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#I wish I could add more tags but… heh
alasylunatic · 1 year
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@nekojaf
I don’t know what I did. It was supposed to be something completely else.
Ft. Girl Lunar and My oc, Mystic
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petermorwood · 6 months
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Mr. Morwood, I have enjoyed your blog for quite a while and I have a question.
I have been writing since I was a kid and it's always been the only part of my life that I never stress over. Maybe the story is good; maybe it's not-- the important thing is that I had fun writing it. Even writer's block was rarely a problem. I could either take a break and wait it out or just Write Something Anything, and the words would start to flow like always.
For almost the past year, the words won't come. I can come up with ideas, sure, but when I sit down at the keyboard the sentences are clunky and my brain feels like a cat being given a pill. That's the worst part-- I'm fine with writing badly but this just isn't fun like it used to be. I've tried all the classic tricks, tried giving it time, tried finishing old projects, starting new ones, different font. Same result.
Since you're an experienced writer I hope I'm not out of line in asking, what do you do to break writer's block? How do you call the words back?
I wish I knew, but the state of my own WIP folder is an indication that I don't, and your comment (bolded) is one I can appreciate.
That's the worst part-- I'm fine with writing badly but this just isn't fun like it used to be. I've tried all the classic tricks, tried giving it time, tried finishing old projects, starting new ones, different font. Same result.
Confronted with all The Usual Suggestions, I can add the one which isn't there: have you tried reverting to pen / pencil / notebook and writing in longhand "for spontaneity"?
I'm somewhat acquainted (heh!) with a much better, more experienced writer than me, so I'm going to tag @dduane in on this.
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lilac-5ky · 9 months
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Hi Mirto :)) I recently caught up on your roommate!toji series, and I’m actually in love with it. I’m rooting for him and y/n so hard!!!
Just wanted to know if you had a posting schedule for Roomates from Hell, so i can stay tuned :) Oh! Also some Toji fic recs that you might have. Hope all is well <3
Hi there! Heh, I'm glad that people are rooting for them, makes me so happy that people like my work enough to feel passionate about it 💜 That being said, thank you so much for reading and bothering to leave feedback!
As of now, I don't really have a schedule set in stone, since writing takes a painfully long time and sometimes developing a certain chapter can take a lot more than another due to various reasons (me being unproductive and stressed lmao) but the goal is to post about every two weeks or so? At least that's the "deadline" I've set for myself.
I'm also working on some requests and my other multi parts, but my primary focus is the roommate!Toji series, and I'm writing chapter 7 as we speak. If you wish to be notified, you could dm me your @ so I can add you to the taglist, or you could find it on my AO3 here and bookmark it, so you're alerted whenever I post.
As for fic recommendations, I can't help but wanna recommend stuff from people who've personally inspired me when it comes to writing for Toji, which are @lemonlover1110 @spideyyeet @tojisun and @kazushawty. (sorry for the tag, guys, but I'm trynna give credit here)
I really love lemon's story The Man in Apartment 381 and she's writing a looooot of other Toji stories with fewer chapters +oneshots.
Then the MMA series that spidey writes is a top tier AU that focuses on Toji as an MMA fighter, that's suuuuper good!
Sun has kinda switched to Avatar fics but her Toji stories are so heartwarming, I especially recommend How we break and Between the pages, but beware of angst.
Karma's (kazushawty) stories are mostly smut oriented oneshots, but they just scratch that need for kinky Toji shit we all have 😂😂
Lastly, I really want to recommend this story on AO3 that feels sooooo canon to me, this is literally how I imagine Toji and when reading it after I started Roommate!Toji, I felt like we had a lot of common aspects to the point where I had to temporarily drop it so I don't get too conscious about what I write.
Sorry for writing a huuuge reply, but I couldn't help myself when you asked for recommendations! Hope these sate your Toji thirst, have a nice day! 💜
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soulshards · 10 months
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misunderstood villain
prepare for an onslaught of both the most dehumanizing and hateful takes, and flood of thirst comments. you are chronically misunderstood. whether or not you're actually evil is debatable. you may be acting out for revenge, to defend someone you love, or even just to protect yourself. you're a pretty jaded person. you don't trust or even really like most people. maybe you did at one point. but that part of you is gone, and you don't go a single day without grieving it. you think a lot about what your life could have been. you're stuck in the past. you're angry and maybe you don't even want to be, but this is the only way you can see to survive. you're open, but less in a trusting way and more like a wound. you don't like to let people see you, but the hurt spills out of you before you can stop it. you're impulsive, even as you try hard to plan and prepare. maybe someday your side of the story will finally be heard. until then, you can convince yourself that being hated is safer anyway.
The only outcome I would have expected for Miahka, heh. She's definitely toeing that line, and I love how wonderfully this is written. It's easier to make other people hate you when you hate yourself, too.
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sweet supporting character
i wanna be your grandma so bad, please let me pinch your face and knit you a sweater. you're most likely the best friend of the protagonist, and there's some possible overlap between you and the narrator. you're sweet and try very hard to be selfless. you watch the ones you love descend into darkness, and make every effort to help them through it all. it's not enough. you keep trying to make it enough. you provide comic relief, a listening ear, a hug, advice── any method of support you can think of. your own personal tragedy isn't documented. sometimes you wish it was, even though you're the one who ensures it is not. you want people to care for you the way you do for others. but you refuse to ask for it, so you wait for others to read between the lines. they usually don't. at least you're the one who gets to survive the tragedy. no matter how many times you beg to trade places, it is always you at the end, sitting at someone else's grave.
Also, very very accurate. I love Nanako to pieces but she's definitely a "support everyone else and hope they notice I need it too" kind of OC. Self soothing by soothing other people, and hoping it soothes her own troubles, too. Also she would knit you a sweater.
Quiz here! Im dumb and forgot to add it :)))
Tagged by: @thorneyes, thank you so much!! I did both the girls because I can >:)
Tagging, uhhh: @midnightmagicks, @shadesofblades, @placesyoucallhome, @valdiis, @allyennah, @uldahstreetrat and anyone else who see's this and hasn't already done it!
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catalogmains · 2 years
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Cnet alternatives to iphoto for mac
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Long Answer: I never really used 'Events' much and pretty much left it alone. Events are for grouping photos by chronological order. Short Answer: Albums/Smart Albums/Keywords are for grouping photos by similar concepts and content regardless of time. but I try to stay current with what's up with it. They need to be permanent, hence that "girlfriend" keyword might be deleted in favor of a name. Although something like HoudahSpot makes that search much more efficient. So if you need to find "mom" you type that keyword in Spotlight and voila, get all the images tagged with that. The other key (heh) to keywords is that they then become searchable in the Finder. I had a bunch of keywords corresponding to family member names with LR I could reorganize them into a heirarchy under people>family>Moe for example. Here's where LR (which you have) rocks over iPhoto: you can make different keyword sets, and directly edit the keywords. Take some time to think it out, using what you've already got. So the "mom birthday photo" could be a collection of birthdays shots, family shots, etc.Īnd keywords makes this even easier. And remember that unlike Finder folders in an image application like Aperture, iPhoto or LR you can have something in different albums/folders/collections WITHOUT making copies of it. You can sort by various ways, or group into folders/Smart Folders and the like.) Aperture and Lightroom are more robust in features, editing abilities. IPhoto, Aperture and Lightroom are equivalent (probably Picasa too but haven't used that in many years) as DAMs. I can also go to a specific "event" and pull more photos.sometimes I through in photos of their friends playing too or like our Disney trip, I might through in landmark shots too. I go through and search for YEAR and CHILD name. I make yearly Slideshow movies for each child at their birthday. I still set up albums/events by a title but that is to quickly be able to get to a collection and upload to shutter fly for my wife to use in a photo book.īut keywords are great. I do a large keyword add on import then go through the set and remove or add more keywords as needed. Then I'd go through faces for 30-60 minutes.Įventually I switched ti Aperture (and LOVE it) and now add in keywords. I used to import into iPhoto by "title" of an event: "2012 Easter Egg Hunt" If you want to "categorize" by these just start using Keywords! Unless your needs run to multi-user environments or other very specialized needs its tough for us to imagine an organization you couldn't accomplish with Aperture, Lightroom or Photo Mechanic. No app is gonna do that for you, and what works best depends on your uses and needs. You have to spend some time thinking about why you use photos, where you need to access them, what metadata you wish to associate with those photos, etc etc. Almost endless combos.Īt some point it's not a matter of just buying some software. And then combine that with location info so you can show all your at-work photos in one collection and after work photos on the same day in another collection. Take events: rather than just days, you can use smart collections to show all stuff in a date range, or even in the PM, or both. And with those you have many ways to organize the same stuff. I especially like keywords because of the hierarchy structure. There are captions, other exif or IPTC fields, and keywords. And you can use various types of metadata to store the names of people. Lightroom keeps track of the geolocation info, as does iPhoto. You mentioned using events to organize people and places you went. You can do that manually, or with smart collections in Lightroom, or lots of other ways. An "event" folder is simply a folder of photos with the same date. You did mention you use events like folders. It's like asking us to recommend the best motor vehicle. It's impossible to give recommendations for alternatives to iPhoto (or Aperture or Lightroom) without knowing your needs.
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washymylifeaway · 3 years
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Haikyuu fanfic recs for ones I liked hehe
EDIT: I made a pt 2
Anyway, as the title suggests, I am recommending some fanfics for popular(ish) ships that I personally really enjoyed! I’m only doing one or two fics per ship (which in hindsight is KILLING me so I’m just putting the first fics I find and am like I really liked that one LOL) because I wanted to do a shorter fic rec list (tho watch this become super long LOL). I also may or may not be procrastinating finishing a couple other long posts, so there’s that hehe. For the (kinda but not really) public consensus for best fics per ship (by kudo count) check out some of my other posts. Also I’m putting some ships I don’t actually read much of (OOPS LOL) so if you think that there’s a fic that fits my type (if I even have a consistent type) better, pls tell me LOL. Otherwise, pls continue heh :)
As always, pls check WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES for fics before reading to make sure you’re taking care of yourselves (since mental health is key!) and stay healthy!
IwaOI:
The Loyalty of a Traitor by DeathBelle (E) 76.9k // ok so does me liking this fic make me basic cause I feel basic LOL. I really love mafia fics, and the way the story line developed was SO good, like IN LOVE with this story. This is a fic where you should read WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARY before diving in, but if the length scares you, don’t be. It’s so easy to fall in and get lost in the writing!
the courtship ritual of the hercules beetle by kittebasu (chanyeol) (T) 66.3k // again, basic? Probably LOL but it’s good so I have no shame ;) Again, pls don’t let the word count scare you (cause it scared me LOL), you get really into it after like 2 paragraphs, so just make sure you have enough time to finish hehe.
KuroKen:
Thicker Than Blood by kylar (M) 91.4k // are you surprised that there is another mafia one? You really shouldn’t be LOL. Anyway, I’ll just be here pushing my mafia fanfic agenda while you read this monster of a fic hehe :) Definitely read WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARY because there is some very sensitive topics involved! I also adore the oibokuroo friendship headcannon, so more reasons to read, right?
Liked, Commented and Subscribed by Royal Society of Pandas (Abarcelos) (T) 45.7k // this fic is SO funny omg. I read it and I had to stop so many times just to laugh because I could not stop sometimes LOL. However, there IS angst towards the end, it gets resolved, but it’s still there... But honestly, it just adds such depth and flavor to the fic, so pls read it!
BokuAka:
bang! now we're even by Authoress (M) 11.9k // so I’ll be honest, I don’t read a lot of BokuAka (...oops?) and so I wouldn’t consider myself as the best person to be recommending fics for this ship (in general too LOL).... ANyway, I love myself some good spy AUs (was gonna put that IwaOi spy AU but the LIMIT), and Akaashi in a dress? Like the tags might state, what more do you need? The characters are done beautifully, and the story development is SO good, so I give you all my humble BokuAka rec.
Crisis Converted by valiantarmor (M) 60k // man do I really love fighting in my fics LOL. This was super good and the plot itself kept me really engaged (what a twist omg). It does talk a bit about mental health issues, but it’s done so well, and they really did this AU justice!
DaiSuga:
How to Manage by SuggestiveScribe (E) 39.3k // ok so yea yea we established, I’m basic, BUT can you blame me? This might’ve been one of the first DaiSuga’s I’ve read and I have no regrets. Literally, this fic series is one of my favorites, so OF COURSE I had to add it somewhere :D Honestly, I don’t even think you need to read the first one to understand what’s going on, but I would just cause it has some funny DaiSuga moments too ;) This is explicit for PWP, so proceed with caution~~
Add New Contact by booksong (G) 8.5k // this one! It’s so cute and poor Daichi LOL. He really out here doing the most,,, Anyway, we love tech Suga, and a nice dash of snarky tsukki (LOL is he salt, yes yes he is). It’s very fluff and pine, so if you want to read Daichi having gay panic like 24/7, go right ahead LOL. 
SakuAtsu:
Burden of Blame by DeathBelle (E) 91.2k // ummmm, haha what, another mafia AU? Me, predictable? Noooo, never..... Anyway, this one was so freakin’ good like, love it so much! It’s one of my favorite mafia AU fics, and I love the story line progression. Poor Atsumu being dragged into this mess, but it’s okay because THEY are IN LOVE. Honestly, this fic is Atsumu best boy like he is the best boy. BEST BOY.
Notte Stellata by awkwardedgeworth (T) 20.9k // I ignored all of the other fics I LOVE in this ship (like the pain I’m in rn), but I love this fic with my whole heart. Like I have reread this fic multiple multiple times because I love it so much (tho I might’ve skipped the angst a couple of times cause I didn’t want the pain okay?). I keep coming back, and the second fic in this series is SO funny and cute and I love it here. Please read it, it’s so FREAKING good, angst and ALL.
KyouHaba:
Team Mom by All_My_Characters_Are_Dead (T) 2.7k // so as I was going through this tag (because that’s what I do LOL), I remembered this fic and I love it. Like yes Yahaba is the fear factor and yes Kyoutani is the DAD. I really like the team dynamics in this one, and the first years make me laugh pls.
Camellias by kiyala (T) 1.9k // IK you’re all like, you’re missing such great fics, like no I’m not I just made myself hate myself by limiting fics to two per,,, I love this fic and when I starting looking for this ship, it was the first one I thought of hehe. I really love magic and their interactions are so cute and the PLANTS ARE DOING THE MOST. Pls read both in the series, cause domestic KyouHaba is best KyouHaba ngl LOL. I love the plants, and if you read the second one, someone tell the trees to stop bullying Yahaba.
MatsuHana:
This gets annoying fast, Makki by Ink_stained_quills (G) 2.3k // IM IN LOVE WITH THIS FIC PLS I COULD NOT STOP CRYING TEARS OF LAUGHTER. This AU needs more fics PLEASE. It was SO freakin’ funny and the other teams KILLED ME. Like how they all approached the problem differently and how some of them (KUROO) asked for help LOL. Please this is so freaking funny go read it.
boiled frogs by reginagalaxia (E) 91.5k // I told myself I was gonna put my most angsty fics on another post (which I will for my other favorite MatsuHana angst fic which I love), but this fic. Omg I saw it and I was like I have to. Literally I have to. I hate angst, but read it. It, the, plot, omg, I jjfnsfknalkjdnf ljksan. Like I’m not sure you understand. This fic. asjfjfsadnldjb. I never thought I could hate a character SO MUCH,,,, like SO MUCH. READ TAGS, WARNINGS, AND SUMMARIES because some serious stuff really goes down. Bless Iwa-chan.
SunaOsa:
Accidentally in Love by pancake_surprise (T) 19.6k // JOSE CUERVO strikes. I love this fic and all the chaos in it. The way they were supposed to be the responsible couple (of friends LOL),,, sike. This one is only a slight angst and it’s mostly love and fun :) Also technically this is no longer the first fic in the series, but I’m still putting this one cause the other one is SakuAtsu orientated hehe :)
Spring Secrets by DeathBelle (T) 3.8k // Seasons might be one of my favorite (as all things also seem to be) series of all times. I don’t like rerecommending fics I’ve already said to read, which is why I’m not yelling at you to go read a certain other fic (which is my life and blood). Anyway, this fic series is all fluff barely angst (maybe that’s why I like it) but it’s so freakin good pls read it all ahhhhhh.
Komori/Suna (what is their ship name):
I wish to live in a world by hatsuna (T) 24.8k // ok ngl this fic was so sad and relatable? Like I was like wtf why are you making me cry rn even though like I shouldn’t be? My heart? Pain. (Hotel? Trivago.) Technically, this is END GAME but the main pairing is kinda SakuAtsu???? Something of the sort, but also their relationship (Komori and Sakusa) is written so well and idk guys I think you need to read this fic rn.
Ah the two fic limit hurt me, but fear not I am making ship specific rec posts (LOL I’m so dramatic), so if you wanted more of a ship,,,, its a coming hehe. And yes I did say I’m making an angsty fic rec post, but we’ll see if it gets finished before I side-track with posts like these LOL.
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suckerforsuffering · 3 years
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Barrier (Idia x F! s/o)
It was a quiet and peaceful day, you and Idia were at his dorm room, as usual, watching some anime you recommended. Ortho was helping professor Vargas with some injured students since the boy has some medical assistance his older brother programed into him. So you were alone.
Normally, Idia would freaked the fuck out to be in the same room alone with someone, specially someone he is crushing so hard on. But you guys are so used to do this, since you two met, Idia gradually starts inviting you to his room to play some games or watch something. Ortho really appreciate your company, you two make the sunshine combo that warms the poor shy guy's heart. So your presence was now a common and good thing in his life.
As the episode goes, you star to really paying attention to it, it was one of your favorite anime so total focus was essencial. Idia was extremely focused as well, eyes almost never blinking as he bit his blue tinted lips unconsciously. As the climax of the show goes on, you felt that excitement that always come when you watch it no matter how many times, as for him, he gasped and you could feel how static he was as he mumbled how amazing that episode was.
