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th3sp4rr0w · 8 months

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Day Fourteen

A03 Link <- Starts at Chapter/Day One for those just joining us :))

Prompts For Day Fourteen Bleeding Through Bandages/Field Medicine/No Anesthesia

Alt. Prompt For Day Fourteen Human Shield

Prompts Used for Day Fourteen All

Tw's; Blood, Injury, Dubious Medical Accuracy

Chapter fourteen under the cut :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The nets burned as the agent dragged them to their doom.

Danny held Jason’s hand as they tried to scramble to follow; each time they had tried to get their footing, they’d catch on the netting, making things worse. It was like someone was laughing at their struggle, finding amusement as they desperately tried to make it even slightly more bearable for themselves.

He couldn’t help but blame himself for Jason being here. The boy said himself that he only came to find him because they were twins and he was so, so stupid for running. He thought back to the panic-filled night before; meeting with the spirit of the city, Nightwing and Batgirl, the bomb ass cookies Agent A made, and felt he may have... overreacted. It’s not like they actually said that ghosts were dangerous, and he could’ve explained and then they wouldn’t be in this situation-

The agent bumped them against the wall. They shouted and jerked to no avail.

Did he bring the agents to Gotham? Were they there for him? Were they tracking him more closely than he’d thought they were?

He didn’t know what to think anymore. Even if they had been in Gotham beforehand, he’s nearly positive the bats would’ve figured out a way to keep Jason safe. It was his fault Jason had gotten captured. Why hadn’t he just run when he had been offered the chance?

At least he was good at doing things like worrying about food and water while they were trapped here.

He tried his best to remember what twists and turns they took. He wasn’t sure about the other boy, but he sure as hell was planning on getting out of here eventually.

The agent abruptly stopped at a room, knocking twice before opening the door. They were shoved inside where two other agents were waiting.

They each grabbed one twin by the shoulders, wrenching their hands apart. They each gave their own protest, Jason’s a bit more violent as he kicked, but it didn’t matter. They didn’t say anything. They barely looked at them as they held them up in the nets.

He debated trying to use his ectoblasts, but he’d seen ghosts go inside these nets before. Every one of them that tried to use their powers-

He vaguely saw Jason’s hand glowing. Ohnononono, fuck-

“Robin-!” he shouted, too late. He tried to blast the guy holding him.

He immediately started screaming as the net electrocuted him. He winced in sympathy.

The agent was unscathed. He needed to figure out what this net was one day, but he’d never been able to snag one.

The agent laughed. “Having fun there, little ghostie?” he taunted as Jason writhed in pain in his grip. “Like our tech? Makes catching you little shits so much easier-”

“That’s enough, Agent L.”

Agent J was back, holding two different collars. They went up to Jason first, feeding it through the net before getting it around his neck. He tried to struggle, but after getting blasted by the net, he didn’t seem to have much energy. Agent J secured it around his neck, messing with the settings for a bit before moving on.

Danny watched out of the corner of his eye as Jason sagged in their grip. They started pulling him out of the net as the agent walked up to him holding the collar.

“Phantom,” they greeted. “I see that we finally got the better of you. How’s it feel knowing that us ‘basement dwellers’ managed to best you?”

Danny snapped his teeth at the agent’s fingers. They laughed vaguely, grabbing him by his jaw.

“Don’t play with me, little ghost,” the voice was enough to send chills down his spine, “I control you. I control your life here. We have another subject; I’m sure the queen wouldn’t mind if there was a little accident with one of you that left you full ghost.”

They leaned in further. “And it wouldn’t be you. No, that’d be too easy; it’d be your little friend over there, struggling with his powers. And don’t think I haven’t picked up the resemblance,” they whispered in his ear. “I know you two are family of some sort.”

Danny froze. The agent chuckled. “That’s what I thought,” they muttered, low enough that only he could hear them. They secured the collar quickly.

“Alright, boys,” Agent J said. “The queen wants us to report to her before all of our experiments; we can’t touch them further until we get approval.” Danny could hear the eye roll as they turned towards the door. “We’ll have to comply. Oh,” they looked over their shoulder, smirking as the agent holding Danny’s net dumped him out next to Jason on the floor. “And we had to shove Phantom’s head into the counter to get his collar on. He was being quite belligerent today,” they said.

The agent had him by the head before he could register the words, slamming his head hard into the counter. He yelped as the agents laughed brightly. They left, talking amongst themselves.

He held his head a few minutes before pulling his fingers away. They were slicked with green.

He heard Jason groan and turned, finding him sitting up. “Shit,” he muttered as he made his way over.

“Phantom,” he muttered, “You’re bleeding. Let me take a look-”

“We use codenames alone?” he asked.

Jason leveled him with an unimpressed look. “Phantom, we’re in a random ass room that we haven’t checked for bugs or cameras yet. We assume they have them until we clear the room,” he said lowly.

He nodded, then got an idea.

Apologetic-Guilty-Reassurance-Understanding

Jason jumped. “I forgot we could do that,” he muttered. Then-

Surprise-Scared-Determined

Danny smiled at him. “See, Rob, isn’t that so much better? We don’t have to worry about getting overheard.”

Jason smiled back. Reassurance-Okay-Determined

He took him by the head. “Water?” He asked lowly.

He tried to stick a hand in his chest, but when he went to go intangible to do it, the collar shocked him.

Pain-Surprise-Hindered

He pushed out the emotions before he could think about what he was doing.

Alarm-Surprise-Concerned

“I’m okay,” he wheezed. “Stupid collar. I can’t get the water,” he said. “It’ll be fine,” he continued. “It’s your hand we need to worry about.”

Jason looked over to his hand. It was still mangled. “What about it?” he asked.

“That’s going to heal in about, oh, 5, maybe 6 hours. If it heals like that, it’s gonna be a bitch to deal with,” he said.

Jason winced. “Yeah, sounds like it,” he said.

He pulled his hand up close to his chest, beginning to use his other hand to ghost over the bruised flesh.

“Here, Robin, let me-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the other boy had pushed his pointer finger’s joint back into its socket. Jason inhaled sharply before letting it out, moving the finger slightly to make sure it was in its proper place.

Danny looked at him, stunned. “Dude-” he breathed.

“Shut it,” Jason responded. Pain-Determined-Stubborn

Danny raised an eyebrow and glared. Stupidity-Disbelief-Impressed

Jason looked at him, smirking a bit. He set another finger. Pain-Determined-Smug

Danny shook his head. Jason breathed through his first aid.

It wasn’t like this wasn’t anything Danny himself hadn’t done before. He’d, arguably, done worse; he had to set his leg by himself one time. That sucked. It sucked even more when they had to re-break it because he didn’t do it right.

After Jason was done checking and setting the bones and joints in his hand (Danny tried not to shudder in sympathy thinking about it), they searched the room. Danny had checked his pouches, but none of the medical supplies Jason had looted from the van had ended up in them.

They eventually found a half-assed med kit in one of the cupboards. The closest thing to finger splints they had was popsicle sticks and tape, but they were better than nothing.

As much as Jason had tried to do that part alone, Danny didn’t let him. Almost every finger was broken; Danny splint them together using the sticks, then wrapped it all in medical tape. He did it as tight as he could get it, and considering Jason hadn’t stopped him, he assumed he was doing something right.

Getting past the fingers, they weren’t sure what to do about the bones in his hand; eventually, they settled on wrapping it and his wrist tightly with an ace bandage and putting the wrist brace in the kit on carefully over the whole thing.

Having finished with Jason’s hand, he went on to treat the cut on Danny’s head. He tried to tell him it wasn’t necessary, but a few seconds of Disapproval-Disappointment-Determined and he folded like a deck of cards. Robin instructed him to soak a cotton ball in a bit of rubbing alcohol, which he gently grabbed from him and used to clean the cut. He didn’t let him waste a bandage to put on a cut that was going to be gone in 20 minutes, but he could admit it was probably smarter to clean the wounds before they could get infected.

He still didn’t know if they could get infections to begin with. He assumed so; but it’s not like he’d ever actively tried. It just never happened to him.

It was somewhat calming tending to each other’s wounds. It was... kind of nice, having someone to check over as intently as they checked him. It was nice knowing that he wasn’t alone for once.

Yeah, he had Tucker and Sam, and yeah, sometimes they got a scrape or a bruise. And while he still looked those over, cleaning them methodically and placing bandages over them, they weren’t... he wasn’t setting their bones. He wasn’t wrapping gauze and bandages over their torsos.

It was kind of nice having someone else with a serious injury to look after. He always felt like such a burden being the only one.

“Hey, pull your shirt down for me,” Jason muttered.

“What?” Danny asked.

“I dressed your chest and back wounds earlier,” he clarified. “I want to check on them since we were thrown around a bit.”

Danny blinked. “You dressed my wounds while I was unconscious?”

Embarrassment-Flustered-Indignity

“You were unconscious. I wanted to make sure you weren’t gonna stay that way!” He hissed.

Danny snorted, despite the situation. “Fine,” he started peeling off the first half of the suit.

It stuck to skin about halfway through. Jason helped him as best as he could with one hand, unsticking the suit from the wound.

The patch jobs were gone, which caused Jason to tut. Danny shrugged; he didn’t know why, if you transformed with gauze in ghost form, they’d stay going human, but it didn’t do it the other way around. He assumed it had something to do with the clothing thing.

Jason wrapped him up again, even as he actively bled through. It took a few layers, but eventually they stayed white instead of going green in some spots.

Danny stared at him. Grateful-Satisfaction-Appreciation

Jason paused, smiling a little. “Thank you,” he said softly.

Danny looked at him. Parts of his body glowed faintly green all the time, but it was the radioactive green of the pits. The J on his cheek was the brightest, drawing your attention in. He shuddered thinking about it.

His white hair was fluffy, defying gravity just like his own. The only difference was the small patch of jet black in the front of his head.

He thought back to Sam gossiping at the lunch table. It really wasn’t that long ago that the news dropped about poor little Jason Todd, beaten half to death by the Joker. Danny wasn’t sure if it was comforting that it was Robin that the Joker beat, or not.

He was suddenly extremely grateful that none of the gory details had ever been made public.

Jason looked up at him. “Do I have something on my face?” he asked as he finished securing the bandages around Danny’s chest and back.

“What?”

He laughed lightly, pulling his hand away from his work. “You just, you’re kinda staring a bit,” he said.

Danny flushed green. “Sorry!” He squeaked. “It’s just... man, I can’t believe we were twins the whole time. My friends back home are gonna freak.

“I get it,” he said, dusting off his hand as best as he could. “My family didn’t really have time to react, but my grandfather figure looked like he was going to pass out,” he said.

They kept their voices down as they chatted and laughed quietly, describing their friends and-

“Man, my sister’s the best,” he said. “I’m not about to say her name, obviously, but she’s just... she’s great. She’s always been there for me, no matter what stupid thing I was getting myself into that time,” he smiled lightly. “I’ve missed her these last few days.”

Jason nodded. “You really only got found out a few days ago, huh?”

Danny’s smile turned sad. Melancholy-Nostalgic-Pining

Jason winced. “Sorry-”

“No, no,” Danny said, trying to be reassuring. “It’s just... yeah, it was only a few days ago,” he said. “I still don’t know how they figured it out,” his voice was a bit lower than it had been the whole time they chatted.

Jason was quiet for a moment. “I-”

The door swung open. Jason closed his mouth with a faint click! as the agent walked in with an air of superiority.

Her goggles were pulled up, pinning her hair back and out of her face like a head band. She had a scar that ran from somewhere in her hairline down her face, going through her right eye and ending on the underside of her jaw. She had a grin on her face.

“I see you maggots found the medical supplies,” she said dryly.

She grabbed the box. “You’re lucky the madame asked us to bandage you, anyways,” she hissed. “Otherwise... well.”

Danny saw something in her pocket glint in the light. Danger-Behave-Worry

Jason tried not to look at him, Reassurance-Understanding-Calm

She looked between them a moment. “You things truly are a marvel,” she muttered. She put the box up on the counter and grabbed each of their jaws, pulling them until they were side by side. She was grinning. “Just think of what we’ll be able to do if we can find out how to do this for ourselves,” she said, awed. “We could send a few into that hellscape the doctors’ opened up.”

Danny tried to keep calm, attempting not to send his overwhelming fear over to Jason.

He could feel Jason’s Questioning-Confusion-Concern .

She looked between them for a moment. “I will take pictures of your patch jobs here and note down that you were inteligent enough to do it on your own,” she said, dropping Jason’s jaw to fish out a camera. “I’ll be back in an hour to take notes. Although...” she faked contemplating something for just a moment. “Madame did say she wanted to see how your wounds healed from start to finish,” she said. She looked at Danny. “Oh well. Guess I’m just going to have to show her,” she pulled the silver thing Danny had seen in her pocket out.

She flipped open the knife, trailing it against his face. He tried not to flinch back.

Anger-Impulse-Determined

Reassurance-Scolding-Still

He glared at Jason a moment, who was about to intervene. He subtly shook his head. The other boy scowled.

The agent mumbled something under her breath before she dug the knife’s tip into his cheek and ripped it open. She smiled a bit, bringing her camera up and taking a picture of the oozing green thing.

Jason stared the entire time. Danny kept up the wave of Reassurance-Scolding-Still until she finally went to grab the med kit, cleaning the wound before she placed a bandage on it. She kept complaining that if it were up to her, she wouldn’t waste supplies, but, “The madame wants, so she shall have”.

She took pictures of her patch job. She pulled down Danny’s suit again, taking pictures of the bandages there. She photographed his scars.

“Give me your hand,” she said as she turned to Jason.

“No.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Hand, now.”

“I’m not a fucking dog,” his voice was dangerous.

Alarm-Unease-Concern

Jason barely looked at Danny. The agent stood in front of him for just a moment longer.

“I remember you,” she said. “The little thing parading around as a hero that threw flaming bottles at my vans,” she grabbed a fistful of his hair and dragged him up to her level, “You’re already caught, dog. You’re already shoved in a fucking crate-”

Jason drove his knee into her stomach.

Danny had almost forgotten that being Robin meant he had training from the bat. He actually managed to get the upper hand for a moment, and despite knowing they were in danger for it, he couldn’t help but feel... impressed.

He couldn’t help it as he watched him fight. Impressed-Inspired-Defensive was all he could send out.

He knew it wouldn’t last as the shock wave coursed through him. Following his twin’s footsteps, he tried not to cry out. He had a feeling they would’ve accused them of faking it anyways.

How did they know to use pain to control them if they thought they couldn’t feel it?

He convulsed a bit and he vaguely registered Jason doing the same as the collars lit up. The agent got back up, grabbing Jason by the hair once more. “What part of you’ve been caught,” she hissed, dragging him over to the counter, “Don’t you fucking understand, dog?”

She slammed the back of his head on the edge, over and over. Lazarus green blood spilled from the wound it created.

Danny kept quiet. It’s not that he didn’t want to get involved. He knew if he did, he would make Jason’s punishment that much worse.

That was how this facility ran. Any of them, really. The threat from earlier buzzed in his ears.

“I’m sure the queen wouldn’t mind if there was a little accident with one of you that left you full ghost.”

He probably should’ve let Jason know. He tried, through the link, but that’s not really what that was for. It was more for vague emotions and messages. It wasn’t exactly as refined as to send out a message of “these people are fucking crazy and want to murder you dead dead”.

He settled for Danger-Alarm-Warn as Jason tried to wrap a hand around the agent’s wrist.

“Careful, ghost,” she whispered. “There are far worse experiments to be a part of,” she said, leaning in close.

That led them both into a loop of Scared-Alarm-Danger.

She looked at them for a moment before throwing Jason down and kicking his injured hand. She picked up her camera, checking it over. She hummed before grabbing Jason’s hair once more, positioning his head for a good angle and snapping a photo. She roughly grabbed his arm, lifting it up before grabbing his hand and jostling it for a second, causing the boy to hiss through his teeth.

“Oh, don’t try for sympathy points now,” she said as she gripped his hand tighter. “We’re long past that, mutt.”

She laughed. She fucking laughed. She gripped his wrist tightly and took the pictures she wanted.

She looked at them for a moment before going on her knees. As soon as he was released from her bruising grip, Jason scooted back towards Phantom. She laughed before snapping a photo.

She left the room, promising to be back in an hour, and left them with one final message;

“And you’d better not dress his head wound or I swear to God and the heavens above, I will make you feel actual pain.”

The door closed harshly behind her. Danny immediately started looking over the wound on Jason’s head.

“Dude,” he said, “I need to-”

“Why didn’t you let me do anything?”

Danny paused and checked the link. Now that she was gone, Angry-Tired-Overwhelm was all that was on Jason’s side of the link.

“Robin, I-”

“I could’ve done something. We could've done something!” He insisted.

Danny pursed his lips. “Do you really think this place is bugged?”

He heard Jason hiss as he prodded at his wound. “She seemed surprised we were patching each other up, so maybe, maybe not? We’d have to check,” he said, slightly out of breath by the end. Danny nodded.

“Phantom? What are you not telling me?”

Danny inhaled slightly. “Look, Rob, I just. I don’t want to say anything unless they can’t overhear it,” he said. “Otherwise, they’ll have another thing against us. We need all the cards we can get,” he whispered. “And for fuck’s sake, stop mouthing off! I know, it’s tempting, but please resist,” he said. He tried to wipe away green blood from the wound on Jason’s head to no avail. “For me?” he added.

Jason was silent. “Okay,” he said eventually. “But for the record-” he winced, “This sucks.”

Danny snorted. “You got your head beat into a countertop. I’ll bet it sucks,” he said.

Jason snorted back. “How’s the cut on your cheek?”

“Stings. That’s weird, it usually goes away by now,” he said, touching his fingers lightly to his bandage.

Jason turned around, looking at him. “You’ve already bled through it,” he muttered.

Danny shrugged. “I dunno why. Let's check for bugs or whatever, yeah?”

The other boy nodded and started with the underside of the counter.

The room was bare, all white with bright, florescent lighting. The cabinets underneath the counter held various equipment, none of which (according to Jason) held any sort of audio recording devices. The top cabinets, where they found the med kit, held some cotton balls and several vials of unmarked substances. Danny didn’t know a lot about this sort of thing; He’d never gotten kidnapped by a rogue intending on torturing him... in this context at least. He had a healthy amount of fear in it.

