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broken-clover · 1 year

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damn ur last fic was so sad... good asf though... can you please say into this microphone that bedman and delilah will be together and happy and safe forever

Alright alright yall have broken me, I try to do edgy stuff with sad endings sometimes but I'm really such a massive softie with a weakness for happy endings and every time it takes so much willpower to not immediately do a happy ending followup (looking at you Starman) but I guess sometimes I am simply not tough enough for downer endings and that is just who I as a person.

So you earned yourself a special little treat this time, anon, a special edition Tumblr exclusive. Obsolescence gets an epilogue. Here's Nostalgia Machine.

(Obviously with the release of Delilah in Strive, this isn't canon-compliant, but neither was the first. Let's just operate under our own little canon situation)

“I’m the worst.”

“Aww, come on…” The words came out well-meaning, but half-hearted.

“See? You can’t even pretend like I’m wrong. I can’t believe I just…let this happen.”

“Hey, hey-” A comforting hand placed itself on her shoulder, flinching slightly as it started to shake. “C’mon, kiddo, don’t start cryin’.”

“I could have done something. I just left him, I j-j- ju-”

She was ushered to her feet. “You’re gonna give yourself a panic attack with the way you’re breathin’, let’s just go outside a minute.”

The fresh air evened her breathing, but her lip still trembled and her eyes remained wet.

“Little bit better, Delilah?”

“I don’t want to feel better.” She replied bitterly. “I don’t deserve to feel better. This is all my fault.”

“Well, it ain’t no use beating yourself up. Did’ja come all the way out here just to feel bad about yourself?”

“...”

“...Shit, ‘m sorry, that came out way harder than I meant.”

“...You still won’t tell me. How do you know my brother, Mr. Low?”

“Eh…long story. Important part’s that he ‘n I kinda had the same problem. Neither of us were much help to each other, but part ‘a me’s still glad we were able to talk. Kept taklin’ about you. Sounded like he cared about you a whole lot. Dammit, ‘m not helping, am I?

“No, I get it. And you’re right, just wallowing isn’t helping anything. Even if we grow up and end up going our separate ways, he’s still my brother…I can’t just leave him if I know he needs help.” She swallowed, gazing forlornly at the door. “Come on, let’s get you fixed.”

The two re-entered the small shed. Though the walls were deeply rusted and corners cobweb-ridden, it was entirely empty, aside from a jumble of strewn machine parts that occupied the far wall.

Axl heard the girl’s breathing shift, but she didn’t turn away again. She undid the straps on her pack and swung it around to deposit the contents on the ground. He hadn’t been much of a computer geek way back when, and he imagined things had only gotten more complicated. The best he could venture was some kind of screen that vaguely resembled a laptop, but for all he knew, it was for making bread.

“Which one ‘a these is the fancy toy you were tellin’ me about?”

“I didn’t bring it.” Delilah said. “It’s going to be shipped over. I wanted to make sure nothing would break in transit. Iris is helping me put the finishing touches on the current model. Right now we’re on the P5. Not perfect, but it’s built on a system that we can keep adding new features to as needed. The important part is just that there’s enough storage space to fit an entire consciousness in it without overloading the software.”

“Oh. What’s all this, then?”

“Covering the basics.” Delilah replied. “Repair equipment, spare power supplies, methods of communication. Translators are a pain in the ass, took me forever to make one that should be compatible with this system, but I did a ton of practice runs to make sure ahead of time that it’d work.”

Axl wasn’t sure how to help with the delicate electronics, so he chose to stand back and watch. He knew enough to tell that several of the machine’s parts were rusted to near-uselessness, and he was genuinely surprised when Delilah plugged some blocky-looking piece of machinery into an open port and it actually started to hum.

“I shouldn’t be surprised, but the battery is dead- dead.” She took another cable and connected it to something in the chassis. “It’ll be a little bit before it even has enough power to tell you it needs power.” After a few more keystrokes, Delilah sat back on her haunches and sighed. “I can’t guess when the last time was that it had any kind of maintenance.”

“It’ll get there. Just gonna take a bit.” Replied Axl. He tried to think of how to get her somewhat distracted. “So…that P5 you mentioned, how exactly are you gonna move him from this to that? Call me an idiot, but it doesn’t make much sense. Gonna take the head off this thing and slap it on?”

She didn’t reply at first. “More complicated than that. I’m taking his spirit out of this old heap and putting it into something new.”

His face must have shown his confusion obviously enough, because she continued talking as soon as she saw it. “Soul Grafting’s still a touchy legal mess, but I think someone in Illyria took my proposal and passed over the review process. I’ve heard most people wait years for a response, mine came out in a month. Any kind of magic that uses human souls requires a lot of approvals and equipment. I think Anji pulled some strings.”

“You think he’d do that? For something like this?”

He was left without a response again. This time, it stretched on and on, to the point where he wanted to ask, and then it became long enough that it felt too awkward to do so. They both merely waited in silence, unsubtly trying to not stare at the broken machine.

A little electronic ping finally broke the silence, bouncing off the shed walls. Delilah immediately jerked to attention, dragging the console back into her lap.

“‘s it working now?”

“Mmm.” Already too distracted to reply, she immediately threw herself into whatever work had to be done. Axl peered over her shoulder to watch. Windows popped open and flew by, covered in all kinds of symbols he couldn’t read. It finally settled on a blank box, one that quickly started to fill with strings of numbers.

“Wow.” He said. “I have no idea what any of this means.”

“Hold on, it’s set to binary right now. It’ll take a bit of time to switch modes, but I can read binary pretty well. Make sure the cable over there doesn’t unhook itself.”

“Now that, I can do.” It seemed better to give her some space, anyway. The wire in question hadn’t moved since she’d plugged it in, but he still kept an eye on it. “Figured out what the numbers are?”

“It’s…” She squinted. “Nothing. I thought there was some pattern I was missing, but it’s nothing. Only a stream of numbers and letters. Not a message. Completely incoherent.” He watched her adjust her glasses and squint. “The strings are definitely coming from the bed, it has enough power to send out a reply, but none of it follows any sense. None that I can see, anyway. He just isn’t responding. Is something broken?”

Axl knelt down, thumbing at the metal sphere lying in the dirt. “Sounds like something’s wrong. D’ya see anything busted?”

“No. That’s the part I’m confused about. They’re degraded, but all of the essentials still function well enough. This shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe the binary translation is the problem? Maybe I’m remembering my letters wrong…?”

“If it ain’t a problem with the machine, maybe it’s a problem with his head. How long’s he been alone in here?” The look on Delilah’s face immediately made him regret his words, but he continued anyway. “Don’t think the machine’s broken. I think he’s broken.”

She moved to get up. Axl grabbed her arm. “Nah, nah. Not a lost cause yet. ‘cause it means there’s still something there. Just gotta find it.”

He returned his attention to the machine. “Hey, little- uh, guess you’re a lot bigger now, huh? ‘Bedman,’ that’s whatcha called yourself. That’s who you are. You know that much, yeah?”

Silence. And then, a piston began to hiss. The broken remains of a pair of fingers twitched almost imperceptibly.

“Big guy? Delilah’s here, your sister’s here to help you. Dunno if you remember me, but you gotta remember her, right?”

What remained of an arm shuddered and then went still. A faint light started to shine from the pit of its eye socket. It flickered, almost like a blink, but it was impossible to tell if that was what it was meant to be, or if they were just projecting the idea.

Delilah looked between the frame and her console. Her eyes widened just slightly. “H-hold on. It’s changed. It’s repeating now.” She held it up for him to see.

01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001 01001001

“What’s that mean?”

“It’s just an ‘I’. He’s just repeating the letter. I don’t know why, is it just some simple string it’s stuck on?”

“Hmm…” Axl pivoted on his knees again. “You hear me in there? ‘I.’ Y’know that much. Who’s ‘you,’ then?”

The eye flickered again, settling on a dim shine.

“Huh? Now it’s coming up different…”

01001001 01000001 01001101

“‘I-A-M’, it’s three letters in a row now. He’s…responding?” A hint of life came back into her voice. “He- you actually got a response? He’s talking to you?”

Axl grinned, giving it a friendly pat. “‘I am,’ ‘I am,’ now we’re getting somewhere. I know you can hear me. Lemme hear you. What do you wanna say?”

01001001 01000001 01001101 01000100 01000101 01000001 01000100 00001010

The girl suddenly faltered. Axl moved closer, but she turned the screen away from him.

“Delilah. Tell me what it says.”

“...’I AM DEAD.’”

“‘Dead?’” Axl parroted. “C’mon, that’s nonsense! You see Delilah here, right? She’s here, so how can you be dead?”

The bedposts shuddered. The fragmented remains of a hand stuttered across the dirt.

01001110 01001111 01010100 01010010 01000101 01000001 01001100

“‘NOT REAL.’”

“But- but she’s right here!”

Delilah shook her head. “It’s not changing. He’s just repeating those two lines over and over.”

“He thinks he’s dead. And he thinks you’re just something he imagined up…like he’s gone crazy enough he can pretend you’re here.”

He stood up and marched towards the exit. “Wh- wait, where are you going?!” Delilah said, reaching out for him. “Don’t leave me alone!”

“‘m not leaving, I’m making a point.” From his back pocket, Axl pulled out a sickle, twirled it, and sank the sharp end into the wall by the door.

The screech of metal-on-rusted-metal sent her hands clapping over her ears. Delilah looked on in panicked confusion as the man hacked at the wall with reckless abandon. The weapon was not meant for cutting through something so solid, but the walls had rusted to the point where he could saw through with enough pressure. They tore clean through the door hinges and tossed the entire thing into the street, and jagged cuts widened the entrance until nearly the entire wall had been roughly disassembled and scattered along the ground.

“‘Course you can’t convince yourself, nothin’ but a wall to look at.” Axl said, panting from the exertion. “There’s a whole world out there. When’s the last time you got to see it?”

The sun made clouds of dust shine like summer snow. Trees on the other side of the path showed off their vibrant leaves with pride. Distant chatter from further downtown murmured in the wind. When he moved out of the way, Axl watched how the light fell on where Delilah sat, surrounding her in a radiant aura.

“See? There’s the sun, and the trees, and your sister’s right here. It’s all right there. All real.”

The top of the frame craned its neck towards the light. The rest of the body started to teeter as it moved further away

“Shh-shh-shh-” he gave the machine a gentle pat, doubling as a way to keep it from knocking itself over. “It’s alright, big guy. I’ve got you. ‘m not good at this whole ‘comfort’ thing, but I’m here. Delilah ‘n me, we’re here.”

It seemed to turn and face him. Slowly, cautiously, the metal sphere pushed against his hand. Axl let it settle against his arm and slide down into his lap. He pet it again in slow strokes

“See? Just me. You know me. I’ve got you. You’re gonna be alright.”

The bedframe gave a brassy warble. Something opaque and dark oozed from its one eye socket.

Delilah practically threw aside her monitor to scramble over to her brother's side. She scooped up one of his broken hands and held it to her face, which had already become as wet as his.

“Romeo…I’m so, so sorry…”

The three sat in tranquil silence. Abandoned on the ground, Delilah’s computer offered one more reply.

01001001 01000110 01001111 01010010 01000111 01001001 01010110 01000101 01011001 01001111 01010101

#ask #guilty gear #bedman #delilah #axl low #frog writes

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moonbearmeliox · 10 months

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Jaiden and Her Ghosts-1

Chapter 1 of my Ghost AU based on my previous post

Can also be read on AO3 A/N: I’m posting the first chapter of this AU on tumblr aswell just because of the recent DDOS attack on AO3. All other chapters will be posted to AU, Chapter 1 just gets a cross post for those that don’t have AO3 accounts yet since invitations are currently paused.

Cellbit hates the island.

After shipwrecking onto its sandy shores with his son long ago, Cellbit once regarded it as a new place to investigate. It was new and unknown and even Richarylson said it had the aura ripe for investigating.

But what Cellbit didn’t know about when he first arrived was the horrors that lived on the place called Quesadilla Island. Horrors that soon made him paranoid. Horrors that he couldn’t escape. No matter how hard he tried, Cellbit and his son always ended up back on the god forsaken island.

And even in death he couldn’t escape it.

The island wasn’t the thing that killed him though. What killed Cellbit still resides on Quesadilla Island, and Cellbit vowed to not rest until his killer was brought to an end. But that’s hard to do when you're nothing but a ghost.

At least he’s not alone. Bad checks up on him from time to time when he’s not busy guiding souls into the afterlife(something Cellbit refused to do when he and Bad first met). Cellbit’s grateful for the reaper’s friendship. He’s been dead for quite some time yet Cellbit feels like he’s known Bad for years. Hell if Bad wasn’t there after he died, Cellbit wouldn’t have known how to handle being a ghost.

But there’s only so much you can do when you're dead. And Cellbit would be lying if he wished for something other than the hellscape he’s stuck in.

Cellbit hates the island.

~~~

The trains arrived at night.

To say Bad and Cellbit were shocked at even the thought of new people coming onto the island was an understatement. No one new had come to the island since Cellbit arrived, so the sound of an incoming train caught the two spirits off guard.

“Who do you think is coming?” Cellbit asked as he and Bad stood on top of the wall, watching both trains pull into their respective stations.

“No idea. But it must be a big group considering there’s two trains.” Bad said. And he was right. In total, 16 people departed the train with 8 on the left and 8 on the right.

“Do you think the Federation brought all these people here?” Bad asked

“That can be the only reason why they’re here. Who would come to this island willingly?” Cellbit said. Bad just shrugged his shoulders.

“C’mon, I want to get a closer look at our new visitors.” Bad said before teleporting away. Cellbit sighed, he hated that Bad could just teleport wherever while he still had to walk or float. Cellbit jumped off the wall and landed with no impact.

As he arrived at the entrance of the train station, Cellbit was immediately met with someone running straight through him. The closest thing Cellbit could feel from nausea passed through his form and he let out a gasp.

“Now that I think about it, I don’t think I want these new people on the island.” Cellbit told Bad as his body reformed. Bad laughed.

“I think it’s exciting! We haven’t had new people on the island in ages.” Bad said.

“So we have to restore power to the island…” One of the new people said, a young man with black hair and a blue shirt said.

“How do we do that?” Another one asked. He had a prominent accent, with glasses on his face and a yellow jumpsuit. One of them took out a book and began to explain what they needed to restore power to the island.

“Man, they get a book that tells them how to restore the power! I didn’t get anything like that when I got here!” Cellbit exclaimed. Bad laughed.

“Which side do you think is going to restore power first?” Bad asked.

“The right side.” Cellbit said. He didn’t really believe it since he hadn't seen the group on the other side of the wall, but he was still a bit ticked off at whoever ran through him so the right side was looking pretty good in his eyes right now.

“I’d bet my scythe that this group on the left side of the wall is going to restore power first.” Bad said. Cellbit chuckled.

“I’ll take that bet. Mainly because I believe the right side is going to restore power first since I already tried to restore that side.” Cellbit told him.

“We shall see.” Bad said. He turned away from the ghost and started to follow the group as they went off to explore.

~~~

Bad won the bet. His side was able to restore power first(totally not because Bad helped them a bit with finding what they needed). As the island began to hum with electricity and the sun began to rise in the sky, Bad watched the new people celebrate and couldn’t help but smile at their joy.

“I’m going to press that button!” A woman with black hair and blue bird wings exclaimed as she ran towards the wall and began to climb the vines. She didn’t seem to care about the warning they were just given about not pressing the big red button that was high on the wall.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Bad said. The woman didn’t hear him. No one did, but Bad was used to that. He watched as the woman got close to the button, the others cheering her on from the ground. She was mere inches from the button when the beeping started.

And then the wall exploded.

~~~

Before hitting the ground, in the mix of smoke and falling rubble, she thinks she sees a person about to catch her.

But she blinks and no one is there.

~~~

Jaiden should be dead. It feels like she’s died with the immense pain on her face and on her back. But she pulls herself out of the crater, alive and breathing as the others come rushing over from both sides of the now partially destroyed wall.

“Oh my god Jaiden! Are you ok?” It’s Philza who reaches her first, offering a hand to help her up.

“Yea I’m fine. Everything just hurts.” Jaiden tells him as she finally stands up with Phil’s help. “What happened?”

“I pressed the button and the wall exploded!” Vegetta said with excitement. He laughs and due to Vegetta's infectious nature, Jaiden can’t help but let out a pained chuckle as well.

“I guess that’s what we get for doing the one thing we were told not to do.” Jaiden goes to stretch her limbs to make sure they’re all there but lets out a yelp as a sharp pain runs through her back.

“Jaiden…your wing.” Wilbur quietly says. Jaiden turned to look at one of her wings. A good majority of her feathers were singed off and if she could get a better look, Jaiden guessed that there was a high possibility of exposed tissue damage. It was definitely broken.

Since they came to the island with nothing but a train ticket, there wasn’t much anyone could do to patch up Jaiden’s injuries. Philza had helped her in using her overcoat as a makeshift bandage to wrap her wings in and advised her to try and not move her wing that much.

But there wasn’t anything that could be done about the wound on her face that was most likely going to scar. At least she wasn’t bleeding anywhere. Jaiden found that odd. How did she manage to walk away from an explosion that size with no other injuries except her wings shredded and a burn on her face?

‘Maybe it has to do with the island.’ Jaiden thought to herself as she walked along the river. It didn’t take long for everyone to break off into groups and start exploring, herself included. She was following someone she couldn’t remember the name for a while but they ran ahead and Jaiden’s legs were too sore to try and catch up.

"I should probably get some more wood before I head back to find the others." Jaiden said to herself as she approached a sizable tree. Last she heard, most of the group went off to explore what was on the other side of the wall. Maybe she'll find better resources there

“So are they just going to live here, on the island?”

“It’s looking like it since that weird duck thing said they can’t leave.”

Jaiden stopped mid axe swing at the sound of voices nearby. She looked around but saw no one.

“Hello?” She called out. “Is anyone there?”

No one responded.

‘Maybe it was just some of the others walking by.’ She thought. Jaiden turned back to the tree she was chopping down to continue getting wood.

“Did she hear us talking?”

“There’s no way…”

She turned around again, but still she didn’t see anyone.

“Who’s there? I can hear you.” She said, No sound met her ears except for the wind and the river nearby.

“That explosion probably messed up my hearing.” Jaiden said to herself. She turned around to continue chopping the tree and was met with the sight of two men standing in front of her. She jumped back and let out a scream.

“Oh my god! You scared the crap out of me.” Jaiden said, leaning against a tree to catch her breath. The two men looked at her with both shock and confusion.

“I mean, I heard you talking but didn’t think you were right behind me. I didn’t even hear your guys footsteps.” Jaiden told them. The men didn’t respond, shock still prevalent on their faces. Jaiden took in the two men’s appearances. One of them had brown hair with a white streak on one side that barely poked out from the goggles they had on top of their head. Their green coat was ripped and there was what looked to be darkened mud stained across their pants. The other man actually didn’t look like a man at all. They looked like a demon with blackened skin and glowing white eyes. A set of horns peaked out from the hood of their cloaked as they were dressed in a black and red ensemble.

“Um, I don’t recognize you guys from the train. Do you live here on the island?” Jaiden asked.

“You can see us?!” Both the demon and the man said at the same time. Jaiden looked at them confused.

“Uh, yea. I can see you. Can you see me?” She asked.

“Of course we can see you! But how can you see us?” The man with goggles said. Jaiden noticed that he spoke with a distinct accent, one that was different from the Spanish speakers she traveled with.

“With my eyes. Am I not supposed to see you?”

“No one’s supposed to see us.” The demon said. It was Jaiden’s turn to give the men a look of confusion.

“And why’s that?” Jaiden asked.

“Because we’re dead. And you will be too if you stay here.” The man with goggles exclaimed. The demon gave a weary smile.

"Cellbit’s being dramatic." The demon said. “You won't die if you stay here. I mean there's a high possibility that you could die on this island but not in the way Cellbit is referring to."

"I'm not being dramatic, Bad! It's true that this island can kill you!"

Ok, maybe the explosion left Jaiden with a concussion. First she thought she was hearing things and now she's watching two people who are claiming to be dead argue on whether the island she just arrived on can kill her. Great start to her first day on Quesadilla Island.

‘I should really go find the others.’ Jaiden thought as she watched the two bickering before her. ‘I’ve been walking by myself for too long. I’m starting to see things.’