Both of you decided to continue the show later and eat something (in his room, of course). As the nice person you are, standing up to snatch some candy for him, Idia starts admiring you without noticing. How you move, how you tuck some strands of hair behind your ear, just how you are so peaceful but at the same time so fierce sometimes. God help him when he starts to daydream about you, all the memories you've made and all the possibilities the future holds really weights in his chest. Is it anxiety? But it feels good... maybe is hope and excitement? What are you doing with this man?
"Hey Idia, something happen?" you asked softly to not startle him. "W-w-what? O-oh it's really nothing. I... just the sick feeling to have class with Mr. Cater tomorrow" He was almost proud he came with an excuse and a side joke in the same phrase. You giggled, which made him more flustered "aw don't say that, he is just wants to be friendly." "T-that's the issue... if he could just leave me alone, I could like him more." "Hey, I know he gives you a hard time sometimes but look at the bright side! With him, your insecurity with being hated from everyone is proved false" You grinned.
With that, Idia reminded all the times you helped him with his fears, anxiety and depressed thoughts. He couldn't understand how someone whom excitement was similar as Mr. Kalim would tag along with a shut in like him. It kind of annoyed him at first, he tried to push you away and you noticed his discomfort and backed away immediately, for his relief but also... disappointment? Sometimes the guy doesn't even understand himself.
---
However one day, and he could still feel the guilt crept back in his mind, he saw you crying in secret in a isolated section in the library. Frozen in place, the blue haired guy just kept staring at you. Of course, everyone has a bad day and the right to be sad, but see you in such a state was somehow wrong. I mean, you are Mrs. Cheerful!! The way you looked so hurt and at the same time so used to this feeling was something Idia would never imagined to see. He didn't realize at how long he was staring at you (and later he found out it's an effect you have on him), until the same girl flinched at his presence, wiping furiously the tears away as you apologize for the situation and offering a weak smile.
That broke his heart
He immediately tried to excuse himself and at the same time saying it's okay and he should be the one apologizing for being such a creep, resulting in a stuttering mess. Okay, now you definitely think he is a weirdo, a low life scumbag. Whatever, he was used to this. But you just started giggling softly.
"I am not laughing at you, it's just funny... Oh, you need some book in specific? Sorry... I am troubling you again right? I shall leave now" "Wait!" Idia exclaimed, cursing himself mentally, how is he supposed to handle a conversation HE started. "Um... I mean..." Taking out his tablet, with that the guy could speak some proper words. "You are not troubling me I was just surprised. I should leave n-" "Whoa! How can you type so fast?? And the voice is so smooth!! It's like, so real!" "Hm?" "Lilia told me Ignihyde was famous for the crazy technology you guys do, but seeing in real life is just amazing!"
Did she was impressed by a voice synthesizer? There is such a variety of "crazy technology" his dorm has made, the voice synthesizer was merely child's play in his perspective.
"Um, yes. Actually this is one of the versions I made for myself. For my little brother I add the ability to sing as well." Oh no... He was getting into the conversation "Really? That's so cool! It's like a vocaloid... right?" You asked shyly Hold on, hold on, did you just said vocaloid? And you mention it in front of the biggest otaku NRC has ever admitted? Idia's eyes lit up as he grinned. "So you know vocaloids!? You can say something like that, well I mean  there's a lot of difference compared to the softwares and even the quality of the sound. I tried to do Ortho's voice as smooth as possible, specially with the high notes he mentioned to me, it was a little troublesome but fun nonetheless. Ah the world of artificial voices is so vast, I could even build-"
It was that moment that Idia knew - He fucked up
He talked too much, and now that potencial friend was weirded out by his passion. He could really blame you? Anyone in their right mind would be. He should just go to his dorm and sulk for the day.
"Hm? What happened? Are you okay?" "AH! It was nothing, sorry... I just get carried away with the subject" "Yeah! And it was so cool! I would really love to see some of your work, for real!" "W-w-what?"  he was so caught off guard he even said out loud instead of using the device "Oh... I didn't mean to intrude or anything. You don't have to show it. I was just really into in what you were saying."
Back with his tablet, Idia invited his "new friend" to see some projects he has in his room. Of course, the meeting was online, but you didn't mind. You truly understand his anxiety since you have some troubles with yourself. Troubles he did asked some months after you met. You now was his sunshine, his player-2, even if those nicknames were a secret. 
A secret he will never have the courage to tell. And so he believed.
---
Back at the current situation, you sit back on his bed and handed him the candy. as both bodies were almost touching, Idia was far away in his own thoughts, he remembered when you told about your insecurities, how your mind just screams how worthless you really are, of how many time the thought about death was endearing. His chest was heavy as he pictured the hot tears falling from your beautiful eyes.
"I didn't mean to ruin the mood, sorry... We can go back to the game again."
That sentence just filled him with dread.
So many times you helped him with HIS insecurities and anxiety attacks. You were the first person, aside his family, to really give a try to understand his weirdness.
"I-I-I..." "Or maybe I overwhelmed you with all this. You have your problems, I don't want to trouble you with my nonsense" "Stop it!"
Your eyes widen at the sudden exclamation.
"Don't you ever say that again to me. How can your problems be nothing more than nonsense? Are serious? I wish I could be as strong as you! Not only you try your best to be a decent person in this godforsaken school, but you have the guts to open your heart like that!"
As your whole body frozen in shock at how he spoke those words without the aid of his tablet.
"Idia..." tears still falling down but your face lit up little by little "thank you so much"
He wants to hug you, but he knew he'd just make a fuss and ruin the mood. You respected that, after all it was already warm in your heart. And after that incident, you grew closer to one another, Idia taught you how to play some games so you two could spend the day playing together. Ortho was so happy now his big bro found someone who makes everything interesting, he could almost not contain his happiness when you invited him to play at the courtyard, he could hug you all day. You were really his big bro's sunshine.
"Hey?" You called softly, a little concern with the blue haired guy lost gaze "Oh! Yeah! Sorry, I spaced out...again" "Hmmmm, hope it is not about how the show is going to end. You sir are too good to get yourself a spoiler." "Heh, in other words, I am pretty smart" Idia teased, he really loved at how he can be playfully confident. You didn't judge him so he felt more at ease to be himself. "Don't get too cocky Mr. Shroud" you teased back
Maybe onde day, Idia will say those words he so much want to tell you. Who knows, step by step. As your "friendship" grows, his fears will fade away eventually.
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nurseofren · 4 years
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hello darling, it’s me to make but a humble request. I don’t even know how requests work tbh, but here is just a little crumb of what occupies my brain and that I wish someone would write about? Write it, don’t write it, bend it to your will, whatever! So like, I imagine you’re just so hormonal for whatever reason (breeding kink? Period? Idk) and always needing kylo. So maybe you show up again in the middle of a work day and he knows what you’re there for and is v happy to help you out?🤔
ST Rambles: heh, so it’s gotta be like at least six weeks since you sent this in and I do apologize. But I had something else started for this and I hated it so cut to me tonight just mindlessly writing this in 15 mins lol. Enjoy?
Tags: period sex, PIV sex, pretty run of the mill just bloodier. A lil nod to ownership bc it’s my pride and joy. I’ll add a read more tomorrow when I’m on my laptop.
“Such a distraction,” Kylo drawled.
His lips were pressed against your ear while he pinned you to the transparisteel, your legs spread as he thrust his cock into your bloody cunt. One of his hands was wrapped around your front, a gloved finger drawing patterned lines up and around your clit. You could feel yourself dripping down your thighs, leaving red streaks down to your ankles.
“Interrupting me, so needy for this—” he slammed into you all while striking your sensitive nub just right, new fire burning in your belly “—can’t even wait, such a desperate whore.”
You met his thrust, a grunt leaving through locked teeth as your forehead smeared sweat into the glass. Kylo ran his nose down to the base of your neck, every heavy breath that left him leading you further towards release. He sank his teeth into your shoulder and you cried out. Another whimper when you saw a reflected trail of red slip down your arm.
“Bleeding so much. And for me, now, too.” He quickened his pace, your eyes rolling back while you pressed against the glass and leaned into his chest. “Are you going to cum for your Supreme Leader, hm?”
“Yes, Kylo,” you moaned, your legs shaking and stiffening as you ran towards climax.
“Who owns you? Tell me. Scream it while you cum for me.”
Your body thrummed and tightened as his digits worked in harmony with his dick, feeling your walls clench around him while a flood of pleasure sank into you. “Kylo Ren! You own me. Kylo, it’s you. I’m yours.”
He grunted while he pounded into you mercilessly, chasing his own climax and finally filling you with his cum while his hips stalled and his head fell to rest on your shoulder.
Lifting his hand, taking it from your slit, he popped the leather into your mouth and pressed the blood-tinged article onto your tongue. The primal nature of tasting your own blood while his seed dripped from your core sent a shiver down your spine.
“You’re mine.”
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aceofshitposts · 3 years
Note
I saw that you like CATS the musical. What are your thoughts on the movie?
AAAAH AHHAHA oh man oh boy y'all should BUCKLE IN cuz it's a ride
my simple thoughts? it's entertaining if only because it butchered the stage show so badly in an attempt to idk modernize it? Well, modernization is one part of it I think. The other part I'll go into below lol. I don't necessarily hate some of the more modern renditions of the songs (mostly the ensemble sets like Jellicle Song for Jellicle Cats) but then others are just... so poorly done it's insulting.
I've said this at the end of this whole rant too but I'm gonna put it up here in case people don't (justifiably) wanna see me go on and on about it:
The movie wasn't made for fans of the musical. It was made to make money and I believe they choose, at least partially, to do that through making it the weirdest and worst possible adaptation they could so that people would want to go see the train wreck. Which, really, worked! It was all people could talk about for a good while so like... Goal achieved, I guess.
A MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT cuz i don't wanna. flood your dash with... this
ALRIGHT SO. Most of my friends know I'm actually a huge fan of new adaptations of things. I love remakes (provided the people making it are coming at it with some form of heart and not just... cash grabbing which is more often the case) I love seeing other peoples interpretations of characters, or changing settings. It's one of the reasons I like American comics so much, getting to see different writers takes is fascinating.
I think musical movies can be wonderful ways to introduce people to a stage show that might have been unavailable to them otherwise! Chicago, for example, is one of the BEST musical to movie adaptations in my opinion. It kept the heart of the show, it's funny and the song numbers are done really well.
There are of course other famous examples, such as Grease or Bye Bye Birdie. Hairspray was also a wonderful take. These are simply off the top of my head, there are of course more.
CATS in particular has a history. If you go through my CATS tag you may see a few posts from @catsnonreplica which posts photos from non broadway productions of CATS! It's a fascinating read and I love, love, love looking at the other interpretations of the characters! CATS is a musical full of fun and wonderful characters if you take the time to see past the ridiculousness haha and the Korean and Japanese runs of CATS especially have some of my favourites.
How does this relate to the movie, I hear you say well. As you might has noticed the movie's interpretations of the characters is........ lackluster at best and downright uncanny valley at best.
CATS is, at its core, a ridiculous thing. I will fully admit that! But it's fun, it's entertaining and if you pay a little attention you can actually get the plot. (Honestly I don't understand when people complain it has no plot but that's a whole other rant for another day)
The movie was... obsessed with this idea of like... semi realism? Like obviously, as a fan, I think they should have leaned into the over the top character designs but instead we got...w ell:
Bombalurina:
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Demeter left and Bomba right. Demeter was actually cut! From the movie which is. upsetting lmao.
Macavity is one of the worst offenders for me:
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Macavity was... I wish I could know what the hell they were thinking there cuz it's even in his song? Ginger cat??? THAT IS NOT... A GINGER CAT...... but I digress. I would show more examples but I think you get the point.
So. We've butchered the characters appearances. Okay that's fine but what about their personalities?
ALSO BUTCHERED.
There's... there's a lot to unpack here. Just for context: the Jellicle Ball happens once a year and the Jellicle leader chooses a single cat to be reborn into a new life. In the stage play all the cats who are nominated for this honour are on the older side (Jenny-Any-Dots, Bustopher Jones, Skimbleshanks, Gus The Theatre Cat, and eventually Grizzabella) AND are always nominated by another cat. Not themself, unlike the movie where they all seem to nominate themselves.
Jenny-Any-Dots went from a doting grandmother figure who's celebrated for her selfless volunteering and tireless work into a conceited, vain younger cat who is obsessed with fame.
It's an incredibly strange dichotomy. I don't doubt some of it isn't the result of the uh people playing the characters honestly. I do think some of them did the best they could! I don't really blame Jason Derulo, for example, for Tugger. And honestly, Tugger was probably closest to his stage version (while being a trouble maker, he's shown to show Deuteronomy an immense amount of respect)
Speaking of Tugger! This will bring us to one of the biggest grievances with the movie and that is how they handled Mr Mistoffelees.
So... Ugh. So. We have Victoria as the pov character, which imo is like whatever in the grand scheme of things, and then we have Misto who they have decided will be get live interest cuz... Of course. Misto is shown throughout the musical to be awkward, unsure of himself and well. Really, kinda incompetent. Which is Wild cuz in the stage show he might be aloof but he's fairly confident in his powers.
So, Old Deuts gets kidnapped. In the stage show Tugger is the one to bring Misto forward! It's really quite sweet, imo, and I'm showing myself as a Tuggoffelees shipper here, but again Tugger is previously shown to be pretty conceited but then here he is boosting and hyping up Misto to bring Deuteronomy back. My friends and I have lovingly dubbed this the boyfriend hype song.
SOMEHOW. The movie manages to make this, easily, the MOST BORING number in the whole thing. Which, again, WILD. Misto awkwardly stumbles through his whole song, which again is... Boasting of his supreme magical powers which movie Misto clearly. Does not have or believe to have. The song, to me, feels super awkward and unnecessarily drawn out in the movie which sucks cuz it's one of my favourites in the show.
The declawing (heh) of Mr Mistoffelees actually reminds me strongly of how they changed Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beast movie. He's gone from a beloved figure in the animated movie to someone so disliked in the town that Le Fou has to pay people off to say nice things about him. It's just. Wild character choices were made!!
Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat is probably my favourite in movie non ensemble number. It feels the most... Genuine? Compared to the other nomination songs.
Other problems include but are not limited to:
The inconsistent size scale of the CATS which throws me off constantly.
The weirdly overt sexual overtones added to MANY of the songs (Jenny and Bustopher being the worst)
This is just a personal gripe and opinion but I don't like that they used the UK version of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. The American version is both better known and tbh way more fun. Teazer's giggle? Adds ten years to my life every time.
Victoria's added solo song, Beautiful Ghosts, while I like the song as a song it doesn't fit the style of message of the musical. In the movie she's singing directly to Grizzabella who's being an outcast for years that she should be grateful she even has memories of being part of the tribe?? What?? But I know they had to add an original song to be able to be nominated for awards in like the Grammys n shit (which is why all musical movies will have an original song, fun fact!!) kinda funny they went to the effort though considering........... I don't think anyone could have genuinely believed CATS 2019 was gonna win anything but golden rhaspberries.
Movie Mr Mistoffelees has made repeated appearances as my sleep paralysis demon
The various cut characters, shout outs to Jemima, Demeter and Jellylorum especially
Bombalurina being a henchman to Macavity rubs me the wrong way
God I've written... So much. You probably get it by now haha. Like I said at the beginning, I try to go into any adaptation with an open mind but... Let's be honest, this movie wasn't marketed to people who are fans of the musical.
It was marketed, and made, to make money. And they choose to do that through, I think, intentionally making the worst possible version ever. Bad press is still press and the more outrageous people said the movie was the more people wanted to go see exactly what kind of train wreck it was.
Which is a disservice to the stage show, honestly, and all the people who've worked on it over the years.
But what can we do, right?
And besides all that, I do... Still own the movie version and I do still rewatch it on occasion. It is entertaining even if it's in a train wreck kind of way. I usually end up watching the 1998 version, then 2019 and then various tour runs that are on YouTube. (I highly recommend the 2016 tour, it's very good)
So in conclusion. It's fun (?) to watch. I enjoy picking things apart and doing analysis (if you couldn't tell!) so like... I don't hate it?
It did what it set out to do, I guess, and I can't fault it for that but. It's not a fair metre with which to judge the stage show imo. But I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, haha.
Jazz hands. I'm more than happy to elaborate or just chat about CATS if anyone wants! I grew up listening to the Broadway CD since I was a toddler so it's been! A very long standing obsession haha. Probably the only other thing on par with CATS is my obsession with Jurassic Park which I've also been a fan of since I was 3 (but that's a whole story in and of itself)
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tarithenurse · 4 years
Text
Stolen - 27
Pairing: Loki Laufeyson x fem!gifted!reader Content: All the smut. Be smart about it and use protection unlike some idiots in this story. A/N: Yeah, I’m not posting regularly yet. We got told this week at work that we are in fact NOT returning to our old place (which we had left “temporarily” due to better use of resources during COVID19 wave 1). That sucks. A lot. So I’m still stressed and semi-depressed and now also sad that we won’t have the surroundings needed to complete our job which is to train/rehabilitate people with apoplexia. Anyways...ask or re-blog for tag.
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27. Eat Me, Drink Me
...   Reader   ...
The swooping rush in your belly is extended as soon as the blue cloud dumps the two of you on solid ground by Loki pushing you backward. Your back against cold metal, you manage a peek at the surroundings despite the grip the god has in your hair. There’s only a hint of distant light coming through the windows because there’s very little room between the hull and the cave wall, but it is enough to reveal sharp lines in a familiar design.
“The ship.” Is he taking you away from Asgard?
“Yes,” he chuckles darkly, body suddenly flush against you and his other hand digging into your waist just shy of painful, “I intend to have you screaming my name, begging for more as I ravish you.”
Heh. “Words.” Your sneer makes his brows arch beautifully. “Empty words.”
“Have care, [Y/N] -” he begins with a deep growl.
“Or what? You’re all noise, like a mosquito buzzing in the night but just like an insect all you’ve done is leave an anno-”
Snarling at your taunt, he latches on to the tender spot on your neck just below the ear. Teeth graze over your skin, leaving a sting that he soothes right away by kissing his way along your jaw before he claims your mouth. Claim. There’s no better word for it as his tongue dances along your lips and tangles with yours, nearly distracting from the new occupation of Loki’s hands that roughly are untying knots and bows in your clothes before pulling the dress down around your waist. Immediately, he busies himself with your breasts. Long fingers massaging them, pinching your nipples as his mouth draws the first moans from you by sucking, kissing, licking, biting.
