#and looks back at first—who can only point at himself indignantly

[springwitch26]

your writing is so fucking hot and perfect! pls can I request a fic where mel ends up getting possessive and jealous after seeing someone hitting on her girlfriend (reader) at abbott and when they get home, melissa makes sure that her girl knows that belongs to her and nobody else.

(featuring a lot of rough sex and some cute aftercare cuz we all love jealous schemmenti. 🤭)

a dangerous emotion (melissa schemmenti x fem!reader)

summary: when the new substitute teacher hits on you in front of melissa, you face the dirty consequences of her jealousy.

warnings: smut (18+), jealous sex, aggressive male flirting, mel threatens violence (it's melissa), squirting, like one mention of marking

notes: the sleepy witch is back. hope you like this one anon, sorry if i left it in the oven too long. also sorry for any other deficiencies tbh writing is a struggle rn. bonus points to whoever can spot the gay joke 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 friendly fire.

if looks could kill, this fucking guy would be a pile of ash by now.

the teachers' lounge was uncharacteristically quiet. the tv had been muted; nobody cared to watch the morning news. all eyes flickered between you and the new male teacher on one side of the room, and your seething girlfriend on the other.

the redhead was visibly furious from the moment he walked in the door, eyes dragging down your body in your flowery sundress and matching tights.

"happy first day to me," he murmured to himself, thinking nobody would hear it. it took all of melissa's self-control and professionalism not to punch his lights out.

"spring looks good on you, sweetie," he drawled from behind you as you poured coffee from the communal pot into your favorite mug.

the hem of your dress floated up as you spun around to face him, and he licked his lips. you didn't notice it, but melissa did. her hands tightened into fists in her lap.

"thank you," you smiled warmly at the man in an attempt to be polite. he was tall and stocky, probably just a few years older than you. he seemed like the kind of guy who was used to getting whatever he wanted from women—with his handsome yet cocky grin and large arms crossed in front of his chest. "are you new here?"

"yep, and i like what i see already," he threw you a wink and you looked down at the floor. you heard melissa cracking her knuckles in the background. she only did that when she was holding back, either from pouncing on you or swinging at somebody else. "i'm jesse. i'll be teachin' math up on the second floor until ms. summers gets back from maternity leave.

"well, jesse, welcome to abbott," you said sweetly, hoping to escape this conversation and join your girlfriend on the couch. "i'm a first-grade teacher, so i won't be seeing you much. but it's nice to meet y—"

"actually, i was hoping you'd show me around," he cut you off, taking a few steps toward you. "if i get lost in this building, my preteen students will never let me live it down."

"oh, um..."

before you could finish your thought, he leaned in and whispered something in your ear. melissa saw the whole exchange, enraged at this man's audacity to even breathe in your direction. you were her girl. everybody knew that. and it was time for this guy to learn.

but when melissa stood up to confront him, you did something that made her see red: you walked out with him. the other teachers noticed her anger, of course, and tried to calm her down.

"melissa, relax," barbara said, gently pulling on her best friend's hand and guiding her to sit back down. "he's harmless."

"harmless?" melissa repeated indignantly. "barb, he was lookin' at her like he wanted to bend her over the damn table!"

"you look at her like that all the time..." gregory muttered, and melissa raised an eyebrow at him in accusation. he shrugged and averted his gaze.

"i look at her like i love her!" melissa insisted. "and she's my girlfriend. i get to look at her however i want. this jamie—"

"jesse," janine corrected.

"—can't just walk in and start undressin' her with his eyes!"

"if it helps, i can keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't do anything untoward," jacob offered. "i'm pretty much the big dog on the second floor these days. i can set him straight if it comes to that."

"you couldn't even set yourself straight," melissa fired back, and jacob gave the camera a defeated look. "what, you think i can't handle this myself?"

"well, it's just that... jealousy is a dangerous emotion on you," jacob answered tentatively.

"jealousy? what am i, some kinda teenager? i don't get jealous."

"i don't know, you seemed pretty jealous at pecsa last year when the keynote speaker gave y/n his room number," gregory pointed out.

"he was just annoying."

"you poured your math-a-rita on his white suit jacket," janine chimed in.

"the jabroni shouldn't have worn white to a bar!"

"melissa, i know you're protective of y/n, but she's a grown woman capable of making her own decisions," barbara said, placing a comforting hand over the redhead's clenched fists. "she doesn't seem to have a problem with the man. at some point, you just need to trust her judgment."

"yeah, she and i are going to have a little conversation about her judgment when she gets back."

"whose judgment?" you asked as you strode back into the break room, jesse following close behind.

when your question was met with silence and anxious looks from your friends, jesse took hold of your hand and brought it to his lips.

"thanks for the tour, cutie," he said after pressing a chaste kiss to the back of your hand.

"thank you," you replied, shifting uneasily and look over your shoulder in anticipation of melissa's reaction. she didn't keep you waiting long.

"hey, hon," melissa approached the two of you, then hooked an arm around your waist and pulled you close. "the kids'll be here in half an hour, do you wanna go prep your classroom for the science lab?"

"i did that last night," you replied, not taking the hint.

"of course you did," mel cooed and planted a kiss behind your ear. jesse quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "maybe i just want some alone time with my lovely girlfriend before i start my day. that okay with you?"

you nodded sheepishly and leaned in to her. you could feel her possessive anger in her tough grip on your waist, could see it in the subtle wild edge to her green eyes. despite being in deep trouble, you still relaxed into the warmth of her casual touch and the familiar scent of patchouli on her skin.

jesse took a step back, opening his mouth as if to say something and sighing instead. as you and melissa exited the breakroom, jesse tried one more time to get your attention.

"hey, if you need any more—"

"i think we're good, janine," melissa cut him off with a dismissive gesture.

"it's jesse," the man sighed with a frustrated look at the camera.

---

"what the hell was that, huh?" melissa had you pinned up against her classroom door before you could even process what was happening. "you're givin' free tours now?"

"n-no!" you stammered frantically, squirming with unease (and excitement) at the fiery confrontation. "not free! i only did it so he would give me the extra chairs from his classroom. you know i've been down a few since the eighth graders tried to make 'chairing' a thing, and i can't let my kids spend another day on the floor. it's not fair!"

"how many times have i told you, i can get you anything you need?"

"yeah, and where's your 'chair guy' now? at least jesse can finish the job!"

oh, you fucked up. you knew it the moment the words left your mouth. melissa eased off of you physically, but her intense glare kept you frozen in place.

"we'll talk about this when we get home. i love you; don't forget it," melissa pecked your cheek and you cocked your head, confused at her sudden tranquility. she moved to whisper in your ear. "because tonight, i'm takin' all my jealousy out on you."

---

you had the misfortune of running into jesse one more time before the day was done. he wolf-whistled from behind you as you walked briskly from your classroom to the lobby, ready to meet melissa and head home.

melissa might have broken his nose if jacob and gregory hadn't been there to hold her back. in fact, she was a split-second away from swinging when jacob took hold of her dominant wrist, shaking his head. gregory followed suit with the other.

the redhead tried to wrench her arms free and glared sternly at the young men when she couldn't. sensing her frustration, you hurried over to her. melissa's gaze softened as soon as she saw you leaning over the counter. you gave jacob and gregory an appreciative nod.

the pair let go of her arms and you took her hands in yours. "let's go home," you said.

the two of you walked out of the building as jacob and gregory approached jesse.

"she's not interested, if you're still wondering," jacob said, patting jesse's shoulder in mock sympathy.

"should be pretty obvious by now," gregory added.

"first day, and you pissed off my scariest teacher and my favorite?" ava said while strutting out of her office. "nice career move, jason," she snarked. the teachers gave her a bewildered look. "what? i pay attention!"

---

once you got home, it all happened in a blur. melissa's possessive rage had you slipping into that fuzzy, pliable headspace before she even slammed the bedroom door behind you.

you couldn't concentrate on much besides her forceful touch, fingers digging into your hips and mouth sucking bruises into your neck. her low voice cut through the static occasionally, but she seemed to be venting to herself rather than you.

"mine..." her fingernails dug into the flesh of your waist. "touchin' my girl..." she spaced out the words between nips to your neck. "gotta mark you up, let the whole world know..." she landed a hard swat on your ass, then shoved you off of her. "on the bed."

---

"remind me again what he said when you spilled coffee on your shirt," melissa growled from above you. you were spread out on her bed, naked with your legs kept apart by turquoise ropes tied to the bedposts.

"he said, 'feel free to take it off. i wouldn't complain about the view,'" you whispered back.

"and you just let that slide, hm? you entertained him knowin' all he wanted was an eyeful of your tits?"

"yes, melissa."

"i'm sorry, does someone need a reminder of who owns her? i'm happy to provide, sweet girl. tell me," she dipped a finger into your folds and stroked you lightly, "who gets you this wet?"

"you do, ah, only you," you whimpered as she caressed you.

"uh-huh," she cooed, sounding unsatisfied still. "that's right, baby. and i'm the only one who gets to see you like this."

she gripped your hips harshly before gliding her hands up to your chest. she kneaded the swollen flesh of your tits and then zeroed in on your nipples, tweaking and tugging on them.

"that fucker," melissa began, breathing heavily. "will never know how soft these are."

you shook your head in frantic agreement as she massaged you. one of her hands slipped down between your legs again.

"he'll never hear how your breath catches in your throat when your clit's touched," she whispered, beginning to rub soft circles into your bundle of nerves. "or—" she withdrew suddenly and gave your pussy a swat, "how you cry at a spanking."

her jealous attitude had you soaked and sensitive. you were already close when she brought two fingers to your entrance and pushed in.

"and if he ever even imagines the face you make when you come, that pretty little lip bite you do," melissa pumped and curled her fingers roughly, "i'll take edith houghton to'm."

her speed quickly picked up and soon she was diving into you with force, bullying your g-spot with her fingertips.

"come. now," she ordered, and you fell over the edge. you spasmed around her fingers as she drove them in and out of you. she smirked with pride as she looked down at you.

but when you got too sensitive and started to squirm away from her touch, she doubled down. she pumped her fingers faster, and dipped down to suckle on your clit. you cried out. it felt like you were on fire, but the burn was oh so delicious.

"and he'll never guess what happens when you get all sensitive..." she picked her head up momentarily to say this before sucking hard on your nub and crooking her fingers inside you.

you felt the burn rise into a hot tidal wave. a flood of warm liquid spilled out of you. melissa helped you through it before withdrawing her touch, her hands retreating to your thighs. she looked down at you fondly, smiling with only a tiny bit of smug satisfaction.

"god, i love when you do that," she mused, smiling at your dazed, pretty, happy face. "it's like a gift just for me."

a gift. happy first day to me, he had said.

now reminded, melissa was pissed again. but the venom of her jealousy had trickled away, and now all that remained was an urgent need to give you the love and care you deserved.

"but you said somethin' earlier about 'finishing the job.' and i just feel like my job isn't finished, sweetheart," she smiled and cupped your cheeks. "how's a bubble bath sound?"

"mm-hmmm," you managed, fucked out and delirious.

---

"i really wasn't jealous, ya know," melissa murmured into your ear as you snuggled into bed, her chest pressed against your back.

"i find that hard to believe. i mentioned his name and you ripped my panties," you teased.

"okay, maybe a little bit."

"30 percent?"

"20."

"25."

"fine."

"then what was the other 75 percent?"

"i guess it just pisses me off when people don't treat you right. you're a beautiful angel, not a sex doll."

"i don't want you to feel... to feel like you have to take care of me all the time."

"baby girl, you know i don't do things i don't wanna do. you're the love of my life. i wanna spend every minute treatin' you like a princess."

#melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti fanfic #fanfic #abbott elementary fanfic #wlw smut #melissa schemmenti x y/n #melissa schemmenti smut #melissa schemmenti x you

[pedrithink]

pedri and y/n doing the tiktok trend where they tell each other their icks 🫶

icks ✩ pedri gonzález

summary: you do the "icks about eachother" trend with pedri.

requested: yes/no

“So…today we are going to talk our icks about eachother." You put the phone in a way that you and Pedri appear on the screen. "Who goes first?"

"I'll go first." Pedri takes out his notebook and speaks seriously. "When you speak in a baby voice."

You widen your eyes and point accusingly at him. "You do that too."

He makes a derisive look and shakes his head in denial at the camera. "Too much." He nudges your waist. "Go ahead, say yours."

"When you make fun of my eyebrow after I've had my henna done." You say, turning to face him, and Pedri holds back a laugh. "It hurts my feelings." You can't hold your laughter after looking at him.

"Okay, second…" You open your mouth pretending to be disappointed by his lack of reaction and interrupt, "Hey, we're still on this. It hurts my feelings."

He turns to you again and speaks with an arched eyebrow. "When you talk like a baby, it gets annoying sometimes."

"Okay, live with it." Pedri lets out a broken laugh and shakes his shoulders. "Okay, live with my chirping then."

"Oh my God, I hate you so much. Tell the second one." You close your face jokingly and he leaves a kiss on your shoulder before continuing.

Pedri straightens his posture. "Doesn't have an inside voice at the gym, I'm trying to help her and I'll everybody starts staring at me in the gym after hearing 'fuck off, Pedri.'" He says with an expression of false anger and you let out a loud laugh after remembering this event.

"It was a one time thing." You try to defend yourself and he raises his arms to express his indignation.

"And it only took one to traumatize me."

You jokingly push him away. "OH MY GOD, this is such a big one." You turn to say it looking into his eyes. "When you call me 'mami' when it's not sexy time." He starts to laugh and you continue, "That's not okay, it's gross." You point to the camera. "It's a turn off."

"Shut up, you literally like it." He tries to defend himself. "Everything I do is a turn off to you." The indignant tone of his voice and the way he rolls his eyes, you can only laugh at the situation. "Anyways, when you tell a story and it's not right."

You open your mouth indignantly and look at the camera while denying with your head. "Like she will literally tell a story like it happened and I'm like that's not how it went." He says as he waves his hands. "Like, that's so annoying. Tell how it is like."

You grimace at the camera. "My 3rd point, he's not mature." You say it with the intention of teasing him and smile when you see his surprised reaction. "I'm 1 year younger than him and I'm more mature than him." You say with a pout. "He acts like he's 5 years old."

