#superhuman!seventeen

[gamerwoo]

Seventeen: The Xperiments (Part Twenty-Five)

Characters: Seventeen x female reader

Genre/warnings: superhuman/experiment au, angst, some fluff at the end but then more angst lmao, possible major character death [please read the warnings in the intro]

Word count: 3,007

a/n: i’m sorry it’s been so long since i’ve updated this series!!! but i promise the epilogue won’t take me nearly as long, i will try to have it done in a timely manner <3 but anyway, thank you to those who’ve kept up with the series despite my inconsistent uploading lol i’m sad it’s almost over but i loved writing it even though it hurt a lot in some parts (like this one) so again thank you for the love and support!!!

Previous | Next | The Xperiments Masterlist

Of course you were scared. All of you were scared. Hansol couldn’t even change the atmosphere because his own nerves had taken over. He was unusually silent as the van drove toward the place you all thought you’d never have to go back to. Half of you had panic attacks throughout the night knowing you were going back, but none of you wanted to back down, either. The other half of you were simply numb to the idea of going back. You, for example, had already willingly gone back into that place. You didn’t have as many bad memories there as the others did, anyway. But even someone like Wonwoo was stoic the entire ride, staring at one spot and making no noise.

Nobody made any noise, actually. The ride was dead silent except for breathing and the sound of the van.

Equipment was quickly brought to the house when Wooshik had called the emergency in. All of you were dressed in black clothing that was tight but flexible and breathable. It was thick, but they said it was to protect you. On top of that, you were all suited up with bulletproof vests. When the black masks were handing them out, it sent a chill down your spine.

The plan was so drilled into your brain that nobody had to say anything when it was time to infiltrate the lab. You and Seungcheol had to go directly to the basement, which involved a lot of crawling through air vents to avoid being seen. 

“The gas won’t affect you while we’re there,” Wooshik reassured you the previous night when he first mentioned the ducts. “It’s the prolonged exposure that gets you.”

So while you and Seungcheol navigated the vents to get to the utility stairs that weren’t often used, Wonwoo’s team was in charge of locating the new set of experiments and freeing them. Him, Hansol, Jihoon, Namjoon, and Wooshik were in charge of getting the experiments out of the lab. Everyone else was just there to protect those freeing the experiments, and to protect the new experiments. All of you would be connected through small in-ears similar to the ones you’d used for so long to help with translating. You lightly pressed your finger to it, and you could speak and it would pick up the sound.

The only thing that was said to you before you all split up still rang in your head. You’d never seen Wooshik look so…expressionless before. His tone was hard and made you shiver.

“Go in with the intent to kill, or they’ll kill you first.”

Being back at the lab, Jeonghan wanted to be sick. He swallowed the lump in his throat and followed Matthew as him and Jiwoo led the way to the roof with Mingi and Jungkook bringing up the rear. Junhui had silent tears sliding down his face as they looked down inside the building through the large windows.

“Okay,” Matthew spoke up.

Everyone lifted their heads. They all said their ‘I love yous’ the previous night, but each experiment still shared lingering looks and squeezed the hand of the person beside them.

This team was arguably the most dangerous team to be on, but required the most people. They were there for a distraction, hoping to draw attention from other parts of the building. If the scientists were preoccupied in one part of the building, maybe there would be less in the parts that Wonwoo’s team had to get to, so they’d have a higher chance of getting the experiments out. But it meant that Jeonghan’s team would have a lot of people on them trying to detain and/or kill them.

Matthew looked around at the group. He tried to stay composed, but in his eyes was a flicker of sadness and remorse for the experiments who had been dealt such a shitty hand in life. None of the black masks wanted to bring them back to the place that caused them so much trauma, or put them in such extreme danger. But they insisted. Still, Matthew couldn’t help but feel sorry for everything that led up to this moment.

“Are we ready?” he asked.

A few gave silent, single nods. A few murmured out, “Yes.”

“Get into position.”

The ropes were being set up with people hooked onto them to drop down. Chan could just use his wings to go in, so he stayed by the window where he was.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the floor below the window. Hearts were racing. Jagged breaths were taken. Last minute silent prayers to whatever being may or may not be out there were made.

“Whenever you’re ready, Seokmin,” Matthew said.

Seokmin inhaled and seemed to hold it as he held his open palm out, slightly inside the window. All of the light in the building flew from its place and into Seokmin’s palm before he closed it.

“Go.”

Glass shattered as feet kicked through the windows and bodies descended the ropes. Chan jumped straight through the glass and spread his wings halfway to hitting the ground. Everyone else landed safely on their feet before the emergency alarms could go off.

And then it was complete and total chaos.

-

“Cheol; _____. How’re you two doing down there?”

You hear Wooshik’s voice in your in-ears, and it almost scares you from how dead silent you and Seungcheol have been. The only sounds you could hear were the clanging from the vents, and your breathing.

“Almost to the stairs,” Seungcheol paused to quickly report back before he continued on, taking the lead in the vents. “Is everyone still okay?”

“Alive,” someone you think is Soonyoung answered shortly, and you could vaguely hear loud noises in the background that you couldn’t distinguish. 

“And focus on staying alive, this isn’t directed at you,” Wooshik stated. “You two let us know when you make it to the source, okay?”

“Are you guys okay?” you asked him.

“For now. We’re working on opening the doors now. They’ve gone into lockdown.”

“Can you break the doors somehow?”

“Working on a short circuit with Seokmin,” Eric quickly replied. “Give us some time.”

“We’ve got some right now,” Wooshik sighed. “Check in when you can.”

The two of you continued to move as quickly as you could in silence, until Seungcheol finally spoke up after a moment, “_____?”

“Y-yeah?”

“When you said you could cover me…did you mean it?” he wondered, as if he asked you how you were doing.

You were taken aback by his question, stuttering, “W-what?”

He paused to turn and look back at you, “You seemed unsure. Are you okay?”

You stared at him, and you were sure you seemed unsure then, too. You finally let out a sigh and admitted, “I don’t know if I can handle a blast that strong. Honestly, Seungcheol…I don’t know if I can protect either of us.”

Seungcheol didn’t say anything as he considered your words, letting your confession hang in the air between the two of you. His eyes glanced down, and he inhaled and let it out in a soft hum. And then he looked back up at you with an expression you couldn’t quite place. He didn’t seem upset, though, which you found odd.

“I won’t blame you if anything bad happens to me,” he told you. “At least I’ll die beside someone I care about, and who cares about me. That’s all I could ask for.”

His words made you want to cry, and you felt like you were about to. You blinked back the tears that felt like they were beginning to burn your eyes.

“I’m sorry I got us into this,” you told him anyway, your voice soft and shaky.

He gave you a warm smile back and a shrug, “Don’t cry, _____. We’re doing a good thing. Even if we die, so does every white coat in this place. Even if we die, we won. Don’t be sorry about anything. Besides, you saved my life once, so I think twice would be too much.”

And then he turned around and kept going. But you stayed frozen in place, his words – especially the last sentence – hitting you so hard and so deep. But he was right, you had no time to cry or to sit there and keep talking. So you had to suck it up and follow behind him.

You finally reached the correct vent cover. Seungcheol crawled over it so you could get to it, and you dug your nails under the frame and pulled it up effortlessly. You laid it behind you as Seungcheol poked his head down to get a feel for the surroundings. But that was when you heard him yell, whipping your head around to see his feet leaving the vent like he’d fallen down on his head.

“Seungcheol!” you gasped, leaning over the opening to see what had happened.

Seungcheol was surrounded by white coats and men in black uniforms that looked like the SWAT guys on the TV shows you’d seen. They had on bulky vests like you, but they were also more broad and beefy than either of you.

“Get down here or we’ll kill him,” one of the white coats ordered.

You could see Seungcheol struggling. He tried to light his entire body on fire, yelling and thrashing, but nothing happened. Of course the white coats and their security were immune to your powers – they always had been. And they must’ve been preparing for this, so you knew nothing would work on any of them.

Except…

You swung your legs over and dropped down from the ceiling, landing in the middle of them. Immediately, you were restrained by the security, but you didn’t fight them.

Seungcheol watched you with desperation and fear in his eyes, calling, “_____, no!”

It was difficult for white coats to be immune to your strength. Not only were you always getting stronger, but it was difficult to come up with anything that would make it hard for you to manhandle them and throw them around like ragdolls. Even when the lights went out and you heard, “Doors taken care of,” in your earpiece, you fought off every single person who tried to hold onto you, just so you could get to Seungcheol. Despite the constant arms grabbing at you and trying to pull you away from each other, you held onto him with all your might and tucked his head under your chin.

“Brace yourself!” you warned him above the commotion.

And then you screwed your eyes closed and screamed. You didn’t see everyone who went flying backward and the directions they came at you, as you held Seungcheol to your chest. His hand went to his ears as soon as they were free, but he stayed in your arms.

Your scream stopped abruptly, and you opened your eyes to see the damage in the red of the emergency lights. Bodies were strewn across the floor – some unconscious, some injured from the impact, and some mostly unharmed – and walls were cracked from the force bodies were thrown at them. But you didn’t have time to assess the scene for long.

“We’re moving with the package,” you heard Namjoon report, and Seungcheol lifted his head to meet your eyes. For the first time that day, instead of seeing sadness or emptiness, you saw hope. “I repeat: we have all six and are going for the escape. Do you need backup for the retreat?”

“Let’s go,” you said as you released Seungcheol to grab his hand and lead him over the bodies and to the door to the utility staircase.

The two of you raced down them, even leaping over the railings on some occasions just to reach the basement fast enough, as you listened to the conversation going on in your in-ears. 

“We should be able to–”

“Does anybody have eyes on Junhui?” Mingi suddenly interrupted Matthew.

“No,” Jeonghan said shortly.

“Negative,” Jiwoo stated.

After a short moment of not hearing anyone speak up about knowing Jun’s whereabouts, Wooshik spoke up, “My team is under Namjoon’s care now. I’m coming for backup.”

As you continued to make your way to the basement, you asked, “Do you think Jun’s okay?”

