#this is destroying my sanity i can’t see a thing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

trippinsorrows · 17 days

Text

with me + part four

authors note: the love and response to this story continues to absolutely floor me. you guys are all so sweet! i was nervous about posting, but everyone has made me feel so happy that i did, so thank you!

couple of hints about things sprinkled through this one. the more i write, the more things are getting fleshed out, so idk how many parts this will be atp, nothing too crazy though!!!

also, some tags don't seem to work for some reason, like when i type it, the hyperlink doesn't appear so super sorry to those impacted by that!!!

warnings: angst, fluff, language, suggestive content

song inspo: with me by destiny’s child

word count: 5.8k

taglist: @pixiedust4000 @southerngirl41 @yolobloggers @msbigredmachine @wonderingfashion @shayaaaaaaa @usoholic @brokenglassslippers @gators-aid @dersha89 @southerngirl41 @empressdede

You couldn't eat.

Couldn't sleep.

Could barely think straight.

All that consumed you, ate at you, gnawed at your sanity was one thought and one thought alone.

He wanted to take her from you.

Joe wanted to take your daughter from you, your four year old daughter who still couldn't even go to sleep at night unless she got to see or speak to you.

The daughter who he'd only known existed just recently but was seemingly set on ripping away from you.

That thought destroyed you, made you raw from blistering agony at just the idea of not having Callie with you full time. It destroyed you to the point that you decided to throw some clothes on, hop in your car, and set your google maps for the hotel you knew he’d be staying at. Damn the fact that it was the middle of the night or that you were stupid as hell for being in that situation in the first place. None of that mattered.

You needed to talk to him, and you needed to talk to him now.

Joe opens the door with a forceful swing, looking as irritated and disheveled as you’d expect one to look at nearly 1am in the morning. However, when his eyes land on you, confusion meshes with irritation. “Y/N?”

“Hi.” It’s said in a breathy tone. You're struggling to remember the script you rehearsed the whole drive there. “I’m sorry. I know it’s late—”

“What the..….” He sighs heavily and steps aside, motioning for you to come in. “Get in here.”

You don’t need to be told twice, looking around the hotel room that looks so plain and undeserving of someone with Joe’s stature. But, you also know this area isn’t exactly saturated with 5 star hotels, far from it. This is probably the most elite one he could find with such short notice, and it’s not bad at all, just….basic.

He clears his throat, and you return your attention to the man who you just realized is also shirtless. If not for the pending mental breakdown you’re fighting to keep at bay, it would be extremely distracting. Joe is a lot of things, and fine as hell is at the top of that list.

“What are you doing here, Y/N?” He sounds exhausted, and you can’t tell if it’s from the argument earlier that day or being woken up in the middle of the night. Probably both.

“I just—I need to talk to you.”

“Now?”

Nodding, you continue. “I know….I know I messed up, okay? I should have told you, but I just—I need you to look at it from my perspective. I need you to just hear me out, and if—if you still feel the same way, then–then I’ll have to deal with that….but please.”

He’s leaning back against the dresser, arms crossed, taking time to answer as he weighs your offer. Finally, he concedes, “you came all the way over here. I’m not just gonna send you away.”

You’re thankful for him being willing to at least hear some of what you have to say. “Callie.....she was conceived the last time we were together.” Not sure if that part was necessary or the best way to start out, you quickly move on to the next point. “I didn’t find out I was pregnant until two months later. And on top of not knowing what the fuck to feel, I barely knew what to do. I was pregnant by a married man that I’d been sleeping with for three years. A married, famous man at that. Who I finally decided I needed to move on from.”

Revisiting this is harder than you expected, harder than when you rehearsed it on your drive here. “I was scared, Joe, okay? I was scared, so I—I did what I thought was best at that time, and clearly it was wrong. I 100% own up to that, and you get to be angry with me, but you don’t get to let that anger influence your decision making, because it is.”

This is the part you debated so deeply on whether to say or not say, to potentially poke the already irate bear. But, you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t speak up for yourself and your daughter. “You want a legal custody arrangement, and I understand why, but—Joe, your name isn’t even on her birth certificate, but to tell you the truth…..I wanted it to be. I did.” Whether he believes you or not is on him, but it’s true. Because while he wasn't present in her life, he was still her father. Nothing would change that. “They wouldn’t do it without you present and without a paternity test—”

“I could have been there,” he interrupts, sounding more hurt than anything. “I should have been there.”

“You’re right, but you weren’t, and I’m sorry for that too. I’m not trying to make any excuses here, just lay out facts. And the fact is that you can get a paternity test, you can establish paternity, and you can try to secure joint custody, but we both know there’s no way you can take her on. You work nonstop, Joe, and she can’t be on the road like that. She’s four for fucks sake. Calista needs stability, and she has that with me. You know I’m right.”

And you can see that he sees you’re right, the wheels turning in his head as he takes in your sound predictions.

“And I know you don’t right now, and that’s okay, but I am asking you to please trust me enough to know that I will not get in the way of you getting to know Calista. Trust that I only want what’s best for her, I’ve only ever wanted what was best for her.”

“Why should I?” Despite his words, you can see and hear the crumbling of his defenses, of the brick and mortar wall he'd erected earlier during the first round of this conversation. “What’s different now?”

“Because she asked about you.” This is the part that crushes you the most, that makes you wonder if you’ll ever be able to forgive yourself for even putting her in that situation. “Because she thinks you’re not in her life because she’s not a good girl, and I will not have my child grow up thinking she wasn’t good enough for her father to want to be in her life.”

You won’t let her grow up like you.

Period.

Having this discussion, saying these things aloud, you’re slowly starting to recognize how some of your own unaddressed issues have contributed to this situation. How your refusal to confront buried trauma has bled into another generation. It’s…..uncomfortable, to say the least.

And something you definitely need to revisit, probably sooner rather than later. Just…not right now.

You’ve got to sort this through first.

It’s after a few minutes of silence that he finally speaks, voice surprisingly calm. “You’re right.” You let out a deep breath, nearly falling back at his words. You knew he was wavering but not to the point where he would yield. “I know….I know our situation is complicated, and I’m sorry for being so cold with you. I just—fuck, I don’t know how to process all of this.”

You cross your arms over your chest. “Neither do I, but we can figure it out, because we can’t…..we can’t put her through a custody battle. I won’t do that.” Despite your very valid facts, you also recognize that while he probably wouldn’t win, he has access to the best legal team money can buy and would outlast you in court by miles.

You won’t say it aloud, not even sure if you can, but you’d soon rather concede than put her through that. You’d give him whatever he asked for if it meant sparing her from that trauma.

It’s a far cry from your stance hours earlier, but time and actually thinking things through made you realize the pain you’d experience at having Callie taken from you would be nothing compared to what that experience would do to her. You know custody disputes can be long and nasty, and though she was still young, you didn’t want to find out if they would question her.

You’d sacrifice your soul and surrender.

You loved her enough to let her go.

“You’re right.” He repeats himself, even and calm. It’s such a stark difference for both of you compared to the blowup from earlier. There’s actual communication occurring, talking with each other, instead of at each other. Listening to hear, not to react. “I—I couldn’t do that to you. I spoke out of anger. My schedule is crazy and she needs stability. You give her that.”

There’s an insurmountable amount of relief that washes over you at his words. It’s night and day from the angry—though rightfully—man that stood before you earlier today. And you couldn’t be more grateful.

“Thank you.” There aren’t enough words to adequately express the depth of your gratitude. Joe is well within his right to be upset, and like you said, you’ll take whatever that is, so long as the both of you can agree that Callie being with you is for the best. For her, but for you too. You won’t deny that. Your daughter is your life, and the thought of being without her, even for a period of time makes you sick to your stomach. “I–” You wipe your eyes, completely unaware that you’d been crying at one point, the tears starting to dry up. “I’m taking off work tomorrow and keeping her home. You…you can come over once I pick her up from Mariah's."

His eyes light up with appreciation that matches your own for his willingness to look past his feelings to do what’s best for your child. “Yeah?”

You offer a small smile. “I’ll probably get her around 10 and text you when you can head over.”

He nods, and the excitement in his expression warms you. It’s so strange how you can go through so many emotions in such a short time regarding the man in front of you. He always has been able to evoke things out of you that no one else could.

“Thank you, Y/N.”

The way he takes you in, assessing you, it makes you shift your weight from one foot to another. Your hoodie suddenly feels too heavy, warmth climbing up to your cheeks. “I—” You gesture to the door with your thumb. “I should head out.”

It’s when you turn to leave that he grabs your wrist to stop you.

“Where are you going?”

Your brow lifts at his tone and words, confused by the quick change and his hand on your arm. “Umm, home?”

“Like hell you are.” His dismissal is firm and final as he informs, “you'll crash here tonight.” Your face must be painted in defiance, because he explains, “it's almost 2 in the morning, and you look exhausted. I'm not letting you get on the road. Anything could happen.”

“Joe—”

He lifts his hand, silencing you as he points to the middle of the room. “You can take the bed. It's uncomfortable anyway.”

Ironically, a small yawn escapes, further proving his point. You are exhausted, in several different ways. The idea of driving back home right now is not nearly as appealing as sleeping off the day's events. “Okay.” Remembering his comment, you add, “you could have picked one of those fancy hotels ya'll stay in, you know.”

“I don't think there's anything ‘fancy’ within 30 miles of here.” He's not entirely wrong, the town's local steakhouse is considered the definition of fine dining and hotspot for special occasions.

“There were once rumors of a Hilton being built.”

He looks almost hopeful. “When was that?”

You bite down on your lip. “When I was in middle school.” A small laugh escapes at his look of exasperation.

“You should take the bed. It's gotta be more comfortable than the alternative.” Truly, because the idea of Joe's big ass trying to sleep on a damn fold out sofa is both hilarious and tragic. “I just need a shirt.”

He looks at you. “A shirt?”

“Yeah.”

“Because…..”

Rolling your eyes, you tug at your old college hoodie. “I can't sleep in this. It's uncomfortable as hell. I dress light at night. You know—” And you stop yourself, because he shouldn’t remember that you always sleep in either a big shirt or thin top and shorts, never more, oftentimes nothing at all when he was in town.

For obvious reasons.

You’re grateful when he turns away and digs through his bag, probably the only one he took with him. He always traveled lightly. He comes back, reaching you one of his black t-shirts.

“Thanks.” Accepting the item, you walk over to the bathroom, closing the door behind you. Standing in the mirror, you take in your appearance. Joe was being nice by saying you look exhausted, cause you look like shit, every bit of the days events, loud and blaring. Blowing out a breath, you start removing your clothes but pause when you go to remove your bra.

Is that….is that too much? You haven’t slept in a bra in years. Not since puberty randomly hit you over the summer between freshman and sophomore year, where you went from a modest A cup to a whopping D. And post Callie body definitely wasn’t a D anymore. It just seems….it seems indecorous.

Deciding to go with safe instead of sorry, you swallow your discomfort and keep your bra on. With the hair tie on your wrist, you do your best to pineapple your hair, knowing good and well it’ll be frizzfest when you wake up but not really caring.

Another yawn leaves your mouth as you walk out the bathroom only to turn into a scowl as you find Joe sitting on the sofa on his phone.

If it wasn’t so late and you weren’t so tired, you’d argue with him why it’s stupid of you to take the bed. He’s at least a foot taller than you. But, you don’t have it in you so just mutter “stubborn asshole,” place your folded clothes on the dresser, and climb into the bed.

You double check your alarm is still set for the right time and lean across the bed to place it on the nightstand. There’s a comfortable silence between the two of you for a couple of minutes, your eyes closing as you try to sleep, even if for a couple of hours before you have to get back on the road.

“What is she like?”

Your eyes open at his question, unexpected but understood. You think about it, wondering how to answer, how to explain all of the wonderful things that is your child. Finally, you settle on an answer, soft and honest.

“You'll find out for yourself tomorrow.” And turning on your side, you murmur, “goodnight, Joe.”

He doesn’t say anything after that.

But while you sleep with the hope of believing that this can be worked out between the two of you, Joe lies awake, taking his turn with mind running a mile a minute.

He knew this would be difficult, knew it was going to get ugly to some extent, but what he didn’t expect was how impacted he'd be by seeing you again.

There was a stark difference between seeing you in photos and seeing you in person. His anger at the situation helped him to not react as strongly, but not as much as he liked or needed it to.

Because regardless of all his outrage, he’d missed you.

Even with your deception, with your deceit and all of his confusing emotions toward you in this whole situation, he missed you.

Joe might not be ready to admit it aloud, but he’s never gotten over you. And not for lack of trying. He’d had a period where he tried to fuck away his feelings, tried to busy himself in between the legs of other women, his favorite distraction when he was in his twenties. Tried to remind himself that it was never meant to turn into anything anyway, that it wasn’t a big deal. But his efforts were fruitless and a waste of time.

He cared about you, he cared about you, arguably, more than he’d ever cared about a woman. Even….even Jadah.

The night you ended things was still a sore spot for him, still something he plays over in his head trying to make sense of. On the surface level, it’s pretty plain and simple. You wanted more, he couldn’t give it to you, so you moved on. 1+1. He was legally married for fucks sake. He couldn’t blame you for wanting more, but there was also a part of him that wondered why you didn’t just ask him for more.

Then again, that went both ways. Why didn’t he ask you for more?

