#wow would you look at that i can draw something other than two purple idiots /lh

[lampochkaart]

Kirumi

Little analysis⬇️

I don't think we talk enough about how manipulative Kirumi can be. When she was considered the main suspect, she began to lie, emphasizing that she always valued the needs of others more than her own. This is partly true, but in that situation she was not caring about THEM, but about other people. And in order to remove suspicion from herself (and make everyone vote incorrectly), she used any methods. She even tried to evoke pity by crying. But the dirtiest method she used was that she used Kaede's wish to convince them that she would never try to deceive them. She knew that this wish became a symbol of hope for the group, she knew that Kaede was very important to Shuichi, she knew that it was still very difficult for him to reveal the truth. But she used it to her advantage.

When she was found out and already chosen as the killer, Kirumi tried to force everyone to fight Monokuma for her (which would inevitably lead to someone's death), causing everyone to feel guilty towards the entire country for which she was responsible. And it almost worked.

But Kaito brought everyone to their senses with his speech that there is no such thing as the “price of life.” They can't just give their lives because "it's would be better that way". Their lives matter. " Life's purpose is to be lived". He firmly stated that he wanted to live, which was actually a very brave act, because people could've called him an egoist for putting his life before the lives of an entire nation. However, he was supported by... Kokichi. He brought the group's attention to what Kirumi was actually trying to do. He revealed that she planned to use them to escape. And she confirmed that he was right with her words.

Also how different her behavior was before this from how aggressive she becomes when she sees that her tactics didn't work (and at a couple of other points during the class trial when she was just starting to get accused).

I'm NOT trying to make her out to be a villain and say she's bad. But I don't like how this imperfect side of her character is often ignored. She is often positioned only as a selfless servant, which in my opinion is wrong. I DO NOT deny her selfless devotion, but I believe that the trial brought out another side of her. She really wanted to survive. She really wanted to get out. I believe that one of the reasons of her breakdown was due to the fact that she broke under the pressure of all the responsibility that was placed on her.

In the official manga, Kiyo analogizes their situation to a tradition called "jincan", where many poisonous insects are sealed in a jar and they begin to devour each other until only one insect remains. Kirumi reasons with him that if any being sees a chance to get out of the hell they are locked in, they will do anything to achieve this goal.

I love how Danganronpa often defies obvious expectations. Like, you expect Kirumi to become a killer because someone will use her and she won't be able to refuse because of her desire to serve. But in reality, she almost sacrificed the lives of the entire group in order to get out herself.

In conclusion, I think it is important to recognize Kirumi not only as a obedient Ultimate Servant, but also as a girl who desperately wants to live, who is ready to do ANYTHING to get out. She is ready to go to great lengths if necessary to achieve this goal.

Many of Kirumi's moments have a theme of surviving no matter what: her behavior at the Class Trial (the fact that she initially tried to frame Himiko, who can not stand up for herself), her manipulation at the end of the trial, her breakdown before her execution, execution itself, where she tries to escape so desperately that she climbs up a thorny vine through a tunnel, not stopping even when circular saws appear from the walls (her escape attempt was clearly part of the execution, Monokuma knew what she will try to do and made sure to cause her as much despair as possible, giving her hope of getting out).

She wanted to get out not only to continue to serve, but also because she just wanted to survive. She wanted to do something not only for the sake of others, but also for her own sake. Perhaps for the first time in her life.

I love seeing complex characters who have many sides and flaws. So I find it strange to see that sometimes Kirumi is only described as a obedient servant. She is so much more than that. This is exactly what I love about Kirumi, what makes her so interesting.

***

Uh, hey. I just wanted to ask if you would be intrested in seeing here more of my drv3 analysis (spoiler: most of them are ch 5 related). And if you are, should i make drawings to accompany them (like in the beginning of this post) or just post them as they are

[mrskurono]

title: Bet Me || domming the Seijoh Grads

a/n: anon who gave me this idea, I thought FOREVER about how to execute this and I just like- this happened while taking a shower ok. Iwa had it coming to him being the alpha dog

word count: 2.7k 

tags: dom!reader, group sex (mmmmf), established relationship (on Oikawa’s end), bondage, handjob, slight degradation, edging, cockwarming, ruined orgasm, masturbation (male), oral( male and female), rimjob, cucking, male on male (penetration +oral), anal creampie, cocky Oikawa, brat taming Iwa, slightly dacraphilia, safe word mention (unused) petnames, uh probably something else but c’mon its fucking smut, unedited

character(s): Oikawa Tooru (hq), Hajime Iwaizumi (hq) Takahiro Hanamaki (hq) Issei Matsukawa (hq)

heavy nsfw undercut ⇾ ⇾ ⇾

Tooru ran his mouth like a bullet train.

No one took him seriously when he toted about how amazing you were. Claiming you to be the best. Which, to Iwa’s, Makki’s and Mattsun’s surprise, that was notably a lot coming from the ladies man himself. Tooru’s taste in women came like his coffee order did, sweet and sweeter. So when the man came sporting some glamorous little bruises on his torso. Well, that lead to a bit of a bet.

“This won’t work.” Iwa scoffed at the idea, nearly rolling his eyes out of his head when the last bit of rope was secure, “She can’t do it since Shittykawa is just a wimp of course he cums easily!”

“You gonna bet me for that huh baby?” Standing above the man who was now tied at your feet seemed to leave you in a pretty domineering position now over him. Iwa wouldn’t give it up though. He was certain you couldn’t edge him until he cried.

If Iwa cried, then the bet was in your favor. Makki and Mattsun would without a doubt bow to your ability. Seeing though as no one had bested their friend since high school, neither of them saw much potential besides maybe a fun circle jerk out of this. Tooru on the other hand was nearly vibrating out of his own skin with excitement for the occasion.

“You’re gonna eat those words you know Iwa!” Tooru grinning. His best friend really had no idea what he was in store for. And he wasn’t going to tell him either.

Rolling your eyes you wave your boyfriend away and kneel down in front of the bulky athletic trainer. Searching his face. Paying almost no attention to his half a hard on even now, and you simply smile at him, “No kissing. And the safe word is teal, yeah?”

Iwa rolled his eye once more, “Yeah ok.”

Mattsun and Makki elbowed each other with a bit of a giggle between the two of them. They didn’t think you could do it but were certainly glad to not be in Iwa’s shoes. Only arms tired behind his back, Iwa was left in a precarious position when your hand ghosted over his cock.

Feathery touch of your fingertips down his thick shaft and Iwa scoffed. An offhanded comment about if that was the best you got then you should just jerk him off. Instead you let his words fall on deaf ears. Smiling as you took your hand away. Earning all eyes on you as you reached for what was simply a regular bottle of lube. 

Drizzling it over Iwa’s cock until it ran down his shaft and between his balls to drip on the ground at his feet. You really had everyone’s attention now that his cock was slimy with lube and untouched. The peanut gallery snickered. Tooru said something in a husky mumble. But it was clear all three men were beginning to palm themselves through their pants. Iwa on the other hand, held firm that this would just be another handjob.

Which in reality you suppose it was. Your work slow and methodical. Wasn’t long before you realized Iwa was enjoying himself. Fingers dancing up and down his cock. The squelch of the lube when you squeezed his tip. Watching him roll his head back and savor the simple movement. Really besides his arms being tied behind his back this was all about to end like a normal handjob. 

That was, until the first stringy bits of precum dripped from Iwa’s cock.

“Fuck- Right there-” His low guttural moan. 

Indulgent and self centered. Iwa was about to cum and not a tear in sight. Even Makki and Mattsun who now shamelessly were jerking themselves off weren’t surprised by the outcome. But like he knew something they didn’t, Tooru had his hands off himself. Completely. Only those brown eyes set forward and fixated on your hands like he was waiting for you to do something.

“You gonna cum baby?” Your fingers working magic up and down his cock. 

Iwa nodded. He wasn’t even paying attention. The handjob was hot but all eyes on him while he was going to win seemed to fuel him even more. You could feel his cock twitch in your hand. Carefully you watched until his balls tightened and then you did it. Exactly what Tooru knew you’d do.

Hand smashed to the top of Iwa’s cock before he could say anything. Your strokes stopped completely. Replaced by a firm grip and your opposing hand feverishly rubbing your palm in circles over his slit. Iwa had no time to react. The overstim right into too much making his entire body twitch and convulse. He doubled over but could not escape. The bindings he strained against didn’t give way. And your hand didn’t stop with it’s cruel motions. Nothing he did could make him escape the pins and needles of pleasure cascading through his body on overdrive.

“Give up? Too much baby? Huh you not gonna cum? Baby wanted to cum though. Where’s all that big boy talk now, Hajime?” Your words sweet in tone and evil in context. Iwa was coming undone in front of everyone he knew. Makki and Mattsun had stopped stroking themselves entirely. Wide eyed at the sight as Tooru was giggling and palming himself finally to his slight relief. His queen was going to win the bet. He just knew you would.

“-‘s much-” Iwa croaked, body trembling under your touch.

“What? I can’t hear you?” Your hand only slick with precum and the lube off his cock, “Come now, I wanna see all your sweet milk spill out~ Won’t you do that for me Hajime?”

Iwa grunted, bucked his hips and gritted his teeth. His orgasm was being forcibly taken from him but still not a tear to spare. As he twitched and shifted his hips up he was certain this would come crashing into an orgasm. Building quicker and quicker by the passing second. He forgot to care if everyone around him was even jerking off to the sight of him anymore. Iwa gasped just when his orgasm was tipping to no return.

“That’s enough.”

Iwa gasped. Mattsun and Makki gasped. Tooru giggled.

Your hand completely removed from Iwa’s cock. All men witnessed the cruelest thing to date. Iwa’s cock bouncing, in desperation, with one exact bead of white cum oozing from his slit. You just ruined Iwaizumi’s orgasm and they all watched you do it.

“No! Don’t stop! Idiot! K-Keep doing it! Keep moving I- I just- I wanna cum!!” Iwa’s pleas fell from his mouth. Ending with his voice cracking as his orgasm tightened around him but just wouldn’t be released. You sat smug in front of him and when his voice cracked he knew it was all over.

You won.

“Shit....” Mattsun mumbled, fixated on Iwa’s poor cock standing so abused and hard.

“Man....that’s....wow.” Makki, still grabbing at his cock, couldn’t tear his eyes away.

“Told you guys so~” Tooru sung your praise more than happy to see both his friends adamant that what they saw wasn’t something they wished on anyone. Especially themselves.

“So.” You stood up, hand covered in slickness mixed with Iwa’s precum and looked at Mattsun and Makki, “Anyone else think I’m a liar?”

Quickly they shook their heads. 

“Good.” You smiled sweetly. Fixing to pull your panties off right away and throw them between Iwa’s legs still bound in front of you. On full display the natural juices clinging to your thighs with how wet you’d gotten on this little bet. So now you figured no one was going to argue with you, it was your turn for some relief, “Makki, come here.”

Eyes wide he looked at Tooru. Who grinned and nodded for him to do as you said.

Sheepish of the same treatment. He knew a bet was a bet. Undoubtedly you were proclaimed alpha and did as you asked.

“Sit for me yeah?” You point across from Iwa.

Makki swallowed hard but listened. He didn’t want the same outcome as Iwa. When he’d sat down you grab a fistful of his hair and pull him into your ass, “Lick me up a little. I don’t wanna sit on your cock this wet.”

Obediently Makki liked this outcome much more. His tongue swiping over your thighs and lapping at your juices with no questions asked. If he heard you right, sitting on his cock was next in line.

“Tooru baby,” You cooed at your boyfriend, “Mattsun looks awfully hard. Maybe you should take care of him?”

While you pulled Makki’s face into you more, letting him lick you clean in front of Iwa. You take pride in seeing how well your boyfriend drops to his knees to take his friends cock. Mattsun certainly as big as some of the toys you make sweet Tooru gag on. It’s within no time that he has him down his throat. Brown eyes looking up at Mattsun as his cheeks hollow out and he goes to town sucking him like a good boy. Allowing you to enjoy yourself a bit more.

“Alright thank you, Makki,” You pull his face away, coated in your juices and a bit of a dazed look. Adding to the bliss on the man’s face when you finally seat yourself on his cock. Makki’s hands going right to your hips, “Ah ah ah, don’t move. Unless you wanna end up like Iwa huh?”

“Y-Yes ma’am-” Makki stutters with the right amount of fear not to try you on it. Iwa is still left bound in front of you with his cock head purple and aching as it twitches against the air for some kind of relief.

When you wiggle yourself comfortably on Makki’s cock. Moaning softly and spreading your legs so Iwa can see his friend’s cock buried inside you. You click your tongue at Iwa to make him look at you.

Drawing a finger up your slit and teasing your own clit, you smile at Iwa, “Bet you wish you hadn’t lost huh? Wishing you were stuffing my cunny with that cock right about now? Instead, only seeing sweet Makki stretch me out and how hard my clit is. Bet I could cum like this. On his cock that is.”

Iwa licked his lips. How desperate he was to cum. You were absolutely right, Iwa desperately wanted to be Makki, “.....please.”

“Please what?” You asked, reaching your wet fingers back to stuff in Makki’s mouth, “Suck baby.”

Makki listened well. Tongue washing over your fingers to eat your juices up as he relished the feeling of his cock inside you after all this. He wasn’t about to screw this up.

Hanging his head low Iwa internalized his growl and finally spoke up, “....please...let me taste you.”

“That’s a good boy,” You use your foot to tilt his head up towards you. Making him face you but when that smile widened Iwa’s stomach tightened, “But first, Tooru~”

Popping his lips off Mattsun’s cock, your boyfriend turned towards you. Seeing you motion him over. Tooru hated to leave what he was doing but was more curious about what you could want.

“Love, do you think you could take Mattsun?” You ask sweetly.

Tooru blushed at the idea, “I mean...yeah...with a little prep I could-”

“Say no more,” You wave his words away and look to Iwa, “Prep him for me will you baby?”

Giddy at the idea. Tooru didn’t waste anytime getting on his knees. Hips pushed back towards Iwa and Tooru bringing his face inches from your core. Not allowed to taste you but where he could vividly see Makki’s cock stuffed in you. 

Perhaps it was the grogginess of a ruined orgasm. Or the fact he was desperate to cum at this point. But there was no hesitation when Iwa pressed his tongue against Tooru. Earning a lewd moan from his best friend that fueled him. Finding himself so hard at the idea of Tooru pressing back on his face as Iwa tongued him.

“Mmm there, does Iwa’s tongue feel good love?” You caress his face as your free hand plays with your clit. Makki not moving as you ordered but his hands certainly didn’t seem to count as he groped and fondled your breast.

“S-So good-” Tooru moaned. His labored breathing and cock hanging between his legs as Iwa ate him out was a beautiful sight. One that wouldn’t last long though.

“Can you take Mattsun now?” You asked sweetly of him. Tooru nodded. He didn’t want to lose Iwa’s tongue but he knew the next thing would be better. So you looked to Mattsun with an inquisitive look.

“Don’t gotta tell me twice.” Mattsun ready to stuff his cock in anything a this point.

You watched in pure bliss as you saw Tooru straddle his friend like he did you so often. Instead of sliding down on a toy though. You watched Mattsun’s enormous cock disappear in his ass. Tooru’s stomach tensing until he relaxed and the brown haired man sighed in relief.

“Feel good?” You asked the both of them.

Hardly a response though as Mattsun and Tooru ended up in their own little world. Fucking only mere feet from you. Makki’s cock buried in you as you lazily played with your clit. Leaving Iwa out of it.

“Please...” He stooped as low as to beg, “...Please let me taste at least.”

Feeling generous and like it would be a nice change. You indulge him. Allowing Iwa to finally get a little something even though he was the loser.

“Make me cum before Mattsun fills Tooru and I’ll let you cockwarm next time~” 

Iwa didn’t need to be told twice. Diving between your legs to find your clit instantly. His tongue working overtime as you leaned back into Makki. Making the man hold you and catching his lips. He was a good boy who wasn’t moving so kissing him was the least you could do. 

As instructed Iwa was an expert with his tongue. Giving your clit all of his attention. Sadly thought he wasn’t privy to winning this either. Glancing over at the other two soon assure you of that. The way Mattsun gripped Tooru’s hips. Cum drooling out of Tooru’s cock for lord only knows how long now. And the way Mattsun’s brows pinched in the middle and hips stalled meant Iwa lost once more.

Unsurprisingly the two men had to catch their breath. Mattsun pulling out and a flood of cum following. Tooru being a good boy when you told him not to waste any and he scooped up Mattsun’s cum and pushed it back inside himself. Fingering himself as Iwa’s tongue began doing the trick when your hand found his hair and your grip tightened.

First a wonderful little tickle until finally you were leaning back into Makki groaning with a shudder. No real movement save for the ripple of your cushiony cunt walls around his cock. After all this Makki wasn’t going to complain. Even as Iwa’s tongue glided over his shaft a few times in desperation to keep you cumming on his tongue. 

Neither men cared when your orgasm was in full swing. Your cunt tightening around Makki until he had no choice but to double over into you. Holding you tight as his cock throbbed inside you and his balls emptied every last drop of cum into your well deserving pussy. Even Iwa not caring as he did his job to ride out your orgasm and some of Makki’s excess cum drooling out around him and Iwa licking it up like a good boy. Focused on your hand in his hair until he knew he’d done his job when your grip slowly loosened and finally released him completely.

Satisfied but not letting Makki go anywhere just yet. Which he didn’t mind. Tooru crawled over to you. Kissing you with the faint taste of Mattsun’s cock on his lips and certainly his cum still dripping down his inner thighs. Tooru smiled against you before nuzzling his face against yours.

“Aye wait-” Iwa, still the only one who hadn’t came yet, huffed and looked around.

No one said a thing. Makki spared you a look by hiding his face in your neck like Tooru. Mattsun looked your way and didn’t say anything to his friend. And Tooru simply kept kissing your neck without a care. None of them were going to go against your wishes making you smile at Iwa, “Well, maybe next time you’ll know better than to bet against me now won’t you?”

[colormeyondublue]

Yondu & The Secretary  Chapter 2: The Love Bug

Chapter 1 Here  Chapter 3 Here A few months go by aboard the ravager ship. You find out that Yondu is the Captain, and Kraglin, the Xandarian, is his first mate. The ship is called the Eclector, and some of the guys on board are total pigs. Yondu sets up a small office space for you to work out of and you find that the work is surprisingly simple. You get into a routine and start to really settle in. You also come to find that Yondu is particularly kind; to you. To the crew, he could be a total ass. Your slight attraction to the Captain was only a thought when you first met him on Krylor, but every day it kept growing and growing with how sweet he was. Maybe it was because you were a woman? Maybe it was because you were Terran? You couldn’t be sure. This might become a problem.

One evening, your office door creaks open loudly, and you hear heavy boots thunking into the room. Yondu. You smirk softly at the thought. “So, you goin’ to Geff’s little get together?” The Captain’s voice came from behind you as you finished up the data entry from the crew’s last heist. It was Geff’s birthday. The boys decided to throw him a little party at the bar on the ship. “Me? Heh, no…probably not.” You hadn’t looked at him yet, but something caught your senses. Something, different. Something…intoxicating. Was Yondu wearing cologne? Whatever it was, it was messing with your head. It smelled like the forest back home – right after the rain, blended with tones of spices and notes of musk. “Well, why the hell not?” He seemed a little surprised. Hurt, maybe? You spun around on your desk chair to face him, “Hmm…. let me put it to you this way: I am not about to be the only female on the ship in a room full of drunk Ravagers. I already get harassed and catcalled on a daily basis, Yondu! Why on Earth would I want to put myself in a situation like that?” “You Terrans sure do use the strangest expressions. We ain’t on Earth…uh….Terra I mean.” He said with a chuckle. The small chuckle at his own words made you giggle too. “Well, regardless, I just don’t think it would be very wise of me to put myself in a bad spot, that’s all.” “Well I’ll be there. I can make sure no one bothers you too much. Then would you go?” “I don’t know Yondu…I mean Geff is great and all but –“  You were cut off by loud laughter and heavy footsteps of several ravagers going past your office door. A lot of the boys were already headed to the bar to get the party started. “ – but I don’t want to be a bother. Besides, if you show even the slightest bit of protective behavior around me, couldn’t that start rumors? Wouldn’t they think it was odd? Some of these guys really talk…”

Yondu scoffed with a slight wave of his hand. “Who cares what these idiots think. I’m the Captain, and I can protect whoever the hell I feel like. Besides, how am I supposed to keep my shit in order without my assistant who helps with our operations? The boys will probably understand that their payouts could get disrupted if they mess with our lil’ secretary, right? Everybody knows you don’t mess with a Ravager’s units.” He finished with a wink. That wink…that smirk…his scent…oh no. Your head starts to feel fuzzy. Your sternum is growing tight, and butterflies explode by the thousands in your stomach. You feel like your arms are floating. You start to notice that your head seems to be wobbling a little bit and you find yourself staring at his lips. Stop being stupid! Say something! Get a grip! His smile starts to falter after a moment or two. “Uhh…you alright?”

Your clear your throat a little louder than you wanted to, and manage to say with a shaky voice, “Uhh, yeah, no, yeah…I’m – I’m fine. I guess I’m just a little tired is all. But, fine. I’ll go, but only for a few drinks. I’m not staying out all night! I have more things I want to get updated in the system before you and Kraglin start gathering intel on your next mission.” “Fine, fine. Just a few drinks.” He motions with both his hands in the air. It did not turn out, however, to be just a few drinks. It started out that way, but the more you drank, the more you wanted to be close to him. The alcohol was making you feel a little too confident. The captain was drinking too, of course, but Centaurians have to drink quite a bit before they really start to feel anything. He was on his fifth glass of whiskey for the night, and you were on your third. You were definitely tipsy, but not terribly drunk. The scent coming off him just kept smelling better and better, your senses were stirred, and you wanted to dive into him. You are sitting next to each other on the couch in the lounge that was connected to the bar. You both listen to stories and jokes being told by Tullk, Oblo, and Kraglin. Laugher is plentiful, and you couldn’t be happier. Then, you feel your Captain move next to you as he throws his arm over the back of the couch behind you. The shift in the cushions causes you to inadvertently lean closer to him. Your cheeks turn bright pink and your heart starts pounding. You sit up straight, put your drink down on the table and politely excuse yourself. The others were too drunk to notice, or care, but Yondu notices. After a moment or two he gets up and follows you to the bar. You hastily get yourself a tall glass of water, and chug it down. “What was that about back there? You alright?” He asked. “Feelin’ sick?” “No, no I’m fine. I just think it’s time I headed back to my cabin. I need to get some sleep. I have an early start tomorrow.” You said as you put your glass down on the bar. Yondu eyes you suspiciously, but doesn’t press the matter. “Can I at least walk you back? These boy’s is pretty drunk. I don’t want you to run into any trouble.” “Yeah, I guess that would be alright.” You fiddle with the empty glass on the bar in front of you. What am I even doing? Do I really have feelings for him? Is this seriously happening? What the hell am I supposed to do?! Your job on the ship is simple: free up the first mate’s time by entering new recruit information, keep transmission logs up to date, work up data sheets for new missions, and keep an updated archive on clients, easy heist planets, kree intel, etc… That was it! Nowhere in your job description are you supposed to fall for your Captain, your boss! “Well…should we be headin’ out?” Yondu’s voice broke you out of your thoughts. You looked over at him, his eyes were touched with slight concern, confusion maybe. “Captain, I….” You began, but the words just stopped coming out. You close your mouth and shake your head. “Never mind, I’m ready. Let’s go.” You both walk slowly back your cabin. Yondu is silent, as are you. The only sound to be heard is both yours and Yondu’s boots clunking down the walkways of the Eclector. When you approach your door, you hesitate.