He looks at you and lets an indignant laugh escape his lips. "My 3rd point, she always thinks I'm mad at her and that's annoying as fuck." He says this while facing the camera and you let a light slap on his head. "My 4th point…"

You interrupt him and face him with a shocked expression. "What? This is the other thing." You turn to the camera again. "How is he…he literally just got the notebook and just started writing." You make an expression of writing. "I'm sitting there for 20 minutes trying to figure it out. I only have 4 points down and you're going to the 5th." He turns his notebook to the screen to show that there are actually six and makes a fond face while you get even more indignant. "Like, mine are nice. My 4th one is 'you say sorry for no reason'. Like that's so nice and you're over here ripping me up."

You say all this with an angry expression and he stares at you, holding his laughter. "This is why I told you I didn't wanna make the tiktok because now you're gonna be all mad and upset."

"I'm going to break up with him." You point your thumb at him and say it with a serious expression.

Pedri just grabs you and kisses your cheek, "I love you even with all those flaws." He says it in a funny tone of voice.

"I love you too, idiot." You leave a kiss on his mouth and turn to the camera again. "Now you're going to go without sex for a month to see if you can stop fooling around."

Pedri shuts his mouth immediately and stares at you with his expression extremely shocked. "Love, we don't joke about sex."

"Who says I'm joking?" You turn to him with your most serious expression and control yourself not to laugh at his desperate face.

"I'm never recording Tiktok with you again.' He stands up abruptly and walks out of the video with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

#football imagine #football one shot #football fanfic #football x reader #pedri x you #pedri x reader #pedri imagine #pedri one shot #pedri #pedri fluff #pedri gonzalez

[cyren-myadd]

Can we get a story with spider and one of the recoms getting into a prank war until Quaritch has enough and has to use his dad voice to tell them to cut it out

Great prompt anon!

3k words 🚨TW: foul language🚨

It was taco day in the cafeteria. Quaritch wasn’t really a fan of tacos, but his squad was back in Bridgehead for the day and they needed fuel. Besides, Quaritch had a headache coming on in anticipation of the mind-numbing meeting he had to attend with Ardmore after lunch, so he didn’t have the energy to find any other type of food. So, tacos it was.

Quaritch grabbed a recom-sized plate for himself as well as a human-sized one for Spider, before tromping back to the human-sized table his squad had commandeered. They looked a little ridiculous, squatting on the table which looked like it was meant for children next to them. Despite being the right size to sit in the seats, Spider opted to sit on top of the table with the others. When Quaritch set the tray of food down in front of Spider, he eyed it warily. Spider had grown up in the jungle, presumably eating a mix of whatever the natives ate and dehydrated MREs left behind by the RDA. For all Quaritch knew, Spider didn’t even know what a taco was.

His suspicion was confirmed a few minutes later when Spider asked, “what the hell is that?”

“It’s a taco.” Quaritch replied tiredly. He pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stave off the impending headache.

“I know what a taco is!” Spider said indignantly. “I don’t know what that is,” he clarified, pointing to a serving of sour cream set on the side of his tray.

“Oh,” Quaritch hummed in understanding. Last time he checked, there weren’t lots of places to find sour cream out in the jungle, so it made sense Spider wouldn’t recognize it. “That right there is—”

“It’s ice cream!” Wainfleet jumped in before he could finish his sentence.

“Really?” Spider’s eyes lit up. He didn’t know what sour cream was, but somehow, he knew about ice cream. Go figure.

Even perched atop the table with the rest of the recoms, Spider’s eyeline was so low that the exasperated look Quaritch shot Wainfleet literally went over his head. Wainfleet just gave his commanding officer a shit-eating grin in response. Today was the first day since Spider had “joined the team” that Spider hadn’t cussed someone out or thrown a fit about something. It looked like Wainfleet was determined to keep the streak going.

“Oh yeah, buddy, tacos and ice cream is everybody’s favorite lunch back on earth. Go ahead and try some!” Wainfleet encouraged, barely holding back a laugh. The other recoms glanced over at his words, their lips twitching in amusement at Spider’s ignorance.

Before Quaritch could decide whether or not to intervene, Spider took a huge bite of pure sour cream. His eyes bugged out wide as he gagged on the sour cream, and the whole table exploded into laughter at his expense. The only ones who weren’t laughing were Quaritch, who looked like he wanted an aspirin, or maybe a couple of shots of whiskey if aspirin wasn’t available, and Spider, whose face flushed pink from anger and embarrassment.

“That wasn’t ice cream!” He cried.

“Yeah, no shit! It’s sour cream, dumbass,” Wainfleet wheezed, “oh, god, you shoulda seen the look on your face!”

“I can show him,” Z-dog said with a wicked grin as she brandished her tablet, “I got it on video.”

The whole table howled with renewed bouts of laughter as Z-dog replayed Spider’s hilarious reaction on screen. Now Spider’s ears burned pink to match the rest of his face, the way they did whenever he was about to pitch a fit. Quaritch groaned in anticipation of another day filled with teenage attitude. And the morning had gone so peacefully too.

“You’re an asshole!” Spider yelled. He snatched a taco off his plate and reared back to throw it right at Wainfleet’s bald dome of a head.

“No!” With reflexes that only came from parenting an unruly child, Quaritch managed to grab Spider’s wrist and before he sent the would-be missile sailing at its shiny, blue target.

“But he—” Spider began to protest, only for Quaritch to cut him off with a look. He huffed and muttered something that was no doubt very rude in Na’vi, but wisely decided not to protest any further.

“Alright, that’s enough. Are you soldiers or a pack of fucking hyenas?” Quaritch asked his squad.

Finally, the big blue idiots shut up, their faces ranging on a scale from scolded to shameless. Despite being the one who nearly caused a food fight, Wainfleet looked the most shameless of them all. “Aww, c’mon, boss. It was just a harmless prank!”

“Whatever it was, it’s over. Get your shit together. We have a meeting in ten,” said Quaritch. The look in his eyes was enough of a warning for the recoms to sober up and finish eating.

Beside him, Spider grumbled under his breath again, but this time Quaritch’s sharp ears caught what he said. “A prank, huh?”

A sinking feeling settled into Quaritch’s stomach. Something told him this was just the beginning of a huge headache— one that had nothing to do with the one brewing behind his eyes.

***

The next day, the recoms were out in the jungle to continue their “field training” while they waited for any intel on Sully. To Quaritch’s relief, Spider had been in an uncharacteristically good mood all day, obeying orders and keeping his snarkiness to a minimum. It seemed like yesterday’s sour cream prank had been forgotten. He checked his watch and noted how late it was getting. Well, what do you know? It was almost time to call it a night and Spider had been on his best behavior all day. Maybe today would be the first day without having a Spider-related crisis. The thought made his lips twitch upwards in the barest hint of a smile.

When he heard a muffled scream followed by Spider laughing like a maniac, his smile went away.

“Jesus Christ,” he grumbled as he turned to see Spider sprint into the little camp they’d set up, an impish grin on his face. “What did you do?”

In answer, Spider just laughed even harder. Quaritch was saved from interrogating him by Wainfleet stomping into camp a moment later, effectively answering his question. A huge, furry yellow mass protruded from his mouth, like he’d tried to swallow a cat whole, and in one hand he held a plant that looked an awful lot like a cattail— a cattail with a bite taken out of it, revealing fluffy yellow insides.

It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together, but Quaritch asked anyway. “Wainfleet, what the hell did you do?”

Wainfleet angrily pointed his cattail at Spider like a spear and tried to say something, but all that came out of his mouth was more yellow fuzz. He doubled over, hacking and wheezing around the plant matter. It almost seemed to defy the laws of physics how much fluff kept coming out of his mouth. Just when you’d think there couldn’t possibly be more, another round of the stuff would appear.

Spider was wheezing almost as hard as Wainfleet was from how hard he was laughing. “I told— I told him— it was like a— a— Na’vi corndog!”

“And you believed him?” Quaritch asked Wainfleet exasperatedly.

Wainfleet gave him a sheepish shrug as he tried to spit out the never-ending stream of plant fur. At this point, the rest of the recoms noticed his plight, and soon everyone except for Quaritch joined Spider in laughing their asses off at him. Z-dog whipped out her tablet and started filming. As they laughed and jeered, Wainfleet’s tail whipped behind him and his ears flattened against his skull. He let out another muffled roar and made a violent gesture at Spider like he wanted to wring his neck. The furious look in his eyes wasn’t enough to make Spider stop laughing, but it was enough to send him scurrying behind Quaritch. This move proved wise when Wainfleet lunged for Spider a moment later, and was stopped by Quaritch’s disappointed scowl.

“Alright, that’s enough everybody! We need to secure the camp before dark!” Quaritch barked before turning to Wainfleet. “You, go clean that shit outta your mouth, and you,” he frowned down at Spider, who was trying very hard to look like he wasn’t hiding behind him for protection, “better not start lying to us about what these plants do. I catch you giving us something that ain’t safe to eat again and I’ll beat you ‘til you don’t need those stripes to look blue anymore.”

“Aww, c’mon, it’s not like I gave him something poisonous!” Spider whined. “It was just a prank.”

Just a prank. The sinking feeling returned to Quaritch’s stomach, along with his headache. Why did he have a feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time he heard that?

(A/N: for anyone who needs a visual, this is what happened to Wainfleet: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JFKAEnIwtLg)

***

It was less than twenty-four hours before the next prank. The following morning, as they broke camp and prepared the ikran to travel, a piercing scream broke the silence. Quaritch was rearranging Cupcake’s saddlebags when he heard the cry and instantly recognized Spider’s voice. He’d never moved so fast in his life. One minute, he was on the edge of their camp and the next he was at Spider’s side, ready to destroy whatever had dared to make him scream like that. His panic quickly turned to anger when instead of a threat, he found Wainfleet guffawing loudly while Spider cussed him out in a mix of Na’vi and English. Quaritch’s fists shook ever so slightly from how badly Spider’s scream had scared him. He’d gotten so scared it made him feel sick to his stomach, only for it to turn out to be another damn prank. A low growl rose in his throat, but Spider and Wainfleet were too wrapped up in their prank war to notice.

“What the hell even is this?” Spider asked as he angrily pulled something out of his sleeping bag: an evil-looking bug that would’ve been frightening if it wasn’t made of plastic.

“It’s a spider, Spider. What, you don’t like it? Why’d you name yourself after something you don’t like?” Wainfleet chuckled.

“You’re such a dick!” Spider reared back to hurl the fake spider at him, but Quaritch snatched it out of his hand before he could. With a snarl, he chucked the hunk of plastic as far off into the jungle as he could.

“Hey!” Wainfleet protested as his toy disappeared into the undergrowth.

Both Spider and Wainfleet turned to look at Quaritch with matching petulant expressions over having their spat interrupted, but the glower Quaritch gave them was so intense all their childish protests instantly died in their throats.

“Ikran. Now.” Quaritch hissed through clenched teeth.

They made the wise choice to say, “yes sir,” and obey him without complaint. Any other answer would’ve ended with somebody getting chucked into the woods after the toy spider.

***

Quaritch made the mistake of assuming his anger at them in the morning would be enough to bring the prank war to an armistice. That evening, Spider launched his counterattack. When Wainfleet went to lay down for the night, he let out a shriek of disgust at finding a creepy-crawly in his bedroll. It was exactly like what he’d done to Spider, except for one important difference. His unwanted visitor wasn’t made from harmless plastic— and neither were its fangs.

“That’s it!” Wainfleet roared after he’d been bitten on the hand by the Pandoran creature. “I’m gonna teach that little brat a lesson!”

Spider started snickering from across the camp when he heard Wainfleet’s furious voice, but he sobered up fast once he realized Wainfleet wasn’t joking about his threat this time. Once Wainfleet started stomping towards him like an angry titanothere, Spider made the smart choice to make himself scarce. He bolted for the nearest cover, which just so happened to be Quaritch’s tent.

Quaritch was in the middle of writing a status report to Ardmore when he heard Wainfleet start hollering and decided to ignore it. He would deal with those idiots later. Unfortunately, “later” came much sooner than he would have liked when he found himself with a sweaty human teenager scrambling over him to hide in the back of the tent. Bony elbows and knees somehow found the most painful places to land, and a dirty foot sent his tablet flying out of the tent.

“Boy, are you out of your goddamn mind?” Quaritch roared.

Spider slunk into the furthest corner of the tent like a cornered animal. “Sorry.”

An instant later, Wainfleet’s head poked into the tent. His eyes glossed over Quaritch like he wasn’t even there and landed on Spider. “Get back here!”

“No way!” Spider snapped back. The two of them quickly devolved into a shouting match with Quaritch stuck in the middle, completely ignored.

“It’s too late to hide now, you little shit! Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it back.”

“You’re the one who can’t take it back! All I did was finish what you started!”

“I didn’t use a real bug!” Wainfleet waved his hand, which had a swollen insect bite on the palm.

“Sounds like you’re just a pussy!”

“You little bastard!”

“That is enough!” Quaritch’s roar interrupted the shouting match before it could get physical. His gruff voice carried a deep authority to it that instantly cowed the two pranksters. Once he was sure he had their attention, he started dressing them down like he should’ve done yesterday. “You two have been acting like toddlers ever since you started this ridiculous prank war and I’m sick of it! Wainfleet, you’re a grown man for Christ’s sake. The boy is here to teach us and he can’t do that if you keep fucking around with him!”

Wainfleet’s ears drooped down in shame and he murmured an apology. Spider smirked at him.

“And what are you looking so smug for, huh?” Quaritch asked, and his smirk vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “Did you forget you only get to stay out here so long as you behave yourself? You gotta be smarter than this, kid. Not everyone is gonna be as lenient with you as I am, and you’ll get yourself in deep shit acting a fool like this. If I was anybody else, your ass would already be back in Ardmore’s custody, do you understand that?”

Spider squirmed in place at the uncomfortable reminder and also murmured an apology.

“You two are done pranking each other, got it?”

“Yes, sir.” They chorused.

“And when we get back to base, you’re gonna scrub down the latrines until they’re clean enough to eat off of.”

“Yes, sir.”

***

Spider cursed under his breath as he scrubbed the filthy toilet before him— a recom-sized toilet, complete with recom-sized skid marks. Stupid Wainfleet, stupid prank, stupid toilet! He braced his arms against the toilet seat to get a better angle for scrubbing, but he was scrubbing so hard that he slipped. Spider squealed in horror as he nearly fell face-first into the toilet. He managed to catch himself and avoid an accidental-swirly at the last second.

“This is bullshit!” He hurled his cleaning rag against the wall with a wet THWAP!

A moment later, Wainfleet peered around the edge of the stall. “Can’t believe I’m saying it, but I agree with you. I’m an elite member of fucking project Phoenix, not some dumb grunt. This is a punishment for rookies.”