As far as either boy could tell, there were no bugs or cameras. They did decide to stick to code names, but they were a bit looser with what they were willing to say.

Danny told him of Agent J’s threat.

He was quiet. “I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” he said slowly. “If it were actually true, they would’ve already gotten rid of you.”

Danny looked at him, startled. “They want to observe halfa’s right now, right? Why wouldn’t they get rid of the weaker one? Not that you’re weak!” he backtracked.

Jason waved him off. “Because I’m easier to control. It’s pretty obvious I’m still developing,” he said, green slightly flushing his cheeks, “And it’d be a perfect opportunity to observe what any future replicates would go through in terms of power development and things.”

He nodded, “Makes sense. But I don’t want to risk it anyways,” he looked Jason in the face, “I don’t want to lose you. I just met you, and I like having you around,” he joked.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed, “We should keep that in the back of our minds. These people don’t seem like the type to make a threat just to make a threat. We need to bide our time, be on our best behavior, see how things run,” he cut himself off with a yawn.

Danny yawned after. They both looked at each other. They giggled.

“Sleep first?”

Jason nodded. “Sleep first.”

Danny scooted closer to Jason, who’d started messing with the latch on his cape. He helped him take it off and spread it across them evenly, being careful not to hit his hand during the process.

He lay Jason down on his chest as he used his own arm as a pillow.

It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable , but what were they going to do? It’s not like Danny had any energy drinks on him, and he was exhausted. He could imagine Jason felt a similar way.

Jason dropped off first. His emotions evened out to nothing and, although he didn’t breathe while he was asleep, he looked more at peace.

Danny followed soon after as he stroked down Jason’s arm, attempting to soothe them both into a fitful sleep.

Being cuddled up against someone somewhat familiar after days of being pressed up against complete strangers was... nice. It soothed something in his core in a way that only Jazz had managed to do before. He suspected it was the familial bond thing; they may not have known each other most of their lives, but they were together now. In a way, wasn’t that what mattered?

He just... had to believe they’d make it out of here. Jason was Robin; of course, Batman would go to hell and back for any of his birds. That’s what he was known for online (and what made Danny convinced the whole Gotham vigilante clan was a myth). They just needed some time. They’d come.

They wouldn’t be coming for him, but it didn’t matter. Tucker and Sam would notice he was missing, and they’d probably think to search the GIW labs they’ve been tracking all over the country. They’d... they wouldn’t forget about him just because he wasn’t right there. They loved him. Jazz did, too, she wouldn’t let their parents’ disdain for ghosts and ecto-contaminated beings infect her love for her baby brother. He hoped.

There was once a time he’d had an unshakable belief his parents loved him. Even as Phantom, he thought they might disown him and kick him out. He never thought that, if they thought he was Phantom, that they’d...

He still remembered what the bat felt like against his head. How he felt, not only physically, but emotionally when it happened. He forced himself to stop thinking about it; Jason was right next to him, and he was asleep, plus they never found a trash can while searching the room. If he was going to be sick, it was going to be on the floor and only the ancients knew if they would clean it up, or if they’d get... creative.

He hoped they would never get creative.

Sitting there thinking was absolutely boring. It was like watching paint dry, but he’d rather be bored than wake Jason; the poor boy needed this.

He shifted slightly. He thought about the agents and something in his core flared. That was when something strange happened.

He felt it get soothed. It was like something minty cool had been rubbed on his core, and usually that would make him squirm but now it just... relaxed him. He shifted again, closer to Jason. He messed with the cape to cover them a bit better before closing his eyes again.

He drifted off to sleep with a lullaby playing in his core.

He should definitely ask Frostbite more about family bonds as ghosts when he gets back.

It was peaceful for all of 15 minutes when the door opened with a bang, startling them both.

“Rise and shine, ghosties,” the agent from before said, taking in the scene quickly. Jason startled and tried to use his injured hand to prop himself up, leaving him hissing in pain. The agent rolled her eyes.

“Well, dog,” she said, “Looks like you did a good job at not licking your wounds,” she grabbed his hand roughly, as she did before. Something in the action sparked anger somewhere in Danny and, disorientated, he... may have misjudged the situation.

“The only bitch I see here is you,” he mumbled, then caught himself.

The words didn’t make her mad, no. Instead, she looked delighted.

She took out a button from her coat pocket and pressed it.

“This must be what she did earlier,” he thought to himself before searing pain overtook their bodies.

Like before, it was electrifying and it was painful. Attempting to think of something better to distract himself and not make noise, he focused on the emotional connection with Jason.

Reassurance-Calm-Sorry

He thought of how awesome it would be once he got to introduce Jason to Ellie. The clone hadn’t been around much, too busy on her world tour and harassing some couple she met in Kansas and their son that visited sporadically, but she was still family. She and him were enough like siblings that they could-

He would’ve frozen in realization if it weren’t for the convulsing caused by the collar. He found the connection he had with Ellie and yanked, attempting to send out the signal.

Help-Danger-Alarm

Jason looked at him oddly as they came down from the shock waves. Danny shook his head slightly. “Not now,” he mouthed when the agent looked away for a moment.

“Honestly,” she began, “You things really can’t have the intelligence to bandage your own wounds and not know that you’d be punished for not holding your tongue.”

Danny fought the urge to mouth off more. He probably would’ve if she didn’t just prove she’d punish Jason for his doings if they weren’t careful.

“That tells me a lot, you know,” she continued. She pulled out her camera, taking pictures of the closing wounds on Danny’s face. The bruise from Jack remained stubborn, but everything else had started to heal somewhat.

She mumbled to herself as she took the photos. She didn’t bother replacing a lot of his bandages.

When she moved on to Jason, she was a lot rougher with him than she was with Danny. She dragged him by his hair so she could take pictures of the head wound she’d left earlier and yanked on his injured hand.

She had hovered on his head wound a little longer than they felt comfortable with. They were just waiting for it; for her to accuse them of treating the gaping thing, of cleaning it or something. All Danny did was wipe away the blood a bit and make sure it wasn’t too deep of an impact wound; that counter was sharp.

Something whispered in Danny that it was meant to be like that; sharp counters produced more damage, he bet.

She didn’t accuse them of anything. She threw Jason down and told them to clean it up.

“I can’t get clear pictures without all that matted hair in the way,” she snapped.

She promptly left without much more fanfare. They’d looked at each other.

“That was so suspicious, right?” Jason asked quietly.

“Ancients above, yes,” he replied. He stood up, still slightly disorientated from their impromptu nap and grabbed the med kit.

He sat back down on the floor. Jason leaned in. “What was that earlier?”

Danny looked at him and blinked once before remembering. “I have a clone,” he said casually.

Jason did a double take. “Say wha'?”

Danny rolled his eyes, making Jason scoot over so he could tilt his head back. “Technically, she’s my daughter, but she’s also my cousin and sometimes my sister- it's complicated,” he waved it off as though it were a bad smell, then began to clean the wound with some rubbing alcohol. “Anyways, the ghost thing decided we’re not-identical enough that we have an emotional thingy like we have. We forget about it a lot since it’s harder to activate when you’re super far apart like we are most of the time, but-”

“But it’s enough that you can hopefully send a distress signal,” he finished.

“Pretty much,” he said as he began to press gauze to the wound. He didn’t really have a way to secure it...

Jason exhaled, sensing the problem and taking some of the long bandages and wrapping his head, making sure to keep the gauze in place.

Danny vaguely wondered if he figured out he didn’t have to breathe in this form yet. He’d already decided unless it was immediately important, he wasn’t going to tell Jason, but he wondered if he should just blurt it out since the boy seems intent on doing it. Nah, he needs to figure that out on his own time. He would’ve just freaked out if someone had pointed it out to him.

Jason laughed a bit. “Uh, I’m still confused as to why you have a clone? But that’s great-”

Danny whispered into Jason’s ear in case someone was listening. “I have a creepy ass billionaire godfather intent on kidnapping me to make me his heir. He’s a halfa, like us, but he’s a frootloop. He made a bunch of clones. Ellie was the only viable one,” he explained.

Jason looked at him. “Wow, and out of us I thought I was going to be the one with the weird life.”

Danny laughed. “Man, not with my... what would you call them? Adoptive family?”

Jason grimaced. “It’s not like they chose to adopt you? The people that raised you?” he offered.

Danny shook his head, “Nah, that implies that my sister means nothing to me and she’s literally the only one keeping me from losing my shit half the time, so?”

“We’ll workshop it?”

They looked at one another before laughing a bit.

It wasn’t funny, but sometimes, you have to laugh, right? It’s better than crying at least.

“Okay, let’s figure this out,” Danny started. “Uh, obviously bio family is out.”

Jason snorted. “Duh, that would be blonde bitch and deadbeat asshole. What about... foster family?”

Danny shook his head. “See, again, implies they knew. What about...”

Before they knew it, their once-serious discussion had devolved into a fit of giggles. The door opened and all laughter stopped.

The same agent was standing there, now with a pipe. She was once again grinning. Agent J was standing behind her, ready with a notepad and pencil, camera hanging around their neck.

Even if he didn’t have the connection between them, Danny could tell Jason was terrified. He was doing a good job at pretending he wasn’t, but he had started picking up the small tells. The clenched fists, the set jaw. His biggest indicator was that he had stopped breathing.

He doubted he even noticed as the agent walked towards them slowly, dragging it across the floor. She turned towards Jason.

“It’s your lucky day, ghostie,” she said, brandishing the pipe. “We’ve already gotten approved for a new experiment!”

Fear-Betrayal-Panic

Danny thought back to what Jason had told him of what happened before they came here. As the agent raised the pipe, his body moved without his permission.

He might take the threat seriously, but that wouldn’t stop him from protecting his twin. Especially when that twin was already hurt.

The agent was already swinging when Phantom went in front of the other boy, taking the hit for him. It was Jason who whimpered as if he’d been struck.

“Phantom,” Agent J called out. “What is the meaning of this?”

He took a deep breath. “If you exhaust Robin now,” he began, “You won’t have both of us ready for more experiments. Robin is hurt worse than I am right now; his injuries could skew your results, anyways,” he said.

Agent J raised an eyebrow. “Very well,” they mumbled. “Agent V, switch subjects. And I am very disappointed that you did not see this oversite, yet the ectoscum detected it easily. I may have to bring that up with the department head,” they looked at the other Agent through their goggles.

Agent V looked at Phantom for a moment before lowering her own down. She got up close. “You’ll pay for that,” she hissed.

She raised the pipe again. This time, Danny did not move, taking the hits.

If this was an experiment, he needed to talk with the department head. What were the merits of beating the shit out of a 15-year-old boy?

He took it, out of options. It was either him or Jason; he was pretty sure he was having some sort of panic attack, curled up in a ball with his cape. He reacted like he was the one being struck over and over again. Danny could not muster up any annoyance, like some might have; he knew what it was like to feel the phantom pains of getting hit when you were completely fine.

When Agent V finally tire of bringing the pipe down on Danny’s body, she smiled, tucking it into the belt of her coat. She left without another word.

Agent J took pictures of his wounds. There was very little blood, but he could already feel parts of his body bruising and he was pretty sure some of them had become so tender they had split open. He had very few cuts, according to Agent J’s mumblings, but had several... abrasions? Over several parts of his body.

He was pretty sure that was a fancy word for scrape because that’s sure what those looked like to him.

Agent J grabbed the medical kit from where Danny had left it and tutted. “Did you two waste all these supplies or was it the incompetence of the staff?” they muttered, mostly to themselves. They left the room.

They came back with a better med kit and treated him. They kept jotting down notes as they did so.

Danny ignored them. They could do whatever they wanted.

He kept looking at Jason, who still had that faraway look in his eye.

What he went through just now? That sucked. Danny had a feeling if he’d let Jason go through it, it’d suck more.

He closed his eyes. They had to get out.

They were going to get out.

#dp x dc #ailesswhumptober2023 #jason todd #danny fenton #danny phantom #dc robin #robin #batman #ai less whumptober day fourteen #kite flies over the nightingale nest

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dragonmuse · 2 years

Text

(TheArtBoss noticed that Stede admits to being briefly attracted to Izzy when he beats up that guy in Sing a New Song and asked for Stede’s POV on that moment)

Stede only caught the tail end of Justin Case’s debut (and so far only) appearance. He’d been busy de-dragging backstage. Being on the road was putting his skin through hell, so he’d been faster to remove makeup. He’d been talking idly to Eddy when they both realized music had been playing irregularly for a bit and also no one else had come backstage.

They made it out to hear Izzy crooning ‘every me and every you’ as he went from kneeling to standing with impressive alacrity. Stede couldn’t do that without making a few sad noises these days. On his feet, Izzy staggered to stage right and to Stede’s surprise a hand came out, grabbed the chain and yanked him out of view.

“Any idea what that’s about, honey?” Stede asked over the audience’s smattering of applause and wolf whistles.

“Not a damn clue,” Eddy was staring at the spot Izzy had been. “Who knew he had it in him?”

“It does seem out of-” Stede stopped, then wrinkled up his nose. “It’s Lucius’ birthday.”

“Oh,” Eddy nodded slowly. “Right.”

“I think we’ve witnessed the end of some kind of obscene mating ritual. This is worse than the Discovery channel.”

Eddy laughed at him, “C’mon, I’ll buy you a drink. That’ll take the edge off.”

With the impromptu number over, the bar had been rushed. It was hot, sticky. Stede decided to dip outside for a moment to cool off while Eddy used a combination of charm and brute force to get the bartender’s attention.

Which meant that Stede stepped right outside just as Izzy landed a punch on a man who had at least a foot and probably about fifty pounds of muscle on him. The man went down hard and before he could push himself back up, Izzy leveled a kick so hard into his ribs that it landable with an audible crack.

Izzy, in the streetlight, dark hair sweaty and loose around his face was heaving in breath like the air was trying to evade him. The tank top swayed, revealing an acre of pale skin and arms that were very defined.

Stede said something to Lucius though the details got a little lost when Lucius pushed away from the wall and claimed the man with a barking command.

Stede, flustered and a little heated, went back inside. Eddy hadn’t yet secured drinks (had it only been a minute or so? Maybe less), so Stede found an abandoned table and sunk into one of the chairs.

“You all right, my love?” Eddy asked as they sat down beside him with two drinks. .

“Oh yes,” he shook himself, taking the cool glass from them and pressing it against his face for a moment, then taking a sip. Just tonic water with lots of ice. “Thank you, honey. That’s perfect.”

“I know what you like,” Eddy smiled. “So. What’d I miss? Roach came back in here crowing about a fight.”

“Oh, Izzy beat someone up outside.”

“We’re...calm about this?” Eddy checked in, eyes going wide.

“Given the state of things, I think the gentleman had attempted to do something to Lucius, so yes. Fine with it.”

“Good, okay,” they relaxed around their drink. “So what’s got you making the frowny face then?”

“It occurred to me that I may have made some...incorrect assumptions about some things.”

“All right, what kind?” Eddy sipped her drink. She’d taste like gin later, Stede thought. That would be delightful.

“I thought...I don’t know, it’s foolish now that I have to put words to it. But I assumed that maybe you wound up sleeping with Izzy because of..mmm, convenience? Proximity?”

“I mean yeah, sure,” Eddy tilted her head, “that was part of it.”

“But not all,” Stede nodded. “Of course it wouldn’t be. You were attracted to him. At some point.”

“...yeah?” Eddy set down her drink. “Course I was. I wasn’t a gem, but I wasn’t the type to just stick it in any available hole.”

“No! No, of course not. It wasn’t anything about you. I just never found the man palatable, let alone attractive, so I projected that out, I think. Onto you. Lucius too maybe.”

“Love, you had to know Lucius has enough choices out there not to bother with someone he doesn’t think is hot.”

“Yes, I do, truly,” he sighed. “I tried not to think about it maybe.”

“And Iz beating the shit out of someone explained this to you?”

Stede groaned and dropped his face into his hands. “Maybe.”

“...oh love,” Eddy laughed at him and Stede knew he deserved it. “What is with you and finding gruesome beatdowns hot?”

“I don’t know!” He said into his hands. “It’s horrible! Why am I like this?”

“Probably could get some egghead to dissect it, but sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to it,” Eddy patted him on the arm. “Look, when Izzy and I started up, he was...mm. Intense. Smoldering, there’s a word for it. I didn’t think about it too hard, but looking back...yeah I thought he was sexy as hell. Doubt he’d’ve believed me then if I said. Certainly wouldn’t now.”

“You still find him attractive?” Stede peeked at her through his fingers. She leaned back and considered that.

“Mm. Yeah, I guess. Suppose I prefer blonds now.”

“Thank you, honey, but really I wasn’t asking out of jealousy. I just like to know these things about you. All the things about you.”

“Then a thing about me is that the idea of putting my nethers anywhere near Israel ‘Fuck You’ Hands is about as appealing as putting my hand in a blender in this point of my life,” she shrugged. “But I get why Lucius is still into it. And why you may have had a moment.”

“Half of a moment. A quarter. Microscopic slice,” Stede grumbled.

“You can still hate him even if you think he’s attractive,” Eddy said soothingly. “Hell, an imagined hate fuck is a great thing to jerk of too.”

“I don’t want a hate fuck.”

“Not like a real one,” Eddy agreed. “But nothing is going to stop our heads from doing what they do. Just do me a favor?”

“Mm.”

“Don’t think about him while we’re doing it. I’d know somehow and I’d never be able to finish.”

“Eddy!”

She shrieked with laughter, even as Stede pouted indignantly at her.

He did not jerk off imagining a hate fuck at any point on their trip. Once they got back home....well. That was between his hand and himself, thanks very much.

#leda house and the kraken verse #ficlet #stede teach bonnet #eddy teach bonnet #izzy hands

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kikis-writing-world · 1 year

Text

Somewhere Safe

Pairing: Eddie Munson x F!OC (Melanie), Wayne Munson x F!OC (Marjorie) Melanie is very "blank slate" and is basically a reader with a name, described as having "familiar tuft of hair" but I believe that's it.

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings include, but aren’t limited to: Domestic abuse/violence (OC has been struck and yelled at, but the details are left out/vague. She is possibly dealing with PTSD/the immediate anxiety that comes with processing recent trauma. Please take care of yourselves, loves.) Mentions of past violence/fights, mentions of past traumatic childhood. Mention of beer and weed, no consumption.

Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says ’creator chooses not to use warnings’.

