kaito-bot said, pinching singed hair between his fingers.

Ugh. They’d been trying to work out a better lasting core for the robot since they had learned that it started to wear at about the five-year mark, and glitch in the half year it took to re-work the original design. That said, neither Kaito, nor Hakuba were actually an engineer. Even with Agasa and Haibara helping, it was still only in prototyping.

Ayato sighed and glanced around. A mess. A mess that looked a lot worse than the mess that had already been down here, plus new scorch marks! What great re-decorating! Not.

“I’m going up to check on the doves,” he said, “while you two make sure nothing is on fire. If you broke any of dad’s things, I’m kicking you in the shin, Hakuba.”

“Oh no, whatever shall I do,” Hakuba said, deadpan like the bastard he often was.

Ayato still didn’t get what Kaito saw in him sometimes.

“Not kicking me?” the robot asked.

“Hell no, I’d break my toes.” Ayato flashed Hakuba a middle finger for his resulting eye roll, and hurried up the secret passage.

Ayato stepped out into a room that was both abnormally dusty, and way less cluttered than the one he left earlier. He’d say his mother dropped in to clean, except the dust was a clear sign no one had been cleaning here in who knew how long. Unless… “Did the explosion knock dust from the whole house?” he muttered. Weird.

Doves. He needed to make sure that hadn’t scared them half to death. They were used to small explosions, but that hadn’t exactly been small, and if Ayato hadn’t been wearing noise canceling headphones to listen to podcasts while commentating on the sad attempts to improve the core, he probably would still have his ears ringing.

He rounded the familiar turns of his house toward the stairs to the patio he kept the dovecote on… and ran into himself.

Not his robot-clone, and not another teen. This one looked like a cheap knock off of his dad, and for a half second, he actually thought Kuroba Toichi came back for the dead with less style and a bad haircut. If Ayato could come back from death, why not his dad at this point?

“What the fuck,” Ayato said.

“Language,” the not-Toichi old-Kaito said. Then, “What the hell.”

“How is that any better?”

“Please tell me I don’t have another illegitimate child running around. I can’t have another child running around. It’s statistically improbable at best.”

“But not impossible?” Ayato asked, with horrified fascination. Then the rest of that sentence hit. “Another illegitimate child?”

“How old are you? Not old enough to be from the same time as the twins—”

“TWINS?”

Old-maybe-Kaito made a face. “Don’t shout. I have a headache already. Now who are you and why are you in my house?”

Ayato let out an indignant sound. “Your house? This is my house!”

“It really isn’t.”

“And who are you? Why are you here?”

“Kuroba Kaito,” the old-Kaito said, apparently actually another Kaito. (How was this Ayato’s life? How many times was he going to run into people with his face??) “And I’m here because I own the place and need to feed my birds.”

“Doves. They’re doves.”

They stared each other down. “And you are…?” old-Kaito asked after a moment.

“Kuroba Kaito,” Ayato said, “now Kuroba Ayato. And I’m going to check on the doves.”

There was another awkward silence as neither of them backed down. The older Kaito sighed. “Well. Either one of us is lying—” He said it in a way that clearly meant you are lying. “—Or something very strange is going on. Akako-level strange.”

Ayato shuddered. “Please don’t bring her up. She’s awful.”

Other-Kaito shrugged. “Not the worst person to deal with once you reach an agreement. And I’m almost convinced you really are a version of me.”

“Why not you another version of me?”

“How old are you?”

“…Twenty-three.”

“I’m older, so I have seniority. …Does Kudo Shinichi mean anything to you?”

“If you mean is he annoying but fun to mess with, yeah. If you mean is he a child too, also yeah. Or he was.”

“Couldn’t cure you?”

That confirmed that Shinichi existed here and had been turned into Conan at some point. And that this Kaito was also in the know with all of that.

“Can’t. It’d probably kill me to try.” Since his previous state had been dead it really wasn’t worth experimenting.

Other-Kaito’s face scrunched like he wanted to know more and at the same time had never wanted anything less. “Right. So, I’m guessing some sort of world-hopping accident occurred.”

“You don’t look surprised.”

“Oh, I definitely am, but plenty of weird things have happened in my life.”

“Same,” Ayato said with a sigh. It seemed no matter the world, Kaito would attract some kind of chaos. Honestly, Ayato should be more shocked at all of this. But maybe he just wasn’t processing yet.

“Kaito,” a familiar voice said as someone entered the room behind the older Kaito, “I thought I heard—oh.”

Ayato stared at what appeared to be an older Hakuba. Hakuba stared back.

Ayato had spent over half a decade spending time with Kudo Shinichi and (more reluctantly) Hakuba Saguru at this point. He’d never call himself a detective, but observation skills had become even more a survival tool than when he’d been moonlighting as a thief. So Ayato couldn’t help but catch on details immediately. Like the cane. The gray in Hakuba’s hair and the crow’s feet around his eyes. Casual clothing that the Hakuba Ayato knew would never be caught dead in. And then there was a ring on his finger. Ayato zeroed in on it, somehow surprised even though his own Hakuba had been in a relationship with the robot and Aoko for over a year now. On impulse, he glanced at Kaito’s hand.

The rings matched.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Excuse me?” old-Hakuba said, somewhere between confused and insulted. Then, “That isn’t Takumi-kun.”

“Nope,” old-Kaito said, hands sliding into his pockets. He moved stiffly, not like a magician should, like he just couldn’t move the way he should, and ah, there was a real possibility he couldn’t… How many injuries did Ayato accumulate even before he died?

“Takumi?”

“My son,” Kaito said easily.

He said ‘illegitimate child’ earlier, so yes, he probably had children, but it was still like taking a smack in the face. “Is this the illegitimate one?”

“Oh, no, he’s the only legitimate one.”

“Of course,” Ayato said faintly. He kind of wanted to know how many children this other Kaito had. On the other hand, he really didn’t want to know, because that meant thinking about an alternate him having had sex. Ugh. “What is with other versions of me wanting to marry Hakuba?”

“This has happened before then?” Kaito said as Hakuba’s narrowed gaze flicked between them.

“Oh, no. Just… Look, did you ever get kidnapped by a crazy scientist who made a robot with your face?”

Both Hakuba and Kaito’s eyes narrowed warily. “Yes,” Kaito said. “But I got free and killed it.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m pretty sure I’d remember tricking a robot into blowing its own brains out,” Kaito said, cold and finite like that ended the whole story. Ayato had already kind of figured there was a difference somewhere around there; robots couldn’t father a child, let alone multiple illegitimate ones.

Hakuba’s eyebrows shot up. “When was this?”

“Mm, back before we met,” Kaito said dismissively. “It’s not important.”

The most defining moment of Ayato’s life, and in another world it was unimportant. That stung.

“In another world,” Ayato said, holding the bitterness in, “you never got away. In another world, there were two robots with Kuroba Kaito’s face, and only one of them knew he wasn’t human.”

“Ah.” The single syllable and carefully neutral expression said old-Kaito understood exactly where this was going. Good, he wouldn’t get senile by age thirty-something. “And what happened to you?”

“It turns out cryogenic stasis is possible under very precise circumstances,” Ayato said. “Also death sucks, stay alive if you can.”

“Kaito?” Hakuba said, two and two making four and a whole new equation.

Kaito sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, ring a flash of gold on his finger. “So, best guess is that this is an alternate version of myself from a different universe. One that sounds like it diverged with the robot mishap.”

Mishap. Ayato felt a weird curl of resentment.

“An alternate universe,” Hakuba said flatly. “Truly.”

“Isn’t that, such and such Holmes quote applicable here?” Kaito said with a wave of his hand.

“There are far more logical explanations than other universes.”

“And yet here we are.” Old-Kaito shrugged. “I believe him. Is this really any stranger than Akako?”

“Yes. With Koizumi-san, there wasn’t a child-shaped version of you.”

“I’d love to know how that happened,” Kaito said in an aside to Ayato. “I thought only Kudo had to deal with that.”

“Reversing stasis has side effects,” Ayato said, not wanting to go into detail. “Lovely as this all is, I think I should go get my companions.”

“Oh, there’s more of you?”

“Yeah… Let’s just…” Ayato turned back to the hidden passage, acutely aware of Kaito and Hakuba at his back. It felt like Hakuba was trying to dissect him with his eyes alone.

“Fair warning,” Ayato called ahead of him, “something has gone really weird and really wrong.”

“We were kind of figuring that out!” the robot called back.

Hakuba and old-Kaito both twitched even though they had to have some idea who he’d been with.

“How are the doves?” his Kaito asked as Ayato returned to the workroom. There was a space cleared on the table now, streaks of dust left on the corner like no one had been using down here for a while.

“Never got that far,” Ayato admitted. “You should know that there’s—” He watched both Kaito and Hakuba’s eyes go huge as they saw behind him, Kaito’s hand instinctively reaching for a card gun. “…Other versions of us,” Ayato finished.

“A bit of warning would have been nice,” the robot said, eying his older double warily. No surprise since the other times he saw someone with the same face, it had been Ayato dead, and a second robot trying to kill him. A glance showed that other-Kaito looked equally wary. Ugh. Only Ayato was allowed to have the trauma of seeing his own face reflected back at him in a stranger.