She gave one last glance to the man and the demon before starting to walk away and in the direction of the wall.

~~~

“Jaiden! Hey!”

After walking for a while, Jaiden managed to find her way back to the wall and was greeted by Quackity, Wilbur and Charlie.

“Hey guys. What’s going on?”

“We’re discussing where we’re going to live.” Wilbur said. “I’m going to be living in the wall.”

As Jaiden took a glance the wall further, she could see that Wilbur had already started digging into it and had carved out a good chunk to be used as his house.

“Have you managed to find anyone around the island?” Quackity asked Jaiden.

“I ran into two people who I don’t think were on the train a couple minutes ago.” She told him.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Quackity asked. He looked both confused and intrigued.

“They just showed up out of nowhere. I didn’t even hear them approach-AH!”

Jaiden had glanced to her left and jumped back as the two men she was talking about stood next to her.

“Geez! You guys keep startling me. I didn’t know you followed me.” Jaiden told the two.

“Uh, you ok Jaiden?” Wilbur asked. Jaiden turned to him and nodded.

“Yea. These guys just scared me.” Jaiden said, motioning to the man and demon standing next to her. “They’re the ones I met while out chopping trees.”

Wilbur, Quackity and Charlie stared at Jaiden with confusion.

“Jaiden, there's no one standing next to you.” Quackity told her.

Jaiden looked again to see if what Quackity was saying was true, but it wasn’t. The man and demon were still there with the same look of shock they had moments ago. And Jaiden realized that she was the only one that could see them.

“I think I hit my head during the explosion. Thought I saw someone standing next to me.” Jaiden lied, rubbing the back of her head. She let out a high pitch chuckle in hopes of lighting the mood or at least deferring away from the now awkward conversation.

“Oh yea it really blows when an explosion does that to you.” Charlie said.

“Charlie, what the fuck man?” Quackity said, hitting Charlie in the shoulder.

“I’m just trying to make light of an explosive situation.” This time Charlie couldn’t hold back his laugh at his own joke and it seems the others couldn’t either as they laughed as well. Jaiden chuckled a bit more, grateful that the conversation now seemed over as Quackity and Charlie started talking about their own encounters with some of the Spanish speakers they came with.

“So she is the only one that can see us.” The demon said.

“That still doesn’t answer the question of why she can see us.” The man said.

“I can see you because I’m most likely concussed and you guys aren’t real.” Jaiden mumbled in hopes that her friends couldn’t hear her. Jaiden didn’t think it was necessarily a bad thing that of all the things her brain could have manifested as a hallucination, it chose a regular man and a demon. Now Jaiden was more concerned about looking like a crazy person in front of her friends.

“If we’re not real then why are you talking to us?” The man asked. Jaiden didn’t know how to answer that question so she chose to ignore it.

“I’m gonna go get more wood!” Charlie announced as he finished his conversation with Quackity. He walked straight in the direction where Jaiden saw the man standing.

And Charlie walked straight through him.

#jaiden and her ghosts #qsmp au #qsmp fanfiction

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w9ndererdotcom · 1 year

Text

"another one, please?” | kissing venti’s bruise

TYSM FOR THE SUPPORT FROM MY MOST RECENT STORY, I WOKE UP WITH 19+ NOTIFICATIONS😭😭😭

WARNINGS

mentions of bruises

2nd time writing on tumblr so it may be bad

anyways

reader is gender neutral

no specific pronouns needed

bad grammar and spelling (?)

flirty venti?????? 🤭

as the bard wandered around the streets, he had recently drink. again.

ever since you and the infamous bard got together, it was usual for him to go drinking. but were you ok with it?

of course

not.

well, you allowed him to drink a few rounds. but that was it, just as long as he doesn’t get drunk.

but anyway, back to venti.

he pouted as he once again checked the back of his hand, recently in angels share diluc ‘accidently’ dropped a mug onto the bards hand.

which lead to a purple bruise.

“venti?” a familiar sweet voice called.

he instantly hid his hand and looked behind, smiling to see you.

“my beloved! its late, what are you doing out here?” he asked, greeting you with his cheeky smile.

he made his way over to you and hugged you, and then gave you a kiss.

you gladly kissed back, it was supposed to be a short welcoming kiss but it went on.

and on.

and on..

“ah- venti, were still outside.. the people will see us-” you pulled back but he continuously kissed the corner of your lips.

“let.. let them. so they know that your mine.”

“venti!” you hid your flushed face on his face, and he giggled at your cute behavior.

“ehe, i’m just kidding! i wont do this with you in public, of course.”

he leaned closer to your ear, “unless you want me to.”

“venti!!”

you both arrive at your shared home, and venti immediately attacked your lips with his.

it lasted for a while, but his taste reeks of wine.

you pulled away, catching your breath, “venti, your breath stinks! you reek of alcohol, did you go drinking again?!” you exclaimed staring at him.

he was supposed to go buy some dinner for you both.

“ah.. ehe?” he nervously chuckled, and walked back a few steps.

you sighed, “never mind.. i guess i’ll just cook.” his eyes lit up, he loved your cooking!

“thats even better! your cooking is much better then some random restaurants!~” he chirped with a big smile.

your heart fluttered in awe, how could you stay mad at him?

you smiled at the compliment, “alright, you may keep me company. but no kissing, okay? and no distractions, too!” you spoke, making your way to the kitchen.

he followed along with a pout on his face, no kisses? boring.

...

as you cooked dinner for you and your beloved, the wonderful smell filled the room.

venti inhaled, then exhaled. taking the smell, “ah, that smells so good!”

you smiled and continued to cook the meal.

eventually, a pair of arms slithered around your waist.

“venti, what did i say about distractions?”

“but i’m not! just let me hug my beloved..” he rested his chin on your shoulder, closing his eyes.

you blushed at his actions and looked down at his hands.

‘a bruise?’

“venti, where did this bruise come from?” you lowered the fire/gas, taking his hand onto yours carefully.

“ah.. i forgot about that! ehe..” he didnt, he just didnt want to bring it up and worry you.

you examined it, carefully. as if he was a fragile piece of glass.

your face full of worry, the shade of purple was getting quite dark.. how did you not notice in the first place?

you reached for the drawer behind, still holding his hand. you got out a band aid and gently aided his hand.

“y/n.. you dont have to.” although he did like the affection and attention.

"oh c’mon, i’m your s/o for crying out loud. i’m supposed to!” you replied.

venti watched your face, not creepily. but in awe and in love, he truly is a lucky guy.

“so, how’d this happen? you didn’t answer my question a few seconds ago..” you asked continuing to aid him.

as venti rambled on about how diluc apparently ‘accidently’ dropped the bar mug, you tried to hold in your laughter. luckily he didn’t notice.

“and you know what? kaeya had the audacity to laugh- as well as rosaria!-” his talking stopped as soon as he felt a pair of lips his hand, where the bruise exactly was.

you smiled at your work, and put back the extra band aid back to the drawer.

he was shook, didn’t know what to do or say.

“again.” he finally spoke.

“..huh?” you were dumbfounded, what does he mean?

“again.. kiss it again.” he spoke softly slowly getting closer to you.

and so, you kissed it again. “ah, much better! thank you, my beloved!~” he chirped hugging you.

you were in awe, you hugged him back.

“i actually have another bruise here, ehe.” he pointed at his cheek.

obviously, there was none. this silly behavior made you quietly laugh, but you kissed his cheek anyway.

not satisfied yet, he pointed to the other cheek. “also here.”

“venti..” you kissed it anyway.

he kept on pleading that he apparently had bruises on his forehead, cheek and neck.

“last one.. here.” he pointed to his lips with a smug look.

you know where this was going.

you gave him a quick peck, then pulled back. but venti being as teasing as ever, he pulled you back to him.

the kiss was sweet and passionate, and long. you both eventually pulled out for lack of air,

“another one, please?”

BONUS

while kissing the bard, it was technically a make out session now.

but then you smelled something burning.

you slowly pulled away from his lips, which caused him to whine from the loss of contact.

you sniffed the air a few times to make sure, then looked to the stove.

“the food!” you pushed venti away, but gently.

in a hurry, you turned off the fire. and sighed, there goes dinner. again.

you slowly turned your head to the bard who was nervously standing.

“eh.. ehe?”

“what did i say about distractions?”

#ehe

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storytellerofuntoldlegends · 3 years

Text

an icarus and his sun: chapter 8

A/N: hello i have returned!! this chapter was weirdly difficult for me to write, but from here on out i think the writing will go much smoother! but unfortunately i do have classes to be worrying about soon, so who knows how much time i will have to write. but still!! very excited about this fic and how you guys will react to upcoming events >:) (plus i added some implied nature wives (katherine and shelby) to this bit so this fic is basically turning into me making empires smp gayer) also check out this stunning art of chapter 5 by @artanogon! and if you wanna make art of this fic, you absolutely can, just be sure to tag me so i can see it!

Warnings: depression of the heartbreak variety, past violence

AO3 Link - Tumblr Masterpost

Jimmy was trying his hardest to not be mopey as he helped Katherine with rebuilding. He knew that he had promised that he would help her- but his own confusing feelings about Scott, his lack of building know-how, and the dejected look Katherine had as she looked at the slight crater where her castle used to be had Jimmy feeling far out of his league. But he put on a brave face- he needed the distraction, after all.

They began with filling in the crater, mostly silent as they moved dirt over with their shovels. Then once the ground was level, they could begin with setting up the framework of the castle. They spoke more to each other then- but it was mostly Katherine telling Jimmy where to put the support beams. Jimmy wanted to say something, anything to break the tension and melancholy air- but he couldn’t think of a single thing to say to Katherine that didn’t lead back to the tragedies they had experienced. Jimmy wished that Joel or Lizzie were there- but they were off gathering more materials for Katherine’s castle, and probably wouldn’t return until nightfall. So until then, it was just Jimmy and Katherine, silently stewing in their respective sadnesses.

Luckily- or maybe unluckily- someone much more chipper than either of them came along. Jimmy almost didn’t recognize her at first- but quickly realized that the figure approaching them was the mushroom gnome queen, Shrub. Or Shelby-she had said they could call her that too. She was dressed far more casually than she had been at the ball, a polka-dotted red kerchief tied over her head, brown overalls over a green shirt, and red boots with white polka dots. She had a bag slung over her shoulder, and Jimmy could see the tops of mushrooms peeking out of it.

“Um- hello! I- I wanted to offer some gifts from the Undergrove, maybe they could help with rebuilding! Or they could just look pretty- or just be a peace offering- or a gift of sympathy for what happened,” Shelby rambled, seeming just as skittish as she had at the ball, but was less afraid and more excited. Katherine set down the beam she was holding, and gave Shelby a small smile.

“The gift is much appreciated, thank you. It was nice of you to stop by- I apologize for the appearance of the Overgrown. Usually it’s prettier here,” Katherine said, looking over her lands for a brief moment before focusing back on Shelby.

“Oh! Well, what I saw of it at the ball, your empire is lovely! I’m sure it will be back to its former glory soon… if you’d like, I can help! I’m good with plants and I’m not a bad builder!” Shelby offered with an encouraging smile. Katherine practically glowed at the praise of her empire, and smiled back.

“I’d love to have your help- it’s just been me and Jimmy working all day, and most of our time was spent filling in the crater. Some extra hands would definitely help things go faster,” Katherine replied, gesturing at the land around her. Shelby beamed back at her, setting down her bag of mushrooms.

“Then I’m more than happy to help! We gnomes are small but mighty, just tell me where to lug these beams around and I’ll do it!” she chirped. Katherine blinked in slight surprise at her eagerness, but looked over to the stack of beams beside them.

“Well, there is one that needs to go across those two over here for the entrance. If you’re as strong as you say, then maybe you can help Jimmy with getting it up there- I’ll set some scaffolding up so you guys can reach it,” Katherine explained, going over to where two beams were upright and doing just that. Jimmy watched her set up the scaffolding for a moment, until he felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned and looked down to Shelby, who quickly looked away once she realized she had been caught staring.

“Is everything okay? You seem jumpy,” he asked, brows furrowed in confusion. Shelby chuckled nervously.

“Oh. Well- you see, gnomes can’t swim. And I’m kind of afraid of the water and water related things because of it. But you and the ocean lady seem like really nice people! So… sorry for being jumpy. It’s a habit,” she admitted sheepishly. Jimmy let out a good-natured laugh.

“I mean you’re right to be spooked by Lizzie, she can be scary when she wants to be- but most of the time she’s very nice! And trust me, there is not a single threatening thing about me,” Jimmy said, tone turning a bit rueful at the end of his statement. Shelby frowned.

“The guy with the goggles and his friend sure seemed to think otherwise, why else would they bother you like that?” she asked. Jimmy blinked in surprise at that.

“You… you think Fwhip and Sausage are afraid of me?” he asked in disbelief.

“Well… not afraid, but definitely threatened. I’ve seen it before, back where I came from. You’re someone who won’t bow to people easily, and people like them don’t like that,” Shelby explained with a shrug. Jimmy considered this for a moment.

“Huh. I guess… I never saw it like that before,” Jimmy said, a small smile coming to his face.

Their conversation was ended by Katherine waving them over, and Jimmy and Shelby picked up one of the beams to carry over to where the scaffolding had been set up. Shelby was surprisingly strong for her stature, and carrying around the beams and placing them where they needed to be was much easier than before she had arrived. It was less quiet with Shelby around too, as she cheerfully asked questions about their empires, as well as sharing some things about her own empire. But then there was one question that caused Jimmy’s blood to freeze in his veins.

“So you said that Joel and Lizzie were getting more building materials, but what about your partner? Is he with them too?” Shelby asked, and for a moment, Jimmy was confused.

“My… what?” he asked.

“The elf guy you were dancing with at the ball! You’re very cute together, by the way,” Shelby continued, completely oblivious to the tension in the air her statement created. However she soon noticed Jimmy’s pained expression, and it was her curious smile changed to a concerned frown.

“We uh. We were never together. And he betrayed us,” Jimmy said stiffly.

“Oh- oh I’m so sorry. You guys had just looked so happy together, I had just assumed- I’m sorry,” Shelby rambled, and Jimmy gave her a weak smile.

“It’s alright. I guess I was kinda happy- but it was never real. Not for him, at least,” Jimmy replied, throat feeling tight. He hadn’t really meant to burden all of his issues onto Shelby, but his mouth was moving a little faster than his brain was at the moment, and he couldn’t hold back his words.

“Well- well then that guy is missing out! You seem great, and he gave you up for what, tactical gain or political advantage or something?! He doesn’t deserve you!” Shelby declared, hands on her hips as she smiled up at Jimmy confidently. If someone he barely knew had so much confidence in him, then why shouldn’t he? Jimmy smiled back at Shelby.

“Maybe you’re right,” he conceded. Shelby gave him a half laugh, half playful scoff.

“Of course I’m right! Now c’mon, this castle isn’t gonna rebuild itself!” she chirped, heading over to the stack of beams. Jimmy could only stare after her for a moment, dumbfounded. Katherine seemed just as amazed by the gnome’s boundless positivity, a smile growing across her face.

“She’s spirited,” Katherine murmured. Jimmy chuckled.

“Yeah, you two are like birds of a feather,” Jimmy murmured back.

"We both are definitely nature-oriented," Katherine added with a chuckle. She looked at Shelby fondly for a moment, until her expression turned into a frown as she noticed something in the sky. Subconsciously her hand started reaching for Jimmy’s, and he took it as he looked up to the sky with her. Two figures were flying in- and the tension in Jimmy’s shoulders relaxed ever-so-slightly when he recognized them as Pearl and Gem. But he still gave Katherine’s hand a gentle squeeze all the same.

“What’s going on? Are we under attack again?!” Shelby asked anxiously, coming over to stand beside them and look up at Pearl and Gem flying in.

“Don’t know yet- they weren’t directly behind the explosion… but they are allied with the people who were,” Katherine said apprehensively. Shelby looked down from the sky, frowning in concern- and upon noticing Jimmy and Katherine’s joined hands, she grabbed Katherine’s other hand with a comforting smile. Katherine flushed slightly, but smiled back at Shelby gratefully.

“Please don’t be alarmed!” Gem shouted as she came in for a landing. Frankly, that didn’t make Jimmy feel any less alarmed.

“We aren’t allied with Fwhip and Sausage anymore. We don’t want any part of what they’re up to,” Pearl clarified, landing beside Gem.

“Really?” Jimmy asked warily. Gem looked to Jimmy with an open, pleading expression.

“I meant what I said when we told you that we didn’t know what Fwhip was up to. He left myself and Pearl completely in the dark, while Sausage and Scott were the only ones who knew about the full plan. But even then, I don’t think those two had the full picture, they looked surprised that we hadn’t known about the TNT. The point is- Pearl and I were tired of being part of an alliance that lied to us, and lied to us to hurt others! Katherine- if I had known what was going to happen, I would have never gone along with it and would have tried to put a stop to it,” Gem explained, turning her focus to Katherine as she spoke.

“So… you two are… on our side then?” Katherine asked slowly. Pearl gave her a gentle smile.

“If you’ll have us, yes. We also figured you could use our help rebuilding,” Pearl replied. Katherine looked to Jimmy, as if she was asking for his opinion. Jimmy blinked, and looked at Pearl and Gem. They seemed… candid, at least. But after Scott… Jimmy wasn’t sure who he could trust anymore besides his steady allies. However, they weren’t Scott. And furthermore, it really wasn’t his call to make. It was Katherine’s.

“It’s your empire, Katherine. If you don’t want them here, then just say the word. But you won’t get a fight from me if you do want them to help,” Jimmy said gently. Katherine smiled, and looked back to Pearl and Gem.

“I would absolutely appreciate your help. We’ve almost got all the framework for the castle set up- but having someone with wings help us out with some of the taller parts would be lovely,” Katherine said. Pearl beamed, and Gem clapped her hands excitedly. Gem came closer and Katherine let go of Shelby and Jimmy’s hands to talk over building plans with Gem, Shelby following after her and listening as well. Pearl, however, walked over to Jimmy with a mildly timid expression.

“Pearl?” Jimmy asked.

“There’s something I think you should know,” she blurted. Jimmy blinked in surprise, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

“I… okay,” Jimmy said semi-apprehensively. Pearl took a deep breath, like she was unsure of how to continue.

“Gem and I just came from a meeting with the Wither Rose Alliance. Well… it wasn’t much of a meeting, Gem and I broke off ties with the alliance pretty quickly and then left. But… there’s a… there’s something about Scott,” Pearl explained slowly. Jimmy tensed, swallowing nervously.

“Oh?” Jimmy asked, trying to keep his tone neutral.

“Like I said, Gem and I didn’t stay long so I don’t know for sure- but there was something off about Scott. He just… didn’t seem himself. I think he was just as unhappy with Fwhip as we were with him. I… I just know he meant a lot to you. And I think you meant a lot to him too. I just… I don’t want to get your hopes up, but maybe… maybe you should give him a chance,” Pearl continued. Jimmy’s mouth fixed into a firm line.

“It’s a nice thought… but I don’t think I can trust him anymore. Not after everything that happened,” Jimmy said, throat tight as he tried not to cry. Part of him really wanted to hope that maybe there was some sort of misunderstanding, that Scott really did care about him- but Jimmy couldn’t afford that kind of hope. Pearl nodded in understanding.

“That’s fair. Like I said… just thought you should know,” she said, before walking over to join Katherine in her discussion for the build. Then Jimmy- only feeling ever so slightly useless now that Katherine had so much more help- swallowed the tears that thinking about Scott caused, and joined them.

Taglists below! Ask to be added or removed!

MCYT General Fic Taglist: @corazon10000 @damiensaidno @franticfandomfanatic @gattonero17 @hetapeep41 @space-ace123 @vyeoh

AIAHS Taglist: @anty-kreatywna @beepa99 @devilwoodkitty18 @riobug

#empires smp #jimmy solidarity #katherine elizabeth #shubble #pearlescentmoon #geminitay #flower husbands #nature wives #mcyt #aiahs #sage writes

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rosiehunterwolf · 3 years

Text

Never Put Off Until Tomorrow

Prompts: Chores and Video Games

Word Count: 4,850

Characters: The squad + Pixal

Timeline: between seasons 11 and 12

Trigger Warnings: None

Summary: …what can be done today, yada, yada, yada, we all know the saying. So do the ninja- when Master Wu is drilling it into their heads every minute of every day, it’s kind of hard to forget.

Naturally, it only takes them a week (and the biggest new video game in Ninjago) to do so.

Read on FFN.net

Read on Ao3

Tumblr work under the cut

“Get that gun out of his hand! Without it, he’ll be defenseless and we can take him down easily!” “I’m trying, Jay!” Lloyd said through gritted teeth. “One wrong move and he’ll get me with that thing!”

“Use your powers!” Jay raised his sword and dove at the enemy, forcing him to turn and face him. As their swords clashed with a loud clang of metal, Jay quickly pulled back as Lloyd shot a blast of power at the attacker, who promptly collapsed to the ground.

“Alright! Way to go, green ma- look out!”

Lloyd shrieked as someone suddenly jumped on him from behind, skewering a sword through his skull. The green ninja fell to the ground and vanished in a puff of smoke.

The ninja blinked at the scene before them, speechless.

Jay suddenly let out a whoop, leaning over to high-five Kai. “Way to go, bro! You’re so good at this game!” “He came out of nowhere,” Lloyd huffed, tossing his control to the ground. “He didn’t even give me a chance to fight back.”

Kai reclined, putting his hands behind his head. “Work smarter, not harder, green machine.”

Lloyd scowled, and Nya shot him a sympathetic glance. “Hey, Lloyd, you lasted a whole ten minutes longer than last time! You’ve drastically improved.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Kai winked. “Even Jay couldn’t beat me, I wouldn’t expect you to.”

Cole shook his head. “Dude, you’re unchecked! We’ve only had this game for a week and already, you’re insane. Let’s just say I’m very glad you’re on our team.”

“I’ll say,” Zane agreed. “The Critical Conquest Gaming Tournament is going to have some of the best gamers in Ninjago. You’re good, Kai- we all are- but we all need to be at the top of our game if we want a chance at winning.”

“We got this, guys,” Nya assured. “We’ve fought off serpentine, ghosts, the Overlord, Oni- winning a city-wide video game tournament should be a piece of cake.”

“Speaking of cake-”

“No cake,” Jay snapped at Cole. “Not until we’ve won this thing. I need you to practice.”

“Dude, chill, I’ve been practicing!”

“Then can you show me your double twist dash-melee maneuver?”

Cole blinked at him. “My what?”

“That’s what I thought. Here, let me show you. We’ll try until you’ve got it down.”

“Who put you in charge?”

“You did. Literally. You guys chose me to be the team captain for the competition.”

“Whatever.”

“Lloyd, come here, so he has someone to practice on.”

“Why me?” “Because you need to work on your stealth. Kai got that jump on you surprisingly easily. You’re a good fighter, Lloyd, but fighting doesn’t matter if your enemy kills you before you have the chance. Practice your stealth and dodging on Cole.”

“Ready to get your butt kicked, bud?” Cole reached his hands out, cracking his knuckles before picking up the controller.

“Ha! You wish. The only one who will be getting their butt kicked is-”

The sharp rapping of something against the floor interrupted him, and they turned to see Master Wu standing behind them, his gaze disapproving as he clutched his staff firmly in hand.

“Students, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Uhh, practicing for the Critical Conquest tournament?” Nya said. “I thought that was pretty obvious!”

Wu glared at her. “I know what you’re doing. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut all this short. The six of you have many chores to do.”

“Chores?” they cried in unison.

“The past week since you bought that game, you have done nothing but sit around on that couch and play it. In all that time, your chores have piled up. Now, I’m cutting you off. They need to be done, now.”

“But Master!” Jay pleaded. “The tournament starts in only a few hours!”

Master Wu smirked. “Well, I guess you better be fast, then.”

---

The ninja stared down at the alarmingly long list Master Wu had given them, no one speaking a word for nearly a solid minute.

“Why,” Kai groaned, “did we ever put all of these off?”

“Why didn’t Master Wu just let us wait one more day to do the chores?” Jay complained. “The tournament would be all over then!”

“Well, he didn’t,” Cole said. “So there’s no use in complaining. We might as well get started.”

“Alright, guys, if we’re going to get through all of this before the tournament starts, we’re gonna have to divide and conquer,” Nya said. “Let’s see. Zane, Lloyd, you guys take the kitchen. Jay, Cole, you can check the vehicles to make sure they’re operating properly- wait, scratch that, Cole doesn’t know shit about mechanics. Besides, putting you two alone together is never a good idea.”

“Hey!”

“Zane, you go with Jay on the machines. Cole, you’re with Lloyd. Kai and I will work outside on raking and fixing the training course.”

“Hey, no fair, you just gave yourself the easiest job!” Cole grumbled.

“I’ll inform you that raking leaves is very mundane!”

“Yeah!” Kai snapped. “Especially when it’s cold out like this. I’m gonna freeze my fingers off!”

“You’re the fire ninja, you’ll figure something out,” Nya snapped. “C’mon, let’s go.”

“Hey, Cole? You think this is so easy? We can trade places! You wanna trade places?”

“Actually, I’ve decided to be nice and let you take this one.”

Kai glared at him. “You’re only saying that because you know I hate it!” Cole leaned back against the table, smirking. “Maybe.”

“Come on, Kai, we’re going.” Nya grabbed his hand and yanked him out the door.

“I guess we better get working,” Cole sighed. “Jay, Zane, you guys need a copy of your tasks?” Zane shook his head. “I’ve got the list committed to memory. And there’s a lot to do, so we better go.”

As they left the room, Cole turned to Lloyd. “Put a check mark or something by the things the others are doing, so we can see what’s left for us.”

Lloyd made little marks next to the tasks, his pencil slowing as it reached the end. His frown deepened. “I swear, this list is getting longer. Some of these are just ridiculous! Polish the counters? Clean out the oven? Dust the tops of the cabinets? Who does these things?”

“Normal people, Lloyd. It’s not my fault that we’re so busy saving the city that you’ve never done anything more than the most basic chores in your life.”

“I’ve done chores!” “Darkley’s doesn’t count, bud. I bet the only thing you did there was clean spiders out of your bed.”

“They were fire ants,” Lloyd grumbled.

Cole turned on him with wide eyes. “What?”

Lloyd stiffened, suddenly seeming to realize what he had just said. “Uh… I mean… don’t tell Kai, okay?”

Cole stared at him for a moment, before sighing. “I’ll let it go, this once. But only because you’ve had a lot worse things than fire ants since then. Those kids are jerks, though.”

“I know.”

“... They really did that?”

“Yes, Cole! Do I need to show the scars to prove it?”

“No! I was just- you know what, forget I even said anything. Let’s get to work. First up, doing the dishes.” They turned towards the sink, where dozens of dirty plates and cups had accumulated.

“Seriously? Doesn’t anyone ever clean off their dishes after eating?”

Cole shot him a look. “Name one time you did that.”

“Okay, so never, but we’re ninja, not dishwashers! What do you expect?”

“Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today, Lloyd.”

Lloyd groaned. “I can’t believe I’m missing Critical Conquest for this.”

---

“Jay! You’re supposed to be repairing the sentry cannons on the Land Bounty!” “Chill out, Zane, I’ll get to it in a minute-”

Zane suddenly snatched the remote control out of his hand. “Jay! We’re never going to finish in time for the tournament if you don’t focus! Stop playing with toys!” “It’s not a toy!” He gestured towards the small remote-controlled robot. “This thing is going to be a major distraction! It could make it or break it for us in battle!”

Zane eyed the robot skeptically. “This. Distract our enemies?”

“Well, I was going to make it into a smoke bomb, but someone kept pestering me!” “Look, Jay, this isn’t the time to work on your inventions. You can do that later. Right now, you need to fix the sentries.”

“I already looked at the sentries,” he whined. “They were completely fried in our last adventure. I have to rewire the whole thing.”

Zane blinked at him. “Isn’t… that kind of your job?”

“Yeah, well, it’s hard work! I don’t want to do it! I’ll take any other chore on your list.”

“Well, someone needs to do it, and you’re the only one who knows how.”

“Not true! Why don’t you ask Pixal?”

He gestured towards the nindriod, who was tinkering with what appeared to be a small metal box.

“Pixal,” he called, walking over to her, “do you know how to rewire the sentries?” “Yes, but I know for a fact that Jay does, too. I’m not doing it for you.”

“Aww, come on, Pix,” Jay groaned. “Why don’t you have to do anything while the rest of us are all working our butts off?”

She glanced wryly at Jay’s little robot, who was waving cheerfully at her. “I wouldn’t exactly call it that. But I’m not helping because I already did all my chores while the rest of you were playing video games.”

Jay went pink in the face, and even Zane felt himself avoiding Pixal’s gaze.

“Critical Conquest is very important,” Jay muttered.

“More important than making sure all our weapons are operational? Or restocking the medbay?”

“We can do those things any time! The competition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

“Actually, there is another one next month-”

“Shut up, Zane. With our luck, we’ll probably be fighting evil nindroids or will be locked inside a different realm by that point, anyway.”

“I’m not helping you,” Pixal sniffed. “So I don’t know why you’re still here.”

Not taking Pixal’s… not-so-subtle hints, Jay leaned in towards her. “Whatcha workin’ on?”

Pixal eyed him warily. “... It’s a jetpack. I wanted to make something more compact in case I was in a situation where I couldn’t use the Samurai X suit.”

“That’s cool! Although, it might work better if you recalibrated the engines to-”

“Jay,” Pixal said sharply. “I know what I’m doing. Please go work on your chores.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled. “No one ever lets me have any fun.”

