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dancingamongstdust · 3 years

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Creepypasta Scenarios - First Meeting (Part 3)

I’ve opened requests now, if anybody is interested. Here’s the post:

Requests

Lost Silver

As stupid as it sounds, the game didn’t scare you.

It had started as a joke, something passed around your friend group after it had been discovered. The cartridge was just a janky version of a Pokémon game that was apparently spooky and so, everybody had taken turns messing around with it. They all said creepy things started happening but nothing too bad.

When it was your turn, you had been fully expecting something out of a horror movie. Instead, you had gotten a game that just had audio cut offs and weird notes warning you to stay out. It wasn’t all together scary.

You mentioned this to the next person you gave the game to in your friend group and they had laughed, saying it would probably ring true for them also.

But for some reason, your ally didn’t manifest.

Less than two days later, they practically threw the game at the rest of you and ran away sprouting things about curses. After that, the appeal of playing it kind of went away.

Nobody wanted to buy it and apparently throwing it out wasn’t a suggestion. So you ended up getting it.

Curiosity soon got the better of you and you booted up the game again, really sure that it would do something absolutely crazy but it never did. It ran like it always had with only that one file being completed.

So you deleted the file.

And nothing happened.

The next day, when you booted up the game, the file had simply returned as though you hadn’t deleted it in the first place. A similar thing occurred the next time. And the next.

Eventually you gave up and just started your own game. There, everything ran like it was meant to and you were beginning to think that your friends had all been imagining stuff. Maybe their paranoid got to them or something like that?

But eventually, the nightmares started. And they were bad.

You couldn’t remember exactly what happened during them. They were a swirling mess of games and glitches, horrible things spelled out in letters and blood covering everything. You would always wake up right when they seemed to be coming to a pivotal point. You’d find yourself dragged into a graveyard and then you’d wake up screaming

It was awful. You hardly got any sleep during them and they seemed to haunt you every night, keeping you up until the early hours of the morning.

But the worst only came when you didn’t wake up.

When you were dragged to the grave and looked down to see the ellipsis where the name should be. A punch to the gut that reminded you of what the game file was called. A confirmation of what was causing this dream.

You stared at it for ages before your eyes drifted up and you met his gaze. He was covered in blood, it leaked from every orifice and limb. It stained his dirty clothing even worse.

While you were staring, the world seemed to distort even though he didn’t. The game world melted away and your bedroom slowly reappeared.

It wasn’t until you saw car headlights move past your window – casting awful shadows across the room – that you realised you were no longer dreaming. He wasn’t a figment of your imagination.

The temperature in the room plummeted and you began to slowly reach for a weapon of some kind. He turned to look at what you were watching. His head tilted to the side and a glitch raced across his body before he vanished into thin air. Flicking on the lights didn’t show him hiding or cowering.

Perhaps your friends weren’t crazy after all.

Masky

“You know, if we had been a little more patient, none of this would have happened,” your sibling lectured. “We could be relaxing inside the car without having to worry about a bloody flash flood coming down from the sky.”

You shoved their back, forcing them to stumble a little as they went through the door. “Chances are the river’s going to burst its banks anyway. We would have been stuck in traffic for hours because the bridge is blocked off.”

“At least we would have been dry,” they muttered, running their fingers through their hair. “And not trapped inside an abandoned building.”

You rolled your eyes and made your way over the rubble to settle down on a camping chair. “Don’t even start. This place has been a hangout for my friends and I for ages. There’s never been a single problem bigger than a few spiders.”

“Till a landlord shows up,” they scoffed.

“Then we’ll move to the forest,” you joked. “I’m sure there’s a good bear cave we can use.”

“I’m going to be an only child,�� they said, rolling their eyes. Still, they made their way over and sat. “How long do you think we have until the storm dies down?”

You relaxed back into the chair and smiled up at the asbestos-filled ceiling. “From the sound of it, a while.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time you had taken a nap in the building. You were scared of giant cockroaches coming to eat you once. You had gotten used to it since then but this time when you woke up, you were uneasy.

Glancing around, nothing was out of the ordinary. Your sibling was snoring in the chair next to you and outside the rain was pounding the roof.

You sat upright. Sometimes was definitely wrong.

Pulling your phone from your pocket, you got up from the chair and began walking as quietly as you could through the house. It had always been tiny and practically void of furniture, but the few rooms provided ample hiding spots.

Nothing but rubble was in most of the rooms but, in what you presumed had once been a bathroom, you found a person.

He had his back to you but when you pushed the door open to peer in, he spun around, his hand flying to his side. He was wearing a white mask, dark features etched onto it, and an orange jacket. A dark stain ran up the right side of it, emanating from under his hand. The oddness of his clothing made you immediately back away from the door, finger twitching on your cell phone in case you needed to call for help.

The two of you stared at each other in silence.

You were lost about what to say or do. The stain on his jacket was spreading and the more you stared at it, the more you became convinced it was blood. “Are you okay?” you finally managed to ask.

It took him a while to respond but then he nodded. The mask was unnerving you. You didn’t like not being able to see a person’s facial expressions.

“I don’t mean to pry or anything, but it really looks like you’re bleeding,” you said. “And quite badly. I can call for an ambulance or something although…” you turned your attention to the window behind his head. “I’m not sure they’ll be able to get anywhere with this weather.”

He stepped backward. “I’m fine,” he said, so soft you barely caught it. “I thought this place was abandoned.”

“It normally is,” you answered. “But we had to avoid the storm. I’m guessing that’s why you’re here also?”

“Yes,” he responded.

You waited or him to say something more, but all you got was silence. He had moved further away and now he had his back against the window. Part of you wanted to turn around and go back to your sibling but you were unsure about turning your back on the strange man.

The mask made you scared he could stab you or something.

Somebody calling your name made you turn your head on instinct. Your sibling must have woken up and realised you were missing.

Quickly, you turned back to the man, but he had disappeared. Rain spat through the now open window.

Nurse Ann

Everybody always warned you about exploring old buildings. They would yell about how many things could injure or kill you. Stray animals, drug addicts, old equipment, and all that. You had heard just about every warning imaginable. Ghosts were pretty commonly mentioned also.

But killer nurse was a new one.

“Come on, just give me a little more information,” you nagged. “I’m going there whether you’re with me or not so you may as well just tell me what you’ve heard.”

Your friend (and partner in crime for most ventures) groaned. “It’s not much. They just say that she guards the place and if you get too close, she’ll run you off with a chainsaw. Some people have died from injuries they got while there. Let’s just give this one a miss, alright?”

But you were not in agreement at all.

“Maybe she’s cute though,” you teased.

They didn’t find that funny and you didn’t push them to come with you. So later that evening, you snuck in by yourself.

The hospital was old with crumbling walls and smashed windows. It was hidden from the public by means of a tall barbed-wire fence and a substantial distance of open garden. Nothing too extreme for you and definitely worth the potential items you’d find inside. When hospitals went under, they often left tons of awesome stuff just scattered around.

You’d never sold anything you found in your abandoned building dives. They were more collectables than anything else but they meant quite a bit to you.

There weren’t any signs of crazy nurses as you approached the place. Nobody came running at you with a chainsaw at least. You didn’t even find evidence of squatters who could sometimes pose some danger.

After deciding it was safe enough, you lifted yourself through one of the windows and began to explore.

Honestly, it was creepy. Everything was way too old to be worth collecting and there were too many unidentifiable stains for your liking. The water damage was bad. It looked like the ceiling was there for aesthetics only and several rooms creaked too much for you to comfortably cross them.

And that was even without the awkward feeling of being watched.

You told yourself that it was just superstition but you couldn’t shake it. Every few seconds saw you looking over your shoulder in anticipation. It distracted you from keeping your eye on the path in front of you and the loud crack reached your ears too late.

The floor gave out and you fell through. Your shoulder hit some kind of metal object as you landed in the room below. Painful shocks ripped through your body and your head knocked against the floor with a heavy thud.

Stars danced in front of your vision and you raised your hand to the top of your head. Blood coated your hand when you lowered it to look.

Shit.

Shakily, you tried to pull yourself up but quickly found that your arm was too sore. Instead, you pulled your phone from your pocket and sent off the emergency text to your friend.

The world faded to black not long after that.

When you woke up next, you were in your room with a bandage wrapped around your head. You had felt like absolute crap but still gotten up to thank them for the save. They had nodded and warned you to be more careful, happy that you had been outside the hospital so they didn’t have to look for too long.

Before you could even think about how you had crawled there, they asked how you had managed to do your own stitches so nicely.

Puppeteer

Your camera was on 10% battery.

Grumbling, you shoved it into your bag and cursed your past self for forgetting to put it on charge. In order to get the best sunrise photos, you had found yourself waking up earlier and earlier. It was tiring but it was worth it… most of the time.

You just hoped that at least one of your pictures was usable but you could only check on them once you got home.

The streetlight above your head flickered as you walked past. It wasn’t unusual but when you were the only person awake for miles around, it was awfully creepy.

Putting your hands into your jacket pockets, you continued strolling back home. The neighborhood had never been dangerous and despite living in the area for your entire life, no incidents made you want to stop walking around at night.

Deciding that you wanted to take a precautionary shot, you headed for your neighbour’s house first. They had an arch covered in jasmine flowers that made for some perfectly safe photos and they never minded your presence.

After making your way there and getting a few photos, you were treated to the fright of your life when their began howling and barking. It wasn’t aimed at you but you didn’t like the noise regardless.

As you rounded the corner of the house, planning on racing back to your own home, you encountered the dog’s target.

A man – cloaked in the darkness and barely illuminated by the streetlight – opening one of the windows with ease. Irritated by the dog, he didn’t notice you until your finger twitched around the shutter of your camera. There was a flash.

His head snapped up and you screamed.

The man’s complexation was literally grey. He wasn’t just ill, he was the colour of storm clouds. Golden eyes with no pupils glared at you and froze you in place. Whatever he was, this man was the furthest thing from human.

Your scream woke your neighbors. The sound of movement began coming from inside the house.

He abandoned the window, stalking towards you. The air tingled like it was expecting a lightning storm. Golden tendrils grew from his fingertips and shot towards you. They had you pinned in an instant.

You struggled against them and opened your mouth to scream again but they wrapped around your head, forcing your jaw shut.

This was how you died… tears spilled down your cheeks at the realization. You were going to be an unsolved murder. All you hoped was you got a good picture of him.

Your neighbor’s front door opened and great dane let out an ear-splitting bark as he raced toward you.

The man, or creature, or monster, or whatever he was, released you to face the dog. He let it approach before vanishing into a cloud of smoke as its jaws reached him.

“What was that?” the timid voice brought you back into reality.

“It was trying to get into your house,” you said. “I screamed when I saw it and then it grabbed me.” Your voice changed to a whimper as reality hit you. You nearly died.

The small child of the house came over to hug your leg. “I’m sure Puppet didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “He always comes to visit but he doesn’t like it when people make noise. You shouldn’t scream when you see him again.”

You made eye-contact with the parents and they wore expressions of horror at their daughter’s words.

“Puppet?” you asked in a small voice.

She nodded rapidly. “He says he stops by because he likes watching people. I think that he’s watching us all right now! But he can hide in the shadows too well.”

“I’m going to go and call the police,” somebody said.

You weren’t all too focused. The feeling of being watched grew heavier and you clutched tightly at the camera in your hands.

Slenderman

You couldn’t tell if they were being serious. You hoped that they were joking. They weren’t genuinely going to…

“No,” you stated.

The two younger children both turned to look at you simultaneously. Guilt flashed across their faces as though they weren’t aware you were listening. It was as though you were asked to babysit them because you didn’t pay attention. These two should have realised that by now.

“Do you think all the stories are true?” the boy asked. “I think that they are. One of my friends said she saw a huge dog in the forest and then it ran away after eating a whole cow!”

“No way!” his twin sister shouted. “Dogs don’t eat cows, so it can’t be true!”

You put on your best intimidating expression and crossed your arms. “I don’t care if they’re true or not. There is absolutely no chance that either of you are going to go running off into the woods with bears, wolves and all kinds of other creatures.”

The two children glanced at each other and bolted for the tree line before you could grab their shirts.

Thankfully your legs were longer even if they had a head start and you managed to catch up pretty quickly. Once you caught the boy and picked him up with ease, the girl dashed behind a tree.

“Can we please just leave?” you asked nicely. “If we forget about the forest adventure thing, I promise I won’t tell your parents and I’ll get you ice cream.”

The boy was trying his hardest to get out of your hold. You were starting to think babysitting didn’t pay enough.

“I don’t want ice cream,” the girl said. “I want to go and find a unicorn.”

She darted off into the forest and you let out a deep groan. Shifting the boy’s weight over your one hip, you started walking after her. If you wanted to give chase via running, you would have to put the kid down and trust him to follow or stay.

It was obvious that wasn’t happening.

It didn’t take you too long to find the girl. Mostly because she had stopped in the middle of a weird grove in the trees. She was just staring off into the dark shadows beyond it.

As you approached her, static popped in your ears. You shook your head in an effort to displace it but the closer you got, the louder it became.

The child in your arms whimpered, clutching his head.

You softly called her name and then it appeared. It was a man-like monster, standing just in the shadows of the trees. Easily over 7ft tall and insanely thin with no facial features. Your heart jumped into your throat and your stomach tied itself into a knot.

Without taking your eyes off it, you reached out a hand and fumbled around until you grabbed the girl’s shirt.

The static was getting louder and louder. You tried to shut it out as you started moving backwards, tugging the child along after you. She wasn’t willing to move her legs. She was entranced but whether by fear or magic, you couldn’t tell.

And then it was much closer.

You stumbled in fright, letting go of the girl’s shirt and landing on your ass. The boy fell on top of you but scrambled away and hide in the bushes within the blink of an eye. You sent a silent prayer to him to run back home to the other adults.

Once again, the creature was stationary but now the static was growing to such a volume that you could imagine your ears were starting to bleed.

You reached out for the girl again slowly, but something wrapped around your leg and yanked you into the air.

It took almost a full second for you to realise that the screaming ringing in your ears was you. Whatever was holding you tightened and whipped your body through the air. It was like your leg was being ripped away.

Then you were falling.

It was some feat of luck that you managed to twist your body, so you didn’t land on your head. You lay there for a while before something poking your back made you unbury your face.

The twins were staring at you with wide eyes and the monster was nowhere in sight.

“What was –“ you couldn’t finish.

“Slenderman,” they said in perfect sync.

Splendorman

Another stop…

You couldn’t help yourself. Every time you walked past one of the posters fluttering lightly in the wind you had to stop and stare at it.

A few days ago, your dog, your beautiful and sweet puppy, had disappeared from your house without a trace. The missing posters were depressing reminders that he wasn’t home. It hadn’t taken long for your mind to spiral into the negative thoughts about how close the road was.

Damn your coworkers. One of the had suggested the road in the first place and while they hadn’t intended anything malicious, it was definitely not helping your fears.

The dog had been with you through thick and through thin… if it was dead, you may as well have lost a close family member.

Hanging your head, you dragged your eyes away from the poster and kept walking.

People bumped into you, but it was your fault. You refused to look up in case another poster distracted you. Getting home before the sun set was your only focus now.

You had tried going out and searching in all the places where your dog once spent time to no avail. Always willing to try again, you chose to drop off your bags and head out later that evening when you ran out of distractions.

As you walked through the gates in front of your house, a gust of air gently messed up your hair. A gust of wind suspiciously similar to a laugh.

Your logical mind told you it came from the street, but something made you stop in your tracks.

The walls around your property towered. There’s no possibility that somebody could be in your garden. To try and scale one of the walls, they would have been in full view of your neighbours who would have undoubtedly called the cops.

“You’re sad,” the wind whispered before you could brush off your suspicion.

Spinning wildly, you searched around for the source. You backed up until your entrance gate was behind you. You could run down to the main street with ease if you could just get your fumbling fingers to unlock things.

“Don’t run,” the wind said, this time blowing from a separate direction. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to know why you’re upset.”

Is this what going insane was? Nobody around and the wind was talking to you. You had always feared losing your mind and now it was happening.

“I’m real,” the wind said. “I’m hiding because I’ll scare you if you see me.”

“I’m going mad,” you muttered, shaking your head. “If this is somebody pulling a prank on me I swear….”

The wind quietened for a bit and then it picked up again, ruffling your hair as it spoke. “If I show myself, it’ll prove that you’re not going crazy, but I don’t want to make it worse by frightening you… you’re so sad already.”

“I lost my best friend and people have been telling me he’s most likely dead,” you hissed. “Obviously I’m not in the best mood. Now I’m losing my fucking mind and talking to air.”

The atmosphere around you dropped, like it does moments before lightning strikes. You glanced at the sky in confusion. As expected, no clouds in sight.

You lowered your gaze and a 7ft tall creature covered in bright polka dots stood in front of your house.

Once you screamed, it disappeared.

“I’m sorry,” the wind said. “I knew I would scare you, but I had hoped it would show you that I’m not imaginary. I’m just trying to help.”

The gate finally opened behind you and you stumbled backwards through it, your heart sitting in your throat. A monster was in your house and it was probably going to kill you. Spinning on your heel, you took off full speed back towards the main street.

You were fully expecting it to give chase now that you hadn’t fallen for its claims of harmlessness but it didn’t.

Instead you reached the main road and only got a few strange looks because of how much you were shaking. Nothing followed you.

The wind picked up once more. “I’ll try and help,” it promised.

People walking around you should have heard it as well but none of them so much as blinked.

Ticci Toby

While you had been told that a noise limit for the forest existed, your laughter refused to cooperate. It rang through the trees and probably chased off all the animals nearby. A picnic out in a national forest was a fantastic way to reconcile with nature and to scare it all away.

With eleven people in your picnic party, chances of any creatures coming into view were already slim though so you didn’t worry too much.

“We didn’t bring nearly enough fruit,” you muttered as you dug in the basket.

“Excuse you, I brought a whole watermelon but you ate it,” somebody answered your grumble. “If you want fruit, it is spring. Go and forage for some berries.”

You snorted. “Yeah, right. I’m going to go out by myself in the middle of the one season where bears are irritable as fuck. I know I sometimes act a little impulsively, but I don’t exactly have a wish to die at the claws of a grumpy teddy.”

Your friend leaned towards you. “Is that so? What if we split into teams and made a bet? Loser has to take a dip in the river.”

“A bet?” you asked. “I’m interested.”

She grinned and snapped her fingers. “Okay, there are eleven people so I’m feeling groups of two with one impartial party as a judge. We should be fine if we make enough noise and stick within close vicinity to each other. See how many berries we can gather?”

Tipping out the picnic basket’s contents, you smirked and pushed it into her chest. “Oh, I hope you brought a swimming costume.”

Everybody teamed up with ease and grabbed one of the many containers lying on the blanket. You headed out with your partner and gave a wink to the other teams. All you needed was to find one good bush first and you had it won.

“We should split up,” your partner said. “Cover more ground.”

You nodded. “We meet up back here once we’ve found a good bush,” you agreed. “And we shout if we find any animals.”

Obviously, your plans hadn’t involved losing your footing almost directly after the two of you split.

Tumbling down the small hill, you tried your hardest to protect yourself from the bushes as you went through them. At some point, you lost your basket and by the time you had finally rolled to a stop, you had no idea where it was.

Grumbling, you stood up and started searching until something dark caught your eye. Thinking it was your basket, you made your way over.

The clearing you walked into housed a scene you could never have imagined.

A dead bear lay slumped against a tree, its fur being what had caught your eye earlier. A hatchet buried in its neck was spilling blood onto the floor around it. All that hardly compared to the man leaning against a tree.

“Oh my god!” you exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

His head immediately snapped up, allowing you to see that he was wearing a mouth guard and a pair of goggles. Blood seeped from between his fingers where they clutched against his chest, but he hardly noticed. A hatchet was hanging from his belt.

Suddenly, you were wishing you had kept your mouth shut.

He stared at you blankly for a while, an occasional twitch minorly affecting his body. Reaching up, he took off his mouthguard. “I can’t feel any pain,” he said. “So, I’m fine. Why are y-you out here? The hiking trail is far.” He struggled with one of the words, seeming to hiccup a little on it.

“I was searching for berries and I slipped down a hill,” you answered. “Are you sure you’re okay? It looks like you got into a fight with a bear. Your shirt is all bloody.”

“I did fight a bear,” he laughed, gesturing to it. “I won.”

Your eyes grew wider. “I think you should get to a hospital. What’s your name? I can call somebody for you and we’ll get you medical attention.”

“Toby,” he said. “That’s my name. What’s yours?”

You gave him your full name and pulled out your phone. “My friends are close by,” you said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here to help soon.”

When you raised your attention from your phone, he had disappeared and so had the hatchet from the bear’s neck.

Trenderman

Work was hard. It made your feet ache, it made your back click and crack, and it felt like the problems would never end.

Would you give up working in the fashion industry? Not a chance.

Your boss walked past where you were calming down an irate customer over the phone and dropped the keys to the front of the building in front of you. “Close up for me,” she mouthed as she left.

Nodding, you moved them to the side of the desk where they couldn’t be lost.

Once you had finished calming the customer, you glanced around to check how many people were left in the room. Three still working and one in the process of leaving. You were technically going into overtime at this point, but you didn’t mind.

There was a reason you were promoted so quickly.

“We need to set up cameras!” one of the floor managers snapped, storming into the office. She marched straight over to your desk and glowered at you. “I put this request in a week ago.”

Scrolling through the documents, you quickly opened the file. “I see but it looks like it’s been bumped due to a shipment malfunction, I’ll flag it. What’s the problem?”

“Customers or members of staff are moving items around and throwing things out without warning. We need to catch the culprits!” she snapped.

“What has been thrown out?” you asked. “I’ll add it into the information.”

The woman started listing quicker than you could type. “I’ve found crocs, toeless thigh-high boots, bellbottomed jeans, coloured faux fur jackets, luminous lipstick, w-necks, and jeggings all in vast numbers in the trash can. Every time I put them out on shelves, they disappear again.”

It took everything in you not to snort. “I’ll mark this vital.”

She stalked off and you went back to inputting the shipping requirements. You were meant to be organising what was coming in for the latest line and subtly omitting anything that wouldn’t sell well enough.

Slowly but surely, your co-workers trickled out of the office after finishing off their daily tasks. You kept going, trying to make sure you could have a longer break the next day.

Finally, when the sun had already set, you relented and started getting ready to go home.

You sung as you finished packing up for the day. Being the last one in the building (thus having to lock up) made you a little more confident as you danced around getting everything together. You slung your bag over your shoulder and happily trotted over to the door.

It made you so happy that your boss entrusted you to be the last one around. She was so hyper-protective of company secrets that you were proud of yourself for winning her over.

Your talent with people was something you attributed to dealing with painful customers.

As you passed through the store-part of the business you stopped to rearrange a mannequin. Every morning when you came in, you always noticed something had been changed with this specific one. You figured you could move something small and see if it would be a good place to set up a hidden camera.

Though you weren’t expecting it to suddenly grab your arm.

“You may be one of the few workers here with good taste, but I advise you don’t try and change my outfit,” it said. It didn’t have a mouth, but the words rang in your head, nevertheless.

You screamed and pulled away, tearing your arm from its grip. Shelves were knocked over and clothing was sent flying as you tried to escape.

The mannequin just watched you as you fumbled madly for the door.

The glass rattled in the frame from how hard you slammed it shut behind you. You sped off down the street, moving faster than you ever had before. You collapsed on your lawn by the time you reached the house, taking deep breaths.

Nothing had followed you. Everything was okay.

With shaking fingers, you dialed your boss’ number and told her you would be taking a sick day. There wasn’t a chance in hell you were going anywhere near there again.

Not to mention the mess you made… you were definitely getting fired.

#creepypasta #creepypasta x reader #slenderman #splendorman #trenderman #ticci toby #nurse ann #masky #cp masky #marble hornets #lost silver #puppeteer #x reader

126 notes · View notes

emiisanxious · 3 years

Text

Everything is NOT alright! - Chapter 1

Archive of Our Own Link

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

M/M

Multi

Fandom: Sanders Sides (Web Series)

Relationships:

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders

Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders

Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders

Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders

Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders

Additional Tags:

Established Relationship

Developing Relationship

Relationship Discussions

They all worry and are gay for Virgil

Alternate Universe - Human

Swearing

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks

Fluff

Comfort

chapter four has:

Self-Hatred

Self-Esteem Issues

Implied/Referenced Suicide

Panic Attacks

Crying

Angst

Comfort/Angst

Summary: “Roman is worried about how Virgil is acting, instead of trying to talk with him, he just... Brings it to the rest of their boyfriends.”

Note: It’s the day after Everything is Alright, please read that fic first. Also, not all the ships are on all the chapters.

Note about this chapter: I'm not in any way a babysitter, neither does I know how it works. Also, I don't live on EUA to understand how works should work. So this is all fiction and just to fit what I wanted to write.

He was walking around his room, Virgil woke up early he barely had any sleep, in reality, Roman could count exactly the hours and minutes that his boyfriend slept and that wasn't his persona it was Logan's persona to do that! He was worried, a lot worried.

"Hey, Ro, calm down okay? It's not that family I will be back in like 6 hours I promise." Even with that assurance he still didn't like, but he couldn't do anything as the Emo Nightmare just kissed him and got out.

"You had only 4 hours of sleep you idiot." He murmurs as he throws himself on the couch, for more that he loved Virgil that was enough, as he gets his phones and goes to the first floor knocking on the door.

"Ro ~!" A cheerful voice as he recognized as Patton opening it, placing a gentle cheek kiss. "Get in... Wait, where is Vee?" It soon dropped in a worried tone as the brunet just shocks his head. The person in question always had clothes with Kakhi and baby blue colors and that wasn't different today, Patton also had blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, and freckles around his face.

As Roman he has brunet hair, he liked to use white and red color clothes and brown eyes, a roll of those eyes as he went to the dining room where he found Logan sitting reading. The said one had black hairs and eyes, and used always black with navy blue cloths. "Greetings Roman." As he notices the other getting in and later Patton. "Wait, Virgil isn't coming? Is he fine?

He rolled his eyes again as he just sits next to Logan. "I will talk more once the other two are here." Was all the explanation he could give, for his luck he didn't need to wait too much as another knock and Patton went there, soon he could see his twin, although he is identical he uses more of black and green, the opposite of Roman and had a mustache. It was easy to know who is who

Next to him was a red-haired guy, with amber eyes, using black and yellow, it was funny how they just went with their favorite colors, soon all of them were sitting with the food on the table. All of the other four looking to him, as he grows. "Now that is everyone here. Virgil isn't coming." He started he already knew where it was going.

"That... Is rare but not uncommon." Janus said as he looked a bit confused, not understanding why Roman was so... Worried.

"Yeah, we all have different jobs and his schedule is far messier than yours, bro." Remus was the next one to keep the track of thoughts once he does lose his tracks a lot, so it was a nice way to keep him paying attention.

"Well, that is true. But I'm worried and I want to talk about it." Roman sighed as he thinks about it before narrating what happened yesterday. "Okay, so he went to work, saying it was going to be a 12 hours shift. He would do trick-or-treat with the kid, then tuck him in and the next day he would be here at 10 am. But he didn't. Instead, he sent me a text saying he wasn't sure when he would be back because the family had a problem. To sum up... He got back home at 11 pm." He was trying to keep himself sound too annoyed by it.

"His anxiety was in the roof, he fell a bit nonverbal, he was pale, he told me he didn't eat and neither sleep all that time. And he told me that he would need to do it again tomorrow. Pass the night on this family house. Also, he slept just four hours and went to work because, as he didn't know that yesterday would take so long, he did schedule someone for today. And in between, I was taking care of him he also falls in the thinking he was a bother to me." His tone died there, it was already five years they all were together and he knew it was just his anxiety's voice saying things but it already hurt to know that he still thought like that.

Silence fell in the dining room as he looks at them. "Now you say me this is common and I shouldn't be worried."

"Hm... That sure is a problem..." Logan was the first one to speak as he looks to Roman. "Did you tried to ask him for a talk with the family?"

"Honestly? No. All that I could do yesterday was ground him, remember he didn't do anything wrong with that exercise of asking about the kid and his day. Then remembered to him that I loved him and I would still cuddle and caress him even if he didn't ask. And pretty much fall in silence, just cuddling, later he went to shower I got the food and we eat something while watching a movie. Were he falls asleep in the middle of that."

