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headcans-oneshots-and-stuff · 3 years

Text

Overworked

Fandom: DC Pairing: Batsis!reader x Batfamily Word count: 3k Summay: Your on your way to be the next C.E.O. of Wayne Enterprises, but the road is filled with challenges and a lack of self-care that your family can’t help but worry about (based on this) Warning: Slight angst and unconciousness, near death experience Requested by a pretty great Anon: Can you do a one shot of future ceo batsis overworking herself with long days and vigilante nights and she’s basically not sleeping or taking care of herself and batfams gotta step in and make her listen to reason.

The cup of coffee had already grown cold, the liquid inside it stale and surely undrinkable, when you reached for it. Hardly the first few drops of the liquid had ran down your throat when you realized the horrible transition it had gone through from the nectar of productivity to the lovechild of tar and sulfur, your face distorting into an expression of utmost disgust as you quickly put it back down and besides the other six paper-cups that were all half-filled at most. You sighed when you realized that it must have already been an hour since you had made - and after completely forgot about - the coffee. It really was a cursed circle that you had been going through for the last eight hours. You made a cup, brought it to your office, drank a bit, forgot about it and realized how horrible it now tasted half an hour or so later and then you took at least another twenty minutes before deciding to head for your next cup. Was it already time for the next one? No, it could wait a bit longer. You turned your attention back to the screen in front of you - or rather the three screens - and let your eyes fly over all the data and graphs and numbers that you had to have in a presentable form by next morning for the monthly debriefing. This time would be your first time without Bruce on the sidelines and overlooking your work, a fact that made you feel proud at your accomplishment while simultaneously scaring you to the core. You knew that logically it wouldn’t be different than the last two - which you had also done basically solo with Bruce only sitting beside you silently observing - but there was still that internal voice that told you that without your father by your side the board would rip you apart until nothing was left over. You didn’t know what exactly caused it but suddenly you felt dizzy and the letters and numbers in front of you started swimming around, turning into absolute gibberish, the neon-lights of the screen hurting your eyes. No, not the screens themselves, it was the contrast between the brightly lit screens and the darkness that spread out behind them. It was only then that you let your gaze move behind the confines of your office and through the glass doors to the rest of the office space that was completely engulfed in darkness. Now you realized that it wasn’t only that, it was more, there was no soul wandering the floor and no sound beside the ever-so-steady growling of the computer fan and the clicking of your keyboard. “Fuck,” you couldn’t help but mutter when you looked at the clock beside you which already read half past nine. Which meant that you only had half an hour at most before your patrol started. Ignoring the pounding that built up in your head you tried to remember how it was possible for the time to surprise you like that. You had come to work at eight that morning and had spent two hours calling around, checking on contracts and meeting with potential clients, then you had your daily briefing with the department heads - which had extended into almost an hour because Brad from PR really couldn’t get his shit together - then you had to talk to HR about finding a possible replacement for Brad from PR and after you had started working on the numbers. And now you were standing in the elevator on your way to the car park. Did you have Lunch today? No, you had to skip Lunch break for Brad. What about Breakfast? No, wait, you forgot about that too. You rubbed your eyes and felt the need to curse rise again when you realized that you’d have to get right back to the numbers as soon as you had finished patrol which meant that you wouldn’t be able to sleep yet again. What was that? The fourth night in a row? Your only solace was the possibility that you’d maybe finish quickly and get a good one to two hours before you had to be back in the office, but deep inside you knew that it was unlikely. It hadn’t worked the last four nights either. But you’d pull through. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. After tomorrow’s meeting you’d go home at a normal time and indulge yourself in that full meal your stomach had been begging you for, sleep for a full eight hours and maybe even watch a movie if you felt especially crazy. Just for one night you’d really let yourself go. But for that to be possible you had to bite your teeth together and stay on your path.

The elevator arrived at the car park and you quickly rushed to your car and made your way to your apartment which - for maximum efficiency - was only a five minute drive away from the Wayne Ent. Tower, where you quickly rushed into the hidden side room to change into your gear. As you checked the time you realized that you still had a good five minutes before you had to check in with your father and you had to very quickly decide between your two options: quickly eat something or make and drink another coffee. You decided for the second one, but as you made your way to the kitchen counter where your coffee machine stood you caught a glimpse of the unopened stack of mail on the kitchen island and with a sigh decided to just get that over with, effectively ignoring both your previous options. The letters were rather quickly sorted through and before you knew you were standing on a nearby ceiling and activated your comm. “Y/H/N reporting from area 7.4 in central Gotham.” “Good evening Y/H/N, it’s Oracle, I’ll be your voice in the background tonight,” Barbara’s voice echoed through your ears and after exchanging the usual greetings she quickly gave you the location of a robbery in progress. With quick, experienced movements you jumped over the roofs until you stood on the ceiling of a jewelry which was - luckily for you - made out of glass. There was only a single man in the darkness of the store below you, using a flashlight to clean out the display cases, and he wasn’t especially silent so you used the noise to your advantage as you opened one of the few ceiling windows that were openable and let yourself glide down with a hook. “I think you have to pay for that,” you interrupted the robber who quickly turned around, his face hidden by a black, knitted hat with badly cut out holes for the eyes. He was definitely no professional. The man - obviously panicked - got out a gun with shaky hands and pointed it at you, but before he could even think of shooting you had thrown a batarang and the piece of weaponry landed on the floor too far from him that he could reach it before you. Seemingly not seeing another option the man started charging at you and you just sighed and said: “I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” but by the end of the sentence his fist tried to make contact with your masked face, but you caught his hand expertly and used the momentum to twist it behind his back, grabbing the other one too and with quick movements you had used a pair of handcuffs that you had in your bat-belt™ to chain him to one of the displays before letting him go. “If you’ll excuse me for a second,” you mumbled before walking a few feet away where you told Barbara to contact the police and tell him they didn’t need to hurry. You had just finished the conversation and muted your mic again when the same dizziness as earlier in the office hit you but this time tenfold. It was like the ground was swaying below you and you had to take ahole of a countertop so that you didn’t fall. “Hey, are you okay, you look kinda sick,” the robber asked in an actual concerned voice, but you didn’t answer, instead you quickly used the hook you had attached earlier to let yourself swing out of the window again. “Y/H/N?” Barbara contacted you and you tried your best to swallow down the weakness in your muscles that suddenly seemed to grow over you. “Yeah?” “Bats asks you to meet him on the roof of the Jefferson building down in third.” “Tell him I’ll be there in a minute.”

You gave yourself another few seconds to collect yourself before you did as you were told and made your way over to the roof of the builduing Babs’ had told you to go to, the dark silhouette of your father’s persona already expecting you there. Like you had done so often before, you started to run towards the edge of the building next to it - the one you were currently on - and made yourself ready to jump, only for your muscles to suddenly give up on you and the only thing you felt next was the rushing of air as you were falling and then the sudden stop and pain in your wrist as something caught you. Bruce quickly pulled you up and even with the cowl you could see the concern. “You okay?” he asked, his voice worried which definitely sounded uncanny in connection with what he was wearing. “Uhm yeah, my legs just kind of gave up on me there,” you tried to wave it off with a chuckle, not wanting him to see that you were frightened to your core. “Y/H/N?” he asked again in that voice he had always used when you tried to sneak out at night and lied when he had caught you. He hadn’t used that voice in so long. “I’m serious Batman, everything is okay, it’s no big deal,” you huffed - now defensive - and stood up with your arms crossed in front of your chest. “It is when you suddenly fall from a roof. What would have been if I hadn’t been there to catch you?” he asked, now slight anger edging through the worry, but you couldn’t blame him. “I’m sorry, okay, it won’t happen again,” you sighed and hoped he would just let it go, especially considering that the dizziness started to return. Along with it came the heaviness of your eyelids that you had gotten used to that somehow now seemed to actively pull you down. You raised your hand to rub your eyes - hoping it would put some more live back into you - but even that slight movement seemed to be too much as the world started swaying again and you felt gravity getting the best of you. Something black started moving in front of you and you weren’t quite sure if you were falling unconscious or if it was Bruce who came towards you to catch your falling form, but it turned out to be latter when you found yourself being lowered to the ground and propped against the end of one of the vantilator shafts of the building with Bruce kneeling beside you. “You’re definitely not okay,” he muttered as he held your face in his hands to get you to look at him. “I’m just a little bit tired is all,” you tried to argue, but your voice was weak and almost started lulling. “When was the last time you slept? Or ate?” You shut your eyes in concentration as you tried to remember. “Wait I know the answer to that one,” you muttered but almost fell asleep, only being kept away when your head started falling downwards, “What did you ask again?” “When was the last time you slept an entire night?” he tried again, this time more specific. “What day is it today?” “Friday.” “Then I think it was Monday,” you whispered since suddenly the loud noise of your voice seemed to pierce your skull apart. “You were on Patrol from nine to two a.m. on Monday,” Bruce disagreed and you almost chuckled. “Yes, and after I went to bed and got a full five hours. That’s pretty good isn’t it,” you couldn’t help but smile almost proudly, your mind starting to fog up with bubblegum coloured smoke that made it impossible to think straight. “And when did you last eat?” Bruce sighed, worry and recognition crossed his face. He himself must have known too well what you were going through. You averted your eyes and looked down at your lap where you played with your hands like an embarrassed child. “Also Monday,” you mumbled and Bruce immediately shook his head. “That’s not okay, you have to take care of yourself Y/H/N, you’re no good for anyone when you don’t.” You weren’t sure if it was only tired paranoia that made you see only disappointment on your fathers face - that ignored all the worry - but suddenly the prospect of having disappointed him, the one thing that you were trying to avoid ever since you could remember, made tears well up in your eyes and your lip quiver, “‘M sorry,” you could just press out before the tears started rolling. Bruce immediately regretted his tone of voice, but he knew nothing he would say now would be remembered by you so he just pulled you up from the roof and started carrying your already passing out form towards the batmobil. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow…”

The feeling of waking up rested was foreign to you, especially since it wasn’t one of your four separate alarms that woke you, and caused you to immediately sit up, only to be pulled back into the mattress. Your eyes flew open and explored your surroundings. The chandelier above you, with rainbow-coloured glass-pendants and the dark blue dealing with the painted stars immediately calmed you again. This room was your childhood bedroom which meant that you were in the manor, which in turn meant that you were safe. For a moment the calm was pretty nice, but then you remembered your case of immovability and looked down at where your wrists came out from under the cover. They were bound by silky bands and a move of your feet told you that the same was the case for them. While you were contemplating ways to get out of the unbelievably good, but still comfortable restraints, the door started to open and you turned as well as you could towards where you smallest (figuratively and literally) brother entered. “Your awake?” he asked in his usual stern voice, but you had known him for long enough to recognize the hidden worry. “Yeah, mind telling me why I’m strapped to my bed?” “Forced self-care,” he stated matter-of-factly and you couldn't help but narrow your eyes. “What?” “You fainted on Patrol, father says you haven’t eaten or slept since last Monday so we took measures to make sure you wouldn’t kill yourself with how careless you are.” You wanted to reply with something snarky, but you were well aware that what he said was probably right. “I’m sorry okay, I just had a lot on my plate, but you’re right and I feel a lot better now that I had some sleep, so you can let me go again,” you tried to smooth your way out of there, but you had the slight suspicion that it was hopeless. “I respect your try but you will not be let go until father is certain that you’re better.”

“But I am better!” you whined and tried yet again to wiggle yourself out of the restraints. Damian just raised his eyebrows unimpressed. He walked over to a chair that was standing beside your bed and as you followed him with your eyes you noticed the shutted curtains and the small gap of light between them. “What time is it anyways?” you sighed and felt surprise when you had to hold back a yawn. “It’s about 8 a.m.” Your eyes widened. That meant you had enough time to get to the office! “Please Dami, you gotta let me go, I have to get to the board meeting,” you begged, starting to wiggle more and more, but to no avail. “But Ukthi, you-” “No you don’t understand! This is my first time alone, I can’t let dad down, I have to be able to pull through with this if I ever want to make it as the next C.E.O. Dad wasn’t allowed a break either.” “Ukthi-” “Damian please, please, I promise I’ll come back right after and take care of myself, but I have to do this if I-” “Ukthi! The board meeting was yesterday. You slept for over 24 hours!” Damian shouted to get you to stop interrupting him and when you realized the weight of his words you sunk back down into the pillow. “What? But I was supposed to…” “Father just postponed it, he didn’t leave room to argue, he also gave you the week off from patrol and work.” If your hands weren’t bound you’d probably sunken your face into them in shame. You tried to hold tears back as you looked away from Damian. “Y/N?” he asked and came closer. “I’m sorry, It’s just- how am I supposed to handle being the C.E.O. of Wayne Enterprise if I can’t even handle little things like board meetings? How am I supposed to take after dad?” “Y/N, you keep on saying how father managed to lead the business on his own, and how you should be able too, but you’re not alone. You’re not supposed to be either. You have all of us by your side for a reason and we won’t leave you alone with this. We’re here for you and you shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help. We’re family, we love you and we want to support you with all we can. “For now, how about you rest a little bit more and then I’ll let you out of bed to get a proper meal, Alfred made your favorite. After that I’m afraid Father will want to have a word with you.” “Oh shucks….”

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ohthepurehorror · 3 years

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How do you think Nurse, Wraith and Huntress would react to a survivor deciding one trial to just try their best to make the killer laugh? Just doing anything they can, no matter how stupid, to get even a chuckle

Omg this is my favorite ask so far hands down, I LOVE this idea. Please make these poor babies smile they’ve been through a lot. Also, I’m not sure if you had a specific survivor in mind for these so I just wrote it like it could be any of them (although in my mind it’s always a bunny Feng because they constantly make me laugh as killer)

Nurse, Wraith, and Huntress reacting to a survivor trying to make them laugh

Nurse:

The trial would start just like normal, she would be going gloomily about her killing duties when she heard a noise come from behind one of the trees on the Macmillan Estate.

Instinctively assuming it was a survivor trying to sneak around her, she blinks behind the tree and finds no survivor but instead some words etched into the ground: Bill smells like cheese!

Oh, well that’s… odd.

She hears a shuffle and looks up to see who she assumed was the survivor who wrote the interesting message hold a finger over their nose and use the other finger to waft away Bill’s supposed cheese stench.

Nurse can’t help but chuckle a little at this, the first utterance of laughter she’s had in as long as she can remember.

The survivor shoots a thumbs up and begins running as per usual.

Nurse begins to follow, but she silently appreciates the small interaction.

*I’m sorry Bill mains I just really feel like he has to smell like Cheese 😞

Wraith:

Wraith is very calm and collected killer, he had the wherewithal to never lose his composure in a trial. Sure he can get frustrated at times, especially after being chain flashlight stunned over and over, but he would never break his calm exterior.

So why then, right now, was he struggling to hold back a laugh at the scene before him?

One of the survivors had walked right into him just as he left his stealth form, which was a frequent occurrence always leading to either him striking or a chase, or both.

But this survivor just started… walking around him in a circle?

He was about to get the first blow on them when he hesitated because they didn’t run away like usual, which confused him to no end.

The survivor then began crouching while circling him and pointing in every direction like some sort of weird ritual.

The ridiculous nature of the situation had Wraith holding back laughter because what the hell was happening?

The survivor would stop suddenly and nod at him, to which he responded with a head tilt and reluctant nod back.

The survivor then ran off to which Wraith finally let out a small chuckle.

Well… I guess a small break in monotony can’t hurt every now and then right?

Huntress:

This trial had only just started but it had already been a frustrating one.

3 gens had already been completed within no time at all and Huntress was out of axes after attempting to chase down 3 survivors at once.

She was slightly relieved to finally stumble upon a locker so she could grab more axes, but was a little surprised to find the fourth survivor in it.

Sure, it was common for them to hide in the lockers, but this survivor didn’t scream or panic or anything like normal.

Instead they put a finger to their lips and said “Shhh we have to be quiet miss Huntress, there is a rabbit in the woods that will only come out if it thinks I’m not here”

Huntress was confused as hell.

A what?? A rabbit? Did they not realize where they were right now?

The serious expression on the survivor’s face almost made her let out a chuckle. Was the survivor being serious? Did they know that she was having a bad trial and were attempting to cheer her up?

Either way, Huntress closed the locker back and walked to the one on the other side. She wasn’t going to let them off the whole trial, but she’d let them have their chance at seeing that rabbit for now.

*okay yeah there’s probably not rabbits just running around trial grounds but I don’t care, sue me.

#I wish there were rabbits #it’s not real bill slander relax #dbd headcannons #dbd #dbd imagines #dbd ask blog #the wraith #the nurse #the huntress

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angst-fairygodmother · 3 years

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37 and 66 from I love you things with Ollie and Jess?

A/N: Hi Nonny! Thank you so much for this prompt. I’m so sorry it took me a while to write, but I hope it was worth the wait. I went back and forth while writing this between making it a reader-insert and using Jess as an actual OC and finally settled on the latter, because it just felt right. (Which is probably how I will continue to write this pair going forward also.) Word Count: 3493 Rating: G - mostly fluff - heights (and fear of influencing how it’s written), a little swearing, referenced/implied panic attack

Jess closed the shop at 6pm on the dot, giving herself an hour to get ready for...whatever Ollie had planned. There weren’t a lot of places to go out to dinner in the area, and she desperately hoped he wouldn’t start out by inviting her home to meet the infamous Charlie Sway. She chewed nervously on her nail, staring at her closet. She knew she needed something that would work for anything, but her mind continued to run in circles trying to decide exactly what that meant.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d given this much thought to what she looked like on someone else’s account. It felt strange to say the least. But, she mused, not a bad kind of strange. Eventually, she settled on a cute cream-colored sweater and jeans, hoping that the evening temperature dropped enough to make them reasonable.

There was a soft knock on the door and she frantically cast one last look over herself in the mirror, smoothing down her shirt and hair, stomach twisting nervously.

She threw open the door perhaps a bit overenthusiastically, a warm expression on her face.

“Hi,” she greeted him, the single syllable all she could get out as she met those soft blue eyes.

Ollie grinned when he saw her, the excited, adoring expression making her heart flutter. It was hard for Jess not to scoff at the cliché, when she was behaving like the protagonists of the romances she sold by the dozen. But at least he was looking at her the same way, and seemed at least momentarily speechless.

“Uh, do you want to come in?” she offered meekly after a moment, gesturing over her shoulder. “Or I can come out, and we can...I mean...um...”

The two of them stood there, staring at each other dumbly for a moment, on either side of the doorway.

“So...where are we going?” she asked after a long pause ripe with awkward tension. She wanted to kick herself. Ollie had been so easy to talk to from the moment he walked into her store, but now, suddenly they were going on a proper date and everything felt different?

“I have a picnic bag in the back of my car, and I thought we could drive somewhere, and then maybe hike a bit?”

“A hike?” she asked nervously. “Like, up into the mountains?”

“Yeah. There’s a point up there that has great views of the entire town and the lake. Nik heard about it from one of the girls at the bar we were flirting with…I mean he was flirting with mostly. It wasn’t...I mean I didn’t...and this was before I met you…”

“Ollie,” she laughed lightly, tilting her head to one side to look at him. “I’m not the blushing, swooning virginal maiden, and I don’t expect you to be either.”

He coughed, face turning crimson and she couldn’t help smiling fondly. Finally, things were feeling a little more normal, this was still the same Ollie she had come to adore.

“You’re also only here for the summer, or however long it takes you to find your Dad’s record. So I hadn’t set my hopes on serious, or exclusive. I just think you’re cute, and fun to be around, so why not enjoy something and see what happens with it?”

“Oh.” His face twisted as he considered her words.

“However, I don’t think a hike is a good idea. It’s going to be dark soon.”

“There’s still almost two hours before sunset, and I brought flashlights so we can get back down the mountain.”

Of course, he had planned ahead. It would be stupid to plan a hiking date and not account for that, and he was far from stupid. And they were both dressed fine for the occasion. Her mind quested desperately for some other reason that they shouldn’t go and came up blank. So instead she held up a finger for him to wait, and went back to collect her camera. If she were going to do this, she might as well get some good photographs out of it, she rationed. Maybe even one she could sell prints of, if she was incredibly lucky. (She already felt insanely so, when such a wonderful boy wanted to go out with her, so why not see how far that streak ran?)

The first part of the hike went surprisingly smoothly, and it didn’t take long before Jess and Ollie were joking and laughing, scrabbling over rocks like young goats, playing eye-spy with the woods, any weirdness melting away in the evening sun. She barely noticed the way their path climbed, and felt completely relaxed.

Gradually, without her noticing, the trail narrowed and became steeper, until it rounded a tight bend up ahead, nothing but air off to her left and solid rock to the right. She swallowed nervously, trying to keep her eyes from the empty space. All of her joviality dropped away like the ground.

“Jess?” Ollie asked, noticing her discomfort as she edged very slowly along. “Are you alright?”

“Yes. Yeah. Fine. I just...don’t like heights.” She answered, breath and words coming in short bursts.

“Oh. Shit. Um, we can turn back if you want? I didn't realize you--”

“No. No, it's fine. We're here now. I'll make it through. You just might have to hold my hand for the way back down.”

She’d meant it as a joke, a light flirtation to distract her from the many, many feet she could fall with one misstep. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be doing any good, as her mind found a way to focus on both the space and how cheesy the sentence was.

“Do...you want me to now?” he countered, holding one slim hand out.

She flashed him a small smile, taking it with her own and trying not to think too much about how nice, how right it felt. “You’ve been taking lessons with Nikolai haven’t you?”

“What?”

“That was smooth, Oliver,” she teased, enjoying the way he turned red all the way to the tips of his ears.

Eventually, the young couple made it to the overlook, with much gentle guidance from Ollie to keep Jess’s nerves from overwhelming her, and she gasped. The lake stretched out below them, still and silver in the evening light, shining like a mirror. Tiny specks of color, moving too fast or too far for the eye to really track marked the boaters and jetskis, and kites flown from the small public beach. Most of the buildings disappeared into the verdant green surroundings, and the ones she could still spot looked like houses and shops and mansions for Polly Pockets, not people. The sun was just starting to dip behind the mountains on the far side of the lake, hazy outlines of shadow against the sherbert sky.

“Oh, Ollie,” she breathed, stunned. “It’s beautiful.”

He mumbled something she didn’t catch and started unpacking the picnic he’d brought in his backpack. Not wanting to disturb him, and clearly left to her own devices for the moment, she took out her camera, adjusting the lens carefully, capturing as much of the view as she could. Then, on an impulse she turned around and snapped one of Ollie, silhouetted against the forest and the peeks of sunset between the trees, before he could notice. The sound of the shutter, or the finishing touches being put on dinner, made him look up.

“What are you doing, Jess?” he asked, confusion written across his features.

“Taking pictures of beautiful things,” she answered with a shrug, bringing the camera to her eye again.

“No,” he held up his hand to block it, laughing.

“I’m serious. This place, up here away from it all, suits you.”

“You’re full of shit, Jess.” He shook his head, his hair falling across his face.

She took another photo while his guard was down.

“Come sit down. Marlena put together a good meal.”

Relenting after another photo out into the distance, almost wishing she dared to get closer to the edge of the overlook, she carefully disassembled her camera, storing each piece with reverence back in its bag, before sitting across from him. He had set up quite the array on the blanket: simple but delicious looking toasted sandwiches, glasses and lemonade, berries and chunks of watermelon, and what looked like very freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies.

“Ollie, it looks amazing,” she said with a smile, popping a sweet, juicy blackberry into her mouth with a small, exaggerated moan. “And tastes even better.”

He blushed, shrugging and laughing sheepishly. “All I did was carry it up here.”

She rolled her eyes as he deflected yet another compliment. He seemed to always be doing that, much to her frustration, and she made a mental note to find a way to make him see how much she meant them, how true each one was.

Silence fell over the two of them as they started picking at the buffet between them, but it was an easy one, a pause rather than an interruption, and eventually conversation resumed. She asked him about his search for his father’s record and listened as he spoke of the things he had found, which weren’t what he was looking for but seemed to bring (mostly) happy memories of his childhood. He asked for stories of her family, and of what the town was like when summer-people left.

“Sway Lake is a different place,” she concluded eventually, casting her eyes about her on the clifftop, “just like it is from up here. Or frozen in a moment in your record.”

By now the remains of the food had been set aside, and the pair had scooted closer on the picnic blanket, sitting side by side and facing out, instead of across from one another. Hesitantly, Jess shifted her hand closer so that their pinkies brushed, daring him to take action and hold her hand again. He didn’t seem to notice as he turned to face her, eyebrows knitted in confusion.

“I…” he cleared his throat and started over. “You have a really unique view of the world.”

Something in the way he said it made it feel like the kindest compliment someone could give, and it was finally her turn to blush, ducking her head to hide as her cheeks heated furiously.

“I mean I guess,” she fiddled with the edge of the picnic blanket beside her, plucking at a loose thread so she didn’t have to meet his eyes just yet. “I’ve never really thought about it like that...”

“The view up here must be great for photos,” he said, making her laugh at his abrupt change of subject, obviously picking up on her embarrassment and knowing it well.

“Yeah, it is. I’m hoping they come out well. Thank you for showing it to me.”

“The way people were talking, it’s pretty well known...how come you haven’t been up here before?”

“Heights, remember?” she flashed him a half-smile as she tilted her head to one side. “I’ve never had someone invite me before who seemed worth the risk.”

“How do you know if something’s worth it without ever seeing it?”

“You know your record is without hearing it don’t you? Besides, I said someone, not something.”

He froze, blinking owlishly at her.

“Ollie?” she asked after a long pause, wondering what was going on with him suddenly.

“Can I kiss you?” he blurted, and now it was her turn to freeze, the question momentarily incomprehensible.

“Yes,” she breathed, barely getting the word out before his lips were pressed against hers.

The contact was abrupt, almost a headbutt but more romantic. There was a moment of awkward fumbling, of bumping noses and clashing teeth, until their mouths finally slotted together properly. Even after finding the right way to connect, there was a split second of hesitation, and then his hands came up to frame her jaw, pulling her closer, the tips of his fingers teasing at her hairline and the small hairs that had escaped the scrunchie holding most of it back. Keeping one of her own hands on the blanket to hold herself steady, Jess wrapped the other around the back of his neck like an anchor and leaned into the pressure of his soft lips on hers.