A/N: This was once a part of a bigger piece that honestly, I don't even remember the plan for. I don't know why it's an OC and not a reader insert, but I couldn't be bothered to go back and change it. I think this is still quite nice as a stand alone, so I hope you enjoy it. Just the Munson men being sweet, oblivious, dumb but well meaning men lol Divider by @saradika

Eddie was buzzing as he got home from band practice. More than the couple of beers he drank or the joint they had passed around, he was high off the music. Riffing with the guys was the most addicting of all the vices he knew, and he knew his fair share. The adrenaline of the blaring noise as he pictured himself on stage in front of thousands. The triumph when they play something perfectly, nailing the tricky timings and working together to make a masterpiece. It was like nothing else he knew. Even playing live, the handful of unenthusiastic drunks that are only at The Hideout for the cheap beer have a way of dulling the thrill. In Gareth’s garage, there was no Debbie Downers to kill the vibe. Just him and his boys living the dream.

The music was fresh in his head, coming out in a hum as he opened his bedroom door and flipped on the lights. He toed his shoes off carelessly, barely taking the time to kick them out of the way. One shoe rolled helplessly over the carpet while the other bounced hard against the wall next to the door. It likely added to the numerous scuffs on the ancient paint, Eddie’s bad habits furthering the wear and tear on the trailer.

With every bit of concern he couldn’t be bothered to show to his old, beat up Reeboks, he set his guitar case on the floor. Unlatching the lid, he handled the Warlock with near reverence, with a care that didn’t match the tempo of the music he still hummed. Once she was secure, hanging in front of the mirror, he brushed his fingertips over the strings. The muted twang of the disjointed, open chord joining his mini performance for no one. The strings continued to sing out as he shrugged off his jacket and vest as one, tossing them blindly on his bed.

"Oof-"

“Hmm mm mm-AUGH!” Eddie interrupted his humming with a shriek as he heard his mattress exhale in a huff. He spun, eyes wide and hands raised to- he wasn’t sure, but they were raised. He stared, heart beating wildly in his throat as he finally noticed the unexpected, human-sized lump under his covers.

He lowered his arms slowly as the lump squirmed but didn’t otherwise move. Over the self-imposed deafness of loud music and the panic sending blood rushing through his ears, he heard a sniffle. Realization hit the same time a second wave of fear did, a different fear. Not for himself, but for someone else.

“Mel?” He called quietly, shuffling towards his bed. The lump moved in response. Arms grew from the balled-up form until fingers curled over the edge of his old, ratty comforter. The blanket was pulled down, revealing a familiar tuft of hair, a forehead, and one single eye before stopping.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Melanie answered softly, regretfully. Her voice was raw, cracking as she spoke. He could hardly hear her behind the comforter held to her face

Eddie grinned, approaching the side of the bed to stare down at her, hands cocked on his hips. “Was this bed just right, Miss Goldilocks?” He teased. Despite trying to lower his voice to match hers, it came out just as boisterous and loud as he usually did. The ringing in his ears would take a while to regulate.

Her fingers dug tighter into the edge of the blanket, but she didn’t come out any further. “Sorry, Ed, I shouldn’t have come over wi-”

“No, no, no.” He cut her off quickly, sitting on the edge of his bed. “It’s fine.” He reassured her, resting his hand on her shoulder - he hoped. He was pretty confident he wasn’t sitting on her but he couldn’t really tell where any part of her was under the blanket. She was too curled in on herself.

She halted her apology, blinking sluggishly up at him. He ran his thumb back and forth, trying to comfort the girl still hiding under his comforter. He was about to ask if she planned on coming out anytime soon when she revealed the other side of her face.

Eddie’s thumb and the rise and fall of his chest, the only parts of him that were moving, froze. Her left eye, the one she had kept hidden until now, was swollen. A deep red bruise, nearly purple, had already started blooming in the inside corner of her eye near her nose. The cheek underneath was splotched dark red and was puffy. Eddie had been in enough fights to know what it looked like when someone was clocked in the face. Still, he had to ask.

“What happened?” His voice was low, nearly growling. Seeing the injury had turned his blood cold, sobering him quicker than a cold shower and hot coffee injected directly into his veins combined. He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. His mouth was suddenly dry. He knew it had nothing to do with the weed he’d had earlier.

She shook her head, “nothing-”

“Don’t.” He interrupted before she could even start. “That’s not nothing.”

Her eyes watered before she turned away, shaking his hand off her arm as she rolled to face the wall. “I don’t want to talk about it, Eddie.”

He stared down at her back, arm still outstretched towards her as his fist clenched and unclenched helplessly in the air. He wanted to find out who hurt her. He wanted to hurt them. He wanted to hurt them worse than they hurt her. He wanted to shake her until she told him who to direct this anger to. He wanted to ask Wayne for the combination to the gun locker so he could take Wayne’s hunting rifle-

Eddie stood suddenly, needing to stop his train of thought before he did something stupid. He strode from the room silently, stomping heavily through the trailer.

Mel curled up on herself as she listened to Eddie’s retreating feet. She clenched her fists into the blanket, biting her sore lip as she tried, unsuccessfully, yet again to stop herself crying that night.

The glasses resting in the drying rack rattled together as Eddie passed through the kitchen. She was sure he was leaving. The next sound wasn’t the creaking of the squeaky front door as she expected, but the sticky, peeling sound of the refrigerator door opening. It slammed shut a moment later, making the glasses rattle again before the stomping of Eddie’s return.

She couldn’t stop the trembling through her body as he approached, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. The stomping, the slamming, the rattling; she squeezed her eyes shut, prepared for him to yell and scream and tell her to leave and never come back and-

The bed sank as Eddie sat down again, a gentle hand aiming for her shoulder once more. “Here,” he offered. To his credit, his voice was several decibels lower than the last time he tried to speak quietly. He could hardly hear himself speak, but he was terrified to spook the shaken girl in his bed. He could see the way she shook under the covers.

It took a moment for her to blink her eyes open, the left one aching something fierce. She turned to look over her shoulder at Eddie. A bag of store brand frozen peas filled her vision. It was opened and half gone, a rubber band looped around the bag to keep it sealed in the freezer. She looked past the bag to Eddie’s concerned frown.

“Put this on your eye. It’ll help the swelling.” He instructed, waiting for her to take the bag from him. His fingers twitched, itching to press the bag there himself. He refrained. She was reminding him of the possum he’d chased one night when he was drunk. He wanted to help the animal that had gotten itself stuck in some old fishing line, but all it knew was Eddie was big, loud and threatening. The only reason he hadn’t ended up in the hospital for possible rabies was the poor creature caught the sleeve of his leather jacket when it tried to lash out. He didn’t want to scare her, like the possum, so he waited impatiently.

Mel rolled over, sitting up against the wall behind Eddie’s bed. She wiped the tear stains off her face - haphazardly on the right but delicately on the left. Her hand shook as she took the frozen peas from him. Gingerly, she pressed it to her face. She hissed at the cold, forcing herself not to flinch away from the initial sting.

Eddie winced in empathy. He knew the feeling well. “It’ll start to feel better, I swear.” He promised, standing slowly. “Wait here, kay?”

Mel nodded shallowly, keeping the peas on her face as she moved.

Satisfied with her response, Eddie gave her a weak smile before rushing back out of the room again. He was too antsy to walk normally, practically running into the living room at the front of the trailer. All of the earlier adrenaline was being funneled into doing whatever he could to help his friend, who came to him when she needed somewhere safe to hide. The thought made a zing of pride zip through his chest. He brushed it off quickly. It was selfish. He wished she didn’t need a safe place to hide at all.

Mel could hear Eddie in the living room from her spot on the bed. He was muttering to himself, making little grunts and groans of strain now and then. When he started approaching again, his footsteps were slow and heavy. Her brow furrowed in confusion before the ache of her abused face forced her to relax once more. She leaned over, trying to see down the hallway.

She saw the TV from the living room before she saw Eddie. It was a small, black and white TV set that didn’t like to work when the humidity was too high. Despite its size, it still weighed a ton.

“What are you doing?” Mel asked as Eddie continued into the room slowly.

“Movie night.” Eddie grunted. He stopped in front of his dresser, staring at the mess littering the top. Guitar picks, a lighter, a couple empty beer cans, a few pencils - nothing important.

“What about Wayne?” Mel asked, starting to sit up. Before she could move closer to help Eddie make room for the TV, he had the set balanced against the dresser with one hand as he swept the dresser clean with the other. Everything clattered to the ground, bouncing here and there until it settled on the carpet. “Eddie!” She huffed, looking at the added mess to his already chaotic bedroom.

Eddie was unbothered, both at the idea of upsetting Wayne’s morning routine after a night shift and at the mess he’d made. Wayne’s morning routine was sacred, and messing with it could ruin the man’s whole mood. Eddie shrugged it off, knowing his uncle would understand once Eddie had a chance to explain the situation. “He’ll deal.” He answered simply, pulling the power cable free from where it had gotten trapped under the TV.

Mel worried her lips, gnawing on the already tender flesh. She really didn’t want to upset Wayne. He had never been anything but kind to her before and she hated the idea of losing that. She couldn’t stop the memories in her mind, twisting and mixing until it was easy to picture Wayne above her, screaming and yelling as she held her aching face.

Eddie was oblivious of her concerns, taking her silence as acquiescence. He plugged the TV in, using the outlet in the wall freed by the amp still sitting in the back of his van. It should be fine there for the night, he’d deal with it tomorrow. He hummed a made up song as he worked, rarely able to concentrate quietly. He jogged into the living room and back quickly, this time with the VCR.

“Here’s the plan, stan,” Eddie joked lightly as he connected all the cables. “You’re gonna pick a movie, any movie in the damn place, and we’ll watch it. Ladies’ choice tonight.”

Melanie was skeptical. Eddie always seemed to have a problem with her movie choices unless she picked the one he was not-so-subtly hinting at. She didn’t have time to argue as Eddie continued.

“You decide, I’m gonna take a 3 minute shower. Honestly, it would be torture to get to close to me right now. I reek.” He laughed, taking an exaggerated whiff of his own underarm as he stood straight. “I bet I can finish before the popcorn is done!” The laugh that escaped Mel was more of a begrudged huff. Eddie took it as a win regardless.

“You’ll burn it and the whole trailer will smell worse than you do now.” Despite the jab, there was little heat in Melanie’s tone. It was entirely flat but Eddie still considered the sass another win.

“Ugh,” Eddie gagged dramatically. He hated the smell of burnt popcorn. “Fine, I’ll make it after my shower.”

“You sure Wayne-”

“-Won’t mind. Totally. He only looks like a big mean bear, you know that.” Eddie laughed. “If he’s any kind of bear, he’s a gummy bear.”

The sound Mel made was more identifiable as a laugh this time. She shook her head fondly at Eddie. “I’ll make the popcorn,” she insisted quietly, pulling the comforter off her legs. “Go shower.”

Eddie gestured for her to lead the way, swooping his arm out and letting her pass him towards the kitchen. He followed, stopping at the bathroom door. He waited, watching as she opened the cupboard and found the familiar box of microwave popcorn. She knew her way around the Munson kitchen, but he was still hesitant to leave her right now. When he was sure she found it, he closed the bathroom door behind him.

The popcorn was ready before Eddie was out of the shower, even with Mel keeping the peas on her bruises. It was starting to feel better, the cold numbing the pain. She put it down briefly when she needed to open the package, and again as she took the hot bag out of the microwave.

She found the big, stained plastic mixing bowl that served as the designated popcorn bowl and dumped it all in, tossing it around to make sure the artificial flavoring spread to all the crispy kernels. The shower turned off as she sat back in Eddie’s bed, popcorn on her lap and the chosen VHS halfway inserted into the VCR. All Eddie would have to do when he got out was push it in and it would start playing.

Mel ate a piece of popcorn, happy she hadn’t left it to Eddie to burn. She stared down at the bowl in her lap, picking pieces now and then to munch on as she waited. Being alone with her thoughts again, the commotion from earlier today echoed in her ears.

The bathroom door opened, interrupting the spiraling thoughts in Mel’s mind. She looked up, putting on a brave face for Eddie, but he didn’t appear.

“Mel?” He called from around the corner.

“Yeah?” She answered, anxiety growing as she wondered what was wrong.

“I kinda forgot to grab clothes…” Eddie admitted, a soft chuckle floating through the air. “Can you just, not look for a minute?”

Mel rolled her eyes, shaking her head fondly yet again at the man before calling back that she would, closing her eyes and waiting.

“Thanks. I’m a dumbass.” He laughed, his voice getting louder as he entered the room.

Mel kept her eyes closed, using the opportunity to press the peas harder to her eye. It was soothing now that she was getting used to the freeze. She heard Eddie rummage around, opening a drawer, then another. Fabric against fabric as he dressed.

“All clear.” Eddie announced, barely a moment before dropping onto the bed beside her.

Mel opened her eyes, startled and grabbed for the popcorn bowl before Eddie upturned it completely. Several kernels spilled onto the comforter as Eddie maneuvered his way beside her. When she glared at him, he grinned as he picked them up and ate them, one by one.

Eddie had dressed in an old, well loved WASP t-shirt. The black cotton was worn through in places, leaving the shirt littered in holes. The blue and red checkered pj pants looked more like Wayne’s style than Eddie’s. The older Munson must have either bought them for Eddie or handed them down. His hair was wet, water dripping in rivulets down his neck. They were easy to see because of the messy way he had piled all his hair on top of his head and secured it with an old, stretched out elastic. The hairdo made a messy bun that she half expected to see a little bird making a nest in.

“What’re we watching?” Eddie asked as he reached over, pushing the tape into the VCR.

The sun was hardly visible when Wayne Munson stepped out of the power plant at the end of his shift. The sky was lightening and distant birds had started to sing, signaling its impending rise. When Eddie was young and had trouble staying in his own bed - not that he could blame him after all he’d been through in his short life - Wayne would say “it’s so early even the sun isn’t out of bed yet, boy,” as the child crawled under the blankets beside him. The thought made Wayne grin as he climbed into his old, beat-up truck.

Wayne was a simple man with a simple routine. Some would call it boring, but he would call it appreciating the simple pleasures. His morning routine post-night shift had three main steps.

The first step was to head to the Cherry Street Diner, one of the few places open this early. The diner was open 24 hours, serving fresh, hot fare during the day and running a smaller, mostly pre-made menu at night. The food was still made in-house by the cook, but it was wrapped in cellophane and stored in a cooler until it was ordered. Any time of day however, they served coffee, which was what drew Wayne there in the first place.

The diner was abuzz with activity, the shift change rush in full swing as his coworkers grabbed their pre-made breakfast sandwiches and coffee in paper cups. Wayne waited patiently for the dust to settle before sliding into his usual seat at the counter and ordering a coffee, “for here.”

With the diner empty, Marjorie, the pretty, plump, middle aged divorcee that worked the night shifts, would chat with him while he sipped his coffee. The coffee might have been what drew him in, but Marjorie was the reason he kept coming back. Looking forward to her undivided attention in the quiet morning hours helped make the long shifts a little more bearable. He even pretended not to notice she switched him to decaf on the sly. When she started switching the coffee, she had also stopped nagging him about switching to get a better night’s day’s sleep, so he played along. Before leaving, Wayne settled his bill and thanked Marjorie for the coffee and her company. She flushed and smiled brightly as she thanked him for his company in return, as she did every morning. The sight chased off the exhaustion that had seeped into his bones, if only for a moment.

When Wayne got home, he started making himself breakfast: the second step in his morning routine. He turned on the coffee machine Eddie got him a few years back for Father’s Day, needing the caffeine after the long shift. Nothing he’s made in the old machine has ever tasted as good as the coffee at the diner - another wonderful quality of Marjorie’s - but he couldn’t think of a way to ask for her help without giving up the goat about his secret, second morning coffee.

With the coffee machine gurgling, Wayne dropped two slices of bread into the toaster. As he opened the cupboard for the jar of peanut butter, he checked the fridge door for any notes. Wayne wished he could be more present for Eddie, to make sure the young man was taking care of himself properly and staying out of trouble, but the fridge notes are working for now. Eddie would let him know if he they were out of something at the grocery store or if he planned on disappearing for an extended period of time and didn’t want Wayne to worry. With no note, Wayne assumed nothing was awry.

Once the toast popped up, Wayne smothered it with a layer of peanut butter. He poured himself a mug of coffee, leaving the rest of the pot for Eddie when he woke up - not that he needed any extra energy.

Wayne sunk into the old, lumpy sofa that was likely to become his bed today. There was a roll away cot tucked into the corner of the room, but it was a pain in the ass to pull out and unfold. The damn thing wasn’t that much of an improvement from the sofa for all the effort it took to drag out without the broken wheel snagging the carpet the whole way. On any given day, Wayne was just as likely to sleep on the couch as he was to sleep on the cot.

Setting his breakfast on the coffee table in front of him, he grabbed the remote for the final step of his routine: watching the morning show until he passed out. Spending his days sleeping and his nights working, Wayne often felt disconnected from the waking world. Spending his breakfast letting the cheery hosts talk about the goings on in the world made him feel connected again. He’d never admit to it, but he liked the celebrity gossip segments just as much as he liked the news.

Wayne pressed the power button on the remote. The trailer was quiet. The muted birdsong outside had picked up in volume now that the sun was rising above the horizon. The zap of power surging through the television screen, followed by the static of it coming to life, was missing. Wayne looked up curiously, finally noticing the TV was missing.

He cursed under his breath, groaning as he pushed himself up from the couch. His knees protested - the old joints ready for him to get off his feet and sleep.

“Eddie,” he called gruffly on his way through the trailer. As he reached the bedroom door, he rapped his knuckles three times before pushing it open a few inches.

The room was awash in blue light from the “missing” TV. It glowed with the blank screen from the VCR, waiting to start another tape after the previous had run to its end and ejected. Eddie was already awake, pressing a finger to his lips as he shushed his uncle as loudly as he dared. Wayne recognized Melanie as the figure curled into Eddie’s side. It wasn’t uncommon for Wayne to find the two curled up together, despite Eddie’s insistence they were only friends. Wayne knew better, seeing the secret glances between the two young adults, but he also knew that telling Eddie to do something about it would be mighty hypocritical considering his own situation.