A long sigh. "Well... Since we are going to what I presume a rough week, probably weeks. Till that family doesn't ask for him. How about this: We make sure that one of us is here all the time? So when he is back whenever his work is done, one of us is at least here." It was kinda obvious that Logan would suggest that but at least it was a nice start.

"He dislikes when we change our schedule remember this." Janus said as he looks at Logan.

"Oh, I know! I will pick Logan's notebook, and we can organize it first. If it happens to have an hour without anyone we can see how to work about it." Patton said as he gets up and went to pick what he said.

"Honestly, that family doesn't know that he isn't a slave to be at their mercy?" Remus tone was sure annoyed as he started to pick some things to eat, after all, he was the only one that didn't sleep yet. "We should kill them!"

"Remus." It was all the warning that Janus gave the sadistic twin. He didn't get an answer, but as Remus, he started to pick up things to eat.

Roman fell silent, now that he put that out of his chest he relaxed a lot, soon Patton brought Logan's notebook back and they started to talk about their schedule as the more organized person just noted. After half an hour, the dining room fell silent again, although they all started to eat.

"So, from what I can see we don't need to change our schedule, we just need to make sure that we all are here when we said and it's adequate." Logan says finally as he turns the object so they can see it. "Also I don't think I need to remember, but... Just to make it clear, be careful okay? Follow the schedule the most perfect way you all can if you can't or something happens, call or text all to see if someone can be there."

They all nodded. "Can you talk to him, Lo? So maybe try to convince him to talk with the family to have some of us with him? Honestly, I'm worried about how long he can go without sleep or eat..." Roman says, he honestly felt terrible for bring that to the table and call out his emo, but they all cared for him so it was fair and right.

"Yes, I can. But only if it happens to him be with me. I honestly, don't think that pushing a talk will be good this week. Virgil isn't a kid, when he is rational, he knows that he needs the company to calm down. Obviously when he isn't..." Logan trailed off as he sighs.

"Okay, okay stop!" Patton says as he looks at Roman and Logan. "We all are worried about him okay? In on own ways. Roman, I thank you for telling us, now that we all know, we will make the compromise of helping. We all in a way or not helped him with his anxiety. So, we know how to help. Now, time to eat and keep up with our days before we all get late. Remus, you need sleep dear." The father figure of them looked to the said in the question and then turned to the rest.

"Logan, please send the schedule to me, I will send it to Vee with a kind message. He knows that in this famILY breakfast we all share our schedule so I know a way to keep him calm." Patton finished as he started to eat.

They looked at each other, it was easy to say that for more they wanted to vent it in their ways, it would just be useless. Remus could always suggest things to Janus later, where Janus would stop Remus from doing, but he would help with his creativity in a weird way to vent those annoying feelings.

Logan could always complain about it and how he wished that Virgil had some more... Care about himself. The purple hair was always worried about them, but he seemed to forget or just push himself to the last. And that wasn't healthy. Patton would for sure agree with Logan and try to help deal with those feelings.

Roman felt more relief as that he wasn't alone anymore, he knew that they all loved Virgil, although the said person seemed to forget or just, not remember it when worked up. So right now, he was just glad that this famILY worked in a nice way.

#Virgil Sanders #Roman Sanders #Patton Sanders #Logan Sanders #Janus Sanders #Remus Sanders #Virgil & Everyone #Logicality #Dukeceit #Demus #Receit #Anxceit #Analogical #Moxiety #Dukexiety #Prinxiety #fanfic

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to-boldly-nope · 4 years

Text

Dreams and Disasters

Pairing: TOS Bones x Reader

Words: 2453

Plot: Taking place after the events of “The Empath”, the reader keeps on having nightmares about what happened. She can’t sleep and Bones does everything to make her better.

Warning: Just uh really bad writing ig, too many words, Bones being an absolute sweetheart...

I’ll be posting imagines I have already written about our favorite southern doctor while I work on your fic @emily-strange but I hope you like it

You woke up crying. It was the fourth time this month and the same nightmare from a past experience where some alien held you and Bones captive and did experiments on the both of you. The bed was empty and cold beside you and you feared that it wasn't a dream. You slipped on one of his medical scrubs and went to Sickbay. If he wasn't there or on the bridge, then it wasn't a nightmare.

There were only a few people in the hallways of the Enterprise. Most of them were sleeping peacefully in their cabins. It must be nice for them. The doors to Sickbay opened and you looked inside. Nobody on the biobeds. Nobody almost dying from a weird space disease. You turned around and went into the office, where you let out a sigh and tears of relief.

"(Y/N), what are you doin' up?" Bones asked while standing up from his chair.

"I noticed that the bed was empty," you whispered.

"If you wanted to know why the bed was empty, then why are you crying? You're not gonna bug me, darlin', you can tell me."

"Remember what happened a month ago? With the alien and the experiment?"

"It's about that, huh? Come 'ere."

You slowly made your way to him. You were scared that he would disappear as soon as you touched him. You were scared that this was the actual nightmare.

"Darlin', you don't have to be afraid."

And that sent you over the edge, you ran to him and he hugged you. "Make them go away, please," you cried, "please, Len."

"I'll try everything I can. Why don't we return to my cabin so you can sleep? I'll go with you if that's what you want."

You nodded into his shoulder and he placed his hands near your elbows. "Come on now."

You nodded again and stepped away from him. You wiped your tears off with your arm. "I'm being overdramatic," you sniffed before laughing.

"No, you're just being emotional over some old country doctor."

You laughed again as he took your hand and lead you back to his cabin.

"You know, blue suits you quite well, dear," Bones said softly as you both walked down the corridor.

You suddenly remembered that you were wearing his scrub and blushed. "I forgot I put this on, sorry, Bones."

He let out a small laugh as the door to his room came open. It was different from what you heard a month ago, his laugh was light, soft, happy.

"I want you to go lie down, I'll be there in a moment."

"Ok," you told him as he brought your knuckles up to his lips and planting a soft kiss there. You stayed there for a moment, feeling the warmth of his hand and the ghost of his kiss.

"I'm not going to leave you again. I just had to do some last-minute paperwork."

You nodded as you took your hand back and crept your way to the bed.

"You should probably take some time off," Bones told you as he went behind the barrier between the bed and the next room over.

"I'll be fine."

"As the man courting you, I want you to take time off, as your chief medical officer and doctor, I want you to take some time off. It's the fourth time this month. Your file says that your performance level has dropped since everything has started."

"I can't argue with my superior officer, can I?" You sighed as you stared at the wall where a painting of a vase with flowers was hanging.

"It's not recommended, but hell, that never stopped anyone on this ship. I think you're the first person who hasn't argued with me when I told them that they needed rest," he said while laying next to you.

You laughed and looked at him and he looked at you with those beautiful blue eyes.

"I'll send a report to Jim early tomorrow for some time off duty. I don't want to see you in sickbay unless I ask or you're dying."

"Aw, Bones," you whined.

"No, you need rest."

You sighed again, "You're right. A few days to sleep won't be too bad."

"No, actually, it wouldn't."

"Will you be here if something happens again?" You asked.

"Of course," he reassured softly, "Either go to sickbay or call me and I'll be there."

"You have such pretty eyes," you sighed.

"Now you're just trying to sweet-talk me," he muttered.

"Why would I do that?" You asked innocently.

Bones only shook his head. "Goodnight, darlin."

"Goodnight."

You woke up again, the nightmare wasn't as bad, but it was there. Bones was still asleep next to you, snoring softly. You got out of bed and went to the observation lounge. Nobody was roaming the ship by this point. You walked into the room and went to open the panel over the window. You pressed yourself against the window, watching the stars fly past the window.

"I thought you would be here," Kirk said, making you turn around.

"I plan on returning before Bones finds out I was here. I already worried him tonight. He already told me that he wants me to take a few days rest."

"I'll be getting a report in the morning then," he chuckled.

Silence fell between the two of you.

"Captain, what happened a month ago, I wish it never happened."

"We all do, Lieutenant."

He was now standing next to you, also looking out the window. "I'm just glad that we were able to save McCoy."

"I'm glad also, Captain, now I have an old southern doctor by my side constantly," you laughed.

"Go back to your cabin, I feel like he's looking for you by now."

Kirk then left and you stayed there, your eyes slowly closing as you passed through another system. You felt a blanket drop on your shoulders and you snapped out of it. "If I knew this was a game of hide-and-go-seek, then I may as well microchipped you."

His voice was deep and tired. You felt bad for him because you didn't mean to wake him up. Hell, he even looked tired.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on a wild goose chase, I couldn't sleep."

"I could give you a hypo to knock you out for a few hours," Bones smiled as he stood beside you, his shoulder pressed against the glass. "Or a few days."

"I'll get better with some time," you told him while you hugged the blanket tightly.

"If I knew better, I would've thought that you fell asleep standing up."

You chuckled, "You're a very funny man, Doc."

"Oh god, you've gone insane, you called me doc."

You sighed and continued to look out the window at the millions of stars and other space objects. "It's funny how we're here. It's not the same as we're on earth, we're experiencing things nobody will believe. I just wanted to know that we're not alone in the universe, and I learned that we're not. I just wished that it wasn't the way it was."

"But I'm sure you had some good times, too."

"I did. I'm on the best ship in the federation, I haven't died yet, I have some really good friends."

"Is that all?"

"Of course not, I'm sure there are more good things to come. I'm not optimistic, but I got to be hopeful, right?"

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

"How long until your shift?"

"A few hours, at least. You slept for quite a while."

You now looked at him. "You being serious about that hypo?"

"Oh god no," he chuckled, "Maybe for a few hours, not a few days."

"I hate the fact that I still remember everything that happened. Emotional trauma at it's finest, is it not? Sometimes I get scared that this is the nightmare and you'll disappear as soon as I touch you. I still remember the captain carrying you into sickbay and Nurse Chapel and Doctor M'Benga doing everything to stop you from dying. I requested leave from my shift for a few days as you got better and I spent every minute in sickbay. Nurse Chapel had to tell me to leave every day, she was concerned that I would be affecting your recovery."

"Did you leave?"

"I did for a few hours, then I snuck back inside. She wasn't happy."

"She means well."

"Aren't the stars pretty," you sighed as you looked out the window.

"I guess they are."

"You guess?" You laughed in disbelief.

"We've been in space for two years now. Everything looks the same."

"But there's always something different. You might not see it at first but you'll find it eventually."

"I think I already have," he whispered.

You looked at him again and realized that he wasn't looking at the stars. No, he was too distracted by someone else.

He took his finger and placed it under your chin. He noticed how you saw the reflection of the stars in the corner of his eye.

"Bones?"

"Yeah?"

"Whatcha doing?"

"This," he said softly while leaning in. He planted a kiss on your lips, the first one you ever had.

You closed your eyes and placed your hands on his chest.

"I'm sorry," Bones apologized while cupping your face.

"No, don't be, it was the perfect setting," you reassured him before yawning.

"And it's the perfect setting for you to return to my cabin. Come on get to bed, maybe I can shorten your rest days if you get better."

"I'll only get better with time Leonard. We can only decide then."

"Are you sure you're not a doctor of some kind?" He asked as you two walked into the hallway, your arms were linked together.

"No," you laughed tiredly, "Just a security girl who's in love with a doctor and only has some basic medical knowledge."

"Like what?"

"Um, the skull is called the cranium, duh."

"You have basic anatomy knowledge, that's good to know." He laughed as you got into the turbolift. "I have to go to the bridge and drop off something to Jim."

The turbolift heard the word bridge and it started to move.

"I'm really sorry about leading you on a chase earlier. I just had a feeling to go to the observation deck."

"Did you have another nightmare?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't as bad. It was one of those ones where you're falling forever."

"I may have to do a brain scan. Maybe some neurological stuff, you know, the usual," he joked while slightly bouncing.

"I think I just need the constant reassurance that you're not dead or dying."

"I'm not going to die in space, heaven forbid I do."

You threw your head back and laughed, covering your mouth in the process. The turbolift opened and you both stepped onto the bridge.

"(Y/N), I see that Bones found you," Kirk said while turning his head to look at you two.

"I forgot to drop some reports off. I have them right here," Bones said while giving Jim a chip.

"Ah, thank you, Bones. I'll see the two of you tomorrow."

"Good night, Captain," you said while you and Bones went into the turbolift.

"You know, I can't wait to sleep for like three days straight."

"Neither can I, no offense, but you-"

"Look like trash, yeah, I know. No feelings were hurt."

"Just trying to be a southern gentleman."

The turbolift stopped and you looked at Bones, who stopped it. "I need to tell you something," he spoke softly.

"Yes? What is it?"

He stopped and looked at the floor. He acted the same way he did a month ago, he couldn't get what he wanted to say out. He continued to look at the floor, blinking a few times while pursing his lips. He sightly bounced again. "I want you to take care of yourself."

You smiled a caring smile at him. It was his way of saying that he loves you. He never actually said those three words but he found other ways to mean the same thing. He would say "Take care of yourself" or "Be careful" or he'll tell you to eat when you've forgotten or he'll try to help you sleep when you couldn't. It all meant one meaning to you.

And when he said something like that you would always smile at him and say, "I love you too, Bones."

He smiled lightly and opened the door and stepped out, you followed behind.

"Sleeping for three days, here I come!" You cheered while running past him and into his quarters.

You jumped on the bed and it bounced and you removed the blanket from your shoulders and covered yourself up with it.

Bones came in after you and saw you already in bed. He had four hours until his shift so he decided to stay awake, but instead, he laid next to you.

"Goodnight, Bones," you told him cutely, "See you in three days."

"Three days without you would be hell, darlin," Bones told you before he kissed your forehead softly, "Goodnight."

{Extended ending but in bullet points}

• Bones came in every two hours

• He sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes, happy that you were still asleep

• He would hold your hand until he had to leave

• Just Leonard being a caring doctor boyfriend ™ like he is

• He would only wake you up when he thought that you needed to eat

• Bones would come in with a tray from the cafeteria and set it down on the counter before waking you up

• His ways to wake you up is as follows: shaking your shoulder, trying to talk you into waking up, then kissing you. In that order.

• "Well good mornin', darlin'. I brought you lunch because you're the only one who hasn't eaten yet."

• You would sit in bed and eat and talk to Bones

• "Any nightmares?"

• "The opposite. I've been having good dreams."

• "What about?"

• "The two of us. In the observation deck, when you kissed me. How shameless of me being this romantic."

• He would sometimes come in and see you reading a book or sketching something

• When he kissed you awake you would complain and tell him that you're not Sleeping Beauty

• He kinda pouts and tells you that you are a princess and then kisses you again because he be like that all the time

• After a few days, he finally lets you return to work :)

#bones mccoy #bones mccoy tos #deforest kelley #star trek #bones x reader #leonard mccoy #star trek imagines #to boldly no imagines

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hello-im-not-a-possum · 3 years

Note

Can we get a fic of Henry becoming a Cameraman clone?

This was a fun one! Haven’t seen many Cameraman!Henries and it was a blast to write the first one I’m aware of. And I may or may not expand it further later.

The man ran as fast as his legs could carry him as the building collapsed around him, the flood of ink pouring down threatening to consume him as well. He couldn't believe that he came all this way just to escape from this wildfire of madness by the skin of his teeth. He could see the exit, see the brilliance of daylight peeking through the crack of the open door like a heavenly glow, he was almost there, he could make it!

...And then, the floor collapsed underneath him, making the former animator fall down into the depths of the studio with a loud 'splash' announcing his arrival.

To his luck, he didn't break anything as the flood of ink had cushioned his fall, good. He hated the idea of lying there, completely immobilized by pain, waiting for that thing to come find him... Speaking of which, he shouldn't wait around for it either. Following the flooded path ahead, Henry descended deeper, draining the path as he went before coming across a surprisingly well-lit room.

A room with an ax left out on the table.

"This will definitely come in handy."

He smiled to himself as he picked up the old yet reliable weapon, effortlessly chopping down the barricade nailed in possibly well over a decade ago, it was as easily torn down as a prison of wet cardboard.

Freeing the door from the boards, he opened it and came across a room that he felt intense pressure under, an occult room that drew him in not like a moth to a flame, but like a ship into a whirlpool.

As soon as he stepped into the circle, he saw things flash before his eyes, and then everything went black.

-----------------

When the animator finally came to, the first thing he felt was a dull headache that persisted, and the feeling of something weird coming out of his mouth. His eyes flicked open without issue as he woke back up.

“Ugh… Ow, my head… …what happened?”

He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not, but his surroundings felt bigger, and his voice sounded like it was peppered with a faint but consistent static crackle that reminded him of a walkie-talkie.

The animator peeled himself off of the ritualistic circle with a grumble, clutching his still hurting head in his left hand. It felt funny to him, almost numb.

As he looked around, aside from the size difference, they didn’t change a bit aside from his ax being propped up against the coffin, and… three pictures that were laying down on the floor; The machine suspended by its chains, a wheelchair, and the silhouette of that thing he saw trying to attack him. The pictures were identical to those sudden flashes he saw before he passed out.

"Well I guess there's only one thing to do." he grunted as he attempted to pick up the much larger and heavier ax, settling for dragging it around instead. "Press on..." he heaved the ax over his shoulder and struck down the next barricade. "See if I can find a way out."

While he was very much aware that he was clearly not human, (his size and what he could see of his body alone felt like enough proof of that fact.) if over sixty years on this earth had taught him anything, it's that pausing to let the supernatural events in your life sink deep into your mind only makes it worse. As long as he kept pushing through this, he'd be okay.

Dragging the ax down deeper, Henry could see that the occult shenanigans his 'Old friend' had gotten into had not been confined to that coffin room. Lit candles rested by what appeared to be some kind of shrine dedicated to his cartoon character with the phrase 'he will set us free' written on it, looked a bit extreme if you asked him.

"How'd this place get so big?"

It wasn't just big in the sense that he shrunk. He knew that the studio was fairly large when he worked there, Joey insisted on the building having 'room to grow' even when it was just their small group, but the extended basement was new. It must've been a nightmare to dig this far down. But the lit candles in areas that weren't necessarily in an actively supernatural room gave him some hope. If there were lit candles, there was someone who lit them, and if there was someone who lit them, maybe they'd be able to help him find an exit.

Walking past some more creepy shrines dedicated to Bendy, he came across a hallway flooded with ink, scattered boards, and wooden chairs. He hesitated just walking through the hallway normally, a gut feeling told him that it would be a very bad idea. But it wasn't like he had any other choice.

"It looks like I'll have to play 'the floor is lava' to get somewhere..." He held his ax with the intent to use it as a makeshift pole vault. "Legs, don't fail me now."

While the weight of the ax made it hard to use, Henry successfully managed to throw himself onto a particularly sturdy board that supported him nicely. The animator half-considered using his ax as a paddle to help him cross the treacherous hallway, but decided against it when the ink proved to be too thick for him to properly paddle through.

'The floor is lava' it is then, he thought to himself as he jumped to a second board and staggered a bit as it was not as stable as the first one. After narrowly avoiding an ink shower and flailing his arms for balance, he looked around for the next wooden scrap to help him stay out of this gunk, spotting in the light of the end of the hallway... No... was that?

A moving bendy cutout? No! It was a person! Finally! He was saved! Or at the very least, not a lone sitting duck!

“Sheep sheep sheep,” The man carrying the cutout murmured to himself “it’s time for sleep, rest your head, it’s time for bed.”

“Hello?” Henry dropped the ax to run up to the man, then swiftly remembered his sticky situation and used his momentum to leap to a different piece of debris. “Excuse me! Can you help me-OoF!"

Henry tripped and luckily landed on a board instead of in the ink,

*ZAP*

As he looked up, he could see a hole burnt cleanly into the cutout the masked figure was carrying, and that he had certainly caught his attention as the man quickly held up the cutout to his face to see the damage, looked to the gremlin of a cartoon desperately trying to stay out of the ink in the ink flooded hallway, and stood frozen in place.

The two of them stared at each other like deer in the headlights, neither of their expressions were readable as one was wearing a mask and the other one had an object for a head, which was hard to express with given that he didn't have a proper face. Neither one knew quite what was going through the other one's head.

"Uh... Hello?"

Henry broke the silence with a nervous wave which the other man hesitantly returned, then continued on his way as if nothing had happened.

"Hey! Wait!" Henry scrambled towards the man as fast as he possibly could while still staying out of the ink, finally freeing himself from the dreaded hallway, he dashed down where he saw the stranger heading; a dead end with the burnt cutout lying by the shrine. "...Where the hell did he go?"

Okay, that had to be another mystery for another day. For now, he'd have to get power to that closed gate that the stranger couldn't have possibly came from unless he could phase through walls or something.

Wait a minute, didn't he see a few switches on the way? One by the dead end, and the others...

He looked down the inky hallway and sighed. It was going to be a very long night.

---

After what felt like days, Henry managed to get power to the gate, only to be rewarded with the boarded up entryway looking into a pitch black room. Too tired to bother taking down the boards with ol' reliable, Henry instead crawled underneath the boards to look at his new environment.

"It's really dark in here."

He remarked, and almost as if on cue, he heard a loud *click* right in his ear and saw that his previously shadowy surroundings were now lit up as if someone was shining a flashlight on them. ...A flashlight that judging by how the light followed as he moved his head, was probably attached to it.

According to his light, he was in the music department. Which was odd, as he could've sworn up and down that the music department was nowhere near this far down. But if memory served, there was an exit in there and that was all he needed. An exit that was just one stairwell away- Goddammit.

"Looks like the stairwell is flooded, if I'm going to get out of here, I'm going to need to find a way to drain it."

Behind him, he heard a reverberating, wet, shlap of a thing of the unknown falling down to the floor. He turned around to look at it, only to flinch back in reflex as a melted human torso either covered in or made of ink came crawling towards him.

With the needed boost of adrenaline, he heaved his ax over his head and brought it down on the creature who was seconds away from striking him itself, backing away as quickly as he could as it hadn't gone down, prepping to build up momentum to strike again, Henry hesitated as he could tell by a quick glance around the place that he was completely surrounded.

Thinking fast, he dropped the ax and bolted up the stairs to the projector's booth, the zombie-like groans and haunting gasps for air just barely behind him. He managed to scramble up the desk out of his pursuers' reaches before realizing something.

"I'm the one who shot a hole in that guy's cutout, and when I commented about the darkness, I lit the place up. I must have some kind of laser-beam weapon in my head and it's probably voice-activated..."

The animator thought out loud as the mindless monsters pawed and clawed at his island of safety, thankfully either too out of shape or too stupid to try to climb up the desk as their prey had done in front of them.

"Laser beam, go!"

He pointed intensely at the gooey goons as he waited for lasers to shoot out of his head and vaporize them. It did not work, but he looked silly enough doing it that the creatures hesitated their attack for a bit, almost as if pondering if it would be morally right to try to attack and kill something that was acting that adorably stupid.

"Umm... Okay... So no laser beam it is then..."

Henry twiddled his thumbs in thought until looking to the open window to the band room once, back to the swarm of frothing monsters, looked back to the band room window, and leaped out of it without hesitation.

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #Henry Stein #cameraman #sammy lawrence #searchers batim #batim au #fanfic

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thestarkerisobvious · 4 years

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A Better Ghost Story

amazing art work by @starker-sorbet

A snugglefic for @mrstarksbabyy

With great thanks for the betaread by @mrstarksbaby

You know who you are.

Sixteen: The DeSlaughter House

4 A Better Ghost Story

Like Peter’s house, the DeSlaughter house had a front door that was never used. The two boys sat on the little front cement front porch that Mke’s dad had made. They sat awkwardly for a long time before Mike spoke.

“Look, I’m sorry I said… I don’t know if you heard or not, but I told the guys sometimes there were strange lights over your house. Or whatever. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Peter opened his mouth, but nothing came out. For a moment he looked around the DeSlaughter yard, as if he were thinking. The yard looked so different from his own, a large patch of grass scattered with multiple bikes and toys and sports equipment and fishing gear leaning against the wall. It told a story of a life so much different than Peter’s, a life of siblings and parents who took their kids camping and boating and fishing. Peter had always lived a solitary life, even in New York City. The life of an only child whose guardians were elderly on the day he met them.

Finally he realized Mike was waiting for him to speak.

He shrugged. “I wasn’t mad mad, I was just like, confused. I’ve lived in that house for three years now, and I’ve never seen strange lights there.”

“It’s just that my parents said that. They said they had seen that before I was born.”

“Well that was before I was born too, so why should I give a care? Look, I know the guys talk about me when I’m not there…”

“They talk about you a lot when you’re not there,” Mike admitted, looking at his bare feet.

“Well, that’s their problem, isn’t it?” Peter snapped, repeating Aunt May’s favorite saying without thinking.

“Hey don’t get mad at me. Look, the weird-light thing is the only thing I’ve said about your house, and I could have said a lot of things, Peter,” Mike said, his voice raising suddenly, then just as suddenly he closed his mouth hard.

“Okay, okay, no problem,” Peter said carelessly, looking away again. Normally when voices were raised, especially when it was a boy his age, Peter walked away. He could certainly do that today (Mrs. DeSlaughter was inside making his pancakes now) but quite suddenly he decided on a different tactic.

“You know, whatever. I just don’t know I couldn’t care less about boys who brag about how many F’s they got in science…” he casually, making Mike grin with the inside joke. “Look, I’ll make you a deal, I’ll forget the whole thing. If you tell me every strange story you know about my house.”

“Oh there are tons…” Mike said, hopping up from the step, no longer looking embarrassed. Peter relaxed. Mike had taken the deal. It wasn’t a deal that made a lot of sense, but it was a deal, and Mike had taken it.

“Ok, so like the first Post lady was a witch who was running away from the Spanish Inquisition. Like her whole family was. And how the girls all had to learn Portuguese so they could read all her witch’s spellbooks. And how right before the Civil War the whole family made a deal with the devil and they could fly, and swing from tree to tree like Tarzan and outrun cars like the Six Million Dollar Man…”

“It sounds like you’re describing my favorite comic books,” Peter said, laughing.

“Yeah, it’s really weird. And there was this one Post son whose skin could stop bullets, only he died in the Civil War because he thought he could stop cannon balls. And right before the Civil War? Tom Dylan Post chopped up that girl who wouldn’t marry him, because she didn’t want to marry into that crazy-witch-devil family? And he disappeared like that,” Mike snapped his fingers. “And the whole town went to the Post Homestead to search for him, like the sheriff and the girl’s family and everybody, and the family said he had left for Tennessee but no one had seen him go, like on the only road out of town or something, and they never found him. Because he was hiding in an underground house that his family had dug for him, and he had to live there for the rest of his whole life. And he died down there and they couldn’t bury him onaccounta’ they couldn’t let on that they had been hiding him, so his body is down there to this very day…”

“Wait… wait!” Peter said laughing. “Now this sounds like a Tale from the Crypt comic book, and I never waste my money on those! Wait, this is a cool story, why isn’t this story of my haunted house?? Dying in an underground house you had to live your whole life in is a much better story than Evan Post’s pigs didn’t die in the Great Pig Die-off of 1935…”

They laughed for a while, and for a few minutes they compared Tales from the Crypt plots, debating which ones would fit in well with Peter’s haunted house.

Then Peter remembered why he had run all the way there in the first place.

“So… why are you… why are we talking about this anyway? I never told anyone I was mad about the lights thing. I mean it was annoying, but I didn’t tell anybody about it.”

Mike’s face clouded and he looked away. And his answer didn’t surprise Peter at all.

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “I think I dreamed about it last night, or something. And then I woke up this morning and my mom was all like ‘Why is everyone so mean to that sweet Peter?’” Peter laughed at his high falsetto tone. “He’s so sweet and so smart and polite and nice all the time and he’s an orphan!’ And I’m like ‘He’s not exactly Little Orphan Annie, mom.’”

“No, not exactly,” Peter said, laughing at the picture.

“Hey man, I always stand up for you when the boys start to talk. I told them Missy really is your girlfriend, and you’ve probably gotten to second base…”

“Oh crap no!” Peter said suddenly, his eyes going wide. “No, Mike, for serious. Please don’t tell anybody that. Missy is terrified of her father, I mean seriously she talks about him all the time. She says he’ll kill her and me both if he ever sees us holding hands together…”

“Then why does she hold your hand?” Mike objected.

