#this must be a glitch because I couldn’t tap on it but like wow

[eemoo1o-animoo]

What.

[jaxl-road]

Hollow

“When I get stressed, I get violent and take it out on myself. I’ve pulled razor blades on myself but then realized that having a scar is more detrimental than not having a stereo. I’d rather kick in my stereo than cut my arm.” -Axl Rose

An AU where Axl changes his mind on that stance.

Pairings: none

***TRIGGER WARNING: SELF HARM (specifically cutting)***

~~~~~~~~~

There was a clawing in his chest. In his throat, in his stomach, behind his eyes and his teeth. Walking offstage, Axl felt like he couldn’t breathe, too busy focusing on containing the wild, storming beast that wanted to tear him apart.

He needed to get out of here.

The hallway backstage seemed to stretch on forever, staring at the backs of his bandmates as they headed towards their dressing rooms. As he walked, he found himself kicking an empty plastic chair viciously when he passed it.

Slash eyed him over his shoulder, "Jeez, what is your problem?"

Fuck. He wished the guitarist hadn’t asked. His fingers curl, nails biting into his palms as he grinds out, "Were you not listening out there? The audio was fucking shit, there was feedback every five fucking minutes!"

Rolling his eyes, Slash sighed, "Dude, it wasn't that bad-"

But before he could finish his attempt at de-escalation, Steven whipped around and interrupted, "Well maybe if you actually bothered to show up for soundcheck we wouldn't have this problem."

Axl ground to a halt in the middle of the hallway, snarling, “I shouldn’t need to be there for us to have halfway decent tech! All the fucking money we bring in and we can’t get a less mediocre PA system?”

“Guys, hey, let’s not-” Duff tried to intervene half-heartedly, Slash rubbing a hand over his face in the corner. Izzy sighed as he shared a look with the other two, because they all knew it was pointless. Axl was too volatile, Steven was too outspoken, and they were both too frustrated with each other. The match and the kerosene.

“We’d bring in more money if we weren’t constantly paying overtime fees because you can’t get your ass to your own gig on time!” Steven snapped, “I don’t get why you’re making more than me when you’re basically a part-time singer!”

That clawing beast inside Axl escaped. And it had a target.

His hand curled around the back of the plastic chair, blood roaring in his ears as he hurled it at the drummer. Everyone in the hallway ducked against the walls, Steven managing to step out of the way in time as the chair crashed to the ground harmlessly, sliding down the hallway as Axl started screaming.

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! You don’t know a goddamn thing! You think you could do any of this without me?! Fat fucking chance!”

Axl could feel his mouth moving, could hear the words distantly, but there was a disconnect. It didn’t feel like him. He could see himself storming down the hallway like a glitching television screen, jumping and skipping, showing him shoving Steven aside and kicking the chair again even harder, everything fuzzy, static in his ears. A door slams furiously and he finds himself standing in his dressing room, and then there’s something in his hands, and then he’s surrounded by broken glass and overturned furniture. There are holes in the drywall and blood on his knuckles.

And he’s breathing. Gasping, actually, and he wonders if he had been holding his breath during the destruction; if the rage in his chest left no room for air.

But it was gone now. There was nothing left. Just a gaping cavern where the rage used to be. He staggered backwards and leaned against the wall, feeling lightheaded, his limbs weightless and shaky. Sliding to the floor, he put his head on his knees, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths.

Fuck.

The last half hour replays in his head.

Fuck.

What the fuck was wrong with him? This was hardly the first time he’d pulled this kind of bullshit, but each time felt worse. Steven didn't deserve that treatment. None of them did, and it was only a matter of time before he broke the camel's back with his fuck ups.

He wasn’t an idiot- he knew his bandmates wanted to fire him, and why wouldn’t they? Maybe Guns wouldn’t be the same without him, maybe they wouldn’t be as successful or popular, but with the amount of money they’d save from cutting out his property damage and late fees they’d probably still come out ahead, and that's not even considering how happy they'd be to be rid of him.

Axl was the one who’d suffer. He had a reputation now, and the bad was starting to outweigh the good. What would he even do, if he couldn’t sing? Couldn’t perform? Turning his head, he catches sight of his reflection in the shards of broken mirror surrounding him.

Reaching out, he picked up one of the larger shards without even thinking, turning it over in his hand. He ran a finger across the sharp edge in contemplation.

There had been a few times over the years where Axl found himself holding a blade to his skin. Everyone only saw rage, and that was part of it, sure, but it was more than that. There was a burning inside of him. Sometimes fire coursed through his veins that crackled and crawled and made Axl feel like tearing his skin off, like he was bursting at the seams, like even his own body didn't want him. Each time he'd reasoned with himself that it was better to scream and trash a room than scar himself. Things could be replaced, after all, so it was clearly the better solution.

Now he was rethinking that.

Something had to give, after all. He was halfway to ruining everything, steadily destroying this fragile life he'd built. If he didn't find a better way to purge this shit from inside him, it was going to crash down around him.

He thinks of bloodletting. He thinks of kneeling before some medieval priest to be drained of the devils and demons running through his veins. He wonders if that was why people were drawn to hurting him- his father, his stepfather, the bullies at school, the creeps who offered him a ride for a price- maybe his disease was so close to the surface that everyone could see it and knew that the only way to help him was to hurt him. Maybe this whole time he’d been flinching away from the cure. He thought of the empty feeling he got after each time he snapped and went on a rampage, and considered that maybe this way he could just bleed everything out- quietly, peacefully.

Sitting on the floor carefully, he slowly pushed his jeans down to his knees. Arms are a big no, he'd never be able to hide it, but legs would be easy to conceal. If he was careful, he could even make sure everything was hidden by shorts.

Looking down at the shard of reflection in his hand, he feels a sense of calm. It's not hopeless. There's still time. He has a plan now. He can fix this.

He pressed the glass against the top of his thigh.

He'll be better.

~~~~~~~~

It’s nearly morning when he makes it back to the hotel. Slipping into his room, he stays there until nightfall when they have to leave for the next city.

None of them talk about his outburst. They never do.

He sits alone.

~~~~~~~~

The night of their next performance, Axl doesn’t make it to soundcheck, but he does arrive before the openers go on.

“Wow, look who decided to show up,” Slash said mockingly, raising an eyebrow as he walked past.

“Now I’ve seen everything,” Duff rolled his eyes in response.

Steven laughed, and oh, Axl wants to scream.

I’m doing what you want! I’m here! I’m trying! This is what you wanted, why aren’t you happy, why isn’t it enough?”

Instead, he presses the tips of his fingers into the side of his thigh and keeps walking.

~~~~~~

It infuriated him, seeing his bandmates strung out when they were supposed to be working.

“Clean up your fucking act before you OD on fucking stage!” he snapped, shoving at Slash’s chest before stomping away.

Back in his dressing room, he tugged his hair in frustration. Who was he to lecture his bandmates? He was trying not to cause trouble, not to get on anyone’s bad side, and yelling at his guitarist wasn’t exactly the way to do that.

God, he was the worst fuck up out of all of them. He shouldn’t have said anything. The anger hadn’t left, but now he felt guilty on top of it. He hated feeling this much. He hated not being able to do anything right. Opening one of the drawers beneath the vanity, he opened a small pack of spare razors.

~~~~~~

Get up.

The room is dark, the curtains drawn tight, only a sliver of light shining through the bottom of the hotel door.

Get up.

Another performance over, another city crossed off the list, and now it was time to gather his things because they had to be on the bus in an hour. But instead he was laying on his side on the bed, staring blankly at the wall.

Get up, get up, get up!

It’s almost funny to him- if someone walked in right now they’d probably think he looked dead, unable to hear the screaming inside his head.

Mustering up as much energy as he can, he reaches over to the top drawer of the side table. Fumbling around for a moment, his fingers finally find the pocketknife he had started keeping there. He flips it open lazily.

An hour later, he is running up to the bus, out of breath, but right on time.

~~~~~~

When he sits on the floor of the generic hotel bathroom, holding a towel to his leg, he wonders if this is a punishment or a reward.

Maybe it’s both.

~~~~~~

“Hey Axl, you coming?”

The singer blinked in surprise at Slash’s question. There was nothing on the band’s schedule for the day, leaving them free to do what they pleased. Duff, Slash, and Steven had been talking about heading to some VIP bar a friend had recommended, Izzy shrugging and agreeing to tag along while Axl sat to the side and stared out the window mindlessly.

It had been a long time since the band had all gone out together just for fun. Lately their outings were specifically a chance to get away from Axl, after all.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” the redhead smiled, standing and following the group out, chatting amicably. He tapped his fingers against his leg.

He must be doing something right.

~~~~~~

Shorts still cover everything, but he’s had to move from the tops of his thighs to the insides.

Then the outsides.

He starts wearing longer shorts.

~~~~~~

When the show ends, Axl throws his arms around his bandmates, pulling them close, waving and bowing for the crows. They seperate, but Steven keeps his arm around him, even when they’re out of sight of the audience, and Axl knows that it’s all worth it just for this moment of not being alone.

~~~~~~

On this night, he wears his rose leggings, as well as black basketball shorts over them. When he woke up that afternoon, Axl had felt a churning in his stomach, felt on edge and jittery and angry, and he refused to fuck up, not again, not anymore. Things were good, the past few months had gone relatively smoothly, he was on good terms with the rest of the band, and he couldn’t afford to mess that all up just because he had a broken, defective brain.

That’s what he told himself, when he pressed the blade a little harder than usual.

So he wore the leggings, and an extra layer, and that was fine. He was on time, and the energy of the show was amazing, and if he didn’t hit a note good enough, or the sound system had a glitch, he could just kick his legs out, leap from an amp, feel the stretch and burn and growing dampness around his hips and legs and everything felt okay again.

By the time the show ended and they made it back to the hotel, his legs stung with every step. But he was so exhausted, he couldn’t bring himself to deal with it. So he simply pulled his shirt and shoes off before collapsing into bed, falling asleep with the familiar feeling of pain comforting him.

~~~~~~

When he woke up, he knew immediately that something was very, very wrong.

The room was dark, so he assumed it was still the middle of the night, but when he turned his head to look at the clock beside his bed the numbers were blurry. He was hot, he could feel sweat pooling in the hollow of his throat, making the thin bed sheet cling to his chest, and it felt like his eyes were burning in his skull. The heat was so distracting, making his thoughts fuzzy and muddled, it took him a moment to notice the pain. But once he did, he choked on a cry.

His legs hurt. The right one hurt, but oh, God, his left leg felt like an exposed nerve, every heartbeat sent a pulse of pain that seemed to echo from his thigh through the rest of his body. He felt like he was on fire, he felt like he was being flayed, he felt like he was suffocating.

Something was wrong.

Focusing everything he had, eyes clenched shut, Axl forced himself to sit up and swing his legs slowly over the side of the bed. His stomach lurched, and he took a few minutes to just breathe. When the nausea passed, he began to carefully slip his clothes off, sliding the shorts, leggings, and underwear away at the same time, biting his lip until he tasted blood as the fabric brushed past his thighs. As the garments fell to the floor, he finally opened his eyes.

Axl had to blink a few times, the room seeming to sway around him, and even as his vision cleared, it still took several minutes for his brain to focus, to process what exactly he was looking at. At first, all he sees is red. But slowly he is able to pick up more details- the angry pink that makes up the skin of his left thigh is broken up by lines of dark red, a few of them muted by a dull yellow color.

That’s bad. He knows that- that what he’s looking at is bad- but he couldn’t comprehend why. His thoughts are disorganized and inarticulate, understanding slipping through his fingers like water-

Water, he thinks suddenly, I need to clean this.

It’s the first truly coherent thought he’s had since he woke, and he clings to it desperately. Axl stands with a lurch, gritting his teeth through the pain, one hand held out against the wall to steady himself. Looking around, he feels confused, Where am I?, but he still manages to stagger towards the bathroom on instinct alone. He passes by a minifridge and without thinking shakily reaches in to snatch a small bottle of vodka.

He doesn’t remember the rest of the journey, but the next time he is fully aware of his surroundings he is standing in the shower, clumsily opening the vodka. Bracing himself against the tiled wall, he poured the alcohol over his thigh.

Axl has to bite down around a scream, and suddenly he feels like he’s snapped back into his body, the pain cutting through the fever haze and he gasps as he feels his jumbled thoughts finally click back together.

The cuts are infected, he realizes with dread, I cut too deep, I haven’t been cleaning them. It’s infected now. He looks down at the nearly empty bottle of vodka, his thigh still stinging, Alcohol isn’t gonna do shit now, it’s too late for that, I can’t fix this on my own, he feels his eyes burn with misery, I need help.

Swallowing thickly, the bottle slips from his fingers and clatters to the ground. His hand fumbles as he steps out of the shower, grabbing a towel and clumsily wrapping it around his naked waist. Every step hurts, and he feels the heat creeping back in, burning the thoughts from his head, and he leans heavily against the doorframe as he stares at the table beside his bed in anguish.

The phone feels so far away, and Axl just wants this to be over. He wishes he had never been born. He wishes his father had killed him instead of just ruining him. He wishes his stepfather had finished him off instead of always leaving him on the ground, broken and bloody and breathing. He wishes that stranger on the road had slit his throat instead of crawling on top of him. He wishes someone else would just take control and make it all stop.

Because out of all the things Axl hates about himself, the thing he hates most of all is that he does not want to die. He limps and stumbles towards the phone because he is a coward, and he's scared, and he doesn't want to die, he doesn’t want to go to Hell yet. Oh God, he doesn’t want to go to Hell.

By the time he reaches the other side of the room, he’s panting like he’s just run a marathon, sweat dripping down his face and chest, and all he can do is whimper in pain as he collapses onto his knees next to the bed, leaning his head against the side table. Curling up as much as he can in the corner between the bed and the table, he blindly reaches up, fumbling around until his hand finds the phone and pulls the receiver down.

Everything is swaying, like a boat on the ocean, and the nausea swelled, forcing him to wrap an arm around his stomach in a desperate attempt to swallow back bile. He's dizzy, and shivering, and he's staring at the phone in his hand when he realizes he doesn't know who to call. The front desk? 911? No, no, in either of those situations an ambulance would be involved which would increase the odds of paparazzi finding out. No, he just needs someone to drive him, that's all.

But of course, it's never that simple. Because he realizes he has no idea who is staying in what room- doesn’t think he could recall the information even if he had known it in the first place. They had booked most of the floor for the band and crew, but Axl couldn't remember specific room numbers. Clenching his eyes shut, he took a deep breath. There was no other option but to just guess and hope he got one of the crew members. He didn't want to see anyone- he didn't want anyone to see him- but he figured a tech could at least be paid to keep quiet.

So he punched in a number, any number for his floor, the buttons blurring as he looked at them, and shakily held the phone to his ear. The ringing feels far away, and he can’t decide if he feels cold or hot. He realizes suddenly that it’s the middle of the night, and he wonders what he will do if no one picks up.

But before he can think too long, he hears a click, and he holds his breath.

"Hmmmf, 'llo?" A tired voice filters through the line and Axl chokes out a sob.

Steven.

"Hello?"

Of course it's Steven. Axl hasn't fucked up the drummer's life enough apparently, now he has to wake him in the dead of night because he can't get his shit together. Another cry escapes him.

"...Axl? Is that you? Are you-"

The phone slips from his grasp, clattering to the ground as he leans heavily against the bed and sobs uncontrollably. A small voice chattered from the receiver, but Axl was too far gone to understand it.

He didn't want to hurt Steven anymore. He didn't want to hurt anyone, that was the whole reason he started all this. And why did he always hurt Steven, anyway? Was it because he was an easy target? Because he was so big hearted and forgiving he knew he could get away with it? This was why he was going to Hell. This was why he deserved this pain.

Gasping to catch his breath, his head aching and his whole body weak, he realized that the phone had gone silent. He feels almost afraid to pick it up again.

Maybe this is karma, he thinks. That would make sense. That would be fair. Maybe he can just lay down on the floor, and fall asleep, and not wake up. It’s not like he has the strength to do anything else at this point. Axl didn’t want to die, but he felt resigned. He was scared, but he just didn’t have the strength to fight it anymore.

There is a muffled thudding noise. He doesn’t remember closing his eyes, but he listens, and it sounds far away, and he wonders if it’s his heartbeat. It gets faster, more frantic, and he thinks he hears a voice. Then he hears a crash.

Then he hears his name.

“Axl?”

Blinking sluggishly, he glances around the room in confusion, and then there is someone rushing towards him. He doesn’t recognize him until he is a foot away.

“Shit, Axl!” Steven's figure was blurry as he knelt in front of him, "Hey, hey, Axl, I'm here, you're okay," The drummer hissed when he pushed the sweaty red hair out of Axl's face, "Jesus Christ, you're burning up!"

“What’ryou…” Axl slurs, confused, Steven going in and out of focus.

Eyes widening in concern, the blonde put his hands on Axl’s shoulders to steady him, “You… you called me. Remember? You were-... you didn’t say anything but you didn’t sound okay. I was worried.”

Oh, Axl swallowed thickly, remembers now, dragging his thoughts back towards something resembling coherency.

Steven was here. Axl didn’t want him here, but he was here and there was no going back, and he still needed help, so even though he wanted nothing more than to keep crying, he had to press on. His thoughts felt shattered, all jagged edges scattering in every direction, so it took him what felt like ages to slur out, “Stevie…” his voice is raspy and raw, “Need you… t’drive me t’the hospital.”

The drummer frowned, “Hey, you’re okay, you’re sick, but we’ll get your fever down, okay? We’ll get you cooled down. If your fever doesn’t go away then we can-”

Axl shakes his head, slowly at first and then more frantic as Steven tries to reason with him, “No, it’s not… ‘m not…” he doesn’t know how to say it, he’s so dizzy, and weak, so he focuses his strength on clumsily pushing away the towel around his waist to just show him.

At some point his eyes slipped shut, trying to alleviate the nausea brought on by the spinning room, and he knows his sense of time cannot be trusted, but it feels like the silence stretches out for hours. The only sound is the rasping of his lungs, and if it weren’t for Steven’s hands still bracing his shoulders he’d assume the man had left. But maybe he was going to, just taking in the trainwreck for one more moment before walking out the door. Or maybe he already left and Axl was just hallucinating the idea of not being alone.

“Fuck, Axl…”

Steven’s voice sounds far away, but his hands are still present on his shoulders, his fingers tightening a bit and digging into his skin in a way that would probably be painful if it weren't for all the pain already drowning it out.

Axl is crying again, or maybe crying still, choking out through a sob, “‘m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay, everything is gonna be okay, man,” Steven rambles, hands releasing their grip and instead smoothing up and down Axl’s arms soothingly, “You’re gonna be fine. Let’s just… I’m just gonna call the guys, and we’ll take you to the hospital and get you all fixed up, yeah? You’re gonna be just fine.”

He reaches for the phone still laying on the ground, balancing it between his ear and shoulder as he snatches the receiver off the side table. Axl doesn’t notice his own hand moving, everything too syrupy and slow, but he feels his fingers curl into Steven’s shirt and hears a broken, wounded whine that he thinks might have come from his own mouth.

Pausing in his fumbling with the phone, Steven focuses on the singer in front of him. Axl is too tired, getting weaker every moment, has no more energy to sob but the tears are still streaming down his face and he wonders if he was nauseous because he was carrying an ocean in his stomach. He opens his mouth and he wants to say no, he wants to say please, he wants to say I’m sorry, I fucked up, please, don’t make me face them too, don’t let them see me, I don’t want to be hated anymore, it’s already too much, I can’t take anymore, please don’t punish me, even if I deserve it, please.

Maybe he did manage to say all that out loud and his own ears missed it, maybe he said some of it, maybe he stuttered and stumbled over fever thick words and somehow got the gist of it. Or maybe Steven just felt the way Axl’s hand shook with the effort of holding him, or saw the words reflected in his glassy eyes, or understood the shuddering of his breath. Either way, Steven set the phone on the ground and cupped the side of Axl’s face with a gentleness that makes it hard to breathe, tilting his head until the red-head is focusing fever-bright eyes on him.

“Hey,” Steven’s voice is soft, but strong, “it’s okay. I’m not trying to hurt you, okay? But if you don’t want an ambulance then I’m gonna need some fucking help. They’ll want to help,” he leaned in, eyes wide and emploring, “They’re on your side, okay? We’re on your side.”

Blinking slowly, it takes a minute for the words to cut through the haze, and then another for Axl to nod in defeat. Steven only has a second to sigh in relief before the singer is suddenly pitching forward, collapsing against his chest.

“Shit!” the drummer hissed, one arm coming around to hold him and wincing as his hand rested against bare skin and felt the heat radiating off his body.

Forehead resting against Steven’s chest, Axl let his eyes drift shut again. The hand on his back feels far away, he feels far away, feels like he’s underwater, everything floating and rippling. Every now and then he breaks through the surface for just a moment.

He hears Steven’s voice frantically saying Slash’s name, words sharp and panicked.

He sees shadows around him, tall and looming, fuzzy around the edges.

He feels hands on him, turning him, pushing his hair back, on his arms and his face and his neck, tugging at something around his hips.

He hears curses and arguing.

He feels fabric secured around his waist and draped over his shoulders. He feels arms around his back and under his knees. He feels a jolt as he’s lifted into the air. He feels a flare of pain in his legs from the movement. He feels himself open his mouth to scream but nothing comes out.

He feels himself sink beneath the surface, and this time he stays there.

