#why yes I did listen to this section like five times to get a rough transcript I regret nothing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

justalittlebluetiefling · 4 years

Note

i CANNOT believe we haven’t talked about the moment yet what is happening please tell me the things you need to get off your chest like how ‘i’ll see you in the morning’ haunts you

HOW have we not talked about this yet?!?! Oh my gosh there’s so much. I have so many feelings about this conversation.

Uh oh, this needs a cut. Didn’t mean to turn this into an entire analysis of that conversation, but apparently I had a lot I needed to get off my chest.

How are YOU holding up with all this?!?!

I was really worried about you... when you fell. ... This suddenly feels far more serious than I thought it might be.

UMMMMM. His voice?! This whole time. His voice is like... unsteady and rough and he’s quiet the entire time. Fjord tends to be pretty subtle anyway, so quiet isn’t exactly rare for him, but this actually shook him to his core AND YOU COULD HEAR IT. It messed him up so bad that he threw all of his plans to wait out of the window?!

It felt like hell. It felt like torment.

And we have to stop it, right?

I’m emotional about THIS because JESTER?! She lost FIVE YEARS. Not only did she have to see this again, feel it, but she lost five years. And it’s clearly hurting her, but she’s not letting herself worry about it, because there are bigger things to worry about. It’s just the way both of them push their own emotions to the side to be dealt with later in favor of the larger problems at hand. It’s so admirable.

AND HE’S NOT EVEN... okay wait.

I... I may have a... a... a problem.

THE WAY HE CAN’T EVEN SAY IT. He’s so NERVOUS. Because he KNOWS why he’s THERE.

And JESTER. What is it? So fast! She’s so worried! She probably thinks it’s Uk’otoa or Kotho contacted Fjord about Sabian again or something.

I saw you standing on that pillar. It was the first time where I kept myself from... trying to... stop something that was happening TO you and... I didn’t do anything and it’s bothered me.

He has a problem. His problem is that he can’t focus past the fact that something might happen to Jester. THE THING HERE. IS THE EMPHASIS ON THE WORD ‘TO’. “Stop something that was happening TO you”. Like, all of the times throughout this campaign that we weren’t overanalyzing. We’ve made the list a thousand times and I don’t need to repeat them. here

ALSO. Think about how many things in Fjord’s life have happened TO him. He doesn’t WANT that to happen to anyone else. Especially not Jester.

But wait. Like. He didn’t say it, but he really CAN’T focus past the idea that Jester specifically might not make it out of this. The guilt he’s been carrying after the Iron Shepherds. He took all the responsibility of that onto his shoulders and I don’t think anyone realizes that he’s still hanging onto that.

It seems to have exacted a pretty serious toll.

It’s just... his voice! And the way Jester’s face falls!! I’ve been pretty worried about how Jester still seems to be putting up the ‘happy’ facade for everyone and you can truly see in this moment how much it bothers her that she’s lost time.

I want to come out of this and be able to go back to the sea and go back to Nicodranas and go back to where it’s warm and not fucking freezing and...

Me too.

They miss HOME. The poor Coast Kids miss their home. They’re both so sad. But okay. The hilarious thing here? Is that Fjord? Is talking about how he wants to go back. To THEIR home. With HER. And it hasn’t HIT HER yet, because she’s distracted! She has no idea what’s about to happen.

I just don’t know if that’s... I don’t feel as optimistic now.

Me neither. But... I’ll try to be safe. And you should, too. But if it comes down to it, if it means stopping that thing? I want to stop that thing.

AND HERE. What was it he said to her at Travelercon? And you care about people you know, about people you don't know. You cause chaos, but in the end, you don't want to hurt people. You care. This is something that he LOVES about her, but right now, it’s just... okay I’m trying to put this into the right words.

*sharp inhale* I told your mother I would look after you.

Yeah. I’ll be fine, Fjord. We always are.

Continued from the previous thought. HERE’S THE DEAL. Fjord knows he can’t protect Jester from this, no matter how much he wants to. His voice is breaking over that. And Jester’s is, too. They’re saying all these words here, but they’re also NOT. I don’t know. I’m watching the video again while I’m typing this, so this moment is breaking my heart in slow motion.

It’s not even just on Fjord’s side. Jester’s doing that thing right now where she deflects, because that’s what she does and trying to reassure Fjord because he’s never been so worried about her and she doesn’t know what else do to while Fjord is sitting here like we’re running out of time we’re running out of time we’re running out of time. Like, that’s the whole thing. He can see that they’re running out of time on Jester’s face. Literally. It was one thing for him to wait to tell her until after he sorted out his life when they felt invincible. But... out of all the danger they’ve been in before, he’s always been able to follow her. She’s never had to be alone in it, because he was one step behind her. And this time? There was literally nothing to do. He was powerless. He is powerless.

This part of the exchange is so loaded. You can FEEL Fjord about to break. It is tangible on the screen because his voice keeps shaking and he takes that huge breath.

IT’S JUST. He’s trying SO HARD. I always talk about this, but this one specific time Travis was on Talks lives in my head rent free. The time when he talks about how much Jester’s unconditional and unrelenting support has meant to Fjord and how much Fjord wants to be able to return that. ALL he wants to do is be there for her and she’s still not opening up to him and he has NO IDEA if what he’s about to do is going to work. He has no idea if she’s going to be okay with what he’s about to tell her.

I care very much for you.

Really?

JESTER’S VOICE IS SO SOFT. SO SOFT. AND HE’S LOOKING AT HER. AND SHE’S LOOKING AT HIM.

I’m melting over this moment.

*huge sigh*

Is it because I have chiseled cheekbones now?

It’s the longer horns.

Yeah, it really does it, doesn’t it?

Yeah. It gives you an intimidating look.

YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS?! Jester saw that Fjord was nervous and she immediately tries to defuse the tension with a joke. And he jokes back. Because that’s what they do together. They’re goofy and silly and they comfort each other and Fjord LIKES that she’s strong.

Listen I’ve got clips saved up from my last rewatch because I want to make a gifset of the times Fjord has been openly appreciative of strong Jester and one day I’m gonna do it.

I mean they’re joking around, but Fjord is like, super attracted to Jester and I really love that for her. But it’s MORE than that, because he’s attracted to her, but the thing that won him over was who she is so every time he talks about how attractive he finds her, it’s just icing on the cake. He doesn’t just want to see her, he wants to know her and I don’t know how I got to this point from this section but here I am, I’m not going back.

C A N I K I S S Y O U

OKAY.

I’m gonna hyperventilate again for a sec.

It caught Jester SO OFF GUARD. AND THEN SHE’S NODDING AND THEY’RE SMILING AT EACH OTHER LIKE THEY’RE SO IN LOVE AND IT’S JUST BEAUTIFUL HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LIVE LIKE THIS

HOW.

Kissing is a lot more fun when you’re not dying.

Jester!!! She brought up the kiss! THEY SMILE AT EACH OTHER AFTER THIS. LIKE. They both acknowledge the “kiss that wasn’t a kiss” AS A KISS. I never thought we’d hear about this again! But Jester’s been thinking about it THIS WHOLE TIME!!!

I love this though. The first time, he kisses her to save her life so she can get them out of that temple. This time, he kisses her, because he can’t stand the idea of losing her.

BUT ALSO. KISSING IS FUN. Jester!!! Liked!! Being kissed! By Fjord!!!

I want them to have downtime so bad. I want them to be able to spend time walking around Nicodranas and kissing and going on little dates and eating ice cream at the Lavish Chateau and hanging out at the beach with Luc. I WANT THEM TO HAVE QUIET MOMENTS.

I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.

This was so cute! This last part might be my favorite part of the conversation. Because Jester got all flustered and FOR ONCE Fjord didn’t get awkward! He was just so RELIEVED to have told her! And she was so HAPPY?! The CUTEST grin on her face! EVER.

I’VE WANTED TO DO IT FOR A WHILE.

JESTER’S GIGGLE HERE!!!!!!!!!!! I love this for her so much. I just do. She’s been SO into him for SO long and she didn’t think he liked her back and here he is TELLING HER HE’S WANTED TO KISS HER FOR A WHILE. Her giddiness is contagious!

And FJORD! How LONG have you wanted to kiss her?! For some reason, this isn’t something I’ve considered when trying to figure out the timeline of Fjord’s feelings. When is the first time he wanted to kiss her? I think I need to go watch all their big conversations again to see if I think it’s any of them. For some reason, I feel like it’s going to be in one of those silly little moments they have together and I’m going to miss it. Do I rewatch the entire campaign for a third time???? Is that what I have to do?

I’m kind of a big coward.

No, Fjord, you’re very brave.

I am very brave, aren’t I?

You are.

Jester FULLY believes this. She’s just smiling over at him this whole time. But he looks down. Because he still doesn’t think he’s brave. Or he’s brave enough for most things, but there’s ONE THING he knows he can’t do and that’s let her go and I’M.

Is this all just speculation and guessing and me making stuff up? Yes. Do I care? No. That’s what his face says to me in that moment.

ALL WHILE JESTER IS JUST SO HAPPY. She DOES think he’s brave and she thinks he’s amazing and he just kissed her and it’s not how she thought it would happen, but IT DID and it was so meaningful.

We could get cats and just flee.

I need to get the whole dialogue for this, but I’m tired tbh and I need to sleep, so I’m gonna focus on this last part. How they’re talking over each other to joke around, but it’s really smooth and flows really well between them. But right before this you can still see how heavily the upcoming trials are weighing on them. They feel a little better about EACH OTHER, but there’s a very real possibility that they’re about to lose each other, but they can take this ONE moment of hope?!

And I just love it when they joke around with each other to try to make each other feel better. They’re so good to each other.

I’ll see you in the morning.

God, the way his voice is just ROUGH and small and quiet and he DOESN’T WANT TO LEAVE and they just SMILE AT EACH OTHER and they’re scared of what’s coming but THEY KNOW THEY LIKE EACH OTHER and they’re SO HAPPY FOR THIS MOMENT.

And the soft way they say goodnight to each other!!!

THEY!!!!!!!!! make me want to walk into the ocean. In a good way. I SWEAR I CAN’T WITH THIS.

And then the way Jester sighed and giggled after Fjord left! And I can see her leaning back against her door and sighing and looking up at the ceiling and just..... SO. HAPPY.

She doesn’t even ask for a cat cuddle pile!!!! She just stares at her unicorn until she falls asleep. SHE DOESN’T ASK FOR A CAT CUDDLE PILE!

And then there’s Fjord! Who doesn’t sleep much!

That part makes me a little more angsty. There’s lots of reasons he might be awake most of the night. There are some really cute ones. Like he’s thinking holy shit I just kissed Jester and she kissed me back and she said it was fun that’s good right? And then there are the angsty ones where he could have been laying there thinking about how he doesn’t have any control over the situation and how scared he is. But he did something and he made her smile and that’s all he ever really wants to do. Is make Jester happy. And maybe he made Jester happy in this moment where she was trying to hide that she’s sad. AND THE THING IS THAT HE DID!

And I’ll leave you with a very short list of random things I expect them to say to one another at one point with no context:

I can’t stand the thought of losing you.

Are you sure you don’t miss the longer horns?

You don’t always have to be fine.

OH. ALSO.

Get ready for casual intimacy. I’m ready for hand holding. Shoulder touching. brushing someone’s hair out of their face. GET READY BECAUSE IT’S GONNA HAPPEN.

#i didn't proofread this yet don't judge me #i'm not sure if this is what you wanted to happen #but it did #i got very excited and couldn't stop talking #OH MY GOD THIS IS SO LONG I'M SO SORRY #critical role #the mighty nein #fjorester #fjord #jester lavorre #cr spoilers #cr2e118 #gosh these two are adorable #neondvcks #erin answers things

180 notes · View notes

donutloverxo · 4 years

Text

The proposition

@sweater-daddiesdumbdork asked for "hmm. Gentle fluff or smut, can be both. Whatever your in the mood for babes. Long or short as you would like." Ok I know the story doesn't really fit the gif or the request but I love it so much🥺🥺

Summary - Wilford has a proposition for you and Curtis.

Warnings - smut, virgin reader, blood/cum play, dark themes, technically non con/dub con since it is coercion

Pairing - Curtis Everett x reader

Word count - 3.5k

Masterlist is linked in the bio!

You looked at the wooden board contemplating your next move. You had gotten somewhat better at playing, after practicing for so many years. But you still weren’t nearly as good as Wilford.

“Check” You warned and grinned as you trapped his king with your knight.

“Hm” he hummed staring off into the distance. He was really out of it throughout the game.

“Is something wrong?” You spoke casually and felt a shiver go down your spine. Suddenly on edge again.

You often forgot that you’re supposed to hate him. After everything he’s done to so many people, even if he was somewhat kind to you, he was far from a good person.

You never even knew about the state of the tail section. Not until the revolution that happened months ago. Their conditions had gotten considerably better. But they and their leader were still struggling and fighting for their rights.

“Well if you really want to know...” He paused chewing on his finger while he supported the weight of his head with his palm. “There’s Curtis. He’s clearly not happy. He’s making it difficult for me to mould him into a perfect heir.”

“Oh” You let out. The disdain Curtis held for Wilford was really obvious. You had never spoken to him but you accompanied Wilford to several of his meetings. “Maybe you can meet him in the middle? Give into his needs a bit?” You said your voice strained. You didn’t need him second guessing your loyalty.

“I’ve been more than generous with him.” He scoffed “We have to maintain equilibrium. Perfect balance.” He went on his usual lecture taking out your knight with his queen “If only you were a bit smarter... and a man I wouldn’t even need Curtis.” He stated his eyes staring at the board.

“I’m sorry.” You hung your head in shame. Ashamed that you couldn’t be enough to satisfy him, be of any use to him. And that you craved his approval in the first place.

“At the end of the day” He said finally looking at you “How devoted are you? How far would you go for me?” He asked and looked at you expectedly.

“I – I’ll do anything for you sir. You know that.” You stammered. He had yet to ask you to do any tasks for him. Expect for keeping him company. You doubted he'd ask for anything too extreme from you. Not when he had so many skilled people do the job for him.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” He said giving you a chillingly warm smile that highlighted the wrinkles around his eyes.

***

Curtis struggled to not punch a hole into a wall to let the anger bubbling inside him out. Every time Wilford called him up to the ‘sacred engine’ it was for something incredibly stupid.

Like fucking tea parties with macaroons or mini sandwiches. The pompous ass called himself ‘A man of taste. That’s how I know you’re special.’

Now Curtis would have to eat those ridiculous cookies or sliders or whatever he serves him and listen to his bullshit.

But he knew that had no right to complain. This was a small price to pay for all the work he had been doing to help HIS people.

They were given five more sections of the train. Proper food and clean water. It was acceptable. But it still wasn’t enough.

He had his own spacious room since he’s 'one of the big guys now'. He felt guilty living in it. To have clean water to shower everyday, have more than enough food to keep him full.

It had been 17 years since he was alone in a room. With his thoughts. Now he got to sleep on his plush mattress all by himself. It should feel good. But he was guilty. He wouldn’t rest until his people got the same privileges. No matter how long it takes.

Wilford agreed to his terms, and negotiated with him for hours, when he had him over a barrel. It was either that or Curtis blows up the train.

The first few weeks were rough. He felt completely hopeless and crushed. Knowing from then on that he could only trust himself in this dog eats dog world. The people he did love and care for were now all dead.

So he did what he had been doing for the past two decades. Threw himself into work and planning with a clear goal in mind.

He finally reached his destination finding Wilford waiting for him. Welcoming him with a smile.

“Why don’t you sit down for a while?” He asked when Curtis merely stood there glaring at him.

“Can we make this quick.” He snapped.

“Why do you have places to be?” Wilford laughed calling for you to come out of the corner. Where you usually stood and watched his meetings take place. He introduced you to Curtis “But you must know her by now.” He inquired raising a grey eyebrow at him.

“Yeah.” Curtis gave you a small nod glaring at you as if he was ready to cut you up then and there. You had no idea why he seemed more angry with you than he did with Wilford.

“Well you’ve been on edge. And you know men have needs...” He trailed off shrugging “You can have her as your own. You’ll need an heir soon enough.” He continued.

Leaving you completely stunned. He wanted to sell you off as if you were a breeding mare.

When your father ‘gave' you to Wilford ,just over 4 years ago, you thought you’d have to do that with him. Keep him satisfied like the prostitutes in section 5 do.

But you were surprised to find that Wilford never really cared much for sex. Not with you or anyone else. He decided to ‘keep' you even went far as to call you a pet. Someone adorably stupid he liked to teach things and impart his wisdom to.

The thought of being with Curtis in that way wasn’t repulsive, not as much as it was with Wilford, but you were sure that he’d hurt you. That he hated your guts.

“That won’t be necessary.” Curtis stated “is that all?” He said completely done with this whole situation. And needing to get out of this place that just stinks of Wilford.

“Now now what’s the rush? Is she not enough? I thought you’d like someone simpler or I would’ve called for a professional.” To which Curtis shook his head dryly laughing at the ridiculous proposition. “Do you have someone else in mind? Someone in the tail section? No one there would be healthy enough to bare a child.”

To which Curtis gritted his teeth, clenching his jaw.

He did you a once over. He could see your curvy and plump figure even through your baggy clothes. That’s what he hated about you the most. The fact that he was so attracted to you. And that you always looked so goddamn irresistible.

“I don’t need a whore.” He spit.

“How about you watch your language and your tone” Wilford frowned “She won’t be a whore. She’ll be the mother of your children. You can marry her if you want to. Not that it would mean anything.” Wilford paused letting him process his words. “I’ll tell you what. You can have any woman you want.”

“How about no?” He snarked even though he knew better.

“I wasn’t really asking.” he sighed. Irritated at just how annoyingly stubborn Curtis could be. “You do this and maybe I’ll be more open to negotiating.”

Curtis shook his head in disbelief and looked at you. You had been quiet the entire time. Just like you always are. He had never heard your voice. He would certainly remember it if he did.

“And you’re okay with this?” He asked you.

Your eyes darted back and forth between both of them. “Ye – yes” You stammered. Feeling as if you were suddenly put on the spot. You didn’t really have much of a choice.

“Does tonight sound good to you?” Wilford asked you and you gave him a small nod. “Well then you should go on and get ready sweetheart” He cooed at you softly and you followed. Looking at Curtis one last time before going back to your room.

“Is this really necessary?” Curtis asked as he watched you leave.

“You’re still in your prime. This is the best time to have a baby that’d healthy. You know what they said better late.”

Curtis stayed for a bit discussing these ‘negotiations' Wilford had promised. But he was sure of one thing. No way in hell is he fucking a front sectioner. Let alone have a kid with one. He wouldn’t be caught dead trying to bring a child in this fucked up world.

You seemed impressionable. He could easily convince you to lie.

***

Your roommate Laura helped you pick out a dress for the night. Giving you some pointers on how to please men.

“And don’t forget to remind him to pull out.” She warned. Knowing the penalty for birthing more than one baby, in most cases, is very high. “Oh yeah you wouldn’t need to do that...” She trailed off feeling sympathy for you “Then I’ve heard that you should keep his cum in you for as long as you can. Let gravity do the work.”

You zoned her out. Needing her to stop talking because you were anxious enough.

“Aren’t you nervous though? To be a mom? I’d be terrified.”

Terrified. Yeah that’s what you should be. But you felt eerily calm. “I’m taking it one day at a time. Or I’d go crazy.” You muttered out in response to her.

Your steps were slow as you made your way to Curtis. What happens if he finds you lacking? Or so repulsive that he can’t even get it up. Would Wilford forgive you. How grave would his punishment even be.

You found yourself worrying more for Curtis. Wilford still held a soft spot for you. But as much as he claimed to be smitten by Curtis, it was clear that he held a bias. Like most front sectioners did against the tail Enders.

You knocked on his door before letting yourself in. Looking around for him. His room was, as you expected, much larger than yours. It held a king bed in the middle of it, unlike your twin beds. It was much cleaner and organised as well.

Your eyes fell on an old worn out paper which held what looked like a charcoal drawing. You held it up studying it.

“What the hell are you doing here?” You jumped as you heard him growl. You turned around to see him standing just a few feet away from you, dressed only with a towel hanging low on his hips.

“Uh I’m here for... the...you know...” What the hell were you supposed to call it? Babymaking?

“We won’t be doing that. You will sit there, quietly, for a few hours and leave.” He ordered looking through his dressed for his clothes.

Even though water was abundant to him now, he wasn’t going to be wasteful with it. So he only showered in the evenings. To wash the whole day off of him.

Maybe a part of him knew you’d be here. And wanted to look presentable to him. Which, he knew, was stupid. You’d never see him that way. And he didn’t need to work to impress someone like you.

“We can’t do that.” You mumbled taking in his naked torso. His shoulders were broad and he And you were pleasantly surprised to see just how huge he was.

“Why?” He asked pulling a shirt and some pants out. He looked back at you expecting an answer.

“He – a doctor will be examining me tomorrow. They’ll probably figure it out.” You said hugging yourself to make yourself small. Averting your gaze to avoid the intensity of his eyes.

“Fine then.” He huffed. He looked through the dresser to search for the lotion that came with the room. He could probably use it as lube, get it over with. It wouldn’t be too hard for him to do it and he wasn’t really looking to hurt you either. “Lay down on the bed” He instructed handing you the bottle as you settled on top of his mattress.

He opened his mouth about to tell you to apply it between your legs but then “I’ve never done this before you know. Just thought you should know.�� You confessed still unable to look him in the eye.

“What? That’s not possible.” He frowned at you “Aren’t you supposed to be Wilfords whore?” He snapped.

Which set you off. This was the second time today he had called you a whore. “You really think you have the moral high ground to call me that?” you swallowed as he looked taken aback by your words. “I don’t know what I am to Wilford. What I do know is – if we don’t do as he says we’ll have to pay.”

“I’ll take my chances.” He scoffed.

“Don’t. You’ll regret it.” You said gravely. Shedding off your clothes. There was no point in prolonging it. “Can we turn the lights off?” You asked.

“No.” He let out as he looked at your dress. Bunched up around your waist. Giving him a generous look at your thick thighs.

He loosened his towel a bit as he felt himself harden at just the thought of you naked.

He hadn’t been with a woman in decades. Too afraid to bring a child in this world. There were offers from many to suck him off. But he was never particularly interested. He took care of himself as hastily and as quietly as he could, in his bunk late at night.

Despite everything, how lucky he was right now to have the things he had, how far he had come, he had also suffered a lot. Gave up a lot. Maybe he deserved something he took just for himself.

He dropped his towel onto the floor, revealing his erection to you. He climbed on the bed and crawled to you.

You stared at his long length, how scary and angry it looked pressed hard against this taut abs. “I uh what do I do with this?” You asked looking at the lotion.

“Forget about it.” He tossed the bottle away and worked on rolling your panties down your legs.

You shivered as cold air touched your exposed core. “Oh” You gasped as you felt his fingers nudge your warm folds.

“Off with this too.” He demanded taking your dress off your head.

You quickly brought your hands up to cover your exposed chest. Shifting in your place. The reality of the situation suddenly hit you. This was really happening. It was all too quick. There wasn’t nearly enough time for you to process your emotions.

He pushed you on your back and quickly settled between your legs. Smelling a whiff of your arousal. He knew he was being hasty. If he wasn’t patient it would be over too soon. But he was so damn hard he felt as he’d bust right then and there. He rolled his hips into the mattress to relieve some of the pressure from his groins.

He groaned at the sight of your naked body above him. Your soft stomach, your breast laid flat as your chest heaved. He dove in for a taste. Pleased with just how wet you already were and at the way you squirmed. He almost let himself believe that you wanted him. That you were so aroused just for him.

But he knew better than to believe that. It was far from the truth. You were just as forced into this situation as he was. He was just trying to make the best of it.

Before he could eat you properly you lightly pushed at his head. “Wait.” Your voice scratchy. You propped yourself on your elbows so you could look at him “I don’t... want it to hurt. Please.” You pleaded.

“That depends on how much you cooperate.” He threatened and you laid back. You whimpered as he sucked your clit, wrapping his mouth around it. He pushed a finger inside you and then another. Holding a hand flat on your stomach to stop you from moving. It was different than when you played with yourself with your fingers.

You cried out loud for the whole train to hear when he rolled your bundle of nerves between his fingers while fucking you with his tongue. You came on his tongue. Feeling more intense than you had ever before.

He lapped up everything you gave him. Not wanting to waste a single drop. He trailed kisses up your nipping just under your breasts and wrapping his lips around one dark hard bud. He sucked it harshly gently pulling on your other nipple, just to get a reaction out of you. You whimpered cradling his head close to your chest.

All too soon he released your nipple and supported his weight on his forearms to look down at you.

You looked so perfectly dazed. Staring at him hazily through your hooded eyes. Your lips bruised and bleeding. Were you biting them so hard to keep, and fail, from making those singular noises?

He couldn’t help it. He knew he’d regret it the second he thought of it. But he needed to know what your mouth tasted like. He nibbled on your bottom lip for a bit before capturing your lips for a kiss.

