#there were other characters from other stuff there too its just that those two stood out bc i at least know the other characters

[iamthescalesofjustice]

had a dream segment that was so perplexing that i literally ignored the next part of my dream to sit down and analyze it. 

[ataliagold]

But My Heart Is Just A Little Boy

Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson

Rating: Teen (swearing)

W/C: 2012

Tags: Established Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, hurt/comfort, Steve Harrington has dyscalculia, Steve Harrington has self esteem issues, Steve Harrington needs a hug, fluff, light angst, DnD, Mike and Dustin are a little mean here

Notes: Just slowly posting some of my AO3 stuff here as well :) Title from Rattlesnake by Jack Van Cleaf.

___

Steve joining in on Eddie’s campaign was supposed to be a nice surprise for his boyfriend.

And it was; Eddie’s face had lit up with joy when Steve had walked in and sat down with the kids around the table. Steve had taken the dice Dustin had loaned him and lined them up in front of him, from the D4 (the funny triangle one) up to the D20 (the one with heaps of sides, Steve reminded himself.)

If he kept them in that order it would help him pick the right dice quickly, he’d decided.

Because he wanted this to go to perfectly.

Eddie had been asking him to join in on a game for months, but Steve had so far refused, only coming along sometimes to watch quietly. There were parts of it that piqued his interest – namely the combat and the creatures Eddie planted into the game, because some of them were so damn cool even if Steve wouldn’t readily admit it out loud. A small part of him, a much younger part that had loved fairy tales and stories about knights and dragons and sword fights before his father had confiscated those books, deeming them too childish, watched with a quiet giddiness as the kids battled all manner of beasts.

But much of the game was so complicated - there were so many numbers, and Steve had no idea how Eddie and the kids managed to keep track of everything, how they added dice values together so damn quickly and kept track of a seemingly endless list of stats and bonuses and modifiers, whatever the hell they were.

Eddie knew about his difficulty with numbers. He’d seen the way Steve had to count with his fingers, how it took him far too fucking long to do a simple equation, how he stood in Melvald’s staring at the price of something just trying to make the numbers make sense so they wouldn’t blow their grocery budget.

And Eddie was patient, always. But D&D was Eddie’s realm, his place to shine, and Steve was so worried about holding him back and ruining the game every time he had to pause to add two fucking dice together.

Finally, he’d caved. Secretly, with Dustin’s help, he’d put a character sheet together. He’d made a paladin because Dustin had told him it suited him. Steve made him strong and lawful good, just like the knights he used to read about as a little boy. Dustin had rolled his eyes a little at that but Steve had been quite proud of what he’d put together.

Plus, Dustin had promised to help him with the math.

But here Steve was, well over an hour into the campaign, and he was struggling.

Cheeks burning, he turned to Dustin yet again.

“Wait, which one am I rolling?” he whispered.

Dustin rolled his eyes. The kid had been patient at first, but it was beginning to wear thin.

Steve was beginning to wear thin.

“The D10, Steve,” Dustin hissed.

“Right,” Steve nodded, grabbing for one of the dice.

“That’s the D8, Steve,” Mike said wearily.

Steve’s cheeks flushed even hotter, and he grabbed the other dice, rolling it quickly.

“Ahhh...seven,” Steve announced.

“You slash at the goblin, your blade cutting deep into its chest, the creature gurgling and reeling backwards…” Eddie leant over the table, giving a dramatic recount of events.

Steve smiled, unable to help it. His boyfriend was having such a good time, and even if Steve wasn’t enjoying himself so much, well, that was ok. He could do this, for Eddie.

“…but it scrabbles back to its feet, weak but alive,” Eddie finishes.

Mike groaned and slapped the table.

“It has to be almost dead,” Lucas announced.

“Yeah, but there’s still four others,” Mike pointed out.

“This one must be on two hit points or less,” Will surmised.

How did he know that? Steve frowned, let the kids talk amongst themselves. His gaze wandered over to Eddie, watching him lean back in his chair, eyes shining. He shot a wink at Steve when he caught him looking, then frowned a little, obviously noticing Steve wasn’t looking all that comfortable.

You ok? He mouthed at him.

Steve nodded quickly.

But he felt small.

Grow the fuck up, you’re fine.

“…Steve!” Mike groaned.

Steve’s attention snapped back to the kids. “What?”

“Stop staring at Eddie and tell us how many hit points you’ve got left.”

“Um…” Steve glanced down at the piece of paper in front of him. He’d scribbled some numbers down like Dustin had told him to every time his character had taken damage, but there were a lot of numbers there and he wasn’t sure they all actually related to his hit points…

“Give it here,” Dustin snatched the paper from him impatiently, peering down at it.

Steve waited while Dustin assessed his work, the feeling vaguely reminiscent of being back in school, his teachers reading over his work with a disappointed shake of their heads.

“This can’t be right, Steve,” Dustin sighed. “It says you’re on twelve hit points…is that a twelve? Your writing’s messy.”

Steve nodded. “Yours isn’t much better, pea-brain,” he mumbled, just to shoot something back at the kid.

Dustin narrowed his eyes at him. “You must have less than that because of the damage you took in the last round. You’re probably down to…eight at the most, by now.”

“Just make it eight, then,” Steve grumbled.

“Eight it is, big boy,” Eddie agreed.

“It doesn’t work like that, though,” Mike huffed. “You actually have to keep track of this stuff Steve, there’s no point playing if you just make the numbers up.”

“It doesn’t matter, really,” Will tried to intervene quietly. “It can just be eight.”

Dustin picked up his pencil, drawing some columns on Steve’s paper. “Ok, so just use this one column to keep track of damage, don’t write all over the page. There’s your total hit points at the top, and every time you take damage, write it down under there, ok? And then just take it off the total. Simple.”

Like it was that fucking easy. Maybe for them, it was. They didn’t get every number mixed up in their brain, they didn’t stare at a single digit trying to put some numeric value behind it and coming up with zilch.

Dustin was trying to help, Steve knew. But his tone of voice was so fucking condescending that it had Steve squirming in his seat, wishing he was anywhere else.

He felt Eddie’s eyes on him.

“Come sit by me, Stevie, I’ll help you keep track.” Eddie said gently.

“You’ll just go easy on him, and that’s not fair!” Mike whined.

“Can it, Wheeler,” Eddie snapped at him.

“Just because he can’t do basic math.”

“Right, you get to roll with disadvantage now, just for that,” Eddie told him smugly.

Mike was retorting with something, but Steve didn’t hear it.

His pulse was thumping in his ears, his cheeks on fire. The years were stripped from him, the sensitive child he’d tucked away inside a long time ago forced to the surface.

“Look, just carry on without me,” Steve muttered, and stood up quick enough that his chair scraped on the floor.

“Steve -” Dustin started, but Steve was finished, striding towards the stairs and blinking back tears.

He wasn’t going to cry in front of the kids, not over a fucking game, not over something his boyfriend loved so much.

But they were coming faster than he could blink them back as he headed out of Mike’s stuffy basement and out to the driveway, the cold night air caressing his flushed face.

This was supposed to have been a treat for Eddie. It was supposed to be fun, and Steve had ruined the night by being fucking stupid.

A tear tracked down his cheek , Steve losing the battle against them. He’d just drive home, he decided. Steve had come straight from work that day, so Eddie had come separately in his van, he wouldn’t be inconvenienced.

And then they could finish their game in peace, without having to treat Steve like a five-year-old.

He was getting in the driver’s seat when Eddie ran to him, both hands reaching for him.

“Stevie…” Eddie murmured softly.

“I’m sorry,” Steve mumbled, dragging his sleeve across his face, smudging the tears there.

“Why? The kids were being assholes, I’ve already yelled at them.”

Steve shook his head. “I was just slowing everyone down, they were getting frustrated, I get it.”

“No, sweetheart, they were being rude,” Eddie corrected him. “Especially Wheeler.” Eddie brushed his thumbs across Steve’s cheeks, crouching down beside the open driver’s door. “I’ve told them to pull their heads in. Do you…do you want to come back inside?”

“Eds…” Steve leant into his hands a little. “I’m no good at it. I really wanted to try, for you, and I’m so sorry I ruined it, but there’s too many numbers and I can’t keep track of everything and it takes me so fucking long and it’s embarrassing because I can’t even keep up with a bunch of kids, and I just feel like I’m back at school again.”

Eddie cupped his cheeks again, tilting Steve’s head to look at him. “Hey. You haven’t ruined anything, they did. I’m so happy you came along tonight, because I know you did it for me. But look, D&D doesn’t have to be your thing -”

“But -”

“It doesn’t,” Eddie cut in. “Just like…your balls in laundry basket games aren’t mine. But I like hanging around while you and Wayne watch them, and I love how excited you get about it, and how you sit there with that fucking pretty smile…”

Steve huffed out a small laugh, and Eddie grabbed his wrist to press a kiss to the inside of it.

“But I don’t know what’s going on most of the time,” Eddie continued. “It makes you happy, and that’s enough for me. So, I don’t want you to feel like you have to play D&D just for me if it’s not something you enjoy. It’s more than enough that you listen to my ideas, that you help me write -”

“I don’t really,” Steve said quietly.

“You do! Or have you forgotten who came up with that fucking amazing twist with the elven prince?”

“I got it from a movie,” Steve argued.

“So? I didn’t think of it, and it had the little shrimps completely stumped.”

Steve managed a small smile. “I do like some of the stories,” he admitted quietly. “But I think…I just wanna go home, ok? You can carry on.”

Eddie shook his head. “I’m gonna get them to pack up in there. I’ll drop them home, then follow you back, ok?”

“Steve?” came Dustin’s voice from behind Eddie, small and hesitant.

Steve quickly straightened up in his seat, wiping a hand across his face.

“Yeah, buddy?” he replied, his voice a little hoarse.

“I’m…I’m sorry. That we weren’t more patient. It’s ok if you struggle with numbers, and we should’ve helped more.”

“It’s ok, Dusty,” Steve told him.

Eddie frowned, reached down to squeeze Steve’s hand, then turned to Dustin. “It isn’t ok,” he argued. “But it was nice of you to apologize.”

Dustin nodded. “If you want to try again sometime, I promise I’ll help more. I…I really liked having you play.”

“Thanks,” Steve managed.

“Tell Wheeler to start crafting his apology too,” Eddie said firmly, still cradling Steve’s hand in his own. “Otherwise he’s rolling with disadvantage for the whole next session.”

Dustin’s eyes widened a little before he nodded.

After packing up, the kids waited sheepishly by Eddie’s van. Eddie stayed crouched next to Steve a moment longer.

“Go home, get comfy on the couch, and pick out any movie you want to watch, ok?” Eddie murmured to him. “When I get home I’m gonna order us some pizza, and I’m gonna cuddle the shit out of you, understand?”

Steve laughed softly. “Sounds perfect.”

“Good. I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.”

___

[realisticfanfictions]

Being Sanji's Girlfriend & Baratie's Head Waitress - Part 4.

Sanji x Waitress!Reader: Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

Working at Baratie wasn't without its challenges, and the fights that sprung up because of them weren't rare either. You and your boyfriend never sweated the small stuff, after all working in a high stress environment made you, well, stressed. But maybe some things can't be resolved that easily.

Tags: Sanji x Reader, Waitress!Reader, constant bickering, mostly fluff with some angst, (heavy) swearing.

A/N: Initially going into this, I was planning to have the fishmen come in and have the Mihawk fight, but it was a bit more important to set up some more character dynamics before I moved onto 5k words of action scenes. So here's a nice bit of LORE(tm) and a bit more about how Y/N thinks. Next part I promise is 100% action, and I can't wait to show ya'll what I've come up with for Y/N's weapon! It's so cool.

Word Count is 3,421. Hope you enjoy!

Tag list (comment to join!): @siriuslyblackonback @jvhoons

"So, you're really going to fight him?"

Zoro, not looking up from cleaning his swords, nodded. "It's my dream." He explained, observing the blades for any damage. After he challenged the swordsman, the next few things happened rather quickly. The scramble to get Luffy as if that'll somehow convince him to stand down, the captain instead supporting his first mate's goal, and Nami storming off upset. It all passed by in a blur, and now you were alone with Zoro in their ship.

You nodded and turned to look out of the porthole, observing the calm seas that rocked the boat. "I guess dreams are worth dying for." You sighed and leaned back in your chair. "Sucks you met Mihawk too early."

His jaw tightened, and set down his sword. "If I run now, I'll never become the world's greatest swordsman."

You hummed and watched him through the reflection on the glass. "Honour, huh?" You mused and nibbled on the tip of your thumb. "How ridiculous. You're just like Sanji, uncompromising."

"Don't compare me to that shitbag." He snapped and sheathed his sword, clicking it shut in its scabbard. "Speaking of, why are you with him?"

Confused by his words, you looked over at him. "What do you mean?"

"He cheats on you, doesn't he?" He questioned and turned to face you, leaning against the cabinet. "He seemed pretty friendly with Nami a couple hours ago."

You chuckled. "That's just Sanji. He's obsessed with women. It's more," You thought of the words. "It's like having a dog that you love and care for, and though you go up and pet other dogs, you don't abandon your own dog for some random one on the street."

Zoro's eyebrows raised. "You do realise you just called yourself a bitch, right?"

You rolled your eyes and flipped him off. "Shut up. He's just chivalrous, that's all."

"Well, I'd be watching him if I were you." He walked over, his long strides making it seem effortless to reach you. "Guys like that don't tend to keep only one dog."

You opened your mouth to retort, but shut it and stood chest to chest with him. "Just focus on not dying, alright?" His eyes squinted ever so slightly, and he leaned down close to you, gazing directly into your eyes. "What are you doing?"

He stares for a moment, and then straightens himself back up. "Nothing."

You quirked an eyebrow. "Alright, I'm going home to my boyfriend."

"Wasn't trying to make a move." He retorted and stepped aside, letting you walk past him. "(Y/N)?" You placed a hand on the door frame and turned. "Be careful."

You looked him up and down. "Try not to die."

Mihawk's eyes haunted you like a ghostly presence that you couldn't shake off. It was like you could feel those piercing eyes all over your body, every inch of skin was tainted and you hated it. You always have.

The door to you and Sanji's shared room creaked open, and you popped your head inside. You didn't know what to expect, but Sanji jolting himself upright on the chair that sat in the corner of your room wasn't exactly one of them. The door softly clicked closed behind you, and you slowly walked up to him, his eyes on you the entire time as you sat on his lap. You positioned yourself sideways and leaned your head against his chest, reveling in his warmth when he wrapped his arms around you and placed a kiss against your scalp. Sanji's thumb rubbed circles in your thigh, more of an anxious gesture than anything, as he pressed many more kisses against your skin. You sighed and relaxed into him. "I may have overreacted." You started, ripping the band-aid off. "And I apologise."

He nodded. "Thank you for that. Sorry for not finding you sooner."

You shook your head against his chest. "I was drinking, you would've killed my buzz." You paused. "But I guess it was ruined anyway."

"Oh, I'm sorry-"

He stopped when you held up a hand. "I didn't mean you, Sanji." You opened your mouth, but couldn't find the words. Or rather, you found them, you just didn't want to share them. "A man came asking after our new chore boy."

You felt Sanji tense under you. "Are you okay?"

Mihawk's eyes restraining came to mind. "I'll be fine," You picked at a loose thread. "But Zoro won't."

Your boyfriend's hand stopped and pulled back to look you in the eye. "Zoro?"

"Luffy's friend, the guy with the swords. The idiot challenged him to a duel."

Sanji's head tilted. "Why?"

You let out a small sigh and untangled yourself from him, walking a couple feet to your dresser and pulling out a change of clothes. "Because they're idiots with a death wish." You said as you peeled off your top with a groan. "Fuck. Thank God I don't have work tomorrow."

He watched you for a moment as you shimmied out of your clothes and slipped into some pajamas. "Sweetheart, I'm not really comfortable with you drinking with pirates. I mean, it's a bit dangerous-"

You scoffed, pulling an oversized shirt over your head. "They're not pirates," You said as you tugged the shirt down, barely bothering to notice it was a gag shirt with an octopus on a bowl of rice. "Hell, they barely qualify as sailors." But when Sanji didn't respond, you paused. "Oh, you mean was I drinking with Zoro." You turned around to face him. He was leaning forwards in his chair, leg bouncing. You sighed and walked over to him. "He was just my drinking partner, and he's most likely going to die tomorrow." You run your hand through his blond locks. "It'll be fine. You don't have to worry."

"I'll have to trust you then." He said with a smile, then laughed when your gentle pat turned into a frantic scratch. "Hey! Not the hair!"

A smirk split across your face. "I don't know, Sanji. You might just have to trust me!"

He chuckled and grabbed your hands, pulling you forward onto him and wrapping you in his arms. "You know what I mean."

"I guess I'll just trust you-"

"Yep!"

"And trust that you're doing a good job! And- Sanji!" You squeaked when your boyfriend ambushed you with a barrage of soft kisses pressed across any bit of skin he could reach. "You tasteless toad! You're two tablespoons of terrible!"

"Two tablespoons of terrible." He repeated in a strange voice and you giggled when he tried to tickle you. "Oh no! The tickling toad has come to torment you!"

You push his hands away and trap his face in your hands. "You twat." You smiled and gave him a lingering kiss.

When you parted, he gave a soft smile. "And you even ended it with a 't', brilliant."

You quirked an eyebrow. "You weirdo."

He mirrored you. "And I somehow love you."

"But weirdly, you love me very weirdly."

He nodded. "Birds of a feather."

"If we're birds, you're a flamingo."

"Why?"

"Because if I wasn't dating you, I'd think you were a bit of a flamingo."

He gasped. "Then you'd be a penguin, because you bring me rocks."

You leaned back and gave him a look. "Because I bring you rocks?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you even put them on me. And you help me get my rocks off."

He laughed as you hit him. "Sanji! That's so bad!"

Your hands were caught and you were pulled into his chest, both of you giggling and stealing kisses from each other while occasionally snuggling impossibly closer. Sure, you might be a bad person - but you liked who you were with Sanji. And that's all you really cared about.

You lied. That night you couldn't sleep with hundreds of thousands of millions of thoughts racing through your mind. You felt like you were a greyhound chasing down a slightly too-fast rabbit, every time you got close, sleep just slipped through your fingers. Your gaze drifted from the ceiling where you were counting the nails in the boards, and over to your boyfriend. His sleeping face made a million butterflies emerge from their cocoons in your stomach, your heart beating against your rib cage like an angry gorilla. But something about this wasn't right, and you couldn't go to sleep without doing something about it.

Careful to not wake your peaceful boyfriend, you slowly lifted his arm from around your waist and placed it on his pillow, heart aching at the sight of him trying to seek your warmth. Even in sleep he wanted to be close to you. Grabbing your pillow, you gently tucked it under his searching hand and he brought it to his chest with a soft groan, the smell of you satiating him.