~~~~~

Axl wakes up slowly.

Everything feels soft, muted, dulled. Like he’s resting just inches outside his body. There, but not quite. He feels like he’s floating, like he’s full of cotton, and yet his limbs feel heavy. He doesn’t feel tired exactly, but he feels so comfortable and peaceful he wants to go back to sleep, wants to wrap himself in this strange sensation and stay there. When he finally manages to open his eyes, everything is blurred and bright.

For a brief moment he wonders if he’s in Heaven. If maybe he’s been forgiven.

But his vision starts to clear, and he sees fluorescent lights, hears a steady beeping, and starts to feel aching and sore. It’s still confusing, there are bits and pieces of memory in his head but he can’t quite make sense of them, can’t see the image the puzzle is supposed to create. The answer is on the tip of his tongue, it feels like, but he can’t quite grasp it.

Then, as he slowly sinks back into his body, he becomes aware of someone holding his hand. He has to blink a few times before he can turn his head, and then a few more to find details in the dark silhouette sitting at his side.

“Hey,” Izzy’s voice cracks as he whispers, smiling shakily down at him, “welcome back.”

Axl doesn’t understand, just stares blankly up at the guitarist sitting on the edge of his bed. He opens his mouth because he feels like he should say something, anything, but all that comes out is a weak rasp, wincing at the sandpaper feel of his throat.

Izzy hushes him, reaching with his free hand and lifting a cup with a straw to his lips. Axl drinks greedily, the cool water hitting his stomach and making him feel more present. His throat feels better, but when Izzy pulls the cup away, he realizes that he has no idea what to say. So he doesn’t say anything. He simply blinks up at Izzy, and every time he closes his eyes he expects him to be gone when he opens them.

Swallowing thickly, Izzy rubs his thumb over the back of Axl’s hand, “We’ve been waiting for you all day.”

For the first time Axl becomes aware of the three other silhouettes in the corner of his vision. Turning his head, he sees Duff and Steven sitting on the floor, both asleep, the drummer curled up with his head on the bassist’s shoulder. Slash is sitting just to the side, sprawled out in an uncomfortable looking plastic chair, eyes hidden by his curls but the soft, steady breathing suggesting that he’s asleep too. As he looks at them his eyes also catch on machines, and wires, and the IV in his arm, and he finally sees the picture all the little pieces are making.

Hospital, he finds the word at last, I’m in the hospital.

He looks back up at Izzy. He finds the words. I fucked up.

Izzy’s hand grips his a little tighter, and his lips are trembling, and his eyes look watery and scared, and for the first time in years Axl thinks he looks like Jeff.

“You scared the shit out of us,” he whispers, “Fuck, Axl- Bill- Axl,” he takes a deep breath, grips his hand so tight it hurts, “You scared me so fucking bad.”

These words matter, Axl knows that, tucks them in his mind so he can give them their proper respect later, when he’s not dizzy on blood-loss and infection and painkillers and antibiotics. But right now, tears slip down the side of his face, soaking into stringy red locks, streaming silently for no other reason than because Izzy is here.

That’s all Axl can process right now, and even that is almost too much. Izzy is here. Steven, and Duff, and Slash, and Izzy, they’re here, they’re here, they’re here. After everything he’s done, they didn’t leave him on the floor of the hotel, didn’t drop him on the hospital doorsteps and move on, didn’t leave him here alone.

Izzy wipes at his tears, even though more replace them immediately. He stays. He holds Axl’s hand as he cries quietly and strokes his hair, and whispers softly. Axl is so tired, but he’s afraid to fall asleep in case this was all a dream, in case he wakes up alone.

“It’s okay,” Izzy leans down and presses a kiss to his forehead, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Axl’s not sure he believes him, but his eyes are so heavy, and he feels himself sinking. He’s not sure he believes him. But as he slips back into unconsciousness, he allows himself to hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After sleeping through his first day in the hospital, Axl is released on the second.

Tapping his fingers anxiously, he sits on the edge of his bed, dressed in plain sweatpants and an old t-shirt Slash had brought for him. It’s just him and the doctor, who is monotone and indifferent as he gives the singer instructions. Three of the cuts had needed stitches, so he’d need to come back in two weeks to get them removed and have a check-up. Change the bandages two to three times a day. Take the prescribed antibiotics every twelve hours until the pills were gone, even if he felt better. He handed him a folder with the same instructions typed up, and the prescription, and a business card for a psychiatrist that Axl didn’t bother looking at.

Walking out of the room, he keeps his eyes on the ground. He’s walking stiffly, gauze and bandages thick around his thighs and hips making his steps stilted and awkward. The guys are waiting for him, all of them, still here he thinks, and his heart stutters. But he’s awake now, fever gone and head clear and he feels humiliated.

He doesn’t want them to leave, but he also wants them to have never been here at all.

“Good to go?” Duff asks. The four rockers stand and they look so out of place in the hospital waiting room. Not Axl though. Axl, with his pale skin, dark circles under his eyes, nondescript clothes hanging from his frame, hands shaky and weak. Axl looks like he belongs here. Axl looks like he shouldn’t be leaving.

But he nods, and they walk out the door together.

He doesn’t know whose car it is, but Izzy drives, Axl in the passenger seat while Slash, Duff, and Steven pile into the back.

They’re barely out of the parking lot when Steven leans forward, “How are you feeling?” He tries to keep his voice normal and conversational. He doesn't really succeed.

Axl rests his head against the window, “Tired.”

Steven nods awkwardly and the car falls into silence. Eventually Izzy stops the car by a pharmacy, quietly reaching over and slipping the folder out of Axl’s limp hands. He pulls out the prescription slip and hands it to Slash. There is no conversation while they wait for the guitarist to retrieve the medication, and Axl feels like he broke something. He wants to cry, but he feels hollow and dry and empty. He must have used up all the tears he had.

Slash comes back, grinning as he held up the paper bag, “I think this is the first time I’ve gotten drugs from somewhere other than a back alley,” he jokes. Axl lets out a huff through his nose, the closest to a laugh he can manage, and the others smile stiffly as the car starts again. Izzy turns on the radio to help fill the silence, but it only helps a little.

When they reach the hotel, Axl sits up and grimaces when he sees the grease mark left on the window. For the first time he looks at his reflection in the side mirror and is filled with shame and self-consciousness when he sees how stringy and dirty his hair looks, the dull matted locks only serving to make his pale face look even more sickly. A shiver runs through him at the sudden, overpowering dirtiness he feels, and he feels the urge to crouch under the dashboard, to curl up with his hands over his head so no one can see him. But before he has a chance his door opens, and he finds himself looking up at Slash.

The guitarist tilts his head and asks casually, “You alright, man?”

No, Axl thinks. He wants to scream. He wants to break something and throw a tantrum and snap and refuse to leave the car for anything. He wants to dig his fingers into his thigh.

“Yeah,” he breathes, “I’m fine.”

It’s not entirely surprising when they go into the hotel and lead Axl to a different room than the one he was staying in before- he has no idea what sort of state he left it in- and it’s not particularly surprising when the guys trail after him, either. Axl is still looking at the floor, disgusting strands of hair falling into his face and he feels sick for a whole list of reasons. He spots his suitcase in the corner and shuffles towards it.

“I’m gonna take a shower,” he mumbled.

Izzy’s voice stops him in his tracks, “You can’t get your bandages wet.”

He says it matter-of-factly, just pointing out the obvious, but it feels so cruel to Axl that it cuts him to the quick. He snaps his head over, eyes wide with something like betrayal.

“But…” He feels like a child- fragile and hurting and at someone else’s mercy. His head drops back down. He feels so weak and he hates it, but he can’t find anything in him to fight back. There is no rage. Only a bone deep exhaustion.

“I just want to wash my hair,” he says it mostly to himself, voice cracking just slightly and so soft he doesn’t really expect any of them to hear it. One hand raises hesitantly to touch his fingers to the side of his hair, and he wonders if he can die from shame.

He’s about two seconds away from just curling up on the floor in defeat when Duff steps forward, “I’ll help you.”

Axl blinks up at him in surprise, partially from the offer, and partially because out of all of them Duff actually manages to sound normal- like this is any other day, and it’s completely routine for him to help his lead singer wash his hair. He’s even nonchalant in the way he pats Axl’s shoulder, nudging him towards the bathroom.

“Duff…” Izzy starts, a note of concern in his voice, but the bassist cuts him off.

“Izzy.” His voice is clipped, firm, final, and Izzy raises his hands in surrender.

Meanwhile, Axl stares blankly from just outside the bathroom, unmoving and uncertain as he watches Duff snag the chair from in front of the desk under the window. Dragging the chair behind him, he grinned at Axl, waving his hand and guiding him into the ensuite. Once they’re both inside, he closes the door behind them, allowing for some privacy from the three sets of eyes looking after them.

“Here,” Duff placed the chair in front of the sink, facing away, “sit down.”

Staring at the seat though, Axl felt cracked down the middle. Because he doesn’t think he can handle not being clean for any longer, but it hits him like a freight train that what Duff is suggesting involves him touching Axl’s hair, touching the sweat and grime and filth and it feels wrong to subject Duff to that.

He wants to scream. He wants to dig his fingers into his thigh. He wants them to stay. He wants them to have never been here at all.

“It’s okay,” he wraps his arms around himself, shaking his head slowly, “You don’t have to…”

“I know,” Duff's smile never wavered. He leaned against the counter casually, head tilting, “I want to,” his voice softens to almost a whisper, “It’s okay.”

Axl struggles to hold his gaze. It takes a minute, but Duff is patient, and eventually Axl manages to step over to him, turning and sitting slowly on the chair, head hung meekly.

The bassist beamed, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly, “Excellent! Hang on-” he bustled around the ensuite, snatching various items and placing them on the counter. Looking over his loot, he hummed and excused himself briefly. Axl blinked in confusion, but the tall blonde was back in less than a minute, closing the door again and placing a brush and a few bottles on the counter next to the hotel amenities.

“You don’t need all that,” Axl blurted out, feeling a little overwhelmed, “I just-... Just help me rinse it out, that’s all.”

“No way, dude,” Duff grinned, “If I’m doing this I’m doing it right. It’s a matter of pride. My hair routine is impeccable and I’ll prove it to you.” He gives Axl no room to argue, draping one towel around his shoulders and folding another to place on the edge of the sink. His hand smooths across Axl’s shoulders, smiling kindly, “It’s okay,” he assured him, “lean back.”

Doing as he was told, Axl let his head drop back into the sink, Duff adjusting the folded towel to make sure it cushioned the singer’s neck comfortably. Staring at the ceiling, Axl’s arms tightened around his stomach as long fingers swept his hair back into the sink.

“You’re okay,” Duff repeats, “just relax.”

He hears the water turn on, and there is a delay while Duff waits for it to heat up a bit before filling up a plastic cup and carefully pouring it over Axl’s hair.

Something releases in Axl’s chest. Warm water soothes the skin of his scalp, Duff’s hand steadily shielding his eyes and face, fingers carefully running through to try to loosen some of the larger knots. It feels like he can breathe, like something uncoiled around his lungs and they can expand properly for the first time in hours.

Duff hums a tune he doesn’t recognize, and Axl lets his hands unclench. After a few minutes, he sees the bassist reach for one of the bottles on the counter.

“You really don’t have to do all the fancy shit,” he mumbled.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Duff smirked.

Huffing out a laugh, Axl’s eyes slipped shut as Duff started working shampoo through his hair. He tried to remember the last time he was touched like this- gently and peacefully and unconditionally. On stage he was always sneaking for affection, throwing his arms around his bandmates and dragging them close, confident that they wouldn’t shove him away in front of an audience. It was rough and loud and desperate, like it always was, even off stage. But here it was quiet, Duff massaging his scalp and humming and Axl feels like he could fall asleep under his hands.

Coating his hair with a generous amount of conditioner next, the blonde nudged his shoulder lightly, “Sit up for a sec.”

Blinking, Axl straightened, starting a bit when Duff pushed his chair forward just enough so he could stand behind him. He then began diligently brushing the red strands, the conditioner allowing the brush to slide through the knots and matts with ease, though he was still cautious not to tug too hard.

Even when everything wasn’t collapsing around him, Axl doesn’t think he’s ever been this thorough with his hair. Or really with anything regarding his own body. The most he did was the necessary steps to not fall apart on stage- taping his ankles after the third time he sprained one, vocal exercises so he didn’t lose the one thing he was good at, shying away from hard drugs, things like that. Beyond that, he never really cared. He supposed his thighs were proof enough of that now.

But Duff was here, pressing him back to rinse out the conditioner, running his fingers through his hair and checking to make sure the water was still warm. Axl had given him multiple chances to do the minimum, to do nothing, but he chose to do more. He cared enough to do more. Even after everything Axl had put them all through.

The water turned off, and Duff wrung some of the water from his hair before nudging Axl forward again so he could gently rub a towel over his head. It suddenly struck the singer that Duff probably cared more about Axl than Axl did.

He doesn’t notice he’s crying until Duff is kneeling in front of him. It’s strange to have the tall bassist looking up at him. One hand comes to rest on the side of his face, holding him steady while the other softly wipes a wet washcloth over his forehead and cheeks. Axl can’t quite place the look in Duff’s eyes. It’s not worry, or pity, or disdain. He thinks the best word for it is compassion.

“You alright?”

Axl blinks slowly, thinking about the question. There are still tears escaping silently, and he knows that this moment of peace is temporary, that he has shaken the foundation of their group and it will take more than a day for them to find their balance again. But he’s clean, and he can look Duff in the eyes without feeling gutted, and his hands are relaxed in his lap.

So he nods.

“Yeah,” even his voice sounds more steady and strong, “I’m alright.”

~~~~~~~

Izzy turns music on again to try to cover up the awkward silence. They’re all sitting around the room, stiff and quiet, Axl laying on one of the beds and reading in an attempt to ignore all of them. He eyes the second bed suspiciously. When they had first arrived he hadn’t been in the right mind to really think about it, but now it bothered him. The hotel probably just didn’t have any more single rooms available- that would make sense given the last minute room change.

Snapping his book closed a little more forcefully than necessary, the redhead sat up and glanced around at his bandmates, “I’m tired, I’m gonna go to bed early. You guys can go back to your own rooms now.”

Duff, Steven, and Slash exchange nervous glances, but Izzy meets Axl’s stare head on. “We’re staying here.”

“That’s stupid,” Axl snapped back, “I’m just going to sleep. Go back to your room and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I mean, we’re not going fucking anywhere,” the rythym guitarist crossed his arms firmly.

Axl growled, “Why not?”

Izzy softened, just slightly, his voice lowering, “You know why.”

Standing, the singer glared, “I can take care of myself, y’know. Take my pills every twelve hours, change my bandages, blah blah, I don’t need you all hovering around me.”

“Obviously you do,” Izzy snapped, “or we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place!”

“Don’t act like I’m the only one who’s fucked up!” Axl was yelling now. He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t seem to stop, his voice only getting louder as the conversation went on, “I don’t remember you all scrambling to babysit Steven after he OD’d,” he snarled.

“Steven didn’t OD on purpose!”

“What, you think I got an infection on purpose?” he asked incredulously.

“Maybe not, but you hurt yourself on purpose!”

“So what, you’re just going to follow me around everywhere? You can’t watch me forever! After all,” He sneered, “You’ll have to go shoot up eventually.” The words are cold and cruel, and he sees Izzy’s jaw tense.

Eyes narrowed and nose flaring in rage, Izzy’s eyes dart down, landing on Axl’s hands, watching his fingers clench and unclench.

“Do it,” He spits out.

Axl blinked in confusion, “Do what?”

“Throw something!” he snapped, “Break something, tear the room apart! Come on, I know you want to!”

“I-” Axl ground his teeth together, fury rising in his chest, feeling cornered and trapped. Everything about this felt like a trap. “I want for you to leave me alone!”

“No you fucking don’t,” Izzy challenged, “If you actually wanted us to leave, then you wouldn’t be trying so hard not to freak out. If you wanted us gone you’d have already destroyed this room, and the last one, and the one before.”

“So, what? You’re mad at me because I’m trying to be better? Fuck you!”

“This isn’t better!” Izzy gestured at the singer as he yelled.

“Yes it fucking is!” Axl screamed, “It’s better! Everything was fucking better until I slipped up! I was being good, I was doing everything right! And I get it, I fucked up, I’ll be more careful now. But don’t you dare pretend like you didn't like me better when I was fucking bleeding!"

The words echo through the room, Axl’s chest heaving, and he can see all the fight leave Izzy on a single exhale. He looks gutted.

Swallowing, body still coiled with rage, Axl can’t bring himself to look at the others. The look on Izzy’s face is painful enough. Turning on his heel, he snatches a pack of cigarettes and a lighter off one of the nightstands before storming to the door.

“Axl-”

He ignores the call, throwing the door open.

“Axl-!”

The door slams behind him, and he runs.

~~~~~

Not that he makes it very far.

His legs and hips still ached, and he was tired, so he found himself stumbling before he even made it to the end of the hallway. Eyes clenched shut in frustration, he limps over to the door leading to the stairwell. Carefully, he makes his way down two flights before finally sliding down to sit on one of the steps.

The cigarettes are partially crushed from the tight grip he had held them in, but not ruined, lighting one up and inhaling deeply. Sighing, he feels some of the tension leave him with the nicotine hit, but even as he relaxes he feels the guilt grow.

Screaming at his bandmates wasn’t exactly better than trashing the room as Izzy had suggested. How many times was he going to mess everything up this week? How was he supposed to even fix this?

Maybe the disease wasn’t something he could bleed out. Maybe he was the disease.

He’s halfway through his second cigarette when he hears footsteps coming down the stairs above him. Closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wall, he prays that maybe it’s just some random guest or maintenance person or something.

Still, when the steps come to a halt beside him and he feels a body sit next to him, he’s not really surprised. They pluck the pack of cigarettes and the lighter from his hands, and when he opens his eyes, Slash is casually lighting up.

Axl looks away again, and for a few minutes they smoke in silence.

Eventually though, once Slash reaches the end of his cigarette, he grinds it out on the floor next to him and sighs, “I’m sorry.”

Turning to him, Axl blinked in surprise, “What for?”

There is a long pause, Slash staring down at his hands with a sad look on his face. When he speaks, his voice is almost a whisper, “For not noticing. For not questioning when you started acting different.”

“It’s fine-”

“No, it’s not,” Slash insisted.

“You shouldn’t have to question why I’m suddenly less of an asshole!” Axl snapped, “That’s not your fucking job! The whole point of all this was so that you guys wouldn’t have to fucking deal with me!”

Running his hands through his hair in frustration, Axl put his head against the wall again. He wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to look at Slash or if he didn’t want Slash to look at him.

“Axl,” The guitarist spoke slowly, “I know things were… rough for awhile. I know none of us were really getting along-”

“You were getting along with each other just fine,” Axl mumbled.

Slash ignored him, “-but even if things weren’t great, you’re still our friend. Fuck, man, I still think of you as my best friend.” He hesitated for a moment as he thought through his next words, “Look… I’m going to be honest with you, okay?” His voice was gentle and sincere, ���It’s hard sometimes. It can be frustrating when you get into those moods because we just don’t get it, y’know? We don’t understand what’s going on in that head of yours sometimes. But if I had to choose between you screaming at me and you hurting yourself, I will pick you screaming every time.”

“But I don’t want to scream at you!” Axl exclaimed, hands clenched desperately in front of him, “I don’t want to- to break things, or mess up our shows, or hurt anyone, or feel so fucking-” his voice cracked, and he snapped his jaw shut. His head falls forward, hair hanging in his face as he swallows thickly to try to hold back… everything.