“That’s what I said!! I mean when we’re walking home from school if she hears a car coming she’ll jump over to the other side of the street so it doesn’t look like we’re walking together and I’m like ‘Well maybe you should just stop holding my hand please?! And she tells me this weird story about how some girl that used to live on her land wanted to marry some boy that lived on my land, and how the girl’s father didn’t want them to…”

“Yeah, that’s Laura Foster. That’s the girl Tom Dylan Post cut up with his big bowie knife.”

“Okay that just makes it weirder, Mike.”

“Peter? Seriously? Shut up. I mean it man, you have got to stop complaining about girls wanting to hold your hand. That’s why they talk about you at school. No matter how crazy she is you can’t complain that you’ve already gotten to first base with her,” Mike explained, shaking his head solemnly. It irritated Peter, watching Mike trying to sound like a wise old man, dispensing his wisdom. Mike was two months younger than he was.

“It’s not all the books you read, or how you seem to know more than the science teachers do, or how you’ve never fired a gun,” Mike was continuing. “And it’s not really the Post-Ghost. It’s because you’re from New York City and you think it’s normal that fairies and queers just walk around like it’s nothin’. It’s because you’re from New York City and you don’t even own a single Playboy or anything.

“Is that what the magazine I was supposed to find in the shed? The one I didn’t see because I thought the prank was about the dead squirrel on the floor? And that was supposed to be gross or something, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to be a veterinarian or an exterminator if I get grossed out by a dead squirrel….”

“I don’t know anything about the squirrel. Yeah, there was a magazine in there you were supposed to find.”

“What was it? A Playboy?” Peter asked, hoping he sounded casual. Hoping Mike couldn’t tell how hard it was to act casual right now.

“Or something else? Like a Playgirl?”

Mike shrugged and looked at his feet. “I don’t know if it was a Playgirl or what, I mean it didn’t have a cover. Cole found it in this box of old books, at his uncle’s house, he said. It was all these men with big mustaches doing nasty stuff. It was so gross. It was Buster that put in the shed and said we should prank you with it. I told them you saw that sort of thing in New York City all the time but Buddy said it would be funny.”

“Weird. Cole’s uncle is weird.”

“I’ll say. You know what I heard?” But then Mike’s dad was calling them from inside.

Knowing how many members of the household had dreamed about him, it didn’t really surprise Peter that Mr. DeSlaughter was now shaking his hand, asking him how he was and generally acting like they had been best friends who had been separated for years.

“Sorry to hear about your dog. I used to bury all my pets out in a cemetery my brothers and I had made in the yard behind our house. Call your uncle and tell him I’ll come over. If you’ve got snakes I’ll be able to tell…” and then continued to discuss snake bite symptoms for the rest of breakfast. Peter listened attentively. Mike’s dad was as good as any science teacher.

After Peter had finished off his pancakes (and assured Mike’s mother that he didn’t want anything else to eat, he had to assure her many times) he was pointed to the kitchen phone to call home.

Walking toward the phone, Peter was struck, for a moment, at the irony. (Not irony, his English teacher would tell him. This was not irony. This was coincidence.)

There was a time when Peter had a great fear of phones. Just the idea of dialing a number himself made his stomach hurt and his palms sweat. He had nightmares, as a child, of the clear plastic rotary dial spinning around endlessly, knowing he couldn’t have possibly dialed the right number. May always dialed the phone when he wanted to talk to his friends, but when he turned 12 Ben said he was too old for that and made her stop. As an experiment, he fed that fear to Tony, but only after carefully writing out the instructions in one of his notebooks, titled “How To Use A Rotary Phone.”

And he needed them. Two days ago he found the instructions by accident and read them with fascination. He spent the whole morning practicing calling numbers, time, the weather, the radio station to make a request. He practiced dialing his home number and listened to the busy signal over and over again. That-Peter found the whole procedure delightful. That-Peter couldn’t imagine the boy who had been afraid of it.

This-Peter realized that the entire DeSlaughter family was watching him now. He turned around and smiled at them.

“You have a touch-tone phone. I’ve always wanted one. Those are cool.”

“I can play Mary-Had-A-Little-Lamb on it!” Monica trumpeted as Peter dialed home.

* * * * *

Peter’s friends’ parents had taken them to quite a few outdoor plays in the city. Peter felt like he was in a play now. He hoped he was remembering all his lines.

Sitting in the cab of the pickup truck with Mike’s dad while the two boys rode in the back (riding in the back of a truck never looked safe to Peter) he made polite noises while Mr. DeSlaughter tried to talk him into going on hunting trips with them in the summer, or working for him after school was over. At the house he dutifully took them on “the tour” because Aunt May had declared him the expert. At the table he kept up his side in an argument about which was better, Super Friends or the Super Powers Team and why Apache Chief was a terrible superhero.

It wasn’t all bad. Mr. DeSlaughter and Uncle Ben stood outside and talked for ages, and Aunt May fussed over lunch for the three boys as if she had been doing it her whole life. Still, Peter couldn’t help watch the clock. Counting the hours. Calculating how long he had to wait until he could talk to Tony.

After lunch he took Matthew and Mike to climb his favorite trees, and to see the owls’ nest in the barn. He even took them to the lake where he pointed out the dead oak that pointed the way back to the chimney and the shed.

“They said Tom Dylan cut up his girlfriend because she really wanted to marry his brother,” Matthew was lecturing as Mike and Peter tossed rocks into the water. “But Laura Foster didn’t want to marry him at all. Like she was best friends with his sisters, so she was always at his house, at your house, all the time. Because that’s where her best friends lived. Only he didn’t know that, and thought she was there to see him.

“Why would she be best friends with his sisters if she didn’t like his witch-devil-running-from-the-inquisition family?”

“She didn’t mind being their friends, but she didn’t want to marry into the family. Once you marry “into a family” it’s different. Now you’re a part of them.”

“How do you even know all this anyway, smartypants,” Peter needled. He actually liked Matthew, just like he liked Monica, but felt obliged to talk down to them out of loyalty to Mike.

“Our Mee-ma grew up here, our Mom’s grandma. Her whole family is from here. She can tell you anything. She’s full of old stories, and Matthew is her favorite.”

Peter thought about that for a moment, looking up at the ridge. Beyond that was the shed, which he’d be happy to burn to the ground right now. But there was also the lone chimney and foundation to a small house that stood there too, another Post house where some Post family member had lived. It piqued his interest, now.

“I should talk to your Mee-ma. I can interview her for that Social Studies project we’re supposed to do. That’s probably a good idea.”

“Why do you want to do that?” Mike said with an eyeroll.

Peter smiled. For a very brief moment, he suddenly didn’t feel like he was acting at all.

“Because all your looser-ghost stories about my house are all boring. I think it’s time to write up a better one.”

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The next chapter of SIXTEEN will be posted on Monday.

Master (Post)

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#The Thing That Lives Under The Bed #Demon!Tony #But not THAT Demon!Tony #Starker #TheWitchway writes stuff

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nachohypno · 4 years

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Pine’s College Jocks 2 Ch. 5 - Just watch and be nice

Something was… off.

I was standing on the living room, like any other day.

But, I couldn’t move my body, only my head.

I looked around after I noticed that little handicap. I could hear some voices to my right, so I just looked that way and noticed an awful sighting.

Three persons were in the room with me, a few meters away.

Leo was standing there, meanwhile Gary and Mike were on their knees in front of him. Gary was smiling with a bit of drool coming out of his mouth, his eyes glassy as he drawled loyalty and devotion to Leo.

Mike was shaking. Like he didn’t want that to happen to him. I wanted to move, but I couldn’t. I wondered what was going on, until I noticed Mike closing his eyes.

A tear dropped from one of his eyes as he whispered my name. A few seconds later, a smile crosses his face as his glassy eyes looked up at his new master, swearing his devotion and love to him.

I felt a weird pain on my chest. I was hurt, I could feel my heart breaking at the sight of my best friend and boyfriend abandoning me after being mind-controlled by another guy.

A few seconds later, I opened my eyes.

I was on my bed, as Mikey hugged me. I noticed my face was wet and my eyes were teary. Fuck, it was just a nightmare.

I grabbed my phone to check the time. 3 am.

Just a stupid nightmare, I guess.

“Pine…” Mike mumbled, as I noticed that my phone had the brightness maxed, and it shined on his face. “…Is everythin’ a’ight?”. His sleepy voice suggested that I woke him up by accident.

“It’s nothing, just a weird dream” I told him, before placing the phone back at the night table and laying back down, as Mikey hugged me again. “Mike?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you” I said, before closing my eyes.

The guy leaned in to kiss me, before answering “I love you too, bro… let’s get some sleep…”

I dozed off, trying to take the nightmare out of my mind.

----

Next morning, I didn’t want to get up. I was tempted to stay in bed the whole day, just being hugged by Mike and not thinking about anything.

He seemed to have the same idea as I did, because he hugged me tighter and showered my face with kisses.

“Morning bro” he mumbled, in between kisses. I smiled, until I felt him pulling away and getting up. I opened my eyes and looked at him go, feeling a bit betrayed.

“Good morning” I mumbled, as he smiled at me before walking out of the room in his undies.

A week passed since the Luke incident, since I paused completely the sports club plan. I spoke to Leo a few times, but told him to give me some space to think about stuff. He understood it, and told me to call him if I needed anything.

I reluctantly got up too, and tidied my pajama a bit, before following Mike. “Hey bro!” He loudly asked from the kitchen as I walked in the living room. “Did you wake up last night or I dreamed it? I can’t remember if it actually happened!”

I rubbed my head a bit, before walking into the kitchen “You don’t need to scream…” I yawned “…Yeah, had a nightmare and woke up. It was pretty intense, but nothing important”

But he seemed to wake up a bit goofy today. That, or he wanted to cheer me up. “Awww, really bro?” He left the mug he had on his hand and walked up to me, pressing my cheeks with his hands like an old grandma. “Are ywou wonna cwy?” And now he tried to imitate a little baby to mock me.

Before I could complain, he leaned in and kissed me, when the coffee machine made its usual ‘beep’ sounds, stating it was ready.

“Jerk” I told him, after he let go of me. I was pretty much used to his prankster side, had to live with it for half of my life and it was one of my favorite things about Mikey.

The guy would try really hard to make you laugh if he saw you sad (Unless he outs you at school, that is. His prankster side gets muffled by the ‘Don’t get anywhere near me’ instinct)

He turned to me as he kept walking backwards “I love you too”, finishing the statement with a wink and a smile, before turning around again to finish with the breakfast preparations. “Any plans for today? I thought about inviting a few bros over for the day. So awesome to have a few days without classes to rest, bro!”

I walked up to him and rested my back against the wall. Still thinking about the nightmare, I decided what to do “I thought about inviting Leo with me to catch the next coach. Probably one of the guys at campus, to avoid dragging random people into my mess. Hoping it actually works out this time and it’s not one of my dumb ideas”

Mike looked at me, frowning. “Hey, don’t talk about yourself like that. You’re brilliant, bro. One of the smartest guys I know, just as smart as Neil!” Neil was this guy he met during freshman year. Apparently, the football team used to have a system with the nerdy guys.

They did their essays in exchange for arranging dates with some hot girls. It was quickly dropped after my takeover of the team, of course. The team now help the guys without expecting anything in exchange.

Mike took the time to get to know his “designated nerd”, and they became nice friends afterwards.

“But seriously now, you’ve been doing a lot of great stuff with your powers, and that’s no dumb shit bro. Give yourself some credit or I’ll make you” He tried to sound menacing, holding his fist up, but his angry face quickly turned into a smile, then a laugh. “Sorry, can’t be angry at you. But you get my point, right?”

I nodded, a bit nervous about his sudden need to defend me from myself. It was weird. “S-sure, I do”

He smiled at me, and leaned in to kiss my cheek “Perfect, babe. Now, want some coffee and bacon?”

-----

I waited at the campus entrance, I had an idea for the next coach, to focus on local people rather than going around the city and potentially fucking an innocent person’s life, as you do.

I couldn’t take the nightmare off my mind, but that was probably a product of my nervousness.

I grew to see Leo as a threat to myself, and my friends. But that’s not what I wanted at all, a war between mind controllers is the last thing I would want, and I had a feeling that Leo wouldn’t like that either.

So far, he had this… childish man attitude that resulted annoying and in the same time, mildly dangerous.

I mean, first, he erased the coach’s personality when I wanted to… ‘ask’ him to work for me in the sports club. Second, he somehow crossed paths with Luke and made him want to suck me off ‘to compensate for all the wrong he did to me’, having him break into my house during the process.

Both of those times I’ve been able to fix things as best as I could, but I preferred not to see things getting out of control.

My objective of today was the rugby coach, and my chosen partner was the friendly Sigma Nu frat president. He was the rugby team’s captain, and I felt more at ease having him around for this day.

And for Leo, I invited him over to see how I work, maybe he could take notes and would understand a bit more what our differences are?

I shook my head for the fifth time as the nightmare replayed on my mind. I hated it, but it wasn’t Leo’s fault. Just my mind playing tricks on me, huh.

“Yo!” I heard a familiar voice say. I noticed Leo just got off his car and walked towards me. “So nice to hear from you, never answered if you liked my present”

“I’m… I don’t have the energy to reprimand you for that,” His face turned into a slight frown, but can you blame me?! “But I’d like to pretend that the Luke incident never happened, and spend another day with you”

“Yas!” He said, throwing a punch to the air. Huh, he seemed really happy today. I noticed he wasn’t wearing his usual preppy clothes, but rather some jock-ish clothes. He had a fitted purple tee and some black leggings with white streaks at the side.

He looked like ready to hit the gym, so I guess I just interrupted his workout session and he thought I was more important than working out.

…I blushed at the thought, and I felt embarrassed for being so idiot to not ask him what was he doing before asking him to go with me.

But again, it was difficult to be kind with the guy when I had a nightmare involving him playing on loop in my mind.

“We’ll be doing another part of my plan today,” He raised an eyebrow, with curiosity “But, I’m leading today. I think our styles are really different and… I’d like to show you how’s my work style” I explained, as he listened intently.

He shrugged “Sure thing, man. I’ll remain behind ya and enjoy the show”

I nodded. Huh, that was easier than I expected.

“Great, c’mon. I asked a friend to come with us too, he’s at the frat house” I motioned him to follow me, and he did.

Funny enough, even when he was older, he looked just like some of this place’s freshmen jocks. He didn’t seem really old; he could totally pass as a 20 years old student if he wanted.

We went on our way, but he seemed to be pretty lost. Good thing I spent a year and a quarter here, I’m pretty familiarized with the campus.

It’s been a while since I’ve been in the frat house. It looked as good as always, which seems impressive since it’s managed by a lot of party jocks, but they followed the rules like their lives depended on it.

A surprising thing, but I really liked it. It made me a proud frat bro!

Aiden came out from the front door as we were about to go inside. “Yo, bro” He said, extending his fist for a bump. He was wearing a soccer team uniform, with the usual red and gold colors, long socks, knee pads and gloves for the hands.

We fist bumped, then he kept walking to the soccer field. He was wrestler, but his friend Connor (The soccer team’s captain) asked for help with some strategies and practice.

“A friend, I assume” Leo mumbled, as we walked inside the frat house.

“Yup, he helped me when I was trying to join this frat. We kept hanging out afterwards, he’s awesome” I turned to him after closing the door. “You have to wait here, sorry; I’ll go get Max”

He nodded, and held his hands up “I know how frats work, mate. I’ll just stay here and won’t control anyone. May be hard if all your mates turn out to be really cute jocks”

“Well, yeah. It’s kind of my thing, most of the people I know are jocks” I shrugged, before walking upstairs and going deeper into the house. I passed besides Mike’s room and felt a bit nostalgic. I smiled at the memory of my boyfriend preparing a DIY prom night for us at the room after I passed out last year.

A few guys ‘bro nodded’ at me as I passed by, until I reached the president’s room. I knocked on the door, and waited for a response. They were cool, I mostly liked my fellow frat brothers.

“Comin’!” I heard Max yell from the inside. A few loud footsteps later and the guy opened the door. “Oh hey, bro. Need something? Wanna have a drink?” He moved aside to let me in while pointing to his mini-fridge beside his bed, as I entered. He was wearing a black and grey V-neck tee, and some pajama pants.

“Uhm, no, thanks” Way too early to drink alcohol. “I was wondering if you could come and help me get the rugby coach under control?” Two years and that never stopped sounding weird.

He shrugged “Sure, sounds good!” I like that my slaves think it’s completely normal to help me out with my plans.

I can walk in the football team’s locker room and tell them ‘Hey guys, drop all the plans you might have, we are having a smash tournament with lots of fucking in my place instead!’ and they would be like ‘Yeah, whatever you say coach!’, with big smiles on their faces before resuming their bro chat.

Before we left the room, Max changed his pants to something more proper, then followed me back to the public lounge.

Leo looked at us as we walked down the stairs, waiting by the door. He seemed pretty bored, but hopefully he’ll have some fun with us today.

“Leo, this is the Sigma Nu’s president Max. Max, this is my friend Leo-”

He interrupted me, and extended his hand to Max. “Hey, I want a long ass title too… What about ‘President of LeoCorp’ Leo?”

“What is LeoCorp?” I asked, with curiosity. I was a bit annoyed since he interrupted me again, but decided to shrug it off in the attempt to get more info about him.

“I’ll tell you later, we have a coach to get, bud” He answered, before turning his attention back to Max.

Max shook hands with him “Nice to meet ya, man. And yeah, coach Geoff should be at his office. He has a meeting in a few hours and he’s preparing what he’s going to discuss.”

I nodded, as we headed outside. “Better get going then, anything you’d like to say about the coach, Max?” I wondered how the other coaches of this college were. Apparently, Peter was one of the worst ones before I arrived, but some of the other coaches weren’t so bad.

Geoff, for example, had an AMAZING reputation around campus. He’s like the fun uncle of the rugby team, joking with them and joining practices as a player from time to time.

Every player talked highly of him, because according to Max “Unlike other coaches, our coach prefers to reach good results by making us trust in each other like a big brotherhood, or family. It works pretty well, even if we don’t win, we have a lot of fun and adrenaline in each game”

Honestly, he sounded like a great guy, so I wanted to take the consent approach first. Maybe he’d join the sports club willingly and everything! I still would have to give him the special drink, but that’s because it would be to make him think it’s normal for the other coaches to be under my control, too.

Leo was amazed to learn that we were getting a rugby coach. My suspicion was correct, and he apparently was a rugby player before! He and Max seemed to get along pretty well after that came out, “Always good to meet a fellow rugby mate!” Leo said, before hugging Max tightly.

We arrived the rugby team’s locker room. I think that giving each team their own locker room was a great idea. That way, I don’t have to worry about anyone walking in while my players are getting a bit dirty between each other.

Past the empty locker room, there was the coach’s office. Leo gave me thumbs up before Max knocked the door.

“One second!” A deep voice said from the inside. Max already knew what to say, so today’s part was going to be really easy.

He opened the door, and greeted the team’s captain with a warm hug. “Max! So nice to see you, but we don’t have any scheduled practice, right?” Huh, he seems really chilled.

“Nah coach, just a proposal a friend of mine wanted to make you. Can we go in a discuss it? Seems to be a pretty good one!” Max said, pretty excitedly. Leo just remained silent and enjoyed the show, just as he said before.

Coach Geoff motioned us to come inside, and sat on his desk with a friendly smile. Max was right, he seemed like some kind of proud daddy. He seemed to be near Leo’s age, probably older though.

Dark brown hair with a few white ones at the front, normal brown eyes, a few wrinkles and a friendly smile.

According to Max, he shouldn't play rugby at all, due to an accident on his younger days, but his team goes soft with him as they play for fun and to learn how to be better. Like a big, happy family of bros.

“Geoffrey Morgan. Nice to meet you, guys.” He said, looking at me and Leo. “So, what can I help you with? I have some free time before my meeting actually starts, just taking the nerves off me”

He seemed really friendly, and I think he lives to the good reputation he has among his players. Like he’s some kind of easy-going guy who’s seems actually interested on what we have to say.

I took a deep breath and said “Well, there’s this… There’s this sports club at the city and we’re trying to save it. I recruited a few coaches to work there while everything goes back to normal. I have four volunteers by now”

They should be three, but I thought about contacting Mark from my old high school. He has a mind link too, so that should make things easier. “Just a few more and we’ll be ready to go, what do you think? I promise it’ll be a… very nice experience” I finished with a reassuring smile.

We just waited in silence for a response. Leo was getting inpatient, while Max was switching between looking at his coach, then at us, then back at his coach.

“Hmm… I think it could really work out. It would be sad seeing a place like a sports club just… die like that” I smiled, as he grabbed a blank paper from his desk and wrote down his number. “Count on me, buddy. You can send me the rest of the details later, but I really should get back to planning this meeting, it’s really important for the team.”

I smiled “Sure, thanks so much, sir!” then grabbed a bottle from my bag. “Oh, and please drink this as soon as we go out, alright? I’m sure you’ll start feeling really motivated and confident about your meeting after you drink it”

His eyes glazed over for a second, as he mumbled a “Yeah…” and took the bottle.

Max didn’t found that weird at all, he was like ‘oh cool!’, as the coach snapped out and wished us good luck with our plans.

‘I really like this guy’ I thought, as we headed out the office.

“Well, that should be it for today” I said, as I looked at the guys and waited for the mind link to appear. “Thanks for the info, Max. It made the planning a lot easier to be honest.” And it really did. The guy wanted to help willingly rather than me having to think exact words I wanted to say to avoid fucking up with him, giving him the drink, reprogramming him, blablabla.

The frat president looked really proud of himself. “Glad I could help, bro. Anything else you need, or should I remember to the house now?”

I thought about spending a day at the frat, since Leo seemed to like being around him. But, the other mind controller chose for me and dismissed Max. “I’d like to talk with Piney here in private, mate”

Max held up his hands “Fair enough, see ya later bro! And it was nice to meet you, Leo!” Then we separated our ways as we went out of the building.

Leo and I started walking back to the campus’ entrance, in silence. I was waiting for him to bring something up, he seemed way more talkative than I was.

“That was an interesting thing you did there” Leo said, breaking the silence between us “I mean, seemed to be a really quick and short thing and I’m trying to understand why you needed to bring the other guy with us, but trying to get him willingly was cool. How did you get that idea?”

I shrugged “Max said he was a nice man, I just pledged to that side of him. No powers or anything, just a bit of normal speaking. I had to make a mind link with him, though. It would be weird to have him willingly working while all of the others are completely under control. And I like having a friend around for these kinds of things, helps with the nerves.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get your point but… why the help with his confidence for the meeting? It doesn’t have anything to do with your plan, right?”

“Well, since I’m using the guy for my own plans, it’s good to retrieve the favor, right?” It was a very simple thing, just a few words and he would have better confidence for preparing his meeting. Nothing complicated at all.

I felt Geoff’s mind link appearing as we walked. ‘Good, that’s taken care of for now’ I thought, and I was glad I didn’t feel any pain nor something like that, it meant that I wasn’t near overloading my powers again.

Leo didn’t answer this time, so I tried to think about another topic, when the nightmare reappeared at my mind. I shook my head, and tried to think of something else.

“So… are you going to tell me what’s LeoCorp or will that remain as another mystery?” I asked the older mind controller, as we kept walking. I kept trying to take the nightmare off my mind, and chatting seemed to be a good way.

He scratched the back of his head “Oh, I thought you forgot. It’s a pretty big business I’m the owner of, got it during my college years with my powers.” He said, without giving it much importance. “The previous owner was happy to give me the whole business, and he’s happy being my well-paid assistant. I keep him in complete bliss every day, y’know?”

I frowned. That was definitely wrong, but there was nothing I could do about it. “And you just… took the guy’s business like it was nothing?”

“Boy, gettin’ pretty dense with your morals, aren’t you?” He sighed, but more in a… tired way, rather than angry. “Look, you’ve got mind control powers, right? So, why don’t you use them for your own benefit, without thinking of the consequences for once? I’m not telling ya to rob a bank, but maybe try out putting your boyfriend in complete bliss, without control. He’ll love it, and you’ll have a great time with the guy”

Before I could answer, he placed an arm around me “I’m learning a lot from you, dude. And I’d like to retrieve the favour by teaching you a few things too, how does that sound?”

I won’t lie, I gave it some thought. But it would just feel wrong, doing whatever I wanted with my powers like it doesn’t have negative impacts on my slaves’ lives.

I liked to have a perfect balance between my control over them and a positive impact for them, like better focus on the field, or when they’re studying, or whatever.

But… Maybe I could learn one thing or two about this. I mean, not fucking any lives was a simple rule to bear with by now, technically cemented on my mind and always present.

“You got a deal, I guess.” I said, extending my hand for a shake. “You try out my approach, and I’ll try out yours, alright? That means, respecting the golden rule with your life: Not ruin anyone’s lives, ever”

“And, you enjoy your powers more. Don’t think of the consequences, just… Look at that guy” He pointed to a fellow student that was hanging out with his friends nearby the quad’s fountain, as we passed by. “He looks hot, right?”

I nodded “I guess, what’s your point?”

“Walk up to him and tell him to blow you off!” He noticed my expression of surprise, and quickly retracted himself “Alright, alright. Let’s go slower first, just follow my suggestion from before and go back home with your dude… I may need to get a dude for myself, now that I think of it”

I wonder what did he mean with that, but if he was going to follow my approach, there was nothing to worry about, right?

“Okay. We’ll share our advances from time to time, to keep on each other’s progress, alright?” He nodded at that, as we arrived to the entrance and walked over to his parked car.

This is going to be interesting, I guess?

---

I entered my place with a nice grin. Leo’s idea seemed really good right now, but probably because I’m horny.

“I’m home!” I said, as I closed the door. Mike waved at me from the couch, still in his undies.

“Yo, bro! Didn’t invite anyone after you left, got really lazy and decided to play videogames instead” He explained, showing me the Switch on his hands. “How was your day with Leo?”

“I’ll tell you in a while, alright? First, I have something in mind” I walked closer to him, before giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

As I pulled back, he smiled and said “What do you mea-uhhhh”, before his eyes glazed over and he got up from the couch.

I had sent him a command to stop thinking and enter a relaxed state, pushing his main personality to the back and deepening his trance with some more commands, just like Leo suggested.

A few minutes later, Mike entered the living room again wearing a football armor we had for our kinky nights, and stood in front of me as he stared straight ahead, zoned out.

A bit of drool coming from his mouth and passing through his stubble beard, as he blissfully smiled and waited for commands. His big arms hanging at the sides, his chiseled abs were tensed and his cock was hard on his jockstrap.

Looking at him, he's definitely one sexy jock slave.

Maybe that's how Leo saw guys when he was my age. Just sexy jock slaves.

I sent a command to Mike through the mind link and he went on his knees. The way his drool would come out of his mouth and drip to the floor was so sexy.

I stepped closer and addled his brain a bit more. His eyes were getting foggier and foggier. He looked so helpless, so obedient, so moldable into anything I could ever want. And yet, I would never do anything he wouldn’t do, I loved my best friend so much to do that to him.

I ran my hands on the drooling jock's abs and pecs, massaging his chest until his nipples were hard. I felt a bit of a rush, using Mike as my plaything. My obedient little jock... or so I'd call him. But he's still my perfect lovely boyfriend.

“Mike?” I asked, still checking out his amazing muscles.

“Yes, master?” Mike said, in a monotone voice. He sounded empty, but somehow happy at the same time.

“What are you thinking about?” I ducked to face him, as his empty stare followed me.

“I’m not thinking, master! You do the thinking for me, master!” I smiled, and leaned in to kiss him for a bit. He kissed me back, and went back to mindlessly smiling when I pulled back.

“You’re such a good jockboy, aren’t you Mike?”

“Yes, master! Huhuhuh!”

I checked out his mind link. He was in complete bliss right now, and I liked that. He felt like floating, like he was in some kind of dream. Just real, pure bliss where Mike has no control at all.

I wanted to hear him out when this was over, since when I put him under, he usually is mildly conscious to know if he wants or not to do something, and can use his safeword. Not this time, we’re trying new things, big guy.

I proceeded to get back up and undid my belt. I lowered my pants and underwear, as my cock sprung out, half-hard.

Mike’s eyes turned to it, like he just saw the most beautiful thing in the world. “Mike?” I asked again, to get his attention.

“Uh… yes, master?” I noticed the drip of saliva got a bit bigger, as he couldn’t get his eyes off my cock. I swung it left and right, slowly, as I felt his mind getting foggier and foggier with each movement.

