#to plummet his number to zero JUST to yell at her

[mooncactus]

my new headcanon no one can take away from me: grace gets off the train with all of simon’s novels in hand. over the course of like a decade she edits and publishes them. she eventually continues the story herself.

at a signing for book five a thirty year old simon fresh off the train crashes in with a grubby copy of book 1 in hand shouts “YOU PLAGIARIZED ME????”

[burnedbyshoto]

mamihlapinatapei

— mamihlapinatapei: wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start. —

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pairing: todoroki natsuo x fem!reader

warnings: 18+, smut, daddy kink, praise, choking, cockwarming, orgasm denial

word count: 8,903

a/n: a commission for @redbeanteax​, sorry it took so long. my back is in so much pain and good god did i feel like i was cheating on shouto when writing this. i hope you enjoy it!!!!

message me to join my taglist!

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Soulmates were an old concept.

It was this phenomenon that had first occurred so many years ago. It was a miracle that allowed the two perfect halves come together. 

In its initial introduction, divorce rates and plummeted to all-time lows! For an entire generation, divorce rates were at an all-time low of zero. No one in the world were getting divorces, choosing to stay with the person that was deemed worthy of them. It seemed for some time that people were going to fall in love with their soulmates and find happiness and prosperity for them.

That is until soulmates crossed borders, seas, racial tensions, economic differences, and sexual preferences…

The rich stopped trying to bring someone in for a rag to riches effect, choosing to instead marry within their own class circle, choosing wealth over love. International soulmates couldn’t figure out a common language, they’d sit in front of each other with lousy translator apps, unable to talk freely and openly, and soon their relationship was destroyed. Racial tensions were especially hard. There were reports of soulmates waking back up into their bodies to find their home destroyed and family hurt because their soulmate could not stand the thought -- the idea -- of the race of their soulmate. There were still homophobic people in this world of soulmates who could not accept their sexuality when presented to their soulmate who was the same gender and would not leave any means of contact behind.

Soulmates, while excellent and loving when it is something within your reach, turned out to be a pretty fucked up thing.

But nevertheless, it didn’t stop you from ever hoping that whoever your soulmate was, it would be someone who would love you precisely who you are, no matter who they were.

Your tired eyes focused on your paper, your eyes scanning the different lines that glowed on your computer screen, trying to find a better way to propose your thoughts. There wasn’t much to this paper, it was a reasonably simple paper about the pros and cons of soulmates for your anthro and philosophy class. Since you were little, you revered in the concept of soulmates, your excitement to be in love with someone for the rest of your life was a pretty solid thing, even at a young age.

As you grew older, you held onto this idea, choosing to ignore the issues with soulmates in favor of optimism and positivity. There were still many, many happy and in love, soulmates! After all, there was still an 87% rate for soulmates marrying each other, the opposing 13% came from the worst of people, the most disadvantaged of people, and the most influential people. It’s how it was.

For a college student in Japan, you figured that you had a solid chance of having a soulmate that you could love and have their love in return. But your issue was the mystery behind it, the unknowing of it all. While you knew that soulmates did mean pure love, there was a part of you that hoped that there this someone out there was someone you already knew.

Well, there was one person in particular.

“I’ll proofread your paper if you look at mine,” a tired voice croaked from hours of not being used.

Your eyes felt dry, and you glanced up at the white-haired boy who was the holder of your affections for about two years now. 

Todoroki Natsuo.

“Only if you don’t make fun of mine, I’m so bad at this philosophical bullshit,” you groan, rubbing your face. You heard Natsuo snort, his arms stretched above his head, and your eyes dropped back down onto your screen, not wanting to be staring at him. 

“Oh please, I’m sure I’ll feel leagues smarter by the time I finish reading it,” he grinned, and you felt yourself looking back at the white-haired man who was pushing his laptop towards you.

“You’re annoying,” you sigh, but there’s an undeniable smile on your face when you hand over your own device.

“Sure, sure.”

What was there to say about him?

You had met him two years ago during freshmen orientation, he was in your introduction group, and coincidentally in the same classes as you. The two of you ended up getting fairly close over the first semester of college, and by the end of your spring semester, you realized in horror that you had a crush on him.

These feelings weren’t bad, he was a respectful and caring boyfriend, that was something you knew without a doubt. Of course, knowing that he is that, and not hypothetically assuming it meant that he had a girlfriend. Yes, Todoroki Natsuo was a taken man.

You’d never really met his girlfriend. You knew who she was, how she looked like, her favorite things in the world, and her least favorite things, that’s how much Natuso talked about her. You had the pleasure of meeting her once, and the only thing you could remember is that she had mouse ears and the personality of a mouse. Scared, timid, and squeaky.

She barely talked to you, and after the initial meeting would never join Natsuo and you anywhere.

You didn’t take it personally, you wouldn’t really want to hang out with her either, especially with how you felt about Natsuo. It was a conflict of pretending that you and Natsuo were falling in love, ignoring the impeding time you had to be with him, and of course, the guilt that coursed through your body whenever you rested your head against his shoulder during these late-night studies. 

In two weeks, it was July 2.

Somehow on this day, you would swap bodies with your soulmate when you fell asleep, and when you woke up, you had five minutes to figure out how to get them to reconnect with you. Most people left their phones unlocked that day, letting their soulmates leave their phone numbers in their phone, sometimes they’d leave their address, and Instagram and Twitter handle. After so many generations of soulmates experiencing this, and the ever-evolving technology, this was the way that people effectively found their soulmates once the five minutes were up.

But unlike what people had once assumed, there was no exact age as to when you would swap bodies. Some people were lucky to swap bodies at the age of sixteen, and the oldest recorded case was when someone was twenty-four. You were nineteen, as was Natsuo, neither one of you had this soulmate experience yet, but unlike before, you had a strong feeling that this was your year.

“It looks great,” Natsuo whistled lowly, his head shaking while giving back your laptop. 

You felt your face grow warm at the praise, your fingers highlighting another sentence for him to correct, “Thanks.”

“What you thinking about mine?”

You sighed, pushing away from the table so that you were looking into his grey eyes that looked at you with curiosity and high respect. 

“I’m a bit confused about your position,” you admitted, your fingers brushing back your hair so that you could look at the man whose lips pursed in thought. “You’re saying that soulmates are bullshit, but you believe it regardless?”

Natsuo nods his head, an embarrassed blush stretching across his face, “Well yeah, they kinda are. How is some cosmic thing the thing in charge of telling me about who I am to truly love?”

“So when you find out who your soulmate is, you won’t love them, but you’ll stay with them?”

“Yes? I don’t know… I know that my parents aren’t soulmates, and that didn’t work out. It’s hard for me to explain, but I really like Mausua, and I want to see how far things can go with her,” Natuso explains his thoughts to you, that stupid grin spreading on his face that always appeared whenever he talked about her. “I mean for years people didn’t marry their exact soulmates, but they were happy and in love for ages. Why can’t I try that out?”

You tried to hide the fact that those words hurt you. It shouldn’t have mattered, after all, there was no saying that the two of you were soulmates, and the probability of that happening was entirely slim to none. 

“Yeah, why not?”

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June 30 - one-week left

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You were slumped on top of the table, your head banging against the cool wood while Natsuo recited his notes to you. The both of you were in the middle of some argument that had tailed off in fifty different directions, neither one of you admitting defeat.

“Natsuo, I don’t give a flying fuck if that’s what the notes say!” you yell, throwing your eraser at his head, an act that he easily evaded while continuing to read off his notes. “You don’t give the baby the torch flame!”

“You’re not even listening to what I’m saying,” Natsuo insists with a laugh, his notebook coming to hit your back slightly. “If you give the baby the flame, they’ll be unbeatable!”

If you could roll your eyes any harder than they did now, you were sure you would manage to see your brain, but instead, you shifted on the table so that you were facing Natsuo, and you stuck out your tongue.

“Put your tongue back in your mouth before I pinch it.”

“Sowwy, I donth understhand,” you retorted your nose, turning up towards the ceiling.

Natsuo’s hands grabbed your wrists, and you shrieked, immediately trying to fight him off while he dragged you towards him. Screams and laughter filled the air until Natsuo accidentally pulled you off the table. So there you two sat, on the floor of the study room, in hysterics.

Your hands clutched your sides, breathing failing you while your ass stung slightly from the pain of falling. Natsuo’s face was red, his feet slamming against the floor periodically enough that you almost assumed that he was going to pee himself. 

“Just go to your stupid date already,” you groaned once your laughter subsided, your eyes resting on Natsuo, who was now laying on the floor exhausted. “You’re going to be late!”

Every Saturday after you and Natsuo were done studying, he would have a date night with Mausua. It was something he never missed, something he always made sure they did, even when his nose was dripping with snot, and he had the worst migraine. It’s just how he was.

Natsuo paused, his eyes looking at you with a shine of pain, and you sat up despite the soreness of your stomach. There was something wrong.

“She broke up with me,” Natuso admitted with a stiff smile, his shoulders shrugging. “Last night, she had this feeling that this was her year to find her soulmate, and well, I don’t know…”

His hand dragged across his face, and your eyebrows scrunched together. Scooting closer to him, you sat shoulder to shoulder with him before you nudged him with the back of your hand, “You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, actually I am,” Natsuo responded despite the wry smile on his face, “I mean, it sucks, but what can I do about it?”

“Cry, scream, we can go buy cats and put them by her front door,” you began listing off a bunch of different things, most ideas being straight near criminal, but it made Natsuo laugh.

“Remind me to never mess with you,” Natsuo shoves you with his shoulder. The force of that alone nearly sends you flying, but you merely grunt in response. “But, I’m fine.”

“You sure?” you ask, obviously unconvinced.

“Yeah,” he nods, “I will take a hug if you don’t believe me.”

Rolling your eyes, you stood up, stretching out a hand you helped Natsuo to his feet, and without a second thought, you wrapped him into a hug. Your body feels just a bit warm when he held you close. 

“I’ll show up at her door with a cat and a baby with a blowtorch, just say the word.”

“Stop, you menace.”

“Shut up, you know you love me.”

“Have I ever denied that before?”

“Yes.”

“True.”

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July 1 - one day left

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“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!” You screamed, shoving a birthday present into Natsuo’s face the moment he opened the door. 

Natsuo graciously accepted the present, his face brightening with a smile while he thanked you for the gift. “I thought I said I didn’t need anything.”

You shrugged, walking into the house and taking off your shoes, “That’s what you thought, but I am far wiser and know exactly what you need!”

Natsuo snorts, closing the door behind you, and the two of you make light chatter while walking into the house. It had been a while since you came to his house. The last time you had been around, he was still living under the same roof with his dad, but this one was without him. The house had a different energy to it, one that was nothing similar to that of the old house. It was comforting and warm, despite the coldness the family preferred.

Today was Natsuo’s birthday, and he had invited you over for his birthday dinner with his family, something that he didn’t do last year with you. Thankfully you had met most of his family, his sister Fuyumi was an obvious one, and you also had the chance of meeting Rei the other month while running into the mother and son at a tea shop one day. You also had sort of met his baby brother Shouto, who you only really knew because of the U.A. Sports Festival.

Dinner was lovely, the four Todoroki’s, and you enjoyed a bunch of sashimi while talking. The family dynamic was also bizarre for you to experience. Fuyumi was obviously used to being the conversationalist. She was very talkative and inquisitive during the entire night. Shouto was trying his hardest to -- in the most helpful way possible -- act normal. He was stiff but a good conversationalist if you overlooked the often weird phrases he had to say. Rei seemed to be the mediator, trying her best to enjoy the situation but also getting involved within these sibling discussions. And of course, there was Natsuo, who for the first time since you’ve met him was being quite the Drama Queen. 

It was endearing to watch Natsuo quarrel with his sister and brother over matters that seemed so trivial and pointless. They were all very strongwilled, it seemed.

“How about you, y/n-chan,” Rei smiled at you, interrupting the ridiculous argument between Shouto and Natsuo about how Natsuo wasn’t going to wake up in someone else’s body the next morning. “Are you expecting to wake up in your soulmate’s body?”

You smiled stiffly, the searing gaze of the two Todoroki brothers burning into your body while you stared at Rei, was this family always this intense?

“Well, I haven’t yet,” you laugh, brushing your hair to the side, “I would definitely like to, but there’s no saying.”

Shouto seemed to sigh, his finger pointing at you, then motioning over to Natsuo, “But is Natsuo going to wake up knowing his soulmate?”

“Shouto!”

Dinner ended with a scoop of ice cream, and you listened in horror and fascination. At the same time, Shouto explained to his family about the insane adventures he’d had at U.A. After helping with cleaning up and thanking the family for dinner, you ended up following Natsuo into his room.

It took no time for you to fall onto his futon, your arms spread out on his bed while Natsuo grabbed your present for him.

“I wonder what this is,” he sang, plopping down next to you.

You immediately sat back up, a grin on your face due to the excitement that flooded your veins, knowing that this was a pretty damn good present. 

“Obviously, it’s a photo album of me,” you teased, and he seemed to agree that it was that while he unwrapped it.

From the bag, he pulled out a hoodie that he had been raving about for months now. He had never bought it because he sucked at saving up money for this exclusive hoodie. It was a navy blue sweatshirt that had English print all over it, you couldn’t read what it said as you didn’t learn English while in high school, but it was supposed to be pretty cool.

“Y/n,” Natsuo breathed slowly, his eyes wide and round, his fingers barely touching the fabric. It was as if he felt the material too much it was stain with his fingertips or complete disintegrates within his touch. “How did you? It was sold out, I checked!”

“You told me about how much you wanted this months ago. It was too late for Christmas, so I bought it in advance for your birthday,” you explained with a grin. Warmth flooded your chest while you watched his starstruck expression, and you only felt your heart beat faster when he turned his attention onto you. So you smiled, even more, your eyes closing in your mirth, “Happy birthday, Natsuo!”

You expected him to hug you, to bring you in close and tell you how grateful he was for this gift -- if that much. But when his fingers touched your cheeks, your eyes flew open to see his gaze focused on your lips.

“Can I kiss you?”

There was nothing you could say, your words failing you entirely because this is what you had wanted for years. Tonight was going to be life-changing for you -- whether it was a pleasant change or an adverse change, you had no idea. You’d wanted this for too long to deny him a just a kiss, right?

Your heart is hammering so loudly you swear he can hear it, and with a shaky placement of your hands on his wrist, you seal the space left between the two of you.

While you had never officially dated anyone before, you’ve definitely kissed other people before Natsuo. Most of the other kisses you had were -- quite frankly -- unideal. Stiff and cold lips, rigid bodies, too much saliva pouring from their mouths, disgust soaking your spine, and awkward hand roaming. But this? This was more than anything you could have ever hoped for.

His lips were gentle against yours. A soft rose petal that warmed you from the inside out, a flexible coax that reminded you that despite your ideals, this is what you wanted most. Your head tilted to the side, allowing your meeting lips to connect further, your bodies coming together in yet a bigger and more powerful wave. 

But as the sensations that riled your blood and nerves, the actions the two of you grew bolder, riskier, much more passionate.

His fingers released your chin, moving to grip onto your waist, pulling you in. You gasped against his lips, the demanding actions catching you off guard. Your hands pressed onto his chest, your legs shifting so that you were now straddling the larger boy, and you swore you could see stars the second his tongue skimmed your bottom lip.

Closer.

Better.

Wistful.

Your back arched, your chest meeting his when his tongue traced the roof of your mouth, and your hips involuntarily ground against his nearly trembling thighs. He hissed, barely loud enough for you to hear, but his cold fingers slid under your shirt, and you shuddered.

There was no time to react, you felt your body being flipped, and Natsuo was on top of you, his hips grinding into you emphatically, continuously, and unrelentingly. Your hips met his with every movement, your legs wrapped tightly against his waist, trying your best to get him to lose his train of thought with every roll of your hips. The growing bulge in his pants was only a clear indictment to what you were doing to him. Of what was to come of this night. Your head fell back, your jaw-dropping, while you made choking noises, refusing to let such a loud audible noise escape your mouth. But it seemed that Natsuo wanted to hear you moan, to feel you squirm against his hold.

This was making your body explode with sensations you didn’t think was possible from someone who wasn’t your soulmate. 

Natsuo’s lips pressed down your neck to your chest, your mind swam with the word soulmate, and your tongue was drenched with his name.

Soulmate.

Tonight was the night you were going to find out.

“I’ve been in love with you for so long,” Natsuo groaned, his tongue leaving wet stripes against your chest, and with the feeling of his fingers tweaking at your nipples through your shirt, you panicked.

“Get off me!” you squeaked, your hands shoving at his shoulders, your legs unwrapping around him.

“What’s wrong?!” Natsuo panics, his hands checking up and down his wrinkled clothes, his body on edge and filled with worry. “Did I do something wrong?!”

“I can’t do this!” you pant, your body feeling itchy at your conflicting emotions. You could do this, you knew that. It would take nothing for you to spend the night with one Todoroki Natsuo, but not on this night, not when you were so sure that you would figure out who your soulmate is. Not if they would wake up in your body with a naked man beside them. No, you couldn’t do that. “Tonight is the special night… and I can’t… we can’t! Not when there’s a possibility that someone is waiting for me!”

Natsuo’s eyebrows furrow, his face setting into an icy frown. There was a clear understanding on his face, emotions that let you know that while he was very disappointed, he understood.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, your gaze no longer able to reach his.

“It’s okay,” he smiles weakly, but his voice is distant and terse. “I’ll see you out…”

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Your eyes focused on the ceiling of your bedroom.

Even though it was three hours since you’ve left the Todoroki residence, your heart was still unfairly beating at the thought of Natsuo kissing you, and the implications of what the both of you wanted to do but hadn’t mustered the courage to do. 

You thought about the fact that he had just broken up with his girlfriend seven days ago, maybe he was projecting his no longer met hormones on you? There was no way your best friend was in love with you and chose not to say anything about it until now. But then again, because he was in a relationship, that confession would have been a dick move. But if he did love you, and not her, why would he have stayed with her?

You’re not really sure when you managed to pass out, considering that you had been tossing and turning for literal hours. But soon, you drifted off to sleep, with nothing but a prayer that when you woke up that you would be in someone else’s body. 

Your eyes opened when a crack of sunlight hit your face, and you slammed a hand against your face. But your hand came down heavier against your face, and you groaned in pain. But it wasn’t your voice…

Shooting up from your bed, your eyes searched the room around you. It wasn’t yours, you knew that much. But there was something familiar about the color of the walls and the furniture of the room. Rushing to your feet, you saw a mirror and looked into it. 

You were met with grey eyes, gentle, kind, and familiar grey eyes. Your fingers traced the pale skin and felt the white hair on your head.

What were the chances?

Todoroki Natsuo was your soulmate.

A smile spread across your face, an unbelievably gracious joy filling you up. But then Natsuo’s phone began to ring, and you picked it up to see your contact picture showing. It was a rather good picture of you and him, a memory from club rush during your first semester of college. On the top were your first name and a pure heart emoji.

Grinning much broader, you picked up the call, placing the phone to your ear, you spoke.

“Hello?”

“What were the chances?” you heard your voice respond back to you, and it took everything not to giggle lunatically within Natsuo’s body.

“I’d say less than zero.”

“Yet here we are,” he teased you, and you went to push back nonexistent hair behind your ear. Dropping your hand to the dresser, you shake your head.