It didn’t work though, and when he speaks his voice is a shaky whisper. He sounds defeated.

“I don’t want to be like this anymore, Saul.”

He barely has time to take a shuddering breath before Slash is slowly pulling him into his chest. His arms are warm, and gentle, and safe, smoothing up and down his back. Resting his chin on top of smooth red hair, Slash says with a voice full of understanding, “I know. I know you don’t.” He tightens his hold and Axl shakes harder, “We’ll get you help, okay? We’ll figure something out. We’ll find a way for you to feel better- an actual solution. But in the meantime? We would so much rather deal with a late show or a trashed dressing room than… than find you like we did that night.”

Axl is tired of crying. But Slash doesn’t mind, says nothing of the growing dampness on the front of his shirt, or the way the singer wraps his arms around his back to cling to him desperately.

“I’m sorry,” he gasps out, “I’m so, so, sorry.”

There’s so much he’s sorry for, and he doesn’t know if he is capable of articulating it all, but Slash nods, stroking his hair and Axl thinks he understands.

“I know,” he said, and he plants a gentle kiss to the top of his head, “We forgive you.”

~~~~~~~

Axl drags his feet walking back to the hotel room. Slash tries to comfort and encourage him, but he still feels anxiety like a vice grip on his heart. He had messed up so much, and they were all trying to help, even if he didn’t deserve it, and he went and yelled at them. And just because Slash said it was okay didn’t mean it was and he had to fix this, he had to, but he wasn’t sure how. He was scared that nothing would be enough.

When he finally steels himself and opens the door, he barely makes it into the room before a body collides with his, arm wrapping around him and pulling him as close as physically possible, one hand between his shoulder blades and the other cupping the back of his head. Axl feels his breath catch in his throat even as he sinks into Izzy’s warmth.

Izzy’s breath ghosts across the top of his head, and Axl slowly brings his arms up to hold him back. Sighing, he closes his eyes, letting his head rest against Izzy’s shoulder as he relaxes into the embrace. Neither of them say anything.

But neither of them need to.

~~~~~

Axl tosses and turns in bed. He’s tired, but it feels like his brain just won't shut off. He is alone on one of the queen beds, the others giving him a bit of space, which he figures makes sense given that he had tried to kick them all out a few hours earlier. Slash and Izzy are sharing the other bed, while Steven and Duff sleep on the pull out sofa in the corner of the room.

Everything was fine. Axl knew that everything was fine.

For now.

He couldn’t stop thinking about how delicate the situation was- he felt like he was on the thinnest sheet of ice and the slightest wrong move would send him plummeting into the cold and dark. Under the covers, he tapped his fingers against the tops of his thighs, the touch too light to be felt beneath the thick bandages. He wanted to press harder, to dig his nails in, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t betray his bandmates like that, couldn’t disappoint them again.

It wasn’t easy though, and he couldn’t stop tossing and turning and worrying. He was seconds away from raiding the mini fridge for something strong to clear his mind when the bed dipped behind him.

Jumping, he whipped his head around, coming face to face with Izzy, smirking down at him as he pulled the sheets back.

“Izzy? What the fuck are you-”

“You think too loud,” he explained, and Axl’s jaw clicked shut. The guitarist slid into bed beside him, turning onto his side to face the singer and opening his arms, “Come ‘ere.”

Huffing, Axl grumbles half-heartedly even as he curls up in the other man’s arms, Izzy chuckling at him as they made themselves comfortable. It did help, Axl admitted to himself, sighing as he tucked his head under Izzy’s chin. He was still awake, but at least he felt less jittery and tense.

Then, the mattress dipped again, and Axl felt someone crawling over them to get to the other side of the bed. Snapping his eyes open, he saw Slash finally settle on the other side of him.

“What the Hell?”

“Izzy abandoned me,” Slash pouted exaggeratedly.

“Oh my God, you fucking dork,” Axl laughed as Izzy flipped off the other guitarist. The three of them began to rearrange themselves, but as they did, a silhouette made its way over in the dark.

Slash held his arms out, wide-eyed, “No, no, no-!”

But it was too late, and Steven launched himself onto the bed, landing squarely on top of Slash, the guitarist groaning while the drummer giggled madly. Axl and Izzy burst out laughing as Slash shoved the blonde off, the two bickering and shoving at each other. They were so distracted by the chaos Steven had caused, that they didn’t notice another figure approaching until he was crawling onto the bed.

“Duff, no!” Izzy complained, “You're seven feet tall and these beds aren’t designed for five people!”

The bassist gave him the biggest, roundest puppy-eyes, his lip actually quivering dramatically, “So you’re going to all be together except me? You’re just going to leave me all alone while the rest of you cuddle? All by myself? Alone?"

“...Goddammit,” Izzy dropped his head back onto the pillow in defeat, Duff immediately dropping the ruse and bursting into a mischievous grin as he draped himself across the rest of their bodies.

“Jesus Christ,” Axl muttered, “What is this, ‘Kerrang!’?”

“Don’t act like that wasn’t the coziest photoshoot we’ve ever done,” Steven chimed in, still laying half on top of Slash.

It was a tight fit, and it took quite a bit of maneuvering to get them all comfortable, laughing as they shuffled around. Their bodies overlapped, limbs tangling and curling around each other. Somehow though, they made it work, each of them warm and comfortable as they drifted off one by one. It was ridiculous, Axl thought. Utterly absurd.

But he was still smiling, even when he finally drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Caramel Skin Under A Purple Rain prt 7 full draft

Skipping the debrief on Daibazaal, Keith found the return wormhole his mother had opened for him, his team and the recruits took them straight to the outpost instead of home. For a milli-tick, his heart gave an uncomfortable thunk as he entertained the idea of running. It'd been no lie when he said he didn't know what to do about Lance. His husband had told him to leave last time he was there, leaving him feeling annoyed that they'd reached no clear solution on anything. Returning to Daibazaal, he'd talked out things with his mother, his and Lance's fears of the fallout, yet the coalition was still pressing ahead with the festivities and award ceremony, the only difference now was this whole team were being recognised for their work. He wasn't ready to face Lance, scared his presence would send Lance deeper into his flunk instead of supporting him. Being away he'd given it some real thought. Like losing Red, Lance had lost the support system he'd found in illicit drugs. And like with Red, Keith hadn't been there leaving everyone else to take the brunt of Lance withdrawal. They'd planned for him to be there. Lance had wanted him to be there because he knew he couldn't trust his choices. Withdrawal the first time around had been awful, the memories still vivid if he gave himself the opportunity to think of them. Again, like with Red, the drugs had supported Lance for years... there was little wonder his husband was still trying to find his feet again, especially when the one person who was supposed to be at his side wasn't. This whole year had been nothing like Keith wanted. Perhaps the only good thing was that his mother was indeed pregnant, and he was going to be a big brother in roughly 4 and a half more phoebs.

  Landing his ship in the "staff" area of parking, near the Telula, Daehra's pod, Zak and Tobias small new ship, and three other ships he didn't recognise, Keith climbed to his feet finding the recruits all staring at him in confusion. Right. He had people with him

"Thanks to Krolia, we're taking a small side vacation at... my husband's outpost. You should probably know that almost all the patrons here are experienced bounty hunters, who don't like Galra and also don't like the Blades. No weapons are to be taken into the outpost, nor is this any kind of training mission. That means no climbing in the vents. No recovering weaponry. No scavenging. No setting fires. No matter what anyone says about your heritage, you need to ignore it. Lance won't tolerate rudeness in his outpost, so even if you don't see him or the staff acting immediately, know that the incident hasn't gone unnoticed. There are also surveillance cameras in every location except the bathrooms and bedrooms. There are weapons for buy and trade, so don't be overly worried and most of the people you meet will be armed. If worst comes to worst, the bar has a weapons cache. I don't know why my mother decided you all needed to come home with me, but Shiro from the Atlas will also be here. Let's head down. The front door is kind of hard to miss"

  Letting the recruits walk ahead, Keith found himself cornered by his team. Zethrid with a tight hold on his arm as Acxa frowned at him

"What's going on? You said Lance was ill again, so why are we all here?"

"You know as much as I do. I have no idea why Krolia sent us out here"

"I doubt your mother..."

"Acxa, I don't know. And I wouldn't put anything past Krolia. She must have thought it bad if she sent us right here"

"Do you think he came down with that flu again?"

"No... but I'm worried enough without jumping to conclusions. Shiro wasn't happy"

"Is there anything we can do?"

Wrapping him a weird hug from behind, Zethrid nodded

"We care about the little guy. He's been pretty sick this year. Maybe we should take him back to Daibazaal and get him some real medical attention"

"He's alright... He's tougher than he looks"

Ignoring Ezor, Acxa hugged him from the front in some weird sandwich

"We know it's hard on you. But you can talk to us all"

Hugging Acxa back, Keith sighed

"I know. I honestly don't know what's going on though. He had an appointment on Altea as a follow up, and for some reason thought I was going to be there. Maybe it's because the outpost runs fast? Now I find out he's been sick since I last left and hiding it again. We didn't even get to talk properly last time because he was sick... Being married is a lot harder than people make it out to be"

"I know he has his job, and his issues, but you really should think about bringing him to Daibazaal. Even if it's just for a few quintants and medical checkup..."

"Shiro made it sound like he's too fragile for that. Every time I think about they did to him, I want to hunt them all down and slaughter them. This coalition bullshit couldn't have come at worse time. They fucking tortured him, gave brain damage, cut his finger off, left him having fucking seizures and now the coalition wants to put a shiny little medal over the top of it all... I'm sorry, I shouldn't be venting like this"

"We're your friends. Plus, mami said we're part of the family so we have to look out for our little brother"

 Watching as one of the recruits managed to walk into the automatic front door of the outpost, Keith sighed

"And the recruits. Apparently we can add "not knowing how to work a door to their failings""

"They are rather worrisome"

"We'd better head in there"

   Keith did a double take as he walked into the bar room. Behind the bar was Shiro, looking as if he ran the place, with Pidge looking... out of place... No... they were both out of place. Why were they even here?

"Keith! It's about time you showed up! Hunk! Keith's here!"

Hunk was here too... Now Keith was starting to wonder if maybe that wormhole had sent them all to some parallel reality. Cautiously walking over to his brother, Hunk popped his head out from the storage room closest to the till

"Hey, man! This is a pretty nice place you've got here"

Ducking back away into the room, Keith was even more confused

"Shiro. What the fuck is going here?"

Scratching the back of his head with his robotic hand, his older brother looked somewhat sheepish

"I borrowed a few people..."

"I can see that, but why?!"

"Well days are longer here, and with Allura day in two quintants outpost time, we decided to make a bit of a holiday of it before hand"

  "Allura day isn't until the end of the month"

"Don't worry, I thought I had more month in my month too. Seeing Pidge had already landed on Altea, I invited her out here, and borrowed Hunk for a quintants. I'm taking it Krolia didn't bother giving you a heads up?"

"No! As far as I know I was coming home to see Lance"

Pidge snorted

"Good luck with that one. Shiro's got him on bed rest, and he's the only one allowed to visit. He invites us out to hang out, then Lance isn't even up for it. Still, it's nice to finally be invited to see where you call home"

Keith's knees went wobbly. Acxa taking his arm

"Shiro, why don't you and Keith go visit Lance. Where's Lucteal or Daehra?"

"Lucteal's grabbing another crate of beer from the cool room. Daehra was picking up orders from the kitchen... Hunk and Tobias have been discussing cooking pretty much since Hunk walked into the kitchen and saw him using "the wrong" knife". Lance is in your room if you're ready to head down there"

Was he ready to see his husband? It felt weird that there friends had suddenly invaded their outpost like it was nothing. As far as he knew it was the first time Shiro, Hunk and Pidge had visited... plus the recruits... and wow... they were terrible home owners. Practically none of their friends or family had been invited to visit in the 5 is phoebs since they left Earth...

  Following Shiro through to the main connecting hallway for the outpost, Keith was finding his feet fascinating. He wasn't sure what Lance had told his brother, or what any of this was about

"Keith, it's going to be fine. Lance is still a bit out of it, but we've talked"

"Talked about what? I don't even know what's going on"

Pausing mid-step, Shiro turned back to him

"Lance had to have a scan on Altea, he was worried that it was caused from coming off that yellow pain killer..."

Reaching into his pocket, the older man pulled out Lance's comms. Tapping on the screen, he opened the conversation thread between them and handed it over

"He was pretty panicked that something was seriously wrong with him, so when you didn't show up, he went to the worst case scenario. I told him you were on a mission, but he insisted you promised that you'd be there... as you can see, your confirmed you will be. I don't know how it happened. If there was some kind of message glitch or delay or scramble, but this scan was really important to him. We've talked a lot, as much he could at any rate. His nightmares have really knocked him around the last few days, yesterday he stopped talking all together. I put him in the bath, because he was having trouble... with everything. He managed to forget who I was last night, so all I can say is you'll need to take it slow"

"He forgot who you were?"

"He came out a panic attack in a daze and has been hazy since"

If the scan results were positive, why was Lance acting like he was? His scans had to have been alright, or Shiro would have told him right away

"Did they say anything on Altea? Was any reason that he was trigger so badly there?"

"You're best off talking to him about that, then coming to talk to me about it. He knows everyone's here, but he's not going too great on verbal responses... oh, here. Take this. Talk to Lance before you open it"

Fishing a small envelope out his back pocket, it only served to make him more confused

"What is it?"

"Photos..."

Photos? Photos of what? And why wasn't he the first to know what was going on? Lance hadn't messaged him again. Shiro was acting shady. Apparently there was some kind of reunion happening that he knew nothing about... and he was still to tell Shiro and Lance that he was going to be a big brother...

"Keith?"

"Just what the quiznak is going on..."

"Talk to Lance. Here him out. Come on, he's probably wondering where you are"

  Watching Shiro let himself into what was supposed to be his and Lance's room, the bed was a mess. Clothes had been laid over the back of a chair carried in from the bar

"Sorry. I've been sleeping here. Lance hasn't been sleeping well without someone around"

Keith's possessive side flared. This was his and Lance's sanctuary. Their bed. Their blankets...

"Don't give me that look. Lance wanted your side because it smelt of you, and I've been trying to sleep on the edge of his side. Plenty of space between us"

"I'm being a dick, aren't I?"

"You should know I'm not going to make a move on you husband. You should also remember you're the one who told him to come to me"

"I know... But everyone is telling me I'm being... I'm not doing this right. It's been 5ish phoebs for me. I'm still trying to adjust to my new role. Mums pregnant. Lance is sick. You're all telling me to do better with him, but how am I supposed to be doing better when apparently I'm breaking promises I don't remember making. He's upset every time I leave. I don't even have to be out the outpost and he's upset. He's not coping. And I'm so sick of only being able to come home because something's happened to him. It's like... I don't get to come back otherwise. I want to spend time with my husband when things aren't going go right. I want to come home when he doesn't need me to look after him all the time. I thought we'd be able to make this work. He said he supported me still needing my job, but the last time I was home he thought I was going to dump him... He's off the pills but his mental health is going backwards... One dobosh he's shutting me out, and the next I'm stuffing up... and I don't want to keep stuffing up. All I want is to take time off, but this coalition thing and Allura day. I forgot it was so close... He's probably thinking about her constantly..."

"Keith, I can promise you that Allura is the last thing on his mind. And everything you said, he feels much the same. He wants to go away with you. Spend time one on one with you. Travel with you, but he also wants to respect you and your choices. He's talked to his therapist yesterday. They want him to come in for an appointment, but he's not comfortable with that. He said he wanted to talk to you before making any decisions"

Keith wiped at his eyes

"He's given me authority over everything medical and legal he could... on Erathus, Earth and Altea... and Daibazaal too I suppose. What has Daehra said about his condition?"

"He hasn't talked with her about it. It's been mostly chronic fatigue. Again, he wanted to talk to you. I don't think he would have opened up to me if he wasn't feeling guilty over giving me a call"

"He's good at that guilt thing... even over shit he's got no control over. I wish we could go back to how it was on Earth... even before that. When I could blow off work because I was still technically on a mission while not at the same time..."

"We won't be leaving for a while yet. Curtis is going to pick us all up with the Atlas then wormhole to Altea. So we don't have to leave until the last dobosh. Don't forget, Patience..."

Wiping his eyes again, Keith shot Shiro a watery smile

"Yields focus"

"Exactly. Let's go see your husband"

    Lance was in their bathtub with his knees up against his chest. A trail of water leading from the bath to the toilet, and the lack of remaining bubbles would indicate Lance had been there a while. Not looking up at them, Lance's gaze seemed fixed on the wall across from the bath. Walking over to the bath, Shiro squatted down, placing his human hand on Lance's shoulder who didn't even seem to register it

"Lance. It's Shiro.  Keith's here. It's time to get out the bath now, buddy. You with me?"

Turning in his direction, Keith got his first proper look at Lance's face. His husband's normally warm and golden skin seemed washed out. His eyes barely open, with deep bags beneath them. As Lance's lip trembled, he hid his face in his hands

"I'm sorry..."

"Shhh. Enough of that. We've talked about it. I'm going to leave Keith to help you out the ba..."

  Climbing out the bath, Lance didn't seem to care he was naked as he rushed to the toilet, heaving wetly as Shiro grabbed his towel with a sigh. Pushing the towel into his hand, his brother jerked his head in Lance's direction

"Talk to him. I'll be in the bar"

"I will..."

He wasn't going to turn his back on his husband, not when Lance was clearly ill. Carrying the towel over, he wrapped it around Lance's naked form

"Hey, babe. I'm home... Wanna tell me what's going on?"

Lance seemed to stick himself further in the toilet, trying to vomit when nothing was coming up. Positioning himself behind Lance, he pulled him back and into his lap, a hand going to his husband's forehead as checked for signs of fever. Keith wasn't sure if he was relieved or not to find Lance fever free

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"Babe, I don't know what you're apologising for"

"I... had it all planned. All of it... You were supposed to be there... we were supposed to be there together..."

"Where?  At the scan? Shiro showed me your comms, but babe, I swear I don't remember sending those messages... What happened? What are these photos? Why wouldn't Shiro give me a clear answer?"

Lance sniffled

"I... wanted you to be the first to know... together... I wanted to do it together...but Shiro had to be there wh..."

Launching forward, Lance threw up little more than spit

"How long have you been throwing up like this?"

Holding up 1 finger, Lance wretched again

"1 what? Movement?"

Giving him the thumbs up, Keith dragged him back out the toilet again

"You've got nothing left in your stomach to throw up"

"I know... oh, Dios... it wasn't supposed to be like this"

Placing both hands on his stomach, Lance squeezed his eyes shut. His scent was overly sweet, not pained yet not what it usually was

"Babe?"

"I need you... I can't... can you help me to bed?"

Sliding his arm under Lance's legs, Lance wrapped his arms around him allowing himself to be lifted

"I don't understand what's wrong with you... Shiro said the scan went well"

"I'll tell you when I'm laying down... I'm just... so sorry"

That wasn't comforting at all. What did Lance have to be sorry for? Had something happened before the scan? Or was there something more to the scan that wasn't alright?

  Laying Lance down, Keith moving automatically to dry him down with the towel. His husband whimpering away from him when he got too close to his stomach and head. It looked as if there fresh scars on Lance's inner thighs, but Keith couldn't be completely sure

"I need clothes... the others are here..."

Pulled from staring at Lance's slim frame, Keith shook his head

"You need sleep. And something for the nausea"

"The nauses's here to stay..."

"What does that mean?"

Lance sighed softly, rolling away from him

"It means you're... it means I... I'm sorry, Keith. You mean the whole to me... and I had it planned... how it was supposed to go... you were supposed to be here... you missed it... you missed it..."

Covering his face, Lance curled into himself as he started sobbing softly

"I was on a training mission. I told you, and I told you to put it up on our calendar"

"You were supposed to be there... you promised... you promised..."

Running his fingers down Lance's back, goosebumps erupted under his fingertips, Lance had dissolved into repeating "you promised" as he cried

"I don't know what happened, but I never saw those messages and I never replied... I would have been there... if you'd messaged mum or Shiro, they would have told you... I couldn't be there. Or you could have booked another time... I can't understand if you're going to lay there and cry instead of talking to me"

Lance shifted from his touch

"Under the bed... there's a box under the bed..."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Literally he was right there. Lance could open his mouth and tell him what was wrong. Shiro could tell him what wrong. Why were they now playing this game? Pulling the blankets over his head, Lance cried harder

"Lance, stop ignoring me and tell me what's going on"

"Look under the bed!"

