#a wild fic appeared

[veliseraptor]

All's Fair | Kinnporsche

Summary:

Vegas has killed a fair number of people. Vegas gets in a spot of trouble with someone upset about one of them.

Notes:

I thought this was for a Whumptober prompt some time ago, but perhaps not - I guess this one just emerged from my brain on its own. Thank you very much to the usual suspect (@ameliarating) for her hard beta-ing work, and to Vegas and Pete for continuing to make me insane about them both.

#this one's self-indulgent in a number of ways #but it was fun #even if i'm vaguely embarrassed! but o well #kinnporsche #vegaspete #vegas theerapanyakul #pete saengtham #a wild fic appeared

[theminecraftbee]

Joe isn't looking at them, Cleo realizes. He's not looking at them, and not paying attention, which is concerning, since they're talking about Halloween decorations, and that's one of Joe's favorite things, and also about the bloody aftermath of the social game they'd just played, and that's another one of Joe's favorite things. But no--he's standing just outside of the Clocktower Village, and he's nodding along in the right places, but he's not looking at them.

They frown and tries to figure out where he's looking. His hands, mostly.

They stop talking. They take a breath. "Joe?"

"Yes, Cleo?" Joe says.

"You aren't paying attention," they say.

"I would never not pay attention to your wonderful words," Joe says.

"What were we talking about?"

"Well, blood and mayhem, mostly."

"...that's on me. I made that too easy," Cleo says. "But, Joe, if something's wrong, you can say so."

Joe is quiet.

"Or you can, like, not say anything?" they say. "I won't make you. Just, you also don't have to pretend to pay attention to me."

"Right, my bad. I'll pretend to ignore you instead."

"That's the spirit."

"Did you know I noticed the moon get big on Halloween?"

Cleo doesn't know how to respond, so they don't. They don't mean to look away from Joe, because that's rude, when he's saying something so important, but they do, a little bit, glancing up for a moment at the moon. It's large and nearly full, but there's a sliver waning away. The full moon, if they remember right, was a few days ago. They don't know why they felt like they needed to check.

"I noticed the moon get big on Halloween," Joe says again. "I mean, I didn't really. I just thought it was cool we had such a big full moon for Halloween. It made everything so much spookier, you know? It was only a little bit bigger, then. I didn't realize until later it had been getting bigger for--at least a week? Probably at least two? It grew so slowly then."

"I didn't know that," Cleo says.

"Well, I didn't say anything," Joe says. "I probably should have said something. I don't know. It's just--it's been two years now? It's been two years, and no one talks about it. I mean, sometimes in December, I guess, and at the start of the season we talked about it a little bit, but no one--I have a place in my base I'm already keeping everything important, and you and Cub have museums, and I keep on thinking that the museums are good, because if we were all gone tomorrow, and someone had to come pull something out of the rubble--is it stupid? Did it happen? Cleo, sometimes I feel like I'm crazy. No one talks about it. Maybe we shouldn't talk about it? Maybe it didn't matter? We're all fine now, we're all here, it didn't happen again, it's been two years since I had to miss you. And I love Halloween, and I noticed the moon get big on Halloween then, but it probably won't again, I mean, it was a freak thing, and, I just--does it even--did it matter, was it really bad, was it--"

He stops because Cleo's grabbed his hands, gently. They lower themselves down so they are looking Joe directly in the eyes.

"It was real. It mattered. It was bad," Cleo says.

Joe swallows and stares them in the eyes.

"I will never do that again," Cleo says.

"I won't make you promise that," Joe says. "I don't want to make you promise that."

"Okay. But it was bad. It mattered. It was bad," Cleo says.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

They stare at each other a little longer, and then slowly, Joe removes one of his hands from hers and looks back up at the sky.

"It's a waning gibbous," he says.

"That's what that's called?" Cleo says.

"Yeah," Joe says.

"Huh," Cleo says. "Sort of a boring name for a moon phase to have killed each other under, really."

Joe laughs. "You've got a point there. Not the most dramatic of moons, the waning gibbous."

"No, I can say that's not the most dramatic of moons at all," Cleo agrees, and then they are both silent for some time as they continue walking back towards Hermitcraft proper.

#hermitcraft #joe hills #zombiecleo #a bee fic #DID YOU KNOW ITS BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE THE BIG MOON STARTED APPEARING IN VIDOES #DID YOU KNOW. #I KNOW THAT! WILD. #moon's big #also this is inspired by a piece of gf fanart that rewired my brain a little bit

[penny00dreadful]

Okay, okay, okay listen.

Remember when we were all obsessed with Steddie Legally Blonde a while back? Yes, I’m still thinking about it, leave me alone. And I adore everything I’ve read. It’s all so fantastic.

But I had a thought because what if we switched it up a little? I’m going mainly off of the musical here, so bear with. 

So what if instead of having Steddie as Elle and Emmett, we instead have them as Paulette and UPS Guy/Kyle??? Like??? It fits, right???

But then, but THEN who do we have as Elle/Emmett?

Buckingham.

No, but just think of it! 

Or I guess you don’t really need to because I’ve thought of it enough for all of us and it goes like this:

(OMG you guys I blacked out and when I woke up this thing was 3.1k long written over a few hours. I haven't edited this at all so please be gentle about typos/tense changes etc. The fever just took me.)

Chrissy is your quintessential girly girl. She is Elle Woods. She’s blonde, pretty, cheerleader, very feminine and happy where she is in life, President of her Sorority with her besties by her side and her guy who is… well he’s as good as any guy could be, right?

Jason is handsome, rich, well connected, he treats her with affection and he humours her when she has some pretty wild, out there ideas. 

But then it happens and they break up because apparently having a girly girl for a wife just wouldn’t look good if he’s gonna live his life the way he wants to. Lawyer, his own practice, running for office. 

Apparently her blonde hair and boobs would hold him back which, what the fuck??? 

What does that have to do with anything?

They love each other, right? That surface stuff isn’t supposed to matter. At all! They’re supposed to be together no matter what because they… they love each other?

Well fuck that noise, no one tells Chrissy Cunningham she’s too fucking blonde to do anything which is a hypocritical ass thing to say because has Jason looked in the fucking mirror recently?

Different fucking rules, apaprently. 

Well, no more.

She’s gonna fuck up law school right along side him and she’s gonna wear fucking pink while doing it too!

And like, everything is going fine. 

Chrissy’s not stupid, she knows how she’s perceived by people before they get to know her. 

Vapid, bimbo, perky, blonde.

Like that’s an insult.

It’s just harder now that she’s away from her girls, gays and theys back home. And everyone here seems to think that the best way to live their lives is to look boring as shit while doing it along with tearing each other down.

She fucking hates it, but she’s determined to see it through. 

It helps that she seems to have found the one person on the whole of the fucking east coast who actually listens to what’s coming out of her mouth rather than just paying attention to the hair on her head or staring at her tits.

Robin is so strange.

She’s different in such a refreshing way, it’s like being able to breathe clean air for the first time in years.

And she’s fucking sharp. And sweet. And so, so comforting. 

Chrissy would have never managed to survive the depression of those first few weeks without her.

And like, she’s not ignorant to the fact that Robin sometimes does look at her boobs but at the same time it just feels different coming from a woman than it does a man. It doesn’t feel so objectifying.

Instead of putting Chrissy on edge it makes her feel a little smug. A little proud of herself, it makes her feel attractive and desired in a way she hasn’t felt in a very long time. 

Is that sexist? To prefer the attentions of a woman over a man when both do it just fine for her?

Chrissy’s not exactly sure, but she knows she enjoys it when it’s coming from Robin.

So maybe it’s a Robin thing. 

Chrissy honestly thinks things are looking up for her. 

Until Jason introduces Nicole. 

His fucking fiancee???

It’s been, like, four months since they broke up.

Nicole hates her guts, she can tell. She thinks she’s some two braincelled idiot who got into Harvard on daddy’s dime and needs to be babied through the simplest of tasks while not understanding how condescending everyone’s been the whole time.

Chrissy fucking understands. She’s been through it all before, but back then she had people by her side. It’s all so fucking childish. The world already hates women enough, Chrissy desperately doesn’t want to be at another womans throat, over a man no less, but Nicole doesn’t seem to feel the same way.

She’s ambitious and cut-throat and dedicated and a little bit terrifying. 

Apart from Robin, she’s on her fucking own out here.

And she needs something. 

Something of home to bring some light back into her life.

So she gets in her car and just drives around the streets hoping something will catch her eye. 

And it does. 

Some tiny little hole in the wall salon with a pride flag out the front that she’s immediately drawn to because god damn it she misses her friends. The girls, the gays, the theys.

As soon as she pulls over she feels both simultaneously like she’s come home and she definitely won’t fit in here, but she’s so emotionally raw at this stage it all kinda ends up converging on her and now she’s standing in front of a mostly empty salon and there’s a guy looking at her and she’s just fucking crying.

Through her blurry vision she can see the guy approaching and she really fucking hopes this isn’t gonna turn into a thing because she just does not have any spoons left to deal with some creep right now. 

But he seems to sense how he’s coming off because he becomes a little more effeminate from one step to the next.

“You okay, honey?” He asks, big brown eyes wide with concern and a hand covered in rings hovering over her shoulder, not touching. He has a cigarette in the other hand, held away to keep the smoke from reaching her, his arms covered in ink but Chrissy wants nothing more than a cigarette right now.

Or, that’s kind of a lie, but she’d love one in all honesty. She hasn’t smoked in so long. 

The guy spots her eyeing it, sticking the cigarette back between his plush lips and needing to use both hands to pull his carton from his pants considering they’re so tight.

“Bad day?” He hands her one and Chrissy ends up breaking down all over again.

She tells him that it hasn’t just been a bad day, but a bad half a year, really. She tells him all about Harvard and Jason and her professors and Robin and by the end of her ranting they’re sitting back in the breakroom of the salon. They guy’s name is Eddie, she learns and despite his mean and scary exterior Chrissy thinks he might be the gentles person she’s met in this whole god forsaken city.