His first one as far as he can remember. He wondered if he was your first kiss too. He tilted his head to get an angle that would allow him to explore your mouth the best. Moaning into it he brought his hands up to cradle your face. Somehow kissing your mouth felt more intimate than kissing your cunt.

He finally pulled away so you could both breathe. He took in a few deep breathes before nudging your lips with his tip, before seething himself into you.

He was deliberately slow. Drawing out the pleasure for both of you because he didn’t want to hurt you. Far from it. He wanted you to scream his name just like you were minutes before.

He groaned into your ear as he bottomed out. Giving you all the time you needed to adjust to his length. He pulled your earlobe between his teeth. Snaking a hand beneath your hips he raised them so he could thrust deeper inside you.

You mewled and moaned under him, chanting his name as if it was a prayer, as he slowly rutted into you. He wondered, if it was because of him. Or it wouldn’t really make much of a difference to you of it was some front sectioners cock instead of his.

Your walls were so snug and tight around him. He knew he wouldn’t last long. He tried to think of all the work he had to do, hell even thought of Wilford just to hold off.

But he couldn’t. Not with the way you were squeezing him. He quickly pulled out and stroked himself to completion. Ropes of his cum painted your stomach. He felt strangely possessive at that. As if he marked you as his own.

He sat up on his knees, looking down at you and stroking your thighs, he admire his work.

“What did you do?” You asked as you felt his warm spend on your stomach. It had been feeling so good for you, you were almost at the edge when he pulled out. You knew he was supposed to finish inside you.

He didn’t bother to answer you before his broad shoulders nudged the inside of your thighs to fit him. He lapped up at your cunt again. Determined to bring you off at least once more. He moaned at the tangy taste of your blood, and your juices mixed with his.

It didn’t take long for him to work up your sensitive and overworked folds and cunt. This orgasm was somehow more intense, if that was even possible.

Curtis settled beside you. Wiping his mouth off with his hand he turned off the light. He thought about asking you to go back to your room.

But then you curled up against his arm, wrapping your little hands around it. You settled your head in the crook of his neck. He would get up later to clean you both up later. Right now he just needed to commit this moment to memory. So he’d never forget it.

Tags will be in the reblog! If you want in on the taglist lemme know via dm/ask or click the link in the bio.

Yayyy I finally wrote for Curtis! Idk if there will be a part two to this. Snowpiercer is just too dark for a soft girl like me🥺🥺

Please note that my works are not to be reposted on any other website/blog. Reblogs are welcome though!

#curtis everett x reader #curtis everett #curtis x reader #chris evans x you #chris evans x reader #chris evans x y/n #snowpiercer #submission

467 notes · View notes

emptysatellite · 3 years

Text

fool for love

Ao3

James never thought he’d be rendered speechless. He’d always been able to talk back to his professors, jest with his friends in between classes, and confide to his parents about his greatest hopes and dreams without any problems.

But Lily Evans―that beautiful, intelligent, kind-hearted, loyal witch―could do it to him every time she opened her pretty lips.

Before sixth year, she’d usually say something like, “did you shit your nappy, Potter?” or, “get your head out of your arse, Potter,” or, “Potter, bugger off,” and James would let his jaw drop for a split second before responding with something like, “nah, did you shit yours, Evans?” or, “not until you get your head out of your arse, Evans,” or, “Evans, you know you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

It was always a competition, those first five years, of who could annoy each other more (although, James always thought it was the peak of flirtation, while Lily, well, she was just retaliating from his immature behavior).

James would also attempt to ask out the girl with flaming red curls, but she always shook her head and faked gag, or went on a spiel about why he was such an idiot, or simply rolled her eyes and stalked away.

Everything changed in sixth year, when Lily became less hostile and more friendly towards James. He assumed it was because of the Snape shit that had occurred the year previously, but James didn’t care because he got to see Lily smile more often and that alone made butterflies flutter in his stomach.

He would still pause momentarily after she spoke to him, saying stuff like, “nice match today, Potter,” or, “do you want a sugar quill, Potter,” or, “Potter, truth or dare?” and be able to formulate an adequate response like, “cheers, Evans,” or, “I think you already know the answer to that question, Evans, yes,” or, “Evans, I’m not a coward so obviously dare.”

They had become friends. They sat close to each other in class, traded desserts at dinner, did a handshake before Quidditch matches, amongst other platonic pleasantries.

Due to this newfound relationship, James stopped asking Lily out on dates, not wanting to make her uncomfortable or ruin the friendship that was growing stronger every day.

Sixth year came and went much faster than James would have wished and, before he knew it, he was parting from Lily. He gave her a long hug, promising to write to her; she promised the same and Lily never broke a promise, ever.

Lily was the first person James told when he was appointed Head Boy and James was the first person Lily told that she received a letter from Dumbledore stating she was Head Girl. Lily was the first person James told that Sirius had officially broken away from his horrible family and James was the first person Lily told that her older sister was getting married to Vermin Dursley. Lily taught him about the Muggle traditions he’d never learn in Muggle Studies and James taught her all about the Ministry she’d never learn in Professor Binns’ History of Magic class.

“I miss you, Potter,” she had declared in one letter. “Your jokes could always brighten my day.”

They were writing non-stop and, by the time school finally rolled around, James had a feeling everything would be different.

Why did he get that feeling? Well… James didn’t really know why he got that feeling, he just knew that he felt it and it was true.

He explained the whole situation to Sirius at breakfast, the morning they left for Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

“Uh-huh, that sounds nice, mate,” Sirius barely looked up from his Vogue magazine, popping a chilled grape into his mouth.

“Did you even listen to me?” demanded James, raising an eyebrow.

“Eh, a little,” he shrugged. “All I really heard was the beginning… about how you had a dream about the future. I stopped listening there, because, in all honesty, you were never really good at Divination.”

“It’s not Divination, because I wasn’t foreseeing the future.”

“You said that everything would be ‘different’ this year,” Sirius finally looked up. “First, it sounds so spooky and ominous, for no reason at all. And second, that’s basically seeing the future.”

“I didn’t say that everything would be different, I said that I feel like everything will be different this year.”

“That’s the same thing, is it not?”

“No, it’s not,” James shook his head, “one is confirmed, one is up in the air.”

“Okay…” Sirius’ voice trailed off as he glanced back down at his magazine.

James just stared at his best friend for a few seconds and, once he realized Sirius was too enamored with the horoscope section to pay attention to him, finished eating his syrup soaked pancakes.

At Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, James and Sirius bid adieu to Mia and Monty, who both had tears in their eyes for their grown up boys, and stepped onto the train with unmatched confidence.

“Want to sit in our normal compartment?” Sirius asked.

“Of course,” James nodded, following his friend to the fateful compartment where they’d met for the first time in seven years previous. They’d entered through the sliding glass doors to see Remus and Peter already settled in, an arrangement of sweets spread along the table.

The gaggle of boys greeted each other and had already fallen into a quick conversation regarding their annual back-to-school prank when the compartment door slid open and four girls walked in.

“Hey, boys,” Lily said at once, Marlene, Dorcas, and Mary following closely behind.

“Ah, there’s our stunning Head Girl,” Sirius motioned to the pin on her jumper, which read in red ‘Head Girl’.

She grinned and looked at James, “and there’s the Head Boy!”

James smirked, doing a dramatic ballerina twirl. “Do I look like a brand-new person? More mature? More dashing?”

“No,” Mary replied, bluntly.

“Sorry to say, but you look like the same prat you’ve always been,” Remus slapped a hand on James’ shoulder.

“My friends have wounded me,” he fanned the back of his hand over his forehead, dramatically, as though he were in a Muggle theater production. “I don’t think I’ll ever recover.”

“Oh, come off it, James,” laughed Lily.

That simple sentence caused James to drop his hands to his side, hazel eyes locked on her green ones. “Huh?” he questioned, thinking that he must have misheard the girl he had loved since he was eleven.

“I only said to come off it,” she repeated, tilting her head in confusion.

“No, that wasn’t it,” he whispered, voice soft around his loud friends who had moved to another conversation, “you called me James.”

“That’s your name.”

“You’ve never called me James before, though.”

“I just thought it was time to change that. We’ve been friends for a while now and friends call each other by their given names, right?” replied Lily.

James broke eye contact and turned his head away. “Yeah,” he said at last. “You’re right.”

Lily’s eyes scanned his face, searching for something James didn’t know. She eventually tore her gaze away, drawing her attention to Remus, who had offered her a Bertie Bott’s jelly bean.

He didn’t talk to her the rest of the train ride, remaining unusually silent. Even when he and Lily had to leave their friends’ compartment to inform the Prefects of their duties that year, James was still quiet, allowing Lily to do all the speaking.

After Lily’s brief introduction speech, she tried to talk to James, but he ignored her. His mind was flooding with thoughts.

Was she mad at him or something? Was she trying to taunt him by calling him James instead of the usual ‘Potter’? He was sure that she still knew of his feelings for her, so was she attempting to play with his emotions?

The Hogwarts Express finally arrived at the infamous school of witchcraft and wizardry and, before they knew it, the group of Gryffindors were entering the Great Hall.

James sat down next to Sirius, as per tradition. Lily sat down next to him.

“Are you alright?” she asked, voice lowered to a whisper .

“Yes, Evans, I’m fine,” he snapped a response, turning towards the front of the Great Hall, where all the professors were congregating.

“James,” Lily said simply, taking his hands into hers.

Her hands were soft and flawless, unlike his own, that were rough and calloused, and it took everything in him to not give into her hardened glare that was directed at him.

“What, Evans?” demanded James.

“Come with me.”

“Professor Dumbledore will be up soon to speak. We should stay and listen; it may be important this year.”

“We won’t be long,” she insisted. “I’m sure we’ll even be back in enough time to hear him talk. Just please come with me, I’ve been wanting to talk to you alone all day.”

That got to James and he let himself be pulled out of the Great Hall by her. She led him out of the room and down the wide corridor, avoiding underclassmen, who were practically buzzing in anticipation for the new school year and the grand feast that awaited them in mere minutes.

“Here,” Lily stopped suddenly, twisting open a bronze doorknob to reveal an empty classroom that looked as if it hadn’t been used in years, desks and chairs covered with linen. She closed the wooden door behind them, letting go of James’ hands. “What’s wrong with you?” Lily crossed her arms.

James raked a hand through his hair. “That’s awfully rude of you, Evans, to assume that something’s wrong with me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m your friend, James, I know when something’s not okay with you.”

He froze. “Can you stop saying that, please?” he asked.

“What am I saying wrong?” asked Lily.

“My name,” said James.

“Are we not friends or something and I just didn’t get that memo?”

“No, we are friends.”

“Then why, James, why am I not allowed to say your name like the rest of your friends?”

“Because you’re different.”

“How so?”

“I don’t love my other friends like I love you,” he said at last. “You’re… special.”

Lily blinked, her expression unreadable. She just stared at James before taking a deep breath, stepping towards him.

Her lips grazed his and sparks flew. James immediately responded to their brief touch and he grabbed her waist, tugging her forward, pressing her chest to his own. They interlocked their lips like they’d been snogging for ages, like their passion had been rooted for ions and not mere school terms. They kissed like it’d be their last time seeing one another, like they were to go off to battle the next day.

Lily pulled away first, leaving them both gasping for air. “James,” she said, “I don’t love my other friends like I love you, either. My feelings are so beyond just loving you as a friend. I love you, James Potter. You’ve captured my heart and I don’t want you to let go.”

“Lily, you’ve had my heart since first year,” he replied. “Merlin, I love you like no one else in this world.”

She looked downwards. “I thought your feelings for me were gone. That they’d been gone since fifth year and I was loving you in vain.”

“No, that could never be true. My feelings for you will never fade,” James placed a hand under her chin, lifting it high enough for their lips to touch again.

This time the kiss was soft, less desperate. It was still emotional, yes, but not as hungry; they knew this wouldn’t be their last kiss, that they weren’t losing time.

They broke away from one another. Neither spoke, instead just smiling.

James was speechless again and realized that if he never spoke again at least he’d have Lily by side.

#james potter #lily evans #hp

25 notes · View notes

golden-voices · 4 years

Text

Jealous Inosuke x reader

Gimme that spicy spicy. Jealous Inosuke x reader, or if you’re not comfy with that, then Giyuu. Like maybe we were at a fair during college or sum (whatever AU) and these guys flirted with reader and they’re like “haha thx” cause they’re oblivious. So they “claim” reader as there in a little hidden section. (So like... semi-public) Im not tryna right the whole plot Im sorry, idk if you want mucho detail or not 🥺🥺 So uh... just public Inosuke or Giyuu x reader basically 🥺

I finished my first request yaaay! But I don’t think that i fulfilled the original request tbh (accidentaly deleted it haHA) :(

Writing this actually was harder than expected, as English is not my first language lol, but I think it turned out well for my first non-school-related writing.

If you got critism oder tips feel free to tell me!

And sorry, I don’t know much about college or what a fair is :’) I hope you still like it.

[Warnings: nsfw, semi-public]

As you were on a mission with the Kamaboko squad and the flame pillar, you happened to get into a festival in a village you were passing by.

The smell of food, people laughing and kids screaming, your friends talking. All of this makes you happy, but seeing your boyfriend having so much fun and tolling around makes this festival unforgettable. But this damn demon... for three weeks you haven't found a trace, except for the remains of his victims. Your thoughts drifted to your mission again and again...

"Where's your mind wandering, (y/n)?" Tanjirou blurted out, pulling you out of your thoughts. Now the others got curious too... great. "Uuh, I just can't get my mind off that demon," Tanjirou slightly furrowed his eyebrows as he began rubbing your shoulder, "We can worry about this tomorrow, but now we should take a break!" he cheered. "Yes (y/n), your face is too pretty to be ruined by sadness!" stated Zenitsu with a dreamy glance in his eyes, his cheeks turning red. As they were going on comforting and complimenting you, you felt an intense glance on you...

"Why won't they stop touching her?!"

Inosuke was furious. His eyebrows were wrinkled and his lips pursed as he was obviously jealous. The green-eyed couldn't hold himself back anymore... "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, WHY ARE YOU ALL HITTING ON HER?!" He squaled, pulling you out of their range. The attempts to calm him down only made him irritated.

Surprised you were looking at him. You are used to him being impulsive and not able to control his feelings, but something like this?

"Is he.. jealous? That's kinda cute tho,"

You just had to laugh. Inosuke stopped mid-sentence to look at you with a confused expression "Why did you laugh? DO YOU THINK I'M RIDICULOUS, HUH?". Out of consideration for the others, you asked your upset boyfriend to talk about this in a quiet place. But Inosuke didn't want to talk.. he wanted the world to know that you are his. Suddenly he grabbed you and pulled you through the crowd, "OKAY" he yelled, "IF YOU SAY SO".

As soon as you reached a place away from the festive turmoil he threw his boar mask to the ground and pinned you against a wall. "INOSU-" You couldn't even end your sentence because he pressed his lips against yours. Gasping you pushed him away from you but that didn't stop him, it just turned him on. "When I'm done with you-" he pulled at your uniform "-everyone knows that you're mine."

"We're in public, Ino.. S-Stop..." You tried complaining, but your complains faded into moaning as the heated young man began to leave hickeys on your neck. With a husky voice, he whispered right into your ear "No (y/n), I won't stop until marked what belongs to me". Hearing his seductive voice and seeing this wild gaze in his eyes you couldn't resist him anymore, so you slung a leg around his hip and stuck your tung in his mouth.

"It's YOUR fault if we get caught, mister," You told him while he was taking off your shirt. "Shut your mouth and take that fucking bra off!" He responded in a harsh voice while struggling to take your bra off. You just had to tease him after a good laugh "What if I won't, huh?". Getting annoyed by you getting cocky he pinched your butt. The moan you let out made him even harder. "Fine, here you go. But watch out for someone coming, please" You dropped the black bra with a floral pattern to the floor.

As soon as your bra fell onto the floor Inosuke grabbed your breasts and squished them. "N..Not so rough, my breasts are sensitive you know that" You mumbled. He didn't bother listening to you, he instead grabbed your thigh even rougher and pulled you to him. You could feel his hot breath at your ear, causing you to hold on to him tighter. You pressed your hips into his so you could feel his covered erection.

Inosukes mind was going wild at the sight of your shaky body. Your leg in his hands, your red face, your twitching thighs, he didn't care about getting caught, it only would declare his dominance even stronger.

"We haven't done it in a while..."

his thoughts were going.

"I want to take her hard,"

While slipping his hands under your panties, he discovered you already dripping wet. A feeling of superiority coming up, he inserted one digit into you, "You're already dripping after five minutes of making out. Do you desire me that bad?" provocatively asking while sticking another finger into you.

You couldn't stay quiet, not after Inosuke began fingering you. Every time he pushed his fingers a bit further up your cunt you let out a pleasant moan. Passionately he sucked your neck, leaving love bites everywhere. You already were a mess, but when he hit your G-spot Inosuke felt you clenching around his fingers. Wanting you to beg he stopped moving.

"D..Don't stop now, I'm close," you told him with a shaky voice. The only response you got was a throaty "

Beg

" and a dominant glance, so you begged him.. "Please, I need you now", "I'll do everything you want me to", "Make me cum" your voice getting breathier with every sentence. When you whined enough to make him feel like the best partner ever, he pressed your G-spot. "I'm the only one who can make you beg like this," he claimed, "Am I right?". But as you didn't reply to him, he quickly inserted a third digit into you. "Yes Ino- aah.. You're the only one I'd ever beg for", satisfied with your answer he fingered you with a faster-becoming pace.

Reaching your climax you bit into his shoulder, leaving a bite mark. He didn't stop pleasuring you through out your orgasm, but when he pulled his fingers out of you, you slid down to the floor, breathing heavily. "And now I'm making you come on my cock" the horny man mumbled while taking off his pants.

"(y/n), Inosuke!, where are you?!" A voice coming closer and closer echoed off the walls of the alley where Inosuke was taking off his pants. "PUT YOUR PANTS BACK ON DUMBASS," you shouted at him while hurriedly getting dressed again. "But I-" he wanted to convince you, but he was interrupted by you pulling his pants up.

"Finally I found you two! I've been worried so I decided to check if you were okay!" The flame pillar exclaimed energetically. He just stood there looking over the both of you, standing there stiff, all sweaty and messy, with hickeys all over your necks. The moment he realized where he walked into he blurted out "I'M SORRY FOR INTERRUPTING YOU! But the others are waiting, so come back!" and just got on his way back.

Still scared by Rengokus sudden appearance you took Inosukes hand and started following the blonde. "If someone asked, we were arguing, and don't you dare tell something different. But anyway, why have you been so jealous?" you looked Inosuke straight in his eyes, still embarrassed as hell. " BECUZ THOSE FUCKERS WERE ALL FLIRTY WITH YOU" Rengoku turned his head around at Inos yelling. "YEAH, YOU TOO DONT LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT" The man turned around fast with a guilty look on his face. "But Inobaby, they've just been comforting me because I was worried," you explained. "You're even denser than me sometimes... But in contrast to me they didn't make you forget your worries, heheee" A smut face replaced his pissed expression. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Legend says the boar man is rockhard to this day.

#kny #kny imagines #Inosuke hashibira #Inosuke x reader #smut #inosuke smut #fanfiction #inosuke fanfiction #hashibira inosuke

602 notes · View notes

lailyn · 4 years

Text

Supermarket Sweep

“Now remember, guys. We are here to get a few items, and these items only,” Stephen warned.

“Come on, Stephen. Live a little.” Tony slung an arm around his husband’s shoulders. “It’s been a while since we’ve gone grocery shopping together. You never want to take any of us with you when you go.”

“Yes, because when I go to the shops to get bread, bread is what I get. Not a gazillion boxes of mince pies and Christmas pudding.”

“They were on discount!” Tony argued.

Stephen rolled his eyes. “It’s already Easter, of course they were!”

“They were covered in edible gold dust,” Tony said with a defensive shrug. “Loki said the puddings looked really pretty.”

“Yes, they were,” Loki said dreamily.

“Fine, but no more! It’s not the healthiest thing, eating Christmas pudding for breakfast every day, and I had to do it for weeks,” Stephen ranted. “Can we please get something you’re actually going to eat this time? Here, if we stick to the grocery list - ”

“Yes, yes,” Loki sighed, grabbing the list out of Stephen’s hand.

“Thank - ” and Loki crushed the list in his fist and dropped the ball of paper onto the ground, “ - you,” Stephen finished glumly.

“Tsk-tsk, Loki,” Tony chastised. He patted Stephen on the back and bent to pick the crumpled list from off the ground.

“Thank you...“ Stephen’s voice trailed off at the sight of Tony chucking the list into the trash can. “Tony.”

“Tsk-tsk, Stephen. Why do you always concern yourself with such inconsequential matters?” Tony asked, mimicking Loki’s crisp accent. “You’re going to give yourself wrinkles.”

He ruffled Stephen’s hair affectionately, before making his way toward the store entrance where Loki was already pulling out not one, not two, but three shopping trolleys. “Hey, Lokes, wait up!”

“Wrinkles,” Stephen muttered, resisting the urge to finger his face for fear of finding new ones. He was sure a few had just cropped up and they had not been here five minutes.

__________________________

Loki stood at the fruits and vegetable section, half-listening to Stephen and Tony argue over the merits and demerits of getting imported fruits over local, seasonal ones for Happy Hogan’s fruit basket, who was currently in hospital recovering from something called a pacemaker operation.

Loki did not understand why they were making their own fruit basket as a get-well gift instead of doing the conventional thing by ordering it online.

Stephen had said something about how a personal human touch would make anything more special and...Loki could not very well argue with that, having acquired not one, but two personal humans of his own.

Oh look. A little human.

"Hello," he said mildly as a woman pushed a trolley past him.

She only gave him a suspicious look before clearing her throat.

Loki took a few steps to the side to allow her access to the ready-to-eat chilled soups and packaged salads.

Soon, he found himself locked in a staring match with the toddler sitting in the trolley.

Loki wondered what it would be like if they had little humans of their own. Their place was certainly big enough for a dozen of them.

He reached for the 'Free Fruit for Kids' display basket, picked a banana from the pile of loose fruits and held it out to the boy.

"Eat it," Loki commanded.

Tony lunged and grabbed the banana out of Loki's hand, before dragging his lover down the aisle as far away as possible from the boy and his mother, who by now, was looking seconds away from calling the police.

"Loki, you can't feed other people's kids without their permission!" Tony hissed, while Stephen apologised profusely to the woman in the background.

"I see," Loki murmured, unperturbed. "If I wanted to feed little humans, I have to make sure they are my own."

"Huh?" Tony asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Loki only hummed appreciatively at the revelation and walked away. This required some thinking and quite possibly a serious discussion with his humans.

________________________

“Sumac? What do you even use that for?”

Loki shrugged. “It’s the only one we don’t have. It is not my fault that the ancient Romans settled for so many letters in their alphabet system.”

Loki was obsessed with the supermarket’s own-brand must-have A-Z selection of spices. He hardly cooked but whenever he deigned to help out in the kitchen, Tony and Stephen had better use one if not most of the spices.

“What do you mean? There’s plenty of spices starting with S.”

“Name one.”

“Sage.”

“You said sage makes your eyes water.”

“Salt. Salt begins with ‘S’.”

“Salt isn’t a spice.”

“Is too.”

“A spice by definition is a seed, fruit, root, bark or other plant substance. Salt isn’t any of those, is it?”

“You just want to collect all the bottles, don’t you?”

“They’re pretty,” Loki said simply. He nuzzled his pout against Tony’s stubbled jaw. “I like pretty little things.”

“Yeah?” Tony asked huskily. “What else do you like?”

Loki’s smile widened.

_______________________

“You do know there is a reason why supermarkets are laid out the way they are?” Stephen asked dryly upon finally locating his husbands in the cereal aisle after a fruitless search of the first few aisles, which they had obviously bypassed. “This is why it takes ages shopping with you guys.”

His two husbands appeared to be engaged in a hushed but heated discussion about something.

Stephen frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Tony and Loki said, almost in unison.

“Loki, please step away from the trolley,” Stephen requested politely.

Loki tried to stand his ground in front of the trolley, but groaned in frustration when Stephen simply put his hands on Loki’s hips.

Loki could never win against his husband’s tactile style of persuasion. Very, very reluctantly he stepped away from the trolley.

Stephen dug through the boxes of all sorts of sugar-free, multi-grain based breakfast cereals, all offerings to appease Doctor Stephen Strange.

Just as he expected, right at the very bottom of the trolley, were a few boxes each of Frosties, Fruit Loops and Honey Nut Cheerios.

“Can you leave me just one?” Loki pleaded. “Please?”

Stephen had to smile to himself. Innocent subterfuge aside, Loki could have used magic to conceal his treasure trove of teeth-rotting cereal but he did not.

He replaced the healthy cereals back on the shelf, leaving Loki’s selection untouched in the trolley.

Tony and Loki stared at him in bewilderment.

“Live a little, right?” Stephen sighed. “Just as long as you eat them, I’m happy.”

Stephen had never seen Tony beam more proudly or Loki’s eyes shine as bright, and he wondered if he had not been bewitched, just a little bit.

_______________________

“That was such a good trip, wasn’t it?” Tony gushed as he stepped out of the portal.