“Yeah, and I’m not a rookie. I didn’t sign up to get bossed around by Quaritch. I didn’t sign up for this at all!” Spider threw his hands up in frustration at his miserable situation.

“I know Quaritch is the boss around here, but he oughta have a little more respect for his squad.”

“And a little more respect for me too!”

Wainfleet gave Spider a sly look out of the corner of his eyes. He held up a bottle of shaving cream he’d found in the bathroom cabinet. “Hey, kid… what do you say we knock the boss down a peg?”

Spider frowned as he processed Wainfleet’s words before giving him a sly grin of his own. “What do you have in mind?”

***

Spider barely contained his laughter as he and Wainfleet snuck down the hallway to Quaritch's room. Usually, Quaritch took a brief nap after his meetings with Ardmore, which made him a perfect target for their prank: the classic shaving-cream-on-the-hand trick. The two pranksters peeked into Quaritch’s room and saw him fast asleep on his oversized bed.

“Go on, I’m right behind you.” Wainfleet whispered, handing him the shaving cream.

Armed with the shaving cream can, Spider slunk into the room as silently as a thanator on the hunt. He’d played plenty of pranks on Lo’ak and Neteyam growing up, so he knew exactly how to approach a sleeping Na’vi without setting off their sensitive hearing. Once he was close enough, he saw Quaritch lying with his hand splayed, palm facing up, right next to his face. He couldn’t have asked for a better set up. Spider took a moment to compose himself before filling Quaritch’s empty palm with a big, fluffy dollop of cream. If he laughed now, the prank would be ruined.

After the set-up was complete, Spider turned to Wainfleet, ready for him to finish the job. He wasn’t there. Spider frowned in confusion when he realized that Wainfleet was still standing in the doorway instead of right behind him like they’d planned.

Once Wainfleet saw he was looking, he gave Spider a devious grin and slowly started to close the door. Spider’s jaw dropped as he realized what Wainfleet was doing.

“Wainfleet, no!” He whispered as loud as he dared. Spider lunged for the door, but he was way too late.

CLICK! The sound of the door locking echoed in the quiet room, shortly followed by Wainfleet’s muffled laughs from the otherside.

“Wainfleet!” Spider hissed desperately as he tried to open the locked door.

The next sound he heard was that of Quaritch waking up and realizing his hand was full of shaving cream. His holler could be heard all throughout Bridgehead:

“MILES JAVIER SOCORRO!”

#cyren myadd writes #avatar #atwow #spider socorro #miles quaritch #avatar the way of water #avatar spider #colonel quaritch #avatar fanfiction #ao3 #recom lyle wainfleet #lyle wainfleet

[krisdreaming]

Pairing: Miya Atsumu x gn!reader

Summary: Atsumu gets you a little something to keep you from feeling quite so lonely when he's away

WC: 673

A/N: Tbh, I know this isn't my best work, but it was a fun little drabble to write. I just need to get my feet wet again! Also I can't tell you why but Atsumu has seriously become one of my favorite boys to write for :')

Atsumu's fingers are pressed over your eyes, and judging by your slow, shuffling path, he's guiding you into the living room. All he's said from the moment he got home is that he has a surprise for you, and you can't help but feel a little apprehensive. With him, there's no guessing what it might be. You can only hope he hadn't decided to paint the entire living room some garish color while you were at work.

"Okay," He says slowly the moment you feel yourself pass through the living room doorway. He slides his fingers from your eyes, and you find yourself staring at - nothing. He has you pointed at the couch, and the living room looks exactly as it had that morning when you'd left for work. Not a single throw pillow is out of place. You feel your brow begin to knit in confusion.

"What the - hold on!" He yelps, suddenly dropping to his hands and knees and peering under the couch. He crawls to the TV stand and looks underneath it next.

"Atsumu?" You're wondering if this is it - the moment when your boyfriend finally loses his mind.

"The li'l monster got away!" You hear him mutter to himself as he shuffles to the other side of the TV stand. "This isn't how it was supposed ta go!" He calls to you over his shoulder, at the very moment that you feel something brush past your ankle. You can't help but let out a yelp.

At the sound, Atsumu swings toward you and lunges at your feet. "Gotcha!" He crows, finally standing and offering you a sheepish smile, a tiny ball of orange fluff clutched in his hands. It lets out a squeaky, perturbed meow, and you clap your hands over your mouth.

"Surprise," He says weakly with a lopsided smile, and you can't help but let out a squeak of your own as you reach for the tiny kitten.

"Look at it!" You coo, carefully lifting it to peer into its face. "What a precious little baby!" Your eyes shift to your boyfriend. "'Tsumu, is this for real?" You ask softly, and he finally steps forward and slides an arm around your waist.

"Yup," He says, pressing a kiss to your check. "So ya like him?"

"Of course I do," You say quickly, "But why - I thought -" He'd been so adamant about waiting to get a pet.

"Well," He reaches for the back of his neck, "I mean, I've got that trip comin' up, and I'll be gone for two weeks, and I couldn't stop thinkin' about ya bein' here all alone. I thought - I thought maybe ya needed someone to keep ya company." He gestures at the cat. "And," His voice drops lower, "Maybe somethin' to snuggle up to at night, if it can't be me," He adds.

"'Tsumu," You transfer the kitten to one hand and sling your other arm around his neck, "Thank you," You whisper. He wraps both arms around you, and soon the kitten is sandwiched between you, meowing indignantly.

"Hey, mister," He says, pulling away just enough to look the kitten in the eye, "Just remember who was here first, eh?"

You can't help but laugh at the look the kitten gives your boyfriend. "I love you," You say finally, tugging him closer for a quick kiss.

"I love you, too." He replies softly against your lips, "Enough to buy ya a cat, apparently," He adds as he pulls away, not quick enough to avoid your swat.

You shoot him a final grin before turning your full attention to the kitten cradled in your arms. "Come on, little guy. Let's get you settled in." He can't help the smile that creeps across his own face as he watches you walk away, crooning to the kitten all the while.

Maybe he should feel jealous of all the attention you'll undoubtedly be paying to the little fluffball, but to see that smile light up your face, he knows he'd do it all over again.

#Haikyuu #Haikyuu fluff #Haikyuu x reader #Haikyuu x you #Atsumu x reader #Miya Atsumu x reader

[bluegoist]

karasu tabito x reader | 1.03 words

a/n: my debut bllk fic ! tbh this was going to be solely a nagi blog but this hasn’t left my mind so i guess everyone just has to suffer with me. the pacing is rather abrupt imo but i hope it's not too... much?

it has been exactly twenty four hours since you’ve last slept.

you’re a person who has strictly follow a good sleep schedule— more often than not irregular but you’d still argue it’s good as you would always get at least 7 hours of sleep, regardless if you start sleep late or early— but right now, one of the most important exams that you have to take is a couple weeks away and you just could not afford to waste a single second in a case you tragically forget everything you’ve worked so hard to study.

you’re pretty certain that your head is spinning and not attaining the knowledge that it wants to. you feel incredibly hazy and distracted for no reason (or maybe it’s the fact that you opt to study without any break whatsoever the past twenty four hours... but you’d rather the ground swallow you up whole than admit that.).

your boyfriend is unaware of the specifics, however, he could tell that you definitely had enough of studying. at least, by the mere fact that he has been to practice, got back, and woke up again just to see you still buried in your notebook then he even waited for a couple more hours just to see if you'd take even a ten minute break or two... of course, to no avail.

suddenly, the usually loving and supportive boyfriend of yours now has his arm up, holding your precious notes hostage. you look up at him, mouth set in a straight line.

“did you actually assume i would jump around like an idiot?” you asked in a withering tone, unimpressed.

“it’d be highly amusing, no?” karasu mockingly asked. pinching the bridge of your nose, a heavy sigh spilling out of your lips, frown apparent on your wrinkled forehead.

“tacchan, my one and only, do not make me strangle you so early in the morning. please, it’s not civilised,” if he was honest, you’re admittedly so adorable, indignantly looking up at him like he’s some sort of scum, but he can never think our loud lest you say something along the lines of ‘if you think i’m so adorable, give me back my notes and leave me alone,’

you signed once more, clenching your eyes tight in hopes the dull ache in your head would subside, “please.”

your boyfriend’s slight smile dropped. karasu tabito have always analysed things surrounding him and you were no exception to that— after all, only after observing and assessing you did he find himself falling for you— therefore, in his mind, he naturally knew your limits and your drive to persevere through it.

but karasu tabito has one fatal flaw— a weakness that takes in a shape of a person; you.

with exaggerated, full body sigh, he skilfully skirted around you to neatly put your notes on the table then before you could react and settle down to begin your studying once more, your boyfriend stopped you by gently grabbing your jaw to shift your focus solely on him. both his hands settling on the sides of your face as he caresses one side of your cheek as he softly smiled.

“yer done,” “no, i—“ he interrupted you with a quiet hush, one hand opting to stop soothing caresses on your cheeks to put his finger on your lips.

“before ya make yer point, listen ta me first, hm? pretty,” closing your eyes briefly as you sigh, you gave in and nodded.

“yer one of— no, the smartest person i know, and normally i wouldn’t take away yer freedom to do whatever ya want whenever ya wanted it. it’s very obvious just how much this nonstop studying you’ve been doing has taken a toll on ya,” his words were gentle, he was highly aware just how sensitive you are right now.

“i know 'tis an important college prep exam but ya can’t get much done if yer so stressed yer suffering. to be honest, i already know you’ll do well despite not studying this hard. you’ll probably get the top rank,”

“you think so?”

“yes, just as it’s always been.” and to be completely true, you are not sure whether it's the total exhaustion or perhaps it’s the simple reassurance your lovely boyfriend has given you after such a long day of laser focusing on whatever it is you were studying but with not much more convincing, you were easily dragged by your own boyfriend to the bathroom to wash up. with gentle hands and an even gentler eyes, he ensured he helped you clean up well and get ready for bed.

the next thing you know, he has dragged you on his bed, laying your head on his chest, as he rubs circles on the exposed skin of your arms.

"genuinely don't get how'd ya even thought of like... failing whatsoever," he grumbled.

"i guess... i just couldn't risk the possibility," you sheepishly replied, "sorry, i'm quite stubborn," you squeezed him once, twice.

"what are ya apologizin' for, scrub! it's one of your redeeming qualities."

"it drives you insane, tacchan."

"love it when ya drive me insane, love everythin' bout ya, little thing." you look up to see your tabito playfully smirking at you, not hiding the absolute affection in his eyes in the slightest.

"i'll probably drive you even more insane in the future..."

"i already look forward ta it," he snickers at you and his eyes promising retribution every time you drove him insane. your boyfriend's tenaciousness is probably the entire reason you both worked out well.

"you're so unserious, you asshole," you clicked your tongue with a mocking glare.

"it's one of ma charming qualities if i say so myself," with his nose high up in the air, you couldn't help but relax even further in his embrace.

"hm.. it is, isn't it?" and you thought; perhaps it's okay to take a break like this and not everything will fall apart just as you'd pathetically imagine.

and perhaps, you'd always have your loving and supportive partner to make up for your rare lack of judgment. perhaps, even though you fall into such a dangerous territory, you'd always have a safety net to back you up.

just as it's always been.

if you made it this far, thank you for finishing this hot mess T-T also i am highly aware that karasu speaks in kansai-ben, however, i did not really do well in depicting that since it’s (surprise) been awhile since i wrote characters with dialects (in english, at least. i’m more familiar with kansai-ben in japanese (as in spoken/romanised) however, it’s quite challenging for me to put that nuance in english since i’m not sure which english dialect i should go with and i think it'd be immensely awkward for me to insert...romanised japanese in a full english fic indiscriminately T-T also tbh i was cringing trying to depict that kansai-ben of this crow cos like... what the hell am i even typing plsdjdjhj anyways um rbs/likes are appreciated i guess but it'd be even greater to know what u guys thought ! again, thank you if you made it this far hehe)

#blue lock imagines #blue lock headcanons #blue lock hcs #blue lock x reader #blue lock x you #blue lock fluff #bllk fluff #bllk x you #bllk headcanons #bllk imagines #bllk x reader #bllk karasu #blue lock karasu #karasu x reader #karasu x you #karasu tabito #karasu tabito x reader #karasu tabito x you #blue lock #bllk #blue lock drabbles #bllk drabbles

[ablogofsapphicpanic]

If you're taking more prompts how about 2. I never thought we’d have a last kiss. For Helion x LOA please. 😊 Thank you.

What's this? Me answering this literally months later and in the middle of the night because I can't sleep and got a stroke of muse for it? More likely than you think.

I hope you enjoy it! It is angsty but lmao, look at the prompt you sent. Idk what people usually put before these so I'm going to shut up now.

Edit: Posted to Ao3 here!

Helion hadn’t been paying attention to where he was walking. There truly weren’t many options for where to go in this wretched place, and even fewer places where there was any inkling of privacy. Not that he expected much these days, with all of Prythian’s courts trapped here by Amarantha. For five years they had suffered Under the Mountain, their people suffered on the surface, with no sign of freedom from the only person who could give it to them.

His absent wandering, probably a poor idea on his part, brought him to an empty room - or nearly empty. It was the red hair that caught his eye first, red hair that had been taunting him for five years now. But what stopped him in his tracks was the russet eyes meeting his for more than a fleeting second. That hadn’t happened for much longer than five years, and it caught him off guard.

The owner of said eyes was seemingly caught off guard as well from the way they widened almost immediately as the door shut behind him, leaving them alone together in the room. She was so close to him, closer than they had been in decades. Since she had left him in the middle of the night and never come back. How they had been found out by Beron, he still didn’t know, but he knew it had happened. What else could explain the sudden shift in her? In them?

“Excuse me, High Lord,” she murmured, breaking his train of thought as she tried to step around him, either not noticing the door on the other end of the room, or wanting to take the quickest exit possible.

Unbidden, his hand reached out and caught Tana’s wrist. His fingers overlapped as his hand closed around the smooth skin there, but his grip was loose enough that she could break it by simply continuing to walk. She didn’t, but she didn’t turn back to look at him again. “High Lord?” he asked, intending for the words to come out teasing, but he knew the hurt broke through. “I don’t recall you ever being so formal with me when -” when we were alone.

“Things were different then, and you didn’t bear the title yet,” Tana replied when he couldn’t finish the sentence, still not looking at him. “High Lord, this is hardly the time or the place for this.”

