#these stairs are a death trap and I worry one of us is gonna fall to our death every time we visit

[basuralindo]

I'm visiting my hometown and got some cute shots of the micro jungles that're eating the in-law's stairs

#plant pics #weeds #these stairs are a death trap and I worry one of us is gonna fall to our death every time we visit #but hey #it's pretty at least

[outerbankies]

ooo bestie would love to know more about the deb!!

*jazz hands*

—

new light: fade into you — rafe cameron

new light masterlist

summary: To spite your parents, you ask Rafe Cameron to escort you to the debutante ball.

warnings: no warnings except the usual + poorly researched debutante conventions! bc i know nothing besides whatever is portrayed in gossip girl, the summer i turned pretty and southern charm!

a/n: takes place in high school, whenever these things usually happen; unless of course that is not new light canon compliant, because we live in a fantasy world ❤️ also this blurb has a little more background into the deb ball, if you’re interested! just a lil something for y’all while i work through the more complex pieces coming up!

“If we have to break form one more time, our dance teacher’s gonna kill us.”

You sigh, slipping your dress strap back up and over your shoulder, placing your gloved hand in his again. “I know. Sorry.”

Rafe quirks an eyebrow. “Why are you buggin’?”

“My straps keep falling off my shoulders,” you whine. You’d stomp your foot, too, if you weren’t worried you’d step on your friend’s toe in the middle of the dance floor.

He cocks his head, his eyes lingering on your décolletage. “S’not supposed to be like that?”

You look down, and one of your straps has already fallen down your shoulder again. “No.”

Ready to accept defeat and any riot acts from your mom over it later, you startle when Rafe’s hand leaves your waist momentarily. He must notice, because his hand freezes. “May I?”

“Yeah,” you breathe quietly, still weary of the fact that you’re both dancing in front of everyone on this island, all eyes on the debutantes and their escorts.

His touch is light as a feather, as it has been all night—save for when he’d led you down the stairs in the heels he’d eloquently called ‘death traps.’ Rafe held on a little tighter then.

“There,” he says, looking back into your eyes. He cracks a tiny smile. “I’ve got you.” 

“Thanks,” you say.

“Don’t even,” he shrugs, taking your waist again. “Surprised that dress slipped by your mom’s tailoring workshops. This is the best tux I’ve ever worn.”

You stifle a giggle, knowing it’s not appropriate at the moment. But you remember those workshops, and you remember Gretchen goading you into sneaking over to the guesthouse where the guys were being fitted with her so she could poke fun at them. There was nothing funny about how your mouth dried out, seeing Rafe standing in a cummerbund that should look god awful on him, on anyone. But it had somehow exaggerated his body line in a way you hadn’t thought possible, and you’d hurried back to the main house without so much as a quip about their bowties leaving your lips.

“Probably the only tux you’ve ever worn,” you point out, reaching out to smooth a lapel, even though it’s perfectly folded. 

“I was a ring bearer when I was 12, actually,” Rafe says. “Check your facts, Y/l/n.” 

You roll your eyes at that, turning to look across the dance floor. Kelce and Margot are across the way looking at you, and both of their heads turn away as soon as you make eye contact. When you furrow your brows, your date takes notice.

“What?” 

You turn back to Rafe, and he’s already pushing your other dress strap back up again. “Nothing. And sorry about your shoes, again,” you say, eager for a subject change. “I’m going to make you accept money for them at some point.”

It’s Rafe’s turn to roll his eyes. “When will you let that go?”

“When I can go back in time and prevent my 6-month-old golden retriever from destroying your nice shoes.”

“They weren’t that nice. These are better, anyway,” he says, looking down. You do too, struck momentarily by the image of your waists pressed so closely together, his shoes not even visible underneath the bustle of your white dress. You don’t know if you’ve ever been this close to him before, even in the dance classes. 

“I still feel bad.”

“You’ve gotta relax, kid,” Rafe says quietly, almost a breath above you. You allow yourself to sag in his hold momentarily, exhausted from dancing for so long, from all of the preparation in general. “There you go.”

“When are they gonna start letting other people in?”

“Are you not enjoying my dancing?” Rafe jokes, pretending to be offended for all of two seconds. 

“You’re doing great,” you say sincerely.

“Yeah? Like, all of it?”

“All of it?”

Rafe bites his bottom lip, looking around the room before he’s locked in on you again. Another dress strap falls, and another warm hand snakes up your back. “I was nervous when you asked me.”

“Oh, like you didn’t think you’d be an escort this year,” you say, calling bullshit.

“I didn’t,” he insists. “But Margs got Kelce and you were stuck with me, weren’t you?”

You don’t want him to realize how true that is, because with Rafe you can’t always tell when the joking ends and the self-deprecation begins. “I was stuck with way worse before I asked you.”

His eyes light up. “Oh?”

“Griffin. Matteo wouldn’t have been so bad, maybe,” you consider, even though you know Matteo wouldn’t be pulling up your dress strap the way Rafe is now. “You were a steal in comparison, bud.”

Rafe smiles, big and unabashed. “I’m blushing.” And he is, bright pink dusting the tops of his cheekbones. “Hopefully I can meet expectations.”

“The flowers you sent were gorgeous,” you say, omitting the part where they were the only debutante flowers that had made it past the stairs in your house. Rafe’s pink peonies were in a vase on your desk while all of the others remained arranged around the dining room and other living spaces—wherever your mom wanted them, really. “And you even took off your shells for me.”

Before you can decide against it, your hand that’s meant to be on his shoulder moves to his neck, your fingers slipping under his shirt collar just slightly, where the cowrie shell necklace usually rests. You wouldn’t be surprised if he had a tan line.

“M’not an amateur,” he teases, and the vibrations from his vocal chords make your hand recoil, moving back to his shoulder. “But I might embarrass you later, once the DJ gets here and I can break out my flask.”

“Rafe Cameron,” you say, scandalized. And your wandering hand gets the better of you again, feeling for his breast pocket. When you find it empty, Rafe’s already looking down at you once you meet his gaze again, a glimmer in his eyes.

“You really think I’d jeopardize the sanctity of this event for reindeer games?”

You quirk an eyebrow. “Literally yes. That’s exactly what you would do.”

He tugs you into him then, so close you’ve definitely broken form. But as you look around you see other couples have, too, as the rest of the invitees start to make their way onto the floor. “Nah, wouldn’t risk it tonight.”

“Who has it then?” 

“Top.”

You search for your other friend, to find him twirling Emily around as things start to ease up—all of the formalities of the evening done and dusted. “How’d you bully him into that?” 

“Drew straws,” Rafe says shortly. “Hey, look at that. We survived.” 

You know he’s referencing the fact that the formal dance is over—that you’re free to break apart and mingle, do whatever it is you’re meant be doing right now. Your sure your mother is in a beeline, ready to go over exactly how your walk could have been more graceful, or how your shoulders should’ve been looser. Or god forbid, your dress straps. Which mysteriously have not bothered you in ten minutes and counting.

“Y/n?”

Rafe’s looking down at you, the two of you still holding onto each other. If anything, the crowding of the dance floor had only pushed you further into your friend’s embrace. “Hm?”

“You good? Lost you to space for a moment there.”

“I’m good,” you say. “Tired.” 

 His eyes soften in understanding, and you’re practically standing on his toes at this point, he’s so close to you. “Too tired for our after party?”

“Way too tired,” you immediately clarify. Rafe doesn’t seem surprised—it’s not unlike you to skip out on shenanigans. “Plus, I know my parents will want me accounted for.”

“Well you are the most accomplished debutante in Kildare.” 

“Oh, fuck off,” you groan, hiding your face in his chest, where he smells less like sand and surfboard wax than you’re used to. You’re not sure if you like it or not.

“Did you hear she wants to write children’s books when she’s older? Or that she helped organize a beach cleanup last summer?”

“Rafe,” you say, borderline begging. 

His smile doesn’t dim, but it loses its mischievousness momentarily. “Bet for the life of them they can’t figure out why she wanted Ward Cameron’s boy parading her around these hallowed halls.”

“Could’ve been any one of us debs asking you,” you say. “Small island. You would’ve ended up here somehow.”

“No,” Rafe says easily. 

“No?” you challenge. You realize now you’re still dancing with him, and that your friends are either looking for you or making fun of you, and that the string of pearls your dad gifted you this evening are starting to feel a little tight around your neck. Rafe’s fingers grazes them as he slips your dress strap back into place one more time. “Why not?”

“I would’ve said no to anyone else.”

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron imagine #rafe cameron fanfiction #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x y/n #outer banks #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks imagine

[dcfanficsgallore]

Didn't plan for this

Wonder Woman x Demigod!Fem!Reader

2859 words

TW: Broken Leg, Hospitals, Reader overthinks everything

Masterlist

Summary: You have only seen a handful of times and have been trying to get her attention ever since, when a disaster occurs, it finally makes her look at you and talk.

A/N: This fanfic doesn't use the usual quotes to show character speaking. Instead they'll use a - to show that they are speaking and every new line of dialogue is a new paragraph. Also English isn't my first language. Enjoy! X3 <33

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Being a demigod in a world that gets invaded by aliens every other week and seems to have a new super-whatever everyday is pretty normal. Especially if you’re a child of Athena, like me… 

We don’t get powers like the children of Zeus or the innate charisma of the Apollo kids, but we’re not as insufferable as the Aphrodite Spawn (Long story), we’re just… Pretty smart and can understand stuff that most can’t. When I was a kid my teachers always told my mortal mom that I was ‘gifted’, my mom knew it was always truer than what they intended, but she never told me about it. Nor about my Godly mom…

Usually when an alien attack happens or a supervillain breaks from prison I tend to help the people around me get to safety and prepare all my contingencies for if the threat gets too close, I only had to use a couple of my plans once, that was a mess! But it made me learn that Plan C and Plan T should not be anywhere near each other. Other than that I just wait until the danger is over and maybe, kinda, try to see if she is taking care of the mess.

Of all the children of Zeus, she is the best. Most caring, most humble, the prettiest, and just all around good person. I only met THE Wonder Woman once, and since then I’ve been trying to get her attention the only way a daughter of Athena like me can… I’ve been sending contingency plans to the Justice Hall in hopes one of them will make them want to talk to me and talk about it. You might say it’s pointless, Batman is the best planner in the world, and to that I say: Maybe he would like someone to delegate a few of his responsibilities to… You never know.

It was during one of my walks to my job that I felt it.

Earthquakes

No worries, those happen all the time in New York. I have nothing to fear, just a mild-

Another one, Bigger

Again, not enough to trigger my alarms, but enough to make me start walking slower… And check my bag to see if everything is with m-

A third one, and this time I fall over

Alright. That’s cause for concern, I start sprinting towards my job while grabbing all the stuff I need to start Plan E.

As I turn a corner expecting to see the street to the building I work at, I am startled back by a falling lamp post.

This is bad

As I enter the building I see Ana, the secretary, ushering people out the building.

- How is it looking? - I ask her as another earthquake begins and doesn’t seem to stop.

- There’s still people inside - She looks at me with a worried expression - You might have to bring out Plan H - She says.

Ana is my best friend and that gives her the privilege of a binder with all my plans so she can help me choose one in big stress situations. That’s still not enough because she just suggested the Bird People Protocol, but I get the gist of what she wants.

- I think you might be right - I say not wanting to get into an argument of my plans with her right now

Being a prepared Child of Athena is very helpful when you're the Chief of Security of the company. I take a deep breath, say a little prayer to my mom hoping for a little luck to get inside and not die. And go in…

The first thing I see as I go through the doors is the bottom floor is collapsing. I rush a couple people out while I make my way to my office, in there I’ll find everything to hopefully save everyone. I just have to go up two floors, the elevators are a bust and a death trap. So the stairs are gonna be my friends.

As I start going up I hit a couple buttons on the wall to trigger the slides that help people go down the stairs faster, (hey, it works for airplanes and they were cheap to install. Just a button and they self inflate).

When I open the door to the second floor I am met by so many people that are injured. I go to usher them to the slides, after finding a couple interns that are so scared but not that bad physically and instruct them on what to do once they get down and keep moving towards my office.

I begin to see my office, it's right there, just a few more moments and everything will be fi-

feel a lot of pain and a crack coming from behind me

Something fell on me. I look back and see that my leg is stuck between a stone pillar and the floor. I feel a lot of pain, but I can't stop. I've already sent everyone on this floor down and there are more above me. If I give up now I’ll die along with everyone else, that’ll not be something that a Demigod will be doing today, I tell myself.

I start to try to lift the pillar with all my strength, it’s hard, it might be impossible, I start thinking of ways to maybe leverage a piece of debris as maybe a lever when the pillar starts to float? It’s not floating, someone picked it up. But who..?

It’s her, in all her glory. She looks exactly like I remember, the black locks of hair flowing, the tiara reflecting the little light inside this crumbling building, her golden lasso on her hand and the pillar on the other, she lifting it like it doesn’t weigh anything. Her ocean blue eyes that are looking directly into my soul, her furrowed brows like she’s mad? Wait, no, she IS mad!

- What are you doing! - She says with an alarm in her tone - I was helping the people off the building when I saw you running INTO it? What are you trying to do?

The reality of the situation finally hits me and I say

- Help me. My office. I can help… - I say with difficulty as my leg starts to hurt a lot more now that the big rock was removed.

She looks at me like I just grew frog legs beneath the pillar, not understanding why I’m trying so hard to go even deeper into the crumbling building.

I say it one more time and she seems to snap out of it.

- What are we looking for? - She says as she picks me up bridal style and starts sprinting into the room. Even with a broken leg I manage to get flustered, but quickly dismiss it as I get my head back in the game

I push myself down and limp to my desk, opening a drawer and pushing a button labeled ‘U’.

Immediately the result can be felt as dozens of inflatable slides appear going from every single window sill, out of seemingly thin air, and gives everyone on the above floors a chance to take a faster way down. But not everything can go according to plan as life constantly likes to remind me. The slide on my window did not trigger so I think I’m stuck until I feel myself being picked up again and my heroine jumps out of the window landing safely with me in her arms.

After that she puts me down on a sidewalk and says

- That was incredibly smart, aren’t you the woman that always has a plan? - She says, and I’m a little upset that that’s how she remembers me.

- Yeah, that 's me. A daughter of Athena trying her best - I say before my leg starts to demand more of my attention and I whimper a little

- Oh your leg! Right! - She says before picking me up again and without all the smoke and panic I can actually feel her muscles and smell a little perfume, strawberry? Maybe Daisy? Maybe alcohol? Wait… That’s the ambulance, I’m in the ambulance getting alcohol rubbed on my leg by a paramedic, staring into her sapphire eyes and she’s saying something... Oh shit she said something!

- Sorry what? - I say trying to cool my nerves from seeing her again

- I said I’ll be right back to check on you, these quakes are not natural. The League is currently stopping the cause of it but there are still civilians trapped in building that don’t have slides that help them get down - She smiles a little and it’s the prettiest smile I have ever seen

- Yeah, it’s cool, you’re a hero and all that - Say in an effort to look casual in the face of all this

A few hours later I had to be taken to the hospital to get my leg on a cast and suspended above me on the bed that I’m laying down on. Ana made it out without any serious injuries and is keeping me company, and by company I mean she’s currently hearing me be anxious about my meeting with The Wonder Woman. 

- She said she would check on me later - I say for what’s probably the thousandth time

- Yup, but when she said you were on the street getting tended to by an EMT. Now she probably has no idea where you - She keeps trying to manage my expectations.

- But look at the TV Ana, a lot of people need help, she’s probably helping them. and this is one of the only hospitals that didn’t seem to be that affected by the quake! - I reason with her.

- Why do I keep getting into arguments with you? - she says with a long sigh - Damn Owl Spawn - she says with a smirk that gets wiped by the pillow I throw on her face

- Because you live in hope that you can win! - I tease back and am promptly met by the same pillow hitting my face.

-But seriously Y/N - She says looking at me - I wouldn’t get my hopes up, she’s a superhero. She’ll probably be busy until the next morning and then she’ll probably go back to her place and sleep for a long time, maybe she’ll forget.

- I can still hope, right? - I say a little sadly to Ana who nods and pulls me into a hug

- You should get some rest Bird Brain, I’ll be here if you need anything - Ana says, going to turn off the light and heading to her chair next to my bed.

- Fine - I say as the day finally catches up to me and I fall asleep almost immediately

It’s probably not until around 4 A.M when I hear a little tapping on my hospital window, at first I think I’m dreaming because I’m quite a way high up on this hospital, I would say about 30,5 meters away from ground level. But then I hear it again

tap tap tap

Okay, that’s not a dream. I take my leg off the suspension gently so as to not hurt myself and open the curtain to see… HER! She’s flying and staring at me through the window looking a bit shy, if I were to guess.

- You’re here!? - I open the window and question a little too happy about this meeting

- I told I would be - she smiles - How are you doing? - she questions looking at my cast.

- I’m doing fine - I shrug - The drugs help with the pain and I heal quite fast.

- Right, you’re also a demigoddess - she says with a smile - So am I.

- You are? You mean you’re not a goddess? - I ask and immediately regret it. You don’t ask a pretty woman that? Are you nuts? I say to myself thinking she’ll be put off by my comment and fly away. But to my surprise, she laughs and it’s the most beautiful laugh I’ve ever heard.

- No no, I’m the daughter of Zeus with the queen of the amazons, Hippolyta - She says in a casual way like that wasn’t a huge bombshell for me to discover

- That’s so cool - I say after making myself pick my jaw from the floor - Would you… ummm… Would you like to come in? - I ask her and to my surprise she accepts

The first thing I notice when she comes in is how tall she is, I think I would’ve figured out she was an Amazon with enough time, I quickly notice that she’s probably 6,2 inches, which makes me feel fuzzy inside. The next thing I notice is how strong she is. When she went inside, she picked me up by my side and sat me down on the bed before finally touching the floor. 

I realize I’m staring again and that I missed what she was saying, again! This never happens to me.

- I’m so sorry, I was distracted, what did you say? - I say hoping she doesn’t think I’m always like this.

- I just asked if she’ll wake up anytime soon. - She repeats without a hint of annoyance. Gesturing to Ana sleeping on the chair in a position that doesn’t seem that comfortable but I’m not one to judge.

- Oh Ana? No, she only wakes with her alarm or when stuff is thrown at her - I say chuckling.

There’s an awkward silence before she clears her throat and says

- I’m Diana, by the way, Diana Prince - she says putting her hand out - I just wanted to say that the fact that you went inside the collapsing building when you could’ve turned the other way and ran, really impressed me.

I blush very hard when she says that, then I shake her hand and say

- I’m Y/N Y/L/N, it really means a lot to me that you found that impressive. And just so you know, running was not an option, that building had so many contingencies inside it I needed to know that one of them worked. If I didn’t try my own plans what kind of child of wisdom would I be? - I say while shaking her hand

- Hm, does your mother require that of all her children? - She asks almost concerned

- No, not at all. She doesn’t even talk to us! - I say without thinking, this woman makes me so flustered my brain stops working I swear! - It’s more, like an itch. An itch in the back of your mind that doesn’t go away if you don’t test your contraptions

- She doesn’t talk to you? I’m sorry… - She says with sympathy on her voice

-Don’t be - I wave it off -  She’s a goddess, she probably has more important things to do. Besides, I got my smarts and that’s all I need. - I say shuffling on the bed and putting my foot back in it’s place.

She sits next to me and says

- It’s still sad that our parents don’t talk to us

I shrug before gathering my courage and finally asking

- Why’d you come to see me? I’m sure you meet people that are more interesting than me everyday and it’s not like you owe me or anything, you saved life twice today and now you’re here checking on me. Why? - I ask and she thinks for a moment before smiling and… Wait, is she blushing?

- Well it’s simple really, I was very impressed by the fact that you had a protocol in place for such an event and had the guts to go in and make sure it went accordingly that I wanted to maybe see if you were interested in… Showing me some of your plans - That last part seemed to catch her off guard, but I’ll never say no to someone willing to listen to my plans so I get very excited.

- Yeah, sure, of course! I’ll probably be out of the hospital in a couple of days, maybe less if I can convince the docs I’ll take it easy. - I agree a little too fast, but I don’t care. Diana wants to see my plans! - Here’s my number - I give her my number scribbled on a piece of paper I got in my bag - Give me a call please, and we’ll set it up. - I say a little too eager and failing miserably to be cool

- Yeah, sure - she says, accepting the paper and… She is definitely blushing! - I’ll give you a call, and we’ll set up our date… - She stops herself after she says that - I mean, like a friend date. 

- I can accept a date - I blush and nod and look away, trying everything I can to not look her in those sapphire eyes

She gets up and goes to the window but before she looks at me and says.

- I hope I get to see you soon - she says before flying off into the distance

a- Same - I say before snuggling in my bed ready to dream about her but not before hearing

- I heard the whole thing! - Ana says before receiving a face full of pillow.

- We’ll talk in the morning - I say ending the conversation.

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Chapter 2

A/N: Some might call Y/N Paranoid, she would say prepared ;)

#wonder woman x reader #diana prince x reader #wonder woman fanfic #my fic #DianaSimp #justice league fanfic #wonder woman #diana of themyscira #diana prince #diana of themiscyra #wonder woman x you

[sondepoch]

HC: MC breaks a bone!

Demons can’t break bones. Neither can angels. Nope, from head to toe, they’re pretty much indestructible. So imagine everyone’s utter shock when you break a bone, and they’re reminded of just how weak the human body really is.

Word Count: 5.2k

SFW + mild violence + mild description of broken bones 

Characters: All Brothers + All Undateables + Luke

MASTERLIST

Lucifer

Boi flips out

So it didn’t actually happen while he was around, which is why he has so much trouble understanding what happened

You tripped on the steps outside Majolish? And you fell the wrong way??? And somehow, that was enough for you to break your ankle?!?!?!

Poor baby, he has no idea how he’s going to relay the information to Diavolo

When Mammon and Asmo sheepishly enter his study to tell him what happened, they’re highkey terrified for their lives - but learning that you actually broke a bone has him so shook that he doesn’t even remember to punish them, and he’s instead rushing to your room to see the damage for himself

He sees Belphie napping on your stomach and sort of assumes that everything is okay, and that his brothers were making a big deal out of nothing

Then he gets closer and sees the horribly twisted angle your left foot is in

Suffice it to say, neither Mammon nor Asmo returned to their rooms fully unscathed that night

Overcomes his natural hatred of Solomon to call him and ask for—brace yourself—help, and when the mage offers to cast a spell that will revert your body to its prior state, Lucifer insists on doing it himself, no longer trusting anyone else with your all-too-fragile body

Relocates your room to the first floor of the house after all is said and done

Asks Diavolo to move all your classes such that you don’t need to climb any stairs

Refuses to believe you when you tried to insist that bones breaking is fairly common for humans

Becomes super overprotective

Insists on helping you with everything

“Lucifer, I can walk down the stairs myself, you know.”

“Yes, I’m sure you can” - he says with a straight face, refusing to let go of your hand as he takes you down the two-step elevation outside the House of Lamentation

(Bonus:) One day he catches you and Levi looking at parkour videos and from that moment and onward he refuses to let you out of sight for any longer than is absolutely necessary

(Bonus bonus:) Catches you doing "parkour" in your bedroom, jumping from Beel’s shoulders to the bed, and then it becomes a new house rule that you’re not allowed to climb onto Beel’s shoulders

Mammon

He was with you when it happened, and the second he heard the crack, he screamed

Honestly, the most high-pitched, shrill sound you’d ever heard

You were more scared of the noise coming out of Mammon’s mouth than the awkward way your pinky was dangling

Only when he was done screaming did the pain actually set in, and then you were hissing viciously in an attempt to distract yourself, trying your hardest to blink the tears from your eyes because Mammon already looked like he was about to cry, and the Devildom really didn’t need two blubbering messes in one day

The one saving grace for you both was the fact that Simeon was nearby, and he used his Celestial magic to heal you (you both begged him not to tell Lucifer, of course)

Baby becomes even more possessive over you afterwards

Still can’t get over how easily it happened

“Are ya sure?” Mammon asks whenever you casually tell him you’re about to do something. Doesn’t matter if you say you’re folding paper cranes or planning on jumping off the roof of the House of Lamentation, he’s lost pretty much all faith in your ability to do anything without your human body breaking in the process

Oddly enough, he becomes much more touchy with you

Needs you to “prove to him” that you’re not injured by squeezing his hand

And then he just doesn’t let go

Oh, you’re holding hands? What? Who said that? Wait, can you prove that you’re not injured and squeeze his hand again? It’s for safety purposes. For safety.

Occasionally, though, he really does have you move your pinky just to prove to him that there weren’t any lasting effects

Overprotectiveness increases by 500 points

Starts to hover around your room a lot more, awkwardly trying to help (really, he’s doing his best) but often doing things much worse than if you simply did them yourself

Gets into a fight with his brothers whenever one of them handles you too roughly

“Hey!” He shouts at pretty much anyone who touches you “Ya gonna hurt my human!”

Will drop anything and everything if he ever sees you trip to catch your fall

Legit, he was once holding Lucifer’s cup of coffee and out of the corner of his eye, he saw you jump to flop on the couch. Cue instant panic mode: he turned into his demon form and all - literally throwing the coffee on Lucifer as he ran forward to catch your body before the couch could break any of your bones

Yeah, he got into a lot of trouble that day

Leviathan

Has officially decided that he’s never going outside again

Ever.

It happened while you were both at one of Lord Diavolo’s parties - you were trying to maneuver the crowds in search of him, actually, and another demon tugged you close and tried to force you to dance. You fought back, of course, frowning as you escaped the demon’s hold, but apparently, they pulled you back and your wrist just snapped

God, he doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the sound of your scream

The demon was punished severely, Diavolo made sure of that. But Levi didn’t care anymore - he just wanted to get you back home, safe and sound

In the following days, he never leaves your side

You have to switch to online classes, at least for as long as your wrist is healing, and Levi takes it upon himself to make sure that the assimilation process is as smooth as possible

You start taking all your classes together, remaining in the same room even if you don’t have the same subject

Homework is a little harder, since Levi usually finishes before you, but he waits for you to finish while he reads manga

Evenings are spent watching anime in his room and debating random topics (oh, and you both marathon the entirety of TSL a couple more times ;))

He even tries to let you get the video game experience, and he picks an RPG game for you both to play and lets you tell him what to do an how to move around, since your wrist is broken

It’s actually super fun because he knows where all the traps are and which ones you’ll like, so he subtly guides your character through the gameplay process to get the best possible experience, and you actually end up enjoying this more than playing solo

(As a joke, he once offers to let you play with him. As in, you use your nonbroken hand to control the left side of the controller and he controls the right side, but that turns out to be a hot mess and you both quickly abandon the idea)

Even after your wrist heals, the two of you continue to spend boatloads of time together

This boy even stops calling you “normie” at one point

Real subtle about it but he tries to convince you not to go back into society again. Like ever. 

