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caplanbuckybarnes · 3 years

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Deceitful Memories (3/?)

Summary: Clark becomes interested in a student that slowly clouds over every rational thought of his own

Warnings: professors college student relations, swearing, gaslighting, Jason arrives, cliffhanger

<<PREVIOUS CHAPTER>>

Clark’s sitting at his desk in his office at the school. In front of him is a stack of papers he has to grade. To his left sits his laptop, his right is occupied by his phone. It’s on speaker, as a colleague of his speaks out about a visitation.

“I should be done down here by tomorrow morning,” the voice speaks, causing Clark to drop his pen and scratch at his shallow beard. He’s gotta shave soon and he knows it. He usually doesn’t allow himself to grow his beard out, partially because of his own paranoia about leaving DNA everywhere. “Come get me from the airport?”

Clark thinks it over for a moment before leaning back in the chair with a heavy sigh. “What time is the plane landing?”

“Should be about seven in the morning.” The voice replies.

A knock on his door alerts him of a new arrival and he grabs the phone and takes it off speaker before placing it into his ear. He calls out for whomever is on the other side of the door to enter. Pamela Ivey walks into the room with a bright smile.

“Yes, miss Ivey? How can I assist you?” Clark’s surprised by the sudden arrival, it’s evident in his voice. He stands, still holding the phone to his ear to make it a point for her to get on with the visit.

“I was wondering if there’s a chance that you still needed a T.A.?” Her green eyes hold hope and Clark politely declines.

“Sorry, that position is already filled in. Maybe you can apply again next semester.” Clark holds back a smirk as Kobalt’s blue eyes glimmer in his mind. A thought about Kobalt on her knees suddenly pops into his mind as Pamela frowns in front of him before ducking her head in defeat. She nods only a second later, leaving his office door cracked open. In a huff of impatience, he crosses the floor to close it.

“Who was that?” The voice over the phone asks.

“No one, Jason,” Clark answers absently as he settles himself behind the desk again. He unbuttons his shirt before taking it off and draping it over the chair and leaning forward once more. “Are we done here? I’ll talk to you tomorrow when I pick you up at the airport.” Before Jason can answer, Clark’s finger already pressed the red button on the screen to end the call. He sighs in frustration as he pushes himself away from the chair. He turns and leans against the window that’s settled behind his chair and watches the night sky.

“Am I interrupting some brooding, Sir?” A voice speaks from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the new arrival.

“Just lost in thought, Kobalt,” he turns to face her fully before reaching for his shirt again, his muscles flexing with each movement. It wouldn’t do him any good to be seen in his private office shirtless with a student. He knew that. “A colleague of mine is arriving in the city tomorrow. I haven’t seen the man in a year, it’s a nice surprise for me.”

“Would you like some company?” She offered before stepping fully into the office and shutting the door behind her. He watched as she turned the lock. He knows it’s only because he prefers privacy, but the thought of knowing him too well already sends a shiver down his spine.

“Only if you’d be willing to escort me to the airport at seven in the morning.” He replied. “I have to pick him up.”

“Early bird gets the worm, right?” She answered back, tilting her head to the side with a smile.

“How do you take your drink in the morning?” Clark asks, raising a brow. “I figured since you’re willing to tag a long with me, I can bring you a cup of coffee.”

“Large and in charge,” she smirked without missing a beat. Clark could swear he saw her eyes scale his body but chucked it up to the low lighting.

Matching the curl of her lip, he leaned forward, “noted.” He was playing a dangerous game and he knew it. All he had to do was lean forward and he could wrap his palm around her throat. But the feeling subsides as she turns around and walks out of the office, leaving him alone with his thoughts once more.

The next morning comes and greets him with a rainstorm outside his window. It’s nearly four in the morning and he knows he has a busy time ahead of himself. He swings his legs out of the comfort of his blanket and struts to the bathroom across the hall and quickly showers himself. He dresses in a plain blue shirt and black denim jeans. He dresses his feet in converse. He swipes a comb through his hair as he rushes to brush and floss his teeth.

His thoughts run through his mind. Jason is coming to visit and Clark has no idea how long the man will be staying around. The night previous, he’d cleaned out his guest bedroom for his friend. He grabbed his car keys from the dresser by his bedroom door before descending the stairs and out the door. He quickly seats himself in his truck and drives over to the nearest coffee shop— only a six minute drive from his house. He glanced at the time and noticed that he’s still got plenty of time to spare before he went to pick up Kobalt.

He settles himself on a side street, dark enough to not be seen at a distance. He placed his phone on the dashboard and clicked a camera app, showcasing his office he clicks on a clip and it displayed yesterday night when Kobalt was standing in his office. She has no idea that he’s been recording sessions with her. Nobody knows that he installed cameras in his office. He knew that had someone found out, he’d be investigated on some harassment charges.

He watched as the pair in the video chat for a while until she turned around and left the office. His fingers pressed the pause button as he stared at her backside for a long moment. He takes a screenshot of it before he realizes that it’s nearly time for him to drive to the college dorms and pick her up. He sets his phone inside the cup holder on the dashboard and drives to the nearest coffee shop. He walks inside and orders his own coffee as well as Kobalt. Once he’s seated back in his car, he sends a text message to her, alerting her of his upcoming arrival.

She quickly answers back, sending an array of smiley emojis along with a few winking faces. He thinks nothing of it; it’s early as hell in the morning and the sun’s barely rising over the horizon. He parks his car in the faculty parking lot before he shuts it off and steps outside. He placed his hands in his pockets as he walks through the grounds and through the Flower Hall where he knows she has a dorm room. He only hoped she didn’t share with anyone; he wasn’t in the mood for awkward conversation.

He finds her room number easily and he could hear the faint sound of Disney songs blaring out from a speaker somewhere inside the room. He rapts a knuckle against the wooden door and waits patiently a few moments until the door swings open and on the threshold she stands with her hands tangled in her hair. She’s wearing nothing more than tight green leggings with a matching bra. He raises a curious brow at her as he steps inside the room. It’s a tad bit untidy, a few shirts hung over her computer chair and her bed seemed unmade. He silently hands over the coffee and she brightens up before taking a long swig of the delicacy. She moans in delight, almost causing him to take her then and there from the noise alone.

“You’re a fucking god send, Clark,” she moans as she takes another long sip of the coffee. “I owe you for this, holy shit.”

“The pleasures all mine,” he chuckled as his eyes fall to her bra. He doesn’t hide the fact that he’s staring either as she casually leans back against the desk. “We should be hitting the road soon. How long until you’re ready?”

“I was just picking out a shirt before you arrived; care to help me pick one out?” She struts over to her bed where multiple shirts lay spread out. Finally, he picks out a black top that has a low dip in the collar, daring the wearer to be bold. It’s a sheer cut as well. Though the color of the shirt doesn’t phase him, it’s the plunging neckline that catches his eye. “I had a feeling you’d pick that one.” She smirks and playfully shakes her hips as she bends down to pick up the shirt. She puts it on and the thoughts don’t cease as she sashays her way to the door to grab her purse. “You gonna keep gawking at me or are you going to pick up your friend?”

“I don’t see why I can’t do both,” he replied smoothly as he followed her into the hallway. She turns to lock it before following Clark out of the building. It’s early, few students are barely awake at this hour and the ones that are awake, barely seemed put together enough to notice a teacher walking around with a student.

“If you’d like, I can leave you here for a moment and warm the car up a little before coming to grab you.” Clark offered as they entered the lobby.

“Such a gentleman,” she teased before shaking her head and following him out to the parking lot. Teachers milled about, carrying cups of coffee or dragging their feet, almost in similarity to the students. Quickly, the pair made their way across the parking lot and into Clark’s Tacoma. Just as Kobalt sat down, she hissed at the cold leather seats.

Smiling to himself, Clark started the car and pressed a button on his dashboard. A few seconds later, Kobalt squealed as her backside started to feel warm. “Is there anything else you’d like to surprise me with, Clark?” Blinking as she calmed down, he raised a brow before turning back to look forward before pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road. He’d had an hour and half until he had to grab Jason and he hoped traffic wasn’t going to be terrible on the highway.

“I have a big surprise for you but you’ll have that when you’re ready,” he winked at her.

“Oh?” She bit the corner of her lip as she sipped at her coffee. “What kind of surprise would that be?”

Clark remained silent as he weaved into the highway. The traffic wasn’t horrible, thankfully. They drove for an hour, mostly singing to the radio. By the time Clark had pulled up to the airport pick up area, Kobalt had fallen asleep. He pulled out his phone and took a picture of her sleeping before pulling up his messages. He clicked Jason’s name and wrote a quick text about his arrival before clicking his phone off and putting it back in the cup holder.

The car was silent, much to his dismay as he glanced over at Kobalt once more. He reached over to pull away a strand of hair away from her glossed lips. As he moved away from her, he could have sworn she whispered his name but thought nothing more of it as another car parked beside him. He glanced over to see an elderly couple being escorted by a younger man. He waved to them as they peered in his window before turning his attention back to the entrance of the airport.

He didn’t have much longer to wait until he’d received a call from Jason. The call lasted no longer than three minutes as Clark sat up in his seat and squinted into the sea of people as they ushered out of the airport. Clark stood out of the car, weary of the sleeping woman beside him as he crossed the pathway until he was on the curb. His face broke out into a wide grin as he recognized the black hair of his dear friend.

“Jay,” he greeted as the younger man embraced him tightly. The pair stayed that way for a moment longer before Clark leaned down to grab the luggage from his friend. “Glad to see you, man.”

“I wasn’t planning on letting you know that I was coming around,” Jason admitted as he walked by Clark’s side back to the car. “It was going to be a surprise. But when I was aware of Kobalt, I had to be certain you know of my arrival.”

“I don’t need nor want your approval of this, Jason.” Clark replied as the pair approached the car. He unlatched his side of the car door before Jason easily hopped into the back seat. He peered over to the front passenger seat and raised a knowing eyebrow to Clark.

“You sure as hell don’t need my approval, shit, Clark.” He seemed to be speaking a little too loudly as Kobalt suddenly blinked awake and looked around her surroundings.

“Where are we?”

“You fell asleep on the way to the airport,” Clark explained, peering in the rear view mirror as he closed the car door and fastened his seatbelt. “This is my colleague, Jason Todd. He’s more of a nephew to me, but for my career’s sake, he’s just someone I know.”

“Hello,” She blinked at him as she turned around in the seat to smile at him. “My name’s Kobalt.”

“You’re beautiful,” Jason smirked as he looked at Clark from the corner of his eye. “I’m happy to finally meet my uncle’s T.A. He boasts about your hard work to me all the time. He’s glad you applied for the job.”

“Jay,” Clark warned in a low tone.

“Oh, come on, Clark,” Jason playfully slapped Clark’s chest before turning back to smile at her. ”I’m only speaking the truth. He adores your work ethic. I’d love to see you in action.”

“You can come see me anytime, Jason,” she replies, looking over her shoulder. She blinks sweetly at Jason and Clark tightens his grip on the steering wheel for a moment before he tries to block out the conversation happening in front of him. “I live in the dorms by myself, it gets awfully lonely sometimes. It was a relief that Clark hired me for his assistant; now my nights aren’t so lonely anymore.”

“Maybe you can use some company,” Jason winks at her. “It’s going to be winter time soon. Nights get frigid and cuddle weather is the best time of the year.”

“I bet your girlfriend Astrid gets lonely when you’re not at home, Jason.” Clark raises a brow as he looks into the rear view mirror, shooting him a look of warning. “How long are you staying around this time? You should have brought her along; Kobalt could have used the feminine time while we do our thing at the office.”

“She can join us at the office if she wants,” Jason threw Kobalt a charming smile as he took his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair, fluffing it up. “If she gets so lonely, why aren’t you spending more time with her, boss boy?”

“I have other obligations,” Clark rolled his eyes. “You still didn’t answer me about Astrid.”

“She didn’t want to come,” Jason shrugged, leaning back in the chair. “I wasn’t going to force her to come with me. And personally, I wanted alone time with my uncle. It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Clark?”

The pair connected stares through the mirror for a minute before Clark sighed and sped his way along the highway; traffic had spread out and had given him enough room to swerve comfortably through the lanes. “We’ll talk more later.” Clark huffed a breath as Jason turned his attention back to the blue haired girl sitting in the passenger seat.

“Where’s a good place for grubs around here? Airplane food sucks and I was not looking forward to eating peanuts for three hours; I’m starving.”

“There’s a pizzeria not too far from campus,” she answered back. “It’s good pizza and it’s cheap. They have an arcade there too.” She turns her attention to Clark, rubbing his arm. “What do you say we all get lunch? My treat?”

For a moment, Clark could only concentrate on the feeling of Kobalt’s fingers grazing against his skin in a teasingly playful way. “If you think I would ever allow a female to pay for my food, you’re sorely mistaken.” He barely musters as he shifts in his seat.

“Let the girl pay, pops!” Jason laughs out. He doesn’t miss the death glare in the mirror from Clark. “It’s not uncommon for broads to pay for the man’s food nowadays. Get out of the 1930s and come to the 21st century.”

“No.” Clark confirmed, following Kobalt’s directions to the pizzeria.

Indeed, the pizzeria was tiny and in extreme proximity to campus. He’d have to be careful with his actions; along with watching Jason to make sure he behaved. He parked the car across the street from the tiny pizzeria and jumped out of the car before opening the rear door for Jason. Once Jason was on the ground, he rounded the car and helped Kobalt down from the high height.

He hiked a brow as Jason kept his palm pressed to the small of her back as she entered the shop. Old music played from the speakers coming from the ceiling and Clark followed Jason and Kobalt to a booth in the back of the shop. Soon after they were seated, a waiter appeared wearing a striped red and white shirt with a matching apron wrapped around his waist.

Jason sat by himself as Kobalt sat in the inner seat before Clark slid in next to her. From this position, Clark could easily have the thought of slipping a finger up her skirt and across the wetness that is surely pooled there waiting to be touched. Jason had the same thoughts as the pair of men briefly locked eyes before Kobalt ordered a medium sized pizza and French fries for them to split among themselves. The three of them each told the waiter what they wanted to drink before he smiled and walked away.

“This town is ridiculously small,” Jason commented, with a displeased grunt. “Clark, how the hell did you end up here?” The warning glare from Clark caused Jason to lean back in the seat and rest his arm on the headrest of the seat behind him. “You never told me what happened between you and Harley, you know? She was a good girl. I miss the pair of you together.”

“That’s a conversation for another day, Todd,” Clark growled, grabbing a napkin from the dispenser and tossing it across the table. “It’s not something I’d like to discuss right now, thanks.”

“Harley?” Kobalt asked in interest as she looked between both men. “Whose Harley?”

“She’s-“

“None of your concern.” Clark cut Jason off quickly, staring daggers at the younger man. It wouldn’t do well to mention Harley— the memories of their last encounter still fresh in Clarks mind. “Now, if we can get off the topic of a past lover.”

“You’re such a sucker,” Jason laughed out a little too loudly in the small space, causing Clark to smack the table with his palm. “Okay, okay, I’m done. This town is really beautiful, I like the fresh air away from the stench of Gotham. It’s what I needed in my life. Maybe the three of us can go on a tour with this young lady as a tour guide of her favorite spots of the town?”

Kobalt smiled but shook her head. “It’s the middle of winter, I’m not trying to freeze my ass off walking around this city.”

The pizza and fries arrived and the trio sat in silence for a moment until Jason’s phone started ringing out. He quickly excused himself, leaving Clark and Kolbalt by themselves.

“Was she student of yours?” She asked, dipping her French fry in a cup of ketchup before shoving it into her mouth. “The pair of you seem to have some animosity, you and Jason, I meant, about the topic. But you mentioned she was a lover? An ex maybe?”

“Jason is a close friend of mine,” Clark answered around a mouthful of pizza, ignoring the question altogether. “He’s like a nephew to me. I love him to death, but he’s stubborn as shit. Sometimes he doesn’t know when to lay off certain topics.”

“Like-“

“Sorry about that,” Jason said as he returned to his seat. He flashed a smile at the pair of them before digging into a slice of pizza. “Astrid was asking how the flight was and all.”

“I still think she should have come around for the trip as well,” Clark tilted his head to the side, never backing down the glare in his eye. “What made her want to stay home? She certainly would have been welcomed here.”

“I thought I already told you she doesn’t like the cold weather?” Jason replied around a mouthful of pizza. He wiped at his mouth and placed his attention to Kolbalt. “More fun for us all, right? No need for necessary check ins with jealous girlfriends. Just old friends having a grand old time with things.” He winked in Kolbalts’s direction and Clark kicked him under the table. “What? I’m just being friendly.”

“Stop.” Clark mouthed to him with a warning glare. He looked to his side and Kolbalt was grinning at Jason with a lopsided smile.

“You know, there’s a big holiday sectional in the city right now; we could all go ice skating around it or something. It’s barely noon, nobody’s going to be around.”

“I’d love to go,” Jason beamed, raising a brow to Clark. “How would you-“

“I can’t,” he sighed. “I have to grade papers for class next week; preparing them for a test soon.”

“Fine,” Jason curled his mouth in a devilish smirk as he met kobalts blue eyes. “I’ll have fun skating around with this beautiful lady tucked on my arm while I feed her pretzels and watch her as she devours hot chocolate.” He watched a muscle twitch in Clarks jaw but refused to go further as he grabbed another slice of pizza because ripping the crust off and shoving it into his mouth.

“I used to ice skate a lot when I was younger,” Kolbalt spoke a few minutes later, breaking the silence, looking between the men as she shoved a French fry into her mouth. “Haven’t done it since I got into high school; school activities and such took too much of my time. I’m probably rusty at it.”

“All the more reason for us to go,” Jason beamed, winning at her. “I could help you balance yourself.”

“Fine, I‘ll go,” Clark scowls, throwing his half eaten crust on the paper plate in front of him before turning in his seat to look at her. “Are you done eating?”

“Yeah,” she shoves a handful of fries into get mouth before he slides out of the booth and helps her stand on her own feet. He holds her coat out for her and she easily slips into it. Jason follows suit. Clark walks over to pay for the food leaving the pair if them alone.

“Will I ever find out who Harley is?” Kolbalt asked, frown on her face. “It seems like it brings him on edge whenever it’s brought up.”

“She was an old student of his,” Jason answered, shoving his hands into his pockets. “They became really good friends until he decided to move away. It’s a long history between them.”

Kolbalt nodded, not knowing what to say. A moment later, Clark returned, shoving his wallet into his pocket before clicking his tongue for the others to follow him. Before long, the three of them were parking into a secluded spot down the street from the ice rink. Jason rented three pairs of ice skates after learning their sizes and before long, the pair were gliding around the ice with ease. Kolbalt stayed in between them with Clark on her right and Jason to her left.

Soon enough, Jason had caught sight of a few girls and had skated away to chat them up, leaving her and Clark alone. Well, as alone as they could be, really.

“Do you regret coming with us?” She looked up at him, skating backward to get a look at his expression. “I know you said you had papers to grade but-“

“I figured it was time I step away from work and enjoy my day for once,” he smiled gently at her. “I couldn’t pass up the offer from Jay, he came all this way to see me. I figured what do I have to lose? The papers will be there for me later tonight.”

“And me!” She giggled, entangling their fingers together as she went back to his side. He raised a brow as he looked briefly down as the touch of her palm brought him warmth.

“Meaning?”

“I’ll be there waiting for you too, Clark.” She stuck out her tongue at him, slightly swinging their hands back and forth. He nearly stopped the obnoxious gesture until the brightness of her smile met his eyes. He’d do almost anything to keep that smile on her face. “Sitting right on your desk with a pen in my mouth and my brows furrowed in thought as i help you grade essays.”

“Sitting on my desk is a sure fire way to get kicked out of my office permanently.” He challenged, playful brow raised, a crooked smile on his lips.

“Then I’ll lay on it instead,” she shrugged, and for a moment, Clark thought he saw a challenge in her eye.

“You’re just asking for trouble.”

“Maybe I like trouble.”

Clark couldn’t hold back the scoff. “That’s because you are trouble.”

“Only for you, sir.” She winked and skated away for a minute until Jason caught her and swirled around with her. She giggled at him as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. She rolled her eyes and wouldn’t stray her stare away from Clark.

Clark watched them for several minutes before he skated to the edge of the rink and walked out, seating himself on a bench. Jason held Kobalt’s hands as they skated around until she stopped and craned her neck, frowning when she’d noticed Clark sitting down. She whispered to Jason before she let go of his hand and skated over to Clark with a worried crease in her brows.

“What’s wrong, Professor?”

Looking around him, he let out a sigh before he met her blue eyes, blinking innocently at him. “Thinking I should start heading back home soon; Jason still has his luggage in my car and it wouldn’t do good to get back so late; dinner still has to be made.”

“Could I join you?” She hobbles away from the ice to stand in front of him on the grass. She’s unsteady for a moment until Clark grabs her waist. She smiles and thanks him even though he doesn’t release his grip from her right away.

“I’m sure you have other things to occupy your evening other than having dinner at my place.” He tries not to get closer to her; his home has always been personal. Besides.... Harley pops up into his thoughts once more before he shakes his head at himself.

“It’s just dinner, sir,” Kolbalt shrugs with a teasing smile. “We already spent the afternoon and morning together, what’s a few more hours? There’s nothing inappropriate about dinner.”

It’s just dinner.

It takes him only a millisecond to stand on his feet to his full height and whistle out over the chattering laughter and conversations, motioning for Jason to come to his side once he catches the man’s eyes. Jason skillfully skated to the edge and leaned over the rail, slightly out of breath. “‘Sup?”

“Put your dick back in your pants and let’s go; dinner at my place.”

He drops his head as a breath of laughter escapes his mouth in a puff of smoke before he walks off the ice and seats himself on the bench, indicating about taking skates back to the booth. A few moments later, the trio were sitting in Clark’s truck and back on the road. Even sooner than she expected, Clark pulled into the roundabout driveway up to an old Victorian house.

“Welcome to my humble headquarters,” he said once he’d parked the car and helped Jason unload his luggage. “You already know where you’re sleeping, I’ll show Kolbalt to the kitchen.” Jason saluted for a moment and walked into the house quickly followed by Clark and Kolbalt.

As Jason stepped through the hallway and turned to enter the living room, his face lit up in a brilliant smile and his luggage dropped out of his hands as he ran into the room, a surprised smile displayed on his face. “Astrid! You’re here!”

At the mention of her name, Clark stood straighter as he shared a look with Kolbalt as the pair stood in the hallway.

<<PART FOUR>>

Tags are open??

#caplan writes #my writing #clark kent #henry cavil x reader

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ditttiii · 4 years

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Enchanted To Meet You || 5.5 || JK’s Interlude.

