#Julius constantly getting his feelings hurt

[julius-pookiechrono]

#Marx Francois #Marx centric fanfic #1st person pov #Julius Novachrono #Yami Sukehiro #Finral Roulacase #William Vengeance #Zora Ideale #Humor #Lots of humor #Author is sleep deprived #Romance #Romcom #Angst #Angst and comfort #Marx doesn't wanna admit he's in love #Julius constantly getting his feelings hurt #Julimarx #Marlius #Freeform #A crap ton of freeform #Missions #Yami and Marx having constant war #William just being happy to be there #More characters to come #Ongoing but plenty to binge read #Started off as one shots but turned into a consistent story #I LOVE WRITING MARX #I LOVE MARX #Marx is such a waifu in this

[giorno-plays-piano]

Thorns In His Mouth

Part IV

Pairing: fae!Steve Rogers x reader

Warnings: obsession, dubious consent, minor character death, drugs (neither reader nor Steve are involved), slight eating disorder, mentions of tumor, high tech elves.

Words: 1k

Summary: Maybe it was a good idea to chat with a waitress a bit more once she brought you your order. Perhaps she could at least tell you with whom you should speak because you simply couldn’t force yourself to look at others, most of them already high, shouting something loudly or laughing or weeping. You could constantly hear the flapping of someone’s wings, weird whispers and noises, and the sound of boots and hooves that made your hair stand on end.

Part I

Part II

Part III

________

When Steve opened the door, you expected this place to reek so bad you clamped a hand against your nose and mouth, but all you smelled were the damp leaves and salt air. It felt weird, and you raised your eyes to the elf's face, staring at him with suspicion. What was that? How come this place emitted such a strange, almost charming scent that reminded you of a forest by the sea? Perhaps you could blame it on the fact the owner of this place was an elf, too, but the café full of fairy addicts was just as bad as you expected it to be, and no heavenly aroma lingered there. What's the difference now?

Judging by the expression on Steve's face, he hadn't been here for a long time as well: he's clearly surprised, and the very next second you could see him going down the stairs so fast like somebody was chasing him.

"Hey!" You yelled behind his back, running after the elf before he could disappear into thin air. "What is it?"

He didn't answer, but you couldn't back down now when you had a chance to finally see someone meeting your elven friend's criteria. Angry at Steve for rushing in, you followed him to the dark corridors with barely a couple of bulbs lighting your way, completely forgetting your fear. At that moment, your own safety mattered so little that you didn't even consider what would happen if Julius decided to hurt you, a stranger who broke in his home.

But he couldn't. He couldn't because he was laying on an old stained sofa, unmoving, and his skin was so ashy it was clear as day he was dead.

For a couple of seconds, it seemed like you grew deaf. Staring at the lifeless body of a young, maybe even handsome elf if not for his wrinkles and ugly little scars down his mouth to the chin, you heard nothing but the sound of your heart beating in your ears. When you directed your gaze to his hand dropped to the floor, you saw the horribly scarred skin and veins that looked so black as if someone traced them with a pen. The veins in his toes were just as bad, and you spotted scars on his dirty feet, too.

He was dead.

You started crying before you could even process the thought.

Pressing your palms against your eyes so hard you nearly made yourself blind, your back bumped against the wall, you let out a loud cry like a wounded animal. He was dead. Whether he was an elf or a man or whatever creature he could be, he died like any drug addict who didn't get help before it was too late. He just laid there, on the disgusting damp yellow sofa that barely held his weight, as if he was resting, and his expression was so serene like he finally found something he had been searching for so long.

He was dead hewasdeadhewasdead-

You wailed and wept and shook your head frantically as if it somehow would make you feel better about a corpse of a fallen elf in front of your eyes. Tugging at the roots of your hair, you finally turned away, your forehead pressing into the cool wall as you shuddered, soaked with sweat. What did you expect to find here? After all Steve told you and everything you saw with your own eyes, did you think you would find a man who'd be willing to go with you? Did you seriously consider you'd be able to make anyone go meet that princely elf under the pretense of coming back to magic lands? Did it not occur to you all these people elves and fairies had been way beyond salvation ages before you showed up? Did you think they would want to come back even if they could?

It was harder to breathe with every step you took, climbing the stairs. Steve, whom you had completely forgotten about, was by your side, saying something to you in desperation, his voice trembling, but he could as well talk to the walls: you were still very much deaf, barely dragging yourself up before you'd collapse from shock.

"I'm sorry," he inhaled sharply as you fell down on your knees once you got outside, coughing and barely holding yourself from vomitting all over the ground. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I didn’t know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

If you turned your head to him, holding you tightly so you wouldn't crash your head against the concrete, you'd see he was shaking nearly as much as you did, his fingers clasping your shoulders so hard they would surely bruise tomorrow. But you didn't, too deep in your head, emotions taking over you, a dead elf in front of your eyes the moment you dared to close them again.

"It's good that you cry," Steve muttered when the two of you sat on the cemented road when some time passed, dust and dirt beneath your fingers. "Nobody would cry for him, but you do. It's good that you do."

Although then you could already recognize his words when he spoke, it mattered so little that you didn't even ask him what he meant by that. You just felt horrible and empty and sick and disgusted, staring dumbly at the road and shivering from the cold wind, cutting you to the bone.

________

You didn't remember who called a taxi and how the driver was able to find you in that godforsaken place, but you remembered well what you thought on your way back: you just couldn't do it. You couldn't fulfill your promise if you had to do this to find the man you were looking for.

Part V

Tags: @finleyjayne  @alexakeyloveloki  ​@helenaeisenhower  @villanellevi  @inlovewiththefictionalcharacters @navegandoaciegas  @rosalynshields  @sllooney  @angrythingstarlight  @lookiamtrying  @buckysbunny  @soleil-dor  @stargazingfangirl18  @dillybuggg  @literate-lamb  @cosicas-cuquis  @sarge-barnes-sir  @buckybarnesplumwhore  @jaysayey  @megzdoodle  @gotnofucks  @lux-ravenwolf  @biiskuitx  @stupendouslovegardener  @melodierin  @yeolliedokai  @what-is-your-wish  @lou-la-lou  @gachawipes133  @eralen  @magnificantmermaid  @lovelydarkdaydream  @illyrianprincess  @youngdreamer3214

#yandere #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #dark steve rogers #mcu fanfiction #captain america #dark steve rogers x reader

[ctheathy]

•• Julius the Dressmaker showing his s/o affection and care please

Julius the Dressmaker affection Headcanons

Julius Doherty x Reader

Fluff+Partly suggestive Headcanons

Short Concept

Character + Artwork by Sanityshorror

Author’s note : I tried keeping the slight suggestive content in there due to it being in the request itself, but I feel guilty to say that Julius unfortunately wasn’t in my intimate list to begin with and I'm not confident in myself when writing actual NSFW Headcanons for him, sorry! =( I still do hope you enjoy, however~♥️

Julius the Dressmaker/Reader [Romantic]

[Gender-neutral Darling|Female Darling|Male Darling]

Potential ⚠️TWs⚠️ :

Intercourse mention • Implications of pleasing your partner for stress release

۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵

You should consider it a real treat when this man goes out of his way to take care of you. Because on a regular basis he would be the one who demands the attention and special treatment, even though he behaves dismissevely oblivious and assures you must be mistaken about your sentiments. But you know your lover good enough to know he just feels shameful about his needy and commending pillow prince behaviour and the riskful threat to his ego if he were to recognise that fact. He's one heck of a sucker for physical intimacy and words of reassurance behind closed doors. Though I can, however, see him acting like the complete opposite when out in the open, as if he already despises the mere idea of being coddled and babied. Perhaps a statement that would tone down whenever a private area is accessible, but he has a strict reputation and outer image to keep up with-!

He may be quite a busy man with a sharp eye for his business, but that absolutely doesn't mean he won't make time for you. Even if it may sound surprising, it's actually something he does all of the time; cancelling plans and a bunch of appointments he had in his schedule just in replacement of spending some meaningful time with his little dove. Even if it just were to be something as simple as an occasional night of making love. Every minute he spends with you is very valuable to him, and he would genuinely want to try his best to show you that through ways that doesn't even require direct confessions or in a sense of admitting of his vulnerability towards you. Still feeling this hesitance and a hint of insecurity with the idea of handing his emotions over to you on a silver platter.

Your relationship with Julius, besides the bond you have found with one another, is also partly built on sexual desire and sensibilities. In the moments you two spend together, you're both likely quick to stand to more intimate things than just wholesome cuddling. You'll find yourself being seduced and flirted with constantly, which has a big possibility of eventually ending up with you two losing eachother in the other's eyes, your bodies intertwined while trying to find the deepest core of your partner's love.

Though Julius also finds himself feeling more emotional and trusted with the relationship after the deed has been done, and is more open to showing you the affection from his heart. So these would usually have a bigger chance of occurring after an act of sensual intimacy or intercourse, prideful on the idea how he wants to seem like the one in control after something so meaningful and important. When realistically, he really just wants to make sure he hasn't been too rough with you and wants to see if you're alright. He knows he can get a bit rough in the heat of the moment and doesn't want you to be left hurting and sore. Holding you close to his chest and occasionally massaging your inner thighs as you're all up close to him, whispering praises into your hair while you're probably already drifting off from stimulation.

When you're in a state of discomfort or physical displeasure, he also tries to be as cautious as he can about your frailty and how you feel; especially when knowing you're more corporeally capable of getting hurt or fall ill from sickness due to being mortal, unlike himself. Though Julius also adores his lover with his whole heart, and despite facading his worry and seeming nonchalant about your aching frame, he's quick to suggest solutions to make you feel better. To a point where you don't even have to ask for anything, because the man is all ready to top-service pleasure you and your body to fight off the irritation with all he has ...as long as you don't mention the efforts he went through for you, as he can get embarrassed~

Being a demon, he is a very powerful and complex entity who are known to scare off threats with the snap of a finger. But when it comes to his self-esteem, it is sadly said, very very nonexistent when it comes to Julius. He cannot help but doubt his abilities to protect you from time to time. Especially damage that would rather count as emotional harm and mental damage in more severe occasions, specifically what can remain permanent under the worst circumstances.

He’s seen paralysis and nerve damage through his many years of killing before, and he would absolutely never wish that upon his beloved. And as he sometimes happens to grow more paranoid, he grows more protective of you too. Something that's already noticeable when you're doing something as simple as walking through the dark, crowded streets next to him; entangling your arm into his as he sometimes squeezes your limb between his muscles, almost in a similar manner as if he's fearful of you being tugged away from him. Becoming more defensive to keep you away from others and not at all hesitant to add somebody to his death list if they were implying, much less encouraging any funny business. Something he only sees himself as worthy of with you.

۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵♡۵

#creepypasta x reader #creepypasta julius #julius the dressmaker #julius doherty #creepypasta #julius the dressmaker x reader #julius x reader #julius doherty x reader

[littleshysheep-at-da]

Hello, I hope you are well. Can you please share some headcanons and canon reflections about Karnatia and Schlain? I really loved the ones that you did for Wrath. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much for the well wishes! I’m still VERY ill but have a support system trying to get me help ☺️ so we keep chugging! Still won’t be super active here but I LOVE answering these asks 💕

And THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE VALIDATION ❤️?! Like I am so incredibly happy people enjoy my ranting and want to hear/value my opinion, it’s wild and super enjoyable.

Still considering just posting my whole current Kumoko Headcanon (I have expanded some points from previous Kyouya/Wrath one too haha) but it’s suuuper long and I am CONSTANTLY adding too it. Let me know if anyone is interested.

Kyouya is def my fav so I have waaay more for him but I do have some for Katia and Shun (probably more on Shun just cause we get more from his perspective in the Novel)! As a massive Shipper again most of them revolve around my OT3 (I have no shame there haha).

Heads up for Spoiler Warning (I think I give mostly vague Spoiler for the entire series but except the Kumoko/Wakaba thing is directly said).

(Again I’m ripping this from my KumoDesu Fanfic ideas Doc so if some of the wording is wonky that’s why because it’s older and I write this just to get my thoughts down).

Trans Katia: Update: 16 novels we get two chapters from Katia’s perspective but I think there is one or two more shorts from her perspective in the Ex-Ex2. Okay so far in all 12 novels we get one (1) chapter from Katia’s perspective so there’s not a lot to go off but Katia was definitely closeted/uncracked egg Trans Girl in her past life fight me. Cracking the egg/getting outed via isekai lol. Out of roughly 30 reincarnations Katia is is the only one that switched gender and it’s explained (aside from Oka which D did just to cause trouble) the system puts them in bodies that best fit their soul this being why some characters reincarnated as not humans and why Katia is a girl. So the only characters who changed gender or race are Katia, Fei, Sophia, Kyouya, and Oka who doesn’t count in this. Shiro was always a spider thus why she is a spider. Kyouya deeply agreed with the Goblin’s mentalities and morals. We see later that Fei’s personality and morals really fits with the dragon's code of conduct. Sophia being a vampire isn’t super explained and more how people viewed her. So like failing in line Katia must be a Trans Woman basically.

Katia Anxiety: I think Katia is very protective of her boys. It’s kinda obvious when she meets Shun again and then when they get in dangerous situations. She’s so scared of losing the people she cares about (I think she’s often the most aware of how different and how dangerous the fantasy world is compared to their previous lives). I think the realization Kyouya probably isn’t on their side (because of how Oka kept avoiding the topic) probably hurt her a lot, because she doesn’t want to abandon him but also is too scared about losing Shun as it is (and I feel like when she puts everything together after the fact she feels super guilty for not pressing more). It kinda seemed she really didn’t have many people she was close to in her past life and the fact that Shun (and I’m gonna Headcanon here later Kyouya) still accept her despite everything that’s “different” (cough cough eye cracked) is huge to her. I’m glad in the Novel Shun always does a very good job conveying how much he appreciates, relays on, and trusts her because god she needs it.