“Yep.” Stephen had to agree. “There was no magic, no stealing, no stabbing. I think we did alright, considering.”

“We did awesome,” Tony corrected. He had to pause in the midst of gushing to enjoy the sudden kiss Stephen was planting on his mouth. “See? I was right. We should do more of these things together, just the three of us.”

“Oh.”

Tony and Stephen turned.

“What is it, Games?” “Did you forget to get something?” They spoke at the same time, noticing the frown on Loki’s face.

Then Stephen noticed a brown paper bag in Loki’s hand that had not been there when they left the store. “What have you got there, babe?”

From the bag, Loki slowly retrieved a chocolate Easter bunny half the size of a football. Then he took out two more, arranging the three of them neatly on the kitchen counter.

“I don’t eat chocolate, but thanks anyway,” Stephen said, relieved that Loki’s secret purchase had simply been chocolate. Their not-strictly-human husband had brought back some strange items in the past.

Loki rummaged through the paper bag again.

“There’s more?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Sorry to disappoint you, Lokes, but the bunnies are 100% chocolate, they only wrap them in gold paper - ”

A tiny Easter bunny joined the family of three on the counter.

A silence so absolute fell over the house that Loki could practically hear his human husbands’ fantastic brains turn and their heartbeats pick up pace.

“What do you think?” Loki asked, hoping his shaking voice would not give his fears away .

“What do we - ” Stephen swallowed hard. “Are you saying that you’re - ?”

Tony was lost for words. He hurried to Loki’s side.

“No, no.” Loki shook his head vehemently. “No…” Before he could hesitate for too long, “But I could be.”

The tightening of Tony’s arm around his waist gave Loki the final push he needed. “I suppose what I am trying to ask is...could we be?”

Tony and Stephen’s exchange of stunned looks lasted only a second before Stephen dropped the grocery bag he was holding onto the floor. He marched across the kitchen and closed the distance between them.

Before Loki knew it, Stephen had wrapped his arms around them both, engulfing his husbands in a rough hug.

“I’m in.” Stephen kissed Loki and Tony’s temples one after the other, over and over. “I’m so fucking in.”

“Tony?” Loki called his name uncertainly.

“Gosh, Loki. You promised you wouldn’t make my eyes water,” Tony managed.

Loki bit the inside of his lip. “I would apologise for that, but uh, does that mean you’re in?”

“Of course I’m in, silly!” Tony laughed. “Someone needs to inherit all my billions!’

#ironstrangefrost #ironstrange #frostiron #strangefrost

48 notes · View notes

f00pyf00p · 3 years

Text

Beyond The Darkness Lies Light

Fandom: Sanders Sides Characters: Logan, Virgil, Janus Rating: Mature Relationships: Romantic Analogical Warnings: Violence, Implied Rape, Abusive Relationships, Flashbacks, Nightmares, PTSD, Unsympathetic Deceit, Crying, Angst and Hurt/Comfort Word count: 2270 Summary: Logan awoke in a puddle of his own sweat. It was dark- dark enough that he couldn’t tell if that shadow on the wall was Janus or just- He flicked the light switch next to him. The room was empty. Other Notes: Analogical Week Day 3: Nightmares/Dreams @analogicalweek

Read on AO3

Logan had already been tense when Janus turned to him. His boyfriend’s eyes were narrowed, breathing harsh, and when he reached for Logan’s wrist, Logan couldn’t help but to flinch away.

That didn’t stop Janus’ hand from closing around it and slamming it up against his bedroom wall.

“Where were you?”

His voice was practically a growl and as he said it he boxed Logan into the corner, so there was nowhere to run, nowhere to go but to him. Logan looked at the floor but Janus’s other hand grabbed the sides of his face and forced him to meet his eyes.

“I asked you a question, you complete dunce. Where. Were. You.”

“I- I was-”

“You- you were,” Janus mocked. His hand tightened around Logan’s wrist and the other one dropped his head to fully slam him in the stomach.

Logan doubled over, the only thing keeping him up that firm, impossible grip.

“I was at my mom’s.” Logan’s voice was practically a whisper and edged with pain. “I promise, I wasn’t-”

“Do you remember the rules?”

“Our dog had just died, she said she needed-”

Another punch, this one to the face. “Do you remember the rules, Bonehead?”

Logan whimpered. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-”

Janus’s hand hauled him back to his feet. Logan kept his gaze on the wood beams of the floor, falling silent as Janus’s hand grazed the bruise he had just planted on him.

“You.” A slap to the face. “Don’t.” Another in the same spot. “Go.” A knee to his groin. Logan nearly slipped down the wall, but Janus kept him standing. “Anywhere.” He backhanded him on the other cheek. “Without me.”

Logan was quick to nod.

“Get on the bed.”

“Please-”

“Get on the bed, Logan.”

The hand fell off his wrist, exposing layers of dark purple handprints. Janus didn’t need to tell him again as Logan took a step forward, towards their shared bed, towards-

Logan awoke in a puddle of his own sweat. It was dark- dark enough that he couldn’t tell if that shadow on the wall was Janus or just-

He flicked the light switch next to him.

The room was empty.

Obviously, you complete idiot.

He winced at the voice- the voice that was definitely not his- and dropped back onto the sheets. Breath came unsteadily, fiercely, and tears pricked at the edges of Logan’s eyes. Before he could get a proper grip on himself, a loud sob poured out of him which was enough to trigger the avalanche that came after.

Gods, he was pathetic. It was a dream. It was just a dream. He had escaped Janus years ago. He was safe, he had moved, and there was no way for Janus to ever get to him again.

He was fine.

Fine.

Another sob ripped out of him. Logan rolled to the other half of his bed, leaving a trail of sweat as he did so, and curled into a ball under the covers.

He was fine.

He was home.

He was safe.

But no matter how many times Logan repeated it, he couldn’t quite make himself believe it.

Logan’s hand swept out towards his bedside table- maybe for his glasses, to turn on another light, he couldn’t quite be sure, but either way, what his hand fell on was his fully charged cell phone.

He knew what he wanted before he had fully comprehended it. His thumb pressed against the home button, fingers rapidly working to find the phone app, until he finally opened to the recent calls section and clicked the very first name on the list.

He pressed it up to his ear.

It rang once.

Twice.

He probably wasn’t even awake, Logan told himself. It was- he glanced at the alarm clock- 2:21 in the morning. There was no need for Virgil to be awake, and frankly, it would actually be troubling if he did pick up the phone.

At least, that’s what Logan was telling himself.

“What’s up?” The voice was slightly crackly, rough and Logan found that the very sound of it forced another sob out of his throat.

That definitely put the voice on alert. “L? L, you okay? What’s wrong?”

“I-I’m fine.” Logan choked on his own words. “Hi, Vir-Virgil.”

“Hello yourself. What’s going on?”

“I…” Another sob tore through him. “I’m not actually sure why-why I called.”

“That’s okay.” There was a ruffling on the other side of the phone, followed by a loud zipper. “Do you want to talk?”

Did he? Not really. Re-visiting the dream right now felt like rubbing salt into an old wound, one that had yet to close. One Logan wasn’t sure he would ever be able to fully close.

So why had he called? What had his body known he needed before his brain could fully catch up with his instincts?

“I-” Logan swallowed. “I want you.”

“Okay.” Thumping noises. Virgil must be walking around. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Logan wiped his eyes with his arm. “It’s stupid.”

“I don’t think you’re capable of that, Logan.” Virgil was interrupted by… was that an engine? “And if you’re upset, I want to listen.”

Logan’s heart lurched forward and a fresh wave of tears completely undid all the work he had done in cleaning himself up. There was a quiet noise from outside his window and Logan instantly curled closer around himself, mewling softly.

“L.” Virgil’s voice was unbearably soft. “L, I’m coming to your apartment. I’ll be there in five minutes. Okay?”

Normally, Logan would protest. He should protest now; it had just been a nightmare and nightmares were nothing, nightmares didn’t matter-

A car roared down by his window and Logan whimpered.

“Yes, please.”

“I’ll stay on the phone with you while I’m getting there.”

“Yes, please.”

“L, do you want to talk about what happened?”

It was almost the same question as earlier, but it was so unbearably soft, so unbearably understanding that Logan found the easy “no” from earlier wasn’t one he could summon. He closed his tears and huddled closer to his phone as if Virgil himself could appear through the screen.

“I experienced a dream. About… him.”

Virgil's silence was deafening and Logan almost apologized, for calling him, for waking him, especially over something as stupid as a nightmare, when finally his boyfriend spoke.

“I’m going to kill him.” Virgil let out a breath. “Not helpful. Sorry. Um. You’re not dumb, Logan. I can’t imagine… What you’re feeling right now is valid. Okay? Everything that’s happening right now is valid.”

“He’s not even here.” Logan's voice cracked on the last word.

“The memory of what he did to you is, L. Especially after something as triggering as a nightmare. Okay? It’s okay.” There was a pause and then Virgil spoke again, much more muffled and clearly not to Logan. “Turn left here please. Thank you.”

Logan sank back into the cushions, staying curled in the tight ball from earlier.

“My car is about to pull on your street, L.” Virgil’s voice was as patient as ever. “I’ll be there soon. I’m going to hang up for right now, okay?”

Logan gave a quiet murmur in response. He wiped his tears away a third time, and this time, they didn’t replenish and undo all his hard work.

There was a knock on his front door and then a creak as it opened. And even though he knew it was Virgil, even though he knew it wasn’t him, Logan's heart stopped and his entire body froze.

“Logan?”

The voice helped. The knock on his bedroom door did as well simply because Janus had never bothered.

“Logan? Can I come in?”

Logan swallowed. “Y-yeah.”

“Can I turn on the light? More than just your bedside lamp I mean.”

Yes, please, thank you thank you thank you-

“Yeah.”

He blinked blearily against the sudden shine from above, choosing to curl away from it rather than towards it. There was a sudden sinking in the bed behind him and Logan refroze immediately.

“Logan, can I touch you?” The voice cracked in the middle of the sentence but came much stronger at the end. A kind of firmness that came to it only when someone was desperately trying not to fall apart.

He didn’t want to upset Virgil.

“I don’t think so,” he whispered. “At the moment, I believe it’ll resend me into a state of panic.”

“Okay. Do you want to talk about your nightmare?”

Logan didn’t. But he had finally managed to stop crying, and his therapist had told him that talking was helpful. So he opened his mouth and launched into it, leaving out only the things that he still couldn’t handle passing his lips. And by the end of it, it was like a weight had been lifted off of his chest, especially as Virgil muttered darkly;

“I’ll cut his fucking hands off.” He twitched, which Logan only was sure occurred because the entire bed moved with him. “Sorry. Still not helpful. You know everything you feel right now is normal, right Logan? Revisiting a memory like that…” Virgil swallowed. “You’re very brave.”

Logan wiped his eyes again and slowly unfurled from his ball and flipped over to meet the watery eyes of his boyfriend. Virgil smiled sadly, and his hands twitched towards him before they were firmly placed in his lap.

Logan cleared his throat. “Above the waist is fine. And not… not my face.”

A very very dark look crossed Virgil’s face but it was banished just as quickly. Logan closed his eyes as a hand gently landed on his shoulder and smoothed light circles into his sweat nightshirt. The motion helped steady him, and Logan matched his breaths to the rhythm, slowly evening everything out.

He moved and the hand froze in place. Logan slowly drew himself up and collapsed onto Virgil’s side, ducking his head onto Virgil’s chest and curling two arms around his middle.

Slowly, uncertainly, Virgil wrapped an arm around Logan. He was very careful to keep his touch to his chest, one arm curling to hold him around his back and the other gently falling beside it.

“Sorry I woke you up,” Logan whispered.

“Oh, shut up.” Virgil’s tone was as light as he could make it with the rumble of empathy behind it. “I always want to be woken up for this, L.”

Logan’s arm tightened around Virgil and he buried his face into Virgil’s chest.

He didn’t know how long they lay there. How long he concentrated on evening out his breathing, how long he worked to stifle the memories that kept threatening to overflow him, but he knew eventually his concentration lay not with Janus- not fully at least- but rather with the slickness covering him.

Slowly, Logan pushed from Virgil’s chest so he was sitting up on his bed. With one arm, he dried off what was left on his face and reached for his glasses on the nightstand.

Virgil watched him with cautious, adoring eyes. Just the look of him helped Logan to breathe.

“I’m…” Logan shoved the glasses up his nose. “I believe the next best step would be for me to take a shower. I’m currently a mess.”

“You’re beautiful,” Virgil said sincerely. Logan fixated him with a look and a bit of a smile appeared on Virgil’s face. “I mean, you look a bit ruffled, but I still find you adorable.”

Logan slowly leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss to Virgil’s lips. Virgil responded carefully, slowly. His hands remained by his sides and he let Logan lead them through it until Logan pulled back.

“Thank you,” Logan murmured.

Virgil swallowed noisily. “Of course. Why don’t you go take a shower, and I’ll see if I can find something in your refrigerator to eat?”

Logan nodded.

His shower was as hot as he could make it without burning his skin, and he got the feeling as he scrubbed, that he wasn’t just trying to remove the fine layer of crusted water and salt spread across his skin.

Once he was out, Logan changed into a long-sleeve shirt and a pair of long pajama pants. He glanced over at the clock and winced.

4:07 in the morning.

Tomorrow- or rather today, Logan supposed- would be quite the thing to work through.

He shuffled into his kitchen and found Virgil setting pancakes out across it. Logan blinked.

“I wasn’t aware I had ingredients for pancakes.”

“I bought you that mix where you just add water about three months ago.” Virgil raised his eyebrows. “It hadn’t been opened yet.”

Logan shrugged.

While the two of them ate, Virgil launched into a story about the animal shelter he worked at, going into unnecessary detail over a dog who had bitten a stick in a bad enough way to get it stuck in between his teeth and the work Virgil had to do to get it out.

Logan had never been more appreciative of Virgil than he was at that moment.

When they finished eating, Virgil dropped off the plates in Logan’s sink. Logan watched him with large glassy eyes and Virgil swallowed thickly, a hand reaching out for him that froze halfway there.

“Can I-”

“You can touch me.” Logan cleared his throat. “Anywhere- Anywhere is fine.”

Hands curled into his hair and Virgil gently hugged Logan’s head to his stomach. Logan wrapped both of his arms around Virgil's waist and let out a long breath.

“I love you,” Logan whispered.

The hands tightened around him. “I love you too.”

#analogical #analogicalweek #virgil-x-logan #virgil sanders #logan sanders #logan angst #sandersides #unsympathetic janus #abusive lociet #rape tw #violence tw #past lociet

39 notes · View notes

ballerinaroy · 4 years

Note

Can you write something about Hermione having a birth trauma? Like she learns that she is pregnant with Hugo but can’t be happy about it in the first place because with Rose she had an emergency c-section after almost 2 days of labour and is beyond traumatized? And Ron keeping her sane and encouraging her that everything will turn out to be ok this time? I have a birth trauma myself and it was horrible.

Hey! Sorry this took so long. Looking for the right inspiration. You might also be interested in my fic: after everything we went through it doesn’t feel fair to be so happy. It features a PTSD ridden Hermione pregnant with Rose but it’s along the same vein. Hope you enjoy!

She should have expected this. It wasn’t like last time around. They’d been trying. Rose had turned one and a half and they’d wanted their kids to be close and…she should have been expecting this. But as Hermione sat on the public toilet, staring down at the muggle pregnancy test clutched in her hand, Hermione discovered she had never felt more unprepared.

*~*~*

“Everything alright?”

“What?” she asked, looking up, surprised to find Ron standing before her, their daughter in his arms.

“I called your name,” Ron explained, setting Rose down who promptly toddled over to her. “You looked deep in thought.”

“Oh,” she said, avoiding his eye to pick up Rose, greeting her with a smile and a kiss. “I didn’t hear you.”

Ron chuckled, “You’ve been doing that more you know, big project at work?”

“Something like that,” she said, shaking the fog from her head. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how late it’d gotten, I didn’t pull out, well there’s pasta anyway.”

“Don’t worry, mum sent home soup,” Ron said, pulling out a large container from Rose’s bag. “She still thinks we can’t feed ourselves.”

“She’s not wrong,” Hermione said.

“Yes, but I’m not going to be the one to tell her,” Ron said, dumping the container into a pot to warm it. “Is there any bread left?”

*~*~*

The routine of dinner and putting Rose to bed had pushed the news from her mind.

Hermione lay in the dark, unable to sleep. Her brain spun the words again and again. Pregnant. Inside her, a life was growing. It was what they wanted. She loved being a mother, had loved carrying Rose. Hermione hadn’t believed Ginny or Angelina a minute when they’d spoken about the wonder of growing a life inside you until it had happened and found they had under hyped the process of having a baby.

So why did the thought of having another threaten to choke her? Lying there, she was hard-pressed to remember why they’d wanted to have another. And why she’d volunteered to carry their next. Hermione ran her hand over her stomach, the scars atop it almost faded and now-

Oh. Of course.

*~*~*

Hermione looked up as someone knocked on her door.

“Lunch?” Ginny asked.

Hermione nodded, waving her in. “I didn’t know you were here today.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be, but Harry begged me and then stood me up.” Ginny explained, sitting herself carefully in one of the chairs. “But I’d already arranged a sitter so you were my second stop.”

“What, was Percy busy too?” Hermione teased, finishing her thought and looking over her desk to make sure everything that needed to be done was.

“Believe it or not he told me he has a lunch date.” Ginny said and Hermione frowned. “I ran into him in the lift. And his ears got awfully red when he told me so we’ll need to talk about that.”

“I’ll ask Margert,” Hermione said, nodding towards her assistant. “She knows more about what goes on in this Ministry than I did.”

“I always liked Margret,” Ginny said appreciatively, lifting herself up from the chair with some difficulty.

“Is everything okay?” Hermione asked, concerned.

“What?” Ginny asked.

“Did you hurt your back?”

“Oh, no, er-“ she looked mischievous and Hermione knew she was holding onto a secret. “Come on, let's go.”

“Alright,” Hermione said, putting on her cloak.

“So?” Hermione asked once they were seated and their orders taken. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Ginny waved it away, “Just some back pain.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing.” Hermione said, “I seem to remember you fracturing your clavicle and still finishing out a match.”

“That was a championship game,” Ginny said. “Besides, it was also five years ago and no kids.”

But Hermione didn’t give up, staring at her.

“Oh, alright, but you can’t tell anyone, Harry has this whole plan which I think is ridiculous for a third.”

“A third?” Hermione asked, her eyes darting down to Ginny’s stomach as her own churned.

Ginny grinned, bringing one finger up to her mouth. “Mum’s the word.”

Their order arrived and Hermione was given a moment to reflect as the waiter set down their food and bustled off.

“Thank god, I was starving. I know it’s too early but I know this one’s a boy the way it eats.”

“Last time you knew it wasn’t because you were always throwing up,” Hermione commented.

“Well I was right,” Ginny said, popping a chip into her mouth. “Anyway, what about you?”

Hermione didn’t say anything, hoping to avoid the question by pretending not to hear it.

“No luck?” Ginny asked knowingly.

“Well,” Hermione shrugged.

“Well? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, it’s just so soon, isn’t it? Rose isn’t even two and it’s just so soon.” Hermione babbled.

“Well, sure, I just thought you were considering it,” Ginny said casually.

Suddenly the food in front of her didn’t look very appetizing. She brought a hand to rest over her stomach on instinct and then snatched it away, gripping the wooden bench.

“Hermione?”

“It’s just so soon,” Hermione repeated. “It’s too soon, I’m not ready to go through that again.”

“Yeah, of course,” Ginny said. “You had a rough go of it. I’m not trying to-“

“I don’t want to give birth,” Hermione whispered, looking up at last and was alarmed to find her vision wet. “I can’t go through that again.”

Hurridly, Ginny stood, coming over to her side of the booth and rubbing Hermione’s arms.

“Hermione that was,” Ginny said helplessly. “Have you talked to the healer?”

She nodded. “They said it was an abnormality but it happened. They didn’t catch it until it was too late and even if they monitor me, what’s to say it won’t happen again?”

Ginny didn’t have anything to offer and Hermione felt herself on the verge of breaking down.

“I don’t want it to happen again.”

“I know,” she whispered and looked deep in thought. “Let’s go see them.”

“What?” Hermione asked. “Now? I don’t have an-“

“Hermione, and you’ll never hear these words out of my mouth again, they’ll make time for Harry Potter’s wife.” Ginny made a gagging noise. “Oh, I hated that.”

Hermione let out a helpless laugh.

“I swear I’m washing my mouth out with soap when I get home,” Ginny said, shuddering. “Now come on, let’s see what they have to say.”

*~*~*

The calming drought had helped to ease her thinking long enough to actually listen to what the Healers had to say. Before, with Rose needing to be watched and the trauma of being awake for three days, she’d barely processed what the maternity healer had told her. But sitting in the room, Ginny there to ask questions and hold her hand, Hermione’s worries had been lifted if only a little.

“She down?” Hermione asked as Ron came back into their front room.

He nodded, sinking down onto the sofa beside her and giving her a smile. “For now, I waited until the big screams stopped.”

Hermione bent over, kissing his cheek and he blinked sleepily at her. “I’m about to turn in myself, are you staying up?”

“Actually there’s something I want to talk with you about,” Hermione said, setting her book aside.

“Oh?” he asked, lifting up his head. “Everything alright.”

Hermione nodded. “I went to St. Mongo’s today.”

“Hermione-“

“About a week ago I was feeling run down and I realized I was a week late,” Hermione said. “So I took a test and-“

“Oh,” Ron said, his eyes darting to her stomach, and then he sat up straighter. “Hermione, are you-?”

She nodded, letting out a nervous breath.

“Wait, so, why’d you-is everything?”

“Everything’s fine,” Hermione said, taking his hand and laying it over her abdomen. “I didn’t tell you, about last week, because I was frightened. After Rose’s birth, I-I didn’t think it would affect me as much as it did but staring down at that test I was terrified.”

“What did the healer say?” Ron asked, terror on his face.

“That they were going to monitor me and as we get closer to my due date I might have to go in for observation but there is no reason why anything should happen again,” Hermione assured him. He let out a long breath, his hand sliding around to her back and he pulled her close. “I’m sorry I didn’t-“

“No, Hermione I, you’re okay?”

“I’m better,” Hermione said with a nod. “I mean, I’m still worried of course but-“

He pressed his lips against her cheek and she felt a calming wave rush over her. She closed her eyes, throwing an arm over his shoulder and the last of the tension drained from her.

“You wanna talk about it?” Ron murmured.

“Can it wait until tomorrow?” Hermione asked. “I just want-“

She just wanted to have him hold her while she drifted off.

“Yeah,” he said, pressing his lips to her cheek in another long kiss. “I’ve noticed you haven’t been sleeping, come-on, if you’re anything like your daughter a good bedtime story should do the trick.”

#roywrites #ROMIONE #Ron/Hermione

29 notes · View notes

yunhostinyuyu · 4 years

Text

you‘re gonna make it

pairing: boyfriend!haechan x fem reader

genre: zombie apocalype au, angst, hurt, a little fluff

wc: 1.7k

synopsis: thinking that monsters only existed in movies was a bit naive of you, but since the world is about to end you have no other choice...

warnings: monsters, blood, injuries, implied death

—

seven days. it had been seven days since the world started to end.

Only a week ago at this time, you were laying in bed with your boyfriend, cuddled into loads of blankets and your head rested on his chest. Calming whispers, tangled legs and soothing strokes against your back was everything you felt that moment which seemed to never end. Only source of sound was the TV, were a scary movie played in the background. In these times you felt true happiness - Only the two of you against the world. Little did you know that those words could have an alternate meaning soon...

In the end, that feeling didn’t last long. No more warmth and safety. Now you are both fighting for your life. Only coldness and uncertainty.

It all started so quickly, thousands and thousands of people were reported dead, and not because of war or sickness: it was because of those creatures. You are not sure on what to call them - mutations, zombies, monsters... all that was certain that they were out to kill. And they did just that without mercy. So it was safe to say that it was more than foolish to believe, that those sort of things only existed in books or movies, since this was most certainly the brutal reality everyone had to face now.

Five days ago, the apartment complex were you lived was attacked by those monsters. It seemed like a miracle that you survived, given the circumstances. Everything broke down and got destroyed, and everyone who lived in there was either killed or bitten. Haechan explained from the Informations he was able to get on the dark web, that they used to be human as well, but there was not much left that would let you confirm that fact with your own eyes. Deformed arms and legs, additional tentacles and limbs grow out of thier white and green skin shimmering in slick. Teeth everywhere you looked, some had more, others had less, but they were all dangerous, able to take your life in a second.

Since you left the apartment, you have been wandering around the area, searching for other survivors, but only finding more monsters and corpses. And that’s were you two are at now, looking deschevelled and dirty, legs and arms sore from walking and fighting monsters off with really, anything you found laying around. Haechan was looking like another person now, dark pants ripped with his legs beneath covered in scratches and bruises, his Jacket and Pullover are dirty and sprinkled in blood stains. His hair looking crazy messy and his beautiful face was also covered in dirt and mud. Backpack strapped against his back and a gun resting in the loop his belt. You yourself didn’t look any better in all honesty, but you were just glad you were both alive.