Melanie, pressed into Eddie’s side, snored softly with her head on Eddie’s chest. Despite the room being tinted blue, Wayne could see the dark purples and reds surrounding her left eye and cheek. He also noticed the frozen peas, unthawed, soggy and likely inedible, towards the foot of the bed. He had been the one to hold frozen vegetables to Eddie’s injuries enough times to put two and two together.

He pushed the door open, concern creasing his brow as he asked “what happened?” He kept his volume down, mindful of the sleeping girl, but his tone left no room for argument. He expected an answer.

Eddie shook his head, shrugging with his free shoulder. He didn’t have the full story yet either.

Wayne swallowed hard, jaw set. He couldn’t see any bruises, blood or swelling on any of Eddie that was showing, but that offered little relief. “She okay?”

Eddie looked down at Melanie, seeming to consider the girl before answering. The room didn’t need to be lit for Wayne to recognize the look in the younger man’s eyes. Not only was it the look Eddie always had when he didn’t think the girl was looking, but Wayne was sure he had a similar look on his face anytime he watched Marjorie working.

A moment passed before Eddie looked up with a grimace and another half-shrug. Melanie snuffled softly in her sleep, wrapping her arm tighter around Eddie. The blue light from the TV made the boy look nearly purple as his face heated.

“You okay?” Wayne asked next, watching Eddie for any signs of lying. He had gotten better at lying with age, but he still had a few tells Wayne knew to watch for.

Eddie didn’t hesitate, nodding once. He was okay, but upset. Wayne understood, he was upset too.

The elder Munson sighed, rubbing his tired eyes as he considered the situation. When he opened his eyes he saw Eddie watching him, waiting for his judgment. It took three steps for Wayne to cross the room, turning the TV off and plunging the room into darkness.

“Take care of our girl,” he grumbled, turning around. He used the sunlight streaming down the hallway from the kitchen to guide his steps, trying not to step on any of the junk on Eddie’s bedroom floor. He leveled the boy with a serious look as he added “let me know if I need to get involved.”

Wayne didn’t wait for Eddie’s reply, hearing him call a quiet “thanks, Wayne” as he shut the door to the bedroom. As he sat down to eat his toast in silence, he made a mental note to buy a newspaper on his way to work, assuming that in the one morning that he missed his show, the world remained turning.

#Eddie Munson x OC #Eddie Munson x F!OC #Eddie Munson drabble #Eddie Munson fanfic #Eddie Munson fan fiction #Eddie Munson #Wayne Munson x oc #is there a tag for Wayne? lol does he have a fandom idk #I'm so bad at tagging shit what am I doing here

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satansdic · 2 years

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Eddie x Reader | Stranger Things

Warnings { drug use

"Thanks." I smile at the guy watching over the register before heading back outside to my car. As I head back with my bag filled with candy I see Dustin's excited face in the passenger seat. I get in and close the door behind me,"Here you go, and happy birthday." I give him a forced smile that turned genuine as I hand him the bag to which he sequels. I raise my eyebrows and start chucking in shock at the noise he just made. "Thank you y/n! I can't wait to rub this in Lucas' face." He flashes his smile before digging into the bag and handing me a candy bar, "Here you go, since you bought all this it would be rude of me not to share." I take the candy giving him a 'Thank you' before starting the car and driving to the roller rink.

It had been a good 30 minutes into skating with everyone when I decided I needed to steal some candy from Dustin's bag. It was the perfect time since he was busy laughing at Lucas trying to skate. I take some gummy worms from the bag after sitting on top of the table. "Can I steal some?" I hear suddenly from behind me. I turn around on the table and look down a bit at the voice. "Eddie..? When did you get there?' I genuinely ask cause my guy wasn't there before. He chuckles, "Sorry I didn't mean to startle you." I hand him the bag of gummy worms and he sticks his hand in. "It's all good just make some noise next time. You aren't skating?" I ask noticing he's not wearing skates. He shakes his head, "I don't do skating I'm just here for Dustin." I swing my legs to the edge on the table so they dangle. I observe his jacket and shirt as I rip half the gummy worm in between my teeth. "Nice W.A.S.P pin.." I gesture my head to his pin on his jacket. "Oh thanks..What's your favorite song..?" He asks leaning in a bit almost as if he's trying to catch me slipping. "Sex drive." I replied, "Why? You testing me?" I scoff with a dry chuckle as he leans back a bit with a grin. "Possibly, sorry it's just some people say they're into the band when they only know one song." He says a bit defensive but I can tell he's not actually offended. Why is this guy so cute? "God you're one of those people..? Just so you know I'm not lying..I can list you off all their albums.." I start listing them but he stops me only two albums in. "Nope I believe you." He didn't wanna sit through me doing that which made me smirk slightly. We sat there for a bit in a comfortable silence as the heads of gummy worms were being torn off.

"For some reason I don't believe you.."I chuckled handing Eddie the joint we were smoking behind the skate building. "I'm being serious.."he says with a sly grin which makes me laugh. "Okay so say Robert Trujillo did let you play his guitar how did they not just call security on you? You did sneak backstage." I question still intrigued by his story while he takes a couple of hits off the joint. "I was just too cool to be kicked out." He replies with a shrug. I didn't believe the guy but I couldn't decide if I wanted to let him have his moment or not.

I didn't.

"Or did you beg them not to kick you out?" After I asked that he puts his hand to his mouth and hesitates to defend himself but he doesn't. "Were you there?" He asks in a bit of shock and we both burst out laughing. "Sorry sorry.."I say throughout my chuckles. Eddie passes the joint as we come down from our laughter. "It's fine...but I promise the rest of it is true. I did play his guitar after begging to stay." He reassures me and I finish the joint. "Have you heard they're new album? Master of Puppets?" He curiously asked. "Mm..." I blow the last hit out into the air. "No actually, I want to but I just haven't gotten around to it." I said before he gets excited and crosses his arms over his chest with half a smile. "You should give it a listen soon cause it's so good..." he starts to go on about his love for the album but the whole time I couldn't get my mind off of how cute he was. I didn't know if he felt more comfortable around me because we just smoked but he just seems a bit more happy and open even though we just met. I loved it. "What?" He questions breaking me out of my thoughts. "Huh? Oh..." I didn't notice my stupid smile on my face as he was talking. Maybe I was the one who was too high. "Sorry..It's just you're cute when you get excited." I slightly slap my hand over my mouth out shock that just slipped out. "Okay wow.." I giggled with a light blush. I put my hands on my cheeks and he raises his eyebrows but soon grins to himself. The grin. "I mean I know I'm cute but thank you for reminding me." He says confidently making me playfully roll my eyes and he continues after a moment, "I'm glad you said that because I was going to ask you if you wanted to possibly go out sometime..? Maybe go for dinner then afterwards go somewhere to listen to the new album?" He asked sounding a bit unsure due to being nervous. Wait. I couldn't believe that this guy was really asking me out. He had the looks, music taste and personality. I'm dreaming bitch. "Y-Yeah..that actually sounds really nice." I answered with a hint of excitement. "Eddie..!" We both snap our heads to the side of the building where Dustin is standing. "We are eating cake..! Finish up the flirting and come sing happy birthday to me..!" He shouts not even wasting his time walking over to us. I pierce my lips together before smiling at Eddie which he returns. "We should.." I start and gesture to where Dustin was just standing. "Yeah...also I'm excited for our date. Tomorrow? I will pick you up at 7?" He asked and I nod with a goofy smile still feeling like I'm dreaming. We make our way inside chatting about our favorite music now. I'm so happy.

#stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #eddie x you #eddie munson #stranger things fanfiction #imagine request #harry potter imagine #avatar the last airbender #avatar imagine

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fictional-men-have-my-heart · 1 year

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Day 25

Hello all! Welcome to day 25! Merry Christmas to those celebrating, and I hope everyone had a good day regardless, celebration or not.

I'm gonna use a few of my previous musings here to create a bit of a list regarding what you'd give the gents of the 141, Los Vaqueros, and Konig for Christmas. Imagine having a small little Christmas together before everyone goes their separate ways prior to a short leave.

(I made the dialogue attributed to "you" italicized this time since there's so much more than usual.)

Gaz has been pulled in by Price to prepare food this time, since he's shown his skills before and now is the designated help.

You had tried to help, but got shooed away by Gaz and the Captain.

"Go bug Soap or something, keep him out of here please."

You did just that, finding Rudy, Alejandro, and Soap gathered in the living space with cards in their hands.

Ghost is sitting off in a corner, a book held in his hands.

A small tree had been set up in a corner, much smaller than the majority of your sundry crew. Lights were strung about it and lined the edges of the ceiling, casting the room in a warm off-white glow.

"How'd ya always beat me, Colonel?" Soap gripes, watching the man slide the small stack of chips toward himself.

"You've just got to be better at perception, cabrón." Alejandro gloats.

You settle onto the couch, the gents playing gathered on the floor around the coffee table.

"Want us to deal you in?" Rudy asks. You shake your head in response.

"I'm worse than Soap when it comes to cards."

You watched for a while, Konig appearing in your peripheral after a little. You gestured to the couch beside you and he sits, watching the ever-growing frustration on Soap's face and the mirth on Alejandro and Rudy's.

Ghost seems to finish the book he had, and begins watching too, even trying to offer pointers to Soap.

"I wouldn't do that Johnny." He murmurs. Soap looks over his shoulder.

"Lot of bloody help you are." He huffs. Ghost then moves to sit on the floor with them.

"Deal me in next, I'm gonna kick your ass sergeant." You raised your eyebrows and shared a look with Konig, thinking things just got even more interesting.

Dinner was even more cramped than the first time, having added a 6'10" body to the mix.

Alejandro had laid claim to the couch next to Konig when you got up, and you merely shrugged, sitting on the floor again.

You stopped everyone before they retired to their bunks, a grin on your face at the confusion your teammates wore.

You had been working for months to secure and hide a few things for them.

For Price, you had grabbed cigars he liked and a warm beanie.

For Ghost, a new book similar to the one you had first borrowed, plus some ghost-themed bookmarks.

For Soap, a sketchbook and good drawing pencils, a small bar of soap drawing tucked inside the cover.

For Gaz, a blank recipe book where he could write his own. (Though you encouraged him to share).

For Alejandro, you found a good quality travel-sized sewing kit and a thermal shirt, since he was all the way in the UK with you all for now.

For Rudy, you gave him a few CDs of bands he'd mentioned he liked to dance to.

For Konig, you bought a couple of CDs of classical piano music and a small travel booklet of some songs.

The team was somewhat speechless at the gifts, that is until Soap stood and crushed you in a hug.

The rest of the team followed, with Konig and Ghost offering you thank yous and a fistbump and handshake respectively.

They promised they'd try and bring something back with them when they returned, but you had waved them off.

"Merry Christmas guys. Travel safe."

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sandwich2451 · 1 year

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The Violinist, chapter 6: The Boat Thief

Chapter six: The Boat Thief

"And when I looked into your eyes All I saw was my reflection."

The Pit and the Pendulums were the first to go down - and Vezi already knew how and more importantly, she knew she could stop her own team from sinking.

Siren song, is, undoubtedly, very subtle, but sirens do need it for a bunch of shit. Like communicating with each other on a level of sound humans can't hear. Thankfully, Vezi isn't human.

She looked over at the Goldbugs, who were grinning from ear to ear when the Pit and the Pendulums crashed and sunk. Vezi hunched over towards Xavier and said, "Goldbugs are sabotaging the boats." He looked back at her as he rowed. "How'd you know that?" "Siren in the water. He's in herbology with us - not the most subtle guy. Overuses siren song like he's addicted. Also, he jumped into the water two minutes ago." Xavier's eyebrows furrowed.

"So what do we do about him? I can't, like, magic up a fish or anything." "Yeah, you can't because your life drawings are made of graphite. My drawings are made of sound - he'll be able to see them." "And how are you going to make it? Sing?" Vezi attempted to shrug. "I could. I also have a harmonica with me, though, which is a bit less disorienting. I'll play while you guys get the flag." Xavier looked confused, but didn't comment on the harmonica. He nodded. "Great. I'll tell Ajax-"

"Don't," she cut him off. "He'll blab to Enid. I'll keep watch, by the way. God knows you guys aren't careful enough." She thought for a moment. "Also." She leaned back towards Vyama. "Can you take out one of the Black Cats. Just knock them out or something. Thanks."

They got to shore. Vezi caught Wednesday saying something to Enid before she left for the flag and narrowed her eyes. Xavier and Ajax had already gone, leaving Vyama and Vezi to tie up the boat.

While they were doing that, Vezi got hit by a pebble. "Jesus Christ," she said, turning around to see a hand. "Vyama?" He looked up from his work. "There's a hand there. Do you wanna go get it? Bring it back to the boat." He nodded and set to his next task.

Vezi, at this point, was alone together with Enid and Bianca. She narrowed her eyes, suspicious of both. Thankfully, Bianca left, leaving only her and Enid behind. Vezi called out to her. "Were you planning to sabotage us? You still could if you had the guts." Enid hesitated, then stood up, cracking her neck and flexing her hands, causing her nails to grow into claws. "Okay spider girl, you asked for it."

Vezi, at this point, was standing outside of her canoe. "You sure you can take me on?" "I'm confident." She attempted to slash Vezi, who simply cocked an eyebrow and took a step back. Then she advanced again, her bottom left arm swinging a hook into Enid's midriff. "I've done this before, honey, I can do it again." Vyama was coming back to the boat, without Thing, unfortunately. Vezi looked up after she kneed Enid for good measure.

"Slight change of plans. Get in the other boat. We're taking it." Vyama and Enid both looked at her like she was mad. "What?" Vyama called out. Vezi rolled her eyes and threw another punch at Enid, who had by now recovered. "Just do it, you idiot." He nodded, after a moment of hesitation, and started untying the Black Cats' boat. Vezi saw Xavier and Ajax running towards them, flag in hand.

She nodded towards the other boat, stunted Enid's balance by kicking her left leg's knee and threw one last punch at her ribs. "At least I won't get threatened with suspension this time," Vezi muttered to herself and then she ran towards the stolen canoe, that Vyama had already untied. She jumped in and started rowing, seeing how Wednesday was just coming back with the flag.

Vyama hissed at her, "Why steal their boat? We have no idea what its perks are. And it's slower." He looked at the raven perched at the front in disdain. "And the raven isn't even secured well."

"I sabotaged our boat," Vezi explained. "A few holes in the hull, which shouldn't be apparent until they're about halfway there. I thought it might help us." "You sabotaged your own team?" Vyama hissed. "No, I sabotaged the Black Cats. See? We're halfway there and the Goldbugs haven't even left yet. Believe me, I did us a favour."

"Surprisingly," Weems commented, "All three teams from before are still in the game. But what-" She peered through her binoculars in confusion. "Why, it appears that the Black Cats and the Jesters have switched boats!" A collective gasp rose from the people cheering. "And the Jesters are pulling ahead - ahead of the Goldbugs too. Will they claim victory this year?"

Vezi stiffened. "Siren," she simply said, and stopped rowing and pulled out her harmonica from the chest pocket that had been sewed oh so conveniently in her uniform. She started playing the tune of "Murderered Mermaid Song" - pretty fitting, wasn't it?

She grinned as she heard his howl from in the water - seemed like he was going to sabotage them next, but he'd swum away from the boat to the coast. Bianca looked at their boat, frowning. "Scared him away," Vezi informed Xavier and she put the harmonica away.

"Tell Ajax to try and flip the switches. They won't be for self-sabotage, I'm sure of that." A few seconds later, harpoons appeared on the sides of the boat. Vezi tilted her head. "Not bad."

They were in the lead, but like this, no one could sabotage them from the sides. And seeing as the siren had been scared away, there was nothing that could be done to stop them from winning.

They were the first to get to land. Ajax and Xavier got out of the boat with the flag, Vezi and Vyama following them. He nudged her. "Good game. Couldn't have done it without you." She smiled sarcastically. "I know that."

"And in an unexpected turn of events, The Jesters win the Poe cup!" Vezi smiled when she saw the two other teams climb out of the water. "Black Cats would've won," she commented. "You guys weren't prepared for sabotage at all. Frankly, it was kind of embarrassing." Vyama huffed and punched her shoulder playfully.

Xavier and Ajax were holding up the cup, shouting garbled words that probably were supposed to sounds like this: "Thank you! We did it! For the gorgons!" And because of an arachnid, but who cares for specifics?

Vezi caught Wednesday glaring at her and tilted her head, smiling. "You won!" Mel shouted, hugging her. "I really, really owe you. You're an angel." Vezi was laughing on the inside. As if an angel would fist fight a werewolf and then proceed to steal a boat. "I know, Mel, honey. I know."

#wednesday #wednesday netflix #enid sinclair #tyler galpin #wednesday addams #xavier thorpe #fanfic #oc #fanfiction #the addams family

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the-bl-road · 9 months

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Revenge on the Eagle - Nathee

Summary: they use Nathee's skill to track down Eagle and their whereabouts

Characters: Hunter, Hack, Nannam, Nanfah, Nathee, Pine, Wayu

Revenge on the Eagle - Eagle Has Left the Bar (Part 1)

Hunter turned the jammer on for just as long as it took for him to send a single text message to all the members; not wanting to risk the secrecy of the bar.

‘Code Red. Eagle has been kidnapped from Rendezvous, come now’

He didn’t wait for any replies or phone calls; as soon as he could see that the message had been sent, he turned the jammer off again. Hack would be the first to arrive since he was already on his way to the bar.

“What happened??” he asked in urgency when he reached Hunter. The barman excused himself as he went to inform the remaining patrons that the bar was closing early tonight as there was a family emergency, and the both of them watched as they finished their drinks and went home.

“Hunter!” Hack was starting to lose his patience at not being told anything.

“I wasn’t there when it happened, but a girl saw them having a fight with some people, and when the bad guys drugged Eagle, that’s when the girl came and got me... by the time I reached them, they were already in the lift, but I did get to see his face,” Hunter explained, as he played with the empty glass he just picked up. Not long after, the twins came running in, followed by Nathee.

Hack explained to them what happened and Nathee was quick to set up his laptop, to try and use his special skills to track Eagle down.

“If the location signal has been turned on, I can track them by using that. But even if it’s not, I can see what their last known location was and go from there.... hopefully, it leads us somewhere,” Nathee typed furiously into the computer program, his one leg bouncing nervously.

“Who the fuck was it?!” Pine’s loud voice could be heard.