Shun and Julius: The fun part about Shun as a Character is he is painfully aware how much of an NPC he is and that he doesn’t fit the role of Hero. Which is why I think he looks up to Julius so much and later on tries to emulate him. He quite frankly knows he has NO IDEA what he is doing and wants to be as level headed and smart as Julius. I think that his idol-like obsession with Julius comes from his own insecurities.

Shun, Katia, and Kyouya are Weird (aka Poly):“They're weird about each other” is one of my favorite Shipping reasons because it’s so true. I mean Shun and Katia are pretty solid in Canon and I would say I’m just adding Kyouya to it to make it an OT3 but also once I see it I can’t unsee it. Just the fact that all 3 of them single out their “Friendship” as something special. I don’t think Katia super had other friends in her past life (being an uncracked egg will make that hard) but Shun and Kyouya did and they never really mention it. Shun was peak NPC and was not super close but friendly to most of the guys but he NEVER mentions it until running into them again (apparently he was on a soccer team and just, never thought it was important or that big a deal). And it’s Shiro who mentions it seems like Kyouya and Shinobu were friends in their past life, Kyouya barely mentions it even after seeing him again. Just the “you're weird about each other” being a way of saying “that’s a little more than a friendship I think” basically.

Polyamorous not having Legal Marriage: So at the end of Volume 16 they mention that nothing is know about Shun’s love life, which might mean he never legally married. Now I like think Shun and Katia legally married and then Kyouya is their lover (they have a non-legal marriage for the 3 of them in private). But I am just saying this can support my Ship because Polyamory isn’t really that accepted publicly so they keep it secret (open secret among their friends though). It’s sort of an AU but I’m just saying.

Shun Salaryman: So it says at the end of Vol 16 Shun goes back to help his Brother and all I can think is he’s finally becomes a Salaryman. Imagine he helps with all the paperwork instead of decision making. And he’s really good at it to the point of everyone’s surprise. He finally realized JUST how lost he was trying to be a Hero (he always sort of knew but now that he’s found his calling it’s super obvious to everyone else as well).

Shun’s Accidental Rizz: So we see that Shun is always ridiculous earnest about his feelings and has no qualms expressing his appreciation (we see this most to Katia early on where he always thanks her for helping him). So I like to think for my OT3 he accidentally says the most romantic shit to Katia and Kyouya all the time unprompted because he’s just being honest about it (Kyouya Bluescreens because he’s so unused to verbal affection (he likes it he’s just used to the Demon Army’s brand of nonverbal love) and Katia goes Tsundere Mode when flustered).

Shun Perception Check: Shun is both really perceptive and an idiot at the same time. So he is able to perceive all sorts of little subtle tells that others can’t but at the same time has no idea how to process what they actually mean.

Shun: Shun is an Emotional Support Dumbass. And anyone who hates him (usually people who only saw his botched Anime version) can meet me in the pit. I also think his general easy going-ness probably helped both Katia and Kyouya a lot in their past lives (because it seemed like neither of them had the easiest home life’s and then they have it rough again after being reincarnated rip).

And that’s all I have at the moment! I’m always adding more though haha. Feel free to keep sending KumoDesu Asks I love them!

#trash meme #ask #kumo desu ga nani ka #so i’m a spider so what #kumoko #kumodesu #shun x Katia x kyouya #the fact that you used their actual names instead of nicknames is impressive #I gave up on spelling their full names

[kittensartswriting]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! What about your story is currently plaguing your thoughts right this moment? A certain character? A plot point? A particular scene? A concept for something new? Be as vague or as detailed as you like!

Happy STS! Thank you for the question!!

Right now Faerathos and Marcus from BCC are living rent free in my mind. They have somewhat codependent and dysfunctional adoptive father-son relationship. Faerathos is one of the main siblings and after their clan got killed in a civil war 15 years prior, he was taken as a hostage to the court, to deter his uncle, who managed to escape, from coming back from exile to cause trouble. Marcus is his aunt's widow (she died years before the civil war) and the commander of their house guard, though there's barely anyone alive from their house, so now he is more just Faerathos' bodyguard.

Faerathos was pretty traumatized by the civil war at age 13 and after that he's been 15 years in the court under constant surveillance and control, so it's safe to say he's mentally not great. He does a lot of self-sabotaging by getting into bad and dangerous situation and fucking over his life and relationships by being shitty to people. He craves affection, but also doesn't think he deserves it, which leads him to do things like that. More than anything he wants affection from Marcus, who is very emotionally unavailable. He has also internalized having his every move scrutinized, so he's compulsively acting like he's totally fine, and therefore also unable to just ask help or support. So Marcus, who already has trouble reading people's emotions, doesn't even know what he needs.

Marcus was Faerathos' father's (Julius) lover for several years before he died (Faerathos' parents were platonically married), which Faerathos doesn't know. So when Julius died in the civil war, Marcus also took it pretty badly, but he couldn't ever really properly grieve, because he could not show weakness being constantly under the enemy's nose, and no one knew about it. He could not save Julius, so his life mission since has been to protect Julius' son, and he barely has any life outside Faerathos. He also believes he is cursed, because tragedies seems to follow him, and he is constantly afraid something will happen to Faerathos. This is partly an internal justification to be so emotionally distant (because he's like "maybe the curse won't work if I don't talk about my feelings" - Sure, Jan), because he really just fears emotional intimacy, which would require him to actually face his grief. So he deeply loves Faerathos as a son, but is unable to express it, which is the one thing Faerathos really needs from him. It's also painful for him to watch by as Faerathos for seemingly no reason just fuck over his life over and over again without being able to do anything. So sometimes he has to emotionally check out from their relationship and just keep Faerathos alive.

Despite all that they can also be affectionate. Marcus doesn't usually like to be touched, but Faerathos likes platonic physical intimacy, so the way Marcus shows his love (since emotional intimacy is off the table) is by affectionately touching Faerathos' hair or something or letting Faerathos nap against him. (To paint you the picture, Faerathos is 195 cm and Marcus 169 cm. His son is very overgrown.) When Faerathos was younger, they didn't have this tension, since a naturally parent-child relationship is not balanced, and Marcus could be there for Faerathos without having to be that open himself. But as Faerathos grew up, their relationship should have become more reciprocal, but with the combined effort of Marcus' emotional unavailability and Faerathos' self-destructive behavior, their relationship just become more dysfunctional. So on one hand they are very close, but on the other hand they can be very hurtful to each other, because they are so close.

To show you how rent free they live in my head here's a little sketch I made of baby Faerathos and Marcus having an "I'm guess I'm a father now" moment after they have become hostages because I could not stop thinking about them.

Sorry for the long answer, I have just endless amount to say about them :'D

#marcus may not be a great father but the man has issues and he's doing his best kjhfjgf #sts #storyteller saturday #writeblr #writing #my art #answers #bcc #faerathos #marcus #bcc art

[narvana27]

                        Moment's when Jack Spicer was evil for real:

We all see Jack as this "wannabe evil boy" who just tries to be evil so hard, and tries so hard to impress the real villains of the series like Chase or Hannibal, but he got some real evil moments himself 😏

1. Ep.9, S.1- "My Homey Omi"- When he wanted to run over Dojo in the abandoned train station and was mad when Dojo survived. Some people say they were traumatized by this scene and I can't blame them. I mean - he really wanted to do this, and his anger also was real.

2. Ep.52, s.3 - "Time after Time part 1" - When Omi got his brilliant idea of taking his stoopid ass back in time to prevent Chase from becoming evil there's a lot of things going on. I mean multiple universes, multiple versions of reality and events. The first thing that happens after Omi freezes himself is Jack attacking the temple and actually winning over monks. (I get that they were probably in bad morals at the time, but let's not act like the 3 of them wouldn't actually beat Jack's ass as usual just because Omi wasn't there. C'mon, a better explanation would be the version in which Jack, Wuya and Chase were doing this together and then he screwed them over and prisoned them with the monks, but...Whatever). He built the prison they couldn't escape. Neither monks, neither villains, who were in even worse position, cuz they were tortured. Wuya chained and in a cheerleading costume... Which is a little bit weird to me tbh, but I can understand it was in the name of Jack wanting Wuya to feel embarrassed, or he just wanted to objectify her. Chase - almost naked, water dripping on his head, chained and with yellow paint brush smudging on his abs. Hannibal in his big form in a cage that is clearly too small for him. Monks prisoned in one cell, old, eating some nasty food. I mean Kim had bones in her hair instead of some hairband or whatever, so... Yea, bad conditions in general. Not to mention they were patrolled constantly, probably 24h/7 day a week by robots, and they had to fight like gladiators even tho they were 80 at the point Omi found them, so Jack could feel "even more evil" and just feel like he's Julius Caesar. I mean yikes, you can't deny he had some fantasy there.

3. Ep. 34, s. 2 - "The new order" - Jack traps Chase Young(!😳) in Sphere of Yun and takes over his palace, while still making comments about Chase and how old he is. Maybe it's not that serious and big, he didn't even hurt Chase in any way, and didn't seem to think about it, but imo it was still pretty badass considering how Jack was always licking Chase's ass, just for him to like him a little bit more.

4. I don't know which episode it was, but remember when Wuya turned her back on

Jack...again, and for once he was not having it? He again was acting like a total

badass and boss towards her. He even said she has to be gone by the time he gets home. He was cold and said he doesnt need her cuz he built a device that detects wu instead of her, so... Outstanding move, Wuya:0, Jacko: 1!

5. When he broke into monks dreams:

6. When there was no pudding left xD 😂

#jack spicer is iconic #Jack Spicer is SO iconic #he's so extra #everyone loves Jack #its a law #jack spicer #xiaolin showdown #xiaolin #times when jack was evil for real #he wasnt playing

[succulentsunrise]

That's great! May I request a fic where Marx was treated badly by his family because they found out he was gay, and julius saved him and made him join his squad, and Marx develops feeling for him? Thank you so much!

It's in my rules that I don't write romantic relationships that have large age gaps, and Julius and Marx have ~17 years age difference. Though I could've fulfilled the request by just making it one-sided from Marx's point of view, I still wasn't super comfortable with it, so I'm sorry if this isn't to your liking.

Therefore this fic is entirely platonic and concentrates on Julius saving Marx from uncomfortable family situation.

The Saviour Knight

Warning: Homophobia, deprivation as punishment

Words: 1281

---

A hand impacted harshly with the wall just behind a youth. He tensed up, curling inside himself a little. He knew the hand wouldn’t actually hurt him, but it didn’t make the experience any less scary. There had never been any violence, just threats of it - but it was still a threat. Even if there wasn’t physical violence, there would be a punishment.

“I’ve told you to stop talking with other boys like that!” his father screamed.

The anger in those cold eyes was scary. Marx, who was by no means a brave or strong person, could only cower. The accusation was unfair. It would be pointless to say that those were simply his friends who he studied with. He had always been hard-working. He had always only gotten the best grades from all the tests, always behaved properly in the court, always been immaculate. 

Except for one thing.

He didn’t feel attraction to women. 

Marx had been naive and thought it had been something he could’ve brought up with his father. That was not the case. His father had ever since been on the edge and monitored how he acted zealously. This was only a problem because he was the only child of his family. If there was someone else to give his parents an heir, he had the inkling that they wouldn’t have cared so much. Now his father would blow up if he looked even a little bit warmly at another boy of his age, afraid that rumours would spread and no one would want to marry him when the time would come. No one would want to bear him a child. Whenever his father would get insecure about this kind of thing, he would limit the time Marx would get to spend with other people of his age and lock him in the study. Sometimes it would be “fasting”, sometimes it was just seclusion. He endured it all, because he knew his father wouldn’t let it go too far. Still, it was impossible to know what would set his father off. It was tiring to have to constantly tiptoe around him. 

Then, at the age of 15, Marx found himself a saviour - a knight, actually. They met during one of the noble gatherings that his father brought him to. His father was eager to impress the rising star of the Magic Knights, Julius Novachrono. His voice was kind and gentle, and demeanour was calming in itself. Marx immediately took a strong liking to him. Whenever they’d speak, his heart would begin pounding in his chest, and he’d try to make excuses to stay in the conversation. It was especially easy when he found out that Julius was extremely interested in magic. His new grimoire became especially useful in getting him to talk for a long time. He was even more interested when he heard a rumour that the man might also be gay, like him. It was just a rumour, one that Marx didn’t dare to ascertain whether it was true or not. Yet Marx enjoyed how he felt with Julius: he felt like he was himself in the eyes of this person, not just an heir or a noble. He was Marx. He wasn’t judged for who he was. The more they talked about the knights, magic and the Grey Deer, the more he expressed interest in joining the squad. He had to be polite, however. He didn’t know if he was good enough to join them. 

The problem arose when Marx asked a few too many times whether Julius Novachrono would be visiting again. Though he had masked it as interest in Julius’ squad, the Grey Deer, constant questioning set off his father. The accusations flooded in suddenly, took his study room by storm, and many improper words bounced off of its walls. It didn’t take long until he was told to fast for his impure thoughts again, and the door to the room was locked. The only way that he could lessen this sentence would be by agreeing that he would immediately marry some young lady from another house. Marx refused to do that. He was wrongly punished again: he just wanted to talk to his peer. He had no impure thoughts about Julius - the man was older than him by far, and clearly harboured no such thoughts for him either. He tried to argue with his father, but his father only called him a liar. The only thing Marx could do was hold on and drink the hunger away. He trusted that his father wouldn’t let it go too far. He knew his father. The first day was difficult, as always. Second day was slow. There was little he could do to distract himself. By the third day he thought they should really call this what it was: starvation, not fasting. He was dizzy, had no energy to move and felt like he was dying. His father had never made it go this long. It was usually a day. He considered for a moment fulfilling his father’s wish. He considered shouting for him, promising he had changed. He hadn’t, but he was tormented. Would this be what life had to offer for him? Constant torment for not promising to ruin some young woman’s life? Constant suspicion that he harboured feelings that he didn’t have for his friends and mentors? Marx banged at the door with little energy, begging his father to let him out. None of his cries were answered. He didn’t even know if his father heard him. Just as he was giving up on hope, the door suddenly opened. Through his tear-stained vision, he could see a person with a radiant helo step in. The rest of his body was shrouded in grey. Relieved, Marx closed his eyes. Exhaustion and stress slowly left him as the calming presence enveloped him, and with it came unconsciousness. 