All too soon he pulled away, panting breathlessly, and staring at her with an awe that made her own breath catch in her throat. She was half tempted to pull him back into another kiss, if only to make him stop looking at her like that.

A distant roll of thunder shattered the moment, and her eyes flickered toward the clouds gathering on the blue-purple horizon.

“We should probably head back, before that gets here,” she said reluctantly, wishing she had more time.

Ollie nodded in agreement, and the two of them made quick work of packing back up the remains of the picnic. He handed her a heavy black flashlight (that, she noted gratefully, and then laughed internally at her own thought, would double as a decent weapon against a rogue mountain lion at least long enough to run) and set off down the mountain. She tried to follow him without looking down, but the uneven terrain in the growing darkness made that too difficult to maintain. Soon the very idea filled her with just as much fear as looking. The edge of the path seemed to drop sharply, drawing ever closer to her feet in the narrow beam of yellow light, until it felt like she was walking along the very line of the drop.

She stopped short with a yelp, head spinning from the sensation and whole body trembling. The sound made Ollie turn around sharply, placing himself as a barrier between her and the fall as she pressed her back firmly against the rock.

He took her by the shoulders, trying to get her to make eye contact instead of staring blankly at the sight, or lack of sight beyond him.

“Jess? Can you hear me?” he asked. “It’s alright, Jess. I’m right here, I won’t let you fall.”

Her blood roared in her ears and she saw his lips move but it was too loud for her to hear him.

When talking didn’t seem to work, he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her into a tight hug. Her fingers curled into his sweatshirt, clinging to him like a lifeline. Face pressed into the side of his neck she let out a sob, as the world spun around her much too fast.

The rest of the journey down to Ollie’s station wagon and much of the drive were a blur. Jess wasn’t completely unconvinced that he had somehow found a way to carry her down, although that was giving his physical strength more credit than he looked like it deserved. The storm picked up as they drove, clouds turning the sky to black, lit only by the occasional crash of lightning, and rain slamming against the roof and windows.

All too soon, the car stopped, parking in the narrow street in front of her building. They exited the car and promptly Ollie took her by the hand, lacing their fingers together. Not wanting to stand in the rain, she used the point of contact to drag him along, running as if she could dodge the water falling from the sky until they made it to her door. They stood there under the eaves, hair and clothing dripping, facing each other reluctantly, not wanting to say goodnight just yet.

“Tonight was…” he said, pausing.

“Amazing?” she finished, smiling and feeling the light heat of a blush on her cheeks.

“Yeah. That.” He smiled back, and looked for a moment (during which her heart beat like a bird trying to escape her chest) like he was going to kiss her again. “I should let you go inside…”

“Stay over,” she blurted out before she could consider the words.

“W-what?” he stared at her like she’d just grown an extra head or twelve. “Jess I can’t do that…”

“It’s late. And the weather’s bad. And I saw you yawning while we were driving back. I’d worry about you if you tried to go home now.”

“It’s just around the other side of the lake…”

“Yeah, but that’s like half an hour unless you drive recklessly. All it takes is drifting off for a second...please stay?”

“But...what will people think?”

“People,” she raised an eyebrow, “or your grandmother?”

“I don’t just mean her. I don’t want you to be treated like--”

“A slut?”

He shuffled and looked away.

“People aren’t that bad, you know. There are a handful of dicks, but most of town doesn’t give a shit.”

“I didn’t mean…” he frowned. “I’m a Sway. I know people don’t like my family. If you’re seen with me like that...I know what being an outcast feels like, and I don’t want you to have to feel that way.”

“Well I guess you'll just have to make sure no one sees, then.” She smirked, before she sighed. “Look, Ollie. We're grown adults. What we do at night, or any other time, or with whom is no one's business but our own.”

“I know but--”

“No. No buts. I wouldn't have invited you to sleep over if I didn't mean it, or I wasn't prepared for gossip and fallout. It’s up to you. I just would feel a lot better if you did.”

“You really want me to stay?”

She rolled her eyes and fixed him with a look rather than actually answering. The wet breeze sent a shiver over her as she turned to unlock the door, not waiting anymore for him to make a decision.

“And it’s not...too fast?”

She shrugged, taking him by the arm to pull him into the house and into a kiss. Her other hand threaded into his hair and his hovered over her hips as if he wasn’t quite sure he was allowed to touch her .

“Too fast is a myth,” she murmured, breath ghosting across his face. “Besides, I was inviting you into my house, not my bed.”

She’d lost count by now of the number of times she’d managed to make Ollie blush tonight, but each time you did was just as adorable as the first.

“Although, I was going to offer to take the couch,” she said over your shoulder as she led the way toward the furniture in question, “so I guess it was...also...into my bed…this is...I’m making it weird.”

“What? No!” he fumbled to reassure her. “I mean, no. You’re not, not no I won’t sleep in...I don’t want to, without you. Not that we have to sleep together. It’s just. It’s your bed.”

“God we’re a pair,” she said, laughing now as she dropped down and motioned for him to sit beside her. “Tripping over ourselves like romantic baby deer.”

“I just don’t want to mess this up,” he admitted sheepishly, sitting awkwardly perched on the edge of the cushion as if he was going to run at any moment.

“Is there...something to mess up?” she asked, reaching over to take his hand and lacing her fingers through his.

“I think so,” the words may have been a statement but his face was a question as he turned toward her a little more. “I don't want this to be some summer fling, Jess. I want it to be real.”

“Hey, summer flings can also be real. There was this one guy who…” she paused at Ollie's expression and shook her head, “never mind. The point is they're not mutually exclusive. But I appreciate the sentiment. And I’d really like that too.”

“What does that mean though?” he asked.

She paused. “That’s what we have to decide. But...not tonight. It’s late. We should go to bed and talk about it when we’re rested.” She fought back a yawn that emphasized her point as she stood.

He nodded, watching her turn and cross the room, eyes lingering low. It took him a moment to realize when she had stopped moving again.

“Well aren't you coming?”

“What?” he squeaked out.

“It occurs to me, the bed is big enough for two and way more comfortable than the couch.”

“I…”

“I just mean to sleep, for real. And, I guess, maybe cuddling?” She bit her lip nervously. “Unless you're not good with that…”

He stared for another long, awkward moment. “Even with my nightmares?”

She shrugged. “Yeah. I’ll deal. Or maybe having someone else beside you will help.”

Ollie scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping over himself in his rush to join her by the doorway. She laughed, lacing her fingers with his and leading him further through the apartment, silently marveling at how well things had gone, for a first date.

#it only took...almost 2 months to get to this. that's totally fine...#I had to do a lot of tweaking and pronoun conversion #so please (politely) hit me up if I missed anything #Oliver Sway x Jess O'Neill #Oliver Sway x OC #Song of Sway Lake fic #The Song of Sway Lake

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jasperswhumpjourney · 3 years

Text

Teeth

Jasper breaks a rule...

CW: Minor mouth whump (dental pain), sick, Pet whump, Slavery, comfort, it as a pronoun, past lady whumper mention.

it hadn’t meant to disobey.

he hadn’t meant to disobey. his new Mistress, Mistress Abbey - Miss Bee, as he called Her in his head, allowed him a name and pronouns. Still, after so many years as an “it”, this still took some getting used to.

Waking to the continued ache in his jaw and the remnants of a nightmare, he realized soon after that the pain had gotten worse. jasper rolled onto the floor immediately; his comfy pet bed, thick and plush with a built in heater, now sat empty next to him.

he had been sleeping, acting like such a spoiled pet on his pillowed nest. jasper sniffled, ashamed at having taken the soft warmth for granted when flouting Miss Bee’s rules so completely!

Panic and pain holding a tug-of-war inside him, he pressed his face into the floor’s wood panels. Their coolness felt surprisingly good against the hot, swollen skin of his cheek. Upset at how he’d failed, he tried to breathe properly - something he had never been good at even in the best of times.

All his life, no matter what, Jasper had tried his best to be good and obedient. he had been doing so well for Her too, before this.

To make things worse, his Mistress didn’t even have many rules. And though Her rules were weird and often made no sense to him, most were easy to obey. This stood in such stark difference to his previous masters.

Also an extreme difference from his other owners, Miss Bee had been kind. Something he’d never deserved, but was even less worthy of now.

Yes, surely there would be no more mercy, no more chances. Because he’d broken this rule.

Her most important one...

Tell Mistress Abbey when it… when I do not feel well. Any discomfort or pain must be reported.

Of all Her rules, this was the least easy one to obey. Trained from a very young age to be a quiet and obedient shadow, the idea of bringing attention to himself, of complaining. It wasn’t appropriate for a thing like it pet like him.

Tears filled jasper’s eyes and his jaw throbbed.

When the hurt in his mouth had started over a week ago, it was just a small ache so he didn’t say anything. he’d had mouth pain in the past. Unlike this, before it had always been the result of a punishment or a beating. Head jarred in ways that left him bruised and aching.

It always went away at some point though. Eventually. he’d thought this too would go away.

Except. It hadn’t.

Instead, it had quickly accelerated over the past days. Now the ache had built to a blinding pounding in his head, and jasper knew he couldn’t get away with hiding it any longer.

Worse than the pain, which was bad - and jasper had plenty of experience to know - was that by revealing his failure, he was going to lose the kindest, absolute best Alpha he could imagine. All because he couldn’t do something as simple as obey.

he should have told Her right away.

But he hadn’t.

When She found out, Miss Bee would finally, finally, get rid of him. And they both knew he was so broken. Too broken really, to go to anyone else.

Would She have him put down? Send him to a lab like so many other owners had threatened?

Lost in these thoughts, jasper didn’t have long to spiral. Miss Bee walked into the room a few minutes later.

“Jasper, lamb, what are you doing out of bed? That floor is too cold for you.”

It was too soon, he wasn’t ready! And yet she was there. And so kind, She sat down next to where he knelt in his most submissive bow. Nose pressed to the floor, hands bent nicely in front of him, every part straight and perfect despite the terrible ache.

“Sweetheart, why are you posed like that? Did you have another bad dream?”

A warm hand came to rest on the cool, bare skin of his scarred back. Oh, he didn’t deserve such a kind touch. Even worse, despite how naughty he’d been he desperately craved it. jasper trembled and hiccuped on a sob at how awful he was. he shook his head “no” in answer to Miss Bee’s question. It wasn’t a lie really, he did have a nightmare, but that wasn’t why he was out of his bed and shivering beside Her.

Her hand rubbed in marvelous soothing circles over his shoulders. jasper felt his slutty omega hole respond, slick leaking into the little pet panties he wore. With Her sitting so close, his body was unable to resist Miss Bee’s delicious scent and Her gentle touches. It made his transgression all the more unbearable.

“Do you have a bellyache then, babes?” Miss Bee sighed. “I hope I didn’t accidentally overfeed you. I know how delicate your poor tummy can be.”

jasper shook his head “no” again and sniffled. Tears ran down his cheeks. his belly did ache but with terror. Not because of some wonderful treat he’d been given.

Miss Bee allowed him so many luxuries. An excess of human food, was a particular one he loved, having been fed only omega chow for most his life. It was normal for masters, Alphas, to have size preferences in their omega pets. And most, wanting tiny slender things, restricted their omega’s food to fix the issue.

Before Miss Bee, jasper’s life had been ruled by this, and he’d known only pet chow and hunger.

But then She found him!

When Miss Bee first commented about his weight, or lack thereof, and said She would feed him more, jasper had expected an extra portion of kibble at most. he had been very confused when She told him She didn’t and wouldn’t buy it omega chow.

Instead, She fed it delicious and filling people foods. And She’d always end its meals with a taste of something sweet. Fed to it from Her very own fingers!

And what had it done with Her generosity? it’d thrown it back into Her face with its disobedience. it was so terrible. Miss Bee deserved a much better thing than it… him.

“Then what is it, little lamb?” She asked, her warm fingers skating up to massage into his curls. he didn’t flinch away, but the soft touch on his head was enough to cause the pain to spike. It was nothing less than he deserved, however, even if She didn’t know.

And when She did know…

A previous Alpha, one far different from Miss Bee, had taken his voice. It wasn’t something he understood fully. Only that Mistress Celeste had taken him to the vet, and after he’d woken up unable to speak. Whatever had been done to him, it hurt like knives to try to talk now. And when sound did make its way out of his throat, it was a broken almost barking noise that humiliated him more than he thought possible.

Miss Bee knew this, and jasper had learned that just because She asked a question, it didn’t mean he had to answer verbally. She chatted, asked questions, and talked a lot. It was reassuring how She filled the silence.

he still had to answer Her, however.

Rising slowly and only as far as he dared from his penitent bow, jasper kept his eyes glued to the floor in respect. he had disobeyed Her, it was the least he could do. he rose enough that he could tilt his chin towards Her and used a stubbed finger to point at his mouth, his jaw.

It took all the effort he had, docked nub trembling as he brought attention to himself. Tears blurred his vision, so he wasn’t expecting it when Her hand carefully cupped his chin. It hurt, but he was trained to never flinch away. Instead he shied into Her hand, jarring his jaw painfully.

“Oh oh, sweetheart.” She cooed. Seeming to know how he ached, her grip on his jaw became lighter still. Miss Bee gently, too tenderly for the likes of him, urged him up straighter. “I don’t see a bruise, but this hurts?”

jasper barely nodded his head, just enough for Her to feel his answer. The pain radiated from the tooth in the back of his mouth, throughout his head, throbbing with the beat of his heart.

Her thumb gently stroked across his jaw, barely touching, just testing lightly. It was expected, so jasper was able to brace himself for Her touch. He didn’t budge again when she carefully pressed directly where the pain radiated from.

“You’re all swollen and warm here, little lamb, can you open your mouth for me?”

jasper obeyed, mouth dropping open before realizing what had been asked of him. he was always obedient, even if what he was ordered to do was painful or terrifying. And unlike others, She had never hurt him intentionally. Yes, Miss Bee had always been kind, but he had been a terrible pet. he broke Her rules. It wouldn’t be unexpected, he thought, if She realized She was being too kind to him, for Her to change Her ways and hurt him.

This wasn’t the case, yet, as She gently directed his chin so that She could get a better look inside. Miss Bee even pulled out Her phone, turning the flashlight on so She could see better.

jasper blinked away his tears while She was distracted examining him. Taking a moment to try and breathe as normally as he could, his heart stuttered when She tutted and pulled away. he didn’t dare close his mouth or move from where She left him. he’d already been disobedient enough, even if She didn’t know it yet.

“I don’t see anything.”

he could see Her frown and ice flooded his body. That couldn’t be right? he wasn’t making this up! he wasn’t lying to Her!

jasper hadn’t hid this pain from Her, broken Her very important rule, only for nothing to be wrong! Before he could react, She gently nudged his mouth shut and ran Her fingers through his hair.

So upset that she might think he was fibbing about the pain, Her petting wasn’t as nearly comforting as usual.

“How long has this been hurting you?”

And this was it. Now he would confess his sins to Her and he would lose this Goddess of a Mistress who had been entirely too kind to him. Even if nothing really was wrong. Even if She couldn’t see anything, he had still hidden his discomfort. That was still breaking Her rules.

jasper ducked his head down, wanting more than anything to go back to his formal kneel. But She had to be answered; he couldn’t get out of it. Speaking was hard and painful, and whenever he’d tried it he’d met with very little success. But his stubbed fingers were a terrible way to show numbers legibly and he had to answer Her.

his fear was overwhelming, filling his throat and making it feel even harder to try and say something.

jasper’s voice cracked and broke. “W-week, M-mistre-ess A-ab-bey,” he rasped out, voice barely above breathing levels. The effort left him desperately swallowing to lubricate his very dry throat. He fought the urge to cough from the discomfort.

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he fell into his formal kneel again. It felt so much better to be pressed down on the floor, where he belonged. And he wasn’t going to curl up and try to hide from whatever punishment She deemed fit for him. his scarred back was available for Her to rain Her anger down on.

Likely whatever happened next would only be the start, but he wouldn’t dare try to stop Her meting out justice.

Hearing him speak Miss Bee made a noise of surprise. When Her hand gently landed to rest on his head, he held himself politely back from flinching, even though the soft touch on his head startled. he’d expected pain on his back, maybe his thighs, his feet. There were so many options for her!

“Jasper, lamb. ” Her voice was soft and sad, it made him quail to think that he had caused this. She didn’t deserve this, She shouldn’t waste Her time and thoughts on Her disobedient omega. Especially after that disobedient omega had just confessed to breaking Her rules! “Jas, my darling, look at me.”

jasper’s head popped up, eager desperate to obey. he would never be able to make this up to Her, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try. Fresh tears had built up in his eyes. They were so thick they wouldn’t just blink away. Instead, She gently held his jaw and wiped the tears away for him.

She was kind, too kind. It only made him cry harder. How could he have done this to Her?

“What a good boy, using your words. I’m so proud of you. And Sweetheart… I’m not mad.”

Before he knew what he was doing, he shook his head, contradicting her! jasper couldn’t help it though, how could She be proud of him? How could She not be furious? She had to be. She didn’t have to lie to him! he knew he was bad, he knew a punishment was the least he should expect.

Suddenly he wasn’t on the floor anymore. She pulled him into Her arms and cooed sweetly at him. Her comfort and sweetness threw him into a confused panic. his heart rate kicked up higher and his breathing faltered, gasping coughs punching through his chest and throat. A high pitched whistle of air could occasionally be heard between his coughs.

At first Her attempts at soothing didn’t help stop his choking. Then Miss Bee carefully maneuvered jasper’s head so his nose was tucked into Her throat, right over Her bonding gland and where Her perfumey Alpha scent was strongest. She was able to press him close without jarring his jaw. Her concentrated pheromones immediately went to work, helping him settle. If jasper had possessed the ability to notice, he would have been desperately grateful for Her kindness. Instead, he was too overcome.

he didn’t know how much time had passed, how long She spent whispering words of comfort to him, or for how long he gasped with panic, breathing in Her scent. Slowly, however, he was able to calm down, to be good for Her.

Well, not good - he was a bit past that at this point - but better than he had been behaving.

What a terrible omega pet it he was! he’d misbehaved, and instead of being punished like he rightly deserved, he’d panicked and She comforted him. This was so unfair to Her. he’d been awful. he’d failed.

he had to be better!

When he could finally breathe and he had calmed down, he wanted to be able to force more words out. Words that She needed to hear from him. How sorry he was for breaking Her rules, for inconveniencing Her like this, even after all that!

“S-sorry,” was all he managed before She stopped him.

he didn’t whine when She pulled away from him, though he barely caught himself. he hated how spoiled he’d become. But he needed Her so desperately. She didn’t go far, however, and instead tilted his chin up again so She could see his face better. It always made him feel so exposed when Miss Bee did this. Slaves were to keep their heads down: it was high disrespect to look at an Alpha, or even a Beta, directly.

jasper worked to keep his eyes respectfully lowered as She regarded him, but it was hard with how close She was.

“Jasper. Look at me,” She ordered.

It was work to obey. To raise his eyes enough. But he did it, because no matter what, he wanted to be an obedient pet. But he couldn’t help the trembling that shook his body from the effort it took to look at Her. And the effort not to break down into sobs again.

“The rule was to tell me when you are in pain and or uncomfortable.”

jasper eagerly nodded in agreement, the pain in his head blinding with each frantic bounce. he didn’t try to speak, She had already made it clear She didn’t want him to. he knew the rule! he knew it!

And that was worse! Because he had known it but disobeyed, even if he’d thought the pain would go away at first.

“Oh, lamb…” A soft touch from the Alpha stilled his frantic nodding before She continued on. “That’s not a rule to invite punishment. That’s a rule for your protection. I need to know when you hurt so I can help fix it.

“Did you not tell me because you were trying to be bad and rebellious?”

Jasper shook his head, a barely there shake, and breathed a barely audible “no.”

Soft lips pressed to his fevered forehead before Miss Bee continued, “You are mine, and I care for you. I’m only sorry I didn’t know so I could’ve helped you sooner. We can fix it, sweetie. So please don’t worry. ”

jasper couldn’t help the sobs that broke through, hearing this. That an Alpha, this Alpha, the best he had ever known, said She cared for him. It was all he had ever wanted, his entire life.

Despite this, he was also terrified of what She meant by “fixing it.”

Other owners would have fixed his pain by simply telling him to shut up.

he shivered on Miss Bee’s lap thinking about the next most likely option.

Or a trip to the vet….

his breathing grew ragged again. Maybe She’d have his teeth pulled?

his teeth had been the only part of him that had stayed intact since he’d left the breeders. It pained jasper to admit how much it grieved him, the idea of losing this one undamaged part of himself. But surely this would fix the problem: his teeth couldn’t hurt if he didn’t have them!

It would be a perfectly appropriate remedy. And it didn’t matter if he wanted to keep his teeth. They belonged to Miss Bee. Not him. jasper made a soft sad whine around his wheezes.

“Shhhh, babes.” Miss Bee soothed as She picked up Her phone again and punched in a number.

“Hello, Shain? Is there a chance I could bring Jasper in to see you tomorrow. I think he has a tooth hurting him.

“Eight thirty? Yes we can make that. Thank you so much for making time for us.

“What am I doing? Oh… Well… Besides taking care of poor Jassy, I started a new crochet pattern. A dress actually… Purple.”

jasper closed his eyes and snuggled against Miss Bee’s chest even if he didn’t deserve the softness. he knew She had a crush on Vet Shain. The heat of Her blush seeped into his skin where he pressed against Her. At his next sniffle She began combing the fingers of Her free hand through his curls.

jasper wept softly, amazed and overwhelmed with gratitude for his Alpha. It was so hard to believe this was real and not some kennel dream. he closed his watering eyes, allowing his Mistress’ wonderful voice to wash over him as She chatted with Mistress Shain and petted him.

Wrapped in his Alpha’s softness, warmth, and sweet scent, jasper drifted. he couldn’t believe he’d almost fallen asleep when Miss Bee next addressed him.

“Okay sweet boy, let’s get you up and get some food in your belly. Maybe some soymilk at least. Vet Shain wants me to give you one of your left over pain pills from when you first came here.” She shook Her head, remembering, and looked at him with such soft eyes. Despite how much he hurt, he blushed as his hole slicked up again at Her attention.

“And you need something in your tum to take your medicine.” She patted his flat stomach.

Seeing the bump in his panties where his tiny cock had grown hard at Her touch, She smiled at him. Even though he ached for release, he was happy She ignored it: he didn’t deserve that kind of treat after such disappointing behavior.

Then Miss Bee carefully shuffled him off Her lap and stood. She extended a hand. Reaching out his stubs, jasper took it and shakily climbed to his feet too. he followed Her out to the kitchen. Minstrel and Liver jumped off the sofa where they’d been napping and trailed after them in hopes of a snack as well. Minstrel yowled at them both about the tuna he wanted.

Jaw throbbing, jasper clung to Miss Bee’s hand. As they walked She argued with Minstrel about his waistline. jasper meanwhile, thought about the coming medicine.

he knew what pills meant. he knew this would make him sleep.

Maybe when he woke next, he would be able to be better for his kind Miss Bee. She was so gracious to have forgiven him, but it still ate at him that he had broken Her rule.

his stomach still ached with his failure and he wondered if he’d even be able to drink his milk. he’d try. he needed even more to be good now.

his chest was tight with anxiety too, knowing now he was going to see Vet Shain tomorrow. But while he feared the coming vet visit, since Miss Bee hadn’t punished him, maybe the certain pain that was coming would be enough to set things right… jasper shuddered... Even if he lost some teeth in the process.

Masterlist

#whump #slavery #pet whump #master/pet #caretaker #comfort #sick #more comfort than anything tbh #lady caretaker #past lady whumper #I worked really hard and I hope I did a good job #thank you for reading

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spiced-ciderr · 3 years

Text

Dearly Departed Chapter 2;

May 17th, 1991

Walking into the backroom, eighteen year old Dawson wondered around the dark area. It had to be here. They had to be here. Judging from the tapes Scott had left her, she was in the right room. He'd specifically asked her to look in the spare suits.

Scott Cawthon had been her babysitter growing up. On the nights her father was too drunk or her mother was out at every strip club in town, he was there. He'd been a security guard for her Uncle Will's establishment. He'd always known, though, that something was up. She hadn't noticed it at first, but the suspicious glances he'd shoot at her Uncle, the way he'd never let her or her sister alone in a room with him, the way he'd instructed Dawson to never let Keyla out of her sight when they were at Freddy's. She knew something was...ill. Wrong. Not right. Something was wrong with William Afton. Regardless, she knew she could trust Scott. He was always there for her and Keyla.

Right. Her sister was still back home. She prayed that she'd be okay. A part of Dawson knew that she wouldn't be returning home from the pizzeria tonight.

Lifting the head of the original Fredbear suit, she inhaled sharply, dropping both the costume head and the flashlight she'd taken in with her. The smell. Long-rotten meat. She gagged. The-The kids- He was the one who killed Charlie! A-And Gabriel, and Jer-Jer! All of her and Keyla's childhood friends-

She gasped, her thoughts interrupted. Eyes widening as she felt the large, cold metal blade penetrate her stomach. Choking, she shakily looked up at her Uncle. He grinned sadistically, yanking the knife from her torso before plunging it in again, and again, and again. She screamed, her voice ringing out through the pizzeria. His eyes widened, quickly glancing to the door of the Parts and Service room. He growled, lifting her by her long hair and dragging her away. He snarled at her, before her world finally faded to black.

And with that, Dawson Lynn was dead.

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Falling. She was falling. It was hot. The stink- What was this smell?

She hit the ground with a thud. Ouch. She groaned, opening her eyes. She was- whAA-

Quickly rolling onto the sidewalk, she gasped as her heart raced. She nearly missed being hit by a speeding car. On her back as she gazed up at the bright sky, she realized something was off. Oh, yeah, it was red. Why was the sky red? And why wasn't she dead? She literally just bled out on the floor-

The sun was replaced with a large, bright pentagram. Oh. Oh.