“Probably the same guy from last time...” Nanfah answered him with a frown. Hack proceeded to ask Hunter what the guy looked like and when Hunter described him, Pine couldn’t help but kick a chair to the ground in frustration.

“That bastard!”

Wayu jumped slightly in fright at the sudden noise as he entered the room.

“Sorry, I couldn’t get away. Have we found Eagle yet??”

“Nathee is trying to see if we can locate them by using their phone, but so far nothing,”

“I’ve tracked them going from here into the middle of town, and that’s where the signal cuts off. So I’m not sure if they stopped there or if something cut the signal, I’m trying to see if I can access security cameras -which I’m not supposed to do by the way-. It’s going to take a bit for me to get in,”

“This is going to take forever! Something bad could happen by then...”

“Why don’t we split up? While Nathee is trying to track them down, we could go to their last known location and look from there, who knows if they left clues behind,” Nannam suggested, while he was already on his way out.

“Good idea!” Wayu followed him.

“I’ll stay here with Nathee and Hunter, we’ll keep you updated if we find something,” Hack told everyone. They nodded in agreement and all left the room.

“Where do you think they could be? There’s not many places they could hide in town, unless they are hiding in plain sight??” Wayu was talking out loud to Nannam as he drove around.

“If they were and we missed them, that’s one hell of a price to pay,” the car turned silent as the severity of the situation settled itself in the confined space. The others weren’t faring any better, with Pine driving at high speeds like a mad man.

“You know we can’t actually find anything if you keep speeding like this,” Nanfah told him with a hint annoyance.

“Something bad will definitely happen if we’re not fast enough,” was Pine’s answer.

“Oh yeah? And what if you sped right pass them? What then?” Pine slammed his hand on the steering wheel at how right Nanfah was, so he slowed down enough, that they don’t miss anything.

“Any luck?” Hunter asked as he wiped down the counter.

“I found the car going down this road, and that’s the last I can see of them on the cameras..." Hack was quick to find that exact road on his phone map, and sent the pinned location to the others.

“Here, take the next left. That’s where Hack said they went,” Nanfah instructed, the same time as another car took the turn. Alarm bells started to ring and Nanfah was quick to get on the phone with his twin.

“Nam? Is that you?”

“Yeah, anything yet?”

“No... this road gives me the creeps...”

“Would you rather them hide in a brightly lit mall??”

Nanfah scoffed at the idea and was about to reply with a come back when Pine’s phone started to ring, the caller ID being Nathee.

Pine was quick to answer the call through the car’s speakers and Nanfah clicked the button for his speaker phone, so Nannam can hear the call too.

“Guys! The phone signal came back on, we’re on the right track. If you keep going ahead, there should be a small gravel road off to the side, it’ll be hard to spot so drive slow... there should be a warehouse at the end,”

“Be careful, we’re on our way,” Hack’s voice was heard in the background.

Revenge on the Eagle - Rescue Me

#the jungle #the jungle series #the jungle scenario #gmmtv

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fictitiousfoodie · 3 years

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What A Shame

I LOVED writing this one it is hot and fast. ;) Enjoy

Bucky has a shitty girlfriend and he soon realizes he should be with you instead.

Word Count: 1554

"Bucky, you gotta move on from her. She treats you like garbage, and I get that part of you thinks that's what you deserve, but it isn't. You know if I am honest, Y/N would -"

"STOP. I can not think of her that way, nor do I want to. And thank you for the advice, but Alice said she had something to say, so I will hear her out. I am not saying I am going to forgive her; I am saying that I would hear her out and that if her apology is sincere, I would be willing to try and work on things." Bucky said, cutting Sam off in the process.

"Ohh are you guys talking about Buck's POS ex-girlfriend?", Y/N asked walking up behind them with the key to the door they were all now standing in front of. She threw the key to Sam, and he unlocked the door.

"I am going to stop telling you two anything about my personal life," Bucky grumbled as he kicked the door in and fired shots into the room. They were raiding another enemy bunker with some special tech that needed to be recovered or destroyed. They were a well-oiled machine at this point. As soon as they breached and secured the room, they called for backup. Their job was done now, and it was time for them to go back home. -------------------------------------- 2 Days Later

"My my my Mr.Barnes, you do clean up well.", Y/N said, playful taking in the now cleaned-up Bucky standing in the kitchen.

Sam let out a low whistle, "I know what you are trying to do and it ain't gonna work on her."

"Wait, What are you trying to do?" Y/N questioned. "Nothing, at all. Sam is just being stupid." "Nah, he is trying to make sure that if he has to reject her, he looks good - make her feel bad about cheating..." "Alleged cheating." Bucky interrupted. "Fine..alleged cheating. But he wants to also make sure he turns her on if he decides to forgive her." Sam finished. "OHHHHH makes sense." Y/N snickered, trying to play along.

Bucky sighed and turned. He had a date, no, not date, a meeting to get to, and he wanted to be tastefully late, not rudely late. He was almost out the door when Y/N ran up and said, "Hey Buck, by the way, the outfit works." Then closed and locked the door.

"Why you gotta play with the man like that?" Sam asked, chuckling under his breath. Y/N didn't say anything. She just shrugged her shoulders and walked off to the living room.

She and Sam were in the middle of watching The Fast and The Furious when the door burst open, and Bucky stomped in.

"You're back soon," Y/N said from her spot in the recliner. She had put on a pair of leggings and an oversized shirt once Bucky had left, not expecting to see him until tomorrow morning.

Sam had turned over his shoulder to look at Bucky, "What happened?" "I ... I guess I will never understand the thinking of a woman," Bucky said with finality and bitterness. Sam sighed, "She didn't apologize..." "Nope, not even once. Tried to say it was because I was gone so much," he shot with a dry humorless laugh. Y/N started to stand up and walk toward the kitchen counter, making sure to pull up the oversized shirt so Bucky could see the curve of her ass as she walked. He had always told himself that there could never be anything between them because Y/N was younger, well younger than he was. She was bright and carefree, both things Bucky tended not to be. But he couldn't lie and say after what Sam had said and the comment she had made earlier, he was starting to consider it. His cock twitched in his pants as her hips swayed in the leggings.

"What a shame, Buck. What a shame. Could've been with me this whole time instead of what's her fucking name," Y/N said, turning and hopping up on the counter, only successfully hiding the smirk she had and not the playfully sinful look on her eyes.

Buckys heart studdered and halted, "With you?"

Sam smirked to himself, knowing that Bucky couldn't ignore it now. Sam had seen it a while ago. They complimented each other slowly. Both of them had started to see it too. "Told ya."

"Sam?" "Yea" "Get out now," Bucky snapped, stalking over to where Y/N sat on the counter, pushing into the space between her legs and getting in her face. "You really want this, Sunshine?" Although it mostly came out harsh as he wrapped his arms around her, there was a softness and genuine kindness behind his words.

"You're smart Barnes, I'm sure you can figure it out." Hearing his last name on her lips was all he needed. He lunged forward and captured her lips. His kiss was soft and gentle at first but soon gave way to hunger. Y/N wrapped her legs around Buckys waist and pulled him in even closer. She moaned into him when his hand tugged softly at her hair. She broke the kiss panting. "God, you taste good, Sunshine," Bucky said, pulling Y/N back in. Her hands went to the hem of his shirt and slide her hands underneath. His skin was warm and soft in contrast to the hard muscles that moved along his abdomen. She wanted to feel his skin against hers. She tugged at the shirt haphazardly, and Bucky got the idea, pulling away and taking his shirt off. Y/N bit her lips at how incredibly turned on she was by the man in front of her. He had barely touched her, and she could already feel the wetness growing between her legs. Bucky was back to her in a moment, shoving his own hand up under her shirt. She gasped at the cool touch of metal to skin.

"Sunflower, if that's the reaction I get from just wrapping my arms around you - you're gonna be ruined by the end of this." He pushed her shirt all the way up and over her head. He growled when he looked down to find Y/N wasn't wearing a bra and was already bared for him. He palmed her breasts and started to kiss down her neck. One hand continued to palm her while the other went to play and twist her nipple. Y/N bit her lip in hopes of stifling the moan he had pulled out of her. Instead, Y/N slid her hands towards the button of his jeans, desperate to get her hands on him. She was able to get the button and fly of his jeans and immediately slid her finger into the space between his jeans and briefs and felt his hard cock. Bucky twitched in her hand and growled, "Careful, Sunshine, you are making it hard to be a gentleman."

"Maybe I don't want a gentleman," she said, running her hand down the length of his cock. "Just remember, princess, you asked for it." Before Y/N knew what was happening, Bucky had pulled her hand from him, scooped her up, and put her on the floor. Then, he yanked her leggings off of her and pulled himself free of the confines of his briefs. Y/N, just starting to catch up to what had happened when Bucky jerked her up and placed her back down on the counter. Then, he moved back in between her legs and slide two of his metal finger into her. Y/N was glad that Bucky had his other arm wrapped around her. She almost fell backward at feeling him slip in and out of her.

"Oh my ...god...please..." Y/N begged. "What, Sunshine? What do you want?" "More...please..." "That's it, use your words. What exactly what you want?" "You...... I want you in me...... Please...."

Bucky couldn't hold back any longer after hearing Y/N beg for him to be in her. He moved his hand to her hip and slid all the way into her. She was tight and warm and felt fucking fantastic. He pulled her up off the counter, and Y/N wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. Bucky pumped into her, and Y/N could immediately feel her orgasm building. He was hitting her just right, and it turned her on even more than he was able to do while holding her. Bucky could feel his own orgasm building and knew, by the way, she was tightening around him, Y/N wasn't far behind.

"That's it, Sunshine, you like when I fuck you rough. Make you mine."

Y/N couldn't respond. She was cumming hard as Bucky continued to fuck her through it. She had never felt so good in her life.

"Sunshine. Answer me, who is fucking you good?"

"You are James. You are." Bucky's hips stuttered, and his eyes flew open wide. He had expected her to call him by his first name, but he loved the sound of it on her lips. A few more thurst, and Bucky was cumming as well.

They stayed there for a moment, both coming down from their highs. Bucky placed a soft kiss on Y/N's forehead and whisper, "Come on, Sunshine. Let's get you cleaned up for round two."

#Bucky Barnes #bucky fic #bucky barnes smut #bucky barns x y/n #bucky x Female Reader #winter solider x reader #winter solider fanfiction #winter solider smut #winter solider x y/n #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fanfiction #Sebastian Stan #Smut #marvel #fanfic

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retroaria · 3 years

Text

Sapnap: Fluff Alphabet

cc!Sapnap x reader

pronouns: gender neutral

warnings: just swearing

here’s my 500 Follower Event ^o^

A is for Affection (How do they like to show affection?)

sapnap would give you so many compliments omg. he loves making you all smiley and blushy :) he just wants to make sure that you are always aware of the fact that he thinks you’re the most perfect thing to ever exist

B is for Bond (What kind of bond do you guys have? What could your relationship be labeled as?)

the best friend couple!!! sapnap tells you literally everything. any drama going on or any strong emotions he’s feeling, you know about it. most of the time, the second something happens his brain immediately goes “omg i have to tell y/n”. you guys always complain about the same things and get excited over the same things. you are genuinely one of the most important people in his life and he doesn’t know how he’d do it without you.

C is for Comfort (How do they comfort their s/o?)

he will literally drop everything just to hold you and not speak for like hours if you so needed. he strikes me as a naturally comforting person to the people he really cares about so I say he gets an A+ in this department

D is for Dates (What are dates with them like?)

dates with sapnap are either really chill or super fun. he’s the type of guy that would take you to play laser tag or to an arcade or a trampoline park. he’s like a little kid i love sapnap :3

E is for Emotions (How do they express their emotions around you?)

he’s a pretty expressive person when it comes to certain things. at the very least he definitely wears his heart on his sleeve a little so it isn’t hard to tell even if he does try hiding stuff. and like I said he tells you everything.

F is for Fiancé (How long into the relationship before they propose?)

I feel like he’s so young and he really just wouldn’t be thinking about that too seriously for awhile. like he loves you and you guys have talked about having a future together but he isn’t in any rush at all. hell just do it when he feels is the right time not matter how long it takes.

G is for Gentle (Are they gentle?)

it depends on the situation. he’s definitely the type of guy to pick you up from a super comfy position and just body slam you on the bed. but if he can tell you’re not in the mood to play around like that he’ll just sit down and hold you, so yeah he can be gentle. but most of the time be prepared for playful fist fights and getting picked up and thrown every now and then lol.

H is for Hand Holding (How do they like hand holding?)

sapnap always holds your hand. in fact he makes an effort to search for it whenever you aren’t holding hands. and sometimes he’ll even get whiny about it especially with like a lot of people around he’ll be like, “babe, why aren’t you holding my hand :( what if I get lost how are you gonna find me this place is big”

I is for I Love You (Who said “I love you” first?)

he did !! the first time sapnap said “I love you” was probably one of his most confident moments. he was so proud to be able to say it and so sure of himself and his feelings for you.

J is Jealousy (Do they get jealous?)

YES OH MY GOD. he gets super jealous and it’s so easy to tell omg. his attitude starts to get like super bad and he is very clearly annoyed by the situation. he won’t ever be too overbearing about it and if you ever feel like he is once you sit him down and explain that he’ll back off a bit. but he’s still gonna be bothered by it so just always remind him that he love him and no one else.

K is for Kiss (What’s kissing them like?)

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IM ACTUALLY GOING TO BE DESCRIPTIVE SO IM SORRY IF ITS CRINGE. anyways, he’d be a pretty deep kisser but not like full on making out every single time. he just likes to make them last and he isn’t one to just give you random kisses all throughout the day so it always feels special. kissing him makes you feel all warm and happy inside.

L is for Love Language (What’s their love language?)

sapnaps love language is quality time or acts of service!! i’d say mainly quality time. even while long distance he just likes having you on call while he does stuff or even just complaining to you about how tired he is while actively not going to bed so he can keep talking to you lol. he just likes having you around it’s a huge comfort for him. i say acts of service because he would get so giddy and happy anytime you did something special for him. he would show it off and brag about it forever and it would genuinely mean so much to him aahhajdxh i love sapnap

M is for Memories (Their favourite memory with their s/o?)

For your first time seeing each other irl, sapnap flew to where you live and you guys spent a whole week together. his favorite memories are definitely from that first week of seeing each other in person. of course you guys already had an amazing relationship while long distance, but there’s something so different about finally meeting the person you’re with in real life. it felt like he had to start over from scratch and you guys had to get to know each other all over again. also the idea of now having to build a physical bond. it was just such an amazing and beautiful experience. definitely the one that made him realize he really is in love with you.

N is for Nicknames (Their favourite nicknames given and received?)

IM SO BAD AT THINKING OF CUTE NAMES USHSJDH. probably just babe tho lol. for fem!readers, i can totally picture him using princess in a slightly sarcastic tone.

O is for Open (At what point do they start opening up to you about their life and feelings?)

mmm i’d say he actually starts opening up to you pretty early into the relationship. If you guys were like really close friends before hand he’s definitely already opened up to you. He doesn’t really have that many people in his life that he doesn’t trust.

P is for PDA (Are they into PDA?)

not really but he isn’t like super shy about it if that makes sense ??? like he’s 100% fine with hand holding, hugging, and light pecks when saying hello or goodbye.

Q is for Quiz (How much do they remember about you?)

I don’t think he really tries to remember stuff but he just does and he’s always making connections to you and things he sees and stuff it’s so cute :)

R is for Romantic (How romantic are they?)

he tries but he isn’t exactly the most romantic boy. like I said before you guys have a best friend type of connection so when it comes to romance he doesn’t go too above and beyond because he just doesn’t feel like he needs to. but on special occasions he will do something nice for you. He likes taking you out places !!

S is for Security (How protective/possessive are they?)

very much of both. once again, total sapnap vibes. i’d say he’s a lot more possessive than protective. he would never stop you from doing things like going out without him and having guy friends or making flirty jokes. he trusts you so much partly cus he’s a little narcissistic LMAO. but when a serious threat comes about he can get kinda crazy.

T is for Try (How much effort do they put into the relationship?)

GAAAAAA HE PUTS SO MUCH EFFORT IN!! you would probably be like his first ever serious partner so he would try his best at literally everything. in the beginning of the relationship you could totally tell how nervous he was at times but as you guys got more comfortable he just became an effortlessly amazing bf

U is for Uphold (How do they show you they’re proud? What kind of support do they give you?)

he talks about you so muchjahsjxjxh mostly to dream and george or on stream and he brags about you too. he can get pretty cocky about it but his friends can’t get mad because it’s literally adorable how whipped he is.

V is for Vaunt (Do they like to show off?)

YES OF COURSE !!! it’s sapnap guys…come on. literally any little accomplishment you make is turned into a way bigger deal than it should be because of him. he’s so proud of for literally just existing and he talks about all the cool stuff you’ve done all the time

W is for Wild Card (A random fluff headcanon.)

you guys really like going to different food places and eating different items compared to other places. THIS IS SO RANDOM LMAOO but like…sapnap would definitely have fun doing that

X is for X-ray (How well can they read you and your emotions/feelings?)

mmm he can usually tell if you’re acting strange or being distant. he cant always figure out exactly what’s wrong but he knows it’s something and he would confront you about it like almost immediately or whenever he thought would be a good time for you

Y is for Yearning (How much do they miss their s/o when they’re gone?)

he literally talks about you non stop when you’re apart. and when you guys are on the phone he comes up with all these plans for you guys to do when you see each other again and he always wants you to join vc on his streams if you can. in conclusion he misses you like crazy

Z is for Zebra (What kind of pet would they want with their s/o?)

A CAT!! or like a bearded dragon lol.

IM SO SORRY IVE BEEN GONE FOR LIKE TWO WEEKS HAGSKDHD

school is literally kicking my ass so hard man 😔

i’m gonna try to write more, working on a karlnap weed fic rn too LMAO

I’m taking a major creative writing class rn so between writing for school and writing for tumblr i am so drained but i promise i’ll get back into the swing of things soon :)

love you guys, thank you for everything and stay safe <333

@crackityy @fantasy-innit @joyfullymulti @k-l-a-w-s

#mcyt headcanons #mcyt preferences #mcyt x reader #mcyt #mcyt fanfiction #mcyt imagine #sapnap preferences #sapnap x you #sapnap x y/n #sapnap headcanons #sapnap imagine #sapnap x reader #sapnap fanfic

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cno-inbminor · 3 years

Text

iterum vivere (childe/tartaglia)

a/n: wow, it’s been fucking forever. first genshin fic featuring childe/tartaglia!!! a very huge thank you to @suspensin for reading this over and being my rock and support, and i love her so fucking much. I couldn’t have finished this without her!

plot: reincarnation and modern/uni!au ft. afab reader!traveler with she/they pronouns x childe/tartaglia

-- in which meeting childe is a bit of a dangerous game of push and pull

wc: 12.1k; angst + fluff

warnings: DOES CONTAIN IN-GAME SPOILERS (1.5? 1.6? + story quest and idek) and NSFW MENTIONS (mdni to be safe). there’s no explicit smut but thoughts do run a bit wild here and there

EDIT: Altered ChiLumi version now posted on AO3 here!