It was later that Marx woke up in the headquarters of the Grey Deer, having been checked on by a doctor. He learnt that Julius Novachrono had taken him here using his connections. Marx had expressed a desire to join the Grey Deers, and Julius Novachrono had discussed the matter with his father. If he was still willing, he could join them. He was fifteen, after all. Julius put it to him in a very blunt fashion: military life wasn’t easy, but it would solve some of his problems. His father would likely not pester him about getting married immediately, and he’d have time to build himself a reputation and consider his future. However, he’d have to deal with life and death situations, which wasn’t necessarily better. Marx took a week to come to a decision. He wanted to join the Grey Deers. 

Later on, meeting Julius was one of the fondest memories Marx had of his teenage years. He had worshipped the older man as a hero, as a peer. He had been like a lost puppy by his side, trying to learn and imitate what Julius would do. Julius had been a saving light on what seemed a bleak and confusing situation. It was thanks to him that Marx now had a comfortable position, had had an easier time figuring out his own place in the world, and could easily deal with his parents’ demands. Those tumultuous years had calmed down ever since he had met Julius and joined the Grey Deers. Marx could only hope that one day, he’d find someone around his age who was as calm and kind and Julius. He would wait for that day patiently. He had been given the peace to do so, and he would treasure it.

#Julius Novachrono #Marx Francois #platonic #black clover

[thefirsttree]

A personal update + my next game

OK, time to do this. I’ve been meaning to do a big DAVID WEHLE™ update for a while now and explain why I haven’t released a new game yet, but you know how life gets in the way. Especially when life is a quarantine hellscape, you have three beautiful, amazing, exhausting kids to raise, a spouse’s job you support, a viral YouTube channel that turns your brain to mush, a thousand emails waiting in your inbox since your game is free on the Epic Games Store (with an impressive number of redemptions too! … meaning lots of emails and customer support issues), etc., etc. What also contributes to my lack of updates is because… I just don’t really like posting online. Fascinating correlation, I know!

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a venting/ranting blog post (well, maybe a bit), because my life is seriously AMAZING and INSANELY BLESSED and LUCKY. I can’t believe how many dreams keep coming true, so much so that I feel I don’t deserve it and I really pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes… but I did want to at least be honest, because I owe that to myself.

Wow, where do I even begin? Well, how about we start with the reason I’m even a full-time indie game dev now: The First Tree. This small hobby project I worked on at night morphed into this gargantuan beast (or fox) that took over my life the past 5 years. Which is great! I’m living the dream! And yet, I really didn’t expect it to do as well as it did. At its core, my game is a slow-paced, sad walking simulator (ahem, I prefer the term “exploration game,” but you know what I mean) that somehow seemed to launch at the right time to the right audience. It resonated deeply with some of you, and for that I’m eternally grateful. I still get emails almost daily how my game changed their lives in some formative way. I’m beyond honored.

However, with that spotlight came criticism and demands from the ever-present, insatiable internet. I would randomly be surfing the gamedev subreddit trying to decompress, and I would see a comment by some rando saying how much I didn’t deserve my success, and how it was all one huge lucky fluke. And I believed them!

And to add to it, some devs considered me an indie marketing “guru”, which I was uncomfortable with. I worked hard to market my game every week, and after my GDC talk, people assumed marketing was my passion; the reason I got up every morning. Just to clarify… NO, I don’t like marketing, and I hate being the center of attention. I don’t like asking people for money and wishlists. But I did what was necessary because I was passionate about telling stories, and I wanted to give my story a fighting chance to be seen on the crowded pages of Steam.

So now, you’re probably wondering “well then David, why did you make fancy YouTube videos showing off your success? Not very modest if you ask me.” This honestly could be a long blog post all on its own, because my experience of putting myself in the spotlight and becoming a “content creator” is… complicated. It was an unusual step for me, especially since I never even showed my face online (as a game developer) until my GDC talk.

First off, I always wanted to teach and start a YouTube channel. I love video editing, especially since I’ve been doing it longer than making games! It’s a huge passion of mine. And teaching people who didn’t know they could make and finish games was a huge motivator (and it’s been so rewarding already). But the second reason is, I was scared. I was self-employed, and I was riding the success of a “huge lucky fluke” that would probably not happen again. I wanted to make sure I could provide for my amazing family, and give them food and health insurance and security in these tumultuous times. I was turning my lifelong passions and hobbies into a business, and it wasn’t as simple of a mental transition as I thought.

So, I went all in on YouTube and the accompanying online course called Game Dev Unlocked. I spent years editing the scripts and videos, and polishing them to a shine. At first, no one watched my videos, no one was buying… and in the blink of an eye, the YouTube algorithm picked up my main autobiographical video (“How Making Indie Games Changed My Life”), and I started getting 5,000 subscribers a day. Right now, I’m at 150,000 subs, which is still hard for me to believe. I always had a dream of earning 100k subs on YouTube, so I was pretty happy with the whole thing. Sales were OK, but mostly people didn’t want to buy the course. Then the emails came in…

Something you should know about me: I am a textbook “people pleaser,” and if someone asks for my help, I take it very seriously. If someone is mad at me, even if I didn’t do anything wrong, it’s all I can think about, and it ruins my day. So, taking an onslaught of people begging for help and multiplying that by an impossible amount of people for my brain to truly comprehend thanks to the internet… and let’s just say it wasn’t a healthy mix.

I received thousands of emails from people who were begging me for some kind of reassurance that everything would be OK. That their dreams would come true too. And I wanted to help every single one of them. I went from a nobody working on a game for fun to becoming a spokesperson for the indie game dream. I couldn’t even get a shake from the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru without someone recognizing me and asking for game dev advice. And it didn’t stop there… I would get emails from suicidal kids asking for help, teenagers from Afghanistan asking me to get them out of their country, and on one occasion I received an email from a hopeful game developer in a war-torn country who had just experienced a bomb blowing up their neighboring village. His friends were dead, and he was hoping he could finish a game before he died too, and he needed my help. How do you say no to something like that? Didn’t I owe it to everyone because I was lucky with my hit game and I needed to “pay it forward”? (Something people constantly reminded me of)

And then to top it off, after you’ve given everything you’ve got to other people in need… you get hate mail in your inbox. You spend the whole day serving your children and strangers on the internet, then when the kids are finally asleep, you hit the bed to relax and take a look at your phone to decompress, and you randomly come across an angry gamer in your Twitter mentions telling you your game they got for free sucks, and that you took away a potentially great game from them and that your apology isn’t good enough.

Long story short, I went to a mental therapist for the first time in my life. I was broken trying to care for two toddlers and a new baby in a pandemic (which is very, very hard), taking care of my course students who gave me their hard-earned money and demanded results, and the countless people begging for help on the internet. I was this introverted, internet-lurker trying to take on the weight of the world. I was so tired and hurt that no one cared about me and my needs… only what I could do for them.

Quitting my day job and making this hobby my full-time job has stirred up… mixed emotions. This statement may disturb some of you, but I was definitely 100% happier when I had a full-time job and I was working on my game at night. I missed working with the amazing team at The VOID, working on Star Wars… back when the success of my game was this abstract thing I could only daydream about. Mostly, I was making my game for me with no outside expectations to pay the bills or satisfy the ever-demanding internet, and that brought me a lot of joy.

It’s not all doom and gloom though! I’m actually very happy now and in the best shape I’ve been since the pandemic started. I’ve had to confront my weaknesses and personality quirks, but I’m a better person for it (and I’m sure these issues would’ve come out eventually). I hired an awesome community manager for Game Dev Unlocked who is helping SO MUCH with the emails, I can’t even tell you the mental burden it alleviates. I even leased a co-working office to help separate work from my home, and that’s been a huge help too. I’ve decided to work with my old friends from The VOID on a cool, new VR experience. It will take me away from my projects a bit, but I’m ecstatic to work with a great team again (and not manage anything, whew).

These are all things I would’ve never guessed I needed, because I thought I knew myself pretty well… turns out I didn’t.

The reality is: running a business is HARD. Running it solo is even harder. You have to remember, I was burnt out on The First Tree well into the Steam release in 2017, but I kept working on it for 4 more years due to my fears of failing again and not earning enough money for my family.

So, I was wrestling with the age-old concept of commercialism and art. There was this dichotomy of doing whatever I wanted and being true to my vision (what most people assume the indie dev dream is like), and doing only what customers wanted to buy. This is something that has killed me with YouTube… in one specific instance, I was super excited to make the exact video I wanted to make. I loved every part of its creation, and I thought it had a message that would inspire everyone. I lovingly edited it over several weeks, posted it, and excitedly waited for the stats… and it was by far my worst performing video.

This is not a new problem. Even the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo was a commission forced upon him by the very violent Pope Julius II. My wife and I regularly talk about the fine balance between artistic integrity and commercialism, a problem she is very familiar with as an artist who constantly needs to balance what she wants to make with what the customer wants to hang up in their home.

For The First Tree, I was lucky. It was pretty much what I wanted to make (I had to compromise a lot of things of course), and it turned out millions of people wanted it too. Recently, I thought the safe business decision would be to do it all over again, so I started work on a spiritual successor to The First Tree (an idea that I may revisit one day since I do love the story idea). But that isn’t happening anytime soon. Trust me when I say I am now currently burnt out on animal exploration games.

So that realization left me with a question: what do I do next?

I’ve decided I need to make a game that I want to make, for me. It will be a bit different and I’m almost certain most fans of The First Tree will not love it… but it’s an idea that gets me super excited. It’s an idea that could help me fall in love with game development again.

A few more details: this game will be story-driven, first-person, and will use the Unreal Engine. That means development is gonna be slow going, because I have to learn a whole new tool. The “smart business” decision would be to make something quickly in Unity which I’m already familiar with… but I want to do this for me, and UE5 looks like a lot of fun. I’m also shooting for an early-ish release date so I avoid burn out and I keep the game short: I want to release it in Fall 2022, but knowing game development, it will probably take longer.

With the help of my therapist, I’ve also concluded that I’ve been too accessible on the internet and that my self-worth isn’t determined by the amount of people I try to help online. Of course, I love helping people and seeing them succeed, but I need to step back and focus on my family and myself. I will delete my social media apps on my phone (I will still post big updates occasionally) and stop responding to most emails, tweets, DMs, etc. It’s not that I’m ungrateful… in fact, if I don’t say thank you or at least acknowledge the incredibly nice people who share a sweet message about my game or want to tell me how I inspire them (still hard for me to believe, lol), I feel a ton of guilt… but I need to let that go. Please know I’m extremely grateful to all the fans who follow my work, so even if I don’t thank you directly, I truly mean it: thank you.

I will still post and stream occasionally on YouTube when I want to (and I still do live Q&A’s for my GDU students). The online course sales will help support my family as I work on a potentially risky game idea (and my new job will help alleviate the risk too). I’m gonna try one more marketing experiment and sell a mini-course soon (and add an Unreal section), and after that I’m done working on it. A gigantic thank you to the people who bought my course and are part of the amazing community, it has helped me and my family tremendously, and it’s inspiring seeing the games you make!

I’m a bit worried about the whole thing since this new game idea could flop, which could definitely affect my family. But a sappy, high-school yearbook quote is coming to mind…  I think it applies here: “A ship in harbor is safe—but that is not what ships are built for.”

Thanks for reading,

David

#gamedev #indie games #the first tree

[nintendousimp]

Hello there! I'm new to Tumblr and I happened to found your page! Congrats on 100 followers 🙈♥♥ I was wondering if it's not too much trouble if I can request a short story for your event! I'd love to see Nacht with a cliffhanger ending! I'm such a simp for the man that I need more content to read 😢congratulations again. I already love your work 😍😍

Omg 😱 a new tumblr user! Thank you so much for following and for sharing the work I’ve put out! 💕 Nacht is actually the character I love most when it comes to Black Clover 🍀 so I’m more than thrilled to be writing this for you!

I really hope you enjoy this story I’m putting out for you! Please feel more than welcome to request at any time 🥺✌️. Stay Hydrated!!!

Theres not a care in the world.

“Please, Nacht wait!!” You screamed at the top of your lungs; to the Vice-Captain who ignored your ever pleads to get him to stay. When you heard that Julius gave Nacht a mission to infiltrate the spade kingdom. You were with Yami looking at the hideout he had found for his new squad. When Yami got the news from Marx that his new Vice-captain was getting ready to leave Clover. You remember jumping in your broom flying there as fast as you could, hoping you’d be able to change Nachts mind about leaving. Although all that effort was for nothing as you couldn’t get him to even glance at you.

Nacht on the other hand, was struggling to keep himself together. He knew this mission was far too important. He knew if he stopped and acknowledged your presence, he wouldn’t want to leave. But with every scream and shout from you, using all your efforts to convince him to stay, was getting to him. “ What is it that you want? I’ve already made up my mind. I’m going and there’s nothing you can say to stop me,” Nacht said. His words took you back a little,“ Is this mission worth your life? Do you not love me? “Do you not care anymore?”

You asked while tears were pouring from your eyes. Nacht knew you were in pain all because of him. But he can’t stay in Clover when he’s committed so many sins. He knew he had to break your heart in order for you to let go. The next words that came out of his mouth were like venom to him. “Whether I live or die no longer matters to me, As for my love…” Nacht tried to hold his tongue. It’s like his heart was working against him, telling him this is not what you want.

“There’s not an ounce of love left for you, there’s not a care in the world. You’ll never get me to stay. Give up while you can,” is the last thing he said, before you dropped on your knees in defeat. Nacht was glad it was raining that night, because he would not have been able to explain the immense amount of tears that were coming out of his eyes. That was the last time you saw him. The day he left and walked out of your life without saying goodbye.