Banner by: @thebannershop

◈ Summary: No one ever told you that you had a soulmate or—soulmates, for that matter. Humans don't have soulmates, but shapeshifters do. What are you supposed to do when the seven members of the worlds biggest boy band turn out to be your soulmates—only for you to realise that they aren't even human

BTS is on a hiatus and ARMY thinks they are completing their mandatory military service. You believe that too, at least you did until you realised that you had adopted them and that one way or another they were gonna live with you—as Hybrids because apparently, you all are soulmates.

◈ (Hybrid AU // Soulmate AU) (Fluff // humour // smut // angst // eventually NSFW) (NC-18) (Ot7 x Reader) (slow burn)

◈ series master-list

◈ Word Count: 2051

◈ Warnings: Maybe one curse word? PG-13 (sfw)

You're the debt that brought me back to my life 너는 내 삶에 다시 뜬 햇빚 The Second Coming of My Dreams as a Child 어린 시절 내 꿈들의 재림 I don't know what this feeling is 모르겠어 이 감정이 뭔지 Is this a deceitful dream? 혹시 여기도 꿈 속인건지

Jungkook hates quite a few things in his life at the moment—hates having to hide from his soulmate, hates that he has to pretend like he was just a rabbit and not a living, breathing human too, however more than anything else he hates himself.

God, he despises himself now more than ever. He had hurt you, made you cry, made you fear your own home. He was supposed to be someone you felt safe with, and yet he almost gave you a heart attack today.

Jungkook at the moment feels like a fraud, a sham as he gazes at you—looks at your peaceful, sleeping face. Small, warm puffs of breath hits his head and he feels his fur move under the soft force.

‘Tingles’, He thinks.

He feels your warm presence cocoon him as his body heat mingles with yours. Here, curled beside your sleeping figure like this, he can't help but curse himself. His self-loathing at an all-time high, as he thinks back to what had happened a few hours ago.

He knew it was a possibility, knew that it could happen.

The chance of you coming home suddenly and catching him in his human form wasn't an improbable one.

Jungkook, though, couldn't stand it anymore. It wasn't like he would have died if he hadn't shifted, but being a rabbit all the time wasn't the most comfortable feeling ever either.

His bones ached, and his muscles were sore because of the prolonged shifted state.

He also wasn't used to being in his animal form for an extended duration of time. He'd usually shift back after a few hours, and so this wasn't a problem he had been aware of before.

The feeling of staying shifted for days on end had him feeling claustrophobic. It was the kind of claustrophobia he thinks he would experience if he was locked inside a too tiny box with his limbs wrapped awkwardly and uncomfortably close to his body.

Suffice to say it wasn't the most comfortable state of being.

His plan was to make use of the few minutes while you were out shopping to shift back to his human form and just stretch. He hadn't planned on staying like that for longer than maybe ten minutes. But when he had shifted-back the relief—oh god, the relief was almost intoxicating.

It's potency so concentrated, he had ended up groaning out loud as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

The numbing, constant aching of his bones and muscles, more than anything else, had left him feeling exhausted for the last few days. The pins and needles feeling when he had shifted back was enough to send him tumbling down onto the floor, as his unsteady feet refused to hold his weight.

Jungkook had been practising boxing with his trainer before all of this had happened. He also had a black belt in Taekwondo—the very principle of which was to harness an indomitable spirit. He was fit, active, athletic and buff. Staying shifted for extended periods into a form so much smaller than his human one, was borderline torturous at times.

Jungkook simply did not know how he was supposed to hold back.

He had many qualities that he was admired for, but iron like self-restraint wasn't exactly one of them. Maybe, more like the lack, thereof the aforementioned, self-restraint would be more appropriate.

Jungkook wasn't born talented. Not like the rest of the band members. As a student, he wasn't really the brightest pea in the pod either, his math skills are still nothing to boast about.

What most people saw was the end product, the final result that would come out after Jungkook would spend hours, days—months, perfecting it. He had said it before, but in reality, he wasn't as perfect as his stage persona portrayed him to be. While BTS's Jungkook was perfection personified, with his precise dance timings and on-point vocal notes, Jeon Jeongukk struggled.

When Jeongukk had first joined BTS, he had been more of a dancer than he was a singer. He had never, ever had the assumption or even the hope, that he would be chosen as the main vocalist. When he was rejected during the auditions for Superstar K, the talent show, Jeongkook was heartbroken.

It wasn't something he had ever talked in-depth about to ARMY, but his confidence in his vocal skills had taken a hit that day. He had chosen his then idol, IU Noona's song, and had sung it for weeks, perfected every single note until the feel of that vibration, the beat of that rhythm had synced to his very pulse.

But he was rejected, cast out before his audition could even be broadcasted.

He till date can't fully understand why bighit, let alone seven fucking agencies, had thought he was worth their time. Maybe it was fate playing its card and bringing him together with his soulmates, or it was just a coincidence—he didn't know why and probably never would.

He knows that it wasn't exactly a necessity for all of his soulmates to be idols, you clearly weren't. He knew precisely how lucky he was, and was therefore so utterly thankful that he could share his passion and love with all of his soulmates.

Yes, All of his soulmates, you included.

Jungkook isn't a snooper, not really. Sure, he has always been curious by nature, and his maknae persona only fuelled that image, thus overtime making him seem more like the baby in the group—but no he wasn't a snooper.

He knows how much he values his personal space and, so would never deliberately try to breach upon someone else's but you—god you, made him do things he would never choose to do before.

He hadn't wanted to, or well maybe he did want to, but he definitely didn't mean to. It wasn't like he had been planning to check your laptop folders.

No, because when just stretching hadn't quite fully loosened his body, he had thought he'd do a quick dance routine and get the blood flowing. How was he supposed to know that he would find BTS songs, their songs, his songs on there?

He shouldn't have been surprised, but he still was. Their fandom was pretty big, and the chances of a college girl listening to their music were pretty high. You were part of the demographic that they aimed and catered most towards, so it was to be expected, but it still caught him by surprise.

Dressed in one of your loose hoodies and a pair of loose pyjamas, he looks at the screen.

His breath still hitched in his throat as his eyes widened, glossy, doe-like large and oh so so curious.

His grip on the back of your chair slips, as he stumbles before getting a hold, and slowly sinks down onto the empty seat. Thinks about how you have probably spent hours pouring over your medical texts in the same exact chair, and that makes him feel closer to you.

He has been curled around you, has slept with his face literally pushed into your cleavage, but somehow the simple act of sharing a space that you spent a lot of your time in, sends his heart racing as a small smile overtakes his lips and he bites them to stop it from spreading entirely.

He fails, of course, he does.

He clicks on the folder titled 'BTS' and watches a list of sub-folders pop up on his screen. His heartbeat rises—thuds and beats strong enough that he feels it in his ears, in the back of his throat, in the wrist that touches the table as he glides the mouse across the surface.

His palms feel sweaty, and he feels this anxious feeling pool somewhere deep in his stomach, as his gut squeezes. It feels like his conscience is telling him something. That he shouldn't be doing this. This feels like something dangerous, but something he desires. The folder the screen displays the apple to his Adam.

You? his forbidden fruit.

His breaths grow shorter, as he unconsciously tries to be as quiet as he can be and leans forward to look at the vast array of songs you had. As his eyes rake over the meticulously named albums with their years after them written in brackets, he almost chuckles.

He isn't surprised to see that you were anal about categorizing your songs too. From what he had observed of you in the last few days, he would be more surprised if you weren't.

His finger glides over the scroll wheel of the mouse, as he reads the titles of the songs. Every single song they had released was on there—Official and covers.

Every. Single. One.

Whether you were just a really dedicated ARMY or it was because of the soulmate bond, he didn't know, but it doesn't matter to him what the reason was.

Because there they were, he and his hyungs splayed all over your computer screen. Their photoshoots all lined meticulously year after year, their random pictures that you had probably picked up from twitter or weverse grouped by year and then there were screenshots.

Screenshots of tweets, weverse, certain parts of interviews of theirs, that you had ever liked were all there. It was fascinating, surreal, insane to be able to see himself and the hyungs through your eyes, the eyes of their soulmate.

Somewhere, between finding you in that shelter, to now living with you, he had stopped thinking of you as human, as someone different.

Yes, you weren't quite the same as he was, but he didn't care anymore. Because you loved him, you cried for him, you laughed with him and more than anything else you completed him. Filled his aching, longing soul with love until it overflowed and he felt full, content—sated. His thirst for your presence quenched, for once in all his life.

However, the realisation that he had found his last soulmate hadn't fully sunk in yet. He couldn't even imagine what the others must be feeling right now, he was sleeping curled around you and, yet all he wanted to be was closer, it was this all-consuming feeling that kept pulling him under, dunking him in its depths.

The crazy part was he didn't even mind it anymore, he would drown in the deepest depths if he could feel your hand pulling him closer in there, your lips locking with his as you breathe air into him, save him, make him yours.

Kami, he wanted you to make him yours, mate him, mark him.

He knew it wouldn't happen anytime soon, you didn't even know they were your soulmates. Sure, you liked them as artists, but what teenage or college girl didn't have a favourite band? They could very well just be a passing fascination for you at this point, a fleeting interest, a secret guilty pleasure before you move on with your life.

Wasn't that how fame usually worked? It was eager, intense, loud until it suddenly wasn't and one was left with a gaping hole in their heart, that they aren't ever able to fill after.

Jungkook didn't want that, he didn't want that for his hyungs either. It was something he had figured out years ago. He wasn't about to let this fickle, fleeting fame catch him in its lusty claws.

He would give this life his all, pour literal sweat, blood and tears into it, but once his extended contract ends, he will step back.

He will bow down low as the curtains close for the stage of 'The Golden Maknae' and, the path paves for Jeon Jeongkook. The boy who had come from Busan with a heart full of hopes and dreams and had ended up achieving and getting more than he had ever even imagined or hoped for.

He would be thankful to his fans, to his company, to his Hyungs, to this industry, for taking care of him and letting him fly under their warm protection, but he would be done. As the curtains fall close, the mask will slip, and he'll turn, and you will be there.

You with your bright grin and glimmering eyes would look on at him proudly, and he'd kiss you, hold you and know that he didn't want fame because he had you.

And you were all he had wanted for as long as he can remember.

After all, you are the cause of his euphoria, a home with you his utopia.

Filling in the plot, adding it the finer details.

Since the taglist is pretty long now and I can’t continue to keep them all in my comments, I will be putting the taglist up here from next chapters onwards. Tumblr is glitchy and some of you might not be notified so I am sorry about that. However, if you are a regular reader and have left me feedback time and time again, whether it was a comment or an ask with your thoughts on this story, I’ll tag you down in the comments since I know you definitely do read the work and appreciate it and I am so grateful for your support.

Thank you for reading 💖

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starshipsofstarlord · 3 years

Text

Growing Pains | TFW

Request: Hey! Can I please request a platonic x reader with team free will 2.0? The reader gets turned back to a toddler by a witch and they try to ask Rowena for help but, the spell lasts for a week and it's just plain chaotic. The reader is extremely clumsy and hungry but knows a few words like "Hungry" and "Thirsty". The rest is up to you 😊. Thanks in advance!

A/N: It is a little different from the request, so I hope you don’t mind, also it’s not great. And I’m terribly sorry for the wait, I hope you can understand why xxx

Walking around the lab, you screwed your face up at the mess. It was like toddler’s had been let loose in the room, there was glass broken upon the floor, paper thrown out of the shredder, and worst of all, no one to condemn for the death of the scientist.

Sighing, you shut your eyes, leaning back into one of the counters. “So, the guy that was killed had like a dozen or so kids and we can’t find a single one of them, or the mother?”

You pinched the bridge of your nose as Cas circled the room once more, seeing if he could find anything that your human eyes had missed. But alas, there was no ultimatum, nothing that could direct the pair of you to answers.

“That sounds about right.” Dean’s gruff voice came from the doorway, stepping on shards of glass as he came closer to the two of you. “Although at this time, I am calling shots on the mom being the killer.”

“We don’t even know if this is up our alley Dean.” You sighed, opening your eyes and looking at the older hunter. “Did you get anything from the co-workers?”

“Not a peep.” His tone was almost too cheerful, especially considering the circumstances. The group of you were nowhere near completing this case, and all he could think about was the burger joint around the corner. You were close enough to it, that you would give in and accompany him. “Who’s hungry?”

“After the sight of the guts strung in the ceiling fan,” you looked up to emphasise your point, “I think I may have lost what appetite that I had left.”

“Bad luck. You snooze, you lose.” With that he left the room, presumably heading off to stuff his face. It was impossible not to roll your eyes at his childish behaviour, although in all fairness, you should have been used to it by now. However your dear angel friend remained with you.

“We should meet with Sam and Jack, and see if they have found anything in the house.” Castiel spoke, confused by the lack of evidence in this death. There was nothing that could have helped, even the majority of the man’s body was gone.

“Why would someone have that many children?” It was a rhetorical question, but just the thought of your body going through it’s natural process that many times made you shiver.

“To repopulate.” Cas put simply, although that was a straightforward fact. But that was not what you had meant, admittedly you had a soft spot for kids, even missed being one sometimes.

“I know, but doesn’t that seem sort of strange to you?” Your mind was spinning with all sorts of possibilities, of what could and couldn’t be going on. Unless, well... “It could be like some sort of supernatural litter, or they’re breeding test subjects. Is there even any record of them having that many children?”

Your conclusions made your friend frown, and he pointed his finger up, unintentionally pointing to the tendril of flesh that was hanging from the fan above.

“We should check the records.” And with that he grabbed your bag from just outside of the room, pulling your laptop from out of it. Just then, your phone began ringing. It was Sam, and so you answered.

“Hey, you find anything?” There was silence on the other end, until you heard the shrill sound of what you supposed to be a child.

“Was that Jack or -”

“Hey!” The nephilim retorted. You could already picture the child like frown on his face, but before either of you could bicker about your comparison, the Winchester on call spoke first.

“She left one of her kids, and we found hex bags.” He breathed, relieved that this did in fact involve what you all were guessing to be a witch, yet also frustrated about how messy this all was. “But the thing is, this son of hers was closed in the basement, and the only thing down there for him to eat down there was a man’s leg...”

“We should get that tested, it could be the father.” You said, trying to think about this case adjoined with all of its new revelations. “So, what is her goal here, she’s trying to turn her own children into cannibals?”

“That’s how the ‘myth’ of the wendigo started in human folklore.” Jack commented, before he frowned. Him and Sam both let out shouts, making you fear for the pair.

“Sam?”

“She doesn’t have any children, nor did he.” Cas spoke, the content on the screen disarranging this entire predicament further. “What just happened Sam?”

His breathing could still be heard from the other end of the line. It seemed like he was in shock of some sort.

“You’ve got that right, Cas.” He breathed, referring to the fact that she had no spawn. “And I suspect the others are like him. He’s just turned into a grown man, we’re going to attempt to get an answer to who he is. Be careful if you encounter Mrs Fletcher, both of you.”

So, now you had a presumed answer on how Mr Fletcher had died, you had to tell Dean. Quickly, you and Cas left the scene, looking for the elder Winchester, remembering to take any of your items with you.

“Thankyou.” You nodded, doing all of the talking to any police whilst Cas held your phone at an arm’s length. “Got any clues on where our witch works?” You asked him.

Sam replied soon, making the matter of reaching Dean that more prominant. “West Street, not far from where you are. At the burger joint, Paula’s.”

“Shit!”

When you and Castiel arrived, Dean Winchester was nowhere to be found. That fact had you deeply concerned, more so than you would usually be on a hunt. This presumed witch was targeting adults, and not only did he and the majority of you fit the agenda, but you didn’t want to know what would happen if you ended up disturbing her crosshairs.

There was no one inside, excluding yourself and the angel. It was eerie, almost too quiet to be owned by a witch. Scratch that, definitely too quiet.

“Behind the counter.” You nodded towards the door, taking the lead first, lightly pushing it. The bell atop of it jingled, making you blink hazily, before all turned to a deep gaze of pixels.

Castiel walked closer to you, tapping your forehead, but to no avail was your state resolved. Instead, you felt the need to collapse and keep your eyes contained behind their lids. And so you gave into that feeling, only hearing the voices of Sam and Jack before it was over.

When you awoke, you were in your bed in the bunker, but it felt much larger than it ever had before. There was so much room to move upon the mattress, the duvet even felt bigger.

As you looked down at your hands, you realised they had shrunk significantly. For all you were aware, this could all have been a very lucid dream, but you doubted that. As a hunter, the strange things were never false, they were real.

Attempting to leave your bed, you dropped your legs over the side, although they were now incapable of touching the floor. Instead of landing upright, you fell, causing a thud against the floor.

The sound had obviously rendered, and it removed all thoughts that were rattling around in your mind. Memories flashed before your eyes, sending a haze of dizziness to your shrunken body, until they all left, making you aloof in your own adult room.

Dean rushed out of his own reside as he heard the thud. He had followed the witch around the back and shanked her, but there had been a second plan up her long black sleeves. And he should have known, as he walked into your room, only to find a little girl with a strong resemblance to you.

This was her charade when alive, and the issue still stuck even now even when she was dead. Dean rubbed his face, feeling the muscles that were tensing beneath the skin. And now they were left with the outcome that they and you had tried to resolve.

Looking down at your youthful silhouette reminded Dean as to exactly why he hated witches so much. They were deceitful and cruel, and unfortunately so much more. “Sam!” He called out in a hurry, cradling your small, whining body in his arms.

You tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but your once fellow hunter would not allow you to do so. There was no logic turning in the cogs of your mind, instead, you were much rather shy to someone that you were viewing as a stranger.

In a flash, Sam was at the threshold of your door, looking in as it was ajar. He saw Dean with a kid, and there was only one explanation for it. They had been hustled whilst the witch turned in her grave...

Cas examined a book in the war room, whilst Jack followed his actions. Sam was on the phone with Rowena, asking, some would see it as begging, the witch to come and fix you up. And thus, Dean was left with you, whilst he nursed a beer in his opposite hand.

You tried to reach the glass bottle, but Dean jerked it away from your grasp. “No.” He warned you, having continuously done so before when you were too lazy to fetch your own from the fridge. But that didn’t stop you, instead it humoured you, making you laugh at the perceived game.

“Stop it.” He spoke again, making Jack laugh at your stubbornness which clearly hadn’t changed. For once, it was nice for him not to be the youngest in the room, even though technically he still wasn’t. But all got distracted when Sam huffed a sigh of relief over the phone.

“Okay, great. Me and Dean will meet you there.” And then he hung up.

Rather than being in Dean’s arms once again, you had been traded to Sam’s as the eldest drove Baby to the destination that Rowena had proposed. “Thirsty.” You mumbled, a gurgle following your very short sentence.

Sam looked at Dean, who only shrugged. He was unsure of what to do, they couldn’t stop at a gas station, otherwise they would miss their meeting with Rowena, and as they knew far too well, she was a tricky one to get a hold of.

“No you’re not.” Dean told you, trying to convince your mind otherwise to its actual thoughts. For the moment of which you were silent, he thought it may have worked, however the peace was not eternal, for you spoke again.

“Hungry.” You managed to speak next, making Dean huff from exhaustion. He thought of your need for a drink, and then it clicked, he tipped his head back at Sam.

“There’s a beer in the back.” It possibly could have rolled under his seat, these roads to the witch were bumpy. Sam gasped at the statement, placing his hand on your back as he bounced you and kept you distracted from your desires.

“Please tell me that you’re not serious.” At this point, Sam would not be surprised with his brother. Quite clearly, as much as the man adored kids, he was getting quite fed up with you in this state. It was day in, day out and yet the effects still hadn’t worn themselves out.

“She’s technically of legal drinking age.” He shrugged, remembering all of the times that you would steal his beer from the fridge, or even sometimes his hands.

“Technically,” the younger of the two pried, glaring at his brother, “currently she isn’t,”

“We’re here anyway.” Dean cut the conversation short, putting the car in park. For the first time in his life, the hunter and legacy was eager to see Rowena. Never did he think that day would ever come, but somehow your obliviousness had landed you all here, and he hated it.

Sam got out of the car, carrying you to a bench that Dean had decided to park his own rear on. There was a nice breeze whipping his hair before his face, and this younger you mirrored the reaction the elder one would have had.

You laughed, watching the swarm of locks cover his face, and move to the other side, with the swiftest and slightest motions as the direction switched itself up.

Footsteps, clearly heels, could be heard clicking their way over. It was isolated in this park, presumably the redhead’s doing as she came into view with an amused grin stretching her chin.

“Well, if I was not already quite acquainted with the pair of you, I would presume the two of you were fathers to dear little (Y/N).” Rowena bent forward, ignoring the glares she received from the men, ogling at your youthful expressions. “Are you sure that you don’t want to keep her like this? She is quite adorable when she hasn’t got the brains to work with my son when the two of you dimwits think it fits into your narrative. Or hold a gun to the back of my neck and blackmail me with my own security.”

“Definitely.” Was Dean’s instant response. He could not do another day with baby you, he’d start going grey, or his eyes would turn black all of a sudden from pent up rage.

“Yes, Rowena.” Sam answered, bowing his head, as your fingers decided to thread themselves through his hair.

“Shame.” She pouted briefly, before waving her hand, and then you were, dazed, but sat in Sam’s lap, full size. As soon as you came to, your eyes widened at the position you were in, and you were quick to launch yourself out of it. He however sat there stunned. “Told you we should have called her earlier.” Sam said, still feeling awkward from your exchange, and Dean only grunted in a reply.

Dean knew for sure though, you had been a pain in the ass. If it ever happened again, he would just leave you with Jack and Cas.

#supernatural imagine #supernatural one shot #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural prompts #supernatural requests #tfw x reader #tfw imagine #team free will #team free will x reader #dean winchester imagines #sam and dean #sam winchester imagine #cas x reader

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threecrowsinatrenchcoat · 3 years

Text

Paint My Spirit Gold

Dukeceit Week Day 2: Green/Yellow

Fans of the YouTubers "Deceit" and Remus "The Duke" Sanders start to suspect that maybe, just maybe, the two of them are more than simple internet pals.

AO3 Link: [here]

Word Count: 2187

Warnings: n/a

@dukeceitweek <3

[ID: A screenshot of a Twitter post by user @CallMeDukie. It features a watercolor-style painting of a snake. The snake appears to be made of melting chocolate, and there is a large bite taken out of its tail. Cherries and jam are leaking out of the snake at the bite wound. The snake's expression of horror is overly-exaggerated to the point of comedy. The caption reads: "liked your snake boi, @SerpenThyme. thanks for the inspo." /end ID]

A notification ding cut Janus off mid-sentence.