“Goodnight Captain, thank you for walking me back. I appreciate it…and thank you for having my back tonight. I was able to actually relax and have a nice time.” You begin to open your door and walk in when you feel a large, warm hand on your shoulder. You turn to look at his hand, and your eyes trail up his arm to his shoulder, and then to his face. You both lock eyes, and your heart stops. “Why do you keep callin’ me that? Captain. You haven’t really called me that much since you boarded for the first time a few months back.” “I – I’m sorry. I just…you’re the Captain.” He took his hand from your shoulder, “Yeah, I know that. But it just feels wrong somehow. You typically call me by my name when we ain’t around the crew.” You couldn’t help but smile a little. “Alright, Yondu.” You said with a slight chuckle. “Is that better?” “Yeah. I like it when you call me by my name.” A small tinge of purple comes to his cheeks. “But don’t go tellin’ anybody that! You still gotta’ call me Captain or Sir around the crew.” “Hahaha, of course. I promise I won’t tell a soul. Cross my heart.” You used your index finger to draw an X over your chest. “I swear, you Terrans are odd…I don’t even know what that means.” You giggle again, “It means I’m serious. As serious as I can be. I won’t tell anyone. You have a reputation and status to maintain with your crew, and I completely understand that.” You turn and step into your cabin. Looking over your shoulder you smile a small, bashful smile at him. “Goodnight, Yondu.” With that, you closed your door. Yondu stood at the closed door and quietly said, “Goodnight, Darlin’.” He continued to stand there, frozen in place. What the hell was that? Why do I feel funny? My heart is pounding, my head is reeling. I care about what she calls me? Since when? Darlin’? When have I ever called anyone that? He shook his head to free himself of where he stood, and walked back to his quarters. You laid in your bed that night, unable to sleep. A big, stupid grin would not leave your lips no matter how hard you tried to get rid of it. Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot believe this. I can’t believe how hard this hit me. He’s so unbelievably handsome. His scent was so intoxicating. I didn’t know he wore cologne? And that smile?! Who knew blue could look so damn good. You giggled out loud to yourself. “I have a crush on the Captain. I have a huge freakin’ crush on Yondu Udonta. What the hell?!” You continued to giggle to yourself until you heard a group of footsteps going past your door. More ravagers were headed to bed from the party. You quickly covered your mouth as if someone could possibly hear you. Once the footsteps were gone, you continued to smile and giggle like a little girl. “Wow. What on earth and am I going to do? How do I even begin to handle this?” You said to yourself. Your mind raced, and sleep eluded you all night. Meanwhile, the Captain wasn’t sleeping much either. You kept popping up in his head. Every time he would close his eyes, you appeared. It wasn’t until tonight that he realized that you looked incredible in your maroon leathers. He had always thought you were attractive, ever since he and Kraglin decided to hire you when they met you on Krylor. But this was a whole new level of attraction. It made him feel…different. He had never felt this way before, he felt vulnerable. He did not like it one bit! But on the other hand, he did? It was starting to piss him off. He threw the furs and blankets from his body and got out of bed. He picked up a communicator brace from his nightstand and pushed a few buttons. It beeped a few times, and Kraglin’s sleepy voice could be heard. “Yes, sir? Everythin’ alright?” “Boy, get to my quarters. I need to talk to ya. I’m havin’ a problem.” “Right away sir.” Yondu shut the brace off and tossed it back on the table. Within a few minutes there was a knock on the door. Yondu got up and walked to the door, flinging it open. Kraglin rubbed his eye with a fist and yawned. “What’s goin’ on Sir?” “What’s goin’ on is I need to talk to ya. Maybe you’ll know what to do…get in here!” Yondu yanked Kraglin into the room and slammed the door shut. “Siddown.” He muttered as he pushed his desk chair to the first mate. Yondu sat on the bed and fiddled with his hands for a moment. “Sir?” Kraglin asked. “What do you need help with? Somethin’ goin’ on with the crew?” “No, but there is something goin’ on…I’ve been feeling funny all night. Ever since I went with y/n to the bar for Geff’s party, my head has been fuzzy, my chest is tight, my hands are all shaky and I can’t sleep! It’s pissin’ me off! I don’t know what the problem is. I only went with her to make sure the boys didn’t do nothin’ stupid, but now I can’t think straight! Every time I close my damn eyes, I see her!” A smirk appeared on Kraglin’s face, and he started snickering at the Captain. “What?! The hell is so funny?!” Yondu barked. Kraglin’s snickering turned into full blown laughing. He couldn’t help it. Was his Captain so oblivious? “Sir, sir, I’m sorry. You really have no idea what this is?” He asked. “No! If I did, I wouldn’t have woke you up to help me figure it out, damn it!” “Sir, it sounds to me that you got bit.” Kraglin joked. “Bit? Bit by what? Like a bug or somethin’?” “Ohhhh yeah, it’s happened to me before too. It’s a nasty little sucker.” He said with a grin. “Okay, so what do I do? Am I getting’ sick or somethin’?” “Yeah, you’re sick all right. Love sick.” The first mate said with the biggest shit eatin’ grin on his face. “Lovesick? What the hell is that? That ain’t a real thing.” Yondu snorted. “Sure is, Sir. From the sounds of it, you got bit by the love bug. The only way to cure it is to get some lovin’ from the person who sent it after ya.” Kraglin couldn’t believe this was happening to his captain. This was too good. Of course, he wanted to help him out, but he wanted to taunt him first. “What on Earth are you talkin’ about boy?! Just spit it out already!” The Captain shouted. A goofy little smile appeared on his lips as he realized he just used your expression. Damn it, girl. “Alright, alright.” Kraglin said between laughs. “Cap’n, you’re in love. Plain and simple. It sounds to me like you just realized it tonight.” “Love? I don’t love nobody. I ain’t never been in love before. This can’t be right…” Yondu started searching his hands for some kind of alternative answer. “Anyone can fall in love, Cap’n. I know I have. But that was a long time ago, before I joined the crew. It really ain’t a big deal, honest. Tell me, when you think of y/n, what do you feel?” Yondu pondered Kraglin’s words for a few moments. “I feel – happy. Warm? Maybe a little nervous. Unsure of myself, ya know? I wanna touch her, make her smile, make sure she’s safe and happy, hold her hands... kiss her.” The realization hit him like a blazing meteor. “I wanna kiss her? What?! I’ve never cared about that sentimental crap before!” Kraglin just shook his head and looked down at the floor. “Cap’n, love is a strange and mysterious force. It can be exhilarating. Maybe you should investigate and find out if she feels the same way. Could be worth a shot. Who knows? Could lead to somethin’.” Yondu looked confused. “Like what?” “Heh, I don’t know, happiness?” Kraglin shrugged his shoulders and stood. “I hope that helps Sir. I’m gonna head back to bed if you don’t need anything else.” “Yeah, sure, boy. Go on.” “Night, Cap’n.” The first mate headed toward to door, but before he walked out, he heard the Captain’s voice behind him, “Hey Krags, uh, thanks.” “No problem, Sir.” Kraglin walked out of the Captain’s quarters and quietly closed the door. Yondu got back into bed, stared at the ceiling above him and smiled. Love huh? Well, ain’t that some shit.

[fickle-tiction]

Okay, but imagine

Wow ok. This started as just a quick little Imagine/Head Canon. Oops. Blame @tickle-bugs and apparently @wordstrings

Also idk how to end fics?? Also does anyone else have these gloves? Because they are exquisite torture. 

This takes place IN A BATHTUB YOUNG FOLLOWERS. It’s not nsfw, but they are nekkid.

~~

“Holy shit.” Dean breathed, eyes wide as saucers as he took in the sight before him. “Cas, this isn’t a bathtub. This is a jacuzzi.”

“It’s not a jacuzzi, it’s a hot tub.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Jacuzzi is a brand name.” Cas said in his most dead pan voice, staring at Dean unblinkingly in order to draw out the laugh he knew would follow. He was right, of course. Dean huffed out a fond laugh.

“Whatever. Let’s fill this baby up.”

Cas, for once, declined to point out that this was not, in fact, a baby. It was a hot tub. As he just said. 

Both men began stripping off their clothes as the hot water poured into the tub. Dean’s shirt was off, as were his jeans, and he was currently bent in two pulling off his socks when Cas’s voice rumbled from behind him.

“Lavender? Or Eucalyptus mint?” 

Dean turned to see Cas holding up two purple bottles for Dean’s inspection.

“Bubbles?” Dean asked with a laugh, shaking his head as he tossed his socks into the corner with the rest of his clothes. “What are we? Five?”

“Dean, you can’t take a bubble bath without the bubbles.” Cas pointed this obvious fact out, even as Dean shook his head stubbornly. 

“We’re not taking a bubble bath Cas. We’re just two dudes chilling in a hot tub, five--”

“--If you finish that, you won’t be joining me.” Cas said lightly, smiling at the scowl Dean sent him. “I’m waiting.” He sing-songed, waving the two bottles before Dean’s face.

Dean waited a beat, hoping to stall so Cas would pick for them. Unfortunately, Cas knew him and his “manly persona” too well, and just waited patiently. “....Fine. Eucalyptus.” 

Cas hummed as he poured a generous amount of bubble bath into the tub before turning off the water and turning on the jets. He was nice enough to not comment when they both settled into the bath on opposite ends of the tub and Dean closed his eyes with a sigh, sinking so only his head was peaking out of a mound of bubbles. Once the tub was nearly overflowing with bubbles Cas shut the jets off.

Naturally, Dean was the first to break the content silence. “I can’t believe you waited this long to tell me about your jacuzzi.”

“Hot tub.” Cas corrected automatically, lightly kicking Dean in the stomach when he laughed at him. “And we’ve only been dating a month.”

“Yeah, that’s thirty one jacuzzi baths we could have taken together.”

“Hot. Tub.” Cas emphasized his words with two gentle pokes to Dean’s stomach, using his foot. Dean’s light squirm didn’t escape his notice. ‘Interesting’. “Besides, I need to be wooed first. I don’t sit naked in a tub with just anyone.”

“Speaking of,” Dean got that look on his face as he leaned towards Cas.

“Absolutely not.” Cas didn’t break at Dean’s puppy dog eyes. He wouldn’t. “I am not cleaning that out of this tub.”

“How is it any different than cleaning it out of a normal bath?” Dean certainly wasn’t pouting.

“It can clog the jets. No.”

“You’re no fun.” Okay, now Dean was pouting as he folding his arms over his chest and sunk back down into the bubbles.

Cas rolled his eyes before reaching down into the water and grabbing Dean’s ankle.

Dean jumped, splashing water over the edge of the tub as his hands come up to grip the sides of the tub. “What are you doing?!” 

Wow. He was not slick at all. Fortunately, Cas was. 

“I was going to give you a massage.” He sounded confused, which was exactly what he was going for, as he placed Dean’s foot on his own thigh and held his ankle to keep it there. “Is that okay?”

“....Oh. Uh. Nah, I’m good.” Dean was obviously going for casual as he tried tugging his foot away from Cas’s grip. 

“Are you sure?” Cas asked, brows furrowed as though he had no reason why Dean would react this way.

“Yeah man, I’m good.” Dean said, tugging his foot again. 

“Suit yourself.” Cas let him go, deciding that he would play the long con. Dean was now sitting up straight, clutching the sides of the tub and eyeing Cas warily. Cas chose to ignore him, slowly sinking down into the warm water with his eyes closed, a content hum leaving him as the bubbles settled over his shoulders and around his neck. 

It took another minute for Dean to sink back into the water himself and relax, tentatively stretching his legs back out so his feet were once again near Castiel. Cas made no move to touch them, and eventually Dean relaxed completely.

Perfect.

They chatted about nothing and everything for the next 40 minutes or so, before Cas decided it was time to actually get washed up. Dean looked around for a wash cloth, or a shower puff, but didn’t see anything of the sort. He was going to ask Cas for something, when he saw Cas pulling on two fuzzy blue gloves.

Cas looked up from wriggling his hands into the two scratchy blue gloves to see Dean’s puzzled look. Oh, this was going to be so fun. “What? Don’t tell me, manly Dean Winchester has never used loofah gloves?” Cas asked in a mocking tone, grinning at Dean’s narrowed eyes.

“I don’t appreciate your tone.” Dean scowled, but the act was quickly dropped when Cas plunged his hands under the water and grabbed his ankle again. This time he didn’t let go, even as Dean gasped and sat up straighter, eyes wide. 

“Sorry.” Cas didn’t sound very sorry. “I only have one pair.” Holding Dean’s ankle in his left hand, and oh God Dean was going to die the gloves weren’t soft, they were scratchy in a very ticklish way, he used his right hand to pick up a bar of soap and get a good lather going.

“Something wrong, Dean?” Cas asked, using his innocent voice when he saw Dean’s eyes were glued to the foaming glove.

“N-no. But uh..I can just wash up with my hands.”

“That’s disgusting.” Cas was happy with the lather he managed to get one handed, and put the soap back on the edge of the tub before yanking Dean’s foot out of the water, causing him to lean back against his side of the tub and sink down into the bubbles. “Just relax Dean. This is going to feel nice.”

Cas didn’t give Dean anymore time to protest. He gently dragged his glove covered hand down the sole of Dean’s foot, ignoring the sharp intake of breath from across the tub as he gently spread the soap over every inch of skin. A cut-off “eeek” as Cas massaged the suds underneath Dean’s toes with the rough material of the loofah glove had Cas smirking. Gently, so very gently, Cas poked a soapy gloved finger through each and every toe, making sure to scrub the delicate spaces in between in his quest for cleanliness. Cas almost felt bad about it when he looked over to see Dean red faced, fist covering his mouth, eyes closed as he very clearly tried not to laugh. Oh, he was too easy.

Cas let go once he deemed Dean’s foot clean, but not before gently scrubbing the top of his foot and around his ankle. Dean quickly snatched his foot back, and was just getting himself under control when Cas’s hand shot out and grabbed his other foot from under the water.

“N-ya-ha” Dean yelped, eyes flying open as Cas immediately set to work on his left foot. Cas decided he would just use his fingertips on this foot, and that was too much for Dean, who slammed his eyes shut and tried to physically hold his huffing laughter in with his fist. If he bothered to open his eyes he’d see that Cas had given up all pretense of cleaning, and was now lightly tickling his Dean’s toes to see what made his face the reddest. 

“You sure you’re okay, Dean?” He asked, because he was a dick.

Dean didn’t dare try to respond verbally, instead humming a strangled “mmhhmm” as his foot twitched from Cas’s fingers.

Cas let that foot go, and Dean deflated as it sank back into the warm water, relieved he had made it through with Cas none the wiser. God, he was an idiot sometimes.

“Come here Dean. Let me do your back.” Cas was quick to smother his own smile when Dean looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights.  “I promise, it feels amazing. Like you’re getting the best back scratch of your life.”

Okay, Dean figured, that didn’t sound too bad. Besides, who’s back was ticklish? Certainly not his, right? Probably not. Right??

“You sure you’re okay?” Cas asked as Dean shifted around so he could settled between Cas’s spread legs, sitting up straight to give him full access to his back. “I’m not tickling you, am I?” Cas asked, smirking as Dean tensed up in front of him. “I know it can tickle for some sensitive people.” They’ve only been together a month, but it seemed he knew just how to push Dean’s buttons. 

“I’m fine, Cas.” Dean scoffed. “I’m not ticklish.”

“Oh, good.” Cas said it so lightly that Dean instinctively tensed up again as he felt Cas’s gloved hands, both of them soaped up this time, settle on his back. Cas decided to be nice, rubbing Dean’s back firmly in a soothing pattern starting at either side of his spine and smoothing out to the sides. He hadn’t been lying when he said it felt like the best back scratch ever, as long as you used the proper amount of pressure. 

After a few minutes Dean was putty in Cas’s hands as Cas firmly rubbed at the tops of Dean’s shoulders. “Here, lean back.” Cas suggested, sliding his hands down Dean’s back and around his sides as Dean obliged and settled his soapy back against Cas’s chest. 

Bingo.

Cas smirked down at his boyfriend, who’s eyes were closed as he enjoyed the firm scrubbing. Once Cas’s hands were settled on Dean’s stomach he used his legs to wrap around the other man’s waist. That’s when Dean’s eyes flew open again.

“It’s a good thing you’re not ticklish.” Cas commented, gently running his soaped up, glove covered, hands down Dean’s ribs. “This would be torture if you were.” Dean sucked in his stomach as far as he could as the gloves gently, so gently, smoothed over his bare skin.

“Cas.” Dean said through gritted teeth, jolting when Cas used just his fingertips to lightly massage his stomach. 

“Yes Dean?” Dean could feel a laugh Rumbling through Cas’s chest as he dipped a finger into Dean’s bellybutton and Dean let out a muffled squeak. “Oh, look, you’ve got something here.” Cas said, dragging his gloved hand up across Dean’s torso to the right side of Dean’s ribcage. “Let me get that for you.” And with that, all hell broke loose. Cas used the tips of his fingers to scrub away at Dean’s ribs, while using his right hand to scratch lightly at his stomach.

“Kn-hahahahaha-knock it o-hohohoho-off!” Dean laughed, trying to squirm out of Cas’s octopus-like grip, sending water cascading over the edge of the tub as he did so.

“But Dean, you’ve got something on your ribs.” Cas grinned, scrubbing at the small brown spec and driving Dean wild. “And on your stomach.” Naturally he proceeded to lightly scratch at that too. “And your other rib. Oh, and this rib. Oh! And on this part of your stomach!” 

Dean was cackling as every new “discovery” caused Cas to tickle another part of his body. “Th-hahahahahhahaha-they’re fre-hehehehehehe-freckles you ahahahahahaha ASS!” Dean yelled between his wild laughter, thrashing around as Cas wildly tickled every freckle he could see. There were a lot of them.

“They’re not coming off.” Cas said, trying to sound serious even as a giant smile was stretched across his face.

“Ca-hahahaha-Cas! Come ohohohohohohoh-on!”

“Oh, wow, you’re got a bunch on your thighs!”

“Nononono!” Dean laughed, hands latching around Cas’s wrists as he tried to tickle down Dean’s thighs. 

Cas allowed his hands to be pried away from Dean’s thighs, but didn’t let Dean’s grip deter him from his next target. Cas’s wiggling fingers descended on Dean’s hip bones, tormenting the thin skin there and Dean lost what little sanity he had left. 

“Ca-ahhahahahhahaha-Cas NO!” Dean cackled, squirming intensifying and sending the majority of the water over the edge of the tub as Cas did not let up. “Please! Plhehehehehehehehehease!!! CasCasCasCasCAs!” Dean cackled, eyes squeezed shut, face red, hands gripping uselessly at Cas’s wrists.

“Why, Dean? Is this tickling you?” Cas gasped, as though in shock.

“Yehehehehes! Fahahahahaaha-fuck off!” Cas laughed but decided to be nice and let Dean go, snorting when Dean practically flew out of the tub, catching himself on the sink when he slipped on the massive puddle that was the bathroom floor. 

“You-” Gasp for breath “-Are-” Breathe “-evil.” The wide smile still hadn’t left Dean’s face. 

“You said you weren’t ticklish.” Cas pointed out, shrugging as Dean tried to level a glare at him. It wasn’t very effective since he was all pink-cheeked and disheveled. 

“You’re also dead once we mop up the floor.”

Cas’s smile dropped. That...had not occurred to him. 

“Dean...is this a war you really want to start?”

“I’m not the one that started it.” Dean pointed out, reaching into the tub and pulling the plug so the water would drain out. Cas was opening and closing his mouth as he tried to think up a defense, even as the water drained around him and Dean happily began putting towels down to soak up the floor.

“You might want to get dried off.” Dean said, throwing a dry towel at Cas as the last of the water drained out of the tub. “It’s going to be a long night.”

[step-on-me-natasha]

Blade; chapter 1

summary: Parker "Blade" Wiles, a high ranking SHIELD agent with an aptitude for sharp objects, goes missing. When Blade is found again with a darker and colder demeanor, SHIELD, with the help of The Avengers, are tasked with finding out what happened to their colleague and friend.

OC is ace and uses they/them pronouns

pairing: Natasha Romanoff x OC! reader (Blade)

warnings: knives, dead mom?? if anything else, let me know

*thoughts are in italics*

Dear Journal, it’s Parker, well it’s actually Blade, my therapist said that it would help if I wrote in a diary everyday. I don’t know how this is supposed to help. How is writing in a journal going to help with the fact that my mother just died? I don’t get it. But, here goes nothing I guess.

When I was maybe 9 or 10, I started playing with knives. My mother would always tell me it was dangerous, but there have only been two instances where I got hurt by one. The first time was when I was in high school and I was cutting a carrot for my lunch and I looked away and the knife slipped. It was only the tip of my finger, so does it really count? The second time was last week when some damn HYDRA agent threw a fucking samurai sword at my head and it barely missed my ear. Which by the way, ruined my streak of at least 20 years of not getting cut by a knife. Other than that, nothing bad has really happened.

I guess I never really learned my lesson because now I play with knives for my job. Anyways, I’ll write some more tomorrow.

--Blade

“First entry down. Boom” You say with a slight head nod. Never in a million years would you have thought that you would be writing in a diary, especially not a bright fucking purple one. That’s the best Dr. Lawrence could do? You work with superheroes and play with knives for a living and she thought that a bright purple diary was a good idea? It’s a rhetorical question, it’s definitely not a good idea.

A knock at your door took you out of your trance of staring at this obnoxiously bright diary. Steve pokes his head in, Jesus Christ he’s such a dad, you think.

“Hey there, we got a team briefing in 10. A new HYDRA breakthrough.” He says.

Oh goody. “Alright, thanks Steve.” You stand up and stretch your legs and back out.

“So uh, new hobby?” He says pointing at the journal.

“Oh yeah, totally. Dr. Lawrence said it would help if I wrote my feelings down. I think I'm gonna name it Sheila.”

He nods, “Sheila. Uh... yeah, Sheila suits it”.

The both of you begin the walk down to the briefing room.

“Wait wait wait, HYDRA? I thought we got rid of them when SHIELD collapsed.” You asked.

“They’re rebuilding.”

“Of course they’re fucking rebuilding.” You say with a sigh.

“Nice of you guys to finally join the party.”

“You actually interrupted my therapy sanctioned diary entry for today Tony, so thanks.” He rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“No need for the attitude Blade.” Now it’s your turn to roll your eyes and scoff as you fall into your seat.

“Let's just get this over with, I have better things to do” you mutter.

“....Alrighty,” Steve starts, “with the collapse of SHIELD and consequently HYDRA, what's left of HYDRA went underground. They used and analysed everything they had on physical files. We now know that they are trying to re-created the super soldier serum.”  

“Awesome” Bucky grumbles.

“That’s not all,” Steve continued “they are exclusively experimenting on women and children.” The room goes silent.

“Why wouldn’t they re-use the Red Rooms resources then?” You pipe up.

“They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves and what's left of the Red Room is nothing but retired widows who just want a normal life.” Natasha says.

“Including you?” you ask her. “In the future yeah, but not now.” You nod and your eyes linger on her.

“Do we have a location?” Bucky asks.

“Eastern Germany, more specifically East Berlin.” Steve replied. Whose bright idea was it to go back to Germany?

“Alright, suit up everyone, wheels up in 15.” Tony says as everyone begins to leave.

You make your way back to your room to grab your gear and suit up. Ya know, I know that this mission is important but, why do I have to go? I know it's unhealthy to stay holed up in my room but god, I really don’t want to go, you thought to yourself. You sigh and start walking towards the quinjet, grabbing your journal and a pen on the way out. You're the last one to get on, plopping down on a seat in the back. You start writing.

Sup Sheila. I guess writing has kinda distracted me from my poor pathetic self. I’m going on this mission to stop HYDRA. Yep, you heard me right. HYDRA. They’re fucking back. And guess where they are! Germany! FUCKING GERMANY! The audacity. I bet they’re all men. No woman, even a HYDRA agent, would go BACK to Germany. I digress, anyways, I guess this mission could help. I haven’t been in the field since the accident. So maybe this is for the better? I truly don’t know, i’ll let you know when I get back

--Blade

You close your journal and kind zone out. I don’t even know why I’m here. Why couldn't they bring Clint, oh yeah, he fell off the roof trying to fly. What kind of fucking idiot does he think he is? I bet he’s having the time of his life right now. Not having to go on this mission. He’s probably watching shitty sitcom re-runs while eating something dumb, like garlic bread. Mmmmmm, garlic bread. I could eat so much garlic bread right now it’s not even funny. If I could, I would fuck garlic bread, and I DON’T EVEN LIKE SEX. Good thing Wanda’s not here, she would be concerned.

“Hey, you good?” Natasha nudges you and asks.

“About as good as I can be for someone who’s mom just died and is going to stop a rogue Nazi division from the 40s that never really went away.” That is such a lie, I was totally thinking about garlic bread.  

“Huh, well, that’s one way to put it.” She says, “Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here”  

“Got it, thank you Nat, I really appreciate it.”

Normally when someone says something like “I'm here if you need to talk” and all that other bullshit, it just goes in one ear and out the other. But when Nat says it, it makes you want to believe it. It’s almost comforting. You get up from your seat to grab your blades, and Tony stops you.

“What Tony?”  

“Hey, what's with the attitude? I just wanted to say that I upgraded your knives for you. Something nice, ya know. Thought you might need some cheering up.”  

“That- that's actually nice. Thank you Tony.”  

“They need a little sharpening but, I figured you could do that since it's kinda your thing.”

You chuckle, “Yeah, thank you, again.” I guess you learn something new everyday. Tony isn’t actually a self absorbed douchebag all the time. You start sharpening your swords when someone sits next to you.

“Sweet knives!”  

“Thank you Sam, they’re nice, aren’t they” You say glancing at Tony.

“Alright, let's go over the plan.” Steve gathers everyone's attention.

“Sam and Tony, you guys are in the air, make sure nothing goes in or out of the base. Blade and Nat, you two take the front entrance while Bucky and I take the back. It’s not a big base, we need to get in, take what we need and get out as soon as possible. Use your comms if you need something.” As the jet lands, everyone splits up into their designated teams.