…

You woke up from your dream with tears in your eyes. It had been years since he left, yet your mind would constantly keep dreaming of that night. Reliving that night hurt like hell. In the beginning your were a mess you could barely sleep, but now that years have passed; you’ve become emotionally numb to it. A lot of things have changed since he left. The Black Bulls have expanded with new members (and you guys have brought yourselves up from negative stars, to being second most in stars.) As well, the kingdom was going to battle with The Dark Triad in a few days.

You couldn’t become distracted now that kingdom was getting ready to face Spade. That is until one of the Dark Triad members showed up and attacked the hideout. To make this long story short, Yami and Asta beat the man who’s named he said to be Dante. Everything looked okay until the other member of the Dark Triad showed up and took Yami along with Dante. Leaving all of you in frozen and in shock. With Yami missing and Asta injured you knew you had to take charge. You had everyone go to the palace to get checked by Doc.

When they came back, Finral took Asta to his room, while the rest of you tried to clean up and fix the damage that was done to the hideout. After the cleaning, you all decided it would be best to rest until you got further news from the palace to head out for spade. While you were resting in your room, you got woken up by Asta who was trying go to fight The Dark Triad to save Yami and Vangeance. You got up to try to stop him from going; fearing that in his condition he’d get himself killed. Before you could get to the boy, you were already beaten there. You couldn’t believe who your eyes were seeing at that very moment. It had been years since you saw him, you could feel the tears starting to pour from your eyes.

The man that left without saying goodbye is in front of you. The one you’ve loved all this time returned. The one man you worried yourself sick for years; but to end it all, the man that broke your heart.

“Nacht!”

….

I really hope you enjoy this story! I’m sorry it’s a bit long!!! 😅 I did say Nacht was the clover character I love most, so I do hope you enjoy this story! Welcome to Tumblr 💕🥺🥺

#anime #black clover #nacht black clover #nacht faust #the black bulls

[luminouslion]

Black Clover Characters showing physical affection Part 1

I wrote some headcanons for a bunch of characters about how I think they would show physical affection. I will include headcanons with an s/o and between characters. Some of these can be seen as romantic affection (but also as platonic affection if you’re more comfortable with that!) while all adult and teenager interactions are only to be seen platonically!!!

As always feel free to send in requests for characters that I should include in a second part!

Characters included: Julius/Marx/Lumiere/Fuegoleon/Yami/Noelle/Asta

Julius

With an s/o:

He likes to give and receive physical affection and he isn’t afraid to show that in public

He will randomly hug you from behind or cling to you

He also really likes little affectionate gestures like holding your hand or touching your back while walking past you

And he loves to cuddle with you! He will hold you close while you are asleep on him

But he also likes to be hold by you, especially when he had a bad day

With other characters:

He loves giving physical affection while praising someone

At this point he doesn’t really notice anymore that he does that

He will mostly do so with people that are younger than him but there it doesn’t matter how much younger. The person is only one year younger, doesn’t matter they will still „suffer“ from his affection

Most of the time gives head and shoulder pats or he will casually throw his arm around someone’s shoulders

But won’t hesitate to hug someone when they are having a bad day

He will keep showing this kind of affection even though most people grew more strict around him after he became Wizard King

Marx

First I should mention that I headcanon his parents to be really strict. Not abusive or anything like that, they just never showed him much attention and were more success oriented.

With an s/o:

He is surprisingly affectionate

He won’t be all too in public though. He will hold your hand or hug you when you need it but never let his affectionate side show too much

For that he will be even more affectionate when you too are alone

He will be close to you the entire time, hugging you randomly, kissing your forehead or just brushing a hair out of your face

On top of that he loves to cuddle with you

At first he wants to be held by you but later on the two of you will shift so that he lays on his side and you can press your head onto his chest while he has both his arms around you and his face buried in your hair. This is how the two of you will sleep in.

He always has a hard time leaving you in the morning

With other characters:

He will only show physical affection with people he is really close with, with other words mostly Julius cause he isn’t really close with anyone else

He also won’t be the one showing much affection especially not after Julius became Wizard King. But he also won’t pull away from him.

The first time Julius tried to pat his head he flinched, not because he thought he would hit him or something like that, he knows he would never hurt him! but because he didn’t understand what he was about to do

Even though Julius felt a bit bad for making him flinch he kept going but instead of really patting his head he just layed his hand down and kept it there for a while. After he started relaxing a bit Julius smiled at him, ruffled his hair a bit and just kept going as if nothing happened.

Though in the future he made sure to move a bit slower whenever he tried to pat him

At this point Marx is used to him showing a lot of physical affection and sometimes even leans into his touches a bit

Lumiere

With an s/o:

Will show mostly little acts of affection but a lot of them

Like he will constantly hold your hand or he will often brush your hair out of your face

He also loves to give you random kisses on your cheek or your hands

He likes sitting close to you. Like so close that your shoulders are touching and them he will put his arm around you

With other characters:

He will unintentionally show little acts of affection

He will take someone’s hand when he gets excited about their magic

And he won’t hesitate to pull someone along with him while holding their hand

Or he will leans his arm on someone’s shoulder and coming really close to them that way but he himself is to oblivious to notice that

Fuegoleon

With an s/o:

Loves keeping his arm around your hip

He always gives you little kisses when no one’s looking

He loves to cuddle, but who can blame him he loves it warm and your body heat is just perfect for that

But this goes both ways cause you like to cuddle onto him since he gives off more body heat than a regular person

With other characters:

Only really shows physical affection to the younger people

He won’t hesitate to put a hand on someone’s shoulder or head while praising them

The only person he is actually going to hug is Leo when he is upset

I mean Leo is his baby brother and he cares about him very much

He would hug Mereo but she would probably kill him so he won’t for safety reasons

Yami

With an s/o:

He likes to put his arm around you in public so everyone knows you belong to him

He tends to touch your cheek gently whenever you seem sad

He will hug you closely when you are in private but most of the time you have to start the hug

In the night you will lay down with your head on his chest and one of his arms pulled around your hip

With other characters:

He often hits people on the back, not really gentle but also not way too strong. The strength he uses always depends on who the other person is and how much he knows they can handle

He will give head pats to his squad mates when they need them

But overall he won’t show all to much physical affection

Noelle

With an s/o:

She will deny it in public but she loves physical affection

She loves being held by you

When she is scared she will grab your hand and hide behind you

When she hugs you she will pull her arms tightly around your hip and press her face onto your chest

With other characters:

Again she will deny it but she kinda likes physical affection

Probably because she never received much as a child

She loves getting one of Yamis rare head pats or when Fuegoleon puts a hand on her shoulder while praising her

She would always deny physical contact with people she doesn’t know though

And every time someone touches her she will go into her „don’t touch me, I’m royalty“ mood at first

Asta

With an s/o:

You are the person that has to start giving physical affection

Or you gotta tell him that you want to be held cause this boy is way to oblivious for anything else

After you tell him he will be more than happy to give you what you want

He will hold you the entire day and night if you need it (this boy can be surprisingly calm for someone so hyperactive)

With other characters:

Doesn’t show all to much affection

He sometimes pats Noelles but that’s really it

He will lean into other’s touches though. Like for example when Yami pats his head gently for once or Vanessa puts an arm around his shoulders

#black clover #bc headcanons #julius novachrono #marx francois #black clover marx #julius and marx #fuegoleon vermillion #lumiere black clover #lumiere silvamillion clover #yami sukehiro #noelle silva #black clover asta

[wlw-lovestruck-fiction]

MC comforting Vinca while she is crying

Pairing with: Can we write mc getting terribly injured and almost dying for vinca? and then emotional vinca❤️

Warning: Mentions of blood.

...

Part 1

Written by @cute-ogre

A warm hand squeezes hers and let it go.

Nico breathes in heavily, inhaling the cold air, the familiar smell of antiseptic, bleach and pine telling her immediately exactly where she was.

The bleary vision soon became more focused and she was able to see the nurse standing by her bedside, checking her vitals and taking fast notes. He smiled when he noticed his patient was awake, making a nervous one-sided chat while waiting for the doctor responsible for her, a cautious looking woman that calmly explained her general state and left her alone after a long check up, noticing her tired state.

She closes her eyes, sighing, exhausted. Her body was weirdly numb and she couldn't quite move yet. Her thoughts  were difficult to grasp, like they were floating in a tick fog, bouncing slowly back into her mind one by one.

Her house was broken in, she was alone. There were shouts, hers, and growls from the way-smarter-than-it- should-be demon.

(Because, yeah, those exist.)

Cold hands trying to get the locket out of hers. The small locket with, apparently, Vinca's soul in it. Vinca couldn't read her mind and apparently that means creepy, stabby demon time.

Light catching in the metal as a pocket knife was pulled, made a shallow, bloody cut in the left side of her head and then sunk into her abdomen.

A piercing scream as she killed it, a mysterious light shooting from her wound like lightning, disintegrating the demon on the spot. The demon needed her blood for something, she thinks, but couldn't remember why or what.

Bloodied hands trying to make a call with no success.

Bandaging the wound with shaky hands, trying to keep the knife firmly in place.

A seven-minutes-long, careful, anxious walk until Vinca's house. Her hands pressing the wound, trying to keep the knife there without damaging her body even more.

Constantly analyzing her own state while looking for new attackers in the dark streets.

(The injury... below the belly button, lateral, probably non-lethal if treated soon by the looks of it. Elevated breath and heart rate with dizziness, so moderate blood loss, maybe?)

Knocking on the taller woman's door frantically, a door opening, wide blue eyes staring at her in shock.

And then everything was blurry.

The sound of the door opening brought Nico's attention back to the present.

"I can't believe she was stabbed! She will have such a cool scar!"

Trudy's voice rings loud and excited, and Vinca's answer is barely a hiss.

"If you don't shut up and back off, I will make sure you'll get one too."

"Really? That would be so badass!"

There's some commotion, a yelp accompanied by hushed whispered yell and then silence.

Someone clears their throat.

"We will go get some clean clothes for her, Laz is already there taking care of her mom. We'll be back soon." Yvette's voice sounds gentle and low, and was received with a low grunt of agreement and a closed door.

Nico's eyes open again, vision bleary for a second before being filled with the familiar big, crazed,blue eyes and messy blonde hair. The Pride assassin's face close enough that she was able to see the small freckles that adorned her -weirdly- make-up free face.

"H-Hi?"

Vinca just stares intensely at her in silence for a awkwardly long time before smirking, poking the small women's cheek.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to wake up! Feeling better, Julius Caesar?"

The dark haired girl blinks, nodding distractedly, her eyes scanning the white hospital room. When she speaks, her voice sounds hoarse and weak.

"Thank you for bringing me here, and I'm sorry, I probably spilled blood all over your nice car."

Vinca's smile appears to waver for a second before she let out a snort, straightening up. "Yeah, your stabbed ass made quite a mess, had to drag you out of the car like a dead corpse. Hope you know that you will be the one cleaning it."

"Hey! It's not my fault I was stabbed!"

"Yes it is, you are the easiest target I have ever seen, you look like the type of person that tries to hold on to the water when you slip on the shower." The blonde shots her a teasing look, seeing the small woman roll her eyes in annoyance, a weak smile on her lips.

"Oh, you can kiss my ass!"

"What ass? You have none, you are flat like the surface of the earth."

She is using humor to cope, like she always does when she feels strong emotions.

Brown eyes stare at Vinca, seeing the model stands up with a tense posture and walk to a table with a jar of water nearby.

"Please tell me you are joking and don't, in fact, believe that the earth is flat."

Like the unbearable brat she is, the blonde woman just shrugs, smirking a little bit before resuming her task, and Nico notices the slight shake of her hands as she pours the water in a plastic cup.

"It may be."

"The- the earth isn't flat."

Nodding slowly, she sits on the bed again, blue eyes twinkling and a soft smile on her lips.

"I know, and neither are you, hotshot." She winks, offering the cup of water, earning a laugh from the bike mechanic. "You should drink it, you lost a disgusting amount of blood."

Nico sighs, before slowly trying to seat up with the taller woman's help.

"Did I pass out? I don't remember anything after knocking on your door."

Smile gone, the tallest Wren sister shakes her head seriously.

"You didn't, but you were definitely confused."

"Oh."

There is a heavy pause with Vinca opening and closing her mouth before clenching her jaw and letting out a  annoyed huff.

"I was really... " She waves her hand in the air and grimaces, like the next words are causing her physical pain "...worried about you, I think."

"Aww, you think?"

It takes all of her strength of will, but Nico manages to hold back a smug smirk, looking up to see the blonde scratch uncomfortably one of  her slightly reddened cheeks.

"I thought you hated me when we first met. Look at us now, progress!"

She bites her lip, holding back a smile, gives the Chinese woman a side-eyed look and sniffs.

"I did. But eh, you grew on me, like a fungus."

I care a lot about you too

Humming, the bike mechanic takes a sip of water, furrowing her brow when she notice the way the mind-reader keeps looking fixedly at her own hands, opening and closing them repeatedly.

"...Vinca? Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine."

The huge bags under her eyes doesn't exactly scream "fine" to Nico, but she decides to finish her water before asking again.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm peachy, why wouldn't I be?" She snatches the empty cup of water, throwing it into the garbage can without even looking at it.

"It's... It's about the locket? Something happened to it?"

"The locket it's fine." The answer is suddenly tense and Nico looks at her dubiously.

"Are you sure? It seemed impor-"

"Yes, I'm sure. I don't care about the fucking locket."

She grits, crossing her arms in annoyance, voice sounding snappy, but she doesn't meet her eyes when she keeps talking.

"And you are a moron. I can't believe you got yourself stabbed for that stupid thing."

The Chinese woman lets out a incredulous laugh, ignoring the way her head hurt a little when she did.

"A locked with you soul in it,detail you forgot to mention by the way! And you told me to take care of it!"

"I said 'Take care of it', not 'get killed protecting it' you dumbass!"

"Yeah, but I didn't die."

"You almost did!" There's a second of silence after the explosion, and when Vinca lifts her eyes they are shining with unshed tears and more vulnerable than Nico has ever seen them.

