#The timelines match up because of clockwork

[aaron-romave]

My Only Sunshine

It was a quiet night in Gotham, when suddenly the coms crackle to life, with a voice, that seemingly none of the bats recognized. That is all but one. Damians blood ran cold as he heard something that should not be possible. He had never even let himself think about it, because even recalling the mere memory of it would shatter him. 

The other night, dear

As I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you 

In my arms

Batman's voice was the first to come over the coms “oracle who is this? Where are they?”

“I’m working on it B.” She crackle back in her slightly mechanical disguised voice.

When I awoke, dear

I was mistaken

So I hung my head and I cried

Oracle may not have known where it was coming from, but he did. He knew it as he knew the heart beating in his chest and the air within his lungs. Without thinking he leapt off the building, grappling across the city that his father loved, but he has never thought of as his true home.

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy 

When skies are gray

He was vaguely aware as Batman cried out for him, but that didn’t matter. His blood was rushing too quickly through his ears. Any protest or question simply ignored. He had somewhere he needed to be, and he needed to be there now. 

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please don't take 

My sunshine away

“Oracle location!”

“I’m trying B! But these people are good I can’t work faster than I am!”

Was the last thing that came over the coms before he reached up and muted everyone, everyone but the voice he was focused on. The world had narrowed down to the wind whipping past him, his heartbeat in his ears and the one voice that he had wish to hear again for so long.

I'll always love you and make you happy 

And nothing else could come between

His lungs burned as Wayne industries came in to view. Why? Why of all nights was he on the outskirts of the city?  He needed to move faster, faster, please be fast enough. He begged to himself, to whatever god was out there be fast enough ….and for him to be there for this not to be some sort of cruel trick.

But if you leave me to love another 

I’ll support you as you follow your dreams

It was him. It had to be him. only he knew to sing it that way.  His brother quietly singing and holding him as he silently cried. He was never good enough for grandfather, he will never be good enough to be the heir to be excepted never daring, hopeing to be loved, but it was never like that with his brother. His brother loved him more than anything, and he couldn’t stop anything as grandfather ran his sword through the heart of the one person he truly loved. Through the heart of Damien’s one weakness. 

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy 

When skies are gray

Even at the end, when his brother knew grandfather was coming for him, his too kind brother never forced him. Always giving him a choice and he had failed his brother when he was willing to give up everything for someone as weak and pitiful as him. He wasn’t strong enough to run. He wasn’t strong enough to protect the one person who loved him above all else. 

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please don't take 

My sunshine away

He was so close three minutes out. Almost there the highest spot in the city, the best place to see the stars. 

Northstar, I’m so happy you made it out. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you.

My Northstar please stop blaming yourself. This was my choice. It was always my choice and I don’t regret a second of it so neither should you. You are without a second of doubt the best thing to have ever happened to me. 

Damien felt a pit open up in his stomach.  Less than two minutes to Wayne enterprises

You have to let the others in Northstar. Being family to them, loving them it’s not replacing me or dishonoring me. Quite the opposite Northstar it’s keeping me alive; In a different way, but I’m still with you. 

Go on brother adventures with Dick, try things that make you uncomfortable, but know that he will keep you safe. 

Spend time with Babs in the library, read books that let you travel to fantastical worlds that we could never dream of.

Go to Jason for advice. You two are more alike than you even know, lean on each other, use that. 

Try photography with Tim. Take pictures of all those animals that you love.

Less than one minute

Pull pranks with Stephanie. Let yourself be a kid and laugh at stupid and dumb things. 

When things get too much go to Cass for quiet and understanding.

Go to Duke and ask him to take you out shopping at a regular store or to go to the mall to buy a toy for yourself. Enjoy the normal quiet moments.

Go to Bruce for comfort, he is Batman but he is also our dad don’t forget that, let him be a dad.  

The world went blurry. There is no one on the roof. 

Northstar I’m gone. I really am gone. You know how magic is Northstar your big brother had a few tricks up his sleeve, but I’m afraid this used the last of it. In the future in the far, far, far, future when you come join me in the hereafter, I’ll be waiting for you with open arms. I love you, Northstar now let our family love you in my stead. 

As his feet made contact with the roof of Wayne enterprises a small, glowing object made it self known in the center of the roof. It appeared that stars itself littered and sprung from the object, beckoning him forward. 

He was vaguely aware of the rest of the bats and birds joining him on the roof, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that his shaking hand was reaching out to grab the old dog stuffed animal as the last glitters of Stardust left the plush.

A drop of water fell down and landed on the left ear of the love worn dog. Reaching up and touching below the domino he realize that he was crying. When did that happen? When was the last time this happened?

As he clutched the dog plush to his chest, a frivolity that would have never been allowed in the league, but still his brother who he loved most in this world snuck it in for him. Hiding it behind a loose stone in the wall. Bringing it out for him to hold as his big brother comforted him and told him stories of a better life that they could have. 

The demons heir, Robin, Damien sobbed, cried for the injustice of the world, for his brother who even waiting for him in the hereafter was still looking out for him. 

His body shook as wave after wave of agony and despair ripped through him. Years of repressed grief tore through his body sharper and with more deadly aim than any blade. The floodgates had been opened. His big brother had given him this one last gift. 

So when Batman, his father, his dad crouched down in front of him concern showing through his usual stoic expression he does not ignore what his brother has given him and leaps forward, clutching onto his dad and weeping for the brother that he lost and the son his dad will never get to know.

( inspired by this)

#dp x dc #dc x dp #demon twins au #Sort of #Big brother Danny #so yay my first fic to ever escape the just an idea phase #And it was because I was in a sad mood #So enjoy me somewhat constructively using my sadness for fics #Use this as a prompt if you want to continue the sadness #dp x dc prompt #Using writing as therapy #damian wayne #danny phantom #Danny al ghul reincarnated as Danny Fenton #The timelines match up because of clockwork #And because I said so #Clockwork let’s Danny send one message to Damien #Youtube

[epkot94]

Had a great idea for a Spirit Halloween fic!

Ok so I know people tend to write the Infinite Realms as being connected to all dimensions, so imagine when FlashPoint Paradox occurred (it created a completely different timeline for the DC universe before it was corrected by the Flash, one in which Bruce Wayne died in the alley) the ghost of Bruce Wayne came into existence in the infinite realms.

Clockwork is aware that reversing the changes to the timeline will destroy ghost!bruce but he uses his power to protect him and keep in existence. Because ghost!bruce has to exist so he can be in the right spot so when a portal opens up he can fuse with a boy named Danny and save his life.

DP canon proceeds for the next year or two, by this point Danny has revealed his halfa status to his parents but he’s still unaware that he’s bonded to a ghost (maybe the bonding event knocked ghost!bruce unconscious?) and after some time and a lot of talks they’ve come around to the truth that ghosts are actually sentient and just like humans some are good and some are bad.

Unfortunately the GIW are still around and with years of public ghost appearances and battles, all the footage and proof they’ve built up leads to the government deciding to expand the GIW. More agents, better training and more weaponry. Their mission statement goes from discovering ghosts weaknesses and studying them to complete extermination.

Some big fight between Phantom and some agents happens and maybe there were some bystanders killed, maybe Tucker and Sam or the rest of the Fenton family? And the sheer trauma of the event as well as the injuries Danny gets pushes through his bond and wakes up ghost!Bruce.

Because of the bond Bruce is aware of Danny’s memories and has subconsciously been learning with him as well as “aging” (he might just be subconsciously shapeshifting to match Danny’s age).

And now Danny is starting to hear a voice in his head, trying to comfort him, promising that he’ll never be alone. Freaked out, Danny travels to see Frostbite thinking he’s finally going crazy but gets waylaid by Clockwork, who finally reveals this whole convoluted plot he set up to prevent Danny’s death from the portal and ensure that Danny Phantom would come to be.

*I’ve always liked the idea that Clockwork aims every dimension toward the timeline with the best outcome, but Danny’s has always been difficult to see clearly so clockworks mostly making plans on the fly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have no clue what happens next because my brain went straight to Danny and ghost!Bruce working together to figure out how to split, and eventually starting to grow feelings for each other the longer they’re aware of each other.

Eventually, something’s leads them to going to Gotham (I imagine Danny is in his mid 20s at this point) and they decide that with the GIW growing more dangerous they need to actively search for allies, ghost!Bruce doesn’t have super clear memories of his living life, probably doesn’t even really remember his name, but he does have a memory of a voice saying something along the lines of “Wayne’s always help when they can” and hey Bruce Wayne is Batman’s auger daddy, maybe he can get them an in with the JLA?

#imagine the chaos of the batkids seeing a young ghost version of their daddy dearest #one who uses awful puns like Nightwing #and apparently knows how to actually use his words #danny phantom #dp x dc #dc universe #danny fenton #dc x dp #batman #bruce wayne #Spirit Halloween #bruce x danny

[thesoulspulse]

Danny Phantom Randomness (Vlad’s The Real Villain Here!)

I think I talked to someone about this before, but has it ever struck anyone else as odd that the Observants only went after Danny and not Vlad to quote “save the future?” Sure, Danny’s ghost half was the main portion of Dan, but if you stop to really think about it Vlad’s actually the one to blame for driving him mad because future Vlad tells the current Danny point blank:

“And when my evil ghost half mixed with yours, my evil side overwhelmed you...”

This is important to note because the Danny of that timeline was grief-stricken, angry at the world, and ashamed of himself for failing to save his friends and family. So when Vlad removed his ghost half, instead of making them go away all those emotions became twice as strong. Especially the anger part since Danny must have thought Vlad did this to him on purpose instead of doing what he promised which was to take away all of his painful human emotions. Mind you, Vlad might not have shown it but I think he was grieving Maddie’s death too and probably blamed Jack more than ever for that rather than Danny. Either way, Vlad’s evil side completely took Danny’s mind, creating this new person who both was and wasn’t either of them.

That said, even at his lowest moments Danny has never done anything I’d call “pure evil,” including when Freakshow had him under hypnosis. Sure he was a snarky jerk and attacked his friends, but in the end he snapped out of it before crossing the line. When he became Dan though...there was no one left to bring him back from the brink. Nothing worth fighting for except taking out his rage on everyone who ever hurt him and making sure that NO ONE would ever hurt him again by becoming someone far worse than Vlad could ever hope to be. At least at that point in time if we don’t count everything that happened in the new timeline once Dan was beaten.

So long story short you’d think the Observants would want to take care of the root of the problem, aka Vlad since I believe he's the true source of Dan’s evil. Danny was just a kid who didn’t know how to handle the loss of his friends and family whereas Vlad used his deep-rooted hatred of Jack to as an excuse for every bad thing he’s done since the portal accident back in college. Then again, they probably thought getting rid of Danny would be easier since to his credit Vlad is more than a match for them or anyone else they might try to throw at him.

As for getting Clockwork involved, while warning Vlad about Maddie and Danny’s possible death’s if he doesn’t change his ways might be enough to stop him for a little while, on the other Vlad might just do what he usually does and take advantage of that information instead which would only make him a bigger target. Vlad would most likely try to use Danny’s fear of becoming Dan as a manipulation tool or a way to throw him off his game during their battles. In a worse case scenario Vlad could go so far as to try to recreate Dan without anyone dying just so he could turn Danny into some kind of evil minion as a last resort since the cloning thing obviously failed...

Anyways, my point is it would be interesting to see an alternate version of “The Ultimate Enemy” where its Vlad being targeted instead of Danny to save the future from Dan. Who knows, it could end in another team up after Vlad finally realizes he IS the true villain here.

#danny phantom #danny phantom randomness #the ultimate enemy #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #dan phantom #clockwork #observants #alternate future #alternate reality #alternate universe #alternate version #the real villain #thesoulspulse #thesoul'spulse #the souls pulse #the soul's pulse

[chaotic-vibes-only-please]

ok ok ok

Hear me out

Cause I've gotta couple things that might catch your attention ;):

FUTURE FICS I WILL MAKE AND I WANT TO SHOW YOU BECAUSE YOUR AWESOME!!!

Masky x Reader - Fantasy AU:

Where [Name] is known as "That one human who just won't die for some reason", and is known as a threat for killing the killers.

Of course she kills them for self-defense, but Killers don't view humans that way and consider her a threat.

So Masky is tasked with retrieving her and bringing her to the Operator/Slenderman.

(Inspired by the Owl House)

Toby x Reader x Eyeless Jack:

Toby, Reader, and Eyeless Jack are trapped in a killing game along with 17 other killers, making 20 if them.

Toby is the Operator/Slenderman's favorite and head Proxy, Eyeless Jack is in Toby's group and is one of the best medics, and [Name] is a poor human caught in the fiasco

(Inspired by Danganronpa).

Hoodie/Brian Thomas x Reader:

This is more of a slice of life, but it's very dark. [Name] is a human who was "adopted" by what I like to call, the Clockwork squad.

The Clockwork squad is: Clockwork (Leader), Jane (second in command), Nina (poster-girl), Nurse Ann (Medic), X-virus (Scout).

However their relationship isn't really healthy, and it resembles that of a toxic nuclear family.

So this is in the timeline in Marble Hornets where Brian "dies". But instead of being revived for the Operator/Slenderman, he ends up in the Zalgo realm.

Where he meets [Name].