“We can’t think about that now,” he replied breathlessly. “We have to focus. We’re so close.”

After you’d shoved the door open into the dim lighting of the cold, dank basement, it was Seungcheol’s turn to start dragging you behind him.

“This way,” he told you as he took the lead and started toward where the blueprints said the main unit was that all the pipelines in the facility stemmed from.

Honestly, the unit wasn’t as big as you thought it would be. You figured it would be some huge thing that was pumping out insane amounts of gas, but it was still larger than both you and Seungcheol standing at an arm's length from each other.

“We made it,” Seungcheol reported to his earpiece.

“Everyone on my end made it out,” Namjoon replied. “Seungcheol and _____, get into positions. Wait for our call.”

“Most of us got out,” Chanyeol said as he tried to catch his breath. “Matthew stayed inside to wait for Jun and Wooshik.”

“Everyone standby,” Namjoon ordered.

You and Seungcheol examined the unit, both of your hands shaking and clammy, and your hearts pounding in your chest. You had no idea how Seungcheol planned to blow this thing up – did you have to break it open or was he going to pelt a giant fireball at it, or what? But you couldn’t find the words to ask. How it was going to happen didn’t matter. What mattered was it was going to happen, and you were unsure of the outcome.

“_____?” 

“Yeah?”

You continued to look up at the unit, but you felt something warm in your hand and wrap around yours. You looked down to see Seungcheol’s hand – it didn’t feel as cold as yours did, but maybe he was using his power to make it feel warmer – before looking up at him. Despite the situation, he smiled warmly at you. Though you could see his eyes glistening in the light.

“Thanks for saving me,” he told you.

“I hope I can do it again,” you chuckled anxiously.

“Don’t worry about that. Everyone got out. We did it.”

You were silent, just staring at each other until he suddenly pulled you in for a tight hug.

“I love you,” he told you in a sob.

And then your own tears began to flow, holding him as tight as you could without hurting him, “I love you, too.”

“Seungcheol, do it now!” you suddenly heard urgently.

You and Seungcheol pulled apart and stared at each other like deer in headlights until you could finally compose yourselves. Seungcheol reached for his in-ear to reply.

“Wooshik?” he asked. “Did you find Junhui?”

“I’ve got him!” Matthew was the one to reply. “We’re out!”

“Do it now!” Wooshik repeated.

“I-is everyone out?” you asked.

“_____, do it!” Wooshik insisted. “Now!”

Maybe you were so terrified that you were stalling, or maybe the sick feeling you felt in your gut was more than just anxiety, but you asked, “A-are you sure…?”

“_____; Seungcheol,” Wooshik’s voice wasn’t as loud, but it was more intense, “blow it up.”

Seungcheol looked at you, somehow seeming so sure of what was going to happen next.

“Ready?” he asked.

Slowly you nodded, “As I’ll ever be.”

Seungcheol’s hands ignited while you wrapped your arms around him and prepared for impact.

-

The group looked each other over after rendezvousing a safe distance away from the lab. The rescued experiments had been knocked out and were being put away in a van to go to a safe place, much like the black masks had done with all of you. The other experiments were hugging and reuniting, telling each other they loved each other between relieved laughter and tears – except Junhui, who was knocked out cold while Namjoon tried to figure out what had happened to him since Matthew had no answers.

“That’s how Wooshik had him,” he had said. “He didn’t tell me what happened.”

He left it at that.

While everyone was rejoicing or working on loading things up, Matthew watched the building, waiting for the moment it would suddenly explode and go up in flames.

And as Minghao leaned over Jun’s body, rushed worried words flowing from his mouth as he held his hand, he suddenly stopped and looked straight ahead with vacant eyes, mumbling to himself.

“He...snuck away,” he said, barely even audible. “One left... Tanks...”

“Hao?” Josh was the first to notice, hearing his thoughts in his head that were much stranger than the others that were bombarding him.

Finally, Matthew’s head whipped around, “Who? Who snuck away? Yeol, do a headcount!”

“Minghao, who snuck away?” Namjoon wondered, being the closest one to Minghao. “Who was left?”

And then Josh let out a gasp, his eyes wide as his face went pale. He looked like he’d just seen something out of a horror movie happen right before his very eyes.

Eyes looked between Joshua and Minghao, trying to figure out what was happening.

“They...they didn’t…make it…” Minghao mumbled as his eyes filled with tears despite still not being mentally present. “Fire… Dead... Th-they’re dead...”

“Minghao?” Namjoon stared at him intently from across Jun’s body, leaning in as he tried to somehow get answers from him. “Who didn’t make it, Hao? What happened?”

Despite always being the calmest, the panic and urgency was clear in Namjoon’s voice as he assumed the worst. 

“We’re missing one!” Chanyeol reported in a panic. “Fuck, how could we miss one?!”

“Jesus Christ, who’s--”

They flinched hearing the loud explosion, cutting off Jiwoo’s question. The experiments and the black masks both turned their attention to the lab, watching the thick smoke clouds drift up to the sky, the scene reflecting in Minghao’s vacant eyes.

[wooziorgans]

13:27

pairing: woozi x reader

warnings: this one is set up kind of weird,,, it goes back n forth between past n present idk I hope it reads okay. hoshi doesn’t like reader initially. vernon makes a “they hit the pentagon” joke. idk just woozi n reader being in love n saying it for the first time.

word count: 1.5k

you don’t exactly know what’s going on with jihoon, but you suspect that he’s (in some way) superhuman. something about him is weird, and your speculation is that he has two hearts; one for seventeen, one for you.

he’s been a little different lately. ever since the two of you made it official, he’s been a lot softer. he’s more lenient with letting you touch him. often times, he seeks out your attention on his own. it’s very clear that he loves you, that he’s in love with you, you just can’t quite understand how it even happened.

jihoon has so much love to give in general. while he might not be the best with his words out loud, his actions speak volumes for him. even as friends, he always just seemed to know. he knew if something was wrong, if you were upset. he knew if you had something to tell him, if certain things he did made you happy. small quirks of his that you loved more than anything would make you smile softly with this look in your eyes, and he would do them more often just to see you happy like that.

jihoon always knows, and while he’s not good at saying it, he hopes that you know that he loves you.

and you do. you know he loves you. it’s a little strange transitioning from the dynamic you two had as best friends to partners. he used to groan whenever you wanted to hold hands. now, he gets shy and the tips of his ears redden when your fingers brush his. jihoon has changed, and it’s been for the better.

it was soonyoung who had given you two the final push towards confessing to each other. “he loves you a lot, y’know?” he had said one night. it was after seventeen’s monthly meeting, and vernon had decided to rent out an arcade for the night as his chosen activity. without even a word from jihoon, everyone seemed to have the same idea.

“yes, you can bring y/n.” seungkwan was the one to verbalize the groups collective thought. and so here you were, racing against soonyoung in mario kart at the arcade.

being civil with soonyoung was still a new concept to you. it wasn’t that you and soonyoung had it out for each other, it’s just that he was very hesitant about your presence. jihoon hadn’t really mentioned you much, and then he started bringing you to hang out with the rest of seventeen, and soonyoung had his suspicions.

he just didn’t trust this new figure, one that claimed his spot as jihoon’s best friend. god forbid, jihoon confessed in a drunk phone call that he was in love with you, and soonyoung became even more suspicious of you. he didn’t know your intentions, and he had yet to see if you had jihoon’s best interest at heart for himself.

“hoon, i don’t think he likes me very much.” you had confessed, back slumped against the mirror in the practice room as soonyoung had basically been holding mingyu at gun point to run over a specific part of the dance they had just learned again. jihoon laughed softly, hand awkwardly patting you on the head.

“it’s not that he doesn’t like you, it’s just that he doesn’t know you and he’s being careful. i’m sure he’ll come around soon.” and jihoon was right. all it took to absolve months of tension between you and soonyoung was giving him a little tiger plushie you had found at a pop up market the week prior.

he had gawked at it, and then smiled at you before speaking. “okay, i like you.” and he ran off, out of jihoon’s studio without another word or the chance for you to even say anything after handing it to him.

“i know he does. i-i love him too. he’s very important to me.” soonyoung laughed softly, before cursing as he got hit with a red shell.

“you’re in love with him. it’s okay.” and maybe kwon soonyoung had all of the secrets to the universe, or maybe it was just obvious. whatever was going on in this arcade, it caused you to lose the race, hands freezing on the steering wheel.

“you lost to soonyoung?” it was jihoon. of course it was. he threw his arm around your shoulder, ruffling your hair softly. the dumbstruck look on your face still didn’t change. one: because soonyoung of all people was able to tell that you were in love with jihoon. two: because you had just lost a game of mario kart to kwon soonyoung.

soonyoung had shot jihoon a look, nodding softly, and it all clicked for jihoon.

vernon had peaked around the arcade machine and muttered something that sounded a bit too much like they hit the fucking pentagon when he saw the look on both of your faces. joshua shoved him, and soonyoung found his exit as you and jihoon stared at each other.

“we’ll talk about it later, okay? just enjoy yourself here. can you do that for me? just for tonight.” jihoon had all but whispered. you listened, and let him kick your ass at guitar hero.

a week later in the privacy of his apartment you talked about it. both of you cried. both of you felt stupid for wasting so much time by dancing around each other. but a week later, you were together. officially.

you think there’s something wrong with jihoon because being in love makes him a better person. he denies this fact vehemently, but everyone else agrees with you on it. love makes him softer. he’s less stubborn, more willing to work on communication; sure he has a long way to go, but he’s less emotionally constipated than he used to be.

what gives him away is his eyes. they say the eyes are the window to the soul, and you’d have to agree. while he’s often blunt and abrasive towards those who don’t know him well, jihoon’s eyes give him away everytime. he’s not the cold caricature people draw of him. he’s sweet. jihoon is so sweet, and you tell him so often. he might roll his eyes at you when you say it, but there’s a certain amount of love in them that’s reserved just for you.

“there’s something wrong with you.” you’re having dinner with him in the studio.

jihoon just laughs. “yeah, i know. i work too much. we’ve been over this before.” he shovels rice into his mouth.