It’s easy to say it was because of Jadah, because of his marriage, and that was both true and untrue. On his part, anyway. Divorce was easy in name but far from it in every other area. And for him, meant being forced to confront demons he tried his best to keep at bay. Up until two months ago, at least

Joe closes his eyes. This is all too much.

He came here ready to confront you, and he had, in fucked up way, even if partially deserved. He came here to meet his daughter, to begin to form a bond with her, and he will do that. He just has to push the complicated feelings for you to the side and place them on the backburner until he can sort through that mess.

Calista is his priority right now. Whatever this is between you and him can be figured out later.

Hopefully.

________

“She can be shy until she gets to know you.”

The day seems to have escaped you, getting on the road early in the morning to drive back and prepare to pick up Callie. She’s thrilled to see you, and vice versa. The two of you spend the beginning of the morning together, stopping at a local diner to share a breakfast before heading back to your apartment. You spend a little more time together, one on one, before texting Joe to head over, staying true to your word.

Especially since he informed you that he had to fly out tomorrow morning. You expected as such, knowing he’d probably already been gone longer than higher ups liked. He could only push the limits so much.

You don’t even have to be looking at him to know he’s nervous, an understandable but strange thing. Weird almost. Joe’s a lot of things, but nervous has never been one of them. “But once she gets comfortable, she won’t shut up.” That makes him smile, and you’re grateful for that. Sure enough, you find Callie in her playroom, which used to be your office space, but the more spoiled she became from your mom, the more you realized her room was too small for all of her stuff. “Hey, Callie Bear.”

Callie looks up, smile bright as she runs over to you. You lean down to meet her hug. She gives the best, loving hugs. “I’m making you something, mommy.”

You gasp. “You are? Well, I can’t wait to see it.”

“It’s a surprise, so no peeking!” She lifts her little finger, wagging it in your face. Laughing, you nod and push back some of her curls. Callie’s eyes then land on Joe’s massive frame standing near the doorway, silently observing. You can see the emotions so clearly on his face: surprise, shock, happiness.

Callie’s smile dims as she moves closer to you, holding you close, her stranger danger kicking in. A small part of you is grateful that even at almost five, she knows to be cautious. Then there’s the other part of you that’s saddened at the fact that the “stranger” she’s cautious of is her own father. “Baby, this is….this is….”

“I’m Joe,” he finishes for you, and you’re both grateful and annoyed. Conflicted because a small part of you wanted to be the one to tell her, but also grateful he ironically took that responsibility off of you. “I’m an old friend of your mom’s.”

Welp.

That’s not….that’s not what you expected him to say, not what you two discussed. It wasn’t explicitly stated, but you were under the impression that they would tell her the truth. His statement isn’t exactly a lie, you did once consider Joe to be a friend, much more than that, but still. Joe’s role in Callie’s life is significantly more than that.

This seems to ebb away some of Callie’s caution as she asks, “really?” Her eyes fall on you, almost looking for approval. With a tight smile, you nod, giving her the relief she needs to loosen her hold on you. “Do you like Disney?” That causes you to genuinely laugh, something your sweet child definitely inherited from both you and your mom was a love of Disney.

“I do,” he answers, and you pause. Does he really? Perhaps. Regardless, it’s a smart answer for your Disney loving child. “Do you?”

Callie nods happily, grabbing your arm and twisting it to show the ‘remember who you are’ tattoo on your wrist. “Mommy and grandma have Disney tattoos, and mommy’s gonna get a Moana one for me!”

“Really?” Joe, now crouched down to be at her eye level, sounds genuinely interested, and maybe he is. Callie is impressively charismatic at only four. She’s also his daughter who he’s wanting to develop a relationship with, so it’s not far-fetched that she could be talking to him about the rate at which grass grows, and he would entertain it like he was watching a 49ers game. “You like Moana?”

Is water wet? “She’s the bestest! Right, mommy?”

You chuckle, fixing her shirt. “She watches it almost every day.” You always found it interesting, ironic even, that your daughter instantly gravitated to Moana, unaware that the voice of freaking Maui is her cousin, that she too had pacific islander ancestry. Through her dad. The dad you kept from her.

“You know I don’t know if I’ve seen that one—”

Callie’s mouth drops open as she looks at you, “mommy, can we watch it? Please? Please? Pleeeeaaassseeee?”

“Okay, okay, okay,” you relent after pretending to think about it. You like to limit her screentime to two hours, and even though she already watched The Princess and the Frog earlier for the 97th time this month, there was no way you were not gonna allow this bonding opportunity.

Squealing, Callie surprises you by breaking away and moving over to Joe, reaching for his hand. “Let’s go, Joe!” She pulls on the sleeve of his hoodie, probably to lead him into the living room where Disney Plus is signed in.

Alone in her playroom, you run over what just happened. You thought you would tell her the truth, tell her that this is the father she was asking about, the one she thought didn’t want her when in actuality, he wanted to know everything there was to know about her.

And for a second, you get pissed off. Why wasn’t Joe honest with her? Isn’t this what he wanted? To be in her life. It’s confusing. He is confusing. But….you try to give him the benefit of the doubt, certain that he must have some reason behind his actions. You just hope they’re damn good reasons.

“Mommy!” You know that tone of hers, the tone that tells you a request is to follow.

You shout back, “yes?”

“Joe likes popcorn too! Can we have some?”

You laugh and shake your head, shouting out an ‘okay’. Walking out of the room and into the living room, you find Callie near the TV, arm outstretched as she explains every detail of Moana, even the most obvious ones. But, Joe is sitting on the sofa, watching and listening intently. His smile is stapled.

He looks…..he looks so happy.

Moving into the kitchen, you move around quietly to not interrupt and to get their popcorn made.

Waiting for the popcorn to finish, you hear Callie ‘whisper’ to Joe, “Mommy can’t cook, but she makes good snacks.”

Amid his laughter, you walk near the living room, hands on her hips. “I heard that, little ms. ma’am.”

“That’s what Grandma says,” Callie defends with a shrug of her little shoulders. “She says mommy is pretty and smart and funny, but she burns water.” She looks off, confused, as if it’s finally registering to her that that doesn’t make sense. “Mommy, how do you burn water?”

Joe is on the sofa, hand over his mouth, fighting for his life. You also can’t help but laugh at the absolutely serious look on her face. “Finish your movie.”

The microwave dings, so you grab two bowls and fill them up equally. Delivering them to both, you place hers on the coffee table as she’s back to narrating. “Popcorn, as requested.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes go wide with excitement as she suddenly asks, “will you watch it with us?”

Damn. You had a feeling she would ask but was hoping she wouldn’t. Disappointing her twice in one weekend felt criminal. “Callie, I'm super behind with work.”

“Pleeeeasssseeee.” She starts with the begging again and then looks at Joe to inform him, “mommy’s a teacher. Do you have a job?”

Joe chuckles. “I do.”

“What do you do?” She asks in a sing-song tone. You give him that ‘I told you she never shuts up’ look.

“I’m a professional wrestler.”

She’s clearly intrigued, asking, “are you actually good?”

“Callie!” This little girl and her lack of filter sometimes never ceases to amaze you. Your mom swears up and down it’s your payback from how blunt you were as a child.

You’re starting to believe it.

Joe gives a shrug, clearly loving every bit of this. You can tell he wants her to keep the questions coming. He’ll answer em’ all if it means getting to spend time with her. “I’m alright.”

At that, you give him a look and crouch down to her level. “He’s very good.” You take the remote and quickly pause the TV, adding on, “matter of fact, he’s the universal undisputed champion.” Joe gives you a look, and you can tell he’s surprised by you knowing this piece of information.

You don’t watch wrestling as much as you used to, partially due to what happened between the two of you, mostly because you don’t have the time, but even non-wrestling people know about Roman Reigns and his current, historic title reign. You’re not sure if you’d feel entirely comfortable saying it to him, but you’re massively proud of Joe and all he’s accomplished. You always knew he could do it.

Her eyes widen with excitement and curiosity as she looks at Joe for clarification. “Really?”

“That is true.”

Head tilted, she moves away from you and climbs on the sofa to sit next to him. Her little legs crossed over as she continues with the questions. “What does undis—undis—”

He helps her out, also angling his body more toward her. “Undisputed?”

“Yeah! What does that mean?”

You can see he’s taking a minute to decide how to answer. “It means I don’t lose. Ever.”

“Whoooaaaa,” she breathes, obviously impressed. “You must eat a lot of veggies. I don’t like them, but mommy says they make you big and strong.”

“Your mom is right,” he agrees and looks her over. “You’re a very smart little girl. How old are you again? Like 15?”

“No, I’m four!” She giggles and lifts up four fingers. “But, I’ll be five on May 19th!”

His gaze softens. “Your birthday is in May?” She nods, happily. His smile is warm, emotional. “So is mine.”

You still for a moment. You hadn’t even thought about that, that her birthday was just days away from his. There’s something strangely sweet and moving about this fact, both to you and definitely to him.

“Really?”

And that’s how it plays out for the rest of the day, a combination of Callie’s incessant questions, intermittent viewing of Moana and parts of Encanto. Lunch and dinner sprinkled somewhere in between. You’re even able to sneak off to do your lesson planning, Callie more than fine with just Joe to entertain her.

It warms your heart to see them connect almost instantaneously.

It’s why you wait as long as you can to interrupt, never wanting to do so, to invade their moment. But, you also know your daughter, know that she needs a certain amount of sleep to function the next day. And when you check in on them and catch her yawning, you know it’s unfortunately that time.

Sighing, you enter the living room with your arms crossed. “Callie Bear, it’s time to start getting ready for bed, mamas.”

“Nooo.” She whines. “I’m not tired.” Her groggy voice and scowl would indicate otherwise.

“Of course, you’re not.” You bend down in front of her and reach for her hand. “Come on, we gotta tell Joe bye. He’s gotta get back to his hotel.” Despite her obvious objections, she climbs off the sofa and accepts your hand but not before looking at him.

“Will you come over again tomorrow?” She asks with hopeful eyes and a voice of excitement, both things that make being honest with her that much harder.

He obviously doesn’t want to give her the truth, but it’s better than the alternative. With a frown, he answers, “I wish….but I’ve gotta get back to work tomorrow, Callie.”

Her smile drops, and sadness arises. “Why? Do you have to go?” Her quiet voice is comprised of disappointment and despondency. You can tell it hurts him. Her hope is dashed, replaced with sadness. “When will you come back?”

“As soon as he can.” You jump in to assist, hating the way he looks so devastated not having a specific date for her. Truth be told, you wouldn’t be surprised if he won’t be able to get away for another few weeks, if not more. “And you know what, you can use my iPad to Facetime him when he’s available anytime you want.”

Her eyes light up. “Really?”

“Of course,” he assures. He reaches to push some hair out of her face. “I’ll call you whenever I can.”

She gives him a small smile. “You promise?”

Joe swallows. “I promise, sweetheart.”

Pleased and obviously ecstatic at this information, she surprises the both of you by tearing her hand from you to throw her little arms around him for an unexpected hug. You’re not sure why, but the sight makes your eyes water. His eyes close as he gently wraps his arms around her as well. You look away, almost uncomfortable interrupting this moment between the two of them.

When she pulls away, you swear you see disappointment reappear in his eyes. “Bye, Joe.”

She returns to your side, and you gently direct her, “go put on your jammies and pick out a book. I’ll be right there in a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay, mommy.” Without protest, she turns and heads back to her room. When it’s just the two of you, you turn to him, “she really likes you.” It feels silly saying such a thing. He’s her father. She should like him. She should love him.

But you also know better than anyone that being someone’s biological parent doesn’t automatically make them a parent.

“That’s why you didn’t tell her, isn’t it? You want to gain her friendship first.” In watching and participating in the interaction between them, it dawned on you just why he didn’t tell her right away. Joe wanted to first establish a baseline with Callie, wanted her to get to know him just for him, to bond with him not because he was her dad, but because she wanted to.

And clearly….clearly it worked.

“She’s amazing,” he whispers. You see he’s still caught up in the emotion of it all, meeting his daughter for the first time, connecting with her as quickly and easily as he has.

“She is,” you agree, suddenly remembering why you’d dismissed Callie. “I–I uhh, I have something for you.” Standing back up—your knees were gonna hate you tomorrow—you pull the thumbdrive out of the back pocket of your jeans. He also stands with you. “I was that new mom who was intent on documenting every single thing my kid did, and I’m kinda glad I did now.” You reach and drop it in his open palm. “I got everything on video. Her first word, first time crawling, first time walking….all of it.” Suddenly uncomfortable with his silence, you add on, “I know it’s not the same as being there, but—”

“Thank you.” he interrupts in a quiet voice, immensely grateful to you at this moment. “Thank you, Y/N.”

Emotion seems to be the keyword of the day, because yours are also all over the place, for a variety of reasons. It’s an experience that’s both overwhelming and confusing, but also….nice? You can’t necessarily describe it, but there’s something comforting about Joe having a role in Callie’s life.

But that doesn’t equate with your decision to not tell him about her in the first place, hence why you’re a hot ass, confused mess.

He’s making you feel things again, and you don’t like it.

“I know getting back here won’t be easy, especially with the holidays rolling around. But, whenever you can come, you’re welcome. I mean it.” Thanksgiving is less than 3 weeks away. You’re highly doubtful he’ll be touching down before then. “Christmas is her favorite holiday. I know she’d love to have you here for that.”

“I’ll be back before Christmas and for Christmas.” You don’t know how, but you do know he’s convinced of it, and you don’t put it past him. He seems entirely determined.