'I'm in hell. Not surprising, honestly.'

She got onto her knees, looking into a nearby puddle. Her large, wolf ears twitched-

Wait.

"large, wolf ears" ?

She froze as she took in her new appearance. Sitting atop her head, were two large wolf ears, both a dark brown and fading into a golden ombre near the tips. She felt behind her, only to find a large and fluffy tail, the same color scheme as her ears. Her eyes had also changed-

Instead of the milky brown they once were, they were now heterochromic. Her left eye, was a beautiful golden color, while her right was pitch black, a small white pinprick at the center. She also had a set of fangs, along with sharpened nails that almost resembled claws.

Shakily standing up, she searched for any scraps of money. She needed to find shelter.

After a few hours, and a lot of gambling, she'd successfully gained a small house somewhere near the 3rd circle. She'd rather not think about just how she'd obtained it.

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A few months into hell, she'd already risen up and proven to be powerful. Taking down any demons that stood in her way, she started pondering in sorcery and magic.

She soon started to call herself "The Witch"

She was surprised when she was officially elected as one of the most powerful Overlords. Though, she was excited to meet the rumored "Radio Demon".

But she hadn't know how soon she'd find him.

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It'd been about two years since she'd arrived into hell when she was summoned out of nowhere to an overlord meeting.

Everyone, including the king of hell himself, had been gathered around a large, rectangular table. She'd been sat across from the infamous Radio Demon, and she couldn't help but shudder at the white noise that filled her senses, making it harder to focus. The static dancing across her skin, she could hardly even concentrate. And from the looks of the other overlords, she could tell that he had been targeting her. It wasn't effecting the other demons.

As the meeting adjourned, she quickly made her way to the exit. But of course, not before being trapped in the elevator with the radio demon.

Damn.

She tried her best to ignore his stare, even though she could feel his eyes boring into the back of her skull. Finally, she turned around.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, exasperated, finally facing him.

His large grin, from ear to ear, somehow stretched even wider. "Why, whatever do you mean, dear?" he asks, feigning innocence. She growled. "You know damn well what I'm talking about." Instead of responding, the elevator suddenly went dark. Lights flickering on and off, he cornered her quickly. Grabbing her face roughly, it was his turn to growl. "Now, dear, that was quite rude, wasn't it? Since you are fairly new, I'll let you off with a warning this time. Do not. Speak like that. To me." he finished with a whisper, before the elevator dinged. Composing himself in record time, he gave her his most stunning smile before walking out the door. "I look forward to working with you, witch!" he calls back.

She glared. She was angry. But why was she flustered, as well?

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She later found out she'd being seeing a lot more of him. Every time they seemed to cross paths accidentally, the more it happened She started to learn things about him. She learned he loved to cook. He absolutely adored music, song and dance. Even in death, he'd still do his weekly radio shows, broadcasted to all of hell.

They eventually became business partners. She supposed that was the closest she'd get to him. Although, 'business' mostly involved going on bloody rampages with Alastor and gathering territory for him, while he'd return the favor. She also learned, that under any circumstances, never touch him. He had to initiate it first, or else there would be a second death in her future.

She eventually decided not to mess with him, not wanting to lose a limb for 'accidentally' shoving past him.

As she strolled down the streets in one of her cities, she suddenly became very aware of the loud screaming and shouting not too far from where she was. Using her shadows to travel quickly towards the scene, she was met with an odd sight.

Said Radio Demon was currently genociding half of her city.

Furrowing her brows in confusion, her orbs scanned the area, bodies littering the streets. It was here when Alastor took notice of her presence. "Ah! Dearest! How nice of you to join me on a lovely evening such as this!" He cheerfully exclaimed. She rolled her eyes. "Alastor, come on, this is-" "-Your territory, yes I'm aware! I thought it'd be courteous to pay you a visit!" his smile grew in size. She raised an eyebrow. But before she could protest, he took hold of her wrist, swiftly pulling her against him, before adjusting his grip. "Isn't it a lovely night for dancing?" he asked, tone just a bit softer. She pulled back slightly, before giggling. "Fine, fine. But just one dance, alright? As much fun it is to dance through blood-soaked streets with you, I've got places to be, Al." she chastised. He scoffed.

They danced until dawn.

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She wasn't expecting to see a dog standing atop a large building.

How the heck did a dog get into hell?? Dogs were so precious!

Using the her shadows to transport herself behind the pupper. Though, right as she appeared behind him, she almost fell off the roof when he turned into a human, in front of her.

Holy shit-

She noticed him approaching the edge.

Oh. Oh.

There's two things she could do here- She could walk away, or she could try and stop him. She decided in the long run she wasn't that shitty of a person, speaking up.

"Hey. What are you doing?" she asked, gently making her way closer.

Glancing behind himself, the man looked back out to the city, lights reflecting on his face. "Escaping this hell." he replies, coldly. But she can hear a small hint of something broken in his voice. This poor soul.

Coming to stand next to him, she sighed. Running a hand through her hair, she responded. "It ain't that easy. Believe me, I've tried." She says tiredly. "What's got you wanting to end it?"

She was surprised by his next words.

"Everything. I was hoping to see my parents for the first time when I originally died, but instead I came here. They were murdered in front of me by Slenderman." She was taken aback. What the hELL? Slenderman was real? But she knew this man couldn't be lying. He continued.

"He just came to my house and killed them both in front of me, leaving me alive on purpose." He sniffles, and then continues his story. "I had to live for the next 12 and a half years without them because of him. Scrounging around for food, stealing, even having to kill just to survive myself."

"..Wow." is all she can reply with. She feels something bubbling up in her chest- is this guilt? Sorrow? Emotions she hasn't felt since she was alive. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry that happened to you. I know what it's like having a lot of fear, and pain, and hurt stemming from your childhood. But trust me, it isn't worth your life. You're here for a reason, and you have to overcome this to be stronger." she pats his shoulder.

"What's your name?" she asked.

He hesitates before saying, "My name's Ski. What's yours?"

She smiles, for once, someone who doesn't know who she is.

"Most call me The Witch. You can call me Dawson."

And thus the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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When Alastor told her he'd be gone for a while, helping the princess with her "passion project" for his own mere entertainment, she was surprised. Dawson was even more surprised when he asked her to come with him.

Of course, she had nothing better to do, and it did sound like some quality entertainment.

When she agreed to go with him, she wasn't expecting to be held at spear-point by the princess's love interest, Vaggie, as soon as she walked through the door.

"Why are you here? We KNOW what your game is! You AND that-that Radio demon!" Vaggie growled, pushing Dawson up against the wall. She merely laughed.

"Of course, I'm here to help!"

Ski, in dog form, huffed out what suspiciously sounded like a laugh.

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That night, when Alastor made Jambalaya for the hotel, she wasn't expecting for them to receive a new guest, in the same night.

She most definitely wasn't expecting it to be her own sister.

#alastor the radio demon #hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin #hotel #alastor x reader #charlie #charlie magne #radio demon #vaggie

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detectivedreameater · 4 years

Text

One For The Money|| Nell and Marley

TIMING: Earlier this week (during the living nightmares potw) PARTIES: @nelllraiser SUMMARY: A bounty gone wrong. Or maybe right? Alternate title: Manumbra Numba 5 CONTENT: Mild PTSD episode

There had been quite a few strange calls coming into the precinct in the past week, so taking a domestic disturbance call felt like a tiny relief in the tide. Marley didn’t normally deal with them, but Maynard had agreed to let Marley take the case on her own, which she was grateful for. She needed some time alone, away from the precinct, and away from Jane. As bad as she felt saying that, especially since they’d talked, she needed it. Things still didn’t feel quite right between them, and she knew that it was just all the things they didn’t have the energy to say right now. She was trying to give Jane time to process what had happened to her, but she also wanted her to come to her so that she could help. Marley had never really wanted something like that before, but dying couldn’t be something you went through alone. It just...couldn’t. She’d seen enough deaths and the pain they caused in her day to know that. But she wasn’t going to force anything out of Jane, so spending some solo time on the job was just what the doctor ordered. Or, well, what Marley ordered.

When she pulled up to the house, all the lights were off. Her car traveled slowly up the driveway, which was obscured only slightly by trees, a small dirt trail leading to the house. Her hands subconsciously gripped the steering wheel tighter and she felt her heart rate increase without her say. Why was it doing that? It was just a house. When she stopped her car, she could see distinct tracks leading inside-- muddy shoe prints and what looked like some sort of drag trail. She stepped out of her car carefully and picked up her flashlight, pointing it at the front door. “Hello?” she called out, walking towards the front slowly. Her palms were getting sweaty and her skin felt sticky suddenly. She couldn’t swallow. “P-police!” she called out again. Heard a thump from inside and stopped in her tracks. “Show yourself!”

With all the money she owed the hospital, Nell had been working overtime when it came to bounties, both supernatural and not. This was one of the latter, some regular Joe that had run out on bail, and was trying to avoid the law. Nell’s tracking spell had led her here to an abandoned house, and she’d wasted no time in flipping off the Karen who had threatened to call the police on her when she’d seen Nell poking around the eyesore of a home. If the police came it’d be easy enough to show them her license. Just a few steps into the house made for a pretty obvious picture. Her target had been squatting here, trying to law low before carrying on to wherever they’d gone next. Stomping a foot lightly against the ground, she uttered a spell that would tell her whether or not there was any living creature on the premises, and if her quarry was still holed up in this dump. Not one, but two results came back to her, the first closing in on her quickly. The question of who it was didn’t pose all that big of a mystery when a voice rang out through the dilapidated house. The police. Right on schedule. “I’m allowed to be here,” Nell started with a roll of her eyes, moving towards the voice. Poking her head out, her expression quickly changed to one of amusement, a crooked grin coming over her lips. “Well if it isn’t my old friend,” she teased, recognizing the woman who’d let her escape the police holding cell.

Something like relief flooded through Marley when she recognized the voice inside the hallway. Though her mind still held tight, her muscles relaxed and she lowered her weapon and flashlight. “You again,” she said to the small suspected spellcaster, putting her hands on her hips. “I half expected you to be climbing in a window the next time we met.” She stepped into the house, and the chill that ran up her spine made her freeze. She looked around the entryway and over to the living room, where there was evidence of a squatter. “You here for that?” she asked, pointing towards the mess of belongings. The hair on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end. A noise from upstairs made Marley’s muscles tighten. “Or...are you there for that?”

“Me again,” Nell replied with a shit-eating grin, all too ready to give the detective a hard time. “I could go back out and climb through the window if that’ll make you feel better,” she offered innocently, eyebrows high as she jabbed a thumb in the direction of the closest one. She’d parted her lips to answer Marley when the sound of the second being her spell had detected thumped from above. “I guess both now,” Nell replied, voice instinctively dropping to a hushed tone. “There’s something else here. I know that much for sure. And it’s not just some cat or rat.” A seriousness that hadn’t been on her when they’d first met came over the witch as she approached the stairs, figuring there was only one way to find out what the thing was, placing a foot on the first step as she slowly began to climb.

Marley crinkled her nose at the girl, but didn’t opt to reply as she watched the girl’s demeanour change almost on a dime. Whatever was here was serious, and she knew what it was. How, Marley wasn’t sure, but she had a hunch-- and she hoped her hunch would be confirmed here. Her body stiffened and she glanced towards the stairs. For a minute, her vision wobbled-- the hallway ahead of her stretched out, elongating, twisting, turning upside down. Marley held her breath for a moment, closing her eyes tightly. When she reopened them, the world was back to normal, and it was only after she’d glanced back over her shoulder towards the door that she realized why her heart felt like it was going to hammer itself through her sternum-- the lone car sitting in the partially obstructed driveway, the footprints leading up to an empty house, the darkened hallways. This house was the same as the one she’d gotten trapped in with Roland. Another thump from upstairs made her jump and she looked up to Nell, then to the stairs. “Wait!” she said, shuffling forward. Her arms were shaking. It wasn’t the same, she had to remind herself. This wasn’t the same. “I’ll go first.” Because she was the cop and the descending sun outside meant her abilities were kicking in.

It felt like the skin on Nell’s arm where her summoning sigil tattoos had been inked were itching, as if they could warn her of the danger that might be upstairs. That was ridiculous, though. There was no way they could possibly do that. Instead it was her own hyper vigilance that was causing them to prick, as if they were asking her to Summon something in case they’d be needed. But she waited, not about to bring three hellhounds into the world when there was no immediate need. The warping of the stairs and hallway was enough to make Nell’s shoulders stiffen, her magic instinctively pooling in her stomach should she need to call on it. Nevertheless, Nell was still perched on the stairs, beginning to ascend. After all, even if the home was turning into some sort of not so fun house, there was still something that didn’t belong here— and the only way to get to it was up. Marley’s call made her wait for no other reason than habit, and she looked skeptically at the detective, not all that keen on letting her go first. Plus, she simply wasn’t used to it. Nell always generally put herself at the forefront of danger. “It’s fine,” she rejected, also not liking the way Marley’s arms were quivering. “Don’t worry about it.” Then she continued her ascent until she reached the top landing, pausing cautiously for a moment. A moment was all the manumbra needed as it leapt from its ceiling perch, perfectly disguised until it was too late. Down it fell, straight onto Nell as it flattened her to the ground. Nell’s grunt of pain was quick to follow, an angry snarl coming from her not a second later as she twisted, grabbing for one of her hidden knives and jabbing it into the demon’s side. A fucking manumbra. Of course it was a fucking manumbra.

Marley’s heart hiccuped, then froze. Everything was so familiar. Everything was the same. Roland’s face flashed through Marley’s mind and for a minute, she considered turning and running. But the door closed loudly behind her and the creature dropped from the ceiling, pinning Nell beneath it, and Marley felt the same pull inside of her as she had when Roland had yelled at her to leave. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t leave someone behind. Not Roland, and definitely not this annoying kid who kept calling her old and breaking out of her jail cell. Marley took the stairs two at a time, her arms shaking, and pulled out the switchblade she kept on herself. There was too much error margin using a gun, so this would have to do. She stabbed it into the creature, hoping to distract it enough for the girl to get away. “Run!” she said, lifting the knife to stab into the creature again. “Get out of here!”

The two stabs, one from each of the women, was enough to make the manumbra scramble for a moment, and more than enough for Nell to wrestle the thing off of her with a growl. “Piece of shit!” she yelled before processing what it was Marley was trying to tell her. Run? Like hell, she would run. The witch had never run from anything in her life, and she sure wasn’t going to start now. In the flash of an eye, Nell was raising her knife to herself this time, drawing a careful line down her patchwork scarred forearm. In the same moment, she struck a knee firmly against the demon’s chest, trying to drive it into the ground in an attempt to make it stay still so she could banish it. Gathering the ruby droplets on her left hand, she began to draw a binding circle around the manumbra as quickly as she could, careful not to smudge the lines. “Help me hold it down!”

Why wasn’t Nell running? Marley could easily get out of this mess, but she couldn’t just leave someone behind. Not anymore. Before it would’ve been easy, but after she’d been locked in that house with Roland-- after they’d spent so much time in that place, alone, wondering if they were going to live or die-- after realizing she’d only survived because of him, she couldn’t leave him behind. She wouldn’t leave anyone behind ever again. “Dammit, Bambi!” she growled, stabbing the knife down. The creature made a loud noise and it rocketed up Marley’s spine, making her freeze. Suddenly, the hallway began to warp. The floor beneath her sank. And then the whole world flipped upside down. Marley went crashing to the floor-- ceiling?-- and felt her hand smack hard against wood, the knife falling from her grip. “Shit!” she shouted, rolling away just in time to watch the creature slam down where she’d just been. “We have to get out of here!” she said, scrambling across the ceiling towards Nell. “Quit messing around!”

Nell let out an annoyed growl as the manumbra escaped the circle she’d been working on, watching as it skittered around, trying to find an opening to pin it down once again. “Shit,” Nell cursed as she watched the detective fall...somewhere. She wasn’t entirely sure which way was up at this point. “I’m not messing around!” Nell yelled back. “I know what I’m doing if you’ll help me get it pinned!” Tracking the manumbra as it crawled along the ceiling-floor, Nell threw the knife from her hand towards the demon, a sense of satisfaction flooding her as it landed with a satisfying thud, and the creature made a pained noise. “I can bind it!”

The knife landed with a thud, but Marley knew better. “Bind it?” she shouted, looking over at Nell with bewildered eyes. “Are you serious? Just fucking kill it or run!” she called out, pulling for her gun finally as she came to a stop near Nell, kicking away at floorboards of the ceiling to try and distract the thing. Visions of her nightmares tried to flood her eyes-- dark hallways, closing in. Wood peeling like paint, floating around them. Hands gripping her throat, choking her. Marley shook her head, tried to refocus, but it wasn’t enough. She stumbled, grabbing her head. “Stop it!” she shouted at no one, “just stop it!” The creature took its chance, lunging. Marley remembered watching it drop hard onto Roland, remembered it trying to squeeze the life out of him-- she shoved Nell out of the way and felt it collide with her back, face hitting the floor-- ceiling?-- glasses falling from her face, snapping. It went to squeeze, she knew it was coming, and her body instantly changed itself, like an automatic muscle response. The creature slipped right through her and she pushed herself up, turning around to face it again, gun pointed. She fired into it several times, unloaded her entire clip. It screeched in pain, skittering backwards, away from them. The world shifted under them once again and the two were dumped back on the actual floor, near the stairs. Marley lay still for a moment, breath hard to come by, gun still aimed. “Where is it!?” she asked in a haze, “where’d it go?”

“Fine!” Nell yelled back, preferring to bind it, but willing to kill the demon if need be. “I’ll just kill it, then!” But it seemed the manumbra had other plans as it charged Marley. Called out to the cop as it looked like the manumbra would be aiming to end the woman. Instead of a squishing or squeezing, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing where Marley was, and the demon passed through her. “How did you-?” Nell began in surprise, not yet putting the pieces together of what were mara induced abilities. The world was moving too quickly to come to that conclusion at the moment. Finally, everything was still apart from the two women looking around in their frantic attempts to find the demon. Reflexively, Nell offered Marley a hand to help her up before once again performing the spell she’d done in the beginning of her house exploration. This time, the only signatures it returned were her’s and the detective’s. “It’s gone. It must have run. Are you alright?”

Marley looked up to the offered hand, almost immediately wanting to swat it away-- she was the cop, she was supposed to protect other people and offer her hand up to them after they were attacked. Rubbing her chin, she reached up and grabbed her offered hand after a moment, hauling herself up with some effort. Though she was physically unharmed-- she couldn’t be hurt that badly at night-- her body was still shaking and flooded with adrenaline and shock, shaking herself off. “I’m fine,” she muttered, wiping something off from her hand. “How did you know what it was? A-- what did you say? Man-something?” She wanted to get out of this house, but kept still, waiting for Nell’s response, before she realized she didn’t have glasses on her face. Hurriedly, she glanced around, only to find the broken in half on the floor where she’d landed. “Fuck…” she hissed, scooping them up. A piece of glass fell from one of the lenses. “Fuck.”

Despite Marley’s insistence that she was fine, Nell gave the woman a cursory once over, trying to see if there were any parts of the detective that was bleeding. However, it seemed that most of the wounds the manumbra had dealt were below the surface, as those were the kind it specialized in. “It’s a demon,” the witch began her explanation, figuring that was the best place to start. “And I...know demons.” There was no need to get into the specifics of it at the moment. Besides, what would she tell Marley? That her dead grandma left a journal behind that helped her figure out how to summon the creatures? “This one was a manumbra. They’re a bit rarer than their cousins. On a scale of demons, it’s not the worst. But it’s obviously...not great either when you’re its prey. The good news is that it doesn’t need any special rituals or anything to get rid of it. If you stab it enough or whatever- it’ll just die on its own.” Wordlessly, Nell took the glasses from Marley, waving a hand over them with a murmured spell to repair them back into one piece before handing them back to the woman. “We should probably get out of here for now.” Nell would have loved to stay and see if the demon returned, but she could tell that Marley wasn’t in the best of places at the moment.

“A demon?” Marley said, a bit breathless. God, she hated that. She groaned, pressing her palms into her face. “Great, perfect. So now I’m being stalked by a demon.” This was just what she needed right now, wasn’t it? Manumbra. She’d remember that name. She’d remember it and next time she found it, it wasn’t going to get away. She would kill it and burn the body and make sure it was dead for real this time. No more coming back or whatever the fuck it was doing. She looked up when Nell grabbed the glasses from her and waved her hand over them, fixing them almost instantly. “So I was right,” she mumbled when Nell handed them back, “you’re a spellcaster.” Marley only knew a few spellcaster-- they seemed just as secretive and hushed about their abilities as real supernaturals-- but she’d keep that to herself for now. “Thanks.” She glanced around, then back to Nell, before motioning for her to follow her down the stairs, weapon still drawn. They weren’t safe, after all, until they were out of this house. She was reminded that Nell was here for a bounty, but whoever it was, they were surely already dead. “Uh, sorry about your guy,” she muttered as they passed by his stuff, “maybe next time will be better.”

Once they were outside, Marley holstered her weapon and took a few long steps away from the building, looking back in. When she was sure they were safe, she turned back to Nell, quiet for a moment. “Thanks. Again. For--” nodded back at the house, but couldn’t finish the sentence. “Uh, you um-- stay safe out there, okay Bambi?” She dug through her pocket a moment before holding out her card. “I know you hate narcs and shit, but if you’re ever in trouble-- just call me. Promise I’m cooler than all the other narcs.” And then she slid her glasses back on and turned back to her cruiser. Next time, she’d finish this thing for good.

#chatzy #chatzy: nell #wickedswriting #one for the money #nell

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seagreen-meets-grey · 4 years

Text

Hooked On A Feeling Ch. 2

When Hiccup and Astrid realize they’ve never hung out alone before, they decide to change that. And how do you better spend time with your Good Friend than by playing Mario Kart all night?

[Chapter 1: Come A Little Bit Closer] [Chapter 2: Fooled Around And Fell In Love] [Chapter 3: Go All The Way]

Crossposted on ao3 and ff.net

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Hiccup needed to pee so badly.

Ever since he’d dozed off earlier, he’d become more uncomfortable by the minute. He really didn’t want to leave his position now. It had taken him so long to shuffle ever closer to Astrid again and his whole slow process of inch by inch would be lost. But another painful pinch from his bladder later, he couldn’t take it anymore.

Pausing the game mid-race, he put his controller to the side, moved to sit up, and did the next without thinking. He leaned over, kissed Astrid on the cheek as if it were the most natural thing in the world and left to the bathroom.

As soon as he’d closed the door behind him, he froze, eyes wide as saucers. What had just happened? Why the hell had he done that?!

Only his bladder was able to get him to move again and after he’d relieved himself, he began pacing through the bathroom.

He couldn’t just go back now; it would be so awkward. He’d just ruined the night. Maybe he should just stay in here forever or sneak out the window and never come back. But his Switch was still here and he couldn’t just jump from the second floor.

It shouldn’t even be that big of a deal. They were good friends – best friends, even. And it was just a kiss on the cheek. But for some reason, it suddenly felt like so much more.

Too afraid to go back and face her reaction, he continued pacing back and forth, then in circles, then he lay face down on the floor with a loud muffled groan. He didn’t know how long he’d been in here by now. She must be thinking he was either taking a very huge dump or that he’d fallen asleep on the bowl.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he chastised himself, accentuating every word by banging his forehead on the fluffy carpet.

The knock on the door made him wince. “Hiccup?” Fuck. “Everything okay?”

He scrambled to get up, mussing up his hair in an attempt to smooth it, and opened the door, leaning as casually as possible against the frame. “’M fine.”

“Right,” she frowned and pushed her bangs out of her face. “Do you want to go outside for a bit? Take a walk, clear our head of… the tiredness?”

“Yes,” he said maybe a little too immediately. Some fresh air while walking through the dark where they couldn’t see each other’s face very well sounded so much better than sitting next to each other in a stuffy room after such a terribly awkward situation.

They donned their coats and left the house. The cold air hit their faces, cooling the blood that was still rushing through their veins.

Astrid was glad that she’d taken the time to go back to her room to get her warm hat and mittens while Hiccup had been waiting for her outside. In the soft light of the moon reflecting off the snow beneath their feet, her breath condensed in front of her face. Wiggling her toes inside her boots to warm them up for the walk, she switched on her flashlight and tested the range of the light cone. The batteries should hold for a while.

They walked down the quiet street, only the flashlight and a few lamps here and there illuminating their path. It had stopped snowing for the most part, a handful of stars blinking in the sky in-between thick clouds. Her light reflected off the sign that informed them they were leaving Berk, right over the smaller sign pointing in the direction of Raven Point Lake.

For a while, neither of them talked. Astrid was rather glad about the silence that was only interrupted by the snow scrunching under their every step, still a little flustered by this new tension between herself and her friend. She was wondering if her heart was beating that fast because of Hiccup or because she’d had way too much sugar and caffeine. It was probably both.

She watched him from the corner of her eye, taking note of the thoughtful lines on his face. Was he having similar thoughts, maybe overthinking everything in true Hiccup fashion, or was she the one attributing too much importance to every interaction?

“Look, I’m vaping,” Hiccup broke the silence and exhaled a large cloud of breath.

Astrid snorted. “Wow, I’m amazed. I thought you were contemplating the meaning of the universe just now, but turns out there is a hamster inside your brain running backwards on its wheel.”

“His name is Sharpshot, because he’s such a sharp shot,” Hiccup said. “He’s a hamster that knows how to run backwards, that must count for something.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Astrid, I can see you grin.”

She switched off her flashlight. “No, you can’t.”

Naturally, he tripped only the blink of an eye later. But instead of faceplanting into the snow, which would have been pretty hilarious, he got hold of her arm and saved himself. “I don’t want to walk straight into the lake,” he declared and held onto her.

“I can still push you or lead you right into the water.”