After several hours of walking, you stumbled onto a building that has not been destroyed yet, with no sign of any monsters nearby.

“Should we go in?” You ask the tanned boy, as his eyes continued to scan the area. After a while of comparing the surroundings to the wrinkled map that they had found a while ago in an abondoned building that was also run down and destroyed like everything else. You both look up the building, which had about twenty stories.

Haechan hesitates, “I’m not sure... there could be plenty of mutations inside. It could be dangerous.” You sigh, another shimmer of hope about to extinguish in your grasp, but you didn’t give up so easy. “But what if there are other surviours in there aswell? It would explain why the building is the only one intact! We have to go in and try!”

But he wasn’t as keen about going in to the giant house and tried to keep you from it. Then, like on cue, a flag arose from the top floor, being held by shaky hands out of the window. The dark red letters spelled ‘it’s safe’

“Come on, we have to go inside! The creatures would not be able to make such a sign! Haechan, let’s gooo~” a sudden wave of a relief spurring you into action, dragging your boyfriend with you. Only for him to stop and shrug you off, “Y/N, listen to me...” he pulled you back to face him as he held your hands in his rough ones. He reaches down to the gun, and gently slips it into your grasp.

“I want you to have it. You should be able to defend yourself. If something was to happen in there, and I couldn’t save you, I-... I could never forgive myself. I just can’t let anything bad happen to you.” He stuttered, but still firm enough in his pronounciation to understand the words clearly. You gently take the gun from him and put it into the back of your pants.

“I’m not scared, not when you’re with me.” You whisper and bring your hands back to his, this time without the heavy weapon. Looking up to meet his soft eyes, you just wrap your arms around him and hug him like it’s the last time. Haechan truly cared for you and loved you with his entire heart, always wanting to be by your side to make sure nobody hurt you. Before everything went downhill, it was easier for him to go after the promise he made to himself, but still not letting up on it, even if it was hard. And even if the moment you hugged him tightly, you felt safe and loved, even if one of those things was far from the reality. Thinking about the times you promised to marry each other when you were finished with your school and apprenticeships, the secrets and promises you told each other and things you expierienced and overcome together - they were so tangible in this moment, never wanting to let go of him.

After a minute, you ripped yourself together and decided to finally enter the building, taking the lead with Haechan close on your feet. The interior looking almost untouched, but there was still a lot of sand and dirt on the floor and stairs. Taking a step onto the first section you whipped and turned your heads upwards. You sigh, “better get going, those are a lot of stairs.” he joked and you fell into step with each other as you started walking up.

“Are you clean? Are you bitten?” A new voice called out from above you. “Yes!” Haechan screamed in in reply to the strangers question. “Hurry up, or the zombies are going to find you before you get up here! There’s not much time!” his tone drenched in distress and worry, it transmitted to you both and sped up your steps drastically. You were confident you were going to make it, find other survivors, figure something out. But the only goal right now was to get to that damned floor on top. Safety. Safety was there, just in your reach. You sped up even more, Haechan struggling to keep up with you.

“Y/N, slow down, I’m not that fast!” He argued, but you didn’t slow down, your tired and worn out legs somehow still carrying your at an unnatural speed.

Suddenly, something wrapped around your stomach and chest, and pulled you to the side, away from the stairs. Before you even realised what had happened, you hear a desparate cry from Haechan. The tentacles leaving you again, just to find one of the knives that he has been carrying, is now stuck in the middle of it’s head. You sit up, catching a chance of your boyfriend who was hurrying up the stairs. But there was another problem: a mutation was behind him, and according to his careless movemts, he didn’t know. Quickly grabbing the gun from behind you, you let you a bloody scream “Duck! Something is behind you!” He followed your order quick and let himself fall down the stairs with a loud thud. Half a second later, you shoot the creature three times. As it went down and falling back the stairs until it stopped moving.

Haechan pulled himself up to his feet, and you met his eyes for a brief second, before his focus shifted onto something else, and truly, you had never seen him so scared before. He let out another scream, this time louder more nerve wrecking than before. But right in that moment, it was too late.

The monster that was behind you, took the knife that attacked his head just moments prior, was now ramming its way deep into your back. Letting out a cry of pain at the stabbing feeling, losing grip of the pistol and tumbling to the ground. You heard steps from both infront of you and from further above. Haechan took the gun as soon as he reached the top of the stairway on which you were laying. Shooting the monster five, six, seven times. The sounds of gunshots, quick footsteps were accompanied by your screams and cry’s, slowly failing to composure yourself. Dark spots started to dance around the edges of your vision, before Haechan comes to a rest at your side, kneeling next to your bleeding body. The wound was so deep and fatal, that there was no way of you surviving it. You had to grew accustom to the thought, even before your dear lover did.

“No, no this can’t be happening. Y/N you have to stay with me! You can’t just die on me, come on... you’re gonna make it, you have to make it!” he cried, tears and snot running down his face as he took hold of your numb frame.

You focused and breathing and tried to ignore the throbbing, indescribable pain that is slowly but surely sucking the life out of you. His hands are on your face, shaking you slowly ro keep you awake.

As your breaths grew even more uneven, you took everything that was still left in you to say the following words:

“Make me happy... I know you can make it... don’t be weak... I love you.”

“I love you too. So much it hurts. I don’t know if I can live without you...” he sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

“You can, Hyuckie...” Tears left both of your eyes, and he pressed a short, last kiss to your lips, before everything went black.

He cried into your lifeless body, shaking “From where ever you are watching me from now on... I will make you proud.”

—

#Haechan #Donghyuck #nct 2020 #nct au #nct fic #nct writing #nct 127 #nct u #nct dream #nct drabble #nct haechan #boyfriend Haechan #apocalypse au #I still don’t know how to tag things please excuse me

42 notes · View notes

when-they-write-stuff · 4 years

Text

Sheriff Stilinski’s Guide to Courting

pairing: sterek

word count: 3.3k

notes: written for an ao3 requested prompt of sheriff stilinski and his attempts at giving derek dating advice in regards to his son. i might’ve had too much fun with this.

John was pretty sure this shouldn’t be his problem.

He would rather not actively participate in his son’s love life, thank you very much. Especially when he was pretty sure his son’s ‘love life’ consisted of chaotic pining after the angry werewolf that the Sheriff had been working to put behind bars two years ago.

See, John was pretty sure said angry werewolf might be pining after his son too. Just not as chaotically. In fact, there was no chaos. Just longing looks and angsty glares that made even John want to groan.

He was pretty sure this wasn’t his problem. His time should never be spent actively participating in his son’s love life.

But then the Sheriff realized the only way he was ever getting any mental peace again would be when his son and Derek Hale were no longer dancing around each other. And so, with a sinking heart, the Sheriff realized he was going to have to take part in making sure that happened.

First of all, he would like to say he did not ask for this.

Second of all, it was hard.

It started when John walked past his son’s room one day, paused, and then quickly backtracked to see Derek sitting on his son’s bed.

Stiles was nowhere to be seen. The kid was still at lacrosse practice if John remembered right, and probably wouldn’t be home for another hour or so. But here Derek was, sitting. On Stiles’s bed. Alone in an empty room with his leather jacket sitting on his lap and his face always perpetually scowling. Until he saw the Sheriff staring, that was.

John blinked at him and Derek blinked back. The man had gone shock-still, looking like a deer caught in headlights, and his eyes were full-blown wide. Leaning against the bedroom door, John raised one eyebrow and sighed.

“Hello there, Derek.”

“Sir.”

“Do I want to ask what you’re doing here?”

The man shifted uncomfortably. “I’m waiting for Stiles.”

“He’s at the school.”

“I know.”

“And he won’t be back for a while still.”

“... I know.”

The Sheriff pressed his lips together and nodded. He really didn’t think he wanted to press, but he was pretty sure he couldn’t leave Derek sitting alone in his son’s bedroom either. Because that would be wrong, right? That would probably be wrong.

“Might I ask why you’re waiting for Stiles?”

For a long moment, he didn’t get an answer. Then Derek ducked his head and mumbled the word “Research” so quietly, John almost didn’t catch it. Because unlike Hale, he wasn’t a werewolf. He didn’t have super hearing, dammit.

John made a mental note not to remind himself it was a werewolf— not just a man— sitting in his son’s bedroom. Because he was pretty sure that would create a whole new list of problems.

“So, research,” he said, almost enjoying the look on Derek’s face. “That’s all?”

“Yes sir.”

“There’s nothing else going on here?”

Derek’s face turned bright red and he quickly shook his head. The Sheriff pressed his lips together and nodded. There were a lot more things he could say; a lot more things he should probably say. But John decided that was enough interference for the day. He’d have a conversation with Stiles when he got back from practice.

You know, about how werewolves probably shouldn’t be camping out in his room on a school day.

“Okay then,” John said, and Derek looked both shocked and relieved. “If you want a cup of coffee while you’re waiting, the kitchen’s wide open. And if you made Stiles a snack for when he gets home, I’m pretty sure he’ll be much more receptive to this… research.”

Derek stared at him with wide eyes before nodding. John chuckled and turned away, continuing back down the hall. He thought he’d handled that fairly well. Or… as well as possible, at least. How was he even supposed to address something like that?

John was pretty sure he didn’t want to get involved. He really didn’t want to get involved.

He just didn’t realize yet that he didn’t have a choice.

The next time John stumbled across things he didn’t mean to, he started to realize he either went along with it or moved to another town. Because Derek Hale was always there. And it seemed his son was too.

John liked when he got to do the grocery shopping because that meant he could buy the things he wanted to. Stiles never let him buy steak or frozen meals or anything actually edible when he tagged along, and when the boy went out by himself, he never came home with anything other than vegetables and whole wheat pasta. So John cherished the days when he could do the shopping himself.

The moment he entered the store, he made a beeline for the frozen meats section. But John didn’t expect to pass the ‘Personal Care Products’ aisle and see two figures standing there that he recognized very well.

Moving slowly back, John peered at Derek and his son, and then glanced at the different packages of bandages that Stiles was holding.

“These might be cheaper, Derek,” the boy said, waving one through the air. “But they also sop up less blood. When one of us is bleeding out, Sourwolf, which would you prefer? The bandages that last five seconds and then let you bleed to death, or the ones that basically hold you together?”

“I would rather not have either of us bleeding out at all,” Derek said flatly, and the Sheriff decided truer words had never been spoken. He’d never thought he’d be listening to his son talk about his possible injury and death, but no father should have to hear something like that. Ever.

He stepped forward, clearing his throat, and both Stiles and Derek whirled around.

Derek’s eyes went as wide as saucers. But Stiles only went shock-still for a moment before putting a bright smile on his face and straightening up.

“Pops, dad, father-mine! What a coincidence to see you here!”

“Coincidence indeed,” the Sheriff said, looking at the bandages and then back at his son. “Can I assume someone is not currently dying?”

“Not yet!”

“Not… yet.”

“Stiles,” Derek hissed, elbowing the boy in the ribs. Stiles made a protesting noise of pain and elbowed the man back, and the Sheriff resisted the urge to facepalm.

This was his son, ladies and gentleman. And the Alpha werewolf he had somehow come to tame.

“So,” John said. “This is what you do in your free time?”

“Only when necessary.”

“Do I want to know what that means?”

Stiles ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, a sheepish look replacing the one of amusement on his face. “Only when we run out of bandages.”

The meaning behind that was obvious. John really questioned everything sometimes; like maybe his decision to not lock Stiles in his room and make him study online until graduation. Then he could let him back out into the world and make sure he went to college somewhere far, far away from Beacon Hills.

The Sheriff really lingered on that fantasy sometimes. Even though he knew he’d never be able to tear Stiles away from the supernatural. Not today, not tomorrow. He hoped maybe one day the boy would finally get some peace, but that didn’t seem to be in the near future.

Derek’s face was scarily pale beside the boy. John only sighed.

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

“I will not,” Stiles said, dropping the more expensive bandages into the basket that Derek held and moving forward to snoop through the Sheriff’s cart. He wrinkled his nose and picked out a bag of chips, a container of cookies, and a loaf of white bread that the Sheriff had put in there earlier. “But these will. This is why you’re not allowed to go grocery shopping alone.”

“It warms my heart when my son tells me what to do.”

“Only because I care,” Stiles said with a grin, putting the items in Derek’s basket instead of back in the Sheriff’s cart. John was sad to see the cookies go. “Now you may go check out, pops. And don’t even think about making a pit stop in the frozen meats section.”

“I deserve steak,” the Sheriff mumbled. Stiles snorted.

“You deserve to live a nice long, full life without any heart problems.”

“You’re a heart problem.”

“See,” Stiles said, glancing toward Derek. “You think you have it rough dealing with me. When my dad gets hungry, he’s like a pouty teenager. Even though we all know he’s much too old to ever be considered a teenager again.”

“Okay,” the Sheriff said, grabbing his cart and starting past them. “And now I’ve had enough of my own son for the day.”

“I love you, pops!”

John only huffed. But before he moved fully by, he hesitated and grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, setting it in the basket next to the bandages. Derek’s face did fifty more things, finally resting on blank terror, and the Sheriff was quietly pleased that he could incur such fear in a man like Derek Hale.

Because Derek Hale was a werewolf. John was pretty sure that when he was shifted, even a bullet to the chest would take its time stopping him.

But clearly John’s mere presence made Derek tremble in his fancy leather jacket.

“Quick tip,” John said quietly, leaning closer so Stiles couldn’t hear. “If you buy him a packet of Reeses at checkout, he’ll be well behaved for the rest of the day.”

Derek’s eyes snapped to the Sheriff’s face and he just stared for a moment. Then, still pale, Derek nodded. The Sheriff smiled and moved back away. He didn’t glance back, but he could feel Derek watching at him the entire time he moved down the aisle.

John didn’t buy himself any steak, mourning that loss. But he did pick up a packet of Reeses for his own self at checkout. Because he was a simple man and chocolate was therapy.

And John had no doubts he was going to need a lot of chocolate before this was all over.

See, the Sheriff didn’t know why he was going along with all of this. He was pretty sure it would make his life easier in the end but with a son like Stiles, he couldn’t know that for sure.

It just seemed once the Sheriff started stumbling across things, apparently he couldn’t stop.

He tried to sneak into the diner and found Stiles laughing in a booth with Derek at his side. The man had looked like he was about to pass out when Stiles had gone to the bathroom and John had crossed over, offering a wide smile and pointing out that Stiles liked milkshakes, so Derek should attempt that.

Not a week later, Derek was arrested for standing outside the Stilinski house at night (not by John, of course. He’d gotten used to Hale and his strange habits by now) and the Sheriff had been the one to let him off, saying maybe he should consider talking to Stiles instead of silently lingering in the shadows.

One month passed and the Sheriff realized he was criss crossing paths with Derek and his son everywhere. At the movies (‘pack night’ without the pack), out in the preserve (‘stakeout’), and back in Stiles’s bedroom for a second time (except it was 2 am and Stiles was there too. John would believe ‘research’ when pigs started to fly).

And the thing was John was pretty sure this shouldn’t be his problem.

He hadn’t asked to be caught in the middle of his son chaotically pining after Derek Hale and Derek Hale aggressively but silently pining back. Nothing John had ever experienced had prepared him for this.

And in the end, he realized it came down to him. John didn’t think that was fair at all.

To his surprise though, he didn’t have to make the first move. John didn’t expect to hear his doorbell go off that day and he really didn’t expect to see Derek Hale on the other side when he opened the door. Because Hale never rang the doorbell. In fact, John had always thought he didn’t even know that was a thing.

Derek shifted from foot to foot with his hands stuffed in his pockets. John raised a brow.

“Good afternoon, Derek.”

“Sir.”

“Stiles isn’t here.”

It was so similar to their first conversation, the Sheriff didn’t know why they hadn’t just had it months ago. Derek’s face turned bright red and he ducked his head, nodding. “I know.”

“So is there anything I can help you with?”

If possible, Derek’s face turned even brighter red. He looked at the ground for a moment before raising his eyes. “I came here to talk to you, sir.”

“You don’t have to call me sir, Derek.”

“... Sheriff?”

“John is fine, son.”

John didn’t know what he was expecting, but for Derek to look shocked and then terrified wasn’t it. For a moment, he truly thought the man would make a run for it. But then Derek cleared his throat and nodded, and John stepped aside, opening the door wider.

Derek stepped inside, glancing around. He shuffled his feet and John was pretty sure he had never seen the man look so nervous.

“So, Derek. You came to speak to me?”

“I don’t know what you’re doing, sir.”

The Sheriff blinked at him. That also wasn’t what he was expecting. “Sorry?”

“Stiles is… always around lately, sir,” Derek said quietly. “And I like him being around. But I’m… not good with that. Until you’ve helped me be good with that. But I don’t know why you’re helping me be good with that.”

Oh. Oh.

“I’m sorry,” Derek said quietly. “I can go and make sure he doesn’t come back to the loft again. I didn’t mean to—”

“Derek, what the hell are you talking about?”

Derek looked up and his expression could only be described as shocked confusion. The man glanced around the room, toward the door, and then back at John. “If you don’t want me around him. If that’s not what you meant to do. I can make sure it doesn’t happen again—”

“You will do no such thing.”

Derek’s mouth snapped closed and he just looked surprised. The Sheriff rubbed a hand over his face, sighing. “Derek, you like my son, don’t you?”

“... Sir.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Sheriff.”

“Derek.”

“John,” the man said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Please stop apologizing.”

Derek looked like that’s the last thing he had been expecting. John resisted the urge to go to the kitchen and grab a beer. He thought he deserved one, but he didn’t think Derek deserved the terror that would probably follow such actions. So instead, he gestured to the couch and, as Derek slowly moved over and sat down, sank into the armchair opposite of him.

“The last thing I want for you to do is push Stiles away,” John said. Derek’s eyebrows shot up and John waved a hand through the air. “Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t excited about it at first. But he’s… happy. More than he has been in a while.”

Derek didn’t move. Didn’t say a word. John studied his face.

“Will you ever hurt my son, Derek?”

“Of course not.”

“Will you ever put him in danger or put yourself before him?”

“Never.”

“Then I don’t know what you want me to say, son,” the Sheriff said, tilting his head. “Do you want me to tell you not to see my son anymore?”

Derek actually looked like he was considering that for a moment. And suddenly, all John could see was the fifteen-year-old kid sitting in the Sheriff’s station, wrapped in a blanket, covered in ash, and staring blankly at the floor. The very image hurt him.

Finally, Derek shook his head. “No, sir.”

“John.”

“No… John.”

“Then let me get you a drink,” John said, pushing himself up and moving toward the kitchen. He stayed in there longer than was probably necessary, but he was still trying to figure out the man currently sitting on his couch. Derek Hale was… well, he was something.

When the Sheriff came back out, Derek looked like he’d been sitting stock-still the entire time. John passed him a beer and sighed.

“So what do you need?”

“Si— John?”

“What is it called when a werewolf courts a human, Derek? Do I even want to know?”

Derek’s face turned bright red. “It’s just dating, sir.”

“And are you planning on doing that?”

Derek stared at him; silent and blank faced. John sighed for what felt like the hundredth time, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Are you planning on dating my son, Derek?”

He might as well have threatened to shoot the man. Derek tensed up and glanced toward the door and once more, the Sheriff wondered if he’d genuinely make a run for it. He quickly raised his hands like he was trying to calm a startled animal.

“I asked the question, Derek, I’m not going to shoot you for answering.”

“I… I don’t know, sir. Sheriff. John.”

“Are you wanting to?”

Derek glared at his beer as if it had personally offended him. But he still nodded. The Sheriff wondered for a moment how he’d gotten into this position before remembering he’d basically let Hale into his house in the first place. Technically, this was his fault.

“Just get him curly fries before you ask, Derek. Curly fries put Stiles in a state of euphoria.”

Derek’s eyes snapped up. “What?”

“Curly fries, Derek.”

“You’re giving me permission to date your son?”

“If you hurt him in any way,” the Sheriff said, pointing a finger at the man. “I will personally stock up on wolfsbane bullets and make good use of them.”

Derek’s face whitened. He nodded silently.

“You’re a good kid, Derek,” John said, dropping his hand. “I don’t expect that’ll ever be necessary.”

“No, sir.”

“Though it might be if you continue calling me sir.”

“No, John.”

The Sheriff smiled at that. This was progress, he thought. Not that he’d ever seen himself giving ex fugitive and literal werewolf Derek Hale advice on how to court his son. He wondered if Claudia would be exasperated or proud of him.

Probably both.

“So,” the Sheriff said. “Anything else?”

Derek glanced from his bottle, to the Sheriff, and then toward the door. Shaking his head, he pushed himself up and set the bottle on the coffee table. He hadn’t even touched it. “No, John. Uh… thank you.”

“Please never mention this to Stiles.”

John could’ve sworn Derek nearly smiled. He hadn’t thought that was possible (did it come with being a werewolf or was that an eyebrow thing?) but John was pretty sure he knew what he saw. Derek Hale smiling. In his house. What a trip.

This entire visit was unexpected from one point to the next.

The Sheriff followed him to the door and Derek looked like he was going to say something else, but then he turned and quickly exited the house. John watched him all the way to his Camaro before shutting the door with a long, heavy sigh.

He would like to say first of all, he did not ask for this.

Second of all, it was hard.

And third of all? Well, the Sheriff needed some chocolate. Maybe a few steaks. But he also thought that could have been worse; and he was never doing it again.

His time should never be spent actively participating in his son’s love life.

Never again.

- -

(if you enjoy my writing, consider supporting your underpaid student writer? You can also request a prompt if you’d like!). https://ko-fi.com/rh27writer

#sterek #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #derek hale #sheriff stilinski #all the fluff and humor #prompts #ao3 stuff

75 notes · View notes

nearlymanaged · 4 years

Text

16. Fairly High and Dangerously Attractive

February was drawing to an end; younger students were eagerly waiting for warmer weather to finally return while older ones were spending their days tucked away in the library. When Remus wasn’t on Prefect duty, in class, or sleeping, he found himself listening to Lily go on about how Sirius clearly fancied him increasingly more often. In fact, she had started trying to clumsily orchestrate serendipitous encounters between Remus and Sirius, which was rather pointless, given that they shared a dormitory. At some point, Remus began wondering whether she just wanted a reason to spend more time around James as a pleasant side effect of all her efforts.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” Lily gaped at Remus as he pulled James’ invisibility cloak off them both.

“I think that officially makes you an honorary Marauder,” he grinned down at her face brimming with a kind of mischievous excitement.

“Honorary?” She gasped indignantly, following Remus into the boys’ dormitory. “You were more scared than I was!”

“I was scared for you, Lily,” Remus chuckled as he stuffed the cloak into James’ trunk and went over to his own bed. “Don’t insult me by insinuating that I haven’t snuck into the Restricted Section at least once for every month that I’ve been in Hogwarts,” he sat down on the edge of his mattress and bent over to retrieve something from under the bed.

“I can’t believe you lot have had that cloak for years… I hope you’ve not been using it for anything, you know, creepy?..” Lily was aimlessly pacing around the room while Remus opened a tin box containing a handful of chocolate treats, a few loose cigarettes, and some other bits and bobs.

“Creepy? No, no,” Remus smiled as the image of his twelve year old friends and himself swam into focus; all out of beds in the middle of the night, taking turns hiding under the cloak, attempting to pull a pair of underpants over the other boys’ heads.

“So which one is Sirius’ bed?”

“That would be the one with the leather jacket and all the Muggle magazines on it,” Remus nodded his head towards it; he had taken out a few things from the box in his lap, trying to get to the chocolate bar that was at the bottom of it.

“Hm,” Lily walked over to Sirius’ bed, clearly trying to catch Remus’ eye, or maybe wanting to say something, but he ignored her completely, focusing on his treat “I’ve never been in the boys dormitories before.”

“And? What’s the verdict?”

“Surprisingly, this is not any dirtier than the girls’ dorms,” she chuckled and, holding onto one of the posts, swung around and sat down on Remus’ bed. “Remus, what is this?” Her voice dropped unexpectedly.

He turned around and looked at the little phial she was holding in her hand; it contained mossy looking, dried green buds. “Weed,” he answered matter-of-factly.

“But you’re a Prefect!” Lily whispered hurriedly.

Remus took a sharp inhale, and then sighed, turning away from her. “Yes,” he bobbed his head as he spoke, “some days I think that becoming a Prefect has been the biggest tragedy of my life… Then I remember that I’m a werewolf…” His eyes found Lily’s again, and for a second she simply stared at him, completely expressionless; before she burst out laughing, almost falling off the bed.

“I always thought you’re such a goody-two-shoes.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“I’ve never tried it…” Lily’s eyes found the phial again.

“I usually smoke some after a particularly bad moon,” Remus explained, unprompted, but Lily gave him a small nod, encouraging him to continue. “Of course, we’ve done it purely for fun, but I like to always have some, just in case I’m feeling exceptionally rough. It helps me...feel more at ease, I suppose. Helps me feel a bit more normal,” he struggled through the last sentence, feeling like there simply weren’t words out there to explain what he meant. “With all the potions and tinctures and charms, this Muggle remedy is the one thing that I found really makes a difference sometimes. For me, anyway.”

