#somewhere safe fic

[arsynnotarson]

im still baffled how people with "proshippers dni" in their ao3 fanfic desc / tags exist.

like, i thought it was a myth. ( /j because of course antis would do something like that )

its ao3. AO3!!!

it's an archive for the stuff wattpad and ff.net kicked off.

any by their definition, that stuff was "proship content" made by "proshippers".

you can't kick the freaks off the freak website made for freaks.

you're fighting an uphill battle, antis. if you hate proshippers so much, get off their site.

[authenticcadence18]

Twice this week I have received comments on Can’t Help Falling in Love critiquing my use of tags and I’m just like?

those “extra” tags have been there for four years? no im not going to delete them?? I think if it truly was a big issue one of my moots/writer friends would’ve brought it up to me by now???

I use tags to express my creative voice and personality. And I DO include lots of real tags.

if someone makes something FOR FREE and it’s not harmful maybe just say what you like about it and move on?

like? do yall like my tags?? have my tags dissuaded you from checking out my stuff??? because I’ve been posting on ao3 since 2019 and this is the first time anyone has ever brought it up :/

[novorehere]

Famished First-Time

Hello friends! This is an especially special post that I am very excited about, because the story you’re about to read was not written by myself. A friend who would like to remain anonymous submitted this amazing story to me and wanted me to post it to my blog for you all to enjoy. While they don’t have their own vore blog, I hope you can all enjoy and give them some praise and feedback! Words cannot describe how much I ADORE it, and I think you all will too no matter if you’re familiar with Obey Me or not <3 

Enjoy!

_____________

“Thank you!” Yuki, the lovely young cashier, smiled sweetly as Rayfa plunked down the appropriate amount of Grimm—plus a generous tip—onto the counter. “Come again!”

“You know I will!” Rayfa laughed, and the demon chick behind the counter laughed too. They had become fast friends—what with Rayfa being a proud regular and all—and Yuki knew she’d be back again within the week.

It always started with an unrelated shopping trip. An excursion to buy some nail polish and ribbons for her next sleepover with Asmo. Or perhaps an errand to pick up the newest video game Levi had pre-ordered, for he was too anxious to go out himself. Regardless of where her ventures began, they always ended back at the bakery—where she could purchase a little something for Beel. It hardly cost her anything (mostly because Yuki gave her legendary discounts) and Beel always got so adorably excited when she came home with dessert, so of course Rayfa had made it into a habit. It was such an easy way to put a smile on his face! How could she not?

“I’m already looking forward to it!” Yuki beamed. “See you next week, hun!”

“See you then!”

Rayfa carefully lifted the hefty white cake box into her hands, then began her leisurely walk back to the House of Lamentation, the soft chimes of the bakery’s doorbell twinkling faintly behind her. It was a lovely night outside, pleasantly warm but with the welcome caveat of a gentle breeze. It was the kind of evening that Rayfa liked to spend admiring the beauty of the Devildom, but something about this particular night was making her uneasy. She felt like she was being watched—nay, hunted. Instinctively, she quickened her pace, trying not to think about it. It was surely just her imagination.

Rayfa was maybe two blocks away from salvation—the HoL—when disaster finally struck. Out of nowhere, Rayfa felt burly/muscular arms wrap uncomfortably tightly around her waist. She readied herself to scream, but a freakishly large hand—with claws—clamped down over her mouth. She fought and kicked as violently as she could, but humans were no match for demons, and her attackers callously dragged her into the nearest alleyway.

Once they were far enough back not to be spotted from the sidewalk, Demon #1 forced her up against the wall and spat out an impatient order.

“I’m going to remove my hand now. Scream, and we’ll make things far messier than they need to be. You understand?”

Rayfa, shaking with fear, nodded frantically. Devildom nights were darker than black, and the streets had been relatively barren earlier, anyway. Rayfa doubted that anyone would come running even if she did scream. The clawed hand was removed, and Rayfa gasped for breath. It wasn’t that she couldn’t breathe before; She was just relieved to get that grimy hand away from her face.

“It’s not every day you see a human ’round these parts…” Demon #1 chuckled darkly.

Rayfa spied two more demons over his shoulder. So there were three of these fuckers, then.

Demon #1 stepped forward to grab her chin—to force her to look at him—which Rayfa desperately wanted to resist. Her self-preservation instincts told her to keep quiet though, and frustratedly, she obeyed.

…Until the dirtbag harassing her stepped purposefully on top of the cake box that had fallen from her grasp during the scuffle.

“That was for my friend…!” Rayfa growled angrily, surprising even herself with how upset she had gotten on Beel’s behalf—especially when her own current predicament was so much worse.

“Yeah, well-” Demon #1 scoffed and cruelly kicked the cake box aside. He stepped closer—again—and made a very deliberate show of licking his lips. “Your friend’s not the only one who needs to eat.”

Rayfa went pale. This guy was actually Oberon levels of creepy. (Levi would have been so proud of Rayfa for that SAO reference.)

“Wait! You-! You can’t eat me!” Rayfa squeaked. “I’m, like, the face of the exchange program! You could ruin relations between the three realms forever!”

“Tch. Like we care about that!” Demon #2 mocked boisterously. “We never wanted to make friends with those stuck-up celestials in the first place!”

“And humans, of course, are just snacks!” Demon #1 tacked on gleefully. “Who gives a fuck if Diavolo’s little exchange program falls through?”

Rayfa gritted her teeth. She wanted to argue more, but they had clearly already made up their minds. She was so royally screwed.

Demon #3, who had been relatively silent throughout the whole exchange, suddenly stepped closer. He was easily the largest of the three degenerate demons; Rayfa had to tilt her head almost all the way back just to meet his eyes. Intimidating. Demon #3 stared her down with the ferocity of a lion. Then he began to speak—quietly yet gruffly—the words foreign and unrecognizable. Suddenly, realization dawned on her. He was reciting a hex.

But by the time Rayfa realized, it was already too late. Her body shrank rapidly and she dizzily watched the world around her grow larger and larger and larger—until finally, she was left untouched at 2-3 inches tall. Things were not looking good for her. But! At such a small size, they couldn’t possibly clamp a hand down over her mouth again! Right?

Desperately, Rayfa began to recite the one phrase she prayed could get her out of this mess:

“Hear me, denizens of the darkness, you who are born of shadow and you who give birth to it! Hear me and do as I command!”

“Stop her!” Demon #1 roared furiously, and Demon #3 (the nearest) made a desperate grab for her. Rayfa just barely managed to scramble out of the way before he could get his grubby hands on her, silently cursing the fact that the summoning incantation was so ungodly long. Nevertheless, she was determined to see it through.

“I, Rayfa, call upon you to send forth one of your number! I summon the Avatar of- HnghGruh!”

Though he had failed to grab her, Demon #3 was still determined to shut her up. He backhanded her—hard—which was enough to garble her words and send her flying backwards across the pavement. Rayfa winced at the scrapes she received. They were gonna hurt like a bitch tomorrow, assuming she lived to see it.

Interrupted as she may have been, though, the spell—blessedly—had still gone through. There was a blinding flash of golden light, and then there, standing before her, was none other than…

Mammon, the Avatar of Greed.

Huh.

Rayfa had (admittedly) been hoping for Lucifer, but whatever panicked sound she’d made upon being swatted away had apparently sounded more like the word greed than the word pride. Honestly though, Rayfa was just relieved to see a familiar face.

…As endearingly incompetent as that familiar face could sometimes be.

Mammon stumbled around dazedly for a moment, and Rayfa felt guilty knowing that her poor casting of the spell was likely to blame. Quickly, she shook her head to clear her mind. Guilt could come later; Right now was her chance to escape!

Even though Mammon had not immediately chased off the three depraved demons, his unexpected appearance alone was more than enough of a distraction for Rayfa to work with. At the very least, she no longer felt quite as cornered as before. Demon #1, Demon #2, and Demon #3 were focused entirely on Mammon now, and that gave her the perfect opportunity to disappear. A full-sized demon was a much greater threat than a tiny human girl, after all! Rayfa instantly began scheming. Maybe she could subtly sneak away now, text Lucifer or Satan to come pick her up, and apologize to Mammon for using him as an escape later. He would fake like he was annoyed by it, she was sure, but there was no way these demons would actually be able to hurt him—not like they would hurt her—and Mammon would recognize that too. He’d just be relieved that he’d protected her, even if unknowingly at first.

Rayfa was just about to make her move, ready to dart out of the shady alleyway, but right before she took the first step, dark blue eyes swirled with gold locked onto her.

“Rayfa?!” Mammon spluttered out with confusion, as the last of the vertigo from her botched summoning spell finally wore off.

It took a good few seconds for Mammon to realize exactly what was happening, but eventually things did click for him, and the Avatar of Greed whirled on the lesser demons indignantly. Unfortunately for him, Demon #1 and his lackeys had finally recovered from the shock of their surprise visitor and were eager to make him pay.

“Oh shit!” Mammon swore, lightning-fast reflexes kicking into gear as he ducked to avoid a punch.

Demon #2 quickly lunged after him, but Mammon—surprisingly tactfully—sidestepped that, too. Levi really hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that Mammon was “Fast as fuck, boi!” Seriously! He moved so quickly that Rayfa could scarcely make out a blur! Mammon deftly avoided several more attacks, then glanced around with wild eyes, searching for an out. When he found one—as he always did—his body moved before his brain could catch up. Rayfa supposed she shouldn’t hold his recklessness against him though. It was what she was currently banking on to save her life.

When Mammon finally threw a punch of his own, the attack was surprisingly calculated. His fist connected squarely with the jaw of the head honcho—Demon #1—and Mammon capitalized on that fact. All he had needed was an opening, which he’d succeeded in creating for himself when Demon #1 had stumbled backwards from the force of the blow. He quickly darted past the now capsized enemy, taking advantage of the clever little “escape route” that was open. And then…

Mammon just fucking ran for it, gravel flying as he skidded past the remaining two lackeys and began sprinting directly towards poor terrified Rayfa. He didn’t slow down as he neared her. In fact, Rayfa swore he sped up! She squeezed her eyes shut as Mammon barreled forward at breakneck speeds, leaning down at just the right moment to scoop her up as he careened away from the alley. Rayfa let out a squeak of alarm as she felt Mammon’s fingers curl around her, but she relaxed somewhat when she realized that he had actually taken great care to hold her securely (but not so tightly that she’d be uncomfortably squeezed).

And then, just like that, they were gone.

Rayfa hadn’t expected anything less from him. If there was one thing Mammon was great at, it was running away. (Usually from debt collectors or angry brothers, but the logic applied here too.)

“Oh shit! Oh fuck!” Mammon panicked, footsteps pounding heavily on the sidewalk. “I really don’t wanna die!”

Despite herself, Rayfa felt a smile playing on her lips. Even when Mammon actually managed to pull off something pretty damn cool, he was still an endearingly panicky mess. But Rayfa wouldn’t have him any other way.

A few tense minutes of running later, Mammon veered off into another alleyway further down the street, panting heavily. Quick as he was, he obviously didn’t have the stamina to go on running forever. He needed a breather, but Rayfa didn’t think they could afford to take one.

The demon muttered something frustratedly under his breath. Rayfa couldn’t quite catch the words, but she could only imagine he was cursing out their pursuers. Which was totally understandable—they very much deserved it—but what Rayfa couldn’t understand was why he had stopped to do so. Tired or not, they had to get home!

“Mammon?” Rayfa questioned nervously, gently prying his fingers apart to sneak a worried peek up at the demon. He held her level with his heart, hands cupped carefully around her, blue-gold eyes gazing down upon her worriedly. Had they not been dangerously preoccupied, Rayfa would’ve melted at how concerned he looked over her.

“I’m not gonna let ‘em have ya,” Mammon growled protectively. “You’re my human, ya hear?”

Mammon had always been relatively exceedingly protective of her, but Rayfa had never really minded. She thought the whole “keep you all to myself” thing was sweet, even, albeit in a very Mammon sort of way. But something about the way he was staring at her now…

For the first time since they’d met, Rayfa felt inherently nervous under the Avatar of Greed’s gaze.

“Uhhh, are you-” Rayfa started to say, but the demon’s hands suddenly lurched beneath her, causing her to yelp with surprise rather than finish her thought. “Aaa!”

Mammon determinedly brought her to eye-level, an uncharacteristically serious expression etched across handsome features.

“What are you doing?!” Rayfa nervously demanded, the demon’s sudden solemnity eating away at her. Mammon was never sober like this. To make matters worse, Rayfa could hear the angry shouts of the demons they’d run away from. Those fuckers were finally starting to catch up.

It seemed that Mammon had heard them too, their voices being what finally spurred him on to do the unthinkable.

“S-Sorry ‘bout this!”

Mammon rarely ever apologized, which only solidified Rayfa’s right to fear whatever was coming. She had a really really really bad feeling about this.

Mammon, looking just as nervous as Rayfa felt, awkwardly guided the brave little human towards his lips. He gulped nervously, then opened wide with an automatic “ahhh”, and realization came crashing down onto the girl like a tidal wave. Rayfa screamed and tried to scramble backwards, but Mammon quickly threw his head back and fervently crammed her in.

It was almost absurd how quickly the demon’s mouth flooded with drool. Rayfa whined with disgust as warm gooey saliva oozed over her, bubbling up and seeping through her clothes. Mammon cautiously brought his teeth back together, sealing her away inside, then began eagerly slurping down her staple human flavors. Rayfa felt herself blush, angry and embarrassed that Mammon was spending such an exorbitant amount of time tasting her.

“Mammon!” Rayfa seethed, practically shaking with rage. “What the fuck!”

She was exhausted and disgruntled and grossed out, but begrudgingly, she decided to put up with whatever episode Mammon was having right now because she trusted him. For all she knew, demon spit could reverse hexes cast on humans or something! Right, yeah. Mammon probably had a plan. She just needed to play along and-

*Glk!*

Mammon gulped thickly, and Rayfa suddenly felt the clench of tight/squishy muscle around her as she was sucked down into the boy’s throat. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, being worked deeper and deeper with every purposeful swallow. Mammon had been quick to stuff her into his mouth, but now that she was safely out of sight, Rayfa noticed, he was taking his sweet time getting her down. Slow, languid gulps. Pleasured hums vibrating around her. Fingers gingerly pressed against the throat, presumably to feel her fight back as he swallowed. Rayfa grimaced as she slowly squelched down his greedy gullet, squirming violently as the unyielding flesh easily suctioned her down.

“Stop enjoying this…!” Rayfa growled disgustedly. “Bastard…!”

Within the minute, Mammon finished swallowing her down, letting out a relieved and breathy sigh. Rayfa, meanwhile, gasped out as the tight, hot, unyielding throat finally gave way to a much roomier space. Fleshy and vulnerable, the squishy pink walls shifted easily around her as Rayfa scrambled to reorient herself. A noisy gurgle stretched on, echoing around the darkness. She had finally reached his stomach.

“…hububhhuhuhh…” Mammon babbled through what sounded like a very drooly mouthful.

“Mammon! Are you kidding me right now?!” Rayfa screamed, raging annoyance briefly overtaking her fear.

“…tha’ feelsh…” Mammon moaned out. “…so fuckin’ guhd…”

Rayfa shuddered at how the stomach lurched as Mammon stumbled almost-drunkenly backwards, then slumped against the grimy brick walls, slowly sliding down and lowering himself to the ground.

“Urghhh!” Rayfa groaned, utterly exasperated. “You! Are! The! Absolute! Worst!”

Every word was punctuated with an annoyed punch to the stomach walls. She only really succeeded in getting her fist all sticky/slimy with stomach ooze though; Manmon appeared entirely unaffected.

Rayfa surely would have chewed him out even more had she not been interrupted by a sickeningly familiar voice. Even though she was tucked away out of sight, she still shivered just hearing it. They had finally caught up.

“What did you do with the girl?!” Demon #1 demanded furiously.

“I, uh…” Mammon slurred. He had barely even begun to answer when his digestive system suddenly did the work for him, a deep and contented burp rolling up his throat. “Mrph. ‘Scuse me.”

It didn’t take much for Demon #1 and his lackeys to put two and two together after that.

“Bastard! She was supposed to be my lunch!” Demon #1 roared. “Get him!”

Rayfa hated that her heart leapt at the thought of Mammon getting caught up in trouble. Especially on her behalf. She was supposed to be angry at him—he had fucking eaten her—but much to her annoyance and embarrassment, she couldn’t shake the worry from her heart. She’d grown to care too much.

“Mammon, please! Get it together!” Rayfa urged, cursing herself for encouraging the man who had gulped her down like nothing more than an afternoon snack. But she couldn’t just sit idly by!

Mammon stayed seated, but Rayfa felt the stomach shift as he at least sat up straight. She felt a sudden surge of power flow through and around her, too. And when Mammon next spoke, his voice was unrecognizable.

“BaCK oFF,” Mammon snarled like a rabid dog, sounding like an actual demon for the first time since Rayfa had met him. “Or I’LL eaT yOU foR desSERT!”

Rayfa was pretty sure that Mammon only had a hankering for humans—not for other demons—but the threat worked all the same. Mammon almost never lost control, which made the few times he actually did downright terrifying. Rayfa could only imagine the looks of horror on her attackers’ faces as they trembled at the sight of the second son’s true form.

“Shit! I didn’t realize he was one of the seven Avatars-!”