“Haven’t we met before?”

The shine in your eyes does nothing to hide your curiosity, head even tilting a little in observation. He watches them scan his face for any recognizable features, but attempts to focus on the strange, taut string of déjà vu that pulls him toward you. In a moment of absentmindedness, he had heard a faint voice call out his name from your direction. Confusion overtook him as you weren’t looking at him, but something inside his brain said that it had to be from you. And so his feet redirected his path towards your figure in the student union building, as if on a mission.

“A fucking whale, Childe?”

Oh.

“I don’t think so…?” You trail off, curiosity now replaced by perplexed feelings. “Do we have a class together?”

I think I would’ve noticed you by now if you were.

“Ah, what’s your major?” Childe asks quickly to avoid listening to the little voice in his head.

“History and anthropology, you?”

“Economics, but I’ve taken a history course for core credits. Maybe it was then?”

“With Dr. Zhong?”

“Yes!” He snaps his fingers. Part of his brain decides to usefully function and scan his memories to see if he remembers your face or head of hair in the lecture hall then. “Last year? Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 11:20?”

“Actually, yeah,” you affirm in surprise. You think you would remember the relatively attractive ginger in your class, but honestly, it had all been such a blur and you were often pretty sleepy during class. Dr. Zhong didn’t quite appreciate it, but you made up for it with your exam and essay grades, as well as paying better attention in some of his other courses.

“Did you need me for anything?”

“I’d like for you to come visit and meet my family.”

He’s really not appreciating this extra voice speaking for him.

“Well…uh…” Childe stammers and looks away sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of his neck. He honestly had no reason for approaching you, and now, he just looks like a desperate idiot. Think quick, he tells himself, floundering for some shitty excuse.

“I wanted to, uh, take another history course as an elective and um, wanted to know if you had any recommendations?”

“Oh,” you blink. That’s a first. When he meets your gaze, the swirling shades of sapphire strike something deep within you. Flashes of events you can’t make out go by in the blink of an eye, but then you realize you’ve been staring for too long. Blood rushes to your cheeks because you don’t exactly want this guy to get the wrong idea from you, because how are you supposed to explain, “I’m sorry, but I think we have met before, but just a really, really long time ago, and we might’ve been more than just acquaintances because that’s what it feels like?”

“I think you’d like Teyvat Mythology,” your voice wavers on the verge of cracking. “Dr. Zhong might have a TA this time around, but Xiao’s a great teacher. Doesn’t have long, rambling anecdotes, but explains things well and gets straight to the point.”

“C-cool, I’ll look into it,” Childe replies and smiles brightly. “I’ll head out then,” jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, where he just realized he left a grouchy Scaramouche waiting by a vending machine, newly purchased Starbucks Tripleshot drink in hand. “Nice seeing you, (y/n).”

He scurries off before you both realize that you never told him your name.

“Who’s that?” Scaramouche asks, jutting his chin in your vague direction.

“Someone from my Intro to Liyuean History course last year,” Childe waves off. “Come on, let’s go before the line at the pasta bar gets too long.”

The next time you see Childe is by accident, traversing across an open field of grass that many students like to sit out on to relax with friends, sunbathe, hold events, or play casual team sports if room permits.

You had your earbuds in and were scrolling through social media when laughter rang above all other sound, causing your head to snap up and swivel around to find the source. And while it might’ve been strange to an outsider, your steps immediately slowed as you watched the man of your tiring, vivid dreams sprint in your direction, eyes pinned on a frisbee heading towards him.

He’s wearing a grey sports tank and basketball shorts, headband holding back his bangs as he makes a slight jump in the air to catch the plastic disc between his palms. His feet plant into the grass as he looks for someone to pass it to, and you watch (with embarrassment) the muscles in his throwing arm relax and tighten with practice, frisbee steadily soaring through the air in a beautiful arc towards a teammate. He then lightly jogs to get closer to his group, but then his back stiffens.

Before your instincts kick in for you to turn and bail, he looks over his shoulder and stares straight at your now stunned self.

The sole ruby earring that glints in the sunlight catches your attention, and you recall your dreams of terrifyingly dark, violet electric power, blades of water rushing toward you, and then the stomach-churning sensation of falling from great heights pours concrete into your veins—

Childe looks a little amused for having your sole focus, hand lifting up for a quick wave. And as you numbly return the greeting, your heart beats out, “Run from him.”

And so with the flight response pulsing and firing from your synapses, you abruptly speed walk away, almost breaking out into a sprint towards your dorm. You ignore his pointed, confused look, and pretend you don’t feel the two holes of imaginary fire searing into your back. It isn’t until you’re laying back in bed that you release a huge sigh of relief and pray to a deity you don’t believe in that those eyes of mirth will not haunt you tonight.

But of course, with a deity that doesn’t exist, the prayers go unanswered.

“Do you believe in any of the mythology you teach?” You ask Xiao about a few days later when you stop by his cubicle. Luckily, no one else is around for this conversation, and Xiao has always been kind enough to humor your thoughts. Granted, he might feel obligated because you had asked Dr. Zhong to be your advisor for your undergraduate Honors thesis, and Xiao was directed to be your receiver of some general questions and source of information if he wasn’t around.

A quick scan of your complexion tells Xiao everything he needs to know. Your eyes are overtaken with rumination and exhaustion, haziness clouding them as you seem to ponder over your own question. It’s not often that you ask him anything not related to your thesis or coursework.

“Perhaps there’s some sense and truth to the tales passed down,” he softly muses. “What makes you ask?”

You lift yourself to sit on the clean area next to his computer, legs slowly swaying back and forth. “It might sound crazy but...I’ve been having dreams lately. They feel too real, too natural to be anything that my mind would make up. I’ve never had the most creative imagination by any means, which is why there’s some comfort to me being a history major, but I can’t shake these.”

“So why ask me about the mythology?”

“...the Archons are there. I even dreamt that I met the Geo and Anemo Archons. And they controlled various elements, just like we were taught.”

You don’t notice that Xiao has ceased his rapid typing, fingers hovering over the keyboard before one hand removes his glasses from his face. He uses the other to rub his eyes and softly pinch the bridge of his nose before sliding the frames back on. Dark, golden amber eyes survey you as you grapple with the unfathomable possibilities of your nightly visions, at least until you shake your head in disbelief at yourself and lightly scoff.

“Who am I kidding?” You ask no one in particular. “Maybe I’ve been doing too much research and everything’s mixing together.”

“You’re ahead of schedule, if that provides any consolation.”

“Some.”

It takes Childe a grand total of one minutes and 53 seconds to sign up for Teyvat Mythology for the spring semester.

WInter in Liyue is only slightly miserable, being so close to the ocean. It’s chillier than usual on this dreary day, yet something compelled you to exit your dorm and shakily make your way to the campus coffee shop for a warm drink. Coffee, hot chocolate, you haven’t quite decided yet, but just as you let yourself bask in the warm building, familiar ginger hair and blue eyes wash away the comfort.

Or do they douse you in security?

They remind you of your recent dreams that now have shifted away from stress and violence to easygoing summer days by the oceanside, running barefoot in the sand while collecting beautifully patterned azure starconches. Sometimes, you thrust a hand towards an oversized four-leaf clover on a wooden stake with the power of wind and catch yourself in the air, soaring and looking around to find more of the little shells. Other nights, they consist of climbing steep cliffs, only to sit at the edge in the clouds with fatigue wracking through your system and marvel at the view before you.

Someone’s always with you though, ruby earring and maroon mask and cobalt blue gem hanging from the waist, sprinting with you, playfully tackling you down, pulling you up towards mountain peaks, laying their head on your shoulders, brushing their lips against your cheek--

You welcome the change of peace in those dreams, but only because they don’t leave you quite as tired the next day, as if you’d been avoiding an inescapable dark force.

Part of you wants the burning question of why this person, this man, in all his glory and brightness, affects you so fucking much when you barely even know the guy -- why looking at him sends your heart to lodge itself in your esophagus, why your lungs feel like they’re so close to being completely collapsed under the weight of his stare, why feeling like you’re trapped and caught between wanting to run towards yet away from him. It makes no sense, and you’re tired of trying to make sense of anything you don’t exactly want to remember from your dreams for some, once again, inexplicable reason.

But there’s no time to think as he quickly ambles towards you, your own feet shuffling forward to meet him in a warped reference of a distance that constitutes to “the middle” before you can stop yourself. Your shivering hasn’t quite stopped yet, and Childe seems to take notice of it.

“Pretty cold out there,” he softly states. It’s cute, the way you’re curling in on yourself to retain some warmth.

“Y-yeah, not sure why I decided I really needed something warm to drink right now,” you reply and avoid his gaze. He watches you peer over his shoulder to squint at the menu display hanging from the ceiling, seemingly contemplating on what you should get.

“How about I get yours today? My treat for your class recommendation last time.” Anything to keep you here longer. Childe doesn’t realize how much he’s missed you, which confuses him, and chooses to ignore the fact that he’d been camping himself at the study tables in the building where the history department is located in hopes of even just catching a quick glimpse of you.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” you immediately attempt to subvert his generous offer, hands shooting out from your jacket pockets and waving in rejection. “It was nothing.”

“Please?” Childe puts on his best puppy eyes before reaching for one of your wrists, gently tugging you to the register. “Just this once?”

You want so badly to squash the tiny flare of disappointment that erupts in your chest from the newly acquired knowledge that this was just a one time thing. Do econ majors hate to feel in debt? That they must be even with everyone, or would rather have people indebted to them than the other way around?

There’s no time to think when Childe gives the cashier his order before turning to you, and without wanting to waste anyone’s time, you rattle off your usual beverage. He’s quick in fishing out his student ID to spend some of his campus currency, shooting you a boyish grin when you pout at your half-opened wallet.

“Go take that table over there,” he says, pointing to one in the corner by some windows. “I’m gonna tell my friends to go on without me.”

“I didn’t mean to intrude or pull you away from them,” you slightly panic. The sooner you can leave, the better. Right? “You don’t need to sit with me, I was just gonna head back to my dorm.”

“I insist. Go ahead, I’ll be right there.”

Why your brain takes his orders over your own is a mystery in and of itself, because before you know it, you’re plopped down in one of the lounge seats and staring off into space, mind reeling over the last two minutes. You pretend you can’t hear the way Childe’s friends nudge his arm playfully with their shoulders, wiggling their eyebrows suggestively as Childe tries to get them to stop being nonsensical.

“You’re gonna scare them off,” he hisses at them, hands pushing at their backs so they could finally leave him to his devices.

“Not before you do!” One of them laughs and Childe groans at their antics. “All right, all right, we’ll go. They’re cute though, might steal them if you don’t make a move.”

The darkening of the aura surrounding Childe is too quick for them to fully process, not before he dampens any of their fleeting hopes with a, “Don’t even fucking think about it.”

But it disappears just as fast when his and your drinks are called out, and he gives them one last shove before retrieving your to-go cups. Childe directs all his focus towards the seat diagonally from yours as opposed to the one that’s straight across, and you’re sharply ripped away from whatever reverie you let yourself slip into.

“Thank you,” you murmur, hands cupping the drink and feeling the heat seep into your fingertips. “You really didn’t have to, it was nothing big.”

“Can you blame me for just trying to find an excuse to finally talk to you?” He asks without a skip and you can’t tell if the quickening of your heartbeat is from a looming sense of doom or excitement. Those eyes, the tiny swirls of the ocean, blue like those shells buried in the sand--

It takes three seconds too long for you to understand where he was going with in his words, and part of you feels unamused at his smooth talking. You’ve always guarded yourself against guys like Childe, devilishly handsome who know their way around language semantics, ready to pull you in and just as ready to push you away. That (possibly unfair) bias, coupled with everything else you’ve been feeling for him, sounded the alarms and set the walls up around your heart. Perhaps you need to stop wearing your heart on your sleeve, because Childe immediately retracts his forwardness.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I promise I’m not looking for anything in return and you don’t owe me anything, but I really did just...want to sit and talk and...get to know you?” Childe trails off a little towards the end. Your body loosens up and relaxes just a tiny bit, feeling bad for your snap judgment. Let the guy do something nice, don’t look into it too much, you tell yourself. It’s a coffee, not a five-course dinner.

You reach out a hand towards him, small smile across your lips, ready for his to join yours in a quick handshake. “I’m (y/n), senior history and anthropology double major. It’s nice to meet you.”

The pounding of your heart against your ribcage has nothing to do with the shimmering of his eyes, nothing to do with the fact that his hand fits with yours just right, and nothing to do with the fact that an eerily similar voice from your dreams whispers, “I love you.”

You learn a number of things about Tartaglia in the four hours, like his family members and their respective interests, which classes he did and didn’t enjoy taking, certain takes on Schnezhnayan politics, his own various hobbies, crazy accidents from the occasional college parties, and more. He’s a bit of an open book, probably telling you way more than any regular person would, and definitely more than anything you revealed during all this time. Everything you tell him seems surface level, nothing too deep. The walls are still there to protect you from the unexplainable, profound feelings his presence seems to elicit, and luckily, he doesn’t prod any further. Childe feels the resistance and respects it, which just adds more brownie points in your book, and you almost feel bad for having given so little in return.

“I wish we were taking Teyvat Myth together,” he sighs when walking you back to your dorm, hands stuffed in his pockets. His ruby earring catches the light from the sunset, the shade almost complimentary to the golden amber rays that streak across the sky. “Would’ve helped having a history major in there.”

“Is that all I am to you, an answer bank?” You jokingly ask, but he watches concerningly as you shoot your gaze to the ground, mindfully stepping over the cracks between concrete slabs.

“Of course not,” a gentle sincerity reaches you, giving you the confidence to make eye contact with him. “I’m sorry for making it sound like that, it wasn’t my intention. I really just meant it as a way of saying if the professor or TA ended up being a total bore, then well, having you would make it more fun.”

“I’m sure I’d bore you even more,” chuckling, speeding up to get away. You’re growing too comfortable in whatever atmosphere Childe has created, like an enclosed air bubble bobbing gently in the depths of the sea and letting the waves carry you both to whichever ends of the earth.

“Hey,” he interjects, hand reaching out to stop you with a soft yank of your wrist. There is no resisting force from you, feet stepping backward until he meets you eye to eye. It’s unfair in the way that he can render you motionless by standing just an inch from you, arms brushing with his head tilted closer to your own. “Seriously, I’m glad we did this today. Are you?”

No, because now I don’t know what to think, I don’t know who you are, I’m not any closer to figuring out why you terrify yet leave me so enamoured with you, I’m torn between punching and kissing you and--

“Yes,” you subconsciously answer, brain immediately short-circuiting to scold yourself. “I had fun.”

His grin, charming, devilish, is so so bright, bright enough to rival the Liyue sun that sits on the pier, on the edge of the ocean, bright enough to rival the love that your fraternal twin showers you with on a daily basis. You want time to stop right here because you’re almost sick of the voice settled deep within your heart that screams, “Don’t get comfortable, you must run from him!”

“Good. Let’s do this again?” And you nod, of course you do. Foolish you. “Don’t be a stranger!” He calls out as he turns on his heel and waves over his shoulder, hand raised in the air, and you’re suddenly transported to another scene, a less refined version of the Liyue Harbor, watching as the head of ginger hair with a red mask in a flashier attire of grey and maroon walks away from you and onto a roaring, magnificent ship; big, ivory sails only seen in books and museums. It’s the same gesture of “see you later”, and just before he turns, you blink, and you’re back to seeing your campus again.

But Childe does look back once, warm and content that you’re still standing there, watching over him, and he can’t help but think about when he can spend time with you again, because suddenly, it truly feels like there’s not enough of it anymore.

“Excuse me, what’s a Red Bull?”

The last thing, or person rather, you expect to see on the last day of finals for the fall semester, is a small boy who looks way too young to be here, tugging on the sleeve of your windbreaker. He’s at most eleven, ten maybe, but he has eerily similar characteristics, as well as an accent that doesn’t quite belong to most Liyue natives. Still gathering your bearings from your own perusing of the fridges that hold all the possible beverages a college student could consume, you kneel down until you’re at eye level with the child.

“Repeat that for me? Are you looking for a Red Bull, you say?”

“Yes!” He beams and holds out a student ID that most definitely doesn’t belong to him. “My brother asked me to grab him one because he was busy with something.”

Your eyes flit over to the top shelves where the aforementioned cans of caffeine are located, and definitely too high for someone of his height to reach. “I’ll grab one for you. Did he ask for a specific flavor?”

“Nope, he said regular. Thanks, you’re really nice! Do you know my brother?” He asks, waving the ID at you so you can get a better look at the name. That’s definitely a face you recognize, but the name leaves you confused.

“Yeah, um,” glance over again, “I know...Ajax…”

“He’s the best toy seller in the whole world!”

Somehow, it suits him much better than Childe or Tartaglia, and you’re not quite sure what toys have anything to do with the matter at hand. Speaking of hands, the little boy grabs yours in sheer delight. “Can you take me back to his room? I kinda forgot the directions he told me, and everything’s so big around here.”

“Sure, just let me buy something, too, and I’ll take you.”

“Okay!”

The cashier isn’t the least bit fazed by the little brunette at your side -- it’s always common for family members to come in around the end of semesters to pick up kids or visit, and being an open building with snacks and drinks and a stopping point of most tours, they’ve seen it all. You even let him pick out a bag of chips and a candy bar for himself for being so polite and not a complete menace, paying with your own campus currency.