(Inspired by South Park, Moral Orel, and Helluva boss)

AND SOME SHIP DYNAMICS:

Masky is a living breathing mess, but [Name] is such an even bigger mess, that it makes him actually ground to earth.

Hoodie is your player hot boy, but then he meets [Name], a shy rich kid with a bunch of family trauma.

Toby is a fucking disgusting rat who makes everyone's life a living hell, but he meets [Name], his ultimate match, that's somehow always catching up and ruining his schemes.

EJ is a gremlin demon with a superiority complex, and [Name] is the one who claps him back down from his pedestal.

Jeff is your local murderous goth, and [Name] is the personification of Barbie, which is actually Jeff's type, nuclear family trauma go brrr.

Consider my attention caught 😳

AHHH THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ME I ALWAYS LOVE HEARING YOUR IDEAS THEY'RE SO GOOD AND YOU LITERALLY MAKE MY DAY!

Fantasy AU sounds absolutely lovely, I think there will be a great chemistry between Masky and the reader 😳

Oooo A Toby x Eyeless Jack x reader looks very cool! I think you can do a lot of great things with the plot, it's an interesting relationship dynamic too👀

I NEED MORE SLICE OF LIFE FICS FOR THIS FANDOM, EVEN IF ITS DARK PLZ ID ABSOLUTELY LOVE FOR THIS BOOK TO EXIST😤 Like you can make it realistic and fluffy at the same time and It's such a good idea ✨️ The Zalgo realm situation would be very cool and the idea that they're all part of a toxic nuclear family is an interesting detail!

The Toby and Reader ship dynamic is perfect- The same with EJ because he does need to be taken down a notch 💀💀💀 Oh gosh I adore each of these different dynamics and I can't wait to see what you create with them💛💛💛

#chill chats

[starlightshore]

AWWHH tysm for the compliments <3 really made me smile!! Speaking of your Danny Phantom AU, I have another question about it!: Do Sam and Tucker like. Know that Danny's half-ghost? This question spawns from the little comic you made a few days ago and I noticed that they didn't... seem to know? If they do indeed not know, will they ever find out?- Jevil Anon

ah i see how that'd be confusing! that was a "nobody knows AU" (which was probs easy to miss me saying that with all that text i added to the post).

basically, it's a fandom-known au where, well, as its says on the tin: nobody knows Danny's the phantom. the reason i drew that AU was because I'm doing DannyMay, a phandom event where throughout all of May, we follow a list of themed prompts for the full month.

my AU is more so my "take" on the show's story, blending fanon and canon. aspects of my take have some fanon headcanons (some are my own, but most are common fanon):

(read more cause its long)

Danny kept his freckles growing up

said freckles glow in ghost form (which look like stars! Danny loves astronomy so its a fun character detail)

blue Phantom (to match how Vlad and Dan are blue)

^ mine's reasoning is that Danny's form/powers are based on being photographed by Sam at his time of death

Danny has lichtenberg scars (from being electrocuted)

having electric powers (though mine is actually light based powers that has electricity as an off shoot)

^ powers are more limited in general, just standard ghost abilities and the above

trans and Latino Danny

the full cast is some form of LGBTQA+

Jazz takes after her father, being more bulky. (cause no way both kids would be scrawny!)

tucker is a twitch streamer. his popularity stagnates/shrinks once he becomes busy with ghost hunting

Team Phantom has a TikTok

the portal is sentient, their name is Liminal Gates

the ghost portal was funded by Vlad (who has a different relationship with the Fentons than in canon) and has it hushed up by Nondisclosure Agreements.

Slow burn Vlad is evil reveal

season 3 didn't happen LMAO

Sam uses she/them and Clockwork use they/them

Dani (with an I) is called Ellie (this is for accessibility reasons like screen readers as well for general less confusion)

Ellie is not a clone but rather an alternative timeline Danny with a drastically different life. (because I think cloning is too morally horrific and illogical to write)

Slow burn Villain Ellie Masters (complete with a full story arc)

ghosts aren't aliens but rather traditional ghosts (for the most part, there's exceptions)

after a while, Danny's main objective is helping ghosts cross over to the after life.

ghost zone is a different spacial dimension (with a bunch of pseudo science takes from a high-school understanding of dimensions LOL)

pure ectoplasm is corrosive to flesh

halfas are time paradoxes, they're fusions of multiple timelines merged into one person

Fanon made characters: Wes Weston and his older brother, Kyle Weston. (extremely loosely based on background characters)

I think that's it for now! I'm sure five minutes from now I'll think of something and go "darn it!"

a lot of that is self indulgent or part of my "i'll work on this AU once in a while" attitude over the last few years -w- usually i'll check the DP tag once a month or so, but I'll have times (like rn) where I hyper-fixate on it. DannyMay really being a big reason I'm focusing so hard as well

#personal stuff #sams replies #dp talk

[nounpolycule]

What is Esther Most Correct About? Tournament Round 1, Matches 17-32 Recap:

17. While I am absolutely correct about "Pottery is one of River's special interests", the winner of this match with x/22 (63.6%) of the votes was "River carried pictures of the Doctor specifically because of the audio Signs" - and for good reason. That audio is Really Something.

18. Not every audio gets to be so lucky, however. "The fan audio Exhausted Supplies is canon" ended up losing to "River should have actually been giving back the diamond in THORS" which received x/19 (63.2%) of the votes.

19. In wonderful news regarding my plan to try to spread it as fanon, "Mia is short for Stayuexisumigorkefloryan" beat "Rose develops major anxiety around cars" with 12/23 (52.2%) of the votes!

20. If I thought I could get away without having to develop some sort of plan for ties, I thought wrong. "Pete's World sucks" and "Pete Tyler sucks" each received 13 votes, giving us the first Officially Equally Correct match up of the bracket!

21. "Sarah Jane vouched for Rose in the Turn Left parallel universe" is still true in my heart, but "Gomez!Master comes after Dhawan!Master in their personal timeline" - which won with 76.2% (16/21) of the votes - is true in a few more people's hearts - and you can't blame them, it's something I'm correct about.

22. "Rose and Sarah Jane were besties" lost to "Rose and Martha would have been besties", which received 60.9% (14/23) votes, but she's allowed to have more than one bestie, even of one was declared more correct than the other 😌

23. The numbers don't lie! While "Jack thinks Rose looks like Billie Piper - no one else really sees it" is a fun concept, 78.3% (18/23) of voters think "Jack and Rose should have gotten a more meaningful reunion" - I have it on good authority that some of them even still complain about that semi-regularly after all this time.

24. As much as I like to think about "Rose blames Jack for every zombie she meets", "Jack created the Bad Wolf computer virus" - one of my longest held headcanons - deserved its with with 70.6% (12/17) of the votes!

25. Is anyone surprised that "Rose realized she was bisexual before series 2" beat "Jack says Rose's type is arsonists" with 64% (16/25) of the votes?

26. keeping with the Rose-is-bi agenda: "Rose came out to Mickey as bisexual while they were in Pete's World" beat "Rose and Mickey made up in Pete's World" with 65.2% (15/23) of the votes!

27. While No Hot Ashes is a lovely piece of lore "Mickey and Rose considered themselves broken up before the book Winner Takes All" beat "No Hot Ashes >>>>>>>>" with 88.9% or 16/18 of the votes! That the highest percentage of votes that an option has recieved so far in the bracket!

28. Despite how conflicted opinions on Girl in the Fireplace can be within the fandom, ""...keep turning up. Like a bad wolf." from a novel was the best "bad wolf" drop" beat "The Clockwise Man was a better use of clockwork droids than GitF" with 63.6% (14/22) of the votes!

29. In proof that I rigged exactly zero of these polls in favor of my little guy, "The Doctor is a butch dyke" beat "Ganger!Eleven is great and has a lot of untapped fanfiction potential" with 78.6% (22/28) of the votes.

30. "Rose Tyler/Toshiko Sato. Not sorry." beat "The Pete's World version of the Tarot Girl from Torchwood spoke to Rose" with 64.7% (11/17) of the votes! Rarepair writers, if you're listening, now's your chance -

31. With 19/32 votes (or 59.4%), "It's weird to think Martha still has a grudge after 15 years" beat "Whatever's going on with Ten and Thirteen's gender is exactly the same" nearly 2:1!

32. With 69.7% (23/33) of the votes, the correct answer for Top Secret Match #32 (The Doctor would Heaven Sent for Sarah Jane and Amy Pond and Donna Noble and Rose Tyler and also -) was selected!

#kasteraxilkemeryapheshexerindaikyat opinion poll recap #kasteraxilkemeryapheshexerindaikyat opinion poll #kasteraxilkemeryapheshexerindaikyat.pdf

[zeezelweazel]

Masterlist

Check this post if you want to request something!!!

Fic Info: ⭐=fluff, 🔥=smut, 💧=angst

Arcane : League Of Legends

General Relationship Headcanons| Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn ⭐

Attack On Titan

They watch you die| Mikasa, Annie, Pieck 💧

Creepypasta

Having a Creepypasta! S/O| Jane, Clockwork, Jill, Ann, Zero ⭐

Would you still love me if I was a worm? | Jill, Zero, Clockwork, Jane, Ann ⭐

Danganronpa

Reader doesn't say ' I love you ' back| V3 ⭐

Dating a sweet tooth| Kaede, Maki, Kirumi ⭐

Encanto

General relationship headcanons| Isabela, Dolores, Mirabel ⭐

Genshin Impact

General Relationship Headcanons| Beidou, Ninnguang, Keqing, Mona ⭐/💧

Nightmare Scenarios Pt1| Beidou, Fischl, Lumine 💧

Nightmare Scenarios Pt2| Ninnguang, Keqing, Mona 💧

Cuddling Headcanons| Inazuma ⭐

Reincarnated Reader| Ganyu, Baal ⭐/💧

Genshin Impact + Polyamory| Eimiko, Jeanlisa, Beinguang ⭐

Overwatch 2

Fluff Headcannons| Mercy, Widowmaker, Ashe, Kiriko, D.va ⭐

Reader gets sick| Mercy, Widowmaker, Ashe ⭐

Until Dawn

Pegging Headcanons| Sam, Jess, Em, Ashley 🔥

Nsfw Headcanons| Sam, Jess, Em, Ash 🔥

Valorant

They accidentally hurt you| Reyna, Sage, Viper, Fade 💧

Facing your omega double| Jett, Neon, Killjoy, Raze 💧

S/O is tired of them being protective| Reyna, Sage, Viper, Fade 💧

Wednesday

General Relationship Headcanons| Wednesday, Enid, Bianca, Yoko ⭐

Woso

Tired sex| Alexia Putellas 🔥

Jealous sex| Alexia Putellas 🔥

Comforting her about her injury| Alexia Putellas 💧/⭐

Semi public sex| Alexia Putellas 🔥

Overstimulation| Alexia Putellas 🔥

Playing against her in the wc final| Chloe Kelly 💧/⭐

Her being obviously in love| Alexia Putellas ⭐

Fucking in her office| CEO!Leah Williamson 🔥

Hard launching your relationship| Chloe Kelly ⭐

Making her squirt| Leah Williamson 🔥

Having multiple quickies (semi public)| Alexia Putellas 🔥

Being there on her first game back| Leah Williamson ⭐

Comforting her after she gets injured| Jill Roord 💧/⭐

Having a threesome for the first time| Millie Bright & Rachel Daly 🔥

Fucking her after she loses a match| Leah Williamson 🔥

Fucking her in the stadium shower| Leah Williamson🔥

Soft sex with her| Leah Williamson 🔥

Having to break up because of different wants| Leah Williamson 💧

Her fantasising about you fucking her| Lia Wälti 🔥

One night stand with her| Lia Wälti 🔥

Orgies:

Once or twice| Alexia Putellas & Mapi Lèon & Ingrid Engen

- Pt1

- Pt2

Alexia Putellas nsfw thoughts

- Pt1

- Pt2

- Pt3

- Pt4

- Pt5

Yellowjackets

Reader calls them crazy| Lottie, Shauna 💧

Her and R meeting during a game| Lottie ⭐

Overprotective Headcanons| Lottie ⭐

Overprotective Headcanons Pt2| Lottie ⭐

Jealous!Lottie confessing to best friend!R| Lottie ⭐

Jealous!Lottie confessing to best friend!R Pt2| Lottie 🔥

Confessing to Reader (Wilderness timeline)| Lottie ⭐

Being degraded by her| Lottie 🔥

Being in a throuple with them| Lottie & Natalie ⭐/🔥

Her being mean to you after a fight| Lottie 🔥

Sex on an away game| Lottienat 🔥

Christmas sex| Lottie 🔥

Being "friends" w benefits| Lottie 🔥

Lottie nsfw thoughts

- Pt1

- Pt2

- Pt3

- Pt4

- Pt5

- Pt6

- Pt7

- Pt8

- Pt9

- Pt10

- Pt11

- Pt12

- Pt13

Natalie nsfw thoughts

- Pt1

- Pt2

- Pt3

- Pt4

----------------------------------------------------------

#masterlist #wlw #female reader #yellowjackets x reader #valorant x reader #wednesday x reader #arcane x female reader #genshin impact x female reader #overwatch x reader #attack on titan x reader #encanto x reader #danganronpa x reader #creepypasta x female reader #woso x reader

[butterfrogmantis]

Reading @schtroumpfalunettes Bad End AU posts, I was reminded of something I was thinking about the other day - ages ago I had this idea for a story (?) where a villain (it was originally gonna be an old oc but tbh I never developed her properly) fucks around with time and destroys some of the key aspects of the Smurfs lives, leading to a present day timeline that's totally messed up and somehow the characters have to set their individual timelines correctly again (think like, shrek 4 but no time limit /hj). Maybe some elements of king smurf too but like, x10 worse.