“Wow, someone left their cell phone on, so professional,” he said, giving the camera a dramatic eye roll. That someone was him, of course, because he was the only one in the apartment- just him and the running livestream- but that was no excuse not to be a drama queen about it. He finished wiping flour off his hands and grabbed his phone to silence it; but the notification made him pause. He flicked his eyes up toward the camera and gave a slight smirk.

“My goodness, I’m famous,” he drawled. “The Duke himself has graced little old me with some fan art.”

Most of the comments in the chat wanted him to show it, so Janus opened up Twitter to see the full post he’d been tagged in. It was a watercolor painting of the coiled-snake chocolate sculpture- lovingly named Jake by his viewers- he’d made for his YouTube video last week; it was wearing an expression of such comedic horror that Janus had to stifle a laugh. He flicked his phone screen toward the close-up camera on his counter so his viewers could see.

“How kind of you, Remus,” he said. “All of you should go scold him for what he’s done to poor Jake here.”

Most of his viewers would know he was joking- after all, they were the ones to nickname him Deceit when he provided neither a real or fake name for his online persona. They knew full well what he was like by now.

The oven timer dinged. Janus silenced his phone and set it aside.

“And our first batch of cookies is done. You know, why don’t we show the Duke some appreciation?”

[ID: An Instagram post by user @SerpenThyme. The photo is an artistically-framed shot of a stack of sugar cookies with green, yellow, and pink icing. Propped up against the stack is another cookie, with an intricate icing-drawing of an octopus. The photo appears to have been color corrected to have high contrast, low saturation, and a dark vignette at the edges. The Instagram user @OctoDukie is tagged. No caption. /end ID]

“You know, I have often been accused of actually being a little old lady, what with my fondness for knitted jumpers, rocking chairs, and incredibly fucked up murder mystery books. Today I am doing nothing to dispel this accusation, by making soup.”

The studio was dark and empty aside from Remus' workspace. Everyone else had left long ago, even his own brother, which meant that it was officially ass-o'clock in the morning (or, as most people called it, somewhere between 1 and 2 a.m.) But Remus was stuck in hyperfocus, honed in on putting the last touches on a commission that he'd been putting off for weeks. It's not that it was a tough painting- once he'd gotten started, it was actually a very creatively satisfying piece- but man, executive dysfunction could go suck a dick

“French onion soup, specifically. Because while I do like to pretend I am a classy bitch, I am also, regrettably, a lazy bitch with a distaste for anything that takes longer than one bottle of wine to make.”

Remus hated working in silence. It was stifling, almost suffocating. His brain needed noise like his lungs needed air. So when the studio had grown still and silent, Remus had flipped open his laptop and queued up some YouTube videos.

“So we have here three pounds of onions that we need to slice up, pole to pole. You’re going to cry no matter what, so if you have any memories you’ve been repressing since middle school, now is an excellent time to dredge those up.”

And if it happened to be 90% SerpenThyme videos, well. Sue him.

“Now the first rule of caramelizing onions: fast and sloppy is always better than slow and thorough… at least, that’s what every man I’ve ever slept with tells me.”

Remus choked and glanced over to his laptop screen just in time to catch Deceit's trademark smirk directed at the audience just for a moment. It was the deadpan delivery that always got him. Remus could barely hold onto a joke long enough to get through it without cackling mid-punchline, but this fucker could say the funniest shit like an off-hand comment.

He wiped his hands off on his jeans (what use were clothes if you couldn't use them as paint rags?) and pulled his laptop across the table. He typed out a quick comment, citing the timestamp of the joke, and after it was posted, he shut his laptop.

'Cause ass-o'clock was short for "get-your-ass-home-or-I’ll-kick-it" o'clock.

[ID: A screenshot of a YouTube comments section. The first comment is by user TheDuke, and reads: "10:42 wow, rude." The second comment is a reply by user SerpenThyme, and simply reads ";)" /end ID]

Janus plopped down on the couch with a slight groan. He didn’t need to stream today, but he really hated missing days. Besides… he was fine. Really.

He adjusted the camera until he was happy with the framing, and then checked the settings on his streaming software. Satisfied, he started the stream, and watched as his usual viewers rolled in.

“What do you mean I’m not in my kitchen?” Janus drawled, addressing the chat. He glanced around with an expression of faux-shock on his face. “My goodness, when did that happen?”

He chuckled, and then gestured to his surroundings. “Yes, we are in my living room today. If you must know, my closest and most trusted friend tried to murder me today- yes, Virgil, it was attempted murder and nothing less- and I survived with nary a scratch… and a broken foot, but that is beside the point. Anyway, I’m not allowed to stand for long periods of time, and I may or may not be somewhat inebriated by pain pills and couldn’t stand even if I wanted to. So we are cooking from my couch today.”

Janus paused for a few moments to read the chat messages as they popped up. A few get well soon’s, a few theories about the “attempted murder,” Virgil- who moderated his chat for him- vehemently denying the “attempted murder” but otherwise refusing to clarify the event, and a large volume of wtf why are you streaming today, take care of yourself comments, which made him smile. But one particular comment caught his eye, almost lost amid the torrent of an active chat: wait this kinda looks like the Duke’s living room?

“Oh, VampSuga,” he said, addressing that commenter in particular with a slight smirk. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. Anyway, since I can’t reach my oven from here, I thought some no-bake cookies were in order. For these you will need-”

[ID: A screenshot of a Discord conversation. The text reads:

“VampSuga: Ok ok hear me out. Dukeceit.

Starstruck96: who?

IneffableSnek: lmao

FeralBeauYasha: lol

VampSuga: Deceit and Remus Sanders! They’re totally dating. I will die on this hill.

FeralBeauYasha: Isn’t the duke w/ PatPat?

IneffableSnek: no thats his brothers bf

FeralBeauYasha: ohh

VampSuga: Did anyone see Deceit’s stream today? I swear that’s the Duke’s livingroom.

StarStruck96: idk that seems like a stretch

IneffableSnek: no wait i kno what u mean

IneffableSnek: im watching the duke’s old videos and that one where he shows off all his old weapons he’s in a living room kinda like deceit’s

FeralBeauYasha: They were acting all cute on twitter too

VampSuga: DUKECEIT” /end ID]

"Hey guys, been a while since you've seen my face and not just whatever my hands are busy with, when it's within YouTube's terms and conditions I mean. They used to be way more lenient…" Remus trailed off for a moment, then shook his head sharply and plastered on a grin.

"Anyway! In June me and a few other creators did a fundraiser for the Trevor Project, and y'all smashed the goal, so I let you decide what video I'd make this month." He paused, and gestured to the mountain of clothes piled behind him on the bed. "And you had so many juicy ideas to choose from, but you decided to dress me up like a Barbie instead."

Remus paused to scroll through his phone for a few moments. "Ah, ok, here we go. Twitter user YoonIsMyCat- oh, BTS, nice- sent in this first outfit. Uh… future Remus, put up the post here somewhere." He gestured vaguely to his right. "Y'all went with either a fuckton more clothes or a fuckton less clothes, which I respect. Apparently this outfit is called…” He squinted at his phone. “Amish chic? I take it back, no respect at all.”

Remus cycled through the outfits his viewers sent in, which ranged from the aforementioned “Amish chic” to “2008 rave attire” to “ok now you guys are just fucking with me” (which consisted of one of those big puffy snow coats, lime green in color; booty shorts with the shrug text emoji across the ass; fuzzy pink boots; and a yellow cowboy hat to top off the whole thing. It was awful. Remus loved it.) The mountain of clothes on the bed gradually became a mess of clothes spread across the floor instead, until there was just one outfit left.

“Ok so Twitter user VampSuga sent me this outfit that I’m gonna call ‘sexy librarian.’ I couldn’t find this exact sweater online, but-” he paused for dramatic effect, before brandishing a sweater toward the camera like a bullfighter. “My boyfriend had something that was close enough.”

Remus hopped up from the bed and switched off the camera so he could change.

“They’re going to lose their minds,” a voice drawled from the doorway. Remus threw his shirt at him.

“Shoo, I’m getting naked.”

[ID: A Twitter post by user @CallMeDukie. It features a selfie of YouTuber Remus “The Duke” Sanders, a Hispanic man with his hair dyed green and styled into a spiked mohawk. He is wearing a yellow knitted cardigan over a black button-up shirt. He is grinning widely at the camera. The caption reads: “my viewers pick my outfits! now live on youtube. go see what i look like as a sexy librarian!” /end ID]

DukeceitStan

first and only dukeceit shipper ig

DukeceitStan

wow there’s so many of you now! Hi!!

DukeceitStan

i want this to be canon so bad omg

DukeceitStan

i mean just look

[image]

how

[image]

cute

[image]

[ID: A series of three gifs featuring Youtubers SerpenThyme, aka Deceit, and TheDuke, aka Remus Sanders. Deceit is a black man with long, dreadlocked hair, and vitiligo patches along the left side of his face. Remus is a Hispanic man with green-dyed hair styled into a mohawk, many ear and facial piercings, and tattoos covering both arms. Each gif is edited so that the highlights are tinged yellow when Deceit is seen, and tinged green when Remus is seen.

The first gif depicts a close-up shot of Deceit’s hands as he carefully decorates a cookie with green and yellow icing. The cookie art he is working on appears to be a half-finished octopus. The gif then fades into a mid-shot of Remus, with his back to the camera, facing a canvas. The canvas is blank, and Remus appears to be laying out paints on a table to his left.

The second gif depicts Deceit seated at his couch, facing the camera. He has many ingredients spread across his coffee table (including oats, cocoa powder, and butter) and appears to be in the process of laying out several more. The gif fades to show Remus seated at a similar couch with a similar coffee table in front of him. The camera is angled slightly downward to better show the myriad of knives spread out across the table. Remus is gesturing wildly with a morning star held in his hand.

The third gif depicts Deceit in his kitchen. He is pulling on a bright, yellow knitted cardigan, and smirking toward the camera. The gif fades to show Remus in his bedroom, seated on his bed. He is holding up a similar-looking cardigan toward the camera and grinning. /end ID]

“Remus, it’s almost two in the morning. Come to bed.”

“I’m coming, sorry. Twitter distracted me.”

“Mm. I can’t believe the bird app is more distracting than I am.”

“You should try harder.”

“Come to bed and maybe I will.”

“Ok, ok, I’m coming. Hang on though, is it cool if I post this?”

“Sure. They figured it out anyway.”

“Sweet. Ok, Jannie, I’m coming.”

[ID: A screenshot of a Twitter post by user @CallMeDukie. It reads: “Dukeceit is canon.” /end ID]

#dukeceit #dukeceitweek #remus sanders #janus sanders #sanders sides fic #kye writes

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siren1song · 4 years

Text

Dating in Quarantine

Summary: The group is on video call, trying to decide the best dating strategy for quarantine.

Warnings: Quarantine, mildly suggestive language

Pairings: Anxceit, Logince, Intruality

Word Count: 878

Taglist: @acanvasofabillionsuns, @emo-disaster, @greenninjagal-blog, @jungle321jungle, @sleepy-sides, @gattonero17, @another-sandersidesblog, @strawberryjellystuff, @logic-with-a-pinch-of-deceit, @gr3ml1n-loser, @main-chive, @firey-alex, @spooky-scary-virgil, @yalltookmyurlideas, @sanderssidesweirdo, @stormypaint, @just-a-little-bit-gay-oops, @dying-is-a-hobby, @the-angry-ship, @rosesisupposes, @just-perhaps

Notes: I’m too tired to put my usual promotional stuff. Plus I gotta remake my commissions post to reflect new and updated information so just. Enjoy these dorks. Oh also I wrote this for @fandom-games!!

Ao3 Link!!

“You are not seriously suggesting that sending dick pics is a way to land a date in quarantine.”

“I am! And you’re too coward to admit it!”

Virgil sometimes wondered if Remus considered the words he said, or if he based every thought purely on how much it would annoy Roman.

“Uh… Remus, honey, explicit pictures are only good when they’re asked for by the person you wanna send them to,” Patton spoke up, his camera quality making him jump around the screen and his uncomfortable expression barely visible.

“See! Patton’s right. You can’t woo any man by sending pictures nobody wants to see!”

“Roman,” Logan interrupted, briefly turning on his own camera to give his boyfriend a look, despite the fact that Virgil could see Roman on his desktop in his background.

While Virgil watched them argue, he got a dm from his own boyfriend, who was technically downstairs but neither of them felt like bothering to move from their spots.

[Snake Boi] how long until they realize remus is basing his argument on experience?

Quickly muting himself, Virgil let out a loud snort. Patton narrowed his eyes at his screen (he thinks, the camera fuzz made it difficult to tell) and he typed a quick bullshit explanation of his allergies acting up or something.

[Bat-tle Axe] forever until patton admits he’s not as clueless as they all think

[Snake Boi] i still think we should coerce them into admitting their relationship to the others

[Bat-tle Axe] tricking patton into saying hes in love with remus isnt coercing snake bite

[Snake Boi] youre no fun

“Virgil? You’ve been muted for several minutes, are your allergies that bad?” Logan asked, making Virgil swear as he finally unmuted himself.

“Nah, I just forgot to unmute myself. What’s the verdict on dating in quarantine?” he asked, toying with the idea of turning on his camera before once again deciding against it.

He hasn’t done laundry in weeks, and was just in a hoodie and boxers, he’d rather not expose that to the world.

“Ya sure that’s all, kiddo?” Patton asked, his camera flickering into a rare moment of clarity to show Virgil his suspicious look.

[Bat-tle Axe] shit pat’s onto me

“Yeah, pops, I’m sure.”

Patton grinned at the fatherly nickname and his camera quality went right back down the shitter.

“Anyway, the verdict on dating in quarantine is none of you know how to make a man swoon,” Roman said, continuing the conversation and glaring at the screen.

Remus’ grin indicated that while Virgil was distracted, he’d said something to infuriate his brother.

“You don’t either, Roman,” Logan pointed out, though his voice was quieter and his account had left the call so Virgil was pretty sure he decided to do something productive.

Virgil let out another snort, covering his mouth with one hand even if his camera was off.

[Snake Boi] yOu DOnT eitHeR roMAn

[Snake Boi] logan stfu youre the one who didnt even realize roman was crushing on you for a whole year

A wheeze and a too fast rush to breathe later, Virgil was choking on air and pushing his laptop off his stomach so he could sit up and ease the coughing.

“You alright over there, Ursula?” Remus asked, and it took Virgil a moment but he eventually managed to send a thumbs up into the chat.

“Good! You must be over there choking on Jayjay’s d-”

“That’s enough, Remus!” Janus cut in, finally unmuting his mic in a frantic to not have his best friend bring the conversation to his sexual exploits.

Virgil tried to laugh again, but the scratchiness of his throat sent him into another coughing fit.

“If you guys kill Virgil, I’m killing you,” Roman said, crossing his arms and leaning against his desk to take his glare closer to the camera.

“I thought you had a rivalry with Virgil, dear,” Logan said, his voice louder.

Upon looking up, Virgil noticed he was hovering over Roman’s shoulder, looking at what was happening.

“Yes, but a rivalry means that if anyone is gonna ‘kill’ him, it’s gotta be me,” Roman explained, instinctively turning his head and pressing a kiss to Logan’s cheek, which in turned got a soft smile from Logan.

Gross.

“Nobody is killing anybody! Kiddo, you need to get some water,” Patton said, getting a ridiculously close to his own cam to show his concern.

“Way ahead of you,” Janus said, making Virgil yelp because the fucker was right in his room.

“Don’t-” he started, but was quickly interrupted by another round of coughing.

Janus raised an eyebrow and extended his hand with the glass of water.

“What happened, love bite?”

“Laughed too hard and spit went down the wrong pipe,” Virgil croaked, grabbing the water and drinking until half of it was gone.

While he shifted to put the glass of water on his desk, Janus got comfortable on Virgil’s bed and gestured for him to lay against his chest.

When he finally got his laptop back in his lap, Janus turned the camera on and they were met with a mixed chorus of delight and teasing.

“You all are aware that online dating apps exist, right?” Janus pointed out, and the conversation about dating in quarantine resumed.

#casper writes #ts virgil #ts janus #ts logan #ts patton #ts remus #ts roman #anxceit #logince #intruality #suggestive #quarantine fic #let me know if i need to tag anything else #this is so chaotic klfhdlf

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winterknight1087 · 3 years

Text

Hardly the Villains

Summary: Roman is the superhero Prince, who fights against the Dark Sides, consisting of Green Menace, Viper, and Shadow Wing. What happens when Roman discovers the real identity of these villains will change his outlook of them.

Word Count: 4868

Warnings: sympathetic Remus, sympathetic Deceit/Janus, fighting, injuries, cursing

Pairings: eventual romantic LAMP, romantic Demus, brotherly creativitwins, brotherly anxceit

AO3 Link My Writing

@rosesisupposes I am so sorry this is a little bit late! 2020 ended the same way it went. But still, I hope you enjoy your @sanderssidesgiftxchange present! It was a fun challenge to work on a superhero fic focused on Roman and Remus!

"Here hold this."

The masked hero barely had time to catch the thing thrown at him, much less identify what it was, before the stick of dynamite blew up in his face. If it were any other super villain, then this would have been the end of the hero. Yet, Green Menace didn't seem to get the memo that he was supposed to try and kill the hero.

The hero let out a squawk as, for the third time this week, his face and hair were covered in cartoonish ash. He heard the cackle of the villain as Viper told Menace that they needed to go.

"Til next time, Princey." Shadow Wing announced.

“Stop flirting and let’s get out of here.” Viper stated to Shadow, not caring if the hero heard or not. The hero did hear, but he also couldn’t see Shadow’s reaction as the villain scooped up Viper and vanishing into the shadows.

"Well, this was fun!" Menace cackled before pulling a paint brush out of nowhere and painting a tunnel on a wall.

The hero knew better than to go after Menace at that point. All of Menace’s powers followed cartoon logic. He had flown straight into too many walls to know that only Menace could use those dumb paintings to travel. So, the hero sigh and flew off.

****

“Like honestly, does that fiend have any idea how hard it is to get that gunk out of my hair?” Roman scrubbed his hair with the towel around his head.

His boyfriend didn’t even bother looking up from his book. “I highly doubt that he knows considering that he is smart enough not to be here after your fights.”

“Sure, I have to take a shower anyways, because of normal fight dirt, but that fiend just has to give me that dumb stick and I have to spend 5ever trying to get the stuff out of my hair!”

“You could try asking him not to hand you the stick of dynamite.”

Roman gave the book Logan was holding determinedly in front of his face, the glare meant for the nerd. “Right, yeah, sure. Something like ‘Excuse me, fiend I fight at least three times a week, can you like not hand me your explosion gunk sticks? Thanks boo.’ How’s that sound?”

“Sounds perfect, RoRo! Just make sure to use your please and thank you’s!” The third boyfriend said, swooping in with a plate of cookies.

Logan finally lowered his book to glance at his watch. “Hmm, you are getting faster at washing that stuff out of your hair, Roman. Patton usually has eaten half of his baked goods before you return.”

Roman managed to let out an offended squawk before the windows suddenly blew in, knocking the bug screen inside the house. The gust of wind responsible seemed to spin around Patton before vanishing. The man let out a small giggle before the chaos appeared.

Remus was shrieking as he scrambled through the window. Logan managed to count to two before a furious looking goose followed the chaotic man in. Remus was already running down the hall to his room, but the goose didn’t seem to be deterred, even if the goose had to make its nest and raise its chicks outside this fiend’s door. The goose would get its revenge eventually.

This time, Logan got to ten before the front door was thrown open with the other two. Janus barked at Roman to help him before sprinting down the hall. Roman shut his eyes to let out a breath, but a crash and something shattering sent him after his twin and twin’s boyfriend. Virgil let out his own breath before saying something that couldn’t be overheard by a loud beep.

“Patton, stop trying to give me a filter! It’s not going to happen and I think a murderous goose deserves a swear or two!”

“What did Remus do this time?” Logan asked, unnervingly calm about this entire situation.

Virgil ran a hand through his hair. “Jan told Remus to get out more and enjoy the sunlight for once. Remus pulled out his meme skills and informed us he went to the park. Then as Jan was congratulating him on going outside, Ree pulled out the goose and it did not like that. We’ve been following the idiot and goose since 4th Street.”

“I’ll go grab the three of you some water then.” Patton hummed as he went back into the kitchen, ignoring the screeching and thumps from further down the hall.

“I am pleased to hear you are getting exercise at least, Virgil.” Logan commented, returning to his book.

“I swear the rat is going to give me a heart attack one of these days, and then I won’t hear the end of Jan’s whining.”

“I do not whine.”

Logan lowered his book, questioning why he was even bothering to try and continue reading. “Also, why would Janus whine to you if you were the one to have a heart attack? I would assume he would whine to the rest of us, as I doubt he would whine to his boyfriend.”

“Janny, you would 100% whine that I was making the rat look bad.” Virgil stated, rolling his eyes.

“I thought I told you to stop calling me that.”

A voice at the front door cackled. “But Janny makes you go red and it’s cute!”

Logan raised an eyebrow at Remus, who now stood at the door as if nothing had happened. “Did you climb out your bedroom window to avoid the goose?”

“No,” He grinned. “I climbed out to avoid my bro bro twin. Pretty sure he’s still screaming at my door. Where’d Goose Janus go?”

“Well, Janus is right there, however, I am unsure what has become of the goose.”

“Nooo, that’s Human Janus. I asked about Goose Janus.”

“Do not call me Human Janus either.”

“VeeVee, your brother is being mean to meeeeeeEEEee!!!!”

Virgil rolled his eyes at the two of them. “Where is the goose, Jan? I don’t want to be running after the rat and a goose across town again.”

“Roman managed to get it into a pillowcase. He had the top clutched for dear life while screaming at Remus. Which means, we should probably get out of here before the goose is released.” Janus commented.

“Oh, you three are already leaving?” Patton asked, carrying three water bottles.

“Patton, you are amazing.” Janus stated, snatching a bottle from him and downing it in a single gulp.

Virgil rolled his eyes at the figure going for a second water bottle. “Probably for the best. Prince Whines a Lot isn’t exactly agreeable after… work.”

“Oh, OK. We’ll see you guys later then!”

With that, Virgil shoved the other two out the door, muttering that he wanted to go lay down and not move for the next year. The two left in the living room could hear their third partner ranting at a door down the hall, oblivious to the fact the resident was gone. There were also muffled goose noises that worried Patton.

Logan sighed, setting his book aside. “I’ll call Animal Control to come get it. You want to go inform Roman that his twin is gone?”

“M’kay.”