“What if you get hurt again?” He asks when you tell him you’ve made plans with Asmo to go shopping

“Then we get to spend even more time together, all over again!”

Cue leviathan/blushingmess.exe

Satan

Probably the ONLY brother to have actually known that it’s possible for humans to break bones

Why?

He read about it in a book once

Still, that doesn’t stop him from visually flinching when he sees you writhing on the ground after being shoved into a bike rack by a lower-level demon, clutching your arm which is disfigured so awkwardly that the bone is popping out

His demon form manifests immediately, and he’s about to rip this demon to shreds when you desperately call out his name, and then he’s more preoccupied with helping you than he is with beating this demon to death

(Inwardly, though, he’s quite relieved that you stopped him from killing the demon immediately. Now, he’ll get to spend the next four millennia torturing the creature slowly, keeping it just an inch from death until he’s satisfied that the demon has paid for injuring you so severely. :))

Runs over to you immediately and pulls you onto his lap, quickly muttering an enchantment that will temporarily numb the pain

Proceeds to ask you whether you want him to use magic to forcefully heal you or if you want to heal the human way

Will respect your wishes 100% no matter which you choose

Throws himself into reading and studying human medicine as soon as the two of you get back to the House of Lamentation

By the end of the month, he’s an expert on human anatomy (and where human strength lies on a comparative figure to demon strength)

Takes it upon himself to watch out for you, threatening any demons who express behavior that isn’t excessively cautious

Starts walking with you and Mammon to and from school

Keep it lowkey, but the truth is that he doesn’t trust his brother to fully make sure that you’re safe so he takes it upon himself

Doesn’t really panic too much, he knows that you getting injured was more the demon’s fault than it was yours

Is actually very considerate of your feelings in all this

Consciously makes sure that he doesn’t treat you too differently, not wanting to make you feel like he thinks you’re weak. But he no longer trusts other demons around you, and after getting your permission, he casts an enchantment on you which prevents lower-level demons from touching you without your explicit consent

Smiles devilishly every single time one of them tries to shove you in the hallways of RAD and gets sent flying 30 meters backwards in response

Devilish smile intensifies when he finally gets around to kidnapping and torturing the demon who dared to push and injure you in the first place

Asmodeus

He’s worried about you for a good hour

Not to say he’s inconsiderate

No, he’s understandably concerned immediately after he sees you on crutches, and when you come home with a broken foot, he’s immediately hanging out with you and completely (read: barely) restraining himself from making flirtatious comments in case you’re still in pain

The second he realizes that you’re fine as long as you don’t apply pressure on it, a switch flips

Now that he knows that the fracture isn’t going to spread to the rest of your body and destroy you from the inside, he’s overwhelmed with how cute it is that you need his help to do basic stuff

And honestly, you kinda vibe with it

He’s the shortest brother, so you having to ask him for help to get things off the shelf because you can’t stand is a rarity, and he is living for it

He lives with six overlords of hell, so the feeling of someone asking (no matter how reluctant) him for help in simple stuff like climbing up or down the stairs is something he absolutely cherishes

The second he realizes how good it feels to do stuff for you, he’ll never stop

Will 100% put Mammon to shame in how frequently he starts hanging by your side

He thinks of everything even before you do, always making sure that when you guys sit down, you have everything you need to be occupied for hours: from water to nail polish to the latest gossip at RAD, this man will make it his life’s mission to be the perfect prince while you’re injured

Seriously spoils you

Even when you finally heal and get better, he doesn’t stop helping you

Actually has the nerve to start complaining when you try to do stuff on your own

“You’re going to hurt yourself! Let me do it for you!”

“Asmo, I’m microwaving popcorn”

It doesn’t matter if you shower him with 'thank yous’ or if you grunt in annoyance every time he sits down next to you with an item you were about to get up and look for, he knows you appreciate the things he’s doing and that’s all he needs

Effectively gives you the royal treatment, occasionally putting Barbatos to shame with how diligent he is in helping you out

It never stops, even months after you’ve made a full recovery

Then again, who are you to complain? ;)

Beelzebub

Suddenly becomes terrified of his own strength

He’s there as it happens, and the way your face immediately contorts in pain right before you bite your lip to stop yourself from screaming will really never stop haunting him

It doesn’t help that you get injured from something that would usually be considered child-safe in the Devildom - a small windup toy which your fingers had gotten stuck in before two of them snap completely

Man is by your side immediately

The pit in his stomach isn’t caused by hunger but by genuine fear as he watches Lucifer and Satan soothe you with magic

He wants to run over to you and wipe your tears away, but should he? How can that be a good idea? He’s easily 1000000000x stronger than that toy you were messing around with, and what if he accidentally hurts you?

He knew it was possible for him to kill you before, but now he realizes how easy it would be - so simple that he might not even realize it

Instantly steps back and begins avoiding physical contact with you, trying his hardest to be there for you emotionally but struggling because every time you ask him for cuddles, he awkwardly changes the subject and looks away

He only comes clean to you about his concerns after you get mad at him and plant yourself in his lap, wrapping your arms around his head angrily as you demand that he give you affection

“Beel,” You mutter, a light pout forming on your face. “The reason you’re strong isn’t just because you have the muscles, it’s because you have control. You’ve never hurt me before, and nothing you do will hurt me now, so stop being such a stubborn goof and hug me”

Cue very hesitant hug

But it’s a start, and he slowly becomes physically close to you once more

(Subtly tries to let you stay in charge, though. He’ll initiate hugs, but you’re the one to squeeze tightly, and he’ll simply follow your lead)

Decides that rather than being afraid of what his strength can do, he’s going to use it to his advantage - and he resolves to become even stronger so that if there’s ever anything that can cause you pain, he’ll be there by your side protecting you, whether it’s against a demon strong as Diavolo or another windup toy from Majolish

Gets into the habit of running his fingers over your hand after it’s done healing, checking for scars and making sure that you’re still completely healed

Slowly develops into handholding - and who is Beel to complain? If he’s holding your hand, he’s by your side, and if he’s by your side, he can better protect you, so there’s no problem there

Belphegor

Quietly blames himself

It apparently happened while you were alone, and you fell down the stairs in the House of Lamentation. But Belphie is 99.99% sure that you were only going up to see him, and if he had just been awake, this never would have happened

Not to mention, this was the second time he had caused you pain, and it wasn’t even intentional!

Boy can’t look you in the eyes properly after the incident

Starts forcing himself to stay awake and isolates himself in the attic

Only when Beel finally gets serious and asks him what’s wrong does he quietly confess his thoughts, and his twin is quick to relay the information back to you

Honestly, you’re lowkey relieved when you hear the reason 

You were beginning to think that Belphie was avoiding you because he had grown tired of your company, and the thought was sort beginning to break your heart

That doesn’t stop you from yelling at him for being inconsiderate 

“This is why you need to talk about your feelings, Belphie!”

“But— “

“No buts!”

Honestly, he’s kind of relieved to see you yell at him so animatedly despite the cast around your arm, it makes him realize that although you’re physically injured, you’re mentally fine

Is very hesitant about napping on you, especially since he knows that if he falls asleep and accidentally shifts into a position that hurts you, you won’t be strong enough to stop him

You flick his forehead and tell him to not to be stupid, insisting that he sleeps next to you like usual, and he very hesitantly leans on the shoulder of the opposite arm you injured

Becomes way more considerate, even when tired

Shift in your sleep? He’s awake, checking to make sure that you aren’t uncomfortable or in pain

Wake up and try to get a glass of water? No problem, Belphie will get it for you, just stay here and sleep tight

Hogging the blanket? For the first time, Belphie doesn’t even mind, he’ll just carefully snuggle closer to you, double-checking that you’re comfortable before drifting back off to sleep

Even after the cast comes off, he’s still conscious about how tightly he grips you and how much physical exertion you put your body through, always reminding himself that, above all, you’re human and your body can’t handle the things his can

Solomon

Groans

That’s right, thanks to an awkward fall, your toe is broken, and this wizard boy has to audacity to groan at the sight of you on the floor, tears in your eyes as you clutch your foot through your shoe

“As if those brothers don’t hate me enough as is,” He grumbles, lifting you to your feet and whisking you back to Purgatory Hall, where he goes full medic mode and inspects the damage

Tries his hardest to convince you to let him fix it with magic, but just last week, he accidentally turned you into a cat while attempting to place a strength enchantment over you, so you’re understandably hesitant as you refuse him

As expected, when the brothers find out, they put him through hell (pun intended)

For not being able to protect you while it happens (they ignore his complaints that it was technically you who fell and injured yourself) he is now tasked with your recovery

Aka he is your slave

You make him carry your books when you go from class to class, you make him buy you lunch from the cafeteria, you make him give you his lecture notes whenever you don’t feel like paying attention in class

Hell, if he weren’t such a god awful cook, you would probably make him take over your cooking duty, as well

“This is abuse” He huffs one day, sighing in irritation after you ask him to go fetch you a glass of water

“I’m sorry?” You ask, feigning innocence. “What’s that? Did you ask me to go tell Lucifer that you aren’t treating me properly?”

Grumbles under his breath in six different languages, cursing you out in each one of them as you wink at him

You’re almost sad when your toe finally heals, and he’s finally free

Thankfully, the two of you somehow grew used to each other after spending so much time together for so long, and (much to the brothers’ displeasure) you continue hanging out with Solomon long after you’re off crutches

Will tease you about it when it’s all over

He doesn’t forget about how you lorded over him for as long as you were injured, and thus takes it upon himself to make sure that you don’t get hurt again under his watch

(At least, that’s what he tells himself as he holds your hand to march you down the steps outside Majolish, not letting go even after the ‘threat’ is passed)

Simeon

confusedangel.exe

First and foremost, how did this happen??

He’s so concerned and shocked when you show up to RAD one day in crutches because you broke a bone on your leg

Didn’t know that was possible

Actually goes home and spends half an hour on the Devildom equivalent of Google trying to maneuver his phone and search up how common this is and whether it’s normal for humans

Accidentally opens the images tab and sees a bunch of super disturbing and painful-looking injuries, and he nearly drops his phone altogether

Instantly assumes that your injury is as bad as those, despite your constant reassurances that you’re fine as long as you don’t apply too much pressure

Lots of pampering

He’s suddenly available 100% of the time for you, no matter what he’s already doing or the time of day

Insists on helping you wherever he can, like holding your stuff for you at RAD, ferrying you from class to class without forcing you to don that heavy rucksack 

Even takes over the responsibility of walking you to and from school

He doesn’t quite understand that your injury is physical??

Like he can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that you’re mentally unaffected by the injury, because angelic injuries are typically so difficult to induce and severe that they always cause some kind of trauma 

He’s always testing you - double-checking that you remember facts from old lectures, holding up fingers to test your sight, even asking you details about himself every now and then

That’s actually the story of how you accidentally told him that you thought his eyes were prettier than the sky and he still hasn’t forgotten it

Never really forgets about your injury, even after your crutches are long gone

Protectiveness goes up by 5000%

He suddenly becomes acutely aware of the fact that you’re surrounded by demons and, although the brothers usually mean well, he becomes impossible concerned for how you’re faring

He expresses his concerns to you one day really sweetly and you’re so touched because ??? How can someone be this pure???

To ease his concerns, you both start hanging out a lot more - when before you mostly hung out at the RAD library before parting ways, Simeon now invites you over to Purgatory Hall more often and you bring him back to the House of Lamentation so that he can see how safe you are with the brothers

Luke

Just like Simeon, there’s so much confusion going on inside this smol bean’s head

Are you really telling him that you??? the person who has taken it upon themself to be protective over HIM??? are so weak and fragile??? that tripping over a pebble was enough to fracture your jaw???

The roles in your relationship are suddenly reversed

(Or well, Luke tries to reverse them)

He does his best to be there for you instead of vice versa, insisting that you no longer need to save him from the brothers when they make fun of him for being like a chihuahua 

Lowkey, he actually earns their respect for how protective he’s suddenly being over you, but the baby can only go so far because - face it - he’s basically ten years old

Doesn’t let that stop him from shooting dirty looks toward any demon who looks at the bandages on your face twice

Immediately goes home and researches what kind of foods you can comfortably eat, and enlists both Barbatos and Beel’s help in cooking soft dishes for you that you’ll be able to eat, despite your injury

Does his best to help you where he can

Takes over your cooking duty at the House of Lamentation

Takes extra-detailed notes so he can lend them to you after class

Even goes as far as to get high-quality Celestial bandages with natural healing properties and gives them to you, hoping that everything he’s doing will make your recovery a little bit faster

He’s really come to look up to you as an older sibling, so seeing you injured (even if you don’t necessarily show the pain) has him seriously torn up inside, and it takes all his effort to keep a straight face every time he looks at you and sees the bandages on your face

If you’re even a little self-conscious about any scars afterwards, he will spend hours convincing you that you look fine (and in truth, he can’t actually see the scar anymore, so he’s being honest)

Long after you’re recovered, he will remember at the most random times that you’re so fragile despite always looking so strong, and it tears him up inside

Because of this, random, tearful hugs become the norm

Occasionally, one look is all it takes before his eyes are welling with tears and he’s burying his face inside your stomach, holding you tight and promising to “protect you to make sure that you never get hurt again”

Very innocent, very sweet

Never fully forgets ever again just how fragile humans are

Barbatos

Knew it could happen

Was sort of prepared for it to happen

Didn’t actually expect it to fucking happen

This is probably one of the only times where he regrets not using his powers to check and see what the future held - literally, it would have been so easy to have saved you had he known it was coming 

Went to Diavolo asking to switch timelines but the demon lord said no

Highkey becomes incredibly protective of you, just in super subtle ways

You suddenly find yourself invited to Diavolo’s palace much more often, and it’s Barbatos who now entertains you, bringing you there under the guise of asking you to “taste the new recipes” he’s attempting to perfect

Pfft, his recipes are already the definition of perfect - the only reason he’s putting that food in your mouth is because he cast a spell on it, and it’ll make your bones stronger

Dodges all questions when you ask about it, real slick

“Barbatos, isn’t this the same dish you gave Beel when we came here last month?”

“I’m afraid I have no recollection of what you’re talking about.”

“You know, the dessert you gave him after he asked you for the biggest banana spli—”

“Oh my, would you look at the time. Let’s get you home, now, before it gets too late”   

Used to walk in front of you when walking you around the palace, but he now walks behind you so that he can watch you in case you trip

I mean, why wouldn’t he? You managed to break your collarbone while jumping down the stairs in Diavolo’s palace - you clearly can’t be trusted to look after your own health

(lowkey also never leaves you unsupervised around Mammon again, who in hell thinks it’s a good idea to try parkour of all things in the castle of the demon lord??? and encourages it?????)

Finds it incredibly endearing when your injury renders you unable to do basic tasks

Like if you were a helpless human in his mind before, now you’re less independent than an unpottytrained demonchild, and Barbatos is living for it, especially since you’re too stubborn to ask the brothers for help, so you turn to him instead

Absolutely loves when you text him for help

[17:39] MC: barbatos?

[17:40] Barbatos: Yes? Are you in need of something?

[17:40] MC: ...i was walking around the House of Lamentation and i accidentally banged into the wall outside Satan’s room and there was a really big sound and it turns out that i knocked a bunch of his books off the shelf and he comes home in half an hour and please help he’s going to kill me if he sees what happened

[17:40] Barbatos:

[17:41] Barbatos: I’ll be right there.

Diavolo

Oh boy

This man has lived a long, LONG time and never in all those millennia has he been as pissed as he is now, seeing you sheepishly lean on Mammon for support with the nearly all of your leg hanging limp

What he can’t grasp is the fact that this actually happened in school

Like, it would be one thing if a demon had injured you out of spite - he could simply punish them for all eternity and eradicate the root of the problem

But for you to be injured this severely? In spellcasting class, no less?

Instantly fires the teacher who was careless enough to let you walk into a casting circle which almost obliterated you whole - and spends ages commending Satan for having the wit to save you before things got even worse

But that doesn’t stop him from using the full extent of his princely power to ensure your continued safety

Instantly moves you out of the House of Lamentation and into his own palace, ignoring Lucifer’s repeated requests for you to not be moved

“I need to make sure they’re comfortable,” He hisses to his right-hand man, almost to Barbatos’s amusement. “The healing process for humans is long, and I need to make sure that they get better without the distractions your brothers provide”

Makes it painfully clear that if you ever get injured again under an RAD teacher’s watch, nothing will be able to save them from the unforgiving flames of his wrath

Starts spending as much time with you as humanly possible 

He always stops by your room in the afternoon, generally to check on your well being and to inquire on how you’re faring, but those conversations always seem to wrap up late at night, long after you’ve both abandoned the original topic at hand and are lost in discussion over something else

One time, when he was feeling particularly guilty after looking at the painful swelling on your leg, he invited you back to his own room to sleep on his bed because - as the acting king of the Devildom - his bed is literally the most comfortable place in the world and he hardly uses it

You sleep in it once and can never sleep anywhere else again

For more reasons than one

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

(Reluctantly) offers to let you move back into the House of Lamentation once you’re completely healed, but celebrates like crazy when you tell him that you’d much rather stay with him, and it becomes SUCH an ego stroke every time you remind him how much you adore it in his palace

Lowkey grateful that you got injured because it was the catalyst that allowed you both to grow close

But will absolutely make sure that nothing of the like ever happens again

#obey me headcanons #gender neutral headcanons #obey me #obey me shall we date #shall we date #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me solomon #obey me simeon #obey me barbatos #obey me diavolo #obey me luke #gender neutral mc #my favorite to write was #luke #<3 #first headcanon!

[downywrites]

Karl has some traumatic memories from his last timewarp. His husbands help him forget. (Tw- derealization(?))

Flashing lights. 

That was all he saw. 

They blared at him, screamed at him for help. And all he could do was watch.

The bright green flames leapt and spun, destructive dancers pirouetting beautifully over flesh, bone, fabric, wood. 

The withers shrieked, their bloodcurdling screams matching the pitches of the men and women who ran. The footsteps thundered on the walkway. Karl watched, detached, as the wood crumbled below them. They fell, and none reached the surface of the water again. He turned his head, muted horror turning into its truest self at the sight of crimson dripping across the stone floor. Red and grey clashed so horribly, they said. It never matched the milieu of any ball, they said. And yet, it did. The macabre scene filled his eyes like a sea of red. The fabric of his shirt, stained like the mind of its owner, shifted as he sunk to his knees. He crawled towards a familiar face, eyes brimming with tears as he cradled his cold, dead body. He looked up. Heterochromic eyes met with soulless ones. Barely audible over the din, a single, broken syllable escaped his chapped, bloodied lips. 

“...why?”

The ebony mask simply smiled back at him. The axe raised high, gleaming a shimmering ruby color in the sun’s dawning light- 

He sat up straight, eyes as wide as dinner plates. He glanced to the side, hands and legs shaking under the covers, at the warm, golden light of his digital clock. His breath stuttered. The sweat on his face and arms gave him a glittery sheen in the dim lighting. The blankets around him felt like snakes wrapping around his limbs, hissing and slithering all over him. Legs wobbling, he shimmied out of bed, fluffy, warm, comforters giving way to precious, cold freedom. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips for a moment, before a discomforting feeling filled his chest once more. ‘Just a dream.’ He repeated his words in his head like a mantra as he shuffled down the wooden stairs of his home. The wood creaked as he went down, well-worn spruce shifting slightly under his feet. 

A flash of fabric. 

The handrail, well-waxed and polished to a t, glinted in the light of the moon. 

Like an axe, poised for the kill.

His breathing went shallow again. He didn’t remember when his breathing evened out. He didn’t know, not until the moment was gone. 

Like them. The people he loved, slaughtered in front of him.

And now the breathing stopped. His lungs filled with water, water that wasn't there. He stumbled down the last few steps, scrambling for purchase in the dim, almost suffocating grey of the moonlit night. A full moon, perhaps?

Just like that night. 

An involuntary gasp escaped his mouth. He sunk to the floor, eyes squeezing shut on their own. Shaking his head slightly as if he could escape the choking feeling in his chest, he curled up into a ball, shivers wracking his body. ‘Just a dream, just a dream….just a Dream…..’ 

“Karl?” “Karlos?”

Their voices? He didn’t trust himself to speak. They were gone, weren’t they? He saw them die. Watched as they were torn apart by the man he used to know, used to be close with. His chest heaved, a wrecked sob escaping his mouth. A pair of arms wrapped around his form. Warm. Almost too warm. Like…

“S-sap?” The arms tightened around him like a band of iron. Karl wasn’t sure if he liked that or not quite yet, but he sure wasn’t going to push them off anytime soon. “Yeah, Karl. It’s me. Breathe for me, okay?” He tried his best to inhale deeply, but the air never came. Panicked, he tried to breathe in with his full chest. No luck. His breathing became even shallower than before, if that was possible. What was possible? He didn’t know. Not when he was hearing and feeling hallucinations of his dead husbands. They were dead, right? He saw them. He saw them….

“Karl, that time trip you took...what happened?” There it was again. His other husband’s voice. How was his hallucinations so vivid? He knew it wasn’t possible he was alive. He saw his prone form on the floor. His golden-yellow wings bloodied and spread like the wings of a laurel, only that the only thing anyone had won that day was the victory of an early death. “No, no, no! Stop messing with my head!” He wrested himself to his feet, pushing the hallucinations off. “You aren’t r-real! I know it! I saw you d-” He cut himself off with a small sob, legs wobbling slightly where he stood. “I-I...you’re gone...t-there’s no way you..” His voice wobbled as he spoke. He opened his mouth again. 

No words came out. A hand wrapped slowly around his. Opening his eyes slightly, two shapes blurred in and out of focus. “Karlos.” Another hand wrapped around one of his hands. The familiar beat of wings. A small gust of wind. “Look at us, mi amor. We’re here, look.” The shapes moved. They...moved? None of his hallucinations ever did that...He opened his eyes wider. 

There, in the shadows of the home, stood his husbands, alive and well.

 Quackity looked at his face with an expression of hopeful hopelessness, eyes swimming with emotions his gambler countenance wouldn’t be able to handle. On the other side, Sapnap looked at him with an expression of pure sadness, quite like a kicked puppy. His tail drooped behind him, limp with worry. Karl’s eyes blurred again, this time without his tears getting in the way. He rubbed his eyes, slipping his hand out of whoever’s grasp that was. Quackity’s hand fell to the side as he did, wing-ears drooping slightly. He sniffled a little, eyes tearing up in a mixture of relief and pain. “I-I-” A small sniffle. “I’m sor-rry.”

 Quackity moved forward carefully, tenderly wrapping his arms around his form. The warmth of his arms made him snuggle into it a little more, comfort oozing out of his husband’s embrace. The orientation of his head shifted for a moment, but to what angle, Karl didn’t know. “Sapnap. Come here.” Sapnap moved closer to the group, before wrapping his own arms around the bunch. Karl giggled quietly through the sniffling he was doing. “Y-you all are r-real, right? I’m not g-gonna wake up alone?” His husbands awwed sadly at his words. “Oh, Karl…” The arms around him tightened, but this time he didn’t feel trapped by them at all. “We’re real. We promise.” A small purr came from the blaze hybrid. His tail whipped and curled around his leg, a small point of heat emanating from its tip.

 “Come ‘ere, you two.” Sap and Quackity let go, making Karl whine slightly at the loss of warmth. He made grabby hands at the two. The duck hybrid extended his wing, brushing against his neck as he stretched it out. Karl giggled softly, rubbing it under his chin willingly, before grabbing onto it for support. He followed the movement of the wing, digging his fingers into the fluff and down there. Quackity tried to hide the small giggle that escaped him with a pyjama-covered hand. One of Sapnap’s ears twitched from the noise. He turned to look back at the two, a slight smile gracing his features. A dull fang peaked out of his top lip, snagging slightly as his face morphed back into a neutral state. His tail wrapped around Quackity’s arm, warmth from the limb suffusing his limb.

 As they began to near the mental health room they have in the home, their eager footsteps betrayed their excitement. Karl followed behind closely, trying his best not to slow down and accidentally pull at his husband’s wing. His mind swirled with questions. It whispered thoughts into his ear, planted doubts into his mind. ‘They aren’t real. They’re figments of your imagination. You’re dreaming.’ Unable to take that seriously, he pinched his own arm harshly as he walked. The ‘dream’ didn't stop. The men in front of him carried on, excitement growing as they walked across the carpeted floor. The sounds of the owls hooting outside the mounted windows did not cease. His heartbeat stayed constant, a steady, confident beat compared to the shakiness of his legs. ‘I am not dreaming. They are alive and well. They are, they are, they are.’

 “Karl, we’re here!” They ducked into a room, pulling him along as well. He yelped slightly at the sudden change of direction, before stumbling to a stop. His eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Quackity and Sapnap smiled at him expectantly, eyes aglow with happiness. He took a look around, squinting to take a better look at the area. The majority of the room was full of pillows and stuffed animals, little trinkets and knickknacks that Karl were drawn to, for some reason or other. The room’s lights shifted from purple to a soft green every once in a while, along with the signature soft, golden yellow of all of the rooms in the home contained, bathing the whole place in his favorite colors. The whole place seemed to be padded. Eyes wide in surprise, he tapped the ground, feeling it squish under his feet when prodded. He looked up again, tears threatening to fill up his eyes once more. Pointing to himself, he stuttered in a mix of giddy happiness and confusion. “F-for me? Wh-why?”

 Sapnap grabbed both of his hands with his own, clasping them together. “Karl, we’ve noticed you’ve been a little...off.. after your last trip, so...while you were recovering in the sick bed, we were making you a safe space. You know, like I said we would during the championships…” He scratched the back of his head with a hand, before clasping his hands together once more. Karl’s chest bubbled with warmth. Touched, he bumped heads with his husband, nuzzling into his neck a little. A chuckle made the top of his scalp rumble. “Hehey..” Emboldened by the reaction, he walked forward, forcing him backward. Once his back hit a pillow, he gently tipped him over, letting him fall onto the springy surface with a small ‘oof!’ He looked down at him, mismatched eyes almost glowing in the soft light of the room. His eyes flicked to the side. “Quacks, come help me for a sec.” Puzzled, Quackity moved closer. “With what?” A mischievous glint, buried deep in his eyes as he glanced back at him, sealed the deal. “Oh, that kind of help.” 