Zane shook his head, wandering over to the Earth Driller where he was working on replacing the paneling that had been damaged in the Oni incident.

He couldn’t have been doing so for more than fifteen minutes when the sound of a small explosion interrupted him.

Zane jerked to his feet, dashing over to where the sound had come from.

Jay had jumped back from Pixal’s jetpack, which was now black and smoking.

Of course it was.

“What happened?”

Jay scratched his head nervously. “Well, you see… I really didn’t want to work on those sentries, so when I noticed Pixal stepping out of the room for a moment…”

Zane sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Are you alright?”

Jay grinned. “Right as rain. Not even a scar like last time!”

“Okay, that’s good, now I feel less bad for saying this- what were you thinking?”

“I couldn’t help myself, Zane! She calibrated it all wrong!”

“Well, evidently, you were the one who did it wrong, seeing as it exploded within five minutes of you getting your hands on it.”

Jay jumped nearly a foot in the air. “Pixal! You’re back! Ah… um, I’m really sorry about your jetpack, I was only trying to…”

Pixal marched forward, snatching it off the floor. “It doesn’t matter, it’s done now.”

“I can fix it-”

“You’ve done quite enough,” Pixal snapped. “Why don’t you just go finish your chores now?”

“But-”

Pixal held up the burnt jetpack, shaking it lightly. “You owe me.”

“Fine,” Jay groaned. “I’ll rewire the stupid sentries.”

---

“If I have to rake one more pile of leaves, something is going to end up on fire.”

“Well, luckily for you, that was the last of them.” Nya set down her rake, rubbing her hands together. “Now we just have to dispose of the leaf bags.”

She and Kai glanced over towards the towering pile of leaf bags, and Kai groaned.

“It’s going to take forever to throw these all away!”

“Kai, the dumpster is just on the other side of the Monastery wall!”

“Yeah, but we can only carry a few bags at a time, and we’re going to have to make so many trips!”

“Well, unless you’ve got a better idea, we don’t have a choice.”

Kai paused, his eyes lighting up. “Wait-”

“No, Kai, we are not burning the leaves.”

“I wasn’t going to say that! Although… it’s not a half-bad idea…”

“Kai!” “Okay, okay, no burning! What I was going to say was, why don’t we just toss the bags over the wall and into the dumpster?”

Nya frowned. “We’d miss half of them and then have to go over there anyway and pick them all up.”

“No, we could do it like in Critical Conquest! Remember? The ground-bash move? This is just like that!”

“Kai, that’s just a video game. This is real life!” “Yeah, but wouldn’t it still work?”

Nya frowned, stepping forward and eyeing up the roof of the Monastery. “I suppose if we got the right angle… we’d have to make sure an ample amount of newtons were applied with each hit to reach the correct velocity… and of course we’d have to take into consideration factors like density and wind acceleration per second and its tendency to carry-”

“Okay, okay, enough with your science-y nerd stuff!”

“It’s just basic physics, Kai. I mean, there are a lot of external factors to consider that wouldn’t be present in a lab setting, although I still think it would be quite simple-”

“Would it work or not?” Kai interrupted. “Yes or no, I want a one-word answer.”

“Yes. We just need to get the proper positioning-”

“Can I be the one bashing the bags?”

Nya sighed. “Only if you do exactly as I tell you-”

“Whoooooo!” Kai cried, running off to grab the rake as he swung it around fiercely. “Who’s ready to bash some leaf bags?”

“Kai! I said to do exactly as I say-”

---

Despite Nya’s initial trepidations, the process did not end up being a total disaster, and they actually ended up getting the chore done decently quickly. Now all they had left to do was to test and recalibrate the training course.

Nya glanced down at her watch. Only an hour and a half until the tournament started. Her chances of getting extra practice on those tricky combos were looking slimmer by the second. Hopefully, Kai’s mastery of the game, Jay’s high skill levels, and Cole’s advanced items and power-ups would be enough to help them beat-

“Nya!” Kai shrieked. “I said, turn it off!”

Nya snapped out of her thoughts, glancing up at her brother, who had been knocked to the ground by a whirring training dummy. “Oh, shit!” She spun towards the controls and shut them down, jogging over to Kai. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so, I just-” Kai reached for her extended hand, pulling back with a sharp cry as they made contact.

“What?” “My hand,” he grimaced. “It hurts like hell.”

---

“You can’t throw out the Eggo Waffles!” Lloyd insisted, grabbing at the box in Cole’s hands

“Lloyd, they expired three days ago.”

“So what, they’re still edible.”

“They’re going.” Cole gave the box a strong tug, jerking it out of Lloyd’s hands and dropping it in the garbage. Lloyd huffed, crossing his arms.

“Kai would’ve let me keep them.”

“No, he wouldn’t have, because he doesn’t want you to get food poisoning.”

Lloyd paused for a moment, before amending, “Jay would’ve let me keep them.”

Cole sighed. “Yeah, and then you guys would’ve eaten them, and we would’ve ended up with two sick ninja.”

“I wouldn’t get sick! I have these super cool powers that protect me-”

“We don’t have any proof of that. We still don’t know exactly what your powers do.”

“Which means we can’t rule that out yet!”

Cole rubbed his head. “Out of all the people I could’ve gotten stuck cleaning out the freezer with… it had to be you. The one who gets emotionally attached to frozen waffles.”

“I am not emotionally attached-”

“Are you kidding me? He can’t play with this on! This thing is stiff, it seriously restricts his movement!” “It’s not a question, Jay, he needs to keep it on!”

“Is it actually that bad, though? Couldn’t he skip it for one game?”

“Not unless you want it to get worse!” Cole and Lloyd exchanged a glance and stepped out into the hallway, where the other four ninja were gathered.

“What’s going on?”

Zane opened his mouth to speak. “There was-”

“Kai!” Lloyd interrupted suddenly, darting over to him. “What happened to your hand?”

Cole blinked, realizing for the first time that Kai had a swathe of bandages wrapped around his hand.

Kai yelped in pain as Lloyd touched it, and the green ninja recoiled, his eyes widening in guilt. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry!”

Nya rolled her eyes. “Don’t apologize, Lloyd, he’s fine. He’s just being a big baby about all of this.”

“Am not. It hurts!”

Zane stifled a sigh. “Kai, it is only a bad pulled muscle. Apart from being painful and needing plenty of rest, it’s nothing serious.”

“Well, you don’t know what it feels like,” Kai snapped. “It’s a lot worse than ‘nothing serious.’”

“I scanned you. I am quite certain my diagnosis is correct.”

Nya snickered, and Kai shot her a look. “Shut up, you. You’re the one who did this to me.”

“You’re the one who wasn’t paying attention!” “Yeah, well, you’re the one who was supposed to be-”

“Guys!” Jay cried. “Can’t you see we have more pressing matters at hand? Severe injury or not, Kai can’t play Critical Conquest like this. And he’s our best player!”

“Alright,” Lloyd said. “So we don’t have our best player anymore. That’s bad. But Jay’s still a beast! And Cole, and Nya, and everyone except me, basically-”

“He could be the worst player in all of existence and it still wouldn’t matter,” Cole pointed out. “We need six players to compete or they will disqualify us.”

“But if Kai can’t play, we have no one else! There are no backups!” Nya huffed, turning on Jay. “You’re our team captain! Why didn’t you prepare any backups?”

“Because we know no one else! We live in an isolated monastery at the top of the tallest mountain for miles, what did you expect? Besides, I wasn’t anticipating this to happen!” Zane frowned. “Well, if Kai can’t play, and we have no backup, then our only choice is to drop out-”

“Wait!” Jay cried suddenly. “I think I might have an idea of someone.”

---

“Please please please please-”

Pixal raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you really think begging is going to change my mind?”

“Please, Pixal, we need a sixth player, and you’re the only person I can think of!”

“Why would I help you after you blew up my jetpack?” Kai gaped at him. “You what?”

Jay fought back the heat spreading across his face. “That’s not important right now! Pixal, I promise I’ll fix it, just please compete with us!”

Pixal frowned at him, which wasn’t the most reassuring answer.

“C’mon Pix- I’ll do anything.”

“I don’t know, Jay-”

“We’ll do all your chores for the next month.”

“What?” “We will?”

“Jay, what the heck! We never agreed to that!”

Pixal smiled at him. “I would’ve accepted it if you offered a week, but that’s very generous of you.”

The others shot him smoldering glares, and Jay groaned. “It doesn’t matter, we don’t have time for this.” Glancing down at his phone, he sucked in his breath. “We’ve only got an hour until the tournament! Zane, can you teach Pixal how to play?”

Zane blinked at him. “In an hour?”

“Just cover the basics. We don’t have time for perfection. Just teach her as much as you can before the tournament starts.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

As soon as they were out of the room, Jay wheeled around, moaning. “We are so hooped! She doesn’t know how to play! Kai, how could you be careless enough to injure yourself?”

“Oh, sure, blame the victim!” Kai snapped. “Would it kill you to show a little sympathy to your injured teammate?”

“You pulled a muscle, you baby!” Nya groaned. “Pixal’s a fast learner, hopefully, she’ll get the hang of it.”

“Fast learner or not, nothing can beat hours of experience,” Lloyd said. “Let’s just hope the other contestants aren’t as good.”

---

“These dudes are insane!”

Jay continued to scroll through the queued-up players, examining their stats, his jaw dropping. “How much have these people been grinding?”

“So much for an easy win,” Lloyd grumbled.

Zane and Pixal walked into the room, holding their controllers. “I think I’ve done everything I can with Pixal. The competition starts in five minutes, I suggest we get ready.”

“Alright.” Jay turned towards Pixal as Zane worked on setting up the game. “We’re going to need your help, but since you don’t have experience, I think the best move is to have you stay behind us and play defense.”

Pixal smirked. “I’ll do my best.”

“Guys, we have to queue up!” “Are the headsets working?”

“They’re ready, what about the controllers? All charged?”

“We really shouldn’t be checking these kinds of things literally three minutes before the tournament, but yes, they are.”

“Hurry, guys! It’s about to start!”

Zane blinked at the screen. “Jay… you named our team the Fast Chickens?”

“It’s a good name!” The others groaned, and Jay glared at them. “We’ll see who’s complaining when we win this thing!”

Jay fidgeted through most of the opening speeches from the hosts of the competition as they went over rules and procedures. And, after what simultaneously felt like both a million years later and only the blink of an eye, the game was finally starting. They got lucky with their spawn point, and after a few minutes, were able to collect some good resources and get a good start. Cole, Zane, and Nya were able to take down some of the weaker groups before they collected supplies while Jay and the others continued collecting and building up defenses.

Checking the score count, he could see there were already twenty teams down in various parts of the map, and he knew his team had been responsible for felling three of them. Jay couldn’t stop himself from smiling. It seemed like nothing could be going better.

That is, until they suffered a major blow on the southwestern flank of their territory against a high-level team- the CrownViolets, they called themselves. (Which was nowhere near as cool sounding as the Fast Chickens, Jay totally wasn’t insecure about that at all.) After a fierce fight that ended up costing them several lives- and robbing Zane of his last, taking him out of the game- they realized they couldn’t win this fight and backed down, sacrificing a sizeable chunk of their turf.

While still monitoring that boundary, they decided to primarily focus on expanding in the other direction. Their tactic seemed to be working well, and although the CrownViolets kept on encroaching on them from the boundary, the other teams weren’t backing down, and although none managed to defeat the rival team, they were certainly taking their tolls on them. Jay hoped that the other teams would eventually take the Violets out for them, although he had to admit that would be extremely lucky.

They were getting down to the last few teams in the tournament. When the top ten were remaining, special, more deadly weapons were hidden around, and with them, teams began to fight back harder. The Fast Chickens held their own, but by the time they were down to two teams remaining- them and the CrownViolets- both Jay and Lloyd had been killed and eliminated. Only Cole, Nya, and Pixal remained. The CrownViolets still had four players left, but they were weak. If the ninja were strategic enough, they could still win this.

But Pixal was a major hindrance. She had been plenty good at holding back and defending them, but now, with so few left, she was going to have to start playing a more active role. If only Kai had still been there.

“Alright, they’re somewhere around here.” Nya’s character pulled up her radar. “There seems to be two of them right up ahead-”

“Alright, Pixal.” Jay leaned over her shoulder, coaching her. “You’re going to have to start getting offensive. Nya says there’s only two, so there shouldn’t be a problem, but there could be an ambush, or these two could have higher health. We don’t want to take any chances. While Nya and Cole rush them, you should stay back and shoot at them with your launchers. Your character has good accuracy scores.”

There was a flash of purple, and muffled shouting, and Nya froze. “There they are! Let’s get them, guys!”

The three plunged into the fight, and although it was a tough battle, their opponents were relatively low on health, and they ended up eliminating the two CrownViolets- unfortunately, with the loss of Nya before doing so.

“It’s just the two of us left, Pixal,” Cole said, “but there’s also only two of them, as well. We can do this. Just stick close to me. They’re around here somewhere.”

“And that somewhere is here!” Pixal shrieked suddenly, whirling around.

Cole’s eyes widened. “One of their teammates must’ve sent out a distress signal before they died!” He grappled for his weapon, but in his haste, his grip was sloppy.

Pixal, however, barely hesitated, diving at their opponent and attacking in a flurry of blows. Jay’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as she performed a complex combo it had taken him a full day to learn.

Zane smiled at all their gaping mouths. “I told you to have faith in her.”

Cole was evidently shocked too, and within a few moments, he was dead- although not before delivering a nearly fatal blow to his opponent. Pixal quickly finished him off before turning to face the last remaining player.

“Be careful, Pix,” Jay warned. “She still has pretty high health. Don’t get cocky, or take dumb risks.”

“Dumb risks are your thing,” Pixal corrected, not even batting an eye as she darted past her opponent, slashing her with her sword.

The CrownViolet wasn’t giving up, though. She pushed back, throwing down a smoke bomb and suddenly pushing Pixal down from behind. Pixal rolled out of the way, missing her sword by inches, and sprung up, taking the moment of surprise to her advantage to knock her opponent down. As the rival started crawling away, Pixal’s character took a potion, powering up a special move. The opponent knocked her down as she was waiting to power up, but before she could get a good attack in, Pixal was ready and was blasting her a beam of light.

The girl’s avatar fell to the ground, dead.

There was a beat of silence, then their living room erupted in cheers.

“Pixal! You did it! You won the game for us!”

“I can’t believe it! We actually won! Without Kai!”

“Hey,” Kai yelped. “That didn’t sound like it was meant to be a compliment.”

“What do you mean,” Lloyd said. “That was totally a super nice thing I just said about you.”

Kai narrowed his eyes. “A bit backhanded, don’t you think?”

“Guys, none of that is important!” Cole cried. “We won! Out of all the gamers in the city! We actually won!”

“But I have to know,” Jay insisted. “How did you get so good at the game?”

Pixal shrugged. “I guess you pick up a thing or two watching your team play a game obsessively for the past week.”

Jay blinked. “You’ve been watching us?”

She scowled. “I’ve been doing the chores in here, lightning brain! Repairs, laundry, picking up after you- you’ve just been too obsessed by your game to even notice me!”

“Oh, really? Uh, that’s my bad…”

“Speaking of which, you promised to do my chores, and I’m looking forward to a nice, relaxing evening off.”

“Did I?” Jay laughed nervously. “Hey, did I ever mention that the tournament winners get a cash prize-”

Pixal handed him a mop. “Nice try. Although I still expect my fair share of the earnings by the end of the week. Good luck.” The ninja just gazed at her in horror, and she laughed.

“You’re going to need it.”

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bunnie-the-lighthouse · 3 years

Text

𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝐼𝑔𝓃𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑀𝑒

Pairing: ATEEZ Choi San & Reader.

Warnings: May Be A Bit More Explicit Than My Other Suggestives. Again, It’s Suggestive.

Inspiration: Suddenly Popped Up, I Dunno Why -- Maybe It’s Because I’m Sleep Deprived

Basic Idea: University Student Trying To Work On Final Project But Boyfriend Distracts & Demands Love(?).

Type: Fluff & Suggestive (I Think)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a long day of practicing for Kingdom, the boys stayed awake until 2 AM in the morning. Once they felt that they were satisfied with their progress, Yun-Ho decided to call it a night (or day, I dunno).

“Damn, I’m exhausted,” San groaned out while doing one last stretch, “Not the only one,. Are you coming to the dorms or going over to _____’s apartment?” Hong-Joong asked as he then threw a water bottle at Seong-Hwa.

“I think I may go over to _____’s, she’s been stressing over her exams so I want to be there for her too, after all, she has been here to support us all a lot too,” he explained as the leader gave him a thumbs up. “Say hi to her from us, San-Ah,” Seong-Hwa reminded as your boyfriend did an ‘ok’ sign.

Their Manager first dropped off the boys at the dorms, later taking San to your apartment complex. San was listening to some music while trying to take a quick nap so that he had energy to stay beside you during the long night.

After a few ten or so minutes, the van stopped and San woke up. “We’re here, San,” his Manager called as San nodded, “Thanks for the ride Manager-Nim, please drive back safely,” he said while bowing his head.

He then walked into the apartment complex already having a copy of your keycard as you knew that he’d come over sometimes. Going up to the third level, he then went over to your apartment and unlocked the door with the copy.

Your living room lights were off, the kitchen still being lit. He then placed his bags down on the sofa, hearing your bedroom door creak softly. You then peeked, San smiling at you as you were holding your thermos as a weapon. Gasping, you dropped it and ran towards him, jumping as you attacked him with a hug.

He laughs while hugging you back, smelling your shampoo as he felt at home. “Sannie!” you squealed as he then squeals your nickname cutely, “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I could have cooked you ramen or something,” you whined while getting off of him.

You then sat him down on the couch while going over to the kitchen to give him a cup of water. “I didn’t want to disturb you, hun. I know that you are studying for your finals,” he said while grabbing the cup of water and taking a few sips of it.

“My finals are next week but I still have a few projects on the list, that’s why I’ve been busy -- but that doesn't mean you should starve to death,” you cried out as he caught your wrist, pulling you down to his lap.

“I can recharge my energy just by your presence,” he whined while hugging you. You couldn’t help but internally squeal, softly combing his hair back as he closed his eyes, comforted and calmed by your scent and warmth.

Sadly, you escaped his grasp when he had fallen asleep -- you were worrying over the project and left to continue the research process. You were sad that you had to do that, but the project was a whopping 65% of the course’s grade.

But, San being the cuddle bug that he was -- realized that you were gone. His eyes fluttered open, seeing how he was alone on the living room sofa, a blanket wrapped around him.

Your bedroom door slammed open, shocking you as you yelped. “San!” you yelped while clutching your chest as he grumpily face planted onto your bed, curling up into a ball as you then sighed. “I’m sorry,.” you whined while going over to him and hugging him, kissing his cheek as he did a ‘hmph’.

“This project is really important Sannie, I need to finish at least half of it,” you explained as he didn’t want to listen to you. Defeated, you kiss his forehead and return back to work. As you sit down to work San slowly and silently sits up, muttering “Not for long,” under his breath.

He knew you were already tired, so he was gonna make you more tired.. If you know what I mean.

“Ah! San!” you squealed as San was now underneath your desk, prying your legs open. “What are you doing?!” you whisper-shouted, not wanting the neighbors to hear you since they were sleeping. “Hmm? Oh, nothing, just ignore me,” he smiled cheekily as you were suspicious.

However, you decided to go back to work. That is until you jolted at a ticklish feeling -- San had licked your inner thigh and now proceeded to give it tiny kitten licks. “Choi San!” you whisper-shouted as this time, he ignored you.

You then cursed at yourself mentally for wearing shorts, feeling San’s hand glide over to your waist, massaging your belly as you fought the temptation. “C’mon baby doll, I know you can’t focus -- so why don’t you focus on me instead?” he asked while giving a few other kisses on your thighs.

“Choi. San.” you breathed out as you felt your intimates get hotter. “S-Stop teasing,” you whimpered out as you felt him take off your shorts and panties, the cool air making you shiver. “Oh~” he cooed.

You threw your head back, covering your mouth with your hand, suppressing the moan that would have come out. “San~” you were able to squeak out as he looked at you with a smirk, his lips glistening as your desk lamp showed the naughty deed he just did.

He then got out from under the desk and lifted you up, laying you down on your bed. Immediately crashing his lips on yours, making you taste yourself. You then moan out, feeling his hands slowly cup your breast.

He then pulls away, licking his lips while looking down at you, lustfully yet with a loving gaze. “Will you give me your attention now?” he asked as you nodded, wrapping your arms around his neck as he chuckles, lowering down to your earlobe and giving it small nibbles.

“Well, since I have my baby doll’s attention now.. I will help you forget all of your worries, and shower you with love. Are you ready, my love?” ..

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Helloo, Bunnie here.

First of all, I’m sorry if this suggestive is a bit too explicit, I did it more explicit since I was thinking that it would add more fuel to the fire(?)

I do hope that none of you guys were uncomfortable while reading this, if you were, I truly am sorry and I’ll try to tone it down.

Anywho, I do hope that some of you guys did enjoy it!

Don’t have much to say other than the fact that my Tumblr is acting up so, I’ll try to figure out what is making it glitch so much! (If you saw that I was posting stuff and deleting, it’s all part of that glitch thing, I think I may have messed some stuff up T_T)

Thank you for the support y’all, I’ll try to have the Series at least 50% completed so that I can have some Chapters ready for release.

The Series (”Fluffy Tails”) consists of Seong-Hwa, San, and Woo-Young being Nine Tailed Foxes! I hope y’all also check it out!

For now, I hope y’all take care, stay safe, and I’ll catch y’all next time!

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navyhyuck · 3 years

Text

everything i need — 1.2k words, na jaemin

warnings: swearing, mentions of alcohol (reader is drunk)

a/n: this is a requested piece from this prompt list! requests are still open! this is also a repost because tumblr loves me :’)

roommates au; forced to live together; “it’s three a.m., why are you making soup?”

Spending a night with the girls was all fun and games until you’re left to go home half sober, your mind unable to resurface anything as you jab at the button in the elevator, resting your body against the railing briefly. When your hand turns the doorknob of your apartment slowly, you stumble into the darkness, your head pounding in retaliation. Your hands go to yank the stilettos off your feet, freeing them from their constraints and failing to notice the disappointed figure in front of you. But when the lights flash into your eyes in a millisecond, you stumble back in surprise, your heart jumping at the rather scary looking face looking back at you. “What the fuck, Jaem?”

Jaemin scans over your figure, sighing from the way you begin to mumble random curses at him under your breath; he still has his arms crossed over his chest, regarding you with disbelief but also a little amusement. When you drop the f-bomb on him again rather harshly, you lose your balance, tripping over your own two feet only to be steadied by the boy in front of you. “Alright, let’s get you on the couch. One, two, step, you can do that.”

“I don’t need your help,” you exclaim, your words coming out alongside a bright giggle. You push him away, his hands unlatching from your arms for a moment before you nearly topple to the ground. He comes to your rescue then, chuckling breathily and practically dragging you to the couch. “Let go of me.”

“C’mon sweetheart, you absolute nuisance,” he pushes you down on the couch, sighing in exasperation. “Wait here, I’ll get you some water.”

Your eyes fall shut immediately when you hear your roommate’s footsteps receding down to the kitchen, sleep overtaking you rather quickly. Though it’s only a few hours later when you find yourself waking up in heat, making you sit up dizzily as you lazily pick at the jacket wrapped tightly around you. It takes you a moment to realize that it belongs to Jaemin, the scent proving familiar, and you hum in content. A throbbing sensation comes to your head when you stand up, and a groan leaves your throat at the feeling.

You’re unable to recall much from earlier, your brain proving to be fried from all of the drinks you took earlier. You notice a few rays of light pouring out from the hallway near the kitchen, the brightness of it proving as a stark contrast from the darkness surrounding you. Your feet take you in the direction of the kitchen regardless, slowly pattering on the wooden floor until you’re peeking into the room with tired eyes. A familiar figure stands near the stove, his hand running through his hair as he leans against the counter, eyes shut.

“It’s 3 a.m. Jaem,” you remark from your space, watching as he peeks an eye open to see you stroll hazily into the kitchen. “Why are you making soup?”

“Because my lovely roommate got drunk and is hungover.” He responds, a soft smile spreading over his face as you make your way over to him. “And it’s 5 a.m. by the way. You should be worshipping me for how long I stayed up.”

“No one asked you to,” you respond, looking down into the massive pot that’s placed on the stove. “Let me guess, you were worried about me all night and decided the only way to calm your tits was by making soup.”

“Not a chance.”

Jaemin and you didn’t have the smoothest start, being scammed into roommates would do that to you. You still remember walking into your new apartment and seeing the gorgeous man staring at you with the same expression of disbelief. It was then that you remembered getting a late notice in your email speaking of ‘terms of use’ that you had dismissed without a second thought. Apparently agreeing to roommates was part of the terms, and starting from then was your journey living together. Perhaps it wasn’t always the liveliest in the beginning, the two of you proving to be different from the other, but eventually the two of you fell into a soft harmony that worked. Days turned into months and months turned into years. The dynamic still persists.

“Oh c’mon, you know you love me.” You pout, trying to draw a reaction from him and smiling brightly when he laughs. You swear you hear him mutter something along the lines of ‘cute’ under his breath, but before you can process it, a sudden throb attacks at your forehead, making you wince. Leaning over the counter, you press a hand to the area. “Jaem, I think I have a fever.”

“Y/N, you’re hungover.” He answers in the same tone, glancing up at you through his eyelashes before sighing, coming close enough to place his hand against your forehead. His fingers brush against the same area, cool in contrast to yours, and he considers it for a moment before pulling away. “Yep. Hungover. You should go lay down.”

“It’s 5 a.m.,” you say dejectedly, a yawn taking over your entire body. “Jaem, it’s 5 a.m..”

“Yeah, sweetheart, it’s 5 a.m..” Jaemin answers, stepping forward to take a look at how the soup is progressing. Something stops him, however, and he turns back to see your hand fisting tightly into the fabric of his shirt, keeping him close to you. He can’t help but take in a breath at how good you look right now, even in all your wreck, and he sighs. Your makeup is smudged at the eyes, the eyeliner that was applied so carefully now ruined to a few hours on the couch; he notices with a brief glance that your lipstick stains the corners of your lips, the same ones that are swollen from repeated biting. He bites his own lip instinctively, wondering how yours looks rather inviting. Shaking out the thought from his head, his eyes focus back on your eyes, which are slowly filling with tears, and he backtracks. “Oh my god, are you still drunk?”

“Jaem, it’s 5 a.m.!” You reach up a hand to point at the ceiling, tears falling from your eyes as he follows your lead. “It’s 5 a.m..”

“Yes, it’s 5 a.m., congratulations, oh! Goodness.” Jaemin catches you at the last moment before you stumble, pulling you up to his chest while slowly reaching up to your face and wiping away your tears. You sniffle, arms winding tightly around his waist, and doze off. “I didn’t know you were a drunk crier, hold on, did you just fall asleep on me?”

The lack of a response is enough to make him chuckle dryly, now using his strength to carefully carry you back to the living room. Though he takes one look at the sofa and dismisses it, making his way to your room instead. He mumbles, “You make me stay up all night and the alcohol’s still in your system?” After you’re wrapped up carefully in your comforter, Jaemin kneels down beside your bed, his hand darting out to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. His fingers linger on your cheek for a moment before he pulls away, tilting his head slightly in admiration. “And you made me make soup for you and everything.”

He smiles. “I might just have to marry you someday.”

270 notes · View notes

matchamorphosis · 3 years

Text

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 𝒸𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓀

𝓈𝓊𝓂𝓂𝑒𝓇𝓎 | after an anxiety episode, you and ari make cookies together.

𝑔𝑒𝓃𝓇𝑒 | steamy angsty fluff!

𝓅𝒶𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 | daddy!ari levinson × black//woc!reader

𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉 | 4.3K

𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 | 18+ ddlg! ♡ anxiety attack ♡ some sexual themes ♡ degradation ♡ dick jokes ♡ hints to smut but nothing else! ♡ this is all 100% concentrated fluff

𝓈𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝓅𝓉𝓈 | love language by ariana grande ♡ tuxedo junction by glenn miller ♡

𝓌. 𝓃𝑜𝓉�� | okay so i tried okay i tried to make it as fluffy as i can but i just couldn’t help to not lace my own school circumstances into this while writing :( i can’t believe I got this out in just a day but i hope y’all enjoy this cherubs!!! ♡ do not repost or plagiarize my work on any other fanfic platform such as: wattpad, ao3, tumblr, etc or plagiarize my work all together. do so and i will rip your spine from your scumy asshole and shove it down your talentless throat. ♡♡♡

♡ the sight of the tiny blue ‘submit’ button at the bottom of the screen increased the swirling thoughts as your eyes turned to the ticking clock at the bottom right of the computer screen.