Teucer, as you’ve learned in the last two minutes, likes to point out things and ask you questions. Luckily, you have answers to most of them and do your best to pad the time, enjoying the feeling of a tiny hand wrapped around three of your fingers. It’s sweet to any normal passerby, believing they’re witnessing an older sister doting on their little brother around the holidays, but to Childe, seeing the tender sweetness on your face as you nod along to whatever Teucer is rambling about to you, sets his heart aflame. He’s already constantly on the verge of wanting to hug and kiss you and never let go, but you haven’t made any indication that you could potentially like him back, and this is just torture.

“Look what they bought me!” Teucer shoves his rewards in Childe’s face as if he had extremely poor eyesight, and you can’t help but laugh a little as you set his Red Bull down on his desk, clutching your own preferred beverage while looking around his room. Finals must have gotten to him with the unusual lack of tidiness in the small space, some laundry strewn here and there, a couple boxes of eaten microwave dinners in the metal wire trash can, some textbooks left open and marked with more sticky notes than you’ve ever seen. You’d only been here once before to drop off some food that he desperately messaged you about, stuck doing a project that he just couldn’t step away from.

“Pretend you don’t see the mess,” Childe pleads, handing a kid tablet to his brother but holding on before Teucer can take it. “What do you say to our nice friend here for buying you these snacks?”

“Thank you!”

“It was nothing,” you shyly smile, ruffling his hair. “I enjoyed meeting you.”

“Wait, what’s your name again?”

“It’s (Y/n).”

“Okay, (y/n)! Wait…(y/n)..as in…”

Teucer trails off and gives a look to his brother, one that spells curiosity and trouble, before he grabs your hand and pulls you into a corner. Any movement Childe makes to leave his desk chair is immediately squashed by Teucer’s disapproval, and the older man is left to helplessly worry when you’re told to squat down so secrets can be whispered into your ear.

“He talks about you a lot whenever he calls home,” and you want to laugh at Tecuer’s attempt to sound as scandalous as possible. “All the time! I think he likes you, like, like like.”

Oh. Oh dear.

“What makes you say that?” You whisper back, indulging both yourself and him, yet also internally snickering at how troubled Childe looks.

“Sometimes, he video calls mama, but we’ll all sit around and talk, and whenever he’s talking about how he saw you or something, he just looks...happy. Really happy.”

The surprise on your face does nothing to settle Childe’s nerves and he’s about to start wringing his hands together. Whatever Teucer was telling you couldn’t be good, probably embarrassing, like the one time he unceremoniously fell on his ass while ice skating over a frozen lake, or when he tried fitting fifteen marshmallows in his mouth and nearly choked on them when their mother caught them in the act, or--

“I think he just thinks of me as a good friend,” you try to inform Teucer, not letting yourself get any semblance of hope. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“If you say so,” Teucer pouts. But then he stops whispering and bounds over back to his brother, grabbing the tablet before plopping down on the half-made bed.

“Look, I was overconfident and thought I could execute a perfect single loop on the ice, but there was a rock and I lost balance and--”

“I wasn’t being told any stories about you falling on ice, but do tell me more,” you chuckle and take some joy in watching the blush spread across his cheeks. It’s easy to tell that he’s mentally berating himself for jumping to conclusions.

“Well, first off, thanks for buying him all that, and my drink, too,” he sighs. “I spoil him enough as it is.”

“I can see why it’s hard not to,” you smile knowingly. “So is it just him here? Where’s the rest of your family?”

“Funny story, he somehow managed to convince my parents to let him come here on his own as his first ever plane flight, so I had to pick him up yesterday from the airport. He’s flying back with me tomorrow.”

“And the RA?” You ask with an eyebrow raised.

“Ah...well...what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him? Speaking of, what was Teucer whispering to you about?”

There’s a pensiveness that overtakes you when you look at Teucer again, who’s happily playing some sort of game and completely oblivious to the rest of his surroundings. You won’t, can’t, take his words to heart, and will take them with a grain of salt at most.

“Nothing important. Although I did learn something new...Ajax?”

“Say my name -- fuck, say it, please--”

“I guess cat’s out of the bag,” he chuckles and looks away, absolutely unaware of the flare of heat that swirls in your stomach from the fleeting vision just now. “I came up with other nicknames as a kid to seem cooler, and they just stuck with me. Plus, the business world is full of people who just want something from you, or just a transactional relationship. I’d rather not give my real name to them, if you know what I mean.”

“That’s fair,” you nod and lean to sit on the edge of his desk. A thought pops into your head and you turn the words over in your head like a washing machine on the spin setting, teeth gnawing on the flesh of your bottom lip. If Teucer hadn’t been in the room, he would’ve been this close to kissing you.

“But if it’s worth anything,” your voice slowly, softly starts, cautious and wary of your thoughts. “I think...Ajax suits you best.”

Curse fate. Curse the legendary Archons. Curse karma and deities and spirits because all he wants to do right now is stand and tower over you, trap you between himself and his desk so you can’t escape, take those pretty lips between his until they’re bruised and swollen because of him, hear you call out his name in the throes of pleasure so he can finally replace his fantasies with tangible memories. The unnatural, magnetic pull that draws him to you is unbearable now -- he feels like he’ll lose the last tendrils of his sanity if he doesn’t do something.

You can’t stop him from slowly reaching out to grab one of your hands, lifting it towards him until he’s close enough for you to feel his breath ghost over your knuckles. It sends a shiver down your spine and blood is pounding in your ears because you can’t begin to fathom what he’s thinking about while doing this, even more so when his lips make contact with your skin and your breath hitches, stuck in your throat as he languidly peeks at you beneath his eyelashes with a heated gaze, then lowly confessing, “My name sounds best when you say it.”

Good heavens.

It’s difficult to swallow and keep your composure, especially when Teucer yells out in glee over, what you can assume, beating something in his game, and Childe drops your hand. But his dilated pupils don’t retract in the slightest, refusing to let you look away so that maybe, you can understand what he’s trying to convey to you. He’s taking the first step because he’s terrible and can’t contain his self-control anymore, pushing the ball into your court, ready for you to either play or exit into the sidelines.

When you do blink, there’s a vision of your naked body wrapped around another, limbs clinging desperately to a sturdy and panting frame. Lips, much like the ones that have seared themselves onto your knuckles, are at your neck and sucking, biting, before moving to your ear and laying filthy words into them that drive you closer to the edge. It all happens so fast that you feel you’ve just experienced whiplash, yet also feeling secondhand embarrassment at how lewd some of these thoughts have been.

You can’t stay here any longer.

“I-I have to go,” spills off your tongue before you can really think about it. The way the haze shatters in his eyes is heartbreaking in its own way, but there’s no time for you to explain. Your brain is in overdrive and eager to run, run, run. It detects danger on all fronts, but you muster out a, “H-have a good break, come find me next semester, mmk?”

And you’re out the door with inhuman speed. When the door clicks shut, only then does Teucer look up from his screen and frown at the lack of your presence. “Where’d they go?”

Chlide doesn’t seem to hear him, and Teucer has never seen his big brother look so sad and confused before.

He holds on to that last tendril of hope, because mark his words, he will find you come January.

After about a week at home, enjoying the festive time with his family and mildly unconcerned about next year’s courses because that was a problem for another day, Childe has his first, crazy, nonsensical dream.

At least, that’s what he tells himself when he snaps awake and his body aches with exhaustion. Not only are his joints in agony, he also feels like he’s sporting unforeseen bruises, which makes absolutely no sense because he hasn’t done anything that would warrant them, no matter how much he and his brothers do some rough-housing. His night of sleep was all consumed by flashes and scenes of weapon fighting, lucid enough to remember feeling his arms flex and wield bows and double-headed polearms and being cognizant of all the enemies??? surrounding him. They ranged from deranged looking monsters, floating beings with soulless masks, and large humans in electricity-padded armor, to behemoth machines in the sky that could leave you within an inch of your life thanks to a drill for a hand?!

But what’s even worse is that you seem to have managed a deal with Morpheus himself and infiltrated his dreams. You were there, too, sometimes fighting with him, sometimes against him, much to his dismay, and while it was nice, he just didn’t get it. Why the friendliness and hostility? Why was there an anger that overtook him when looking directly at you, parrying your blade and sending harmful arcs of water toward your figure?

Why did he relish the fear in your eyes when he darted towards you with electricity cracking through the air?

There’s an overwhelming sensation now to grab his phone to text you and apologize -- for what, he can’t fathom and there are no words to accurately convey what he’s thinking. “Hey, sorry for wanting to kill you in my dream :( “? Or “Sorry for being a friend but then stabbing you in the back, but then being nice to you again”?

And the only thing that really made sense was the serenity and contentment that would course through his veins as the two of you danced around on ivory sandy beaches, picking up shiny blue starconches and taking down more weird creatures; the breathlessness when you would fall back into the water and re-emerge to reconfirm his beliefs that you were one of the most beautiful humans he’d ever laid his eyes on; the love--

Hold the fuck up.

He doesn’t love you. He likes you a whole lot and he’s severely and deathly attracted to you, but he doesn’t love you. Your existence has only been made known to him for about two months, and he didn’t really start talking to you until three weeks in. So no matter how comfortable he feels with you, no matter how much he wishes that you were sleeping peacefully next to him so his nights wouldn’t feel so lonely, it was too early, too hasty, to say that he loves you.

“I’ve been wondering, why didn’t you bring them home?” His mother asks him out of nowhere during breakfast, all to add to this extremely tumultuous roller-coaster morning he’s been having. All he wants to do is eat his bowl of milk and cereal, then potentially go back to sleep before fulfilling his promise to go with his siblings to the nearby skating rink. It takes everything in him to not choke on his spoon of grains.

“Agreed, didn’t you mention they didn’t really have any family to go back to and that the move to Liyue was semi-permanent?” His father chimes in, laying a quick peck on his wife’s temple. “It’s never fun to spend the holidays alone.”

“They would’ve felt like they were intruding,” Childe replies quietly, stabbing his bowl a few times before scooping up another spoonful of cereal to his mouth. “I know we’re friends, but we haven’t known each other for that long, and maybe they’d be uncomfortable because that’s a lot honestly…”

“You don’t know until you try,” his mother sings and pats him on the shoulder. “We do have a guest room after all.”

“For them and their twin?”

“And quite a comfortable futon with enough blankets.”

Childe smiles fondly at his parents’ kindness. He can only imagine what this winter break would’ve been like now -- you and your twin floating around, trying to help out with certain chores, sitting by the fireplace and watching TV, huddled up with mugs of hot chocolate, playing board games with everyone and engaging in all the shenanigans…

Laughing. Loving. Grinning. Basking.

Handing over one of his hoodies to you as a sick way of torturing yet blessing himself for seeing how lovely you look in his clothes, standing silently in the doorway as you attempt to help out with mealtimes next to his mother, watching you run around in the backyard and dodging his siblings’ snowballs while lodging a few of your own -- how wonderful it all would be.

But he squashes it down as quickly as possible, because you escaped his grasp. You ran away from his advances temporarily and even though you gave him permission to seek you out come the spring semester, he worries that you might take it back. Something will wake up inside of you to keep him out of your heart and your life, and he’s not confident enough at this point to believe there’s a good chance you will come spend the holidays with him and his family next year.

“Maybe next year, ma,” he sends her a hesitant, yet somewhat broken purse of his lips that’s just the least bit curved. It tells her everything he’s thinking, and the quick patting of his cheek lets him know she understands.

Half an hour later, Childe finds himself curled up on his side under the sheets, phone in hand as he stares at a blinking cursor. It shouldn’t be so hard to send a text to convey his holiday greetings, because that’s all it is -- part of him is becoming desperate and aching for some interaction with you, even if it’s just a text sent back for conventional social pleasantries. He’ll take it for now, right?

Before he can totally chicken out, his thumbs quickly type a, “Happy Holidays, (y/n) :)”, and it’s a little embarrassing how quickly after he hits the ‘send’ button that he tosses it over his shoulder so he’s not directly looking at it anymore. His heartbeat is too quick and he prays for no phantom vibrations or phantom sound notifications to avoid any disappointment of thinking he got a reply. It was a harmless text, yet he’s treating it like he just got assigned on a mission to go and murder someone for the first time. What will he do if you never text him back? Does that mean you really don’t want to talk to him? Are you dead in a ditch somewhere? Did you change numbers and not tell him? Did your twin get all the details and make the executive decision to block his number? Will he never get a chance to talk to you again, even if it’s about something in the Teyvat Mythology class next semester? Will you--

His shoulder screams in protest when he quickly flips himself over at the text notification sound, hands shakily unlocking his phone and opening up your conversation again. His heart rate significantly decreases, reaching back to its normal pace, especially as he reads the little words on his screen.

“Happy Holidays, Ajax ^^”

There is hope.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”

You’re huddled under the comforter of your twin’s bed, phone just peeking above the edge as you stare at it with a brightness in your eyes. For the most part, you had been sulking there, apart from meals and going back to your own room to sleep, and mentally berating yourself for the way you reacted to Childe the week before.

“He just texted me to say happy holidays,” shrugging to put on a facade of indifference. It’s stupid that you’re trying to hide your feelings from your twin of all people, who could pick apart and identify your emotions in a heartbeat. A roll of his eyes lets you know that you haven’t fooled him at all.

“So you think that whatever comment he made, which was very suggestive and indicative of clearly non-platonic feelings, was just something...friendly? Remind me again how you came to that conclusion?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking!” You whine, looking around to see if there was anything you could toss at him. “It’s just, with everything, all the dreams and stupid gut feelings, I just -- I don’t know, okay?? I can’t tell you enough how much I wish I had just kissed his stupid face and see where it goes from there.”

“Okay, gross, but don’t beat yourself up. Though...I do have a good idea on how to maybe get a good reaction out of him. You wanna go to the New Years’ celebration at Xiangling’s?”

“I think she’d threaten me with a knife if I didn’t. She wanted to go shopping at some point, too.”

“I’ll drop the overprotective brother act for one night, okay? One night, just to let this happen, and for your peace of mind.”

He does a fair amount of conspiring with Xiangling, a friend they met one time at a restaurant a couple years ago, even tagging along on the shopping trip. Together, the three of you find yourself a dress that Xiangling swears would make any person drool over you, including Childe, because at the end of the day, he was a person with the possibility of being attracted to you.

You think it’s a bit silly, but honestly, what do you have to lose at this point?

At 11:57PM on New Years’ Eve, Childe is standing outside in the freezing cold with his family, arms lifting up bags of sparklers and fireworks. They’ve driven out closer to the wild like they do every year, and everybody excitedly gets lighters ready, making sure someone’s got a clock out there that tells the seconds. As the younger kids open up the packaging and argue over which one to set off first, Childe’s phone vibrates in his coat pocket.

It’s 11:58PM when he manages to fish the device out and thank himself for buying gloves that are touch-screen friendly, excited to see that there are two texts from you, the latter reading, “Happy New Year!”. It doesn’t matter that you’re a little early, but he’s mainly intrigued by the fact a photo came before it. In his mind, you’re probably curled up with your twin brother, hopefully a selfie because wow, he misses your face.

He gets something else instead, and he is so glad that it’s dark outside and the electric lamp they have is too far away from him to draw any attention.

You have your arm around your brother’s waist and another girl’s that he doesn’t recognize, but it’s a full frontal view of your outfit, one that hugs your curves beautifully and shows more cleavage than he’s ever seen from you, sophisticated and elegant, yet fun and leaving enough to the imagination. There’s a bright smile coming from all of you, and you look like you’re at someone’s house or apartment with plenty of other people milling around in the back, but they don’t matter, not when all he can focus on is you.

Gorgeous, breathtaking, arousing, mind blowing, and gods, he wishes he could teleport to Liyue at this moment, find you, and kiss you right at midnight. Fuck the fact that he doesn’t exactly believe in superstitions like, “Kissing your significant other at midnight means you’ll last forever!” but he’s willing to take the chance with it on this night and the ones after, if he’s allowed. He tries not to think too much about pinning you against the wall and letting the world dissolve -- wants to be the one with the privilege to drag down that zipper and feel his bare skin on yours, and --

As Teucer starts yelling there’s only a minute left, he instinctively locks his phone and shoves it away out of anyone’s view. The last thing he needs is his family teasing him about ogling at your photo for a straight 50 seconds, wide-eyed and pupils on the verge of dilating, the visible breath leaving his mouth just a smudge more dense and prominent than usual.

The only thing he can do to distract himself from popping a boner in front of his parents is to join in on the countdown, making sure all the fireworks are set up correctly and grabbing a sparkler for himself. He waves it around with Tonia and promises to fulfill her wishes of taking one of those pictures right as she draws a pattern in the air. Their excitement is palpable and addicting, and even though the larger fireworks set off a few seconds after midnight hits, the nostalgia fills his lungs with fond memories and future wishes that they only continue this tradition for as long as possible, and hopefully, with you at his side.

When it’s 12:04AM, you get a picture message back of Childe bundled up in a black paletot coat, matching beanie and all, a gloved hand holding a sparkler and lips curved upwards, with a caption that says, “Happy New Year’s! See you soon :)”. You show it to Xiangling and your brother, both taking it as a win in their books, although the former does tipsily protest that there should be a better indicator of Childe’s brain breaking at how amazing you look right now. Maybe she’s prophetic, because another text chimes in and the words set you aflame, as well as suggestive whoops into your ears.

It’s a simple, “You look incredible btw”.

If you didn’t want to properly savor this moment, you would’ve found the nearest shot of the strongest liquor and tossed it back with abandon. But you want to remember the warmth in your veins that wasn’t from the alcohol or the heating, the fluttering of your heartbeat, the teeth-baring grin that you couldn’t fight off, the constant re-reading of those four words -- because they’re so different from everything you had been feeling before with him, the need for protection, the need to escape. Instead, you’d like to be in his arms right now and see for yourself how he’d look at you in this moment, and if he would take any action.

You want him to. So, so bad.

Childe spends his last week at home hating the fact that you’re just sitting around somewhere in Liyue, doing whatever you’re doing, probably doing some light preparation for your last semester of classes, and he’s not there to take advantage of all this free time and hang out with you. When classes start, it’ll be busy and hectic. You still have your thesis to finish and revise, and while that won’t eat up all your time, it’s still some that he’d want to fill in with his presence if he could. He debates whether or not he should ask for your schedule and compare it with his, maybe set up meetings every other day or propose that they all eat one meal together every day. Childe’s not quite sure of what you plan to do after graduation, as it hasn’t come up in conversation yet, but either way, he’s determined to stay in contact and make things work out. Long distance isn’t ideal, but with technology now, he’ll take it.