“Are you disappointed?” you couldn’t help but ask, your worries about you being a distraction for him still hot on your mind.

“Definitely not,” he spoke softly, “I know what you’re thinking, y/n. That you were nothing but a distraction from Mausua, or how when I blurted my feelings, they were too in the moment. I should have broken up with her ages ago, but I don’t know. You just didn’t seem attainable to me.”

“You’re an idiot for thinking that, Todoroki,” you sniff, tears welling in your eyes.

“Hey, now,” he reprimanded you, but the teasing was still heavy in his tone, “it’s Todoroki-san to you.”

A smile grew on your face, and you scoffed playfully, “Todoroki-san? I’d much rather call you daddy.”

Now you knew what noises you made, you were nineteen, nearly twenty with a few sexual experiences yourself. Now the sound that escaped Natsuo’s voice was one of approval, and heat spread through your body.

“We have less than a minute,” Natsuo spoke as lowly as your voice could go, and it sent goosebumps down your spine, “I’ll meet you at your place. Are your roommates here?”

“No.”

“Good.”

Your eyes closed, and you listened to Natsuo’s directions. His voice flowing from your voice and slowly ended with his own. Your eyes fluttered open to see yourself standing in your bathroom with your cellphone to your ear. Heat flooded your body, and you realized just how cold his body was. 

“I’ll see you in twenty minutes,” he spoke sharply, and a smirk curled onto your face.

“Okay, daddy,” you accentuated.

You couldn’t see him, but you could feel his nostrils flare from the opposite end of the call, a dark look on his face. The line went dead, and an internal panic flared through your veins.

Twenty minutes to prepare, could you even manage that?!

You took the fastest five-minute shower in your life, nearly slipping against the slick bathtub while shaving your legs. Hopping out of the shower, you were quick to brush your teeth, putting product in your hair, and once you were done, you scrambled back to your room. Your hands throwing on the first set of lingerie you found, it was a navy blue teddy that had a deep plunge between your breasts. You hastily slid your sheer navy blue thigh highs up your legs, and just managed to slip your large t-shirt back over your head when there was a knock on your front door.

Looking into your mirror, you felt your chest tighten, your stomach filling with butterflies that left you feeling dizzy. It felt like an eternity when you walked to the front door, rising to the tip of your toes to see Natsuo standing outside of your door. His signature white with grey jacket over a dark grey tank that seemed just the perfect fit, you noticed black joggers on him too, and your teeth buried against your bottom lip, your heart beating erratically.

“Who is it?” you asked teasingly, watching the way Natsuo’s eyes snapped up, and you grinned at the way a coy smile stretched across his face.

“Open up and find out?”

“Mm,” you sigh, pressing a finger to your chin, “I don’t particularly want to find out.”

But nevertheless, your fingers found themselves on your doorknob, opening the wood door to see Natsuo standing there. His eyes were drinking in your face, and there was such a loving smile that emerged on his face.

“Hi, soulmate,” he whispered.

It was no different from the typical way he greeted you, but the simple addition of soulmate sent fire to your cheeks and stomach. 

“Hi,” you whisper, stepping aside, letting him in. 

He walked in, and you shut the door behind him, waiting for him to take off his shoes and remove his jacket, you stayed put. Your hands were behind your back, just waiting for him to look at you again. Your thoughts trailed to what was going to happen, would you two have sex? Would he grip your waist so tightly you would be left with purple bruises? Would he enjoy having you as a partner for the rest of his life? You licked your lips as your thoughts wandered.

When he was finally ready, Natsuo took a step towards you, knocking you from your internal turmoil and having you stare straight into his grey eyes. 

“Can I kiss you?” he asked you again, and like before, you didn’t answer him.

Reaching up, you brought him down for a kiss, but unlike before, the intentions were already known. The barriers and the restrictions between the two of you were gone, and you melted.

His hands gripped the back of your thighs while he took a confident stride forward, and you followed after him. Your lips were glued to his. Every divet, every line in his lips was smoothed out and memorized against yours. It made your head spin, this was your soulmate, he was yours. 

Natsuo’s mouth dragged away from yours, moving downwards on your neck. His teeth bit and pulled at your sensitive skin until you were moaning his name. His hands were running up and down your curves, measuring them against him. A small gasp escaped your lips when your thigh rubbed against his clothed erection, and you shivered when his fingers traced the part of your skin where the thigh highs ended. Growling against your skin, Natsuo’s fingers pulled at the elastic and let it go. The fabric came back against your skin, and you whimpered loudly.

“Natsuo, don’t tease,” you muttered, your fingers pressing against the incredibly defined muscles that were hidden underneath his jacket. You wanted it off. But Natsuo didn’t seem to notice your needs, choosing to continue to press searing kisses against your neck.

“Address me by daddy,” he growled, his lips parting with your skin so that you could stare into his eyes. His gaze was ferocious, drowning, and near angry, but for some reason, it sent heat right to your core before he slammed his lips back against yours into a bruising kiss.

You could barely keep up with his moving lips, your eyes rolling to the back of your head when his hot tongue dragged against your lips.

Your hips weakly ground against his, and Natsuo met your needy hips until you were crying against his mouth, and his tongue invaded your mouth. Your fingers flew to his white hair, fisting the soft tendrils until he snarled. One moment you were on your feet and the next Natsuo’s hands cupped your ass and lifted you up.

Your legs wrapped around his waist, and you felt him walking towards your room. 

Your tongue danced against his, your mind doing everything it could to not fall under his spell. To keep fighting, to make sure that this wasn’t going to be easy, no matter what he wanted to be called. Curling your tongue in his mouth, you could feel the shiver go down Natsuo’s spine, and you pulled your tongue back in your mouth.

“Where are you taking me, daddy?” you whisper against his lips, your hips now grinding down against the head of his hard boner. Delighting in the fact that his grip on your ass becomes bruising, your rolling hips don’t slow down.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, baby girl.”

A chill slammed down your spine at that nickname, and you bite down on his lower lip. His gaze met yours, his eyes flaring with an internal fire that only aided to the light between your thighs. Fuck, did you want this man.

The door opened and closed when Natsuo entered your room, and your tongue lapped at his lips. 

His right hand left your ass, and you felt him fumble with the waistband of his joggers. You looked down to see his joggers and briefs fall, but had no time to admire the long and thick cock that sprung free from that restraint.

In what seemed like a perfect and fluid motion, Natsuo sat on your bed. He then shoved the panty of your teddy to the side.

“I don’t particularly like being teased, and last night was a lot,” he admitted, his fingers pressing between your already wet folds, and you cursed. Your hips ground against Natsuo’s fingers, and he grinned, seeing your reaction. “I think you deserved to be punished, don’t you think, baby girl?”

“No,” you breathlessly state, the feeling of his thick and cold fingers against your heated core formed goosebumps all over your body. “I think I’ve been perfectly well behaved, daddy.”

“I see we have a liar,” he chuckled, and before you could think of something to return with, his hands gripped your waist and sank you against his cock.

“FUCK!” you screamed at the feeling of his thick cock stretching you out in such a way that had your forehead slamming against his shoulder. 

Your hips moved, trying to find a way to adjust to Natsuo’s girth that nearly sent tears to your eyes. You could feel the way his cock twitched within you, your tightness, and slick heat getting to him too while he whispered senseless praises into your ear. Your hips moved forward, both trying to relieve the pressure that demanded to be attended to and to bring the mindnumbing pleasure that your body begged for.

But Natsuo’s hands gripped onto your hips, keeping you against his girth. Your jaw dropped to complain, but his left hand lifted to press his fingers in your mouth, effectively silencing you. You gagged softly against his fingers, and you made a whining noise while his right arm wrapped around your waist.

His right fingers dug into your skin, most likely leaving behind purple bruises while his mouth trailed to your ears.

“You’ve been naughty, baby girl,” he sighed, his fingers pressed against your tongue, spreading out slowly when they traveled further back in your throat. Your breathing piqued, trying to remain calm while your throat attempted to constrict around his fingers. “Now, you’ll sit on my cock until I think you’re ready to be fucked.”

Your eyes fluttered when his fingers began to slide up and down your throat, your hips twitching in an attempt to get the friction you craved, and your inner walls ached around his softly throbbing cock. His finger curled in your throat, and your tongue lashed around his fingers, a desperate attempt to remain calm in this situation.

Forcibly, you clenched your inner walls around his cock, and he hissed out your name.

It felt like an eternity with his cock buried balls deep within you, your mouth trying to please Natsuo’s fingers while you resisted the urge to move. 

“Daddy’s gonna fuck you now,” Natsuo muttered and you felt an incredible wave of joy shoot through you, you wanted him to fuck you until your eyes were rolling to the back of your head, drool pouring from your mouth, and his name the only word you could utter.

Suddenly you were on your back, and Natsuo’s cock was no longer in you, nor were his fingers. You shuffled onto your elbows, but Natsuo’s hands grabbed the hem of your shirt and tore it over your head. Your chest rose and fell with your approaching excitement, and Natsuo’s eyes took in the lace teddy that you wore. It blended in with your skin with such refinement that you took in pride at the way his fingers trailed against the fabric.

“Like what you see, daddy?” you ask in almost a whisper, and Natsuo’s snap up to look into your hooded ones.

“You’re so beautiful, baby girl. So perfect,” he agrees, his fingers dragging upwards, moving against your sensitive breasts, making your body arch up into his touch. The stimulation of his cold fingers against your nipples in such thin clothing, along with those sweet affirming words, sent sparks of electricity throughout your body. 

His fingers hooked under the straps of the teddy, and soon it was pulled off your body, joining the t-shirt somewhere in the room. It’s removal left you with nothing but the thigh highs, and by the looks of it, he liked that.

You couldn’t find words to tease him with because his finger trailed against your inner thigh, and you trembled at his touch. 

Natsuo smirked down at you, placing a soft kiss against your cheek before continuing to kiss along your jawline, to your neck, and then down your sternum. “Tell me, baby girl, what do you want?” Between every word, he trailed further down until his mouth was nibbling at the skin between your thighs, ignoring where you wanted and needed him most.

“I want you to fuck me,” you panted when Natsuo pinched one of your nipples, rolling the hardened skin as his teeth bit against your thighs, making your chest arch up into his touch, and made your legs tremble. Your pussy clenched desperately at his ministrations, your aching clit begging to be touched. 

“Do you deserve to cum?” Natsuo pulled away from your thigh with a pop. His fingers trailed back down your stomach, grazing your labia, chuckling at the way your hips twitched against him. 

Natsuo slipped two fingers into your cunt, keeping them still inside you as he maintained eye contact. He watched as you writhed beneath him, your hips snapping to relax against the fullness his fingers gave you. Slowly your movements began to feel good; your actions, to feel good, soon became a desperate attempt fuck yourself against his fingers. Slowly Natsuo began to thrust them in and out of your aching core ignoring your throbbing clit that you couldn’t muster the energy to touch. 

“Please, daddy,” your hands found themselves holding onto his forearm, fiercely trying to get him to do more with his fingers. “Fuck me good.”

Growling lowly, Natsuo arched his two fingers towards puffy inner walls, pressing down against it, and he watched your face contort in pleasure as a low whine left your lips. Natsuo grinned when he saw the way your eyes clenched closed, musical moans pouring from your lips when his fingertips brushed against your g-spot. Your jaw dropped, your hips taking over his finger fucking so that you were fucking yourself on his fingers. The clenching of your walls grew more and more, your toes curling with the impending orgasm approaching you, the build-up overwhelming. 

“So needy, baby girl,” Natsuo suddenly removed his fingers from your heat, your whines and desperate cries ignored while you bucked your hips up towards him, desperate for a release. You watched as Natsuo examined your slick essence on his fingers before looking at you. “Suck it off the baby girl,” he said, putting his fingers between your mouth, and without a second thought, your mind is broken from the denied orgasm you opened your mouth and sucked your sweet essence from them as you writhed beneath him. The taste of yourself on your tongue drove you almost insane; you liked the taste intermingled with the taste of him. What would you have to do to get a taste of his cum with yours? “You’re not allowed to cum until I say you can, baby girl.” 

Your mouth loosed against his fingers, and you whined at his instruction. Natsuo only shoved his fingers further down your throat and roughly fisted his cock, using his hand to glide it along your slit, gathering your juices along the tip with a low groan. He pressed the head inside your tight cunt, watching as your body reacted to the sensation. Your hips pushing forward, trying to get him to go deeper. Natsuo chuckled while he rubbed his cock along your slit again, teasing you, not giving you what you craved most. 

“Tell me what you want me to do, baby girl,” Natuso mockingly asked, knowing exactly what you wanted. His fingers removed from your mouth, and you gasped with the needed breath, and when you were ready, you spoke. 

“Fuck me, daddy, I need you to—” Natsuo’s fingers pressed against your clit, making you shrill in pleasure. 

“Such naughty words,” Natsuo ran his fingertip over your clit, smirking when your tongue came out in a pathetic pant, trying to control your desperate and needy breathing. The action made Natsuo groan, immediately imagining how that would feel on other parts of his body. His restraint wavering when he pulled back, steadying himself between your legs before he slammed into your aching pussy without warning. The sensation of feeling completely full after being denied sent you soaring towards your release. 

“Such a good girl,” Natsuo pressed a sloppy kiss to your lips, thrusting into your pussy as he watched your mouth fall open in pleasure. A constant slew of gibberish leaving your lips as you became lightheaded from the desire, and your arms wrapped around his shoulders to bring him closer. Natsuo’s cock fit inside you perfectly, the prominent veins on his length brushing against your inner walls were now moving, no longer stagnant, and only added to your pleasure. The tight feeling in the core of your stomach began to overwhelm you, the tip of his cock consistently pounding against your sweet spot, your climax threatening to wash over you. “Do you know how fucking gorgeous you are? These thigh highs are fucking driving me crazy… so pretty, so beautiful against your skin. It’s like you dressed this way on purpose, trying to get me to fuck you like you deserve to be fucked.

You whimpered while you shifted your arms around Natsuo’s neck, pulling his body flush against your own as he continued to rut into your tight heat. The angle at which his snapping hips were drilling into you had his pelvis rub against your clit, your legs tightening around his hips as his cock rubbed against your inner walls. You cried out his name, your clit throbbing at the sensation, your body stiffening as he moved faster.

“Who do you think you’re addressing?” Before you could attempt to respond, Natsuo’s right-hand leaves your hip and slams to your throat, choking the response from you. “I want to hear you correct your answer.”

His hand remains heavy and tight around your throat, his hold barely allowing oxygen to travel through to your lungs. Your vision fuzzed, and you could feel your heartbeat in your head, but your core shook with Natsuo’s now reciprocating and rhythmic slams.

“Y-You are, daddy,” you moan loudly, your thighs trembling with the feeling of his fingers around your throat.

Choking and clit stimulation with his cock pounding into your cervix, Natsuo chuckled into your skin. His thrusting hips were becoming more precise, angling into you in a way that made you audibly choke when you needed to gasp. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen to your body that was making you delirious, or perhaps it was the fact that he was slamming into you with the strength of rearranging your guts, but your hips began to swivel at an inhumane pace. Your cunt held a vice grip around his cock, yet it did nothing to slow Natsuo down, but the growing heated pit in your lower belly was making your legs tremble against his. Still, you tried to keep up with his rough and cruel pace, and Natsuo enjoyed knowing that detail.

“You’re fucking beautiful, baby girl. Your pretty little pussy is so fucking tight, I bet you’ve been saving yourself for me? Such a good girl, taking my cock like this, you’re fucking amazing.” He praises, his teeth biting down against your bottom lip. Your breathless moans slipping past your lips. “You enjoy being choked, baby girl?”

Your head nods, “Y-Yes, daddy!”

“Do you need to cum? Maybe I’ll allow it, your pussy has been so good.”

His hand against your throat tightened, and black dots littered your vision. His teeth sunk far into your skin, enough for you to feel your skin breaking as his tongue moving in cold strokes to calm your now throbbing skin. Then there were his nimble left fingers running against your clit and pressed delicate circles in time with his hammering and throbbing cock. But your swiveling hips held no value anymore, Natsuo’s hips snapped upwards fast enough and powerful enough to overcome and overwhelm you. The only thing you could tell was that along with the tip of his cock hitting your bruising walls, the sounds of your sopping wet pussy crashing against his forceful hips frantically rang in your ears.

Your bodies moved together entirely, his thrusts pushing you back further into the bed as he followed your movements. The bed frame hitting the wall with every harsh thrust, and your mattress springs creaking heavy in your ears. The noise of the headboard slamming against the wall was almost as loud as your moans of pleasure as your fingernails ripped into Natsuo’s shoulders, calling out his name in a mantra. 

“I need to cum, daddy. P-please, let me cum—” Natsuo could feel your body shaking underneath him as your orgasm was so close after being built up and denied. 

“Cum for me, y/n.” Natsuo groaned as your inner walls clenched around his length at his vulgar words, “cum all over my cock.”

Your eyes clamped closed, almost in synch. Your head nods, the heated pressure in your belly scorching. Your walls clamp down against his hammering cock, but it doesn’t slow him down, only encouraging him to increase his speed and strength until the bed shuddered against your weight. The sopping noises of your meeting sex filled your ears, and you moaned loudly, your teeth biting down onto your lip.

It takes his cock brushing against your g-spot for your legs to slam outwards, your arms nearly succeeding in choking Natsuo as you try sitting up as your orgasm slams through you.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” You scream hoarsely. Your scream only increases in great thrill when you feel Natsuo’s cock twitching unrestrainedly within you. But Natsuo ignores his own near, his hips continuing to drill into you, his hand clamping tighter against your neck, cutting off your voice. 

Natsuo isn’t done yet, not yet.

His hands move to grip the exposed back of your thighs, his grip bruising your supple skin. He slams into you faster, his cock continuing unaffected by your convulsing walls. There are no other noises except your wet cunt meeting his cock, your muffled shrieks of approval, and Natsuo’s heavy breathing as he continues to drive into you. Your convulsing walls body only making Natsuo stammer and curse loudly.

His lips find yours, and there is nothing to say, the kiss is messy, saliva coating your lips like lipstick. Spit filled kisses were exchanged between the two of you without care, while he chases his orgasm. His intense pace continues, your name growled from your throat, until one last thrust and one final clamp from your cunt sends him over.

Natsuo soon collapsed on top of you, his typically colder body burning with an almost feverish heat while his fingers traced against the frill of your thigh highs.

“That was something,” you mumble into his ear, and Natsuo snorts softly, his head nodding in agreement.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he whispered, pushing off your body; his eyes examined your raw body.

“Nah,” you disagreed with a smile, your fingers brushing through the bangs of his hair. “If you did, I liked it.”

“Masochist,” he teased, his lips pressing against yours in a soft and tender kiss. 

“I just might be, and if I am?”

“Then I think we’ll get along just fine, baby girl.”

“Okay, daddy.”

Soulmates weren’t perfect; you knew that more than anyone! But, while you lay there with his head against your chest. Hours after the two of you had cleaned up and gone for a few more rounds, you realized that this was what you wanted. You and your soulmate. That’s all that mattered when you were together, and things worked out.