“no. not like that,” you sigh, picking at your own food. “you have so much love to give. i don’t know how you do it.” jihoon doesn’t say anything. he just looks at you as he puts down his chopsticks, urging you to continue.

“like, between me and seventeen, i don’t know how you do it. you just… you care about all of us. you’ve loved the guys long before you met me, and then i come into the picture and you still have love to give. i don’t know how you do it. and i can’t figure out why.” jihoon stares at you. it was obvious that he loved you, sure, anyone could see that. but almost six months into this relationship and he hasn’t been able to say it. neither of you have ever said the L word, even in conversation.

“i—” he starts, and you shake your head softly.

“you don’t have to say it, jihoon. it’s okay. i know you do.” but he shakes his head and clears his throat softly.

“no. i want to say it, i just don’t know how.” he shifts in his spot on the couch, fingers twitching as if they were reaching out to you.

“it doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary. sometimes just saying it on its own is enough.” you turn to him, hand finding his as you brush the back of his hand with your thumb. he doesn’t pull away or flinch. he just basks in it; in the feeling of your hand on his, and the way you look in the afternoon sunlight.

“i love you.” it’s simple, like him, but it’s enough. it’s enough because you can feel it everywhere in everything he does.

“i love you too.” you push your head against his, and he smiles. jihoon smiles so brightly that it reaches his eyes. he leans in carefully, and kisses you with the same tenderness he always has.

you know that there’s nothing wrong with jihoon. you know he has one heart, and it’s all yours.

a/n: these little time stamp thingys r supposed to be short but I got carried away whoops. also reminder that my requests are open!!! also also tysm for all the love on the last one of these that I did woahhh. glad we r all in love w jihoon amen.

[scififettuccine]

Victoria Neuman x Fem!Reader: Darts

Pairing: Victoria Neuman x Fem!Reader

Summary: Quick One-Shot Hurt/Comfort! Your girlfriend finds you playing darts in your office, and she can tell that something is up. If there's one thing Victoria doesn't like, it's seeing her girlfriend upset.

Word Count: 1.25k

Warnings: Darts (?), mentions of Homelander, mentions of Homelander being a whore, mentions of family death, glass cuts, corrupt government system, Vicky being a raging lesbian

Notes: I wrote this after playing darts for 3 hours. As you can see the concept has infected my brain. IF YOU DON"T UNDERSTAND HOW CRICKET WORKS WITH DARTS I'M VERY SORRY. (And honestly I don't know if the way my family plays is exactly right so don't come after me Dart Experts.) I know I put up a pole, and this option lost by a long shot, but half of it was already written and I needed to finish it since it was super gut wrenching <3

Your parents had added to the growing number of many unnecessary obituaries that came out of Homelander’s career. It happened around this time, ten years ago. Your parents had owned a bakery in the city, and on a hot day ten summers back, someone attempted to rob their small business. Of course, after the authorities were called, Vought added their golden boy to the scene. They must have expected some sort of heroic story, with a headline like “The Seven’s Homelander saves the lives of two elderly bakers, and keeps the beloved business open.” But instead of that headline, they weren't mentioned in any headline…Only in the obituary section of a few local newspapers due to Vought covering up Homelander’s sloppy use of his heat vision. The last you saw of your parents' bodies was the bottom half of one…and the top half of the other. You were twenty, planning your parent’s funeral all on your own from your dorm room halfway across the country. All Vought sent was a card extending their deepest condolences, signed by the company's CEO, and Homelander himself. Since then? You’ve had a vendetta against Homelander and Vought as a whole. Coincidentally, that's how you met your girlfriend, Victoria Neuman, and started working for The Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs.

You had been in your office all day, admittedly drowning yourself in work so you didn't have to think about it all. But once there was nothing else to drown yourself in, you cracked open another redbull and decided to play a game of darts. Since you didn't have a partner, you just decided to time yourself to see how long it would take you to clear the scoreboard: Three twenties, three nineteens, three eighteens, three seventeens, three sixteens, three fifteens, and three bullseyes. And of course…all your attempts were aimed at the sympathy card that had turned ten years old this morning. You played darts often, so you had gotten down to the bullseyes within 10 minutes. Yet the more you missed, the more you got upset…the more your mind drifted. You thought about what might have happened had you not gone off to college.

Double ninteens.

You thought about what might have happened had you just stayed and helped to better the family business.

Double sixteens.

You thought about what would have happened if you would have answered the phone when they called you earlier that day.

Shattered glass.

You gasped as the last dart you threw hit the frame you had hung on the wall, housing a photo of you and your parents holding a photo of you and your parents at your highschool graduation. You shook your head as you walked over to the mess…the dart you had thrown had pierced right through the center of the photo…right through your face. It was lodged deep into the wall, due to the force of your throw. You wanted to cry, scream out of frustration even…But a voice broke you out of your thoughts.

“Everything alright in here, pretty girl…?” You heard the voice of your girlfriend and turned around, stepping over a bit to try and hide the mess of glass shards. When your eyes met hers, there was a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah…Yeah. It’s all good, Vic. I just knocked a picture frame off the wall.” You said, desperately trying to make your voice sound a little more upbeat than it truly was. Vicky raised a brow and looked up at the dart sticking out of the wall, then over to the dart board, and then to the card that was push-pinned to the dart board. Her gaze immediately softened, and her heart dropped.

“Baby…” She started, walking further into your office so she could close the door behind her. You shook your head and turned back around, trying to pick up some of the bigger glass shards with your hands.

“I’m fine. It’s not-” You cut yourself off with a wince as a piece of the glass slit your palm. “Shit-” Vicky shook her head and quickly moved to your side. She took your hand and turned your palm so the glass you had collected would fall back into the pile.

“You’re not fine. And you’re clearly not thinking straight if you're picking up broken glass with your bare hands, you're smarter than that.” Vicky sighed, moving to untuck her dress shirt so she could wipe the blood from your palm. It was moments like these where you truly understood how much Vicky cared about you. She would ruin a perfectly white dress shirt just to wipe blood off of a small cut. “You’ve gotta talk to me, pretty girl…What’s going on? You’ve been in here all day, there's 3 empty cans of RedBull on your desk, and you just threw a dart through a picture frame. Talk. Now.” You sighed and tried to pull your hand away, to which she held it a bit tighter.

“I can’t fucking stand it. How Vought gets off scott free after every fucked up thing they do. I was twenty years old, planning my parents' funeral from my dorm room. And what was he doing? Probably getting sucked off by some higher up for ‘a job well done.’ My parents were the only people I had. I sat in the first pew of that church alone. Completely and utterly alone.” You paused to take a breath, and pointed to the card pinned to the dart board. “That’s all I got. That’s all I have to show for it. I got…what? A fifty cent card with a bogus apology and two signatures on it? My parents were-” You choked on your words. “My parents were fucking sliced in half-” Your voice seemed to have left you as Vicky pulled you against her chest, being careful of the pile of glass shards.

“I know, baby…I know.” She cooed softly, tracing patterns on your back. Admittedly, you just sobbed into her shoulder, clutching onto her blazer as if it would disappear if you didn't. The two of you just sat like that. You couldn't even say how long. It was just the two of you, Vicky whispering comforting words to you as you let the ten years of suppressed emotions finally find some relief. “You are so strong, honey…And so incredibly loved, I want you to know that. You never have to hide these things from me. Whenever you want to talk about it, I'm here. I don’t care if I’m at a meeting with the god damn president…I’ll get to you as fast as I can.” Vicky pulled your face off her shoulder, and wiped your tears ever so gently. “I love you…So fucking much. It hurts me to see you like this.” Vicky herself was almost choked up at the sight of you in such sadness. She kissed your lips softly, before she moved to press her forehead against yours, her hands holding both sides of your face. “What can I do to make you feel even just a little bit better…? Say the word and it's yours.” She whispered. You swallowed and took a breath as you placed your hands over hers.

“Ice cream…and a Band-Aid.” You replied softly. Vicky laughed and squeezed your cheeks ever so slightly. 

“That's it? Just ice cream and a Band-Aid? You could have anything and you chose ice cream and a Band-Aid?” She smiled and shook her head, pressing another gentle kiss to your lips.

“Yeah…That’s it.” You replied softly.

“Alright pretty girl…what flavor?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well...what can I say? Shes my favorite. Hope you liked it as much as I did, most likely starting either Butcher x Supe!Reader or Soldier Boy x Sidekick!Reader real soon depending on the results of the pole...It's been really really close! Adieu!

[lululandd]

but not for me;

pairing: könig x gn!reader

word count: 602

warnings: self-doubt, anxiety, insecurity, angst(?)

notes: gremlin man’s stupid anxiety wont shut the fuck up (the notes and summary can be switched) (ao3)

summary: könig believes he’s hard to love.

He dreads going home. He is afraid to see your face when he opens the front door. It burns him so to feel such a negative emotion towards you; to even have such adverse reactions.

Sometimes he believes you to be superhuman, being able to hear his military boots crunching on the gravel by the front gate from wherever you are in the house; and run to him with arms wide open and smile brighter than the flashbangs they throw at him.

That’s why he never looks at it directly. 

And why he notices everything else.

How you look like you’ve lost weight when he returns, the dark circles under your eyes that disappear when he’s home, the stories his grandmother told him about your puffy, swollen red eyes and your hoarse voice when you come visit her.

He sees you hurting, no, he feels you hurting. From the way you look up at him every time his phone buzzed, to the way you flinch whenever there’s a truck passing by. It agonises him, every little pain of yours magnified in his mind.

He does not deserve such a person like you. Who wakes him up so sweetly with kisses, who soothes his joint pains with balms everytime the weather turns sour, who walks his grandmother to wherever her old heart desires before the crack of dawn.

You deserve a relationship that enables you to sleep peacefully at night.

A delicate kiss to his temple startled him from his thoughts.

“You were somewhere else.”

He apologised by pulling you into his lap. “I am here now.” His attention turns to you, smiling faintly as he kisses your hand–hands that have never known violence, hands that have never taken a life–and closed his eyes for a moment.