“Are you sure you’re okay to go on this mission?” Nat asks. “I mean, you’ve been staring off into space since we took off.”

“I’m gonna be totally honest with you, most, if not the whole time, I was thinking about garlic bread.”

“Why were you thinking about garlic bread?”  

“Well, I don’t know, it happens from time to time, I can't stop it.”  

“You’re really weird.”  

“You’re stuck with it.”

By this time, all teams have left the jet. You and Natasha are nearing the front. Do I still want garlic bread? Yes. I do.

“Please don’t think about garlic bread right now”

“You have very little faith in me, I was thinking about….not garlic bread”  

“Mmmhmm, yeah, sure. Just,” she sighs “watch by back and don’t do anything stupid.”  

“I don’t do stupid things. The person you should be telling that to is Clint. He fell off the roof for fucks sake! Trying to what? Hmmm?? Trying to fly! Fucking fly!”

He shouldn’t be called Hawkeye anymore. He already got too many bad ideas about trying to be a hawk. We should revoke his superhero name and call him sharpshooter or some shit. No more bird names.

You and Nat enter the base. It’s too dark in here. HYDRA couldn’t afford some lights? Cheap bastards. You’re walking down the darkest hallway known to man, when you hear something.

“You hear that?” You ask.

“Yep, we should probably go check it out.”  

“Fuck no! I am sure as hell not doing that! This place gives me American Horror Story: Asylum vibes, and I am not here for it.” Unless Sarah Paulson is there. I would do anything for her.

“Jesus Christ Blade! This is what we are here for!”  

“Ughhhhhhh, fine. You go in first though.”

You two go into the room where the noise was heard.

“There’s no one here.”  

“no shit Natasha, it’s almost like you have eyes.”

She gave you a pointed look and you sighed and started searching the room.

“What are we looking for again? I was too busy thinking about garlic bread to catch what Steve said”  

”Of course you were . We’re looking for any information regarding HYDRA. Weapon plans, base blueprints and info on the winter soldier project.”

*GASP* Buckyyyy….. “Got it, thanks.”  

“I'm gonna go find another room, you got this covered?”  

“Yup, don’t worry about me, I got this” you give her a thumbs up as she leaves.

You continue to look around the room when you feel a slight breeze.

“That's weird” You say to yourself. You start following where the wind is coming from and find a door.  

“Wow, HYDRA could afford a secret door but not lights?” You go through the door to find another empty room.

“Okay, that’s extra weird.” The door closes.

“Oh shit.”  you try to open the door but it doesn’t budge. “Hello!” you use your comm but you just hear static.

“Ok well, that’s not good.” you start trying to find a way out until you hear footsteps behind you. OH SHIT, STRAIGHT OUT OF THE HORROR MOVIES. And then the lights cut out.

“Okay, ha ha! Very funny! Making sure the person with the big scary knives can’t see. Well jokes on you! I'm just gonna start swinging! And if I hit something, then well, hopefully it’s HYDRA.” You yell out.  

“You are not gonna make it out alive” A voice came from the right of you. You pull out your swords and turn to the right.

You gasp. “You’re a woman!”  

“Indeed I am. But, like I said earlier, you’re not making it out of this one, sweetheart”  

“Oh honey, they call me Blade for a reason, so you might not make it out alive.”  

“I highly doubt that” she said as she hit you upside the head, knocking you out.

A/N: AHHHH! this is my first book/fic and I am very excited! please please please don't be afraid to like or comment, it makes my day when you do!

[tallycraven]

thoughts on a raylla hercules AU?

ohhh? OH. I can see that, but with major changes to mythology to match themes, maybe? if disney did it so can i 

raelle is the daughter of hades and a mortal. not that she knows that.

her mother, hades, had to hide her and leave her in the mortal realm in fear of retaliation from the olympians. they would take her for their own, raise her as an arrogant demigod, charge her with duties of honor and glory-- send her to die on one of their battlefields. hades couldn’t have that. 

so, she snuck her baby away and hid her amongst the bushes, tucked between the safety of two cypress trees, hoping for her a better future than to be bound to the olympians or the darkness of the underworld. hades left her with nothing but a small bone charm, inscribed with her given name and imbued with the same kind of magic as the helm of darkness; something to keep her hidden from olympian view.

she was found near a ravine by a couple of farmers; a wife and husband that had been praying to the gods for a baby for so long that they hardly blinked at the chance of getting to raise the small pale being that’d been abandoned to the wolves.

raelle was raised with love and care despite the meager wealth of her parents, but she always felt like something was missing. 

she’s absurdly strong, for one thing. for another, she’s got a silver tongue and often wins any debate or bet with barely a bat of her lashes. 

this, in combination with her paleness -- fair of skin and hair with eyes close to frost on those rare snowy winter days -- led her to be shunned and feared by other children and villagers.

her adoptive parents, seeing her distress over the feeling of not belonging, shows her the bone charm, tells her of the runes inscribed along the back and the place where they found her. a gift from the gods, they call her.

it still doesn’t explain anything. 

raelle makes the decision to take the charm and climb to a temple of athena in search of answers.

when she makes it there, it’s nothing but a vast hall of stone and offerings. no goddess, no moment of clarity, no answers. 

she’s in the midst of storming off in a rage when an owl lands on a perch and stares at her inquisitively.

it speaks to her. it speaks to raelle in a voice that’s strong and assertive, if not a bit amused. 

“i do not know who you are. but if you are a godling, you must prove yourself before the eyes of gods and men.”

a godling? raelle wants to ask. but talking to an owl seems ludicrous. so she just stares and blinks like an idiot.

the owl just laughs. tells raelle of a place to find a woman in self-imposed isolation. a hermit who will guide her along, wishes her luck before lifting away on magnificent wings and disappearing into the night.

the trek to find this hermit is hard and raelle almost quits and turns around more than once. but where would she go? to a village where everyone fears her? no. the only way forwards is onwards. 

raelle finds the hermit on a secluded island off the mainland. her yard is littered with half-finished marble statues and shooting targets with perfectly placed arrows stuck into them. swords, spears, and shields are lined and stacked in orderly fashion at the bases of trees.

right as raelle is about to knock on the door to the lone homestead, the door swings open to reveal a tall woman with dark skin and a piercing stare.

“godling.”

“you know who i am?”

“so you do think you’re a godling?”

“what? no, i--”

“prove it.”

her name is anacostia. she turns out to be the most no-nonsense taskmaster that raelle’s ever heard of.

she didn’t know she could feel sore, but the first two weeks in, she’s pretty sure her arms are going to pop off of her body. she complains and anacostia only raises an eyebrow before making her take another lap around the island.

it pays off though. her lithe form fills out with lean and hard muscle; her strength adopts accuracy and grace.

months pass and raelle trades her shabby farm clothes for a clean white tunic and armor to match.

anacostia doesn’t speak it, but raelle can see the charmed pride in her eyes when they sit quietly by the fire at the end of raelle’s last day as anacostia’s student.

“where will you go next?” anacostia asks

“back to the temple, i suppose.”

“strength does not make a hero, raelle. tasks and duty do.”

“what does that mean?”

“athena told you to prove yourself before the eyes of gods and men.”

“alright, so, what?” raelle frowns, staring into the fire. “i go slay a monster, save a damsel, rescue someone’s pet dog, and then i get access to olympus?”

it’s one of the few times anacostia has openly laughed and raelle feels weirdly justified by it.

“come with me.” raelle says.

anacostia starts shaking her head, leaning back against the tree behind her. “i can’t.”

“why not? you’re my mentor, i can’t do this without you.”

silence, for a while.

“i have duties i must attend to.”

“you’re alone on an island all day, what duties do you possibly have? counting and sweeping leaves?”

“training a mouthy godling, apparently.”

silence, again. anacostia watches raelle from across the fire. five minutes pass before she gives in with a nod. 

“okay. i’ll come.”

they set out in the morning in the direction of thebes. it’s a long walk along the main road, so they slip off it at one point, going through the woods to cut half a day off travel.

that’s when raelle hears her. 

a melodic voice with lilted accent, clean and crisp and irritated. 

raelle stops in her tracks and drifts towards the noise, much to anacostia’s annoyance. 

“what are you doing, godling? get back here.”

“i think i hear a damsel.” raelle replies half-joking with a quirked eyebrow-- an expression that she definitely lifted from anacostia.

she sticks her head out from behind a tree and spots the source of the voice: a girl in a purple dress adorned in golden jewelry talking to a towering centaur.

raelle’s been through a lot the past few months, but nothing has left her quite as stunned and dazed as this stranger. it takes the conflict between the stranger and the centaur becoming physical to get raelle out of the bushes and into action.

anacostia sighs and steps out of the bushes to watch raelle’s first real fight.

it’s fairly easy to beat the centaur and send him running off into the woods. it’s not as easy to get her brain to properly communicate to the gorgeous stranger, now soaked by stream that the centaur had dropped her in.

“are you alright?” 

“i had that under control.” the stranger grumbles, wringing water out of her clothes and brushing her dark hair back.

“an extra hand never hurt though, he had two extra legs. it was an unfair fight.” raelle counters.

the stranger seems to smile at that, and after squeezing as much water out from her dress as she can, she offers raelle a smile. 

“scylla.”

“i’m sorry?”

“that’s my name.”

“oh... oh!” raelle’s eyebrows draw together into a crinkle. “like the monster?”

“my parents had a sense of humor.” scylla drawls, “what about you, hero?”

“uh, i’m.. uh,” so much for a silver tongue. “raelle.”

scylla blinks at her and hums in acknowledgement before turning to glance at anacostia, who’s still watching from the treeline.

“well, rae,” scylla smirks, “it was a pleasure. thank you for the soak. catch you around.”

she turns to go and raelle finds herself rushing two steps forward, “wait! can we escort you? we’re headed to thebes. these woods are dangerous and--”

“i’ll be alright,” scylla laughs, turning as she continues to walk away, “i’m a big girl-- can slay my own centaurs. bye now, hero.”

it’s with pitiful heart eyes that raelle raises her hand to give a weak wave. “bye...”

raelle stays rooted to the ground for at least two minutes before a pat to her back makes her jump in surprise.

anacostia only looks at her with that damned quirked eyebrow and hard gaze. 

“hope you enjoyed that, because you have actual work to do that doesn’t involve making eyes at good-looking strangers.”

“did you see her, ana? gods, she was... wow”

anacostia rolls her eyes and walks away, towards the direction of thebes.

it takes raelle more than a second to follow after, an extra bounce in her step. -------------- x   --------------

scylla sighs as she makes her way through the woods, running a hand through her slowly-drying hair.

the mission was a bust and she’s hungry as fuck. 

she’s weighing the pros and cons of hunting down her own meal when two figures step into her path.

they’re both tall, cloaked in familiar dark blue robes and donning small silver pins in the shape of a bident by their calsps. 

one of them has red hair and a patient smile, hands held in front of herself as she stands in scylla’s way.

the other is less approachable. her hood is pulled up, hiding her dark skin and dismissive frown. 

“ah. great. i was wondering when i was going to get a visit from henchmen one and two.”

“that’s not very nice.” the red-haired one pouts, hands unclutching to move to her hips in an indignant stance.

“tally and i come all the way up here to make sure you accomplish your task only to find you soaked to the core and centaur-less.”

“abigail, there’s no need to berate her yourself.”

that’s when a heavy heat rolls in out of nowhere and scylla feels herself stiffen in response.

the shadows in the trees are looming, coalescing and giving form to a tall and imposing woman with threatening posture and an expression that gives away nothing but a hint of disappointment.

“did i not ask you to bring me nessus? to join the cause?”

scylla sighs, leans up against a tree so that at least she’s protected from behind. “yes, hades, i’m sorry, hades.”

“sorry doesn’t make up for a lost ally.”

“well, i almost had him, but then he got handsy and some hero named raelle stumbled out of nowhere and scared him off!” 

hades freezes, all her composure melted into a singular expression of confusion and awe and surprise.

“raelle?”

tally tilts her head and abigail straightens out from her lax lean against her own tree.

“that’s the name she gave,” scylla frowns at the growing tension, already looking for a way out of this conversation and away from these three.

but there is no way out. not with her soul bound and in hades’s possession. not with her closest two soldiers standing right there. scylla grumbles quietly to herself and presses harder against the tree.

then hades says the one thing she hates hearing hades say.

“i have a new job for you.”

[soobrat]

*･༓☾ kryptonite // Bang Chan ☽༓･*

chapter iii // masterlist

*chapter rating* mature

*warnings* gore, forced vomiting

*word count* 1.1k

*disclaimer(s)* this chapter is kinda disgusting 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

( C H A R A C T E R S  U P D A T E D)

Smoke grunted as he and Taz lugged the rigid body to the deep hole dug in the ground. Smoke tried as hard as he could to dodge the smell of the rotting human being, but it followed his nose.

"Jesus we should've done this a long time ago." Smoke grumbled under his breath before dropping the top half of the human. He couldn't tell if the wetness of the thud was from the damp woodland floor or... the body's head. Taz dragged the other half of the body a bit more before dropping it as well. Smoke peered over at Taz who seemed to fixate on the body longer than usual

"We definitely would've, but no one knew he was dead until today."

They weren't sure of his name, all they knew was that he was a snitch and scapegoat for Papa. Apparently he overdosed on drugs and was dead on their grounds for almost a week.

"Alright, on three kick him in." Smoke peered over at Taz who was still focused on the body.

"It was his skull..." Smoke quirked his brow up.

"What?" Taz snapped his head towards smoke before looking back at the body. There was a puddle of deep red seeping from the back of his head. The skin of the body grew paler, it was nearly blue now. His eyes wide open, eyeballs a ghastly grey. His lips were purple, spread apart so that the insects could crawl and fly in & out as they pleased.

"1..." Smoke started, breaking Taz out of his daze.

"2... Shouldn't you be used to shit like this by now?" Smoke questioned, making Taz look at him again.

"What are-"

"3!" The two men shove the limp body into the grave with one foot. After hearing the brutal impact, they begin concealing the hole.

-

"What did you do to her?"

Yunho and Chan stare in horror as you foam at the mouth and convulse, tied to a sturdy wooden chair.

"I just shot her with the dart she was gonna shoot me with. Did she poison it maybe?"

"Maybe, but my bets are on her and her group of idiots didn't know that tranq darts have to be stored a specific temperature and used ASAP. I'm pretty sure you shot her with an expired dart."

The convulsing pauses, your head flopping forward.

"Jesus, is she gonna die?" Chan finally found the strength to tear his eyes away.

"There's a possibility..." Yunho went pale at the idea of a dead woman being found in Chan's house. He shifted uncomfortably, eyes flickering over at Chan.

"We have to tell him."

"Who? Park? No, the last thing we need is to alert ANYONE of this. I'm pretty sure someone on her side has already reported back about this. We've entered into something dangerous." Yunho was growing more and more weary with each word Chan spoke.

"Wow, this is really bad." They both stood there in silent agreement.

"The best to do now is just wait I guess."

-

Scraping of a chair, grunts and whines woke Chan up that morning. He was rushing down to the basement when he saw the look on your face. You looked up at him with horror in your eyes. The tone in your voice was desperate.

"P-please!"

"Well well well! Look who's done seizing!" He chuckles, settling his hands on his waist. He barely got the sleep out of his eyes, but the strong smell of urine and feces woke him right up.

"Please, I can't die! Please don't kill me." Usually someone begging for their life in a horrifying situation like this would be very understandable, but somehow with you, it didn't add up. Just when Chan was ready to ask questions, his mother's ringtone sounded.

Chan's eyes flicked up towards you after pulling out his phone.

"You can't die, huh?" Chan hurried up the stairs, rustling feverishly through the hallway dresser. He returns with a gun in hand. His phone had stopped ringing by then. He untied you with one hand, keeping the gun pointed at you. The ringtone went off again.

"Use your hands to make yourself gag. Now." He hits the green button, waiting for his mother's sweet voice to grace his ears.

"Chan, you've been ignoring my calls! I was worried sick- what the hell is that?"

All Chan asked was to make yourself gag, but you've begun shoving your fingers deep down your throat, drawing bile up.

"Mom I'm so sorry, sorry about lying about my girlfriend. Also I'm sorry I ignored your calls but she's really sick. She's been throwing up so much since yesterday. Must be food poisoning." Chan desperately wanted to look away, but he couldn't let you get away with anything.

"Oh my goodness, she must be in so much pain!" Chan looked at your eyes. They were watering, and struggling to use the arm bound by your side to force yourself to vomit. You grimaced when you got vomit on your hand. You shook it off, sniffling. You looked so weak and pathetic.

"Yeah... she is. Anyways I'll call you as soon as I can and we can properly talk, okay?" Chan hung up before his mother could answer. Your head flopped over again, but this time she began sobbing. Chan saw this as an opportunity to get information.

"Who's coming. I know someone is but who, and what's the plan?" Chan nudged you with his foot.

"U-um... I'm pretty sure it's..." You swallowed and sniffled, struggling slightly against the rope tied around your torso. You looked like you was debating whether or not to say it. You sighed before speaking.

"Taz... it's gonna be Taz or Yeou."

Chan kicked at the chair, only just missing your shin. You flinched.

"Why the fuck don't you know?"

Your sobbing increased in volume, shaking in your confines. You could feel your right arm throbbing from the rope digging into it while you gagged yourself. Your throat burned, stomach still lurching from purging the tiny amount of food from it. This was creeping on the level of things you experienced at the grounds. Either way, you had nothing to lose.

"They're gonna kill me anyways on suspicion of talking, so if I knew anything I would've told you."

"Then tell me everything you know now. Starting with what the two people you mentioned look like in detail."

"Yeou... she's medium-ish height, curvy..." You find it hard to focus suddenly. Your vision became blurry, head spinning. You looked up at Chan, there were multiple of him. He was saying something to you, but it was illegible.

"It's starting again, fuck." He watched in horror as you began foaming at the mouth and convulsing again. He felt his blood pressure rise, realizing he now had no idea who might be after him.

[llendrinall]

Hi I have a writing promt.

A story that is written from both pov's that shows Draco and Harry falling in love with each other. Little moments together where they fall a bit more in love. Things they do that make the other thing "Wow I'm so in love with him". Ect.

Harry had always been starkly aware of Draco, but it was after the war, in the Wizengamot, when he actually noticed him for the first time.

Draco was sitting next to Pansy Parkinson, holding her hand so tight that he was leaving white marks. Harry got a glimpse of them when Pansy was called to give her testimony.

Then the unthinkable happened. Instead of demurring, which she was allowed to do –was expected by everyone to do, was what every other member of a Death Eater family had done so far– Pansy answered all the prosecutor’s questions. She gave true testimony and denied her parents the imperius defence.

Draco was waiting for her when she came down from the stand. He grabbed her hand and led her away with measured steps so it wouldn’t look like they were running.

 *

The second time Harry noticed Draco like that, as a person rather than as an opponent, was, coincidentally, the first time Draco saw Harry as Harry. Not as a school enemy or a war enemy or The Boy Who Lived or The Saviour Of The Wizarding World. Not even as Harry Potter. He saw Harry as just Harry.

It probably helped that Harry was unrecognizable under a thick layer of soot and grime so Draco didn’t know who he was calling an idiot. Draco also yelled to stop immediately and step back and, miraculously, Harry did. No hesitance.

Not all Death Eater had been arrested and not every awful individual had joined Voldemort, which meant that there were plenty of terrible people out in the world. Someone, Death Eater or not, had attacked Wisteria House. The house where rescued and freed house-elves were hosted.

Draco understood that the house-elves weren’t the goal. They were just the bait, a cheap collateral. The point of the attack was to have someone (maybe Harry, most probably Granger), cross the door quickly, without looking around them, and walk straight into a deathly trap.

Draco saw the trap, called out a warning and Harry listened. He listened to Draco.

Both of them walked away with a different opinion of the other. No one comes out the same from a burning building.

 *

 The third time went like this.

“Occupied.”

“Je- Blimey!”

“Find your own corner in the shadows to hide, Potter. This one is mine.”

“I don’t have time to find another spot.”

“Too bad. W- wait! No, quit it!”

“Scoot over! We can share.”

“No, we can’t. This is my dark spot, go away.”

“Either we share or I make sure they find you too.”

“As if I care. I’m not hiding from your devotees. Go away.”

“It’s Clay Buckthorn.”

“… be quiet, then.”

They hid in there for an hour, talking in whispers and sharing a bottle of butterbeer, while Secretary Buckthorn, the most persistent and insufferable politician to ever crawl out of the Ministry, looked around for a popular face to join his campaign. They were about to leave when in came Rita Skeeter, pressuring Percy Weasley to answer her questions. They watched from the shadows as she pressed and cajoled and he resisted. It was a bit like watching some sort of fight sport, only after ten minutes they weren’t sure who they were supporting.

 *

Harry thought Draco was dating Pansy Parkinson and maybe he still was. Evidently, it was all for show. No need to read so much into it.  

There was this old witch complaining about tradition and values. Nothing no one hadn’t heard before many times. People these days had no respect, it was disgraceful and so on. But then she turned to Dennis Creevey and his boyfriend (some Slytherin kid, Harry didn’t know him), and she asked if their families weren’t ashamed of them. Two men together. They ought to be.

Harry wasn’t sure if she knew about Dennis’ brother or not. It was hard to believe that people could be so deliberately cruel to a stranger. The question stopped him from immediately jumping to her neck. He had been accused of blowing things out or proportion before. And by before, he meant that morning when he called out that rude shopper who cut the line before a goblin.

Meanwhile, Draco rolled his eyes in that magnificent way of his. For someone who acted so proud and proper, Draco had a very expressive face and the rolling of his eyes was a spectacle to behold. He stood from his table, grabbed Theo Nott by the lapels, and kissed him on the mouth long and hard right in the middle of the crowded restaurant. Afterwards he sat down, perfectly composed, and both Theo and him turned to look at the witch like the smuggest pair of snakes in the forest.

The witch left the restaurant soon after. Dennis lost the wretched look on his face and Harry paid the bill on Draco’s table, earning a nod from him on the way out.

*

The day Draco’s heart began to beat a different rhythm was a hot Thursday in summer and someone had tried to kill him.

It wasn’t a particularly well thought attack and Draco took precautions. He wouldn’t have gotten anything worse than an intense headache and maybe some sore muscles. Still, Harry felt the need to push him to the floor and shield him with his body from the sparks and shrapnel falling over them. Harry had stopped the hex in mid-air, which was admittedly impressive. Draco watched the purple rivulets of the failed curse slowly descending around them and wondered if he was in shock. That would be embarrassing. This clumsy attack on his life didn’t deserve any shock.

Harry jumped from him (so nimble!) and chased down the would-be murdered, on foot, like a muggle. He, he just ran down the street, didn’t even cast a spell until he caught up to him and brought him to the floor. Draco was sorry to miss that part, although there were very good pictures on the newspaper the next day. Harry looked amazingly heroic. One of the pictures had him jumping in mid-air.

Draco didn’t know if this was something Harry did for everybody or if it was just for him, nor did he care. His chest and stomach and… other parts, were confused enough about how to feel, and his heart, in particular was beating to a new tune.  

*

So Draco could make moving shadows to play stories and it was amazingly beautiful and Harry loved it, he loved it, and no, it was not the potion talking, he was perfectly sound of mind. St Mungo was about to let him go! But Draco had come visit him and when Harry complained about being dreadfully bored, Draco had put on this absolutely magical spectacle (yes, Harry knew they were both wizards, it was still magical; no, no potion talking, it was an honest opinion). In the end Harry stayed the night, just like the mediwitch had begged him to, and fell asleep with the shadows performing a dance before him.

*

Draco didn’t call it love because he was quite an obstinate young man, but he was at that stage where he would easily admit that he was willing to lay down his life for Harry. He only had trouble with the word, not with the sentiment itself and its manifestation.

They were at the Ministry. It should be a pretty simple and straight-forward process. Go in, Pansy signs the documents, Draco bears witness and signs his own documents, go out. But of course it wouldn’t be so simple. A pretty pureblood witch doing anything against her family was a spectacle. The press wanted photos, people wanted to see it live, and, of course, there was the ever present mob who just wanted to shout awful things. Usually Pansy dealt with the mob by herself, swiftly and with a sting.

But today was different, hence why Draco had informed Pansy he would be accompanying her before she could ask him to. It wasn’t like the day she gave her testimony, but it was close enough. In a way, it was worse. A year ago they had her testimony to think about. Today it was just signing a document. That could hardly distract them from the crowd waiting for them.  

A push. A yelp. A crash. And Harry Potter gallantly preventing a very old wizard from having a huge flower vase fall on top of him. Somehow, Harry didn’t cast protego in time, so he avoided being brained by the vase but was splashed by the water and stood completely drenched in the middle of the Ministry main hall.