“I thought you said you were twenty-three,” other-Kaito said, staring down the robot. His Hakuba looked at his double with something between interest and jealousy. Ah, the cane; whatever it had been caused by, clearly it would have happened by Ayato’s (ugh) Hakuba’s age.

“I am.”

“Then this is…?”

“The non-murderous robot.”

The wariness all but doubled, and both parties tensed. For goodness’s sake.

“Oi,” Ayato said. “As the only one who actually died from robot and scientist encounters, I think I claim the robot trauma card, yeah? Kaito’s a life-stealing metal wreck, but he’s not going to kill anyone any more than I assume you or I would.”

“Does he have arm rockets?”

“…No?” Wait, had the other murder bot had arm rockets?? Why was he only learning this now? “He’s practically human. Even bleeds and needs haircuts. Just with metal bones and a bad habit of breaking.”

“I can’t control the breaking,” Kaito said at the same time the younger Hakuba said, “That’s what we’re attempting to fix.”

“…Right.” Other-Kaito eyed his double. Neither looked happy with this situation. No shit. “So how exactly did two Kaitos and a Saguru end up in my basement room?”

“An unfortunate accident,” Young-Hakuba (Ayato needed a better shorthand. Robot, Mechanic, Kaito, Hakuba. Sure.) said. “An experimental core for Kaito exploded.”

“Injuries?” Hakuba—the old one—asked.

“None besides superficial scratches and some abused eardrums.”

“I see.”

The silence was painfully awkward. They didn’t seem to know how to handle facing other versions of themselves. Ayato glanced at robo-Kaito and raised an eyebrow. If any of them knew how to handle other selves, it was the two of them, even if they both never quite got comfortable with it.

“So,” Ayato said. “This older Kaito has several children and married Hakuba.”

“We’re engaged,” old-Hakuba said at the same time old-Kaito rolled his eyes and said, “I don’t have that many children.”

Robo-Kaito’s face twitched. Was it the ‘married to Hakuba’ bit or the ‘has children’? Both things the robot probably wanted in life eventually.

“Where does Aoko fit into this?” the robot asked.

Raised eyebrows on the other side of things now.

“Aoko… currently isn’t in picture much. We’re working on mending our friendship.”

Friendship. Not romance. “You didn’t marry Aoko?” Ayato asked, because weird taste in men aside, he can’t imagine any version of himself not loving Aoko. He was stuck as a child and still in love with her and even the robot would marry her in a heartbeat.

“Er. Well.” Kaito looked to the side, a tic that was very familiar. Like looking for an escape route. “We’re kind of divorced?”

“You divorced Aoko?” Oh god, it was so much worse in this universe. What was wrong with this Kaito?

“The other way round actually.”

“Aoko divorced you? What the hell did you do to piss her off bad enough for that?” Aoko was, in Ayato’s opinion, one of the most forgiving people he knew. She’d forgiven Kaito for being Kid, forgiven the robot for being a robot, forgiven Ayato for dying and then for being a child and loved him through all of it, all forms of him. She was working on becoming a nurse in part because of how the knowledge intersected with Kaito, Ayato, and the technology Hakuba was investing his life in. Ayato couldn’t imagine a world where she wouldn’t forgive them.

Older Kaito grimaced. “Look. I didn’t mean for things to go the way they did, but things happened so fast and then I was married and had a child and was trying to go to school, raise a baby, work, and be Kid at the same time. The moment to bring it up just… never got there.”

“Oh my god, you had a kid and you never told her about the thief thing.”

“To be fair, we wouldn’t have told her if circumstances hadn’t gone the way they did,” the robot said, all reasonable about it, like it was perfectly believable that it’d happen that way.

“I’d like to think I’d have told her before we’d get married, let alone HAD A CHILD.”

“Look—”

“Excuse me,” the robot’s Hakuba cut in. “Rather than argue over life choices, perhaps we can put our minds toward reversing this?”

“Can’t we just re-do what we just did?” Ayato asked.

“We could try that,” Hakuba said like he was actually talking to a child—it was one of those things Ayato hated, when he got all ‘I know more than you’ at him. “But that, if we can successfully replicate world shifting at all, is more likely to land us in yet another iteration of ourselves rather than return us to our proper world. Another universe might be less kind in its residents.”

“I can’t picture a reality I’d be actually violent with intent to kill,” Ayato said.

“Yes, but sadly, I can picture myself in such a world, and I would rather not meet a murderous version of me,” Hakuba said calmly, like that wasn’t a horrifying thought. Hakuba’s brain harnessed for evil. Noooope. Just as bad if there was an evil Kaito out there. The world would implode or something.

“…Fair enough. I’d pay to see you as a thief though.”

Hakuba, rudely, ignored him to turn to their older counterparts. “I don’t suppose either of you would have any ideas on world-hopping?”

“Koizumi Akako,” both of them said with varying amounts of discomfort on their faces. Weirdly, it was Hakuba who looked the most like he’d bitten into something sour.

“In all honesty, there may be someone else,” old-Hakuba said, “but we don’t have connection to them, nor any knowledge. If Koizumi-san can’t help you, she is also the most likely to know someone who could.”

“At what price though,” old-Kaito said, eyes far away.

Well. That was ominous. But fair enough. Ayato had only met Koizumi the once, and he definitely never wanted to meet her again.

Still, he didn’t want to be in this world too long. “Can we go? I finally have an advanced placement test coming up to let me out of kiddie hell.”

Robo-Kaito and his Hakuba were doing that thing where they communicated with their eyes and micro-expressions. Actually, so were the other pair. Eew. That was one romantic couple thing Ayato was glad he didn’t do. Just use words like everyone else.

“We can go,” Robo-Kaito said finally, “but if the price is too high or she tries anything on us, we’re risking another explosion.”

“That’s fine then,” older Kaito said with a half-shrug. “Maybe show me the schematics and I can see what I can get ahold of just in case.” He grimaced. “I really don’t like having to get in touch with Akako, but she keeps the line open for me, so I guess I can.”

“She does?” Ayato said.

“You’ll see,” Kaito said with another uncomfortable shrug.

Ayato really wasn’t liking this world.

*

It was strange to see a version of himself still so young, Saguru reflected, watching the three men in the back of the car through the rear mirror as Kaito drove them toward Koizumi’s home. The two versions of Kaito squabbled like siblings, arguing over something in the design that they theorized as the part to fail. His younger self watched, amused and loving. He’d recognize himself in love anywhere.

His other self had fallen for Kuroba Kaito’s consciousness in a robot body. The robot—but no, he was more human than not, android—was calmer than he imagined Kaito had been at this age. Twenty-three, or close to seven if Saguru was counting the time he’d existed correctly. At twenty-three, Kaito had to have been contemplating graduate school, if not already in it, raising Takumi, and soon to end up divorced from Aoko… Kaito must have been constantly on the move, always a bit too tired, a bit too ragged as he spent himself up. The android looked healthier.

Perhaps it was because he was not human, or perhaps it was because unlike the Kaito Saguru knew, this younger Kaito had a strong network of support.

Saguru’s younger self looked happy. Saguru had been happy at twenty-three. Mel had been in his life by then and, bad leg aside, he’d been rediscovering things he’d loved in the world that didn’t involve his previous dreams of active detective work.

It sounded like his younger self had all but taken one look at the android Kaito after his true nature was revealed, and made the split-second decision to dedicate his life to him. Saguru was painfully obvious when he found someone he cared for.

His younger self met his eyes in the mirror, a faint smile on his lips that faded as they watched each other. It must be unnerving to strangers to be looked at this way. To be looked at as if eyes could see down to the soul.  It was unnerving for Saguru even though he knew there wasn’t a deeper meaning to it beyond shared curiosity.

“Hey,” the youngest version of Kaito, Ayato said, also meeting Saguru’s eyes in the mirror. “If this Hakuba’s an engineer and robotics expert—”

“And chemist, and surgeon and—” Saguru saw the other Hakuba mutter under his breath.

“—What are you?” Ayato finished.

“A teacher.”

Blank looks all around.

Saguru smirked because it truly was funny to be the shocking one. “A chemistry teacher to be precise. I’ve also taught English and supervised a book club.”

“Who are you?” Ayato said. He was a bit like Kaito without a filter and a less positive outlook. Definitely a lot more childish than his double.

“A man that had to give up most of my detective work due to circumstance,” Saguru said wryly with a pointed lift of his cane.

“Oh… Uh. Is it rude to ask what happened? Just in case?”

“I had my knee shot out shortly before university. After, I had to heal for months, and had physical therapy for long after that; by the time I entered university, I’d given up on ever being as mobile as I was. I consulted sometimes, but ended up in teaching after enjoying tutoring. That said, it sounds as if you’ve moved on toward a field well apart from the policework we intended to grow into. You would have run into the trouble I did by now if you were going to.”

“I see,” the younger Saguru said. “I also consult at times, but learning everything needed to keep Kaito functional and in good repair took over quite a bit of my life…”

“It would do that.” Saguru couldn’t really picture himself in the same position. Perhaps learning a bit of medical information, but not diving head first into engineering something he had no previous knowledge of. “And now you’re dating him.”