“Okay, okay! You can keep the human! Just-!” An honest-to-god whimper. “Please don’t hurt us!”

“Quick! Let’s get out of here!”

Noises from the “outside world” (with the exception of voices) had proven too muffled to hear from within the confines of the demon boy’s gut, but Rayfa imagined that if she had been out there with him, she would’ve heard a stampede of receding footsteps. Her suspicions were further supported when she felt the energy needed to maintain his true form slowly fade away. Mammon let out a thoroughly contented puff of breath and relaxed back against the wall again, too. Demon form now totally dispelled. And then, in a move Rayfa never would’ve expected, Mammon began rubbing his belly appreciatively—she could feel the gentle weight on the other side of the “wall”. For a hopeful but fleeting moment, Rayfa almost believed he cared. But no! He had eaten her!

Rayfa tried desperately to work out why Mammon had done this. Had he decided that, if she was going to end up “demon food” anyway, it may as well be his belly she was filling? A memory from long ago suddenly sprung to the forefront of her mind:

“The next time your life’s in danger, I’m gonna be the one to save you, all right? Don’t you forget that.”

“…And if I can’t manage to save ya, then make sure you die, got it?!”

Rayfa felt tears prickling at her eyes. So that was it then. Mammon had decided that if he couldn’t protect her, the least he could do was take her out himself.

Rayfa shuddered as the stomach gurgled loudly. It’d been relentlessly noisy—groaning and churning around her—for the entire duration of her “stay”. She felt drowned out, unsure whether or not Mammon could even hear her, but Rayfa had never been the type to give up.

“Mammon! They- They’re gone now, right? So then let me out!”

“…fiyve mr…minuhhs…” Mammon mumbled out, words slurred and utterly unintelligible.

Rayfa groaned.

Why are you like this?

Praying that Mammon could hear her—she still wasn’t totally sure her words would reach him from down there—Rayfa did the only thing she could think left to do. She called upon the power of the pact.

“MAMMON!!!” Rayfa roared at the top of her lungs, fingers crossed that he could actually hear her so that the pact would work. “SPIT! ME! OUT!”

Rayfa guessed her words must’ve gotten through to him, because just like that, the demon’s body began to obey. The stomach lurched, and Mammon began making throaty/guttural choking noises like he was dry-heaving. Rayfa felt herself being tugged back towards the esophagus—This was her way out!—but the gagging sounds poor Mammon was making were rapidly becoming unbearable. Rayfa was genuinely beginning to worry that she’d accidentally commanded him to choke himself.

“Hrrk, rggh, hrghk-!”

“Okay, okay! Stop! Don’t hurt yourself!”

Rayfa cursed her own lack of resolve. She was going to die here now. As nothing more than “demon food”—like Mammon always teased. All because she couldn’t bring herself to hurt the lovable dumbass who’d eaten her.

Her surroundings shook turbulently for another few seconds as coughs wracked Mammon’s body. He wasn’t choking anymore, thank god, but he was very clearly gasping for breath. Rayfa felt terribly guilty for putting him through that. When Mammon had finally cleared his throat, he muttered out an unabashedly annoyed:

“Ya know, it’d be a lot easier on the botha us if ya lemme cough you up myself.”

“You-!” Rayfa brightened at finally being addressed, tears of relief blurring her vision. “You were really going to let me out?”

“Well, duh.” Mammon shrugged, and Rayfa slid as the walls shifted around her. “If I wanted ya dead, I woulda let those lesser demons have ya.”

“But-! But you-!”

“Didn’t ya hear the protection spell?” Mammon grumbled, clearing his throat again. Apparently, some lingering discomfort remained. Rayfa winced sympathetically. She really hadn’t meant to hurt him. “I cast one on ya right before I swallowed ya down.”

Ah. So that’s what he had been doing when she saw him “cursing out” the demons chasing them. Apparently, that flustered muttering had been a protection spell.

“Okay, fine! But why didn’t you answer me?!” Rayfa demanded shakily. “I was seriously freaking out, Mammon!”

“I, uh…” And the regret was practically tangible. He sounded immeasurably guilty. “’M sorry.” He finally settled on. “I didn’t mean to get buzzed like that.”

Yeah, Rayfa had figured that much out. She didn’t say so, though. Instead, she stayed patiently quiet, giving him room to elaborate.

“Humans really are a delicacy for us, ya know? And havin’ one alive and kickin’ in my belly…” Mammon mumbled embarrassedly. “…kinda fried my brain.”

Yeah, that checked out. Rayfa hummed in acknowledgement.

“Didn’t mean to give ya a heart attack though…” Mammon continued after a beat. “I really am sorry ‘bout that, Rayfa.”

He sounded so beyond apologetic that Rayfa couldn’t help but want to reach out to him. In moments like these—rare as they were—Rayfa would usually give him a hug. But obviously, that couldn’t quite be done…

Almost reflexively, Rayfa reached out with both hands, palms splayed against the squishy stomach walls. She gave a reassuring little shove—like a playful nudge to the shoulder—then slowly began rubbing soothing little circles into the flesh. Mammon shivered with delight at her touch; Rayfa could feel the stomach tremble with pleasure. Despite herself, she let out a little laugh.

“That good, huh?” Rayfa teased. The playful banter almost made her feel like they were chilling out on the couch together. Almost made her forget where she really was.

“Sh-Shaddup!”

Rayfa just knew he was blushing like crazy.

“I guess I should probably thank you for saving me,” Rayfa sighed wistfully. “Albeit through very unconventional means.”

Mammon huffed proudly. “You’re welcome! You should know by now never to doubt the Great Mammon!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rayfa waved away the egotistical comment. “Can the ‘Great Mammon’ cough me up already? It’s super gross down here.”

“Uh.” Mammon froze, and Rayfa could feel the stomach tense up nervously around her. “Just lemme getcha back to the dorms first. You’ve got a penchant for trouble and I don’t wantcha runnin’ into any more of it.”

Excuse me?! You think I’m the one with the penchant for trouble?!

It took Rayfa a moment to realize that Mammon didn’t actually think her a trouble-magnet. He just wanted an excuse to hold onto her for a little longer. Because he was enjoying it.

Rayfa sighed heavily. She knew she was going to regret this: “Yeah, okay. But you’d better let me out the second we get home.”

“Yeah, ‘course! Sure thing.”

Rayfa laughed and shook her head. Now that Mammon had gotten a taste, Rayfa had the distinct feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time she found herself playing the role of “dinner”.

But curiously enough, Rayfa also found that maybe she didn’t totally mind. ❤️

[artiststarme]

The Gift of Not Dying Part 13

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

Yay, we're done with Starcourt now! I hope you guys like this part and if you do, please let me know in the comments!

~*~*~*~

Steve just wanted to go back to Hopper’s cabin and recover enough from his death, concussion, and whatever the fuck else he had going on so things could get back to normal. So he could go back to just being the kid that worked at Scoops Ahoy that had a thing for the town’s nerdy metalhead. He wanted to go on a date with Eddie and hear Hopper giving him a shovel talk to keep him in line. 

He didn’t want to have to blend in with the crowd to avoid being shot or hide from the Russians in the food court. He just wanted to be a normal teenager for a little while whose biggest worry was taking the boy that he liked on a date. Was that so much to ask?

Apparently so because right then he was anxiously curled up in the fetal position in some random fast food restaurant in Starcourt, trying desperately to silence his heavy breathing to avoid drawing the attention of the evil Russians. How was he supposed to protect his friends against the automatic rifles some of these guys were packing? He’d be fine, with the drugs out of his system, he’d come back. But Dustin, Robin, and Erica? One misplaced bullet and they’d be gone for good. 

Him and Eleven had been practicing his telekinesis but he was still leagues away from being anywhere close to reaching the level of her powers. All he could do was partially crinkle a soda can, there was no way he could fling even one of these guys away in order to escape. Steve wasn’t even 100% certain that he could deflect a bullet under this kind of pressure.

They sat in silence with bated breath for what seemed like forever. They could hear the Russians walking around, some unintelligible dialogue being exchanged. It seemed that they were going to survive this… and then his foot twitched. It bumped a fallen steel tray and the sound was deafening in the silence. Shit, Steve had just killed his friends. They all heard the Russian’s footsteps come closer, waiting in dread to feel the pain of the bullet. But the man never fired. In place of the expected pops of gunfire, they heard a car alarm closely followed by the smash of metal and glass. 

They waited a moment before peeking over the serving counter of the fast food joint. Steve didn’t see any Russians with their guns pointed at them. No, he saw El. Her arm still extended towards the car with a small stream of blood leaking from her nose. His little sister had saved their lives once again. 

Steve ran ahead of his friends to meet the other half of the Party. He saw El climb down the escalator first and swept her up into a hug. “El!”

“Steve! I was worried. Are you… okay?” She asked him, her face smushed in his shoulder. 

“Yeah kiddo, I’m fine. I promise, I’m all good.” He pulled back to smile at her reassuringly. She gave a small smile in response before Dustin was pushing Steve away from them and hugging her himself. 

“You swung that thing like a Hot Wheel!” He laughed. Some of the Party members, specifically Jonathan and Nancy, were looking at Steve in confusion. 

“Lucas?” Erica spoke. 

“What are you doing here?” Lucas asked her, throwing his hands out to his sides. 

“Ask them, it’s their fault!” She pointed at them and Steve couldn’t even defend himself.

“True yeah, that’s totally true. It’s absolutely our fault.” 

“I don’t understand what happened to that car,” Robin said desperately, her brain was scrambling for a logical explanation but it wouldn’t find one. 

Dustin ripped off the bandaid for her and said, “El has superpowers.”

“I’m sorry?” She asked. 

Usually Steve would be nicer and more patient considering he’d reacted the same way just last year. But these were trying times and he didn’t have any more patience to spare. “Superpowers. She threw it with her mind. C’mon, catch up.” 

“That’s El?” Erica asked, her eyes lighting up in recognition. 

“Who’s El?” Robin squinted, still confused with the lackluster explanation she’d received. 

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Nancy said in her passive-aggressive way that was condescendingly polite. 

“I’m Robin, I work with Steve.”

“She cracked the top secret code,” Dustin defended her. 

“Yeah which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place,” Steve added. He wasn’t going to let some twerp upstage him in sticking up for his new best friend. 

“Russians? Wait, what Russians?” Jonathan asked confusedly. 

“The Russians!” Steve wasn’t sure how he wasn’t understanding. There wasn’t a clearer way to say it. 

“Those were Russians?” Max asked.

“Some of them,” Erica answered her, clearing absolutely nothing up for anyone. 

“What are you talking about?” Lucas exasperatedly questioned.  

“Did you hear our code red?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah but we couldn’t understand half of what you were saying,” Mike yelled at him. 

“Goddamn low battery!”

“How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?!” Steve yelled for emphasis. He’d reminded him so many times to carry extras!

“‘Kay, well everything worked out, didn’t it, Steve?” The little bastard had the nerve to sass him right now?

“‘Worked out’? We almost died!” Erica pointed out. 

“Yeah, but we didn’t, did we?” 

“We were pretty damn close…” Steve trailed off when he noticed Eleven walking away. Her steps were labored and her hands shook at her sides. He saw her bring her hands to her ears for a moment before she whimpered and fell to the ground. “El!” 

He dropped to her side just a second before Mike did. 

“My leg, my leg,” she whimpered. Steve could do little more than to squeeze her hand and pet her hair as some of the kids ran to get supplies. 

Something in her leg was moving and just seeing it in his peripheral had Steve feeling nauseous. Even more so when Jonathan pierced her skin with a cooking knife. “Oh my god, I’m going to puke.”

Jonathan digging around with a knife wasn’t helping anything and El’s screaming just got louder. 

“Stop, stop, I can do it” She turned pleading eyes to Steve but he just shook his head in panic. He couldn’t do it. His telekinetic powers still sucked ass and irrationally, he didn’t want the party to find out about them. They might be fine with El’s but his were so much more morbid, there was no way they’d support them. He felt awful as he watched determination fill El’s eyes. She didn’t deserve to have to perform rudimentary surgery on herself just because Steve was squeamish and hadn’t been practicing his powers as well as he should. 

Nevertheless, with some more screams and the last of her energy, El pulled it from her leg with her powers and threw the disgusting, fleshy tidbit as far from the group as possible. It tried to wiggle away and made some disgusting screeches and squeaks as it moved. But it only scooched a few inches before a boot slammed down on it. Then, there was Hopper. He was holding a gun and glancing between El and Steve with varying ranges of horror. 

“Jesus Christ, what’ve you kids gotten yourselves into this time?” He asked them, already exasperated with the situation despite not hearing any of it. He looked between El and Steve, his eyes focusing on her cut up leg and Steve’s purpling face. “What the hell?”

All of the kids rushed over each other in their descriptions. Steve zoned out of most of it. This was all too much, too fast. His mind was whirring and he almost felt like he was back on drugs. “It destroyed the cabin? Okay, wait. Just to be clear, this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El. It’s some sort of gigantic… weapon?”

“Yes,” Nancy answered curtly. 

“But instead of like, screws and metal, the Mindflayer made its weapon with melted people,” Steve raised an eyebrow to ask if he was hearing that right. 

“Yes, exactly!” Nancy nodded.

“Yeah, okay. I-yeah, I’m just making sure.” He’d gone through some shit but this might be the most disturbing thing he’d ever heard. 

“Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?” Joyce asked them all. 

“El beat the shit out of it but… yeah, it’s still alive,” Max told her regretfully. 

“But if we close the gate again…” Will said. 

“...and cut the brain off from it’s body,” Max continued. 

“And kill it,” Lucas finished. “Theoretically.”

Steve was so fucking over this. He thought they were done with this once they beat the Russians. Now there was a fleshy monster killing people with mind powers? He sat on the bench with Robin, both of their minds melting together in solidarity. She’d joined at a bad time. The demogorgon and demodogs weren’t a walk in the park but something about this situation gave him a bad feeling. He didn’t like what was coming. 

Steve let El and Hopper talk for a few minutes alone before he took her place. “Hey Hop.”

“What the hell, kid? I thought you were at work, how did you get roped into this?” 

“I’m innocent! Dustin, man, he dragged me into this shit again. He came into Scoops with a Russian transmission so we decoded it, got stuck in an elevator, Robin and I got tortured by some Russians, I got killed again, and then we got really high and not in a good way. Where have you been?”

Hopper just looked at him blankly for a second before his whispers became furious. “You died again?! Goddammit Harrington! You have to be more careful, you can’t be so reckless with your life!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I had any control over being literally tortured by Russians!” Steve whisper-yelled, flailing his hands around in his own defense. 

“Why didn’t you come to me about the transmission? The next time you hear something like that, I need you to come to me!��� Hopper said, pointing an accusing finger at him.

“Yes Hop, I'll come find you immediately the next time a kid and I intercept a secret Russian communication. Trust me, I’ve learned my lesson.”

Hopper sighed and wrapped a burly arm around his shoulders. “I know, kid. Stay strong, okay? I just need you to give Henderson a ride to his radio tower and then you can recover out of the danger zone. And absolutely no more dying on me, alright? My heart can’t take it, kid.”

“I’ll do my best, old man.”

Hopper scoffed in laughter and ruffled his hair, “alright smartass, get going. Stay safe and I’ll see you when this is over.”

“Sounds good Hop, stay safe.” With another hug in parting, Steve led the way to the Toddfather. The only good thing about this entire situation was getting to drive that beauty. They squabbled on the way there and Steve was able to tune out and let himself think. 

It didn’t feel right to be leaving the rest of the Party there when there were so many chances of things going wrong. Since day one, he’d been the one to lay his life on the line to protect everyone. But now, he was driving away to play chauffeur. It just felt wrong and the pit in his stomach only grew larger for each mile further he drove. 

When they did get to Cerebro at Weathertop, he saw the lights of town start to flicker and the Starcourt portion of the Party wasn’t answering the radio. Steve’s gut was telling him to get back there and it hadn’t steered him wrong yet. He started running to the car, he had to get them out of there.

“Where are you going?!” He only paused slightly to answer Erica’s question. 

“To get them the hell out of there. Stay here, contact the others!” And then he was off once again. He barely noticed Robin running after him or hopping next to him in the car. They each stayed silent on the drive, far too aware of the looming danger that they were approaching. 

Steve pressed on the gas pedal and didn’t lift up when he saw Billy’s camaro heading straight towards the Wheeler’s station wagon with the kids in it. He pressed down harder and didn’t stop until his world snapped black in the collision. 

Steve’s eyes opened to a pitch black world. Shit, he was back in the blank space. While his aches and pains were gone and a feeling of safety blanketed him, there was an undercurrent of panic. Hopper told him not to die again and less than thirty minutes later, here he was… dead from an ill-conceived suicide run. And Robin! Was she okay? He hadn’t wanted her to come with him but there hadn’t been any time for words to be exchanged. He needed her to be alright, he needed his best friend. 

He also needed to wake up. When he focused on finding his body in the blank space, he saw Jonathan, Nancy, and Robin lugging it from the front seat of the Toddfather into the trunk of the Station Wagon. He saw Robin crying where she cradled his head and saw the kids watching on in horror from their spots in the backseat. He needed to wake up now. 

Steve focused all of his energy into touching his own corpse, of forcing his way back to consciousness. And… it worked. The blank space blurred for a second before his eyes were blinking open, staring directly into Robin’s. The whole car let out a sigh of relief. They hadn’t lost him after all. 