"It- it was so much blood and I thought that- I thought that you... and for a stupid locket!" Her breath is uneven, her hands moving in the air, wildly, and her eyes start darting to everything in the room besides the injured woman. "I don't care about my fucking soul! I could kick some old demon ass until they turned ash and get the locket back if it was stolen, but what would I do if I lost you?"

"Vinca..."

The dark haired woman stares at her in stunned silence, her body moving forward instinctively to touch her arm when she is hit by a sharp stab of pain, wincing.

The blonde rushes forward grabbing her shoulders and looking at her with wild eyes. A gentle pressure forcing the small woman to sit back.

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

"No. You are hurt."

It's a statement, a statement said with so much anguish that Nico doesn't even know what to do with it.

Long fingers touch delicately the bandage in her head and the sad blue eyes meet hers before learning in to press a soft kiss to her covered forehead earning a perplexed wide eyed stare.

"I'm sorry, you got hurt and I wasn't there to protect your nerd ass."

"Hey..."

The smaller woman mutters, hands cupping Vinca's face, wiping a tear and starting a gentle caress, drawing a shiver out of the woman.

"I'm fine, you are here right now to deck any demon for me, aren't you?"

Vinca smiles weakly and sniffs. "Bitch, you can bet I'm."

"Good. Now come here."

She moves carefully to the side, making a bigger space in the bed. To her surprise the taller woman immediately moves to sit by her side, hiding her face in her neck, inhaling the smell of strawberry shampoo coming from the soft  dark hair and muttering:

"....about the locket."

"What?"

Nico feels a warm tear hit her skin.

"I said I'm-"

She huffs annoyed, grabbing a fistful of the brunette hospital gown.

"I'm sorry about the locket. I gave it to you because I thought that you deserved some part of me that wasn't tainted."

Nico forces herself to be silent, unsure of how to answer and her hands lift to caress soft wild hair earning a sigh from the blonde.

I will talk to her about it later

"I shouldn't have- I put you in danger and I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I'm fine. Let's just... forget about it for a while hm?  But be aware that you will explain how did your soul ended up in a locked in details after I'm out of this hospital."

Nico jabs a accusatory finger, poking at the pride assassin's ribs.

"Whatever you say, girl boss."

Vinca chuckles, nodding and slowly raising her head and looking at the smaller woman with something in her eyes that the bike mechanic couldn't quite place.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

She hesitates for a moment, calculating, before speaking quietly.

"I... I'm just so glad that you are okay."

And something about the way blue eyes never leave brown tells Nico that that's not really what she was going to say at all.

"Me too."

Nico nods, smiling softly at her and seeing the Pride assassin blush and narrow her eyes.

"But if you tell anyone that I cried I'm gonna kick your tiny ass so hard that  you're gonna fly off the planet earth and become a satellite, are we clear?"

"Would you really hurt an injured woman?"

The brown haired girl clutches her chest dramatically, earning a cheeky grin from the blond.

"Have you met me?"

"... Fair point."

#Anonymous #answered #lovestruck #women of lovestruck #sin with me #vinca wren #vinca x mc #swm vinca #sin with me vinca #lovestruck vinca #light angst #woeful wednesday

[goldencuffs]

the tape

tw: a sex tape is filmed and released without consent.

Damen didn’t expect to wake up on Wednesday morning to the headline: Famous Football Player Caught in Tantalising SEX SCANDAL, Scroll for Video — but, well. He sort of knew it was a possibility.

 Julius had been a sweet little thing at Ernesta, the club Damen and his teammates frequented after a game or a training session or anything, really. Damen had caught sight of Julius’ blonde hair under the strobe lights, and had made his way over, tipsy and light, and just horny enough that he could last a full conversation with minimal wandering hands.

 Julius had been a ‘huge fan’ and pretty enough that Damen neglected his one rule: which was to never hook up with fans. They’d made it to Damen’s penthouse within half an hour, and Julius must have set up his phone to record them when Damen went to the bathroom after the first round.

It had honestly been the most average sex of Damen’s life — which was the only reason why he had been upset that Julius had leaked the tape at all. Damen hadn’t even tried very hard to make Julius cum, and he’d still been mostly hard throughout it all, his own release unsatisfactory.

 When he tried to explain this to Laurent later that day, during lunch at their favourite brunch place, Laurent’s face twitched. He looked furious, and then upset, and then both those expressions slowly absolved, until his expression was a flat, distant thing that unsettled Damen.

 In fact, it unsettled Damen so much, he began talking, without quite meaning to, “I just wish he’d told me he was going to film a whole tape, you know? That way I could have busted better moves. Or, made suggestions with the lighting or something. Look here — my entire body is blurry, so it’s like, what’s the point? What the fuck are we supposed to be looking at?”

 From his phone, Julius’ breathless voice panted, “Yes, harder, oh you’re so good for me.”

 It wasn’t loud enough to be heard by the other patrons in the cafe, but Laurent put his knife and fork down and hissed, “Will. You. Put. That. Away.”

 Damen did, swallowing. For the first time since he had read the article, seen the tape, and responded to the dozen or so text messages from friends about the tape, he felt embarrassment.

 Laurent wasn’t looking at him anymore. His eyes slid away, to the busy road outside, his mouth turned.

 Damen turned back to his food. Neither of them said anything else for the rest of their meal.

 *

 Damen genuinely didn’t mind the release of the tape. Julius had wanted his fifteen minutes of fame; Damen had wanted a lay — it was a win-win situation.

 No one else cared too much about it either; his teammates made sly jokes about it in the locker room, Makedon slapped him on the back with a shake of his head, and even Kastor let it slide.

 But there was one thing that did bother Damen — and it was that the love of his life, the man of his dreams, his soulmate, Laurent, was ignoring him.

Laurent had been downright hostile any time someone mentioned it; he’d eviscerated Nikandros verbally during dinner when Nikandros had made a joke about it, and he refused to look Damen in the eye.

 That was the worst part, thought Damen. Laurent was now skittish around him, like the thought of being around Damen too much nauseated him.

 He’d always known Laurent was reserved when it came to sex. He made jokes about it, talked about it as much as a healthy, twenty-seven-year-old man did, but it was never on a personal scale. When it came to Laurent’s own sex life, he was always tight lipped, even though sometimes Damen wanted to know, purely on a masochistic level. It honestly killed Damen when Laurent came in last summer to review his legal contract, briefcase in hand, and a bright red hickey on the white spot beneath his ear. It was the first time Damen had thought he might kill someone — rather violently, too.

 So, that was one of the reasons Damen used to justify Laurent’s behaviour. He was probably embarrassed about seeing… so much of his best friend. Damen wouldn’t have minded seeing Laurent naked, but that was only because he had been in love with Laurent for the last four years now.

 The second reason was that Laurent was so disgusted by Damen he didn’t want to be friends anymore.

 Damen didn’t like thinking about the second reason — so he didn’t.

 *

 A week after the tape, Damen invited Laurent over to dinner, at his family home. Theomedes was obsessed with Laurent, which Damen understood wholeheartedly; he was constantly wondering why more people didn’t fall in love with Laurent three seconds into meeting him.

 At first, it had seemed like Laurent might refuse. He was doing that a lot lately: skipping plans, cancelling so last-minute Damen couldn’t cajole him to reconsider, or in most cases, just flat out saying no.

 It seemed like today, the latter would be the possibility, so Damen said, panicked, “Please. I’ll make your favourite dessert.”

 Laurent perked a little at that. “Really?”

 “Yes!” Damen said, perhaps a little too aggressively, but it had Laurent nodding, a quick, stilted movement.

 Damen ruined the first three batches of chocolate mousse, but the fourth was decent, and the fifth was a bit better than that, so he went with it.

 Laurent arrived at seven sharp, straight from work. He had his favourite suit on, the charcoal wool suit that made everyone realise that Laurent was about ninety percent leg, and he was wearing the bright, spotty tie Theomedes had gifted Laurent about three Christmases ago.

He was so beautiful, Damen’s chest hurt. “Hi,” he said breathlessly, unexpectedly shy.

 Laurent’s gaze was unimpressed. His mouth did something strange; it compressed in on itself, until it sat in a straight line, and his eyes hovered over Damen’s shoulder.

 “You have something on your face,” he said.

 Damen tried a smile. “Well, get it off for me then, sweetheart.”

 He leant forward, very desperate suddenly for Laurent's touch, which in the past, Laurent had been very generous about.

 Laurent shoved the wine bottle he was holding into Damen’s stomach. Damen stepped back with a surprised oof, fumbling to catch it, and Laurent made his way past him, into the kitchen to talk to Theomedes.

 Damen stared after him, at a complete loss.

 He sulked in the bathroom for a while, and only came out when he was sure he could no longer avoid his father’s calls anymore.

 Laurent wasn’t looking at him when Damen returned, but he didn’t shuffle away as Damen took his usual seat beside him.

 Dinner was so pleasant, Damen almost forgot about how strange Laurent had been acting. Even Laurent had loosened, and he gave his first proper smile to Damen in a whole week when he tasted the mousse. It was a small smile, but Damen was going to remember it for the rest of his life, since they were so rare now, apparently.

 Of course, just as Laurent had completely relaxed, Theomedes said, “Do you think we’d have a case if Damen were to sue the tabloids and the man in the tape?”

 Laurent stiffened so much it was like he’d been propped up by invisible string. His shoulders tensed and pulled back, and his back was so straight Damen was sure he could run a smooth line down it.

 Haltingly, Laurent said, “I — don’t. I’m not quite sure.”

 “Why not?” Theomedes said.

 Damen said, “Dad. I’m not going to sue. He was just a dumb kid.”

 Laurent seemed to stiffen further at that.

 Theomedes frowned. “But surely —”

 “I’ll ask someone at the firm for you, sir,” Laurent said, in a polite, contrite tone that wasn’t like him at all. “I only deal with sports law so I — I’d have to ask.”

 That settled Theomedes. Damen relaxed a little too, until Laurent pushed away his dessert, despite having more than half of it left.

 It was such a depressing thing to see, Damen couldn’t finish the rest of his either.

 *

 With how jumpy Laurent was, Damen expected him to leave straight after their plates were cleared, but Laurent lingered, drinking his wine, and talking to Theomedes about the Lions chances of winning this season.

 Damen barely listened. He was upset, and his stomach had been rolling tumultuously for the last hour.

 He excused himself to his bedroom and sat on his small, single bed for a few moments, feeling sorry for himself.

 When that didn’t make him feel better, Damen went to his desk and pulled out a well-read book. Book was perhaps an overstatement; it was a small collection of poetry Laurent had written for him a year after they met. He had handed it to Damen after his birthday party, when everyone had left, and they could have some privacy.

 “You don’t have to read it,” Laurent had said, bashful, when Damen had paused in stunned silence. That was when Damen knew — and over the years that feeling had only solidified.

 The binding hadn’t been the best, so Damen had rebound it himself. Along the way he’d marked a lot of the poems too. The love poems were a source of both serenity and torture, since Damen daydreamed that Laurent had written about making love in moonlit sheets about him, but.

 He was surprised when there was a hesitant knock on his door. Laurent peeked his head through, and then he was stepping inside, wine glass topped up and his tie loosened.

 Damen’s heart lurched.

 “What are you doing?” Laurent asked, and the wine must have made him forget that he was mad at Damen, because he sounded curious, joyful.

 Damen gestured to the curling cover of Laurent’s book. Laurent flushed heavily, the colour vining his cheeks and neck and ears.

 “You kept that?”

 “Of course I did,” Damen said, affronted.

 “They’re terrible,” Laurent said, shaking his head, still red. “I don’t think I’ve even read enough poetry to justify writing so many.”

 “They’re wonderful. See.” Damen flicked through the pages and showed Laurent all his markings, scribbling along the columns of Laurent’s poetry.

 Laurent watched with hungry eyes. But he said, “Oh, Damen,” with so much sadness, Damen went, instinctively, to touch his shoulder.

 “Hey,” he said, unsure.

 Laurent stepped away from his grip, but he sat on the edge of the bed, facing Damen.

 “What is it?” Damen asked, because Laurent’s face was pale, haunted.

 “Nothing,” Laurent said, attempting a small smile.

 Damen tried to return it but couldn’t.

 They sat in awkward silence for a while — which was foreign, between them. Damen talked enough for four people at a time, and Laurent, though he said otherwise, liked that.

 Eventually, Damen said, “You’re coming to Nikandros’ party on Saturday, yeah?”

 “Oh,” Laurent said, surprised. He blinked. “This Saturday?”

 “Yeah,” Damen said, his stomach knotting when he realised Laurent was most probably going to say no.

 It was worse than that. “Ah, shit, I’d completely forgotten…” Laurent trailed off. “I didn’t realise when I — I have plans.”

 “What plans?” Damen frowned, because Laurent had approximately three friends, including him, and they were all going to Nikandros’.

 Laurent flushed again, a finger tracing the rim of his glass. “Armand from work — do you remember? I mentioned him a few times at — anyway. He. He asked me on a date and I said yes.”

 “Oh,” Damen said, so flatly he didn’t think he had even made it sound like a word.

 “Yes,” Laurent said, flushing even more, not looking at Damen’s eyes. “We’re going to Charls. You’ve been there, haven’t you? Is it any good?”

 “Hmm,” said Damen.

 “Oh,” said Laurent, awkwardly. “That’s good.”

 He left ten minutes after that. Damen smashed a penholder.

 *

 The days leading up to Nikandros’ party were the worst of Damen’s life. It wasn’t as though Laurent hadn’t dated anyone for the last few years, but the fact that he was going on a date with Armand, rich, successful, handsome Armand, who cracked dry jokes and said things like, My supervisor would kill me if I said this but did you know… He was just so boring. Laurent could do way better.

 Nikandros’ party was, thankfully, a wonderful distraction. It was as raucous as ever, and the cacophony of noises prevented Damen from thinking too much. Damen drank, he danced, and he thought of flirting with Naos’ sister, but decided against it.