“Yes, although it’s a bit more complicated than that…”

“It’s a polyamorous relationship with Aoko as the common point with all of us,” the android-Kaito said.

Kaito twitched, just barely failing to jerk the steering wheel as he looked back at them in the mirror. “You’re in a poly relationship with Aoko?”

“Yes?” The android raised an eyebrow in a way that was channeling Saguru through and through.

“Look, he’s an asexual android, Hakuba’s in love with him and fond of Aoko, Aoko loves all of us, and I still love Aoko even if this body,” Ayato said, and ah, Saguru hadn’t realized he was included in this arrangement. “I don’t want the guy with illegitimate kids running around judging us.”

“…How does that even work?” Kaito asked, the edge of fascinated horror in his voice.

“It’s complicated,” the android said drily. “Very complicated. Like blindfolded juggling.”

“That’s not that hard.”

“But everything is potentially on fire.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. We’re making it work as we go.”

“I believe that is our turn,” Saguru said, cutting into Kaito’s thoughts before they missed their destination.

“Oh. Yeah, thanks.”

Koizumi’s home was unnerving. It looked a bit like something from the Addams Family in all honesty, all Gothic architecture and dark colors. The garden out front clashed with that, a riot of colors and blossoms, though Saguru was certain at least some of those flowers were distinctly poisonous. It was Koizumi, after all.

“You know, I’m glad I never visited my Koizumi’s place,” Ayato said in a tight voice. “You sure she doesn’t have vampires hiding in her draperies or what?”

“No vampires so far as I know, but supposedly she had Lucifer on supernatural speed dial, so take that as you will,” Kaito said with forced cheer. “C’mon. Let’s see if she can get you all home.”

“I wish I could believe you were joking, but I know my own tells too well,” Ayato said, unnerved. His android companion looked less unnerved, but Saguru could chalk that up to him being mortal in a different way than fleshy, easily-broken humans. Or perhaps he had fewer negative associations? But no, the android would have been the one interacting with their Koizumi.

The car slid to a stop beside a walkway framed with weeping cherry trees, trimmed into perfect shape. Everything was a bit too neat and precise, but after knowing Koizumi more in the last few years, it wasn’t surprising that it felt a bit unnatural; it likely wasn’t natural at all.

Kaito led the way up the walk, not looking back to see them follow. He looked a bit like he was steeling himself for an unpleasant walk in a downpour or to clean a terrible mess.

The front door—tall, intimidatingly sharp in its carvings—creaked open, seemingly on its own. Ayato took a step behind his counterpart.

“Kuroba,” Koizumi said, materializing out of the shadows of her foyer. “Hakuba.” Her eyes slid to the rest of the group. “Hakuba, Kuroba, Kuroba. What an interesting group.”

“Akako-hime,” Kaito said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “As you can see we have a bit of a dilemma here. I don’t suppose you would know much about pinpointing exact alternate universes or creating paths to them?”

“That isn’t exactly my specialty,” Koizumi said, a bit of humor in the curve of her lips, “but I can give it a try. Congratulations on the engagement.”

“Do I want to know how you know about that?”

“I keep track of your life even when you’re failing to keep up with mine,” she said waving them inside.

The interior was just as gothic and intimidating as the outside. Saguru eyed the various crystals, portraits, and candelabras with a healthy dose of wariness. Knowing magic was real didn’t mean he knew how it worked, and that was more than enough reason to be careful.

“I wouldn’t touch anything,” he said softly as Ayato reached a hand toward a dangling crystal that caught light in a particularly eye-attracting manner.

Ayato snatched his hand back, something between guilt and irritation flashing across his face before it was covered up with Kuroba’s polite-blank mask. “It’s neat,” Ayato said. “I’ve never seen something like it.”

“Spell arrays,” Koizumi said airily. “Mostly harmless, but not all of them are. My daughters made them.”

Ayato tucked his hands surreptitiously into his pockets.

“Are they here today?” Kaito asked. Saguru had yet to properly meet the twins, though he knew a bit about them through proximity to Kaito. From what he did know, they were far more like Koizumi than Kaito, though they had a similar streak of mischief. If a bit more toward the sadistic side than Kaito had.

Saguru distinctly remembered a story about them driving away one of Koizumi’s suitors that they disliked.

“They are both busy with homework at the moment, but perhaps they will have a moment to spare toward the end of your visit. They’re due seeing you.”

“Do they even want to?” Kaito asked, not troubled by the thought that they wouldn’t want to since he was only ever distantly involved with them at best.

“They find you amusing,” Koizumi said, which wasn’t quite an answer, but coming from her was probably a yes.

The younger Saguru’s eyes flicked back and forth between Koizumi and Kaito. Saguru could see the conclusions being drawn on Kuroba and Ayato’s faces. Horror in differing proportions.

“With Akako?!” Ayato screeched, voice reaching octaves only a young Kuroba, voice not yet settled into its post-puberty range could produce.

Kaito winced and rubbed his ear, even as Koizumi smirked like she’d won something valuable—which Saguru supposed she had, technically. “It really isn’t what you think.”

“Then you aren’t the father?”

“I am but—”

“He’s the sperm donor,” Koizumi said, still with her cat-with-cream smile.

“See, not what you think! No sex involved!” Kaito said, hands palm-out in front of his chest.

“I am with Ayato here,” Kuroba said, side-eying his older self. “Why would you even want to?”

“It was a deal,” Koizumi said lightly, “and I believe we have both done quite well from that. And speaking of deals, you three are going to need to make one for me to even hope of getting you back to your proper dimension. It isn’t the sort of thing that can happen without some sort of sacrifice.”

“We got here in one piece,” Ayato complained.

“Yes, but we gave up energy and a prototype,” the younger Saguru said, thoughtful. “There has to be some sort of energy balance to this sort of thing.”

“It’s magic, not physics.”

“Science and magic aren’t nearly so different as you’d like to think,” Koizumi said. She led them into an elaborate sitting room and perched herself in a wing-backed chair. “Take a seat,” she said with a wave at the velvet sofas that made up a loose circle around an intricate rug. It was all very Victorian feeling. Koizumi seemed to be more interested in aesthetics of a room than continuity of a specific era in her decorating.

Saguru sat beside his Kaito, both of them feeling their age and old injuries on the less than comfortable couches; they looked nice, but they weren’t nearly so soft as they looked. The others grouped together on one couch as well, despite how close it made them sit. Saguru was interested to note that Ayato was physically comfortable enough with the android who had replaced his life to practically sit in his lap. He would have thought there would be more discomfort, but he supposed they must have had a few years to get used to each other.

“Well,” Kuroba asked, leaning comfortably against his Saguru, “I’ll ask. What exactly is this going to cost us, and how likely are we going to be to be able to afford what it will cost to get us home? If you can get us home. We’re not paying with our lives.”

“Learning how you got here can pay for my search for a solution. The actual solution…” Koizumi’s eyes narrowed. “Is unlikely to be cheap. I don’t suppose you’d trade away some of your luck?”

“Considering the fact that luck seems to be the only thing keeping us alive,” Kuroba said with a polite smile, “I won’t be paying that, and neither will Ayato.”

“I can speak for myself.”

“Do you disagree?”

“No,” Ayato said with a huff. “But it’s the principle of things.”

“What else could we trade?” the younger Saguru asked. “I assume they must be things of value to us, or something unique.” He seemed to have accepted the possibility of metaphysical trade immediately, though perhaps after ending up in another world entirely, it was easy enough to believe that that sort of thing was possible.

“There are many things you could trade,” Koizumi said. “One of you could trade the chance to return for the sake of the others, or years of your lives. You could trade away special skills or knowledge. I could take your sight or hearing or voice.”

Ayato shifted uncomfortably. “We’re getting a bit ‘Little Mermaid’ here. None of us is staying behind, or sacrificing years of life. What do we specifically have to give?”

Koizumi narrowed her eyes at him. “…Your futures.” She held up a hand as everyone leaned forward to protest. “Not like that. I meant sacrificing the potential for a future. Your Kaito is a thief and magician, Hakuba is a detective and an engineer. You, who were once Kaito, are also a magician, and could one day reclaim the name you once held.”

At Saguru’s side, he felt Kaito tense. Kaito had given up the chance to be a magician once. He knew that it would be painful to watch another version of himself have to grapple with that kind of choice. Saguru set a hand on Kaito’s knee and Kaito snatched it up in a bruising grip.

There was silence for a long moment before Ayato spoke. “I give up my name,” he said. “Specifically, the name ‘Kaito’. We all know by now that I’m not getting a cure for the little problem I have. So.” He shrugged, looking both uncomfortable and determined. Saguru couldn’t imagine giving up his name. Wasn’t entirely sure what the whole ramifications of that would be. Would Ayato be unable to refer to himself as Kaito? Would he be unable to think it, anyone else to think it? The most alarming thing about Koizumi’s magic was that no one would know the full extent, not even Koizumi, until after the deal was made.

“You’re sure?” the android asked.

“You’re not the worst replacement a guy could have,” Ayato said, rolling his eyes. “And I just said I can’t go back anyway. Why hold onto that name?”