“What do you want, right now?”

“I want to serve master… I want to worship your cock…” He mumbled, trying to take a sniff of my cock, but trying to not move at the same time and remaining on his knees.

I placed my cock on his lips, and I could feel he tried to lick the tip of it. “Suck it, jockboy”

Almost instantly, Mike swallowed my cock and started to suck pretty fast, like his life depended on it. I sent a command over the mind link for him to slow down and enjoy it a bit more. I could feel him slowing down and doing magic with his tongue.

I grabbed the back of his head and pushed it to deep throat. Mike loved every second of it, and just continued to suck after I let his head go.

“Alright, jockboy. Stop and get up” I said after a bit. I felt myself close, but I wasn’t over with today’s session yet.

My mind-fucked boyfriend did as I ordered, and stood right in front of me, still with a bit of saliva and a big, dumb smile on his face. His eyes seemed emptier than ever, I don’t think I’ve brought him this deep before.

Another command sent through the mind link, and he was now striking a pose for me to feel up his muscled arms.

I noticed his cock was full hard now, and its head was poking out of the jockstrap, leaking a good amount of pre.

“Carry me to our room, alright?” I told him, as I finished with the feeling up muscles part.

“Yes master!” The big guy said, as he grabbed me by the back and the legs and lifted me like some kind of baby.

I felt good. Powerful. I could definitely see what Leo sees in doing this.

But… at the same time, it felt kind of wrong. My empathy speaking, of course, and I usually pay attention to it. Mike’s backup is still ever present on the back of his mind though, to reassure myself that no matter what I do, I can bring him back.

“Oh, and Mike?”

He turned his face to me, still with a blank stare but his goofy smile grew wider when he looked at me. “Yeah, master?”

Even while mindless, he still looked amazingly handsome. The happiness and adoration in his eyes was notorious, and I found it quite attractive. “How do you feel right now?”

“I feel amazing, master!” He said as we entered our room, and he stopped in front of the bed. “I’m so happy to obey as your mindless jockboy, master!”

He carefully left me standing on the floor, as he took a step back and waited for more orders.

It was like controlling a puppet, or a sim. I just had to send a command over to his mind or say something and he would do it without thinking.

I sent a simple command to his mind. ‘Grab master Pine and start making out with him’.

As I mentioned, just like a sim. Mike naturally grabbed me and pulled me in for a make out session. Another command sent to his mind, and he leaded me to the bed. He was still on his football armor, and it looked amazing on him.

‘Repeat out loud:’

“I love you so much, bro! You’re the best coach and master I’ve ever had!” He kept smiling with an empty stare every time I sent a new order and followed it without any resistance. “I’m completely yours, bro! And I love being that way!”

He sounded dreamy, like he was half asleep and half awake. But another check at his mind just confirmed that he was an empty and obedient jockboy slave.

And his cock remained completely hard in his jockstrap, even when I didn’t tell him to get hard. Good old Mikey never changes, he’s just ready to fuck all the time.

Leo was right, it was really easy to do this. But I assumed it would be a bit harder for him, or he had a workaround for his temporary mind links. I had my mind link with Mike since last year, but Leo’s last for a few hours, apparently.

I’ll him more about that later. For now, it was time to enjoy!

I pushed my lowered pants and underwear off my feet and laid down in bed, arms behind my head. I got comfy as I started to program his new set of orders.

‘Get above my cock and start fucking yourself with it’

Mike moved to do as I commanded him, without lowering his jockstrap since his ass was already at full display, he got above my hard cock as I lubed it with saliva, before lubing his hole a bit too (I didn’t want to hurt my boyfriend!).

I gave him a nod to continue, as he slowly positioned himself and started impaling with my cock. He tried to do the first thrusts slowly, as it went all the way in. I just laid there and watched the show, feeling amazing. Mike seemed to love it, but I assumed it had to do more with the obeying my orders rather than the fucking he was receiving.

The muscled guy looked amazing, as always, but his mindless expression had some charm to it, reminding me of the time he was dumb Mikey.

“Feeling good, Mike?” I asked him, before letting out a soft moan.

“Yes… master!” He answered, still going up and down, fucking himself with my cock. “Obeying you makes me happy, master!”

I wondered if putting the other guys under would have this same effect on them or if it was only because Mike already loved going under my control.

Mike grunted from time to time, but tried to remain silent and with a goofy smile.

I felt close to cumming, so I prepared the words in my mind. ‘When you feel me cumming, you will do too, feeling an outstanding pleasure go through your entire body before getting off my cock and lying beside me’

Sent them to his mind, as the mindless jock kept fucking himself. A few seconds later, I came inside of him.

Almost instantly, he came too. I always liked that detail, being able to control if a person cums or not, and when they do it. Most of his cum fell on my shirt, and I took it off after he got off my cock and proceeded to lay down beside me, as I ordered him.

“You were amazing, jockboy” I whispered to him, as I passed my hand above his abs, feeling him up.

“Thanks master! I want to be a good jock for you, master!”

“Oh really? And why is that?” I had an idea in mind that I wanted to try out. It would be funny to see.

‘You can think again’ I commanded his mind, as I pulled his main personality back to the front while he answered.

“Because I’m yours, master! I want to make… you… happy… Bro? Weren’t we at the couch? And why is my ass sore-y?” A confused, but still dazed Mikey asked. I moved my hand beneath his football armor as I felt up his pecs now.

“Shh… Don’t mind that…” I started, in a very soft and chilled tone. The one I usually used to make him relax. “Just stay with me, and don’t think about it”

My powers affected him again, as he turned to face me and leaned closer to kiss me. “Whatever you say, bro… I love when you get mischievous and make me feel good…” The dopey grin re-appeared on his face, but this time it was his own doing.

I was tempted to bring him back under, but his kisses while he’s mindless aren’t as good as when Mikey is awake and in full display.

----

Later that night, the exact same nightmare that had been endlessly playing in my mind appeared again as I slept.

I couldn’t move, Mike and Gary were on their knees. Leo in front of them, as Gary was completely enslaved by him and Mike was being taken away from me.

Until… something passed through me. It was… me?

My copy went straight to Leo, but I still couldn’t move, only watch. The other Pine walked up to him, moved Gary and Mike from the way, and looked straight at Leo.

Then, the two mind controllers started… fighting each other? This was getting super weird, until my copy did something unexpected.

He got his hands on Leo’s temples and said “Sleep”. Suddenly, the rugby player fell backwards and to the floor, before starting to snore.

The other Pine looked at me, with a little smile. I noticed his voice was familiar… I remember it from last year, when I passed out.

It told me how to break the mind links once, and now it was showing me this, that I honestly didn’t know if it was real or just an strategy to make me relax and finally forget about this nightmare.

“You both should try to remain on each other’s good side, alright? Telepaths are supposed to stick together!” He seemed happy, just like the last time we talked.

I have myself a nod, trying to tell me that I understood what he meant, before he continued “Good, have fun and keep doing nice stuff! I’m rooting for you!”

Then, I woke up again on my bed, next to a dozed off Mike. We had been playing during the whole day, and now it was the middle of the night again.

But, instead of tearing up like last night, I smiled and mumbled a quick “Thanks” to myself.

I felt more at ease now, my... powers, I think? They were telling me that I was doing great! That had to be a good sign, right?

-----

Chapter 6 is already available in my Patreon! And by pledging you also get access to other stories before they go public!

#PinesCollegeJocks #mind control #straight to gay #gay hypnosis #hypnotized #hypnosis #brainwashing #brainwashed #brainwash

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surveys-at-your-service · 4 years

Text

Survey #267

“you can take my heart, you can take my breath - when you pry it from my cold, dead chest.”

When did you last talk to the last person you kissed? Last night. Do you think people have any misconceptions about you? Oh, I'm positively certain. What’s something you wish you could understand better? There are a great many things, but the first that came to mind are certain political/moral beliefs that I REALLY do want to understand, but I just don't. When was the last time you cried really, really hard? About a week back when I woke up shrieking and sobbing from a nightmare about Dad. Have you ever injected a drug? No. How many people have you liked in the past 5 months? I've been COnfuFSSeD!!!!!! Are you currently in a relationship? Nope. Probably for the better. Have you ever touched a dead body? Animals, yes. I may have at an open-casket wake, but idr. I was young. Ever played Grand Theft Auto? Nope, but oh man, good memories of those stupid games with my neighbor back when I was younger... He loved that game just to fuck around, and I liked watching. Then Jacob and Jason played it together at the apartment a lot, and those are warm memories, too. The last male you spoke to … is he attractive? That would be my 3-year-old nephew, so it'd be fucking weird to call him that. He's one handsome little boy, though. We all know he's gonna be a lady killer one day. If your ex called right now, would you answer? Yeah. Is there a dictionary on your bookshelf? I don't even have a bookshelf. Do you have any pet names for the person you love/like? Not anymore. Who was the last person you had a serious conversation with? What is your honest opinion of that person? Mom. I love her to death. Who was the first person you dated? What is your honest opinion of that person? Aaron was my puppy-dog love, and I have not the slightest clue what he's up to now, but I have faith he's kept that good head of his. Ever fallen in the shower? I've passed out while getting *out* of it. I've slipped a number of times too, but not truly fallen. Do you think that things will get better? For me, I genuinely don't know. Ever been to a bonfire party? Yes, by my cousins' friend's pool for a b-day party. It was cool. Their house was fuckin' wild. Movie theater inside and all. Is your dad bald? Just about. His head is just mostly shaved. Have you ever slept at a member of the opposite sex’s house? I mean yeah, all the time when we were together. Have you ever hooked up with someone to hurt someone else? Wow, no. I don't do "hook-ups" anyway. Do any of your relatives actually pinch your cheeks when they see you? No. Have you ever made a member of the opposite sex cry? Ugh, yeah. Do you know the last person you kissed's parents? Yes, I adore them. Do they like you? I think so. Name a couple things you can cook. ... Literally just scrambled eggs, if you mean something pretty much from scratch. Well, I could probably still do pasta if I read the box. Who was there to help you last time you were puking? My mom. I am absolutely terrified of vomiting, so she's kind enough to somehow manage to stand in there with me and talk to me. Are there any boxes of tissues in your room? What’s the design on it? No. Are you in high school? When are you done? No. I graduated in 2014. Are you embarrassed to say if you’re a virgin or not? More like confused and awkward, because I genuinely DON'T know for sure. Have you ever met someone you thought you’d be with forever? It was "certainty" to me. That's partially why the breakup was so traumatizing. I MEAN IT when I say my brain couldn't even fathom the idea. It was "impossible." It simply couldn't happen. Then it did. ^Where are you two now? We haven't spoken in three years. Has your best friend ever been in love? Yes. What was the last magazine you bought? I've never been a magazine person. Will the last person you kissed get you anything for your next birthday? *shrugs* Do you think Family Guy is funny or just stupid? It can be both. Have you ever stayed with someone who treated you like shit just because you liked them so much? NO SIR-EE. You'd never see me stay with someone who treated me badly. Would you date someone all your friends and family hate? If I REALLY liked them, but if everyone hated that person, I would seriously consider why that is. Are you already looking forward to your wedding? Ha ha, not really, in most ways. Like, I hate getting all fancy and such. Have you ever spit on someone? No. Would you rather cuddle or make out? I MEAN, that depends on the mood??? Has your best friend ever been cheated on? No. Do you text with one hand or with both? Both. Are your parents left or right-handed? Right, to my knowledge? What was the last photo you took of? Something on FB I wanted to show to Sara. What topic always interests you and you will never tire of? C R Y P T I D Z Are you more or less tolerant than the average person? If you mean of varying beliefs, stuff like that, definitely more. If someone were to rate your life, what film certificate would it receive? PG-13 or R, idk. Actually, probably R for all they profanity lmaooo. Do you mind eating cold fries or are they disgusting? Ewww. What song makes you cry? What about it makes you cry? I physically cannot listen to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin because of Jason joking at prom that the music sucked and we could dance to something like that, then once he took me home, I played it from my iPod over his car speakers and we danced in the headlights of his truck and it all felt like a fairy-tale. I'm emotional just typing it and it makes my stomach hurt, so moving on. If you could remake a movie, which movie would it be? Silent Hill: Revelation. As a fanatic over the series, I enjoyed it decently, but, objectively, it sucked and was ALL over the place. How about if you could rewrite a book's ending, which one? Why? I don't think I'd change any. Maybe a clearer answer to The Handmaid's Tale, but it's still g. What colour hair does your sibling(s) have? Brown, except Misty and Katie. Theirs is black. What gemstone would you like on your wedding ring? A dragon's breath opal or rose gold would be gorgeous. What are you looking forward to in the near future? We're throwing my little sister a surprise graduation party at our older sis's house. Thanks to the quarantine, her senior graduation isn't *actually* happening, so. How is life going for you, anyway? Be honest. IT KINDA S U CKS!!!!!! What time did you get changed this morning? I haven't changed out of my pj's. I almost never do (besides obviously after a shower) because I have nowhere to go, like ever. Have you met somebody that you want to spend the rest of your life with? Yeah. Have you ever dressed up as a Disney character? Which one? Maybe as a kid? Have you ever played chess? If so, are you good at it? I’ve never played it. If I wanted to buy you a chocolate bar, what kind should I NOT get? Ew, Snickers. Of all your close friends, who have you known the longest? Sara. What was the last song you heard, that made you feel emotional? Hm. Maybe "Disguise" by Motionless In White. I wonder all the time if that's how Jason felt. Plus it's his favorite band, so that's a double whammy. When was the last time you took a selfie? Maybe about a month ago. As a child, did you ever have any scented gel pens or markers? Oh, I remember those! Yes. Name an alcoholic beverage that you dislike. Hell, most that I've tried. I hate strong stuff. Can you recall the last time you were on a dancefloor? When I was shooting someone's wedding last year. Do you own any color-changing mood jewellery? No, I have zero faith in those. What was the last thing you heated up in your microwave? Ummm pizza rolls, I think. What was the last flavor of ice cream you had? Moose tracks. Do you have an online game that you play often? I play World of Warcraft daily, and I enjoy the Dragons of Atlantis app a few times a day. I was into it when it was still a game on an actual website, and I more recently downloaded it on my phone. What’s your favorite cookie? Soft chocolate chip... yum. How long would you have to date someone for before moving in together? I think this depends very much on the relationship, BUT LIKE, definitely not TOO quickly because you need to test the endurance of the relationship. I'd at the very least give it a year and seriously consider how healthy the relationship is. Moving in with each other shouldn't be an impulsive "this is working great omg I love him/her let's do this!!!!". What's your favorite kind of sushi? N/A How much was the last bill that you paid? I've never paid a bill... wow, that's sad. What was the cause of the worst low point you've had in your life? A very abrupt, traumatic breakup. What are some of your favorite types of cheeses? Really just American. When did you last feel like your privacy was invaded? I'm not sure. Do your parents volunteer anywhere? No. Do you own more than 50 books? I have my Warriors books stocked somewhere. Probably in the attic. Do you have a bachelor's degree? Bitch I wish. How old were you when you became financially independent from your parents? I'm 24 and still aren't independent. Does your kitchen have an island? No. Have you ever bought or sold something on Facebook Marketplace? No. Do you know anyone famous enough to have their own Wikipedia page? No. What was the last appointment you had? With my psychiatrist over the phone because yeah quarantine. Why did you last feel like crying? I woke up from yet another nightmare. I'm so, so tired of them. They make me dread sleep. Do you keep your friends secrets/private information to yourself? If it truly is private, yes, and secrets, absolutely. What negative quality do your friends bring up the most? "I... don’t think I’d like to be friends with people who have a habit of bringing up 'negative' things about me." <<<< This. Do you often "jump" to conclusions? ONLY ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about the world do you wish you never found out? Christ, there's a lot. For some reason, the first thing that came to mind is the dogmeat trade in Korea. A girl in my first semester did a presentation on it, and just... wow. I never had the slightest clue it was a thing. Does the sight of blood make you feel sick? No. Does someone's background affect whether you'll be friends with them or not? Well, yeah. I'm not gonna be friends with a rapist or something. How about their religious background? Depends on if they push that shit on me or not, as well as things they believe. If someone admitted cheating in a past relationship of theirs, would you trust them? NNNNNNNNNOPE. Do you drink tea and/or coffee every day? There are so many tea/coffee questions in surveys... and no. I don't like either. Did you ever want to be a cook as a kid? No. Do you wish that magic was real? Well, it depends on what the magic is. Do you prefer fire or ice? Fire is cooler. Do you rap along with rap songs? No. When happy, do you become more talkative? WAY MORE. Bowling or sailing? Why? Never sailed before, but bowling is fun. Especially with the lights off but all the neon and signs lit up. Do you prefer sitting in the front or back of a car? THE FRONT!!!!!!!!! Sitting shotgun and being able to control the music is everyTHIIIIIIIIIIIING. How about in a train? On the bus? I don't really have a preference here. Do you care about politics? I should... Are you offended easily by non-politically correct language? No, honestly. Do you think the censors/fcc go a bit too far or are just right? Definitel too far. Have you ever taken a martial art? Which one(s)? No. Do you know anyone who is scared of you? No. I am so unintimidating. Do you like watermelon? Not really, no. Can you remember the month of your first kiss? April or May, p sure. What do you think is the most interesting thing about you? Uh. I dunno, man. Do you have a photo album? Mom has tons. What was your biggest fear as a child? Thunderstorms. I was fucking terrified. Can you remember all your past teachers' names? The majority. Do you find people taller than you intimidating? Generally tall men do, but not always. What's your favorite thing about your country? We have a lot of freedom. What's your least favourite thing about your country? We're greedy as fuck. What websites do you have bookmarked? I have a few on my personal laptop, which I don't have access to now so can't recall well. What TV show scared you as a kid? Courage the Cowardly Dog... though I watched it anyway lmao. What is one thing you regret having done or not done in your life? There's a lot. Let's not focus on it. Which parent do you identify with the most? I guess Mom. What embarrasses you the most in front of other people? laskdjflawe admitting I RP is almost ENTIRELY IMPOSSIBLE to others, especially in-person. If you had to choose one thing you were most passionate about, what would it be and why? Politics, 'cuz that's shit that seriously matters and affects the world. Who are you most envious of—real or fictional—and why? Probably an old friend who's an award-winning, quite successful photographer here in the state. She's shot fashion and model stuff professionally. She's absolutely gorgeous, does the coolest stuff... What’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard? Good Lord, I know so many. "UR A WOMAN NOW" by Otep is one, then there's "Terrible Things" by Mayday Parade, "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance... wow, I'm so surprised they're not just rushing to me. How about the sweetest song? Biiiiiih "Here For You" by Ozzy Osbourne laskdjfk;awe Do you know how to play dominoes? No. What food will you absolutely not, under any circumstances, eat? Exotic/endangered animal meat. What is one thing you’re embarrassed to admit you want to try? Uhhh I'm really not sure. Which famous person would you like to be BFFs with? Shane Dawson is MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Is there something you wish you had said sorry for but never did? Many things.

#survey #surveys #random questions

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incorrectly-quoted-queers · 4 years

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Drunk Punch Love: INTERMISSION ARCHANGEL

Pairing: FemShep and Garrus Vakarian (Shakarian)

Rating: PG-13 (with some tossed F-bombs)

Summary: Their awkward, badass journey through saving the galaxy and accidentally falling in love

INTERMISSION ARCHANGEL: The End.

Shepard had been dead 232 days.

Garrus had been going over their new security measures when the apartment's front door pinged. It wasn't a sound he heard often, since all the crew had their own codes to the back door. But the Via siblings were new, and Butler's wife did sometimes stop by, so he figured it was just one of them.

What he didn't expect was a female turian with blue markings to have her arms crossed, looking at him like he just committed a crime. Before he could react, the glare faded and she smiled at him. Garrus' head still wasn't fully straight when she pulled him into her arms.

It only clicked together that this wasn't some damn fever dream when she started talking. "Happy birthday, baby brother!"

Oh. It was that day.

"I'd ask if I surprised you, but I already know I did." The second he shut his door behind him, closing off his vigilante world from his family, that damned brain of hers caught on and she peered at him. "I know you wouldn't have anything planned for your birthday, so what are you hiding?"

If it was his father, he could lie and say a woman and the man would happily walk away from the shut door, uninterested. But Solana was a different beast. She was curious, intrusive, and interested in damn near anything. It would be hard to keep her out of his apartment, lined with guns, gear, and a krogan casing the joint.

Also, she definitely would give him shit for his undecorated bedroom and that was a blast from the past he never wanted to deal with again.

So, his best shot was to go truth adjacent. "There was a break-in on my block. I have a consultant in there retrofitting my place with more security."

"You caring about your own well-being and safety is... new, but I won't complain." Solana snorted and shook her head at him, in her normal well-meaning but condescending way. "Only you would schedule a security consultation on your birthday. Were you going to do anything at all?"

Garrus leaned against his door and tried not to look too pissed off, because Solana knew the answer to that and was really just trying to push his buttons. Sure, that would be a stretch for anyone else, but his big sister? He knew how she operated. Probe for intel and then use that intel to make whatever point she was making infallible. He stuck with, "You know the answer to that."

"Doesn't the fact I know the answer to that speak volumes to the issue at hand?" Dammit. And he thought he said something neutral. Before he could spike back, she added, "It's been three years, Garrus, you're not dancing on mother's grave just because you dare to enjoy your birthday."

Now that one was a funny answer. "Really Sol? That's easy for you to say when she didn't die on yours."

"I've never liked the guilt games you and father play. Just yesterday he was messaging me about how it's his fault you react poorly to death and rebel. But do either of you do anything with that guilt? Because that's progress I'd like to see." Garrus almost laughed, because the one thing close to progress was also the one thing he really didn't want her to see. "Life happens. Death happens. Now, if I remember correctly, I begged for a sibling. So if not for yourself, let's celebrate the happiest day of my four year old life, meeting my little brother."

He wanted to stay mad and indignant, maybe even scare her off. But dammit, he cared too much about Solana for that. Groaning, he pushed off the door and conceded. "Fine, let's go get some food and see a flick or something. You did come all this way to see me."

"You're right, I did, so thank you for appreciating it." She walked forward first and he took the opportunity to cover his tracks. With a flick of his wrist he typed out a quick message to Jawth and Sidonis, asking them to hide the guns and clean up the place before he got back; that his sister came for a surprise visit.

They agreed without asking a single question. Which was good, because he'd rather off himself than tell those assholes what day it was.

Now the real landmine was keeping Solana from looking too deeply into the Archangel rumors. If that caught her interest, he was sure she could figure it out. He didn't expect her to snitch to their father, who would objectively hate what he was doing, but he also didn't know how she'd react.

Garrus just wanted his sister to remain his annoying, inordinately supportive sister. He didn't want that to get complicated.

Somehow, he managed to dodge all Archangel talk the entire time. His most impressive save was pretending to choke on something to be louder than and scare off a guy at the cafe who wouldn't stop talking about his crew and their latest hit. Solana definitely didn't need to hear about "That blue-ass sniper turian."

That was more than enough to get her curious.

When they got to his apartment door, he almost breathed a sigh of relief. They'd made it, all the way back to his place, and she still didn't know. She could spend the night here and then he could send her back off to her life on Palaven, no harm no foul.

But for all his attempts, he'd forgotten one small, terrible little factor.

Sidonis knew who he was, and that man had a lot of contacts.

The second the metal panels slid open, every single one of his team was there, grinning like mad, with a garrish looking cake stuffed with candles. And right in front of his sister, the fuckers yelled, "Happy birthday, Archangel."

There were a lot of times with Shepard he wished to kill a man, but this time, he wanted to kill nine.

Solana just glared at him with a knowing smirk. "I fucking knew you were hiding something!"

Garrus grabbed her arm and took her outside, where all his idiot team wasn't watching. He started talking, fast. "Sol, I-"

"If you say you're sorry, I'll know you're lying." She shook her head. "So you're the infamous merc-killer? Honestly, I should've known. It was probably just wishful thinking." He was too overwhelmed to know what to say to that, but luckily Sol was happy to fill in the blanks. "I won't tell father. He would hate you for doing this. Just don't keep secrets from me, okay? I love you."

"I can give you that."

"Good. Now, why don't we enjoy your party that your team set up?" Before she walked through the door, she squeezed his arm and frowned. A classic Sol look of distaste; last time he saw it, it was when a co-worker of hers tried to ask her on a date because "she had to say yes to someone eventually". If Solana was less composed, he was sure she would've punched him. "I'm not eating that cake, though."

"Don't worry. I would have told you not to."

Shepard had been dead 365 days.

All he could see were her eyes. Soft green, always laughing at something. Until she wasn't. But wherever things were good, she was laughing, and hard. Garrus couldn't quite get his head straight, but he hoped he said something funny. More than likely, what actually happened was that he did something awkward and dumb, but that was almost just as good.

When he started scanning the room, he realized they were by one of the observation windows on the Normandy. Despite all the chaos in their lives, they'd taken a moment to look at the stars. He always liked it here. Why'd he never bring her here?

Even when she stopped laughing, she kept smiling. Like she always did after a long day, she pulled her hair out of that tight bun thing and kept on shaking it with her fingers. Sometimes he wondered what it felt like, and not like when he accidently touched it during movie night. Like how she was doing, hands all in.

But it was safe to say that was a bit more than a CO and an ex C-sec officer should be doing.

He wasn't quite sure what he was saying, or why he was saying it, but he told her, "When I look at the stars, I think of you." Garrus wasn't really sure when he got all bold. Maybe it was this haziness he was feeling.

Shepard raised one of her hairy eyebrows at him. "We live in space. On a spaceship. We see stars almost constantly."

Garrus took a step closer to her, sometimes wondering how she got anywhere with how oblivious she could be. And god knows he normally wasn't this smooth but this time, right here, he said what he wanted to. "Exactly my point."

Blinking, it took her a few seconds to register what he said, and she even turned to look up at him. But when their eyes did meet? Hers softened like for once, she finally got it. Her cheeks even did that little blush thing when she was embarrassed. "Oh."

With that look, was like all of his normal discomfort came rushing back, all those feelings that always told him not to say stupid shit like that. He shouldn't have said that, right? All those things she said she felt were byproducts of a lonely, drunk night where he got too close and she was alone enough to get stuck on it. She didn't like it, she couldn't, and it was weird, he was ruining the whole friendship thing... "Shepard, forget I said that-"

But then, she did that human thing they always saw in movies. She got on her toes and pressed her lips against his. It was weird, soft skin against his plates, but it was her skin, and that was what mattered.

Maybe he hadn't ruined everything.

Shepard said, "I won't forget-"

Everything seemed so right, but just then the wall blew open and Shepard was being sucked out into space. Again. He tried to grab onto her arms, legs, anything to keep her there. No matter what he reached for, she slipped through his goddamn fingers.

When he woke up, his body was shaking and he wrapped his arms around his legs. He hated to admit this wasn't the first time he had a dream like that, one where Shepard wasn't gone.

Garrus had tried so hard to keep her at bay. One year later, but she was always still there.

As long as he could help it, though, his nightmares would be the only place she had left to live. Elsewhere, he had work to do. And as much as he felt for her, pined for her, his life didn't have place for stubborn, Russian spectres.

Garrus had a station to protect.

Shepard had been dead for 728 days.

He never should've left the apartment. Garrus figured his team could cover the last of the security measures while he helped Sidonis. It should've been easy.

But when he got there, Sidonis never showed up. And when he got back, there was blood everywhere.

He trusted Sidonis, from the first day he met him. The damned turian seemed honest about wanting to save people. But here they were, and Lantar fucked them.

They were all going to die here, weren't they?

Most everyone was down already. Their corpses were strewn all over the place, their faces locked in horror or dull emptiness. The only ones left alive were Ryel, Gibbon, and Butler.

But from the looks of it, Butler didn't have much longer.

He yelled at the crippled leftovers of his team and asked, "How's it looking?"

Gibbon answered, "Understandably terrible. We have a vantage point, but they have many waves of mercs."

Ryel added, "This balcony view is not as pretty with bullets and brains flying everywhere."

Before he could respond, Butler grabbed Garrus' arm. His abdomen was covered in blood and he could see his stomach lining. The guy normally wore gray pants, but they looked like they'd been dyed red. "I'm not gonna make it, huh?"