He holds her hands between his and listens to her. Actually hears her talk and pays attention and is concerned and attentive and she loves him for it. 

He helps her find her confidence again, at least for the rest of the day. They commiserate about how they both stick out like sore thumbs in their communities and how people need to just kinda get over it.

He encourages her not to let the normies win, do go hang out with Robin, to go kick ass and she’s just wondering how on earth she can ever repay the favour when they hear

“Knock, knock.” 

Coming from the front of the salon.

Eddie’s whole face drains of colour before immediately turning red and he bolts up from his chair, stumbling out of the staffroom and moving back behind the receptionists desk.

Chrissy gets to watch in real time as all of Eddie’s incredible confidence and easy lightheartedness disappears into a vat of nerves mostly hidden by cheeky flirtation as he twirls a lock of hair around his finger and bats his eyelashes at the Hot UPS Guy who looks equally as charmed. 

When the guy, Steve, has to get back to his route, Eddie practically melts against the desk as soon as he’s out of sight. 

“Looks like I’m not the only one who needs help.”

Eddie rolls his eyes at her but smiles anyway. “I had that handled just fine.”

Over the next few months, she and Eddie get closer, Eddie and Steve stay exactly where they were that first day and she and Robin are quickly approaching best friends level.

But Chrissy is starting to come to terms with the fact that maybe she wants a little more than to be best girly-girl friends with Robin and maybe she wants to stick her tongue down her throat about it. 

The two of them are practically attached at the hip, spending all day at classes together, alternating between their respective rooms to study late into the night, ending up in the same bed together and waking up together in the morning. 

Chrissy is almost, completely, entirely sure that this is all very not platonic but it’s so difficult to tell.

She’d be constantly sleeping over with her friends back home, hugging, kisses on cheeks, cuddling in bed or when watching movies, just girly things.

But this feels different. Is it different?? Or is this just how Robin is with all her female friends, the same way it’s always been how Chrissy was with her friends back home. How can she tell if it’s going from platonic to romantic??

And all of that needs to go on the backburner anyway because they’re being put on a real life, for realsies you guys case. And if they fuck up this case they could be at fault for someone spending the rest of their fucking life in prison for something they didn’t do??

Unacceptable.

And after Chrissy finds out their client used to be on the same cheer team as her? It was all over. No way was she gonna let her go to prison just because everyone thinks a pretty young woman couldn’t possibly love someone a little older than her. 

Not on Chrissy’s watch. 

But first she has to deal with Robin’s wardrobe because they professor is insistent that all the women wear skirts and tights and Robin is not having it.

Neither is Chrissy to be fair, so she takes Robin out to the most lavish place she can, decks them both out in the fiercest looking pantsuits they can get their hands on, refusing to back down.

It comes as a surprise to both of them when Nicole stands with them in solidarity as well and now their professor is both outnumbered and losing his arguments with only Jason on his side about this and they fucking win.

It’s only a small win but it still feels fantastic. 

Riding her high of winning that small fight, she bursts into the salon and informs Eddie that he is going to either kiss or ask out Steve the next time he sees him and when Eddie reacts like she just said she was going to shave all of his hair off she refuses to hear it. 

Because the thing is Eddie is pretty, really pretty and she knows that Steve knows it, but she doesn’t think that Eddie himself is really aware of it. And despite his prettiness, he’s all awkward elbows and knees. 

So she gives him some tips and shows him how to highlight certain things about himself, the long legs, the tattooed arms, the hip bones. Even his cute little bum. She teaches him how to subtly pull at his clothes in conversation so some skin is exposed or his tiny little waist is highlighted. She teaches him how to use his eyes to go in for the kill.

He doesn’t seem to think it’ll work but she is almost certain it will. 

And it’s confirmed for her when she gets a call later that night from Eddie who sounds fucking over the moon and completely bewildered by the fact that Steve likes him back??? Has done for months?? And they had some incredible dirty nasty sex in the salon after it closed for the night and how they’re going to the movies tomorrow??

Eddie swears he’s gonna send her the biggest fuck off fruit basket he can find. 

Everything is looking up for her, especially after she has such a major win in court, figuring out one of the prosecutors witnesses had perjured himself on the stand (without outing him to the whole damn court, thankfully).

Or at least everything was looking up for her until she found herself alone in a room with her professor and she felt the energy in the room shift before it happened. 

His hands were on her before she could do anything about it and she cracked him across the face for it before she could even think about what this could do to her legal career going forward. 

Because that was the reality of it, wasn’t it? 

Either allow herself to get assaulted or destroy her career before it even started. 

She didn’t know when her priority had shifted from getting Jason back to actually pursuing this as a future career. But she had found to her own surprise she loved it. She adored it actually. 

And now…

Now it would all be gone. 

Jason had seen, of course he had and he was less than kind about it because apparently it made more sense that she had fucked her way into Harvard than had actually been smart enough to get there on her own. 

She couldn’t stomach anything Nicole could possibly have to say to her but if the way she was glaring at Jason with barely concealed rage after that comment was anything to go by, Chrissy didn’t need to worry too much about that.

She just wanted to go. To get out. She needed to get out. And she would have gotten away scott free if Robin hadn’t been hanging around waiting for her.

Robin’s face broke into a bright smile but that quickly slipped away when she saw the state Chrissy was in. She was all sweet concern and care and affection but Chrissy couldn’t fucking deal with it at that moment, she couldn’t face her.

She couldn’t face Robin who would find out what a fool of herself she’d made believing in Chrissy, when Chrissy had thrown all of their hard work away.

Because no one would ever fucking see her as a person. She was just a piece of ass.

So she ran.

She didn’t even realise where she was running to until she was standing outside the salon doors again. 

It was late, they were closed, of course they were, why was she here?

She was standing outside the door crying again like she had been the first time and it was all just so fucking stupid-

“Chrissycakes?”

She was enveloped in Eddie’s arms before she could even blink, being ushered inside and steered back to the staffroom, same as that first time. 

There were beer bottles and take out containers over the table and Steve sitting at the table and oh, she’d interrupted something hadn’t she? 

What a fucking way to officially meet one of her best friends new boyfriend right?

But they were so sweet. 

They sat and listened while she spilled the whole thing, offering at different points to hunt down her professor for her or slash his tires or lose all of his mail or whatever and she was forced to giggle through the tears.

But she shook her head in the end. She was tired. She was sick of having to defend herself constantly. 

She needed… she needed to go back to where she belonged. 

And she was about to. 

She was about to leave the salon, swear to keep in contact with Eddie because god damn it she loved him now and she was ready to run.

But then there was a hammering at the door and Chrissy poked her head out to see Nicole standing there looking like she was on a fucking crusade. 

And… was that…?

Robin was standing behind her, looking like she was just trying not to get in Nicole’s way.

Eddie grumbled to himself about changing the damn salons opening hours if this was to continue but he unlocked the door anyway.

Nicole burst in all fire and determination, shoving her finger directly in Chrissy’s face.

“I hated you. But god fucking damn it if you didn’t prove to me that this is the career you belong in. And I refuse to stand by and see an admirable woman of your smarts and calibre get run over by some small dicked professor with a receding hairline. You’re so much more than that. So c’mon. We’re breaking through that fucking glass ceiling if it kills us.”

Holy shit.

Robin pulled her into a tight hug, warm and comforting and a little too long to be platonic, running a hand through her hair. 

“We’ll do whatever you’re comfortable with Chris, but… you deserve to be in that courtroom.” She muttered into her ear and Chrissy could do nothing but nod into Robin’s neck.

She heard Eddie sigh behind her. “Okay if we’re doing this then… I need to make a few calls.”

A few days later Chrissy made her triumphant return to the courtroom. Everyone was there to support her. Eddie, Steve, her besties from back home that Eddie had called, telling them it was a friend emergency and so of course they all came right away along with Robin and Nicole bracketing her on each side. 

And while she could tell the court wasn’t taking her rants on hair care very seriously, when she finally came out with the verbal crackdown, proving the witness was actually the murderer, the gasps from the gallery were enough to feed her for years to come. 

When all was said and done at the celebration later that night, she found herself being approached by Jason.

He told her it was a mistake to let her go, to discard her the way he had and she agreed that yes it was. But his mistakes weren’t her problem anymore. And from the look of it they weren’t Nicole’s problem either. 

Jason surprisingly took it well enough, mentioning that he never really felt the same passion for law that she so clearly possessed. 

She wished him luck with finding what he wanted to do.

But now.

Now she needed to find Robin. 

Chrissy couldn’t take it anymore.

So weaving through the people around her, she grabbed at Robin’s hand, dragging her away from Steve who she had become inseparable with and pushing her into the hallway.

Robin didn’t even have a chance to ask what was happening before Chrissy was on her, pressing her into a wall, holding her close with her hands on either side of her face, kissing her with so much longing and elation and joy and happiness that when she pulled away Robin looked completely dazed. 

Robin blinked slowly a few times before her face broke into a wide grin. 

“Me too.”

#buckingham #robin buckley #chrissy cunningham #robin x chrissy #buckingham fic #legally blonde au #buckingham legally blonde au #chrissy x robin #steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #penny00dreadful #i dont know what happened #it just appeared #wild huh?

[silverwhittlingknife]

tfw you're on a cruise in the atlantic with your dad and kinda-sorta-brother and everything's fine except for all the VERY RECENT TRAUMA

#i did it! i posted it! a wild fic appeared!!!!! #my fic #THANK YOU TITLE SUGGESTERS ILU <3333 #i rewrote the end and realized i had totally different Arc Words than the ones i gave you #but on the bright side i now know more good songs and poetry :D #dick grayson #tim drake #dick & tim

[serasfanfiction]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

The next few days were peaceful. The kind of peaceful Lucifer hadn't experienced since the Hotel was in the process of being rebuilt. He hadn't realized how much stress Alastor was causing him until he backed off.