Across the mass of curious people and reporters and workers and people who had come to shout awful things, Harry looked at Draco. He gave him A Look. If he had more time, Draco would stop and think of a suitable metaphor for Harry’s eyes, their colour and intensity. But he didn’t, so he grabbed Pansy by the elbow and together they crossed the hall without the crowd noticing. Everyone’s attention was naturally fixed on the way the Saviour of the Wizarding World’s wet clothes clung to his chest.

Afterwards, once he had seen Pansy safely (and discreetly) home, Draco went to find Harry. He was perfectly dry now, but he had a faint scent of flowers around him.

“The rose garden is lovely in June,” Draco said, which should be enough but of course Harry didn’t understand him. Harry was kind, brave, handsome and clever in the most useless way so Draco had to actually explain, with words, that Weasley and Granger must have realize by now the extent of their fame and what it would mean if they married at the Burrow, where anyone could break in. Hence, why Draco mentioned his lovely rose garden where they could get married if they chose to without anyone invading their privacy.

“Hermione’s extended family is muggle.” Harry said, and dear Merlin it was even worse than Draco thought. They were going to pick a muggle place. So not only people breaking in, but a violent attack against the muggles too. Just what you want for a wedding.

“The Malfoy family marries for power, not blood purity.” Draco explained in a whisper. “There is no repello muggletum in our houses.”

“What!?” Harry cried, drawing immediate and sharp attention to them so they had to leave quickly and find a quiet place where Draco explained that Grandmother Imogen –that is, Lucius Malfoy’s mother– was a muggle but, most importantly, a peer of the Realm.

Harry stood in shocked silence for a minute, and after a lot of “whats” and “hows” and “no, really, how could you join Voldemort?” he accepted to at least extend Draco’s offer to the happy couple.  

*

Draco said he didn’t plan on attending the wedding. Just because he was offering his summer house it didn’t mean he expected an invitation. He got one anyway, because Draco had showed them his summer house and two country houses belonging to his muggle cousins and was very careful not to mention Malfoy Manor at any point. Ron appreciated it even more than Hermione.  

He rejected the invitation anyway because he said he much preferred to sit by the gates and send stinging hexes to anyone trying to intrude. It was his one chance to curse people indiscriminately and he didn’t want to waste it.

He showed up later, during the reception, looking handsome and with a pleased smile on his face. He grabbed a glass of champagne, immediately transformed it from a flute to a pompadour without wasting a drop, and sat himself next to Aunt Muriel whom he proceeded to engage in a long and acrid dispute until Ron and Hermione had left. Dear Aunt Muriel didn’t get a chance to insult the bride, or the groom, or any of their families really.

It was right then, while Draco forged a lifelong enemy (her life, not his) by insulting her garden (how did he know so much about flowers), that Harry realized he was in love. He was in love. He was in love. He wanted to be with Draco and insult people together and scandalize prejudiced old bats until they themselves were old bats.

*

Harry picked up a fight with the officiant (to be fair, that comment about the goblins was very unfortunate) and they ended up getting married at a muggle register’s office and Draco was so, so, happy. His family was obviously displeased. Cousin Nerissa said that her fiancée could officiate and was very offended when Fred Weasley said no one wanted to be married by a man named Cuthbert. It was amazing. George Weasley sat next to Cousin George, the baron. Hermione and Ginny Weasley started a fight with the most traditional-minded relatives (from every side). Cousin Audrey came out to the family when she was caught propositioning Luna Lovegood. Pansy Parkinson got engaged to no less than three lords and said they could sort between themselves who got to marry her.

Draco was so in love. It was amazing.

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Day 15: Trapped - Adulting: But Ghostly

Screwing up in the Fenton Lab was a pretty normal regular thing, but screwing up in such a way to botch someone’s age and humanness without actually changing said we and humanness was a weird one. This is totally definitely Tucker’s fault. Danny caused it, but it’s still Tucker’s fault.

Tucker chuckles at his two friends, “honestly, helping clean up the lab is a weak ass punishment”, shrugging, “all things considered”.

Danny glances at him while pointedly picking up some very sticky and slightly mouldy, touching it with as few fingers as possible, “you sure about that one?”.

Tucker waves him off, “only makes sense for you to clean up the nasty shit. Unlike us, that won’t get you sick”. Danny flips him off while dropping the soggy piece in the garbage bag. Sam just smirks.

Not even five minutes later Tucker knocks some spray-can thing onto the ground, which in typical fashion explodes. Danny eyes the pink mist and sighs, “whelp, now there’s more mess, thanks Tu-”, cutting himself off at feeling a slight tingling across his skin. Turning to glare at Tucker, “oh fuck you”.

Relenting in said glaring at noticing that Tucker and Sam are both glowing now, glancing to his arm and groaning over the matching glow.... Great, just great. Quirking an eyebrow over watching the skin on his arm slowly stain a pale blue and increase in muscle mass? Looking up to his friends and gapping slightly. Jet black skin patching over Tucker’s face and pale green on Sam’s.

Tucker sounds slightly in awe but also worried as he flips over his clawed hand a few times, “okay, might have fucked up a little”, and blinking at the echo to his voice.

Sam grabs at her hair, seemingly made of vines now and with purple flowers popping open, “ya think?”.

Then both of them turning to Danny and grimacing, while he’s having a slight crises at definitely recognising the feel of ecto-flames where there should be hair. Immediately moving to check his pulse, the other two quickly following suit with wide eyes. Sam snapping, “if we just got offed, I’m gonna be pissed”.

Danny’s the first to sigh in relief, being the only one who very frequently checked his pulse normally. He could do without being any more dead, thank you very much.

Tucker snorts, “awesome, so I didn’t just accidentally kill us”.

Danny points at him, “meaning the labs death toll is still only half”, pausing, noting the deep baritone, and touching his throat, “woah”. Then grabbing his much larger than normal hands around his forearm with a quirked eyebrow. Looking up to his friends who are effectively copying him. Both a bit taller and more muscular. Both had longer hair too, though Tucker’s was barely past his ears and dreaded with gold caps on the ends, while Sam’s was nearly past her waist and looked like long vines of purple asters. Their faces were kinda different too and Tucker even had facial hair. They looked... like adults? adult ghosts at that, minus still being in their regular clothing anyways; which definitely didn’t fit super well anymore. Moving his arm a little and actually cringing slightly over the strain his shirt was under; okay, it’s good he wore baggy clothing or he would have ruined his clothing entirely. He might ruin them as it is.

Sam pointing to him, “you sound like Dan”.

Danny shrugs a bit awkwardly, “sound different to myself”. And thank the Ancients for that. He could do without hearing Dan’s voice every time he opened his mouth. Does feel slightly bad for his friends though.

All three make their way over to the back wall mirror and poke at their faces. Blinking eyes and baring fangs. Tucker chuckles, ��I have fucking facial hair”, and starts hopping around on his feet, “and what am I? Like six feet tall?”.

Sam and Danny roll their eyes. Danny crossing his arms and looking down at Tucker. Who pauses just to shove Danny, “hey, we all already knew you were going to be a tall bastard”, then going wide-eyed, “dude holy shit! That stuff turned us into adults! Awesome!”.

Sam points at him, “and ghosts”, pulling at the corner of her eyelid, “though yes, green eyes are pretty wicked”.

Danny points at her, “and your skin’s such a pale green than your eyes don’t blend in”. Sam just smirks at that. Tucker pats him on the back though, “well at least yours aren’t red”.

“Amen to that”.

Sam shakes her head a little, putting her hands on her hips, “okay, as cool as this is -though it is kinda curious we’re not displaying powers- I think we should, I don’t know, fix this?”. Danny rubs his neck while nodding and Tucker snatched back up the can before flopping into a chair, “I got this. Hold your ecto-knickers”. Trying to lean his head back only for the headrest to not be up high enough, muttering, “man that’s weird”, as he readjusts it.

-

Forty minutes later finds Tucker groaning, “okay, I officially really screwed up. Completely screwed the pooch”. Earning loud groans from his two friends.

Sam pushes herself up, “alright, Mr. Bad Luck, the fuck’d you do?”.

Tucker sticks out his hands, smashing one on a table, “ts not what I did! It’s what the Fenton’s didn’t do! Also, ow”.

Danny and Sam sighing, “let me guess, no reverse option and they didn’t write the formula down?”.

Tucker snaps his fingers at them, “bingo. Man, it’s like you’re psychic”.

Danny rolls his eyes, “more like my parents are just predictable... and kinda incompetent”. Everyone cringing a little over that.

Sam rubs her eyes, “alright, so now what are we going to do? We can’t go anywhere like this and we-all-know-who will shoot us the second they get home”.

Danny taps his chin, “well, I’m not in my jumpsuit so I don’t look blatantly like Phantom so I think I’m in the clear for that. And we have planned for a situation where I couldn’t change back human. So I’ve already got makeup, wig and contacts. But Wig and contacts only work for me and I’m definitely not your guy’s colour”.

Tucker snorts, “you don’t say you pasty-ass fuck”.  Sam rolls her eyes, “excuse you?”.

“You’re pale, he’s pasty”.

Sam nods curtly with a smug grin. Danny just chuckles.

Tucker claps the chairs armrests, “whelp we should probably at least get you looking human, before we run out of luck or something”. Sam grumbling, “you’re gonna jinx us”. Which Tucker, of course, waves her off as they all get up.

However when they walk into the living room just as the front door opens, Sam and Danny glare at Tucker who laughs awkwardly, “oops?”. All three snapping their heads towards the pair of hunters as said hunters immediately, and predictably, draw ecto-weapons, “hold it right there spooks!”.

Danny holds his hands out, “wait! Wait! We’re not ghosts!”.

His mom doesn’t let him continue, “can it, we know what ghosts look like”. His dad nodding, “you might be able to trick some regular joes but not the Fenton’s”.

Sam mutters, “wow this is awkward”. Tucker just nods slightly at her while gulping.

Danny makes pacifying motions, “but wouldn’t we be floating and stuff if we were newly formed ghosts. We’re not even glowing properly”, it was true, their glows were so small they practically weren’t glowing at all, “so could you put the weapons down, mom, dad”, putting his hands down and shrugging loosely very intentionally, “I’d really rather not get gooped”.

His parents actually look to be considering this, not dropping their weapons though. Figures. His mom readjusting her grip as she goes to dig in her pocket. Producing a chunk of ectoranium seconds later, “well if that’s the case and you’re not ghosts then you shouldn’t have a reaction to this”, and moves to poke Tucker’s arm with the tip, gun staying trained on them all the while. Everyone watching as absolutely nothing happens.

Tucker grins almost apologetically while Danny speaks, “see?”.

Both his parents look puzzled at the ectoranium and Tucker’s arm before Maddie blinks and looks at each of them, her eyes widening, “Danny? Tucker? Sam?”. Which the three of them nod rapidly at. Thankfully their moods do a complete one-eighty at that.

Jack practically bounding over to Danny and actually having to look up at him slightly, laughing and patting his head, “ha! I knew someone was going to get my Fenton genes!”, and pats him on both shoulders like he was measuring how wide he was. Maddie smiles sweetly at him before giving the group of teens who don’t look like teens a puzzled look again, “what I don’t get is, how’d this happen?”.

Danny and Sam immediately pointing at Tucker, but wind up smacking him in the face. Danny chuckling, “shit sorry man, ain’t used to the arm length”. Tucker predictably waves both of them off, though rubbing his cheek from Danny’s hit because well, getting effectively smacked by someone with super-strength and hands that look like pure muscle hurts.

Sam rolls her eyes and explains to Maddie, “that idiot knocked over a spray can looking thing that sprayed pink mist everywhere”.

“Hey, at least I didn’t do it intentionally”. Everyone ignores that.

Maddie taps her chin, “I don’t understand. It shouldn’t have been able to do this without something ectoplasmic around”. While Jack is off in his own world wrapping his fingers around Danny’s biceps.

Danny chuckles at his excitable dad before looking to his mom, “mom. My contamination?”.

That gets both his parents attention, them blinking and going wide-eyed, “oh”.

Sam huffs and crosses her arms, “and really, you’d think you guys wouldn’t have teens, especially Danny, cleaning up down there if you even think you have stuff that can go off like this. It’s irresponsible”. Tucker chuckles, “I’m just glad we only look like ghosts“. Everyone, especially Danny’s parents, nod rapidly at that.

Tucker nodding his head at the lab doors, “I tried to find a reverse or the formula and back engineer it, but you guys forgot to do that... again”. Making both parents cringe a little, Jack rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Danny nods at Tucker before looking back to his folks, “so on that note, do you think you could fix this? Because you didn’t recognise us and I don’t think that Red will pause long enough to hear us out”. Sam scowls and rolls her eyes over that. Danny adding on, “something to at least get us looking human again. We can probably handle the adult-looking thing”.

Tucker chuckles and strokes his facial hair, “it is pretty neat”, smirking at his friends, “I bet the ladies will dig a guy with facial hair”, glancing to Danny’s face, “that isn’t on fire”. Both Sam and Danny predictably hit him.

“No trying to pick up older women, you pervert”.

“Hey, you can barely tell it’s flaming and you’re still you so don’t count on that”.

Tucker pouts at both of them, “why do you have to be so mean”, but obviously doesn’t mean it.

Maddie and Jack smile at the threes antics, if they hadn’t already been sure they would be now. Maddie smiles sweetly at Tucker, “you’re a minor. So please don’t do that”, shaking her head at him waving her off though knowing he probably won’t actually chase after an older woman. Looking to the three of them, “how about we get you three back down to the lab and see what we can do? Alright?”. The three look to each other, exchange shrugs, and following the pair of hunters down to the lab. Jack immediately bounding off and picking up the can.

None of the trio are really surprised that Maddie gets them to sit down and starts examining them, leaving the can to Jack. Her putting a stick in Danny’s mouth and blinking at the forked tongue, “well sweetie, you make for one very intimidating ghost”. Her continuing when the trio all cringe, “technically that’s a good thing. Ghosts are supposed to be scary, you wouldn’t want to be like the Box Ghost now would you?”, all three cringe way more over that, so Maddie gives a satisfied curt nod. While Danny starts fiddling with his tongue.

Maddie pokes at Sam’s flowers, “can you feel this?”.

“Yeah”, putting a little bite in her words, which sounds more than a little threatening with the echo, “so maybe don’t go ripping them off”. Maddie nods while Tucker chuckles, “man the echo sure changes the way we sound. I doubt you meant for that to sound like a threat”. Sam just huffs at that, making Danny and Tucker chuckle at her expense. Maddie, however, smiles slightly, relieved that she hadn’t actually been being threatened; it could always be hard to tell with Sam.

Maddie stares at and inspects Tucker’s skin quizzically, “we’ve never even seen a ghost with pure black skin before. Wonder why”. Everyone shrugs at that, except Jack who’s off in his own world tinkering away. Tucker snickers and elbows Danny, “well we’ve all seen ones with blue, isn’t that right”.

“Do you want me to punt you through a wall? I’m pretty sure I could very easily”, Danny flexes slightly for emphasis but facepalms at ripping sounds, “damnit”. Everyone else snorts and starts laughing at him.

Jack makes a hum that sounds more unhappy than anyone wants to hear, him grabbing Maddie’s arm to drag her over without even looking at her. The trio exchanging glances, all three muttering, “fuck”. Maddie turning around and looking a bit apologetic, “well, it seems that Danny’s contamination sort of... messed with things a little”. The trio groan. “Or rather, bonded with it. Even now the ecto that he sheds off is feeding into the chemical that’s in your systems. If you stayed away from him for at least a week you’d go back to normal on your own. But there doesn’t seem any way for us to artificially force this to revert”, sending Danny a very sympathetic look, “and I can’t see any way to fix this for you sweetie, sorry”.

Danny leans back and groans, before giving his friends awkward looks and rubbing his neck. They don’t even let him get a chance to say anything before Sam snaps, “not happening then”. Tucker nodding and smiling, “yeah, we’re not avoiding Danny-dude. And we’re especially not leaving him to put up with this by himself”. Maddie can’t help but smile at them, “you guys are probably the closest friends possible”. Which all three beams over, even if Danny still looks pretty apologetic.

Everyone turning their heads at Jack shouting, “ah-ha!”, and spinning around in his chair, “alright, so we totally can make another spay that could hide all this ghost-looking stuff!”, muttering at the floor, “won’t fix the aged up thing”, looking back to them, “but! It’ll get you looking human! All of you”. Earning grins all around.

Maddie looking back to the trio, “we’ll work on that, you three go upstairs and play games or eat. I don’t think any of us want you down here in case the prototype malfunctions”. Which all three laugh at.

“Yeah wouldn’t want to make this worse!”.

“Besides, Danny needs to change”.

“Hey. But yeah”.

Maddie shakes her head at the three as they head upstairs.

-

Danny flops down on his bed, having changed into a very stretchy sweater and sweats, “so I guess we’re stuck like this huh?”.

Sam giving a very apathetic, “yup”, as she flops down in her beanie, before wincing and sitting up, pulling her hair out of the way. Grumbling, “this is why I keep my hair short”. Tucker shakes his head around, making the dreads and metal on them smack his face, “I don’t know, it’s kinda fun”.

“Grow it to ass length and see how you feel then”.

“Naw, I’m a guy so”.

“Are you saying only girls can have long hair!”.

Danny snickers over what sounds like a mild slapping match. They’d be fine. School though, ho boy that was going to be a fucking trip. There was literally no way in all the infinite lands of the Ghost Realm that people wouldn’t freak over them looking like adults. Zone, he could see people asking to get sprayed too. Because honestly? Who wouldn’t want to automatically know how they’d look when they’re older. Danny gets that it’s a little less novel for him due to the whole Dan thing, but still. Adding in the ghost thing. Tilting his head, though it was kinda funny Sam wound up with flowers in her hair and wait... wasn’t the area around Tuck’s eyes a bit darker? Glancing at his friends and squinting, yeah Tuck looked like he kinda had makeup... on... wait a second. “Guys”, pointing at the two of them, “Pharaoh. Undergrowth”.

They both blink at him before Sam grabs at her hair and shoved a pocket mirror at Tucker to poke at his eyes. Tucker blinks and hands back over the mirror, “huh, well let’s not point this out to your folks. Like seriously dude”. Sam nods and frowns, “you don’t think this’ll give Undergrowth some control over me?”, looking between the two boys, “and should we really be surprised? We already knew the stuff that happened those times wasn’t really something that just goes away. Undergrowth adopted me”, pointing at Tucker, “and your soul is still T. Duulaman’s, sceptre or no”.

Danny hums and taps his chin, “I don’t think we have to worry about being controlled. We’re not actually ghosts. We just look like them. But fair point. And not like we can really do anything about it”. The two sighing, “yeah”. Danny points at them again, “but if this does start negatively affecting you guys, like our kind of negative, then you guys are staying away from me to get this to wear off. I’ll go hide at the ClockTower Citadel if I have too”. They both roll their eyes at his typical overprotective antics but they do nod.

Tucker points at him and leans forward, “honestly, you should visit ClockWork over this, I’m not sure if this ‘aged up’ thing would count as messing with time. Especially for other people to see”. Danny hums and nods at that. Sam nods herself and gets up to flop on the bed next to him, “and maybe ask them how to fix you. Because you being stuck ghost-looking in both forms screams bad news”.

Tucker joins them on Danny’s other side as Danny replies, “yeah. As it is when I’m an adult ghost my parents are so definitely going to put the pieces together now”. Both them snort at that, pointing out that that was ridiculously obvious. Tucker smacking him, “first, you need a bigger bed. Second, it’s not like you intended to keep this from them after Highschool anyway”.

Danny snorts, “true, on both accounts”.

-

It surprisingly doesn’t take long for Danny’s folks to barge into the room. Jack presenting a little perfume-looking bottle dramatically, “it’s done! And was surprisingly easy!”.

The trio blink, Sam muttering, “huh, that never happens for us”. Making them chuckle a little as they go about getting up. Danny asking, because he has to ask, “and it’s good for me? You checked it against my stuff?”.

Maddie nods at him reassuringly right off the bat, “no worries sweetie, that’s the first thing we did”. Which he grins over as the three stand to let themselves get a good spray down. Everyone watching in fascination as their skin starts patching back to their normal human skin tones. Jack actually whispering, “that looks so cool”, and Maddie patting him on the arm.

The first thing Danny does is pat his hair, sighing over it no longer being fire. “Awesome”, and puts his hand to his throat, “huh”.

Tucker blinks at him, “you know, without the echo you actually sound kinda sexy”. Everyone looks at Tucker with disbelief; Sam smacking him over the head. Everyone starts laughing after a bit though.

Danny giving his mom a hug, which is weird with her being so much smaller than him, “thanks mom”. She leans up to ruffle his hair, looking slightly apologetic, “of course, Danny. And we’ll try to keep the volatile stuff put away from now on”. Sam and Tucker snicker knowing that won’t even last a week. Never did. Danny just laughs, “appreciated”, even if he also knew it wouldn’t last.

Jack laughs, hands on his hips, “well you kids’ make for pretty fine looking adults!”. The three all grinning at him. But that gets Maddie to tilt her head and squint at Danny. Him quirking a sharp eyebrow at her before she leans forward and sticks her fingers in his mouth, “uhhhhh”.

Jack and Maddie both blink at him, though Sam and Tucker bend over laughing. Maddie speaking up, “you have fangs still”. Danny leans back to get her fingers out of his mouth, “ah well, my contamination was bound to affect me, right?”, and rubs his tongue over his teeth. At least his tongue wasn’t still forked. That was something.

Tucker leans over and flicks his ear, “ears are pointy too”, and snickers. Danny batting away his hand.

Maddie frowns a little but nods, “yes, I guess that would make sense. Can’t say I like it though”. Jack waves her off, “oh it looks manly on him! And people intentionally get their teeth and ears pointed sometimes! Right Sam?”. Sam nods but is frankly surprised he’s waving this off. Honestly, so is Danny.

Maddie purses her lips but nods, “you do have a point”, looking to Danny, “well I guess you better get used to it. You’re stuck with it”.

Danny shrugs, “eh I’m not complaining. Didn’t even notice”, baring his teeth, “are they that noticeable though?”. Sam rolls her eyes, “yes”. While Tucker snorts, “Vlad would be jealous”.

Jack tilts his head, “Vladdie has fangs?”. All three blink at him in disbelief and speak in unison, “you didn’t notice?”. Jack shakes his head and shrugs, while Maddie taps her chin, “now that I think about it, yeah I’ve noticed. But it’s been so long that I don’t think I really notice any more”.

Sam mutters, “that tracks”, to herself. Danny rubs his neck, “ah well hopefully you’ll get used to mine then too I guess”, he seriously can’t believe his dad’s never noticed though. Vlad flashed them threateningly all the time. Or maybe Danny was just more likely to notice thanks to heightened vision and ghost instincts.

Maddie hums, “well anyway, you kids should get some rest before school tomorrow. I don’t doubt that will be a bit hectic”.

All three giving matching deadpanned, “obviously”’s. As the couple turn to leave, not without Jack patting Danny’s head excitedly though.

-

The three stare at the door for a beat. Tucker clapping Danny on the back, “I think your dad likes the height”. Sam rolling her eyes as she moves back to the bed, “only because someone’s finally taller than him”.

Danny shrugs as him and Tucker move to join her, “eh, can’t say I blame him. It’s just like how being around ghosts that are actually stronger than me makes me feel less overpowered”, squinting at them, “and no, I don’t just mean ClockWork”, which earns laughs from the two.

Sam sighs into the blankets, “you know, when you’re an adult, an actual adult ghost, ClockWork probably will be the only one”. Danny grumbles, “don't remind me”. Which she snorts at.

Tucker rolls over and watches the ceiling a little, “at least being stuck as adults will really only be weird for a few years”, fiddling with his hair a little bit, “think I should keep the dreads?”.

Danny just grunts while Sam actually answers the boy, “they suit you. Keep ‘em. Why do you think I went and gave you fake ones when you tried the whole goth thing”. Now it’s Tucker’s turn to groan, “now don’t remind me”. Making them all laugh.

“Hey, nothing could compare to Sam’s pink get-up when I un-half-died”. Sam hits Danny for that one. Sam smacking Tucker for good measure, “you’re never going to live down hitting on me”.

“More like never going to not wish you hadn’t said yes before I realised you were you”. Sam shoves him off the bed with a scowl for that one.

Danny mumbles, “sleep sleep time”, and sticks his arm over the bed to physically drag Tucker back up, “come here pillow”, and wraps his arms around both of them tightly.

Tucker chuckles, “your hands are fucking huge now. Seeing that coming for my face was mildly horrifying”. Danny just grumbles incoherently into the bed. Sam sighs, “you’re not going to let us up, are you?”.

Danny grins into the bed, “nope. You’re trapped now”. Earning fond sighs from the two as they settle in to sleep.

[k7l4d4]

Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 6 Part 5

Hello all, and welcome back to another exciting rendition of Midnight Striga! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!