***

Roman’s day had been absolutely terrible. He had gotten a flat tire, some dragon witch at the store stole the entire stock of Crofters before telling him off for being in her way, and he accidentally dropped his phone so it now had a giant crack on the screen. So, when he walked in to see muddy footprints and what he would argue was the stench of a dead rat in the wall, in the summer, he was not exactly kind as he turned to face his twin.

Remus was curled around his laptop, furiously typing away on it. Roman noted the muddy boots that made the muddy footprints were hitched up on the coffee table, spreading the filth there too. Remus muttered something about ripping someone’s ears off and shoving them up their butt and that was the line for Roman today.

“Are you serious, Remus! This place is a disaster! When I left, it was spotless! And what is that smell?! Did you run a secret trash dump in here while I was gone?”

“Oooooh, that is an interesting idea.” Remus cackled, still not looking up.

If Roman had the ability to shoot laser beams out of his eyes, Remus would have already been a crisp of a crisp. “What are you even doing?”

“Hacking into a multibillion company for a sweet payday.”

Roman managed to get halfway through an eyeroll before realizing what his brother was actually doing. “Great, I’m going to have to burn that couch!”

Remus finally glanced up at the other, eyebrows knit. But before he could ask, his phone let off a ding and he decided that was more interesting. He snatched it up and started grinning. Roman watched Remus quickly throw everything into his backpack. He jumped up and grabbed a duffle bag that Roman hadn’t noticed. If Remus was covered in mud, the duffle was mud disguised as a bag. Remus sang out a ‘smell ya later, bro bro’ before he was out the front door, leaving Roman in the middle of the mess.

Roman took a deep breath as the door slammed behind his twin. He took another. One more deep inhale and he let out a frustrated scream into the arm desperately trying to muffle it. Now his throat hurt on top of him needing to clean up the mess his idiot of a brother left behind.

“Come on, Roman. Mom is paying off your car payments and rent for letting the bastard stay here. And you like not having to use 85% of your paychecks just to pay for those. Plus, the bastard spends most of his time out of the house with those irritating friends of his. It’s fine! It’ll be fine!”

He kept muttering this to himself as he angrily cleaned up the mud. Once he got as much as he could up, he took a seat (on the opposite couch as he now had to get rid of his favorite couch) to Google how to get rid of the stench. Like honestly, what did that bastard do to make it smell so bad in here? Roman thought it would be a bit better once some of the mud was gone, but nope, still just as bad.

Almost louder than Remus’s snoring, the Hercules song Zero to Hero started blaring from Roman’s work phone. He was instantly on his feet, heading to his room as he pulled it out of his pocket.

New message:

Human Computer: The Dark Sides are robbing the regional Walmart financial offices. That is two streetlights left of the so called ‘lame’ coffeeshop, Prince.

Moral Compass: Aww, I just put on the new episode of Steven Universe Future though!

Human Computer: I am sure they will apologize if you inform them of this. Prince, have you seen the message or am I going to have to hack your personal phone and laptop to get your attention?

Prince: 10-4 nerd

Roman grabbed his katana before rushing out the back door. He grinned as he twisted the watch face and pressed the newly appeared button. Sometimes making Logan watch cartoons and daring him to make cartoon gadgets was worth the mutterings and frustration Roman faced from his partner. The hero costume shimmered around him, concealing his identity as he took off into the sky.

Roman could hear the alarms going off. Even if Logan hadn’t specified where it was, Roman would have known where those fiends were. He knew that Patton would give him the scolding of the century if he knew, but Roman welcomed this attack. It gave him a means to take his frustrations off on some villains who constantly tormented the town.

“Sorry, Princey. Can’t let you go any further.” A voice commented behind the hero as he took in the scene.

“Oh look, it’s the talking shadowling.” Roman commented, turning to see the villain.

Honestly, seeing Shadow Wing always took Roman’s breath away upon first sight. Long wings were stretched out, barely flapping in order to keep the person up. Shadows were cascading down the wings, mimicking black flames falling to the ground. As for the villain, Shadow always reminded Roman of Wesley in his full Dread Pirate Roberts getup from the Princess Bride.

“Ooof, pretty sure you used that insult last week. Running out of creative material there, Princey?” That insufferable smirk!

“At least I have a variety, Raven Boy.”

“Mmm, creativity is not my department. Anyways, what’s up with the big knife you’ve got there? Wanna try slicing shadows?”

Roman had enough time to pull out the katana before the strange ball of frozen darkness was dangerously close. He barely managed to slash it. He still preferred Shadow’s cold blobs over being handed the explosive gunk stick Menace always handed him. Roman watched Shadow take off into the sky before swooping down close to the ground.

A ball of darkness landed right before Logan, or as he was in his own hero costume-the Human Computer. The villain was already rising back up into the air, ignoring the fact that he had just barely missed the hero’s sidekick. Roman threw himself into the fight, angry about the day, sure, but this villain just went after his boyfriend! There must be vengeance!

“Oooooooh, Shadow really does have interesting flirting methods!” A new voice commented.

Shadow threw some of his shadows at Green Menace, who was eagerly cackling. Roman quickly scanned, searching for the last of the evil trio. No sight of Viper. Then Menace’s voice forced Roman to turn back to seeing what the villain was cackling about. He did have to admit Menace and Shadow seemed to be close friends at the very least. Why does that hurt Roman?

“Let’s get this over with. I have SUF to watch.” Shadow commented.

“Okie dokie, bro-kie!”

“Say that again and I am sending you to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and leaving you for the eldritch horrors down there.”

“Pleasssssse, even they would ssssend thissss trash back to ussssss.” Ah, there’s Viper.

Menace was grinning as he pretended to wipe away a tear. “The two of you really understand me.”

Roman twisted the katana, mentally mapping out how to try and take these three down. It was always a difficult fight but Logan and Patton were better ground support while the dark trio kept to the skies, out of reach of almost everyone and thing. And because Roman was certain of this fact, he didn’t see the safety hazard strike him down.

All Roman knew was one moment, he was getting ready to whap Menace and the next, he was in a huge crater, staring up at four figures in the sky. The air was knocked out of him and his body did not want to move for the next year. Before he could reorient himself, the new figure knocked an entire building on top of Roman, trapping him under rubble. Not that the hero noticed as he lost consciousness.

***

The three villains stared in shock at the new figure. The new enemy hummed disinterestedly at the pile where the hero had landed. The new figure turned to look over the three standing before them. He had planned this entire take over and subjecting these three useless tools to his will. Half of his plan was already complete, now just to deal with the amateurs.

All three of them had lost the easiness they had with the hero. Now, they look furious. In fact, Green Menace looked like he was about to rip the world apart with his teeth. The new figure didn’t place much thought on that, expecting that reaction.

“Now then. You three idiots see how a real villain does it.” He stated. “I will be merciful and offer you positions as my lackies, but this is now my town.”

Shadow was already pulling all of the shadows towards him as Viper hissed at the newcomer. “No, you will not. This is our home. We will not let anyone else terrorize our home. We might not be heroes to the people here, but we will not let someone come terrorize the town we have under our control.”

“Shadow, Viper.” Menace’s voice was chillingly serious. “Now.”

Shadows shot through the air, stealing the sunlight and replacing it with waves of fear and terror, as a long snake managed to coil around the newcomer. However, Green Menace was the most terrifying to onlookers and the new villain. Menace was out for blood and would not rest until the bastard was twenty feet under for hurting his twin brother.

****

“…kidding me?!”

“What else were we supposed to do, Vee? Leave him there?”

“Take him to the house the two of you share! Hate to break it to you, but your brother is a complete dumbass; I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that he doesn’t know the truth. So, he’s not only going to wake up after a massive fight, in a strange place he has never been in, he’s also surrounded by his enemies!”

For all the luck in the world, of course this was the first thing Roman heard as he gained consciousness. The hero tensed as he opened his eyes only the smallest amount to see the trio of villains standing in front of him in a dark room. He desperately wanted to look around and see how much danger he was in, but that would require that he open his eyes and if they weren’t torturing him because they thought he was still unconscious, then he wasn’t going to let them know he was awake.

“I agree that he probably hasn’t figured it out yet, but if we left him, rescue services would have found him and if one of our identities are revealed, all of them are. What do you think the government’s first reaction to having the superhero Prince unconscious in some hospital would be? Hmm? We are working with what we can do. We wouldn’t be able to make it to the twins’ house without being spotted. We have our tunnels to get here.”

Wait… That meant… They knew where he lived. Oh no, they knew where he lived. That meant Remus would be in danger as well. It meant Logan and Patton were in danger. It meant that Virgil and Janus were in danger. It meant that everyone Roman knew and cared about were in danger because of these villains.

“I know that this entire situation is bad, but we’re doing the best we can. Even the walking ray of sunshine and nerd said this was the best option.”

Pound. Pound.

“Where is he?! How badly is he hurt?”

Roman’s heart might as well have stopped in that moment. These villains could do whatever they wanted to him, but he will not let these fiends harm a hair on Patton or Logan’s head. In an instant, Roman was on his feet, and shoving the closest figure to him against a wall. As he looked at the face he had pinned, his heart might as well be stopped as that would be a kinder fate than this. The face he saw, was the face of Virgil Storm-Ekans.

Roman stepped back in pure shock as his eyes swept to the other two villains, taking in all three shocked faces. Standing in front of him were both his brother and Remus’ friends, but also the trio of villains, perfectly mashed together. His twin brother in Menace’s sparkling green and black costume probably found in some thrift store, looking like some knock off Luigi. Janus in Viper’s black and yellow suit complete with the dumb cloak and hat. And Virgil in… Virgil in a black Wesley outfit with huge shadow-y black wings wrapped tightly around him.

“I-No… Noo… This isn’t- it can’t”

Patton appeared, blocking Roman’s vision from the three he hated. “Roman, hey, hey. Shhhh. It’s OK. Come on, let’s get you back on the couch. You’re OK, your safe.”

Roman was gently forced onto the couch before Patton started to heal the injuries he had. Soft blue light shone from his hand as each wound healed and vanished. Roman’s eyes were still trying to take in the mess, however. A creak pulled his attention to a set of stairs to see Logan calmly walking down, looking at something on his phone.

“Lo, do you have information on who the hell Orange Traffic Cone was?” Virgil asked, his wings fluttering nervously as they unwrapped from around him.

“I was going to ask the same of you. They were obviously some kind of villain, so I assumed you three would have more information on who or what they were.”

“Well, isn’t this a wonderful situation we have.” Janus grimaced. “I doubt they will be returning, however.”

Logan adjusted his glasses as he glanced over at Roman, pleased to see the boyfriend was healing up well. “Well, after that impressive show of power, I doubt anyone will try to take over the town from you three. I do wonder how the three of you gained so much power though.”

“We were the ones to find the dumb radioactive stone and spend more time around it, Logan. Proximity to the source of all of our powers.” Janus commented.

“Ah, that does make sense. It would also probably explain the extra developments as well.”

“Call them what they are, Lo. Mutations. Freaks like me… us have mutations.” Virgil spat.

Logan looked over the other, noting that the wings were tightening around the youngest of the group. “You are not a freak, Virgil.”

Virgil scoffed, “Yeah, right.”

Logan narrowed his eyes but could tell that it would take a while to improve the other’s confidence, so decided to try and improve the mood. “You are not a freak, Virgil. I know you do not accept it right now, but hopefully in time. Now, Remus, a question I have been meaning to ask. Did you really dump cow manure on the executive’s desk?”

“Wait, was that what was in that disgusting bag of yours?!”

“It was bull shit!” Remus cackled.

“What-what is going on?” Roman intruded, weakly. “Is-is this some kind of prank or a dream?”

“Roman, have you truly not realized who the ‘dark sides’ are?” Logan asked, curiously. “Did it not occur to you that if you got superpowers, at very least your own twin brother would also develop some powers as well?”

“But-but- they’re evil!” Roman screeched.

“Hardly.”

Remus knelt to look his twin in the face, concern filling the red-tinted hazel eyes. “Ro- did- do you really think that? Do you really think us evil?”

Words would not escape Roman’s chocked throat, but that seemed enough of an answer to the rest of the room. Virgil and Janus instantly backed away, granting Roman more space as Logan moved forward and took the seat on Roman’s other side. Remus looked at his twin in so much shock and pain that Roman wanted to lie through his teeth.

“Roman, while these three may violate legal codes, they are hardly evil. They are more like Robin Hood than some evil monster.”

“But today-“

“We were stealing from Walmart to give money to a homeless shelter full of full-time Walmart employees, Ro. What happened with that rando was unexpected. We still don’t know who they were or what their intentions truly were.” Virgil said, softly.

Patton took Roman’s hand into his. “RoRo, have you not even wondered why despite all those fights, you never actually ended up hurt? Not even a bruise most times.”

“That literally every hit that would actually hurt missed? Like I get thinking that of Remus, but of Jan and me?”

“But- what about you throwing one of those dark snowballs at Logan earlier?!”

Logan barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “Roman, I’m not sure you’ve realized yet, but Patton and I knew who these three were. Virgil was tossing me a flash drive that I designed to aide them in hacking through complex security measures that I was able to use to further hide the true amount they stole.”

“You were helping these fiends?!?”

“Well, it’s not acceptable that a multibillion company lets their employees live in poverty.” Patton softly admitted.

“Why-“ Roman was just so lost and confused. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? Why was I left out?”

“Most of us thought you already knew. Virgil pushed for a verbal confirmation that you knew before letting the idea that you didn’t know rest. It’s not like we made any effort to discuss work out of very specific locations, which rarely intersect between all of us.” Logan answered.

Roman ran a hand through his hair, trying to process all of this. The rest of the room glanced around at each other. A silent agreement to give the hero a moment was passed around. Once they seemed to understand the decision, Janus glanced at Virgil before turning to Patton.

“Hey, literal sunshine. Can you possibly take a look at Virgil’s wing and see if you can heal whatever happened to it?”

“I’m fine, Jan.”

“Bullshit. Don’t make me pull the older brother card on you, little shit. You only hold your wings that close to you when they are hurt.”

“If you’re hurt, I can fix it! You don’t need to be in pain!” Patton said, jumping up.

“Seriously, I’m fine, Princey over there was the one who got hit with an entire building.”

“Vee, let Pat look at your wing. Traffic Cone did a pretty bad number on you, trying to knock you out of the air.” Remus said softly.

“Come on, kiddo. I’ll need access to your back to see if the joints are alright, but you’ll feel a lot better afterword!” Patton said.

“Ugh, I can see the fight is already lost.” Virgil muttered, before taking his black shirt off.

Roman had a lot of information to process, but that didn’t happen as he saw how ripped the other was. He had thought Virgil was hot and Shadow Wing hotter, but seeing the two combined, yeah, Roman was gay. At least he was also poly so could ask his partners if they were interested in romancing a certain shadow. Which if his super gay mind could actually remember anything, he would remember that they were actually already pushing to ask Vee out.

“OK, you have a bruised muscle and some of your feathers are gone. I also think you have a broken bone somewhere around here.” Patton said, pulling Roman out of his gay panic.

Janus immediately moved over, looking over the feathers before letting out a breath. “You are one lucky bastard, Vee. It’s mostly tertiary and a few secondary ones. But that means you were close to getting taken out by that knife.”

There was a small mischievous cackle near Roman. “So bro bro. You crushing hard on Virgil yet, or do Jan and I need to undress him some more for you?”

“REMUS!”

“Whaaaaat, I’m just trying to set up my bro with my hoe’s bro.”

****

2 months later…

“Oh come on, Princey. Surely you can do better than that.”

Roman was glad that most people couldn’t see details of them from the ground. If they could, they would see that Prince had a huge smile as he dodged his boyfriend’s shadow ball. It wouldn’t do him any harm, and in fact all of their boyfriends found comfort in the gentle cool kiss of them by now. No, Roman was determined to tag the sensor on the other’s arm, indicating that he won the game today. Can’t win if Virgil won.

Below, Remus and Janus were breaking into an Amazon warehouse to steal food, blankets, and clothes to donate to various homeless organizations. Once they were done, the two of them would join their third partner in crime to ‘escape’ from the Prince while the Prince pretended to hate them. Prince would fly off, talk to police about what happened, watch the Human Computer bury the actual amount stolen so that the company would just write it off. The Moral Compass would gently push a calm acceptance upon everyone so that there would be less struggle to hunt the villains down.

Then, the three of them would go and change out of their hero costumes and pick up the trio from their downtown townhouse. They would go home, order pizza, and watch movies all night, laughing and having fun. The next day, they would spend the day dropping off items at various homeless shelters. Roman would see how much it meant to the shelters to receive the donations, and it would make him wonder why he ever thought the trio were evil. Then the group would split so Remus and Janus would head to the townhouse while the four boyfriends would head to Roman’s planning a nice night with their partners.

And honestly, Roman wouldn’t have it any other way.

#sage writes #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic remus #superhero au #logan #roman #virgil #Patton #injury mention #romantic lamp #romantic demus #brotherly creativitwins #brotherly anxceit #cursing #fighting mention #sandersidesgiftexchange #sandersidesgiftexchange2020 #rosesisupposes

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not-safeforsanders · 4 years

Text

Just Say My Name

Prompt: “Say my name” with Moceit

(A/N:This is definitely not what I planned for this prompt but it’s where the creativity took me!)

Word Count: 3066

Plot: A nostalgia trip unlocks feelings that both Patton and Janus have been avoiding. Set directly after SvS Redux.

Notes: This is soft. It’s soft! They’re soft! Also hemipenis. Damn that’s two sentences that shouldn’t go together.

Patton stands outside the bedroom door that he’s seen so many times, that he’s walked past so many times. And hadn’t entered in years, because he doesn’t know how much he wants to be in it, usually. Now, in all honesty, he isn’t sure what he was so afraid of, Deceit...Janus was no more or less intimidating than any of them; in fact, he thinks that all of them can have their less than positive moments.

Sometimes even scary ones too.

He takes a deep breath and knocks at the door, waiting for a few moments before Janus opens the door, his hair ruffled and wearing a baggy yellow shirt with black sweatpants. He supposes he caught him on the way to retiring for the evening. Patton too is wearing his evening clothes, which consists of shorts and a baggy shirt because he moves a lot in his sleep and always seems to wake up sweaty. Which is not enjoyable.

“Patton, how may I help you?” there’s a pleasant surprise in his tone, his eyes showing genuine mild shock at the sight of the other man stood outside his door.

“I...I made cookies for everyone, I thought you might want some,” he holds out the small plastic box, Janus stares at it for a second, then reaches out to take the box.

“Oh,” he stares at the container and then back at Patton “..thank you Patton that is...thank you,” he winces at his own words a little, trying to process the first act of kindness the other man has shown him since they were in their early teens. Patton doesn’t leave, and Janus holds the door open wider. “Would you like to join me? Wi-fi reception here is remarkable, I do mean to thank Roman one day but I suppose I might have to wait a little while now,” He smiles, there’s a hint of sadness there but he hides it incredibly well “...I’m watching Lucifer on Netflix, I can catch you up on what’s happened so far.”

Patton opens his mouth, the little flicker in his eyes that is just old emotions trying to resurface, it would take a while to unlearn the way he’s seen the other man, he’s sure. They’re all sure, and beating himself up about that is obviously not the way to go. “I’d love too,” He steps into the room.

It feels calmer than he’d expected, as the door closes behind him, he doesn’t feel any different at all. Not the way Virgil’s room made him feel like he was going into hyperdrive, or the way Logan’s makes him feel cold and out of his own heart. He sits on Janus’ bed and finds the sheets are remarkably soft. The laptop sits paused on the bed. “So basically…” Janus starts, Patton turns his attention to him, and then he begins to explain the first four seasons of the show in excruciating detail.

But he listens to every word, because he wants to know the things that Janus likes, and he wants to like some of them too. He wants to be friends with the person he’d wildly and unfairly misjudged so long ago and then continued to do so; maybe for his own salvation, and maybe for Janus’, he doesn’t really know. He just hopes they can both feel better.

“Do you understand?”

“Not really, but it’s fine, I get a general idea,” Patton beams and sits cross-legged at the top of the bed. Janus chuckles shortly, and it’s a nice sound. He slides under the covers and lifts them a little for Patton to slide his legs under. The two sit about an inch apart at first, watching the show. But as Patton gets more tired, he slips down a little, and ends up resting his head on the other’s shoulder, a small smile on his lips at a joke told on the screen.

Janus smiles too, but not at that joke.

They both fall asleep eventually, curled up together, eyes closed, breathing deeply.

Janus wakes up first, with Patton half hanging onto him like he’s some sort of stuffed animal, his thigh between Patton’s and the other man’s hands wound through his shirt. It takes him a second to register the position before he swallows nervously, not wanting the other to think he was taking advantage of him or anything. Would he think that? Surely Patton isn’t actually that sort of person, right? He sees the best in everyone, right?

He doesn’t know when he started panicking.

Patton stirs a little, nuzzling against Janus’ chest before bringing his balled-up fist to his eyes to rub them with a yawn. His eyes open and look up at the other, whose expression must’ve been a terrified one because he sits up very quickly. “I’m sorry!” Patton says, a little too loudly, and startles the man he was trying to comfort. “I didn’t mean to…”

“I…” his voice trails off. “I just didn’t want you to think I made you do that or anything.” Patton’s eyebrows furrowed.

“I wouldn’t think...that I’m a chronic sleep cuddler, it really annoys Logan.” Janus exhales slowly “Roman and Virgil like it though, they say I’m like a big teddy bear.” He smiles shyly, rubbing his arm “I should’ve warned you, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“No, it’s...it’s okay...it’s not like I was enjoying it or anything,” he winces again “I mean…”

“No it’s fine, I understand,” Patton smiles. “So would you like to keep cuddling?”

“Yes, I would, if that’s okay?”

“Absolutely.” Patton lies back down, his head resting on the other’s chest and his arm wrapping around him.

“Your heartbeat is so slow,” he mutters after a second, his eyes closed as he listens. “It’s like slower than one of those things that go…” he gestures with his fingers in a backwards and forwards motion “....tick tick.”

“A metronome?”

“Yeah!” He grins up at him. Janus grins at the ceiling, shaking his head a little in amusement. Patton couldn’t understand what he was worried about, this man is just as soft as Roman is; he would’ve thought he’d learned from his mistake with Virgil that these people are not the villains that they’d managed to paint them as. That he’d managed to paint them as. He never used to feel that way, when they were younger they all got along fine.

But they’re all a part of Thomas after all, how bad could they be?

Janus puts on some music for them to listen too, neither of them really wanting to get out of bed. They chat awhile, talk about the things they’d been doing, the sort of movies they like, the sort of music they enjoy, their favourite season and how they ended up with their colour schemes. If they weren’t lying in bed it would have all the makings of a date.