♡ you don’t take a second to breathe but anxiously bite the flesh of your lower lip, this week long project was coming to a crashing deadline as it was due in just a minute from now.

♡ how have you gotten yourself in this distressful circumstance?

♡ well typical clumsy you blacked out in a power nap for the past hours when you thought you submitted the assignment while waiting for your friend to do the touch ups of her portion of the assignment worth one-third of your semester grade.

♡ waking up from the long nap felt like cloudy heaven, mind finally relaxed accompanied with the delicious looseness of your energized limbs as you stretched them.

♡ of course the rosy moment was quickly diminished when you reached for your phone at your side table, hoping to catch up on any recent news you missed out from your nap.

♡ and you had as you skimmed through each and every exhilarating and restless text from your friend who apparently got a message from both your professor that the assignment wasn’t turned in.

♡ your mind raced as you quickly opened your laptop, tracing through your emails you eye the message from your professor that was outlined in red.

♡ the simple sentence of: this assignment affects your semester grade, turn it in before the deadline.

♡ had your widening eyes taking the email in, your mind flashed through the memory when you strictly remembered that you clicked the submit button.

♡ you know you did, you fucking know it but here you are anxiously rushing to submit it again.

♡ but at this point it doesn’t matter because you are now seconds away from turning it in before the whole portion of the google classroom submission turns grey.

♡ gathering the link to the word document that held your assignment the beating in your chest was beginning to level once your hand dragged the mouse pad cursor to the little blue button.

♡ rechecking the links you don’t dare take an inhale until your painted cherry red index finger clicks down hard on the submit button, eyes widening and heart pounding when the little loading circle appears.

♡ “c’mon!” your hushed whisper stresses, your hands forming into tight fists that rest onto the warm plushness of your thighs your skirt didn’t cover.

♡ uneasy eyes flash to the clock onto your macbook and notice the white font against the black outline displaying 11:59, you let out a closed lip whine when the loading whirlpool doesn’t go away and the bold purple words of ‘submitted!’ don’t appear on your screen.

♡ however, with whatever saving grace and golden strand of luck that was fortunately bestowed on you, that easing message appeared seconds away from the striking hour of midnight.

♡ letting out a relieved sigh your head falls back as you closed and rubbed your eyes, your cold fingertips attempting to cool your racing head you move them away from your face when your phone tings.

♡ grabbing your phone that was thrown in your blitzing uneasiness minutes ago the sight of your friends name appears on your lockscreen, under it holds their message.

♡ please [y/n] tell me you turned it in.

♡ you unlock your phone and message them back, informing them that you have turned it in which you received the same relieved feedback that coursed through your mind a minute ago.

♡ closing off the conversation with a comment of speaking to them tomorrow you shut off your phone and closed your macbook, setting them both on their individual chargers before walking out of your room.

♡ you can hear the light jazz of glenn millers ‘tuxedo junction’ fuzz through the halls, the pinkness of your socks that cover your feet guide you to where the music gets stronger and stronger.

♡ ari’s office door is slightly cracked, the music bustling inside it flowing out into the hallway you step closer and peek your eye through the crack.

♡ there you see your lover, sitting at his polished desk, a cigarette in hand he puffs it as his spectacle eyes glance down at the papers that lie in front of him, an ink pen in his other grasp writes down what he needs to.

♡ glancing down you notice his feet tapping against the carpet to the suave rhythm of the jazz blasting on a small speaker at the corner near his numerous chestnut bookshelves and flourishing green potted plants.

♡ taking a deep inhale of the cigar the white smoke that slips through his lips looks like a soft cotton cloud, your heart jumps to an opportunity when his hand that holds his pen stops writing.

♡ his eyes skimming through his papers as his fingers adjust the glasses on the bridge of his nose, setting down his burning thick cigar on the ashtray near him as well.

♡ fingers framing the sides of his bearded cheeks, your lover reads his written work with a careful eye, foot continuing to tap as the beat enters into its main rowdy trumpet chorus.

♡ pink tongue gliding against his rosy lips, his eyes shine and with that he takes the papers in both his hands and evens them out, grabbing the stapler that’s set near his neatly arranged pens he clicks the thick papers together.

♡ grabbing a navy blue folder he sets the papers in it and opens one of his desk drawers before setting his paperwork amongst his other files, shutting it closed his fingers grab his cigar that is still burning.

♡ taking it back between his lips your eyes don’t leave them, you never wanted to be that cigar so badly, your heart skips a beat when ari’s yes set against yours, a smirk peeking his tobacco smoked lips you let out a hushed ‘eep’ and back away from the door.

♡ you hear ari’s deep chuckle from in his office, causing your face to heat up and limbs to go stiff in embarrassment, peeking your face again through the doors crack your eyes set back on ari’s amused smirk and you gasp and move your head away.

♡ ari let out a airy laugh, oh he was enjoying your flustered state, he always found it so cute when he caught you staring at him.

♡ “come in princess,” he spoke.

♡ smirk still plastered on his lips he exhales another white smoky cloud before putting out the thick cigar, not wanting you to inhale any of the fumes.

♡ hears the door open, eyeing your shy figure walking to him growing confident with each step.

♡ your hips, legs and shoulders dance along the jazzy miller piece, making his smirk widen as you sway and swing your body to emphasize your pronounced curves that hide in your thick collared sweater and tennis skirt.

♡ he can’t snatch his eyes away from your soft thighs that aren’t properly covered from that ridiculously short skirt, his eyes darken when he sees your fingers unbuttoning the buttons of the top portion of the designer sweatshirt.

♡ your hands do a sinister job at gliding up your curves slowly, teasingly rising the hem of your flowy skirt before gripping the bottom of your unbuttoned canary yellow sweatshirt.

♡ pulling it off your bodice and over your head you throw it behind you to reveal the crop top that tightly wraps your chest, displaying your plump cleavage ari’s darken eyes latch upon.

♡ “hi daddy,” you speak through your glossed lips and batting lashes, stepping around to stand besides his figure sitting in his leather swivel chair.

♡ those honeyed words are spoken in an almost purr, your eyes skimming his face and to the objects that cover his desk your curious fingertips and cherry painted acrylics graze and clack against.

♡ the image of his dark eyes sparkle when they meet yours, they glimmer in adoration as one of his large warm hands rise to cup your cheek.

♡ “hello princess,” the deepness of his words has your chest fluttering and the heat of your core radiating sensually, your eyes leave his and your lips press against each other abashed.

♡ his smirk turns into a soft smile, how can his little pearl be so bold yet shy at the same time?

♡ whatever it is about you he savors and cherishes, his hand that cups your chin is removed to pat down on his trouser thigh but maybe he thinks otherwise on the known signal that you're a bit to latched on the mood and want him to take over whatever thick sexual tension he started.

♡ however he’s surprised as his little shy pearl wraps her arms around his neck, pedicured fingers lacing in his shoulder length hair as soft legs smoothly straddle his lap, it made it all easier that they were parted slightly as you settled your bum against his calves.

♡ took him by another surprise as you smashed your bubblegum glossed lips against his, rubbing your chest against his as your tongue slipped into his mouth.

♡ you usually don’t kiss him like this after he had a cigar but ari isn’t complaining as he swirls his tongue with yours, his large hands travel down to cup your bum to find a nice surprise which results in his pants tightening more against his thick bulge.

♡ your shameless skirt doesn’t even cover your ass properly, the fringed designer cloths trimming curtains the curve of your ass but leaves the plump dips of your under cheeks uncovered for his rough palms to smooth and grope.

♡ you moan against his lips but that soft moans turns into a pitched whine as he releases his lips from your erotic mouth, in result he lightly slaps your ass before groping the flesh.

♡ “how was your nap sleeping beauty?” ari’s voice low and raspy at the cause of your kiss, you sigh and bow your head at remembering the thought.

♡ “it was nice daddy but it turned a little rotten after,” your pout causes his brows to scrunch.

♡ “why’s that princess?” his hands smooth and pat your hair still slightly untamed from your nap, your hands that grip his expansive button up smooth the material down.

♡ “because I had to rush to turn in an assignment I thought I turned in, it was so stressful finding out from my friend who thankfully reminded me of so,” you mutter, your mood becoming spoiled when remembering school.

♡ nowadays you barely enjoyed your time with your daddy without worrying about any uncompleted assignments or the thought of your grades dropping or being fully invested in studying.

♡ school was a killjoy, it was killing your special time with your daddy and even though you still turned in that project your mind still was filled with anxiety and stress.

♡ “have you turned in your assignment doll?” ari spoke and you nodded your head, calming a bit as his hand rubs your back up and down, the sensation almost therapeutic. “then what is my princess worrying about?”

♡ your pout signifies it all, you don’t know what your stressing about, maybe you forgot another assignment that needed to be turned in, maybe you forgot to study for a test that was nearing soon, maybe you missed a virtual class during your nap.

♡ your eyes water and your bottom lip trembles, the grip you have on his button up tightens with your fear-riddled scrunch, your breathing stuttering which has ari sitting up to grab your face in his hands.

♡ “hey, hey. baby calm down-,” but your breathing still stutters as your face scrunches and streams in your aggressive tameless tears.

♡ “baby, sweetheart look at me!” his voice snaps to your attention as your red eyes meet soothing aqua pools, hands gripping his shoulders and teary eyes locked in need to keep him close but he seems like an ocean away.

♡ “count with me baby, like we practiced before. inhale-” he says, inhaling a breath and your stuttering lungs are quick to inhale a breath along with him, your mind however races still. “exhale,” he whispers and lets out a breath and you do so.

♡ “one,” you two continued this breathing session till your tears stopped and your pacing chest settled calmly against his, the only sound being the soft trumpet of another jazz song playing and your soft sniffs.

♡ his arms cage you in a warm secure hug, hands rubbing soothing circles against your back as your open hands rest against his chest, he had you drink a glass of water with a tylenol tablet to ease you.

♡ yet your silence is a major tell to ari that your mind is still scrambling despite feeling your stable heartbeat against his, he presses a kiss to the crown of your head.

♡ “[y/n]? princess?” ari softly speaks, your eyes slightly sting from your vicarious crying and your head aches from the episode that happened a while ago, cheeks slightly damped, you raise your hands to wipe them dry.

♡ pulling your head away from his collar bones you sit up to meet his reassured glance to yours, “i’m sorry daddy,” you spoke, it was almost drenched in seeking forgiveness but ari shove his head while cupping your face in his hands again pulling your face to his.

♡ “no sweetheart don’t apologize, it’s all alright. something like this shouldn’t need an apology, you aren’t at any fault because you’ve done nothing wrong but let out your emotions.” your eyes watered with his comforting words.

♡ “it’s not the things that are stressing you that are bothering you, it’s just the thought. it’s just your thoughts, just and only your thoughts but you got through that so well princess. i’m so proud of you.” ari’s thumbs swiped away at each of your tears, your lips slowly curling up in a small smile at his praise.

♡ sitting up on your knees you rested your forehead against his, nose bumping against his you giggled as our daddy’s eyes squinted at the impact before letting out a soft chuckle,

♡ your eyes glimmering as they twined to ari’s cooling blue hues through his frameless thin glasses, your hands rise up to caress his bearded cheeks, his finely soft hairs tenderly scratch your fingers and palms while his rub your bare lower back.

♡ an equally tender smile radiates off both of you before he pecks your lips to his.

♡ “tell me princess, tell daddy what you want. anything you want you’re getting,” his words string together a thoughtful expression compressed on your pretty facial features, your stomach interrupts you both as it loudly growls.

♡ “clever princess, you didn’t have to tell daddy when he could hear your hungry tummy,” ari’s own comment makes him laugh loudly and your face heats up as you swat his chest.

♡ “stop being mean daddy,” you grumble with a pout but you still see that handsome smirk against his face and as much as you wanna turn your head away when he grabs your chin you allow him to kiss you.

♡ “alright daddy’s done with being a meanie. c’mon sweetheart, lets get some food inside that tummy,” he says poking your belly.

♡ the tickling sensation lets out a giggle from you while he grabs your body to wrap your legs around his waist as he gets off his seat.

♡ ari carries you out of his office to the kitchen, setting you down on the lavish island that stands in the large kitchen however you whine when the cold surface hits your back thighs.

♡ the little sound alerts ari who turns his head to you after searching the refrigerator for some ingredients to create a suitable meal for you.

♡ “oh right, sorry princess,” he says and carries you to a cushioned chair near the dinner table, of course you could jump off the counter and walk to the seat yourself but you both like it when he babied you.

♡ after just a minute of searching through the refrigerator he closes his with a sigh, “do you wanna order something sugarplum?” he said and you smiled and nodded your head.

♡ “yes daddy,” you spoke and his chest hums in glee seeing your joy laced in your voice, he allowed you to order whatever food you wanted on your food delivery app since he wasn’t an expert at those things.

♡ a thing about ari is that he was so old fashioned, he didn’t have a computer to organize all his files because he had numerous drawers and file cabinets to keep all his important documents.

♡ his portable device was a flip phone and as much as you teased him for it he didn’t bulge at taking interest in any technological advances to his life.

♡ “is that all you want sweetheart? you don’t want anything else for the night?” ari spoke as he poured you a glass of ice cubed strawberry mint water from a glass pitcher, setting the cup in front of you as you scrolled through your phones feed.

♡ you smile up at him as you take the glass, “can we make cookies?” you ask before raising the glasses rim to your lips and taking a sip of the cold minty berry water.

♡ “didn’t you order a dessert on the app?” he asked and you shook your head no, the dessert options the restaurant of your choice didn’t really have anything that sparked interest to your midnight cravings.

♡ “don’t you think it’s a bit late to bust open the flour and sugar baby?” he said and a naughty smile grazes your lips at his question.

♡ “daddy it’s never too late to bust open anything if you put your mind to it,” your smooth voice spoke as you got off your seat to walk to the refrigerator, possessing a bit of flounce to your hips.

♡ you opened the stainless steel door handle and grabbed the large bar of nestle tollhouse cookie dough, closing the door behind you you walk to the island and place it in front of ari.

♡ if you both weren't doing it from scratch then this was the only option.

♡ he still stares down at it while you prepare the oven to preheat, getting out the cooking spray, parchment and cookie tray, “what’s wrong daddy?”

♡ “that’s big baby,” he said, his eye’s proximate on how many chocolate chip cookies the large bar could make but he doesn’t notice the naughty smirk that crosses your lips again until his eyes move up towards yours.

♡ “I know daddy but it isn’t as big as you,” ari’s face blushes at those words but before he can recollect any thoughts or get his hands on your insatiable figure of your moving skirt turns away to grab a knife, diminishing all his thoughts he rushes to take it away from you.

♡ “daddy can do this part, you can roll the dough in balls. can you do that princess?” ari softly asks, cutting open the bar he cuts even slices then cuts the thick circular prism in half to have you roll them both into spheres.

♡ “of course daddy but only if you can let me lick yours after we’re done with this,” you say getting straight to work with rolling the cold dough in your palms but only after brushing your ass against his thigh.

♡ ari couldn’t help his face from flushing into a crimson rose, feeling his pants tightening around his hardening erection at your shameless proclamations and actions.

♡ but it didn’t have him distracted from the task at hand or from quickly smacking your ass, commanding you to behave for him.

♡ and you did, kept your dirty remarks to yourself as you placed the spheres of cookie dough in a correct distance from each other in rows on the cookie tray.

♡ you both decided that ten cookies after a bit of a banter between you and him as you used your puppy eyes on him to make the whole tube but he set the discussion to an end with a compromise.

♡ the compromise being that he’d let you stay up and watch whatever movie you want with him as you had your take out and cookies, adding your additional requests to the compromise that there better be lots of cuddles and kisses.

♡ he slides your hot pink baking oven mitts with the mini stitched cupcakes on them and popped the cookie tray in the hot oven.

♡ turning to your figure sitting criss-cross apple sauce on the island setting the kitchen timer for twelve minutes and placing it down beside you.

♡ ari prepares the cooling rack and spatula for when the cookies are done, not noticing your neediness and attention seeking grabs at his collar and hair.

♡ “daddy,” you mutter, that bratty persona becoming clearer with each of your restless limbs and pouting lips attempting to grab his attention.

♡ “yes princess?” he spoke, his eyes moving towards yours to set sight of your signature doe eyes he knows so well.

♡ those doe eyes you give him when your bare and desperate underneath him.

♡ scratching crescent moons on his back, moaning so sweetly for him as he thrusts his cock in and out of your velvety pussy.

♡ you don’t say anything though, all you do is part your legs and his eyes darken once they set sight of your wet core open on display under your skirt.

♡ those same lust blown eyes dart down and meet your small peach colored panties crumbled on the floor underneath your dangling socked feet.

♡ before he can even do anything, before having the chance to rip that skirt off your body or getting on his knees and lick your tangy slicked folds the doorbell interrupts him.

♡ remembering your take-out, annoyance captivates ari but he smirks at the opportunity to tease you as you did him.

♡ so instead of ignoring the delivery person he walks away from your weeping cunt and gaped mouth to get the door.

♡ returning with your food and to your glossy pout your whines and grabs for him become more demanding and louder as he takes his sweet time taking each plastic take-out container and brown bag filled with food out of the delivery bag to the table.

♡ “daddy!” your bratty calls for him but he just ignores as he takes out plates and napkins for you and him, setting them to look their best on the dinner table.

♡ organizing the plastic containers and bags of food in between your plates he finally turns and walks to you, grabbing your waist you smirk thinking you got what you wanted but it disappears when the following words leave his mouth.

♡ “dinner time princess,” his smirk is more arrogant than yours and it only widens as you glare up at him, you’re so cute when you don’t get what you want.

♡ “you don’t want dinner princess?” he asked and you nodded your head, ari’s brow quirks in amusement.

♡ “then what do you want then princess?” it wasn’t a question, more so a demand to have the brat in his arms to speak on what she wants.

♡ you cross your arms and turn your head away from him, setting your angry sight on anything besides ari which he doesn’t permit as he grabs your jaw firmly in hands and shifts your sight to him.

♡ “speak up dolly. good girls get whatever they ask for, brats get nothing,” he spoke and your glare doesn’t ease one bit but your answer is mumbled to softly and lowly for ari to hear, your attitude only adding only the impatience ari has for you in this situation.

♡ “i’m sorry princess,” ari spoke before gripping your ass in a rough harsh handleful, “but daddy didn’t hear you. can daddy’s little dumb brat speak up? or does daddy have to give his dumb baby dinner and send her to bed with no cookies and cock?”

♡ the growl that rolled off his lips hit against the shell of your ear as his fingertips dig sharply into the raw warm plushness of your ass, your breath staggered but the wetness that pools your pleasure seeking core doesn’t lessen.

♡ “I want daddy please. please can I have it daddy?” you whimper, your voice meek and fragile and nothing like the cocky brat that teased him both verbally and physically moments ago.

♡ “you’ve been making jokes on daddy’s cock and balls since I let you make your cookies and now when you're on the receiving end of the joke you can’t properly tell daddy you want it?”

♡ his voice was rough and course, his hands that smack and grope your ass hold the same fierceness as he picks you up before slamming your back against the metal of the refrigerator.

♡ hearing the little breathy whine when his fingers purposely glide through your folds, his smirk darkens as your wetness coats his thick fingers.

♡ “oh, does my spoiled brat want daddy’s fingers? or does my spoiled brat want daddy’s cock?” he whispered as his head snakes in the crook of your neck.

♡ nibbling the tender skin under your ear that practically makes you cream against his stroking fingers.

♡ “I want your cock daddy! please, daddy! I need it!” your voice is a combination of whimpers and moans, the sound of it music to his ears.

♡ before he can give you another teasing stroke at your needy puffy folds, or command you to unbuckle his belt the timer for the cookies goes off.

♡ ari’s dark smirk shadows his face and you let out a whine knowingly the results of the night.

♡ it was going to take a while until you’ll get what you want and ari will partake in the satisfying discipline to teach you a lesson on misbehaving.

#♡ rosies mini headcannons ♡#♡ ari levinson ♡#ari levinson × reader #ari levinson × black!reader #ari levinson × woc!reader #ari levinson imagine #ari levinson fluff! ♡✨#ari levinson mini headcannon #chris evans headcannon #chris evans smut #ari levinson smut

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fanfalc-616 · 3 years

Text

Time For Amnesia

Chapter Nine: Ice, Electricity, And Painful Injuries

(Previous Chapter Here)

Uhhh ok so I was working on the new chapter and I realized I never even posted chapter nine (on tumblr anyway it’s on ao3-). But uh yeah here it is,,, I’ll post ten (which I finally completed!!) tomorrow.

Also yes this is my new format for all fanfics hsjshdh

Eventually, Nya comes in, looking concerned.

“It’s getting late.” She notes, choosing not to comment on however she feels about how he’s been acting.

Kai nods. “Where am I sleeping?” A sudden thought strikes him. “I- I don’t sleep with… them, do I?”

Nya seems uncomfortable. “We agreed that that would be a bad idea, and before you got together, you used to stay in a different room- the room you woke up in. And-“

“Alright, I’ll just go there and go to bed.” Kai gets up from his spot on the floor.

After pausing for a moment, Nya nods. “Do you need me to show you where it is, or-“

He shakes his head. “I remember.” Without waiting for a response, he heads off to the room, silently grateful for the fact that he’s not going to have to spend the night with the others.

He’s only just sat down when there’s a knock.

Groaning, he gets up and walks over to the entryway, opening the door.

Cole stands there with a small, slight forced smile, holding a set of striped red pajamas. “These are for you.”

Eyeing him warily, Kai takes them. “Uh, th- thanks.” He stutters out, trying to ignore the way his mind flashes back to how he watched him make out with Zane.

“Are you okay? Your face is really red.”

Shit.

“Yeah I’m fine everything’s fine you should go now bye.” Kai blurts out in a rush. As soon as the words have left his mouth, he slams the door shut in his face.

Well, that solved absolutely nothing.

He has enough emotions going on- these people are crazy, and he doesn’t want to have to get to know them or have anything to do with them!

So why is his heart racing? Why does he feel like this?! He doesn’t want to like these assholes, he wants to be able to threaten to skewer them and actually mean it!

With a quiet grumble, he starts getting changed- but he almost drops the pajama shirt when he looks down at his torso.

Since when did he have a six-pack?! It’s not defined like a bodybuilder’s or anything, but he’s definitely got some strong muscles there.

Shaking his head, he goes back to putting on his pajamas. He must seriously work out a lot.

Well, if he’s a ninja savior of Ninjago, then he’s probably going to have to be in good shape.

Sighing, he turns off the light and gets on the bed. Curling up under the covers, he closes his eyes and tries to drift off.

If he’s lucky, maybe he’ll wake up back at home.

—————————

Kai wakes up in the red bed he went to sleep in.

Drat.

With a sigh, he gets up from the bed, and just as he does, the door opens.

Jay stands there, a nervous smile on his face. “I, uh… I guess your internal clock still works. But, uh, it’s breakfast time, so-“

With a groan, Kai walks over to him. “Alright, let’s go eat.” He grumbles.

He pretends not to notice how Jay tries to hold his hand, and after a moment, he stops trying to take it, and Kai ignores how that sparks guilt inside of him. It’s fine, he doesn’t care. He shouldn’t feel bad, he doesn’t even know him!

They’ve only just reached the dining room when an alarm starts blaring. Kai immediately feels himself switch into a fight-or-flight mode, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Then Nya’s voice comes on over the comms. “Everyone to the bridge! Now!”

Jay tenses up. “C’mon!” Without waiting for a response, he takes off running, leaving Kai to chase him down the halls.

When they arrive at the bridge, everyone else is already there.

Zane immediately starts talking. “There appears to be a genetically engineered snake being used to terrorize New Ninjago City. From what we can tell, it was created by-“

“Cut to the chase!” Nya interrupts.

Lloyd shakes his head. “No, we have comms, we can get an explanation on the way. Let’s go!”

There’s hardly a pause before they all race out of the room- but Lloyd peeks back around the corner to look at him. “You- you just wait here, okay?”

Kai doesn’t get a chance to respond before the blond runs off, leaving him alone.

What the hell just happened?

Still trying to process things, he decides to go into the living room and see if he can watch what’s going on in the news. Whatever’s going on, it seems like a big deal.

So he walks in and turns on the TV, waiting for an explanation to be given.

He watches as a reporter- Gayle Gossip, she said her name was- shows some weird ice snake thing attacking the city. Listening carefully, he can just make out some words that the ninja are saying as they try to stop it.

“- weakness to heat-“

“-Zane, fall back-“

“MOVE!”

Kai stares in horror as he watches Nya get thrown from her vehicle and tossed into a building.

Something in him screams at him to move, and he listens to it, getting up from the couch and scrambling off to wherever the hell his instinct is taking him.

He finds himself in some kind of little launchpad like area for vehicles, and finds himself gravitating towards a red motorcycle.

Oh, what is he doing? He’s not seriously going to try and fight the ice snake, is he?

Yeah. Yeah, he is. Because no one messes with his little sister.

Kai starts up the bike and continues to trust his instincts, just doing whatever feels right.

Which is how he ends up screaming his head off while he falls from the sky on the motorcycle.

The bike falls out from under him, and Kai finds himself flailing about, still screaming.

Until he feels himself get grabbed, and a loud grunt escapes him as he scrambles for purchase on whatever he just fell onto.

He blinks a few times as he realizes that he’s on a- on a dragon what the hell-

Clinging to the rider of the dragon, he feels his eyes widen as he recognizes them.

“Zane?”

The robot looks back at him. “Kai?” He seems shocked. “You were supposed to wait on the ship!”

Before the brunet gets the chance to respond, the tail of the ice snake is suddenly striking towards them, and Zane has the dragon dip, trying to avoid it.

But it’s a rocky move, and they still get hit, the dragon literally disappearing under them.

Kai hits the ground with a loud thudding noise, but luckily enough, he doesn’t seem to be too badly hurt.

He gets to his feet, and Zane quickly runs up to him, getting in close.

Kai’s about to brush him off, but he’s caught off guard by his eyes. His bright blue eyes that glow, and the deep concern behind them as they stare into his own.

“You’re not hurt, are you?” His voice is gentle, full of concern and softness.

Kai swallows, but doesn’t answer, still captivated by the glowing blue irises that seem to stare through to his soul.

“Kai? Please, are you okay?”

He nods shakily, unsure why he’s so affected by something as minor as eye contact.

“I’m going to scan you.” Zane decides, setting a hand on his shoulder. His eyes flicker a little as he looks Kai up and down, a thin band of light emitting from them and falling over Kai’s figure.

And that’s when he snaps out of it.

Stepping away, he shoves Zane back, putting his arms out in front of him in defense. “Woah there, I did not agree to be scanned! So keep that little light show to yourself!”

The robot blinks a few times as he steps back, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “My apologies, I was only trying to-“

The snake’s tail slams into a building, sending wreckage flying everywhere. With a mumbled complaint that Kai can’t quite make out, Zane pulls him aside. “Stay out of trouble. I’ll return when the fight is over.”

Without waiting for a response, he runs off, leaving Kai alone.

He stands there for a few moments, looking around the torn up alley and listening to the nearby noises of combat. Something inside him is itching to go follow, and after a moment of consideration, he runs off towards the battle.

As soon as he gets close, he’s forced to dodge and duck behind some debris to avoid getting frozen by an icy blast. So it’s an ice creature, then?

… fire melts ice, right? Maybe if Kai can get close, he-

“Kai?! What are you doing here?!” Jay shouts, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the way of an attack.

“I’m helping!” Kai defends himself as the ginger uses a blast of lightning to shatter a large chunk of ice that had been flying towards them.

“No! No, you are not! I’m going to have to protect you instead of actually concentrating on the fight! Why didn’t you stay on the ship?!” Jay glares, grabbing Kai by the wrist and pulling him along.

“So I could come help!” The two of them narrowly miss getting impaled by flying concrete as they duck behind a still-intact building.

Jay looks downright furious- an expression that almost looks cute on his baby-ish face. “We have just covered that you are not helping! Not. Helping. Not helping at all!”