[teenytinystorage]

Coinscore Arcade And Laser Tag

Summary: “The Sides all run an arcade together, each using their talents to keep it up”

Word Count: 3,872

Warnings: One very very brief mention of blood, knives, and injury, but no one gets hurt whatsoever

Genre: Fluff

Pairings: Platonic/romantic prinxiety, logicality, dukeceit, & basically all the sides are besties

Notes: This fic is based on this amazing prompt I found from @sanderssides-prompts! Kudos to the anon who submitted it!!

Enjoy! :)

—

Coinscore Arcade And Laser Tag was the best arcade Gainesville, Florida could offer. And its owners Logan Middleton, Patton Heath, Roman and Remus Weston, Virgil Holmes, and Dee Webber couldn’t help but agree.

Often shortened to simply “Coinscore” for the convenience of begging kids and tired-out parents, the place had it all. Long windows in the front of the building beamed glimmering moonlight into the neon, darkly colored interior filled with music-pumping, color-flashing, ticket-spitting arcade machines.

In the front left of the building sat the prize table run by Logan and Patton, occasionally by Dee as well, with a wall hanging up packaged neon signs, inflatable aliens, plastic swords, and labels with way overpriced ticket amounts. It, of course, also had a glass shelf-table combo filled with erasers, alien-finger-toys, and parachute army men.

Right then, a couple of kids, maybe 7 or 8 or so, stood at the table, standing on their tippy-toes to set their tickets down and see how many they won.

Logan, with his tree-like lankiness, crumpled up as he crouched to grab the scale from under the table and pulled out a comically sized calculator that would only be practical in an impractical place like Coinscore.

He set the tickets into a bucket, placed it upon the scale, and quickly started to type some numbers into the calculator, all the while the kids bounced up and down and were deciding which color of alien they wanted.

Logan then looked up (or, well, down in his case) from his calculator and at the awaiting children. “Your total comes to 991 tickets.”

The kids then deflated at the admission, looking at the giant alien hung up on the wall that stared at them in otherworldly longing with its 1,000 ticket label.

One little boy ran over to his mom sitting in a chair talking with other moms and sniffly told her the tragedy. She stood, grabbing her purse, and walked over to the table.

Logan tensed. It always got serious when the mom came over.

It was at that moment Patton Heath himself walked out from the supply closet carrying two cardboard boxes stacked atop each other, his shimmering brown skin glinting in the same shade as the boxes.

“Hey Lo, my bestest friend, the platonic love of my life,” Patton smiled wide.

“Hi, Patton. I’m stuck in quite the predicament right now,” Logan answered, nodding over to the sad children and the confused but somewhat uptight mother standing on the other side of the shelf.

“Ohhhh. Not enough tickets?” Patton whispered, setting down the boxes he carried and trodding over.

Logan nodded.

Patton stood at the table and looked down at the kids. “What prize did you guys want?”

The kids sadly pointed to the giant aliens mounted on the wall in all of their extraterrestrial and airy glory.

He looked at the ticket label then back to Logan, whispering, “How much are they off?”

“One-thousand minus nine-ninety-one is nine, so they’re nine off.”

Patton turned to Logan and gave a small pout, not unlike the children’s pouts ahead of him. “It’s nine tickets off, Lo. Can’t we just give it to them?”

Logan thought for a moment, pressing his cold, long fingers onto his chin.

Patton leaned over and whispered, “Hey, hey, I get it. But I read your salary spreadsheet for the week and I can tell we’ll be fine giving away a prize for only nine tickets less. And they might tell their friends about their prize and how they got it at Coinscore and we might make even more than a breakeven amount!” Patton beamed pridefully.

Logan had a surprised look on his face. “I suppose you’re right.”

Patton turned back to the kids. “Would you guys like the red, green, or purple alien?”

“Purple!” the kids cheered, smiles coming back to their faces.

Patton unhooked a purple alien toy from the wall, detached its ticket label, and handed it to the starry-eyed kids. “Here you go! Don’t worry about the nine tickets, this little buddy’s all yours.”

The kids squealed in excitement and the mom grinned in relief. She clutched her handbag and smiled at Logan and Patton. “Thank you very much. Christian, Daria, Jacob, what do you say to the nice men?”

“Thank you!” the three children echoed as they walked with the mom out the door, smiling and squealing about their alien friend who was just as big as them.

“I didn’t know you read my salary reports, Patton,” Logan turned to start unpacking the boxes.

“I like to be a little smart sometimes,” Patton smiled, grabbing Logan’s hand and giving it a quick squeeze. “Like a certain smartie pants I know.”

Logan’s pale face bloomed with rose-pink tones, and he shook his head, a small smile across his lips.

As they got to work unpacking boxes, inside the arcade was where the real fun and drama happened.

Inside, there were all kinds of games monitored by Roman and occasionally Virgil: whack-a-mole, helicopter shooting games where players step inside a shiny plastic interior to play, ball toss, spinning wheels, hard-hitting hammer-swinging games, even an electronic Fruit Ninja game, and the classic skeeball.

And at one of the three skeeball stations stood an angered, growling 9-year-old, who chucked another ball forward into the glass cage and landed into the zero zone again.

She let out an aggravated yell before tossing her long brown hair over her shoulders, crossing her arms.

Roman, who stood at a pirate-themed wheel game and was encoring two little boys who won eight-hundred tickets, saw this outburst and, like the modern knight he was, pranced over to the distressed darling.

“Hello! You’re playing skeeball?” Roman greeted, crouching down to the girl’s height.

“Yeh, but I suck at it,” she pouted, “Hmph.”

“Here, do you want me to show you my trick on how to win? I like skeeball too,” Roman offered, and the girl reluctantly handed her one of her last two neon orange skeeballs.

Roman turned to face the glass chamber of point holes. “What I always do is focus on the wrist.” Roman bent his right hand backward, aiming it towards the skeeball ramp as he turned his eyes back to the pouting girl. “I like to think of my hand like a broken excavator, those construction cars with the big arm in front that pick up big lumps of dirt. My hand goes up super fast and flings the ball forward, just like a broken excavator would fling dirt up in the air and make dirt go everywhere!”

The girl, despite just having been mad, perked up a bit as she laughed and stepped back to watch Roman play.

Roman stood up to full height, a modest 5’5”, and stepped his left leg back and his right leg forward as he turned to face the ramp.

As he described, his hand became a broken excavator as he shot his wrist up, causing the ball to barrel forward on the ramp and land right into the sweet 1,000 point spot.

The girl smiled widely and clapped for Roman, giggling.

Roman turned and bowed sillily. “Thank you, thank you. I’m honored. Now you try,” Roman took the other skeeball from the game’s compartment and handed it to her. “Remember, broken excavator.”

The girl nodded, determined, and positioned herself like Roman had earlier with her left leg forward and right leg back (since she was left-handed), and bent her wrist back before flinging it forward and tossing the ball up the ramp and into the cool 500-point spot.

Roman smiled, clapping his hands excitedly. “What an excellent toss! Ten out of ten.”

“Thank you,” the girl smiled shyly, twirling her pink tutu around her finger. She held out her tiny hand. “I’m Melanie.”

“Nice to meet you, Melanie,” Roman grinned, giving her hand a quick shake. “I’m Roman.”

“Cool name,” Melanie added.

“Thank you!” Roman beamed, before putting on a serious face. “Alright, play another round and show me what you’ve got!”

Melanie nodded, grinning and letting two tokens clink-clink-clink down into the machine as five more skeeballs plummeted into the machine compartment.

Now, although the games and prizes were cool on their own, the hands-down coolest part about Coinscore was that the back end of the arcade was devoted entirely to a laser tag arena.

Behind the two big flashy entrance doors, the debriefing room and the vesting room, the arena was themed like an abandoned, haunted town, thanks to Remus’s suggestion.

Ripped up buildings and large open windows, bus stops, holographs of floating books and chairs projected onto the walls, long ramps up to different structures, a large platform bridge in the middle of it all, and plenty of running space for excited kids filled the massive arena space.

Dee, Remus, and Virgil ran the laser tag rodeo and also did the cleaning of the arena when arcade days were slow.

Dee’s job was to read out the rules to the ecstatic players in the empty, glowing blue debriefing room and had the kids repeat and promise not to run or hurt anyone or jump or rules like that that basically fell under anything that could cause a lawsuit. (And Dee was just finishing up law school; he knew how much lawsuits sucked.)

Meanwhile, Remus and Virgil were the “laser masters” as the kids were told to call them 3 times in a row when something went wrong or their laser gun stopped working or they got lost or anything like that.

But laser-master-worthy incidents were rare, so Remus just had to stand guard during games and hang out with Dee while Virgil got plenty of time off to help out with any extra work going on, like birthday parties or, in some cases such as this one, helping to convince a fearful kid to play laser tag.

A lonely little boy, probably 9 or so, stood outside the laser tag doors, staring at the cracked wallpaper and the spooky neon green lighting, and he shivered, wrapping his arms around himself.

Virgil noticed this boy as he stood holding open the arena entrance and as the other boys he was with walked inside after trying tirelessly to convince him.

Virgil called out to the boy, “Are you coming in? I’m ‘bout to shut the doors.”

“I… I want to,” the boy said, still staring at the wall ahead of him. “But I’m scared.”

Virgil took in a breath. “C’mere, let me tell you something.”

The boy walked over to Virgil and stood, twiddling his fingers. Virgil crouched down on one knee.

“I know it looks scary from the outside, and you wouldn’t be wrong about that,” Virgil started, looking at the boy’s frightened face. “But believe me, it’s not scary on the inside. I promise. All it is is some broken buildings and bus stops. There’s no scary robots or scary ghosts or jumpscares. There’s no scary music or blood or knives or anything like that.”

“You’re sure?” the boy croaked out.

“One-hundred percent,” Virgil nodded as the multiple chains around his neck clinked against each other. “But if you don’t want to play this round, which is totally fine, you can watch up from the top and make sure it’s all good yourself. This round’ll be done in fifteen minutes and then the next one is the last round for tonight. You can play the last round if you deem the arena good for you.”

“I think I’ll do that,” the boy nodded quickly.

“Alright. You go up and check for me, and make sure none of your friends do anything silly, okay?”

The boy chuckled. “I’ll try, but they’re very silly.”

“I’d bet,” Virgil grinned, standing back up.

“Thank you sir,” the boy smiled.

“No prob,” Virgil waved, shutting the door behind him but before that seeing the boy speedily running up the ramp to the spectator station.

Dee and Remus were leading the kids into the dark vesting room as Virgil approached in his black work apron over his P!ATD hoodie and black jeans, making him entirely camouflaged in the blacklight except for his neon purple hair that practically made him a beacon of purple light.

“Where were you?” Remus asked, retying the ponytail that held back his lion’s mane of hair.

“Helping a kid out,” Virgil answered back.

“Well, good thing you’re here now,” Dee commented, “I think these kids are especially insolent this time, so we might need another ‘laser master’ for the tots that didn’t hear the rule about having to hold onto the blaster to shoot.”

“You got it, Jekyll,” Virgil pointed a finger gun at Dee before walking into the vesting room, Jekyll being a nickname solicited by Dee’s vertigo that split his face into halves like the halved aspects of Jekyll and Hyde, and also by Dee’s absolute dorkery in all that was musical theater.

As the round was about to start and as Dee made the kids once again promise not to do anything that would hurt themselves, Remus and Virgil congregated into the half-emptied vesting room with glowing vest-holding-pillars and a few leftover vests with blasters attached.

Dee then assigned the colors and heard the groans of annoyed kids who didn’t get computer-assigned on the same teams as their friends.

The robotic voice announced above that the round was starting in ten seconds, and as the kids scrambled to find their spots, Dee turned back around to Remus and Virgil.

“I swear I’m up to here with these foolish wildebeests,” Dee sighed. “Our last few rounds were good but I think they’re just starting to get rambunctious and just want to see me mad.”

“I’m not blaming them,” Remus shrugged, leaning back against the wall with his wide pale shoulders and torso. “You’re pretty sexy when you’re mad.”

“Ugh,” Virgil shook his head, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets and wishing he could put on his headphones during work. “Leave me out of the friend-flirting, please.”

“No can do, dreamy darkstorm of doom!” Remus beamed, wrapping his arms around Virgil.

Virgil shook his head, grinning only because of the beaming Remus and the chuckling Dee beside him.

“Alright alright, let’s actually watch this match now and make sure no one gets hurt please?” Dee pulled up the arena cameras on the scoring screen in the corner of the room. Remus and Virgil crowded around him.

And from the spectator camera, Virgil could see the little boy he talked to earlier watching the round and his friends that waved and cheered to him as they played.

“Did you see what I did there, Sal?!” one boy exclaimed. “I got that kid and he didn’t even see it coming!”

Sal smiled at the comment, only then to start laughing once the boy’s vest beeped, showing that he got shot as he was talking.

“Who did that?! Michael, if that was you I’m gonna destroy you!” he fumed as he ran off. “Bye Sal!”

“Sal, huh?” Dee added. “Seems like a nice kid. Good job helping him, Vir.”

“I relate to him, y’know? Might as well try and help a little me or whatever.”

“Virrrrgilllllll has light in his soullllll!” Remus teased, poking Virgil’s cheek repeatedly. “I knew it I knew it I knew it!”

“Oh, get over it,” Virgil smirked as he playfully bopped Remus’s arm.

And once the round had come to an end (only needing assistance from Remus once because a kid did indeed forget the “hold onto the blaster to shoot” rule), Virgil saw Sal hurry out of the spectator floor to join his friends outside the door.

The kids returned their vests and quickly ran out the doors to see the TV-displayed leader-board. They crowded around Sal and told quickly and loudly of their adventures, to which Sal smiled and laughed.

And it was quite a delight for Dee, Virgil, and Remus, who were all standing by the door that Virgil held open once again for the last time that night, to see that Sal followed his friends in and that Sal smiled at Virgil with a big beaming grin.

Virgil shut the door behind them as the last round started and finished and as the kids flooded out from the doors to their parents so they could leave the arcade, smiling and laughing all the way. Virgil waved goodbye to Sal, who graciously thanked him again for the help before walking out with the other kids and their parents.

Remus locked arms with Virgil and Dee as the three headed out of the arena and over to the prize table, where Logan and Patton waved goodbye to a few more kids who stayed late to play more games and where Roman leaned against the snack bar shelf and gave some high-fives to kids as they walked out.

“Bye Melanie! You’re a skeeball champion,” Roman cheered as a little brown-haired girl and her father walked out of the doors, both waving goodbye to Roman.

Remus approached Roman, letting go of Dee and Virgil’s arms, and chuckled, readjusting his ponytail for approximately the twentieth time that day. “Made another new friend, huh?”

“I did,” Roman turned to Remus and grinned. “One more than you’ve ever made, intro-dirt.”

“Oooh! Right where it hurts,” Remus cried, putting his hand over his heart before hooking Roman into his arm and ruffling up Roman’s hair.

Patton turned from the prize shelf and walked over. “Melanie, was it? Such a cute-looking kid.”

“Oh, but you won’t believe this! Virgil made a friend today, too,” Remus beamed, letting go of Roman and turning to Virgil.

“Really? I’m shocked that your void of a heart had enough room for that,” Roman teased, before quickly adding, “Just kidding. Who was it?”

“Name was Sal,” Virgil commented, his left contact-purple eye and his right green eye darting down to his shoes. “Nice kid. About eight years old?” he glanced off to the side.

“Awww!” Patton squealed.

“Sal was afraid of the laser tag arena, but Vir convinced him it wasn’t so bad and Sal went in for the last round with all his friends,” Dee added, stuffing his hands into his black apron’s pockets after he swiped away a loose strand of hair that fell out of his yellow beanie littered with Broadway buttons.

“How charismatic of you!” Roman smiled, “What a kind and fair lad,” he trilled, stepping down onto his knee and grabbing onto Virgil’s hand for a tiny hand-kiss.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “How about you save the prince kiss until after you’ve had a breath mint?”

Roman scoffed, standing back up and dusting off the bottom of his apron while Remus and Dee both simultaneously ooooh’d at the roast.

Just then the joking atmosphere was quelled as Logan’s clacking strides from his derbies coming towards them filled the air. “Okay jokers, we’ve got a bit more work to do before we can officially wrap up for the night. There’s some boxes to be carried and a bit of cleaning to do.”

Logan cleared his throat. “Right. Which one of you is strongest, again?” he asked, directed to the two Westons, who simultaneously pointed to themselves respectively.

“Go see,” he said. “There’s four boxes behind the table.”

Roman and Remus shoved past each other to get over to the boxes, and soon enough they were both fighting to grab more boxes than the other.

Logan opened the prize booth’s gate and walked out to Dee and Virgil with Patton following behind him.

“Smart, L. Using their competitiveness to get more work done,” Virgil commented.

“Oh, well, I try,” Logan replied.

“Nothing is stronger than a sibling’s need to outdo their brothers and sisters,” Dee recited poetically, holding a nonexistent skull up in his hand like he was the new Shakespeare.

Patton laughed and clapped, and both Logan and Virgil stifled a chuckle.

“Hey, Dee, speaking of that,” Virgil added with Dee turning towards him.

“I saw you reading out rules today, and your theatrics are pretty cool,” Virgil complimented, lightly shoving Dee with his elbow. “I swear, the kids always listen to you say all the rules when you do your voices and acting. They just start snoring whenever Ree and I try.”

Dee grinned smugly, shoving Virgil back. “Gee-muh-netti. I’m flattered,” he blushed as he tipped an imaginary hat from his head.

“Hey nerd, where do you want the boxes?!” Roman yelled from in front of the storage closet, carrying all four boxes with Remus swiping at them to grab them back.

“Back of the storage closet!” Logan yelled back. “And don’t drop them, please!”

Remus opened the door for Roman politely before slamming it shut behind both of them and probably trying to grab the boxes back again.

Logan sighed, holding the bridge of his nose in his fingers. “That’s all the lifting work. Everyone else, cleaning duty. We had a crowded day today.”

And so the four got to work wiping down and unplugging all of the machines, and once all the work was done all six owners met back up at the front of the arcade.

“I carried more boxes than Romie!” Remus cheered, smiling and puffing out his chest.

Roman pushed him to the side. “You liar! I carried all four at once.”

Patton stood between them and broke up the fight. “Guys, guys, you’re both strong, okay?”

Roman and Remus both stared at each other angrily for a moment before both of them absolutely melted at the compliment.

“Thank you so much!” “You really think that? You’re too sweet!”

“Alright, listen up everyone,” Logan started. “I’ve calculated our weekly earnings up, and it seems that we have enough to do a sort of ‘splurge’ for our late-dinner-early-breakfast tonight.”

“I call IHOP!” Patton beamed. “Pancakes, anyone?”

“Not a bad idea,” Virgil nodded, slipping out of his apron and tossing it onto the coathanger to the side of the entrance doors.

The other four unanimously agreed, and Logan nodded. “IHOP it is,” he announced, taking his car keys out of his back pocket and spinning them around his fingers. He opened the door for the other five who graciously thanked the ever-loving heck out of him.

As the six headed out, Roman’s arm over Virgil’s shoulder, Dee and Remus’s arms locked together, and Logan and Patton’s hands interlaced after Logan shut off the light switch, Remus interjected, “I have another idea for the arena, by the way! What if we add a totally wrecked bus to the middle of the space, like halfway stuck in the ground and open windows and a raised ramp so it’d be a cool hiding spot?”