Anyway I started thinking about it again and now that I have Clockwork Handy as a character I think he'd make a much better villain for this kind of story since he's just fucked up like that. Like, he'd want to rearrange time so that he had access to Smurf village but he can't fight Handy one on one because they're evenly matched, so instead he finds Handy in a moment of weakness (lets say, No Smurf Is An Island cause talking about that on tumblr is what brought these thoughts back up) and gives Handy a magic spell allowing him to become a mersmurf to run away to Atlantica with Marina. Which sounds nice in the moment, except Handy is a very rash thinker and now without him being able to go on land, the village is basically unprotected from the wrath of CH who easily overthrows Papa and starts running a VERY messed up dystopian village. Maybe my oc Julian can come back to be his second in command cause Julian's an ass but I'd be able to recycle my original idea with him.

Anyway a small group of rebels working under CH (Clumsy, Brainy, Tailor, Farmer, Somebody, Dreamy and Chef) find out about the time machine and realise they're living in a reality not meant to exist. But they don't really know how they're going to fix it, since CH keeps the machine heavily guarded by the fairies and no one in the village knows anything about mechanics to begin with. Cue them suddenly remembering the real Handy and wondering why he disappeared suddenly so many years ago. Whilst he's collecting rocks for a new extension to CH's palace, Clumsy comes across a ghostly figure of an old fisherman Smurf, who's hood covers his face but clearly has the beard of Papa. The apparition tells him that he doesn't have much time to explain, but the rebels will need to somehow make their way to the kingdom of the merpeople if they want to restore the real timeline, and that an old friend will be waiting for them, before the ghostly figure disappears.

I haven’t really gotten any further than that but as a prompt for an AU ... well it’s on my mind a lot rn. 

#smurfs #the smurfs #butter rambles #new tags yay

[five-rivers]

Adoption (part 2)

A gift for @a-flower-lover!  This wound up being more along the lines of vignettes...  Little snapshots into Danny’s life after being adopted by Clockwork.  I hope that’s ok!  (PART 1)

.

Mr. Lancer had met Charles Worth before, albeit briefly. The man had fostered a number of Casper High students and with that responsibility came parent-teacher conferences. He had struck Mr. Lancer as being steady and reliable, if, perhaps, impersonal, despite his predilection for clocks and ominous announcements. A decent foster parent, if not... ideal.

Mr. Worth just didn't seem to connect with his fosters, although he certainly didn't neglect them. Then, too, were the persistent rumors that his home was haunted.

Alright. So, Mr. Lancer didn't think Charles Worth was really a children person. Oh, he was a good person! It took one to do well as a foster parent, but... yeah.

Which was why the scene in front of him surprised him so much. Not the who of it, but the what.

The who was Daniel Fenton and Charles Worth waiting outside the office. The what was smiling and having a conversation. True, Mr. Fenton's smile looked like it was pasted on over several layers of anxiety, but it was genuine.

"Mr. Worth, Mr. Fenton?" he said, tamping down his surprise. "Come on in."

"Hi," said Mr. Fenton, his voice hoarse.

Mr. Worth smiled and nodded, pushing him up with his cane.

But Mr. Fenton must have noticed the curious look Mr. Lancer was giving him. "I knew Cl- Uh. Mr. Worth before this." He winced and smiled widely to cover it up. "So, uh, make up work? Since I missed the past week?"

"Yes, well, circumstances being what they are," aka his parents trying to murder him in public, in broad daylight (and didn't that give Mr. Lancer a chill?), "your teachers have put together a few packets for you to look over this weekend. They should get you more or less up to speed with where your classes are. I'm also willing to stay after school, to help you with anything you've missed in my classes."

.

Jazz knocked on the door of the Worth house. She had been made aware, via various supernatural (she did not particularly appreciate writing suddenly appearing on her fogged-up bathroom mirror) and mundane (Danny did have her phone number) means, that the man known as Charles Worth was actually the ghost known as Clockwork.

How this had occurred was not entirely clear to her. She assumed ghost powers, specifically time travel, were involved somehow.

But, to be honest, that didn't really matter to her. It was secondary, less than.

What was important here was that she hadn't been legally allowed to see her little brother in over a month. To keep her parents from contacting him. To keep her from letting her parents near him. Because they were legally barred from seeing him.

Because they had tried to kill him.

Jazz planned on never seeing her parents again, as soon as she got all of her and Danny's things from their house.

But now that prohibition had been lifted, because Clockwork had forced through what had to be the speediest adoption in the history of adoptions, and Danny was now legally his son. In the eyes of both humans and ghosts. Which was... Well. Danny seemed to be excited about it, anyway. He'd looked up to Clockwork for a while, from what he told Jazz.

Internally, Jazz had more than a bit of trepidation. She didn't know what adoption meant to ghosts, didn't have any context for it. And ghosts, even the good ones, even Danny, tended to be... obsessive. Extreme. She wasn't sure how that would translate when it came to interpersonal relationships.

The door creaked open, ever so slowly, the squeak it made grating on her eardrums. At first, it appeared to have opened on its own, then a hand gripped the edge of the door, and Clockwork, in human guise, leaned out from behind it.

Jazz raised an eyebrow.

Clockwork raised one right back. "This house is haunted, you know," he said.

Okay, never mind. The only thing she had to worry about was the fact that her brother and his mentor both had terrible senses of humor.

"Hi, Jazz!"

Being used to having a half-ghost brother, Jazz only yelped a little bit at his unexpected appearance behind her. Then she sighed and ruffled his hair. He hugged her and then bounced over the lintel into the house.

"Come on! I want to show you my room! It's so cool!" His voice became fainter as he went farther into the house, until his last exclamation was an eerie whisper.

Jazz looked at Clockwork as she stepped inside. "Is he doing that on purpose?"

Clockwork smiled blandly. "I am very fond of the acoustics in this house."

She looked at her surroundings with a skeptical eye. "It seems... dark in here."

"We are ghosts," said Clockwork. "Daniel is very excited to show you his room, by the way."

"He's human, too, don't forget," said Jazz.

"I won't."

.

The house was creepy.

Really creepy.

This was coming from someone who had spent most of her life living under the same roof as two ghost-obsessed mad scientists.

But Danny seemed to enjoy it, and he was the one living here. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with the house. Or anything in the house. It was just... off.

Danny was half-ghost, however, so maybe this was something he needed. Perhaps not all of his peppiness could be attributed to being the heck away from his murderous former parents.

Even so. Jazz had a duty, both as a big sister and an aspiring psychologist.

"I already read it," said Clockwork, setting a cup of tea down in front of her.

"What?"

"The book you were about to give me. I've already read it. And a number of others. I am not the kind of person who goes into things unprepared."

Danny rolled into the kitchen on the ceiling. This was easy to ignore. After her life, an Exorcist reference made by her over-excited younger brother, was, well. Underwhelming.

(Okay, she was a little distracted, but only by his glee.)

"Well," she said. "That's good."

.

"I know this house is out of the way," said Clockwork, craning his neck to look up at his coworker, "but you are rather conspicuous."

"Hm. Am I?" asked Pandora, craning her neck down to look at her comparatively tiny colleague.

"Yes. At that size, humans with average eyesight will be able to see you from town."

Pandora looked out over the trees. "Interesting," she said, mildly. "Do you think the ghost hunters will come?"

"You've spoken to Daniel."

"Yes. He stopped by earlier today, on his way to visit Mattingly. Although, I suppose you knew that already."

"Indeed I did. May I ask, is it your intention to lure the ghost hunters here, fight them, defeat them, and then leave them just close enough to here to constitute a breach of their terms of bail and the restraining order against them?"

"I am not terribly well-versed in human law," said Pandora, "but, why, yes. That is exactly what I'm doing. Best to get it done while Daniel is visiting friends, isn't it?"

"Yes. If you had done this while he was here, I would be significantly more annoyed." Clockwork smiled the sanguine smile of a parental figure who would commit murder if their child was upset.

Pandora returned a matching grin, one that promised retribution against persons who had harmed said child in the past. "Please, Clockwork. You know me better than that. I wouldn't subject him to being in the presence of those fools."

"Good," said Clockwork, eyes glinting.

.

"Hey, Clockwork? Do you know why there were police cars driving down the- Oh. Hello?" He stopped at the sight of an unfamiliar woman sitting at the dinning room table, next to Clockwork. He blinked and tilted his head to the side. "Wait. Pandora?"

"Perceptive," said the superficially human olive-skinned woman. "You seemed so happy when you stopped by, earlier. I thought I would come check in on you."

"You didn't have to," said Danny, beaming.

"Pandora has been trying to convince me to set her up as one of my relatives," said Clockwork, rolling his eyes. "Would you care for a cup of tea, Daniel?"

"Umm," said Danny, dubiously. "I'll try one, I guess. Does that mean you'll be my aunt?"

Pandora smiled. "Why, yes, it does."

Clockwork groaned theatrically.

.

"Ah," said Mr. Lancer, at the next parent-teacher conference. "Are you Mr. Worth's wife?"

"No," said Pandora, grinning. "I'm his sister."

Mr. Lancer looked back and forth between the two very different-looking entities. "I... see."

"We're adopted," said Clockwork.

"Oh! Alright then. Now, about Daniel..."

.

It was a bit strange to see Danny with so much energy, Sam reflected. Strange, but good.

It just went to show how drained he had become over time, how much the constant ghost attacks and worry, all the lies and stress and impossible expectations had worn away at him over time. She hadn't seen her friend this happy since freshman year. If that.

On the other hand...

"Dude," said Tucker. "Your house is spooky. And this is coming from someone who's been inside a literal mad science lab."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Mad science labs are campy, not spooky. Besides, you knew coming in that this house was haunted." He draped himself over the back of the couch, rolling until he was 'sitting' upside-down. "Anyway, what kind of movie do you want to watch? We've got a bunch, because Clockwork apparently collects media from doomed timelines."

"He's got a hobby?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, three," said Danny. "Gardening- you should talk to him about that, by the way, I think he'd like it- baking, and alternate timeline movies. And some books, too, I think. He's got a huge library back in Long Now. I've read like. Two books from it."

Clockwork's voice floated in from the other room. "You've read significantly more than that, Daniel."

"I guess," said Danny, doubtfully. He flopped off the couch, picked himself up, and started prodding at a shelf of movies. "This is from a timeline where the Earth got beaned by a massive asteroid. It's, like, a romcom, but it was made when everyone knew the asteroid was coming. This one is, uh, this is actually a dramatization of real events, apparently, but their timeline split from ours in like the fifties, so the events are pretty wild." He waved the DVD at them. "It's surreal?"

"How'd they die?" asked Tucker.

"Wacky superscience. No, really. Irradiated the entire planet."

"How do you know?" asked Sam.

"Oh, Clockwork puts notes on the boxes. He thinks it's interesting. And there does seem to be some correlation between how cursed the movies are and how bad the timeline was. Which maybe shouldn't surprise me? I mean, if they were bad timelines..." He shrugged. "Oh, this is a CGI Lion King. I can tell you: very cursed. Absolutely soulless. And this is from a timeline where copyright laws weren't changed, so Mickey Mouse and a bunch of other stuff was in the public domain."

"Isn't that a good timeline?" joked Sam.

"You'd think so," agreed Danny. "But apartheid in South Africa apparently never stopped, and they got a nuclear bomb, and, well... World War Three."

"Is that like, a domino effect, or...?"

"I'm not sure... Anyway. Uh. Genre?" He clapped his hands together.

Tucker leaned forward. "I want the wildest version of the Matrix you have."

"Ooh, good choice. There are, like, six with Will Smith. I haven't watched them all yet, but I think the one where they've got another sequel and Zion is also a- Wait, I shouldn't spoil it."

"After that, can you see if there's a non-crappy version of Dracula?" asked Sam.

"Sure. I haven't seen one yet, but I will look."

"I have popcorn," said Clockwork, entering the room, "and various baked goods. No dairy."

"You're the best."

.

Clockwork selected a thick blanket from the chest, then teleported himself to the living room to drape it over the three teenagers passed out on the couch. Overall, he found pretending to be human oddly enjoyable, but it could be trying at times. Tedious. All the finicky little motions humans had to go through to do the simplest of things added up over the day.

So, Clockwork tended to ease off of them when no one was watching. It made life easier.

Heh. Life.

(He would say that Daniel's puns were rubbing off on him, but in truth Clockwork's sense of humor had been like that for, well. Eons.)

He put the kitchen in order with an absent wave of his hand, and double-checked the stove out of habit. It wasn't nearly as good as his actual oven, back in Long Now, but it was serviceable.

One of Daniel's friends mumbled in their sleep, and Clockwork looked in on them. Still peaceful. It was good for Daniel to have them here. Beneficial for both his human and ghost halves.

He hummed to himself and patted Daniel's head as he thought about their plans for the weekend. He had arranged for some truly aggravating evangelical missionaries to darken their doorstep. It would do Daniel good to inspire a touch of terror. In an entirely controlled and risk-free way, of course. No matter how unpleasant the people coming were, Clockwork had no intention of harming them, or suggesting anything of the sort.