Half-dazed, you begin to fumble with Loki’s clothes, enjoying the simplicity of the tunic and leather trousers he has been wearing under the disguise, and it takes little time before his torso is bared to you and your hands skim the smooth skin of his ass (trousers abandoned mid-thigh).
“Impatient, pet?”
You love the smirk on his lips as he teases. Clearly, you’re not the only one wanting more because his erection is pressing against your pelvis, long and hard with the promise of filling the emptiness within. Managing to squeeze a hand between your bodies, you grab his cock and deliver a slow stroke from balls to crown. Fuck, he looks good. The thought makes you smile at the god who’s eyes have closed in bliss at the sensation...but then the trance breaks and he steps out of reach, yanking the dress so it pools around your feet before literally lifting you over his shoulder as though you weigh nothing.
“Enough of your taunts,” he growls against your hip, allowing his teeth to dig in as he carries you to his cabin where he tosses you on the bed. “I’ll ruin you for all other men. I’m a god. You’d do well to remember that.”
“There you go with the talking again.”
Moving up in the bed, you’re hyper aware of the state of undress Loki is seeing you in. The only scrap of fabric clinging to your body is the underwear – a flimsy scrap of silk barely covering you pussy and held on to your body with some lace – and, oh, does he like what he sees! Following you on hands and knees (trousers now discarded), the raven-haired man is upon you mouth first, kissing his way up your legs while paying extra attention to your inner thighs after noticing the sighs it elicits.
The only problem is, every time you reach for him, the god bats away your hands. It’s annoying. I’ve not gotten him this far only to be denied touching. Cool, smooth skin that screams for caresses of fingertips. Ropy muscles, bunching and rolling with each movement as a testament to the strength he possesses even if he isn’t bulky like his brother. No. The god’s body is made for endurance and flexibility. For fucking you into tomorrow in positions you’ve probably not even dreamed of. And you want it.
You’re just about to do something about it when the tip of his tongue delves between the folds, dragging the pooling wetness to your clit where he pauses, adds pressure, and then flicks it with a satisfied chuckle.
“You will get more...if you behave,” Loki smirks.
The taste of pleasure is still buzzing along your spine and you’re almost willing to do anything as long as it gets you more. Wait...You had had a plan before getting swooped up and dropped onto the bed. Push him.
“Of course,” your mocking tone makes him arch a brow, “throwing in some distraction rather than act. I should have known.” You’re aware that he’s allowing you to push him back with a foot against his chest, permitting you to get onto your knees and hover over him. “If I wanted a talker, I’d go to Fandral.”
The sound of the blond man’s name ignites something in Loki. You can see it instantaneously because his eyes flood with the colour of blood and the teeth revealed as he snarls looks more like those of a predator. Large hands grab you by your hips and drag you on top of him, expertly positioning your soaked cunt against the tip of his cock.
“Never...” he pulls you down, the slow drag against your inner walls delicious - “...compare me...” with a last tug and thrust, Loki bottoms out - “...to him.” In a heartbeat, he’s got you back against the wall, lips growling against your mouth. “I’m a god.”
Holding you up, he pulls back almost completely before rutting into you at a pace that has your back arching and eyes rolling. The sheer force pushes you to the very edge because you know that a part of him is still trying to rein in some of the power in an unspoken wish not to hurt you.
... Loki   ...
His breath had been stolen and each attempt to regain it is shattered by the magnificent tightness of [Y/N] and her reaction to every thrust. Warm heat undulates around the Jotun’s cock in an attempt to draw him over the each prematurely while the gorgeous woman arches, presents her bosom for Loki to prey on greedily. Who am I to deny her?
Eagerly, he licks and bites at the nipples but barely manages to coax more than a half-swallowed moan from her lips. Loki grabs her by the jaw, forcing her to meet his eyes. I see. The challenge is blazing like a fire in her gaze.
A squelch fills the dim cabin as he withdraws, tossing the insolent woman onto the bunk again. This time, however, he leaves no time for her to taunt but embraces the straight legs against his own chest before leaning over her. For a split second, the male lingers with the tip of his cock at the entrance to heaven as he looks for the moment realization dawns upon her...all he gets is a wicked smile, empowering the thrust of his hips as he slams in.
Ravishing. Open mouthed, yet silent. Perfection. Hands clawing at his shoulders, nails leaving angry trails. Mine. Tight, wet, already quivering with the need for release.
But Loki keeps the speed controlled this time as he sheds the last layer of disguise and reveals the real him. The Jotun. The monster. Ridges rise, flooding his skin with the wintry colour and for once...he embraces it rather than hate it as his claws on one hand curl around her wrists, stretching [Y/N], exposing her even now as she willingly succumbs to the mercy of the beast within. A whimper breaks the relative silence as the Jötun markings have decorated his erection.
“Look at me,” he growls.
She obliges. Had he expected fear? Confusion? What Loki is treated to is an appreciative smirk.
“I see you.” Slowly bottoming earns him a gasp. “Finally.”
Cock punching out a steady speed – fast enough to make the woman breathless and slow enough for her to feel each inch and ridge – Loki fucks her steadily further up the bed until the each roll of his hips elicits drawn-out moans and ragged praises that never could have sounded sweeter than they do coming from the mortal’s lips. Balls tight, abdomen clenched, he drags her to the very edge and keeps her there until...
“Please! Loki!” [Y/N] begs with lust-blown eyes locked on him.
Claws scrape lightly towards her pelvis, drag through the short curls to where their bodies meet and he finds her clit with the pad of a finger. He has to fight himself to keep the pressure steady as the new stimulation sends a shudder through her perfect body. Almost. Aaalmost.
Then it happens. The epicentre of an earthquake buried inside [Y/N] sends the shock waves into Loki too, causing him to thrust deep and hard as she clenches around his cock.
The moan transforms into a scream, “Loki! Yeah!”
The tremors sends the Jotun tumbling after the human over the edge of bliss.
... Reader   ...
Gasping for air, you don’t even feel close to being in a real world. Fuck...that was amazing. Slumped on top of you, resting with his hips between your thighs lies a god whose appearance fades back to the pale person you first met in your own apartment. You had hated him then. Now I love him.
“Mmmm, my dear,” Loki mumbles against your neck, “your scream was sweet music.”
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ollieofthebeholder · 3 years
Text
leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall): a TMA fanfic
Tumblr tag || Also on AO3.
Chapter 38: Statement of Kieran Blackwood, regarding...choice. Recorded direct from subject, twenty-fifth of March, 1997.
[CLICK]
KEEPER
When did you start using these for official statements?
GERTRUDE
If this were official, I would have you write it down. Most of the people who come in with a statement simply fill out the forms provided by the Institute.
KEEPER
So why not have me write it down? Why bother to listen?
GERTRUDE
Because I suspect that what you’re about to say would be…unwise to add to the Archives.
KEEPER
It’s not related to that statement, if that’s what you’re getting at.
GERTRUDE
I don’t think it is, no.
But I do think that, whatever it is that brought you here, it may not be something that needs to be available to everyone. I’ve begun recently making audio recordings of statements that I want my research to be…private, shall we say?
KEEPER
Or we could say “secret”.
GERTRUDE
(heh) Fair enough. Any live statements that I feel could be…useful, to myself or my successor if need be, go on the tapes as well. In this case, I suspect it may be both.
KEEPER
You may not be wrong.
GERTRUDE
Besides. I don’t know that I’ve ever had another…devotee of one of the Powers walk in off the street and offer me a statement. Call it curiosity.
KEEPER
I can certainly assuage that, Trudy.
GERTRUDE
Don’t call me that.
KEEPER
Sorry. Occupational hazard.
I’m sure you know how that goes by now.
GERTRUDE
I suppose I do.
Statement of Kieran Blackwood, regarding…
KEEPER
Choice.
GERTRUDE
Recorded direct from subject, twenty-fifth of March, 1997. Where would you like to start?
KEEPER
At the beginning, I suppose.
KEEPER (STATEMENT)
As long as there have been lighthouses in England and Ireland, there’s been a Blackwood manning at least one, probably dating back to the Dover Castle in Kent and leading all the way down to my father. My earliest memory is of him holding me as we stood on the railing, the beacon flashing across the night-darkened sea, keeping safe any ships that might be sailing by. He took his responsibility seriously, and so did I. I remember telling my best mate, a boy whose family lived next door to where Ma and I lived, that I was going to be a keeper myself one day. He asked how I knew, and I told him it was what we Blackwoods always did.
I told Dad that, too, and he took me on his knee and explained a few things. He said the Blackwoods had always been lighthouse keepers, not because we wanted to, but because we had to. He said I was going to be starting school in the fall and that I was a bright lad, so I’d have choices he never had. He told me he wanted me to do the best I could, and that when the time came, I could choose to be a keeper if I wanted, but it had to be my choice.
He died that winter. There was a bad ice storm, and while he was scraping the glass clear, he forgot to shield his eyes when the light came around. It blinded him, and he lost his balance and fell. Hit the rocks at the base. They found him washed up on shore the next morning. Ma took poorly and was in bed for a few days when we got the news, and I went to stay with my best mate until she could get up, but she never quite recovered. I was afraid Ma would want to move back to Ireland where her family was, but she said we had roots too deep in the Bournemouth soil to leave it now. Wasn’t until years later that I found out how little money we had—we couldn’t afford to leave. Then again, if Grandmother hadn’t left us her house, we wouldn’t have been able to afford to stay.
I still wanted to be a lighthouse keeper, but by the time I was ready for the eleven-plus, I knew I couldn’t. For one thing, Ma got into hysterics any time I mentioned it—like it would somehow be more dangerous than anything else I could have done, just because it killed Dad—but for another, they were beginning to automate lighthouses by then. Every year there were fewer and fewer jobs, and I’d have been lucky to get one. My grades were all right, but I knew I wouldn’t pass any of the tests needed to be a keeper.
If I couldn’t do that, I decided, I’d do something on the sea. My best mate and I used to play at pirates some when we were little, and we talked about doing that, but of course you couldn’t really do that. We thought about the Navy, too, but we agreed that whatever we would do, we would do it together. By the time we were sixteen, though, I knew I wouldn’t make him. He was smart, top of our class. I barely scraped by with a pass. So we made another deal, him and I. I’d go into trade, learn to sail, to fish, and he’d go on with his education, get a degree in business. Together, we’d build our own fishing company, go out together. Someday, we said, we’d have our own business, a business we could hand down to our sons if we wanted, if they wanted.
I found a job with a fishing crew. Deep-sea stuff, extended voyages. The money was good, so I could take care of Ma and save up a bit, too. And winters were my own, so I could spend them at home. I was a bit of an outcast among the crew, though, and not just because of my age. Even when they were together, they were silent and…distant. The captain was one of the owner’s sons, so of course he was too high and mighty to talk to any of us, but I always felt like he was…watching me. Like I’d disappointed him, even though I did everything right. I felt sometimes like I was the only one with connections on shore—not just Ma, but Walt. We were right close. Looking back…there might’ve been more there than we ever admitted, but it just wasn’t done.
Then I met Liliana.
Walt introduced us. Actually, he was just starting to date Sarah at the time and they needed a fourth for dinner, so Sarah invited her along. I won’t say it was love at first sight…truth be told, I won’t say there was ever love. I’m still not sure Lily’s actually capable of feeling positive emotions towards other people, to be honest. But we had some of the same interests, then. We both liked to dance, we liked the same books, the same foods. She introduced me to her father just before I went out that year, and the old boy and I hit it off, so when I got back in the winter we started keeping company again.
Ma died in January, and Lily came to the funeral, which I appreciated. The four of us got a bit drunk that night, and…well. I was getting ready for the next salmon run when she told me she was in the family way. I was just considering my options when Walt called and asked if I thought the crew could use another sailor, because Sarah was expecting, too. He was leaving school immediately—they needed the money.
I—I couldn’t let him join the crew. It felt like a waste, and I knew he’d want to be there for Sarah and the baby…and I kind of hoped he’d be there for Lily and mine, too, since I couldn’t be. Besides…something about Captain Lukas gave me the creeps. I wouldn’t willingly subject anyone I loved to to that. Luckily, my father-in-law had just mentioned to me that he needed a general handyman about the place. The pay was just as good, and Lily and I had made our home base not far away, so it seemed perfect. We had a quick double wedding, and I went out with the fishing run.
She gave birth right after I got home. We were a bit early back that year, come to think of it, but at the time it never occurred to me that there was anything odd about that; we’d hit quota, that was all. I didn’t love Lily, I told you that, but my God, when that doctor laid the baby in my arms and told me “it’s a boy”, I fell in love then and there. Walt’s boy was born about a month later. There’s a picture somewhere of the two of us, sitting on Alastair’s porch, rocking a pair of sleeping babes and talking.
At least, I hope it still exists somewhere. Brings me comfort thinking it does.
Walt died right when he said he would, three weeks before the fishing run started. The three of us went to the funeral, but Sarah screamed at Alastair before it even started. Accused him of killing her husband.
GERTRUDE
I can’t imagine—
KEEPER
Oh, it wasn’t. Complete accident. The old man wasn’t even home at the time, he’d taken the boys to a science exhibition of some kind. And I’m the one who found him, come to that. Sarah was just hurting and needed someone to blame. But it ended with her ordering us to leave. The look on Walt’s boy’s face when I pried mine away from him and said we had to go is one that still comes to me when I’m having trouble sleeping.
KEEPER (STATEMENT)
My boy and I got a lot closer after that. That boy was my world. My light. The beacon that drew me back to shore. I started calling him Wickie before he could talk. Lily hated that nickname, but then, she hated a lot of things.
She—she wasn’t strong. I don’t mean her health, necessarily, although I know it was a hard pregnancy and that’s when her troubles started. I mean her mind. It was so—easy for her to give into despair. We’d never been close, but we got further and further apart every year. We’d probably have fought more often than we did, but I wouldn’t put Wickie through that. Instead, I’d absent myself. That didn’t help.
Plans. Choices. They never go the way we mean them to.
I gave it one last chance, and it’s one I’ll probably regret to my dying day. The Lukases have a Christmas gala every year, but you have to be an officer on a vessel or serve fifteen voyages before you get an invitation. Suppose it’s to make sure you’re loyal enough to deserve it, but maybe it’s also to make sure you know the rules. I don’t know. The year Wickie turned eight was my fifteenth year with the crew, so I got the invite. It included the whole family. Lily was actually enthusiastic about it, but…she didn’t want to bring Wickie. Said he wouldn’t behave. I—I’m the one that insisted on giving him the choice. Of course he said he wanted to come.
I wish I hadn’t let him.
There were no other children there. That should have been my first clue something was wrong. None of the other sailors even had spouses or sweethearts. I was the only person besides the Lukases themselves who actually brought my family. Maybe the only one who had a family to bring.
I talked Lily into a dance or two. We used to like it, once, and for a song or two it seemed like we’d got back…well. It didn’t last. She said she was tired and wanted a drink. I found her a seat at a table where she and someone from the shipping side of the company could ignore each other and went to fetch her something, and I was looking around for Wickie. I—I found him, eventually. He was off to one side, looking scared, looking…lost. One of the Lukases—Peter—was talking to him. He seemed perfectly friendly, but I could see the fog rolling off him, threatening to engulf my boy. Didn’t seem to be anyone else who could see it, or maybe everyone was just ignoring it. He reached forward to tuck a curl behind Wickie’s ear, and the fog curled that much closer.
I admit I had a bit of a reputation for fighting when I was in school. Never unprovoked, mind you, but…well, between the fact that I was half-Irish and the fact that my best mate was darker than some people liked, I got in my share. I don’t have a temper, but I do have a protective streak a mile wide, and I’m not above acting on it.
As you might imagine, breaking your boss’s son’s nose isn’t exactly the sort of thing that looks good to your employers. I got Wickie and Lily and we left then. Took me the better part of the next week to convince Wickie it wasn’t his fault I’d got in a fight, but it rather put a damper on our Christmas. At the beginning of January, I got a rather terse letter from the Lukases telling me I’d not be welcomed back to the crew.
I…I didn’t tell Lily. I certainly didn’t tell Wickie. Lily was starting to get sick, I couldn’t have told you what it was, but we needed an income and now all we were getting was the bit she picked up at the tailor’s when they needed her. I was desperate to try and come up with something, anything, but nobody was hiring. I swear to you I was about three days away from coming to you and asking if you’d take on a new assistant when there was a knock on our front door one foggy night.
(heh) The fog should have been the clue, really, but it wasn’t, and like a fool, I opened the door. Peter Lukas was standing there. I almost shut the door in his face, but he told me he felt bad about me losing my post on the crew. Said my boy deserved better than an unemployed father, and he was there with an offer. Against my better judgment, I listened.
His family owned a lighthouse, he said. One it was important to keep lit, but just then it was without a keeper. He wanted to offer me the position.
I didn’t believe what I was hearing for a minute. The idea of actually getting my childhood dream after all…and from someone I had every reason to hate? I knew there had to be a catch, so I asked, and I was right. Peter told me it was a stag station, meaning no families; Wickie and his mother would have to stay.
I—I laughed. I asked him how big a fool I thought he was. I’d already told him once to stay away from my boy, and if I wasn’t there, what was to stop him from going after him? Peter took the contract out of his pocket and showed me a clause that explicitly said he would stay away from my son, as long as I kept the light. He gave me the paperwork and told me to think it over, and if I was interested, to sign it and send it back and it would all be taken care of, but warned me I’d have to leave by the time the season started.
That night, with Lily and Wickie both asleep upstairs, I read over that contract with a fine-toothed comb. It all seemed airtight. The pay was decent, enough to keep up with Lily’s medical bills at least, and the tasks were exactly what I would have expected. It wasn’t until I got to those last clauses that I realized what the catch was. It explicitly stated that the Lukases would stay away from Wickie as long as I held the position—but it also stated that I had to do the same. Should either one of us break the taboo and talk to him, it would be fair game for the other to do the same.