For Steve, the rest of the night passed in a haze. He distantly remembered pain, fear, a particularly confusing moment of Dustin singing over the radio, and bright flashes of color. His body went on auto-pilot as his mind lagged behind. However, everything became disturbingly clear again when he was sat on the bumper of the ambulance outside of the still-smoking mall. 

When he saw Joyce hugging Will, the bad feeling that was clogging this throat the entire night sparked to life. It was at that exact moment that he knew Hopper was dead. He would have come out with her to hug El, and Steve, the second he could. For him not to be there, he had to be dead. 

A feeling of bitterness overcame him. What made Steve more deserving of this power than Hopper? Good, pure Hopper that took in two scared and lonely kids. Jim Hopper, the Chief of Police that risked his life to ensure that no one else would have to worry about the Upside Down. Hop, the guy that became his dad even though Steve was a bitch at least half the time. 

Instead of a girl hugging her father, he saw El standing alone in the middle of the chaos. She was watching Joyce and Will embrace with tears in her eyes. She knew as well as he did that Hopper was gone. 

Steve couldn’t let his little sister deal with her grief alone. He pulled his aching body up from where it sat on the bumper of the ambulance and forced himself over to comfort her. As soon as she caught eyes with him, El ran straight into his arms. 

“El, it’s going to be okay.” 

“I am sad, Seven. Hop… he is dead,” her tears wet his already ruined shirt and his streaked down his face to match.

“I know and that hurts. It’s okay to be sad, I’m sad too. But we still have each other, right?” He tried to reassure her but he could tell it wasn’t helping much. 

“Steve, you are okay?” She asked into his chest.

“Yeah, I will be.” He nodded. He had to be. 

Joyce came over to them then and shot a puzzled look at Steve before turning to El. “El, I’m so sorry about your dad but you can stay with us now, okay? We can go back to my house now.”

“But Steve?”

“Steve has to go back to his parents now,” she didn’t seem to notice his sudden pallor but El did. “He should go to the hospital too. Steve, you took some nasty hits so you should get checked out in the ER.”

“Yeah, I’ll go do that Mrs. Byers. El, go with her okay? I’ll see you in a few days, I’ll stop by.”

“No brother, I want to go with you! Hop would-” He cut her off with a gentle shake of his head. 

“El, I have to go get checked out. Mrs. Byers is going to take you home and I’ll call later. Okay, I promise.”

“Promise.” El repeated, staring at him uneasily. 

“Yeah, I promise. Go ahead.”

She was still reluctant to leave him but eventually, Joyce was able to pull her away with one arm around her and the other wrapped around Will. 

Then, Steve was left alone. Despite what he said, he was not going to the hospital. He was pretty sure he had a concussion but it wasn’t like it could kill him. And he certainly wasn’t going back to the destroyed cabin that held too many bittersweet memories or his parents house that he hadn’t been to in months. 

He still didn’t have his car keys so he walked. He walked all the way to the only place that he could now consider safe. The only place he could relax and feel loved. And as the trailer door opened to reveal Eddie Munson, Steve knew that he made the right choice. 

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Part 14

[ofthehands]

Day 7- It's a Nice Picture

@texas-chainsaw-fanworks

A bit late, such is, but still here before the deadline lol. I just wanna say thank you for running this whole thing, it's been a lot of fun, and the prompts have gotten me writing and drawing more than I have been in a long time.

This one is a longer pre-Franknub/ Franknub adjacent short about Nubbins taking the same picture over and over again. 15,000 words. Warnings for main character death (like a lot, but they get better, it's a time loop), canon-typical violence (including the brother on brother variety), some ableism, gay homophobe Drayton moments, and general Sawyer-isms.

It's a Nice Picture

Nubbins could feel his blood pumping, and he knew he was alive. He chased the girl down, stumbling a bit as he went, and slashing her all the while. She screamed and he laughed. Everything had been boring since Bobby left for Vietnam, so having an actual dinner guest and getting to play with her like this was great fun for Nubbins. He hadn’t had this much fun in- well- in a long time. She ran towards the road. He hoped she’d get her foot stuck in the cattle guard- that had happened to someone they had for dinner before- but she stepped over it and into the road. Bubba was catching up, Nubbins could hear the buzzsaw purring, so he picked up the pace. He wanted as much time playing with this girl as he could get- before everything got boring again- before Cook tried to reel them back in. He ran onto the road with her, catching her for a second, and cutting her again and again across the back, giggling. She elbowed him hard in the chin, and he got angry- slashing at her harder. He thought he heard Bubba say something, but he didn’t know what it was. And he probably never would. He heard the truck, turned, and yelped, and then he was under it. There wasn’t much after that. He couldn’t see anything. He didn’t smell much but blood. There was pain, for a brief moment, and Bubba wailing and some indescribable feeling. The last thing he was conscious of was the blood. Nubbins could feel his blood pumping, and he knew that he was dead. 

“It’s a nice picture,” he said. Not consciously, but just because he was supposed to. Then he regained control. Nubbins was in the van. He was back in the van. And it was morning. The day before he died.  “Wh-what? Did- did you see that?” he asked. They had to know. It was the day they died- they should know like he knew. 

“See what?” asked the less friendly of the two guys in the back. 

“The- the screamin’ and the blood and- and the truck!” Nubbins said. “Y-you was there!” he said, to the purple shirt girl. 

“What’s he talkin’ about?” asked the driver. 

“I think he’s got heat stroke,” said the girl who died easier. 

“Oh! Well uh, I think we got some water ‘round here somewhere,” said the boy in the chair. 

“Would that even help with heat stroke?” asked the girl in purple. 

“I- I dunno but- would you like that? Would you like some water?” 

“I-” Nubbins paused. Something was wrong. Something had happened. “I… I gotta get home. I need to go home-” Nubbins reached for the car door and the guy sitting on the floor grabbed his arm. 

“Woah- man-” Nubbins open palm smacked him in the face loud enough the driver turned around, gently telling the stranger to let go of him. The van goers gasped, and floor guy flinched hard, like he was so weak that hurt him, and touched Nubbins’ blood where it ran down his face. 

“Hey!” the driver yelled. 

“I’m gettin’ out of the van!” Nubbins yelled, throwing open the door. Everyone started hollering something between ‘don’t do that’ and ‘Jerry, stop the van’, and ‘What the fuck is wrong with you’ as Nubbins hurled himself out of the moving vehicle, landing on the grass with only minor scrapes. The van slowed down as quick as it could, and they started to get out, the chair boy asking if he was okay as Nubbins rushed into the brush, determined to get back home as soon as possible. 

Bubba was okay. That was good. But he was no help in figuring out what the hell had happened to Nubbins. Nubbins explained it, again and again, and again, and Bubba tried really hard to help, but they were both just getting more frustrated. It had almost got to a screaming match when they heard a knock at the door. Nubbins and Bubba both looked at each other in shock. 

Nobody ever knocked on the door. There was some yelling, and Nubbins recognized the voice of floor guy. Then he heard him come in the house. Bubba started babbling, almost crying, and he tried to hide behind Nubbins. The guy kept getting closer, walking down the halls. Nubbins took the sledge from the table and slowly walked to the hall. 

“Hello?” called floor guy. Nubbins didn’t greet him, he just pulled the hammer back and smashed it into his skull- just like cattle- just like Grandpa taught him! Floor guy fell writhing to the ground in one good hit. Grandpa would be so proud- this was why Nubbins was his favorite! Then he heard the girl. 

“Bubba- drag- drag this guy back in. I’ll deal with her.” Nubbins crept into the living room, following after the girl. She stumbled into their living room and then started screaming and crying something awful, staring up at their couch. What a bitch! No one had ever been more mean about Nubbins’ art, and he lived with Cook. Nubbins bashed her head in quick too. He would play with her more- especially for being so mean about his art- but he kept thinking about how proud Grandpa would be that he killed her so well. “Is this- is this what happened last time?” Nubbins asked. Bubba shrugged. “Shut up!” Nubbins snapped, even though Bubba hadn’t said anything. He dragged the girl to the kitchen, and Bubba started slaughtering them, trying to stay out of Nubbins’ way much the way he did Cook’s. Bubba analyzed the girl’s face briefly, and then mumbled to Nubbins. “Y-you like that face?” Bubba shrugged. “There- there’s another girl who’ll show up soon. She got a better face, you’ll like her face better.” Bubba carried on, at that, packing the easier to kill girl into the icebox. Nubbins helped to package the meat off the floor guy as Bubba cut it, on instinct. Nubbins tried, really really hard, to think this through. 

He had this day once before. Then he died at the end of it. Then he was back in the van. Nubbins had never really heard of anything like that before- not even in stories or TV. But he had heard Cook bitching about wishing he had a second chance at life for as long as Nubbins could remember. So maybe that was what he meant. Nubbins got a second chance. He just had to do things right this time. 

The driver of the van came next, and Bubba got him pretty easy. Bubba started worrying, that more people might be coming, and talking about going out to check the property. Nubbins would normally think that was stupid- nobody would come foolin’ around on the Sawyer property. But he also knew Bubba told Cook he found the boy in the chair and the purple shirt girl in the woods near the house. So he agreed, and they went. Nubbins was worried they wouldn’t find them, but the pair made it easy. 

“Jerry!” called the girl. 

“Jerry!” repeated the boy. This was where it really counted. If they took the girl home for dinner, then the same thing would happen and Nubbins would waste his second chance. So, they had to change things up a little. 

“Okay Bubba- I- I know these two. There’s- there’s a guy in a chair, and he can’t get away easy, and there’s a girl with these long white pants, and she’s a real runner. She- she uh- she’s real mean and she could slip away from us and get us in trouble easy. So- so you kill her first! And then uh- then we take the boy home to feed Grandpa! Yeah!” Bubba nodded, and the pair of fools got closer. Bubba and Nubbins crept up, Nubbins deciding to go wide and flank them, and Bubba slinking up surprisingly quietly in front of them. Then he heard the saw roar and some sweet, sweet screams. 

“Sally! Sally no- Oh God- Oh no-” Nubbins ran out from the brush, then, behind the boy in the chair. “Oh God! No!” he yelped. “Wh- I didn’t mean to make you mad- I’m- I’m so sorry- I didn’t mean to- I- I like your picture I-”

“Shut up!” Nubbins said. “You’re comin’ with us.” He tried to push the chair, but the guy turned the wheels off somehow- jamming down some little break. “Hey! Wh- don’t do that!” 

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere with you!” 

“Bubba, grab the chair-” Bubba started talking, pointing at the body of the girl- split right up the middle. “We gonna get her in a minute- she ain’t goin’ anywhere. J-just- help me c-carry him!” Bubba sighed, putting down the saw, and picking up one end of the chair. The two of them carried him off- like Grandpa- all while he complained. Nubbins got everything set up perfect, while Bubba went back for the body and the saw. This dinner was gonna be so perfect, even Cook wouldn’t be able to complain! 

It was about half an hour before Cook got home. When he did, the old man walked in and started searching around, suspicious-like. 

“Hey Cook! Cook! Lookit what we got!” Nubbins called. He came quickly, glaring and getting ready to fight, when he laid eyes on Franklin. 

“Oh my God- you’re the fella from the gas station- I- Please- they kidnapped me and-!” 

“Shut your mouth!” Cook snapped, then he went back to suspicion. “That’s uh…” Cook looked around, glaring this way and that, at Nubbins downstairs, at Grandpa already down for dinner. Bubba was hiding in the kitchen, expecting him to come home mad, but Nubbins had him this time. There was nothing to be mad about. “Did you stay home all day with your brother? Like I told you?” He was genuinely shocked. 

“Y-yeah! Jus’ like you t-told me-”

“Nuh-uh!” said Franklin. 

“Wh- Shut up!” Nubbins snapped at him. 

“He was out hitchhiking! He was out hitchhiking all day-”

“Wh- whu- fuck you!” 

“Did you lie to me?” Cook snapped, starting to puff up like an angry rooster. 

“No! Nuh uh! H-he’s just t-tryin’ to get me in tr-trouble!” 

“You deserve to be in trouble! ‘Cause you’re a liar- and a murderer and-”

“Shut your mouth!” Nubbins hissed. He had never had a victim so damn noisy! Cook stormed into the kitchen. Bubba flattened out, trying to look as small as possible. 

“You!” Cook snapped. Bubba flattened further and pointed at himself. “Was your brother here? Was he lookin’ after you all day? Or did he run off?” 

“Leatherface!” Nubbins said. “Tell him the tr-truth! Tell him I was here!” 

“Shut up, you!” Cook snapped. Bubba, stuck between a hard place and a rock, sold out Nubbins. 

“You’re a bitch, Leatherface!” Nubbins snapped. Cook hit him hard, but open handed, on the top of his head. The brooming in his first chance hurt more, and he took that as Cook being forced to admit at least a little that they did good. 

“Did you get all of ‘em?” Cook asked. 

“Yeah! We did- we got all of ‘em! And the one we saved for Grandpa- h-he can’t even get away!” Nubbins proclaimed, running over to Franklin’s chair and rocking it back and forth. 

“Well… I… Alright. Let’s… Let’s give Grandpa a whack.” 

Grandpa struggled just as much in this chance as he did Nubbins’ first chance. But, since Franklin couldn’t get away, he got more and more tries. He was greeted with a chorus of excitement with each swing, all his grandsons cheering him on as he tried again and again, slowly but surely bashing Franklin’s head in. Franklin screamed, and cussed at them occasionally, but though he was a lot bigger than Sally, he couldn’t do much more. Nubbins almost felt bad for him. Franklin seemed like an okay guy. If they were brothers, or cousins or something they would have been best friends, he could feel it. But Franklin was an outsider. So he had to die. One. “Harder Grandpa!” Two. “Get him! Get that bitch!” Three. “Kill him! Kill him!” Four. “C’mon Grandpa!” And on his fifth hit, there was a vicious crack, and Franklin went limp- the special kind of limp only the dead could go. The Sawyer brothers erupted in cheers, feeding Grandpa blood, and telling him again and again how he was the best. Grandpa seemed overwhelmed with the joy too, moving around in almost a little dance, and then finally, rising from his chair, actually standing up to bash Franklin in the head one more time. Nubbins was overjoyed, it was such a great way for his second chance to end! Then, suddenly as he rose, Grandpa fell. He collapsed directly forward, and all the brothers failed to catch him. 

“Grandpa?” asked Cook, shocked as the rest of them. “Oh God- Oh fuck! Boy- he- he- all that excitement mighta done gave Grandpa a heart attack-” Cook moved over quick as he could to try and lift him, to feel for his pulse. Nubbins didn’t know what to do- this wasn’t right- this wasn’t how his second chance should go! Maybe Grandpa wasn’t dead- maybe he would be okay- but- 

“It’s a nice picture,” he said. Then he paused. The van goers kept saying some shit he didn’t care about. Nubbins was back. Back in the van. I get a third chance? he thought. He never heard of third chances before. But he had one. So he was gonna get it right this time. Nubbins jumped out of the van again, this time without saying a word. 

He figured it out. The first two times, Franklin died. So, for a good chance, Franklin would have to live. Then nobody in Nubbins’ family had to die. So this time, he did everything mostly the same. Until it came to that moment in the woods. 

“Sally! Sally no- Oh God- Oh no-” Nubbins ran out from the brush, then, behind the boy in the chair. “Oh God! No!” he yelped. “Wh- I didn’t mean to make you mad- I’m- I’m so sorry- I didn’t mean to- I- I like your picture I-”

“Yeah?” Nubbins said. “Y-you like it?”

“Yeah- I- I really do.”

“Okay, you can go then.” 

“What?” Franklin asked. 

“You can go. I- I’m not mad at you no more.”

“Y-you murdered my sister because-”

“Oh- we uh- we killed them to eat,” Nubbins said. “F-for food! Now uh… go! G-get out of here before we eat you too!” Bubba did not like that- not at all. He knew Cook was gonna be red-hot mad about it. But Nubbins figured it was fine. His third chance was going to go well. 

And it did. Everything was perfect. Franklin wasn’t even there to snitch on Nubbins for hitchhiking, and Cook was pleasantly surprised. 

“You… You stayed with your brother? Like I asked?” 

“Y-yeah! All day. I- I went around outside a little during the day, but I stayed near the house,” Nubbins lied. 

“I…. It’s been a long damn day. You know? There’s been… There’s been reports, about some of the people we took, and cops and… They’re gettin’ closer. And I… I appreciate you stayin’ with Bubba. Makin’ sure everything’s alright around here… If they ever got to us I’d…” Cook looked far away. Nubbins knew he had a plan if the cops ever caught them for real, and he knew it involved everyone sitting at the dinner table facing the wall while Cook went and got the gun. The Sawyer family owned one old shotgun, which nobody but Grandpa ever ever got to touch, until Grandpa had gotten too old and handed control of the house and shotgun over to Cook. Cook was always real freaked out talking about the day he would have to use the gun, which Nubbins understood. Their whole lives Grandpa made a big big deal about never touching it, and if any of the boys so much as opened the cabinet it was in, they would get a real beating. Nubbins didn’t like being anywhere near it. But Nubbins was always kind of excited for the day Cook actually had to use it. He had only ever seen guns in movies, and heard from Bobby what it was like using guns in Vietnam. He hoped if Cook ever had to use the gun, that he would get to watch. “Eh- never mind all that. You know- if you stay in and watch Bubba like that- I’ll- I’ll make you boys some head cheese, and bring you some cokes from the gas station.” Bubba came around then, to greet Cook, realizing he was in a good mood that evening. “Hey there Bubba. Heard you spent the afternoon with your big brother. Was it good?” Bubba nodded, and Cook smiled a little, earnestly. Cook didn’t smile much. 