But, well. They were ghosts. Being feared was soothing.

(Clockwork knew this wasn't what Jasmine meant when she suggested Clockwork engage in family bonding activities with Daniel. But what she didn't know...)

.

"I think my teeth are getting sharper," said Danny, pulling a face at the mirror. "Is that normal?" The last was shouted, to get Clockwork's attention. Intellectually, Danny knew he didn't need to do that, but a lifetime of habit was hard to shake.

"It is difficult to say what is normal for someone like you, but many ghosts do have fangs," said Clockwork. "Including myself."

"Hm," said Danny. "This isn't, like, a ghost puberty thing, is it? Because I already used up most of my evil puberty jokes."

"Oh, only most?" Clockwork slid behind him and started rubbing the tension out of his shoulders.

Danny shrugged. "Eh, give or take. But, seriously."

"No, it isn't a ghost puberty thing."

"Oh, good. Because dealing with one puberty is more than enough."

Clockwork was silent. Danny looked up and met troubled eyes in the mirror.

"Clockwork?"

"Daniel," started Clockwork, before giving Danny an uneasy smile. "Speaking of puberty..."

Danny blanched. "No."

"What?"

"No. Nope. Not doing the talk today, no sir. I got that at school."

"Daniel, as strange as Casper High may be at times, I highly doubt they taught you anything about immortality."

"What."

.

"It's why ghosts put so much forethought into relationships like this," explained Clockwork, careful not to look directly at Daniel's hiding place. "They might last forever. I certainly hope this one does."

"But I don't want to be a teenager forever!" wailed Danny. He had mastered the art of making his voice sound like it was coming from a completely different direction than it actually was.

Clockwork was older than human civilization and had been worshiped as a god by several civilizations. He did not wince at the heartbreak in his child's voice.

"Your shapeshifting abilities should come in after a few years," said Clockwork. "You'll be able to pass as older."

Daniel answered with a moan.

"I must confess, I'm not sure why you are so upset about this. I can see that you are, but could you explain why for me?"

"I don't knoooooowww..."

.

"I don't want everyone to die and leave me alone," admitted Danny, hunched over a carton of ice cream. "I don't want to see my- my people die." He sniffled.

"We don't have to stay in Amity Park if you don't want to," said Clockwork.

Danny shook his head. "No! That's worse," he said, hating how his voice tilted into a whine. "That's- I can't abandon them! I can't- can't miss their time. I just..." He let out a huff of air. "It's hard."

Clockwork wrapped an arm around Daniel's shoulders. "It may not help much," he said, "but people in Amity Park have a much higher chance of becoming ghosts. It's the ectoplasm in the air."

"Promise?" asked Danny.

"Promise. Although, who, exactly, becomes a ghost is outside of my control. All I can tell you is that the people here have a better chance."

Danny leaned against Clockwork. "Thanks," he mumbled. "Clockwork?"

"Yes?"

"You don't think I'm a freak, do you?"

"Of course not."

.

Mr. Lancer squinted down at Daniel Fenton's latest assignment with a mix of appreciation, disbelief, and shame. This was easily the best work he had ever received from Daniel. In fact, it rivaled papers he had received from Jasmine.

It made him wonder- How long had Daniel been suffering? What had Daniel been suffering? He was no expert when it came to abuse, but all teachers had some training, and he knew that abusers tended to escalate, starting with something relatively innocuous and ending with a travesty. For things to progress to attempted murder... What had it started as? When had it begun?

(Could Mr. Lancer have stopped it?)

(That question would haunt him more than any ghost.)

Well, there was a silver lining to this, Mr. Lancer supposed. He had rarely seen two people who got along as well as Daniel and Charles Worth. It was good, he thought, for the man to have someone in his life on a more permanent basis, rather than the revolving door of temporary foster children.

How rapidly the adoption went through was a little odd, but... Mr. Lancer shrugged. Undoubtedly, Mr. Worth had taken the time over his years as a foster parent to familiarize himself with the system, and with Daniel's former parents unfit to be anywhere near children...

He shrugged again and stamped Daniel's paper with an A+.

#danny phantom #gift #prize #winner #fic #phanfiction

[engagemachine]

Hey lady!!! Something has been rolling around in my brain, what if Taylor's dad tried to get her back, maybe found out somehow shes alive and out there? Or even, what would the Joker ever do to Taylor's father, her biological one? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be okay with another important male in her life...

HELLO MY LOVE.

Okay okay, this was such an exciting ask to ponder because I have literally given ZERO thought to Taylor's biological dad since like... idk, chapter two of Clockwork, maybe. I wrote him off so early on in the story and Taylor never even knew him (there's a large possibility he never knew she existed as well) so I always thought that, even if he were to find out about her and want her back as his daughter, Taylor would probably have a very hard time accepting him into her life? But that would also depend heavily on where she was at the time, like, whether this occurred in JK, Blackout, or Burn. Depending on the story/timeline, I can see her having wildly different reactions to him wanting to be in her life.

And I can't remember if this is actually IN Clockwork or not, but my backstory for Taylor's dad was that he had served in the war overseas and died (initially I had imagined this to be post 9/11, so he would have served in the war in Afghanistan) but then this doesn't really match up with my timeline of Taylor having been born in the mid-90s. So Idk. I think, back when I was writing Clockwork, I had also imagined him as this really young kid who knocked up his high school girlfriend, then dipped out of the picture when he found out she was pregnant, essentially forcing her to turn to prostitution when she was kicked out by her own mother.

But yeah, let's say, for the sake of your ask, Taylor's dad is still out there, has found out about her, and wanted her in his life... obviously Mr. J would not allow this to happen. I cringe just thinking about the lengths the Joker would go to to make sure the two of them remain separated.

I think it's interesting to consider that perhaps J has, at some point in time, done some digging into Taylor's past to find out if her father was actually still alive, to see if there was ever a chance he might come looking for her. Because if that were the case, then obviously the Joker would want to nip that in the bud before Taylor had a chance to find out about it. The Joker would want to sever that cord as soon as possible -- and it would probably end up with Taylor's dad dying of "suspicious" causes.

And as for Taylor's non-biological dad (bless him, William... we love him but he's had it rough) I wouldn't count on him coming to Taylor's rescue in Blackout. The man hasn't left the house since his wife died and is a barely-functioning alcoholic. Now that he thinks Taylor is dead, he doesn't really have a whole lot in his life to keep on living for. :'(

#anonymous #asks #Taylor #Taylor's dad #akjdaksj #starting a new tag in case more questions pop up about him #anon I'm not gonna lie you got me THINKING #is anybody interested in seeing a Dad Plot(TM) in Burn? #this story is whatever you want it to be so LET ME KNOW

[goddessofmischief]

Blue Monday, Chapter Nine - Loki x Reader

Author’s Note: I finally did it you guys. Loki’s mood in this gif matches mine.

Catch up on chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 !

The year was 1971.

Wars raged. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ was the biggest movie in theaters.

And you and Loki were about to stage one of the most infamous plane heists of all time.

“I had forgotten how much I despised American airports,” Loki muttered, adjusting his tie. You’d never seen Loki in human clothes before - and, frankly, you were a confused mix of amused and... attracted.

“The tie’s not the problem, ‘oki,” you suggested, running your hands through his hair. He seemed to almost shrink away from you, and then think better of it, leaning into your touch. “It’s the hair.”

“My hair - my hair is fine!”

“Okay, okay.”

Maybe it wasn’t Loki’s insecurities bubbling up, you thought, but your own.

It had, after all, been a very long time since you’d worn human clothing - or been on Earth in your time period, for that matter.

That was why it was imperative that you be heavily disguised - someone could recognize you.

It was odd for you to think about, somehow.

After all these years stranded somewhere in the middle of time and space, being back in your timeline felt uncomfortable, and.... strange

Not to mention that you were returning to the place of your timeline with, well...

A God.

“Here,” said Loki, passing a bag to you. “You hold this...” “What, what’s in it?”

He lowered his voice to a murmur.

“The bomb.”

“The?! Bomb?!”

”Yes, quiet. You have held a bomb before, yes?”

“You know I have. This is... kinda... different.”

”Don’t worry. I’m under strict instructions not to kill anyone.”

”Oh, good - you’ve been instructed - that makes me feel loads better.”

“I believe you’re beginning to regain your sense of sarcasm, darling.”

You swallowed.

“I hate sarcasm,” you said, finally. “It’s just... another, less clever way to lie.”

“How’s that?”

“You’re not saying how you really feel. I hate when people do that.”

“You must truly despise me, then.”

“No,” you admitted, and you felt as if you were giving something away by confessing this. “No, I... don’t.” Loki gazed at you, his face terribly close to yours, and you put your arms around his shoulders...

It felt awfully right, as odd as the situation was. The year was 1971. You were many decades old, but looked youthful. You were an agent of the T.V.A..

And you were about to kiss the God of Mischief, right here, right now, in the middle of this airport.

“Cooper!”

They were calling for you. For a moment, only a moment, you hoped against hope that Loki would ignore it - that the moment could go on, just as before.

But you knew that it couldn’t. The moment was over, as soon as it had ended.

“Coming,” said Loki, in an odd American voice you couldn’t get used to. He could’ve been any man that you would’ve known during your time on Earth... and you loathed the idea of that. “Right, dear?” “Yes, darling,” you said, taking his hand, and his fingers twined around yours. You knew, somehow, that this was a turning point - that you and Loki could never go on as it had been before.

You were his partner still, but now something much more profound.

For the first time in your life...

You were exactly where you wanted to be.

“Yes,” you said again. “Yes, I’m ready.”

...

Loki, to his credit... was kind of a marvelous actor.

You and he sat in your cramped seats, cross-legged, biding your time until the precise moment.

“Alright,” he said. “Now. I’m going to do it now.” “No, it's too early. Besides... give the poor woman a break. She’s been on her feet for the past hour.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, and you rested your hand on his arm.

“You can sleep, you know,” Loki offered. “We have... an hour, or two.”

You yawned.

“That obvious?” “Mhm. A bit.” You grinned, tucking your chin into his shoulder.

“Oh,” spoke Ella Rambeau, passing by the two of you with a cart of drinks. “You’re just too cute together. Can I get you two anything?”

“Yes, uh...” Loki paused, trying to get into character. “I’m... D.B. Cooper, mystery man, give me a... a bourbon.” You rolled your eyes.

“Hear that?” you teased, after she had gone. “We’re cute. She thinks we’re cute.”

“Yes, yes. I’m going to feel terrible about holding her up - is that what you want to hear?” “...Loki...” ...

“Alright,” he said, nudging you awake. “Ready?”

He beckoned Rambeau over, and, rising from her seat, she came to you.

Loki passed her a note - handwritten, in black felt-tip pen.

To your great surprise...

She placed it in her bag.

“Miss, you'd better look at that note,” said Loki. “I have a bomb.”

Rambeau’s eyes scanned over the note, seemingly becoming more panicked by the moment.

“It’s alright,” Loki spoke, calmly. “Sit here.”

“Can I...” Rambeau cleared her throat. “Can I see the bomb?” Loki opened his briefcase, showing it to her.

“What do you want?”

“$200,000 in negotiable American currency,” he said, his voice crisp and clear, and terribly American. “Four parachutes, and a fuel truck. Tell the pilot.” Rambeau scattered.

“You think it’s going to work?” you asked, timidly, and Loki smirked.

“Of course,” he said, sliding a pair of dark sunglasses onto his face, looking like an Asgardian James Bond. “All part of the plan.”

The speakers above you turned on.

“Uh, hello, passengers,” the Captain spoke over the speakers. “This is Captain William A. Scott speaking... our arrival in Seattle will be delayed because of a minor mechanical difficulty.”

Beside you, Loki snickered.

You smacked him.

“That poor woman’s probably scared half to death. Look, we have to do this to save her life - that doesn’t mean you’ve got to enjoy it so much.”

Rambeau returned to you.

“They’re complying with the demands,” she said, quietly.

“Hm,” said Loki, glancing out the window. “Looks like Tacoma down there. Can I get another bourbon and soda, please?”

Rambeau, looking incredibly confused, poured him one.

“Thanks, doll.” He paid his drink tab, and Rambeau left.

“See?” said Loki, turning to you and taking a sip. “I was nice.”

You scoffed.

“So that was to impress me?”

“Perhaps.”

...

After several hours, the aircraft landed at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Rambeau brought you the $200,000, and Loki ordered the passengers off the plane.

“Take me to Mexico City,” he told the pilot.

“Why Mexico City?” you muttered to him.

Loki shrugged.

“It’ll take awhile,” he said. “And... the sunsets are marvelous this time of year.”

You arched an eyebrow.

...

“Listen,” said Loki, talking to Rambeau, “Join the rest of the crew in the cockpit and remain there with the door closed. Open the aft door for me, will you?”

“You ready?” he asked, turning to you.

You nodded, blearily.

“Hands in the air!” Loki shouted, grabbing the suitcase.

On instinct, your hands shot up.

“No, not you,” he muttered, and you quickly lowered them.

“Everyone, on their knees, now-”

"You mean,” you uttered, mischievously. “Kneel?”

“Quiet, you - yes,” he said, beckoning to Rambeau. “Yes, you. You will wait in the cockpit until I’ve gone... yes?”