“Nope, I’m smarter than you,” he claimed and let go of her arm to fish his phone out of his pocket and turned on its flash. She cursed the drop of her stomach at the loss of his touch.

“Cheater,” she huffed and switched her own light back on. When Hiccup put his phone back into his pocket, there was a tiny victorious smirk on his face which she deliberately chose to ignore.

They turned one more corner and reached the lake. The water was black and smooth as glass, the reflection of the moon nearly undistorted, only a few snowflakes softly creating miniature ripples on the surface. They trudged down the path along the shore, leisurely passing the ghosts of people jogging during the day, families on their Sunday stroll, sniffing dogs and their shivering owners, and the occasional old couple watching the commotion from one of the benches now covered in ice and snow.

There was that look on his face again, the one that creased his forehead, paled the many freckles on his skin and drenched his eyes in a darker color. She didn’t like it, had always felt like there was something wrong with the world when a spirit such as Hiccup’s could be pulled out of the sky by something stronger than gravity.

She’d seen a variation of that look before, albeit a much heavier, soul-crushing one, not quite two years ago. And now she couldn’t bear it either.

“How’s your mom doing?” she tentatively asked.

He looked up as if surprised she was still there, in the world outside his own head. “Mom’s doing fine.” The creases were gone and he playfully kicked at a frozen clump of grass, and Astrid wondered if he had even realized he’d drifted off into his own galaxy there for a moment.

She bit her lip and, for the first time since it had invaded her head, voiced the thought that had been sitting in a corner of her mind for months and had only come out again recently. “I’m sorry. I feel like I haven’t been there for you enough.”

He stopped walking. “Where is this suddenly coming from?”

“Well…” she shrugged, searching the lake for words. “We realized we’d never hung out alone before. That makes me think that I probably also wasn’t there for you enough when your mom was, you know…” Almost dying of cancer. Even she wasn’t brave enough to say it out loud, for she hated what it did to the life in Hiccup’s eyes.

He regarded her for a minute, then gave her a reassuring smile and continued down the path again. “Don’t worry. You were actually the most helpful, you know.”

“Really?” She caught up to him and frowned, remembering several incidents where she probably could have been more tactful, blurting out bold words before her sensitivity could join the party. “How so?”

“You didn’t pamper me or act like I was a bomb ready to go off any second. You were real with me when everyone else pretended that everything was fine. I don’t think I ever said thank you, so… Thanks.”

The sincerity in his voice warmed her from the inside, untwisting the knot there, and she punched him lightly on the arm. “You’re welcome.”

He pretended to be hurt but the twitching corners of his mouth betrayed him, so he quit the dramatics and draped an arm over her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re my friend.”

When she glanced over, she was caught in his smile. It was so genuine and soft and so close that she couldn’t think of a witty comeback on the fly, so she just nodded. “Me too.”

They had slowed to a stop, standing there in a halfway hug. As if it had waited for the invitation, the weird sexual tension from before snuck back up on them, dashing down the path and enveloping them with a thousand volts that gave Astrid goosebumps all over her arms and back.

Hiccup was the first to clear his throat and step away, rubbing at his neck. She brought the light up to his face, illuminating his skin, and she wondered if it was red from the cold or something else.

Her own runny nose and numb cheeks reminded her of the cold as well, inciting a longing for her fluffy socks and warm, cozy bed. “Let’s head back.”

“Good idea, my toes are freezing off.”

“Rather your toes than your fingers,” she said before shaking her head, competitive grin back on her face. “Scratch that, I can beat you faster if you lose your fingers.”

“Milady!” Hiccup mock-gasped. “That’s so cruel. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Yeah, you did.”

He shrugged and nodded. “Okay, yes, I did.” When he bumped her shoulder with his own, she retaliated by shoving him, making him stagger precariously. He caught himself and used his momentum to come after her, chasing her down the path. Laughing, she ran ahead of him, back to the street, and scooped up a handful of snow that she hurled at him the moment he turned the corner. He’d anticipated the attack, though, and ducked just in time to avoid being hit in the face. When he came back up, his hands were already forming a snowball, and the game was officially on.

They reached her house completely covered in white. Hiccup’s hair was wet from the snow she’d showered him with after he had stuck a handful down the back of her shirt, and her mittens were soaked.

After she put their boots next to the heater and hung her jacket, she still felt the adrenaline from their battle coursing through her. When Hiccup was tugging at his clammy socks, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

“Just letting you know that I’m going to the bathroom.” She even winked for good measure before she left the room, his eyes burning through her all the way down the hall.

Not much later, they were lounging on her bed again, warm and dry and competitive, drinking their energy drinks and handling their controllers as if it was second nature at this point.

“How’d it go at Doctor Mala’s?” Hiccup broke the silence after a while of concentrated racing, only to backtrack right after. “Um, sorry. You don’t have to answer that if it’s too personal.”

A quick glance reassured him she was smiling, not glaring at him ready to strike. Asking the friend you’ve prior to now never spent time alone with how their visit at the dermatologist went probably overstepped some kind of line.

“First of all, why wouldn’t I tell you? You’re one of my closest friends.” Upon him opening his mouth to object, she added, “Even though we never hung out alone before now. I don’t define my closest friends by that kind of bullshit argument. Second, she said all my moles look fine. Nothing to worry about.”

He hadn’t even noticed the tension in his shoulders before they relaxed at her words. With her family history of skin cancer, nothing to worry about was music to his ears. “That’s great. Both of what you said.” He bumped her elbow with his and earned her immediate complain.

“Hey, jackass! Are you trying to force me off the road?!”

“That’s the plan, Baby Peach.”

All she did in response was grumble and he was sure the name Waluigi was mentioned in the same breath as a few of her favorite swear words. The smile on his face was wiped clean, though, the second he took a look at the current positions of the characters and cursed. “We fucked up, Astrid. Look who’s up front!”

“What?!” She leaned forward and smacked her hands complete with controller on her crossed legs, exasperated. “Not him! He’s the most boring one!”

“Well, step on it, milady! We can’t let him win!”

For the next few races, they actually worked together to bring Mario down a few positions, burying their rivalry until he was defeated. After that, their truce was dropped immediately.

During a break in-between races, Astrid stretched her arms over her head and Hiccup had to avert his eyes when her shirt rode up a few inches and revealed a patch of skin right above the waistline of her sweatpants. The cute noises she made while stretching and yawning at the same time didn’t help at all and he felt his face go very warm.

“I don’t know about you,” she yawned, “but I could kill for some hot cacao right now. You want some?”

“Hm-hmm.”

“Sweet.” In one motion, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stood up and bounced on her toes. It took him a bit longer to get out of his comfortable position, tired as he was, so he accepted her outstretched hand gladly. He blamed it on his lack of sleep that he didn’t let go right away, allowing her to pull him out of the room before dropping her hand.

The kitchen still smelled of pizza, even though one window was slightly ajar. The underfloor-heating warmed his feet and for a minute he considered warming up a piece of the pizza. But he decided that would require too much effort. Instead, he was content with watching Astrid grab two mugs from her cupboard, fill them with milk and cacao powder and put them in the microwave.

She, too, had briefly considered eating more pizza. But her mind had gotten sidetracked when she’d looked over at Hiccup and found him staring bleary-eyed at the food. Her inner voice screamed cute so loudly, it drowned out every other thought.

She had to force herself back to her task at hand, which was to prepare the hot cacao, not to drool over the sight of her suddenly hard to resist friend. Sure, he’d always been adorable, but right now, when she looked at him in her kitchen in the middle of the night, wearing pajamas and leaning against the fridge like he belonged here, her heart began racing in her chest like it was a Mario Kart player and her stomach felt like it was zooming over Rainbow Road.

Where was all this coming from all of a sudden? She tried figuring out if she’d always felt this way or if it was just now developing at rapid speed, but she wasn’t capable of thinking clearly at the moment; she was way too distracted – and tired. Her fingers started twitching against the mugs as she put them in the microwave and set the timer.

For a minute, she watched the porcelain spin slowly as the invisible heat waves did their thing. When she turned around, she found Hiccup regarding her through sleepy eyes, and a sudden urge, spurred on by her raving heart, set her muscles into motion.

Before she could think about it, she crossed the space between them, grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked his lips down to hers. The muffled sound of surprise got stuck in his throat as he completely froze against her. When several moments had passed and he was still imitating a statue, the rational part of her brain caught up with her. This had been a very bad idea.

The ping of the microwave suddenly brought life back into Hiccup. He pulled back from her and awkwardly shuffled out of her grasp that left his shirt crumpled where her fist had held onto it like the tattered end of a rope dangling over a bottomless abyss.

“Oh, look at that,” he exclaimed, voice a little too loud, and dedicated his entire focus to the microwave and its content. “The hot cacao is done. Ow, and it’s hot!” An awkward chuckle escaped him while he fumbled with the mugs, avoiding looking at her at any cost. “Who would have thought, right? That hot cacao is hot? Not me, certainly.” He made a face as if he’d just bitten into a big lemon and regretted it deeply.

Astrid didn’t regret anything – but she had to admit, certain decisions of hers hadn’t played out very favorable. For once in her life, she should have thought before taking action. Her knack for impulse decisions had finally come to bite her in the butt. She knew Hiccup, and she knew he was going to avoid the whole topic for a while until he felt like the awkwardness of the situation had cooled down, and then he was going to avoid ever talking about it again.

But she wanted to talk about it. Because her impulses didn’t just happen, they were based on instinct. And her instincts had given her the impression that there was something between them tonight, a tension that certainly couldn’t have been only one-sided. Or was that just wishful thinking?

Her thoughts racing, she quietly followed Hiccup back to her room. Neither of them said a word as they settled back on the bed, quite some space between them. They sipped at their chocolate drinks and stared at the TV for a while until Astrid couldn’t take the uncomfortable silence anymore and exchanged her mug for her controller. Hiccup followed her lead and soon enough they were back at insulting each other over the game.

Astrid almost let out a sigh of relief when the awkward tension from earlier dissolved and made way for their usual playful banter. At some point, they would have to talk about what happened there in the kitchen, but for now, she was content with kicking his ass at a video game that he was way better at than she would have liked. He was serious competition and somehow, that sent a shiver down her spine as her lips tingled pleasantly.

After every race, the amount of liquid in their mugs became lesser and the final races came closer. They were head to head at the top of the ranking list, too far ahead of the rest of the characters to be outrun by anyone anymore. It was just her and Hiccup fighting for the ultimate victory, for the pride and bragging rights that came with it, and the privilege of receiving an extra Christmas present.

She tipped her head back to chug down the last of her chocolate, put her mug away and reached for her controller to start the next race, when Hiccup suddenly leaned towards her.

“Hold on,” he mumbled and lifted his hand to her face. “You got some foam right there.” His brows furrowed in concentration as his finger gingerly stroked over the skin at the edge of her lips. She didn’t dare to move when he hesitated to pull his hand back.

His fingers wandered further, every micromotion leaving fiery tingles in its wake. Her breath hitched when his skin touched her lips and lightly traced over every line and curve, with undivided attention to first her lower, then her upper lip. Transfixed, she didn’t realize she was leaning forward until he moved his hand to her neck and brought his face closer to hers, equally mesmerized.

This time, he didn’t freeze. The first brush of lips was chaste and hesitant, like he was testing the waters, as if her blatantly kissing him earlier hadn’t been obvious enough. When she leaned more firmly into him, signaling him that she wouldn’t reject him, he grew more confident, burying his other hand in her hair, pulling her closer. She sat on her legs and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He tasted like liquid chocolate, and when she slid her tongue along his lower lip, there was something else sugary, something more artificial – energy drink. Her heart was pounding, pumping blood through her veins that she was sure was made of sheer viscous caffeine.

Her chest felt like it was flooded with molten caramel, powered by the rush of soft lips meeting hers over and over again, of teeth colliding, followed by a breathy chuckle and a new approach to get it right. She tilted her head a little further and goosebumps broke out over her neck when the hand in her hair wandered lower to join the other.

Trivial concepts like time and space became irrelevant. If sleep hadn’t been pressing against the insides of her temple, she’d have embraced the idea of staying like this forever.

But, as bubblegum had been teaching humanity for ages, every bubble had to burst at some point. This particular one was maliciously speared by the razor-sharp tip of the pike that was her alarm clock.

She almost bit her tongue – or Hiccup’s, because who was to say at this point – in an effort to scramble up and get to her phone. She knew it was somewhere on her desk, discarded underneath various folders and clothes she’d thrown there while half-heartedly cleaning her room earlier that day. And there it was, blaring her latest favorite metalcore song, buried underneath a t-shirt and an old bra. After a few hectic swipes of her thumb, she shut the alarm off and shoved the bra back underneath the pile of chaos.

“Sorry, forgot to turn it off.” Blasted mood killer at seven in the morning!

When she turned around, though, she doubted Hiccup had heard a word of what she’d just said. He was sitting there staring in her general direction through foggy eyes, dreamy smile on his face. She settled back next to him, shoulder to shoulder, and experimentally said, “I really think Baby Peach is the best character of them all, seriously. And Waluigi? I’d do him, if you know what I mean.”

His elaborate answer consisted of an absentminded hum as his eyes never left her profile. Very nice, she could work with that.

Without further ado, she took her controller, leaned more comfortably against Hiccup and started the next race. She didn’t say a word, just concentrated on the game, a shrewd smile on her face. It wasn’t as if she was hiding anything from him. He just didn’t pay attention, and she wasn’t going to let that opportunity go in favor of her victory looming on the horizon.

It took him an embarrassing time of two laps around the race course to notice.

“Hey!” he complained, finally returning to planet Earth and grabbing his controller. “Now who’s the cheater?!”

Her grin only grew wider. “What am I supposed to do when you’re too busy staring at me?”

“How about ‘not cheat’?!” Waluigi slowly joined the race, his cart jerkily moving across the bumpy grass where he’d been catapulted by the other racers passing him on their war to victory.

“I wasn’t cheating,” she said with as much sweet innocence as she could muster, fully aware he wasn’t buying any of it. “I thought you would notice that the game was back on.”

He huffed and feigned being offended. “You did that on purpose. Is everything you do just a trick to make sure you win?”

“Of course. I thought you knew that by now, slowpoke.” And with that, she crossed the finish line. Despite his best efforts, Hiccup came in last, unable to make up for the distance even the slowest character had on him at this point.

With the advance Astrid had just gained, it was impossible for him to beat her now, and two races later, she threw her hands in the air with a cry of victory.

“YES! Eat my dust, losers! See that, Waluigi? I won!”

“Why do you have to say Waluigi’s name like it’s an insult? He would have destroyed you if you hadn’t cheated.” Hiccup pretended to sulk, but her cheery demeanor was contagious.

“Because Waluigi is…” she put her chin on his shoulder, “a big…” the hand holding her controller poked his cheek, “ugly…” it poked his forehead, “loooser!”

Hiccup pouted but she could see the corners of his mouth twitch. “You’re really proud of this, aren’t you? Winning in a family-friendly video game that children could play?”

“Don’t even try and play my victory down, loser. You know it’s an achievement.”

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “You saying winning against me is an achievement? Because you’re right, it is. Not in your case, however, ‘cause you cheated, Baby Peach.”

In retort, she poked him in the side and watched with satisfaction as he winced. She repeated the motion and he continuously flinched away from her, until he grabbed her hands and pushed them away from him. “Stop tickling me, you’re defiling your already spoiled victory!”

“You said yourself that it’s not possible to cheat on Mario Kart.” Despite his efforts to keep her fingers at bay, she didn’t even think about giving up and pushed against his defense. “Hence, I won fair and square.”

“Can’t cheat in the game but can manipulate the other players. Fair and square my ass!”

“Are you trying to make me your enemy, loser?” She threw herself against him, successfully breaching his defense and tackling him to her bed for the second time that night. Once again, she felt the warmth of his body radiate through his clothes, could count the freckles on his face and admire the green of his eyes. This time, however, she didn’t get overwhelmed and push him off the mattress. And neither did he.

His arms enveloped her and pulled her closer until she was pressed down on his chest and her face was buried in his shoulder.

“Hmm,” he mused, “somehow, I feel like I won something, too.”

“You’re more cheesy than our pizza,” she told his shoulder, voice muffled against his shirt. Struggling against his hold on her, she tried to sit up, but he just tightened his arms around her.

“Nuh-uh, you’re not getting away! Ow!”

Kicking her knees into his bony legs seemed effective so she continued until he retaliated by jabbing his fingers into her sides. Now she was the one twitching from his attack, trying to escape while uncontrollable laughter filled her lungs and took her breath away.

After more than 24 hours of living on zero sleep and the adrenaline level built up by the caffeine crashing down, it wasn’t long until they both ran out of energy. Sitting up took a lot of joined effort, but it was worth it when she was leaning back against him in his loose embrace, his chin resting on her shoulder.

Outside her window, trees and roofs stood out as silhouettes against the dark gray sky. With every passing minute, a new detail appeared in the growing light. Soon enough, the first beam of golden fire glistened on the white mantle, illuminating the few silent snowflakes coming down from heady heights.

It was so comfortable, the picture so quiet and peaceful, the human blanket enveloping her so warm and cozy. The weight of her eyelids became heavier, the urge to succumb to sleep ever stronger. The land of dreams was calling for her like a siren singing for a poor sailor on his ship.

“You still awake?” the voice of her blanket mumbled.

“Hmm.”

The blanket stifled a yawn. “Do you think we would have ended up here sooner if we had hung out together much earlier?”

Astrid needed a minute to make sense of the words, her brain as foggy as the wafts of mist traveling through the fields outside her window. “Dunno, maybe. But for what it’s worth,” she opened her mouth wide for a yawn so long she almost forgot what she wanted to say, “but for what it’s worth, I always thought you were cute.”

The blanket chuckled and she could feel the low vibrations against her back. “I think I prefer sleep-deprived Astrid over regular Astrid. She says nice things to me.”

“Shut up.” For more she wasn’t capable. The talking blanket helped her lie under a different blanket and removed the socks from her feet before it settled back next to her.

“Sleep tight,” a voice she somehow associated with love songs, caramel and snowball fights whispered in her ear, and it was the last thing she remembered before she fell asleep.

The first time she woke up, she had trouble making sense of her surroundings. She was wearing her sweatpants and comfiest bra to sleep and there was someone sawing logs inside her room. Blinking her eyes open just a crack, she immediately closed them again against the light shining through her window like it was trying to blind her.

After a minute of orientation, she traced the lumberjack back to the extra body in her bed. With a groan, she half-heartedly shook it and complained, picking up an equally half-hearted sleep-filled apology before she felt the body change position, and the lumberjack was gone.

The second time she woke was when a heat wave broke out over her body. Her legs were cooking in her sweatpants and her bra was sticking to her skin. With closed eyes so they wouldn’t get burned by the light, she wiggled out of her pants and sat up to remove her bra, then teetered over to the window like a drunk person to open it a small crack.

When she settled back on her pillow, heat finally under control, a long arm sneaked over her waist and pulled her closer. Somehow, that new heat wasn’t that bad, and sleep pulled her back in.

#httyd #hiccstrid #hiccup haddock #astrid hofferson #ff #fanfiction #modern au #fluff #maja writes #mario kart

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peaches-of-1 · 5 years

Text

Peachtober | Day 23: Crinkle

Reader x Werewolf!Jimin

Genre: Fluff

A/N: I did my best not to use he/him or she/her when refering to the reader, so please let me know if I did so that I can fix it.

The day starts as usual, with a pair of black pants being slipped on and the routine of teeth brushing. Laptop is dead, so you decided to leave it home as you begin making a quick microwavable breakfast of Hot Pockets. Two and a cup of whatever drink you have left in the fridge. You do the daily makeup look you’ve gotten used to doing since moving to Seoul due to a teaching job you found no joy with.

Still, the Korean city had claimed your heart and so you were lucky enough to get a job at one of the many coffee shops around town. It had been open for hours already as you were part of the afternoon/late shift. After the meal is thrown down your throat, you quickly tie up your work shoes and catch the bus with all of the other college students who are continuously cramming for the next test.

A little hop to the pavement, a turn to the left, pass the nail salon and vintage clothing store lies a tiny store where you were currently making a living.

Casual greetings all around as the manager tosses you an apron, “With Y/N here, I’m gone for the evening. Goodbye, everyone!”

Her and her husband must’ve gotten in a argument and not speaking because those were the only times she left when you showed up.

“What is it this time?” You asked the only other part timer there.

Big brown eyes and shaggy blonde hair was making yet another Brown Sugar Expresso, “Oh, um. Not sure. They’ve been fighting all day.”

“Ahem,” The manager said.

Jimin looked at him innocently, “I said nothing.”

Both waited for their boss to pass by before asking.

“You think this might be the breaking point?”

He laughed, “They’ve reached this point several times before, so I doubt it.” and then he smiled at the young man waiting for his coffee. “Enjoy your drink.”

“Thank you!” He replied in hesitant Korean.

The blonde boy began to set up the fresh batch orange crinkle cookies and then began to sniff, ending up near your cheek. You asked what he was doing, making him jolt backwards.

He looked at the floor and then back at you, “Sorry. You just. You don’t smell like honey today.” and quickly, he busied himself with eating one of those cookies for himself.

“I decided to actually have a real lunch instead of bread and honey today.” You said, blushing. “I didn’t know you noticed.”

The dark skinned man approached the counter again, “Can I have some napkins, please?”

“Here you go.” The blonde said, giving him several.

“Thank you!” he said with a smile and went back to his laptop.

“Jimin-ssi, you should get his number.” You said, nudging him and boxing up a dozen donuts since a regular would be here rather soon on the way to an office meeting.

Jimin shook his head, “What? No. I couldn’t.”

“But he’s totally your type.” You glanced at the man with coffee bean skin.

“I mean, you aren’t wrong, but I have someone I already like.” He said as you rung up the young woman with short brown hair and glasses.

You looked at him, “Oh, really? They must be the luckiest person in the world to have your affection.”

“Well, I don’t think they know. I have secrets that I don’t want them to be a part of. Secrets like how your crinkle cookie recipe is the best thing I’ve ever had.”

You smiled. Then the bell on the door rang as another regular came in which made your heart jump. They were so cute and suave, but not your type. Still, he was very handsome and always showed up in a crisp suit usually with some sort of unique pattern on it.

“I’ll have a--”

“Pumpkin Spice Caramel Latte with extra foam?” You replied. “It’s easier to remember because you always put your own spin on the seasonal specials.”

He smiled, “Yes, and with a--”

“Chocolate cinnamon bun? Coming right up.”

The Korean blonde man snuck another cookie as Y/N served their obvious crush. Their customer had to know that they were into him. It was clear to Jimin as he worked on cleaning a now empty table with a pencil left on the floor that he’d just put in the lost and found for whenever the woman came back. However, the pencil smelled strange. It was moist smelling...ah, it seemed that she liked to bite on her writing utensils.

“Jimin-ah, can you make some more muffins, please? We’re running out.” Y/N called as they approached the table of an elderly woman who came here ever since her daughter was in middle school.

The daughter rarely came here anymore, busy travelling according to the mom.

As the day went on, the two worked well. The other owner left to go buy flowers for his wife since he felt bad. He told Y/N to lock up since Jimin had to leave earlier. The young blonde had been nervous all day, knowing he would have much time after work to go to the store and then get home before he--a gentle hand scratched the back of his head, calming him down.

“Are you ok, Jimin-ie?” Kind eyes asked the now smiling face.

“Y-yeah. I’m just behind on groceries.” He replied. “I have a big meal to make.”

Y/N nodded, “You really like meat, don’t you? I remember your friend Taehyung visiting and handing you a lot of meat last month. A cooler of it or something. Is it already gone?”

Brown eyes glittered as he nodded at you, “Y-yeah. I do like meat a lot.”

The last customer left, and it was an hour until closing. Jimin could tell Y/N was looking for something inside of her mind. Thinking deeply.

“I’ve got this. You go do your shopping..”

Jimin asked, “Really? It’s not safe for you to be by yourself for so long, and I am supposed to walk you to--”

“I’ll be fine, Jimin. I’ve got my phone on me, and we’ve got tons of knives.” Then Y/N motioned into the corners. “Also, cameras.”

Quickly the man left and then felt his torso for something. He circled around the lockers in the back, like a dog chasing his tail. Then the sparkling trinket of a wolf necklace was dangled in front of him.

“The chain broke and it landed in a drink during our daily rush. I’ve been keeping it in my pocket. Almost forgot about it.” the beautiful coworker said, placing it in Jimin’s small hand.

“Th-thank you, Y/N.”

Then soft hand felt his head, “You’re not getting sick, are you? Your voice is deeper than usual.”

The young man covered his mouth and quickly gathered his stuff as he talked rapidly, “It’s nothing. I promise. Even so, I should go to the doctor’s and get it checked out, but only if it gets worse. I’m sure I’ll be better by tomorrow. Just tired. Sometimes voices get deeper when the person is tired, don’t you know. Um, anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N. If you need me, don’t hesitate to call me. Be safe. Ok bye.”

And out the door he went.

You blinked and smiled. Jimin was an adorable coworker, always so excited to see you and very good at following orders. Almost like a puppy, especially when his hair got shaggy. Even the way he often pushed back his hair was like a dog scratching at his ear. Since things were slowing down, you decided to begin the nightly shut down of all the machines since you wouldn’t be cooking or baking anything else for the night.

The time ticked by, and then it was time to lock up. You jumped over the counter and turned the sign. The only things left on were the lights and the speakers as you blasted your favorite K-rock songs as you swept and mopped. You were thinking about your Halloween costume since your friend was holding a party at her place on the spooky holiday.

Maybe you’d see if you could fit your old maid costume or see what outfits went well with a pair of leggings. Nothing too important or special. Just a chance to get drunk with candy corn flavored vodka and cinnamon soju made just for the fall season.

Last thing you had to do was throw out the trash, so you turned off the lights and the speakers and threw your messenger bag on before heading out, making sure to keep the left over blood orange crinkle cookies. You had given the café the recipe, yes, but you yourself hadn’t had the treats in a while.

However, you heard the clanking of trash cans. Was it another cat or a stray dog? Two eyes glowed back at you once it noticed another being near it.