You rolled out of bed and tip-toed over the squeaky floorboards, wincing every time the floor made a sound. After looking back each time and taking moments between each footstep, you made it through the door and quickly shut it behind you. The early morning's chilly air struck you, but you ignored the goosebumps rising under your skin and continued on. It felt strange walking without your heels clicking against the floorboards, but you weren't looking to make noise, or look fashionable in this instance.

The Overnights were rooms for guests who've either had too much to drink, or who pay extra to stay overnight to hookup, or just to stay, again, overnight. You passed by the many in-use rooms filled with snoring and other unseemly sounds, rolling your eyes at the disgusting slobs behind the doors. A room stood out amongst the others, however, and you knew it held what you were seeking. The aura that emanated from it was unmistakable.

You reached into your hair and pulled out a bobby pin, sticking it in between your teeth to open it and then jammed it into the lock. All the locks were the same on the Baratie, and you only had to jimmy the locks, moving the pins frantically within, to open it without much effort. The door clicked open and you gently pushed it open.

When you stepped inside, you felt it. The blade at your neck. Without a second thought, you pushed it from your jugular and grabbed the silver candlestick on the hallway table, holding it firmly as the blade was struck against it. It sliced through with ease and a sharp burning went through your cheek, knowing that if you hadn't moved your head, it would've went through your eye. "You're slow." Came the hauntingly beautiful, yet unsettling voice from your nightmares.

You hissed and shoved his sword away from your face. "You haven't seen me in seven years, and the first thing that comes from your mouth is criticism? How shocking."

"Six." He corrected, and the room was suddenly bathed in a low yellow hue. Dracule Mihawk was a terrifying man. His golden, ringed eyes glowed in the dim light and when they looked you over, it felt like he was observing your soul and picking it apart with the grace one would picking the petals off of a flower. Those eyes locked onto yours. "It's been six years."

You rolled your eyes and pushed past him. The room was a similar layout to your own, with the only difference being the minimalist design and abhorrent amount of red wine. You knew the latter didn't come from the room. Rather, they came from his personal stash that would deem any other man an alcoholic. But Mihawk was simply old-fashioned, born in the wrong non-vampiric century if you will.

He sheathed his famed black blade Yoru in one smooth motion and danced past you, sitting gracefully in his armchair and crossing one leg over the other. Your eyes drifted over to his hat hung on a hook and reached out to run your fingers against the silky feather. "Don't touch it." The old swordsman warned behind you, picking up his book and flipping over the next page. "I despise disorganisation. It needs to be acceptable for my duel tomorrow. Or rather, in the upcoming moments since you have woken me up at such an ungodly hour."

Despite your reluctance, your arm retracted almost on its own. "You were already awake, asshat." You turned around and crossed your arms. "And it'll be creased anyway, so it doesn't matter if-"

"Not necessarily." His words were as sharp as his gaze. "If we go by that barbaric logic, it doesn't matter if a man is murdered since we all die in one way or another."

You scoffed and returned his look with your own glare. "I'm not too sure, you're more experienced when it comes to murdering men."

Mihawk picked up his expensive crystal wine glass, and took a long, silent sip of his Tarapaca. It was placed back down onto the table with a clink. He leaned back in his chair which squeaked as he did so, and interlocked his fingers. "Why are you here, (Y/N)?"

"I was going to ask you the same question."

His head tilted for a moment, before righting itself. "I'm here for Monkey D. Luffy."

You hadn't realised your shoulders were tensed until they drooped down. "That's it?"

He nodded. "I am only here as an obligation to Garp to collect his grandson."

To your annoyance, your throat tightened. "I thought that was an excuse."

"It wasn't." The man you hated sat in his chair completely unbothered. His eyes lingered on you for a moment, before drifting back to his book. He flipped the page. "'But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, by what and in what manner Love conceded that you should know your dubious desires?'"

Pathetically, you felt stinging at the corners of your eyes. "'And she said to me: “There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times of joy in wretchedness.”'" You breathed in through your nose. "Inferno, by Dante Alighieri."

"From?"

You cleared your throat. "Divine Comedy."

"What year?"

You took in a breath and shook your head. "1321?"

He said nothing and turned the page. You stood silently, wanting to run but having no strength to do so. His gaze finally lifted to meet yours. "Is that all?"

A chill ran over your skin, and you were once again reminded of the kind of man he was. There was a lot you wanted to say to Dracule Mihawk. So much hatred and anguish that you had to endure, all the suffering handed to you by the well-manicured hands of the greatest swordsman in the world. You hated him. "Unless you want to say anything?"

His eyes held yours for a moment. "Goodnight."

"Go fuck yourself." You practically grew fangs and spat venom at him. Spinning on your heel, you kicked the wall where his hat hung and stormed out of the room.

A scream bubbled in your throat. Your nails dug into your palms, and your lips were bloodied from ripping them open. He had no- you couldn't- he was such a-

As you turned a corner, you felt something pinch the base of your skull and you whipped around. Pulling your gun and aiming it, you locked eyes with the other swordsman in your life. Zoro, bathed in moonlight, turned his attention from his swords to you. The rag he was cleaning his blade with stopped and he was focused solely on you. "I think I know who you are."

You scoffed and shoved your gun back in its holster. "Well, apparently most people don't, so I'll take anything at this point." He was quiet, and your lips tightened into a smile. "Want a drink?"

The door opened with a click and Zoro whistled. "Nice trick."

You put the bobby pin back in your hair with a smile. "Thanks." The Baratie after-hours was a sight to behold, but the bar was even better. You smiled at Zoro and guided him around the front of the bar where the shutters were closed.

"Thought you said it's open all night."

You looked behind you as you bent down to the latch holding the fish's mouth closed. "I said you couldn't get anything on tap around three in the morning," You unhooked the chain and pulled it free from the floor. "Didn't say that the bar was open. Come help me." You shuffled to the side to make room for him, and grabbed onto the shudders. He appeared by your side and hooked his fingers under the shudders next to yours, you both nodded to each other and grunted as you lifted the shudders. You expected it to be heavier, but with Zoro it lifted with surprising ease. The moonlight poured in and illuminated the bar, shining through the empty bottles of booze and creating a kaleidoscope of colours.

The green-haired swordsman chuckled and looked around. "I've never been in a bar after hours." He sat down on a nearby couch normally reserved for V.I.Ps. "It feels naughty."

You shrugged, walking over to the bar and reaching over. "Yeah well, if we're caught I'll probably get fired, so don't fuck around." Your fingers wrapped around the neck of a bottle and you hoisted it to eye-level. "You a rum guy?"

He smiled and gave a half-shrug. "I'm a booze guy."

"Good answer." You said and carried over two shot glasses for the both of you. Sitting down, you tugged off the cork with your teeth and poured yourselves shots. You raised your glasses. "To you dying tomorrow."

His eyebrows raised. "To me surviving tomorrow." He corrected and clinked his glass against yours, keeping his eyes on you as you took a shot together. He sighed, flicking his head and nodding. "That's good."

You nodded and sniffed. "It's very good." You filled your glasses again. "Only the best shit for the only guy that knows me." You gulped it down, and didn't wait for him to finish before filling yours back up.

He chuckled. "I'm the one dying tomorrow, and here you are drinking like it's the end of the world."

"Yeah, well," You sniffed and swirled around the liquid in your glass. "My life kind of fucking sucks at the moment. So, I think I deserve to get shit-faced."

Zoro tilted his head and licked his teeth. "I bet you had a miserable childhood."

You laughed and leaned back, tears pricking at yours eyes as you nodded. "Understatement of the century." You said under your breath and looked up at him, forcing a smile. "I grew up on some private land owned by nobles."

He nodded. "You said that."

"Yeah, but what I didn't tell you was I wasn't born there. My Dad, being father of the fucking year, didn't want to care for a baby so he dumped me with some workers. Then, when I truly got attached to my family and finally was accepted as a member of the community, he just came back and picked me up. Like I was some type of broken watch he left to be repaired." You shook your head and reveled in the burn of the rum as it slid down your throat and warmed your stomach. "And ever since then, he's just tormented me. Even when I got away from him, it's like he's always there just watching me - waiting for me to mess up. And you know, all the shit that I did to make him proud of me? Every late night reading libraries' worth of books just in case he quizzed me on it in the morning. Every lesson in combat styles, or how to sense others, whatever the hell that means. Most of the scars I have are from trying myself to him. But never once was I told 'Good job (Y/N)', or that he was proud of me. He never even smiled at me." You finished the shot and placed it down onto the table. "And you know what fucking sucks? After all this time, all the anguish he's put me through? All I want him to look at me and tell me that he loves me."

Zoro looked at his glass and his mouth tightened into a fine line. "I know the feeling." His eyes drifted back to yours. "To shitty parents?" He offered, raising his glass.

You chuckled and shook your head, but poured yourself a glass and raised it. "The shittiest."

A/N: Um, okay this was pretty heavy and it took me a while to write because I wanted to make it actually matter. I think there'll be a few more parts and then we'll be finished with the Baratie saga! Then, I might take a break and do maybe another series/one-shot while I properly plan the next part. We'll also be naming this series! The poll has concluded and within the next couple of days, we'll be figuring out the name! Comment down if you have any suggestions, or want to join the tag list! <3

P.S: When the Baratie saga is done, I'll release it all as one part so that it'll be easier to re-read. It'll be a bit of its own thing, so stay tuned haha.

[dollfaced-erin]

I see you open for request, can I request how y/n(dan jia) meet the character? Because I want to know how we meet the character

Character : jing yuan, yingxing, jingliu and that fox lady. I forgot her name hehehe✌✨

Is it just open for scenario?

Definitely like your fanfic about dragon's cradle

I will wait for more update from the fanfic! ✨

I will request again if I have idea and your request is open :)

AWHH !! THANK YOU FOR REQ THIS !!

since this is very heavily reliant on canon events, everything in this scenario is just headcanons ! just for a little fluff <3

in this headcanon, Jing Yuan is already an adult. though i see many people referring Jing Yuan as a child in many mvs, but if im not mistaken, jing yuan was already a general before everything happened.

ONCE AGAIN ! i will replace the name Dan Jia with (Y/n), for more comfort, but this timeline was actually when Dan Jia was still 'alive'. But still, this is just a head canon, nothing too serious, so have fun !

OH ANOTHER THING ! i made dan jia/ (Y/n)'s horns blue for the sake of the story, and her powers are ice. She wields a crystal fan, and follows the path of abundance. Like Dan Feng, who is the Imbibator Lunae (drinker of the moon), (Y/n) is the Saltator Lunae (dancer of the moon), a name given to her due to the unforeseen fate of having two individuals that could inherit the dragon heart after successfully undergoing the Transmutation Arcanum.

Taglist ! : -

@rebeccawinters , @nayukiyukihira , @pix-stuff , @fluffy-koalala , @swivy123 , @starxao , @kaoyamamegami , @kimura-uzuri , @rsvye , @seikouryuu , @just-here-reading , @matsulovesyou , @sincerely-aaronette

"Jing Yuan, I want you to meet someone," the icy cold voice of his master entered her ears.

The practicing knight looked up from his place, looking to his right where his master in blue and white was standing. The sword that was strong in his grasp was let loosened as he stood straight, sheathing the sword into its scabbard.

Jing Yuan's golden eyes widened as he looked up. Behind his master was a young woman, who had similar features to the Imbibator Lunae he had grown close to. Not facial features, rather the unique features the dragon's predecessors have. The horns and the glowing (e/c) eyes, that brim with potential and power.

"This is (Y/n). Dan Feng's sister. She'll be training with me to hone her ice powers. It never hurts to learn more." Jingliu said, looking at the young lady behind her a hand gestured out for (Y/n). Jing Yuan blushed a little at the sight of the dragon lady before him. And it seemed that Jingliu noticed the gaze of her student.

"Jing Yuan. Be nice to her." "I'm always nice !" "No flirting."

Jing Yuan's face burst into a deep crimson shade. He was still a young adult., mind you. He was still pretty new with relationships. Future Jing Yuan would've probably pat his back and laughed at the shyness of his past self.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm (Y/n), the Saltator Lunae." (Y/n) said, a light chuckle leaving her pink lips as she bowed to him. Jing Yuan's eyes widened and he bowed back. "J-Jing Yuan. Th-the pleasure is mine."

Though this is the first time he met this dragon lady who raised her head before him, this isn't the first time he's seen this lady. No, not when Jing Yuan remembers those (e/c) eyes that shone as brightly as the stars, and were as clear as glass.

The swordsmith was walking peacefully in the night at the bazaar, tired after a full day slaving by the fire, creating weapons with his own hand. Yingxing felt fulfilled more than anything, as he had the power to bring his creations to life. The soft gaze of the moon above him as if blessing him for all his hard work.

There was once, he received a commission unique to all other works. It was an odd request for a swordsmith like himself to create such an accessory, but since it was from a dear friend of that requested him to try, even going as far as to provide the materials, Yingxing thought that he might as well give it a shot.

In his hand, Yingxing held a beautiful glass hairpin he had molded with his own hands. The small accessory was embedded with stunning pearls and precious quartz, that was obviously hard to find from the exquisite quality. He felt almost saddened to part with it.

It almost felt...unreal to see the familiar shine of that...rainbow quartz shining beneath the moonlight. Yingxing reached out to it, but the said shine disappeared within the sea of residents of the Xianzhou ship. But he needed to find it, he needed to reach out, to see who was actually the beholder of that precious hair ornament.

Closer and closer Yingxing walked, pushing through the sea of people without harming anyone. His amber eyes scanned through the crowd, and came back in sight with the glass hairpin he had dedicated his soul into making.

A woman. A beautiful woman who had her hair held up with the beautiful stick made with the finest items. Yingxing reached out to the woman, his hand caught by the Imbibator Lunae who had a smirk.

"I knew you'd find her by the hairpin in her hair. Yingxing, meet my sister, (Y/n)." the High Elder said, and the woman beside him turned around, horns on her head.

Yingxing never knew that the hairpin he thought to be a failure at first was actually the most beautiful thing he has seen under the moonlight.

'Once...once again....again !' Were the things the master ice woman repeated in her mind time and time again as she swung her sword tirelessly. Who cares if her hands dripped with blood ? Who cares if her hands were sore from the splintered wood in her hands ? That's right. Not even Jingliu herself cared about it.

She kept swinging her sword towards the dummy. Time and time again she leapt into the air like a snowstorm, slashing her weapon infused with her ice powers, obliterating all the dummies she just had repaired. Jingliu was strong...but in her eyes, it wasn't strong enough, not precise enough...not fast enough.

Jingliu landed on the ground with a thump of her shoes beneath her feet, her expression filled with distaste and disappointment to herself. She cared not for the stinging in her hands, the blood dripping down and staining the stone pavement beneath her shoes.

"That's enough. Take a break." a soft and tender voice called out. Five slender fingers landed on her shoulder, snapping Jingliu out of her trance. She was quite disturbed to who had pulled her out of her zone, but as she turned behind, (e/c) eyes were staring deep into her red eyes.

"Your hands...wont be able to heal if you push yourself any longer without medical attention." the dragon lady said, peeling open Jingliu's hand, forcing her to drop the sword from her hands. Jingliu was so stunned by the sudden appearance of this woman, who she had never realized from earlier.

"Come. I'll heal your hands. And maybe you should take a break. Doctors always say that with a slight break, your body would be able to breathe and you'll be able to do better." the woman said, pulling Jingliu along with her, the tender and soft (s/c) hand holding onto her bloody and calloused hand.

"Who...are you ?" Jingliu asked the dragon woman before her, though she would be crazy not to know who this woman was with the horns on her head symbolizing her importance. And the woman smiled warmly and answered simply with a small smile. "My name is (Y/n)."

And as their friendship bloomed between the two ice women, Jingliu had been inspired by (Y/n)'s dances and elegance. And with that in mind, she had forged her signature move, earning her the name, Transcendent One.

(Y/n) gazed up to the sky, watching the starskiffs race around. She wished how she could have some freedom of her own. How free she would feel, in the sky above, travelling with the stars. She kept thinking about it, while sipping at the canned peach tea in her hands as she walked.

Her thoughts were cut short when she heard storming of boots and thumps her ears had recognized to belong to those in the Cloud Knights. And as she turned, there was indeed a group of 4 knights chasing after a purple foxian woman who was jeering at the knights who weren't able to catch up to her.

"Hah ! You thought !" the purple foxian said, looking back and pulling her tongue out at them. That was, until she turned front and realized there she was running into someone.

Without time and reflex to stop or to turn, Baiheng did the craziest thing she could ever do. Which was grab at the hand of the woman that was walking along politely like an average law-abiding citizen of the Xianzhou.

Baiheng pulled along the woman who was quite startled by the sudden pull and run, dropping her canned drink behind as she was suddenly pulled along. The drink fell from her hands and spilt onto the ground as the two of them ran.

"H-hey, wait !" "Sorry ! I'll make it up to you, I promise !" Baiheng exclaimed in pure horror, clearly not understanding her own reflex to pull along this innocent and clueless dragon woman with her.

"Anyway ! My name is Baiheng ! Pleasure to meet you !" the foxian said, flashing a bright, toothy smile to (Y/n) who laughed along with this cheerful foxian.

;;sorry if some of them weren't good,, i really didnt have much idea for them,,, i hope you had fun reading these !

[bowieandqueen11]

Tobey!Peter Parker Dating A Plus Size Reader Would Include...

Request: Hello! I know I sent requests for "random request go!" so feel free to ignore me. I was just wondering - I was reading again your Spider-Man stuff (cause it is FANTASTIC <3 ) and I saw that in your note to "Andrew!Peter x Plus Size!Reader" you said that if anybody would ever want to, you'd be willing to write Tobey!Peter x Plus Size!Reader too. I was wondering if that's still the case. Cause if yes, I'd love to see it one day! No pressure of course, you can skip it if you want! Have a great day!

Oh my gosh lovely of course I will thank you so much, I didn't think anyone actually read those notes aha but I'm so happy you did!! Between Across the Spiderverse (which I still haven't seen yet I'm so slow!) and the Insomniac Spiderman trailer I am being well fed :)

Warning: mentions of blood/injury!

(I do not own Spider-Man or its characters, all rights go to creators. Gif credit goes to @fmribeiro01.)

☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°

I'm not joking even THINKING about this as a concept is making me squeal because like?? Tobey Peter?? Omg. Absolutely adores you. 24/7, non stop heart eyes motherfcker. Be ready for him to give you looks of such gut wrenching love and vulnerability that you'll just want to squish his cheeks together and kiss his forehead like the puppy he is.