“Not a bad idea,” Logan added. “We might have enough in the budget for something like that.”

“Or what about this! Pop-up ghost targets that appear at random times for extra points!”

“Cool.” “Good idea!” “Not too bad bro, coming from that one braincell up in your head.” “Sounds good.” “That could work,” the others agreed.

The six friends loaded up into Logan’s RV and drove off to dinner and a long night of rest after the busy day.

Coinscore really was the best arcade Gainesville, Florida could’ve ever asked for.

—

[devolympian]

Argo chapter 2

Rubble shot out under my body as I was slammed against the ground, a loud groan of pain escaping my lips in the process. However, I wasn’t on the ground for long as I soon found myself flung into the air once more, Clairs strong legs shooting me into the sky as if I were a soccer ball she had kicked.

As I hung in the air I was soon met with a flurry of kicks, each one hurting more than the last all culminating in the heel of her boot being brought down upon my chest and slamming me into the ground again.

My health seemed to plummet from this, but I managed to stagger to my feet and prepared for one final counter attack.

With all of my remaining strength I cupped my hands together and, through pure will power, conjured bright blue flames which compressed into a large fireball like object in my palms.

I followed Clair with my eyes as she fell to the ground, and as soon as her feet touched the dirt under us, I lunged forward and jutted my arms out sending the flames barreling towards her.

Clairabell simply leaped over it and landed in front of me.

Red and white lights flashed as she gathered energy into her strong, muscular legs and launched an endless onslaught of kicks so fast that they blurred together into bright flashes, tearing space and time asunder. And every kick made direct contact with my body.

With one final explosive heel to my jaw, my body was flown backwards landing in an unmoving heap on the ground. 

My life had emptied.

“Yes” Clairabell cheered as the screen displayed her name in conformation of her victory, “bow to me mortal!”

“Dang it” I whimpered, watching as her character stood proudly over mine, “why do I suck at street fighter?”

“Well you keep choosing Ryu, that’s a start.”

“You always choose Chun Li though.

“Yeah cause she’s awesome and fun to- shit!”

As we were talking the scene in the game had changed to that of a large gray map with small portraits of the characters in front of it. With a flash an orange square appeared and begane jumping randomly from one portrait to another with loud beeps accompanying it.

With one last beep like noise the square landed on an image of a man with long, braided, brown hair and wearing a white mask.

“Oh” I exclaimed, “it’s Vega.”

“Easy” Clair stated as she prepared for the match, “I’ll have this done in like 10 seconds.”

It was over in thirty with Vega tearing through Chun Li with his clawed hands and superior speed.

Clairabell collapsed into a disappointed husk before the arcade machine, her eyes becoming watery as the words “You lose” flashed brightly before her.

“No, my sexy kick girl! How could he do this to her!?”

“Well he did kill her dad so. . . or, wait, was that M bison?”

As I contemplated this important question a 10 popped up on the screen and slowly started counting down.

“Shit, shit, Skye give me a quarter!”

I nodded ok and reached into my skirt pockets, only to find them empty other than a piece of lint and my ID.

“I’m out.”

“Already?”

“Dude, we’ve been here for an hour.”

“We have?!”

Unable to pay for another chance Clairabell and I watched as the numbers dropped until it hit zero and, in bright red colors, “Game Over” appeared on the screen before us.

“Damnit.”

“Sorry Clair.”

With annoyed huff Clair reached into her shorts and pulled her wallet out.

“Don’t worry Skee skee, I won’t let this masked back up dancer wannabe get the best of me. I’ll just wip out my secret weapon, get some quarters, and then smash his stupid face in!”

“I-it’s just a game though.”

A confident smile grew onto Clairabells face as she unleashed her hidden power, one which I could never hope to achieve even if I tried my hardest.

A platinum credit card with no credit limit, and endless spending so long as you pay the bill on time.

Clairs pink lips curled into an evil smirk and I could tell that she was thinking solely about spending every scent she could to humiliate a fictitious gut who had wronged her and the fictitious girl who has been one of video game crushes since she was like 13. 

“Vengeance shall be mine!”

“Y-yeah” I stuttered out, “but won’t it take awhile before you fight Vega, the set up is r-random after all.”

Clair stopped smiling and gave me a disapproving look.

“. . . Skye, please, please just let me have this.”

“O-okay, s-s-sorry.”

“To the ATM” Clair cheered, almost instantly getting her pep back.

With her heels clicking against the arcade floor, Clair confidently struts over to the nearest ATM, her dark brown hair flowing behind her and her swaying hips drawing the gaze of the people she passed by.

I, meanwhile, did my best not to look like a stupid weirdo by scurrying next to her and hoped I was insignifigant enough to be completly off anybodys raidar so that they don’t notice me.

Once we reached the blue and white tower containing an untold amount of treasure (but, if you must know it was most likely between 100,000 and 200,000 USD) Clair raised her hand, placed the card between the scanner built into the ATMs face, swung down, put in a few numbers, and. . . was met with a buzzing noise and the words declined appearing onto the screen.

We stood in silence for a bit until Clair tried again, and was instantly met with the same results.

“Y-you did p-pay your credit bill, right?”

“I have to pay for a credit card?!”

Now, soundly defeated by our inability to acquire a hefty sum of money, or at the very least five bucks, Clairabell and I sulked back to our table where the ice in our drinks had melted and watered them down into tasteless puddles of dark sludge, perfectly symbolizing our utter destruction done to us by Vega from street fighter and a lack of change in either of our wallets.

With a heavy sigh Clair slumped forward against the table resting her chest on the wooden surface and began playing with the coasters, moving them around and making them spin.

“Sorry Clair” I said again, hoping it might make her feel a little better, “w-when I get paid we’ll come back. I-it’ll be a month though, sorry.”

Clair sunk lower into the table from my statement, a defeated groan escaping her mouth yet again.

“Stupid ATM” Clair stated while holding a coaster between the tip of her pointer finger and the table and spinning it, “making me look stupid. I’m made of skin you’re just plastic, so who’s stupid now?! Right Skee skee?”

“Oh, um.” Thinking as quickly as I could, I did my best to come up with an answer that would raise Clairs spirit, and make me feel like less of a bad friend for not being able to help. “W-well, th-the ATM is an inanimate object with no ability to create memories or any other neuron processing abilities, so I guess you’re by far more intelligent then it.”

I smiled after finishing my statement, while mentally patting myself on the back. There was no way that didn’t make her happy.

Clairabell just looked at me with confusion. “The hell are Neurons?”

“O-oh, they’re a cell in your brain which transmits nerve impulses when specific actions are triggered. Memories are the result of specific neurons being activated when the brain recognizes certain stimuli such as patterns and such.” “. . .” “. . .”

“Ok beautiful, I’m gonna pretend what you said makes perfect sense to me.”

“Sorry.”

I felt my face get slightly red as Clair giggled at my expense. Well, she was feeling better at the very least.

“Oh” she said, jumping up and pulling her phone out of her pocket, “I’ll call daddy!”

I watched as Clairs red tipped finger tapped on her phone with the speed of a carnivorous animal attacking the first meal it had eaten in days and the hungry look in her eyes showing the clear determination she had to devour what she wanted in one swift bite. 

Dang, I’m hungry.

She placed the phone to her ear and we waited speechlessly for an answer on the other end.

“Hi daddy” Clair practically shouted, a smile spread far across her face. However, her face full of joy soon became one of shock and confusion. “What!?”

“W-what’s wrong” I stuttered, as a feeling of dread set into my empty stomach.

“Daddy that’s not fair, you can’t- What!? You can’t be serious, it is not that big of a deal!”

“Clairabell?”

“¡Oh, Dios mío, papi, estás jodidamente loco! Sí, apuesto a que si fuera Essy, ¡lo dejarías pasar!”

And now she’s speaking Spanish. By this point I was fully aware that I was no longer relevant to this conversation.

“What? What!?”

With a loud humph Clair turned to me, an angry scowl on her face.

“Skee skee I’m going outside for a minute.”

“Wh- w-wait. Clair!”

Before I was able to protest my sudden abandonment Clair was already heading for the entrance of the arcade, yelling angrily into her phone as she did so.

Within seconds of her departure my whole body began to shake and my eyes began involuntarily darting around the building, unsure where my site should be landing or if I should even be looking at anything at all.

Beads of sweat began falling down my forehead and arms and my throat became suddenly dry as I became painfully aware of how warm this place had become.

Without really thinking I forced my watered down soda between my lips and drank the odd tasting liquid into my body.

As I set the now empty glass back onto the table my thoughts finally caught up to me and questions began flowing into my mind faster than they could be answered.

How many people are here? 

Are they going to talk to me? 

Should I talk to them?

Is it strange that I’m here alone?

Is it wrong to be here alone?

Where were my friends?

How much are the chicken strips here?

Should I scrounge around for quarters and play the games?

Is it okay for me to play the games without my friends around?

If I tried starting a conversation how long would it be until people yelled at me to leave?

How much are the chicken strips here?!

My brain began to ache from trying to answer the never ending onslaught of questions that I began attacking myself with.

Why did Clair have to take her call outside and leave me in this social battle zone where I am left completely defenseless with my subpar social skills and basically useless communicative abilities. 

If Zee were here this feeling would most likely have been lessened and. . . come to think of it, where the heck was Zee?

I guess he’d messaged Clair a little after we’d gotten to the arcade, saying he would be a little late, but he’s normally not this late.

The idea that something bad had happened, or that Zee was in some sort of trouble added itself to my growing number of concerns.

I wish I had a book to read.

I wish I was plotting a masterly crafted revenge scheme with Edmond Dantes, or hunting for lost treasures alongside Jim Hawkins, or fighting alongside the knights of the round table for the glory of king Arthur, or learning how to try new things like green eggs and ham with Sam I am.

My fingers began tapping against the table without me telling them too, almost as if they were typing my thoughts onto an invisible keyboard so that I could read how pathetic I actually was.

No, wait. This isn’t right!

I desperately tried to swallow the knot that had formed in my throat and forced my fingers away from the table before they could make deeper scratches into it.

This was a blessing in disguise. An opportunity that the gods have presented to me so that I might better myself socially and become a proper adult which will benefit society at large.

Clenching my hands into fist, I stood up in my stall, turned towards the violent army of people laid before me, mentally readied my ammunition with various puns on super mario bros and tetris that were always great conversation starters (so I’ve heard), set my foot into the battle zone, and. . . immediately sat back down, my body shaking from my feet to my pony tail.

Hey, I made it a step! That’s a win right?

With a heavy sigh, I just continued sitting in my booth, waiting for Clairabell to return.

That’s when my eyes wandered upwards to the TVs above the bar and a gasp escaped my lips as a sense of awe took over my heart.

Plastered onto the three screens was the same image of a reporter standing in front of a city in North America that was covered in dust and smoke. She spoke with a composed and calm voice but her body was shaking all over and her arms would gesture wildly as she explained the situation.

Unfortunately, the sound was muted by the noises in the arcade but the camera shaking wildly and the cause of the destruction rising from the ground a few moments later made me certain of what was happening.

Not too far from the reporter and her camera crew a creature had emerged, dirt tumbling down its long serpentine body and the sun glistening off its dark red skin. As it sung its upper half towards the camera I saw that its face was nothing more than a large gaping hole lined with crooked teeth that spun into a dark, empty void. 

An Olgoi-Khorkhoi, a Mongolian death worm, had invaded the city and destroyed it out of predatory instinct.

It was so cool!

I mean, not the city destroying part, that is awful for all parties involved, but the death worm itself is probably one of the most amazing animals on the planet!

First off, it actually isn’t even a worm, it is a dragon species which evolved into their current form after their specific species was forced to migrate to desert areas over millions of years ago. Second off It is a dragon!

And that’s not even the coolest part

As they adapted to their environment the worms, or wyrms as we can probably call them, developed thermosensitive scales which adjusted their body temperature according to how hot or cold it was keeping them safe from the deserts rapidly changing temperatures. Their scales would even change color depending on the temperature, red meaning cold and blue meaning warm. Also, they developed giant mouths and the ability to freaking eat anything! 

Isn’t that awesome!?

Granted, this does make them rather dangerous when they wander into cities or towns and are extremely frustrating to get rid of. However, the fact that they live in deserts far underground and tend to stay in one place unless mating makes this an extremely rare event.

But when they do pop up, an even more amazing creature follows.

Just as the worm prepared to dive back into the ground a barrage of golden arrows rained down onto it.

The arrows didn’t seem to bother it but the large number of explosions that followed did as every arrow erupted into a cloud of smoke and flames.

Panicked, the giant creature began tossing around in every direction and two long tentacles appeared out of its mouth in a desperate attempt to catch its attacker only to find that the scales covering its body began to change from their current red color to a dark blue as a giant pillar of fire erupted around it.

As the flames cleared the now blue worm was shown wrapped in chains held by a man with bat-like wings, large horns sprouting from his head, and a tail ending in a sharp barb.

Props to the camera crew by the way, these shots are amazing. So clear too.

The winged man struggled against the worm as it thrashed around desperate to escape its bondage, with intense struggle causing more damage to the city and sending the man crashing into multiple buildings as he held onto his prey.

Moments after this struggle began another man, this one with a long orange ponytail and a large golden bow stepped into the camera shot.

He looked like a college athlete having a large build, broad shoulders, and noticeable muscles. He wasn’t as large or muscular as Zee but he still looked exactly as I dreamed these people would. People who traveled the world, discovering new lands, battling monsters and great evils, aided by any god they wanted to help them.

He looked like an adventurer. 

Holding the bow he held up a pillar of blinding light formed around him only to vanish moments later as millions of golden arrows hovered in the air around the orange haired adventurer.

Taking aim at the worm, he pulled the string of his bow back, released it, and caused the arrows to go flying towards the monster, exploding on contact just like they did last time.

The adventurer then promptly turned towards the camera with a smug smile and a cocky look in his golden eyes. He started saying something to the reporter and her crew, which I couldn’t hear cause bar noises, only to be interrupted by his partner slamming into him.

The camera followed the two as they rolled into the ground and kept filming them as they began, I assume by the angry faces, yelling and arguing with each other.

They stopped soon however as something caught their attention.

The crew turned back towards the worm as a large lump began running up its body and a pillar of dirt, and chunks of the city erupted out of their mouths.

Interesting factoid about Mongolian death worms, they are capable of turning their stomachs inside out and can actually regurgitate whatever they’ve eaten like a super soaker blasting people in the face. It is awesome to look at but most likely not a fun experience when you’re in the direct vicinity when it happens.

The death worm began slowly turning towards the crew and adventures as it fired its pre eaten food with deadly force.

My heart beat filled my ears as I clutched my seat in anticipation for what would happen, hoping with everything that the heroes would pull out one final secret move to combat the attack.

Just then, a black flash shot through the air striking the death worm just as it was about to hit the crew and causing it to fall forward into the city.

I felt my eyes go wide at the images before me and my heart began to pound even louder as I waited for the worm to get back up and face its new challenger.

But, like all epics, this one has a rather disappointing ending.

The worm vanished. Like, straight up, just disappeared.

I eyed the TV with utter confusion and a feeling of disbelief at what had happened.

Then, another black flash shot down directly in front of the camera crew and standing there, with his award winning goofball smile, spiky black hair, and electric blue eyes was. . .

“Zee!”

I shot up out of my seat, my glasses nearly flying off my face when I did so, and watched as my friend stood in front of the wrecked city looking like a superhero. . . before sitting back down and hoping nobody had noticed my outburst.

This was probably what he meant when he said work and, to be honest, it was really stupid of me to be surprised by this. 

I’ve seen videos of him locked in combat with creatures from around the world and even have some stuff that he brought me from those countries. But still, it was kind of surprising to see him on live TV.

How he defeated the worm when the other two adventurers were struggling to even damage it was also something that grabbed my curiosity and refused to let go.

So, naturally I continued to watch the TV in desperate anticipation for any clue I could gain from the scene in front of me. That is, until someone stepped in front of me and blocked my view and I suddenly felt my stomach grow tight and found that it was getting harder to take in air, almost like someone was slowly squeezing my neck until I couldn’t breathe properly.

A young man was standing in front of me, his freckled cheeks tinted with a bright pink as he rubbed behind his curly brown hair and his dark eyes refused to meet mine. Every now and then he’d glance over to, I’m assuming, his group of friends but other than that he didn’t really do or say anything for a few seconds.

Eventually he moved his lips but, for some reason, I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Instead my ears had become filled with a sharp buzzing noise that drowned out all other sources of sound.

The guy in front of me, the people having fun at the bar, even the sound of the video games that surrounded us had become muted to me.

I tried to respond as best I could but every time I thought of what to say the words were erased from my mind before I could get them out of my mouth.

Then, in an instant all the noise shot back into my ears and I was greeted by the laughs of people having fun and the video games that had been entertaining them.

“So, yeah” the guy in front of me said, as he rubbed the back of his head and tried not to look at his feet, “ . . .you-you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I completely understand!”

He glanced around a bit more, his face beat red, as he waited for my response to the question I didn’t know.

What should I say? What should I do? These questions repeated themselves in my mind over and over again and no matter what I thought of it felt like the wrong answer.

Sweat began to drip down my body as my fingers started playing an invisible piano again. All while I stared blankly at the stranger in front of me who was patiently waiting for my response.

I clutched the hem of my skirt in my other hand and twisted the fabric until my heart stopped pounding in my chest.

This person was trying to interact and start a conversation with me, and I was just staring at him like how a child stares at something they don’t understand. 

I owed him a response, didn’t I?

Swallowing the lump made of air that was clogging my throat I mentally readied my words and, with all causian thrown to the wind, I let the first answer that I could come up with out of my mouth.

“I have to pee?”

We both looked wide eyed at each other in silence once more as we pondered my question, which I really wasn’t sure why I asked.

“Oh, uh yeah, okay. I’ll just get out of your way.”

I watched as he stumbled back to his table where I could see his friends laughing and patting him on the back.

It took me a few minutes to remember that I asked to go to the bathroom, even though I don’t have to, and that I should probably start making my way towards there.

My legs jerked my body out of the booth and I began to stagger blindly through the crowd of people, bumping into bodies without realizing it and all around being the nuisance that I am.

As my breath shook its way out of my lungs I clutched the marble counter in front of me as I tried to steady my body.

Somehow, I managed to make it to the bathroom. 

I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten to the bathroom, heck I wasn’t even sure I was still in the arcade, but I ultimately managed to complete the task I had absentmindedly assigned myself.

. . .

Now what do I do?

I couldn’t exactly go back out, but if I didn’t and Clair came back she might get worried.

She could probably figure out where I was but she might get mad at me for making her go through this, or get mad at the guy who tried talking to me, or call the cops to try and find me, or. . .

I looked at myself in the mirror and felt my stomach turn at the site of my reflection and I asked myself the same question I’d been asking for a few years now.

What is wrong with me?

Like usual, I couldn’t bring myself to come up with a good answer and just ended up messing with my blonde hair a little cause the bangs kept getting in front of my glasses.

With a sigh I continued to stand in front of the bathroom sinks my fingers tapping the marble that they were made of. I could leave soon, but for now I would have to wait, and probably think up an apology for Clairabell and the boy I was rude too. 

For now though, I should keep my mind busy. 