“What does it feel like?” Lily opened the little container and brought it up to her nose, frowning instantly at the scent.

Remus took a bite of his chocolate before answering. “Sort of soft and warm… Relaxing but also energising. It just puts you in this state of being perfectly content. Happy. Although Peter always becomes paranoid - about everything…”

“Paranoid?”

“Strange, isn’t it? He has no qualms about breaking every school rule but that is where he draws the line. Lily?” He added quietly when she continued to stare at the little phial in her hand.

“Do you think,” she started slowly, timidly, “I could try some?”

“Lily Evans,” a devilish grin crossed Remus’ features.

“Oh shut up,” she tittered. “I just thought, shouldn’t I be a bit more reckless now, while I’m young? My chance is now, isn’t it? Who knows what’s going to happen when we leave Hogwarts,” her eyebrows dipped before she hesitantly opened her mouth again. “There’s a war going on out there, after all.”

Moments like these were inevitable, yet still always unexpected. Remus understood exactly what she meant; terrible things were happening in the world and they weren’t always going to be able to be kids, kept safe in their school, away from the real world. That sense of suppressed dread had only gotten stronger as they got older. “Do you want to do it now?”

“No. I don’t know…”

“We certainly don’t have to. We can do it whenever.”

“Let’s do it now!” Lily’s eyes twinkled. “You’ll do it with me, right?”

“I thought you said not now?”

“I might chicken out once the adrenaline wears off,” she grinned guiltily.

“It’s really not as big of a deal as it might seem. But I still want you to be sure that you want to do it. After all, if you do, you’ll have broken not only a Hogwarts rule this evening but also the Muggle law. And it’s barely ten pm.”

“I’m sure. Let’s do it!” Lily whispered excitedly, coaxing a laugh out of Remus.

He took out a little green glass pipe from the tin box, all while Lily was watching him, barely blinking at all, it seemed. She followed his every movement as he loaded the pipe with a bit of the green stuff, then listened closely as he explained to her what to do next.

“If only James could see you now,” Remus sniggered.

Lily glanced at the dormitory door, as if expecting him to walk in at that moment; then, she lifted the pipe to her lips, the tip of her wand to the bowl of it. “So I just do this?”

Remus nodded but it quickly turned into a vigorous head shake. “No, stop inhaling! That’s enough! You need to blow the smoke out now…” He laughed as Lily started coughing, disappearing in a thick, grey cloud.

“That’s disgusting!”

“Takes a bit of practice, I suppose.”

“I don’t feel anything,” she sat up on the bed once the coughing ceased. “Do I sound different?”

“No, Lily, you don’t,” Remus grinned at her, blowing the smoke out simultaneously; contrary to her, he instantly started noticing a pleasant fogginess drown out most of his thoughts.

“Should we go downstairs then?”

“Perhaps not the greatest idea,” Remus trailed off.

“Why?”

Remus couldn’t stop himself from chuckling before answering. “You’re high and you have a reputation to uphold. Terrible things could happen.”

“I’ll be fine. Come on, we’re not going to spend the whole evening up here!”

“Alright then,” he nodded slowly watching Lily’s grin grow bigger.

From the top of the stone steps, Remus instantly spotted Sirius down in the common room, talking to a couple of people from their year over by one of the windows; James and Peter were playing exploding cards in another small group. Even though Sirius was on the opposite side of the room, by the time Remus and Lily descended down the steps, he was waiting for them at the bottom stair.

“You’re back, finally. You didn’t get caught, did you?”

“We’re high,” Remus whispered.

“You’re… Wait. Plural of you? High? You?” A big grin slowly found its way to Sirius’ lips as he stared at Lily in both admiration and disbelief.

“Oh, shush!” She dismissed him with a flick of her wrist. “It’s not like I’ve never done anything illegal.”

“Wait, you have? She has?” Sirius turned to Remus now.

“I am just as deeply shocked as you are.”

“Why are you high?” Sirius’ smile suddenly clouded.

“What do you mean?” Remus raised his eyebrows.

“Are you okay? Were you in pain?”

“Oh… No, no. This is all purely for Lily Evans’ amusement,” Remus explained while his heart swelled in his chest at the thought of how lucky he was to have Sirius in his life; someone to care so deeply and fiercely about him.

“My mouth is really dry.” Lily didn’t seem to be participating in their conversation anymore; instead, she was touching the tip of her index finger to her tongue. “Is this normal?”

“Yes,” Remus smiled at her brightly. “That can happen.”

Lily pointed her wand into her mouth and, wordlessly - a new skill she had just recently mastered - magicked a little jet of water. The two boys watched her with a mixture of wonder and pride. “Kids,” Sirius sighed tearfully, “they grow up so fast.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you…” Lily had finally quenched her thirst and looked over at him. “What was up with that kiss?”

“Kiss?” He laughed out, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“On Valentine’s day.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Evans.”

“About you kissing Remus, of course,” Lily’s plainly stated words tugged Remus out of his weed-induced haze.

“Well, of course, the kiss was about Valentine’s day, since it was...Valentine’s day,” Sirius concluded, slowly but surely.

“Uh-huh…”

“Did you know that if you’re standing up for too long when you’re high, you might pass out?”

“Really?” Lily instantly became visibly worried. “How long do I have?”

“Probably shouldn’t do more than five minutes.”

“You’re lying,” she squinted at him.

“Okay. We’ll find out soon enough, I suppose.”

Lily stared at him for a long, quiet, hesitant moment before making a beeline for one of the sofas in the common room.

“Sirius… Why?” Remus murmured, following Lily with his eyes.

“I didn’t think she would actually believe that.”

“What was the kiss about?” Remus smirked as he returned his gaze to Sirius now, making the latter scratch the back of his head involuntarily - a gesture Remus knew to be a sign of nervousness. He leaned his back against the wall, just to the side of the steps leading up to the dormitories. He might have asked the question humorously, but he wanted a real answer. He had been thinking about that clumsy kiss ever since it happened, although he would have never admitted to anyone. Pretty soon, he realised, he had started harbouring hope that was hard to ignore. And now that he’d gotten a boost of confidence and courage from the dried Muggle herb, he wanted to know.

“Isn’t that what people do on Valentine’s day?”

“You really are,” Remus narrowed his eyes at Sirius, “a very strange person.”

“And you are a very high person,” Sirius seemed to have regained his composure, a wry smile stretching his lips.

“Yes, speaking of which… I can’t get this out of my head… Pads, which do you think is later - three or four am?”

Sirius barked out a hearty laugh. “Three, of course. Three is late night and four is early morning. What? You don’t agree?”

“No, I do, actually,” Remus replied with a smile although frankly, he was much more interested in how beautiful Sirius’ eyes looked in the warm light of the common room.

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Really, how high are you?”

“A fair amount,” Remus answered brightly. “Has nothing to do with me looking at you though.”

Of course, Remus looked at him that way because he fancied him. How did he not see that? Or did he? There were times when Remus could have sworn that Sirius knew something was going on, but for the most part, they were just friends. And yet, quite inexplicably, Remus had been even more attracted to Sirius lately than ever before.

“I’m flattered that you think weed has nothing to do with it, but you never stare at me like that when you’re sober.”

“Maybe it’s the earrings,” Remus reached his hand out and gave a light flick to one of Sirius’ hoops.

“The earrings,” Sirius blinked, a smirk forming on his lips.

“Yes. They’re very...dangly.”

“Oh? You’ve got a problem with them?”

“Yeah. Can’t stand them,” Remus went on, while knowing full well that ever since Sirius had gotten his ears pierced, he’d somehow become even more difficult to not stare at; that this seemingly insignificant addition of accessories had been making it hard to concentrate on what Sirius was saying sometimes.

“Ah. That’s a shame,” Sirius muttered nonchalantly while scooping up all of his hair, with the exception of a few gracefully cascading wavy strands, and putting it into a bun, secured by his wand. “Guess you’ll just have to get used to looking at them.”

Without realising, Remus had stopped breathing for a moment. Was Sirius flirting with him? “Yeah, that’s--”

“Take that thing out of your hair, Pads, you look like an idiot,” James materialised right next to them, cackling and nudging Sirius’ shoulder. “So what are we up to tonight?”

Sirius slowly turned his head to look at James, a stoney expression painted over his face.

“What?” James shrugged. “Is it because I said you look like an idiot? Doesn’t he, Moony?”

“Really? You want to talk about other people’s hair?” Remus did a near-perfect imitation of James ruffling his hair, making his own dirty blonde strands stand up in all directions. “Do I look dangerously attractive yet?”

“Moony!” James gasped dramatically, clutching at his heart, while Sirius chuckled, leading the way towards the other side of the common room.

“Oi! Potter!” Lily called out and James reached her so fast, you would have thought he had just Apparated.

“So what do you think?” Remus plopped down onto one of the sofas, his eyes fixed onto Lily as he pulled Sirius down with him.

“Er...yeah, it suits you. I wouldn’t say it makes you dangerously attractive per se… Folding your socks is not a very dangerous trait.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Remus tore his eyes off Lily, who was already deep in an animated conversation with James, and looked at Sirius in confusion.

“Your hair… Isn’t that what you were asking about?”

“I was asking about Lily…” Remus was pleased to see that for once in his life, he wasn’t the one blushing. “But thanks, Sirius.”

* * *

“Do I look dangerously attractive yet?” Remus teased James, and Sirius silently nodded to himself as he walked across the room, laughing.

“Moony!”

Remus seemed to have such an air of confidence around him that evening that Sirius found himself staring at him sheepishly, unwittingly fantasising about running his fingers through that messy hair. This was the first time that he was undeniably reciprocating Sirius’ flirting, and it felt exhilarating.

Sirius wanted to grab Remus’ face and pull him into a kiss-- but he shouldn’t, he thought. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of them - he wanted them both to be completely sober for that. Sirius was all too familiar with doing something stupid while high or drunk and even more familiar with the regret, or sometimes shame, that would rear its head in the light of the following morning.

He wanted to tell Remus how he felt about him; he wanted to show him. But he decided not to, not just then. It wouldn’t have been fair to either one of them.

“So what do you think?” Remus muttered, instantly dragging Sirius out of his thoughts.

“Er...yeah, it suits you. I wouldn’t say it makes you dangerously attractive… Folding your socks is not a very dangerous trait, you know...”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Your hair… Isn’t that what you were asking about?”

“I was asking about Lily… But thanks, Sirius.”

“You’re welcome,” he mumbled, trying to will away the heat rising in his face. “Shut up,” he added as Remus smirked at him with obvious satisfaction.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking about saying something,” Sirius rolled his eyes, fighting back a happy smile. “What do you mean, what do I think about Lily?”

“Do you like her?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Hey, I just remembered...that time I heard James and Peter convincing you to tell someone you fancy them… Who is it?”

Sirius hadn’t expected Moony to ask him that. In fact, he’d forgotten about that conversation completely it seemed. “Oh that wasn’t really...anyone,” he concluded quickly.

“Oh? Well, I just thought I’d ask…” Remus shrugged it off.

“How’s Vincent doing?” Sirius blurted out before he could stop himself. Although, he hoped, his tone might have been casual enough to not betray him.

“Haven’t got a clue. Why?”

“No reason.”

“So what do you think about Lily?”

“I think I like her more than I thought I would,” Sirius started happily, feeling like there wasn’t another place on Earth he’d rather be. “She just always seemed more...boring and stuck up, I guess? But I suppose that was just her reaction to Prongs, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah… But now… Do you think maybe she is actually interested in James now?”

“Aren’t you two best mates now? Shouldn’t you know if she’s interested in anyone or not?”

“Hm. I guess I never really understood girls. Never cared to, anyway. Not really my crowd.”

Sirius stole a sideway glance at Remus, who spoke so nonchalantly. His eyebrows dipping over his eyes slightly; surely, he thought, there was only one way to interpret that statement, wasn’t there?

“Remember that time I kept casting the Muffliato Charm on McGonagall every time someone was answering a question?”

“Vividly. Yet, I still can’t believe you did that. You worship her.”

“That would have been my first detention, had you not taken the blame.” Remus conjured a couple of those blue flames and watched them spinning in the air as he spoke.

“I didn’t really take the blame. I just didn’t correct Minnie when she assumed it was me,” Sirius was surprised by how quiet his own voice came out as he gazed at Remus’ profile, one of his arms draped across the backrest of the sofa.

“Yeah, that’s what you said to me when I thanked you for it,” Remus chuckled. “Why didn’t you correct her though?”

“Remus…” Sirius’ voice was laced with laughter now.

“What?” Moony looked over at him, their eyes meeting.

“You--” Sirius’ breath caught and he had to remind himself that pulling Remus into a kiss and snogging him until they both couldn’t feel their lips anymore wasn’t a good idea; not while Moony was high. “You are so high.” He heaved himself up and lay back across the length of the sofa, resting his head on Remus’ lap.

“True. But irrelevant.”

“I didn’t correct her because it would have been your first detention.”

“It was, what, the beginning of our third year? It was about time, don’t you think?” Remus kept his eyes on the blue flames as he spoke, but Sirius could see his smile widen a little all the same.

“I was also very much impressed.”

“By me?” This time, Remus looked down at Sirius.

“Don’t look so surprised. I don’t think I would have had the guts to do that then.”

“Yeah… You probably still don’t have the guts to do that now.”

“Oi!” Sirius flicked Remus’ nose playfully. “I just think that of all the professors, McGonagall is the least deserving to be pranked.”

“Or the scariest?”

“Also the scariest…”

“She likes you though. Always has.”

“I like her too. Alas, we could never be together,” Sirius quipped, making them both laugh.

#tw: mention of drugs #just some weed though nothing crazy #wolfstar #wolfstar fanfiction #marauders #hogwarts #fanfic #james poyser #lily evans #sirius black #remus lupin

99 notes · View notes

bakubabes-tatakae · 4 years

Text

For The Love Of Humanity’s Strongest (Part Nine)

Author’s Note: If anyone wants to be in a taglist for this feel free to let me know! Happy to do it for anyone!

(Levi Ackerman x Reader)

Summary: When all seems lost Y/N knows that she can count on one person to always be there for her brother, Eren Jaeger, and herself. Can humanity’s strongest not only keep Eren in line, but keep his relationship alive as well?

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six: *NSFW Ahead!*, Part Seven, Part Eight

AO3 Link

Word Count: 3.3k

Part Nine:

By the time I reached the common area everyone was already down there. I entered the doorway and stretched, a yawn covering my face. Eren sat at the table with Hange, she was still rambling about Titans. Poor Boy. His face looked like he would pass out at any moment. As I entered the room and stood next to the rest of the group I heard her words. “Now let’s review shall we?”

We all groaned in the corner and as we turned to make our exit a member of the scouts burst through the door. “Section Commander Hange!” Hange stopped talking and looked to them. “It’s the test subjects, they’ve been killed.

I had never seen Zoe move so quickly in her life. We all grabbed our cloaks from the hanger by the door and made our way out of the building. Who would do such a thing? They were tied down, they weren’t a threat.

When we all reached where they were holding the Titans Hange jumped off her horse, running as fast as her legs would carry her. I turned to Levi and the rest of them. “I’m going with Zoe, you guys go see Erwin.”

Levi nodded to me. “Take Eren with you.”

Eren jumped from his horse and followed me as I jumped from mine. As we got closer to where they had been holding the Titans I could already hear the mortified shrieks coming from my best friend.

Zoe held her head in her hands and fell to her knees. “How could this happen?! Someone tell me this isn’t real!”

I looked behind me at my brother. “Stay here.” I slowly approached Zoe. I hadn’t seen her this distraught in a long time. I put my hand on her shoulder and knelt down next to her. “Zoe, I’m right here.” She turned to me and buried herself in my arms, shrieking into my shoulder.

I heard the squad come up behind us. Eren looked to Levi. “How did this happen?”

Levi watched on as I tried to comfort the one person I knew could never be comforted right now. “Let it go, it’s a matter for the Military Police now.”

Levi left him, but Erwin walked up behind him. As Erwin spoke to Eren our eyes met. “What is it you think you see?” Eren’s eyes grew wide. “Who do you think the real enemy is here?” Eren didn’t say anything, he just stared at him in confusion. “Ignore me. Loaded question.” Even I was confused by his statement, but before I could say anything to him he walked away with Levi on his heels.

* * * * * *

Eren tended to his chores as the rest of the squad watched on. None of them lifted a finger but me to help him. We both held buckets up to the horse’s mouths, hoping they would get some food into them when Gunther spoke up. “Hey Eren, do you know if any of your classmates are planning on joining the scouts?”

The Recruitment Drive was tonight. Anyone from the training classes that graduated was able to choose which branch they wanted to join. Eren looked over at them. “Yea, there’s a few.” He turned to the horse. “Or at least, there were. I’m really not so sure now.”

Levi’s horse approached and as he stopped abruptly we heard a shout come from Gunther. “Fall in!”

We all gathered around him. He looked to the three of us that had been outside. “Make ready, we’re going on Patrol.” Gunther and Eld saluted him and left, obeying their orders.

Eren came running up behind me, stopping next to me. He saluted him. “Good morning Captain, reporting for duty.”

“Eren, you will stay within ten meters of your sister and me at all times. The only reason you’re out of your cell is because I’m keeping an eye on you. Understood?”

“Yes sir.” A small nod from Eren was given.

“Let’s ride then.”

I put my hand on my shoulder. “Grab my horse Eren.” As Eren ran off and left Levi and me by ourselves my worry started to show. “We’re leaving early?” All Levi did was nod. “Why Levi? Erwin was dead set on waiting an entire month before we went out. He wanted us to fully grasp Eren’s ability if we can.”

“And he thinks that we’ve grasped it as well as we can right now. We need to see him out in the field before we can say more. He wants us back in town for two days, then we leave. The new recruits we get in tonight will be tried on this mission.” His face turned serious. “You are to stay within ten meters of me at all times as well. I need you to stay objective out there Y/n, you know what that means.”

I swallowed hard. “I will. I promise.”

Eren approached with the horses and we all climbed on, following Levi at full speed. Tonight was the night of the ceremony. I couldn’t believe that Erwin was going to take a chance at having the mission two days early. I couldn’t believe that he was going to take brand new recruits out there. That wasn’t like him at all. I couldn’t deny that it would be good to spend a couple of nights in my own home again tho.

* * * * * *

When we were all back in town the squad split up, using the last two days to spend some time with our families since we knew we were all about to leave the walls. Levi and I had talked about keeping Eren with us for the next couple of days. I couldn’t bring myself to leave him in a cell until we left. The familiar surroundings that welcomed us when we unlocked the front door of our apartment were like heaven. The pictures of Levi and I hat hung on the wall, the pictures of my family from another time that sat on the coffee table in the living room as you entered.

I pointed to the back hall and smiled at Eren. “The guest bedroom is right down that hall and the bathroom is right next to it.” I had forgotten that in all the years Levi and I had been together and living in this apartment Eren had never been there. I pointed behind us. “If you need anything during the night Levi and I’s room is over there.” Our room was on the other side of the kitchen.

The night quickly approached us, time going by at fifty times the speed since we were about to embark on a mission. It always had right before them.

I stood in our bathroom that connected to our bedroom, closing the door behind me. Just that small difference had alerted Levi as he came into the room. It wasn’t like me to shut the door behind me. I couldn’t help it this time. My nerves were shot, all that had been running through my mind all day was the possibility of us having to kill Eren. Nausea took over as I jumped for the toilet, wrapping myself around the bowl.

Levi knocked softly on the door after a second. “Open the door Y/n.” I had forgotten I had locked it so I slowly crawled over and did so, returning to the toilet a second later. Levi walked over to me and knelt down slowly, taking my hair in his hands and holding it back. I could hear a small sigh come from him as he pulled me into his arms, sitting on the cold bathroom floor. “Stop stressing yourself out. You’re just making yourself weaker. You have to stay strong for him.”

I leaned into him. “I can’t help it. What if something happens and you guys have to kill him?” I could feel the knots in my stomach coming back but I ignored them. “What if you have to be the one to do it, Levi?”

“I promise that I’m going to avoid having to at all costs, and you know that the rest of the squad will do that same. You know that we have your back as well as Eren’s. He’s all you have left and we all know that. We don’t want to see anything happen to him.” He brushed my hair back with his hand and kissed the top of my head. “Now brush your teeth and come to bed. We have a long day tomorrow. We have to take Eren to meet more of the members before we leave.”

I nodded and sat up slowly. My stomach stopped doing flips as my anxiety calmed a little. I would never understand how Levi was able to do that for me. A rough day of training was ahead for us. It was now or never to get some sleep.

* * * * * *

Daybreak approached without warning and as I rolled over to say good morning to Levi my arm fell onto the empty bed. My eyes opened and I hopped out. Levi was always right there when I woke up. I swung the door to the bedroom open. “Levi?!”

Eren was at the kitchen table, a cup of warm tea in his hands. “He told me to wait for you and meet him at the training area when you woke up. He’s already there with Hange. Today’s the day they’re gonna stick me in the well and hope I can figure out how to transform again.”

I felt that same uneasy feeling creeping up on me again. I held my finger up to Eren and turned back for the bedroom. When I returned a moment later Eren looked worried. “I’m fine. Don’t worry little brother. It’s just my nerves.”

Eren relaxed a little, but I could tell he wasn’t going to let me off that easy. He’d be watching me the rest of the day. Guilt riddled his face, he knew my nerves were about him, but I would never admit that to him.

* * * * * *

We approached the well on horseback, Hange, and Levi already there waiting for us. We both hopped off the horse and I gave them each a weak smile. The flipping in my stomach hadn’t gone away this time. Not a good sign. Levi walked over to me as Hange directed Eren on what to do when he was in the well. “Are you okay?” He placed a hand on the small of my back.

“I’m fine.” My voice was weak, even I could hear it.

His eyes watched me even though he didn’t protest to what I had said. Hange looked down the wall at Eren. “Are you ready my dear? When we’re a safe distance from the well I’ll fire off a smoke signal. What happens after that is entirely up to you.”

The day was still breaking, the sun still barely risen. I watched the clouds float by as I listened to them speak. Eren raise his hand and shouted back to her. “Ready when you are Commander.” We hopped onto the horses and Levi grabbed the reins to Eren’s horse, leading it up the hill with us. Levi grabbed his signal flare and handed it to Hange, letting her shoot it off.

We waited in anticipation for it to happen but after a few minutes, Hange grew confused. “I don’t understand it. Maybe he missed the signal?”

“Perhaps,” Levi watched the well with intensity. “Or perhaps we’re naive to think he can just turn it on and off.” Levi advanced and hopped down, approaching the well with me in tow. “Eren, enough, we’re done for today.” He could tell there was something wrong before he even reached him.

I looked down the well at my brother and my eyes grew wide. He stared back up at us with defeat in his eyes. Blood covered his hands and mouth. I grabbed for the ladder, but Levi pulled me back. Eren’s fearful voice broke my heart. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do it now.”

* * * * * *

We all sat around a table, other scouts filling in the area as the day passed by. Eren wouldn’t let himself feel alright about what had happened earlier. He was so upset that he hadn’t been able to transform that he was beating himself up. I stood next to Levi a little distance from the table, just far enough away that they wouldn’t hear us. “What do we do Levi?”

“We do nothing.” He took a sip from the tea in his hands. “There’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to figure out what makes it so he can transform.”

“Levi, the bites on his hands aren’t even healing. Usually, they’d be gone way before now.”

His tone changed as he approached Eren, now worried about that. “They really don’t show any signs of healing?”

“None sir.” Eren rubbed the bandages on his hands.

“No offense, but you’re not much good to us in this form.” I glared at Levi, his words cutting me. “If you can’t change then our plans for Wall Maria go up in smoke.” Levi’s tone changed from worry to anger. “Pull it together, and that’s an order.”

I watched his pissed of figure leave the table and sat next to my brother. “Don’t take it to harshly.” Petra approached him and my glance changed to her. I hated it when she even went near him alone. “He doesn’t mean to be so angry, he’s just got a lot riding on this plan.” I stood from the table and hoped that I had eased my brother’s mind some, but I couldn’t let the one that was lovestruck by Levi spend too much time with him.

As I listened to Petra question Levi about the whole operation we were all hit with intense heat and wind. I looked behind me and held my arms up, debris swarming the area. The other three members of Squad Levi were flying through the air and Titan steam now filled where the picnic table had been. My heart started to pound out of my chest as the smoke cleared. Eren was standing on top of a half transformed Titan’s arm.

Eren desperately pulled at his arm, trying to break it loose from the Titan’s arm. “Damn it, why now?”

I ran for my brother at full speed, the rest of the squad reaching him as well. Each one of the four of them drew their blades, pointing them at Eren. My instincts kicked in and I stood in front of all of them, my own blades drawn, pointing them toward my team. “Leave him alone!”

As the steam cleared out more and Levi realized what had happened he ran to us, planting himself between the team and me. “Calm down!”

Eren was frantic behind us, he had thought that Levi was talking to him. “I’m sorry Captain I…” Then he saw the team standing with nothing but malice in their eyes as they watched him.

Levi was trying hard to calm them down. “The situation is complicated. Now calm down.” He glanced back at me. “You too.”