You were 100% Peter's childhood crush, no question asked. You were always invited around to Peter's birthday parties, where the two of you would be thick as thieves for the whole night. Even poor exasperated Harry would find it oddly adorable when it was time to give Petey his cake, and he would bashfully pull out the chair beside him at the table for you to scoot onto. He thought he was so slick, bless his heart, when he reached over to fix your wonky party hat with his tiny shaking fingers, or shyly looked over at the rim of uneven frosting towards you when Aunt May carried out the homemade cake and told him to make a wish. You were always the last one to be picked up, despite living right next door: Ben, the sly old fox, could see how enamoured Peter was. How he had the firmest grip he had ever seen his nephew squeeze out around your arm, and how Peter stood holding the present you had given him in his other hand, not even noticing it because he was too busy fervently nodding and being strung along by every word you would say.

Ben would stall your parents at the door, blocking the way in by pretending to lean on his elbow, and spouting off about whether he was going to paint the living room a periwinkle or an egg shell blue. When your parents finally started to get impatient, you kissed Peter on the side of his cheek and left with a big wave, not really noticing the way he was standing stock-still, his fingers tentatively touching the side of his face and his mouth agape, blubbering like a blow fish. May has never seen him run so fast up the staircase, but Peter's so desperate to curl up alone under his duvet and thank whatever he can think of for making his wish come true, touching the wet imprint of your lips with a revered awe. Eventually, his giggling gets so loud during the night, that Ben has to come out and close over his door so he and May can get at least a little sleep.

A lot of your teenage years is spent with you jumping over your chain link fence in the middle of the night to meet a very anxious looking Peter, whose face quickly grows into a bright smile when he pulls the latest edition of the comic series you've been share-reading out from behind his back. Sitting on the cold tile by his garage, the night would slowly weave diamond dust through the sky, and sparkling joy through the irises of Peter's eye as the two of you stuck your heads together and poured over the pages. Every so often he would have to blink away, pretending he was fixing his glasses because you would catch the side-eye look he was giving you.

By the end of the night, you've fallen asleep, slobbering onto Peter's shoulder. He hasn't moved an inch: as still as marble, and doing his best to hold his breath so he doesn't rustle you, and so he can memorise the way your gratifying weight feels against the side of his shoulder. So he can imprint into his mind how tender your skin feels against his burning neck. It's only when Aunt May comes out to shake the two of you awake from the school bus that he runs into the kitchen all flustered. He grabs his backpack, and says goodbye, but refuses to change his jumper because he can still feel your imprint against the coarse wool.

From time to time that day, you'll peer round the door of your locker to catch him leaning into his, so giddy he's almost vibrating on the spot, which is probably why he's so distracted he bangs his head on the metal top of his own locker door oops.

Lunch that afternoon is even worse! Sitting diagonal across from Peter, you slide into the table next to an already frustrated looking Harry, whose kicking Pete's feet under the table and making incredibly unsubtle raised eyebrow points your way. He's so sick of the way his best friend will spend every minute of his time with you just staring: peering over his fruit pot, blabbering incoherently to himself with ruddy cheeks when he passes you the salt and your pinkie fingers brush, looking at your reflection in his spoon, pretending to stretch his arms and yawn just so he can 'look around the room', which also just so happens to be only the part that you're sitting in. He just wants his friend to be happy, and honestly, he's kind of dumbstruck that the two of you aren't together already, considering his eyes light up like gold-struck dawn every time he sees you.

It's only when Flash Thompson passes by and knocks Peter's elbow out from under him that he finally stops staring over at you. Mainly because his eyes are too busy slamming into his lunch tray, and breaking the bridge of his glasses down hard against his nose. The spell you wisp around his heart is finally broken when the blood starts gushing down his nose, and you have to half-carry him to the medical office. He spends 50% of the time walking there apologising to you, and the other 50% of the time is spent trying to stop his fingers from clenching into your arm. You've tucked him into your side, holding half his torso against you so he can spend most of his effort on pinching his nose, but he doesn't even care that he's swallowing blood anymore, he's so focused on how close he's pressed up against you. The feeling only grows more fervent, more needy, until he's twitching his thighs against the nurse's table to try and get himself to calm down, when you stay with him for the rest of the period to try and wipe some of the blood away. The way you're so close to his lips, the way that your gentle fingers are dabbing so close to his mouth that he can feel his rushing breath brush against your hairs is making him go cross-eyed with how much he's trying to focus on you.

'You know...', you start after a minute, biting your bottom lip nervously as you continued to dab at peter's nostril. 'I have eyes, Petey.'

'I-I know that, silly', he says, his breath coming out in a confused gasp. 'Me too!'

'I- I know you've been looking at me. Because I've been looking at you, too.'

His heart seems to be slamming into the caged cavity of his ribs, and yet everything seems to simultaneously be standing still: caught in a hazy, gliding, wavering dream as you slowly... ever so slowly drop the cloth into the sink, and break through the few inches between the two of you to press your lips against his top one.

For a moment, Peter is so shocked all he can do is widen his eyes, not even processing that the thing he's spent every moment of his waking and sleeping life wishing for ever since he was a child was happening right now. He tries really hard to stop his whole body from shaking, as his silky lashes finally falter shut against the top of your cheeks and he tries to focus his whole attention on the way your plush lip seems to press so perfectly against his own. After a few seconds though, when he hears the clattering of trays fall to the floor and the darkness he was letting himself fall willingly down into seems a little harder to blink out of, he realises the sound was him.

You're worried you've upset him, or stepped too far, or misconstrued his intentions when Peter falls backwards off you, but that's quickly replaced by frantic concern when he starts sliding to the floor. Thankfully, your reflexes are almost as good as his, and you're quick to wrap your arm around his back and cradle his head against your breastbone before he can slam his head against the floor again. He has to spend the rest of the day lying in the office's bed waiting until Uncle Ben can pick him up, but it was completely worth it. As he gazes up at the inane, plastered ceiling, suddenly everything else in life seemed so silly and pointless. All he cared about was rubbing his pointer finger over the wet patch of your saliva still dotted against his bottom lip, his eyes filled with a million bursting stars as he saw beyond the ceiling and into the skies, thanking it for making his birthday wish come true.

The two of you move into his crumby apartment after high school, and honestly? It's the happiest time in Peter's life. Sure, it may be small, and the walls may be flaky and they may shake every time a train rolls past the tracks outside, but every time he comes home to them he's greeted by the memories of the two of you laying against them like when you were kids, falling asleep against each other's heads as you read into the night. Sure, Ditkovich may hound the two of you constantly for rent, and the afternoons may be drowned out by the sound of his friends playing poker a couple of doors over, but they were so easy to forget in the evenings when you turned on your slightly dented radio and made a flustered Peter dance with you across the room, not stopping until you had him held tightly in your arms and he was so embarrassed with his two left feet that he was hiding his head in the curve of your luscious neck.

And sure, you may have picked up pretty quickly that Peter was Spiderman, considering he keeps hopping out the balcony at random hours and leaves his suit sometimes crumpled at the bottom of the closet, but you love him. And he adores you more than anything any universe could throw at him. So life, for the most part, is good.

Honestly, it's so cosy living with him?? Peter literally has spider strength, so he adores it when you lie on top of him in your bed. After a while of just nattering peacefully to each other about your days, winding down by playing with each other's fingers and sneaking kisses through the brackets of your arms, he feels so at peace to feel your weight familiarly resting on top of him. This need increases tenfold after he loses Ben, I think there's something so comforting to him, to know and feel that you're still so close to him, that he can synch the anxious patter of his heart against your own. He's so sweet bless him. he gets so sleepy that his head keeps falling down on top of your own, but he's so quick to lift it up again. He blinks languidly, that honey-sweet, silvery smile shadowed only by the tempered glow of the warm moonlight drifting through the balcony as he tries desperately to keep himself awake, giving his full attention to you.

There's just something about drifting off to the sound of your voice, knowing that for once, he's safe. That he's wrapped up, looked after, comforted by the love of his life. It just feels really nice to be the one coddled from time to time.

Sometimes, you'll jolt awake in the dead of night by the sound of some strange, wistful whispering echoing from somewhere in the near empty room. It takes your brain a little whirring time to realise it's coming from the hand that's spooning your waist, and the nose that's pressed tightly against the back of your thigh. Turns out Peter spends a lot of his sleepless nights tracing over your stretch marks, nestling down your back and reverently dancing his fingers up and down the tiger stipes on your waist. Every so often, he would rub his nose against their aureate lines in a fond kiss, gingerly resting his cheek against your bare skin again as he tried not to wake you up. What really made your heart melt, though, was the way an awe-struck 'wow' would slip from his lips in such a reverential tone, that Peter became so overwhelmed and could do nothing else but leave a small kiss against the side of your leg, dotted by slick tears.

This man picks you up on his scooter after your shift at work, mainly because 1) you are a much better driver than him, and it actually gets home in one piece rather than being tangled under a car wheel somewhere, and 2) when he's super stressed he finds it so comforting to wrap his arms around your side and press his forehead tightly into your back, letting the whole world melt away until nothing but whirling air and the scent of you is left. He always arrives outside your office building ten minutes early, making your secretary laugh when she spots him straightening his best flowery tie in the reflection of the waste bin by the bench outside. He has his best suit on, freshly pressed, and is nervously stepping from foot to foot with a crumpled bouquet of roses in his hand, like a teenager waiting to ask his crush to prom.

Every. Single. Day. You honestly just wait for the secretary to buzz you so you can grab your coat and run outside; you know far too well that Peter either dumps his Spidey suit through the window, or just wears his proper suit underneath so he isn't late. Doesn't matter if he has to catch five buses from the Daily Bugle, or has to 'borrow' his moped from 'Joe's Pizza' to get there on time, he's always there. And he always wants to look his best for you, even though he's still so surprised that someone as ethereal as you would even bother to look his way that he has to shuffle a handkerchief out of his trouser pocket and dab at the sweat beading on his forehead.

It's either that, or Peter scaring the bejesus out of you by picking you up with his webs. You'll just be minding your own business, walking down the sidewalk on your way back from your lunch break, only to be hoisted, screaming into the air and past an equally petrified looking pigeon. Peter does feel bad the first time he did this, since you were screaming the whole time he swung you, but you've settled into a better routine now. You've found it easier to watch the scattered tiles of churches and the blurred crests of building whiz by while you're holding on tightly to his waist, and your feet are firmly pressed on top of his own so he can keep you steady against him. I mean, you might still bury your head into his shoulder blade in absolute terror, but he makes it up to you by landing you down gracefully on top of your office a couple of minutes before you go back in.

The adrenaline from swinging about New York makes the kisses far more heated, and it's always helpful to have a little privacy when you pull the edge of his latex mask harshly up past the bridge of his nose and nearly knock him flying over the cornerstones with how fervidly you smash your lips against him. His arms instinctively come to wrap around you, and even he's grown a little more emboldened by the knowledge that you actually do love him and this isn't some cruel villain trick or high school prank, to open his mouth and press his tongue lovingly against yours. He never wants to let you go, so before he lets you go back to your job he gives you a tight hug, and presses a million warm little kisses in a treasure trail down the pulse point in your neck.

This man literally has like... two outfits, so he's constantly wearing your clothes! Surprise! You come home to find him sitting criss-cross on the bed, face bruised and tired worn from his latest clash with Doc Ock, but your sweatshirt tucked over him and lifted up against his cheeks like a little hidden koala bear. Surprise! You plan a surprise birthday party for him with Aunt May, only for him to turn up after work wearing one of your jumpers! It's just so snug, and homey, and it reminds Peter of when he was ten years old; when you came round to sleepover, and the two of you would crash on his mat after spending so long pouring through and excitedly talking about the new quantum theories in the science magazines he used to buy with his pocket money, Peter would shuffle up beside you. With a sharp breath, he would tentatively turn on his side and pray he wouldn't wake you up, curling into the foetal position. With a smile like dawn breaking through the soft tufts of a cloud, he would press his nose into your shoulder and just breathe you in, hoping he would never forget it as long as he lived.

This man loves to take you out dancing, mainly so he can grin wildly and show you off to every other customer in the restaurant. Every time he passes the waiter, or the Maitre d', he points wildly at your back and mouths ecstatically 'that's my Y/n!'. He legitimately pools all the money he's made from the photography, and from the pizza delivery together so he can take you to a fancy restaurant uptown. He feels so nervous when he gets up with that breathless smile and offers you his hand, but all his troubles just immediately melt away once he feels your hand brush over the strands of hair at the nape of his neck. He falls against you, easily caught just like he was all those years ago. Your fingers feel so soft, so perfect as they slot between his own, although his left hand never stops rubbing over the supple skin of your waist as he sways the two of you back and forth in time to the dream-like lullaby of the string quartet.

[yzafre]

thoughts on tmnt 2003

I finally finished watching 2003 for the first time! I've been compiling thoughts as I go along, so here they all are, for the "I like hearing what new people think of my favorite things" crowd (and also just to give myself a place to put them).

Spoiler alert: it's mostly positive, and forgiving of the less-than-positive. This gets long, so I put it below a read more:

Okay, so I saw everyone talking about how different Rise was from 2012, and how it jarred people, and some people couldn’t stomach it, but I never saw anyone mentioning 2003’s place in this discussion?  Because I didn’t realize just how much 2012 pulled from 2003, and I feel like the expectations that set about what it means to do a new iteration of the franchise definitely had a place in how people received something different

On that note, I kind of want to do a “who wore it better” post about all the arcs 2012 adapted... (although 2003 probably also pulled its ideas from somewhere else – I've heard the comics, maybe?  I barely know anything about those, so have no idea how closely they’re connected.).

The City at War arc (good series of episodes, btw) really clarified a point of difference for me in how I understand 2003 and 2012 Raphael.  And by that I mean I think 12!Raph would agree with 03!Leo?  Not on the honor/it’s our fault point, but on the “the gangs are out there hurting people, and we should do something about it”. I’d need to re-watch some episodes to check my work here (I think the episode where they meet Murakami sticks out most in my head?) but 12!Raph seemed to have – at least verbally – an investment in the idea of stopping bad guys simply because they were hurting people.

Okay so obviously Same As It Never Was is agonizing, BUT.  Leo in Usagi’s world was SOOOOO funny to me.  omg.  Everyone just being all “ninja deceit”!  “Dishonorable ninja”!!  With Leo’s whole... deal.  Like from the beginning of the show I was like “isn’t bushido a samurai thing?” when Leo brought it up, so to see it being highlighted here is.  Mwah.  Even Usagi being “bluh bluh you’re turning me into a ninja with all this sneaking around >:(".  SO funny.  I was dying.

I’ve talked several times on how 2012 invested in inter-connected, long-form plots rather than being purely episodic, so it’s interesting to see 2003 move that way as the seasons go on!  I don’t think it ever quite reaches the level of ‘12, but you can definitely see how the writers were inspired by the plot work going on here, and went “okay, can we do that but more?”  The differences between how the two shows do it is interesting, too, but that would be a whole other conversation.

Similarly, I can see how part of Rise’s inspirations might’ve been some of the weirder world-building stuff going on in ‘03.  Everything about the underground city/ the Y’Lyntians, the idea of the Utrom/Kraang being here since long ago, all the more mystic stuff that ‘12 only sometimes dabbled in.  ((I also think part of the way Rise was written was to be in dialogue with the themes of ‘03 and ‘12, but that’s also a different conversation.))

I was aware of Grudge Match before watching the show, but given what I knew about it I honestly expected Mikey to be much more obnoxious about it?  Like yes he wouldn’t shut up about it in the multi-part immediately after the Nexus arc, but after that it seemed like he only mentioned it, what, once every couple episodes? Grudge Match implies he was louder about it off screen – which would be in character – but given how good the show usually is at “show don’t tell” for setting up characterization it stood out to me.

Okay this is petty but.  I am getting very tired of the constant movie quotes.  Stop that.

Okay so on the topic of “show don’t tell” characterization – Leo's ptsd arc was good.  Like this was a thing I knew about before starting the show but everyone was right it was goooood. Like obviously within the limitations of a kids show, but a wonderful amount of nuance for that audience. It tracks so well start to finish, even from season 1 where Leo was shown to have this.  Really strong but devastatingly rigid sense of identity?  Like what it means to be a warrior, and who he has to be because of that.  Like the thing with his identity being tied to the swords, and then the reason why he was tempted by Shredder’s initial (lying) offer. It all tracks to like.  Okay when he fails.  When he can’t live up to it.  Of course it shattered his mental state and threatened his sense of identity.  Of course it did.  And then just several arcs of different plots but with this other character story woven through them.  Just in how he was approaching it.  This is the shit I was wanting from ‘12 the whole time.

And Usagiiii.  Usagi.  I love him so much, and this was such great use of him. Building up a solid, believable foundation for a very enjoyable relationship between him and Leo, then bringing it back at this critical juncture in Leo’s character.  FUCK their conversations in Samura Tourist were so good.  Amazing.  Fantastic.

Actually just all the work that’s done with the turtle’s allies is great.  The homeless/junkyard people.  The super-heroes.  Leatherhead.  Usagi.  The Daimyo.  Just... all of it?  I love it?  It makes the world feel more alive and the turtles grounded in it as like.  Real people.  Who make connections and upkeep them and.  Yeah I love it.

I reached Tale of Master Yoshi and noooooo it’s.  It’s the 2012.  It’s the 2012 backstory.  The inspiration for 2012’s whole thing… its right here… ((Although is it just me or,,, does Yoshi (our hero) look a lot more western compared to Mashimi (our villain)?  There’s something about that.... hm. Hmmmmm.))

Hello season 5! A!Ni!Me! Bullshit!!!  Very accelerated anime bullshit.  Obliviously this is a huge inspiration for Rise, though I appreciate that that show took more time for the powers to build up.  Also the ninja tribunal are assholes and very questionable teachers.  Would it kill you to actually explain anything ever.

Huhhh okay so I am picking up a LOT of Rise vibes not just from the mystic powers/glowy lines, but from Splinter’s deal with the ninja tribunal, and how they wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice the boys, and how the brothers need to stick together.  VERY reminiscent of Rise!Splinter’s deal with the Hamato.

Noooo not Oroku Saki getting possessed by a demon.  Hello Rise backstory.  I see.  It really all comes back to 2003 doesn’t it?  Rise was definitely made by people who looked at S5 and went “okay, can we do that but more?”

Have I talked about how much I love that from the beginning the show was just like “oh yeah also actual superheroes exist in this world, it’s just an accepted thing”?  Because I do.  Love it a lot.  Having most of them be really old/kinda retired/people are forgetting about them was a good idea though because otherwise.  Their spotty presence at cataclysmic events would be much more noticeable.

Dragon fight is cool.  That is all.

The fact that at this point Stockman is just straight up like “Let me die.  Please let me die” is.  Well it sure is something!

I’d heard the last two seasons weren’t as good and… yeah.  Like it’s not bad, it’s just… less good.  I miss the world and characters of the previous season.  Though hey did the Rise gear designs steal some inspo from this season?