“Did anybody come by the house today? Or was it quiet?” he asked, taking off his old boots. 

“Oh uh- there- there was a whole bunch of t-teenagers. Who kept comin’ in the house. But uh- m-me and Bubba took care of it.” Then, Cook asked the same question he always did. 

“Did you get ‘em all?” And for some fucking reason, Bubba told him the truth.

“Leatherface! D-don’t-” But it was way too late. Cook grabbed the old thin three branch he kept by the door, his smile completely dead and his face getting red real quick. 

 “Y… You let one go?” he asked. “You- You let one fucking go!?” Cook rounded on Nubbins immediately, switch in hand, hitting him again and again and again, “Do you know what you’ve done!? Do you know what you’ve fucking done!? Everything is gone! Everything! Everything!” Cook yelled, his voice getting hoarse quick. “You dumb fucking idiot! You stupid-” Smack. “Useless!” Smack. “Idiot!” Smack. Cook had beaten Nubbins a lot in his lifetime but never like this- the man was putting his whole body into it. 

“I was doin’ what was best for us! ‘C-Cause of my chances!” Nubbins tried to explain. Everything was falling apart. This wasn’t what his chance was supposed to be- Cook wasn’t supposed to be so mad at him. Things were supposed to go better. 

“Doin’ what was best for us?! Boy- That fucking thing you let go is gonna bring a whole mess of cops down on us! A whole mess of cops and they’re gonna try and- and take you both away! They’re gonna wanna fucking hang us when they find out what we do!” Cook yelled. For a second Nubbins thought he might have a heart attack, like Grandpa did. “You know what I’m gonna have to do?” Cook asked, voice breaking. “You know what you’re gonna make me do?” Nubbins couldn’t understand why he was like this- why he was so mean all the time- why he never listened to him or cared about him more than what he had to to keep him alive. Nubbins was sick of it and angry and tired from all the chances and the dying and he could feel welts forming on his back from how hard Cook had beaten him. He just couldn’t take it anymore. Nubbins stormed into the dining room and he got the hammer. If he had waited just a second, he would have seen that Cook had dropped the switch. If he had waited just a second, he would have noticed that whatever was coming for them now had upset Cook so much he’d actually started to sob. If he had waited a second, maybe they could have gotten through all this. But Nubbins didn’t wait. He chucked that hammer full force at Cook’s head, and realized all those things after the off-white wall behind him was painted red. 

Cook stumbled. Dazed for just a second. Then he fell back. Onto the ground. There was blood. There was so, so much blood. Head wounds bleed a lot. Nubbins knew that from when he was the killer. But it was different when it was family. It was different when it was Drayton. Nubbins made his way over to him carefully. 

“Drayton?” Nubbins asked softly. Bubba stood a few feet from them, too scared to move. Drayton wasn’t getting up. He was blinking real slow. “D-Drayton? Are you okay? I- I didn’t mean to hit you th-that hard,” he said. His older brother looked up at him. His unfocused eyes locked in on Nubbins as best as they could. 

“I… I hate you,” Drayton said, as firmly as he could with his shaky voice. Blood ran freely down his head, dribbling onto his face, darkening all the hair he had. “I… I always knew… From the first time I held you… That you boys would be the death of me… But I… Never woulda thought…” Drayton went still. Limp in a way that just wasn’t right- in a way a living person just couldn’t be. Nubbins was silent. Everything was silent. 

“It’s a nice picture,” he said. Nubbins didn’t wanna do this. He didn’t want to play this game anymore. He was sick of chances- he was sick of all this. He was tired, and sick, and now he knew his brother hated him. Even if these chances ended, how was he supposed to deal with that? He crumpled in on himself and took the picture with him, stuffing it promptly in his little bag. 

“Are you alright?” asked the girl who died easier. 

“You look like you seen a ghost,” Franklin said. Nubbins sort of had. He was seeing ghosts all day. But he didn’t care to explain it to these people. He just wanted his big brother. Drayton was mean, and vicious, and hurt him a lot, but he didn’t know any other kind of care, any other kind of love. Nobody else had ever taken care of him. Drayton was all he had. He had to fix this. He had to make this right. 

“I… I… C-can you take me to the gas station?” 

“To the gas station?” asked the floor guy. 

“M-my brother w-works there- he… He works there- at the gas station by uh- on- on the way. It’s- it’s the way you’re goin’, and it’s- it’s the only gas station before Childress- I just-”

“We do need some gas,” said the driver. 

“You think you might could get us a discount?” asked the dead girl. “Since your brother works there and all.” 

“N-no. If I asked he’d really probably charge you more,” Nubbins said, truthfully. A lot of them sort of laughed, and Nubbins felt like he had been flicked on the end of his nose. He didn’t know what was funny to them. If they were laughing with him or at him. He glared at the people in the van, and wanted to hit them or cut them or start throwing some of their stuff. But he needed a ride, so Nubbins would do his best to be good. Or at least good enough to not get kicked out of the van. 

“Yeah, we’ll head that way and drop you off there, shouldn’t be any problem,” the driver said. There was a lull in conversation, and Nubbins was happy with that. Franklin, though, not so much. 

“So uh… Were you just out photographing the slaughter house?” Franklin asked. “Or uh- do you- do you photograph a lot of different things?” Nubbins looked up at him. This was all his fault, somehow. Nubbins didn’t understand why he would do all this. He looked nice. He had thick curly hair, and a nice pair of round lips, and big eyebrows, like a pair of wooly worms on his face. He had a good face. And he was real nice to Nubbins, talking to him and showing him his knife and things like that. And yet Franklin had done this to him- sticking him with these chances. And that wasn’t nice. Nubbins was going to pout and give him the silent treatment for being so mean, but he didn’t like being silent normally, and now the silence was giving room in his brain for pictures of the chances- again and again. He couldn’t deal with that. 

“I uh… I take lots of pictures.” He tried to remember which pictures he could talk about with strangers, and which he could only talk about with family, but Drayton never really made that line clear, because he mostly just said to never talk to strangers. “I uh- I take pictures of my brothers! And uh- I- I take pictures of people I meet. On the road. Oh- And -and of roadkill!” 

“Roadkill?” asked the dead girl. “Why would you wanna take pictures of that?”

“Well uh… Whenever I take pictures of living animals, they don’t turn out so good. Th-they run around and mess it up. Roadkill don’t do that so much.” The driver laughed at that, and then the others, and Nubbins shifted. 

“I guess so, man,” said floor guy. 

“Oh uh! We never really got introduced, uh, I’m Franklin,” Franklin said. “This is Sally, my sister.” That was why those two always came in a pair. They were family. 

“I’m Kirk,” said floor guy. 

“Pam,” said the dead girl. 

“Jerry.” Nubbins actually kind of knew that one, he just didn’t care enough about Jerry to think of calling him that. 

“What’s your name?” Franklin asked. 

“Oh uh… I’m- I’m…” Drayton always told them never ever to tell the victims their real names. Just in case. And Nubbins knew all too well how mad he’d get if he thought the cops were going to come to their house. The welts were gone, and it didn’t hurt, but Nubbins remembered it like it did. “I’m Paul,” he decided. He had been called that a lot as a kid, and the very few times Drayton introduced him to someone outside the family he called him that. That was his name on a lot of papers Drayton filled out too. So, since Nubbins was his real name, he figured that was some kind of alias Drayton had made up for him. Drayton did a lot of things like that. To take care of him. Which made it harder to accept that Drayton hated him. Nubbins didn’t want to accept that Drayton hated him. He got really mad at Drayton sometimes- hated him a little sometimes when he beat Bubba or Chop- but that was different. 

Drayton had used his dying breath to tell Nubbins he hated him. 

Nubbins couldn’t express why, but that was wrong. They were family, and even when they hated each other they loved each other and if Nubbins’ own family didn’t want him, who ever would? Nubbins curled in on himself, and started to fidget, bouncing around nervously and fiddling with his hands, flapping them occasionally, trying to get the sad off him. 

“You alright?” Franklin asked. Like he wasn’t the cause of it all. Nubbins would try and explain the chances to him- but it was all so much, and if he couldn’t even explain it to Bubba and Drayton, he’d never explain it to outsiders. 

“You wouldn’t get it.”

“Why not?” Franklin asked. 

“Well m-maybe you would- you got a sister… But… The rest of you- I- I dunno where you come from or if-”

“I got a little brother,” said Kirk. 

“I’m the middle of three girls,” Pam said. 

“Only child,” Jerry said. “But uh- I think I could still understand it.” Nubbins paused. If he said the wrong thing the cops might show up. And if that happened, he knew something awful would happen to his family. But, every time that had happened so far, he got another chance. Nubbins needed to change something to break this loop- he could feel it. So, he tried something new. 

“I uh… I had a r-real bad fight with my brother… And uh… I.. I don’t think he wants me around no more. Maybe he never did,” Nubbins admitted. 

“The brother you’re goin’ to see at the gas station?” Pam asked. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t tell him you’re with us. Don’t want him chargin’ us more,” Kirk said like he thought he was funny. Nubbins didn’t like this Kirk guy, he decided then. 

“Y-yeah, that brother. He’s… He’s my older brother, b-by a lot. And he had to take care of me, and- and our littler brother and… I think… I think maybe he don’t like me because of that. We had a real bad fight and…” 

“I mean, me and Franklin fight all the time,” Sally said. “And I still like him.”

“He’ll be mad, sure, but he’ll get over it. He has to. He’s your brother.” Nubbins almost smiled. His real situation wasn’t nearly as simple as what he had told them, but maybe it would be alright. Maybe Drayton wouldn’t be mad at him. 

Drayton was mad at him. That kind of made sense. He was supposed to be home watching Bubba. Nubbins and the van crew drove up to the gas station, and Nubbins waved at Drayton from the back seat and Drayton glared daggers into him. As soon as the van was all the way stopped, he yanked open the door. 

“Boy- what are you doing-” Nubbins scampered out, hoping that because they were in front of others Drayton wouldn’t hit him. 

“I- I wanted to t-talk to you.” 

“You’re supposed to be home watchin’ Bubba-”

“I needed t-to talk to you now-” Nubbins said. 

“Boy- I-” Drayton looked at the people in the van, all of whom were staring back at him. Drayton turned to his employee. “You help these folks, we’ll be back,” Drayton said, pulling Nubbins by the arm into the store. He closed the door behind him, then turned to Nubbins sharply, temperamental. “What the fuck is it, boy?” 

“Do you… Do you hate me?” Nubbins asked. 

“Wh- what?” Suddenly Drayton didn’t look so mad anymore. 

“Do you hate me?” Nubbins repeated. 

“What… Why..? You left your brother and came all this way to ask-” 

“W-would your life be b-better without me? Do you… Do you want me around?” 

“Nubbins, what has gotten into you? Who said-”

“Nobody! I-I just-”

“Why would you think that I hate you, then?”

“Wh- ‘Cause you said so!” Nubbins snapped. Drayton paused, looking away for a second, almost scared.

Almost guilty. 

“When?” 

“When I killed you!” Nubbins said. He was really starting to get worked up- overwhelmed with emotion, remembering all too vividly looking down at Drayton’s broken body and knowing that’s all it was- knowing he wasn’t there anymore.  “When I- I hit you with the sledge- I-I hit you ‘cause we were fightin’ and-”

“You came out here to bother me ‘cause you had a bad dream?” Drayton asked. It was a rare occasion, in which he was more confused than he was frustrated. 

“N-no! It’s not- It wasn’t a bad dream- it- it was real-” Drayton swallowed heavily. 

“Oh… Oh shit.” There was a pause. “Nubbins… I…” 

“I’m not m-makin’ it up! It was real- and it wasn’t no dream either-”

“I know. You’re not… You’re not the first one in our family to have a problem like this.” For once Nubbins couldn’t think of anything to say. He was excited, and relieved, and for once actually glad he came to his older brother with a problem. Drayton knew what was going on! He could help! “Momma… You never really got to know her, but Momma had… visions too. She would see things or remember things that to her were completely real but to everyone else-” Of course. Of course Drayton didn’t really believe him. 

“This is real! I’m not- you don’t-”

“I- I know it feels like it-”

“You don’t know nothin’!” Nubbins snapped. He shook his whole body, hard. He wanted to scream or smack Drayton on the head or run out into the road and start biting customers. But he couldn’t do any of that- he was stuck, maybe forever. Maybe he really just died the first time and this was- was some kind of punishment. Nubbins didn’t understand purgatory completely, but he had heard about it, and this sort of felt like that. But he didn’t know what to do about purgatory- if this was that- or what this was- or nothing. Nubbins didn’t know, and no one could help him, and no one would believe him. He felt a prickle in the end of his nose, and then his eyes started to well up with tears, and he got even madder- embarrassed to cry, and embarrassed even more to cry in front of Drayton, who immediately sort of cringed. 

“Oh- oh- uh-” Drayton began. “N-now, don’t you cry, none-” he said, holding up his hands like he was approaching a wild animal. “Nubbins, oh… Nubbins… I…” Nubbins was really crying, and flapping and trying to not feel so fucking awful. Drayton wrapped his arms around him, in an awkward, stilted way. “I… I forgive you.”

“W-what?” Nubbins asked, snapped back into the moment. 

“I forgive you for killin’ me,” Drayton said. “It’s okay. Just uh- don’t do it again.” Nubbins nestled tighter against his brother, holding onto him like he was going somewhere, burying his face in his chest, despite having to curl up to do it. Drayton chuckled kind of nervously and wiggled a bit, but didn’t make Nubbins let go just yet. “And uh… I-I don’t hate you. I shouldn’t have said that.You… You know how people get when they’re dyin’. I mean- heh- re-remember that fella with the face scar who converted to what- five different religions all during one dinner with us?” Drayton asked. Nubbins laughed a little- he remembered that guy well.  He was scared to death of little ol’ Bubba, completely convinced he was in some kind of hell. 

“Y-yeah.” There was a mostly comfortable pause. “Why… Why do people say things like that?” Nubbins asked. Then- “Why do you say things like that?” Drayton cleared his throat, and opened his mouth like he was going to talk, then closed it, then opened it again. 

“I… I just..” Nubbins was emboldened by the chances- emboldened by the knowledge that there was a safety net, and by the fear that this wouldn’t be the last chance he endured. That maybe Drayton would forget all this come next time. 

“You’re… you get real mean when I mess up. More than with Bubba sometimes, and more and more now that Bobby’s gone. W-why? Do you like me less than them?” 

“No- I- Nubbins… I just… I get..” Drayton paused, and looked down at Nubbins as he burrowed into his shirt. “I get scared.” 

“Scared?”

“I get scared that somethin’ bad is gonna happen to you… When you’re with Bobby, I know you two can take care of each other… and Bubba’s always in the house. But you go out wanderin’ around, jumpin’ in strange folks’ cars. I get… It’s fuckin’ stupid, pansy shit, but I get scared for you. Scared somethin’s gonna happen to you and I won’t be able to do nothin’ about it.” Nubbins asked one more thing, one more thing he felt he couldn’t. 

“Do you… Do I make your life worse?” Nubbins asked. “Do you wish I was gone?” “Nubbins… You’re a pain in my ass more often than you’re not but… I mean, you’re my little brother, that’s kind of your job, ain’t it?” Drayton said, pulling back, getting back out of the hug a bit more, and patting Nubbins on the shoulders. Nubbins smiled a little and nodded. “So… Don’t you worry about me not wantin’ you around. You ain’t gonna get rid of me that easy. You’re… You’re a weird boy, but you’re my boy. And I… I… I care about you,” Drayton settled on.  Nubbins balled his fists in Drayton’s shirt and pulled him back to him, bumping his head to Drayton’s chest.

When he was little and he had nightmares he went to Drayton. Even though his big brother was so often the cause of them. He would make his way silently, on unsteady little feet to his brother’s room, and clamber into his bed as best he could, and when Drayton woke up to ask him what was wrong- usually not kindly- he would writhe his way into Drayton’s shirt and lay against his chest. Maybe it was odd, but right there it was dark and warm and no one could see him, and no one could hurt him. He liked that feeling, though he didn’t get it a lot. He liked feeling safe. Drayton stopped letting him do that when he was about six or so, because Nubbins kept biting him when he got anxious. He wished in that moment that he was small again so he could go back there. So he could feel safe, for just a little while. Drayton started fidgeting, and Nubbins had half a mind to hold on tighter, maybe even to bite or cut him. 

“Alright, boy, that’s enough- got work to do-” Drayton said firmly, grasping Nubbins by his shoulders and pulling him away. 

“B-but-”

“No! None of that. Besides- you need to go and watch after Bubba.” 

Oh. Right. 

Nubbins rushed home. He didn’t really give that much of a shit about his responsibility to watch Bubba- Bubba was grown and he could watch himself pretty much fine. He set the house on fire trying to cook Grandpa a birthday cake one time and Drayton just never let him live it down. Nubbins didn’t hold it against him. Everybody set the house on fire a little sometimes. But this time, Nubbins absolutely needed to be there. Because this was a good one, and he needed to make sure it went right. Nubbins went over the other chances again. 