I didn’t have much time to think about it. The season was only a week away. I thought about asking Alastair, but I knew what he’d say—not to have anything to do with anyone tied to those things. He’d never been thrilled I worked for the Lukases anyway, but at least before I’d had some distance. This was…worse, somehow. I thought about taking Wickie and absconding in the night, but—but I couldn’t do that. He’s smart, Trudy, he can do so much, and I knew if we were on the run he’d lose so many opportunities.
There was only one choice, in the end. I signed the contract and mailed it off.
The night I left was the night I would normally have left for the fishing run, so I just…let Wickie think that was where I was going. Went through our usual routine. We had alphabet soup and cherry preserves for dinner, then I tucked him in and sang the old sea shanty I always sang the night before I left, to put him to sleep. Once he was asleep, I went downstairs to talk to Lily.
I won’t repeat the things I said to her. Suffice it to say I made sure she knew I wouldn’t be back, and…I let her believe that it was what she’d accused me of before. That I was leaving because of her, because I didn’t want to deal with her and her issues anymore. I left that night knowing I’d well and truly burned that bridge behind me.
Peter Lukas met me at the docks. We didn’t speak. Ignoring all the ships preparing to go out, we went down to the shore and began to walk, silently, until all others had faded away and it was just us, the sand, the waves, and the grey of the pre-dawn sky. And then…there was a door. An old oak door with a brass knob, supported by no structure, standing on the beach and waiting. Peter stopped, pointed at it, and said, simply, “The door to the Light.”
I didn’t ask questions. The time for questions was past. It was my last chance to choose differently…but even if I hadn’t signed that contract, I don’t think I could have chosen to do other than what I did. I shouldered my bag, took a deep breath, and strode through the door.
And I took up my duties as the Keeper of the Light.
It has no name. It needs no name. It’s just…the Light. Fifteen feet in diameter, made of brown stone, it stands on a mountain overlooking, not the sea, but a desert. A vast, impenetrable desert, with nothing as far as the eye can see. The beacon it shines over this desert is not white, but red, bathing the sands periodically in light the color of blood.
The first day I was there, I did an inventory. There were all the things I remembered my father having when I was a wee nipper, things I only vaguely remembered the purpose of, but I knew I’d learn quickly. I’d been told the light would be fully equipped at all times, and it was. The oil was full, there were plenty of fresh wicks, and all the tools were in perfect working order. There was a single bed, big enough for a single man to sleep, although not particularly comfortably. There was a table with one chair. There was one plate, one bowl, one cup, one fork and spoon and knife. The cupboards, I had been assured, were fully provisioned, but I wasn’t yet hungry, so I went to look at the rest of the light.
There were no windows, but there were pictures on almost every wall, each one framed in a different frame. Each picture looked like it was a windowpane, which I thought odd. Then I looked in one, and I couldn’t hold back a gasp. It was a window all right, and one I knew. It was looking into Wickie’s bedroom. I could see him, as clearly as if I was right there, hair rumpled with sleep, looking absolutely devastated. Lily was standing there, too, holding a picture in one hand. I think it was the photograph of the two of us he keeps on his nightstand. She must have been taking it away.
It hurt. I looked away and went to look at another picture. There was a little boy in it, looking—terrified. Upset. Like he wanted to cry or scream but didn’t know if he was allowed. He was reaching a hand out towards a house, where a young man was looking into an open door. He looked like something inside had caught him off-guard, and—something dark, something inside, was reaching out like it was going to grab him. There were cobwebs in all the corners, but they were part of the picture.
For a moment, I didn’t know why it was there—but then I gasped again. I recognized the boy, or thought I did. It looked like Walt, exactly like Walt had at that age. Then—then I saw the eyes. Walt’s eyes were blue, a bright, bright blue that outshone the ocean. This boy’s were a warm and guileless brown. Like Sarah’s. This was Walt’s boy.
The pictures aren’t static. They aren’t of things that were. I realized that as the days, weeks, went on. They change from time to time. I’ll see Wickie working away on his knitting, or Walt’s boy curled up with a book, or one of them standing outside and looking at the sky. It lets me…keep an eye on them, I suppose. But it aches. It’s the ache of separation and loneliness. I can’t look at them too often.
The only place to see out is from the railing around the light. It looks out over the desert, and from there, I can see everything. Doors appear periodically, more old oak doors with brass knobs supported by no structures. They never last long. Sometimes people stumble through them, and then the doors disappear. The people wander the desert. Their paths cross all the time, or go alongside one another, but they never talk, they never see. Each person in the desert believes themselves to be alone.
I can hear them sometimes. I hear them talking, desperately reaching out. They’re all looking for someone, all missing someone. They run for the doors when they see them, but they don’t always make it, and they don’t always see them. I wondered about those doors, about where they led…at first.
Three months in, I found out.
I was doing a perimeter check of the lighthouse, around midday. A door appeared, just in front of me. I walked closer to it, and it didn’t move. For me, the doors stay. I hesitated, then grasped the knob and opened it. The room beyond was dark, the hands of the clock indicating it to be later in the evening than I knew it to be where I was. Time doesn’t move the same way there, I supposed. Then I realized where I was. I was in Wickie’s bedroom. He was curled up asleep, having a nightmare, poor thing. I wanted to go over and comfort him. I’d actually taken half a step over the threshold when I stopped, when I remembered.
Choices.
I had the choice to go in, to see my boy, to hold him and let him know I loved him and would never stop. But if I did—if I do—then Peter Lukas can get at him. He’s so young, I know the—I know they don’t normally go for children, but…I worry. I can’t risk opening that door.
They keep appearing. More and more frequently. And now…the more attuned I am to the Light, the more I know what I’ll find on the other side. And it’s hard not to go through.
I can redirect them. Sometimes. Or maybe I can just open another one. One every…well. To me it’s one a year. But that’s the thing. As I said, time doesn’t move the same way in the desert that it does everywhere else. It’s been about a year, as far as you’re concerned, since I signed that contract and took the job. For me? It’s been more like ten. But I can a door and let it take me wherever I want. I’ve done it when the temptation is too strong. The last time was Christmas. (sighs) Wickie started in chorus this year. His first concert…I could have gone. Could have stayed in the back of the room, maybe, and just listened, just seen him. But what constitutes contact, what violates the contract? I couldn’t risk it. So I did the next best thing. I opened a door and went to Bournemouth and saw Walt’s boy. Didn’t talk, didn’t tell him who I was. Just stood on the shore next to him for a while. I wanted to…but I didn’t.
I don’t even know if he remembers. I couldn’t hurt him by giving him more memories. That would just make the loneliness worse when I did leave.
GERTRUDE
And you used one of these doors to come here.
KEEPER
That I did.
GERTRUDE
Why?
KEEPER
Thought you’d want to know. Honestly, I half didn’t expect to see you here. I assumed I’d have to wait for you, but your assistant—what was his name? The one that looks like he’s about twelve?
GERTRUDE
Michael.
KEEPER
Michael, aye. He told me you were in. Suppose it gets down to time being weird again.
How was it?
GERTRUDE
How was…what?
KEEPER
The funeral.
…You did go, didn’t you? Come on, Trudy, I know you’re all about keeping your past away from your present, but—
GERTRUDE
Don’t call me that. What are you talking about? What funeral?
KEEPER
Gertrude. What was Tuesday?
GERTRUDE
…My God.
KEEPER
Aye.
Lily wouldn’t be pleased to see me. Or you, for that matter. But Wickie…Lily’s making it all about herself, I’m sure. You know how she can be. I just…I hoped if I gave you my statement, you’d at least look in on him for me.
At least make sure he’s okay.
GERTRUDE
I…I’ll see what I can do.
[CLICK]
———
[CLICK]
GERTRUDE
Final thoughts.
Well. I…I don’t know what to think. This is…useful information to have regarding the Lonely. And I’ll certainly be on the lookout for any old oak doors with brass fittings. But as for the rest…
I checked. Alastair Koskiewicz’s funeral was today, and I believe I have missed it. But I may be able to at least pay my respects. I will have to be discreet if I do. Lily made it very clear she wants nothing to do with me, and I have done my best to respect that. And I know I am…observed more often than I would like. The last thing I want is to draw anyone’s attention to Martin.
I don’t think I should tell him who I am.
And, since the Keeper’s statement mentioned it…I listened to Walter Sims’ statement again, and the dates he gave for both his own death and Alastair’s match exactly. I believe I will make one last attempt at reaching out to the Stoker family, especially now that Daniel will have been born. Perhaps they’ll be more likely to listen now. I don’t know what precautions they can take, but…they should (heh) at least have the choice. At the very least, perhaps they’ll be prepared when the time comes.
[CLICK]
———
[CLICK]
[STUNNED SILENCE, BROKEN ONLY BY THE SOUNDS OF SOMEONE—PROBABLY PAST MARTIN—STRUGGLING NOT TO CRY]
TIM
…Fuck.
PAST ARCHIVIST
I-I didn’t…I had no…oh, God.
PAST MARTIN
(tearfully) W-Walter Sims…was—was that—?
PAST ARCHIVIST
My father.
He—I never knew he—gave a statement. Or that he…
Was that the grandfather you told us about?
PAST MARTIN
Yeah.
[PAST MARTIN MAKES A SOUND—A LAUGH? A SOB? BOTH?]
Guess that explains the cherry thing, huh?
PAST ARCHIVIST
(softly) I guess so.
TIM
So—hah, so you two knew each other?
PAST MARTIN
I-I mean, we were two. That was…that was a long time ago. I didn’t—
PAST ARCHIVIST
No. Neither did I, I—
[FABRIC RUSTLES, A STARTLED “OOMPH” FROM SOMEONE WHO CLEARLY WASN’T EXPECTING AN ATTACK HUG]
PAST MARTIN
Sorry, I’m so sorry, I—
PAST ARCHIVIST
No, Martin, it’s not your fault, it’s—it’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.
TIM
That statement…your dad’s statement. Do—do you think it’s…in here somewhere?
PAST ARCHIVIST
I don’t—I don’t know.
Basira, she, she said she got as many as she could. There might be some that—I don’t know, Tim.
PAST MARTIN
(uncertainly) W-we could—we could look?
PAST ARCHIVIST
Yes. Yes, if—if you could do that, that would…
I’m sorry. I-I need to—I’ll be right back.
TIM
Jon. Be careful, okay?
PAST ARCHIVIST
I’m just going outside. I’ll be fine.
[CLICK]
———
[CLICK]
[MUFFLED SOUNDS OF THE STREET]
PAST ARCHIVIST
(muttering to himself) …won’t be sensible…I know he worries, they both do. Last thing I need to do is make that worse, but God, after that—
BREEKON
‘Scuse us.
HOPE
Jonathan Sims?
PAST ARCHIVIST
Yeah, wh—? Oh, sh—
[THE PAST ARCHIVIST WHEEZES AND COUGHS AS THE WIND IS KNOCKED OUT OF HIM]
BREEKON
Miss Orsinov wants to see you.
HOPE
Says she changed her mind.
PAST ARCHIVIST
No, please, I—
[VAN DOOR SLIDES OPEN,  A LOUD THUNK AS THE PAST ARCHIVIST IS SHOVED INSIDE]
[DOORS CLOSE AND ENGINE STARTS]
PAST ARCHIVIST
Oh, God.
[CLICK]
———
[CLICK]
[HIGH HEELS CLICKING ACROSS A HARDWOOD FLOOR]
ELIAS/JONAH
Ah—Sasha.
[FOOTSTEPS STOP]
SASHA
Yes?
ELIAS/JONAH
Coming back from lunch?
SASHA
…Yes?
ELIAS/JONAH
I’m a bit busy today, so I don’t really have time to get down to the Archives. Please let Tim and Martin know that Jon will be out for a few days.
SASHA
…Sure.
Is…everything all right?
ELIAS/JONAH
Perfectly.
I just have something I need for him to do. It might take some time. I’m sure he’ll explain everything when he gets back, but meanwhile, do make sure your colleagues stay on task, will you? No doubt you have a lot to work on.
SASHA
Yeah, of course. We’ll keep things running smoothly while he’s gone.
ELIAS/JONAH
Thank you, Sasha. I knew I could count on you.
(under his breath) Reliable old Sasha.
SASHA
…Thank you.
[FOOTSTEPS RESUME, CHANGE TO A SLIGHTLY MORE HOLLOW SOUND AS IF SOMEONE IS WALKING DOWN STEPS, SLOW TO A STOP]
[SOUND OF NUMBERS BEING DIALED ON A PHONE]
[THREE TONES]
AUTOMATED INTERCEPT MESSAGE
The number you have reached is not currently in service. Please hang up and try again.
SASHA
Shit.
[CLICK]
15 notes · View notes
keelywolfe · 4 years
Text
FIC: Welcome To Backwater (spicyhoney standalone)
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Summary: Stretch isn't running away, not really.
He took the bus.
Only to end up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, meeting unusual people, dealing with unexpected happenings, what the hell is going on in this place?
Tags:  Spicyhoney, Midwest Gothic
~~*~~
Read Chapter One on AO3
or
Read it here!
~~*~~
Stretch honestly wasn’t sure what state he was in anymore. Not philosophically, but literally, as in United States of etcetera. He’d drowsed off with his skull leaning against the cool glass of the bus window somewhere around three am, the drone of the wheels on asphalt lulling him and the darkness outside broken only by the brief, glaring flash of the occasional car passing by.
When he woke again the sun was high in the sky and the view outside was a blur of endless green. Fields of it as far as the eye could see, corn, maybe, he wasn’t up on all the traditional crops of the Aboveground or at least not enough to know them by sight.
His legs were cramped from being curled up on the seat next to him all night and Stretch shifted with a grimace to put his sneakers back on the floor. Didn’t exactly uncramp him, he was too tall for that, but it did change the angle so, hey, at least a small favor.
The rest of the bus was more empty than not, the other passengers mostly sitting on their own, sleeping or reading or playing on their phones. None of them gave him even a passing glance and that was fine by him. Probably got all their stares in last night when they first got on the bus. There’d been plenty of side-eyes and outright stares as Stretch made his way down the aisle to an empty seat. No surprise there, Monsters had been on the surface for a couple of years now, but it wasn’t like there was enough of them to make a sighting anything less than exotic for Humans. He was more grateful that no one tried to talk to him, eager to make a Monster Friend like they were a fucking Pokémon to add to their collection.
He’d met plenty of Humans like that over the years; put them off politely and they only tried harder, put them off rudely and they got loudly pissed. Couldn’t win that game and eventually Stretch got tired of trying.
He let his head fall back on the padded headrest with a sigh, closing his sockets. Not much point in thinking about that right now, that was the sort of shit that landed him on this bus.
His grungy backpack was on the floor, overstuffed to the point of the zipper straining and the sleeve of a spare hoodie trailing out of the side like an extra arm. Stretch managed to contort himself enough to reach down and dig his headphones out of the side pocket, relieved to find them charged for once. He poked the earbuds into his audial canals, heh, earbuds with no ears, it sounded like the start of a bad joke, and turned on a playlist. Soothing eighties, that seemed to fit in with the scenery outside. Or maybe not; from the occasional run-down barn the bus sped past, their peeling paint still advertising Mail Pouch chewing tobacco, this place didn’t seem to have crawled out of the sixties yet.
He was barely through the first song when the sorrowful refrain about the boys of summer was cut off by his phone letting out a persistent buzz. His brother’s picture popped up on the lock screen and it was probably his imagination making that sweet, smiling face look so judgmental.
Probably.
His thumb hesitated over the answer button before decisively settling on decline and he’d barely settled back into his seat with the melodious voice of Don Henley when it started up again. He let it go this time, every short burst of buzzing echoing through his skull until it stopped. It didn’t ring again.
By then the song had changed to ‘No One Is To Blame’, Stretch went ahead and skipped it. He didn’t really need to chew on any irony right now, it would kill his appetite for breakfast.
~~*~~
It was a few more hours before the bus pulled off for a pit stop and by then, Stretch was ready to start chewing on his chair arm. Might’ve if he thought the seats had been cleaned anytime in the past decade. He didn’t have a stomach, exactly, but they still needed to eat to replenish their magic and the hollow gnawing of his hunger was making him lightheaded.
Come to think about it, he wasn’t even sure when he’d last eaten. Sometime before yesterday morning, maybe even the night before when he’d sat picking at the meal his brother spent so much time making, trying not to see the worry in those starry-eye lights, silently hoping Blue didn’t say anything past ‘good night’. Shouldn’t have wasted the wish, not like they ever came true, anyway. The stars he’d wanted so much to see lived up to the ‘twinkle twinkle’ advertisement, the ‘wish upon a star’ part, not so much.
When he’d stuffed his backpack before heading off to the station, he hadn’t thought far enough ahead to even grab a granola bar or a bag of chisps. All he’d been thinking about was getting it done, getting out, down to the station to hop the first bus going anywhere.
That bus rolled to a stop with a loud hiss of compressed air, the bored-looking driver yanking the door lever open. Stretch let all the Humans get off the bus first, shuffling their sleepy, dead-eyed way down the aisle as they groaned and stretched, many of them already reaching for cigarettes. The last thing he needed was a rough elbow from some impatient jackass who couldn’t wait another minute to load up on gas station chili dogs for the trip. He waited until the last Human was almost off before making his own way down, the laces of his untied sneakers trailing behind him as he shuffled his way out.
After hours in the air conditioning, the humid air was almost stifling, the smell of gasoline thick along with the smog of exhaust.
The gas station was about as unimpressive as the barns they’d passed. No shiny neon signs here advertising regular and premium below a well-lit emblem of a Shell or a BP. Not even a bright red ‘Kum and Go’ to make adults snicker quietly above confused children’s heads. The ancient pumps looked as if their first service was to the Model T and every time the door opened it was heralded by the loud, rickety clang of a cow bell.
He was itching for a cigarette of his own, but not on an empty stomach. Might be out of luck for chili dogs after all in a place like this, but there was still hope. According to the travel guide he’d filched from the bus depot back in Ebott, this was the exact sort of place that might carry such exotic foods as pasties or whoopie pies. The guide didn’t have any pictures, but Stretch was hungry enough to take a chance.