“Okay.” You walk him to the door, unsure why your bodies being so close to each other is an uncomfortable yet pleasing feeling. “Oh,” you suddenly remember something. “You need to make a Snapchat account.”

He scowls almost instantly. “A what?” A small laugh escapes you at his instant disgust. “I’m too old for that shit.”

“We both are, but it’s an easy way for me to share Callie and all her randomness with people. Make it and send me the username. I’ll add you.” It seems all it takes is for you to mention Callie, and he’s sold. He nods in agreement, all distaste washed away with the eagerness of receiving photos and videos of Callie on the regular. You keep your hand on the door, chewing on your lip, murmuring, “Goodnight, Joe.”

He gives you a look, something unspoken in his eyes. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

Closing the door behind you, you lock it and take a deep breath, unsure why your stomach is in knots. Not from anxiety or fear but happiness.

You’re happy to have Joe back in your life, even with all of the bullshit that’s transpired in this single day. There’s something relieving about having him around, and you know it’s for Callie. It needs to be just for Callie, because what you can never do again is allow yourself to fall back into that situation.

No matter how badly your heart and your head are clashing right now.

No matter how much you're starting to wonder if your heart ever really left that situation.

#roman reigns x black!oc #roman reigns x black!reader #roman reigns fic #roman reigns #arisnotebook

134 notes · View notes

hunnieknight · 2 years

Note

Sorry if you cant understand this request but...

Can I request any Yan!Genshin character(s) reaction to seeing Reader not using their gifts. When they ask about it Reader just says they are keeping it safe by not using it because their really clumsy and dosent want to destroy it...

(I just want to say your Yan!Academy!Genshin art is very cute and its very lovely <3)

"Sorry, i just can't trust myself to not break it" (+Art)

Yan!Genshin charas when you don't use their gift (int his context,i would assume trinkets and stuff)

CW : Soft yan, this time they are nice, fluff(?), implying possessive behaviour

~~~~

When you guys meet again, they see no glimpse of the gift they gave ON you. Then you explain that it is too precious so you store it somewhere.

“Huh? So what? I can always buy or fix it for you”.

They can always get/ make another one. But deep down, they feel warmth in their sick twisted heart.

“You cherish it so much you are worried it will break?? Oh! You know the only thing you can break from me is my patience sanity, darling.” (Ningguang, Childe, Kaeya, )

~~~~

Confused, perplexed, bewildered, distressed. Even though you assure them that you are just worried about the gift breaking or missing, they can’t get rid of the feeling that you mean otherwise.

‘Is it...bad? Is it not to your liking? Are you too ashamed to wear it? Wait, what if you actually wear someone else’s gift?!”.

Why don’t you wear it? They just want to show their love to you by ‘marking’ you of their item, don’t you want people to know you are theirs?? Well, no matter! They will just give you more kinds of gifts and hope you will wear one of them.

“Oh..you sure? Maybe it is not to your liking? You are clumsy and afraid to break it? Well, at this point you might as well break my heart-“ (Diluc, Aether, Ayaka, Itto)

~~~~

"I see.” They understand, if they were in your shoes, they too would store any precious items from you close to them. Hell! If it is possible they would totally stick it right beside their heart.

“Well, I know how to properly keep the gift I gave you in pristine condition. It is better if I do it myself, I assume the gift is at your home? No, I don’t mind the walk, let’s go to your house. I insist” careful,they might take a souvenir from your house (Albedo, Zhongli, Tighnari, Eula)

~~~~

“I’m a bit offended, really. Is it really that hard to take care of a gift from me? What’s with that look? You know I am just joking~”

they are not joking Please wear it next time (Cyno,Ayato,Yae)

I wanna make reader/you wear fingerless glove ngl

#omg this is long #you know im lazy in drawing this #genshin women #imaginedraw #yandere childe #yandere ningguang #yandere thoma #yandere genshin x reader #yandere zhongli #yandere genshin imagines #yandere itto #yandere gorou #yandere yae miko #yandere diluc #yandere tighnari #soft yandere

2K notes · View notes

mikareo · 7 months

Text

⌗ SNOWDROP ₊ ˖ ་. nagi seishiro x fem reader (5.4k)

⊹ ⠀⠀ it's the end of the world and he's possibly the most unprepared person alive…perhaps he can rely on the pretty girl with perfect aim who just so happened to save his life at the very last second. he’s never been in love but maybe this love could last…so long as the both of you stay alive.

contains; resident evil inspired, badass agent!reader, helpless civilian!nagi, zombie apocalypse, guns, knives, blood, gore, swearing, angst, fluffy flirting, love at first sight, major character death, reo cameo!!!!, cannibalism (zombies) author's note; this fic destroyed my sanity, but i hope u like it! there are parts that are so unserious asjkl just trust me that it's a good read and pt2 is gonna be fucking crazy

⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀ videogame au milestone collab masterlist !

This can’t be happening. There’s no way this is actually fucking happening right now.

He’s sprinting at full speed, his laces are barely tied, and the smoke in the air is surely clogging his lungs into a blackened pulp of nothingness. To be quite frank, Nagi would rather have those poisoned lungs than discover whatever the hell happened to his neighbors down the hall…because damn they look like they’re in some rough shape. With their sunken eyes, flaking skin, and very obvious urge to suddenly turn to cannibalism, that’s not really his vibe…but that’s a falling telephone pole! Holy shit that’s a falling telephone pole coming straight his way in 3…2…1. JUMP!

Whew, that was a close one. Good thing he’s tall!

The shift in humanity didn’t exactly happen overnight. It was actually just twenty minutes ago when his peace was so rudely interrupted. There he was, snuggled up in his gaming chair with a fresh bag of Cool Ranch Doritos opened and ready to meet his belly, when he finally beat the last level of his new favorite game; only to discover that those screams of terror and fear…yea those weren’t coming from his PC and his living room window is now a pile of ash. Nagi doesn’t think he’s ever seen so much red and yellow in his life, all of it becoming one big blur of flames that he somehow jumped through and landed on the street below— thankfully he lives on the ground floor, otherwise his body would join his couch in a pile of broken limbs. Damn, this is all such a hassle.

No one would be able to guess what it was that caused this chaos…okay, actually it’s not too out of this world; just a commercial jet falling from the sky with a monstrous thing (??) crawling out of the window onto the streets of Tokyo, whilst an oddly green gas dilutes the air.

Yeah, not too crazy— but just crazy enough to make even Nagi Seishiro, laziest man on earth, leave the comfort of his homely apartment to find his neighborhood in complete and utter chaos. He even saw his delivery man devouring the convenience store owner that always gives him an extra bonus off his nightly midnight snack. Man, he loved that guy. That’s a sight that’ll make him shudder for years to come; assuming he can stay alive for the next however many hours and days this newfound apocalypse is going to take.

Nagi thinks it’s been nearly an hour since he started running and he didn’t even know he had this much stamina in him. Maybe he’s secretly a superhuman or another one of the monsters the city has been consumed by— or perhaps his adrenaline rush is nearly infinite since he’s never utilized it in his entire life. He’s not sure of the logistics. He failed high school biology…and chemistry…and physics. There’s a reason why he turned to gaming and shied away from college. This thrill and rush isn’t meant for him. He’s a couch potato that wants to do nothing but rot and enjoy the satisfying ding Twitch gives him whenever he receives a new sub. His generation needs instant gratification…and right now? Well, he’s in desperate need of some water.

Hesitantly, Nagi rounds into the glass doors of the nearest and safest looking building he happens to see— which is luckily a convenience store similar to the one near his apartment. He’s more than surprised when the automatic doors open in a pinch and he’s able to enter with no difficulty. The store is somehow in little disarray, with its grocery items on the shelves in their rightful spots and few sparse bags of chips laying on the tile floor. However, what is in disarray is the pharmacy section. There are drugstore pills scattered everywhere. He can’t even tell what kind of medications were being scavenged in a clear panic for medical amenities, and highly doubts that whoever was searching for supplies was able to get any with the state the back of the store is in. The font on the labels is so small that Nagi, the man who stares at a screen all day, can’t decipher what they say; and he’s assuming that whoever was in here is long dead and gone. But then again…

…he’s never been the kind of guy who’s always right.

“I come in peace!” His voice is two octaves higher than it normally is. If this were a choir audition, he’d absolutely ace it. “I swear I just came for some water! Please don’t kill me, zombie, please!”

Both of his eyes are shut whilst he awaits his inevitable demise, assuming that the unknown presence in the room likely has an appetite for human organs. There were so many things he wanted to do with his life…like ride a hot air balloon? Actually, that would be really hot if he were that close to the sun. Surf in the Caribbean? Ew, he could get bit by a crab. Get a girlfriend? He can’t complain about that one, that would be very very nice.

Oh no, he’s already getting eaten…he can practically hear her imaginary laughter already.

“Really? Those are your last words?”

Zombies can talk?

Nagi fearfully inches one eye open to see the most gorgeous person he thinks he’s seen in his entire life. Sure, you look a little disheveled— with your soaked hair and dirt-crusted skin— but to him, you look like something out of his imagination. The female protagonist that he could only dream about campaigning with in a first-person-shooter game, and would later search for a worthy poster to stick on his wall. If love at first sight is real, then this is definitely it. The only issue? Your barrel is pointing straight at his face.

“You’re going to shoot me?” He exclaims, scrambling to back up but ultimately tripping on his own laces and landing on his ass. “Ah shit, that hurts.”

Elegantly, you rush to his side. “You have injuries?” With eyes scanning over every inch of his body, there’s genuine concern dripping from your tongue like honey. Your voice is like a melody, oh man. Nagi thinks he’s a goner— not because he could be eaten by zombies, but because he feels like he’d jump in front of a moving bus to protect you. Pfft, and some protection he’s doing, embarrassing himself like this…

“Nope, nothing’s hurt…” he mumbles, sitting up with an attempted nonchalant look on his face. “...only my ego.”

A small smile reveals itself before him and your eyes crinkle as you let out a little laugh, and instantly he’s almost more obsessed with you. It’s as if you’re some higher being that he was blessed to see on his final day on earth, with golden rays radiating from your skin and big irises that he could drown in. Perhaps if it weren’t the end of the world, the two of you could’ve walked to this store together— holding hands and speaking softly about your shared interests and passions— and he could make you laugh a million times and more…now that he’s really thinking about it, you’re the first girl he’s made laugh probably ever and he really wishes there wasn’t a menacing zombie apocalypse getting in the way of his beautiful fantasy.

“I’m assuming you’re alone?” You stand up, looking down at him.

Alone as in single or…

“You don’t have any family that you escaped with?”

…okay not alone as in single. Got it.

“It’s just me,” Nagi stands to his feet and is loving your shocked reaction to his towering height. “My family’s overseas right now, so I think they’re alright. I mean, I hope they’re alright. I don’t have any service to reach them, right now. My phone is down.”

You nod, reaching in your bag for something he can’t quite see. What he can see, though, is the massive shotgun strapped to your back and three large cartridges hanging from your belt— somehow you’re able to carry all that and four grenades, two handguns, and six rolls of bandages in that pack of yours, which you lay out for him so lovingly on the floor.

“Take what you need.” Oh hell, what has he gotten himself into?

As he backs up cautiously, realization dawns upon your face. “You’ve never done this before have you?”

“Is living through a zombie apocalypse a common experience?” His mouth is agape. “Yeah, sorry…can’t say this isn’t the first time for me.”

A sigh slips from your lips and you gather your things, packing everything into your bag except for a standard handgun. Nagi can feel his heartbeat picking up as you take three steps closer to him. One. Two. Three. He wishes you’d chosen to take a fourth— that way you’d be nose to nose, he’d get to see your beauty up close, and then memorize the curves and features of your face— which he’d surely never forget as he’d think about them morning, night, and day. He’d love to fantasize about you for hours but you have other plans, dropping said standard handgun into his palms.

“Just aim for the head, okay?”

Um. No. Not okay.

“I don’t really shoot real guns…” he rambles, attempting to get rid of the deadly weapon you’ve so casually given him. “I’m more of a lover, y’know? Talk things out instead of shooting things in between their eyes? I like digital zombies! Yeah, those guys are chill…love ‘em so much…please take this away from me.”

You shake your head, already on your way out of the door. “Nope, you’re coming with me.”

“Why?” If this were a video game, there’d be a massive exclamation point flashing above his head, along with a grave that he could crawl into instead of joining you on this suicide mission. Being six feet under sounds pretty nice right about now…but he’s sure that the look you’re giving him is more deadly than any threat outside. “I don’t think I’m going to be much help to you.”

“Nagi, is it?” You clarify, to which he nods. “There are only two choices right now, and I know we just met but I’d rather you live than die. You’re tall. Your height is going to give you a range advantage when we’re out there, and I can already tell that you have great spatial awareness…not many people would’ve noticed me in the shadows. You know this area far better than I do, and sure, you’ve never held a gun before, but you’ve got to fight to live.”

As your voice continues in a soft-spoken tone, he’s mesmerized. “I want you to live, and I’m going to make sure you do.”

He can feel himself nodding along to your words— his heart getting lighter by the second, perhaps out of adrenaline but he’s going to believe it’s love. He needs something to look forward to when this is all over, if this is ever over, and that something is the image of you and him on a date. With you looking stunning in your favorite outfit and him hopefully looking better than he does right now…clear skies with the cicadas shushing themselves so he doesn’t miss a single thing you say…enough money in his bank account to cover anything and everything you wish for…and the biggest bouquet of your favorite flowers that he can find. What are your favorite flowers?