"Why?!"

"Because I'm too fucking scared to say it out loud! Because once I do, you're going to leave me!"

  Growling in annoyance, Keith climbed off the bed in order to find the box under their bed. There wasn't a whole lot of space under there, but there was a long thin box

"For quiznak sake! I'm not going to leave you! Now tell me what's in here before I open it!"

"I can't! I'm fucking scared...!"

Hurling the box at the wall separating their room from the bathroom, the contents of the box spilling as the lid came off, 5 white sticks with different coloured tips scattering on the floor. Furious, he stalked over snatching up the closest two sticks

"What are these? Are you shooting up again?! Is that why you're sick!? I thought you were done with that!"

"They're not drugs!"

Confused, Keith moved the red capped stick thing so the cap was laying next to the blue one. Rolling them over to face up, he stared at the them with his brow drawn. It took half a dozen attempts to read above the weird double lined window thing. "Pregnancy test"... and it said the other thing on the same one... which was...

  Keith's hands started shaking so badly he nearly dropped the tests

"Babe... babe... is this what I think it is? Lance... are you trying to tell me? Are you? When? How... are you sure? You're not serious are you?"

His mum was pregnant... She was having a baby... Not them... How? Wasn't Lance taking birth control? He used to take birth control... and why hadn't he thought of a condom? Right... right, he was horny as hell. Thinking with his dick and his heart not his brain... But how...? This couldn't be real... He couldn't be a dad... How did one "dad"?... a baby... them?

"Lance. Answer me. What is this?"

Having moved from his side of their bed to Keith's, Lance was right up against the pillows

"I'm sorry! It must have happened during my heat... I don't... I don't know... I wasn't thinking straight... I planned to find out for sure with you at the scan..."

 Shiro had been there. Shiro had known before him... about their baby... Taking a few shaky steps he sank down on the edge of the bed. They were having a baby. He and Lance were having a baby... it wasn't planned... but aside from the sick feeling of shock... something akin to happiness was welling inside of him. A baby...

  "I'm so sorry... I was so scared to tell you... I knew you wouldn't want this. I didn't mean this to happen. You promised to be there... and we were going to find out... together..."

"We're having a baby... how... How can I not be happy?"

"You didn't smell happy"

"I'm in shock. I... I mean, we knew it could happen but I didn't think you were off your contraceptives"

"They were a daily pill!"

"I thought maybe injections... I didn't think you'd go off them. Not with all these strangers in and out the bar"

"You think I'd sleep around?!"

How was he saying all the wrong things?

"No! I think too many people have their eyes on you"

"So you don't think I'm faithful? You don't think this... that you could be the father?"

"Babe, don't put words in my mouth. I'm trying to understand..."

"Your dick knocked me up. What else is there to know...?"

"I... how long have you known?"

"A movement and bit... I... I didn't know if it was true... I didn't know if I could carry... I lost... I lost the first one... I don't know if my body can carry properly. I don't want you to get your hopes up... because I might ruin this like everything else I do... I wanted you to be the first one to know... I'm so sorry"

  Leaving his boots on, Keith climbed in under the blankets on Lance's side. It smelt far too much like Shiro. Reaching out, he wrapped his arm around Lance's waist to pull him tight up against him

"Stop apologising"

"Why? You hate me, don't you? I got pregnant. I should have told you use a condom... I shouldn't have let you stay..."

"Don't you want the baby?"

"I don't know what I want!"

"I promised to spend your heat with you. We knew it was a possibility... I know you went off the drugs, but I never knew you meant your contraceptives too..."

"You're just as much to blame as I am!"

"Why are you yelling at me?!"

"Because I'm pregnant and I don't know what to do! It's in me Keith. Growing in me! Something I didn't... it's..."

Is that what it came down to? Lance didn't want their baby because he'd fallen pregnant accidentally

"Another thing you didn't want in your body?"

"Yes?! No! I don't know. That's what makes it so hard!"

"You don't want it... I see..."

Releasing Lance. Keith climbed back out of their bed, angered by his husband. Why tell him if he was just going to run off and deal with it himself!? Why tell him if he was only going to reject him? Did Lance not want him now that he was getting a child out of it? Out of him? No... He was being cruel. Keith couldn't even imagine what Lance must be thinking, or feeling. Keith didn't even know what he was thinking or feeling... Other than sick and scared. Lance had been right though, the nausea was there to stay, at least initially... A baby... they were having a baby...

  "I never said that I didn't! I... I don't know what I want!"

"It's our baby..."

"I know..."

"I don't know what to say..."

"I don't either... I'm fucking scared Keith. I'm scare and if you're scared, then you should say so... Maybe you should talk to Shiro? He seemed more excited about it than you are"

Keith didn't know how most people reacted to their partner being pregnant. He as excited. Nervous. Scared. Terrified. Proud... all at the same time

"I'm not not excited. You're the one who keeps apologising"

"This isn't working. We're going around in circles. I told you how I feel... now you need to think about what you want and what you want from us"

"I love you. You know that, don't you?"

"I do... but I don't know if you love them"

  How was he supposed to love someone he hadn't met. Someone who's existence he'd only just learned of... In his heart, he wanted this baby. He'd thought as much when Lance was in heat. All the what ifs as he rubbed the tiny bulge of Lance's stomach from where he'd filled his lover over and over... Lance should have told him though. That he wasn't on contraceptives. That it wasn't safe to be having unprotected sex...

"I think I'm going to go talk to Shiro..."

His husband was still crying, not responding other than to cry harder. Stress couldn't be good for the baby or for Lance's seizures and all he was doing was adding more stress due to his head being a muddled mess. He couldn't do this... He didn't know the first thing about being a father. He couldn't promise his kid he wouldn't die on a mission... and what would his mother say? She was pregnant... how could he tell her that his very male husband was very much pregnant?

     *

Finding Shiro in the bar, his older brother led him back from the space before he started drawing attention to himself. Leading him away from the main floor and up the smaller second floor control room, Shiro pushed him to sit, the paper of the envelop rubbing against his back and reminding him he still had the scan photos. Taking the envelope from his pocket, his hands were shaking uncontrollably as he slid the prints from the envelope, deep purple eyes filling with tears at the blobs on the scan as he let out a broken sob. Nearly scrunching the prints he brought his cupped hands to his forehead as everything became a hundred times realer. They were having a baby.

  Crouching down in front of him, Shiro took the prints from his hands

"Keith...?"

"He's pregnant"

"Yeah... How are you doing?"

"I... I don't know!"

Setting the prints aside, Shiro pulled him down so that he kneeling between his brother's legs, Shiro ending up sitting on the floor to hold him as he cried

"He doesn't want the baby!"

"Shhhh... shhh... Is that what he said?"

"He kept apologising... and he doesn't know... he said he doesn't know... he should have told me! He should have told me he didn't have contraceptives in his system! He hates me for getting him pregnant!"

Rubbing his back, Shiro continued to hush him softly. Not that Keith could calm down now that the dam had broken

"You knew it was a possibility?"

"Allura changed his body to be more compatible with mine! She did this... she changed him inside... and now he doesn't want our baby inside of him... he wants them gone! Why tell me if he wants it gone!?"

"Keith, you need to calm down for me and listen to me right now. Lance wants this. He's scared and confused. But he told me himself... He convinced himself that you'd be angry at him for falling pregnant when you're working so hard as it is... He wants to want this baby, and he wants you to want this baby, but he doesn't want you feel like you don't have options"

"He didn't sound like he wanted it. He made it sound like it... like it was the first time all over again... like I forced him to get pregnant..."

"What do you mean the first time?"

Emotionally shattered, Keith's mouth had no filter

"He got pregnant when they raped him... and he lost it... he had it... beaten out of him... He was so scared to tell me... but if he's comparing me to them than doesn't that make me the same? Doesn't that make... me a monster like them!?"

Swearing softly, Shiro hugged him tighter

"No. No it doesn't. He knows how much you love him. He knows it. He's been agonising over how to tell you. It tore him to shreds that you weren't there to find out with him. But he's about 6 movements along. Both bubs are doing just fine..."

"B-both?"

"Ah... yeah. It's twins according to the scan"

"Twins..."

  Suddenly he couldn't catch his breath. Everything surrounding him drowned out by his racing heart. Twins. As in two. As in Lance was pregnant with twins. Two tiny people...

"Oh god... oh god. I can't do this! I can't be father. I don't know how to be a father. What do I do? I only just found out mums pregnant. Now Lance is pregnant. How am I supposed to help both of them?! What if something goes wrong? He's going to have to quit work. I can't quit work. I can't. Mum needs me... I can't...

"Keith. Keith, listen to my voice. You're having a panic attack. I need you to focus on me... ok?"

"He's having twins... Does he want them? Can he carry them? What if... what if something wrong with them, from the drugs? What if he loses them? He's not well... I never should have let him buy this place... I never should have... we don't see each other. How am I supposed to be a dad if I'm never home? How am I supposed to go on missions? What if I don't come home? Our kids can't end up in the system Shiro... oh god... what if... what if he dies... what if they die"

  Pushing him back, Shiro cupped his face. Keith unable to focus through the blur off his tears

"Keith. You need to breathe. Come on. In through your nose for me..."

"He can't die!"

"Lance isn't going to die. We're going to get him the best medical attention and advice we can. You're going to be a father, and your husband needs you right now, so you need to calm your breathing for me. That's what you and Lance do isn't it, here, put your hand on my chest and breathe with me"

  An eternity and a half passed until Keith finally brought his breathing back under control. Or at least, it felt that long. Collapsing against his brother, he felt boneless and cold

"Lance wants these twins. He wants you and a family. It might have been accidental and over sight on the protection thing which you're both responsible for, but that doesn't change the fact that you're both going to be parents"

"He kept apologising"

"Because he's scared. He's been screaming Klearo's name in his sleep, I guess I understand why now. Why did neither of you tell me about this?"

"About what Allura did? How she changed his body? We don't have answers. Coran has theories that he can't control the extra quintessence he received from Allura so couldn't change his body back. Lance has a theory that this was her gift because she knew how badly he wanted a family of his own and with us both being male she didn't understand the whole adoption thing... Whatever it is, it makes his scent really appealing to Galra. I can feel his... smell his emotions in his scent. I can tell what he's feeling without having to ask... He's so ashamed of his body"

"He... he asked me if I thought he was a clone or if he was in his real body. He said it didn't feel like his body and hadn't since he came back"

"He died... he fucking died and thinks he came back wrong. He had fucking nightmares for phoebs about being trapped on the astral plane. Then... then he lost Allura... We... we think she gave him some of her quintessence to also keep him stable and alive. Like the power source for your arm... maybe that's what anchors your soul now? The only person who held any answers was Allura and she's gone..."

"That's a lot"

"I want to be happy about this baby, but I'm scared"

"He feels exactly the same. He's waiting for your permission on how to feel"

"We tried to talk... but it's so much... dad died before... well... you're the closest thing I had to a dad... I don't know how you did it. How you took me in... I don't know if I can make medical choices for... for the three of them... I can't... I can't choose them over him and he might never forgive me if I do... and what about his seizures, Shiro? He won't be able to be left alone"

"Seizures?"

Right... he didn't know what Shiro knew or didn't know...

"They're... from the brain injury... we thought they were from abusing drugs, but... apparently on Erathus they said it was from a traumatic brain injury... I just want to rest... I want to take him away... but now he's pregnant... he won't stop this. He won't stop work... and he's going to be worried about the others knowing. Worried about telling his family. What if it all falls apart because I couldn't control my dick?"

  Shiro snorted at his ending sentence

"I can't do much, and I can't say I fully understand anything going on with his body. But I've seen that look in his eyes before. I know it well. He's given up on himself. It's not that he wants to die, but if he was about to be hit by a car, he wouldn't be moving to get out of the way. What he needs is to hear that you want these twins. That's what's going to calm him down and bring him back. I know he's excited. He told me he was excited before he started over thinking what you were going to think"

  Keith drew in a shaky breath

"I'm scared, Shiro"

"That's alright"

"Mum's pregnant too..."

"I'll have to congratulate her. Did you tell Lance?"

"We just fought... he said he was going to sleep"

"He needs it. You're going to be a great dad, Keith"

"W-was he really... ok?"

"Yeah. Exhausted, emotionally exhausted, and scared. But nothing wrong with both babies"

"Two of them... I didn't know if my sperm would even take, being part Galra and all... God..."

"He's only 6 weeks in. So you have some time before you tell anyone"

He couldn't tell people before hand?

"We do?"

"Most miscarriages happen before 12 weeks. Most of the time it passes in a period before most women know they're pregnant... or men..."

"I didn't think to ask him about his period... I was mad over him being right..."

"That wouldn't the first time that happened... Keith it's ok to be excited, and if you're excited, I think you should tell Lance. Be honest with him"

"I just tried to do that. He's convinced I'm angry... maybe I am... but he's just told me. I don't know what to do! I... think I really want this, but the only real family experience I have that's been any good is that time with you, and Christmas... two babies... he's having twins!"

"You're both having twins. It takes two... I really don't understand how this happened, and honestly I'm kind of hurt you left me on the outside of something like this... but it's already done, and now you really should go back to Lance. Don't forget, he can't understand if you don't talk to him, and you can't understand if you don't question him. You can do this. You both can. You're going to be amazing parents. You know what shouldn't be done... I hate that you know, but you do. And neither of you are alone. I won't tell anyone, this is your news to share when you're ready. So go back to your husband"

Shiro's moved his hand from his back, Keith could hear the ruffling of paper before the scan prints were pushed back into his hand

"You've got this kiddo"

"Thank you, Shiro... Thank you for being here for him... and for staying... and going to pick him up... and just... thank you... I'm sorry... I'm not used to him letting people into our space..."

"Lance said as much. If it helps, hands were above the blanket, all I did was help him bath and shower... He... had an accident during a nightmare. That's the most hands on I got"

He knew Shiro wouldn't go after his husband like that. He was happy with Curtis, and Lance had chosen to let Shiro into his tiny circle of trust. His instincts were furious, but his heart was relieved

"Shiro..."

"I changed the sheets and blankets, I don't think he remembers. I know his body and who touches him is a big thing for him. So if he asks you can be honest with him now"

"Lance... is really susceptible to scents. Even if he can't say it, he knows it's you... I need to go see him"

"Then get off of me already"

"I am... you're the hugging me"

Keith sniffled and wiped at his face, releasing Shiro

"Thank you..."

     *

Walking back to their bedroom, Keith broke from a slow walk to jogging, then running. Shiro had said it was alright to be happy and it'd dislodged the fear, allowing the happiness and excitement to bubble into his blood stream.  Maybe the twins weren't planned... and maybe their jobs were impossible... but they were going to be parents. He and Lance... were living a miracle.

  Reaching their room, Keith slammed his hand down on the hand pad. Slipping through the gap before the door opened fully. Still curled up on his side of their bed, Keith pulled the covers off and swept his husband up into his arms. Lance's tired eyes blinking at him in confusion. Smiling down at him, he spun around in a circle, Lance scrambling to clutch onto him

"Keith?"

"We're having a baby!"

It was ok to want this... it was ok to want these children...

"Keith? Wha..."

Leaning down, Keith nuzzled into his husband's face

"I'm sorry. I'm scared and I'm probably going to fuck things up over and over again... but I'm... I think I really want this for us..."

"You sounded so angry..."

"Confused... scared... confused... maybe angry, but babe... we made a baby..."

"We made two... Keith how is this supposed to work? Our marriage is barely working"

"I'll quit ahead of schedule. You can come stay with me on Daibazaal, and come on training missions and help me train the recruits. You're the best marksman I know... and it'll be safe because I won't let anyone hurt you. The others can run this place. We can comm the every day and I can there for your next scan... and we can see our twins together..."

"This wasn't the plan..."

"Babe, all the best things that have happened to us haven't been planned. The best thing that happened to me was marrying you, and we took movements to figure that one out.. so what if mum's pregnant? We can talk to her and work something out..."

"Krolia's pregnant?"

"Yep. She only just told me I'm going to be a big brother... and now I'm going to be a father too..."

  Sitting down their bed, Keith carefully man handled his husband so he was straddling his lap, his face in his hands

"I don't even know if I want this... this wasn't the plan... I don't know if I can carry to full term... I was so sure you'd hate me... and now you've come back and said it's all ok... I don't know what to feel... your anger hurt"

"I know... but... this is a lot. I thought you were on contraceptives... so I felt... I guess I felt betrayed that you didn't tell me you weren't... My instincts didn't like it, not with so many people attracted to you... I thought you'd still be on them, or some kind of injection because you have no idea what kind of people are coming and going from here. Though now that I think of it, you did say you didn't want to take anything... and your heat... all I could think about was swelling that stomach of yours with our child... so I don't know if I could have remembered to actually use a condom. With... with how you were apologising, I thought..."

Lance let out a miserable whimper

"You thought I'd slept with someone else"

"Not consensually... but babe, you can see why can't you? You kept saying I'd be mad. Shiro said you were basically non-responsive. You kept apologising and you... you hated the idea of being pregnant... even to me"

"I can't ask you to stop working... your mum is going to need you more than ever and this pregnancy... it's not going to be as long as normal..."

Keith scrunched his brow

"Why not?"

"My heat was... like 7 movements ago now for me... but 5 for you... that's.... when I'm 6 phoebs... it's only to be 4 for you... 40 weeks... I don't know the math but it's like... 25 weeks... your time before I'm due...the gap is so big. I don't want to leave here, but I'm pregnant... I don't know what to do..."

"We'll work it out. We'll work it out when you don't look so exhausted..."

Searching his face, Lance sniffled softly

"You've been crying... I'm sorry... I'm so scared of what this means for us... I'm so exhausted Keith... I'm so tired of having so many ups and downs... I miss being on my injections. I miss having energy... I miss going out and helping people... and now I have to leave here and I have no where to go"

  Parroting it back to Lance, Keith was confused... the only thing that had really changed is that his husband was pregnant... Lance was still Lance... so how did that equate to homelessness?

"You don't have nowhere to go..."

"I can't go back to Earth... mami... mami... Keith how can I tell my family!? I was born male! I'm not meant to be pregnant!"

Oh. Ah... it's been scary enough for Lance the first time, trying to tell his mother about his health issues... But now Keith felt confident enough to talk to Miriam and Jorge on even ground over Lance's health. Lance might to think he shouldn't legally make his own decisions or question them, but he was far more capable than he thought. He knew what he needed... thoooough, he did have the tendency to be swayed by others opinions too easily... In this case, his parents were going to be the least of his worries. No. Rachel was going to be the main issue in Keith's opinion... but then again... Veronica. Oh god... Lance might have a point. Veronica was going to kill him for knocking up her little brother... No. Nope. He couldn't go there. Lance needed to hear everything was going to be ok.

  "Mami and Jorge are going to love you just as much as they do right now... Shiro said he's not going to tell anyone. And I won't tell anyone until we're ready to do it together..."

"And what if I lose them? What if I can only get pregnant but can't carry? What if all..."

"Babe... I know nothing about being pregnant. Shiro just gave like the 2 dobosh talk about it... he said that miscarriages happen mostly before 12 weeks... we still have time to decide what we want to say to everyone... and to ensure things are ok with the three of you. I'm serious. I want you to come back to Daibazaal with me. We can spend the next phoeb together... Daehra and Lucteal will probably be able to sense your pregnancy... and I'm sure they wouldn't mind running things here. Or you can call in Th'al...?"

"I don't want to stop working... I've barely been able to keep up with work since you left... I'm so tired all the time... Shiro's had to look after me..."

"He told me. It should have been me... I swore to myself I wouldn't make you cry and it's all I do..."

"I didn't want to say it... because I don't want to hold you back... but I need you... I've needed you home for phoebs..."

 Yeah. And he'd needed Lance just as badly... They'd both held it in because it only served to hurt each other when they brushed against the topic

"I know you have... I never should have listened to mum and gone back to work so soon... I'm grateful Lucteal and Daehra were here... but I'm so fucking sick of only coming home when something is wrong or something happens. I want to take you away. I want to... go on missions with you. Your mission... not my boring ones..."