“Ya! Get away from there!” You called, too tired to think about the danger of approaching a potentially rabid animal.

It seemed to back up, though. Then you turned on your phone flashlight, allowing you to confirm the animal was not a cat. It was bigger. It was much bigger than you had seen any dog. Not just any dog. Wolf. It was a full grown wolf that seemed to be not just beast, but had human like legs covered in tan fur. It got on all fours as if faced you. It fan towards you, and you thought you were a goner. Instead, the creature dashed away, but not before you caught the glimmer of silver with green emerald eyes.

That was Jimin’s necklace around that thing’s neck. You ran after it without any hesitation, forgetting about the trash and not realizing that somehow you’d have to fight a wolf to get back your co-worker’s iconic necklace. It wasn’t running as fast as you thought a beast like that could go, so he was easy to catch up with.

The wolf was hiding behind a tree whining.

You held up your hands, “Hey, you have something that belongs to my friend. I just want it back and then I’ll leave you alone.”

“I’m...so...hungry. Stay. Stay back!” It growled.

“So you can talk…” You looked around and saw a nearby convenience store that was still open, such as most things were. “Stay here.”

You quickly went to the store and bought all the stale and warm fried chicken you could afford. Then you dashed back and placed the buckets near the tree and said that you were going to back up. However, you were not given the chance as the form lunged at the poultry. It was no mistaking it now in the moonlight and the street lights. This was a werewolf, something you believed to only reside in fairy tales and fiction of tradition.

There was nothing you could do except watch as it swallowed most of the food whole and spit the bones to the side. Once it seemed to calm down a bit, it waved its tail as it sniffed around your bag. You gave the creature the box of orange cookies that resided inside, the only thing it could be smelling.

“Thank you.” The werewolf said. “I forgot to stock up food and began to wander.”

“You’re welcome.” You replied with a smile. “I should get home, but I need that necklace around your throat. It belongs to a guy I work with.”

It retreated when you said that, starting to stand and walk away.

“Oh, come on. He might like me back if I return it to him.”

The creature stopped in his tracks and asked, “You like him?”

Your cheeks became heated. Did you really just tell something like that to a stranger? A werewolf too?

“Y-yeah. He’s a dumb guy I work with, really sweet. I’m not his type. He’s out of my league, but I would be happy enough if he were grateful to me. He wears that every day. The chain snapped earlier, and I’m sure you just found it near the building, so please.” You stuck your hand out.

“You’re not out of his league. He’d be lucky to go out with a person like you.” His body language was almost...shy?

You laughed, “How could you know?”

“Because I’m him.” He turned around and you saw the unmistakable brown eyes of your coworker. “Y/N, it’s me. It’s Jimin.”

“...what?” You blinked. “You’re joking. Just give me the necklace, and I--”

“You come in everyday smelling like honey because you put it on your toast. You memorized the order of that cute business man because you think he’s cute, totally your type. You always make sure that secretary's order of donuts are ready for her ahead of time. Y/N, please believe me.”

By instinct, you stepped back when he stepped forward.

He sat down, “When you scratch the back of my head, I love it the most.” and he got into a non-threatening position.

You approached cautiously and scratched the back of his head. Just like Jimin, he closed his eyes and smiled, putting his head back as to get more of your touch. It was him.

“So, I’ve got a crush on a werewolf.” You laughed at yourself. “Seems just about right.”

“Would you like to have a werewolf boyfriend?” He asked.

You shrugged, “Sure. Why not?”

#BTS #Jimin #Park Jimin #Bangtan #Jimin x Reader #Reader x Jimin #nb!Reader #Female!Reader #Male!Reader #enby!reader #non gender specifc #Werewolf!Jimin #Human!Reader #Afterhours #food mention #food tw #Day 23 #Peachtober #Inktober

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agentwallflower · 4 years

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Supernova: Prologue

Here it is. Back at it again at Krispy Kreme. Here’s the prologue to the new novel. I hope y’all like it, and thank you for the wait as I decompressed from finishing HTT. I hope you like this new series just as much.

Also, like I mentioned. I have a Ko-Fi under my mostly legal name my life is a lie I know I’m sorry if you want to drop me some change after. I didn’t set the price, I’m just a free user... I don’t even like coffee. I’m a Coke Zero man.

Anyway, enough text written through. Here’s the chapter! Next one is going up on April 18th! Stay safe, and wash your hands!

Dark nights were busy nights, and even at the end of the millennium that was no different.

“PT, have you finished patrolling the area yet?”

The ancient speaker crackled in her ear. PT scowled as she glanced around, taking note of the forms in the darkness. None of them would be getting up anytime soon, they were hurting a little too much for that. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she pressed the device in her ear, wincing at the static feedback.

She hated that thing.

“Yeah, I'm done here. How about you, Ember?”

It didn't take long for the other end to respond as she started to walk, the heavy coating on her boots squeaking ever so slightly as she walked. By now, she was used to it – it was either do that, or have her shoes melt every time she powered up. Small price to pay for not having to keep buying more, even if the people she dealt with tended to call her a squeaky toy.

They only did it once, mind you. Then they got knocked on their ass. It was a quick learning process.

“Pretty much. Everywhere else looks to be -” Ember paused, probably to choose her words wisely. They hated the word she would've used – it was a damn jinx. “So far so good. We've got thirty minutes to the secular new year. As long as Spark keeps an eye on the system, there shouldn't be any problems here computer wise.”

Great – maybe then she'd get to sleep off the rest of her shift instead of listening to some tech whine about the end of the world. Though, she realized she was being a little unfair as she walked – it was probably the headache. Holidays always caused an uptick in activity, even when it was below freezing out. You think people who had been born and raised in the little middle of nowhere called Bear Paw, Ohio would know that... but in the end alcohol was one hell of a drug.

Then again, she was from Russia and she was out there – she definitely should've known better.

PT left the alley behind her, merging back onto the main road that made up her patrol. The merrymakers paid her no heed as she walked, even though she was wearing a mask. They were used to her by now. She was glad for that. With how much energy she was using, she was going to have one hell of a headache in the morning.

Thirty minutes left, huh... well, the 90's had sucked, so what would the 00's bring with them?

“PT, are you there?”

A deep voice shook the woman from her reverie. She blinked back surprise as she pushed the button to begin the conversation. They didn't need to say who they were – she knew that voice anywhere. Could practically hear it in her sleep. Actually did some times – bastard was always waking her up for something.

“Yeah, Paladin?”

Their team leader as it was kept it simple. “Something's strange at the old packing district. Meet me there. Nova's not answering their com and they were spotted heading in.”

PT swore as she broke out into a jog and threaded her way through the sparse crowd. That was a good ten minute run away, and she really could've used a chance to not sweat. She was already coated in the stuff, and if she lost focus... well, the city would be on her ass. It was bad enough when she intentionally melted the place with acid – she still had a headache from the last time.

In her defense, she did pay taxes... but try telling them that.

“When's the last time you got in contact with them?”

Paladin sounded as though he was running too – quite a feat considering his battle gear. “About twenty minutes ago. I had hoped they would have contacted you since you two are partners.”

At that, PT snickered despite herself. “You know Nova, their damn head is always in the clouds. Probably forgot to push the button or something.”

Her gut was hoping for that, rather than... well, it made the acid try to escape from her throat in a way her body didn't like. Despite telling herself Nova would be fine, something didn't sit right with her about the whole thing. Why the packing district? And why at this time?

Something was up... and her bones were already aching.

It wasn't hard to find Paladin when she closed in on the packing district. The glow from a weak overhead streetlight bounced off the metal of his shield, currently strapped to his back. He wore his nickname well, especially on a night like that. Just looking at him made PT cold as she came to a stop at his side.

“We got any optics?”

Her voice carried over the silence. There should have been more energy – the city's homeless often took up residence in the abandoned buildings thanks to the fact they were dry and mostly quiet. But it was like the whole place was dead – a graveyard without any tombstones. That didn't make her feel any better, to say the least.

Paladin shook his head. “I asked a man passing by, but he didn't see anything. We're going to have to go in. The counter's kicking up.”

He nodded to the device in his hand. It was something they all carried if they were working with the other hero. Without it, they had no idea if it was safe to get close to them, or if they should turn up the protection in their gear. Right then, it was a little on the high side, but not an all out emergency yet. Nova was kicking up some energy, but it wasn't enough to suggest a fight.

But they were leaking energy nonetheless.

PT grimaced at the sight as she fiddled with the device on her wrist. “Let's go in slow. As far as we know, they're following a stray cat or something.”

“That does sound like Nova. Maybe they just found a nice calico.”

There were 10 minutes left in the old millennium as the pair started into the district, steps quick but measured. Something about it was making the hair on both their arms raise. Though neither said it, both had the same feeling – turn back or else.

And, like idiots on the clock, they ignored it. They seriously didn't get paid enough for doing this.

It was deathly quiet in the compound, with the wind whistling through the cracks. Not even the rats were scurrying as Paladin and PT kept their eyes peeled for a hint that their missing comrade was there. With every step they took, the counter in the man's hand continued to beep. Had they not had protection, things could have been dicey.

“Are you sure they're not fighting? It's getting high.” PT's voice was a whisper as she glanced around in the pitch black night. Since no one was around to pay the bills anymore, there were no lights. They were too far from the street for anything else, and the flashlight from her wrist did little but cast a small circle in front of her feet. She may have seen better in the dark, but this was a bit much even for her standards.

Paladin's voice was higher than usual. “We would have at least heard explosions by now. Nova's fighting style isn't subtle.”

His eyes narrowed and he pointed. “There. That door doesn't look like it's been on the ground for very long.”

PT followed his finger to a building near the back of the compound. The remains of the heavy steel door lay yards away from the gaping opening that looked as though it had been pulled apart by someone's fists. The shredded metal edges, when they got closer to inspect them, didn't have so much as a hint of rust on the ends.

The meter clicked even higher, towards dangerous levels, the moment they walked through the recently made entrance. A few steps more, and it hit the other side and stopped moving. The pair exchanged glances, and then dialed up the controls on their protective gear even higher. It beeped in protest, and then fell silent.

Though the dust lay thick on the concrete ground, scuff marks in the floor indicated something had moved towards the stairs. Something dark hissed on the floor, eating a hole in the rock and melting through the railing. Incredible heat leaked from the floor below, enough to knock the air from their lungs.

A bright light nearly blinded them both. They closed their eyes at the right time, training having kicked in. Then there was silence, and a low bubbling hiss that sounded as though someone had upended a vat of acid. Normally that was a comforting sound to PT, but it froze the blood in her veins even amid the heat.

“Miri? Leo? You... get out, now.” A small voice, monotone and yet so tired, sounded from the basement below. “It's... I can't hold it. I'm sorry...”

The meter broke in Paladin's hands. It didn't take the pair much convincing as they turned on their heels and fled the building. Behind them, a wall of incredible heat all but blew them out into the empty yard that stretched out below them.

PT grabbed for her headset with trembling hands and switched it on. “Radar, put out a state wide alert, they're going nuclear!”

“What?!” A voice screeched in her ear with the furious clicking of keys. “I can get the warning out, but there's no way to get you out in time!

Paladin's voice rose above. “Don't worry about us, Mercer.”

There was a finality to his voice that made the world fall silent, even as the world rapidly heated and grew brighter. PT had already thrown away her broken device and was bracing for what was to come. She didn't need to look at him, she felt it. There was always a rush of energy as he gathered his energy to form a shield around them.

“But... sir...”

The man had a smile in his voice. “It's ok. Just make sure the alert goes out. I'll see what I can do here. This is Paladin, signing off.”

“PT, signing off as well.” PT's voice was strong as she heard the com link die. Despite the sweat dripping down her brow, she smiled crookedly as she turned to her partner. “Kind of funny, the two of us dying together. My mother always wanted me to meet a nice Jewish guy.”

His laugh shook the world as a glittering, translucent shield powered up over them. “You know your mother would have hated me, even if I wasn't married. But let's stay positive, the blast might not kill us.”

“That fills me with so much confidence, you know that right?”

There wasn't much more time for words after that. Just as the clock struck midnight on the new millennium, a large explosion rocked not just the city block, but the entire town. Bright light, stronger than any firework, shot up in the sky and turned night to day. Unbelievable heat bounced off the shield, cracking it but never causing it to shatter. But it glittered against it all the same.

Sometimes, it was nice to be friends with one of the strongest psychics in the world.

PT's eyes were shut, but her hearing worked just fine as the world was one big explosion. If not for Paladin's shield, her hearing would have been gone. For that matter, so would the rest of them. In the back of her mind, she could remember Nova warning them should the day ever come. Funny now things worked out that way.

Tears still leaked from her eyes as she hunkered down against the blast. “Damn it, Cass... what was so serious you'd go out like this?”

She didn't get an answer, or anything other than the noise and light. Maybe, if she was trying to delude herself, Nova was whispering goodbye. Eventually, sometime in 2000, the noise and sound slowly started to ebb away.

Paladin released his shield with a trembling arm ten minutes later. Sweat was pouring down his face as he dropped to his knees, breathing hard. The fact they were still breathing was a miracle in and of itself. Some in the area wouldn't be so lucky – though no doubt he had tried to project to them. Finding those bodies was going to be... unpleasant to say the least.

But at least they were alive enough to be on body retrieval duty instead of the ones being picked up. Ember was big on that look on the bright side thing, must have rubbed off.

“We survived the blast.” his words were a hoarse whisper. “Now what?”

PT had to remember the fact she was alive at all as she slowly opened her eyes. The dust was just starting to settle, blanketing the ground. What had once been a couple warehouses was a giant hole in the ground. She heard the sirens in the distance, and an approaching helicopter overhead. The police were going to be all over this.

Not just the police... there was no way they were going to be able to keep this quiet. If they were lucky, they wouldn't lock the entire area down to go digging in the hole. That... well it was something she had promised Nova once. And she was a woman who kept her word.

She swallowed hard past a lump in her throat that hopefully wouldn't turn into cancer in a couple years. They had both probably kicked up their risks for that by a thousand clicks or so. For all she knew, she was just one big tumor now under the skin. “We wait until whatever's down there cools off enough to pick up and wish it a happy birthday.”

Her watch had frozen on the date – January 1, 2000. It was as good a birth and death date as any, she supposed, though the headache they were about to get from the fallout would last for years to come. Even there, amid the ruins of the warehouse, she could feel it in her bones.

What a way to ring in a new year.

Paladin nodded towards the hole. “May their memory be a blessing.”

“I don't think anyone's going to forget them with - “ PT bit her lip. She couldn't finish that. “Yeah... what you said.”

She swallowed hard, eyes burning. “I uh... we're going to have to make some calls. See who we can get in as a replacement for Nova.”

That shouldn't be hard. It wasn't like Bear Paw had just become a nightmare zone or anything. Maybe they would get hazard pay out of it. PT wasn't sure, and right then she didn't really care as she stared at the hole where her partner had once been.

Replace Nova? Impossible.

“We'll start looking once we deal with this.” Paladin squeezed her shoulder. “You should call your family and wish them a happy New Year once we get out of decontamination.”

“Yeah... you too. Tell the kids aunt Miri said hi.”

Normalcy; it was the last thing PT expected as she waited for the world to stop spinning. But she had to try, if not for Nova's sake then for her own. She could already see the sirens in the distance, rushing towards them at top speed. With them came the questions nobody would want to answer. Their little town was about to get a whole lot louder, and probably busier too.

She had wanted a little more action but... not like this. Guess it was a careful what you wish for sort of thing.

#Yeah Chuck is a penname lol...#But I've been testing it out as a new name for myself one day maybe #Matthews came from a brother that died before I was born #I like to take him with me #Also I'm sorry if things are missing letters #my keyboard is slowly giving up the ghost #Supernova Collision Trilogy

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jadekitty777 · 4 years

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Who Needs Genetics When We Have Family?

We’re now at the final stretch for this Golden Hummingbird adventure. I thank the few people who have stuck around for this ride, as it was a great joy to write. There’s one more chapter that will be up in a few days, and it’s absolutely my favorite of them all!

Word Count: 7,200

Pairing: Summer/Tai/Qrow

Ao3 Link: Who Needs Genetics When We Have Family?

Summary: While going through her mom's old clothes, Ruby discovers an old scrap book that reveals she may have one additional parent she never knew about. Now questioning everything from how the trio ended up together down to her very identity, Tai and Qrow find themselves with a lot to answer for.[Takes place Post-Canon]

Dust shook from the rafters as Ruby stomped about the attic, ducking under spider webs and zigzagging around the clutter of old things her packrat of a father just couldn’t bear to get rid of. Her only source of light filtered in from the small circular window, mites dancing in the beam. Though it was still early spring, the air in the highest level of the house was stifling, and she had to keep wiping sweat from her brow.

“Anything?” Yang called from where she was perched on the attic steps, only her head and top half of her torso visible.

“I don’t see it!” She replied. She pat the railing of her old baby crib as she passed it. “We really need to tell dad to get rid of some of this old junk.”

“Ruby, of all the battles I will happily jump into, telling dad to do spring cleaning is not one of them.” Her sister said in a tone more suited for a mortician.

“You’re so dramatic.” She replied. She mostly ignored the indignant response that earned her, busying herself with shining her scroll’s flashlight at the tower of boxes in one corner of the room. “Oh, I see it!”

“Yeah?” Yang climbed the rest of the way up.

While she made her way over, Ruby balanced her scroll on the armrest of an old rocking chair, making sure the flashlight was pointed towards the black luggage trunk that made up the base of the box pyramid. “Figures it’d be at the bottom.”

“Yeah but I’ll have it out in no time.” Her sister boasted, already reaching up to bring down the first box.

Ruby winced when she almost conked herself on the head with it. “Please don’t give yourself a concussion.”

“I got it!” Yang carefully brought it down to grip it more securely before setting it to the side. It would be one of many as she brought one after another down from the tower, creating smaller piles on either side of herself until it looked like a collection of cardboard skyscrapers. It wasn’t long before she was placing the last one, running a hand over her face. “Alright, that’s it. Stand back a bit, I got to drag this out.”

Ruby quickly backed up a few steps, rocking on her heels while her sister pulled out the trunk between the miniature city by the handle. With more room to move, she was able to sidle around to the opposite side and grab the other handle. Together, they carried it back to the hatch, Yang going down first while Ruby angled it down towards her, not letting go until she had a secure grip on it and could put it on the floor.

Ruby started to climb down, saying, “You know, it just occurred to me we probably should have checked to make sure we got the right one.”

“Well, then let’s check now.” There was a series of snaps as Yang undid the latches and opened the top. “Yep, that’s a lot of frills alright.”

“It’s tactical camouflage!” She argued even as she nearly tripped over herself to get a look, unable to help the squeal as she saw the many folded up skirts, dresses and blouses packed into the trunk. One that particularly caught her eye was a red and black corset top with bows tied into the sides. She snatched it up, speeding down the hall in a flurry of petals. “I’m gonna try on this one first!”

“Wait! What about the rest!?” Yang yelled after her.

“Can’t talk, gotta dress!” Ruby shouted back, already standing in the middle of their bedroom. She unraveled the fabric of her cape from around her collar, tossing it onto the bed. She was shimmying into the new corset by the time her sister was coming in, trunk in tow.

“You’re the worst.” Yang told her, dropping the load in the middle of their room.

“And you’re the best!” She chirped right back, whirling to face her. “So, what do you think?”

Her sister gave her a once over, humming. “Well it’s cute but I don’t think it’s first date material.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause it’s basically the same thing you always wear. You should go for something with more color.”

Ruby crossed her arms, grumbling, “Red’s a color.”

Yang was already back in the trunk, pulling out more clothes. “You know what I mean. Something different, flashier. Really dazzle him.”

She pulled at the little bows mournfully, but she knew her sister was right – probably. She’d certainly gone on more dates than her at least. Not that it was hard to compete with a number of zero. Still, she didn’t want to mess this up and if that meant being a little more girly for a night, she could handle that. She’d even wear heels!

…Maybe.

“So what are you thinking?” She asked, resigned to her fate of being Yang’s dress up doll. This was starting to feel like their pre-teen years all over again.

“Well, first we need to organize all this. Then we can see what looks good on you. You should put the skirts and dresses on your bed.” Yang suggested while dropping an armful into her hands.

Ruby huffed but did so, straightening them out side by side so they could see them all while Yang did the same on her own bed with the blouses. Most everything was just blacks upon blacks with splashes of color to them - unassuming and quiet. It made her think of her mother’s picture in the photo with her team and how she was off to the side, as if she were trying to hide.

“You think it’s weird that me and mom have the same style?” Ruby asked as she pulled out another one of her mom’s skirts, instantly falling in love with the lace roses sewn into the petticoat. She was keeping this one.

“Not really.” Yang shrugged, glancing back at her. “You never got to know her. It’s probably normal that you’d want to try and emulate her somehow.”

“Dunno if I’d call that normal.” Ruby reached into the trunk again, using her arm as a clothesline to layer the outfits. As she drew closer to the bottom though, something pure white peeking between the folds of fabric caught her eye. Her heart jumped. But as she dropped the pile onto the floor so she could unearth it, she found it wasn’t the cloak she knew her mother always wore, but another dress. She instantly knew it was special, because it was unlike anything else in the trunk and more on par with something she could imagine Weiss owning.

The material was soft but shimmery and definitely expensive. Satin, she was pretty sure. The bodice was simple but elegant with its off-shoulder straps and delicate lacework overlaid on top in branching, flowery designs. The entire dress was so long she imagined it must have trailed the floor when her mother walked in it, yet also had a lot body around the flounce like a traditional ball gown. Like many of the other clothes, there was only a small bit of color combating its primary shade – but on all the white, the yellow and black flowers that circled the waistline like a belt were instantly eye-catching; loud and wanting to be seen.

She knew the yellow was for dad – it was tradition to wear the husband’s colors on the wedding dress. They were even shaped like sunflowers. But she wasn’t sure why her mom had chosen black dahlias instead of roses. The blotches of dark in-between all the sunny brightness felt out of place, like a bad omen.

“Whoa.” Yang breathed as she came over to get a better look. “It’s gorgeous.”

Ruby couldn’t help but agree. It didn’t seem right to just toss it aside while they kept looking. “Maybe we could hang this one up for now?”

Her sister nodded, heading to their closet to fetch a spare hanger. It wasn’t long before they had the dress hanging over the edge of their closet door. In the light coming from the window, it really seemed to make the fabric shine. It felt a shame that its only future was to wrinkle away in the corner of their attic.

But Ruby also knew it was no mistake that it had been at the bottom of the trunk to begin with.

Maybe that was why she found something else hiding away in there just a few minutes after.

The burgundy red, leather-bound book was tucked away at the bottom, face down. Ruby reached for it, finding it surprisingly heavy as she plopped down onto the ground and flipped it over.

Yang joined her moments later. “What’d you find now?”

“I think it’s a photo album.” Ruby said, looking down at the picture in the window embedded into front cover of her mom, her dad and Uncle Qrow. Mom stood between them, an arm around either of them and waving peace signs over their shoulders. Dad stood to the left, laughing while his own arm reached around behind them to muss up Qrow’s hair, who was on the right. It was her uncle’s grinning expression that gave Ruby pause.

She wouldn’t say her uncle was never happy but, she was more accustomed to seeing the gentle, reserved smiles he’d give when he was proud of something she’d done or was just in a comfortable atmosphere. Only when he was drunk did he ever seem that enthused – but something told her he was anything but during the time this picture was taken. She wondered how young he was.

“Hey, it’s dad’s lullaby.”

“Huh?” Completely derailed from her thoughts, she glanced at Yang in confusion only to look at where her metallic finger was pointing. So distracted by the photo, she hadn’t noticed the words scripted around it. ‘I know that when I’m with you’ it said above the picture, and underneath it finished the lyric with ‘I’m at home’. She could practically hear her dad’s soft cadence echoing in her ear, just as it had when she was small.

It was a song about family and love – and the reminder made her realize that someone else was suspiciously missing from the cover. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t still hidden within its pages.

“Come on, open it!” Yang urged.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be looking at this.” She deflected.

She was unfortunately not as sly as she hoped she was as her sister quickly waved her off. “If she’s in there, it’s fine. I can handle it.”

Ruby eyed her, those words not exactly instilling her with confidence when the years’ worth of arguments between her and dad still seemed to echo down their halls. “You sure?”

“Yeah.” Yang met her gaze. “Don’t worry so much, okay? The way I see it, she’s the one who missed out. She never got to see all the things I accomplished or be a part of our awesome family. That’s her loss, not mine.”

Ruby felt the oddest sense of sadness overcome her. Not because her sister had seemed to of made peace with Raven’s abandonment, but that she hadn’t seen it happen. “When did you start thinking like that?”

“Around the time we, uh, ‘met’ Weiss’ family.”

She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought. They had been a bundle of fun alright. While Winter was bearable, if a little cold, Whitley was a lot like Weiss had been, a spoiled brat with a ‘better than thou’ attitude, except dialed to eleven. Her mother, Willow, was a worse drunk than Qrow, to the point the woman almost seemed in a permanent state of catatonic inebriation. And Jacques was…

Well, Ruby didn’t really have any non-swear related words to attach to a man who really should never have been allowed to procreate, let alone raise three kids.

What she did have was a desire to turn back time and drag Weiss back to her own home for a do-over on her childhood. To let her experience what it was like to have a dad who would pin her grades to the fridge and bandage her scraps when they hurt. To have an uncle that was comfortable to act like a kid right along with her and who never got impatient even if she asked him to tell the same story for the fifth time. To have siblings to build pillows forts together with and sneak downstairs late at night so they could share one more cookie from the jar. To have a family that had rowdy dinners full of laughter, vacations focused on nothing but fun, and holidays that made everyone feel just a little more together then before.