She was right. They were alone, but that didn’t always mean something down here. The warning in her words was obvious, but he couldn’t stop himself as his thumb trailed light circles over her wrist, disappearing under the deep purple fabric of her sleeve before coming back down to brush over the pulse point there. “And yet, it might be the only place I get to do this. This is as alone as we’ve been for centuries now.”

“Whatever there once might have been, it can hardly continue. Especially not here, not now. Our business together is done, High Lord. I suggest you come to terms with that fact.”

“Business? Is that what you consider our time together?” Helion asked, this time not even trying to mask the hurt as anything else. “Tana, I don’t know what happened, what changed, but it’s not too late -”

“You’re right, you don’t,” she interrupted, finally turning back to face him. But she still didn’t break his grip. It almost seemed as if she shifted closer to him as she turned, so she wouldn’t break it. Like she needed that touch as much as he did. “You don’t know what happened, so you should refrain from making any promises. What we had was a mutually beneficial arrangement, nothing more, that is over now.”

“Nothing more?” he repeated, somewhat indignantly, his eyes searching her face. Her expression remained cold and guarded, and he knew he was showing too much of himself. He never could help it with her. “It certainly seemed like it was more to me - and to you.”

It had been the wrong thing to say by the way something in Tana’s expression snapped. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth tightened, and there was a drawn out silence as she regarded him again. “Whatever it was, it no longer is. Nor will it ever be again,” she said, but there was something behind the cold words that gave his stupid heart that belonged wholly to the female in front of him a spark of hope.

Helion took a half a step closer, allowing himself more of that foolish hope when she didn’t move away in response. His eyes were locked on her expression again, but they dropped down to her lips when they parted in surprise. He forced them back up to meet hers before he spoke again. “I never thought we’d have a last kiss,” he whispered.

Her eyes shuttered in response to his confession, and though she still looked at him, it was as if she refused to see him. “Everything comes to an end. This already has.”

“Tana…” Helion had to actively refrain from tightening his grip. What had he expected? For her to correct him? To say that they hadn’t? That the time would come for their next? He was a fool, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I just want to make things right. To do things right by you.”

“What’s done is done, Helion,” she said. And damn him if hearing Tana say his name after all those years didn’t almost bring him to his knees. “You’d do well to give up on - on the past.” On me, she had been about to say, and he knew it. Just like he knew there was something she was holding back from him, something different from the piece of herself she had always held back before. He regarded her silently, like he might figure out what it was.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she all but demanded when he was silent a beat too long. A force to be reckoned with as she all but expected he change how he saw her in a moment, all because she told him to. She always had been, from the moment they’d met at that fateful ball. He had known then she would be his undoing, but his young, foolish self couldn’t have ever imagined this being how.

“You telling me to give up isn’t going to suddenly make me.” His free hand reached up before she could answer again, and reiterate the words he couldn’t stand to hear again. He couldn’t help himself as his knuckles brushed over her cheek and lingered there. “Let me help you. Whatever it is that you don’t want to ask of me, ask. Please. I know there’s something you won’t say. But there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I thought you knew that.” Her eyes closed for the briefest of seconds as she gave into his touch, whatever barriers she had put up against him beginning to crumble.

Only for them to snap back into place in an instant as the door behind him started to open. Helion turned to look the moment he heard the doorknob twist, his hand falling from her face. She took advantage of his momentary distraction - though he would have let her leave the second she tried to pull away - before the door even cracked an inch, his other hand was closed around empty air. 

When he turned back to look at her, his mouth opening like he might protest, all he saw was a flash of long red hair and purple skirts before the door snapped shut with a resounding click.

#helion x loa #helion x lady of autumn #helion spell cleaver #lady of the autumn court #lady of autumn #my writing #if you don't like it lie and tell me you do

[gremlin-bot]

Dear God, why do you know that name‽

Jason was going to kill Roy, that orange haired fuck. He had better watch his goddamn back. When he told him that he'd been looking for some low-effort games with romance he could play during the very little free time he had, he didn’t expect to be gifted a bunch of raunchy-ass monsterfucker games.

He hates it even more, now that he's gone and gotten invested! Yeah, the main character can be shitty, but the story and concepts had him hooked!

Who wouldn't be fascinated by the implications of a former death god that tends to their garden! Hikmat deserves better than fucking Allen.

Speaking of the Allen in his life, one Tim Drake was bitching about the plan… again. Sometimes the replacement could be so smart, yet still so fucking dumb. It’s not like he wasn’t going to just go against the plan after the meeting, like he always did.

"Hey, discount Allen, if you don't shut up about the plan-" Jason starts, cut off by Tim slapping a hand indignantly to his chest.

"Allen‽ As in the-'' Tim cries vehemently before cutting himself off. Did… did he get the fucking reference? Jason hopes he didn't but going by that slight glare he was getting, Tim absolutely did.

Well, shit. Looks like his actions have consequences today.

"So, we're just gonna ignore that?" Duke asked the now quiet gaggle of bats. Only to be met with a unanimous yes, it seems like the family is tired of both Jason and Tim's bullshit today.

-----------

Tim has so many questions and frankly, he's not sure if he wants answers to most of them. Finding out that Jason has (probably) played the one visual novel where the main character that looks eerily like him gets dicked down by big hot monster men, was not something he expected would happen during a briefing. And by calling him fucking Allen of all things!

Allen‽‽

Allen was an asshat, but Tim could see Jason's point in calling him Allen. He hates it, but he can see it, even if he would never admit it out loud.

This still begs the question of why Jason plays that game. 

What better way to break the tense silence that leached into the atmosphere? It's not like they had anything better to do during their stake out.

"So Hood, are you gonna tell me why you, (presumably), played the raunchy visual novel with a main character that looks a little too much like me?" Tim asked as he scanned the windows of the warehouse once again.

Jason, to his credit, didn't hesitate to answer.

"I don't know Red, why did you play a raunchy visual novel with a main character that looks a little too much like yourself?" Jason sassed back to Tim, who raised an eyebrow in response

They stared each other down, neither willing to cave. Jason broke first.

"We agree to never speak about Allen again?" Jason proposes. Surprising, but still in line for him.

"Is the rest of the game still up for discussion?" Tim inquired thoughtfully. He hasn't been able to talk about the implication of the game's magic systems with anyone and it drove him a little crazy, he’d take anyone at this point.

Jason scoffed,"Of course!"

"Deal." Tim stuck out his hand, shaking Jason’s. "Okay, so Momo-"

"Of-fucking-course you'd go for him!"

#batfamily #tim drake #jason todd #dear monster (visual novel) #dc fanfic

[invisible-storyteller]

Come steady me

(Read it on AO3)

For @tw-anchor-down's Full Moon Round. Pairing: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale Rating: Teen and Up Words: 5620 Summary:  Eli has trouble with his shift, which wouldn't be so embarassing if he wasn't the only one in the family who hasn't found his anchor yet. Then his father gets kidnapped. He's a Stilinski-Hale, though. Was he really expecting to have an easy life?

"I still think you should come with us."

His dad lingered in the doorway like a bad habit he couldn't shake. His eyes were achingly hopeful - something Eli considered one of his dad's greatest weaknesses: seeing more potential in someone than truly existed.

"I made my choice, Dad," Eli stated with perhaps more edge to his voice than intended. It wasn't the effect of the full moon, just the exasperation of this short exchange between them slowly developing into a monthly routine by now. "Just go, have fun. I'll be fine."

His dad nodded with that tight-lipped smile and head duck combo that let Eli know just how reluctant his father's compliance was. It didn't matter much in the end because he was soon disappearing into the woods with two of Eli's siblings on his literal tail and one riding atop his back, while Eli was left sighing wistfully after their retreating forms and enduring the mockery of his own human-looking fingers.

"All wards are up," His tata announced cheerily once the front door's lock slid into place, and he emerged from the kitchen with two highly mounted bowls of popcorn. "So. What are we watching?"

Eli shrugged dejectedly, grabbing one consolation bowl for himself. "What about that new superhero movie with the dude who can manipulate time?"

"Now you're talking my lingo," His tata finger-gunned him as they made their way towards the living room.

"Don't say 'lingo'," Eli grimaced, then pointed to the bowls, "Only two?"

"Your sister's already called dibs on the scoop."

Sure enough, Tally was sprawled out on the couch - looking like a Greek depiction of hedonism - with a tube of ice cream mixed in with jelly beans at the ready. Apparently, four years was enough time to get accustomed to a life with siblings.

"Hey, make space, peasant," Eli ordered as he grabbed hold of his sister's ankles and tossed them off the couch.

"Na-ah, dogs aren't allowed on the couch," Tally grinned, placing her feet back up.

"A dog joke? That's very original."

"You're not my boss," Tally smiled devilishly as she popped a gummy bear into her mouth, "And you never will be because you're not the next alpha in line. Deedee will inherit the power."

"Seriously?" Eli grunted (mostly to no one) and turned to his father with open arms and a face that screamed 'Do something!'.

"You gotta fight your own battles, kiddo," Was his tata's helpful reply from the comfort of his ensured seating. The family's armchair was always reserved for him and Dad, and courageous be the person who breaks that rule.

Eli huffed indignantly, standing directly in front of his sister and blocking her view. "I'll throw popcorn in your hair."

"I'll catch it in my mouth." Tally retaliated, trying to scoot lower to better see the TV.

It was basically a challenge at that point, so Eli couldn't be blamed for throwing a handful at her and then seizing the opportunity to settle onto the couch when she flailed to catch the popcorn bouncing off her face.

"That was cheating," Tally accused petulently, "Tata, Eli cheated!"

"Tallytab, just share the couch with your brother."

Tally glared at Eli with such ferocity even a werewolf would envy, and so Eli very maturely stuck his tongue out at her while their tata searched the new movie up on MetvX.

"You know," Their tata started in that fake-nonchalant tone that set alarms off in Eli's head, "It sure would be better to run in the wild than hang out with your old man and your little sister."

Eli didn't answer at first, partially because it was true, but mostly because they both knew the exact reason why Eli wasn't joining the others on their run. This was the same old topic, and he was getting kind of tired of all the pestering.

"I don't want to ruin their night."

"You wouldn't," His tata reassured, like always.

"But I did," Eli countered, stubbornly refusing to make eye contact with his father, "Twice. First, my powers didn't even manifest and they had to jog beside me and escort me the whole time so I wouldn't twist my ankle. The second time my powers did manifest, and what would you know? I lost control! And almost ate someone's cat. Raw."

"Yucky," Tally grimaced while the movie's intro began to play.

"I am better off here within the wards," Eli mumbled with finality, and thankfully, after a few seconds, his tata conceded and turned his gaze back to the TV.

And Eli definitely didn't spend the entire movie thinking about how cool it would be to run under the moonlight.

***

His parents always insisted that Eli was a late bloomer. In all honesty, Eli wasn't sure if he wanted to believe that because 1) if it turned out he wasn't actually a werewolf (with a spark for a father that was more than likely), it would be pointless to fool himself and 2) if he was indeed a werewolf but without an anchor to stabilize him, maybe it was better for his abilities not to manifest at all. It was embarrassing enough that his three younger, non-human siblings were already masters of their powers, while he - as the oldest child - was falling behind.

His "brooding" ("He inherited this from you, Der! It's your fault!") was interrupted by an all-too-familiar voice cutting through the general ruckus of a high school's lunch period.

"Oops, better watch out next time, guard dog."

Dominic's words were seeping with derision, drawing the entire student body's attention - and thus Eli's and Hikari's eyes, too - to the group of jocks parting the sea of teenagers as they made their way across the cafeteria. Although Eli was part of the same team, he was considered a "last resort" most of the time and so couldn't sit with the star players (they said so), not that he had any desire to abase himself like that. That clique was dedicated solely to competing with and bringing down anyone who posed a supposed threat to them, and that was why Dominic deliberately rammed into Mars's shoulder while passing him, almost sending the younger boy's tray clattering to the floor. It seemed that two months had brought no change on that front.

Eli and Hikari nodded to each other before quickly gathering their trays and joining Mars and his friend Rain on the other side of the room.

"Good reflexes," Hikari complimented as they settled opposite the two sophomores.

"Still not good enough to make team captain," Mars mumbled, his fingers absent-mindedly drumming atop the table.

"Don't worry, the others will eventually realize what a dick he is, and then they'll pick you as their new captain, for sure. You'll be unstoppable." Eli comforted with more hope than actual conviction.

"Not as long as he has his following," Mars shook his head, his nails turning pointy for a second before returning to their normal shape.

"How do you do it?" Hikari asked, eying the group of jocks with disdain, "I would have sliced him open with my katana by now. I might still do it. What's stopping me?"

"The law?" Eli asked, to which Hikari rolled her eyes like their statutory rules were a particular inconvenience of hers.

"I can't lose control," Mars answered the original question, "That would diminish any chance I have against that douchbag. And you know how much trouble I could get into."

Unfortunately, they all knew. Their school was extremely unsympathetic towards supernatural creatures - a result of humans trying to adapt to cohabitation with the supernatural in the past decade with more adverse success than not - meaning that the smallest slip-up could get you behind bars or sentenced to excessive community work, and that was the favourable scenario. A family of werewolves already had to leave town because of the backlash they faced from the community, and Mars clearly didn't want to bring their family to the same fate.

"But you've only been a werewolf for what? Four months?" Hikari continued, digging into her mashed potatoes with gusto, "Your control is impressive."

"He's just good at everything," Rain interjected in half-amusement half-irritation, "Lacrosse, self-control, maths. And here I am, still unable to figure out my powers."

"Yeah," Mars grinned back at his friend, "Otherwise you could tell me if I'mma ever win against that fuckin' scrub."

Rain looked ceiling-wards like this wasn't the first time this conversation happened, and Eli could seriously understand their struggle. Obviously, he didn't know the next thing about psychic powers, but he had first-hand experience with the frustration that came with not having a handle on your superhuman nature.

"How did Derek teach you control so quickly, anyway?" Hikari inquired, and Eli once again remembered why Mars refused to mingle with his friend group at school.

"He told me to find an anchor," Mars stated simply, then pointed to the wireless earbud in his right ear, "Back in my town, me and my friends would go to the basketball court after school hours. Some of them were art students from around the block so they would bring music and like, get buck wild with the moves, man. It was crazy! And the music reminds me of that time."

"Before the bite," Eli finished the other's thoughts.

"Yeah," Mars nodded dolefully, "Derek said that I could use music as my anchor. Ya know, to remind me that I'm still in control of my body and shit. Just like when I'm dancing."