Giggling nervously, Sapnap shook his head and pushed lightly at whatever he could of Karl. A small tint of pink colored his cheeks. “Kahaharl, dohohon’t!” The smile on his face and the thumping of his tail on the soft mattress betrayed his true feelings towards his situation. Quackity was quick to point that out. “Don’t? Well, it looks like you really want it, judging by the way your tail is wagging.” Butterflies burst to life, taking flight in the pit of his stomach. He covered his face, small little giggles escaping him. He tried to tamp down his smile from behind the shade of his hands, only succeeding in making himself look even more flustered as the two of them cooed above him. “Thihihis isn’t a fahair fihight!”

 Karl grinned, kneeling over and sitting on his knees. “Oh, of course it isn’t. We’re going to go to Quacks next, if you can still stand once we’re done with you.” The duck hybrid paled. “What?” The man, slightly worried for his own sake, kneeled next to him, hands at the ready. Karl’s soft hands wandered up to the blaze hybrid’s neck, scratching lightly at the flesh there. He was immediately greeted with a few giggles from the man below him. Sapnap scrunched his shoulders up, accidentally trapping his fingers. “Cuhuhut ihit ohohut!” “Oh, but I can’t, Sappy! You trapped me here! Oopsie, looks like I’ll have to stay here until you let me go~” 

Sapnap squealed slightly, a noise that elicited another aww from the duo above him and to his side. A small poke to his side made him squirm more to the other side. “Quahahacks, nohoho!” Quackity smiled, wings fluffing with excitement. “Don’t run away from me, mi amor~ you know I’d never hurt you!” The thumping on the mattress increased in speed. “Aww, did you like the sound of that?” 

Sapnap’s blush deepened behind his hands. “N-Nohoho!” The duck hybrid gently rubbed circles into the skin in between his sides and stomach, feeling the muscles shift and jump underneath his hands. A small squeak escaped Sapnap’s lips through his soft laughter. Karl grinned, teasing him lightly for it. “What a sweet little squeaky toy you are! And this little squeaky toy gave me a gift, so...it looks like I need to reward him.” He tugged at his hands, only for him to realize that he was still stuck. “Sappy, would you mind letting me go?” 

The blaze shook his head slightly. “Ihihi- yohohour fihihingers-” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What about my fingers? Are they moving? Does it… ti-ti-tickle?” Sapnap curled into himself even more, pulling Karl in closer and dislodging the duck hybrid’s hands. Quackity cooed at his husbands, eyes softening even more. He moved in closer, inserting his hands into the flustered blaze-ball the two of them made. He poked at the pudge on his tummy, giggling softly as the abs underneath twitched at the sensation. 

In this position, Karl and Quackity could see how much their husband was loving the attention. His spaded tail wagged on the mattress, finally free from the cushiony cage it was trapped in. A small, teasy grin graced Karl’s features, pulling his arms out of Sap’s grasp. Noticing the lack of Karl’s hands and voice, Sapnap uncovered his face, peeking out behind them like a child playing peekaboo. “Uhhh...Kahaharl?” The feeling of someone grabbing his tail made him gasp. 

Eyes widening, he uncovered his face completely to look at Karl. The time traveler’s smile widened up to his eyes at the shocked and excited look on his countenance. The tail wagged a little in his semi-firm grip. Quackity, taking advantage of the moment of inattention, shifted up to scratching behind his ears. Sapnap’s ears twitched almost violently. Sapnap closed his eyes, pushing slightly into Quackity’s hands. ‘Ehehehe, Quhahacks…”

 Karl rubbed firmly at the space of the tail, making its owner scream with laughter. The feeling of his husbands tickling one of his melt spots and one of his death spots simultaneously was blissful torture. He threw his head back, horns snagging slightly at the fabric and sending even more ticklish shockwaves throughout his body. “KAHAHARL! OHOHOHO-OHOHO MAHAHAY- AHAHA!” He went limp as Quacktiy rubbed behind his ears again, eyes tearing up in his mirth. Karl scratched lightly at the spade, being careful not to damage the soft velvet on the surface of the appendage. 

Small hiccups wracked the flailing body below him. Sapnap tried his best to avoid hitting either of his loved ones. Quackity glanced at Karl as a silent hint to slow down a little. After all, both of them knew just how long Sapnap would forestall stopping a tickling session, with the demonic amount of stamina he had. The time traveller slowed down a little more, fluttering his fingers over the stem of the tail and rubbin the thin yet muscly part of the tail. Sapnap’s hysterical laughter slowed down to a few residual giggles from the light tickles on his tail and behind his ears. He slumped down into the pillows, melting almost fully into the soft material below him. The affection gave him a warm, almost bubbly feeling in his chest. 

It felt different warm. Not like the lava baths he gave himself in the nether, no, but some other type of warm. He always felt it around these two. He felt it with other people, too. With Dream and George as they sit on a cliff and watch the sunset. When he helps people with their old items and house as they moved to and from the SMP. When he sees Tommy and Tubbo smile. He didn’t know what the feeling was. Maybe he should ask the other two...

Quackity and Karl exchanged another glance. Surprisingly, Quackity was the first one to break the gentle blanket of silence. “So, is Sapnap out like a light, or…” Sapnap rose from the cushions slowly, eyes glimmering with an emotion that neither of them could pick up. “I think I get to have my revenge now, don’t I?” Karl grinned again, eyes squishing slightly. “Well, I mean, we still have to reward Quackity, don’t we?” A small gulp from the duck hybrid piqued their attention. Quackity stood up and took a step back, wings spreading out in slight excitement and playful fear. “Hehehey, nohoho neheheed to behehe hahasty…” Karl was grateful for the diversion of messing with his husbands. If he didn't have it, he would still be grappling with the voices. The voices….were they still there? What if this was all fake? He shook his head, hair flicking with his head movements. ‘I’m fine.’

 Quackity looked at him, slightly confused. He took advantage of that confusion. He rushed towards his husband, tackling him onto another mound of pillows. The resulting squawk made him giggle. “Noho! Nononono!” Sapnap moved much slower than Karl, slinking towards him in full view. Quackity’s eyes widened even more. Butterflies took flight in the pit of his stomach. ‘Nononono, mi tesoro, nononono-” Sapnap paid no heed to the avian’s begging, resolving instead to stalk towards him like a tiger hunting its prey. “Oh Quackity~” A small purr in his ear made him squeak. “How did you get so good at that?” Karl made a noncommittal noise at that. “Another bird taught me.” Quackity hissed under his breath. “I’m going to steal something from that dumb eagle.” Karl tut-tutted in his ear, nibbling slightly at it. “Nuh-uh. It’s time for your reward, but I won’t hesitate to punish you for your kleptomaniac tendencies.”

 Quackity’s wings flapped slightly at the sensation. A few giggles escaped his mouth. “Quackity, am I allowed to flip you over?” A small trill answered his question for him. Karl flipped him over, exposing the man’s back and wing bases. He massaged the avian’s clothed back gently, eliciting a few coo-filled giggles. Sapnap finally reached Karl’s side. He whispered into his ear softly, as to make sure the duck wouldn’t hear. “You know this means that you’re next, right?” “Only if you catch me first.” Sapnap couldn’t argue with that. Teeth poking out of his smile, he scratched at Quackity’s sides, purring deep in his chest. The duck hybrid giggled at the sensation. “Mihihi tehesohoro!” “Yes, my little duckling?”

 Karl joined in, tracing a single finger down his spine. “IhihiHIT tihihickles!” Karl, upon reaching the seam of his shirt, darted underneath it, softly spidering his fingers on the duck’s lower back. Sapnap moved his hands from his sides upward, moving closer and closer to the base of his wings. Quackity squeaked at the changing of spots. “Ehehehe! Kahaharl!” Sapnap pouted dramatically. “Aw, not calling for me? I can make you screech my name, you know.” He leaned closer to his ear, words enunciated by his fangs. “Mi patito~” He drew out the word slowly, watching as the man to the side of him had a full-body spasm at the nickname. 

“SAhap! Yohohou bihitch!” He raised one coal-black eyebrow. “Oh? How mean.” Clawed hands rested on golden-yellow. Quackity’s breath caught. “S-sahap, mihihi amohohor..” Karl traced shapes on his back, making him giggle even more. Butterflies took flight again from the anticipation. The duck hybrid whimpered slightly. Karl’s voice came from the other side of him. “Light?” “Greheheen.” Karl nodded, looking at Sapnap expectantly. And the blaze hybrid did not disappoint. Sapnap dug his fingers into the wings, carefully rubbing at the skin and muscle beneath. A screech of happy laughter blessed (and absolutely destroyed) their ears. His wings flapped wildly, prompting Karl to rush over and hold them out. 

Sapnap rubbed and scratched at the wings, avoiding pinfeathers and growing feathers with the care and precision only a lover would be able to muster. He moved closer to the oil glands, careful not to squeeze them. He scratched his nails lightly on them, listening to the begging and screeching of the man below him. Quackity was in hysterics. “IHIHI-MIHIHIHI-MIHIHAHAHA!” Karl dug his fingers into the edges of the wings, scratching lightly where he could. The extra stimulation was just a cherry on the cake. He slammed a balled fist into a pillow, shoulders shaking in laughter. “AHAHA! OHOHOKAY, SAhAHAP!” Sapnap grinned, moving back over to the secondaries and teasing underneath them. “Yes, my ticklish little duckling?” “YEheHELLOW! SLOHOHOW DOHO-WN!”

 Immediately, the tickling sensations stopped. Quackity almost wanted to ask for more, but he knew his body wouldn’t be able to handle that. He wheezed for breath, wings folding in and fluttering a little. Karl and Sapnap looked on, a little bit concerned for the rather frail duck hybrid. He turned himself over, flopping to the mattress with a little struggle. His limbs felt like jelly, but he presumed he would manage. “...thahat wahahas fuhuhun.” As the duck rubbed off all of the tingles with his deft fingers, the residual giggles slowly calmed down to a small, almost silent chuckle every once in a while. Sapnap grinned at the man, eyes soft. “Was that fun, Quacks?” He looked up at him, smiling wide enough to tempt Sapnap into questioning which person he’s swindled this time. He nodded, wing-ears fluttering happily.

 “So, I’m guessing the next person is…” He trailed off, looking at the time traveler. The blaze did the same thing, a mischievous smirk widening on his face. Karl stood up quickly. Quick as a flash, he darted out of the room. “Oh no, you didn’t!” Sapnap chased after him, tail trailing behind him. Quackity laughed, slowly walking behind the two of them. As they played and cuddled with each other, the sun rose, its orangey-pinkish hue kissing the horizon. The lights did not flash for the rest of the day, no. Not when his husbands were near. 

Somewhere in the prison, Dream’s face contorted into a small frown. The slightest of chills ran through his spine, making him sigh. This wasn’t the first time this happened. 

How many more people would he lose before he escaped? 

#lee!quackity #ler!sapnap #ler!karl #mcyt tickle #dsmp tickle #my writing #sfw tickle #downy writes #downywrites #i didn't edit this haha #enjoy :3 #karlnapity

[slowpoke-fics]

Empty

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sam x Reader ; Platonic Dean x Reader

Summary: the group had been hunting a djinn, you get the short end of the straw and find the djinn, what you didn't expect was it taking you

Warning: this is angsty, and can be very triggering, su!cide (to get out of djinn hallucinations), death in djinn hallucination, hurt/comfort, if I missed warnings I am sorry, but you read at your own risk

A/N: This is a three part series, Empty, Cold, Warm, Cold is written so you don't have to read this part, if this fic is too triggering to read, p l e a s e skip it and move onto Cold.

You and the boys sat in your motel room, you had been hunting a family of djinns for weeks, every time you got closer it was like they were one step ahead. You had managed to kill one of them, but you still had two to hunt down. "Okay," Dean started, "I'll check the mines, Sam you get the caves, Y/n look through the train station." Dean had a plan, you were fine with it but Sam was not. "I don't like this," he finally spoke up, "they seem to always be ahead of us, I don't know that splitting up is a good plan. This could be exactly what they want." You smiled at him, going to sit on his lap, "I'm sure it'll be okay, we're all prepared and ready, we can get them this time." Sam shook his head, "I don't know, something doesn't sit right with me." Dean sighed, shutting his computer, "You only say that because your woman isn't gonna be within ear shot," Dean grabbed his keys and headed for the door, "it'll be fine Sammy." With that Dean headed out, most likely to find a piece of ass for the night.

You planted kisses on Sam's face, "It will be okay, this is our best plan to corner them." Sam smiled, not wanting to press, "Yeah, I'm sure you're right baby," pressing a kiss to your lips, "Dean's probably right too, it's because I won't be able to be with you, making sure you're safe." You and Sam prepped nine silver knives dipped in lambs blood for when one of you ran into them, and then laid down, waiting for sleep to come. "I want you to be careful tomorrow," he whispered, "I can't lose you." You kissed him, swinging a leg over him, planting a kiss and grinding your hips on him, "I'll always come back." Sam giggled and flipped you underneath him, kissing your neck, "You better or I'll hunt you down."

The next morning your alarm started blaring, Dean groaning in the bed next to you, Sam pulling you a little closer. You trucked out of bed and stopped the alarm, setting it for half an hour later and heading out the door. You were always the first one up, always headed out the door early to go get coffee. Sure enough as you walked into the room the alarm was going off. You walked to Dean, handing him his coffee, and he gladly accepted, and then to Sam, who shut off the alarm and sat up in bed.

Handing him his coffee and sitting next to him with your head on his shoulder, feeling the worry he holds for you. "Don't worry, we're all gonna get out of this together." Sam kisses your head, "I know," throwing a pillow at Dean, "you'll always come back to me." He put his fingers under your chin, lifting your lips to his, slowly kissing you, "I love you." You smiled, putting your hand on his cheek , "I love you too, Sammy."

After you guys had separated you began to look through the train station, looking everywhere for a sign of a djinn. You were trying to find something, anything that could help you to get ahead of these monsters. From behind you heard a small whisper, "Hello." You immediately whipped around, knife raised, waiting for the fucker to come near you. You circled, and then it charged. "Goodbye."

You were able to duck, and quickly stab the djinn, effectively killing it. "Goodbye, fucker." You continued to look around, with no sign of the other djinn after an hour or so you left. Pulling out your phone to call Sam, "I got one," you announced as you came out of the station. You could hear the pride in Sam's voice, "I got one too, we've finally put this bastards to rest. Pick you up in 15?" You smiled, happy to go home, "Yeah, baby, see you then."

Sam and Dean were both back at the hotel, had been sitting around for ten minutes, trying to call you over and over to no avail. Sam got up, "Alright, lets go now." Dean immediately got up, jogging behind Sam, ready to find the woman he's called family for years now.

When they arrived at the station they looked for about half an hour before coming upon a piece of paper written in blood, hello. Dean and Sam both looking at each other with a sense of horror and realization starting running, just as fast as they could. They eventually hit an intersection, a huge wall, with two knives, identical to the ones you and Sam had prepped the night before, laid neatly before them. Written above the knives in blood was one word that made Sam and Dean both want to puke.

Goodbye.

Looking further, they find your phone nearby, with ten calls from Sam and Dean each, both of them now frantic to find you. After searching the tunnels for hours, Dean finally spoke up, "We've gotta check everywhere man, we have to go back to the caves, the mines." Sam was on fire, he knew this would happen. He saw it coming and he didn't stop it. He screamed, "Y/n!" Threw his flashlight, "Y/n! Come back to me!"

You arrived back at the bunker, ready to crawl into bed and sleep for a week. The ride home was silent, almost deadly. Something definitely didn't feel right. You brushed it off and went to the room you've shared with Sam for years. Sam came in and laid down with you, pulling you close to him, "I'm glad that you made it out. I'm glad we all did." You fell asleep, jolting awake suddenly in the middle of the night, words echoing in your head, "Y/n! Come back to me!"

You felt sick, then it was gone, just as soon as it was there. Sam rubbed your back, "You okay?" You smiled at him, "Yeah, just something bothering me, not sure what it is. Something feels too easy about this." Sam chuckled, "Now you sound like me, paranoid, waiting for the danger," Sam kissed your shoulder and pulled you down to him, "it's okay, we've made it out, now let's go back to sleep."

Dean and Sam checked every inch of the caves and the mines with no sign of you. Sam slammed the car door as he ran his hands through his hair. "Sam," Dean started, "I know," he started his car, we'll find her."

A week later, you and your boys were back on the road, this time going after some vamps, no biggie, Dean even let you drive. When you found the nearest motel to the nest, you finally stopped, not realizing being the driver was very tedious, grateful to have a bed, and an actually decent one. You plopped down on the bed, sighing to yourself, as Sam pulled out the computer explaining the mission. You only heard part of it, "Old mansion about five miles away-" starting to fall asleep, "probably less than ten-" manageable, "go tomorrow morning," Sam finished, closing the computer and over to you, sliding you up the bed. "Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning Jess."

You jolted awake at that, "What?" Sam looked shocked, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, just trying to make room for me." You sat up completely, "What did you just say Samuel?" Dean looked over, curious what the fuss was about, "I said I was making room?" Sam looked completely confused, a little like he was afraid of something. "Before that Sasquatch." Sam chuckled, "I said I'd explain the plan tomorrow morning, for when you're awake?" You sighed, something is wrong, but you just couldn't quite place it, so you just laid back down, cuddling into Sam.

Sam and Dean went back to the wall stained with your blood the next day, the knives were now pointing a different direction, made into an arrow pointing towards the left turn they can make there. Following the trail, they started walking, shining a light on every part of the walls until they found an arrow. "Let's go," Sam starting moving faster. "Wait," Dean stopped and looked around. "This doesn't feel right," Dean sighed, "man, I don't know what to do here, they want us to go this way, it doesn't make sense." Sam's eyes frantically looked around, "Well we can't split, this has to be a trap, but at least we can fight them together." That was that and they were going to follow the trail.

When you got to the nest it seemed simple, seemed like it was in and out, hit em' while they're asleep. You couldn't have been more wrong. Dean had the front, you and Sam had the back. Dean and Sam went in, you following suit, only to see twenty vamps or more staring at you. It broke out into a brawl, heads rolling all over the floor. Panic flourished in your chest as the brawl died down and only you three were left standing. "Nobody move," you whispered, "this isn't," you sighed, "right." Dean laughed, moving forward to you, "Hell yeah it is, we just ganked a bunch of these fuckers," Dean was still laughing, wiping blood off his face, "damn, we're getting good." It only took you a second to register it, weak boards, "No!" You reached out for Dean, but it was too late, he went straight through the floor.

You screamed, Sam rushing to find stairs, you staying above Dean, who was impaled by several planks of wood. "Hold on, brother," you started crying, "we're coming." Dean started to say something, but he couldn't, then you saw it, a vamp. Coming out of the darkness, relentlessly feeding on Dean. You couldn't breathe, "Sam! There's another one!" Sam hollered something back, then you hear it from behind you, a sense of familiarity, "Hello."

Sam and Dean had checked every single door on the left turn. Wasted so much time trusting that the djinn had left a trap that would lead straight back to you. When they realized they had no further to go, they started sprinting, realizing that this was a distraction, likely to have more time to kill you.

You woke up tied to a chair, Sam planted in front of you. "Well," a vamp coming out of the darkness revealed himself, "I wake up to find all of my brothers and sister dead! How do you suppose I punish you two?" The vamp hummed, another coming out of the darkness, whispering something in his ear. A vile laugh came out of the vamps mouth before biting into his wrist and walking to Sam. You started screaming, jerking around, trying anything to get him to stop. He laughed and laughed as Sam ingested the blood. After he felt like it was enough, he hit Sam, hard enough that he was out cold. He then untied him, clearly wanting to force Sam to feed on you, the woman he loved. The second vamp walked past you, not saying a word, the first one walked by you slowly, grazing his claw against your neck, barely cutting you. "Goodbye."

All of a sudden you couldn't breathe. Remembering the station with the djinn.

From behind you heard a small whisper, "Hello." You immediately whipped around, knife raised, waiting for the fucker to come near you. You circled, and then it charged. "Goodbye." A hand on your neck, and you're out.

It clicked.

The ride home was silent, almost deadly. Something definitely didn't feel right.

Words echoing in your head, "Y/n! Come back to me!"

"Yeah, just something bothering me, not sure what it is. Something feels too easy about this."

Dean even let you drive.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning Jess."

Something is wrong, but you just couldn't quite place it, so you just laid back down.

"Nobody move," you whispered, "this isn't," you sighed, "right."

You're with the djinn, you didn't kill it. You just pissed it off. Taking a deep breath you slammed backwards, crushing your arm, causing excruciating pain, screaming and crying, "It's not real, gotta get out of here, gotta come back." You were finally able to move as you heard Sam groan. Racing for your gun and raising it to Sam, who had a sinister smile, "That won't hurt me, Y/n." You raised the gun to your head, "I will always come back to you."

Bang.

Blood curdling screams was the only thing you heard when you woke up, until you realized they were your own. Taking deep breaths, trying to gather yourself, you found a knife next to you, the one dipped in lambs blood. One of the djinns charged at you, your reflexes allowed you to slide the knife through her heart. "Goodbye, fucker." You pulled the knife out, holding it up to the second djinn.

"Stop!" He begged as you got up from the ground, "I helped you! You remember! Jess? Feeling like something just wasn't quite right?" You growled, "I don't believe you! You let me rot down here!" He put his hands up, "I helped you! She was insane, driven with rage! You have to believe me, I controlled everything there, I could only help you so quickly without her noticing! She couldn't move on from you killing our brother!" You moved closer to him, barely able to breathe, "I," another step, "don't," another step, "believe," your final step, "you."

You stood there, face to face with him for at least a whole minute, giving him every opportunity to hurt you, he barely whispered, "I don't kill people." You backed away, suddenly not knowing what to do. The door busted down next to you, you were staring at Sam and Dean, both charging at the djinn who is only looking at you, not moving a muscle.

"Stop!" You screamed before you even know what had happened, "he helped me, he doesn't kill people." Sam and Dean turning to you in disbelief, "Y/n you've been gone for days, are you insane?" You scoffed, "Maybe, but he didn't do this-" you pointed to the dead woman on the ground, "she did." Sam looked you up and down, not noticing a single ounce of harm on you, turning to the djinn he moved nose to nose.

"If I ever pick up on your trail, I will hunt you down and mutilate you into a hundred pieces." The djinn just stood there, truly scared. "Go! Get out of here right now!" You begged before you had changed your mind. He didn't need to be told twice as he scattered. "You sure that was the right call?" Dean whispered to Sam, you turned around face to face with Sam, "Yes." A simple statement, lingering in the air as you walked to Sam, gently reaching up to his face, checking his teeth. Once you realized it was really him, you hugged him, whispering lovingly, "I came back to you." Sam didn't want to let go, still so scared.

You turned to Dean, checked his teeth, his body for any injuries, nothing, a sigh of relief. Pulling him into a hug, he wrapped his arms around you, "I love you Dean, you're the best brother I never asked for." Dean chuckled in relief, "Let's go kid."

As you walked out of the station dread washed over you. You didn't feel anything. You were just...

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#supernatural fanfic #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfiction #spn fluff #spn flangst #spn angst #sam angst #sam x reader #sam x y/n #sam x you #dean winchester x reader #dean x reader #dean x sister!reader #sam fluff #sam winchester fluff #sam winchester x reader #sam winchester x y/n #tw fanfic #tw fanfiction

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 19: Yugi and the Only Neck Accessory He Didn’t Really Want to Wear

Been busy! Hopefully stuff will open up soon as I’m taking a hiatus on a different quarantine project and will be finishing painting the entire roof of my car this week? One can hope. Sanding the rust off the whole top of a car takes a long time it turns out?

Also, fun Yugioh fact, I recently painted a book cover for an author who is older so she’s never seen the show, and she looked at my tumblr, saw my Duke Devlin fanart and was like “That’s him. That’s my main character. OMG. You captured him perfectly!” and I was like “Ma’am that is Duke Devlin, hence the single dice earring on his lobes there, but we can work with this.” and now a spiritual Duke Devlin is on the cover of a Wuxia-style fantasy trilogy on the Vella. Had to give him a top knot and delete the eyeliner for Wuxia reasons but uh, that’s just Duke.

So long story short, fanart can get you work, don’t even worry about posting that stuff online because most people don’t even know it’s fanart anyway and older ladies freakin love it.

Back in Yugioh, the team was doing their best to navigate a map through the woods and they do about as well as they normally do.

And inside Tristan lifted up the floorboards and was like “I found the only way out, this is it, this is the only way.”

And they ended up in something that has a color scheme I would actually associate with a jungle. Finally. We have finally left California (in order to go to another Hell.)

Youknow, when we went to California, we visited Hell, and when we went to India, we also took a stop at the nearest death destination. There’s just so much death on this show and sometimes I forget because there’s been a ghost in our party for so freakin long it’s been normalized.

(read more death imagery under the cut)

Joey freaks out at a flock of crows and reveals in this episode something I never realized about him before.

Like I’m not always the perfect observer as I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I love that this is canon for probably only this episode, but I will never forget it for the entirety of this series.

You go on hating birds, Joey.

Bro was like “Maybe it’s a deep cut about Mai Valentine because she’s a harpy lady” but eh...pretty sure we spent like an entire season of Joey telling us that Mai was a good experience? Would be incredibly funny if immediately after all of S4, Joey was like “You know what? Screw Mai, guys.”

So my thoughts...it’s probably just a literal bird experience. Like I had a friend who hated deer because once she went to a petting zoo, got some pellets to feed the deer, but her finger was sticking up, so when the deer came over to nibble on some pellets her finger went up it’s nose by accident. She was so disgusted by this event that was entirely her fault, that she brought up how much she hated deer basically whenever we saw one.

So like...maybe Joey fed a bird wrong at a petting zoo. I can see him getting bit by a parrot because he was too Joey Wheeler.

But now that we’re in a graveyard neighborhood, Pharaoh decides to hop out because there’s a lot of ghosts here and he needs to practice socializing with his peers.

So that’s just a Yugioh monster doing the ostrich dance, right? Like this is a meme from like 2010 but on Yugioh in 2003(4?)

Good to see the Ostrich dance here in the land before Vine.

So they pull out their Pokemon to do some antics, Tea looked like she was about to do something useful, and Yami does a yump across time and space to get her as far away from playing (not)cards as quickly as possible and y’all...sure was a position these animators animated.

Holy crap.

And I was going off about that scene last season where they woke up in the same bed like...

...have these two been together this entire time? Like together together?

They’re like...way more comfortable than you’d figure they’d be considering Yugi nearly passes out every time he gets a hug. But Yami just like....How long has this been going on? As long as Joey’s fear of birds?