Eda grumbled, shifting her weight as she hunkered through the crowds, King prowling along beside her. She despised the Night Market, as it was basically a physical embodiment of justification for Bonehead’s rule; hard to stand up against the person who’s keeping you and your family safe from scummy criminals selling shady and dangerous stuff, even by the standards of the Isles!! She snorted. If only those same people knew that Bonehead’s goons were perfectly aware of the Night Market and could shut it down and round up its proprietors whenever they liked, and kept it around BECAUSE it was a convenient, tangible justification.

“Ugh! This place smells like failure and backstabbing.” King complained, warily scanning the surroundings, a spell prepped and ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

Eda huffed. “Yeah, but if this ‘Grimm Hammer’ guy has Curse-Suppression potions, I can’t afford to stay away.” And didn’t it burn that she had to deal with scum like this for her health? She liked Morton, he was a good kid, but DAMN if his habit of testing his products, particularly the dangerous ones, on himself wasn’t grating at times like this. At least when he did it before he still had something in stock for her to use until he got back in shape.

King nodded solemnly, by his standards at any rate. He glanced around, idly taking note of the various comers and goers wandering the market, all doing their best to stay at least partially inconspicuous; it was probably pointless, considering just how unique and diverse appearances could get on the Isles, but at least they were putting in the effort. ‘I wonder if this is how Lilith got that curse.’ King wondered, his temper boiling at the thought of Eda’s sister stabbing her in the back like that. Aloud, he said, “You think this guy will try and screw us over?”

Eda laughed bitterly. “Oh absolutely! But,” She added with a feral grin, “If he does, we can always wreck the place.” She and King cheered at the thought of destroying private property.

With a snort, Eda glanced over the directions Mort had given her, comparing it to the shop before her. It wasn’t anything really special, just a stand aiming to draw the eye and lighten suckers’ wallets, but it had the signs of wear and tear you only got from long-term use and dedication. The owner was probably a scumbag, true, but they were a scumbag with pride in their business and property. Raising an eye at King, and getting a raised eyebrow in return, the two headed inside. A tall figure landed onto the ground in a crouch behind them.

Odalia marched down the halls, burying her worry under maternal fury. This was absolutely unacceptable!! She could not believe Amity was acting so disgracefully, cutting her off like that! With a huff, she finally crossed into the room, primed and ready to start shouting, heedless of the damage her outburst would do to her daughter’s social standing, only to blink in numb surprise at the sight of the humans, Amity’s guard notwithstanding, now in the room. “Um, Mittens? What is going on?” She asked as diplomatically as she could.

Amity sighed, and what proceeded was another rapid-fire round of introductions between the group and Odalia. Odalia’s eyes sharpened at several key points, namely that Neon was an heiress, and had been granted guards as a result of her magic, important details. “So,” Odalia drawled, a calculating gleam in her eyes, “You mentioned that you gave predictions, Miss Nostrade?” She stated more than asked; as annoyed as she was at Amity’s antics (and it was definitely annoyance, absolutely nothing more), this was admittedly an opportune moment to gain a better look into Human Magic, particularly in an area of overlap such as Oracle magic and predictions.

“Yeah, it sounds super interesting!” Selena piped up, engaging in the conversation. “I LOVE Oracle Magic, so seeing how Humans do it is like Oracle Magic times two!” She cheered, scooching close.

“Okay, if you really want!” Neon agreed, oblivious to the sudden tensing of her guards. She quickly pulled out a sheet of paper and a cat-themed pen. “I just need your names, date of birth, and your blood type!” She hummed, a blissful grin on her face. Odalia and Selena blinked, but both complied, much to the interest of the others, save Luz who’d seen what was coming in action before. The group reared back, startled at the deep blue aura that surged up around Neon, her normally bright and clear eyes fading and turning glassy, like a doll. Her hand pulled back, a winged thing manifesting around it, intoning “Lovely Ghostwriter.” In a blur, Neon rapidly inscribed a series of poems upon the paper, her hand blurring across the page that they couldn’t make out the actual words she was writing down. Suddenly, her hand stopped, a total of eight stanzas composed before her on two seperate sheets, which she promptly handed over to the correct recipient. “And there you go!” She beamed.

“Wow, what do they say?” Skara asked, powering through the confusion and shock that had come over her at the sight of Neon’s spell.

“No idea!” Neon blithely replied, causing all the Witches to blink in shock, save Odalia and Selena, who were busy going over their poems.

Luz snorted at their surprise. “Yeah, Neon’s magic is totally involuntary after the activation point. She has no clue what she writes, isn’t aware that she was even writing until after the fact, and is physically incapable of reading whatever prediction she gives.” Luz clarified, admittedly relishing the looks of confusion she got in response.

“How does that even work!?” Amity asked, utterly bewildered. It was completely outside any known form of Oracle Magic, and she couldn’t help but notice the blanching faces of her mother and Selena.

Neon gave a pout, trying not to feel insulted at the slight at her skills. “Predictions are for the people, not for the predictor!” She childishly stated, huffing in displeasure.

They turned to Luz, a look screaming for an explanation upon their faces. “Hey, it makes as much sense to me as it does for you all.” She lightly protested. Seeing they weren’t convinced, she ultimately relented, clarifying, “I’m not sure why it turned out like that, but Neon is completely self-taught, but no one has ever said she’s not good at what she does.” She fixed them with a strong stare, almost daring them to question her. “Neon’s predictions always cover the month of when she gives them, offering insight as to what will happen later, with advice being given for dangerous or difficult moments coming up, and clarity as to what led to events that have already happened. And Neon’s predictions are always perfectly accurate to boot.” She sat back, letting that sink in.

Willow was the first to recover. “B-But that goes outside any known example of Oracle Magic!” She stammered, shock coloring her eyes. “Even the best Oracles have some level of failure or inaccuracy!”

Luz shrugged. “I don’t know what to say, but that’s never really applied to Neon.” The girl in question merely beamed in pride at that, puffing out her chest.

“Neon is the greatest! Ohohohohoho!” She cheerfully laughed, pulling one hand to her mouth in a look of haughty delight, only for Luz to playfully chop her on the head. “Ouchie!”

“Please don’t strike my charge again, Miss Noceda.” Kurapika sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, even as his fellow guards just snorted at the by-play between the two mages.

“Yeah, the lassy needs her brain intact, you know?” Basho called out, a cheerful smile on his face. He winced at the swift jab to his rib Baise gave him.

Baise snorted. “Maybe don’t insult our boss, idiot.” She drolly stated, arms crossed.

“I’ve honestly been wondering, but if you guys are guards for a mage, are you mages yourselves?” Gus asked, tone casual, if you discounted the notebook primed for writing held before him that is.

“Well, as a matter of fact, we are.” Kurapika cordially replied, showing the chains affixed to his hand, small steel rings linking a separate chain to each finger. “I myself employ Chain Magic, allowing me to manipulate and command my chains for a variety of effects.” He gave a mysterious grin. “Though, some of my best spells are unfortunately kept rather limited.”

“Huh, why is that?” Gus asked, furiously scrawling down the enigmatic blonde’s answer.

“Well, I won’t go into the specifics, but it is possible to augment one’s spells, particularly complex or unusual ones, by infusing them with limitations as to how and when you can use them, or giving them conditions as to when they can be activated.” Kurapika explained. “A solid example would be, say, creating a spell that would allow you to defeat a specific foe, and then altering the spell so it literally cannot be used on anyone but that foe. Doing so would make that spell all the more powerful and flexible to use, but only when it’s conditions are fulfilled.”

The Witches paused, staring in shock at Kurapika, whereas his fellow guards and Luz just looked at him in amusement. Luz shrugged. “He’s not wrong, but most mages don’t usually do that, unless their magic works best under specific circumstances to start with. It’s usually something found in more exotic forms of magic, or with people who are self-trained.” All the Witches carefully took note of that for later.

Willow cleared her throat. “And what about the rest of you?” She asked politely.

Tolico puffed out his chest, grinning. “Well my magic is almost ideal for bodyguard duties, and just for messing with people. Observe!” He cried, swinging his arm up, before clapping it against the ground. “Thankless Soldiers!” From the point of contact, a dark purple aura billowed up off the floor, flexing and morphing into the image of 12 dark figures in robes, standing at attention. “Now, you guys go outside and patrol the area, we don’t want any intruders, alright?” He stated, and the constructs moved out, silently and without issue.

“Wow! You can create soldiers to fight for you!?” Gus exclaimed, stars in his eyes.

“Yeah, but they’re fragile to any trained mage, can’t move very fast, and their only solid advantage is numbers.” Baise said, instantly taking the wind out of Tolico’s sails. Baise smirked at the pouting glare Tolico shot her. “As for myself… my magic isn’t something kiddies like you should learn about until you’re older.” She stated, the aimless leer on her face sending nervous shivers down the group’s collective spine.

“HA! My Haiku Magic allows me to compose poetry, and gain effects based on those poems by sacrificing them!” Basho proudly stated, crushing a tablet of paper in his fist, causing it to erupt in flames, to the awe of the crowd.

“My magic isn’t really anything special,” Squala stated bashfully, rubbing his head. “I can manipulate and command dogs, but not a whole lot else.”

“And I can create effects by playing my flute.” Melody added in a soft tone. The Witches pondered that briefly, but accepted it, not every form of magic was going to be out there and radically different from what they knew.

“W-What is this!?” Odalia whispered, drawing the group’s attention to her and Selena, who were both shuddering over the predictions Neon had given them. She whipped around, wild eyes staring at Neon, who cocked her head in confusion. She marched over, oblivious to the stares her actions were garnering from the group, and the level glares of Neon’s bodyguards, all prepped to intercept her. “Are you certain this is accurate!?” She demanded, almost rabid fear in her eyes, waving her prediction in emphasis.

“Hmm?” Neon made a questioning noise, uncomprehending? “What do you mean? Neon’s predictions are always right!” She huffed, confused and annoyed at the idea of her predictions being wrong. Didn’t this old lady know anything!? Whatever was written would happen, completely true! Silly old lady! ...Why was she still getting closer?

With a scowl, Odalia drew level with the childish girl, her temper and fear mixing into a recklessness-inducing cocktail. “Now listen here!” Odalia hissed, reaching out towards the girl, oblivious to the mounting anger of her guards, as well as the fear flickering in Neon’s eyes. “Do you have any idea-”

“Miss Blight.” Luz called out sharply, drawing the woman’s attention. Glancing around, she blanched at the scene; her daughter’s guests were staring at her in a mix of fear and disgust, while Amity and the Park girl were glaring at her in a mixture of disappointment and rage. Her daughter’s guard, the human girl, Luz, was watching her with a carefully blank face, idly flipping a glowing knife in between her hands. The Neon girl’s guards were preparing to attack her, she noted with dread, and when she turned her gaze back to Neon, she finally noticed the way she was trembling, along with the faint tears in her eyes. Flushing, Odalia quickly pulled away. “Oh my dear, I am so sorry, child! I-I have no idea what came over me-” Odalia hastily explained, twitching slightly.

“Save it.” Luz said flatly, subtly moving in between Neon and Odalia, and also between Odalia and Neon’s guards. “Don’t worry, people have reacted a lot worse to Neon’s predictions in the past, they just usually aren’t in the same room as her when they do so. I would recommend heading back to your husband for the night.” She ‘suggested,’ idly cocking her head to the still upset group surrounding them.

Odalia flushed, but didn’t argue. “I believe you are correct in that respect.” She gave a shaky bow. “I bid you all a good evening, and I hope the Conjuring goes well.” And with that, Odalia beat a hasty retreat, mind swirling over what to tell Alador.

Skara cleared her throat, wanting to dispel the tension in the air. “Well then! Unless I’m wrong, the Moon should be in position for the conjuring to start!” She said, forcing a note of cheer into her voice. The Witches grumbled, still tense after Odalia’s little scene, but no one argued, wanting to move on from the uncomfortable moment. Amity sent a worried glance towards Neon, who quickly waved it off after noticing the attention.

“Oh, go have fun! I’m fine!” She said, a shaky grin on her face. With a scowl, Amity relented, heading over to the others. Amity, Cat, Amelia, and Selena formed a circle of four, while Gus, Willow, Bo, and Skara formed another, each surrounding one of Amity’s old dolls. As they started chanting, the guards, Neon, and Luz watched on.

Kurapika turned an inquiring gaze towards Luz. “Do you know what’s going on?” He asked, a note of genuine curiosity in his voice.

Luz snorted. “Apparently, this is supposed to be a Lunar Ritual that animates an object through the magical power of the Moon.” She explained flatly, her blank face showing how good of an idea she considered that.

Tolico stared, his dumbfounded expression mirrored by his fellow guards. “Are… they insane?” He croaked out, even as Neon cocked her head, not understanding.

“From what I’ve seen, the Isles has a very loose understanding of safety and wellbeing, beyond healthcare.” Luz replied, staring off into the distance. She leaned up against the wall. “Plus, from what I can tell, the Ritual is pretty minor stuff, and some cultural drift has more or less shot it in the foot.”

Kurapika raised an eyebrow, perplexed. “Hmm? What do you mean by that?” He asked.

Luz jerked a thumb at the ceiling, a smirk on her face. “The Ritual works by calling the power of the moon into the target through its Light, or at least that’s my understanding of how it works.” She gestured around. “Kind of hard to draw light into a target when all but a fraction of it ends up colliding with a building first.” Her smirk shifted into a thoughtful expression. “Although, it would probably be a different story if the house was possessed or merged with an animate existence; then the spell would probably just use the house itself as the target instead.”

Kurapika gave a wry grin. “I imagine you won’t be telling them until after they fail, correct?” He asked rhetorically, Luz’s mischievous laugh being all the confirmation he needed.

Luz, growing serious, sidled up next to Neon. “Hey, NeNe, you feeling okay?” She asked softly.

“Huh? Of course I am, LuLu!! She just got a little m-mad is all.” Neon said in what she must’ve thought was a reassuring tone of voice, a few alarms starting to go off in the heads of her guards.

Luz arched an eyebrow. “Oh? But you flinched when she reached for you.” She said, slowly sliding closer.

“T-That’s because I’m not used to people t-trying to hurt me ‘cause of my predictions!” Neon blustered, eyes shifting back and forth.

Luz eyes glistened. “Neon, show me your arm.” She said softly.

“Nono! I don’t wanna!” She cried, yanking away from Luz. Her guards glanced between themselves. Technically, they were required to do something, but if their and Luz’s suspicions were correct…

“NeNe, please. I can’t help if you don’t let me.” Luz said in as kind but as firm a voice as she could manage, gently trying to coax Neon close, worried she might scare her.

Hesitantly, fearful tears in her eyes, Neon allowed Luz to creep closer, and slowly pull back her sleeve. Luz did her best to keep from hissing at the sight. Neon’s arm was coated in bruises, blotchy and smeared, running the length of it, with a few looking as if they were cuts! Luz had a sinking feeling that Neon had many, MANY more all across her body. The tears flowing now, Luz glanced up to Neon’s sorrow-filled face, the image of burning rage branded across her guards’ faces in the background. “How long has this been going on?” She said softly, trying to keep Neon calm.

“S-Since *Hic!* m-my-y 11th birthday.” Neon confused, hiccups breaking up her words as tears started spilling out. “I-I d-don’t know-w w-why he *Hic!* keeps getting m-m-mad! I try to b-be a g-good-d girl, b-but he k-keeps getting angry!” Neon cried, her tears staining hers and Luz’s shirts. “I-I just want P-papa to be happy, but I can’t! A-and he gets mad, and hurts me… is something wrong with me?” She asked, almost begged, as snot started bubbling up from her nose, her face covered in red blotches of tears.

“No.” Luz stated firmly, tightly pulling Neon into a fierce hug, pressing the sweet girl’s face into the crook of her neck, uncaring of the snot and tears that would end up staining the outfit. It didn’t matter nearly as much as the hurt girl in her arms. “You did NOTHING wrong. He’s your father, the man who’s supposed to raise you, to protect you, and he betrayed that. He’s the one with something wrong with him. Not you… never you.” With that, what little self-control Neon had kept vanished, and she pulled fully into Luz’s embrace, tears surging as she silently wailed into her friend’s clothing.

‘She feels… like Mama’s hugs.’ Neon thought to herself.

‘She feels… so fragile.’ Luz wondered at the feeling of the delicate girl clinging to her, previously in joy… but this time in sadness and heartbreak. Luz’s thoughts shifted into rage. ‘If I EVER see her bastard father again… he’s not walking away.’

As Neon cried, Luz turned to her guards, mindful of supporting Neon’s weight while she did so. “So… what’s the plan?” She asked, fully prepared to rip the group apart if they were even considering bringing Neon back to that man.

The guards exchanged glances, before nodding in unison. Kurapika stepped forward. “We are not letting Mr. Nostrade getting his hands back on Miss Neon.” He said gravely, his voice brooking no argument. “We all accepted this job knowing it would bring us into contact with unsavory individuals, and that we may end up being required to do rather horrible things. But we all have lines we will never cross; enabling an abuser is one of them.” He stated, the other guards nodding in agreement behind him.

“The fact that our contract states that we’re supposed to be protecting the lassy from anything wanting to harm her just adds extra incentive.” Basho said, giving a humorless laugh. “We never expected that meant keeping her safe from her own father!” His grin shifted, showing all teeth. “We let the little miss down, ignoring the signs. If that piece of trash even comes near her, he dies.”

“Good.” Luz said flatly, turning a tender look towards Neon, who peaked her head up. “Hey, NeNe? You mind answering a question?”

“Okay.” Neon said timidly, cuddling up against Luz’s side. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, why did you come to the Isles?” Luz broached.

“Because… I didn’t want Papa to find me. I wanted to go somewhere he could never take me back.” Neon said softly, glancing away. “I wanna live like a normal girl. I wanna have friends.” Tears started pricking her eyes again. “I want to wake up, and see sunshine.”

Luz gave a heartbroken smile, clutching the girl tighter. “Don’t worry, you will.” She pulled Neon tight again. “I swear it.” She whispered to herself.

[a-table-of-fics]

Oddworld: Conar's Ambition, Chapter 5, Draft 1

Conar woke up to the sound of a Mudokon banging against the metal floor with a grunt. He instinctively rolled himself up to a standing position, grabbing his gun and preparing to shout out.

He could see Slim lying on the ground, groaning and rubbing his head. Above, he could spot Mark, reaching down to try to help Slim up.

“Hey!” Conar barked. “Where do ya think you’re goin’?!”

“I-it was Slim’s idea!” Mark called out, frantically.

Slim only spent a moment glaring at Mark for that, knowing that an angry Slig was looking right at him.

“Y-yeah,” he said, backing up slowly. “We were gonna look into that hideout that’s right over there. Figure it’d be safer than being out here with an open roof, ‘specially with those hanging around.”

He pointed to the side, where Conar could see a Suppressor. Its red eye wasn’t turned to either of them; instead, the floating red sensor was floating in a corner, looking at another corner.

“What’re you talkin’ about? Those things are just there to watch you guys for wrong…doing…”

Conar realized what he just said, and started to circle around Slim, slowly making his way under the Suppressor. Once he made it out of its view, he moved his Blunderbuss from Slim to the mechanical eye. A few shots later and it started to fall, the light fading from it. He tried to duck out of the way, but the bots fall twisted and spun as it landed square on his back.

“Hey!” he called out, after his cry of pain. “Gimme a hand, wouldya?”

Slim took a couple steps towards him, but stopped. Conar got the feeling it wasn’t just the alarm that started blaring in the air.

“What’re you waitin’ for, Slim?!” he demanded. “Get this thing offa me!”

“You know,” Slim said, “I’ve been waiting for a moment like this for all my life. No more Sligs watchin’ us. No more taking orders. Mark and I, we’ll be free!”

“And who freed you, chump?” Conar retorted. “You couldn’t have gotten out of there without me! You won’t last two minutes without me!”

“I’ll take my chances. You can get someone else to push your ride.”

“You idiot!” Conar shouted. “I couldn’t blow our cover there!”

“Oh, sure,” Slim said, rolling his eyes. “It was the cover.”

He turned around, taking Mark’s hand and climbing up out of the train.

“Well, sayanora!” Slim said, before the two of them disappeared from Conar’s view.

“You traitorous lil’…” Conar started, before trying to pull himself out of the wreck.

He grunted and wheezed before suddenly popping out of his Pants. He was just able to crawl out from under the Suppressor and grab his bag, but there was no chance of him getting his Pants again. Not only was he alone, but he was helpless without his legs. He crawled around in the vain hope of finding a different pair or maybe even a flying harness, but the train car was as empty as before.

The alarms in the distance were soon punctuated with the conflicted chatter of Slim and Mark. Conar couldn’t hear all of it, but he hear things like “No, this marking means…” and “B-better hurry, I think I hear…” and “where is it?!”

The talk changed to more frantic gibbering as all three could hear Slogs barking, getting ever closer. Louder and louder, until they were snarling and snapping, and he could hear the Mudokons whimpering, the sound of metal scraping and falling as they presumably scrambled to higher ground.

“Serves ‘em right,” Conar muttered. “I gave ‘em a chance out, and what do they do? Ugh.”

He paced around on his hands for a moment, before spotting something. Some kind of bird graffiti etched into a darker corner of the train. Crawling over, he could see a crack in the panel, and he could see a full tunnel through there. Those Scrubs would have appreciated that; he figured what Slim was talking about was some kind of marking to this location.

Not that he needed Slim or Mark anymore. They fulfilled their purposes; who cared if they became Slog food now? He’d find another way to get to Zeb, once he got some Pants again. And besides, without his Pants, he’d be completely useless to help those two out, even if he wanted to.

He groaned, before giving a sharp whistle. The ravenous barking stopped for a moment.

“Here, boy,” he called out.

Three Slogs came into view, looking down at him. One of them was an older Slog, judging by her massive size, but the other two… well, they were just pups, really. Must have been born here, and were probably the offspring of the larger one. They were thinner than most Slogs he’d seen, and it was clear the mother was the only one of them raised or trained properly. Poor things probably just wanted a decent meal. Conar could sympathize, but he hoped he could dissuade them from trying Mudokon Mulch.

“Stay,” he said, keeping his eyes focused on the Slogs while he felt to search for his bag of supplies. It was a miracle he hadn’t brought it with him when he walked under the Suppressor. Reaching into it, past the ammunition, drinks, and cigarettes, he found that he was looking for: a whole package of Meep Jerky.

“You want some food? Huh?”

The mother Slog panted excitedly, her pups soon to follow.

Conar opened the food, and started to throw some of the largest pieces of jerky out of the train. After a few morsels were thrown out, the Slogs ran off to enjoy their treats, and Conar sighed, relieved he could do something still.

It was hard to hear anything over the Sloggies devouring the tough jerky, but he thought he could hear hushed chatter between the two Mudokon deserters. Sure enough, they were looking down on him a few minutes later.

“What was that?” Slim asked, smiling a little. “I mean, not that I’m not grateful, but you got bored of the Slogs attackin’ us that fast?”

“Yeah,” Conar replied, grinning under his tentacled visage, “you guys’re pretty boring screamers.”

He dragged himself over to the panel he saw before, lifting it slightly.

“This the place you were lookin’ for?”

“Maybe,” Slim said, hopping down. Mark followed suit as soon as Slim was with Conar. “Can’t say for sure, though; the graffiti was all wrong at the fridges, but did you see anything down…”

He looked at the wall, and saw the bird drawing.

“…here…”

It wasn’t a fat bird like the ones on the refrigerators, and it was a lot cleaner than the scratchings he saw back at the Slugbite Motel. He found himself drawn to it, his fingertips circling around it.

“HEY!” Conar shouted, snapping him from these thoughts. “We can’t focus on the pretty pictures; we got us a hideout to hide in!”

“R-right,” Slim nodded, feeling weirdly off-balance. “Lemme just get the door…”

He and Mark easily swung the panel open, and he grabbed Conar by the wrist.

“Hey!” Conar demanded, trying in vain to wrest his hand back. “Get offa me!”

“You think any Mudokons there’ll take kindly to some Slig going in?” Slim asked. “Come on, we gotta be dragging you in! Besides…”

Conar couldn’t help but feel an air of smugness.

“…you said it; a Slig without Pants ain’t worth the powder in his gun.”

The pantsless Slig sighed, trying to keep his bag close to his chest as they pulled him through.

The tunnel walls were lined with all sorts of trash, from old tires to old rails to piles of Slog chew toys. Conar picked up a rubber facsimile of a Glukkon that was relatively intact. The purple-suited toy had very few bite marks. After all, the Glukkon-shaped ones were designed to discourage Slogs from attacking the real deal with a bad taste. Of course, anyone who worked with Slogs personally knew that wouldn’t stop them from taste-testing their bosses.

He squeezed the Gluk in his hand as he was carried along. It served as a great reminder of why he left, and why he was putting up with this nonsense; so he could press a real Glukkon under his thumb.

He tucked the squeaky toy into his bag, and dropped the bag from his tentacles to his hand.