"What are you listening to?" Eli asked, expecting some heavy metal to channel all that anger.

However, when Mars offered the unused earbud to him, Eli realised he shouldn't have been surprised to hear Dua Lipa's Levitating blasting at full volume from the device.

"These songs are so old school," Eli remarked as he gave the earbud back.

"Yeah, and they are still slammin'," Mars replied confidently before explaining: "Gets me into a good mood. Better than the techno shit that's so hyped right now."

"I guess," Eli shrugged.

"You'll get the hang of it," Mars said, voice much lighter, "Like Derek says: it takes persistence and belief."

"You mean stubbornness and spite," Eli corrected, prompting Mars to laugh and the conversation to drift to different topics.

In the following three days, Eli tried to rely on his own tunes to call his wolf forward without any noticeable progress. His powers seemed unwilling to show themselves after that one catastrophic full moon, and all he got from his music therapy was back pain (from trying to lift the family car) and a twisted ankle (from jumping out of his second-floor room). For a whole week, the only thing he could think about was how fast his siblings would heal from these injuries, although, finally having an excuse to warm the bench at lacrosse games was a welcomed repercussion.

***

"Bye, have fun!" Despite the cheery goodbye, his tata hadn't come back into the house yet, which could only mean one thing: Eli's parents were shamelessly making out on the front porch, which, first off, ew, and second, the movie now couldn't be started lest they risked getting grounded for a week.

This will take a while, Eli thought as he got comfortable on the couch.

"Why don't you go?" Tally asked nosily as she was prone to do when she was overcome by boredom.

"To be a burden? No thanks."

"But you have powers!"

"Do you see them anywhere? 'cause I don't."

"Three full moons ago you did that parkour from roof to roof, that was cool. And! And you slept in the lion's cage at the zoo."

"It's interesting how you remember all that but you couldn't recall this afternoon where my pop tarts disappeared to." Eli groused, hoping his parents weren't using tongue or this would be a long interrogation for Eli.

"Would it help if I punched you?" Tally suggested, making Eli wonder if his family was a bad influence on her, "Pain's s'possed to help."

"You punching me with your noodles arms? Yeah, totally gonna work."

It was Eli's fault, really, letting his guard down, because the next second, Tally reached over the couch and punched him square in the arm with all the force of a fierce primary schooler.

"Ow, what the-"

"I guess it doesn't," Tally pouted, before settling back into her corner, "Or you're just a loser."

"Thanks," Eli said while rubbing his arm, "But I'm not the adopted one."

"No, I am. Which means our parents at least wanted me."

Eli shot his sister a death glare, unsure how so much evil could fit into such a small body. "They wanted me too! I'm the oldest, which means they anticipated me the most."

"Weren't you a surprise?"

"Okay, let's just start the movie already," Eli grumbled, deciding that getting his ass whipped by his tata was still a better choice than his present torment.

"I just don't know why you're scared."

"I'm not," Eli denied rather weakly.

"You are. You're scared to go on runs."

"Finding an anchor is hard, alright?!"

"But it isn't," Tally argued, clutching her unicorn plushie tighter, "When I get mad, I just think of a nice place and the anger goes away."

"A nice place?"

"Like that," Tally pointed towards the kitchen, and Eli immediately knew she was talking about one of her drawings they had on the fridge. The one with the cove on it.

"That calms you down?"

"Yeah," Tally affirmed, "When Rony exploded my dinosaur plushie with that fireball, I was really angry at him. But then I remembered what the kid in that cartoon said about anger, and how it's normal, but sometimes you can't do anything to change what's happened so you have to focus on something else. So I did what he did and imagined a place where I was happy. Like that beach where my parents took me once. I liked it, we collected a bunch of seashells."

"The ones in your room?"

"Aham," Tally said, looking at her plushie instead, "Mom said that life is like the ocean, and we are just tiny seashells in it. And that waves come and go, like bad feelings. So when I feel something bad, I just remember the waves and I know if I don't fight it, it will pass. And I'll be happy again."

Eli didn't know what to say, he was mostly just stunned into silence. Thankfully, that was the moment their tata came back to the room, hair a tousled mess and lips slightly bloody, a pink flush colouring his cheeks that Eli wished was from embarrassment.

"I'll be, um... down... in a sec," Their tata excused himself as he ran upstairs, no doubt into the bathroom, and Eli made sure to put this memory later onto the list of 'Reasons why my future therapist will side-glance me'.

It was a small solace to know that Tally shared his misery.

***

The elevator jostled as it came to an abrupt stop, stuck between two levels, and soon descending into darkness before the backup lights flickered on.

"They shut down the power," Audie noted, pressing the emergency bell in vain.

"Really? I wouldn't have figured it out on my own," Eli sassed, carding through his hair in frustration, "Just so you know, I'm blaming you for this."

Audie glared him down in response, having already mastered her look of alpha reproval at the age of 16, and Eli was once again dreading the day she would take over the family territory. Eli was nevertheless right: his sister had been the one to insist he drove them to the hospital as soon as Melissa's call came in. Apparently, vampires had been secretly feeding on half-leg-in-the-grave patients until Melissa noticed the bite marks belonging to a person who had previously shown signs of improvement, and Eli's parents shortly arrived at the premises to confirm her theory. The vampires, for obvious reasons, weren't thrilled about the deputies now monitoring the halls, and long story short, the whole nest showed up, Eli's parents were kicking ass, but the bloodsuckers were hauling people out of the wards with inhuman speed and wiping the witnesses' memories, and so here Audie and Eli were. As reinforcement.

As if.

"Would you have let them fight alone?" Audie berated, her voice almost as threatening as the yellow glow of her eyes.

"Our parents can handle it, that's what they do."

"So you think this isn't your responsibility?"

"Since when is a vampire attack our responsibility?" Eli snarled, unable to unravel his sister's point, "The adults should handle it, with the cops! And they had it under control."

"Yeah, as much as a fucking wildfire," Audie hissed, her breaths coming quicker with every new scream her ears were able to pick up on, "Our parents are out there and who knows what is happening to them! Innocent people are getting used as some kind of all-you-can-eat buffet, we are stuck in this goddam elevator, and you say you don't care?!"

Audie's words came out as a near growl by the end, and Eli recognized the telltale indications of an impending panic attack. His sister's shift usually came along with the fear, and that was one of the reasons she had been home-schooled last year - more out of embarrassment than the possibility of hurting someone. Eli felt horrible, both because he had somewhat contributed to their messy situation and also because he was lost for what to do. Their parents knew how to deal with the panic attacks, but now Eli felt ashamed that as an older brother he never learnt how to help his sister. Audie might be the next alpha in line, but Eli was her big brother, and it was his job to look after her.

Audie growled again with fangs elongating and claws sinking into her palms painfully, and Eli contemplated getting closer to her before barely discernable words were audible around her heavy breathing.

"Alpha... beta... omega..."

It was like a chant she kept repeating despite the interruption of screams from outside. Audie clutched her triskele necklace - a smaller version of the family talisman - while attempting to regulate her breathing and not relenting until her face was devoid of wolfy features. Suddenly, all sounds ceased past the doors, and the normal lighting returned as the elevator jerked back into motion.

"We're moving."

Audie opened her eyes, tucked her necklace back into her shirt and steadied her stance against whatever was awaiting them downstairs.

"Get ready to fight," Audie commanded, her voice leaving no space for disobedience, "We are Hales. This is our legacy. We protect people."

The words appeared to calm her down, and Eli had no wish to fight her claims. He took a deep breath instead.

"I'll protect you," Audie promised out of nowhere, just as the doors opened to a crowd of disoriented and terrified people.

Alongside his sister, Eli felt unexpectedly secure.

***

"You can do this," Their father repeated but Eli wasn't even sure the message was getting across to his little brother. Rony had curled up on the floor a few minutes ago, face hidden behind his knees while he rocked rapidly back and forth, and didn't show any indication of abandoning his chosen corner in the family basement.

"Ican'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan't..." Were the words on a loop that Rony whispered with his hands stubbornly covering his ears. Audie was kneeling in front of him, struggling not to touch Rony after that one time the boy screamed at the contact, but their sister was evidently getting more riled up by the minute.

"Yes, you can!" Audie pressed, despite the futile incentive, "Rony, you have to focus. You have to find Tata."

"You're the only one who can do this," Their dad affirmed in a softer tone, not that it mattered. He was just as, if not more, wrung out than the rest of their family, so his encouragement registered more as a desperate plea rather than a confident boost.

It all went to hell when their tata was running away from the nest of vampires. He had concealed his scent and heartbeat to hinder the nest's manhunt, but his plan had backfired when their dad failed to locate him as well. Now their tata was taken and their other father was clearly blaming himself for losing sight of his mate, and Eli's little brother who was only 13 and barely having started working on his magic was the only one with the means to salvage the situation. The problem was that location spells weren't an easy trick for beginners, especially those under immense stress of possibly losing a parent.

"I can't do this, he's gonna die," Rony muttered under his breath, further upsetting every else in the room.

Eli could feel the waves of worry wafting off Mars when he leaned closer.

"He has no confidence," Mars noted to Eli, "Like when he does math. He has to feel like he knows what he's doing to make it work."

Meanwhile, their dad was rumbling lightly and taking loud breaths in the hope that Rony would follow his example.

"You've done this once, Rony," Their dad said after a minute of useless attempts, "I saw it. You did it with Tata."

"But he was here then, and now he isn't..."

Eli felt so powerless - a state that was becoming aggravatingly regular. The only thing he could think about was the responsibility he had as the oldest sibling, how he had to do something. This was about their family, for crying out loud!

"Hey, Rony," Eli sank to the ground much to everyone's surprise, and truly, he shared the sentiment. He would have also liked to know what he was going to do next. "List me all the Star Wars movies in chronological order."

"What?" Audie whisper-shouted but Eli just pushed her face away.

“The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, Revenge of the Sith, A Star Wars Story from 2018 and then the one from 2016, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, and A New Order from 2026.”

“Awesome,” Eli said a bit stupefied, biting his lip as he racked his brain for another one of those rants Rony was prone to, “Oh! Who's the most commonly appearing character in the Marvel comics?”

“Wolverine.”

“What was the first PG-13 movie?”

“Red Dawn.”

“Where did they film the Lord of the Rings?”

“New Zealand.”

“How many movies are in the Fast and Furious series?”

“21.”

Throughout the impromptu quiz, Rony’s heart rate began to gradually settle, and Eli could see Audie's curious eyebrow raise from the side.

“What?” Eli cracked, turning to his sister with an irate look, “I pay attention.”

“Except in school,” Audie replied, but their bickering was short-lived when they noticed Rony's grateful eyes blinking up at them.

“How…?”

Their father was rubbing his thumb against the back of Rony's neck - a soothing gesture and subtle pain leech wrapped in one - and he gave Eli a silent nod as the ghost of a smile tentatively returned to his face.

“If you can remember all of these things,” Eli turned to Rony with a proud smile, “Then you can also remember a location spell.”

Rony stared ahead with unfocused eyes as if contemplating the truth of those words, before rising to shaky legs and addressing the room with a hesitant but determined gaze.

“We’ll need the keys from the jeep.”

***

"You know, for an ambush, it feels kinda like a trap."

"Duck!"

Eli dropped to his knees at Hikari's shrill warning, a dismembered hand quickly joining him on the ground as a vampire hissed above.

"My point still stands," Eli commented, taking a few seconds to assess his surroundings.

He saw Malia's water gun discarded on the side as she was reduced to fighting with her claws, and there was a blast of magic knocking his father somewhere into the far-end walls.

"We need a new plan," Eli grunted as he kicked a looming vampire in the groin and sprung to his feet.

"Do your thing. I'll cover you."

With Hikari's assurance, Eli tried to get a good look at the building's outlay past the nest of vampires swarming the place. There were around ten of them, but the biggest issue had to be his father's adamancy about not killing a single one, only scathing them with holy water and the first rays of sunlight. They timed their attack to the early morning for that exact purpose, not that any light could penetrate the old establishment. In its heyday, it must have been some mythical forest-themed dark ride, which was ironically on-point for their town, but half of it had collapsed into itself and now there was debris littering the base floor where Eli's pack was fending off bloodsuckers left and right. Since the supernatural became a daily addition to the local government's life, the town had to allocate large portions of its funds to defence and covering up tracks, so wastelands like these became the perfect hideouts. Eli now wished they had torn this place down decades ago.

"Let's go up!" Eli shouted, dodging to the side and aiming for a hill of rubble.

"Why did I agree to this?" Hikari muttered under her breath but kept cutting limbs off the occasional vampire as they both climbed their way up towards the roof. Eli even witnessed one grow a new arm out of the severed-off flesh and scrunched up his nose in distaste.

"I'm totally with you, Eli, but you do have a plan, right?" Hikari asked, right as they reached the building's wooden structure.

"Yeah, totally."

"Why did that sound like you don't know what you're doing?"

"Just keep them off!"

Eli continued his ascend until he was perched atop a narrow beam. He balanced against the nauseating prospect of seeing his pack fighting for their lives down below and accidentally caught sight of his father throwing fire blasts at his own family with burgundy hues colouring his eyes. His tata was still under the vampires' mind control, it seemed.

Thankfully, Eli secured his posture on the timber, the roof almost grazing his hair.

"Can you do it?" Eli wished for his friend's help, but Hikari was too busy deflecting vampires as they jumped up to the higher levels.

"You gotta do it, Eli!"

That was an absurd request, seeing how the world was spinning around Eli and he had a serious worry he might faint off the beam.

"Punch through the roof!" Hikari roused, having figured out the contingency plan Eli was going for.

"I can't! I don't know how to transform!"

His heartbeat was fast, too fast, his ears feeling like they were stuffed full of cotton. He felt useless, obsolete, like a deadweight next to Hikari's strenuous work to keep him safe. His family was counting on him, he had to bring the wolf forward, yet, he had no idea where to start.

This was Eli. This was all he ever was. A letdown.

"You did it once, Eli!" Hikari's voice broke through his self-deprecation before she kicked a vampire off the wooden frame.

"Yeah, and lost control."

"Not the full moon!" Hikari grumbled with a look over her shoulder as she reassumed a fighting stance. "It was in first grade! I got lost in the woods!"

"It's just a hunch but maybe this isn't the time to discuss your attempt to find the fairies' kingdom," Eli commented, squatting out of a vampire's swing and punching him a few feet downstairs.