As I began tracing circles in the small puddles of water scattered around the counter a thought popped into my head. A little idea to keep my brain occupied and off uncomfortable subject matter.

Placing my hands under the automatic faucet I took a deep breath as the warm water began to pour out soaking my fingers and palms. Once my hands were significantly wet enough I slowly pulled them away, letting the water dribble onto the counter in front of me and whispered the word which I had to say.

“Undine.”

The moment the name slipped out of my mouth the water in front of me began to gather into my hands until it eventually formed a small ball. It was sort of like a large glass marble with how clear and shiny it was.

I smiled a little as I balanced the liquid in my hands before clutching it tightly with my fingers as I began pulling and stretching it.

Doing my best to make sure that the water held its shape I began twisting and turning it, like a baker molding their doe into the shape they wish to form but unsure what that actually was.

Eventually my hands began to move without my input as my mind pieced together what I wanted to create.

I started to smooth out the water until it was a sort of oval shape making sure that one end was a bit thicker than the other and that the smaller end had a bit of a curve to it before I tugged at the bottom until there was a peg on the sides which I slimmed down a little. 

Next, I pinched the small end and twisted the water around before pulling at it making a long, curly, “tail” appear. 

Then I cupped my hands around the top and started pushing some water upwards before turning it forward away from the body and did my best to give it a sort of boxy triangle shape. Tugging on either end of the shape I pulled two smaller triangles up and rubbed in them to make sure they were slightly dented inwards. And, just to add texture, I pushed my thumbs into the sides of the large triangle beneath where I had made the small dented ones before adding two much larger dents near the tip.

Brushing my hand down the back of the “neck” I made a long flowing main appear and finally sat my shape down on the counter, it’s shape holding so long as I focused on it.

My horse made of water sat perfectly on the marble in front of me, the light reflecting off its clear liquid body as a little water droplets dripped down it.

Butterflies tickled my stomach as I felt myself smile involuntarily.

It wasn’t anything special, in fact I’m sure looked awful compared to other peoples creations. But, I don’t know, guess I just really liked how it turned out.

Oh, I know!

Reaching into my skirt pocket I fumbled around a bit until my hands felt the cold metal of my zippo lighter resting just below my house key. I ran my thumb across my initials that my grandpa had emblemed onto its surface, just to make sure that it was mine, before pulling it out.

I flipped the top up and a small flame almost immediately materialized.

Holding the fire just below my little horse's head I tried my best to split my focus between the water and the fire in my hand.

“Salamander.”

With that word out of my mouth the flame started swirling around my little horse wrapping itself around its body, legs, and head before slowly sinking into the water. Unlike normal fire though, it didn’t extinguish but instead formed a small ball in the center and made my horses “eyes” glow a bright orange.

The horse then reared back on its back legs and let out a loud whine before it began galloping around the counter as if it were on an open field.

It was ultimately a simple spell, using fire to give life to a small object was sort of the second thing you need to learn when studying elemental magic after all.

But the sight of my little horsey galloping around made me feel as giddy as if I were a little kid. It was so cute that I couldn’t help but clap a little when it came alive.

Not wanting to stop there though, I placed my hand just above my horse while it grazed on a small puddle near the sink.

“Sylph”.

Instantly, wind began to shoot from my hand and, just like the fire, wrapped itself around my little horsey before going inside it.

My horse looked up from its water as two large wings popped out of its back.

Almost instinctively, it began running forward and started flapping its brand new wings until it lifted itself off the ground and began soaring all around the bathroom. It took to flying pretty easily if I do say so myself.

As I watched my little horse flap around I felt my mind start to clear and a sort of calmness began to settle over me. My shoulders relaxed and my muscles seemed to loosen up, as I let myself fall into a dazed state.

I didn’t have to think about going back into the arcade, about worrying Clair, or upsetting the guy who tried to talk to me. All I had to do was watch my little creation enjoy the life I had given it.

“Hi blondie!” Zee said, his head resting on my shoulder.

I let out a loud scream as I fell forward, grabbing the counter to regain my balance.

“Alex” I responded, my heart pounding wildly in my chest again, “What the heck dude!?”

“Sorry” he said, even though that smile of his told me he wasn’t sorry at all, “I came to use the bathroom and when I saw you zoning out I thought to myself, hey, let’s mess with her.”

“Wow, so glad my reaction of fear was to your liking. I’m afraid I am currently unable to do encourse however as my throat is currently killing me because of you.”

Zee then promptly gasped and looked at me with worry.

“Oh my goodness my lady, I meant you no harm” he responded, his body moving dramatically with every word, “perish the thought as I am but a humble servant in thine lords grace.”

“Dude what?”

“Oh woe is me, to have acted in such an ungentlemanlike way to such a fair lass such as yourself.”

Zee then, with all the acting ability of a highschooler trying not to fail drama class, placed his hands to his chest, spun in place and fell back first into my arms.

“Can you ever forgive me?”

“I’ll think about it” I assured him, doing my best not to giggle, before dropping him to the floor.

“Yaa” he said, as he laid on the bathroom floor of the arcade, “she’ll think about it.”

This causes me to let out a laugh. Dang it Zee, let me be mad at you.

As he pulled himself off the floor, and sat on the counter, a sudden realization hit me and I began to panic.

“Zee, you can’t be in here!”

“Hey, this is a free country, my bodily fluids are just as good as anybody else's.

“No dude, this is the girls room!”

“Really? Those must be the decorative waterfalls then.”

He pointed behind me and my face became instantly red as I saw what he was talking about.

“Oh my gods” I gasped as I gazed at the three urinals next to the two bathroom stalls, “this isn’t the girls room.”

“Meh, gendered bathrooms are bull crap anyways.”

“I shouldn’t be in here!”

“Dude, relax. Most of the people here are too drunk to even walk into the bathroom and a lot of them probably won’t mind seeing you is that a pegasus?”

We both looked as my little horsey landed next to Zee on the counter and began grazing on the puddles it found.

“It’s my little horsey” I told him, almost instantly forgetting about the whole bathroom thing, “I got a little bored and-”

“Its name is raindrop.”

“ . . .Dude, yes! Come here raindrop.”

I patted my lap but Raindrop simply went back to flying around to its hearts content. It’ll get used to the name eventually.

“Oh dude” Zee exclaimed, standing up on the counter, “check this out.”

Reaching to his left I watched as Zees hand slowly disappeared and a humming noise began to fill the air around us. After a few seconds he pulled his hand back revealing that he was now holding a small jar filled with dirt and a small red serpent-like creature.”

“No way, is that?”

“A 100% middle eastern, male, Mongolian death worm? Yes, yes it is.”

He handed me the amazing creature before jumping off the counter.

“I fed him a few runes so he’d shrink down and decided it’d be fun to keep him around until I’m near Egypt or Turkey again. Did have to get all the dead bodies out of him first though.”

“Going to pretend I didn’t hear that last part” I responded as I watched the little wormy wrap around the stick Zee had placed in there and start relaxing.

“In all fairness the people he ate are alive now, because of yours truly, so it all evens out.”

“Are they in anyway zombies?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that the use of zombification was in play here.”

I let myself giggle a little at my friends' slight ridiculousness before returning my attention to the little fella in my hands.

“Ooh, let’s name him Mr.Worms.”

“Nah, that’s too predictable.”

“So is Raindrop and you didn’t see me turn down that name.”

“How about cinnamon? Cause of the red scales.”

“His scales aren’t always red though.”

“Oh yeah that’s right.”

“Hmm, maybe Sandy?”

“Naw, I’m saving that name for my pet squirrel. How about-”

All of a sudden, we were interrupted by the sound of Zees phone ringing.

“Oh” he said, “hold on.”

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone which was encased a pink, kitten shaped cover.

“Moshi moshi” he responded.

“WHERE ARE YOU” I heard Clair scream on the other end.

“Oh hey, Clairabell baby. Long time no see. How is that hunk of a fiance of yours, still a wiz in the sack?”

I couldn’t hear Clairs response, but Zees smirk told me that he got the reaction he wanted.

“Alright, alright we’ll be out in a sec. Love you snookums.”

Zee made a kissy noise into the phone, and I could hear Clair growling angrily, before he hung up.

“Well” he said, grabbing his new pet out of my hand, “let’s go make sure Clairabell doesn’t start murdering people out of worry.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

Zee placed the worm back into the space he pulled him out of and we walked out of the restroom, Raindrop following after us.

To my surprise the bar had become quieter and the patriots had almost all disappeared.

How long had I been in the bathroom for?

Before I could figure out the answer to my question I suddenly felt two, squishy and soft, round orbs smash against my face as I was swept off my feet.

“Skee skee” Clairabell said as she hugged me, and pushed my head into her chest, “I was so worried!”

“C-Clair” I said, doing my best to push her away, “I can’t breath.”

My pleads for mercy were promptly met with Clair tightening the hug until I could feel my body being crushed.

“What” Zee whined, “no love for the hero who found the missing girl.”

Clair, finally loosened her grip, as she turned towards Zee.

“And where the hell were you?”

“Africa.”

The fact that he was able to say this without batting an eye both annoyed, and actually didn’t surprise, me or Cair.

“So” he continued, “what games do you guys wanna play?”

“We’re out of quarters” I told him as I was still held in Clairs arms.

“ . . .Was it Vega?”

“Vega is a cheating asshole” Clair argued, nearly crushing me again.

“Clairabell” I whined,but received no response.

Zee simply smiled coily and crossed his arms.

“Well, it seems you gals are in quite the predicament. To be faced with such a powerful opponent but with no way of defeating him. Truly, I feel nothing but the utmost sorrow at your predicament. Infact, I feel the need to donate all of my earthly possessions to your noble cause.”

“So you’ll give us quarters” I said, finally escaping Clairs grip.

“I wasn’t done hugging you” she promptly stated before grabbing me again.

“Watch where you’re touching please!”

“Hmm, yes, I would love to donate this treasure which you commonly call quarters. . . but I broke.”

We stood in silence for a sec.

“Say what?”

“I broke. I don’t have any money. Me is poor.”

“So why’d you offer us the quarters” Clair asked, squeezing me again. She probably would have snapped me in half if I didn’t manage to squirm free.

“It was fun,” Zee answered, his signature smirk returning.

Clairabell and I simply glared at him, the fact that we could never defeat Vega now actually annoying us more then Zee was.

“Oh come on don’t be mad” he said before rushing over to us and lifting both me and Clairabell over his shoulders, “for I know where our adventure can continue.”

“Hey, hey, hey” I protested as I was once again, unwillingly picked up.

“Yes” Zee answered, even though nobody asked a question, “a magical place in which dreams and happiness are bound. A place where we can be free to do as we please, and be who we are meant to be.”

“Skyes place” Clairabell asked.

“Yep”

“Hey wait guys” I started to say, “I should probably ask my pare-”

Before I could finish my sentence Zee began rushing to the exit, still holding me and Clair on his shoulders.

As we ran through the bar none of us could help letting out laughs and allowing smiles to grow on our faces.

We simply ignored the people around us and set out on our epic adventure.

[suckasstakenames]

Craig and Those Guys Week: Day 5 - Sleepover 💤 🎮

The third and final oneshot I wrote for @craigandthoseguys-week !! Craig POV this time!

Thank you for reading!!

----

Token’s residence has always been the favourite hangout, so it was expected that the votes were unanimous when our group decided where to have our highly anticipated boy’s night. My house usually had adult guests over during the evening, Tweek’s parents don’t leave us alone at his place, Clyde wasn’t a very good host, and Jimmy’s parents had completely banned any of his friends from going over because of the aftermath when they went out of town once. Playing fantasy in fourth grade had it’s consequences.

Mr and Mrs Black even decided to take a spa trip so that we’d purposely have the house to ourselves. Risky, but I guess Token is reliable enough to make sure the house is in pristine condition by the time they get back. Even if the rest of us aren’t.

After the four of us shared a car to get there, we were joyfully greeted by Token at his front door and led up to his room. Only it wasn’t Token at the front, it was Clyde, who excitedly (and pretty rudely) barged right in front of us all. We’re all equipped with sleeping bags and rucksacks, each carrying a different assortment of things. Well...besides the essentials.

We collectively decided that I would be in charge of bringing booze to the occasion. My parents were the only ones who didn’t give a shit if I hoarded a large amount of alcohol, so there was no debating it.

Clyde had brought a TON of junk food. He regularly had a pantry stocked with all kinds of goodies (when he wasn’t scoffing it himself) so he just grabbed whatever he could find and stuffed it in a bag.

Tweek was in charge of DVD’s. Being the anxious wreck that he is, we figured it would be best that he picked the film selection so that he didn’t get too disturbed by anything. I did help him out a little, though.

And lastly, Jimmy took it upon himself to come up with any backup plans, incase we got bored with anything. We had no doubts that he would think of some fun shit to do, or bring something that would entertain us. After all, we’d do anything to avoid going to sleep early.

Token had a good amount of food and entertainment himself, but we thought it was only fair to handle our own, since his parents were being so accommodating to us. Plus, he had every video game console thinkable, and a good game selection at that. We were more than prepared.

~

Walking into Token’s oversized bedroom, Clyde drops his backpack on the ground and launches himself onto the kingsized bed starfish style.

“You know you’re not sleeping there right...?” I remind him.

“Unless you’re s-s-spooning with T-Token.” Jimmy jokes from behind me.

Clyde just nuzzles into the bed even further. “I’m sure he’d be happy to have me.”

“Uhhh like fuck I would...” Token retorts, “Your ass is on the floor.”

Clyde turns onto his side and attempts his sexiest pose (which, believe it or not, wasn’t sexy at all). “Don’t be like that baby~”

“Just get over here and unroll your damn sleeping bag” Token says, throwing the sleeping bag directly at Clyde’s head with perfect aim. The impact sends him flying backwards. I thought Clyde was supposed to be the sporty one out of us? He can’t catch if his life depended on it.

Tweek stands next to me, shaking his head and smirking. It definitely isn’t a first for us to witness antics like this; we’re so used to it, it’s unbelievable. I take his rucksack off him and put in down next to mine.

“Here, I’ll take care of your bed.”

“Ngh! Craig, I’m fine doing it myself, really!”

I ignored him and started to set it up anyway. But the little shit went over and grabbed mine instead. Tweek can be a stubborn fuck sometimes, but it wasn’t all that much of a bad thing.

We’d all laid out our sleeping bags in a line (in front of the television, of course) as the sun was just about to set outside. Mine was on the far left, with Tweek next to me, Clyde next to him and Jimmy on the right. We changed into our pyjamas and nestled into our sleeping bags, Token sitting down right in the middle of us. Damn right were we gonna make this a proper conventional slumber party.

Token switched the TV on and some animal documentary was showing. There was a lioness with some lion cubs and it was telling the story of their survival.

“No way?! You’ve got the Nintendo Switcheroo!” Clyde exclaims out of nowhere, making us all jump out of our skin. He crawls over to the console to investigate. Token looks pissed off as Clyde’s big-ass head was blocking some of the screen, and he seems kind of invested in the lion story.

I sigh. “…you did NOT just call it a fucking Nintendo Switcheroo..."

“Of course he’s got one man! He owns everything!” Tweek jokes.

“Yeah, p-p-pauper.” Jimmy stutters. Token just blows a raspberry in response.

“We need to play Mario Kart. We’re playing Mario Kart. Right now.” Clyde dictates.

I groan and roll my eyes. I thought that game had died many years ago…however…when it WAS a thing, I did kick some serious ass.

Fortunately the game box was staring him right in the face, so he started trying to set it up, taking out the disc and trying to figure out how to switch the console on.

Meanwhile the documentary was getting pretty dramatic, as a group of hyenas were closing in on the mother lion and her kids. She was fighting them off, but then the narrator explains how she left behind one of her babies while doing so. It shows one of the hyenas circling the cub like a shark.

Tweek yells out, turning his head away. “Oh god hurry up Clyde!! It’s gonna eat the cub!!”

“I’m trying!!” Clyde whines, pressing any button BUT the correct one. It was clear he wasn’t a fan of the documentary either by how frantic he was being.

The hyena started closing in on the cub.

“CLYDE!! PLEASE!!” Tweek holds his hands over his ears, trying to completely shut it out. I try and comfort him while looking over at Token as if to say ‘don’t just sit there, help him’. He does exactly that and crawls over, pressing a button on the side with ease. Thankfully, the channel automatically switches over and the game console loads onto the screen. I feel a giant exhalation of relief coming from Tweek, who finally withdraws himself from burying his face in my chest.

~

Eventually the title screen appears with the familiar Mario Kart jingle playing. Jimmy starts to wiggle along to it, which, of course, persuades Clyde to dance too. Tweek and I decided we’d share the controller and take it in turns since there could only be four players at once.

When it came to selecting our characters; Token picked Mario, Jimmy went for Toad, and Clyde settled for the ‘Fly Guy’ (Shy Guy). I let Tweek pick our character and he went for Yoshi.

The first course was selected and it was one of the basic Mario stadium courses. Tweek passed the controller to me and the race began. Clyde and I zoomed off ahead, Token went at a normal start, and Jimmy pressed the button too early and caused his kart to blow up.

“Fuck…f-f-f…f-fuck a duck.” Jimmy curses.

I end up taking the lead by quite a bit, Clyde chasing me in second. He’s super competitive; the kinda guy who leans in the same direction as he steers. He was constantly targeting me; sending red and blue shells in my direction at any chance he could. Typical.

The race ends with me in 1st, Clyde in 2nd, Token in 5th and Jimmy in 8th.

“Loser chugs his beer!!” Clyde makes a terrible suggestion. Jimmy rolls with it anyway, grabbing a can of beer and impressively chugging while Clyde and Token count from 10 down to zero. Jimmy can be a real dark horse. Well…maybe not when it comes to Mario Kart though.

Race number 2 is some sort of jack-and-the-beanstalk type level. Tweek takes the wheel this time, and it proved to have been a bad idea. The road has a lot of holes and tight corners without barriers, and Tweek somehow managed to fall off every single one. It even got to the point where the CPU in first place was lapping him.

Of course, he was very vocal about this. “Jesus are you kidding me?! How are you supposed to make that turn?! HOW?!”

Token ended up in 2nd place, Clyde in 4th, Jimmy in 5th, and Tweek…in last place. Before the other guys could even suggest it, I grabbed my can of beer and chugged for ten seconds. They just looked at me dumbfounded, including Tweek. Like hell was I gonna let Tweek chug his beer; I don’t even think he’s opened his can up yet. We’re a team, and I’m the one who’ll be taking the consequences.

The next race came around and it was one of the Bowser castles. Clyde struggled in this level, while Token, Jimmy and I were in the top three. Clyde, after somehow blaming Token for his loss, ended up coming 9th and chugged his beer like there was no tomorrow.

The last stage loaded up…Rainbow Road. Of COURSE Tweek had to get the two difficult courses... I kept my beer in my hand ready to chug again.

The race starts; there goes Clyde. Plummeting into the void below.

Jimmy starts off pretty well but eventually starts to lose his skill when it comes to the tight corners.

Token is a little better than the other two, but he keeps getting hit with items from the CPUs and ends up being knocked back in the placing.

With Clyde in last, Jimmy in 11th and Token in 9th…where does that put Tweek, I hear you ask? Well... Tweek was driving so slowly and cautiously that he managed to dodge the majority of the corners. Then he got a bullet item on the last lap and soared his way right into 2nd place. He even gave an excited little fist pump when he crossed the finish line.