Lucifer might even have gotten a full nights sleep last night! That hadn't happened in an especially long time!

(He wasn't thinking about the fact that his sleep had been haunted by the caress of teeth along his neck or glimpses of red, red sated eyes.)

The images threatened to steal his attention, even as he tried to bury them down with all the other things he was refusing to think about at this point. He forced himself to pay attention, tuning in as Charlie said, excitedly, "She's already spending half her time here! It's really only a matter of time before she agrees to join us full time!"

The campaign to get Cherri Bomb to join the Hazbin Hotel had been having mixed results since the fight with Adam and her participating in the rebuilding. She was clearly here mostly for Angel, but it seemed that the other denizens of the hotel were growing on her. Charlie was correct in that the cyclops spent just as much time at the hotel as she did were ever else she landed when she wasn't with them. She even had a room of her own, even if she didn't officially claim it. It definitely helped it was right next door to her best friend.

Lucifer patted her shoulder. "She'll come around in her own time. Remember, for this to work, they have to actually want it."

Charlie placed her hand over her father's, biting her lip and near bursting with excitement. "I know, but it just feels like we're so close! It'll be so great when she agrees."

"Yes, but in the meantime, we'll just continue to make her feel welcome." He smiled at her proudly. "Which you're already doing so well at!"

Charlie's returned the smile, pleased with his feedback.

The moment, like so often when one lives in Hell, was suddenly and abruptly interrupted by the entire building shaking.

Angel appeared on the landing of the second floor, the one that overlooked the main entrance and foyer. "What the hell? We haven't had any shady guests lately, have we?"

Alastor stepped out of the shadows near the entrance, a loud boom ringing out as something large and heavy hit the door.

Lucifer was suddenly glad he had reinforced the structure. It wasn't impossible that someone could break in through brute force, especially if someone was extremely determined, but the sheer effort would give the hotel guests ample time to mount a defense.

Loud shouting came from outside, words unintelligible through the thickness of it. Alastor ignored the hostile aura premating from outside as if he couldn't even feel it, throwing open the door.

"Oh my, you are quite annoying," he greeted the group at their door. The two fellas up front, stooges and the muscle by the look of them, were holding a large battering ram. Alastor eyed it distastefully. "Whatever business could you have with us that is worth all this racket?"

A nervous looking demon cleared his throat, unwisely drawing the Radio Demon's full attention. "We." He swallowed, complexion growing paler the longer Alastor stared at him. In a rush, he stated, "We were sent here to send a message!"

The radio host tilted his head to the side. "Message?"

The group glanced at each other, clearly psyching themselves up. Nodding, the 'leader' proclaimed, "Yeah, 'give up this shitty mission, or else.'"

"Or else what?"

The group collectively drew their weapons, an assortment of guns and knives. "Or else we're going to have to use force."

The widening of Alastor's grin should have been a warning. Lucifer would have felt bad for the little idiots for not seeing the flaming pile of shit they had just stepped in, but they were in the process of threatening his daughter and that was just a big no go for him.

"Oh, you really don't want to do that." Lucifer came up to stand beside Alastor, hands coming up in a shooing motion. "Like, seriously. Go back to whoever sent you and tell them they don't get a second warning."

The leader blinked down at him. He must have been new to Hell, because he asked, "And who are you?"

"Oh, little ol' me?" Lucifer's wings and horns appeared in all their full glory. "I'm the Devil, bitches."

The group barely had time to do little more than gape before they were sent tumbling arse over head from a powerful gust of wind, curtesy of the before mentioned wings. Fully prepared to rough them up a little before sending them on their way, Lucifer stepped out of the hotel.

Only to be halted by something wrapping around his waist. He glanced down at what appeared to be a shadow about the thickness of a vine. Now, where had that come from?

"Now, now, your Majesty, that won't do."

Ah, yes. Of course, it was one of Alastor's shadow tentacle things.

"Oi! Put me down!" The blond protested as he was picked up and then deposited on one of the second floor balconies.

Alastor didn't bother looking back at him. His tone was that of a parent talking to a particularly petulant child as he ordered, "Why don't you stay up there for a bit? There's really no need for you to get involved."

Lucifer had half a mind to take not just the goons out, but Alastor as well, but ultimately decided to let the Radio Demon have his fun. Besides, he was looking a little peckish lately. "Just leave one alive so they can tell their boss to back off!"

Down below, Charlie chimed in with, "Or we could leave all of them alive?"

Alastor near cackled as he grew in size, the invaders suddenly realizing they were in serious danger and attempting to make a run for it. Shadow creatures began to rise out of the ground, breaking off their get away. "Nonesense!" Alastor disagreed cheerfully. "Everyone mysteriously disappearing is a much more delicious way of keeping people on their feet!"

Lucifer rolled his eyes. Oh, he bet it was 'delicious.'

A noise behind him drew his attention. Lucifer looked over his shoulder, finding himself eye to eye with a wolf demon he'd never seen a day in his life. Especially not one that had no business sneaking into the hotel with a knife he was clearly intending to use.

They started at each other for a long moment. The guy must have been an idiot, because he apparently decided he wanted to take his chances and attempt to stab the King of Hell himself.

Lucifer reached up, fully intending to catch the blade. Under normal circumstances, weapons made in Hell couldn't hurt him and would have just shattered on contact.

But this blade wasn't just an ordinary blade made it Hell. Lucifer realized it must have been made from Angelic Steel when the knife cut straight through his hand like a hot knife through butter. He winced, despite himself. Somehow, he'd forgotten how much that could hurt.

The wolf demon made the mistake of not pressing his advantage, seeming to think that the pain of something as simple as a knife through the hand would be enough to make the first being to ever lead a rebellion against a real army to pause. Oh no, all it did was infuriate him.

Lucifer pressed his hand down the knife further, allowing him to take hold of the hilt. The demon's grip went slack with shock, allowing the blond to wretch it out of his hand. With his good hand, Lucifer yanked the offensive object out, carelessly tossing it onto one of the other neighboring balconies, where it would be of little use during this battle and could be retrieved later. "Oh, that was a very poor decision." Giving no quarter, he darted forward to wrap his hand around the demon's throat, wings flapping to give him the hieght to do so. "Tell me why you're up here, before I decide to be rid of you regardless."

The wolf grunted, hands clawing uselessly at his arm. He managed to choke out, "Like we said: we're just here to send a message."

Lucifer looked down at where Alastor was rounding up the last couple of stragglers, tossing a third into his mouth. The little nervous demon from before appeared to have peed himself from fright. The seraphim turned back to his captive. Something told him that those boo zoos were a mere distraction and this was the real leader of the group. Shaking him a little, Lucifer demanded, "Who sent you?"

A sneer came in response. "We're just for hire. We get a call and we do the job, no questions asked."

Lucifer realized he wasn't going to get anything of use out of this guy. And since he was likely the only real threat of the group, the blond didn't feel comfortable letting him be the return messenger.

A beat of his wings had them air born, bringing them to hover over Alastor, who's ears perked up as he realized he was about to get another morsel. "Whelp, in that case, it sounds like you're useless to me. Guess I'll just hand you over to the Alastor--"

"W-wait!" The wolf demon frantically choked out, "Isn't this p-place for s-second chances! Your d-daughter believes in that s-shit, doesn't she?"

Lucifer's eyes narrowed. "You're right. My daughter does have a gift for seeing the best in people, even when there isn't any. But me? My curse is that I'm damned to always see the worst in all of you." Between one blink to the next, he let his form bleed into it's most demonic, hellfire igniting and his broken halo taking form as the true crown of Hell manifested. His True Eyes opened along his coat, Seeing right through this worthless soul and all of his sins. "Tell me, honestly, do you regret, even a little, for pushing Elizabeth in front of that train? Did you care in the least that her husband only had a handful of voicemails to remember her voice by? That her son grew up without any memories of his own mother?"

The wolf demon gasped for breathe, eyes wild. "The- the reporter? I had to kill her." He squirmed and yanked to no avail, Lucifer's hand like steel around his neck. Frantically, he added, "She was no-no one! She- she was going to ruin everything!"

Lucifer sneered. "Wrong answer."

Without hesitation, he opened his fist. The wolf demon shrieked as he fell, the shrill sound abruptly cutting off as Alastor closed his mouth around his treat.

The nervous little demon, perhaps smarter than they gave him credit for, took advantage of the distraction to make his get away. Alastor let him in favor of watching his king, eyes alight and calculating.

Lucifer hovered above him, every one of his eyes trained on the sinner below him. He realized that while he had seen Alastor in his full eldritch form during their first meeting, this would be the first time Alastor was seeing him in his own full demonic form.

Alastor, like in every aspect of his life, neither blinked nor cowered. He brought up a hand, the motion that puppet slowness he'd showed when Lucifer had manifested the pair of deer ears. He brought it up until it hovered just below the Devil's feet.

Lucifer squinted at him, not trusting that if he let himself land in Alastor's hand, the latter wouldn't just drop him out of spite.

He never found out either way, as he became distracted by Charlie's alarmed shout of "Oh my goodness, Dad!"

Alarmed, Lucifer spun around, his demonic features melting away into his normal appearance. "Charlie? What's wrong?" He came down to land in front of her, reaching out to make certain nothing had gotten past them to hurt her. "Are you okay?"

Charlie grabbed onto his hand, causing him to wince. Horrified, she cried out, "Forget me! Your hand is hurt." She hissed as she assessed the full extent of the damage. "Oh shit, it went all the way through!" She twisted around to shout back at the other behind her. "Vaggie! Bandages!"