“Can I ask you something before I say yes?” Nagi’s voice is sweet, seemingly comforting you as your shoulders drop from their automated offensive stance. You look a little curious, likely assuming that he’s going to ask you some tips on how to shoot a gun— which he probably should if he’s being honest with himself, but that’s an issue that isn’t as important as his current curiosity. “Do you have a favorite flower?”

With teeth shining at him, he’s blinded by the overwhelming beauty you send his way and for the second time, he makes you laugh.

“My favorite flower? You’re so strange.” Overcome with a fit of giggles, he thinks that this is your first time laughing at something a man said as well. “Why do you need to know that? Are you asking me out or something?”

“I am.” He states bluntly and your cheeks flush red.

There’s a minute of silence between the two of you and each second is more excruciating than the last. With a heavy clock ticking in his ear, telling him that he’s made a fool of himself as the hand inches more and more to the left; he’s counting down his probable rejection as he’s just shot his shot in the middle of the end of the world. What a stupid decision. He knows his timing could be better— could be a lot better actually— and there’s a part of him that regrets even attempting…but none of that matters, because you’re smiling.

Maybe he makes you just as nervous as you make him…

“Okay Nagi,” you grin and adjust the shotgun strap across your chest. “If we both survive this, I promise I’ll go out with you…but I have some high expectations. I want the most expensive flower arrangement money can buy.”

“And what kind of flowers are you wishing for, gorgeous?” His voice is a sexy whisper, and Nagi didn’t even know he could be so seductive.

You jokingly roll your eyes at the pet name and toss him one of your inactive grenades, which he catches with ease, urging him to follow you into the chaos— but not before you give him the answer he so desperately desires.

“Snowdrops.”

There are two things that Nagi has realized in the past thirty minutes.

1.) He’s a lot more athletic than he thought he was.

Running for a half an hour straight is something that he never imagined himself doing— especially considering that he’s never stepped one foot into a gym in his entire life. What he originally thought to be clumsiness, turns out to be raw strength untouched. You were right to assume that his lengthy limbs would do him some justice in the fight for his life, and he’s thankful for his towering height as he’s blocked falling debris from smacking you atop the head nearly five times now; though, he did miss a flying sneaker that happened to nail you straight in the nose. He’s trying his best, give him a break.

2.) You might be a figment of his imagination.

Sure, this idea is likely false as he definitely felt your weight when you were sent flying from a stray hand grenade and landed on top of him, but you just seem so perfect. Getting to know you has been a dream come to life— though making conversation while running for his life isn’t the easiest feat, he’s managing. Some of the things you’ve told him do seem to be made up, though. For instance, you were the culprit behind the plane crash and while he’d love to picture a sunsetting sky with the two of you floating in the breeze, you’re not going to be piloting that jet. However, he has to give you a break because he’s never flown anything other than pixelated aircrafts, especially aircrafts that contain a deadly monster oozing toxic gas that turns people into zombies. Yeah, he couldn’t quite believe that either.

“On your left!” The sound of your voice snaps him back into focus and he realizes there are four zombified citizens barreling your way. “I could use some help here!”

You definitely don’t need his help. For God’s sake you have a shotgun the size of your leg that’s already mowed down three of them and Nagi’s just barely getting used to the sound of the bang. So far he’s pretty much been useless if not for letting you know what’s coming up in the distance, and also being the absolute last resort solution— which is rare, but oh shit it’s happening right now! You’re out of shells! How exactly does he fire this thing again?

Shakily, he attempts to point his handgun in the direction of the lone zombie bounding towards you. “Deep breaths, Nagi! Focus and aim!” Your words of encouragement are appreciated, but ultimately useless as he desperately starts stray shooting.

“Fucking aim!” You’re losing your patience for him so fast, to which he tries his best to calm down and breathe.

In and out.

His heart rate begins to slow.

Breathe and concentrate.

His eyes become unclouded by his anxiety, and his vision clears.

Lock on.

He has a mark on the target.

With his pistol’s aim assist shining against the zombie’s forehead, he confidently fires a single bullet. It soars through the air, squealing in its flight, and he lets out a sigh of relief…a sigh that he exhaled far too early.

Aw shit, he missed.

You grunt, bracing yourself against his bullet that ricochets off of the nearby telephone pole and grazes your right arm. He has a clear view of the scarlet blood dripping down your elbow and onto the pavement, and his heart feels heavy. He’s so fucking useless that he’s injuring you. Nagi doesn’t think it’s even possible to be worse at flirting than him; he can’t imagine that there are many guys who are accidentally shooting the girl they like, yet here he is.

Thankfully, you being the badass agent you are, you’ve managed to reload your eleven shells of ammo in the time it took for him to fire one bullet— and you easily dissolve the zombie to bits and pieces.

“Your aim can use a little work.” You snort, brushing your fingers against the small wound.

He rips the sleeve of his t-shirt off and attempts to wrap it around your arm. This is what you’re supposed to do, right? The only training he’s had in the medical field is from that one surgeon simulator game he played in middle school, and to be completely honest, it was a pretty good game! However, he’s definitely doing something wrong because you place your hand over his and show him how to properly treat an open wound. Normally, Nagi would be embarrassed that he’s failing so miserably right now— but honestly, the only thing on his mind is how this is the first time you’ve held his hand. He can’t tell if there are butterflies in his stomach or if the smell of blood is triggering vomit. Hopefully the former.

It’s no surprise that your perceptive self notices his focus on your intertwined hands, to which you take the lead and insist on pushing forward. “As romantic as this is, we should find some shelter before we get eaten in the midst of making out.”

Oh?

“You want to make out with me?”

Oof that slap hurt. His priorities clearly don’t align with yours.

“Okay, okay.” Nagi holds his hands up in surrender before you can smack his chest for a second time, and he’s finally able to notice your surroundings. Since when was the Mikage Buildingright behind you? Hm…the imminent fear of death must have distracted him. “My best friend’s family owns this tower here. I promise it’s safe.”

Your gaze narrows at the wall of glass windows that are seemingly spotless. There isn’t a single crack, faulty line, or zombie-sized hole that’s visible to the naked eye and he feels a little swell of pride for Reo’s family. Yeah, that’s right! My best friend’s parent’s architects are great at making buildings! It finally seems like he’s had his first good idea of the night, and Nagi couldn’t be more proud. Progress is progress (even if he shot you in the process)!

“It looks good.” You nod in approval and begin cautiously making your way towards the doors.

While following closely behind, he watches your back and ensures that there’s no one on your trail; which isn’t difficult in the slightest. Most of the civilians have died by now and you’ve already cleared every undead in the area…without his help. He doesn’t know how he managed to be so lucky that he ended up with you, but he’s grateful for every second— and now that you’re finally in his familiar territory, he can finally show you what he’s worth.

“There’s an elevator up these steps.” Nagi leads you up the grand staircase, remembering how he lazily trotted down it yesterday after Reo tried, once again, to convince him to join his football club. “I think it’ll work, I know they have emergency systems and everything.”

“I don’t know, Nagi…” your voice trails off, something amiss about it. “I just have a weird feeling about this place.”

“I promise Reo’s family’s going to take care of us, they’re the best.” He deflects your concerns, trusting that his friend will pull through and have some crazy solution to save the world. There’s never been a time where he couldn't count on Reo and as soon as you reach the top of these steps, you’ll agree. The text he sent out asking for help is almost delivered, just a few more seconds and that blue line will slide all the way to the right and Reo will be right down the elevator as soon as possible. 3…2…1…sent! There! You’ll both be saved!

But if Reo’s on the top floor in his room…why did his ringtone ding just meters away?

There’s a corpse laying in front of the elevator doors, mangled and bruised. How did Nagi not notice it before? Was he too distracted thinking of his closest and only friend he’s ever had? No way. The security team must have destroyed all of the zombies in the building already, he’s sure Reo and the others are fine— but why does that body look so familiar?

No.

It can’t be him.

Three steps away.

There’s got to be some kind of mistake here. A prank right?

Two steps away.

He can’t be dead. His best friend can’t be dead!

One.

“No…” With his voice trembling, he stands over his best friend’s body. Reo’s violet hair is drenched in blood, seemingly resembling the color of a plum rather than the typical lavender hue. If it were a normal day, Nagi would laugh at the awful color— telling his partner in crime that the shade didn’t suit him in the slightest and Reo would laugh in annoyance, aiming a ball straight for the taller boy’s head…but this isn’t a normal day. This is the end of the world; and that beautiful lavender flower that Nagi associated with his teammate is wilting. It’s dying. It’s dead along with the heartbeat within it. Reo is dead.

“Nagi. I need you to step back slowly.” He spins to see you with your barrel aimed at Reo’s corpse, but he can’t seem to move. It’s almost as if he’s been stunned, frozen in place with frostbite cementing his legs to the granite floors, and mouth encased in ice. He’s so overwhelmed that he can’t even open his mouth to give you a warning that there’s something moving behind you. Why can’t he speak? He needs to tell you! However, right when his teeth quiet their jitter, you’re tackled to the ground with a loud pummel.

Immediately, gunshots ring out in the grand hall. You’re firing in every direction in an attempt to blast off your opponent, but this zombie is particularly agile and you don’t have much room to move with your large shotgun…looking back in retrospect, giving Nagi your only handgun wasn’t the greatest idea.

“C’mon!” Repeatedly, you call out to him, but he remains paralyzed in fear. “Stop being useless!”

He watches as you struggle to wrestle off the infected woman, grunting and groaning with every punch you deal to its face. The skin on her cheeks is almost a greyish shade, discolored and decaying with a potent smell that burns his nostrils. It’s hard to tell who’s who under the blanket of shadows she’s trapped you under, but occasionally he catches a glimpse of golden eyes that tell him the zombie is still alive.

Somehow, with your almost supernatural raw strength, you’re able to hook your thighs around the zombie’s neck— pinning it down to the pearly floors and trapping it beneath your weight. It claws and cries out, desperately trying to escape your grasp, and Nagi almost feels bad for it. Just a few hours ago, this woman had a life. A real life that she likely looked forward to living every day; and now she’s nothing but a brainless carnivore with cannibalistic intentions. She could’ve been a mother. There could be a little boy out there missing her and waiting for her to come home, tell him that he’s safe, and that everything is going to be alright. When was the last time Nagi talked to his own mother? Why does he deserve to live and this woman doesn’t? Why is he so special that he was saved, while the rest of Tokyo was left to rot?

It isn’t fair.

None of it is fair.

He doesn’t deserve to live. He doesn’t deserve to be here.

He’s taken his life for granted from the moment he learned to walk. Why should you be wasting your time trying to get him to safety when he’s nothing more than absolutely useless? He needs to help.

He needs to be brave…

…but he misses his chance once more.

Letting out a wailing scream, you muster up enough energy to crush the woman’s head between your thighs, and Nagi is splattered with blood and guts. He doesn’t know how you’re so strong— it’s almost eerie in a way— but he’s more concerned with the state of your well-being. The look of exhaustion in your eyes acts as a glaring sun against his icy posture, and his feet are thawed from the floor, rushing towards you in mere seconds.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he kneels on the ground before you and cups your face closely, “Hey— hey, don’t close your eyes. I’m right here. Please stay awake.” Nagi doesn’t think his voice has ever been so gentle nor has he ever felt this kind of worry for a girl before. Sure, he hasn’t known you for long, but he knows he can’t go on without you. You’re a team and a team sticks together. You can’t die right here! He’s not going to allow that!— but before he can lift you up like the knight in shining armour he wishes he could be, there’s a faint rustling behind him…a familiar rustling. Nagi knows that sound. He knows those movements. He’s heard them a million times and he’d be able to recognize them even in the midst of Shibuya Crossing in the busy hours.

Where did Reo’s body go?

Perhaps it dissolved or maybe it was kicked aside in the midst of your fight.

That has to be it, right? Where else could he be?

Nagi’s confusion is understandable. He’s thinking rationally given the circumstances and his heartbeat is somewhat steady. The mass of his body hovers over yours in a protective stance, like a dragon guarding a princess, and for once he appears to be confident. However, that confidence has been set aflame. He can feel his blood racing, burning through his veins in fear and distress, and he wishes he could simply rip his vitals from his skin to destroy the wretched emotions. The sight before him is something out of a horror movie…a horror movie where Nagi is the main character.

“Oh fuck.”

Reo leaps out of the shadows before Nagi can even react.

There’s a blur of hands and feet, hitting and kicking at each other, and the snow haired boy never knew he was this agile. Reo is clearly doing his best to hit Nagi’s vital arteries; to which he’s blocking each attack with his forearms. This is chaos. He doesn't even have a second to think for himself and consider the possibility of blasting Reo’s head off with his handgun. He can’t do that…this is his best friend!

As Nagi’s leg lines up to knock him off his feet, Reo lunges down and grabs a hold of it. In a panic, he attempts to shake his friend off— wiggling his leg up and down whilst reaching for his combat knife in his back pocket— and slices the skin in between Reo’s forearm and bicep…which is ultimately ineffective. Oh, shit he just got angrier! Growling, zombie-fied Reo clasps his hands around Nagi’s waist, lifting him off the ground with ease and throwing him into the elevator doors. The sound of his body slamming against the metal slab rings out, echoing in the grand foyer and deafening Nagi’s left ear. His breathing is heavy and he feels like he can’t get a single ounce of air in his lungs. Everything seems to be blurry, foggy with mist covering his irises as he attempts to see what’s right in front of him.