Not two days later he would tell you. To leave him, to find someone better that would not make you lose sleep and weight and happiness. Someone who can provide and care every time you need it.

You stared at him for the longest time, gaze empty and distant. He had accounted for tears, he expected yelling, he knows there will be lots of arguing. But grabbing a chair to stand on only to slap him properly and squarely on the cheek until his ears rang? He could not have seen it coming.

You wobbled a bit; he had to steady you by your upper arms so you don’t fall out of the chair.

“Are you okay?” He asks softly, as if you were the one that got slapped so hard that it triggered a tinnitus.

Your smile was fragile, in contrast to the anger he sees in your eyes, “Tell me, König. Have you fallen out of love? Are you in love with someone else?”

He shook his head before he could comprehend your question. Your words have struck him, harder than the slap you just delivered. How could there be anyone else but you? It’s always you. It will always be you. To him you are a necessity, a need. The thought of him with someone else brought a wave of uncomfortable pressure that he hasn’t done enough.

You cupped his jaw and tears rolled heavily down his face in torrents as you placed his head delicately on your chest. Such tenderness for someone whose filthy, brutish hands has known nothing but carnage and death since the tender age of seventeen. 

As if you can hear what he is thinking, “Do I need to slap you harder to get those thoughts out of your head?”

He giggled despite the sniffles and hiccups.

[asha-mage]

I don't ship White Knight but the idea of a complete reversal from the dynamic at Beacon is DEEPLY funny to me.

Like cause to one side you have Weiss who has just discovered that Jaune is the fairy tale hero she crushed on her entire childhood, the literal legendary knight who she would play pretend 'saving' her from her lonely isolation. And on top of that she has discovered that he will also remain SMOKIN well into his forties and show a superhuman level of caring and devotion to those he loves. Of course she wants to Get Up On That, and hey it's been an appropriate amount of time since his last girlfriend died and he was SUPER into her back at Beacon. This will be easy.

But then you have Jaune who is still dealing with the fallout from spending decades trapped in a fairy tale/divine nursery on top of abruptly being seventeen again. He no longer has arthritis but he also no longer recognizes the person staring back at him from the mirror. He keeps trying to pay for things with good stories and cool rocks he found, and one morning when he wanted to sleep in he tried shooting down the sun sort of expecting that to work. The urge to reason with sandstorms and help unionize farm animals is Strong In Him. And he knows it's all wrong, that he's not in the Ever After anymore, but he's having to overcome decades of brain hard wiring in his efforts to adjust. Jaune barely has time to work on re-bonding with Nora and Ren never mind dating. He doesn't even have the extra brain power needed to recognize that Weiss is flirting with him, and when he does it's easy to convince himself he's just imagining it, or getting an inflated ego again. She's Weiss Schnee, of course she has better thing to do then flirt with some loser she shot down already, and he's the Rusted Knight now, he has no business dating at all. There is a WAR on.

The rest of the Becaon crew is incredibly divided because on the one hand it's a little sad to watch, on the other it is VERY funny to see Weiss make a fool of herself the way Jaune used too.

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

some Khan headcanons

based on my Khanbatch fics

Khan is actually the title given to him by the scientists who created the Augments--for by the age of nine, he had proven himself superior to all his brothers & sisters in all the ways they prized the most. The title signified his destiny to lead them.

Augments dreamed as easily as lesser men, but—courtesy of their superior minds—their dreams were far more vivid and literal than the fuzzy, symbolic dreams of ordinary homo sapiens.  And blessed as they were with nearly picture perfect memories, Augments dreams seldom evaporated like mist upon awakening.

Khan had recognized long ago his predilection for women of a softer sort; Augmented women—brilliant and beautiful as their biology dictated–were the worthiest of consorts, but they lacked a softness, a feminine vulnerability, which he had always found appealing, as far back as the first time he experienced the stirrings of sexual desire.  Females of his kind could be as selfishly cunning as he was himself; cold and calculating, which made them perfect compatriots in battle and in governing—but in intimacy, he had found that they usually lacked the willingness to let him fully lead; to give themselves over to the act completely and surrender to his will.  With such women, there was mutual satisfaction, but no marrying of spirit, no sacrifice of self to please their partner more than to achieve pleasure of their own. Oh, they would meet his passion with equal heat and ardor, but the tenderness that he kept well hidden—and which he longed to receive as much as to give, in the depths of his secret heart—they would spurn as pure weakness.  Only in the beds of ordinary, impractical, flawed– yet beautifully human–women, did he find the satisfaction of connection at a deeper level than the physical.  On this matter, though, he had always kept his own counsel, letting his brothers believe he preferred such simple women as mere playthings, just temporary conduits for pleasure. 

The fragrance of jasmine & honey held the power to break through Khan's usual vanguard of stoicism to open the floodgates of his most secret and bittersweet memories...

This was the scent he would forever associate with the last time in his life he was truly free of care–before he was forced to fulfill the destiny designed for him by scores of others.  None of whom had ever grasped the simple fact that inside his superhuman body—and despite his formidable brilliance and cunning—dwelled the very human doubts, vulnerabilities, and confusing jumble of hormones and adolescent emotions, of an average fifteen year old boy. 

Khan had been schooled in the act of pleasure and procreation, as befitted his station, first by grown women of his own kind, and then by lesser females—all sterilized, to prevent conception of a hybrid—to slake the tidal force, the powerful hunger, of his burgeoning adolescent lusts.  His mistake—his crime—was to feel a tenderness for a creature as far below him as a street mongrel was to a Himalayan wolf.  That tenderness had burned like a flame in his chest, shocking him and rivaling that biological imperative that all teenage boys experience.  No one had been wise enough to warn him that such feelings only led to pain.  

He’d been fifteen the first time he fell in love with a seventeen year old girl, who was well outside of the strictures laid down upon his kind.  His seed was not to be wasted in breeding with inferior stock.  But that one—his dear little Inaaya—had spirit and beauty worthy of a prince.  Had love in her heart enough to fill an ocean.  Love enough to see past the monster which many believed the genetically engineered to be. His little Inaaya, gentle as a lamb in service of his household, but fierce as his own flame in the lovemaking they had shared. Unashamed she had been, unabashed, to moan confessions of her love for him, each time he had taken her. That was a secret he had buried deep; deeper each year he had moved away from those callow days, onto the destiny he’d been taught awaited him. She had loved him unselfishly, and ever seemed a well of giving, always aiming to please him, guilelessly believing their trysts were part of some ridiculous, romantic fairy tale.  

When she had eventually ripened, Khan had felt an irrepressible, youthful pride in that physical manifestation of his virility. Inayaa’s abiding love for him was enough to make her bravely bear the child that inevitably took her life.  He’d been forced to watch the labor, to learn the lesson well; to strengthen him, toughen him; to teach him not to make that same mistake again.  The doctors could have taken the child by Cesarean, but had not, allowing instead for his dear, sweet flower to be torn fatally inside—howling in pain as she brought the boy forth—and then falling silent as her lifeblood gushed from her shredded womb in the poor baby’s wake.  He had wanted to hold the mewling thing in the aftermath, to feel its strong, steady heartbeat, a living remnant of their passionate affair, but they had whisked the child away even before Inaaya’s body had grown cool. Not as punishment, but simply as another lesson.  When he finally set his eyes upon the boy again, Joachim was an adolescent himself, a total stranger to his sire—and Khan himself the leader he’d been groomed to be, with no time for such attachments, as he fought the wars that mankind razed against his people.

Even in his youth, Khan had never believed in the old religion which many of his contemporaries had chosen to embrace.  Of symmetry and the circle of life; of death and return and rebirth.  Losing Inaaya in so cruel a manner had cured him of even the faintest belief that there was any sense or order to the universe, especially that which might have been set in place by a benevolent power beyond the visible world.  And he was a man of science and reason after all--leaving no place in his life for the comfort of such a philosophy and faith that dominated the culture he came from.

But Khan eventually encounters a woman so like his Inaaya in such vital ways (see A Khan By Any Other Name), that he finds himself reconsidering those ancient myths. That Inaaya had been lost to him hundreds of years ago--it was madness to believe that a woman born centuries after him could be Inaaya returned. And yet he wished with all his heart that it could be so.

Anyone interested in reading my WIPs A Khan By Any Other Name and Man of Passion, Force of Nature, can find them on AO3 under the author name BeautifullyObsessed.

[decks-writing-blog]

Whatever the Fuck Benrey Is: Chapter Seventeen: Just a Peek

Chapter One

Previous Chapter

~

‘Aperture’s haunted.’ read Bubby’s text to the group chat several days after he’d left.

Gordon shouldn’t ask because he shouldn’t have even checked his phone and had only done so because it going off had reminded him he hadn’t put it on silent. At work, still sorting through Black Mesa’s recovered hard drives – so far nothing on Benrey had been found – wasn’t the time. But on the other hand… ‘What does that mean?’

It was Benrey who replied. ‘theres ghosts there’

Dr. Coomer’s reply came a second later. ‘It means the Aperture Science facility is inhabited by ghosts and/or demons. Both of whom are known for existing in or sometimes being trapped or bound to specific locations that are then referred to as being ‘haunted’. Sometimes they will also haunt specific people, following them when they move to a new house or just sticking with them throughout the day. One could perhaps say that you were once haunted like this Gordon, when you claimed a skeleton was following you that the rest of us couldn’t see. There are also haunted items, meaning that a ghost/demon is connected to that item.’ How did he type all that so fast? … Probably some cybernetic thing in his hands giving him superhuman texting speed. Gordon was a little jealous, he was used to it now but one-handed texting was still uncomfortably slow.

‘I know what the word haunted means. What I meant was, ‘please explain in what way the Aperture Science facility is supposedly haunted, Bubby’. What drew you to that conclusion?’

‘Should’ve just said that then, dumbass.’ Bubby replied at last. ‘I mean everyone’s dead. I had to break in to even get inside because corpses can’t open doors.’

‘How’d everyone die?’ Tommy asked.

‘I don’t know and I wasn’t sticking around to find out. I think I’m gonna get a job at NASA instead. They’re more ethical so less fun but I want to go to space anyway.’

