#And then Phil's also patting his head! All sorts of nice pats!

[sysig]

For a second request: Philza and Ghostbur interacting! Ive always found this idea SO interesting. Like, that's your son that you killed interacting with you even though it's not technically your son but he looks like him and kinda sounds like him but it's NOT him. The mental toll that would take.

Day 6 - So many friends!

#My art #Requestober #DSMP #Ghostbur #Ph1lza #Theirs really is one of the more tragic dynamics on DSMP huh #'Cause like you said - Ghostbur isn't Alivebur! And yet he has enough of his memories to be Something #That's not Phil's son - and yet he's also not NOT Phil's son huh ♪ #I mean it doesn't exactly help that Phil adopts kids left and right lol but still for That Specific relationship #I really think the most heartbreaking aspect is that that Phil knows that Ghostbur is a ''happy'' ghost - #And yet the memories he kept of Phil are so - well y'know ♫ #Ghostbur's a really fascinating character and Wilbur portrays him so well <3 #Anyway on a happier note haha - Friend! :D #Friend has a bunch of blue on him 'cause Will was petting him pfft #Ignore that his wool is already blue shhh shshshshhhshsh lol #Petting his ears and squishing his cute little face! Very important spectral activities lol #And then Phil's also patting his head! All sorts of nice pats! #Was nice to draw Phil digitally too :D Been a while since I drew him last! #I guess you could interpret it as him only having one wing (although it's his left wing that's injured isn't it? Or is that just fanon lol) #But really the other one is just blocked out by his body haha #I miss Ghostbur :') The compilations just aren't the same as having him around a bit longer

[manekicatwriter]

hellooo! i was wondering if i could make a request for an modern au sbi x gn sibling reader where they’re around 17-19, and they’ve got depression. they’ve had to go away for a few weeks after a bad episode ended in an attempt and they were hospitalized and sent somewhere for rehabilitation and now they’re coming home and they’re all anxious and quiet and stuff- so the boys do their best to like comfort them and reassure them that they’re loved and they belong there? i’m sorry if that’s an awkward request, i was just recently discharged after a similar situation and honestly the comfort would be great. it’s totally your call if you chose to write it tho, i understand that this is a difficult and triggering subject and not everyone is comfortable with writing things like it. if you aren’t comfy please feel free to just ignore my ask! <3

you’re here, and that’s what matters.

TW: mentions of attempted suicide. please proceed with caution.

hey! i just wanted to let you know that i’ve been through a similar situation and understand how you feel (though my case was not as severe). i wish you a safe road to recovery.

note, i think you asked for their characters but it leant itself towards their rl versions. i have a feeling the dsmp versions would be too chaotic for this sensitive subject.

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!! please do not be afraid to send in an ask. ANON IS ON!!

Phil:

- phil was very scared about you being so gravely hurt, it kept him up for some nights. thankfully, you pulled through.

- he visited whenever he could. if he couldn’t, he was busy making sure coming home felt as comfortable for you as possible while also educating himself on how to take care of you.

- phil would listen to how you felt, and be understanding of your feelings.

- “You don’t have to tell me why you did it, I’m just glad you’re here,” pulling you in for a warm hug.

- when you got back home, he made sure he and the boys had prepared your favorite dinner and desserts.

It was the day you had just got home from rehabilitation, and you two were sitting on the couch. You hadn’t said much, you felt like you had nothing to say. Phil had asked for you to sit down so you two could talk, one on one.

You couldn’t meet his gaze. “I’m sorry,” your voice started to crack. “For making you guys worry about me.” Tears started to form from your eyes and you wept into your hands.

Phil immediately reached over to you to hug you, letting you cry on his shoulder. “We don’t blame you. We don’t blame anybody. I just want you to be here safe with us. Let it all out.” He pat and rubbed your back soothingly as you kept crying. But it was a good cry. He was just glad you came home.

Tommy:

- even though many see tommy as a loud and obnoxious boy with a general disregard for others, we all know deep down that’s a persona. he will go out of his way to make other comfortable in his presence if he truly cares for them. which he does, for you of course.

- he wants to make you happy! when the time is right, he’ll crack jokes and offer to play minecraft with you.

- would tone down the yelling. not because you asked, but he’s afraid of triggering you. treats you like glass. if you notice he’s being quieter than usual and you don’t care, you tell him you don’t.

- if you’re feeling it, he’ll take you out to fun places and to eat. nothing that’s too outlandish like a theme park, but just enough to have a reason to get out of bed that day instead of sleeping in.

It had been a week since you had gotten home and Phil had instructed you to maintain somewhat of a schedule to upkeep yourself. Right now was your nightly routine, washing yourself, brushing your teeth, and finally sliding under the covers. It felt nice. The blanket of sleep consumes you easily…

…

Until you bedroom door opens you’re being aggressively shaken awake. You groan, shying away, but they’re persistent.

“Ey, wake up, it’s morning!” Tommy shakes you again.

You realize you didn’t dream, but think nothing of it. “Tommy please, what do you want.”

Finally, Tommy pulled your warm sheets from over you, making you flinch. “I wanted to go out to the park today! Feed the ducks! Yeesss!”

You sighed. If you didn’t comply now, Tommy will refuse to stop nagging you for the rest of the day. You rolled out of bed and into the bathroom. You could very clearly hear Tommy’s cheers.

You two had gotten ready, eaten breakfast, and said goodbye to the rest of your family so you could head over to the park. It was close enough that it wasn’t unbearable to walk to. Even if you weren’t completely yourself yet, you were glad Tommy was.

After the short walk you two finally reached the park. Tommy immediately bolted toward the pond and you jogged behind. He had already started throwing the ducks some seeds, and even threw it on a duck. It didn’t seem too pleased.

You two sat at the edge of the pond as you watched the ducks eat. “Hey.” You hear Tommy call to you, and you turn your head to him.

“Can we talk about what happened? With you? Is it okay?” You could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

“Go ahead, what is it?”

“When Techno found out what happened to you, and told us the news, I was scared shitless.” He let out a sad huff. “I thought we were going to lose you.” Tommy kept his eyes fixed at the pond in front of him. “I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t have brought this up. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He sighed.

You put a hand on his shoulder. “Oh Tommy…” You started, “I’m sorry for making you worry. You shouldn’t have to feel like that because of my actions.”

Tommy was lost in thought for a moment, before finally speaking up, “No, please don’t apologize. It’s not anybody’s fault this happened, right?” You nodded.

Tommy stood up, dusting his pants off from the grass. “Come on now, let’s go get some ice cream!” He pulled you up from the ground.

“Last one to get to the shop has to pay!”

Immediately, Tommy bolts in the direction to the ice cream shop, and you catch up to him. No matter the circumstance is, he never seems to fail at putting a smile on your face.

Wilbur:

- i HC wilbur being the oldest, being older than techno by 3 years and older than tommy by 8, like IRL. :]

- i think out of all of your siblings, wilbur exudes the most “protective older brother” energy, yeah?

- remember when tommy lied about his mother being in trouble and how worried and anxious wilbur got? turn that up to 11 with what happened with you.

- with wilbur being the oldest, he of course had the responsibility of taking care of everyone. but somehow you and him didn’t spend as much 1 on 1 time as much as wilbur did with his other siblings

- wilbur definitely was going to change that, realizing that and not wanting to make that mistake again.

- he decided that finding a new hobby with you wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

You were sitting at the dinner table, being the last one there. You were poking at your food for the most part, and Wilbur got home late from… whatever Wilbur thing he was doing. Phil cooked pasta for dinner tonight. Wilbur put down his bags at the door connected to the garage. “I’m home! What’s for dinner?”

“Pasta.”

“Mmm, I love some good ol’ pasta.” He said, already taking a plate out to serve himself. “Also, hey, I bought something I wanted to build with you. Do you mind?”

You finally looked up from your very interesting pasta. “Build..?” You had no idea where this was going.

Wilbur placed his plate on the table and approached the bags of groceries, going through them to find the bag he was looking for. He pulled out a LEGO set. More specifically, a LEGO City set from the looks of the box? “Wilbur, how much was that?”

He blinked at you innocently. “It was only, like, £25. And look! It’s got a little submarine we can make with a rock and ugly sea monster—“

“But why?”

“Why not? It wouldn’t hurt for you to do something new, yeah?” He smiled at you, shaking the LEGO box in front of him to show it off. You sighed, but smiled. “Alright. But maybe you and I should eat this pasta first before we start building.” Wilbur nodded.

“Speaking of water, don’t you think I could teach you how to swim or something?”

“Oh, fuck off with that!”

Technoblade:

- i think out of everyone in the family, he understands you the most in terms of how you feel.

- not suicidal, but just generally having depressive episodes due to his ADHD.

- techno’s generally closed off, but started to really open up to you because he wanted to show he cares, even if it meant going out of his comfort zone.

- techno suggested journaling. once a day or once per week, it didn’t really matter. just as long as you could write down your feelings somewhere.

- he didn’t explicitly say it, but he also bought a book for himself so he could do it along with you. although, he more often than not just forgets to write in it until you mention your own journal.

- if you want to be sad and quiet, you can be sad and quiet with him. his room is a safe space for you if you ever need it and you’re always welcome to come in, just as long as you knock first.

With one hand on your mouse scrolling through the internet, and another resting your head on it, you were safe to admit you were utterly and completely bored. Honestly, you thought about taking another nap after your last one, but a knock on your door stopped you right before you pulled the covers over yourself. “Can I come in?”

You rose from your bed. “Come in. Oh hey Techno.”

He gave a simple wave and his signature “Halloo.” He walked right over to you and handed a journal and a ballpoint pen. “I got this. For you.” His stare was sharp but you could sort of tell he was nervous.

“What for?”

“I dunno. Writin’ your feelings down or drawin’ or somethin’. Whatever helps you vent.” He scratched the back of his neck.

“Oh Techno, thank you. That’s very sweet of you.” You gave a slight smile, but saw that he still had another journal in his hand. “You have two journals?”

Techno raised his eyebrow in confusion before looking down at his hand. “Oh this? It’s for me. So we could do it together, I guess.”

You let out a happy hum. “That’s nice. Say, why don’t we go to your room? I want to see your new lava lamp and stuff.”

Techno shrugged. “Sure. I’ve got more stationary too if you want.” He waved his hand before letting himself out the door, with you following not far behind.

hi hope u enjoyed reading as much as i did writing it. this format was new for me but very fun!

#dream smp x reader #tommyinnit x reader #wilbur x reader #philza x reader #technoblade x reader #dsmp x reader #dsmp x male reader #wilbur soot x reader #mcyt x you #mcyt x y/n #mcyt x reader #mcyt x platonic reader #sleepy bois x reader #sleepy bois family #sleepy bois fanfic #request #mcyt imagine #mcyt fluff

[worminstuff]

Can we get a blurb for tbott of Y/n meeting Bo and maybe a jealous techno👀👀

mmmm yes

Tbott blurb

sleepy bois x reader au

no warnings, tad angsty but meh

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“Tommy no!” Phil yelled as Tommy attempted to pull the table cloth from the table, with all the food and plates on it still.

It was a normal morning for the sleepy house, it was around 9am ish and everyone was starting to pile into the dining room for breakfast.

As a peppy Y/n entered followed by a grumpy looking Techno, Phil started placing fruit on the table for them.

“I’ve got some fun news once Wilbur wakes up!” Phil said, looking at Y/n in particular.

“News for me?” She questioned

“Sorta. More for Tommy actually.” He looked to Tommy who was already climbing up into the chair next to Y/n.

Once Tommy was up in the chair he looked to Y/n, his face serious. Y/n raised her eyebrows expectantly. Tommy didnt say anything, he only stared for a moment.

“Quit staring at her Tommy it’s weird.” Techno said, pointing a fork at tommy.

Just before Tommy could retaliate in some way, Wilbur pulled out a chair on the other side of the table and sat down.

Phil clasped his hands happily as he stood in the doorway, “Okay great! So...fun news for today! Sams coming over!”

“Tubbo?!” Tommy stood up in his chair quickly, his expression full of disbelief and excitement.

Phil nodded, “and, Bo! He’s gonna come today aswell.”

“Oh so I get to meet Bo! Sounds cool.” Y/n offered Phil a smile which he returned instantly.

Techno stared at his plate. Bo was really cool. So it would be cool to have him and Y/n meet. Right?

He told Bo all about her anyways..and he said he would love to meet her..

Techno looked to his best friend who was talking to a overly excited tommy about seeing tubbo today. Yeah, everything would be just fine.

“They’ll be here in a bit so eat a fast breakfast, yeah?” Phil said as he turned to go back to the kitchen.

“Shouldn’t ev’ said that.” Wilbur said taking a bite of his waffle.

He was referring to his littlest brother sat across from him shoveling waffle into his mouth at the speed of sound.

Y/n slowly reached a hand over and grasped his little hand that was holding a fork, she looked into his moony eyes that were staring up at her, “slow Tommy. You need to chew it. “

“I’m not giving him the heimlich.” Techno said as he took a bite of toast.

Y/n scoffed, Wilbur nodded with low brows as she scoffed, “do you even know how to do the heimlich?”

“Of course i do.” He said,

“Of course you do..” Y/n echoed.

The four of them continued their breakfast as normal and helped eachother clean the table once they were done.

With perfect timing, when Techno was wiping down the table the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Y/n exclaimed excitedly.

Upon opening the door, she was immediately greeted with a hug to her legs. Tubbo was as excited as she was.

Y/n giggled and patted his head, “Hello Tubbo, and Sam!” She looked up at the older man who also leaned over to give her a hug.

“Hello y/n, it’s so good to see you!” He said with a comforting smile, he then turned to the boy slightly behind him.

“And this is Bo! You guys haven’t met just yet.” He gestured to Bo who waved.

Bo was tall. Very tall. Obviously he got it from his father..but it was still surprising. His hair was half white and half black, and he actually had two different colored eyes. One was a deep reddish brown, and the other was a foresty green. His smile was charming aswell.

Y/n offered Bo a kind smile and then showed them inside, Tubbo still clinging to her legs.

Tubbo let go of her as soon as he saw tommy tho, both of them dramatically running towards eachother to collide in a hug.

Phil shook his head with a laugh as he clapped a hand on sams shoulder as a greeting, “Well it’s awfully nice out today, how about we all go and sit out there?”

There was a chorus of agreements as everyone made there way to the backyard.

Tommy and Tubbo were quickly immersing themselves in some imaginary game they created, and Sam and Phil made there way to the small patio table off near the house.

The four teenagers stood a tad awkwardly trying to figure out where they should go silently.

“Treehouse?..” Y/n looked to Techno hesitantly.

He stared down at the girl beside him for a moment, “how about we sit under the tree. On the grass.” He pointed to the base of the tree.

Y/n nodded and the four of them made there way to where Techno had pointed, they situated themselves in a circle.

Techno sat next to Y/n with Bo on her other side, and Wilbur next to him and Techno.

“So Bo! You’re a junior right?” Y/n asked Bo, trying to start a conversation.

Bo smiled at her, “Senior actually.”

“Oh cool! So am I.” Wilbur grinned.

“You’re a junior right?” Bo asked Y/n and she nodded.

“Also I really like your hair! It’s super cool.” Y/n said to Bo, his smile was wide.

“Thank you! I like yours aswell.” He gave her a small nudge and she giggled.

Okay this was definitely not fine, Techno thought.

Techno was silently staring at the two as they..flirted a bit. He knew Y/n didn’t mean to flirt, he was sure she was pretty incapable of doing that if she tried, but he still hated it.

Wilbur stared at his little brother with a small knowing look, Texchno looked to him.

“What?” He asked, his voice low. Though he doubts Y/n would’ve heard with how entranced she was by Bo.

“You’re jealous. And it’s literally been like a minute!” Wilbur let out a small laugh.

Techno scoffed and turned his attention back to his girl.

“Wait really? That’s wild!” She laughed softly and Bo laughed along with her.

Techno missed whatever wild thing he’d mentioned and he was sort of glad he did. Techno placed his hand on Y/n’s softly grabbing it.

Wilburs eyes narrowed, but quickly he asked Bo, “So you’re a senior right, how’s your senior year going so far?”

As the two were suddenly talking about senioritis and college essays, Y/n looked at techno.

He stared down at her naively as he rubbed small circles into the back of her hand, acting like he had no idea why she was looking at him strangely.

“What’re you doing?” She asked.

He shrugged, pulling her hand onto his leg.

Her brows furrowed, but she left his hand in hers.

They stayed like this for a moment, Y/n listened to wilbur and Bo, but techno was still staring at their hands.

Just as Bo was about to ask Y/n if she had any colleges in mind, he noticed Technos hand on hers.

He grinned happily, “Oh! I didn’t know you guys were dating!”

“They’re not.” Wilbur said, a small smile on his lips.

Bo looked at them strangely as Techno glared at his brother.

“Oh. I just figured cause..my girlfriend and I actually do that exact thing, with the thumb and all.” He chuckled softly, Techno eyes grew slightly as Wilbur suddenly busted out laughing.

Techno mentally facepalmed as Y/n stared at all of them not understanding why wilbur was rolling on the ground laughing, or why Techno seemed surprised.

Bo had a girlfriend.

#dreamsmp #sleepy bois x reader au #sleepy bois x reader #sleepy bois fanfic #sleepy boys inc #sleepy bois #sleepy bois au #philza #awesamdude #wilbur soot #ranboo #tommyinnit #tubbo #technoblade #techno x reader #technoblade x reader #techno fanfic #technoblade fanfic #wilbursootfluff #wilbur soot x reader

[dreamsmpimagnes]

general relationship hcs with various c!wilbur stages please? (wilbur, ghostbur and alivebur)

c!Wilbur+ reminds me of Hozier's songs lol. Wilbur: No Plan | Ghostbur: Like Real People Do | Alivebur: Sedated. Thank you for listening to me lol

c!Wilbur

He’s always covered up the nervousness you’ve made him feel with flowery words and guitar cords

You always make him stumble over his words and distract him from his thoughts, so serenading you is the easiest way to express his emotions about you to you

He also (secretly) hopes that, if he does all of that, you’ll fall for him too

If you do end up reciprocating his feelings, he’ll be so delighted

He’ll want to take you out on a date right away, probably on a picnic or something similar so he can sing and play music for you 

Once you two get situated in the relationship, he likes getting sweet with you

Hugging you close to him in private, exchanging cute words, or holding your hand in public while stealing chase kisses from one another when no one else notices

A lot of your relationship is also talking about the future, whether it be laying plans of foundations for later projects or expressing a fear of what’s to come 

Once the relationship gets serious, he’ll want you to meet his family

While he’s only told you a bit about each member, he’s talked about you so much that they all basically have a comprehensive list of who you are as a person

With as many letters as Will has sent Philza, it’s only natural that he knows so much about you and wants to meet you, if only to see if you’re a good person for his son (has seriously thought about dropping in a few times to introduce himself to you)

Technoblade, while viewing Wilbur as a brother, is mainly indifferent to you, but would actually kick your ass if you hurt Will in any way

It takes a while for Tommy to warm up to you, he’s really not a huge fan, he says it’s because he doesn’t like your face, but it’s actually because Will’s last lover, Sally, broke his heart, so he’s wary that you’ll do the same

Tubbo has also heard of you and thinks you’re quite lovely

c!Ghostbur

If you were dating back when he was Wilbur, it makes him a bit nervous because he wants to detach himself from who the man that blew up L’Manburg was, so to rectify it, he has you refer to him as Ghostbur, and will get genuinely upset if you call him Wilbur

If you decide to date him when he’s just Ghostbur he’ll be overjoyed

When he develops feelings for you, he’s very obviously shy, nervous to talk and easily embarrassed by any compliments you send his way

Much like Wilbur, he writes you things, though his art comes in the form of poetry (though he doesn’t give them to you until you two start dating)

You’ll most likely be the one to confess feelings first, him quickly following in suit

In the relationship, he cherishes any physical contact you give him, though he especially holds forehead kisses close to his heart (This is a small side note, but out of the 3 Wilburs, it would take him the longest to warm up to sexual contact of any sort)

In return, he loves cuddling with you (or, more specifically, you cuddling him), he finds the warmth of your body against his is quite nice

He also likes doing things for you

It could be something like chores or running errands, and he’d love doing them

He just adores doing good things for the people he loves, besides, the domesticity of it all is comforting to him

Also, he just generally loves receiving praise, so when he does do those kinds of things, he’s secretly hoping that you’ll tell him that he’s done good (and, hell, a good head pat or hair tousle never hurt anyone)

Introduces you to everyone, regardless of who they are or if they’ve already met you

Mainly Tommy, who pretends like he doesn’t care but puts in extra effort into hanging out with you, Fundy, who’s not a huge fan of you because of your relationship, and Phil, who sits you down and gives you the ‘don’t you dare hurt my son or you’ll be 6 feet under’ talk

c!Alivebur

If you two were dating back when he was regular Wilbur, he just assumes you’re still in a relationship when he’s resurrected

Did you get into a relationship with someone else after he passed? Not anymore, babe, he’s back, so you don’t need a replacement anymore (if you decline, he’ll be confused, frustrated, sad, angry, and hurt, all at once)

If you started dating when he was Ghostbur, he just straight up doesn't remember you, nor believes you when you tell him you were dating, so he writes you off and ignores you

If you decide to get into a relationship with him as Alivebur, (first off, why), but secondly, it’ll take some time for actual feelings to develop on his end

When he does take romantic interest in you, though, he doesn’t do nearly as much poetry or music as the ether two, he mainly just tries to flirt

When you two do start dating, though, this bastard boy trash man is so extra

He expects at least one kiss everytime he sees you and he literally always wants to have his hands on you

Whether it’s your hands, arms, waist, hips, thighs, or anywhere else, it literally doesn’t matter, he just loves being able to touch you

If you were dating before he died, the thought of being able to hold you again was pretty much one of the few things that kept him from going crazy, so now that he has that chance, he’s going to take advantage of it any chance he gets

He’s also a lot more emotionally clingy too

Because it’s been so long, he was secretly afraid that you had forgotten him, and seeing that you hadn’t makes him need near constant reassurance that you’re still with him, that you still love him, and that you don’t think any less of who he is because of his past actions

When the negative feelings get too intense, he wants to lay down with you, his head buried in the crook of your neck or your chest while you tell him that everything's okay

#dream smp #dream smp imagines #dream smp x reader #dream smp x you #c!wilbur #c!wilbur imagines #c!wilbur x reader #c!wilbur x you #ghostbur #ghostbur imagines #ghostbur x reader #ghostbur x you #alivebur #alivebur imagines #alivebur x reader #alivebur x you #anon really said c!will supremacy lol #general relationship hcs

[jjkyaoi]

okay if any of you make a comment about me projecting in this i will beat you to death w/ a chair. enjoy 😊;

• tommy hasn’t ever been the most gifted child. in comparison to wilbur, he’s always been sort of a fucken mess. it’s always been hard for him to excel in certain things; somehow, he’d always end up messing up because he was ungraceful with the way he went about these tasks, or he simply wasn’t thinking. wilburs always been on the end of phil’s attention— he’s always been on the end of phil’s praises, of phil’s compliments, and tommy has always been given a halfhearted head pat whenever he presented something he did that was lackluster in comparison.

• he’s also always gotten into fights with other people? he’s always had a short temper, his entire life and that’s led to him getting into a lot of trouble w people he wouldn’t want to get in trouble w? phil’s always had to get him out of these situations, & every time he’s gotten out of trouble he’s always been punished, regardless if he started the fight or not. phil’s always viewed him as a sort of problem child.