HOWEVER.  The episode introducing the dark turtles.  Where Leo’s like “if you’re really my clone, you should value honor and the code of bushido!” and his counterpart just... stares solemnly for an extended time before being like “lmao yeah nope” and sucker punching him was hilarious, and got a sharp laugh out of me.  Favorite moment in this season.  I actually liked this episode overall, too.

So.  Hm.  Mikey has always been very un-serious – a jokester, (verbally) a bit of a coward at times, easily distracted.  But as this season goes on it really feels like they’re amping it up/exaggerating those traits, to the point of stripping away anything else at times. Similarly, his brother’s willingness to indulgence/reactions to his silliness seems to fluctuate wildly, but on a downward trend - they always razzed him, but in this season... well they paired his increased goof-offs with increased put downs/jokes about it. This, while a bit annoying to me as a characterization choice, does track on a more meta-textual level.  By this point it’s 2006-2007.  2007 is the year Big Bang Theory aired, which I find to be, uh…. Tonally representative of the cultural attitude in the US between 2008 annnnd… 2013-ish?  There was this extra-concentrated feeling of, like… snideness and sarcasm that I remember around that time period.  It’s also very prominent in TMNT 2012 – especially in Season 1 (when binging that show I was hit by high school memories so viscerally that I said, out loud, “oh, GOD, we really were all Like That, weren’t we?” only a few episodes in).  Similarly to my post about the increasing frequency of the “Gibbs slap”, I find it interesting to see the way the changing attitudes are reflected in the same show as time passes.

LET STOCKMAN REST jeZUS

Overall, I see three kinds of episodes in season 6: mediocre, good, and what I call “good but out of order”.  What I mean by that last bit, is like… okay, the Graduation episode was good in theory, but felt very strange coming after Season 4/5, you get me?  Things where the concept is solid, but seems to be placed in the wrong position in their arcs, which I think is a knock-off effect from the lightened tone of the season.

Oh.  I just got to the second episode of S7 and.  I don’t…. hm.  So, I could deal with the simplified designs in Fast Forward, because they got some cool new gear stuff added in as well, but this is.  Uh.  Worse. But even beyond that – the dynamics also feel sort of off.  If Casey has been going to this gym for a while, why is April only now doing something about it….?  I don’t feel like she would have let this go just because the guys weren’t there. Also I'm putting it down here now that I think the whole digital world thing is kinda dumb

I do think 2012 looked at a lot of the ideas for S7 and went “interesting idea, we can do it way better”, which I commend them for.  Admittedly, these can also be stock tropes: April getting possessed also reminds me of Ghost Busters/Zuul, and mind control is a pretty standard trope, but… well, you know.  2012 took so much else from 2003, you can’t help but wonder if they pulled inspiration here, too.

Oh they are wayyyy over-using the Shredder/Foot Clan sting/motif this season and it is getting,,, annoying,,,

I kept waiting to see what they were doing with it, but they did not handle Donnie’s guilt arc with anywhere near the finesse they did Leo’s.  It wasn’t… horrible, I guess.  It’s just notably lacking in comparison. They didn't even have Leo really sit down with him to talk about his own experience like???

I did appreciate them bringing back all those side characters in the finale.  I’ve already mentioned I love the plethora of allies and friends they gave the turtles in this iteration, so obviously that was going to please me, though they could have gotten a little bit better showing in the final fight.

Lmao the guy I thought was gonna be rat king!!!!  He’s there lurking and watching in the distance???

Good show!  But yeah I’d agree with people who say that the heart of the show is really in the first 5 seasons.  After that the characters and stories feel a bit… flattened? The more I pushed through the last two seasons, the more I was missing the first 5, which I really, really enjoyed. Ranking on my personal tastes of the series I’ve watched so far, meeting each show where it's at, it goes Rise > 2003 > 2012.  Rise and 2003 are really close, with Rise just beating it on account of “it was my first show” and also “I REALLY like anime bullshit”, although there’s potential for that to shift or fluctuate as it marinates in my brain. That being said, 2012 is the one that makes the creative part of my brain go crunch-crunch, so take that as you will. Continuing to go backwards puts me at the 1987 series, so I suppose that’s next.  I have plans to watch the new TotTMNT with family during the holiday season, so unfortunately I’m up for an (agonizing) wait on that one.

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

so i like the april fools shuffle units a normal amount. i have done redesigns for almost all of them and i draw them A Lot.

rambling additional notes on all of the redesigns below

a couple notes if you ever want to draw any of these redesigns for yourself at any point: i'd appreciate being credited for these redesigns (obviously anyone not redesigned i don't need credit for lol) and you don't need to follow my specific skin tone + hair/eye color schemes i have laid out. those are how i personally like to draw the characters and i've included them for anyone who might want to stay completely accurate to my redesigns, but you're welcome to use your own preferred color schemes for the cast when drawing them with these outfits!

now onto the fun(?) stuff

aoharu is pretty straightforward with redesigns, its basically just leoni but with a sun theme instead of stars. adding the image for the color palettes for the unchanged designs just because it has the notes for ichisaki too (their changes were too minor to completely redraw them, in my opinion).

ichika remains entirely unchanged design-wise other than adding a sun pin to her suspenders. saki stays mostly the same too, other than changing the design on her armband and switching her pigtails for a ponytail (in an attempt to seem a little more mature/imitate airi's hairstyle/move on from her childhood self since she's started to believe that honami and shiho want nothing to do with her and ichika anymore).

not too much to say about airi and ena's outfits either, i wanted to go a little more cute with airi and cool with ena, but there's minor changes with both of their hairstyles, with airi switching her pigtails for a ponytail as well (moving on from her idol days but still maintaining her usual sort of style) and ena's hair being a bit longer/messier.

yyj is definitely the most drastic, they're the only unit where i changed every single character... i have a lot of trouble drawing the mmj outfits, but also the lighter color scheme and clover theme just didn't really make sense for yyj to me? so instead i went with a mainly black and character color combo for their color schemes, alongside gold and white to accent it and a more spacey/dreamlike theme. everyone's black and white are slightly tinted with their character colors too!

they're split into pairs for matching accessories, but it doesn't mean much otherwise. kanade and an both have the dangling star charms and a single larger wristband (with those being on opposite sides from each other) as well as no buttons on the front of their outfits, while both hinomoris have the large bows on the backs of their outfits, smaller wristbands on both arms, a legband, and star shaped clips (like the other pair, the clips and legbands are on opposite sides from each other) and they do have buttons. they're split differently for the same style outfits though, with kanade/shizuku and shiho/an being the matching pairs this way.

kanade has the most obvious design changes. i swapped her character color to a medium-light blue rather than red, because tbh she kind of stood out too much if she was still red. she's not meant to be the leader of the unit, she doesn't want to stand out. her hair is a lot shorter than canon and she usually keeps it braided for practice and performances (and leaves it loose otherwise) (both the haircut and style were initially suggestions from shizuku). shes the only member of the unit to wear tights and to lack any star shaped hair accessories.

shizuku i don't have that much to say about, i had designed kanade first and then shizuku to match. its pretty straight forward i think? she's got the tallest socks not counting kanade's tights though.

for both an and shiho i wanted to go a slightly cooler/less feminine direction, while still sticking to the general theme i had going. which lead to the shorts and vest combo! otherwise the only notable change with either of them is that an's changed her clips to two regular gold ones and she's got a ponytail now when they practice/perform, much like kanade's braid.

fts was both very fun and an absolute pain to redesign because on one hand, i can do whatever i want, on the other hand, it's like vbs there's really no consistent theme to carry through everything. except a lot of layers i guess. so my goal was to kind of merge their casual aesthetics with something more vbs-like.

tsukasa wearing his jacket incorrectly was inspired by my own tendency to do so whenever i get too warm. i think he just does it because he thinks it looks cool though (its a little silly and a pain to keep it on but he's committed to the look). also leaving his middle layer as his fish jacket from his casual sprite was a funny little thing i thought worked for him.

with rui my goal was just pockets. lots of pockets. they're probably hiding little robots and tools in those pockets. i should have put more pockets on their pants too but oh well. combine that with wanting some obnoxious bright greens and blues and at least one item that kind of clashed color-wise with the rest (their pants in this case) and this is the result. the sketch doesn't convey it well but their black jacket and pants are both kind of loose, while the green hoodie and tshirt underneath fit okay. also their hair is kind of long if they ever untied it, but no one ever sees that.

hapisen for the most part sticks to their canon sprites, just simplified slightly for my sanity. mafuyu's costume still drives me insane to draw though, that's so many layers to think about.

other than questioning my sanity every time i draw mafuyu, there's only one change from her sprite, which is making her hairtie one decorated with pompoms much like a lot of other parts of her costume. i just thought it tied things together a little more.

the upper half of haruka's outfit is more or less completely unchanged (other than making it fit in a way that looks slightly more masculine), but then i replaced his skirt with pants and gave him boots (wxs meiko, who is the sprite haruka's outfit is originally just a recolor of, wears heels). i figured if i was going for a more princely sort of design for haruka then changing those felt fitting. beyond that he's obviously got shorter hair (a choice he makes after seeing kohane decide to change herself, wanting to embrace the genuine person he wants to be beyond the idol people knew him as) and that's about it. hits this guy with the transgender beam.

kohane's outfit is really just a bit simplified from the original with sizing/proportions of elements adjusted to (in my opinion) suit her better. the ribbons in her hair felt like a cute addition (and i like to give kohane ribbons in general), while her hair length is an in between of her two standard canon ones, longer than the usual one we see but shorter than pre-canon/early mainstory. her glasses are optional, she changes between them and contacts with how she's feeling for the day and what kind of shows hapisen is planning. the more intense the show, the less likely she is to wear her glasses.

kyushumi was kind of intended as niigo but without one member in a mostly white outfit since they don't have someone like kanade who is intentionally trying to save people. although they're also a little happier off anyway, so they don't need someone like that. they're my most drawn shuffle unit, so also probably my most thought-through redesigns.

each design takes slight inspiration from a member of niigo (nene/kanade, minori/ena, honami/mafuyu), but that was just kind of as a personal guide for what kind of vibes to go with for the outfits. they've all got personal touches to them.

nene's hoodie is very loose on her body and arms, but a normal fit in the length, and her shorts are actually long enough to be seen. she just wants to be comfy, she's tired a lot, very low energy girl. glasses because i think nene should wear glasses anyway, so as opposed to canon nene who i like to believe just favors contacts, this nene does not.

minori is pretty obviously similar to ena's outfit, but there's a few nods to mmj in here. she's got clover shaped earrings, the pattern along the bottom of her dress is meant to resemble the tips of the clover leaves from mmj's symbol, and her shoes are just the mmj unit outfit shoes in different colors.

the goal with honami's outfit was simply "how little skin can she have exposed" because i imagine her being more worried about that than usual here. so long sleeves, long skirt, high collar, etc. her hair is longer (for no particular reason tbh, i simply liked how it looks) but still styled the same, and she's got a solid red scrunchie now. the four buttons on her outfit are all meant to look like the moon, two full moons and two opposite facing crescents. also i will never stop joking about the fact that she's naturally the second tallest girl in the cast (not counting vs, then she's third tallest) and i gave her tall heels on top of that. she is towering over all of her unitmates here.

while you're welcome to use these designs for any (non-incest) ships you'd like, i do have a personal list of ships that are canon to my own au with the shuffle units, which is what i originally designed these for. the "canon" ships are

ichika/saki

ena/airi

honami/kanade

akito/touya

mafuyu/rui (qpr)

haruka/kohane

mizuki/nene

however you are not by any means required to follow these specific ships! i have no desire to enforce the ships that go with these, so draw whatever ships you might prefer with these designs. i'm happy to see anything!

anyway if you made it this far congrats on surviving i know this is a lot of text o7 i hope you've enjoy my silly little character design insanities ^^;

[factual-fantasy]

26 ASKSKSS💖✨💖✨💖

@lathan-chillyfilm

The other Power-ups work differently to the Fire/Ice flowers..

Any power-ups that transform the bros bodies usually expend energy by just keeping them transformed. And even if the bros don't actively use that power, it'll eventually just drain itself away.

For example, the super shroom. Making Mario grow big and keeping him big consumes power. If he ate a super shroom and just stood there, eventually he would shrink back to normal. Running around. jumping, punching, that activity would make it drain faster though.

Same goes for the Super bell, mini mushroom, mega mushroom, super leaf, double cherry,,, etc. Just keeping the bros transformed consumes power. The fire/ice flowers don't transform the bros though. Mario and Luigi's bodies stay the same, they just become outlets to expel the flowers power. And if they don't use it.. well.. its gonna stay stored up in their bodies. And eventually freeze/burn them to death..

The only odd case when it comes to Power-ups is the 1-Up mushroom. It stores itself in the host's body, and doesn't effect the host or release its power unless it needs too. Mario could touch a 1-Up, and then 15 years later he dies and that's when the 1-Up will release its power. All though those 15 years Mario would have had 0 side effects from having it in his body. Its as if it didn't exist at all..

Its always possible I'll return to them! :00 As we've seen XDD

Hmm,, I haven't really thought too much about them other than the stuff I already talked about in the OG post..

But I was thinking that the imp species could have all these wacky and bizarre shapes at the end of their tails that dont really make sense..? Jevil's tail being this odd T/Y shape is actually rather bland/common. But other than that,, I cant really think of any other developments to their species <:/ Sorry! Thank you for taking interest though! :DD

@mason-gaylord

:DD thank you! I wish the same for you! :]]]

Oh man.. scary is what it looks like.

I can see them all just living on the octopod. Traveling around the ocean in hopes of finding livable waters. All grieving over the loss of their families.. I cant imagine the pain they'd suffer, the hardships they'd face.. and what they'd have to do to survive..

@kaiserdarken

Freddy is his best fweind <:'}

@the-cactus-taco

I have not played it actually.. is it any good? :0 Those Mallow and Geno characters sound neat! :)

(Also there was an OG one??)

Oof, my Gravity Falls era? What an unfortunate time to find me-

None the less I'm happy you stuck around! :DD It means the world to me, thank you so much!! 💖💖

XD I REALLY AM EVERYWHERE-

@rubydraft

WAAAAHHDGGB THANK YOU MUCHCH!!!!! 💖💖😭✨💖😭💖💖

Thank you so much! I'm flattered to hear it! :DD

Grillby did.. :(

@tallchest13-blog

DUUUUDE I HAVE A BIG SWORD TOO!! WE COULD BE BIG SWORD BUDDIES!! >>:0000✨⚔✨

:DD Well thank YOU for leaving me a kind comment! Very much appreciated! :}} 💖

If any of the three Octodads were to experience a hallucination, it would probably be either Natquik or Calico Jack. But since I'm going through a re-write of Natquik's backstory and I don't actually know how traumatizing his re-write will be... I'm gonna say that Calico Jack is most likely to have one.

Although I'm not sure what would cause it.. mayyybe an encounter with a creature in the everglades could remind him of a traumatizing experience he had..? And that panic could result in hallucinations? I actually know very little about how hallucinations work so its hard to say what would exactly trigger one to occur.. <:(

I have plans for them to encounter a lot of Kwazii's monsters in someway. :0

Wow, only my second? Man. I feel like I've done more style updates/redesigns than that. <XD I guess its only two-

(Also I'm glad you like them! :DD Thank you! )

@tanileaf

XD I'm glad you like them and the Queen! Thank you so much! :}}

@pinkbomb08

Well thank YOU for sticking around and sending me a nice message! Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you as well! :}}}

@kautar-21

MERRY LATE CHRISTMAS! :DDD Thank you so much! :}}

Also sorry, I don't take requests! But you just reminded me that I should probably go buy that book-

@flutehammer

Oooo that's interesting :0 I imagine that Barnacles would look like one of the Freddy's. As for the others I'm not sure! :o I know there was a FNAF fan game that had a cat and penguin animatronic though. Five nights at candy's was it.?

(Also thank you! Same to you! :D )

I don't know if its necessarily pain..? More like.. a panic attack maybe?

When they're separated, their systems are flooded with commands to seek out the other. And if they cant find th.em or reach them? Well.. those commands will get overwhelming.

But that doesn't mean that you cant do maintenance on them. My idea was that there's a simple procedure where you take both of them to parts and service, put one aside and put one on the work bench.. and then shut them both down at the same time. Then when the work is done, reactivate both of them and return them to their room. Easy!

As for why they designed them like this? The main idea I had was that having this A.I. meant that they would naturally follow each other around in a way that seemed natural. Fazbear entertainment really wanted their animatronics to seem life like, but they also don't want Fred and Spring to ever separate. They want them to always be in the same room for photo shoots and meet and greets.

This A.I. means that if Spring is talking to a guest and a kid tried to lead Fred by the hand to another room.. Fred would stop at the doorway and redirect himself and the kid back into the room. "Lets play here instead!" "My friends Spring Bonnie is here, lets play here instead!" Meanwhile Springs conversation remains uninterrupted. This in turn makes them seem more life like and also prevents them from seperating.

Its not very strong reasoning but its all I've got to be honest <XDD

Also as for Spring loosing Fred..? It would be impossible for him to function without Fred. If they scrapped one, they'd have to scrap the other..

Oh! No no, not Horrortale Papyrus. This Papyrus is one I made myself! :00

Do you mean help wanted 2? :0 If so I'm not sure yet.. I'm watching Markiplier's playthrough and he hasn't finished the game yet..

Also Sun is still the same old Sun as far as I've seen.. He's not my favorite animatronic personality wise.. <XD But I guess he's alright

@hexyz09

XD tbh with how insane the FNAF lore is getting now? I wouldn't be fazed if they came out with a storyline about falling into a different world through a closet-

@beryl-shade

I've made a couple doodles/drawings of Caine and he doesn't have the wind up hat thing.. But now that you mention it, that kind'a sound like this gals version of Caine :00

[mymreaderlibrary]

I need more old man yoai. Its just, it's good soup, ya know. I want them to get a house and adopt a teenage kid. Just family stuff ya know. Its good soup, ya know.

SORRY THE SOUP TOOK SO LONG, but I did my best to try and fulfill this ask. There were some changes to your idea but I hope it still works 😭

Old man yaoi pt 3 here we go

[long distance, weird fucky timeline, use of y/n, mention of the soap-cident except he’s fine because I said so, minor homophobia, some angst, an original character, and my adamance to be slow as fuck with romance].

[length: 2227 words]

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Getting to finally kiss each other didn't open the floodgates per say but it did give them enough respite that their "tenseness" subsided. The rest of the 141 were relieved that the pair had somehow righted their differences, even if they still didn't know what those differences were, and Soap congratulated them on "making up".