First chance: Franklin died, Sally escaped, and Nubbins died. 

Second chance: Sally died, Franklin died, Grandpa died. 

Third chance: Sally died, Franklin escaped, Drayton died. 

So Franklin couldn’t die. But he also couldn’t escape. 

Nubbins devised another plan. Hopefully a good one. Franklin and Sally would come looking for Jerry, who came looking for Pam and Kirk. But if Nubbins and Bubba could chase Pam and Kirk off the property without killing them, then Jerry would never come so Sally and Franklin would never come either. If they didn’t hurt Pam and Kirk, they wouldn’t have anything to tell the cops, so nobody would come, and the Sawyer family’s lives would all go on unaffected. Franklin wouldn’t be dead, but he wouldn’t escape either. It was fool proof. Or at least Nubbins thought so until he tried to explain it to Bubba. 

Bubba did not like Nubbins’ idea. In part, because it would mean Bubba would have to deal with the wanna-be home invaders on his own. They knew what Nubbins looked like, and while they only knew him as Paul, the less risks he took the better. This chance had to go absolutely perfect. But Bubba couldn’t understand why they didn’t just kill the strangers- they needed more meat anyways. 

“Look- Bubba- You just- you-” Nubbins paused. He had half a mind to hit Bubba on the head and make him do what he said. Nubbins was his older brother, after all, and he and Bobby could always get Bubba to do things. Not as easily as Drayton could, sure, but he could still usually bend Bubba’s will to get his way- especially if he threatened him with a smack. But Nubbins still felt imprints of welts that weren’t there, and the thought of making Bubba hurt  or feel as lousy and dirty he felt then made bile rise up Nubbins’ throat, which burned and melted the threats he considered making right off his tongue. “Bubba, p-please? I- I really need you to d-do this for me. It-it won’t be so hard! And- when you do this real well, maybe Cook will realize you can do stuff on your own again! Maybe when he gets back, y-you an’ me an’ Bobby can go into town again!” Bubba seemed to consider that, playing nervously with his bracelet. “Oh! And- I- I can’t be seen by those strangers- but, I could come and watch you- m-make sure nothin’ bad happens.” 

You promise? Bubba asked. Not in those words, exact, but Nubbins understood. 

“O-oh- of course!” Nubbins said. “I won’t let nothin’ bad happen. That’s what older brothers are for.” 

Pam and Kirk arrived right on time. But, this time, the front door was locked, so Kirk couldn’t wander in like an idiot. Nubbins and Bubba hid outside, in wait. For a second it seemed like Pam and Kirk might just leave. Then Kirk started to fuck around with one of Nubbins’ bone chimes, as the pair sat on the porch. Nubbins and Bubba were close, chainsaw with them, and Bubba had one hand on the starter cord handle, ready to yank it to life. But Nubbins paused, holding out a little hope that the two would just leave and give him an easy ending to his good chance. 

“I really woulda thought- with the generator runnin’ like that, that somebody would be home,” Pam said. 

“Yeah… Maybe we could siphon some gas from it. Get the hell out of this shitty little town.” Nubbins wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. 

“Oh, Kirk. The gas station’ll get some in a few hours, I’m sure.”

“Oh yeah, then we can go talk to that old weirdo again. You know- I don’t even think he’s out of gas. I think he just wants to murder us and wear our skin… Or make us buy a shitty keychain or something.” Pam laughed. Neither of them made any move to get off their damn porch. 

“He’s not that bad. Neither was Paul, really. Just a bit weird.” 

“Paul? Who’s that?”

“You know- the hitchhiker we picked up.”

“Oh, right, Franklin’s new boyfriend.” 

“Oh, stop it,” Pam said, still laughing. They were laughing. Laughing at him, laughing at his family. They had probably been laughing at him in the car too. If he could slaughter them both, he happily would. But he needed to finish this day without incident so he could be free of the chances and move on. 

“C’mon Bubba,” Nubbins said. “Let’s scare the sh-shit out of ‘em.” The two brothers snuck ever so slightly closer, till they were only a few feet away, hidden by only tree cover. Then Bubba cranked the chainsaw. He ran out at the two. Pam ran like a reasonable person, towards the sunflowers- away from the house. But Kirk just jolted back, breaking Nubbins’ bone chime entirely, and grasping a piece of it. He ran to the door of their house, trying again to break in, and Bubba charged at him, chainsaw over his head, shaking it at Kirk, but certainly not about to kill him with it. Which was why Nubbins didn’t see it coming. Bubba was trying to get Kirk to go past him, but Kirk just wouldn’t. He was yelling something, clutching the broken rib bone he’d stolen tight, but Nubbins couldn’t hear what he was saying. Kirk moved suddenly, and erratically, darting under Bubba’s chainsaw right as he swung it for show, and Bubba slashed him with it accidentally. Kirk screamed, of course, and it made a mess, but Nubbins was sure that Kirk would be fine. 

Kirk didn’t seem to know that. 

He turned, boneshard tight in hand. Nubbins ran out then, knowing something bad was about to happen. But he couldn’t do anything to stop it. Kirk lashed out, hitting Bubba in the neck. Bubba wailed, and dropped the saw, and Kirk sprinted away. Nubbins thought about snagging and killing him before he could escape, but he had to take care of Bubba first. It was his job to take care of Bubba. 

“Y-you’re okay-” he began, sitting down with his brother. And Bubba looked okay. The saw had missed him entirely, he was just hunched over, and clutching where he had been hit in the neck. A good hit to the neck could really hurt- Nubbins and Bobby had learned that the hard way while wrestling with each other. It could bruise real bad too. But it wasn’t too bad of an injury. Nubbins was sure Bubba would be fine. 

Until he looked up. 

Nubbins had never felt sick at the sight of blood before, but then he thought he was gonna spew his lunch. Kirk had stabbed the bone shard in Bubba’s neck. Blood was running down, freely, between his fingers. Bubba was panicking, squeaking and near sobbing and holding his injury as tight as he could. This didn’t have to be it. Nubbins could do something- this was bad, but it wasn’t that bad. They could stitch it up. They could save this. Nubbins could save this. 

He dragged Bubba inside, telling him to keep his hands on it. He cleared off the table in the kitchen, and had Bubba lay down on it. 

“I-it’s gonna b-be okay, B-bubba,” Nubbins promised. “This is- it- it’s just gonna be a scar and a funny st-story one day, okay?” Bubba nodded. Nubbins ran around the house, getting together what he needed. They had fishing line, a needle, and super glue that Drayton usually used to patch the boys up in an emergency. Nubbins just had to find it. He raided every cabinet in the kitchen first, going through every drawer while Bubba whimpered and squeaked. Nubbins found the super glue. But that wasn’t enough. They would need to stitch the wound first, at least Nubbins was pretty sure they would. “I- I’m gonna be right back-” Bubba squealed- “I’m goin’ to C-cook’s room- I’m gonna get the th-thr-thr-th-” He couldn’t get out the word thread- “ the stuff! The stuff to take care of you!” Nubbins ran upstairs, and into Drayton’s room. Drayton would be mad about this, sure, but Nubbins was confident he would understand. There wasn’t much in Drayton’s room. It was one of the cleanest rooms in the house. 

He had his bed, which was made, though his pillow was on the floor, and a little nightstand with a lamp on it that Nubbins had decorated with bone pieces for him. Nubbins started there, opening the drawer of the nightstand. The drawer wasn’t so clean- Drayton must have just chucked everything in there. There were keys to some of the victim’s cars that Drayton had been working on, and  a whole mess of bills, and some of Bubba’s old drawings, and the old bone bracelet Nubbins made for him that he said he had thrown out, and a box of shotgun shells, and Bobby’s draft letter, and a bunch of bottle caps and teeth for some reason. 

Nubbins turned to the only other furniture in the room- his dresser. There were three drawers.What if I can’t find it in time? Nubbins had to shove that thought down. He could do this- Bubba was tough- they were going to be alright.  Nubbins started with the bottom one and found mostly Drayton’s clothes.He heard Bubba cry out downstairs- a sudden, sharp noise. 

“I- I’m comin’, Bubba!” he yelled.  In a panicked hurry, he stopped caring if Drayton knew he went through his stuff. He could cover that up later, or Drayton could find out- none of that mattered as much as helping Bubba. He chucked Drayton’s clothes onto the floor, finding in the drawer one spool of thread, which while not as good as fishing line, Nubbins shoved it into his pocket anyways, just in case. He kept digging through the drawer, up turning the whole thing, and finding not much more of note other than a weird magazine called Blueboy with a shirtless man on it. 

Nubbins leapt up, yanking on the second drawer, but it just wouldn’t open. He pulled again, nearly toppling the whole thing, and snapping off one of the nobs. He chucked the nob across the room and flailed for a second, before continuing, yanking the top drawer open. It was messy too- but Nubbins eyes landed immediately on the old, metal, white lunchbox Drayton stored their medical supplies in. Nubbins yanked it and ran downstairs, quite possibly knocking over the whole dresser in the process. 

“Bubba! It’s- it’s gonna be okay-” Nubbins rounded the corner to the kitchen, holding the medical supplies tight. 

Bubba was sitting up. He had something in his hand. Something bloody, and pale. The bone shard. He took out the fucking bone shard! Bubba’s hands were soaked in blood, his clothes were soaked in blood- everything. He was bleeding out ten times as fast with the shard out. 

“Wh-what the fuck is wrong with you!?” Nubbins snapped. Bubba started babbling- trying to explain. “You leave it in! You’re supposed to leave it in you- you idiot!”Bubba started apologizing and  Nubbins stopped listening. He yanked open the lunchbox, finding the fishing line and needle, and threaded it as quickly as his shaky, panicked hands allowed him to, trying to focus, prinking his fingertips a few times. Then, once it was threaded, he turned to Bubba. Bubba was two shades too pale and rushing for a third. Nubbins moved to his side. “O-okay- you’re gonna take your hand off and-” Bubba did what he said right then and put his hand down, and with no pressure on the wound there was a waterfall of blood. Bubba fell back and Nubbins caught his head, stopping it from hitting the table. Bubba laid on his back, and Nubbins loomed over him, trying to move his shirt and mask and hair out of the way, so he could get a look at the wound. It was so wet it was hard to tell where the slash actually was, and everytime Nubbins cleared off enough blood to see, more poured out. He eventually just had to make an uncertain stab, maybe starting further back than he should have, but definitely closing the wound. Bubba didn’t even make a noise when Nubbins started working, and Nubbins felt sick. His hands shook more and it didn’t help. Nubbins could have cried when Bubba started trying to speak. 

“N-Nuh-Nuhbuhn-” Nubbins. He was trying to say his name. 

“It-it’s okay Bubba. It’s gonna be okay- I’m gonna take care of you. I won’t let nothin’ happen to you- I-I promise-” 

“It’s a nice picture,” he said. Then he lost his shit. He threw the picture and then his camera, and then started to flail around in the van and yell. 

“It-s it’s uh- I’m sorry- I’m sorry- it’s not that bad-” Franklin began. 

“I’m sick! I’m sick! I’m sick of this! I’m done! N-no more- no more- no more!” Nubbins yelled. 

“What the hell is going on back there?” Jerry asked. 

“Are you okay? What’s- what are you sick of?” Kirk asked. 

“Don’t talk to me! You- You murderer! I- I try to be nice to you- and you make fun of me and Cook and you kill my little brother-”

“Hey, man, settle down-” Jerry tried. 

“I- I think you got the wrong guy,” Pam began. 

“I don’t! Y-you haven’t done it yet this time, but you did it in my last chance! I- I shoulda killed you!” 

“Woah! Relax!” Kirk said. 

“Do I need to pull over?”

“What do you mean, ‘chances’?” Sally asked. 

“The chances! I’ve- I’ve been having today for- for five days now! Maybe more. And every time it’s the same- you idiots die and then get somebody in my family killed with you!” There was a pause. 

“Is there a psych ward near here?” Kirk asked, trying to be quiet. 

“Could you- could you explain your chances from the top?” Pam asked. Nubbins paused. He didn’t have much to lose, and if he did fuck this up, he could kill all of them and go at it again. 

“I…. I… I keep getting second chances. The first time, I was goin’ through life as usual, and then I got hit on the road and killed. Then I got another ch-chance, startin’ today, here, in the van. It all starts when I say ‘it’s a nice picture’. Each go around starts there. Then I can change stuff throughout the day, but not how it ends up.”

“How does it end up?”

“Somethin’ terrible happens to my family,” Nubbins said. 

“So what’s the part about us all ending up dead too?” Kirk asked. Nubbins paused. If they knew his family was going to murder them all, they probably wouldn’t help. He didn’t have much reason to suspect they could help him, but he was running low on options. So Nubbins decided to stretch the truth a little. 

“You all die. Or most of you do. There’s… there’s a serial killer out here.  Who kills you all, one by one, and then at the end, kills someone in my family. Except last time- wh-when you got my little brother killed!” Nubbins hissed at Kirk. 

“That’s… that sure is somethin’,” Sally said, like Nubbins was stupid. He was getting real sick of these people. 

“Could you… Could you tell us something you couldn’t know?” Pam asked. 

“What?”

“I wanna believe you, but it’s all.. A lot. You could tell us something you know from your chances that you couldn’t know now?”

“Oh… Uh… Your names is Jerry, Pam, Kirk, Sally, and Franklin. Sally and Franklin are brother and sister… Your van is almost out of gas, and you were gonna go visit the ol’ Franklin house that’s ‘round here…. I… I don’t know what else to say, to convince you-” Nubbins looked up at them. All of them except Jerry were staring at each other, looking back and forth. It was Pam who spoke up first. 

“Jerry, how’s the gas?” Pam asked.

“We uh… We are runnin’ low. 

“I think that’ll do it,” Pam said. “So… You’re stuck in a time loop.” 

“A… Time loop?” 

“I think there’s a gas leak in this van,” Kirk said. 

“Kirk- just listen to me on this-”

“Astrology is one thing-”

“How else would this random hitchhiker know so much about us?”

“He knows our names, knows you two are siblings, and he guessed we’re almost out of gas.” 

“And he knows where we’re going,” Sally said. 

“Okay- fine, but maybe you said your last name and he figured that was your grandpa and-”

“I don’t think any of us even told him our first names,” Franklin said. “And our last name is Hardesty. But this Grandpa was on our Momma’s side. His last name was Enright.” There was a pause. 

“This is a lot-”

“I-I mean, you could tell me somethin’ I really couldn’t know, and I could kill us all, and we could try again next time-” 

“Or we could just go with the time loop,” Jerry said. “Save everybody the trouble.” Kirk backed down then. 

“Alright, so, I’ve heard of time loops before, but never really dealt with one. In a lot of stories, time loops are either evil, or kind of benevolent- to punish someone forever or to give you enough chances for you to get it right.” 

“So is my loop evil or- or not evil?” 

“Well that’s the thing. Real time loops aren’t good or evil. They’re personal. Much more likely to occur with malefic planets in retrograde- like Saturn right now- but they’re not necessarily malevolent just because of that connection.”

“Uh… Okay?” That meant approximately nothing to Nubbins, who barely knew Saturn existed at all, much less that it could retrograde or malefic. 

“What have you figured out about your loop? Anything?” 

“Well uhm… I… I think… I’ve noticed that uh… Well, if something bad happens to Franklin, or if he isn’t involved at all- then someone in my family dies real sudden and usually real bad, and the loop starts over.”

“Wh- me?” Franklin asked. “Y-You think I’m tied to all this mumbo jumbo-”

“W- well yeah. It all goes okay until he dies. Or if I try to keep him out of it. If either of those things happens, then someone in my family dies. The- the moment someone in my family dies, it all starts again.” There was a pause. 

“What’s your star sign?” Pam asked. 

“I- I uh… I don’t think I got one.”

“Everybody’s got one,” Franklin argued. 

“I uh- I wasn’t born in a hospital- so maybe- uh-” 

“What day were you born?” Pam asked. Nubbins paused for a second. 

“Wednesday?”

“What day and month?” 

“Wednesday March.” 

“March what?” 

“March the… The 2nd? Or 3rd maybe.” The van group seemed to contemplate that information. 

“You are not a Pisces! There’s no way-” Pam began. 

“Well uh, he is an artist,” Franklin said. 

“And kinda moody,” Jerry added. 

“Emotional,” Sally tacked on. 

“What’s a Pisces?” Nubbins asked. 

“That’s your star sign,” Franklin said. “I’m a Taurus, and Sally’s a Capricorn, Jerry’s a Virgo, Pam’s a Sagittarius, and Kirk is a Leo.” 

“Oh.. W-woah!” Nubbins was going to have to look into this planet stuff after the time loop was over. “C-could you do my twin brother Bobby? I- I know his birthday.” 

“He’s… He’s also a Pisces. You have the same birthday,” Sally said slowly. 

“Oh. Wow!” 

���So… If our hitchhiker is a Pisces and Franklin is a Taurus…” Pam began. 

“Then they’re romantically compatible, great,” Kirk said with a sign. 

“Kirk! Just listen for one second!” Pam said. “This is important.” 

“Okay- okay-” 

“Saturn is in retrograde. Neither of your signs are ruled by Saturn, but your signs make you very compatible… In your first ‘chance’, did you and Franklin make any kind of.. Pact? Like- you promising to come back for him, or promising to see each other again in another life or something? I mean- this one would be kinda weird- but you could have had a blood pact, maybe.” 