• phil always used to complain about him to wilbur. he didn’t ever think tommy could hear, but every time he’d complain about him tommy would be listening; he’d either be sitting on the staircase as phil complained about him to wilbur in the kitchen, or he’d be listening from his room, or he’d be right outside the door to wilbur’s room; no matter what he’d always hear phil complain about what a hassle it was to parent such a “problem child” like him

• phil has regularly forgotten tommys birthday. after techno started living with them he had yet another kid to pay attention to instead of tommy. throughout multiple birthday’s tommys spent alone, making his own birthday cake and getting his own presidents; which were just stuff he’d gotten from his closet and forced himself to act surprised upon seeing. every time tommy tried to tell phil it was his birthday he’d always be busy. he wouldn’t ever have time for it. phil still doesn’t know when his birthday is

• phil would always compare him to techno. tommy doesn’t know if he meant to do it, but every time tommy would make a mistake phil would always say something like; “techno would never do this” or “why can’t you be more like techno? he’s so well behaved” or “maybe techno should start teaching you since you clearly don’t know how to behave” every time phil would brush it off like it was nothing afterwards but it would stick with tommy.

• TOMMY, upset about something: phil, can i talk to you? there’s something i—,

• PHIL: i’m busy, tommy. techno needs me to help him train

• TOMMY: yeah, but i—i’m— i need to talk to you?

• PHIL, sighing; why don’t you go talk to wilbur? he’s probably free.

• TOMMY: but—

• PHIL: honestly, tommy. why can’t you be more like techno? he never begs for my attention

• TOMMY: oh. right. yeah. i— sorry.

• wilbur’s always been there for him when he needed him, though. every time phil would forget to get him something for christmas, or forget his birthday wilbur would always come in his room & bring him a little gift that he brought with his own money. on his 14th birthday he even baked him a cake; it didn’t tast very good at all but it was worth it. ...tommy totally didn’t cry when he was eating it, what’re you talking about

• TOMMY: he forgot.

• WILBUR: what?

• TOMMY: he forgot my birthday. again. i’m 14 and he forgot. why isn’t he— doesnt he remember?

• WILBUR: tommy...

• TOMMY: if it were techno he wouldn’t have forgotten, he has— he fucking had technos birthday on a note on the fridge! why doesn’t he— why can’t he remember my birthday?

• WILBUR: he’s probably just busy, tommy, you know him—

• TOMMY: yeah. he’s always busy. too busy for me.

• every time phil would speak to tommy it would be awkward. he’d always get what tommy likes mixed up; either he’d get him and wilburs interests mixed up, or he’d pick something completely random and expect tommy to like it. he didn’t ever ask tommy what he liked, he just assumed things. one time, phil got him a guitar for christmas; he’d never played the guitar in his life. he didn’t have interest in music. that was wilburs thing. but when he tried to tell him, he brushed it off

• he told wilbur about the guitar, told him he didn’t want it, but instead of letting him give it to him wilbur instead decided to let him keep it. when he asked him why wilbur told him that he could teach him how to play; he said it wouldn’t be fair to throw away such an opportunity like that. he’d told him that it would be his christmas gift to him, teaching him how to play one of his favorite instruments. tommy wasn’t very good at it. he could only play one song on there, but wilbur still told him he was proud of him every time

• PHIL: oh! you have the guitar i gave you!

• TOMMY: yeah.

• PHIL: well, i told you you’d like it! it’s quite nice isn’t it?

• TOMMY: yeah, i guess... but i’m not—

• PHIL: next time, tommy, don’t lie to me about things you like.

• TOMMY: i—

• TOMMY: yeah. sorry.

• in pogtopia, wilbur, him and techno would always write letters to phil about what was going on— how they were faring alone. it wasn’t something tommy was very fond of doing, but he did it anyways; his notes were always short, because he still wasn’t very good at communicating with his father, even after all these years. after a couple days of sending off the letters they’d always get one in response— well. wilbur and techno did. tommy didn’t ever get any letters in response.

• TOMMY: what’re you holding, techno?

• TECHNO: oh. it’s a letter from dad. he says he’s doing well—

• TOMMY: it’s a letter from dad.

• TECHNO: ...yeah?

• TOMMY: you got a letter back. and i didn’t.

• TECHNO: oh.

• TECHNO; tommy, look, i—i’m sure it’s not that bad—

• TOMMY: it doesn’t matter, anyways. i’m not surprised.

• TECHNO: ...

• TECHNO: do you want me to write to him for you?

• TOMMY: don’t try. it’s not like he’d respond anyways.

#long post #:] #WOOO!!! #fuck c!phil!!! can i get an amen and a hallelujah #can you tell that i’m in a writing mood? #boy do i love making tommyinnit cry #mcyt #mcytblr #dream smp #tommyinnit #minecraft youtubers #mcyters #dream smp spoilers #sbi #sleepyblr #/roleplay #philza minecraft #anti c!phil #philza #technoblade #wilbur soot

[burhouse]

:0

Fantastic thank u Gen

...BLUE!!

Cuddle ratings?

Blue: Oh this is hard >:T. I'll do my best! But chat I do have to tell you that this is just based off of what I've experienced! I can't exactly cuddle with everyone!

And I'm sure when... like when Johnathan cuddles with Milo it's different from when I have! I've also not exactly cuddled everyone, but if I haven't I'll tell you! (I'll make it a list so it's easier to read :P)

Casper - 69/10 (hehe) He's just so huggable! He fits in my arms perfectly and he is happy to hug and cuddle whenever! We cuddle in bed and in the kitchen and in the living room and when we walk around and it's so so nice :D I love him so much. <3

General - 8/10 He's like a firm pillow! Which can be both good and bad.

Ozy - 7/10 We don't get to much, I think he's too nervous! But we've had some very good affection sessions and I think he's just got to warm up to being cuddled!

Soot - 7/10 We agreed when we first arrived to be 'cool' with each other... well, after awhile. So... not often do I get to! But it's not been bad. He's always been very nice when we do get to.

Teufor - 9/10! Teufor is very sweet!! We spend a lot of time together talking and during hang outs we've often fell asleep on each other 'cause we talked all night. He can get a little stabby... luckily I can't feel it! But it can happen.

Tiptup - 10/10!! He will curl up in your lap like a cat! But he's a raccoon... oh well! It's very cute! He lets me ruffle his hair :3

God - 3/10 >:( He's taller than me. God isn't much of a cuddly guy outside of Tiptup... and maybe Edgar or Jared if they catch him on the right day. He does give decent-ish hugs.

Edgar - 2/10 To be fair I've never cuddled him but I've hugged him. I've hugged everyone at least once. He doesn't mind it much. It's like if you pet a cat too much and they get all squirmy and scratchy if you over do it. He doesn't often return it... but he tries? Sort of... Jared sleeps on him a lot so he's got to be comfortable.

Jared - 5/10 He's shown me a lot of video games and animals and movies! He wanted to show me his whole Animal Crossing island once and it was super cool and he sat in my lap while doing it! He's perfect head resting height, but we don't talk much let alone cuddle.

Pilot - 10/10! He tells stories :D. He's told me all about what Phil and Techno used to do back before I was born. Some stuff is a little upsetting, but then he talks about all the cool places he's been along with all his pet dogs and friends he's made. He got to see a dragon, how crazy is that? He says he still has the egg but he's not shown anyone. But he tells these and lets me cuddle into his side and he is very very nice!

Walter - 1/10 We've never really cuddled but he gives a good squeezing hug.

Milo - 7/10 We cuddle whenever we do arts and crafts that don't take a lot of moving or sharp things. He lets me braid his hair.

Johnathan - 1/10 We've never really cuddled but he's super duper warm! Even I can feel it. He pats my head when we hug :)

Aeronaut - 0/10 He scares me a little bit so we've never actually cuddled, and I've only been able to hug him a few times. I'm scared it'll freak him out or- or something will happen. I wish I could! And I would in a heartbeat I just don't want to upset him.

Agent - 4/10 We've cuddled once, and hugged a more. Hugging is a bit awkward 'cause of his big 'ol helmet. There's nowhere for your head to go other than bonk the helmet, but I'd never make him take it off! He likes it so much and it makes him feel so comfortable so it can stay! I think I'm indirectly responsible for it getting vandalized though...

Ishmael - 1/10 He's not the cuddling type, but if this were a rating on hugs he's 100/10. He'll hug you and lift you and they're very warm and enveloping :D Definition of bear or... dad hug? He's very nice. They last awhile too and he knows just when to give someone a hug and for me that is all the time!

Bec - 6/10 We don't cuddle too often but we watch movies together! He really likes movies and I do too and there's so many here in this world to watch :o. I've comforted him a few times. He's a really sweet guy and he's been through a lot. He doesn't like being called kid so- so I have to remind myself not to! But he reminds me a lot of Fundy... Oh, but not to end on a sad note! He gave me the biggest hug after I made this... small statue of what he described as 'the Dome', and we spent all night talking and I remember he fell asleep on my shoulder and I had to carry him to his room. He's very sweet.

Blue: Sorry this is so long chat! But I hope this suffices :D

#wilbur soot #ghostbur #sootbur #bursonas #burhouse #email incoming #long post

[felidaefighter]

Our Metaphorical Get-Along Sweater

In which Wilbur thinks of Ranboo as an arch-nemesis while Ranboo is just There Vibing and also, Phil has adopted Ranboo, making for two very different siblings and a very interesting relationship

[Fluff, comedy, work in progress; every chapter will swap POV]

Chapter One: Brother To A Stranger

     Phil is usually a fairly reclusive person, and yet Wilbur finds himself parting from the fifth hug just this morning. “I’m just… so happy you’re home,” Phil says with a warm and loving smile, and Wilbur knows it to mean I’m so happy you’re alive again. “I’m glad to be home,” Wilbur affirms, and then adds, softly, “I missed you.” Phil immediately responds in kind. Wilbur may be an adult, but after thirteen years in hell and darkness, he thinks he’s earned a little bit of that “living at home with your dad” sort of life. He had showered the night before, for a very very long time, enjoying the feeling of rain that didn’t burn-- as much as that memory was more of Ghostbur’s than his. Phil hadn’t minded, though, so it was fine. He had changed his bandage and washed his clothes, and woke up just a little before the sunrise, sitting on the balcony to watch it. He and Phil had then shared a quiet morning. It was nice. Peaceful.

     “Ah, here comes Ranboo!” Phil said, as a passing glance out the window alerted him to the hybrid’s presence, and Wilbur groaned internally and really hoped he didn’t make a face. Ranboo was okay, Wilbur supposed. He was fine. He just also happened to oppose everything Wilbur stood for and everything Wilbur believed, and his adopted little brother and said brother’s best friend seemed to think he hung the stars in the sky, for some reason, and liked him better than they liked Wilbur. Which, fair. Wilbur hadn’t exactly made himself the nicest person before his death-- and he supposed during, for a time. So that at least was understandable. Ranboo was fine as a person, really. Wilbur just didn’t like him all that much.

     Ranboo knocked on the door and, of course, just like that Phil let him in. “Oh, hey Wilbur.” Ranboo said, apparently a little surprised. Again. Understandable. He’d only been there a day. “Hello, Ranboo,” Wilbur replied, voice even because he was being polite, he really was trying he swore, he wouldn’t let Phil be disappointed and he wanted to give Ranboo a chance-- or at least try to. “It’s good you’re both here, actually,” Phil said, with a look of sudden remembrance, “I wanted to introduce you.” Wilbur shot Phil a very confused look. Wasn’t it clear that they’d already met based on the way they greeted one another? “We’ve met,” Wilbur told Phil, and thankfully for now confusion overrode every other feeling he might have.

     Phil sighed and Wilbur’s confusion grew even more as Ranboo, apparently, knew more of what was going on than Wilbur did as the hybrid’s eyes revealed a look of sudden understanding. “Yes, but you’ve not been introduced properly.” Phil actually walked over to Ranboo’s side. Phil put a hand on Ranboo’s shoulder and Ranboo stared nervously at the floor. “Ahh how do I say this, how do I say this,” Phil muttered under his breath, and Wilbur was too incredulous to be impatient. “Right. Wil, a lot has happened since you were away and, well. This is Ranboo, my adopted son. That makes him your younger brother. Ranboo, this is Wilbur, your older brother. I really really hope you two are gonna get along,” Phil said, blunt-forcing the news with a nervous little cackle at the end. Wait. What.

     “What?” Wilbur asked aloud, bewildered, because there was no way he had heard that right. There was no way that even Phil had fallen for whatever sort of bewitchment Ranboo seemed to be capable of. But Phil was making that awkward grinning face that Wilbur knew meant he was being presented with the harsh truth, and Ranboo coughed awkwardly. “Yeah uh. Phil… adopted me a little after I moved in here. Don’t worry, it-- it doesn’t really change the living situation or anything, I still have my own house--” he gestured, the house very much inside the fence border of Phil and Technoblade-- “So I think it’ll be fine. Right, Phil?” He finished, glancing at Phil, who had started sorting his chests.

     Phil sighed again, settling himself. “Yes,” he agreed, “It’ll be fiiine. Ranboo’s hardly ever here anyway, usually out with Tubbo or gone mining,” Phil said, attempting reassurance. Wilbur took a moment to compose himself, shoving all of his current feelings into an overstuffed closet like a kid trying to hide a mess from their parent. Which worked well as a metaphor, considering the situation at hand. “Yeah,” Wilbur said carefully, “It should be just fine. I suppose you’re both right, between having a different house--” that was literally right next to theirs-- “And being gone a fair amount of time, I don’t think that’ll change anything up too much.” It absolutely, completely would. “Thank you for letting me know, Phil. Honestly I can think of at least ten different ways I could’ve found out and all of them are worse, so.” That part was true at least. All things considered, this was the best way to find out. But why did it have to have happened in the first place?!?

     “Mhm. Exactly, exactly,” Ranboo agreed, and at least Wilbur could take solace in the fact that he felt just as awkward about this whole situation as Wilbur and apparently Phil too did. Wilbur was always grateful for his father, but never-- and he did think he meant never-- had he been as grateful as he was now, as Phil broke the silence. “So, Ranboo, was there a reason you stopped by?” Ranboo lit up. “Oh right! Yeah, I was wondering if you had any golden carrots I could borrow? The farmers give you and Techno better deals-- I can repay you the emeralds as soon as I get back, too, since I have plenty.” Phil chuckled fondly as he opened a cabinet and handed some of the golden carrots to Ranboo. “Nah mate, there’s no need to do that. It’s fine, we have plenty.” Ranboo took the carrots with a soft thank you.

     Wilbur leaned back against the wall, content to listen and not participate for the moment, eyes narrowed and trying to gauge the situation and their interactions. Ranboo was nothing like him-- the polar opposite of him-- and yet, it was undeniable that these were the interactions of a father and son. “Sooo, adventuring or mining this time? I doubt you’re low on anything.” Ranboo perked up, clearly excited about whatever upcoming deeds he had planned. “Adventuring! I’ll probably be away for about a week, actually. I really really want to find an enchanted golden apple. I know I teeeechnically already have one, but it’s good to be prepared-- besides, I don’t think Tubbo has one, and he probably needs it more than I do.” Ranboo grimaced. “He’s a lot more accident-prone than I am.” Phil cackled. “That’s so true. Alright. Well, be safe, give the crows a holler if you need anything, good luck!”

     Phil patted Ranboo twice on the shoulder, and Ranboo headed out the door, calling “Bye Phil! Bye Wilbur!” as he left, Wilbur giving a short wave in return. The door closed. Theoretically, the morning could go back to being peaceful and nice. Only theoretically. Wilbur turned to Phil, baffled and, quite frankly, feeling like a whiny child. “You what?” He repeated, satisfied that Ranboo was out of earshot and maybe now he and Phil could properly talk about it. Phil just waved his hand dismissively. “Aghk, it’s fine. He was in a bad place, Wil, I took him in ‘cuz he had nowhere to go.” Phil smirked, allowing himself a brief cackle. “And not just because we blew the place where his old house was up. Anyway! I started looking after him a bit, we had a chat, and I officially adopted him. It’s fine, Wil, he’s way younger than you and I doubt you two are even gonna wind up interacting that much. Your first day here and he’s already gone for a week! You’ll be fine.” Wilbur wanted to huff and grumble and pout, but Phil, as always, was right.

     “But--” Wilbur started anyways, and was met with “No buts!” and a shoosh from Phil. Phil sighed, and came up to Wilbur, gently squeezing his shoulder. He spoke more softly this time. “It’ll be okay, Wil. I love you, nothing changes that. No matter what, you’re always my son. I’ve told you that.” Wilbur hated to admit it, but this soothed him deeply, and he relaxed into his father’s care. “Alright, Phil. I trust you. If you really think this… this Ranboo guy is alright, I’ll give him a chance. I mean, I promised Tommy I’d give him a chance, ‘cuz apparently he and Tubbo think he hung the stars in the sky or something--” Wilbur caught himself starting at bitterness, corrected his tone-- “But I meant it then and I mean it now. For you, Phil.” And how could he be upset with Phil, when that promise brought a warm smile to his face? “Thank you, Wilbur. That’s all I can ask.” Wilbur sighed, world-weary. It was going to be a long rest of forever.

-----

     Phil had gone downstairs to fix up the massive arena that he and Technoblade used for sparring. Wilbur would likely go help him later, if Phil wanted help, but for now he was glad for the solitude; something he was almost certain that he and his father had in common. Solitude wasn’t great, after far too many years sat in it, but because of that it was what he was used to-- anything more would likely be too overwhelming. Just the knowledge that he had a choice, though, and could wander or feel different temperatures or go to Phil, who would always always be there, was enough to ease his mind. And he needed both-- the solitude and peace of mind-- to try and figure out what in the world just happened.

     Wilbur supposed it made sense, in a way. He had been gone a very long time, after all, and Phil always had a bit of a soft spot that he had to find some outlet for, much in the same way that most normal people had to find an outlet for all their violent spots. What he couldn’t wrap his head around, was why Ranboo? Wilbur toyed with a yo-yo he had snagged from Phil (more accurately, that Phil just had lying around), grateful for the endless stimuli this wonderful world had to offer. There was clearly more to the story than what was immediately available, and it irritated Wilbur that he didn’t know. God knows he’d never be able to get a straight answer out of Tommy. Phil’s explanation would be brutally short and lacking any sort of detail-- Wilbur had always been the better storyteller of the family. His best bet was probably Ranboo himself, and that guy had memory problems! Wilbur figured he’d wind up needing to piece most of the story together himself, but that was fine. He wouldn’t mind a puzzle.

     Still, thinking it over with the few details he had been given, about Ranboo himself at least, Wilbur couldn’t really conceptualize it. And he definitely wasn’t any sort of jealous. Phil had never exactly been the mercy type, so he definitely wouldn’t have taken Ranboo in out of pity or guilt. The more he thought about it, the more baffled he was, and the more he concluded that maybe Ranboo did have some sort of supernatural bewitching powers. If his hybrid nature let him do enderman things, there had to be a possibility that his other half let him do bewitching things, right? Wilbur found himself tangled in his thoughts and, somehow, his yo-yo. With pleading, befuddled eyes, Wilbur looked directly at a crow on the windowsill, holding back soft, confused laughter. “Phil, I appear to have gotten myself tangled in a yo-yo. ...Help.” The crow, very helpfully, swooped down into the basement to inform Phil.

     Upon entering, Phil burst into laughter immediately, a sound that Wilbur had dearly missed but oh my god now was not the time. “Aw, mate, how did you even manage this?” Phil said, attempting to untangle Wilbur but having to pull away every few seconds for another bout of full-body laughter. “I Don’t Know,” Wilbur admitted, as Phil continued losing it, “I guess it’s just been a really long time since I played with a yo-yo, Phil.” Phil turned Wilbur this way and that, trying to figure out how it all looped together, muttering to himself breathlessly between laughs as he did so. “Oh you got the-- how did you manage to-- under your--?” A hoard of raucous crows joined them in the chaos. “--Ahhh, Wil!” Phil exclaimed, throwing his hands up in defeat and stepping back, letting out one big cackle; Wilbur chuckled a little too.

     Phil gave up and helped Wilbur shimmy out of his predicament instead, handing him the very sad, very knotted yo-yo for Wilbur to untangle on his own. “Try that first next time, but I’ll be up to help if you somehow manage even worse next time,” Phil said with a melodious, contented sigh, heading back down to the basement. “I will, I promise,” Wilbur said, soft smile on his face. Well, that was unintentional. But it had been nice, actually. More than anything, Phil deserved to be happy. Even if that meant having two sons, one of whom was the biggest, wimpiest pushover and yes-man Wilbur had ever seen. Wilbur groaned out loud. Seriously, Ranboo? Maybe age had finally made Phil senile. Wilbur and Ranboo couldn’t be more different-- how had they managed to both get the same dad? So maybe he was a little jealous. Whatever. Well, Wilbur thought with a decisive sniff, he’d still been there first, and he was older. He was definitely going to use that at every opportunity.

     Even knowing he had a few days to think about it, Wilbur realized pretty quickly that as far as a final conclusion went, that was about as far as he was going to get on any given day . No sense mulling it over until his head looked like the yo-yo string; he’d be fine, and it wouldn’t change things too much between him and Phil-- that at least had always been a given. He and Ranboo, though? Wilbur hadn’t thought his feelings on the hybrid could be any more conflicted than they already were, but apparently he now had a second sibling to deal with, and he hadn’t even chosen this one. It was going to be… strange. Very, very strange. But hey! Such is life! Full of surprises! Wilbur sat on the porch rail, watching all the uniquely patterned snowflakes, and slowly untangled his yo-yo string.

#mcyt fanfic #wilbur soot #philza #ranboo #revivedbur #i recycled all of the scrapped fic ideas into chapter titles #and i am really looking forward to writing the chapter that's called #''try to get along or the Angel Of Death will ground us'' #because i think it's a really funny name #in general i think this concept is hilarious and i HOPE i can get at least one person to laugh with this #might... might cave and post this on ao3 at some point #for now i'm thinking seven chapters total but who knows #really really hope i did this (and this concept) justice though tbh #they write

[pandoraborn]

hey, if the prompts thing is still open, would you mind writing about newly revived!wilbur and techno? like with them meeting for the first time since wil's revival? thank you!

The snow sounds nice beneath his feet. Wilbur’s missed the crunch and feeling of cold, that he allows himself a few seconds of enjoyment. He hums to himself as he continues to march forward, kicking aside various torches as he passes by them, and holding his new crossbow.

There’s no obvious activity nearby the house, but Wilbur already knows who’s inside. The smile on his face grows as he glances to his side, watching Tommy struggle to keep up with him. Tommy doesn’t look all that upset, but then again, Tommy also knows why they’re coming out here. Wilbur can’t wait for this particular reunion.

“Wait here Tommy,” Wilbur says soothingly. He puts a hand on Tommy’s shoulder to keep him from moving forward. “I need to do this alone, and I don’t want your innocent ears to hear this.”

“Oh fuck off, I’m not innocent,” Tommy grows, the grin fading from his own face. “Young maybe, but I’ve seen and heard it all already, big man.”

“I want you to be young and innocent again, Tommy.” Wilbur pats him on the shoulder. “If you call me Wilby again I’ll help you find another pet. Just like old times, remember?”

“Whatever, I’ll be a good boy and wait here. Just so you know, I want a cow so we can call it Clementine. Or...I don’t know. Why can’t I talk to him too?”

“Because this needs to be between me and him right now. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll hear all about it later.” Wilbur pats Tommy on the shoulder again before pushing forward. It’s starting to snow at this point, but Wilbur finds that oddly poetic.

He takes a moment to look around. He’d seen this place while dead, but he’d never actually paid attention until now. Everything clicks into place. Or rather, it had before, but now that Wilbur is actually here, he’s reminded of everything all over again. The whole reason for this home in the first place, everything that had happened since his own death.

He knocks on the door.

He readies his crossbow as the door creaks open, revealing the beady eyes peering through the crack. The small peek is followed by the door swinging wide open, and a very surprised Technoblade stands in place, eyes wide with (what Wilbur can only assume is) fear.

“You’re not Ghostbur,” Techno says flatly. It’s not his usual inflection, but something that matches the expression in his eyes. “You’re Wilbur.”

“Hello, Techno.” Wilbur grins brightly as he lifts the crossbow, aiming the arrow tip right between Techno’s eyes. “I’ve come to have a chat with you.”

“Wh- Wilbur, put that down.” Techno throws his arms up as he backs up. Techno then leans to the side, peering around Wilbur. “You brought Tommy with you too? What is going on, what are you doing?”