He made his way across broken asphalt studded with cigarette butts and old chewing gum, already hungrily ready for at least a Snickers bar. Maybe that hunger was why Stretch didn’t see the short guy coming out the door, completely oblivious to the clanging warning of the cowbell as he rammed right into him and nearly knocked the overflowing paper sack right out of his hands. Both of them grabbed for it automatically, fumbling to keep from dropping it and instead the brown paper tore from top to bottom and sent a shower of cans tumbling down to the sidewalk.
“fuck!” Loudly said in two voices, very nearly in unison. Stretch was already on his hands and knees collecting silver cans with ‘Coors’ scrawled across their condensation-dewed sides. The shorter guy took a minute longer, bracing himself on a cane as he slowly reached for a can that’d rolled over to an overflowing pedestal ashtray.
“man, i’m sorry,” Stretch panted, snatching up the last can that was attempting to set a world record escape to the gas pumps.
“ain’t your fault,” the short guy grunted as he struggled back to his feet. “bag was damp from the beers.”
Now that Stretch wasn’t trying to herd cans, he got a better look and what he saw froze him in his tracks. He couldn’t not stare, not when his beer bumper was another Monster and more than that, another skeleton. Which was bizarre, Stretch only knew two other skeleton Monsters aside from his own brother and this was absolutely not one of them. None of them had jagged, sharky teeth and blood-red eye lights, a nasty looking crack running narrowly through one socket.
Nor did they need a cane to help them along on beer runs and the other skeleton was struggling to gather the cans up in his arms. He tucked two into his jacket pockets and tried jimmying the others into the crook of his elbow, but one of them squirting free and launched into the air.
Stretch caught it before it got too accustomed to flight, barely managing not to drop the already dented can back on the pavement. “here, let me help,” Stretch said.
The other skeleton was already shaking his head, reaching for the can, “nah, i live right around the corner, i’ll stack ‘em by the curb and make another trip.”
Yeah, because half the people from the bus wouldn’t wander out of the station and take advantage of the offering of free beer, that wasn’t gonna work. “at least let me get another bag from the clerk.”
The skeleton snorted aloud, “mitch don’t hand out bags, brought that one myself from my store.” He hesitated and added, reluctantly, “but if you really wanna give me a hand, the two of us can carry ‘em pretty easy.”
The bus was only on a fifteen-minute stop, gas, grub, and go. Anyone not in their seat got left behind according to his ticket stub, stated boldly in oversized text, and there probably wasn’t another bus station where he could catch a ride for fifty miles.
Stretch gave the street they were on a glance. They were in the middle of a shaggy, rundown sort of town, this gas station was probably the only one around. Barely he could see a plain, unlit sign on the building on the other corner that said starkly, ‘Groceries’. The local restaurant was probably called ‘Eats’, everything was fried up in the same bacon grease poured out from an old coffee can, even the pie. It was a screaming advertisement for the kind of Podunk town where everybody knew everyone, and outsiders were looked at with jaundiced suspicion.
And a Monster lived here.
Stretch took a couple more beers that were threatening to make another escape from the other skeleton’s arm and shrugged. “lead the way.”
It was slow going, not only because Stretch’s legs were about as long as the other guy was tall, but the other skeleton had a pretty bad limp, grunting with each step he took. Stretch hoped guiltily he hadn’t made anything worse by nearly knocking him on his ass, but if he had, the guy didn’t complain.
True to his word, they didn’t have far to go. The skeleton led the way towards that grocery sign, unlocking the door with a heavy, old-fashioned key that looked like it would be more at home in a castle rather than a grocery store in midwestern Cornsville. He pulled the door open enough for Stretch to grab it, another cowbell jangling overhead like an epidemic, and he held it open while both of them shuffled inside into a renewed rush of blissful air conditioning.
The grocery store didn’t exactly live up to its name. Maybe it was more a grocery shop or even ‘market’ with no ‘super’ tacked in front. The groceries consisted pretty much of a few rows of tall racks and a couple coolers, the shelves lined with cans, toilet paper, and other random dry goods. There was a wide counter by the door with a register sitting on it that’d probably been there for a hundred years and an incongruous credit card scanner nestled against its side.
The skeleton dropped his beers on the counter with a clatter of aluminum. He hopped up on a tall stool and popped open the cash drawer, shoving a couple bills into it as he waved a hand at the scarred wood of the bare countertop. “you c’n set the beers here. help yourself ta one.”
Beer wasn’t exactly what he’d been thinking about for breakfast but Stretch popped the tab anyway and took a long drink, unable to help a grimace at the bitter taste. The other skeleton let out a chuckle that deteriorated into a phlegmy cough, grabbing his own can and gulping down half of it in one swig.
Stretch looked around the shop, at the cans of beans and pickle jars with a fine layer of dust, out the front window where the view of the town was obscured by a couple years’ worth of blurry fingerprints. “you know any place i can get a room around here?”
The skeleton raised both brow bones. He finished off his beer and let out a mellow belch as he popped the tab on another. “planning on hanging around for a while?”
“maybe,” Stretch said, then shrugged. “probably. if i can find a job.”
The other skeleton considered that. His phalanges were sharp at the tips, chipping new little pits into the countertop as he drummed his fingers on it. He came to some sort of conclusion, his toothy grin widening, “tell ya what, i might be able to help ya out with both. you mind the store in the mornings,” he patted the countertop and ran his fingers lovingly over the ancient register, “and ya can stay in the spare room over the shop. ain’t much, but there’s a bed an’ a window. might be enough for a while.”
It sounded like a pretty good deal. A little too good and Stretch squinted suspiciously. “why?”
That grin soured. “let’s say ya got a trustworthy face. looks a lot more like mine than anyone else around these parts, too.”
That made Stretch wince a little, confirming what he already expected. They were the only Monsters in town and from the unkempt look of the store, the locals weren’t that keen about having them around. Be stupid to stay in a place where he knew he wasn’t wanted, even stupider than letting the bus go on without him.
In his pocket his phone buzzed loudly, making him jump. It buzzed once, twice, then Stretch reached in and pressed the silence button. Then he held out a hand to the other skeleton. “deal.”
To his surprise, the skeleton gave his hand a long look, studying it. Nothing to see but plain bone, his own fingertips blunted, and with a yellowish nicotine stain between the first and second knuckles. Stretch almost pulled it awkwardly back but before he could, the skeleton reached out and took it, shaking it almost painfully hard. “deal. guess now that i’m your boss, you’ll need my name. you can call me red.”
“stretch.”
The other skeleton, Red, laughed loudly and slapped his good knee, “yeah, that suits ya.” He hopped off the stool and limped around the countertop. “c’mon upstairs, there’s a shower, too. might want to put it to good use. welcome to backwater, kid, hope you stay a while.”
~~*~~
Red’s dour description of the room wasn’t quite accurate. For one, the room was larger than Stretch pictured, nearly the size of the shop beneath it. There was a bed, yeah, but also a card table and a couple chairs. In one corner there was a television so ancient there was a set of elderly rabbit ear antenna on top. But the whole setup was less dusty than the store downstairs, like maybe the previous tenant wasn’t that long gone.
Stretch didn’t ask. Sometimes not knowing made it easier to sleep at night.
The promised shower was in a bathroom only slighter larger than a closet, the hot water heater groaning audibly and pouring out a grudging trickle through the showerhead that spent alternating minutes as lava hot and icy cold. Despite that, it felt good to rinse away the layer of road dust he’d accumulated, soaping up with a leftover sliver of soap he found.
When he got out of the shower, a threadbare towel around his pelvis offering limited protection to his modesty, there was a steaming bowl on the table. Filled with a thick stew, blobs of meat floating in a greasy gravy, and a hunk of bread with it, along with another beer.
Stretch wolfed it all down hungrily, easing the last of his physical discomforts, then flopped down on the narrow bed. Red had told him to take the day to settle in and he could start work tomorrow. That sounded like advice well worth taking. He had a place, he had a job, and he had his phone on silent. He could text his bro tomorrow.
Yeah.
He turned on the television, but no matter how he moved the antenna, the only show that came in was static. He switched it back off, contemplated Netflix on his phone, and then decided that sleep was probably the number one choice for entertainment today.
The mattress was thin, the springs threatening to poke through the worn layers of cushion, but right now it might as well be stuffed with angel wings. Stretch closed his sockets and let sleep claim him.
~~*~~
Stretch wasn’t sure of the time when he woke, the former sunshine streaming in turned to a darkness deeper than he’d seen since they came out from under the mountain. No hint of bitter moonlight crept in through the curtainless window.
He leaned up on an elbow and tried to kick the tangled blanket around his legs loose, his sleep-tainted thoughts slow in coming back online.
When his mind finally booted up, Stretch flopped back on the sagging mattress with a groan. He was in the little town of Backwater, that was right, in the room above Red’s shop. An unfamiliar place, that was all, the only ghosts around here were his own memories, the only sound his own breathing. He wondered sleepily what had woken him, giving the picture window that took up half of the side wall a glance, and went utterly still.
Eyes. A deep, unrelenting gleam of crimson coals staring in at him from the other side of the glass. Rus couldn’t move, terror welling up thick and rancid, a primordial fear rising into his throat from his soul, shivering its way like a sin down his spine.
That crimson gaze flickered in a blink and Stretch let out a hoarse cry, his paralysis broken enough for him to scramble back, heels kicking at the covers as he cowered against the wall, waiting for the crash of breaking glass. Long minutes of nothing ticked by, his panic slowly fading, and when Stretch opened his sockets again, there was nothing outside the window but blackness, not so much as the yellowish aura of a streetlamp peeking in.
“fuck.” Stretch rubbed his forearm over his sockets, blinking hard, and looked again. Nothing, exactly as it should be outside a second-story window. He sank back against the mattress, swallowing down the hysterical little laugh that tried to bubble its way out.
“jus’ a dream,” he mumbled aloud and hearing his own voice was steadying. A dream, yeah, an eerie little hallucination brought on by too much beer and too little food, all wrapped up in this strange place. Stretch dragged the thin blanket back over him and rolled to his side, defiantly giving the window his back as he settled in to sleep. Tomorrow was gonna be a busy day and he was gonna need all the rest he could get.
He fell easily back into a weary, dreamless sleep and never noticed that crimson stare returning, gazing through the glass like deep red lamplight cutting through the darkness.
-tbc
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Text
Winter Whumperland Day 8: Lucky
Summary: Written for Winter Whumperland Day 8. Set in a Modern AU, follows up on Day 7 'Delirium'. There was the chance meeting in that coffee shop, but it is one late evening in early June that Hiccup's life takes a sudden turn for the worse.
Rating: Mature
Characters: Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Toothless, Ryker, Viggo
Pairing: Vigcup, past-Hiccstrid
Words: 4 464
Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon
Prompt: “Obsessive whumper”
Whumpee: Hiccup (and Toothless in a way)
Author’s Notes: This was supposed to be up already, but I got very distracted by Attack on Titan. I finished my rewatch and I had 3 episodes of season 4 that I needed to catch up on and then I got very distracted by the reactors I follow that I know watch this show, too.
Constructive criticism is appreciated! Including on the tags!
Enjoy!
Ao3
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There was the chance meeting in that coffee shop, but it is one late evening in early June that Hiccup's life takes a sudden turn for the worse.
It's late when he returns home from work. He's completely drained after being on his feet all day and when he steps in through the front door, what he longs for most is to kick off his shoes and prosthetic and crash onto the couch.
Someone has other ideas, as he can tell by the stomping footsteps coming up from behind him as he closes the front door.
They halt, one slipper tapping impatiently on the carpeted floor, and Hiccup knows he's in trouble. He slowly turns to see one furious Astrid Hofferson.
She'd come the second she heard the door open and she'd jumped off the couch to catch him and block his way to the living room. Her blonde hair is undone and lays comfortably on her shoulder.
"Uh, good evening? Milady?" He greets her hesitantly, deciding that a polite approach is probably a better idea than a sassy one.
"What took you so long? You were supposed to clock out two hours ago!" Astrid crosses her arms, a hip out, and awaits a good excuse. He hasn't even called her to let her know that he would be later or anything!
Hiccup puffs out a nervous breath as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, unsure what to tell her. Upon seeing this, Astrid lets out an agitated sigh, reeling with her boyfriend's thoughtless decision-making.
"Viggo again?" She asks with a hard tone and he knows there is no denying it. Besides, she'd know if he was lying. So he nods honestly instead and she's already throwing her hands up.
"He came by at the coffee shop for a game of chess and I thought I'd entertain him for a little while!" Hiccup hurriedly replies, already imagining Astrid's disappointment in him.
"For two whole hours?!" Her voice raises, she's not too impressed.
"Ugh, yeah..."
"Hiccup, I can't believe you!" She expresses her disbelief before turning on her heels to return to the living room.
"He's obviously a lonely man, Astrid! He just wants some company and a listening ear once in a while!" He tries to reason with her as he follows her to the other room, where Snotlout is sitting on the couch.
Viggo just comes across as a lonely man to him. No partner, no kids, no friends outside of business, and a brother he rarely sees eye to eye with. It makes him want to take at least a few minutes out of his time to spend on him.
"Once in a while, he comes by almost every day, Hiccup! Today, he swallowed up two hours of your time! And after work, too!" Halting before the television, Astrid spins on her heels again to face Hiccup. "Hiccup Haddock, I know you're not a pushover, but somehow this guy gets you to let him walk all over you."
Snotlout should be annoyed that he can no longer watch the tv, the bickering couple interrupting his watch, but that matters little to him
"Heh, Viggo again, Hiccup?" He asks, finding amusement in that fact.
"You know, Hiccup, if you'd rather spend time with some lonely middle-aged dude then your own girlfriend, maybe you should go hook up with him. We'll question your kinks and tastes, though." He adds with a chuckle.
"Not funny, Snot." The couple tells him and Hiccup sighs afterward, awkwardly moving from one foot to another once more. He's tired and his leg hurts and he doesn't like fighting with Astrid. And to make matters worse, he has some news, too. It's not bad news, but he wonders if it'll be received well after Astrid's reaction.
She stands there, fuming, and she probably has plenty of reason to be. His not calling her to let her know where he's at, spending his after work hours with someone who is a virtual stranger to her, who is a creep in her eyes, pushing his own needs aside for someone who clearly has no eye out for his, ... Yup, plenty of reasons. And he might just be about to make it worse.
"Also... I won't be able to sleep here tonight." But it's better to just come out and sat it, so he tells her, his arms crossing.
"And why is that?" Astrid asks, not too pleased. It's Friday evening, she'd hoped to spend at least a little bit of time with him. You know, the time Viggo hasn't selfishly taken for himself yet.
"Well, Toothless came to find me again. I saw him sitting on the rooftop when I got back and... Well, see for yourself." Hiccup gestures towards a rather large window on one side of the room and Snotlout and Astrid look over to find the Night Fury there, watching them through the glass. He's sitting on the fire escape and looks very much like a cat expecting to be let in.
Finally seen, he yowls, wondering what's taking them so long. Hiccup has known all along that he's there, why is he making him wait?
"Oh, the neighbors are going to love this." Astrid groans, cringing at the sound. Snotlout covers his ears.
"Oh, I'm sure they will, which is why I'm dropping off my uniform and going back downstairs to meet him. I'll fly him back to the sanctuary and spent the night at my mom's because I'm-"
"Dead tired from all the work you've done? With a prosthetic?" Astrid cuts him off as she finishes his sentence for him. It's not like she thinks he can't do the same work someone else can, but Hiccup's reality is that standing on his feet all day will make him more exhausted than it would make an abled person. Astrid is aware of this, she just wishes Hiccup would be a little more self-aware from time to time.
Mouth still open, Hiccup stares at her for a moment.
"Uh, yeah, that. But anyway, I'll let you know in the morning if I'll be back tomorrow or Sunday evening." He lets her and Snotlout know before heading over to the bedroom he shares with Astrid.
He's been holding the uniform in his hands. It consists of a dark brown apron and a little hat that feels like paper, though they're all pretty sure it's not made out of paper. He hangs them both up on the coatrack hanging from their bedroom door.
When he comes back into the living room, Astrid is standing before him again.
"Okay, but I doubt he brought a saddle, so will you at least be careful?" She asks of him, still exasperated, but him spending time with Toothless is far better than the alternative, which is the middle-aged man seemingly clinging to a young adult. A young adult who isn't quite 20 yet, no less.
"Of course, Milady, when am I not?" Hiccup asks her with a smile, feeling like they are on slightly better terms now. He'll make it up to her somehow, he doesn't want her feeling like she comes second to some guy he's only known for a few weeks.
Sighing deeply, Astrid comes over and plants her lips on his for a kiss. They don't have any space in their home for a dragon as big as a Night Fury. So, unfortunately, she has no other choice but to let him go. Hiccup returns it wholeheartedly, heart skipping a beat in joy. When does she not make him happy?
When they pull away, Astrid pulls on his hoodie, straightening it out.
"Are you sure that's warm enough for the trip?" She asks him, knowing he gets cold easily. He's about the only person she knows who can still wear long sleeves in the summer. The amount of layers this man needs to get through the colder months is insane.
"I think I'll manage."
"That's not a good answer, Haddock, and you know that."
Snotlout groans in the background at seeing the affection, head rolling back, but they mostly ignore him. So he groans louder on purpose.
"How can I stand living with you two?" He questions when they look over, neither too happy with his interruption.
Toothless yowls again outside and someone shouts at "the big cat" to be quiet.
"Geez, impatient much?" Hiccup mutters under his breath and gestures to his dragon to get down from the fire escape. He should get going before Toothless gets them all kicked out of here.
"Again, be careful. And oh, don't forget to call when you arrive and tell your mom we said "hi"." Astrid quickly says as Hiccup heads for the door.
"I will! I'll see you guys later, Snotlout, Milady." At that last one, he shoots Astrid a quick smile.
Snotlout lets his head roll back again and-
"If you groan one more time, it's off to bed with you."
It takes a quick ride on the elevator down, but Hiccup is outside soon enough. It's summer and that means the air is cooler then it is during the day, but not quite cool enough. Even so, Hiccup pulls on his hoodie to cover as much of his collarbone and neck as it can before he looks up towards the top of the building.
"Bud?!" He calls out excitedly, expecting to be tackled by a dragon much bigger and much heavier than him in the next few seconds. He's bracing himself, it could come from any direction...