Something passed between them, expressed in eyebrows and slight tilts of lips. It must be odd to look yourself in the face and know this was a different person. Well, no, Saguru knew it was weird. His younger self was right there, and very much not him.

“Then the exchange will be made,” Koizumi said before turning her eyes toward the others.

The younger Saguru’s hands tightened on his lap in a nervous tic Saguru could recognize in his own habits before he’d ended up with other outlets to fiddle with. His own hand tightened a bit on the handle of his cane. “I would be willing to give up,” he started only for Kuroba to put a hand over his mouth.

“No.”

“Kait—” Saguru tried to say around the hand.

“No. You were going to give up being a detective.” Kuroba scowled. “You’ve given up enough of yourself for a lifetime. Don’t give up your passion.”

“I already barely consult these days,” younger Saguru said, prying Kuroba’s hand away. “It isn’t as big of a sacrifice as it could be.”

“You enjoy it though,” Kuroba said. “You gave it up as a career because of me already. Don’t give up on what’s left.”

Saguru met eyes with his younger self and could see the thought that if Saguru could handle being a teacher instead of a detective, he could clearly learn to be content in another field. Being an engineer was certainly more intellectually driving on a day-to-day basis.

Still, his younger self took a moment to reflect, lips pursed. “Would I be able to give a skill?” he asked after a moment.

Koizumi hummed. “If it is worth enough, yes.”

“I have been playing violin since I was eight,” Saguru said, “and it is a hobby that I enjoy and am proficient in, but not one that I couldn’t live without. Is fifteen years of developing a skill enough?”

“Saguru,” Kuroba started to protest.

His Saguru gave him a lifted brow in response. Kuroba trailed off, upset. “It needs to hold value,” Saguru said, patient. “This holds value, but is something I will willingly part with.”

Koizumi tilted her head to the side, eyes slightly unfocused like she was feeling something out none of them could observe. “…Fifteen years should be enough, provided the last exchange is of equal worth. A name weighs a bit more than a hobby. A dream would be higher still. Hopefully combined, all three of your sacrifices will balance enough.”

“That leaves me then,” Kuroba said with a wry twist of his mouth. “I’m not quite sure what to offer here. The base of who I am is stolen from someone else, my body is already in constant decline and repair, and there’s always a chance my mind will fail.” It was chilling how calmly he said it, like these were mere facts of life instead of that he was always a step away from death, or at least death as a machine could manage. “I could offer a skill, but much of my skills are linked to what I am. My memory, my speed and control—they’re a bit above human range. If I traded the excess of those abilities, would I break, then, as its cost?”

Koizumi didn’t answer, waiting him out.

Kuroba sighed. “Something of value. Hm. The greatest things I value are my memories because they’re what makes me Kaito. If I gave some of them up, would that be enough?”

“Wait wait wait,” Ayato cut in. “If you give the wrong memories you could change your personality.”

“One specific memory then,” Kuroba said. There was cold determination in his eyes that Saguru had seen in Kaito before. Resolve to see a thing through. “The first trick our father taught us. The memory of him teaching us it.”

“That’s the moment we first loved magic,” Ayato said, somewhere between pained and horrified.

“Yes,” Kuroba said before giving his younger double a brief smile. “It’s one of our most cherished memories, but it isn’t the only one we have of our dad, and it’s not the only moment we loved magic.”

“But it’s the start.”

“It is.”

“What if,” Ayato said, voice trembling the slightest bit. “What if that’s enough to forget?”

“Then it’s a good thing you have the memory,” Kuroba said. “But I don’t think giving it up will fundamentally change me. Maybe it will change my relationship to magic some, and maybe something with Oyaji will shift. But one memory isn’t going to destroy a foundation of hundreds of other memories, no matter how much it’s treasured.”

Ayato frowned, but he didn’t protest again. Saguru glanced at his Kaito and saw the same hesitant, unhappy expression on his face. It truly must be a cherished memory.

“Would we be able to help pay their fee?” Saguru asked.

Unhappy noises came from Ayato and Kuroba, but the other Saguru looked back at him with clear understanding.

Koizumi closed her eyes, silent for a moment before shaking her head slowly. “I think there needs to be a clear distinction between you, and adding anything of this world into the mix would risk drawing you to theirs.

Damn. Well, better to have tried than not.

“I believe,” Koizumi said, looking to Kuroba, “that your memory will cover the cost. It holds a deeper weight than a single memory should. You tie a lot of your identity to your father, don’t you?”

Kuroba’s lips quirked up. “For good or bad, he’s defined most of our goals and values.”

“Hm. It seems like that should be enough to trade with. It will take me a bit to figure out the exact method of getting you back, though. It isn’t as if I’m going to create another explosion to blast you back.”

“What a relief, we won’t be blown up today,” Ayato said sarcastically. “It’s not like that doesn’t almost happen literally all the time.”

“It happens significantly less if you avoid Kudo,” Kaito said, probably thinking of his own experiences with explosions.

“I see him all the time. That’s not changing anytime soon,” Ayato sighed. “Could really do with less corpses. Like, why? Why are there so many murderers in Tokyo? In Beika in particular? Is he a magnet? Does he have some aura that incites people to murderous frenzies? We can’t go to the beach without a body washing up.”

“They’re friends,” the younger Saguru said blandly.

“Who is his friend? We’re rivals, get it right!”

Kaito snorted and bit his lip when Ayato glared at him. “I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that he’s hot.”

Ayato went bright red. “I’m not—He’s—Kudo is straight! And annoying as hell! He’s a death magnet that thinks he can actually act like a child when he sticks out as much as his cowlick does! He’s a know-it-all with no social skills that thinks he’s being subtle when everyone with eyes knows he’s suspicious as hell as a child! He has terrible taste—”

“They’re definitely friends,” Kuroba said.

“Fuck you.”

“Sorry, not into sex.” Kuroba shot back, perfectly deadpan. “Kudo might be though.”

“Augh!”

“Is this what having a sibling is like?” Kaito said to Saguru under his breath.

“How would I know? I’m also an only child,” Saguru replied.

“What now?” the younger Saguru cut in, talking over Kuroba and Ayato. “Is there a…spell… you need to do or perhaps you merely yank the metaphysical prices from us and we end up home?”

“Oh it is certainly more complicated than that,” Koizumi said with an amused smile on the edge of her lips. “What you’re asking for me to do is to punch a hole in our reality to another specific reality that all three of you can pass through without harm. It’s the second part that is actually difficult. Realities dip in and out of each other’s borders constantly, but it is far harder to hit the correct world in a kaleidoscope of endless possibilities.”

“But you can do it though,” Ayato said.

“I can. I will need a bit of each of your blood though. Or,” she said eying Kuroba, “whatever passes for blood.”

“Does it have to be blood?” Ayato asked, going a bit pale. “Maybe take some of my hair or something?”

“Blood is preferable,” Koizumi said. “It’s tradition for a reason, and blood holds life and ties to its body that will be necessary.”

“Oh. Okay. Great.” Ayato sunk in his seat.

“Apologies,” younger Saguru said. “There’s some blood and medical phobias between the two of them.”

“An understandable thing,” Koizumi said, rising to her feet like some kind of graceful, deadly predator. “Thankfully we’ll only be needing a few drops each. A small cut or a pin prick will do.”

“Oh thank goodness,” Ayato said.

Kuroba huffed a laugh. “A needle is actually less damaging you know.”

“Yeah, but it’s the associations. I’ve had less people come at me with a knife and intent than a needle. And shush, you get freaked out by scalpels.”

Kuroba shrugged, and Saguru both did and didn’t want to know the context. All the more so when his double gave a little flinch.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Koizumi said, “I have a bit of research to do and then I will get everything we should need set up.”

*

It was interesting, Kaito thought, to see this older Koizumi. The Koizumi Akako he was familiar with was brash, self-absorbed, and had a vicious streak, though she’d occasionally helped him over the years. This Koizumi probably had those negative traits too, but she’d clearly grown up to be a bit less carelessly cruel. He didn’t know from looking at her if she still played with people’s hearts or threatened people, but she was a mother now and maybe that had changed something in her. There was something softer in her than the Koizumi Kaito knew. Either motherhood had settled her in some way, or she was actually fond of his other self in a non-possessive way. As impossible as that felt.

Whatever Koizumi had to do to prepare was taking a while though. They’d been led to a different lounge space by an unsettling butler and had been given refreshments. Kaito didn’t bother trying any of them. His older double might be okay risking it, but Kaito had had one too many love potions slipped into his food over the years to trust anything Koizumi gave him.

He’d have been perfectly comfortable waiting until Koizumi returned. However, a while after they got to the room, they were interrupted by two girls.

Twins, not quite identical though from the way they styled themselves they were trying to appear so. They had Koizumi’s unsettling smile and Kaito’s eyes and cheekbones, though one had more of Koizumi’s bowed lips and the other got Kaito’s thinner ones and a slight dimple on one side of her face. They were objectively pretty, but it was in the way that a cursed china doll looked pretty; a little unnatural and artificial and unsettlingly off.

“Girls,” the older Kaito said, giving them a nod.