“Yes, see, I have a bone to pick with you,” Wilbur says. He pushes forward, causing Techno to retreat. “You and Phil, both. See, I don’t exactly like people slandering my name or claiming I’d agree with your methods. After seeing the crater where my country used to be, I’m remembering how I tried to reason with Phil. I remember I tried to reason with him and get him to understand that it was a home, and not a corrupt government. But for some reason, he turned a blind eye and allied himself with you.”

“Wi-...Wilbur I had to. The same things were happening over and over again, I couldn’t-”

“So you let Tommy watch you destroy something he held very dear? You took your anger out on a sixteen year old who’d been hurt and used by everyone in his life? Myself included?”

“I mean come on...” Techno continues backing up, fishing blindly in his chests for a weapon of his own. He doesn’t like that Wilbur is keeping that crossbow aimed with precision at his face. He can’t see Tommy anymore, but Techno has a hunch that Tommy is moving closer to listen in on the conversation. “That’s who I am, Wilbur. You of all people should have gotten that. You and I had the same goals even! You were dead, you didn’t see what L’Manburg had turned into. It was awful, the people inside were corrupt and power hungry, someone needed to put a stop to it.”

“No, Techno, you misunderstood me if you thought I’d be okay with my home- and I can’t believe I have to put emphasis on this- my fucking home, turning into a giant crater, all because you threw a tantrum.” Wilbur jerks his head backwards. “That child out there? He’s our brother. He’s our youngest brother, and you did nothing for him but add more trauma, more anguish, and more hurt that probably will never heal properly. Sure, he’ll probably forgive us, he’ll probably come by for a chat and a laugh. He’ll even try to move forward with his life. But that child has seen more heartache and destruction than you or I combined, and we’re the cause of that. So you tell me why you resorted to that, because that wasn’t anarchy, that wasn’t a message, that was revenge.”

“You’re not really going to shoot me with a crossbow, are you? Because that would be below you, too.”

“Oh, no, this isn’t for you.” Wilbur lets out a hum as he turns away, moving toward the ladder to head downstairs. “Like you, I believe in an eye for an eye. But unlike you, I don’t do things without an actual justification. Getting some sort of justice on Tommy’s behalf is justification enough for me.”

“Wait, what are you doing?” Techno scrambles to follow him, but Wilbur is already downstairs, facing all his villagers. “Wilbur, I need all of them. What are you doing?”

“Do you though?” Wilbur lifts the crossbow again, eyeing the now panicked villagers, cowering in their corners. “Techno, let’s play a game. Why don’t you pick one? Just one, this time.”

“Wilbur, don’t. They’re innocent.”

“So was L’Manburg.”

Techno backs up. Wilbur had a hunch that what he saw upon first arrival was fear, but it’s evident now. He can see Techno trembling, glancing between his villagers and Wilbur, shaking his head. Wilbur can hear Tommy upstairs, shuffling around and digging through chests. He feels bad that Tommy has to hear all this, but at least Tommy can’t see it.

“Wilbur please-”

“Pick,” Wilbur says curtly. “Pick a villager or this crossbow is going to be fired at you. An eye for an eye, Techno. Isn’t violence the language you speak?”

There’s a long pause. Wilbur watches him through narrowed eyes, watches as Techno seems to slump forward. After what feels like several long minutes, he lifts a hand and points in a random direction.

Instead of firing the crossbow, Wilbur marches forward and takes the villager from his corner. The villager makes several confused noises, but doesn’t fight back as Wilbur leads him to the ladder. He places the crossbow on his back and pushes the villager up, then follows behind.

“You’re not going to shoot him?”

“No. I’m taking him with me. I daresay Tommy and I could use some trading ourselves. Thank you for your sacrifice, Techno, we’ll be going now.”

“But-”

Wilbur hops back off the ladder, moving back toward Techno. Shoving him against the wall, Wilbur grips his shirt to pin him in place. “Technoblade, I don’t want to hear another argument from you. I built an entire country on the premise that we’d be free and live in peace. L’Manburg did not exist to be your personal toy, and it did not exist for you to torment my brother and watch him suffer. If you think at all that you’re the victim here or that I’d somehow see things from your point of view, you are dead wrong. We are taking that poor villager home, where we will properly care for him and not keep him locked up like some servant, and you can sit out here in this cold with Phil, because he’s all you’ll ever have in life.”

Wilbur leaves, climbing up the ladder and back outside into the cold. He barely notices that his own hands are trembling. He can hear Tommy behind him, struggling to keep up yet again, while also trying to keep the villager close.

“Wilby, are you okay?”

Wilby.

He turns to face Tommy, staring at him for a long moment. It doesn’t matter how cold they are, or that they’re still close to Techno’s house. It doesn’t even matter that Techno could possibly snap out of his stupor and come out to fight back. In that moment, all Wilbur can think about is wrapping his arms tightly around Tommy, just to hold him close. It’s another few seconds before Tommy returns the gesture.

“No,” Wilbur whispers. “But I think I will be, as long as I’ve got you.”

“Sap,” Tommy whines. But Wilbur doesn’t miss that Tommy’s grip tightens just a little more.

No, nothing else matters anymore. Just them.

#mcyt #dream smp #dream smp fanfic #dream smp fanfiction #fanfic #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #technoblade #canon compliant #violence #hurt/comfort #whump #putting the fear of god into techno #wilbur is pissed off #death threats #wilbur does not mess around #long post #miishae writes #nonnie

[votederpycausemufins]

another chapter for Summoning family (now that it has an official name) and this time i’m remembering to ping @petrichormeraki!

 stayed near Grian as he cried on the bench while Tommy, Techno and Phil yelled at each other. Jellie had moved from their lap and into Grian’s arms, not caring how tightly they were hugged by the distraught avian. 

He listened as Grian mumbled sadly, trying not to listen too much and hear something that he didn’t want to be shared. However Tubbo was still able to make some things out. It sounded like they hadn’t even been around for a year yet. Sure they were programmed and built older, but they weren’t even a year old. There was also something about a box and virtual reality which Tubbo wasn’t completely sure about. Perhaps they had just started as programs in some sort of computer before getting bodies.

Carefully, Tubbo put a hand on Grian’s shoulder. The avian jolted slightly, but otherwise didn’t react.

After a bit more waiting, there was a shout from Mumbo as he arrived. Grian immediately sat up, hoping for good news. “Please. Please tell me y-“ He didn’t need to finish the sentence, the redstoner looking like as much of a mess as Grian currently was. “No. No no no no no. Please th-they can’t. N-not again please.”

Jellie jumped off of Grian’s lap when Mumbo sat down on the bench. He hugged Grian as the builder continued to cry. “I- Xisuma said that he couldn’t force a respawn. As far as the world is concerned, they did respawn, but that they also aren’t in this world. I… I already checked their old bodies, and they’re not there. X also found the world we went to to rebuild them, but they’re not there either.”

Grian nodded as he pressed his face into Mumbo’s shoulder, letting the jacket absorb his tears. “If you think of anything else, I’m sure we can get someone to look into it, but, until then I could-“

“N-No. pl-please don’t r-replace them. I-if we find them… a-and they come home to that…”

“Alright, I won’t.”

Tubbo watched as Grian continued to cry before getting up and walking over to Tommy and the other two. “Can you three please stop arguing! I’m pretty sure that’s just going to make it worse. Instead we could try to help figure out what exactly happened to those kids.”

“Tubbo, you heard what Grian said. They didn’t respawn.” Tommy replied, crossing his arms, still upset at Techno.

“And Mumbo said that it was more an error with the respawn. From what they can tell, they respawned, just not here.”

Tommy’s brows furrowed at that. “So they could be somewhere else?”

“Yeah, they’re not sure where though.”

“G’s a Watcher, so he could try looking, but at the same time he’s already been a mess the past few days.”

“So we’ll need to try and do that on our own.” Phil piped up. “Where have they tried looking already?”

“They said something about the world where the two of them were built, but they weren’t there. Other than that, I think they’ve only looked here.”

Phil nodded. “I’m not sure what worlds Mumbo had been in, but I’ve heard a little about where Grian’s been. There’s a chance they could be in one of those worlds.”

“Also the chance they could be back at the old castle.” Techno huffed, reluctantly willing to help.

“Alright then. Let’s get to it.”

“So we are going... where now?” Grumbot piped up as he continued to follow behind Ghostbur, carrying Jrumbot who was holding what seemed to be a special type of blue dye.

“We’re going to Sam. I’m sure he’d be happy to help you!”

“And who exactly is that?” The robot spoke apprehensively, though he was pretty sure it was a different Sam.

“Someone who’s going to help!”

As they walked along what Ghostbur was calling the prime path, someone else showed up, coming from the other way. “Oh! Puffy! Hello! It’s me Ghostbur!”

“Hi Ghostbur. Who are these two following you along?”

“I’m not sure! They’re new and needed some help so I was looking for you, but you weren’t home so I was going to Sam next.”

“Well, now I’m here so I can help out.”

“Thank you Puffy!”

Grumbot took that as a chance to speak up. “I suppose now we will be returning to your house?”

The sheep hybrid nodded and Grumbot followed behind her now, though Ghostbur gave Jrum some more of the blue dye before he left. “So, I haven’t seen you two around, so I’m guessing you’re new here.”

Grum nodded. “Indeed. My brother and I arrived today on accident. We wish to go home as soon as possible.”

Before Puffy could ask for clarification, Jrumbot started with another bout of crying, clinging tighter to his brother. Grumbot patted his brother’s back before moving his hand higher and quickly pressing the power button at the nape of his neck, forcing the younger robot into sleep mode.

“Is he alright?” Puffy asked, a bit concerned about the sudden silence.

“Yes. He is simply sleeping for now. He should be better once he wakes up again.”

“So he’s your little brother I assume?”

Grum nodded. “Correct. He was built eleven days after I was. That being said, his programming and mine make us seem older and have a larger age gap.”

Puffy nodded as she opened the door to her home, letting Grum and Jrum inside. “Sorry if it’s not the best in there. Wasn’t really expecting to have anyone staying over any time soon.”

“That is alright. We were not aware that we would need to stay someplace other than home for the night. May I ask what you have in terms of redstone.”

“I’ll have to check.”

“I see. If you do not have an adequate amount, my brother and I can take shifts gathering some more.”

“Might not be the best idea. You only just got here, so you will need to get gear first before anything like redstone.”

“Redstone is extremely important for us.” Grum replied. “We are powered by it after all.”

“Well… alright then.” Puffy said after some slight hesitation before searching through her chests. “This is all I have right now.”

Grum took the redstone and put it into his inventory. “Jrum is the one who has the blueprints for what we will need, but I believe I recall what items we need, so I will begin to craft those.”

Puffy tried to make more conversation, but Grum brushed her off and began to work. He did want to talk with the sheep hybrid, but he knew that it would take more energy. As he began to craft, he glanced at his readings. Full health, almost full hunger, battery at 73 percent. He was glad they had been charged well before going to the shopping district. He glanced over at where Puffy had taken Jrum. Though Grum knew he technically had the better brains, Jrum had inherited their daddy’s knowledge of redstone. If push came to shove, Jrum would be more important than him to have full charge, so he was prepared to transfer power if needed.

“I have crafted all that I can. Are there any important questions for me before I put myself into sleep mode?”

“Well I messaged the admin here and he’s coming over to greet you.”

Grumbot nodded. “I see. How long will it take before he arrives?”

“Not too long. Even with everything he does, he still finds time to greet new members to this place.”

Grum nodded again before moving to sit next to where Jrum was sleeping. “I believe that will be important enough for my brother to be awake.” And he gently shook his brother, the screen on his face lighting up with a loading bar before his face reappeared.

“Nggh… I wanna keep sleeping.” Jrum grumbled a little.

Grumbot shook him again. “You will need to be awake soon. The admin of this world will be arriving shortly to meet with us.”

“Xisuma?” Jrum asked before sitting up. “Oh… right…”

“He may be able to assist us with getting home, so you should not feel too down.”

Jrum nodded before scooting closer to Grum. He then pulled out what looked like a diamond block and hugged it, making Puffy’s eyes go wide. “I thought you just got onto the server. Did you get that from Ghostbur?”

Grum looked between Puffy and the block before realizing the issue. “Oh no. That is not a diamond block. It just appears to be one. It is something from our home. Jrum, can you allow her to inspect it?”

Jrum looked nervous, but Puffy gave him a kind look and he reluctantly gave it up. The hybrid looked it over quickly before handing it back, Jrum hugging it tighter than he had a number of moments ago. “Huh, it does look like one, but it is smaller as well as lighter than a block of that size would be. Where did you get it?”

“Dad bought it for me when we found a trader selling it.” Jrum meekly answered. “Since he gave us more than one I have more at home… but this one I always keep with me.”

“Well you might want to be a little careful with that. Someone might think it’s the real deal and there are a few people who might want to take it.” Puffy didn’t want to scare the kid, but it was better he knew just to be safe. The reasoning still didn’t help the tugging at her heartstrings when the young robot hugged the toy block ever tighter, the slightly plush material warping slightly from the pressure.

Grum pat his brother’s head to give some comfort. “I am sure that as long as we reside in Puffy’s care it will be safe.”

Jrum nodded a little but stayed quiet as they waited, but they didn’t have to wait long as a man in green wearing a white mask entered Puffy’s home. “Hi Dream. These are the two kids who showed up.” Puffy greeted the admin and led him to the bots.

“Hello. I am Grum and this is my brother Jrum.”

“Well it is nice to meet you. I didn’t expect anyone more to be joining us so soon.”

“Well, we did not expect to end up here ourselves. I believe the last thing that happened before we ended up here was us dying and our respawn brought us here instead of where we likely would have appeared.”

Puffy took a step closer to ask a question. “What do you mean ‘likely’?”

“Oh, my brother and I have kept safe since our creation so we have not needed to respawn before today.”

“Well.” Dream spoke up, getting the attention of the bots again. “I’m sure those here would be glad to accommodate you as you get started here. It shouldn’t take too long for you to get settled especially with Puffy’s help.”

Grumbot frowned. “Settled? I am sorry, but we would like to get home as soon as possible. Our parents and family will likely be worried about us.”

“I see. Well I’m sure we can do something about that, but there’s no telling how long that might take. So it’s probably best if you prepare for the worst case scenario. But I’ll try my best to help with getting you home.”

Grumbot tried to ignore the feeling that this admin wasn’t telling the entire truth. But at the same time, Grum knew not every server was perfect and he and his brother were brand new. There was also the fact that they likely weren’t supposed to be here and the admin was wary, like Xisuma was when Tommy first showed up as well as when he briefly met with Tubbo and Philza. Even if this admin was wary of them, Puffy would likely give them more answers if he asked, so there was little worry.

“I supposed that is a valid argument. Though may I ask, do you have someone here that is proficient with redstone? We may need to meet with them with a concern of ours.”

Dream nodded. “Yeah, there’s Sam. He’s pretty good at that stuff and I’ve commissioned him for some work. He’s likely your best option.”

Grum nodded. “That name was mentioned by Ghostbur as he was planning to take us to him when we originally could not locate Puffy.”

“Well then, I’m sure you won’t have any trouble there. Now I need to go back to other things.” Dream said before leaving. Grum frowned as the feeling of worry returned. The tone of the admin’s voice sounded off there. It wasn’t anything too prominent, but Grum had caught it nonetheless.

“Well, I guess we should go visit Sam if that’s what you two are worried about.” Puffy suggested and Grum gave a small nod while Jrum started nodding furiously to his side.

“Yeah! Here! I think I can print out the blueprints for what we need! They’re probably going to have to be a little different because when daddy made them, it was in a place with kinda different redstone mechanics, but it wasn’t too bad and I can help out too!” And Jrum started printing out some schematics for a new redstone charger for him and his brother.

“Until then, I think I will need to conserve power.” Grum spoke up. “Jrum, how are you doing?” Jrum immediately looked down to the ground and twiddled his fingers. Grum sighed and pulled a cord out from himself. “I’m sure you need the charge more than myself.” And he plugged the other end of the cord into Jrum’s side before putting himself into sleep mode.

“We’ve checked all the worlds we have access to. And the admin from the other worlds haven’t seen anything?” Phil half grumbled as he sat in a chair at the table where Tommy and Mumbo were looking through some documents.

Mumbo shook his head. “No. I got a message from Ilmango just before you returned. He was the last one we were waiting on. I mean, technically there’s still one place we haven’t checked but… no they wouldn’t be there.”

Tommy looked up from what he was doing. “What are you talking about? What could possibly be left?”

Mumbo looked like he regretted saying anything, but Phil did what he could to get the redstoner to answer. “I… There… Hermitcraft has a sort of… parallel world. It’s not a different dimension, but the two are loosely connected. I’m sure if they somehow ended up there, Xisuma would have noticed, but…”

“But what?”

“There’s a chance True could have done something with EX’s help, so they still could be there without anyone knowing.”

“True?” Tommy asked. “Who the fuck is that? Is she their admin? Cause if so, that sounds like something Dream would try doing if he thought of it.”

“No, EX is the admin. It’s just that they had a sort of…” Mumbo waved his hand as he tried to think of what to say. “They had an election of their own and to them, she’s about as highly powered as an admin.”

“Alright, that doesn’t sound too horrible. If we’re just checking on the place we shouldn’t have to deal with all that. What is this place?”

Mumbo fidgeted, not wanting to answer, but Tommy did his best to convince him. “O-Okay. Um, It’s called Helscraft. I believe they’re on their fifth world as opposed to our seven.”

“Why does that matter?” Tommy asked.

“Because Helscraft is home to the Helsmits. They’re sort of like… our evil copies. We haven’t interacted with many of them, but the few we have met haven’t been the best. There’s EX who’s the admin. We’re not completely sure he’s really a Helsmit, but again, we don’t know that much. Helsknight is the first one we really met. After that was True and Bad Times.”

“So that’s… X, Wels, False and Scar?” Tommy asked, making sure he was following along, to which Mumbo nodded. “Yeah, Dealing with an evil False does not sound fun. But I still think we should try. I mean, We have Philza Minecraft and The Blade on our side. If anyone can deal with these guys, it’s them!”

Mumbo sighed. “Alright, but we’ll still need to check in with Xisuma before we try anything.”

“Alright, deal.”

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #grian #watcher!grian #grian xelqua #avian!Grian #mumbo jumbo #tommyinnit #philza #technoblade #grumbot #jrumbot #ghostbur #captain puffy #dreamwastaken #helsmits

[phantasticworks]

If You Don’t Love Me, Pretend - Chapter Twenty-One

guess who's back? back again? Another chapter of this story! Sorry for the wait, I've been busy with mental breakdowns, school, work, and some family matters. Thank you so much for being patient and waiting for this story, I'm so grateful for the support! Also... thank you to those of you who voted for this fic in any of the phanfiction awards categories. I am still beyond surprised and grateful for the love you guys have given this story, so thank you for that <3 <3 I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

read on ao3

Words: 14.4k

Summary: A lazy Saturday takes an... unexpected turn.

TW: This chapter explains in some detail the abuse/neglect the children experienced. Please read with caution. (If you would like to skip this, it is unmarked, but it is in the scene with Hazel. There will be a note at the end explaining the part of that conversation relevant to the plot going forward.)

Warnings for this chapter: swearing, mentions of abuse/neglect

Dan’s awoken, as he seems to be constantly these days, by the sound of a phone. It takes him a couple sleep-drunk moments to recognize that it’s not his alarm, or even his phone. For once it’s Phil’s phone buzzing on his nightstand, and after it doesn’t automatically stop ringing, Dan realizes he needs to intervene.

“Phil,” he mumbles, shifting around and trying to gather his bearings with his eyes still shut. “Phil, phone.”

“Yeah,” Phil mumbles back, his voice somewhere above Dan’s head.

Flailing his arm out from underneath the duvet leads to Dan realizing that he’s snuggled against Phil’s chest, with the older man’s arms wrapped around him in a loose embrace. “Answer the phone,” Dan whines, getting more and more irritated at the sound.

“I can’t, you’re on my arm,” Phil complains.

Sure enough, Dan feels Phil’s arm wiggle underneath his shoulder. “Sorry,” he mumbles, rolling away enough for Phil to save his arm. As soon as he grabs the phone off the nightstand, he rolls onto his back to answer it, but holds his left arm out to Dan in invitation. Dan gladly takes the offer, crawling right back into Phil’s space and tucking his face against Phil’s neck.

“Stephanie, hi,” Phil greets, clearing his voice to try and sound more awake than what he clearly is.

Dan listens half-heartedly, his eyes drifting shut again as he waits for the call to end so they can both go back to sleep. That’s ripped right out of his grasp, though, as soon as he registers Phil’s side of the conversation.

“Again? Yeah. Okay, yeah. Tell him I’ll be there at nine. No, it’s alright, but just let him know I’ll be there soon.”

Dan whines at that. “Don’t go,” he pleads, his voice still thick with sleep. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“Shh,” Phil whispers. “Sorry, not you, Stephanie. I was talking to my fiancé.” Phil sends him a very unamused look as Dan continues to complain about it. “Right. I’ll be there in an hour, thank you.”

He hangs up with a sigh, and Dan unashamedly hooks his thigh over Phil’s hip. “Don’t leave,” he begs, voice whiny.

Phil laughs quietly, his hand patting Dan’s thigh gently over the duvet. “I have to, bub.”

“I wanted to cuddle,” Dan pouts, glaring up at him. He knows he’s being childish. Phil’s a grown man with a job and responsibilities, but he’s also quite a good cuddler, and Dan’s selfish sometimes.

Phil kisses his hair. “We’ll cuddle so much when I get home this evening, alright? Like, so much.”

“Fine,” Dan agrees glumly. He closes his eyes again, resting his head above Phil’s heart.

“You need to let me up,” Phil murmurs after a few minutes, his fingers carding gently through Dan’s hair.

“If I don’t let you up, you can’t leave,” Dan informs him, the idea mumbled against Phil’s shirt.

Phil snorts. “Good tactic.” He pets Dan’s hair some more, and even peppers it with some soft kisses. “I don’t actually want to go,” he says softly.

Dan turns his head just enough to kiss Phil’s chest. “I know.” They lay there quietly for a little longer, soaking up the warmth and affection. Eventually, Dan sighs. “Alright, whatever, leave me,” he says dramatically, slowly detaching his limbs from Phil’s body.

Phil laughs and presses a kiss to Dan’s forehead. “I’ll be back later, you know.”

“I know,” Dan mumbles. “But later is... you know. Stuff.” He tries to avoid looking at Phil, but the part of his brain that’s dumb and likes hurting him can’t help but squint up at him to gauge a reaction.

Phil’s face looks a little less happy, and instead there’s a shadow of nervousness. “Yeah,” he agrees quietly. “But good stuff, yeah?”

And Dan hadn’t really considered that yet. Part of him was just so afraid of being hurt or disappointed that it hadn’t let him consider an alternative, and the part that had... well, that was a very small part. “Yeah,” he says quietly, nuzzling against Phil’s chest.

Phil pats his lower back, just above the swell of his bum. “Alright, then. Let me get up.”

Dan does so begrudgingly, rolling out of his arms and onto his back with a frown. Phil rolls his eyes at him before handing him his pillow to cuddle as a substitute. It’s not nearly as good as the real thing but it will do, Dan decides as he snuggles into it. He manages to drift off to the quiet sounds of Phil rummaging around their room as he gets dressed, but he blinks awake when he feels a soft brush of lips against his cheek.

“Hm?” He hums when Phil mumbles something.

There’s a hand brushing his hair back, and a gentle laugh. “Go back to sleep, bub. I just wanted to say bye. I love you.”

Dan tries to be really awake, but he sort of just nods vaguely in Phil’s direction. “M’kay,” he mumbles. “Kiss?” He requests, the word falling out of his mouth before he can stop it.

Phil laughs, but a second later Dan feels a soft peck on his lips. “Bye, Dan. I’ll see you this evening, yeah?”