But instead, there is no response.
Strange.
"Bud!" Hiccup calls out again, didn't he hear him the first time? Dragons of his kind usually have a good hearing. Or he ignoring his calls? Making him wait because it's been so long since he's come by for a visit? He hates admitting it, but work has been kicking his ass. It's hard to do anything on most days and even during most weekends he finds himself in need of the mere two days of rest he can get.
"It's because you haven't worked a day in your life, son, you'll get used to it." Hiccup can hear his father say in his head and he can still feel the need to roll his eyes. He's worked! At the sanctuary and only what he was allowed to do, but he's done stuff before!
"Toothless?!" Moving from the sidewalk to between two parked cars to hopefully get a better view of the roof, Hiccup tries again, but gets no answer this time either. He was hoping to at least see some earfins pop up by now.
"Really, Toothless? Is this the time to play hide and seek?" Hiccup mutters to himself. He knows his dragon misses him terribly when they're not together, he misses him, too, but now's not the time. He's tired and he would like to fly back to the sanctuary already.
Checking the road behind him and finding the street empty for the moment, Hiccup cautiously takes another step or two back. In this part of the city, people usually don't drive as fast as they can in the busier parts. And at this hour, not too many cars come by either.
"Toothless, seriously?!" He calls up again, keeping a careful eye and ear out on either side of him. Don't tell him he's stuck on the fire escape again.
"Are you stuck?! Do I need to come get you?!" Hiccup asks, never losing sight of the street he's on. It's still quiet so far, no approaching lights, no roaring engines.
Finally, Toothless calls back to him and the call sounds far, so he must still be in the fire escape after all. Sighing, Hiccup figures he may as well look.
It's at that moment, probably by pure dumb luck, that a dark car with no plates and tinted windows comes speeding from around the corner.
Driving at speeds way, way above the limit, the car can't possibly be avoided. Hiccup sees it coming, has only seconds to stare into the blinding headlights as they come too fast, and there's nothing he can do but get hit.
The front of the vehicle hits his right side with full force first and he ends up on the hood for a brief moment. It all happens so fast, before long he rolls onto the pavement and is left to lie there on the ground. The collision broke some of his ribs, hurt his hip, dislocated his bad knee, bruised his wrists, scraped him all over, and he'll be a lucky man if that is all a hit from such speeds leaves him with.
Body hurting and unable to move, all Hiccup can do is groan. He can't get up like this. Who and why would just run him over like this? His head hurts, he must've knocked it on the ground.
After the hit, the car screeches to a halt and a man steps out. When he comes over, Hiccup can't see who it is, can barely turn his head to the approaching footsteps. When he tries, another pained groan leaves him. He can taste the metallic tang of blood on his tongue.
Everything is too much for his aching head, too much to process. He's on the verge of passing out, it's becoming black before his eyes.
The man who mowed him down stands over him. Hiccup can't see his face, but if he could, he'd see the satisfied look of another job well done. He's grabbed by his arms and pulled towards the car. Hiccup cringes at the unnecessary additional abuse his body must endure.
"W-wait... What're you... Why?" He can't struggle against him, can't keep the man from dragging him towards the car, it's taking him everything not to pass out.
When they reach the car, the trunk is opened and Hiccup is picked up and unceremoniously dropped inside. His body is in agony and he would've shouted if his ribs allowed it, but his apparent kidnapper doesn't seem to care much. If anything, he huffs and the trunk closes, bathing Hiccup in darkness.
What just happened to him? For whatever reason, whether it be the shock or the pain, he still can't move.
While this is happening, Toothless is, indeed, stuck. A fire escape isn't meant for dragons, let alone a dragon his size, nothing in a city is. This is a place for humans, which is why he thought to drag Hiccup back home himself. He wasn't coming of his own volition, so Toothless had to come and see what was taking him so long. But when he gets up to meet with his friend, he finds his tail to be stuck in the railing.
It's a hindrance and it's more annoying than a real problem. He can solve this without needing Hiccup's help, he just needs to be careful not to damage the replacement tailfin he so carefully crafted for him.
Murring impatiently as he tries to find the right angle to do this from, Astrid and Snotlout are watching him from the window, both concerned. From the corner of his eyes, he can see Astrid mouth something and she's gesturing in a way that's supposed to be helping him, but he doesn't quite get it. He's only half-looking, too.
On the other side of the building, Hiccup is calling for him and Toothless calls back once to tell him he's still coming. He just needs to be a little more patient and then he'll be there.
But then he hears a screeching that sounds like a noise one of those large metal contraptions the humans ride on would make. It's an awful sound to his ears, but not as alarming as the noise of a heavy thing hitting something not even a quarter of that thing's weight. And all of that is followed by a noise of pain Toothless is all too familiar with.
Was that Hiccup? Is someone hurting him?
Toothless knows that he needs to see what's happening and he all but tears himself free, the carefully refined leather hooking onto something metal sticking out and ripping. He hurries up the rest of the fire escape up on the roof, climbing the outside expertly like only a cat of his size and strength can, he'll be able to see more from there.
A disability has only affected his speed and agility so much, Hiccup can largely be thanked for that. As someone who is missing a leg, he knows a thing or two about loss. He reaches the roof quickly and he thinks to check the front of the building first, where the noises came from. What he sees confuses him, however.
There's a human male taking his friend and putting him in the back of that metal deathtrap.
His knowledge of humans and their strange behaviors only goes so far and he doesn't know what the intention here is, just that he doesn't like it. This screams "bad" to him and he growls in anger, claws scraping on the bricked walls. Someone is taking his rider away.
The male then gets into the "car", as they're called, and he can hear it revving to life. That's when Toothless knows it's now or never.
He's a Night Fury, leaping off tall things isn't anything new to him, so he takes a chance. He doesn't yet realize that his prosthetic tailfin is torn and that it will hinder him greatly in his pursuit. He wants to land on the vehicle itself, scare the driver, rip him out, and then get Hiccup out. His mate and that small friend of his are in their communal den. If he's loud enough, he can get them to come down and see. In the meantime, he can make sure the bigger male can't touch the car again and that he's too incapacitated to get away, too.
That's the plan, thought up in a matter of a second or two and he commits to it, he takes the leap. Except with a rip in his tailfin and the car moving away at the same time, all Toothless manages to do is scratch up the back and take the rear bumper right off.
Inside the trunk, Hiccup is almost startled to full alertness with his dragon's claws scraping above him and taking a part of the vehicle with him. There's a man's muffled cursing and what a mouth he has on him.
It takes Toothless a second too long to realize that he's holding just a piece of the car instead of the whole thing.
Did he just fail? A Night Fury isn't supposed to fail, if anything, they're supposed to be the pride of dragons! And he just failed his human?
He looks behind him, sees the tear in the cloth Hiccup made for him. He's lost his advantage and now he can't fly after the car either! He wished he'd jumped on time instead of too late, wished he'd thought to jump in front of it, too! If he'd just aimed right, he would've landed on the car instead of just snatching the rear bumper.
All that's left for him now is to chase. He's still plenty fast on the ground, he can leap, he'll find some other way to stop the damn thing. A plasma blast will land him in serious trouble, but that's not even high on the number of things he's willing to do to get Hiccup back.
They're not far, he can still see them.
But then another car comes from around the corner. They aren't driving particularly fast, but finding a dragon in your path is a startling thing and Toothless is startled in return. They almost block his path, nearly driving into the car parked nearby. Then a second comes and a third and they all screech to a halt, honking and yelling in surprise. They do nothing but hinder him in a city that's already too loud and unwelcoming and chaotic for a dragon.
Toothless has to evade them, doing whatever he can to just not get accidentally hit as he chases after his friend. He jumps onto a parked car, trying to spot the one that took Hiccup.
It's nowhere to be found.
Hiccup can hear it as he slips away, the miserable cries of a dragon in distress with cars honking in the distance, both deafeningly loud.
"I'm here, Bud, I'm... I'm here..." His words of reassurance fade as he falls unconscious, losing the fight to stay awake.
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Pain. That's what Hiccup wakes up to hours later. An immeasurable amount of pain and the inability to breathe properly as his ribs are keeping him from it.
He groans miserably, feeling awful after someone came speeding down a relatively calm street to run him over. His head is a little slow in catching up on the events that landed him in this situation, but his body has a great memory. He hurts so much, there isn't a part of him that isn't in agony.
There are voices and an unfamiliar hand lays itself on his forehead. Is he in the hospital? Is there are a doctor or a nurse checking up on him? Oh, can they please give him something for the pain? He woke up only moments ago and he wants so desperately for it to end.
"You wanted him, now here he is." One of the voices breaks through the haze in his mind, the first words he's managing to register so far. Why does his head pound? Why is everything pounding?
He remembers headlights.
"And you felt like you had to run him over, did you?" Run over who? Can either of these two give him something to kill the pain? Or an explanation would be nice, too.
He groans louder, hoping to ask for help, but no coherent words leave him. That hand is in his hair now. Care is nice and all, but it would be much nicer if they could pick up on what he's trying to beg for here.
"You could've killed him on the spot! He might even still succumb to his injuries." No wait, that voice is familiar to him. The other one he doesn't recognize, but this one rings a vague bell. Hiccup has to open his eyes and take a look.
"Don't get my hopes up."
There are two men that he can see through a blurred vision and a dim light that's still a nightmare on his headache. He can't recognize one of them.
The other one, however...
"V...Vi... ggo?" Hiccup asks, voice hoarse. It's the first word that he manages to croak out. What's he doing in the hospital with him? Now that he thinks of it, where is Astrid? Snotlout? He can't remember if Fishlegs and the twins were home.
An image of Toothless flashes before his mind. He was there, wasn't he? Where is he now?
"you're awake, good, I was starting to worry," Viggo tells him, looking down at him with a look that isn't quite as caring as those words would suggest.
Hiccup blinks slowly in surprise.
"Where... What are you doing here? Where am I? Toothless is... What happened?" The questions are slow to leave him, but he's starting to catch up a little. He's not quite as awake as he needs to be yet. Why is this room so dim? Aren't hospital lights usually so annoyingly bright?
He wants to sit up or readjust somehow, feeling too uncomfortable with everything his body is going through. But though he tries, he only ends up worsening the pain in his right side tremendously. Whatever little progress he may have made is undone when he's forced to lie down again. His left knee hurts, did he dislocate it again?
This bed is so uncomfortable and lumpy, is this mattress even from this century anymore?
But the pain wakes him up at least and he can grasp the sort of troubling situation he's suddenly in a little more now.
This isn't the hospital.
He doesn't know what room he's in, but he can see that the little light bulb on the ceiling is bare and the only light source in this place, that the walls are brick, and the floor is made of concrete. If it weren't for the lack of storage space, he'd think that this is a basement, but that couldn't be it, right? He can't just be in someone's basement! He notices there's a ridiculously tiny bathroom off to the side, which at least looks clean.
What Hiccup's lying on is, indeed, a bed and his painful wrists are cuffed to the sides. If he wants to pull at them, he can try once or twice, but after that, they won't allow any more attempts.
Realization comes and panic sets in.
He's been kidnapped.
"Wh-what... What?!" He can't comprehend it, his thoughts and heart racing and struggling to keep up. Hyperventilating and very quickly unable to breathe at all, the rapid pace cannot mix with his broken ribs.
Did Viggo do this to him? Why would he do something like this?! Why would he hit him with a car and take him from his home?!
"Hiccup, calm yourself!" Viggo takes his shoulders and, honestly, how can he expect Hiccup not to freak out when he's been kidnapped?!
Oh Gods, Astrid was right. She was right, Viggo was bad from the start. And he's the idiot who walked right into another trap. Why does he keep getting himself into trouble like this?
Oh no, and what of his Bud? He definitely remembers his dragon being there when he was taken, what happened to him? What could've possibly happened to him?
"No... No! T-Tooth... Tooth?!" He doesn't have the air to ask, his lungs and his ribs in a fierce battle for whose needs need to be met first. They both burn.
"Hiccup, I implore you to calm!" Despite Viggo's best attempts, Hiccup doesn't listen to him, too much in a panic. If this goes on, he'll lose him before he can even start molding him to his perfect partner.
"That's never going to work, Viggo. You know there's only one solution to this." The other man, the stranger, states as he pushes him aside. A soaked cloth is pressed to Hiccup's nose and mouth, the sedative wetting it is breathed in immediately with his fast breathing and it takes its hold just as fast.
A different kind of haze settles in his mind, he's feeling woozy. It works quicker than he can realize he's being knocked out. He's going under, his breathing evening out, and his last thoughts wonders about his friends.
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syos-princess · 3 years
Text
Shortcakes’ Wedding “Diary”
Pairing: Syo Kurusu x Jules (Kurusu) (Me)
Other Characters: Many... (Everyone from Shining Agency + Kurusu Family)
Word Count: 2500+
TW: It’s a positive rollercoaster! (Fluff)
Tag List/Special Wedding Guests: @of-comfort-and-love @minty-fresh-kicks @stars-sunglasses-and-sodapop
Info: So, today is finally our wedding day and I kinda went over board with this story, hehe... [blushes] It’s written like little vlogs (though I call them “diary entries”) from getting ready to the reception speech!
[ok to rb/p.ros.hippers dni]
April 8, 2021 at 8:00 AM
[The recording starts]
„Okay, we‘re filming!“, says Nanami with a big smile on her face. „Welcome to the first video ’diary’ entry of Syo‘s and Jules‘ wedding day! The happy bride is over here-“
[The camera swings over to Jules and Tomo]
„-getting ready for her big day! Say hello, girls!“ Jules smiles shyly at the camera and waves. „Hello…“, she says. „Hello, hello~!“, answers Tomochika and winks at the camera. She is currently doing the young brunette‘s hair. „Are you excited, Ju-chan?“, asks Nanami. Jules nods slightly to not disturb Tomo during her work on her. „I am! Nervous but very excited, hehe…“ Oh and how nervous she is. Jules is scared of messing up and it being on camera forever but at the same time she can’t wait to be married to the man of her dreams. „Just think of Syo and it‘ll be fine!“, throws Tomo in. The blue-eyed bride blushes hard, while the two redheads laugh warmly.
[The camera zooms in a little more on Jules]
Then the young composer speaks up again. „So, Jules. What’s on the schedule?“ The girl in question giggles. „Well, right now: getting ready. The wedding ceremony is at 10AM, after that the reception at 12PM and lastly the wedding party.“ Nanami nods behind the camera. „Syo‘s dad should be here soon with the dress.“, adds Jules. This time it’s Tomochika who speaks. „Your dress is so beautiful. I‘ve only seen pictures so far but it’s gorgeous.“ Jules smiles. „Yeah, it really is. Makes me wonder if I really deserve to wear such an amazing dress.“ „Oh, hush! It was custom made, by your father-in-law, for you. Of course you deserve to wear it. You’ll look like a real princess in it! Syo won’t manage to take his eyes off of you.“, exclaims Tomo with confidence. The brunette blushes again. „Thanks, girls…“ There is a light knock.
[The camera view gets lowered to the floor]
„Oh, room service! It‘d be good if you could eat something to ease your nerves.“
[The camera focuses on the two girls again]
Jules chuckles lightheartedly. „Yeah, I‘ll try. Even though I’m not hungry.” She takes a look at her phone on the table. “Hm, I wonder how Syo is doing. We spent the night apart. I hope he’s alright…” Another knock. This time it’s Syo‘s dad with the special dress in tow. „Good morning, ladies.“ „Good morning, sir!“ The middle-aged man turns to Jules. “How are you doing today, Jules?” The brunette smiles. “I’m doing well, thank you! Nervous but well.” “Heh, yeah, that’s completely normal, dear!”, answers her soon-father-in-law with a chuckle.
[The camera zooms out]
„Okay, I think we should let the bride get ready in peace now.“ It‘s Nanami‘s voice. Tomo nods at that. „Yeah, we can take pics of the finished look after. Right, Jules?“ „Yes, totally.“, Jules answers with a smile. „Alright, this is it for the first video entry! Bye!“ The three people in view smile and wave at the camera.
[The recording ends]
April 8, 2021 at 8:30 AM
[The recording starts]
„HELLO!!! My best friend is getting married today!”, screams Natsuki behind the camera. The other STARISH guys flinch at the shrill tone. „Was it a good idea to let Natsuki film for now?“, asks Otoya jokingly. „Ah, it’ll be fine!“, answers Cecil. Tokiya turns to the device. „Welcome to this first video from us, the guys‘ side.“ Everybody, except Natsuki, waves at the camera with big smiles on their faces. „Hello!“ Ren goes over to Syo, who leans against a window, and pats his shoulder. „This little man is the lucky groom today! He is excited to see his bride~!“ Syo blushes but tries to hide it with a frown. „H-hey! Don’t call me short!“
[The camera view gets very shaky]
„Aww, Syo-chan! I‘m so happy for you!!“ „Natsuki! Be careful with the camera-“
[The view is blurry before doing dark]
„Ugh. Natsuki. Can‘t...breathe...“ It‘s definitely Syo‘s voice. „Oh! Sorry!!“ There is laughter now. „Oh, the camera…“ „Don’t worry, Ittoki. I got it.“
[The camera gets picked up]
„Hello, this is Hijirikawa Masato.“, says the voice behind the device. „Welcome again to this little video entry of this special day. We‘re currently in the suite and getting ready.“
[The camera zooms to Syo]
„Kurusu, how are you feeling?“, asks Masato. The blonde smiles fondly. „Amazing! I just can’t wait to see Jules. I’m sure she looks gorgeous. I wish it‘s 10AM already, haha!“ Syo turns around and plays a little with his white suit sleeve, while looking out of the window. Cecil speaks up next. „Could it be that you‘re nervous?“ Syo takes a deep breath. „No! I mean, yeah, maybe a little. I‘m so confident and yet, today, I‘m even more nervous than during important auditions. Well, more like happy, excited, nervous, just so many emotions at once.” Syo turns to his friends again. “Is that normal?” Tokiya smiles at him. “Of course. You’re getting married today, it’s normal to feel like this.” The others nod at Tokiya’s answer.