"Yeah, I was dumb, not the point," Hikari hissed, hitting a vampire with the back of her katana and sending him tumbling into another beam. "You found me, Eli! You used your nose and found me! The only reason I got home was because you had your night vision!"

"I was a kid!" Eli argued, looking at his hands and remembering that one dreadful full moon. He hadn't just jumped around on houses and howled at the moon like Tally assumed, he pierced Audie with his claws. He tossed his own father into a tree. He was dangerous. "I couldn't hurt anyone!"

"Stop being afraid or we'll fuckin die!" Hikari shouted, eyes burning with the flames of irritation and fear, "Your family will die, Eli! Do you understand that?!"

Eli's gaze lowered to the ground floor where his siblings were fighting as best as they could, putting themselves in danger despite their father's order to stay behind. He noticed the sheriff shooting special bullets at the half-dead creatures, and Parrish drenching them with the last remains of his holy water beside Mason. Kira was keeping two vampires occupied, while his father was desperately working on getting through to their tata, getting tossed into a nearby wall for his efforts.

There was no telling when backup would arrive. His family could die by that point.

Eli felt a surge of something - a kind of power not unlike the pull of the Moon.

He clenched his hand into a fist and punched upwards, the roof giving way under his knuckles. It hurt, of course, but the strength cursing through his body nearly numbed out all pain and healed his bones before he could really complain about them. He repeated this action a few more times, hearing the wood crack under the pressure and then jumping from the height as the roof began to collapse. Parts of the building's structure shattered around him as he landed in the centre of a ring made by the light filtering through the hole.

Eli immediately sensed a vampire's faltering steps.

"A little light won't save you, boy," One of the vampires taunted, although he made no move to approach the cascade of sunlight.

Eli raised his head and locked eyes with his sister's shocked expression right in front of him. Then, she let her eyes flash back at him while their dad screamed at Eli to find cover.

"Just wait for it, Dad" Audie smirked, and as if on cue, Eli let out a piercing howl.

It was like a shockwave, with the others following him and making the building shake with the vibrations of their battlecry. The humans and the vampires covered their ears, except Eli's tata, who sagged back with the force of it and looked up at Eli with yet again amber eyes above slightly parted lips. He was back.

"Fuck yeah, kid! That's what I'm talking about!" His tata cheered, not wasting a second to gather their dad into the light circle just as the rest of the pack hurried under the protection of the Sun. His tata let the sunlight bounce off his skin and moved the rays around the room like bright, yellow strikes which the vampires fought to evade. It made the scene look like a cheap-quality disco club. "Let's rattle!"

Eli roared with unfamiliar confidence and with their tata on their side, the pack managed to prolong the battle at least long enough for Rain and Tally to finish the circle of mountain ash outside. Before closing the barrier, their tata formed a light shield around them so the supernatural members of their pack could escape while the vampires remained efficiently trapped inside.

As soon as they were outside the mountain ash circle, the local vampire leader appeared on the abandoned amusement park's site, quickly succeeded by Mars and the supernatural council's secretary pulling up in the jeep.

"Is my timing right?" Mars asked with an uncertain sweep of his eyes.

"Perfect, kiddo," Their tata said with a relieved sigh.

"Where are they?" The vampire leader asked, to which Eli's dad pointed to the half-collapsed building.

"They are all alive," He also emphasized which the vampire ruler acknowledged with a grateful nod.

As the leader and the mage secretary went to handle the ragtag nest, Eli pulled Hikari close to his chest and uttered litanies of gratitude to his best friend.

"You were awesome, too," She said in response, pulling away and ruffling Eli's hair in fondness.

"And now?" Eli asked, still breathless and elevated by victory, just as his dad stepped up to his side.

"Now?" His dad repeated, pulling Eli into a half-hug, "Now we go home."

***

His body cut through the current as rows of trees swam past him, leading to the denser part of the forest. The wind abated here, allowing him to hear the noises following his run and alerting him that he wasn’t alone on this special night. Between the branches, the Moon bathed the preserve in guiding light, and soon enough, he stumbled onto a wide cliffside overlooking the expanse of their dark-clad city. Above the clamour of the nightlife below, he heard six familiar heartbeats catch up to him.

Eli's eyes interlocked with his father’s red ones beside him, flashing back yellow in carefree joy. He felt his pack - his family - all around him, and like a thick blanket of fog on an autumn dawn, peace descended to surround him.

He let out an ecstatic howl, his father and siblings following suit, and even the human members' terrible imitations of a howl brought a smile to his face. His tata honked the car on top of that, and their synchronized song filled the alley before climbing high among the stars where his ancestors, undoubtedly, watched on.

The twinkling sky was disturbed by storm clouds gathering somewhere in the distance, but there was no fear in Eli's heart. As Tally had said, the waves would come and go. And Eli had his family to anchor him down.

#original: teen wolf fanfic #sterek #eli stilinski hale #oc stilinski-hale kids #twadfullmoon23 #twanchordown2023

[bisexual-thoughtss]

Vince Noir x Reader

Somehow Howard had convinced everyone to go camping again (promises of staying far away from yeti territory and no lectures certainly helped his case). Once again he was fretting over leaving on time, despite constant reminders that this was supposed to be a holiday.

“For god sake Howard, have a drink or something, relax,” you tell him after the fifth time he points to his watch. You and Vince haul your overstuffed suitcases towards the door as you ask Bollo to get Howard a drink.

He brings him a beer and Howard sputters indignantly and begins a rant on driving under the influence before you stop him.

“I’m driving, you’ve seen where your driving gets us. Have the drink,” you retort and Howard is silent, unable to think of a good argument. He huffs and takes the drink and Bollo graciously takes your suitcases down the stairs for you.

Once you’re settled in the van Howard unfurls his map, despite the protests from Naboo and Bollo who are mashed in the back seat with him, and begins giving you directions. Vince sits contentedly in the front seat, pointing out funny sights along the road and occasionally sharing the snacks he’s brought with you. The trip isn’t long and before you know it, you’re taking in the lush trees that fan around the lake you’ll be staying by.

“Wow,” you breathe, “s’beautiful.”

“Yeah,” you hear Vince agree, but he’s only partially looking at the scenery.

The peaceful calm is broken quickly as the other three have a row while they unpack the van.

“I packed all of the tents!” Howard shouts, frowning as Naboo shakes his head.

“Obviously not, there’s only three here you idiot!” Naboo yells back, and you can actually hear all the birds in the vicinity fly away at their noise.

“Boys, please, you’re disturbing the poor wildlife,” you roll your eyes, “it’s fine, we’ll just have to double up.”

As expected, Naboo and Bollo head off with one tent, and Howard grabs the next.

“C’mon then,” Vince smiles at you, grabbing the last tent.

“Oh- you want to share with me?” You ask, surprised.

“Well you don’t want to share with Howard do you?” He asks gesturing over to him.

“Definitely not,” you laugh as Howard wrestles with the pieces of his tent.

“But I can share with him, if you want your own tent,” he offers, but you quickly stop him.

“No, this’ll do,” you blush as he smiles happily at your decision. You two go about setting up your tent, stopping every so often to laugh at Howard’s struggle. Naboo and Bollo have long since finished theirs with some magical assistance, and wandered off to splash in the lake.

“We could go skinny dipping later,” Vince hums and you choke on air, letting out a violent cough. He laughs delightedly at your reaction, wiggling his eyebrows when you glare at him.

You gawk at the tent once you’ve finished it, glaring over at Howard’s.

“You’ve left us with the smallest tent!” You complain.

“I’m a large man, I need my leg room!” Howard argues, ending the squabble abruptly by zipping himself inside his tent. You roll your eyes, turning back to Vince.

“S’pose we’ll just have to squash in,” you tell him, unzipping the flap. He crawls in first, taking the blankets with him to try and arrange them inside. When he’s spread them out best he can, you crawl in after him. There’s not much room and in the scuffle of trying to get in on all fours, you get caught on the edge of a blanket. With your stability lost, you fall forward into Vince, blushing fiercely when you sit up and realize you’re on top of him.

“I think this tent’ll do just fine,” Vince grins up at you.

#vince noir x reader #vince noir #noel fielding #the mighty boosh #mighty boosh #boosh

[hazardworld]

Part 2 of Monster Town. Part 1

------

30 minutes later, Steve was snacking on another fish, watching Dustin pace as he angrily ranted in front of Robin and Eddie, who had tagged along purely because Robin needed a ride and Dustin wasn’t letting Steve "escape," even after Steve reassured him he wouldn’t try anything.

He would’ve tried something.

He wasn’t their problem to deal with.

"So you’re telling me not only has Steve kept his monster status from me, his bff for life, but he’s also risked his life because of his shitty parents telling him to restrict being himself?" Robin gave him a pointed glare as Dustin confirmed, whereas Eddie just raised an eyebrow, purple eyes laced with befuddlement.

"Guys, look, it’s not your problem! My parents are shitty, sure, but this isn’t an issue any of you should deal with, especially you, Eddie."

"Bullshit, Harrington." Steve’s brow furrowed as Eddie rubbed the side of his face, exasperated, with a small smile. "You and your stupid fucking martyr complex, wasn’t it you who told me I was part of the Party now, anyway—"

"And when one party member requires assistance, it is up to the other members of the party to provide that assistance!" Eddie raised his hand towards Dustin as if to say, 'exactly, you shithead,'

"See? You listened to my problems, now I’ll help you with yours, deal?" Steve nodded slowly, hugging his arms to his chest and looking away from the rest of the group. That didn’t last long though, as he was being yanked up by Dustin, and soon, pushed by Robin and Eddie, to where he quickly realized the pool was.

"Guys I literally just got dry—"

"Shut it Steve, I’m seeing your fish form, even if I have to possess you to get in there myself!" Steve let out a puff of air. It wasn’t like he was resisting, honestly, so before he got close enough where Dustin would fling him in, he spun himself to the side, making his friends all crash into the pool themselves.

Whoops.

So sad.

"STEVE!" Dustin’s voice was the first one he heard, angry, sure, but not in danger (poodles can swim, right?). He sighed, smiling lightly at his younger brother and best friends’ pissed faces. Robin shot him the finger, and he returned it right back.

"Fuc—St’ve!" And then there was Eddie, sputtering and splashing, and immediately, Steve went into panic mode, diving in and keeping the man up above the surface as he caught his breath.

"Eds, you ok?" Eddie nodded, coughing out water.

"Yeah, shit, I uh—" Eddie froze, eyes widened, staring at the pool floor. Steve raised an eyebrow, was there a bug, a spider or something? He looked down, and immediately realized Eddie’s distress: Steve’s tail had wrapped itself snugly around Eddie’s ankles, keeping Eddie afloat, but also 100% tied down.

Also, not to mention it was Steve’s tail, which was weird, because usually he had to contemplate the change before he made it, but this time he’d dove in and gone full form without even thinking.

And also, it was Steve’s tail.

On Eddie’s skin.

Fuck.

He started to loosen it, drifting away, but Eddie quickly put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"No, no, it’s keeping me upright, keep it there, just…" Eddie bit his lip and looked away, Steve pretending not to notice the red blooming his cheeks, "you’re real pretty like this, Harrington. No wonder the girls find you so irresistible." Eddie finished off with his signature cocky smirk.

"Found, Munson. Stopped using sirenspeak after Hellkins round 1," Steve watched as not only Eddie, but Dustin and Robin’s eyes all widened.

"Holy shit, that’s why all your romance tips were such bull! Because you’ve never actually tried to swoon someone!" Steve sputtered and crossed his arms indignantly.

"Of—Of course I’ve tried to swoon someone, Henderson! I’ll have you know, I only used sirenspeak to get Nancy to notice me, not make her fall in love with me. That I did by hand. Besides, in a romantic context, it’s really only good for one-time things, the whole premise being to kill the person after, so…" He gave a weak smile, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, you’re too sweet to kill people, Steve," Robin smirked, and Steve stuck his tongue out and gave her a little splash. She phased it out while putting up two middle fingers, and Steve rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. It’s also against the law, Rob, in case you were wondering." Robin laughed lightly as she flew herself up out of the pool, grabbing Steve’s towel from earlier. Dustin quickly followed up the pool steps and shook himself off, which left Eddie, who was still bonded to Steve by his ankles.

"So how is this gonna work, Stevie?" Steve smirked.

"I’ve got an idea," He laid his upper body back onto the surface of the water, and gently moved Eddie up and back until he hit the edge of the pool. "Let me know when the lip is on your kneecaps." Steve moved Eddie up and down until he was given an indication, and Eddie took the obvious hint to sit, and Steve finally unwrapped himself. He then moved himself next to Eddie, and crossed his arms over the edge, plopping his head on top.

"So, you never learned how to swim, eh Munson?" Eddie rolled his eyes, blushing in embarrassment. He crossed his own arms and kicked the water in front of him.

"Yeah, yeah. We didn’t have a local pool close enough for me to walk to in Indy, and by the time I got here it was kinda too old for someone to be using a floaty for reasons other than relaxing." Steve nodded.

"Fair, fair. I feel like it’s pretty useless If I try, but if you wanted, one of the other party members could come teach you here? I promise all the insults you get will be in good company." Eddie chuckled.

"So sure I’m that bad already, Stevie?" Steve felt his cheeks heat up the the nickname.

"No, but you’ve met Erica. That girl will take every excuse to tell you what you’re doing wrong." Eddie laughed. Steve decided he loved Eddie’s laugh.

"Damn straight, man." Eddie pooled some magic into a glowing purple ball, and tossed it in his hand. "That girl is a fucking powerhouse," The two sat in silence for a minute, and Steve turned his attention on the house, to where Dustin and Robin had both disappeared.

"You know," Eddie spoke up, and Steve immediately turned to him. His magic ball rested in his hand now, not being tossed. "I wasn’t lying when I said you looked real pretty like this, Harrington." He looked Steve up and down, and Steve gulped.

"Really?"

Eddie frowned, tossing the ball once before it disappeared into his hand, the magic returning to its source.

"Aren’t you supposed to be? Catching the attention of humans to devour and what not?"  Steve chuckled and shook his head.

"No, dude. I had to explain this all to Dustin before you got here, but like, sirens aren’t entirely meant to look pretty, we’re meant to kill. Mermaids are the pretty ones." Eddie hummed, his frown forming into a smile showing off his own fangs, glinting in the sun.

"Well you look plenty pretty to me, Stevie." Eddie leaned over and ruffled his hair, making Steve’s face grow hot. Before he could respond, however, the sliding door opened up to a sauntering Dustin and Robin.