“Mhm. Okay,” Dan says, already dozing off once more.

~~~

Several hours later, Dan finds himself sitting at the kitchen table alone, enjoying a fresh cup of coffee as he watches the pigeons and waits for the kids to get out of bed. He’s texting Phil here and there, and he’s just sent off a photo of a particularly chunky pigeon when he hears the tell-tale sound of little feet puttering into the kitchen.

He smiles when Jaiden comes around the corner, rubbing his eyes sleepily with the back of his hand. “Good morning, bubby,” Dan says quietly.

“Morning, Daddy,” Jaiden replies with a yawn and a vague wave. He doesn’t even really look at Dan, instead heading straight for the balcony door, which he sticks his forehead to. Dan can’t help but cringe thinking about the smudges that he’ll have to clean later, but he doesn’t say a word. “Good morning, everyone,” Jaiden greets his pigeon friends politely. “Breakfast is soon. I love you.”

Dan listens with a grin as Jaiden talks to the pigeons softly, and eventually he turns around, coming back over to the table. “Did you sleep okay?” Dan asks him, sipping from his mug.

Jaiden nods, coming to a stop right next to Dan’s chair. He lifts his arms up, giving Dan the cutest, sleepiest pout. “Hug?” He inquires softly.

Dan’s heart melts. “Of course, bub,” he says with a smile, setting his mug down to wrap his arms around the little boy. When Jaiden gives no indication of letting go, Dan chuckles before gathering him up in his arms and situating him on his lap. Jaiden makes a happy noise as he snuggles into Dan’s chest, and as much as Dan’s enjoying this new display of affection, he worries. “You feeling okay?” Dan asks quietly, running a hand over Jaiden’s hair.

“Mhm,” Jaiden nods. “Just sleepy. Wanted a hug.”

Dan coos. He holds Jaiden closer to him, petting his back in long, gentle strokes to give him as much comfort as he can. “I’m always here to give hugs when you need them, alright?”

Jaiden nods against his chest. “M’kay,” he mumbles. He shifts a little, glancing over at Dan’s mug with a curious look to him. “Can I have some coffee?” He asks out of nowhere.

Dan snorts at the swift subject change and the lack of subtlety. “Um, absolutely not, no. Nice try, though.”

With a pout, Jaiden crosses his arms, blinking up at Dan like this is the most unfair thing in the world. “Just a tiny sip, Daddy? Like, a baby one?”

“I think you’re hyper enough as it is, kiddo,” Dan says, shaking his head.

Jaiden looks less than thrilled to hear this. “Dad would let me have some,” he suddenly says, a mischievous look on his face.

Dan can’t help but roll his eyes at the tactic. “I’m sure he would. Dad would also let you stay up until two in the morning watching anime, and that’s exactly why Dad doesn’t get to make all the rules.”

“But Daddy,” Jaiden whines.

“How about this, you can have a tiny, very tiny sip,” Dan relents. “On one condition,” he continues, holding his hand up when Jaiden nods excitedly. “You have to try a new vegetable this week, yeah?”

Jaiden’s nose crinkles, and he looks like he’s seriously considering saying no. Dan waits patiently, sort of hoping that’s exactly what he does, since giving coffee to a small child probably isn’t a great idea anyway. “Deal,” Jaiden announces with a shrug, immediately making grabby hands for the mug.

“Ah, let me hold it, let me hold it.” Dan takes the mug right out of his reach before carefully holding it closer. “It’s still pretty hot, so let me blow on it for a minute.”

Jaiden waits patiently until Dan decides it’s cool enough and carefully brings the mug closer to his face. “A tiny sip?” Jaiden asks, glancing up at him.

Dan nods. “Very tiny. Like barely a swallow, okay? And you can’t tell Dad or Mia or Levi- got it?”

It’s almost hysterical how excited the prospect of a secret makes Jaiden look then. “Okay!”

Dan’s careful as he holds the mug for Jaiden, tilting it just a little bit, just enough for him to get barely a teaspoon. As soon as he’s swallowed, Dan sets the mug down and studies his face for a reaction. Jaiden smacks his lips curiously before a slightly greenish tint colors his usually rosy cheeks. “Ew,” he complains, wiping at his tongue with the sleeve of his shirt.

“What?” Dan says innocently, trying to hide his smile. He knows exactly what it is- black coffee is disgusting until you’ve gotten used to it.

“It tastes like dirt!” Jaiden complains. “Why does it taste so bad, last time Dad-“ he freezes, glancing up at Dan with a guilty look.

Dan rolls his eyes. “Did Dad give you some coffee before?”

Jaiden nods sheepishly. “He let me have some sips of his Starbucks. And Mia, too.”

Dan splutters. “When was that?” He demands.

A thoughtful look crosses Jaiden’s face before he shrugs. “I dunno, before school started.”

With a sigh, Dan sits back in his chair, watching Jaiden follow, cuddling up against him once more. Dan smiles fondly at him, petting his hair gently. “Dad’s gonna be in so much trouble later,” Dan informs him.

“But... you gave me coffee too!” Jaiden protests.

“Just a sip!” Dan whines defensively.

“I’m telling Dad,” Jaiden decides easily.

Dan gapes at him. “You promised you wouldn’t!”

Jaiden blinks up at him with a grin. “I didn’t promise anything!”

“Oh, you little!” Dan laughs, cutting himself off as he tickles Jaiden’s sides, his laughter loud and bouncing off the walls of the kitchen. “Repent, repent!” Dan chants through laughter of his own.

Jaiden squeals, squirming in his lap as he tries to escape. “I’m sorry! I won’t- I won’t!”

Dan stops his attack, scooping Jaiden back up from where he’d been slipping off Dan’s thigh. “Good,” he smiles.

“Do I still have to try a new vegetable if I promise not to tell Dad?” Jaiden asks sweetly, an innocent little smirk on his face.

Dan squints at him. “Are you actually blackmailing me?” He asks, taken aback.

Jaiden shrugs, giggling. “Maybe,” he sings.

Rolling his eyes, Dan pats his back. “Alright, whatever. Tell Dad, if you want. He won’t be mad.”

Jaiden’s face falls. “So I still have to try a vegetable?” He sounds disappointed.

Dan cackles. “Yeah, bub, you’ve gotta try a new vegetable.”

Jaiden sulks at this, crossing his arms. “Fine,” he concedes. Dan knows he can’t stay mad for long, so he waits patiently for something to change. It doesn’t take long. “Can I have breakfast?”

Smiling, Dan gently coaxes Jaiden off his lap. “Of course you can, bub. What’ll it be? Cereal? Omelette? If Dad was here I’d have him make us some pancakes,” Dan muses as he makes his way around the kitchen, checking to see what breakfast ingredients they had on hand.

“Where is he?” Jaiden asks, looking around like he’s just noticed Phil’s absence.

“He got called into work,” Dan says with an apologetic smile.

“Oh,” Jaiden says, nodding knowingly. He seems to consider his options, then says, “I think I’ll have an omelette.”

“Good choice, little man,” Dan says, going to collect the ingredients from the fridge. “Hm... I really need to get some groceries today. Maybe Phil’ll stop by- Jaiden?” The slight raise in pitch is due to the empty kitchen he finds upon turning away from the fridge.

He discards the carton of eggs and the milk on the counter, abandoned in favor of making sure his child hasn’t just dropped off the face of the earth somehow. Making his way down the hall to the twins’ room, there’s quiet voices floating towards him and he begins to feel his worry waver. He’s just about to retreat back to the kitchen to start breakfast when he hears Phil’s voice. Confused, he steps closer and gently pushes the door open.

He’s not sure what he expected, but what he finds is Jaiden and Amelia huddled together on her bed, Dan’s phone held in Jaiden’s little hands. It takes a moment for Dan to register it, but when he hears Phil laugh, he realizes the noise is coming from his phone.

“Dan did what?” Phil asks, his voice lighthearted and amused.

“Yeah, what did I do?” Dan asks, crossing his arms as he leans against the door frame.

Amelia squeals in surprise, and Jaiden’s whole face goes a little pink and sheepish. “Hi, Daddy,” he says with a weak wave.

Dan settles him with an unimpressed look. “Hi. What’ve you got there?”

Jaiden turns the phone around with a little smile. “It’s just Dad.”

Phil looks to be in his office, and he’s got a sweet smile on his face as he waves to Dan. “Hi, baby.”

“Hi,” Dan says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “What did they tell you?”

Phil grins. “Why, Danny? Are you keeping any secrets from me?”

Dan splutters. “No,” he says defensively.

“Mhm,” Phil hums. “So, giving Jai coffee this morning doesn’t ring any bells?”

Dan’s face feels warm when he stalks forward and holds his hand out for his phone. Jaiden gently hands it to him, with a sheepish little grin, and Dan can’t help but roll his eyes fondly. Looking back at Phil, he shakes his head, affecting a stern voice when he says, “I don’t wanna hear it, bub. He told me all about the Starbucks you let him have months ago, and I think that trumps the little secret sip I let him have this morning.”

Phil’s clearly holding back a laugh as he says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Dan gives him a blank look. “Jaiden told me about it.”

Phil shrugs. “You have no proof.”

Rolling his eyes, Dan turns to face the twins. “No more running off with my phone without telling me first, got it?”

Jaiden nods. “Am I in trouble?”

Dan smiles softly at him. “Of course not, bubby. How about both of you get dressed so we can get breakfast, and if you’re extra good we might go to the park later, okay?”

Amelia’s eyes light up and she’s quick to scramble off the bed. “Okay!”

Jaiden’s quick to follow suit, much to Dan’s amusement. When he’s sure they’re okay on their own to get ready for the day, Dan shuffles out of their room, pulling the door nearly shut behind him and sighing. He gives Phil his full attention now, offering him an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry about that, I know you’re busy at work, and I didn’t even know he had my phone until-“

“Dan,” Phil interrupts warmly. “It’s fine.” He’s got a genuine smile on his face, so Dan has no real reason not to believe him.

“Okay,” Dan says softly. He suddenly feels shy, with Phil looking at him like that, even through the screen. “How’s work?” He asks, flinging himself into a mindless conversation so he’s not thinking about the way his stomach flutters, knowing the conversation they need to have later.

“It’s alright,” Phil says with a shrug. “I had to deal with two cancellations on some minor guests and also fire someone, so, like, it could be better,” he says, voice going quieter as he slouches, almost like he’s ashamed to admit he’s having a bad day.

Dan makes some sort of soft, unintentional noise in his throat. “I’m sorry you’re having a shit day, bub.”

Phil shrugs. “S’okay.”

Propping the phone up so they can still see each other, Dan goes about grabbing a pan and the other things he needs to make omelettes. “I’m not, er, keeping you from doing something, am I?” He suddenly asks, turning to glance at the phone, feeling a flash of embarrassment at the way he’d just assumed Phil would be free to chat.

Phil’s got an odd sort of focus in his eyes as he studies Dan. “Not at all,” he says, his voice incredibly soft.

Dan feels better about launching into his version of the coffee story, defending his actions wholeheartedly while Phil snickers and makes disbelieving noises every time Dan insists he didn’t give him that much. Somehow the conversation shifts to a debate on which of the kids are more likely to keep a secret, and from which parent. Eventually they figure Levi’s more likely to keep something from Phil, while Amelia is more likely to keep something from Dan. They decide Jaiden is their Switzerland, and will probably just blurt anything out to either of them if he felt like he was in trouble.

From there the conversation shifts to the similarities they have with the kids, and Phil’s just explaining how Amelia’s more like him when Dan hears footsteps behind him. He glances over and smiles when he sees Levi, hair wild and unkempt, with shadows under his eyes. Something about his posture, and the way he doesn’t even look up at Dan, has his pleasant demeanor dropping, his concerned parent persona taking front stage.

“Levi, bubba, you okay?” Dan asks softly, momentarily forgetting about his conversation with Phil.

Levi glances at him and nods, waving him off with a vague motion. “Just tired,” he mumbles, nearly falling into a chair at the table and dropping his head in his hands like he can’t hold it up on his own. He squints past Dan, at the phone on the counter. “Hi, Phil,” he greets, tilting his head to offer a weak wave with one hand.

Phil looks as surprised as Dan feels at the acknowledgement of his presence, even via FaceTime. “Morning, kiddo. You feeling okay?”

Levi looks on the verge of saying yes, but something in him hesitates. Dan gives him a searching look, and he hopes it doesn’t come across as nosy. “I couldn’t really sleep last night,” he answers finally.

Dan waits for a moment to see if Levi is going to say anything more. When he doesn’t, Dan spares a look at his phone, where Phil seems to be at a loss for words as well. “Was it…” He changes course when Levi’s gaze flickers away. “Do you know why you couldn’t sleep?” Dan asks carefully, navigating some sort of mental minefield trying to say the right thing.

Levi shrugs, dropping his gaze to scratch a fingernail against the table. “Dunno,” he mumbles, closed off once more.

Unsure what else to do or say, Dan sends Phil a look. Luckily, via whatever weird mental symbiosis they share, Phil seems to get it. “Well, I should probably get back to work,” he says, subtly excusing himself from the conversation he realizes that Dan needs to have with Levi. “I’ll see you at home later, yeah?”

Dan nods, offering him a smile. “Yeah, course. Have fun at work. I hope your day gets better.”

Phil rolls his eyes. “Highly doubt it will, but thanks. Have fun at the park without me,” he says with a pout.

Dan laughs. “Play hooky and meet us there.”

“I could never,” Phil says, as if the very idea is shocking to him.

It’s Dan’s turn to roll his eyes then. “Of course not.” Phil gives him a grin, and Dan shakes his head fondly. “Love you. See you tonight.”

“Bye, Dan,” Phil offers him one last smile before the call drops. Dan spares a second to feel disappointed that Phil didn’t say he loved him back, and then he’s cursing himself for it, knowing better than to want more than what he can have. His mind unhelpfully reminds him of the topic of the discussion they’re meant to have later, which does approximately nothing to assuage his nerves.

Turning to Levi gives him a good excuse to push the thoughts away. “Sorry about that,” he says with a half-smile.

Levi shrugs. “S’fine.”

Dan flips the omelette he’s working on over, watching the way the steam rises up as he considers how to ask Levi about his sleep problem. Eventually, he settles on the most straightforward way. “Do you really not know why you had trouble sleeping last night? Or is it just something you don’t want to discuss with me?” He asks in the most gentle tone he can.

“I...” Levi starts. He pauses, like he’s trying to get his thoughts together. “I guess I had, like... like a bad dream.”

“A bad dream?” Dan says, keeping his voice gently inquisitive and really hoping it doesn’t sound like he’s just trying to pry.

Levi nods when Dan looks at him. “Yeah, like- like I’d fall asleep and have this nightmare and so I’d make myself wake up but then-“ the words are spilling out of him in a rush, and he pauses to take a deep breath. “Then I’d fall asleep again and it would just keep happening.”

Dan plates the omelette up quietly as he waits to see if Levi has more to say. When it’s clear that he doesn’t, Dan goes about pouring a glass of orange juice and grabbing a fork, setting the plate and cup down in front of Levi, much to his surprise. “You should eat some breakfast,” he says softly.

Levi sort of glances at the food, like he doesn’t trust it at first, but after a moment he grabs the fork and stabs at the omelette, so Dan turns to go make some more. It’s silent for a few minutes until Levi says, “It was about them.”

The words make Dan turn, flicking his eyes over at Levi with a frown. “Who?”

Levi stares at his food, his face a paler shade than it was before. “My mum and dad.”

And he’s never really spoken about them, not to Dan. He’s not sure what to say to that, though. He’s not sure what he can say that won’t frighten Levi, won’t make him shut down again. All he can offer is a quiet, “I... I don’t know how horrible that must have been. But thank you for sharing that with me.”

Levi nods, looking away. “It was.” When Dan tilts his head in confusion, Levi shrugs. “Horrible. It was horrible.”

Dan’s chest feels tight and heavy. “Levi...”

He’s just about to step closer to comfort him when Levi looks up at him, the sudden eye contact startling him a bit. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

“Oh,” Dan says, surprised enough that he nearly stumbles back. “I, um. That’s fine. We don’t have to.”

Levi nods, taking a sip of his orange juice. Dan waits for a few moments, plating another omelette before he says Levi’s name quietly. “Hm?”

“I know we say this all the time,” he starts gently. “But anytime you want to talk... about anything, ever...” he turns now, allows himself to look into those pained eyes, that’ve seen things Dan could only have nightmares about, and he forces his voice to be steady but gentle. “We’re here. Me and Phil, we’ll always listen, if you ever want to talk about things. I know we’re not... well, we aren’t your parents.” Levi flinches, imperceptibly, at that. Dan’s heart hurts. “But you’ll always have a family with us, yeah? Anything you need, you can- you can talk to us.”

His voice has gone tight and impossibly high by the time he’s finished, but he forces himself to be unwavering. He won’t let himself cry, not in front of the child he’s meant to be a strong parental figure for. Even despite telling himself that, though, he can feel how hot his eyes are, and forcing himself to blink to clear his vision doesn’t help.

Levi looks back at him for a long moment before nodding. “I know.”

Dan nods too, relieved that he managed to hold himself together and get his point across. “Good,” he says, clearing his throat. “Do you mind going to fetch your brother and sister? Their breakfast is done.”

Levi murmurs an agreement before turning to leave the kitchen, looking relieved to get a break. Dan doesn’t blame him, honestly. When you’re a teenager, the most uncomfortable thing is having an emotional conversation with an adult, especially one you aren’t close to. He can only imagine the discomfort Levi is feeling, and he makes a mental note to be a little more relaxed on him from now on rather than springing those kinds of conversations on him with no warning.

As he waits for the kids to come into the kitchen, Dan checks his phone. He finds a text from Phil and opens it a little bit eagerly. He grins stupidly the minute he reads it, and part of him wants to screenshot it while the other part wants to just tattoo it onto the back of his eyelids. It was sent a little less than ten minutes ago, probably right after their call ended.

Phil: Love u too btw

Phil: I didn’t mean to not say it back

Dan: Im sure u say that 2 all the boys

Phil: Nope just you bub ❤️

Dan grins for the rest of the morning.

~~~

A few hours later, Dan manages to get all the kids into the car to head out for some errands. Levi’s got his group therapy session, and Dan’s still trying to decide if he wants to get groceries before or after picking him up when the twins remind him he’d promised to take them to the park. He weighs his options there and eventually decides that going to the park first would probably be in his favor. They can’t be too hyper in the store if they’re both exhausted from playing.

With the day’s plan set, Dan drives Levi to his session, stalling on the side of the street until they’ve watched him walk inside. Amelia tells him she thinks that’s a bit creepy, while Jaiden disagrees, saying that he feels a bit like a spy, watching his brother from the barely tinted windows of Dan’s car.

When they finally reach the park, the twins are nearly vibrating with excited energy, and Dan’s almost already exhausted just seeing how excited they are. “Try not to run off where I can’t find you, okay?”

“Okay!” Amelia all but squeals as she races Jaiden to the curly slide.

Shaking his head fondly, Dan finds an empty spot on a bench near a mum with a pram, and he actively avoids making eye contact with her as he sits. He watches Amelia and Jaiden chase each other around for a bit, eventually pulling his phone out and snapping a photo to send to Phil. The response is nearly instant.

Phil: :((( I wish I was there!!!

Dan: i believe i remember asking u to join us and u said no

Phil: I’m at work!!

Dan: well, im at the park bub

Suddenly Dan’s phone is ringing. He glances over at the lady beside him, smiling apologetically and seriously hoping the noise doesn’t wake her baby. He scans the playground for the kids as he puts the phone up to his ear, smiling already. “What?” He says, biting back a smile.

“Don’t “what” me,” Phil says, his voice lilting up in playful annoyance. “I’m mad at you.”

“Yeah?” Dan snorts. “And what about, exactly?”

Phil makes a spluttering sound. “You- You’re at the park, without me!”

Dan smiles, partly at the childish tone in his voice, and partly at watching Amelia push Jaiden on the swings. “I mean, to be fair, I’m also at the park without Levi, but I think you’re a bit more upset about it than he’d be.”

Phil mumbles something under his breath, but it doesn’t sound actually mad, so Dan doesn’t ask for clarification. “Did he seem alright when you dropped him off?”

“Yeah, he was fine,” Dan says. He walks in a little circle, stopping once more to watch the twins as he contemplates sharing anything from his earlier conversation with Levi. “He said he had nightmares about his birth parents,” he says softly. He can’t just not talk about it, not when the wellbeing of their children is meant to be a joint effort.

“Oh, god,” Phil breathes. He sounds just as pained as Dan feels at the thought. “Did he say what they were about?”

Dan shakes his head, even if Phil can’t see him. “No. He didn’t really want to talk about it. He just told me that bit, and then he just… sort of shut down.” He tries to steady his shaky breathing.

“That’s… God, Dan, that’s horrible.” Phil seems to reconsider his words. “Not that he told you- I just meant, like… the dreams themselves. That’s awful.”

“And we can’t even do anything about it,” Dan nearly whispers, his gaze going a little blurry as he’s overcome with a striking feeling of inadequacy.

“Dan,” Phil murmurs. “We are doing something, babe. We’re trying to give him a better life, away from that. Even…” He takes a deep breath then, and Dan braces himself for what he knows is coming. “Even if it’s not for long.”

The thought makes Dan feel just as violently ill as it always does. It’s like missing a step on a staircase you’re creeping down in the dark- he should see it coming, but it takes his breath away every time, in the worst way. It takes Dan a moment of choking around the lump in his throat, but eventually he manages to swallow it down, making room in his mouth for the words he doesn’t want to say. “We need to talk when you get home.” His voice is nearly a whisper.

Phil doesn’t respond right away. When he does, he sounds older, more exhausted. “I know.”

Dan’s just about to make an excuse to hang up and get a grip on himself when he hears Jaiden calling for him. “Daddy!”

“Yeah, buddy?” Dan says, faking a smile like the actor he isn’t. Jaiden’s eyes look a little red around the rims, and Dan immediately crouches down to look at him closer, nearly forgetting that Phil’s on the other end of his phone, clueless as to what’s happening. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Jaiden nods, then shakes his head. “Those boys- they said- they said that-“ Jaiden’s hiccuping with almost every word, and Dan takes a moment to shush him gently.

“Take a deep breath, bub,” he instructs gently.

In his ear, he hears Phil’s incessant questions. “What’s wrong? Dan! Is he okay?”

“Phil, he- I don’t know. Give me a minute,” Dan mumbles into the phone. He gives Jaiden a soft smile when he tilts his head curiously. “It’s just Dad. Do you want to talk about it in private?” Jaiden seems to consider it, nodding sheepishly after a moment. “Alright, that’s fine. Give me just a minute, okay?” Standing up and guiding Jaiden over to an empty picnic table, Dan speaks quietly into the phone. “Babe, he’s fine, I think he just got into it with some boys on the playground. I’ll call you back in a bit, yeah? Let me talk to him and sort it out.”

“Okay,” Phil says, sounding relieved. “Tell him I love him, yeah? Please?”

Dan smiles down at Jaiden, his heart full of the best kind of warmth, for both of them. “Will do. I’ll ring you in a bit, yeah?”

“Alright. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Dan says, biting his bottom lip to keep his smile from widening. He ends the call before turning his full attention to Jaiden, who looks much calmer now that he’s had a few minutes to recover from whatever happened. Sitting down beside him, Dan nudges his knee against Jaiden’s playfully. “Wanna talk about it?” He asks gently.

Jaiden put his little arms around himself. Dan’s suddenly reminded that it’s actually a bit cold out, and honestly if they weren’t running around playing, they’d probably be whining to go home to get out of the cold. “Those boys told me to ask if I could play with them on the other side of the park,” he starts, gesturing vaguely to the playground area.

Dan nods, gaze flicking around until he spots Amelia on the swings, playing with a little girl who looks a little younger. “Well, I’m glad you came to ask me first. I’d prefer you didn’t go that far, though, since your sister is still over here.”

Jaiden looks down at his shoes, which he’s scuffing on the ground. “They said something else, too,” he says quietly.

“What’s that?” Dan asks cautiously, a little nervous by the tone of Jaiden’s voice.