[The camera zooms out to show the group]
“That’s why you should eat something, Syo-chan!”, exclaims Natsuki and points at the food that they ordered from room service. The young groom sits down at the table. “I’m not really hungry actually…” Otoya lays one of the sandwiches on a plate and puts it in front of Syo. “Believe us, you’re going to need every little bit of strength today.” The blonde idol smiles, nods, and starts nibbling on the sandwich. Then he moves to take his phone. “Maybe I should ask Jules if she’s doing okay…” Ren laughs and takes Syo’s phone. “Nice try, Ochibi-chan, but you guys agreed to not contact and see each other before she‘s walking down the aisle to you!” Syo blushes. “Y-yeah, I know! It’s just...weird without the usual good morning texts and all...”, he mumbles. The others let out a laugh. “These two really can’t live without each other.”, says Cecil. “It’s so adorable!!”, squeals Natsuki. The shorter blonde’s blush deepens. “H-hey now! Stop teasing, guys!” Ren puts his arm around Syo’s shoulders. “Seriously though, we’re so happy for you both. Jules and you are the definition of soulmates and we all are beyond excited to celebrate this important day with you.” Syo bashfully runs his fingers through his hair but has a big smile on his face. “Thank you, guys! I can’t imagine not having you all here with us.” All of them smile warmly. Otoya chuckles. “Man, I’m hungry.” Masato nods behind the camera. “Yeah, let’s eat before it’s time for the ceremony.” Syo waves at the camera. “Thanks for joining us. See ya later!” “See ya!”
[The recording stops]
April 8, 2021 at 9:50 AM
[The recording starts]
“Hello, again to another video ‘diary’ entry! It’s Nanami!”, says the energetic voice behind the camera. “This is the location of the ceremony!”
[The camera view goes around the venue]
There is a lot of green, it’s an outdoor wedding, a white path, and cherry blossoms all around, completing the spring wedding theme with their beauty. In the first row of the white chairs, on the other side of Nanami, sits Quartet Night.
[The camera zooms in a little more]
The four men wave at the camera with Reiji being the most enthusiastic about it. Shining is only one row behind them and looks like he’s about to cry from happiness. Beside him are Ryuya, who’s facepalming at Shining’s behavior, and Ringo who just laughs and says something to his teaching partner.
[The view swings over to the front]
There is Syo speaking with Kaoru, his Best Man. The rest of STARISH are nearby, as well.
[The camera gets closer to the blonde twins]
“Hey, Syo-kun! Are you ready for the big moment?”, asks Nanami. Syo nods. “Yeah! I got the message that she’s here! The ceremony should start pretty soon.” Syo smiles a little. “Hey, Nanami? How does Jules look in her dress?” The redhead chuckles. “I’m sorry, Syo-kun. It’s a secret.” “Not even a little hint?” “Nope!” Kaoru lets out a laugh. “Give it up, Nii-san. Besides, you’re going to see her soon!” Syo plays with his suit’s sleeve. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right.” Suddenly, Natsuki runs over to them. “Message from Jules! She’s on her way! 2 minutes!” The group nods. Everybody is taking their seats or positions. Syo takes a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this!”, he says. „You got this, Syo-kun!“, answers Nanami.
[The view gets really shaky for a moment]
„Alright! The ceremony is about to start.“
[The recording ends]
April 8, 2021 at 10:00 AM
[The recording starts]
Shortly after the camera turns on does music start playing, signaling the arrival of the bride. It’s a very familiar song to everyone. The instrumental version of “Hatsukoi wo Mata Hajimeyou”, requested by Jules and self-proclaimed „couple song“ by the wedding pair. And there she comes. The bride in her wedding gown getting walked down the little path by her father-in-law. The dress is a kimono-inspired blush pink dress with sakura embroidery. Absolutely beautiful. Syo’s eyes start to shine as he sees Jules. His smile is bigger than anyone has ever seen. The brunette’s smile is just as bright. Both of them have tears in their eyes, which could fall any second. The young idol meets his bride and dad halfway down the path. He gives Jules a quick peck on the cheek and turns to his dad to thank him. They exchange a few words and a pat on the shoulder before his dad “gives” Jules over to him. Syo holds out his hand to her. “Shall we, my gorgeous princess?” The blue-eyed girl blushes but takes it without hesitation. „Absolutely, my handsome prince.” Now it is Syo who blushes. Both of them walk together, hand in hand, to the front where the officiant awaits.
[A little while later]
“Now it’s time for the wedding vows.”, the officiant announces. Jules, nervously, goes first.
“My Prince.”, she starts. “There is so much to say and believe me when I say that I wrote down 10 pages full of stuff I wanted to say but I keep it short. I love you. And with every single day that passes, I do more. You are the light in my life that keeps me going, even through the darkest moments. I can always count on you to make me laugh, since literally the moment we’ve met all these years ago. The day you confessed to me feels like it was just yesterday because time with you is flying by so fast. You make me so happy. This may be cliche but you are my best friend who understands me fully and where I don’t have to hide who I am. I know we can manage anything that life throws at us. I can’t wait to explore our life together beside you as your wife! I promise to always love and honor you till the day I die. I love you so much, Syo...”
Syo‘s eyes water again and he leans forward to kiss Jules‘ forehead. „I love you too.“ He squeezes her hands before starting his own vow.
„Jules. My princess. Let me start this off by saying that you’re the best thing that life has ever given me. I don’t know what I did to deserve someone as sweet and supportive as you. You’re definitely thinking now that you’re not worthy to be thought of like that but it’s true. You are everything to me. I will always protect you and remind you every day that you’re absolutely amazing. I love you with my whole being. The fact that you didn’t leave me due to my job but instead always encourage and support me through and through makes me so incredibly thankful to have you in my life. Our ‚Prince of Fighting’ marathons are also always so much fun. I treasure these moments deeply in my heart. I promise, no, I swear, as your prince, that I will always come back home to you, no matter how long we‘re apart and that I‘ll always love and adore you. I love you, princess.“
Tears are running down Jules’ cheeks, which Syo gently wipes away with his thumbs under her glasses. Then he turns his head away to wipe his own teary eyes. The wedding guests are very quiet, seemingly moved by the couple’s vows. After a short pause is it finally time. The officiant turns to Syo first.
“Do you, Syo Kurusu, take Jules Hawthorne to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, honor her, respect her, and be faithful to her, through anything life may bring, for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do!”, answers Syo confidently.
“Do you, Jules Hawthorne, take Syo Kurusu to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, honor him, respect him, and be faithful to him, through anything life may bring, for as long as you both shall live?”
“Yes, I do!”, answers Jules in her soft voice.
The officiant nods at the now married couple. “I hereby happily pronounce you husband and wife! You may now kiss your princess.” Syo turns to Jules with a look full of love. He softly cups her cheeks, asking for permission, which she gives through a slight nod. Then he leans in for a sweet kiss, sealing their promise for eternity. Applause is rising around them as they gently lean their foreheads against each other’s. The couple turn their heads and catch the camera’s view. They chuckle and wave, showing off their rings with excitement. Truly an adorable sight.
[The recording ends]
April 8, 2021 at 12:00 PM
[The recording starts]
“Good afternoon, it’s Tokiya this time. We’re at the reception and waiting for the happy couple to arrive.” A sudden voice interrupts. It’s Cecil. “Hey, when will Syo and Jules arrive?” “Pretty soon, I’m sure.”, answers Ren instead. “I can’t wait~!”, exclaims Natsuki. “Shhh! I think they’re coming!”, says Otoya excitedly. Shining steps forward with a microphone in his hand.
[The camera zooms in on Shining]
“Hello, everyone! I have the great honor today to introduce the newly married couple! Let’s welcome them with a round of applause! Here are Mr. and Mrs. Syo and Jules Kurusu!!!” A big thunder of applause erupts. The married couple comes in, hand in hand, and just as happy as at the ceremony. Syo takes the microphone and addresses the crowd.
“Good afternoon! Thank you so much for coming and celebrating this important milestone with us. It really means a lot! This is the plan for the afternoon and evening. After the reception my wife and I have our first dance.” Jules’ shyness kicks in, which her blush gives away. The blonde gives her an encouraging smile and puts an arm around her. The blue-eyed girl smiles back at her husband. Syo turns back to the guests. “And after that, the buffet and bar are open, so eat and drink to your heart’s content. There are some surprises planned during the wedding party, as well. We really hope you continue to have a lot of fun today! Again, thank you all for coming!” Everyone raises their glasses:
“TO SYO AND JULES!”
[The recording ends]
10 notes · View notes
comingtothetree23 · 4 years
Text
Spider-Verse
Paring: (MCU) Peter Parker x reader
Summary: You and your boyfriend are Spiders, which you love! But now you have you work together with other spiders but without your boyfriend. 
Word count: 3.7K
Warnings: Swearing.
A/N: I dunno if anyone else has done this but I’m gonna try it! Wish me luck fellas!
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“Whoop Whoop! Go miles!” You smiled as you cheered at the newest Spider-man! 
Wait wait wait, Are you guys confused? Alright my bad, Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? 
Your name is (Y/n) (L/n), when you were 14 you and your best friend son turned boyfriend, Peter Parker were bitten by some very special spiders. Which led you two to become Spider-Man and Spider-Woman but what you didn’t know was
....You weren’t the only ones.
One minute you and Peter were fighting the elements with Beck and the next you were teleported in New York. but it wasn’t your New York. 
A lot happened so only we'll show some things alright? Alright. Let's get started boi's.
 ~Getting teleported~
"Spidey! Be careful!" You yelled as your Iron Spider legs lifted you off the ground. Peter was wearing a stealth suit since he was in Washington but you weren't so you wore your iconic iron spider suit (You picked the colors out yourself, not to brag or anything) 
"Sorry!" Peter yelled as he ran up the building trying to avoid the lava. You landed on the farthest wall and aiming your web-shooters before you felt your hand being pulled. You looked over to see a portal? 
"Whoa! What the!?" You yelled as your iron legs tried to get you away but it didn't work, you were being sucked in!, "Nononononono!" You mumble as you try getting out, alerting Peter and Beck.
"Rosebud?" Peter looked over at you, giving you his dumb nickname before realizing you were in trouble, "(Y/n)!" He swung over to you and grabbed your reminding hand, "(Y/n), Don't worry. You'll be fine." You looked over at Peter and your masks eyes showed fear, you all could tell. Beck and the monster were surprisingly silent as this happens. 
"P-Pete..." You whispered in fear, not knowing what to do. Peter makes the eyes of his mask shoot up, showing you his amazing beautiful brown eyes, "I-I don't...." Peter frown as pulls on your arm. That's when you get fully sucked in, you heard one last thing before you went.
"(Y/N)!!"
You felt like you were glitching as you moved around this weird landscape, You landed on the ground on your feet. You looked around the city to see New York? But it was your New York...So, where were you?
You looked over to see a flash of white, pink, and blue. You looked over to see a spider-person? It looks like a female Spider-man like you?
"Hey, Wait!" You yell before running over the person but they were as fast as you, which was hard to believe, "Wait up!" The person didn't stop making you growl. You aim your web-shooters before shooting the person's feet, making them fall. You run over to the person seeing and gasping as you see their mask, it was another Spider-person!
"What the..?" You mutter before you felt your Spidey-sense go off, you made you stumble a little. It wasn't a threat though it felt like... a friend, just like it did when you and Pete were first bitten. The other person seems to feel the same way as you two stare at each other.
"You're like me...." You both say at the same time, surprising you and it looked like her too.
"I'm so sorry." You apologized as you run over to get the web off of her feet. You hit your head as you reached for the 'hand sanitizer' Peter made for the webs.
"It's chill." Was all she said as she watched in shock of the sanitizer actually working. She also seemed to be admiring your Iron suit. Her's was spandex just like you're and Peter's were. 
"I didn't mean to hurt you it's just..." You let out a small sigh before sitting down, "I don't know where I am. This isn't my home I don't know what to do." You started to rant as you put a hand on the op of your metal mask.
"Hey, Hey." You stopped once you felt her hand on your shoulder, You looked up and gasped as you saw...Gwen Stacy? She was a Spider-Person?, "I don't belong here too." She spoke softly to you, well....that made more sense actually.
"This isn't your New York?" You ask as you retracted your model mask, showing your face to her. She looked at you in shock before shaking her head.
"No, it isn't." She looked down for a moment before looking up at you, "Is your name (Y/n)? (Y/n) (L/n) By any chance?" You look at her face and she looked really nervous asking you that.
"Yea. yea it is. Gwen Stacy?" You ask her with a frown, soon to become smile you could tell. She gave a small nod, "I didn't know you were a Spider-Woman too? I thought me and my boyfriend were the only ones."
"Boyfriend?" She looked over at you with questioning eyes, "You have a boyfriend?" You gave a nod, "What's his name?"
"Spider-man."
"I knew th-"
"I'm kidding." You gave a small laugh as yu nudge her gently, "His name is Peter, We were both bit by a spider. I'm assuming that's what happened to you?" Gwen's eyes widen as she looks down in thought.
"Peter? Peter Parker?" You looked over at her with a nod, "Okay, Something's wrong here. Last time I checked (Y/n) wasn't Spider-woman and Peter Parker died." She stood up and started to pace.
"D-Died!?" You asked standing up quickly, "Peter isn't dead! And last time I checked Gwen wasn't Spider-Woman either." You walked over to her, "So something is certainly wrong."  
"Earth-quacks are happening around town." You heard a build board say, making you and Gwen walk closer to it, looking at it. That's when you noticed something weird.
"Hey." You pointed to the news station, "That was last weeks' date." You and Gwen look at each other confused, "That means we're in the future." 
"And a different dimension." Gwen finished making you look at her like she was crazy, she raised her hands in defense, "That's the only thing that makes sense right now, (Y/n)."  You look down in thought before your spider-sense starts going off again, you both look toward a school.
"Let's go figure this out." You spoke before you put your mask back on and swung away, Gwen quickly following. 
~Meeting Miles and Peter B.~
"Do you hear that?" You ask Gwen as you two quickly put your masks on. It was quite a bit away but it sounded like screaming?
"That must be where we're heading." She spoke up before looking at you with a nod. you nod at her before incasing the screen of your mask, thanks to Karen (I miss her) 
"I-It's Spider-Man? And other Spider-...man?" You explained before pointing to where they are, "They're over there. We betting get moving quickly. They're being chased by a weird doctor." Gwen nodded before you two swing over to help them.
You were distracting the other back-up while Gwen dealt with the crazy doctor. When you were done you decided to head back over by Gwen where you saw you put the two in a web-like they were flies.
"Heh, That's cute." You spoke up, landing next to her right as she took off her mask, showing the world her new hair-syle. You gave her a look with the eyes of your mask as she gently pushed you away, making you laugh,
"Hey, Guys." She spoke to the two males in front of you, You look over to them and tilted your head a little at them. You had questions for both of them, especially the one in a make-shift costume of Spider-Man. Well, you couldn't quite judge, you and Peter weren't that far off when you began.
"Gwanda?" Miles asked as he looked over at Gwen, you looked over at his eyes before yours widen in recognition. That was Miles! 
"It's Gwen actually." She answered giving him a look while still looking badass and beautiful! If you haven't noticed you and Gwen became fats friends.
"Oh, so you know her. Cool. " Spider-Man spoke up, making the three of you look over at him. You were giving him a look because didn't Peter Parker die in this dimension? 
 "We're from another dimension." You gave her a look through the mask, making her add, "Another another dimension. There happy?" She whispered that last party to you.
"Very." You chirped happily, The two finally look over at you. You gave a small smile as you retracted the medal off your face, showing them your beauty and grace. 
"Who are you?" Miles asks pointing to you. Making Spider-Man look at him.
"You don't know her?" he asked, making Miles shake his head no.
"Don't worry." You smirk as you wrap your arm around Gwen's shoulders, "We'll explain." 
~Meeting the rest of the Spiders~
"Oh my lord, Peter?" You semi looking over at Peter B, "Is yours like this?"
"yes but um, no geep and way smaller." Peter started to explain but you shook your head cutting him off. It was still weird because he was Peter but he wasn't your Peter. And he was way older and apparently married to M.J. when did that happen?
"Peter.." Miles whisper making Peter and you both look at him. He smirked as he tugged on the red cape, "I think this is a cape."
Peter chuckled at him as he dropped the cape, Gwen nudged you as you both smiled at the two. Miles soon was looking at an OG Spider-Suit.
"Peter knew how dangerous this job was." Aunt May started, making you look over at her. You also weren't used to her being old...no offense, "but he figured the only guy who could stop him was Spider-Man."  You all walk over to a bourd where it showed how he figure out where to go.
"Kingpin knows were coming. Were going to be outnumbered." Miles explained as he looked over at you all. You looked at him sadly before nodding in agreement.
"And how many guys does this guy has?" You ask Miles who was there when this universes Peter died. Miles didn't answer instead he started looking down, which was the only answer you needed.
"Don't be so sure." Aunt May smirked at you guys, "You might need these." She pulled out some name tags and pens. All of your senses started going off as you look at the ceiling, "You think you're the only ones who thought of coming here?" May smirked
 "Hey fellas." A black and white Spider-Man tipped his hat off at you guys, his cape moving in the wind. 
"Is he in black and white?" Miles whispered to you, causing you to shrug. 
"Where is that wind coming from we're in a basement?" Peter asks looking completely and utterly annoyed. 
"Where ever I go the wind follows," Spider-noir explains while moving his hand around dramatically, "And the mind smells like rain."
"Hi guys." An anime looking looks smiles as she and her robots land on the ground while doing cool poses. You stare at her in awe, mostly because of her robot.
"This could literally not get any weirder."
"You just had to say that," You deadpanned at Peter as you see the pig coming closer, "Never say that. It's bad luck. Steve taught me that one."
"It can get weirder." Porker smirks as he holds out his wet hands, "I just washed y hands that's why their wet....not any other reason."  You all stare at him for a moment before you smirk.
"I'm shaking his hand." And before anyone could tell you otherwise you shook the pig's hand, making him a little too happy for a simple handshake. All of your senses started going off again as you all stared at each other.
"You're like me." The three-spoke in unison. That's when they all started going off their life story.
"Okay enough!" Peter yelled making the three-stop explaining, it was started to get a little too weird for you. You know the girl who lives at the Avengers tower. Peter walked toward Noir as he asks, "So how did you get here?"