“How is that weirder than promising a guy you just met that you’ll ‘meet in another life’?” Kirk asked. 

“Well uh- with blood pacts, you would both have to, well, drink each other's blood, in some way. Or at least get some of it in your mouths.” Nubbins grinned at that, uncontrollably. He and Franklin had swapped blood- for sure. Nubbins left his blood on Franklin’s knife, and Franklin left his on Nubbins’. And Nubbins had licked Franklin’s blood off his knife, when their van had disappeared on the horizon after they kicked him out. Just to try him. To taste him. But Nubbins never would have guessed Franklin had done the same. It made Nubbins feel a lot of things- excited and jittery and most of all special. He knew he and Franklin would have got along good if they could have- he liked Franklin when he first met him, before all the chances. And now that he knew for sure Franklin hadn’t done all this on purpose, he felt okay liking him again. 

“What’s funny?” Kirk asked. 

“N-nothin’. And uh- I think- I think we had a blood pact.”

“From… From when you cut yourself with my knife?” Franklin asked. 

“Y-yeah! And uh- from- from later too.” 

“Hm… Alright…” Pam started looking through her book. 

“There’s no damn way you’ve got information about time loops in that little book,” Jerry said, looking back, trying to get a peek. 

“Pam, what does this all mean?” Franklin asked. “What do we do? Are we stuck like this forever?” Pam closed her little book. 

“Alright. So. Franklin, you and uh-” Pam looked at him. 

“Uh- Nubbins.” 

“Nubbins?” Sally asked. “What kind of name is that?” 

“Wh- M-my name!” Nubbins snapped. 

“Alright, alright!” Pam snapped. “Look- Franklin, you and Nubbins are, well, star-crossed. Bound together by fate, but in a really bad way. As far as I can tell, in order for you to break this loop, you two need to make it to the end of today alive, but also together. Whenever it becomes impossible for that to happen, the time loop is reset through the death of someone you care about. I think… I think if we stick together, we can avoid the serial killer and all stay alive,” Pam said. Nubbins looked at the kids in the van, and thought real hard about it for a minute. The only one he really liked any was Franklin. Pam wasn’t so bad, but he wanted Kirk dead, and his family could really use some meat, so Sally and Jerry would have to go too. Maybe Pam too. He didn’t mind losing Pam. He knew if they stuck all together, the four he wanted to die would find some way to stay alive. And that just wouldn’t do. Nubbins was doing this his way. 

“Franklin,” Nubbins began. The other man turned towards him, smiling. He was real cute. Nubbins was glad he got to keep him. “Sorry about this. I-I promise I’ll be real good to you next time!” Nubbins yanked his knife free from his boot and lunged at the other man, cutting his throat three or four times before Kirk could get him off of him. Everyone in the van was screaming. Nubbins wondered which of his family members would die this round. And got his answer quick when Jerry leaned over trying to see what was going on and swerved the van in front of an oncoming semi. 

“It’s a nice picture,” he said. “But uh- You- you a real nice guy, so you can have it for free.” Franklin’s eyes lit up just a little as Nubbins handed him the photo. 

“Oh uh- thank you!” 

Nubbins had a plan. 

This time he was getting it right. It would be easier to control what was going on with Franklin if he stayed with him. So he would find a way to stay in the van. Say or do literally whatever he had to in order to stay with them. Then, he would make sure the others died off as planned, but keep Franklin away from the house until he was confident it was safe enough. Then he would go home, convince Drayton to let him keep Franklin, and escape the time loop forever! 

Simple enough. 

The first step was being charming enough to get the people in the van to let him come with them. Which he was entirely confident he could do. He already knew nobody but Franklin would like the meat talk. But they all seemed to like art. 

“So uh- Y-you like art?” Nubbins asked. 

“Uh.. yeah?” Kirk said. 

“Oh! Pam’s an artist,” Sally added. 

“M-me too!” Nubbins said. “I- I used to be the killer- at the slaughterhouse- but uh- after the layoffs- I- I started doing art.” 

“Oh- that’s cool,” Pam said. “Are you a painter or…?” They might not like what I actually do. 

“I do sculptures,” Nubbins said. “Oh- And I take pictures!” 

“Oh yeah, what of?” Jerry asked. 

“Jus’ uh- stuff around here. Like the slaughterhouse, and old cars, and my family. Oh- and uh- roadkill.”

“Roadkill?” Pam asked, crinkling her nose. 

“Y-yeah- I tried to get pictures of livin’ animals, but they run away too fast. Don’t have that problem with roadkill.” Jerry laughed first, again, and then the others. It was nice to be able to be funny on purpose this time. 

“So uh- where were you goin’, man?” Jerry asked. 

“Well uh… I was just kind of goin’ back and forth around here. Uh- gettin’ pictures. Say- uh- where are you goin’?” 

“Well, we were gonna go check out our Grandpa’s old house. It’s around here somewhere,” Sally said. 

“Oh! C-can I go with you?” 

“Well -” Franklin started with a smile, and that glint in his eyes. He was gonna say yes. Nubbins could feel it. But as he turned and looked at the others, who were uncertain, he hesitated. “Uhm..” 

“I mean-”

“We’ll be in a hurry to get out of here after that-” Nubbins tried really, really hard to look harmless, but whatever face he was making did not help at all in gaining the trust of the van-goers, who started all trying to make excuses more rapidly. Drayton was always good at getting people’s trust, and getting them to come home with him. Nubbins didn’t know how he was so good at it. Nubbins tried to think of what Drayton might do. 

The first thing that came to mind was fake a heart attack, but that wouldn’t really help in his current situation. Plus that usually worked on men more than women. And the people who wanted him out of the van were a mix of both. Franklin liked him. Jerry and Sally seemed the least determined either way. He didn’t think he could get Kirk to like him, or want him there. But he did think Pam could make him be nice. So Nubbins thought about what Drayton did to lure women. Which was either finding lonely, recently divorced or widowed women his age and inviting them to dinner, or acting really really pathetic and sad. 

“I uh… I just don’t wanna be alone t-today. Is all,” Nubbins began. “M-my twin brother got drafted a while ago and… and today is our birthday… And uh,” Nubbins sniffled for dramatic effect. “We- we got the letter today. That.. That Bobby won’t come home- and I- I just don’t want- I- I won’t be in your hair too long- my older brother is at work today and- I- I wanna be there when he gets home- so- so I can tell him but… I don’t.. I don’t wanna be there right now.” 

“Oh my God,” Pam said.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Jerry said. 

“Oh- Of course you can stay with us,” Franklin said, before the others could object. Sally looked fit to hit him over the head about it, but she didn’t. Probably because they had company. 

“Yeah, uh, sorry about that. Man,” Kirk said. 

“It’s.. It’s… It ain’t easy. But… I-I’m gonna be okay.” 

“Is… Is that why you did that?” Franklin asked, gesturing towards his hand. 

“Huh?”

“Is that why you cut yourself like that?” Franklin asked. 

“Oh uh- k-kinda. It… it feels good. Wh-when you get hurt real bad sometimes your body gives you a- a little jolt! And it hurts. I-I kinda like the way it hurts too.I- I could do it again and show you, if you’d like!” Everybody said no at once, and then-

“If you’re gonna come with us, you have to stop doing that,” Sally said. 

“Yeah, you’re okay so long as you’re not doing anything crazy,” Kirk added. Nubbins narrowed his eyes a little, but didn’t say anything. 

“Oh- uh- okay.” 

“Let’s talk about something else,” Pam said. 

“Well, uh- Wh-What’s your star sign?” Nubbins asked. Pam’s eyes lit up and something in Kirk died. 

“Hey uh- pal, we’re runnin’ low on gas, do you know if there’s any gas stations around here?” Jerry interrupted. 

“Oh! Y-yeah, there’s- there’s one up this way a little ways.” They went to the gas station, and Nubbins laid flat in the back, against the door, while the girls got out to get barbeque and cokes. Jerry and Kirk talked a little to Drayton, and Franklin just looked down at Nubbins, smirking a little, but not saying anything. Nubbins broke into a grin too. Hiding from his big brother, trying not to snicker too much, it felt like a game. Nubbins wondered what it would be like to keep Franklin. If they would keep playing games like this together.They would have to keep him for that day, of course, but after all that was about to happen, they couldn’t just let him go. They should, logically, just slaughter him after the time loop was over. But Nubbins was lonely. He had been since Bobby got drafted. And even though Bobby would be back one day, probably soon, Nubbins still sort of wanted someone around. Someone new. And Franklin was new, and nice, and if he tried to get away they could take his wheels off so he’d have to stay with them. He was perfect. Their stars were aligned, like Pam said. 

Nubbins just had to convince Drayton of it. 

They went to the ol’ Franklin house with no more gas. Drayton told them they didn’t have any, which meant he wanted something with the van group. Usually it was his way of stranding folks nearby, so the Sawyers could ambush them and pick them off. But Nubbins knew these idiots were going to come right to them. He had to keep his excitement inside. Everything was going perfect. 

Nubbins stayed in the van, curled in a ball near Franklin’s feet, until Jerry opened the sliding door, and Nubbins skittered out, quickly. Jerry jumped back a little at that, but Nubbins didn’t pay his concern any mind. Jerry would only be alive a few more hours anyways. Nubbins looked around the old house. It was weird. He had been there before, of course, putting up some of his not-as-good art, worried that if Drayton saw it he might take it down. But it was different being invited, and different to see the people who lived there actually there. 

Nubbins had heard vaguely of the Hardesty-Enrights before. Grandpa didn’t like them much, but Grandpa didn’t like anyone to be close enough to see through binoculars. That was why he moved out to Newt- to get away from people. And it had just about worked before ol’ Franklin Enright decided to settle in. Grandpa complained about him a lot, and Drayton complained about his son Lefty a lot, so Nubbins had never really tried to make friends with the kids across the field. They were weird anyways- the whole family just up and left their Grandpa in the old house, coming by sometimes, but leaving him alone most of the time. Nubbins just couldn’t understand why anybody would do that. He would never leave Grandpa alone like that. That was probably why their Grandpa was dead and his wasn’t. 

That, and his general learned distrust of outsiders, had put Nubbins off the Hardestys before he even knew any of them. He wondered, maybe, if he hadn’t listened so well, if he and Franklin could have been buddies. He bet Franklin and Bobby would have been good buddies too. Nubbins turned, and went back to Franklin. The others had set some planks out so he could wheel out of the van, and then run off somewhere. 

“Oh hey. I thought you ran off with everybody else,” Franklin said. 

“Me? Nah. Wh-where did everybody go?” 

“Inside I think,” Franklin said. He was munching on a sausage Drayton had sold them, and he started to wheel towards the house. Nubbins followed close, looking down at him. 

“Y-you like that meat?” Nubbins asked. It was a good sign that Franklin already liked their food, since Nubbins had already decided in his head he was keeping him. 

“Oh, yeah- you uh- you want some?” Franklin asked, offering the sausage to him.

“Oh- uh- no, we got more at home.” 

“Huh?”

“That guy at the station, the old man, he’s my brother- he- he cooks that meat himself. We got more at home.”

“Oh… That’s why you were avoidin’ him.” 

“Yeah. Cook’s no fun, doesn’t let me do nothin’.”

“Cook?”

“Oh uh-that’s- that ain’t his name, that’s just what we call him. Like my little brother is Bubba, and uh- sometimes they call me Paul.” 

“Paul? What’s Paul short for?” Franklin asked. “Or is it your middle name or..?”

“My name’s Nubbins. D-don’t tell the others.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“I don’t like them as much as you.” Franklin laughed at that. “You’re weird, Nubbins.” 

“Oh uh… Is that okay?”

“Yeah. I like it. I never met somebody like you.” Franklin rolled to the door, but hit some kind of beam in the floor, and had to rock his chair back and forth a few times to get over it. He met the same struggle getting into the living room, and Nubbins waited, fidgeting, not sure what he should do. The only person Nubbins had known to stay in a chair like that was Grandpa. He and Bubba just picked Grandpa up and moved him wherever he needed to go. But Franklin rolled himself around. So that seemed strange. Nubbins would probably roll Franklin when he kidnapped him later, but at the moment it didn’t feel right. Nubbins could hear laughter, echoing from upstairs. He ran up the first few steps, then looked back down at Franklin. 

“Uh… How do you get upstairs?” Nubbins asked. 

“I don’t,” Franklin said flatly. 

“Wh- but… They’re upstairs.” 

“Yeah. They… They pro’lly either forgot or…” 

“Oh well uh- I- I’ll be right back,” Nubbins said. He ran up the stairs, quickly pinpointing the laughter. He burst in the room and most of them jumped. 

“Oh, hey,” Pam said. “What’s uh- what’re you doin’?” 

“You uh- you forgot Franklin.”

“Huh?” Sally asked. 

“He’s downstairs. And- and he’s got that chair- so he can’t get up.” 

“Well,” Jerry said. “Yeah.”

“So uh… Let’s go downstairs.”

“We were just lookin’ around up here,” Kirk began.

“Yeah, I wanted to show everybody my old room,” Sally said. 

“I’m sure Franklin will be fine ten minutes alone,” Kirk finished. 

“Oh… Did.. Did Franklin have a room?” 

“Well, yeah, Grandpa always let him stay down the hall-”

“How’d he get up then?” 

“Well- when he was little Grandpa would carry him up. It was a lot easier when one of our uncles-”

“Oh! Uh! Well, me and Bubba carry our Grandpa up the stairs all the time. Franklin’s a bit bigger-”

“You can say that again,” Kirk said. Nubbins didn’t understand his comment, but he didn’t like it either. 

“Well uh- with me, and you, and Jerry, we could probably-”

“Look, man,” Kirk began, putting a hand on Nubbins’ shoulder, not unlike how Drayton did sometimes. “We know Franklin can’t get up here. That’s kind of the whole point.” 

“Huh?”

“He’s fine, right now. Alone. We’ll go and talk with him in a minute. We’d just all like some time away from him for a little while. I mean- if you’d been in the van with him as long as we had, you’d wanna strangle him too.” 

“Nuh-uh!” Nubbins snapped, slapping Kirk’s hand off him like it was a spider web. “I- I like Franklin.” 

“I mean, I’m his sister, I like him too,” Sally began. “He’s just a bit… Much sometimes.”

“Whiny,” Kirk said. “So damn whiny.” 

“He’s… He’s real talkative,” Pam said. “Too much, sometimes.” 

“I mean… I think he’s okay,” Jerry added, awkwardly. Nubbins couldn’t understand this. Why did they even bring Franklin with them if they didn’t like him? Why did Sally just let those outsiders talk bad about her brother like that? Even Drayton wasn’t that mean. Whenever an outsider said something bad about Nubbins, or Bobby, or Bubba, Drayton would stand up for them, and tell the outsider he hoped their baby got cancer, or something normal like that. 

“You… You’re a bad sister.” 

“I- excuse me?” 

“You’re a bad sister! You- you just let them be mean to him! Y-You shouldn’t let nobody else talk bad about your brother. Jus’ family gets to! You’re a bad sister!” None of them could think of a response to all that, and Nubbins was done talking with them, so he blew a raspberry at them and left the room, stomping down stairs. 

“So… I guess they didn’t forget,” Franklin said, kind of softly. 

“Well uh… They.. They said-”

“I heard most of that. You don’t talk quiet.” There was a pause. 

“I- uh- I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re… You’re one of the only people who’s stood up for me in a long, long time.” 

“Oh.” Nubbins heard footsteps, slinking down the stairs. He expected it would be Sally- that was kind of how Drayton slunk around after he said something he shouldn’t have. Nubbins expected some kind of apology. But it was his least favorite van goer. Kirk. 

“Hey uh.. Franklin, you know where that old swimmin’ hole is?” 

“Huh?”

“Me an’ Pam were thinking of going down there. Gettin’ out of the house a little.” 

“Oh yeah- uh- it’s just down the hill,” Franklin said. Nubbins considered doing that thing Drayton hates- where he wedges his whole body in the staircase so he can’t get past him, but he had a good feeling about Kirk’s little swimming trip. Nubbins moved aside, and let Kirk and Pam slink past. Nubbins couldn’t help the little giggle that escaped him as they slipped through the door. “What’s so funny man?”

“N-nothin’. I- I just got a good feelin’,” Nubbins said. 

Nubbins’ good feeling lasted all night. The Hardesty siblings didn’t seem to share it as the night went on though. Kirk and Pam didn’t come back. Nubbins knew why, but said nothing. Jerry went looking for them. And he didn’t come back either. Now there was only one more to go. 

“I guess… they’re probably lost,” Franklin said softly. 

“It’s… It’s gettin’ too late. We should go and look for them,” Sally said. 

“What if we get lost too?” 

“We’ve got the flashlight, we’ll be fine,” Sally said. 

“We- we should got to the gas station and get help,” Franklin said. “Your brother works at the gas station, don’t he?” 

“Well uh- y-yeah- but I don’t know how much help he’d be.”

“Well the gas station’s got a telephone, right? We could call somebody-”

“Oh uh, it don’t got a phone.” That was answer enough for Sally. 

“Franklin, let me see the flashlight. I’m gonna go look for them.” 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sally,” Franklin said, hugging the flashlight to his chest. 

“Franklin, just give me the flashlight-”

“You really ought not to go-”

“Franklin!” 

“Franklin, i-it’ll be alright,” Nubbins said. “I’ll be here with you. A-and Sally can go look for ‘em!” Franklin still didn’t give up the flashlight. 