 He was on the alfresco, smoking, trying to ignore the couple in the corner who were three seconds away from having sex, when Laurent opened the sliding doors.

 Damen was so surprised, he almost dropped his cigarette. Then he tried not to get his hopes up. He was either so drunk he was hallucinating, even though it had never happened before, or Laurent had ditched Charls to bring himself and Armand here.

 Laurent was drunk, or at least getting there. When he saw Damen, he smiled wide, his teeth showing.

 Damen swallowed, eyes following Laurent as he made his way over. Laurent surprised him even more; he sat close to Damen, until their thighs touched and rested his head on Damen’s shoulder.

 “Hey,” said Damen, his heart racing, confused and hopeful all at once.

 Laurent propped his chin on Damen’s shoulder. “Hello,” he said softly.

 Damen’s mouth was dry. Laurent plucked Damen’s cigarette from his fingers and placed it in his own mouth.

 Damen asked, “Armand?”

 Laurent exhaled. “He was a dick. And not in the nice, sexy way.”

 “There’s a nice, sexy way?” Damen said, amused and relieved.

 “There can be,” Laurent said, handing the cigarette back to Damen.

 They shared Damen’s cigarette for a while, fingers brushing up against each other. Laurent was still on his shoulder, and this was so achingly familiar, Damen had been afraid he’d lost it forever.

 A few moments later, Damen asked, “Was he a jerk to you, Laurent?”

 “Not really,” Laurent said.

 “Good,” said Damen.

 Laurent propped his chin on Damen’s shoulder again. “What would you do if I said yes?”

 Damen said, too seriously, “I’d kill him.”

 Laurent’s breath caught. His eyes searched Damen’s face, and Damen tried valiantly to keep his expression as neutral as he could.

 Laurent pulled back. His eyes flickered to the ground, then to Damen, and then away. “I should probably go. I have a huge headache.”

 “Okay,” said Damen.

 Laurent squeezed his hand quickly, then dropped it. He made to leave the alfresco, his movements unhurried, a little disjointed.

 At the doors, he paused. Damen saw him hesitate, and then Laurent turned around and asked, “Are you free tomorrow?”

 “Yeah,” said Damen, even though he had promised Kastor they’d have lunch together.

 Laurent nodded. “Good. Come over for dinner. I’ll make lasagna.”

 “Sure,” said Damen, now smiling so wide his cheeks hurt.

 Laurent smiled too. “See you,” he said, before he stepped through the doors, into the crowd.

 Damen watched him go, his heart settled and his smile only widening.

#captive prince #damen x laurent #im very sorry anon i know this is MONTHS late #and i barely mentioned their careers lol #thank you for reading anyway!! #my writing #my fic

[preciouslittletoonette]

“Your Daddy”

A self-indulgent Mickey Mouse fic that I just wrote on a whim. Based on a headcanon I made several months ago

//

1928

“ LES CLARK! GET IN HERE, NOW”

It has been a.... bizarre three years working for Walt Disney.

Back in 1925, when Les first joined Walt, he was truly expecting a temporary job, possibly washing cels and doing a couple drawings here and there. But what once was thought to be a temporary job turned into three years honing his craft under the careful mentorship and friendship of the great Ub Iwerks, someone Les heavily admired.

But that was not the bizarre part.

The bizarre part came in the form... of Julius the Cat.

When Les entered the studio on his very first day, the toon barreled straight into his gut in excitement at the prospect of meeting someone new. Les, not expecting the greeting, barely caught the doorframe in time to stop himself from falling from the sheer force that was Julius.

Rather than amusement from his new coworkers, he was met with sympathy. Making him realise that this was, indeed, a normal occurrence.

The only one who had looked mildly amused was Walt, who sent Les a sheepish smile as he (rather gently) pried Julius off of him and settled the toon against his hip.

“ Heh, sorry about that Les. Julius here gets rather excited at the prospect of newcomers”, he said motioning to the cat, who was cuddling up to Walt’s side.

Les had accepted the apology and was soon introduced to Ub, who after the introduction immediately moved to scold Julius, who looked sheepish and nervous under Ub’s gaze. The entire interaction between Julius and the two men confused Les until two words came out of the cat toon’s mouth.

“ Sorry Papa”

While he looked nonchalant on the outside, the words had hit Les like a freight train on the inside. 

And thus began Les’ journey into the bizarre absurdity that was the Animation Industry.

Working under Disney led to Les learning a plethora of things, and some of them had less to do with actual animation and more to do with the toons. Sometimes while Ub was teaching him, the man would throw in advice on caring for toons. Any question Les had, Ub would answer and the man was incredibly blunt with his explanations.

“ So you’re Julius’ father?”

“ Yes”

“....But he calls Walt ‘Dad’”

“ It’s co-parenting”

And some answers were... weirder than others.

“ What do toons eat?”

“ Everything we eat and a little more”

“ What?”

“ Julius once ate an entire an entire paint can, filled with paint. Nearly sent me and Walt to an early grave, the little bugger. He didn’t get sick or anything, oddly enough he looked a lil’ healthier after that...”

“... So you let him eat paint now or-”

“ God lord no! We’re not taking chances in case he actually gets poisoned someday”

“ Oh”

“ Another tip, don’t ever let your toon eat erasers. That stuff will make them sick”

“....Noted”

Though it suffices to say, the years leading up to 1928 was an experience Les would never forget.

It was currently well past 11PM when Les entered Walt’s home, Lillian letting him in and calling for Walt, who was in his office, who then called Les to get to his office.

Les peeked inside to see Walt pacing from one side of the room to another. Sitting on a chair in the corner was Ub, holding something close to his chest as he tried to not doze off.

Both Ub and Walt looked like they haven’t slept in days.

Les lightly knocked on the door, announcing his presence.

Walt ceased his pacing,” Ah there you are, Les. Thanks for coming over”.

“ Well it sounded urgent. Couldn’t leave you two hangin’. What happened?”, Les asked concerned

“ We did it”, Walt sighed as he ran a hand down his tired face before looking to what Ub was holding.

Les’ eyes widened when the realisation of what had happened, finally noticing that what Ub was holding was definitely moving and shifting in the sleep-deprived man’s arms. Ub, noticing the attention from the standing men, shifted the being in his arms until Les could properly see him. In his mentor’s arms...

... was a sleepy small toon mouse.

“ When did you-?”

“ An hour ago”, Walt answered,” We made him an hour ago- but that’s not the point of you being here. Wait right here, I’ll be back”, with that said, Walt left the room to go further into the darkness of the house.

Les made his way over to his mentor’s side, dragging another chair closer to him and sat close by.

“ You okay, Ub?”, Les asked concerned.

“ I’m good”, Ub replied looking down on the toon in his arms,” Walt called me out of work to do this”, he moaned tiredly.

“ You were working?”, Les questioned.

“ I had extra work to do for Mintz because of planning with Walt”, Ub explained.

Les was well aware his mentor was working on things for Walt even while he continued to work for Universal. Ub was providing the money they needed to get the studio running while Walt and Roy went out, looking for new distributers after Winkler Pictures and Universal betrayed them.... and took Oswald away from them.

It was tragic watching everything unfold after Walt and Roy returned from their meeting with Mintz. After everyone just upped and left, leaving the four of them behind. Ub was in a fit of rage when he found out and what happened after that was the loudest, most rage-filled argument Les had ever heard between Walt and Ub. It had gone on for nearly a hour before things quieted down. But they didn’t leave the room they were in immediately, they were in there for a few minutes before finally coming out, eyes bloodshot and puffy despite vehement denies that they were crying. But it was clear as day that they were deeply hurt.

Les hoped to never ever have to go through what they went through.

“ What’s his name?”, Les inquired.

“ Michael Theodore Mouse. Mickey Mouse”, Ub stated with a nod,” It was Lillian’s suggestion after hearing Walt’s original name for him”.

“ And that was...?”

“ Mortimer”, Ub gagged.

Les snorted when he heard the name,” Bless Miss Lillian for stepping up where Walt failed in the naming department”, he joked humorously.

“ Amen to that”, Ub said with a short laugh as he looked down on the toon,” Hear that, Mickey. Your dad was going to name you Mortimer. What an unusual unneeded punishment, eh buddy”, he continued as Mickey smiled at Ub with sleepy eyes.

“ He’s very cute”, Les commented with a smile.

“ Of course he’s cute. I designed him after all”, Ub quipped with a smirk.

Les chuckled,” Of course”.

Ub smiled before looking down to Mickey again, this time his eyes filled with sadness. Les noticed this.

“ Thinking about Oswald again?”, Les asked.

“ Yeah. It’s just..... it’s been weeks since Mintz took him away and I haven’t seen him around the studio even while I was working. I’m worried about him and Julius”, Ub admitted,”.... I initially really didn’t want to do this”.

Les raised a brow,” What changed your mind?”.

“ Walt”, Ub said plainly,” We’ve been runnin’ around this for weeks now- well I was. You probably overheard me and Walt talking about this one night at the studio”.

Les nodded. He had overheard the conversation between Walt and Ub one evening when they were doing checks on the Hyperion studio. A mere two weeks before the current moment, Les recalled. It was far from an argument but there was definitely a disagreement. Ub wanted to wait a bit longer before creating another toon but Walt wanted it done sooner rather than later. The man even had a rough idea sketched out after seeing a mouse on the train  heading back to Burbank, Ub just had to create a proper design and then bring it to life. But to Ub it was moe complicated than that.

The man was exhausted, not just from overworking but from the very fact he had not JUST lost Oswald, but also Julius as well. And the guilt and sadness was eating him up from the inside. He was still wounded by the loss and Walt was not letting it heal like it was supposed to.

Not to say Walt wasn’t also facing his own major problems. He was also NOT coping well with losing Julius and Oswald (the latter especially) and his temper was much more explosive than usual from Les’ perspective. He threw himself into his work, dragging Roy everywhere to every film distribution company in the Los Angeles county. Heck, Les wagered Walt’s desperation might even have him go look for distributors in New York. And the man was constantly stressed out and judging by what Walt looked like earlier, even sleep deprived from working this much to avoid his own thoughts to grieve. You could say his desperation and grief was blinding him to his friend’s own grief.

 Les winced at the thought, silently pitying his seniors.

Ub continued on speaking,” Distributors want to see the stars nowadays and not just concept art. They want to see and meet the toon and as charismatic as Walt is, he can’t convince them to wait any longer. So I bit the bullet tonight”, he explained, shifting Mickey as the toon squirmed a little in his arms,” But I’m don’t regret this. I feel a lil’ better after making lil Michael here. He’s just too darn active for me to ignore, isn’t that right buddy”, he said addressing Mickey, who was about ready to fall asleep again.

Les smiled at the sight of the toon,” Well I’m sure this one right here’s gonna be the one to boost us to success”, he said.

“ You think so?”, Ub inquired with a grin.

“ O ‘Course! After all, who could resist this cute little face?”, Les cooed at Mickey before turning to Ub,” AND you and Walt have already raised some pretty big stars. No doubt this little one will follow suit with his brothers”, he proclaimed confidently,” You two are gonna great dads.... again”, he joked lightly.

Ub chuckled,” And I’m sure you’ll be a fantastic dad too, Les”, he stated light-heartedly.

Les frowned, about to ask Ub what he meant before Walt peeked in, having returned from where he went off to.

“ Hey, sorry for the delay, she crawled out of the basket and I had to find her”, Walt explained nervously with a chuckle.

Les raised a brow at the mention of a her but Ub spoke up before he could ask

“ It’s fine. We were distracted with talking anyway. Bring her in already so Les can meet her”

Les was highly confused for a second before registering another toon mouse in Walt’s arms that was quickly transferred to his lap in seconds.

“ Les, meet Minnie, Minnie, this is Les Clark-”, and the next words will forever imprint itself in Les’ mind-

“ -Your Daddy”

“ Wait what?!”

#disney #disney fanfiction #les clark #minnie mouse #walt disney #mickey mouse #ub iwerks #walter elias disney #ubbe eert iwwerks #to be continued...maybe

[aarcanechaoss]

Helping Hand

Amaya talks to Langris, William talks to Yami and Langris talks to Finral

“Ya! Langris!” Amaya yelled out from the training grounds. The Vice Captain was taking a walk not expecting to see the tall red head jogging towards him.

“Hello Commander Harlow.” Amaya’s nose scrunched.

“Seriously I was hoping after our last chat you’d start calling me Amaya.” She grumbled.

“Sorry. I’m just used to calling you commander. Did you need something…. Amaya.” The woman bit back a laugh. “I don’t see you training often?”

“Well I don’t like ruining the nice weather to be fair.” She shrugs. “Uh no I didn’t need you just thought I’d say hi. We should start over yeah? We’ve kind of been well assholes to each other and after my breakdown I’d rather have friends outside of the captains and my brother.”

“I don’t think Marx will appreciate being discluded.”

“He won’t know what you don’t tell.” Langris let out a short laugh- surprising himself. Amaya looked at him with wide eyes. “So you can laugh?”

“Of course I can I’m not a statue.” Amaya raised a teasing brow. Langris scoffed. “Are you finished training?”

“Yep. I have a meeting with Marx in a little bit so I was just killing time.”

Langris nods an awkward tension filling the air. Amaya just laughed.

“What?”

“You’re so awkward when you aren’t grumpy.” Her statement caught him off guard. Langris’ mouth opened and shut in confusion making the red head giggle as she tugged at her braids.

“I’m not awkward.” He muttered.

“Uh huh…. Hey how’s things with your brother going?”

“It’s not going at all.”

“Have you spoken to him? At all?” Langris remained silent. “You know that in order to understand each other you have to actually talk right?”

“I know… I just don’t know how to without sounding like a like an ass…. Stop looking at me like a disappointed older sister.”

“I am.”

“What?”

“I am a disappointed older sister. Whether you like it or not you are like the pain the the arse little brother most people have. Talk to him okay. I promise it’s easier than you are making it out to be. Being the youngest is hard, you’re the heir he isn’t and he’s the eldest how do you think he feels Langris?”