I couldn’t calm myself. These people were threatening to hurt the only family I had left. “They need to put down their blades first!” The desperation in my voice was becoming all too familiar. “I won’t let them hurt him.”

I could hear Hange’s screaming coming from the distance. Cheer in her voice, but I couldn’t worry about that now. I had to protect Eren.

Eld was screaming now. The whole team about to erupt. “Eren, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Sir, please.” The pleading in Eren’s voice was about to send me into a rage as I listened to my team go after him.

“Nobody gave you permission to transform! Did they?”

Levi’s calls were still falling on deaf ears. “I said calm down!”

Oluo was next. “Answer the question Eren. What got into you?”

I pointed my sword directly at Oluo. “Try to say he did it on purpose again! I dare you!”

Eld walked toward him, each step making my heart pound. “Leave it, explanations can come later.” He pointed his sword. “First things first, you need to persuade us that you’re not hostile like your life depends on it.” His next words made my eyesight turn red. “Prove it or we kill you!”

I moved my sword from Oluo and swiftly moved to Gunther. My blade inches from his throat. “Try it, Gunther. One wrong move and yours is over.”

Oluo spoke now that my blade wasn’t on him. “So much as move an arm and I’ll take your head off. This is the first and only warning you’ll receive. I could end you in a heartbeat, do you understand me, boy?”

Levi screamed again. “Oluo, how many times do I have to say it…”

Petra interrupted him. “Captain, I need you to step away. You’re too close.”

Hearing Petra’s words in my haze of anger made me turn to her, my sword still on Gunther. Levi noticed my eyes and spoke to her himself, afraid of what I might say. “Right now I believe you’re the ones that need to step away. DO IT!”

“Why on earth?”

“Gut feeling.” With each passing second Levi was growing angrier and angrier.

Eld’s face was sweating. “Eren better say something.”

My head was spinning as Oluo started in again. “Don’t try anything!”

“Prove you’re not hostile.”

“I’ll do it, I swear to god.”

Eren finally was overcome with anger. “Be quiet! All of you just be quiet!”

Levi approached me slowly, his hand resting on my arm. My eyes still saw nothing but red as he slowly lowered my sword from Gunther’s throat. My breath was shaky as I watched him. “They won’t hurt him. I’m right here.”

I could barely catch my breath as Hange came from behind us, screaming my brother’s name. “Eren!” As she reached him she looked rabid. “I want to touch the arm, I wanna touch it.” The woman started to drool. “Pretty please with sugar on top. Let me touch this glorious thing.”

Eren objected. “I don’t think that’s such a good…” Hange approached it anyway. “Wait no!”

Her hand touched the arm and she instantly tore it away. She turned around and slid onto her knees on the ground. “Son of a bitch! That mother is hot with no skin. This is the best day in the history of science.”

One of her squad members ran up behind her. “You’re a maniac.”

She turned back to Eren. “Are you not burning up? What’s it like? How’s it connected to your hand? You have to show me. I really really really wanna see!”

Eren pulled at his hand and Oluo spoke to him again. “Are you ignoring me? Don’t do anything stupid.”

As Eren’s hand let go I jumped for him, grabbing him right before he hit the ground, breaking his fall some. He leaned against me as I knelt down with him. Hange was screaming on the other side as Titan steam started to take away the Titan arm before us. “Oh no! What are you doing? Not so soon! I wanted to put it under the knife.”

Levi walked up beside us. Eren looked over at him, having a hard time catching his own breath. “Sorry captain.”

“So you feeling okay or what?”

He fought for his breath. “Not… exactly… No.” I wrapped my arms around him and put a hand on his head, brushing hair back. My little brother shouldn’t have to go through this.

Taglist 💕@gamegirl23100 @super-peace-fangirl @pjimochi @izzythefanfreak @echimozart @peachymochimochi @primusk @hunie-hun @absolute-randomness-forever @omg-lexiiloveyou @dazaismaniaclaugh @renaissance-tragedy @titaniabuck @always394patronus @yeoulkim @thefirelordm @inmyouwnthoughtss

103 notes · View notes

ksyescribe · 4 years

Text

Catalyst (Revamped)

Prompt: You both knew it would have to end at some time. It seems that time is now.

Ship: Shouto Todoroki x Reader

Content: Angst :)

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: Hello Hello! I decided to officially revamp this work as a reader insert! I’ve gotten more comfortable writing reader inserts and I wanted to expand on this universe so here it is!! Reader Catalyst! It’s a little rough since it was the first piece I wrote in a while but well here’s to hoping the rest of the pieces in this series make up for it! I’ll probably be focusing on Days and Fortnight in the next couple of days so if you don’t see any new works thats why! Thank you so much lovelies!! xxx

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

Dust shimmered in the multicolored light, dancing its way around the library. It was midday, meaning the sun was directly over the library, shining through the stained glass ceiling lighting the room up in an array of colors. You took a deep breath as you looked around the reading nook, the air heavy with the scent of old leather and oak wood. This would always be your favorite place in the world.

Nestled on the second floor of the royal library, between two bookshelves, was a small reading nook. Hidden in plain sight, the reading nook was only accessible through a moving bookcase that acted as a door. It housed a small loveseat made up of dark wood and red cushioning as well as a matching side table. It wasn't anything extravagant, but to you, this little spot gave you the privacy you so desperately needed after grueling days of court, especially, since the nobles of the court had taken up the task of seeking you out in your quarters when they couldn’t seem to place you. But here, in between the shelves, one had to really be looking at the shelves to notice the tiniest gap which looked into the room. At least, that's how you had come to find the nook.

Adjusting yourself so that you were more comfortable, your attention focused back on the book you held. The ancient text was lit up by the sunlight that turned blue and green once it passed through the glass. Settling back against the couch, you began to read the symbols that depicted various healing spells. After all, a powerful mage wasn't only powerful through destruction but also through rehealing.

You spent quite some time immersed in the text, quickly working through a quarter of the book, before you heard hushed voices approaching. Suppressing the urge to roll your eyes, you made sure to keep quiet as the voices grew nearer. You continued to focus on the book, unbothered since you knew that the only other person who knew of this place was the keeper of the library Touma. That's probably why, today of all days, two servant girls had decided that this little corner of the library was the perfect place to gossip and speak so carelessly.

You shook your head in annoyance, did these girls not have anything better to do? Could they not tend to some noble's quarters or do anything that would take them further away from the library? Displeased, you forced yourself to focus solely on the book once more. You were already capable of getting yourself in trouble by challenging King Enji in public, and you didn't need more stress by accidentally hearing something you weren’t supposed to.

Slowly advancing through a section of hand spells, you were doing an excellent job of not listening in until you heard a particular name mentioned. "Did you hear?" One of the girls whispered excitedly before giggling, "King Enji is going to announce Prince Shouto's engagement to one of the princesses in the neighboring kingdom." Upon hearing the words you froze in place, your body refused to move. It was almost as if an invisible hand was holding you in place, forcing you to listen to this conversation.

A gasp could be heard through the bookcase before another voice made itself known, "Really? How'd you know? Which princess is it?"

"Apparently," the first voice spoke again, this time with glee, "One of the King's servants heard him speaking with the Queen about it. It's a treaty that the King drafted up with one of the four kingdoms since Prince Shouto was five."

Eagerly the second voice responded again, "Knowing the King, it's probably with the most powerful out of the four neighboring kingdoms. That means it'll be the Hosu Kingdom! Oh, the princess for that kingdom is Princess…"

You felt yourself tuning out what the servants were saying as you tried to process what they’d said. You let out a shaky breath, attempting to even your breathing out again. A cold, dreadful feeling settled down at the pit of your stomach; it felt as if someone poured cold water over you. You needed fresh air.

You pushed yourself up on shaky legs, taking a moment to steady yourself, before heading to the bookcase. Using the palm of your hand, you pushed the door open just enough so that you could peek out to see if anyone was around. Once you deemed the area clear, you pushed it open further, stepping out into the main second-floor area. Had your mind been clear, you would have remembered about the blindspot the bookcase gave when it opened and thus used a spell to be absolutely sure no was around. But, since your mind was preoccupied, you missed the tall figure hidden between the stacks watching you with rapt curiosity.

Focused on closing the bookcase properly, you didn’t notice the figure approaching until they spoke up, "So. This is where you've been running off to."

The baritone of his voice reverberated between the bookshelves despite the low tone. It doesn't fail to send a shiver down your spine, reminding you of the times you’ve heard him use this tone before. He lets out a throaty chuckle, "You've been hiding under my nose this entire time. Sly little thing."

Taking a deep breath, you try to calm the white noise in your head. You need to get out of here; you didn't want to talk with him. You already know what he's going to say. Exhaling softly, you steel your nerves and turn swiftly to face Prince Shouto of the Todoroki family. You let a polite smile grace your face, bowing slightly before the Prince.

Once back at eye level, you clear your throat before speaking, "Yes, sire, I've been hiding away in the library. Touma has granted me access to the books of the Old Religion. It just so happens that this is also the only place in the palace where the nobles refuse to enter." Dry laughter makes it's way past your lips before you continue, "I'm sorry to disappoint my liege, but I've got a matter to attend to. So if you'll excuse me."

As soon as the words were out of your mouth, you began to move, attempting to make your escape. The Prince, however, had other plans. Just as you were about to brush past him, his hand came up to grip your shoulder, preventing you from moving forward. At his touch, your eyes widened, tilting your head to glare at Todoroki. Ignoring you, he pushes you back towards the bookcase, using his other hand to open it once again.

"We need to talk. It's urgent." His voice dropped an octave lower than it had before; it reminded you of a low roll of thunder. He'd never used that tone with you before, granted, you'd never had to have a serious conversation like this before. You let yourself be guided back into the hidden area; Todoroki's touch had turned you to putty in his hands. You hated it. Once he removed his hand, you were moving again. This time you moved as far away as possible, putting as much distance between you both as possible. This way, you had a better chance at standing strong and not letting yourself be swayed by him again. Lord knows you’d let that happen far too many times.

You gnawed on your lip as you waited, hugging your arms to your body in an attempt to console yourself on what was about to happen. Todoroki’s silent for a moment; you can tell he's trying to get his thoughts together before he speaks. It's the little things he does. The furrow of his brows, biting the inner part of his cheek, the way he taps the pointer finger of his right hand three times as if mimicking a heart beating.

In an attempt to give him an in, you speak softly, your voice barely above a whisper, "If this matter is as important as you're making it out to be, it'll do you some good to speak softly. Your servants were here earlier, and despite their best efforts to be quiet, I could still hear their gossipping."

Todoroki lets out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He really had tried to find you earlier, to avoid this kind of mess. He had wanted the news to come from his mouth, not some gossipping servants. "So, I take it you're aware of what's happening then?"

The worry is obvious, talking to you as if the slightest word can set you off. He's trying not to hurt you, but well, it wasn't as if either of you were going to come out unscathed of whatever the two of you had. Shaking your head at the thought, you pressed your lips into a thin line in distaste. You’re not letting him off that easy. If you're going to have this talk now, then you'll have to hear it from his mouth, you won't have it any other way.

Letting your face rid itself of any traces of empathy, you pushed your shoulders back as you make eye contact with him. "I'm not sure what you're referring to, sire. You'll have to be clear about what you're referring to."

You wonder if you'd always been able to be this apathetic and distant towards him. You hadn't, but with this new development, it didn't take much for you to want to distance yourself from him.

"An announcement will be made tomorrow, at court." He pauses for a second before speaking, softer this time, "I'm to be married to Princess Haru of the Hosu Kingdom. Preferably, by this time next year."

One year. Of course, knowing the King, he'd want the treaty honored as soon as possible. An allyship through marriage would make both kingdoms incredibly strong in the eyes of an enemy.

"It's an arraignment that was made before I could have a say." He pauses briefly before continuing, the tone of his voice increasing, "Even my mother doesn't agree with this. I don't agree with this!"

Before you can stop yourself, you’re moving forward. Slapping your hand over his mouth, you glared at him, "I told you to keep it down!"

You spoke once more through clenched teeth, "What would the court think if they heard that they found their precious Prince hidden between these shelves with the King's Mage?"

Todoroki doesn't respond, instead choosing to wrap one of his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him. Your eyes widen at the motion, your hands drop to his chest, attempting to push yourself out of his arms.

"Stop. Shouto whatever you're thinking of doing, don't. Please let go." You’re pleading now, calling him by his first name in an attempt to sway him. He knows that you'll agree to anything while you’re enveloped in his arms. It's worked countless times before as you laid tangled between the sheets of his bed. So why wouldn't it work now? He moves his hand, tilting your chin up so that your eyes lock with his.

"My love," you shudder, he's using that tone with you again, "I'll try and fix this. I don't know how, but I'll find a way. Perhaps, if I accept my father's proposed training in the north, he'll grant me the ability to choose who I marry."

Gazing into his eyes, you almost believed his words to be true. Almost. But you know the king, and you know the state of the kingdom. This marriage would satisfy not only Enji's greed for power but also repair the reputation of the kingdom.

Your brows furrowed together, disbelief evident on your face. "Have you gone mad?" Your voice is low, but your tone sharp, Todoroki's eyes widen as you speak, "You hate your father's training, you always come back hating him more than when you left! And even if you somehow managed to get yourself out of this, then what?"

Todoroki's arms have softened, relaxing the hold they had on you, allowing you to finally push yourself out of his embrace.

"We can't be together. You know that." Stepping back, you watch as Todoroki's arms fall to his sides. There's a clear look of hurt on his face. "You can try everything to get yourself out of this, but it won't matter. Even if the law allowed it, it wouldn't be possible. Your people need a good queen. A proper one."

"You're the queen I want by my side!" Though quiet, his voice is heavy with emotion, "You are all that and more. The people would be lucky to call you their queen."

He starts to move forward, "Please, my love, you have to at least let me try."

You hold a hand out on instinct, “Stop. Don't come any closer.”

Todoroki comes to a halt a few steps away from you, desperation clear in his eyes.

"You and I, this, whatever we had it can't happen. It shouldn't have happened in the first place. We both knew, when this first started, that we couldn't end up together. There's no point in trying to make ourselves believe even for a moment that that's remotely possible."

"You don't know what you're saying." His hands are balled in fists now, breathing much quicker than he was before. "The laws can change. I'll make it happen. I can't let this end here for god's sake. I love you!"

You bite your lip as you watch the last bit of hope burning wildly within the man you love. If this were any other world, you'd fall right back into his arms, returning the confession of love. But this isn't another world, and you know what you have to do. After all, he has a kingdom to lead.

You place your hand on the bookcase, pushing it just so that it opens slightly. "Whatever we had before, it's over now. You're getting married. To a beautiful princess no less. But that can never be me."

With a swift push, you’re stepping out into the main hall of the library. You turn to face him one last time, "Don't come find me again, Shouto."

With that, the bookcase shuts after you, leaving Todoroki behind in deafening silence.

42 notes · View notes

komorebirei · 4 years

Text

A Detailed Lukanalysis

Before getting into this post, let me just say that I have a pretty moderate stance toward canon Luka. Yes, I think he could play a more important role in the show as more than just Marinette’s alternative love-interest. I’m not defending the way Luka is used in the show.

I watched all the episodes with Luka in them and took detailed notes on what happens and what we can imply, mostly as ‘research’ for when I write Luka in my fics. In light of Luka salt I’ve seen lately, though, I decided to share my findings to make the case that Luka does have a well-rounded, consistent personality, and has had plenty of on-screen opportunities to display his character.

Even if no one reads this whole post, my purpose is accomplished from the sheer amount of evidence I found when scouring the episodes for indicators of his personality.

Analysis starts below the cut.

Observant/Accommodating Nature

Though being ‘observant’ and ‘accommodating’ are two separate traits, I put them together for this point because they are interlinked in Luka’s personality. He observes so he can be more accommodating.

Attentive to Conversation Partners

When Luka is introduced in Hardrock, we see him watching Marinette intently when she talks to him, and he notices/points out all her verbal mistakes and fluctuations in mood. (See “Role of Music —> Smoothing Ruffled Feathers” for more on this scene below.)

Attentive to Surroundings

In Frozer, although he is shown gazing out toward the ice rink while Marinette and Adrien are talking privately, he interjects his advice for Adrien regarding Kagami, showing that he has been listening the whole time, and that even when he seems not to be involved or paying attention, he is taking in his surroundings. (He’s an eavesdropper.)

Luka’s advice for Adrien sums up Luka’s character very well. He says, “Be natural. Follow her rhythm, let yourself go, and let her guide you.” (Quoting in a rough translation from French version because I feel it’s clearer and more direct than the English version.) His policy is to observe first, then mold himself to accommodate the other person/people involved, letting go of his own will and desires. He is not one to insist his own way. That does not mean he always stands by without acting, though (see below, “A Man of Action”).

“Follow Her Lead”

Luka’s advice, “Follow her lead,” does not mean to literally let one person dominate all the time. Assuming he follows his own advice, let’s look at his dynamic with Marinette. Rather than literally letting her lead him onto the ice, he in fact is the one leading when they skate together. “Follow her lead” means to observe the other person, intuit what they need, and provide that. Since he senses that Marinette is unstable (on her feet mostly, but potentially emotionally as well), he provides the guidance and support that he thinks she needs.

As a related point, in Miracle Queen, when he offers Marinette a shoulder to cry on, he does not ask her what’s wrong or attempt to pry anything out of her; he tells her it’s okay to talk to him, or not talk to him, whatever she wants. He forces nothing on her, but tries to be what she needs.

Cool-Headed (by Choice)

When Marinette interrupts him meditating, he takes his time to open his eyes, and doesn’t break his posture (Hardrock). He is not easily flustered. Meditation is often a solution to a problem (stress, anxiety, emotional fluctuations, etc.), so Luka may suffer from some of these problems by nature, and has found a solution that works. See “Hot-Headed” below for evidence of anger issues.

In Silencer, he is visibly very angry, but has enough self-control to let go of the angry feelings and walk away at first. (More on this under “Focus on Others —> Indignant for Others.”)

Whenever shown, Luka channels a very calm, easygoing disposition in general. However, in the section below, there are hints that this is not his nature, but rather, something that he chooses.

Hot-Headed (by Nature)

When Luka sees XY wearing the Kitty Section rip-off costume, he immediately gets angry. Later, when XY boasts, Luka does not make excuses for him, he is ticked off. He jabs XY in the chest and snatches the mask off him. When Bob Roth says more infuriating things, Luka growls, shakes his fist, and clenches his fingers so hard they shake and start to crush the mask, before he is even touched by the akuma. Usually we see this sort of reaction in the victim once the akuma has entered the cursed object.

Luka does not exhibit the self control that he shows in other situations, but rather, animalistic rage, like the expression, ‘seeing red.’ He treats XY and Roth as if they have been “blacklisted” in his mind and no longer has the forgiving, calm attitude toward them that he has toward people who are in his good graces.

Luka also shows signs of anger in the form of clenching teeth or lowered brow (even toward Chat Noir in Desperada for not showing up) whenever he feels like the situation is not right.

Focus on Others, Not Self

Concern for Others’ Comfort / Emotional Perceptiveness

Luka tends to prioritize the happiness and comfort of others over his own, and is very attentive to whether people are comfortable or not. Because of this attentiveness, he can easily sense other people’s emotions. He laughs at Marinette when he meets her, but when he senses that she is hurt, he immediately switches tracks to try to cheer her up. Later, when he senses that she feels more comfortable and that it’s okay to tease her without hurting her, he does so (Hardrock).

When his mother is akumatized, Luka looks distraught and begs her not to ruin the music festival for other people, showing that he does not like to disturb others or make them unhappy, and that this is more of a concern for him than the fact that his mother is akumatized.

Respect for Others

Luka also shows respect toward others, from his mannerisms (guiding, helping hands, picking up miraculous box with both hands, etc.). Considering his mother shredded tickets issued by a police officer, he did not learn this under the rod, meaning it’s an innate sense of respect for other human beings he has developed on his own.

Counting His Ducklings

Whenever someone he cares about is not accounted for (Marinette in Hardrock, Adrien in Desperada), Luka is concerned and is the first to ask about their well-being when Ladybug shows up. Luka looks out for ‘his own’ and worries / takes action until he sees them safe.

The Positive Enabler

Luka is quick to speak praise for other people and plays the role of the ‘encourager’ / positive enabler within the group. In Silencer, when Marinette is excited about the opportunity to submit a video to XY, Luka immediately brings up her designs. As soon as they finish rehearsing, he immediately praises everyone’s performance and the group dynamic. In Reflekdoll, he tells Juleka she’s pretty and encourages her to follow her dreams. He says positive things to make people feel good about themselves, and confident enough to take action.

Indignant for Others, Not Himself

Luka gets more angry when other people are concerned (Marinette, or his friends/family, as shown in Silencer and Desperada) than himself. He is more upset about Marinette’s costumes being stolen in Silencer than his own song being plagiarized. Moreover, while he is willing to walk away after being insulted as a musician and having his own song stolen, when Marinette is directly attacked by Roth, he becomes infuriated and akumatized.

Hawkmoth’s speech gives us insight, since Hawkmoth can feel people’s emotions. He says that Luka cannot bear to see the ones he loves suffer. This shows that the reason Luka gets akumatized is not because the work was plagiarized, but rather, because Bob Roth is yelling at Marinette, subjecting her to humiliation and insult and trying to crush her self-esteem. This emotional abuse is what Luka cannot bear.

He accepts the snake miraculous in Desperada because his family and friends were attacked.

Genuinely Concerned for Others’ Happiness

When Marinette goes running after Adrien, Luka is left alone, yet he smiles, showing that he is not only putting up a positive front for Marinette; he genuinely wants her to follow her heart and be happy. He also looks on tenderly, like a proud parent, when Adrien and Kagami come to the houseboat, saying “I’m glad Adrien has found someone he can leave the house with.” He wants his friends to be happy and do what they want to do.

In Felix, Marinette accidentally talks about Adrien in front of Luka, and feels embarrassed that he’s heard. In response, Luka tells her that he will be happy if things work out between her and Adrien, but that if they don’t, he (Luka) is there for Marinette. The fact that he answers this way is an acknowledgement that Marinette is aware of Luka’s feelings. However, Luka doesn’t want her to feel guilty or conflicted about having feelings for Adrien. He wants her to be happy and feel at ease, and that is more important to him than asserting his own feelings. (See “Speculation —> Why Luka Doesn’t Pursue Marinette” at the bottom for more on this.)

Generous with Belongings/Space

Luka doesn’t closely guard his personal belongings and space. He’s comfortable with having it invaded, and generous with his belongings. He shares and accepts people into his life freely. When he meets Marinette, he doesn’t mind her touching his things and gives her a pick right away. He warms up to her right away and is already teasing her within five minutes of meeting her. When Adrien appears, he welcomes him into Kitty Section without even knowing anything about him (Hardrock).

In Desperada, Luka frowns when Marinette suggests Adrien, and gets a hopeful smile when Jagged Stone mentions him (Luka). This shows he is aware and not indifferent to what is happening. However, when Marinette asks Luka to lend Adrien his guitar, Luka hands it over, saying “If you like, Marinette.” Later, he also gives up the guitar to Ladybug.

His willingness to hand over one of his most important items shows that he is not a possessive and jealous person. But also, the fact that he did so at Marinette’s bidding with the words “If you like” shows that he is willing to prioritize his love and support for someone (Marinette) over his self-insistence.

Positive/Trusting Outlook

Luka shows that he is quick to trust. When Marinette escapes from Captain Hardrock’s chains, Luka goes along with her plan, allowing himself to be recaptured in order to let Marinette escape without fully knowing what her plan is. Without trusting Marinette, that seems risky since he is also free and has the agency to seek help, but is losing that agency by allowing himself to be recaptured.

In Silencer, Marinette freaks out when there’s no response about the video, but Luka makes excuses for the studio, saying they probably got a lot of submissions and are still picking. He’s probably the type of person to give people the benefit of the doubt when there is no evidence of a reason to distrust their motives. E.g. if a random person is rude to him, he will more likely think “They’re probably having a bad day,” than “What do they have against me?”

He is not the type to freak out, assume the worst, and catastrophize.

Luka also seems to value upholding other people’s trust in him, and that trust is important to him as a whole. When he gives Ladybug back the snake miraculous, he thanks her for trusting him.

Methodical Thought Process

The way Luka uses the snake miraculous reveals a lot about his thought process and ties into the next point, “Role of Guitar/Music.” Let’s take a look at Viperion’s first fight in Desperada.

In battle, Viperion hangs back and watches, IMMEDIATELY hits Second Chance when something goes wrong, and gives instructions to Ladybug/Chat when they loop back. (By contrast, in Miracle Queen, Snake Noir reacts emotionally to the situation—freaking out, gaping in shock, realizing what’s going on—for a few seconds before hitting Second Chance.)

A couple Second Chances later, we see a clip of Viperion playing the lyre, sitting on the Eiffel Tower, out of the fray of battle. When Desperada reacts to the lyre playing, Luka smiles delightedly, like an experimenter who is seeing the lab rat respond the way he hopes. He then hits Second Chance again despite no errors happening, because he has accomplished his purpose for the loop.