“Sally, I’ve got a bad feelin’. I-I don’t want anything happening to you either-” 

“Fine- I’ll go without it-”

“Wait- Sally- we could come with you-” 

“Jus’ give her the flashlight,” Nubbins said. “S-so she’s safe!” 

“No! Something terrible is about to happen and I just know it!” Franklin said. “Something terrible already happened- and now- I just-” 

“Franklin, you can’t stop me from going. You can only choose whether I’ve got the flashlight or not.” Franklin looked down at the light in his hands, and for a moment something like grief crossed his face. 

“Oh… Okay,” Franklin said, handing Sally the flashlight. “Be careful.”

“I will.” 

It was quiet. Everything was quiet, for a while. That made Nubbins nervous, and he started to fidget around. 

“Do you think… Do you think she’s okay?” Franklin asked. “I- I just changed the battery in that flashlight- it’s- it’s a good battery. I think it could last like- like thirteen years. I don’t think she ran out of battery.”

“Me neither,” Nubbins said. “It-it’ll be okay. Everything’s gonna be right like it should be.” Then, they heard a scream. The horrified, agonized scream of one Sally Hardesty. And the deep, low purr of the chainsaw. Nubbins couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Oh my God- Sally! That was- that was Sally!” 

“Yeah it was!” Nubbins said. Then he started pushing Franklin. 

“Wh-what are you doing?” 

“Takin’ you home for dinner!” 

Nubbins set everything up nice. He and Bubba went and got Grandpa, and brought him downstairs. They set Franklin at the dinner table, and put bricks around his wheels so he couldn’t go anywhere. Nubbins even set the table. He made sure everything looked perfect, and nice, and just right like Drayton liked it. Because that night he had a big ask. Nobody had ever gotten to keep an outsider before. The closest Nubbins had ever even heard of that was Momma having her boyfriends, but they ate most of them. Drayton had some kind of something with an outsider when he was a lot younger, but that all fell apart and it just made Drayton meaner. If Nubbins had to guess, Grandpa probably made Drayton eat his Franklin. That would make Nubbins a lot meaner too. Nubbins didn’t want that- couldn’t afford that fate. So he had to make sure every little thing was perfect. And, just as a backup, Nubbins slipped up to Drayton’s room and got that magazine with the shirtless man on it from his dresser. That way, if Drayton refused to let him keep Franklin, Nubbins could threaten to show Grandpa his magazine until Drayton realized Franklin should stay. Nubbins headed out of the kitchen, back into the dining room, where Bubba was trying to introduce himself to Franklin. 

“Oh God- Oh Lord- Please- Please don’t eat me-” Bubba tried to sooth him in his pretty lady voice, but for some reason that didn’t help. 

“It’s okay! We ain’t gonna eat you. You’re stayin’ with us!” Nubbins tried to explain. 

“What? Why- I- I like you, but I don’t wanna stay here- I wanna go home-”

“It’s real nice here. You like meat! And head cheese. We can have meat for dinner every night-”

“My family is gonna come lookin’ for me- m-my uncle’s a cop! He’ll come lookin’ and then-”

“Then we gonna eat him,” Nubbins said, flatly. 

“No! Oh God- Please- I- If you let me go, I won’t tell nobody- I won’t tell nobody nothin’!” Their conversation was interrupted by Drayton’s truck pulling up to the house and then-

“Boys! Come out here and help me with this-” Nubbins ran out to help Drayton first, determined to be in his good graces. Sally was with him, which was a surprise. She was bleeding all over the bag he had her in, and thrashing like she was dying, which helped Nubbins connect the dots. “Did your brother get all those kids?”

“Yeah! We got all of ‘em!” Drayton nodded sternly, then the two brothers worked to drag Sally back in. 

“Oh my God- Sally!? They got you too-” Sally was put at the head of the table and strapped down. 

“Oh wow, a bonus body! And you set the table,” Drayton said, happy for a second before his voice went flat. “What do you want?” 

“What?” 

“I know you want somethin’. You ain’t nice like this if you don’t want somethin’.” 

“Well, uh a little bit.” With Sally tied down, thrashing and screaming, Nubbins and Drayton stood up. Nubbins tried to keep his back straight, to give an air of authority, or at least of confidence. “This one is Franklin,” Nubbins said, pointing to him. “And we’re keepin’ him.” 

Drayton laughed in his face. 

“You’re funny, boy-”

“I mean it.” 

“You… You mean it?” Drayton was getting mad. 

“Yeah. W-we’re keepin’ him.” 

“You think you call the shots around here now- you think you can just bring home a random stranger and expect him to get fed and looked after and-”

“Did I stutter?” 

“I mean, yes-”

“Not that way! Like- like in the tone way not the-”

“No, I suppose you didn’t,” Drayton said darkly. Then he paused. “Why?”

“What?”

“Why do you want him? We’ve had hundreds through here- slaughtered and killed- and you ain’t given any of ‘em pause. Why him? Why’s he special?” Nubbins was half surprised he even got the chance to explain it. But now, he knew he would get his way. Once Drayton understood what Franklin was like, he wouldn’t just let him stay- he would want him to stay. 

“He-he’s real nice, and he likes my pictures! Of the slaughterhouse- he- he liked hearing about the slaughterhouse, and he likes your cookin’ and he’s funny and he likes the way I am and- and he’s got a good face and a good laugh and I like him!” Nubbins said. “Oh! And our stars line up! They- they line up good. He’s a- a uh… A Taurus! And I’m a Piscese- and that’s- that’s good together-” 

“Oh. So that’s how it is,” Drayton said. His voice was level. But not in a good way. In a way that made Nubbins feel like static was going across his skin. Nubbins, Bubba, Sally, and Franklin were all quiet, fixed on Drayton, waiting for his response. It felt like even Grandpa was holding his breath. “Well… I ain’t havin’ you two fudgepackers in this house!” Drayton snapped. “So if that’s how it is- you can- you can up and leave!” Nubbins knew Drayton didn’t mean that- he had this talk with him before, in another time.

“Well- if that’s how it is, you’re gonna have to leave with us!” Nubbins said, way more confident and mocking than he had any right to be, pulling the magazine out from its hiding place in his pants pocket and slapping it down on the dinner table for everybody to see. “I found this in your dresser!” The magazine, as if on cue, fell open to a picture of an entirely naked man. Drayton was staring down at the table like Nubbins just slapped a bouquet of live rattlesnakes down on it. 

“Boy-�� 

“I-I know you worry about me- and- and you worry somethin’ will happen to me- and I guess this doesn’t make that better but- I-if you let him stay I promise I’ll be good and I’ll- I’ll stay by the house more. I- I promise. And- And I can help more with dinner and stuff- and takin’ care of Grandpa- and- and I bet Franklin could be real good at lurin’ people in! He- he already offered to bring his uncle here!” 

“Franklin!” Sally snapped. 

“I did not!” Franklin began. 

“Shut up!” Drayton snapped, “All of you!” Drayton bounced nervously back and forth. He was considering it. Nubbins started to smile. He was really considering it! He looked up at Franklin, who sat there quietly, scared and sweaty, but polite. “Fine,” Drayton said. 

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Nubbins started to jump around the table in joy. 

“But don’t ever ask me to keep another one! And if this boy brings us any legal trouble- so help me God-” 

“We get to keep Frankie! We get to keep him!” Nubbins said, taking Bubba’s hands, and starting to dance with him. 

“Listen, I’m gonna tell you what I was gonna tell him, and then you tell him all that-” Drayton started telling Franklin. 

“Oh- Okay-” Franklin said, pressed back into his chair as flat as he could. 

“W-Wait-” Sally said. “Wh-what about me?” 

“Oh,” Drayton said. “We’re still eatin’ you.” 

The next part was familiar, but new. Nubbins got a light brooming for going into Drayton’s room, and was told to put that magazine back where he found it. He did, and came back down to a blissful dinner scene. Sally was screaming her lungs out, thrashing at the chair, eyes glazed over in an odd way. Franklin was screaming too, trying to say something to her, trying to calm her down maybe. Drayton was chasing Bubba around, telling him to go get dinner, and threatening him with the broom. All in all, it was perfect. Dinner went the same as it did the first time, except with Franklin there. Nubbins was surprised by how upset he was about his sister dying, considering what a bad sister she was, but Franklin had genuinely screamed and sobbed until his voice was raw and he couldn’t physically cry anymore. Nubbins looked at his family, at Bubba, and Grandpa, and then over to Drayton. Drayton bounced and clapped and cheered as Grandpa hit her, again and again. Nubbins thought about holding him. About his limp, lifeless body. And Nubbins understood. He gently, quietly put his hands over Franklin’s eyes, so he wouldn’t have to watch, or think about it. Then, suddenly, quickly, Grandpa dropped the hammer, and Sally wriggled up and out- running for the door. 

“Holy shit- get her boys!” Drayton yelled. Bubba raced for the door, chainsaw quickly in hand, and Nubbins followed. Drayton was slow, and no good at killing anyways, so he hung back. 

Nubbins remembered this morning. 

His blood was pumping, as he ran after her. 

He knew he was alive. 

Nubbins chased her. Played his part. She was slower this time, Bubba had slashed her good once with the chainsaw- and while it hadn’t killed her, hitting her shoulder, it had bled her enough that she couldn’t outrun Nubbins for even a second. He could probably kill her in the driveway. But he had a plan- a feeling, really. He knew what to do. She screamed and he laughed, chasing, slicing, all again. It was still fun, sure, though it was different the second go round. She once again deftly dodged the cattle guard. Just barely. Then stumbled out into the road. Nubbins followed, careful, counting the seconds, trying to remember exactly how many cuts he got in. 

One. Two. Three-four. Five- And then he jumped back. Lept away from her like she’d burned him. Sally looked up, agony and confusion on her face. For just a second before the truck hit her. It was a pretty gruesome death, Nubbins had to admit. A lot worse on the outside than in it. But, regardless, as he watched it, he started to laugh. Nubbins corralled Bubba, back, into the bushes, out of the line of sight of the driver, who was wailing and crying and doing his best to resuscitate her. Nubbins knew from experience she was already gone. The two brothers headed back towards the house. 

Drayton stood outside, not exactly content. Nubbins walked up with a grin, whipping the blood from his knife onto his pants. 

“Did you get the bitch?” Drayton asked. 

“She g-got hit by a truck!” Nubbins said. “The d-driver thinks he killed her. No cops comin’ our way this time.” Drayton nodded. “W-wait!” 

“What now?” 

“Could you… Would you help me lie to Franklin about her?” 

“What?”

“Jus’- I’m gonna tell him she run off. Left him behind.” Drayton chuckled and shook his head. 

“You really care about this whole thing with him, huh?” Drayton asked. Nubbins nodded. “Well… I won’t fuck it up for you. Just… Be prepared if this whole thing don’t work out.” 

A day went by. Then two. Then three. Then a week. Nubbins had dreams, more often than not. Echoes of the loops- of what happened to his family in each one, or of being stuck in the loop again. The first few days had been nerve wracking- Nubbins still felt every minute like he would end up back in the loop, trapped again. But as time went on, he started to accept that he wasn’t. He had expected something big to happen- some kind of message from the stars. But life just carried on. Like it had before the whole thing had happened. 

Franklin was distraught. Scared that Sally would leave him, insistent that his sister was going to get help- that someone would come- that Sally still cared, that his parents still cared, that his cop uncle would turn up eventually. But they didn’t. And Franklin sort of seemed to lose hope. That made Nubbins worried too. Franklin was so sad all the time, and not eating much, and not doing much either. He was still like Grandpa, still like he wasn’t alive no more, even though he was. Nubbins took another picture of him, and he stuck it to the wall, with the pictures of the rest of his family, hoping that Franklin would get the hint- that he was with them- that he was one of them. But Nubbins wasn’t sure it was helping. 

Till one day, at the end of the week, he heard a familiar mechanical snap. He had been trying to help Bubba scoop up the chicken feathers- one of the many stupid little chores Drayton made him do so he could keep Franklin. Drayton kept giving him chores like that, and Nubbins kept doing them, even though he was confident there was no bite behind Drayton’s bark. Drayton said he was gonna cook up Franklin if Nubbins was bad, but Nubbins wouldn’t kill Franklin, and Bubba wouldn’t, and Drayton was never any good at killing- so there would be no one to do it. It was a hollow threat. But Nubbins wanted his brother to be happy, so he was doing that one anyways. Until he heard that noise and then looked up. Franklin was in his chair, holding Nubbins’ camera. Nubbins looked up at him with naked surprise. 

“You… You took my picture,” Nubbins said. Franklin examined the picture as it came out, an unreadable but near pleasant expression on his face. 

“It’s a nice picture,” he said. Nubbins swallowed heavily. “Or at least I think it is. I’m- I’m not a photographer like you-” Nubbins went over to him, cautiously. “I just- uh- there’s- there’s photos of everybody but you- so I thought-” Nubbins grabbed the picture from Franklin’s hands, not noticing entirely when he flinched a little. There were a lot of ways the picture could probably technically be better. But it was real and honest. 

“It’s a real nice picture,” Nubbins agreed. He laughed as he started hanging it on the wall, and for the first time, Franklin laughed with him.

[thefandomcassandra]

a zero escape ficlet

Your name is Aoi Kurashiki. Ten years ago, your sister died. You tried to fix that one year ago but something went wrong. You lost and she's still dead. On a whim—a snail stops in your path—you visit this science symposium in America—you never went back to Japan because it hurt too much to go home without her—and see this brick shithouse man—or he would be if he didn't look like he hadn't been eating or sleeping, his face drawn and scarecrow thin, his clothes hanging off of him, his eyes as dead as yours—standing next to your sister.

He calls them GAULEMS. He says he based her—not your sister, Echo, model GTF-AM-E-305—off of someone he knew. You ask him how, when, at what point. He looks like you struck him. He says "She and I cohabited together" which is a lie. He says "I didn't know she was dead until I woke up here" which makes no sense. He says "Forty-five years from now, in a timeline that will not happen, she and I will have hosted a game on the moon" which hurts to hear. He says "Do you know who Zero is?" and you do.

Its not fair. "No," he says, "it's not". She was supposed to live. "And the world was supposed to end. or," he adds, "I was supposed to help stop it from ending." Why are you alive when she isn't? "I don't know," and something in his voice makes you believe he's just like you. "Her name is Phi," he says, "and she didn't make the jump with me. or maybe I made the wrong jump." Wrong turn at Albuquerque. "That would be my luck." His laugh feels empty.

Echo hurts to be around and he knows this so she isn't nearby when you talk with him (you talk a lot). You tell him about the Nonary Game and Hongou and Light and Clover. You tell him about Junpei ("Tenmyouji?" and you're more sad than surprised he's been—will be?—in more than one. Nobody deserves that, not even you) and Hazuki and Seven and losing. You tell him about fire and nine years of your life. He tells you about forty-five and the moon and a pandemic.

You grieve together for other timelines.

[connecting-the-stars]

Take My Heart (and put it somewhere safe) by Not_Carrying_On

I have sung my excitement and adoration of this fic with all the Moodboards, but I think it’s high time I collect the pieces together to share. A Thiam fic that has reignited my love for Teen Wolf and the pairing. Absolutely recommend reading for it’s expansion upon Theo’s backstory, Liam’s key struggle with his parents, the pack’s arc of gradually forgiving Theo, of Alec and Theo’s relationship, super cool exploration the lore of packs and other supernaturals, along with a fantastic use of full transformations.

@i-will-run-to-the-moon thank you for sharing this lovely work!

[hoipeepsimruby]

Genshin things that I will ignore in canon:

Diluc and Kaeya exchanging letters to each other during his 3-4 year revenge quest

Kid Kaeya was a perfect angel who never did anything wrong

Adult Kaeya is a perfect angel who never did anything wrong

(Let the man be morally dubious that’s when he’s most interesting. Plus his recent characterization is inconsistent with his earlier one and his bio lore)

Yae Miko tormenting every single Inazuma guy character (her silly rivalry with Itto can stay it’s funny)

60% of the Venti alcohol jokes (they aren’t funny most of the time. The only time it’s funny is times like when Beidou wouldn’t let Venti and Kazuha drink despite them both being of legal drinking age)

Paimon being the travelers voice (I’m in the minority where I like Paimon as I feel she’s the travelers annoying little sister and with that in mind she’s written rather well but I do agree with everyone who’s annoyed with how she speaks for the traveler. While I’ve never published any fanfics in a lot of my ideas Paimon ends up getting a bit shafted due to me not really knowing what to do with her because outside of being the travelers voice she doesn’t do all that much.)

Most of the Inazuma main story (if I want to I can be willfully ignorant and enjoy the story but after reading gold-rhine’s Inazuma re-write I can never go back)

The traveler being a jerk to Furina at the beginning of her story quest. (In character for Paimon but the traveler I think would at least be a little more understanding and would try to get Paimon to stop guilt tripping her)

Finally, the traveler fails to get Charlotte any scoops from the fortress of meropide. (I know why but they did waste a bunch of her money and that feels mean)

[mochirimochi]

My Google docs rn…

[puhpandas]

Take Me Home 1, 2

(to see new chapters release, sub on ao3 :))

(3227 words)

When Cassie wakes for the second time, it's not with a pounding head and limbs as heavy as iron. No. This time, her awareness of the world rolls in smoothly, and all she feels when she wakes fully is faint buzzing throughout her body.