“I pointed at you so they’d know who I was asking, and they told me you weren’t my dad, cause we don’t look alike.” Jaiden’s voice sounds so sad and despondent, Dan is suddenly very glad those children are out of his sight. He’s not above chastising someone else’s kids, or kicking another parent’s ass for their offspring’s behavior.

Something about Jaiden’s words dawns on him then, and he looks down at him, frowning. “Bubby… you know I’m not, like…”

Jaiden nods before he can even finish saying it. “I know.” He sighs, then, kicking the ground a little more harshly. “Just wish you were.”

Dan can’t help but wrap him up in a hug upon hearing that. “Jai…” His voice is thick and garbled. He clears his throat and tries again. “You and Mia may not biologically be my children, alright, but I love you both so much. And as far as I’m concerned, you guys are my kids, yeah?”

Jaiden sniffles, burying his face into Dan’s ribs. “What about Phil?” He mumbles.

Dan’s throat goes tight. “Of course,” he says hoarsely. “Phil loves you so much, bubby.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then Jaiden leans away a little, looking up at Dan with watery eyes. “Will you and Phil always want to keep us?”

His heart aches. He hugs Jaiden closer, kissing the top of his head. A traitor tear escapes his eye, but he allows it, just this once. “Yeah, Jaiden. We’re always going to want to keep you. You’ll always be a part of our family.”

Jaiden stays cuddled to his side for a few minutes, but eventually he pulls away, wiping his face with his sleeve. He looks a little tired, but otherwise mostly back to normal. “Can I go play with Mia?”

Dan nods, kissing his forehead. “Sure, kiddo.” Jaiden slides off the seat and goes to rejoin his sister, but Dan doesn’t let him get far without saying his name quietly. When Jaiden turns to look at him, Dan smiles as earnestly as he can. “I love you, Jai-bird.”

Jaiden smiles at him. “Love you too, Daddy,” he says with a little wave. He’s off in a sprint then, racing towards his sister as if the last ten or so minutes never even happened. with a little more pep in his step, and Dan nearly bites through his bottom lip trying to keep his emotions in check.

It’s not like he hasn’t had this sort of overwhelming breakdown before in regards to the precarious nature of their situation with the kids. He’s had it several times, but always in the privacy of his own room, or at the very least his office at work. Feeling half a centimeter away from a breakdown in public is worlds away from that, and he finds himself digging his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through his contacts before he even realizes what, or who, he’s looking for.

When he hears the familiar sound of ringing as he waits for her to pick up, he holds his phone up to his ear, standing so he can pace while he talks. It doesn’t take long for an answer, thankfully.

“Hello, love. I was starting to wonder when I’d hear from you again,” his mum’s familiar voice fills the line.

Dan chokes a laugh. “Mum,” he says, trying to force himself not to cry.

“Dan? Is everything alright?” She asks, her voice going high when she realizes, undoubtedly, that everything is not alright.

“You were right,” Dan nearly gasps out. It’s hitting him, now, the extent of the realization he’s just had. It’s not just about the children, and about preemptively missing them. It’s about Phil. God, it always is, though, he thinks, nearly bitter at the thought.

“About what, dear? What is this about?”

Dan laughs bitterly. “I don’t know. All of it. Everything. I think I just realized what a mistake this all was.”

“What’s a mistake? Dan, love, you’re scaring me.” She sounds less calm than normal, like maybe she realizes how very not okay he is right now.

Pacing back and forth, Dan gestures wildly, even though she can’t see him. “All of it. The pretending to be with Phil, the fostering...” he takes a shuddering breath. “It was a mistake.”

His mum is quiet for a moment. When she speaks her voice is impossibly soft. “Surely you don’t mean that, love.”

Dan ducks his head, a flood of hot tears pouring from his eyes. “Yes,” he argues. He spares a glance to the swing set where the children are and his heart squeezes. “No,” he sighs, reluctantly. “I don’t know. It’s just... I know I’m going to have to give them up, they’ll leave eventually, and then Phil will leave me and- and-“

And that’s it, really, he thinks to himself. As much as he fears losing the children, he knows he could survive it, with Phil there. But he knows that if Phil were to leave... that’s something he might not survive. Not now.

“I don’t think I can live without him,” he whispers brokenly.

His mum makes a sad cooing noise. “Dan...”

“I love him,” he’s properly crying now. The words aren’t brand new, but the feeling of utter freedom he feels after saying them is an adrenaline rush like no other. “I’m in love with him. I probably always was,” Dan confesses, and the world keeps spinning around him like it always has, as if he didn’t just admit to something he’s spent ten years ignoring.

His mum sighs, and Dan doesn’t think he imagines the note of relief he hears in the sound. “Well not to be blunt, Daniel, but I already knew that.”

Dan’s mind is effectively blank. “You...”

“Love, a mother can always tell. Kath’s known even longer than I have.”

Dan stifles a choked noise. “You and Kath talk too much,” he mumbles petulantly.

His mum laughs, and even in the spiral he’s in, the sound makes his lips twitch in a shadow of a smile. “Well it sounds like you and Phil don’t talk enough.”

“Well that’s not- I mean, we do, but-“

“Exactly,” she says, sounding smug. “Now, assuming you already realize he feels the same way, you probably ought to have a chat with him, Daniel.” She makes it sound so easy. As if he can just stare Phil in the eyes and tell him he’s in love with him, as if that’s something you just do.

“I... I don’t know if I can do that,” he says finally, his chest hurting with the thought of being rejected.

It’s quiet for a bit. Dan hears some clinking and assumes his mum is probably making some tea. Suddenly he yearns for that, despite the fact that he’s never really felt close enough to her to enjoy the typical mother-son bonding activities. This conversation has given him some perspective on his mother that he didn’t previously have, in the best way.

Eventually, she sighs. “Well then it won’t get any better, will it?”

“What?” He asks, almost forgetting what the original conversation was.

“Well, you’re bloody miserable right now, aren’t you?” Before Dan can protest, she continues. “But that won’t change until you do something about it. You can’t expect your problems to just magically disappear without talking about them.”

Dan bristles. “He’s not a problem.”

He can hear the smile in her voice when she answers. “I never said he was, love. I just think the lack of communication is driving you both mad, especially since this is the first you’ve talked to me in weeks.”

Dan feels a bitter guilt in his chest at that. He hates that she’s right, but she is. “Mum, I’m sorry, really-“

“Oh, nonsense. Phil sends me photos of the kids every now and again, and Kath and I chat every week. I knew you were busy, it’s fine, bear.”

His heart warms at that. It’s ridiculous how much he loves that his and Phil’s lives are so intertwined that their mums are actually friends. He sighs as he thinks about why that is, how glaringly obvious his feelings for Phil have been from the start. “I think I’m going to tell him tonight,” he whispers, as if anyone else could hear.

He can hear the smile in his mum’s voice when she replies. “That’s lovely news, Dan.” There’s a wavering hesitation before she continues. “I’m proud of you.”

He’s not crying. “Thanks, Mum.”

“And I love you, no matter what happens, alright? And if that boy has a brain in his head, so does he.”

He’s definitely crying. “Alright, alright. I love you too. I’ll try to call more.”

“I’d appreciate it,” she says dryly. “Maybe a visit soon, yeah?”

Dan’s not sure he can promise her that, but he agrees anyway before ending the call. His heart is full and his thoughts are swimming in circles as he begins wandering around the park, idly looking for his children. It takes him a minute to realize he doesn’t see them, and as soon as he does, his entire mood shifts.

Smiling tightly at the mums on one of the benches, he circles around to where he saw them playing on the swings last. He’s going into full panic mode when he hears a familiar voice.

“Daddy!”

Dan spins around, ready for the relief of finding his child safe. That doesn’t happen. Instead he’s met with Amelia’s tear-streaked face, her legs running as fast as they can carry her as she screams for him.

“Mia! What’s wrong?” He asks frantically, dropping into a crouch to look at her.

“It’s- something’s wrong, Jai’s on the ground and-“ the minute she falls into his arms sobbing, Dan stands, cradling her as she tries to direct him to where Jaiden is.

The next minute or so is a blur for him. Some sort of panicked internal instinct kicks in and one minute he’s running and the next he’s dropping to his knees beside Jaiden’s shaking body. Jaiden’s eyes are full of tears as he gasps for breath, his body convulsing as he grips at his chest. Dan’s veins fill with ice as he grabs the child’s shoulders, wracking his brain trying to remember what little he knows of emergency medical procedures.

“It’s gonna be okay, buddy. Can you sit up for me?” Dan speaks quickly but gently as he props Jaiden into a sitting position, trying to help him gasp more breath in. Dan’s no expert but he vaguely remembers learning how to handle an assumed asthma attack, and right now this is all he knows to do.

Jaiden grips his hand tightly, crying between every strangled breath. “Hurts!”

Dan’s eyes sting. “I know, bubby.” He glances over at Amelia, wide-eyed and crying a foot or so away. “Mia, love, I need you to be a big girl for a second, okay?” She nods frantically. He stands as he talks, scooping Jaiden up in his arms. “We’ve got to take Jaiden to the car. I need you to stay really close to me, okay?”

“Okay,” she mumbles her agreement.

Dan nods, trying to hold Jaiden in an upright position to help his breathing. “Take deep breaths, bub. We’re going to get some help,” he talks gently and as calmly as he can as he makes his way to the car, Amelia hot on his heels.

He manages to keep his composure long enough to get both of them in the car and get himself behind the wheel. Jaiden is nearly sobbing in the backseat, his little hands balled into fists in his shirt, his breathing loud and raspy. Dan swallows the panic down, forcing himself to focus. There’s a couple of random people milling about near his car, having seen the whole ordeal, and Dan tries to avoid eye contact as he drives out of the lot, headed for A&E.

“Hey Siri,” Dan says, loud over the sound of the cries in the backseat. His phone chirps. “Call Phil.”

The line doesn’t ring long before it connects, and an amused voice answers. “Hi baby, miss me?”

Dan has no time for the way that makes him feel. “I need you to meet us at A&E,” he says, getting straight to the point.

Phil’s silent for all of three seconds. “What? What happened, are you okay? Dan-“

“I think Jaiden’s having an asthma attack,” Dan explains quickly. “I don’t know what to do, so I’m headed to hospital. I need you to get a car to pick Levi up and meet us there.”

“Of course, yeah,” Phil answers. He sounds frantic. “Dan, where- are you- is he-“

“Meet us at hospital, yeah?”

“Dan, yes, I’ll be there,” Phil’s voice sounds almost exasperated. Dan can hear some rustling and other noises in the background, and he knows Phil’s leaving work. “I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Dan says, trying not to burst into tears when he hears a particularly miserable cry from the back. “I love you.”

“Dan,” Phil sounds nearly breathless. “I love you too. Be safe.”

Dan ends the call without another word, glancing to the back every few seconds to see how Jaiden is. “Just hang on, buddy, we’re almost there. Take some deep breaths, okay. Everything’s gonna be fine.” He’s rambling at this point, but he knows that Jaiden is in no state to recognize the underlying panic just beneath the surface.

“Siri,” he calls again. “Call A&E.”

The phone takes a minute to process this request, and then it’s ringing shortly before a woman’s voice answers with the name of the institution and “how can I be of service?”

“Er- hi, I believe my son is having an asthma attack. I’m bringing him in but I wanted to call and let you know he needs to see a doctor immediately.”

The nurse makes a pitying sort of noise and Dan hears the clacking of a keyboard. “Yes sir, and what is your name?”

“Daniel Howell,” he replies, changing lanes to take the next turn. He thinks it’s a shortcut, but he might be a little delusional about that.

“And the boy’s?”

“Jaiden Young,” he informs her.

“Alright, I’ll collect more information when you arrive. Come straight in through the A&E doors and a nurse will be on standby to help.”

“Perfect, thank you.” He ends the call with a shuddering breath, trying to hang onto what’s left of his sanity until they get there. He glances back again and sees Jaiden, his face red and wet with tears, struggling against his seatbelt. “Hang on, Jaiden. We’re almost there. We’re almost there, and they’ll help you when we get there, yeah? Just... just take some deep breaths, it’ll be okay.”

He really doesn’t know who he thinks he’s fooling.

~~~

Getting checked in when they arrive to A&E is a blur. There’s a nurse waiting, just like the lady on the phone said there would be, but Dan’s reluctant to hand over his child to a stranger. They’ve got a wheelchair waiting, and the nurse is talking in a gentle tone, some of her soothing words directed to Jaiden and a few comments directed at Dan. He barely hears her. There’s a rushing sound in his ears, and he’s only snapped back into the reality of the situation when the nurse begins pushing the wheelchair away, off towards a set of double doors. Dan follows unthinkingly, only stopped by the sound of a raised voice.

“Sir, you can’t go back there.”

Dan turns to stare at the receptionist. “That’s my child, can I-”

She stands, shaking her head. He tries to stand his ground, but her words make him falter. “No sir, not until they’ve figured out what’s wrong. Please have a seat and we’ll let you know when you can see him,” she says, her voice firm but compassionate.

With no other options, Dan nods numbly, turning around to trudge towards some empty chairs near the door. Amelia is looking up at him with big eyes, and he offers her a small, reassuring smile. “C’mon, let’s go sit down for a bit, yeah?”

She nods, swiping at a tear as she reaches for his hand. As soon as he’s found a seat, he reaches for her. She allows herself to be scooped into his lap, wrapping her little arms around his neck with a sad noise. He closes his eyes, rubbing her back gently as he shushes her gently. “Shh, love. It’ll be alright. The doctors will fix Jaiden right up, yeah?” Amelia manages a nod, and they settle into a nervous silence as they wait for something to happen.

They don’t have to wait long. Dan’s expecting Phil to show up any minute, so he’s not really surprised when the doors open and his best friend rushes in, a panicked look on his face as he scans the room. He takes one look at Dan and something seems to settle in him, his shoulders losing some of the tension and his expression morphing into something like relief. Dan doesn’t even think to stop himself from standing, gently setting Amelia down as he takes a step towards Phil. Levi is hovering behind him, his face pale as his eyes go between Dan and Amelia.

“Dan,” Phil says, his voice tight.

Dan doesn’t need any more encouraging. He all but collapses into Phil’s arms, the tears he hadn’t allowed himself to shed pouring from his eyes in waves. Phil makes a choked sort of noise as he wraps his arms around Dan’s shoulders in a tight embrace. “Shh, Dan, it’s okay. He’s gonna be okay.” And Phil can’t know that, not really. Dan appreciates the sentiment, but his crying only subsides enough to give way to hiccups.

“He- it was like he couldn’t…” Dan swallows hard, pressing his wet face against Phil’s neck. “He couldn’t breathe, and I had no idea what to do and-”

“Breathe, Dan. Slow down,” Phil instructs, pulling away to force eye contact. “You’re going to work yourself into a panic attack. Just slow down, yeah?”

Dan nods, taking rattling breath after breath, trying to calm himself down. Phil’s hands come up to cup Dan’s neck, his thumb swiping up to his jaw in soothing motions. The staring should make Dan uncomfortable, probably, with how intense it is, but he doesn’t look away. Somehow it has the opposite effect for once, and staring into those eyes that he loves so much, he actually manages to calm down, if only slightly.

“There we go,” Phil says, voice incredibly soft. “You okay?” he whispers.

“Yeah,” Dan rasps out. He remembers then, that they’ve got company, and he forces himself to pull away. He pretends he doesn’t see the hurt on Phil’s face. “Did Phil tell you what happened, Levi?” Dan asks, moving to sit back down. He tugs Phil’s sleeve as he goes, a very obvious instruction for him to stay as close to Dan as possible.

Levi looks almost as panicked as Dan feels, but he sits on his other side, shrugging at the question. Levi watches Amelia crawl onto Phil’s lap before he answers. “He told me you were taking him to A&E because you thought he was having an asthma attack,” Levi says slowly.

Dan nods. He wants to spare him the details, so he chooses his words carefully. “They were playing and Amelia ran over to tell me something was wrong, and when I got over there he was having trouble breathing. I… I’m not really sure what could have caused it.” The admission is bitter on his tongue.

Levi looks down at his shoes. “Where were you? Why weren’t you watching them?” He snaps, his voice quiet.

Dan’s breath catches.

“Levi,” Phil says in a warning tone.

“If you were watching them it might not have happened,” Levi all but hisses, his voice breaking twice before he spits the words out.

“That’s enough,” Phil says, his voice harder than Dan’s ever heard in his conversations with the children. Levi looks up in surprise. Phil’s face is stony, not batting an eye as he stares at the teenager. “That doesn’t help your brother, Levi. Dan didn’t make him have an asthma attack, so we’re not going to assign blame here, okay?”

Levi’s gaze flits back and forth between the two of them before his whole body seems to deflate and he nods tiredly. “Okay,” he murmurs, looking down at his shoes once more. He peeks up at Dan, shrugging one shoulder. “I’m sorry, Dan,” he says quietly.

Dan can only offer a shaky smile. “It’s okay,” he replies automatically. He reminds himself that Levi can’t help how he reacted to the news, and that placing blame is a reasonable reaction for someone of his age, especially in this situation. He reminds himself of this two or three times to be sure, so that he doesn’t accidentally do something stupid, like cry in front of him.

Phil’s hand suddenly drops to his knee, squeezing gently, startling Dan out of his thoughts. “I’m going to go ask the receptionist what sort of papers we need to fill out. Would you call Hazel and tell her about all this? I’m assuming this is the kind of thing caseworkers need to know.”

Dan nods. “Yeah, course,” he agrees, going to dig his phone out of his pocket. Phil offers a little smile, leaning in and pressing a kiss to Dan’s temple. Dan watches him stand, Amelia tagging along with him for the walk over to the receptionist desk.

He’s just about to hit call on Hazel’s name when Levi nudges his arm with his elbow. Dan glances at him with a curious look. Levi substitutes eye contact for gazing out the window past Dan’s head, swallowing hard before he speaks. “I really am sorry,” he says quickly, like he hates the words. “I’m just… I guess I’m scared.”

Dan’s heart melts a little. “I know. I am too, Levi,” he reminds gently.

Levi glances right at him then, and Dan notices the glassiness of his eyes. Oh. “I… I can’t let anything happen to them,” he whispers, dropping his gaze.

Risking an affectionate gesture, Dan reaches out, patting Levi’s back gently. He’s shocked when the precariously put-together expression on Levi’s face crumbles suddenly, an ocean of tears falling from his eyes. “Levi…” Dan says softly, trying his best to navigate the correct way to be comforting in this situation.

It turns out he doesn’t have to wonder for long. Levi does the previously unthinkable, leaning forward and dropping his forehead against Dan’s shoulder as he sobs and allows himself to be hugged. Dan can’t help but cry a little as well, and that’s how Phil finds them a few minutes later. There’s a surprise on his face that Dan feels in his heart, but it morphs into something like relieved affection when Levi begins to control his breathing a little.

“It’s alright, bubby. Jai’s gonna be fine, yeah? Everyone’s fine,” Dan says soothingly, rubbing Levi’s shoulder gently.

Phil and Amelia quietly move to sit on Dan’s other side like before, but Levi must notice their presence, because he stiffens suddenly, pulling away slowly and wiping at his eyes. Dan offers him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry,” Levi mumbles, rubbing harshly at his eyes with the sleeves of his sweater. He gestures at his face vaguely with a shrug. “I don’t usually…”

Dan shakes his head. “You don’t have to be sorry, Levi. Everyone cries. I cry all the time, just ask Phil.”

Phil pets Dan’s hair. “It’s true,” he says, voice light and amused.

Levi offers a weak smile before looking back at his shoes. “Er… thanks, I guess.”

Dan feels his heart swell. “Of course,” he says gently. He feels a nudge against his elbow and he turns to look at Phil, who’s got a curious look on his face.

“Did you ring Hazel?” He asks.

Sheepishly, Dan picks up his phone, still hovering over her contact info when he unlocks it. “I’ll do that,” he says with a nod. Phil smiles at him gratefully, shifting a sleepy-looking Amelia on his lap as Dan focuses on what to say to Hazel when she answers.

The phone call doesn’t last long, much to Dan’s surprise. He explains briefly what happened and she tells him she’ll meet them there within an hour. She doesn’t ask many questions, and before she ends the call she thanks him for ringing her to inform her about it. Dan’s just repeating their conversation back to Phil when he hears his name called from the door where Jaiden disappeared through earlier.

“That’s me,” Dan says, standing and making his way over to her.

“You’re Jaiden Young’s father, right?” She asks, checking the clipboard in her hand.

Dan nods, trying not to fidget nervously. “His foster father, yes.”

She smiles at him. She seems kind, he thinks absently. “He’s stable now, so you’re welcome back to see him if you’d like.”

“Perfect!” Dan says, unable to mask his excitement. He turns to find Phil hovering a few feet away, like he feels awkward about being near Dan. “We can see him,” he says, voice washed with relief.

Phil’s just about to speak when the nurse interrupts. “It’s immediate family only, actually,” she says, her tone apologetic.

Dan blinks at her. Before he has a chance to speak, Phil snorts. “Well, he’s my fiance. I think that’s about as immediate as it gets.” The nurse looks a little abashed, and Dan can’t help but smirk a little. “Can we see our son now?”

She doesn’t argue, nodding quickly and gesturing to the doors. Dan glances over to the seats where Levi and Amelia are sitting, watching them with wide, impatient looks. “Those are his siblings, may they come back as well?” Dan asks, overly polite on purpose.

The nurse glances at them and nods. “It’ll have to be a quick visit before we move him to a different room.”

Dan and Phil share a glance and wordlessly, Phil heads over to the kids to bring them along, while Dan focuses on that bit of information. “Does that mean he has to stay?”

She looks apologetic. “Just for a few hours. The doctor wants to monitor his levels for a while to make sure this was an isolated incident.”

“Does that mean you think it’ll happen again?” Dan asks, panicking once more.

“No, not necessarily,” She’s quick to reassure him. “But because of how intense the attack was, we wanted to make sure there aren’t any underlying causes. We’ll need to know a bit more about his medical history, if you can provide it, so we know if this is a rare occurrence or not.”

Dan’s about to say something about how little they know about the children’s medical history prior to them moving in, but then Phil is there with Levi and Amelia, who are more than ready to see their brother. He offers Phil a small smile, reaching out to squeeze his hand briefly as the nurse begins leading them through the doors and down a brightly-lit corridor.

They’ve nearly reached the end of the corridor when the nurse stops and opens a door. “Jaiden, there’s someone here to see you,” she says in a gentle voice, stepping back and allowing them to walk inside. Dan makes sure to send her a grateful smile as he steps past her, his eyes immediately darting to scan his child for injuries. Despite the fact he wasn’t visibly injured when Dan brought him in, it feels like centuries have passed since then, and Dan’s already expecting the worst.

He worries for nothing, though. Jaiden looks much better than he had earlier, although he does look rather exhausted, even as his eyes light up at seeing them. “Daddy!” he calls, reaching his arms out for them.

Dan can’t stop the sniffling noise he makes, but he tries to laugh it off, blinking the dampness from his eyes as he goes to sit on the edge of the bed and pull the child into a hug. “Hi, bubby. I was so worried about you.”

Jaiden nuzzles into his chest. Dan melts. “Sorry, Daddy,” he says sweetly.

“You don’t have to apologize, Jai. It’s not your fault,” Dan says as he gently strokes a hand over Jaiden’s hair. He glances over to see Phil standing there watching them, a relieved smile on his face. Dan reaches out without a second thought, tugging on Phil’s sleeve.

Phil moves closer, grasping one of Jaiden’s hands and giving him a grin. “You gave us a real scare, little man,” he says, his voice teasing. “You know that little boys in hospital get a toy, right?”

Jaiden shrugs sheepishly. “Well… Now that you mention it…” He trails off, and everyone in the room shares a laugh.

Dan glances behind them, waving Levi and Amelia closer to the bed. “Come here, guys. Jaiden’s fine.”

“Hey, Jai,” Levi says softly as he steps closer. Jaiden reaches for him, So Phil and Dan both make some room for Levi and Amelia to have a moment with him. Amelia climbs right up next to him and starts asking him questions about what kind of toy he wants to get, completely forgetting anything concerning the injury that brought him here in the first place. Dan’s relieved and also mortified at that.

The nurse doesn’t let them stay for long. After less than ten minutes, she’s back and ushering them out, saying that Jaiden is about to be moved to a different room. The look of panic that flashes on Jaiden’s face breaks Dan’s heart all over again, but he forces himself to wave and smile brightly. “You’ll be alright, buddy. We’ll be with you as soon as they get you situated, yeah?” Jaiden manages a nod at this, and then the nurse is shooing them out, back to the waiting room.