The twins looked around the room like they were some fascinating sideshow exhibit. Which kind of fit considering they were iterations of the same people.

“There’s so many of you,” one girl said.

“Someone messed up, huh?” said the other. Then, “That one isn’t another brother, is he?”

“Excuse me?” Ayato yelped. “Heck no!”

“Another alternate,” the older Kaito said. “Has your mother mentioned multiverse theories?”

“No,” the first twin said. “But we’ve seen it in fiction. How did they get here?”

“I hear it involved an explosion.”

“Does that mean there will be another explosion to send them back?” the second twin asked, looking a bit too excited by the thought.

“Akako-hime didn’t mention any explosions, just a bit of blood and a trade.”

“Boring,” the second twin said with a sigh.

“Traditional,” the first said, commiserating.

“Explosions would be more fun.”

“I think we’d rather live to see our own universe again,” Kaito said, drawing two sharp sets of eyes. “But yes, explosions can be fun.”

The twins cocked their heads to the side in eerie synchronization, looking Kaito over in what he thought was true curiosity and not their strange, mirroring act of Koizumi’s unsettling presence. “Something’s different about you,” the first twin said.

“But what?” the other echoed. She darted forward to poke Kaito in the cheek.

Kaito blinked at her. Rude, and surprisingly impulsive. Well, he shouldn’t expect much else from a child with Kaito’s blood and Koizumi’s upbringing.

“It’s not nice to stick your fingers in people’s faces,” the other Kaito said with a sigh.

The one who’d poked him shrugged. “Now I know what someone from another universe feels like.”

Her sister looked like she was considering stepping forward to give poking Kaito a go as well. Thankfully, the older Kaito distracted her.

“Akako-hime said you’re moving on to practical magic?”

The twins turned back to him, though not without another considering look at Kaito’s group like touching all of them would give them some kind of world-explaining knowledge or something. Kaito was half tempted to hold Ayato out like a sacrifice and sneak away with his Saguru while they toyed with their prey. Ayato would probably try to kill him if he did that though.

“We’re past emotional manipulation,” one said, “and have moved on to impacting impulses and thoughts.”

“I’m learning scrying because I’m better at it,” the second said.

There was the first hint of discord between the two as the first sister frowned at her twin. “We’re both learning scrying.”

“And I’m learning it faster. And you’re learning talismans faster.” She shrugged, a practical mirror image of Kaito’s own habitual motion, which was somehow even more unsettling than all the other little ways the girls were trying to be creepy. “There’s no harm in admitting our strengths and weaknesses and covering each other.”

“We don’t have to tell people about them.”

“It’s Kaito-jii.”

Her sister gestures at the group.

A lifted eyebrow and an unimpressed look in response. “Leaving the universe,” she said waving at Kaito, Ayato, and his Saguru. “And soon to be married to Kaito-jii.” A finger pointed rudely at Hakuba who looked resigned rather than offended.

“It’s still the principle of things.” She gave a sniff before turning back to the older Kaito. “Don’t repeat any of that.”

“I won’t breathe a word of it,” he promised.

“Good.” The girls glanced at each other and were back in synch like they hadn’t had a moment of disagreement at all. How unsettling. “Next time you come, bring one of your birds?”

“Why?” older Kaito asked, rightfully uneasy. Kaito had heard his own Koizumi mention sacrifices once or twice.

“Oh, we won’t hurt it,” the other twin said. “We’re looking into familiars and wanted to see if doves qualified. This sort of thing is passed down.”

Against his will, Kaito felt a curl of interest. “What is Koizumi-san’s familiar?”

“Cobras,” the twins said in unison.

Ah. Snakes. How…fitting?

“I’ll bring a dove,” older Kaito said.

They were interrupted by Koizumi at the door. “Girls, I thought I said to wait until later to talk to Kaito.”

The twins turned to her, big, innocent stares on their faces in an instant. Kaito used that face a lot as a child to get candy from unwitting adults. “But when else would we get a chance to see interdimensional travelers?” one said.

“It’s a rare phenomenon,” the other said.

Koizumi rolled her eyes. “You’re both menaces,” she said fondly. “You can observe the spell sending them home so long as you do it from a distance.”

The girls grinned. “Thank you!”

“Shoo,” Koizumi said, waving them out of the room. She huffed exasperatedly as they skipped off. “They get that from you,” she said to older Kaito.

“I don’t know, I think I remember someone literally stalking me at one point, and definitely recall you trying to manipulate situations where we ended up alone.” Older Kaito had a tiny smile on his face, amusement and fondness mingling with remembered stresses.

“Details,” Koizumi said with a dismissive wave.

“Do they really need to see some of my doves or are they trying to get me to lend them a living creature for something sketchy?” he asked.

“It’s sincere. I personally doubt they’ll end up with doves as familiars, but they will probably end up with birds.”

“I’ll bring one next time I visit.”

“You visit so rarely these days,” Koizumi said with a surprisingly sincere pout. “You should have more time in retirement, not less.”

“It’s amazing how much sleep I can catch up on after almost two decades of sleep deprivation.”

“I’ll send you my schedule,” Koizumi said like it was a done deal that Kaito would visit the next time their schedules lined up from Kaito’s eye roll, she was right in that assumption. “Now. The spell. I have it set up, I’ll just need some blood.”

Wow, that sure was a sentence Kaito never wanted to hear again. He shared a grimace with Ayato.

Koizumi pulled out a few small, wickedly-sharp silver knives. “Just a small cut. It doesn’t have to be bigger than a papercut, just enough to bleed a few drops.”

He should be relieved that it wasn’t a scalpel or needle, but Kaito didn’t really want to cut himself on a knife either. At least, he thought as he examined the edge of the one he was handed, it should be fairly painless; something as sharp as this could cut almost before he could feel the pressure.

Just a small cut. That was nothing compared to having his arm vivisected to fix it. It wouldn’t even take as long as Ayato or Saguru’s cuts to heal.

Before he could overthink it anymore, Kaito stuck the tip of the knife into synthetic skin. The feedback was instant pain-pressure awareness. When he pulled the blade back, dark red synthetic blood rose to the surface. Kaito watched it bead, something uncomfortable twisting in his gut.

Koizumi appeared next to him in a flash, a tiny glass vial in her hand. “Just a few drops. Enough to coat the bottom.”

Kaito felt the cut sting and he squeezed around it, forcing the blood to spill over and drip. Four drops to coat the bottom. One more to be sure. He pulled his hand away and the vial was stoppered. Koizumi moved toward Ayato next.

Ayato had made an incision on the heel of his palm. He let blood drip into his vial with a grimace of distaste. Saguru didn’t even hesitate as he nicked the side of his pinkie finger.

“Look at you, avoiding anywhere you’re going to immediately use,” Kaito said.

“One of us has to be sensible, and I would think you both would have been more conscious about preserving your hands.”

“I was saving my fingers,” Ayato said.

“And I have more scars than nerves,” Kaito added. “At least in my hands.”

Saguru winced, poorly hidden guilt on his face even though it wasn’t his fault that Kaito needed repairs so often. Kaito nudged him with his shoulder; he hadn’t meant to make him feel bad. It was a fact that he had less sensation on parts of his hands at this point.

Koizumi held up the vials to the light once they were all stoppered. She examined them like she was looking for impurities or something before giving a satisfied hum. “Wonderful. Now follow me.”

He would think, Kaito mused as Koizumi took them on a meandering route through her mansion, that with how brisk she was being, Koizumi dealt with interdimensional travelers on the regular. Maybe this had happened before for her. Maybe she’d met another version of them, or another of herself, or maybe after summoning Lucifer, the whole alternate reality thing didn’t even raise an eyebrow. Either way, it was surprisingly calming. One of them was at least in control. Yes, it was Koizumi Akako, but Koizumi Akako was knee deep in strange magical bullshit that Kaito did his best to avoid. She really was the only one they could have turned to in this situation.

Kaito couldn’t help thinking that this Koizumi was a lot more cooperative than his own Koizumi would have been. If he’d approached his Koizumi, she’d have tried to place half a dozen spells on him for entering her house let alone asking for favors. Somehow this world’s Kaito had screwed up so badly that he’d alienated Aoko, his closest friend, and become friendly with Koizumi who was about as nice as a viper.

Go figure.

Kaito was so glad for his own reality with Aoko and Saguru at his side and Ayato and Conan running around. Even if he was a robot and not human, he’d lucked out in having so much support and love. From the sound of it, this Kaito had missed out on a lot of that for a long time.

Koizumi led them to a small room with a concrete floor that had been painted with blackboard paint. In the center was a complicated chalk circle full of symbols Kaito only tangentially recognized from alchemic texts while looking for information about stones that granted immortality. Kaito was quite sure this did nothing related to immortality though.

“It’s like a cheap rip off from Fullmetal Alchemist,” he said, knowing it would make her annoyed.

Koizumi frowned. “It’s a far better diagram than anything you’ll find in a manga,” she snapped. “You should feel grateful that I know how to draw this sort of thing. Without my skills you’d probably have to try and blow yourselves up again.”

“We weren’t trying to blow ourselves up,” Ayato muttered.