"Butler-"

"Nah, I know." He coughed. Garrus couldn't lie to him. "As much as I'd like to go screaming out Nalah's name, I want to hear about something that doesn't break my heart. Tell me about your Russian girl, Garrus. And for real this time."

For all the times Garrus shoved her away, maybe Butler was right. If he was going to die, he'd rather hear about her one last time. He said to the other two, "Hold the line and be careful."

Then, he sat down next to Butler and held his hand. After all this time, nearly two years, he just started talking about Shepard like she really was. "Her name was Anya. She was competitive to a fault and loved saying quotes while she watched movies. She loved to dance, but just by herself. She was a brave leader, but what mattered more was that she was... She was a beautiful, squishy human."

"A human? Never woulda guessed." He knew he already told Butler she was human, but it wasn't really the time to contradict him. Blood loss never helped make the brain a stronger machine.

Instead, Garrus just kept talking, his grip on Butler's hand getting tighter as the memories and feelings wound around his chest. "Me neither, but from all your stories, you didn't sound like you expected to fall in love with an Asari either."

"You're right. I didn't. Tell me more?"

"She was a classic soldier, until she wasn't. An infiltrator class, great with a pistol, terrifying, even. But sometimes she'd walk into debriefings with sweatpants and her hair a mess, swearing about something the pilot did to her toothpaste. And I wondered how that person was the same one that inspired a whole ship, every day. But she did."

"And?" Butler looked at him knowingly, deliberately.

Today, Garrus let the dying man win. "And you were right, Butler. I loved her."

With one final smirk, his hand fell.

When Butler stopped breathing, Garrus picked up his gun, got behind cover like Ryel and Gibbon, and started shooting.

If he was going to go down, he was gonna go down fighting. And this time, he wouldn't stop thinking about her. This time, if he was gonna die, she'd be the last thing on his mind.

No matter where he went, he was stuck with her. Forever.

///

After a little interlude into Garrus' two years without Shepard, we can finally start getting Anya awake and moving in his direction. I am SO ready.

I read on tumblr a couple weeks ago that apparently a lot of people write their own version of 4 things: their first meeting, the rocket-to-the-face, the night before the suicide mission, and "this is the best spot on the citadel.

I know it's stupid, but I honestly feel kinda proud that I ignored their first meeting entirely. And also that my suicide mission night will be VERY different. Is it a stupid thing to be proud of? Yes, but at my core I'm kinda a trash hipster and I can feel pride and shame in that.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading! And extra thanks to my lovely patrons:

Danypooh80

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If you want to help support my writing and my goal to create a fun, pro-fandom community, (future Twitch streams included) please check one of these places (or my bio) for more information:

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My patron tiers come with early access to chapters, voting on future episodes, brainstorming blogs, cameos, one-shots, etc. If you’re interested in helping out, please check it out. If you can’t, don’t worry and just keep on enjoying the story :)

#Drunk Punch Love #Shakarian #Intermission: Archangel #femshep x garrus #Garrus Vakarian #Anya Shepard #Lantar Sidonis #Archangel #Mass Effect 2 #mass effect fanfiction #fanfiction #Omega #Blue Suns

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hearteyes-for-killmonger · 5 years

Text

In My Mind x 01

*Reuploading because I've edited these to flow a little bit better. Thank you for your patience!

In war, there are no winners.

Only losers.

---

Images of dirt mixed with dark blood and mangled bodies flooded your mind.

The deafening sound of explosions and fear.

The chemical stench of human decay and gunfire.

The sweltering heat of the beating sun pounding on your skin, sticky from the sweat leaking from your pores.

All this death round you.

Three bodies..

Ten..

Twenty-five.. dead.

You knew not one of these muthafuckas and they didn’t know you, but you’d killed them all because you were told to. Why’d they have to die?

They were probably just like you, following orders. The world was fucked up. You felt.. numb. Then, pain.

Stabbing pain in your stomach over and over and over.

You bolt upright in your bed and when your eyes adjust to the darkness, your breath returns heavily. You touch your stomach and exhale. No pain. You’re still sweating bullets, but you’re safe in your bed.

What was that about? The dream is still vivid and fresh in your mind.

You look at the dark screen of your laptop. You’d been watching Brotherly Love with Keke Palmer, not some war picture...

The time on your phone reads 4:15 a.m. You are parched, so you get up to get some water. You want a couple more hours of sleep before you get up for work, and right now it feels like you've barely slept. That nightmare was straight stress. You settle back into bed and close your eyes.

After a few minutes laying on your side, you’re finally able to drift off again.

“Shoot him! You’re an object Stevens, a weapon! Useless outside of what WE tell you to do.”

There was a figure but the face was covered with a sack. Impossible to figure out who it was or if you knew them.

“Shoot him! Prove yourself! You’re with US or you’re one of THEM. Which is it, boy?”

The trigger slips and the body thuds to the floor, blood pooling. The sick, gnarled smile of a man you want to murder.

A jarring melody rings out and it doesn’t fit. You concentrate on the familiar tune and your eyes pop open. Light streams through your window and you come back to yourself. What the fuck is with these dreams?!

Mentally exhausted, you raise up and drag yourself out of bed. You’re angry. That damn dream pissed you off and it wasn’t even real.

—

“Niaaa! Ugh.. You look like shit,” Talia frowns and you cast her an evil eye that shuts her up. For all you know she has bags too, hers are just covered by concealer.

“Nightmares, Lia. I got zero sleep last night and I’m in a bad mood. Do not mess with me right now.” She smiles in sympathy before her attention is snatched to the door.

“Well, you might wanna turn that frown upside down. That’s your client.”

Instantly your face contorts into one that’s customer service worthy and you turn to see a black lady who looks to be in her mid-30s. Her hair looks thick, but you never really know until you put your hands in it.

“Hello, welcome. Have a seat in my chair and I’ll be with you in a minute. Just gotta get the hair ready. You said you already washed your hair right?”

“Yes, I washed it last night. No grease or anything like you said.”

You grabbed your sterilized comb, your moisturizer, and started sectioning hair from the Kanekalon pack. Three hours later you’re a little more than halfway through her head.

“You’re much faster than my last braider. I was there all day,” she says and you huff a quick laugh in acknowledgment. Of course it was fast, you didn’t take a break the whole time. She looked the type to get upset if you stopped for too long.

“I’m going to cookout, what y'all want,” Lia calls and Glenda who’s doing fingerwaves on a girl with blue hair yells her order. Lia had just finished a sew-in on her client and you still had half a head to go.

“Get me a peach milkshake with a cajun chicken sandwich, corndog, and fries,” you call back.

“You sound like a bottomless pit,” Lia quips and she’s gone. Fifteen minutes later, you have your food but you decide to wait to eat it. Your client doesn’t tell you to do otherwise. You just take sips of the thick-ass milkshake. Two hours later, you send the client away with a full head of Senegalese twists. You have another client in half an hour so you sit down and eat.

“You ain’t acting like yourself today. Are you okay,” Lia’s eyes analyze everything from your expression to your body language and you know you’re acting funny as well. You still see the images from your dream and they’re disturbing. The peach milkshake is helping you to stay grounded.

“Yeah, I’m good, just a little out of it. That dream still got me buggin.”

“What dream? Tell us about it. Maybe you’ll feel better.”

You hesitate given the nature of the dream, but decide to spare the gorey details.

“Okay.. So, I wasn’t myself in this dream. I don’t know who I was, it’s weird. I was on a battlefield at first in what looked like a war. I could see all these terrible things and smell it, that’s how vivid the dream was. I wanted to rip my nose from my face because I could taste the blood and the vomit and the- ugh," you wretch. "By the context it was like I’d killed all these people and they were just laying there stretched out in the dirt. Then I was getting stabbed in my stomach but it was like.. I was allowing it or doing it to myself. I woke up sweating.. and then when I went back to sleep, I was the same person, shooting some unknown person with a cloth bag on their head like in the movies only it felt real. I woke up soo angry. Then I just couldn’t shake it, I guess. I'm still angry..”

Glenda and her client exchange confused looks while Lia comes in for a hug.

“Someone pray,” she says.

A client waiting for Glenda stands and approaches. She has a bracelet with a church logo and she looks like she’s a spiritual person, something in her eyes and something warm in her face like you know her, though you don't. She says an eloquent and passionate prayer for your mind, your spirit, your emotions like she knows you, but there's no way. You feel tears well behind your eyes as this stranger intercedes on your behalf like a true prayer warrior, touching on all of your concerns.

“It’s warfare,” she says to you directly. “You have a mighty purpose and perhaps this is trying to tell you something about someone you’re meant to help. Keep your eyes open.”

You nod and thank her as your next appointment approaches. Feed-in braids into a ponytail. You had to wash and deep condition her. You sigh thinking about what the woman said. Could that be true?

Was there a reason you were seeing all of this?

—

In your car on the way home, your thoughts go back to the morning. You were a man. A man in the military and then in some odd private initiation. You killed, but you didn’t enjoy it. It felt like you HAD to because it was leading up to something, but what?

A horn beeping behind you startles you and you look up, green light. You hit the gas and make it home without another incident.

There were household chores to do, like folding the laundry you’d washed yesterday. It was sitting on the floor in a basket. You wanted to go online and check your social media. It was only 7:25 p.m., but a strong feeling was pulling you back to your bed. You followed it and crawled under your covers and within minutes, you were under.

"Got you, E!” “E, hurry up!”

Two little boys were out late playing with a basketball and you were running with them on the court. You were small and the apartments in front of you felt familiar, like home. Suddenly there was what looked like a UFO overhead and you froze on the court watching it fly away from your building. A feeling of dread set in and you ditched the game, running as fast as you could into the building, up to your home.

“Baba?” You called inside, looking around.

There was no one.. but then you looked down and your entire world was lifeless on the floor surrounded by his own blood. He had distinct claw marks dug into his chest through his clothes and he’d been discarded as though he weren’t royalty.

Royalty? ..I’m royalty.

That fact takes a backseat to the pain and you sink to the floor, clutching the lifeless body in your arms, rocking and willing it to come back to life. Willing to trade anything you have for a miracle. You didn’t have anyone else. No one.

The room changes and the blood is gone.

You’re pouring over a journal filled with strange symbols but somehow you’re interpreting them. It’s giving you a purpose that feels strong, urgent, IMPORTANT.

You have to do something, but What?

Who are you? How are you in my head? ..I’ll kill you. ..I’ll find you and then I’ll murder you.

Kill me, wait can you hear me?

Who the fuck are you?

I’m not sure why I’m here or why I can see what you see, but... I think I’m supposed to help you.

That doesn’t tell me who you are.

My name is Nia and I’m.. a hairdresser. I honestly don’t know how I keep getting here.

You’re in my dream.. or my nightmare. You’re probably part of my imagination.

And you’re part of mine, but I keep dreaming about you like this. How do we fix it?

If what you say is true, maybe you need to help me first. So, help me.

How?

Figure it out.

You open your eyes and you feel drunk. Heavy. Rolling your body out of bed, your heart is still heavy. You’re grieving the loss of a father that was never really yours to begin with. Your dad is in Atlanta. But when you were.. Erik, you think his name was, it had felt too real. His pain was your pain. His rage was your rage.

You freeze with your hand on the glass of water you just poured. You were able to speak to him this time. It was like he really existed and you were invading his mind, his nightmare. It was crazy. You were crazy.

You splash the cold water in your face instead of drinking it, shocking yourself. COLD! COLD! COLD!

I’m still here, Nia.

HO- Shit.. Erik? How are you in my head, I’m awake. At least I think I’m awake. This is weird. I think I’m losing it.

No, I wanna try something. Give me your address. I’m gonna remember it and come there. If this is real, we’ll find out.

If this is real, don’t kill me. Don’t forget, I know you.

If you check out as who and what you say you are, I won’t hav-

Your eyes open again and your apartment is pitch black.

You still have your clothes on and your hair isn’t tied. You sit up and try focusing.

“Erik? Are you here? ..Erik?”

There’s no response. You turn the lights on and take a shower. You needed it after all the emotional shit you just went through. You start to question again if you’re really losing your mind, maybe developing a split personality. Checking your phone, you have no missed calls or texts. You check your social media and get lost in that for the next half hour.

Dinner. You never ate dinner. You pull some leftovers from the fridge and heat it. Spaghetti and meatsauce and greenbeans on the side. After a few cups of water and last glance at your laundry, you glance back to your bed. What are the odds of you going to sleep and finding him again? You decide to find out. Climbing back into bed, you shut your eyes and wait for sleep to take you.

“Erik?”

You see darkness, that’s it. It’s silent and you call out again, but there’s no answer. Suddenly you’re in a throne room and you’re looking out from the throne as you’re burdened with the responsibility of what you must do. Your head hurts and your soul is heavy, but you know there’s no other path for you.

“Erik,” you call again and finally you feel yourself become aware of another presence as though you’re sharing the same body.

Wassup. Drop the addy.

It’s 3810 Circle Mill Terrace, Macon, Georgia. Apartment 503.

I’m going to wake up now.

You jolt awake and miraculously, it’s daytime. Time to work again, bright and early.

You stroll into the salon and Lia is already there eating an apple and drinking a juicebox, no doubt her son’s. Your client would arrive momentarily, assuming they were on time.

“What you got today,” Lia asks with a bite of the apple.

“I got.. two feed-ins, a crochet, a flat-twisted bun with added hair, and then three large French braids.”

She nods, “And how are you feeling today?”

You exhale and your client comes through the door, she’s about your age and her hair is fairly long. You can see already how you want to frame her face. You give her the smile and the greeting and lead her to the bowl to wash her hair.

“I’m okay. I guess that lady from yesterday was kinda right, maybe there’s a reason or purpose behind my dreams.”

“You’re still having them?” She sounds worried.

“Yeah.. they’re still in full effect, but I think I’m starting to figure some things out.”

“Okay, well, you just be open with us and let us know if you get any dangerous or scary thoughts, like to harm yourself or anyone else.”

You exhale a quick laugh, “It’s not even that type of party.”

“Yeah, okay,” she says and then she lets it go.

When Glenda comes in, you give her an edited version of what you gave Lia and it seems to be enough. The rest of your appointments go by fairly easily and when you leave work you stop to fill your tank before going home again.

This time, you decide to clean up and you DO. You fix your place up and put away your laundry. You even cook again. Baked chicken, kool-aid, and salad, nothing too taxing.

Throughout it all your eyes keep wandering toward the door, wondering.

What if.

—

It had been a week since you dreamed of Erik and his horrible nightmares based on a nightmarish life. You were glad the images had finally stopped, but if you were honest.. it wasn’t bad meeting him every night. You kind of missed him.

Not the scenes, just him.

Part of you, the realistic part, knew you were buggin and that you needed to come back to reality. Forget it all.

Another part, still watched the door. Wondering if you were just imagining everything.

You slide out of bed from your dreamless slumber and head to work. Another day, another string of clients, the first order being short kinky twists.

The short brown girl who walks in has a head full of wild hair and you groan internally. It takes you close to five hours to finish all of the little twists on that dense head of coarse hair. It’s well into the afternoon now and you sit down to eat your lunch brought back by Lia.

“What you got next,” she asks starting on a vixen sew-in. Her customer bought the good shit, that Malaysian.

“Uh, loc maintenance.”

“You retwisting?”

“Yeah gotta clean up the parts.”

She nods and continues chatting up her client. As you finish your lunch, the door opens and it’s a male. Quite possibly the finest black man you’ve seen in your life. Y'all don’t get too many male clients especially not the ones who look like him. His eyes go straight to you and you hold your breath as he approaches, but the awkward silence reminds you that you’re the one who's supposed to fill it. Out of the corner of your eye you see Lia laughing at you and you try to ignore her.

“Welcome, have a seat in my chair and I’ll be right with you. I just need to grab some things to get started."

He smiles and waits patiently and when you return, you put your hands through his cropped locs inspecting them. Something about him and them seems familiar, but you push it out of your mind to deal with the task at hand. He needs a wash. You beckon him to the bowl and start washing his hair.

He relaxes beneath your fingers, eyes closed as you work through his scalp and he asks how you’re doing. You give him the typical response.

You’re fine. Blessed and highly favored.

He smiles again and his teeth are so white and straight. The gold slugs on his canines only accentuate that fact.

"Good to hear,” he says. “What about the dreams, you still having those?”

Dreams.. You freeze in place but release his head staring down at him and he opens his eyes, looking into yours.

“You aren’t crazy,” he says. The air seems to die because for a moment you stall out.

“......Very funny you guys,” you call to your co-workers. Glenda ignores you completely and Lia looks confused.

You turn your attention back to the man at your bowl and he looks amused.

“What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t,” his brow raises. You gulp. You’d told your co-workers the story, but no one knew the name of the man in your dream.

“Tell me..,” you whisper and he raises the bottom of his shirt revealing intricate patterns of keloids. You can feel them physically in your own stomach and it all comes rushing back to you as you gape down at him in awe.

“Oh, I’m definitely keeping you,” he grins.

Other Chapters:

#erik killmonger #original #killmonger #erik stevens #erik killmonger fanfiction #erik killmonger imagines #erik stevens au #erik killmonger imagine #erik killmonger x reader #erik x reader #erik stevens x reader #erik stevens x you #killmonger imagine #killmonger fanfiction

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trashy-croud · 4 years

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India: Temple Ruins🌿🧗‍♀️

I'm back but this level broke me. I kid you not, during this entire hiatus from doing these reviews and such, I have been coming back to this level only to cry more in the long run. I am literally only on the second level of this game. This is where I learnt, there is no God. This level held back no punches and was delivering each blow with a full on k.o. for me. Yet I still enjoyed it. Ignore the time as per usual, I spent so much of it actually looking for the secrets and searching every nook and cranny, as well as being absolutely terrified and refusing to move after the first statue came to life.

Now to talk about this level. Well for starters, this one started us off with climbing trees and with mudslides and piranhas and snakes and oh god, there was plenty of stuff happening at the start. This did lead to me being stuck a couple of times of figuring out the best path to take but eventually we powered through. We then encountered our first monkey at one point or another and I thought he’d lead me to somewhere new, y’know, like in the previous level. Hah. The only thing he led me to was my demise as as sad as it is to say, I kept him following me for a bit, not realising that he was taking away my health and I was actually killed by a bloody monkey - of all the deadly things in this level, the first thing to kill me was a god forsaken monkey. I am ashamed of myself. It seemed somehow we annoyed them at one point from the last level, perhaps because I took the key before that monkey could or because I killed it, I honestly cannot remember which one happened when I finally completed it and carried on, but these little buggars are ferocious.

After the mudslide challenge which was interesting to encounter and pretty fun to manoeuvre, along with a waterfall, we entered a dark room. I thought, “Oh lets light a flare!” Because, y’know, I actually have some for a change compared to the previous game, and when I lit it up, the look of horror on my face as I saw a statue. I could only briefly remember some parts of this game and watching my dad play it, I didn’t stick around much for this one compared to the previous instalment, but I bloody remember moving statues and I froze up and entered the menu almost instantly. That may have added to my time with how long I was on that menu thinking about what I was going to do next. After a while of debating the best course of action, I closed the menu off, pulled out my shotgun only to realise that this one didn’t come to life. Luckily I didn’t waste any ammo on an inanimate object but I was definitely wary.

After this room and moving some blocks around, we crawled into the next one and I spotted another statue, I was wary and was right to do so as it came to life and I about wanted to cry. I didn’t even pull out the shotgun this time, I went full pistols on it and didn’t know that the statue could block, didn’t seem to get that memo! So yeah, that one took a while as well, much to my dismay.

After getting rid of it, we found the first secret which was well sneaky of them as we fell into a trap door to pull a switch, but next to it was a movable block which you couldn’t tell it was movable unless you had a keen eye. Entering the room of that secret honestly was a challenge in itself with poison dart traps, a boulder trap to boot as well but we got through it all. It just took a couple of attempts, y’know how it is.

Now, a lot of what happened after is a bit lengthy to talk about and off the top of my head, a bit hard to remember how I reacted to a lot of it, some key areas was the quicksand, which I about had a panic over because that is scary. How dare they bring that in. I panicked about being unable to get any further and it was terrifying! There was also an outside part where some of the ruins came tumbling down and I was in water and had to climb back up. Let’s just say I went well into the double figures with my deaths on that one. There was so much depending on how skilful I was with some of my jumps, and I’m rubbish at jumping. I really hoped this game didn’t depend on it! But alas, seems I’ll just have to “git gud” at this now, and weep whilst I do it. But there were so many different sections to get through, to get keys to progress further through the level. There was also one part which included invisible platforms.

Do not get me started on the invisible platforms. This was the part where my sister thought it was hilarious to watch and then got stressed with me at the same time. We both admit, the way they programmed these platforms was wonderful in our eyes, it reminded me of the uzi secret in the first game, except now we actually have a way of seeing them all through the use of lights, ain’t no leap of faith this time. Basically what we got annoyed at was that I wasn’t able to jump very well and the game sometimes didn’t register the jump, so a conversation like this played out.

“Press the jump button.” “I am, what do you think I’m doing?” “Press it harder then!” “You think it’ll work if I press harder?” “It’s the only way, press the button harder and she’ll go further!”

In my opinion, I found it to be a funny moment between us as she is starting to join in more with some of the game, being more interested in later instalments such as AoD which may be interesting to write about. But this conversation reminded me of watching my dad on the PC when him and my mum would play this, my mum watching him, and literally saying the exact same thing as my sister did. It really brought back fun memories.

Back to talking about this level. After we collected the keys, we ended up with more traps to get around, more boulder traps and more fire-breathing statues. This is the theme for this level it seems. Statues that do things that I hate, such as breathing fire, and moving. As we got past all these traps, we came to a new room. I walked in like it was nothing, only to realise that it was a room with two statues in, two statues that woke up and were ready to knock me out into next week! I screamed like I’ve never screamed before, this included my sister as she just kept shouting to shoot and I ignored all that and ran away up to a ledge that they couldn’t reach. I thought we were safe and panicked once I suddenly saw another statue on this ledge, except it didn’t come to life this time which was mildly reassuring.

I decided to do this the cowardly way and handle the statues from that ledge, dangling whenever they guarded to make them drop their guard and shot them from a distance. Typical me stuff, y’know. After killing them, I was lost. I was a lot little puppy with what to do because I didn’t see them drop a sword each to put on the statue. We were scanning around and I did take a while before we managed to figure it out.

Then there was the next room. The one me and my sister called, “the room with the floating jesus-wannabe”. I told her that this was someones “team mate” (purely because she didn’t see the first cutscene with Tony) and we’re kinda figuring out what happened, “she said she liked what she called them better. I didn’t notice the statue lying in wait up until i picked the key up from underneath Randy or Rory, whichever one he may be, and then heard music playing and footsteps. I started weeping and my sister saluted me and said “good luck soldier”. I about wanted to deck her for that because she left the room to get snacks after that moment, only to come back in once I defeated it. It was super easy when you face them head on with a shotgun. Totally didn’t take to long.

After defeating it, we found more traps that were my worst nightmare, the spiked ceiling was an enemy that I was becoming too familiar with with the amount of times I died to it. Then I managed to do it. My speedy butt finally did it and I was absolutely loving it. There was the other trap as well which was smart but my worst nightmare, because it was underwater with a current trying to suck you in. Oh, I loathed it and wanted to break something. But we powered through, put all the keys in and finished the level. My sister watched and said that Tony was doing some weird “voodoo shizzam”. I thought that was an alright way to put it and after that cutscene, we were ready for the next level but left it there for the day. To be fair, that cutscene was enjoyable to watch and interesting as we saw what Tony was doing, something that we didn’t see before as he seemed to show his true colours. So we found out what happened to Randy and Rory, was probably Tony’s fault, or the artefact we have been chasing after.

As a summary for this whole level, it was super dark yet it was atmospheric. I found out all monkeys are now rude and I have to kill them, and that Tony is also rude and a bit of a prick so I need to kill him too. All fun and games! Oh, I found out that statues are something that will haunt me to the grave, the first instalment had the centaurs which traumatised me, the second had the jade statue warrior by the end of the game, so now they’ve thrown in some right at the beginning. Great. Please let that be the end of the statues though, or am I hoping for too much there? This level has been fun and very challenging, there certainly is a bit of a difficulty jump in comparison to the first levels of the previous instalments, which were a bit easier to handle. Though I’m not complaining, to be honest, we definitely needed a challenge.

But that is all for the Temple Ruins as we will be back with the third level of the India levels, The River Ganges. It mentioned water and I saw a bike, I’m going to hate this aren’t I?

#long post #tomb raider 3 #croud's playthrough #tomb raider #classic lara #classic tomb raider #playthrough #temple ruins #these darned statues will be the death of me #we're making a comeback!

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fanwarriorfictions · 5 years

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One-

A Stranger Things Fanfic

Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street

Phina didn't get any, restful, sleep that night, just as she predicted. The good hour and half that she had gotten earlier in the morning had brought a nightmare that her brain was quick to forget, and Phina was grateful. Whatever had happened, had led her to wake up in tears.

A new, even worse, feeling had started up in her gut, the nightmare fueling it like gasoline on a fire. She was sick and tired of these terrible feelings, almost actually feeling slightly sick because of them.

When she finally got up from bed, and got dressed, which had taken way more mental preparation than she was willing to admit, the rest of her family had already started eating breakfast.

She walked downstairs and into the kitchen, seeing Mike stuff an Eggo waffle into his pocket. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, and he elected to ignore her. She pretends that she didn't see anything, but Mike could still see the suspicion in her eyes.

Phina walks into the dining room and sat down at her usual spot, not getting anything to eat. For the third morning in a row, she skipped breakfast, and Karen had definitely noticed.

"No breakfast again Seraphina," Karen asks.

"Not hungry," she replies shortly, not bothering with another lie today, to tired to even come up with one.

Mike sits down next to her and starts quickly eating his waffles. Everyone's attention leaves her and goes to him, giving him weird looks. Phina getting even more suspicious, narrowing her eyes at him, which he again ignores but he can't hide the way he squirms under her scrutiny.

"Slow down Mike," Nancy says, "that's disgusting."

Mike looks at her, and smugly says, "do a lot of studying last night?"

Phina snorts and hides her face in her hands, her tired mind finding the comment a little too funny. Mike must have seen Steve last night, and knowing her brother, he had some sarcastic comments ready for this conversation.

"Yeah, actually I did," Nancy replies, looking down at her plate, almost bashfully.

"Oh I bet you did," Phina sniggers.

"What was your test on again," Mike asks tilting his head then saying with a smug tone, "human anatomy?"

Phina lets her head fall onto the table, barely keeping her laughs at bay, her body shaking at the effort.

Nancy kicks Mike underneath the table, and Mike kicks her back. The table rattles and Phina raises her head off of it, still giggling a little. She was slightly delirious from her lack of sleep, and food.

"Hey," Karen says sternly, "what's going on?"

"Nothing," Mike and Nancy say at the same time.

Phina rolls her eyes at the two of them, breathing deeply to calm herself, "mom. I'm gonna head out, I want to go see Jonathan before school."

"Ok sweety, make sure you get to school on time," Karen answers.

Phina nods and leaves.

Phina got to the Byers' house just in time to see Jonathan getting in his car. He stops when he hears and sees his best friend. She parks her bike and without saying a word, goes up to him and pulls him into a hug. He wraps his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Jonathan, I'm so sorry," she whispers, "Will is a smart kid, he'll be ok."

"God I hope you're right," he whispers.

"Have I ever lied to you," she asks.

A small smile shows up on his face, "no, never."

They pull away from each other and he looks down sadly. She places her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him in every way possible.

Phina looks towards his house, "how is she?"

"Not great. She isn't handling this to well," he sighs.

"Understandable, considering," she sighs as well, "will you tell her that if you guys need anything, call me."

"Phina that's not..."

"No, your mom has been there for me all my life, I want to return the favor," she cuts him off.

He smiles, "Ok, I'll tell her."

"Were gonna be late to school, we gotta go," she says looking down at her watch.

"I was just on my way there, before you showed up," he says.

"Yeah," she chuckles, "I'm sorry, I just needed to check on you."

"Thank you for that," Jonathan nods, "you lead the way, I'll follow."

"Ok."

Jonathan and Phina walked into the school together, going straight to the bulletin board, putting up a poster about Will. Phina felt eyes on them and looked over to see Nancy and her new friends looking at them. She glared at Carol, Tommy, and Steve and turned back to Jonathan, giving him another thumbtack.