Patton shuffles around a lot, he’s not very good at sitting still, at one point he just lies flat on his back like a starfish and Janus giggles, not a laugh, no, a soft giggle in which he covers his mouth with his hand and shakes his head. Patton, loving the sound, then went on to move his arms and legs as though he was making a snow angel.

Janus stops laughing after a minute, the grin still on his face as he stares at the other man. Patton ceases his shenanigans and tilts his head to the side to smile back. “Patton...” Janus says softly.

“Janus…” Patton replies, mirroring the tone with a smile, which falters a little when the other inhales sharply.

“Say that again?” he asks.

“Janus.” The other man closes his eyes for a moment, biting his lip, for a second the moral side thought he was about to cry, but he gathers his composure and smiles instead. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Patton sighs, shaking his head “if it weren’t for you we’d still be at square one, Roman will come around in his own time he’s...there’s just too much happening for him at the moment,” he rests his hands on his stomach. “Seeing Remus again really...it really shook him up, I don’t think any of us could’ve predicted the way he reacted, but he’s not been the same since. He’s just tired all the time.” He looks back at the other. “I know you didn’t know, I mean, I know you wouldn’t really hurt any of us, you just thought maybe Remus would throw a bit of a wrench in the works and it did, but I think if I’d have been that exhausted with us I would’ve done the same.”

“Really?”

“None of us are perfect,” he sighs and sits up, leaning against the headboard and bringing his knees to his chest. “No matter how much I want us to be, and...Thomas isn’t perfect either, the sooner he realises that the better he can move forward with his life.” he shrugs “I just didn’t want to let go of the Thomas I knew when we were kids, I never wanted to let go of any of them...but we all have to grow up, right?”

“Yeah, we do Pat.” Patton leans his head on Janus’ shoulder with a deep breath.

“I feel like everyone else grew up around me sometimes, I remember us being kids, and Logan wasn’t even Logic yet, Roman and Remus weren’t...Roman and Remus, you used to accidentally walk into things because you couldn’t figure out which eye to see through,” Janus chuckles shortly. “And Virgil wasn’t...anxiety yet.”

“Logan was more bearable when he was curiosity...” he pauses “...he seemed happier then.”

“Virgil was less intense when he was instinct but he was...funny, The Prince would throw pillows at him just to watch him belt it halfway across the room without even blinking.”

“You,” he poked Patton gently “...you used to set the kitchen on fire trying to cook.”

“I could barely see the stove! It’s not my fault!”

“What nine-year-old tries to cook when you can summon food at the snap of a finger?” Patton laughs a little and leans up, looking at Janus, he looks back.

“I guess I was always determined to be a parent,” their eyes catch for a second. “...and you were too, you were always the one with a fire extinguisher waiting to put out the inevitable.” He swallows dryly and takes a deep breath. “Every single time,” like a realisation sinking, his lips part, and Janus smiles a little.

The way that gravity pulls objects to the earth, they both lean in as if there’s an instinct they can’t fight, their lips meeting halfway with the very little space that was already between them. It’s closed-mouthed and lingering only for a few seconds, before they both pull away, searching each other for an ounce of doubt before their lips meet again, parting against each other’s mouths as their tongues brush. Patton inhales sharply, shuffling closer just a little as he brings his hand up, his thumb brushing over the scales on Janus’ face.

It’s exhilarating, a kiss is; he’s kissed before sure but not like this. He’s kissed Roman, and Virgil, even Logan, but those were always symbols of platonic affection. Not a years-long buried love that was draped in lies that he told himself.

He moves closer and closer, until he’s in the other’s lap, his knees pressed to the side of the other’s hips. They part, panting for air, their breath ghosting each other’s faces, brushing past them with a small smile, they kiss again, quickly, and again. Some linger, some are quick, some their teeth click a little and they both giggle at their own eagerness. Janus’ hands rest on Patton’s hips, his grip neither bruising nor soft, just as though he doesn’t ever want to let go.

The last time he let go he woke up and everything had changed. He doesn’t want it to change again. But no-one can stay kids forever, people grow up and they change, they become new people (they become two people...sometimes), they stay the same but in a way that’s no longer compatible with those that had changed. But this time is different, right, because Patton wants him the way he is, the way he exists with his job that he has to do.

Even if they work against each other sometimes (Patton rocks his hips a little with a sharp inhale), they can work together too (Janus follows the movement, his arms pulling Patton closer to him, as close as he can get).

They pull away from air, and Janus looks up at Patton, at the hair falling in his face, at his flushed cheeks, at the way their bodies move. “Say my name,” he whispers, but it sounds like a beg.

“Janus,” Patton breathes like it’s the only word that matters. Janus’ hand squeezes his thigh and he moans quietly, his hand trails upwards and the other man bites his own lip, his hips twitching, eager to be touched. He slides his hand into the shorts and wraps his hand around his cock, touching him slowly and teasingly.

“Say it again,”

“Janus,” Patton’s eyes open and meet his own, he moves his hand faster, watching the other man’s face as he gasps and moans, his hands gripping Janus’ shoulders so hard his nails dig in. “Oh...fuck,” the deceitful side’s eyebrows dart upwards, his own cocks twitching at the sound of Patton swearing. “Jan...Janus,” his hips jolt as cum squirts over the other’s hand, leaking over his hand and a little managing to get on his shirt. He rests his forehead against his partner’s as he tries to gather his breath. He breathes deeply with a small smile on his lips. “We should reminisce more often.”

“Maybe let’s not discuss our childhood after that,” Janus interjects with a slight chuckle.

“So you like me using your name?” Patton asks, pressing a kiss to his cheek sweetly.

“It’s nice...hearing you say it,” he admits. “I didn’t think I’d ever tell you, after everything that happened.” But there’s something specific about Patton saying it, it makes him feel warm, it makes his chest feel tight like he’s going to have a panic attack. It’s exhilarating in the way a panic attack isn’t. But when he says it squirming in his lap with his hand around Patton’s cock, it does something else entirely.

“Okay so segue…” Patton starts awkwardly. “Uh...your…” he coughs and gestures downwards a little, and Janus snorts. He’s just given this man a handjob but they’re back to ‘doesn’t know how to say cock’.

“I have two,” he explains because he figures that’s the question.

“That...wow.” He goes quiet. “Can I...is that awkward, to ask if I can see it?”

“A little, but I suppose it’s only fair.” Patton shuffles down to sit on Janus’ thighs, he pushes his sweatpants out of the way, his cocks are half-hard from being jostled by the movements. Patton stares, unblinking, he tilts his head to the side, lips parted as though he’s deep in thought. “What?”

“New question,” Patton mutters “...have you ever fit those inside someone?”

“Uh...yeah, but…”

“Remus,” Patton finishes the sentence, there’s no jealousy in his eyes “...but that’s cheating, have you fit them inside a normal person?” Janus laughs, he can’t help it.

“Yes, because I have so many options, Patton.” he tucks his cocks back into his sweatpants. Then he pauses. “Have you ever…?”

“No, it’s…” he sighs, shaking his head. “Sort of, it’s not...I won’t say it never meant anything because it did, but not romantically, sometimes friends just help each other out, you know?”

“Brojob.” Patton snorts, covering his mouth.

“Never say that again.”

“Only if you come and cuddle me.”

“...Actually I was thinking maybe I could...repay the favour?” He’s blushing, he looks cute when he blushes.

“Do you want too?” He nods in response, his eyes eyeing the sweatpants band. “Then help yourself.”

He seems a little shy as he pulls Janus’ sweatpants down his thighs, eyeing the cocks with curiosity as he reaches out and squeezes them both in his hand gently, stroking slowly, feeling them harden in his hands. Janus watches the movement, understanding that perhaps Patton does not want his expression scrutinised right now. Then he surprises him, and leans down and takes the head of one in his mouth, slowly moving his mouth along, his cheeks hollowing out as he takes him down. Janus curses under his breath, his head leaning back against the wall.

Patton’s hand continues to jerk the other cock, moving them both in time until he’s practically focusing on the movements and nothing else, his mind going empty as he takes him down. Then he pulls back up, and tries both of them. His tongue running down the ridge between the two, experimenting, testing his own limits. He can only fit them both in so far, and they press against his cheeks, but it feels...oddly relaxing.

He pulls back, takes one in his mouth, the opposite one from before, and jerks with his hand, maintaining the speed and rhythm. Janus’ hands tighten in the bedsheets underneath him, staring at the other man with a mix of awe and sheer lust.

He takes a little longer than Patton though.

Eventually, although he isn’t sure how the other man didn’t get tired, he utters a warning to Patton, who looks up at him through his lashes and continues his movements. Janus is sure he’ll save that look in his memory for a rainy day as he moans out Patton’s name and releases both down his throat and over the other’s hand (a little gets tangled in his hair, as well, which he profusely apologises for).

Patton leans up and wipes his mouth off, his tongue trailing around his mouth with an intrigued expression. “It tastes different, less bitter, somehow.”

“I drink a lot of pineapple juice?” Janus offered, by some way of an explanation.

“I have no idea if that changes anything.” Patton slides the sweatpants back up and then sits down next to the other man with a smile. “That was nice though.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

“Now we can cuddle?” Janus smiles and nods, sliding down the bed to let Patton cuddle up to him, his hand resting on the other man’s back as they both start to talk again. But not about the past, the past is gone and there’s nothing either of them can do about that. But the future? That’s something they do get to decide.

#not safe for sanders

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magpiemorality · 4 years

Note

Ok so this is a slightly disjointed idea but, 24 hour diner with Virgil or Dee as waiter/person who works there and one of the boys is a regular customer, but who shows up at the oddest of hours. they talk one day and our customer boy tells him about slightly unbelievable happenings, and Virge/Dee isn't sure if they are making fun of him, but this continues. They become each others constant, cause life's hectic. Any ship :] - xaime

This isn’t entirely what you requested because my mind half read it and went off on a wild tangent, but I hope you enjoy!

Combined with:

This isn't a prompt as much as it's a challenge; how many different names can you give Deceit in one short story without it being incoherent? - @loveceit

"It was a dark and stormy knight" listen, it was a pun and a combo of purple prose+virgil nickname so i figured it could become a story therefore you get it *goes back into the night* - Anonymous

AO3

***

The diner was always an interesting place to work. From the peppy college students to the millennials seeking a quirky date; from the families with rowdy kids to the construction workers that were on a project nearby; it was a great place to be a people watcher.

Just a shame Virgil didn't much like people. He was only there to finance his freelance work and pay for his rent, which made him the perfect candidate for the night shifts.

When he'd accepted the graveyard hours he'd assumed he could just get some work done, hang out in silence until the morning guy, some peppy high-school grad waiting to get into the community college a few blocks away, showed up to take over.

No one told Virgil that the night shift often got the most... interesting customers.

Case in point; D- uh, Dee something. It might have been Damien? Virgil was sure he'd introduced himself as Damien once, but he couldn't quite remember and the guy was a regular by now so he couldn't ask, either. Damien- or maybe Darren?- was a fascinating individual that had managed to pique even Virgil's lack of interest, coming in as he did every time Virgil was on shift without fail. It wasn't always the same time, sometimes Darren, or Dalziel, arrived as the night started around eight or nine (if the sun had gone down), and sometimes he arrived as late as four or five am, only a few hours before Virgil got to go home.

No matter what though, he always stayed until Virgil's shift ended, disappearing in the few minutes when Virgil headed in the back to change out of his apron and grab his stuff. What a mystery. Virgil might not have liked people but he adored a good mystery.

They talked a little every so often, just exchanging pleasantries when Virgil brought D- Derek?- his coffee or a slice of pie (homemade by the chefs but not remotely fresh; this wasn't actually the 50s and demand was too high for authenticity like that). The man was often working diligently away on a clunky laptop with no discernible brand, tap tap tapping providing a nicely soothing rhythmic background to Virgil's own work over at the counter. It was always the same volume, even when there was dead silence, or rain outside, not that Virgil consciously noticed that.

Once he almost caught a glimpse of what D...rake? No definitely not a Drake, eesh. Maybe Declan? Still not right... What Dee was going. It looked like coding, but not coding that Virgil really recognised. More like if the Matrix had been an actual thing of sorts, flickering symbols moving up and down and somehow forwards and backwards, deep into the screen. It made his head hurt a little and Dee- no wait, it was... it was... nope, gone again. Maybe Devon? Ew no. 100% not right.

Anyhow, since then Virgil hadn't ever tried to look again, feeling faintly queasy at the thought of seeing that screen again, and the mysterious Dee just kept tapping reliably away.

The mystery deepened when Virgil had to take a day shift one week. It was busy, a little annoying because he had work to do he would have to stay up late to do instead, and his sleeping pattern was immediately off-kilter after the change of rhythm, but there was something else. His regular D- David? No, too plain. He was more of a Despereaux, or a December, something like that... His regular wasn't there, and the absence was more noticeable than Virgil could have predicted. Even worse, there was some creepy man with crazy intense eyes who came in part way through Virgil's shift and would not. stop. staring. When he got his things and headed to go home the man just smiled at him brightly and he hurried to grab the bus, giving in to the urge to keep looking over his shoulder as he made his way back to his apartment.

He told Drew, Dara, Dolion, whatever his goddamn name was, next time he was on the night shift. It was like slipping into bed at the end of the day; how right it felt to be back under cover of darkness. Dylan, D-ax? That was a name right? Not his mystery regular's though... Dee seemed curious about where Virgil had been, when he served the guy his drink that night, and insisted he sit down for a chat while the diner was otherwise empty. Virgil, despite the work he needed to get done, agreed, and they spent a while having a comfortable and easy conversation that had them both laughing in turn.

That night Virgil left work with a smile on his face for the first time in a very long time.

It only took another few shifts before Desmond or Dexter or Diaz admitted he'd been rather worried when Virgil had changed shifts. He was equally worried about the weird guy that had shown up on that shift. "There are some bad people out there," he'd murmured, looking out the window into the dark streets with a faraway expression as Virgil hung on his every word. "And there are some even worse things than them that prowl the streets." He'd shot Virgil a soft smile, a little apologetic, and had turned the subject neatly onto Virgil's word, leaving the words lingering in the air, almost solid enough to touch as they followed Virgil around for the rest of the week.

That conversation turned into a part of the routine, sitting together over cups of hot, strong coffee, grinning and laughing and sharing thoughts on the world. Rarely did their own lives get much discussion, the past just seemed... unimportant somehow, when compared to the now and the what could be. Draco or Dorian or Dominic or whatever his name was, was quickly becoming Virgil's best friend, and from the genuine delight on Douglas or Diego or Daniel's face he felt the same way.

And one night his friend was late.

It was near closing and Dee still hadn't shown up. Despite the massive coincidence Virgil had never bothered to wonder why he seemed to know the right nights to visit the diner, subconsciously writing it off as nothing strange, but now he forced his worries down with the logical answer that Dee simply had other things to do.

It wasn't weird that he had never once failed to show up for the past... had it been more than a year now? Close to two, even? It... that wasn't weird...

It was weird as hell. But it wasn't anything to worry about; no that pleasure belonged to his absence. Even when Virgil went and changed and got his bag, wondering if tonight of all nights Dean or Dustin or Donovan would have appeared in that moment instead of his usual disappearance, but it wasn't to be.

The journey home felt wrong and Virgil was restless when he forced himself to go to bed, full of turbulent thoughts and concerns. "There are some bad people out there," his thoughts whispered in the early dawn light. "And there are some even worse things than them that prowl the streets."

And yet, somehow, he was there again the next shift. He looked tired, Dalton or Deacon or Demetrius. His eyes were dark and his hair ruffled, and his laptop was nowhere to be seen. He smiled though, when Virgil spotted him, already hunched down in the booth in the corner, the shadow of bruises on his face.

Virgil waited for the other lonely customer to finish up and head off before turning the never-used sign to CLOSED and bringing the entire pot of coffee over for them both. He wrapped his friend in a hug when he stood from the booth as Virgil approached, only making sure to put the pot down first.

When they fell back into the red leather bench seats, eyes on the table in front of them and silence thick, Virgil knew something was changed forever.

He looked up as Dee cleared his throat, a rueful smile on his face. "I owe you an explanation, Virgil," he said, voice hoarse and gravelly.

"Do you?" Virgil asked, looking at him curiously. Somehow it felt like he was actually seeing Dee now, like he was clear where he'd been slightly blurred before. And Dee just smiled again.

"Let me tell you a story. About a man living in a world he wasn't meant to, and someone who saved him."

Virgil's eyebrows furrowed together and he leaned forwards, elbows on the table so he could rest his chin in his hands.

"It was a dark and stormy knight," the man called Dante began. "That saved him..."

Masterlist | Buymeacoffee

#writepie #platonic anxceit #ts deceit #ts virgil #ts writing #ts sanders sides #ts sanders sides aus #ts sanders sides fic #sanders sides

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shianhygge-imagines · 4 years

Text

Playing the Game {Devil May Cry} x {Among Us}

AN: So, I’ve been playing a lot of Among Us in my down time. My old coworkers from Uniqlo (haven’t worked with them for around a year and a half now, love them to bits though) have been inviting me to play full games. And because everyone else seems to really love the Among Us content on Tumblr now, I figured, why not? It’s easy enough to write something for it.

So, anyways, this is actually a one-shot instead of a headcanon. And there are technically no pairings. Reader was written Gender Neutral as well.

If you like the content I create, please consider donating to my Ko-fi! Please help me feed my tea addiction!

|Masterlist Link|

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27th September - 04:58pm - Devil May Cry

It’s a miracle that everyone happened to be in the same place at the same time when Patty barged into Devil May Cry with a cart full of laptops. Dante had gone to hide as soon as his Patty senses tingled, practically pulling off an acrobatic feat just to get to the second floor in time. Curious as to what the young lady wanted, you put your book down and stood to help the blonde mortal with her burden.

“It’s good to see you, Patty. Dante’s currently expelling his stomach lining in the bathroom.” From behind you, both Vergil and Nero snorted at your comment while V quirked a brow at your antics. “Were you looking for him?”

“Yeah! I found a new game we call all play!” Patty lifted a small laptop, presenting it to you. “We can all play it if we have enough players… but um… I can wait until Dante’s out of the bathroom. Is he okay?”

Taking the laptop, you waved nonchalantly with a grin. “Oh, he’ll be fine. It was just a week old pizza. He’ll be down once he’s done! Until then, take a seat at his desk!” You take your seat between Vergil and V on one of the couches, opening up the laptop to glance blankly at the only desktop icon on the screen, then at the bar at the bottom showing that was connected to the internet already. “Is the game called ‘Among Us’?”

Patty nods with a hum, opening her own personal laptop up. “It’s an online multiplayer game. You play as a space crew, walking around the map completing tasks in the form of mini games. All crew members have to complete their tasks to win the game.”

“There’s a catch, isn’t there?” Nero scoffed, peering over your shoulder at the computer screen when you opened up the game. Kyrie and Nico also joined him in taking a peek.

“Yeah! Each game has anywhere from one to three imposters.” Patty informed, nodding her head as she explained, beyond ecstatic that you were seemingly interested in playing. “The imposters look like crew members, but their job is to sabotage or kill the crew, preventing the crew members from winning. Imposters have a little menu that they can use to turn off lights, or shut doors. They also have an advantage of being able to enter vents to escape an area. Imposters win when they’ve cut down crew member number enough. To weed out the Imposters, crew members can report any bodies they find or press the emergency button on the map once per player to have a meeting. From there, players can present evidence of a player being innocent or guilty of being an Imposter, and the crew can vote whoever they think is ‘Sus’ or suspicious off the ship.”

“So it’s a game of skillful assassination and deceit.” Vergil summarized, now slightly interested in participating.

“Perhaps a bit of patience and being able to read others.” V interjected, closing his book to shoot a judgmental expression at Vergil… one that the elder Sparda twin gladly returned with a haughty smirk. It’s nice to know that even if V was once a part of Vergil, they still feel disdain towards one another.

Patty thinks for a moment, her blue eyes observing your group by the couch for a moment before nodding, “Yeah, I guess it is! Gotta be careful though, because Imposters can self report their kill… but they also have a kill countdown… but even if a crew mate is killed, they can still roam the map completing their tasks as ghosts. Obviously though, if you die, you can’t tip off who the Imposter is to people who are alive. Once Dante’s back, we’ll have a few practice rounds before doing an official round.”

“Count us in.” All heads in the downstairs area turned as Dante descended the stairs, Lady and Trish behind him. “Bunch of hunters like us? It’ll be a piece of cake.”

Official Round Start

When the first official game started, you were all seated in various locations of Devil May Cry’s first floor, laptops in your laps and noise cancelling headphones on. The front door was locked, sign flipped to read ‘CLOSED’ so that nobody interrupted the series of unfortunate events unfolding within the shop.

There were ten players in total: You (Purple), Dante (Red), Vergil (Blue), Nero (White), Kyrie (Cyan), Nico (Green), V (Black), Trish (Yellow), Lady (Orange), and Patty (Pink).

When the countdown finished, and your screen went black, you schooled your face until it was carefully blank. Well, well… this will be fun. You decide when the screen informs you that you and Kyrie are the Imposters. Discreetly, you and Kyrie glance up to look around the room before winking at one another and directing your eyes back down to the computer screen.

The map that Patty had chosen was the Skeld with two short tasks, two normal tasks, and one long task.

Starting off in the Cafeteria, you moved down to Admin, following as Vergil, Dante, and Nico went to do their tasks in the room while you sat at wires, watching until one of them moved. Walking out just as the task bar went up, you headed down and right until you were in Shields.

You watched as Nico and V passed you before moving up towards Weapons, where you saw Trish downloading files. Quickly, you walked behind her and clicked the Kill button before venting, popping up in Navigation just as Kyrie knocked out the lights.

Deciding to take the risk, you went into the other vent in Navigation and popped out at Shields again, moving out of that hallway to Storage, pretending to empty out the trash just as Vergil passed you by with Dante at his tail, making deliberate and erratic movements. Just as you are about to Sabotage Comms, a meeting is called, and you notice that V was killed along with Trish. Shrugging, you take off your headphones with everyone else.

“VERGIL’S SUS!” Dante pointed at Vergil with a grin.

You could practically see Vergil’s last thread of patience snap, “If anyone’s suspicious, it was you!”

“Kyrie and I found V’s body in the Cafeteria right after the lights were fixed.” Nero announced, interrupting his father and uncle to look at V, who just sighed heavily and took out a book, refusing to make any facial expressions to help the Crew… and ignoring the superior stare that Vergil aimed at him. Well, this is going to get tiring really quick, isn’t it. You deadpan at their interactions, hoping that they would just warm up to one another already.