“…...I think that victory alone deserves a chug from all of you.” I insist, slinging my arm around Tweek. He chuckles in response.

After a few groans and eye rolls, the three of them reluctantly chug their beer while Tweek and I counted down from 10.

~

A couple hours later and Jimmy had decided that we were going to play drinking games. How old were we again?

Tweek even agreed to it, intrigued at what kind of secrets were going to be revealed during this.

“Never have I ever…gotten arrested!” Token starts.

Well…we’ve all been in trouble with the police at some point, but actually arrested? Hmm…I’m sure I got caught with something illegal once. I drink anyway.

Jimmy drinks due to causing grievous bodily harm to his ex girlfriend, Nancy.

Clyde drinks due his whole involvement with the Nazi zombies and stealing the green goo from the government.

Tweek doesn’t drink because he’s never actually been arrested. Of course, he’s still been in trouble with the police like the rest of us back in our ‘vigilante’ days.

Next it was Jimmy’s turn. “N-never have I ever been awake for more than t-t-twenty four hours.”

Clyde doesn’t drink. The dude can’t function without at least 8 hours of sleep.

Token takes a sip while telling us about how one time he’d spent all night studying for finals and then worked a 12 hour shift the next day. He makes way too much work for himself sometimes...

Tweek and I both drink. Do I even need to explain Tweek’s reasoning?

“Uhhh…never have I ever…broken somebody's heart.” Tweek takes his turn.

Fuck, another shot for me. I had no regrets when it came to making girls cry when I was younger. He manages to catch the other three out too; Clyde and Token even clink their cans together, sighing disappointedly. We’re a gang of heartbreakers.

Clyde is up next. “Never have I everrrr…..sent a text to the wrong person!”

Nobody else drinks but Jimmy; I figured he would be pretty flippant in that area.

But then I realised something.

“…wait…that is horse shit.”

Clyde looks at me bewildered. I whip out my phone and bring up Clyde’s texts. I can feel Tweek’s chin resting on my shoulder, taking a peek.

“3 weeks ago. Wednesday, July 10th. 9:24pm. ‘hey babe u looked gorgeous on ur recent instagram pic, u got nice legs’.” I look back up at him with a blank expression, Tweek chuckling next to me.

Clyde goes completely silent for a minute, his face flushing bright pink. Jimmy and Token laugh a little too, Jimmy putting his arm over Clyde in sympathy.

“Are you s-sure he doesn’t just think your legs are nice, C-C-Craig?” Jimmy winks at me.

“Jimmy…when have I ever showed my legs on Instagram.” I scoff.

“There’s a first for everything!” Token jests.

~

In the early hours of the morning we find ourselves sprawled across the floor in our sleeping bags, watching All Dogs Go To Heaven - a film that Tweek had chosen. He was resting his head on my lap, and when it neared the end of the movie, I noticed him sniffing. I reached down and wiped away the tiny bit of water that had appeared under his eye. Meanwhile, Clyde had used up an entire tissue box, Token wasn’t even watching the film because he was cleaning up after Clyde, and Jimmy was making fun of every little aspect of the film.

When the movie finished we moved right onto another one; some cheesy comedy that Token had suggested. Mainly because Tyler Perry was in it.

Clyde was asleep within minutes; mouth wide open and snoring like a pig.

It didn’t take long for Jimmy to doze off too, clearly not impressed with the humour.

Token was now in his bed, snickering to himself and eating potato chips. From the angle he was at, he probably didn’t realise that all four of us were completely disinterested in the movie.

Tweek was snuggled into the side of my neck, slowly drifting into dream world. I drew circles on his back with the tip of my fingers, using my other hand to play with a strand of his thin blonde hair. A few years ago this would have never been a thing; there’d only be the four of us, with Tweek hanging out with entirely different cliques. Luckily the guys were quick to accept him into our group once we started dating, and treated him like one of us immediately.

I guess that’s one of the many things I can thank them for.

----

[freckledcoffeeaddict]

Snowed In

Part One

“Come on JJ.”  She said aloud to her phone as she dialed her best friend’s number for the third time in a row and probably the 10th time in the last hour, but still it went straight to voicemail.  She’d already left three messages – each a little more desperate – so she hung up and tried Emily for the umpteenth time.

“All systems are busy.”  The automated voice informed her once again.  “Please try your call again later.”

She drew the blanket more firmly around her shoulders, pulled the knot on her scarf tighter around her neck and tugged the wool mittens back over her right hand as another chill washed through her.  “Damnit!” she shouted, staring at the currently useless piece of technology in her hand.  JJ’s phone continued to go straight to voicemail and she’d gotten the same robotic message each time she’d tried Emily. She’d tried texts – but those didn’t seem to be going through either.

Walking to the window, she looked out at the snow-covered landscape twinkling in the moonlight.  Normally, she would think it was beautiful.  But not tonight.  Not when the temperatures were forecasted to plummet below zero overnight and her power was out and the still-falling snow was already more than half-way up the tires of her SUV and she hadn’t seen or heard a snow plow come down her street in hours.  In fact, as she looked up and down the block, it seemed that the whole neighborhood was dark and covered in an untouched blanket of snow.  

When she’d gotten through to the power company earlier, she was told that the estimate to restore her power wasn’t until tomorrow at the earliest, and considering that tomorrow was Christmas, she knew that was a longshot.  It had to be getting down below 50° in her apartment and falling more quickly than she’d anticipated.  As she opened her closet to find another scarf to wrap around her neck, she knew she couldn’t stay here tonight without power. Slipping her right hand out of the mitten, she again tried first JJ and then Emily – but the phone system was still overloaded - and she got the same infuriating message.  

The rest of her team were already out of town.  Rossi had caught one of the last flights out of DC before the storm came in and grounded all flights in and out of both Reagan and Dulles.  Reid has left three days ago for Vegas to see his mom, Matt and his family had left yesterday to see family, and Tara has also left the day prior.  

The phone vibrated in her hand a fraction of a second before it rang, startling her.  Out of habit, she glanced at the screen before answering.  “JJ!  Thank God!”  She exclaimed with a mix of panic and relief.

“Penelope?”  JJ asked, instantly concerned.  “Are you OK?  I just got your text to call you.  What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been trying to reach you!”  She said breathily into the phone.  “But that damn woman kept telling me to try again later.”

“Whoa!  PG.  Slow down.  You’re not making any sense.  What’s wrong?”  She repeated.

“The power is out in my apartment.  It’s the whole building, actually even beyond that.”  She explained.  “I’ve been trying to reach you or Emily, but this storm seemed to have jammed up the system.  I need a place to stay so I don’t freeze and was hoping I could stay with you.”

She heard JJ sigh on the other end of the line.  “Oh Penelope.  You know I would say yes in a heartbeat, but Will & I actually just landed in Florida.  At the last minute, we decided to spend Christmas with Will’s parents.  They haven’t seen the boys in a few months.”  She paused, “I called you before we left, but it went straight to voice mail.” She offered.

Penelope took in a big breath, feeling the tears well up in her eyes and fighting to hold them at bay.  “It’s okay JJ.  I’ll try Emily again.”

JJ groaned.  “Emily left this morning for London.”

“What?!?” Penelope gasped, panic rising again.  “What am I…Where am I going to go?”

“Did you call Luke?”  JJ asks gently.  “I know he stayed in DC for Christmas.”

“The newbie?”  Penelope rebukes.

“Pen…come on.”  JJ coaxes.  “It’s been a year and a half.  And I know you like him.”

“Like him?!?”  She said with mock horror as she felt her cheeks flush.  “Like him?  I tolerate him – at best.”

“Are you fooling yourself with that?  Because I’ve known you a long time – and you like him.”  JJ smiled into the phone.  This conversation had been a long time coming.

Penelope was silent for a moment.  “Do not.”  She finally peeped back weakly.

She heard muffled voices on JJ’s end of the line and then her friend came back, obviously torn by this quandary.  “Garcia – I’m sorry.  The boys are being fussy after the flight and Will is trying to get the luggage off the carousel…I gotta go.”  For a moment Penelope thinks JJ has hung up, but then her friend says quietly, but firmly, “Call Luke.”

“I’ll think about it.”  Penelope concedes.  “Have fun in Florida and take care of my godsons!”

“You stay safe.  And warm!”  JJ responds, “And for god sakes, put your grudge or whatever it is aside, and call him.  It’s better than freezing in this storm, right?”

Garcia sighs heavily, “I’ll think about it.”  And then she hears the definitive click as JJ disconnects.

She stares at her phone and then out the window to see the snow is still falling and getting deeper by the minute.  She checks the weather app on her phone to find that it’s already fallen to 27° outside, and still predicted to be below zero before midnight.

She scrolls over to her contacts, her thumb flipping down to the N’s where she has him filed under “Newbie”. Her thumb hovers over his listing for a few seconds, but before she can make a decision, a familiar head nudges her leg and she looks down to see Sergio circling her ankles, letting out a soft meow when she makes eye contact with him.

“Oh baby.  Are you hungry?”  She asks, scooping him up into her arms and heading towards the kitchen.  She sets him down on the counter and fills his food and water bowls.

Sergio dips his head into the food and begins to eat while Penelope stuffs her hands back into the mittens.  “You must be freezing!”  She says to the cat and disappears into her bedroom for a moment – reappearing with one of Sergio’s Christmas sweaters.  “I thought we’d save this for tomorrow, but we need to keep you warm too!”  She baby-talks to the cat, who raises his head from his food to look at her and then allows the sweater to be pulled over his head and wrangled around his body.

“See?”  She says triumphantly.  “We don’t need him.  We can stay warm here.”  She shivers as she says it, but can’t bring herself to call him.  Picking up Sergio, she walks over to the couch and settles in, pulling two throws over her land and adding another around her shoulders.  From here, she can see that the snow has stopped falling.  If her teeth would stop chattering, she’d even think it was peaceful.

From far away she hears a consistent banging.  As the sound slowly comes more into focus, she realizes that someone is knocking at her door and that she must have fallen asleep.  “Coming.”  She yells towards the door.  It’s gotten so cold inside her apartment that she can see her breath.  Standing up, she keeps the blankets on her shoulders and adds another scarf from the closet before she tried to open the door.  The mittens gain no traction on the doorknob and she has to remove one again to turn the knob.  She swings the door open, fully expecting it to be one of her neighbors, but instead finds Luke Alvez and his blandsome smile gazing at her.

“What?  How?”  She asks momentarily perplexed until it dawns on her and they both say it at the same time.  

“JJ”

He nods, as he steps into her lair uninvited and she can’t decide if this is a dream come true or her worst nightmare.  Maybe she’s still asleep.

“What are you doing here?”  She asks, unable to stop the venom in her voice.  “I’m fine.”

“Yeah.”  He pauses to really look at her.  “You look fine.”  He says as he reaches out to touch the scarves around her neck.  “You’re wearing, like, six scarves Garcia.” He teases.

“Hey!”  She protests, reaching out to grab his hand and push it away from her. The moment she grips his hand in hers though, his entire demeanor changes.

“Whoa!”  He looks down at her seriously, the teasing tone from a moment ago gone, replaced with concern.  “You’re really cold.”

“I’m fine.” She repeats, sticking her chin out with bravado.

“Chica?”  He says softly, calling her bluff, waiting to speak until she raises her face to look at him.  “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.  You can protest if you want, but I can’t let you stay here tonight.  It’ll be easier and quicker if you just pack some things and we go, but if you want to argue about it, I’ll wait.  Either way, I’m not leaving this apartment without you.”  He reaches up and cups her cheek in his hand, “For once, will you just do it the easy way?”

Despite herself, she finds herself pressing into his warmth for a moment, but as soon as she’s aware, she pulls away. “It’s not that bad.”  She stands her ground, unable to let her guard down with him – terrified of what might happen if she did because deep down she knew that JJ was right.  She liked him.  More than liked him.  “Sergio and I were doing just fine before you barged in.”

“Barged in?”  He laughs, pulling his hand away from her face and running it through his dark locks as he looks toward the sky and mumbles something in Spanish that she doesn’t understand.  When he looks back at her, his eyes have dulled.  “I guess we’re going to do this the hard way.”  He says flatly, scanning the room until his eyes land on his target and he crossed the room.

“What are you doing?”  She probes, following close behind him as he picks up a bright yellow oversized bag that was hanging off the back of one of her chairs and then heads towards the closed door that she knows leads to her bedroom.  “Hey!”  She yells at him as he pushes through the door and proceeds to open and close drawers, jamming a variety of items into the bag.

“Barged in!”  He shakes his head, his voice raising with each word.  “It’s Christmas Eve.  I’m getting ready to go to midnight mass when my phone rings and it’s JJ telling me that you’re going to freeze to death in your apartment with no heat on the coldest night DC has seen in a decade.”  He moves into her bathroom and continues to add things to the bag – pausing the turn the water on in the sink so that it’s a small constant stream.  “I drive across town in a verifiable blizzard in the middle of the night to make sure you’re okay.  I pound on your door for ten minutes before you answer.  You’re dressed up like a crazy eskimo – clearly freezing – but insist that you were doing just fine.”  He’s shouting at her by the end of his rant.  He pushes the bag into her arms, crosses to the kitchen and turns the water on there as well and then crosses back to her, stopping to scoop up Sergio on his way and then opens the to the door that leads outside.  “You’re packed, the water is running so your pipes don’t freeze, and I have your cat.  Let’s go.”  He said in a controlled tone.

“You’re mad.”  She observes, but he just glares at her.  “Like…you’re really mad.”

He says nothing, but just stares her down until she walks towards him.  She pauses at the closet to drop the blankets from her shoulders and put on her parka and pull on a knit hat before proceeding to walk through the door that he’s holding open.  They walk out to his truck in silence.  He opens the passenger door for her and offers her a hand to help her into the cab.  Once inside, he takes the bag from her hands and passes the cat to her before closing the door.  She immediately feels the warmth flood her being.  He’d left the truck running with the heat blasting, so it’s nice and toasty inside.

The rear passenger door opens briefly as he tosses the yellow bag of her things into the backseat and then she finds herself alone for longer than it should take him to walk around to the driver’s side.  She shifts to look in the rearview mirror and sees that he’s just standing behind the tailgate of the truck, one hand pressed to his temple.  After a minute, she sees him shake his head and continue around to the driver’s side door.

He pulls on his seatbelt and then looks at her pointedly until she does the same.  Putting the truck in gear, he backs out of her driveway and then begins the drive to his place.

She hadn’t yet been to Luke’s house, but knew where he lives and that it should only take 15 minutes to get to there from her apartment.  But tonight, the streets aren’t plowed and the snow is deep, so it takes double that time, which they spend in absolute silence.  At one point, they hit a patch of ice hidden under the snow and the truck veered towards the ditch.  He instinctively reached his hand over to steady her and she found that she couldn’t even look at him.  Realizing how treacherous it is out, she feels horribly guilty about the way she treated him.  For all the crap she’s given him for the past year and a half, this is the first time that she felt that she crossed a line.  He’s truly upset with her and she’s not sure what to say.  Contrite isn’t something she does well.

He turns into a subdivision and navigates his way through the maze to his house.  After pulling the truck into the garage, he cuts the engine and gets out of the cab. A moment later, her door opens and he offers her a hand, which she accepts and exits the truck, Sergio still in her arms.  As soon as her feet hit the ground, he releases her hand and closes the door.  He retrieves her bag and then she follows him through the door that leads into his kitchen. Roxie runs up to greet them and Sergio hisses at the sight of the dog.

“Sit.” Luke commands and Roxie obeys.  

Penelope realizes how good it is to hear his voice again.  Sergio settles in her arms as the dog stills.  Finally she looks at him, waiting to speak until his eyes meet hers, “Thank you Luke.” She says meekly.

“It’s about damn time woman.” He snaps, clearly still fuming, but not breaking eye contact.  “You were starting to make me think you’re more trouble than your worth.”

“I am worth more than you’ll ever know, Newbie.”  She retorted automatically and instantly, the anger that had built up dissipated.

He gazed at her long and hard, and then the sides of his mouth turn upwards in a devious smile.  “Challenge accepted.”  And just like that, a whole different type of tension was sparked between them.

[avengers-sweethearts]

Smart (Peter Parker x Reader)

You watched him silently from across the theatre. It wasn't meant to be creepy but you couldn't help but stare. His smile was radiant and he stood tall with confidence. Well as much confidence as a dork could have.

"Y/n" Liz called from the stage. "You're up"

You were alarmed that the place you were to take was right next to the boy you were starting at. You made your way up to the stage awkwardly and took a seat next to the brunette.

"Alright everyone this is Y/n she's new to decathlon let's give her a warm welcome" Liz said starting to clap as everyone joined in.

"Hi, I'm Peter" The boy said quietly as he leaned over and shook your hand.

"Nice to meet you" You smiled as you retuned his handshake but had to turn away in a desperate attempt to hide your blush.

"Alright" Liz said holding up her question card. "Using mental math what is seven thousand nine hundred fifty-three divided by fifteen"  

You instantly hit the bell in front of you. "Five hundred thirty point two"

"That is correct. Nice work" Liz nodded at you.

"Wow you're really smart" Peter said smiling at you.

"I saw you reaching for the bell" You said giving him a little side smirk.

"Where do you sit at lunch?" He asking ignoring your attempt to deflect the compliment.

"Oh" You laughed rather awkwardly. "I'm usually in the band room. I don't really have anyone to sit with in the lunch room"

"Now you do" Peter said smiling at you. "I just sit with my friend Ned. We'd love to have someone else join us"

"Alright" You said tentatively. It was that damned smile you couldn't say no to.

Practice continued with Peter telling you about himself in between questions and challenging you as to who could hit the bell first.

You were really excited for lunch the next day so you could sit next to Peter and his friend. Class ended and the day was over. You went home that night with Peter's number and a smile on your face.

You two had texted most of the night and at the lunch the next day it was like the two of you were old friends. Ned couldn't stop staring and you blushed when he finally admitted you were just too pretty not to stare in which Peter softly laughed.

When it came time for decathlon practice you watched as Peter talked with Mr. Harrington.

"Peter is not going" One of the girls said clearly upset.

"Really, right before nationals?" Liz said somewhat annoyed.

"It's the Stark internship" Peter said clearly feeling guilty. "If Mr. Stark needs me I need to be here"

"Alright" Liz said. "Flash looks like you're in for Peter"

"Oooo" He said kicking his feet up on a table. "I gotta check my calendar I have a hot date with Black Widow coming up"

"Shut up Flash" You sneered unable to help yourself.

"Excuse me" Flash said removing his feet and coming over to you.

"That's enough" Peter said standing up and blocking Flash's path towards you.

At the end of practice you caught up with Peter. You were really disappointed that he wasn't going to DC with you guys. "This Stark internship keeps you pretty busy doesn't it?" You asking now becoming super curious as to what he was doing.

Peter scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah well I'm hoping I can do more some day"

You smiled. "I wish you could come"

He gave a small sad smile. "I know me too. I'll see you around school, I promise" He said running out the door as the bell rang.

The next couple days blurred together for you in anticipation for nationals in DC. Peter seemed really distracted and you didn't see him too much.