A carnivorous Reo…

…and an unconscious you.

It’s clear to him what’s going on. There are two outcomes to this horrific situation and whatever decision Nagi makes is going to impact the rest of his life.

1.) Let you go and join the afterlife with his best friend.

2.) Save you and never see his best friend again.

His heart is at war within himself. One side fighting for Reo, the boy he’s known for so long. The boy he’s laughed and cried with. The boy who knows everything about him. The boy who believed in him when no one else did…until you came along.

Just the thought of seeing your lifeless eyes, bloodied body, and severed limbs flips a switch inside him— and Nagi finally comes to realize what’s happening. This isn’t Reo. This shell of a man with a monstrous hunger isn’t his best friend. Reo is a ghost now. He doesn’t exist anymore and now his body is being possessed by the undead, or whatever zombies are. He can miss his friend all he wants, but that doesn’t change the fact that the thing creeping towards you is nothing but a stranger who knows all of Nagi’s secrets.

It’s time for him to fight to live.

As he swiftly stands and tackles Reo to the floor, a wave of memories flash before Nagi’s eyes.

The moment he first heard Reo’s voice. It was light and friendly. He had used a tone that Nagi hadn’t ever heard before, and although he had no interest in playing soccer, he still wanted to impress the popular boy— not because he wanted a higher status or a girlfriend, but because he knew this stranger needed a friend…and he really needed a friend, too.

His palms grip Reo’s throat, ripping him off of your body.

The first time Reo laughed at something he said. It wasn’t intended to be funny, but the plum-haired boy couldn’t help but burst into a fit of giggles and Nagi found himself laughing as well. Sitting in the school courtyard, side-by-side with crumbling onigiri falling from their mouths, there’s no doubt that they looked like two elementary schoolers finding humor in something obscurely immature— but despite that, it’s one of his fondest memories.

Reo struggles against Nagi’s weight, pinned to the floor with nowhere to run.

When he’d first shown him his concerningly large collection of video games, Reo hadn’t batted an eye. In fact, the very next day, Nagi received a friend request from him. Which seemed like a small act at the time, until he found out that Reo had gone to the tech store and purchased an entire PC set up just so he could be the Player 2 to Nagi’s Player 1. They were partners in both the real and virtual world— an unstoppable pair that won more tournaments as time went on— and Nagi will never clean out his xbox inventory filled with their trophies.

His finger grazes the trigger.

This is it.

No more memories.

It’s time to say goodbye.

In movies, when the protagonist has to kill their loved one, a single tear rolls down their cheek.

For Nagi, his face drowns in his cries.

“I’m sorry.”

He’s gone.

“I love you.”

Reo’s body dissolves into ash…

…then dust…

…then nothing.

“I’m so sorry.”

PART TWO COMING IN THE NEAR FUTURE (i’m a slow writer pls forgive me)

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⊹₊｡ reblogs are greatly appreciated! ˚₊⊹

277 notes · View notes

asolareclipses · 2 months

Text

(Previous part)

The room full of eyes burned into to him, and Nico imagined this is what ants felt like under a magnifying glass. Everyone looked at him expectantly, as if he knew everything about darkness. Something’s dark? Yeah just ask Nico he’ll definitely know. That didn’t really bother him though, because he didn’t blame them. If someone were to mention storms he’d look at Jason, probably. What bothered Nico was the fear that lay behind some of their eyes, a traitor was in camp, one hiding in darkness. It was only human to be suspicious.

“…I’m not sure what it is.” Nico said, it was a half truth. He had a hollow feeling that he knew who was behind this chaos, but it was a feeling he wanted to ignore for as long as he could. But the spirits he spoke to that morning had only confirmed his deepest worries.

“Well someone wanted you dead,” Dana said, “unless..”

“Unless?” If eyes could shoot daggers, Wills eyes would be shooting swords.

“Im not insinuating anything, but my mother’s Athena so I was taught to see the bigger picture.” She seemed hesitant as she spoke, “It would be a genius plan.”

Nico’s heart stopped. He felt like his did all those years ago as he watched, behind a dream, his friends debate whether he was worth saving. As accusation of trust which had destroyed him, despite him never speaking of it. He’d hadn’t even told Will, keeping that memory locked away as it slowly ate away at his sanity.

“You can’t be serious,” Will stood up. His voice was cold and harsh as ice, as his fists clenched in a sense of rage.

“No,” Nico stood up, he put his hand on Wills arm. Will had always fought tooth and nail for him, Nico wished he didn’t have to. Every time Wills gentle demeanor turned to that of anger, it made Nico feel an all consuming sense of shame; if only he could be more simple, more easy to handle. “It’s fine, if that’s what you think.” He tried to keep his voice steady, each breath he took brought him back to that table, that ship, that jar.

The room suddenly felt suffocating, the air felt too stale, he felt trapped again.

Will turned to him, his brows knit in utter concern, “Are you okay?”

His words felt muffled beneath the ringing in Nico’s ears, “Y-yeah..I just need a moment.” He didn’t want to, but his body took over as he rushed out of the front door. A second longer in that room had been unimaginable.

As his shoes hit the grass, it withered. He cursed under his breath as he tried to steady his hands.

“You’re not in that stupid jar, pull yourself together,” He muttered leaning against the wall along the side of the big house. Whatever breathing exercises Mr D. had taught him dissipated with his panic. He knew how stupid it was, running away as soon as someone accused him. That was probably the most suspicious thing that someone could do. ‘Oh are you the murderer’ ‘No, bye!’

Still, his stomach felt like as if it had been tied into several knots, corroding him from the inside out with painful moments from the past. He felt like he was there again, watching the two people he was closest to now, debating his life. Nico had never blamed them, he’d never hated them. It was never them who hurt him, it was himself. He hated himself.

Nico would’ve stayed there, drowning in his thoughts forever, if it weren’t for the sudden sounds of clashing that echoed through the camp. It sounded as if something was skittering across the ground, followed by metal scraping against rock. His hand instinctually went to where his sword would be, but unfortunately he’d left it in his cabin. Despite that he still headed towards the strange sound, attempting to be as silent as possible.

When he peeked around the corner he saw Mae, a new camper who had shown up with her younger brother Sam a week ago. They had been claimed as children of Hecate the night they showed up. The two of them reminded Nico of when he and Bianca first came to camp, he couldn’t decide if that was more painful or comforting. Unfortunately the sound wasn’t just Mae sword practicing, as a large shadowy creature stood infront of her. It was similar to a scorpion, but its form flowed with a wobbly consistency.

Mae stood there, sword in hand as she faced the creature. Her hands shook as she trembled in terror, Sam was hiding behind her. Nico could almost picture himself, that day at Westover, cowering behind Bianca as their Vice Principal turned into a monster.

The scorpion thing moved forward to strike and Nico rushed to intercept, it was incredibly stupid as he didn’t have a weapon, but still he charged ahead. Just as it thrust its claw towards Mae, Nico willed all the shadows it was made from against it. The darkness seemed to fight him, barely remaining under his control.

He bided enough time to grab the sister and brother, pushing them out of the way. “Mae, take Sam and run to the big house.” Nico said as he took the sword from her hand. His words were rushed as he could feel the scorpion regaining its control behind him.

“But I can help!” Mae’s eyes were filled with the same bravery Bianca’s had once shown.

“You don’t have to be a hero just yet okay? Just make sure Sam is safe for now,” He didn’t allow Mae to protest and she agreed, grabbing her brother by the arm and running off towards the big house.

Nico almost breathed a sigh of relief until he turned and was face to face (or what he presumed to be its face) with the creature. Up close, its shadows swirled and shifted like each was breathing on its own. Its claw lifted and swung at him, and Nico lifted his sword in an attempt to block the attack, but the sword passed through the creature like it was made of air. The claw kept going unbothered and Nico barely managed to move in time to not get chopped in half, unfortunately the sharp spikes along the claws managed to slice into his arm.

Nico reminded himself to never leave his cabin without his sword again as his arm began to drip with blood.

“What is that?!” The counselors from the big house had all began rushing out towards Nico, along with them, more campers rushed over too.

The scorpion turned towards the others, its void-like claws snapping. Nico knew there was nothing their swords could do to kill it; so in a last ditch effort he slammed his foot against the ground, a large crack spreading and swallowing the creature whole. A second later the crack sealed up, leaving a barren scar along the grass. The satyrs were going to hate him for that.

“Oh my Gods Nico what was that?” Leo had rushed forwards with Jason and Will.

“I don’t know,” Nico said through heavy breaths, the pain from the creatures claws was overpowering as it seemed to seep throughout his whole body.

“Your arm,” Wills face was pale as he gaped at the wound.

“How did that thing get into camp?” Connor asked as he stared at the large gash along the dirt.

“It shouldn’t have been able to get through the boundaries,” Chiara said.

Suddenly a lot of suspicious eyes were on Nico, again.

Will seemed to notice as he snapped towards the small group of campers gathered around them, “You can’t be serious!”

“Will we’re not saying anything it’s just…” Dana seemed reluctant to continue.

“Who else could conjure up something like that?” An Ares camper called out, Sherman quickly turned glaring towards the person who’d spoken.

“Give me one good reason why Nico would do that!” Jason yelled, and as he did the air seemed to turn electric.

The campers went silent, they all seemed to have a thought on their mind yet no one spoke it aloud.

“I get it..” Nico said cutting through the silence, his voice like a knife. “I’ll figure this out myself.”

He stepped backwards into the shadow behind him, the last thing he saw was Will eyes widening as he called out, “Wait Nico!”

Nico didn’t wait, he disappeared into the shadows, but not before Leo could manage to latch onto his arm, following him into the shadows.

As the world faded to black he heard a sharp sickeningly familiar voice in his head, Strike one little demigod.

—

Leo wasn’t sure if following Nico was incredibly smart or incredibly stupid, but with his track record it was probably the latter. His body had reacted before he’d thought about his decision though, and he was quickly pulled into the shadows. As he entered the darkness he was hit by a sense of cold from every direction, it was as if he were surrounded by nothing. He’d forgotten what shadow travel felt like, and he’d forgotten how much it sucked.

He was never more glad to see the sun when they stumbled out of the dark. They were in some park, with a vast assortment of trees spread throughout the grass. The air was warm and fresh, providing a comforting breeze as the sun shined above them.

“Valdez i’m going to-“ Nico began to say something in his usual angry tone before he doubled over onto the ground. The grass around him withered and black smoke seemed to trail off of him.

“Nico are you-“

“Shut up.” Nico cut him off, speaking through gritted teeth. Leo felt guilty, just standing there, but after a moment Nico managed to steady himself.

“Dude are you okay?” Leo asked, unable to convey the pure amount of worry he felt.

“It’s fine.” Nico took a shaky breath, struggling to stand.

Leo wanted to reach out and help him, but he had a feeling it would not of been appreciated. “That didn’t look fine.”

Nico eyes snapped towards him, “Why did you follow me?”

“Because I wasn’t going to let you run away all on your own like an idiot?”

“Who said I was running away?” Nico looked at Leo like he was stupid.

“Huh?”

Nico sighed, wiping the dirt off his hands, “I was going to try and find what’s been causing all of this. If I can find it and stop it then this whole mess will be over.”

Leo gaped at him for a moment, he felt a rush of sadness and then anger, “You thought you could just go out all on your own? By yourself?”

“I don’t want anyone else getting hurt, this is my mess.”

“First of all,” Leo felt himself heating up, literally as the tips of his hair began to smoke. “You can’t just try and solve everything on your own like that, you could get hurt, or maybe worse..secondly, how is this your mess?”

Nico paused, a hesitant look passed over his face. “Because I think I know who’s doing this.” He paused before speaking again as Leo waited for him to continue, “Nyx.”

“Nyx as in Night? Why would Night be specifically attacking you?”

“I guess I hurt her pride back in tartarus,” Nico said. Leo thought about how casually he’d said that, like that fact he’d been there twice was no big deal. “Or..”

“Or?” Leo couldn’t imagine how it could get worse.

“She’s trying to rise. I mean after Gaea rising and the Giants attacking, there must of been a lot of time for her to gather her power. She’s a goddess after all, she might be trying to rise like Kronos did.”

“Great, that’s amazing.” Leo sighed, there it went, getting worse. Unsurprisingly, they couldn’t go more than a year without something very bad happening. “So she’s coming after you first, for what, a grudge?”

“That..or it’s because i’m the only one who can really stop her, if she gets rid of me first she has a better chance of taking down camp.”

“So you go out to try and face her, on your own?” Leo felt his patience running thin, “Isn’t that exactly what she’d want?”

“I wanted to stop her, before she could hurt anyone else.” Nico looked down, he wouldn’t meet Leo’s eyes anymore, his focus now on the withered grass.

Leo felt a tinge of guilt as his anger dissipated, “You don’t have to do everything by yourself you know that? This Nyx lady, she loves darkness?” Leo’s hands sparked into flames, “Then i’ll show her some real light.”

A hint of a smile creeped onto Nico’s face, “I’m not convincing you to let me do this on my own am I?”

“Nope!” Leo’s flames turned to smoke as he reached into his tool belt, pulling out some bandages. “Now let’s get you all fixed up before we put ourselves in any further danger.”