Lance shook his head

"We can't anymore. Not now I'm pregnant! I'm not ready for any of this! I wanted to keep working... I wanted to make something out here and again I have to walk away! I'm sick of walking away not having finished anything I've started"

Moving his hand up to Lance's forehead, he frowned at the warmth now there. His husband's exhaustion had seemed to have lead to a fever

"Shhh... Hey... ok. You're feeling warm... your voice sounds ruff too... I think you need some sleep and fluids"

"I can't... Shiro decided to invite everyone out here... I can't ignore them. Pidge will ask questions... and Hunk... and you... I can smell other people on you"

"Mum opened a wormhole directly here. I have my team and the recruits with me"

"I should be out there. I should be the one..."

"No. You need your rest... you've got our babies to focus on... and I've got you and my other two babies to focus on"

"Did you just call me a baby?"

"I don't know, did I? How's the nausea?"

"Awful... my nose is all clogged up and burning... can we take a bath together?"

"Didn't you just get out the bath?"

"I... my skin... I feel them on my skin... I don't feel clean"

"Baby... you are"

"I feel them... I feel him on my skin... and hear him... telling me I'm a "pregnant whore"... it only excited them more"

Lance clamped a hand over his mouth, climbing from Keith's lap and running to their bathroom. A bath was completely unnecessary... though without his blade suit on, Keith probably stunk to high heaven... Still, a bath was a small price to pay for Lance's mental health...

[pixelpolaroid]

Oath by the Blood- Epilogue

Nothing ever ends. It only slows

“So, I bet you never saw this coming,” the glitch sat with his feet up against the desk, a snarky, smug expression plastered across his face. Sitting across from him with the said desk between them was the good doctor, he seemed much less amused. “All your years of being a medical practitioner, you never thought you’d be taking care of little ol’ Antisepticeye,” the glitch threw his head back in thought, staring at the ceiling now. “Though I suppose it’s pretty surprising to me too. Honestly I don’t see why you bother bringing me in here.”

After some time had passed and Schneep had the chance to talk with Jackie, Henrik decided to move on with Anti. He wanted to do a check up on him as well, as much as he loathed the idea. “I am a seeker of knowledge,” He began to explain, pushing his feet off the desk with the end of a pencil. “And all I want to know is what threat you now serve to my brothers,” He gave Anti a pointed glare that the glitch could practically feel.

“Ooh, snarky,” He continued to tease. The glitch just shrugged though. “Well you’ll be able to rest easy doc,” The doctor looked to him with curiosity. “Right now I could barely hurt a fly. I’m just trying to get by. Hehe, hey that rhymed.”

The still cross expression on him, Henrik couldn’t really find himself to take note of that, even though his notebook was sitting there right in front of him. “Vhat do you mean?”

Anti smirked, his one eyebrow raised. “C’mon doc. Ya telling me that you think I’m completely hunky dory. That I’m 100% the same man I was a few months ago? I got this weird twitch in my wrist, pretty sure I broke it and it never properly healed. There’s a new scar on my stomach and my back. And in case you didn’t notice, my powers are gone.”

Henrik was stuck in a bit of a trance as he listened to the ego explain all of this, but he focused on the last point, writing down the rest. “Wait, what happened to your powers?” Henrik really wanted to ask what happened to him all in all, but one thing at a time. He was still rather weary of the glitch.

“Really?” He gave him a questioning look. “You can’t figure it out?” Again, Henrik just responded with the same dumbstruck, confused look. Anti sighed, letting his head fall back as he did. “It was Sir edgelord, Dark. He plucked ‘um right outta me. Knocked me out for a solid three months and left me with this,” Anti stood up and pulled his shirt up to his pecks. Henrik’s eyes went wide seeing a large circular scar in the middle of his stomach. There was a thicker, clearly more damaged circle about the size of a CD, but what was most frightening however, was the skin had turned grey. The outer ring of tissue was a darker shade than the rest.

Henrik couldn’t seem to stop looking at the injury. He’d only ever seen something like this once, but he’d never actually gotten the chance to properly examine it.

The doctor staring heard Anti snicker. “Ey my eyes are up here,” Anti lowered his shirt and sat back in the doctor’s seat opposite of him. Anti kept that smug, shit eating grin the whole time he stared at Henrik. He knew he was thinking about everything the glitch had just told him. Anti was done bullshitting any more. He was through too much to be keeping secrets.

Eventually, the doctor shook his head to recollect his thoughts. “If you would take this seriously for one minute!”

“Oh I am,” Anti interrupted. “I’m fucking pissed that I’m stuck without my powers. But all you’re doing is getting in my way,” Henrik glared at the glitch, opening his mouth to defend himself only to be cut off again. “But I’m only trying to help,” Anti mocked. “Ya really wanna help me out doc? Well then stay out of my way!” The glitch stood from his seat and made his way to the door.

Henrik clenched his fists, muttering through his gritted teeth. “No,” Anti paused in the door. “Sit back down Anti. Tell me the real reason you don’t want me involved.”

Anti was gripping the door frame tightly, but he let go and turned back to sit in his seat again, as instructed. He could feel the obvious pull Henrik’s words had on him, and couldn’t help chuckle a bit. “See you’ve finally tapped into that doctor’s command power of yours. Took you long enough,” He said with a smirk.

The doctor’s glare narrowed. “Answer me Anti,” Again, the glitch had no way to fight back against his instructions, especially not in his current state.

“I don’t want any of you involved,” He corrected. “Not while Dark’s involved. He strong enough as it is.”

“So your plan,” Henrik began trying to put this together for himself, because it honestly didn’t make a lot of sense just thinking about it. “Is to track down Darkiplier and take back your powers. In the state you’re in, I could deem you clinically insane and suicidal.”

“Yeah got that Schneep,” He growled out in response.

“Here’s a better idea,” Henrik folded his hands on top of his desk, leaning forward with a smug expression. “You remain here and lay low for a while and let Jackie do the investigating of Dark. While I run some more tests on you to find out how your body is being effected without your powers. Sound like a plan.”

Anti shrunk back in his seat with his arms crossed. While he hated the idea of just sitting back and letting the others do stuff for him, he was weak right now and knew it. He wasn’t logically in any state to be even looking in a figment as strong as Dark’s direction. He’d have to lay low for a while and let the others do their work.

“Fine,” He finally muttered. “But I’m not gonna stay quiet about it. You’ll have to be the one to deal with my annoying ass!”

Henrik smirked. “Oh please Anti. Chase isn’t the only father in this house. I know how to handle a child that’s acting out,” Anti growled lowly in the back of his throat, but didn’t say anything else. “Anyways there’s only one more thing I wanted to ask you about and then you may leave,” the doctor lowered his gaze onto Anti, suddenly getting much more serious. “This may seem a bit strange, but Jackie says he’s been hearing voices in his head ever since he was brought back, you wouldn’t happen to know what that could mean?” Henrik knew it was a long shot, and almost didn’t seem to make sense as to why he would even ask Anti, but the fact that Jackie was in the middle of his first meditation session when Anti awoke seemed a bit too coincidental for his liking.

When Anti began to chuckle, Henrik felt his blood pressure rise. “Oh, the little hero? Yeah I sense it the moment I looked at him. You said he’s hearing voices?”Schneep nodded. “Wow, what the hell did they do to him?”

Henrik was starting to get impatient with the glitch. “Just tell me what you know!” He demanded, using his powers a bit more forcefully than he probably needed. “What’d you do?”

“Me? Nothing. Eclipse on the other hand,” Anti trailed off and just shrugged. “I don’t need to ask them to know that they used whatever remained of Vigilante to bring him back. That voice in his head? It’s him, seems like the hero’s still got a bit of static left in him. More than I do at this point.”

Henrik just sat there silently, thinking about what he just heard. Then he remembered what Eclipse said when they promised to bring him back. He never asked, but it was strange how the dark sides seemed to just disappear after Anti was taken out by Dark on Halloween. Sure they must have been weakened, but he didn’t think something like them could just disappear into thin air.

“Right,” He muttered. “I’ll have to speak with them later then. But you may go, thank you.”

Anti waved away as he started towards the door. “No prob, doc!” He sang as he made his way out. Henrik remained in his office, just thinking to himself. There were so many thoughts going on, so much had happened, the doctor was having a hard time keeping it all together. He took a deep breath though, taking it all one at a time so to not overwhelm himself. Sure it was a lot happening, but he knew he’d get through it. They all would, they always did in the end. They may be a bit bruised by the end of it, but it was nothing they couldn’t handle together.

[fullmetalirin]

Fullmetal Alchemist OG vs. Brotherhood: Episode 2

Continuing from where we left off: Ed has revealed his automail and is ready to throw down with Cornello.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 2: "Body of the Sanctioned"

After revealing that they were trying to revive their mother, the Elrics warn Rosé that reviving her boyfriend Cain would result in a similar fate. Cornello attacks the boys to chase them away, and he later show a silhouette of Cain in order to comfort Rosé. He then orders the townspeople to attack and capture the Elrics. Ed transmutes some metal to look like Al, and allows himself to be captured. Cornello then takes the state alchemist pocket-watch from Ed, assuming that it is his secret to performing alchemy without a transmutation circle. Cornello catches Rosé trying to visit Cain and he reveals the silhouette to be a chimera made of birds. He leaves her to be eaten by the chimera, but Al arrives just in time to save her. As Cornello tells Edward his plan to use Lior as the base for world domination, Al broadcasts it across town. Ed then defeats Cornello with his superior alchemy, only to find out that the philosopher's stone is a fake. When Rosé confronts the Elrics about how their exposing Cornello did more harm than his deception, Ed tells her to walk on her own two feet. As the Elrics leave, Lust and Gluttony manage to salvage their plans with Lior by killing Cornello and replacing him with Envy masquerading as the "real" Cornello.

We open with Cornello explaining human transmutation is taboo... but interestingly, he first says that it’s also forbidden for alchemists to turn lead into gold. Ed said this in the opening episode too, but I forgot to mention it.

That’s a very interesting line if you know anything about chemistry -- if alchemists can change lead into gold, that means they can change elements. In that case, all bets are off -- they shouldn’t have any material requirements, they should be able to turn anything into the material they want.

I went back to the first episode with another translation, and there, Al says “the base elements have to be similar” when doing alchemy. What might be going on here is that it is possible to shift elements, but only by a few steps on the periodic table, and, just like real nuclear reactions, it’s extremely energy-intensive to the point that only skilled alchemists can do it. So Ed might have been able to turn the silicon of the sand into aluminum or magnesium for his spear -- soft metals that would be crushed more easily than his leg.

(Of course, it now occurs to me there’s also no reason to assume that spear was solid metal -- he could have extracted just enough metal impurities from the sand to coat a rock spear with metal plating, as a bluff. And if they understand crystal structures, it would be quite possible to rearrange matter into a configuration that takes up more volume, appearing to make things bigger without actually violating conservation of matter -- and since a more open crystal structure is more brittle, that would even explain why the improvised weapons alchemists make tend to break really easily!)

@astalkingirin brought this up in a reblog of last episode’s analysis: It’s likely that alchemists aren’t totally unlimited by energy requirements, but that there’s some limitation on how much energy they can generate (or in OG, channel) at once. Since the Philosopher’s Stone acts as a battery, it makes sense that it would let you do these things -- we can assume that the performances of the Philosopher’s Stone are theoretically possible, but outside the normal bounds of how much energy humans can provide.

(I think it’s also interesting that if you go by real alchemic history, you need the Philosopher’s Stone to turn lead into gold. I don’t know if it’s ever brought up again, but it’s possible that, like human transmutation, this is something people have attempted but not actually accomplished.)

Anyway. Al explains they were trying to bring back their mother. Cornello rubs their failure in their face quite cruelly. Ed actually looks somber, and admits not only to his failure but to his recklessness. He turns it into a lesson for Rose, telling her that this is what happens to those who try to bring back the dead.

Cornello comforts Rose, covering up their accusation he’s a fraud by saying the Stone was a gift from God, and with it he can do what they couldn’t. He accuses the Elrics of wanting the Stone to resurrect their mom again, but they say they only want to fix their bodies, and they’ve accepted that some things aren’t possible, even with the Stone.

Cornello turns his walking stick into a massive gatling gun. Given Ed’s ability to turn sand into metal (and Armstrong’s later performances), I think it’s plausible that’s not totally impossible for normal alchemy, and that he probably could have done it without the Stone if he had just bothered to tap the brickwork for iron.

Ed raises a stone wall from the sand to block the bullets, but he looks rattled and says it was a close call. Cornello’s soldiers attack them from behind, and Ed makes a door in a wall to escape. Because he’s extra, he makes a literal (metal) door covered in Gothic flourishes instead of just a hole. I feel like this violates equivalent exchange, as we don’t see the wall deform to imply he’s sucking metal ore out of it, but we can perhaps assume it’s only metal-plated and will collapse shortly.

Rose is shaken by everything, and asks if what the Elrics said was true. Cornello deflects pretty well, saying that just because something can be explained doesn’t mean it’s not miraculous. To cinch it, he shows that he has resurrected Cain -- but he is behind a sheet, and she cannot see more than a silhouette. She is overjoyed, but is disturbed when she notices a mess of bird feathers covering the floor.

We cut to the Elrics, who discover Cornello has ordered the townspeople to capture them. There’s some comedy where they call Ed short and he overreacts -- it’s a bit silly, but given that we just finished a tense scene and we know the townspeople aren’t really dangerous, I think it’s an acceptable moment of lightheartedness.

Ed says Cornello is a fraud, but Rose shows up and says he brought Cain back. The villagers say there have been others too, but Ed is still suspicious, saying he heard the resurrected all left town as soon as they came back. It’s a bit sudden for him to know that when he’s only been here a day -- though possibly Al heard it during the previous day with his plan of “let’s actually do reconnaissance instead of just sulking in our room and assuming we know everything, Ed.”

Cornello attacks them with the sun statues and knocks Ed unconscious. When he wakes up, Cornello takes his State Alchemist pocketwatch, explaining that it’s what lets him do alchemy without a transmutation circle. I’m not sure if that actually checks out -- Mustang shows it’s enough to have a sigil on your person, but we see alchemists use lots of different sigils for everything, so the pocketwatch should only allow you to do transmutations with that sigil. Possibly Cornello is just supposed to be wrong -- I forget if it’s elaborated on later. Still, it’s a nice bit of exposition that justifies why some characters will seemingly break the rules.

The next morning, Rose comes to feed Ed in his cell. Ed tries to make a joke, but Rose has none of it. Ed hears a scraping in the wall behind him and looks pleased... We cut to Cornello’s room, where a snake appears... out of an ouroboros symbol? Envy? When Cornello wakes up, there’s only Lust, who makes a veiled threat.

Rose visits Cain’s room and the wind blows away the curtains, revealing that he’s only a chimera of parrots trained to say her name. Cornello admits that even with the Stone, he can’t make a human soul, and orders the chimera to kill her. He foolishly leaves her for dead, though given he just made a rampaging monster it’s reasonable for him to want to get some distance. Rose is rescued by Alphonse, who takes her outside. He explains that the armor that was scrapped by the statues earlier was a fake made by Ed -- and indeed, the armor doesn’t have the eye glow in that scene.

Alphonse says that the reason Ed’s such a great alchemist is just because he put in so much hard work -- equivalent exchange! The manga and Brotherhood take this statement at face value, but OG will examine it further.

Ed goads Cornello into making a villain speech, then moves aside to reveal Alphonse planted a microphone behind him. Cornello flees into an angry mob. Rather cleverly, he claims Ed was impersonating him, and wows the crowd by animating all the statues in the town. Ed one-ups him by animating the giant statue in the temple.

Cornello exclaims that’s impossible even with the Stone. Al explains it as Ed just being awesome, but I think you could take this as evidence that Cornello is a really crappy alchemist and doesn’t have a good grasp on energy requirements. Maybe even the reason he exhausts the Stone so fast is because he’s using it inefficiently, wasting energy on things he doesn’t need.

Cornello tries to run, but the Stone glitches and mangles his arm. Ed calls it a “rebound”, but when he goes to look, the Stone shatters.

The brothers commiserate about their failure. Ed says he hoped he could give Al his body back, but Al insists Ed should get fixed first, which is sweet.

Rose shows up to confront them for taking their hope -- now they’re just a desert town again. She says she has nothing to live for if Cain won’t come back, and falls to her knees in despair. Ed is callous, but Al stays behind to comfort her.

In the temple, Cornello demands answers from the homunculi. Lust explains that the fake was bait to catch alchemists obsessed with the Stone, but trails off before she explains her full plan. Nooo, why must you tease us so? Then Gluttony eats Cornello. It’s a sound-only death, no onscreen violence.

We cut to later that afternoon, where Cornello appears again. He revives some birds, and claims an imposter worked wickedness while he was away. Oh, the irony. The townspeople buy this, which I think is a nice bit of realism -- as recent events in US politics have shown, a demagogue’s spell is not so easily broken.

The birds disappear as they fly off. I’m not sure on the mechanics of this, as homunculi can’t do alchemy. Can Envy’s illusions extend outside of himself?

Looking down on the scene, Lust muses that Envy will have to keep that form for a while. So, another piece of the puzzle: there’s a third sin-themed individual working with these people, and he has shapeshifting powers. What I also like about this is that the heroes aren’t aware of it. They think they’re done here, but more darkness is brewing they don’t even know about. There’s a promise here that we will revisit this place, and more is going on than it appears.

In the final scene, we learn that Al told Rose their backstory, as a warning not to pursue resurrection. While it’s questionable how he could have explained all that so quickly, it’s a nice bit of compassion from him, and an effective segue into the next episode.

FMA Brotherhood Episode 3: "City of Heresy" (part 2)

Edward and Alphonse escape, taking Rosé with them. While Alphonse explains their story to Rosé, Cornello finds Edward and reveals his nefarious plan, unaware that it had been broadcast to the whole town of Liore through a microphone. Cornello attacks Edward using the philosopher's stone on his ring, but Edward manages to defeat him. Edward realizes that the stone is a fake when it falls and shatters on the ground. Cornello runs off, but is killed by Lust and eaten by Gluttony. Later, Rosé demands the stone from Edward, but he confronts her with the truth about the fake stone and Cornello and he tells her to find strength within herself.

Rose and Cornello's reactions to Ed's reveal are similar, but much more rushed. Cornello doesn't throw their failure in their faces, and Al doesn't explain why they did it. Ed doesn't act somber at all, and just yells back when Cornello taunts them.

Ed's wall looks more like the stone floor, and Cornello didn't turn the floor to sand in this one, so the mechanics of it are more plausible.

After Ed raises the wall, he throws back a quip instead of saying it was a close call.

Al grabs Rose and Cornello shoots at them WITH ROSE IN THE LINE OF FIRE. WHY.

Ed making the door is much faster – no "If you can't find a door, make one!" line, which I think is a loss. This time, their door opens into a bunch of soldiers and they waltz away in cartoon style for some reason, because now is definitely the time for comic relief. No one questions why Cornello has a giant gun.

We skip over everything with the Elrics hiding out and getting captured, and just cut to Alphonse setting up the broadcast.

Oh, he does point out that Cornello shot at Rose! She still doesn't believe Cornello is bad because she's an idiot. This is also where Alphonse explains about their failed transmutation, complete with a mini-flashback. This time, it's Rose who makes Cornello's arguments for him. She does the hunched mousey pose and cries while insisting Cornello can definitely do it despite having no evidence for it in this continuity.

Then we learn that Ed stayed behind in the palace. Cornello finds him and we do the public confession scene here, but this time, we see that this is literally his broadcast office and the microphone was in plain sight. How did he not see it?

There's no cord that could connect to the microphone in this shot, either.

Cornello makes no attempt to salvage the situation this time, and just tries to kill Ed. This is where his stone rebounds, but instead of stopping, it just… keeps going and transforms him into a boss monster. No! That does not make sense! A rebound means you ran out of energy! He should not be able to keep going!

Then there's a ridiculously over-the-top boss fight with Giant Cornello. This time, Ed just uses the fist of the statue instead of animating the whole thing. The wall behind it visibly deforms to show where he's getting the material to extend it. Cornello suddenly reverts to normal size when he's hit, which is less explicable.

Only then does the Stone break. There's comic relief afterward where Cornello is silly and pathetic, which I don't think is appropriate. He was a very bad person who is still totally willing to do bad things, I don't think it makes emotional sense to act like he's totally harmless now.

There is a similar commiseration scene, but we skip the bit where Al offers to restore Ed's body first, which is a shame.

Rose's confrontation is much more dramatic – she's pointing the gun at them, though she's shaking with terror and can't aim it. Rose is much more emotional here, and this is where the brothers are accused of wanting the Stone to resurrect their mom again. Ed gets angry and insists the dead can never come back.