"We have a way to try and get you to a natural form, Steve!" Dustin’s voice boomed across the pool deck. "Monsters who shift forms like you and me usually shift out of fear!" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Dustin, you and I both know that’s not tr—" Dustin grinned.

"Just get on out of the pool, Steve!" Steve groaned, shifting back to his bipedal form as he climbed up and out next to Eddie, who stood as Steve’s more aquatic features faded away. Steve noted his second set of fangs stayed, as if they had already gotten used to themselves being there in the two times he’d moved them there that day.

Suddenly, Robin disappeared, and within minutes, Steve was tossed and tugged around blindly. Ahh, so Robin was trying to spook him into shifting? Two could play at that game.

He felt the magic rush into his throat as he started to sing to her. He was only singing for friendship, not romance, since romance wouldn’t’ve worked on her. As the notes kept coming out, the forces gripping his arms started to loosen and still as Robin slowly took her corporeal form again, enamored with his voice.

He swayed along to the song a bit as he willed Robin to dance with him, and they did for a few seconds before he stopped and booped her forehead with a finger. He felt the magic drain back down to wherever a siren’s magic resided, and Robin groaned and rubbed her head. Steve looked around to find Dustin and Eddie gaping.

"Did you—Did you just—" Steve laughed lightly.

"Yeah, Dust, I just used sirenspeak. But in my defense, as the person who taught you to form shift, fear is never the best way to shift! I know what I’m doing, Henderson." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Says the person who didn’t even know they were binding their form, Steve!" Steve passed Dustin the finger, and he stuck out his tongue.

"I feel…like I got hit by a bus. Did I survive?" Robin grunted out, pressing two fingers into the gap between her eyebrows.

"You did, Robin," Robin groaned disappointedly as Steve turned his attention to Eddie. "Eddie, I have some of your pain potion things in my bathroom. Think you could help Robin?" Eddie nodded once, and ushered Robin back inside with calm whispers.

"So what are you gonna do, Steve? Figure it out yourself? Because I don’t think that’s been working out for as of late." Dustin panned his hand from Steve’s head to his feet, frowning.

"It’ll work just fine now that I know what’s wrong!" Steve snapped back.

"You’ve been binding for so long you might not know how to get it out on your own!"

"I think I can do things without a idiot 15-year-old nerd trying to baby me every step of the way!"

Oooh, too far. Even though he tried not to show it, Dustin’s ears flattened against his skull and his tail tucked tight between his legs. Steve sighed.

"Sorry, pup. That went too far." Dustin perked back up, though cautious.

"No, no you’re right. Sometimes I forget that not everyone needs my help with everything. That was my bad, Steve."

"Still shouldn’t’ve snapped at you. It was bitchy and unkind." Dustin smirked.

"You can make up for it with a hug." Steve snorted and opened his arms. Obviously, Dustin could get a hug from him anytime. Not only was companionship and touch something instinctually needed for werewolves, but Dustin was his little brother. Obviously, Steve was gonna let Dustin hug him whenever he wanted.

"Did you two finally make up?" Steve heard after a few minutes, and the two released. Standing in the sliding glass doorway was Eddie, with Robin behind him, hands on her hips. "I don’t think either of us would make for good mediators." Steve rolled his eyes and ruffled Dustin’s hair, making the kid laugh and bat his hand away.

"No, neither of you would," Steve grinned at his friends, "Eddie, you’d just avoid the issue and move on, and Robin, you’d get too anxious about it to even get involved,"

Eddie shrugged, and Robin sighed. Steve was very emotionally intelligent; he couldn’t tell if it came with the territory of being a siren or if it was just him, but if there was anything he was good at, it was reading people’s emotions.

And like, swimming or something.

"I can’t help it, I’m skittish towards conflict!" Eddie grinned, raising his hands in surrender.

"I’d like to prove you wrong but the only rebuttal I can think of is about Hellkins 4 and I’d really rather not think about that right now," Dustin commented, and the atmosphere of the room changed instantly. "Can we change the subject?"

"Let’s talk about Steve!" Robin supplied after a minute, "We don’t know much about sirens besides the whole," she made rapid circles with her hand, "shifting and sirenspeak thing. What else can you do?"

Part 3!

#siren steve harrington #werewolf dustin henderson #ghost robin buckley #witch eddie munson #but like toh witch kinda #steddie #yes steve knows he's bi #siren culture is like 95% bi/pan/etc #they just want food they don't care abt gender

[petchricor-creates]

Can I get a writing request for Max x Neil? Nothing is still so maybe when Neil realizes he liked Max or the other way around 

Here ya go! I decided to write from Max's perspective on this one. Enjoy!

“Fuck!” Max shotued, kicking the crate he had been using as a table in his tent. “This is fucking bullshit!” Max hated everything right now. Well, almost everything. Neil was the exception, as he always was. However, that’s what he was mad about right now.

Stupid Neil and his stupid cute face.God damn him and his stupid cute face and pretty hair. Max groaned in frustration, throwing himself onto his cot with a sigh. He rubbed his face. He hated this. He wasn’t the type to catch feelings, especially not like this. He’d never even had a crush before, what were you supposed to do with them?

Confessing wasn’t an option. He didn’t even want to think about telling Neil about how he felt. Besides, they were only middle schoolers, these feelings would all fade away before they erached highschool and then Max would have another crush that would fade away before adulthood. THen he’d finally date someone, maybe, and then those feelings would also fade away. Probably be a nasty divorce too.

It was a vicious cycle of stupid feelings making things awful, as usual, and Max wanted nothing to do with it.

“Hey, Max?”

Fuck.

“What!?” Max shouted, sitting up. “What do you and your stupid hair want, Neil!?”

“Jesus!” Neil said with a scowl. “What’s your problem?”

“You are!” Max yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Neil, who looked shocked.

“Wha-me? What did I do?”

“Have stupid hair!” Max yelled before groaning in frustration and falling back onto his cot. Well, this was going super duper well.

“What’s my hair got to do with it? Max, are you feeling alright?” Neil went to go touch ihs forehead and Max whacked his hand away, sitting up a little to glare at Neil. Neil frowned. “Max, seriously, you’re not making any sense, maybe you have heat exhaustion? Oh! I’ll go get David!”

“Don’t you dare!” Max grabbed Niel by the wrist, yelping when that got him face first on the floor somehow. How fast had Neil been going? “Ow.”

“Oh my god! Are you okay!?” Neil ran over, helping Max to his feet. Max grumbled, wiping the first from his face.

“I’m fine,” he muttered. “But if you go get David, I’ll end you!”

“Alright, alright! Jesus, Max, what’s wrong?”

“You’re what’s wrong!” Max gestured angrily with his hands. He growled in frustration when Neil looked at him like he was cazy. God fucking damn it! Max sat back down on his bed. “Leave me alone!” 

“Max! You can’t just tell me to leave you alone like this!”

“Can too.”

“Max!”

“What!?”

“C’mon man, what’s wrong?” Neil asked, his voice downtrodden. “And why are you so upset with me? What did I do wrong?”

“Nothing, you didn’t do anything wrong! Ugh, I don’t wanna talk about this!” Max shouted, hiding his head under his pillow. “Just leave me alone!”

“I’m so confused,” Neil muttered. “Max, can you please just tell me?”

“No!”

“Max!”

“AGH!” Max sat up, grabbed Neil by the collar, and pulled him in for a kiss on the cheek. Max immediately laid back down, hiding his head under his pillow again as he felt himself go a dark red.

“Oh,” Neil said quietly. How articulate of him. “Max?”

“What?”

“Do you…do you, like like me?”

Max threw the pillow off his head and glared at Neil indignantly. “You did not just say ‘like like’.”

“Eheh, sorry.”

“You are such a god damn dweeb!” Max shotued. He squeaked when Neil kissed his cheek.

“You don’t seem to mind too much!”

“SHUT UP!”

#fanfiction #my writing #writing #fanfic #camp camp #max x neil #mail #meil #? #donno what the ship name is lmao

[theknightofivanhoe]

Justice League: Question’s Hard Drive Ch 2: Table for Two

Table of Contents

The journey in Question’s shiny royal blue 1960s Pontiac GTO was spent in deathly silence. Question himself focused on the road leading through the dimly-lit labyrinth of streets. Not a word was said between him or Huntress who sat looking out of the window. Right now Question’s mission had quite literally gone from infiltrating an office building in order to discover ties between CADMUS and Lex Luthor, to satisfying his scantily-clad, fiery-tempered vigilante girlfriend with a proper date in order to discover ties between CADMUS and Lex Luthor. Question was, Question was asking himself, which eating place could Huntress agree on without it being a front for the Court of Owls for instance? With all the connections that rattled through the detective’s head, the options were few.

“So, did you have a place in mind?” Question’s hushed inquiry pierced Huntress’ virtually unknown train of thoughts and she inclined her striking, tan face towards him. “The Princess of Mars club includes some rooftop tables.” she suggested, smirking romantically as she propped her elbow on the windowsill of her door and rested her head on her fist. “We can gaze up at the stars while we -.” “That’s a negative.” This terse response from the detective caught Huntress off guard. “I’m sorry?” she asked once she had processed this refusal. “That restaurant likely lets people on its roof so the Church of Blood has a vantage point to kidnap innocent families.” Question warned as he drove on. Huntress just pinched the bridge of her slim nose in despair. “Can we please not have another one of your idiot conspiracy theories again, Q? I’m worn out from tonight’s mission.” “Well I’ve got mountains of information to search if we’re going to connect CADMUS to Luthor.” Question replied intently. “Q, all I’d like is for us to just take it easy first, just for tonight.” Huntress protested. “Learn to work hard...and play hard.” She finished this with a devilish grin spreading on her lips, eyebrows bobbing up and down under her mask. This, along with how Huntress crossed her naked legs, was enough to send Question’s heart racing and remind him why their bond grew so strong since he joined in her pursuit of crime lord Steven Mandragora.

“So, how does some jazz and pasta at Brando’s Pastaria sound?” Huntress asked again. “That has Snaky Doyle’s name on it.” Question objected, but Huntress scoffed. “Snaky my butt! Anyway if you spot anything wrong, let your girl handle it.” “Like how you handled Black Canary?” Question shot back rather wryly. That got Huntress spluttering indignantly. “How about you don’t mention that blond bimbo in the middle of our date?” “I’m just saying - ” “Alright, one last try before I smash your head through the windshield; Corleone and Brazzi’s. And enough with your idiot conspiracies.” Huntress ended this with a certain amount of threat to her voice, facing the roadway again. “We went past the only lane that would have taken us there.” Question plainly told her. “...and?” Huntress asked, glaring at her bizarre admirer through the corner of her eye. “And there’s a good chance Corleone and Brazzi’s is a front for a sect of Kobr-” “Q!” “Okay, okay, Corleone and Brazzi’s it is!” The detective immediately backpedalled when Huntress sharply rounded on him again. The Pontiac was taken in an immediate u-turn now that the decision had been made. “Sometimes I wonder how…” Huntress muttered with a palm to her forehead. “Eccentric charm…” Question reminded her, focusing through his blank mask on the new route. This made Huntress smirk, her smokey dark eyes fixed on him and she propped her chin on her fist again. “Can’t argue with that…”

Corleone and Brazzi’s was not too shabby, a vast multi-storey restaurant in a thriving part of Hub city with classical-style pillars, statues and plants in large urns. Buzzing with relatively mild activity, the restaurant had men in tuxedos eating and drinking with ladies in elegant gowns and gentle piano music twinkling in the background over all the polite chatter. “Name…?” a moustached man standing over the guest list, the restaurant host, asked the figure that stepped up to him. “Question.” came the low, mysterious voice that caused the host to pause and look up at the visitor in the blue fedora and trench coat. “Questio - I’m sorry, I don’t quite foll - AAH!” He nearly leapt a foot in the air at the sight of a face that looked like nothing but skin, with no eyes, nose or mouth to speak of! Rooted to the spot as Question himself just fixed him with an eyeless stare, the host shivered all over. Other staff and guests stopped what they were doing in confusion and shock at what they heard. But the figure in the fedora lowered his head so the brim obscured his face before everyone else could also get a glimpse. The host, to whom Question had shown his masked face, could only stand up against his desk staring at him in pure fear. What was he to do?

“Don’t mind my date, sweetie.” A raven-haired woman appeared at Question’s side, smiling reassuringly. Out of her mask, gloves and boots and now wearing a gloss-black high-neck, sleeveless minidress with a pair of fashionable stiletto sandals and a black satchel slung on her shoulder, Helena lay a hand on Question’s shoulder while coiling her other arm snugly around his lower torso. “It’s not often Q-utie here ‘faces’ life at its fullest, is it, baby doll?” “…Table for two, please?” Underneath his mask, Question didn’t seem to take Helena’s teasing very well. “Name of Question and Helena…” Still nervous at this seemingly faceless man, the moustached host decided they didn’t look like they would cause any harm, hopefully. “Uhh…yes, yes, uh, certainly, Mr - uh - Question - uh - sir… We have - ah - ah, Table 5, it’s right - right by - by the window…you can hear the pianist pretty clearly, uh, sir…” he stammered, shakily writing on his list. His nervousness made it hard to jot the letters down. “You’re a peach, hun.” Helena commented in a sultry way, gently pulling Question along by his waist as her stilettos clicked across the waxed floor tiles.

“‘Faces life?’ Seriously?” Question hissed under his hat’s brim as they waded past the slightly apprehensive guests who he had to keep from seeing his mask. “Come on, Q! Is a sense of humour too conspiratorial for you too?” asked Helena who strutted beside him enjoying how people glanced at how gracefully she moved, not to mention her choice of attire. “It was Christmas cracker-tier.” Question said indignantly, “In fact, Christmas crackers are being looked into in connection with the - ” “What about the boys checking me out?” Helena interrupted his conspiracy-based rambling with a sly look. “You looking into that?” The minidress she now wore over her leotard didn’t show off her legs quite as much as the latter, but its hem was still short to the point of dangerous, earning some glances from some of the well-dressed men at tables the couple went past. Question noticed one man turn his head in Helena’s direction, his shoulders clenching threateningly. Pulling away from Helena’s arm, he towered over the man in the tuxedo, looking rather intimidating even as his hat’s brim hid his blank mask. “Ah…” the man uttered, trying no to shrink in his chair. “Saw something on the floor - uh, dropped something - my bit of bread - thought I’d dropped my bread…” he blabbered, immediately turning to the meal he was having. “Strange. I didn’t notice any bread on the floor…” Question nearly growled his words out, before Helena pulled him away to prevent an escalation. “Not now, baby doll…” Another man snuck a glance at her, only to get a clap round the head from the woman sitting next to him!