Like obviously this show would never cover what the hell Yugi may be thinking about this overreaching move here, because we’re gonna gloss right over that, and just run away up a flight of stairs. No one mentions this ever again. Which is mind blowing for an anime to do. I think in most anime I watch, the kids would be like “ahh ahhhh I bumped into a booooob!” like it does for I want to say every other episode of My Hero Academia. But in Yugioh, they saw that low hanging fruit and they were like “we expect a higher level of maturity out of our audience. Now here’s a fleet of ostrich dancing tree monsters with faces for crotches.”

They decided to sprint up this flight of stairs, and it enough of a slope to deter the monsters who are only unbalanced weird legs.

I want us to take a moment and admire this background painting. I can’t unsee the rocks that are all the same size, just piled on top of eachother. Did Alexander the Great just plop rocks here--or was the mountain made up of tons of similarly shaped boulders?

Like there’s a lot of nice bg’s in this arc, don’t get me wrong, but this one...I’m just trying to wrap my head around the logic of it.

At the top, they meet a pantheon, that is immediately blocked by this wall, because if this arc had a tagline, it’s “Yugi gets inconvenienced every 4 seconds.”

Bro was like “Clearly they would have pushed it over if Tea wasn’t slacking off” and like...she is actually. Look at her. Only used one hand? Slacker.

Joey was disappointed he couldn’t push over a massive wall, and the team decided not to analyze how much Joey Wheeler thinks of his own strength and instead fixate on these statues.

Usually in anthro characters they kinda look birdlike but act human. But what about an anthro that’s just a bird? Like human torso, but can turn his head 180 degrees? Yugioh made me ask this question.

And then Joey was like “wait, there may be a solution that isn’t just to use brute strength!”

Youknow it is a bummer that Kaiba couldn’t witness Joey own a dragon while he himself only has a robot jet dragon. Although, the jet is probably faster, stronger and overall...better than this baby dragon. It would have been great for Kaiba to witness Joey under-utilize this dragon and forget he has it for like huge swatches of the episode.

And then Grandpa pulled some body horror out of nowhere.

Wow.

I mean that is really gross.

I guess Grandpa can’t use Blue eyes, because Kaiba ripped it up, Grandpa can’t use Exodia because Weevil tossed it off a boat, and grandpa can’t use the card that’s just a building because...it’s a building.

So instead Grandpa has a bunch of meat and bones that look like something out of Doom. It’s probably from a more obscure Konami property, but I forget which.

I’ve seen Tristan hold back Joey in this hold, first time it’s been Tea.

So much shipping in this episode, it’s wild.

It’s also wild how low my standards are for what could possibly be shipping when it comes to Yugioh because of how freakin tepid all of these characters are, which as I’ve brought up before, I really don’t mind.

So Yugi decides that because Grandpa was folding his arms like one monster and it made a gem light up or something, to just do the video game thing and use the giant ass statues as clues.

Why was this arc not a video game? Like parts of it really feel like it was meant to be.

So Yugi falls down a hole, where the walls cave in like it’s that dumpster in Star Wars but like...it barely phases him.

Also...Yugi might be able to see in the dark. It’s never been brought up but like...the more I think about it...has Yugi ever struggled to see without the lights on?

After Joey disappoints everyone, he confronts death.

And Pharaoh and Yugi decide to solve the puzzle of “how do I get out of this trap dungeon room” which, honestly, is probably what they’re doing every time they hang out in the brain pyramid.

So they summon their mascot monster, and surprisingly the show decided its ability to fly cannot help them out here.

Kuriboh manages to become enough of a doormat to push Yami up to the stone and they end up in a set of weird cuts that ended in this?

Like seriously it was like flashes of light and then they were just...up here like this.

Hey like...

Alexander the Great, my man...

Were you planning to put that stone in the middle of a exhaust vent hoping someone would touch it? Because there’s no way anyone would rationally have done that. You would need to fly to do it. This is the world’s worst DM.

Like Yugioh pulls a lot of fantasy nonsense but this arc is a lot more like a “it’s a kid’s show, just go with it.” arc than most of them. It’s not a bad vibe, necessarily, it’s just not the vibe I’m used to.

So once I witnessed maybe the most boring conversation I’ve ever witnessed about corn (this was on a twitch stream, by the way, a guy was playing an interesting game, and then a guest came on and started talking about corn and plants for 2 hours) and they would not shut up about how all taxonomy is wrong because there are no such thing as trees and how all animals are labelled incorrectly, and then they started comparing it to like all sorts of mushrooms and phytoplankton as you would if you clearly got a little bit high before dumping your corn knowledge on a twitch stream.

Anyway, after that bizarre experience I suffered so I could learn how to play an obscure video game, I think I can safely say, that while I know everyone here thinks a bird can’t be a dog. If you’re a high biologist: a bird is absolutely a dog. Apparently you can just do that if you’re the most boring biologist alive and no one will argue with you because to do that would involve talking to you. We’ll just say a bird is a dog and no one can fight me or I will talk about the corn book that this guest on this twitch chat was thinking about renting from the library about the different types of corn mutations inherent in freakin Indiana. Therefore, Joey’s fear of birds and dogs is same.

So they use Dark Magician to save them from the statues, and Yugi busts into the pantheon again because they got to open this casket before a time limit that I kind of forgot about, tbh.

And inside the casket, is...this thing!

(enjoy this line on the bottom of the image I don’t feel like fixing it)

And you may say to yourself...it looks like it’s just floating in mid-air, that’s silly, and so I want to introduce you to the next panel where you can see that it is...quite literally...just floating in the air like a video game.

and it just slurps itself onto Yugi before he can be like “nonono.”

Wasn’t there some horror movie where you were stuck in some sort of body brace that slowly tortures you (was that Saw?) This has that vibes. Like man that looks uncomfortable to wear over a jacket and two belts and a collar that is another belt.

That and I...I gotta appreciate that Yugi popped his collar while wearing body armor and chunky necklace. What 00′s fashion appreciation right there.

Bit like...this isn’t breathable, right? Like Yugi’s gonna finally take this thing off and his jacket will just be completely soaked in sweat?

Anyway, that’s it for this post, next week we’ll see if Yugi can walk through a doorway in that thing.

Also, I can’t bring up the ostrich dance without sharing the vines of my generation

#Yugioh #YGO #yu gi oh #photo recap #episode recap #S5 #Ep19 #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #Joey's fear of birds I've never heard about until this episode #Tea Gardner #Grandpa Muto #Tristan Taylor #Baby Dragon #This weird ass tranformer that Yugi is wearing.

[moral-turpitudes]

Swan Lake:

Masterlist | Rules | Peaky Prompts

A/N: This idea came to me at like 3 am and idk why, it’s totally not canon or whatever but it was fun to write. I also don’t know anything about ballet so don’t come for my neck lol. 

Trigger Warnings: Swearing, Fluff, Angst, Slight Mentions of/Implied Physical and Emotional Abuse, Descriptions of Death/Fighting etc.

Word Count: 3,977

Characters: Thomas Shelby x Female!Reader

+ Jack Timmons (OC, albeit a shitty one)

Requested: No

Summary: After constant threats of losing her position in a prominent ballet company, Y/N feels trapped in her circumstances. That is until an infamous blue-eyed gangster stumbles upon her one night, helping her leave her past behind, because sometimes that’s the best thing you can do.

“One, two, three. One, two, three.” Y/N counted to herself as she rehearsed in the quiet concert hall. Her nerves still a mess as the ear-splitting voice of her department head played on a loop in her mind. His harsh words stinging as she continued on.

With every leap and pirouette, her toes and tired muscles screamed to be free from their routine binds that held them together. Her corset digging into her skin, the paper thin pantyhose ripping on her knees from a nasty fall, and her feet cracking and bleeding with each new pair of ballet slippers she broke-in. On nights like this, she often questioned what she was doing this for. Was it for glory? For money? For distraction? It seemed only time could tell.

Unbeknownst to her, a man looked on from the dark entrance. A cigarette in hand as he observed her movements. His eyes alert as he’d heard a man yelling moments before.

Smoke escaped his lips as he watched in silence. The only music coming from inside the woman’s head, her body moving in strict motions to the beat she’d memorized from the orchestra that would usually play during shows. Her instructors voices in her head, threatening to fire her if she didn’t do better.

She never thought that something that brought her so much joy could bring her so much pain, but that seemed to be how things went in life, at least for her.

As she ended her dance, she sat on the cold stage, untying the stiff slippers and wincing as the fabric clung to her bloodied feet. No matter the cloth she put around them, she always found cuts and blisters ambushing her skin. This was the price she paid for perfection. Dancing was her “thing.” Her one gift to the world. The one thing that she’d always have, that no one could ever take away from her.

But with tear filled eyes she looked up at the spotlight beaming down on her, the makeup that was once well kept, slowly being washed away by the tears rushing down her cheeks.

As she ripped her gaze from the blinding light, she thought she felt eyes on her. Feverishly blinking the colorful spots on her vision away as she looked out into the empty seats, where a set of blue eyes stared back, their owner stoic and unmoving.

“Hello?” She asked, her heart racing slightly as she painstakingly walked off the stage and down the middle isle towards the man. Trying her best to wipe her tears away.

“Sorry to startle you miss. Just observing.” He said gruffly, cigarette smoke escaping his lips.

“Why are you here...? What’s your name...? Who do you work for...?” She asked in a barrage of questions, her nerves frazzled as she stood before him.

His blue eyes pierced hers as he took in the state of her. Elegantly hiding the pain behind a powder pink façade.

“I stopped in while on business and I heard yelling.” He said, adjusting his peaked cap, the razor blades glinting off the dull light from outside the theater.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she realized what gang he was a part of. Remembering talk around the city that they were moving in on London. Making threats and crashing party halls more often than not.

“Everything’s fine, sir.” She said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

“You don’t look fine.” He said.

“You haven’t answered my questions, sir.” She said, deflecting his comments and looking at him skeptically. With a sigh, and a long drag from his cigarette, he spoke.

“My name is Thomas, Thomas Shelby. But you can call me Tommy if you like...” He said walking towards her. Her heart racing slightly as she stood in place.

“...and I’m a man who does bad things. But don’t worry love, I have no bad business with you.” He said, gradually walking towards door.

“Wait....” She said, looking around the empty theater nervously as he stopped in his tracks.

“Why exactly were you watching me?” She asked, walking to him.

He sighed as the cigarette burnt down to the last little bit, ending with him throwing it on the tiled floor and stomping it out.

“I wanted to make sure you were alright....and then I saw you dancing to no music. It intrigued me.” He said flatly.

“How so?” She said, crossing her arms at the infamous gang leader.

“Because I can hear it too.” He said.

“You memorized the song? How? You haven’t seen the show.” She said, walking down the stairs with the mysterious man.

“My mother used to play it at home and she’d dance, quite like you. I recognized the routine.” He said, standing near the exit. The streets bustling with people under the moonlit sky.

“You don’t look like someone who listens to music. Do you dance?” She asked, beguiled by the rather handsome blinder.

“I liked a lot of things before the war. Dancing was one of them. But now?.....No.” he said shaking his head slightly as he continued.

“Sometimes life has a way of taking things from us.” He said softly, lighting another cigarette as he stood before her.

“That it does.” She said, glancing at her tired hands as he observed her once more, how she stood and how her hair fell limply around her face, framing it ever so gently.

“I’m probably overstepping my bounds...Tommy. But uh, if you’re ever in need of dancing lessons...I can help. Free of charge.” She said, the thought escaping her lips on a whim. Her mind racing with wanting to dance anywhere but there in that dreadful theater.

“Free of charge aye? Do you make a lot at these shows?” He asked, his eyes boring into hers.

“No. I’m actually on my way out. Was almost fired for the last show. I wasn’t good enough.” She said looking down.

“That’s a shame. I thought you did great.” He said.

“Tell that to the department head. I’m tired of ruining my body for something that doesn’t pay. I’d rather do it for fun. At least then life might be worth living.” She said, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her pent up feelings slowly trickling out as the minutes passed.

“What do you do for fun, Tommy?” She asked, changing the subject.

He stood in thought, never really taking into account anything besides the noise in his head or the ache in his heart. Never giving himself the time for anything reminiscent of fun.

“I uh, work with horses I guess.” He said.

She nodded and sat in a chair near the exit, wincing and fiddling with the tulle of her tutu.

“So what do you say? Dancing or no?” She asked, a small smirk playing at her lips.

“I’ll accept your offer, on two conditions.” He said.

“Alright, what are your conditions oh infamous Mr. Shelby?” She asked, seeing a small smirk on his face. One that seemed to be uncomfortable, like it had been hidden for years.

“That you give me the name of your department head, and let me employ you.” He said bluntly.

“I’m not a killer, I’m just a dancer.” She said, looking down at her wrists. Bruises forming from many routines throughout the week and from her vile department head.

“You won’t deal with that kind of business. But I’d like to pay you. I can see that you work hard for what you want.” He said sitting next to her.

“You want me to dance for you? What like at some whore house?” She scoffed.

“No. You can dance for fun or teach or whatever it is you want to do. But a job with me, in my shop, can bring you the money you’re looking for. You won’t have to beat yourself up anymore.” He said, noticing the bruising hand prints around her wrists.

“I’ll think about it.” She said quietly, getting up and stretching out her arms, her muscles aching at the movement. Thomas headed towards the door abruptly, not wanting to keep her any longer considering he’d given orders to his brothers a while ago.

“Hey...” She said, stopping him.

“Mhmm?” He mumbled, lighting another cigarette.

“His name is Mr. Timmons. Jack Timmons. I hope you find him.” She said giving him a small, hurting smile before heading back towards the theater.

“Oh and miss?” He called back, making her turn around.

“Yes?”

“I never got your name.” He said.

“It’s Y/N...Y/N Y/L/N.” she said. Thomas nodded and reluctantly turned around, walking slowly into the night the next man on his hit list already buzzing through his mind.

As he stepped onto the cold London streets, he saw his brothers drinking and waiting by the car. Their faces covered in smoke-residue from their mission.

“Oi! What the fuck took you so long aye? We torched the bar down the road so we need to go.” Arthur said, taking a swig from a bottle of whiskey he’d stolen.

“I was doing a bit of legitimate business. Did you lot get the money?” He asked, revving the engine and peeling out onto the cold, damp roads towards Small Heath.

“Yeah. Got the whole thing. They won’t mess with us again. What kind of business were you doing in a fucking theater?” Arthur asked.

“Probably fucking one of the dancers.” John said, the toothpick dangling precariously on the edge of his mouth.

“I saw people leaving the show and decided to go there to clean off from our last raid. And I heard a man yelling at some woman there. He’s uh, been a bit of a problem but I can’t tell by how much just yet. He’s been working the woman to death for little pay...so I offered her a spot here.” He said.

“Why are you so caught up on the woman? What, is she gonna dance around the shop all day?” John asked, earning a chuckle from a drunken Arthur.

“I’m thinking she’d make a good assistant. I watched her after he left. She was the only one there, working on the same routine for an hour straight. Was bleeding by the time she was done.” He said.

“Well besides the woman, what are you wanting to do with the man aye? We’ve caused enough trouble here so far.” John said.

“I have a feeling this man is abusing the whole company or at least the woman I spoke to. She’s miserable, you can see it in her eyes. I only saw eyes like that in the trenches.” He said quietly, looking out at the sky through the thin windshield.

Over the next few days, it seemed her plight only grew as the dancers rehearsed, their instructors criticizing more than helping them as they moved to the beat. Y/N’s eyes fearful as their department head entered the room. The music stopping as they all sat on the stage as instructed.

Behind the stage, Thomas watched silently as the instructor eyed the women. The mans eyes only seeing money and fame instead of them as people. But his gaze seemed reserved for Y/N especially.

She was bruised from the repeated practice, the falls, and from the mans calloused hands that beat her beyond the theater walls. Threatening to fire her if she didn’t improve. Claiming he was “trying to save the company’s image.” Telling her she’d be working the streets in no time if she failed again.

Even though she tried her best, often putting in more work than her peers, it still wasn’t enough for Mr. Timmons and his dreadful company. The only thing getting her by was knowing that after the big show, things would settle down, knowing he’d go back to just yelling at her and occasionally at the others, instead of talking with his fists. But the pay remained the same, barely keeping a roof over her head throughout the years.

“Y/N, I’ve seen your performances these past few weeks and they’re all the same. The turns are too loose, your footing is off, and you’re out of step with the others. I don’t see why you can’t do better.” He said loudly as she stared him down. White-hot tears brimmed in her eyes as her face heated up in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. None the wiser to the blinder who’d watched it all unfold.

“Meet me backstage after this will ya? We have to discuss some matters over your position here.” He said, walking to the next girl and nodding his head. He moved on from each person giving small snide remarks, but they were nothing compared to what she’d gotten, and it filled her with rage. With a sigh, she wiped her tears and stood up. Decided then and there that she’d walk out. To make a scene like she’d dreamt to during the 5 years she’d worked there.

“Mr. Timmons...the only thing you’ll be doing backstage is shoving these up your ass.” She said, chucking the bloodied ballet slippers at him before exiting the stage and going to her dressing room, locking the door.

Thomas watched silently until Mr. Timmons excused the rest of them, leaving only him and the poor excuse for a man in the dimly lit area back stage.

As the man walked with a master key towards Y/N’s dressing room, Thomas quickly came up behind him. Hitting him in the back of the head with his gun and wrestling him to the floor. The man screaming through a bloodied mouth as he landed punch after punch to his face. Thomas soon removing his cap and slicing the mans eyes, blinding him instantly before shooting him.

Y/N watched from the doorway, dressed from head to toe in her normal clothes she’d came in with. Her eyes red and swollen from crying and her body aching from the mornings work.

She stood there silently, the sight of the man who tormented her making her smile slightly as she realized she was free of him.

“Y/N....” Thomas said, wiping the blood from his face as best he could as he stood up from the mans limp body.

“Thank you.” She said, sniffling a bit as she kept her tears at bay this time. Walking quickly out the door to the outside of the building, the cars whizzing by as the cold wind crept through her clothes.

Thomas quickly draped a nearby blanket over Timmons’ body, dragging it to the dressing room. But before leaving he retrieved the master key from his limp hand, locking the dead man inside as he cleaned up the mess from his handy-work.

As he looked in the bathroom mirror minutes later, he could see the blood on his skin, the metallic smell barely phasing him as he washed it down the drain. After cleaning up, he headed out the door, finding Y/N sitting on the pavement smoking a cigarette.

“Mind if I join you?” He asked, sitting by her and lighting his own, his hands bleeding slightly from the blows to Timmons’ face.

“Why not.” She said, fiddling with a pink ribbon in her hands that once kept her hair tightly in place.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” He said, sighing as he looked out at the mid afternoon sky. The city bustling around them.

“It’s alright. I’ve wanted that to happen for 5 years. Don’t worry though, after knowing him, nothing really scares me.” She said with a small smile, relief finally hitting her as she realized she’d probably never have to face the man again.

“He’s dead though right? Like you made sure he’s never coming back?” She asked, her eyes still nervously scanning the roads out of habit as the doubt crept in.

“He’s never coming back. I’m burying him tonight.” He said.

“Make sure it’s deep.” She said, the bruises on her wrists more prominent in the daylight.

“Always do.” He said looking at her wrists with a clenched jaw. Knowing full well Timmons was behind it.

“I’ve uh, thought about your offer by the way.” She said looking down at the ribbon.

“You have aye?” He asked, flicking the ash from his cigarette. Her voice bringing him out of his thoughts a bit.

“Yeah. I’d like to try it out, if you’d still want me there. I don’t know what a ballerina could offer the company but, it beats where I was.” She said, cringing internally at all the painful memories which unfortunately often overshadowed the good ones.

“I’ve seen you work hard so far, so I figured making you my assistant would be a good position. You’ll come in at 8, and leave by 6 on most days.” He said.

“Most days? What happens on the other days?” She asked.

“On those days you keep busy so you don’t think about how or if we’ll return. You’ll help keep the shop in line along with my aunt Polly until one of us walks through the door. For your safety.” He said.

“Do all the assistants and secretaries work that late?” She asked.

“Only on those nights they do.” He said.

“Alright. May I ask one question?” She said.

“Mhmm.” He mumbled, blowing smoke from his lips. He stared at her while she thought over her words, her eyes not as miserable as before.

It made him feel better knowing that even though he couldn’t save the men in the trenches, he could at least save her. Someone who shared their same eyes, their same exhaustion, their same fear of not knowing what was next.

“Why me? You could hire anyone else. Any other woman for that matter. But you chose me...” She said, putting her cigarette out on the damp dirt road.

Thomas sighed for a moment, not wanting to tell her he couldn’t help but fall for a beautiful woman even though they’d just met. No matter her profession, he didn’t expect a ballet dancer to steal his heart so quickly and effortlessly.

“I could see you were different.” He said.

“How so?” She asked, his answer not enough as she looked into his eyes. They were like looking into the ocean, threatening to pull her under.

“When I came in after doing some business and saw you there practicing, you intrigued me. You were dancing with no music, but still trying no matter what happened.” He said.

“You saw me fall aye?” She said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, but I also saw what you did after....It’s always about what someone does after the fall, that makes a person who they are. I guess I chose you because you didn’t give up.” He said.

“And I thought it was because I was wearing a pretty pink ballet costume.” She said, smirking.

“That might also be a reason.” He said with a smirk. After a long pause, he spoke again, this time more quietly.

“For the record Y/N, I truly don’t see why the others treated you like they did....But I won’t hurt you. I promise.” He said.

“A man like you making promises? That’s a bold move.” She said, her heart racing as she held his hand gently, nervous to touch someone in a way that wasn’t done in self defense.

“I’m a bold man.” He said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

“Oh really?” She said with a smirk.

“I can show you.” He said, leaning towards her as she did the same. She couldn’t help but feel differently towards him. He didn’t make her feel scared or on-edge like so many people before her. Instead oddly enough, the dashing blinder made her feel safe.

It was in that moment that he too realized he hadn’t felt this way in a while, since before the war. The only comfort he’d ever found previously was at the bottom of a bottle or beneath the sheets in a brothel. The feelings felt out of place, the noise from the war competing with the song in his head, the same one from her shows. The same one from years ago at home.

With a calloused hand, he caressed her cheek, looking into her as eyes as the sun shined into them. Their color illuminated by its rays as he brought her lips to his, a wave of relief washing over him as he felt her relax into the kiss instead of pulling away.

“So...when do I start?” She asked after he broke the kiss, her eyes trailing to his lips.

“Tomorrow. I can pick you up.” He said.

“Won’t you be tired from burying Mr. Timmons? I can drive myself.” She said.

“It’s not my first time burying someone love. I’ll swing by in the morning.” He said, getting up.

“Alright...see you then.” She said, a genuine grin forming on her face for what felt like the first time in years as she watched him head off towards his car.

Over the next few weeks, she became acquainted with everyone in the shop. Polly taking a special liking to her as she loved dancing as well.

“You’ll never catch me dancing ballet. Maybe a waltz but never ballet.” She said one morning.

“I can teach you, it’ll do you some good. Keep you strong.” Y/N said, thinking about how she’d get by with teaching in her cramped apartment.

“Tommy taking classes from you yet?” She asked with a smirk.

“God no. I think he only said that to get me working for him.” She said, thinking back to his first deal with her.

“What are you two talking about aye? We have work to do.” Tommy said, walking into his office where they sat in his chairs nonchalantly.

“Pol was just asking me if I’d taught you to dance yet. You did say you used to...but there would be no ballet of course.” She said, smirking at him as she blew smoke from her lips.

“Well, I have business at the races soon so I guess you’ll have to teach me. Especially since I’ll need someone to accompany me.” He said.

“I never thought you’d ask. What shall I wear?” She asked.

“Something red.” He said, giving her a peck on the cheek before heading out the door.

Their banter carried on like this months after her employment. The only thing different though was where she stayed. Everyone knew he’d had the hots for the woman as soon as he laid eyes on her in the theater. John joking that going to London was the best decision Tommy had ever made. Seeing as she helped him find himself again even if it was just in simple ways. From the nights spent keeping the sounds of the shovels at bay, to the weekends spent helping him learn a few dances. They both healed each other with each step. He never thought he would enjoy dancing or even something as simple as sleeping ever again, but she helped him and he helped her, and he felt the only way to pay her back was to help her still live out her dreams. Eventually converting one of their many rooms into a dance studio, where she’d help teach children on the side, without mean words and harsh fists beating her down.

By this time, she finally knew what she was dancing for, or more so who. And it pleased Thomas to see the life finally return to her eyes as she did so. Knowing that one of the best decisions she made was to dance for herself. Even if it didn’t garner any grand applause, she knew she had people who cared, and who saw the value in what she did, considering it was her gift to the world after all. Even if it was the gangly Shelby family as her audience, she knew it was better than any theater.

Thomas Shelby Tag List:

@msbzowy, @nofckingfighting, @aranoburns, @sighonahurricane, @ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes, @gaytommyshelby, @wowjeena, @fifty-shadesof-tommyshelby, @inglourious-imagines, @thebloodyshelbys, @tsolomons, @blinder-secrets, @reveparade, @shelby-fanatic, @ta-ka-shi-ma, @psychkunox, @peakyxtommy, @captivatedbycillianmurphy,@dreamwastakenx,

@lovemissyhoneybee @thomashelbyswhore​, @xxbeckybeexx-blog​

If you’d like to be added or removed, just send an ask/message! :)

#peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagines #thomas shelby x y/n #thomas shelby x female!reader #thomas shelby x reader #thomas shelby

[passivenovember]

And Everyday was Overcast.

Part One : Hammers and Nails

Billy needed someplace to go when the grave was desecrated.

When his eyes unglued themselves, peeling off eyelashes in their wake, when the earth was overturned, torn and left hanging like shreds of old fabric; Steve had been there. By some miracle he had been consumed like he always was, sat thinking by a plot that had grown yellow flowers to blanket Billy in his eternal sleep. And maybe it was those small visits sheltered between morning runs and eight hour shifts stocking the horror section that Billy had come back.

From the grave. From the brink.

The Earth started vibrating, spidery cracks turning volatile, and Steve was met with ocean blue. Red rimmed eyes locked on his face, hands reaching and gripping. Nails digging in as Steve wrapped Billy's grime covered shoulders in his own jacket. Rubbed the chilled skin of his arms, looked in his eyes, and took him home.

Someplace Billy could wash the day from his skin.

--

The blonde haired boy who had turned from human to creature and back again deserved something more than what he was left with. He deserved warm meals, and sunshine on his skin, and soft bed sheets that opened like a celestial sky when Billy felt like shelving the enormity of what he had discovered. What waited after death.

Steve wanted that for him.

Not happiness, not closure, exactly, but something close to it.