Rose collapses and gives the same line about having nothing to live for if Cain won't come back, but she is much more hysterical and visibly crying. Al walks off with Ed instead of comforting her, which seems really dickish of him.

We then get the scene of the mob demanding Cornello's head. He does not mollify them, and instead retreats into the temple where the homunculi are waiting. Lust doesn't explain why she gave him the fake Stone. Lust kills him this time, and despite being speared through the brain we still get a POV-cam of him focusing on her ouroboros tattoo before he keels over. I'm not sure how plausible that is.

What I find most notable is that his death is shown on-camera here. The Isaac episode was similarly quite gruesome. I'll be keeping an eye out for how gory each of the shows are.

The episode ends with Gluttony eating Cornello. There is no scene of Envy replacing him.

Conclusion

I think the most important change here is Rose. In OG she is a much more developed character, and is even made a viewpoint for the scenes with not-Cain. Though she's still frequently scared and helpless, she is still dignified: she makes fierce, reasoned arguments and is clearly going through a personal journey as she grapples with everything she's seeing. Her arguments are hard to totally dismiss, making Ed look cruel for dismissing them and giving us the sense that he is a flawed hero. As I said last time, she's framed as Ed's philosophical equal. There is a case to be made that, while Cornello is the antagonist to the heroes' literal goals, Rose is their philosophical antagonist. She pushes back against Ed's know-it-all assertions, and reminds them that Cornello wasn't all bad – statements that they cannot truly refute. This sets the tone: this story will be about a flawed, conflicted hero who won't always do the right thing, and who will be challenged on that fact.

In Brotherhood, Rose is just The Vulnerable Girl. She exists to be sad and emotional at things so we know they're upsetting, and possibly also to show how tough and strong the heroes are for keeping a stiff upper lip in the same situations. Even when her lines are almost the same, her tone sounds so different – she's so much angrier and more confident in OG, even when there's sadness mixed in too.

I also find it interesting that Cornello is so much more competent in OG. In Brotherhood he is so comical and ineffectual it is absurd to think he ever managed to hold onto his power this long. In OG, he displays the skills of an actual demagogue: he knows how to keep his composure, string people along, and spin situations to his advantage. He's a much more dangerous villain who operates in a much darker and more realistic sphere than the typical shonen opponent-of-the-week, and that's a hint to the tone OG will take as well.

[kawsofhobi]

Lost Souls

|| Pairing: none ||

|| Genre: Angst // Gaming!au ||

|| Word count: 4,817 ||

|| Warnings: Stalkers and sketchy situations, nothing’s changed. Please take heed ||

[A/N]: Introductions to new people and the backstory to Sarah and the wasteland of Atlas. Not a lot of action in this one since it’s mainly a bunch of information, but the next part should make up for that. I hope you enjoy.

Part 1 || Part 2 

Since Jungkook had logged out, he’d been nervous to reopen the game once more. Having nearly lost his character within his first day of playing, he’d never felt more stressed playing a game than he did with Road 8. The fact that every character had one and only one life was much like how it was in the real world, that being a unique aspect to the game. He couldn’t help but find this characteristic to be slightly unfair, however. Taking precautions when playing any survival adventurous type of game was always a must; this one, however, heightened that aspect. One wrong move in combat, developing infections, or going into shock from rapid blood loss, and the game, including your character, were over.

He takes his phone into his hand, glancing over to the one he’d received for the game. He taps away at the keypad on his phone, dialing a close friend.

“Where’ve you been? You haven’t contacted me in days!” Taehyung exclaims as he picks up the line.

“I had a stalker situation and left to my parents for a while to calm down. That’s not why I’m calling you, though. I had a package—that I did not order—delivered to my doorstep, yesterday; no label from where it came from. Inside was a note and a phone, that I did not order because you know my phone is operating perfectly. Let me read the note to you,” Jungkook fumbles around briefly, retrieving the note and reading it aloud, “If you’re reading this, congratulations, you have been recruited to join the experience of the new game “Road 8,” brought to you by indie developer Kim Namjoon.”

“Wait, wait, wait, stop,” Taehyung hushed, “Kim Namjoon? That kid that was at the top of the schools in the country and entered college early?”

“I guess, I don’t know,” Jungkook shrugs.

“It may be someone different, but that’s the only person I’ve met that had his name.”

“What was he like?”

“Kid was super full of himself and only talked and hung out with people of like mind. In other words, he only socialized with people who were at the same IQ level. They were a group of rude, snobby teens who thought they were better than everyone,” Taehyung scoffs, “you should be glad you never met them. What’s this game about? Can I play it?”

“It’s about escaping to this utopia called Road 8. You talk with your player through texts, pictures, videos, and calls. Through those, you help them find their way around and direct them to Road 8,” Jungkook explains.

“That’s interesting. It takes place in real-time?”

“Sarah’s in this place called Atlas. When we were talking, it was 4am for her when it was 9pm here.”

“Atlas…” Taehyung trails off, murmuring to himself as he ponders, “the abandoned city of Atlas?”

“What are you talking about?” Jungkook’s face scrunches as he shakes his head.

“You’ve never heard of Atlas?”

“Obviously not if I’m asking you.”

“Atlas is a city that was abandoned in 2001 when there was a supposed disease outbreak. It was later revealed after investigation that there were tests being run on people for an elixir that would let your cells regenerate, much like crustaceans, and essentially prolong lifespan, if not ultimately have people living forever. That plan fell through and they ended up creating monsters of these innocent people. You know those fantasy movies where the antagonist turns into a gigantic beast when they get the elixir they needed to be at their true, potential form? It was like that. They confined these monsters they accidently created and didn’t tell the public. They kept altering the elixir, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, some twisted soul claimed he had resolved the issue, tested it, and the outcome was positive rather than a beast being brought to life. They believed him without seeing the results for themselves and were granted permission to sell the potions on shelves in stores, thus, the outbreak. The city attempted to evacuate the people and kill the infected, which...worked to some extent, but not much. Rumor has it that those monsters still roam the city at night, though it’s been closed off from the public for safety reasons. I can’t believe you’ve never heard of that story, but then again, you were still a baby,” Taehyung sighs and Jungkook gulps loud enough for the older to hear. “I’m guessing that those monsters are in the game?” He chuckles.

“Tae...is Sarah trapped in Atlas?” His mouth goes dry, his voice shaky as he mutters the question quietly.

“I mean, there has to be a way out if this is a quest to Road 8. I don’t see her being trapped in Atlas forever. How far have you gotten?”

“I nearly got her killed before sunrise.”

“That doesn’t sound like the gamer I know. What the hell happened?”

“The game glitched, I guess, and we couldn’t contact each other. One of those monsters came after her and she’s been staking out in a tree. She’d gotten her arm cut open and it became infected when she fell. I barely got a first aid to her,” recalling the night and images made him queasy, “Tae, it was horrible.”

“Even if she did die, you can regenerate her. No big deal.”

“That’s not how the game works. Once she’s gone, she’s gone.”

“Oh, that’s stupid. Games are supposed to defy natural human laws,” Jungkook can’t help but chuckle, Taehyung having the same thoughts as himself. “I’m really interested, but not enough to play it,” he chuckles, “are you staying home today?”

“Yeah. You want to come over to see it, don’t you?”

“Hell yeah!” Jungkook laughs, “I’ll be there as soon as I can!”

12:03 p.m.

“I brought food!” Taehyung chirps as he walks into Jungkook’s apartment, the younger laughing. Taehyung sets the fast food on Jungkook’s bedside table, hugging him tight, “I really missed you. Worries me when you don’t contact me in a while.”

“Everything’s fine, now,” Jungkook returns the hug, feeling much needed comfort from the embrace.

“I’m ready for that game,” Taehyung smiles big and Jungkook sighs.

“Wait a moment before you eat because it gets gory,” Jungkook unlocks the phone, Taehyung peering over his shoulder as he logs in, a flood of notifications and texts beginning. “Give me a second to read these,” Jungkook mumbles and Taehyung hums.

[Sarah has woken up]

[Sarah has taken the remainder of medicine from the first aid. Health is currently at 87%]

[Sarah’s energy is fully recharged!]

[Sarah’s hunger and thirst are stable]

Sarah: Wow, I feel better!

Sarah: It’s a bit after sunrise, I hope that’s okay, Jungkook.

Sarah: I suppose you’re asleep since you’re not responding. I’ll wait for you before I go anywhere, okay?

Sarah: It’s so pretty in the morning~!

[Sarah sent a photo]

“Oh, wow!” Taehyung and Jungkook say in unison, gaping at the landscape. From her perch in the tree, the sky was a peachy blue tone, the sun rays being captured beautifully. The forest itself was rich and lush, the leaves painted orange, red, and yellow due to the Autumn season.

“Who knew Atlas would actually be beautiful. Perhaps it’s because it’s been untouched for years,” Taehyung whispers, Jungkook tapping the video she’d sent.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Sarah chuckles, “I’ve always loved the way it looks at dawn.” She turns the camera towards herself, pointing behind her to a stream a few meters away, “I found this when I was looking around. I stayed in my tree, don’t worry! I told you I’d wait, and I did.” Her smile and sweet voice brings a smile to the boys faces, Jungkook relieved that she was in a much better condition.

“She’s pretty,” Taehyung nudges his friend, smiling.

“Very,” Jungkook chuckles, sending her a text.

Good morning, Sarah.

Sarah: Jungkook! You’re finally awake! Sleep well?

It was okay. I was worried about you.

“Don’t flirt,” Taehyung teases and Jungkook pushes him, making him laugh.

“She nearly died, you idiot. I was worried sick!”

“I was joking!”

Sarah: I’m okay, no need for worries!

[Sarah would like to video call]

Jungkook answers, forgetting this would be the first time she’d seen him. “Holy shit,” she exclaims, eyes wide, “that’s you?”

Taehyung wheezes as he laughs loudly, Jungkook blushing at Sarah’s reaction. “Y–yeah,” he stutters sheepishly.

“S–sorry! I... shouldn’t have reacted like that...but...wow. I didn’t expect you to look like that,” Sarah’s lips form a pout, “who else is with you?” Taehyung let’s his face appear in the camera, Sarah covering her mouth as she chuckles, “gosh.”

“You’re pretty yourself, know that?” Taehyung says, and she wrinkled her nose, blowing through her lips.

“Whatever~!”

“Jungkook thinks so,” he mentions and Jungkook’s heart stops. He wanted to punch the elder’s arm for saying such a thing. It was true, but he didn’t want it to be said aloud.

Sarah smiles softly, a hum leaving her before she turns the camera, “I wanted to show you this.” She slowly shows the entire forest, a fog having fallen over it, “I’m a bit high in the tree so it’s less visible, but I’m sure when I come down that it’ll be clearer. I was thinking of going towards the stream to get water in my canteen before we go. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, go ahead. Careful coming down,” Jungkook permits.

“Can we stay on the line? I still want to talk to you. It’s a little lonely by myself.”

“Of course. Do you have anything left in your box?”

She turns the camera to the first aid, “bandage, ointment, gauze, fruit, and water. I finished the medicine. I’m going to take the box with me. It has a strap, so I can carry it freely.” Closing the box, she throws the strap over her shoulder.

“You’re sure nothing dangerous is around before you get down?”

“Besides birds, deer, and other non-dangerous wildlife, nope,” she swings her leg over the branch, “putting you in my pocket, but I’m still here.”

“Okay.”

“Jungkook’s friend?” Sarah calls, the boys watching as the ground slowly becomes closer in proximity.

“Yes, ma’am?” Taehyung chirps.

“What’s your name?”

“Taehyung,” he answers.

“I like that name,” a branch snaps in the background, the camera jerking, “damn it.”

“Careful, Sarah,” Jungkook elaborates.

“Hush, Taehyung and I are talking,” Taehyung snorts as Jungkook’s jaw drops, “you’re 18 as well?”

“I’m 21 actually. You?”

“I’m 18, 19 soon, though...it’s September, right?” Taehyung hums in response, “okay. It is soon then.”

“So, you’re older than my friend, here.”

“I suppose so. Jungkook, when’s your birthday?”

“Yesterday,” Taehyung responds before him, Sarah not having it.

“I asked him, not you.”

Jungkook sticks his tongue out as the tables have turned, “September 1st.”

Sarah laughs, “mine’s the 11th.” She hops down from a branch, her boots hitting the ground, “and we’ve made our descent, ladies and gentlemen. To the stream! You guys can chill in my pocket for a while longer.” She gasps, “want to see what I made?” They agree, and she begins to talk, “I found out I had a pocket knife and sharpened a branch I’d broken off. Maybe if there’s fish in the stream that can be my food.”

“I don’t see why not. You made it this morning?” She hums happily, Jungkook smiling as she skips to the stream, the calm sound of moving water becoming evident.

“Here we are~!” She fills her canteen, “it’s crystal clear by the way, but if you’re apprehensive, I can boil it. Oh, look a fish!” She quickly shows the two her finding, “is this okay?”

Jungkook looks over to Taehyung, “it’s a catfish, she can eat it.”

“Tae said it’s okay.”

“You can’t tell your fish apart?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m just asking!” Taehyung defends, Sarah’s quiet giggles bringing their attention to her. She held up the fish next to her, wiggling it in accomplishment.

“How the hell?” The two boys whisper.

“I have good aim,” she beams, “hopefully we can make a bow and arrow and get larger kills. There’s quite a few fishies so we should be okay.”

“The way you talk is so cute,” Taehyung laughs, and she smiles big, a faint rouge tinting her cheeks.

“Try to find a cache,” Jungkook changes the subject, Sarah nodding and venturing downstream. Jungkook briefly mutes them, looking over to Taehyung, “stop acting like that with her.”

“Like what?”

“Complimenting her like that, telling her I think she’s pretty and embarrassing me. Stop being all flirty with her,” Jungkook’s tone is irritated. He was getting fed up with Taehyung’s charming side being shown.

“It’s not that serious. Calm down,” Taehyung unmutes the line, Jungkook snatching his hand away.

“I just don’t want you acting like that with her.”

“Because you like her? Is that why it’s bothering you so much. You don’t want me to be friendly because you find her pretty. She’d be more likely to fall for someone she’s spending more time with than his friend. Calm down, for fucks sake,” Taehyung retorts back, “I’m not stealing her from you, I’m enjoying her company as much as you are. Stop acting so childish or tell me to leave.”

“I don’t want you to leave—”

“—then grow up,” Taehyung cuts him off, Jungkook sighing and turning back to his phone. Sarah had heard the entire conversation, though she pretended to be oblivious and not bring it up unless Jungkook did. In the time that they had been briefly arguing, she’d gathered firewood and a few dry pine cones. She’d skewered her catfish, keeping it close to her as she began a fire, blowing softly on the kindling and adding twigs. Humming a soft tune, she crafts a small rack for the skewered fish to rest on, hurrying away to gather more wood and vines to build a small shelter. “You’re good at that,” Taehyung mumbles, his mood having dropped due to Jungkook, “where’d you learn it?”

“My dad taught us when we were young, but I’ve always liked outdoor, woodsy type activities. We lived on acres of land which backed up into a bunch of trees. Not quite a forest, but as a kid it seemed like one. Watching survivor shows really interested me and I replicated it out there. I never got to sleep in my creations because my mom wouldn’t allow it, but my dad was always impressed,” she smiles faintly, “I miss him. He was my best friend.”

“Did he pass?”

“No,” she chuckles, “I talk about him like he’s gone, but he’s just fine.”

“How’d you get into Atlas?”

“I’ve been dying to say, but Jungkook never asked,” she smiles, weaving and tying the sticks with sturdy vines. “I figured it out a couple weeks ago...err, remembered is the proper term. Get your snacks because this is a long one and you need listen carefully. I can’t tell you directly what the hell is going on because he’s probably listening, but I’ll do my best,” Sarah whispers.

“Who will hear?” Jungkook asks.

“Namjoon, dummy. Who else?” She chuckles, showing her nape, a silver barcode branded it, “this is how they know everything wrong with me. Health, energy, heart rate, all that jazz. I’m not sure if they can hear me. I’m sure they can, but I’m willing to take the chance.” She cuts a vine before waving a large leaf, “I found banana leaves!”

Taehyung chuckles, Jungkook sighing, “focus, Sarah.”

“Hush, Jungkook,” she copies his exhausted tone, making a funny face before laughing. “Okay, okay,” she goes back to being serious, pouting as the boys begin to eat, “well, doesn’t that look good. I’m jealous.”

“I’ll bring you some, don’t worry,” Taehyung waves his hand and she sniffles.

“Thanks, man,” he hums, and she finally begins, “Road 8 is a new utopia that was created a few years ago by a group of intelligent students, as I was told by this one older friend I have. He didn’t believe it was a thing and told me that I shouldn’t either, but I saw equally from both sides, know? It was intriguing, and I was curious about it, so I went to the guys who made it up and talked with them about it. They said they’d show it to me that weekend, but I declined because I was going to the archery range with a friend. They told me they’d show me on a different occasion in that case. Like...they desperately wanted to show me this utopia and it was just so...strange; I wasn’t getting good vibes from this. I knew of people who had done the same thing that I had and went with them and once Monday would come, that person would be filed missing. My thing is, if they knew of this sacred utopia, why would they find it, tell everyone about it and say they’ll take you there, but never stay for themselves? Ultimately, some shady shit is going down that no one ever tells you about.”

She rotates her fish, not wanting it to burn, “I’m going to put the leaves on the little planks so if it were to rain, it won’t soak through.”

“Smart girl,” Taehyung commends.

“I was coming home late from work. I worked at a bar that closed at 2am, when I got off and went home it was close to 3am. Anyways, the parking garage is a decent walk from the complex I stayed. The area was one that was safe, minus the few hiccups here and there, so walking at night didn’t bother me, especially not that late. There was a boy that had come up to me as I was going to the building and he called out to me. He asked for directions to this apartment complex around the corner because he was new to the area and was having trouble recognizing the landmarks at night. I accepted and instead of telling him upfront, I showed him where it was,” she shakes her head, “such an idiot. He told me I looked pretty when we were walking and asked where I lived in the neighborhood and I told him as we passed my complex, but I didn’t specify what number. We exchanged names and friendly conversation, I showed him the apartments, he left, and I went home. I worked late again the next night and he and two other guys were waiting in my apartments corridor. I assume they drugged me because I can’t remember anything that happened afterwards. Next thing I know, I’m in this room with that group of guys from school. One of them had on a mask and I couldn’t make out his face even if I wanted to with the dim lighting.”

“You didn’t know,” Jungkook reassures.

“I did. I knew better,” Sarah sighs, “look where it got me. I didn’t live in Atlas. None of us did. This is where they throw you when you say you want to get to Road 8. I didn’t want to go to that hell hole, I was intrigued by the story, but those fuckers drugged me then forced me to find it.” Tears well in her eyes as her voice cracks, “I just want to go home. I’m alone, here. I’m jealous of you being able to sit, talk, and eat with people around you. You get to see your families, I don’t. I got labeled as missing. They dump you in Atlas because they know not a soul is going to check here. You thought Atlas was a wasteland, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” they both answer in a whisper.

“Rightfully so with how it’s described in the story. You wouldn’t have known had I not showed you. Besides the monsters at night, Atlas is gorgeous.”

“How’d you survive there for weeks?” Jungkook questions.

“I wasn’t here. When you connected to me, I’d been left alone in the house. I’d been trying to get in contact with someone and when we finally did—”

“—where were you originally?” He interrupts.

“An arena. There’s others here.”

“What’d they make you do?”

“Train you to survive in this,” she motions around her, “not everyone was ready, but they don’t care. You get tossed in, you better figure something out or you are dead weight.”

“Do you think you’ll meet anyone?” Taehyung furrows his brows, Sarah shaking her head.

“They only put two or three people out here at a time. It took a moment before I got chosen. I think there were two other boys left in the group they’d kidnapped. I assume they’ll bring up Road 8 to some kids and repeat the whole process. I guess seeing others get hurt or slaughtered is something they’re into.”

“What’s Namjoon look like?” Taehyung begins, “because I went to school with someone who had the exact same name. You said he went to your school, right?”

“He’s tall, quite handsome, extremely smart, wears glasses and hung out with a bunch of nerds.”

“Top of the school?”

“Yeah,” she drags out the syllable, “extremely smart, but I heard he wasn’t all that nice. He was in the group of seniors I talked to, but he didn’t say much. He was kind of just...there. As if he was supervising or making sure that they told the punchline correctly.”