She nodded, blushing.

“Good luck with the baby,” Loki said, honestly, and he winked at her.

Blinded, Ella gazed back, grinning, until you heard a shocked voice from behind you -

“What?”

With that...

Loki took your hand-

And you leapt from the plane.

...

This was a really fun one to write! Almost every part of this fic is true - except, of course, Loki was probably not D.B. Cooper, and he did not have a companion with him during the heist. You can read all about it and compare facts here.

*If you want more Blue Monday content plus insider information on the fic, follow the blog @thebluemonday���!

Taglist (Message me to be added!)

gorgeourrific-nerd @suwupremeleader​​ @sserpente​ @tripleyeeet​

@kcd15​

#loki x reader #loki x reader angst #loki #loki imagine #loki avengers #loki disney+ #blue monday #loki trailer #blue monday: a loki story #blue monday on disney + #blue monday masterlist #loki blue monday #amora #amora the enchantress #loki and amora #loki x amora #db cooper #d.b. cooper #disney plus #disney +

[selinas-ships]

Everybody Loves Somebody

I didn't mean for this to turn into a song fic, but it kinda did, and I'm not mad about it. 

Also hi, I know it's been a million years lmaooo

With a frustrated sigh, Selene tossed the file onto the table she and Loki claimed, currently littered with papers from various files. “I hate paperwork.” She grumbled, rubbing her eyes and trying to stop the words from swimming in her vision. Stupid, tedious paperwork.

“You’re so good at it though.” Came Loki’s humorous reply. She didn’t need to look at him to see the insufferable grin on his face. And yet she couldn’t help a grin of her own from growing.

He wasn’t wrong, technically. Experience with her father helped her in finding the important information quickly, and the quicker the important information is found, the quicker one can understand the point of the report or the file, and in their case, deduce if it was at all significant to their cause. So far though, there has been little.

“That doesn’t mean I like it.”

“Fair enough.”

The words and phrases of the tedious report she threw on the table finally stopped swimming in her eyes, but she couldn’t bring herself to open them. She was tired. There had been nothing but reports and files on the seemingly countless Loki Variants caught by the TVA for the past hour, and she was tired of it. Tired of reading how Loki made a choice that led him to being happier and fulfilled with his life and how it had to be destroyed for the sake of the “sacred timeline.” There were too many unknowns to make a properly informed opinion about the importance of the TVA and the sacred timeline, but from what she had so far, what was the phrase? She wasn’t a fan.

Soft music suddenly filled the quiet halls of endless bookshelves of files. A string quartet, perhaps? The scale they played seemed a little intense, she thought as she searched for where the music came from, finding nothing of note. And joining the instrumental music, people, a man and a backup chorus, sang.

(Everybody loves somebody sometimes)

(Everybody falls in love somehow) 

She closed her eyes again with a smile as a piano and percussion added to the instrumental background. Distracted by the music, she barely registered the sound of chair legs softly scraping against the floor directly beside her until someone took her hand and placed a gentle kiss to her knuckles.

With a quick glance to her left, she found Loki had stood up, holding her hand, his brilliant green eyes meeting hers as he lifted his lips from her hand. It was an action he’d done before, an expectation when greeting royalty, and Loki always had been as gentlemanly as he could when he visited. But it never failed to make something she couldn’t quite name yet flutter in her stomach.

(Something in your kiss just told me) 

“Dance with me?” He asked, giving her a soft smile, one he liked to save just for her.

(My sometime is now) 

She smiled back, hardly hesitating in her reply. They could make good with a break anyway. “Why not?”

Standing from her chair, she held onto Loki’s arm as he led them to a slightly more open space close to their table. Their next few movements were like clockwork. Her right hand clasped his left as her left rested on his shoulder and his right held her waist in a gentle but firm grip. Loki led them through a slow waltz, Selene following him seamlessly.

One thing she noticed in her now twenty-one years of formal balls and kingdom-wide celebrations with the waltz was, ultimately, it was about trust. The lead had to trust that the follower would follow where they directed, and the follower had to trust the lead to know what step to take next and carry through. A waltz without trust wasn’t a waltz at all, in her opinion. A waltz without trust was less of a dance and more of two fools tripping over each other because they didn’t trust or communicate enough to make it work. 

Truthfully, it was a simple way to read a person. Someone who habitually took the lead was likely to be a person used to being in control, whether of a people or of themselves, while someone who typically followed in a waltz might appear to be less of a leader and instead let others take that role, either due to not being confident in themselves enough or because that was the role they played in their society. A dancer experienced in both leading and following is easily inferred to be a flexible individual, neither strictly a leader or a follower, instead being what was needed. An unsure dancer let insecurity get the better of them, while a confident dancer, insecurity still very much a possibility, was far less likely to let their insecurities get in the way.

Loki was both a confident dancer and one who preferred to lead, which would logically mean that he was a person used to being in control of himself and didn’t like letting his insecurities (because Asgardian and a literal god or not, everyone had an insecurity) impede the path to his goal. 

But that was something she figured out years ago. This wasn’t a royal ballroom full of formal attire and people of political interest. This was two friends, taking a break, and enjoying something they both found joy in. So she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, while trying not to dwell on the memories of balls in a ballroom that now likely rests in dust and dried blood, and instead let herself get lost in Loki’s eyes, in his touch and in his arms, feeling safer here with him than she has during this entire ordeal.

(Everybody finds somebody someplace)

(There’s no telling where love may appear)

His soft smile grew into a wide grin as he dropped his head, his eyes sparkling with mirth and shoulders shaking with barely concealed laughter.

“What?” she asked through a small laugh of her own, dipping her head to meet his eyes again.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” He insisted, shaking his head. “Just remembering the last time we danced like this.”

(Something in my heart keeps saying)

Selene quickly wracked her brain for the memory before it hit her. Ah, of course.

“Oh, you mean the time you dragged me into the gardens to hide after a prank went wrong? One that I told you would go wrong, but you did it anyway?” She asked in a playful, accusatory tone, struggling to stifle her laughter at Loki’s utterly offended expression. She distinctly remembered saying ‘No, Loki, that is a terrible idea, and I will not bail you out of the mess you will cause,’ and Loki proceeding to go, ‘Trust me, it’ll be fine!’

It ended up, in fact, not being fine. It ended up being almost exactly as she predicted, if memory serves.

“Excuse you! You aided in that!” The smile that grew from his expression betrayed his amusement as she raised a single eyebrow, smirking at him.

(My someplace is here) 

“How?” she asked dubiously. 

“By giving me the idea!” 

“And then I told you specifically not to do it!” 

(If I had it in my power) 

“Oh, here we go again.” Loki sighed as he let go of her waist, Selene subconsciously understanding the cue for him to twirl her, giving him her own offended expression, a gleeful smile poking through.

“Wha-?? You bastard!” She laughed as Loki pulled her back into his arms. It had only been for a moment, but she had already missed his arm around her waist. It was comforting, grounding.

(I’d arrange for every girl to have your charm) 

“I’m your bastard.” He quipped, giving her a self-satisfied smirk. He knew he was right. Unbelievable, utter bastard. Her bastard.

“I suppose that’s true.” She dramatically sighed, laughing as Loki stuck his tongue out at her.

(Then every minute, every hour)

(Every boy would find what I found in your arms)

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, Loki leading her through another twirl as she just looked at him. Well, admired is probably a better word. She was doing more than just looking. She noticed the smile on his lips matched the smile in his eyes, the usual tension in his shoulders gone, the way his eyes crinkled in his joy. It made her happy, seeing him and being able to know he was too.

(Everybody loves somebody sometime)

(And although my dream was overdue) 

“What?” He asked her, noticing her widening smile. 

(Your love made it well worth waiting) 

“Nothing. It’s just good to see you smile again.”

(For someone like you) 

Staring into his eyes, she could see her words surprised him, but he was quick to come back with a smile that could almost be labeled as shy. “Well. I’ve had good reason to.”

((If I had it in my power))

(I would arrange for every girl to have your charms) 

Surprised by his words in turn, Selene ducked her head to get her giddy smile under control a little more before returning to his eyes.

They had almost gone half-lidded, and there was something in his gaze that made her want to smile and giggle uncontrollably, like Rosalind when she talked about her beloved, and kiss him at the same time.

((Then every minute, every hour))

(Every boy would find what I have in your arms) 

It really shouldn’t surprise her, the sudden urge to kiss him. This wasn’t the first time she’s had that thought.

(Everybody loves somebody sometime)

(And although my dream was overdue) 

This might be the closest she’s come to thinking she may act on it, though.

(Your love made it well worth waiting)

(For someone like you)

Loki led her into a graceful dip, her body and mind trusting him completely not to let her fall. He never did. But she thinks she’s fallen in more ways than one.

((Everybody loves somebody sometime)) 

As the song came to a close with one last beautiful violin, and Loki pulled her out of the finishing dip of their waltz, Selene couldn’t take her eyes off him. His hair, his eyes, his face, everything about him in this moment, she tried to commit to memory. The way he looked at her, the smile he gave her, the way a curl of hair fell over his ear.

Her eyes trailed down to his lips of their own accord, her hand on his shoulder sliding up to cup his neck. She forced her eyes back to his to find Loki’s gaze at her lips. Sliding the hand still clasped in his free, it moved to his hair, running through his gentle curls and waves.

They had moved closer in their waltz than they did when they started. Where before there had been a respectable distance between them, now their faces were mere inches apart.

Loki’s free hand moved to the back of her head, sliding down to cradle her neck as he nudged her closer, Selene offering no resistance. The tips of their noses brushed together now, eyes meeting and then moving to lips and then meeting again.

Her heart thumped louder in her chest. He was so close, it would be so easy to close the gap and finally know what his kisses are like-

They both jumped at the sound of someone clearing their throat, finding Agent Mobius staring at them with a very unamused expression that would have been a little funny had she’d not been both embarrassed at being caught like this (not that they were doing anything strictly wrong) and frustrated he had interrupted. Who knew when she would get the courage to try that again?

“Oh, I’m sorry, was I interrupting something?”

Normally, Selene would be a bit more diplomatic in her response, saying no and to apologize for making him wait, but Mobius, and to be honest the entire TVA, had a habit of frustrating her, so the snarky response “A bit, yes.” slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. 

Understandably so, Mobius let out an exasperated breath. “Look, princess, you’re here to keep him in check, not to... act on whatever unspoken thing you two have going on.”

“Hey now-”

Oh dear.

Selene quickly put a hand on Loki’s shoulder, taking his attention away from Mobius. “Loki. It’s fine.”

The pout he gave her was unfairly cute. “But it’s not. He shouldn’t speak to you like that.”

“I appreciate it, but I can take care of myself, Trickster. You know that.” 

Loki sighed, ducking his head and pressing it against hers, his arms coming up to hold on to her elbows. “I know. I just want to keep you safe.”

Selene let out a sigh of her own. How was he real? What had she possibly done in order to deserve him?

“I know. I’m alright.” She promised, closing her eyes to focus on his touch and proximity.

And Mobius once again interrupted them. “Hey. C’mon, we have a job to do.”

He walked away, gesturing for them both to follow.

Selene looked to Loki again, taking a chance and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

He smiled again, nodding. “Okay.”

Slowly, not wanting to but not having much of a choice, they let go of each other and stepped apart, hurrying to follow Mobius.

If Loki’s hand sought hers and held on tight, she did not object. Instead, she held on just as tight.

#Loki x OC #Loki Odinson x Selene of Theganda (OC) #F/O Tag: Trickster #OC Tag: Selene #i daydreamed this and so made it a reality #i love them ur honor #they're cute

[princess-of-the-corner]

Upcoming Old Man Stitch Timeline content that may contain disturbing subject matters that refused to leave my head so now I curse you with it:

-To start off light, the events of The Ultimate Enemy occurred, minus Clockwork’s interference.

-Dark Dan however is not as powerful as his other variant.

- For out of the crater of the bombs dropped on Godzilla, came the Lich who has made an army out of the abundant corpses across the globe and is always trying to take control of Dan, who now spends energy to fight him off.

-The world is divided and ruled over by different leaders now.

-Stitch rules the remnants of Hawaii, having grown larger with the washed up bodies of dead monsters, now referred to as the Isles of the Lost.

-Chat Blanc rules the ruins of France, known as the Ruins of Catastrophe, his akumatization (or perhaps he’s a sentimonster in this timeline) preventing him from aging.

-The Lich made his way north and now rules the Arctic Wastes.

-Godzilla rules over the entire planet, now in his Godzilla Earth form

-The Dark Dragon is a corrupted spirit that possesses Jake, but in this timeline it reverts him to a feral mind, mainly communicating via growls and roars and no longer takes on human form

-This new Dark Dragon rules over his Kingdom of Yesteryear, aka what’s left of New York, alongside a harem of his human mate and magical creatures.

-He’s basically the Maestro Hulk of this universe.

-(heads up this is where it starts to get a bit disturbing) His army is made of his offspring made up of hybrids who are stuck between dragon form and their mother’s other half. His pure dragon offspring acting more like bloodhounds.

-The reason why is because his dragon mate was the only female dragon left in New York, who had tried to save him but was corrupted by his mind control like his other wives. (Yes it is who you think… I’m not sorry)😈

-Now she is nothing but a feral woman who wears nothing but the matching collar all the harem members wear that connects them to their master.