She revels in it; the fact that theres no pain. She doesn't think too hard about why, she just shifts, moving to stretch her limbs, but hisses when going to move her arm sends a wave of soreness pain up her arm.

She grits her teeth, yelping and suddenly re-entering the world fully when the pain throws her into alertness.

Her eyes shoot open, and she moves to sit up in bed, heart racing when all she can remember is last being in the dark, dingy, falling apart Pizzaplex, but she calms when all she can see is someone's bedroom.

"...Huh?" She mumbles, her mind still not having fully caught up to her yet. She glances around the room, painted a pale blue, with furniture tucked against the neighboring walls and flowing curtains covering most of the sunlight filtering through the window, a light breeze ruffling them.

Movement catches her attention in the corner of her eye, and she glances over just in time for Gregory to snort awake, eyes trailing across her, not really seeing her, until they blow wide in recognition.

"Cassie!" Gregory exclaims, rushing to stand up from the position he was in where he had been sitting in a chair, laying his head in his arms, hunched over on the bed. "You're finally awake!"

Cassie feels her heart warm when she realizes that Gregory had been waiting for her to wake up by her bedside, never leaving her prescence. Long enough for him to fall asleep. Her heart slows to a normal rate when she sets eyes on him, immediately feeling at ease, and she breaths a deep breath, shifting to sit up more and allowing Gregory to help her when he rushes over.

She hisses when the movement jostles her leg and arm, and she finally takes a good look at them, realizing that at some point, in her sleep, her cardigan had been taken off, leaving her in her button-up, and her shoes and socks had been discarded, leaving her in her dark purple tights and shorts.

Gregory notices her staring at her foot, which is propped up on a pillow, peeking out from under the thick comforter, with some sort of makeshift splint made from cloth wrapped around the ankle.

"We had to improvise." He informs her, that lopsided grin Cassie'd always see in her dreams and on her homemade missing posters stretched on his face. "Ness cant exactly take the chance of getting involved with authority."

Cassie furrows her brows, her mind still kind of foggy from her -what she guesses- long sleep. "Ness?"

Gregory perks up. "Oh. It's a nickname we use for Vanessa a lot. Y'know, that blonde girl that was with us in the pizzeria?"

Cassie nods in recognition, remembering her blonde ponytail with rainbow streaks. "Yeah, um... how exactly did--"

She gets cut off when the door clicks open, and speak of the devil. "Oh, you're awake." Vanessa peeks her head in the room, a smile on her face when she sees Cassie sitting up and awake. "We were just making dinner, and I wanted to see if you were up."

"Um..." Cassie trails off. "Dinner?" She settles on.

Gregory senses her uncertainty, and settles a hand on her shoulder. "Vanessa's makin' chicken alfredo. And since you're awake, now you can finally eat."

Her stomach rumbles as if on queue, and her cheeks redden. Gregory has no problem laughing at her. "How long has it been?"

Cassie tries to think. "A few hours before you came and got me, since I ran to the Pizzaplex as soon as I got the message. So... that plus however long I slept for."

"Eighteen hours." Vanessa supplies helpfully.

Cassies eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. "Eighteen hours?!" She exclaims.

Gregory laughs, and Vanessa just looks at her with a crooked smile that reminds her of Gregory's. "Yup. You were exhausted physically and emotionally, and were injured, kiddo. The fact that you slept for so long checks out."

Gregory giggles. "Remember when we first got back, you slept for twenty-one."

Vanessa rolls her eyes. "I think I had a perfectly good reason to sleep the whole day away. Unlike you." She points two fingers from her eyes to Gregory. "Its not my fault you have the same amount of energy as a hyperactive dog."

"You mentioned a dog! So is the dog talk working?" Gregory asks, smugly. "Come on, Ness. Just concede. Its only a matter of time before you cave."

Cassie just watches, unsure of what to do when Gregory and Vanessa talk. Theres a grin on Gregory's face, not one she's used to. Not like the mischievous, pointed ones when Gregory was brewing something up, or the slight, hopeful ones, when Cassie would talk about when they got older, and she and Gregory could work towards getting a car and finally being able to give Gregory a life where he doesnt have to worry, and they can just live. Just a few more years, they'd always say.

This one is easy. Its gentle, with no kind of edge to be detected, and it looks so right on his face. It doesn't look forced, it doesnt look rare. Cassie can tell just by looking that Gregory has smiled like this often, and hes been allowed to be used to it. To smile without the quirk of worry.

It warms Cassies heart, to see that theres been change. But it also hurts.

Because he'd been away for so long, and although Cassie is so, so glad to have him back, she can't help but wonder why he never reached out to her. If he'd been able to smile so easily like this, while she couldn't muster one at times, too empty from his absence.

"I can barely take care of you and Freddy, kid." Vanessa points out, and Cassie is thrown back into reality. "And now I got another destroyed animatronic to fix and another kid. Not even mentioning a dog."

Cassie gasps, big and sudden at Vanessa's words. "Roxy!" She exclaims, and she winces when her voice rasps, and her dry throat burns from dehydration. "Roxy! Where is she? Is--Is she okay?!"

When Cassie starts to shift, arms moving to roll the comforter off of herself and somehow leave the bed, Gregory and Vanessa both rush to gently push her back down.

"Its okay, Cassie." Gregory says in that soft voice of his where it feels like it's only reserved for Cassie. "Shes in parts and service. While you were asleep, we wanted to fix her up a little, so we took turns watching you and fixing Roxy up."

Cassie feels the tension melt off of her body when she hears that Roxy is here, and has been fixed a little, but she still furrows her brows in confusion at 'parts and service', because are they not in a house right now?

Cassie can see Vanessa roll her eyes and go to explain. "He means that shes in one of the spare rooms we use to work on animatronics." Vanessa tells her. "We used it to build Freddy a body, and once Freddy started calling it parts and service, Gregory jumped on it, and it just stuck."

Cassie nods slowly, taking in the influx of information that she cant fully sort through right now. "So thats why Freddy didnt have a head."

"Do you want to see her?" Gregory asks. "Roxy, I mean. I'm suprised she hasnt barged in here already. I had to fight her to get her to trust me and Ness enough to work on her and watch you."

Cassie smiles, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Because Roxy is so worried about her, and Cassie is happy that she cares, but shes upset that Roxy and Gregory are so hostile towards eachother. "Yeah. Um. I would like to see her."

Gregory nods, and smiles. "Kay. She wont look the exact same, since I tried my best to restore her some, but at least she isnt about to fall apart."

Vanessa leaves the room with a curse, and Cassie ignores the slight burning smell coming from outside the door. "...Okay. Just... when you get her, can we have some alone time?"

Gregory nods, halfway out the door. "Okay. Sure. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay." She says, and then Gregory is gone.

Cassie breathes deep, playing with the frayed edges of the comforter when theres nothing else to do. She can hear the clattering of kitchen utensils from further in the house, and hushed voices.

The silence stretches further in her room, and when Gregory doesnt return, not right away, Cassie can feel her chest tighten, and something grip her lungs.

She breathes harshly through her nose, and notices how her hands begin to shake slightly.

Something grabs at her chest, something akin to panic, feeling like a giant hand and squeezing.

Gregory. Is all she can think about. He said he'd be right back. Where is he? He shouldn't have been gone this long, right?

Have I lost him again?

She squeezes her eyes shut, trying really hard to keep still, to keep calm, but her brain is jumbled, like its tied itself in knots, and all she can think about is how Gregory isn't here with her.

She has half the mind to get up, to tear through the house to search for him, to make sure she hasnt lost him again, that she wont have to look for him again. But one look at her ankle thats wrapped in cloth and she knows it isnt possible.

She makes a pitiful noise, breaths huffing out of her mouth now, short and heavy, and Gregory hasnt come back yet, and she cant do a thing about it.

It's only when Gregory pops his head back through the door, nudging it open with a creak that Cassie is ripped away from her thoughts and actually realizes how much shes panicking.

Gregory steps inside, a smile on his face, mouth open ready to speak, but it drops right off as soon as he sees Cassie.

Cassie cant find it in her to speak when Gregory rushes over to her, asking if shes okay. Her brain feels like its fogged over, or like its signal is blocked, and she cant think enough to respond to his questions.

All she can do is reach out to him when relief overwhelms her, enough for tears to slip past her lashes, and Gregory pauses in his rapid fire questions, seeming to understand something.

"I'm here, Cassie." He tells her, getting on the bed with her. He let's her wrap her arms around him and squeeze him as much as she needs when she moves to. "I'm not leaving again, okay? I'll be here with you. Nothings going to take me away from you. You arent going to lose me."

Cassie relishes in the reassurance. It reaches past all of the fog into some part of her brain, and it's like hosing down a wildfire. Her breathing slows down as she soaks up the feeling of Gregory right here, with her, and not going anywhere.

The panic that gripped her heart loosens some, and shes finally able to breathe, breathing deep breaths when Gregory does too.

"Sorry." She says after a moment, wiping at her eyes. "I dont... I dont know why that happened. I, um..."

"Separation anxiety." Gregory says, and Cassie startles. When shes finally able to unfuse herself with Gregory enough to look at his face, he has a knowing, serious expression on his face. "I had my rodeo with it, too... me and Freddy didnt have too good of a time with it."

Cassie furrows her brows, and it feels like she has ten thousand more questions added to the pile to ask, but Gregory stops her before she can speak.

"I'll tell you another time, okay?" He says, gesturing to the door where Roxy stands, waiting patiently for someone who was, when she last checked, willing to rip apart the guy Cassie just hugged to death. "Just... I promise I'll help you with it, okay? I dont think I'll be too different from you, after trying to reach you all night, and also..."

His eyes glaze over some, looking like a thousand different memories are playing over them, but he shakes it off, offering one more smile. "Itll be fine, okay? I'm gonna go make you a plate, cuz I think dinners ready, and you can talk to Roxy. Sound good?"

Cassie doesnt know what's wrong with her, because she almost tears up again at Gregory's words, because hes being so kind, and so understanding. She shouldn't be surpised, she guesses, Gregory had always found a way to catch her off guard with kindness when she'd been so used to being brushed off or disliked.

She nods, smiling back ag him, and he offers a thumbs up, moving past Roxy and shutting the door behind him.

It's only now that Cassies able to fully pay attention to Roxy, and she gasps, almost not recognizing her.

Before, she hadn't had anything resembling a face. Just her endoskeleton skull exposed due to broken casing. But now, she somehow has her face casing back. The colors are a little off, and it looks dusty and unused, but she looks like herself. Her last remaining strands of hair are fuller now, some new strands added. They've been shifted, too, styled to look adjacent to her old style, just shorter.

Her body isnt much different, one of her arms has its forearms back, a bright, clean purple compared to her filthy leg warmers, and she has her other foot back, just a larger size and different color.

But the most prominent change are definitely the eyeballs, glowing blue LED's, stuck securely in their sockets.

Cassie laughs disbelievingly, joyously, putting her hands up to her mouth with a wide smile.

"Roxy!" She exclaims. "You have eyes again!"

It's only now, when Roxy laughs along with her, that Cassie realizes her voice box has been replaced, too. Cassie laughs even more when Roxys voice filters through, sounding happy, instead of angry, no warbling or static to be found.

Roxy heads to her bedside, and shes walking much more surely, now. Not like her long, wide strides, always careful to not collide with something. She sways from side to side, ever confident in her looks.

"How do I look?" Roxy asks, fluttering her eyelashes now that she has some again and fluffing her new hairdo up with her hand. "The brat gave me a makeover."

Cassie giggles. "You look beautiful, Roxy."

"I know." Roxy says, but then turns her attention towards Cassie. "How are you doing, Speed racer?" Roxy asks, voice soft. "That elevator couldnt have felt good."

Cassie shakes her head, gesturing to her splinted arm and ankle. "Nope, but... Gregory and Vanessa fixed me up pretty good. I'm not hurting that much."

"I'm glad." Roxy smiles, because she can now.

It's just Cassie and Roxy, now. And like with Gregory, everything she'd been feeling, all the thoughts she'd been having all bubble up to the surface, and now that everyones here, and safe, she just wants to get it all out.

So Cassie furrows her brows, and goes to tell Roxy I'm sorry, I didnt want to, I shut you down and you still saved me, why? But before she can, the door clicks back open, and Gregory steps inside her room, balancing two plates on his hands.

"Dinners ready." He tells her, smiling, and Cassie doesn't know why shes suprised when after Gregory hands her her own plate, he crawls up on the bed with her.

So she doesnt voice it. She just smiles, a big, wide one, but still small and soft.

Vanessa walks inside the room with her own plate, and Freddy, looking everything like the home-built animatronic he is, follows behind her, extra pillows and blankets in his arms.

"I was thinking we have a movie night." Vanessa says, sitting in the same chair Gregory was when she first woke up. "Better than you having to sit in here bored, right, kid?"

Cassie nods, and her mouth waters when she catches a whiff of the chicken alfredo sitting in her lap.

Gregory snatches the remote from Vanessa, holding it away from her arms when she tries to take it back. The TV in front of them that she just now notices is in the room comes to life, Disney+ appearing on screen.

Gregory hands the remote to Cassie when Vanessa finally gives up, and shes able to pick the movie, putting on a happy, animated movie, where all the characters have their happy endings and nothing bad really ever happens.

The chicken alfredo was delicious, and they sat in her makeshift room, pillows and blankets built up like jenga around her to make her as comfortable as possible for hours, laughing together.

Cassies cheeks hurt by the end, and although shes so thrilled after hanging out with Gregory again, just having fun together like they used to, she cant help but notice that Roxy was really quiet the whole time. Really quiet.

Cassie doesnt think shes very good at reading animatronics yet, not like Vanessa and Gregory seem to be able to with Freddy, but Cassie cant help but feel like Roxy wasnt really able to relax this whole time, and shes surrounded with people she feels unsafe with.

By the end of it all, when the suns long set and Cassie feels tiredness drag her eyelids down, she cant rest, even when Vanessa's retired to her room, Gregory's left, and Roxy and Freddy went to parts and service.

She feels the same panic as earlier grip her heart. It's not like a panic attack; she's had a few of those, it's more like any chance of relaxation has left her body, and all that's left is feeling tense, on edge, and like something bad is going to happen. Like Gregory isnt going to be there when she wakes up.

But she needn't have worried, because it isnt too long until Gregory re-enters her room, wearing pajamas and Roxy and Freddy plushies clutched in one hand, with a night light in the other.

"This helped me and Freddy when it'd get bad, too." Gregory explains, tucking the Roxy plushie into her own arm as he lays down with her, clicking the night light shaped like Sundrop on. "That way, you can see me if you get scared that I'm gone."

Cassie can't put into words how grateful she is, or how glad she is that Gregory's back, and that she finally has him again, so she just doesn't, even though she wants to. Instead, she just clicks the lamp off, and when she lays down, wraps her arms around his middle.

Once Gregory is pressed up against her, with her forehead against his collarbone, and she can feel his slow, calm breaths, she feels relaxed. She finally feels herself slip into dreamland, and has no nightmares.

2nd ao3 link

[kissmetwicekissmedeadly]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAÀAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

IM SORRY FOR ONLY SEEING THIS NOW, IT'S THE BEST THING EVER!!! IM SOBBING!!!

He's the absolute cutest and you captured him so well 😭😭😭

IM COMING FOR THAT MISTLETOE KISS!!!

ACTUALLY I THINK THIS JUST GAVE ME A FIC IDEA???

THANK YOU SO MUCH ANA im going to come look at this and giggle in the new year too, long past mistletoe time...

Hope your holidays were great 🥺🥺🥺💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

[teeth2go]

I sent a request email to fanfiction.net for a new category, to publish Obey Me! fics!!!

Hopefully they will process and accept the request for the very few of us who actually want to post our fluffy and romantic OM fics to ff.net ;^~^)b

[un-pearable]

illadvisedly been reading LU fic again and boy has the fic scene only gotten weirder about the leader thing

[always-ian]

galladrabbles - karma

it's @galladrabbles time! this week's prompt "karma" was given by @stocious. i've loved seeing all the takes on this theme and had so much fun joining in.

It’s not like Mickey is a neat freak, but ever since they moved, he prefers his home to be at least somewhat tidy. His husband however doesn’t share that particular desire, so Mickey has started nagging him constantly.

Today, he decides to take a different approach. He picks up the dirty pair of socks on the kitchen floor and folds them. Ian's distracted by something on his phone and doesn’t notice Mickey aiming at his head until he’s hit. Bullseye!

“What the–ew!” Ian complains, head jerking up.

“Karma, bitch!” He cackles and ducks when the socks come flying back.

[mantisgodsdomain]

The fun part of posting Run Your Well Dry, we think, is that while browsing fics focusing on Falin and Marcille, we've seen an instance or two of, specifically, repetition of Falin's name turning up in Marcille's internal monologue - which might just be a coincidence, but it stands out to us specifically because it's an element that we (to our knowledge) fully made up for Run Your Well Dry, and thus every time it turns up it's a little moment of "...did we impact this?"

Of course, it might be coincidence - probably is, even, but we've seen it turn up twice so far, both in fics posted after ours, and our brain would love to believe that it was us who impacted it, especially since the initial draft was at surprisingly popular on Tumblr.

[yellow-faerie]

In typical fashion for me, I have fallen into AU hell for Doctor Who and I am really living it up over here