At the root of it all, Steve knew Billy should feel safe. Welcome and warm and comfortable, in the house that Steve’s father had built for his mother all those years ago when she was plump and round with child. Steve felt like his father that day as he carried the last box over the threshold and took in the rigid, tense line of Billy’s shoulders.

He let the moment rest. Let it breathe, as his father always instructed. “Do you think you could feel safe here, Billy?”

The air sat heavy. Cold and wet and warm, somehow, like the morning after a night of heavy rain. Billy sucked in a sharp breath and pivoted slowly, face reverent, as if standing barefoot in a cathedral among gods and heroes. Met with divinity.

Instead he got Steve.

Just Steve, trying not to stare at the lone curl hanging over Billy’s forehead when he offered a tight, controlled smile. “It’s fine.” Billy said, only.

Steve tore his eyes away. Focused on the second story banister to stop his gut from falling through the floor. ”Fine? As in, I would rather eat my own toenails than live here, fine or, like. It's okay, I don't mind it here, I might even like it someday, fine?"

Billy adjusted the strap across his shoulders. “It’s just what I expected it would be.”

Steve shook his head. “What’s that mean?”

"Relax, Harrington, it's." Billy turned again, eyebrows scrunched together. “Its. Pastel. And huge. Obscenely decorated—“

”My mom had it professionally done before they—“

”It was built for a happy family with lots of kids. Lots of love, but now it's. It feels. Lost.”

Billy had started saying things like that.

Heavy, saturated, impossible things that left Steve scrambling. Wishing for the intelligence to absorb the meaning rather than question it. Steve rested the box at the foot of the stairs and offered a smile to the second story. Runoff for the pools of blue that looked on.

"That's a lot of adjectives. I can get you a hotel, maybe. Or an apartment. I could cosign, I know they gave you a pretty penny and you could probably afford your own, but. I could. I would." Steve said harshly. "For you. I would."

"It's fine here. It's okay."

Steve felt like a science experiment. Egg boy with three heads and ten legs or something. Suckers on the tips of his thumbs, the way Billy studied him. Steve counted the freckles on Billy's nose--one, two, three, four--trying to stay afloat.

--

Dinner was made every night though Steve never saw it happen.

The cookbooks sat alphabetized over his mother's antique bar cart on that little periwinkle blue shelf. He'd come home, every night, at six on the dot, to a set table. The mixing bowls were always clean and put away, counters wiped and ingredients stored neatly on the shelves his pantry, but the wooden spoons spelled it out for Steve, still shifting from dark to light as they lay drying on the dish rack.

"You don't have to make dinner, you know." Steve took another bite of Salisbury steak, furious that it tasted so good. Like love soaking into his skin.

Billy shook his head. "I want to."

"I know, I'm saying it's okay if you decide not to, one day. Like if you get caught up reading. Or if you can get Max to drive you to the history museum, or if you--"

"It's the least I can do."

Steve hated that. He let his fork clatter to the table. "I'm not expecting repayment for this."

"I'm not a freeloader."

"And I'm not an asshole." Steve deadpanned, lifting a finger that sewed Billy's smug lips together. "Don't say it."

"Say what?"

"Whatever you were thinking, with that clever glint in your stupid blue eyes."

Billy cracked his knuckles, clearly fighting a smile. "Never thought you noticed the color of my eyes, Harrington."

"Yeah, sure." Steve stood, gathering the plates and forks and knives from the table, his own eyes counting primary threads. "Can see those things from space, Jesus." He finally looked up, at Billy's curiously pink face.

Pink lips, cheeks, nose.

Steve gripped ceramic. Swallowed against a swell of guilt. "You don't owe me anything, Billy. I like having you here. I want you here."

Billy gave a simple, controlled nod.

Steve got used to it.

--

The shack wasn't built until the doctor told Billy that he'd probably wouldn't remember all of what happened. The big things would stick out, neon greens and blues against the forest head, but Billy shouldn't be too hard on himself if the important things got thrown away.

And some of those jagged little pieces were there. The bad things. Anger and hatred, both for self and world, left hanging on the cliff of who he was now. Everything that had formed Billy Hargrove--the person he was, the person Steve had pretended not to notice--were packed away. Soft, silky emotion covering knives left dull and rusted in their drawer.

Billy remembered like flashes of lightening across the summer sky--sudden and then gone. Here and away. He remembered Hawkins high and Max who'd grown six inches in three years. Dustin who had been wearing that stupid shirt when the mall burned down.

And Steve.

Always Steve, sat next to him. A foot away at first and then holding his hand, later, when Owens said Billy should be kind to himself. Gentle.

He wasn't.

And he didn't come out of his room for three days after that, after the wall was placed in front of him. The crack under Billy's door always keeping Steve at bay. Trapped behind the starting line. He paced around on the carpet, lifting his fist and letting it fall again, never breaking up the silence.

Billy was crying.

Billy never cried, anymore, but he cried that night and Steve felt helpless. Pathetic and stupid and useless, locking himself in his father's study and trying to formulate a plan, just like Owens had told him to when the sun fell on a world without Billy Hargrove and then suddenly rose again, set anew.

Set crooked when Billy stormed from the hospital room, slamming doors that echoed like rolls of thunder in his wake.

Figure out a way to help him.

Sterile, eerie white walls stared back at him as Steve shrugged his shoulders on the third day, aluminum hospital chair groaning beneath his weight.

I'm not sure how to do that.

You don't have to do anything. Owens said. Just help him get the emotion out. Let him write, draw, sing, dance, whatever he needs to assist in telling us his story.

--

Potato casserole and red wine bore witness to Steve's leap of faith. Billy turned away from the novel he had tucked under his arm when Steve got home from work that day, eyes curious. "Spit it out, Harrington."

"I'm not sure what you--"

"You've been giving me the side eye since you got home." Billy turned the page in his book, still managing to read both it and the room as he urged, "Tell me what's wrong."

And nothing was wrong, and.

Everything was wrong. Steve leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Do you want to come with me to the art store tomorrow?"

Billy frowned. "I don't need anything from the art store."

"It's not always about what you need," Steve reasoned, patting his mouth with a napkin. "We could get stuff you want. That's all, just pretty things. Nice things. It could be a treat."

"Paper and scissors are considered a treat?" Billy cocked an eyebrow. "I do love touching shit, it's one of my favorite hobbies."

Steve scrubbed at his mouth, swallowing down against a big, fat, crooked smile dripping with affection. "C'mon, it'll be fun. We can get whatever you want; clay, oil pastels, acrylics--"

"I wanted to check out the library tomorrow."

"You go everyday, blue, you're a regular bookworm."

"So?" Billy demanded, taking another bite of casserole. "I like to read. Just 'cause you can't doesn't mean the rest of us have to hold back." He grinned, low and slow. "Don't let your jealousy turn you into a tyrannical landlord, pretty boy."

"God, you're the absolute worst."

Billy turned back to his novel. "The art store will just inspire me to paint nudies."

"So paint them." Steve challenged.

Bait. Hook and line.

"You gonna pose for me if I let you buy out the joint?"

Steve shrugged. "Maybe once, if you look at the easels while we're there."

"No shit?" Billy leaned forward, biceps flexing in his cutoff as he stuck a polaroid of a smiling blonde woman between the pages of his novel. "The fuck is this about, Harrington?"

"I'm worried."

"That you'll take me to a crafts store and I'll put you out of house and home? Reasonable concern, I guess."

"About the diagnosis, dipshit. About you." Steve gulped down the rest of his wine. Made sure every last drop had seasoned his words before any were said aloud, where they might do damage. He let the glass rest on the table between his fingertips, stem rolling from pad to pad. He took a deep, steadying breath. "You haven't been the same since--"

"I got hijacked by a space demon or crawled out of my own grave?" Billy shrugged, picking at something in his teeth. "Be more specific."

Steve fiddled with the handle of his fork. Hand picked his words. Refined the meaning. "Yes, and. Both."

Billy didn't say anything for a while and the room finally settled. Falling fast asleep, thick with inertia and silence until the book was opened once more and Steve went back to digging through his casserole, picking at the spring onions.

Letting the moment breathe.

Until, finally. "I feel like I could crawl out of my own skin."

Steve tripped over himself to get those blue eyes on him once more. "That's understandable--"

"I feel fucking useless." Billy snapped, voice cracking in two, and. Suddenly Steve couldn't look at him. Couldn't bare to see his face. "I'm trying to replay what happened. Every second, I'm trying to figure out why. Why me."

Steve counted the primary threads in the table cloth. One, two, three. "You can't go on asking yourself questions like that."

"I can do what I--"

"It wasn't your fault, Billy. Any of it."

"I'm not talking about the Fourth of July, I'm talking about. Death. I'm talk about what comes before and what comes after and how they're the same." Billy turned the page in his novel furiously, eyebrows scrunched together. "I never thought they'd be the same. It's like I've started over."

Steve couldn't possibly understand, but.

He watched pools of blue scan the page. Took measured breaths, never pushing until Billy was ready to share more. Until he tossed the book on the counter and sighed, head buried in his hands. "I don't understand how I got here."

"Easy," Steve whispered. "That's easy. You were born from love--"

"My parents aren't in love anymore."

"But they were, once." Steve shook his head. "When you were made. They loved each other, and they loved you, and your life was full of love that never made sound but it was still there." Steve willed Billy to look at him. Willed the skies to turn blue again.

They didn't.

Billy sighed, low and slow. "Did love bring me here again?"

"I guess so."

"Who's love?" Billy demanded, leaning forward into the table and crushing his novel where it lay against light oak tabletops. "Who loved me enough to bring me back here? To wish for me."

And.

There were a lot of things Steve wanted to say. Lines he wanted to map out, directions that lead from A to B and back again, but it didn't seem useful. Didn't rest important, as Steve took the novel from its place on the table and smoothed worn pages, tucking the polaroid in its place. "I'm sorry things feel weird for you." He said softly.

Billy grabbed the book, staring down at his casserole. "'S not so bad, I guess."

And, for Steve, that wasn't good enough.

--

Billy worked mostly in charcoal. He painted nightmares, and doorways into the past, delicate, swirling lines telling a story that made Steve's heart ache to see. To hear, with every drag of material across fruited canvas'.

Steve asked him about it, once. Over dinner, with the lights turned low. "Why do you paint such horrible things?"

And Billy had smiled. Bright and true. "How's that?"

"Y'know. Black scabs and eyeballs melting out of skulls and sliding down the ridge of people's faces, and--"

"It's what I see." Billy replied, voice soft. Measured. "It's what follows me around."

So Billy spent every hour locked in his shed, curls tucked over a growing body of work. Fingers turned rotten with charcoal soot as he made sense of what happened.

Steve liked to watch him work.

Liked to see the tension ease more and more from the strong shoulders that travelled beside him up the stairs each night. Steve felt the dig of each pencil in the crevice between his ribs when Billy finished masterpiece after masterpiece.

Still, it wasn't enough.

Along the ridges of creation, therapy lay half buried in the sand. It was state mandated, that Billy go and learn how to deal with the things charcoal couldn't straighten out for him. Like the nightmares, and the migraines that kept him from eating dinner at the table when June gave way to July.

Steve worried. Constantly, fervently, but Billy refused to go, always wiping his hands on the powder green apron Steve got for him at the art store, and insisting, "This is a form of therapy." Billy gestured around the room. To the mountains of loose sketch papers and half finished canvases that lay strewn across every surface. "This is how I cope."

And it was.

And it happened the same way every time.

Things got bad for him and Billy would disappear into his shed. Steve would come home from the office to find that his mother's prized Thomas Kincaid collection had been replaced by Billy's work. It was haunting. Sick and twisted and so, so beautiful.

He found himself standing and staring at it for hours, eyes tracing over the swirling lines of purgatory.

It made Steve feel helpless, but.

Still, Billy refused to go. Still, he buried himself in his work. Still, he painted himself into a hole.

The path toward recovery was littered with charcoal drawings until it wasn't.

Until Steve came home one afternoon to find Billy talking with a little boy who had his throat cut open.

#harringrove #psychological horror #idk man i just needed to get the words OUT #for Lis <3 #happy birthday honey bee

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

Yan!Stain/F!Hero!Reader: Captive (Ch.1)

Commissioned by: @adosprincess98

Word count: 2100+

Warnings: Death and mentions of blood, kidnapping

7 days and 10 hours. ____ blinked and peered at the small clock hanging on the cracked wall across from her. No, 7 days and 11 hours. She'd been Stain's prisoner for 7 days and 11 hours. Her wrists ached from the metal cuffs around them, keeping her trapped to the bed--his bed. Thankfully he hadn't tried to initiate anything when she was so helpless, but every second she spent here gave her a deeper and sicker feeling of dread. She was a Hero, and he was the Hero Killer. Why should she believe him when he says that he isn't going to hurt her? No matter how many times he tried to reassure her, to lure her into that false sense of security, she refused to be tricked. She was getting out of here, no matter what.

She twisted the chain connecting her handcuffs and continued what she’d been trying to do for the past five days as she strained against her bindings. The cuffs he’d put around her certainly weren’t new, and she’d noticed that the metal pins binding the bracelets to the chains were very worn. It had taken a few hours to determine just how out of place they were, but she’d managed to loosen them more and more with every hour she spent twisting the chain taut against the cuffs. Leaving her arms positioned like that for so long left her wrists and arms aching even more, but it was worth it if it meant she’d have a chance to break free. In an escape plan like this, tenacity was key.

After twenty minutes of straining against the cuff, ____ felt the metal pins begin to strain against the chain. She pulled her arms down with all her might until she felt the chain snap and the bed frame behind her crack loudly as a few chips of splintered wood fell behind her. She stared down at her hands in near disbelief, watching the chain dangle from only one of the metal bracelets it was attached to. She only allowed herself a second or two to appreciate her small victory; right now, she had to focus on getting out of this apartment.

____ scrambled off the bed and into the next room. Her eyes darted from the front door to the window leading to a fire exit on the other side of the apartment. "Okay," she muttered, trying to stay calm as she thought out loud. "Okay. If he's coming back it'll be through the door, just like always. Can't guarantee he won't see me just as I'm getting out." She headed to the window and tried to remove the bolts on it to slide the pane open, cursing when the rusted metal refused to budge. "Fuck, okay," she replied. She took a few steps back and tried to psych herself up for what she was about to do. "Guess I'm kicking this fucker open. Okay, 1...2...3!"

She sprinted and kicked the window as hard as she could, shattering the glass into hundreds of pieces. Thankfully her Hero costume was designed with durability in mind, so there wasn't any risk of tearing it or cutting her foot. She did her best to clear the remaining fragments of glass attached to the windowsill and crawled out to the fire escape platform a few feet below. Her feet and arms clambered down flights of wrought-iron stairs that seemed endless to her despite the building only being a few stories high. Once she hit the pavement of the alleyway below, she broke into a sprint and frantically called for help.

"I need a Hero," she yelled, her eyes darting around for any sign of a figure in a costume as the sun began to set and the lights of the city began to flicker on. A few civilians gave her odd looks as she ran past them, and she gave out a small relieved gasp when she recognized a Hero she'd worked with at a previous agency. "Rust Belt!"

Rust Belt turned around, carrying a bag of takeout from the restaurant he had just left. When he recognized ____, his eyes widened in shock. "(Hero Name)? You...you've been missing for weeks! What happened?" He ran up to her and felt her cling to his arm.

"Hero Killer," she replied in between pants. The adrenaline of escaping was finally starting to wear off, and she was feeling more and more drained by the second. "Stain, he kidnapped me. I thought he was gonna kill me, I dunno why the hell he didn't do it right away." She held his arm a bit tighter and looked around warily. "Please, you have to help me get to the nearest police station."

"Of course," Rust Belt replied, walking with ____ towards a station a few blocks away. "God, I just...I can't believe you're here, everyone back at the agency was so worried. I'm glad you're alright." He cleared his throat. "Well. Uh, not totally 'alright', since you got...you know, kidnapped by the Hero Killer. I...I'll shut up now, sorry." He gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder, and the next five minutes passed without any more words exchanged between them. Rust Belt noticed their slight limp as they tried to keep up with him while they headed towards the hospital. "Hey, you need to lean on me? You're running a little funny."

____ shook her head. "Probably just sprained my ankle when I kicked out that window," she replied dismissively. "Or maybe when I ran down the fire escape. I'll be fine."

They turned a corner when a woman's scream suddenly rang out in the alley nearby. Rust Belt and ____ heard the clatter of a trash can being knocked over and the sound of running footsteps as a woman in a tattered hoodie ran out into the street. When she saw the two Heroes, she pointed frantically at the alley. "The Hero Killer," she stammered, "I just saw him back there with someone in a costume and holding a knife over him! Please, you have to help him!"

Rust Belt nodded and immediately started to go into the alley until they glanced at ____ following behind him. "Stay here with the civilian," he said. "I'll be fine on my own. Besides, you're in no condition to fight with your leg."

"Are you crazy? I'm not going to leave you to take Stain alone--"

"Yes, you are," Rust Belt snapped.

"You're not keeping me out of this," ____ retorted. "Besides, I can distract Stain while you save the other Hero. Once they're rescued, feel free to destroy his knives, rescue me and be as much of a white knight as you want." She balled her fists and walked ahead of him before turning a corner in the alleyway. There was barely any light aside from the dim bulbs outside of the back doors to the buildings along the backstreet, but it was clear to see that the alley was empty.

Rust Belt peered into the darkness ahead of him. "No sign of Stain or another Hero," he said quietly. "Do you see the trash can the girl knocked over when she saw them?"

____ squinted as she tried to see further despite the dim lighting. "No...oh, there," she replied, careful not to speak too loudly as she pointed. "About 50 yards ahead, on the right side of the street."

Rust Belt noticed the overturned metal can and nodded. "Alright, we'll go with your plan," he said, still sounding a bit uneasy about using ____ as bait. He noticed the set of old fire escape stairways along the buildings around them and quietly started to make his way up one of the ladders leading upwards. "I'll keep an eye on you from up here. You call out to him, and I'll initiate a surprise attack. I'll use my Quirk to make his blade useless and we'll take him down together. Got it?"

____ nodded. "Got it." Rust Belt continued to stealthily climb the fire escape while ____ cautiously walked ahead. Something about this seemed...off. "Stain? I'm right here!" Her voice wavered a bit as she called out to her captor. "And unless you want me to leave forever and tell the cops and my coworkers everything I've learned about you and your hideout, you'll leave that Hero you've taken and come out!"

Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for him to strike. She strained her eyes to look for where he might be hiding, until a pair of hands clasped around her mouth and waist. Immediately she fought back, shoving her elbows into her attacker's chest and using all of her body weight to lean against him so they'd both fall to the ground. He let out a small grunt of pain and his hand fell from her mouth, but he kept a firm arm around her waist. ____ pummeled and scratched at his arm around her, and tried to kick at his feet as he tried to wrap his legs around her to keep her in place. "Rust Belt, what're you waiting for!? Where--"

A sudden sting from the side of her shoulder made her hiss in pain, followed by a quick wetness against the wound...and a freezing sensation that immediately made all of her muscles relax and slack. Her arms and legs fell limply of their own accord, and all she could do was watch helplessly as Stain moved from underneath her to face her from above.

He didn't look as angry as ____ thought he would be. If anything, he seemed more hurt and disappointed as he looked down at her. "Why did you leave?" He glanced at the broken handcuffs around her wrists and sighed softly through his nasal cavity. "If you wanted some more freedom around the house, all you had to do was ask me. I could have found something more comfortable that would still keep you secure."

____ struggled to speak, barely opening her mouth as she fought against his paralysis. "I'm...not...your prisoner," she grunted.

Stain brushed her cheek and leaned closer to give her a kiss. "No," he replied gently. "You're not. You're my Beloved." He scooped her body into his arms and hoisted her over one of his shoulders. "And I'm going to keep you safe from the world until I remove the filth corrupting it." He caressed one of her thighs as he walked with her. "Until the world is worthy of having you in it, you have to stay hidden."

____ struggled to move her neck up to look around the alley as he talked. "Wh….Where's Rust Belt?"

Stain turned around and walked towards one building in particular with a back exit in the alley. "Was he a friend of yours? You two seemed...familiar."

____ clenched her fists and bit her inner cheek, tasting blood in her mouth as she felt a lump forming in her throat. Was. Was. Did he… "You killed him?"

Without hesitation, he responded. "Yes."

____'s chest tightened. She desperately fought the paralyzed nerves in her body, fighting to reach up and choke the life out of her captor. "He was trying...to help me," she said, her voice cracking. "He was trying to help... that girl who saw you. And save the Hero she saw you take." She glared at Stain's lower back, the only part of him she could see as he carried her. "You kill them too? Were they not pure enough for you?"

"There was no other Hero," he replied calmly, climbing up a fire escape with one arm keeping ____ secure. "I told the girl to lie to lure you here."

As he made his way to the roof of the building, he stopped and glanced somewhere nearby that ____ couldn't see. "I'm sorry," Stain said softly. "He was already a target of mine. I didn't know he was your friend."

As he jumped to the adjacent rooftop leading back to the apartment, ____ managed to catch a glimpse of a pool of blood by where they'd just been. The body nearby was mostly obscured by a stack of crates, but she instantly recognized the costume as her former friend and savior. He died trying to save someone who didn't even exist, she thought bitterly. He died trying to help me escape. Stain crossed the final rooftop and entered his hideout via an access door to the abandoned apartment, and a weight began to fall over ____'s body as he led her back "home". He died for nothing.

#.bnha #yandere bnha #.stain #yandere stain #.myshit #.commission

[harrytpotter]

RIGHT PLACE, WRONG TIME — Part III

Plot: Y/N finds herself trapped in a time in which she doesn’t belong only to learn that maybe that was her place all along.

Pairing: James Potter x Fem!Reader

A/N: Gif isn’t mine (took it from google, so please, if it belongs to you let me know so I can credit).

It was Saturday night and you were laying on your canopy bed staring at its ceiling, unable to sleep. You raised your head slightly so you could take a look at Lily’s bed only to find your best friend deeply asleep. With an inaudible sigh, you get up as gentle as you can, trying not to make any noise and grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill. Then, you head down to the common room, sitting by the fireplace.

“Any of you weirdos up? X, Beastie.” You write down on the piece of parchment you took with you and wave your wand at it. The paper flies through the stairs in the direction of the boys’ dorm. A few seconds later, Remus shows up, a kind smile on his face.

“Hey, you!” You smile back at him.

“Can’t sleep?” He asks, sitting next to you and looking at the fire. You shake your head negatively. “What’s going on? I know I’m not Prongs, but you can talk to me, you know?!”

“I know, Moony. And I would if it was something important, believe me,” you rest your head on his shoulder. You hated lying to your best friends but it wasn’t like you could just say ‘hey, guys, so the weirdest thing happened, hear me out: I’ve traveled here from a future time and found out that somehow I coexist there with the same age I am today and with your older selves — well at least Sirius’ and Remus’ — and am best friends with Harry Potter. Oh, by the way, Jamie and Lils, the two of you had a lovely son together whom you never had the chance to see growing up because you’ve given your own lives to protect his.’ You couldn’t mess with time like that, not when it would bring such disastrous consequences to all of the people you love. You sigh, noticing that Remus was studying your face. The two of you stay quiet for quite some time, enjoying the warmth of the fire and each other’s company.

“I’m gonna head back to my dorm, are you heading to yours?” Remus stretches his legs carefully in order to get up.

“I’ll be staying here for a little bit longer. Good night, Remus,” you smile at him.

“Night, Y/N,” he waves at you, smiling.

When he disappeared into the stairs, you lowered your head between your knees, embracing your legs. You were gonna miss Remus once you came back to your future time. You were gonna miss Sirius. Lily. Marlene. And James. You were definitely gonna miss him the mostest. You loved your friends with all you got but James held a special place in your heart, always had. You feel a gentle touch on your shoulder. Lifting your head, you look slightly to your left in time to see James sitting right behind you, tucking you into his arms. You lean against him.

“Remus awaked you, didn’t he?” You shake your head, smiling. That was typical of him: he was worried about you and since you weren’t talking to him, he sent the one person he knew you would open up to.

“As he should, love. As he should,” James planted a kiss on the top of your head, his arms crossed in front of you and his hands caressing your arms.

“Have you ever felt torn apart? Like, you know what you’re supposed to do and that this is the right thing, but your heart wants exactly the opposite and the mere thought of not following your heart’s desire just... breaks it?! If that makes any sense,” you look up at him.

James is staring at the fire, lost inside his own thoughts. “Unfortunately, I do...” he whispers after a few seconds.

“I’m gonna miss you someday, you know,” you sigh.

“Where is this coming from, love?” He frowns, smiling.

“I don’t know... life happens,” you shrug.

“Y/N L/N, if you think you’ll ever get rid of me one day, you’re terribly wrong, Miss. Sorry but you are stuck with me,” he grins at you. If only he knew.

Getting up, you offer your hands to James, helping him to get on his feet.

“Wanna crash on my bed tonight, hot stuff?” He winks at you.

You roll your eyes in response but follow him to the boys’ dormitory, knowing that having James’ calming presence by your side would be the only way you’d be able to get some sleep that night.

***

When you wake up the next morning, James is still sleeping. Opening his bed’s curtains, you take a glance at the watch on the wall, yawning and getting up carefully. Sirius and Remus are nowhere to be seen so you decide to head back to your dorm, since it was pretty early and everyone else inside the tower was probably still asleep as well.

“Well, well, well...” you hear Sirius’ voice as you were tiptoeing your way down the stairs to avoid being seen by anyone.

“You know, if you had anything to say you didn’t exactly have to ambush me in the stairwell, you could’ve just waited until I was awake inside your very own dorm,” you roll your eyes at him, grinning. Both he and Remus had wide mischievous smiles plastered on their faces.

“Sharing the bed with Prongs now, are we?” He raises a brow.

“Oh you’ve been sleeping with him as well? And here was I as naive as I could get thinking i was the only one!” You take your hand to your chest in mock offense.

“Aren’t you delightfully funny?!” Your best friend grins, clearly not willing to let you slip through that one. “But in all seriousness now, is anything going on between the two of you?”

“Where is this coming from?” You frown.

“For starters, James hasn’t talked about Lily in a few months now, which is not really a surprise because we all knew this was just a crush and nothing more. But ever since that night the four of us went out for a drink, he has this stupid look on his face whenever we talk about you. I mean, it has been quite obvious to everyone that the two of you have feelings for each other for a few years now, but you stupids had never fully realized that yourselves. Apparently until now,” he says as if it was not that big of a deal.

You open your mouth to answer but you can’t seem to come up with anything. You and James? Feelings? Sirius was definitely out of his mind. You look at Remus, asking silently for backup.

“Don’t look at me. You know he’s right, and I’m with him on this one,” he shrugs, a playful grin on his lips.