-Now for a bit of a palette cleanser, Mandy is now Death, taking the position of Grim.

-She is accompanied by the ghost of Billy, and Grim’s head that she keeps close to her, like Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw.

I..... Have several levels of Y I K E S.

Like just.

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - Nobody Home

Part 7

Warnings less? In effect here? But still be aware of course. Condensing a lot for the sake of timelines matching up and consistency in pacing. (Okay, so maybe I have Mari's entire plotline figured out and am mostly playing Jason's by ear, call me out on it)

Closed list of nice people who I regularly hurt for amusement: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Jason woke up screaming to the sight of bright glowing green, only to snap back into the bedroom as Sabine burst in through the trapdoor. The petite woman ran up the stairs and collapsed beside him, throwing warm arms around his shoulders, tugging him down into the crook of her neck.

"Shh, shh honey, it's alright. It was just a dream, you're okay, I'm here."

He stiffened at first, only to melt into the embrace, meeting otherworldly blue eyes behind her. Tikki seemed to shake with concern, wanting to come to him, but unable to in the presence of his parental figure. 

Sabine pulled back a touch, stroking his head in gentle motions, meeting his eyes and guiding him through concentrated breaths until hia had evened out.

"Do you want to talk about it, sweetie?"

A wobbly smile broke on his lips at the sweet endearment as he shook his head and fell back into her embrace. He'd never adjust to being so thoroughly cared for and loved and supported, even if she didn't realize it was all directed at the wrong person. God, he hated lying to her. About where he was during akuma attacks. Why he stopped being friends with most of the class. Why in the year after her death, he had stepped down from most of Marinette's class responsibilities. About who he was and what he meant to her. He hated letting this wonderful, loyal, fierce woman think he was her daughter. 

Flashes of the toxic green flashed behind his closed eyes along with flowing red, reminding him why he woke in the first place.

Accepting the kiss on the cheek and reassuring Sabine that everything was okay, he waited until she disappeared down the steps and towards her own room, door firmly closed behind her before turning back towards Tikki.

"Are you okay, Jason?"

"Yeah… might be spending too much time with Plagg. Dreamt I was drowning in his eyes," he joked.

"That's awful, no wonder you were screaming," she tagged on, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Oh yeah, absolute nightmare."

"You're okay though."

"Yeah," he breathed out, turning over and feeling the kwami curl up on his hip and slowly fall back to sleep as he stared at the wall until morning.

…

Occasionally, someone worked up the nerve to ask him out. 

Whether because her physique appealed to them or his personality drew in a rather specific type. Usually, guys who thought they could tame him. Girls who wanted his aggression directed in passion. Saw her body and his anger and guilt displayed in a rather intimidating, distant contenance. Never one to start a fight, but quick to end one with a verbal lashing. Otherwise friendly when approached, but never the one approaching. Some thought him shy, others knew better and saw the fire within. All were turned away.

It made Jason sick to his stomach to think of dating these people with her body. To show affection and know he was using her body in that manner. And moreover, he couldn't stand the idea of ever being with someone who wasn't her. Sure, he knew many people dated around before meeting their soulmate or were only platonic with their other half and sought romance elsewhere, but none of them were in his position. None of them were living inside a dead other half's body, pretending to live their life. Surely if they were, they would feel the same. Not that he planned on sharing.

As it stood, he became a known heartbreaker at school.

…

He dreamt of flashing blades and splattered blood that night. He screamed himself awake once more. He wasn't sure why. It's not like he didn't risk his life everyday since he was ten. Something about the dreams got to him though.

…

Sometimes he forgot he wasn't her. This life he lived, this lie became his truth for just a moment.

Nothing epitomized this as much as the absolute defeat of Hawkmoth.

Jocular came up with the idea with the help of Fievel. The two came up with a strategy of using illusions and prodding mice to draw akumas further and further towards the outskirts of Paris, making stops along the way to toy with the angered victims until they did something reckless. Serval and Ladybug made sure to stay completely out of sight to ensure that Hawkmoth knew that his goal would not be reached with this line of action. Nimbus jumped in if the akuma came too close to any of the others to knock them off their feet and give the others a chance to create distance. If Hawkmoth's signature purple symbol glowed around their face, they knew they were still in range. Once the akuma seemed to go absolutely off the rails with no interference, they ended the battle quickly and marked the spot on a map of Paris. Once they made their first mark, they went slightly to the right of the previous fight, waiting to make the next mark and leading the following battle to the right of that until, like clockwork, they made a complete circle. 

With the circle complete, they took their map and drew a line from one point to the one directly across the map, until eventually they found the exact center.

The Agreste mansion. Oh, the irony.

The battle went surprisingly quick after that. They waited until they defeated an akuma close to the mansion, so that the Moth miraculous would need to recharge before it could activate again. Nathalie, who previously wielded the peacock, stayed out of the altercation, too sick to attempt anything. With Gabriel unable to transform yet and his assistant unable to fight back, they made quick work of apprehending the man, bringing the police into the atrium of butterflies and showing the underground garden that held his list wife. With a few threatened words whispered into his ear by Ladybug and Serval, Gabriel transformed in front of the police, allowing them to take pictures of everything as evidence of his actions. He also admitted his guilt into a tape recorder, to be used in court. Of course, they were all careful not to let any of the kwamis be seen by civilians throughout the arrest.

Finally, with the two adults arrested with their bodyguard and Adrien taken into custody for questioning, the heroes all disappeared into the dark night, the battle over and won.

They met back up in their headquarters, Fu's parlor. Luckily, throughout the years, the old master had never been found out, despite a handful of close calls. Mostly due to the group threatening the man back into hiding every time he considered getting involved. Still, the place became their haven. A place to relax and regroup without the fear of being overheard. That night, the group celebrated their victory, emotions haywire in a swirl of grief and anger and misery and elation and pure relief, letting everything flow out, the release long overdue.

Up until this point, the hunt of Hawkmoth over the last two months had kept Jason so busy that beyond the nightmares, he nearly forgot that they weren't celebrating with him, but with who they thought was Marinette. The constant use of false names and codes had helped further disillusion him. 

Now though, they hollered and sobbed and laughed together in their exuberance and they all congratulated him as their leader, as the one freed of the most responsibility, as the one who had battled from the beginning. He thanked them and rejoiced the end of an era. And then he went to her home.

He slipped in through the balcony and dropped into bed, the transformation sliding off as he went. That wasn't really his battle to win. His enemy to defeat. He knew that. She would've been happy to know that their team protected Paris. Broke it free from Gabriel's reign of terror. That they won. He wished she could've been there to see it. To take down her enemy herself. This was supposed to be her victory. He fell back into depression, knowing she'd never get to witness his defeat.

…

That night, he dreamt of shrouded figures. Of defending himself from multiple enemies. He dreamt of proud jade green eyes watching at a distance. 

…

It hurt so badly to let her dreams slip through his fingers. Muscle memory and basic knowledge from reading her old books on sewing led to an adequacy when mending old clothes, adding buttons, or customizing his own things to fit further to his style. This however, did not translate into her creativity and ability to take a concept and transform it into an original design.

At first, this raised suspicion and worry amongst their friends and family, but as time passed, they accepted that perhaps the inspiration had moved on. Jagged and Clara had shown their acceptance and support and told him if he ever got back into the game, to contact them first. Both protested and fought valiantly at first, but after a long conversation where he revealed that he simply couldn't bring himself to create the way he once had after losing his other half, the two had showered him in affection and backed off. The full truth was tragic, but the half truth was enough for them all.

The team had sensed the change since the beginning and upon finding his dwindling willingness to create, they thought perhaps moonlighting as ladybug drained it from him. Probably explained why he worked better with Plagg nowadays despite his attachment to Tikki. He allowed them to believe what they would as long as it meant not pushing him to design anymore.

He took to studying more, reading on any subjects that caught his attention at the moment, enjoying the freedom of no longer having a villain to fight. He kept up training with the team and her old martial arts classes. He also added in kickboxing for the hell of it. It became a wonderful outlet for his aggression without taking it out on his teammates.

Sometimes, on busy weekends or on breaks, he helped in the bakery. It was during one of these times that Tom brought him in to help develop a new flavor, that he found a love of creation again. Something about working side by side with Tom, discussing how different spices and fruits played off each other reminded him of early afternoons spent with Alfred. When tears sprung to his eyes at the thought of the older butler, Tom immediately drew him into a hug, asking what had made him cry. Jason gave a watery smile and simply said he had missed this.

After that, her parents started using him in the baking process more, allowing him to taste taste and make his own creations with their guidance. He was a decent baker, good enough to keep up with them and offer new takes on old classics, but they soon discovered that he truly came to life with cooking.

It was soon afterwards that he took over making dinner every night, releasing some of the pressure from Tom and Sabine to find time in the midst of shutting down the bakery. It also eased some of his guilt towards the two to have a way to pull his own weight within the family.

…

It had been about eight months since he first dreamt of toxic, luminescent green. It still visited him in his nightmares occasionally, engulfing him in horrific clarity. Sometimes he asked Plagg about it, only to be met with concerned, nervous eyes. Once he teased the little god about corrupting his soul, only to see a flash of fear quickly shroud itself in a huffy, put off demeanor. Plagg hissed at him and gave him the cold shoulder for three days after that. He never teased the kwami about the nightmares again.

Sometimes the dreams still held flashes of silver and red, dripping blood off steel, of shrouded aggressors. Of proud jade green, watching him at all times, assessing him, observing and glinting with a hidden glee.

It was a couple months after the two year anniversary of her death that something changed.

He dreamt of jade green eyes, staring up at him from a much lower height than the last set, coming closer, looking curious and guarded, yet hopeful.

#jasonette #maribat #ml x dc #WFTW #part 7

[burning-clutch]

The Not So Grim Reaper

Read on A03 Here Pairings: None Trigger Warnings: mild blood and cartoon style violence  Author: @burning-clutch (Team Ghost) Word count: 4291 Prompt by:  All-hail-trash-prince / KitKat Cat  FFN: the-trash-prince

-------

 It was the third anniversary of the half death day of one Daniel Fenton and said teen was not exactly sure how to feel about the matter. He had been contacted by none other than the master of the timeline, Clockwork, to let him know that today was going to be a big important day for him…

 So he was understandably nervous…

 The ancient ghost had taken a vested interest in him, sure, but Danny was pretty sure it was mostly to spite the Observants who had their hands in the old ghost’s work. Regardless of the reason though, when clockwork spoke or rather wrote him a note or some other such thing, he knew well it was important and he needed to heed whatever it was.                  At least it was a Saturday, so he didn’t need to worry about school, however, when his ghost sense went off causing him to exhale a wispy billow of cold air, he silently wished that the ghosts could give him a couple of days off a week as well.

 With a reluctant sigh, Danny transformed in his bedroom before taking off and heading off towards the location he’d felt the strongest pull from the ectoplasmic disruption. It was downtown, a great start overall, though what was odd was as of yet there was no destruction… no running people trying desperately to escape an ethereal threat…

 It was uncomfortably calm actually…

 Danny frowned and spun about trying to focus inwards to locate where the pull was. His eyes flashed open in an instant when he felt it, his ghost sense going off for a second time as he honed into the feeling. Whatever ghost had decided to pay him a visit today was powerful. Scarily so to elicit such a strong reaction from his ghost sense.

 He flew up towards the ghost, he was eager but weary. There was no outright attack yet so he wanted to hold out hope that whatever ghost was up here was peaceful.

 Danny was not prepared for a lanky ghost in a solid black robe looking out over the city from the highest building in Amity. Danny opened his mouth to speak but the stranger beat him to it. “Ah, Phantom… or do you prefer Daniel? Or some other such derivative of that?” the ghost asked, not even shifting in the slightest.

 Danny was unnerved by that. The ghost had a deep voice, gruff but buttery smooth… it had a strange resonance in it that made it sound both soothing and unsettling at the same time. Still, Danny was on guard. Ghosts could go from zero to a hundred really fast, and he’d been bitten by that ruse far too often to have not learned at this point… Still, he was always an optimist and any chance to get out of this without a fight he’d take it.

 “And you are?” Danny asked, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible to this potentially dangerous and powerful spectre.

 “Oh silly me, how rude.” The ghost chuckled out before turning around with a flourish. The ghost was bone white and rail thin, with ruby red eyes that shone with mirth around a deep navy blue iris. With the black cloak closed all Danny could see was the white glow around him and the elongated face of the ghost. As he laughed he revealed a long set of fangs both upper and lower hidden away by bone white lips.

 “My name is Mortimer, Morty for short if you’d rather. Most people prefer it anyway.” the ghost, Morty mused with a small tap of his white slender finger to his lips. “Ah well, that’s not important what is as that you’re a prompt kid, and I like that. Pleasure,” he stuck out a hand to shake.

 Danny eyed the hand suspiciously before grasping the pale appendage into his own. There was a cool and electric feeling radiating from Mortimer, that just screamed of power, but the literal grim grinning ghost before him seemed nice enough.

 “Right, introductions out of the way, now we can get down to brass tax hm?” the pale ghost said releasing Danny’s hand and clapping his own together with a soft and chalky sounding smack.

 “What?” Danny blinked stupidly. “You're a tax collector ghost?” he asked, making a face of confusion.

 “What? Oh Ancients, no! I am a collector of sorts and you Phantom,-”

 “Are going to be the newest thing in your weird collection? No thanks.” Danny scoffed having interrupted the ghost.