The day came for nationals and as you were boarding the bus Peter ran over. You watched from the side of the bus as his jacket was returned from Flash and he boarded the bus.

"Look who decided to join us" You said poking him. To your surprise he was extremely muscled and you pulled away because the bush was creeping into your cheeks again.

"Yeah well I think this trip will be important" He said looking over at Ned.

On the way there you sat next to Peter while you guys practiced. Suddenly his phone rang and he excused himself and joined Ned in the back of the bus. What was up with him?

When you arrived at the hotel you were all assigned to your rooms and you ended up with Liz. At around midnight she poked you and you pulled your headphones out. "Come on we're all going to go swimming"

You chuckled and changed into your red and white polka-dot bathing suit. You and Liz both snuck out your door as quiet as possible and rounded up the others.

On your way to the pool you passed Peter. "Hey are you coming? We're going swimming"

"Oh" Peter said looking startled. "I was actually going to do some studying"

"Really" You scoffed. "I'll come with you. I really don't want to swim anyway"

"No" Peter basically yelled. "I mean, no, I want you to have fun and you're so smart you don't need to study" He said wavering at his own words.

He was dressed rather funny in a hoodie with a huge backpack. What was he up to? "Are you sure you don't want to come?" You asked one more time wishing he'd change his mind.

"I'm sure" He nodded seeming disappointed at his own answer. "I'll see you tomorrow at the decathlon" He said squeezing your hand and walking away.

"See you" You breathed softly.

You walked down to the pool and joined the rest of the team. As you sunk down into the hot tub you realized something. You loved Peter, you really did. He just seemed so distant lately. Maybe he wasn't interested in you at all.

You pushed your thoughts from your mind and decided to enjoy the rest of the night. After everyone was done you all tucked in for the night.

The next morning you were banging on Peter and Ned's door. "Guys come on we're gonna be late"

"Ummm coming" Ned said in an oddly panicked voice. He quickly flung the door open.

"Where's Peter?" You asked trying to get a look behind Ned.

"Uh he doesn't feel good" He said slamming the door shut.

"Maybe I should check on him" You said reaching for the handle.

"No it's ok" Ned said frantically pulling your arm away. "He's sleeping now"

You were silent for a long time with a scowl on your face. "Alright fine" You huffed. "Let's go"

The ride there was fairly quiet. Everyone was nervous, but Ned seemed the most nervous of all. Why wasn't Peter here? Feeling a little sick couldn't stop Peter Parker. Right?

Upon entering the decathlon the check in desk collected your phones. Then you all filed on stage and took your places. The decathlon went on for about an hour and a half. Then finally it came down to the last question.

The bell from your team rang almost instantly after the question asked and Michelle spoke up. "Zero" She said with a shrug.

"That's correct" The announcer said and you all burst into joy.

As a reward Mr. Harrington said you could all visit the Washington Monument. You and Ned entered the huge building with Liz close behind.

"Peter where are you?" Ned asked into his phone.

"Is that Peter?" You asked getting closer to Ned and attempting to grab the phone.

"Phone on the conveyer belt please" The security guard said as Ned tossed it on the belt along with his backpack.

By the time the phone had come back through Peter's call had been disconnected. The ride up the elevator was pretty boring. The tour guide made it even worse.

All of a sudden something exploded and the elevator stopped working. "Look at the ceiling" One of the kids exclaimed.

"Don't worry, we're perfectly safe and our emergency protocols are still in place" The tour guide said in an anything but comforting voice.

Some security guards managed to get the top hatch open as well as the closest level's doors. The team slowly started to file up and out. Flash was the last one out before the elevator began to shake and fall.

You and Liz clung to each other and screamed and Mr. Harrington and Ned backed themselves up against the walls. All of a sudden the elevator was stopped and Spider-Man dropped down bracing the elevator with his feet.

"Everybody ok?" He asked as he started to pull you all up slowly.

When you reached the open door Ned was pulled out, then Mr. Harrington stepped out extending his hand to you two girls.

"Go on" You urged Liz and helped her up.

Suddenly the elevator started to shake again and Spider-Man's webbing snapped sending you plummeting down.

"Y/n, no!" Spider-Man yelled as he extended his arm and webbed your hand leaving you suspended in mid air.

Your breath hitched as he caught you. You were terrified but something about him let you know it would be ok.

He slowly lifted you up and into his arms. Before he set you down on the level he clung tightly to you almost as if he was hugging you.

He finally set you down on the platform and Ned pulled you back. He hung there for a moment and looked directly at you. "Are you ok?"

You nodded silently. Then yet again his webbing snapped and down he fell.

"Are you really friends with Peter Parker" Flash yelled down the now destroyed elevator shaft.

"Are you ok?" Ned asked you somewhat freaking out.

"Yeah, I'm fine" You nodded still in a bit of a daze from the whole ordeal.

Moments later paramedics rushed in and insisted on taking you and some of the others to the hospital just to be checked out. Though things were crazy and moved by in a blur, one thing stood out: Spider-Man called you by your name.

When you got back to the hotel it was night. Without hesitation the first thing you did was go right to Peter and Ned's room. Without knocking you opened the door.

Ned was startled and laying in bed. Confirming your suspicions Peter was not there. "Ned what do you know"

"About what?" He asked jumping out of bed and backing up against the wall.

"Spider-Man. I know it's Peter. It has to be Peter" You said starting to pace back and forth. "He wasn't at the decathlon, he disappeared last night, he's always busy....he knew my name" You said stopping and looking at Ned who still remained shocked and silent against the wall. "Ned" You said getting closer to him. "Is Peter Spider-Man?"

"I am" The voice from the doorway called out. You jumped and turned around meeting Peter's chocolate brown eyes. You couldn't read the expression on his face. Was he mad? Relieved? Afraid? Peter shut the door gently.

"I didn't tell her anything" Ned said defensively.

Peter's face finally cracked into a smile. "It's ok Ned"

"So he knew" You said throwing your hands up in the air. "Why didn't you tell me? I've been so worried about you! Just a small heads up so I didn't have to worry. Why didn't you just tell me, that way....."

"Because I love you" Peter finally burst out, talking over you.

"What?" You asked stopping mid sentence. You could feel your heart racing.

Without hesitation Peter lunged forward and grabbed your waist pressing his lips against yours. They were warm, soft, but slightly chapped. His grip was tight on you but you felt safe.

"Um should I leave?" Ned interrupted your kiss.

"Sorry Ned" You said laughing resting your head on Peter's shoulder.

"Was that ok?" Peter asked suddenly very nervous.

"Yes" You nodded. "I love you too"  

He grinned but then his smile dropped and he paced away from you. "I wanted to tell you, I really did. It's just that I care about you so much and I thought if I told you that it would put you in danger. Ned found out on accident" He added shaking his head and Ned grinned sheepishly.

"I understand" You nodded. "But honestly I'm glad I know now"

"Me too" Peter nodded. "Because I'm going to need your help"

[crushedbyhyperbole]

Psycho Killer - Chapter Two

Have you read Chapter One?

Chapter Two:  Boomtown Express.

The flies were the worst, attracted by the mulch of mixed bandit pieces left after the fight.

Not limiting themselves to the corpses out on the dirt, they landed on her face where the splash of bandit gore had hit her.  She batted them away fruitlessly.

Krieg didn’t seem to care.  He was pacing in the sun, spinning and tossing his axe.  Occasionally he’d glance at Maya.  She’d catching him at it, frowning as he ripped his gaze away shamefully.

The one eye she could see was clear, no longer bloodshot and angry.

“QUIET!”  Krieg hit himself in the head with the flat side of the axe. “LITTLE MAN BLEED INSIDE TOO.”  He grumbled, not quite a full-on shout.

Maya noticed he was, in fact, still bleeding from several bullet wounds in his chest and shoulders.  With guilt she realised that she had been the cause.

“Hey!  Muscles!”  She called, beckoning him.  “Lemme take a look at you.  You’re bleeding.”

“MEAT PAIN GOOD!”  He roared.  “LITTLE MAN SQUISHY SOFT!”

“I don’t know what that means, big guy, but if you don’t let me help, you’re gonna bleed out pretty soon.  Sit!”  She slapped the bench beside her.  It was a risk getting this close to a psycho, even one that seemed to have this much control.

Krieg took a few steps forward, seemed to check himself, shook his head vigorously and harnessed his axe before sitting heavily on the bench beside her.

Well he can follow instructions.  I’m impressed.

Aside from the blood and crazy he was one hell of a specimen of masculinity.  Muscles for days, skin softer than she expected but scarred to hell.

It’s his story.  You have one too.

She expected him to smell terrible, but he hardly smelled at all.  A little musky, maybe.  Dusty, with a slightly acrid tang of weapons fire, and the metallic taint of the blood he wore as victory medals.

She let her power flow through her. The markings on her arms glowed, healing energy spread into his wounds.  The bullets rose to the surface as his flesh healed under them, popping them onto the floor with a ‘clink’.

He was still while she worked. The twitching, restless mess he was seemed placated by her touch.

Interesting.

“Good as new.”  She sighed, sagging back against the seat.

It had taken more out of her than she expected, but she’d bounce back.

In certain places on Pandora, the air seemed to be charged with siren energy and she need only breath deeply to absorb it.  Out here in the Arids there was no such phenomenon, she’d have to recoup the hard way.

A soft touch to her cheek made her jump.  Krieg slid his fingers slowly over the dried blood on her face, looking intensely with his eye, so focused now she swore she could see the effects of cognisant thought.

“Blue lady dies for us.”  His voice was almost a whisper, reverent even. His touch creating a spark that had her power returning quick enough to give her a buzz.

Eridium slag.  He must be pumped full of it.

“Blue lady is just tired.”  She said, shrugging off the awkward contact.

In the distance she could see the long snaking monorail that served the train as it traversed Pandora, and the segmented string of carriages of the train itself powering towards them.

“Finally.”  She groaned.

 The train slowed enough for them to jump into a carriage.   It was less of a passenger train and more of a goods train but there were sacks filled with straw to sit on, which was fine by her.

A quick check of her ECHO told her she was in the right place.  The message had been a galaxy-wide call to arms:  Vault hunters wanted!  Come to Pandora, breach the vault and win riches beyond your imagination.  She liked the sound of that.

 Krieg snorted, pulling her back to the present.  He was cleaning the pieces of his shotgun, turning them over in his huge hands, inspecting his handiwork.

Occasionally he’d grumble, ‘shush’ at something, or even smack himself in the head.   There were voices in his head, she had guessed that much.  ‘The Little Man’, Krieg called it.  It seemed like they argued most of the time but as he sat peacefully focused on the task at hand, Maya wondered if The Little Man was sleeping, or whether the voices were in agreement for once.

“Is that a Dahl Jackal?”  Maya sat up, interested.  Those things were way beyond rare.  The gunmetal had a certain gleam to it, now that it was free of filth.

Ooooohhh!  Pearlescent!

“BOOMSTICK TEARS STICKY MEATFLAPS!” He said shaking the shotgun above his head.

“Did you loot it from a corpse?”

Many vault hunters from the first vault had perished out in the wastelands.  The eruption of massive amounts of Eridium had made the land more hostile and mutated even harmless creatures into dangerous foes.

A lucky loot out in the Wastes could yield a rare find such as this.

Krieg was nodding, still engrossed in his gun.

“UNDYING DEATH CRAB!”  He yelled.  “STINKY CRAB GORE ORNAMENTS FOR MY MEAT BYCICLE!”

“You fought Crawmerax The Invincable?”  Holy shit!

Was Krieg once a legendary vault hunter, mutated by the floods of Eridium slag that flowed from the Vault of the Destroyer?  Those times seemed more like fairy tales.

She’d heard about the armies of General Knoxx too, seen the posters, and drooled over the armoury loot still expensively for sale in the vendors.

 “Well hello there.”

Three men passed from the neighbouring car.  They looked grim but not hostile.

“The name’s Axton.”  He looked like a soldier type; scars above his left eye where the marks of rank used to be.

“Maya.”  She nodded, unenthused.  “This is Krieg.”

Apparently, the presence of the psycho had gone unnoticed until now.

The short stocky man with huge arms went for his guns.

“He’s with me.”  Maya hastily stood in front of her companion.

He’s your companion now?

Seemed only fair to defend him, after he saved her ass.

“This is Salvador.”  Axton gestured to the short one. “And that’s Zer0.”

“A chance meeting here / rewards favour the many / I seek victory.”  The tall, slender figure moved smoothly forward.  Dressed all in black, he wore a curved glass-like mask that displayed symbols as he spoke.

“Haiku.  Nice.”  Maya said with an appreciative nod.  “You’re asking to team up?”

In lieu of a reply, a smiley face that popped up on Zero’s mask.

He was more emotive than she expected.

“You, me, the gunzerker and the assassin.  Whadd’ya say? Wana go raid some vaults?”  Axton winked at her.

“Me and the big guy are a package deal.”  She shrugged.

Despite the tempting idea of backup, she knew types like this Axton guy - he’d be after getting into her knickers by the end of the first day.  She wasn’t conceited, she didn’t rate herself that highly, but past experience dictated that she be sceptical of his charismatic ways.

“Safety in numbers / the rage lives within us all / I do not object.”

“I do.”  The gunzerker huffed, his shoulders slumping.

 There was a rumble from the other car; a loud thumping and grinding that didn’t sound healthy.

“MECHANICAL MEAT GETS ACID KISSES!” Krieg roared, on his feet and pulling up his gun.

“What the hell?”  Axton dove sideways, drawing a repeater and letting rip at the psycho.

“STOP!”  Maya screamed, as two Hyperion loaders tore their way into their carriage.

Zero was the fastest to react, slicing the first in half and jumping out of range of the second.  Krieg ran at the robot, taking damage until his shield went down.  Maya panicked, ready to phase lock the loader but then she saw Krieg’s plan.

His shield spiked.  Acid burst out to the loader as he ploughed into it, letting the acid dissolve through it’s chassis like hot water dissolving salt.

“Good job, Krieg!”  She laughed and then smacked Axton in the arm growing serious.  “You’re an idiot!”

They ran into the next car where more loaders were unpacking themselves.  They made short work of them and moved forward to the head of the train.

Maya had to admit that it felt good to be part of a team, working well together, watching each other’s backs. She knew that it would never last - everybody had a price for betrayal.

 In the first car they faced their final opponent.

“It’s cute that y’all think you’re the heroes of this little adventure, but you’re not…”

Handsome Jack.  She’d know that voice anywhere.  The Hyperion CEO had his clutches on virtually everything on Pandora now. Exploiting, mining, destroying, murdering.  He was a huge asshole.

“Welcome to Pandora, kiddos!”

 It started with a crackling sensation in her nerves.  And heat. There was more heat than out in the Arids.  And there was pain, so much pain.  A massive force ripped through her side, shoving her against the disintegrating wall of the carriage.

Her head spun, and her ears were ringing from the explosion, and then she was flying.

So, this is what death feels like.

It was almost as painful as being reconstructed at a Hyperion New-U station.  Almost.

After the heat there was cold, flying felt more like falling, and there was screaming.

“PRETTY LADY WAKE UP!”

Her eyes snapped open.  Krieg had hold of her and they were falling together. The train wreckage was falling around them, bombarding Krieg’s back with hot shards of metal as he protected her from the shrapnel.  They weren’t dead, but they were plummeting down the side of a snow-covered mountain, the ground fast approaching.

She could save them!  She could save them both.  If she could only manage to…

 Krieg screamed in pain as the bubble of siren energy bloomed around him, penetrating right to his core.  She could feel his lifeforce throbbing against her control.

Suddenly the phase-lock took hold and they stuttered to a stop in the air twenty metres from the rocky ground. The force of slowing made Maya slip from her grip in Krieg’s arms.

He wailed louder, fighting against the pain to hold her tighter but his strength was waning.

She’d have to let gravity take her or kill him to save herself.  It was only a few metres, so she fell, hoping it wouldn’t hurt.  She hit the rocks, hard, which crumpled her into a mess, legs broken and unable to breathe.

Her consciousness faltered as she heard Krieg getting to his feet with a maniacal laugh.

“BEAUTIFUL PAIN!”  He screamed.

At least he survived.

Then came the blackness.

Continue to Chapter Three.

[merryfortune]

Legend & Lore: the Deep Sea

AN: Posting this now seems like a good idea :3c

AN: Inspired by artworks by @insanitytragedy [specifically this one]

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Ship: Yusaku/Aoi

Warnings: Character Death, Madness, Dark Themes, Canon Divergent

Word Count: 3832

Synopsis:  Nowadays, they say that you can’t have legends and lore without a little bit of blood and gore.

In which the mysterious hacker pursues the mysterious siren that inhbits the patches of corrupted game data known as the deep seas.

  Game lore states there are monsters in the winds; in the harrowing winds of the Speed Duel. Yusaku knows. He’s reached into the depths of the unknown and pulled one out and tamed it.

  Legend, however, states there are sentient, living creatures in the pockets of patched up and ruined data known as as the “deep seas”. Not quite AIs, definitely not players looking to stir up trouble either. True, living creatures with thoughts and actions that are not predetermined by a real person using an avatar nor predetermined by a computer doing its best to handle the output.

  Legends that are unreliable. Friend of a friend. Quibbles over the massive chat log that get lost in between the hundreds of thousands of conversations between no one. And everyone. Yusaku doesn’t pay much heed to baseless rumour. To what amounts to creepypasta. He doesn’t need to.

  Game. Set. Match.

  Yusaku logs out and pulls himself out of hiding spot with a sigh. He’s sweaty and frustrated. He had come too close in that last Duel to losing. Every game is life or death and he’s already lost too much; he’s got so much he can win back.

  Kusanagi greets him with a sparkle in his eye. Impressed. Yusaku sits down next to him and is impressed. He hands him a bottle of water; it’s lukewarm in Yusaku’s hand.

  ‘Well done, Playmaker.’

  ‘I almost lost.’

  ‘But you didn’t. And you should be thankful.’

  ‘…I am.’

  Kusanagi swivelled in his chair and chucked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the monitor. Yusaku showed little interest but acknowledged that Kusanagi wanted to bring something up.

  ‘You and I both know that artificial intelligence is somehow muddled up in this whole Knights of Hanoi business. But you and I also know that independent artificial intelligenc isn’t… fully functional. Yet. However,’ Kusanagi paused and Yusaku glared, sceptical, ‘I have reason to believe it will be soon. During that Duel, I picked up… unusual patterns. Someone – or, more specifically, something – managed to get past my barrier. Before the Duel, that zone was empty. No one came in, no one left. But something was there. And it ws moving erratically. I think you have a fan, Playmaker.’

  Yusaku slumped over the desk. He tapped his cheek.

  ‘Doubt it.’

  ‘Clear your schedule, tomorrow, you’re logging in and we’re going to go deep sea fishing. Let’s see if we can find ourselves a piece of artificial intelligence.’

  Yusaku straightened up and yawned. He flexed his hands. ‘Well, we better route the parts of data most susceptible to deteriorating and becoming part of the so-called deep sea system. If we’re lucky, since it’s only been a few minutes since I logged out, we might be able to get a trace on my “fan” but we shouldn’t get our hopes up. It could have just been… a bug.’

  ‘I dunno, Yusaku. I think we’re going to get lucky.’