You shake your head. “This is so absurd I don’t even know what to say. You’re mental, Black! And so are you, Lupin!” You raise your brows at them before storming off in the direction of your dorm.

***

“You know you’re gonna break the quill and make a hole in the parchment if you keep writing that furiously,” Lily tells you without dragging her attention from her assignments. Noticing you ignored her, she tosses her papers aside and holds your hand so you could stop. “What’s up with you today, woman?”

You finally look her in the eyes. “Nothing is up. I’m as good as I was yesterday and in all of the days before,” you shrug, grimacing.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, maybe you’ll believe it eventually,” Marlene says whilst writing her own essay.

“Where did you sleep Saturday night?” Lily asked you bluntly, raising an inquisitive brow at you. “And please don’t say the common room couch because Marlene and I have checked it.”

Marlene had finally let her papers go and was paying an intense attention to you right now. You couldn’t blame her though, gossip really is more interesting than assignments. You stare at your parchment for a little while before answering Lily.

“The boys’ dorm.”

“WHAT?!” Lily and Marlene both shouted in awe, a large grin creeping on their lips. The librarian sent a death glare on their way.

“Keep it down, would ya?!” You whisper nervously at your best friends. “I’m not interested in becoming school’s next big gossip!”

“Tell us Y/N, who did you sleep with?” Lily could barely contain her satisfaction and the mischievous smile that was taking over her face.

“Please say James!” Marlene exclaimed excitedly, making you go as red as a tomato.

“Oh my God, you are blushing! I knew it! You like him!” Lily pounds the table, sounding as excited as Marlene.

“Did the two of you go insane? James and I are best friends! Period! And I didn’t sleep with him! At least not in the way you both implied,” you roll your eyes at your best friends, clearly annoyed.

“Oh, please, Y/N! You’ve been obviously in love with each other for quite a few time now. Literally anyone knows it,” Lily rolls her eyes, amused.

“Where did you get that from, for Merlin’s sake?” You ask incredulously.

“Seriously?! Why do you think the entire school keep teasing you and James about your relationship?” Marlene laughs.

“All right, first of: there’s no relationship here. Not romantically speaking, at least. Second of: we’ve been studying here for almost seven years now and ever since day one, James has chased after Lily. Lily, who he actually is in love with! Not me!” You say rather furiously, getting your stuff together.

“Don’t you do that! Don’t you chicken out and put the blame on me, that’s not like you! You know James has never really liked me, it was the challenge that kept him going,” Lily said calmly.

“Lils... I’m not chickening out, it’s just... James and I aren’t meant to be. But the two of you are! You belong with him, you guys belong together!” You answer her, exasperated.

“No we don’t, Y/N! The fact that he likes you and that you like him back doesn’t change anything. Even if you both didn’t have feelings for each other, James and I would never be together,” she states.

“You wouldn’t know that...” you whisper bitterly at yourself.

“What?” Lily frowns.

“Look... I don’t have feelings for James and, please, stop saying he likes me because you’re the one for him, all right?!” You close your eyes with a sigh and a shrug. Grabbing your things, you leave the library without looking back.

You wandered through the castle, looking for a quiet place so you could cool yourself down and think a little bit, ending up at the astronomy tower. The night was falling and the sky had a mixed tone of light purple and medium blue, stars shining all over it. You stared at them from the balcony, your back against the exterior wall whilst you sat on the floor.

“There you are! Haven’t seen you all afternoon,” James’ voice flooded through your ears. You could tell he was smiling even though you didn’t take your eyes off the stars.

“Yeah, I got distracted by the stars,” you smile at the sky.

“They’re almost as beautiful as you, love,” he says, sitting next to you.

You tense up, straightening yourself up uncomfortably, not saying anything.

“Are you still mad at Pads and Moony?” He asks rather seriously.

“Hmm?!” You mutter in surprise, finally looking at him.

He just smiles at you. “Did they tell you? About what we talked,” you ask him.

“No, I overheard it actually, you know me,” he shrugged. “I have to say I’m surprised, though. I thought you found me amusing and charming, didn’t know it was such an offense to be romantically involved with me! Or should I say ‘absurd’?” He smirked charmingly, trying to joke, but you could see a straw of hurt in his eyes.

“Jamie, no!” You hush in. “You are charming and amusing! Being around you is... it’s like a breath of fresh air on an insanely hot day. It’s like the feeling you get when your belly hurts after an intensely good laughter. Or when you’re having a really good dream which you never wanna wake up from. It’s like a... raging sea on a stormy day, full of energy, full of life, full of adventuring promises and a strange peaceful feeling at the same time, and...” you stop suddenly, realization hitting you like a punch in the stomach. Your friends were right all along. You did have feelings for James.

“Oh, Merlin, this can’t be happening...” you thought at yourself. Truth be told, though, you think you’ve always knew. You’ve always noticed the signs: the warmth happiness that spreaded through you whenever you saw him, the please-never-let-go-of-me feeling you felt whenever he hugged you. It has always been there. But you’ve kept it hidden even from yourself as you watched him chase after Lily year after year. If only you’ve realized it before you came back from a future time. Maybe if the two of you were already together before the morning you woke up feeling completely lost and surrounded by, apparently, strangers, you wouldn’t be able to fight it. But, knowing what you knew, you could never be with him. You could never jeopardize Harry’s future like that. You and Harry were more than just best friends, you were like siblings. The bond you shared was too precious for you to do that to him. He was there for you when you didn’t have anyone, you’ve found family in each other.

“You were saying?” James whispers, snapping you from you thoughts. His face was merely inches apart from yours. Your heart started pounding violently inside your chest and you used all of your strength to fight the urge of closing the milimetre gap between the two of you and kiss him passionately.

“I was saying that Lils is very lucky for winning over that big beautiful heart of yours,” you frown anguished whilst staring back at the sky.

You could feel James withering by your side. It felt like you were choking on your emotions, every feeling that you have ever suppressed for the boy finding its way out of the vault you’ve sealed them into.

“I suppose she is...” he sighs, staring at the sky as well.

#harry potter #harry potter imagine #james potter #james potter imagine #james potter x reader #james potter x you #lily evans #remus lupin #sirius black #wizarding world #harry potter x reader #rpwt imagine #right place wrong time

[calpalirwin]

Painted Pink Room

Summary: Cake adopts a kid.

Word Count: 3.1k

And away, and away we go!

__

It started with Ashton and Michael introducing them to Wyatt. Wyatt was a spunky little guy of two and a half years old with a mop of wild curls and an infectious little laugh that had Luke looking over at Calum with big pleading eyes and a small pout. And all Calum could do was give a small nod. “So, uh,” Calum started, clearing his throat. “Ash, how did you and Mike… you know?”

“Decide to adopt? Why are you and Luke thinking of doing the same?”

“I mean…” Calum shrugged nervously. “There’s a lot to figure out and whatnot. But uh… kinda hard to deny that this,” he gestured out to the yard where Michael was dying a dramatic death for the benefit of his son who, at Luke’s coaxing of “get him Wyatt!” pounced on Michael, “doesn’t look half bad,” Calum concluded.

A shriek filled the air as Michael roared and started tickling the boy, yelling “Ahahahaha! You fell right into my trap! Now the tickle monster got you! Oh no! Say ‘Uncle Luke help!’”

“Help, help!” Wyatt pleaded with more giggles, pulling at Luke’s hand.

Luke immediately jumped into action, whispering something in the boy’s ear that made him light up before hollering “Attack!” and both Luke and Wyatt started tickling Michael back, all three of them gasping for air amid the storm of giggles.

Ashton and Calum shared a laugh, and then Ashton sighed longingly. “Yeah, it’s gonna be a process. And lots of talking before anything gets done. But the end result is pretty fuckin’ great.”

“Yeah. So how did you and Mike decide that this is what you guys wanted?”

“I mean for me it was easy. I always wanted to be a dad. To prove I could do it without making the same mistakes. But I was afraid of those mistakes, too. Still am. Absolutely scared shitless.”

Calum nodded understandingly. Ashton’s parental history was significantly more fucked than his own had been, but he understood more so than Luke and Michael could about not wanting to repeat mistakes their parents had made. “And Mike?”

Ashton giggled, “Mike is like a big kid himself. He’s great with Wyatt. But he wasn’t sure he was ready for the responsibility that comes with all this. Cuz it’s a lot. I won’t sugarcoat that for ya. But, I dunno. It’s hard to explain how despite all the what ifs and worries, you have a kid anyway. It’s like a blind leap of faith. You just do it and hope for the best.”

“Mhm, and uh… sorry for all the questions, but how did you guys know you wanted Wyatt and not like… adopt a newborn, or try a surrogacy so the kid shared DNA with at least one of you?”

“Well, for one, DNA doesn’t make a family. You know that as well as I do. I mean, look at us, we all found family in each other. But we thought it’d be an easier adjustment with a slightly older kid. Like we wanted them relatively little to have all those experiences. But a newborn felt like it would be too much. And then we met Wyatt and everything just clicked.”

“He’s a cute little thing, that’s for damn sure. Has the coolest dads I know, too.”

Ashton grinned and wrapped an arm around Calum’s shoulder for a sideways hug, “Thanks man. And any kid would be lucky to have you and Luke for dads, you know that right? And you’d have mine and Mike’s support the whole way. Plus it’d kinda be cool if you wanted to give Wyatt a cousin.”

Calum laughed. “Alright, alright. It’ll be a serious discussion now. Gotta make sure it’s not just a bad case of baby fever.”

“Oh, for sure. That’s a conversation all on it’s own.” As he unwrapped his arm from Calum, he glanced at his watch. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Nap time. Ready to see if it’s just a case of baby fever? Mike!”

Michael’s head popped up, and Wyatt took the small distraction to tackle Michael again, the man falling on his ass with a small oomph! “Huh?!” he asked as he wrapped up Wyatt to keep the boy from climbing all over him.

“Time to wrap it up.”

Michael nodded once, standing up and taking Wyatt with him. “C’mon you. Nap time.”

At the word “nap” Wyatt let out a piercing wail and started squirming against Michael’s hold on him. The wail had all four men wincing, and Luke shot Calum a quick glance as if to say “Ooof, could you imagine?” “Ow, Wyatt, we don’t hit. It’s not nice,” Michael scolded lightly, simply adjusting his grip to limit the boy’s protests.

“No!” he wailed, big crocodile tears running down his face.

“Hey,” Ashton said softly, stepping in to help, a thumb brushing away the tears on his son’s face. “Take a breath for me,” and when Wyatt let out a blubbering huff of air with only a sniffle, Ashton smiled at him. “That’s my boy. Now, do you want Daddy to read you a story, or Papa?”

Wyatt sniffed again before making grabby hands for Ashton. Michael kissed his hair before passing Ashton Wyatt. “We’ll play more later. You gotta rest first. And so does Daddy. Love you, bug.”

Ashton chuckled softly as he took Wyatt on his hip, the boy’s head snuggling into his neck. Ashton gave Michael a quick kiss before saying he’d be down in a bit and disappeared inside the house.

“How’d you decide who was Daddy and who was Papa?” Luke asked as the other three men filed inside and settled on the couch in the living room.

Michael shrugged. “Not sure really. It kinda just happened. I mean, it doesn’t really mean too much right now.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well we’ve only had Wyatt a month. Ashton and I try to refer to each other as Daddy and Papa for his sake. To make it more commonplace. I mean, that’s what they said to do. Them being the agency, and the support groups, and all that. But, it’s all new to him. Like he knows I’m Daddy and Ashton’s Papa. But he doesn’t say it yet.”

“Oh… Well, he’ll get there, yeah?”

“Oh yeah. I’m not worried about it. I mean we got to spend plenty of time with him while everything was getting finalized, so he feels safe with us which is what really matters. Everything else is just details. So, Cal, what were you and Ash talking about?”

“Yeah, love, what were you guys talking about?” Luke asked with a suggestive eyebrow raise.

“Oh, I was just asking Ash some questions about how you guys came to decide on having Wyatt. Just curious was all.”

“Curious?” both blondes pressed.

Calum shrugged a little shyly, taking Luke’s hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “We’ll talk about it later, yeah Lu?”

Luke broke out in a grin while Michael laughed loudly. “Not so loud,” Ashton hissed as he came down the stairs.

“Shit, my bad,” Michael apologized. “He go down alright?”

“Out like a light. You and Luke really wore him out. So, what I’d miss?” he asked as he plopped down next to Michael

“Oh, nothing much. Just apparently Cal and Luke are thinking of following our footsteps.”

Ashton nodded. “Yeah, and Luke I’ll tell you what I told Cal outside. It’s a lot. But whatever help or support you guys need, if this is what you guys decide you want, Mike and I are behind you a hundred percent.”

“It’s definitely a conversation I want to have if Cal does,” Luke said, his hand resting on Calum’s thigh.

Calum rested his own hand on top of Luke’s squeezing it reassuringly. “Course, Lu. And thanks guys. The support means a lot.”

“Course, mate,” Michael told him. “Plus, Ash wouldn’t it be cool for Wyatt to get a cousin? It’s like a sibling with less stress.”

~~~

Later that night, Luke rolled over to his side in bed, propping himself up on his elbow, his chin resting in the palm of his hand. “Were you serious early?”

“Serious about what?”

“Us having a baby.”

“Course I was serious. We both wanna be dads, don’t we?”

In a burst of excitement, Luke pushed himself to sit with his legs crossed facing Calum, who mirrored the position, their knees pressed against the other’s. “You’re dead serious? Cuz I swear if you’re fucking with me I’ll never forgive you.”

Calum chuckled softly. “You think I’d joke about something like this? What do you think I was pestering Ash for?”

Luke shrugged and looked away shyly. “Figured you were asking all the stressful stuff so you could talk me down…”

Calum let out another soft chuckle, reaching out to guide Luke’s face back up to look at him. “I mean, Ash did mention that it’s a process, and a lot of discussions, and decisions to make. Like this doesn’t happen overnight. And that’s the easy part. I mean, we’re talking about the end result being us being responsible for a whole ass human.”

“Whoa… yeah that’s kinda scary putting it that way, huh? But…?”

“But if there’s anyone I’d wanna do this with, it’s you, Lu.”

“Yes!” Luke cheered before kissing Calum deeply. “Okay, so how did Ash and Mike get started? Do we wanna do what they did and adopt like a toddler? Or do we wanna go older or younger? Oh newborns are so cute! But it’s kinda cool when they can talk, and actually play too like Wyatt can. Oh, and imagine if we get a little girl? We can learn to do her hair and we can have salon parties all the time! Wait! Do you think we should look into surrogacy? A little mix of you and me? Is that possible you think?” Luke spewed out all the questions he had in a rapid fire barely taking time to breath between words. He paused to suck down a giant gulp of air, his face flushing. “Fuck, sorry, that was a lot.”

“There good questions, Lu. Definitely things we need to talk about. But maybe we start slower. Talk to Ash and Mike about getting in contact with the adoption agency they went through. See what all our options are and go from there?”

“Yeah that’s probably the smartest way to go about this. Just do what feels right each step of the way. Fuck… but we’re really gonna do this? We’re gonna try to have a baby? You and me?”

“Me and you,” Calum smiled. 

It was quiet for a moment as they settled in for bed, their decision slowly sinking in. Then, just as Calum closed his eyes, Luke whispered out in the dark. “Hey, love?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I be daddy, and you be papa?”

“Sounds perfect, babe.”

~~~

The process, as Ashton had warned them, was a lot. There were interviews, home inspections, background checks, and seemingly endless piles of paperwork. And that was just for Calum and Luke to get cleared. 

Several times they wondered if they should have gone the surrogacy route, but after a few meetings when they were shown some case files, it had been a no-brainer.

They sat side by side as they shifted through file after file, fingers knocking against each other as they pointed out whatever caught their eye. It was the file of a little girl, a baby really at thirteen months old, that had them both gasping at the same time. Brown eyes met blue and there was the briefest of nods. “Um, excuse me, what’s the story on this one? There’s not a lot here,” Luke asked the adoption agency clerk helping them.

“That’s McKenna. She came to us when she was a day old. Safe haven surrender. Sweet little girl. We can arrange a meeting if you’re interested.”

“That would be great, yeah.”

~~~

“So you guys are meeting her today, yeah?” Ashton asked.

“Yeah,” and even though both Calum and Luke were beaming, their voices shook. “Been waiting like what? A month for this?” Calum went on.

“I thought you guys were already four months into this?” Michael questioned.

“Yeah, we are. Shit has it been that long? But since we saw McKenna’s file and now it’s been a month. Longest month of my life…” Luke let out his breath in a small huff, raking his hands through his hair.

“Well, good news is that once you guys get approved to adopt, which you will, the actual adoption process won’t take as long,” Ashton pointed out. “That’s how it was with Wyatt. We got to know him for… what was it Mike? Like a little less than a year while all the processing shit happened. Because they’ll keep scheduling visits so everyone gets comfortable. Makes the transition easier. And then because we had that background established, the adoption process was like… 2 months I wanna say? And that was just waiting for the court date.”

“Something like that yeah. But hey, don’t sweat it if you and the kid don’t click. Like it’s okay. Take your time with it,” Michael jumped in.

“Yeah, definitely. No rush.”

“How did you guys know with Wyatt?” Calum asked.

“You’re just gonna know, mate. I promise. Instinct will take over and you’ll just know.”

Calum understood exactly what his friends meant when two hours later McKenna was set in his arms. Big brown eyes peered up at him full of confused wonder, deciding how she felt about the man holding her and the tall blonde smiling down at her. “Well, hey there, McKenna. I’m Cal, and this is Luke.”

McKenna watched Calum carefully as he spoke, before shifting her attention to Luke who was waving at her. She reached a small hand out towards Luke. Luke held out his index finger for her and her small fist wrapped around it. “Hey, sweetheart,” he cooed softly. “Oh, Cal, she’s beautiful isn’t she?”

“Yeah she’s a beaut, aren’t you, darling? Do you want Luke to hold you?”

Luke held out his arms warmly and McKenna wiggled a bit in Calum’s arms so he started to pass her over, but her free hand bunched itself in Calum’s shirt, not letting go, causing both men to laugh. “Alright, that’s okay. We’ll just hold hands,” Luke told her scrunching up his nose at her and tickling at her ribs, giggling when she giggled.

“This is the quickest I’ve ever seen her warm up to a family before,” one of the workers running the meeting mentioned. “Normally she’s way more shy than this.”

“Does that mean you like us, darling?” Calum asked. “Cuz I really hope it does.”

~~~

Eleven months. Eleven months of having to be content with limited visiting time with the little girl who stole more of their hearts every time they were with her. Eleven of the longest months they’d ever experienced before they got the phone call that everything had been approved and they could finally get in front of a judge to formalize the adoption.

“So, when can we schedule a court date?” Calum choked out over the phone.

“We can get the three of you in front of a judge in three weeks.”

“And that’s when we’ll be able to take her home?”

“Barring any complications, yes.”

“Complications? Um… Sorry, could you explain that?” Calum asked, holding up a finger at Luke who’s eyes went wide with worry.

“Usually it has to do with paperwork that wasn’t processed properly, or waiting the right amount of days, and in some rare cases biological parents popping out of the woodwork.”

“And, do you…” Calum faltered with his question.

“Foresee any complications with your case? No. Everything’s been processed, waiting periods have been waited, and safe haven surrender terminated the biological parents rights.”

Calum let out a small laugh of relief. “Okay. Awesome. That’s great. So three weeks?”

“I’ll forward you the information.”

“Great. Thank you so much.”

“Well?!” Luke demanded as Calum ended the call, chewing on his thumbnail.

“Three more weeks, Lu. Three more weeks and she’s all ours.”

“YES!” Luke whooped, wrapping Calum in a tight hug. “Our daughter’s coming home in three weeks! Three weeks, love! That’s nothing! We can do three weeks, no problem. Plenty of time to get her room set up.”