“Well, I can account for Lady, Dante, and Y/N.” Vergil sighed, lips thinning in displeasure that they were two down already. “Lady was already fixing lights, and Y/N was coming from the east side to do the garbage… Dante has been following me the entire game.”

“Did anyone happen to see where Trish’s body was? Or where she headed off to from the start?” You asked.

“Trish headed to MedBay while Kyrie and I went to the Engine and Reactor.” Nero piped up, “I didn’t see her for the rest of the round.”

“Okay…” Lady mumbled before her heterochromatic eyes landed on Patty, who jolted from the older woman’s intense stare. “Patty, where were you?”

Patty paused to think, “When the alarm was sounded, I was with Nico in Security.”

“Can confirm!” Nico nodded with a ‘humph.’

“But before that, I went to Weapons to shoot asteroids, looped back into Cafeteria to go down to Storage to do a task there. I was just behind Y/N as they headed off to the right side… and then I went left into the Lower Engine before meeting up with Nico.” Patty concluded.

“Are we going to vote this round?” Vergil wondered, eyes fixed upon the timer countdown. “Or should we skip?”

“Hold on, Vergil.” Lady raised a hand before continuing to stare down Patty. “So you were the last one in the Cafeteria?”

“Um… that I know of?” Patty raised a brow, “But that was like at the beginning of the round.”

“So, you could have killed V at the very beginning.” Lady’s eyes narrowed, “That’s a bit suspicious.”

“So… voting out Patty?” Nico asked, seemingly convinced. “We could wait, but…”

“I voted already.” Lady chimed.

“Done.” Vergil confirmed.

“Well, if we’re sure…” Nero shrugged.

“Wait! That’s jumping wayyyy too into conclusions!” Patty protested. “There were a lot of people near the Cafeteria. They could have done it during the black out.”

“Nah, a lot of us were accounted for.” Dante clicked his tongue before turning to look at Patty. “Sorry, Patty.”

You and Kyrie had already voted. The only one who didn’t vote for Patty had been Nico.

Patty screamed in frustration before falling silent, “You all suck!”

Patty has been ejected.

“Nico, why didn’t you vote?” Nero questioned his mechanic, “You’re the one who asked to vote Patty out.”

“Sus-pi-cious~~~” Lady sang quickly before you all put your headphones back on.

The next round, you watched as Vergil, Dante, and Lady headed off to the right side before dancing back and forth in front of Nico and Kyrie, asking them wordlessly to follow you to the MedBay. When Kyrie followed me, Nero followed after her.

Once all four of you were in the MedBay, you pretended to complete a task while Nico got a med-scan. Almost all at once, you Sabotaged the MedBay doors as well as O2 within a few seconds before you and Kyrie got a double kill, getting Nico and Nero both at once. Both of you took the vent into Security before killing the Lights, walking down together to Electrical, where you turned the lights back on. Just as you were about to exit the room with Kyrie, you two encounter Dante, Vergil, and Lady.

Noticing that the cooldown had ended for the Kill button, you clicked on it, watching as your character stabbed Vergil’s in the back with a knife. It seemed that Kyrie had the same idea, as Dante was dead once the animation was over.

The screen went black and you and Kyrie cheered, throwing ‘air-fives’ at each other from across the room.

Everyone took their headphones off, shocked as their eyes trained upon you and Kyrie.

“What… the hell.” Nico muttered.

“I TOLD YOU GUYS IT WASN’T ME!” Patty screamed at everyone in the room, slumping in her seat and pouting.

“That was scarily efficient.” Dante groaned, staring at you and Kyrie with a new light.

Nero groaned and buried his face in his hands, “I knew there was something odd going on when we lost one another by the upper engine when the lights went out.”

“Hehe.” Kyrie laughed sheepishly, patting Nero on the shoulder. “Oops?”

“Y/N! I trusted you!” Nico wailed, looking as if cartoon tears would be streaming down her face if possible.

Raising a single hand up, you grinned and made the sign for ‘Victory.’ “I guess you guys just can’t underestimate us, then!”

“Another round.” Vergil demanded, glaring at you with a challenge in his eyes. “If I’m Imposter, you won’t be able to escape me. And if you’re the Imposter… then you won’t get the drop on me twice.”

You all grinned, and clicked on the ‘play again’ button. “Challenge accepted.”

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sparrow-flies-south · 3 years

Text

I Can’t Decide (Whether You Should Live Or Die)

Title: I Can’t Decide (Whether You Should Live Or Die) Pairings: Romantic Thomceit Warnings: Attempted murder, Attempted murder, a couple of references to implied child abuse, a character deliberately attempting to trigger someones allergy (as a murder attempt), reference to torture. Summary: Deceit is one of the best assassins in the business. So assassinating Thomas Sanders should not be difficult - except Thomas seems to have the amazing ability to happen to escape from death.And the longer it takes Deceit to kill Thomas, the less sure he is that he even wants to.

Notes: Happy Birthday Janus!! This fic is complete as a first draft, I plan to update weekly as I edit chapters.

My Masterpost Read on AO3

Thomas Sanders is going to die.

There is a folder on the table with his name on it. Deceit picks it up and flips through it – Thomas’ address, family history, information about his housemate, a man named Virgil Storm, and details of Thomas’ career on Vine and YouTube. He’ll do his own research later, and find out everything there is to know about the man. For now, he just needs to understand the job itself.

“The deadline is ten days,” says his handler, a woman that is all sharp angles. Her hair is tied back into a tight bun, and she dresses like she’s on her way to a board meeting.

To her face, everyone calls her ma’am, but most of the Agency also call her The Dragon. She encourages this nickname by never killing someone over it.

“Whatever will I do with the other nine days,” Deceit muses.

The Dragon doesn’t respond, which is probably better than what anyone else would face. Then again, she always has been fond of Deceit, ever since he was a kid.

“I’ll take it,” Deceit says, though that is a given.

The Dragon nods and leaves the room. Deceit flips back through the file – Thomas Sanders is a former Vine star turned YouTuber, he lives with a reclusive man named Virgil Storm, and he will be easy to kill.

It will be a subtle death, because if she wants something loud, the Dragon goes to the Duke. An accident, most likely, something very tragic. However he’ll end up doing it, Thomas Sanders’ fate is sealed.

Deceit looks Thomas up on the flight over, and watches some of his videos. He finds them funny enough. Thomas seems wholesome enough on them, but someone wants him dead.

He doesn’t have a safehouse in Thomas’ town, but he does know a hotel where people don’t ask too many questions, so he checks in there. He stays only long enough to put away his luggage – a single, carry on suitcase – and then goes to find Thomas’ house.

It’s a nice enough house on a nice enough street – the lawns are well kept, and he sees some of the neighbours talking to each other. There is only one car parked in Thomas’ drive, and from the file Deceit knows it’s Thomas’. There’s no visible alarm on the outside, and a number of windows that might make for easy access. He slips into the neighbour’s yard, and spots a backdoor to Thomas’ house.

There’s a house being renovated down the street from Thomas – for now, it looks empty. When Deceit breaks in, he finds a balcony that has a good view of Thomas’ house.

He spends the next day learning more about Thomas – he stakes out his house, and is able to follow Thomas to the nearest Starbucks around noon. From talking to people, he learns that this is the only real routine Thomas seems to have. He doesn’t see Storm at all that day, and from what he finds out, that isn’t unusual.

Thomas, they say, seems nice enough – if someone says hello to him, he’ll say hello back, even though none of his neighbours are exactly friends with him. Storm, on the other hand, they rarely see. And when they do see him, he usually keeps to himself, and is always wearing a pair of headphones.

The next day, Deceit shows up for his shift at Starbucks armed with a baggie of ground up peanuts, and the knowledge of Thomas’ medical history – including his serious peanut allergy. He’s there to fill in for a barrister that has come down with a terrible case of food poisoning. Really, she should have known better than to eat shrimp that he’s tampered with.

When Thomas arrives, the café is packed. Deceit gets handed a cup with Thomas’ name on it, and sets about making his venti iced vanilla Americano. It’s not the first time Deceit has works at a Starbucks as part of a mission; he has become very good at making drinks quickly, and even better at slipping crumbled peanuts into them when no one is looking.

Thomas is idling near the counter, today dressed in a leather jacket and sunglasses that he is still wearing indoors. Deceit catches his eye and holds out the drink.

“Thanks gurl,” Thomas says as he is given the drink, a far cry from how he speaks in his videos. He takes a swing and pulls a face. “Hey, uh, I think you got my order wrong?”

Deceit fixes a smile on his face. Based on the hospital report from the last time Thomas had a reaction, it won’t take much to kill him. A single swig might be enough.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he says.

Thomas turns the drink around and squints at the cup. “Yeah, this isn’t mine,” he says, pointing at where Thomas is written in loose handwriting. “My name is Remy?”

What.

Thomas – another Thomas comes up to the counter. “Oh, hey, I think that was mine?” he says.

“Right,” Deceit says. “My apologies. Let me remake that for you.”

“I’ll do it,” Kate, another barrister working with him, says. “I need you to get more cups from the back.”

Kate could easily do that, but Ethan Gold, Starbuck barrister, wouldn’t argue. So he just says, “Of course,” and walks away from the counter, while Thomas’ drink is made correctly.

By the time he gets out, Thomas is leaving, talking on the phone as he goes.

“So we’ll meet at your place at noon? Cool, I’ll see you there. Bye, Lee.”

Lee and his wife, Mary Lee lives a ten minutes’ drive away from Thomas. Seeing then seems to be so important to Thomas, that Deceit will do what he can to make sure Thomas gets to it as fast as possible.

So, when it’s late enough that the lights in Thomas’ house has gone off, and he’s certain the neighbours view of Thomas’ drive will be blocked by the fence, he crawls under Thomas’ car and cuts the breaks.

The house renovation makes a very good place to watch Thomas drive off from, so the next day that’s where he is. He perches beside a pile of bricks, close enough to the glass balcony door to see out of it, but where he’s not likely to be spotted. Usually, he would stay at the hotel and wait for the news, but Deceit isn’t willing to take any chances with Thomas Sanders.

Except the minutes tick by, and Thomas’ car doesn’t move. Thomas had said around noon, but it is half twelve now, and the car is still there. He wonders if Thomas decided to walk, or if he caught the bus instead, when he sees someone leave Thomas’ house.

Deceit goes to the balcony that overlooks the street to get a better look, and sure enough, it is Thomas, not Virgil Storm. Deceit watches him walk towards the car – he’ll only watch long enough for Thomas to drive off, there’s no way of telling when an accident will happen, after all – and right passed it, and onto the street.

Oh, you have to be kidding him. Thomas seems completely unconcerned as he walks closer to Deceit’s hiding place, and part of him wants to go down there and demand to know what Thomas is doing.

With a snarl of frustration, Deceit grabs one of the bricks and hurls it at the pavement where Thomas is – or rather, at the pavement a few inches to the left of where Thomas is. Thomas jumps where the brick hits the asphalt, and Deceit ducks back inside the house so he won’t be seen.

That was an extremely stupid move – Deceit had thought he’d grown past fits of rage, but apparently not. Still, when he peers out again Thomas is gone, so perhaps he’ll chalk it to another accident.

Deceit, however, is done with accidents.

Breaking into Thomas’ house is easy – all Deceit needs to do is pick the locks on his door and disable the burglar alarms. Honestly – anyone could just walk in. Maybe he’ll leave Virgil recommendations for some decent security.

Deceit barely spares a glance to Thomas’ kitchen and living room before making his way up the stairs. It’s late – almost three am, and the whole house is in darkness.

Upstairs, there are three doors opening off the corridor. The one in the middle is slightly ajar, and Deceit can see that it’s a bathroom. Another door leads to a room at the front of the house – from being able to see through the windows, he knows this is Thomas’. The third door must lead to Virgil’s room – through the crack at the bottom, he can see the glow of lights on inside.

Deceit opens Thomas’ door slowly, taking care not to make any noise, and when it is open just wide enough for Deceit to fit, he slips in, and shuts the door behind him.

Thomas is sat on his bed, his headphones on and his laptop in front of him. The glow of the screen lights up the moment Thomas looks up and sees him, the way Thomas’ eyes widen in shock and fear.

Deceit is already moving before Thomas begins to open his mouth to scream, and so he is able to tackle Thomas onto the bed and cover his mouth with a hand before any sound can come out. Damn it, Thomas is supposed to be asleep. Who the hell is up at three am?

Thomas struggles, hands clawing at Deceit’s own, and legs kicking wildly. He manages to catch his laptop and send it flying off the bed. It hits the floor with a loud thud. Deceit pushes himself onto the bed, and uses his knees to pin Thomas’ legs in place.

He’d been planning to use a pillow to smother him, but fortunately he also has a knife with him. Thomas is still scratching at Deceits hand, so he can use the other one to pull out the knife. Behind him, something pounds across the floor, and there’s the sound of a door hitting a wall when it’s thrown open.

Deceit is able to turn his head just in time to see the vase coming towards him.

The impact sends him falling pack against the bed, dazed.

“What the fuck!?” Virgil shouts, at the same time as Thomas cries, “You killed him!”

Deceit tries to get his hands under him, tries to push himself up, when Storm says, “Oh, fuck that,” and something collides with his head again, this time sending him careening into darkness.

The ropes are the first thing he notices.

He keeps his eyes closed, keeps his breathing slow and even, and listens to the footsteps pacing around the room. This isn’t the first time he’s been caught during a mission – it’s happened twice before. The first time had been easy enough to escape and finish the job, but the second had taken him days. When he finally had escaped, he’d almost bled out before he reached the safe house.

This time will almost certainly end up like the first.

“Shouldn’t he be awake by now?” someone asks. “Shit, I think I gave him brain damage.”

“He’s probably fine,” says a second voice. “I’m sure he’ll wake up soon.”

“Great!” hisses the first voice. “That means he’s going to wake up and kill us!”

…Definitely like the first.

It would, admittedly, be easiest to pretend to be asleep until one or both of them left the room. That would give him a chance to get out of the chair, kill Thomas, and then decide if he wants to kill Virgil, too.

But no one has ever caused him this much trouble before, not even the people who were expecting him. He’s curious.

So he makes a show of groaning and raising his head, of waking up slowly. He tugs against his restraints, more for show than everything, though it does give him a chance to make not of the amount of give in them. Rope is woven around his chest and arms, and then more has been used to secure his wrists.

Virgil is at the edge of the room, arms crossed and glowering. Thomas stands between Virgil and Deceit, eyes wide, looking as if he hadn’t actually expected Deceit to wake up.

“Uh, hi,” Thomas says. “Sorry about the tying you to a chair thing, but in our defence, you did try to kill us.”

Deceit doesn’t reply. He’s able to twist his hands to loosen the rope slightly.

Thomas falters. “How’s your head?”

“Fine.”

“Are you sure?” Thomas asks. “Virgil hit you pretty hard. We could get you some ice for it?”

Deceit isn’t sure why Thomas is asking that, but he still nods. He’s curious about what Thomas is going to do now that he thinks Deceit is at his mercy.

“Right! Yeah, I can get that,” Thomas says. He turns to Virgil, who’s scowl somehow grows even darker.

“Fuck no,” Virgil snaps. “I’m not taking my eyes off him.”

“Fine,” Thomas says. “I’ll get it. Just- stay here?”

And then Thomas leaves the room. He must be either stupider than Deceit realised, or far more cunning than Deceit was prepared for.

If Deceit is going to be hurt, this is where it will happen, while it’s just him and Virgil. Then Thomas can deny knowing about it, can build up Deceit’s trust in him.

Virgil stays where he is, watching Deceit so intently he doesn’t seem to blink.

“Have you called the police?” Deceit asks.

Virgil jumps at Deceit’s voice; unsurprising, considering how tightly wound he is. “Of course we did,” he snaps. “We’re just waiting for them to get here.”

Meaning there’s a time limit on how long he has to escape.

“What the fuck were you doing, anyway?” Virgil asks.

“I thought that was obvious,” Deceit says. “I’m trying to kill Thomas.”

“Why would you want to kill Thomas?”

Virgil sounds like the idea honestly makes no sense to him. Deceit just shrugs.

Virgil mutters something under his breath but doesn’t speak again, apparently content to just watch in silence. Or not content, considering the look on his face. It isn’t long before Deceit can hear Thomas’ footsteps up the stairs, and then Thomas appears, carrying an ice pack in one hand and a glass of water in the other.

“Jesus Christ,” Virgil mutters, eyeing the water.

Thomas shrugs sheepishly. “I thought he might be thirsty?”

“He just tried to kill you!” Virgil snaps. “You don’t worry about whether the person who tried to kill you is thirsty!”

If someone speaks like that at the Agency, it’s usually a good sign that violence is on the way, and you should start apologising before it’s too late. Thomas doesn’t seem bothered, though.

“Do you want it?” he asks.

Deceit shakes his head. He’s not stupid, there’s no way he’s going to accept anything from someone he’s just tried to murder. He might as well eat arsenic – it would cut out the middle man.

“Okay,” Thomas says. He steps closer. “Uh, I’m not sure how the ice pack will work. Maybe we can put it between your head and your shoulder?”

Deceit nods, and lets Thomas come closer, closer still. He places the water on the ground, and then reaches with the ice pack, and Deceit launches himself off the chair.

He keeps hold of the ropes as he tackles Thomas to the floor. He stands up quickly, and then turns to Virgil. As he suspected, Virgil is already lunging for Deceit’s knife, now placed on the night stand. He’s able to get there first, and he hits Virgil in the face. Virgil staggers back, and Deceit uses the distraction to throw him to the floor.

Virgil snarls and tries to stand up, but Deceit pins him and loops the rope around his hands. He drags Virgil across the room and ties the rest of the rope to the leg of the desk.

“Stop,” Thomas shouts, and suddenly he’s there, right next to Deceit, the guy who’s trying to kill him. “Don’t hurt him, please.”

Deceit turns, and Thomas backs away a few paces until his back hits the wall. His eyes are shiny with fear.

“We won’t tell anyone who you are, I swear,” Thomas babbles.

Deceit takes a step closer to Thomas. Behind him, Virgil spits, “Don’t you fucking dare.” Deceit can hear him struggling against the rope.

Thomas is here, in front of him, and alone. There’s nothing stopping Deceit, no lucky escapes this time. All Deceit has to do is grab the knife and stab him, or strangle him, or bludgeon him with something.

But he doesn’t want to.

A hundred kills and this one makes him hesitate, because – what? Because of an ice pack and a glass of water that is probably drugged? Because he’s seen some of Thomas’ vines and they made him laugh?

Deceit doesn’t hesitate. The training he’s had since he was a child has seen to that.

Something is wrong. He needs to regroup, figure out what’s happened and how to change it.

“Stay here,” Deceit orders, and Thomas nods. He doesn’t look relieved, not yet. “If you try to follow me, I’ll kill you. And then I’ll come back and kill him, too.”

Thomas’ breath hitches and he nods again. Behind him, Virgil goes silent. Neither speak as Deceit leaves the room.

When he’s halfway across the living room he hears movement upstairs, and stills, but then there’s nothing except for hushed voices from above, speaking too quiet for Deceit to hear.

He doesn’t look back as he leaves the house. He’ll kill Thomas tomorrow.

#sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #thomceit #janus sanders #tss janus #character thomas #my fic #I cant decide

16 notes · View notes

snowdice · 4 years

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Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 6)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Deceit, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 My Master Post

Roman and Remus piled into Janus’s car to head to the grocery store. It was pulled into Remy Gate’s driveway and only a few feet away whereas Roman had parked down the street and Remus had likely parked somewhere nearer to the park not that Roman cared to get into that death trap. (His father and Remus had built it together when Roman and Remus had been 14 and Roman loved them both dearly and dad was smart, but he wasn’t an engineer or mechanic and Remus was a beacon of chaos. It did not matter that the car had managed to hold up for almost 10 years whereas Roman was on his third car. He still would never trust the dammed thing. Ever.)

Janus’s car was the exact opposite of Remus’s. Roman wasn’t very good with cars, but even he could tell it was an expensive one (that was likely not constructed by a teenager and his dad in a garage) with no dents or rust and it still had that new car smell when he got inside. Roman could probably buy his apartment complex for how much money the thing was worth.

Yet, despite that, Remus seemed familiar with the car. He hopped straight into the passenger seat and started pushing buttons, the functions of which Roman did not know. One thing he did understand was the dials for the radio and that when Remus tapped the saved radio station under the 3rd slot, it switched to Remus’s favorite channel.

Remus then leaned back against the seat and put his feet up on the dash.

“Why do you have to be this?” Janus asked sounding exhausted the moment he opened the driver’s side door and the very intense bagpipe music met his ears. He reached into the car to slap Remus’s calves.

Remus didn’t move them but just smiled. “It’s piobaireachd day,” he said happily.

Janus shook his head and moved to sit down. He yelped immediately and shot forward on the seat. “You turned on the seat massagers?!”

“Of course, I turned on the seat massagers, Jay.”

“Ugh I don’t want those things on.” He started pushing buttons himself.

The hazard lights came on as well as the windshield wipers and some beeping started up. “Ugh! Remus! How do you turn these things off?” He slammed a hand against the dashboard and lights in the back suddenly were blinding Roman. “Stupid piece of scrap metal!”

Remus batted his hands away and put the car to rights again rather quickly. Janus mumbled a couple more curses under his breath but didn’t do anything more as he put the car into reverse and started driving down the street.

“Okay,” he said once they were moving, his creepily calm attitude back in place again.

So, this was Remus’s partner? Roman of course knew a bit more about what Remus did than most of the other people in the agency considering Remus was his brother. Not to mention, they were both the sons of Logan Sanders so if they wanted to talk about anything when they got together to have dinner every other Saturday, it was probably going to end up being about the covert spy operations everyone went on. (Dad pretended not to be a gossip, but at the end of the day…) So, Roman knew that Remus was a triple agent. He pretended to spy on dad for Barbara Nelsen when he was actually spying on Nelson for dad.

Roman also knew a bit about his partner. Remus had even let slip the nickname Jay a couple of times and talked affectionately about him. Janus was a double agent turning on Nelson to work for dad. However, Roman had not been aware that Janus was Nelson’s son, a fact which he’d surmised since Janus had said his mother killed Remy.

Which was… hmm. Obviously, dad had to know that information and trusted him enough to take his word as a double agent, but it still gave Roman a bit of pause. Not to mention, he was clearly a cold and efficient a liar which served to put Roman even more on edge.

The only thing keeping Roman from insisting they leave him was the way he acted around Remus. Remus had provided the only cracks in his carefully constructed calm but vicious front. Every time Remus did or said something Remusy, Janus would give him one of those fondly exasperated looks that only Remus could provoke, and they seemed to be more than just partners, but friends.