Lucifer held up his free hand. "It's fine, sweetie, really. It'll heal up in no time. Really, I'd be more worried about any survivors. Alastor is way too enthusiastic for a guard dog." He glanced over his shoulder at Alastor, who had shrunk down to his normal size. Lucifer caught a glimpse of a gold coated tongue past the the hand the red head had up to his mouth. Lucifer found himself reassessing if Alastor had been offering him a hand after all or if he had just been taking the opportunity to get another taste of angel blood.

Judging by the pleased look on the deer demon's face, and the fact that he was letting 'guard dog' comment slide, it was most likely the latter.

And this was why Lucifer had trust issues when it came to this little shit.

Charlie tugged him towards the inside of the hotel, saying something about bandaging his hand. He was forced to break eye contact with his rival or keep his daughter from carrying on with his fretting. Really, it was all too much. It would take longer than the usual for injury to heal - the scar would barely be noticeable in a few days! - there was really no need for all this fussing! He even tried to say as such, which turned out to be a bad idea, because now Charlie was making sad eyes at him and really he was just going to be quiet and let her do her thing because it was so much better than her crying.

In the mess of the clean-up, Lucifer completely forgot about the angelic blade.

tbc

Part 5

#radioapple #appleradio #alastor #lucifer morningstar #deer lucifer fic #deer lucifer who is not actually appearing in this chapter #we needed some team building between lucifer and alastor #it'll be worth it all later #this chapter might have been inspired by the malificent movie #i just mostly wanted to write out the scene with lucifer in full demon form #so sue me #and wild plot appears! #its largely there to keep these two idiots interacting #we'll see where this goes #deer lucifer may be back in part five or six #likely six

[gloomysoup]

i've realized it has been a HOT minute since i've contributed anything to tumblr, so i come bearing gifts! well, a gift. in the form of the intro to an omegaverse steddie fic i have absolutely talked ab on here once upon a time but am too lazy to search for the original post. ANYWAY, enjoy whatever the hell this is

----------

Eddie and Steve were not a thing. They absolutely, 100%, were not dating.

They drank, smoked, watched movies, fucked, spent the night. Eddie had gotten Steve through three heats. They spent all of their time together. Eddie had shirts that smelled like him in Steve’s nest. They were not dating.

So when Corroded Coffin was offered a deal and a fresh start in Chicago, it didn't matter that Eddie was taking it. It didn't. It absolutely, 100%, did not matter to Steve. When Eddie completely skipped town with barely a goodbye, it didn't matter. It didn't matter that the band packed up his van and left. They were not dating. It didn't matter. Eddie had made his decision, and Steve respected that. They had only been fooling around. Sure, it was exclusive. They didn't fuck around with anyone else, and they spent so much time together they might as well have been dating, but they weren't. It wasn't a thing. It didn't matter.

Until it did.

Until Steve was sitting cross-legged on his bedroom floor with a test in front of him. A positive test.

edit:: lol i found it it's this one

#stranger things #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve x eddie #omegaverse steddie #alpha eddie munson #omega steve harrington #eventual steddie #unplanned pregnancy #the events that unfold in this fic are wild #i don't remember where the idea originated but it's been here #wayne is so good in this fic i love him #did i add enough tags yet #no #platonic stobin #platonic stancy #<< also makes an appearance or two later on #corroded coffin #jeff is the best always #maybe i'll throw in some greatwise bc i love that goofy lil ship #who knows #i certainly don't

[adrift-in-thyme]

I read Winter Light by sister_dear the other day (highly recommend; it’s adorable) and had the urge to write something fluffy. And of course, I had to include First because I love him and he deserves good things for once

——————————-

“IT’S SNOWING.”

The ear-shattering exclamation jolts First out of a deep, dreamless slumber. He raises his head, blinking sleep from his eyes. Wind stands a short ways away, gazing out of the bedroom window and bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

Carefully, First disentangles himself from the mass of slumbering heroes he had been held captive by. Somehow, they had all managed to cram onto a single bed the night before. Though it had been a bit smothering, he can’t help the twinge of remorse at breaking free from the welcome warmth.

“What’s that, Wind?” He whispers, as he gently removes Wild’s arm from where the champion had draped it over his shoulder.

Wind turns to look at him, a huge grin on his face.

“You gotta come see! It’s amazing!!”

The other heroes begin to awaken as First slides out of bed. They come to slowly, groaning and mumbling and shoving off arms and legs and blankets.

“What’s all the ruckus about?” Legend snaps, unwrapping himself from his cocoon of Sky’s sailcloth.

Sky chuckles. First smiles, knowingly, as the veteran continues to grumble, all while taking his sweet time to fully remove himself from the embraces of his brothers. He is a bit like Legend, he supposes — still unwilling to allow himself to grow too attached to those he already holds dear. Both of their carefully constructed walls, however, seem to be crumbling.

The heroes have a way of doing that, First is quickly realizing.

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Wind races back to the bed, practically vibrating with excitement.

“There’s white stuff everywhere outside! It’s all over the barn and the field and-and everything!” He grabs Legend as the veteran sits up, and shakes him so hard his teeth chatter. “IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.”

Legend shoves him off with a scowl. But he eyes the window curiously.

“Snow day, huh?” Warriors grins. “Well, you know what that means.”

Twilight matches his expression. “We’ve gotta go out in it, that’s what.”

Warriors bumps his shoulder against the rancher’s.

“Exactly.”

Sky rises from the bed now and walks to the window. First follows him.

The lawn is indeed covered in a thick blanket of snow. It seems to glow in the dim light of the cloudy morning. It covers the trees, weighing down their branches, and the tops of the fence, the roof of the stable too. Just as Wind said, it coats everything as far as the eye can see.

First steps closer to the window.

“It has been too long since I last saw snow,” he murmurs.

The last time he had reveled in the icy stuff had been before his imprisonment. He hadn’t realized how much he has missed it.

Sky smiles at him. “This is only the second time I’ve seen it. The first was when Zelda and I had just started building a home on the Surface. I’ll never forget it. It was so beautiful.” He chuckles. “Groose was terrified, though he’ll never admit it.”

First laughs. But before he can say anything further Wild shows up at their elbows.

“You two better get dressed. We’re heading out!”

“Hurry up or everybody’ll muddy the snow before you get to it!” Twilight says as he tugs on his tunic.

A mischievous smirk quirks First’s lips.

“If we try, we can beat them all,” he murmurs to Sky. The Skyloftian’s eyes light up. He turns and practically dives for his tunic and trousers.

They aren’t the only ones intent on making it out first. Before long, it’s all-out chaos in the bedroom. The heroes trip over one another in their haste, laughing and throwing clothes and boots. First nearly gets hit in the face with one of Legend’s.

Miraculously, though, he breaks free of the room before anyone else does. He rushes through the door with a burst of victorious laughter, the others racing after him, still pulling on their scarves.

“How’d you finish first?” Hyrule asks, once he manages to catch up. His tone is accusatory but he’s smiling. “Aren’t your joints old and achy?”

First grins at him. “Ancient though I may be, I am the First Hero. All of your tricks came from me.”

“What on earth are y’all doin’?” Malon asks when they come running into the kitchen. She pauses in her task of kneading some dough to look up at them. “The snow isn’t gonna go anywhere, you know.”

“It’ll get all ruined if we don’t go fast!” Wind exclaims, pushing through the front door. He nearly collides with Time who is coming in with a bucket of water in his hands. The hero raises an eyebrow.

“What’s the hurry, sailor?”

“SNOW!” Wind bellows. “Have you seen it?”

“I have.” Time smiles. “It’s quite beautiful.” His eye twinkles. “And perfect for snowballs.”

Hyrule and Wild exchange a glance, mischief glinting in their gazes. They sprint outside, letting in a rush of cold air in their wake. Wind is right after them, grinning from ear to ear.

“You’ll keep them in line, I trust?” Time mutters to First as he watches the others hurry out, trading playful jabs and yelping as the cold hits their skin.

First grins. “I will do my best.”

Time shakes his head, already turning back to Malon. He is smiling fondly though.

“I look forward to your efforts, First Hero. Wrangling these boys is nothing at all like leading troops, I assure you.”

First heads toward the endless white that beckons him.

“I believe you,” he says. At that moment, he catches sight of Wild dumping a gigantic pile of snow atop Twilight’s prone form. He chuckles, exasperatedly, and steps outside.

He pauses once he is over the doorstep to breathe in deep. The air is cool and crisp, biting at his skin and burning his lungs. The light of the early morning sun glints off of the fresh piles of fluffy white, nearly blinding him. But he squints bravely into it, a smile forming on his lips.

This beautiful day brings to mind one eons ago when he and his goddess had walked hand in hand through the winter wonderland that was Faron Woods.

If he closes his eyes, he can almost still feel her beside him, warm and magical and real. He can still see her beautiful face, brightened with a smile, love and joy and, perhaps, a hint of mischief sparkling in her blue eyes. He can still hear her laugh, loud and happy and free…and entirely at his expense after a tree limb deposits a handful of snow onto his head.

“Hey, First!”

He jolts out of his memory just in time to get a face full of powdery ice. He shakes his head, sputtering as the stuff cascades down his neck.

Sky, of all people, is grinning at him.

“Come on!” he says, laughing. “You said it’s been too long since you enjoyed the snow, right? Let’s have some fun!” He steps closer, expression softening. “She’d want you to.”

First gazes at him for a moment, trying to do away with the unexpected lump in his throat. Then, slowly, he smiles back. If Sky sees the glint of danger in it, he gives no indication.

“You’re right. Hylia would want me to enjoy this lovely weather.” He bends and scoops up a handful of snow, twisting it in between two, practiced hands. “And she would want me to enjoy it in a fashion that honors her.”

Sky’s eyes widen. The snowball hits him smack in the chest.

“Hey, no fair!” He complains. “I was trying to help you feel better!”

First is already in the process of creating more ammunition. But he pauses long enough to send the Skyloftian a cheeky grin.

“Ah, but you did help me feel better, Sky. That’s the problem.”