It was awkward for a bit and while it was nice knowing the feelings were recuperated neither knew what was too much or too little so they rarely made any advances. When they did finally feel confident enough, usually in complete privacy and far late into the night, it would be a lot of soft touches. Thumbs running over knuckles, shoulders bumping lightly together, maybe even a hug if they were feeling bold (though it was more like just leaning on each other as they never raised their arms higher than the hip). They kissed a good few times again but it was like a rare treat. 

Despite everything neither had actually been with another man before, y/n got close at a gay bar a while ago but a light shined directly into his eyes and he got a migraine that forced him to leave. The unfortunate side effect of previous head injuries. Meanwhile Price had casual relationships with women in the past but not men, however it's not like they lasted for too long anyways as his devotion to his work spared little room for it. So sue them if they didn't know what to do, this was all brand new and definitely badly timed.

They kept up in a pattern; mission, meetings, and then downtime. Complete a good weeks worth of work, discuss their next steps (and start on them), then pull out a drink and chat. Consider it just their luck that the night things finally felt like they were heating up, privacy was near guaranteed, and tomorrow posed no urgent challenge that Soap decided knocking wasn't necessary and stood there bewildered by the doorway till he caught their attention. Johnny was incredibly apologetic and promised not to tell anyone but the two older men decided it would be better to just come clean before something like that happened again. Laswell of course wasn't surprised, but Gaz and Ghost had a momentary pause that they quickly reassured wasn't from judging just surprise. Overall it went over smoothly and it had the added bonus of giving Price and y/n more alone time. 

(Note: however, the second it was clear to Soap he could freely chat about Price and y/n's relationship it became open season for the worst jokes imaginable. When Soap wasn't instantly flayed, the other guys would join in with a particular "dad joke collector" Ghost staking his claim in the torment). 

-

By the time y/n's work was over Price was hesitant to let him go, knowing they would not have this closeness again unless one of them gave up their current lifestyle. It was honestly a bit tempting, Price had spent about his whole life in the military and it wasn't like anyone could really judge a well seasoned man for retiring. But instead y/n gave him his phone number and the two split ways no matter how badly they yearned otherwise.

And that's how they stayed for the next couple of years, Price always calling from a burner and y/n being left to wait for him by the landline. Bi-monthly they would chat, y/n giving life updates and Price venting about how the 141 were going to give him a damn heart attack. Y/n got service dog, a great dane named Lucy who he couldn't help but boast about to the point the others wanted updates on her too. Price could sometimes hear her sniffing at the phone and was dying to see her in person. It relieved him to know y/n had someone (or something) there with him as the other man had admitted to feeling lonely at home. Still a big part of Price wished that someone could've been him. 

Over time Price reconsidered his stance on retirement with a series of back to back events being his solidifying his choice. It started off with a call from y/n, his family had come into town to visit after years of radio silence and at first it seemed to be going well. That was until his parents asked about his relationship. They sewed a lot of seeds of doubt, not privy to their son dating a male but also not believing it was serious enough to be real considering they never saw Price. His parents were happy to grind their heel into any anxieties their son had which ended up in a full blow up during his mother's birthday. Y/n ended up storming out after his mom made a show of mocking his relationship in front of extended family. He was humiliated that his parents could still get a rise out of him even in his old age. Price had gotten a call from y/n afterwards who sounded completely exhausted. Price desperately wanted to be there to comfort his lover but ultimately the only thing he could do was verbally console him. 

Within the same week Price began noticing a small shake to his hands. Nothing serious but still not something you'd want to see, especially as a sniper. He couldn't tell if it was age, an injury, or stress but it left him with an odd feeing in his stomach. Like his body was trying to tell him something. 

And a little while after that it seemed Soap decided to deliver on that heart attack joke. Out cold in a hospital bed with a list of injuries too long to name, the scotsman had everyone in a panic. Ghost in particular didn't take it well and, while he was good at being outwardly calm, anyone who knew the man proper could tell he was terrified. He just had this vague vacant look in his eye, it wasn't hard to determine he was probably disassociating. Gaz on the other hand tried to keep some semblance of positivity even if he was running on empty. Not the kind of peppy “everything is gonna be okay!” positivity but a rather light kind. The type where you try not to let your own doubt eat you upside by never verbally stating reality. He didn't want this to be the end so he wasn't about to act like it, but he was undoubtedly scared shitless.

Price had called y/n after the incident and it became his turn to be consoled. He wasn't a crier but he imagined if he was there would've been at least a few. He had dealt with shit like this before, but the secret was it never got easier you just got better at being quiet about it. He knew y/n understood that.

-

However by some grace of god Soap woke up. The man was shockingly resilient and not about to let himself get felled by just anything. The asshole was even joking within the first few minutes of consciousness much to Price's chagrin but Ghost and Gaz couldn't have been happier. Those two stayed with Soap for a while and Price was certain he heard scot getting bitched out from across the hall. Make no mistake, even while mad at him for being reckless they were glad to be ranting to his face rather than a casket. 

Y/n got another call after that, the bi-monthly quota quickly exceeded, to deliver the good news. The call was admittedly shorter than their usual but it left them both feeling far more hopeful than the last. When Price closed his burner he couldn't help but think about being there with y/n in person, getting to say these things to his face, even getting to hold him. He hadn't been kissed in years now and he yearned for a moment of peace like that especially after all that stress. A silent decision was made, a bit impulsively, but it was a long time coming. 

After Soap was back up and running the man started taking missions again, this time with an extra watchful eye from the team. But to everyone's surprise one person wouldn't be joining them. In an uncommonly personal meeting, Price announced his retirement to the rest of the 141. Soap had opposed in a panic thinking this was due to his accident, and while it might've inspired part of it, Price assured him this was something he had been thinking about for a while. He felt it was time and well... he had someone he knew was waiting for him. 

The meeting, while bittersweet, left off on a note of pride. Not everyone can say they retired by will and especially not a man of Price's caliber. The team were happy for him but also demanded he try to stay in touch even if only slightly. With a hug from everyone (a shoulder pat from Gaz, a crushing squeeze from Soap, a light hold from Ghost, and a rather sentimental one from Laswell) he said his goodbyes and gave y/n another call.

Y/n sounded a little frazzled upon picking up and confusingly Price noted the sound of another voice in the background, distinctly female. As it turns out it was one of y/n's cousins who, after the birthday disaster, decided to get in contact with him. She felt bad for how the rest of their family had treated him and wanted to make sure he was doing alright. Apparently Ying, as she turned out to be named, was absolutely enamored with Lucy and was giving the dane the play session of a lifetime hence the sounds of chaos. Price instantly eased, especially with how relaxed y/n began to sound as he had settled in to his cousins presence.

They chatted like usual but y/n could hear a strong sense of sappiness to Price's voice as he closed the phone. 

It took about 3 days for Price to make his way over to y/n apartment and to say he got a warm welcome would be an understatement. The ex-captain hadn't actually told his lover about the retirement or his planned arrival so the other man was completely surprised, but overjoyed. It had taken years but they were finally here together again. Holding back felt unnecessary, they kissed right in the doorway as they clutched at each others bodies. The sensation made everything so much more real and they likely would've stood there for way longer if Lucy hadn't poked her nose into them. Price was was thrilled to finally see the big mutt in person and she took a quick shine to him.

-

Within a couple weeks later Price had tried to settle in but it wasn't working. The apartment was just too damn small especially with two grown men and a giant dog in it. Lucy often had to be taken out to the local dog park for exercise and Ying came in to visit from time to time which only cramped the space more. It was practically inevitable that they were going to search for a bigger home so they eventually started a search. Originally they looked into more apartments, but just one peek at their current set up (and into Lucy's big brown eyes) they knew they needed something much bigger.

 The search took a while but they eventually settled on simple cabin with a good two acres. It was remote enough that they didn't have neighbors, but also close enough to civilization that they could keep in touch with Ying. Plus there was a lake not too far from it which made for a great fishing spot. Price did most of the packing but they didn't have too many items anyways so one small u-haul was all they needed.

The cabin had a strong musky scent from the wood, the floorboards would creek with each, and the whole place was perfect. Settling into this was much easier, something about it just felt natural. Maybe it was the amount of room, maybe it was the peaceful location, or maybe it was they were together. Whatever the reason, Price felt he had made the right choice. 

-

Come half a year later, they've accumulated a few things to decorate their house, had their fair share of fishing days out by the lake, and maybe made a good couple of messes or two. Ying was an active visitor and even brought her husband along with her from time to time. Seeing her car pull up into the driveway was a common sight but this time she walked with a nervous excitement which was practically suffocating. Y/n let her in and she asked if she could have a talk with him. The two went over to the couch to chat as Price went into the kitchen to make a quick coffee. He could hear a series of spikes in tone, serious, excited, antsy, all forming together until he finally popped into the room to see a smile on his love and his cousins face.

Ying was pregnant with her first child and wanted to know if they could be the godfathers.

[seungmonggg]

Request - Mikey’s Girl

request:  Basically reader used to be a stripper for one of the haitanis clubs, since she was foreign she used to make a lot of money. Mikey falls in love with her after a vip lap dance and become obsessed. She becomes his girlfriend and the two are so touchy feely. Especially after he finds out she’s pregnant

Warnings: female reader!!, curse words, reader is a stripper in this one, unprotected sex, timeskip! Mikey x reader, Mikey is a little obsessed hehe, reader is preggers. every character is of age 

Word Count: 1,5k

A/N: sorry for posting this soo late aghh!!! I was kinda stressed with work and stuff.. Anyways, I hope yall like this, let me know! Requests are still open, so let me know if yall want something special!

You were standing in front of the huge mirror, looking at yourself nervously. Fuck, how did you even get here? Where did it all go wrong? Your body was clad in nothing but a cute little set of lingerie that you’d normally never even think about wearing. Well, here you were, standing in your changing room, waiting for your client to arrive so you could give him a lap dance.

You had heard from the other girls that he was a bad guy. An asshole, but he paid well. He was dangerous, so much you knew, which made you even more nervous if even possible. Somewhere you had heard his name. was it the news? You didn’t remember.

Flinching as soon as the door opened you let out a sigh of relief when you saw that it was one of your friends, Hina. “Come on Y/N, its time for you to go in.” she gave you one last reassuring smile before she led you through the load club, all the way back to the VIP lounges.

Suddenly, she came to a halt. “Don’t worry too much. Just do what you always do.” She said before the door slowly opened for you to see a man sitting on the big leather couch. You could only see the back of his head, but from what you saw, you could tell that he was handsome.

Thank god, you thought, not some stinky old fuck. You took one last big breath before you entered the small room. You were going to do your best and make so much money, that’s all, that’s what you told yourself in your head. But as soon as you stood in front of him all of those thoughts flew out the window. Holy fuck, he was the most beautiful man you had ever seen.

Slowly looking up at you, he gave you a small smile. Did he look tired or was that just the light of this room? You didn’t know, and it didn’t matter because he gave you one slight hand movement to tell you to come closer.

As prettily as possible you made your way towards him, coming to a stop right in front of his knees. You leaned down slightly, ready to listen to what he had to say. But he didn’t say anything, instead he just looked you up and down, almost hungrily. Your cheeks became a soft pink when you saw his sight travel downwards.

When you heard someone whistle slightly behind you, you stood up properly and were greeted with the sight of your boss. The Ran Haitani. A good guy, just a little too flirty at times. “I see you already met my Pearl, Mikey?” he said to which he got a low hum from the man in front of you. Shit, you wanted the man to call you his pearl, not your boss.

“I hope our little princess here behaves and shows my beloved boss a good time, huh?” he said, looking at you expectantly. You nodded, sending the man, ,Mikey’, a small smile, almost innocent. Mikey gave the Haitani a look, making him leave the room with a joyous smile on his lips.

You heard the music turn on slowly, fuck yes, that was one of your favorite songs to perform to. Slowly, you started to move our hips sensually, following the beat. Mikey leaned back, clearly enjoying the view of this absolutely gorgeous woman dancing just for him. Something in him sparked, something dark, dangerous. He just had to have you. You had to be his, he would make sure of that, no matter what the cost might be.

That was three years ago. Crazy, isn’t it? Thinking how you used to dance for the man in front of you right now. The man crying silent tears as you show him the positive test in your hands. How could this all happen? Was all you could think about. You were so lucky, so fucking lucky to have danced for him years ago.

“I’m so proud of you, Baby. I’ll protect you and our Baby with all I have, I promise.” He whispered against your temple, kissing it softly. He took your face between his slightly cold hands, caressing it softly. “You’re all I need in this whole wide world.” Always speaking quietly, so his men couldn’t hear you two from the room beside the kitchen. You didn’t plan to tell him during  one of his meetings, but you just panicked and ran to him.

Ran into his arms, his warmth, the comfort he gave only to you. You were his precious girl, his biggest gift. He was protective of you, pretty much from the start, never letting anyone touch you or dare come too close, he’d fucking kill them. And he had done so on more than one occasion, but you didn’t have to know that, right? He held you for a couple more minutes, whispering about his love for you, kissing you sweetly, leaving the trace of his never ending love on your skin.

A couple of months into your pregnancy, now a bump clearly showing, you panted slightly as you walked up the last few stairs to the bedroom. “Babe! Where are you?!” you said, looking around confused as to where your man could be. He should be home by now, shouldn’t he?

A small noise caught your attention, coming from your bedroom. The hairs on your neck immediately stood up. He wouldn’t do that to you.. or would he? You were starting to sweat slightly coming closer to the door as  the sounds got louder, unmistakably Mikeys moans. You gritted your teeth and ripped the door open, ready to get your heart broken and world crashed.

But what you found was rather… inviting. He laid on the bed, in all his glory, slightly sweaty. His head was lolled to the back, a clear sign of him nearing his high, and he was whimpering your name again and again. Heat shot through you immediately. He was masturbating, to you.

“W-Why are you still s-standing there? Hnng, H-Help me, please” he groaned as he looked at you, or more like stared. You made your way towards him, ironically thinking of the time you danced for him for the first time. “Need help, Handsome?” you asked while smirking.

Not wanting you to play around any longer he softly laid you down next to him. “Tell me if anything’s uncomfortable, okay Princess?” he breathed against your ear, making you nod. Your clothes were fast gone, Mikey leaving kisses on your body wherever he could.

As soon as you had gotten pregnant it was like a flip had switched in his head. He became even more protective, not leaving you alone these past few months. And if even possible, he became hornier, by a fucking lot. You didn’t know if it was your swelling breasts, your full hips carrying his child or the cute bump.

“Need you so bad Baby, fuck, couldn’t wait anymore.” He groaned as soon as his hard cock slid through your already wet slit, making you moan loudly. “I-I’m here now Baby, please, need it.” You whimpered, making him get behind you and slowly enter your tight hole. Holy shit, he thought, you were so tight and so so -warm-.

You let out a strangled moan as he started moving his hips, careful not to hurt you in any way. He himself started kissing down your neck, panting softly against your skin as he began building a fast rhythm for you. You were already on cloud nine, clawing at his arm that was draped over your stomach, his thumb and forefinger rollinger your nipples slightly.

“F-fuck..” you heard his broken moans, he was getting close again. “G-gonna make you such a beautiful mommy, shit. Gon’ be s’good for me, yeah?” he huffed against your ear, fucking you into oblivion. You couldn’t think properly anymore, any thoughts long gone from your brain, only incoherent babblings of how good he was fucking you leaving your lips.

“All. Fucking. Mine.” He growled, punctuating every word with a thrust right against the spongy little spot inside of you. You screamed his name with all you had and finally let the orgasm wash over your body, letting you shake and let out broken moans of his name and profanities. A few thrusts later, he was letting his head fall back, moaning almost animalistically as he painted your insides white.

Huffing, he slowly let go of you to stand up and get some towels for you. “You okay Princess?” he grunted with a slightly gruff voice as soon as he was back, starting to softly and carefully clean you. You hummed in his direction, letting your spent body relax. “Y-Yes, thank you Manjiro.” You softly whispered, making him try to hide the furious blush starting to spread on his face and neck from hearing his name roll of your tongue so softly.

Yeah, he was down hard for you.

[starl1tsky]

ok so. boston gatsby musical. overall? i enjoyed it, had a great time watching it, etc.... HOWEVER. cons first then pros. and then stuff i had mixed feelings on.

a) they took gatsby's teeth out. he was wayyy too nice. also not charismatic enough. like i feel like a gatsby should suck the air out of a room bc you're too busy staring at him. like those gayass vampires from the vampire show. anyway he was dorky and like sweet and shit and im like that is NOT jay gatsby!!!! that is a musical theater mfa.

b) daisy was also a yass queen white feminist instead of like. the ideal that gatsby obsesses over which like ok, fleshing out female characters, wtver, but daisy SUCKS SO HARD like she killed that girl. did daisy buchanan successfully utilize girl power when she vehicular manslaughtered her husband's mistress. also they were leaning so hard into the class thing that it might've been better to like uh idk TALK ABOUT CLASS??? BC DAISY IS ALL ABOUT CLASS SHE IS LITERALLY THE REPRESENTATION OF THE UPPER CLASS?????

b part 2) they also changed it so that daisy actually totally did want to marry gatsby and her mom forced her to marry tom which imo removes a lot of nuance from the story like??? its not a fucking love story????!!! daisy was NOT about to marry gatsby when he was poor like. let's not try to make daisy something she isn't.

c) ok so they basically made it so gatsby was Native American and like pretending to be white and that in and of itself is NOT a con, i think that's an interesting way to deal with the whole new money/reinvention thing. HOWEVER it felt very shoehorned in bc it was literally only mentioned in the last song when gatsby's dad came to bury him. and then the finale was like #landback which is all well and good but again let's maybe try and have one cohesive theme (class tensions) before we try to add things into the final two songs. because that is not the place to add themes.

d) this isn't so much a con as a ???? but jordan??? what the fuck was she doing there. she like was an exposition drop for nick like twice and then she just stood there and had a verse in like two songs and made out with people. the actress was very hot so it was okay but like. what was she doingggggg.

e) i LOVE florence + the machine however. the music was GOOD, objectively speaking but i would have appreciated a little more variety. the tap number was great tho, 10/10. also loved the damage that you do, that was a good one. "what of love and what of god" felt like, a good florence + the machine song but a heavy handed musical theater song like. giving dust and ashes. great song, but jesus christ josh groban calm the fuck down.