Kai feels his face flush some at the scrunched up nose and the way his cheeks puff out. Still, he manages to defend himself. “It’s ice and I have fire powers!”

Grabbing him again, Jay drags him around as they avoid getting impaled by debris created by the snake. “If this snake doesn’t kill you, I will! And if it does, I’ll resurrect you and kill you again!”

Kai arches an eyebrow at the statement. “Aren’t you supposed to be in love with me?” He complains.

Jay gives him a look. “It’s because I love you that I threaten to kill you. Because apparently threatening is your love language.”

“Huh?”

“You do it all the ti- LOOK OUT!” Jay tackles him, sending a blast of lightning at the the tail of the snake that’s crashing down-

Everything goes bright white, and pain wracks his body, making him cry out. They manage to avoid getting crushed, but only just, and the two of them end up sprawled on the ground.

Kai feels himself twitch some, all of his hair on end. Groaning, he glances over at Jay, who’s getting to his feet.

The ginger’s eyes widen as he looks at Kai. “Shit, I- are you okay?! I didn’t mean to shock you!”

He got shocked? Hmm. That would explain the excruciating pain.

With a groan, he forces himself to sit up. “ ‘m doin’ g-great.” He gets out, ignoring his blurry vision as he struggles to his feet.

“Kai-“

Jay is cut off when the snake is suddenly whipping back through, hitting the ginger clear across the alley- and the only reason he stopped there is because of a wall.

Kai winces as he watches Jay get slammed into the concrete. That can’t feel good.

Then again, he’s not exactly in peak condition either.

He struggles to get up a few times before resolving to just lay there. Jay will come get him in a minute, and even though it’s concrete, the ground feels awfully comfortable…

Even as his vision grows more and more blurred, he manages to make out several sets of combat boots, and then someone is picking him up, dragging him away.

Kai lets them, closing his eyes. It’s probably just Cole… yeah, Cole wears black, and is definitely strong enough to carry him around. That would make sense.

The world starts to fade, and Kai doesn’t bother trying to hold onto it.

Everything hurts, and it would be so much easier to ignore it and drift away…

And that’s exactly what he does.

#ninjago fanfiction #fanfiction #time for amnesia au

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turtle-steverogers · 3 years

Text

Team Bonding

fr when was the last time i posted like,,, a fic on here. like a tumblr fic. damn. anyway. ummmmmmmm this is just your.... typical steve freaks out and the avengers are awesome um yah ok ok

warnings: panic attack, vomiting (basically steve watches the titanic and doesnt have a very fun time)

word count: 2575

If Steve was being brutally honest with himself, he was fucking tired of hearing about “the classics”. Irrelevant people butting their noses into his business, tipping him off to what movies were, “the best of the best!” and “absolute must sees!” He appreciated what they were trying to do, but after a while, it felt like people were more or less just trying to garner a slice of his 21st century experience, and quite frankly, he liked doing things better by himself. It was much more appealing to park himself in front of his laptop, nothing but his own quietude to keep him company as he combed through different wikipedia rabbit holes and caught up on movies and TV shows that were apparently crucial to his very existence.

Most were subpar and honestly, he preferred the copious amounts of popcorn he treated himself to on these solo date nights, but some things surprised him. Like Indiana Jones. He liked Indiana Jones. He was neat, and Marion reminded him vaguely of Peggy.

Still, he supposed he should have seen it coming when Clint came to collect him from his floor one evening, that sort of eager-puppy energy he carried around with him vaguely prickling the back of Steve’s neck.

“C’mon, man,” he was saying. Steve leaned against the door jamb, tired. He was going to concede, but Clint was rambling and Steve knew better than to interrupt him. “It’s, like, certifiably the best love story ever. You need to watch it--”

And there it was again. That fucking claim. You need to watch this! You haven’t seen that?

No. He hadn’t. He’d been a little busy, you know, being dead.

“--And the acting is all so raw and it’s just-- Leo DiCaprio-- you know who that--”

“--Yes. I saw Blood Diamond--”

“--Oh, you did? Well, anyway, he rocks in this and--”

“Clint,” Steve cut him off smoothly. “I’ll come, don’t sweat it too hard.”

Clint looked positively elated. “You will?” he exclaimed. “Awesome, yeah, it’s gonna be the whole team. I mean, that’s good right? You’re cool with that? You gotta be, you’re the one who mentioned team bonding that one time--”

“Yes,” Steve cut in again. “I’m alright with that. Give me a minute to change, and I’ll be right down?” He was still in his gym clothes from two hours ago. He meant to take a shower, but he’d sort of… ran out of energy. The sweat had cooled by now anyway. He smelled fine.

“Oh! Yeah, no problem.”

Which was how Steve found himself in a pair of sweatpants and an old SHIELD t-shirt, squashed in between Natasha and Bruce on the communal couch. Someone had handed him a huge bowl of popcorn and Steve was pleasantly surprised to find that it was flavored with some sort of cheese powder.

“White cheddar,” Bruce said, holding up a little blue shaker bottle when he heard Steve’s appreciative hum. “They’re, uh, sort of like seasoning, but for popcorn specifically. They come in all different kinds of flavors.”

“Oh, neat,” Steve said, around another handful of popcorn. He liked Bruce. He seemed to get Steve in that quiet, brutally raw sort of way. A quiet kinship. They didn’t talk about it, but he never made him feel condescended, so Steve decided that was okay.

“I think I fixed it!” Tony said, stepping out from behind the ginormous movie screen where, presumably, he’d been fixing a volume problem. The screen had been frozen on the first frame of the movie for nearly ten minutes. “Okay, okay, let’s see…” he pressed play. Music poured through the speakers on either side of the TV, loud enough so that everyone cringed and Steve nearly dropped the popcorn bowl in his haste to cover his ears. He always managed to forget how damn loud the world could be when he let himself get comfortable.

“Sorry, sorry!” Tony hissed, turning the volume down to a much more tolerable level. “Okay, there. Okay, shh everyone. Gotta let Capsicle--”

“--Just Steve, Tony--”

“--Gotta let Just Steve get the full experience.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but settled in to watch.

The film was honestly better than Steve had been expecting, if not a little… itchy in that way period films tended to be for him. The themes of poverty and love were pretty well-rounded, but they hit just close enough that he almost cringed at the far-fetch’d beauty of it.

Still, his fingers itched for a pencil as Jack guided a pencil over the worn sheaf of paper. The dim light, the faint scratch of the pencil, the forbidden love. It was familiar. Steve could almost smell the salty City air, afternoons spent under the dim lights of candles so they could see even with the curtains drawn-- a semblance of privacy amongst the compact vulnerability of his and Bucky’s shitty little tenement.

Draw me like one of your french girls, Rose had said, and Steve’s eyes drifted towards the wall, Bucky’s voice echoing through his head.

“‘Course I want you to draw me. I ain’t denying my vanity, Stevie,” he teased, but his eyes were soft. “Pal, you could draw a stick of butter and I’d still wanna watch. It ain’t about me here.”

There was a soft touch to his arm and Steve blinked out of his reverie. Natasha was watching him, a neutral look on her face that Steve had finally learned to recognize as concern. He shook his head minutely, offering her a smile. She nodded and looked back at the TV.

The rest of the movie passed without much excitement. The acting was pretty good and Steve had even gotten to a point where he could recognize the filmmaking as something like revolutionary for the time it came out. He was quicker on the cultural uptake than people gave him credit for, but that was neither here nor there. He laughed with everyone else, let himself grow somber when the atmosphere lent that mood, and generally, it was a nice time. He hadn’t gone to any movie nights before this, but he thought maybe he’d start going to more.

And then the ship hit the iceberg.

Steve wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. Obviously, he knew of the Titanic-- he knew, historically, what happened to it. But for some reason, it hadn’t quite hit him while watching the movie that he was going to have to see the catastrophe go down.

There was a loud creaking of ice on metal as the collision occurred on screen and Steve felt himself go still-- body rigid and tense as the deafening noise played through the speakers. His heart slammed in his chest and he felt his palms start to sweat. He knew that sound-- he knew that--

--He blinked, shaking his head. Movie. Watch the movie. There was a panicked scramble on screen. Characters rushing to amend the situation, more metal creaking and groaning and breaking as dark, foamy water broke through the sides of the ship and Steve could taste it, he could taste the water flooding into the cabin, hitting him from the left as it took the plane down in a harsh--

--He twitched, shaking his head. He was being silly. There were moments of reconciliation as the scenes rapidly flashed between water flooding the ships cabins and peaceful moments of civility. A calm before the storm. A final dance before death.

I’m gonna need a raincheck on that dance…

There was a sudden crash as water blasted through into the work quarters and Steve jumped, watching transfixed as unforgiving torrents pushed workers over, flooding them, drowning them, and they were falling, slipping, sliding, panicking as certain death met them at the halfway point, and Steve knew it must be cold. So cold. Suffocating and unforgiving as it flooded their lungs, saltier than they probably imagined, heavy and awful and--

“Stark, turn the movie off.”

The room went abruptly silent. Steve realized his eyes were closed, chest heaving as he sat, hunched over his lap, hands fisted in his hair.

The popcorn wasn’t on his lap anymore. When had he moved? He couldn’t breathe and he was so cold and someone needed to save those guys, someone needed to--

“Steve,” a gentle voice cut into the roaring waves crashing in his head. Bruce. That was Bruce speaking. “Can you hear me, Steve?”

Steve nodded, pulling his hair harder. He couldn’t breathe. Was he drowning again? Surely that was impossible. If Bruce was talking to him, he couldn’t be drowning again, but-- but the water-- and-- and the cold--

“Good, that’s good, Steve,” Bruce. Bruce again. It was Bruce. “Can I touch you?”

Touch. Touch. No touch. He was so cold. He wanted to stop being cold, but he was certain if someone touched him right now, he would lose his goddamn mind. More so than he already had.

“That’s alright,” Bruce sounded steady. Calm. So calm. Why couldn’t Steve calm down? “That’s okay. You think you can do something for me?”

Something… for Bruce? Could he? Could he do anything right then? If he couldn’t breathe, how could he do anything-- and he-- he felt sick--

He opened his mouth to answer and vomited between his feet, straight onto the carpet. Someone in the room hissed sympathetically. Steve wanted to crawl somewhere and die.

“Oh, Steve,” Bruce seemed to be talking mostly to himself, but Steve felt his shoulders climb higher towards his ears. “Okay, Steve, I need you to listen to my voice. Just listen. I’m going to count and you’re going to breathe in time with my instruction, okay? Can you do that for me?”

Steve shook his head, choking on a sob. His chest hurt. Like someone had taken all of his ribs and replaced them with weights, flooding his lungs with-- with water-- and fuck, now he was thinking about the plane again. He felt his breathing tick up higher.

“I want you to try,” Bruce said. “With me. In,” he sucked in a breath. “One… two… three… four…”

Steve tried to suck in a breath, but all he managed to do was send himself into a coughing fit. Bruce kept counting. Steve wanted to tell him to wait-- slow down-- shut up--

He braced a hand over his chest.

Bruce was still counting.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but eventually he found himself matching Bruce’s counts, eyes closed and the heels of his palms braced on his temples as he sucked in greedy, measured breaths. His heart was still slamming hard enough to make him tremble and he could smell his own sick wafting up from the ground, but at least he was breathing on his own.

Bruce trailed off. Silence hung thick in the air, the only noise Steve’s slow, shaking breaths. Shame burned around his ears. He didn’t dare look up.

Tony, predictably, was the one to break the silence. “I’m sorry, Steve,” he said, and Steve was surprised to hear honest regret in his voice. “I was the one who suggested we watch Titanic. I should have thought for more than two seconds about that…”

Steve shrugged. Embarrassment climbed from his stomach to his throat, threatening to choke him.

Natasha spoke next. “Why don’t you go wash up?” It was an escape-- a way out-- and Steve took it graciously, keeping his head ducked down as he stood on shaking legs and rushed to the communal bathroom.

Inside, he locked the door and braced himself over the sink, splashing warm water on his face. He drank greedily from the tap. His reflection looked like shit-- he’d burst some blood vessels in his eyes, probably while vomiting, and his skin looked sallow and pale. He was trembling, sweat matting his hair to his forehead. He looked how he looked after a nightmare. This, he supposed, had kind of been like a nightmare. Though, he hadn’t been asleep.

Nightmares, he was finding, weren’t strictly exclusive to the nighttime.

He supposed he’d always known that, though.

He closed his eyes, bowing his head again.

His emotions had been fucked to high hell since waking up from the ice. This hadn’t been the first of those awful… fits, and he was certain it wouldn’t be the last, but to have something like that happen in front of the team was a whole new level of mortifying. Fuck. He’d gotten sick. And he’d left it.

He felt the ceramic counter straining under his grip. Scowling, he let go.

He could slip off to his room, lock himself away until he could find some way to sneak out of the Tower and never talk to any of the others ever again. Even in this state, Steve knew that wasn’t viable in any sense. He sighed. Besides, he couldn’t just damn the others to clean up his mess.

Stowing his pride, he dug some spare mouthwash out from behind the mirror and chugged some straight down, keeping a mouthful and swishing it around before spitting it in the sink. He still felt and looked like shit, but at least his breath would smell like wintergreen.

The others were still gathered in the communal living room, watching what looked like a kid’s cartoon on TV. There was a distinct smell of cleaner in the air and Steve’s eyes landed on the ground where he’d gotten sick. It was clean. He let his eyes drop to the ground, ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. The cartoon paused. He didn’t look at any of them. “I was going to clean up.”

“Nah, man, the only thing worse than freaking out is having to clean up after yourself while you still feel shitty,” Clint said, and Steve looked up. There was no pity in his gaze, only understanding.

“Yeah, we’ve all been there,” Tony said. “Sucks, but hey, least we know now that Titanic is a no-no for you.”

Steve flushed, swallowing a few times. “Um, I guess,” he looked at Bruce. “Thank you.”

Bruce smiled. “No problem,” he said gently. “We’re watching Phineas and Ferb if you’d like to join us, but we understand if you’d like to go rest.”

“Phineas and Ferb?” Steve asked, guilt replaced with genuine confusion.

“Yeah,” Clint said, shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth. “It’s my go-to when I have a bad day. Nothing like some good old platypus drama to cure life’s woes.”

Steve blinked. “I genuinely don’t know what to say to that.”

Clint barked out a laugh. “Join us, man! Don’t gotta talk if you’re not feeling it, but being alone after shit like that sucks.”

And Steve hadn’t had someone there for him after a breakdown-- not since the war. Not since Bucky. Every ounce of him wanted to run. Hide. Smooth out his face and slip on that mask of stoicism. But maybe… maybe he didn’t have to. Maybe he could let himself have this, if only this once.

“Sure,” he said, voice a little hoarse. He awkwardly sat back in between Natasha and Bruce.

Tony pressed play again and Steve smoothed his hands over his thighs, feeling out of place and a little cramped and--

Natasha settled, casually letting her feet rest on his lap. On his other side, Bruce leaned into his shoulder, a subtle, grounding pressure. Clint caught his eye and offered him some more popcorn.

Steve relaxed.

Yeah. He could let himself have this.

thanks for reading, chiefs

yeah this was chatted about in one of the awesome discord groups im in so thanks guyysss lol

#marvel shit #marvel #Steve Rogers #marvel fic #steve rogers fic #Avengers #team bonding #yes #avengers fic #i love them all #dlakjfl #ok #crawling back into my hole #im definitely supposed to be doing homework

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bloodwrittenballad · 4 years

Text

The four times JJ almost said “I Love You” and the one time he finally did.

A/N: first fic on tumblr ayyy uh let me know what you think??

Warnings: uh some fighting n injuries, underage drinking and lots of pining. also probably just pure shit writing, this isn’t proofread it’s deadass 2am i wrote this up randomly and really fast i’ll probably just end up deleting it but anywho enjoy and be kind please bye

The first time:

It was a nice day, the weather warm and sunny, and what better way was there to spend it on the HMS Pogue with your best friends. The five of you spent your time in the marsh swimming and drinking the beverages that Kie had so graciously brought along.

It wasn’t long before you all became pretty tired - or intoxicated - and sprawled around the HMS.

You laid next to JJ, your head in his lap as he lazily played with your hair while he and the others talked and teased one another. He looked down at you every so often, taking in your features while you just kept your eyes closed and bathed in the warmth of the summer, and the urge to say those three words grew bigger each time.

But, instead, he just brushed it off and laughed at whatever joke John B had said, though in reality all he could think about was the day he’d finally get to say what he’s been longing to for years.

The second time:

The party was in full swing, filled with a numerous amount of kooks, pogues and tourons, but all he could focus on was you. Kie had drunkenly begged to dance with her and you being you, couldn’t refuse the offer. He watched as Kie squealed and dragged you by your arm, smiling to himself as he watched you clumsily trip, but soon you were dancing confidently to the beat of the song, lost in your own little world.

His eyes didn’t leave you for a second as he watched you move, your eyes soon catching his and you smiled that beautiful smile of yours, beckoning him over to you. At first JJ just shook his head playfully and stayed standing where he was, but once you pulled the puppy dog eyes and pouted your lips, he couldn’t resist.

And before he even realized, he was twirling you around to the music, blind to the world around him as he focused on nothing but you and the way you looked so effortlessly beautiful and carefree.

He swore to himself in that moment that he’d never loved someone as much as you, but as much as he wanted to say it, he couldn’t bring himself to.

One day, he told himself. But not today.

The third time:

The whole gang was hanging out at the Chateau. The weather was a little more on the cloudy side that day, but it didn’t stop you guys from having fun. Especially you and JJ, who you were currently running away from. “Oh I am so gonna get you!” He yelled, his whole body soaking wet from the bottle of water you dumped on him seconds prior. You squealed as you ran, JJ not far behind.

It wasn’t long before he caught up to you, which wasn’t surprising considering he was taller than you. He tackled you, pinning you down on the ground and laughing as he did so. “Say you’re sorry!” He demanded in a mocking tone, “never!” you chuckled along. JJ raised his brow, turning his head to John B and said “pass me a water bottle.”

Dread instantly filled your entire being as John B played along and grabbed the cold water bottle from the cooler. Your eyes went wide as he began to walk over, slowly stretching his arm out to pass the bottle to JJ, who was about to take it before you screamed out, “okay I surrender! I’m sorry!” you apologized. JJ smirked, “apology accepted, princess.” He chuckled before getting off of you, pulling you up with him.

Him arm was around your waist and you shoved him off, flicking him your middle finger and walked over to Kie, not before playfully spitting out “I hate you!”

JJ bit his lip, deciding weather to retaliate by finally saying it, but instead he just scrunched his nose and said “I hate you most!”

He’d get around to saying it one day.

The fourth time:

You couldn’t believe you were actually here, but somehow Kie convinced you to be her guest at the Midsummers party, and who were you to leave a friend in need? Especially when Kie so desperately pleaded for you to go, not wanting to be alone with the Kooks for a whole night. Thus, bringing you to where you are now, sitting at a table with people you didn’t know, drinking a drink that tasted like privilege and ignoring the glares from Rafe and his goons.

You were really starting to regret coming now, if not for the uncomfortable dress and the judgmental stares, it was because you were in distress over the whole situation with JJ that occurred the day prior, when Shoupe arrested him.

Your heart ached for the boy whilst your mind worried for him, wanting nothing more than to just have him here, safe with you by your side.

Little did you know, that silent little prayer was going to be answered just seconds later when said boy suddenly came crashing out of the house, being dragged by a security guard. He was rambling, making a scene and you laughed that angelic laugh he loved so much, which caused JJ to immediately find your smiling face in the crowd, which made him break out into a smile of his own. “Y/N!” he cheered, winking at you. “C’mon, ladies, power hour at Rixons let’s go!” He beckoned for you to follow his lead, so you did.

You got out of your chair and bounced up to the boy, waisting no time in throwing your arms around him and hugging him so tight, afraid he might’ve disappeared from your arms if you didn’t. Tears sprung in your eyes as you spoke in soft whispers, “I was so scared. I thought I was going to lose you, JJ.” you mumbled into his shoulder, causing his to squeeze you back even tighter. “That’s never going to happen, princess.” he whispered. “You’re never going to lose me, I’ll always be here.” JJ promised, over and over, saying he wasn’t going anywhere.

And that was true, he wasn’t. Because he still had to say those three little words, and until he finally gets the chance, there’s no way in hell he’s letting you go.

The one time where he finally says it:

No one really knows how or why Rafe and Barry found you guys, but they did. And neither of them were happy. Barry didn’t waste anytime in attacking JJ, making you and Kie scream. You tried to rush forward, stop Barry and help JJ, but Rafe was quick to grab you and throw you on the ground, delivering a painful kick straight to your stomach. You groaned out in pain, curling into yourself as you cradled your stomach.

That didn’t stop your assaulter from continuing, Rafe repeating kick after kick as you laid on the floor, helpless and bloody. Pain surrounded your entire being now, and you could faintly hear yelling throughout the buzz of your ringing ears, but as to who was yelling and what they were saying was a complete mystery to you, but your guess was JJ.

He was the only thing that went through your mind before you blacked out entirely, the world fading to nothing...

When you finally came to, you saw JJ hovering over you, his face even more bruised up than before, and it was contorted into a look of pure concern, though he tried to mask it with a smile once he saw your eyes open up and a broken “JJ” left your lips. “Hey, pretty girl.” JJ cooed, “don’t talk or move, alright? Just stay still baby and we’re gonna get you help as soon as possible, yeah? Yeah, you’re gonna be okay. I’m gonna make sure of that, everything’s gonna be alright. And I’m gonna make sure that no one ever hurts you like this again, okay? Ever. I love you, you know that? So I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure that you’re alright.”

In the midst of his rambling, he didn’t even realize what he said until you cut him off, “I love you too, JJ.” you whispered tiredly, smiling softly at him with all your strength. It was then that the realization of what he said sunk in, and what you said, and that the words he’d been dying to say and hear, had finally been said. JJ looked deeply into your bruising eyes, which he still found so beautiful even when purple and swollen, and that’s when he knew, there would never be a love stronger than the one you two had.

#outer banks x reader #outer banks imagine #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank imagine #obx fic #obx fanfiction #jj maybank #obx jj

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bookwyrminspiration · 3 years

Text

Shattered Upside Down

A kotlc wings au: masterpost here

Chapter 9: The Little Reminders

word count: 7.1k

chapter summary: Sophie and her friends are in the Lost Cities. The broken down, monster-infested Lost Cities. And they only have a certain amount of time to do everything they need to before something bad shows up. But monsters aren't all that comes to try and get them.

warnings: monsters, blood, implied death (of a character never met or mentioned again, who died a long time ago, it's not as bad as it sounds), arguing with parents, fighting, buildings collapsing, brief medical mention, swearing

taglist: I’ll reblog with it. let me know if you want to be added or removed!

Y'all ready? We're tying in some little details from earlier, so that's fun! Enjoy the chapter! Apologies if formatting is a little weird. Tumblr did a thing so I don't know what it'll look like when I post it!

ao3 link here or read below

It was so quiet a pin drop could’ve shattered the world.

Not that it would’ve made a difference. Colored glass and cracked gems littered the ground, an entire city brought to its knees. Mold and mushrooms crawled painstaking through the cracks, condensation crying down the sides, water marks left in their wake. Building after building as far as one could see was destroyed, damaged, some even reduced entirely to rubble.

Sophie didn’t even want to breathe as they moved, the stench of monsters and rotting flesh and decay permeating the area.

They hadn’t seen anything, not yet. But she knew they were there. Somewhere. Watching. Gauging. They’d entered the monsters’ territory, and now they could only try to do what they needed before those things decided to respond.

Their scent was thick enough Sophie wished she’d remembered to bring that mask she’d had before she’d run away, the same one they’d worn on that damning mission. It was supposed to be the end. They’d bring down the facility and clean up the aftermath and everything would get better.

A bright pink hair ribbon fluttered in a breeze, stuck beneath a cluster of broken crystal on the side of the path. A hand print beside it, frozen in the mud. A small hand print. It was gouged through with claw marks. She didn’t want to know what had happened. She knew.

Where do you think they are? Fitz asked, just to her. She gave him a mental shrug in response. She didn’t want to know. No amount of preparing would be enough for whatever happened.

Part of her, a surprisingly large part, didn’t want her parents to show up. She didn’t want to confront them and explain herself and lie her way through the conversation. And she knew she’d be at the center of it. The Moonlark. Sophie Foster. Always in the middle of things. Not that they were wrong, it was just tiring.

Yet another part of her remained horrified she’d even presented this ultimatum. She could risk herself; she’d had more experience with monsters in the past week than she’d had since everything started. Sure, it wasn’t much. But it was something. One of them even saw her as a...friend.

This group, she didn’t want to risk. But they wouldn’t let her do it alone and they’d planned this out beforehand. They weren't going in with their hands tied. And they could all easily escape, rely on those wings if it came to an emergency.

Maybe they’d even leave them alone again, like that creature in the tree the night they ran.

But their parents? They’d been stuck underground for the last several months. And they weren’t even fighters in the first place. They were painfully elven and she loved them to death. She couldn’t stand being responsible for anything that happened here today.

It was so horribly cruel of Sophie to have picked this place, to have given them so little choice. The place was infested. The stench made her eyes water, rips and tears marks littered the buildings everywhere you looked.

Something darted through her peripheral and she flinched. The creatures knew they were here. They just hadn’t attacked. Maybe they’d gotten lucky, were in a part of the city with some of the more docile ones, although all of them were threatening.

Let's get a head start. So they don’t catch us off guard. It seemed forbidden, intrusive to speak aloud. Like there was this careful illusion held together by the silence. None of them were willing to break it.

The others nodded, breaking into two groups.

Sophie, Linh, Biana, and Wylie in one; Dex, Tam, Maruca, Marella, Fitz, and Keefe in the other. Those that could hide the wings, and those that couldn’t. And Dex, who was going to grab some supplies.

Sophie pulled her cloak closer, checking it was secured as a breeze passed by. The wings buzzed in response, the open sky beckoning her. She’d have to be extra careful they didn’t make a noise if their parents showed up.

Wylie nudged her, raising his brows in question.

Right. She was supposed to find them. Track them. She was the telepath of their group.

Everyone reeked of anxiety, muscles tensed as she leaned back against a nearby building for stability, raising her fingers to her temples.

Starting with a blanket sweep, she scanned the nearby area, searching for any presence she could find. The wave spread from her like an explosion, rocketing outwith her at the center. She could feel Fitz stumble, perking up as the wave washed over him, faintly hearing someone ask him what happened. She didn’t bother to hear the reply.

There were pockmarks scattered throughout, empty holes moving within the web she wove. Monsters. Since that day in the facility she’d learned what they felt like, the hollow space they left behind. Like looking for a blind spot. They were...everywhere. But none attacked.

Reaching further, she kept scanning, about to give up.

Someone smelling of cherry blossoms placed their hand down on her shoulder, shaking her slightly. Sophie jerked, inhaling deeply, keeling forward and nearly toppling over if it weren’t for that hand.

Not here yet, she whispered, trying to reorient herself. The sudden change from concentration back to reality had been jarring--unintentional on Biana’s part, but a large stressor nonetheless.

Move!! Biana hissed in her mind, pulling Sophie along.

Oh.

Her mind lagged a moment behind as she was dragged, shaking her head to try and comprehend the enormous, gaping shadow that had fallen over their group.

She covered her mouth to try and slow her breathing as they ducked around a corner.

Biana hadn’t shaken her awake out of impatience or question. She’d jarred her into reality to escape.

Now that she was aware of it, the pungent odor of breath and smoke coated her tongue. Just how distracted had she been? How far out had her mind been reaching that she didn’t even notice the thing right beside her?

It’s claws made a horrid screeching sound against the crystal as it moved, talons sinking into the wall several feet above where they’d just been, its enormous barbed tail swinging lazily, thwacking into that very spot she’d been leaning against, leaving cracks and scratches all down the side.

C’mon, Linh called, gesturing from where she was tucked away on the other side of the road. Let’s get away from here.

There was no way they could get past that tail, sporadically swinging around and blocking that path to the rest of their group. Goddamnit. How had they gotten separated so quickly?