“Better get to work then.”

~~~

If asked, Calum and Luke couldn’t answer what happened in the courtroom, what with their shaking hands, and pounding heartbeats drowning out any other sound. The words that filtered in were muddled and slow. “Accepted” and “congratulations” before the gavel was pounding and they snapped out of their haze, tears free falling down their faces.

What they did remember in sharp focus was the drive home, with McKenna in the backseat. Luke kept turning in his seat and Calum kept peering through the rearview mirror, each one grinning every time she was still there when they looked, as if they expected each time to find the backseat empty like this had all been a figment of their imagination.

They remembered the way she started yawning and rubbing her eyes as Luke’s voice crooned a soft lullaby at bedtime. The hushed goodnights and I love yous, and the soft glow of the night light. And not sure of what else to do, they turned in for the night themselves.

The alarm clock on Calum’s nightstand said that it was a little after midnight when someone tugged at his hand.

Calum jerked awake, finding McKenna peeking up at him. “What’s the matter, darling?” he rasped.

“I scared.”

“You’re scared? Aw, c’mere, darling.” He peeled back the covers and helped her up into bed beside him. “Everything’s new, huh?”

She nodded, curling her body into him.

“That’s okay. Daddy and I will keep you safe, I promise.”

“Hmm?” Luke mumbled in his sleep. “Love, who are you ta- oh hey sweetheart,” Luke’s eyes blinked open to find Calum cradling McKenna. “Everything okay?”

“Just a little scared is all,” Calum explained.

“Mmm, well don’t worry, sweetheart. You wanna sleep in here with me and Papa?”

McKenna nodded before crawling over Calum to sandwich herself between her dads. “That’s our girl,” Luke smiled, kissing her forehead and drawing the blanket up snug. “All nice and cozy?”

“Mhm,” she nodded with a small yawn.

“G’night, darling. We’ll be right here if you need us,” Calum told her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “We love you.”

“So stinking much,” Luke added.

As they settled back down themselves, Calum and Luke heard the softest, “Night, wuv you too,” from McKenna, causing both men to fall asleep with grins on their faces, their little girl protectively snuggled between them. Perfect.

__

Tag List

@aquarius-hood1996 @creator-appreciator @philthepegacorn @myfavfanficsever @cxddlyash @youngblood199456 @stormrider505 @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @hoodhoran @metalandboybands @maybeememez @major5sosstan @1weekago @kaitieskidmore1

#painted pink room #calum hood #calum hood fic #luke hemmings #luke hemmings fic #calum hood x luke hemmings #dad!cake #5sos #calpal irwin

[q-gorgeous]

The Unworld

fanfiction

ao3

HI THIS IS A REPOST jnbhgv i originally posted this march 15th, 2018 on ffn but im gonna start going through the painstaking process of posting all my fics on ao3 so were just gonna go in order starting with the first one

idk if i ever posted this on my main blog so

I’ve been drifting around this place for what feels like millenniums. I can’t remember how I ended up here, just that one day I found myself unfortunate enough to be taken here. There’s no light, no ghastly glows from any other creatures. I’ve been here so long I can no longer even tell if I’m still blinking. 

This place has no real feeling to it. Just vast emptiness. It doesn’t really feel like it goes on forever, and it’s not a heavy, overwhelming type of emptiness either. The temperature feels as if it’s at a comfortable point, but I begin to wonder if I’ve just grown used to the climate of this strange place after being here for centuries. My fingertips are still cold though. That’s one thing I remember from my life all that time ago. I could never conquer the cold, no matter how bundled up I was. 

I’ve also begun to notice that my form is no longer the same as when I first arrived here. I feel lighter now than I did then. Sometimes I also feel as if my legs turn into a tail as I float here. I’m not sure why that is, I’ve just come to see it as evolving to my surroundings, becoming my surroundings. I think that might be what happens to other beings who get stuck here. They get eaten and picked at by this place. Because I can’t be the only one who’s had the unfortunate luck to get stuck here, can I?

I also believe that beings trapped here get devoured because I can feel myself becoming wispy, like I’m made out of a flickery material similar to fire. Bits by bits of myself flake off in the flowing rhythm my body has taken on. 

As my train of thought goes in circles on it’s tracks with no end, I realize something that I haven’t tried to do for a long time. 

Move. 

Walk. 

Get around. 

It must’ve been quite a few centuries since I’ve tried to look for a way to escape this dark place. I was still more corporeal then, still knew how to work my limbs. Would I even be able to make it a few steps before growing weary and succumbing to this place once again?

As I think and think and think, I come to the conclusion that nothing would hurt whether I did it or not. I began by trying to take a step forward in front of me but I’m not standing on anything to take a step from. As I lose my balance and begin to wobble, my legs turn into a flickering tail once again and I balance out. I begin to float forward more steadily now, as if my tail is helping to propel me. 

I go on for what could be minutes, hours, or even years until I come across something that feels so alien but oh so familiar at the same time. 

Gravity. 

There’s a weight pulling me towards what I assume is down. At first I just quietly observe what’s happening. But then I hear something that isn’t the ever so slowly shallower and shallower breaths I’ve been taking for centuries. It’s loud and it isn’t something I’ve ever heard before. And then…

I can see. 

There’s a fluorescent green glowing above me. I look at my arms, wispy and shadow like, reflecting the green light. 

My escape is above me. The opposite way that I’m floating.

I begin to propel myself upwards, trying to fight the ever increasing feeling of gravity as it pushes harder and harder against me. Soon I’m clawing myself up, fingers gripping a wall, it bends against my fingers and it’s the most wonderful thing I can ever remember feeling. Something beneath my fingers. 

As I make my way up I begin to wonder how I know this is an escape. Who knows whether or not this place is controlled by some other powerful being, or if this is just the last stage before my existence is finally wiped away. I just know that I need to pull myself over this wall and into this light. 

Pulling myself over the wall is excruciatingly painful and tiring. I haven’t used my muscles for anything except breathing in centuries. At one point, I lost my hold and almost fell from the wall but I managed to keep my grip and keep climbing up. 

As I finally pull myself up over the wall, I look at the green light, triumphant, but I notice that it’s getting smaller and smaller. Disappearing, my last chance. 

Panicking, I dive into the portal, crashing into a solid floor on the other side. 

My senses are immediately overwhelmed. I can feel gravity and the floor crowding in from all around me. I can smell different scents that I can’t recognize, this place smells burnt, caustic, and slightly of a sweet smell that makes my mouth begin to water. The most overwhelming though is sound. So much is happening. I can hear sets of shouts, but I can also hear whirring. The sound of electricity mixes with the sound of someone screaming and through my panicked state on the floor I begin wondering what’s happening around me in this new world I fell into. 

I drag myself up into a sitting position, and gap at the sight before me. A young being falls out of the glowing, fluorescent light that I made my escape through. Had there been someone else in there with me this whole time? Had I not realized it? The screaming has stopped now that the figure with snow white hair exited the portal and collapsed. 

This being does not appear to be human. 

Am I even human anymore?

I begin to creep forward to ask them a question when two teenagers rush past me and collapse next to the second being to escape from the portal. 

Confused, I begin to pull myself towards the creature on the ground. Why couldn’t his friends see me? Am I not visible?

The boy opens his glowing green eyes and looks at the two humans above him.

“Sam? Tucker?” He asks.

I’m flabbergasted. How could he know their names? It is nearly impossible to escape from that place. How could he happen to know these two humans?

They three have a few more exchanges before the boy is standing. He looks around and finds a reflective fixture hanging on the wall. What’s the word for it again? It’s been so long…

As the boy takes a look at his appearance, he begins to shake. He shakes his head back and forth, clearly in a state of panic. 

“N-no, guys how can this be happening? Why do I look like this? Why do I feel so strange? Why-.”

Suddenly he stops speaking, looking at the ground he turns around to face his friends. He looks up, with a shocked expression on his face before he quietly whispers.

“Am I dead?” 

The three look around at each other, at a loss for words in their fear. Soon enough a big rumbling comes from above and the three teens look up. Panic falls across all of their faces. 

A worried voice comes from the entryway to the room.

“Danny, kids, are you okay?”

The one I presume to be Danny, begins to breathe more heavily as his eyes widen. 

“They can’t see me like this. What would I tell them? ‘Your invention works but it killed me’?”

The two try to calm him down but a sudden burst of white light emits around him and engulfs him from his head to his toes. Once it dies down a human boy can be seen standing in his place, with raven black hair and baby blue eyes. 

At that moment his parents rush downstairs and begin coddling him, making sure he’s okay when they see the portal behind him. They wear a shocked expression, but quickly shake their heads and rush their son upstairs. Soon a door can be heard slamming shut and something speeds away. 

My mind is reeling at everything I just witnessed. More than anything I have witnessed in the last few centuries. But that boy didn’t come from inside the portal like I did. 

He’s the reason it turned on. 

I float towards the portal, peering at it but not daring to go inside, lest I get trapped in that dark nothingness once again. 

This changed something about that boy, this isn’t something that should have happened. I’m sure of it. 

I turn to look in the… Mirror! It’s called a mirror. At first I can’t see myself but then I flicker into existence and I can see what I look like for the first time in as long as I can remember. 

It’s not what I was expecting. I appear translucent and wispy, my eyes also a glowing green. I look as if I were a fire so cold it were a shadow. 

I once again look around the room, feeling lost and alone. I’m unsure what to do with my new found freedom, knowing I can’t pick up where I left off. I don’t even know when I left off. 

I make my way up the...stairs. 

I see a burst of orange light coming from outside the house and look through the window. The sun is closing in on the horizon. I try to turn the doorknob but find that my hand passes straight through it instead. Looking at it in shock, I just float straight through the door. 

I sit down on the grass outside, relishing in the cool feeling of it as I wait for the boy to come home. 

I’m unsure on what I should do now, but one thing I think I need to do is stay here and help this boy however I’m meant to. 

Because why else would I have escaped the Unworld? It couldn’t have been a coincidence. 

My memories begin to resurface now that I can interact with anything that isn’t a numbing darkness. I can feel the memories of my capture welling up. 

This...halfa… escaped the wrath of the Unworld and death. 

This halfa got the chance that I did not. I got sucked in by a portal whose calculations were off by a point and while I believe the same being changing experience happened to us both, he got the chance of them being right this time. 

I look back at the house that I’m sitting in front of. As my memories return I realize that I hadn’t actually been in that place for centuries. 

It looks like it hasn’t even been a year. 

Two portal accidents in the time frame of a year. 

I always knew that their sick obsession with ghosts would eventually end up hurting one of us. 

But you’d think that after accidentally letting your only daughter walk right in the middle of an experiment, that they would learn their lesson. Especially after learning she disappeared from it’s effects. 

But now, her little brother was now a victim of their twisted obsession too. 

As I sit in our small patch of grass in front of the house, something happens. A ring of white light spreads up and around me. Holding my hands up, I see that they are my hands. Peachy, solid hands.

I look up to see my family gaping at me from the RV. Tears spring to my eyes and they exit the vehicle and run towards me. 

I’m not sure what happened to Danny and I, but I know that, together, we’ll conquer this challenge.

#gorgi writes #danny phantom #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #the unworld #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #phic

[babeyvenus]

The Wolf Among Us

Bigby x OC

Summary: Sonya Blaze, A.K.A. Hell Rider, is a half fable, half mundy girl who comes to Fabletown to learn more about her side of the folktales. She works alongside Sheriff Bigby Wolf's as his newest partner and together they strive to find out who's behind the unexpected murders in Fabletown.

TW: Mentions of death, gore/blood, alcohol, smoking drugs, sex implications, suicide, guns and ofc language.

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Chapter 10: A Trashy Funeral

“That fucking creep…!”, Bigby growls, stomping out of the room. “Spineless little fuckin’ rat!”

“Crane? Ugh! God, you’d think you know a person.”, Beauty said as she followed Bigby down the hall.

“Bigby, you have to tell her.”, she said. “I know!”, Bigby yells at her as he strides down the stairs and enters the lobby.

“What’s going on?”, Beast asked, worriedly. “What did you find up there?”

Bigby storms up to a payphone, dialing the Business Office number, “Crane’s the killer.”, Bigby huffs, angrily. “What? Ichabod Crane? How do you know?”, Beast asked. Bigby didn’t answer him and growled at the non functional phone. “Shit!”

“Crane’s been–”, Beauty was interrupted when Bigby yanked the phone off the wall, even more furious now. “Whoa! Bigby, calm down.”, Beauty ordered. “Everything’s going to be fine, okay? It’s gonna be fine."

"Will someone please explain this to me?”, Beast asked, looking between Bigby and Beauty. “That perverted little fucker might be after Sonya. I need to find her right now!”, Bigby explained, pacing in anger.

"Okay, i-it’s going to be okay.”, Beauty said in a calm tone. “Where did you see her last? Did she say where she was going?”

“She went to join Snow and Holly at the Business Office. To prepare for the funeral.” Bigby explained. “Lily’s funeral?”, Beast asked, his eyes widening. “Yeah.”, Bigby says, looking at him.. Beauty looked at the taller man in confusion. “How do you know–”

“I was just at the Trip Trap, and I heard Gren telling some folks about a funeral at the Buckingham Bridge–” She cut him off. “The Trip Trap? Are you drinking?”

“When?”, Bigby asked Beast.

“Right now. They were on their way out.”, Beast answered, making Bigby rush out of the Hotel. “Bigby!”, Beauty shouts after him, chasing him onto the streets. “Wait!”, Beauty shouts. Bigby stops, huffing to himself before turning to Beauty. “What?!”

“Sonya seems like such a sweet girl. I don’t know her all that well but so far, you seem to know her a bit better. This might change things for her,” Beauty said.

“What are you trying to say?” Bigby asked her, his face scrunching in frustration. “You know how you felt when you saw that picture? Well, it’s going to be much worse for her. Trust me. No girl wants to see, let alone, know that someone they thought they knew would do that to them.”, Beauty said. Bigby sighs before rushing to the funeral.

The Buckingham Bridge

Bigby walks over to the small funeral after getting out of the cab he came in. His ears perk up at the sound of Sonya’s voice singing for the funeral. “You're my backbone. You're my cornerstone. You're my crutch when my legs stop moving. You're my headstart. You're my rugged heart. You're the pulse that I've always needed,” Bigby walks up to see her strumming a guitar and singing with a black button up shirt and pants, in front of a fire.

Holly, Gren, Nerissa and Vivian were watching her from the benches. Snow was standing next to her, smiling sadly and she was in a black skirt and a red dress shirt with a black suit jacket.

“Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating. Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating. Like a drum, my heart never stops beating.”, she sung, catching Bigby’s eyes and smiled a bit before continuing. He walked by a table, reading notes and looking at certain objects.

Bigby picks up a card that had a scenic picture of a bridge over a river and opens it to read it.

“I’ll miss worrying about you. I’ll miss our fights I’ll miss you.”

-Holly

Bigby sets the card down and picks up another one that was blue with a fancy design around the edges.

“Now you will never die from indifference or lead a tedious life. Goodbye, sweetheart. Thanks for everything.”

-Vivian

He sets that card down, as he hears Snow starting to speak, and picks up the last one, this one had a picture of a mountain.

“You were a big bright shining star in this shithole of a town, and I miss you already.”

-Gren

He finishes reading, setting everything down and frowned. He looked at Sonya as she sang her last lyric and looked at him. "Bigby, is everything okay?”, Snow asked him. Everyone turned around to see Bigby standing behind them. “No, not you.”, Holly growled as she stormed to him. “Holly, it’s–”

“He wasn’t fucking invited.”, Holly told Snow. “Holly wait.”, Snow said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “He has no right to be here. Not after what he did.”, Holly said. “Holly, I’m sorry, but I had to come.”, Bigby frowned sadly.

“You throw my sister down the Witching Well….and you have the nerve to show your face here? After you lie….after you promise me?”, Holly asked, outraged. “Holly, wait, that was Crane, just Crane. He’d….disposed of Lily’s body before Bigby could do anything about it.”, Sonya said as she walked up to Holly. Holly glares at her. “When we left your bar, we never went back to the Business Office!”, she exclaimed.

“Don’t cover for him.”, Holly growls at her. “But this genuinely wasn’t his fault.”, Snow reassures. “You two can’t tell me Bigby gives a shit about this.”, Holly said, looking at Snow in shock.

“I’m sorry, Holly. I didn’t know he put her down the Witching Well.”, Bigby said, shaking his head with a sad look. Holly’s eyes widen for a moment then looks down at her feet.

“Bigby cares, Holly. He’s trying to help.” Sonya said. “We all do.”

"I’m sure he has a very good reason for being here.“ Snow said as she glared at Bigby then looked back over at Holly. "But this one isn’t on him.”

“Why are you here, anyway? And don’t say it’s cause you care about this.”, Gren said as he turned to face Bigby. “Everything okay?”, Sonya asked Bigby. He looked at her sadly and looked away, shaking his head. He turned to Holly.

“I think I know who murdered your sister.”, Bigby told Holly, making her eyes widen. “Who?”, she asked, shocked. “Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else?”, Snow said, hinting she wanted to keep it private.

“What? No! I deserve to know!”, Holly yelled at her in disbelief. “That’s true.”, Sonya said. “I know, I know, but….This isn’t the way to go about this.”, Snow said, shaking her head. “I don’t give a fuck about the way. I don’t care about procedure. If anyone should be told, it’s me, it’s us. Right now.”, Holly ordered.

“I think it was Ichabod Crane.”, Bigby said, shocking everyone. “Crane?” Sonya asked. “Crane.”, Holly growled to herself. “Okay, okay, look, Sonya, Bigby and I are going to have a little chat while everyone else gets back to the funeral.”, Snow said.

“What?! He says that fucking Crane murdered Lily and you expect me to–”

“We promise we will tell you what the hell is going on just as soon as we know there’s something to tell, but just let us do our jobs, first. Please.”, Sonya said.

Holly glares at her and folds her arms across her chest. “Look, Holly, I know how this—” Sonya starts to explain but Holly cuts her off. “No. You don’t know how this feels. You have no idea.”, she growls at her.

Sonya frowns, looking away. “Believe it or not, Holly, I do. Its the reason why I’m here in the first place.”, she says. Holly’s face softens.

She turns to Bigby, “Don’t fuck anything up. Don’t bother anybody. And when the first sign of trouble comes, and it will come, because you’re a fucking walking trap for it, I want you the fuck out of here. You hear me?"

"Of course. You won’t even know I’m here.”, Bigby nodded. Sonya pulls Bigby away from the crowd, he kept his head down as she led him away.

“Crane?”, Sonya asked him. “Yeah.”, Bigby said, not meeting her eyes. She looked at him, shaking her head. “I mean, he was a prick but him??” Bigby finally looks at her. “Sonya, you’re a target.” She held up her hand to stop him. “If this is your way of telling me to lay low or to leave Fabletown, you got another thing coming.”

His shoulders slumped as he let out a sigh, “Its just a suggestion.” Sonya shook her head, “Its a stupid ass suggestion.”

Snow walked up to them. “Okay, Crane?? Are you sure?” Bigby nodded. “This is someone I’ve worked with for decades.” Snow said in disbelief. “This is a guy- he gets the frickin’ shakes when he has to order food. I mean, what are you telling us? It’s all an act? Just what have you found?”

“Lily was Crane’s prostitute. I followed a lead to this shit hole motel. The Open Arms.”, he says, looking at Snow. “Crane had a room there, and he’s been taking prostitutes….or, at the very least Lily…and making her look like you while he was… you know.”, Bigby said to Sonya.

Sonya swallowed, shaking her head, “I looked this guy in his eye, and trusted him to do his job.” She spaced out, scoffing softly, “I don’t even know what to say right now….I really don’t. I’m just trying everything I can right now….to not picture it. To not picture him.” She covered her mouth as she turned away, looking up at the sky, holding back oncoming tears. “I’m sorry, Sonya.” Bigby apologized softly.

“You’re sure this is what happened? This is what he’s been doing?”, Snow asked Bigby. Sonya turned to face Bigby with glassy eyes. “Please, Bigby. Tell me he didn’t. Please tell me this is a trick.” His heart panged in sadness, seeing her holding back any frustration or sadness herself.

Bigby digs in his pocket, hesitantly pulls out the photo and hands it to her. She took it and instantly her heart dropped. The more she stared at the picture, she felt bile bubbling in her throat. “I’m so sorry.”, Bigby said, looking down.

Her eyes fluttered as she covered her mouth, finally letting her tears fall. She handed the picture to Snow, making her gasp. She looked up at Bigby and asked. “You took a cab here, right?”

“Yeah.”, he nodded. Sonya walks away for a bit, letting out a heavy breath. “Snow?” Nerissa speaks up. Sonya quickly wipes her tears away before turning to the mermaid. Snow said, “Nerissa. What is it?”

“I’m sorry, but Holly’s asking for you and Sonya.”, Nerissa said. “Are they starting the burn?”, Snow asked her. “Yes.”, she nodded. “Everyone who spoke should really be present for this part…she’s kinda distraught. You guys are not leaving yet, are you?”, Nerissa asked.

Snow looks at her then at Sonya. “Can you tell her I’m not feeling okay? And that I’m sorry.”, Sonya said, placing her hands in her pockets. "I'm just gonna hang back for a little while." Nerissa nods at her and Snow walks over to Holly while Nerissa stays.

Sonya looks at the floor as Nerissa looks at Bigby, “How’d it go? At the motel? Did you find anything?”

“Yeah….Lily was killed there. It was an awful mess.”, Bigby frowned deeply. “Oh…”, Nerissa said, sadly. “Nerissa!”, Vivian called. Nerissa turned to her. “Coming!”

Sonya let out another shaky sigh, making Bigby look over at her. “You okay?”, he asked, sadly. She chuckled, wiping at her eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

Bigby frowns and hesitantly wraps his arm around her, making her bite her lip, as she felt more tears coming. “This is so stupid...", she muttered, wiping her tears on her shoulder, sniffling and leaned into his hold.

“We’re gonna get this done. I promise.”, he says. She nodded. Suddenly, the atmosphere thickened as they felt something metal pressed against their backs. “Constables.”, a familiar voice said.

“Fuck me…”, Sonya shook her head, looking up at the sky as she recognizes the voices.

Bigby turns to see the Tweedles and stops as a barrel was pushed into his back. “Wait, wait, wait, easy now, girls.”, Dee whispered, smirked. “You know how this goes. The first thing in a visit? You say, “How do ya do?”.”

“How do ya do?”, Dum repeated.

“Now is really not the time for whatever you jag-offs are planning to do.”, Bigby growls lowly, keeping Sonya pressed into his side. “Well isn’t that the thing of it? Plans.”, Dee says. “Except it isn’t our plans you should be concernin’ yourself with.”, Dum grumbles.

“I’m still hurtin’, you know, from our talk in the cell. We’ll snip to the chase, for all’s sake. A little bird told us that you’re fittin’ to go after Crane.”, Dee mentioned to Bigby as he pokes at their backs, making Sonya let out another breath.

Bigby notices this, practically hearing her heart pound into her chest and gets angrier. “And you see, we have an interest in that particular boy.”

“So you leave Crane alone, and we’ll leave you and your girl alone.”, Dum warns, cheerfully.

“Just take a little vacation, is all.”, Dee suggested.

“Don’t even have to go anywhere.”, said Dum.

“Just sit in your office and whistle to Heaven for a few short days. Or spend some time with your girl here.”, Dee said as he pokes his barrel at Sonya’s back again, making her take deep breaths.

“You have three seconds to fuck off before this goes to a place you don’t want it to.”, Bigby threatened.

“Oh, I don’t have my stop-watch on me.”, Dee says, shrugging. “So what’s it gonna be? We have a deal? You leave Crane alone and we leave you to yours?”, he tried to bargain.

Holly looks over and sees what was going on and she starts marching towards them. “Fastly, now,” Dee rushes.

“You think this act you got going scares me? ‘Cause it doesn’t.”, Bigby whispered harshly to the brothers. “That don’t sound like a yes to me.”, Dum said. “Always wanting to do things the fun way….”, Dee mutters, then he and Dum remove their guns away from Sonya and Bigby’s back.

Bigby drops his arms, stepping away and pulled her behind him, backing away. Dee shouts at the crowd. “Ladies! Gentlemen! Invertebrates! Please! Rest easy, this is not–”

“What the hell is going on?”, Gren asked, growled.

“What’s happening?”, Snow asked.

“Very sorry to impose, but we only had a deal to work out with Bigby. And we’re unhappy to report that things did not go as smoothly as planned.”, Dee announced.

“Bigby, what is he talking about?”, Snow asked. “Never you mind that, it ain’t any of your–” Dum was cut off by Bigby. “They want us to leave Crane alone.”, Bigby admitted. “Crane?”, Snow asked, confused.

“Awww, now you shouldn’t’ve done that, old boy, really.”, Dee said, angrily.

“That wasn’t right, tellin’ everyone our dealings.”, agreed Dum.

Both Bigby and Sonya jumped at the sound of a roar. Holly had transformed into a troll. “What did I tell you? What did I say?”, she yelled, angrily, to Bigby.

“Holly…”, Sonya walks from behind Bigby, holding her hands out in warning. Gren transformed into his monster form and snarls at the Tweedles. “You think you mother fuckers can come here uninvited? You think you can just fuckin’ interrupt Lily’s funeral?!”

“Calm down, darling. It was just a simple business transaction.”, Dee warned while Bigby joined Sonya to defend against the Tweedles. “You fuckin’ freaks are not getting away with this!”, Holly roars, angrily.

“Holly! Don’t move!”, Snow ordered.

“Holly, just let us handle this.”, Bigby said.

“Yes, let’s spare all the fuss. It’s just a dead whore.”, Dee sneered with a smirk.

“I’m gonna kill you!”, Gren snarls as Holly roars.

Holly charges at Dee but he shoots her in the chest, making her fall. “Holly!”, Sonya yells in worry and saw Gren smack Dum.

“I got it, Dum.”, Dee said, ready to defend his brother. Bigby charges at him, grabs his gun and shoves him against large pipes.

Bigby pulls the gun out of Dee’s hand and punches him, knocking him out. Dum shoots Gren, making Sonya rush at him with a chain. He notices this and shoots at her, the buckshot grazing her shoulder. She grits her teeth and wraps her chain around him, yanking him towards her and punches him, making him stumble back a bit.

He groans, growls at her and throws her against a pillar. The sound of Sonya’s shout of pain makes Bigby turn his way toward her.

He rushes to get Dum but gets shot in the shoulder instead. “Big..by…”, Sonya murmured, watching everything unfurl through blurry eyesight.

Snow ran over to her and helped her up. “They got away…”, Snow says. Sonya nods and looks over at Holly. Snow goes to check on Holly, placing her hands on her shoulders.

Sonya sees Bigby sit up and looks over at her. She gave him a grimace and got up to check up on Gren, feeling a faint pulse. She sighed and looked at Snow who gave her a worried look.

Business Office

Back at the Business Office, Bufkin was picking up the broken pieces of the shattered mirror off of the floor, putting the pieces back together. Snow,in her normal uniform, was standing by, watching him.

Sonya sits on Crane's desk, stitching her wound up. Bigby, now shirtless, was getting patched up by Dr. Swineheart. He glanced at Sonya from over his shoulder, wincing every time he saw her poke the needle through her skin.

“She’ll be fine, Sheriff.”, Swineheart says, finishing up. “I did as well as I could to take out the buckshots, but there’s still some shards embedded in your shoulder. They’ll eventually worm their way out on their own but….until they do, you’re gonna be sore.”

Snow turned to Bigby, "Bigby, Doctor Swineheart was appointed Fabletown physician for a reason.“

Swineheart shook his head. "It’s okay, there’s only one thing to take away from all this: take it easy.”, Swineheart said as he looked at Bigby then looked at Sonya. “Both of you. I don't want you to become a frequent patient like him.” Sonya sighed, “Yes sir.”

Bigby leans up off of the desk and stands up straight, stretching his arms. “Don’t go looking for any more fights. Keep strain off your heart, Bigby.”, Swineheart ordered.

“How’s everyone else? They all make it?”, Bigby asked, worriedly.

“They’re fine. I had everyone that got wounded sent home. Holly refused to let me see where she lived, so I left her and Grendel back at her bar with a dose of juniper and spring water.” Swineheart informed, but Bigby still had a worried look on his face. “They’re Titans, Bigby. They’ll be fine.”, Swineheart reassured him. “Just remember what I said. The stitches won’t hold up if you continue to act….like you normally do.”

Swineheart walked over to Sonya, looking over her sutures as she finished. “Remember what I said. And keep your ice pack on you for a few minutes.” Sonya gives him a smile. “I’ll try not to melt it.”

Swineheart shakes his head with a small smile and picks up his medical bag, preparing to leave. “Everything in moderation. And, uh, eat more chicken, Bigby.”, he recommended. “I’ll try to.”, Bigby gives him a smile.

Swineheart nods. “Very good then.” The phone rings next to Sonya, and Snow picks up. “Business Office.”, Snow answered. “I know, I’ll have to call you back.” She hangs up and turns to her partners. “The town is starting to find out….”

“Well, I’ll leave you three to it, then. Miss White. Miss Blaze. Bigby.”, Swineheart said and he walked out of the office.

Sonya sighed, hiding behind the desk and switched shirts. She stands up, smoothing her red shirt out and glances at Bigby who was still shirtless. He looks over at her, putting a hand on his hip. “How’re you feeling?’

“Like I got trampled. I’ll live. What about you? You took a whole buckshot to the shoulder.”, she said, looking at his patched shoulder. He smiles at her worried tone. “I’m fine.”

She looked him up and down, scratching her head as she looked down in embarrassment from staring for too long. Snow walked up behind her, “So…”

“So, to recap…”, Sonya said, returning to her place on Crane’s desk. “Crane watched me through the Magic Mirror uncovering his room at the Open Arms Hotel.”, Bigby says, getting dressed. “Then he smashed it so we couldn’t use it ourselves to go after him. And we know this because Bufkin was drinking in the rafters. That about cover it?”, Bigby asked as he sticks his head out, fixing up his tie.

Snow speaks up, “Once Bufkin puts all the pieces back together….it’ll be easy to catch Crane. So….I guess that’s the plan.”

Bigby walks out from behind the blinds, finished. “So that’s the plan? Just wait for the mirror?”

“It’s all we have right now.”, Snow sighed. “What the hell is going on? Just— I don’t know what the Tweedles get out of this. I don’t know if Crane sent them, I don’t know if- I mean, this is gonna sound crazy, but….do you really think Crane did it?”