Nico rolled his eyes, looking at the deep gashes along his arm. Something about the cuts was abnormal, yet Leo couldn’t figure it out. It was yet another moment where he realized that he could fix any machine, but when it came to humans he was seriously lacking. Again, he wished he was a doctor like Will or something, magic healing powers would be great right about now. Even ambrosia would’ve been nice, but of course the most he could give was papery bandages and some screws and bolts.

He did an extremely poor clean up job on the wound before stopping to ask, “Maine is a pretty big state, where to first?”

A dark shadow seemed to pass over Nico’s face as he met Leo’s eyes, “Westover. Me and Bianca’s last school.”

(Part Four)

80 notes · View notes

avocado-writing · 6 months

Note

hi avo! would love to see azi, crowley and nightingale building a gingerbread house. 😆 Something so sweet and wholesome turns chaotic and stressful very quickly..

notes: oh absolutely. The universal gingerbread experience.

It started out with a kit, you think, dully. How did it end up like this?

A sweet idea both physically and sentimentally: Aziraphale came home with a gingerbread construction set. He thought it would be lovely, though you suspected he could have just sat down with the individual pieces and happily munched away. But the afternoon was free so the three of you got to work.

The package indicated it would be made up as a darling little cottage with icing as snow and gumdrop decorations.

You glance up at what you have.

It did not turn out like that.

“No my dear, you have to beat the egg whites gently,”

Aziraphale says, voice on the wrong side of snippy, attempting to wrestle the bowl out of Crowley’s arms.

“I’ll beat something in a minute,” the demon mutters, somehow getting the mixture all over Aziraphale’s waistcoat despite the apron he’s donned. The angel huffs and goes to bite back when you interrupt -

“Oh god help it’s falling—!”

They both rush over to try and steady the foundations of what you already have but it’s no use. The icing crumbles away and the gingerbread tumbles, your already pathetic creation crumbling into nothing but a pile of crumbs.

Four hours. Somehow, you’ve been at this for four hours. You are losing your grip on your sanity.

“Oh, sod this,” Crowley mutters, clicks his fingers, and the gingerbread is miracled into completion. It looks lovely: sugar icicles and a peppermint path. The isomalt windows sparkle as if there’s a fire inside.

“Oh! How gorgeous,” you say, smiling.

“Really, Crowley. I thought we were doing things the old fashioned way.”

“The old fashioned way can be stuck where the sun doesn’t shine. There, it’s done.”

“It almost seems too nice to eat,” you begin, but then Crowley shoves a rolling pin into your hands.

“No. None of that. Destroy it, eat it, and let this be over with.”

“Where’s your Christmas spirit, Crowley?”

“Here,” he says, and brandishes a bottle of Baileys at you both.

You and Aziraphale exchange a glance and agree silently: you can’t argue with that.

An hour later the remnants of the gingerbread house sparkle in the kitchen while you all get pissed in the front room. It’s decidedly a much better use of your time.

#aziraphale x reader x crowley #crowley x reader x aziraphale #ineffable husbands x reader #good omens x reader #xmas prompts

90 notes · View notes

bunchofdoodlesinspace · 7 months

Text

Im kinda shocked I’m not seeing more about the parallels between what Laudna did and what Ashton did last night bc currently that’s what I can’t stop thinking about. This theme of self-sacrifice that just keeps coming back over and over. And it makes so, so much sense to me given who this party is made out of.

Ages ago they really fully grasped that they’re all just powder kegs waiting to blow, that at any moment any of them could cause serious harm to the others, whether it be because of the powers they wield of the unfortunate circumstances of their existence- They’re all dangers to each other in some way.

And now, we’re seeing that theme sort of twist into this concept of “fuck it. I have this power, and I could destroy the world and my friends and myself using it, but I might as well try to use it for something good on the way down” and there’s just. There’s something so tragic and beautiful about that. To finally have people you care about so much that you would destroy yourself to see them survive.

In my head, that’s why Laudna is accepting the help of her own murderer. It’s not to walk down this path of darkness, but to give herself the strength she feels she needs to take down the threats in front of them. If that comes at the cost of her sanity, her relationships with the others, her life? So be it. She’s died before, and she’ll do it again if everyone she loves, who have loved her in spite of everything (esp Imogen), can survive and live happy lives.

Same thing with Ashton. No, two shards were not meant be handled by one person. But Fearne didn’t seem to want it, no one else was going to take it, and but they still need the power. Because what they’re facing isn’t anything like anyone has ever seen, they need everything they can possibly get. And if the risk of taking on that power was his own life? Fine. He’s died before too. And for the rest of his friends? The people who have loved him despite everything? For Fearne? He’d do it. Even if it was just to give them a chance.

These aren’t selfish decisions made to try and gain power. This is selflessness to the most dangerous degree. It’s a demonstration of how much they love and how little love they think they deserve in return. It’s a recognition of how big this threat is, how desperate they are for a chance to succeed even if it means they won’t all come back.

I said it in the tags of another post I reblogged and I will say it over and over again.

This shit doesn’t come out of a place of hate.

It only ever comes out of a place of love.

And it is absolutely heartbreaking.

#crc3 #cr spoilers #critical role #c3e77 #critical role spoilers #I have so many emotions about last night and not nearly enough time #(or braincells)#to communicate them all #but I literally have not stopped thinking about this since the ep ended #Ik not everyone is into what happened but I’m living for it #I love this brand of angst so so so much #I cannot WAIT for next week I’m so excited to see the drama that unfolds #also ignore any typos I wrote all of this on my phone

85 notes · View notes

enha-cafe · 2 years

Text

ENHA Legal Line vs No Nut November

happy november in honor of such i bring you my headcanons on how I believe the legal line would survive this challenge

Heeseung

thought jake was joking when he said they should do no nut november and agreed AS A JOKE

didn’t even jerk off on Halloween because he thought that

he’s going through it

took four days before he started meditating

the current main thing that’s keeping him going?

beat jake, he just needs one win

he doesn’t have to win; he just doesn’t want to be the first one out

one day the meditation just stopped working and he was lying awake at night questioning his own sanity

didn’t get much sleep that night

woke up to a text in the group chat from jake saying he had lost

that was all he needed and more

days lasted 11

honestly its a win in his book

Jay

he also said he’d do it AS A JOKE

doesn’t even know why he went along with this anymore

he’s the main one in the group chat that’s counting the days until December

this is his first time actually participating and now he’s determined to win

he doesn’t have a very high sex drive so he’s doing just fine

whenever he has too much free time and his mind starts to wonder he practices or just works out

invited sunghoon to work out only for him to get taken to an ice rink

never again

jake tried to get him to break once by sending him a porn link

jay then refused to make him dinner that night

jake apologized the next morning

laughs each time one of the guys loses nnn

once sunghoon got out jay realized he won

still went the remaining days for bragging rights

days lasted 30

oh and that porn link from jake was used during destroy dick december

Jake

it was his idea for him and the other guys to do it

quickly realized it was a dumb idea

his libido is just too high

please each time jake sees something remotely lewd he thinks he’s going to bust

feels like a horny church kid all over again

tried and failed to pray the horny away

one night he genuinely can’t fall asleep and he’s just staring at the ceiling of his room

his insomnia gets to him and he decides there’s only one thing that can help him fall asleep

days lasted 10

gets bullied in the group chat for being the first one out but doesn’t care

there’s always next year

Sunghoon

honestly thinks he could win this against the others

is confident he could make the full 30 days

spoiler alert, he does not

culprit #1 of bullying jake in the group chat after he lost

after two weeks it finally hit him that he can’t jerk off

decided to go ice skating more often to help fill the void

even invited jay one time, mainly because he wanted a good laugh

is good at keeping himself in check unless something really gets him going

unfortunately for him, he decided to start having a personal movie marathon of things the other members had recommended to him

and every single one of the recommendations had a steamy scene

after the first one, he was fine but then they just kept coming (lol puns)

days lasted 23

Sunoo

thinks this is beyond stupid

still wants to win though

culprit #2 of bullying jake in the group chat after he lost

honestly, I don’t think his libido is that high, to begin with

this boy is coasting until halfway through the second week

everything has just been stressing him out and the poor kid needs relief

the fact he can’t get off is slowly eating away at him

not to mention the fact that there are already two people out and now he’s thinking what harm would it be

starts rationalizing the pros and cons of being the third to lose

realized being third is still a triumph

days lasted 18

hoon and jay bullied him in the group chat

878 notes · View notes

azgfggf · 2 months

Text

SPOILERS 4 TRIGUN/STAMP/MAX (Basically all Trigun content)

I have so many thoughts on Trigun and all of them are sad because as I see it, Trigun is fundamentally a tragedy, a little through Vash’s own doing.

It’s a noble pursuit to go through a ruined world and try to make it good, but I think the manga, show, and reboot go in too much in his martyr complex for it to be fully believable? Like he started that way for sure, but in all three I think it’s obvious to the audience that he can’t stop. He’s dug himself into a hole of needing to save all these people, because he has nothing else left. The ending of Trimax made me so sad because it’s essentially the beginning of the story all over again. Vash is hunted, Vash is running, and in the span of his lifetime everyone who knows him will be dead. It might even be worse in the anime, because now he has to work to rehabilitate his brother (unstoppable force and immovable object), sacrificing a chance at a relationship with Meryl in continuing his quest for peace at the cost of himself.

One of the most poignant thing about this is Rem’s whole “Ticket to the Future” thing. Lowkey I think Vash misunderstood it, or in some way messed it up. I think, at least on some level, that the ticket to the future was meant for him, specifically in him living his own life post-seeds. But because Vash has already convinced himself the future of others matters more, he’s deliberately ignoring Rems parting wisdom not to blame himself for what Knives did. I love Trigun so much and it’s always near the top of my anime list, but the endings (both manga and anime) just fuck me up because it’s not really an ending at all, just a hitch in the cycle of Vash forgiving everyone but himself. And the one character who he loved more than anyone else, who was the closest to convincing Vash to be a little bit selfish and take care of himself for once, died fighting alongside him. To me, this whole story is just Vash being driven by guilt unable to see the reasoning behind Rem’s words. I don’t know what the endings are supposed to mean, but because of them I’ve always read Trigun as this sort of Sci-fi tragedy where one man bears the sins of an entire world until he dies or they do.

There’s also an interesting parallel between Knives and Vash, both opposite in their ideals but equally determined to get them. Knives only relinquishes when he’s dying, and then Vash continues. He’s clearly tired, as seen with Erik’s, but in a super ironic twist of fate it’s WolfWood who brings him back, and that’s kind of just the nail in the coffin for Vash’s whole journey. He tried to leave, and it failed. WolfWood needed him, and he failed. This, I think, is Vash’s point of no return. He can’t stop, because he’s personally destroyed any way to. He’s built up this idealized Rem that needs him to do this. He’s built up some kind of debt to WolfWood that needs him to do this. He’s built up this persona that needs him to do this. He’s sacrificed himself, his sanity, his friends, and everything else in a self imposed quest for peace that will never end because as soon as it does his entire reason for being is shattered (See episode 25). This post means nothing I just think about these silly men way too much. Please give me more fix it fics. Please. Please.

God I hope TriStamp does the endings justice.

#trigun #tristamp #trimax #vash the stampede #the brainrot is real

25 notes · View notes

bullet-prooflove · 11 months

Text

Making Bail: Alexander 'Tig' Trager x Reader (NSFW)

Tagging: @callsignartemis @the-person-in-the-circle @kmc1989 @mortal--soul @yourwinchesterbros @buddinglinguist @spookyboogyuniverse @nessamc @anime-weeb-4-life @redpoodlern @ravencrow83 @nu1freakshow @the-wandering-lunatic @oureternalbond @lexondeck @keyweegirlie @theplacewhereallthedemonsgo @poppyrose33 @belovedbastardremus @trublu2u @thebaileybugle @spngingerbread21

It’s not the first time you’ve bailed Tig out of jail and it won’t be the last. You know it and he knows it. It’s part of the package, being with him comes at a price. At least this time it’s overnight, and not a fourteen-month stint in Stockton.

Business has been good since Cara Cara reopened and in turn diversified. Girl on girl had boosted in popularity, you have Lyla directing some more of the risqué stuff, while you specialise in the more sensual items. It’s an excellent collaboration, the two of you work well together.

Luann’s death had damn near destroyed you and the fire had damn near destroyed him. He doesn’t like to think about that, it reminds him how close he’d come to losing you. When he sees you standing there in the police station, leaning against Hale’s desk, he knows that you’re a God damn angel. He doesn’t deserve you; he never has but you see something in him, something good, something pure.

“Always coming to my rescue sweetheart.” He says slinging his arm around your shoulders before he presses his lips to your temple. It’s a simple gesture, a tender one. He wants you to know how much he appreciates you coming down here. “Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d be spending a lot longer in jail, that’s for sure.” You tell him as the two of you step outside and into the sunshine.

“C’mere darlin.” He murmurs tipping up your chin so he can look into your eyes. “Are you mad at me, or did you miss me?”

He sees that flicker in your eyes and he knows he’s hit the nail on the head. He doesn’t sleep well when you’re not home and he guesses you don’t either. He thinks you deserve a little reward for putting up with his shit.

The way he kisses you is sinful; it’s only been one night apart but he treats it as if it’s been a year. His tongue delves into your mouth and it's like a wildfire erupting through your nerve endings, burning away your sanity. You forget that you’re standing on the steps of a police station, bailing out your partner in crime and savour the moment, your outlaw reminding you of just how much you mean to him. You whine as he pulls away, and he smiles at the sound.