“There’s no way we’re getting through there,” Biana groaned oh so quietly, speaking Sophie’s thoughts aloud, shaking out her hands, trying to dispel the nerves.

Sophie absentmindedly nodded in agreement, surveying the area, looking for the least dangerous, quickest path. She didn’t even need a destination, just away. Biana’s fingers closed around her wrist, drawing energy from her skin as they both sporadically faded in and out of view. Huh. When had Biana grown so powerful?

The thing shifted its weight, tail thunking around and sinking into the wall, using it as leverage to crawl further up the building, staining it red wherever its skin grated against the crystal.

Wait.

Now, Sophie urged, pulling them both back. Use this moment. Take advantage of every single second you’re granted and wring every inch of progress you can from it. With the tail momentarily occupied, you’d think she’d go forward. Dart through the danger and emerge victorious.

No. Sophie Foster didn’t like to do things the way people expected her to. It made her eyelashes itch.

She whirled around, Biana attached to her wrist. They’d backed themselves into a corner, but just how far back would this corner go? What would it give them if only they had the keen insight to ask?

Its eyes made contact with hers and its mouth dropped open just as they turned their backs, the sound of the ground trembling behind them as it dropped itself down, starting the hunt.

Rock slammed against the soles of their shoes as they stumbled through the rubble, tripping over colored pebbles and ducking under collapsed pillars, buildings rising on either side of them like they were trapped in a maze with no end. No solution.

Growls and screeching claws echoed around them, and she knew they were surrounded. She couldn’t see them but she knew.

They’d caused a commotion and now everyone was coming to see what all the fuss was about.

Cursing, they rounded a corner only to come to a screeching stop, a mound of crystal pieces blocking their path. Turning, they looked over their shoulders.

Something skidded down the side of the building, the narrow gap between walls, claws scratching as it descended, something unpleasant in its eye. It’s mouth gaped, no teeth in sight but a hissing noise emerged nonetheless. It was large enough it nearly didn't fit in the space, but it contorted and slithered and narrowed its gaze onto her, mouth falling open with a mechanical click.

Well, fuck. It’s too early for that. The morning chill hadn’t even dispersed yet.

Both their heartbeats hammered in their chest, adrenaline surging as she realized this one was very much not friendly, it wouldn’t even try to be. Leave leave leave leave leave she needed to get out. They needed to go somewhere anywhere else.

Where are you going? Linh asked, somewhere from beside Wylie. It seemed Biana and Sophie were the only ones in danger. Great. The others didn’t even know they were being hunted, stalked, tracked, assessed.

Um. Good question, she responded. I’ll let you know when we figure that out. Biana glanced at her sidelong, seeming to realize Sophie actually didn’t have a plan and groaning. Then grinned, laughing with her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound as she threw herself into their escape.

They turned on their heels, putting their backs to this new monster once more, and ran. On hands and knees, rocks and pebbles shifting uneasily beneath them as they climbed over the pile.

Their cloaks with the chaotic movement and Sophie caught a single glimpse of the vibrant orange against Biana’s back before she was bumping into a corner and moving again.

It crashed into something behind them, the haphazard destruction providing a dangerous terrain it couldn’t quite navigate. Good. Good. This was good.

Run. Jump. Avoid. Disappear.

It roared behind them, screeching in pain as something heavy crashed down. Maybe it’d gotten caught on a building. Good. That was good, right?

Sunlight shone through the gaps between buildings, spastic as they channeled extra power into their legs, dashing darting dancing through the destruction until she saw an opening, looked up and remembered that flash of orange and realized she was not burdened to the ground and she grabbed Biana’s hand.

“JUMP,” she screamed, her voice echoing through the walls and reverberating back to her against the crystal.

They jumped, pushing all that channeled strength into their legs and leaping higher higher higher until they crested the walls and could see for miles for everywhere for eternity.

And they caught themselves.

Those wings snapped out, flinging themselves from beneath the cloaks and smoothing their descent. She blinked and that film dropped over her eyes.

Biana moved jerkily yet somehow smooth in the sky, letting go of Sophie’s hand as she flitted to and fro, movements that would’ve made Sophie undeniably nauseous.

It took her only a moment to locate the others, to find Wylie’s exasperation and Linh’s concern. To change course and point Biana in the right direction and swan dive down, curving around crumbling spires and rods.

Risking a glance backwards, she couldn’t locate that creature, it seemingly lost within that maze of buildings and halls and paths that would’ve trapped them too had the sky not beckoned so loud.

Clear. They were in the clear. It was behind them. They were fine.

Vaguely, she could see the other group in the distance, the rest of their friends pointing and waving as they watched them soar in slowly descending circles, growing ever closer to the ground. They’d gone off to find Dex’s supplies, just perusing through the city. It’d take several people to get everything he needed, maybe even more than one trip.

Biana began lowering herself, but Sophie couldn’t help but linger in the sky just a few moments longer, taking in the destruction. Reminding herself of everything they were fighting for, why she needed to step out of her own skin and remember all the people she’d left behind.

She shouldn’t have.

Something glimmered off in the distance, only visible with this new eyesight from this vantage point, but she dropped like a stone.

The void let her through, jumping between places and glitching through the air like she had when she’d grabbed Marella, falling atop Biana in the sky and wrapping her arms around her, jerking them through the void and onto the ground, sprawling a few feet away from the rest of their group.

Shit.

Biana sat up, shaking herself off and covering her wings, drawing that cloak close. Everyone’s hearts were hammering, echoing in her ears as her throat went dry.

Sophie got to her feet, bracing her hands on the back of her neck. She couldn’t dare speak it out loud, didn’t know what was still listening. If that creature had truly gotten itself caught or if it was just waiting to continue the chase. She didn't want to bother with it, just thinking it a minor nuisance as the real shit came to fruition.

Huh. Her world had devolved into such chaos that a monster chase was just a brief interruption, nothing to be thought over.

She shook her hands out, Wylie reaching down to help Biana to her feet.

There was no use putting it off any longer, so she spoke into the entire mindbubble. They’re here.

Sophie couldn’t pull her wings close enough; they were so conformed to the shape of her body she worried they’d bend that way permanently. But still, she wanted them closer. She’d buttoned up the front of her cloak, prepared her lies, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough.

She scratched at her arms to try and distract herself, but that just pulled at her damaged skin, leaving lacerations and blood stains behind. She really should’ve wrapped them. Why hadn’t she wrapped herself up? That’s what she’d gone with Tam to get.

Linh's skin was covered in bandages, her legs and arms tightly bound. It hid some of the incandescence, and in the morning light she almost looked completely normal. Sophie should’ve done the same to herself. She’d gotten so distracted she hadn’t even thought to, and none of the others had remembered to remind her.

Strange. Usually they were so on top of her injuries. It was...unsettling to imagine why they weren’t this time. Not that--not that she wanted them to focus on her. She just--

“Is everyone prepared?” Wylie’s voice was so loud in this silence it made her physically jump, taking all of her energy to keep the wings from shooting out in fear, giving herself away. She did get some impressive height, though.

“Nope. Let’s do this anyway.” If they didn’t do this now, didn't confront their parents and convince them to stop trying to find them, they’d just have to do it again later.

They were fine for now. They were relatively safe and unharmed. Their injuries were from themselves, not the forest. The forest. The forest only she had access to.

If you can, grab the stuff to make a temporary crystal or find a pathfinder of some kind, she sent out to everyone. So you don’t have to rely on me.

Nice try, Foster. I like relying on you. But yeah we’ll look.

She rolled her eyes. Of course he was joking. He knew she was anxious and the little fucker was trying to make her feel better. And it was fucking working. She scowled.

Alright. Now or never. Do or die.

Live with it.

Sophie couldn’t see through the tears falling from her lashes, the wet getting caught up in those films. The world was made of fragments and smears and it was all she could do to hold herself together as she saw her father climbing over a mound of rubble.

Grady. Dad.

There were others beside him, an entire group who had come out to try and get them back, but she couldn’t stop herself from desperately reaching out one last time. She saw him and her legs were moving moving moving and she just had to get to him to let him hold her to feel him alive beneath her fingertips.

He was moving too, eyes widening as he sprinted forward and then he was right there and his arms wrapped around her and held on so so tight and his chin rested on her head and her face was buried in his chest and he smelled like soap and feathers and warmth and home.

She’d missed this so much.

“Hey, kiddo,” he whispered against her hair, the braids she’d woven them into on the walk over, trying to tame the mess. She’d have to do that when flying. They rocked back and forth, just holding holding holding each other.

She’d missed this.

Eventually, he stepped back a bit, holding her out by the shoulders and looking her over, gnawing at his lip as he saw all the blisters, the lacerations, the burns. The scratches.

It’d been a rough couple of days.

“Are you okay?” he asked, bringing her in close again, this time oh so gentle. Like he was afraid one wrong move would tear her apart.

She just shrugged; she couldn’t get her throat to work. She exhaled, the breath shaky and uncontrolled, wiping at her eyes to try and compose herself. She didn’t even know who else was here. Did she care?

Sophie stepped back, but Grady reached up to pat the top of her head, smoothing down her hair. She leaned into the touch. She’d missed this.

He stepped to the side when he saw her leaning to try and see around him, glancing around the area now that she was here and there was something to protect.

There were so many people. Any number was many. She didn’t know why she thought she could do this. She could do this.

Taking a deep breath, she counted who’d come.

Ro and Sandor--Sandor--stood on either side of the group, weapons out and noses lifted to the wind. Protection. Della was wrapped around Biana, fussing over her and feeling the bandages on her arm. A pang of guilt hit her, but she pressed it aside. Mr. Forkle stood beside Wylie, the two of them in some sort of discussion she hadn’t expected. Elwin had rushed to Linh just beside Wylie, and was now carefully lowering her to the ground, Juline giving a helping hand.

Juline. She looked up, making eye-contact with Sophie, holding it.

“Everyone else is in a different part of the city,” she said, clearing her throat. “But they’re fine. They’re okay. Well--” she cut off, eyes glazing over as she reached out to Fitz.

Grady’s hand tightened on her shoulder, but the sensation faded as her mind reached away from her body.

I’ve...they’re here. She said, unsure how else to put it. Are you all doing alright?

It took him a moment to respond. Yup. Just a little--shit. Just a lot of unwieldy things. I just dropped something. Dex seems to be having the time of his life, though. None of it makes sense to me.

Okay. Reach out if you need anything. Or just to interrupt...because this conversation isn't going to be fun.

He laughed slightly, hollow. Yeah. I definitely don't envy you right now.

Wait, have you envied me before?

Good question.

She waited for him to answer it, but it was silent on his end. Well you can’t just--

Take care, Sophie. I love you.

He severed their connection.

“--Sophie?” Someone was shaking her--Grady. That was Grady. His hand was on her shoulder and he was shaking her back into her body.

“Mmm. Yup. That’s me,” she slurred, shaking her head slightly to regain her stability, to ground herself. She rubbed at her eyes, Fitz’s words echoing in her mind. I love you.

She wanted to say it back. Why hadn’t he given her the chance to say it back?

Sophie found Juline once more, directing her words in that general area but addressing the whole group. “Yeah, they’re all fine.”

“Tell them to come here, please.” Ah. Okay. Right into it, then.

She shook her head. “They’re busy.”

Sandor stepped forward, fist tightening on the hilt of his blade. “They can un-busy themselves for this.”

Wylie took it for her, and she nearly leapt forward to hug him right there and then, but it didn’t seem like the right time. She didn’t want to be the only one they addressed.

“Unfortunately, they cannot. But anything you need to tell them you can tell us and we’ll relay the information.” He crossed his arms, glancing towards her as if in question.

She inclined her head slightly. Yes, it was okay that he stepped in.

“We’ll need all of you in one place for this,” Sandor said, and Sophie’s stomach dropped.

“We’re not going back.”

Grady’s hand tightened on her shoulder, flexing as if he wanted to pull her closer and just leap away with her. But they were separated. If they stole the four of them away now, they’d never find the other six.

She hated that they had to strategize like this.

“Look,” Ro began, pointing a dagger at her to emphasize her point. “I don’t know what kind of idiocy has infected your group, but you can’t be up here. You and your little fucked up elf brains have to come back with us, to the underground. And we’ll take you by force if necessary.” Everyone flinched, Juline frowning at her like they’d had an agreement beforehand, a plan, and Ro had gone completely off the rails.

Sophie just shook her head. “No. We’re here to see you. To let you know everyone’s okay, and that you don’t need to worry.” Ro rolled her eyes, and Sophie was tempted to flip her off. “But we are not going back, and that is final.”

“This absolutely is not final, kiddo.” Grady contradicted, turning her around slightly to face him. The movement sent her cape swirling and for a moment she thought the wings would become visible, but they remained hidden. Thank fuck.

This would never end. They’d only go round and round and round in circles and neither would ever concede and their parents would never understand why. They’d just sit here until--

“While we’re...discussing that, how about you sit down and let me look over you, that sound good?” Elwin waved her over from where he sat beside Linh, whose bandages had been peeled back. Biana sat by Linh’s side, looking over fresh, better wrapped bandages over her cuts. He must’ve gotten to work on the two of them while Sophie had been talking with Fitz. Right. His little farewell would haunt her the moment she had time to think...which didn’t seem to be anytime soon.

She nodded, walking over and placing herself beside Linh, bumping her arm with her elbow in greeting. Linh bumped right back into her, smiling as she winced. Something about this light made her look almost normal. She wondered why no one else had commented or asked about the patterns on her skin. Could they even see them?

He inhaled, sucking the air in through clenched teeth. “I bet you two were exposed to the same thing, huh?” He asked, gently pulling Sophie’s arm and inspecting the peeling skin.

“Yep,” she answered, unsure how much Linh had already said.

He doesn’t know it was Marella, she whispered into Sophie’s mind.

What did you tell him?

Run in with a weird creature and a stray explosive? Sorry, I was thinking on the spot.

Sophie nodded. She could work with that story.

“I’d tell you to be more careful around fires and those kinds of things, but I don’t think you know how,” he teased, but his frown didn’t fade as he gently observed the visible skin, pulling serums and creams and bandages from his bag. “I guess that’s why you specifically requested I come.” Sophie nodded, then realized she should probably say something.

She cleared her throat. “You don’t know that. Maybe we just missed you.”

He laughed, gently rubbing a thin layer of something over her arm before covering it with a light gauze. She sighed with relief, leaning against Linh. She hadn’t realized how much pain she’d been in until she felt the cooling effect of the balm.

Both Sophie and Linh were given several elixirs, luckily none too soured or rotten. Biana;s injuries were light enough that she only took a pain reliever.

Unfortunately, the brief peace couldn’t last. The adults seemed content to just keep watch, the scent of sweat and anxiety overwhelming as they surveyed the area, eyed the tree line, the mounds of rubble, just long enough for Elwin to do the basics of what he needed.

Probably because they expected him to be able to continue the treatment once they’d gotten to the underground.

They didn’t seem to understand that they were not coming back.

She wanted to. She didn’t want to leave.

Mr. Forkle approached her on the ground, offering her a hand to help her stand. The gauze across her palm rubbed strangely as he hoisted her to her feet, the sensation off-putting enough that she shook it out slightly as she found her balance.

Linh tugged at her cloak as she stood, readjusting it so it sat against the wings properly, hiding them. Elwin had tried to get her to take it off, but she’d refused. Told him to just do what he could see right now and worry about the rest later.

He’d also told them all he’d want to look at their backs, see what had happened after he’d left them for a short time and returned to find them gone.

He’d told them he’d forgive them if they apologized for scaring the shit out of him, that they didn’t have to do it now. They could deal with all of that later.

There wouldn’t be a later. She just had to convince them to let them all go.

They’d never agree to let them all go. This was an impossible task, doomed to fail from the start.

“You kids just love getting in trouble, don’t you?” He asked, stepping back to let the others come forward. The groups condensed, kids (and Wylie) across from the adults, the line seemingly already drawn.

She shrugged. “That tends to happen when you give children the responsibility of fixing a broken world.”

Linh winced, but this time it wasn’t from her injuries.

“That responsibility was meant to be shared and eased with the help of the Black Swan, help we cannot provide with you as runaways.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “No. You’re still part of the problem. You weren’t helping anyone, certainly not us.” Oh. Okay. She was doing this now.

“We know you think our ways are too traditional, that we’re not making progress--”

“No. Let me talk.” She held up a hand, silencing them. She’d let them silence her into submission when she’d burned down that storehouse; she wouldn’t let them do it again. “The first time the Neverseen were defeated, how did that happen? Us. We--my friends and I--took the fight to them. We didn’t sit at home waiting for approval from the council, waiting to fight ‘legally.’ There was a problem. A problem that got people killed. And you’d been fighting for decades and got nowhere until I tracked Gisela across the globe and found her myself. Until Dex hacked their trackers and trailed them. Until Biana infiltrated their base on her own to plant bugs and get us intel.”

They looked like they wanted to stop her, but she pressed on. “Your complacency has gotten you nowhere, and I am not at all sorry to be fighting to get results. The Neverseen were gone. My friends brought them to their knees, and you said you’d support us, take it from there and pick up the pieces. Well, guess what? Those pieces scattered in the wind because they weren’t properly disposed of and now they're out in the world, causing even more trouble than we ever could have imagined. You didn’t do your part, so I don’t trust you to support us now. You’ll have to earn that back, and if this”--she gestured to their little group, the people they’d sent to try and convince them all to come back, to tug at their hearts and play into their guilt--”is any indication, you are only getting further and further away from that.”

She crossed her arms, trying to keep herself in check. She hadn’t even known she’d had all that bubbling beneath her skin, but now that she’d open that part of herself she could feel it frothing, foaming to escape. There were so many ways she’d been disappointed, so many mistakes people had consciously made, it felt like her veins would burst.

Ro’s mouth had fallen open, torn between anger at her stubbornness to come back and loving Sophie’s disregard for those in charge, the disobedience.

Biana glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, raising a brow in question. Sophie nodded, imperceptible. They needed someone to cool the situation down, someone good in social situations.

Juline opened her mouth to respond but Biana cut her off, stepping forward. She was never afraid to be blunt and Sophie loved that about her.

She smoothed out her clothes, her scars on full display. “You seem to misunderstand why we’re here. We left abruptly, we know. It was necessary. Now that things have calmed down, we agreed to see you again--to give you some peace of mind. To let you know we’re okay in person. Not just the four of us, all ten.

“We didn’t come here to debate returning. We’re not coming back, not right now. So stop trying to convince us, and don’t try to justify your actions against valid criticism.”

There was silence for a moment, then Della spoke.

“You’re not safe out here,” she said. Smart. Begin the conversation with an indisputable fact in their favor. But Sophie could do that too.

“We’re not safe anywhere.”

Sandor sighed, but it sounded more like a growl, not even looking at her, still scanning the perimeter. They were fairly out in the open; for some reason, they hadn’t moved to better ground.

“You’ll be much safer where we, your bodyguards”--he gestured to himself and Ro--”can see you and protect you. That’s what we’re here for. This is a massive nest of monsters; we’re lucky we haven’t been attacked yet. This is a mess.” He gestured around the area, the cracked crystal and claw marks.

He was right. Which was why they needed to end this quickly. Get them out before they were hurt. She needed to go somewhere else, to cool off. She could feel Linh and Wylie’s eyes on her, wondering if she’d explode at their parents like she’d done with Biana.

Sophie nodded in agreement. She was nodding a lot during this conversation. “You’re very good bodyguards, but we’re staying up here. Besides, our location isn’t here.”

“Then tell us where you are,” Juline cut in, a hint of panic in her voice. Glad to see the four of them safe, but none of them the person she’d specifically come for. And she didn’t know it, but that one person’s body wasn’t working the way it should.

Combined with her outburst, the realization that they were completely out of power in this situation was settling in. She could read it in their widening eyes, the shifts in their stances, like they were rearranging themselves.

“We can’t. We literally can’t.”

“Please, Sophie--” Grady began, running his hands through his hair in frustration, looking like he wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her, but he froze.

They all did.

Because they all heard it.

A horrendous screeching noise, like metal grating against metal. Or claws against the ground.

SOPHIE. GET OUT OF THERE. Fitz’s voice pounded into her mind, panic and terror following.

What? Why?

MONSTER!

“Move,” she hissed, shoving Linh to the side, noting Biana dragging Wylie the other way. Away. They had to get away.

She looked over her shoulder, seeing their group scramble, glancing around frantically, trying to find where the noise had come from. Sophie hadn’t bothered to figure it out, just moving away.

Something crashed to the ground, a great plume of smoke and dust arising from the area, whipped around by a sudden wind, like something was beating its wings. It must’ve been a tower, building, the sound so horrendous she stumbled, hands pressed to her ears as it ripped through her.

Wylie was panting on the ground across from her, eyes closed as his hands covered his ears.

The building took eternity to fall, seconds of time dripping past like a deluge, one after another until she couldn’t tell the difference and someone was screaming her name or maybe that was just the ringing in her ears but something was coming coming coming it was after them they’d overstayed their welcome and everything was crashing apart around her.

Think, Foster, she reminded herself.

Next step. Find the others. Find everyone.

The few precious seconds it took her to gather herself enough to reach for her temples were too many. She was out of time.

“I said MOVE!” Fitz was yelling at her, sprinting from a nearby alley, a pathway through the mess. He was moving lopsided, his limp aggravated by whatever the physical labor had done to his knee. Oh.

That’s why he’d warned her.

His group was heading their way, a monster in tow, screaming at them to get out.

The other six were close behind, Keefe darting around corners, Dex leaping into the air with channelling. Marella’s hands were glowing, Tam’s fingernails stained black.

Their cloaks fastened tight but something something something still looked off if you were focusing. No one was focusing on them.

They were occupied with something else.

It screamed.

Sophie stood there, frozen, as it crawled over a mound of rubble, jerking and frantic, several eyes littered over its body, claws digging into the crystal as all its sight narrowed in.

On the other group.

Where her father was.

“NO!” She didn’t know who said it, who screamed. But her throat stung and her body was trying to move without her permission.

“Dex,” Juline yelled, a strange relief washing over her face as she saw him, quickly vanishing as the creature tumbled forward. It moved so inhumanly quick, limbs upon limbs emerging and cycling as it danced uncontrolled toward their vulnerable parents.

Ro had drawn her sword, a maniacal grin slicing her face as she laughed, widening her stance.

No no no nonono. She couldn’t kill it. She didn’t stand a chance and she’d go down trying and it would be all Sophie’s fault because she’d frozen and wasn’t doing anything when if anyone deserved to pay it was her.

Grady’s face had hardened, a weapon in his hand she didn’t recognize pulled from somewhere as he stood back, eyes on that charging creature when his face went slack and he whirled, another one emerging from behind.

She couldn’t get to him, an eternity between them, rocks and debris and a wall of hurt throwing them further and further apart with each step she took forward. Linh was tugging at her arm, Maruca at her other. Trying to get her away.

It was impossible to fix this. They’d doomed themselves from the start.

He was still wildly searching the area, searching for her.

They made eye contact, his face softening as he saw her, saw how far she was. That she could still get away, wasn’t being directly attacked.

“No,” she whispered, watching him turn away, steel settling over his skin. A calm acceptance

No.

She wouldn’t do this, wouldn’t watch him die.

Sophie lunged forward, breaking from her friends’ grasps with that new ease,

and

she

glitched.

She was dancing through time and space, here and there and everywhere in a single instant. There was no distance too far, nothing she couldn’t be in this one moment in time. This one moment that she’d make last an eternity. This world was hers to command.

She appeared, just at his side, shoving him away, letting that prowling creature descend on her instead, sinking its teeth into the skin of her shoulder, ripping through fabric and darting away.

She didn’t care. She didn’t care at all. Because Grady was fine just a few feet away. He was fine. That’s all that mattered.

His eyes widened as he watched her, trying to stand amongst all this chaos and rubble, and she didn’t understand didn't understand the fear, the pain in his eyes. The screams and gasps echoing behind her, the way the world seemed to pause for a moment.

Not until she saw the tattered remains of her cloak fall to the ground.

“Go home,” she whispered, backing away from him. “Go back. It’s not safe up here.”

He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t talking; no one was.

But the creatures were still screaming, eyes condensing and coalescing, observing her and the people around her.

“Get them out of here, Sophie” Maruca screamed, force-fields flickering into place around the creatures, caging them in. But she wasn’t steady on her feet. Why hadn’t she raised the shields earlier? Maruca nearly fell, her hold flickering. She was buying Sophie a few seconds, but that was all she could give. Who knew what she'd given already.

Sohie steeled her nerves, letting the wings buzz behind her, keeping the attention. Let them see her, let them focus on her and not notice the things on her friends backs too.

“I’m sorry,” was all she said, darting forward faster than Grady’s eyes could understand, glitching the two of them just a little bit away, beside Della. She grabbed the two of them, and vanished.

The clearing was just as she remembered it. The crystal grate sat crooked on the ground, the trees around as menacing and uninviting as ever. Last time she’d been here it was raining.

It was supposed to be the last time.

She let go of the two of them, ripping through the void back to the Lost Cities. Another two. Juline and Elwin. She brought them back.

Went back and forth until they were all back, all away, all safe. Safer, at least.

“Sophie, wait--” Grady was reaching for her. He scrambled for his pocket, telling her they'd just come back. She couldn’t leave, she had to stay. Let the adults go back and handle it.

She twirled the pathfinder through her fingers, listened as he fell silent.

It’d been right there in easy reach when she’d grabbed him. So she’d taken it. They’d needed one, and taking it from him kept them from coming back. At least for a little bit.

He was reaching for her.

She didn’t look back.

She vanished.

The shields fell just as Sophie arrived. There were monsters loose in the Lost Cities, chasing her and her friends. She didn’t care.

The world had ended years ago.

Nothing. That’s what she felt.

Everything was numb. The echoing screams of the creatures, the grating of their claws against the ground, the sweat and fear of her friends. None of it registered. It would hit her later, she knew, but not now. Not yet.

Sophie dug her nails into her scalp, watching the creatures explode out of their containment, finally set free. They laughed, animalistic, bodies thrashing rhythmically as they slithered forward.

Apparently physics didn’t matter anymore.

Thoughts and plans filtered through her mind, the mindbubble alight with chaos. She tuned it out, just watching from the center of it all. The eye of the storm.

Someone was in the sky, unused to flying but moving with enough precision she knew they’d done it before.

One of the creatures locked eyes with her, maw falling open with a haphazard grin. A mechanical creak came from it’s neck as it twitched.

It scrambled forward, close to the ground, crossing the clearing in just a few short moments.

She didn’t care.

It was going to tear her to pieces.

She didn’t care.

The ground rumbled, trembling and bucking and weaving into new positions, throwing them all the ground, the scent of thunder and terror rolling over her, knees buckling beneath her.

The stench hit her first, the watered down rot, a dying perfume of withered roses and rotten fruit. Cloyingly sweet, deceptively undead. Her eyes began to water, like she’d been physically hit. She couldn’t see through the tears, but she didn’t need to.

It made itself known.

Dark and decay seemed to slip through the cracks of the stone, falling upwards like unnatural rain.

It crushed that creature beneath its gargantuan paw, cracked and molten.

It was right in front of her.

She looked at it and it looked back, nearly four times the size of the thing it’d just killed like it was nothing.