“Now get in the center,” Koizumi said with an imperious hand wave. “For all we know, the longer you’re here, the greater the chance of destabilizing our universes.”

“Is that likely?” both Sagurus asked at the same time. They looked at each other uncomfortably.

“It’s not exactly a common study,” Koizumi said, “but at least things didn’t implode when you came face to face with other versions of yourself, so that’s one possible catastrophe averted.”

“Yay?” Kaito said.

“Circle,” Koizumi demanded.

They stepped into the circle. Older Kaito and Hakuba watched from the edge of the room. Their bodies were relaxed, but Kaito could see their tells in the edges of their eyes and the way Kaito’s smile was just the slightest bit too stiff to be true. Worry. As touching as it was to be worried about, it didn’t exactly fill him with confidence that this would work.

“Now what?” Ayato asked, crossing his arms and staying carefully away from the lines surrounding them.

“Now,” Koizumi said, bending to place a vial on blood into a little loop in the drawn design, “you say any last words to your alternates before I activate this and send you back.”

“And something will just, what, scoop memories and knowledge from our brains?” Ayato said skeptically.

“It will be like you never had what is missing,” Koizumi said.

“That’s not as reassuring as you meant it to be,” Kaito muttered.

“It will happen the moment the deal is complete,” Kaito’s double said unexpectedly. “It won’t hurt, but you will feel a little like something is missing. That fades. Going forward, you’ll notice changes where the absence of your skill or memory effect little things, but it won’t be jarring for long.”

“Ayato will not be able to use Kaito as his name, nor think of it as his own,” older Hakuba said. “Saguru will have to relearn violin from scratch. Kaito will never access the memory he is giving up again. It doesn’t erase the past. Ayato will remember being Kaito. Saguru will remember learning to play but all the details will likely be gone. Kaito will remember he gave up a memory. At least,” he added, fingers tight around his cane, “that is essentially how things worked for Kaito and myself.”

Good to know that all of them had the poor judgement to make deals with witches. It was a universal constant or something.

“Right,” Kaito said because someone had to. “It was nice meeting you both, but I think there’s a universe missing us.”

“You as well,” Hakuba said with a deep nod. “Best of luck on reaching your goal.”

“Oh. Yeah, did you ever find…?”

“Yes,” his older self said. Both Kaito and Ayato looked at him expectantly. They got an eye roll in return. “You don’t even know if it’s the same stone.”

“It can’t hurt to check.”

Another eye roll before older Kaito pulled out a note pad and started scribbling on it. Dates, numbers, names. “I have no idea what year it is for you, or where this thing is right now, but here’s what I know and which gem it was in my universe. Maybe you’ll get lucky.” He folded it in quick motions before tossing it into the circle.

Kaito caught it and tucked it away into his pocket. “Thank you.”

“Whatever, just don’t die, okay? I came way too close too many times.”

“Anything else?” Koizumi asked, fingernails tapping impatiently on her arm.

“One thing,” older Hakuba said, glancing at his Kaito before looking at them in the circle. “I hope you can have a happy life. It likely doesn’t seem like it now, but you have a future ahead of you, and if you put in the effort to seek it out, you can find joy in the smallest of things.”

“We intend to try for that,” Kaito’s Saguru said with the hint of a smile. He met Kaito’s eyes and Kaito couldn’t wait to be home and drag him and Aoko into a cuddle pile. He was so lucky to have them both.

“I have nothing to say,” Ayato piped up, “except that I want to go home. This universe is weird.”

“Oi, having a brain clone and being turned into a kid is way weirder than growing older.”

“You’re a divorcee with who knows how many children running around,” Ayato snarked. “It’s weird.”

“Anything else?” Koizumi asked again, pointed. “No? Lovely.” Her hands reached out into the air and there was a spark, something red and glowing, and then Kaito didn’t have time for more than a moment of alarm as the array lit up in crimson before his vision went red, then black.

*

When Ayato opened his eyes, they were still in a creepy mansion room. The only difference was that the lights were off, a thick carpet covered the floor, and everything in the room had storage covers over them. Ayato sat up and groaned, feeling a little like something hit him between the eyes. Ow? Ow. Most disconcertingly, it wasn’t purely a physical sensation.

Beside him, Hakuba was starting to stir and his robo-double was completely still.

Hakuba was clearly still alive, so Ayato crawled over to Kaito. The faint stir of breath came from his lips as his lungs kept working, and when Ayato reached for a pulse, he found it, though it was just the slightest tic off. Hmm. Hopefully that was temporary and not a consequence of dimension travel. Ayato didn’t know if Hakuba would be up for heart surgery.

“Oi.” Ayato poked Kaito’s cheek. “Wakey-wakey Sleeping Beauty.”

Kaito’s nose wrinkled slightly. Okay, he was probably going to be fine too.

Ayato got to his feet, swaying the slightest bit as it felt like the blood rushed from his head. Noted, magic had side effects. They were probably still in Koizumi’s home, just in a part she didn’t use. …Or this place currently belonged to someone else and they’d have to sneak out. Ayato turned and kicked Hakuba lightly in the hip. “Hey. Get up.”

Hakuba groaned. A hand shot up to cover his eyes as his teeth bared in a grimace. “My head is killing me,” Hakuba mumbled.

“Same, Hakuba, same.” Ayato glanced around again. He didn’t like how still everything was. How…deep… the shadows were. “Not to rush you or anything, but I have the feeling we shouldn’t stick around here.”

“Of course.” Hakuba rolled to his knees, hissing in pain. “Well. Now I can say I know how it feels to have a decade’s worth of skill-memory ripped from my head while hopping dimensions. It’s a terrible experience; let’s never do it again.”

“Maybe use a bit more care when working with prototypes?”

“Bugger off.” His blindly-groping hands found Kaito’s ankle and quickly followed it up to his chest and neck. “…His heart is off.”

“Damn, I hoped that was just me.”

“We’re alive. If we’re alive, we can find a way to fix it,” Hakuba said with the heaviness of someone who had had to figure out how to fix a great deal of glitches in the last few years. Hakuba opened his eyes into slits and shook Kaito carefully. “Kaito. We need to leave.”

Kaito’s face twitched, brows drawing together. It looked like he could be having a bad dream. More likely, whatever had happened was affecting his synthetic nerves the same as their nervous systems were in haywire.

Ayato could swear the darkness in the corners of the room was expanding. “Oh for frick’s sake.” He shook Kaito hard by the shoulders, ignoring Hakuba’s reprimand. “Up!” he commanded.

Kaito’s eyes opened and his head lolled to one side before he got control of his body. “Did. Did we get struck by lightning or is that just in my head?”

“I didn’t see any lightning,” Ayato said. “But you need to get up. We’re in the same place as before in our universe—hopefully our universe,” he corrected, because they didn’t really have a way of knowing for sure yet, did they? “We need to leave before something tries to curse us or something and make sure we still have a house standing after an explosion that literally sent us to another universe.”

It was clear that something was still glitching in Kaito because it took a moment for him to process the words when usually he was faster than everyone. “Right.” He tried to stand and failed.

Ayato tried to hold him up, but Kaito was made of fricking metal—not too much heavier than human, but he was heavier than Hakuba and Ayato did not have the body to hold up that kind of weight. “Hakuba. A little help?”

Between the two of them, they managed to get Kaito on his feet and moving. Well, more like a drunkenly shuffle than anything else, but Ayato would take it. Nothing ate them on the way out of the mansion. In fact, the whole place had an unnerving abandoned feeling that reminded Ayato of the setting of a horror movie.

Thankfully, they got out in one piece and no one showed up to murder them from the shadows. From there, Hakuba at least had his phone to call for a ride.

Ayato let himself doze as the car took them back toward their homes in Ekoda. In the back of his mind his brain kept skipping over the bit that was missing. I am [Ayato]. I am [Ayato]. I am not Kaito. I am- I am- I am-

He fell asleep to the sound of old J-rock over the radio and Hakuba’s hushed conversation with Kaito, Kaito’s words less slurred already.

*

“Do you think they’re okay?” Saguru asked as they stood before the empty circle. The blinding light of it was still seared into his retinas, leaving him blinking spots from his vision.

“They’ll be fine,” Koizumi said. She collapsed on a nearby box with a groan. “That was taxing. I’m never doing a favor for either of you again.”

“Oh, so the next time we have interdimensional travelers show up we just leave it to them to figure their own way back?” Kaito asked. He didn’t seem to be having the same vision problem Saguru was. Perhaps because he’d had the sense to close his eyes moments before the spell triggered.

“There’d better be no next time,” Koizumi grumbled. “I know your threads of fate are fascinating, Kuroba, but this was strange even for you.”

“Maybe it was my alternate reality self’s luck and not mine, this time?” Kaito shrugged. “Seems like he—they—had a lot stranger time than I did.”

“Truly?” Saguru asked, doubtful.

“One is a robot, one died, came back to life, de-aged, and then they both traveled to this dimension. I’m really thinking they were the weird ones here.”

“Meanwhile you have made repeated deals with a witch, changed how probability and healing affects you, survived more than a decade against people trying to kill you, and found a stone of immortality.” Saguru raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, both of you have strange, improbable lives.”