So, Roman was going to choose to trust him for a moment, attributing the roughness to his missing brother.

“What’s the plan?” Janus asked when they pulled into the grocery store’s parking lot.

“I have an FBI agent ID,” Roman said. “I can go push for information at the front desk.”

Janus nodded and his fingers tapped twice against the steering wheel before he stopped the nervous tick. “He might also hide outside the store. There is a small creek behind the store he used to go get muddy in. He will be, well… maybe he will be less likely to run from me and I know the area so I’ll check there. Remus can check inside the store while you ask around.”

“Okay, that works,” Roman agreed. “Meet back at the car afterwards?”

Janus nodded as he pulled into a parking spot. Remus slapped Janus on the shoulder before exiting the car and got a scowl at his back in return.

Roman shook his head and followed them out of the car. Janus separated from them a few feet before the door to the grocery store and Remus and Roman entered the store together.

“I’mma go check out the store,” Remus said.

“Okay, don’t do anything stupid,” Roman said as he walked away. He got a flippant wave in return. “Remus! Don’t do anything stupid, please!” And… he was gone. Roman shook his head and turned, searching for the front desk.

He reached for his wallet and smiled at the employee at the front desk. “Hello ma’am,” he said. “I’m looking for someone and I was hoping you’d help me.” He pulled out his only sortof fake FBI ID to show her.

“I’m looking for a teenager who has gone missing and is connected to a case and we have reports that he may have come in here. Perhaps you’ve seen him,” Roman said. He took out his phone to show her the picture of Virgil that he’d been sent only to find that his screen had been cracked and it wouldn’t turn on, likely damaged in the fight with Janus. Great. He looked back up the woman. “I apparently don’t have a picture to show you at the moment, but you’ve possibly seen him before as he lives in the neighborhood. “Virgil Gates?”

He got a blank stare in return.

Fantastic.

He spent another 15 or so minutes trying to explain to the woman who he was looking for (a difficult task as all he had to go off of was the memory of one picture that he’d been sent an hour ago) and getting shrugs and apologies in response. Eventually he left and looked around the store for a bit himself. His brother was suspiciously absent from everywhere Roman looked.

Eventually he wandered back to the front by himself only to see Remus coming from the checkout with a bag full of snack foods.

Roman crossed his arms. “You were supposed to be looking for a missing minor, not shopping.”

“Chill,” Remus said making Roman want to do the opposite of ‘chill,’ “I looked for the kid and shopped at the same time. I even got Cheetos!” he smiled widely as they left the store. “Also, I broke into their security office!”

“You what?!” Roman asked.

“I broke into their security office,” Remus repeated happily.

“And why,” Janus asked tiredly while walking up to them, “did you do that.”

“To get the security camera footage, duh,” he said pointing at a camera near the top of the door. “I figured he might have not gone inside, but the neighbor said he headed in this direction, so that thing probably saw him.”

“That’s actually pretty smart,” Roman said. “Though we probably could have just asked.”

Remus shrugged. “Luckily they apparently save security footage to a cloud and I was able to download it pretty easily. We should be able to see everything that happened inside and outside the grocery store in the last two hours assuming you’ve got something to watch it on.”

Janus nodded and led them back to his car where he took a laptop out of his trunk. Remus downloaded the footage and then handed it over to Janus. “You’ll be able to spot him best since you know what he looks like better than us.”

It took almost 20 minutes of Janus watching the surveillance video for him to find what he was looking for. “Got him,” he said. Roman leaned over to get a good look at the screen. The video feed was a bit blurry, but he could see a lanky teenager with dark hair running to the grocery store parking lot. He took a break when he got there and looked behind him probably to make sure he hadn’t been followed. Then he found a bush to hid behind. They watched for a few minutes until finally he hopped back up and started walking towards a car.

“What’s he doing?” Roman asked as the boy on the camera glanced around himself to make sure nobody was watching before starting to fiddle with something.

“Oh god,” Janus groaned, “why did I teach him how to pick a car lock? Emile was right.”

They watched as he managed to pop the door open to the stranger’s car and slipped inside. Not even 5 minutes later, a man with grocery bags got into the front seat though it was too blurry to see who he was or the license plate on the car. The car drove out of the parking lot after a few more minutes.

“God dammit, Virgil,” Janus hissed and Roman barely saved the laptop from crashing to the ground. “Now he’s just in the back of some random person’s car!” he started pacing back and forth, steam practically pouring from his ears. Roman was almost scared for Virgil when Janus managed to find him because he looked ready to commit a murder. “That was over an hour ago. Who knows where he could be by now! Who knows what could have happened to him by now!” And, oh, Roman realized. He wasn’t angry. Not really. He was terrified. “What the hell am I supposed to do?!” he kicked the car fender, leaving a dent and then he kicked it again.

Then a phone rang in his pocket and he froze, all emotion draining off his face startlingly quickly. Roman was confused because he was pretty sure he’d seen Janus step on his phone earlier, but the one he pulled out now was a different type. He glanced at the caller ID and said, “it’s my mother.”

Want to read more? Click below!

Part 7

#sanders sides #remus sanders #roman sanders #janus sanders #creativitwins #emile picani #remy sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #platonic moxiety #knives #kidnapping #carjacking #murder mentioned #guns mentioned #adriana writes #road trips and missing persons

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dmitri-writes · 4 years

Text

Voice~Intrulogical

INFO -trans guy logan -side royality -familial analogical -based on a prompt i saw somewhere

TRIGGER WARNINGS -

***

Remus opens his laptop and checks a group chat for his friends, adequately named 'No Braincells Here'. He grins, seeing green dots next to all four of his friends and his brother; PappyPatton, AnxietyAttack, JekyllHyde, SpaceJam, and PositivelyPrincely. He turns on his mic, excited to wreak havoc as always and annoy his brother.

JeffreyDahmer: "What's up bitches one, two, three, four, and five."

The chat is filled with four voices; Roman groans, Virgil laughs, Patton says to watch his language, and Deceit says "Goodbye" and leaves, logging right back on. Remus also reads the texts sent by the only one never on voice chat, SpaceJam.

SpaceJam: Hello, Remus. I was starting to wonder where you were.

Remus smile grows, pleasantly surprised someone actually expects and wants him to be there. "Thanks, Space," He says through voice chat.

PappyPatton: "Now that Remus is here, we can talk about The Thing (TM)." PositivelyPrincely: "What is it this time Padre? Are you in need of spider killing? I'll run to your house now." PappyPatton: "No, Roman, It's- and he's gone..."

Remus hears his brother in the other room rummaging around for his sword. He doesn't stop him as he races out the door.

PappyPatton: "Remus, did he leave?" JeffreyDahmer: "Yeah." AnxietyAttack: "At least he's not knocking down my door this time." SpaceJam: Should we wait until he's back? PappyPatton: "I hear him knocking on my door... Be right back." SpaceJam: Does this happen often? Virgil, you didn't tell me you moved close to Roman and Remus.

Remus smiles, heart a little fluttery Space didn't just say Roman. It feels great to not be forgotten for once. Space always remembered him. Always.

AnxietyAttack: "Yeah, Patton is scared of spiders and since I own a few, Roman sometimes thinks they're mine and makes me check that they're all there and not fakes they replaced themselves with."

Remus' smile turns into a mischevious grin, knowing he caused the scene. He told Roman about Virgil's spiders, which he knew about since kindergarten. He also sometimes loosens their cages or catches wild spiders to put on Patton's lawn.

SpaceJam: Seems... Interesting. PappyPatton: "Okay Roman's next to me so I'm just gonna talk about it with him here, sorry for stealing your brother Remus." JeffreyDahmer: "Keep him." JekyllHyde: "I can't wait to hear what Patton has to say." PappyPatton: "What I was saying is... I got a boyfriend!" AnxietyAttack: "It's Roman, isn't it?" PappyPatton: "Yeah it's Roman." SpaceJam: Thank you for trusting us enough to tell us, Patton. SpaceJam: If it is alright, I would like to follow that up with my own announcement.

Remus' interest is piqued. Is Space going to announce their name? Gender? Sexuality? Romantic life? He's bouncing in his chair with excitement.

PappyPatton: "Go ahead Space!" SpaceJam: I am moving in with Virgil, now that his parents have formally adopted me. JekyllHyde: "ADOPTED?" JeffreyDahmer: "MOVING?" SpaceJam: Perhaps I should tell you more... PappyPatton: PLEASE -Roman

That was... NOT what Remus was expecting... but he's still excited! Space! Moving! Here! Okay, Remus needs to calm down before he falls out of his chair again.

SpaceJam: My name is Logan. I am a trans male and my parents were not too happy about it. While Virgil lived near me, he became worried about me. Once he knew of my situation, he told his parents, who have been fighting to adopt me. It has been finalized today, and I am currently packing.

Remus' head spins with the new information as he also hears Roman enter the house again. His bedroom door opens and Roman peeks his head in. "Good, you're still alive. You should take a shower since Space- er, Logan, is moving here." Remus absent-mindedly throws a pencil at his brother who dodges it and laughs.

JekyllHyde: "How are you getting here?" SpaceJam: I will be taking a plane. I'm very excited, planes are fascinating and I have wished to be on one. I do prefer spaceships though. PappyPatton: "Uh, Logan, I'd hate to push it so ignore me if you aren't comfortable with it but... could we hear your voice?" JeykllHyde: "Oh I would hate that." JeffreyDahmer: "Oh yes!" AnxietyAttack: "Guys shut the fuck up! It's stressful for him!" AnxietyAttack: "Logan if you don't want to its okay."

Remus watches the screen intently, glaring holes into to speaker icon next to Logan's username. He fills with delight as it's activated.

SpaceJam: "I-it's alright, I'm just... a bit nervous."

Remus accidentally slams his keyboard as he falls out of his chair, speaker locked on. He manages to get up and walks to the other side of his room, "HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK I AM IN LOVE!" Remus hears Roman's voice from the speakers and through the wall, "This dumbass fell out of his chair!" "Fuck off Roman I'm having a moment here!" Remus' face heats up as Logan's voice follows, "Remus are you hurt?" Why is Logan so nice? Remus can't handle this. "I'm alright Logan." After a few hours of bullshitting on chat and Remus freaking out over Logan, Logan advises all of them to go to bed. "I'm going to the airport now, if you get to sleep then you could see me as I arrive at Virgil's house." Remus happily replies, "Good night then, I want to be the first to get a look at you." He logs off and goes to read on his bed, knowing the excitement and his insomnia wouldn't allow him to sleep.

Remus is the first at Virgil's house in the morning and Virgil's mom offers to let him come with them, to which he happily and smugly agrees. He texts the chat smugly, excited to see Roman's reaction.

JeffreyDahmer: losers im going to the airport with virgil im gonna see logan first positivelyPrincely: OH THATS CHEATING YOU DIDNT EVEN SLEEP JeffreyDahmer: how was i supposed to? insomnia AND cute boy in the morning?

Remus waits by the gate with Virgil, who holds a sign reading 'Logan' in blue marker. Remus grins and asks Virgil to add something. Virgil rolls his eyes, "What do you want me to add?" "Space cutie!" Virgil laughs and lets Remus write it on underneath with a green marker. After a few minutes of waiting, Virgil points out a figure. He's wearing a blue tie over a black polo tucked into black jeans. He's pulling behind him two galaxy-themed suitcases. Virgil waves for his attention and gets it, sign being read. His face heats up and he walks over. "Lolo, so good to see you!" Virgil's mother hugs him, then Virgil does too, "I missed you L." Once freed from the hug, Logan looks over at Remus and gives a small smile, "Remus, right?" Remus' face lights up and he bounces on his feet, "How'd you know Spacey?" Logan laughs a bit, "You look exactly as I thought you would."

Virgil groans, "You two can flirt later. Let's go home so the others can meet you too." Logan and Remus talk on the way back to the car, keeping it more PG in front of Virgil's- and now Logan's- mom. As soon as the car pulls into the driveway, Roman and Patton run up to the car. Dee follows slowly behind. Logan goes to greet them all with a wave but Patton tackles him in a hug. "Oh, uh, hello Patton." Patton lets go of Logan so Roman can sling an arm over Logan's shoulder, "You're more handsome than I thought pocket protector. Still not a match for my princely charm, however." "Ah. You must be Roman." Dee walks up closer, "I know, Roman is so charming." Logan laughs a bit, "Good to see you, Dee." Dee breaks after a moment and gives Logan a hug while smiling." Virgil's mom gently tells them that Logan needs to unpack and the others groan but say goodbye and leave for their houses.

Remus goes to his room and sits in front of his computer, bouncing his leg as he stares at Logan's icon. After a few minutes, there is a ding, notifying a message and Remus smiles as he sees it's a private message from Logan.

SpaceJam: Remus, I am still packing but I wanted to ask you something before I 'chickened out' as Virgil says. SpaceJam: Would you like to accompany me to a museum of forensic anthropology?

Remus slides out of his chair and onto the floor, creating a small thump. Roman peeks his head into the room, "What happened? Did Logan say your name or something?" Remus points at the screen and Roman reads the messages, the nudges Remus with his foot, "Say yes you disaster! He's asking you on a date!" Remus lightly kicks Roman's leg, "Yeah, I know that!" He gets back up and types out a response but stares at it instead of pressing send. Roman sighs and hits send then goes back to what he was doing, leaving Remus to metaphorically die.

JeffreyDahmer: abso-fucking-lutely

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dukeofonions · 4 years

Text

Reaction Redux (I know it doesn’t make sense but it sounds cool)

Alright, here is my initial reaction to Putting Others First: Selfishness vs Selflessness Redux.

It’s finally here, I’ve watched it a total of two times and currently have it on in the background as I type this, and I have a lot of feelings. All of which would be too much for one post, so after I do this I’ll be making a few separate posts addressing certain points I’d like to expand on further.

So what I’m going to do is have the video playing as I write this out, that way I don’t miss out anything I wanted to discuss. Basically it’s not gonna be a full on analysis, just a lot of random ramblings with what I hope are some insightful gems sprinkled throughout. Consider these my notes for all my future serious analysis posts.

Good? Great. Let’s go. (Also spoilers under the cut)

So, how did I feel as I watched the video for the first time? Well considering I got the notification for the video while I was still at work, I couldn’t get as excited as I wanted to be about it because I didn’t get off until 8pm and had to deal with one too many dunderheads so I was pretty grumpy once I got off.

However, as soon as I got home and retreated to the safety of my isolation fortress (aka my bedroom) I was finally able to get excited as I got on my laptop and pulled up the video and let me just say I was a mess the entire time. I missed my boys!!! I knew they wouldn’t all be present, but I still missed my boys!!! And I loved seeing them again!!!

First things first, that song at the beginning! I think it’s called Review Redux (correct me if I’m wrong) it’s such a freaking bop and I wish it was longer because I could listen to it all day. I loved the artwork and little details that went into their characters, and how each of the circles represented who was singing/talking by their colors. Fun stuff and a great way to recap everything! As well as foreshadow things to come within the episode… “If our goals aligned with his what would that say?” Roman you’re in for a rude awakening bud…

Also, the little moment near the beginning where Patton is about to shut Thomas’ negative thinking down, but stops himself and allows Thomas to explain why he feels that way. Showing that he’s learned to ease up just a little since he learned to do so in Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts. Good for you Patton.

Speaking of Patton, oh he is so confused. I understand where he’s coming from, and honestly everything he said are things I have been taught growing up, and this is something I’ll address in another post because I have a lot of things to say about it. But just know that I adore the development Patton has been going through and watching him grow and mature.

Oh yes, I must mention I was pleasantly surprised to see Logan. I didn’t think he’d show up in this episode, or at the very least have a brief appearance, but I love how he took part and by far the funniest part in this episode (to me) is when he had so much to say in one little post that it popped up and hit Patton in the nose. It was one of the few moments where I laughed out loud and I rewound it a few times on my first viewing.

Plus Thomas being more concerned about the blinds than Patton. My type of humor. And Roman actually gets to use his sword for once, good for him!

(Funny enough as I typed this the video got to that part at the exact same time so I got a nice little laugh again)

Which brings up my next point: Logan getting yoinked after Patton skips his dialogue. No one talks about how he does his little impression of that philosopher, am I the only one who found that utterly adorable?

Let Logan geek out over philosophers please. He clearly loves it so much.

Then we get to Roman believing he’s the one responsible for everything, wanting to give up the driver’s seat to Patton. And just… This exchange of dialogue:

Thomas: “Roman, I only mean well when I say…” Thomas: “That that is the stupidest thing you have ever said.” Roman: “Oh Thomas, you’re just blowing smoke.”

I don’t know why I enjoy this so much but I do. Give me more of this. I crave it now.

And I just need to make a whole post about Patton in this video, there is so much to unpack with him alone.

Looking back and noticing that Thomas only starts listening to Logan after he’s been replaced by Deceit kinda hurts.

Speaking of which, can we appreciate how much better Deceit has gotten at impersonating Logan? Looks like he took Roman’s advice and focused on the little things. Good for him.

Alright, one of my absolute favorite parts from this episode and where things really start to shine: Patton freaks out and turns into a giant frog because he’s so desperate to have an answer for them he flips and honestly, sounds a little crazy. Which, I don’t know why but I find it both menacing and hilarious at the same time?

Also the fact he turns into a frog because he was talking about Frogger earlier, nice touch! (And Lilypadton that’s so cute)

Then we get probably the single greatest character entrance in the history of character entrances. We find out that Deceit finally reveals himself and steps in to stand up to Patton and get him to see how his actions have been having a negative effect on Thomas.

The way his voice changes from Logan’s to his own, his music kicking in, “The Lord of the Lies” oh my gosh it’s all just perfect! Also Roman’s “Reptilian Rapscallion! Reptilian Rapscallion! We’ve got a code yellow!”

And if I may: Roman: “What have you done with Logan?!” Deceit: “Nothing at all and I resent the question.”

WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM YOU SNEK?!

(in all honest probably nothing but what if)

Important to note here that Roman instantly begins defending Patton from Deceit as soon as he accuses him of misleading Thomas. This goes to show just how much Roman views him as a villain. Or in other words: Patton, good. Deceit, bad. A viewpoint he continues to hold onto until the end of the episode, which also deserves it’s entire post because we all know how much turbulence that caused within the fandom.

And to the observant eye, you’ll notice that the cane (or staff) Deceit uses is the same one that dragged Logan off screen.

Frog puns. That is all.

I just, I love Deceit’s dialogue throughout this scene. It’s stuff I need to hear and tell myself on a regular basis. And I’d honestly rewatch this part (along with the rest of what Deceit and Logan say later on in the video) because it’s all something I need to also teach myself. But this ain’t meant to be a personal post so I’ll just move on.

Deceit’s walk towards the camera. I don’t know why. It’s so smooth. He’s amazing. I love him. Snek…

I have problems don’t @ me.

Also no one is mentioning the reference to that one “Turn based rpg” short that Thomas made with his friends and I find that sad because it’s a neat and fitting reference given the theme of this video. Also earlier on when the trolley problem is first brought up all the people on the bottom track are Thomas’ friends. Another neat little detail, though sadly, their digital selves perished.

PETER SINGER

Logan doesn’t seem to like Deceit much, not outright hate him or anything, but it’s more like he just tolerates him but doesn’t seek to get on good terms with him. Which is a shame because as both parts of SVS have proven, these two have the capacity to work together. Which is why I hope Logan gets a debate episode with him as well because out of all the Sides, these two have interacted the least and that needs to be remedied (especially when they’re my two favorites)

Deceit is trying to make Roman understand, but he’s so caught up in this black and white thinking that he disregards everything Deceit says! Why? Because the last time he tried to hear Deceit out he was reprimanded. (In other words, I relate to Roman so much in this that it hits a little too close to home and I’m definitely making a separate post about this.

Deceit: *confused* Trees? And I’m so glad I found out I’m not the only dunce who thought Deceit’s name was going to be written on his hand…

But seriously this whole moment, with the buildup, Deceit’s reluctance to share his name, the music, I’d put it up there with Virgil’s “I was one of them” for best Sanders Sides scenes.

Also, Deceit’s name is Janus! I was a little iffy about it at first, but since I didn’t ever really have a prediction for his name, I wasn’t disappointed and the name is growing on me.

And then, the moment of trust is immediately ruined by Roman laughing. Dude, come on. (again though, post for another time because I understand where Roman is coming from here)

In all seriousness though I just love the last bits of this episode. The emotion, the angst, it doesn’t hold back and I appreciate the team taking things a step further than normal. Usually, moments like this are followed up by a joke to play it off, but they don’t do that after Roman sinks out. They stay in the moment until it’s had time to sink in. I wish the episode had ended a little more somberly, but I think this is a good step in the right direction. Showing that there won’t always be a 100% happy conclusion to things. Sometimes you need to take time in between to figure things out.

This line: “Do you think there’s a limit to how many times someone can say sorry before you have to admit that they’re just bad for you?” This line is so important to me within the context of the episode and outside of it. I won’t get too personal but I will say that I was raised to believe that if a person wronged me in any way, that if they said sorry, I had to forgive them. Even if they did the same thing over and over and over again. As long as they apologize, you have to forgive them and move on. And that has messed me up in so many different ways, especially when those people are family.

Janus sums it up best with “It depends” because yes, some people make the same mistakes again and again. But there’s a difference between someone trying to change and accidentally falling back on old habits, and someone taking advantage of your “forgiveness” that they continue to do those hurtful things because they know they can get away with it and not have to change.

Also, while it’s totally fine for people to dislike Patton, I can’t understand how anyone could watch this episode and claim that he’s still the same as he was at the beginning of SVS Part One because he has changed. He has finally realized just how much he’s been hurting Thomas, and even Roman. He sinks out at the end to apologize to him, he recognizes his faults, and he’s seeking to make amends. He wants to do the right thing here, and keep in mind that recently a lot of his views (which are also Thomas’ views) have been flipped on their heads and they both need to rethink some things. It’s part of growing up and becoming your own person.

I need to make a whole post about the more personal things that I got from the last three episodes (excluding Asides) because there’s just so many important things these episodes teach and I feel the need to address them.

Also everyone sleeping on the fact that Leslie Odom Jr. just casually makes an appearance and attempts to start a pilot episode for his own series “Odom Sides” which I wish him luck on. He just wants to be in the room where it happens.

Everything Patton did was for Thomas, so he wouldn’t be left in the dark again. He promised to keep fighting but ultimately, ended up fighting himself. Am I deep yet?

“Those imperfections don’t make you any less worthy of love” can you tell how much this episode means to me yet?