“I know I missed you.” He whispers against the corner of your mouth, his thumb brushing over the apple of your cheek.

“That’s because you only had your hand to play with.” You remind him, your lips brushing over the pulse point on his wrist.

“Did you get lonely without me? What did you use? Tell me…” There’s an edge of pleading to his voice because if there is one thing, he can’t stand it’s missing out, especially when it comes to you. “The pink one? Or the wand? Did you get yourself off imagining my dick in you or my mouth on you?”

Your hands grip his kutte, fingers curling in the leather as you draw him close again, your breath ghosting in his ear as your perfume floods his system. The soothing scent of lavender intwined with something a little darker, a little more sensual. It takes him from zero to sixty in a heartbeat. His skin prickles with anticipation as he leans in close.

“Remember that thing we did for your birthday, that special thing.” You whisper and he knows the thing, he’s getting hard just thinking about the thing. “The ball gag and those silk restraints, I had you edge for hours. That’s what I thought about when I was all alone last night.”

“Maybe we can do it again?” He utters as he nuzzles that deviant little spot, just underneath the curve of your jaw. It sends a surge of raw heat chasing through your veins. “You put your hand on my throat and choke me just a little, you know how that gets me going.”

You don’t even make it back to the house. You end up pulling off the road and into a wooded area because Tig can’t keep his hands off you and it’s distracting you too much when you’re trying to drive. It starts with his palm on your thigh, fingertips ghosting up the inner seam of your jeans. The digits of his fingers grazing the denim between your legs as he tells you all the filthy things, he wants to do to you. The two of you end up fucking in the passenger seat. Your thighs straddling his hips, your hand on his throat, fingers digging into just the right place as your molten hot core envelops him. His fingers tangle in your hair, gripping it in his fist as he guides your mouth back to his and says.

“That’s its baby, show me how much you missed me.”

Love Tig? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

#tig trager fanfiction #tig soa #tig trager fanfic #tiggy #tig trager x reader #tig trager #alexander trager #alexander trager soa #alexander trager x you #alexander trager x reader

119 notes · View notes

thebibutterflyao3 · 3 months

Text

Day 3 - Prompt: Gardening @rosekiller-microfic

March Daily Series - 976 words

<<<Previous Part OR Start Here

When the sobs subsided into heavy gasps for air overwhelmed him, Evan flopped on his back and reached for his phone. He was already half-destroyed. He might as well finish the job. Barty’s voice filled the room as Evan replayed all twelve voicemails, each one more desperate than the last.

“You didn’t mean it. Come on, Rosie! We are so good together! Let me make it up to you, I can show you—”

“Call me. Come see me at the shop. Text. Fuck, Rosie, I need to talk to you.”

“This can’t be over, Rosie. I refuse to accept it. You said that I was important to you and that means something, doesn’t it?”

“It’s been two days. How long are you going to ignore me? Can’t we sort this out? I’ll do anything—”

“We don’t have to talk. Just meet me at the shop, or I’ll come to you. Whatever you want.”

“What do I need to do to fix this? Tell me. I’ll do it!”

“Stop ignoring me! This is bullshite! I didn’t do anything to you—”

“I took a week off from work, Rosie. I’m driving around for a while to clear my head. If you want to talk, you know my number. If not…well, that tracks.”

“That was stupid. I know that cheating on Reg was a prick move, but I was losing him and…yeah, it was bullshite. I knew that he’d find someone better and leave eventually, but I wouldn’t do that to you, Rosie.”

“Ran into Sirius at a club tonight and he chewed me out. You were right, I fucked us up. I’m a prick for hiding it, but I thought if I proved to you that I wasn’t that prick anymore…you might look past it? I won’t lie anymore, even by leaving shite out. Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

“Rosie…talk to me…please? Fuck, I hate begging. I sound like a soppy arse. I will though, if it helps. Does it help?”

“Please don’t hate me, Rosie.”

Several of the messages were heavily slurred and more than one had the heavy bass of a club behind it. Barty was probably drunk when he left most of them. Evan had muted the text message thread on day two, but he couldn’t bring himself to block Barty completely. It was just a temporary measure to preserve his sanity.

As the last message finished, Evan flicked open his photo app and thumbed through the hidden folder of his and Barty’s photos. The absurd dates where they got pissed while crashing a gardening club meeting, set a car on fire, and stupid memes he’d sent to Barty as a joke with “this is you” or “this could be us if you weren’t such a dick” in the captions. It was one of the things he liked about Barty, he never had to censor himself. Barty liked him when he was mean as much as he liked him playing nice.

His thumb paused over the last picture they took together. Barty surprised him with a tattoo of a rose on his neck. In the photo, Evan kissed the rose while Barty grinned wickedly.

That was almost two weeks ago. It felt like a year, or ten. A lifetime, maybe.

Evan nearly dropped his phone when it vibrated in his hands. When Pandora’s face appeared on a video call, he answered immediately. “Hey, Reg called. Are you alright?”

She looked him over with a frown, then nodded. “You’re not. You look like shite.”

“Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome. Have you been crying? Or are you sick?”

“My ex attacked my sister. What do you think?”

Pandora shrugged, then glanced off-screen. Evan searched her face worriedly. She looked fine. No visible bruises and her hair was still tied up perfectly, that was a good sign.

Her lips twitched upwards for a moment before she looked back. “He’s gone now. Did you know he was coming here?”

“No. He mentioned driving around for a while in a voicemail, something about seeing Sirius, but that was before you left.”

“And? You’re hiding something?”

Too bloody perceptive.

“He called this morning and admitted it.”

Pandora tipped her head to the side and studied him. “Admitted what?”

“‘Losing his head and going off’ is how he put it. Reg said he attacked you.”

“He grabbed me and demanded that I tell him why I made you dump him. He was high. As in, all pupils, no irises high. I don’t care what you call it, Ev.”

Evan’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “He has a pretty high tolerance. That must have been some seriously potent weed.”

“Well, I doubt it was enough to numb his bollocks.”

“What?”

Pandora smirked. “I kicked him. He deserved it, and plenty more.”

“Oh.” Evan winced hard and swallowed the bile that rose in his throat.

“He survived, unfortunately. Hobbled off with Sirius.”

“Pandora,” a quiet female voice chastised. “That’s not—”

She waved the off-screen woman away. “Trust me. He’s lucky you pulled me back, Lily. I would have ripped that tattoo off of his neck in another minute.”

“That’s a bit much, I think,” the woman said, although she sounded amused.

Evan bit down on his tongue to keep himself from snapping at them. He didn’t see it happen. Chances were good that he’d have punched Barty in the bollocks himself if he’s seen him rough up his twin. If Pandora hadn’t beaten him to it, that is. She was terrifying when she was angry.

“Anyway, I’m fine,” Pandora said.

Someone off-screen muttered something Evan couldn’t hear. Pandora sighed, then held up her arm and let the bracelets fall with a noisy clinking. A long finger-shaped bruise rounded her wrist.

“Regulus thinks you should see this.”

He stared at it until she dropped her arm. Automatically, his own fingers rubbed at his wrist as if he could soothe it for her. Evan closed his eyes and let his chin fall to his chest.

The little bit of hope that he was still clinging to evaporated. He’d hoped that Reg was exaggerating, that it looked worse than it really was. Apparently not.

Barty gripped her wrists hard enough to bruise. He hurt Pandora because of him.

Next Part>>>

#rosekiller #barty crouch junior #barty crouch jr #barty x evan #barty jr #evan rosier #slytherin skittles

22 notes · View notes

drgngutz · 1 year

Text

Cybernetic Soulmate - V

BEN Drowned x Reader

Soulmate AU – Implied Feminine Reader

Ben is gone; at least that’s what Jadusable might believe at first.

Masterlist

Previous Part

Benjamin Lawman

BEN Drowned

It was strange to finally be scrolling through my computer after being restricted for so long. When he had found his way outside of the cartridge and into my computer, BEN had always found some way to mess with it, screwing with my files, making me question reality with every loading screen or missing pixel. Even after I put him inside that cartridge again, it felt like there was something leftover; something that was still there, and I still couldn’t tell if what I was seeing online was real or fake.

Without it, though, everything was absurdly fine. I felt okay. I no longer felt the constant watching as soon as I stepped into my room when I got home, nor did I hesitate like I used to when typing the password of my account to log in. Even looking at the 4chan post seemed so… normal.

So why did it feel so wrong?

It didn’t make any sense. I had trapped him, I had given that girl the cartridge, and she would destroy it; he would be gone. For good.

Looking through the comments and responses to my posts were helping me to enforce the idea that I was safe. I could easily responded to each comment now, perfectly ordinary, without any mishaps; I pushed the button and the thread was sent, without any altered words or blank messages.

I felt relaxed for the first time in weeks. He was gone. He was actually gone.

MaskywasHere: I’m scared that we haven’t heard from you yet. You good bro?

gingersnaps-obsessed12: I’m too impatient for this crap. It’s like a masterpiece I can’t even- I must have more

DrgnGutz: Holy shit, dude. I mean, no way this is real, but it's a great story, really.

KittyGirl<33: OMG! R u alive???!

Ifrit: I’d like to hear more from you via email, if you’re interested in sharing more of your story :)

I mostly responded to the concerned comments with simple, easy replies. Nothing too complex, most of them I just assured I was alright or that everything was fine before moving on to the next; I ignored the more inquisitive questions for my own sanity. The responses were never ending, a constant cycle of scrolling down further into the abyss of loading more comments; all of which I had never seen before, no thanks to BEN and meddling with my perception of the outside world.

Everything was filled with his absence. Everything was all right again.

That stupid fantasy was wiped away in an instant the moment I looked away from my computer for a second, before looking back and seeing a new window opened to cleverbot. I swear, I could feel a chill run up and down my spine as the room dropped a few degrees.

Bursting from my seat, I rapidly move the mouse and hover over the bright red ‘X’ to close the damn thing, nerves lit up with alarm.

“Fuck… Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I scream at the computer as the window refuses to close, slamming down on the left mouse button with my whole hand and sending it down to the floor with a clatter.

“This isn’t happening.” I begged at the screen, shaking my head and backing away as if I had been burned.

Oh, but it is.

Verging on hysteria, I lunged for the power button, landing harshly on my knees and nearly pushing it inside of the PC from the force. This was a dream, a nightmare. The after effects of what had happened to me, my brain was just tricking me right now. I would hit this button, and it would be over. Really over this time.

I cried out in despair when the damn thing refused to turn off.

“What the fuck… What the fuck do you want from me?!” Screaming at the bright pixels, I stood back up from the ground, fists clenched at my sides.

Just to talk.

“Leave me alone.”

A little rude for a ‘welcome back,’ but, I suppose it can’t be helped.

“Go fuck yourself.” The longer it went on the more I began to realize this wasn’t in my head. I pinched, squeezed at my arms, the pain registering fully enough to know this wasn’t a nightmare.

Ha. Do I disturb you that much?

“How did you get out?” I was yelling at the screen at this point, surprised my parents hadn’t walked in and asked what the hell I was doing up so late at night screaming so loud.

Wouldn’t you like to know?

“Tell me. Tell me right now, or I swear…”

You’ll what? Put me back?

You can’t now. It’s too late.

“Asshole. You’re a fucking asshole.”

It’s amusing to watch your distress.

“You were supposed to be–” It dawned, right then and there. He was supposed to be gone, destroyed, for good. Something was wrong. Had she messaged me at all since yesterday?

I scrambled for my phone, scrolling through my emails and finding nothing; not since she first contacted me about the cartridge in the first place.

“Where is she? Where’s (Y/n)?”

Who?

“Don’t play coy with me, you little shit. What did you do to her?!” I was raging at this point, all forms of fear converting to defense in an effort to ward him off. It would never work, of course. I had tried it before.

I’m not telling.

“Did you trick her, too? Trap her inside that fucking game, like you did to her brother, Matt?”

You were so eager to get rid of me, you didn’t even think twice about what would happen if it was in someone else’s hands.

“I should’ve destroyed that cartridge myself.” I snarled at the screen, eyes scanning over his next reply as it scrolled onto the site.

Yet you couldn’t. How funny.

“Shut up. You murderer, you killed her, just like you killed the rest.”

Even if I did, that’s none of your concern, is it?

You should be more worried about yourself.

“If she’s alive, I hope she comes to her senses and puts you back in that fucking game, just like I did.”

I told you, that can’t happen anymore.

It’s too late. I’m free now.

I am everywhere now.

The screen explodes into a dialect of code bouncing off of other code, glitching and warping into itself as the machine whirs with an overload of power. In a last ditch effort, I try to draft a new email to her; maybe it’s not too late, maybe I can get to her in time before–

The draft closes itself, and my phone powers down. The dread swallows me up with hot and cold flashes as the small screen lights up with text.

That won’t do you any good.

The entire house is painted black, the electricity shutting down and leaving me to bask in total desperation.

#ben drowned #creepypasta #ben drowned x reader #ben drowned x you #ben drowned x female!reader #soulmates #x reader #fem reader #female reader #soulmate au

71 notes · View notes

bringthekaos · 6 months

Note

So, one thing that has been weighing on my mind is how Jayce and Viktor will survive the rocket bomb; one hypothesis I came up with is that the Hexcore is now linked with Viktor and doesn’t let him die.