He throws another projectile. This time, however, Sky is prepared. He ducks into a roll and comes up smoothly a short distance away. Instantly, he digs his fingers into the snow, forming a sloppy snowball. First lunges for him and Sky leaps sideways, laughing. He whirls, sailcloth flying out behind him and nails First right in the face.

“SNOWBALL FIGHT!” Wild howls, as First dives for another handful of snow. And just like that the contained chaos is freed.

So much for keeping them in line, First thinks ruefully.

He has to admit though, that this is much more fun. After centuries of just existing and an eternity of pain, to be able to just have fun is almost a shock. A wonderful one.

Snowballs fly to and fro. Heroes tackle each other, rolling around in the snow, cackling. Shouts ring out as they pummel each other with the icy slush and slip and slide on the icy remnants of their footprints.

It isn’t until Malon calls out, “I don’t suppose any of y’all would like some hot cider?” that they decide to finally call it quits.

Exhaustion hits them as they all trudge inside, sopping wet and shivering. First can see it on every face, making their eyes droop and their movements slower, lazier.

He chuckles as Wild dares to take one, last swing at Twilight. The snow hits Warriors instead. If the captain weren’t already beat, First is certain he wouldn’t hesitate to retaliate.

“Next time, champion,” he warns, pointing a finger at him. A dangerous grin lifts his lips. “Next time I’ll get my revenge.”

“He will, believe me,” Time chimes in from where he stands in the doorway. He hands the heroes each a towel. “Now, dry yourselves off before you ruin the floors.”

When First steps up, trying to subdue his chattering teeth, Time smirks at him.

“I suspect you had fun?”

First grins. “I did. And you?”

He hadn’t missed the stray snowballs that had lacked an apparent source. Nor the mysterious footprints that would sometimes appear on the outskirts of the ruckus.

“Me? Of course. Spending time with my wife is always enjoyable,” the hero replies, calmly, and drops his towel right on top of his head.

First laughs as he drags it off.

After changing and drying themselves off, the heroes drift into the living room. They huddle close, mugs of cider cupped in their hands, drowsily watching the flames dance in the fireplace.

Malon and Time sit side by side on the couch, Malon’s head resting on her husband’s shoulder, Time’s arm wrapped around her. Twilight sits on the other side of them, slumped against Time, blinking as he tries to stay awake. Wild has settled down at his feet and the rancher lazily cards his fingers through his hair. Four is slumped on the champion’s shoulder, already fast asleep. Wild shifts to pull him closer.

Legend and Hyrule are close by, mugs close to tipping as they drift off in each other’s arms. Wind is wrapped in Warriors’ scarf and the captain smiles softly as the small hero sighs and cuddles against him.

First watches them all with a small smile on his lips. Beside him, is Sky, a blanket draped over his shoulders and First’s. The hero settles in closer, resting his head on First. Gently, First puts an arm around him.

This, he thinks as Sky gives him a bleary grin, this is pure bliss.

He almost can’t believe he is free to enjoy it. It feels as though any moment something will appear to shatter it all, like awakening from a pleasant dream.

Perhaps, it will. But for now, in this moment, he chooses to pretend that it won’t.

“Did you,” Sky mumbles, sleepily, “did you enjoy the snow like she would’ve wanted you to?”

First raises his eyes to the window. He swears he can see a figure dressed in white with hair the color of the freshly fallen snow. She turns and smiles at him before dissipating like the morning mist.

He smiles at the space where she once stood.

“Yes, Sky,” he murmurs. “Thanks to all of you, I did.”

#a wild fluff fic appears #sometimes I’m capable of writing cute fun stuff #although notice the subtle bits of angst I slipped in there ;) #I can’t resist #trin writes #fluff #snowball fight #linked universe #linked universe fic #lu first #lu sky #lu chain #light angst #and just a touch of #hylink

[local-meme-lord]

Sylvester Shyster appreciation

#appreciation post #sylvester shyster #it wild despite posting about him a ton i haven't made a official appreciation post until now #and anyway here to our favorite petty pompous lawyers #fun fact it seems his nickname sly frist appeared in that sci fic comic #blorbo from my comics #he done everything wrong in his life and i love him

[jamiesfootball]

Six Sentence Sunday

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Roy was saying, and for the first time in months it didn't sound like he was hearing someone speak from far away. The words didn't fit like Roy, hardly above a whisper, but they felt loud, pressed against his ear like that, so close they seemed to bypass Jamie's body entirely to land directly into his soul. "I'm so sorry that happened. I'll fucking kill him."

#a wild wip appears #not a happy one either #talking bout amsterdam #roy kent #jamie tartt #six sentence sunday #fic: the one that makes you sick #tw csa

[needcake]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Hetalia: Axis Powers Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: England/Portugal (Hetalia), Wales/Portugal (Hetalia), France/Scotland (Hetalia), England & France (Hetalia) Characters: England (Hetalia), Portugal (Hetalia), Wales (Hetalia), Scotland (Hetalia), France (Hetalia), Female Ireland (Hetalia), Northern Ireland (Hetalia) Additional Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Modern Era, Miscommunication, Personal Growth, Adulting is hard, Romantic Comedy, (maybe not much of a comedy) Summary:

Arthur didn’t need dates, or boyfriends, or long-term stable relationships. He didn’t need a handsome bloke on his arm to take to meet his siblings, and he absolutely didn’t envy his brother and sister for having that. No, in fact not only did he not need a boyfriend, he didn’t even want one. His life was perfectly fine as it was.

#engport #portwales #scotfra #hws england #hws portugal #hws wales #hws scotland #hws france #hws ireland #hws northern ireland #hetalia #a wild fic appears #fake dating #miscommunication #all the fun things! #finally dusting off some wips #can I finish this one? maaaaaaybe

[science-lings]

i just think that Wild should come back to the chain with a magic rock, I mean it's not like he would be the only one with a magic rock, Look at Twi's shadow crystal or Wind's walkie-talkie necklace, and what would we call all of Legends rings if not wearable magic rocks? The ocarina of time? MAGIC ROCK with some holes in it. You know what Hyrule's magic sword is made of? THAT'S RIGHT! MAGIC ROCKS

And guess what was left behind with no explanation in totk, that had a whole quest attached to it that stood in parallel with a bunch of other versions of the same scene where someone gets a magic rock? MINERU'S secret stone, SPIRIT SAGE LU WILD LETS GO

#too many projects but i wanna write a post-totk lu fic where Wild has no arm and a magic rock #and he's really trying his best to learn how to fight with his left arm but it's hard #but he refuses to give up and the other's kinda have to make him stop overworking himself #and it gets to the point where Wild doesn't know what he is except for a swordsman #at least he has a light dragon light bow that he can shoot with his teeth who's arrows just appear out of the air #but being the swordsman and the hero is such a major part of his identity #and hes having to be surrounded by more of the best swordsmen ever to exist and how does he deal with that #i want to give him spirit powers and have him struggle to control them and it's all in the view of the heroes #i just love giving characters new powers that are in fact powerful and forcing them to learn how to deal with them #its so fun #ramblin #lu wild #linked universe #linked universe wild

[veliseraptor]

Redux | The Untamed

Summary:

Xiao Xingchen met his future boyfriend in an alley by a dumpster, semi-conscious and covered in blood. Xue Yang crashes into Xiao Xingchen's life with all the subtlety of a meteor and changes everything just as fast. And sometimes it almost feels like he's done this before. Maybe it's a do-over. Or maybe history is just repeating itself.

Notes:

I love Yi City reincarnation AUs. I'm extremely weak to them. It was probably inevitable that I'd feel the need to write my own eventually, and also probably inevitable that it would turn long. I was going to wait to start posting this until it was finished, because that would be the disciplined and responsible thing to do, but then it was taking forever, and I wanted instant gratification, and it seemed like kind of a shame to just have several thousand words languishing on my hard drive unread. So! Here I am. I'll be posting one chapter per month in the hopes that six months will give me plenty of lead time to write more. With thanks to @ameliarating for her tireless editing work, and @silvysartfulness for enabling.

#xuexiao #xue yang #xiao xingchen #a wild fic appeared #the sad queer cultivators show #eyyyy new fic what's this #i mean. i've had this written for a loooong time so actually old fic but

[zibulon01]

Got tagged by @kstbj thank you! (hi, feel free to ask about more details or snippets for each of them if you want)

#dear redoak i'm still stuck in full SW brainrot for the most part sorry lol #and mostly working on the first fic in this poll since i don't want my attention to get even more scattered than it is #i also wanted to include SW gilded cage AU but i need to rewatch the movie it's inspired from first before working on it #to no one's surprise most SW fic ideas i have are centered around Anakin/Vader and Luke #i love interactions between these two i need more of my blorbos aszafqytdfz #*constantly rotating them both in my head like rotisserie chickens* #i do have more fic ideas laying around but they're too vague and mostly mere concepts/need to be vastly reworked for some #not counting the few BNHA AUs i already have which are for the most part art-based only rn #also one wild KHR fic thingie appearing out of nowhere cause it's a decade old idea that came back randomly in july haha #and i just felt like throwing it in this poll xD #tag #poll

[absent-enigma]

mothman Horror x reader pt 2 compilation from ao3

While mothman was motionless, you took the opportunity to observe him.

He was massive, wings folded behind powerful shoulders. Soft reddish-orange fur covered the clavicles, collarbone and halfway down the sternum. The upper cervical vertebrae were partially visible. The skull held fluffy antenna, the left one somewhat tattered. In the dim light, you could barely make out a terrible jagged hole in the left-top side of mothman’s skull. The right eye socket was void of light. 

Mothman moved slowly near to hold up a small wooden sign.

‘Horror’ was written on it.

Mothman pointed a claw to it, then himself.

-

“Your name is Horror?”

Horror perked up at your voice. Unable to speak through his current upset, he nodded eagerly in return. He doubted it was enough to jog your memory, but that was okay. He had plenty of items around your shared home to help you remember. 