 “You don’t even know what the offer is and besides it’s not exactly something you can refuse being what you are, and how you have handled yourself up until now,” Morty said with a flippant wave of his hand. “Your fate was sealed into this the moment Clockwork took an interest in you.”

 “Clockwork? Where does he fit into this? With you?” Danny huffed feeling a little more angered by the second now.

 “Well, it’s your third death day right?” Danny nodded. “Well, today is when you officially transition from a kid to a teen, well from a ghostly standpoint anyway,” Morty said with a tilt of his head revealing a thin whisp of flame like hair that looked to be hardly there at all on his ebony ectoplasmic flesh.

 Danny blinked a few times as his mind caught up with that. This guy had mentioned Clockwork and Clockwork had mentioned today would be important… So…  “You’re who I was supposed to be looking out for today?” Danny asked.

 “I mean maybe? Were you told a reaping recruiter was comin’ to get you?” Morty asked in kind. “Because if you were that makes this a whole lot simpler.”

 “A what?” Danny barely got out before the other ghost grabbed his arm and thrust him forward into a ghost portal. Instantly Danny engaged his flight and rounded on Morty, fists flaring only to stop cold when he saw where he was brought.

 The literal valley of death.

 Morty now had out a scythe as tall as he was, with a blade that was half the length of the pole. The blade, seemingly made of a blinding white plasma dipped into the portal and closed it in an instant. Morty then spun the scythe banishing the weapon to whatever unworld it had come from.

 The weapon itself was impressive enough, but the fact that it matched the exact description shape and apparently portaling powers, from what he remembered the reaper ghosts were usually seen to wield… Danny was very glad he didn’t try to attack this ghost now.

 “You really are a reaper.” Danny gasped out, staring wide eyed at Morty.

 “Yes, I thought I’d mentioned that? No? Eh, well we’re here now and we’ve got work to do boy!” Morty said with a motion aimed at the halfa to get him to follow.

 Reaper ghosts were dangerous, said to kill a living person with just a touch of their hand… Danny’s eyes widened as he stared down at the hand he’d shook Morty’s with earlier. Did that mean…? He rubbed at his neck as he followed, thankful to feel the slow and shallow ‘Ka-thump’ beneath his gloved hand.

 “Wait, you mentioned you were a recruiter?” Danny asked moving quickly to catch up to the other ghost.

 “Yep,” came the simple reply with a popping P. “And you’re here because-.”  he trailed off with a wave of his hand urging Danny to put two and two together.

 “I’m being turned into a reaper?” Danny hazarded out his guess.

         “Got it in one kid. Congrats. Morty said with a nod of approval.

 “Wait… Why me?”

 “Well, the main one is you being a demi-ghost. You’re between the life and death binary system. Meaning, you yourself are the focal point in that scale of life and death,” the reaper responded.

 “What about Vlad? He’s a halfa too…” Danny asked, genuinely curious.

 “Indeed he is, but you are not like him in the slightest when it comes to personality. Tell me do you know what we do? What job does a reaper ghost have?” Morty asked, turning to look at Danny over his shoulder.

 “You take the souls of the living, collecting them and forcing them to die…?” Danny asked nervously. “I don’t want to kill people though! Even if they are on some list or however you decide who’s time is up!” he argued to Morty. He really didn’t want to kill people…

 “Ha! No, Why does everyone always think we deal in the living? Life and death are something that can’t be influenced by us.when your number’s up it ain’t us that's coming to kill you, nature does that plenty well on its own.”

 “Then-”

 “We deal in the souls of ghosts,” Morty stated. “When a living thing dies, regardless of whether they become a ghost or not, the souls flow to the ghost zone. If they do become a ghost it means they had an obsession that was stronger then the pull of the zone’s core, the collective.” Morty explained.

 “That much I know… It’s a basic concept.” Danny nodded curiously now as the reaper led him into a catacomb beneath the garden they were standing upon a moment ago.

 “Right, well, what do you think happens to ghosts who’s obsessions get out of hand to the point the ghosts themselves are a danger? Or ghosts that get trapped in the human realm? That’s where we come in. if they’re a danger it’s our job to force them into the collective. And the easiest way is to slice the obsession right out of them, slicing through their core with your scythe. No obsession, no reason to be and the ghost is absorbed into the collective.”

 “That’s still killing people! Even if they’re ghosts I still can’t-” Danny shook his head unable to think of himself potentially killing or ending a ghost… he would be no better than Dan then…

 “Well you’re not killing or ending, you’re returning them to the collective. Alternatively, you can also repair a broken core so long as the ghost isn’t too far gone. Putting down troubled spirits is our main service as a reaper, secondary is that making sure the collective stays as exactly that, a collective. We make sure nothing in the zone ventures too close, and nothing in, comes out.” Morty said with a sharp look about him as he said that.

 Danny offered the reaper a sheepish smile, before turning away from the glowing gaze to look about the catacombs. There were a lot of dirt torches on the walls and doors and really not much beyond that, but suddenly the door to his left was the most interesting thing on the planet.                  “You do not want to know what happens when something comes out of the collective and back into the ghost zone,” the reaper warned in a stern tone.

 Danny flinched his gaze snapping back into the ruby eyes of the reaper.

 “Besides most commonly it’s a reaper’s job to retrieve stranded ghosts from the human realm and lead them home to the zone. A starved ghost is not something to take lightly after all. And that brings us to why we’re recruiting you, and not the other halfa.”

         “Because I’ve been doing that as it is?” Danny tried after a moment of the other ghost looking at him expectantly.

 Morty grinned at that. “HA! Nice once again in one, and they said you were a dunce,” the ghost chuckled as they finally stopped to enter a large wooden door with a golden trim.

 “Who did?” Danny asked as he followed the ghost inside.

 “Don’t worry about it. Just pick out a scythe that calls out to you,” Morty waved him off dismissing the insult on his intelligence easily.

 Danny couldn’t bother to rebuttal though when he laid eyes on the weaponry in the room. They were in a word gorgeous. All glowing with an array of coloured blades and handles and the teen’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

 “Woah…” was about all he could get out as he gently reached out to try to grab a scythe with a bright white handle and a blue blade. As soon as his hand touched the pole Danny recoiled from the shock he’d received from the weapon.

 “Nope, that one didn’t like you kid,” Morty said amused. “A reaper’s blade is special to them, and only one reaper can wield a blade, so much so that if a reaper is destroyed the blade shatters along with them. It’s an extension of yourself,” he explained.

 “So then… how do you know?” Danny asked, trying to grab another one with a black pole and purple blade, only to recoil with a hiss and suck on his now burned finger.

 “You really need me to answer that one kid?” the reaper asked leaning against the door and crossing his arms.

 “...No…” Danny grumbled. The teen sighed looking at all the blades in the rows of weapons. They were all scythes and all slightly different, though some not by much to their neighbours. With a thoughtful frown, Danny explored the shelves.

 Morty watched the teen go eyes shining with mirth as he looked on into the rows and rows of weapons. As a halfa, he would become an angel of rebirth, a force to be reckoned with and eventually a great ruler. Until his one-hundredth death day, he wouldn’t know of that tidbit and instead would remain in their ranks as a reaper.

 Danny sighed after the tenth or so blade zapped him, he decided to try a new tactic. He closed his eyes and focused like he would when normally looking for a ghost with his ghost sense. These weapons felt like more than just average weapons after all perhaps they had a bit of life er, rather death in them?                  And so he focused and walked forward, moving along eyes closed until his hand rested in front of a rack. He blinked his eyes open and scanned the handles in front of him. It was easy to pick out the one that he thought was calling to him after that.

 The handle was deep black with coloured sparkling glowing speckles all along the shaft, swirling and pulsing shifting slowly all along the handle. They looked so much like stars that Danny’s core fluttered eagerly at the sight of that alone. When he grabbed the handle, he felt the sheer burst of power that flowed through him and it was both intoxicating and worrisome.

 He quickly regained his focus to stare at the white blade that pulsed and flickered with just the tiniest bit of blue. It reminded him of a comet’s tail with how it waved along when he moved the weapon. It was gorgeous and he knew it was his.

 “Oh, that’s a beaut’!” Mort said with a low whistle almost right into Danny’s ear, causing the teen to jump into the air and float there staring angrily down at the reaper. “Now you’ve got that I gotta teach ya how to use it, well the basics, then from there you’re to come back here every week til we deem you ready to don a cloak.”

 “I- right… so where do-” Danny didn’t even get the chance to ask as no sooner had he started Morty ripped a hole into space with his own summoned scythe and grabbed Danny dragging him through the portal. “Training…”

 “En- Garde boy!” Morty called, pointing the butt end of his scythe to Danny. “First things first summoning and banishing your blade, then portals, and that should do it for today. I’ve no doubt you’ll figure out fighting with it on your own after that.”

 “Yeah, ghost attacks in my town are far too common…” Danny admitted.

 “Well now you can portal them away,” Morty said with a chuckle. “I think that’s why humans all think us to be bringers of death, we’re often seen bringing newly dead ghosts across the threshold to the zone… but you being a halfa you can stay in the human realm and not have to worry as much about ectoplasm intake. It gives you a huge advantage.”

 With a final amused shake of his head, Morty went into army Sergeant mode. Like the flip of a switch, Danny was suddenly being worked over the proverbial coals. He wasn’t sure how long it took him to be able to summon and banish the scythe, but he was suddenly overly glad that there was only two things the reaper had wanted to work on.

 Once he had successfully done the summon and banish three times in a row they moved on to portaling. And this was where Danny felt the drain.

 He had to push his power into the blade to keep it rigid and allow himself to actually use the thing to cut. That alone was hard, but trying to force his power through the scythe to make the portal… after his third attempt, he was already almost ready to pass out.

 Push the power into the blade then past it, force it to burst out of the blade and reach into the human realm, then spin the energy around the blade to pull open the portal. He knew the concept Morty had drilled it into his skull by this point, but for the life of him…

 Danny panted leaning forward using his new weapon to hold himself up. He was almost ready to transform back…

 “Is that all you got?” Morty taunted. “If it is we’ll be here a lot longer. You’re not getting out of here unless you can portal out yourself. Do you have a clear destination in mind?” he asked again for the fifth time.

 “Yes, I do… I -I don’t think I have enough power.” Danny wheezed out.

 Morty shook his head. “You don’t, but your scythe does. You’re only supposed to use your power to supplement and direct that of your weapon. Now try again with that method.”

 Danny sighed and readied himself before standing up once more. With a deep breath, he readied himself and tried to talk with his scythe as weird as it sounded at first to his tired brain.

 “To Fenton works come on now… “ Danny urged. With a force of power from his weapon pulling from his own energy pool he swung his blade and sliced down. The curve went through space and sliced the fabric between dimensions open.

 With a triumphant cheer, Danny whooped out to his teacher. “You’ve done well kid. Now remember, to close it stick the butt of your weapon into the centre of the portal and give a small pulse of energy.” Morty said with a bright grin. “And I’ll see you next week.”

 With that, the Reaper ghost gave Danny a salute before opening a portal of his own and taking off to wherever it was he went when not on duty.

 Danny on the other hand eagerly flew through the portal, dispelled that, banished his scythe and B lined into bed practically collapsing onto the plush surface with a tired and sore groan. It didn’t take him long after that to fall asleep.  

 -.-.-.-

 It was dinner time when Danny woke up, or rather Jazz had brought up some leftovers to him after telling his parents that he was sick… Still, it was an easy win for him to sleep the day away and he’ll take any chance he can get for that.

 Jazz was easy to dissuade from pressuring him too much after he simply said ‘ghost problems’ she dropped it begrudgingly, and he was able to shoo her out of his room to eat his meal in relative peace.

 Or at least half of it since his ghost sense went off not too long into his meal.

 With an angered groan and a forlorn look to the mac and cheese loaf he had been enjoying, he transformed and headed out to knock some annoying ghost sideways… and for once he was almost hoping it would just be the box ghost.

 When a missile came flying towards him a few seconds later he knew that hope was dashed. Even more so when Skulker moved in himself to try to toss a weighted net at him.

 With a quick blast of his plasma the net was no more but the missile he’d dodged before rounded back on him, slamming into his back and launching him down to the ground.

 He pulled himself up with a groan and a small huff of annoyance escaped him when he saw an almost identical him shaped hole right beside the one he’d just pulled himself out from. “Well at least I’m consistent…” he muttered in annoyance, before launching back up towards Skulker.

 “I have you this time whelp!” The robotic hunter called out aiming a blast towards his prey.

 Danny threw up a shield before grinning to himself and summoning his new weapon. “I got something new for my death day and I wanna try it out!” Danny called. “Hope it gives me a new edge.” he offered quickly, swinging the blade around, doing his best to look cool, before pointing the business end of his scythe at Skulker.

 The self proclaimed Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter paused upon seeing the weapon. “That can not be real,” he scoffed out though the worry in his tone was clear as a crystal bell.

 “Like my new toy Skulky? I got myself a new upgrade!” Danny proclaimed channelling a bit of power to solidify the wispy blade into a solid and keen blade. With one two handed strike the thing struck true and sliced Skulker’s hand clean off as if it were butter.

 Skulker would be sweating if he were capable… as it were he could only stare at the halfa in dread and slight awe. “It’s real, isn’t it…” he gulped.