‘Maybe we should go check out Aperture? They might need help. Like maybe they did a resonance cascade too.’ Gordon didn’t particularly like the thought of going to a place in the middle of something like that but they’d already dealt with one. They’d be more prepared this time too. If Aperture’s got more out of hand it could come back to bite them.

‘I don’t think that’s it. No one was injured and the air smelled bad. Worse than just normal death smell. It made me feel a bit unwell. I think it was poison.’

It would maybe be a good idea to make absolutely sure that whatever it was wouldn’t crawl up out of the facility and do who knows what. Also like with Black Mesa’s disaster, there might be survivors in need of help. And then there was the technology aspect of it. What all Aperture was working on was a mystery but if any of it was anything like some of Black Mesa’s projects, it was some pretty big stuff, potentially capable of making a big impact on the world. Whatever had been on the Borealis had certainly been a pretty big deal before it vanished a couple years ago, bringing Black Mesa’s spies – it had been a big enough deal to draw all three of them in – with it to never be heard from again. An event big enough that it had become the gossip of the whole Black Mesa facility for like a week, ending once and for all the ‘secret’ part of Black Mesa’s spies at Aperture being an open secret.

On the other hand though, it would be dangerous, the drive down there was multiple days and they were kind of in the middle of something right now. Finding Benrey’s files before someone else on the Black Mesa staff did was important. If they left for that long, someone else would take over the sorting job now that it had been started.

‘Maybe we wait for it to clear out a bit more then go investigate. Or just send other people.’ Gordon had a position of power in Black Mesa now, he could use that to his advantage. Aperture being their long term rival would make it justifiable as a company move too. He wouldn’t condone stealing their research but if they were all dead anyway or just as defunct as Black Mesa now was… Or they could maybe merge and become just the one big science tech company that he was trying to not let be super unethical anymore but Breen was still the boss and likely wouldn’t be willing to continue to bend to Gordon’s will as much as he had been for too much longer. They could still potentially do good things though. If they got there anyway. ‘For now, I gotta get back to work.’

His phone beeped again before he set it to silent and put it down but he ignored it. He was a professional. And Tommy and Dr. Coomer were literally in the room with him so if it was either of them had something important to say or relay from Benrey or Bubby, they could just tell him verbally.

~

By some bastion of luck one of the last already recovered hard drives contained the data on Dr. Coomer’s clones. The experiment had started with cloning mice, then rabbits, then monkeys before finally reaching human studies. Given that it was about cloning, Gordon shouldn’t be surprised to encounter the name ‘Harold Coomer’, especially since he’d decided to keep reading instead of moving on because he’d known of Coomer’s clones, but he kind of was anyway. In his defense it was late and they were staying overtime to finish sorting through the rest of the data so he was tired and his brain was a bit fried. Most of Black Mesa’s experiments being interesting didn’t make them not taxing to sort through.

Tearing his gaze off his screen, he looked up at Dr. Coomer sitting at the desk across from him. They hadn’t discussed what to do should any of them find Dr. Coomer or Bubby’s data. Anyone else at Black Mesa seeing it wouldn’t be as much of an issue as they weren’t being kept secret. But it might still contain the kind of info one or both of them didn’t want the friend group knowing. After all it was kind of like looking at medical records, right?

So Gordon should tell Dr. Coomer what he’d found. Maybe even ask him if he wanted the data deleted or stolen to be put solely into his possession the way they planned to do with Benrey’s. It’d be the polite thing to do. …. On the other hand though, Gordon was curious. It was natural to be curious about one’s super-powered friends, right? Since things had settled down, Gordon had made several attempts to talk to Dr. Coomer about his clones and cybernetics but while he always answered questions, he wasn’t often particularly forthcoming on the specifics of how it all worked. So delving a little bit further into his data couldn’t hurt, right? Just a peek, nothing more.

~

A few hours later, Gordon looked back up after having gone over the whole experiment. That was fine though because most of it had been about the clones and what had gone into trying to make each one more powerful than the last – resulting instead in each clone’s death, making the real Dr. Coomer stronger – and not too, too much about Dr. Coomer himself. Other than his literal medical records which Gordon had only skimmed for the scraps of information it had on his cybernetics. Most of which seemed to have been put in after the cloning had been completed as there wasn’t much about them. It was an entirely different experiment done by an entirely different department so it made sense that there wouldn’t be much.

With a sigh, he pushed back from his desk and stood to stretch. It was just him and Dr. Coomer in the office now. Tommy had left to feed Sunkist her dinner. And about an hour ago, after falling asleep on his keyboard, Darnold, had been shooed off to go home and rest. So now would be a good time to tell Dr. Coomer, Gordon had looked through his cloning records. But… it wasn’t that important, was it? Dr. Coomer wouldn’t care so… no need to share. Gordon should just sit back down and move on.

They were almost done, would’ve been done by now if not for Gordon’s distraction but no one needed to know about that. And then as Black Mesa’s members continued pulling stuff out and bringing it here for safe keeping until the far off distant date when the facility was functional again, Gordon and friends could sort through it right as it came in. Benrey’s stuff would show up eventually, no need to go down there themselves. And then Gordon could easily get a peek at it, just a peek, nothing more. He’d skim it to answer just a few questions before giving it to Benrey to do with as he pleased. Yeah, he hadn’t just skimmed Dr. Coomer’s clone stuff but it was less personal anyway, he’d be better with Benrey’s stuff. And then if he was lucky he’d get to peek at Bubby’s records too and possibly Dr. Coomer’s cybernetics stuff as well.

“You got terribly focused on something for a bit there,” Dr. Coomer said as Gordon sat back down. “Did you find something?”

“Uh…” Gordon should tell him. He’d literally asked and it wasn’t that personal so it was fine that Gordon had looked. “Yeah… um… an experiment that was kind of interesting, wanted to know more, got a bit sucked in on accident. We’re almost done though so… yeah, just a bit more.”

“Ooh, what was the experiment?”

“Light sabers, they were trying to make a real one.” Why was Gordon lying? It was fine. Maybe it was a bit weird to have read through the experiment data without letting Dr. Coomer know about it first but not a big deal. “They failed, unfortunately.” He had indeed skimmed through such an experiment earlier so at least he wasn’t making that up too.

“Ah, a shame. I quite liked Star Wars. Perhaps that is an idea we could return to in the near future. For now though, onwards and upwards.”

With a mostly clear conscious, Gordon got back to work. He’d come clean about looking through it later, wouldn’t even have to admit that he’d lied initially. Just causally bring up that he’d come across it and had read through some of it. Not a big deal at all.

***

“It’ll take longer but if we just keep sorting through all the experiment data as it comes in, your stuff, if its intact, is bound to show up eventually.” Gordon had stayed over at work late to finish sorting through the rest of the stuff they already had only to come home with this. “And no one seems suspicious that its just us and Darnold looking through all of it so the risk of someone else seeing it first is relatively low.”

“Yeah but then I don’t get to participate in the heist.” Of course it would’ve been easier if they’d already had his records waiting to be sorted but it also would’ve been more boring. Going and finding them in the facility itself was far more interesting and would give Benrey something to do other than hang out in the basement for a couple hours a day, trying in vain to find any sort of ‘true form’ while the others to did all the real work for him.

Gordon sighed as he resumed heading into kitchen. “Feeling particularly urgent about it?”

Benrey followed, stopping in the doorway. “Uh… guess so, yeah.” Every failed shape shifting session in the basement, though nowhere near as long or arduous as the first, made him more frustrated with the question. “It’s your fault for making me care ‘bout it even though it doesn’t matter.”

Gordon opened the fridge to stare at its insides. A thing he did frequently. Why was it so hard for him to decide what to eat if he was so hungry he had to eat two or three times a day every day? “I suppose it is, huh? But I think it matters. You might not be the only one of your kind, wouldn’t that be cool to know?”

That thought had come to Benrey multiple times since Gordon had first brought it up and refused to completely dissipate no matter how many times he pushed it away. What if he was an alien with a whole alien race out there somewhere and maybe even a family he’d been taken from Though… “If I’m not the only one, there’s a whole bunch of others out there on Xen just like me, what then, huh? You gonna help me reunite with them?” No, of course he wouldn’t. Going back to Xen would be silly after the resonance cascade.

“Uh… maybe. I mean we’d been going into Xen for years just fine. I don’t even know how long, not my department, but longer than I’d been working there for sure. Not sure how we got there the first time but if we did it once we could do it again. And then once we have one means of travel there and back we just need to not fuck around with anymore resonance experiments and it’ll probably be fine.”

It would still be a risk though. And it would certainly be a lot of work just for Benrey. … No, not just for him. Gordon was a scientist, he wanted to study things and see if he could make a portal to Xen happen just to see if he could. That was fine though because it would still be partially for Benrey, even if only a little, and that would be pretty neat. Assuming he was an alien anyway and not made in the lab from ground up alien plants or something.

“So yeah,” Gordon continued as he finally selected last night’s leftovers from the fridge and moved them to the microwave. “If it turns out you’re an alien and if you wanna meet your people or whatever, I’m sure the others will be willing to help see if we can make it happen. It’ll certainly give us something to do, huh? And uh… speaking of that, I guess tomorrow we’ll meet up with the others discuss if we actually wanna make the drive to get your stuff ourselves or if it might be better to just wait.”

That trip really would be just for Benrey’s sake. No one but him would benefit from it but Gordon was seemingly still open to it. He certainly wasn’t shutting it down anyway even though he was right in it not being strictly necessary. … Probably more of him being nice because he was lonely, traumatized, and scared of being alone. Benrey shouldn’t take advantage of that. “I could walk. Long walk though so uh… you’ll have to find someone else to cuddle at night ‘til I get back. Tommy probably wouldn’t, don’t think he likes touching a whole lot, Coomer or Bubby might though. Sunkist don’t like to be held but she might lay on you if you ask nice.”

“Oh, um nah, dude, walking would takes ages. If you really don’t wanna wait, I’ll uh… drive you down there even if the others don’t wanna join us. Don’t worry about it.”