"Well, It's kind of a long story." Noir started, making you let out a sigh before walking forward next to Peter with a look that says 'I just wanna sleep'.
"Let me guess, teleported away from home." You counted on your iron spiders, "landed on a building, Figured out you were in the wrong dimension?" You gave the three a look, making them all look sheepish.
"Maybe not that long." Noir shrugged at you. 
"Now we're just trying to find a way home," Penny spoke up, making the saddest puppy dog eyes you've ever seen. Scratch that, Peter gives you puppy dog eyes all the time, and those are adorable! You looked up at the robot to see that it gave you a sad face too. 
"The only way home is through that calider gizmo." Noir started making you all look over at him, "The only trouble is." 
"One of us has to stay behind to destroy it." Porker finished as he gently punched one of the cases holding the Spider-suits. You frown as you look at him, knowing what he said was true. You knew what had to be done.
"I'll do it." You all said in unison, minus Miles. You look at the Spider's in shock, you weren't expecting them to think the same thing. Fuck! You forgot their Super-heroes like you! 
"Nonono, You guys don't get it." Miles started, making you look at him as he looks at you guys determined.
"Don't get what?" Penny asks with her arms crossed. That was when you all decided to glitch like crazy.
Not to be negative for anything but this hurt like a bitch! You let out a yelp in pain before you formed back on the floor, looking at the floor with your hair in your face. You looked up at Miles and nodded weakly at him, You knew he could handle this.
~The pep talk~
You shook your head as you climb in Miles window with the others, You made eye contact with Miles before he wiped his face avoiding eye contact. 
"Hey, bud." He whispered so quietly if you didn't have super-hearing you wouldn't have heard him.
"You okay?" Peter asks him, already knowing the answer. You all did you all went through this one way or another. When Miles didn't answer Peter put his hand on his shoulder saying, "We've all been there." He finally made eye contact with Peter, "For me, For me, it was my uncle Ben." Oh, you remembered him.
"For me, it was, my uncle Benjamin." Noir also put his hand on Miles other shoulder. Looking as close to sad as Noir can get.
"For me, it was my father." Penny's eyes got glossy as she looked at the floor, trying not to cry you understood. 
 "For me, it was my best friend," Gwen spoke softly looking at Miles with her understanding blue eyes. You frowned as you knew it was hard for everyone to talk about the people they've lost.
"For me..." You started softly, not looking at Miles just yet. You were fiddling with your fingers, "It was my Menter, Tony Stark." You looked up at Miles with watery eyes. Tony really was a father to do even if you didn't know him for very long, you knew Peter felt the same. 
"Miles," Porker spoke, making you all looking over at him, "The hardest thing about this job is You can't always save everybody."
"But it was my fault. You wouldn't understand." Miles spoke, not looking any of you in the eyes. Gwen was quick to turn and face him.
"Miles were probably the only ones who do understand." She spoke softly but firmly, needing to make sure Miles knew what she was saying was true.
"Even if you feel like we don't we really do understand." You explained in a more soft voice, "We've all been in your situation." You thought back to the snap, Tony's snap. You remember his eyes right before he passes in front of you. You remembered how both you and Peter cried in front of him, begging him not to go.
After avoiding the roommate or at least trying you gave Miles and pat on the back and left through the window. Sitting there watching as Peter tried to get any reaction out of him. You all knew that... He wasn't ready. 
You frown and hugged yourself a little tighter and retracted your iron mask as you heard Peter leave the window. 
~Now~
"Whoop! Whoop! Go, Miles!" You smiled as you watch Miles land next to Peter. You look over at Gwen with a smirk, "You ready to get fighting?" You could tell by the eyes of her mask that she was ready.
And so, You fought. You fought almost as hard as you ever fought (Thanos army is hard to beat) and you found yourself smirking and making jokes as you fought, just like you did before Thanos came to earth those five years ago. You all met at the ceiling where Miles were working the thing.
"Guess this is it." Gwen says, looking at all of you. You retracted your mask to give everyone a smile. 
"Well, Nice to know we're not alone." She smiles at all fo you while you stare at her before smiling, "right?"
"Right." You and Gwen say at the time time. 
"I got the portal open." he gives Penny a smile, "You first Penny."
"Thank you, Miles." she looked down at her spider before giggling lightly, "from both of us." She gave a salute as she falls down to the portal. The colors turning Red and Blue as she goes home.
"I-uh love you all." Noir spoke up, making you give him a smile, "I'm taking this cube thing with me." She showed you all the cube, "I don't understand it, but I will."
"You go, man." You smiled at him. He gave you all a salute too before he falls down, as he goes home the colors turned black and white.
"I want you to have this," Porker spoke to miles, showing him his gaint hammer, "it'll fit in your pocket." Miles takes the hammer.
"Lucky..."
"that's all folks." He lifted up his arms as he started to fall down.
"Is he allowed to say that? Legally?"
"I dunno, man." The colors for him turned crazy and cartoony as he went home.
"Do I get to like the hairdo now?" Miles smirks at Gwen, you gave a small chuckle at that. Peter would have said the same thing to you.
"You know I'm older than you? 15 months but that's really significant if you ask me." She gives Miles a smirk as they both stare at each other, Miles saying Something that you really don't understand, you were probably on patrol or something. 
"Nice." Gwen moved away with a smile.
"Friends?" Miles held out his hand for a handshake.
"Friends." Gwen smiles at him, her thumb rubbing his hand a little, "See ya around, Spider-Man." She smiles before turning to look at you, "Thank you (Y/n), for being there for me."
"Aw, don't go mushy for me." You smirk as you open your arms for a hug, Gwen tense a little before giving you your hug. 
"See you later, Spider-Woman." She says as you two pull apart you give you all a smile before falling down the portal, her colors were pastel.
"Guess it's my turn." You sigh looking at the portal as Miles nodded. You looked over to him and gives him a pat on the back, "You did do good man! I'm so proud of you! You're going to be an amazing Spider-Man." You gave him a sincere smile as you finish, "trust me." 
"Thanks." Miles smiles at you before you turn and look at Peter. 
"Make things work with M.J, Tiger." You smirk as you give him finger guns, he gives you a tight smile and you give him a normal one, "I mean it, live your best life, man." That's when he gave you an actually smile making it worth it.
You let out and let yourself fall into eh portal, you were able to see that your colors were your two favorite colors. You smiled as you close your eyes knowing Miles can handle being Spider-Man.
When you opened your eyes you were on a bridge, a badly damaged bridge. You grimace as you look at the damage around you.
"What happened here?" You mutter before you retreat your mask as you see someone walking toward you. Your eyes widen as you see it was your Peter. He was hurt but not that hurt his eyes widen when he saw you too.
"(Y/n)?" He couldn't stop the smile that went onto his face, "(Y/n)!" he ran over and gave you the best hug you ever got. He picked you up and sprung you around as you laugh a retract your iron mask. When he finally let you do you look down at his new suit and the damage around you.
"Soo, What happened here?" You asked Peter who was snuggling his face into your neck, giving it a good kiss or two.
"So much, I'll have to explain to you later. What about you?"
"I'll explain to you later." You smile as you cup both of his cheeks, making him look at you, "For now, I have something more important to do." You give him a firm but still loving kiss on the lips.
Peter admittedly kiss you back, making you smile into the kiss as you wrap your arms around his neck.
God, you missed your dimension!
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doomstypewriter · 4 years
Text
Helpless Au - A draft fragment
This is my Prinxiety ghost/haunted mansion AU. 
More about the AU
If anyone wants to be tagged on posts regarding the AU, please, just comment, I’ll be thrilled. 
Helpless Au - A draft fragment: In which Logan saves Virgil’s life from a situation worse than social interaction and, thus, they become best friends. 
This is written quickly, because it’s a draft, not to say that it’s poorly written (although that would be for each one to judge), just that some transitions are fast as a means to tell efficiently what’s going on. 
CW: Persecution, swearing, anxiety on Virgil’s part (but that is to be expected). Nothing more I can think of (don’t hesitate to tell me if you find anything else). 
Word count: 2069 (heh, you know what that means). 
Virgil goes down the pathway that takes him out of the grounds of Patton’s house. Even though the sun is still setting, there’s a certain degree of darkness because the clouds have turned black. A pouring is about to start, Virgil rushes so he doesn’t get caught in it on his way back to the mansion. 
He reaches the dirt path that’s beside the road, he ought to be in the mansion in a matter of five minutes, provided that he walks at a decent pace. Patton’s house is relatively near the mansion, but, for starters, Patton’s garden and the mansion’s are equally enormous, and, secondly, the access that connects them by road, the only way to come back without jumping a fence (which wouldn’t have been an ideal first impression for Patton’s grandma, but, now that Virgil knows her, perhaps the strange woman would have found it hilarious), is quite twisted. 
Virgil sees a person walking in the distance. He doesn’t really care for it, he simply internally prays that they won’t speak to him. Social interaction would be worse than anything. ANYTHING. 
Predictably, it begins to rain and Virgil quickly gets his folding umbrella out of his backpack. Quite a thoughtful present from his dad, not to mention the cool design with a giant white skull on a black background. He keeps on walking whilst thinking ‘fuck, my converse are turning into soup. Heh, my converse are at soup. But, for real, this is horrible’. 
After a while he realises that the person from before is keeping the same distance and Virgil proceeds to methodically overthink it: ‘they don’t have an umbrella, how is it that they aren’t walking faster? They’re getting drenched!’. He asks himself too where are they even going, taking into account that the only thing ahead is the mansion. In the end, Virgil chooses to walk faster. So does whoever. This is when Virgil lets go off his umbrella and RUNS. 
Our favourite emo searches for his phone, but lo and behold, it’s not anywhere to be found. The memory hits him like a brick ‘OH SHIT I MUST HAVE FORGOT IT AT PATTON’S. COOL. I’M GOING TO DIE’. The stalker keeps on running and jumps over the umbrella, sprinting towards him.
Suddenly, a bike races by and skids into a stop with a deafening sound of the brakes. Logan is on that bike. 
He looks at Virgil with a deadly serious expression and tells him to hop on. Virgil runs for the bike and gets on holding onto Logan. 
Logan starts pedaling like a bat out of hell. THANK EVERYTHING THAT LOGAN’S LEGS ARE LONG. 
“Sorry for not bringing a spare helmet, I wasn’t prepared for this happening”.
“Honestly, I don’t fucking care. You just saved my life”. 
Would you look at that, there was something worse than social interaction after all. The universe must love him dearly to correct him in such a kind way. 
“I wouldn’t exactly say so, but that man running after you is certainly distressing”. 
“Light way to put it”. 
“You’re right. It was scary. We ought to call the police as soon as possible”. 
“You bet. What the fuck was that?” 
“I don’t know. Oh, on the subject of calling, you left your phone at Patton’s”.
“Yeah, I found out while I was being chased. Honestly, thank god for my forgetful ass”. 
Logan laughs loudly. 
“Indeed”. 
“I won’t tell Patton you laughed”. 
“Thank you”. 
“No, thank YOU, man”. 
They arrive at the mansion completely soaked. He asks Logan for his phone and calls Janus to open the door. 
After a while, the entrance door swings open. 
Janus starts by saying: “Sorry if you rang the doorbell, I was in my room and I didn’t…” that’s when he takes a proper look at his brother and Logan and is worried sick. The only thing he can ask, obviously, is: “WHAT HAPPENED?!”
Virgil explains, not gladly, none of the events could quite get him in the mood, the world shall be left wondering why. 
Janus tells him to take Logan to one of the bathrooms and let him borrow some clothes so he can get the shower he so desperately seems to be needing and also instructs him to do the same while he calls the police and their father. 
The sound of keys then is heard. Janus mentally tells himself ‘one less call, then’. 
The father enters frantically asking for Virgil, two umbrellas in his hand. 
He sees him wet from head to toe in the hall with his friend and runs to hug his son. 
“I saw your umbrella laying on the road on my way here. Thank god you’re fine. What happened?” he asks while looking at his sons and Logan. 
Janus gestures him while on the phone and mouths an ‘I’m on it’. 
“Okay, tell me after getting a shower, both of you. Lend him some clothes, you can take some of mine if they don’t fit. Oh, hello, by the way, I’m Virgil’s dad” he says as he offers his hand.  
Logan gladly takes it. Yes, gladly, because social acceptance and interaction are quite refreshing from his usual interpersonal awkwardness. 
“Greetings as well, I’m Logan, and I’m Virgil’s…” he thinks about how to phrase it properly but Virgil simply cuts him. 
“He’s my friend, dad”. 
“Oh, gosh, you made a new friend! That’s great son! Well, we can talk later, go get that shower”. 
“Okay. Follow  me Logan”. 
They both climb the main stairs and turn to the block of rooms to the left. 
Logan talks about the architecture all the way. They go up the spiral staircase. He mentions that the painting of the house that hanged in front of the stairs looks like an impressionist depiction of a British manor of the sixteenth century. Virgil blinks like on a vine and asks him how does he know that. 
“I have an appreciation for architecture”. 
“Just as you do for poetry”. 
“Indeed”.
They reach the bathroom of the second floor. 
Virgil tells him that he’ll go to his room to fetch some clothing and might leave it on a chair outside or in the bedroom nextdoor. 
“I’ll see you at the living-room”. 
“How can I find it?” 
“Go downstairs back to the hall and then to the left, it’s the room with the big ass stage”.
“That seems a little excessive”.
“Yeah, the dude who made the house was extra af”. 
The police arrives and takes their statement. A middle aged woman and her young male partner question them. The partner looks kind of goofy but pays full attention, the lady, on the other side, looks like she is done with life after having seen too much shit, but she is really nice. 
“Look, guys, I’m going to be honest with ya. It’s hard to tell if we may find whoever did that, because you haven’t seen their face. Without that, there isn’t that much we can do to find them. Pressing charges is hardly possible because they did not assault you nor pulled out a gun. What they did to you was bad, and I’d love to be able to help more, but I cannot tell you how this is going to turn out, it’s a tricky situation”. 
“Excuse me, ma'am, but, hadn’t I arrived when I did, anything could have happened to my friend. It is most distressing to have someone chase you down and I can’t make out what their intentions would be to do such a thing if the individual didn’t plan something nasty”. 
“We know it’s unfair, well make sure to catch them!” the goofy-looking guy answers this time.  In his righteous enthusiasm he coughs a few times. 
“Asthma too?”. 
The guy looks at him awkwardly and nods. 
“Can I speak to you alone, son?” the lady asks Virgil. 
“Sure”. 
They leave the room to the corridor of high ceilings that connects it to the library and the main dining room. The voice of his father and Ethan are coming from the library, discussing their shared worries. The talking ends as soon as they hear them. 
“Why do you think that person was chasing you?” 
“How could I know? Am I in trouble for something?” 
“Uuuugh” she pinches the bridge of her nose “shit, I didn’t mean to make it sound like that. Look, if anything remotely weird has happened, that could link to that person chasing you I need to know, I want you guys to be safe. It’s never a good sign to be chased by someone on a lonely road. Tell me, it’s my understanding that you and your family have been here for a month, has anything out of the ordinary occurred? Something that could alarm you?”
“I’m the kind of person that is alarmed by mostly anything so you’ll have to be more specific”.
“I’m also that kind of person, Virgil, so I hope you understand what I tell you when I say that there’s the ordinary kind of alarming; like the fear forgetting about closing your front door, and finding that door open after you made sure to check it was closed”. 
Virgil breathes in with tension. He feels watched. Not precisely by his family, which is odd. Who else would be watching? Damn, this hypervigilance thing was driving him nuts. Although, this once it made total sense, the situation had been a perfect brew for anxiety. 
“Would you mind following me elsewhere?” 
“Sure”. 
On their way upstairs, to the tower room, Virgil adds: 
“Okay, I know it seems kinda weird to make you climb all of these stairs and unnecessarily mysterious, but my room is the ‘loneliest place in the castle’ and I don’t want my family to get worried if they overhear this”.
“It’s fine, son, that’s perfectly understandable”. 
They enter the room and the lady whistles in awe. 
“Wow, what a room you got here, I’d wish I’ve had this when I was your age”. 
“Well, you must be the only one”. 
“Why is that?”. 
“Everybody keeps on ranting about how this place is freaky”. 
“Is it?”. 
“No. This and the library are the nicest places in the house. I like being able to see so much”. 
Virgil guides her to one of the windows. 
“Well, with the panoramic view, it’s almost like a watch tower”. “There” Virgil points at the part of Patton’s garden that’s visible. “A few nights ago I spotted a guy talking at a phone, I think he saw me watching him, because when he looked at the tower he immediately left”. 
Later, when the police has left, Logan tells him that he is trans. Why? Well, he has to stay the night because the pouring is more like a violent storm. Also, Patton might kill him if he doesn’t take off his binder, which he put back on in spite of being soaked. 
“Don’t worry, I’ve got your back dude. Here, have this, it’s one of my baggiest”. 
On Virgil’s hand is a giant black zip-up hoodie. 
“It’s not much of my style, and not the most elegant solution, but it will suffice. Although, it is very comfortable and the fabric texture is kind on the skin. Thank you very much. I shall take off my binder and put it on”. 
“Toilet’s over there. Place the binder on the radiator so it dries”. 
Virgil tends to his devices. Logan comes back with the hoodie on, comfy as ever. 
“Are we having a sleepover?” 
“I don’t know. Do you want us to have one?”
“I’m unsure as to if it’s appropriate given the circumstances that brought me here, as well as the fact that I have no expertise on the subject”. 
“Neither do I, but it could be cool. We can have a spooky sleepover, throw some candles here and there and read Edgar Allan Poe or watch some horror films”. “I’m not convinced by the horror films, but, perhaps some Hitchcock would be a suitable replacement suggestion and we may add Bukowski to the least of authors to read”. 
“Sounds fine by me. Maybe we could get Patton on Skype”. 
“I’d enjoy that. On a different note, it’s getting late, we should have dinner”. 
“Uh, sorry, right, you probably didn’t have time at Patton’s”. 
“Not to worry, though, I’m glad I didn’t. Otherwise I wouldn’t have caught you in time”. 
“Ain’t that the truth”.
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