 “Very.” Came Danny’s amused reply as he decided to try something. Focusing hard on the area in the ghost zone just outside Walker’s prison Danny turned and stuck the air right beside Skulker. To the teen’s absolute delight a portal appeared in all it’s spinning glory. “It worked!” He chirped before kicking at Skulker to toss him through it.

 The bewildered robotic ghost hardly stood a chance and sailed through the portal with a yelp of dismay. To think the prey he’d been hunting all this time was a reaper!? It made him all the more valuable… Skulker reoriented himself before trying to zip back the way he’d come only for the portal to suddenly vanish leaving him stranded on this side.

 Danny meanwhile, was elated. This was going to make his job of protecting Amity a whole lot simpler. He wouldn’t need to worry if he forgot his thermos ever again! It was a good feeling. He swirled his scythe around like the leader of a marching band with far too much flare, simply enjoying how natural the weapon felt to him.

 His exceptional high feeling was cut short however when Valerie’s voice hit his ears. “What… What was that?”

 Danny squawked, he didn’t even hear her coming up behind him! He clutched the scythe to his chest, the blade’s wispy form flickering along with his ghostly tail and aura. “What?” Danny blinked stupidly.

 Ever since Danielle Danny had shared a shaky alliance with the huntress, though it was more of a stay out of my way and I won’t shoot directly at you, sort of thing. Still, any sort of relief from attacks, he’ll take.

 “That scythe… it’s new.” Valerie commented suspiciously.

 “Oh, Yeah! I’m three now so I got a cool toy! Apparently, I’m a reaper ghost. Neat huh?” Danny grinned doing his best to keep up his playful hero persona.  He spun his weapon around a few times before vanishing the thing and taking a bow.

 “A reaper?” Valerie asked carefully, floating a little bit further back from the male now.

 “Yep!” Danny exclaimed popping the P and straightening back up to properly face Valerie. “Oh! But I’m a reaper for ghosts, not one for humans,” Phantom added placatingly, hands up in a hopefully soothing manner. “You can still touch me it’s fine!” he added barely making out the frown behind the face shield the huntress wore.

 Valerie grimaced further at that. “I’d really rather not.”

 “No seriously, it’s fine. Come here! Let’s hug it out!” Danny called arms open wide and a shit eating grin in place.

 Valerie called out a curse to him and fired a volley of blasts forcing the halfa to dodge and fly back. “Try that again and I’ll put a hole through your head.” she hissed.

 Danny’s grin never faltered and instead simply used his bodily manipulation powers to do just that. While Valerie shuddered Danny tried again for the hug arms wide.

 “Ugh, you're impossible.” She grumbled, firing a blast with pinpoint accuracy through the hole he’d made in his face.

 “Come on Val~ That’s not nice.” Danny teased smiling brightly, only to yelp and zip off when she brought out her thermos threateningly.

 The citizens of Amity park that night were witness to an hour’s long game of cat and mouse, as the Red Huntress chased the elusive Phantom about. Though if asked about it later Phantom would insist it was all in good fun. Even if the burn on his backside begged to argue otherwise…

 And as Phantom learned more and more from the reaper ghosts, he became a better and more efficient hero to the people of Amity.

 The approval ratings going up felt nice too.

 -.-.-.-.-

 Complete:

 Total word count: 4291

#Phic Phight 2020 #Danny Phantom #phic Phight #danny #Skulker #a reaper #mistery #maybe a tad of humor

[catsafarithewriter]

“I want to say it was worth it. For a while, it was.” I think it’s cute of how Haru is now grown from a girl who couldn’t dance with Baron from a girl who could fight and make remarks better than baron. I just imagine how Haru is either in a situation where she dances with Baron for both of them to get out of a dangerous situation and both get carried away with the dancing cause it reminds them of their first dance. Sorry I just love fluffs and Haru is just so amazing in your stories.

A/N: I’ll be honest, the line itself is so beautifully tragic that using it for fluff stumped me for a good while, until I eventually remembered the music box scene out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang that I loved as a child, so I’m stealing that concept for this. 

Also, this is set in a timeline when Haru and Baron have finished dancing around each other (metaphorically) and are adorable together. 

x

The plan had been simple. 

The plan had been simple and flawless and brilliant and definitely hadn’t involved Baron getting kidnapped by a mechanically-obsessed monarch. 

The execution of aforementioned plan... had left some things to be desired. 

“Hey, Chicky, I really don’t think this suits me...”

Haru tugged the rough tweed jacket around Muta’s broad shoulders and slapped the flat cap between his ears. “Yes, well you should have thought of that before you let Baron get kidnapped by a crazy king.” She paused, recalling her own first encounter with the Bureau, and snorted. “Not that the Bureau has a stellar record when it comes to that.”

“The birdbrain also lost him, and he’s on escape duty.”

“Toto’s on escape duty because he’s very, very good at it.” She finished fiddling with the cap. “So unless you want to be dancing instead, you’re filling the role of toy-maker extraordinaire. Honestly, Muta, it doesn’t look that bad.”

“I look like I should be yodelling from the nearest mountain.”

Haru snorted and gestured loosely to her own outfit - a white blouse layered over by a blue pinafore, with a yellow apron tied around the waist. “All I need is a shepherd’s crook, and I’d be ready to join you. Now, help me up into this box before I chicken out.”

Muta did so, and he didn’t miss the way Haru tensed as she stepped up. “Yer gonna be okay in there, Chicky?”

“Fine. Dandy. I’m just getting boxed up like some sort of twisted Christmas present so we can sneak into the palace for this royal celebration, then I’m going to have to dance like a wind up music box, and hope nobody spots the fact that I’m very much not a wind up music box until we get Baron back, and then escape without the kind of mishap that we are oh so well known for.�� She grinned, far too brightly, at Muta. “I don’t know why you’d think I’d be worried.” 

He raised an eyebrow. 

“Just... be careful wheeling me up to the palace.”

“Gotcha. Run over every pothole and speed-bump I find, roger that.”

Haru laughed and bunched up her skirts. “Thanks, Muta.” Somewhere, a clock tower began to boom. “Alright, it’s time. Box me up.”

x

Baron had been mistaken for many things in his long lifetime. Some more flattering than others - there had been at least once incident where a Bible had been thrown at him - but being mistaken for a mechanical toy was fairly unusual, even for him. 

He sat in the seat he’d been assigned, head drooped, shoulders gently slumped, and hands tucked neatly on his lap, and tried, for all the world, to look like a clockwork creature wound down. At first, he had tried to convince the king that he was no mechanical toy, but a living, breathing individual, but that had only incited the monarch’s greed more and he had proclaimed the ‘unique, unrivalled design’ of the newest addition to his collection for all to hear. 

Somehow, Baron had suspected that if the king learnt of Creations, he would  just become an even more valued part of the collection.

So he had decided to play along. Eventually, the king’s interest would wane and he would be able to escape while attention was grabbed by the next new toy. Especially since he had feigned ‘winding down;’ sinking into a seat and refusing to move, and nobody had been able to work out how to wind him back up again. 

Even so, the king had still seated him along the royal table, like a prized pet for display, and it seemed escape would have to delay a little longer. 

He kept his eyes dulled, his breathing shallow, and wondered how long this farce was going to go on for. He listened as three of the entertainers’ acts were deemed unsatisfactory by the king and his short attention span - citing each one as nowhere near as impressive as the mechanical figure beside him - and sent packing. 

“Whoever’s next better make it good!” the king roared, and Baron nearly smirked, reminded of another monarch with a very similar outcry. Now, if he wasn’t the one captured, this would have been the perfect time for a dramatic entrance-

“Your Majesty, I can make the toy dance.” 

It took everything in Baron to not immediately look up at Muta. 

“Impossible,” the king grunted. “My finest toy-makers have examined the toy and have produced nothing-”

Surprisingly quick for one of his girth - at least to those who didn’t know him - Muta made his way around the royal table and set to examining the ‘toy’. Baron felt his head tilted back, and was treated to the unexpected image of Muta in a tweed suit and flat cap. He felt his eye twitch at the attempt not to laugh. 

He suspected Muta saw it regardless, for he was dropped back to his original position rather harshly. “Yeah, see this is part of a set, so once it’s wound down, it ain’t gonna work again until it’s reunited with its partner.”

‘What are you playing at?’ Baron wondered. His head dropped down, he could only listen as Muta paraded back across the room to what Baron had briefly glimpsed as a large red box. 

“And you have found this partner?” the king asked, his scepticism only outweighed by his hope.

“Course I have. I made ‘em both.” There was the sound of Muta opening something, followed by awed muttering from the royal guests. Baron caught a few strains of “well, they don’t look the same,” from a couple of onlookers, and dearly wished Muta had left his head at a more convenient tilt.

“So how does this work?” the king asked. “Do you have to wind them both up or...?”

“Nah, it’s... uh, wireless winding,” Muta bluffed.”Look, just wait and see.” 

Baron wondered whether that was Muta-speak for: no idea how this is going to pan out, so let’s not make any promises. All the same, he could have done with a better indication of what Muta had planned. As things went, he could only listen as there was a mechanical whirring, and then a strain of music box melody. A few delighted gasps. 

He raised his head and saw Haru. 

She was poised on a red stand, the interior of the box opened out into a trifold mirror that reflected back on her still form. As the music fell into a familiar tune, her head snapped up. It ticked from side to side in time with the music, searching, searching, until her eyes settled on him.

Then, with precise movements, she stepped down from the box and made her clockwork way to the royal table. Her path wasn’t direct - the steps were that of a waltz, a shifting box step - but there was little surprise in him when she halted before him. A single sure hand rested between them.

“Would you care to dance?” her eyes asked.

Mechanical toys did not smile, he reminded himself as he took the hand.

Still, he knew his eyes replied, “Always.”

Around the table he was led and he found himself surprised when Haru’s eyes were level with his. He shouldn’t have been, he noted; they had adventured much together in the ensuing years and she had not grown since her return to the Bureau, and yet... 

His mind went, unbidden, to a dance under similar circumstances a good decade ago, only he had been the rescuer and she the rescued then. How the tables had turned. How things had changed as, with a confidence that had only been a foundation all that time ago, she guided his hand to her waist and laid her own on his shoulder. She leant in.

“I suppose this makes you the damsel in distress then, huh?” she breathed, a teasing smile ghosting her lips. 

“I could get used to it with such a fetching knight in shining armour,” he returned. 

“Oh shush. If I blush, I’ll blow my cover.”

With a flick of his wrist, she spun, her skirts swaying and her steps sure, and when she was swept back into his arms, it was not awe, but calculations that lit her eyes. Her gaze slid past him and across the room. 

“I take it you have a plan?” he asked, drawing her close to hide the telltale flicker of lips. 

“Of course I do. Unlike some, I don’t rush in without an exit strategy.”

“You did, however, stop for a costume change.”

He heard the quick intake of breath, a laugh smothered. “I needed to look the part, and combat boots and trench coat don’t exactly match the music box aesthetic.”

“It looks lovely on you.”

“I want to say it was worth it. For a while, it was.” She wiggled her eyebrows, their faces so close that no onlookers would catch the discrepancy. “But this dress has like a hundred layers to shape it properly and I’m melting like a snowball in summer right now. Be glad I love you enough to suffer through this.”

“Be careful, Haru; keep proclaiming your love for me and I’ll have no choice but to kiss you and that’ll definitely blow your cover.”

“Oh, just shut up and dance with me.” She twirled away as if to remove the temptation, but when she settled back into his arms they were closer than ever. “Kiss me when this is all over and I’m not melting into a puddle.”

“Is that a request?”

“It’s a promise.”

Somewhere along the way they had both forgone their mechanical deceit and their movements had smoothed into an intimate duet that sent Haru spinning again, head tilting back in unshed laughter that nearly broke through as she was gathered back into his arms and dipped. 

“That wasn’t part of the dance I remember, Mr Gikkingen,” she admonished. Her hair, which had been so carefully pinned back into a doll’s bob, had now begun to lose its way, and wayward strands curled about her face. 

“Things change,” Baron whispered back, and he resisted the urge to tuck her hair away. 

Another sudden breath, another laugh hidden away, and Haru dropped her head back, knowing full well that if she stared into those emerald green eyes any longer she was definitely going to do something to give the game away. She let her gaze drift across the grand hall, across the king and his royal entourage, across the amassed guests, across Muta furiously gesturing--

“Shoot,” Haru muttered. She shifted her weight, signalling to Baron to pull her out of the recklessly romantic dip. “Okay, I think we’ve just been rumbled.”

“Why?”

“The music box ran down a good thirty seconds ago.”

 The king slammed to his feet with a sound like a gunshot. “You’re not a toy! Guards, seize her!”

“Ah,” Baron said. “Would now be a good time for your exit strategy?”

“Yeah. Run.”  

#Anon #the cat returns #replies #I felt like some fluff is needed after TBF #also effs sake it keeps effing up the keep reading line #i'm so sorry fokls #excuse me vvhile i go beat up tumblr #everything said and done though that was an adorable prompt to get #also i now have both 'truly scrumptious' and 'doll on a music box' stuck in my head #lowkey slain by the understated romance of Potts singing about how much he loves Truly while he's meant to be on rescue duty #like that's just meant to be their disguises #ya didn't have to go so hard with the romance #and yet here we are #the cat queues #cat writes