~~~

They’re just walking back through the doors into the waiting room while they wait for Jaiden to be transferred to a new room when Dan’s gaze catches on a familiar face. He shares a look with Phil, who seems to get the message immediately.

“Hey, guys, why don’t we go see if there’s a snack machine somewhere, yeah?” Phil says, gently guiding them in the opposite direction.

Levi gives Dan a funny look, while Amelia remains distracted by the prospect of food. Dan offers a reassuring smile before making his way towards Hazel, who’s stood at the receptionist desk writing down information on a clipboard.

“Hazel, hi,” Dan greets, giving an awkward wave.

She glances up at him and smiles brightly. “Daniel! Lovely to see you again, although I’m sure we both wish it were under different circumstances.”

Dan nods, scratching at his collarbone nervously. “Yeah. We weren’t really sure what protocol was for something like this... Thank you for taking the time to stop by.”

Hazel waves her hand with a huff of laughter. “It’s no trouble. I knew there’d be information you two wouldn’t have and a check up was coming up anyway.”

Nodding again, Dan glances over at Phil and the kids, his throat tightening at the thought of how much worse this day could have been. “I’m just really happy he’s okay,” he says quietly.

Hazel gives him a sympathetic sort of smile. “You know...” she starts, slowly and carefully. “The children are technically wards of court.”

Dan’s neck nearly snaps when he glances up at her. “What?”

She does that sympathetic thing again, this time accompanied by a slow nod. “Well… Due to the… special circumstances of their case, the judge ordered a special hearing and came to a decision about the status of their case early.” She takes a deep breath. “Their parents’ rights have been terminated. So technically... with the right paperwork... you and Phil could file for legal guardianship.”

Dan blinks. His brain is still stuck on the idea that their biological parents now legally have no rights to see them, but then he registers the last thing she’d said. “So, like... adoption?” His voice pitches up nervously at the end.

She nods, glancing down at the form she’s abandoned and writing a few more notes before handing it back to the nurse. “Exactly. You don’t have to, of course, but that just means the agenda changes from trying to keep them in foster care to finding a family to adopt them.”

Dan feels sick. “We... I don’t know if Phil...” he shakes his head, trying desperately to knock his brain cells into each other to produce a thought. “Why were their parents’ rights terminated?” He asks finally.

For the first time since they started speaking, Hazel frowns, looking away briefly. “I actually think that might be something we discuss with Phil,” she says quietly.

Dan’s heart is in his throat as he makes his way over to Phil and the kids, who’ve evidently found a snack machine, as they’re currently feasting on several things Dan will reprimand Phil for later. “Hey, could you come here a second?” He says to Phil, tugging his sleeves down over his hands.

Phil glances between him and Hazel in confusion before slowly nodding. “I’ll be right back, guys. Levi, protect Jaiden’s candy bar, okay?”

Levi nods, tucking it into his jacket pocket and sticking his tongue out at Amelia when she pouts. He doesn’t seem to be concerned about whatever’s going on, and Dan allows himself to feel relieved that they won’t have to worry the teen about yet another thing. Dan leads the way back over to where Hazel’s waiting, trying to control his breathing before he starts crying. Phil, ever observant, slides his hand into Dan’s, squeezing three short times. Dan breathes a little easier.

“Phil, it’s good to see you again,” Hazel says, her voice dropped into something less exciting and more resigned. Dan’s heart does another squeeze, already ready for the worst.

“You too, Hazel,” Phil says, smiling at her. He squeezes Dan’s hand once more. “So...” he trails off, clearly implying that she should explain herself.

She nods. “So, like I told Dan, the children’s parents have had their rights terminated.” She pauses, as if she’s allowing him a moment to process it. Phil’s a smart man, though, so he just nods for her to continue, his face not giving away a single thought going through his head. “There’s a few options now. We can move the children to another temporary foster home while we look for a permanent adoptive family, or they can stay with you while we conduct the interviews for a potential family.”

Phil nods. He doesn’t even look at Dan as he asks, “Is there another option?”

She looks pleased. “You two can petition for legal guardianship.”

Phil has the same clarifying moment Dan had. “We can adopt them?” The hope in his voice nearly buckles Dan’s knees. The idea of this being permanent is something he can’t compartmentalize right now.

Hazel nods. “You could, yes.”

Before Phil can say anything else that makes Dan’s heart hurt, he interrupts. “You said something about why their parents’ rights were terminated. I want to know more about that,” he reminds her, trying to keep his voice quiet but firm.

Her face drops back into something sad and uncomfortable. “Right,” she says with a nod. She glances at the children, probably to make sure they can’t hear, then turns slightly so their conversation remains more private. “They had a very... a very difficult home life. I know there weren’t a lot of details given at the time, because there was still some investigation going on, but the very short version is they were being neglected and abused.”

Dan’s heart stops. He’s sure of it. Phil, probably unthinkingly, tightens his grip on Dan’s hand. “In what way?” Phil says, his voice almost eerily calm.

Hazel hesitates, clearly debating on what to say. “Well...” she starts slowly. “First of all, Levi doesn’t share the same father as the twins. His biological father is deceased, and he knows that the man who raised him wasn’t his real dad.”

Dan’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Then why do they have the same surname?”

She cringes at the question. “Well, according to what their mother said, his bio father didn’t want anything to do with him and asked that he be left off the birth certificate. Her husband was just her boyfriend at the time, but he signed it instead.”

Dan looks away, his eyes misting. His heart aches with the thought that Levi has had nothing but shitty people who didn’t want him from the beginning. Those children deserved the world, but from the sounds of it, evidently their biological parents didn’t believe so.

“And after that?” Phil asks. “When did the abuse happen?” He sounds mad to Dan’s trained ear, but he knows Hazel will probably just read that as concern.

“Their mother had some issues, an addiction to prescription meds was one of them. She didn’t really...” she pauses, glancing between the two of them like she’s worried they can’t handle it. Dan blinks at her. “Their mother wasn’t really present, even when she was there with them. And apparently the father was a bit of a drinker, and violent. You can piece together about how that went.”

Dan can’t stop the tears, and he tries to pull away from Phil to take a moment, but Phil grabs his sleeve and tugs him in for a hug. He’s probably craving the comfort just as much as giving it, but Dan allows it. “And was it just all the time? He just beat them, all the time?” Phil asks, his voice shaking.

Hazel shakes her head. “No, no. The report says it didn’t get very bad until about two years ago, when the dad lost his job. Levi... well, Levi started getting into fights a lot at school and eventually when they got him to a counselor he admitted that their father was beating him.”

Dan catches on the last sentence, the last word. “Him?” He reiterates. “He was just hitting Levi?”

She looks uncomfortable, but nods. “Levi apparently told the counselor that he hid the kids in the closet or somewhere so he couldn’t get to them, but he ended up putting himself in danger when he did that.” She pauses, but Dan can tell there’s more. “He also told her he was trying to get into fights to cover up the fact that he was showing up to school with fresh bruises every day.”

Dan swears, hiding his face against Phil’s shoulder as he lets out a shuddering breath. “I can’t believe...” he cuts himself off with a sob. Phil’s arms tighten around his shoulders, and he hears the quiet sound of Phil apologizing half-heartedly to Hazel.

“Shh, Dan. It’s... they’re safe now. Yeah? They’re safe.” Phil’s voice is quiet and calm in his ear, and for the second time today, the sound of it is enough to calm Dan out of a panic attack.

Slightly embarrassed, Dan pulls away, wiping at his face with his sleeve in a disgusting manner. “Thank you for telling us the truth, Hazel,” he says to her, trying to keep his voice from breaking.

She nods, looking more apologetic and guilty than he’s ever seen her. “I hated that we couldn’t tell you at the beginning, but there was a lot we didn’t know, and until the investigation was finished there was only so much information we could share.”

“I understand,” Dan says, even though he thinks he doesn’t, not really. “Thank you for telling us now.”

“How long do we have to think about adoption?” Phil asks out of nowhere, almost as if he’s been in a daze for the past few minutes.

Hazel glances between the two of them before shrugging. “Well we can give you a few weeks before we start actively looking for new adoptive parents, and we’ll let you know when that process starts so you have until then really to make your decision.”

Phil nods. He doesn’t look at Dan, instead shaking Hazel’s hand to say goodbye. “Thank you, Hazel. We really appreciate, well, everything.”

She smiles at him, and it looks much more relaxed. “Of course, anytime you need me, just call.” She glances at Dan, who can only offer her a weak smile. “I do try to remain unbiased, but it’s very inspiring to see how much you two genuinely care for these children. I think you’d make the perfect family for them, if that’s what you decide.” With another smile and a squeeze of Dan’s arm, she’s gone, leaving them standing there alone to process her words.

“So-“ Phil starts, pulling his arm away from Dan slowly.

“I can’t- not yet, okay?” Dan interrupts, a little panicked at the idea of making any decisions right now. “I think we should talk about it at home.”

Phil studies him for a moment before nodding, leaning in and kissing Dan’s forehead. “Sure, love. We’ll talk later.”

Dan doesn’t bother hiding his relief as they make their way back over to where they’d left Levi and Amelia. His head is swimming with thoughts and he’s finding it hard to swim in all of it after the day he’s had. But with the most important people in his life watching, he forces himself to play the part of someone calm, cool, and relaxed.

~~~

When they finally move Jaiden to a room upstairs, Dan’s nerves manage to settle, if only a little bit. There’s something comforting in knowing that there are doctors and nurses around in case something does happen, and he’s more than relieved when a doctor comes to speak to them, informing them that everything is okay and they’ve confirmed Jaiden does in fact have asthma. Dan manages to stop his nervous pacing long enough to ask them if that means he needs an inhaler. The doctor smiles a little sadly, but nods.

“He’ll more than likely need at least an emergency inhaler with him from now on,” they say, nodding. “But, we do need to run some more tests to make sure we give him the correct kind, and to make sure there’s no scarring on his lungs or anything like that.”

Dan nods, sharing a look with Phil, who’s sat on the bed beside Jaiden. “Alright, thank you.”

The doctor smiles, giving Jaiden a high five. “You’re a brave little man,” they tell him, making Jaiden grin proudly. “Gave your dads a bit of a scare there, but we’ve got you all patched up, buddy,” they continue, grinning at Dan and Phil before stepping towards the door. “A nurse will be in shortly to take his vitals and blood for the tests we need to run. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Phil smiles and nods at them. “Right, thank you again. We really appreciate it.”

They nod, and with another smile at Jaiden they’re gone, back off down the corridor to treat someone else. Dan’s still trying to wrap his head around how they went this long without finding out about Jaiden’s asthma, but he’s distracted when he hears Levi asking a question.

“Can Mia and I go find the gift shop?” He asks, his voice hopeful.

Phil smiles at them, glancing at Dan before answering. When Dan gives a conceding shrug, Phil nods. “Sure, just stay together and try not to stay too long.” He pulls his wallet out then, handing Levi his credit card without blinking. “Just sign my name if they ask for a signature,” he says.

Levi looks shocked, glancing between Phil and the card, and then at Dan, as if it’s some sort of joke. Dan simply smiles and shrugs, so Levi nods, reaching out for Amelia’s hand and making their way out of the room. Dan looks over at Phil, quirking an eyebrow. Phil quirks one right back. “Watch them come back with literally the biggest stuffed bear in the world,” Dan says, rolling his eyes.

Phil shrugs with a vague smile. “It’s out of the goodness of their hearts, Dan,” Phil says, biting his full bottom lip to hide his smile.

Dan crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s out of your pocket, bub,” he retorts, mostly playful. He really didn’t think Levi would overspend that much.

Jaiden giggles. “I’d like a big stuffed bear, I think,” Jaiden offers, voice hopeful.

“I reckon you deserve a stuffed bear after today, huh?” Phil speaks softly, brushing the dark hair out of Jaiden’s eyes. Jaiden smiles a little sheepishly, but nods. Phil glances at Dan with a little smile.

Dan’s heart hurts. He steps over towards them, leaning down and pressing a kiss to Jaiden’s head. “We’re so glad you’re alright, Jai-bird,” he says softly.

Jaiden smiles up at him. “I’m fine, Daddy. Just tired. And a little bit hungry,” he confesses.

Dan and Phil share a laugh at that. It’s so very characteristic of him to say something like that, even after the day he’s had. Dan ruffles his hair softly. “I promise we’ll get you some food as soon as we leave here, yeah?”

“Burgers?” Jaiden asks, his voice hopeful.

Phil tugs on one of Dan’s belt loops, his eyes wide and excited when Dan looks at him. “I wouldn’t mind a burger either, Dan,” he says, his voice sweet.

Rolling his eyes, Dan makes a big show of sighing loudly. “Alright, alright. Burgers it is.”

“Thank you, bear.” Phil looks exceptionally pleased as he tugs Dan closer, wrapping his arms around Dan’s waist in a loose hug. Dan’s arms automatically go around Phil’s neck, and he has the burning desire to press kisses to the blank canvas of his pale forehead. He doesn’t fully reign in that desire, but he satisfies it by dropping a kiss just above his left brow bone.

Turning to look at Jaiden, Dan makes an exasperated noise, shaking his head. “You’re both spoiled, you know,” he teases.

Phil makes a noise of protest, pulling away to pout up at Dan. “Am not,” he denies.

Dan tugs on a lock of hair right above his fingers. Phil cringes, but his lips quirk up in a smile. “Yes you are. Milkshakes at midnight, pizza almost every week, sneaking marshmallows, stealing-“

Phil presses his hand over Dan’s mouth. “If you say one word about the cereal, I swear-“

His threat is cut off by a yelp as Phil yanks his hand away. Dan grins.

“Dan,” Phil whines, wiping his wet hand on Dan’s sweater. “That’s disgusting.”

Dan pulls out of his grip, smirking. Jaiden giggles hysterically from where he’s laying on the bed, and Dan shares a smile with him. “That’s what you get, Phil. That’s a very important lesson for you to learn.”

Phil’s nose crinkles. “I can’t believe you licked my hand.”

A mischievous glint is in Dan’s eyes as he brings a hand up to pet Phil’s hair, a feigned sense of comfort in the motion. Phil leans into the touch, and Dan grins before quickly leaning in and licking a short stripe up the center of his forehead.

Jaiden is practically howling with laughter as Phil shoves Dan away, spluttering loudly and obnoxiously. “Daniel!” He screeches.

“Shh,” Dan warns through his own giggles. “Phil, be quiet, we’re in hospital,” he reprimands.

Phil shoots him a dirty look, crossing his arms in a pout.

Before he can counter with anything else, the door to Jaiden’s room swings open, causing the three of them to immediately go quiet, reigning in their horrible behavior in fear of a nurse coming to reprimand them, for sure. Dan feels like a child again.

They have no real reason for that fear, though, because Levi steps inside, looking at them with a suspicious look in his eyes. “What are you guys doing?” He asks, sounding concerned.

Dan bites his lip to stifle a laugh, glancing at Phil pointedly. Phil at least as the sense to look mildly embarrassed, shrugging sheepishly. “Er- Dan is being mean?” His words lilt up like a question, erasing any credibility his words might have had.

Levi glances at Dan, clearly confused. Dan shrugs. “I licked his hand.”

“You licked my forehead,” Phil adds, unnecessarily. He tugs at Dan’s shirt, and Dan bats his hand away weakly.

“Details, details,” he says dismissively. He grins at Levi, his eyes darting to Amelia to see what they got. “Wow. Is that for you or your brother?” Dan asks on a laugh.

Amelia looks sheepish as she moves towards the bed with the rather large stuffed toy. “Levi said I had to give it to Jai, ‘cause I’m not the one who got hurt.”

Dan nods, hiding a smile. “Well I’m sure Jaiden appreciates that, right bub?”

Jaiden’s grabbing for the plushy, his eyes bright and excited. “It’s so cool!” He says, his voice awed as she climbs onto the bed beside him, handing over the dinosaur toy. “Thanks,” he says, barely glancing at her.

Dan’s knee-jerk reaction to correct him into a more polite response is right there, but a light pinch to his waist redirects his attention. Phil’s giving him a look, almost like he’d read his mind. Dan stays quiet.

“Levi, my card?” Phil says, turning his head to look over at the teenager.

Levi looks confused for a moment, but when he remembers he looks vaguely embarrassed, digging into his front pocket. He produces the card, a receipt wrapped around it. Handing it over, he brushes his hair out of his eyes before mumbling quickly, “I just forgot. I wasn’t trying to steal it.”

Phil gives him a funny look. “I know that. I know you wouldn’t.” His voice is gentle and reassuring, but Levi doesn’t meet his eyes. “Were you okay using it?” He asks.

Levi nods, his eyes drifting. “It’s just, like. I haven’t really been allowed to spend money and stuff since before the group home.” He looks between Dan and the floor then, like he’s trying not to have this conversation with Phil there.

Before Dan can unpack that or say anything, Phil speaks, his fingers tapping out a rhythm against Dan’s thigh. “Would you like to have an allowance, Levi?”

The teenager looks surprised, glancing at Phil for real this time. “I- that’s not- I wasn’t like, asking for one, I just meant-“

“I know,” Phil rushes to reassure him. “I’m just asking you if you’d like one. You need to learn about how to budget and handle money anyway, and we’d be happy to get you a card for you to use.”

Levi looks shocked. “Er...” his eyes flicker to Dan, who only offers an encouraging smile. “Sure. Yeah, I’d... I’d really like that. Thanks.”

Phil smiles, an easy shrug on his shoulders. “Of course. Me or Dan will request a card and account sometime this week, yeah?”

Levi nods, moving to sit in the chair on the opposite side of Jaiden’s bed. He begins talking to the twins, and Dan sighs, focusing on Phil, who’s looking up at him with a pinched sort of expression. Dan loops his arms around his neck, tilting his head in a silent question. Phil only shakes his head, so Dan takes a moment to make sure the kids’ voices will drown him out before he leans in to whisper in Phil’s ear. “You okay?”

Phil nods, patting Dan’s hip, a little bit closer to his bum than he’d been before. Dan refuses to think about that. “Yeah. Sorry that I, like, did that without your permission.”

And that sort of makes Dan feel like an asshole. He tries to repress it, but Phil’s tone, and the words themselves, bring back very unwanted flashbacks of previous disagreements they’ve had over the course of fostering the kids. He cups a hand around the back of Phil’s neck, squeezing gently before leaning in and kissing his forehead.

“I’m not mad. I think it’s a great idea. I’ll check into making him an account Monday.” He kisses Phil’s temple this time, just for good measure. Phil smiles up at him. He doesn’t ask before tilting forward, leaving the tiniest of soft kisses on Dan’s lips. Dan’s heart flutters in the least platonic way there is, feeling on all accounts like a lovesick teenager.

~~~

((If you skipped the TW scene with Hazel: essentially, all you need to know is that the children are now wards of state, meaning their parents' rights have been terminated, and they could now (theoretically) be adopted. Thank you for reading!))

#phan #phanfiction #parent!au #parent!phan #foster parent #foster parent au #bbc producer!phil #school counselor!dan #fake relationship #friends to lovers #best friends #if you don't love me pretend #iydlmp #chapter 21 #iydlmp chapter 21

[potatoesforash]

Ghostbur x reader- Ghostly love

Y/n’s POV

Walking along the path to the clearing in the forest where my cottage resides I notice a change in the weather and very quickly realise it was beginning to rain. Sighing to my self I start to slow my pace in walking enjoying the rain as it hit my skin. My cloak getting soaked but at this moment I could care less and that's when I hear it, a voice coming from behind me. It was soft almost distant but it was loud enough for me to hear. Looking in front of me I see my cottage that I could just run to but out of the kindness of my hart I turn to look at the person behind me. I was shocked to find a pale man with a large gash in his middle looking at me as if nothing happened.

"Hi sorry to bother you but do you think I could possibly come in?" the strange man said

"you see I'm a ghost and I melt in the rain and I would really not like to be out here for long" he added to his previous statement rubbing the back of his ghost head

"Uhh sure thing bud" I say telling him to follow me. Walking into my home the man follows behind rather fast and sits him self in front of my couch facing the fire place that was still blazing.

"This is a nice place you have here" He said looking back at me "If you don't mind me asking what aesthetic is this? Its nice but confusing" He asks

"Oh its Dark Academia and Cottage core mixed into one I um I picked it up from my old friend who taught me everything I know" I say trying not to drop any hints that could get me possibly killed by Dream

"So he was like your professor?" He asks looking at me with a twinkle in his eye

"you could say that" Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Turning to face the door that I hadn't moved from since we got in opening it slightly to find two rather tall men in front of me one with pink hair and one with blonde hair covered by a hat of some sorts, suddenly I feel the ghost man's presence behind me.

"Hello, can I help you two men?" I ask politely opening the door more for them to get a proper look at me

"Yes you can we were told that you could help us with a little problem" the blonde man starts all of a sudden the ghost behind me shouts a loud Phil and the blonde and Pink haired men look at me suspiciously. The pink man quickly draws his sword and holds the tip of it to my thought

"Why is Ghostbur here?" the man asks me with his rough sounding voice

"If I was you I would put your sword down before you regret it" I respond and he just chuckles at me

"What are you going to do-" He asks but is quickly shut up when his sword has been thrown into the clearing far enough away from him so he could not reach it without having to move away from the door. He slowly looks at my hands to see that I have a stick (so he thought) in my hand

"What did you do?" He asks in a threatening tone

"I warned you but you did not heed it so I will ask you this once and once only who-" before I got to question the men in front of me ghostbur spoke up interrupting me

"This is my brother Technoblade and this is my dad Philza" pointing at both the men "she was just letting me stay till it stopped raining she meant no harm" he says putting a hand on my shoulder making a shiver run up my spine, his hand was freezing like ice, Looking back at the two men in front of me I come to the conclusion to speak up finaly

"What did you two want? And how did you find this place" Techno looked at me like he wanted to kill me and Phil just sighs and takes off his hat

"us three where supposed to come find you together but Wil here wandered off and found you we where told you where a necromancer of some kind and where hoping that you could bring my son here back from the dead?" Phil asked with hopeful eyes

"I-I'm sorry I don't do that anymore not since Dream had threatened me with execution if I ever did it again considering what happened the last time" I say looking back at the eyes of this ghosts father "But I can provide warmth, tea and shelter considering night is falling near and it hasn't stopped raining." I say giving Phil a sad smile

"That would be wonderful thank you..." He stops realising that I haven't told any of them my name

"Oh its Y/n my names Y/n" I say moving to the side to let the boys into my house which they gladly step in out of the cold.

*Time skip to later on in the night*

Ghostbur's POV

Me and Y/n sat on her couch enjoying each others company while Phil and Techno shared her bed.

"I just realised your the necromancer that Tommy keeps going on about!" I shout with a chuckle

"Tommy? As in the kid who came to me because he needed some where to hide because of my brother Dream?" she says to me and I look at her shocked

"Your brother is Dream?" I ask in a quiet scared voice like she would hurt me at any time

"Hey don't worry I'm not going to hurt you I'm nothing like the heartless basterd of a brother I have, he threatened me with execution his own sister, so ive got nothing for him anymore" she says tears welling in her eyes. Reaching out to touch her cheek with my icy hand I wipe any tears that had been shed away from her cheek. I look at her up and down and only now I realise that she has a scar running over her eye brow and down towards her soft looking lips. I let out a sight and pull her into a hug rubbing their back giving them a kiss on the head. It was around four thirty in the morning when I realise she fell asleep in my cold dead arms. I can't help but think, think that if I had been alive when I met her maybe then I would stand a chance to get with her. Wait no bad Ghostbur you have only just met her...But for some reason I cant help but be infatuated with her. Just everything about this young woman interests me. Her pretty H/l H/c hair, her E/c eye's and her soft pink lips that just look pleasant to feel against my own. But I have just met her so why do I feel like this? Why do I feel this way about her?