  The two spent a good portion of the evening making preparations for their deep sea fishing, as Kusanagi had called it. Unfortunately, mere hours later, an unforeseen disruption to their exploration had occurred. Said disruption came in the arrogant, inhuman form of a popular charisma duelist known as “Ignis”.

 Ignis was the Vrains persona of an as of yet unknown person; presumably male but there were rumours of Ignis belonging to a female Duelist. Given Ignis’ avatar, it was hard to tell if Ignis was supposed to be male presenting to begin with. There was little in the way of either clothing and anatomy, instead some cartoonish-looking character with inky black skin and a purple web pattern and bulbous head. Despite being of small stature, Ignis carried quite the large demeanour and prescence on the Vrains.

  Ignis has been vying for the top spot of number one Charisma Duelist for a while now: cocky, arrogant, but puts on a great show. He and GO had been at odds for ages but now Yusaku – no, Playmaker – is the number one duelist in Vrains and Ignis is aggressively eying that title. He’s issued challenge after challenge but today, Playmaker finally accepted for this was no fight for popularity. No, there are larger forces at play.

  Ignis had been instated, albeit temporarily, as a Knight of Hanoi.

  It was a dirty fight. Trick after trick, deception and traps abound but Playmaker pulled through. For himself. For the crowd. It was a riveting duel but a selfish one. Flashy, spectacular, and full of twists: a conversation, of sorts, wherein it was two people greedily yelling at each other but tactfully disguising it as fair play and civility.

  But Playmaker pulled through, at the last second, after a destiny draw and sealed Ignis’ fate in a loss. The evil planted in him dissipated and his card, token of the Knight of Hanoi’s affection for him, banished. It was all well and good but Speed Duels are always a matter of life and death.

  Ignis made one mistake and it almost cost him his life.

  He was making rude remark after rude remark. Yes, he had enjoyed the duel but he didn’t enjoy the loss. That was the kind of person Ignis was. As such, he was passing off his dissatisfaction in cuss words and taunts. Playmaker couldn’t have cared less. He was about to make his temporary escape.

  He turned his back on Ignis but in the corner of his eye, he saw Ignis slip. Such a mistake would likely kill his corporeal form especially from this height. They were above the city and a vicious wind was raking the space between them and the virtual cement; cracked and turned to something akin to water.

  There was a single moment that felt like an eternity. Ignis’ eyes widened as he fell back and his arms outspread by his side. His mouth gaped and he blinked. Like, he didn’t quite believe what was happening. Fortunately, Playmaker could believe that the foolish duelist had fallen off his D-Board.

  Ignis hissed before he screamed. Playmaker whipped back around and instinct took his mind before logic could. Before Kusanagi could.

  Playmaker grabbed Ignis and yanked him back, they traded places in peril. Then Ignis rolled over and blew a raspberry at Playmaker. Playmaker braced himself for the worst and snuck a glance over his shoulder.

  ‘No one beats Ignis-sama and gets away with it.’ he taunted.

  Ignis floated in the digital space. He happily hung out like he was on a gently swinging hammock. Meanwhile, Playmaker was plummeting. He could feel the rush for real. His heart pounded in his chest.

  Yusaku closed his eyes and accepted that, for the first time in years, Vrains will have claimed another casualty. Finally, the mysterious hacker’s identity would come to light. He just wished that he could have reclaimed his past first. He has no doubt in his mind that Ignis would have no qualms over his death.

  Playmaker, no, Yusaku slips into the unknown.

  It’s not like a dive into a pool. It’s more like slipping into a recuperating sleep. Unfeeling but welcoming. His body goes numb but he’s not dead. He’s not dying.

  But that makes it sound too serene. Phasing through the protected realm of vrains into the deep sea is far from peaceful. He’s just experiencing a terrible dissonance between what is happening and what he’s feeling. He actively recognises that nothing is real. He can’t feel anything in his fingers because, technically, they’re not real; not to mention gloved too but some part of his brain refuses to accept that so, his fictional clothes become heavy with fictional water. His eyes sting and he’s gulping down water in lieu of air, not on purpose of course but nevertheless, his lungs are filling with imaginary sea water.

  His eyes flutter shut. He feels infinity at his fingertips. Infinity feels strangely like electricity. Tingling and gradually getting hotter. Yusaku sinks further into the unknown depths of zeroes and ones; of bubbles and seaweed. There was a grave pressure on his chest and he could hear his bones creak and bow beneath it; not snapping, yet, for there was nothing actually pressing upon them. He truly feels like he was at the bottom of the ocean; if the bottom of the ocean was a fault in a highly complex video game data.

  No one’s ever clipped through into the deep sea. The deep sea is highly protected and strongly guarded. It was thought to be impossible to clip through, and yet he had. Playmaker had phased through the other side of where the internet was thought to be impossible to touch. No one expects him to return alive.

  Nor does Playmaker. Nor does Yusaku.

  However, there is one. An unprecedented “one” in this cold, watery sea of “zeroes”.

  A giggle. A light chortle with something deviant lurking beneath its innocence. It sounds almost like the chimes of bells. Yusaku opens his eyes and everything is glitching. He thinks. He’s not certain. It could be his eyes playing tricks on him. It could be the game playing tricks on his eyes. But then, he sees her.

  And she’s beautiful.

  Or, at least, her avatar is.

  She comes closer and Playmaker sighs. He grimly accepts his fate. She comes closer still and clasps her hands either side of his face. She’s curious. She can’t be felt. Her fingers clip through part of her face and her tail twists and sashays to keep them both afloat. The loose, fluttery white fabrics of her outfit are battered by the inertia.

  She feels around the data of Playmaker’s persona and learns of him. She smiles to herself and decides that she will try and save him. After all, this is not their first meeting. It would appear the final hour was upon them: the hour in which Playmaker, no, her beloved Fujiki Yusaku would deliver upon his promise.

  So, she saves him so he would have the opportunity to return the favour like she always dreamed he would.

  She removes her fingers from his face and he falls in love with hers. It’s like a fairy tale for the modern age: superficial and nonsensical whilst maintaining the long honoured traditions of disturbance and cruelty. She is careful to not breach the sensitive data keeping Playmaker’s avatar in tact so she can remain strong enough to pull him through. Unlike him, the data that comprises her is far more flexible. No barrier can keep her out or in. He’s a lot more difficult and cumbersome but, nevertheless, she succeeds in bringing him to the surface.

  Kusanagi, meanwhile in the real world, succeeds in keeping Yusaku alive and breathing. Safe.

  She decides that she doesn’t want to leave the water. She remains by his side though. She idly watches as Playmaker spasms. She watches his back arch as he slams himself down, trying to rid himself of the imgarinary water in his imaginary lungs. He grunts and moans. She giggles. She thinks its funny. Cute even.

  Playmaker comes to and doesn’t log out. He’s hazy and aching. He’s definitely dying now that he can make sense of what he’s trying to process. He turns his head and she catches his eyes. He is quickly ensnared by her unearthly appearance. She’s too solid. She’s too real. She’s not real.

  But she’s beautiful. Large eyes and a button nose. She’s busty but it’s hard to tell with all her jewelery slung around her neck and how the fabrics she’s wrapped up in flutter. She looks as though she has wings. She looks as though she might have had wings once. There is a sense that she is ripped up and broken despite seeming as perfect as a porcelain doll.

  ‘Who are you?’ Playmaker asked; his hands shaking by his side as he tries to make sense of her. Of himself. Of his surroundings.

  ‘Blue Angel.’

  Again, she laughs.

  ‘Are you a duelist?’

  ‘Not yet. I’m still putting together a deck. It’s very difficult, you know when you have to steal the data.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘A siren.’

  Yusaku glares at her. There’s all sorts of weirdos on the internet but Blue Angel doesn’t strike him as one. He examines her avatar. Blue. Lots of it. Blue hair, blue eyes a blue tie around her neck. She basically blends in the water. She’s vaguely angelic too with her fluttering fins at her lower back where human-like skin turned to azure scales. Yusaku couldn’t help but be reminded of the old adage: the more beautiful and colourful, the more venomous.

  Blue Angel huffs. Sick of Yusaku’s scepticism.

  ‘Fine. I’m a rogue AI.’

  ‘And here I thought I would find you.’

  ‘I’ve wanted to meet you for a while, Playmaker. You and I… we’re alike.’

  ‘We are?’

  ‘Well, if we’re ever found by the wrong people, we are doomed to be deleted, correct?’

  ‘…Correct.’

  ‘See? Plenty in common already…’

  Playmaker got to his feet. He craned over his shoulder. He need to escape. He needed to go to the hospital.

  ‘Promise you’ll come and play again.’

  ‘I make no promises. Especially not ones I don’t know if I can keep.’

  Blue Angel became mournful.

  ‘I’ll wait. Forever.’

  She slunk into the water and her eyes became luminous. Her lips move beneath the water and bubbles and ripples shatter the stillness of it. It also caused disruptions to the water’s rendering. It spreads and breaks: unnatural waves.

  ‘Bye, bye.’

  Playmaker logs out once she leaves. Blue Angel gave him a bad feeling. It was deep and torrid. Visceral. It revived an unknown emotion in him: one he had long forgotten. One that he couldn’t explain. Especially not in a state like this. But he could connect it to his voided past. He just didn’t know how.

  Yusaku skipped school for the next few days to recover. He wasn’t the same after his accident; after his encounter with the siren AI known as Blue Angel.

  When he was in good enough shape to think clearly, his first matter of business was to dissect the Vrains for Blue Angel from the safety of his monitor. Not from the inside of Vrains. He hacked through every strain of data and information he could find with Kusanagi in tow. The information that they reaped in return was not what they expected.

  They found old player records belonging to a Zaizen Aoi. She had been Blue Angel before her account was forcibly deleted. The avatar Aoi used, parts of it, had become the rogue AI calling itself Blue Angel: the face, mostly. The AI had transformed the avatar from a winged human to a mermaid. Little wonder: wings would be useless submerged in the depths of the fictitious ocean.

  ‘Do you think we can believe her?’ Yusaku asked as he folded his arms.

  He wanted to believe. He wanted to meet her again.

  ‘We have no login or log-out records for the Blue Angel you encountered. The commandeered avatar is almost definitely its own entity. A simple stalk of Zaizen Aoi’s internet history show that she hasn’t logged into Vrains since her account was forcibly deleted. I have reason to believe that she hasn’t been in a duel since.’ Kusanagi replied with a shrug.

  ‘We have to keep her safe.’

  ‘Zaizen or Angel?’ Kusanagi raised an eyebrw.

  Yusaku shuddered.

  Kusanagi sighed then diplomatically stated: ‘We need to find out if there are other rogue AIs.’

  ‘Blue Angel takes first priority.’

  Kusanagi glanced at Yusaku. His eyes had been taken over by an obsession that twisted them a darker hue of green; or maybe, it was just the light from the monitor slightly discolouring them. Kusanagi hummed. He folded his arms.

  ‘A little obsessed, aren’t you?’

  ‘She’s an improbable existence. She’s fascinating.’ Yusaku admitted. ‘Scientifically speaking.’

  He hastily added that after he had come to a complete stop in his dialogue.

  ‘Mmhm.’ Kusanagi nodded. He sighed. ‘Well, assuming all the deep seas are connected then we’ve already narrowed it down. We can rule out downtown Vrains as well. Too many people know she’s been there so she’s likely avoiding it like plague.’

  ‘But there’s still thousands of digital kilometres that she could be spanning. And we don’t know the full extent of her abilities, she could have the ability to leave the Vrains and enter other internet accesses.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s likely given that her entire existence hinges on Vrains. I don’t believe she would be able to sustain form outside of Vrains.’

  ‘Do you think she can be captured?’

  ‘Captured how?’

  ‘Do you think we could download her to a duel disc? Like the other AIs? Presumably, she has cannibalised one of those and from that, she cannibalised Zaizen’s Blue Angel and likely gained sentience along the way.’

  ‘You want to take the mermaid’s freedom?’ Kusanagi asked. Genuine concern filtered into his voice and it scared Yusaku to his core.

  He hadn’t expected defiance from Kusanagi. Questioning from Kusanagi. He put his hand over his heart and bunched the fabric separating them in his hand. He couldn’t really feel it. His sensory understanding was still numb at best. At this point, he wasn’t expecting for it to return to the way it was before his accident. At least he could feel the movement of his heart though: a slow and steady pulse. It reminded him that he was real. Lately, that simple little fact was slipping form him mind. Frequently too.

  He took a breath and closed his eyes. ‘Yes.’ He decided at long last.

  ‘…Interesting.’

  Kusanagi didn’t further interrogate Yusaku from there but Yusaku’s feelings on the matter were as transparent as glass. His intentions quietly reflected.

  But to Yusaku?

  He could barely decipher the bits and pieces of emotion he felt. He felt tinkered with and now, whenever he moved he could hear the rattle of something having been broken but couldn’t place it. On top of that, because he was still functioning, he couldn’t decide if he was broken at all. Instead, he was just rattling. Something had come loose.

  Yusaku swallowed. A desire as deep as the depths of the sea filled him. He refused to name it but he was apparent. Love, lust, obsession: Blue Angel. He took a breath and for a split second, he was drowning again. He widened his eyes and willed himself to remember he wasn’t online. He was Fujiki Yusaku. He wasn’t Playmaker. This was the real world, not Vrains. He swallowed again as his breath hitched his throat and a sweat broke out on his brow and dripped down his side. He clutched harder onto his shirt.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Kusanagi asked, panicking as he got his feet.

 His hands moved rapidly before Yusaku’s eyes but he could barely see them. They were blurry and Kusanagi was quickly moving out of focus as well. Yusaku shook himself. Took a breath. He willed himself to remain in a conscious, healthy state of mind but he was muddled nonetheless.

  ‘No. Yes. Just let me find her. I have to find her.’

  He heard that laugh again. Light, airy, twinkling like the chime of silver bells. That was Blue Angel’s laugh. He could hear her perfectly. Clear as day. Somehow, it calmed him down. The tension stringing along his shoulder in tight threads relaxed. Kusanagi relaxed too upon seeing Yusaku’s grip on himself lighten.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  Kusanagi sounded like Yusaku had water in his ears. He was vague and murky. Yusaku blinked then stared. And stared. But he could barely see a thing.

  He resolved to find her. He had to find her.

  Yusaku got up and grabbed his Duel Disc. He stormed off and he was unknowingly playing right into Blue Angel’s plans for him. He slams the door behind him and enters the virtual slipstream where he was likely to abandon the air – the winds – forever.

  Playmaker finds her easily enough. She was waiting for him. She watches him with her big, glittering blue eyes and beckons him to the pool where she waits. It’s a puddle in the virtual sidewalk. It’s quiet here. Almost abandoned. It’s almost like someone put a block on the area so only select people could visit.

  Blue Angel begins to sing. She sings a heavenly song that bubbles up from the depths of her throat. She doesn’t speak like she’s speaking through a microphone. That’s one thing that makes her distinct from the players. The players have a crackle of static electricity when they breathe. She doesn’t breathe.

  So, it’s to little eerie wonder as to why Yusaku becomes so entranced by her song. It pulls him in like the moon pulls in the tide. She’s haunting. Lovely. Indescribable. He thinks he’s in love.

  She’s lonely, you know?

  It’s awfully dark and dreary at the bottom of the ocean. She wants – needs – some company down there. Someone who understands how difficult it is to hide when they are everything the other – the commoners – desire in a celebrity. Someone who understands what it is like to hunt and be hunted; to always be teetering on the edge of life and death. Someone who understands what it’s like to phase through life and death. One and zero. And he was the only one to have ever done that. Now. And when he was smaller; younger.

  Finally, they can be together. Forever. Like Yusaku promised her when she was just… Blue. The tame AI. Like she had desired when Yusaku was just that: Yusaku, not Playmaker. He was a chosen child from the experiment. The one that went horribly, horribly wrong all those years ago. Of course, no one remembers. Why should they?

   Yusaku slips. He’s the one who makes the fatal mistake now. He’s too entranced by Blue Angel and her charm to care. He has no one looking out for him from the corner of their eye. So, he slips. He phases through the zeroes and ones once more except this time, he doesn’t emerge as a survivor.

  He sinks. Down and down. In a listless spiral and Blue Angel playfully joins him. She most certainly thinks it’s a game. She batters at him as his hands reach out. A slow regret poisons him. Perhaps, he shouldn’t have trusted the silver song of a siren. She’s not real. But then again, he’s not real either. Not anymore anyway as he sinks further into the deep sea where is transformed into Playmaker for the last time.

  Together… forever. Just like she always wanted. Like he thought he wanted in those tragic days of unreality.

  And now, it’s not just a siren you can find at the bottom of the deep seas but a ghoul: waterlogged and once human… if you believe the stories. The ones fools type out in the group chat: to everyone and no one.

  Nowadays, they say that you can’t have legends and lore without a little bit of blood and gore.

[ecotone99]

What Death Sees

Death slowly walks across the street.

A man exits his house still clad in his pajamas. Yawning, he shuffles onto the porch and picks up the paper. Death looks at the small clock above his head. It reads 17 years. Nope. Not today.

The door of the next house opens. An old lady. Her clock reads 1 minute and 13 seconds. Patiently, Death waits until the number winds down. On cue, the old woman trips on her way to get her paper. She lands on her head, a motion accompanied by a "crrrrck" as her neck twists halfway around.

Death approaches the old lady. "Come with me," The old lady gets up and follows.

Continuing on her path, she spies a dog. It whines pitifully, begging for food it doesn't receive. It collapses, no longer having strength to stand. Patiently, Death watches its clock wind.

She scratches the dog behind the ears. "Come with me," The dog follows, tail wagging.

"Come along," she says to the homeless man.

"Follow me," to the man who just plummeted from the roof.

Near the coffee shop, Death patiently waits for the clock of an elderly man to hit zero. After a 16 minute and 48 second wait, he clutches his chest and collapses in line. She follows as paramedics come and put him into an ambulance, performing emergency procedures all the while. 6 minutes and 12 seconds later, she has another addition to her parade.

A good days work, she thinks. Turning, she sees a group of children playing. Innocence. Beauty. Hope. Life. She stops to soak in the laughter.

Wait.

Something's not right.

The little girl catches the ball, the epitome of youth. But her clock is plummeting. 78 years. 70 years. 64 years. Death frowns. This wasn't on the agenda for today.

"Ruth!" Comes the harsh yell. "Enough playing, c'mere!" Death turns to see an unkempt man calling from a rundown house across the street.

The young girl looks back but continues playing.

"Get over here you ungrateful piece of shit," the man snarls from the doorway.

Reluctantly, the little girl waves to her friends and runs across the street.

Death watches the car coming. The clock winds down. 56 years. 33 years.

With a honk that fades with distance, the car veers, narrowly avoiding the little girl.

Death stands frozen as the clock continues ticking down.

"RUTH!" The grizzled man shouts, the stench of alcohol smothering his breath.

Death follows the girl into the house; her followers wait outside. Bottles are strewn around and furniture lies in shambles. 22 years. 16 years.

Death slowly turns back to watch the man and little girl.

Whack. Thud. "Wanna play with your friends, huh? Can't even spare a minute to listen to your old man, huh?" Thwack. 11 years. 6 years. Thump. 2 years. Crack. 4 months. Thud. 7 weeks. 2 hours.

10 seconds.

A sad look is on Death's face. "Follow me," she gently says.

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