“How do I just speak to him?”

“You say you want to try and talk it out, say you want to talk about your side and then ask to hear his.” She answered, Langris sighed.

“I don’t even know how to ask him.” He huffed.

“Well you could ask to meet somewhere or go to his squads base…Okay how about this either practice on me or ask me questions that I might be able to help answer or come with me to my meeting with Marx. Yami will be there which means so will Finral.”

Langris seemed to contemplate her offers before responding.

“I’ll come…. But let me ask you something first.”

Amaya nodded.

“Is… does…” Langris growled. “Why is it so hard to ask if Finral is okay?”

Langris seemed to fume. Amaya could understand that if her relationship with her parents was anything ti go by. Her mother she probably had a relationship like Finral and Langris do. Amaya sighed.

“He hurts too you know.” She said finally.

“But he left me.” Langris said quietly, Amaya just smiled at him fondly. What else could she say?

~~~~~

William paced the meeting room, Marx had gone to go meet with Amaya and he was still worried for the woman. Obviously she’s safe especially here with Julius and Marx and himself… and she could take care of herself he just… Yami coughed making the Golden Dawn Captain jump.

“What’s wrong with you?” Yami asks.

“Weren’t you in a meeting?”

“Yes. Finral is talking with his dickhead brother and Marx needs to just talk to Amaya now… you going to keep avoiding my question?”

“I’m just worried about her is all.”

“Why? I know she had that little outburst with Nozel the other week… is that still bothering you?”

“No it isn’t that. She… she went on a mission turned out to be a childhood friend of hers trying to coerce her to go back to the Harlow’s.”

“And she didn’t have a good reaction to it I assume?”

William could only shake his head before speaking.

“She was distraught Yami. I’ve had her by my side since The Golden Dawn was formed. She was the first person to join my squad and I have never seen her this…” William choked before whispering. “Broken.”

Yami seemed to sigh. Knowing Amaya the story was way bigger than she was letting on. William wasn’t wrong she had been by his side the longest in the squad it was truly a wonder why she wasn’t the vice captain.

“Amaya will be okay.” Yami said seriously, no hint of teasing or probing coming from him.

The ki in the air seemed to shift at the mention of her name.. oh William was in this far deeper than he thought.

“I do hope so.” William said.

“You like her.” Yami accuses. William jumps.

“E-Excuse me?” William stutters.

“Your ki… it’s weird so I assume you like her… a lot. Or you need to take a dump.” He shrugged.

“She is my subordinate- my, my friend I cannot-“

“You said it yourself she’s been my your side in your squad from the beginning I don’t see why you can’t do things with her.”

William’s face flushed a bright pink, mind racing with thoughts no gentleman should have about his friend- well at least that’s what he thinks. Yami chuckles. William was in deep alright.

“Ooh what you thinking about Vangeance? Something naughty?” The man jibbed making William’s face darken and Yami burst into laughter.

“No. I would never think of Ama like that.” William flustered.

“Ooh nicknames the captain might just get laid.”

“YAMI!”

William was as red as a tomato now. Now he just hopes no one heard their conversation, or his racing heart… or his indecent thoughts… that would be embarrassing.

~~~~~

Langris and Finral stared at each other neither wanting to start their long awaited conversation.

“I-“ they both began. “You go-“ the continued.

Sighing Finral asked, “What did you need Langris? Come to boast? Throw something more in my face?”

“No I just… I need to talk to you about everything. You are my brother after all so we should be able to talk like this…”

“Okay.” Finral said. Resolution on his face, ready to face whatever comes from Langris’ mouth.

“Why did you leave?” Langris was serious. He wanted to know.

That wasn’t what he was expecting. He was expecting something about Lady Finesse if anything.

“That’s it? You don’t know why I left?” Finral wanted to spit out.

“I don’t no. Is it because you are no longer the heir?”

“No. Finral be like Langris this, Langris is more powerful that. Finral work harder, Finral why aren’t you more powerful like your brother? Don’t be like your mother Finral she was weak… sound familiar? Or did you never hear that? All I ever heard was how amazing you are and how I’m not.” Finral’s eyes welled with tears as he spoke.

“So you just left!” Langris exclaimed. “You couldn’t get passed some weaknesses and just ran away?”

“Ran away? … What else could I do? Can you imagine living in a home and not being as appreciated when you tried so hard to be a good son. I can’t hold a candle to my own brother someone I wanted to be equal to not more or less. I don’t care that you have stronger spatial magic, in fact I’m proud you do. But the fact that once you had magic I got cast aside- I acted out just to have any ounce of attention.” Finral sniffled. “You are the better brother right? That’s what everyone says… poor Finral he’ll never be anything like Langris, let’s not bother training him to be the heir he won’t be anyway, let him do what he wants when all I wanted was to be your brother and you never wanted that, your mother never wanted that and my father didn’t care.”

Langris stood there staring at Finral. His brother showed so much passion, emotion.

“Our mother said you didn’t want anything to do with me.” Langris says finally. “You were the heir you didn’t try that’s what I was told that’s all I ever saw.”

“I didn’t try? Bullshit. I worked my ass off and got nothing in return. Your mother, not mine, worshiped you and constantly criticises me. I don’t care that she favours you, you are her flesh and blood, but she hates me that’s why I left. Why I took my mothers name. Because that way at least I had something… I have to go or Yami is going to throw a fit.” Finral said quietly wiping away his tears.

“I’m sorry.” Langris bit down on his lip. “I’m sorry I didn’t try to be the brother you deserved. After the elves… after the elves I realised I was weak now I know I always have been.”