As much as Horror wanted to hold you close and assure you everything would be okay, as you’d done for him in the past, he couldn’t, wouldn’t do so when you were so wary of him.

Especially now, when you discreetly scooted backward in the nest.

Horror let slip an unhappy whine.

-

A mothman named Horror. 

You weren’t going to judge a book by its cover or name, but you were going to be wary of a massive cryptid creature being so close.

This was likely a case of mistaken identity, but how do you explain that to someone who looked so hopeful yet lost when staring at you? You weren’t sure what would happen if Mothm…Horror decided you were an intruder in his home opposed to someone he thought he knew. 

As dangerous as it might be, and ill-timed, you needed rest to process this situation.

“…mind if I sleep here?”

-

Despite your continued fear and wariness of him nearby, you wanted to sleep here?

Horror couldn’t help but shove his bulk up against the nest to croon sad yet happy noises. Despite  not remembering him, you found the nest acceptable and safe to sleep within. You must like the modifications he’d made at your suggestion. 

If only he could join you; Horror wanted to keep his mate warm and comfortable.

“Safe here.” Horror eventually murmured. “Rest.” Slowly lowering his large body alongside the nest, Horror’s four arms uselessly clutched a stray pillow.

It wasn’t warm and alive like you were.

-

A light brush of your hair woke you from your slumber. By the time you turned over, Horror’s hand drew away to join the two comfortably resting on the side of the nest, his fourth hand used to rest his cheekbone against palm.

Horror, eyelight dilated to fill his socket, gazed down at you with utter adoration.

You swallowed down a scream over this mothman looming over you while you’d been sleeping.

Horror noticed your trepidation, visibly deflating; a feat for someone so large. 

You watched Horror get to his feet, leaving the cozy home subdued as he took flight.

-

Soaring through the early morning sky, Horror’s desperation rose.

He needed something important to show his mate; to help jog your memory.  He couldn’t stand the thought of being unable to be near to you but knew from his own past lapses in memory that pushing did no good.  But what could he possibly-

‘Amazing! This flower is rare, Horror! It blooms in very few places, deep inside caverns by pools of water.’ 

Horror switched directions with an eager beat of wings. Distracted as he was, Horror did not notice a figure following him, wings flapping occasionally to keep up.

-

With Horror’s departure, your mind laid out your situation.

You were currently in unknown territory, all alone with a large mothman who’d scooped you up into his four arms to bring you here to his home, convinced you were his mate. 

Before that, the highway your vehicle broke down on was rife with cryptid sightings, where car failures happened occasionally. Despite this knowledge, you’d decided to drive late at night, instead of staying in the motel you’d passed by.

…maybe your cryptid-obsessed friend could help you figure out how to convince Horror that you were not, in fact, his mate.

-

Horror correctly remembered the flower’s location in the cavern.  Plucking one reverently, he tucked it away.

“Haven’t seen you here in years.”

Horror pivoted, avoiding sharp claws and talons. Seizing a bony ankle, Horror leaned away, avoiding a strike from large, black feathered wings.

“Did you abduct someone again?”  

Reaper.

“This is the third time.” Reaper’s empty sockets blinked. “You shouldn’t keep what’s not yours; humans will show up, searching.”

“My mate.” Horror growled, fur bristling.

“It’s not, Horror.  I’m sorry.” Reaper twisted out of Horror’s grasp, browbone furrowed. “You know humans shouldn’t live here. It’s too dangerous for them.”

-

Horror didn’t return.

Either he figured out you weren’t his mate, or he went out to clear his skull to figure out how to prove it to you.

You startled at a loud message notification from your phone.  Checking the text, you saw it was the tow-truck company wondering where you were. Getting that sorted, you wonder what-

“Heya.”

Another low voice.

You turn.

The embodiment of death perched at the edge of the nest, large black feathered wings spread.

…wait.

It was a winged skeleton monster, dressed entirely in black, wearing a cowl.

“Wanna go home?”

-

Horror lurched through the underbrush, wings fluttering. He’d worn himself out tussling with Reaper in the cavern to be up to flying home. 

He had strong legs from being forced to climb during times he had to reserve his stamina. Soon, he’d be able to take to the sky, but Horror feared he may be too late.

Reaper was swifter.

By the time Horror reached the tree top home, it was too late. 

Reaper had taken you away. 

No.

Horror wouldn’t allow it. 

Not again. 

…the nest was empty.

This treetop home no longer felt like home, without his mate.

#undertale au fic #mothman horror sans #x reader #horror sans x reader #brain go brrrr #Next 100 words x 10 #a wild winged reaper sans appears #He’s the wingman. The lore dropper. And to be friend-zoned

[steddieas-shegoes]

this place is such great motivation for anyone trying to move the fuck away from hibernation

chapter 5: i would leave if only i could find a reason also on AO3 Rated E Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

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Much like the day before, Wayne Munson couldn’t resist giving Steve a bit of a glare when he arrived at the same time as Eddie for dinner. Mia was sitting on her playmat, shoving blocks around until it sort of resembled a small tower, but quickly losing interest when she saw Steve.

“Mama! Mama! Uh!” Mia yelled.

And then she fell forward onto her hands, rocked her body back and forth a couple of times, and crawled.

Wayne’s jaw was practically on the floor as he watched Mia crawl the short distance to where Steve was standing at the front door.

She plopped back onto her bottom when she reached him, holding her arms up expectantly, beaming that gummy smile at him.

“Holy shit.” Eddie fell to his knees next to Steve, picking her up and peppering her face with kisses until she was giggling. “You did it, princess!”

Steve joined him on the floor, a hand reaching out to cover Mia’s back as he smiled at them both.

The glare disappeared from Wayne’s face almost as quickly as it came at the sight.

In truth, this was all Wayne had ever wanted for Eddie: someone who made him happy and celebrated his happiness with Mia. It was impossible to pretend he couldn’t see the love in Steve’s watery eyes when he looked at them.

Wayne was always going to be overprotective of his boy and his angel, but maybe he could start letting Steve climb the wall. Maybe he could even throw a ladder over the edge for him to hold onto.

“Daddy’s so proud of you!” Eddie sniffled, a tear falling down his cheek. “Stevie, did you see her?”

“I did! Good job, princess!” Steve kissed her forehead, tears pooling in his eyes.

It was bittersweet, watching Eddie and Steve share this moment with each other and Mia, knowing that he was going to miss a lot of these moments if Eddie followed Steve to the city.

He’d have to be okay with that, knew it was a possibility from the beginning anyway, just didn’t think it would be so soon. He thought maybe he’d get to see her first steps, hear her learn new words, maybe even be around for the joyful day she was potty trained and they could save so much money on diapers.

Looking at the way Steve and Eddie were praising her and smiling at each other, Wayne knew it would be worth it to miss those things if it meant Ed and Mia were taken care of and loved.

“I guess I better check on dinner,” he said softly, not wanting to interrupt the moment too much.

“Oh! Do you need any help?” Steve offered, starting to stand up from the floor.

“Nah,” Wayne waved him off, offering a genuine smile. “I’ll get ya when it’s done.”

Steve nodded, settling back down next to Eddie and watching as Mia reached over for him.

“Mamamamamama!”

Wayne shook his head, an overwhelming fondness taking over.

He paused on his way into the kitchen to watch as Eddie handed her over to him, giving him a soft peck on the lips and a warm smile.

**************

“So, Steve.” Wayne wiped his mouth on a paper towel before turning his attention to Steve, who suddenly looked like he was wishing he was anywhere but here. “Tell me about what you’ve been up to.”

Steve gulped, shoving some of the mashed potatoes around his plate. He’d barely eaten yet, but Wayne was almost certain it had more to do with his nerves than whether or not he liked the food.

“Well, I’m currently a waiter at a Michelin star restaurant a few blocks from the apartment I share with Robin. I make pretty decent tips, better than most people who wait tables in the area. Um, I applied for a technical school in the city.” Steve looks down at his plate, blushing. “I’m going to get a cosmetology certificate so I can work in one of my friend’s salon while I figure out what I might wanna do long term.”

Wayne pretended he didn’t see Eddie’s hand squeeze his knee under the table.

“So you wouldn’t wanna do that long term?” Eddie asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t really think it could be a career, I guess,” Steve shrugged. “Not for me, at least.”

Wayne and Eddie shared a look.

“It could be. If it’s something you liked.” Eddie said while Wayne nodded in agreement. “You’ve always been known to have great hair, it kinda makes sense for you. Plus, imagine how well those old ladies would tip you just for being handsome.”

They all laughed as Steve seemed to relax a bit more, taking a bite of his baked chicken.

“You know, Ed has been thinkin’ about talkin’ to someone about a tattoo apprenticeship,” Wayne provided before taking a bite of food. “You know anywhere near you that might be interested in havin’ him?”

Steve lit up at the question, and for good reason.

Eddie smiled at Wayne, mouthing a silent ‘thank you’ as Steve started talking about a couple shops within walking distance of the apartment.

It was a quiet acceptance of what was to come, of Wayne giving his support in the only way he knew how right now. Eddie could see it for what it was, and Steve almost certainly could too.

“And there’s a park with a huge playground the next block over, so we could bring Mia all the time. She could even make some friends! There’s a mom group that meets every Tuesday morning and Friday evening-“

“How do you know about this?” Eddie asked.

“Oh.” Steve’s face turned bright red. “I cover for one of the women on Fridays so she can take her twins. They’re almost two.”

“I’m not sure they’d welcome me since it’s just moms.”

“They’d love to have you and Mia. There’s one other dad that switches off with his wife when she has to work. You’d probably like him, he likes Ozzy.”

Eddie snorted. “Ah, yes. The pinnacle of friendship: Ozzy Osbourne.”

“You’d have something in common!” Steve laughed. “He saw him in concert last time he was in Chicago.”