PROS:

a) ok i know i said gatsby wasn't charismatic enough BUT. in the meyer wolfsheim number, he was tap dancing and it was INCREDIBLE. so what i think is that they just should have had him dance more, bc the actor was an INCREDIBLE dancer and that would've given him the gatsby charisma and magnetism. so that's a directing/staging issue not an actor issue. like as far as i remember he only properly danced in that one song.

b) i did appreciate how they fleshed out myrtle and her husband, it was very well done and added significantly to the class tension themes of the original novel

b part 2) HOLY SHIT SOLEA PFEIFFER THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE. also the husband ATE. the two of them were really extraordinary, standout performances.

c) nick was very charming, they did fourth wall break/monologue type things and it worked quite well i thought. he had a great voice, would've loved it if they gave him more to do but...

d) i mentioned this before but GOOD LORD the meyer wolfsheim tap number was fantastic. best part of the whole show imo

e) honestly the tom was very good. like detestable and i wanted to punch him in his face the whole time but. he was quite good. and i said it before but the damage that you do ATE.

f) very sexy. lots of hot people dancing and making out with each other.

ok now things im unsure about.

a) look. nick carraway is a homosexual. you know this; i know this, however, i don't think he's aware enough to be like "yeah i'm fucking gay and in love with gatsby" like he is gay, he is in love with gatsby but like i do not think he knows that. he idolizes gatsby because he doesn't have the vocabulary or the self knowledge to know that he's in love with him. also babe if you know you're gay and you know you'r ein love with gatsby and gatsby is trying to get with you for his first song and a half, WHY ARE YOU HELPING HIM GET WITH THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE WHO HAPPENS TO BE YOUR COUSIN???? make it make sense. but yea i think making nick gay is the right choice and even having him make out with dudes is the right choice and yea maybe he even knows he's gay but i really don't think he knows he's in love with gatsby. and also nick didn't narrate quite enough and when he did he wasn't quite unreliable enough.

basically i just LOVe the great gatsby and while i did enjoy this musical i just didn't like it as much as the book. so i guess my expectations were too high. also i found it ironic and depressing that in a musical where the adapters added so much about modern politics and tried so hard to modernize the politics of the original novel, the ushers STILL managed to be racist to my mother. yay a.r.t!!!!!

[llflorence]

Temptation and Technicalities - Canon Era Fix-it, Rated E, Humor

A little bell tinkled overhead as the door swung open, and Crowley stood on the sidewalk. Confused.

"The Minimart?"

"Yep."

Instead of a pub with its dark and nonjudgmental atmosphere, 'Joey,' as he'd asked to be called, had walked into a convenience store.

"They have this passion fruit flavored water I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Outside of the States, of course," he said, grinning boyishly over one shoulder. "Top tier stuff."

Crowley stepped into the building, with its harsh overhead fluorescents, pristine tile floors, and rows and rows of neatly arranged packages on shiny metal shelves. Security cameras in every corner. Elevator music piped in through tinny speakers. It reminded him of somewhere.

"Great," he said, wondering if things could get any worse.

Joey worked his way to the back of the store, stopping in front of the wall of refrigerated coolers. As Crowley watched, he searched for the aforementioned beverage, making a sound very much like an 'aha' when he found it. He opened the door and cradled it in his t-shirt like a long-sought treasure.

"Want one?" he asked with too much bounce in his voice. He was wiping the condensation on his shirt.

"Sure. Why not."

A bottle was pressed into Crowley's hand. It had a bright pink label, featuring two hands holding a flaming heart, and the words PASSION in purple neon. The liquid inside was a nasty shade of puce, but he was game to try anything at that point.

What did he have to lose?

"Right? I'm gonna pick up something to nosh on. You want anything?"

Crowley didn't. If he was going to 'nosh' on anything, it wouldn't be from a convenience store, purchased by a guy who just bought his future from under him.

Joey disappeared down a snack aisle while Crowley pondered the human desire for all things quick and easy. Where was the joy in wasting calories on something that was gone in a moment when one could slave and savor something made with one's own hands?

And then he shook that nonsense out of his head. What was he thinking?

He found Joey eyeing the beef sticks, choosing an insanely long one and a fistful of assorted others. Crowley approached, cold bottle of purple in one hand, and was shocked to see the man stuffing several snack sticks into his front trouser pockets. 

"Erm. What are you doing?" The man had just purchased a seaside cottage for cash and several antiques without batting an eye. What was with the stealing of salted, dried flesh?

"Nothing," Joey said, quickly turning and shuffling away. He banged the drink and the long jerky on the counter and pulled out a worn leather wallet from his back pocket, smiling up at the cashier with cherubic innocence. 

"There's two of those drinks, please," he told the lady behind the counter, smiling back over his shoulder, bug-eyed glasses low on his long, Roman nose.

Crowley blinked. Was he seriously going to get away with it?

The cashier took his cash, handed back his change, and wished him a good day, and Crowley felt something rise in his chest.

He picked a bag of crisps off a shelf and reached for his wallet. He read the lady's name tag, 'Sue,' and knew without a doubt she wasn't paid enough to challenge a shady grunge of a character over a few lifted goods. 

But he also knew that jerky wasn't cheap, so he pulled out an Alan Turing and left it on the counter, saying, "Keep the change," and hoping she would do just that.

Meanwhile, Joey was heading for the door, ripping open the beef stick packaging with his teeth.

Uncomfortable with himself and his cowardice, Crowley followed. They walked through the parking lot and across the road, where there happened to be a park with a pond. And, of course, a park bench.

Joey sat down on the right-hand side, sloppy sounds of masticating and all. Crowley thought about saying farewell and getting as far away as possible, but something told him to sit.

And sit he did. On the left.

There were ducks in the pond, dammit.

"So," Joey smacked, swallowing audibly and then taking a giant, gulping swig of his drink. "The house is pretty swell."

'Swell' was not how Crowley would describe the cottage. Historical and well-preserved. 'One-owner,' never lived in. Painstakingly customized by the original builder.

But never 'swell.' 

"Mm." Crowley took a sip. Wine from a bag tasted better.

Joey took another gulp and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The fingernails were painted navy blue. His knuckles were tattooed, design unknown. "Why'd you sell it?"

Crowley spit out that sip. 

Joey the Petty Thief slapped him so hard on the back that Crowley's teeth rattled in his skull.

"Don't care for the taxes, I'm guessing."

Crowley thought the reason for letting go of the place was mildly none of the man's business.

"I remember when I quit smoking," the man continued, staring off into the distance in his half-baked way. "Hardest three weeks of my life. But when all those flavors came back to me?" He held his hands to the side, bottle in one fist, half-eaten jerky in the other. He gazed up at the sky as if he were about to ascend. "Heaven."

"That's not –"

"Must be divorce then."

This time, Crowley choked on his own spit. "W – what!?"

"The double vanity was a nice touch. Very thoughtful. Did you put those in yourself?"

The world around them was suddenly very quiet. Even the ducks had stopped arguing. "Excuse me?"

Joey looked at him with soft, sad eyes. "Didn't appreciate you, huh? One-sided kind of thing?" 

Crowley couldn't believe the words he was hearing. Although it had most definitely been unrequited, six thousand years could hardly be classified as a 'thing.'

"For what it's worth," he leaned in as if to tell a secret, "I would have dumped the place, too. Dunno if I could wake up every morning and face that view from the kitchen all by myself.

Images Crowley worked so very hard to keep at bay flashed through his mind, stirred his gut and set off his corporeal fight or flight response.

Joey ignored the warning signs (clenched fists, flared nostrils, rapid pulse at the thinnest part of his neck) and reached over to pat Crowley's knee. As if the man were some benevolent aunt offering sympathy. 

"Been there, done that."

Crowley was really very certain Joey Manuel had never been there nor done that. It was possible now that the man had used every lamely unhelpful saying in the book.

Joey stretched his arms high over his head before tucking back into his beef stick. "That's why I am never getting hitched. Married to the cause, that's me."

A rich white man from the United States who didn't have to worry about whether or not he could marry whomever he pleased was an oxymoron in Crowley's book.

"Had my own 'come to Jesus moment. Dealt with my own Judas."

The Demon was going further and further down a dark path. He'd met Judas. Wasn't such a bad lad. Certainly the most devout of the disciples, it actually made sense that he was the one chosen to betray his king. The worst things happened to the best of folks.

And with that, Crowley had had enough. He stood with the intent of walking away from the man and never seeing him again.

"Ah, well. The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Crowley stopped mid-escape and stared. Was he actually for real?

"You ever surfed at your beach?" Joey continued, ignoring completely the fact that the Demon had dusted off his pants and was walking away. Crowley sighed deeply and paused.

"Yeah. Sure."

His companion leaped to his feet and threw an arm around Crowley's shoulders. "Great! Think you can show me? I can come out on Saturday. Then you can also walk me through that amazing garden. Teach me about the plant life. I've never seen so many weird things in all my life."

Crowley thought he would much rather return to Soho and walk into a particular bookshop than return to the bungalow and all the flora family he'd left behind. But, since he wasn't in the habit of self-torture anymore –

"Sure. Yeah. Whatever you like."

Aziraphale

The Supreme Archangel blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. 

"The Book of Life is . . ."

Michael rolled their eyes, as if Aziraphale was too dense to keep up. "Is missing, yes."

Aziraphale tried very hard to keep his face neutral. The other Archangels were watching him closely.

"And – how –"

"That's the point!" Uriel interrupted. "Nobody knows how. If we knew how, we'd be able to find out who did it."

Aziraphale thought that Heaven really didn't have that stellar of a record at finding anything.

"So you don't know who –"

"Of course we don't." Saraquel looked ready to throw hands in the air with disgust. "If we knew who, we'd know where it is. But it isn't anywhere in Heaven."

Aziraphale had learned enough about emergency meetings with the Archangels to stop asking questions right then and there. He waited, hands folded at his waist. He'd gotten very good at waiting. After all, he was prepared to live out as many centuries as it took until the opportunity presented itself for a second chance.

"Well?" Sandalphon asked, gold tooth glinting with a smile more enthusiastic than usual. "Are you going to get going and find it? Or are we to stand here all day waiting for a rich man to make it through the eye of a needle?"

Aziraphale frowned. "That's not how it –" And then he remembered himself. Surely, the Archangels knew the parables of Jesus just as well as he did. He needn't go around reminding them –

Uriel scoffed viciously. "Look at him. How we get anything accomplished is a miracle."

The others nodded in agreement, whispering amongst themselves. They couldn't wait for Aziraphale to make a mistake.

The Supreme Archangel cleared his throat and lifted his chin. "Very well. I'll be heading to Earth, then. I trust you'll keep up with your duties while I'm gone."

He half expected to be admonished again for suggesting such a ludicrous thing. The very last place the Book of Life could possibly be was Earth.

"Yes, and best not dawdle," Michael confirmed, pulling out their phone and making a call. The others looked relieved that the meeting had come to a conclusion, and they didn't hang around. Each filed out of the meeting hall with their own agendas in mind, chatting quietly.

"Right."

Aziraphale turned slowly, unbelieving. If he'd known it would be that easy, he'd have descended to Earth a year ago.

He made the long, lonely walk to the elevator. The empty halls echoed his footsteps back and nobody stopped to talk to him. Nobody even attempted a smile or the shortest of eye contact. He wondered if it had been as easy for Gabriel to leave. Naked as he was.

Aziraphale considered that as he stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor. The former Supreme Archangel hadn't spent enough time on Earth to understand the politics of going without clothing. For how infuriating it had been once he'd arrived at the bookshop, Aziraphale couldn't help but think that was the catalyst for pushing Crowley to eventually do what he did.

He remembered the Demon's face in the coffee shop when Nina made the comment about his 'naked man friend.' It was the beginning of dozens and dozens of Clues that Aziraphale completely missed because he was too caught up in his own agenda.

The loud tone that indicated he'd reached his destination startled him. He'd been thinking where to go first. Where exactly on Earth did one find a celestial object with the power to erase everyone from existence?

Perhaps he'd begin with a bookshop.

As the doors opened and light spilled out into a very familiar street, Aziraphale found himself unable to move. He hadn't really thought through how going back might feel. How staring across the road at the memory of Crowley standing beside Bentley could wreck him so.

He very nearly took the lift straight back to the top. And then he remembered who he was and why he was there.

The kitchen entrance would be less judgmental, he decided.

It must have been very early. The street was relatively quiet; the only sign of human activity with the delivery trucks and garbage trucks and such. He remembered Crowley saying this was his favorite time of day. The only people out and about were the vitally necessary ones. Aziraphale, however, knew it simply meant the Demon could drive Bently fast and furious with less obstacles to get in their way.

It was debilitating, staring at the cracked wood at the alley entrance, fist clenched in preparation. He didn't have any sort of a plan past knocking on the door. The bookshop wasn't his any longer. It was a sanctuary, something stable and trustworthy. Something unlike him.

A light switched on over the stoop, and there came the hollow clunking sound of the lock sliding out of place. The knob turned. The hinges groaned. But when the door swung wide, nobody greeted him on the other side.

Aziraphale clutched at his vest from the emergent smell. The aroma of brewed coffee. The scent of old wood and even older books. The lingering overtones of snuffed-out candles, even though the highly flammable interior hadn't seen the likes of a burning wick in some time. It was every memory hitting him all at once.

The light in the kitchen switched on without visible movement, and Aziraphale understood. He was being welcomed back, just as he was. Forgiven but not forgotten, and oh – that stung.

"Hello, Bookshop, old girl."

He didn't dare step inside, though. He wasn't entirely sure he could if he tried. He needed an invitation from the current inhabitant.

"Hello? Hello?"

A muffled noise sounded from deep inside the building, and then sharp, quick footsteps. As they approached, Aziraphale smoothed down his lapels and straightened his collar. No matter how frazzled his insides were, he had a reputation to uphold.

The face that greeted him across the kitchen was surprised, to say the least. Big brown eyes widened even more so, and the genuine smile became even more sincere.

"Mr. Aziraphale!" Muriel gasped, then hurriedly covered their mouth. "I mean – Supreme Archangel Aziraphale!"

"Aziraphale is fine," he corrected, waving a hand and assessing the angel's attire. They wore sleep pants with vivid pink pigs and an oversized long-sleeved shirt that didn't look as if it belonged to them.

Muriel padded barefoot across the creaky, well-worn wooden floor. "Oh but, that wouldn't be right –"

"Aziraphale," he repeated more firmly. The new shopkeeper seemed to struggle with it, but extended a hand regardless.

"Come in, Mr. Aziraphale, please!" It was a cringe, like they were blaspheming.

Aziraphale stepped over the threshold and the door closed behind him. He rested a hand on the counter at his right, patting the surface affectionately.

"I apologize," Muriel continued, sweeping away a clutter of mugs and dishes, cutlery and wine glasses from the counter. "If I'd know you were coming, I'd have tidied the place."

Aziraphale smiled, appreciating that the angel didn't use miracles to do so. Perhaps the Metatron had been right in assigning the bookshop to their care. If the state of the untidy kitchen was any indication, it appeared the place was most certainly being lived in. Maybe even well-loved.

"I didn't know I was coming, to be honest," he began. Muriel fetched the coffee pot and turned on the tap, rinsing it out and filling it with water. "I'm here on a quest."

Their face brightened considerably as they hunted down clean mugs, of which there were none. They hurried to wash two from the pile of dirties.

"Ooh! That sounds like –"

Aziraphale never got to hear what it sounded like, for they were interrupted by a third individual.

"Oi, have you seen my –?"

The part of Aziraphale that identified as human squirmed uncomfortably. Joining their little party in the cozy kitchenette was a handsome disposable person wearing one of his flannel bathrobes.

"Uh." Eric the Demon's long-lashed eyes, more smudged than ever and looking hollow from no sleep, flitted between Aziraphale and Muriel rapidly. The two horns of hair on the top of his head bounced jauntily, caught up in huge, pink foam rollers. "Uh."

There was a long moment where the three immortal entities stared ineffably open-mouthed at each other.

Muriel spoke first, having at least the decency to sound embarrassed. "Eric! H - how nice of you to stop by!"

Eric's jaw opened and closed. Opened and closed. Aziraphale tried very hard not to think about the demon in his bathrobe, in his bedroom, in his bed. Doing unthinkable things to the angel tasked with his bookstore.

Of course, he could have it totally wrong, and perhaps it was the angel doing things to the demon –

"Oh! Thanks – thanks, Muriel." Eric looked down at his bare feet and his bare knees and back up and Aziraphale knowing he wasn't fooling anyone. "I was hoping to borrow a cup of – a cup of –"

"A cupperty?" the angel offered, voice gone unnaturally high and eager.

Aziraphale shook his head. Underneath the horrible lying and double-speak ran a fairly strong current of love. It warmed his bitter, bitter heart.

"Don't mind me," he offered, looking over Eric's shoulder at one of the Marly Horses and feeling that familiar twinge in his gut. "I won't be in your hair long. I'm looking for something. Something both of you might be able to help with."

The demon looked relieved while the angel was enthralled. "Both of us?"

Eric flashed Muriel a secret look, one that wasn't lost on Aziraphale (he and Crowley used to have those). The Supreme Archangel didn't know how he felt about being on the outside of anyone's secret conversation. He supposed he wholly deserved it.

Muriel handed a cup of steaming coffee to Aziraphale, and the second to their counterpart. Eric drank long and hard, completely ignoring how it must have seared the inside of his mouth.

"Yes. It seems the Book of Life has gone missing and nobody in Heaven knows what's happened to it."

Eric swallowed with an audible gulp. White clouds of steam emerged from both ears. "That's not a real thing. Book of Life. Is it?"

"Oh, but it is!" Muriel answered. They took the empty mug in one hand, and it refilled itself. "Everyone ever created is in it! Course, nobody's actually seen it before."

The demon took the second cup and stirred it absentmindedly with one long finger. "Well, if nobody has seen it, how can you be so sure it's missing?"

He had a point.

"Have either of you heard anything? You know –" Aziraphale gestured toward the floor. "From down there?"

Eric shook his head and joined Muriel where they leaned against the counter. Their elbows touched. Aziraphale felt it in his bones. "Can't say as I have. Don't really talk with downstairs much anymore. Got tired of being made an example of. Too many unscheduled discorporations."

Aziraphale cringed as he remembered Shax disposing of him in the bookshop not long ago. "Sorry about all that."

The demon saluted him. "Not at all."

"Perhaps I could ask the Book Club."

Aziraphale tipped his head in Muriel's direction. "The Book Club?"

The angel nodded, crossing one leg over the other and leaning heavily on Eric's shoulder. "I guess it's technically not exactly a book club. It's just a few of us who get together here once a week. At the bookshop. Everyone brings a book, and we take turns reading aloud and talking about themes and such. It's great fun."

Aziraphale thought about people gathering in his former home to use books as they were intended, and he felt an overwhelming fondness for Muriel. "And who is in this particular club?"

Eric raised his hand. Muriel smiled at him.

"Eric, here. Mrs. Sandwich. Maggie –"

At hearing his friend's name, Aziraphale experienced another pang of regret.

The demon picked up where his angel paused, "– two lesser demons, upstanding Earthly fellows, I can assure you," Eric explained. "Father Ken from the parish down the street –"

"– and a homeless guy. Don't forget him," Muriel offered helpfully.

Aziraphale put together the rag-tag collection of folks inside his mind and felt another surge of pride. It appeared Eric and Muriel were doing what he and Crowley couldn't.