"Do you need me to put a few up around the school," she asks.

"Yeah." Jonathan pulls out a few posters, and some thumbtacks. "Here you go. Thank you Phina."

She goes to tell him that it's not trouble at all when she's interrupted by a voice behind her.

"Hey," Nancy says to Jonathan.

"I'm gonna go," Phina said, leaving Jonathan with her sister, not giving him anytime to protest.

She knew that Jonathan would have used her as a crutch if she was there, as he did in every social interaction they had, so she thought it was better to have him fend for himself for once. She felt slightly bad, but she knew it would help him in the long run of things. Not to mention, she didn't want to really be around her little sister, because where Nancy was, Steve was.

Phina went around to all the bulletin boards in the school, putting up every poster she had. A few looks were sent her way, judgement filled in each one. She sent her own back each time, and her glares could set fire to an ocean, no one was willing to hold it.

Heading to her first class, math, Phina hardly looked at anyone, letting herself draw into her mind about the night before, the distraction of the posters no longer there to keep the thoughts at bay. As she was about to go into the classroom, an arm wraps around her shoulders.

"Hey there red headed Wheeler," Steve Harrington says.

"Remove your arm before you don't have one Harrington," she bit out at him.

"Ok ok, calm down," he laughed, but did as he was told.

"What do you want Harrington," Phina groaned.

"Can't I just want to talk to you," he asks.

"No, not really. You want something and I'm not going to help you," she snapped.

"Ok someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," he joked, smiling his arrogant smile that he used on ever girl he ever talks to.

"Maybe it's because I couldn't sleep last night knowing you were in my sisters bedroom," she snapped at him, turning her head to the side, glaring.

"How'd you know I was there?"

"Because you aren't a ninja Harrington, I was out on my roof last night and you didn't even notice me," she snapped.

Before he could get another word in, she walked into her classroom and sat down, him following behind and sitting quietly next to her. He wasn't going to risk his life trying to talk to her right now. He could sense her blistering anger, and he did not want to be the one that unleashed that upon the world.

Phina sat in her room, drawing. After yet another stressful day, she need it to wind down a little. She tilted her head to the side, closing her eyes as her hand took control. Her mind kept going back to last night, the monster. She wondered if that was what she would draw today. Maybe if she drew it again, she could try and figure out what it was, and why she had drawn it.

"Phina! Dinner," her mom yelled.

She snapped out of her trance, her eyes opening slowly, looking down at the drawing. This one wasn't of the monster. No, it was much much worse. It was of Steve Harrington. It wasn't finished, the shading not deep enough for proper demension, but it was still incredibly accurate, and she hated it.

Phina wanted to smack herself for drawing it. She hated him, didn't she? Her drawings were supposed to calm her, but these past two just caused her more frustration and anger than before.

Phina closed her sketchbook roughly and walked down to the dining room. Everyone sat around the table awkwardly, and she almost just turned around and walked back up, but her mother was giving her a pointed look.

Karen looked around at everyone, "something wrong with the meatloaf?"

"Um, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch," Dustin says, "I don't know why."

"Me too," Lucas chimes in.

Phina looks at them suspiciously and Dustin gives her a pleading look that says, leave it, so she does.

Phina sits down next to Mike as Nancy says, "it's delicious mom."

"Thank you sweety," Karen says.

A moment passes before Nancy speaks up again, "so there's this, special assembly thing tonight. For will, at the school field, Barb's driving."

"Why am I just hearing about this?"

"I thought you knew," Nancy lies.

"I told you, I don't want you out after dark until Will is found," Karen says.

"I know, I know, but it'd be super weird if I'm not there, I mean, everyone's going," Nancy tries to convince her.

Karen ponders for a moment, "just. Be back at ten."

Nancy smiles triumphantly and Phina rolls her eyes. She knew that Nancy wasn't going to go to the damn assembly, she probably going to hangout with Steve. Karen catches Phina's eye roll and her eyes light up with an idea.

"Why don't you take your sister too," Karen says.

Phina's eyes widen and she starts to object, but Nancy sends her a pleading look, "ok sure."

Nancy mouths a thank you to her sister, which earns her a look that says you owe me. Suddenly, Mike coughs as he is drinking his milk.

Phina looks at him worriedly and follows his eyes to where he's looking. A girl, with a completely shaved head walks down the stairs. Dustin hits the table, trying to get everyone's focus away from the girl, but Phina locks eyes with the her, and she feels and instant connection with her.

"Sorry, spasm," Dustin explains.

Phina continues to stare at the girl, who she'd never laid eyes on before, but felt as if she knew her. Mike lightly kicks her underneath the table, and she whips her head towards him. They have a silent conversation with their eyes, him pleading with her to be quiet about her. She agrees, but he'll have some serious explaining to do.

-1806 words-

#steve harrington x oc #strangerthingsfanfic #stranger things fanfic #strangerthings #stranger things #steve harrington #romance #one

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gurguliare · 6 years

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garden-ghoul replied to your post “garden-ghoul replied to your post “garden-ghoul replied to your...”

so if I give you a prompt then you WILL owe us? let me dig through my brain for the most incomprehensible bullshit... listen I really want to hear your take on echo. I was just listening to their focus episode and being like "aw echo as an unwilling government official is darling." but also I want to see you try echo/grand

Okay........... I really have no handle whatsoever on Echo but wish me luck

“Wait,” said Ballad. “He’s working for you?”

Echo was so tired that it was hard to notice when they didn’t understand something; it took them almost a minute of frowning at their hands to be sure that the question had come out of nowhere. “No. What? I didn’t say that. I said he went to get coffee. He’s taking a really long time.”

“I heard what you said.” Ballad had on that expression he got when he thought someone would make a fool of him if he tried to be patient. Clearly, he was trying anyway, which was quite the gesture---for Ballad. It didn’t count too much in Echo’s books. “And I heard what he said. And I heard---” He seemed to remember, all at once, that he wasn’t still trapped on a moon-sized casino, surrounded by dickheads. “Look, I just want to get things straight. If he was spying for you all along, why didn’t you tell me that?”

“He’s not spying for us. He’s Grand Magnificent, he doesn’t know how to file a report---I had to do his reports for him when we were an ex-con and an artistic visionary, back on Quire. He used to bribe me with... Actually, what the hell did he bribe me with? Werewolf lore?” Echo came back to themselves with a start; Ballad was listening, they could tell, but also struggling to keep awake. They had the uncomfortable feeling that Ballad, for once, was right to be suspicious of delay. Between the blood loss, the shame, and Echo’s own fund of strength, they could always wait him out. They didn’t have to answer.

“He’s really not on the Coalition’s payroll. At least, I think. That’s not why I saved him. I told you, I'm done losing things.”

“I believe you,” said Ballad, eyes shut. “But why did he let you save him? And---” a little halting now, before the killing stroke “---how come he keeps rubbing your back?”

“Uh.”

It was too late anyway. Fatigued by triumph, Ballad slept.

Grand came back with a cardboard drinks carrier, loaded down with three cups of differently-colored foam, and thank God one black coffee. “I decided to try all the breakfast flavors,” said Grand, sitting next to Echo, and didn’t offer them any of the interesting cups. Echo sipped their coffee---it was lukewarm---then wondered why they were sipping anything, and chugged it. There was no normal waste receptacle in the medbay. They got up and left the room, trusting that Grand would follow. And he did, still mid-stream: “So far, egg’s ahead.”

The hallway felt better. Less fogged with guilt. “‘So far’?”

“Sure. Flavor isn’t a matter for naive impressions. It’s about robustness. Have you read those Coca-Cola studies?”

“What’s Coca-Cola?”

“Eh, ancient fetish object, you probably won’t have heard of it.”

“I just said I hadn’t, didn’t I?”

“See?”

Echo kneaded their forehead. “Can you not touch me in front of Ballad?”

“Oh. Oh, shit, of course. I’m sorry.” To his credit, Grand did look a little panicked, which was as close to ‘contrite’ as he’d ever gotten where Echo could see. That wasn’t fair either. Sometimes he’d been very panicked. “I wasn’t thinking. No one wants to see that with their little sibling.”

“Wh---that’s not it.” Echo’s grip slid back into their hair, and tightened. “Is it? Maybe that’s it. He was never good with PDA. No, goddamnit, that can’t be it. He thinks you’re an agent for the Qui Err.”

“Ah,” said Grand, and licked foam off his mustache. Then he rubbed his lip. He hadn’t done a bad job of peeling off the tar, once it cooled, but his hair still hadn’t dried from the shower, and his skin was pink in weird patches---probably not from the shower. Maybe. Echo didn’t know anything anymore. “I could be? Should I talk to your---is Iota Pretense your boss, maybe? Or your colleague? Every member of the Advent Group is considered eligible for leadership positions, which, let me tell you, is a pain. What is the Coalition’s command structure?”

“You know, sometimes...” The funny part was, Echo could feel their hands relaxing. It was a problem. Everything they’d ever trusted, they still trusted; even to the sound of Grand’s interminable voice. All that talk about confidence, but their body had never lost faith.

Which was how they ended up pinning their brother to the safehouse wall like a specimen. Because they had trusted him, too: to be better.

Grand wasn’t talking. He was listening, it seemed like, but not in the way that Ballad listened, as if by waiting imperiously enough he could summon the answer he needed. He seemed more afraid than expectant, but still the whole weight of his attention was there, strangely, as though Echo were the most important thing he could be thinking or learning about. It wasn’t comfortable. It made Echo feel overfull, as though they might at any point spill out and ruin more. Grand on Quire had spent his time learning from nightmares. So far as they knew, that was still true.

“I don’t hate you. I take it back, we can hold hands in front of him, I don’t care if he freaks. I like the back rubs. But it’s hard---you make it hard. Why didn’t you call it off? At the safehouse. You could have told him to go.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s true,” said Grand. “One, I forgot to set up the intercom system, and by the time the Rapid Evening descended it would have taken too long to instill loyalty. Alexa is very flaky. Two, I... I’m not spying for you, that I know of, but I am spying on Advent. At least, I might be? I have some information. To be honest, what I had in mind was a little more hands-on, but I’m happy to help... however I can. Does that make sense?”

“Not really.”

“I didn’t want your brother to know that I didn’t want him to rescue me, because then he would have known I didn’t want Advent to rescue me. Which, in fact, I didn’t. That is, I did! I wanted to be rescued. I would have been fine letting Advent do it, given a sufficiently brisk turnaround. But then you came.”

“He wouldn’t have gone anyway,” Echo admitted. “I think he thought he needed you. To keep his job.”

“That sounds about right,” said Grand, tentative. “He wasn’t very popular with the higher-ups.”

Echo shuddered. “Why not tell me? ‘Echo, go home. I love working with bird fascists, and, and collectors, because this is a place where I can really cultivate my art---’”

Finally, a hint of frustration crept into Grand’s face. To a stranger he might still have looked like an innocent confounded; he bit his lip, smiled, and the smile hung there even as his expression darkened. “I didn’t,” he began, and then went on, gently: “I thought that might blow my cover too. If I said, ‘Hey, Echo, I’m okay. I’m doing what I love, melting legos and shredding duvets, and since I know you care more about my enrichment than winning this war---’”

“I didn’t go there because it was my job to!” Echo forced themselves to speak softly. “I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.”

“Sure,” agreed Grand, “which is why that might have worked. If the intercom had been on. But also, it also would make you sound like the spy.”

“Whatever.” Echo was thinking about the journey back. Even then, Grand hadn’t been subtle. In the safehouse his fussing could probably have passed for urgency, but once aboard Echo’s ship he had become a meek, attentive shadow, going where Echo pointed him, doing what Echo wanted---laughing at Echo’s teary jokes as if helpless to disagree. “You could have let him in before me. You didn’t even disable any of the traps until he was on the ground.”

Grand was silent now. “I guess I thought it was time I showed you my hand,” he said at last, mildly. “It’s a crap hand. I’ll admit that. I’ve witnessed some poker, and I’m fluent in ‘cards.’ But you deserved to know. And once you arrived, I don’t think a---a lighted exit sign could have pulled Ballad away. You were really convincing! For a while there I was sure you had it.” He had been leaning against the railing, and sank further with an enunciated groan. “You have a point, though,” he said. “I got distracted watching you fight. I forgot that there was something I could do. And, you know, I don’t want to do that anymore, I don’t want to forget---there’s no scenario where there’s nothing I can do.”

That sent a chill down Echo’s back. Maybe because he said it to himself, as an afterthought, despite his captive audience. He was as vain as ever, but had discovered how to aim his arrogance; he brought it out the way you would a gun, to polish and maintain when not in use. And the mustache really was not flattering. Echo plucked away the cup Grand had been nursing. “I’ll drink to that,” they said vaguely, already forgetting the words, and trying to lick egg-flavor out of their mouth as soon as it appeared. Grand replaced the first cup with a second, which turned out to be pomegranate. “---How is pomegranate a breakfast food?”

“It’s an homage,” said Grand, absently, and absently brought their hand to his mouth and kissed the back. Gross.

“Hey, Grandmag.”

“Yeah?”

“Will it blow your cover if you shave?”

“Definitely.”

“What if I shaved you? To humiliate you, while you were held prisoner here?”

“Is this still a hypothetical?”

There had to be something they could do other than kiss him. Or pick him up. There was the temptation to pick him up, but Echo didn’t want to walk anywhere, in case Ballad woke up again. Eventually, they settled for wrapping him in a hug. If his third shirt of the day got all fucked up from them crying on it, that was the least Echo could do.

“I’m not 'going to freak,’” said Ballad, the next day. Echo had actually slept a little, which had made them tireder. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“That’s the freaking.”

“It’s not. I don’t care if you’re---getting laid. Look, now who’s embarrassed?” Still you, Echo wanted to protest, but the temptation to hide behind a hank of hair was stronger. “I care about you putting your trust in Grand Magnificent. What's there to trust?”

“You trusted him, didn’t you?”

“I trusted him to protect himself. My mistake was to think that meant protecting Advent. I trust water to find its level, I don’t trust it to take off and fly.”

“We’re in space, though.”

“You know, I used to see him at the Catapult---we were rivals. I led an entire faction, and he was one engineer. But I could feel him... sizing me up, and the way he did it, soon everyone did it. Like: ‘That one. That one isn’t secure.’ Once someone like Grand Magnificent sees the world in a certain way, it’s impossible for others not to join him. It’s an infection.”

“So?” said Echo. “That’s art, I guess. Or it’s being a rich asshole in a crowd of rich assholes. Annoying, I know.”

Ballad looked at them. Echo started to worry. They’d been too harsh, they'd been fervent and then flippant, and Ballad lay there with a hole in his gut shaped like the sword he’d helped them choose.

But he said, “You do it too.”

“I do what?”

“Art, I guess. Unless you’ve come into some money I don’t know about. You show other people what you’ve seen until they can’t see anything else. You did it to him---that’s the first time I’ve seen that. Grand Magnificent catch someone else’s idea? It’s like watching a rat get the plague.”

“Huh.”

“In a nice way. Well, nicer. Creepy, but that’s his fault, not yours. Where does he get off, echoing my little sib?”

“Fuck off. It won’t last,” said Echo, realizing as they said it that they no longer believed it. They thought, against all reason, that Grand would probably stay. “He’s just impressionable. He has these phases, then he goes and finds a new muse.”

“And you?”

“He’s not my muse.”

“Yeah. But is this a phase? Or do you think you’re about settled?”

There was no replying to that. There was no calm, no hope it didn’t sicken them to feel. Here, in the middle of getting all they’d wanted, the truth was still too awful to admit. Ballad would recover. But the war dragged on.

Ballad pinched their arm.

“You’re the worst patient,” Echo complained. “You’ve got the bedside manner of a---of a crab.”

“You’re the one who’s supposed to have bedside manner.”

“I’m not! I’m the one who stabbed you!”

It was hard to know how to stop feigning indignation with someone you couldn’t punch in the arm. Or anywhere else. Echo did their best, though, covering their head and laugh-sighing; and when they checked from under their fingers, Ballad was smiling too. He looked thoughtful. Their brother was such a planner, although he wasn’t very good at it.

“If he wants to go back,” he said, “he can use my disappearance. He should say it proves what he was always saying, that I was hotheaded, I didn’t have my priorities right. Ask him what he thinks about that.”

“Okay.”

“Maybe he can volunteer to take over the Volunteers. That should bring more people over, anyone who might be tempted to go with Kitcha Kana’s crew at first.”

“Um...”

“It should work. Every member of the Advent Group is considered eligible for leadership positions.”

“Ugh, god, don’t say that. Did you have to go to orientation?”

“Don’t be such a baby. You might be planning orientations yourself, someday soon.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

The smile spread to a grin. “I’m through with Advent. But I wouldn’t trust me with my kids,” said Ballad, coldly. “Legato is due for her rebellious stage in T minus no years. Who do you think is going to be running the school?”

#on further reflection this appears to be #completely straightforward and fluffy echogrand #sandwiched between a lot of judgy ballad #I'LL DO BETTER NEXT TIME.#twilight mirage #friends at the table #garden-ghoul #tumblr as she is spoke #nb this isn't long because it's interesting it's long because i couldn't. figure out how to stop it

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electraposts · 7 years

Text

AIC 27

“I said run!”

Oh, that was what it was. “No chance.” Naruto bit out, fumbling to pull out a kunai and run to help Sasuke. He moved-

“Sasuke!” He heard Sakura shout it with him.

Sasuke fell forward.

Naruto's vision froze. That didn't make sense. Did Sasuke stumble? One second he was running and then he tripped down and didn't move.

The dark-haired jerk stepped forward so that his sandal was at Sasuke's head. He looked down. He didn't even look like he cared.

“Get up, bastard!” Naruto shouted, because what the hell was Sasuke doing at a time like this?

Shark face laughed and looked at Kakashi-sensei. Then his face changed. He was looking at something else.

Naruto followed his eyes- Sakura was trying to leave, like sensei said. And the sharkman wanted to stop her. Naruto moved to get in between them. Kakashi-sensei had the same thought, because Naruto blinked and he was looking at Kakashi-sensei's back.

Metal clashed- Kakashi's kunai sparked against the shark's enormous sword. Naruto dared a glance over at Sasuke. He still wasn't moving. What was wrong with him?

“Kakashi-san. It has been a while.”

There was something about that guy's voice that was beyond creepy. Sharkman had stopped when his partner spoke. He took a step back, hefting his sword over his shoulder.

Kakashi-sensei wasn't looking at the sharkman, even though he was only less than a meter away. He didn't say anything and Naruto couldn't see his face, but something was very wrong.

The absolute bastard stepped over Sasuke on his way to Kakashi. “If you wouldn't mind, Kisame-san.”

Naruto bolted past the bastard to Sasuke. No one stopped him so he dropped to his knees and shook his teammate. Sasuke's head sort of rolled on the dirt. It was so wrong that Naruto snatched his hand back. “What the hell did you do to him?”

No one answered him.

“Let me go! Stop, stop!”

Naruto looked up in time to see that the sharkman was walking towards them slowly, holding Sakura up around his head with one hand around her wrist. She was struggling and beating at his right hand and head with the arm she had free, but it didn't seem to register.

Kakashi-sensei's knees buckled. He fell to the grass as limply as Sasuke had. His face stared up blankly.

“No!” Sakura made a horrible sound that hurt to hear. She struggled even harder- and there was a really weird wet popping sound. She screamed and curled her legs up, clutching at her shoulder with her free hand.

Naruto got back up to his feet and stood between the intruders and his unconscious teammate. “Let her go!” The kunai shook, just a little.

For the first time, the assholes looked at him. The sharkman smiled at him with way more teeth than should fit in a mouth.

“Look at that, Itachi-san. Convenient, don't you think?” He hefted Sakura a little higher. She made a high sound that boiled Naruto's blood.

“Yes.” The one who must be Itachi had a voice that lower than he should. Naruto tried not to shiver. There was something really wrong with him. “I'm afraid that you will have to come with us.”

“Why the hell would I do that?” Naruto spat. His hand was so tight around a kunai that it was cramping.

The sharkman grabbed Sakura's shoulder and oriented her body front. Itachi seemed to see it as a cue because he glanced at her and she went as still as Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. Her hand dropped, her legs straightened.

“Because it will be easier for us to pass Konoha's security with a hostage.”

Sharkman tossed Sakura over his shoulder.

Itachi's voice was infuriatingly calm. “You should come with us. Someone will have to return your teammate here to Konoha, once we are done.”

Naruto really, really tried to see another option. “You'll let us both go?” he asked, as hard as he could. Kakashi-sensei really wasn't moving. Was he dead? Sensei and Sasuke and Sakura had all gone down just like that and Naruto didn't even know what Itachi had done. “What if you decide to keep us? Or kill us?”

Sharkman gave a mean, ugly laugh. “Don't think too highly of yourself.”

“Of course.” Itachi said it so matter of factly. “You can be of use to us for a time. With a hostage, we will not have to engage in combat with any other unfortunates.” His eyes strayed to Sasuke. “But you are only genin. We would gain nothing from killing one such as you. After you help us, you may go free.”

He felt sick. It was all so wrong. Was he really going to go with them? The fight had been so fast and so quiet- maybe it would be better to scream. If he yelled even once someone might notice before Itachi could shut him up.

But probably not. And if someone came, then they wouldn't need a hostage. Maybe they'd just kill Sakura.

Naruto swallowed. “Okay.”

He felt like the lowest of the low. But he followed. The really creepy guy, Itachi, led them through the brush of the training field and kicked aside nothing at all to reveal a hole with a metal ladder.

Naruto had no idea at all what was going on.

The shark guy went first, Sakura still and small over his shoulder. The creep came last and having that guy behind him in the dark made Naruto want to scream. It felt like forever. His eyesight gradually adjusted to the darkness. The passage was only about a meter across. Sometimes there was another hallway, but they weren't all the same size. Some were smaller. Itachi quietly called out directions... He was the one who knew this place.

His forehead protector.... He'd been a Konoha shinobi, hadn't he? The line meant that he was a deserter. He had belonged to Konoha, and that was why he knew the way around.

Naruto felt so angry he might be sick. How could that utter bastard do this? How could a person betray his friends and attack people he should protect?

It got worse once they went back above ground because then they were running. Naruto was gasping to keep up. Once he began to fall behind but Itachi and Kisame didn't even seem to notice. They definitely didn't slow down.

Of course not! They only needed one hostage. And they didn't really care if someone was there to help Sakura when she woke up wherever the bastards would leave her. He needed to keep up. He couldn't let her down again.

The nightmare went on for hours. Naruto ran harder and longer than he knew he could. They never went to the road team 7 had taken when they had gone to Wave Country. The whole time they were running in the trees, up high and if he messed up he could fall and lose them and Sakura would be alone-

They stopped, and then dropped down to the ground. Naruto copied quickly and his knees burned from the force of landing. Itachi gave Naruto a quick, dismissive glance. “Five minutes.” Naruto wanted to punch him.

“Is it that time already?” Kisame let Sakura hit the grass.

“Watch it!” Naruto yelled. No one looked at him. Not even when he went to check on Sakura and see if she might be waking up.

Itachi made a series of hand seals and then held his right hand in front of his face. He touched a ring he was wearing. Something really weird was happening.

Naruto leaned in to watch, fascinated despite himself.

A sheet of light rose up. It looked like the static on a tv, except there were a lot more colors.

“Leader-sama.”

The light grew a dark center. The darkness turned into a human shape. A guy, with spiky hair.

Itachi seemed to have been expecting that. “We have left Konohagakure and passed most of the internal security. There ought to be no trouble until the border.”

“Acceptable.” The figure wavered. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Kisame glanced at Naruto.

'If I could figure out what they wanted, the old man will want to know.”

“One of two objectives has been fulfilled,” Itachi said.

That wasn't very helpful.

The stranger's voice sharpened. “Are you alone?”

“No.”

There was a moment of quiet. “Very well.” The figure seemed to nod. “Acceptable. I look forward to your return.”

They ran again after that. Naruto had no idea how long it was. His legs went through the cycle of tiring, hurting, and feeling fine again three times. And then Itachi slowed down a step and made contact with Kisame. “Aa,” he said.

Kisame snorted. “I wondered if we would really be so lucky.” He jumped to a lower branch and then to the forest floor. Naruto copied, because Kisame was the one holding Sakura. He didn't see Itachi for a couple of seconds but then he was right there with them.

Kisame and Itachi were both looking the same way, so Naruto did too. He didn't blink. But he still didn't see the other shinobi show up. One moment there was no one. The next, four people were outlined in the shadows.

One of them, he knew.

Kisame made a surprised sound. “Only one Konoha nin? And one without a hitai-ite.”

“And two from Kiri.” Itachi sounded bored. “Friends of yours, Kisame-san?”

“Can't say I know them. Peculiar.” Kisame sounded like he was smiling. “This is interesting, isn't it? Did you know we were here?”

“Put down the kids and I might not kill you.”

Aiko-san's voice was so cold. He was so glad to see her. She was making some handsigns he couldn't see.

Kisame laughed. “That's not very friendly, now is it?” He cocked his head. “I remember you. You're good at taxes, but mean. Not sugar-sweet enough to be from Konoha. You're with Kiri.”

Aiko-san turned her face away from Kisame, to narrow in on Itachi.

“Don't look at him!” Naruto heard himself shout. “He looked at Kakashi-sensei!”

It didn't exactly make sense and it was too late. She was looking right at him, Naruto could see it, and she was going to fall down just like sensei and Sasuke and how could anyone fight someone who could just look at you and-

There was a horrible, high pitched sound that hurt his ears. Blood was in the air. And Aiko's fist was sticking out the back of Itachi's chest, along with a shining mass of what looked like glass needles.

Itachi made a small, wounded sound. He looked down at her forearm. Then his knees gave out. Aiko jerked her arm in a funny way and pulled away from Itachi before her jutsu splashed out onto the ground. It wasn't glass. It was just water.

“Second warning.” Aiko was very calm. Something dripped off her arm and hit a stone beside her foot with a plop. She looked at Kisame. “I like that genin. Put her down and flee for your life.”

Kisame looked at Itachi- Itachi's body. Then he tilted his head at Aiko. “You're more interesting than I thought. What's someone like you doing with a failed village like Kirigakure?”

One of the other people made a sharp, angry sound.

“I'm your Mizukage.” Aiko put a foot on Itachi's shoulder, a challenge in her body posture. “And you can't hope to stand against me.”

'Aiko is cool,' Naruto realized, kind of surprised.

Kisame snarled and the world exploded. Naruto choked on water and spun before he knew what was happening. He flipped in the tide and cracked his head so hard he saw stars.

Maybe that had been a push too far. She'd gambled, hoping to make him back down, and lost. Everyone leapt to the trees to dodge the water- except Naruto. Shit.

Aiko zeroed in on where a mop of yellow hair was tumbling in the impromptu ocean. She darted in, letting gravity speed her way.

Chakra twisted and two rows of teeth grinned up to meet her, leaping out of the water with a splash.

She clapped her hands and skewered the shark with mokuton. She hit the water feet-first, grabbed Naruto, and was dragging him up the bole of a tree before Kisame could clear the killed summon. Its fellows snapped at her a moment too late.

Someone took in a sharp breath.

Naruto coughed. Feebly at first, but then he began spitting up water frantically. No- he was vomiting water. Aiko put a hand on his cold back and looked for their opponent.

Kisame was up, up, up, outlined in the dying light. He held out his arm- he held out Sakura. He let her drop.

“Son of a bitch!”

Yamato caught her with mokuton, slamming a bridge into existence. Aiko could hear a bone crack at impact, but it was kinder than the sharks.

The water stopped at an invisible barrier, trapping them all in a fishbowl. It curled back in on itself and began to rise up, approaching 6 meters depth quickly.

She uncurled her fisted grip on Naruto's shirt, now that he was upright. She gritted her teeth. The tree she was standing on shook.

The sharks- the sharks were tearing down the trees with their teeth.

Kisame cut an enormous figure when she glanced up. The sunlight behind him cast his expression in shadow, but it was hard not to read him as malicious.

'I like you, you scary bastard,' Aiko thought. 'I'm going to feel sad about killing you.'

Thunk

“Whoa!” Naruto banged into the tree trunk and clung to it for balance, sopping with big black pupils blown out in pain. He was more disoriented than indignant. “Hey, hey!”

Well. Not that sad.