Janus’ “I’ll take care of him.” Ack, he just cares so much… My gosh… Where did this character come from and what did he do with the slimy boi? (I mean that in two different ways)

Oh, there he is. That’s my boi.

“There are smarter ways to get people to do what you want anyway.” “There are much less barbaric, much more fun, forms of sabotage.”

Parallels? Maybe? What the heck I love Janus whether he’s encouraging Thomas to look after his mental health or plot his schemes in the shadows. Do I trust Janus? Oh heck no, of course not. There is something suspicious going on here and I both love it and hate it. More on that in a different post though.

“You’re not stuck with an evil snake boi. You’re just stuck with a snek boi.”

Yes Thomas, continue to overthink every little issue until it results in a mental breakdown. Hm, sounds like what someone with anxiety does… I suppose that’s why this series exists.

Okay call me a bad person but I almost always space out during Thomas’ messages to the viewers at the end of the videos. I don’t know why but I cannot focus on them to save my life and usually end up skipping past them to get to the end card. I dunno, maybe because it takes me out of the moment? Especially during episodes where they don't’ address the audience at all and then suddenly “Oh yeah! This is a Youtube series lol” it just feels out of place in more story driven episodes like this one.

Okay am I the only one that’s kinda creeped out by Lee and Mary Lee? I dunno they just seem, off. Like if they were characters in a horror movie they’d be that overly nice couple that turn out to be the killers. Those are the vibes they give me. Maybe it’s because I have zero people skills due to being homeschooled all my life and the only social interaction I get is with coworkers so I dunno. They still creep me out. They creep me out more than Remus. And he legit freaked me out for a bit before he stole my heart. (I suppose this means I need to make a separate post about these two because I do have some opinions about whether or not it was a good idea to actually include them at the end. When I said I had too many thoughts about this episode I meant it)

And if the end card is any indication, I’m going to assume that the Sides are invisible to everyone except Thomas. Unless they’re just “observing” and not even Thomas can see them at this point, given he shows no indication of seeing or hearing them there. Maybe they get to choose when they’re visible? Or Thomas does? I dunno, the rules of this universe have never been clearly stated and are inconsistent.

I didn’t expect Patton to be the first to accept Janus, and I’m kinda glad I was proven wrong. It does seem fitting with Patton’s growth and I liked their little moment at the end.

And that wraps up my commentary. I hope you found something in this mess of, things. I plan to go more in depth with my separate posts which I’m going to have fun writing, so be on the lookout for those!

Also at the time of writing this I now have 63 followers?! Thank y’all so much! I never thought this blog would get this far and I’m so glad it did because I’m having a lot of fun with it and hope to bring out more content regularly! Again, thank you!!

#sanders sides #ts spoilers #sanders sides spoilers

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candied-peach · 5 years

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ao3: “like a car crash” rating: T warnings: crime shows, murder mention, food mention, intrusive thoughts/remus typical stuff, sympathetic remus, sympathetic deceit, dukeceit genre: fluff description: Deceit and Remus watch TV. (anon requested: “demus watching crime show”)

"This isn't realistic at all," Remus complains, tossing a kernel of cheesy popcorn at the screen of Deceit's laptop. "Come on, the blood should be spurting, it's an artery-"

"Well, they can't exactly actually kill someone," Deceit comments, retrieving the popcorn and handing it back to Remus, who pops it into his mouth. "And I'd imagine that kind of spurting is hard to replicate."

"Still," Remus says, but he subsides, still sulky.

It's been a long day for both of them. Deceit because he had to help Thomas craft a multitude of tiny lies that all wove together in an intricate web to form a bigger lie, and Remus because he actually attempted to work with his brother. Attempted being the key word. Deceit believes that little project ended in Remus flinging a handful of conjured intestines at Roman's face and storming off in a flood of frustrated tears. He knows Roman is trying. That's the only reason Deceit hasn't paid him a little visit himself.

He sighs, losing himself in the drama playing out on the screen. A woman convulses limply on the street, her heels drumming against the concrete. She's a good actress, Deceit thinks. Of course, he's better.

"If there is any kind of camera within a mile radius," Deceit murmurs absently. "They will not only find footage of the murder, it will be clear as day, even when they zoom in. Especially when they zoom in."

"Probably," Remus says, then cackles when someone on screen discovers the new body and starts screaming. "That sounds so fake."

"It's not too bad, actually," Deceit says, with a thoughtful tilt of his head. He scoots closer to his boyfriend, intent on acquiring some of that enticing body heat for himself. Remus looks over, laughs, and lifts his arm, inviting Deceit closer.

"Look, there we go," Deceit says a few minutes later, pointing at the screen. "Gas station footage. Does it- No, it doesn't have audio, at least."

"I could make a better crime show in the imagination," Remus says. "You think I could get Roman to be the murder victim?"

"No," Deceit says, without even a second of consideration. "He'd never want to play the damsel in distress and a dead one is the ultimate damsel. You could probably get him to help you solve the murder, though."

"Hmm," Remus says. Deceit can almost see the cogs turning behind bloodshot eyes. Down here, they're a bright, glazed green. "That's better, anyway, he'll have to do more! Not just lie around and be dead."

"Exactly," Deceit says, turning his attention back to the show. They're handcuffing a suspect, although Deceit doubts that it's the right person, not when there's still twenty minutes to go.

"Dee?" Remus asks a few minutes later, with a hefty gust of breath. "I'm tired. Can we finish this later?"

"Of course," Deceit says at once, pausing the show and setting his laptop on his bedside table. The popcorn joins it. "What now?" Remus grabs Deceit around the waist and pulls him against him.

"Snuggle," Remus says, resting his head on top of Deceit's hair. "Hey, do you think when Roman plays with me, I can get him to be the murderer, too?"

"I doubt it," Deceit says, listening to the reassuringly steady thump of Remus's heartbeat beneath his ear. "But you could always try."

"Maybe I will," Remus says, contemplative. "Hey, Dee? I love you. Did you know that?"

Deceit smiles.

"Yes," he says, curling closer. "I did. And I assure you, the feeling is entirely mutual."

#🍬 txt #sanders sides #dukeceit #demus #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic remus #deceit sanders #remus sanders #deceit #remus #roman #sanders sides fic #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides fanfic #fic requests #📚#ok to rb #peach writes #janus

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evien-stark · 4 years

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✧I Need You✧ Chapter 161

Somewhere in the middle of your third cup of extra large coffee, fourteen boxes were delivered to the lab space that was now being used like an office. As it had turned out, coffees and pastries did not fix the problem. You tried to divvy up the boxes evenly among your team so as to ease the burden on everyone.

Though Steve did have a very good question. “What is it we’re looking for?”

Right. You’d had old SHIELD files pulled- because Ultron had deleted the virtual ones on Strucker and List. He had to have had a reason for doing so… what was it, exactly? What did those two know that would help you find him? Or better yet, help you ascertain what the hell he was doing with all the materials he was gathering.

Natasha seemed to be your wingwoman on this operation, as she gathered her thoughts and got an answer out ahead of you. “These guys had a wide net. It’s unlikely they were just scientists in a dark basement their whole careers.”

The lightbulb went off, and you found yourself nodding. “Ultron likely questioned them in their cells. He’s collecting something- he must be looking for something else. Something they knew about.”

Tony pulled the lid off one of the boxes and dumped his files in a heap on his corner of the table. “First we gotta figure out what box is which. Who was in charge of filing over there? Because if we have them on staff, I want them gone.” It was hard to tell if he was joking.

Steve was showing a little bit of his agitation as he threw a very purposeful look Tony’s way. “So what box are we looking for?”

It was weird that you, Natasha, and Tony all spoke at the same time. “Contacts.”

But that trio-chorus seemed to put some quiet into him and he put his head down and started sifting through files. The quiet in the space was a little much to deal with, but it really wasn’t the right time to be playing music or chatting. So you just had to deal with it. And stranger still the headache that came with it.

There was a race to see who would pull the right file. Maybe that’s what was making everyone so anxious and uncomfortable. ...no, it was probably the looming threat of war via a muderbot that also had murder-twins now accompanying him. Yeah. That was probably it. But whatever it was, everyone was bogging you down. Unintentionally and unknowingly. You just weren’t clear enough to deal with the waves being sent out from every direction.

At the very least, Tony seemed to have pulled himself together enough to throw a strong mask up and banish his spiraling somewhere deep, deep down. It really wasn’t a good solution and it was probably going to bite the both of you later. But that would be later. Right now you had to focus… focus and read- read paragraphs of text and titles that you had to then reread five more times because you weren’t processing anything you were looking at. No help. Useless-

“Known associates-” Steve called out, maybe about an hour after the sorting had started. So he was the lucky winner. Everyone took a handful of files out of his box. “Well. Strucker had a lot of friends.”

Bruce nudged his glasses up, flipping quickly over a few documents. “Well these people are all horrible.” Said in such a casual way.

It was to be expected. Hydra were terrible people themselves. It should have been no surprise the company they kept was just as abhorrent. Maybe that was an extra bad thing though, as Tony waved a hand and pointed. “Wait- we know that guy.” Bruce took the papers Tony was impatiently and silently demanding through gestures and handed them over. You shifted over in your seat when he tilted them a little closer your way. “From way back in the day. Operates off the African coast. Ringing any bells?”

“Ugh.” Yes, you remembered the mug looking out at you from a SHIELD blacklist file. Big bulky man. South African accent encrusted with slime every time he opened his mouth. “Klaue.” You had had a few awful interactions with him. Everyone he came into contact probably did. He thought he was so much more of a hotshot than he actually was-

“Didn’t you threaten to rip his arm off- more than once?” There was a brief and almost sweetly fond twitch of a smile on Tony’s lips as he looked at you.

“Didn’t understand the meaning of no.” The worst type of handsy. The two of you stopped your stroll down memory lane and you looked up at the group. “Ulysses Klaue. Black market arms.”

The wholly judgmental glare from Steve sent an uneasy ripple of exasperation through you. He was really going to have to get over himself at some point because this was really not working out right now. Tony gave one back, though, with a harsher set of steel. “There are conventions, alright. You meet people.”

Feeling the need to continue defending the both of you, “We never sold him anything.” While you didn’t say it, the thought was broadcast loudly- so you better stop looking at us like that.

Tony pulled the folder back his way, fingers trailing down some of the lines of text. Datadumps that SHIELD had collected on him. His tone was a little wistful, “Last time I saw him he was talking about finding something new. A game changer. It was all very Ahab.”

“If he was even telling the truth.” While, even that long ago, you hadn’t picked up deceit from him, Klaue was a man that liked to talk big and make even bigger promises that he never lived up to. “He kind of fell off the map after that.”

Thor reached over, tapping something on the file. “What is this?”

Tony narrowed his eyes in a small squint. “Uh- it’s a tattoo- I don’t think he- did he have this last we saw him?” Turning it around to you.

You scrutinized the image carefully as Bruce turned away from the group to start typing at his computer. The mark you were being asked to look at was… just that. A mark. An almost angry looking red burn in his skin on the side of his neck. The answer came seconds later, “No. Definitely not.” You’d have remembered something like that.

Shifting his finger down, Thor outlined one of the black tribal tattoos on the top of Klaue’s chest. “No. These are tattoos. This is a brand.”

Easily you found yourself nodding. “Makes sense. He probably pissed off someone he shouldn’t have.”

A chirp came from Bruce’s computer and he tapped at his screen. “Oh, yeah. It’s a word in an African dialect meaning thief. ...uh, in a much less friendly way.”

Putting your hands up flat, “What did I say?” There were so few victories to seize right now. You could have this one.

Steve came around to stand behind the both of you. “What dialect?”

Bruce sat forward a little more, trying to read off his screen. “Wakanada? Err- Wa- Wa… Wakanda?”

Sitting back you shared a look with both Tony and Steve. This was… this had just gone from very bad to absolutely terrible. The air in the room went cold. Tony put his hand on the back of your chair. “If Klaue got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…”

You agreed easily with him, “Ultron wants a word with him. Definitely.” After saying this you nearly called out- mouth open- and then closing. Shoulders falling. Stopping yourself from calling JARVIS just in time. Only lucky there wasn’t enough time to feel that deep well of sadness over it. Instead you turned to your own laptop to start a trace.

Steve was shaking his head, though. “I thought your father said he got the last of it?”

Behind you you felt Tony shrug, and felt even more the bitterness that came with his easy dismissal. “Dad said a lot of things.”

There was no room right now for any levity, yet Natasha tried anyway. “Look who’s talking.”

Tony huffed out a little laugh with a drop of his head. Since he took it so well, you decided to follow up. “One of his finest traits.”

Bruce took off his glasses just as soon as you got a hit, looking up at them. “Wait- I’m behind- I don’t follow. What comes out of Wakanda?”

Steve shifted back, giving an almost longing glance at his shield, which was resting against one of the cabinets. But it was Tony who answered, “The strongest metal on earth.”

Resignation buried you deep where hope was quickly dying. “Vibranium. And if Ultron gets his hands on it, we’re gonna have more problems than we know what to do with.” Something got stuck in the back of your throat and you found yourself swallowing hard. “We have- there’s a hit. I have his last known location. He’s operating out of a giant scrapyard near Johannesburg.”

Clint, who had been sitting suspiciously quiet through all of this, got up from his spot on a nearby table. “I’ll fire up the quinjet. Everyone good to go?”

Bruce sighed. “Like we have a choice?”

---

It was too soon to be suiting up and heading back into battle, but Bruce was right. What choice did you have? If you had had any shred of optimism left, you would have been looking forward to this being the end of it. You could go to the scrapyard, find Ultron there, and put a stop to him. But… there was the possibility he wouldn’t even be there. That you’d miss him and he’d have made up with a thousand tons of vibranium. Or… maybe he would be there. And this would all go south.

Your mind was so much of a mess that too long after takeoff, flying side by side with Tony, you realized- “Hey- are you borrowing LUNA?” His suit no longer had AI assistance. It took every last ounce of strength you had to keep your feelings to yourself so as to not damage him further.

“Flying solo. For now.” His tone was eerily quiet. His face on your chat window on the HUD was also pretty impassive.

But you knew better than that. There was just no time for it right now. Which was probably only making it worse. “The suits can do that?”

“Well. They don’t pilot themselves.” You weren’t sure how you’d gotten a grin out of him, but if he wanted to use his ego as a backing board to hold himself up, that was fine.

“Oh. So what you’re saying is I couldn’t do it.”

“Absolutely not. No offense.”

“None taken. Not all of us are geniuses.” Stroking said ego wasn’t going to hurt, either.

“You’d be bored of me by now, if everyone was.” It registered, as he was quick to respond, what he was doing-

It was probably very quiet in his suit. Maybe in general. Tony talked to JARVIS constantly. He probably didn’t even know he was doing it half the time. So until touchdown… you resolved to fill the silence for him. “Bored of you? Impossible. Speaking of… your birthday is coming up soon.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Too late. Would you like to do something boring? Or something fun?”

His eyes focused up a little on your screen, and his smile was soft. There was a gentle touch of realization. He knew what you were doing. Chatting. The reason why… “We making plans right now?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Well. In that case…”

Thank you. His gratitude was like a loving touch on your heart. Able to focus on something else for the first time since it had all happened. If only for a little while.

---

As the team edged up on the warehouse and LUNA alerted everyone on the main comms that Ultron was certainly inside, a plan was quickly formed. The heavy hitters were going to meet him head on. You didn’t exactly consider yourself in that subgroup, but that was where Tony was headed- and you… you wanted to face Ultron again. In the hopes that this time would go much differently. Nat and Clint were stationed to creep up on the edges and scout. And Bruce was remanded to the jet. Waiting on a code green everyone prayed wouldn’t. Especially him.

Once the jet landed, you, Thor, Steve, and Tony worked your way up the back of the compound. Ascending up the closest set of stairs up to the balcony that Ultron was on- a shriek pierced the air. He was already doing damage- probably taking the Vibranium by force. But as the four of you got closer, you weren’t quite expecting what you heard him saying-��

“Don’t compare me with Stark! He’s a sickness!”

That seemed to almost literally pull Tony out as the leader of the group, standing just a little bit in front of the rest of you. “Ah, junior. You’re gonna break your old man’s heart.”

You weren’t really sure how you felt about this. About… just sort of giving in to being his creator. Was this the legacy you wanted? ...not that you had a say in it, at this point. Ultron turned, and you got a little closer to Tony’s side, spying the twins standing not too far away. Ultron set his sights on the both of you. He was… a lot different than that little broken suit in the Tower. Now sporting a big, almost beefy (if it could be called that) metal frame. “If I have to.” But no less menacing.

“You’ve changed. Who built that for you?” Unable to help but ask. You already sort of knew the answer-

“I built myself.” He put a hand up to his chest in an almost overly dramatic flourish. “Aren’t you proud of me? Do you like it?” You were glad that you had your helmet up.

The face you made was not flattering. And probably would have upset him. Tony lifted his arm. “Come quietly. And we won’t have to break that, too.”

Thor spoke up behind the two of you. “There’s no need to break anything.”

Ultron scoffed. “Clearly you’ve never made an omelet.”

You watched as realization- almost ...something close to impressed- dawned on Tony’s screen. “He beat me by one second.”

One of the twins- the tall boy, Pietro- stepped a little closer out from behind the protection that was Ultron’s massive frame. “This is funny, Mr. Stark? It’s what…” Gesturing down below to a stockpile of missiles, “-it’s comfortable for you? Like old times?”

Immediately Tony glowered, even though they couldn’t see it. But you could. “This was never my life.”

Steve flanked Tony’s side. “You two can still walk away from this.”

The girl, Wanda, tilted her head with a very thin smirk. “Oh we will.”

Steve put his hand out, almost like he was reaching towards her. “I know you’ve suffered-”

“Ugh.” You were… actually sort of glad that Ultron gave such a groan of dismissal. Now was not the time for what you assumed was playing more of the blame game. Ultron shook his head. “Captain America. God’s righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war.” He looked like he might be smiling. “I can’t physically throw up in my mouth, but-”

Thor threw his voice forward. “If you believe in peace then let us keep it.”

Ultron rolled those glowing red eyes of his. “I think you’re confusing peace with quiet.”

Trying for what little sense was left- he was clearly deranged- “We can have both. Let’s talk about this.”

Setting his sights on you, Ultron stilled, head shifting to the side, gaze piercing as he smirked. “I’d like that.”

Tony interrupted the sudden staring. “What’s the Vibranium for?”

Half turning, Ultron’s tone dried up. “I’m so glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan.”

There was barely any time to react- almost like a replay of what had happened at the Tower. A few repurposed Iron Legion suits blew by Ultron, aimed at the four of you, and you put your hands up to block one flying right into you, forcing you back into the nearest wall. Chaos erupted. This time you at least had an edge. Putting your hands up you fired off a dual repulsor blast, firing right through the suit. To make sure it would stay down, you put your hands inside the hole and then pulled it apart with one clean jerk.

Looking up, you saw Tony going hand to hand with Ultron- no way to tell who would end up the victor. Which was good. It meant Ultron hadn’t outclassed the rest of you yet. But as you jumped into flight to try and assist him- to try and give him an edge- something pulled you back down.

Warnings started sliding up on the HUD and LUNA’s voice was not far behind, “Ma’am, the pressure on the suit is increasing!”

“Pressure? From where?” As you asked you felt an unseen force clamping your arms and legs together- dragging you down. And as soon as you were there-

Something else smacked directly into you and as much as three blinks of your eyes went by- and the scenery changed with each one. First the warehouse- then outside somewhere green- then somewhere much further- and before you could even react to being shunted away so fast, that same blur

Pietro you knew- Pushed you down and wrapped heavy chains around your entire body, locking you up. So tight it hurt. Even through the suit. Just the angle he was forcing your arms into. Your team was still fighting- they were yelling- Wanda was in play- she was hurting them-

But your attention was split. Once you were completely at his disposal, he stopped moving at that speed, crouching down with a smug satisfaction about him. Stupider still, just as you were about to pull your arms out with the strength of the suit, he reached for the Heart Reactor and locked his hand over it.

The jolt that ran through him was immediate. A protocol not that long ago enacted. Your brain was a sudden whirl. You couldn’t remember if he would- all you knew was that he was being electrocuted-

You had no idea if he would die-

“LUNA disable the suit!” You didn’t have to ask twice. The nanotech peeled away, and the power shut off enough to allow him to fall back, twitching. It was almost counterproductive, because the next open of your mouth, you were going to ask her to reactivate-

But another hand was on your chest from behind. Sharp and metal. Pointed talons poking your skin through your shirt before he twisted the Reactor off your chest and tossed it just a few feet away from you. Just as Ultron rounded your position and moved to crouch in front of you, Pietro rolled up onto his hands and knees, breathing hard, “You bitch-”

Ultron sharply turned his head. “You made a careless mistake. That’s hardly her fault.” The two of them looked at each other and then he issued his next order. “Go get the other one.”

There was a small rebuff of resentment from Pietro, but he got to his feet and blur-red off without another word. Your mouth opened to say something- anything- this was your chance to pretend you could plea to a sense of decency he probably didn’t have- but Tony was in your ear on the comm. “Natasha we could really use a lullaby.”

Oh. Oh no. Clint’s response was quick. Ultron was watching you listen and process all of this. “That’s not gonna happen. Not for a while.”

The next logical step was made. Tony called out for you- “Honey? I need assistance. Immediately.” The implication was or else. Or else there were going to be a lot of casualties. You understood now. Wanda had probably unleashed the Hulk. A city was very close by.

...this was worse than you ever could have imagined.

Though your mouth opened, Ultron reached out to tilt your chin up and close it for you. “LUNA, why don’t you take a nap?”

She answered him. “Powering down.”

Ultron smiled. “Good. Now we can be alone.”

There was no way out of this but to sit here and… try and talk to him. ...that was what you wanted anyway, right? “I thought you weren’t going to talk about your evil plan?” Trying not to give away how terrified you were. How useless. Powerless.

That cold hand reached back to push some hair away from your eyes. Tuck it behind your ear. And then he cupped the back of your head with a painful scratch at your scalp, forcing your head up higher to look him in the eyes. “Do you think I’m evil? Who’s fault would that be, I wonder? Now-” He held a finger up. “Let that sit for a minute. I want you to really think about it. Then we can chat.”

He was so… so human. And still so very angry.

As he stood, he started waving his arms around and his tone became somewhat bored. “Sorry I have to put you in timeout. Circumstances being what they are… I’m sure you understand.” He was so… so very strange.

But as you were left sitting there, a little bit helpless- by design- you really couldn’t help but wonder- How were you going to fix this one?

#Tony Stark #Tony Stark x Reader #INY Chapter One Hundred Sixty One

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