Luka is methodical in his way of using the snake miraculous. He doesn’t just use it and hope things will go better next time. He uses it strategically, testing different variables until he sees which ones lead to the results he wants. Armed with knowledge that he gains piecemeal through multiple Second Chances, he formulates the perfect plan and instructs the team on what to do. In this battle, he is the brains, not Ladybug. His observation skills are his strength as Viperion.

This leads to the next point… that clues indicate that Luka uses music the same way—to get results that he wants, because he has observed that it works more efficiently than words. (“Sometimes, music is clearer than words.”)

Role of Guitar/Music

Smoothing Ruffled Feathers

Luka uses his guitar to affect/manipulate people’s emotions in a way that words cannot easily do. When he senses that he has offended Marinette upon meeting her, he plays something, and she cheers up (Hardrock). When he notices Marinette is down in Frozer, he plays something cheerful and she brightens up. Considering characteristics mentioned in “Methodical Thought Process,” it’s likely he has picked up this efficient tactic for changing people’s mood through music.

Connecting with People

In Party Crasher, we see Luka keeping to himself at first, but he is later shown playing the guitar while Jagged Stone plays the piano. Aside from when Luka is playing music with Kitty Section, we only see him on his own, yet his friendship with Kitty Section members seems strong (Silencer video prep montage). As his friendship with Adrien develops, we also see them playing instruments together while looking at one another. This shows that Luka’s way of forging connections with people is through making music together.

Expressing his Sentiments Toward People

In Frozer, when Luka says “I think I have a new song to write,” some may interpret this as a cheesy metaphor to mean that he has feelings for Marinette.

However, in Miracle Queen, we see Luka actually composing a song for Marinette. This shows that it was not a metaphor (or is only partly a metaphor)—he literally intended to write a song for her. People express their affection and love in many ways. Marinette makes clothing or baked goods for people. Adrien mimics the gestures of others (making a charm because Marinette made him a charm, giving roses because that’s what romantic cliches do). Luka writes dedicated music.

When Marinette kisses him on the cheek, he becomes happy and promises to come up with the perfect melody for her song, indicating that he will finally express his feelings for her in the song he’s composing.

Playing/Joking

Three times, Luka makes jokes with the guitar—the ‘guitar curse’ in Hardrock, the baby song in Desperada, and the sound effects for Juleka in Reflekdoll. His “guitar emoting” is done playfully and probably with a degree of self-awareness that it’s silly, but as mentioned above, he finds it effective in cheering people up.

...But All Within Reason

In Miracle Queen, when Marinette breaks down, Luka does not play music. This indicates that he uses his guitar as a tool when appropriate, but he does not one-sidedly rely on it as a cure-all for how to interact with people. In Miracle Queen, Marinette does not need the guitar, she needs someone who will listen and give her a shoulder to cry on, and Luka provides that.

Internal Law, Not External

Especially having been raised by a mother with little regard for authority, Luka shows that he is ruled by a strong sense of inner morality, but is willing to bend rules that are imposed on him externally. He doesn’t mind breaking the law when he doesn’t feel the act is morally wrong (Hardrock).

This point extends slightly to encompass that Luka is motivated by inner factors, not outer factors.

Strong Moral Compass

In Desperada, when Ladybug calls Chat for help and he does not answer, Luka looks pissed, indicating he feels like Chat is shirking on his duties. Also, even though Chat makes excuses about Adrien’s whereabouts and pushes Luka into a locker with the instructions to keep hiding, later Luka runs into Ladybug and Adrien in the sewer. This means he did not listen to Chat, but went looking for Adrien to make sure he was safe, because he felt that was the right thing to do.

Impulsiveness

Luka is driven by what he feels is right to do at any particular moment. In Love Eater, he is working at a job, and tells the customer “Sorry, I have to go” and immediately goes off to visit Marinette to play a song he has thought up for her. He is still using the company bike, and may still be on his shift / have a job to do, but his priority is to fulfill his creative need. He doesn’t hesitate to give Marinette a ride on her own errand, despite probably having duties to do himself. His top priorities/loyalty lies with his loved ones and his creative goals.

He brings his guitar with him on his deliveries, implying that he could stop at any moment to play something if inspiration strikes, a hint of an impulsive personality.

Self-Motivated

Despite being easy-going, Luka does not have a complacent nature, but challenges himself to be better. When he plays the song for Marinette in Love Eater, at first he says it’s perfect, but after she listens and he gets her feedback, he decides he can do better and takes it back to tweak more.

Akuma Form Symbolism

This point is only LIGHT evidence as it ventures into questionable symbolic grounds, but as an akuma, Silencer scoffs at the notion of Ladybug and Chat Noir as figures of moral good. “Where were they when we needed them?” He says he will lay down the “Law of Silence.” This symbolizes Luka’s disregard for externally imposed morality / conventions and indicates that he operates according to a strong inner moral code. From a writing perspective, though, this can count as valid evidence of this characteristic of Luka’s, since akumatizations are manifestations of people’s deep emotions.

Body Language

Luka often uses body language (gestures and touches) to communicate. He invites Marinette to sit on his bed with a gesture, no words (Hardrock).

Luka is a tactile person who is not shy to invade other people’s personal space. When guiding, helping, or speaking to Marinette/Adrien, Luka is often touching hands, shoulders, waists, arms, and often he leaves his hands on them the whole duration of the exchange (Hardrock, Frozer, Desperada). To encourage Juleka, he touches her shoulders, pins up her hair, and kisses her head. He is not stingy with physical affection.

Introversion

Usually, when Luka plays the guitar for other people, his eyes are closed. He does not watch their reactions, despite the fact that he is playing for them (usually Marinette)—to change their mood or in dedication toward them. This can symbolize that although he devotes himself and his actions to others, and finds communication important (see “Responsible Communicator” below), he is still a private, introverted person.

In Party Crasher, Luka is only shown briefly during the party. When he is not playing the guitar, we see him standing among the crowd using his phone and not interacting with anyone, while all the other guests are either doing crazy things or talking to one another.

In Felix, Luka is with the group on deck at first, but later, he has retreated to his room even though the rest of the group is still on deck.

Private Humor

Luka doesn’t make very flamboyant jokes like Chat Noir, but he does show a sense of humor, making jokes with the guitar or gently teasing. This subtle humor can go undetected, but (as with Marinette) is appreciated more by the people he has gotten close to.

Responsible Communicator

Talking is the Best Policy

Luka shows a standard policy that communication is the best way to solve problems, and practices this himself. (See “Multiple Methods” below.)

We can see Luka’s thoughts about communication surface in the advice he gives to others. In Frozer, when Luka notices that Marinette is upset about Adrien, he advises her to talk to him. In Reflekdoll, when Juleka is having doubts about her ability to model, Luka advises her to talk to Marinette.

Multiple Methods of Communication

Luka doesn’t spare his words to communicate, but he also uses words, body language, or music to communicate. By saying “Sometimes music is clearer than words,” he indicates that his goal is to reach people and he feels that music can be a more efficient means of doing so. (See “Role of Music” for more on this.)

In Silencer, he praises the sincerity of the song, indicating that it’s important to him that the message of the song be pure and genuine, and that communicating true sentiments is a large part of his goal in making music.

Not Shy to Speak Up

In Frozer, he shows no inhibition or shame about admitting (by getting involved) that he was eavesdropping on Adrien’s private conversation with Marinette regarding Kagami, despite the fact that others might see this as intrusive or not socially acceptable. He is not shy to speak his thoughts.

He also confessed to Marinette easily in Silencer. It was unplanned, impromptu, but he said exactly what he meant.

Stress Response

He meditates (Hardrock). See “Cool-Headed.”

Sublimation

In Frozer, Luka is playing alone on the deck when Marinette joins him, and he does not change the (melancholy) song before he asks her, “You feel like this, don’t you?” The song was not originally for Marinette. This means that he was playing a melancholy song for himself before Marinette joins him, and by implication, he was feeling melancholy, and that when he feels upset, he plays the guitar. He is smiling faintly when Marinette comes on-deck, implying that the self-soothing method is working.

The above is evidence that Luka deals with stress through “sublimation”—in other words, transforming a negative emotion into something positive, productive, or creative.

Space

In Frozer, when Marinette is upset and flees from the rink, he does not pursue her. He gives her space, meaning he recognizes that his solicitation is not always what will help the other person, and indicating that he also seeks space when he is upset.

A Man of Action

Learning and Leading by Example

Instead of offering Adrien verbal advice in Frozer (aside from his few short lines), he shows Adrien an example, through his treatment of Marinette, of how to treat Kagami. The fact that he teaches by providing a visual example indicates that he learns by example as well. See “Speculation on Why” for why this might be.

Lending Help

Despite the fact that Luka does not mind stepping back in social or romantic situations, when it comes to a situation where people are in trouble or need help, Luka does not hesitate to act. He and Adrien are watching Ladybug fight alone in Desperada, and when Adrien says Chat Noir may not be there in time, Luka is the one who insists that they do something to help Ladybug, and immediately tries to create a diversion. In Miracle Queen, he jumps between Marinette and the bees, protecting her the same way Chat protects Ladybug. He is not a coward.

Pursuit of Dreams

Luka has a job. He’s pulling his own weight, in that small way; he is dependable and responsible enough to have a job. By working, he is developing the means (money) to make his dreams happen.

Feelings for Marinette

How He Developed Feelings

Some people perceive a gap between Luka meeting Marinette and suddenly having a crush on her, and wonder how in the world he caught feelings.

In Captain Hardrock, Luka witnesses Marinette stuttering and nervous first, then sees her during an akuma fight. The contrast of these two aspects of Marinette’s personality are plenty to wow Luka, and is it any different from what Chat Noir witnessed in Ladybug to make him fall in love with her? Let’s recap.

When Marinette is chained to Luka in the Liberty, Tikki undoes the lock, and Luka is amazed, instantly impressed that Marinette has managed to get them out. She says she did it with the guitar pick, and he is impressed, saying she’s a magician. He probably thinks she is smart and resourceful to be able to come up with a way to undo the lock.

When Ladybug appears, Luka praises Marinette to her, saying she’s a brave girl. Ladybug mentions that Marinette alerted her. From Luka’s point of view, all he knows is that Marinette has escaped, and the only way out is the window which would drop a person into the Seine. He probably assumes that Marinette jumped ship, swam, and figured out a way to contact Ladybug for help. A proactive, resourceful, and bold personality with miraculous connections (would just anyone know how to contact Ladybug for help?). Plenty of traits to admire and find extraordinary.

After Hardrock, Luka and Marinette go on a “date” together (Frozer), and spend significant time together working on creative projects (Silencer). Plenty of time for his admiration to turn into a full-blown crush before his “confession” in Silencer.

Marinette Over Music

Luka lets his guitar drop in order to hug Marinette with both arms instead of just one. Despite the fact that he feels attached enough to his guitar to bring it on his job deliveries, he’s willing to risk it getting damaged for the sake of providing Marinette some temporary comfort. Though it’s a simple scene/gesture, the camera angle (low, showing fallen guitar in the foreground) indicates that this scene is symbolic, showing how important Marinette is to Luka, that she takes precedence over his other great love in life.

The end screen shows Luka looking distressed while holding a crying Marinette. Going back to Hawkmoth’s comment about Luka as someone “who can’t bear to see the one he loves suffer,” his main concern is not to date her, but to comfort her so she won’t suffer anymore. Putting together his empathic nature, his facial expression, and everything we know about him, he probably feels torn up and in pain himself when he witnesses Marinette like that.

Passiveness in Love

For my thoughts on why Luka does not pursue Marinette, see below under “Speculation —> Why Luka Doesn’t Pursue Marinette.”)

Speculation

This section is speculation based on the clues provided above.

Why Luka is So Observant and Self-Motivated

Luka was raised by Anarka, a woman who has no respect for social conventions or authority. She has an illegally-parked houseboat, does not respect police officers, and does not believe in cleanliness or organization. It’s unlikely that such a person would teach her children social constructs like gestures of courtesy, or put them in lessons the way Gabriel has done for Adrien, etc.

We see in Frozer that Luka knows how to figure skate. He has probably learned from watching, rather than having been in lessons. It is likely that most of the learning Luka has done, has been from watching other people and picking things up. In order to learn in such an unstructured, free environment as Anarka has created on the Liberty, a person must be self-motivated, otherwise they end up as a slob who can’t do anything.

Luka’s advice to Juleka is to follow her dreams in life. We can assume that Luka is doing the same, and that no one is pushing him; the only way he can achieve his dreams is to push himself.

Why Luka is So Friendly with Adrien

We may suppose that it is due to Luka’s empathic nature that he’s able to embrace a rival in love (Adrien). Because Marinette loves Adrien, he may pay Adrien special attention and notice the things about him that Marinette loves, and as a result, also feel admiration toward Adrien as well. In Desperada, we see Luka being very concerned about Adrien, looking after him, making sure he is safe. It’s possible this special attention derives from his feelings toward Marinette.

Why Luka Doesn’t Pursue Marinette

Luka tells Marinette he has found her melody, but he asks if she really wants to hear it, then follows that with “You’re still thinking about Adrien, aren’t you?”

It’s obviously a metaphor that the song being perfected and Marinette listening to it symbolize her and Luka syncing up romantically. Looking deeper, though, Luka recognizes that Marinette is seeing him as a rebound now, and as much as he likes her, he knows that she will not feel fulfilled if she dates him as a rebound and her heart is still stuck on Adrien. Luka only wants to date Marinette if her feelings for him are genuine; if not, he will stand back.

(For more on this point, see “Focus on Others, Not Himself: Genuinely Concerned for Others’ Happiness.”)

Conclusion

Luka has a personality.

I think other characters, like Marinette and Adrien, are easy to caricature. Marinette’s propensity to catastrophize, bumbling in front of Adrien, obsessive crush, crazy/daring plots, etc. Adrien’s daddy issues, denseness, anime-style dramatic flair, romantic ideals. These characteristics are all easy to exaggerate and lend themselves well to humor, drama, etc.

Luka, on the other hand, has subtle and moderate characteristics that are difficult to exaggerate and don’t lend themselves well to humor and drama. His only major quirk (love of music) is easy to parody, and that makes him seem one-sided.

Honestly, I think he’s more like a normal human being. Not everyone’s personality screams something, but everyone is driven by a set of principles and values, the way they think, the way they see the world, behavioral trends, etc... and I feel like the writers have given us plenty of glimpses at what those are for Luka.

#Luka Couffaine #Miraculous Ladybug #ML Analysis #Luka Apologist

107 notes · View notes

niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian · 4 years

Text

Oooh boy, i remember announcing this prompt awhile ago and just had everyone immediately worried about it, only to not even write it right away. Dang that was a while ago. It's almost been a month jesus O-O.

I decided to post this without the ask attached so the whole story won’t be spoiled. But oh man did I have to rewrite this so many times, the concept was really interesting to the point it ended up being something completely different to the anonymous ask. But that’s writing for you. It’s also probably the longest fic I’ve written so far.

It kinda didn't feel like it had the "angsty" effect I wanted it to have when writing this, it's one of the reasons why it took so long to get this finished. I don't know, what do you guys think?

This is pretty much this is a What-if? fic that revolves around Robotnik when he manages to come back to earth.

Warnings: there's some mild swearing in this fic.

I'm a Survivor.

“My sanity still.....remains completely absol-....Oh would you just shut up over there!” Ivo laid on the top of a mushroom as held up his hand and clutched his fingers with the other.

“Oh Terry, could you please shut that brat up?” He turned his head over to a medium sized mushroom, next to it a smaller mushroom.

He raised his arms up in annoyance. “I don’t care that brat has a ear infection! He’s been crying for almost two hours now and it’s getting on my nerves!”

He let his arms drop at his side as he closed his eyes, the heat of the sun burning forehead and causing sweat to drip down his face.

For the past couple of weeks, the mad scientist had been wandering around aimlessly through the fungal jungle in search of resources for supplies and hopefully for a way back home.

He lifted his wrist to look at his daily log. “It’s now been 86 god forsaken days since that blue rat sent me to me to this place of the mushiest of rooms.” He moved on his side, propping his head on his hand. “But luckily, you’re the only one that’s keeping me sane agent Stone.”

Turning his head, he smiled fondly at the oddly craved stone lying right beside his head. “You know what it’s like here, no humans, no animals, no garbage trucks that purposely wake you up early in the morning to ‘get the garbage cans’ when they can easily do that in the morning!”

He sighed as he sat up, picked up the stone and held it out in front of him. “One day We’ll come back to that beautiful blue planet of ours and make all of them pay, those fools that mocked me, the entire military that found my inventions to be highly dangerous and tried to hide me away.”

He adjusts his hold on the stone as he rises up to stand, raising his fist in the air. “Oh but I will show them, I will make them pay and show to everyone what happens when you banish the most dangerous mastermind in the entire cosmos!”

He snapped his head at a nearby orange mushroom and gasped dramatically. "I am not being overdramatic Jerome! They obviously know what I'm capable of!"

He pauses as he continues staring at the non verbal fungus, letting out a growl as he made his way closer to it. "Oh you’re one to talk! I can see why Karen left you for Javier! You're always being so obnoxious!"

He glares at ‘Jerome’ for a few more seconds before letting out a huge yell, grabbing the stalk and ripping it out of the ground.

“MY WEIGHT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR REAL ESTATE! THAT WAS YOUR MISTAKE!”

He threw the mushroom and watched as it bounced against the surrounding fungi, disappearing from sight as it fell deeper into the jungle below.

Panting heavily, he turned and pick up agent Stone and cradled it close to his head. “See what I mean? This is what happens when people don’t use the full integrity of their brains? They end up like Jerome, falling into a endless pit of dispair and failures.

“I hope I did you proud Karen.” he murmurs as he walks stiffly by the two mushrooms, avoiding eye contact.

He looked down at his makeshift pack of ship debris, sitting on top was a broken clear tube, containing a thick, giant blue quill inside it.

He stared intently at the pile as his brain worked through his thoughts. He slowly grasp the tube and stares at its faint glow, still beating with the pure energy.

He smiles a crooked grin as he faces the sun setting on the horizon. "And I can't to finally spread what we have discovered to the world."

=======

Date log: 4@# days since banishment.

Sparks and sounds of zapping echoes throughout the vacant area as Robotnik put the finishing touches on his makeshift portal. He cleared his throat, hoarse from the dryness of the air as he sat back on his knees underneath his smelly, makeshift hut.

"Calibration is at 69.9 percent, dimensional vortex is stabilizing and water rations have officially run out." He drinks the last mouthful of water as he tosses the container away and continues to work on the machine.

"This is the day my young tablet friend, today is the day the world will scream my name with horror and praise! He looks over to the corner of the hut where "agent Stone" is, who was placed on cushion made of mushroom tops.

"Behold, to what is to be one of my greatest creation, a portal to another world." He backs up in awe as he looks at at the machine.

"I'll admit it's smaller than I would've like it be." The machine in question was a small circle shaped design and was only less than two meters in height and size, with the quill as the main power source, still flickering on the ground near it. "It's going to be a tight fit, but it's better than nothing."

He pauses and looks over to agent Stone, walking over slowly and picking it up. "There's one mishap in our success, Stone." He shifts the rock to the crook of his arm. "The portal only has enough energy to transfer only one form of solid mass to our destination....and it's a one way trip."

Even though he managed to get it operational, he soon found out that the power wasn't enough for it to be fully functional for travel hopping. "Unfortunately one of us is going to stay behind."

He glances down at the stone solemnly. "I know this is a tough decision, for the both of us. We've been through alot for these past...." he quickly checks his data log on his wrist. "Five hundred and......something days, now we have to part ways and tell our stories to those who will wonder what we were before this tragedy."

He dramatically puts his hand to his head, closes his eyes and sighs. A moment of silence passes before he peeks a eye at the stone in his arm and tilts his head.

"I literally just poured my heart and soul out to you in a matter of pure respect and the only thing you say in reply is how I managed to survive this whole ordeal with proper food or nutrients?"

"You're making it real hard for me to feel sorry for leaving you behind." His face then morphs into a look of anger. "What makes you think anyone will listen to you? No one here can actually hear you except for me!"

His arms start trembling as he shakes the stone back and forth. "You already know I had to burn my shoes each night for us to keep warm, eat parts of my flight suit, the fact that I need to look at these unshaven legs already disgusts me! Do you really like to mock my distress? You know what happens when you mock me!!!" He starts to squeeze his hands against the rock before droppping the stone completely on the ground, backing up and stares at his hands in shock. "I...*pant* I didn't want to do this, but I have no other choice."

He makes his way towards scraps of unused parts. Getting down on his knees, he starts to spark to wires together and holds them near a small patch of grass.

"No one can figure out what has happened here, it's too risky." He waved a hand over the small flame that ignited and added more grass to it. "I hope-...i know you will understand."

Flames start to climb from the grass to the fungal walls as smoke begins to fill the small space. He coughs as he turns on the machine and waits in anticipation as it hums to life and the blue vortex appears in front of him.

"I'll admit that was nice, having you around all this time. Helping making sure I always kept focus, words of encouragement and your killer chilli stew on Tuesdays." He laughs as the scent of the smoke makes his throat burn. He gets down in his stomach and backs his feet in first towards the opening, he turns his head towards Stone, still laying sideways on the ground.

"Make sure you keep listening to that rock-connaissance, Jerome is still out there looking for me and you'll need it when he comes back." He looks the stone one last time, crawling his whole body through into the vortex, with his hand reaching out to snatch the quill before he disappeared completely.

=======

The first thing he saw was brightness, due to the natural, obscure lighting of the mushroom planet, his eyes weren't adjusted to Earth's natural light. He felt his arms dangle above his head as he rapidly blinks his eyes and warps his head around. Even at the odd upside down angle, he managed to get his body through little by little.

Wiggling his body around, he eventually fell face first onto the ground as his legs plopped down after him. Letting out a pained groan, he rolled onto his back as he saw to vortex slowly close with a few vapors of smoke spilling out if it before closing completely. A loud, sharp bang echoes as it disappears, shaking the windows and triggering car alarms on street, causing a few of the people to cower and run from the scene.

Despite the brightness of the sun, all he felt was coldness on the side of his body, he could feel the roughness of it's texture, rocks? No, pavement. He groaned as he pulls himself up in a sitting position and looks around. He could see that he was in a open section between two buildings, trash cans and dumpsters took up the space and sidewalk near the leading towards an open road in front of him. An alleyway. He looks past the alley and sees large machines with wheels driving from the left of right. Cars

"Yes...YES!!! HAHAHA!!! IVO ROBOTNIK IS BACK TO RULE THE WORLD BABY!!! He danced around and spun in circles as he caught the attention of a few people walking past the opening, either walking away or stopping to film the crazed man.

He put his arm against the wall to regain his balance as he caught his breath. He checked his wristband and honed in on his current location, after a few painstaking seconds, he saw the text of where the portal had taken him.

Green Hills, Montana.

He felt his grin widen as he chuckled. "So we're back to the place of origin of the battlefield?" For months he always dreamed of getting revenge on those who dealt with him, memorizing their names and faces so he absolutely knew who to make suffer.

Tom....

Maddie....

Wade.....whiplash?

....Sonic......

"That hedgehog....if he's still here..." Walking slowly, he near the end of the alley, still ignoring the few random people filming him. "The energy from the portal gave off is likely to alert someone from the government or even the national guard. Once they come, it's a huge possibility that they could have me arrested due to all that collateral damage I managed to do in San Francisco....eh I'll just blame it on the govenor."

"Officer! Officer! He's right over here!" His head snapped towards the end of the road as he hears a woman yell and point in his direction, alerting two sheriff officers. “Ó, gāisǐ de” He quickly books it down the sidewalk and onto the clearing of the street. He ignores the pain of rocks and debris on his bare feet as he pushes past pedestrians walking on the side walk.

As he ran, he looks back to see how many are following him, causing him to bump into a small figure and crashed to the ground. A high pitched voice cried out in pain as he got back and swipe a quick glance at the person, he only caught a glismp of their abnormally pink hair as he continued to run.

One of the officers, who was tailing behind the others stopped and checked on the person on the ground, a small rabbit girl near her was helping her stand up. "Hey, you alright Amy?" She rubbed her head as she looks up at the officer. "Yeah, I'm alright Wade. Who the heck was the maniac?"

"I have a feeling I know who it could be. It's best if you go and take cover at the veterinary, this guy isn't a normal case we usually deal with." She nodded as she took the young girl's hand and ran the opposite direction as Wade continued after the others.

=======

"Hey you! Stop!" He kept pushing forward as he cut through the crowd, ignoring the weak, tired feeling in his legs. He changed tactics by running into traffic, nearly getting clipped by passing cars on both sides.

He banked left and ran into a parking lot, serpentining through the parked vehicles. 'My lab should be still around the area hidden in the woods, if I can get there...' The voices of the officer tailing behind him interrupted his thoughts, followed by sounds of sirens wailing in the distance.

'Oh great! Just what I need right now.' He continued to jog through the area until he got to a clearing leading a abandoned warehouse, a ravine flowing with water that leaded into the wooded area right behind the building.