“Really?” Eddie dropped his fork. “Like just a few months ago?”

“Yep,” Steve’s smug smile made Wayne smirk. “Had pit tickets even.”

“He was in the pit?”

Steve nodded, looking over at Wayne. “He said his buddy is the one who got a drumstick when they threw them into the crowd.”

“Holy shit, Steve. So you move to the city and now you have cool friends?” Eddie was joking, but his words had just a hint of jealousy to them. “Or do you have a crush on this guy?”

“Oh my God, Eds, no. Trust me. He’s an accountant with a buzz cut and no tattoos.”

“No tattoos?” Eddie shook his head. “Sounds like he’s hiding something.”

“Maybe you can be his friend and he’ll share his secrets,” Steve nudged him playfully.

Wayne watched as they got lost in each others’ eyes, rolling his own when they wouldn’t look away from each other even after a solid minute.

“How’s dinner, boys?” Wayne asked, smirking when they both jumped in their seats.

“It’s great, thanks.” Steve saw that Wayne’s plate was mostly cleared, a few pieces of chicken left. “I can do the dishes and stuff when we’re all done. I’m sure you’re tired and wanna head to bed soon.”

Wayne squinted at him.

If he didn’t know Steve a bit better, he’d assume he was trying to impress him.

“I think I got it tonight. Why don’t you boys get some rest? You’ve both had a lot goin’ on and Mia will be up in a few hours for a bottle.”

“I don’t mind-“ Steve started, only to have Eddie covering his mouth with his hand.

“Take what’s being offered, Stevie.”

“Listen to your boyfriend, Steve.” Wayne stood up and gathered his plate and glass of water. “Nice havin’ ya over. I’m sure I’ll be seein’ a lot of ya the next few days.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So formal. Stop scaring him so much, Wayne, Jesus.”

Wayne let out a laugh, probably louder than he should have knowing Mia was asleep just down the hall, and touched Steve’s shoulder with the back of his hand.

“It’s Wayne, Steve.”

Wayne left the room before Steve could start crying.

**********

“Are you sure it’s okay I stay?” Steve whispered.

Eddie leaned in to kiss him softly, smiling at him as he pulled away. “I’m sure, sweetheart.”

Steve peeked over his shoulder at the crib, smiling at Mia’s sleeping form.

“She’s amazing. You’re amazing,” Steve closed his eyes and settled further into the pillow under him. “I can’t believe I get to love you both.”

“I can’t believe you want to.”

Steve’s eyes searched Eddie’s, his hand resting on Eddie’s side, just above his largest scar from the bats. His fingers traced the outer edges, where the skin was oversensitive.

“I always want anything you’ll give me.”

Eddie groaned as quietly as he could. “You’re killin’ me. I wanna be inside you so bad right now, Stevie.”

Steve slapped his chest, but immediately leaned in for a kiss, hungrier than the last one.

“How quiet can you be?” Steve whispered against his lips.

“Me? How quiet can you be?” Eddie’s eyes widened as Steve’s hands landed on his waistband.

“I don’t have to worry about being quiet if I’ve got your dick in my mouth, do I?” Steve smirked as he kissed down his neck, his hand pushing Eddie’s pants down just enough to free his rapidly filling cock.

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie rolled to his back so he could lift his hips and help get his pants further down. “You may actually kill me.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Steve said as he kissed down Eddie’s bare chest, hovering for a bit longer over a tattoo he didn’t recognize. “What’s this one?”

Eddie tilted his head down to see what Steve was pointing at.

“It’s the word ‘mine’ over and over in a heart,” Eddie was actually blushing. “Mia’s name means ‘mine’ so I convinced my buddy to do this for free for me soon after she came.”

Steve looked at it closer, then leaned in and kissed it, let his lips linger for a moment.

“It’s perfect.”

Eddie cupped the back of Steve’s head, but didn’t push or pull him in any direction, just needed the feel of Steve in his hold.

A small cry startled them out of the moment, and when Eddie looked over to the crib, he saw Mia’s legs kicking like she was trying to get loose from her swaddle.

Steve sighed, but smiled up at him before patting his chest once and standing up. “I got her,” he said as he walked over to the crib. “Hi princess. You’re not supposed to be awake yet.”

Eddie sat up and looked over at the clock. Steve was right, she shouldn’t be awake yet, and if she was, they’d either been too loud or she was sick.

It only took one close up look at her cheeks to know which it was.

“Shit.” Eddie stood up and reached over for her, frowning as he held the back of his hand up to her forehead as she let out a small whimper. “Dammit.”

She rested her entirely-too-warm cheek against his shoulder.

“What is it?” Steve asked, concern etched on every corner of his face, hand raised like he was ready to comfort or fight if needed.

“She has a fever.”

Every possibility ran through Eddie’s mind: flu, strep throat, a cold, maybe something even more serious.

Steve’s brows furrowed. “She was totally fine right before she went to bed.”

“I know, but babies just get sick. Happens fast,” Eddie half shrugged. “Wayne may not have noticed anything was off while we were in the shower.”

“She’s really warm though, baby. This isn’t something that just happened in the last hour.”

Eddie knew Steve meant well, and probably knew plenty about how that was true for adults, but he didn’t have experience with babies. The sudden stress of knowing he’d probably have to miss work to take her to the doctor tomorrow wasn’t helping his reaction.

“It can.” He sighed. “Maybe you should head out. I don’t want you to catch anything.”

“I’m not leaving you. You have work tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but I have to bring her to the doctor if this fever doesn’t break before morning. And if you get sick, you’ll be miserable for the trip home and you can’t work when you’re sick-“

“Eds, she’s got a tooth coming in.” Steve was running his pinky finger along her bottom gum, smiling to himself when she started nibbling on it. “That’s probably where the fever came from.”

Eddie tried not to feel stupid. She’d already been teething before this, but had luckily escaped having much of a fever. The drool was a bit excessive, and she put everything in her mouth, but otherwise, she was the same happy and healthy baby she always was. Babies did sometimes get fevers for seemingly no reason, but usually that reason was actually because they were teething.

Mia gurgled as she kept trying to munch on Steve’s finger, his face wincing slightly when she bit down harder.

“Seems like it broke through,” he said, though he didn’t pull his finger away. “Poor thing. You want me to get a piece of ice and hold it on her gums? It’ll numb it for a bit.”

Eddie nodded silently.

“Hey. Eds.” Eddie looked at Steve. “You’re a really great dad for being so worried about her.”

Eddie relaxed at Steve’s words. He should’ve known Steve wasn’t judging his parenting, Steve never would over something like this.

“Sorry.”

“For what, baby? You’re just trying to take care of both of us.” Steve kissed his nose. “I’ll be right back.”

He moved quickly, but quietly, from the room, not wanting to disturb Wayne on his way to the freezer to get an ice cube. Eddie watched him leave the door open a crack, just enough for the warm glow from the nightlight to light his way down the hall.

Eddie rocks back and forth on his feet, whispering to Mia while she sucks on her own fingers to try to find some relief, however temporary, from the pain of her tooth popping through the gums. She’s making low grunts every few seconds, either in acknowledgment of what he’s saying to her or in frustration from the pain.

“Mama,” Mia whispers wetly, drool dripping from her mouth when she refuses to take her fingers away to talk. Eddie can’t help smiling fondly at her. “Mamamamama.”

“He’s coming right back, princess. He’s gonna help.”

Steve rushed back in the room, practically sliding across the carpet, ice cube between two fingers to try to prevent it melting too quickly from his body heat.

“Alright, princess! Let’s get your fingers out of the way so we can use this instead.”

Steve pried her fingers out of her mouth, shushing her quiet whine with a kiss to her cheek. He gently brought the ice cube up to her lips and rubbed until she opened her mouth enough for him to rub it over her gums.

She kicked Eddie a couple of times, but seemed content with his solution.

“That’s it, honey. Feels a lot better now, huh?” Steve whispered to her.

Eddie watched as Mia’s eyes never left Steve’s face, a small smile finally replacing the look of pain she’d had before.

He felt cool drops dribbling down his chest as the ice cube melted, but didn’t care enough to try to find a burp rag or t-shirt. He couldn’t look away from this moment.

It felt like everything had maybe led up to this, this very tiny moment in his bedroom, where he could have handled it, but didn’t have to.

Where Steve showed he could fit in a way Eddie didn’t know he needed.

Where his presence would be missed while Eddie figured out how to follow him to Chicago.

How had he already made such a big impact on their lives that going a few months without him now seemed like an impossible task?

“Eds? Baby, what’s wrong?”

Eddie blinked a few times to see Steve looking at him with concern, Mia half-asleep again in his arms.

“Sorry. I just realized that I don’t ever wanna do this without you again.”

It was dangerous to admit, and while he was pretty sure Steve could sense how important he was to Eddie, he’d never come out and said it quite like that.

“You don’t have to,” Steve leaned in to kiss him. “I’m right here.”

“You’re gonna be leaving in a few days, though. And I know we’re gonna come be with you, but it’s not gonna be right away. It’ll be hard to have this and then not for a while.”

Steve nodded once. “I know. But we can figure out a schedule for calls so I can talk to you and Mia until you can come be with me. I’m sure I could come visit again next month during the restaurant’s yearly deep clean. They close for three days and hire a company to scrub the place from top to bottom and pay us our hourly wage for all shifts missed. It’s kinda like a mini-vacation for me.”

“Or maybe we could come visit you.” Eddie set Mia down in her crib gently, holding a hand on her chest so she wouldn’t freak out that he left her. “See our future home. Maybe bring some stuff so moving there feels real.”

Steve wrapped his arms around his waist, kissed his jaw, and rested his head on the opposite shoulder from where Mia had been.

“Pretty sure we’ll have the place to ourselves for most of that, maybe you should be the one to visit. I’ll get a crib for Mia so she can test her new room out. Maybe I can get Robin’s friend Cam to paint a mural on the wall.”