Yang continued on, “Seeing how Weiss handled things back then, I couldn’t help but admire her strength. It felt like she spent her entire life surrounded by people who didn’t want her. And yet, instead of letting that get to her, she acted like it was their fault. And it is. Because, Weiss is great. She’s practically another sister to me, and I can’t imagine her not being part of my life. Anyone who can reject her so easily isn’t worth her time.” She placed a hand on her chest, “And the whole thing just kind of gave me a reality check, you know? It made me think: if Weiss can do it, then I can too.” Her fingers curled into a fist over her heart. “So, I decided from that day on, I would. Raven may not have wanted me, but that’s fine, because I have plenty of people who do, and those are the people who matter.”

Ruby couldn’t help it – she hugged her.

Though confused, Yang responded in kind. “What’s this all about?”

“I’m just happy for you.” She told her.

For as poor an explanation as it was, her sister smiled like she’d never heard a better reason. “Thanks sis.” When they pulled apart, she tapped the album again. “So, we gonna look at it or what?”

“Oh, right!” She settled back, adjusted the book so that it was laid more properly in her lap, and opened it.

As it turned out, her worries were completely invalid. For the book – which turned out not to be a photo album but a scrap book – was almost definitely not going to showcase Raven.

It was impossible to imagine it would, what with the hand-written script ‘To my boys whom I love with all my heart’ written around the picture of Uncle Qrow kissing their dad on the cheek.

“Well.” Yang said, tone as shell-shocked as Ruby felt. “That’s new.”

Tai hummed a bouncy tune as he poured the cups of tea, body bopping gently to the rhythm.

“You seem to be in a good mood.” Qrow observed from where he sat at the dining table.

He unscrewed the jar of honey, spooning some out. “Suppose I am. It’s just been so calm lately.”

“DAD!”

The shout startled him, the spoon falling from his hand and clattering to the floor, splattering honey everywhere. He gave it a mournful look as Zwei eagerly padded over to lap it up.

“You were saying?” Qrow said, a teasing lilt in his tone.

Tai huffed his way, before turning his head towards the doorway where a flutter of petals was just fading around his youngest daughter. “Hey now, what did I say about semblances in the house?”

Ruby didn’t bother to answer and the sound of Yang’s thunderous steps coming down the stairs only seemed to enunciate her dark expression.

“Uh, honey? What’s wrong?” He asked, going from mildly perturbed to intensely worried as he started to cross the room.

Her hand jerked upwards, showing him what she was holding. “Care to explain this?”

He froze mid-step, his throat closing up at the sight of the old scrapbook Summer had gifted him and Qrow on their first anniversary.

Oh.

Oh shit.

Qrow’s own eyes doubled in size as he jumped up from his seat. “Where did you find that?”

“It was in mom’s trunk.” Yang answered as she finally made it to the room.

It was hard to pin down whether Qrow was being accusatory or not in the too-casual way he turned to him and said, “Figured you’d thrown it out.”

“I don’t throw out anything.” Tai replied numbly, finding it slightly easier to focus on him then Ruby’s unnerving glare. “Especially not anything of Sums.”

“But it was mine too, you could have given it to me.”

“I- Look!” He ran an agitated hand through his hair. “People do weird stuff when they’re depressed, okay?!”

“Guys!” Ruby cried shrilly. “Missing. The. Point!” She started waving the book at them, making him concerned for its life expectancy. “What does this mean? That you two were dating? With mom?!”

“Er.” Qrow hesitated, then revealed, “We were quite a bit more than that, kiddo.”

“WHAT?”

Tai withheld a sigh.

And it had started out as such a nice day too.

Ruby stared down at the dining room table, certain her thought process had shut down from the nuclear explosion that had gone off inside her brain cells because she just didn’t know how to comprehend what she was just told. Maybe it had a limit on how much unbelievable stuff it could take. Magic glowy eyes that disintegrated Grimm? Weird, but not too out of the bounds of reality. Magical maidens that controlled the weather? Pretty crazy, but alright. Relics created by the Gods and a magical witch that couldn’t die? Now things are getting a little out of hand but she could deal.

Her dad and Uncle Qrow being married to her mom at the same time? Okay now she had to be in an alternate reality.

Maybe she had just switched places with Yang for the day, because her normally hot-tempered sister sounded rather calm as she spoke up, “I don’t get it. Why don’t I remember any of this?”

“You were really young, Yang. And losing Summer had been traumatic for all of us.” Her dad replied. “It’s probably normal to block some stuff out.”

Qrow snorted, amusement coloring his tone. “You used to be a little bragger though.”

“I was?”

“Yeah, you kept going to all the other kids on the playground and telling them how you had two daddies to read you bedtime stories and a mom who made the world’s best cookies every night. And then you pushed them down when they called you a liar.”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.” Their dad rubbed his temple as if recalling the old headaches, but his smile was fond. “We got so many angry phone calls from the other parents.”

“I really did that?” Yang asked. “I don’t remember that.”

“’Course you don’t. You hadn’t even started school yet, Firecracker. And boy were we not looking forward to it when you did. We were sure you were gonna end up in the principal’s office the first day.” Qrow laughed.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence!” Yang said, huffing a bit.

Ruby listened and seethed. Why were they laughing? And making jokes? None of this was funny!

Dad must have noticed, because he asked softly, “Sweetheart, you doing okay?”

“No!” She exploded, slamming her hands on the table. “Of course I’m not okay! Why didn’t you guys say anything? Why is everything some big secret in this damn house?!”

Her outburst soured the mood instantly, but she couldn’t find it in herself to feel bad.

Her dad shifted in his seat, crossing his arms along the table. ��Believe me, this wasn’t a secret we intended to keep.”

“So then why did you?” She muttered, slumping down in her own chair and glaring at the table corner.

There was a soft sigh and an even softer admittance, “Because we were scared.”

The words caught her by surprise because she’d never seen her dad as anything but brave – yet here he was, telling her she was wrong. She glanced through her bangs at him, “’Bout what?”

“Everything, really.” He said. “Before we lost your mom, it really wasn’t a problem. We just figured you’d grow up knowing you had three parents and it would just be normal. But after she passed and things just fell apart between Qrow and I, everything got swept under the rug.”

“We talked about it.” Her uncle tacked on. “How and when and all that. We figured we’d tell you both at the same time. About Raven. About us. But…” His gaze shifted to Yang. “When you found out about Rae and didn’t handle it so well, we thought: ‘Well shit, we can’t do that to Ruby too!’ And so, we just kept pushing it off.” He gestured as he spoke, his tone having the inflection of a narrator from an animated movie, “At first we said ‘we’ll tell her when she’s ten!’ And then she was and we were all ‘No it’s too soon, maybe when she’s thirteen!’ And then year after year passed and…” He deflated, hand falling to the table. “We just, never knew when the right time was.”

“So, it’s my fault.” Yang spoke up.

“No, of course not!” Her dad quickly assured. “It was an accident you found out that early, nothing more. But Qrow and I could see how badly it affected you and because we had the power to choose to spare Ruby from the same thing… we took it.”

“We didn’t know what we’d do if we had two kids going through an identity crisis.” Her uncle lamented.

That’s when it hit her harder than Nora’s hammer to the gut.

“Wait.” Ruby sat up straight, looking between them. “Then, which one of you is my dad?”

They froze, sharing a look.

“Well…” Qrow spoke first, waving towards Tai. “Legally, he is.”

That didn’t sound like an answer. “What does that mean?”

Tai explained, “He means as far as your birth certificate is concerned, you’re mine. But as for who, uh-”

“Knocked up your mom.” Qrow intoned helpfully.

“Qrow!” Tai smacked his arm.

“What?! They’re adults. They can handle it!”

She really couldn’t.

Tai pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. “As for who impregnated your mother… we don’t know.”

“You don’t know?!” Ruby echoed, unable to believe this. “How can you not know? Don’t they have tests for these things?”

“Well, yes, but, uh,” Tai floundered a bit.

Qrow spoke up instead (She never really noticed how often they did that), “Vale has a lot of legality restrictions when it comes to kids. Oz pushed a lot of those regimens with the council, because he wanted to make sure kids who lost their families were still taken care of, so we got a lot of advice from him. And the smartest thing to do was make Tai your dad, since he was the one staying at home. That way if anything happened to Summer and I at the same time, he wouldn’t have to fight the protection services to keep the family together.”

“But the kingdoms don’t share medical records.” Tai continued, “So, we figured when you kids were older and we could afford it, we could take a trip to Mistral or Atlas. Have the test done then, if that’s what you wanted.”

“What I wanted?” She frowned. “You guys didn’t want to know? It doesn’t bother you?”

“I did, at one point.” Qrow admitted. “But, then I held you for the first time, and I realized it didn’t matter. I loved you more than anything; learning which of us actually donated his DNA wasn’t going to change that.”

“It was the same feeling for me. I grew up in Vacuo. A lot of communities there live on the philosophy that family has nothing to do with blood and everything to do with heart.” Tai said, his smile kind and warm. The familiarity was odd when she felt like her whole world had flipped upside down. Wasn’t everything different now? Or was she just the one acting weird?

“Well then,” She scrambled, pointing towards Qrow. “Then why do I call you uncle? Shouldn’t I call you dad too or something?” The sudden burst of laughter from everyone made her rethink what she just said. “Oh my gods, be serious! Dad also.”

Qrow was the first to get ahold of himself. “We tried, at first. But no matter what we did, you just kept imitating your sister. We kind of realized by accident it probably made things easier on you kids, and on us too. If you called both of us dad, we’d never know who you were asking for. We figured eventually you’d come to understand it like Yang did.” He rubbed the back of his neck, the somberness veiling back over his expression. “But then things changed and here we are.”

“Why did it change?” Yang asked cautiously, as if she didn’t really want to hear the answer. “Did you two fall out of love?”

“No. It was the opposite really.” Tai said, sharing a look with him. The gaze they shared was a silent conversation all their own, and the slightest nod from Qrow spurred him onwards and he turned back to them. “Losing Summer was immeasurably hard. We were both grieving in our own ways, and we loved each other enough to know neither of us were doing anything but hurting each other. Qrow’s drinking was out of hand and I - back then I,” He trailed off, taking a deep breath. “Let’s just say depression is a very scary disease that can twist your thoughts in ways you never thought you could think of yourself. Until I got help, I wasn’t good for anyone.”

Ruby heard her sister shift uncomfortably beside her. She didn’t really have many memories of back then; mostly she remembered her dad being absent a lot of the time, but she’d reasoned it was because he was at work. It was only after Blake had questioned her shortly before the Vytal Dance about her family life and revealed to her the story Yang had shared with her, that she began to question if the happy home life she always perceived she’d had, had more cracks in it then she was aware of.

Uncle Qrow reached out, curling his hand over one of dad’s. As if that was normal. As if they’d done it a million times before. It was weirding her out.

“Point is,” He said, completely unaware of her internal screaming, “We were wrecks. Tai was sick and I spent more time blacking out in alleyways than at home. Neither of us could support each other the way we needed too, so we called an end to it. We decided we wouldn’t try again until things were okay.”

“But you never did try again.” Yang was frowning. Ruby guessed she was probably worrying about herself and Blake.

“Uh. Well. That’s not entirely true.” Their dad said.

Qrow suddenly grinned. “Actually, had you two been a bit older, you probably would have figured it out. Remember that time you girls were bowling down the hallway and the ball went into Tai’s room? And when you went to get it, you found me in his bed and I told you girls I was getting over a hangover? I wasn’t.”

“Wait, what? Why were you still in my room?”

“Because I couldn’t walk!”

“Oh, gross.” Ruby groaned. Her sister made some equally distressed noises while her dad turned a ripe shade of tomato red. Qrow just laughed uproariously at them all.

Yang shuddered. “I could have gone my whole life without knowing that.”

“And I could have gone my whole life without you girls hearing that.” Dad agreed, shoving Qrow’s shoulder. “Stop laughing already. You sound like a donkey.”

“Tai, they’re over eighteen. You can call me a jackass now.”

“I just happen to have some class, unlike you.” Ignoring the childish faces their uncle started making his way, he continued on, “As I was saying, we did try – more than a few times, really. But we kept it hidden from you girls, until we knew things between us would work out. It was important to us that we show you two what a healthy and positive relationship was like so that when you got older, you’d hopefully take our example and find the right person for yourselves. We just, never got that far. It was… complicated.”

“Pff. It was not.” Qrow rolled his eyes. “You got better, I didn’t. Seems pretty straightforward to me.”

“It was so much more than your drinking and you know it. And anyways, you’re way better on that than you were.” Dad refuted.

“Ha! Then don’t let me tell you about Argus.”

His eyes narrowed. “What about Argus?”

“Uh-” He looked towards the clock on the wall. “Whoa, look at the time! Ruby don’t you have a date tonight or something?”

Her sister looked too, then jumped to her feet. “It’s almost 6? Come on Ruby, we haven’t even chosen an outfit!”

“What?” She jerked around. “Are you crazy? How am I supposed to go on a date after all this?”

“Well you can’t cancel the first date!”

“That’s not a rule!” When her sister only rose an eyebrow, she backpedaled, “I-Is it?”

“Ruby.” Her dad’s voice had her turning back to him. “If you really don’t think you’re up to going anymore, you don’t have to. If this guy’s a good one, he’ll understand. Then, we can talk all night if you want. But, those answers aren’t on a time limit either.”

Her uncle nodded. “Yeah. It ain’t like we’re gonna clam up come tomorrow. And we kind of hit you with a lot just now; letting some of that sink in for a few hours isn’t the worst thing you can do.”

Ruby chewed her lip, not wanting to admit how undeniably tempting the offer was. “I just don’t get why all this had to be kept a secret. Didn’t I have the right to know?”

“Of course you did.” Her dad answered. “And I’m sorry we kept it from you as long as we did. We were just so focused on trying to make things feel stable and safe for you girls, that the idea of deliberately throwing another wrench in the mix never seemed like a good idea.”

“Yeah okay,” She said in a tone that implied it was definitely not okay.

The two men shared a worried glance, before Qrow sighed, placing his elbows on the table as he lent forward, “Look kiddo, this was never easy on us either. Kids aren’t born with manuals. And yeah, we definitely screwed up at times. Just ‘cause we’re trying to raise you doesn’t mean we’re suddenly perfect adults. Least of all me.” He rolled his eyes as he said this, as if even he was exasperated with himself. “But you got to trust me when I say any decision we made for you,” He glanced at Yang, “Or you, was always done with the reason that we love you both.”

“I know that! I just-!” She couldn’t stay still anymore. She jumped to her feet, pacing around the length of the kitchen. “I don’t know, I feel like I’m the crazy one here! Why is everyone so calm about this?”

“Ruby-”

Ignoring her dad’s attempt to placate her, she whirled on her sister. “I figured at the very least, you’d be with me on this! Why aren’t you upset?”

“I mean, I guess I am a little?”

“A little?! Don’t you get it? We might not even be sisters!”

Yang stared, her eyebrows rising with understanding. She crossed over to her, saying, “Is that what’s bothering you?”

“Well, yeah!” Ruby said, feeling absolutely silly that she wanted to cry.

She stopped in front of her, placing her hands on her shoulders. “Ruby, say you do go and do this test. And say Uncle Qrow is your dad… why does that have to change anything?”

“I-I don’t,” She sniffled, rubbing away at some tears. “Shouldn’t it?”

“Why? I don’t care what that test says, you’re my little sister. Always. So why do you need to think differently?” Yang urged. “Things only have to change if you want them too. Do you want them to?”

“No!”

“So then what’s the problem?”

She blinked rapidly, giving a watery laugh. “Well when you say it like that, it makes me feel kind of stupid.”

“I prefer slow on the uptake.” Yang joked, tugging her into a too tight hug.

Around her bending ribs, she squawked, “You’re the worst.”

“And you’re the best!” Was the proud chirp before she pulled back, heading for the living room. “Come on, you got a big night ahead of you.”

She nodded, wiping away the rest of her tears. She glanced over at her dad and uncle, who had stood from their own chairs at some point during her mini breakdown, but hadn’t gotten further then around the table. They looked about as uncertain as she felt; but they were still her uncle and dad – even if biologically that may be the other way around. Things hadn’t really changed for them either, had they?

Her dad was still the man who sat with her after school and helped her with her homework or taught her how to focus her aura so she could unlock it for the first time. Someone who had been in the crowd of all her school events, taking pictures as she won awards or got her diploma, and had seen her off at the airstrip the day she left for Beacon. The one she depended on to take care of her when she was ill or walk with her to the cliff on those sad, sad days she missed mom the most. Was still and always her guide, the person who taught her right from wrong and who always encouraged her to be the greatest she that she could be.

Her uncle was still the guy who spent hours with her showing her how to shoot at targets 500 meters away and snuck into her welding class to help her forge Crescent Rose. The one she could count on to take her out for ice cream if she had a bad day or play video games with her all night if she was bored. Knew that even if he had to be away a long time, that he’d write or call when he could, and come back with a gift or two for her and Yang from some cool town or big city he’d gotten to visit. Was still and always her hero, the person she’d tell everyone she wanted to be just like when she grew up.

Neither of them were perfect; that was something she was seeing more and more of as she grew older. But they were here, raising her, watching over her, loving her. That was never going to change. That’s what mattered most.

She hurried over to them, throwing her arms around them both. “We’ll talk tomorrow?”

Her dad’s arm was strong and steady as it encircled her. “Of course. Anytime you want.”

“Go have fun.” Qrow told her, ruffling her hair. “Knock ‘em dead. And if he gets too handsy, take that advice literally.”

“Qrow!”

She giggled stepping back so she could prepare for a quick escape. “Thank you. I love you.”

“We love you too sweetie.” Tai told her fondly – only to immediately shout after her retreating petals, “And no semblances in the house!”

With the sun’s descent, quiet also seemed to descend their home. Ruby was out of the house for the evening and with it being morning in Menagerie, Yang was holed up in her room on Skyria, video-chatting with Blake. It left the first floor to themselves; but the calmness and normalcy was not something Qrow found to be undesirable these days.

The spoon clanked against the tea cup as the last teaspoon of honey was added, before he dropped the utensil in the sink. He grabbed the two cups, heading over to the couch in the living room, handing one to its only occupant.

“Thanks.” Tai gladly took a sip. As Qrow sat beside him, he said, “Ruby handled that way better than I thought she would. Maybe you were right and we should have told her sooner.”

He lent back into the cushions, propping his feet onto the coffee table. “Or fighting magical maidens and immortal witches builds up an intolerance to these kinds of things, and waiting was the right call. We’ll never get the ‘what if’ answer.”

“Guess not.” Tai set his cup aside, before going back to flipping through the scrap book propped in his lap.

Truthfully, after traveling with her from one end of Remnant to the other, Qrow hadn’t expected anything less from Ruby. He wasn’t sure where she got her fortitude from, but her ability to push through even the most adverse of conditions was her most admirable quality. Perhaps it was just that, or maybe the other shoe was just waiting to drop, but he had a feeling things would be back to the status quo before they knew it.

No, it was Yang he was more impressed by. He was certain it would be her yelling at the top of her lungs – especially when it was just another secret being kept from her – but instead, she’d handled it with a rationality he’d never really seen before. He knew, in part, it was because she was striving hard to reign in her quick temper. Not for herself, but for her girlfriend, whose sketchy past romantic relationships made it hard for her to deal with the shouting matches Yang was prone too. All on her own, Yang decided she didn’t want to be a reminder of that past. That’s how he caught her, in a library of one of the towns they had stayed in during their travels, reading up on anger management. When he confronted her, she told him that it was only fair that if Blake was working on her tendency to back down, then she would work on improving herself for her too.

Firecracker was turning into more of a Fire Dud these days, but it was a welcome improvement and today just proved how far she’d come. He was insanely proud of her.

He was also immensely jealous.

Because if she could fix something about herself with only one reason, why did he keep giving up when he had three?

Tai’s sudden laughter shook away his thoughts. “Oh, you remember this day?”

Qrow’s eyes darted towards the entry he was indicating, an amused chuckle bubbling almost instantly. “Yeah.”

The page was decorated with various stickers of smiling fruits and flowers set in patterns that matched well with the photos glued to the pages of them on a picnic. It had been Tai’s birthday and as he tended to want simple things and with it being right at the tail-end of summertime, he had requested a day out with the family. So, they made up a little basket of food, got Yang in her little flower dress, and headed out. Despite being plumper than the watermelon they’d brought along, Summer probably took about three dozen pictures that day – but the four she’d chosen seemed to perfectly highlight the timeline of disaster they were in for.

The first was a posed picture with them all standing together, the backdrop a field of wildflowers they’d chosen to have their picnic in.

The one underneath was a more candid shot of Tai and him stretched out on the blanket, empty plates strewn around them. Qrow had Yang in his hands and was lifting her upwards, making the infant feel like she was an airplane.

The third was one he took. Summer, Tai and Yang were in the flowers, the little girl trying to toddle her way after some butterflies. It would have been nothing more than another charming family photo, if not for the hint of grey clouds inching their way over the tree line behind them.

The last was of him and Tai standing at the top steps of the porch, looking like a pair of wet sheepdogs with the way their hair hung over their eyes. Sheets of rain was coming down behind them, and just to the left was a blur of yellow bounding forward – Yang, seconds away from ruining her dress and splattering mud all across their backs.

Taiyang must have been looking at that one too because he said, “Gods, Yang was such a mess. Summer had to wash her in the sink! I don’t think we ever managed to save her dress, did we?”

“No. I don’t think we did.” Qrow replied distractedly, his mind lost in the past.

It should have been an awful day; but instead, there was nothing but laughter over how ridiculous they all looked or the rush to clean themselves up and put Yang down for her nap. There were kisses shared under a warm shower. The coziness of the three of them wrapped up together in an afghan, sipping hot tea and watching the storm from the bench on the patio.

He could almost smell the rain again. Or feel the weight of Summer leaning against his side as she dozed, tired from the day. Or how his breath caught a little bit when he looked over at Tai, and found himself so caught by how gorgeous he looked at that moment, that all he could do was stare.

Just as he was now.

He traced his eyes over Tai’s gentle visage, from the faint freckles that valiantly held onto some of his youth to the slope of his blue eyes that made him appear so kind and the brightness of his smile as he turned to another page. There were signs of his age of course, in the wrinkles around his eyes, the dimming color of his hair, but his beauty had aged with him. Or maybe Qrow was still just that captivated by him that he’d find him so no matter what he looked like.

Warmth bloomed in his chest, burning like an overheated flame, the love that had once been so prominent in his life warring with the sorrow of everything he’d lost since then. It was hard to bear, and he found that he was tired of feeling it. And perhaps it was that that finally led him to ask, “Do you ever miss us?”

Tai paused, gazing at him searchingly for a few long moments. It felt an eternity before he finally murmured back, “All the time.”

“Me too.” Hope tentatively pulled the next question from him, “Could we try again?”

A hand reached out, larger fingers slipping between his own, brushing against the three wedding rings he wore. Tai lent in close, until their foreheads brushed together and all they could see was each other. “I thought you’d never ask.”

#qrow branwen #taiyang xiao long #ruby rose #yang xiao long #Summer Rose #golden hummingbird #rwby #fanfiction #Chase Firekitten's Tale

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elsewhereuniversity · 6 years

Text

What These Kids Found Under the University Dumpster May Shock You

The first thing it heard when it awakened were footsteps. Not one or two or three, but many. After that were sounds of many tones. Even without memory, it knew that they were not noises found anywhere in the wild. They were… Curious. Indescribable.

“I think this is a better place than any to hangout.” It would later remember, looking back. It was a melodic sound, almost comparable to the wind playing with the hair of the trees so far in the distance.

“B-but… Pearl, was it?” A second, deeper sound seemed to sputter. This sound was like a low hum it could barely remember from their past. Perhaps during their slumber. Perhaps even farther. The thought slipped through the cracks in its mind. “T-this is a Denny’s. The back of a Denny’s.”

“But this is also Elsewhere, Gem. For all we know, what they told us was true, and faeries are about. For all we know,” They was a horrible grating noise, as the world beneath it seemed to shake with protest. It stopped as suddenly as it started. “It could just be more bogus fake news and the school is full of druggies!”

There was a pause of silence. Then: “Oh, come on. Didn’t you tell me during orientation that this was your dream school? That out of all the Universities that accepted you, you chose here?”

“Yeah but-”

“Then it’s settled. I’m going to go tell the others. You go tell your brother what’s his face-”

“Moon.”

“Yeah, him.” The thuds came again, just like in the beginning, except they were fast, and they were receding. With a sigh, the other followed. And this thing that they had awakened? It continued to stay under the dumpster of the Elsewhere Campus Denny’s.

Later that day, the two students came again, accompanied by three others. Two women giggled as they conversed with one of the men, while the other man stayed with the last woman, trailing behind in silence.

“Here! Right here!” The woman from before - Pearl - spun in a flourish, her blond hair dancing behind her, as she introduced the back of the Denny’s like the theatrical performer she was. The woman who had been beside her laughed, pleased. Her hair was green at the time, swaying like the leaves. The man who had talked to them gaped in mock surprise, his black hair wet and dripping. The red haired female and the male from before - Gem - both continued to stand in silence. At one point, they probably glanced at each other like Seriously? however that time had long passed.

“Love the positivity Moon, Rainbow. But I didn’t hear the people in the back!”

The girl gave a small and reluctant “whoop”. Gem only shook their head, conveying that they preferred to be anywhere but there.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea.” He said. Pearl only tsked.

The group spread out to explore: some eagerly, a few reluctantly. The girl from the back noticed something reflect the light from the shadow that cast by the chain restaurant as she lay on a grassy field nearby to test it’s comfort. Approaching, she realized that what she saw did not come from eye level, but beneath it; under the dumpster. Half disgusted yet half curious, she reached down and pulled out an object, something so unexpectedly massive that she had to use her other hand to grab the other she nudged with the back of her hand blindly.

They were two impossibly perfect glass orbs. Both identical, 4 inches in diameter, surprisingly light, barely small enough to fit one in one hand. She examined them as her friends gathered close, looking at the immaculate objects in awe. Too beautiful to be man made, yet too clean to be of nature. It can only be something divine.

Whilst examining, the girl’s bracelet of iron slid down her wrist, stopping with a klink on the surface of the glass.