Benrey could insist and maybe even head out right now. Gordon couldn’t stop him. It would maybe even be the right thing to do since this was without a doubt Gordon’s need to please raising up. Encouraging him in it might not be good for him. … Or maybe it would be good for him and help him eventually get better about it. Benrey barely knew how his own mind and emotions worked, anyone else’s, especially a human’s, was beyond him.

Also it was a very long walk just to get to the facility and then another not as long but still long walk from there to get to the part that his data was housed in. And then all the way back doubled both. The second long walk was inevitable either way as the trams no longer worked but it’d be less boring with company – even if said company would also mean he wouldn’t be cutting as many corners – especially when cutting out the long, lonely boring first part of the trip. So… “Okay. Thanks.”

Gordon hummed an acknowledgment, patting Benrey lightly on the shoulder with his gun hand as he walked past him, bearing his sad microwaved leftovers. “Uh… play something so I got something to watch while I eat?”

“Sure.” Benrey had paused his game to come chat with Gordon upon him returning home so he had no complaints about doing so and followed. They would talk about it more tomorrow. If they decided to wait, Benrey would just go by himself and walk.

~

The conversation was surprisingly brief. Gordon suggested they wait, Benrey said he didn’t want to and would’ve preferred to walk instead. Ultimately they all agreed to go.

With how long the trip to the old Black Mesa facility was and how deep they were planning to delve into it to find what they were looking for, they’d be spending at least one night there, probably more like two but perhaps more. And thus Gordon and the rest of the Science Team bought what they called ‘camping gear’. No tent though, the one thing Benrey associated with the idea of camping.

“We’ll be indoors,” Gordon explained on the drive home when asked, “so a tent’s not really needed. Sleeping bags will do just fine.”

“Lame. Guess it’s not a camping trip though so… whatever.” Benrey had got to see and touch the display tents in the store anyway so not having one was fine.

Gordon sighed. “I really gotta take you out more, huh? Being less lazy would probably be for good me too so… how ‘bout we go real camping sometime? I’ve never been but how hard can it really be?”

“Ooh, where?”

“I don’t now. Maybe somewhere in Colorado. They’re just north of us and supposedly got good outdoorsy areas. Could probably go skiing or something too. …. Or uh, maybe not since you���re cold-blooded so the cold might not be fun for you. So maybe we should stick to the desert.”

“Nah, I wanna go skiing, looks fun.” And the snow, was it really as soft as it looked in games?

“All right, it’s a plan then, I guess. I’ve certainly earned a vacation. So we’ll do that sometime in the near future once were done with… you know.”

From there it wasn’t long before they reached home. The plan had been to pack as soon they were through the door but with only a little bit of prodding, Benrey got Gordon to play some games with him first. They were leaving early tomorrow morning so it was important they get some good game time in today. Gordon did eventually put his foot down though; disappointing but probably for the best.

Some of their supplies were provided by Black Mesa as the trip was being made under the guise of it being another salvage run. Benrey coming along and thus being another body to put a pack on apparently meant extra could be brought. The fact that he wasn’t planning on eating or drinking while there made it a bit annoying to be loaded up with water bottles and food rations but he was being allowed to bring the Game Boy Advance and some games in his pack too so he’d put up with it.

Benrey helped with the packing at first but Gordon apparently found issue with his packing style and shooed him away. Leaving him to just wonder around the bedroom and watch. Or he could head off to play more games until it was bedtime; Gordon could come join him again when he was done packing. But someone needed to make sure he didn’t forget anything important such as the HEV suit still sitting in its box in the closet. He could of course be planning on not taking it out until morning but he was forgetful sometimes and it should probably be put on charge tonight to make sure it was fully powered when they go to the facility so… “Don’t forget the HEV suit.”

Gordon paused and looked up at him. “Why?”

What did he mean ‘why?’ “Might be dangerous.” The deeper one went into a dungeon, the more dangerous it was after all. Not that the facility was the exact same as a video game dungeon but it was close enough that the same basic principle had to apply, right? Especially since it had during their first journey through it.

“Maybe but… no. I’d rather not. It’s heavy, a pain to put on, and probably out of power by now.”

“Yeah, that’s why should bring it out now, put it on charge so its all juiced up tomorrow.”

“I don’t have anything to charge it with and don’t really wanna bother anyway.”

Since the idea had first been brought up, Benrey had been assuming that Gordon putting the HEV suit back on was part of the plan. Unlike their first trip back when they’d only intended to venture into the living area of the facility, they were going deeper. Not as deep as they’d gone in their initial journey through the facility but said journey had proven that deeper meant more dangerous. At the time ‘more dangerous’ had translated to ‘more fun’ for Benrey. Now that he knew and cared more about how weak and fragile Gordon was though that wouldn’t be the case anymore. Especially if he was going without the one thing that had kept him alive that first journey. If he lost another limb, it was probably gone for good. … Or if he died, he wouldn’t come back.

“But uh… what if you die? That’d be a bummer.” … More than a bummer actually. Once the thought had made Benrey sad, now it was making him squirm. Was this what anxiety was? A raising tension caused by a fear that wasn’t sourced by a proper threat, just the potential of one. No wonder Gordon was always so twitchy and unable to hold still whenever he got anxious. It was a very unpleasant feeling. Benrey would like to stop feeling it … “So you should wear the HEV suit just in case.”

Gordon looked back down and continued packing. “Nope, not happening.”

“What if there’s more zombies or the lightening aliens or… or the squid guys? What if the military shows up again?” Almost anything except maybe the first was almost certain death if Gordon got hit without protection, right?

“I doubt any of that’ll happen.”

“Could though. What if we run into more… radiation stuff? That’s bad without the HEV suit for normal humans, right? Or an earthquake hits and uh… a wall falls on you or something. Probably survivable with the HEV suit but not without it.”

Gordon paused and looked up at him again, even straightening to fully tun towards him. “You really worried about me?”

“You’re weak, easy to kill, and wouldn’t come back if you died.”

His confused expression turned into the more familiar annoyed one. “Dude, there’s no need to word it like that. It sounds like a threat.”

Benrey shrugged. “Is true though. Maybe I should just go by myself after all.” In hindsight, he should’ve just gone when first deciding he wanted to look at his records. He’d have already had them by now if he had… assuming the computers they’re on were still intact anyway.

“No, no, no. We’re going with you because we already said we would. And we’re already signed up for the thing so can’t back out now.” Gordon walked around the bed to stand in front of Benrey. Looking down at him, his expression softened again. “I’ll be fine though, ‘kay? I got this,” he held up his gun hand, “and I know how to use it. And all you guys are all kinds of powerful so… I’ll be fine. If I do get hit or something, you could just bleed on me a bit and that’ll fix it. We already tested that, remember?”

“I guess so, yeah.” Logically it made no sense to be so worried and normally Benrey wouldn’t be. Worrying about things wasn’t his style. It never accomplished anything, much easier to just roll with whatever happened as it happened. None of it could permanently hurt him anyway so why concern himself much with any of it? But he wouldn’t be able to just roll with it if Gordon died or got hurt in some other permanent way that couldn’t be fixed.

Somehow Gordon had gone from a fun fascination to worming his way into Benrey’s brain and making him feel all sorts of things he didn’t normally feel. Some of those were pleasant feelings but this was very much the opposite. This feeling sucked even more than Gordon having made him care about his past and whether or not he had a true form. And that was saying something because that sucked pretty bad. Even worse would be if Benrey’s newfound anxieties did come true.

“You okay?” Gordon asked, drawing Benrey’s gaze back up to him. He was giving Benrey a mildly concerned look. … His annoyed looks were more fun. That was the problem with getting closer to him; he was annoyed with Benrey less often and worried for him more instead. People being worried for him sucked. The only concern Gordon or anyone should be feeling in regards to Benrey is concern for what kind of mischief he might get up to. But Benrey was concerned for him too, meaning they were concerned for each other. Which was stupid.

“I’ve never felt like this before. I don’t like it. It’s lame.”

“Like what?”

Part of Benrey didn’t want to say but Gordon had told him he could talk to him about things and this was certainly a thing. “Anxious.”

Gordon stared at him for a beat or two in silence before letting a slight chuckle. “Oh dude, being anxious sucks so much, believe me, I know. But uh… uh…” The mirth left his voice as he expression to something more serious. “You’re uh… really actually anxious that I might die or something?”

Benrey had just got done saying so. But by now he was mostly used to Gordon needing things repeated for him. “Yeah or getting hurt in a way that can’t be fixed again. Could lose you other hand or… a foot or something.”

“Please don’t put that thought in my head. But uh… wow, um… didn’t think you… Being anxious sucks. So how ‘bout, because I can’t put the suit back on even if I’d wanted to, if it’ll make you feel better, I stay at the back of the group?

“Middle of the group. Something could sneak up behind.”

“Okay. Middle of the group then. And I promise I’ll be careful as I can be because trust me, I don’t wanna die or lose another body party either. That help you feel a bit less anxious? I know it’s not that easy but… you know, there’s only so much we do about anxiety while still living our lives.”

“Guess it’s better than nothing.” And once they were deeper in the facility Benrey would stick close to him, make sure nothing take advantage of how weak he was.

“Good. Now, I should finish packing. But first uh… I um… uh…” He lifted his hand as if intended to touch Benrey’s shoulder or perhaps go a bit higher to his face. He did neither though as he grimaced and pulled away instead. “You’re a good friend. Thanks for uh… that, being a good friend. It’s… I appreciate it.” Before he’d even finished speaking he was back pedaling, going back around to resume packing, doing so with a bit more intensity than before.

Sweet. Benrey was a good friend. That somehow made the negative feelings Gordon inspired in him more bearable. Being anxious sucked but at least it made him a good friend. … Which also meant Gordon being worried about him, made Gordon a good friend too. It was still uncalled for and kind of annoying but maybe it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

~

Next Chapter

[oddcryptidwrites]

Song - Pic - Saying Tag

@sunset-a-story tagged me in this! I'm going to tag @soul-write, @thetruearchmagos, @jadiealissia, @buffythevampirelover, @smudged-red-ink and whoever else wants to play (no pressure!)