Monsters vs monster. It’s eyes glowed a deep gold, dripping down the midnight blue of its face, its body vaguely bear shaped.

It looked away, charging towards those other monsters, the movement accompanied by a jingle.

There was a collar around its neck, tags clanging against each other as it moved, killing--destroying--each of those creatures her friends ran from one by one.

An intelligence lingered behind its eyes, its movements. This was...even more unsettling than the creatures, than the destruction littered around her.

It blinked at her like it knew her.

Sophie forced herself to her feet, to take in absolutely everything she could about this thing before it vanished. It could be the difference between life and death.

It lowered it’s head to the ground, and

her

heart

stopped.

Behind it’s head, hidden by the whorls of curls decorating its stocky body, was a little girl sat atop it.

A little girl in a chaotic, elaborate gown, something human’s thought princesses would wear, frizzy red hair tangled around her face.

The little girl she’d seen in the facility.

#thank you to pyro for inspiring part of where this chapter went #he's incredible and I love him lots /p #anyways...how we feeing?#that was a lot #i'm not sorry though :)#come back in two weeks to figure out what the hell happens next #okay but thoughts?#this one was a lot of fun for me so I'm curious if it was for you too #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc fic #kotlc fanfic #kotlc chaptered fic #shattered upside down #shattered upside down chapter #kotlc wings au #quil's quill

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storytellerofuntoldlegends · 3 years

Text

an icarus and his sun: chapter 1

A/N: i am Very Very excited for this enemies to lovers au, and also just a quick message that this is about their characters! some characters might seem more villainous than they actually are (even on the smp) and scott and jimmy will absolutely end up being in a romantic relationship (even if it might take a while for them to get there >:)). also, i planned this fic before xornoth was introduced and before sausage started the assassin's guild thing, so if you were hoping for either of those things in this fic, i'm sorry to say that they will not be featured here! (xornoth may be hinted at though, no promises!) pls talk to me in the reblogs i am lonely /hj

Warnings: arguing, flirting, teasing/banter, threats of violence

AO3 Link - Tumblr Masterpost

Jimmy liked Katherine, he really did! She was one of his first allies, and even though she could come off as a little intense for the ruler of a flower forest, Jimmy really valued her friendship. However, her insistence on staying neutral… it bothered Jimmy. Or really, what bothered Jimmy was the fact that she insisted on having “House Blossom Alliance” meetings at her castle. And specifically, it was who was at these meetings that bothered Jimmy. Sure, there was Joel, Lizzie, and Pixl, three of Jimmy’s own allies, but the rest of the group wasn’t exactly on the best terms with him. Gem and Pearl were alright, he supposed, but Fwhip and Sausage were absolutely terrible. And then there was Scott. There wasn’t anything outwardly bad about the winged elf ruler, but he just got on Jimmy’s nerves. He was just irritating, with his stupid “better-than-you” attitude, stupid smug grin, stupid perfect hair- he was just… stupid. Well, not really. Scott was actually really clever. But he always flaunted when he was right about something, which frankly was often. But he didn’t have to be so smug every time Jimmy was wrong about something.

“Jimmy, what do you know about defensive mob strategy? You can’t even keep people out of your empire,” Scott scoffed, as Jimmy was attempting to offer some advice on how to keep a base safe from monsters. Jimmy glared at the winged elf sitting across from him.

“Because I like to try and keep my empire welcoming, instead of being all high and mighty in the mountains,” Jimmy shot back. Scott rolled his eyes.

“More welcome to attack, Jimmy. How many times have you and Sausage squabbled over something inconsequential?” Scott asked dryly, getting an offended “hey!” from Sausage that he ignored, focusing only on Jimmy.

“Well… okay so maybe I’m not that great at defending against people, but mobs I can handle! They’re predictable, people aren’t,” Jimmy huffed. Scott smirked at Jimmy, and there it was- that smug expression when Jimmy was proven wrong about something.

“Maybe some people aren’t… but you sure are. I knew you’d get all riled up if I started pressing,” Scott taunted. Jimmy shot up from his chair, hand slamming down on the table as he glared at Scott and ignored the concerned voices of his allies.

“I haven’t even begun to be ‘riled up,’ Scott,” Jimmy fumed, hand lightly resting on the hilt of his sword. Scott calmly rose from his seat, still smirking and looking like he was enjoying this far too much.

“What, you gonna fight me, fish boy?” Scott crooned, hand resting on the hilt of his own weapon.

“Maybe I will,” Jimmy growled, and Scott’s smirk grew into a grin.

“Oh, you are getting more riled up… can’t say I’m not enjoying the view,” Scott said in a near purr. Jimmy’s face grew warm as he gritted his teeth and tightened his hand on the hilt of his sword. Scott didn’t look nervous at all, only mildly intrigued, like Jimmy was a puzzle he was seconds away from solving.

“That’s enough!” Katherine shouted, jumping up from her seat at the head of the table and looking at the two of them with a disapproving glare. Scott and Jimmy instantly looked a little embarrassed, both finally remembering that they were in a room full of other rulers, and that it was supposed to be a peaceful meeting as they exchanged various tactics and information on trading.

“C’mon man, it’s not worth it,” Pixl murmured, gently tugging on Jimmy’s arm. Jimmy glared at Scott one last time before he sat back down. Scott looked entirely too pleased as he sat back down gracefully- how did someone even do that, sit down so fluidly like it was a part of a dance?!- and smiled far too innocently at Katherine. She was not having it, frowning with disapproval at both Scott and Jimmy until Scott sheepishly looked down at the table. Katherine sighed, seeming semi-satisfied as she sat back down.

“I think I’m gonna have to implement a rule about weapons at the next meeting… now don’t you two have something to say to each other?” Katherine said expectantly. Scott and Jimmy both looked at Katherine with confused expressions.

“Haven’t they said enough to each other?” Fwhip asked, sounding bored as he leaned back in his chair. Katherine rolled her eyes at Fwhip, and looked back at Scott and Jimmy.

“What I meant is that these two owe each other an apology,” Katherine said pointedly.

“What have I got to apologize for?! Scott started it!” Jimmy protested.

“It’s not my fault Jimmy’s easy to get all hot and bothered,” Scott said with an air of indifference, but the smirk directed at Jimmy told a different story. Jimmy’s face burned again.

“You stop that,” Jimmy scowled.

“Make me,” Scott replied smoothly.

“I’m confused, are they flirting or fighting now?” Sausage whispered far too loudly to Pearl. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head at Sausage.

“We’re not flirting!” Jimmy protested.

“Yeah, I can do way better than Jimmy,” Scott scoffed.

“Wha- hey! What’s that supposed to mean? I am a catch, thank you very much,” Jimmy huffed, crossing his arms.

“Oh, so you want to be flirting now?” Scott crooned with a smirk.

“What?! No! You’re infuriating,” Jimmy shouted.

“Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you,” Scott shot back smoothly. Jimmy opened his mouth to reply, but was halted by a frustrated groan from Katherine.

“You know what? Fine! I declare this meeting adjourned. Everyone out! See you next week,” Katherine exclaimed with a sigh.

“Finally,” Fwhip muttered, getting up from the table first and striding out of the castle. Gem shook her head at his retreating figure, and turned to Katherine with an apologetic smile.

“What he means is thank you for inviting us to the meeting. I look forward to next week- and I’m sure Fwhip does too!” she said, gently patting Katherine’s hand before getting up and following after Fwhip. Pearl and Sausage were the next two to leave, thanking Katherine for inviting them as well. Then finally Scott left, simply bowing his head in respect to Katherine, but smirking at Jimmy before he took off.

“I hate that guy,” Jimmy muttered as he watched Scott fly away.

“I think you’ve made that clear, Jimmy. You’ve gotta stop picking fights you can’t win,” Katherine admonished with a sigh.

“I could have taken him!” Jimmy protested.

“And even if you couldn’t have, I would have avenged you,” Joel added. Lizzie and Pixl nodded in agreement, while Katherine buried her face in her hands.

“Peaceful! These meetings are supposed to be peaceful! I am definitely going to have people leave their weapons at the door at the next meeting,” she sighed, bringing her face up from her hands to lean back in her chair. Jimmy frowned, feeling a bit bad.

“I- sorry, Katherine. I shouldn’t have let Scott get under my skin so easily. I promise next meeting I won’t make a big fuss out of nothing,” Jimmy said solemnly, looking to Katherine with an apologetic smile. She smiled back, but it was a little strained and exasperated.

“It’s alright, Jimmy. Honestly Scott is just as much to blame as you are here. I just wished you two would have apologized to each other- you apologized to me just fine!” Katherine pointed out, her smile turning more bright and encouraging. Jimmy frowned, nose wrinkling slightly.

“Yeah, because I like you,” Jimmy huffed. Katherine giggled, leaning forward in her chair to clasp her hand over Jimmy’s and give it a light squeeze.

“That’s very sweet, but sometimes you’ve gotta apologize to people you don’t like, Jimmy,” Katherine said pointedly.

“From the way they were talking at the meeting, ‘like’ might be too weak of a word,” Pixl commented dryly. Joel poorly hid a laugh behind a cough, while Lizzie elbowed him while trying to hide her own amused smile.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Jimmy asked indignantly. Pixl looked at him blankly, raising an eyebrow.

“You told him that you were a catch, dude. How else are we supposed to interpret that?” Pixl replied with a laugh. Jimmy’s face flushed for what felt like the twentieth time that day.

“I wasn’t thinking straight!” Jimmy protested.

“Clearly,” Lizzie teased with a grin, no longer trying to hide it. The table erupted into laughter, and Jimmy couldn’t help but laugh too, even if it was at his own expense, and even if his friends were wrong. He was not interested in Scott in that way in the slightest, thank you very much. Their argumentative banter just got a little… carried away, that’s all. And he wasn’t saying he was a catch so that Scott would think so… he just had confidence in himself! And Scott was trying to wear down that confidence, Jimmy was just proving him wrong! At least, that’s what Jimmy told himself.

“So this is how the betrayal begins- first you fabricate an attraction to someone I despise-” Jimmy cut off his dramatic monologue with his own laughter, only causing the group to laugh louder.

“We’ll set you up with Sausage next,” Pixl said with a laugh.

“Now that is the ultimate betrayal,” Jimmy said with a shudder, grinning at Pixl all the while.

“Stop it, stop it- no one is betraying anyone! I’ll keel over from laughter with these backstabbing plans at this rate,” Katherine said, wiping at her eyes as the last of her laughs subsided.

“Alright, alright, if you insist. I should get going anyway, I’ve got a long trip back to Pixandria,” Pixl said, standing from the table.

“Safe travels! See you next week!” Katherine said with a wave. Jimmy and the others said their goodbyes, and with a nod and a smile Pixl equipped his elytra and walked out of the castle to fly off.

“Guess we should leave too, I’m sure you’ve got things to be working on,” Joel said, standing up from the table. Lizzie and Jimmy followed his lead. The three of them would often journey back to their empires together, seeing as they were all in fairly close range to each other. Katherine rose from the table with a sigh.

“Yeah, I’ve got some things to sort out. I’ll see you three next week- and I’m serious about the ‘leaving the weapons at the door’ rule,” she said, looking at each of them pointedly.

“Oh I’ll make sure these two follow through with that!” Lizzie said brightly.

“I was talking about you too, Lizzie,” Katherine said flatly. Lizzie placed a hand over her heart in mock offense.

“Me?! Oh please, next to these two I’m downright peaceful! Now we really must be going, nice seeing you!” Lizzie said far too innocently, grabbing both Joel and Jimmy by their arms and all but dragging them out of the castle.

“Oh uh, bye then! I guess,” Jimmy said with a lopsided grin and a wave from his free hand. Katherine shook her head fondly, waving goodbye back. The three of them made their way outside with only some minor grumbling from Joel about how he could walk, Lizzie. She only patted his cheek with a smile before equipping her elytra, Joel and Jimmy doing the same. And as the three allies took off into the skies and off to their own empires, Jimmy’s thoughts couldn’t help but wander back to Scott. Maybe he should try and patch things up, like Katherine suggested? He was a very good ally of Katherine’s as well- they were even planning a plushie business together! And he didn’t want Katherine to be stuck between another conflict again, like she had for all of his issues with Sausage. But how exactly Jimmy was going to fix things with Scott, he wasn’t sure. The winged elf was stubborn, and frankly so was Jimmy. It was unlikely either of them were going to give in or come to any sort of compromise. At the very least, Jimmy just hoped he could keep their arguments to just that- arguments. He couldn’t afford another war.

MCYT Fic Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed! And if you just want to specifically be tagged in this fic, I am open to making a specific taglist for it!): @corazon10000 @damiensaidno @franticfandomfanatic @gattonero17 @hetapeep41 @space-ace123

#empires smp #scott smajor #jimmy solidarity #katherine elizabeth #ldshadowlady #smallishbeans #pixlriffs #pearlescentmoon #mythicalsausage #geminitay #fwhip #flower husbands #seablings #empires smp fic #mcyt #aiahs #sage writes

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rosiehunterwolf · 3 years

Text

oh take me back to the start

Prompts: Comfort and 3am

Word Count: 4,612

Characters: Jay and Cole

Timeline: After season 6

Trigger Warnings: Nightmares, Blood, Mild Gore, Panic Attack, PTSD

Summary: The past should be left in the past. Or, at least, that’s what Jay keeps telling himself. Nadakhan is gone. It’s not logical to still be afraid. But he is, and now everything that he left behind suddenly feels like it’s never going to be the same again.

Cole isn’t so convinced.

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Jay couldn’t move.

Heavy shackles weighed down his feet, and his arms felt like they were made of concrete, even though they appeared to be completely normal otherwise.

What’s happening? Where am I?

Everything around him was dark, so, so dark. Powerful gusts of wind whooshed past, threatening to knock him over, and he tried to lift his hands to shield his face. They still felt so heavy, so wrong, but slowly, slowly, he was able to move them.

He glanced up, but there was no moon, no stars. The night was utterly black.

“Hello?” he called, his voice sounding odd and detached. “Is anyone there?”

The wind whipped away his words, and he gritted his teeth. How did I get here? I don’t remember leaving the Bounty.

“Jay!”

Jay’s head whipped up at the shrill cry. He would know that voice anywhere.

Nya.

No, Nya, no, Nya, no-

Jay tried to jerk towards the sound, but he still couldn’t move. The chains were still there, only curling around his ankles tighter each time he tried to yank away. “Nya! Nya, I’m coming, Nya!”

With a gasp, he suddenly broke free, almost falling to the ground from the sudden release of tension. Not wasting a second, he darted off towards Nya’s voice, stumbling blindly through the dark but desperate to get to her. The wind wrapped around him, pushing in on him and making it hard to breathe.

“Nya!” he screamed, stopping to look around. “Where are you?”

Suddenly, a small orange light appeared in the distance. Jay gasped and started running towards it. He had to go there. She was there, he could feel it.

As he got closer, things began to get lighter- he could make out shadows forming in the corners of his vision, reaching, curling towards him. He forced his gaze forward and ran faster.

He could see something now, two shadowy figures. Green tinted the corners of his vision, slowly spreading forward until his whole world was a shade of sickly lime. He shook his head, but it did nothing to help.

Suddenly, he was there, the figures mere feet from him. One was lying on the ground, a bloodcurdling scream coming from her mouth.

“Nya!” he yelped, but suddenly the other figure was in front of him. A tall, orange-skinned man stood in front of him, long dark hair unfurling from his topknot, a malicious sneer on his face, a dark amber mist curling where his legs should’ve been.

Jay’s heart stopped.

Nadakhan.

Jay screamed, stumbling backward, and the djinn laughed, turning back towards Nya. Grabbing her hair, he roughly yanked her towards him.

“Jay!” Nya shrieked. Jay lurched towards them, but there was suddenly a stabbing pain in his left eye and he stumbled to the ground, watching helplessly as Nadakhan raised the Djinn Blade over her head.

“Leave her alone!” Jay cried, but his voice was dry and cracked. Suddenly, the blade was plunging towards her. Jay didn’t know if his scream or Nya’s was louder as the weapon cut through her chest, and suddenly blood was spewing everywhere, seeping across her dress, into his clothes, dripping through his fingers-

Jay screamed, lurching forward and grabbing her hand. He didn’t know where Nadakhan had gone- the djinn had seemed to vanish into thin air- but he didn’t care. His mind was only on Nya.

A gaping wound stretched across her chest, her delicate, soft flesh torn and soaked in red. He screamed again, pressing his hands over it, but only more blood came, and more, and more-

His hands were dripping red, and he pulled back, sobbing. It was his fault; it was all his fault; he had done this-

“Jay,” Nya whispered hoarsely, and he stopped immediately, bending close to hear her.

“Why… why would you do this… to me… to us… how could you let this happen? How could… how could you fail the one person who always believed in you?”

“I’m so sorry, Nya,” he wailed. “I let you down, because of me- because of me, you’re-”

Nya coughed, blood gurgling at her lips, and suddenly the oozing blood was shifting from red to a bright, nauseating green.

Jay jerked back. Tiger Widow venom.

Oh no, oh no, it was all over him, he was going to die, just like Nya.

He stood up sharply, but his legs were shaky, and suddenly he was falling, falling into nothingness, Nya’s rasping breaths echoing into his ears, each one further and further apart until there was nothing.

---

Jay jerked upright in his bed, stuffing his blanket in his mouth so fiercely he almost choked, muffling his screams as he buried his face in his legs, gulping back sobs and begging himself to be quiet, before he woke the others.

One, two, three, four-

It wasn’t working. Jay’s brain felt like it was going to explode. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Nya, soaked in blood, her lifeless eyes staring up at him, and it was all his fault-

Jay practically launched himself from the bed, just barely managing to avoid falling down the ladder as he stumbled out the door of their shared bedroom.

He just barely made it to the bathroom in time, lurching over to the toilet and throwing up. Woozy, he pulled back, panting, and curled into a ball, rocking himself gently.

It was fine; it was fine; it was just a dream. Nadakhan wasn’t here anymore- he hadn’t- Jay had erased the timeline, that hadn’t even happened anymore-

But the memories were still there. It had happened to him; it was still very real to him, why couldn’t he have forgotten everything like the others?

He was trembling now, trembling hard, why were his fingers red, Nya’s blood was still on his hands, why was that still there, it had just been a dream-

Hallucinating. He was hallucinating, the blood wasn’t there. That… that wasn’t good. He had never had an attack this bad before.

He knew he should go get Nya. Ever since everything had happened with Nadakhan, she had been the only other one to remember, the only other one he could talk to, who knew what he was feeling and could comfort him on the hard nights.

But he had come to her late almost every night for the last couple of weeks since he had defeated Nadakhan. He knew Nya was struggling, too- heck, she had it worse; she had been the one who was actually dying, and the dark circles under her eyes hadn’t gone unnoticed by Jay. He knew she had been sleeping horribly. She deserved one night without him pestering her.

He hugged himself tighter, trying to imagine his own hands as Nya’s, trying to slow his breathing.

Just stop, just stop, just stop, just work- Jay, you idiot, you can’t do anything right, you’re so pathetic, this is all your fault-

“Jay?”

A voice cut through his panic, and he jerked his head up, hitting it against the bathroom cabinet and groaning.

A gentle hand on his arm. “C’mon, let’s get you outta here.”

No. Jay’s brain plunged into protest, tugging away from the unfamiliar contact. No, no, no- “Get away from me!”

The blood was back now, (had it ever really gone?), but it wasn’t Nya’s, it was his, his wrists slit and blood streaming out, concealing the dark, purpling bruises. Nadakhan had beat him again, and now his eye was hurting again, why did it hurt so bad, why couldn’t he see-

“Jay! Jay, breathe, it’s just me. You’re okay. You’re safe. Everyone’s safe. It’s going to be okay.”

His brain faintly registered Cole, and as he reached for his hand, it went right through it. Cole grimaced, gritting his teeth, and Jay tried again. This time, his hand felt warm and firm. Cole pulled him to his feet, and Jay leaned against him, trying to focus on his solid presence, to steady himself.

“Did you skip your meds again, Jay?” Cole asked, reaching into the medicine cabinet and pulling a few bottles out.

Jay blinked, trying to clear the fug from his brain. “I… what? I don’t…”

“Take a deep breath, Jay. Jay- Jay, look at me.”

Jay forced himself to meet his gaze. Cole’s deep brown eyes were soft, comforting, strong. Jay felt himself exhale, slow and long, the first proper breath in minutes. It felt good.

“No,” he murmured, “I didn’t take them. I forgot.”

“Okay, I’ll get them for you on the way there. Right now, you need to get out.”

Jay blinked, letting Cole lead him out of the bathroom. His mind still felt slow. “On the way where?”

“I dunno. But we’re just going out, taking a little car ride. The fresh air will help you.”

“O-okay,” Jay murmured, and suddenly they were outside, cool air gracing his too-warm skin. He let out a shaky breath. Cole was right, already he was feeling a little better.

The Bounty had been stationed near one of their smaller bases that night, but luckily this one housed one of the few normal vehicles they owned- riding around on the Earth Driller or Cole’s elemental dragon didn’t seem like the best option if they wanted to avoid attention.

The two of them climbed into the car, Cole in the driver’s side and Jay in the passenger’s. Cole distributed Jay some of his pills, which he took, and they set off.

Jay leaned his face against the window, the cool glass feeling good on his skin. Cole had the windows cracked too, so a fresh breeze filled the car. He watched the dark shapes flick past the window, mostly trees, but the occasional house as well, which got more frequent as they neared the city. He caught a flash of Nya’s lifeless body in the reflection of the window, and he bit his lip, deciding to count the houses as a distraction.

“So,” Cole said after a while, breaking the long silence. “What do you want to eat?”

Jay turned away from the window, blinking at him. “What?”

“A little food in my stomach always helps me when I’ve had a… rough night.”

Despite himself, Jay felt a mischievous grin spread across his lips. “You’re always thinking about food.”

Cole grunted, taking a hand off the steering wheel to shove him gently in the shoulder. “Shut up.”

After a moment, Jay asked, “Can we go to that little shack on the corner of the city that sells those really good hand-spun milkshakes?”

“I don’t think they’re open right now, bud.”

“Oh.” There was silence, then, “What time is it?”

Cole pressed his lips together. “3 am.”

Jay was quiet. It’s that late? Ugh, I am such a horrible friend. Why would I bother him with all my issues at this time of night? He should be in bed sleeping, like everyone else.

“What about McDonald’s?” Cole’s suggestion interrupted his thoughts. “They’re open all night.”

Jay scoffed. “McDonald’s? The milkshakes there are laughable at best.”

“Yeah, but at this time of night they’re really our only option.”

He sighed. “McDonald’s it is, then.”

Less than ten minutes later, they were pulling into the parking lot, the big ‘M’ sign, which was glowing a harsh yellow color, flickering slightly, giving off an almost eerie vibe. At this time of night, the parking lot was barren except for two cars, likely owned by the employees, which didn’t exactly help that feeling.

“You comin’?” Cole asked, and Jay blinked, realizing Cole was already out of the car, holding open the door for him. Cole extended a hand out and helped him up- Jay was still a little woozy from the meds- and they headed inside.

The little bell that rang as they pushed open the door sounded louder than usual in the emptiness of the building. The only person in sight was an exhausted-looking cashier who glanced up at them with a skeptical expression. Her gaze lingered a little longer on Cole’s ghostly form, but either she recognized him or was too tired to care, because she didn’t question them.

“Welcome to McDonald’s, how may I help you,” she mumbled in the driest, most monotone voice Jay had ever heard.

They ordered, waited for their food, then took a seat near the corner. Jay nibbled on a couple of fries. Cole was trying to look busy with some chicken nuggets, but Jay could feel the earth ninja’s gaze on him. He swallowed, the food suddenly seeming to stick in his throat.

“Man, I haven’t eaten these things in ages,” Cole said suddenly, glancing down at his nuggets. “I must’ve been like, nine, the last time I got a Happy Meal.”

Jay bristled. “I didn’t order a Happy Meal! This is just a regular fries and nuggets meal.”

“But it’s the exact same thing that’s in the Happy Meal, minus the toy. They just don’t call it that because it’s embarrassing if you’re not a little kid. It’s basically just a big boy Happy Meal. Hey, look at that, Jay, you graduated. We should celebrate. Maybe with this big kid Happy Meal?”

“I’ll have you know I haven’t ordered a Happy Meal since I was ten.”

Cole crossed his arms, gesturing up with his fingers.

“Okay, so maybe twelve. But no later than that! Stop making assumptions about me!”

Cole snorted. “Whatever makes you happy, dude.”

“Hey, before you continue to joke about my weird habits, can we discuss the fact that you’re a ghost and you still eat McDonald’s?”

“Hey, just because I don’t need food doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good. And I’m also doing it as moral support for you.”

“Har har.”

“Jay, I’m serious!” Cole’s teasing expression suddenly grew somber. “What happened to you back there? I haven’t seen you like that since- well, ever. You really scared me, Jay.”

Jay ducked his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, that just makes this worse! I’m not reprimanding you for anything, I’m just worried and want to help you. I’m your best friend, Jay. You can tell me anything.”

Jay wrung his hands together. “I’m not so sure I can, Cole.” His friend opened his mouth to protest, but Jay held up his hand, stopping him. “Oh, I know you want me to. But it’s not that simple.” Softer, he added, “It’s more complicated than you will ever know.”

“Maybe, but sometimes sharing your burdens with someone helps a lot more than you think it will.”

Jay bit his lip. He couldn’t tell Cole about Nadakhan. He couldn’t. Part of him wanted to, but… he didn’t want to relive those memories again. He wanted to leave them as far in the past as they could possibly get.

Besides, there was no way he could know. His memories of the event, like everyone else’s, had been stripped when Jay had made his last wish. Jay could recount the story to him, but it would always be just that- a story. He didn’t doubt that Cole would believe him, but it wouldn’t be the same. Cole still wouldn’t have actually experienced Nadakhan- felt the creeping dread when the accursed djinn caught you alone, the aching in his bones from the long hours aboard the Misfortune’s Keep, or the numbing horror of watching Nya die in his arms.

But Cole was right. This time had been bad. And even though Nya was the only one who truly understood, it wasn’t fair to burden her with all that. He needed help, and Cole was offering it.

“I had a nightmare,” he sighed.

“Again?” Cole frowned, concern flashing in his eyes. “That seems to be happening a lot recently.”

“You knew it happened before?”

“I’m a ghost, not exactly a heavy sleeper. There’s a reason I found you tonight, y’know. I didn’t just decide to wander into the bathroom in the middle of the night because I felt like it.”

“Oh. You didn’t… you didn’t say anything? You didn’t tell the others?”

Cole shook his head. “I thought it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, nightmares aren’t exactly a rare occurrence with our group, and it wasn’t exactly that long ago since Morro. Kai was having nightmares for months afterwards, and if I’m being honest, I think he still is. I myself have been having some… interesting dreams. It didn’t seem that improbable for you to be having them, too. But this…” Cole’s eyes flashed. “I hardly recognized you, Jay. I know you said you didn’t take your meds, but that was no ordinary nightmare.”

“No,” Jay shifted. “I just… I was alone,” he blurted. “It was so dark, and none of you guys were there, and Nya- Nya was…” He stopped, choking on a sob. His heart was racing. “It was all my fault-”

“Hey,” Cole murmured, getting up and sliding in behind him, wrapping a hand around his shoulders. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“It’s fine.” Jay wiped at his eyes. “I’ve already caused you so much trouble, bringing you out all this way so early in the morning-”

“Hey, I won’t have any of that.” Cole turned Jay’s shoulder so that they were looking each other in the eyes. “I’m your best friend, Jay. That’s what I’m here for. You’ve always been there for me, no matter how inconvenient. I’m just returning the favor.”

But I lied to you. I let my own selfish desires get in the way of everyone’s safety, and I was a disloyal friend. Jay bit back the response. Cole didn’t know about any of that. In his mind, it had never happened.

But for Jay, it had, and he wasn’t about to forget it.

He wasn’t good enough for Cole.

“Ugh, what are these, they’re all crispy.”

It took Jay a moment to register that Cole had spoken, and he swiveled his head towards his friend. “What?”

“Your fries.” Cole held up a fry. “They’re overcooked.”

“That’s the best way to have them,” Jay insisted, grabbing one and crunching it loudly between his teeth. “What, you like yours all soft and mushy?”

“They’re not mushy, they’re rich and fluffy. You’re just eating burnt potato skin.”

“The crunch is part of the experience! It gives them the extra little flair they need.”

“If you want crunchy, why don’t you get chips instead?”

“Are you kidding? This is completely different!”

“Okay, then what about these?” Cole leaned forward, tilting up the carton so that the last handful of fries slid out onto the napkin. They were a dark, brownish-black color, with only hints of gold peeking through. “Tell me how delicious those are.”

Jay winced. “Okay, well, there’s a fine line between a good, crispy fry and a burnt one. What did they do, set them on fire?”

Cole shook his head, grinning. “Did you see how dead-on-her-feet that cashier looked? It wouldn’t surprise me if the kitchen staff looked similar.”

Jay snorted. “I hope not, or this place will be burnt down before the end of the week.”

“We should’ve gone deeper into the city. The night shift workers there would’ve been more capable.”

“We should get a refund on these.”

“Well, you’ll be the one asking.”

“Why?”

“I’m a ghost, moron- did you see the way she looked at me earlier?”

“Yeah, well, we’re also famous ninja. How do you know that wasn’t why she was staring at you?”