The effect was immediate. The orbs came to life at once, both shining as brightly as the sun, if not more. She dropped it, and if not for the shadow, would have broken the items. Instead, the darkness caught it, letting the glass hover an inch above the ground, steadily rising about 2 feet. The light dimmed to a more bearable amount, now that the iron had gone, and stared at what was possibly the first organisms to ever ingrain themselves in their memory.

The humans gaped, both in surprise and in fear. For they now understood that the campus and its people did not lie: Faeries exist on the campus grounds.

It was the red haired girl first who unfroze, taking care to hide her iron under her sleeve before slowly moving her hand towards them; not to pick up, but just to feel the cool surface under her fingers. Although it was impossible to tell, she knew that it was looking right in her eyes. She gave a small smile.

“Hey there, kid. Call me Star.”

In the presence of the group, the Fae felt… It didn’t know what it felt, but it was like for the first time, they were living. Not an object that was left to be forgotten, but a creature that was meant to be remembered. Although the group made sounds they didn’t understand, this creature habiting in shadow knew that it was accepted as a member of the group. However, it was difficult to interact and join them when they couldn’t speak. The biggest way of telling the world that you exist is to communicate, after all. And the group seemed to understand this. It was Rainbow - her hair violet that day - who suggested Morse code. Moon who helped Gem print pages upon pages of research on the subject. Pearl who bought the laser pointers, flashlights, mountains of batteries, and filled everyone’s bowls with cream or milk when they were too tired or too busy to do it themselves. And Star, with her voice softer than the scattering of grass on a cloudy day, who helped them associate sound with blinks of light.

When the day came when everyone was confident in its ability to communicate, they chose Star as the first word that it said.

“Me?” She had asked, bewildered. “Why my name?”

In her lap were the orbs, lit up and blinking. She balanced them on the side of her knees as she sat cross-legged, each hand on one orb to keep it steady. Her iron was hidden high up her arm, in fear of harming it.

“You’re the one who taught it.” Moon said, giving her a grin that ladies would do anything for. It didn’t sway Star though, and that was clear.

“Without you, they would still be under that dumpster.” Rainbow added.

“You’re the one who found it.” Pearl unknowingly restated.

“And,” Gem finished. “You clearly have the strongest bond with them.”

She looked down at the peculiar Fae, who she could tell was looking up at her in turn. With a sigh, she put the orbs under the protection of shadow, where it hovered up to their eye level.

“Okay kiddo. Remember what we taught you.” She said slowly, allowing the Fae to mull over the words, understand them and their meanings. “Star. Ss. T. Ar.”

S-T-I-R it blinked out, very slowly. She smiled kindly and repeated the syllables. It was hard and slow, but eventually-

[S… Sta… a…r] it said, and after hours of silence, the whole group exploded in celebration. Rainbow picked up the orbs and kissed them, Pearl hugged them tightly, Moon tossed them in the air, and Gem just patted them on the head with a “Good Job” and a smile. And throughout all of this was Star, who was just amazed.

Months pass, and the orbs have learned to say the names of everyone in the group, and has started to join in on conversations they had about their time in Elsewhere. As much as they enjoyed it, the best times seemed to be the nights where they wake up to find Star setting up camp in the grassy field nearby, surrounding herself in a circle of salt and iron, leaving her bowl of cream just outside. On these days, it moved out of the comfort of the dumpster and travelled until they reached the circle, where she would always open it up for them and close it afterwards. She would let it snuggle beside her as she taught it everything she knew about the lights in the sky, and spun tales about the great spoon or its zodiac “children” until the light faded from the orbs.

The group realized they needed a name for their Faerie friend, and it was Star who recommended Shad, after the blanket of shadows it always moved under. And so Shad it became, and Shad it would always be. With a name, Shad felt like the group could be together forever, and that it was permanent.

The last night Shad saw Star, she never told them a story. They hovered up to stare at their friend, worried.

[is ok] they asked with a tilt of their orbs. Star only smiled and rubbed the orbs, a wonderful sensation to them. It was a sign of being a part of a group, they thought. It was a sign of friendship.

“Yeah, kiddo. Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry.” She murmured, the petting turning to stroking the side of one orb once before she got under her covers and they fell asleep together. The next morning, they woke up under the dumpster once more. No one came to visit that day.

And the next.

The days became a week.

And then two weeks.

It was reaching almost three when Shad’s friends finally returned, but there was something wrong when they went to greet them. Something very, very wrong indeed.

Star was not with them.

They told it right then, that Star had been missing for weeks. That a body was found in the campus swimming pool, that it was a boy’s, and that grinning and hissing and singing the sweetest songs right beside it was a thing with Star’s face. They believed she was dead. Shad knew that in a way, they were right. The Star in the water both was and was not the one who laughed made Shad feel human. Who’s stories made them feel belonged.

The loss broke Shad. But even though Rainbow, Pearl, Gem, and Moon were able to put them back together, there were still things that they couldn’t fix. They cowered away from hands trying to pet them. They hid from the word “kiddo”.

They still joined the conversations - now mostly rumors that float around the school - but whenever someone offered to tell a fictional story, they would always find a way to leave.

It seemed as if when Star had passed, they took a part of Shad with them.

Perhaps it was a mercy. Perhaps it was a punishment for how they acted towards what remained of their friends. But one day, the humans ran to Shad, the happiest they’ve been for a long time.

Before they could ask, they were picked up by Pearl and she twirled until they felt dizzy.

“We were invited to a party Shad! Probably the first big one I’ve seen on campus!”

“They only invited a few people.” Moon added. “The host slides the invitations under doors, so it’s hard to get picked.” He watched Pearl with a longing. They had noticed that more and more often. They didn’t know what it meant, but possibly it was a good thing?

The look reminded them of Star so they turned to Gem, who was frowning. Rainbow was with the other two, celebrating. Gem looked down at Shad, who was put back down in the shadows.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I-I mean, we don’t even know who hosts them. What if they’re one of the-”

“Then,” Rainbow interrupted, walking over to him. “We’ll die of having fun.” She pushed him playfully at his concerned face. “Oh come on. Life is short. Our lives are short. Well, shorter than Shad’s, probably.” She nodded at them, and not knowing what to do, they nodded back. “Come to the party. Enjoy the liquor that may or may not be served there. Can’t be that bad, right?”

She turned to look back at them when she said it. Everyone was looking at them. Conformation. That it was safe. That the humans could go. Even if they didn’t really understand human thoughts and most of the words, Shad could tell that this event was something that meant a lot to their friends.

[Go to parti] They answered finally. Pearl seemed to smile wider. Moon patted their brother on the back.

“See, even the Faerie themselves agree that you should go. Relax. You need it. You haven’t done it in years.”

Gem nodded reluctantly, and saying their farewells to Shad, they all walked away, chatting. Shad watched, feeling as if they had done something right. Something good. Something… Human.

But then, the next morning Shad woke to disturbance in the air. Everything felt wrong. The last time they woke up like this was… So very long ago. They heard footsteps in the distance. Chatter. Whoops of laughter, but it felt wrong. It all felt horribly wrong.

They peeked out from under the dumpster, dangerously close to where the dark and the light meet, and what they saw made them feel - for the first time - terror.

It was a line of humans, all giggles and laughter. They chattered like nothing was wrong while someone lead them towards the trees. In the back, they spotted their friends. It might have all been fine except the one leading was not human and the forest was not a normal forest, but rather the Forest, a place too dangerous for humans to go to alone.

The place that humans go to be Taken.

Shad tried to move, but trying to get out of the shadow felt like running headfirst into a brick wall. They pushed hard against their limits, with will, with all their strength. But physics doesn’t work like that, and so neither will mundane shadows. But Shad was not a mundane creature. Elsewhere was not a mundane school.

[Frends] They said to themself, as the panic rose, as the shouts and laughter seemed to fade. [Sav frends]

In front of them, they saw a figure start to form. Featureless, with arms and legs. A memory, long gone, but it was enough.

[Humans] Shad’s orbs brightened in determination. [need to be human to help human]

Then it happened. The unseeable wall seemed to crumble. The orbs moved out of the dark, and with it came the shadows itself, creating a human like shape for them. They felt something like strings tether them to the ground, and looked to see two stick like things. The things their friends called legs.

Things they moved with.

At first, Shad stumbled. They had no time. Even if they moved terribly. It was better than staying still. They half tripped, half ran towards the group. Towards the Forest.

It was too late.

Ducking under branches, stumbling over rock, they finally were close enough to see the last one In the little line-up. It was Gem.

Hope blossomed inside them. Gem. The most human. Everyone called them the most logical, the safest. Safe was positive. Logic was a word associated with humans, so it was positive. Perhaps they could save him.

[Gem] They blinked, trying to get their attention. [Gem Gem Gem Gem Gem]

Perhaps they recognized the morse code, or perhaps it was just the light that flickered and made figures in the trees. Whatever it was, they stopped and turned. Shad was about to say more, when they faltered.

Gem’s eyes were blank. Shad didn’t understand it, but it was as if his eyes were also covered in glass. The black dots didn’t move.

[Gem Gem Gem Gem Gem] Shad chanted desperately. [Gem Gem Gem]

The boy didn’t react. They slowly turned, and went to catch up to the group, who were steadily shrinking into the distance.

Shad took a shaky step forward to follow, but then suddenly the branches dipped down, one after the other, until it created a wall. A wall that didn’t let them through. When it broke apart hours later, Shad searched for what felt like a long time, but were mere human minutes. It was as if the group had disappeared, and with them, the last of Shad’s friends.

Something they did find though, was what made Shad stop the search, partly out of sorrow, and partly out of the need of rest.

It was a very fluffy sweater, hanging from a branch of a tree. Shad remembered it as what Rainbow used to wear during the time when the leaves turned into colours that they had never seen. It was white, with a rainbow image in the middle which sparkled in the light of Shad’s eyes. With great difficulty, they put it on, not wanting to leave it behind. Since they had no arms, the sleeves fell limp at their sides, and they watched them sway with curiosity before walking back to Elsewhere, careful to stay in the light so that the sweater would not fall away from their shadow body.

They waited, hoping under the dumpster. Hoping that they would come back.

They waited weeks, with nothing.

Then months.

Then a year.

They don’t remember how much time had passed. Just that one day, they woke up to the sight of a large group of humans entering the Elsewhere building. A new semester had started again. They watched wistfully at the humans. Wishing to enter the school. Wishing to experience what their friends must have once done.

“Well, why don’t you?”

Suddenly, in front of them, Shad saw a girl peer down. A girl with red hair, curious eyes, and a shy smile.

[Star] Shad said, moving closer. But she tsked.

“No, kiddo. I’m just in your head. A memory, I guess.” Shad only seemed confused. “Anyway, you should. Go into Elsewhere I mean. You wanted to be human, and you’ve always showed interest in what happens in there. And with a body, you can wander. Make more friends. They found me in the swimming pool, didn’t they? Say hi. I must be lonely.” She shrugged.

[wat do in elswher] They asked. [dont no]

“Well, you can always be a theater major, like Pearl. English major, like Rainbow. Learn tech like Gem. But I wouldn’t really suggest sports. Doesn’t seem like your thing.”

[An wat did u do] They asked. Her smile faltered.

“You don’t know the word. You’ve never heard it before.” She replied softly. “But just remember that I’m Star.”

And just as quickly as she came, she disappeared. Immediately, Shad moved out from under the dumpster, and ran to the entrance, slipping in with everyone else, both Fae and human alike. Not knowing where to go, they sped down the halls, ignoring the whispers and stares, grateful for everyone avoiding them without knowing exactly why.

“Hey there, slow down.” A deep voice said, quite louder than they expected. Apparently at some point, Shad had stopped watching where they were going and started to run blindly. Right into a human man, who watched them curiously, holding onto their armless shoulders. “You should look where you’re going.”

[did not] They admitted. [was lukin at nothin] Looking up, they saw the man was staring with a strange intensity.

“You remind me…” He started, then paused. “Of a former student. She asked me everything I knew about the Fae, having teaching at this school for so long with the Sight.” He tapped his glasses and chuckled. They didn’t really understand any of that. “I presume you may know who I am talking about?”

They nodded, cautiously. He held up his pointer finger as he opened his bag and ruffled through it.

“She told me that if something were to happen to her or any of her friends, that if I happen to see you in the building, I should give you this.”

Out of his bag, he pulled out something grey. At first, it didn’t seem special, until they recognized the pattern created by the white lines was a familiar image. There were words on the top, and although Shad couldn’t read, they could tell what it said.

“Elsewhere University”

He unfolded the sweater, and seeing the orbs brighten in surprise made him give another small chuckle.

“Here, I’ll help you put it on.” He said, and Shad didn’t protest as he flipped the shirt over and got prepared to pull it over their head. But not before Shad saw something that felt more familiar than the Elsewhere crest.

5 words, each written differently in white fabric marker. They saw these words enough that they just knew what these said too.

“Rainbow”

“Pearl”

“Gem”

“Moon”

And of course

“Star”

They looked down at themselves, at the crest, the signatures now invisible once more.

“So I’m assuming you’re here for a major. Which one are you going to…” He trailed off.

The memory of earlier surfaced. “Just remember that I’m Star.” She had said.

They looked from their new sweater to the man.

[Im Shad an I lik Star] They said, not knowing what else to say. He laughed.

“What a funny little Fae you are. I assume you’re just a child, your eyes are all confident. Well, I’m sure you’re saying something, but whatever it is, I feel horrible for not understanding. However, Star was a hard working student before she left, and I can feel you may be the same. Come child,” He said, stepping forward and beckoning. “Let me take you to Astronomy.”

#mysticalmagicat #stories #long post #what these kids found under the university dumpster may shock you #EXCELLENT title #shad #star #stolen away #ouch this was lovely and sad #submission

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peculiarbob · 5 years

Text

Desolate Souls and Broken Minds

Chapter 6: Old Friends

Chapter 5: Angel of the Lord

Chapter 4: Nice to Meet You

Chapter 3: Good as Dead

Chapter 2: The Dream

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Word count: 2360

Summary: Skully isn’t gonna stop harassing Tim and Jessica till he gets what he wants. What does he want? No one really knows for sure. But one thing is for certain, old friends always have our backs.

They interrogated us for hours, but now we can finally get some sleep. Not that I get much anyways. Jessica seems really tired and drags her feet while walking to her room.

“Night.” I call to her.

“Night.” she calls back in a croaky voice.

I lay in bed for another hour but I can’t fall asleep. I look at my bedside table and on top of it is my bottle of pills. I hadn’t realized that I had only two more pills. I didn’t want to have to go to the car in the morning so I decide to go now. It’s cold, I don’t know why I didn’t bring a jacket. I’ve been wearing the same clothes for like five days, I should shower. It’s now drizzling which honestly feels good on my skin. I reach inside the car and onto the backseat. I grab my duffel bag and pull out my other bottle of pills. I lock the car and start heading back when-

WHACK!

Something metal hits me hard on the head. I fall to the ground. Everything around me is spinning and blurry. Someone’s knee is digging into my back as they tie my hands together with rope. I try to break away from them but they grab my hair and slam my head onto the ground. I black out.

I wake up tied to a tree, my mouth has a gag in it, and I can feel thick blood running down my face along with the rain. There’s a man with curly dark hair standing a couple feet away from me, he swallows a couple of my pills. He puts the bottle in his front jacket pocket, puts his mask completely on, then turns to me. Skully. He slowly pulls out a pocket knife but he doesn’t slit my throat. He starts to unbutton my shirt then starts cutting me, but not random cuts either, he’s cutting a sigil into my chest. It hurts like hell but I can’t do anything to stop him.

When he’s done with me he cleans the knife off with a cloth then starts to unbutton his own clothes. He turns away from me as he wounds his own chest. When he’s done, he faces his whole body towards me and just stares. It’s raining harder now and he’s just staring at me from behind that mask.

“Get away from him!” Dean yells. I can see him, Sam, and Cas running in our direction.

Skully then shoves a blood covered hand onto my bleeding chest. A blinding white light shines everywhere and for a moment I can’t see anything. When I gain back my vision Cas isn’t there. Sam and Dean look around in confusion for just a second, but in that time Skully takes something from off the ground and shoves it into the cuts he made on his chest. The brothers instantly go into an idle stage, they look as if they’re void of any emotion. He takes the thing out of his chest and waves it in front of my face. I can now see that it’s a bundle of some kind of sticks which was clearly soaked in some sort of substance, smells awful. He gently puts his hand on my cheek, places a finger to his “lips” then walks away.

About ten minutes pass before Sam and Dean awaken. At this point the rain has been beaming down on me and my gashes, I’m weak from blood loss. They look around clearly disorientated. I call them over and they clumsily untie me, I can barely stand so they have to help me walk.

“Where’d he go?” Dean says, still a bit dazed.

“Don’t know.” I reply.

We head back to the bunker, none of us can walk straight. It took us longer than it usually would have to get back but we made it. Jack immediately gets up and tells me he can heal me.

“Here- let me just…”

“Woah woah woah. What are you-?”

He places one hand on my chest and with a brilliant glowing light, he heals me completely. It was as if nothing happened. I thank him as he starts healing Sam and Dean. He sets a glowing hand on their foreheads and they return back to normal.

“Okay, what the hell?” Dean says somewhat angrily, “We’re gonna find that bastard and make him pay.”

“Sure, but first” Sam says, “where’s Jessica?”

“She went outside.” Jack answers, “She asked me where do we keep the guns. So I gave her one and she headed outside. I found her attire a bit strange though.”

“What d’you mean?” I ask, it’s a strange thing to mention.

“Well, she wore a loose flannel shirt, ripped jeans, hunting boots, gloves, and a black cloak with the hood up. She looked mad and had a knife attached to her calf. I didn’t ask any questions, she kinda scared me.”

I decide to go outside in hopes of finding her. Before I do so, I grab a flashlight and a gun and put on a freaking jacket. It doesn’t take me long to find her though. She’s walking around, with no light except for the moon. She’s holding something too. I call to her and rush over there. Jessica doesn’t react much, although she covers up whatever she’s holding with her cloak even more.

“Are you alright?” she says.

“Um. Yeah. How’d you know-?”

“He sent me messages.” she says these words with no emotion, “He somehow got my number and texted me a picture of you tied up. He then told me exactly what he was going to do. Cut sigils into you and himself, get rid of the angel, stun the brothers, then get to Jack and me. He said, and I quote, ‘You two are going to help me get rid of a certain bastard. Along with help from some of our old friends.’ I’m not going to be used and he’s not going to lay a finger on Jack.”

“Some of our old friends” what does that mean? I’ll help Jessica with whatever her plan is, I think she’s finally sick of being used by all these monsters. We walk for a bit more when Jessica gets a text, it’s from Jack:

“Where are you? Are you safe? Please answer me!”

“Me and Tim are safe, don’t worry. Go to your room and lock the door. Make sure you have a weapon.”

“Okay.”

We walk for a little while more, not a word was spoken. I tell Jessica that we’re just wandering around blindly at this point and that we should just go back, she agrees. Just as we turn around we hear gunfire and screams. We immediately run behind a large tree and watch as Skully runs into view. I can faintly hear his loud breathing, he’s looking around nervously. I can see that he’s twitching and…. Crying? He puts both of his hands to his head as he starts hyperventilating.

BANG!

My ears start ringing as Jessica lowers her gun. Skully falls to the ground, the bullet entered near his shoulder. His sobs grow louder then turn into screams. Me and Jessica start to cough, violently, my vision start to turn cloudy as well. I’m grabbed viciously grabbed by the arm and practically dragged out of there. Whoever is grabbing me also has Jessica, they leave Skully. I turn around to see that faceless bastard. That’s the last thing I see before I black out.

I wake up in a strange place. It looks like a bedroom, not one I’ve been in before though. I get up from the surprisingly comfortable bed and look around. The room is kind of bare, one window with lace curtains opposite of the door, the bed, a closet, and a night stand. First I look in the closet, nothing. Then I look inside the drawer and find one thing, an empty bottle of pills. My pills. I leave it there and quietly look around the house.The place is honestly not that big. The room I was in is near the end of the short hall. To my right is the bathroom, to my left is another bedroom and the rest of the hall. I look in the other bedroom.

It had the same structure as the other one, but this one was more decorated. Above the bed was a map of Kansas with red dots and labels. A couple dots were labeled “Skully HB” but are now crossed out. Only one of those dots remain untouched. There is also a circle labeled “M.O.L. Base” not sure what that means though. I look in the closet next, lots of Gucci. But next to all of the expensive clothing, there’s a yellow hoodie. I stumble backwards then rush to the drawer. There I find a black mask made out of fabric with a red frown on it.

I run out of that room to try and find the exit. Instead I find the kitchen. And guess who’s in the kitchen. My old pal, Brian Thomas. He’s making something on the stove while a cup of coffee is sitting on the counter. I don’t move an inch. Yet he turns around and isn’t surprised to see me standing there.

“Oh hey, you’re up!” he calls cheerfully, “You probably have questions. We can talk about it over these omelettes I made for breakfast. “

He directs me to the dining room and sets down two plates and two cups of coffee. I can’t help but stare at him in horror and awe. He has been dead for about four years now! The only thing different about his appearance is his black eye. We both sit down then he tries to start a conversation.

“So, Tim. How’s life been. Well, obviously not that great considering how last night went.”

“How?” I manage to whisper. He pauses before replying.

“Well, for the record, I did die. I just didn’t stay that way.” when I don’t say anything he continues, “I fell from that ledge and died, painfully. This reaper or whatever came to me and lead me to hell.”

“What?” I mutter timidly.

“Yeah. Hell. For you guys, the living, it was probably around three and a half years. For people like me it was well over a hundred years. You lose count after a while. Oh yeah, remember Amy and Sarah? Yeah, they’re suffering in hell.”

“Why w-?”

“Why would they go to hell? I don’t know. I didn’t see Seth, Alex, or Jay though. Weird. But I did see a bunch of other people. It’s strange, it kinda looked like we had our own place in hell. Like we were separated from everyone else. Whatever the fuck was torturing me, must have really enjoyed it. Sick bastard.”

Brian put his arm over his stomach, he looked so mad but also like he wanted to cry at the same time. He stands up to get more coffee, I follow him. I can hear him taking slow deep breaths while pouring his drink. When he turns around to me I can’t help but embrace him. After a couple of moments he sets his cup down and hugs back. I hold him as close as possible. I can feel tears run down my face and onto his shirt, but I don’t care. After a while we finally let go of each other. Brian’s face is dripping with tears. We look at each other and laugh.

“Shut up you demisexual dork.” I say jokingly.

“Don’t call me that, you’re gonna make me cry more.” He says still laughing.

We spend the rest of the day catching up. He tells me about hell and what he’s been doing since he came back from the dead. He doesn’t know exactly how he came back and he didn’t really want to talk about it. He also tells me that fake credit cards work great if you want to buy Gucci. I tell him about how my life has been going, not that great. We end up getting to the topic of the map.

“So the crossed out dots were where I thought Skully’s home base was. The circle is the Men of Letter’s base. There’s like a five mile radius around it where everything is a bit, uh, messed up. Can’t track anything in there.”

“Huh, so me and Jessica were safe there. Speaking of which, where is she?” He’s silent, but for only a moment.

“Tim, I uh…. I don’t really know. Things got out of hand and my memory is a bit fuzzy. All I remember is I grabbed you two when the operator showed up-”

“The ‘operator’?”

“That’s what I call it, that’s also what the people in hell called it so yeah. Anyways, I grabbed you two, I tried to get away but someone stopped me, he gave me a black eye. But yeah, everything after that is pretty much gone.”

We decide that tomorrow we should go out to look for her. Look where? No idea, but we have to try. That night we move my mattress into Brian’s room, I don’t want to sleep in a strange place alone. I try to get some sleep but I keep tossing and turning. It had to be around midnight when Brian says something in a quiet raspy voice.

“I met an angel.” I turn around to face him.

“What?” He turns over to look at me.

“When I got out of hell, I met an angel. I’m not supposed to tell anyone this, but I don’t care anymore. He said his name was Zayden or something. He made me whole again, I wasn’t just a shell of a man. Well, sort of. He kinda just hid all that stuff in the back of my mind, didn’t even do a really good job either.”

“Me and Jessica met him too. Somethings up.”

We both agree to continue this in the morning so we can get some sleep. But I think we both know neither of us rested even a bit.

#supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #marble hornets #marble hornets fanfiction #fanfiction #my writing #my au

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vriskaserbet · 6 years

Text

In the morning, you'll be dead.

Summary: Sammy is only focused on serving his Lord and the Lost Ones, troubled souls in need of constant attention and support, who look to him and his sermons as their only line of protection and comfort. So, when a strange new creature begins to leave ink trails everywhere, scaring the Lost Ones with their constant static noises; he decides to hunt them down to make things right.Of course, he didn’t plan on the creature recognizing him.

Rating: General audience.

Warnings: Character death, though not detailed nor is it a permanent character death.

Characters: Sammy Lawrence and Wally Franks!

Tags: AU, Object Head AU, Object Head! Wally, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Memory loss, this can be read as romantic/platonic as you wish!

Ao3 link: Right here!

The first signs were the ink trails.

Sammy, despite his comfort in his sanctuary, often traveled among the different floors, helping the Lost Ones, preaching his sermons and doing whatever else his Lord requested. Granted, his memory wasn’t perfect, but he had come to recall the floors quite vividly. He had to, if he wanted to survive. He knew everyone’s particular powers and their usual behaviors. Nobody, from the most mindless of searchers to his perfect Lord, ever left these trails.

They were someone new. Sammy couldn’t recall the last thing anything “new” occurred in the studio. It hurt his head too much.

They were on different floors, so whoever did it was always on the move. The trails were long, going through room after room without stop, with large black puddles always nearby. It was slightly dangerous, if he were to be honest. Too much of these trails and soon, the threat of being pulled back in would become a stronger possibility.

Thus, Sammy made his newest mission to find this mysterious creature and get them to stop, any means necessary.

Next, he received another sign. The studio tended to be relatively quiet, save for the usual ambience of the usual chattering and groaning of monsters and general machinery noises. Yet, very faintly, as Sammy continued on with his usual duties; he began to hear a new noise. Faint, static noises, almost like a broken tape recorder. He forced himself to stay put. He was a patient man, not one to jump head first into danger.