“I still say a robot and defying-death-via-chibification is weirder,” Kaito said, “but fair enough. All versions of me are fated to have strange lives. And apparently we drag you into it whether you want to be there or not.”

“Oh, we wanted to be there.”

“Can you flirt somewhere else?” Koizumi said tiredly. “Perhaps not in my home? I have a migraine starting and you need to leave.”

Kaito gave her a theatrical bow. “Of course, Akako-hime. We’re eternally grateful for the assistance in getting them home.”

Koizumi rolled her eyes. “Stop. Just go.” One hand came up over her eyes. The other waved imperiously toward the door.

Kaito caught Saguru’s hand and tugged. “We’re going then. I’ll make sure to visit sometime in the future with a dove, yeah?”

Koizumi gave them another tired wave and then they were heading back through the dizzying sprawl of hallways that made up Koizumi’s home.

Saguru half expected to find the twins waiting to ambush them again, but they reached the front door without even spying Koizumi’s unsettling servant.

“So,” Kaito said as they headed back toward the car. “Now what?”

“So now we head back to your family home and tend to the doves properly,” Saguru said, “because we rushed things earlier. And then we can relax like we had intended.”

“We’re going to need to pick up groceries for later, you know.”

Saguru sighed. The last thing he wanted was to deal with crowds and the irritating process of getting groceries. “Can that be put off until tomorrow?”

“You tell me. I thought you were the one that wanted ingredients to make that cake for your mother.”

Saguru pursed his lips. “…a quick stop at the store, doves, then home.”

“Doves, store, home? You’re getting perishables, right?”

“Fine, fine.” Maybe feeding the doves would give him a bit more energy back. It was a peaceful enough activity.

“Hey, Saguru?” Kaito said as they got into the car.

“Hm?”

“What do you think they’re doing now?”

Saguru didn’t have to ask who he meant. If Saguru’s alternate self was anything like him—and he was, that was clear—then he’d be exhausted as well. “Going home,” Saguru said after a moment. “We’re all going home and craving a nap.”

Kaito laughed. “Yeah, that sounds fair. For the record, I’m completely happy to take a nap with you when we get home.”

“And actually sleep?” Saguru joked, though at their age if they ended up in a bed together outside of regular sleeping hours—and honestly most times in those regular hours—it was just to catch up on sleep. They both had a lifetime of letting their heads and goals get the better of their sleep schedule and Kaito especially took advantage of having the opportunity to finally rest.

“Hm, maybe,” Kaito said with a grin. “Maybe not.” He caught Saguru’s hand. “You know I think in every world we must meet and affect each other. Maybe sometimes we’re lovers, and maybe sometimes we’re friends or enemies or something in between. I can’t imagine a world where you didn’t affect my life in some way.”

Saguru fought a blush. Kaito could still make him flustered like he was falling for the first time all over again. “The other versions of me are very lucky to have you then,” Saguru managed after a moment. He had the pleasure of seeing Kaito flush slightly as well. “Ready to go?”

Kaito nodded. “Yeah, let’s hurry so we can get home.”

*

Kaito felt off. That was definitely from the world hopping—technology and magic, it seemed, didn’t coexist perfectly. But the longer they were in this world—hopefully their world, nothing had been off so far—the closer to normal he felt. Ayato drowsed nearby and Saguru had his concentration-face on. Probably already going through things to fix Kaito again. Kaito sighed a little. He always worked too hard and Kaito always had too many glitches.

Kaito leaned his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. Saguru’s driver pulled onto Kaito’s road. There was his home, and Aoko’s, and the front looked just how they’d left it, complete with one of Agasa’s prototype toys stuck in a bush out front where Ayato had crashed it.

Something in him settled. Home.

When the car rolled to a stop, the front door opened to a concerned Aoko. Kaito felt his heart skip a beat, like it kept doing since they were back, then, remarkably, stabilize. It was like seeing her clicked everything into place, the slight unreality in him fixed by her mere presence. Kaito felt his lips curving to a smile.

“Saguru,” he said, catching Saguru’s hand in his own, the crisscross of careful scars on his fingers contrasting against Saguru’s whole ones. “We’re home.”

Saguru looked up and saw Aoko as well and he smiled. “Aoko.”

“She’s probably worried,” Kaito said under his breath. He clicked off his seatbelt. Undid Ayato’s as Ayato stirred sleepily.

“We did have an explosion,” Saguru reasoned, undoing his own seatbelt.

“Let’s reassure her we’re okay?”

“Are you?”

“Okay?” Kaito tilted his head. He should feel different with a memory missing, but Kaito felt like Kaito. He loved Saguru and Aoko, cared for Ayato like he was the brother neither of them ever had. He loved his birds, his mother, Agasa and Haibara’s contrasting lab presences and even Kudo’s nipping at his heels. He loved making a crowd smile with a trick or making his loved ones smile with the flick of a wrist to reveal a rose. Kaito nodded with a hum. “I’m okay.”

Aoko tugged the car door open before they could reach for the handle and threw herself on them. “Where have you been?! I’ve been worried sick!”

Kaito wrapped arms around her and felt Saguru and Ayato right there with him. Everything condensed into a feeling of correctness he couldn’t explain if he wanted to, hadn’t realized was missing in the other world.

“Sorry we worried you,” he said, “but we’re back now.”

[boyheros]

Ideally i would like to draw a bunch of stuff for my Snatcher descendent Minnie but I'm SUPPOSED to be doing homework so instead I'll just write about it for now. I'll put it under the cut cuz this might get long lolol

Ok ok it seems a lot of the descendants are similar in personality to their parent WHICH MAKES SENSE but honestly it would be really funny to me if Minnie was a failguy. Like instead of the "ahh scary ghost who steals my soul and makes my head pop off" part of snatcher he takes after the "makes people sign contracts to do his chores & sends mail to his minions so they feel appreciated & gets defeated by his own attacks in a bossfight" part of snatcher. This is also kinda reflection in his name? Instead of an ominous name like "the snatcher" he's still just. A minion. She's gotta EARN the scary title and he has not...!

I was thinking of having her be a paperboy too. Cuz of the mail mission and because snatcher has a mailman hat and it's cute. Idk if teens do that though? And there's not really a school club equivalent. Maybe like an office TA? Delivering shit to teachers and stuff? Perhaps.

Back to the failguy bit. Minnie is capable of performing the same magic as Snatcher but he SUCKS at it. Killing fellow students and staff is against the rules so she can't eat their souls to get more power :( and her dad usually takes care of everyone who trespasses in subcon so she doesn't get a lot of chances. Also the 'snatcher lazyness' comes into play where she sorta doesn't try. Sad!

She used to use her summoning magic as a replacement for a bag/backpack but it's not reliable. He has gotten many a detention from trying to summon his math homework & instead fucking blowing up everything with a cherry bomb. He also likes the white cherries like to eat but frequently causes them to blow up by accidentally imbuing them with spiritual energy. Exploding lunch incident 1 dead 7 injured.

If asked about why her clothes are burnt up she'll say it's an homage to how subcon is constantly on fucking fire but it's actually because he blows up and sets herself on fire all the time by accident ❤️

I think maybe one of the things he's skilled at is making blue potion except that's not super useful when you don't have any attacks to back it up with 🤨 instead she'll just splash people with it like when you're mad and throw a drink in someone's face. Or like pocket sand.

He makes contracts that are surprisingly non threatening too. Like the contract will say 'give me your soul' but 'soul' is crossed out and written over it is "HELP" and the conditions are "PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY BIOLOGY HOMEWORK!!!!!!" Also he signs all his papers and homework with a seal. Like the seal snatcher puts on contracts. NO NAME just a cute little smiley seal :D

[mirkwoodmunson]

meltdown

eddie munson x gn!y/n

2k words

sometimes the bullying is too much. sometimes eddie needs you to step in.

contains: aaaangst but then a lil fluff at the end ig so it’s ok, jason carver, hurt!eddie, pre-s4 tw: cursing, physical/verbal bullying, violence, meltdown a/n: companion piece to bad day. eddie's turn to have a rough time! disc: i do not give permission to share my content outside of tumblr; please reblog and do not repost; my content (even sfw) is not meant for minors; i am not responsible for the media you consume online.

“Piss off and juggle some balls,” Eddie snarls out, before abruptly getting slammed back into the side of his van, one of Jason’s basketball goons grabbing him by the vest, fists twisted into the denim and digging into his shoulders as he’s held against the vehicle.

He lets out a wheeze and then growls, attempts lashing out like a cornered animal but it only makes the jock pull him forward to slam him back again — harder — eliciting another gasp from Eddie as the wind is knocked from him a second time.

“You really shouldn’t litter, y’know,” the goon drawls smugly, as Jason Carver himself collects from the ground the pages of campaign material Eddie had dropped after being shoved into this altercation without warning. Material he’d been working on for the past three months.

Eddie’s eyes grow wide and panicked as Jason shuffles through them, the jock’s eyebrows furrowed and nose wrinkled, face twisted into a sneer to say ‘what the fuck am I looking at, weirdo??’

Eddie’s stomach drops, movement ceasing as he watches carefully.

“H-hey c’mon man, c’mon just drop ‘em, alright? Carver!”