“I’m just as confused as you are to be honest. I don’t know…” Bigby says, rubbing at his temples. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“He was a conniver, a-a coward, a liar. And I’ll always hate him for that. And I’ll hate him for how he….held me in his thoughts.”, Sonya growls, looking at her hands. She looks up at them. "But murdering prostitutes…“

They all turned to the sound of Bufkin’s yelp in pain. "Everything okay over there?”, Snow asked. “Yes, Miss White. Just cut myself on a piece of the glass! Nothing to worry about.”, Bufkin reassures. Bigby sighs. “I just feel bad for Holly, really.”, Bigby said, frowning.

Sonya frowns sadly. “Time heals everything, eventually. At least, I hope so….for her sake.”

“Can I, uh, ask you a question? It’s kinda personal…”, Snow said, walking up to Bigby. “What’s on your mind?”, he asked, getting worried.

“It’s just….when stuff hits the fan, like it did tonight, it feels like before we came to the city. It feels kind of like home.”, she says, turning away. “And I’ve heard it said….that maybe….in some tiny bottled up way, deep inside….you enjoy it….when things go wrong. Because it gives you an excuse to….just, you know…stop pretending.”, Snow said.

Sonya looked up at her, scoffing. “You’re shitting me, right?”

“Fuck no, I don’t enjoy it! Are you kidding me?! It’s horrible what happened tonight. I wish it didn’t happen!”, Bigby responded, appalled and angrily. He felt taken aback by what she said.

“Why would you even ask that?”, Sonya asked her in disbelief. Snow looks over at her sadly then looks away. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Forget that I did.”

Sonya narrows her eyes at Snow. ‘She really talks too much…’

#poc oc #my oc #bigby wolf #my art #twau bigby #bigby x reader #bigby imagine #big bad wolf #sheriff bigby #bigby wolf fanfic #bigby wolf imagine #bigby wolf x chubby reader #bigby wolf x reader #bigby x oc #bigby x black reader

[downywrites]

Uhh...Karl. Yes. Bird is sorry for the wait.

Karl has some traumatic memories from his last timewarp. His husbands help him forget.

TW- Badly written ptsd I guess?

Flashing lights.

That was all he saw.

They blared at him, screamed at him for help. And all he could do was watch.

The bright green flames leapt and spun, destructive dancers pirouetting beautifully over flesh, bone, fabric, wood.

The withers shrieked, their bloodcurdling screams matching the pitches of the men and women who ran. The footsteps thundered on the walkway. Karl watched, detached, as the wood crumbled below them. They fell, and none reached the surface of the water again. He turned his head, muted horror turning into its truest self at the sight of crimson dripping across the stone floor. Red and grey clashed so horribly, they said. It never matched the milieu of any ball, they said. And yet, it did. The macabre scene filled his eyes like a sea of red. The fabric of his shirt, stained like the mind of its owner, shifted as he sunk to his knees. He crawled towards a familiar face, eyes brimming with tears as he cradled his cold, dead body. He looked up. Heterochromic eyes met with soulless ones. Barely audible over the din, a single, broken syllable escaped his chapped, bloodied lips.

“...why?”

The ebony mask simply smiled back at him. The axe raised high, gleaming a shimmering ruby color in the sun’s dawning light-

He sat up straight, eyes as wide as dinner plates. He glanced to the side, hands and legs shaking under the covers, at the warm, golden light of his digital clock. His breath stuttered. The sweat on his face and arms gave him a glittery sheen in the dim lighting. The blankets around him felt like snakes wrapping around his limbs, hissing and slithering all over him. Legs wobbling, he shimmied out of bed, fluffy, warm, comforters giving way to precious, cold freedom. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips for a moment, before a discomforting feeling filled his chest once more. ‘Just a dream.’ He repeated his words in his head like a mantra as he shuffled down the wooden stairs of his home. The wood creaked as he went down, well-worn spruce shifting slightly under his feet.

A flash of fabric.

The handrail, well-waxed and polished to a t, glinted in the light of the moon.

Like an axe, poised for the kill.

His breathing went shallow again. He didn’t remember when his breathing evened out. He didn’t know, not until the moment was gone.

Like them. The people he loved, slaughtered in front of him.

And now the breathing stopped. His lungs filled with water, water that wasn't there. He stumbled down the last few steps, scrambling for purchase in the dim, almost suffocating grey of the moonlit night. A full moon, perhaps?

Just like that night.

An involuntary gasp escaped his mouth. He sunk to the floor, eyes squeezing shut on their own. Shaking his head slightly as if he could escape the choking feeling in his chest, he curled up into a ball, shivers wracking his body. ‘Just a dream, just a dream….just a Dream…..’

“Karl?” “Karlos?”

Their voices? He didn’t trust himself to speak. They were gone, weren’t they? He saw them die. Watched as they were torn apart by the man he used to know, used to be close with. His chest heaved, a wrecked sob escaping his mouth. A pair of arms wrapped around his form. Warm. Almost too warm. Like…

“S-sap?” The arms tightened around him like a band of iron. Karl wasn’t sure if he liked that or not quite yet, but he sure wasn’t going to push them off anytime soon. “Yeah, Karl. It’s me. Breathe for me, okay?” He tried his best to inhale deeply, but the air never came. Panicked, he tried to breathe in with his full chest. No luck. His breathing became even shallower than before, if that was possible. What was possible? He didn’t know. Not when he was hearing and feeling hallucinations of his dead husbands. They were dead, right? He saw them. He saw them….

“Karl, that time trip you took...what happened?” There it was again. His other husband’s voice. How was his hallucinations so vivid? He knew it wasn’t possible he was alive. He saw his prone form on the floor. His golden-yellow wings bloodied and spread like the wings of a laurel, only that the only thing anyone had won that day was the victory of an early death. “No, no, no! Stop messing with my head!” He wrested himself to his feet, pushing the hallucinations off. “You aren’t r-real! I know it! I saw you d-” He cut himself off with a small sob, legs wobbling slightly where he stood. “I-I...you’re gone...t-there’s no way you..” His voice wobbled as he spoke. He opened his mouth again.

No words came out. A hand wrapped slowly around his. Opening his eyes slightly, two shapes blurred in and out of focus. “Karlos.” Another hand wrapped around one of his hands. The familiar beat of wings. A small gust of wind. “Look at us, mi amor. We’re here, look.” The shapes moved. They...moved? None of his hallucinations ever did that...He opened his eyes wider.

There, in the shadows of the home, stood his husbands, alive and well.

Quackity looked at his face with an expression of hopeful hopelessness, eyes swimming with emotions his gambler countenance wouldn’t be able to handle. On the other side, Sapnap looked at him with an expression of pure sadness, quite like a kicked puppy. His tail drooped behind him, limp with worry. Karl’s eyes blurred again, this time without his tears getting in the way. He rubbed his eyes, slipping his hand out of whoever’s grasp that was. Quackity’s hand fell to the side as he did, wing-ears drooping slightly. He sniffled a little, eyes tearing up in a mixture of relief and pain. “I-I-” A small sniffle. “I’m sor-rry.”

Quackity moved forward carefully, tenderly wrapping his arms around his form. The warmth of his arms made him snuggle into it a little more, comfort oozing out of his husband’s embrace. The orientation of his head shifted for a moment, but to what angle, Karl didn’t know. “Sapnap. Come here.” Sapnap moved closer to the group, before wrapping his own arms around the bunch. Karl giggled quietly through the sniffling he was doing. “Y-you all are r-real, right? I’m not g-gonna wake up alone?” His husbands awwed sadly at his words. “Oh, Karl…” The arms around him tightened, but this time he didn’t feel trapped by them at all. “We’re real. We promise.” A small purr came from the blaze hybrid. His tail whipped and curled around his leg, a small point of heat emanating from its tip.

“Come ‘ere, you two.” Sap and Quackity let go, making Karl whine slightly at the loss of warmth. He made grabby hands at the two. The duck hybrid extended his wing, brushing against his neck as he stretched it out. Karl giggled softly, rubbing it under his chin willingly, before grabbing onto it for support. He followed the movement of the wing, digging his fingers into the fluff and down there. Quackity tried to hide the small giggle that escaped him with a pyjama-covered hand. One of Sapnap’s ears twitched from the noise. He turned to look back at the two, a slight smile gracing his features. A dull fang peaked out of his top lip, snagging slightly as his face morphed back into a neutral state. His tail wrapped around Quackity’s arm, warmth from the limb suffusing his limb.

As they began to near the mental health room they have in the home, their eager footsteps betrayed their excitement. Karl followed behind closely, trying his best not to slow down and accidentally pull at his husband’s wing. His mind swirled with questions. It whispered thoughts into his ear, planted doubts into his mind. ‘They aren’t real. They’re figments of your imagination. You’re dreaming.’ Unable to take that seriously, he pinched his own arm harshly as he walked. The ‘dream’ didn't stop. The men in front of him carried on, excitement growing as they walked across the carpeted floor. The sounds of the owls hooting outside the mounted windows did not cease. His heartbeat stayed constant, a steady, confident beat compared to the shakiness of his legs. ‘I am not dreaming. They are alive and well. They are, they are, they are.’

“Karl, we’re here!” They ducked into a room, pulling him along as well. He yelped slightly at the sudden change of direction, before stumbling to a stop. His eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Quackity and Sapnap smiled at him expectantly, eyes aglow with happiness. He took a look around, squinting to take a better look at the area. The majority of the room was full of pillows and stuffed animals, little trinkets and knickknacks that Karl were drawn to, for some reason or other. The room’s lights shifted from purple to a soft green every once in a while, along with the signature soft, golden yellow of all of the rooms in the home contained, bathing the whole place in his favorite colors. The whole place seemed to be padded. Eyes wide in surprise, he tapped the ground, feeling it squish under his feet when prodded. He looked up again, tears threatening to fill up his eyes once more. Pointing to himself, he stuttered in a mix of giddy happiness and confusion. “F-for me? Wh-why?”

Sapnap grabbed both of his hands with his own, clasping them together. “Karl, we’ve noticed you’ve been a little...off.. after your last trip, so...while you were recovering in the sick bed, we were making you a safe space. You know, like I said we would during the championships…” He scratched the back of his head with a hand, before clasping his hands together once more. Karl’s chest bubbled with warmth. Touched, he bumped heads with his husband, nuzzling into his neck a little. A chuckle made the top of his scalp rumble. “Hehey..” Emboldened by the reaction, he walked forward, forcing him backward. Once his back hit a pillow, he gently tipped him over, letting him fall onto the springy surface with a small ‘oof!’ He looked down at him, mismatched eyes almost glowing in the soft light of the room. His eyes flicked to the side. “Quacks, come help me for a sec.” Puzzled, Quackity moved closer. “With what?” A mischievous glint, buried deep in his eyes as he glanced back at him, sealed the deal. “Oh, that kind of help.”

Giggling nervously, Sapnap shook his head and pushed lightly at whatever he could of Karl. A small tint of pink colored his cheeks. “Kahaharl, dohohon’t!” The smile on his face and the thumping of his tail on the soft mattress betrayed his true feelings towards his situation. Quackity was quick to point that out. “Don’t? Well, it looks like you really want it, judging by the way your tail is wagging.” Butterflies burst to life, taking flight in the pit of his stomach. He covered his face, small little giggles escaping him. He tried to tamp down his smile from behind the shade of his hands, only succeeding in making himself look even more flustered as the two of them cooed above him. “Thihihis isn’t a fahair fihight!”

Karl grinned, kneeling over and sitting on his knees. “Oh, of course it isn’t. We’re going to go to Quacks next, if you can still stand once we’re done with you.” The duck hybrid paled. “What?” The man, slightly worried for his own sake, kneeled next to him, hands at the ready. Karl’s soft hands wandered up to the blaze hybrid’s neck, scratching lightly at the flesh there. He was immediately greeted with a few giggles from the man below him. Sapnap scrunched his shoulders up, accidentally trapping his fingers. “Cuhuhut ihit ohohut!” “Oh, but I can’t, Sappy! You trapped me here! Oopsie, looks like I’ll have to stay here until you let me go~”

Sapnap squealed slightly, a noise that elicited another aww from the duo above him and to his side. A small poke to his side made him squirm more to the other side. “Quahahacks, nohoho!” Quackity smiled, wings fluffing with excitement. “Don’t run away from me, mi amor~ you know I’d never hurt you!” The thumping on the mattress increased in speed. “Aww, did you like the sound of that?”

Sapnap’s blush deepened behind his hands. “N-Nohoho!” The duck hybrid gently rubbed circles into the skin in between his sides and stomach, feeling the muscles shift and jump underneath his hands. A small squeak escaped Sapnap’s lips through his soft laughter. Karl grinned, teasing him lightly for it. “What a sweet little squeaky toy you are! And this little squeaky toy gave me a gift, so...it looks like I need to reward him.” He tugged at his hands, only for him to realize that he was still stuck. “Sappy, would you mind letting me go?”

The blaze shook his head slightly. “Ihihi- yohohour fihihingers-” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What about my fingers? Are they moving? Does it… ti-ti-tickle?” Sapnap curled into himself even more, pulling Karl in closer and dislodging the duck hybrid’s hands. Quackity cooed at his husbands, eyes softening even more. He moved in closer, inserting his hands into the flustered blaze-ball the two of them made. He poked at the pudge on his tummy, giggling softly as the abs underneath twitched at the sensation.

In this position, Karl and Quackity could see how much their husband was loving the attention. His spaded tail wagged on the mattress, finally free from the cushiony cage it was trapped in. A small, teasy grin graced Karl’s features, pulling his arms out of Sap’s grasp. Noticing the lack of Karl’s hands and voice, Sapnap uncovered his face, peeking out behind them like a child playing peekaboo. “Uhhh...Kahaharl?” The feeling of someone grabbing his tail made him gasp.

Eyes widening, he uncovered his face completely to look at Karl. The time traveler’s smile widened up to his eyes at the shocked and excited look on his countenance. The tail wagged a little in his semi-firm grip. Quackity, taking advantage of the moment of inattention, shifted up to scratching behind his ears. Sapnap’s ears twitched almost violently. Sapnap closed his eyes, pushing slightly into Quackity’s hands. ‘Ehehehe, Quhahacks…”

Karl rubbed firmly at the space of the tail, making its owner scream with laughter. The feeling of his husbands tickling one of his melt spots and one of his death spots simultaneously was blissful torture. He threw his head back, horns snagging slightly at the fabric and sending even more ticklish shockwaves throughout his body. “KAHAHARL! OHOHOHO-OHOHO MAHAHAY- AHAHA!” He went limp as Quacktiy rubbed behind his ears again, eyes tearing up in his mirth. Karl scratched lightly at the spade, being careful not to damage the soft velvet on the surface of the appendage.

Small hiccups wracked the flailing body below him. Sapnap tried his best to avoid hitting either of his loved ones. Quackity glanced at Karl as a silent hint to slow down a little. After all, both of them knew just how long Sapnap would forestall stopping a tickling session, with the demonic amount of stamina he had. The time traveller slowed down a little more, fluttering his fingers over the stem of the tail and rubbin the thin yet muscly part of the tail. Sapnap’s hysterical laughter slowed down to a few residual giggles from the light tickles on his tail and behind his ears. He slumped down into the pillows, melting almost fully into the soft material below him. The affection gave him a warm, almost bubbly feeling in his chest.

It felt different warm. Not like the lava baths he gave himself in the nether, no, but some other type of warm. He always felt it around these two. He felt it with other people, too. With Dream and George as they sit on a cliff and watch the sunset. When he helps people with their old items and house as they moved to and from the SMP. When he sees Tommy and Tubbo smile. He didn’t know what the feeling was. Maybe he should ask the other two...

Quackity and Karl exchanged another glance. Surprisingly, Quackity was the first one to break the gentle blanket of silence. “So, is Sapnap out like a light, or…” Sapnap rose from the cushions slowly, eyes glimmering with an emotion that neither of them could pick up. “I think I get to have my revenge now, don’t I?” Karl grinned again, eyes squishing slightly. “Well, I mean, we still have to reward Quackity, don’t we?” A small gulp from the duck hybrid piqued their attention. Quackity stood up and took a step back, wings spreading out in slight excitement and playful fear. “Hehehey, nohoho neheheed to behehe hahasty…” Karl was grateful for the diversion of messing with his husbands. If he didn't have it, he would still be grappling with the voices. The voices….were they still there? What if this was all fake? He shook his head, hair flicking with his head movements. ‘I’m fine.’

Quackity looked at him, slightly confused. He took advantage of that confusion. He rushed towards his husband, tackling him onto another mound of pillows. The resulting squawk made him giggle. “Noho! Nononono!” Sapnap moved much slower than Karl, slinking towards him in full view. Quackity’s eyes widened even more. Butterflies took flight in the pit of his stomach. ‘Nononono, mi tesoro, nononono-” Sapnap paid no heed to the avian’s begging, resolving instead to stalk towards him like a tiger hunting its prey. “Oh Quackity~” A small purr in his ear made him squeak. “How did you get so good at that?” Karl made a noncommittal noise at that. “Another bird taught me.” Quackity hissed under his breath. “I’m going to steal something from that dumb eagle.” Karl tut-tutted in his ear, nibbling slightly at it. “Nuh-uh. It’s time for your reward, but I won’t hesitate to punish you for your kleptomaniac tendencies.”

Quackity’s wings flapped slightly at the sensation. A few giggles escaped his mouth. “Quackity, am I allowed to flip you over?” A small trill answered his question for him. Karl flipped him over, exposing the man’s back and wing bases. He massaged the avian’s clothed back gently, eliciting a few coo-filled giggles. Sapnap finally reached Karl’s side. He whispered into his ear softly, as to make sure the duck wouldn’t hear. “You know this means that you’re next, right?” “Only if you catch me first.” Sapnap couldn’t argue with that. Teeth poking out of his smile, he scratched at Quackity’s sides, purring deep in his chest. The duck hybrid giggled at the sensation. “Mihihi tehesohoro!” “Yes, my little duckling?”

Karl joined in, tracing a single finger down his spine. “IhihiHIT tihihickles!” Karl, upon reaching the seam of his shirt, darted underneath it, softly spidering his fingers on the duck’s lower back. Sapnap moved his hands from his sides upward, moving closer and closer to the base of his wings. Quackity squeaked at the changing of spots. “Ehehehe! Kahaharl!” Sapnap pouted dramatically. “Aw, not calling for me? I can make you screech my name, you know.” He leaned closer to his ear, words enunciated by his fangs. “Mi patito~” He drew out the word slowly, watching as the man to the side of him had a full-body spasm at the nickname.

“SAhap! Yohohou bihitch!” He raised one coal-black eyebrow. “Oh? How mean.” Clawed hands rested on golden-yellow. Quackity’s breath caught. “S-sahap, mihihi amohohor..” Karl traced shapes on his back, making him giggle even more. Butterflies took flight again from the anticipation. The duck hybrid whimpered slightly. Karl’s voice came from the other side of him. “Light?” “Greheheen.” Karl nodded, looking at Sapnap expectantly. And the blaze hybrid did not disappoint. Sapnap dug his fingers into the wings, carefully rubbing at the skin and muscle beneath. A screech of happy laughter blessed (and absolutely destroyed) their ears. His wings flapped wildly, prompting Karl to rush over and hold them out.

Sapnap rubbed and scratched at the wings, avoiding pinfeathers and growing feathers with the care and precision only a lover would be able to muster. He moved closer to the oil glands, careful not to squeeze them. He scratched his nails lightly on them, listening to the begging and screeching of the man below him. Quackity was in hysterics. “IHIHI-MIHIHIHI-MIHIHAHAHA!” Karl dug his fingers into the edges of the wings, scratching lightly where he could. The extra stimulation was just a cherry on the cake. He slammed a balled fist into a pillow, shoulders shaking in laughter. “AHAHA! OHOHOKAY, SAhAHAP!” Sapnap grinned, moving back over to the secondaries and teasing underneath them. “Yes, my ticklish little duckling?” “YEheHELLOW! SLOHOHOW DOHO-WN!”

Immediately, the tickling sensations stopped. Quackity almost wanted to ask for more, but he knew his body wouldn’t be able to handle that. He wheezed for breath, wings folding in and fluttering a little. Karl and Sapnap looked on, a little bit concerned for the rather frail duck hybrid. He turned himself over, flopping to the mattress with a little struggle. His limbs felt like jelly, but he presumed he would manage. “...thahat wahahas fuhuhun.” As the duck rubbed off all of the tingles with his deft fingers, the residual giggles slowly calmed down to a small, almost silent chuckle every once in a while. Sapnap grinned at the man, eyes soft. “Was that fun, Quacks?” He looked up at him, smiling wide enough to tempt Sapnap into questioning which person he’s swindled this time. He nodded, wing-ears fluttering happily.

“So, I’m guessing the next person is…” He trailed off, looking at the time traveler. The blaze did the same thing, a mischievous smirk widening on his face. Karl stood up quickly. Quick as a flash, he darted out of the room. “Oh no, you didn’t!” Sapnap chased after him, tail trailing behind him. Quackity laughed, slowly walking behind the two of them. As they played and cuddled with each other, the sun rose, its orangey-pinkish hue kissing the horizon. The lights did not flash for the rest of the day, no. Not when his husbands were near.

Somewhere in the prison, Dream’s face contorted into a small frown. The slightest of chills ran through his spine, making him sigh. This wasn’t the first time this happened.

How many more people would he lose before he escaped?

#downywrites #dsmp tickle #mcyt tickle #ler!karl #ler!sapnap #ler!quackity #lee!quackity #lee!sapnap #my writing #oh yes and #switch!sapnap #switch!karl #switch!quackity #sfw tickling

[itsmyara]

Playing Cards (SFW Fanfic)

Pairing: Chrollo/Machi (yep!)

Word Count: 1.7 k

Warning: Hisoka acting psycho.

Note: I've recently talked about Kuromachi with @takkarulz and it reminded me of this VERY old fic. It was supposed to be the first chapter of a story about Hisoka's first mission with the Troupe but I don't think I'm gonna continue it. Oh, and it was originally written in Portuguese, so maybe something got lost in translation. I hope not but sorry if it did!

The prey was aware of the bloodlust that emanated from his pores. Hisoka was bored when he felt that random aura and left in pursuit. Granted, it wasn’t a strong aura, but the relative abstinence made him lower his criteria. Any less-than-a-minute fight would offer some relief. The prey was already running ahead, looking back at him now and then in despair. He was sweating, breathing heavily, tripping over his own feet. It was a shame. Even so, the predator felt that in that aura there was an impulse to try to fight back, a courage that could spring from adrenaline and give him some precious extra time to live.

He focused entirely on instilling fear in him, as a favor to awaken that trace of hidden strength, and as a favor for his own sadism.

Fear and death roamed the desolate streets at night, accompanied only by concrete walls, garbage cans overturned by mangy dogs, and abandoned souls, drunken and empty, who wouldn’t dare to approach the source of that terrifying bloodlust.

Hisoka's expression was already inhuman.

The victim turned a corner, looked around, started to run faster. Perhaps he was close to home and struggled to reach it, with that false feeling that at home he would be safe. Poor fool. The predator licked his lips, he wouldn’t allow the prey to gain distance from him. In fact, he didn’t intend to let him free for too long.

Thirsty for action, Hisoka dashed and jumped to reach him faster but when he was in mid-air, something stopped his body, suspending it far from the ground, and a third presence was revealed. A woman fell gracefully in front of him and as soon as her feet touched the ground, her hands pulled a thread, making him realize that the trap had tightened around his body.

The pink-haired woman boldly stepped between him and his victim, and when she looked up and glared at him, her blue eyes were unfazed by his bloodlust. The victim stopped for a moment to try to understand what had happened, but he wasn't stupid enough to stay.

Soon it was only he and her.

Hisoka smiled and sought a comfortable position within her trap. It was worth exchanging the weak prey for that woman who either mastered zetsu very well or knew how to take advantage of his distraction to catch him. Either way, she was incomparably stronger.

“Well, well... and who are you?” His voice sounded mischievous as his eyes sparkled, studying her carefully.

She kept him in her threads without difficulty, as they crossed the deserted street trapped to the side of two buildings, forming a web that closed around him in the center. A spider web. She was skilled and agile to prepare that engineering in such a short time. Besides this, she also had that delightful demeanor. So under control. So cold. So full of an unshakable self-confidence. It wasn’t someone to be thrown away. Maybe he would keep her to play with, little by little, instead of killing her at once.

“I have a message from the boss,” when she said those words, Hisoka understood and closed his eyes. He definitely would have to save her for later. “Midnight at the sanctuary of St. Levi. If you’re too busy hunting mice, you will suffer the consequences.”

A crooked smile grew on the magician's face. Suffering the consequences was what he wanted the most, but not in the way they used to apply them.

“Will the boss be there?” He asked, but his question was ignored.

“I think you can get out of there alone.”

It was the last thing she said before disappearing into the night.

There was a possibility that Chrollo would attend the meeting, but there was also the possibility that it would end up being just another spiders’ meeting that would kill him with boredom at once. He had recently joined the Phantom Troupe for a single purpose, and so far he had successfully avoided childish robberies and meaningless missions, no matter who showed up to try to intimidate him.

An Ace of Hearts took shape between his fingers and he used it to slash the tangled threads that held him. To his surprise, not all of them broke on the first blow, demanding one or two more hits for him to break free completely.

He thought that maybe this time it would be worth it to show up at the meeting if she were there.

***

Their current hideout was a mansion away from the city and with a reputation for being haunted. The abandonment of the building made it cold and fragile, but there was a certain beauty in all those aged memories left by the corners, and in the way nature was taking over the place little by little. In a few years, the creeping plants will probably take it over completely.

Machi entered through the backdoor absolutely quietly, just in case. Soon she realized that there was someone in the basement and she walked down the stairs, equally silent, to find Chrollo sitting on an old wooden chest. By candlelight, he analyzed something on a table in front of him.

“Fascinating... whoever lived here, was someone impressive. It is not by chance that this house has a reputation for being haunted,” he whispered when she approached but kept his gray eyes fixed on the objects spread on the table.

In that room, Machi noticed opaque crystals, rusty metal objects that were supposed to serve very specific uses, animal skulls with horns, and some books so old and yellow that she thought they would turn to dust if she looked at them for too long. She stood next to the boss and realized that what captured his attention were cards, similar to a playing deck, but more numerous and richly illustrated even though -- like everything in that basement -- they were in dull colors.

“Did these objects serve any ritualistic purpose? They must be flooded with nen,” the energy of the place was somewhat obscure, and she thought that maybe this is why he felt comfortable there.

“I haven’t found any trace of nen in this basement,” he said, causing a brief expression of surprise in her. Fascinating, really.

Chrollo finally looked at her, his expression calm and pleasant. His eyes were more mysterious and dark than the energy of the place. By far more fascinating. Eyes that caused her the same feeling, again and again, after so many years.

Perhaps because she was so close that he could feel that commotion inside of her, or perhaps because he was feeling comfortable in that environment, he placed one hand on her waist, while the other held some cards.

“Sit here with me, as we used to do when I read to you,” he said, invoking the past and leading her gently so that she sat on his right thigh.

The memory stirred the feelings inside her even more. She was so young when she found him, a beautiful, intelligent and kind boy, as young as she was, who talked to her, played with her, and cared for her. Chrollo was always different from everyone else. He had ended up awakening in her still innocent heart that dream that he was a prince charming and that they would marry someday, even marriage being such an abstract concept in Meteor City. It turned out that the commitment she had made to him was far greater than that of a marriage.

Enjoying the moment, she rested her arm around his shoulders and studied the cards ahead more closely now.

“Are these tarot cards?” She asked, vaguely recognizing a couple of drawings.

“Yes, it’s the most valuable thing I’ve found here. The style is so unique, each card is a work of art by itself.”

Her eyes met an Arcana and she leaned over to pick it up, almost instinctively. The Fool, with his extravagant clothes and gestures, looking at the horizon from the edge of the abyss, projecting himself to it with nothing to hold him back -- from the infinite fall or from the flight to the horizon. Her intuition led her to believe it would be the first option.

“How was it with him?” Chrollo asked, noticing the card she was looking at so attentively.

“He's strong, I ended up having to set a trap with more aura than I've expected,” she replied almost automatically, only managing to return the card at the end of the sentence.

“He wouldn't have listened to you any other way.”

"No," she confirmed, and then they looked at each other. “The decision is yours, danchou, but I wouldn’t trust him.”

“This is why you didn't bring him here. You’ve decided to wait until tomorrow.”

Chrollo hadn’t told her to take Hisoka to him, he had left the option in the hands of her interpretation. Since the magician was one of them, he belonged -- in theory -- to that place with them, and it would have been natural for her to invite him. But it wasn’t.

Machi knew that sometimes Chrollo let her interpret his orders because he trusted her judgment. And in addition to not having taken him to the boss, she also left promptly so as not to be followed.

“You have been more receptive to new members before,” he said softly.

And the fact that he pulled her to him gently to place a kiss on her temple softened his speech even more.

“Sorry, he seemed to have a special interest in you,” she spoke in a slightly serious tone. Intuition. Concern.

Something that made him snicker as his free hand touched her hair.

“Don’t worry too much, Machi.”

That was the end of the subject brought up by the card. Soon he would touch her thigh and his hand would roam her body. Soon he would show her how comfortable he felt, to the point of allowing himself to enjoy the tenderness that Machi dedicated to him right from her lips, her skin, and her embrace.

#kuromachi #chrollo #machi #hisoka #chrollo lucilfer #machi komachine #machi komacine #hisoka morrow #chrollo x machi #machi hxh #chrollo hxh #myarawrites