“Wasn’t he there when they took you?”

“I really don’t know,” she pouts, her head snapping up as the fire crackles, “my fish!” The boys chuckle, Sarah tending to her breakfast before turning back to them. “What are your love lives like?” Taehyung nearly chokes, Jungkook clearing his throat as he blushes.

“W–why do you ask so suddenly?” Jungkook stutters and she giggles.

“I’m just nosy. Funny how you both got so shy.”

“We’re both single,” Taehyung replies, and she nods, “you?”

“What do you think?” She laughs, motioning around her, “the only significant other I could have out here would be a deer and he would run away from me. Of course, I’m single.” They join in her laughter, continuing to talk and get to know each other.

“Wait a second...Sarah?” Jungkook calls and she hums, “how are you charging your phone?”

“When I sleep it charges. My energy levels are its energy levels. It’s weird, dude.”

“So, you’re essentially an android,” Taehyung shrugs.

She copies the gesture, “I guess so. I still feel the same, but there’s a few things different on me.”

“Such as?” The boys say in unison.

“The barcode for one,” she shows her wrist, the band that Jungkook once saw was illuminated light blue. “This thing...I don’t know what the hell this is. Maybe for my heart rate since it’s on my pulse? I don’t know. Also,” she brings the camera to her gray eyes, streaks of a crystal blue painting her iris, “they used to be dark brown. Now look at them. I like them, but I miss them being brown and basic. My fish is ready.”

“You’re just all over the place, aren’t you?” Jungkook sighs and she smiles faintly.

“It bothers you, huh?”

“No... I’m...just noticing the pattern that you talk in,” he explains, and Taehyung takes a sip of his soda, his eyes flickering back and forth from his friend to the girl on the other line. “There’s nothing wrong with how you talk,” Jungkook sputters, “it’s just not what I’m used to, is all.” Her smile isn’t as cheerful and bright as it typically was. This time, it should slight sadness, Jungkook worrying his lip as Sarah falls silent, going back to working on her roof. “Do you want to find a cache after you finish cooking?” She shrugs, and he swallows hard, “I think we should.”

She simply nods, mumbling, “I’ll call you when I’m done.”

Her finger taps the end button, Taehyung sipping his soda once more, “nice job.”

“Shut up.”

8:46 p.m.

“She still hasn’t responded yet?” Taehyung asks, his wet hair dripping down his chest. Jungkook shakes his head, waiting desperately to hear back from Sarah. He’d hurt her feelings; he was sure of it. It wasn’t his intentions to point out her way of speech in a negative light. It intrigued him more than anything.

In the hours that they had been silent, he received notifications telling what she’d accomplished. Accepting the task, he had given her previously, she’d found a cache, gaining quite a few items. Of the items was a coat, Jungkook remembering how she complained of the cold the first night. Besides heavier clothing, she’d acquired another first aid, a couple snacks, a water bottle, and a lighter.

“Should I call her first?” Jungkook stares at the ceiling in defeat, Taehyung lying next to him.

“I’d give her space and wait for her to call you back like she said, but you can text her if you want. Tell her that you wanted to check up and make sure she’s okay. That’ll let her know you’re thinking about her,” he responds, typing away on his own phone.

Jungkook’s arm stretches to reach his gaming phone, unlocking it and sending a text to Sarah.

Are you okay?

Sarah: Is Tae still there?

Yeah, why?

Sarah: Go somewhere else…

Okay…

“I’ll be right back,” Jungkook says slowly, Taehyung humming as he puts in his headphones. Jungkook leaves the room, going to stand on the balcony outside the living room.

I’m outside.

[Sarah would like to call]

Answering, he asks quietly, “why’d you want me away from him?”

“Because I only want to talk to you, right now...is that so bad?” She sounds exhausted, Jungkook becoming slightly worried.

“No. I just thought I’d ask. Are you sleepy?”

“It’s 3am,” she chuckles softly, “I woke up when I heard noises. I’ve been up for a good hour.”

“Have they stopped?”

“Mhm. It was rustling and snapping twigs. Not my favorite of sounds to hear at this hour.”

“Did I upset you earlier?” The boy asks, the question and guilt eating away at him.

“You made me feel weird and a bit self-conscious. I’m not mad or upset at you, though. I know that’s not how you meant it,” she takes a deep breath, “everyone points it out after talking to me for a bit.”

“I’m still sorry,” he apologizes.

“Me, too. I shouldn’t have gone so long without speaking.”

“Do you like Taehyung?”

“Well aren’t you all over the place,” she teases, a chuckle coming from both. “I like him. He’s nice...does he like me?”

“Yeah,” Jungkook smiles softly, “he does.”

“Do you like me, sir?”

He chuckles once more, “yes, Miss Sarah, I like you.”

Humming, she sniffles, “look up.” Jungkook does as she says, seeing the clouds scattered across the sky, a crescent moon shining behind the compiled vapor. “What do you see?”

“The moon and clouds.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“No stars?”

“They’re there, but it’s hard to see them.”

[Sarah sent a picture]

“Don’t look at it until you go back inside. Let Taehyung see it as well. It may surprise you.”

“You’re leaving me?” Jungkook grins and she draws out a hum.

“I may fall asleep if we keep talking,” her tone is slightly higher, words spoken in a soft whine as she drags out the syllables, “you’re not sleeping?”

“It’s only nine,” he replies, silence falling for three seconds before she hums once more, making him chuckle, “go to sleep. Stay safe until I talk to you again later.”

“Jungkook?”

“Hm?”

“You sound like a concerned boyfriend,” his cheeks flush, a hum coming from the line, “stop blushing, you big dork. I say that meaning you’re very caring. When you go to sleep, sir, have sweet dreams. Don’t worry about me. I won’t go anywhere unless you say and will stay safe to avoid giving you a heart attack.”

“We’ll go further tomorrow, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Goodnight, Sarah.”

“Goodnight, egg head.”

“Hey!” Jungkook laughs lightly and she giggles.

“Night, Kookie,” the nickname brings a smile to his face, her voice sweet as she mutters it.

[Sarah has fallen asleep. Energy has gone up 1%]

[An update has been detected. Update game?]

Yes.

[Disconnecting with Sarah…]

[Disconnected]

[Sarah is now open to danger until Jungkook returns to the game]

[Update in progress…]

2:34 a.m.

[Update complete!]

[huffle-dork]

Could Anti do some harmless hacking of the androids (get it, cause their Google devices) to implant some caninesque AI into their systems?

Here’s a sequel for you my dear!

…..After about a week of constant cat torture Anti was completely fed up. So, he stole a laptop from the googles, claiming he was working on blueprints for a new invention. But in reality, he was plotting revenge. This would be the last time his brothers would make fun of him! He spent the next two days secretly working on his own operation. Operation: Canine Corruption. He looked deep into the googles’ codes and found a way to tap into and influence their personalities in certain ways. Nothing that would change them permanently, but enough that Anti could have his own kind of fun. He snuck into the googles’ rooms one night, with his inventions held in his hands. He inserted a chip into their update sites on their sides while they slept. Then he added little attachments to their heads and hips: a headband containing dog ears and a belt with a tail. Anti grinned mischievously as he hooked up his little pranks to his brothers, leaving Red for last. He leaned over and plugged in the “update” disk and attached the ears and tails to the droid, grinning like a maniac. But the glitch must have bumped something that caused Red’s systems to boot up because as Anti finished up attaching his devices, Red’s eyes sprung open. Anti jerked back in surprise, thinking he had time before they woke up, but his surprise quickly turned back into mischievous excitement. “Mornin’ Strawberry`” Anti practically sung, leaning in close to the droid with a shit eating grin. Red looked confused, then slightly angry about being woken up. He got up and stretched and opened his mouth to tell him off but all that came out of his mouth was a quiet “borf”. The ear attachments that Anti put on Red’s head quickly sprung up as Red’s eyes widened in surprise. Anti snickered into his hand as Red tried again to say something and all he could do was bark quietly. “Wow, bud, yer sounding kinda ruff today!” Anti laughed, doubling over. Red responded with a low growl and he got up out of bed and stalked towards Anti. His eyes flashed red and Anti felt a shiver run up his spine. “Uh oh…” Anti whispered before he darted out of the room, Red bursting after him, barking loudly down the hall. “Jeez Red! Quiet down! Don’t hound me!” Anti cackled, rushing down the hall past the other googles’ rooms. Red raced after him, barking his head off, ready to rip into Anti. He was stopped however by Oliver coming out of his room, sleepily rubbing his eyes. Red crashed into his brother and they both toppled to the floor with a heavy thud. Ollie let out a small puppy like whine as he tried to stand back up. He eyed Red and pointed at the ears on Red’s head, letting out a surprised bark. He then blinked, as if trying to process the sound that just came out of his mouth. Red growled as he rubbed his head. He then pointed angrily at the golden retriever like ears attached to Ollie’s head before he pointed angrily to Anti, with another loud bark. Anti was having trouble holding back his laughter at the sight.Ollie looked up as if trying to see his own ears. He pulled at them softly, and they responded to his touch like a dog’s would. He seemed honestly fascinated, flicking them and tilting his head to see how they worked. Red was still steaming though, and he barked more at Anti. The loudness caused Blue and Green to wander out of their rooms, and they looked at the scene with confusion. Red quickly got up and ran to his twin, barking loudly in Green’s face pointing at their ears and tails then back to Anti. Anti grinned mischievously and saluted the brothers. “Mornin’ everyone! You all enjoying my little gifts?” Red growled low in his throat. Google didn’t look too pleased either and he started making his way towards Anti, his eyes flashing. Oliver seemed to sense his brothers’ anger and quickly got up to make sure they didn’t try to hurt Anti. He took a protective stance in front of Anti, his ears lowering and barked defiantly at Red and Blue. The two didn’t look any happier though and looked like they were trying to find a way to get around Ollie to get to the glitch. Green was still outside his room, tugging on his ears and looking close to panicking. Anti expected them to be kinda angry, but he thought the program would have taken more affect by now. He backed up from behind Oliver and tried to make his way back to the office, his hands up.“Listen guys, I know you’re angry,” Anti started as he backed away, watching as Red pushed Ollie lightly out of the way and marched after the glitch, “But it’s just a prank! Why don’t you just have a little fun huh? You don’t want all my hard work to go to waste do you?” As he continued into the room he spotted something on the desk that sparked an idea. He quickly grabbed it, a small little plushie that Ollie kept on his desk, and he waved it by his head towards the quickly approaching googles. Immediately, all four of their ears perked up and Anti grinned. “You want the toy, boys?” Anti teased, shaking the toy and he saw the droids’ eyes trained on it. He even saw some of their tails beginning to wag and he held back another snicker at the sight. He held the doll up high before he tossed it quickly to the back of the room, shouting, “Go get it then!” All the glitch saw afterwards was a flurry of color as Ollie, Red and Green all sprang after the toy, fighting to see who would get it. Anti burst into laughter, practically falling to the ground. He noticed after a second though that a certain google was missing. He looked up to see Blue glaring down at him, his hands on his hips. “Aw blueberry, what’s the matter?” Anti questioned as he stood back up, “Not a retriever?” Blue growled and Anti felt a bit of a shiver run down his spine. “Now Blue, don’t be mad. Look how much fun everyone is having!” Anti pointed to the chaos in the back of the room with a huge grin. Blue continued to not look amused. Anti reached up and quickly ruffled Blue’s hair. “Liven up, Google!” Anti wasn’t really expecting to get any positive response from Google, but patting the droid’s hair caused him to close his eyes contently for a moment. A soft whine came out of his mouth and Anti blinked in surprise. Anti moved from rubbing his hair to scratching behind Google’s big ol’ ears and the older droid leaned his head into Anti’s hand, practically pleading for more. The glitch giggled, “I found your weakness, Blueberry~!” Blue opened his eyes and realized what just happened moving back slightly, staring at Anti. The smaller boy shrugged, grinning sheepishly and Google huffed. He looked over to the other boys, seeing Green and Red having what looked like fun grabbing for the plush and he sighed. He brushed past Anti, knocking his shoulder slightly with the back of his hand, as if to say Do what you want as he walked over to his desk. Anti watched him go and figured since this was causing no real harm Google didn’t really care. He stood there for a second, trying to figure out what else he could do with the boys like this when he felt a soft bump against his back.

He turned around and saw Ollie staring up at him with his big brown eyes. He whined slightly, tilting his head towards where Google was now resting his head on his desk and then looked back at Anti. Anti was confused on what the droid wanted until Ollie whined again and bumped his head against Anti’s shoulder, his tail wagging. “Ohhhh, you want.. pets?” Anti asked. Ollie’s tail started to wag wildly, and he ruffed at Anti. Anti sniggered before he ruffled Ollie’s hair. “You got it bud!” Ollie was overjoyed, really leaning into the pets, his tail thumping hard against the desk behind him. Anti had to admit, Ollie made the cutest dog. Not long after Oliver came over, Anti felt another tap on his back and turned his head to see Red, holding the plush in his mouth. Anti let out a huge laugh as Red dropped the toy at Anti’s feet, his tongue lolling out of his mouth slightly. Anti picked up the toy, thanking whoever made the bots for not giving them salivary glands, and he wiggled the toy back in Red’s face. Red barked, his tail shaking, and he jumped slightly from foot to foot, anger from before completely gone. Anti smirked and tossed the toy across the room again and Red chased after it. Anti was in for a fun morning. But soon the morning shifted to afternoon and Anti started to get bored. And slightly worried. Each Google had taken to doing their own tasks. Green quickly got uninterested with playing fetch with Red and instead got really absorbed with looking out the window. Anti wandered up behind him to figure out what had Green’s attention so focused. But the green droid was just staring at the street below, his ears alert and tail up. Eventually Anti figured out the Green was just looking for anything that was crossing by the window, so he could bark at it. Anti guessed Green just wanted to make sure he was keeping things away from the office. Blue had been at his desk since the beginning of the morning and seemed almost normal. He was typing and doing work for the most part. But after about an hour or so, Anti found the older droid resting with his head against his laptop, his eyes closed, relishing from the warmth of the charging device. Though whenever Anti tried to approach, Google’s eyes would open, and he would growl sleepily at the glitch. After a couple tries, Anti figured it was best to just let the bot sleep.Red was super invested in playing fetch. Anti ventured to one of his little piles of pillows to sit after a while and Red would continuously come back and drop the plush back at Anti’s feet, staring expectantly with his tail wagging. Anti didn’t know how this wasn’t getting tiring for the droid but he couldn’t say no to those eyes, so he kept throwing the plush for Red and Red would keep fetching it and bringing it back to the glitch. Meanwhile, Oliver has not left Anti’s side. He was curled up against Anti contently. Every few seconds Ollie would whine and shift his head, so it was under Anti’s hand, begging for more pets. And every time Anti would stop, to shift positions or throw the toy for Red again, Oliver would freak slightly and bump against Anti, either stretching across his lap or pawing at his arm, whining loudly. It would be freaking adorable if Oliver was actually a puppy and not a fully metal robot. Anti would yelp under the heavy weight before he turned back to satisfy Ollie with more petting. It had been hours and Anti hadn’t seen any change in behavior. He didn’t think he made the program to last this long. But every time he tried to get up or tried to look for the update panel or do something to fix the googles’ Ollie would whine or Red would want to throw the toy, or Green would bark or Blue would growl. Anti didn’t really know what to do… Dr. Ipler wandered into the office a little after noon, looking for his missing apprentice, and stumbled upon the chaos. “What the hell happened here?” He asked, seeing Red dart across the room and hearing Green bark at a bird that fluttered outside the window. Ollie’s ears perked up at the sound and he quickly got up and sprung up at Doc, tail wagging wildly. Doc looked confused before he patted Ollie’s head with a smile.

“Oh Doc thank god you’re here!” Anti called, finally able to get up from the ground with Ollie distracted. He ran over to the older ego and looked up at him with pleading eyes. “What did you do this time kid?” Doc asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well… I played a prank on everyone to get back at them for making fun of me for acting like a cat. So I programmed something that would make them act like dogs. But, it should have ended by now or like have been rejected by their systems! And none of them will let me get close to their update panels to take the program out… “Anti explained, deflating slightly. Ollie nudged under Anti’s arm, trying to comfort him and Anti softly patted his head with a sigh. Dr. Ipler chuckled, and Anti looked up confused. “You really don’t know anything about dogs, do you?” He asked with a smirk. He left the office for a second and came back with a box of lucky charms. He stood by the door and shook the box loudly and whistled. “Here boys! Come here for a treat!” Doc sang, shaking the box over and over. Quickly, Anti saw all the googles’ ears perk up and one by one they all came over and stood by the doctor’s feet, staring expectantly at the box. “Now, sit!” Doc commanded and all the googles obeyed. Doc spun his hands and told the boys to lay down, and again the googles complied. Anti watched in semi-shock at the sight, before Doc elbowed him in the side and nudged his head towards the googles. “Hurry up and do what you need to do, kid. I got them distracted.” Anti quickly nodded and rushed over to open the update panels on each of the boys’ sides to remove the program. Whenever one of the them would growl or try to move, Doc would shake the box and command them to stay. Eventually, Anti managed to get all the programs out of the boys’ systems, each extraction causing the googles to shut down. Anti stood up after he was done and stared at Doc. “How did you know that would work?” Dr. Ipler shrugged with a smile, “Guess I’m just a dog person.” He patted Anti on the shoulder and headed back towards the clinic. Once the googles woke up, they all looked up at Anti with mixed expressions. Anti held up his hands in peace. “Listen, I won’t say anything about this if you guys just let the cat shit die. Okay?” Everyone agreed and the next day, business went on as usual. Though Anti swore he might have seen Ollie walk towards his shift at the front desk with a pair of yellow ears on his head.

[barpurplewrites]

Free Falling

For @a-monthly-rumbelling non-smut prompt - They work opposite each other.

-x-x-x-

Belle ambled along with the morning rush hour crowd as they left the train station, there was no point trying to walk quickly with this many people crowded together. By the time she reached Victoria Square the crowd had thinned enough for her to pick up her pace and hurry along to the Jewellery Quarter, with a quick detour by the library to slip her books into the return slot. She made it to Frederick Street with twenty minutes to spare before work started, just enough time to trudge up the three flights of stairs and pop the kettle on before she was due to start answering the phones.

Like most of the building in the Jewellery Quarter her office was an old former Victorian factory, (according to her research they used to make pins here). It was pretty enough from the outside, but the layout inside was not the most practical. The three flights of stairs were steep and there was no way for a elevator to be installed, because of the preservation order on the structure. The ground floor had no natural light at all, and was rented solely as storage, but there was an underground garage for the lucky few who had parking permits. Belle was far too junior in her company to even be considered for one of the precious few allocated to them. The second floor featured a large central area that went all the way up to the glass roof. This sort of indoor courtyard provided the offices on that floor with light and gave everyone in the building somewhere nice-ish to eat lunch. The third floor covered the four edges of the space under the roof, which meant that is was freezing in winter and baking hot in summer with nothing in between.

Belle puffed a stray lock of hair off her face as she got to the top to the last flight of stairs, she was definitely getting fitter. By lunchtime Belle was willing to trade any fitness benefits for a boat-load more patience. She’d had three customers call to complain this morning that the order they placed yesterday hadn’t been delivered yet; honestly there were only so many polite ways she could explain that ‘same day dispatch’ did not mean ‘same day delivery’. She’d earned a good, strong cuppa, but before she reached the little kitchen Katie caught her arm.

“Look. Gold is on the warpath again.”

The small clothing company that Belle worked for covered two sides of the square, across the courtyard the rest of the building was occupied by Gold and Son, a legal firm. The offices of each were visible from the other most of the time since nobody bothered to draw the binds and shut out the only natural light they got. Mr Gold was known as something of a perfectionist, and his frequent fits of temper provided something of a show for the staff in Belle’s office.

“Come for lunch, Katie.”

“Hum? Oh no, I want to see what happens.”

Belle swallowed her sigh and walked away. She always felt awkward listening to Mr Gold shout, she didn’t get the same thrill out of it as her colleagues, nor did she always hold to the general feeling that Gold was just a picky bastard who like to throw his weight around. She’d noticed a pattern to Gold’s outbursts, the cocky, sloppy workers who were happy to do a slapdash job got yelled at; people who had made an honest mistake where called into his office and gently talked to. The gentle talks didn’t draw the same attention as the shouting, so nobody she worked with paid them any notice.