“Would it kill ya to get a better grip?” he asked, looking up at Slim. “My arm’s gettin’ tired.”

He could see Slim look at him, look at Mark, and then stop, giving a smile.

“Sure,” he said. “I don’t think this is working for me either, really.”

With that, he violently pulled Conar up. Conar, for his part, was shocked that he yelped in a very un-Slig-like way, dropping his bag to cover his mouth with his hand. Before he could reach for it again, his arm was grabbed, and he was tucked under Slim’s arm, his own arms pinned. Reaching with his tentacles was no good; as long as they were, he could not reach the ground from here. He scowled as Mark picked the bag up, handing it to Slim and looking on in awe.

“Yeah, what are you lookin’ at?”

“It-it’s that easy to p-pick you guys up?” Mark managed. He was somewhere between shock and amusement, and he made no effort to hide it on his face.

“Enjoy it while you can, twerp. Once I get Pants again, you’re gonna live to regr—Mmmph! Mmmph?!”

He struggled, but Slim had his hand clamped over Conar’s mouth.

“Shut up!” Slim hissed. “You don’t wanna scare ‘em off, do ya?”

“Mm,” Conar grumbled.

The three of them walked forward and turned the corner to see several Mudokons lounging in the orange glow of a rusty heater. A couple of them were lazily drinking from dirty bottles, while others snacked on crushed Paramite Pies. One with light-green skin looked up at Slim and Mark.

“Heya!” he called out, waving. “Welcome to the club!”

“What is this place?” Slim asked, looking around. A lot of the junk here looked like it was more deliberately placed than in the tunnel. Some of the half-melted bottles on one wall were even the same color as each other.

“You don’t know?” another asked, a shorter Mud with somewhat longer feathers almost covering his entire scalp. “We quit, just like you guys! Layin’ low, maxing and relaxing…”

He moved some feathers out of his eyes, and they widened as they focused on Conar.

“Oh wow, you took one of those guys out?” he nodded appreciatively. “Nice!”

“Mmph!” Conar protested as the rest came over to look at him. Being surrounded by six Mudokons total, some holding makeshift weapons just in case, in his state wasn’t ideal.

“How’d you get ‘im out of those legs?”

“Did he give you any trouble?”

“What should we do with him?”

“You think we could use him for something?”

“Can’t let him rat us out…”

Slim swatted hands and metal points away.

“Watch it,” he said, stepping back. “He’s been helpin’ us get here!”

He watched as everyone else’s jaws gaped in stunned silence. His eyes darted between them, and he finally relaxed as they all burst into laughter.

“Aw, man,” the light-green one said, grabbing Slim’s shoulder, “You really had me going there! A Slig helpin’ one of us?!”

“You know what a Slig is, right?” asked a Mudokon covered in soot. “They don’t help anyone. They don’t even think about helping their own!”

“They can’tthink,” the mop-topped one said. “Just got a tiny brain in their trigger fingers!”

The others started laughing again, while Conar sneered.

“A lot of big talk comin’ from a buncha layabouts!” he protested.

“Oh, we’re the bums? Who did the work for you guys while you napped and smoked?”

“I oughta throw you to the Slogs!”

“You guys don’t do nothin’!”

Conar realized he should have kept his mouth shut as they began to get closer, some of them preparing their weapons once more. Slim was slowly stepping back, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the crowd. He braced himself for a world of pain, looking at their faces of righteous anger, but Mark had stepped forward.

“Hang on,” he said. “It s-sounds crazy, but th-that guy did help us get here… S-sure, he’s a Slig, b-but he c-covered for me with Clunk and distracted some Sloggies for us…”

The encroaching Mudokons stopped, stepping back to consider this.

“He’s mean as any one of ‘em,” Slim added, “but he busted me out of the Motel, and made damn sure we escaped.”

Finally, after a moment of whispering, the light-green Mudokon stepped forward, keeping his sharpened pipe relaxed, but ready.

“All right then, Slig,” he asked, kneeling to be eye-level with Conar, “Why’d you help ‘em out?”

“That’s none of your—”

“He thinks he can just walk in and take a Glukkon’s Moolah,” Slim said.

Even Mark joined in the laughter that ensued.

“You… you reallythink…” managed the multifeathered Mud, before gasping for air again.

“Well, why not?” Conar asked. “I got a gun, and he doesn’t. Once I get to ‘im, that should be that.”

“Oh, yeah,” Slim said, rolling his eyes, “Getting to ‘im will be a cakewalk, huh? We both know Glukkons’ve got security tighter than a Resolver’s Knot. You’ll be in pieces before you make it to the front desk!”

“You got a gun,” the light-green one added, “but he’s got, like, eight hundred of them! And you just brought a coupla Mudokons? How d’ya expect to outgun ‘em?”

“That Abe guy did something,” Conar said. “I’m hopin’ to find out what.”

The laughing died into an abrupt and long silence. They were all staring at him, jaws agape, paralyzed for a few moments. The look of shock turned into a snarl on a few of them, while the rest shuffled their feet.

“What?” Conar asked. “That guy could take down RuptureFarms, and last I hear he’s goin’ after the FeeCo Depot. Must be somethin’ to you guys if one of ya can do that!”

The Mudokon with many feathers opened his mouth to speak, but it took a couple of moments to get the words out: “…You… understand Abe’s significance? You know he’s the…”

“Of course he doesn’t,” the Mudokon with an eyepatch said, raising his lead pipe in preparation to strike. “He just thinks he can talk about Abe and we’ll all do what he wants. No way is that happenin’!”

“Wait, I can—”

The pipe came down, Conar felt a brief heavy pain, and everything went black.

[libsterslobsters]

Dazed and Confused

Description: Almost a month has past since Bucky and the reader met. Since then, they've had absolutely no contact or communication. What happens when someone decides to make the first move? More importantly: is this a date?

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x fem!enhanced! reader

(Reader can see shards of the future, understand all languages, and process information abnormally fast)

Warnings: Strong language, mostly fluff, mild angst, two idiots who could really benefit from a lesson in basic communication skills

Author's note: As per usual, the reader is unnamed, but when I'm writing, I refer to her as Violet. Also, Bucky Barnes is a poor lost puppy, and you can pry him from my cold, dead fingers before I'll let you hurt him.

*************************************************

 The text comes when he’s ankle-deep in various pipes and tools (he could call the building’s super to fix the plumbing but with this great new thing called the internet, he figured it would be pretty simple to figure out why every time he takes a shower, the bathroom sink fills with sludge), and his hands are so full, he can’t check it. Besides, Bucky reasons with himself, it’s probably nothing. Nobody texts him unless it’s a wrong number or a telemarketer. In fact, at this point, he’s not even sure why he has a phone.

 It takes a full hour to put everything back together (the youtube tutorials he watched made it all seem much simpler than it is), this time sans dead rat in the elbow fitting (he’s trying not to think too hard about that), and by that time, he’s nearly forgotten about the text. It’s only when he checks the time that he sees the alert on his phone. With a tap, he opens his messages, and as he reads the name attached to the latest one, he nearly drops the phone. It’s her.

 He hasn’t seen the woman who has visions in nearly a month. Never expected to hear from her again, if he’s being honest. But there it is: a message with her listed as the contact. It’s not very long; only four words, actually. “Hey. Are you busy?”

 He quickly types, “Why?” but realizes just as he’s about to hit “send” that it’s probably not the best response, all things considered (especially since he really, really wants to see her again… despite his better judgment). Alright, he needs to concentrate. Possibly, “That depends. What’ve you got in mind?” No. That’s too suggestive. Too flirty. Although he is flirting… sort of… maybe… he hasn’t figured that out yet. Finally, he decides to go with a simple, “No.” There. No way that can be misconstrued or make her uncomfortable (which is the last thing he wants to do). Unless she takes into account that it took him an hour to reply. Dammit. How do you even go about talking to a pretty girl these days? Is there a YouTube video on that?

 Two minutes tick by. Then five. Then fifteen. He’s almost decided she’s not going to respond when his phone chirps again. “Sorry. Got caught up grading a paper.” This time, he’s fast on the draw. “That’s fine.” But not fast enough, because before he can hit send, another message appears. “This may be weird, but would you want to meet up? It’s okay if not. I just don’t know many people, so…” So…? That’s it? Is he supposed to wait for her to finish the thought or come up with a witty reply? How the hell does he do this?

 Finally he comes up with another simple response. “When?” Great. He’s a monosyllabic wonder. It’s been a long time, and he can’t prove it (you know, because everyone who could bear witness to it is either ancient or dead) but he’s fairly certain he used to be better at this whole “talking” thing.

 Less than thirty seconds pass by before there’s another message. “Now.” Now? Now! Okay, yeah, that’s fine. The shower’s fixed, so maybe he can hose off and change clothes fast enough that it won’t cause much of a delay. But he also hasn’t shaved in… when was the last time he shaved? At least he did laundry two days ago, so he has something clean- another ding. “Or, you know, whenever.” followed by… a yellow smiling face with a bead of sweat. What does that mean? Why is the face yellow? Once again, a ding. “What I meant is, I have this afternoon free. If you do too, that would work fine. No pressure.” No, he’s free pretty much for the foreseeable future. He should probably say something back sooner rather than later.

 “Where?” No, that’s too short. “Where would you like to meet?” There. Better. Maybe. When did people stop talking on phones and only… texting? You used to be able to tell where a person stood because you could hear their voice. Now it’s all guesswork. God, he’s old. Definitely too old to be possibly thinking about her like-

 “Wherever is fine. We could do a coffee shop again, or my apartment. Whatever’s most convenient for you.” Ball’s in his court. Um… he’d really rather not be out in public. For now, he’s safe (at least as far as he can tell), but it’s always a gamble, him betting against himself that his simple disguises will work, he won’t be recognized. That leaves… oh boy.

 “Your place, if that’s alright.” That’s forward. Maybe too forward. She offered, but maybe that was just being polite? More importantly, is this a date? No. Can’t be. Possibly. Oh my god, what’s wrong with him?!

 “Sure.” the words are followed by a string of numbers and a street name. “Just give me half an hour to make the place presentable.” Another yellow, sweaty smile. He really needs to look up what that means.

 “Alright. See you then.” He presses another button and the screen goes black. Thirty minutes. What can he do in thirty minutes? As he catches sight of his reflection in the mirror, he makes a decision. Start with getting the sewage off his face.

___________________________________________________________________________________

 “What the hell is the matter with me?” She mutters it to herself as, for the fourth time in ten minutes, she chances her clothes. “This is NOT a date. Not a date.” Just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl… she shakes her head. She needs to get a grip. Now. Because this is definitely not a date. Barnes might be many things, but at all interested in her THAT way is not one of them. How could he be? She’s… weird. And damaged. Not that he’s all there either, but the possibility of this being anything more than a potential friendship? Uh-uh. No way. She doesn’t need to see the future to know that much.

 A knock on her front door makes her jump, immediately hating herself. Why is she nervous? There’s nothing strange about this. People meet up all the time to talk and eat… in one or the other’s apartment… after finding out they both have special abilities. Okay, all of this is pretty strange, especially since it’s her.

 After taking one last glance in the mirror (and smoothing down her hair that’s sticking straight up, thanks to switching out her shirts so many times), she steps out of her bedroom and makes her way towards the door. Not a date, she mentally repeats to herself. No reason to be nervous. Not a date.Then why the hell is she shaking a little? She needs to get a grip. Now.

 Taking a deep breath, she pulls the door open (as it so happens, just as the man on the other side raises his hand to knock again).

 “Hey. You made it.” That sounded almost normal. Not like she’s quaking in her boots.

 “I did.” He’s smiling, so she must not sound as awkward as she feels.

 “Did you find the place okay?” Wow. She sounds like she’s reading from a script. A really boring script at that.

 “Yeah. There’s this thing called GPS now, and…” He trails off. “You probably already know about that.” Great. Now they’re both fish out of water.

 “I do. Super helpful.” It occurs to her that she’s just leaving him standing in the hallway, so she asks, “Would you like to come in?” Oh my god. Her brain. Where is it?

 “Thanks.” He doesn’t make a move, and that’s when she realizes she’s still blocking the doorway. Dumb-ass. Trying not to seem awkward, she walks backwards, promptly running into her kitchen chair.

 “Ouch.” Bucky winces, and she wishes the floor would open up and swallow her.

 “Graceful as an elephant.” She murmurs it under her breath, but a snicker from the man behind her lets her know it’s been heard. Right. Super hearing.

 “That should turn into a nice, purple bruise by tomorrow.”

 “Oh, yeah?” She calls it over her shoulder. “Do you see the future by any chance?”

 “Nah.” He shakes his head, grinning. He has a nice smile. No, she needs to stop thinking like that. Right now. “I’ve just had a lot of experience running into things.”

 They’ve gone so far into the room that they’ve walked straight past the tiny kitchen into the living room. She wasn’t really intending to jump straight into, “Why don’t we sit on the couch, which happens to barely be big enough for two people”, but there’s no way to work, “Let’s retrace our steps into the kitchen” into conversation smoothly, so she takes a seat, scooting as far to one side as she can.

 “I thought super soldiers were supposed to be agile.” Thank god, he’s sitting too.

 “They are, but for around twenty-eight years before that, I was as clumsy as the next person.” Immediately, he freezes. “Not that you’re clumsy-” So maybe she’s not the only one out of practice in the fine art of making friends.

 “No, you had it right. I am.” He still looks a little unsure so, ignoring the little voice in her head screaming, “Don’t do it! You’re coming on too strong!” she leans towards him. “Actually, that new bruise is the latest of at least five others I currently have, and I can’t remember how I got any of them.” Does that make her sound weird? But no, he seems to be rolling with it.

 “Haven’t you ever heard of looking where you’re going?” She goes out on a limb, assuming he’s joking.

 “I’ve heard of the concept, but I’m usually too busy looking ahead, so-”

 “Fair point.”

 There’s a lull in the conversation. It goes on so long, that she blurts out, “Are you allergic to anything?” just to fill the silence.

 “Huh?” He frowns. “Don’t think so. Why?” There actually is a reason, but now that she thinks about it, how would he be allergic to anything? If her frantic googling is correct, whatever Captain America is hopped up on took care of all physical weaknesses, so it’s unlikely Barnes will suffer anaphilactic shock due to something in her kitchen.

 “I cooked, and…” She trails off. “… never mind.”

 “Oh.” Now she really wishes her “power” had something to do with disappearing. “Thanks, um-” he clears his throat. “-was I supposed to bring anything? I thought about flowers, but-” he scratches the back of his neck, and if she had to guess, she’d say he’s nervous too.

 “No, just yourself.”

 “Great, because that’s all I brought.” Splendid. Neither of them know how to hold a conversation.

 Finally, she decides to just come out and say it:

 “I’m not good at this sort of thing.” He looks mildly confused, so she explains, “Talking to people. That is, unless I’m teaching them.”

 “I don’t think I am either.” She starts to ask, “You don’t think?” but reels it in. Apparently, her face must show what she’s thinking, because he continues. “This is the most of it I’ve done in a long time.”

 It’s completely inappropriate, but she laughs.

 “Same for me. Hiding out to avoid capture doesn’t really leave many opportunities to practice your social skills, does it?”

 He chuckles.

 “Not unless I’m doing it wrong.”

 It may be a mistake, but she decides to make a suggestion.

 “You know, I think I heard from someone that there’s this really great solution when two people are in a room together and are out of practice holding a conversation.”

 “What’s that?” At least he doesn’t seem offended.

 “Watching a movie.”

 “Huh.” He nods. “That was the go-to when the cat’s got your tongue back in my day too.” Good, so it’s not a foreign concept. “I’m afraid I don’t know of any theaters around here though, or even what’s playing.”

 “Not a problem.” As she says it, she powers up her laptop “Any preferences? They’ve got pretty much anything if you know where to look.”

 He thinks for a minute, then asks, “Fantasia? Do you think they have that?” It’s an unexpected request; out of all things, the ex-soldier wants to see a Disney movie.

 “I’m sure they do. Give me a second.”  Luckily, it’s on the first service she tries.

 As the opening credits play, she struggles not to laugh at how wide his eyes go.

 “How did you-”

 “It’s on Netflix.” Nothing. He doesn’t know what that is. “It’s a website. I just typed in what I wanted to find, and there it is.”

 The only sound for a few minutes is the swelling music coming from the speakers, then finally, Bucky murmurs,

 “I don’t think I’ve been using the internet to it’s full potential.”

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

 “Really?” Somehow, over the course of the evening, they’ve stopped sitting stiffly next to each other and watching their words. Now she’s turned towards him, a plate balanced on her knees, both of them completely ignoring the movie playing in the background. “A rat in your pipes? Are you serious?”

 He nods.

 “Afraid so.”

 “How the hell did it even get in there?”

 “Beats me. I didn’t ask it.”

 She’s got a great laugh, Bucky thinks to himself. It’s the kind of laugh that makes you want to give into the giggles too.

 “That’s probably for the best. From the sound of things, it wasn’t in any condition to answer your questions.”

 He’s about to shoot back a reply, but then he remembers.

 “That reminds me-” Careful not to elbow her (this sofa is barely a sofa; he’s not complaining though, because now that the ice has been broken, it’s actually kind of nice being close to another person again), he digs his phone out of his pocket and pulls up her texts from earlier. “-what does this yellow face mean?”

 She frowns and leans towards him (she smells like cinnamon, maybe cloves… it’s not weird that he’s noticed that, right?).

 “Oh.” Again, that laugh, but quieter this time. “It basically means, ‘I’m second guessing what I just said and I hope it didn’t come off the wrong way.’”  That makes sense, given the context, but he still has another question.

 “But why is the face yellow?”

 Her brow furrows slightly as she thinks.

 “You know, I’m really not sure. That’s just how most emojis look.”

 “Emojis?”

 “May I?” She indicates his phone.

 “Sure.”

 With a brief tap to the screen, a full page of yellow faces (amongst other odd symbols) appears.

 “These are emojis. They sort of add interest to a text.”

 “Huh.” Taking back the offered phone, he studies the symbols. “That would’ve been useful to have when we sent telegrams.” As soon as he says it, he realizes how he sounds. “I just dated myself, didn’t I?”

 She smirks.

 “Just a little, but don’t worry. It’s charming.”

 He places a smile on his face and laughs lightly, but on the inside, he’s still trying to figure out whether or not this is a date. Is she, against all odds, actually interested in him, or is she just being kind? Two hours later when the clock strikes nine, he’s still not sure.

 “Well, I hate to kick you out, Bucky, but I have a student coming by tomorrow at seven a.m., so I need to get to bed.” Has he overstayed his welcome? But no, she doesn’t look offended.

 “Sure. No problem.” He stands and, without thinking, offers her his hand to pull her up, which she takes. How long has it been since he’s touched another person, or another person has touched him, like that? A casual gesture that normal people with simple secrets share?

 “Thanks for the meal, by the way.”

 “Oh, no trouble.” She still hasn’t let go. “Did you want to take some leftovers with you?”

 “No, that’s okay.” Yes, he really does want to (its much better than what he usually comes up with on his own) but if he had to venture a guess, she probably doesn’t have the funds to be giving away food willy-nilly.

 “Alright.” She pulls her hand away, and immediately, he feels colder.

 They walk single file towards the door (this apartment is too small for them both to pass through  shoulder-to-shoulder), her right behind him. As he pulls open the door, he tells her,

 “Thanks again for everything.”

 She chuckles.

 “Thank you for the conversation.”

 He’s about to say something more (although he’s not sure what) when she wraps her arms around him in a hug. It takes a second for him to realize what’s happening, but then he returns the embrace.

 It’s over far too quickly, and when she stands back, her cheeks are flushed.

 “Be careful on your way home.”

 “Will do. Have a good night.”

 On the bus ride home, he plays over the events of the evening. He’s still uncertain as to whether or not it was a date. He feels like it was, but it’s been so long… time to consult the internet. As it turns out, there’s quite a few websites that offer opinions on the subject. He finds one that has a quiz attached and, calculating how much time it’ll take him to get home, decides to take it.

 The questions are pretty generic, and he gets through them in under two minutes. Waiting for the result to load, however? He’s back in his apartment before he gets a solid answer on that. There’s a graph showing how they measure each factor, but the final result is stands at, “You’ve been on a date- likelihood, 99%.” Huh. First time in seventy years. Maybe he’ll give the whole “texting” thing another go.

___________________________________________________________________________________

 Morning dawns far too early for her liking, and with it, her memories of last night return. It was going okay. Really it was. Until she hugged him, that is. Oh my god. Why couldn’t she show some common sense for once? Friends don’t hug goodbye, especially not, “I’m just getting to know you” friends. She’s never going to hear from him again because she came on too strong, and now he really doesn’t want to have the, “I’m not attracted to you” conversation.

 As she makes a cup of tea, a scene plays out before her eyes. The phone dings with a text alert under the name “Barnes.” She doesn’t realize it’s a vision until that exact thing happens ten seconds later. “Wow. So helpful. Really.” She mutters to herself. It’s almost as useful as someone yelling “Duck!” just as you get hit in the head.

 She really shouldn’t read the message. She has a job to do, a student to teach, and if she’s distracted during their lesson, she’ll feel terrible. But, another “ding” sounds and curiousity gets the better of her.

 The first text is simple: “Good morning” followed by… she has to choke back a laugh… several various smiley faces. Guess he’s decided to give emojis a go. “Hope your class goes well today.” Shaking her head, she scrolls down to the next message. “Last night was fun. Would you want to do it again sometime?”

 “Well, I’ll be damned.” She whispers as her fingertips make contact with the keyboard. Maybe he didn’t take it as her trying to make something happen between them that never will. Or maybe he’s just been away from normal human interraction for so long, he’s accepting whatever she throws at him simply so he’ll have a friend. Either way, she likes him and would like to know him better, and if that means swallowing down the silly crush that’s starting to develop, she can do that.

 “Good morning. That sounds great.” She types back, then puts her phone on silent. Certain areas of her life may be changing, but for now- a knock sounds on her door- class is in session.

[zims-left-shoe]

My gay little heart thanks you for contributing to the Gaz community with your recent post, haha. May I please request a Gaz x reader where Gaz is gay panicking and the reader is confident and flirtatious? Some spice or implied would be neato but if not that’s totally cool too!

Of course you can!! I absolutely love writing for Gaz x female reader, I had something already planned before I got a couple asks for her. I hope you like it!

I sat at the table, lunch tray filled with barely edible garbage sitting in front of me, untouched. Scanning the room for my idiot brother, my eyes landed on him across the cafeteria, picking a fight with Zim...again. He was a senior in high school and yet he was acting like he was still twelve. Groaning, I pulled out my Game Slave from my bag to play away the rest of lunch. I don't remember how many minutes had passed by after I had booted up the game, but it couldn't have been many.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" It was a girl's voice, one I had never heard before. I looked up, meeting eyes with her. Her h/c hair framed her face, a slight smile tying her features together. Still, I said nothing. I had only sat with Dib at lunch ever since I could remember. Neither of us had many, if any, friends. We were just too weird. "It's just, I'm new here, and you're sitting alone. I thought we could both use a friend." I felt my eye twitch at her words. She really didn't care about the things she said, did she? She had confidence. I gave her that much. 

"Tch." I said nothing, eyes returning to my game, fingers beginning to button mash once more. I expected her to walk away, find someone else to sit with. Probably the popular girls. She was pretty enough. Instead, she did something that surprised me. This girl was always full of surprises, it seemed to be. Setting down her tray, she took a seat right across from me. She took a single bite of the food and learned her lesson immediately. My eyes darting from my screen to this new girl, I watched her gag and push the tray away.

"Wow...that's bad. I mean, really bad." A chuckle spilled from her lips. "Note to self: bring your own lunch. No wonder no one else is eating." I let out a huff, hoping she would just go away. She was annoying, but annoying in a different way than my brother or Zim. She was just too...nice to me. We both sat in silence, the only sound coming from my Game Slave and the dull hum of the cafeteria. Finally, she spoke again. She just wouldn't quit, would she? "You got a name?" Clearly, she was talking to me. 

"Gaz." I muttered, not looking up from my game. Sure, it was rude, but I didn't care. Despite my sour attitude, she perked right up, as if she was the happiest person alive to get my name.

"I'm Y/n."

. . .

"Hey, Gaz!" I was jolted awake by the slam of my bedroom door as it was thrown open, my stupid brother just barging in. If I was more with it, I would have beat his ass for not knocking, or even coming in at all. He ventured even farther into my room, not stopping until he was at the edge of my bed, where I was currently sitting. "I just came in to ask you if you could tape Mysterious Mysteries for me tonight, I have some serious-" He cut himself off, eyes seeming to catch something. "Oh, what're you drawing?"