The angel's eyes sparkled and they vibrated slightly with excitement. "Would you like to join us? We're meeting tonight, actually. Once the shops have closed, of course."

Eric rolled his eyes skyward. "As if this place is ever open."

The Supreme Archangel smiled at the pair of them and thought perhaps all hope had not been lost.

"I would love to attend your Book Club. Thank you so very much for inviting me."

Read on AO3

[agentravensong]

hello, fellow hatchetfield fans! here are my stray nerdy prudes must die thoughts, which i'm going to try to keep brief (she said, before spending an hour writing this)

the production level of the show as a whole really blew me away. the lighting; demon!max's costume and makeup; even the way it was shot and edited felt even more electric than past shows

this is the only one of the full-length hatchetfield musicals to have one consistent antagonist throughout (black friday has linda but half the leads don't know about her at all until the climax, plus there's wilbur and wiggly). and i gotta say, max's actor really killed it. hilarious, terrifying, and even with moments of nuance. he repeatedly stole the show.

some of the songs are already stuck in my head. off the top of my head i can't think of any that stood out in a bad/unmemorable way (though i could just be forgetting them, lol). ruth's song in particular i think is gonna really stick with me once i listen to it a few more times.

and i love the way the "i'm not a loser" motif gets used throughout the show. the closest any of the songs got me to having the visceral reaction i have to "did you know that i wanted to live with you" in "not your seed" and the bridge + ending of "let it out" ("i've never been happy...") was when richie sings that line right before... well.

speaking of richie: as a paul stan, what this show proved to me more than anything is that when jon matteson plays a sympathetic lead (or side character - hi daniel/stopwatch), he will always break my heart. he's just. really good.

thinking about how in the last of the originally planned 3 hatchetfield shows, initially conceptualized as the first, jon's character is the first one to sing, whereas in the first of those shows, conceptualized as the last, the whole crux of the musical is him refusing to sing, the audience essentially waiting for the moment he breaks and does it. thinking about how the opening of npmd tells us richie is going to die, already dying, already dead, while the opening number of tgwdlm tells us paul is the target, the Doomed Hero, the "star of the show" "destined to go viral" [read: get infected], whose story is going to be told, already written.

thinking about how singing dooms paul, and how richie singing "i'm not a loser", reigniting max's ire, is the final nail in his coffin.

...i'm normal.

there's a lot of meta jokes and nods of that sort throughout the show. maybe a few too many? like, at a certain point, as a fan, i do feel like i'm being pandered to a bit.

i liked the lords in black's scene, it was a lot of fun! it's always great to see jon get to let loose with crazy characters, and the others were great too. but i do wonder how it plays for people who haven't been following nightmare time stuff. like, i get that in one world this was our introduction to these characters, but even in that world, i wonder if including all five of them with their specific names and allusions to their individual deals is a bit too much for what the plot of this show needs. there's something to be said for not showing all your cards right away.

on the other hand, i feel like the paulkins coffee scene actually fully earned its inclusion: because when pete comes in asking for his hot chocolate, it reads differently when we're coming at it from having followed his perspective up to this point versus having been following paul in tgwdlm, in a way that strengthens both scenes. it's a nice reminder that emma and paul can be... rude, i guess. assholes, even (she really didn't need to spit in it). that idea of perspectives affecting how we categorize people arguably even plays into the themes of this show! how about that.

ah, yes, Themes. there are Themes to be drawn out of this show about the experience of high school, especially in an intertextual comparison to how tom and becky talk about their time in high school in black friday. something about how the two of them see it as this idealistic time they want to go back to, whereas the teens (the nerds/outcasts) in npmd sing that they'll "still despise it when [they're] gone". something about how in ruth's solo number, the fantasy future she imagines for herself (even in the context of it being a performance for an audience of no one) is of a standard, arguably dreary, middle-aged existence. there's definitely stuff there to be dissected.

and also there's arguably a theme of continuing cycles of cruelty, brought into focus by the ending, but also implied with the way the adults failed the kids (see max referencing his dad belittling him).

...but also, i feel like they could have done more with that.

that's my one big thing with this show, and it could very easily just be that the genre of this show isn't as much my jam, but i'll say it anyway: i wanted more from the characters, and more emotional weight in regards to certain things.

like, between this and tgwdlm, i think tgwdlm is still the better written show. there's just, a subtly to the characters there, a grounded human-ness, that i didn't quite get from all of the teens here.

as much as i clearly have a soft spot for richie, that's mostly on jon; as written, there really isn't much there, beyond "anime nerd" and "generally nice kid who wants to be liked". the scene right before he dies is comedic in how obvious it's setting things up, but its obvious-ness also makes it feel kind of cheap in terms of pulling on the heartstrings. similarly, ruth is initially just a gimmick (though hers at least ties into a deeper insecurity) and only gets her real moment of depth right before she dies. neither of them feel like they have much affect / haunting presence on the surviving teens once they're dead, past the initial shock of the reveals of their deaths.

and steph and pete are good, but... idk. i wanted a bit more from each of them. if they got to have a talk like paul and emma before "join us and die" - not even for the sake of the romance, but just for the sake of giving us more on each of them outside of their basic stereotypes and the romance - that would've helped, i think.

grace was great, though, no qualms. initially there was a part of me that was disappointed that the stereotype max was pushing on her about her being secretly repressed and horny was in fact true, but the way it gets used makes up for it, and in between max's death and when that specific thing comes up again in the climax, she gets to do a lot with the two conflicting sides of her personality, wanting to be good but having a capacity and arguable instinct for scheming and ruthlessness.

(also, as i mentioned earlier, max has a surprising amount going on, especially once you get into the Implications)

it could just be that i see those depths in the tgwdlm cast because i've had more time to chew on that cast, and that in time i'll see these teens in the same light. but i don't think it's just that.

i think part of it is how there are so many jokes about the teens being nerdy prudes (really, mostly just nerds). and like, that's part of the point, obviously, that they were being forced into those boxes and that they were still people with the potential to be more. but... i don't know if the show does enough to really make that point. again, richie doesn't really get to be more (and it's not for lack of time - there's a good amount of show before max comes back as the demon and kills for the first time).

in tgwdlm, the mains are all arguably based on stock characters, but they have more depth through their relationships. look at ted, the stock asshole sleazeball, who's shown to feel genuine remorse when he loses people he loves, in a way that contextualizes his bitterness. and there's a lot less highlighting of the stockness of them in their show than there is of the teens in npmd.

and the thing is, i think the cast of npmd at their foundations are more likable than the cast of tgwdlm (see the earlier point about emma and paul being assholes at times). they had a lot of potential. but i don't think enough of it is realized for the majority of them. the edges the tgwdlm cast has are part of what makes them compelling, and it's something the teens (minus grace) are largely missing.

the thing is, i know the fandom is going to see that potential and run with it. i know that they're gonna develop the teens' characterizations and relationships. i know they'll get into the trauma and the implications from everything that happened to them in the show. i know they'll get into... pete's survivor's guilt, and steph losing her dad(!!!), and what richie and ruth could have been, and all that. i know that they'll fill in the gaps. because that's what fans do. i guess i just wish there weren't so many gaps to fill. or, that the gaps wouldn't take so much effort from them to fill.

again, i acknowledge, maybe i'm expecting too much from the genre of show this is. it doesn't need to have A Point, i guess, it can just be fun, a comedic horror slasher in musical form. and it is fun, a lot of fun! ...but, tgwdlm was also a lot of fun. not as bombastic, for sure, but i'd say just as humorous. and it was also incredibly tightly written, and satisfying, with strong character arcs for multiple leads. it had commentary on musicals, on what makes a protagonist and what it means to be one, on conformity and institutions of authority, on romance even (you could do a very interesting aromantic reading of this show, trust me). and with a show that's titled nerdy prudes must die, that is About high school, there's, similarly, a lot you can do. and there's a fair amount of seeds planted there. but i don't think it all quite coheres. and it could've, if they really wanted it to.

...i did not keep that brief. ah well. i might disagree with half of this by the time i wake up tomorrow, i just needed to get it out of me. tl;dr, in my opinion, this show is stronger than black friday, but tgwdlm is still my favorite. all the cast and crew put a lot of love into this production and it really shows. i had a great time! :D but i'm always going to overanalyze things i care about as much as i care about the hatchetfield universe, and hence, here we are.

[fangbangerghoul]

Fleeting Pleasures: Chapter 6

photo credit: @bearlytolerant

MINORS DNI, 18+

Tags: violence, interrogation, knife play, degradation, smut stuff, dom/sub role inferred, i am sure there is more just know its VERY explicit This story was made possible with the help of: @spookyspecterino, @thatsgoodsquishy0, @bearlytolerant. Without their valuable input I would have been too lost in the sauce to finish it!

Fleeting Pleasures on Ao3

Chapter 6: Quien eres tu? Our main character is at her wits end and soon the jig is going to be up. This might be her end on The Key.

Chapter 6: Quien eres tu?

            The bar was chaotic to say the least as bottles and bodies flew in every direction around the room. There was the sound of music, shouting, and grunts that echoed off of the four walls causing an overwhelming sound wave to blast out into the halls outside of the bar. Inside the bar there was a combination of scents ranging from blood, sweat, alcohol, and various foods. 

The brawl was intense and it all started from a bottle being smashed over a pirate’s head. Ghoul leaned back on a grimy wall in a dark corner watching the amusing chaos that she caused and gave herself a silent pat on the back. There was a devilish grin on her face and her yellow eyes were glossed over from the amount of aurora and alcohol she had been partaking in since she arrived at The Last Nova. The pirates all around were enjoying the mayhem they helped perpetuate within the bar and even the bartender, Bog decided to join in with a bat and a few bottles of his Bog’s Grog. The bottles were being shot towards the various brawlers. Glass pieces and beer sprayed everywhere causing a sticky and bloody mess around the whole bar area.

Ghoul caught the view of two captains with their clothes half torn off and bodies exposed in a corner. The two bodies were entwined and fingering each other with a fierceness that almost made her blush. One of the women caught her staring from across the room and as she licked her own fingers clean from their current sexual partners slick, she then motioned her finger for Ghoul to join. Ghoul didn’t bother to think twice about the proposal as she drooled a bit from the thought and as her foot was about to step forward, she was interrupted with a body crash landing into her, and she felt herself slam against the wall. The impact forced the air out of her lungs, and she felt a little dizzy as a consequence. 

She pulled herself together from the mixture of irritation and confusion and went to grab the collar of the pirate that was on the floor in front of her. They were bloodied and losing consciousness but still stood to try to start a fight with her but instead of succeeding she threw them away from her. Her attention was focused on trying to remove the one imbecile that she didn’t realize the main culprit of this distraction was charging at her with a broken bottle. It was an instinctual reaction to redirect the assailant's arm that held the weapon and to spin smoothly around them with a twist of her right foot. Intoxicated or not Ghoul’s body was ingrained to react quickly, and it was the only thing she ever appreciated about her upbringing. She still hated Ryujin industries with a passion and was more than glad to never have to come in contact with Imada ever again. However, in this instance she was grateful that instead of wasting away on those streets of Neon City she actually acquired this useful skill.

Ghoul was behind the pirate that charged her and kicked the back of their knees to force them to lose their balance. A grunt came out of them with the pressure Ghoul applied against them and she took slight satisfaction from how easy it was going to be to toy with this loser. The pirate tried to over-correct themselves to turn around and swing at Ghoul, but she managed to use the force of her elbow to tip them over enough to initiate their downfall. Before they could get back up Ghoul grabbed their dark brown hair and slammed their face into the floor with a force that had the pirate’s head bounce back into her hand. She was breathing a bit heavier but there was a rush and a tingle that flooded her body from the events. Ghoul could feel the energy of the room start to affect her as well as if she was in one of the cage matches. There was slight movement underneath her crouched position over the body and to make certain Ghoul would no longer have to deal with this person, she repeated the gruesome blow till she was certain they were left unconscious. There was a small pool of blood that started to expand from around the head of the foe she just knocked out and there was a moment of uncertainty and even apathy of whether she killed this captain or not.

Ghoul rose from her position and her eyes immediately scanned the room to see if those lovely women were still willing to offer her that invitation. Her entire being was itching to have a good time. The intense closeness her body felt with Delgado the previous night had fanned a flame that had her body aching for that immense release. None of these drugs or fights were going to provide her with the satisfying feeling her body was in search for now. She considered the offer he had given her previously but feared allowing her guard down with Delgado. She knew it would lead her to an unsavory spot in her current fucked situation. 

There was a sense of unbridled ambition about him that lured her into him and if Ghoul was not careful, she would get lost within him for infinity. 

When their mouths connected something inside of her wanted to fall into him so effortlessly that it was like she was a different being in space and time. It was smarter for her to ease her current need with a casual fling with those beautiful ladies to sate her appetite. It would at least put her in the clear headspace she needed for whatever came next on The Key. Delgado did promise her that their conversation was not over and it was only a matter of time before she had to carefully explain herself. A smile crept on her face at the thought of telling Delgado that the knife was just a guilty kink of hers to convince him that she was not actually trying to murder him.

There was a loud presence that pierced the room and it interrupted Ghoul’s search for the two lovely captains. Her thoughts about what would happen to her next ended quickly and her focus was on the new focus in the room. Naeva pushed through the brawling crowd looking infuriated beyond belief, perhaps homicidal herself. Her braids seem to stand up on her own head and she immediately was trying to break up a few of the fights that were around her. Slowly the people who were around her started to notice the second in command’s presence but it wasn’t enough for Naeva. She lifted her gun into the air and fired off several shots that began to quiet the entirety of The Last Nova.

“Now I know you all aren’t acting like fucking fools and destroying the one bar we have on The Key!” She howled into the crowd and the various bloodied and bruised pirates’ attention turned to her. Once she was certain she had just about everyone’s attention she started to spew out commands to people around her.

“If you don’t want to end up dead by the end of the night then you mother fuckers better start cleaning up this mess and lick your wounds.”

Ghoul watched as everyone started to delegate the tasks with one another and she thought that perhaps it would be a great time to slip out before she was seen. She wiped her hands off onto the shirt she was loaned by Delgado and noticed how torn and bloodied she had gotten from the few scuffles she already had. The thought crossed her mind that she was overdue for a shower and since the majority of The Key was in here with their tails between their legs it would be a perfect time to go and have a minute to herself. She still needed to clear her head and release the burning ache within her body.  

“Now who started this fucking mess?” Naeva demanded from everyone at the bar and no one seemed to have any answers. That was the final sign Ghoul needed to get the hell out of the room before she was snitched on. Plus, there were more important things for her to deal with. She began to move her way towards the back entry of the bar and she grabbed two shot glasses that were left unbothered and threw back the harsh liquor. The shots slid their way down her throat with haste, burning her esophagus and sending a chill down her spine. The shots put a pep in her step she could feel she needed after the last few days. Ghoul managed to slither through the back door and as she spun around to move ahead her eyes were met with a familiar honey brown eyes that had a scar on the right one.

“Going somewhere?” The husky piqued voice asked curiously, and he gave her that foxlike cunning grin of his. Delgado was standing in front of Ghoul and accompanied with him were two of his armed men and of all people, Mathis. She forced a smile as casual as his deceptive grin was before she answered. * * * *

The rest can be read on Ao3 due to the explicit nature of the story. Thank you for your continued support.

[itsuji]

Hehe, hi

If I can can I request Desmond Hall and Mark "Mayhem" Berskii (separate) angst with the reader? like they get into an argument regarding the killing game and S/O becomes a victim directly after it? then they realize that S/O was an easy target to the Blackened because they were sobbing over the argument? just some sad stuff.

love your fics btw <3

— tears

a/n: ty for your request!! I love this idea veryvery much!! sorry for the late reply I had to go somewhere!! sorry if the arguments are a little too bad !!

warnings: a bit of cursing in desmonds part. impaled in marks part.

characters: mark “mayhem” berskii, desmond hall. ( jett and kai mentioned as side chars! )

genre: heavy angst ( i love angst sm ty for this request )

Desmond was the type to usher himself away from people, only interacting if forced to. Now he was forced to survive in a killing game, where the chances of survival are thin. When he met you he started worrying about what would happen to him, or you if any of the both of you died.

He sat on the bed which the both of you shared, his shoulders tense, looking at the ground. You entered the room and looked at him “Are you..alright?” You asked him, confused “What if you die, or I die? What’ll happen to you..or even me?” He replied, his voice breaking at the last bit. You softened your eyes and took a seat next to him. “We’ll be alright Des, as long as we’re by each others side.” You comforted him and put a hand on his shoulder, he looked at you and softly smiled, then looked at the ground again, then he stood up. “I’ll make sure we escape. “

your eyes widened, and you took your hand off his shoulder “What the hell do you mean by that?” Desmond looked in your eyes, his eyes were different, full of hate, rage. “It means that I’ll kill someone.” He turned to the door looking like he was leaving, you stood up and grabbed his wrist “Hang on, those are our friends out there Des, you can’t just kill one for the benefit of us!” You rebutted, pulling him back into the dorm, “One life for two, its logic s/o.” He replied pulling back his wrist “Des, wait I need you alive! If you get caught in the trial…then!-“

“Dont, call me Des.”

“Des I cant watch you get executed!”

He clenched his fists in his hand and grabbed your shirt. “CALL ME DES ONE MORE TIME.” He shouted at you, tears brimmed the corner of your eyes. “ s/o, sorry I just-“ you ran out of your shared dorm sobbing. Desmond took a step to run after you, but he knew that he shouldn’t go after you.

————-

Then Desmond got even more worried about you when you didn’t come back at night. He was already in bed, stepping out of the dorm every 5 minutes looking to see if you would come back. His finger tapped against the mattress, he didn’t like silence at all. “Fuck it.” Desmond got out of his bed and put his jacket on and went to look for you.

“s/o? look I’m sorry about the fight we had, please come back.” He said in the hallways, hoping that you would come back soon. He walked in the hallways with a worried look plastered on his face. Thats when a bloody trail appeared before him, was this the reason you didn’t come home? But really could he call this home? He rushed into the dining hall, and thats when he saw your bloody body against the wall, there was blood everywhere, in the kitchen, some on the walls, but Desmond could hardly focus on the crime scene in front of him, he rushed straight towards your body. “ s/o!” He said shaking your body, you looked at him weakly. “Des- I mean Desmond.” His eyes became glassy at the sight of you, he held onto you for dear life, like he depended on it. Which he did. “You can call my Des, it’s okay, it’s okay.” He said, almost breaking down, you sniffed, hugging him back.

“Des, go get others.” You said weakly, tears running down your cheeks, “Not until I’m ready to leave you…who did this?” He asked, finally breaking down. “ Des, you deserve happiness, more than I can give you.” You held his hand, dodging the question. The marksman left the hug and kissed you passionately.