Rules: Pick an OC and post a song you relate to them, an image that represents them in some way (aesthetic, picrew, art, etc), and a quote of dialogue or narration from them. Totally feel free to expand and explain!

For this one I'm doing Brigid/Rory Roberts aka Fireball from the International Alliance of Superhumans. I haven't finalized their name yet so you may see both on my blog! (More than likely you'll see Brigid, but I'm slowly shifting more towards Rory)

PIC (x2)

The moodboard is an old one I made for them, while the piccrew is brand new!

SONG

And I'm so caught up in the news Of who likes me and who hates you And I'm so tired that I might Quit my job, start a new life And they'd all be so disappointed 'Cause who am I if not exploited? And I'm so sick of seventeen Where's my fucking teenage dream? If someone tells me one more time "Enjoy your youth," I'm gonna cry

It might be weird to put this song for a punk-looking teenage influencer who also has a superhero identity but it fits perfectly for them! It makes me think of Rory running from place to place, feeling like they're being exploited by everyone from their manager to their grandfather (who runs the superhero organization). They just want to enjoy their youth but keep getting pulled this way and that.

SAYING

My favorite Rory quote is actually part of their internal dialogue, part of which is also on IASH's wip page:

The mask was built to withstand their anger. They were built to withstand their own anger. There was nothing that could get under their skin, make them slip up, but this was getting pretty close.

[gamerwoo]

Seventeen: The Xperiments (Epilogue)

Characters: Seventeen x female reader (except not really this part??)

Genre/warnings: superhuman/experiment au, fluff and angst, mentions of brainwashing, mentions of death, major character death [please read the warnings in the intro], also because i KNOW people will ask for another part: there is no other part. it simply ends like this <3 and yes this is a warning lmao

Word count: 1,611

a/n: this is it!!! the xperiments has finally come to an end 😌 thank you for reading it and enjoying it and giving it lots of love and sending me lovely comments i appreciate them so so so much 💛💛💛 and of course, i have ended this series in true rocket fashion (which if you know me, you know. and if you don’t, you will hate me <3)

Previous | The Xperiments Masterlist

Matthew walked into the small coffee shop. It was a nice place with big windows that brightened the place up. The main aesthetic of it was white with wood, and plenty of greenery around. It seemed like a decent place to meet up with someone he hadn’t seen in years. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure that he’d get the chance. Considering he stayed with his group, he figured most of the experiment would want nothing to do with that anymore – well, except the few that decided to join them.

After ordering his coffee, he took his to-go cup and turned to scan the small shop. Then he saw who he had come here for, sitting at a table as they typed on their phone, a cup of their own in front of them on the table. He smiled immediately upon seeing them. He would’ve thought they were just your average person with how they dressed and were seemingly good with the current technology. On top of that, they just looked so good. They looked like they’d hardly aged, though their hair was styled differently than the last time he saw them. 

He walked over and pulled the seat out, a smile clear in his voice as he said, “Long time, no see.”

You looked up from your phone to see Matthew looking almost exactly the same. The bags under his eyes would never go away from the amount of stress he was always under, but he still looked good.

You grinned back at him, standing up to give him a hug, “I see you’re still as beefy as ever.”

He chuckled at your joke, “Yeah, gotta stay fit in this line of work.”

The two of you sat back in your seats, and Matthew sighed, “I didn’t think you’d want to see me. After the funeral, it seemed like you weren’t really interested in staying connected to any part of the past.”

It was true. The last time you’d seen any of the black masks was for Wooshik’s and Jungkook’s funerals. Wooshik had sacrificed himself and stayed back to hold off the scientists so Matthew could escape with Junhui. Apparently the scientists were trying to kidnap Jun to have at least one for collateral.

Jungkook, on the other hand, had gone back inside to save a secret seventh experiment. One of the six experiments they’d saved had whispered that to him before they passed out, so he snuck back inside to try and rescue them. Nobody was sure why he didn’t reply with his in-ear when asked if everyone was out – Matthew’s theory was that it had fallen out of his ear, but nobody would ever know the truth.

In the end, Wooshik, Jungkook, and the seventh experiment perished in the explosion with every single white coat in the lab. And like Matthew held guilt for letting their newest and most innocent member die, you held guilt for never apologizing to Wooshik and letting him know how thankful you were to him. You thought about it almost every single day. 

“Yeah… I mean, I did feel like that for a while,” you admitted, looking down at your drink as your fingers wrapped around it, manicured nails tapping lightly against the plastic. “I wasn’t the only one, but I also wasn’t the first to change my mind. I think that’s what made the difference – we all kind of came around.”

Matthew furrowed his eyebrows, “Are you still living with some of them?”

“I think Hansol made all of us change our minds,” you snorted with a nod. 

Then his eyes drifted down, widening as his mouth formed an ‘o’ shape, “A ring, huh?”

You lifted your left hand to look down at the small diamond ring before turning your hand to show it to Matthew, your cheeks warming as a smile formed on your face, “I know, right? Who would’ve thought one of us would reach this level?”

“Soonyoung would be jealous,” Matthew snorted, holding your fingers delicately to examine the ring.

“Oh? How’re him and Jiwoo?”

“Good, but he still loves to get on her nerves.”

“How’s Hoshi?”

Matthew glanced up at you with a smirk, “Haven’t seen him in a while, actually.”

You let out a gasp as your jaw dropped and your mouth formed a surprised smile, “Really?”

“Hey, enough avoiding the topic,” he said playfully as he let your hand go. “Who’s the lucky person? Do I happen to know them?”

“You do,” you told him matter-of-factly. “Care to guess?”

“Hansol would be too easy,” he said, eyes narrowed. “You live with him, though?”

“I live with three people. Hansol is one of them, but not it, no.”

“Can’t be Josh or Jihoon…”

“Are they doing good, by the way?”

“They’re doing amazing with our group,” he gushed. “They especially come in handy working with Namjoo– _____, stay focused!”

“Sorry,” you laughed. “Okay yeah, not Sol, and not Josh or Jihoon – which was obvious. Oh! And not Jeonghan – he’s married.”

Matthew’s eyes widened to the size of golf balls, “He’s married?!”

You nodded happily, “As of a month ago.”

“There’s no way it’s the girl from the mall…”

“Oh, there’s a way.”

Matthew looked like he was going to pass out. He was so overwhelmed finding out how well all of you were doing.

“So, final guesses?” you brought him back to the topic.

“...Won…woo…?” he decided, holding out the first letter of his name in uncertainty. 

“Seungcheol.”

For the billionth time, Matthew’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped, “You’re kidding.”

It was strange. You hadn’t even met the real Seungcheol, up until you saved him, but he was the one you ended up becoming the closest with.

“When you save someone’s life twice,” you shrugged, “things just happen.”

“Apparently,” he chuckled, leaning back in his seat as he tried to take all of this good information in. “I’m glad everyone’s doing good. You keep in contact with everyone?”

“The whole gang,” you nodded. “Hao and Jun moved to China to experience their home properly, Wonwoo enrolled in college online, Seungkwan lives a few towns away with Seokmin and Chan – everyone’s doing really good. We just don’t hear from Soonyoung, Joshua, or Jihoon too often, but that’s understandable.”

“I still can’t believe Jeonghan got married and the kid didn’t even invite me…” Matthew scoffed.

“To be fair, they eloped. I think they’re going to have a real ceremony when they save up more money.”

“I can’t believe you even know what eloping is!” he burst. Then he took a deep breath and let it out. “God, _____… You’re all doing so well, I just– …I couldn’t be happier.”

“I know,” you nodded as you started to turn serious. “But…I feel like you didn’t just randomly reach out to catch up.”

As you held your coffee, you looked at Matthew, all playfulness and happiness gone from your face, “You want something, don’t you?”

Matthew sighed, leaning forward and staring down at his cup as he wrapped his fingers around it and tried to decide what to say. But there was no good way to say it.

“We want your help,” he admitted solemnly, still not looking at you. “Not just you, _____, but all of you.”

“We already went through hell and back, and you want to suck us back in?” you chuckled dryly. “We’re living normal lives like you guys wanted – like Wooshik wanted; like Mingyu never even got to have. Now you want us to go back?”

“You don’t understand,” he sighed. He took a moment before he finally looked up at you. “One of the experiments we rescued… They went rogue. They escaped and we can’t locate them.”

“It’s one confused experiment,” you stated. “Where’s it gonna go?”

“That’s the thing: we don’t know. It could either be hiding somewhere alone, or it could be trying to locate another lab. If it’s the latter, that’s even more dangerous.”

“So use the other five experiments to track it down before it does that. Problem solved.”

“No, _____,” he stated a little more forcefully. “This experiment…is like you.”

That got you to shut up. You felt like ice was injected into your bloodstream hearing that.

“It’s developing new powers and getting stronger,” he continued. “An experiment like you being let loose is dangerous. And if it still believes the scientists are trying to help them, that’s worse. This poor thing is brainwashed, and it could come after us or even go after innocent people. So I need to know your answer ASAP because any time wasted could be life-threatening.”

You glanced down at the table to think.

You had known that you had only destroyed one lab – a big one, but still only one – and that the labs would come back to haunt you. You knew it was coming eventually. But was that good enough for you? You weren’t being bothered, but they were still out there. Were you content living in ignorance if it meant being happy with your friends and your roommates? Would you ignore that thought if it meant you could get married and live a normal, happy life like you dreamed of?

“We know all of you have your own lives now,” he said softly. “Honestly, hearing everything about everyone… It hurts more now to even have to ask you. But ____, I wouldn’t ask if we weren’t desperate. Just know, though…nobody will blame you if you want to be selfish.”

You took a deep breath and glanced up to meet Matthew’s eyes that were staring intently, waiting for your answer.

You opened your mouth.