He feels a little bad for how excited he probably looked to be leaving home, uncharacteristic for the most part. His older siblings have already gone back to their respective homes, and it’s mainly Teucer and Tonia that worry and tear up when he starts packing his belongings. Tonia finds it unfair that Teucer got to meet you first and the latter makes sure to rub it into everyone’s faces. It’s hard for Childe to sleep on the plane because he’s thrumming with excitement, yet somehow even more nervous than usual when the plane hits small bouts of turbulence, and he doesn’t seem to relax until he sets foot back on campus.

He’s here. It’s January, and you’re physically closer to him than ever in the last two weeks.

“Found you.”

On the first day of classes, you’re sitting alone with some salad greens in a bowl, poking your fork at some scraps while you watch something on your phone, earbuds in and back towards the entrance of the canteen. It would explain the unannounced entrance of the very person who’s been at the forefront of nearly every thought in the last 96 hours, his fingers gingerly removing an earbud to surprise you as best as possible, and you startle in your seat.

Your heart kicks into overdrive when he hands you back your earbud and pulls out the seat next to you, setting his own plate of food down as he plops down in his chair. But then he says nothing afterwards, instead choosing to send you a cheeky grin before digging in. You’re left to slowly phase out of your state of shock, stuck between either running away or frantically texting your twin to come and save you even though he was off on a date with Keqing.

It’s not that you weren’t elated at the fact that Childe had done exactly as you told him last month, you just weren’t...prepared? It’s a shitty excuse and a cop out -- you’re mainly just having trouble with racking your brain to find the right words. What are you supposed to say? What should you do? Is it socially acceptable to lean over and kiss him on the cheek because that’s what you’d like to impulsively do at this very second??

“So you did,” you settle and steal a roasted potato wedge from his plate. It’s his turn to be taken by surprise, but he gets over it much quicker than you do. In fact, he spears two wedges and drops them in your bowl, smiling at you as best as he can with a mouth full of food. You give them your thanks before the silence settles in again.

“Did you have a good break?” He asks before his next bite.

“I did. You?”

“It was nice. My parents said I should’ve brought you and your twin home to spend the holidays with us. Can’t say it didn’t cross my mind before finals.”

Holy shit, what? “We couldn’t intrude like that, but that’s really nice of you guys.”

“That’s okay, there’s plenty of chances to visit later.”

You tilt your head and furrow your eyebrows. “But we graduate this semester?”

Childe challenges you with one of his own eyebrows raised. “And? Are we never gonna see each other again?”

Honestly, the possibility had occurred to you. You aren’t entirely sure of Childe’s plans after graduation, and if that meant he was staying in Liyue or going back to Snezhnaya or even moving to Inazuma or Mondstat. While people preach on and on about how lasting friendships and relationships are often formed during college, you believe it’s more common to slowly drift apart as life gets busier. And if Childe moved away, or if you did, it’d be hard to consistently keep in touch with 10 hour workdays.

The thought saddens you, regardless. You like him so much and you’re glad that he was even in your life to begin with, because as unbelievable as it sounds, seeing him was almost akin to the feeling of coming home. Amidst all your nerves, your confusion, your spiraling thoughts, something deeply sated in your heart was a comfort that you found with very few people in your life whenever in his presence.

The thought of leaving and never looking back somehow doesn’t feel new -- it’s bittersweet, but the air in your lungs feels like it’s surrendered to something, like it was to be expected.

“You can’t just leave without telling me--”

“It was last minute! I had no choice!”

“You could’ve written up a message, anything--”

“Can you imagine the position you’d be in if the message got intercepted? I wouldn’t have been safe, she’d make you come after me--”

“As if you’d be any safer in Inazuma of all places! That’s the one place I can’t easily get to!”

“I can take care of myself, Childe, I don’t need you to protect me.”

“This isn’t about me protecting you, (y/n) and -- stop walking, will you?!”

“Then what is this about?” You spin on your wheel with eyes aflame. “Why are you so angry with me? It’s normal for me to disappear for weeks at a time, why was this any different?”

“Because you could’ve died!” He yells back in despair, chest heaving. Your silence is his cue to continue. “You could’ve died and I wouldn’t have known until much later. You could’ve died and all I’d ever think about were the things I never got to say to you, and how I wish I had treated every day with you like it was our last.”

It isn’t hard to tell that you’re stunned and at a complete loss for words. Childe often hides behind facades of charm and wit, and only when he is truly weak does he choose to be this vulnerable, baring his heart for you to see.

“I only have two nightmares in this world. One, my family being harmed in any way. Two, reading in a report or hearing from an agent that you’ve been captured and killed.”

“I like to think that we will.”

His hand reaches out to lay on top of yours, giving it a quick squeeze. “Well, let’s make the most of it this semester.”

Conversation afterwards is easy, filling each other in on holiday activities. Childe speaks extensively about several family traditions and you listen with rapt attention, basking in how fond he is of all of them. Even as you both bring your dishes to the return belt and leave, he immediately offers to drive you both somewhere to get boba, noticing your reluctance to part ways. But boba shops have to close, and you both have class tomorrow morning, and you’re both finding any excuse to keep talking, even if that means sitting outside your dorm building on a nearby bench.

You eventually bid each other good night’s and see you later’s, him refusing to walk away until the heavy door locks shut behind you after you swipe your student ID, and you looking over your shoulder to watch his figure disappear into the night.

True to his intentions, Childe makes great efforts to meet you at least once a day, and he can’t get enough. Each parting from you tugs and tugs at his heart, as if there’s a high possibility you’ll never want to see him again the next day, and he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Your twin and Childe get along well for the most part, and he even meets Xiangling on one of her shifts at her regular restaurant, who sends you a salacious wink and an eyebrow wiggle over his shoulder that nearly causes you to burst from embarrassment.

February rolls over without a hitch, even if you’re a little disappointed that Childe didn’t make a move for Valentine’s Day. Granted, you two still spent time with each other and he’s so darn physically affectionate and he bought you a carnation from the event his dorm held, but you wish you had the guts to fess up and just kiss the man.

It’ll happen some day, you tell yourself. You have time before graduation.

Two days before the end of the Friday that would signal the start of Spring Break, you wake up in a cold sweat, mind reeling and head splitting, heart so so heavy, as a connection is made between your present and your dreams. Not long after, there are tears streaming silently down your face and into your open palms placed in your lap, and you sit in shock as everything comes back to you. Memories are such treasured burdens, you realize.

For the most part, you had gotten used to the dreams, choosing to take charge of what you know and feel now with Childe over succumbing to some strange neurological premonitions. Especially in your dreams when many people’s faces were blurred over and hazy, and the only things you could rely on were voices, touch, and other physical features. You thought that maybe your mind was just playing tricks by transposing Childe’s hair onto a body that was also strikingly similar to his, but for the first time last night, you could see each defining feature on his face as clear as day.

The sight of his figure arching gracefully over yours, the water arrows that appeared out of thin air, the back that protected you from some military men, the voice that said, “Hey girlie, hold still.”

And that was when you had snapped awake to your current state.

Past the initial shock and uncontrollable tears, you soon bent over as sobs wracked your chest, overwhelmed by all the emotions and the pain the memories brought you; losing your twin, finding him to only be left with even more questions after roaming for decades and decades, meeting all your loved ones throughout Mondstat and Liyue, fighting yet falling so hard for Childe, feeling the fear when facing his Foul Legacy form, hating him for Osial, loving him, breathing heavily as the tip of your blade was pointed at his neck and his own just centimeters from yours, tendrils of water inching closer and closer--

Everything makes sense now.

When you meet your twin for lunch at the cafeteria, you pay no mind to the fact that you’re in public and hug him harder than you ever have in years. He’s already a little alarmed that your eyes seem swollen and you look like finals came two months early, but when he asks what’s wrong, all he gets is a shake of your head and nothing more than, “Just a bad nightmare. I love you, y’know that?”

“I love you too?”

“Don’t sound so unsure, now let’s go and get in line before they run out of Jueyun Chili Chicken.”

Even when you meet Xiao later in the early evening to talk about your thesis, you find yourself holding back more tears just two minutes in, reminded of his past and his own life, and he’s moderately concerned, hesitantly handing you a tissue from the corner of his desk when a stray tear escapes. “Is everything okay?” He hesitantly asks, really hoping that he didn’t do anything to make you cry.

“No,” you almost wail and sniffle while dabbing at your eyes. “Sorry, it’s just been a really long day.”

Xiao’s inquisitive gaze softens, remembering how hard undergraduate life could be sometimes. Graduate school was a whole other level, but that shouldn’t discount your own personal difficulties. Plus, in all of the year and a half that he’s known you, you’ve never broken down like this before in front of him.

“You work really hard, Xiao,” you continue, and he’s not sure where this is coming from. “You’re always so helpful and willing to work with me and answer my stupid questions and like-- you practice self-care, right?”

Xiao nods as a white lie, but it seems to comfort you. Maybe too much because you pull him in for a quick and unexpected hug, and you both decide to reschedule this meeting for tomorrow.

As per usual, you wait for Childe to join you for dinner since you finished up earlier than expected. It gives you more time to think about everyone from Mondstat -- Kaeya, Diluc, Lisa, Jean, Amber...funny to think that some things never changed as you compared their past version to the ones you know now.

“Mora for your thoughts?”

There’s a peace that warms your heart when you hear Childe’s voice, one that forces you to smile at him as he sits down next to you. “Just thinking about old friends.”

“I have to admit, I’ll be a little jealous if it’s another guy taking up more space than me in that pretty brain of yours.”

What a flirt. This man isn’t good for your heart. “Who said you had any to begin with?”

He dramatically places a hand over his heart. “You wound me, (y/n). How will I ever recover?”

“You’re ridiculous,” you snicker. Childe reaches over to pinch your cheek and you bat at him in protest. Easily, he grabs one of your hands and simply pulls you towards the food lines, knowing that you’ll stop fighting back soon.

Part of it feels strange now to feel and see his hands with no leather gloves on.

“Childe,” you start halfway through your meal, continuing after he hums back in reply. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

He freezes briefly, but recovers so quickly that if you hadn’t been watching so closely, you wouldn’t have noticed. “I think it’s neat, the idea of having past lives. Why do you ask?”

What he really wants to ask is if you’ve been having those dreams, too; if he’s starring in your nights like you have been in his.

“Just a thought, especially since you’re taking Teyvat Myth now, too.”

“Do you...do you think if there was a past life, that we knew each other?”

There’s something about the look of content on your face before you meet his gaze -- he thinks that you know more than you’re letting on but you’re holding back for some reason. He wants to know what’s going through your brain right now, why the fondness in your eyes sends a jolt through him like he’s been searching for it all his life, if you know anything about this magnetic pull between you two.

“I like to think that we knew each other well.”

Even though the first day of your returned memories was somewhat eventful, you couldn’t help but feel yourself wanting to pull back from Childe -- at least, until you can successfully compartmentalize which emotions belonged to you past self and which ones belonged to your current mindset. You didn’t quite agree with his duties and his affiliation with the Fatui back then, even if he had his reasons that did make sense, to some degree.

The killing, the threatening, so intent on stealing Rex Lapis’s Gnosis in the name of the Tsaritsa, summoning Osial as a mean to an end -- and you definitely can’t forget how stubborn he was in not listening to your protests, so caught up in his brain that you had betrayed him and sent you plummeting to a near-death experience despite his earlier promise of no intention of killing you specifically.

Everything had been toeing a faint, thin line with Childe then. Undeniable chemistry and tension, guarding yourself for yours and Paimon’s safety, slashing at Fatui agents, whispering out pleas and affirmations of “I’m yours” while riding him, sometimes having to sneak out in the mornings…

The only thing you don’t remember is how everything ends -- maybe it’ll come back to you eventually, but for now, you think you’re okay not knowing.

If Childe still doesn’t remember anything from back then, you think it’d be unfair to spend time with him in all your conflicting emotions, even when it’s spring break, where you have so much more hours in the day to be with each other than normal. Fun plans around Liyue had been made, like a two-day one-night trip to Yaoguang Shoal, and you’re this close to cancelling on him.

But he had been looking forward to it so much, even made most of the preparations for it. Who are you to rob that joy from him when it was you who couldn’t figure out your own shit? Are you self-destructing?

Perhaps.

Before you know it, you’re sitting in the passenger seat of his car, staring out the window at the scenery. Somehow, it pleased you to see that the nature of Liyue had been carefully preserved over the many centuries despite its development into the modern age. You get lost in picking apart the differences between then and now that you don’t notice how quiet you’ve fallen and Childe looks over worriedly when you show no reaction to your favorite songs playing on the stereo.

Even when he calls your name once, twice, nothing gives as you clearly have tuned everything out. So he leaves you be until there’s about half an hour left on the drive, unable to hold back and succumbing to reach over for your hand. You startle so strongly that he almost feels bad for having done it unannounced. But what’s even more disturbing is that this isn’t really the first time.

You’ve been talking to him less, often sitting quietly and staring off into another world that he can’t seem to reach. His texts are answered less frequently and with less wit and enthusiasm, so much so that he just appreciates you still show up to see him. Each time he asks if you’re okay, you always affirm that you are. He’s had a hard time believing you, but Childe believes you’ll tell him when you’re ready, surely.

It’s a little ironic yet fateful that Childe planned to bring you here, of all places. In the past, you had spent many days and nights running around in the sand with him, fighting slimes and hilichurls and collecting starconches for him. You remember laying on a large towel next to him as you both looked up into the sky, pointing out stars and constellations while sharing endless kisses away from prying, spying eyes.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve zoned out,” you sincerely apologize.

“It’s okay, I just wanna make sure you relax while we’re here. This is supposed to be a vacation.”

“You’re right,” you agree and squeeze his hand. “Let’s make the most of it before we become adults who are too busy to have fun like this again.”

And you do. Childe rented a small beach cabin (rich boys) closer to one end of the shoreline, just big enough with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen with a dining table. You help him bring in your bags and some groceries bought the night before, setting them down quickly so you can peer out the window again to take in the view. Childe picked a good time, too. Although it’d be a little chilly at night, the day was still warm and mainly overcast with clouds.

“What do you say we change into our swimsuits and head down to the water?”

“Sure.”

Childe hadn’t really been expecting for you to step out in a large, casual tee and gym shorts, one shoulder exposed. He might have been hoping to see a little more skin, but his mother didn’t raise a chauvinistic pervert for a son.

The light in your eyes as you both approach the water is everything he had been missing the last few days, your excitement and joy contagious. As soon as you place everything down on the sand, you kick off your flip flops and leave him behind to step into the water, giggling at feeling the waves crash over your ankles and bring sand between your toes. Childe approaches you from behind and starts smearing sunblock on the back of your neck, to which you just grin beautifully at him in thanks and he has to fight off the desire to kiss you right then and there.

You’re too caught up in embracing the ocean afterwards to feel the shrinking distance between you two, mistaking his warmth for the general spring air. It isn’t until he’s done with your shoulders that he hands you the bottle to leave you to do the rest of your body, and when you turn to thank him, he’s much closer than you remember. His eyes are gentle, holding your gaze and almost daring you to look away first.

But if there’s one thing you can place without a shred of doubt, it is the unmistakable look of love, because you had seen it many, many times before without knowing until later what it meant.

How so incredibly lucky you were to have Childe back in your life now, loving you all the same, and with no life-threatening barriers. Fate or the Archons have given you a second chance, and you’d be damned to take it for granted.

Childe welcomes your lips against his, wasting no time to bring you into his arms so you’re pressed against him as much as possible. He can’t care for the overt public display of affection because this is everything he’s wanted for months now, waiting patiently for you to give him permission to make you his. Your lips are incredibly soft and pliant against his as you first kiss him patiently, then applying more force and desperation to taste more of him. He mirrors you, one hand cradling the back of your head and the other on your neck with a thumb extended to your jawline, teeth moving to nip at your bottom lip. It’s dangerous, the way you smile against his lips, and when he sinks his teeth in deeper before pulling back, your quiet mewl nearly drives him over the edge.

But you’re in public, and this was an amazing first kiss. You two have a beach to enjoy and a fun night planned, and now that he doesn’t have to hold back on his affections, it’ll be even better.

His lips part from yours regretfully, his eyes languidly opening to meet yours. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a blue starconch in the sand and freezes.

It’s not that he’s never seen one before, but something clicks. You. The shore. Starconches. Starry nights. His dreams. Monsters. Gods. Fighting. So much fighting. Training. His family. Dragons. You. Falling. You falling. You fighting him. Yelling. Kissing. Loving. Chasing. Him chasing you before you disappear at a teleport waypoint that somehow you only can operate. The abyss. Your twin.

Oh, Archons.

“ -ou okay, Ajax? Ajax?”

He snaps to look at you again. How does he go about this? How does he ask?

“(Y/n)...have you ever heard of the Fatui Harbingers?”

He has to admit that it’s a bit amazing to be able to identify all the emotions that cross your complexion, from curiosity to realization to conflicted. You’re actively trying to piece everything together without revealing too much on the off-chance that you’re wrong, that Childe hasn’t regained his memories and is just asking about something from class randomly and completely out of the blue.

Wait.

“You haven’t reached that material yet in class,” you whisper, heart in your throat at the realization. Could it really be…

“I was once Tartaglia, eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, who possessed a Delusion and used my Foul Legacy Transformation with you several times,” he murmurs back, tucking a stray tendril behind your ear. “Is it too late to apologize again for summoning an ancient god and letting you fall about five floors with no warning?”

He should’ve been prepared for you wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him in for a tight embrace. “No, never, but I spent weeks after kicking your ass so you’ve been long forgiven.”

Childe burrows his face into your neck, breathing in your scent and basking in this moment. There was so much to talk about, but you two arguably had more time in the world than ever with nothing holding you back. There was no impending war looming over, no one on the run, no opposing forces. His silent wish for a different life with you seems to have been answered finally. If running into you had been the event to set everything in motion, he only wishes he’d done so earlier.

All that matters now is you’re here together in this plane of existence, given a chance to love again, and experience everything you couldn't before.

As written in the stars, take my soul for it is forever yours.

fin

#childe x reader #tartaglia x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin scenarios #genshin impact scenarios #genshin imagines #childe #tartaglia #childe angst #genshin impact #genshin angst #genshin impact angst #this fic maybe took two years off my life

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