He pulled away from the kiss, and looked at you. “I can’t believe I did this to you.” Guilt overcame Desmond as tears rolled down his cheeks, you wiped them away and cupped his cheek.

“Don’t let this drag you down Des, I love you.”

Desmond watched you pass away. He couldn’t imagine what life would be like without you, and now it was real. The last thing you heard was Desmond screaming your name in rage.

( MY BABY WAAAAA )

Mark laid with you in your shared bed. Thats when you asked a question out of nowhere, “Mark, would you care if I died?” He looked at you, confused. “…Of course I would, why would you ask that?” He replied, “It’s just that..never mind, it’s dumb anyway.” You said, slightly frowning. “…No it’s okay, you can say it.” The music producer wrapped his arm around you.

You sighed, ready for what was about to come, “If you really want me to say it, You seem like you prioritize your music over me, Ever since we’ve been together.” Mark squinted at you. “…No I haven’t, if anything I’ve been spending every half of my day with you since then.” He rebutted, you got out of Marks hold and looked at him and scoffed, “What do you mean half? You spend all day making music! What if I die and your not with me?”

“Dont bring the killing game into this s/o.” Mark replied, already annoyed by your responses. You pulled out of Marks hold and got out of your shared bed, grabbing your bag and your jacket. “…Where are you going?” Mark asked you, also getting out of bed and putting his hands in his pockets “Somewhere, where I can’t see you.” You rushed to the door and pulled the handle, stopping to look back at Mark “If you wanna be alone Mark, Be alone.” You commented before slamming the door.

—————

Mark waited for you at your shared dorm, he even asked Eva, your old roommate who had a newly single dorm after you moved in with Mark, and Kai, one of your close friends in the ‘game.’ “Yo’ Mark, you look worried.” Jett asked the worried music producer from across the room, Mark sighed “….We had a fight and, I don’t know if they’re coming back.” Jett walked over to Marks side of the room, “If ya want, we can go and look for ‘er, it’s almost night anyway.” The racer looked at Mark, who was staring right back at him, “I’ll take that as a yes! Put your jacket on Mark, we’re going!”

“Hey!! vocalist person!! where are you!?” Jett shouted in the courtyard, “…You��re still loud even under that helmet…” Mark replied, squinting at Jett in annoyance. “Sorry man!”

Mark walked in the hallways of Edens Garden Academy, he himself never thought that he would have to look for his own s/o in a killing game. That was when Mark stumbled upon the dining hall, one of the doors were slightly opened, blood on the handle. Mark quickly rushed to open it, but there was nothing but blood on the the table. But that was when he felt something wet on his shoulder.

Mark reached his hand out to touch it, blood. Mark looked up, horrified with what he saw, It was you, your mouth was taped shut, and a spear impaled you, probably how you got stuck to the ceiling. Mark collapsed onto the ground, still looking at your dead body. This…This was his fault, no doubt about it.

-🌹 itsuji

[eternal-love-song]

Alley Cat and Street Rat - Prologue

Kokichi/Kaede, Kokichi & Dice, Kokichi & Angie, Kaede & Shuichi [Established relationship, Aged Up Characters, Miraculous AU, Thieves, Superhero AU]

Kokichi's life has been on a steady track for years, he goes stealing with Dice, he's dating Kaede, and he's been pretty good at keeping those two lives separate. When he ends up stealing some magical jewelry that grants him special powers, his life becomes a lot more interesting and his two worlds become a little harder to keep apart.

Shuichi's calm life seems to avalanche over night. It starts with a case coming across his desk about a group of thieves, escalates when he receives a strange present from his parents that give him strange abilities, and culminates when a supervillain calling himself Yokai starts terrorizing the city. As these separate problems combine into one when he takes up the mantle of a hero and learns the thieves he's chasing have the same abilities as the villain he's fighting.

OoOoOo

The carpet looked puke green in the darkness. That was Kokichi's first thought as he shimmied through the window and landed softly on the floor. His second thought was that it was also ugly. The walls looked like they were a rotten yellow and even in the daylight he couldn't imagine it being anything but ugly. "Money is wasted on the rich," he muttered to himself. 

"How does it look in there?" one of his minions questioned, the voice coming quietly from his earpiece.

"Hideous," Kokichi replied as he stood up and looked around. "And are you whispering, Mist?"

"I've never been on comms before, I didn't want to get you caught," Mist replied in a rushed whispered. Kokichi couldn't help snickering at his panic. "Chill out. You can talk normally, just try not to yell."

"O-okay," he replied. Kokichi could practically see his nervous minion fidgeting in his chair. The mental image actually put him at ease. Someone needed to lead around here and it might as well be him. 

"You worry too much, Mist. How are the others doing?"

"Team 1 is at the back door, Team 2 is on the west side and..." There was a pause before Mist sighed. "Team 3 is going through the front door."

Kokichi rolled his eyes at the reckless behavior, but he was completely unsurprised. "Just make sure those idiots don't get caught and give us the warning if it looks like anyone is coming."

"You got it, boss."

The line went quiet. Kokichi looked up and down the hall, trying to orient himself to the map in his head before picking a direction to walk in. He tilted the paintings on the wall as he passed him and lifted a bust off its pedestal at the end of the hall before putting it on the floor. He made his way through the rooms he thought would be empty first. A guest room with nothing interesting, a bathroom where he nicked a few bottles of cold medicine and hid the remaining pill bottles under the sink, another guest room. Pretty boring so far, he hoped the others found more interesting things.

Then he got to the study, which was interesting. There were a few jewelry pieces on the table that Kokchi swept onto the table, along with an open book that had matching pictures of the jewels. Might as well keep them together, never knew what you might find. He opened the drawers where he found a few more things to stuff into his bag, costume jewelry and gaudy things all mixed together for some reason. Kokichi didn't question it, just gathered up what he could for later. Once that was done, he made his way to the main bedroom.

It was thankfully empty and Kokichi let out a breath of relief as he began to ransake the room. He pulled cash out of a wallet and out of draws, stuffed a jewelry box into his bag, a handful of expensive watches, and took all the paintings off the wall looking for anything that might be hidden. There were no safes in the wall and digging through the closet only netted him a box of old pictures. Useless. He moved the box under the bed and put all the pictures back on the wall upside down. He took everything else out of the wallet and stuffed it under the mattress. His bag was pretty heavy at this point, so he figured it was time to go.

"I'm about done here," he said into his earpiece. "Is everyone ready to go?"

"I'll tell them to hurry it up, boss," Mist answered.

"Good." Kokichi made his way back to the window before hearing footsteps coming down the hall and changing his route to slip into the bathroom. He locked the door quickly behind him. "Uh oh, looks like whoever was here is up and about. They'll probably sound the alarm soon, so tell everyone to get out, now!"

"Got it!" Mist exclaimed nervously.

The window was smaller here than the one in the hall, but there was less chance of getting caught here than there was out there, so he simply sighed and pulled a hamper over to the window. He had already climbed onto it and shoved his bag out of the window by the time he heard the alarm going off. He hurried to pull himself through the small opening and rolled as he hit the ground. "Ow. Not the most graceful exit I've ever had."

"Are you okay?" Mist asked. He was whispering again, the nervousness back in his voice. 

"Yeah, I'm good," Kokichi said as he swung his bag onto his back and broke into a sprint. "You don't have to whisper, Mist."

"I know." He sounded like he would cry.

"Keep it together, Mist, we're at the home stretch."

"I am!" He definitely wasn't, but that was okay. There was a reason Mist was on comms instead of inside like the rest of them. 

An alarm started blaring from the house. They'd probably noticed all the redecorating he'd done. He snickered at the thought, hauling himself over the fence that surrounded the property. The van was parked half a block away from the house and he could see Bishop hauling Brush, as well as Fury and Joy running toward the bus as well. Joy waved at him and he waved back. He could see the bright smile on her face beneath her mask which only covered the top half of her face. Fury's mask covered her whole face, but the angry expression on it probably conveyed her feelings well enough.

The door to the passenger seat popped open and Kokichi swung his bag off his back before throwing himself into it. He pulled the door closed and looked at Lantern in the driver's seat. "Gun it!"

"Can Joy and Fury get all the way in first?" Lantern asked with a put upon sigh.

"Gun it!" He repeated insistently. 

Lantern sighed, eyes flicking up to the mirror so he could check on their members in the back before finally following Kokichi's orders and pulling off.

"Whoa!" Joy cried as she fell to the floor, Bishop reaching over her to pull the doors closed. "Trying to lose me, boss?"

"I keep trying, but it just doesn't stick," he said with a sigh, sinking into his seat.

Joy pushed herself up and crawled over the others, raising a chorus of objections, until she could hang off the back of his seat. "No way! You love me. Say that you love me!"

Kokichi pointed to his mouth and made a gagging noise. "Gross. No love for minions. You work for peanuts and you're happy about it."

"I hate peanuts," she said with a pout.

He shrugged. "It's none of my business what you do with them."

Brush grabbed her hand and pulled her into Bishop's lap. He couldn't tell whether that was an accidental landing or a planned one, but either way Joy pouted and leaned back against him. Bishop was large and very comfortable to lay on, so Kokichi didn't blame her. "Now, now, settle down," Brush said. "You can jump our boss later."

"Hey!" he cried, turning around fully in his seat so that he could point at her. "That's mutiny."

"Nya ha ha!"

"I ought to have you thrown in the brig!"

"Oh ho! Boss wants to have me all to himself? How divine!"

Kokichi sighed. Arguing with Brush was like yelling at a brick wall sometimes. It was fun when he did it, but when she did it, it was definitely unfair. The two of them never knew when to back down and after they had played chicken with each other until they'd ended up kissing, Kokichi had decided it was better not to push against her too far. At least, now that he had a girlfriend. You can only explain that you made out with your second in command because of an argument so many times before people started to question it and Kokichi was trying not to get to whatever threshold that was.

"So where to, Boss?" Lantern asked. "Base or Home?"

Kokichi hummed loudly as he thought, leaning back in his chair. He very much wanted to go over the spoils tonight, but whenever he was with Dice after a mission they went from inventory to party before he knew it and then he ended up staying out until morning. Kaede would definitely have something to say to him if he stayed out until morning. Worse, she might mention it to her lame friends and that could end up causing problems in the future. 

With a dramatic sight, Kokichi commanded, "Home. No one touches anything until Trigger does inventory."

There were immediate objections and cries of disappointment. Mostly from Fury and Joy, but he thought he might have heard Mist make some disappointed grumbles as well. 

"Silence minions!" They quieted down quickly and he smiled at the obedience. "Trigger does inventory and the rest of you sleep. That's an order. I'll be back in the morning."

"Yes, sir," they all agreed in unison. It was a bit tired or reluctant from some, but it was a uniform agreement. "Good. Lantern, you're in charge."

Latern's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Boss, I don't know that Brush will agree to that."

Kokichi took off his mask to smile deviously at him. "you're the one that keeps saying that you should be second in command. Now's your chance to prove it!"

Kokichi could practically see him sweating. Lantern wanted to be in control, but when it came to Brush, he had a hard time running over her like he did with some of the others. Kokichi thought it was funny and a good exercise in reminding him why he didn't have nearly the amount of power he kept trying to reach for without Kokichi needing to spell it out for him. "I, um, I'll do my best, Boss."

"See that you do," Kokichi told him.

The rest of the ride was quieter, but not quiet. It was rarely quiet for long in his little group, even now when only half their members were present. 

OoOoOo

Dice headquarters was a building on the outskirts of the city. It was an abandoned building when they had found it and from the outside it still looked the part, the inside however, had been cleaned and furnished over the years until it made a suitable evil lair. It was inconspicuous and easily ignored, which had served them well over the years.

"I'm home!" Kokichi called as he kicked the door open first thing in the morning. 

Trigger was laid out on the table in the middle of the room, pink hair spilling out over the papers on the desk, legs kicked in the air, with an array of pens and markers spread out around her. She waved lazily at him without lifting her head from where it was resting on her arms. "Hey, Kiki."

He frowned as he looked at her, but this wasn't an unusual sight. Trigger liked to lounge, liked to draw, was lazy, didn't mind a mess, and was the person most likely to serve as secretary when needed. Seeing books or papers piled around her was a pretty normal occurrence and Kokichi was pretty sure she would bury herself in a mountain of paper if she wasn't stopped. "Did you sleep here?"

"Did you want inventory done?" she countered.

Kokichi looked over the table again, trying to read what was on the loose papers and open notebooks that were covered by her hair or body. He pulled the corner of one from under her arm until he could pick it up. "Was this mine?"

"No." She flipped her hair to the other side, the strands wavy and naturally framing her face. "Well, kinda. It was in your bag, but I copied it. You found something cool."

"So cool that you decided to copy the entire book?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, looking up from the pages at her.

Trigger shrugged. "It's pretty cool and everyone's going to want to see it and get their gross hands all over it and probably tear it." She rolled her eyes. As messy as she was, she hated the idea of things being torn or smudged, and no matter what else Kokichi might say about her, none of the papers that ended up beneath her sprawl were ever so much as wrinkled. She seemed careless most of the time, but she was actually quite meticulous when she wanted to be. "Well, if you want to show them, that is."

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking back down at the book. There were a lot of drawings, some of people in costumes, some that he recognized as the jewelry he stole last night, and others that didn't look familiar at all. There was text at the bottoms of the pages or point to things in particular in a different language, but Trigger had helpfully provided translations. She had done a lot of traveling with her family and had a knack for languages, which had come in handy many times. Though no matter how many of them he learned or what he got her to teach them, she still managed to find one secret enough to write in when she didn't want them to know something. "Why do these look like heroes?"

"Because as far as I can tell, they are," she told him. "Seems like you lucked out and managed to steal magic items."

"Bullshit," he said immediately.

She smiled, reaching into his bag under the table and pulling out a ring, which she tossed to him. "They're called Miraculous, apparently. Put it on."

"What does it do?" he asked, holding up the black ring with a green paw print on the front, studying it from every side. It looked completely ordinary to him.

Trigger shrugged. "Break stuff, mostly."

Kokichi grinned at her as he slipped the ring onto his finger. "I'm in."

The ring flashed, changing into a plain silver band on his finger. Then a light flashed from it and a weird black thing emerged. It was vaguely cat shaped, but in a stuffed charm sort of way, with a large head and big eyes. "Aww, man, I've been asleep for way too long. Got any cheese?"

"See," Trigger said. "Magic."

"Huh," Kokichi hummed in agreement. "And you said they're called Miraculous?"

"Don't ignore me," the thing said. "I'm starving over here! I could keel over at any moment."

"Dramatic," Kokichi said with a smile. "I like it. Minion, fetch the cheese!"

"What if we don't have any cheese?" she asked.

"The store does."

"I am not going to the store to buy cheese for a magic cat," she replied.

"Well someone has to and who's the boss around here?" Kokichi questioned.

Trigger huffed before pushing herself off the table, grumbling as she went toward the kitchen. 

"So what are you?" Kokichi asked, reaching out to grab the cat, but it flew around his hand. 

"Hey, don't be grabby," it said. "The name's Plagg and I'm a kwami. A sort of guardian spirit for the ring, you could say." The cat flew up to his face, inspecting him and avoiding Kokichi's attempts to grab him. "And what are you? Some kind of hotshot?"

"You could say that," Kokichi answered.

"Do you call all of your friends minions or just really useful ones?" Plagg asked.

"Yes," he answered.

Plagg studied him more before shrugging. "Whatever, just get me my cheese and we can get this show on the road."

"What show?" Kokichi asked.

"She said it already, didn't she?" Plagg asked with a bored drawl. "I'm magic! So are we gonna tear up the town or aren't we?"

"Absolutely," he answered. "So what do you do and how do you do it?"

"Cheese first," Plagg demanded. "Questions can come after. I'm skin and bones over here."

"You look fine to me."

"And you look like a heartless bastard to deprive me of my one and only food source," Plagg said, flopping on his back on the table like he was dying.

"Is that true?"

"Won't know until you feed me."

On cue, a pack of Kraft singles hit the side of Kokichi's head. "Ow! Hey!" he cried out.

"We have cheese!" Trigger yelled from the kitchen doorway.

"Gee, thanks." Kokichi rubbed his head as he placed the cheese on the table.

"Ugh, really? This awful processed mess is all you have to offer me?" Plagg complained. "You just can't get good service nowadays."

"Beggars can't be choosers," Kokichi told him

"You'll find that I can be very choosy," Plagg replied. "Buuut, I guess this will do for now. But only because I'm starving. Next time you'd better get the good stuff." Plagg stuffed three slices into his mouth and given that his whole body was small enough to fit into the palm of Kokichi's hand, it looked like quite a lot of cheese. "If you don't keep me well fed, I won't be able to transform you, you know."

"I didn't."

"Well now you do! Keep up, kid."

Kokichi rolled his eyes. "Come on, get to the good stuff already. What can you do?"

Plagg shoved another sheet of cheese into his mouth. For all his complaints, he was certainly devouring the stuff fast enough. He made a note to put cheese on the shopping list, since they were apparently going to need a lot of it. "What can I do, aside from give you enhanced strength, speed, durability, and make you better than any human could ever hope to be on their own?"

"Yeah, aside from that," Kokichi said with a grin.

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Kids these days are so ungrateful." 

Kokichi looked at his nails. "It takes a lot to impress me, what can I say?"

"You could start with thank you, Plagg. I'm really happy to have you, Plagg. Here's some more cheese, Plagg. You know, the normal things you say when you're offered supernatural powers."

"Yeah, yeah. Get on with it, cat."

Plagg huffed and stuffed more cheese into his mouth before sighing in contentment and flopping on the table. Kokichi hoped that he didn't eat that much cheese every time. "I am the kwami of destruction. With one word, you can destroy anything you touch. Bam, instantly to dust. So you'd better be careful with it."

"What's the word?"

"Cataclysm," Plagg told him. "Obviously it only works when you're transformed. And also you won't have me around to guide you when you do transform, so you'd best listen up now or else be up a creek later."

"Wait, why won't I?" Kokichi questioned.

"If I'm transforming you, I can't also be out here talking now can I?" Plagg asked.

"Yeah, that makes sense, I guess."

"Now, to transform all you need to say is 'Claws Out' and to turn back 'Claws in' It's all pretty simple."

"Then let's test it!"

Plagg floated up off the table. "Ready when you are, kid."

"Claws out!" Plagg was sucked into the ring and a flash of green light rushed over him before he found himself completely transformed. He ran over to the nearest mirror to look at himself. He had black leather jacket over a purple shirt, two tails, a black cat with cat ears on it, as well as googles, black pain formed a mask over his eyes which had been large and catlike, and black pants. He looked like a perfect cross between a hero and a thief. "Perfect," he said to himself. "Things are about to get a lot more interesting."