"Son?" I hear Phil's voice come from in front of me "Why are you crying?" He asks looking confused

"Dad, I um It's uh It's stupid really" I say wiping my own tears away

"You can tell me kiddo" He says smiling sitting in front of the glowing fire

"Dad when you met mum how did you know that you like her?" I ask subconsciously rubbing Y/n's back

"Well your mother was all I could think about at any point of the day, Why do you ask son" He replied looking at me in the eyes making me look back down at the sleeping girl on my chest to which he lets out a small 'oh'

"I don't know what to do i just met her and she's all I can think about and it feel so wrong yet so right but I'm also dead and I just I don't know any more Phil!" I say getting louder as I go on feeling Y/n stir in my arms i stop and look down at her seeing that she was still asleep I look back at Dad to see him smirking

"Well I think you've got a chance considering that were the only people she talks to other than villagers for trades" He says getting up and patting me on the shoulder "Try to get some sleep son" with that he walks away back to bed to sleep

*Time skip to 4 months down the line cuz I'm a lazy writer*

Y/n's POV

It's been four months since I met Ghostbur and I met and I have found myself slowly falling for the dead man. But the one thing that has made me realise that is the fact that he has basically moved in with me. But what I didn't realise is that through the forest from my clearing there is a snow biome where Techno's retirement home was sat. But that meant that when my brother went to find Tommy at Techno's house I got a lovely visit from my dick head of a brother.

"Why hello there sister, Ghostbur" He said just waltzing in my front door

"Dream what do you want?" I say to him with an angry look

"What can I pay a visit to my sister?" he asked coming farther into my home that used to be ours till he left for the SMP

"You don't get to say that I'm your sister after you threatened to kill me" I say looking him in that blank lifeless looking mask with the twisted psychopathic smile painted in black.

"Oh sister dearest you know why I threatened you with that and you know what you did to our mother" He said looking over at Ghostbur who had a confused face "Oh you haven't told your little friend here what you did? How you killed our mother in cold blood?" he said trying to gas light me to get a bad reaction out of me

"That's quite enough Dream. I want you to get out of my house now. And I never. Never want you to step foot inside of this house for as long as you live" I say in anger drawing my sword and pointing it at him. He rises his hands in the air and spins on his heels towards the door starting to retreat out of here

"Okay sister but just so you know I will not hesitate to kill you if you step out of line" He said disappearing out of my line of sight. After what felt like eternity I felt Ghostbur's hand on my shoulder and turn me towards his cold body pulling me into a hug

"was what he said...True?" he asks me all I can do is nod my shaky ands grab onto his jumper

"I'm sorry, I if you hate me that's fine I probably deserve it" I say into his chest

"hay no, I don't hate you I just want to know what happened" he said rubbing my back softly

"I...I was born with magic but only one person every one hundred years is born....so at the age of sixteen some people came to take me away but my mum got in the way and....they killed her and well Dream has blamed me for it saying I killed her that it was my fault...But I would never kill my own mother I loved her so much and so if you go outside to the back of the house there is a small grave for her that I made after he left that same day for the SMP when he was seventeen and that's the day he threatened to execute me if I ever try to bring those people anywhere near him so... after they taught me magic they left and they swore never to come near me again" I explained to him all of a sudden Wil let go of me and ran to his room and came back with something blue in his hands

"Your sad hare have some blue it will make yo better" he said handing me the blue automatically making me feel better

"Thank you Ghostbur I feel better now" I say looking up at him to find him staring at me with admiration on his face "hey Will? you okay there?" I ask him but I got no response but before I could ask him again I felt a cold pressure press on my lips It took me a couple seconds before I realised that it was the ghost boys lips and kissed back putting one of my hands on his cheek and the other on his shoulder his hands going around my waist. Pulling away from his lips and press my forehead to his and giggle.

"Phil told me I needed to do that at some point" he said a small smile on his face "I um Y/n if you couldn't already tell I really like you and I would love for you to be my girlfriend" He said to me

"Of course Will! I really like you too" I say leaning back into his cold soft lips kissing him again this time for longer than the last. Every kiss got longer and longer before eventually we where sat on the couch making out. But the make out session was cut short when the loud child burst into the house with Phil shouting after him and Techno not far behind him all three stopping at the door when they see the sight before them and Will And I pull away from each other embarrassed

"Well then... uh I think we will come back later come on boys" Phil says dragging his two other sons out behind him shutting the door quickly leaving me and Ghostbur alone again both of us look at each other and we start laughing soon enough falling asleep in each others arms in front of the crackling fire.

And Ghostbur swore that he could feel warmth after months of not being able to feel it and it was all because of me and loving the sweet ghost boy.

Ayyyyyyy its me here and have this sweet fluff for Ghostbur but I didn't plan on spending four fucking hours on this. Its longer than I spend on my school work which hopefully shows my dedication to this poor book.

#wilbur soot x reader #ghostbur #dream smp #x reader #fluff #fanfics

[goldstarsforall]

Dream SMP Big Band AU.

This is inspired by this AU https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001253 which is about a music conservatory. However, it is classical music and I play the saxophone in a big band. So I'm doing that.

Also, big band vibes are wild, I'm pretty sure my section leader is the reincarnation of Athena, completly unironically. 

Saxophone Section

Alto 1 Wilbur Soot. He is the leader of the saxophone section and is really good at it. Came from the clarinet and the guitar but to get into the band he needed to play a jazz instrument and decided that clarinets and saxes where just shiny recorders and went from there.

Alto 2: Tommy, wanted to play Tenor but didn't. Isn't good with improv but BOY DOES HE GO FOR IT. Sits next two tenor 2 and will not shut up. His music is covered in doodles and it makes Wilbur mad. He folds it up and he does not care.

Tenor 1: Techno. Absolute beast with the Tenor, can solo like a pro, has perfect pitch. Can do the wierd growly thing. Techno is the sort of person that can pick up any instrument and play it byt ohhhhhhh boyy. Tenor Sax. Would also be the leader if he wasn't bad at social interactions.

Tenor 2: Tubbo. Is trying very hard but he's not there just yet, he is still really good but isn't good at reading the music when Phil likes to switch it up and just play whatever and he has complicated hand signs and its chaotic.

Bari Sax: Niki. Plays the bari sax. Is hella strong. She has all the music in the right order and always has a pencil. Does killer solos when she is forced to and makes heavy eye contact with the brass section. Talks a lot with Fundy because she sits in front of the piano.

MORE UNDER THE CUT

Rhythm Section

Piano: Fundy, has a lot of music and not enough stands. He has a little fox keyring on his music bag and gets called a Furry. He takes his music home to practice and gets really bored of just playing chords in the background.

Drums: Eret, his favourite instrument is the cowbell. Used to play the clarinet in the wind band with Wilbur, Tommy and Tubbo but when he got the chance to move up to the Big Band he chose the drums. Absolute hates it when he just has to tap out a 4/4 rhythm.

Bass: BadBoyHalo, has to sit behind Tommy and he does not like it. He is a classically trained double bass player but just wanted to play fun music. Is fairly calm but unironically has a switchblade in his case for no reason and now he is a local band cryptid.

Guitar: Skeppy, he is far too energetic for the rhythm section but heh is amazing. Always complains about how heavy the amp is and messes up the extender cable box which means that Fundy gets upset.

Trumpet Section

Trumpet One: Dream, Is amazing. Absolutely amazing on the trumpet. Can do all the listening and solos perfectly, has a ‘rivalry’ with Techno. All his music is in the right order and he is sooo good. Does brass band and marching on the side but really enjoys the big band because of his friends. Can transpose music written in perfect keys.

Trumpet 2: Georgenotfound. Is just vibing, he is only second because he never shows up to practice but he doesn’t need to. Kept falling asleep on the band trip and keeps forgetting where his pencil is.

Trumpet 3: Callahan. Used to play the cornet but had to move up because they needed trumpets. Is very chill about playing third because he understands that it all works together to make the sound sound nice

Trumpet 4: Awesam. He dissapeared for a while and would have been in the same position as George but he decided to be fourth so he doesn't have to worry about being in charge of anything at all. Bad idea, he is now in charge of stacking chairs.

Trombone. (For some reason all the trombone players I know are meme lords.)

Trombone 1. Quackity. Glisses unironically. He knows the trombone memes and he will play them as a warm up. He's the type of guy that would wrap his trombone with tinsel at Christmas.

Trombone 2. Purpled. This man glisses 'ironically'. Tries to avoid the sax vs trumpet drama but still. Always tries to reach the low notes but his arms aren't long enough. Just wants to play the trombone.

Trombone 3. Karl. Really wants to be second but can't move up there until either purpled or quackity quits which is not going to happen. Has sided with both the trumpets and the saxes and is loyal to no insturment wars as he has played both in the past.

Bass Trombone: Captain Puffy. Makes eye contact with Niki to stay in time. Too small for her instrument but her personality makes up for it. I imagine she always has Slide lube, and she will knock music off with her slide.

Others that don't fit in.

Philza minecraft. Band leader. He plays sax and fell in love with jazz and now just wants to help the next generation. He's the person you name drop on your personal statement. Has complicated notes and plans for the band and you have to be clued into his hand signs because halfway through a piece he will go off ink and paper and you just have to know.

For example.

New member: Where are we.

Niki: At part C again.

New member: I thought he said the repeat was to part b

Tubbo: that's what he said. But then he patted his head which means go back to the rhythm. And so Techno's gonna solo over this and then we play backing when the trumpet solo happen. Play part h, go back to D and then we play it through and repeat to B

New member: O-Kay

#mcyt #mcyt au #big band #mcyt big band au #Wilbur soot #Tommy innit #Philza #Philza minecraft #technoblade #techno #tubbo #tommyinnit #niki #niki nihachu #dream #dream team #dream smp #georgnotfound #quackity #bad boy halo

[thecoleopterawithana]

Songwriting is like psychiatry

[Dear @eppysboys, your wish is my command.]

-

There are bound to be thickheads who will wonder why some of it doesn't make sense, and others who will search for hidden meanings.

'What's a Brummer?'

‘There's more to "dubb owld boot" than meets the eye.'

None of it has to make sense and if it seems funny then that's enough.

— Paul McCartney, in the Introduction to John Lennon's In His Own Write (1964).

-

When we had a party in the States to celebrate having finished the album, someone came up to us and said 'Hello, Venus. Hello, Mars.' I thought, 'Oh. no.'' When I write songs, I'm not necessarily talking about me, although psychoanalysts would say "Yes, you are, mate." But as far as I'm concerned, I'm not.

— Paul McCartney, interviewed for the promotion of Venus and Mars (1975). In Paul Gambaccini's Paul McCartney: In His Own Words (1976).

-

I don’t examine myself that way. I just am. I just go through it. I just wake in the morning and go to bed at night and whatever happens during the day just happens. I don’t really know how I am.

— Paul McCartney, in Music Express: ‘Paul McCartney Wings It Alone’ (April/May 1982).

-

I’m not a great reader into moods: I don’t naturally say that if I wrote a sad song then I was sad that day, or if I wrote a happy song I was happy. I compose songs like playwrights write a play. They don’t have to know everyone in the play, they don’t have to know anyone in the play, it’s just a product of their imagination.

— Paul McCartney, speaking of ‘Somedays’, interviewed for Club Sandwich n°82 (Summer of 1997).

-

“There are a lot of mindsets when you’re writing a song – and one of them is commercial,” he admits. “It’s like any job, where if you do a certain thing you’ll progress in that job. In songwriting it’s an unspoken thing, but I recognise it. I remember hearing somewhere that people like sad songs, so I thought, ‘OK, I’ll write a sad song.’ I knew what I was getting into…” So, in a way, you were acting when you wrote [Yesterday]? “Yes. I wrote from the point of view of someone who was sad. But when you’re taking on a part, it’s usually you you’re writing about. Your psychiatrist would say it’s you.” Later, someone suggested that lyrics such as, “Why she had to go, I don’t know” were about McCartney’s mother who’d died when he was 14. “I certainly felt that way when she died. So when I sing Yesterday now, it does make me think about my mum. It’s more personal than I realised it was.” You sense that the older he gets, perhaps the more McCartney is prone to analysing his gift.

— Paul McCartney, interviewed by Mark Blake for Q: Songs in the key of Paul (May 2015).

-

This series – I just woke up one morning and I had a germ of an idea, which is all I want really. I don’t want too formed an idea, it’s just not who I am. [...] I woke up with this thing and I thought it would be just a black canvas and these three-fingered scratches, like someone in prison and they’re either trying to get out or they’re trying to mark the dates. [...] But then a shape emerged with this blue, and I still don’t know what it is. It looks vaguely phallic, or somebody’s ass bending away from you. But that’s what started to fascinate me. It’s probably an accident, but also what I like about that is the inner content, that I have no idea what my dreams are about. I’ve no idea, yet they’re every bit as real as sitting here with you. But my interior world, I think it’s not a bad idea to try and tap it.

My view is that these things are there whether you want them or not, in your interior. You don’t call up dreams, they happen, often the exact opposite of what you want. You can be heterosexual and be having a homosexual dream and wake up, and think, “Shit, am I gay?” I like that you don’t have control over it. But there is some control – it is you dreaming, it is your mind it’s all happening in. In a way my equation would be that my computer is fully loaded by now. Maybe in younger people there’s a little bit of loading to go, but mine’s loaded pretty much, so what I try and do is allow it to print out unbeknown to me. And I’m interested to hear what it’s got in there.

I think we must be interested as musicians as often our music arrives that way. I dreamed the song Yesterday. It was just in a dream, I woke up one morning and had a melody in my head. So I have to believe in that.

— Paul McCartney, in “Luigi’s Alcove” by Karen Wright, for Modern Painters (August 2000).

-

I think a lot of these songs like 'Tell Me Why’ may have been based in real experiences or affairs John was having or arguments with Cynthia or whatever, but it never occurred to us until later to put that slant on it all.

— Paul McCartney, in Barry Mile’s Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now (1997).

-

I was standing at the door and he was in bed, and we were talking about the lyrics of 'I Am the Walrus’, and I remember feeling he was a little frail at that time, maybe not going through one of the best periods in life, probably breaking up with his wife. He was going through a very fragile period. You’ve only got to look at his lyrics - 'sitting on a cornflake waiting for the van to come’. They were very disturbed lyrics. 

— Paul McCartney, in Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now (1997).

-

I remember giggling with John as we wrote the lines ‘What do you see when you turn out the light? I can’t tell you but I know it’s mine.’ It could have been him playing with his willie under the covers, or it could have been taken on a deeper level; this was what it meant but it was a nice way to say it, a very non-specific way to say it. I always liked that. 

— Paul McCartney, in Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now (1997).

-

"Sex is something I prefer to do, rather than sing about. Hi Hi Hi was from a period when everybody was getting stoned and having sex… I suppose singing about sex is not really in my genre. [...] It’s the same with trying to write angry songs,” he continues. “I can’t do it.” Really? “Yes. I wrote a song called Angry. Recorded it here with Phil Collins and Pete Townshend. At the time I thought, ‘Wow, we’ve really slammed this…’ I can be angry but I can’t find a natural way to put it into a song. It’s the same with sex."

— Paul McCartney, interview w/ Mark Blake for Q: Songs in the key of Paul. (May, 2015)

-

McCartney has written some of the world’s most famous love songs, but has he ever worried about revealing too much of himself? “Yes, but you’ve got to get over that feeling quickly, because that’s the game.”

— Paul McCartney, interviewed by Mark Blake for Q: Songs in the key of Paul (May 2015).

-

It’s funny because just in real life, I find that a challenge. I like to sort of, not give too much away. Like you said, I’m quite private. Why should people, know my innermost thoughts? That’s for me, their innermost. But in a song, that’s where you can do it. That’s the place to put them. You can start to reveal truths and feelings. You know, like in ‘Here Today’ where I’m saying to John “I love you”. I couldn’t have said that, really, to him. But you find, I think, that you can put these emotions and these deeper truths – and sometimes awkward truths; I was scared to say “I love you”. So that’s one of the things that I like about songs.

— Paul McCartney, on the challenge of giving too much of himself away when writing meaningful and truthful songs. Asked by Simon Pegg and interviewed by John Wilson for BBC 4’s Mastertapes (24 May 2016).

-

Songwriting is like psychiatry; you sit down and dredge up something that’s inside, bring it out front. And I just had to be real and say, John, I love you. I think being able to say things like that in songs can keep you sane.

— Paul McCartney, interview with Robert Palmer for the New York Times (25 April 1982).

-

[McCartney (1970)] was kind of… therapy through hell.

— Paul McCartney, interviewed for the Q magazine (2007).

-

GILBERT: Do you find it easier to write good records in a darker period of your life than in happier periods? You’ve lived through more than a few bad episodes…

PAUL: That’s a good question, I’m not sure. I think the answer is neither and both. I think it’s good when you’re in a dark period, the good is [the song’s] your psychiatrist, it’s your therapy, and you know we have many tales – anyone who writes has. Going away when you’re really upset about something and putting it in your song – you come out of that cupboard, toilet or basement and go, “I really feel better.” You’ve actually exorcised the demon. So it is one of the great joys of songwriting.

GILBERT: What would be an example of a song you wrote in a very angry or dark mood?

PAUL: I think the words of ‘Yesterday’, when I see them now I think there were quite a few of my songs like that, you know, bad moods made better. More recently ‘Calico Skies’ [evoking memories of Linda]; ‘Little Willow’ [for Maureen Starkey] was one I wrote about a friend when she was dying and, in fact, she did die, so those kind of things can help. With ‘Yesterday’, singing it now, I think without realising it I was singing about my mum who died five or six years previously, or whatever the timing was. Because I think now, “Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say, I said something wrong…” I think the psychiatrist would have a field day with that one. (Sings) “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away / Now it looks as though they’re here to say” – there’s a lot of those songs, that’s just three where I can remember going into a hiding place with a guitar, purposely to exorcise your demons. It’s like writing your dream out or something, and it’s a physical effect where you come back out and you’ve created that magic again, pulling the rabbit out of the hat. “Where did that come from? Wahey!” It’s a great feeling. 

— Paul McCartney, interview w/ Pat Gilbert for MOJO: Don’t look back in anger. (November, 2013)

-

Q: Do you have a song that you put on if you’re ever having a hard time or a bad day, and it instantly makes you feel better? 

PAUL: There’s a track [’I Don’t Know’] on Egypt Station that came out of a hard time I think would fit the bill now! […] it’s funny what inspires you to write songs. For instance, John started writing ‘Help!’during a crisis at that time in his life, which is often a good motivator ‘cause there’s a therapy aspect to writing songs sometimes - but not all songs! It’s almost as if you’re telling your guitar your troubles and a lot of composure can be found through that. So you sort of say what you might say to a therapist, but you put it into a song and you might feel better afterwards. You don’t have to be going through terrible times, just something that’s frustrating.

— Paul McCartney, in You Gave Me The Answer (28 March 2019)

-

Q: ‘I Don’t Know’ opens with the lyric, “Crows at my window, dogs at my door, I don’t think I can take it anymore.” This imagery does seem pretty bleak for a comeback. 

PAUL: Well, I was in a bleak mood. It’s a well-known fact, you talk to a lot of songwriters, that they write good songs from being in a bad mood. It can often be a really good motivating factor, because you don’t care. You can’t just go out to your friends or your relatives, and just start going, 'I’ve got crows on my window.’ You don’t necessarily want to just go and complain about everything, but you can complain to your piano, in this case, or your guitar… It’s a great therapy. 

Q: Doubt and regret [hardly] seem to be things that people associate with you.

PAUL: It’s funny, isn’t it? People think that about me, that well, when you reach my position… you end up with no problems at all. But that’s unrealistic, because you’re in life. And if like me you’ve got a big family, there’s gonna be some sort of problem, even if it’s just someone’s ill. So realistically speaking, you have to think that it’s very likely that most people you know can have problems. Even President Obama. Even John Lennon. Even Taylor Swift. We’ve all got problems, and that’s what makes us all so human.

— Paul McCartney, interview for BBC 6 (20 June 2018).

-

The idea is that what I’ll leave behind me will be music, and I may not be able to tell you everything I feel, but you’ll be able to feel it when you listen to my music. I won’t have the time or the articulation to be able to say it all, but if you enjoy composing you say it through the notes.

— Paul McCartney, regarding Ecce Cor Meum, which premiered in 2001.

-

I have to leave  And when I'm gone  I'll leave my message  In my song

-

Tangents

The Walrus | A case study for John’s struggles with meaning in song

The Surrealist | Meaning and Magritte

I Can’t Tell You How I Feel | Expressing emotions and feelings [statements in songs]

This One | A case study for Paul’s struggles with expressing feelings

I’m Scared To Say I Love You | Paul’s struggle with saying ‘I love you’

#Paul McCartney #John Lennon #the beatles #songwriting is like psychiatry #I don't examine myself that way #The Surrealist #A very non-specific way to say it. I always liked that. #Did I ever open up my heart and let you look inside? #I'll leave my message in my song #but the saving grace was as usual music #compilation #macca #johnny #linda #my stuff

[another-stark-sub]

@agustdowney requested “Tony being reader’s husband and morgan’s dad??“

Ok, so rn it’s 1 AM, and I should be sleeping or doing my dental app, but technically past midnight is saturday so... I did this. Hope you enjoy!

Ok, we are going to do this in my canon, aka no infinity war or endgame, just happy avengers where Peter could attend Tony’s wedding as the flower boy

Speaking of weddings, yours and Tony’s was utterly perfect. Both of them. You had two, one in private with close friends and family and one with restricted papparazzi presence

You and Tony had a wonderful vacation on a secluded island. “To live that everyman, commonplace experience,” he had said.

After a day, he caved and installed Friday so the two of you had some assistanace

It felt nice to be bored with him. 

During this time, you and he discussed where next? You could live in the Tower with the other Avengers. Maybe his reconstructed Malibu home. Or the penthouse he had in New York. Or perhaps somewhere completely new. Suburbs? Rural? Another city home?

New York, while it definitely had its charming moments, was more associated with trauma and fallouts. So, while the two of you kept your shared floor at the Tower, the penthouse was offered to Peter. When he declined, it was given to Bruce. 

The suburbs wasn’t ideal either. Rural sounded nice, but Tony still had a job. He wouldn’t feel like himself if wasn’t near trouble. He had that superhero complex. Plus, he was still the face of Stark Industries. It wouldn’t be ideal to fly back and forth everyday

The Malibu house was beautiful, but it was also associated with... explosions. 

So that was offered to several Avengers, but in the end, Phil Coulson and his team accepted it, on the condition that they wouldn’t use any SHIELD tech under the roof. 

You and Tony weren’t too far away. An hour drive. In a house Tony and you designed during your honeymoon. 

And when the two of you moved in was the same day you found out you were pregnant. It wasn’t all that surprising. A long honeymoon with Tony Stark? It would be more of a surprise if you weren’t pregnant.

All the Avengers flew out to see you in the new home and to attend the baby shower. Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, Bruce, and Peter were named godparents of your future child.

Everyone took bets. Rhodey bet the highest that it was going to be a boy, with your kindness and Tony’s wit. Pepper and Steve bet the highest that it was a girl. 

You didn’t really care for names. You were more for rubbing your tummy and staring in awe that Tony’s child was inside. 

Your husband, however, “You know, fuck it, just name it after me if it’s a boy, and after you if it’s a girl. Done.”

“You’re risking them being called Junior,” you stated simply.

He was quiet for a moment. “Fuck.”

You patted your stomach. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I’ll teach you when it’s appropriate to say those words and when it’s not.”

He scrambled to talk to your belly. “And be sure that I will break every one of those rules and won’t ever forgive myself every single time.”

You laughed. “You’re gonna do great.” You kissed his nose and ruffled his hair. “You’re gonna be a great dad.”

Tony babyproofed everything. He also promptly tripped over every babygate. 