“Trust me, it’s always the ghost thing. It’s way more noticeable. Besides, they didn’t look at you, and you’re just as much one of the ninja as I am.”

Jay shrugged, glancing down at himself- he was wearing his worn blue pajamas with the lightning bolts on them, with only an old sweatshirt pulled over his shoulders. He could feel how messy his auburn curls were and knew that the dark circles he had seen under his eyes every time he looked in the mirror over the last few days hadn’t gone away. “I don’t exactly look like myself.”

Cole’s smile faltered slightly, and he squeezed his shoulder tighter. “Jay-”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Pushing away from Cole, he stood up. “Can we go home now?”

Cole gazed at him sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not mad, I’m just tired. I don’t want to be here anymore. Besides,” he added in a whisper, “we’re starting to get some weird looks from the staff.”

Cole subtly glanced over his shoulder, smirking as he caught sight of the cashier and another staff member who had come out front, murmuring to each other as they stared at Cole and Jay.

“Okay,” Cole breathed, “Let’s go. I suppose we’ve been here a while, anyway.”

The car ride back was quiet, with no other cars on the road to be seen. Even with the slight uneasiness between him and Cole, Jay was feeling a lot better than he had before they had left the Bounty. He still swore he could catch glimpses of red when he glanced down at his hands, but at least he had been able to rid the image of Nya’s lifeless eyes from his mind.

Cole always knew what to do to make things better.

Suddenly, his friend pulled over into a small, empty parking lot. Jay glanced at him questioningly. They were nowhere near the Bounty. “What are you doing?”

“Wait here.” Cole got out of the car and darted towards the small building that the parking lot belonged to. Upon a closer look, Jay realized it was the milkshake shack he had been asking Cole about earlier. A few minutes later, Cole emerged again, jogging towards the car with two cups in hand.

Jay cocked his head at him. “I thought you said they would be closed.”

“They are. But I was able to negotiate.” The earth ninja shot him a wink, and Jay didn’t even want to begin to think about what that meant.

“Did you get-”

Cole shoved a cup into his hands. “Strawberry, yeah. You psychopath.”

“It’s the best kind!”

Cole scoffed, holding up his drink. “Beats chocolate? Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Jay laughed- a real, genuine laugh. It felt good. He couldn’t remember the last time he had done that- probably not since before Nadakhan.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Cole smiling. Jay realized that this had been part of his plan, to get them bickering again so that Jay would be distracted from his nightmare. Deep down, he knew Cole wanted him to talk about it, but when he had decided against that, Cole had accepted it and adapted accordingly.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Jay felt like he wanted to cry. What did I do to deserve a friend like Cole?

Jay’s life may have had its struggles, but one thing he had gotten really lucky in was the friend department.

The rest of the car ride was much less quiet, instead filled with teasing banter between him and Cole, and Jay felt better than he had in weeks.

By the time they made it back to the Bounty, it was a little past five in the morning. Jay rubbed at his eyes. He was tired, but he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to go back to sleep. Cole’s distractions had helped a lot, and he was scared of closing his eyes again and finding the memories flooding back.

Cole seemed to pick up on his train of thought. “Are you gonna be okay? Do you want to try going back to bed, or do you want to do something else?”

Jay eyed him uneasily. “But you-”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ll have all the time in the world to sleep later. This is about you. Wanna play Fist to Face?”

Jay shook his head. “I don’t have the energy for video games right now. Should I try going to sleep?”

“If you’re comfortable with it, yeah.” Cole shot him a sympathetic glance. “You look exhausted.”

“Yeah, okay.” Jay fiddled with his thumbs. “I’m scared to sleep, though.”

Cole smiled sadly at him. “Let me make you some hot chocolate, and then I’ll stay with you for tonight. Would that help?”

“Cole, you don’t have to do this.”

“No, but I want to. That’s what friends are for, sparky. You’d do the same for me in a heartbeat.”

“Thanks, Cole.”

A shuffling of footsteps interrupted them. “You guys okay?”

Jay turned, sucking in his breath.

She was here. She was safe and sound and alive. Although she looked drowsy and was sporting similar eye bags as Jay, there was the familiar spark in her eye and the gracefulness of her movements that was such a stark contrast to the limp body he had seen in his dream that he wanted to cry.

Cole started. “Nya! Sorry, did we wake you?”

She shook her head. “I was already awake. Couldn’t sleep. I didn’t know you left.”

“We just took a little outing,” Cole said. “We couldn’t get to sleep, either.”

Nya’s gaze melted as it turned on Jay. Her eyes showed everything words couldn’t- all the pain, the exhaustion, the sympathy, and the understanding. It was all a little too much for Jay, and suddenly, he was launching himself into her arms. She returned his embrace just as fiercely, clenching and unclenching the fabric of his shirt in her fists.

“I’ll be back,” Cole murmured, leaving them alone.

For a while, they just stood there, holding each other. Jay took a deep breath, inhaling the faint scent of cinnamon and grease that always seemed to linger in her clothes.

“How bad was it this time?”

Jay was silent for a moment. “Bad. Really bad. But Cole helped me. I’m better now.”

“Did you tell him? About… what happened?”

“No, but he knows something’s up. He’s not prying, but I think he’s getting pretty worried about me.”

“I’m getting worried about you, too. You can always come and talk to me, y’know.”

“I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“I wouldn’t have minded.” She reached her hand up to his face and tucked his hair behind his ear. Jay bit his lip as tears started streaming silently down his face. Nya’s deep brown eyes softened, and she leaned forward on her toes, pressing her lips against his. They leaned together, and Jay felt his tears mingling with hers.

Jay didn’t know how long they stood there, but eventually they were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Jay pulled back from Nya, turning to see Cole, two mugs of hot chocolate in hand. His cheeks were flushed at having caught them kissing, but his expression quickly faded to a frown when he caught sight of their tear-stained cheeks.

“Guys, what’s going on? Is there something you two aren’t telling me?”

Jay and Nya exchanged a glance.

“Cole…” Nya walked up to him and took the mug from his hand, placing her other hand over his. “Jay and I are still trying to work some things out right now. I promise you’ll be the first one we tell, when we’re ready. But until then, you have to be patient with us.”

Jay took the other mug from him, taking a long sip from it, and Cole watched him carefully. “Okay, I can do that. I just want to help you, though. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Jay and Nya looked at each other. Nya gave him a small smile, and they intertwined their fingers.

“We will be.”

#ninjago #ninbingo #my fic #rosie writes #ninjago jay #ninjago cole #ninjago nya #yet another case of the ninja not having appropriate reactions to their trauma so rosie ✨angstifies✨ it #skybound was DARK okay?#ofc jay's going to freak out a little bit #luckily he's got cole to help #jay's nightmare does get pretty intense tho...#tw: nightmares #tw: blood #tw: mild gore #thanks for reading!#reblogs and comments greatly appreciated!

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aura-bird · 4 years

Text

Escape

Hi! So this is like, the first time I’m actually using Tumblr for anything so I’m hoping that I do this right. I have fallen in love with @martuzzio‘s Space Outlaws Hermitcraft AU so I wrote a thing based on this ask. This is my envisioning of that scenario (Note: I’m leaving it ambiguous as to who or what exactly is attacking).

This is my first time writing something but I figured it’d be fun practice. I hope I didn’t cross into undesired territory here Martuzzio; if so, I am very sorry.

Warnings: Mentions of injury, implied torture (done by the bad guys), and explosions but none of it is described in detail.

=================================

Two men sat in the room overlooking hand-drawn floor plans of their current location. This particular Convex base was well guarded, yet still not as well as several others they’d been at.

In all honesty, the duo was only supposed to have been cooped up here for a few days, but recent events had led them to remain here longer. To the rest of the Convex, it was an annoyance; but to Cub and Scar, it was their first chance to actually escape.

Of course, it would not be easy, the duo knew quite well what happened to those that tried to escape and failed; they’d seen it countless times and it was imperative more than ever for them to get this right on the first try.

“We already know that the goal is to reach the docking bay and steal a ship; the hard part will be getting the path there unguarded enough to slip in undetected.” Scar said as his fingers mindlessly traced the drawn hallways in question.

“Mass sabotage won’t be enough, not after the stunt that one guy tried last week.” Cub mused, tapping the pencil in his hand against the desk, “And, from what I’ve been hearing they plan to move us out of here in two days, that doesn’t give us much time…”

“What about outside help? We know there’s prisoners here, if we can get to them perhaps they could help us in some way?”

Cub shook his head, “Won’t work, odds are the Vex have broken them by now; we’re on our own here.”

The following silence was only broken by explosions and the base alarm going off, snapping them out of their thoughts.

The door to the room opened, their attention being drawn to the two Convex guards that entered, “What’s happening?” Scar asked in confusion and panic.

“The base is under attack by a yet-to-be-identified group; we’re moving you early.”

Cub and Scar quickly grabbed the bags they’d originally packed for their escape and followed the order given to them, falling into place between both guards. They knew there was no chance of escaping now, they’d have to wait until another time and place.

Every hallway looked exactly the same as they were rushed through them, the alarm and distant sounds of combat not helping their nerves any.

An explosion on the floor above sent chunks of concrete and metal falling, blocking the path they were taking. Several more followed shortly afterwards, shaking the entire base around them.

“What in blazes is going on up there?!” One of their escorts snapped into his communicator in frustration.

There was no response to his question, only static.

“Damn it!” came a curse. “Change of plans, we’re going the long way around.”

A shove from behind got Cub and Scar moving, this time even faster as chaos reigned above.

It wasn’t long before they were all sent flying.

Briefly dazed from the impact with the wall opposite of the one that had exploded almost in their faces Cub was able to recover enough to realize that he and Scar were separated from their escorts; this was their chance.

He grimaced at the sharp pain on the side of his head but shook it off as he caught sight of Scar, the man struggling to stand.

“Scar, c’mon, we need to go!” he said as he hastily helped his friend get to his feet, “Cub? What just…?”

“Not now, this is our chance to get out of here. The chaos will keep enough of the Vex busy.”

Realization at Cub’s words filled Scar with enough adrenaline to move, holding on to the man’s hand as they ran down memorized halls.

Of course, things were never that easy; in their dash to escape they were assaulted by other Vex that had figured out exactly what they were up to when it was realized that they were not being escorted.

Several times, even the attacking forces had taken notice of them; Cub just barely avoiding a shot from one of their weapons when he pulled Scar around a corner.

Still,despite the chaos and destruction they continued to run, their desire for freedom fueling them despite their bodies crying for rest.

Familiar doors loomed before them, blown open like most of the base itself.

Yet, despite the fact the base was under siege, the docking bay was relatively quiet. Not surprising, given cowardice was not tolerated within the Convex; in scenarios such as this, you either fight, or you die.

Scar and Cub desired neither.

A small cargo ship caught their eyes, inconspicuous in deep space and plain enough to easily slip away undetected, it was perfect.

----

Aside from the humming of the engines, the air around them was silent as they traveled through the black expanse of space.

The duo were worse for wear at this point but they didn’t care, they were safe…they were free…

“Well, we did it…what now?” Scar asked in exhaustion as Cub patched their wounds as best he could.

“Find some distant planet and drop off the grid. With any luck, the Convex will just think we’re dead.”

“Or captured, in which case they will no doubt look for us, we know too much for their liking.”

Before Cub could reply a desperate sound came from the cargo hold, followed by the sound of scratching and clawing.

The duo of now-ex-Convex looked to the door and then at each other, “We have to take a look at what we escaped with eventually, may as well start now.” Scar shrugged.

Upon entering the hold the duo was able to take inventory at their unintended haul. They had enough food to last them until the next planet or station, and a few weapons as well.

The sounds they heard, however, came from a crate, the label on it reading ‘DANGEROUS’ in big red letters.

Normally, they would not even think about opening something of the sort, but the sounds from within were growing ever more desperate. Against their better judgement Cub carefully opened the crate, readying one of the guns they had found among the rest of the cargo in case whatever was inside wasn’t friendly.

Out of the crate came a creature that neither of them expected. Its fur was white and grey and from behind the barred muzzle over its maw they could see gentle, green eyes.

“A cat?” Cub questioned, “What is a cat doing here?”

Scar, on the other hand, extended out a hand, coaxing the feline towards him, “Come here, let’s get that thing off of your face.”

Muzzle removed the cat let out a grateful meow and nuzzled into Scar’s lap.

“Can we keep her, Cub?” he asked with a smile, now stroking the cat’s fur, “Please?”

Cub sighed, “Alright, we can keep her.”

Scar’s eyes looked back at the now-purring ball of fluff in question and, with a smile, spoke. “I think I’m going to name you Jellie.”

#space outlaws #space outlaws AU #hermitcraft #HC #my writing

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cetaceans-pls · 3 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth Additional Tags: Momentary Vampirism, Discussion of Blood bags, Family Bonding

The one where Bruce gets turned into a vampire, and Alfred has to call in the cavalry to deal with him.

Or, Dick comes through on a Friday night to help wrangle a reluctant bloodsucker.

Bro I just kind of went off on the concept of short-term vampirism and silverware, so here’s some Alfred-Dick-Bruce bonding over Bloody Marys and the different sorts of magic. Please enjoy this pick-me-up I wrote in one weird, frizzy sitting!

On tumblr below the cut:

“I came as soon as I could!” Dick says, rounding a corner so quickly he skids on the marble floor. The text had come through almost an hour ago, but he had been on the tail end of a Zoom interview (quitting policing this pandemic has been both terrifically easy and terribly hard) so between putting on pants and getting through Friday-night traffic, this is how things lie. “How is he?”

“‘He’ is fine, Dick, thank you for concern,” Bruce says tetchily from where he’s sat in the centre of the Yellow Room, surrounded six foot deep by Wayne Manor silverware haloing out around him. The UV lights they use at crime scenes are blaring harsh violet lines around the perimeter, and further out by the edges of the room, 6 of their portable sun lamps are turned off but trained right on him.

“This is all pointless,” Bruce carries on, sweeping his arm ‘round wide in a grand gesture, hissing when a brush against a silver-plated serving trolley has his hand sizzling. “Alfred really shouldn’t have called you.”

Dick ignores him completely to turn to Alfred, who has 3 sets of rosary beads hanging around his neck and irritation hanging from his eyes. “Uhm. I didn’t read further down the text than ‘B was attacked, please come over when you can’. I’m guessing I missed something?”

“You would be guessing right, Master Richard.” Alfred whips off a rosary and hangs it around Dick’s neck, and plops three teaspoons into a blazer pocket. “We aren’t sure quite who is to blame for this latest conundrum, but Batman was struck down by something while making rounds by the Cathedral. Master Bruce appears to have become a, a…” Alfred makes a disgusted noise, “a vampire of some sort, and had insisted I lock him up in a cell till a magic-user from the League could come by and take a look.”

Dick’s ashamed to admit that on hearing the word ‘vampire’ his fist had curled tightly around a teaspoon. After all, the bluntest edge can still manifest as a shiv, if you shove it in hard enough. He’s further shamed that Bruce clearly catches his micro-movement, and he just downright hates the pleased look B has at knowing that Dick is open to bodily violence against him.

Part of the commute time to get back to the Manor almost always involves him psyching himself up to deal with Bruce, and today it looks like it’s going to pay off.

“Okay, got it.” Dick deeply doesn’t, but bluffing can be as important as actually understanding, so. “Why’s he being kept here instead?”

“No master of the Manor,” Alfred says the way a lesser man would say ‘No son of mine’,”will be tossed into some cell while in full possession of himself, thank you very much.”

“I was going to start an automated protocol to have myself manacled and emergency-signal Superman to come by and potentially put me down,” Bruce interrupts from the near distance, “but I was lured here and now I’m trapped.”

Dick catches himself halfway through a laugh; he can’t help it. If Bruce really, really wanted to, escaping this room with its myriad hazards and shining lights would be possible, especially if the situation was so urgent that he was willing to risk serious injury for it.

If Bruce really, really thought he was a danger, thought deep in his messy little heart that he really, really could hurt or injure Alfred while it was just the two of them here waiting for reinforcements, Dick knows he would have grabbed the silver steak knife closest by and, ah, taken matters into his own hands.

It’s as ingrained a response as Dick instinctively putting himself between Bruce and Alfred even while his brain was still catching up to sudden vampirism, shiv-spoon (shvoon?) at the ready.

He lets out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding, untenses muscles that had been ready for something awful since the text had come through. “You’re finally more bat than man, B, so don’t bother pretending to be upset.” Dick spies a tray laden with soup and bread on a little coffee table and heads over, giving up guarding Alfred because their much scarier guard dog has just sprouted fangs. “Oh, man, tomato soup and garlic bread? Alfred, you think of everything.”

“I do try,” Alfred primly says, clearly satisfied that Dick is on his side. “And if you could see your way clear to getting Master Bruce to also partake?”

“I said no, Alfred!” Bruce’s voice cracks like sudden thunder across the room, and it would have been mighty terrifying with its slight unearthly timber if the UV lights bouncing off forks didn’t make the room look a lot like a rave. Even with his eyes starting to turn red, even with the harsh edges of his shape blurring into mist, Bruce can’t quite manage to intimidate.

Everyone in the room knows that it’s just for show, now, so even paranormal powers manifesting doesn’t slow down Dick’s enjoyment of soup. “C’mon, Bruce. It’s just like a blood transfusion, except you take it through the mouth. We all routinely take worse things through the mouth.” Just last week Dick had crunched on something while eating a bowl of soggy cereal he’d accidentally left out overnight, and the certainty that it was some sort of super-armoured cockroach haunts him till this day. “Is it a supply and demand thing? You can have some of my blood bags, Alfred can take some out of me while I’m here.”

“What an excellent suggestion, Master Richard. My blood has unfortunately been turned down because Master Bruce has some spectacularly backwards thoughts regarding older folk, but surely there’ll be no complaint for yours.”

“There are plenty of complaints!” Bruce roars, now up on his feet and pacing in the little circle at the centre of all the silver. “I will not eat anyone’s blood, I will stay in this space and meditate until Zatanna shows up and cures me. There is a magic user zapping vampirism into people in Gotham, and none of this will be solved by you sticking an arm under my teeth!”

His fangs are all the way out now, down almost to his chin, drawing scratches on stubbly skin. Under the native environment of the Bat, out in the night perched somewhere high, he’d be a terror.

Under the warm loving light of the Yellow Room, under the warm loving gaze of people who know him best, he’s more ‘angry hissing kitten’ than anything else.

Dick slurps the rest of the soup, and mops up the rest with the crusty bit of his garlic toast. “So, if it was me that got turned into a vampire, you’re telling me you… wouldn’t IV pump me full of blood fresh out your veins? If you lie to me I will throw a teaspoon at your head.”

There’s nothing but a mutinous quiet from Bruce, who’s huffing and misting and snarling and floating a good three inches off the ground. Good, at least he’s not feeling so pressed to the edge that he needed to lie.

“… I’ll take my own blood.”

Alfred sniffs, and it’s a dignified sound that somehow echoes in this fairly large room. “After your little altercation with Dr. Ivy last week, sir, your own supply is running unfortunately low. Two bags left, and I intend to keep them in case coming out of vampirism treats you poorly. No, sir, you’ll have a mug of Master Richard’s blood or so help me God I will tranquilise you and feed it to you myself.”

Alfred catches himself mid-rampage, and huffs a little while neatening the cuff of his shirt. “Those are your choices, sir. Pick one.”

Reading the room, it’s easy to tell that the hour it took Dick to get here from Bludhaven has likely been filled with that sort of tersely-worded bitching that Alfred and Bruce have down to the finest art. “A couple of pints of blood, Type D, coming right up. Bruce, I’d recommend just giving up right now. If Alfred works down the line, Jason’s coming in next, and that’s gonna end with a fist to the mouth.” Dick brushes crumbs off his hands, and jumps out of the crouch he’d been in on the arm of the sofa to head towards Alfred. “No one’s getting out of that without a broken finger or fang or both, so just take mine, okay? For us.”

Bruce doesn’t deign to actually say yes or fine , just seems to fade into shadows he’s manifesting himself, but it reads like a grumpy acceptance of defeat.

Good enough , thinks Dick. “Give us a sec, we’ll be right back. If you’re extra good, I’ll even make a Bloody Mary out of mine!”

Batarangs aren’t made of silver, but they sure do make a flashy thunk when they bite into a doorjamb a clean 10 feet away from the nearest person.

Alfred huffs a quiet laugh but Dick is much louder and substantially more insulting as they make their way down to the Cave.

The blood fridge is a thing of stainless steel tucked in a corner of the medbay, and it’s covered in magnets. The Wayne brood travel a lot, but Bats and Birds travel even more. It’s become a weird habit that got adopted like kids get adopted ‘round here; Dick looks at a cracked dinosaur magnet he’d bought at the Bludhaven Natural History Museum his first night out as Nightwing, and nostalgia hits harder than teeth in the neck. “We’re gonna need a bigger one of these soon, Alfred. We’re almost out of free real estate.”

“We shall persevere nonetheless, sir.” Alfred opens the fridge, and goes along the top row till he gets to the little placard with Dick’s face on it. The filing system remains sweetly, sweetly old-school, even if everyone knows where theirs is stored by feel alone, and each bag is barcoded with enough details to alarm even the most dedicated phlebotomist.

Looking over the racks, Dick whistles. “Bruce isn’t the only one who’s had a rough time recently, huh? Tim didn’t mention that the last Titans’ fight got him two bags down.”

For that, he gets his ear flicked. “Don’t snoop, Master Richard, it’s unbecoming.” Alfred takes a bag off Dick’s shelf and pops it into a cooler bag. He closes the door, and heads to the kitchenette in the Cave where he scrounges up a little metal straw. “Thank you for coming by so quickly. I was at my wits’ end trying to convince him to have just the littlest nibble. He tried to keep himself locked in the Batmobile when he came back via autopilot.” Alfred rinses the straw with more aggression than necessary. “I tugged on the handle, and the door was locked. A door, locked to me! In my own home!” He sounds as incensed as Alfred ever does, but he also goes to grab some tomato juice and a couple of sticks of celery, just in case.

“You wore him down for me, Alfred, I had it easy.” Dick quietly grabs another couple of bags of his blood, because deep deep down Bruce isn’t the only one hesitant about feeding on family, looks like. “Surprised you’d turn to me for this, though. Seems like more of a Tim thing, have him over with a 50-slide presentation on why vampirism’s really not that different to CPR, or something.” He swoops by Alfred’s side and picks up the cooler bag and the bucket of ice, because there are a lot of stairs from the Cave back up to Yellow, and kind men deserve kind things done on behalf of their creaking knees, thanks very much.

“You certainly have a point, Master Tim can be alarmingly persuasive with his statistics and, ah, unblinking stare.” Alfred doesn’t acknowledge Dick helping him with his things, just looks a little glad to have a hand free to hold on to the handrail, which is acknowledgement enough. “However, I have to admit that when I am at my wits’ end with Master Bruce, I always want to turn to you, Master Dick.” He pauses at the top of the stairs, turns and smiles his neat little smile at Dick who is finding balance harder to maintain than usual. “You have kept me company in my never-ending fight to care for Master Bruce longer than anyone else, after all.”

(Longer, longer, longer even than Bruce’s parents, God love them both.)

Alfred reaches out, pats Dick’s hand and nimbly reacquires his wares. “Do not under any circumstance tell the others, of course, but an old man is allowed his favourite ally.”

Dick is a whole-ass adult who’s lived through more things than people 15 times his age, he’s dressed in a smart suit and tie after an interview for a position as a flight paramedic, and he’s helped ward off the apocalypse at least on three separate occasions.

He knows enough about enough to know that their vampire-magician is deeply, deeply outclassed by Alfred’s mastery over spacetime, because right now Dick knows that if he looks down at himself, he’ll be 9 years old again, wearing oversized pyjamas as he tries not to cry because it’s his birthday and Alfred had made him a stack of pancakes the size of his head, while Bruce skulks by the door holding five separate tubs of ice cream, looking uncomfortable and uncertain and bound and determined to be a responsible parent

(like he’s bound and determined to be a responsible vampire).

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Dick murmurs under his breath, rubbing his cheek to break the spell.

“Language,” Alfred’s voice floats back towards him, as they make their way back to the Yellow Room.

There’s a bit of a scuffle, trying to get Bruce to actually drink the blood. When Dick had casually tossed a bag at Bruce, it had been batted right back at him like the world’s weirdest opening to a game of ping-pong. Another fight almost broke out then, because at least a third of all of Gotham’s collective stubbornness was sat in the room at that point, but Dick managed to force through a resolution by making a Bloody bloody Mary for Bruce, and regular Bloody Marys for himself and Alfred.

They sit where they want, Bruce in his circle, Dick perched on a windowsill, and Alfred on the sofa, and they sip at their meticulously non-identical drinks. They’re on their third round of Bloody Marys and sweet idle conversation when the message comes through that Zatanna’s on her way, and the tension in the room drains as smoothly as they do their drinks.

“Ah, what perfect timing,” Alfred says like he hasn’t worked his way through an alarming amount of vodka. “Just in time for a really early breakfast.”

It’s 3 AM, and hopefully after unraveling vampirism Z will be interested in some god-tier chicken and waffles. Dick’s stomach is already rumbling, and he’s in an unspeakably good mood. It’s a trinity of trinities, three generations of Wayne and Wayne-adjacents, three Bloody Marys each, it’s three o'clock in the morning.

There’s a father, a son, and Alfred counts as their Holiest Ghost, probably. Funny that Bruce has to become unholy to make Dick feel gently religious, though that might be the vodka and dreams of fried chicken futures. “How’re you feeling, Bruce?”

Flushed with blood, Bruce looks healthier and heartier than he does on average, which is a fight to tackle a different night. “… Better,” he admits, digging a fang into a celery stick with an expression of deep concentration. “I could fly if I tried, I think.”

Dick whoops, and nearly drops his glass. “It’s that vitamin D, bay-bee.”

It even earns a chuckle from Alfred, and Dick can feel god in this Yellow Room tonight. “I think,” Dick says with utmost seriousness, “that being a vampire is a good look for you, B. Feels good to get you something, even if it’s just a drink.”

Feels good to be able to provide for you instead of the other way ‘round, is something a more sober Dick would think.

From his corner, Alfred raises his glass in a steady-handed toast. “Just a drink is plenty when just a drink is all you need. So here’s a toast to you, Master Dick. Thank you for coming to our rescue.”

In the middle of a sea of silverware, Bruce raises his glass too, and oh, now Dick’s the one gone red in the face.

“Any time,” he says, and he’s glad to know he means it. “Honestly, this makes me feel like B should get turned into a vampire more often.” There’s a lot of magic in the Manor tonight, and only the tiniest fraction of it has to do with their rogue magician. Dick can’t remember when he last spent this much time with just Alfred and Bruce, and it feels like a loose anchor digging in juuust right.

The world’s in turmoil and his personal life has seen better days, but there’s a tether that comes off from the Manor and these two men. Sometimes, it’s a noose.

More often than not, it’s a lifeline, and what a fine feeling it is to know that that goes both ways.

Dick doesn’t know what’s showing on his face, though by how Bruce is now sat up and intensely staring at him, he’s probably revealing way, way too sopping much.

Bruce clears his throat, and his flush deepens into a rosy, rosy red. “Well. As being a part-time vampire does have its advantages, it’s. Hmm. I will discuss it with Zatanna, and see what I can do.”

And geeze, time-travel magic must be inherited too because Dick’s been forced back to his 9th birthday again, to Bruce Wayne-the-literal-Batman hovering uncertainly while holding way too much ice cream as he tries to accommodate Dick in that stupid, awkward, and hideously embarrassing way only he knows how.

“I’ll toast to that,” Dick says, ignoring the terrible scratch and crack in his voice, and he and Bruce both only nearly lose it when Alfred raises his glass again, and

quietly, quietly

murmurs, “Here’s a toast to my family”.

#batfam #dick grayson #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #family bonding #whale writing #bro i watched a weird japanese tv show last week #and it just left me in the weirdest most off-kilter mood #there literally way no direction for this story #i just like the thought of alfred having different niche categories #he can assign favourites too #and also vampire bruce who can turn to mist but doesn't #bc he was raised right #anyways here's wonderwall

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