“Yamato, keep our footing!” Aiko raised her voice to a shout. “You two, get rid of those summons.” She glanced back to Naruto. “Get Sakura, keep moving.” She didn't wait for his response before splitting off two water clones. Naruto yelped when one of them urged him to move, but the other Aiko lingered a few steps behind him to watch his back. She didn't have to give orders aloud. The clones had been made after she chose tactics.

That clone was waiting for her sister to act- clone one would take the kids out of the trap, and then clone two would impersonate the whole group, as apparently weak targets to draw Kisame's opportunistic attention.

Of course, she had to make sure he was looking at her for a moment, he had to be really distracted for an instant at some point for the switch to be seamless.

Kisame was still watching with one hand ready on Samehada. No. Her heart jumped. He would have made a clone to even the numbers. That one was probably a clone. Where was he?

Her people were darting around, sure not to get caught on one tree. The sharks didn't seem to care- they were attacking the same two trees even though no one was standing on them. They were either a bit dim or they were thinking ahead- it didn't matter if they brought down a tree with someone on it. Their goal was to force Kisame's enemies into either the water or into close combat on one tree. Either scenario would go a long ways to neutralize the advantage of numbers in this enclosed space.

She lunged upwards at the clone of Kisame. He readied his sword, raising it above his head to strike her in two. At the last moment she used her hiraishin to change her midair trajectory. She put one foot down on Samehada and the other one in Kisame's face, smashing a boot into sharp teeth.

Like, really sharp teeth. Holy shit this wasn't the clone, what were his tactics? She felt bone break and snap off, but she also felt sharp points tear through the leather of her boot and into the tops of her toes. And then something equally sharp spat up through Samehada-

She took herself away before the spikes cut up into her left foot, but she could feel that the sole of her boot was shredded.

“Note to self,” Aiko said aloud. “Sword is pointy.”

Kisame spat out blood with a laugh and lunged at her. He covered an alarming amount of distance-ah! There was the clone, coming from behind to pin her in a trap.

She side-stepped, and dodged, dodged, dodged and then suddenly she was only fighting one Kisame. Metal clanged behind her and it was near-painful to focus on ducking Kisame when she wanted to see what was happening. Her hands itched for her own blade, but that would be a fatal mistake. Kisame was a swordsmaster and he would defeat her if she engaged on his terms.

Instead, she twisted around and behind him. She was aiming to touch him, to lay down a hiraishin seal. But he reversed so quickly that she had to flip backwards off the branch to avoid decapitation. She nearly lost her footing on the landing- she'd moved to a weakened tree and the whole damn thing made an alarming crack and jerk at her momentum. It tilted- and began to fall.

“Fuck!” She escaped into the tree with Kisame for lack of options, at a lower elevation. She was too near the waterline. She could tell because a shark leapt with a triumphant roar and would have eaten her whole if she didn't have hiraishin. One of her people took the opportunity to cook the fucker with subpar fire ninjutsu. Seared shark smelled a lot like dinner. It fell back into the water, lifeless.

From her new position, she opportunistically sent three kunai winging at the back of Kisame's head before he turned. One connected. The clone dispersed with a splash.

Intuition warned her. She hit her knees and just barely kept her head, because he was back. Samehada's spikes dug into her scalp as it passed- Kisame kicked at her and she viciously impaled the kunai in her hand into his ankle before the blow connected. The force of his kick would have damn near killed her, might have ruptured her organs if she hadn't moved with it and mitigated the power.

It still sent her rolling into freefall.

Yamato's mokuton flew out to catch her, smooth and pale wood connected from a neighboring tree. Before she could land, there was a massive crack and then an upward explosion of splinters. The wood fell away around the oversized shark. All she could see was a gaping red maw lined with hungry teeth. Rude.

She whipped through handsigns she could do in her sleep and twisted to face the shark torso first. With a snarl, she pulled her sen tsurara through the beast's teeth, savaging the roof of its mouth and breaking more than a few fangs off. The shards fell into the great monster's throat. She hiraishin'd away before the unharmed lower teeth could trouble her.

Blood was splashed on her arm, but when sen tsurara fell apart to liquid, it washed away most of the mess. She shook her arm briskly.

“Left!”

She moved before Yamato's word really registered. The jutsu rounded on her again, despite her dodge. Aiko pitched forward and twisted to see what she was dealing with- a water dragon?

“Shit, that's really cool.” She dodged once more. The next movement was strategic- her maneuver forced the jutsu to collide into a branch she was no longer on. It splashed apart, but sent a good 80 kg of wood crashing down. “Heads up!” Aiko yelled out. She had to keep her eyes on Kisame, but she heard an enormous splash and no screams that would indicate the debris killed one of her people.

“May I suggest that you take decisive action before there is collateral damage?” Sanbi asked wryly. “Your followers are not a limitless resource.”

She felt one of her clones dissolve- her bluff had been called, but the kids were out safe. Kisame was coming at her with a grin. She hiraishin'd away to the position of her defeated avatar right after the sword passed through.

'I'm not exactly sitting around knitting, testudine. What have you done today that was more productive than this?'

The grin on Kisame's face froze- or was this one a clone? Were both clones?- and she managed to touch him once, twice, before he could duck back and get his sword into position to be dangerous.

Aiko bared her teeth at him in a grin- his free hand flew up to check the spot on his left pectoral and abdomen where she had placed a seal.

Kisame seemed a bit confused but he tried to kill her, like the unphased champion he was. God, he could have been her employee if things had gone differently. So unfair. She would have had a great time with him.

She cheerily re-positioned and sent a gout of fire screaming at him, because she was also great. He dodged and didn't give the tree behind him a glance. That was a shame because she'd scorched completely through it. The upper bits of tree, suddenly unsupported, dropped.

A mid-sized knot of wood thumped her opponent on the head. Kisame made an “erp” sound and went down with it before he kawarini'd away.

Aiko couldn't help herself, she let out a peal of laughter. It was tinged with victory. The blow to the head hadn't dissolved Kisame- it wasn't a clone. He kept doing that- he would make clones but most often it was the real man who fought head to head. That was an interesting peek into his mindset.

But more relevantly, she had two explosive seals on him. The match was over.

She turned to look at him, still smiling. She widened her stance.

Killing Akatsuki- yes, that needed to be done. But having a tag on one of Akatsuki's big players could be more useful than having him dead. And she could use him to distract Pein.

Kisame could have attacked, but something in her body language must have piqued his curiosity. He paused.

“It's over,” Aiko said, tossing her hair. “That was good, fuck, you're fantastic. But I won.” She tilted her head at him and curled her fingers into her hips, as though she was already clawing through the delicate strings holding together her seals. “Do you want to live or not?”

Kisame's alien eyes narrowed, weighing up her words. He didn't understand how she knew she had won. But her confidence seemed to convince him. “What do you want, kunoichi?”

Her attention flickered, just a moment, to where she could feel her surviving clone ushering Naruto and Sakura away.

Itachi and Kisame had snatched Naruto with what appeared to be minimal difficulties. Gaara might be nearly as vulnerable, if Akatsuki knew where he was. And so many others- she didn't want these bastards coming after sweet little Fuu, or Utakata. He was a precious princess and honestly, she didn't think he'd fare much better than the baby jinchuuriki. Akatsuki was made of monsters that most people just couldn't face.

Aiko mustered up her sweetest smile. “Why don't you carry a message to Pein for me?” She batted her eyes at Kisame, whose expression didn't change. “You'll never get a jinchuuriki as long as I'm around. Tell him he should kill me first, if he can.”

Comprehension dawned.

“I see.” Kisame straightened. He sheathed Samehada on his back. His grin was fierce and genuine. “Thank you. We wondered where the Ichibi went.”

She felt a lightning bolt of cold fear- no. He meant... He thought that she had taken it into herself.

Her expression hadn't changed, thank god. Aiko shrugged at him. “It's kind of obvious, isn't it?” She turned her tone scornful and her volume conspiratorial, because actually she did not want to risk Yamato overhearing this. “An Uzumaki wanders into town, a bijuu disappears- it's amazing that Konoha is this fucking thick.”

He took the information with a nod.

'Wait. Did he know that Konoha thinks Orochimaru has the Ichibi?'

She couldn't tell from his face.

“I'll be seeing you around.” Kisame glanced back at the forest floor, where Itachi's body had fallen. It wasn't there anymore- had he managed to snatch it up, or was it floating somewhere in the water and debris?

The look he gave her actually seemed respectful. “I look forward to killing you, Mizukage-sama.”

Aiko nodded. “I'll enjoy your attempts,” she responded, and actually kind of meant it. Damn. He was fun.

He bounded away. The instant he cleared the barrier it fell apart, sending water cascading out into the forest.

Maybe she should have turned to check on her team and Yamato, but she kept focusing on Kisame. He was covering ground fast, her hiraishin seal burning through Fire Country. He didn't change trajectory towards Aiko's clone, which might have been purposeful or might have been because he actually didn't know where she was hiding Naruto. She was still looking off into the distance when Yamato landed beside her.

“Mizukage-sama,” he said stiffly.

“Un.” She didn't look at him.

He took a deep breath. “How old are you?”

What? Aiko gave him her full attention and a baffled expression. She tilted her head. “Is now the time for that? Are we getting to know each other?”

His dark eyes were still and serious. “I was Orochimaru's first success, he said.” Yamato looked distant and a little lost. “Of course, he does lie a lot. Were you... before or after he left Konoha?”

She just looked at him. She belatedly understood what he thought- he had seen her mokuton and thought she was like him. It was reasonable and clever and she could use it, sow yet another contradictory theory about her past and existence. But the thought made her tired and she just looked at him until he ducked his head.

“Someone will have noticed all that chakra.” Aiko changed the topic. “We can expect someone from your border patrol within twenty minutes or so?”

Her bodyguards cut in to flank her. Neither of them looked the least bit dead, which was nice.

Yamato had to take a step away. His lips pursed. “I'm not sure they would be that close. But any sensor within 100 kilometers would have noticed that. Hoshigaki-san does not favor subtlety.”

She nodded and reached out to her clone, touching its consciousness and giving a new order. It was only as she did it that Aiko realized that should be impossible. She kept the confusion off her face and probably looked hella cool when her clone hiraishin'd back, Sakura on her back and Naruto clinging to her side.

Her brother's eyes widened at the scene. “Did you beat those guys?” Naruto winced. “I mean, the shark guy. Who were they? What did they want?”

She could tell him about Akatsuki. She knew a lot more than even Jiraiya did, at this point.

Aiko pursed her lips and glanced at Yamato. Konoha wouldn't like her sharing that information with him. Probably. But being ignorant hadn't kept Naruto safe- he'd been running on his own power. Would he have done that if he knew that he was Akatsuki's target?

'Fuck, probably. They were obviously using Sakura against him. But maybe not.'

“I beat him, but he's not dead. Let's talk about that after Sakura has been taken care of.” Aiko reached out to Sakura. Aiko's clone bent to make it easier, and Naruto hurried to help her shoulder Sakura. Aiko bounced twice, trying to adjust the genin's weight. She glanced at her people. “You wait with Yamato-san. Meet me at Konoha general hospital when you can.”

When she reached out, Naruto took her hand without thinking about it. It sort of made her want to cry.

Konoha was a blur she didn't really concentrate on. She had lied to Yamato about going to the hospital, just a bit- the first thing that she and Naruto did was collect Kakashi and Sasuke from where they were laying dangerously hot to the touch in the training field. She took them all to the hospital and then let her mind wander as the adrenaline fled her system.

'I never know what to do anymore. I miss certainty.'

She was aware enough to note that Naruto clung to her side, putting up a fuss when nurses attempted to sort them apart. Aiko roused enough to play along, having her vitals checked and assuring the staff that she and Naruto would wait patiently for whoever would come to debrief them.

It was fairly obvious when Konoha realized who the unmarked kunoichi was, because suddenly there were no civilian personnel to be seen. Someone she didn't know from Intelligence came by for her account of events while someone else prodded Naruto for details about the fight in Training Field 7.

She gave them a fairly detailed account of her motivations and how the fight had played out. They pushed to know how she'd known to come to the fight, and they definitely wanted to know how she had arrived on the scene so quickly.

'I should just talk to Minato. I need to make a decision either way about my strategy for disclosure and just go with it.'

Aiko yawned and pretty much waited for someone with clearance to be worth her time to come up.

Naruto squawked again about being pried from her side, but eventually acquiesced when told he could go see his teammates. Aiko waved goodbye. “I'll talk to you soon,” she promised. As soon as she'd decided what he ought to know, she'd seek him out.

He hesitated at the doorway, blue eyes flicking between her and the medic ushering him out. Then Naruto darted back into the room to throw his arms around her ribs. His nose collided with her collarbone. Startled, she brought a hand up to rest in his hair. An instant later she slid the other around his back.

'Small humans seem to like you.' Sanbi seemed bemused by that.

Naruto sniffled.

Aiko felt her heart melting a bit. “You're a good kid.” She rubbed his scalp and ducked her nose into that blonde fluff. It smelled like sweat and fear and forest. “Your team is going to be better soon. You did well, shinobi.”

Her brother shook in her arms. She did not choose to see how the Konoha shinobi watching reacted.

When Naruto finally let the door shut on his way out, two ANBU were already entering through the window.

“Hello,” Aiko said mildly.

One stood stiffly by the door, while the other lingered at the window. They didn't say anything or even look directly at her, probably because they were inherently rude and bad people.

She sat on the chair meant for the doctor and crossed her legs at the knees.

They didn't try to talk to her the whole time, which verged on unfriendly but didn't really bother her. When the door opened, Aiko was not surprised to see the Sandaime. He swept in as though he met foreign leaders in examination rooms often.

“Good morning,” she offered.

He hummed. “Good evening.”

Aiko shrugged at the correction. She could not imagine caring less. “I assume that my people have made it to the hospital by now?”

The Sandaime nodded. “Two Kiri shinobi passed into the village borders about an hour ago, along with a member of the border control and one of our senior shinobi.”

“Yamato-kun,” Aiko said idly. She pretended not to notice just how the Sandaime froze up at that. “He's a very nice young man. I enjoyed his stay in Kirigakure. He likes wood, I like wood, we have a lot in common.”

The Hokage took a long moment to reply. “I am glad to hear that.” His robes rustled as he came to stand in front of her.

Aiko tilted her head up and gave a moment's thought to the arrangement. It was inappropriate to have the Sandaime stand while she sat- it was arrogant and rude, as though he was subservient to her. She stood and kicked the chair back so she had some space to breathe.

The old man met her eyes with a bit of amusement.

She tucked a thumb into the waistline of her pants but didn't slouch too obnoxiously. Gotta hit the perfect balance of respect and careless self confidence.

It seemed like he was going to wait for her to speak. Smart.

“You should watch Naruto a bit more,” Aiko suggested. “And tell him things. He had no idea that he was Akatsuki's target.”

“Your opinion is noted,” Sandaime said coldly. Ah. She'd overstepped. “It is very kind of you to have such a personal interest in one of my shinobi.”

“We're related,” Aiko pointed out.

“Closely.”

She felt her brows raise. Did the Sandaime know? Aiko tilted her head slightly but she couldn't tell.

All in, all out. All in?

“Yes,” Aiko said, as though sharing this meant nothing to her. “Not as closely as you'd think, but I'm as closely related to the other person you think I'm related to as I am.”

Might as well take the risk, rather than be dragged kicking and screaming to it. There'd be no correcting damning misunderstandings if Konoha was allowed to come to them organically.

There was the strangest muscle movement in the Sandaime's face.

“Minato is a good man in most respects,” Aiko said placidly. “But there's something he should probably tell you. I'm sure he's thinking about it. It's not the thing you think I mean.” She gave the Sandaime a polite smile. “Unless you know what I think you think you know, but you know that you know more than I think you think you know?”

He took a bigger breath than was entirely dignified and collected. His wrinkled old brow was twisted in consideration, his mouth turned down. “Mizukage-sama, I ask that you dispense with the nonsense.”

“I am being perfectly truthful and concise.” Aiko shrugged. “I'm known for my clarity. I can't help that you don't understand. To be honest, I think that you lack the educational background to guess at what I'm saying.” That was incredibly offensive on its face, so she moved on quickly to soften the apparent blow. “Jiraiya probably could guess what I mean. And could confirm that one major school of thought presupposes that the underlying factors exist.”

“Are you offering to speak plainly with my student?”

She considered it. “If you'd like, but I don't have time to do it currently. I need to get back to work. You know how it is.” Aiko tried not to let the despair creep up. “But you know that Minato and I have had no chance to collude, given that you obviously suspect him of the only thing you could conclude without more information. Ask him first. Push him.” She shrugged. “He's loyal to Konoha over anything else, certainly over petty shit like his kids.” She bared her teeth and pretended not to see one of the ANBU freeze in horror. “After he's spilled, send Jiraiya to me. I don't have time to keep coming here every time you have a personal drama.” Aiko crossed her arms and leveled the senior kage with a cold look. “We're finished here. I'll be taking my genin team with me as well, since you owe me. Thank you for your time.”

There was a long, dangerous moment where she thought she had pushed too far. The Sandaime couldn't do much to a fellow kage, especially not when his country was weak, and when he wanted to work with her against Orochimaru. But she wasn't invulnerable.

Sandaime bowed slightly and gestured to the door. “Vole, please reunite the Mizukage with her people and escort them to the village gates.”

Or maybe she was. Nice.

#aiko in canon #extracontent #aic #aic27

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ourloveisforthelovely · 6 years

Text

Being Human 6

A/n: slight smut.

Link to Chapter 5

Words: 5, 590

Pairings: Gabriel x OFC

_______________________

Dean sat with what was 3 shots of whiskey in front of him. Sam had gone off in search of a quiet place to look over stuff for an upcoming case. Cas meanwhile, sat dutifully at Dean’s side.

“It can’t keep going on Cas.”

“What can’t keep going on Dean?”

Cas asked looking genuinely confused. Dean took another sip of his drink before looking up.

“Gabriel and Andi’s constant making out and fucking all over the place. I get that they are together but I am sick of seeing them constantly connected at the lips. I walk into a room and there they are making out. Its no damn wonder that Andi didn’t get knocked up sooner.”

Cas frowned.

“Something tells me that Andi isn’t going to take this very well. Isn’t it normal for newlyweds to be rather….frisky?”

Dean looked like he could barf.

“They aren’t married Cas.”

Cas nodded.

“By angel standards they are. From what I gathered Andi can see his wings. That is a sign of a true soul mate.”

Dean put his head down.

“Son of a bitch now I will never get rid of that damn archangel.”

Cas looked at Dean a little suspiciously.

“Did you think that something was going to change especially with Andi being pregnant?”

Dean groaned before putting his head down on the bar.

“No. I was honestly hoping that I was going to wake up and this would all be a giant nightmare.”

The next morning Cas and Sam followed Dean back into the bunker. Dean had sobered up but was still in the mood from hell. Dean walked into the living room frowning seeing Gabriel and Andi sitting on the couch making out like no one else was in the room. Frowning Dean picked up a decorative pillow that Andi bought before sneaking up and whacking Gabriel as hard as he could in the back of the head.

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

The archangel jumped up glaring at Dean looking like he was ready to smite the eldest Winchester. Dean glared right back.

“You two need to take that shit in your bedroom. I am sick of seeing it!”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

“Umm….get over it?”

Dean started at Gabriel but was stopped by Cas, who effortless put an arm around Dean’s waist holding him back. Andi stood up adjusting her sweater. Her good feelings that she had received the previous night from Dean about the baby suddenly vanished.

“Dean we are kind of bonded now. You are going to have to get used to it. Gabriel isn’t going anywhere.”

Dean stalked off to the kitchen with mumbling under his breath before turning around.

“Married people don’t act like you two. All you two do is fuck or be kissing on each other….its gross!”

Andi put her hands on her hips ignoring Gabriel who quietly said her name.

“Well excuse me Mr. I have the emotional capacity of a rock. If I want to kiss him I will!”

Dean turned looking even more angry at his sister.

“I swear you and Sam make the worst decisions when it comes to significant others! You two just need to be single for the rest of your lives.”

Sam and Andi had the same identical scowls on their faces. Cas and Gabriel were busy looking at each other trying to silently decide what would be best to do. Gabriel finally stepped in.

“Okay can we all stop acting like a bunch of teenage girls?! Dean, Andi is pregnant. GET OVER IT! Andi, I think Dean is trying to take care of you in some weird twisted way that no one here likes. Sugar you need to calm down all of this drama isn’t good right now.”

Dean reached over grabbing his keys.

“I’m done with all of you. Good luck to you and the craziness.”

(4 years later…)

Dean stood outside of the bunker with a frown on his face. In the past four years he had been traveling around the country working cases solo. Around year 3 he started feeling guilty about not being there when his nephew was born. Was being so angry with Gabriel and Andi worth giving up his whole family?

Walking inside Dean was pleased to see that everything looked the same. At least Andi didn’t go on a decorating spree while he was away. Looking around the room Dean wondered where everyone was. A bunker full of people and this place was silent as the grave.

It wasn’t until he heard footsteps that Dean turned around. He froze when he turned around to see a little girl looking up at him.

“Uh hello little girl….are you lost?”

The girl looked at him with honey eyes that were framed by honey curls pulled into pigtails. Realization his Dean with she frowned at him the same way Andi would.

“I know who you are.”

Before Dean could say anything else the little girl snapped her fingers and he was on the ground out cold.

15 minutes later Dean was coming back around. Waking up Dean frowned realizing that he was tied to a little pink plastic chair. Opening his eyes Dean slightly jumped seeing a few plastic dolls looking his way. Feeling like he got hit by a bus he looked around to see the little girl looking at him again. This time she sat with elbow length white gloves and a fancy Easter hat.

“About time you woke up Mr. Stranger. Drink the tea and I won’t bite you.”

Dean smiled. The little girl’s voice was almost musical as she looked him over.

“What’s your name sweetheart?”

Again honey eyes met green ones…

“I can’t tell you.”

Dean struggled against the bounds on his arms that held him to the pink chair.

“Well my name is Dean Winchester. Something tells me that your dad is Gabriel and mom is Andi.”

The little girl looked at him carefully.

“Maybe.”

Dean nodded. Immediately he took in the fact that the child was a lot smarter than the normal 4 year old. Her eyes alone let him know that she was far too aware of the danger that she was in by purely existing.

“Its okay. I’m not a bad guy. I’m not of those guy who would hurt you. I’m not Michael or Raphael.”

She slowly sat up a little straighter in her chair.

“How do I know that?”

Dean sighed.

“Well you don’t. I’m your uncle sweetheart. I mad some bad decisions that took me away from here. I said some bad things to your mamma. Things I should have never said as a brother and most importantly things that she didn’t deserve. But problems or not you protect your family. Its funny even if I didn’t know who your mom and dad was I think I could piece it together. I thought you were supposed to be a boy.”

The little girl smiled.

“I like to play tricks.”

Dean chuckled.

“Great.”

The little girl looked at Dean a little closer.

“I don’t think you are a bad person. My name is Sophia.”

Before Dean could respond the door opened. Gabriel and Andi walked in bickering about something that Dean couldn’t quiet make out. Both stopped dead in their tracks the moment they saw Dean tied to a the little pink plastic chair seated across from Sophia. Andi’s hands immediately went to her mouth while Gabriel started laughing. This was single handedly the best thing that he had ever seen Sophia do. He as about in tears from laughter the moment that Sophia got up and ran over to him.

He reached down picking his little girl up as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Daddy I think this one is good except he doesn’t play tea party too well.”

Gabriel chuckled again before looking at Dean.

“Come on mutton head. Can’t you play tea party with a little girl? Nice work sugar.”

Gabriel kissed Sophia on the head before handing her off to Andi. Dean glared at Gabriel coldly.

“Shut up and let me loose.”

Gabriel shrugged before snapping his fingers letting the eldest Winchester be free.

“Since you asked so nice.”

Andi meanwhile, had walked over to Dean. She looked at him with almost a guarded expression.

“Did you finally decide to come back?”

Dean nodded sympathetically. He watched at Sophia cuddled against her mother’s shoulder. He was immediately regretting meeting so much of the child’s life already.

“Yeah. I’m sorry about everything.”

Andi looked down to Sophia before sitting the child on her feet.

“Go play with Cas sweetie.”

Once the little girl was out of the room Andi looked to her older brother. As much as she wanted to be bitter she couldn’t find it within herself to be that way. When Dean left she felt like a part of her had died. She knew that her depression over Dean was what was causing a lot of her problems in life. Missing her brother had almost turned her into an emotional robot. However, she had to admit that everything wasn’t his fault.

Andi and Gabriel hadn’t been doing so hot for a while either. To Andi it seemed since Sophia was born Gabriel had for the most part pulled away. Their love life had taken a toll for the worst and she couldn’t remember the last time they had made love or kissed the way they used to. Now it seemed they had to pencil in a kiss. For the most part it felt like they were just going through the motions of caring for Sophia and appearing happy for her. Part of her was just waiting for Gabriel to run one day and not come back. If it wasn’t for Sophia he would have probably been gone a long time ago.

“I’m glad you are back.”

Andi said as she wrapped her arms around Dean. She could feel Gabriel frowning at her back but she didn’t care anymore. Dean meanwhile, watched them raising an eyebrow.

“So what is with you two?”

“Nothing.”

Gabriel answered immediately. Dean smirked.

“Yeah that wasn’t suspicious at all. Last time I saw you both you were freakishly happy. Now you look like you want to stab each other.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes sitting down on the couch.

“We are just fine…and happy.”

Andi scoffed.

“Yeah….sure.”

She mumbled. Dean looked between the two raising an eyebrow.

“Look I am not a therapist and I sure as hell don’t pretend to be one but something isn’t normal here.”

Andi shrugged.

“Ask him.”

Gabriel gave his wife a cold expression cluing Dean into everything that he needed to know. Dean groaned he wasn’t about to have couples therapy with the both of them.

“Andi want to go for a ride?”

Dean asked. Andi eagerly grabbed the over sized sweater that she had just taken off.

“I would love to.”

She didn’t even Gabriel time to object before walking out the door. Dean looked back to the archangel with a shrug.

“Be back soon feathers.”

Dean cheekily grinned before following his sister to the Impala. He was slightly shocked that Gabriel didn’t try to stop them instead he just sat calmly on the couch with only a frown on his face.

Driving down the Kansas highway Dean and Andi sat in silence for a few minutes. Dean glanced at his sister a few times as he adjusted the radio. He watched the way her eyes darkened when he stopped on a song that they both enjoyed. Dean wasn’t sure if it was the lyrics or something else but the look on his sister’s face was eery.

Time is the essence Time is the season Time ain’t no reason Got no time to slow Time everlasting Time to play B–sides Time ain’t on my side Time I’ll never know Burn out the day Burn out the night I’m not the one to tell you what’s wrong or what’s right I’ve seen suns that were freezing and lives that were through But I’m burnin’, I’m burnin’, I’m burnin’ for you I’m burnin’, I’m burnin’, I’m burnin’ for you

“So Andi are you going to tell me what is going on with that Angel of yours or am I going to have to drag it out of you?”

Andi looked over.

“Are you going to trust what Gabriel says about us being fine?”

Dean shook his head.

“I don’t trust angels, with the exception of Cas, which means I don’t trust Gabriel.”

Andi sighed.

“Its a lot of crap Dean. We haven’t been fine for a while. I don’t want to scar you.”

Dean chuckled.

“Sis I am already scared the fuck up. If you need to talk about whatever is going on between you and feathers I’m cool with it. I know I tell Sammy no chick flick moments but your different. You don’t even talk to Sam about your problems, which says a lot. People seem to just open up to the man. Damn his trusting face. Well I have been gone for four years you may talk to Sam now.

Andi laughed at that.

“Yeah. Sam is good for talking to but no I usually just keep my shitty feelings to myself. I’m sure Gabriel knows all about them too but he won’t say anything.”

Dean groaned.

“Talk.”

Andi looked back out the passenger window.

“We have just been disconnected. It seems since Sophia was born everything changed. I think Gabriel is so afraid that I am going to die or god forbid get pregnant again. I don’t think it is even clicking with him that he is stopping it from happening but what do I know. He won’t talk about what he’s feeling. He’s too busy being prissy and hateful.”

Dean nodded.

“Do you two talk about this? Sorry I am a shit therapist.”

Andi laughed.