"Huh?" My brain was still fuzzy, and before it even registered with me what he was talking about, he snatched a sketchbook from my lap, one that I forgot I had with me. I realized that I had fallen asleep while drawing, and it suddenly hit me what was in that book. Every nerve within my body awake and screaming with anger, I jumped up, trying to take it back. Unfortunately, he had several inches in height on me, and could efficiently hold it out of my grasp. "Give it back!" Despite my efforts, now that we had both grown up a bit, we weren't exactly on level playing fields anymore. He gazed at the page, an eyebrow quirking.

"Is this Y/n?" I felt heat rush to my face, wanting to both kick the shit out of him and disappear right on the spot. "Wow, I didn't know you drew people. You should show her-" In his admiration of my work, he had left himself vulnerable. I kicked him in the shins, hard, ripping the sketchbook from his hands. Once I had it secured, I shoved him out of my room. 

"If I see you in my room again you're a dead man, Dib! Do you hear me?!" I screamed after him as I slammed the door in his face. Chest rising and falling rapidly, I flopped back onto my bed, glancing back to my sketchbook. I couldn't stop the sigh that had escaped.

This sucks... I thought, pulling my sketchbook in close to my chest and screwing my eyes shut. How did she manage to make every day hell for me? She had been that way since day one.

-

Yawning, you twisted the knob to your first period classroom door, opening it and walking in, eyes scanning the room for a certain purple-haired goth. You felt every part of you that had been previously exhausted fill with energy as you strode over to your table that you shared with her. Setting your things down, you greeted her with a smile.

"Morning, Gaz!"

"How are you always so damn cheery?" She groaned, fixing you with a glare. She was not a morning person. She was never pleasant with you until around lunch. And even then, she was still an asshole to everyone else. 

"Because I get to see your gorgeous face every morning." You watched as her cheeks became dusted in a light pink. She continued to stare stupidly at you for a few seconds before her usual demeanor set back in.

"Whatever."

“Anyway. Maybe we could hang out after school today? I feel like I haven't gotten to see you in forever." 

"You see me every day at school." She wasn't saying no. And after being her friend for months now, you knew her well enough to know that she wanted to. You just had to let the usual song and dance play out first. 

"You know what I mean...please?~" You asked, despite knowing her answer always had been yes. You flashed her the doe eyes, laying your head on her shoulder and wrapping your arms around her. 

"Okay! Yes! Just get off!" She pushed you out of her personal space, hard but not aggressive. You knew she actually enjoyed your behavior, or else you wouldn't do it. She liked to present herself as a tough lone wolf who can and will beat you into the ground, but you knew her to be a secret softie. She often showed a different side when it was just the two of you, although she would always bring her bitchiness back at school. 

"Great!" Huffing, she pulled out her notebook, still pretending to be irritated with you. She thought her charade was convincing, but you could read her better than she would ever know. All it took was one look at the pink that stained her cheeks, the way she froze at your slightest touch or even the most subtle flirtatious phrase. You knew much more than you would let on. You wanted to hear it come from her, when she was ready. However, that didn't mean you wouldn't nudge her a bit. Sometimes, some people just need a good shove.

"You can come over to my place. My brother is going to be out hunting aliens or some shit, and my dad is working like always." Her tone was no longer sharp, in fact she seemed rather passive. 

"Sure, that's fine by me!" You had never been to her place when it was empty. Usually Dib was around, or her father, or on the rare occasion, both. You felt butterflies fill your stomach, not from nerves, rather unadulterated excitement. Maybe this was it. Maybe she would let you in on what was supposed to be kept so secret. Would she finally show her hand? You hoped so. She always played everything so close to the vest. Although you were able to see what she held, you would never let her onto that. You had your own poker face. 

-

The air was warm, gradually edging closer to unpleasantly so. It was the type of weather that meant summer was closing in, as if you couldn't already tell by that anxious buzz that was ever present in your classes and in the hallways, especially from the seniors. The absence of any breeze didn't help things, and you knew you would be sweating within a few minutes. Luckily, you knew the Membrane house to be not too much farther. Your backpack seemed to weigh more the longer you walked, so you decided to distract yourself. 

"So, you excited to get the house to yourself when Dib graduates in a few weeks?" You asked, your question the Trojan horse for your actions. You brought your hand closer to hers, brushing your fingers against her own casually, something that could be disguised as accidental. Or, it would be, if you didn't proceed to do it again...and again...and again. She didn't address it, but you could tell by the way her gaze shifted that she was not ignorant to it. 

"I wish. He's not going to college, at least right now. Taking a gap year, or something. He still wants to be a paranormal investigator, but dad wants him to get a degree in science. This gap year was their compromise." She fished her hand into her pocket, the clinking of metal reaching your ears as she searched for her keys. 

"Each is hoping the other gives in over the next year, huh?"

"Exactly. But it ain't gonna happen. Both of them are too stubborn for that." More jingling noises sounded as Gaz put the keys into the door, twisting until the click of the lock was heard. She let you in first, calling over her shoulder to you as she closed the door after you. "We can just go to my room. Not much to do out here." You had been to her house enough times to know where it was without guidance, and even if you hadn't you were fairly sure you could find it first time without help. The door was decorated with a menacing 'Keep Out' sign, and many skulls, horror dolls, and band logos were painted onto the wood, most likely by Gaz herself. The inside, usually kept dark, was bright for once. It was a rare occasion where the shades were drawn, and light could be let in. The walls were still painted a deep, almost black red, but the sunlight really did make everything brighter. Band posters covered the walls hiding most of that previously mentioned paint. The sheets on her bed were black, she covered her carpet in a black fluffy rug, her desk was black, virtually everything was black besides the various disturbing stuffed animals and dolls that were strewn around her room. There were many who would feel uncomfortable in a room like hers, but you had adjusted and learned to love it, just as you had learned to love her. 

"So, what do you want to do?" You turned to her, already feeling her lighten up now that you were both alone. 

"I have an extra Game Slave. Think you can beat me in Bloaty Kart?" She smirked, pulling out her handheld consoles from her bag and a drawer in her desk, tossing one to you. 

"Of course." You both knew you couldn't, but regardless, you would put up a fight. Hopping up on her bed, you booted up your games, ready to watch Gaz wipe the floor with you. Intensely staring at the screen, you held down the buttons you were supposed to, furiously dancing your thumb on the D pad. "Oh, come on! Not fair!" You cried as Gaz hit you with a flying pizza, preventing you from even getting close to her. "Why are you able to hit people behind you? That should be illegal." You pushed your bottom lip out, scooting closer to Gaz until your shoulders were touching. You leaned into her heavily, trying to shove her a bit to throw her off her rhythm. It didn't work, but it was worth a shot.

"You're not even trying!" Gaz's words were broken by pearls of laughter, a beautiful sound in your opinion. Things were ramping up in game as the final lap commenced. You had finally managed to catch up to Gaz, and the two of you were close to neck and neck as you both closed in on the finish line. Despite being close, you knew you couldn't beat her without illegal tactics. 

"Oh, I'm not trying? Fine!" Just as the finish line was only a few kart lengths away, you turned your head towards Gaz, leaning in to plant a big kiss on her cheek. She seemed so stunned by your action that she dropped her Game Slave, her character stopping just before the line, letting you win. "Sorry, cutie. All's fair in love and war." You watched Gaz' expression morph from stunned to panicked. Her normally squinty eyes widened to the size of saucers, her jaw set, fingers curled in tight to her palms. You could see her nails digging in harshly, sure to leave deep crescents when released. Her appearance resembled a frightened animal, and she soon lashed out like one, too. She put her hand on your shoulder, shoving you away from her harshly. You almost tumbled off of her bed. This was the most aggressive you had seen her act towards you in your entire friendship, and although all you wanted was for things to work out, you wondered if you had overstepped boundaries. That maybe there was a line that shouldn't have been crossed. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Her voice was raised and shrill, yet she still refused to look at you. 

"Gaz, I-" You attempted to apologize, beginning to doubt your impressions of her. Maybe you had everything all wrong. Maybe she didn't like you the way you liked her. If that was the case, she probably didn't want anything more to do with you, since you had been so persistent. That was the last thing you wanted. You were okay if she wanted to stay friends. But you didn't think you could handle losing her entirely.

"God, what's your problem?!" She spat, every word dripping venom. Her eyes were overly shiny, the sign of tears forming. You didn't want to push her. You let her get angry. If she wanted to scream at you, that was fine. You would wait. You sat away from her, keeping your distance, not afraid of her. Just afraid of hurting her. "I just...you're just so...do you even know what you're doing to me?" Her voice had quieted, her shoulders slouched. Those tears that had been threatening to fall finally spilled down her cheeks. She looked utterly helpless as she looked to you for the first time. You felt a pang in your heart for her. You had been there once. You had been where she was, scared out of your mind at your own feelings, those desires you could never escape from. Not wanting to lose those you cared about, terrified to admit everything to yourself. Despite how badly you wanted to reach out and hold her, to tell her everything was okay, you knew you had to wait. She still hadn't said all that she needed to. And so you sat still, not saying a word, hands folded neatly in your lap. Your eyes were trained on your chipping black nail polish, remnants of the last visit to Gaz's room. You couldn't bear to see her cry, but you knew it was necessary. So you kept looking down as you waited. After what felt like ages, she spoke again. "I like you...more than I ever wanted to." Those words were all that you needed to hear. 

"Gaz..." The room still had energy, but it wasn't as suffocating. Everything felt lighter somehow now that all of her cards were on the table. Now, it was time for you to show yours. You crawled back over to her, movements slow, always watching her body language to make sure she wouldn't be uncomfortable. The second things got to be too much, you would put on the brakes. The final few tears slipped down her cheeks. You brought your hands to her face, wiping them away with your thumb. Nothing else needed to be said as you leaned in, gently placing your lips on her own. She seemed so fragile in that moment, you were afraid you would shatter her like glass. You pulled away, searching her face for any sign of discomfort. "I like you too. I thought that was obvious." Joy swelled in your chest as you felt Gaz's demeanor completely shift from underneath you. She no longer seemed petrified, rather, an air of confidence similar to your own radiated from her. Sometimes, you just needed a good breakdown to get back on track. 

"I hoped that was the case." A slight smirk graced her face as she gripped the collar of your shirt in her hand, yanking you into another kiss. This one was much less delicate, her lips moving against yours in an almost hungry manner. Pulling back after a few moments, a shit-eating grin stretched across your lips.

"I see you like the way I taste." You teased, pressing your lips against hers once more. You decided to go a bit further, trusting that she would let you know if she didn't like something. Grabbing her bottom lip in your teeth, you waited until she opened her mouth to question you, taking the opportunity to slip your tongue inside. Despite probably never kissing anyone before in her life, she was keeping up with you as your tongue worked its magic. After exploring her mouth a bit more and seeing what reactions it earned you, you parted, letting her breathe. "You may kick my ass in video games...but just know when it comes to this...you're the one getting schooled." Your words came between large breaths for air. 

"Oh yeah? Who decided that?" Her tone was full of mock defiance. She wanted to be a bit of a brat, but you knew that, deep down, she was just glad that everything was finally out in the open. She placed her hands on your thighs as you straddled her, tracing circles into them. You shook your head, grin still ever present. Bringing your lips to her face, you kissed just off the mark from her own, trailing kisses down her jaw.

"I did." You spoke as you were still peppering her with kisses, feeling her squirm underneath you. You guessed she was ticklish. You resumed pressing kisses to her skin until you had reached her neck. Her hands moved to lose themselves in your hair as you focused on one single spot, giving it an experimental nip to gauge her reaction. Her hands clenched your hair like it was a lifeline, her breaths irregular. One of your hands found the hem of her shirt, toying with it in your fingers as you continued to bite her neck, leaving softer kisses to replace your nips. All the while, the only thing to leave her mouth was your name, albeit very breathily. Pulling away from her neck, your lips crashed into hers once more, overjoyed just to be able to be there in that moment. You moved together, keeping time with one another. Everything in that minute felt like it was supposed to be that way. If asked, you would have both said that your lips were always meant to fit together. For Gaz, the world finally seemed to make sense. She finally understood why no one at school had caught her eye before you, why she was just so not into whoever Dib or her father tried to introduce her to during their brief stint at matchmaking. Everyone always thought Gaz was a cold, heartless psycho who just wanted to be left alone. You could be certain that was completely untrue. 

You felt a hand snake underneath your shirt and up your side, Gaz's fingers dancing along your skin. You couldn't help but shiver, and Gaz smiled against your lips. You vowed that day to do anything for that smile. 

Just as things were perfect, when it seemed that the stars were aligned and that nothing could ruin the moment, the universe just had to prove you wrong. The door to Gaz's room was thrown open, a familiar voice that you dreaded to hear reaching your ears.

"Gaz, you'll never guess what happe-" Dib stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes rested on a sight he never thought he would see. His sister underneath her friend, lips locked and hand up her shirt. His face was the color of his enemy's uniform, all the way to the tips of his ears. "M-My bad, I'll come-come back later." Despite saying he would leave, his feet felt as if they were planted to the floor, unable to stop staring, even after you had pulled away. 

"GET OUT!!" Gaz shrieked at the top of her lungs, reaching out and grabbing hold of one of her stuffed animals, rocketing it towards Dib. That seemed to kick Dib's ass into gear as he zipped out of the room, the stuffed animal colliding with the closed door. Gaz's cheeks were stained in red, and you would admit your own felt quite hot as well. An awkward 'I-can't-believe-that-shit-just-happened' laugh tumbled from your lips as you crawled off of her, sitting down beside her. There was no recovering from that, the vibe had been officially killed. Not just killed. Publicly executed. 

"Wow...how long do you think it'll take for him to look me in the eye again?" More laughter erupted from you, and this time Gaz joined in.

"Probably about six and a half years. And then eight more before he'll finally be able to talk to you." It was a joke, but you figured that, knowing Dib, it probably wasn't too far off the mark. "Jesus, I've told him a thousand times to knock first. Or to just stay out of my room entirely." She crossed her arms, blowing a strand of purple hair out of her eyes.

"Well, on the bright side, he'll probably obey that rule from now on." She nodded silently, a serious air settling around her. 

"One could only hope." She ended her phrase with a sigh, head leaning back to rest against the headboard of her bed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. A quiet moved in right then. You understood why. There was a heavy question that needed to be addressed, although you thought you both already knew the answer. You contemplated on asking it, but figured you'd let Gaz. You were okay with everything, and you wanted her to be the one to bring things to the table. That would be your way of knowing what she was ready for. To your relief, she finally spoke up, her eyes drifting back to yours. "Maybe we could...ugh, you know..." She trailed off, refusing to say the words. You had always been able to tell from day one based on your interactions that she had low EQ, and that she would be a lot tougher and more reserved when it came to admitting feelings. That was fine by you. You were much more open, and were willing to guide her through the process of learning how to open up, at least to you for a start.

"Be girlfriends?" You finished for her, watching as she nodded, relieved she didn't have to be the one to say it. You pretended to contemplate it for a moment, over exaggerating the way you tapped your chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "Hmm, I dunno...that's kinda gay." You couldn't keep your straight face for long as you busted up laughing, clutching your stomach. Your laughs and giggles were smothered when Gaz reached for a pillow, shoving it into your face.

"You're stupid." You threw the pillow down, pulling her into a hug, loving the smile on her face that continued to grow.

"But you love me anyway." You sang into her ear as she stayed put in your arms, her own arms finding their place around you.

"Yeah, whatever." That was the first time you had heard a whatever that she had spoken ever be laced with nothing but love and affection. You were so undeniably happy in that moment that nothing could ruin it for you, or for her. Not even paranoid ghost hunting brothers who barged into rooms without knocking.

[asphodelsandpomegranates]

In Your World (Randall Boggs x Reader)

Tagging @creeperchild​ because I know how much they love Randall. <3. Same AU series as ‘Where Did You Come From?’ and ‘Fear Factor’. 

You landed with a thud onto a hard floor and let out a yell of pain.

“Shit!” you hissed. Your shoulder was throbbing a little from the fall. Sitting up, you rubbed your arm and looked up. In front of you, was the most bizarre image you'd ever seen. You were sitting in a large room like a factory floor of some sort but you were looking into your neighbour's daughter's room. Like some sort of weird portrait.

How was this possible?

Something weird and fluffy fell on your shoulder, making you flinch and recoil. Looking up, you saw a...creature?...and standing over you. He was covered from head to toe in pink fur with two horns growing from his head. He had a long tail that ended with spikes at the end.

He smiled at you. “Hi. Welcome to Monsters Inc.” he said.

You stared at him and then looked round. There were dozens of creatures around you, all shapes and sizes and colours. Some of them were watching you apprehensively whilst others were curious.

Wait...Monsters Inc.? Didn't Randall say he worked there? Um, here?

You wanted to curl in on yourself. Or maybe it was a dream. That's it, it was a dream. You were still in bed with Randall right beside you, both huddled under your thick duvet. Or maybe the floor would swallow you up and—

—that's when you heard it the whispers.

“Is that a human?”

“An adult by the look of it.”

“Do you think we should near it—?”

“Are you crazy? We'll be dead in minutes! Or thoroughly contaminated!”

“Well, Horace touched her and he looks fine.”

“Yeah for now!”

“Maybe adults are different. Kids maybe, but adults—.”

“Don't be an idiot. Sullivan and Wazowski told us humans aren't contagious.”

“Are you all right, miss?”

You looked up at the fluffy monster, you assumed to be Horace. He was still smiling at you.

“Where am I?” you asked.

“Monstropolis. I think you've accidentally entered our world.” His face suddenly changed into one of concern. “You're looking a little peaky. Maybe the shock of ending up somewhere new.” He turned around and looked towards a weird looking creature that that had many eyes.

“Hey, Waxford! Go tell the big bosses. They'll have to know about this.”

Waxford nodded, making all of his eyes bob and scuttled off out of the room. Horace helped you up and guided you over to one of the desks. You sat down, keeping a wary eye between the monsters around you and the door that led back to your world.

Randall, where are you?

“Here ya go, sweets.” said a new voice.

You looked up to find a thin, pink creature with one of eye and snakes for hair. She hovered near you, holding out a mug of what looked to be tea

“Thank you.” you replied, taking the mug of hot tea into your hands.

“Gotta say.” said Horace, standing beside the female monster. “You're the first adult human I've never seen.”

You didn't know how to respond. You weren't too sure how you would. You just sipped on your tea, wincing a little over how sweet it was.

Suddenly, there was a short piercing alarm and the whole factory floor went dark. You watched as inside of your neighbour's child's bedroom disappeared showing the back wall of the room.

You sprang to your feet and hurried to the door. You took hold of the handle, closed the door and opened it.

Nothing. No inside of a bedroom or a closet full of clothes. No way of getting back. Of getting back to Randall.

“Shit!” you snapped, kicking the door grip and immediately regretting it.

“What's going on?” called Horace.

“Power's gone out.” called a voice.

“Damn it.”

“Um, Horace?”

Everyone looked round saw Waxford hurrying back over.

“Sullivan and Wazowski want to see the human in the office.”

“I'll take her.” said the female. “C'mon, sweetie. You'll get to meet the big boys. Gent, leave that door here. And let us know when that light comes back on.”

Looking up at the weird door mechanism where the red light had once been on, you felt your heart break. Randall was bound to notice that you were gone for longer than you'd imagined and would get upset.

Reluctantly, you followed two monsters out of the factory floor as monsters hurried to and fro, trying to fix whatever the situation was.

I'm Celia, by the way.” the female monsters said as you both followed Horace through the halls. “And what's yours?”

“Um, (Y/N).”

“Well, nice to meet you.” smiled Celia. “And don't worry. You're not the only human who had entered our world.”

“Really?” you asked, innocently. You remembered how much Randall had told you about his world and what had happened for him to end up in your world. You didn't want to give yourself away yet. You could not find yourself digging yourself deeper into this rabbit hole.

“Oh, yes. Mind you it was a little different back then. But we've come a long way since then.” 

“In what way?”

“Well, instead of using children's screams for energy, we just use their laughter. My fiancée found that out with his friend when a child came into our world.”

As you walked along the corridors and up the stairs, you saw some of the monsters looking at you and backing away slightly. You guessed some of them were still not used to the fact that humans weren't 'contagious'. You remembered proving Randall wrong when you had dragged him from your balcony to your couch when you first met him.

God, was he okay? Would there be another way of him to get back to you? Or you to him?

You hoped to whoever that the power would come back on and you would get home and back to Randall before it was too late.

                                               ***************

Soon enough, you arrived at the office where Celia was immediately swept up into the arms of a small Cyclops creature with green skin. Behind a desk sat a large furry beast, larger than Horace but this one had blue fur with purple spots.

“Googly bear, um! Mike, Sully, this is (Y/N). From the human world.”

“Hi!” greeted the big blue monster who you guessed to be Sully.

“Hi!”

“Sorry about the power. Fingers thinks it may have been a wire trip of some kind. They'll fix it soon.”

“You.” said the giant eyeball you guessed was Mike. “Look very relaxed for someone who had just seen a bunch of monsters.”

“I've seen bigger and badder believe you me. You'd be surprised.”

“Wow.” Sully breathed.

“Listen, I don't mean to sound rude but how long is this going to take. I need to get back home.”

“I understand, (Y/N). You have someone at home, you care for, don't you?”

You nodded. “I need to get home or he'll worry about me. All I was doing was checking up on my neighbour's apartment, making sure everything was okay for her and her daughter and...I came here. It's all been a misunderstanding and a complete accident.”

“It's all right.” Sully comforted. “It'll be all okay. I know what's it like. We've all been there.”

You gave Sully a sort a reassuring smile.

“Who was your monster?” Mike piped up.

You stared at him, wide eyed. “What?”

“Who was your monster growing up?”

“I...I don't remember. ”you said. Your heart began to slow down from racing so much. You almost thought Mike had figured out somehow about Randall.

Suddenly, there was a flickering of lights and...

“Power's back on.” Horace smiled. “That's good. Quicker than I though.”

“Thank goodness.” you muttered “Well, this was fun. But I need to get home.”

“Right, let's get you down to the Scare Floor.” Sully said, rubbing his paws together. 

“Great.” you said.

Leaving the office, you headed out with Horace beside you and Sully, Mike and Celia behind you.

“Is there any need for the bodyguard sch-tick?”

“We just need to make sure that nothing else goes wrong.” Sully reassured.

You sighed, getting really irritated.

Your thoughts were interrupted as a small monster with large sharp teeth, hurrying over to you.

“Mr. Sullivan! Mr. Sullivan!”

“What is it?”

“We need to call the authorities.” the monsters panted.

“What the heck is going on?”

“It's Randall Boggs. Somehow, he's come back.”

You felt like your stomach had dropped out of you. Like the air had just escaped from your lungs. Your mind just lost itself of all thought and common sense because you blurted out! “Where is he?”

You could feel all eyes on you at this, but you really didn't care.

“Where is he?” you pressed, making the monster quiver.

“By the Scare Floor—.” he started and just as those four words left his mouth, you bolted down the corridors and down the stairs. The others called after you but you couldn't care less about them. You needed to get back to Randall and let him know you were okay.

Jumping the last two steps and dodging the monsters huddling in the hallway, you sprinted down to the Scare Floor.

There!

At the opening, two or three monsters had Randall in some kind of lock and Randall was struggling against them.

“RANDALL!” you screamed as you ran towards him.

The chameleon like monster froze and looked over at you, running.

“(Y/N)!” he sprang out from the hold and slithered over to you. Meeting you in the middle, he scooped you into his arms whilst his others paws softly slipped into your hair.

“Randall, thank fuck.” you gasped. “How did you know I was here?”

“I had a hunch.” he whispered. “Shit, (Y/N), you had me worried.”

“Sorry, baby.” you rumbled. “I didn't think I'd end  up here.”

“Are you all right?” he asked, drawing back a little to look you in the eyes.

“A little shaken. But I'm better for seeing you. Now, we can go home.”

His eyes flickered away from you to what was behind you. “I doubt that for a little while.”

Furrowing your brow in confusion, you looked round to see a whole throng of monsters surrounding you and Randall. Sully and Mike moved to the front, both of them did not look pleased to see their ex-colleague.

You stepped in front of Randall, looking defiantly at them.

“(Y/N), step away from him.” Sully warned. “He's a criminal.”

“No. Not in my world, he isn't.” you spat. “So, we can go. You promised me that.” 

“And you didn't tell us that you were harbouring a criminal.”

“Let us go home, now.”

“Call the authorities, Celia—.”

“No.” barked Sully.” Don't.”

“Sully, what are you—?”

“We did promised to bring you back home to the one you care for. And since Randall is the one you 'care' for. So, go home and live your life happily with him.”  

“I will.” you said, taking hold of Randall's scaly paw. You pulled your lizard boyfriend over to the factory floor where the right door was still waiting, the red light blaring.

Without a glance back to your monsters audience, you re-entered the human world.

                                                      *************

A week later...

You were lying in bed snuggling under the thin blankets when you heard a knock on your door.

“Mmm.” you grunted, stirring a little from your sleep. The knock came again. Becoming more awake, you sat up in bed and noticed Randall standing at your closet door, he was holding something and looking bewildered.