The blond boy snorts, meeting Eddie’s pleading gaze with a careless one of his own.

“Sure, freak. Sure I’ll drop ‘em,” he coos.

Jason smiles, flat and ice-cold, and tears a neat rip right down the middle of the pages, Eddie immediately crying out angrily and squirming, distraught shouts only growing louder with every slow rriiiiippp Jason draws out for his own amusement.

He does eventually drop the pages — the small little squares he’d made out of them — lets them out of his hands slowly to flutter away in the breeze.

It’s gut-wrenching, the way Jason just grins in delight as Eddie furiously tries to break free, tries to thrust himself after Jason, tries to defend himself — but all his efforts earn him is a swift punch to the gut from the goon holding him.

Eddie doubles over with a huff and blinks rapidly as his vision explodes with color, lungs sputtering and stinging as he tries to chase a deep breath of air that they can’t hold with their ache, arms wrapped around his middle as he starts to sink to the ground.

He can hear nimble, quick-paced footsteps, someone running towards the trio, but in his position he doesn’t see you come up right behind Jason with your arms thrown back, hears you but doesn’t see as you cry out in a blind rage and swing your book bag with full might into the side of Jason Carver’s head.

He misses getting to see Jason practically soar to the ground, but he does see him flounder on the pavement, eyes wide in his startled panic, holding his head and trying to place his attacker.

You keep screaming, wildly swinging your heavy bag, taking a defensive stance in front of Eddie who’s still holding his abdomen, curled into himself and coughing.

“FUCK OFF YOU ROTTING PIECES OF DOG-SHIT!! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!! GET — AWAY!! I’LL FUCKING SHOVE MY FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR ASS, JASON CARVER; SO FAR YOUR OWN MOTHER IS GONNA TASTE THE SOLE!!”

You get a few more good whacks in, making Jason and his goon stumble as the latter helps the former to his feet, trying to keep him steady as they gather themselves and attempt a hasty retreat.

“FUCKING FREAKS!” The goon throws over his shoulder before they both break into a run, Jason stumbling a bit and struggling with his footing.

As soon as they’re focused on high-tailing it out of there you drop your bag and sink to your knees in front of Eddie’s huddled figure, the boy still pulling in deep breaths that squeal with a wheeze in between his coughs.

“Eds?? Eddie baby, lookit me, look here,” you cup his cheeks and gently lift his head, pushing curls away from his face to give him room to breathe and checking for any other injuries; your stomach drops when he slowly looks up with your encouragement, his bottom lip quivering as he tries to keep the tears restrained but a few of them have already fallen down his rosy cheeks. He looks up, but avoids your intense, concerned gaze.

“Oh, Eddie… sweetie, come on, you gotta get up; I got you, c’mon…” you sigh gently and pull one of his arms around your shoulders, carefully lifting him with you. He leans into you and lets out a soft whine, his other arm tightly wrapped against his middle, letting you maneuver him.

“Keep doing those deep breaths, babe, you got it… it’s alright you got it… c’mon, m'gonna take you home, okay? It’s alright…”

Your voice keeps him docile, keeps him calm, keeps him focused and breathing and moving. He wants to hide, wants to be in the quiet dark, wants to crawl away with you so he lets you guide him to the passenger side of his van and into the seat. As soon as you close his door he leans his arms up on the dash and buries his head in them, shoulders heaving.

Your heart sinks to your feet and you breathe out slowly.

“I’m gonna fucking kill that piece of shit…” You spit under your breath, glancing back at the school. You take a few minutes to gather whatever scraps of Eddie's campaign you can find -- whatever hasn't already blown away -- tucking them into your bookbag as you scoop it up along with the rest of Eddie's things. You walk around to the driver's side of the van, hopping up into the seat.

Eddie tries to calm down when he hears you come in, looks away and lifts his shirt to swipe over his face, a quick successions of sniffles. You can see him tremble, errant hairs shivering, the way his hands moved almost frantically, body rigid and vibrating with adrenaline.

You set your bag in the back and then just sit silent for a bit. Letting Eddie have his time to quietly vent the steam while he tries to hide it from you — huddled away and trying to collect himself before you press for info or speak up again.

When he’s down to just heavy breaths, you reach over and slowly stroke his arm, testing the waters. They’re lukewarm and still, and Eddie just sits and lets you comfort him.

“Are you okay, Eds?" 'Silly question,' you think, 'of course he's not okay.'

"Do- …d’you wanna, talk about it?”

Eddie does a big shrug and huffs, looking into his lap while fiddling with his rings absently. He sniffles, swipes a sleeve against his nose, shaking his head a little.

“What’s there to talk about.” His voice is raspy and soft, stating it plainly; he still wheezes softly. You wince and withdraw your hand.

“Same shit as always. Bunch’a fuckin' little shits ganging up on someone bigger to feel tough.”

The quiet settles over you again.

And then you jump in your seat, when Eddie begins punching the dash in front of him, practically screaming,

“SAME FUCKING SHIT!! IT’S THE SAME — FUCKING — SHIT!! EVERY — FUCKING — DAY — OF MY LIIIFE!!”

He’s punching with each word, choking on a sob with every pained breath, and then he’s just shouting at the end, fists digging into his thighs as he strains with the force of his bellowing, face red and wet.

You just freeze and go quiet, eyes glued down onto your hands in your lap, flinching with the punches and closing your eyes when he yells.

He breaks off with a sob and rakes fingers into his tangled hair — you hear strands snap — tugging against the roots as he cries deep from his aching belly, rasping with each breath.

“It doesn’t stop!! It doesn’t stop it doesn’t stop it doesn’t—“

He stomps his foot, pulling his hair — he was so strained just sitting in place, groaning and crying and shifting irritably like he needed to do something, needed to move. Something angry and red and sad and tired was trying to break free, pushing at his seams, and it frustrated him that all he could do was just cry. He felt itchy and tight in his skin.

It wasn’t often, but you had seen him like this a few times before. When it got too be too much for him to hide with a grin and lame joke, too much to tuck away into the attic of his mind.

It was the ones that smiled the easiest, it seemed, that had the most they wanted to hide.

Grin and bear it.

It broke your heart every time. How could it not?

Eddie was such a strong person, his will unmatched and pride hung high — not proud, per se, but very aware of how bright he shone, and more than happy to shed that light. Happy to stand strong and be that person everyone saw him as — that you saw him as — untouchable, unwavering, mighty.

Eddie the Brave.

It broke your heart to see that light flicker and go out, even if only momentarily. Broke your heart to see Eddie — who was always the one to comfort and protect you — need comfort and protection himself.

But every light needs tending to stay lit. The flames may go out but they can be fanned into a roar once more.

Eddie would always help you pick up your pieces, you would always be there to help him pick up his.

He sits rigid in his seat with his palms cupped over his face, muffling the cries and sniffles, hiding the tears that fell freely — hid them till they were trickling down his wrists and dripping from his chin.

“Eddie…sweetheart…” Just the warmth, tenderness, of your voice makes his shoulders slump, quivering with the force of the next few sobs as his muscles struggle to keep taught.

“Baby c’mere,” you soothe, reaching to him and carefully sliding a hand around his wrist. You pull it away, and he lets you guide him towards you slowly. You lift his hand and bring it up and around your shoulder, and Eddie leans in with it and puts his other arm around you as well, now crying freely against your shoulder as he sinks into your awaiting arms and lets the meltdown run its course as you comfort him.

"I'm sick of it, y/n! I'm-I'm fuckin' sick of it!"

You tuck your face into brown curls, let your eyes slide closed as you murmur calming shushes, hand smoothing slow, deep circles into his back, gently grazing with your fingertips; other hand clutching tight to the scruff of his shirt, holding Eddie to you dearly.

"I know. I know, Eds..."

It's all you can say. Nothing would really make it any better right now, he just needed to let it out, just needed a moment to be comforted and told 'yes. you're right, Eddie. It does fucking suck. But you'll be okay.'

After a while he's more responsive -- quieted down -- rubbing your back as well and self-soothingly brushing his cheek against the shoulder of your soft, warm shirt, just under your collarbone. Listening to your heartbeat, letting that ground him.

You press nuzzled kisses into his hair, against his forehead and temple and the bridge of his nose, which makes him smile and crinkle it sweetly.

He leans up slowly in his seat while you keep a hand pressed to his back, watching him orient himself and rub his eyes, trying to physically wipe away the thoughts swarming over the incident. He smooths his palms into his thighs, over and over, a slow and soothing gesture. Breathes deep and exhales, still wheezing a little, still aching, but now mostly just tired.

"...can you, stay over tonight?" Eddie croaks just above a whisper, finally meeting your eye.

You smile and nod, holding up the hand you'd had on his back.

He smiles too, soft and weary, fishes the keys out of his pocket and drops them into your palm.

Your gaze shifts to the little keychain attached to them, a clear plastic heart that holds a tiny cutout picture of the two of you from a photo booth, giggly and excited after seeing The Return of the Living Dead.

“I can help you fix the campaign! You’ve been working so hard on it.”

You start up the van, Eddie squeezes your thigh -- a silent 'thank you,' and you head off towards Forest Hills.