Cut to - I started really studying that Death card in the screenshot (usually too distracted by the Magician card) and noticed that plume of almost demonic looking cloud above the skeleton. Is it leaving? Arriving? Merging with the soul? I hypothesize this might be the Hexcore going into Viktor to keep him alive?

I would hate for the creators to take away Viktor’s agency in augmenting himself in the Machine Herald but this is the only way I can see it tie in with Viktor asking Jayce to destroy the Hexcore and he doesn’t and now they have Beef.

Alternatively, a dying Viktor calls to the Hexcore and it answers. That would give him more agency.

Anywhoodle. These are my big dumb thoughts at 7am. Cheers for reading them, Ace 😅

I love your big NOT dumb 7am thoughts, and I’m always down to read them 🥰

This is a very interesting hypothesis. And I’ve always been captivated by that magician card too, but you’re totally right, there’s definitely some kind of… essence pulling away from the figure in the death card. And we’ve already seen the somewhat parasitic tendencies of the Hexcore (manipulating the host to control its behavior, in this case causing him pain in retaliation when he tried to destroy it). But as we also saw, it requires something in exchange to perform its feats of magic (in the beginning, the power offered by the Shimmer, and in the end, Sky’s life). So if it does act to save him during the explosion, it’s going to have to take something back. Which is probably going to expose him and make the entire council think he was involved. Maybe even Jayce 🥺

But I do have another theory that stems from your point about Viktor asking Jayce to destroy the Hexcore. If the Hexcore doesn’t protect Viktor, and he ends up mortally wounded… I can see Jayce taking him to the Hexcore. Attempting to save his life with it. But Jayce is unaware of the choice Viktor has already made; that he’s unwilling to pay the price the Hexcore requires, nor is he ok with the Hexcore’s manipulation of his augmented limbs, and by extension the loss of autonomy. So it’s possible Jayce uses the Hexcore to save him, thereby giving it even more of a chokehold on Viktor’s body and psyche, which… he would probably hold a grudge over. Especially if the Hexcore and its bodily augments start to negatively affect his sanity, as any exposure to the Void does. Especially when he asked Jayce to destroy it, to remove this temptation. Because as he said, “I can’t do it. You have to.”

One thing is for sure, our collective cries at his downfall will be heard round the world.

#arcane #arcane league of legends #arcane Viktor #jayce talis #the Hexcore #arcane theories #asks #ace answers

18 notes · View notes

dangermousie · 11 months

Text

Farscape rewatch: Liars Guns and Money - 2x19-2x21 - meta part the first...

Liars, Guns and Money is my second favorite multiparter in all of Farscape, behind only We Are Screwed in season 4. Interestingly, they both involve Crichton on the ragged edge of sanity and a rescue of one member of the OTP by the other, willing to do anything it takes.

In LGM it's Aeryn willing to do anything (including offering anything (by implication herself)) to get Crais to help to rescue John. In WASS it's John selling his soul to Scorpius. And of course, the insanity in LGM is literal but in WASS it's because John derails utterly when Aeryn is in danger. Before I get to character interactions, I want to mention how much I love the set design for these eps. The gorgeous golds and deep reds, and misty greys?

Crichton has a huge self-sacrificial complex. When Scorpius offers to give back D'Argo's son in exchange for Crichton, he has no idea how effective a carrot he is dangling in front of John (and Scorpius never truly learns, does he, perhaps because he’s hampered by the fact that he’d sacrifice himself for nobody. He is hoping for D’Argo to turn John over, he’s not thinking Crichton would do it himself.)

It's Crichton's own private way of self-destructing. He is, in a lot of ways, walking with so much guilt (because he cannot reconcile what he had become with his inner moral compass of his upbringing) and in a way the only value he sees is as 'victim' to other. Part of the reason he latches on to Aeryn so desperately is because of that same sense of guilt and nullity. She is his one link to sanity: I love the scene in the depository where he is completely losing it and he grabs her and desperately kisses her, as if she is his long drink of water, as if doing so clears his head.

And he tries to tell her about his feelings but also about Scorpius, and he’s falling apart so hard and it’s painful to watch.

This is so Aeryn btw...and so John.

It’s actually a funny exchange that turns heartbreaking later on, as so many Farscape jokes tend to, when she really is ready to kill him later if that is the best outcome:

And even more horrifyingly, John actually ends up begging to be killed at the end of the three parter, something he was trying to avoid becoming the most he is hoping for and still beyond him:

https://dangermousie.tumblr.com/post/723680562432376832/still-sorting-through-my-million-caps-and-thoughts

I love how his love for Aeryn helps him navigate both trauma and insanity. In practical ways - like when he cannot coat Scorpius’ rods with explosives because the chip is fighting him, she does it for him but also in more intangible ways. Aeryn is the only one who is important enough to get through (of course when, as in DMD, even she finally cannot, that is when tragedy occurs). And that is true in later seasons, no matter how obsessed or catatonically destroyed he becomes (I am thinking of the end of PKW when it's Aeryn and his child who bring him out). Oh, and that scene when he desperately and incoherently wants to tell her how he feels. Because he can feel his inner self slipping and it feels as if it's almost the last chance. And she tells him he doesn't have to say it and his face where this is no comfort but a disappointment because he wanted to so badly.

And the end of that part 1, kills me...when he tells her, so quietly and stumblingly, sounding so incredibly vulnerable 'I meant what I said...didn't say' (and he’s not even trying to say what it is, he’s beyond that) and she says she knows and it’s gentle and he is actually at peace with that now because this time he can process that she really does know. And she pulls his head down and puts it on her shoulder (this is such a their thing, he did it to her earlier; and I can’t tell you how much I needed the scene have that moment of touch-comfort at that moment). He is this beautiful broken thing, so far from what he started as but for a brief moment at peace.

#farscape

35 notes · View notes

nightfurylover31 · 2 years

Text

I decided to write a little post!Sonic Forces fic about Sonic and Tails, talking about what they went though.

Just felt like a little brotherly angst and fluff.

A couple weeks had passed since the end of the Eggman War. Everyone was still working hard at the repairs. Not just to Central City, but all over the planet. Many homes and families had been destroyed or relocated. The Resistance was helping out in all fields; rebuilding, search and rescue, and removing robot debris.

Still, that didn’t stop Sonic and Tails from taking a break to catch up. A nice quiet lunch, trying to relax, was just what they needed. They haven’t been about to spend too much time together to catch up since they reunited, with all the fighting still going on. They needed some peace and enjoy each other’s company.

“Mmm! How I missed this,” Sonic exclaimed as he took a large bite of his chili dog, savoring the taste. “Worst part of being locked up, no chili dogs all that time. I almost forgot how good they were!”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Tails smiled. Like Sonic would forget that.

It felt too long since Tails was with his big brother. The day Infinite attacked still felt recent. Watching him get ambushed, being unable to help… he should have helped. He was right there. He could have joined in instead of fidgeting with his device. Come on, 5 on 1? No way was that fair! And then to be kept locked up for six months… and yet despite that, Sonic was smiling now. Just like he always had, like nothing happened. Tails knew better than anyone not too push Sonic into opening up about himself, but this was serious. How could Sonic seem totally fine? Tails had to play his cards right to get him to talk.

“I can’t believe it’s finally over,” he said, gazing over the field. They managed to find place in the Green Hill Zone that was relatively green. It was on top of a tall hill, with a view that stretched for miles. The area was still in bad shape, but it was already starting to look a bit better. “I was beginning to think it would never end, or worse.”

“But it is over,” replied Sonic, while licking the chili sauce off his fingers. “We managed to save the world. Cutting it a little close this time, but we pulled it off.” Sonic rubbed his wrists a bit, proceeded to stretch his arms outward, fingers locked, then folded his hands behind his head and lied down. Just like he would do before a nap. He seemed at ease, Tails wasn’t.

“Yeah… all of us.”

Sonic caught the tone in his voice. “What’s wrong, bud?” he asked, adjusting himself up by supporting his body on his elbows. “You miss Mini Me? You two were working together for a while.”

“No. I mean, yeah a little. But I meant with how long we were barely able to hold out without…” Tails began to trail off. Anyone could see where this was going.

“Hey, you guys did the best you could,” Sonic sat up completely now. “And once you got me out, things went pretty well. Well, except with Operation Big Wave, but still.”

Tails didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore. “Are you sure you’re doing okay? After what you went through.”

Sonic rolled his eyes and pushed the air out of his lips. “I’m fine! You guys worry too much.” A lot of people had been asking him that lately, especially Amy. She always was a big worrier, but she had a good reason this time.

“I heard you were tortured.”

“They exaggerated. Eggman wanted me around so he had someone to gloat to. He didn’t want me losing my sanity either. The real torture was having to deal with his voice and, like I said before, no chili dogs.”

So you say. Tails wasn’t convinced that was the whole story. Vanilla checked him over and said he showed no signs of physical torture. But still, Tails was observant. He felt like there was something slightly off from Sonic’s usual behavior. But even now, the hedgehog was grinning, face full of confidence. After adjusting the cuff of his gloves, Sonic reached for the basket for another snack. As his hand began to disappear inside, Tails’ eyes caught something. He grabbed Sonic’s arm and pulled it close.

“Augh, Tails! What are you--?”

Tails pulled Sonic’s cuff down a bit, revealing red and chaffed skin. The fur around the area was gone. As if he had something tightly wrapped around his wrists for a long time. It finally dawned on Tails how Sonic had been rubbing his wrists a lot lately. How some of his movements in fights seemed off. Slightly less coordinated. Keeping Sonic locked up for so long would be a challenge, even in space. Eggman must have handcuffed Sonic’s arms together. And most likely, his feet as well.

Sonic retracted his arm. He had a guilty look on his face, like when he was caught taking the last soda. “Don’t worry about. Nothing a little moisturizer won’t fix.” He clearly did not understand how healing worked. Hair on severely scarred skin doesn’t grow back.

“You said you were fine. That doesn’t look fine to me.”

“You’re comparing some dry, flaky skin to some of the injuries others have gotten? Burns and broken limbs? C’mon, Tails! You worry too much.” There was a nervousness in Sonic’s voice.

“And you don’t worry about yourself enough!” the fox recanted. “Anything else I need to know about? What about psychological trauma?”

Sonic groaned as he brushed his quills back. He really did not want to go through this. “There’s nothing to talk about. I’ve been going through crazy stuff like this since I was your age, and I always come out okay. There’s nothing for you to get so worked up about.”

Tails crossed his arms and looked away. “I hate when you do this.”

“Do what?”

“Just play it off when you get hurt.”

“Tails, it’s noth--“

“It’s NOT nothing!” Tails was practically screaming as he turned back. “You were locked in a small cell, arms and legs bound together, unable to run, for half a year! Anyone who knows you knows that would be torture for you! You hate nothing more than feeling trapped! How can you just brush it off when you were confined and all alone for that long?! When your friends weren’t there… when I wasn’t there for you!” At this point, tears were running down Tails’ face.

Sonic looked at him with concern. So that was what this was really about. He placed his hand on Tails’ shoulder, waiting for him to continue. “Tails…”

“I should have helped you. I should have done more. I should have stayed with Amy, Knuckles, and the rest of them instead of running off on my own. Especially when I wasn’t doing anything worthwhile. I should never have given up on you being alive so easily. I wasn’t even there when they busted you out! I was completely useless!"

Seeing Tails had gotten most of it out of his system, Sonic put his thumb under the young fox’s chin and turned his head, so he was looking at him. His voice was serious, yet gentle. “Tails, you are not useless. You were more helpful than you realize.”

“Just because I found out about the Phantom Ruby doesn’t mean--“

“I meant you were helpful to me.”

Tails looked slightly confused. Sonic took a deep breath, like he was about to get something off his chest.

“The truth is, and if you tell anyone this I’ll deny it, that being locked up was harder than I let on. You’re right, it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t run around. It was infuriating knowing Eggman was conquering the world, and I couldn’t help you guys. Most days he wouldn’t show up. He just left me alone with my thoughts. There… there were times I did feel… hopeless.” Sonic’s voice became heavy, admitting to something that went against his very nature; to never give up. “But I held on, because of you.”

“Me?” Tails’ eyes widened. Why would he say that? I didn’t do anything.

“I thought about you. How scared you sounded after Infinite beat me the first time. Your voice kept replaying in my head. That you were out there, without me. I knew I had to stay strong, to show you I was okay. That I could keep going with a smile on my face just like I always did. I pulled through because of you. So don’t you ever think you’re useless. Even when you’re not around, you’re always supporting me.”

Tails was trying hard not to cry, but he couldn’t keep it together. The tears had begun falling again as he threw his arms around Sonic. He nuzzled his face into his shoulder, trying to muffle the sobs. He knew Sonic wasn’t one for emotional outbursts, but he couldn’t help himself. Thankfully, Sonic didn’t push him away. He wrapped one arm around Tails’ body, and cradled the back of his head with the other.

“I missed you so much, Sonic.”

“I missed you too, li’l bro.” Sonic’s gripped tightened a bit. “I promise I’ll never leave you alone like that ever again.”

Tails nodded slightly. He felt choked up, with tears still falling from his eyes. From his face, onto his shoulder… wait, that wasn’t him. Tails noticed he felt a wetness in his fur from the side of his head. Those weren’t his tears. They were… Sonic’s. He was crying too. From Tails’ confession? From letting it out? It didn’t matter. Tails remained silent about it. He just wanted to be in his big brother’s embrace.

#sonic and tails #sonic forces #post!forces #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #tails the fox

138 notes · View notes