“Randall? What's wrong?”

He turned to look at you. In one of his palms, he held a letter.

“What's going on, hun?”

Randall still didn't reply. He looked terrified. His gaze fell on the letter in his hand. 

“Randall, you're scaring me. What's going on?”

Still Randall didn't reply. Instead, he opened the envelope and took out the letter inside. His large green eyes scanned the letter, the look of terror and changing into one of surprise and then relief.

“Randall?”

The lizard like creature moved over to the bed and settled down in front of you. He handed you the letter.

Taking it, you cast your gaze on the words before you.

                                      Monstropolis Supreme Court

                                 Subject of Letter: A Case of Pardon.

You looked up at Randall who was still in a case of shock.

After reading the letter, you looked back at him, a smile creeping up on your face. 

And you jumped on him! Squealing in happiness!

“Oh, Randall.” you cooed. “I'm so happy for you.”

“Yeah. I can't believe it.” he said, snuggling into you.

“Hey...ya hear that?”

He smiled up at you. “Sure do.”

…

...

“The winds of change.” 

[pink-imagines]

angel on earth

part 10: ENDING

request: Bakugou holds auditions for a new lead singer for the BakuBand and the reader auditions and he’s mesmerised by her voice? Idk, I’m awful at requesting, sorry. ❤️ Love everything you do, don’t stress, and have a good day!

a/n: this is the last part! thank you so much for the support on this series! This is just a fluffy memory recap!

warnings: fluff

masterlist

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9

“Hey.”, you turned to him, “I just want you to know, this is only going to work if we want each other and not need each other.”

“Lucky for you, I really want you.”, he grabbed your hips and pulled you in closer.

“Then let’s make it official.”, you wrapped your arms around his neck as he bent down to kiss you.

That was a few years ago, but you still thought of it to this day. All those hard years with your ex before finally meeting the love of your life. The media went crazy when they found out, some were good and some were bad. Some thought it was a PR stunt and said it would only last a few months, but four years later and here you were... laying beside him in bed.

He was fast asleep, which he deserved for his day off. Your fifth tour had just ended and now you finally got to go home. Touring was great, you got to meet the fans and you got to do your favorite thing in the world, singing. But rest was always important, and what better way to do it than to rest with Katsuki.

Your fingers softly trailed down Katsuki’s neck, where a few lovebites had made their way from last night. You gently placed a kiss on each of them but Katsuki started waking up so you stopped.

“No... don’t stop.”, he muttered with a raspy voice and securely wrapped his arms around your waist. You smiled and trailed down kisses from his neck down to his chest, following the purple marks and letting your fingers draw circles over his skin. 

“You’re lucky we’re not going anywhere today.”, you chuckled before pressing a kiss to his lips, “Otherwise, I’d have to cover you up with concealer.”

“That’d be too bad.”, he mumbled, “I like ‘em.”

“I can tell.”, you grinned and motioned to the marks on your neck and chest, “Would you be a sweetheart and help me to the bathroom?”

“What? Are you sore or something?”, he gave you a cocky grin.

“You can bet your ass I am. Now, help me to the bathroom.”, you laughed.

“Alright, alright. Just let me get up.”, he said and turned over, getting out of bed, “Do you want a bath then, princess?”

“Only if you join me.”, you grinned and sat up.

“Don’t mind if I do.”, he chuckled and lifted you up as if you were as light as a feather. Katsuki carried you into the bathroom and sat you down on the toilet as he drew a bath. You watched his back muscles move with mezmeration in your eyes.

“You’re staring.”, he said, bringing a memory back to you.

“You’re staring.”, Katsuki said with a low raspy morning voice.

“It’s not a crime to stare.”, you giggled. He opened one eye to look at you and you smiled brightly back at him.

“Goodmorning.”, you said. Katsuki muttered out something that was supposed to be a “goodmorning”.

“I think we’re getting breakfast up here soon… I should probably call and tell them to bring for two people.”, you turned around to reach for the phone. Katsuki wrapped his arms around your waist and burried his face into your back.

“As long as you stay in bed.”, his voice was muffled as he pressed a kiss on your spine. You chuckled and grabbed the hotel phone.

“It’s not a crime.”, you grinned, “Besides, I like what I see.”

“Of course you do.”, he grinned and flexed slightly, making you chuckle. He helped you into the bath before getting in behind you. He wrapped his arms around you and snuggled his face into the crook of your neck.

“Thanks for this.”, you mumbled and leaned into his chest.

“I’m the reason you’re sore, it’s the least I can do.”, he kissed your cheek.

Once the two of you got out of the bath you changed into one of Katsuki’s t-shirts and walked to the kitchen. A part of you missed his old apartment...

Katsuki’s apartment was really nice, but not that big. You forgot that even though Crimson Crypt was pretty famous, that didn’t mean he made a lot of money. Even so, this apartment definietly wasn’t cheap and neither was the furniture. You could tell by the big, brown, leather, couch in the livingroom.

“Wow, this is so nice… I love you’re decorating!”, you smiled and looked around the room.

“Mina helped me with a lot, I just told her what I liked.”, he shrugged.

“I didn’t take you for a plant person.”, you glanced on every plant in the room around you. There had to be at least seventeen.

“Their easy to manage, so there’s no real work really.”, he chuckled and walked into his bedroom. The walls were covered with bookshelves, filled with books and a few plants. His bed was big and seemed very soft and had very clean white sheets.

The plants were still there, so was the couch and the hammock. The apartment itself was just bigger and in a different area of Tokyo. But it was still different.

Katsuki was in the kitchen making breakfast, you had offered to help but he wouldn’t let you. He was the master chef in the house, after all. Still, the least you could do was to put the cutlery on the table, which is what you were doing at this moment. The knock on the door interupted you.

“I’ll get it!”, you said to Katsuki before opening the door. Once you opened the door you saw Eijiro.

“Yo!”, he grinned.

“Hey... uh... what are you doing here?”, you chuckled.

“You invited us over for breakfast last night!”, he smiled goofily, like he usually did.

“Eiji, I was drunk!”, exclaimed.

“Oh...”, he scratched the back of his head, “Well... the other’s are already on their way so...”

“Of course...”, you groaned, “You know what? Come in, I’m just gonna put on pants.”

You could hear Eijiro scaring the shit out of Katsuki in the kitchen. You mentally slapped yourself for drinking too much last night, but at least you didn’t get a hangover. You walked back into the bedroom. It was the same bed, still. 

The next morning you woke up to the sun beaming in through the window… but you didn’t have a window facing the sunrise. You looked down and saw clean white sheets… this is Katsuki’s bed. When you looked at what you were wearing you didn’t recognize it. This is Katsuki’s shirt!

And so memories of last night started flowing back, only to be stopped by a knock at the door. He didn’t wait for a response, he just walked in.

“Goodmor-”

“DID YOU SEE ME NAKED LAST NIGHT!?”, you squeaked and pulled the covers over your chest.

“WHAT!? NO!”, he shrieked, “I gave you my shirt so that you could change! Unless you wanted to sleep in a hoodie and sweatpants!” You looked around and saw the hoodie and sweatpnast neatly folded, like you usually did with your clothes.

You laughed a bit at the memory, if only you’d known how this would’ve ended up. 

“Hey! Why did you invite these idiots!?”, Katsuki ran into the bedroom as you were pulling on your sweatpants.

“I was drunk!”, you explained once again, not turning to see him. Katsuki wrapped his arms around from behind and rested his head on your shoulder.

“I thought this was our day off.”, he pouted.

“Oh, don’t be a baby.”, you giggled.

“Well then...”, he kissed you right where the biggest hickey held place, “... guess you’re gonna have to get that concealer.” He smacked your ass before running away from you.

“Hey!”, you exclaimed.

Once everybody had gotten there the breakfast was ready.

“Woah, you two had a fun night last night.”, Kaminari laughed as he walked in.

“Leave them alone!”, Mina slapped his arm lightly. Mina was very protective over you, she was like a big sister. When you first started dating Katsuki you still lived with her and she’d make sure that you were okay after every date. If you didn’t call or text her, she’d probably call the police. Luckily the protectivness isn’t that strong anymore, but it’s still there... it all started the day you finally said no.

“Y/N!”, Mina smiled, “I was just about to-”

“Mina!”, you sobbed and ran into the pink haired girl’s arms. You could feel her wanting to rage but she kept it inside for you. Usually she had a tendency to have a burst of emotion but when she saw you so distressed she realized that it wasn’t the right time.

“You wanna leave?”, she asked softly and you nodded, “Let’s leave.”

It hurt in the moment but now in the long run, you were so happy you managed to do it.

“Thanks for making breakfast, baby.”, you kissed Katsuki’s cheek before sitting down at the table with everyone else.

“Can I get a kiss on the cheek too?”, Hanta grinned.

“Oi, fuck off!”, Katsuki exclaimed. The rest of the table laughed and you patted on the place beside you for Katsuki to sit down. It was nice to have them here, the feeling of love and safety embraced you like a warm blanket.

When breakfast was over Katsuki basically forced them out. All the way out Hanta and Kaminari teased him and Eijiro was waving goodbye to you. Mina wouldn’t go unless she got a goodbye hug from you and you gladly gave her one.

“Call me soon, Y/N!”, she said happily and walked out of the apartment.

“I will!”, you smiled and closed the door behind her.

“Finally I can have you to myself...”, Katsuki sighed and embraced you once again.

“But the dishes-”

“Fuck the dishes.”, he chuckled.

“Do you want to lay in the hammock all day?”, you suggested.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”, he smiled.

So there you were, laying on his chest with a book in your hands. This was a usual, you reading out loud while Katsuki played with your hair and listened. Right now you were in the middle of the book “The picture of Dorian Gray”, since you had suggested it.

“Your voice sounds very nice...”, he said, like he always did.

“You say that a lot.”, you giggled.

“... but it sounded even better when you were screaming my name last night.”, he grinned and kissed your shoulder.

“Katsuki!”, you gasped and hit his arm lightly.

“Kind of like that, yeah.”, he chuckled.

“You little-”

“I’m kidding!”, he laughed, “But you should’ve seen how red your face just got!” You burried your face in his chest, in attempt to hide your blushing cheeks from him.

“You’re mean.”, your voice was muffled from his shirt.

“I’m sorry, babe... you’re so easily flustered, it’d be a crime if I didn’t tease you from time to time.”, he kissed the top of your head, “You wanna take a nap?” You nodded in response.

“Alright...”, Katsuki took the book and put it down on the table, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”, you looked up at him with a smile, “But you’re still mean.”

“Fine, then I’ll be your mean boyfriend.”, he smiled.

“My cute mean boyfriend.”, you corrected him and he let out a chuckle. Your fingers tangled themselves in his hair as you lightly scratched massaged his head. He melted under your touch as he closed his eyes and let out a delighted sigh.

“I really love you though, angel.”, he smiled.

“And I really love you too.”, you kissed him softly. You laid your head down on his chest again and relaxed. This is what happiness felt like, this is what love felt like. This is what it felt like to feel wanted.

When Katsuki thought you were asleep he started softly humming a tune all too familiar. It felt like you were melting when he started scratching your back.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you...”, he muttered, “I just gotta find the right time to pop the question...”

You decided to not ruin his moment by waking up, but your heart couldn’t stop beating faster and faster.

“Y/N? Are you awake?”, he asked softly. You looked up at him like a dog who had done something bad.

“Sorry... I heard you.”, you mumbled as you sat up, your legs on either side of him.

“Why are you apologiezing?”, he chuckled.

“I ruined the surprise.”, you frowned.

“Sweetheart...”, he brought his hand up to your cheek, “You just made it easier for me.” He took out a red velvet box from the pocket of his pants.

“Eijiro delivered it to me this morning. It would be too obvious if paparazzi caught me in a ring shop...”, he smiled and opened the box, “What do you say? Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” This was so like him. Blunt and confident... but kind and loving. You looked at the ring, then back at him and then back at the ring. Was this even real?

“Pinch me.”, you whispered.

“You’re not dreaming, angel.”, Katsuki said after lightly pinching your arm. Nothing could be more magical about this moment. The snow was falling outside, the apartment smelled of oranges and cinnamon from the candle you had just lit and Katsuki was laying under you with a warm smile and a ring in his hand.

“Do you want to marry me?”, he asked.

“Yes!”

[theshy1sout]

Inseparable - Chapter 6

So, I don't describe their outfits and looks on purpose. I just don't want to focus on those, they are not an important part of the story, besides the Staff and Branch's grey capote. But I want to draw something and maybe one day I will xD Enjoy new chapter

Tags: Not rated, Broppy, Slow Burn Fluff, Trolls Mythology AU

Ao3 here

Summary: - It's ours - She smiles at him. - But it's nice of you that you asked. I'm sure it will be in the right hands.

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Poppy has to say, even doing it a thousand times, she never is less amazed by The Light slowly beaming from the Gold Sphere and filling the sky with warm, pleasant colors she made for it - red, orange, pink, purple, yellow... The goddess of the Day is really proud of sunrise.

Birds start singing lovely serenades for her taking care of Earth. She begins calmly opening cups of flowers on the fields, and the soft sound of the god's in the dark hoodie steps follow her in polite Silence.

- So... What is your plan? - Poppy asks, doesn't stop her duty.

- I will be trying whatever I can - Branch announces.

Pink eyes turn to the black space in the hoodie and spark with amusement.

- You have no plan!

- You don't understand - The god says. - My plan is to improvise.

Poppy giggles and smiles at him. But she can't see his face under the darkness of his hoodie. She knows he doesn't like the light, but... She wishes to see his smile. He can do it in such a subtle, calming way.

- I will follow you thinking and trying things - He adds. - Just ignore me.

- Okie - Poppy shrugs her shoulders airily. - I will pretend that I won't see a wraith in the big dark capote with a hoodie drifting after me across the world.

A loud sound of Branch's chuckle makes her satisfied and proud of her joke. She can't stop herself but smirks dorkly while turning back to the flower she was opening.

The goddess of the Day is always happy doing her job. But turning back from time to time and seeing the dark silhouette who's watching critters, plants, and trolls living their lives below the light of the Staff, is a bit nicer than walking alone through the Earth. Poppy likes to stop and watch at Branch, as he stands a few steps behind her staring at the tree like on something really interesting or just walks carefully through some trolls' village, trying to not step on anybody. He is so gentle when he touches oak leaves or puts a hand on the rough bark. He acts like he sees a living world for the very first time.

Poppy is going to give wheat a bit of gold color and let them fully ripen when she hears a familiar voice.

- Yall, Poppy! - Holly yells at her and waves a hand at the other side of the field. Then she starts galloping to come up to her.

- Holy! - Poppy beams with joy seeing her friend. - I haven't seen you for a while! Where have you been?

- Doing my stuff, yall! - The goddess of Hospitality smiles widely. - I have my hands full a week before the Fest! I want to be sure that every troll will be prepared for that Day!

- Oh girl, I can't wait for the Fest!

- So can't I! I was waiting the whole year... Have you prepared something special?

Poppy smirks.

- I'll blow everyone's minds.

- But you know you can present only one thing?

Holly giggles at Poppy's surprised face.

- I didn't know!

- Don't worry, yall! You have the whole week to choose one thing.

- You're right, but... It still sounds hard for me... How do I suppose to choose only one!

- Sh! - Holy interrupts her sharply with upset on her face. The pink goddess freezes. They stand like that for a while.

- What's wrong? - Poppy whispers.

- Behind you.

- What is it?

Holy stares at something behind Poppy's back for a long, frightening moment, until she says with the very serious tone:

- It's Branch.

Poppy breathes a sigh of relief and then giggles.

- You're afraid of Branch?

Holy looks at her like at the idiot.

- And you're not?

- Of course, I'm not! - She puts her hands on her lips. - He's my friend!

Now it's Holly who collapses a giggle.

- You're kidding!

- No, I don't! - She throws, a bit exclaimed. - He's a really nice guy! You even... You know what? I show you!

Poppy grabs Holly's wrist and leads her to the dark grey capote. Holly walks with her willingly, but with a very visible upset on her face.

- Poppy, I'm not sure if that...

- Branch! - The pink goddess screams to make the black hoodie hole turn to them. He stands under the big oak and waits patiently for Poppy to come.

- Branch, meet Holly - She points at the orange skin goddess who can't hide her awkwardness right now. - She's...

- The goddess of Hospitality - Branch interrupts her with his calm voice. He nods to Holly politely. He adds: - Poppy, I know every Immortal.

- But not personally! - She beams. She ignores his heavy sigh and turns at Holy. - Holly, this is Branch!

Holly forces herself to grin, but the black shadow from the hoodie makes her uncomfortable the whole time.

- Nice to meet you! - She throws.

- It doesn't look like a nice experience for you.

- Branch!

- I'm just saying - He turns to Poppy. - You put her in a really uncomfortable situation.

- I just wanted to show that you aren't scary!

- But Poppy, I am scary.

The loud, sudden giggle interrupts them. They both look at the orange skin goddess feeling pretty confused.

- Yall, I'm sorry - Holly giggles. - But you said it in a really calm way. - She puts her hand on her hips and smiles, this time it doesn't look forced. - You are not scary! Yall, I don't know why I thought you would bite me or something.

- Maybe because I can. - Branch says blankly.

Girls look at him with surprise.

- No no no! - He shows hands in the peace offering. - It was a joke, I swear I'm not a dog!

Goddess laugh.

- Yall! So whatcha doin' here at the Day? - Holly asks, now fully confident.

- He helps me! - Poppy beams. - It's a big plan!

- What's the plan?

- I was up to make it - Branch murmurs.

- Okay, so maybe I shouldn't bother you - Holly chuckles. - I also have a lot of stuff to do before the Fest. Good luck with your plan!

- See you at the Fest, Holy! - Poppy waves after her galloping away.

- I told you I don't like talking with others - Branch points out with such a cold tone. She looks at him with surprise.

- But she got to you.

But he just groans out and turns back to the oak. He starts doing something near its roots, getting down on one knee. His upsetting is visible for Poppy, but she isn't sure what to do with it. She steps to him and sits down nearby. She leans the Staff against her shoulder like he does when he sits with it.

- You're angry? - She asks shyly.

He ignores her for a while and when she starts thinking he would never answer, he sighs.

- It was awkward and unnecessary.

The goddess says nothing. She just doesn't know what. It's understandable for her that it's weird to talk to others when almost everybody finds him weird or scary. But she has no solution or advice for that. She wanted good for him and she doesn't think she did the wrong thing this time. It was just a little try to socialize Branch and it went kinda awkward, but it was okay.

She sits for a while like thinking and enjoying the moment. It is a nice, warm summer Day. Trollazart makes today a pleasant breeze. Above them birds are jumping from twig to twig, playing and singing softly. Branch stops doing his thing and sits next to her. After a while, he sighs again.

- And my joke was so stupid...

Poppy laughs softly.

- You really scared us then!

- I know...

She collapses a giggle once again. She wishes she can see if he's amused too.

- About the Midday... I think I have an idea...

- Wow, you have?! - Poppy beams at him with the whole sunshine energy she has.

- I guess... - His voice sounds unsure. - I think I could make shadows like in my hoodie to make colder places to rest for creatures.

- You could? - The pink goddess is all curiosity. - How?

He hesitates for a while.

- Stealing the Light.

She opens her eyes with shock.

- Like this.

Branch takes a single leaf from his capote and lifts it to let Poppy see. He grabs the leaf with his other hand and moves through it like he strips something off it. And then he gets the leaf down, stopping a few inches above the ground. Poppy opens her mouth with disbelief. Under the leaf, there is no light. Just a round, grey spot in the shape of the leaf. And then Branch shows her his other hand. He holds between two fingers a little tiny ball of the Light, shining bright and vivid. And... Blue? She isn't sure, but it looks like the tiny ball shines blue, or Branch's fingers are blue. But both the things sound weird. Light is while. The god of the Night is grey. She looks at his fingers overanalyzing the blue color on them.

- So that's how the Night works? - She asks, trying to ignore the blue color. - You steal the Light?

- No - Branch starts playing with a tiny ball, rolling it between his fingers. - I know as much about the Staff and the Sphere as you. I just grab it

- So... - Poppy tries to process the information she gets. - If you take the Light from the plants, you never put it back?

- It wouldn't have any sense if I put it back - He points out. - Cause I'm supposed to make places for rest, right? I'll do it once or forever, but the process is reversible. Besides that, I will take the Light only from one side of things. See?

Branch starts moving the oak leaf in different directions and the shadow is always on the other side. Under the leaf. He gives the leaf to Poppy and she plays with it. Indeed, it works as he said. She is curious and amazed.

- What will you do with the Light if you're not going to put it back?

- Umm... - He hesitates a bit. Then he clears his throat. - Can I keep it?

The goddess of the Day looks at the god of the Night. As the guard of the Light, she is responsible for It. Should she keep It always in the Gold Sphere? Or maybe she shares this responsibility with Branch? Are there any rules of sharing the Light with other Immortals? Why doesn't anybody tell her? She isn't sure, but... She guesses, the Light is as much her as Branch's. And even if not, she trusts him.

- It's ours - She smiles at him. - But it's nice of you that you asked. I'm sure it will be in the right hands.

Poppy can't see it, but she feels it, she feels that he is staring at her. She bites her tongue to not ask what he wants to keep it for. He won't answer and she wants to show him her trust.

- Thanks - The god says so softly, with all the gratefulness he has, and it makes Poppy smile so dorkly. He stands up like he's ready for the hardest work of his life, and he views the horizon full of glory, sunny Light, the Light so vivid that makes everything vibrate from a plethora of life energy. His Silence speaks from him. He is overthinking.

- You start?

- I don't know where I should start first - He admits.

- Well, maybe from this oak - She puts her hand on the bark. But he is still standing and thinking, even if now he's staring at the tree instead of the horizon.

- Ok, what's wrong. - She asks in an order to explain.

Inhale. Really long, really deep inhale.

- Can you leave me alone with that? - He asks oddly shyly.

- Why? I want to see like you steal the Light.

- It's kinda uncomfortable when you stare at me working.

- When we walk during the Night you never mind when I follow you...

- But it's a Day and I haven't got a sack!

Poppy frowns.

- You know what? - Branch throws a sudden strong tone. - Never mind! That was a weird thought... I mean! Do what you do! Whatever. It's fine.

And then sharp and nervous he takes his hoodie off, and quickly like something is chasing him he unclips the silver buckle in the shape of the sickle, getting off his big grey capote, and the first time she sees him in all of his deictic glory, in the Light of the Day.

When Branch is folding his capote, turning it into a big sack to collect the stolen Light, he tries nervously avoiding her sight, cause she is staring at him with her eyes fully opened and her mouth frozen in awe. Her mind just can't process what she sees.

Branch.

Is.

Blue.

He is blue. He is all blue! The bright, soft azure, the calm shade of the ocean, the joyful light color of the bluebird. And his vivid sapphire eyes looking shyly away from her, and his deep cobalt hair shining with a hidden navy tone. He wears a simple leather shirt and very simple black pants, which highlights his strong, supple silhouette. All those things weren't visible either during the Night and neither during the Day, when he never walked without his hoodie on his head. And Poppy can't understand why he was hiding it this whole time. She knows it makes him uncomfortable, but she just can't stop staring at him. She can't stop adoring him.

Meanwhile, Branch, trying to ignore her existence, grabs all the Light around the oak and puts It into the provisionally made with his capote sack. Now under the tree is a pleasantly cold shadow, birds start singing cheerfully to celebrate refreshment. Their happy twitters fill Branch with pride and the smile light shows on his face. He turns to Poppy with it, and even if he drops it really quickly, the goddess sees it and feels her heart beats faster for no reason and feels her chicks get warmer and turn red, and feels her lips forming into a soft little smile she's never done, and this whole her body overreaction makes her sudden turn all shy and looks away, fluttering her eyelashes.

Branch clears his throat.

- What do you think? - He points at the oak, trying to pretend that everything else is normal as usual.

She looks up at him, cause she is still sitting, and then she looks around the tree. The nice breeze flows through her hair and makes leaves rustle. It is quieter here now, darker and calmer. It is like a really pleasant place to hide from the hard parts of life.

- It's perfect  - Poppy says much calmer and softer than usual, and she has no clue why. She just said it like that. Accidentally.

- It looks like you added a bit of the Night into the Day - She continues with a much normal voice.

Branch chuckles slightly and the light smile stays on his face. It is so nice to see him like that. With full of body language, poise, and gestures, with his bright blue face filled with nighly smile, with his vivid sapphire eyes looking dreamily at the world he takes care of.

He looks so genuine and alive.

- Are you coming with me?

His voice wakes her up from the thoughts. He feels much more comfortable and confident. Maybe a bit of working calmed him down, or maybe he saw that she liked him with his blue shades. Cause she likes him like that. She wishes he would never wear the capote and hoodie again.

Poppy jumps up from the ground and beams at him sunshiny.

- Of course, I'm coming!

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Index