Eddie’s brows raised in surprise. “You can paint the wall?”

“Maybe.” Steve shrugged. “Not like we can’t just paint over it when we move out.”

“Who know you were such a bad boy?” Eddie wiggled his brows. “Keep talkin’ about breaking rental agreement rules. It’s very sexy.”

Steve muffled his laugh in Eddie’s chest. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously in love with you, sweet thing.”

Steve pulled back, fond smile still on his face. “You sure are a sweet talker. I dunno if I can keep up with your charm.”

“Sure you can. You just said you’d paint a mural in our daughter’s bedroom in a rented apartment that probably doesn’t even let you hang picture frames on the walls. Very charming.”

Steve didn’t say anything, just looked at Eddie with wide eyes.

“What?” He finally asked.

“You just said Mia was our daughter,” Steve whispered, broken, somewhat hopeful.

“I-“

“It’s okay if you didn’t mean it, Eds-“

“No, I meant it, it’s just-“

“Seriously, I understand it was a slip. Easy to do when you’re tired and-“

“Steve!” Eddie whisper-shouted, his hands coming up to rest on Steve’s cheeks. “I meant it.”

“You meant it?”

Eddie’s lips were on Steve’s, a better response than any words he could give would be, his tongue tracing along his bottom lip asking for entrance.

“Meant it,” he said again as he pulled Steve backwards towards his bed, opening his eyes for a moment just to make sure Mia was still asleep.

“You gonna be quiet?” Steve whispered against his lips as they settled back in his bed.

“You won’t even know I’m here,” Eddie smirked as Steve kissed down his chest. “Well, except for my dick in your mouth.”

Steve shook his head. “Terrible. Where did the charm from earlier go?”

“It’ll return from the war after you get your mouth on me, I promise.”

Steve rolled his eyes but did as was requested, swallowing around Eddie’s length at the same time he reached up to cover his mouth with his hand.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #chaptered fic #ao3 fic #a wild update appears #sorry it's been 800 years since i updated this one everyone #i have had a serious case of the responsibilities

[more-better-words]

For @ozzie-starfur and @candiedsumire, who started this. 😛

A Season 1(ish) thing. I'm doin' a trope lol

The away team had made camp on a ridge overlooking a deep valley, and from there, T'Pol had removed to a slightly higher elevation, scanning the atmospheric formations to their north. Roiling clouds laced with lightning brightened the horizon, and the wind was heavy with a damp scent that was not wholly unpleasant. A step rustled behind her; she turned, and saw Commander Tucker approaching, dimly lit by his flashlight.

“Should you not be asleep, Commander?” she asked.

He didn’t respond until he'd navigated the last few steps, drawing level with her. “Somethin' woke me up,” he said. “Think it was the air pressure changin'. Reminds me of how it'd feel back home, right before a hurricane made landfall.” She lifted a curious eyebrow at him.

“You felt it?”

“Yeah, we humans are just full of surprises.” He returned the look. “What about you?”

“I heard the thunder, and thought that it would be advantageous to obtain ground-based sensor readings of the atmospheric conditions.”

“You heard the-?” He cut off his question. “Right.” He flicked off the flashlight and stuffed it, and his hands, in his pockets, gazing up at the sky. “Well, at least this planet’s not drivin' us crazy. Though I’m sure you'll still shoot me if I need it.”

“I am always prepared for that eventuality,” she said. He snorted.

“I bet you are.”

Any reply she might have made was forestalled when the wind shifted, suddenly and sharply, and the clouds opened. Ice-cold rain poured from the sky in sheets, the air itself seemingly turned to rushing water. As one, T'Pol and Trip turned and tore towards the nearest tent, which happened to be hers. They stumbled and slipped their way through the now muddy grasses, diving into the tent, scrabbling first to open it and then to seal themselves within. She clicked on the small overhead lamp to see him grinning broadly.

“Well, that was a hell of a thing!” he exclaimed, pushing his wet hair back off his forehead and laughing. But the laugh was cut short by a violent shiver, and he rubbed his arms. “Is it just me, or is it real cold all of the sudden?”

T’Pol consulted her scanner. “The air temperature has dropped fifteen degrees, and we are both drenched.” She changed a setting on the scanner and pointed it at him. “Your core body temperature has decreased.”

“And maybe it’s just the light, but, uh...your lips are lookin’ a little yellow. I’m guessin’ that’s not a good sign?”

She compressed her lips hard, fighting a tremor with all her self-control. “It is not,” she admitted. Trip nodded, sighing.

“You know we’re not gonna warm up in these wet uniforms.” He pulled off his boots and socks, his lip curling at their sodden state, and touched his feet. “Damn,” he said, whistling softly. “Okay, you got a thermal blanket, right?”

“Of course.”

He unzipped his uniform, giving her a blunt look. “We both know what happens next.” She exhaled, nodded, and removed her own boots before opening her uniform top.

“Indeed.”

The next few moments were filled with precise, operational movement. They stripped down to their underwear, hanging their soaked uniforms in front of the small heating unit. T’Pol spread out her sleeping bag, unrolled the thermal blanket, and that was when they looked at each other, damp, disheveled, and half naked. “No different than decon,” he said, as if trying to convince himself.

“Not at all,” she replied, in a similar spirit.

They were still looking at each other.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you in your skivvies before,” he pointed out.

“Likewise.”

She couldn’t contain it anymore – she wrapped her arms around herself, shaking. Trip sighed heavily, lay down, and held the thermal blanket open for her. “C’mon, T'Pol. Before we both die of exposure.”

Reticence was illogical. They were fellow officers, and adults, and when she lay beside him and realized he was shivering just as hard as she was, she felt a whisper of self-directed disapproval. This was necessary.

And yet -

“Are you involved in a romantic relationship with anyone, Commander?” she asked. He turned his head sharply to stare at her.

“Excuse me?”

“I ask because I would not wish our current...circumstance to be problematic for you.”

“I…” He continued to stare at her. “Okay, first off – this is about as romantic as dental work, and two-” He shrugged slightly. “No. I’m not. I...was seein’ somebody, but her enthusiasm for a very long-distance relationship didn’t last long.” He pursed his lips, tongue thrust into his cheek. “You interested? Cuz I’m on the market.” She leveled an eyebrow at him, and he looked contrite. “Sorry, sorry, I just...I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable.”

“You must be frequently uncomfortable.”

He rolled his eyes, but if she wasn’t mistaken, a little smile was hovering around his lips. “Whoever said Vulcans don’t have a sense of humor never met you.” He wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his side, tucking the thermal blanket closer around them. After a moment, he chuckled, and she looked at him for explanation. “We’re a burrito,” he snickered. At her blank look, he added, “It’s an Earth food, it gets served wrapped in foil, and I thought… Well, it was funnier in my head.”

“I’m sure.”

“Don't make me revoke your sense of humor card.”

“What a terrible thing that would be.”

He angled his head to give her an unexpectedly discerning look. “Do you make jokes when you're uncomfortable, Sub-Commander?”

“I do not make jokes.”

He didn’t look like he believed her. “Uh-huh. Sure.”

They were silent then, listening to the rain taper off, gone almost as soon as it had arrived, letting the thermal blanket and their combined body heat do their work. And T'Pol found herself reflecting that it was not unpleasant to be this close to him. The texture of his skin felt good against her cheek, and he smelled like rain, and his heartbeat was oddly soothing, a slow double pulse, even and regular. How did humans survive with such a languid circulatory system? No wonder they always seemed to lack proper blood flow to their brains.

There's a joke for you, Mister Tucker, she thought. But before she could tell it, she was asleep.

She was warm when she woke, a warmth that soaked into her bones. She was curled against to the source of that warmth, breathing in a scent that hovered at the edge of pleasing familiarity, cradled close by gentle arms. What had-?

Rain, and cold, and Trip. She was in Trip's arms, curled against Trip's body, her hand resting on his left pectoral, fingers stroking his chest hair. Why was she doing that?

It felt good, her senses told her, just as his hand resting on her hip felt good.

His hand on her hip?

Yes, that was most certainly where it was.

She must have shifted slightly in her surprise, because he stirred, tightening his arms around her, and turned his head slightly, just far enough to press his lips to her forehead.

T'Pol sat up with a speed best measured in kilometers per second. Trip stirred again, rubbing his eyes, actually waking this time. “What time is it?”

“The sun has risen,” she said. “I am certain the rest of the away party will be up soon.”

“Probably.” He scrubbed his face with his hands, then patted at their uniforms, hanging near his head. “Good thing our clothes are dry.” He looked at her, and their eyes met, and held, and wasn't it strange, some part of her mind remarked, how much one could see in the eyes of another?

“Are we okay, T'Pol?” he asked softly.

She straightened her shoulders. “We are, Commander.”

They returned to Enterprise a few hours later, and that evening, she was grateful to retire to her quarters to meditate and sleep in her own bunk. Trip obviously had no recollection of what he had done still half-asleep; either that or he did and was embarrassed by it. Regardless, she would not broach the subject – it had obviously been some sort of unconscious reflex on his part and it was best to leave it at that.

But still there was some small, strange, sourness lurking at the edges of her mind. As she stared into the flame of her candle, she seized it, the sooty little spike of ill-feeling, and dragged it forward for closer examination.

Some other had been in his arms, and on some quiet morning, he had pulled her close and drowsily kissed her. Who had that fortunate bedmate been, and did she know her folly?

She blinked, nonplussed. What a bizarre, illogical thought. Hardly worth the effort of consideration. She dismissed it, closing her eyes to complete her meditation.

But as she lay in her bed, the memory of his eyes, resting on her as if what he saw pleased him, lingered. And the sound of his heart, and its slow doubled beat. And the sensation of his arms, warm and enfolding. What would it be like-?

She rolled over. No more of that.

#fic #trip x t'pol #trip tucker #t'pol #star trek enterprise #a wild trope appears!