“I’m no better and no we don’t talk. I’ve tried but it goes no where. I know he is stressed over his brothers. They have tried things in the past to get to Sophia. Gabriel and Lucifer have messed Michael and Raphael up pretty badly. I may complain about Gabriel but he really is a great father. He doesn’t let Sophia out of his sight and when he is away Cas watches her like a hawk. It’s cute Dean…watching Cas with her. A lot of mine and Gabriel’s problems is my fault too. I take equal responsibility. Sam and I started hunting again and Gabriel is livid. He said he can’t keep Sophia and I safe at the same time if I am running around god knows where doing god knows what. This is the part that will probably freak you out a bit. We have no relations. I couldn’t even tell you the last time he really kissed me. To me a peck on the lips every couple of days doesn’t count as a kiss. I want the kisses that we used to have…the ones where he would take my breath away.”

Dean looked a little green but decided to put his older brother feelings in the closet and be the person that Andi needed. If Gabriel couldn’t be the person that she could turn to then he would. The last thing Dean wanted was for Andi to withdraw and become depressed the way she did when Adam died.

“When was the last time you two had sex or any other form of intimacy?”

Andi scoffed coldly.

“Maybe when Sophia was a baby. I’m sorry but I don’t consider fingering and hand jobs as sex.”

Dean nodded.

“I agree there. So Gabriel, the biggest man whore of an archangel that I have ever seen, doesn’t even want to….you know.”

Andi nodded. Dean looked at his sister’s heart broken eyes.

“Is he cheating?”

Andi shook her head a moment but shrugged.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. He’s never given me a reason not to trust him but that doesn’t mean that its not in the back of my mind.”

Dean was quiet a few moments.

“Look I know I give Gabriel crap but I really don’t think he is going to be that cold. He may be a hot mess of crazy and the biggest shit stirrer in all of creation but he’s different when it comes to you. I hate to admit it because he is the last person I want to see you with. If you tell him that I said this I will deny everything but he loves you. I am no trying to take up for the way that he’s been but Andi look at it from his point of view for a moment. He is an archangel that has a family with a human that includes a forbidden creation. His crazy brothers are trying to hurt and threaten the two of you. Not to mention he has had to deal with my joyous ass and you know how pleasant I am. I wouldn’t want all of that on my plate.”

Andi nodded sadly.

“I know that he has a lot on him. Its just….”

Dean cut her off.

“Asking for intimacy isn’t too much. He is going to have to find a way. Hey look at this I am actually being understanding of someone’s feelings. Aren’t you proud of me?”

Andi laughed immediately feeling better. Dean always knew how to say things to make her feel better.

“I am. Let’s stop for a drink or something.”

Dean grinned.

“Day drinking. I love it.”

Walking into some off the road bar Dean and Andi sat down at the bar. Dean flagged down the bar tender and ordered two glasses of whiskey. Andi looked at her older brother carefully.

“Dean do you have any regrets about life?”

Dean looked over at his little sister as her green eyes focused on the drink in front of her.

“You know I do.”

Before Andi could respond she looked down at her cell phone to see Gabriel’s name on the caller ID. She looked at the phone before hitting the ignore button. Dean raised an eyebrow.

“Are you regretting taking Gabriel in that night?”

Andi shrugged.

“I don’t know what I am feeling really Dean. I just feel numb. Its like a basket of fucked up emotions just hits me all the time. One minute I understand and the next I don’t feel anything.”

Dean looked over.

“Hey! We can work all of this out!”

Andi laughed briefly.

“Dean we sound so much like dad.”

Dean took a sip of his drink.

“He would be so proud.”

The two sat in silence for the next couple of moments. Both were in their own worlds when it came to their thoughts. Neither noticed the bar door open and someone they hadn’t seen in sometime walk in.

“Dean, Andi.”

Both turned almost throwing their drinks the moment that they saw Adam. Dean’s mouth dropped while Andi rubbed her eyes a few times wondering if Adam was really there or if the whiskey was really that good. Upon seeing Dean’s reaction she knew this had to be true.

“Adam or Michael?”

Dean asked. He wasn’t about to get into a fight with an archangel in the middle of a bar with innocent people round him.

“Uh Adam. You know the guy that you and Sam have been forgetting for sometime. I won’t let any angel near me again.”

Adam said calmly. He focused his attention back on his twin sister.

“Andi, I’m real.”

Before Adam could say anything else Andi was flung onto him with her arms around his shoulders.

“Adam how are you here? You were in the cage….wait does this have anything to do with Michael?”

Adam shrugged.

“I really don’t know. I just woke up here.”

Dean stood up.

“It doesn’t matter. We can figure it out later. Come on we need to get home.”

The ride was home Andi sat back in the back beside Adam with her arm wrapped through his. Dean looked back at the two of them with a smile. If he needed anymore clue that they were twins this was the perfect one.

“So have I missed anything?”

Adam asked. Dean and Andi both laughed hard at that.

“A lot. We’ll feel you in as we go.”

Dean said calmly. Andi looked over at her twin with a smile.

“You’re an uncle now.”

Adam’s eyes widened.

“What?! You have a baby?”

Andi nodded with a smile.

“I do. She’s four now. Her name is Sophia. She just turned 4.”

Dean smiled in the driver seat.

“Kid is something else Adam.”

Adam looked totally surprised.

“Wow I have missed a lot.”

Arriving back at the bunker Andi’s sullen mood had down a total turn around as she and Adam walked into the bunker talking.

“So far it is really nice to be back. The best things so far no stupid angels with sticks up their asses thinking they are gods gift.”

Andi meanwhile, froze the moment that she turned seeing Gabriel standing in the doorway looking beyond pissy.

“Decide to come home sugar?”

Andi winced at the angry tone in his voice. There was that tone…that archangel tone that she should be afraid of. Looking over her shoulder she noticed the frown on Adam’s face. At the moment the last thing she wanted to do was tell Adam was Gabriel really was and by the look on Gabriel’s face he probably wouldn’t be feeling too friendly either. Looking back to Gabriel she winced this time noticing his wings were all puffy clearly indicating that he was frustrated.

“Gabriel can we talk a minute?”

Gabriel nodded but didn’t move until Sophia ran into the back of his legs wrapping her arms around them. Andi smiled watching their daughter cuddle her father. Gabriel’s hateful expression softened as he looked down at his daughter. She held her hands up opening and closing her hands. Reaching down he picked her up but kept a eye on Adam who was putting two and two together.

“Sugar stay here with your Dean. I need to talk to your mommy.”

“I wanna come too.”

Gabriel shook his head.

“No precious. This is mommy and daddy business only.”

Sophia stuck her tongue out as she ran over to Dean sitting on his foot and wrapping herself around his leg like a little koala.

“Nope you two are probably just going to be telling each other I love you and other mushy stuff. No thank you!”

Gabriel smirked before looking back to Andi.

“Come on.”

Walking in the bedroom Andi turned around looking at Gabriel carefully as he shut the door.

“So what happened earlier?”

He asked in the clear I want to be sassy but I am going to behave tone. Andi sat down on the bed patting the place beside her. Gabriel slowly sat down beside her. She was quiet for a few moments before meeting his honey eyes.

“Gabe you know I am a shitty communicator.”

Gabriel shrugged.

“I’m not arguing but that’s just you.”

Andi reached over taking his hand in hers. She ran her fingers over his palm before looking back up.

“I’m ready to communicate with you now.”

Gabriel took a breath and looked honestly nervous.

“Um-kay….”

Andi turned her body so she could look at her angel fully. She could tell that he was worried just by the tone in her voice.

“Gabriel, I know that you don’t like that I am hunting again. I am not doing it to piss you off or worry you. Its just what I do.”

Gabriel ran a hand over his face.

“I know the family business. I have heard this spill way too many times Andrea.”

Andi sighed beginning to feel frustrated.

“Gabriel you won’t even give me a chance to tell you what I want to! You just get smart with me every time I try! This is what our problem is! Every time I feel brave enough to talk to you this happens! Between us having zero intimacy anymore this is just another cherry on the cake! You know what never mind!”

Andi stood to walk out of the bedroom but was quickly stopped when Gabriel’s arms wrapped around her waist.

“Sugar wait. I’m sorry. No intimacy? Is that what is bothering you?”

Andi swallowed.

“Yeah. We don’t have that spark we used to have anymore! You barley kiss or touch me. I can’t even tell you the last time that we made love. Before you say it hand jobs and fingering doesn’t count! If you are so concerned about getting me pregnant again use your archangel powers to stop it from happening.”

Gabriel turned her in his arms before backing her against the wall.

“Darling, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Its just with all of this going on….keep our daughter and you safe I didn’t realize how bad I was neglecting you….us. If you want me to be a dirty pervert again trust me I can do that.”

Meanwhile,

Adam sat at the table watching Sophia as she sat in the floor coloring what looked like a mini masterpiece. He raised an eyebrow looking over at Dean.

“So is this kid a genius or something?”

Dean smirked at his little brother who clearly didn’t know what their niece was.

“Well you could say that.”

Adam nodded as Sophia stood up focusing her attention on her newest uncle. After acquiring quiet a collection within a few hours she was beginning to be curious about what she could do with the two newest ones. Sam and Cas were easy. If she wanted to be read to or shown how to do something it was Sam. If she wanted someone to play tea party with or cuddle while watching a Disney movie it was Cas. He was always up for watching The Little Mermaid about fifty times in a row if the child so desired.

Sophia walked over to the table standing on her tiptoes to look at Adam. He looked a lot like her mother in someways but in other ways he was totally his own. Adam, meanwhile looked down a the set of honey eyes focused on him. He watched her for a moment with a small smile.

“Can I get something for you?”

He asked. Sophia shook her head making her pigtails smack herself in the face before she walked closer to Adam.

“Do you like tea?”

Adam frowned.

“Who doesn’t?”

Sophia clapped her hands before snapping her fingers making a glass of steaming liquid in a little china cup appear in front of him. Adam’s eyes widened as he looked almost fearfully at the child. Dean meanwhile, had picked up the little china cup that appeared in front of him taking a drink. Sophia smiled looking proud of herself.

“Little secret. It’s not tea but apple juice. I can’t make tea yet for some reason. Daddy said that may be next week.”

Adam swallowed looking down at the drink in front of him before looking at Dean with wide eyes. Dean shrugged from over his china cup.

“Drink the kids tea dude.”

Adam looked back to Sophia.

“What ARE you?!”

Sophia shrugged.

“Umm a little girl? Doesn’t the dress and pigtails kind of clue you in buddy?”

Dean choked on his tea as Cas walked in the door. Sophia pulled her attention away from Adam and took off to Cas who eagerly picked her up.

“Cassie! You are finally home!”

Cas smiled hugging the child as Adam looked at him as with wide eyes. Right away he was beginning to feel even more ill at ease. Cas was clearly shocked to see Dean sitting at the table. The eldest Winchester nodded from across the table.

“Hey short stuff will you top my tea off?”

Sophia eagerly nodded snapping her fingers again. Cas looked down to his niece with wide shocked eyes.

“Sophia what has been going on here today? Where is your mother and father?”

Sophia pointed to Gabriel and Andi’s room.

“Having mommy and daddy talking time. I think that is code for something else. They better not be in there eating ice cream without me because I will be really mad. Uncle Dean showed up today and now Uncle Adam is here…except he looks a little afraid.”

Adam held up his hand.

“No one ever answered me! What is she?!”

Sophia looked to Cas.

“Cassie what is the word that I am? That one I can’t say.”

Cas sighed adjusting the child in his arms.

“She’s a nephilim. Half angel and half human.”

Adam’s mouth dropped.

“What?! That guy…that is with Andi….he’s an angel?”

Cas nodded.

“Yes Gabriel is an angel.”

Adam put a hand over his mouth.

“Please don’t say that he is the archangel.”

Cas blinked.

“Well I don’t have to say it but you will figure it out soon enough.”

Adam held his hand up.

“My sister is with an archangel?!!”

Sophia perked up.

“That’s my daddy.”

Cas lovingly patted her back.

“Why don’t you go to your room and play tea party. I’ll be in shortly to join you.”

Sophia nodded before trotting out of the room. Cas turned to Adam.

“Can you control yourself in front of her? We understand your distrust of angels…”

Adam stood up.

“Distrust? Distrust is the word that you chose to use? Wait your an angel too so I don’t trust you either! Now my little niece is in your creepy club? I don’t like this.”

Cas tilted his head to the side.

“Like it or not angel is in her DNA and it is not leaving.”

Dean looked over at Adam sympathetically.

“Come on kid lets go get some air.”

meanwhile,

Andi lay snuggled against Gabriel’s chest running her finger down his chest. Neither had really moved much since Gabriel had knocked out the electricity in the bedroom.

“Well no one has yelled at us so you must have fixed the power quick enough.”

Andi said with a giggle. Gabriel gave her an eyebrow wiggle before tilting her face to his for another kiss.

“I’m good like that. We need to stay like this sugar. I don’t want to go back to the way it was. If you need to talk then I’m going to listen. Even if that includes you having your back to me with your hands over your eyes so you will be comfortable. Why don’t you sleep some sugar? I’ll be here.”

Andi curled to the side as Gabriel’s wings wrapped around her. She smiled finally feeling complete again. Gabriel meanwhile, watched as her eyes closed. While he lay listening to Andi’s even breathing a voice in his mind caught his attention. Frowning Gabriel closed his eyes going to where the voice was….

Standing at the edge of a rocky mountain he turned to see Michael looking at him with a cold smile.

“Well if it isn’t my baby brother.”

Gabriel frowned. It had been years since he had seen his brother in physical sense.

“Michael. What do you want?”

Michael sneered coldly.

“Just wanted to see how you were. See how you and the little one were doing. After all, Sophia is my niece.”

Gabriel glared at his older brother.

“Don’t you dare say her name.”

Michael laughed.

“Oh Gabriel. You are always causing trouble. From day one you have been causing trouble except this time Lucifer isn’t here to bail you out. This time you have gone and made some forbidden creature that you and I have both killed plenty of back in the day.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

“Back in the day? Oh my dad Michael how ancient do you sound.”

Michael smiled.

“Changing the subject? You don’t want to acknowledge the fact hat we both….well all four of us have killed nephilim now look at you being the father of one of those damned creatures.”

Gabriel glowered at Michael.

“Shut your mouth!”

Michael shrugged.

“Touched a nerve. This one you care about because she’s yours. If it was someone else it wouldn’t be an issue to kill her. Gabriel you’re a soldier. That is what we were meant to be. It was what dad wanted but something went wrong with your programming. You should know that Raphael knows about Sophia too. She won’t be making it much longer. It’s going to take more than yourself, team free will and Lucifer to keep her safe. I don’t care how darling she is. You and your pretty little bride will pay for your crimes the way you should be. See you around Gabe.”

______________________

@greenappleeyes

@tas898

@sherala007

@jannalionheart

#supernatural fanfiction #Gabriel x OFC #Gabriel #dean winchester #CAS #GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL

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matcha-chocolate · 7 years

Text

bam n sucky

Anon: Sambucky - "shipname: sucky" I know who sent this ask 😘 (Okay, honestly? I’ve been sitting on this one for almost 2 weeks and I’m still not happy with it. But ... here it is. Sorry.)

People can bond in the weirdest ways when they have screaming nightmares in common. Neither of them literally screamed anymore, mind you. Bucky would start, an awful strangled sound-- but he would muffle it, biting down on his hand instead. Not quite enough to break the skin. He’d gotten past doing that. Progress. Kinda. Sam, though. Sam woke not with a yell or a scream but an awful, ragged intake of breath that had his chest tightening and his eyes fluttering wildly before he could wake up. He didn’t talk to anyone about it. Definitely not progress.

“Can’t sleep?” Bucky asked, making Sam almost jump out of his skin. “Barnes, what the fuck? You know better than to startle a military man; I damn near garroted you.” Bucky made an amused hum. “It’s cute that you think you could get the drop on me, S--” “I literally kicked your ass across two lanes of traffic.” “I was distracted. That doesn’t count.” “Why’re you up?” Sam asked, not getting into yet another argument over who would win in a fight. (Sam would, in a fair fight. He would. He would!) “Nightmare,” Bucky said, not elaborating. Sam moved into the dark living room where Bucky sat, mostly shrouded in shadow on the couch. “Shitty deal, Barnes. Hell... same here. That kinda night, huh?” “You were having a nightmare? Oh. Ohhh. Is that what those sounds were?” Bucky asked. Sam could see that he was cleaning his knives, because that wasn’t a fucking creepy thing for an ex-assassin to do at 2 in the morning or anything. “What the hell did you think they were?” Sam returned, flopping onto the couch beside Bucky. Bucky didn’t respond, which wasn’t unusual, but he was also avoiding Sam’s eye, which was odd, because he had that whole stare-meaningfully-until-you-figured-out-he-was-mad-about-the-missing-Poptarts thing going for him. “Barnes, I ain’t a mind-reader. What did you think I was doing?” Sam had an inkling, but he wasn’t about to ignore an opportunity to annoy Bucky as much as the man aggravated him. “Dunno, what lotsa grown men do alone at night,” Bucky muttered, and Sam had to try hard not to guffaw (Steve woke up at the drop of a pin, and if he found them both up he’d want to go for a run or something hideous like that.) “Jesus Christ, Bucky. That’s... so far off. You got a dirty mind.” “Not dirty, just logical.” “If you say so, man.” There was a companionable silence then, and Sam heaved a sigh. He still felt all wrong, feverish and achy like he’d run a marathon the day before. He idly traced his fingers over one of Bucky’s knives, the cool metal giving him something to distract himself. Bucky darted a glance at him without stopping his own task, and they just kinda... sat there for a while. Bucky spoke first, surprising both of them: “You wanna talk about it?” “Nah.” Bucky just hummed his agreement, setting his knife down with a soft clink on the glass of the coffee table. Sam was still running his fingers over the flat of the blade nearest him, his legs tucked under him in a way that screamed I want to talk about it and also I’m adorable wait no Bucky what the fuck stop that you gotta get more sleep. “You like that one?” Bucky tried again, gesturing to the knife under Sam’s fingers. He wasn’t great at small talk anymore, but he’d never really had to do that with Sam. They just kinda acted like assholes to each other, laughed, and ... well. Spent a lot of time together. A lot of time. Sam just nodded, looking over at Bucky for the briefest of moments. Bucky could sense that he was on the right track, talking about inconsequential things until Sam felt like he could say whatever it was that was bothering him. “Got that one in Italy, I think,” Bucky continued, nodding to the knife that had Sam’s attention. “Don’t remember when, but -- looks pretty new.” Sam nodded again, looking at Bucky for longer now, interest clearly written on his beautiful (whoa whoa what the fuck, Barnes) features. Grateful that the dark probably hid the sudden warmth in his face, Bucky cleared his throat before speaking again. “I ever tell you ‘bout the time I went to this restaurant in Italy?” Sam shook his head, the ghost of a smile lifting one corner of his mouth. “Ohh, boy. Okay, so get this -- I, it’s probably not in my files, but I b... I broke free a coupla times. Could think ok on my own, mostly.” He tripped over the words, the memories difficult to parse even years later, but Sam just moved his hand from the knife and squeezed Bucky’s arm, silently comforting him. Sam always knew what to do; Bucky wanted to fucking help him, and he couldn’t even get out a funny story right. Fuck. “Any-- anyway, I’m s’posed to kill this guy, right? He’s the restaurant owner. I don’t-- I dunno why I was... gonna... doesn’t mater. I go in, charm the wait staff, just a tourist enjoyin’ his food, right?” Sam mm-hmmed to show he was still listening, his hand still resting lightly on Bucky’s forearm. Neither of them made a move to separate, and Bucky found himself... looping their arms together. Sam was offering comfort to him; the least he could do is offer it back. “I think I’d been out too long. Thawed out, y’know?” Bucky’s laugh was sharp and bitter, but Sam huffed out an amused sound beside him. “I settle in, near closing. Order this pasta dish-- fuck, nothin’ fancy, just noodles and sauce, y’know? But jesus christ, when I take a bite I fuckin’ wake up, I’m thinkin’, what the fuck am I doin’ here? And you know what I did, Sam?” “What?” Sam asked, speaking for the first time in a little while. Bucky wanted to lean into him, drawn by the body heat, the way that Sam’s whole face was soft with sleep and contentment (contentment from being near Bucky, which was a hell of a thing, considering the start they’d gotten off to.) “I ate my whole plate so fast the chef came out to fuckin’ watch me.” “If a guy was chewing on a plate, I’d go watch too.” “Shut up and listen. So he says somethin’ like ‘You must be hungry,’ and I say ‘I could kill for another plate’--” “Nice. Joking about murder to your assigned hit,” Sam muttered, his arm still relaxed against Bucky’s ribs. Bucky snorted in agreement. “I’m a classy guy, Wilson. So then I... hell, this is a shitty story.” “Why?” “Nothin’ happens at the end of it. They laughed, I laughed, an’... I just left. Didn’t do nothin’ to the guy. Just had a coffee and then left. Could barely walk, I was so full.” His voice had gotten quieter, and truthfully, the story wasn’t that interesting but... he’d had a whole evening to himself, clear-headed, doing what he wanted, eating what he wanted, not killing or hurting anyone, and him sharing that story with Sam meant.... something. He didn’t know what. “Hell of a story, Barnes,” Sam smirked, nudging Bucky in the side a little. “I laughed, I cried, I contemplated the meaning of life--” “Shut the fuck up; you got a better story?” Sam was quiet for so long that Bucky worried that he’d overstepped, reminded Sam of something he wasn’t ready to discuss, but then-- “They used to call us Silo.” “Sorry, the hell’d you just say?” “I think this is the first time I’ve heard you say ‘sorry,’ Barnes.” “I’m runnin’ outta ways to tell you to shut your trap, Wilson. Explain the ‘Silo’ thing.” “You want me to shut up, or you want me explain?” “Sam,” Bucky groaned, amusement tinging his voice despite the annoyed scowl he was giving the man. “Okay, so-- Silo. I dunno, it was stupid. I guess me n’ Riley were tight--” “Ooooh-ooh-oooooh...” “I hope you break a hip.” “Mhm. G’on.” “So, y’know like... Bennifer and Brangelina,” Sam said, gesturing vaguely. Bucky suddenly looked shifty; he didn’t like to be reminded of his weird E!Hollywood addiction too much. Suffice it to say, he very much knew what Sam was referring to. “That... you two’d’v’e been ‘Siley,’ then, no?” “Yeah, but-- okay, so Riley was... this white boy-- even whiter than you--” “Objection.” “Shove it up ya ass. So, he’s literally the epitome of a corn-fed country boy, and grain silos, countryside, so... I dunno, ‘Siley’ became ‘Silo’ real fast.” “That’s stupid.” “So’s strapping a rocket-powered kite to your back and jumping, but...” “Yeah, I guess I meant you’re stup-- ow!” Bucky was cut off by Sam swiftly flicking his ear to get him to shut up. Then, surprisingly, Sam heaved a huge sigh. “We went everywhere together. He came to visit my ma when we had time off.” “Sounds nice. You ever see his folks?” “They... wouldn’t... yeah, no. No, they weren’t jumping for joy over Riley’s black boyfriend, so...” “Fuck ‘em,” Bucky said venomously, his arm tightening briefly. Sam made a soft sound that was almost a laugh. “Thanks. ‘S what Riley said. And... yeah, he was gonna go back and tell them to deal with it or he’d cut them off, and--” Sam broke off, pulling his arm out of the loop of Bucky’s. Bucky felt his chest constrict unpleasantly at this loss of contact with Sam, but then Sam leaned his body weight against him and Bucky couldn’t help the small smile that appeared unbidden on his face. “Move your arm,” Sam muttered, huffing exasperatedly when Bucky shifted awkwardly. “Like-- put it around me, damn Barnes, ain’t you ever tried to neck with someone before?” “Have I-- wh-- I mean, of course I fuckin’ have, sure, but--” Bucky broke off, realizing that Sam was fucking with him-- but his face was all hot and he’d unthinkingly draped his arm around Sam, pulling him closer. Sam, for his part, fitted himself against Bucky’s side as though this was a totally natural thing to do. Sam continued as though there’d been no interruption, “He was gonna tell his parents. To take him... and me... like we were, or he wasn’t gonna talk to them anymore.” “Did he?” Bucky asked, quiet because he felt like he knew the answer, and it wasn’t a good one. “Nah. Got hit the next day,” Sam said shortly. Bucky squeezed his shoulder -- I’m listening -- and Sam took a shaky breath in. “Know what they said over the comms? They said. They said ‘Shit, Silo’s down,’ like we were the same person. And it felt like I was falling too, so I was thinking Damn, yeah, Silo’s down -- like I wasn’t even Sam, I was just a ghost up there already, y’know? Know what I mean?” Sam’s voice was quiet. “Yeah.” “I was falling. In my dream. Me and Riley. Silo. But we never hit the ground, just always fuckin’... falling. And I could never catch him.” Bucky didn’t know what to say, so he squeezed Sam’s shoulder again. “You’re gonna bruise me, man.” “Sorry,” Bucky murmured, loosening his grip slightly. “That’s the second ‘sorry’ tonight, Barnes. Must be a special occasion.” “If you hadn’t just told me just about the saddest damn story I ever heard, I’d lay into you.” “You’d do what now, gramps?” “You’re older than me!” “Sure, mhm. I know one of us snaps his fingers to big band music, and it ain’t me.” Bucky scoffed, but didn’t bother to reply... and the two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence again. Sam was staring at the glint of the street lights outside off of Bucky’s knives. Bucky was staring at... Sam. The streetlights were doing some pretty great things to the contours of the man’s face. “Sucky.” “Fucking what?” Bucky turned to look at Sam (which was a bit awkward because his arm was still around him) and grinned in that I’m-really-tired-and-everything-is-funny way. “If you combined our names. We’d be ‘Sucky.’” “That’s a shitty power couple name.” “Well it’s either that or ‘Bam,” Bucky said. “Wait, power couple?” “Yeah, man,” Sam said around a truly enormous yawn. “The chemistry is undeniable.” Bucky scowled, sure Sam was fucking with him -- and even looking at his teasing grin, he... still wasn’t sure. “Chemistry,” Bucky said flatly. “Yep.” “I just told you bout eatin’ spaghetti and then getting shoved back in the freezer an hour after.” “So? Not like my story was happy-- wait, shit. Barnes, you didn’t fucking say Hydra got you back after the... pasta whatever.” “Yeah, well. Wanted a Disney ending for you.” “Disney,” Sam said, sounding remarkably as unimpressed as Bucky just had. “Yeah, Wilson. You gotta have a cute Disney ending for a pretty guy.” Bucky was tired, Sam was fucking beautiful, and there was only so much brain power Bucky could devote to pretending one of those things wasn’t true. “Okay, wait. Wait. I’m not disagreeing but. Are you fucking with me, or hitting on me?” “...yes.” “Your idea of flirting is weird pasta stories and blurting that I’m pretty.” “Yep.” “Why pretty?” “Ask your eyelashes, Wilson. Damn things look like one of those whatsit. Revlon. Mascara.” Sam looked nonplussed before pouting and fluttering his eyelashes a little, startling a laugh out of Bucky. “See? It worked. You’re flirtin’ back,” Bucky smirked. Sam wrinkled his nose. “Who says I’m flirting? You didn’t even ask me out to dinner.” “Ah, hell. Sam, wanna go to dinner with me?” “No.” Bucky blinked. But hadn’t he--? “I prefer brunch dates,” Sam said smugly. “I swear to god. Okay. Brunch. I can’t believe you made me say that word.” “It’s a better combination than ‘Sucky’!” “Don’t insult Sucky. Sucky is pure romance.” “You’re fuckin’ sucky.” “Oh, I’ll show you sucky, Wilson.” Bucky’s voice had taken on a darker quality and he moved his hand from Sam’s shoulder to lightly cupping the back of his head. “Yeah?” Sam breathed, clearly with the program. “Show me, then. Bet I’m better than you at it.” “Only one way to find out.” “Uhhh, actually, let’s... not.” Steve said, faint but clear from his room upstairs. His super-hearing had its downsides. “Or, can you wait to show each other after I’m outta the house?” Steve continued, his voice plaintive. (They didn’t wait.)

#all my fics have the same pattern #someone break my fingers #Sambucky #Winterfalcon #prompts #fic #fan fic #writing #my posts: the posts that hurt the most...s

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