She was half-way down the stairs having decided to pop across to the café for lunch when the subject of Gold’s temper thundered by her almost knocking her flying. The man didn’t stop, or even throw an apology over his shoulder, he was far too busy muttering something about stupid shellfish. Belle sighed to herself and carrying on down the stairs.

Feeling much better after lunch she was ready to face anything the afternoon threw at her, at least she thought she was until she got back to the office to find that Penny was waiting by her desk.

“Oh, there you are. The newsletter needs to go out this evening, can you get that done, please.”

Belle frowned, the newsletter was Penny’s job, but she was always shirking it off on to the other staff. Seeing her hesitate Jenny leapt in with, “I knew you wouldn’t mind, thanks Belle.”

“Penny, wait.”

The phone on Belle’s desk started ringing and Penny gave it a pointed look; “Don’t keep the customer waiting. I’ll e-mail the products that need to go into the newsletter.”

With that Penny was gone, Belle took a fast breath and picked up the phone; “Good afternoon, Clothing For You, how can I help you?”

Much to Belle annoyance Penny left the office early after emailing her the barest bones of the weekly newsletter. Thanks to a glitch on the website Belle had been answering calls non-stop as customers tried to place their orders. At half past five, quitting time, her boss Chuck wandered out of his office and helped himself to one of the sweets from the jar on her desk.

“Penny mentioned that you wanted to try your hand at the newsletter this week, Belle, how’s it coming?”

Belle was going to strangle Penny for throwing her under the bus like that.

“I haven’t had a chance to start it yet because of the website glitch the phone’s been ringing off the hook.”

Chuck sighed, “It’s got to go out tonight Belle,” – he fished a set of keys from his pocket and dropped them on her desk, - “Lock up once you are done, please.”

She watched him walk away in a state of mild shock. She was now stuck doing somebody else’s work, after hours on a Friday night. Fan-fucking-tastic. Right, she could do this, but if she was going to do this she was going to play the Forbidden Music. The office radio was always tuned to a pop station, which had driven Belle crazy until she’d learned to ignore it, but since she was the only one in the bloody office no one could complain if she listened to classic rock. It took her no time at all to retune the ancient radio to her favourite station, and ture it up a few notches as Poison sang about cowboys and sad, sad songs.

 Gold found his foot tapping and couldn’t work out why for a moment. He was the only one left in the office and had been absorbed in correcting the sub-clauses of some documents. Now he was paying attention to his surroundings again he became aware of music, and not the normal pop rubbish that got played by his staff. That was Tom Petty, wow, he’d not heard this one outside of his own home in ages. He stood up from his desk and wandered out into the main office to look for the source to the music, it certainly wasn’t coming from this office. He grinned as he looked across the other side of the building, in the office there was a young lady was dancing around to Tom Petty. She glanced across towards him and suddenly gave a shriek before falling over. He started forward as if he could do anything at this distance, and breathed a sigh of relief as she jumped to her feet with a nervous grin. She gave him a thumbs-up and darted away. She must have gone to the radio because the music dropped in volume. His office was suddenly very quiet. He stood for a moment tapping his thumb against his fingers and then came to a decision.

Belle was groaning to herself. Not only had she disturbed Mr Gold with her music, he’d caught her dancing and seen her prat fall. This was going down as a truly crappy Friday night, but on the plus side the newsletter was finished and as soon as she hit send she could go home. A tap at the office door made her jump.

“Hey there, sorry didn’t mean to startle you again.”

Belle blinked at Mr Gold standing in the doorway.

“I’m sorry about the music, I didn’t know anyone else was working late.”

He gave her a warm smile, “It was nice to hear good music in this building. I’m sorry I scared you, are you alright?”

She unconsciously rubbed the elbow she had banged off the floor and nodded, “I’m fine thank you.”

He jerked a thumb towards the kitchen that their companies shared; “I was about to put the kettle on, can I make you a cuppa?”

“I’ve just finished for the night.”

His face fell just a touch, but he recovered quickly. Before he could say anything else Belle quickly babbled out; “We could go and get something stronger than tea, if you’d like, and if you’re not still working I mean…”

He glanced at his watch and then smiled at her; “I think we’ve both earned a beer,” – he edged into the office and offered her his hand, “Aiden Gold.”

Belle jumped up from her desk and hurried across the room to shake his hand, but she tripped over a loose carpet tile and landed in his arms instead. She raised her head from his chest and gave him a weak smile; “Hi, I’m Belle French and I’m a total Klutz.”

He chuckled as he set her carefully back on her feet and gave the offending square of carpet a hard look; “That was defiantly the carpet’s fault. I know a good lawyer if you want to sue.”

“Tempting, but I think I just want to get out of her and get my hands on a tall cold drink.”

“I know a good lawyer who can help with that too. I’ll, erm, just go and lock up and then we can head out?”

“Sure thing.”

Belle took her time to avoid any tripping over again as she closed down her computer and got her coat. Across the building she saw Aiden doing the same thing, and smiled to herself. Maybe this wasn’t the worst Friday night she’d ever had after all.

[a-questionable-edgy-memelor-blog]

Comedy Clubs, Diners, Beds, and Showers

A/N Kaminaris hair color is flipped so the lightning bolts yellow and the rest is black. The rain poured down harshly on the city. The light blaring on the sign from the downtown comedy club. My eyes looked up at the sign as I noticed my old classmates names. Kaminari Denki: Late Night Show at 11:45pm. I removed my headphones as I closed up the purple umbrella I was using to shield me from the harsh rain. "So it's not a rumor huh, he really does comedy now? Oh Kaminari..." I looked around I slowly stepped into the building, I noticed a Pikachu car and giggled. 'Adorable, like he always was,' I thought staring at the car and pulling out my wallet. I walked over to the ticket booth and got one, I sat at the bar. A voice from behind asks me, "Woah, what's a pretty girl like not getting her beauty sleep~?" I was so surprised by the random voice I accidentally glitched to a booth in the back. I glitched myself back to bar to see the star of tonight's show. "Oh my god, it's actually you Kaminari-kun..." "Just call me Denki. It's been a while hasn't it~." I looked at him for a few seconds before realizing one major thing: his hair colors were flipped, the zig-zag was yellowish-blonde while the rest of his hair was black. He was wearing a thick maroon armband, black leather jacket, white v-neckline mildly tight t-shirt with black Jean's and combat boots, which honestly, looked fucking hot on the guy. "When did you change your hair color?" He orders two drinks which I hadn't caught him ordering. "I dyed it after high school, I was curious about trying different hair colors and this is the one that looked the best besides the original hair color on me. Do you agree with that~?" The bartender brought out two drinks to us, both alcoholic. "Maybe and are you trying to get me drunk or drug me so we have sex?" His eyes widen in shock. "I would never do that to anyone, I would always ask for consent and never take advantage of anyone in a vulnerable state. I get it, i may have seemed like the kind of guy to do that but I promise I'm not. If they don't want it, they're lucking out a wonderful night with me, but I'll respect their wishes." "Damn, that was quite the speech," I took a sip of whatever he ordered us and licked my lips. "So, what are you doing after your show?" Denki chuckles. "First you ask if I was drugging you and now you asking if I'm free after this, which I am. Quite contradictory I might say Y/n~." I glare at him. "I didn't mean it in that way idiot. Geez." He takes a full on chug of his drink and smirks handing it to the bartender. "Well, I hope to see you after the show, for whatever you need, Milady~," he says with an unnecessary wink and smirk. He walks away, briefly tapping my shoulder with his hand before heading to the stage for his show. "Wow, you must be important to him. He never really talks to the girl at the bar, he normally suggestively winks and gets them a drink before heading on stage,very lucky lady indeed," the bartender says wiping the glasses. "We were old classmates back at the U.A., he was always slightly perverted and stupidly cute, but that just added to his appeal to me." The bartender nods and looks at the stage as Denki pulls out a yellow and black guitar I recognized. He often played different American pop songs on this guitar on the music room back at the U.A., which honestly impressed a lot of us girls. He started making some jokes about high school strumming on the guitar. A bunch of people couldn't stop laughing but I was just giggling and smirking the whole dam tim e watchhing him do these things. His face was so dam straight the whole time which was funny to watch as he sang songs but Google Autocompleted some lines, which was hysterical to the point where my lungs were sore, my stomach was aching, and I was crying due to laughing too much. "Now back in high school, I had the title of perverted hot dumbass who made everyone laugh. Heh, guess I'm still all of the above not to brag. I would turn into the vulnerable idiot for an entire hour when I overused my quirk, which isn't all that shocking not to be punny, so that created a lot of memories, like that one time with the squad and we nearly burned down an abandoned building, I blame Bakugo for that and his flaming quirk..." for some reaosn shit like that manage to make everyone laugh. Probably from how many of them could relate. TIME SKIP BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FACT THAT LIGHTNINGS HOTTER THEN THE SUNS OUTER LAYER:1 hour later. After his show and a few drinks layer the star came over to me with lipstick smeared all over his lips and cheeks. "Remember the days where no girl would even think of kissing me and here I am with strangers lipstick smeared on my face. I'm sure one of them was a guy, at least one." I giggled as he removed the lipstick marks. "Hey, you wanna go to a 24/7 diner?" I nod and he takes my hand and leads me outside, where the rain had stopped pushing on everyone. He opens the passengers side door of the Pikachu car out in the parking lot. "You ready, Milady~?" I giggle and hop in the front passengers side. He gets in next to me and pulls out of the parking lot. "How did such a badass looking guy like you end up with a Pikachu car," I ask as he starts driving towards an all-night diner. "So, what have you done with your life since high school," he asks me looking at the menu. "I work as a j/n(job name)." He smirks and nods. "Great career for you." We order some food, specially chocolate chip and peanut butter waffles for me and biscuits and gravy for him. We ate and talked for about half an hour, 1 am now. "Hey, um...do you wanna take this back to my place," he asks with a sliver of lust in his eye. "Sure, I fully consent to...a long morning with you." He smiles, pays the check, and takes me back to his place. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this with you. To have a relantionship, a true relantionship, with a girl like you." He says grinning like a madman. "Denki, are you okay..." "Can I make love to you tonight...?" I started at him in disbelief as he stops at a gray two stair house. "If not, then I'm cool with that but if yes, I'll make it the best night of your life. I promise." I go over scenarios in my head and can't find a good reason to say no, except me getting pregnant but I'm already taking birth control to shorten periods. He stares at me as I contemplate and notices the expression on my face. "Is that a no," he asks sadly. I shake my head. "I'm just going over certain situations that could happen. Like me getting pregnant, you leaving pregnant me, and depressing stuff lik..." He prevents my negative talk with the best kiss of my life, so far. His soft lips fit mine perfectly, leaving a romantic ting in my chest as he slowly moved away. "I won't leave you, ever. And if I ever do, it's probably cause I'm dead. Dont ever think that I'd leave you simply because I'm scared of parenthood, thats a stupid reason to leave a girl like you." I blushed at this. And then I nod, frantically. Because when he pulled away from that kiss I knew I wanted him, so badly. He let me out of the car, led me to his house, showed me around for a few and then we got to his bedroom. That's were the magic happened. He leaned down a little and started kissing me passionately. I slowly started leaning into him gently. To the point were we at the edge of the bed. "Damn, you really know how to get me desparate for you and your beautiful looks don't you...?" He smirks and grabs my waist then spins me and pins me to the bed, all while keeping the kiss together. Hot! We keep making out and he slowly spreads my legs away from each other so he can fit in between them. He rubs his hips against mine and kisses me deeply. I lightly moan into the kiss and he smirks as he runs his hands up and down my sides then pins my wrists down onto the bed forcing my upper body down onto the bed. "Mffmp!" He licks my lower lip slowly, asking for an entrance, and I deny him allowance. He growls and gropes my chest, causing a gasp, and ability for him to explore my mouth. Our tongues dance in harmony with a sequence of quiet moans coming from my throat. He moves away making me whimper and removes my shirt then his. He takes my hand and runs my fingertips along his 8 pack and chest and my hand travels to his hair where I tug on the hair and pull him closer. My back lifts up off the bed and he takes that opportunity to remove my bra, which only took a second for him. I had the immeadiant reaction to cover my chest but my wrist were pinned by his hand above my head. He looks directly in my eyes as he kisses my right breast slowly. "So soft and warm, perfect." He kisses my neck slowly, sending a little electricity which tingles sensually. He snaked his arm under my waist and pulled me closer as he kept kissing and sucking on certain spots on my necks causing moans. "God I love hearing you moan, such a turn on," he says before he lightly chuckles, feeling his warm breath against my neck. He licked my neck lightly where he left hickeys. "I never did ask if you wanted to be mine did I..." "I don't care, I wanna be yours. Make me yours." A river of red rushes to his cheeks as he kisses me softly. He carefully picks me up by my ass and shifts us around on the bed so my head's on a pillow. He kisses me as he slips something out, handcuffs, of his bedside drawer and slips it around both my wrists and the bed post. "I can't have you pleasuring me when tonight's the night where I give you the best night of your life." He sadistically smirks as he kisses my boob. He gives it a few cat licks on the areola and sucks gently on the nipple, slowly getting rougher over time. While he was doing that to one of the breasts, his other hand was tweaking at the nipple, and lightly electrocuting the nipple on that side, causing a moan to erupt from my lips. He switches the treatment and once done kisses me as he plays with my perked up nips with his soft fingers. My cheeks are burning up since he was looking directly in my eyes with a lustful fog over his golden yellow orbs while he was teasing me. He grins like a madman as he slowly removes my jean shorts slowly peeling them away from my wet panties. He throws them to the other side of the room. He kisses me and rubs my heat through the panties. "How easily did I make you wet huh, my little kitten?" I whimper and moan lightly. He smirks and roughly kisses me over and over, rubbing faster with my hips bucking upward towards his, under where a noticable boner is present. He rubs a little faster and I start moaning loudly and he groans. "I told you your voice was a turn on." He tucks his fingers under the waistband of my panties and pulls them down agonizingly slow, peeling them away from my wet heat. My liquid, dripping from them and he smirks. Licking it up off the underwear he dives back down to my pussy. He spreads my legs and chuckles against me. The heat of his breath unbearable against me. I struggle to break free from the handcuffs to pull his soft lips against my vagina. He smirks and licks my clit and entrance. Over and over his tongue teasing me insanely. He sucks oh my clit and slips his finger in me. "D-Denki~" He thrusts his finger in and out slowly, curving the finger to hit the g-spot recieving a moan from my lips. He sucks on the clit harsher, slipped two fingers in, and thrusted faster hitting the g-spot harder, deeper, and faster. A coil begins to wind up within me, slowly tightening. "Aaaaaahh~" He looks deep into my eyes and moves away from my heat. "I can't have you orgasming yet, I haven't even taken my pants off yet," he said seductingly with his smirk deepening. He removed the thick maroon arm band that was around his wrist and I finally realize that it was a blindfold. My eyes widened as he covered my eyes with it. "I heard this heightens the experience, I'm quite curious to try this you, knowing it's your first time, am I right?" I nod slowly and from what I could hear, he rests his hands next to my head. "Do you fully consent to me being your first time, to me, the high school flirt, taking your precious virginity," he asks seductively and slowly. And of course I nodded, with the state I'm in I would be mad not to. I feel his body heat leave the area round me and I hear a belt undo and something clothes fall to the floor. His sweet lips land on mine as he hops back on top of me. He spreads my legs as we kiss and rests the tip of his dick against my clit. "You ready?" I nod my head and he slowly puts himself into me. He rubs my hips gently and kisses me sweetly as he does this so slowly. And thank god he went in slowly, it felt like I was being ripped in half slowly. A few tears left my eyes under the blindfold and he rests his forehead on mine as he finishes up going inside. He kisses my cheek as he plays with my hair. "Can I move now?" I nod and he takes his dick out almost all the way and slams it back in quickly and I moaned, loudly. He takes this as a go ahead and does the movement over and over again slowly quickening and going harder. Which felt like heaven. "De~nki...~!" His hands kept themselves at my hips as he kept thrusting and nibbling at my breasts that were bouncing from how fast he was going. "They are absolutely perfect," he said in a breathy groan. A few more minutes of moans, groans, and skin slapping till the coil from before quickly starts winding up. "Go-d you're so~ tight...~." I gasp and struggle against the handcuffs. His hand slips under my head and pulls me into a kiss as he undoes the blindfold. I open my eyes to see his gorgeous eyes glowing bright and him also undoing the handcuffs. Click... My hands race towards his hair and upper back and he throws the handcuffs to the other side of the room. My fingers intertwine themselves with his luscious hair and pulls him into a sloppy make out. He smirks into the kiss as his hand leaves my hips and to my clit. "Let me try this..." his finger toys with my clit a little and then a pleasurable pain erupts as he used his quirk to stimulate me. I felt myself clench onto him and the internal coil broke as I orgasmed. "DENKI~," I screamed moaned as it happened. He groaned my name, "F/N~," into my ear as I felt his hot, gooey, seed shoot into me in a few squirts. He thrusts a few more times, riding out his high. His pupils are dialated as he looks directly in my eyes. He slowly pulls himself out and kisses me sweetly. "I love you, my pikagirl," he lovingly whispered into my ear making me giggle a little despite the fact that we're completely out of breath. We both take deep breaths for a few seconds and then he kisses me once more with one full of emotions. The kiss lasted a few seconds and he lays next to me. "I fucking love you so damn much." I move the hair away from his face and out of his glowing eyes. "I love you just as much." He sits me up against the bed post. He quickly gets his boxers on and throws me a t-shirt from his closet. "I think it'd be best if we sleep under a different blanket let alone bed." I giggle at his expression. He looks at me with a dumbfounded expression and I crack up. A sudden blush rushes to his cheeks and he looks away as he throws a soft blanket on me. I giggle as he slips into the bed next to me. "We should probably take a shower..." I snuggle into him. "That sounds like a good idea...although that might run into a round 2..." "I've got nothing against that." I looked into his topaz eyes and smirked. "Ooh boy do I like that smirk." He grabs my hips and brought me into a make out session. Soon enough he pulled me on top of him, with thighs spread, and grinded my hips against his, causing another erection from him. A streak of red spreads across his cheeks as we pull away. He pushes me away for a second and slips into me as I'm on the top sitting. I moan as he entered for the second time tonight, certainly not the last. I felt myself clench around his length as I started riding him. Moans were escaping my lips repetitively. He pulls me into a kiss slowly thrusting up into me, starting to turn the situation around. As I continue riding him, he starts to sit up and get off the bed, all while I'm still riding him, and carries me to the bathroom. He sets me down on the bathroom counter and pounds into my g-spot over and over perfectly. My inner thighs turn sore and red as he continues fucking me, only to then slowly go faster. More moans are erupting and plenty of groans coming from him along with the skin slapping noise as I slowly come to an orgasm. Then all of a sudden, his quirk decided to activate and numbs me waist down. I moan and release and he soon follows after that. A shit eating grin appears on his face as he slowly rides out his high. "Okay, I think we're ready for that shower..." He slips out of me slowly, giving me a feeling of emptiness. He heads towards the bath tub and turns it on. The showerhead lights up and he picks me up turns on the fan, and turns off the main light. Kaminari and I curled up towards the edge of a giant tub. I snuggled into his chest as the water slowly got warmer and slowly filled up the tub, but not too close to the edge. I entangled my fingers into his hair and he played with my hair. I slightly tugged on his softly luscious golden locks and he groans. I teasingly tug and pull a few more times making him groan more. "I didn't know you had a kink for this, hair pulling..." "Keep doing it and you'll regret it~!" I moan a little in his ear and he wraps his arms around my waist. "Really...a round three...you're up for that?" I smirk and nod.... "You bet~." TIME SKIP BECUZ I'M LAZY (I'll edit a few more rounds in later but I'm lazy right now.) MORNING KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! "YO KAMI BOI, I heard you had company last night..." My eyes shot open to a loud voice in the doorway. I was currently smuggled up Kaminari's chest sleeping, somewhat, after our passionate night together, 5 rounds of romantic sex wore me out. Kaminari rubbed his eyes as the loud redhead, Kirishima, walks in with a tray with a stack of chocolate pancakes and milk, some syrup on the side. "You two must be hungry." I glared at Kaminari for a second. "You didn't tell me you lived with anyone." Kaminari yawns. "Must've forgotten to tell you about that." "Haha...that's so something you'd do Kiwinari..." I start to laugh. "Yeah...that nickname kind of stuck." I giggle and play with Kaminari's hair. "Well, I'll leave you two with the breakfast. You both are probably really tired, eat and then rest a little please. None of us like a sleepy Kaminari..." "US!?"