[ohmygs-blog]

hii 💞 how are you! i love ur texts so much and was wondering what your favourite songs from ur fav groups are!! 🫂 i saw you like riize and others so i was curious hihi

hi babyy!!! im doing good, been a little m.i.a because i’ve been struggling with my writing but im slowlyyyyy getting back into it lol.

but hi yes!! my favorite songs!! (just doing some groups so if u wanna know abt a diff group just ask!! i love love love talking abt music lol)

౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ • ౨ৎ •

౨ৎ riize: talk sexy & 119.

౨ৎ nct 127: favorite, superhuman, skyscraper, the rainy night, baby don’t like it, bring the noize, focus & gold dust.

౨ৎ nct dream: broken melodies, sos, hot sauce, moon, candy & hello future.

౨ৎ nct u : faded in my last song, 90s love, from home, that’s not fair, birthday party, universe, call d & misfit.

౨ৎ wayv: on my youth, love talk, bad alive & action figure.

౨ৎ le sserafim: smarter, sour grapes, antifragile, & eve, psyche & bluebeards wife.

౨ৎ aespa: welcome to my world, illusion, black mamba, drama, girls & thirsty.

౨ৎ seventeen: world, darl+ing, cheers, pang!, pretty u, monster & i don’t understand but i luv you.

౨ৎ stray kids: ex, another day, charmer, i am you, wolfgang, awkward silence, lalala & winter falls.

[prosecutorcowboy]

sometimes a family is two parents and a child. sometimes a family is one parent and a child. sometimes a family is an ex military officer, a fearlessly ambitious astronaut, a grumpy perfectionist engineer, a questionably ethical prosecutor, a caring and devoted psychologist, a young child with superhuman emotional awareness, seventeen robots, and an overexcitable teenage intern. sometimes a family is a person and a cat. don't discriminate

[vo-kopen]

Hey comic mutuals and followers, just heard that Zip has a kickstarter for a second issue. I missed the kickstarter for issue one, so I am excited to finally get the chance to get it and the upcoming issue two. I just hope they make their goal, they are only a little over a fourth of the way there and they only have seventeen more days.

For those interested, Zip is described in the kickstarter synopsis as “a British comic about imperfect superhumans (secretly about disability)” and it further notes that it will explore the more passive side of prejudice, rather than blunt and simplistic hatred. That might be honestly tough for me to read, physical fist fights are easy, societal conflict and systematic oppression are what I fear. Still it definitely has me interested, and it’s good to get challenged sometimes. Zip is also a speedster, so a part of me wonders if this will touch on the details that made some of my friend group love Impulse. Like if they go through an ADHD route, though the book is going to be a bit grungy, and I have never read Impulse so I do not know Bart’s tone.

I personally have a real fondness for disabilities in superheroes, for those who know of my personal projects I have a ton of short stories about original superheroes who are Autistic and often disabled in other ways. One for instance is a Hulk/the Thing pastiche who can hardly breathe or speak because of the metal grafted to their skin, and their fat fingers make it impossible to use sign language and write without disability aids. Another is a astral projecting werewolf that is distrusted by everyone not because he’s a werewolf, but because as an Autistic he verges into their idea of the uncanny value. Another is a swan maiden who cannot grab things or talk in swan form, so her ability to help or communicate is limited. Yet people are less hostile to the wild (and cranky) animal shape than they are to the unhoused and physically ugly human guise she also has. And almost every Autistic superhero of mine also has a heaping dose of anxiety. It’s a concept that I find really interesting, so I m so excited to have the chance to help this exist, and to get the prior issue.

So for those of you with money to spare and who want to support independent comics, as well takes on superheroes that are not just by the big two and that are about disabilities, consider donating. I have only donated a little so far, but I will get paid before it ends so I plan to bump up my donation a bit when I know I can. Also Gail Simone tweeted about this comic I think so you know, those of you who like her might enjoy this. It’s pictured up in the kickstarter, though I do not use tweeter so I cannot comment on it.

Tagging @thefingerfuckingfemalefury @nitpickrider @renaroo @akirakan @paulsebert @majingojira @littlemissonewhoisall @espanolbot2 and anyone else in my friend group who might want to check this out. Fair warning, I did not watch the video yet (if that’s what the header thing on the page is, I think it has a play icon) but I never do that on kickstarter because the neurons won’t link. I do not know why, but I can’t do it. Still read the whole page and the endorsements, so I am intrigued.

[farshootergotme]

Thinking of doing a horror AU of Batfam.

Actually stuck upon the idea when trying to get past the ethical issues with the Baby Robins (or kid heroes in general) and the logic issues with the no-kill code.

The Rogues are supernatural monsters - like folkloric entities or creepypasta creatures.

The heroes are the Guardians - tasked with protecting human world from the things that go bump in the dark.

Joker, Bane, Two-Face etc as supernatural creatures that haunt the city.

The Guardians are technically human - but mostly technically.

Sure, no superpowers or anything, but...

Okay, their injuries heal a little faster, a little more perfectly, than it should be possible.

They are able to land hits more precisely than should be possible - for a normal fighter, there is little real difference in strength between a knockout blow and a lethal one in the heat of a fight, which is why in real life a lot of dumb fights end in tragedy. But the Bats somehow manage the precision - well, the ones who try, that is.

Alfred and Bruce has stopped aging. They think Dick and Jason have too, but they are still chronologically young enough that it is tough to tell. Tim is trying to figure out if it is all the coffee stunting his growth or if he actually stopped aging at seventeen.

The Robins are taken in young for training because a kid with Guardian Potential is going to be the target of every spooky thing out there - they need to be able to fight.

The Rogues can't be really killed - the best that can be done is to bind them in Arkham Asylum for a while, but sooner or later they will escape. They are entities born of Gotham's own soul, they will always return.

So the only ones the Bats can kill even if they opted to are the henchmen.

While some of them are nasty enough to get a death sentence - so we can still have Red Hood going after some - they can be held in jail and sent away for life unlike the comic rogues who has the Arkham revolving door.

So the Bats do have a logical - and moral - reason to let their opponents live. It's not like killing the goons will stop the next Joker rampage. Jason/Hood can still want to kill because he feels the goons deserve it for working with monsters...

Not to mention the sheer horror of going toe-to-toe against things that should not exist in a sane world...

That's a cool idea! Reading it I kind of imagined this AU looking slightly like The Boy Wonder (2024) comic. The way the Joker, for example, was portrayed was actually scary. All the villains looking something like that would be great for a horror AU.

And I like the idea of the batclan being true guardians of the city. I do wonder though, do the rest of the heroes keep their powers? Or are they also just slightly superhuman but not quite like the bats? Are the other cities in the same state as Gotham? Or each city has its own creepy theme?

[princes-creations-askblog]

Finally posting oc content again bc I can’t hold it back anymore <3

Ok so I have this set of ocs (I’ve talked abt them before in this post right here) and uh. I’m remaking them now. or trying to, I’m having bad writer’s block hngh—

So like. Now that I’ve exploded and absolutely NEED to post them or I’ll die, I’ll give you some basic info on them :)

I’ve renamed Jay to Jeiviin. They’re a six-year-old Sky Dragon born and raised in Emporia, having lived in Taldrena their whole life (up until an incident in which they ended up in Voxtren). They’re intersex and were raised genderless, and have an older sister.

I’ve renamed Cora to Avaki. She’s a seventeen-year-old Sky Dragon that was born in Talix, one of Emporia’s islands, and moved to Taldrena with her family when she was 8. She’s Jeiviin’s older sister, and really into true crime.

I’ve renamed Sigasi to Sivea. She’s a fourteen-year-old Healer Dragon born in the Philippines, but moved to Emporia (specifically Voxtren) when she was 11. She’s an only child, but became best friends with Jeiviin and Avaki after the events of her (and the other characters’) story takes place, and she’s surprisingly feisty for a Healer.

I’ve renamed Delta Sun to Astrallon. They’re somewhere around 150-160 years old, and they’re an Angel from the Concept Universe (or the Void). They left their home when they were in their 20s to search for their missing mother (idk what happened to her though), but they never found her, and instead decided to just. Stay in Emporia. I mean, it’s a really pretty country, so. Fair enuf.

None of them have designs yet, but I have some very basic ideas for what I want them to look like —

Jeiviin will be pretty short (I mean they’re 6 so ofc), and their main colour will definitely be blue. Lotta scars.

Avaki will be more seafoam green I think? And a lot taller. Possibility of being emo or scene

Sivea is so so purple. I kinda want her to resemble a violet-backed starling. I love those fucking birds. I want her to have a sorta medieval-goth-princess aesthetic, but more modern

Astrallon gets to be tall as hell. Way taller than they need to be. Get enlarged stupid. And I want them to have some vague religious vibes, like biblically accurate or something. Perhaps multiple sets of wings, or too many halos. Or too many eyes.

Ok now that that’s out of the way.

Storyline thing or something!

The kiddos are still both gonna be experiments — that was an integral part of their story before the remake, and I don’t wanna change that — but Astrallon won’t be an experiment anymore. Instead, they’ll be friends with the guy running the experiments, but they won’t know about it until he calls them up and says “DUDE WE’RE GETTING FUCKED UP PLEASE HELP”.

The experiments aren’t gonna be turned into some form of superhuman (superdragon?) beings anymore, either. Instead, the cult is trying to transform Dragons into Humans by surgically removing their Draconic traits and making them physically look as human as possible.

Those experiments never end up working and all the subjects that went through the procedures died. Including Jeiviin. But they get to come back as a ghost, because I said so.

Anyway!! The reason Mr. Cult Guy calls Astrallon screaming for help, is because Sivea and the other still-living experiments broke out and started killing motherfuckers. As they should.

Astrallon is a very kind person, so of course, they immediately run over to their friend’s location to help, and promptly get their shit FUCKING WRECKED by Sivea, who thought they were another cultist.

Some other stuff happens after that, and then the story ends, but I haven’t gotten to that point yet. As I said, I’m having writer’s block atm, so I can’t get past the part where Sivea starts plotting.

Also, despite the setting of this story being in Emporia, which is also where my AHiT AU takes place, this is not set in the AHiT universe! It’s an entirely original work, full of the blorbos from my autism.

I am tired and can’t think of anything else to write, so that’s it post’s over. Eat up