While talking to Rhodey and sorting through photos, he named off his family members. “That’s Bill, best cook. I’ll bring you some leftovers next time.”

You stared at the old man in the photo. He was behind everyone else, but he was making a silly face in nearly every photo you’ve seen him in. “Who’s this?”

Rhodey nodded. “Ah. That was my great uncle. He was hilarious. I couldn’t spend a second in his presence without laughing.”

Tony grabbed the photo and sniffed. ‘What’s his name?”

“Morgan.”

You and Tony looked at each other, already knowing what the other was thinking. 

Rhodey was more scared than excited. “Ok, whatever it is, I’m not involved.”

Tony stopped him before he could leave. “Relax. It’s not like I came up with a weapon that I could name after your great uncle.”

“What?”

He smiled and wrapped you into his embrace. “I found a child to name after your eccentric great uncle.”

Rhodey was... speechless. “Guys, you don’t have to.”

“No.” You smiled. “You’ve done so much for us. Plus, Morgan Stark has a nice ring to it.”

“Boy or girl,” Tony said. 

And so, when the day came, a little girl named Morgan Harriet Stark came into your lives. She was a quiet little girl, and when Tony first held her, he was terrified.

He kept stalling. Saying that you should be holding her, skin to skin contact, and all this scientific nonsense about you possibly being depressed without her and about how his body wasn’t the ideal temperature. 

Still, you pushed his daughter towards him, until finally, you could see your husband hold your baby girl in his arms for the first time. 

To people who said love at first doesnt doesn’t exist, has never seen a parent lay eyes on their child. Because when Morgan was in her father’s arms, squirming and barely opening her eyes, he was entranced. He had the softest smile on his face, and his eyes were ever so wide, trying to take in a sight too beautiful.

Your husband couldn’t say anything, except, “Hi there.”

Morgan cooed, and Tony looked scared for a moment, but she settled again as he rocked his baby back and forth. He smiled brightly, and without taking his eyes off Morgan, he said, “This girl’s going to take over the world. Look at those eyes.” He laughed. “I think we did the world a service.”

“Why’s that?”

“We just made the most beautiful, most intelligent, most perfect little child.” 

The godparents saw her first. Everyone cried upon seeing her. (Except Pepper. She simply teared up an said, “A miracle, a Stark that’s quiet.”)

When she was finally introduced to the insane family called the Avengers, she put on a show, gurgling and fussing about, only crying when someone else started to sob. 

You tried to stay awake. After all, seeing all the Avengers cramped into one hospital room was quite funny. 

but, soon you were asleep, and dear sleeping Morgan was being passed around to each of her new aunts and uncles while her father fretted and held her every once in a while. 

Tony was a wonderful father. He might have been a tad too attentive, but still, he always took time for her.  Plus, having an inventor husband had its perks. A cradle that rocked itself, state-of-the-art baby monitors, toys that spoke. 

Friday was a great babysitter if need be. 

And Tony took his time to love you as well. He was rich! And universe forbid you be without your favorite things for even a day. You wanted some new clothes after giving birth. Sure! Take his credit card. You want to order ice cream? Friday can do it right away. You want to research the best preschools in the area? He will sit next to you as you do your research. 

“Magoona is growing up well.” He’d say climbing into bed with you.

“I wonder why.” You kissed him and snuggled into his embrace. “You’re a good dad.”

“Says the mother who carried her and feeds her.” He kissed the top of your head. “So, you wanna give her another sibling?”

It’s Smutty Saturday! Send me some headcanon prompts!

#tony stark x reader #tony stark headcanons #tony stark imagine #tony stark #mcu #mcu x reader #mcu imagine #mcu headcanons #smutty saturday

[mcyt-kalopsia]

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐'𝚜 𝚅𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗 - 𝟷𝟶𝟶 𝙵𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚆𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐

Theme: Technoblade is the king!!! This was just something I thought of while listening to my friend play the violin.

Characters: Technoblade, Dream, Wilbur, Tommy... I think that’s it.

Warnings: bit of language from Tommy at the end but I think that’s it! Lemme know if I missed anything.

Word Count: 2774

A/N: listen I was super descriptive in the beginning and it dropped off at the end forgive meeee ;;; but also enjoy!

It had taken Technoblade a while to get accustomed to living in the Overworld, but even longer to get accustomed to being a king. Thoughts of being back home often plagued his mind, regardless of where home really was. This - the castle full of echoing hallways and paintings that did no sort of talking back - was not it. Maybe home was back with the piglins in the Nether, or maybe it was in the little cottage that was essentially just a shell now… but again, it wasn’t in the castle. 

The hybrid’s days consisted of small-talk with aforementioned unresponsive paintings, practicing his archery out in the area he’d designated for such sport, accidentally making promises he couldn’t keep to the people under his rule, and playing the violin with what little spare time he had left after anything else unmentioned. He enjoyed the violin, and at the very least he was glad that the castle was good for carrying the sound. 

Sometimes, Wilbur came to visit and would bring his guitar. They would play music with each other until one or the other was dragged back to their duties. Wilbur was free in Techno’s eyes, but Wilbur in his own eyes was almost literally shackled to the life he had made for himself and couldn’t seem to change. Life was just cruel, and the two of them knew that stopping it was out of the question, lest they be punished further. 

Tommy was another story. Tommy led his days with as much joy as he could, which made appearances at the castle even more scarce than Wilbur’s. When he did visit, the entire castle almost seemed more like home. On more than one occasion, Techno would offer Tommy residence in the space, but it was always turned down. It was understandable, really, but Techno would offer each visit anyway.

As for Phil… well, he would send letters, but that was all that Techno got from his father. Any family further than immediate wasn’t big on communicating with him either, and they normally only reached out when they needed something from him. Talk was talk to him though, and whatever they needed was swiftly provided albeit how out of greed the communication was. 

“Your Majesty,” The advisor spoke softly from the doorway to the king’s chambers, startling the half-piglin from his thoughts. The pink-haired male looked over to the source of the voice, giving a soft smile in his direction. “A letter from your father.” To prove this, he held up a neatly sealed envelope, the crest on the wax the same as it had been when Phil himself was king. Techno waved the other male in to set it at the desk.

“Anything from Tommy or Wilbur recently?” Techno moved his braid to lay against his back, looking up at the elder, who shook his head. “I see. I suppose I'll have to write something to them. Tommy’s birthday is soon, so I figured I could round the two up here and make a day of it.” Smiling fondly, he moves his inkwell closer to him. 

“That’s a wonderful idea, I just hope that there’s not too much trouble involved.” The older man waves a finger as he places the envelope of well-wishes on the desk. 

“Ever since becoming king, there’s never been a day of trouble. It’s quite exhausting knowing that I had to grow up so quickly,” Techno bites back bitterly. He missed the days when he was uncaged and hardly had a responsibility to name. Now here he was, sole ruler of a kingdom he hadn’t given a second thought back when he was younger. 

For a while, his royal advisor stayed quiet. Though he didn’t enjoy the attitude from the king, he understood that the younger male had been forced to rule and wasn’t really here voluntarily. He did note, however, that for someone who had been left the kingdom unwillingly, he did a fine job of ruling it. “Also, the invitations have been sent out, your Majesty.” 

Right. Invitations. Damnit. “I wish you could have just forgotten about the whole thing,” Techno complained, dipping his pen into the ink and putting the end to the paper. He loved to write letters, they were his favourite. He was rather proud of his penmanship, so that made them all the easier for him. Then again… how would he write it? He didn’t want to be too formal, since these were for his brothers, but he had to keep some kind of proper to his words. He’d fallen so far out of it with his brothers that he didn’t know how to talk to them anymore, and he felt pretty pathetic for it. 

He ended up thinking so long about it that it left a puddle of ink in the middle of the paper. Now he needed a new paper. 

“I told you that I would hold you to it, so I simply made and handed out the invitations by myself.” The advisor chuckles softly, letting a hand rest on Techno’s shoulder, before he exits the room and leaves Techno to his thoughts again. Once Techno got a different paper, he slowly started writing how he thought it would sound best, although it sounded awkward. He hadn’t intended on it being awkward really, but it came out that way and he figured it sounded best like he would sound around his brothers. He made a separate one for the other, then sealed them both up, after neatly and precisely folding them to nestle into the envelopes with no issue. 

He was starting to think a lot about those invitations. It felt sort of like a betrayal, having the advisor do all of that without notice after Techno made wise cracks about having a royal ball to find someone to marry and have rule alongside him. It felt too cliche, like it had been done one too many times before. He knew he’d heard about other kingdoms doing the same thing, and it just felt… overdone. It didn't matter too much, since he figured he wouldn’t find someone he would like right off the bat, but it still bothered him that he hadn’t been informed of the finalcy of actual planning. 

Techno looked over to the envelope from his father, the seal a bright blue in contrast to the dark red that Techno used when sealing his own envelopes. He couldn’t remember off the top of his head which kingdom usually used blue for their seals, but Techno figured that’s where Phil was at the time of writing the letter and sending it off. He picked the envelope up and examined it, then carefully opened it to retrieve the letter from inside. He put down the envelope and unfolded the letter,  reading the words until his eyes went blurry.

Dear Techno,

I was surprised to see when young women started receiving invitations here and in other areas, and even more surprised to find it was from you. Or, well, the advisor! I figured he’d be retired by now, but when I saw him here, I obviously had to ask about him, and you.

I know how you’re feeling about this whole thing - trust me, I do. Just know that I gave one female in particular an invitation. I’m not telling you who, but I promise that you’re very likely to be interested in getting to know her! 

Besides this whole ball situation, I hope you’ve been well and not giving your brothers too much grief when they stop by. I worry about you three a lot, so it would be nice if you could all see each other and get along more often. If you three manage to meet up for Tommy’s birthday or plan to, let me know beforehand so I can possibly show up as well. 

We miss you, Techno. 

- Dad

After Techno had taken in all of the information and wishes of wellness, his first initial thought was, ‘of course he would say he might be able to show up’. Though not meant in a bitter way, it came out bitter. He had his reasons for bitterness, though. Almost every letter he receives from Phil has some version of the same line, but never once had the older male appeared. Sure, there were times when Phil was busy, but Techno knew he wasn’t busy all the time. No one person could be busy all the time. Not even him, and he was ruling an entire kingdom. 

There came a sharp knocking on the doorframe, so Techno turned in his seat. Dream stood there, adorned in his usual attire of light armour and emerald-coloured clothing underneath, with the additional smirk on his lips. “Your Majesty,” He said dramatically, bowing as far as he could, then straightening back up. 

“You could have warned me of your arrival, so maybe then I could evacuate,” Techno replied jokingly, motioning with one hand to enter the room. Dream strode in, looking around. “So, what brings you here? How’s living out in the forests going for you and your friends?” 

Dream shrugged his shoulders, sitting at the edge of the king’s bed and sighing. “Well, living out there has been great, although Sapnap and George could always use a little separation since they argue a lot.” He laughed quietly, a small smile replacing earlier’s smirk. “They’re both great though. I couldn’t be happier in this life.” 

Dream’s wording sounded a bit weird to Techno, but he didn’t ask questions. “Anyway, why are you here?”

“Oh!” The green-donned male went through his bag and fished out an apple - a golden one, the colour shining where the light from the window hit it - and set it on the desk that the king still sat at. “This is for you. You know how hard those are to get, so be grateful.” 

“If I accept this, will I be indebted to you?”

“No, of course not! It’s just a friendly gesture, since you’ve been so much help to me in the past. Just keep it, okay? I have to go.” Dream patted Techno’s shoulder, then quickly made his way out of the room. Techno was alone once more.

Putting the apple with the rest of the golden apples in his collection, he let out a heavy sigh and looked to the clock. It was already past noon. Lunch would be soon, but Techno’s appetite had left long ago, so he figured he could skip it. Lunch was a rather unimportant meal in his day, and he wanted to replace that time with something more fun. 

Finally, he stood, looking toward the violin case that rested on the window seat. A little bit more practice couldn’t hurt.

The sun had set in the distance, sinking below the horizon and giving way to the night in it’s dark glory, stars covering the blanketed sky and twinkling in such a familiar way that Techno could have sworn they felt like friends. The stars had seen every bit of his life in the Overworld, and had never said a harsh word or judged him based on what he did and didn’t do. Although he had friends that spoke to him sometimes, they weren’t the same. Stars were judgement-free. Stars were always there for him, even if he couldn’t see them. 

He sat on the balcony leading to his chambers, looking up into the star-speckled sky, thinking about the events of the day. After that bit more of violin practice, he had been forced to eat even a little, then was sent out to talk to some of the people in the kingdom. Though mostly uneventful, the day had been sprinkled with some interesting events. 

He had seen a child dressed in a miniature-sized cape that resembled his own, with a blue painted cardboard sword and a crown of the same material, who said he wanted to be like Techno when he grew up. The king had stayed to talk with the little boy for a bit longer, before his father came out to get him for dinner. 

He’d also seen a proposal right in the square, which he had congratulated after the ‘yes’. He didn’t really see the appeal of love and marriage, but they were happy, and that was enough for him. He still didn’t see him getting into a relationship of such a kind in the future, though.

He got up from the balcony’s bench, then went back inside. The day had worn him out thoroughly, so he was ready for it to be over finally. He changed into his nightclothes, putting the ones from the day into a basket near his door for collection. He had insisted on doing his own laundry in the past, but the staff would have him do no such thing. Sometimes, though, Techno was able to do it in secret. He wanted some semblance to his old life, even if it meant sneaking around to do his own laundry once in a great while. 

Techno made his way over to his bed while undoing his braid, a soft yawn escaping his mouth before he finally settled in for the night. It didn’t take long for the room to go quiet, save for the soft snoring of the king as he slept. 

Morning crept it’s way slowly into the window, the light filtering through the curtains and painting the large room in a warm glow. The sunlight left even the sleeping king in a heavenly glow, and slowly his ruby eyes fluttered open. Sitting up, Techno rubbed the remaining sleep from his eyes, then stretched his arms high above his head. There was faint birdsong from outside, and it was a comfort in the loneliness that was the castle. 

The half-piglin threw the covers off, then stepped out of bed and stretched again, before heading to the wardrobe and choosing an outfit for the day. Most of said wardrobe consisted of ruffled shirts and black pants, which was only a slight upgrade from what he wore back before his ruling, as well as a couple of nice jackets that he saved for colder weather. After putting his sleeping clothes into the basket, he runs a brush through his long, pink hair, putting it up into the usual braid. His mind was still too sleep-clouded to make a coherent thought, so he made his way to the dining room, the smell of breakfast like a lure to his grumbling stomach. 

“Good morning, your Majesty.” The main chef pulls the male’s chair out, setting a plate of food in front of him. “I hope you slept well.” The woman leaves a gentle pat on Techno’s forearm, then scurries back to the kitchen. Techno picks up his fork and knife, working on cleaning off the plate so he could go start on the day’s activities. 

Once he finishes his breakfast, he pops into the kitchen to thank all the chefs, then grabs his bow and shoulder bag with his arrows, striding toward the part of the yard with the targets laid out. His mind had become clear, the tired grey clouds having gone when he was eating. 

He took a stance a handful of feet away from one of the targets, pulling an arrow from the back and knocking it. He pulled back the string with the arrow, lining it up to hopefully get a bullseye. Letting go, he watched the arrow miss the middle and hit the second outermost circle. Something was on his mind, and that made focusing on the target a bit more difficult. Maybe… maybe the ball was a bigger deal to him than he thought. 

“You’ve gotten rusty, Techno!” A hand comes down on his shoulder, causing him to jump and look over. It was Wilbur! “Woah, man. Didn’t mean to scare you.” He laughs, then gives his brother a side hug. Suddenly, every other thought vanishes, and things feel a lot lighter. 

“I didn’t think you would actually come here.” Techno gives a half-smile, patting Wilbur’s back. Suddenly, another familiar voice rings out.

“I’m here too, fuckhead! Wilbur just needs to learn how to wait up.” Tommy bounds up to the two, grinning from ear to ear and making everything even brighter. If Techno was being honest, this was the first time the three of them had been together since the crowning.

#mcyt writing #dsmp fanfic #dream smp fanfiction #technoblade writing #techno

[izzyrenee13]

MORPHO CLINT BARTON X OC

Chapter One

November 9, 2006; 7:15AM

I woke up to my dad shaking my bed.

“WAKE UP. WAKE UP. YOU’RE AN ADULT NOW.” Now I understand not everyone has Tony Stark waking them up on their 18th birthday, and most people would be ecstatic, but to me it’s just annoying.

I open my eyes and give the man a death glare, slowly turning into a smile when I realize what he means. Today’s my eighteenth birthday, meaning I have meetings all day with people my father knows and want to wish me a happy birthday, then a huge celebration tonight with everyone my father could possibly know and invite. It’s how Tony Stark did things.

12:25 PM

I finally got a break from meeting after meeting, which is basically about my father introducing me to Stark Industry clients so I can help run the family business. I decided to go down the street to my favorite small diner and grab some lunch.

I had just ordered my usual cheeseburger with tater tots and a large vanilla shake when I noticed a large figure sit down across from me. I looked up and noticed it was the one and only Nicholas Joseph Fury.

I put the newspaper I was reading, got up and gave him a small side hug “Uncle Nick! I’m so excited you came all the way to New York to see me.”

He smiled, hugged me back, “Well, I did have to come see you on your eighteenth birthday, you know I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I circled back around the table to sit down. “I also have a, what you call, job offer? Proposition?”

The waiter came back with my food, and I started eating. I knew exactly what Nick wanted, and I knew my answer already. “I’ll do it, but you have to tell my father.” He stole one of my fries, “also, you cannot exploit my abnormalities to the world, especially not the government other than the security panel. You know what will happen if you do. A rogue Stark is not something you want.”

“Of course, Elizabeth.” He stole another one of my fries and continued, “You’ll be training with one of my best agents. He might go a little hard on you at first, but be nice, he just got divorced, he’s going through it.”

“I’ll be nice, but tell me, why did you not wait until the meeting we have scheduled in,” I checked my watch, “30 minutes, to ask me?”

“Tony was going to be there. I knew it would be easier to ask you alone, but work out fine details with Tony,” he started to explain as I finished my food, “like, for the first six weeks, I’d want you at the Triskelion, training with Agent Barton, rooming and occasionally training with Agent Romanoff, all while we monitor your skills and powers.”

“Wait, I’m only comfortable with you, Barton and Romanoff monitoring my abnormalities,” I started to get a little panicked, “so please tell me it’ll be one of you, you preferably.”

“Of course, It’ll be all three of us, so you’ll be safe.” He calmed me down.

I checked my watch and realized it was time to head back to Stark Industries for my second round of birthday meetings. I have a feeling most 18-year-olds don’t celebrate this way.

1:00 PM

I arrived in the meeting room about five minutes ago, and was just making small talk with my father when Nick Fury walked into Meeting Room B.

“My favorite buyer!” My dad greeted him with his signature smirk. Fury nodded and mumbled a greeting, I felt the tension thicken in the room as soon as Nick put the file on the table, “No. She’s not doing it.”

“She already said yes, Stark,” he looked at my father, who was now gaping at me. “I just wanted you to be here to discuss the finer details, like living arrangements, pay, and monitoring her powers.”

“I’d like to speak for myself, if that’s okay,” I started. “Dad, I know you aren’t going to be happy, but I’ve made my decision, I’m going to work for SHIELD. I want to do something good with whatever is wrong with me. I want to fight for the innocent. I want to use my abnormalities for something that won’t make me feel like there’s something wrong with me. I know you wanted me to work at Stark Industries, and I’ll stop by to help out every now and then. I’ll still be your little girl, but I have to grow up.” I started to get overly emotional, which was ever good, as my hands started to glow and my brown eyes turned blue.

“Okay, okay. I understand, I just wish YOU would have told me, not Fury.”

~

After a long meeting, and cancelling my other meetings, we finally figured out everything we needed to. I was to move into the SHIELD apartments, but would still have a home with my dad, pay was figured out. It was exhausting, two men with the biggest egos I’ve ever seen, fighting over MY life. Once we were finished it was time to relax and go get ready for the night’s activities.

4:00 PM

I was in my suite, packing up what I’d need for the next six weeks, as I was leaving right after the party with Agent Barton. I mainly packed workout attire, as Fury said that I’d only get every other Sunday off from training. I packed a couple of my business-type dresses for any formal meetings I’m bound to have to attend.

After I was done packing, I started to get ready for the party. I chose one of my more simple cocktail dresses, it was a dark purple, hugged my upper body until it got to my waist, then flowed into a gorgeous skirt with a slit up to my thigh. I paired it with some black strappy heels that weren’t too high, my gun in a thigh holster, which of course was on the hidden thigh, and the necklace Pepper gave me this morning at breakfast. As for my makeup, I did a smoky eye with red lipstick and minimal face makeup.

5:10 PM

Now that I was fashionably late to my own birthday party, I made a beeline to the bar and asked the bartender for a virgin pina colada, which is just pineapple juice and coconut syrup, but it was still yummy. I don’t like to drink, it impairs your thinking, and growing up a Stark, the 16 years of self defense and combat classes taught me to never impair my thinking.

I looked around the room and spotted Agent Coulson, my father, Nick Fury, and another man in the corner talking. I made my way over to them, “Sorry for interrupting, but I wanted to make sure Dad knew I was here.”

“Ah, my lovely daughter finally decided to join us!” I could tell my dad was already tipsy, “You know Phil and Nick, have you met Clint?” I looked at the undeniably gorgeous man with the trio and shook my head.

“I don’t think I have,” I turned to him and stuck out my hand, “Elizabeth Maria Stark, but please call me Liza.”

He took my hand and shook it, a smirk appearing on his face. “Clinton Francis Barton, call me Clint.”

“We’re gonna leave you two to chat, I have to make rounds and these two,” Dad patted Nick and Phil on the back, “owe me a drink.” With that the three of them walked away.

“So you’re Agent Barton,” I turned and looked out over the party from the balcony we were on. “You’re my trainer, and hopefully future friend?” I knew he was 15 years older than me, but I also knew having friends in SHIELD was going to be needed.

“That I am, and why does it have to be future?” He questioned.

“Oh it doesn’t, I just thought--” I got flustered and looked at him.

“I’m teasing you, Liza. Of course I’ll be your friend, being a new agent recruit is not easy, and it’s always easier if you have someone to trust.” He smiled and took a drink of what I assumed to be whiskey.

“Gosh, I’m sorry I’m so awkward. I haven’t had much social interaction outside of business meetings and combat training my whole life, with the overprotective father and all.” As I said that, something seemed to peak his interest.

“Combat training? Why would you do that?” He asked, and I could tell he wasn’t trying to get intel on the new girl, but was genuinely curious.

“My dad always told me it was for my best interest. Which, now, I understand why,” I took a drink of my drink and moved to sit down on the couch we were in front of. “My father is Tony Stark, the world’s leading weapons dealer. I grew up going to weapons conventions, expos and meetings with sketchy people. I had to know how to fight, shoot, and control my abnormalities.”

Clint sat across from me and interrupted me, “Abnormalities?”

“Yeah, so I have these--uh--powers I guess. I can shapeshift, teleport, cast illusions, do some healing and some other basic stuff,” I started explaining, my voice barely above a whisper. Clint looked shocked to say the least, yet I continued, “I’ll show them all to you soon, in training. But like I was saying, if people found out I could do these things, I’d be taken, experimented on, and the sorts. The only people who know about these things now are my father, you, Fury, Coulson and Pepper. So I have skills, and training me won’t be hard, I promise”

After that conversation Clint and I played 21 questions, just to get to know each other. By the end of the night, we were basically best friends. It was weird, as people who weren’t open books, we sure opened up to each other quickly. It was almost like there was some sort of soul connection there, but I’d be too terrified to act on it, if I ever caught feelings because--well this man was 15 years older than me, and a Level 7 agent, and my mentor basically.

I just pushed that thought out of my head, for the years to come, and went on with my night, ending it in my new room as a SHIELD agent.

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MASTER LIST

A/N: Hey guys. I'm cross posting this fic on wattpad and (maybe) AO3. Please comment, request one-shots, interact with me in any way.

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