He ducked through the entrance and climbed on top fallen pillars and broken machinery. Putting his hands on his knees, he panted heavy as he stood in the middle of the building.

He could hear the officers voices and their radios through the thin walls. "Geez this guy's fast! Someone radio in officer Wachowski! Tell him we need backup!"

He ran up one of the nearly broken steps to one of the main floors, peeking out the windows as more squad cars showed up. "Wachowski huh? Seems like he's still in charge of this sorry excuse for a police squad."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the blue quill, gleaming with malice. “Well, he’ll be in for quite a shocker once he sees me again.” With that, he took off his wristband and started gathering metal scraps that littered the floor before running into the darkness of the stairwell.

=======

Choppers started to hover in the overcast sky around the area as news anchors arrived on the scene and police put up barricades to hold back curious citizens from getting to close while Wade was going over instructions to one of the deputies in the parking lot.

"Marlo, do we have the whole perimeter contained?"

"Yes sir, we have squadrons of three placed at each corner of the building in case he tries to run again."

"Good, any word from officer Wachowski?”

“We’ve been trying to radio him in, he hasn’t responded yet.”

“Well he’d better get to it, because knowing how this man is from experience, he won't stop at nothing."

"What do you mean from experience sir?"

"I took literal a shot at him the first time he came here, I missed but it was a pretty close shot."

"Officer Whipple!" Wade turned his head towards a young voice, looking to see a small, yellow figure running at him.

"Miles? What are you doing here?" A young yellow fox skidded to a stop in front of him, his double tails faltering behind him and pushed his goggles off his eyes as he caught his breath.

"You shouldn't be in this area right now, We just picked up that-"

"I know *pant* I was the one that *pant* sent that analysis in."

"You what? How’d you- Wait a second, all the schools are on lockdown, how'd you even get out?"

"Don't worry about that. I didn't set anything on fire this time."

He crossed his arms. "Do your folks know that you're out here?"

"Ehm, no. I just wanted to see if the analysis was accurate.....is it really him?"

He looked at the kit with a grim expression. "I'm afraid so kid." He saw the child's shoulders tense and fur ruffle on his back as he backed away and went on his handheld.

Before he could console him, another officer called him over from a nearby patrol car. "Hey! Make sure you stay behind the barriers ok?" He sees Tails nod in response as he leaves.

After looking to see that Wade wasn't watching him, he quickly ducked behind a vacant patrol car. Putting in a ear piece, he dialed the contact on his Miles Electric. After two rings, a low voice finally answers.

*Hi Tails. If you’re calling me about the reason why your show wasn't recorded from last night, it was Tom, he didn't want you to be upset about it since he knew it was the season finale and-*

"I'm calling you cause i-Hold on, it was Tom that did that?"

*Yeah...sorry bud. He didn't want to ruin your day.*

"Ok no, that's not why I'm calling. Haven't you heard what's been happening? I thought they were calling you into the field?"

*Yeah they still are, I'm in North Dakota right now.*

"Why the heck are you over there?

*Hey, it's my lunch break and I decided to see a different setting today. Oh I wanted to tell you, they're having this career expo over here during this weekend that I think you'd like to go to since you wanted to-*

"Ok Sonic, I'm gonna stop you right there. You’re not going to believe what I just found out. I-"

*I'm guessing you're calling me about that strange anomaly your scanner picked up earlier?*

"Yes, actually and i don't know why you sound so calm about something like this."

*Probably because everytime we do get something similar to it, it's just another person from our species from our home planet seeking sanctuary so they can live here safely. So I apologize if I'm getting somewhat numb to this.*

Tails huffed at the lazy tone in his voice. “Sonic I'm being serious! This isn't like the time I came here, or even when Knuckles or Amy came here. This is something stronger, like it came from a farther distance."

*I mean I don't think there's any other people that come from another planet that could travel here, not without rings that is.*

"That's the thing, they didn't have the same energy structure like the warp rings. The type of energy they used....are the same ones that your quills give off when you power up."

Tails could swear he heard a sharp intake of breath as he waited for a response. *....What do you mean.....that it matches my energy?*

He lets out a heavy sigh before speaking. "Sonic....he's back."

The silence followed was so deafening, he could hear his own heart pounding in his ears, not even the sounds of the radios or sound of the choppers whirling in the distance could break it. "Sonic, are you still-?"

*I'll be right there.* With a rushed voice, he hung up the call. Tails stared at the picture of call ended as he let out a breath. “Oh man.”

About 20 seconds later, he could see a thin trail of blue closing in and braced himself as a figure appeared near him before he could blink.

The hedgehog’s fur had a more scruffy, wind blown look around his head and torso, sports tape that was wrapped around his forearms, had on a black t-shirt with a gun holster vest, which was empty for a simply more stylish look, and brown belt around his waist that held a pouch and a visible walkie talkie.

His gloves had a black outline, with white coloring around his fingers and palms, black knee pads and wore puma running sneakers, still keeping the red and white color scheme. A single gold ring hung on a chain around his neck, moving side to side as he approached the fox.

Tails stood still as he watched his brother walk toward him, his face neutral and his movements calm. Sonic gave a slight smile as he came over, wrapping Tails in a loose one armed hug. “Hey man.”

He awkwardly pats his back in return. “Hi, did you change clothes on your way here?”

“Yeah.” His voice sounded monotone, as if he was keeping his emotions in check. “Have you heard anything from Tom?”

“Oh, I overheard Wade say that he’s on the other side of town helping with a house robbery report, I don’t know when he’ll be here.”

“Hmm-mmm.” He kept his back turned to him as he continued to stare towards the building. “What about Knux or Ames?”

“I was talking to Amy on my way here, she’s with Cream at Maddie's job and I think Knuckles is with Tom right now.”

“Ok.” Walking closer to him, he could see Sonic’s jaw tightening, a slight scowl on his face as he crossed his arms. ‘I’ve barely seen him like this, each time he acts like this, he seems like a different person.’

“S-Sonic?” He mentally cursed himself as his voice came out in a timid whimper.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He turned his head, his eyes soften, his intense presence almost gone in a instant.

“Um....Do you want any he-.”

“No.” He interrupts him with a sharp voice before clearing his voice and speaking again. “I know you want to back me up in there, but I can’t let you do that. Not for this one.”

“But...Why not for this one? What if he tries something that catches you off guard?”

“He won’t catch me off guard. I fought him before and I managed to get rid of hi-.”

“You don’t know that! I can at least back you up in there so you won't be alone." He could feel his heart race as his voice rose in pitch.

"Tails-."

"No! I'm not letting you go in there alone!" He yells right at him, his voice cracking slightly. Sonic flinches at the unexpected tone before taking the fox by the shoulders and leading him away to a more quiet spot, all the while avoiding the confused glances of the other officers.

"Ok, just take a breath." The cub obliged as Sonic kept a hand on his shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I...just think that it’s a bad idea for you to go in there alone."

"Tails listen to me, this guy is a serious deal. He almost managed to kill me when he first found out about me, he was the first ever person to keep up with me at my speed and he threatened the lives of Tom, Maddie and everyone in this town if I didn't go with him. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here right now."

"I don't want to lose you too, not to someone like him, not again.” His voice became quiet and closed his eyes, as if to hold back tears. Even without an full explanation, Sonic knew exactly what he was referring to.

The young kit had come to this world, looking for him in particular to help save their homeworld. Their efforts weren't enough as the enemy was much stronger than they anticipated and eventually lost the battle, including the planet, with pockets full of mobians coming into the town of Green Hills bit by bit in search of sanctuary.

During all of this, Tails ended up losing his parents in the chaos, turned into metallic slaves among the hordes of lost citizens who suffered the same fate.

Crouching down, he clasped his small hands in his as he spoke softly. “I know you're worried about this, trust me I am too." He gently lifts his head up so he could make full eye contact. "But after what happened here, after what happened to Mobius....I want to make sure I don't make that same mistake again, I don't want you to go through that again."

Tails held his gaze for a few seconds before nodding and wiping his eyes. "O-ok, I g-got it." Soni pulled him into a tight embrace, feeling relieved that he felt him return the hug.

His eyes lit up as a idea popped into his head, he patted Tails back as they pulled away. "Hey, does your Miles Electric still have that 25 foot signal radius?"

"Um yeah it still does, why?"

"I know how you can help me."

=======

*Can you hear me all right?*

“Loud and clear buddy, just waiting for the all clear from Wade."

*Copy that.* Tails watched from his spot on the roof of one of the surrounding houses, typing in data on his electric as Sonic neared the cleared entrance. ‘I’m not sure what I should be even feeling right now. I don’t feel scared but-.’ He gripped and ungripped his hands as he tapped his foot. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out. “It’s going to be fine.” His eyes snapped open as he heard his walkie go off on his belt.

*You're all clear officer Wachowski, we'll send in two squads after you go in. good luck in there.*

"10-4." He turned the walkie off and trudged into the warehouse. Stepping lightly, he glanced around at pillars and empty rooms, listening for any sound he could pick up.

He jumped slightly as a tiny voice activated in his ear. *Is everything going ok in there?*

He sighed annoyingly. “Yes, so far nothing's in view. Just make sure you watch for anything I can’t see, I need my full ears on this one."

*Oh ok, sorry.*

He cracked his neck and quickly stretched his arms and legs before zipping up to a visible steel bar. Thunder rumbled in the distance as he looked around at the endless rooms of scrap metal. 'Geez intense mood setting much?'

Using his speed, he glanced into each room and staircase as he searched for any sign of the doctor. He got to a inner stairwell as he noticed a footprint of a bare foot on the wet ground. 'Well either that's him or some barefoot hobos have been living here.' He speed to the top and stop near the entryway, perking his ears towards a slight clatter in the hallway.

He cautiously moved forward through the dimly lit hallway as he felt his heart beat in his ears. He lightly slapped his face as tried to control his breathing. 'Come on man get it together! You can't hear anything if you just hear your blood pressure going up.'

"Hello hedgehog." He yelped as he heard the all too familiar voice come from behind him, he jumped into a fighting pose while turning around, he saw nothing but continued to hear the voice. “I was expecting dear old Thomas to join me today, but I this is so much better.” Sonic heard a heavy object fall behind him and spun around to see a wooden pillar had fallen.

“Oh how I missed the look of you cowering in fear." He could hear the sneering in his voice as he continued down the hallway.

Sonic scoffed as he spoke loudly. "Says the guy hiding in the shadows like a damn coward."

"Oh such vulgar words for someone like your popularity, be careful it might ruin your image." He took off trying to follow the voice, it leading him up to the top floor and into a wide, open room.

*Any sign of him yet?*

He whispered as he walked into the room. “Not exactly, he’s doing some creepy, ghostbprojection thing with his voice and I followed it to the top floor. Just scan for anything that looks suspicious in here.”

*Got it.* He rubbed his arms as he shivered against the cool wind blowing through the broken walls and windows. He stood in the shadows as he heard water dripping from the broken pipes and the buildings structure moaning as the air got more humid from the oncoming storm, an assortment of wooden crates scattered around the entire room. 'Not much to hide behind up here, he's just running himself into a corner by doing that.'

"Looking for me?" He felt his spine chill as he looked in the far corner of the room. Sitting crisscrossed on top of one of the wooden crates was the mad doctor himself, giving him a predatory stare and crude grin.

"Yes, I am actually." He swallowed as his mouth felt suddenly dry, despite the moisture in the air. He reached behind his back as he continued to converse with him. "You look horrible."

Robotnik let out a low chuckle as he let his legs fall in front of him, banging hard against the side of the crate. "My apologies, it's been awhile since I've had a decent shower you see."

Sonic continued to stand in the shadows as he unclipped his walkie talkie and raised it to his mouth, stiffening as he saw the human raise his arm towards him, his gloved hand clenched in a fist. "That's a no-no."

Sonic let out a small grunt as he felt the walkie let out a few sparks in his hand before it fell to pieces onto the ground. ‘The heck?’

“Don’t want them ruining our fun now do we?” He jumped down from the crate and walked out of the shadows. The man had looked like he went through a typhoon, his skin had a bad sun kissed color and his flight suit was covered in dirt, grass and mud, his pants were split and tattered above his knees, the sleeve on his right side of his jacket was completely ripped off while his left hand was behind his back, he could faintly see it was covered in a grey-ish color, a faint blue glow could be seen between his fingers. ‘That explains why he was able to destroy the walkie like that, but what is he holding?’

His face was also covered in mud, mixed in with the stubble of a beard growing on his face. His once neat, brown mustache was now unkempt and sun bleached with hints of gray sprouting through, his teeth slightly yellowed and laced with plaque.

“Actually scratch that last comment, you look absolutely disgusting.” Sonic snarked as Robotnik simply shook his head.

“Yeah, the sight of me probably makes you absolutely nauseated. So then why aren’t you coming closer? Unless you’re afraid of a little halitosis?”

*I’ve got two spot located near you, one is 2 feet away, the other is about 3 feet.*

“Ok.”

“Well?” He flinched, upon realizing that he heard him respond to his ear piece, but not realizing that he wasn’t talking to him.

He started to sprint towards the man, getting halfway into the room when he felt one of his legs be pulled back and something thin wrap tightly around both of his ankles, causing him to fall on his hands and knees.

“Gah!” He let out a yelp of pain as he whipped his head towards his legs, finding that thin, metal wires that was leading into the floor boards was wrapped painfully around his ankles.

*Sonic? Sonic, what happened?*

He let out a few grunts as he tried to pull his legs out of the snare but it only made the wires even tighter, digging more into his fur. He tried to loosen the wire from the floor as he heard Robotnik footsteps coming near him. “For someone who runs at the speed of sound, I’m disappointed you didn’t know that was there.

“Well, it’s not like there’s any spotlights in here, if there was you’d be able to see how much you look like a gargoyle that had a bad, cheap spray tan.” He snickers at the poor joke, despite the situation he was in. ‘Oh god, I knew Tom’s jokes would be the end of me eventually.’

“Oh har hardy har, the boy’s got jokes up his sleeves. I have some jokes too, want to hear them?”

“Not really.” Ivo ignores him as he keeps talking.

“Ah here’s my favorite one! What did the hedgehog say to the doctor when he asked what was his condition?”

He remained quiet as he whipped his head towards him, glaring and keeping his hand on the wires, still trying to loosen it.

“Uncontrollable screaming.” Robotnik pressed his thumb to the side of his hand, causing electric shocks to travel from under the floor, up the wire and up the hedgehog’s legs and body.

Sonic immediately dropped his head to the floor, clenching his fists and curled up as he fought against the shocks. ‘Try to focus it....try to focus on it!’ He tried to channel the flow of the electricity currently coursing through him, but it was too much at once for him to handle.

*Sonic! Just hang on! I can see where the currents coming from. Aaand I got it!*

He felt the shocks stop as he limply fell to the side. “Oh damn cheap thing, it seems to have worked though, don’t want you to glow bright like a glow stick again. It’s all thanks that parting gift you gave me.” He opens his hand to reveal the blue quill, attached to some circuitry and connected to screen of his wrist log.

He felt a sudden cold hit his body as he stared at the very same quill that he used against him so long ago. "How do you still have that?"

"It's been with me the whole entire time, of course you didn't realize that when you were on that high shot of energy, with the blue eyes and everything. Maybe I will be able to use this new powers on the humans rather than you? I wonder if they'll be able to hold out as long as you have?"

He felt a snarl come onto his face as he felt his own energy pour out of his quills, his sight became sharper and his hands dug into the wood, scratching the floor. "Don't you even dare think about touching them-." His voice cut off as he felt the electricity activate again, this time more excruciating than the last. He suddenly felt himself getting weaker as the glow of his quills dimmed and his eyesight became blurry.

Robotnik, now closer, let out a noise of surprise as he looked at his screen. "Ay dios mio! I knew you had alot of power in you, but I didn't know you had this much!" Sonic laid on the floor, panting heavy as he heard Robotnik boast about his invention. 'Did..is he trying to drain my power from me?'

Ivo tilted his head to the side as he looked at the hedgehog flinching on the ground. “Hmm the only thing is that wasn’t so much as screaming as I would have hoped, more like tiny baby whimpers. Now, shall we try that agai-....what the?”

He suddenly felt one of his top quills being grabbed and pulled up until he was on his feet, causing the pain to increase in his legs. He grabbed onto the man’s arm in retaliation to let him go but had no effect on him.

“What happened to you?” He questioned, sounding audibly confused as he looks at Sonic. “Why do you look like this?”

He winced as Robotnik kept a firm grip on his ear. He answers with a hiss. “What? I like wearing shirts now, don’t judge me.” Through his broken goggles, he could see the man’s eyes widen as he felt him let go of the quill completely, quickly catching himself with his arms.

He backed up and paced back and forth, muttering to himself. “No,no no no that’s not it. I immediately knew it was you despite your voice sounding different, but your appearance...” He looked back at him with his hand on his chin. “You wouldn’t change this much in just a year.”

Sonic froze, repeating that statement in his mind. 'A year...?’

*Did I just hear him correctly? He just said a year right?* “Yeah, Yeah he did.” Not even realizing he was talking out loud at this point, he sat back on his knees, minding his still trapped legs.

“Why are you referring to yourself in the 3rd person? It doesn’t work that well for everyone like it does for me.”

“Wha-no, you just said it’s been a year since you’ve been gone?

“A year and 6 months actually, that’s interesting how your species apparently hit puberty at a certain rate like that. You look almost completely different.”

Then it hit him, even though he looked disheveled, Robotnik still looked like the same man he fought all those years ago. Just more crazier. “What year do you think it is?”

He was visibly caught off guard by the question, crossing his arms he answered smugly. “It’s the year 2019 of course, don’t know why you need clarification on that.”

“You think it’s been almost two years since you left earth?”

“I know it’s been almost two years and I wouldn’t say “left” earth, forcibly evicted is the word I would use for that statement.”

“Dude....it’s been 10 years, it's currently the year 2029." Silence filled the room as Sonic saw Robotnik flinch as they continued to stare at each other, he went to say something but his voice got caught in his throat as his face morphed into a frown. "That's impossible."

Sonic let out a unintended laugh at the denial. "Impossible? It's been that long here."

"No it hasn't, my calculations might be off by a few months if anything. But it hasn't been a bloody decade."

"You literally just said I looked completely different! I was a teen when you last saw me, I'm in my 20’s now. Heck even the town is different!”

"You can’t possibly be that old now! Your genetics wouldn't show that kind of quick progress."

"Just because I'm a different species doesn't mean I don't age differently than humans."

"How dare you talk like what I’m saying doesn’t make any sense! I know what I’m talking about!”

"Do you? Cause it sounds like what you're saying doesn't even make sense to you!"

“And who’s fault is that!?!” Ivo’s voice rose in volume, making Sonic flinch back at his voice.

“Huh?”

“The reason why I’m like this now is because of you! My entire life was ruined when you banished me to that hellish planet! My mind slowly went mad as each month passed And what do I find when I finally make it back? That a damn decade has past all because you just wouldn’t let me experiment on you!!”

‘I..is he serious?’ He sat there flabbergasted as Robotnik unloaded his inner emotions. “You tracked me and Tom down across so all you could do was perform tests on me like a animal! Why the hell would I go with you after knowing that?”

“It’s better than throwing someone to a inhabited planet with no way to home!”

“You choose that path! It’s your fault that you ended up there! Don’t blame me for doing something that could be so obviously wrong, even to the so called ‘smartest guy on the planet’ and think you deserve better!”

"SILENCE!!" He pressed the side of his hand again, the metal around his hand making a slight crackling sound as Sonic felt the electricity activate once again.

Sonic screamed out and writhed in pain on the floor as he felt energy being drained from all over his body. *Son-ic? Bzzzzt, So-nic!?..bzzzt.* he could hear the signal cut off as the device got shorted out.

Panting hard, Ivo looked at the hedgehog crying out in pain on the floor, feeling no sense of joy, pleasure or anything that he usually would feel when torturing people. He backed away slowly, his mind started to race. 'A full decade? Could that really true? What has happened here when I was gone? Do they all think I'm missing? Do they all think I'm dead? Agent Stone, does agent Stone believe I'm...?'

"POLICE! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" He turned towards the sound of several officers barging into the room, guns drawn directly at him. Two of the officers leading in the front caught his eye, the one he remembered from his last day on earth, nearly hitting him with a single bullet in his air mobile. The other officer in the front he immediately recognized, the man's face was in a scowl as he locked eyes with him with such fierce intensity, before the sound of the hedgehog's screaming caught his attention.

"Sonic?!" He went closer to the body and reached out his hand before recoiling it back in pain at the sharp shocks. He growled as he got up and cocked his gun. "Turn the machine off."

He glances down at his hand and answers him bluntly. "I can't do that Thomas."

"The hell you can't, turn it off now!"

"I mean that I actually can't, I broke the device in hand in my fit of rage." He shrugged his shoulders as his ears picked up more footsteps coming up the stairs.

"What's going- oh no!" He could see a yellow figure run behind the officers and kneels on the ground near the hedgehog, who had stopped screaming and was curled up in a loose ball, still flinching. "Hold on, just hold on Onii-chan." He assured him as he got out a small handheld device and pointed it towards the wires, managing to turn off the currents and started to remove them.

He could hear the cops voice blur out as he watched the small creature work on his tablet, noticing two tails twitching anxiously behind him. 'There's another one like him here? How many more could there be here?'

"This is your last warning! Get down on the ground now!" He ignores their orders as he looks around at the open walls in the room. "No, don't even think about it!"

"Oh I'm thinking about it I'm afraid." With that he sprinted out the nearest open wall, ducking his head as he heard several loud bangs and feels a sharp pain in his leg. He jumps out through the wall, flailing his arms as he fell at the height of the building and fell into the water of the ravine. he heard several shouts coming from the parking lot as he let himself float downriver into the cover of the trees in the woods, still clutching the quill tightly in his hand.

=======

"Follow where that ravine goes! I want the town placed on a full lockdown! Make sure he doesn't get out of the tristate area and if you find him, be careful and bring him in alive." The others nodded as they ran out of the room.

"Wade!" His friend stopped in his tracks as Tom made his way over. "Make sure you take Knuckles with you and fill him in, you'll need the extra muscle with this one."

"Got it." He raced down the steps while Tom ran towards Sonic and Tails, who had managed to get rid of the snares on his legs while Sonic laid in and out of consciousness.

He got down on his knees and held Sonic's head in his lap, hearing him let out a sluggish moan while Tails scanned his body. "Is he ok Tails?" The cub didn't answer as he scanned over his brother's wrist, monitoring his heart rate. He breathed out a sigh of relief and wiped his eyes.

“His heart rate is normal, i don’t think anything’s broken, he did suffered some burns around parts of his legs from the snare traps. It could be 1st degree but we should have Maddie look at him just to be safe."

"Yeah that's a good idea." He radioed for a ambulance to arrive as he gathered Sonic in his arms bridal style. "It's gonna be okay son."

He went to head towards the stairs but saw that Tails had wandered away, looking where Robotnik had made his escape. "Tails?"

He continued to look where he had fled, looking at the ravine to the trees and shrubs where it disappeared into the woods.

He rubbed his arms as he looked down at the ground before looking at his guardian. "I'm really worried about this."

Tom adjusted Sonic in his arms as Tails walks over to him. "Yeah, I know and I don't blame you."

He shook his head as he came closer. "I mean that I'm worried about who this guy is. I remember all about the crazy stories you guys told me about him, from when he was hunting Sonic to when the government told you about him, but he managed to live on that barren planet filled with nothing but mushrooms for so long. He managed survive all of that."

Tom sighed as they made their way down the stairs. "This isn't a normal man that we're dealing with, he's....something that could be dangerous even to himself if he had the chance.”

"Sonic told me something like that earlier before he went in, It made me even more worried after he told me about why I couldn't go in with him. When I heard him screaming like that and I wasn't able to pick up anything on the electric, I just.....froze, I didn't know what to do until I saw you pull up."

"Well it's a good thing you're a pretty fast flyer and have a very high piercing voice." He joked lightly as they made their way out the building and heard the ambulance sirens in the distance.

"Since he's still out there, there's no telling what's going to happen now that he know about not only Sonic still being here, but also me and any other mobians that live here?"

Tom ponders as he looks at Sonic's sleeping face to Tails' bright blue eyes staring at him.

"I don't know what will happen, but I will promise you this." He gets on one knee, being mindful of Sonic's injured legs. "Not only I, but Maddie, Wade, the whole town, even Crazy Carl will do everything within our power to make sure that all of you guys are safe. It's why you all came here, so we will make sure you stay here."

He smiled brightly and nodded his head at him as he felt his tails wag behind him. Tom winked as he saw the ambulance pull up and carefully jogged towards it.

Tails fiddled with his gloves as he looked around at the civilians, both human and mobian gathered near the barriers to see what was happening. He made his way over toward the ambulance, his fur chilled and damp from the misty rain.

“At this point, this new adventure that has emerged is plauged with so much uncertainty for all of us. But I know that somehow, we will fight through and win this one. Just like my people who escaped the tyranny of our world, just like my new friends and family. Cream, Amy, Knuckles and Sonic, even just like Robotnik. I am a survivor, we are all survivors and I will make sure that our future will no longer be in vain to this new world.”

64 notes · View notes