“You aren’t weak Langris. Just up on a really high pedestal with no way down.” Finral said. “You are still my brother Langris deserving or not that doesn’t matter. Give me a few days okay that was a big emotional dump.” Langris nodded and watched as Finral walked away.

~~~~~

“He loves you you know.” Langris jumped. The red headed commander ruffled his hair. “Chin up, don’t cry doll everything will be fine.”

“Is it usually this hard to apologise.. to hear the true story.” He asked while patting his face.

“I won’t lie. Yes. I cried telling Eren why I had to leave. He only saw me get hit once before he understood why I was miserable… he’s coming to town in two days I want you to meet him.”

“Lord Eren Harlow will be in town?” Langris teased.

“If you call him lord when you meet him I’ll throw you at a tree.” Amaya deadpanned.

“Oh my yes Commander Amaya.” The red head gasped in indignation at the sassy 20 year old.

“I see you two are getting along?” William said as he stepped into the room.

“We’re making improvements on our hatred of each other.” Amaya smirked.

“Improvements? Captain I’d say she’s worse than before.”

Amaya let out a hearty laugh sparking a chain reaction from William to Langris.

“Shall we return to the base, we all have paperwork to do.” William said. Amaya groaned as she stepped towards her Captain, throwing an arm over his shoulder.

“Langris I might have to go to the infirmary our Captain is killing me. Oh my heart it hurts.”

“Is she like this all the time sir?”

“Yes.” William said without hesitation. “What can I do to make you do paperwork?”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.” She hummed. Silvery eyes squinted. “Show me thy handsome face again and I will consider doing work.”

“Deal come on.” William said before sweeping her into a bridal carry.

“Ah!” She yelled. “Hey come on take me to dinner first.” She teased.

“If you want.” William retorted.

Cutting to Langris he’s stood behind blinking slowly as he registers the most definite flirting between the Captain and the Commander of The Golden Dawn. In an almost comical way his face contorts into disgust before following behind, thoughts of his brother heavy in his mind.

Taglist: @ckjwnnbc

#black clover #black clover angst #black clover oc #william & amaya #amaya harlow #oc: amaya #black clover amaya #black clover william #black clover yami #black clover langris #black clover finral

[love-bokumono-fics]

Fresh Crops! Week of March 28 - April 3, 2022

This week's newest fics and chapter updates in the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons tag on AO3!

Good News! The Bokumono Big Bang 2022 Master Post is HERE! Click through to get links to the collection, links to all the fics written, and see all the incredible art done for this event!

Why We're A Farm, Not A Ranch - by amnesiacJournal; WIP, 3/?, 4.9k

Rating: Explicit; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/F

Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town

Relationship: Claire the Farmer/Elli; Characters: Claire, Elli | Elly, Harvest Goddess

Additional Tags: Breeding, Trans Female Character, Consensual Possession, Coming Out, Wedding Night, First Time Blow Jobs, Light Bondage

Summary: In which Elli comes out to claire on their wedding day. Claire is taken off guard and lets something slip. A certain goddess decides to offer her "assistance"

The Wall Between Us - by Gamergirl100; WIP, 10/22, 11k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M

Fandom: Trio of Towns

Relationships: Female Farmer/Wayne, Lisette/Wayne; Characters: Wayne, Lisette, Ford, Female Farmer, Siluka, Ludus, Frank, Iluka, Brad, Carrie, Ethan

Additional Tags: Adopted, farmer - Freeform, Hurt, mailman, loveinterest, triooftowns, Guilt, relationships, Parents, Unrequited Crush, Break Up, friends - Freeform, Self-Denial, Denial of Feelings, Fanfiction

Summary: It all started with a rejection. Scarlett can't seem to get over the loss of her best friend since she rejected his confession of love. Already dealing with her own self-worth and feelings while keeping up with daily life, things soon become difficult when a familiar face from the past comes back to haunt her. Wayne struggles to let go of the only girl he loved and move on with his current girlfriend. However, things never go the way he plans. His parents are across the world without him. Friends constantly concerned about his well-being. He wants change, yet she keeps pulling him back. Can they ever hope to rekindle their long-lost friendship, or will it become something more?

Sugar and Spice - by Chibimiie; WIP, 35/?, 79k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M

Fandoms: Animal Parade

Relationships: Chase/Molly the Farmer, Angela/Luke; Characters: Molly | Hikari, Angela the Farmer, Chase, Luke

Additional Tags: Slow Burn, oh god how do you tag fics, mentions of eating disorders, alternating povs, Friends to Lovers, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net

Summary: Wanting to get away from past hurts of the city, sisters Molly and Angela decide to respond to a flyer advertising an abandoned farm on the faraway island of Castanet. Leaving behind their closest friends and brother Kasey, the two take a chance and move to the tiny island hoping for a new chance at life.

Guy Time - by RandomJaz; WIP, 9/?, 35k

Rating: Explicit; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Categories: M/M, Multi

Fandoms: Animal Parade

Relationship: Owen/Kasey Owen/Chase; Characters: Kasey the Farmer | Yuuki, Owen | Ose, Chase | Chihaya, Luke the Carpenter, Julius, Gill

Additional Tags: Yaoi

TL;DR - by PygmyHippo (Kynfylgia); WIP, 1/?, 7.3k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M

Fandom: Trio of Towns

Relationship: Female Farmer/Ford; Characters: Female Farmer, Ford

Additional Tags: Fluff, Humor, Pregnancy, Slice of Life, Established Relationship, Rambling, mentions of biological functions, medical content, kinda educational

Summary: "Are we talking like those little pamphlets normal doctors hand their patients or more like 'War and Peace' levels of scientific health analysis, you know, the kind of manual you hand your patients? It's not that I'm in a rush or anything but I'm afraid before I'd be done with that, our child would be ready for kindergarten." Ford and his wife discuss pregnancy. Contains toothrotting fluff, feels, some of the darker aspects of pregnancy, and decaf coffee.

Love At First Bite (And Other April Fools Prompts) - by TheBeckster; Complete, 4/4, 2.4k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Categories: Gen, Multi

Fandoms: Rune Factory 4, Jak and Daxter, Friends of Mineral Town

Relationships: Porcoline/Ethelberd, Duke/Doug

Characters: Porcoline De Sainte-Coquille, Ethelberd, Carter the Pastor, Pete the Farmer, Duke, Doug | Dudley, Sig, Damas, Mar

Additional Tags: this is so chaotic, absolutely cursed, i had so much fun with these, Crack, Crack Relationships, writing prompts

Summary: A collection of Absolutely Cursed April Fools prompts I completed on Tumblr on April 1, 2022 Beware of crack prompts Enjoy!

#fresh crop monday #story of seasons #harvest moon #friends of mineral town #trip of towns #animal parade

[isobel-thorm]

So this ‘Rebooting’ breadcrumb has got me all up  in my thoughts about the SR gang (ha) and I realized I never did the thing I was going to do for Reiss, so here it is... like, three years in the making. Whoops.

Cats in the Cradle

Reiss Abernathy reflects on his struggle with single fatherhood in Stilwater and coming into power in Steelport as he watches his daughters climb the ranks of the 3rd Street Saints and make the same mistakes in life he did. 

Reiss Abernathy knew he wasn’t a good father. Sure, he didn’t qualify as the Worst, but he didn’t make it on the ‘average’ list. Maybe not even subpar. He and Anna had been a mistake from the start, so when they had two children by the time they were just getting into college and Anna had proceeded to cut and run, leaving the kids with him, there hadn’t exactly been high hopes. He had been a lost soul even back then, so he had bought them a shitty little house in the shady area of Stilwater and tried. Until he realized that raising a baby and a preschooler all on his own with no leads in life was harder than expected. And so he had stopped aiming for a reputable career and had decided to fall in with some… less than decent people. But the money was good and if he kept his mouth shut and his head down, even better. 

He had met Leo that Summer; an FBI agent with a quick wit, a sharp tongue, and a knack for justice… … for the highest bidder. Still, that tended to be him as of late, so they were fast friends. It didn’t hurt that he was fantastic with kids without any less than savory motive. He’d go out for drinks with Reiss towards the end of the week, go on whatever make-believe adventure five-year-old Quinn had cooked up for him and little Audrey for the day until she was exhausted, and headed home. 

As the years passed Leo had become more of a father to the girls than he ever was, and Reiss knew it. A lack of a nine to five day and dangerous work made for him coming home exhausted, content to do the bare minimum to make sure the girls lived another day. Leo would stop by after his shift and the Bureau and pick up the slack, asking them how their school days were, who their friends were, and all that, while Reiss nursed his wounds and headed to sleep early, cutting in on a question when he could. 

Then the teenage years hit, the girls found their voices and… it had been less than ideal. 

Quinn was filled with rage, fighting him on everything with an insult or a nasty comeback to almost anything he said. 

Audrey, ever the peacemaker, had tried to mediate things to the best of her pre-teen ability. 

They didn’t deserve her. 

And then a job offer from one of those questionable types came in- a spot as muscle for a ‘group’ in Steelport with steadier and better pay than what he was making, so he had jumped on it. 

The girls were old enough to be left alone, and he was only a couple of hours away, he’d visit often. They’d probably be better off on their own with Leo stepping in on occasion anyway. 

And despite Leo’s initial reservations and meaningfully disapproving looks, it had worked. He had become an eventual heavy hitter in the Steelport Saints and things were looking up. 

Until one night that Leo had called him in a measured panic because the girls had been in the wrong place at the wrong time - ‘they’re fine, relatively unhurt. But I think Julius Little tried to recruit them, and… I think they’re gonna do it, Reiss. Quinn looked pretty tempted.’ He had heard of the man. There had been a gang in town that was slowly coming into their own- the Saints, if he recalled. It was headed by that man. He had met him in passing a few times. Smart man - that’s what made him lethal. He had gone and joined a gang to try to keep his girls out of one, and now they had apparently fallen in with one anyway.

 He had told Leo to keep an eye on things and he had rushed home - only for Quinn to just about cut him off at the pass at every single protest. She had been tempted by whatever the Hell he had missed. Quinn liked power, and while Audrey seemed less convinced, she had been very adamant in telling him that where Quinn went, she would go - she had raised him more than he did. A hunger for power even if it came from shady sources, unyielding loyalty to favorites, ‘stick to your convictions’ - how did that song go? ‘And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me, my boy was just like me’ - that had rung true here and now, and it had almost undone him then and there. He had protested at first - and Quinn had thrown a bottle at his head. When Audrey had gone to step in he had barely had time to yank her out of the way and behind him to protect her from the second one that Quinn had sent flying.  He really had lost Quinn then. He had arranged a meeting with Julius after that, trying to gauge if they were in any further danger than… The Life had called for. The two he had talked to- a skinny guy clearly from Brooklyn- Troy, the one Audrey had talked about all the time and apparently taken a liking to, and some guy who thought visors were still a decent fashion choice- Dex, if he recalled correctly. Quinn had name dropped him once. Something about the man unnerved him. He had constantly felt like he was getting sized up. Regardless, he had made his case for a meeting, had named all the right people from the Knights, and Julis himself had called off his two guard dogs to talk to the man. He had initially been condescending, drawing attention to the fact that a father was trying to run interference with his two ‘grown-ass children.’ Reiss had laughed it off, saying that if he had been a decent father ages ago, maybe that would’ve been the case, but no. He wanted to get a feel of the group, make sure they weren’t signing up for disaster. 

Julius hadn’t been convinced, but he had let the guy  walk away after their talk, so there had been that. Still, there was something disarmingly fatherly about the man. He briefly thought of Leo with him, wondering if the girls would be better off without him and with the other two regardless, so he had taken his turn to cut and run. But at least they were just short of adults by then. He returned to the Knights, and asked Leo to keep tabs. And as he had climbed the ranks in the Knights, evidently the girls had done the same in the Saints. Like father, like daughters. And when the current Boss of the Knights had gone after him in a grab for power, pulling a gun on him, he had won that fight and earned his place at the top, and felt on top of the world to boot, his world had come crashing down when Leo had called him shortly after, evidently a drunken mess, and informed him that the ‘Saints had been up to no good on the Mayor’s boat the previous night, there had been an Accident, and the girls were on death’s door, and he needed to get there now.’ 

And so he had. And when he had reached the hospital, the people at the desk had been very adamant that ‘one of the girls’ hadn’t said anything about any other family ‘besides Leonidas’, nor had they been informed of anybody by Julius Little. He had made a mental note of that, content that he would make Julius pay for his lie until the rest of the statement caught up with him. One? What the Hell did that mean? Had one of them died? He had opened his mouth to start asking all the questions when he had heard Leo’s voice behind them and turned so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet. 

And there Leo was, arm tucked securely around Audrey’s shoulders as she leaned against him to walk. She had stitches on a couple of spots on her head and she was bruised to all Hell, but she was alive. He had run to her then, gathered her into his arms and hugged her, trying not to sob, blubbering apologies as he heard her hiss in pain, but she didn’t move to pull away either.  He had been angry then, casting an accusatory look at Leo and demanding why he hadn’t been mentioned as their actual father, until Audrey had stuck up for him, claiming she wasn’t sure if Reiss would show, and his heart shattered again. He had failed them. So badly. 

And then she had caught him up on everything. The Mayor had tried to set the Saints up, but he had been smarter and rigged the thing to blow up. The only reason she had gotten minor damage compared to Quinn, who was hanging on by a thread because she had been at the exact brunt of it was that that Troy kid had called to tell her to keep away from the boat- and had confessed he was an undercover cop all along. 

Again, one was determined, lethal, headstrong, and the other was level headed but also had a knack for getting attached to surprise cops. He had looked at Leo then, who gave him the same exact look he was sporting back. They really were his children.

Leo had put him up for a few nights after that, waiting for Audrey to get discharged, and once she did he had taken her back to their new, shiny apartment- apparently the Saints had been good to her- he had made a few meals and fussed over her until she had said she appreciated it but it was almost, almost too late to care. Still, ‘almost almost’ was better than ‘definitely.’ He had asked her to tell him about her ‘cop friend’ after that and she had gone rigid and dismissive, claiming he was dead to her now. 

Extreme, but understandable. Maybe she had more sense than him after all. 

She had fallen asleep with her head pillowed on his thigh that night, and his heart had shattered all over again.

Of course, the next morning his second in command in the Knights had informed him that someone was trying to make a grab for power.  Evidently, not having learned anything in all that had happened, he had left again. The last thing he wanted was instability on both fronts of his life. He had left a furious, protesting Leo to look after the girls again and headed back to retain his throne. He justified his own actions by promising himself he’d keep a closer eye on things in Stillwater in the meantime. 

And to his credit, he did. When Quinn woke up and broke herself out of the prison hospital, he had watched the news unfold nonstop. And then had been proud when the girls had gotten back all the footing in the city they had lost in the time since Quinn was in a coma and Audrey had been laying low. 

When he was keeping his throne secure, his girls ascended closer to theirs. Quinn was thriving now, and last he heard she was the Big Boss, and if he wasn’t careful, she’d come for Steelport. Audrey was apparently perfectly comfortable in her spot of being third in command in the Saints, and that was probably exactly why she was the smartest one in the family. 

He had been thrilled that things had evened out for a while, until once again Leo had called him in a panic because things were certainly not fine. Quinn had apparently shot Audrey in a power grab to ensure that her and some Johnny fellow wouldn’t have to deal with anything, and Reiss’ world shattered again.

It occurred to him then, finally, that perhaps his influence had been the problem, and maybe it was best if he had stayed away for good. 

Leo had been livid, hurling insults immediately about being a ‘goddamn father for once in your life’ and such. When Reiss had insisted that’s what he was doing, distance might’ve been good, might have served them well, maybe they would grow to resent him entirely, to grow and make sure they were his polar opposite. That had apparently diffused Leo enough. He had gone sympathetically quiet for a while. And then his dear, loyal, Leo had made an offer Reiss knew pained him as much as hearing it himself did: “I can kill Quinn. If you think this is too much. If you think it’s too late. She loved that kid, if the old Quinn’s gone… … I’m not saying I will, but if there’s nothing of your daughter left… I can do it. If she’s crossed the line, you just tell me.” 

That might have been the most heartbreaking thing yet. Leo was more of a father to the girls than he ever was, and here he was offering to end his own surrogate daughter’s life for threatening the other one. For becoming a problem for everyone. 

“No. Just… she made her bed, let her lay in it,” Reiss had dismissed it. Then, carefully. “You’re the best man I know, you know that, right?” 

Leo had laughed then, raw and pained. “That’s not saying much with the company we keep.” 

“Just… keep an eye on things. I don’t want her dead, I just… keep Audrey safe if Quinn’s a lost cause.” 

“I will. But that’s another thing. Audrey’s got that covered, too. I tailed her after she got shot. Didn’t hear me when I called her a few times. Get this: she’s with the fuckin’ police chief. That Bradshaw Fellow. He took her in with open bloody arms and probably a certain other choice appendage.’” 

Reiss groaned in disgust at the implication and the fact that Leo had dared to say it- probably revenge for not being there. Still, he saw the irony. Audrey had two dirty cops in her life, and the pair of them were clean enough to not trust each other when it came to her.  “Just… be her backup, then.” 

“Fine. But it should be you.” 

At least the man didn’t stab him in the back with that. “I know,” was what he went with before hanging up the phone.

And so he did as intended and steered clear for a couple of years. And despite meaning well, the gravity of all the time he had missed hit him hard. He kept track of everything, dimly aware that at some point Julius had been revealed to be the mastermind behind the boat bombing. He had been in the process of arranging a plane to Stillwater to go handle that himself, only to find out that Quinn had beaten him to it, murdering him at one of the old tourist spots. Audrey had evidently been content laying low with Bradshaw, and it had all been confirmed when Leo mentioned seeing the pair ‘looking awfully cozy’ when he passed the chief’s house and spotted them through the window a while back. ‘You’re practically a father-in-law.’ 

Leo, the rotten bastard. Always had a way of wording things to ruin every ounce of conviction he ever had. Father-in-law. How much of Audrey’s life had he missed willingly that she was a grown woman with a serious boyfriend? Christ, maybe he had been wrong. Maybe he was an awful father after all, despite having good intentions. He really had fucked up.

And so he made plans to go back to Stillwater just to catch up with them in person. 

Of course, as per usual, his plan had backfired when Quinn and Audrey beat him to the punch - by dropping out of an aircraft carrier directly above his city, apparently on some rescue mission gone wrong. 

He had thought they were threats at first with all of the gunfire going on. He recognized the Syndicate colors - a gang that was trying and failing to usurp him constantly now, and… were those Saints? No, the purple was off. But they had rebranded if the rumors were true, so there was that possibility. Still, he had gotten in a plane and had the pilot fly up to meet them in the conflict because no people were going to fuck with his city. That too had backfired when, after jumping out of the plane he had grabbed the nearest goon not flying any colors that was also falling, shoved a gun under his chin, only to see that the man had been tied up. The man was shouting protests now and he had known that voice. Sounded like an idiot, heavy with a Brooklyn accent. Fuck. Some reintroduction to the man that was supposedly on the fast track to being his son-in-law. He had opened his mouth to protest, only to get knocked clean off the man by another one - and he knew his youngest daughter’s voice too, once she started hurling insults and demanding that she ‘leave the other guy alone.’ He had made quick work of yanking open his visor to show his face, and Audrey had practically shrieked ‘Dad’, and well, at least that conflict was over. He still had no fucking idea what was going on. 

He took small comfort in the fact that once they were on the ground, Audrey had kept him safe with cover fire when they had dispatched the leftover Syndicate members. 

She caught him up once the last one was dead. This was an inter-gang conflict gone wrong. The Saints and Syndicate had gotten into a turf war. The Syndicate had taken hostages- even from ‘retired’ Saints, she had explained, motioning at herself and Troy before returning to the details. One of theirs was dead, a man named Johnny. He was apparently dearly loved by everyone, judging by the tone and everyone’s reactions. 

It was then that Quinn had showed up, yanked her helmet off, pointed her gun straight at her father’s heart and announced that Steelport was hers now, because she needed every single Syndicate member dead for taking Johnny from them. Apparently he hadn’t been the only one keeping tabs. 

It was in that moment that Reiss had promptly decided he was too old for this shit. Especially if his own blood was willing to murder him point blank. He had fucked up entirely, and now was the time to mend things. Better late than never, even if he had cut it close. “I still get a cut of everything, I still get to run the Blue Steel,” was his only request- the little venue he poured a lot of his soul into. He could handle letting his kid inherit his throne if he kept his life, his other kid’s life, and his lot in life. 

Quinn had stared him down for a while, finger still resting on the trigger, and briefly Reiss figured this was it, he had tried and failed, and that just fucking figured. But then: 

“Fine,” Quinn had lowered her gun. “Still fucking hate you.” She wandered off then. 

Well, that was just going to have to work. “Okay.” He cut his losses then, and promptly turned to Troy. “Hi. You probably don’t remember me. Name’s Reiss. I’m Audrey’s father. ”

“Kinda figured.” 

“Yeah. You and I should go get a drink sometime and get to know each other if we’re almost family.” 

Troy stared at him for a few seconds, then glanced Audrey’s way. “Dree, what the fuck is happening here?” 

Reiss waited a beat, then laughed as the perfect solution occurred to him then and there. A way to patch things up as much as possible without fucking it all up again.“Taking this as a retirement opportunity and making up for lost time,” he replied. He turned his attention to Audrey. “If the one who turned out the least like me will have me.” 

She frowned at him, then after a beat, she sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, she’ll have you. Unless you disappear again.”

“Not a chance. Unless you want me to.” 

Audrey looked from him, to Troy, to Quinn, staring out at the city skyline a few yards away, then back. “Then welcome to the Saints.” 

Welcome to the Saints. Sounded a Hell of a lot like ‘welcome to the family’- meant nearly the same thing too, if his hunch was right. It was their family. Not his. But maybe that’s what they all needed to be their family again. Or for the first time, considering they weren’t much of one to the start. “Glad to be here.” 

And for once, he realized he meant it entirely. 

#Boss Reiss #also this fic is AKA #Leo: 'this isnt how we agreed to raise our kids' #Reiss: ' 'our' kids. Leo were not married' #Leo: 'We're a little married' #Reiss: 'I know. I love it' #which reminds me #Leo Ashford #Boss Quinn #Boss Audrey