Though, perhaps they weren’t dangerous. Nearby creatures didn’t seem to be injured, nor could he find any corpses near the trails. The creature just seemed to keep getting stranger and stranger.

After some time, Sammy could no longer stay put, simply searching the aftereffects. The static noises came closer to where the Lost Ones lived. Immediately, they grew terrified, hiding deep within the shadows and held each other tightly, listening closely to the new sounds. He felt his heart drop at the sight, worried for the poor creatures.

So, to reassure them, he promised to find the creature and put an end to their behavior. Sammy prepared himself with an axe, in case of anything, and headed up the floors, following the endless trails; the noises becoming louder and louder as he did so.

He found himself in one of the quieter floors, ones that weren’t particularly plagued by ink creatures. Now, the creature was quite easy to track. He walked slowly in the hallways, trying to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible. He carefully rounded the corners of the hallway, as the ink became fresher and fresher, the noises now within perfect hearing range. Finally, as he went down one more hallway, he finally caught sight of the creature.

For a moment, a wave of familiarity washed over him. Then, it was quickly replaced by shock. The creature, a male, was not entrapped in ink! He could see it clearly, he had human flesh! Peering closer, he took in his other details. He was lanky, somewhat tall for a human but short compared to most people in the studio. He wore old, faded overalls, the bottom of his legs covered and stained with ink, still not cased into it like the others. He also wore a white, button up T-shirt, it to covered with numerous stains. He carried a mop, that was covered in fresh, drippy ink. To seemingly balance his normal body, his head was a large tape recorder. A somewhat busted tape recorder, with its tape pooled around the creature’s arm and body.

Sammy grimaced. Most likely, the creature had no way of seeing. He wasn’t even sure if he could hear.

The creature stopped in his tracks, using his mop to begin “cleaning” the floor. As he thought, the creature couldn’t see, clumsily moving his mop around as he walked into a nearby office, making a static noise of surprise as he bumped his body against the door.

Sammy decided to follow him, entering the office with purposely loud steps. The creature noticed immediately, whipping around with fear, the static growing louder as he turned his head around. Pathetically, he held his mop out, almost like a weapon.

“I won’t hurt you… friend,” Sammy told him, stepping closer to the creature. The creature paused and turned straight to face him, seemingly curious. He titled his head, staring.

Sammy spoke loudly, yet softly, trying to calm the thing down while still being legible. “You don’t have to worry. I’m just here to give you… a friendly warning, yes. Please correct me if I’m wrong, friend, but it seems as though you are unable to see. That’s just fine, we all have lost much here. It’s just that, your mop, it’s not covered in water. It’s covered with ink, so you’re tracking it everywhere. Perhaps you should put it away, dear friend—”

“Sammy.” He suddenly spoke, his voice rough from the aged recording. Sammy’s breath hitched. The two stared at each other for a long time, not able to say much. The creature’s grasp on the mop loosened and it fell to the floor.

“N-o. N-o.” the creature broke the silence, shaking his head. The ‘no’ sounded broken, saying more of the actual phonetics instead just saying ‘no.’ “N-o. No. No. No. NO.” his voice suddenly raised in volume, the quality glitching slightly. The ‘no’ sounded more organic now, finally put together.

“SAMMY. DIED.” Sammy’s breath hitched and was unable to speak. The creature continued for him, as his body began to tremble.

“SAMMY. DIED.” He repeated, his voice glitching as it continued to raise in volume. “NO! SAMMY! DIED! I’M SURE! I KNOW! I SEE BODY! B-L-OO-D EVERYWHERE. EVERYONE KNOW. I’M OUTTA HERE!” he held himself, shaking badly. “JOEY… JOEY! IN-V-ITE. M-E. LOCK. M-E. IN. MACHINE!”

With that, the creature let out an unbearably loud screech, one that had Sammy gripping the sides of his head. The creature let out glitched, broken words, smeared and mixed together. For a second, it almost sounded like he was sobbing. Snapped out of his fog, he came close to the creature and impulsively held him close to his chest. The creature squirmed in his hold, letting another scream out. Sammy held him tightly, not letting him go free.

“Ssshhh, ssshhh,” he quickly hushed, using a hand to stroke his back. “Please. It’s okay! I’m here. I’m alive and that’s okay.”

“SAMMY. DIED.” The creature replied. He stopped resisting and now, relaxed slowly into his arms. His head rested on Sammy’s shoulder, now wrapping his arms around his torso. “SAMMY. DIED…. Sammy… died…” his voice quieted down, though he still letting out garbled noises, his body shaking as he did so.

“Sammy… died… not… here… in… this… hell…”

Sammy let out a long sigh, patting the creature’s back. “I’m so sorry, friend. I don’t remember you. I really can’t. Being here for so long has… taken so much from me. But, that’s fine. Perhaps my Lord has put you here for a reason… whatever it is, we can do it together… say, do you remember… your name?”

“…W-A-L-L-Y.”

“Wally, huh? …It does sound familiar. Were we friends?”

Wally held him tightly. “…Mi-ss-ed… you…”

“…Me to,” Sammy said, rubbing his back again. Even if he barely remembered him, there was still a familiar sting to his name, his words, everything. Worse yet, he was a reminder of everything he had lost. Everything he knew, before he was trapped within the studio.

“Me to, Wally.”

“god damn it, why th’ hell am i so stupid…” wally cursed to himself, unlocking the studio to let himself inside. it was the middle of the damn night, so the studio was just as cold as the outside. wally, even with his heavy layers of a sweatshirt, a sweater and a hoodie, shivered.

“better find it quick, before i freeze to death…” sighing, he walked around the studio, turning the flashlight on. he checked all over the first floor, in the rooms he tended to sweep and clean the most, yet it still proved to be missing.

frowning, he went downstairs, to the music room. it was there he realized something odd, passing by the music room.

the door was slightly opened, with the lights turned on. he could see it pouring out of the small crack. for most people, they would automatically assume a burglar or something just as heinous; but wally knew his weird, kooky coworkers. with his luck, he would open the door to see everybody around a pentagram circle, trying to summon satan. though, he kept his flashlight in his hands, ready to beat any burglars head in, just in case one was dumb enough to raid a failing animation studio.

he sighed, opening the door. “look, i ain’t here for no trouble, have you seen my wallet—”

sammy’s dead body laid in the middle of the music room. blood pooled around him, splatters of blood all over the instruments. all over the walls. it was a horrible, awful sight.

“sammy?” wally said standing still. he blinked. sammy didn’t move. sammy didn’t breathe.

in the back, he could hear the projector reels still rolling.

his breath went shaky and his eyes became wet. with a tremble in his voice, he asked again, “sammy—”

credit to the inspiration for this story + wallys design is right here!

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #BATIM #Sammy Lawrence #Wally Franks #UWAH its been a HOT minute since i posted here apologizes!#i want my boys to be OKAY pls

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fruitbattery · 6 years

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I saw the MOST amazing production (open dress rehearsal) of falsettos the other night!

It was in a tiny theatre. TINY, black box style, <50 seats. we were RIGHT IN FRONT. it was amazing.

-the set was literally: 6 chairs, 10 boxes, a hospital bed -4 jews started as a sock puppet show from behind the boxes (except for Trina) and then they all popped up as they said their names -(the cast was all so pretty and i am so gay) -their Jason was a college age woman and I believed her wholly, she was so good -at the end of 4 jews, they posed like they were taking a family photo and then marvin got up and started singing tight knit family -for love is blind, marvin and whizzer were in the background reading, marvin was on a chair and whizzer on the floor leaning into him. it was cute. -the transitions between songs required additional music a lot but that was ok -thrill of first love was??? so good? -whizzer pulled a silly pose at “i was trained in karate” it was great -they yelled the 9/10 months bit and the won’t/don’t bit -the fight choreo happened as whizzer stealing marvin’s scarf and them fighting over it -they ended up on the floor after whizzer pulled marvin in with the scarf and sat on his lap??? which i think is actually better than on the couch but ya know. sightlines are important i guess -can i just reiterate how good jason was like she was SO GOOD -throughout marvin at the psychiatrist, whizzer and trina had super visible but subtle reactions like eye rolling -for “my father’s a homo,” and for a lot of the show, jason sang right at the audience -he jumped on the table it was so cute! -trina’s indicating to whizzer behind jason’s back was NOT SUBTLE AT ALL there was no way the kid didn’t notice that -when the “late for dinner late again” section started, a strip of unexpected disco lights came on!!! it was great -trina belted “and still the bastard divorced me!!!!” and it made my night -I’M BREAKING DOWN WAS SO GOOD -she used the space a lot it was great; she covered the whole stage -she came onstage with a bunch of bananas and i heard someone behind me say “oh no” -she did eat a piece of banana but earlier in the song, before “you ask me is it fun to cry over nothing” -she made eye contact with my friend at “help me!!!!” and she DIED -she crushed pieces of banana in her hands so she had to wipe them on her apron before picking up the phone to call mendel -mendel answered with “yes this is mendel weisenbachfeld” like in the revival! -the disco lights came on for the final section of “feel alright for the rest of your life” -marriage proposal was simple and cute -”this is how you do a marriage proposal” and then jason went “GO” and shoved them together omg. then he ran off -tkf reprise was simple -at this point i am in love with the actress playing trina because she KILLS trina’s song. wow. -march of the falsettos was very jewish! they were all sitting on boxes, with scarves like tallitot, and prayer books covering their faces. simple box switching choreography -trina is wonderful -in the chess game it was SUPER clear that whizzer was mocking marvin in the 2nd verse. -he got up at “more’s the pity” -marvin got his suitcase immediately, then whizzer walked off sadly. he turned around when he was almost out to sing his part of the argument. “whizzer’s supposed to make the dinner” etc -in making a home they put a mezuzah on the door!!!!! !!!!!! -when they sang “yes we love the bed” mendel slapped her ass and she giggled -at the end they each sat down to read and froze for the games i play -omg whizzer was so good!!! -he started the song smiling like he was trying to make light of his situation but got serious fast -he made eye contact with me and i DIED -during marvin hits trina, trina just looked so DONE and ANNOYED during the beginning of i never wanted to love you, mendel was holding her and touched her face where she’d been slapped, and she told him stop, and he stopped. that was nice. -jason was practically screaming during that song and it was so heartbreaking -father to son has everyone crying. i could hear it. at the end, it was only jason who got up, and it looked like he was gonna leave marvin there alone, but then he went for the hug and we started crying more

act 2!!! -ppl laughed a lot at the weird woodwind/chime wiggle thing that happens in the intro music -mendel only had once flashlight and made it look like he was telling a ghost story when he said “homosexuals” which was really funny -PRETTY BOYS ARE IN DEMAND -charlotte and cordelia!!!!! holy fuck they were perfect! -for the whee! woo! part they were all sitting on blocks. it was trina on mendel’s lap, whizzer, marvin, jason, cordelia on charlotte’s lap -JASON HAD SUCH FUNKY DANCE MOVES FOR YEAR OF THE CHILD -the whole audience knew what the words were it was glorious. i know because they laughed -mendel gave the spiel about how his own bar mitzvah was bad to marvin and trina rather than to jason, like he was convincing them not to have jason do it -during the beginning of miracle of judaism, jason was pulling on baseball clothes over his clothes and packing a backpack to take to a game -at one point he held the bat between his legs like a giant dick and sang “girls with whom i always wake up” -the baseball game!!!! was so similar to the revival version!! staging wise -marvin was SO touchy with whizzer’s hair and trina was so annoyed lmao -the actor playing whizzer had so much hair but they did the bald spot anyway -jason’s actor played caroline instead of cordelia’s, which i guess makes more sense if it works -she got angrier when she said “you always do this” -trina’s workout gear involved a leotard and leg warmers. when she came on people whistled (I think they were her irl friends) -it looked like they used actual gefilte fish for the nouvelle bar mitzvah cuisine??? -whizzer was in tiny jean shorts to play tennis. so impractical honestly, all that chafing -instead of marvin collapsing and whizzer standing over him, they got really close to each other and almost kissed like 3 times. shit was cute. -i didn’t realize that in the original script jason wanders onstage during the last overlapping bit of a day in falsettoland and says “you guys are so white” but it was funny -when “i want the appelbaums” started, people laughed in recognition (i tell you boston is full of jews lmao. love it.) -mendel got up on a chair for his imitation of god, and stole the tablecloth to cover his head with -near the end of the song, mendel cleared a space for himself very dramatically, psyched himself up, and did the worst cartwheel i have ever seen. jason then did the same. -for what more can i say, they didn’t have a bed or anything resembling one, so marvin sat at the end of a row of 4 or 5 chairs and whizzer laid across them with his head in marvin’s lap -for the final “what more can i say” whizzer sat up and they gazed into each others’ eyes for a second -hoo boy here comes the pain train -charlotte and cordelia’s dynamic was a+ honestly. -tbh I know every word to this show and something bad is happening was still worrying and terrifying -in more raquetball, marvin was getting SUPER cocky. and then it all just went away when wizzer fell. heartbreaking. -in between something bad and holding to the ground, marvin helped whizzer over to dr charlotte and you could see him nonverbally insisting he was fine before collapsing onto her shoulder and allowing himself to be led away -trina’s performance in holding to the ground was phenomenal. so much emotion. marvelous and amazing. -i swear i heard sobs as the hospital bed came on -there was real chicken soup in cordelia’s tupperware!!! -jason set up the chess board fully after climbing onto the bed with whizzer, he then just packed it right back up again -mendel and trina in cancelling the bar mitzvah was just. lovely. and fucking sad too -unlikely lovers was SO TENDER i swear -when the lesbians showed up, marvin and whizzer were sitting there with their foreheads touching and marvin was almost in whizzer’s lap which was kind of an inversion??? idk it was great -just pure love -jason was so cute and innocent during another miracle. it was much needed. -then holy fuck -dr charlotte pulled marvin away for something bad reprise and she was crying. full on. she hit all the words and notes but shit. it got to me. -ok so you gotta die sometime is one of my favorite songs of all time. certainly my fave solo song to sing myself. -he nailed it. he was just so callous at the beginning morphing to fucking terrified at the end. it looked like if jason had come one second later he would’ve given up and died. -but there was a gap between it and the beginning of jason’s bar mitzvah still which was completely silent. pin drop silent. it was interesting -jason came in already in a suit -at “mendel get this thing in gear” the bed was rolled off and didn’t come back which must’ve been convenient -at “oh mummy” they actually kissed for a few seconds and trina looked,,, unamused -they all wore white kippot -at the end. oh god. -jason finished his torah and whizzer almost collapsed. mendel caught him. and jason just started sobbing. silently, but think harry-potter-after-sirius-fell-through-the-veil levels of despair. fuck it was sad. trina took him away. -the cast cleared the stage during the beginning of what would i do, but they left the “table” made of blocks that jason read torah on -marvin forgot the words so he substituted “once i was told that all men get what they deserve” for “god only knows too soon i’ll remember your faults” but it was ok -i swear the whole theatre started crying 2x as much when whizzer came out dressed like he had been -they circled each other unable to touch a few times. it killed me. -at the end, marvin put a rose that trina brought him on the table, now clearly a gravestone. then he cried into his family. -jason was on stage after everyone had left. i knew about the chess piece but he also kissed his hand and touched the grave which is??? so jewish??? and so touching??? idk but it was terrible and horrible and ripped my heart out of its socket -after the final piano faded out you could hear how many people were sniffling.

in conclusion this was a monumental experience. we got to see backstage after because the music director, who invited us, is also the music director for our school’s musicals (fiddler this year!) i met the actress who played cordelia and she said she could tell i knew the show which probably meant i was unconsciously mouthing the words despite my best efforts not to.

ok thanks for reading this word vomit that my adhd detail oriented brain poured out.

#falsettos #upsettoland #long post

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sassycashley · 6 years

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“Look, all I’m saying is that maybe you should come back for your phone when you notice you’ve left it at home,” Dean sighs, takes a bite of bacon right off the pan that sits cold on the stove.

“I don’t know what the big deal is, Dean. What could happen?” Castiel responds, a few feet behind him.

Dean whips his head around to look at this new, apparently naive, human, “What do you mean ‘ what could happen?’ Cas-” he stops mid sentence when he sees Castiel smiling at him, trying not to laugh. “You fucker,” Dean glares and turns back to the stove, to reheat the eggs.

Castiel walks up behind Dean and puts a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, I’m okay. I’m safe.”

“Yeah, okay. Just, next time don’t leave your phone here. I almost ruined breakfast when I realized you’d been gone all night without it,” Dean turns the eggs over, “Can you hand me the salt?”

When Castiel hands him the salt their hands brush. But Castiel doesn’t let go; the two of them holding on like it’s the best goddamn salt in the world. Goosebumps run up Dean’s arm as he looks at his friend, who says, “I’m sorry I almost ruined breakfast. What can I do to make up for it?” It takes a moment for Dean to register his words - about as long as it takes for his eyes to move up from the perfect pink lips in front of him to those stupid blue eyes.

Dean swallows and Castiel lets go of the salt, “Uh, you could do the dishes I guess.” Dean grabs a plate and starts filling it up.

When he hands the plate to Castiel he gets a smile in return, “Of course, Dean.” Dean follows him to the table with his own plate, the two of them sit side by side, their legs bumping under the table.

After a few bites, Dean moves his eggs around with his fork, “So, uh, where did you go last night?”

Castiel chews down the bite of toast he’s just taken followed by a swig of orange juice, “Just out.”

Out where? Dean asks in his head, careful not to let his frustration show. “Did you get lucky?” The words taste vile in his mouth, and he wishes he could take them back.

Eyebrows knit together and his head tilted, Castiel asks, “Lucky?”

“Yeah, did you get laid?” Dean shrugs and takes another bite of his eggs.

“Oh,” Castiel’s lips turn up in a smile as he takes a bite of bacon, chewing slowly. Dean watches him, his eyes begging for an answer. When Castiel finally swallows he says, “No, I did not get laid. Although that would have been nice,” he looks at Dean, smirks, and gets up to clear the table. Dean swallows down the whimper that threatens to escape.

“Have you talked to Sam?” Castiel asks a few minutes later, his hands deep in soapy water in the kitchen sink.

“Yeah, yesterday. He and Eileen killed a werewolf a few days ago.”

“Good for them.”

“Well the werewolf left two small children behind. Eileen wants to adopt them and settle down.”

“Oh, wow. What does Sam think?”

“I don’t think he could be happier, to be honest.”

“Do you ever think of settling down?” Castiel turns around to look at a Dean as he towel dries a bowl in his hands.

“Do you?” Dean questions him.

“I’m just saying, you haven’t hunted in weeks and you seem pretty happy.”

“Yeah, well Jody and all them keep stealing the best hunts,” Dean taps his fingers against the table.

Castiel puts away the rest of the dishes and when he passes Dean on the way to his room he places his hand on the hunter’s forearm, his thumb making gentle circles across his skin. Dean’s breath hitches as he looks up at Cas, who’s eyes are soft as he speaks, “It’s okay to want that, Dean. To want a quiet life without violence or heartbreak. It’s okay to have it, too.” Before Dean can respond, Castiel has slipped away.

Pacing around his room, Dean holds his phone up to his ear, “I don’t know where he’s going all the time, Sam. He shows up sweaty, his hair a mess - last week I found grass stains on his shirt when I was doing laundry!”

“Sounds like he found someone who likes to fuck outside,” Sam says, his voice bored.

“I already asked him if he’s getting laid and he said no,” Dean stops pacing when he hears Castiel’s footsteps pass by his door.

“You asked him that once. Maybe they just didn’t do anything the first time.”

Dean opens his door to see Castiel walking down the hall with a backpack on.

“I think he’s leaving again, Sam - and he has a freaking backpack!”

“Oh, boy, now it’s interesting,” Dean can practically hear Sam’s eyes roll.

“I’m going to find out where he’s going,” slipping his shoes on, Dean heads out into the hallway.

“What are you going to do, follow him?”

“No,” Dean rounds the corner to see the door to the garage closing, “Bye, Sammy,” hanging up, he lunges for the door.

Castiel is already putting his truck in reverse when Dean throws the passenger door open and climbs inside.

“What are you doing, Dean?” Castiel’s eyebrows scrunch together.

“I thought you might want some company today. Maybe I could help with whatever you’re doing.”

Dean looks at Castiel, a challenge in his eye, ready to argue why he has to come. To Dean’s surprise, Castiel only responds with, “Okay,” and continues to back out of the garage.

The sun beats down on the truck as they drive down the road, the windows open as folk music plays out of the speakers. Dean holds back the desire to sing along, mumbling something about assaulting his ears to keep appearances up. Castiel eventually parks the truck in front of an abandoned house fifteen miles down the road. Dean looks from the house to Castiel, who smiles and gets out of the truck, taking his backpack with him. “Can you grab those jugs of water in the back?”

Dean does as he’s asked and follows Castiel, who walks around the house to the backyard. The ex angel stops in front of a small garden and sits down, opening his backpack. He pulls out a pair of gloves and a small shovel, followed by a yellow packet that probably holds seeds.

“So your secret was that you have a garden behind an abandoned house?” Deans asks as he puts down the jugs of water next to Castiel.

Castiel works the soil, digging a small hole, “It wasn’t a secret,” he responds, ripping open the packet and pouring the seeds into the hole.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you would laugh at me,” he scoops the soil back into the hole, patting it down.

Dean watches his friend, bewildered, “Why would I laugh at you?”

“I just figured you would find it girly - not masculine enough,” Cas avoids looking at Dean, his hands continuing to pat down the soil.

“Hey,” Dean kneels next to Castiel, putting his hand on his back to get his attention, “I might make jokes about stuff but if you like something I would never make fun of you for it. You should enjoy things - especially now that you’re human.”

“Okay,” Castiel looks at Dean for brief moment before he slides his eyes back to the garden and bites his lip.

“Wait, did you fall asleep out here? That night you didn’t come home?”

“Yeah. I was enjoying the last moments of sunlight and kind of just fell asleep. I thought it would kill my back in the morning but it was surprisingly refreshing.”

Dean stays quiet for a few minutes while Castiel works his garden, digging holes and dropping seeds in. He watches the way the breeze moves through Cas’s hair, how Castiel smiles each time he adds a new plant. When he stands up, Castiel starts to stand also, thinking Dean probably wants to go home. “Cas, it’s okay, I’ll be right back. Can I borrow your truck?” Castiel nods and hands him his keys.

Standing in the camping aisle, Dean tries to decide between a couple of sleeping bags or a couple of thick blankets. When he makes up his mind, he takes the blankets off the shelf and sets them in the cart that already holds a sleeping pad and a large bag of trail mix.

At the bunker he grabs his and Cas’s pillow, a couple of flashlights, and makes two sandwiches complete with a side macaroni salad he’d made the day before. He sings along to folk songs on his way back to the abandoned house, content with the sun on his face and his friend just around the corner. He sets up the back of the truck before heading to the backyard.

Castiel is lying down in the shade under a tree next to the garden when Dean approaches. He smiles at Dean and wipes the dirt off of his hands before he takes the food handed to him. “Thank you,” he mumbles between bites of a turkey sandwich. After he’s swallowed the last of his food, Castiel places his hands in his lap and looks at Dean. “That was great, but I can’t imagine it took you over an hour to make it.”

“Well, no, it didn’t,” Dean stands up and holds his hand out to Castiel, “Follow me.” Castiel takes his hand and stands up. Holding on a little bit longer, Dean strokes his thumb across the back of Castiel’s hand. As he drops their hands, Dean notices Castiel’s cheeks turn pink and his heart skips a beat. He leads Castiel to the truck and waits for a response but Cas doesn’t say anything as he looks from the bed of his truck back to Dean.

“I thought we could spend tonight here, looking at the stars,” Dean explains as Castiel runs his hands over the blankets, “In the meantime I thought I could teach you a few card games, until it gets dark,” Dean pulls out a pack of cards from his pocket and puts them on top of the sleeping pad.

“Why?” Castiel’s hand falls from the blankets and he looks at Dean, “Why are you doing this?”

“Why? I don’t know. I guess I want to spend time with you,” Dean looks at his feet, feels his face turn red, “I miss you.”

“We live in the same house.”

“Yeah but you’re gone a lot. You were here instead,” he shuffles his feet, “If you don’t want to do this, it’s fine. I’ll just get a cab home.”

“No, Dean, that’s not-” Castiel sighs and drops his head, “I’m sorry, I just didn’t know you wanted to spend time with me. You’re always in your room or on the phone helping a hunter.”

“Well I do, so if you want to learn I’d really like to play some Go Fish right about now.”

Castiel smiles and climbs into the bed of the truck, “Okay, teach me.”

When the sun starts to go down, Dean gathers up the cards and sets them aside. He looks over at Castiel, who is shivering from the breeze. “Maybe we should get under the covers,” Dean says, and Castiel nods, lifting up the blanket so the two of them can slip under it. They stay sitting up, shoulder to shoulder and watch the sun set. Dean moves his arm to go over Castiel’s shoulders, watches as Cas smiles and tries to hide his blush by turning his head. With his free hand, he cups Castiel’s face and turns it back towards him, looks into Cas’s deep blue eyes before brushing their lips together, gentle. Castiel moans and deepens the kiss, opening his mouth when Dean rubs his tongue along the bottom of Castiel’s lower lip.

After awhile, Castiel breaks the kiss, breathing hard. “I didn’t think you wanted me like that,” he admits.

“I always want you, in every way possible,” Dean kisses him soft before laying down and pulling Castiel down with him. He wraps his arms around Cas and kisses the top of his head. “I miss you every time you leave. I used to try and forget you by sleeping with someone else but I would wake up feeling wrecked. You’ve ruined me,” Dean rubs Castiel’s back, watches his breathing. A few minutes later he whispers, “I want a quiet life with you Cas, maybe buy a house, get a cat,” but when he looks down Castiel is fast asleep in his arms.

#destiel #destiel fluff #deancas #dean x castiel #destiel fanfiction #sometimes i write things

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