A reminder; Huntress is pretty sensitive to any mentions of Black Canary after their first battle in 'Double Date.'

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

#dc comics #dcau #dcau fanfic #huntress #huntress x question #the question #justice leauge unlimited #justice league #bruce timm #helena bertinelli #vic sage

[neonscandal]

Victory's Shadow

⚠️ CW: Implied Canonical Minor Character Death (from season 6.. and 5, I think), Major Character Death

Pairing(s): Katsuki Bakugo & Izuku Midoriya; Minor Aizawa Shouta & Hizashi Yamada

Genre: Angst

Word Count: 2.2K

Status: Complete

Summary: Set just before graduation, Midoriya's cold feet can only be assuaged by one person.

EXCERPT

“You couldn’t tell?” Midoriya waited expectantly for Bakugo to fill the silence with something derisive but, when nothing came, he considered the question more sincerely. “I guess I’m just wondering if this is all worth it. Was this all worth it?” More silence. Heavy and uncomfortable in the depths it spanned, Midoriya shifted his weight anxiously. He’d never given his doubts a voice lest a question become an interminable scream.

A/N: I was in a silly goofy mood when I wrote this, I am sorry. Everyone is miserable.

--

“For today’s lesson, we’ll review for your upcoming finals.”  Aizawa’s sullen drawl slowly melted into the hum of his students as a lamenting groan swept through the classroom. “Open your textbooks to page-“

Midoriya let out a labored sigh as he leaned over to grab a book from his satchel. Its weathered spine opened easily to the segment in question. His eyes hung low as he followed along haphazardly. Sun spilled in through the large windows and pulled Midoriya’s listless attention as his thoughts began to wander.

“Psst. Nerd.”

“Psst! I know you can hear me.” A second hiss penetrated his already shoddy concentration.

Midoriya closed his eyes briefly as if weighing his options. Hardly a moment passed before he resigned himself to the whims of his childhood friend. Afterall, it was so infrequent that he’d engage him first. “Yes, Kacchan?”

“Don’t you think you should be paying attention?” Bakugo’s signature half smirk seemed to wrap around every syllable of the question that hung between them.

It was enough to force a light snort through Midoriya’s nose. “Kacchan, maybe your time would be better spent paying attention, too.”

“Tch! As if. Think there’s anything left to learn that I don’t already know?”

“How could I forget?” Midoriya could feel the corners of his mouth turn upwards, wryly.

“It feels like you’re mocking me.”

“It feels like you’re intentionally distracting me.”

“’Spose you have a point.”

Midoriya didn’t have to look to know that Bakugo’s eyes were rolling into his head. One of the benefits of knowing someone all your life was the ability to match their inflection to a signature gesture without even a sidelong glance. If only this sensitivity to Bakugo’s mannerism’s had any sort of value to his studies or any other area of his life. “I’ll take ‘Kacchan’s Tic’s for $200’?” he imagined himself saying.

“Yea, whatever,” even Bakugo couldn’t hide his piqued amusement. “’Fourteen Years Together and All I Got Was This Shitty All Might T-Shirt’…”

“You loved that t-shirt, Kacchan,” Midoriya shot back indignantly.

“Yea, nerd. When you gave it to me when I was six. You’re the only fanboy who cleared puberty without growing out of any of your embarrassing hobbies….”

“Kacchan, you seem to be forgetting that you have attended every single midnight release of every All Might documentary to date.”

“Psh. Well, we see where that gets you. At least I stopped decking my whole room out in All Might gear when we got here.”

“Another eye roll complete with a gathered stretch of his hands,” Midoriya surmised. He would probably crack another smile if he didn’t feel like he had to be on the defensive. For what, he didn’t want to explore. “Kacchan, did you need something?”

A beat passed before Midoriya wondered whether Bakugo had actually heard him.

“Yea, yea. Just noticed you staring off. Wondered what you were thinking.”

“You couldn’t tell?” Midoriya waited expectantly for Bakugo to fill the silence with something derisive but, when nothing came, he considered the question more sincerely. “I guess I’m just wondering if this is all worth it. Was this all worth it?”

More silence. Heavy and uncomfortable in the depths it spanned, Midoriya shifted his weight anxiously. He’d never given his doubts a voice lest a question become an interminable scream. Even now, the honesty of his vulnerability felt vulgar when volleyed to Bakugo who seemed to be turning his words over thoughtfully.

“Hmph.. It’s a little late to ask, don’t you think? Provisional license, almost out of UA, and all.”

“Just because we realize we’re headed in the wrong direction doesn’t mean we should keep walking, Kacchan.”

“Tch! That happened one time, ya lousy Deku!”

Midoriya managed to swallow the laugh that threatened to spill from his lips. He recalled, with warmth, a time many years ago, where he’d followed Bakugo to the ends of the earth in search of stag beetles. Well, the end of the earth according to 4-year-olds. In actuality, they’d just stumbled off the beaten path. They weren’t found for hours and, once located, bashfully realized that the point where they’d diverted from the familiar walking trail was just a few feet from where Bakugo had confidently declared he’d known the way back home.

At the time, when met with Midoriya’s tear stained face, Bakugo could never admit it. Even when they happened upon the evidence of Midoriya’s abandoned beetle trap. It was one of a handful of memories between them that they never acknowledged but both remembered, though perhaps in differing severity. It’s something they could laugh about now.

“Last hurdle before graduation and now you have cold feet. Tch, attitude like that, no way you’d be number one anyway...” Bakugo spat brusquely under his breath. His voice was gravelly but belied his earnest disappointment.

Midoriya’s eyes lowered, his eyebrows creasing thoughtfully. It took coming to UA to really appreciate that hero society was not everything he’d thought it’d be.

In his classmates, he’d seen the thin line that could separate a hero from a villain. In those he fought, he’d come to understand how a person’s twists and turns could send them down the wrong path. In Pro Heroes, he saw the shortcomings that could make them irredeemably fallible despite public approval. In his mentor, he recognized the gap between the god he’d revered and the broken man he’d absolved. In Shigaraki, perhaps his greatest lesson, he recognized his own hatred despite his persisting desire to save people. His defeat and subsequent salvation nearly cost Midoriya everything. In some ways, it still felt like it had.

The heroes won in the end, but Shigaraki still bested them in the court of public opinion by successfully upsetting the delicate paradigm he wished to destroy. His rampage, having taken many lives, pulled back the curtain on the atrocities committed by the Hero Commission and irrevocably shook the foundation of a society that put heroes on a pedestal.

Even now, Class 3A continued pressing forward into a field with no certain future. Hero work, now likened once again to vigilantism, had been put in a holding pattern while lawmakers tried to untangle the web of public outrage that was cast when the dust from the war settled. Quirk suppression laws were in talks once more and the polarizing subject of them dominated the news cycle, almost immediately replacing the faces of the fallen heroes.

But those who were there on the front lines could never forget. Those who were there would always remember. To see their fallen comrades take up less and less space in the public consciousness was just another slap in the face to their collective sacrifice. Returning to life after the war presented a surreal dissonance between the trauma suffered and the familiar humdrum of everyday life. Some adapted more quickly than others. Therapy and prostheses for that which they lost. Others simply allowed the humdrum to take up more space than the noise of their trauma. It was in the balance of this where Midoriya’s true thoughts of grief, anxiety and doubt nestled.

With graduation approaching, it became harder to ignore. Without complaint, he’d suffered the weight of the mantle he’d inherited with “One for All”. Just a child when he received it, never properly prepared for the barbed strings attached. With the state of the world, he wondered if it was something he could simply walk away from now. He swallowed the knot in his throat dryly as he contemplated his cowardice.

“Well. Guess that spares you the embarrassment of losing to me,” Bakugo snorted dismissively.

The ghost of a grin graced Midoriya’s face as he hung his head with a knowing shake. He knew this was as good a consolation as Bakugo could stomach. “Thanks, Kacchan… I’m-I’m sorry.”

“Heh!? For what, ya shit nerd?”

“For thinking of giving up on our dream.” Midoriya turned to face his childhood friend, his smile slowly making its way to his eyes as he wondered how they could have wasted so much time at odds.

Where Midoriya’s features had sharpened with age, Bakugo remained a fresh-faced boy of sixteen, pressed uniform worn irreverently. He blazed with the ethereal glow held only by those who’d imparted a piece of themselves unto the One for All quirk. This sliver, alone, survived the bloody battlefield of their first year at UA.

Pressed between the pages of Midoriya’s mind and preserved within his regret for safekeeping, lived a piece of the childhood friend who’d valiantly lent his strength to the final showdown with Shigaraki. Without a second thought, he’d sprung into action in a move that saved Midoriya’s life while costing him his own. In the moment, it devastated the hero forces before ultimately galvanizing them to bring Shigaraki down without further losses.

In a corner of his thoughts where he hoped Bakugo would never hear it, Midoriya reasoned how, considering this, this too would be a burden that he should carry. Locked in a battle of attrition, he wasn’t the irrefutable hero who could save his friend, but he could ensure that his will lived on.

Bakugo exhaled forcefully, unable to meet Midoriya’s gaze. He stared off pointedly muttering under his breath, “Yea, whatever. Do what you want…”

“Midoriya!” Aizawa snapped sharply. “Eyes up front,” he cast threateningly.

“S-Sorry, sensei…”

Bakugo snickered, having evaded reprimanding.

“It’s all your fault, Kacchan,” Midoriya murmured dejectedly, a blush blossoming across his cheeks. He chanced a glimpse at the empty worktable beside him. A covert “HE is HERE” scratched boldly into its surface.

--

“It happened again today,” Aizawa exhaled, tiredly rubbing at his good eye.

Yamada navigated the line of tables in the empty teachers’ lounge thoughtfully as he carefully set down a warm mug of coffee.

Aizawa accepted the mug without a word and turned to gaze at the setting sun outside. “It feels like every day we lose a little bit more of him. Like he’s withdrawing deeper and deeper into it.”

Yamada sighed softly as he studied the scarred face of a man he’d known since he’d walked these very halls as a student. “We know more’n anyone what he’s going through, Sho. Doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No. There’s someone out there with just a bit more insight.” Aizawa argued through gritted teeth, his eye trained on a desk that had been gathering dust for the last two years.

Following Shigaraki and All For One’s decisive defeat, seemingly having completed the mission of avenging his master, All Might took a permanent leave of absence from teaching. It left many lingering questions about why he chose to keep One For All a secret, how he’d passed the quirk to Midoriya rather than involve others, and how he allowed All For One to move in the shadows for so long. The conspiracies that sprung up amid his refusal to address these inquiries only added fuel to the public’s general malaise. It also left a bad taste in the mouth of all the Pro Heroes (and those in training) who’d operated under his guidance without ever truly being in the know as the curtain dropped on the final battle. With his disappearance, the burden of scrutiny fell squarely upon Midoriya to suffer the consequences of his mentor’s untenable actions. It was a yearlong onslaught of interrogation and interviews before he found some semblance of peace and privacy to grieve.

In that time, Aizawa did what he could to shoulder and protect Midoriya, but he was no Symbol of Peace. He was just a teacher who had front row seats to the carnage and mayhem wreaked upon his students. So, days like this were just a reminder of the powerlessness he’d suffered after making it his mission to never lose a fledgling hero as he’d lost his own classmate. “Some teacher,” he scoffed.

“He said once, at Central Hospital, that it was like he could feel One For All calling to him. The vestiges, I guess,” Yamada proffered pensively. For a moment, he selfishly considered his own longstanding guilt and grief. Whether he was trying to find reason in All Might’s actions or provide currency for his own redemption, he was at a loss. “Maybe he couldn’t bear to be around the kid he failed… or hear the voice of the one he lost.”

“We’re left to wonder,” Aizawa’s balled fist met the top of his desktop with a sharp thud. “And what about Midoriya, huh? He was just a kid and we failed him. We failed them both. Where’s he supposed to go from here?” his hand tangled exasperatedly in his hair as he continued to lament.

“Will he recover? Will he go ‘dark’? Sometimes loss isn’t a lesson. Sometimes it just sucks and you just grin and bear it and shoehorn whatever’s left into the life you had ‘Before’.”

Unsatisfied with the unremarkable end such drastic means had yielded, Aizawa furrowed his brow and asked the question that had plagued him since witnessing Bakugo’s ravaged body fall still on the frontline. “We won the war, Mic. But why does it feel like we’ve lost something greater?”

Yamada held a mug up to his lips gingerly, both hands snaked around the glass protectively. He allowed the warmth of his tea to find his nose and, rather than sip or answer, his eyes settled upon a desk that had been graced perennially with a vase of flowers in remembrance. “Maybe we have.”

--

A/N: I hope the twist wasn't too obvious but there were definitely hints. Also, also, I think the anticlimactic summation between Erasermic while surrounded by reminders of All Might, Midnight and teacher's who maybe weren't even on the front lines is just another example of how even our favorite heroes may feel guilt for their part in everything after the war. IDK if it was conveyed well but that was the intention.

#neon fics #bakudeku #bkdk #dekubaku #dkbk #katsudeku #ktdk #fanfiction #mha fanfiction #bnha fanfiction #ao3 author #deku and kacchan #deku #kacchan #katsuki bakugo #izuku midoriya #midoriya izuku #bakugo katsuki #class 1a #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #katsuki bakugo is bad at feelings #fanfic #aizawa shouta #shouta aizawa #eraserhead #present mic #hizashi yamada

[deepspacedukat]

I'm hooked on Chairman Koval now and I blame you entirely. The only thing is that I can't even imagine how he would behave when infatuated with a silly little human like myself.

Ooooh, I'll happily take that blame! Though I have to admit, the person who got me hooked on Koval was @bigblissandlove1. She sent me a fic rec a while back and it was allllll over for me. 😂

Uh...I added a read more because this uh...got out of hand...

Ooooh, Koval infatuated with a Human... 🧐 See, I feel like he'd be in denial for a while.

"Infatuated??? With a Human??? How dare you even suggest something so ridiculous!" *huffs indignantly in Tal Shiar*

But eventually, he'd realize that, subconsciously, he'd been giving himself away all this time. Little things like not snooping too far into the Human's private affairs and intimidating someone who'd been rude to them.

No doubt he'd be irritated about it once he realized, and subtlety doesn't seem to be his thing, so I imagine he'd treat it as a grave situation that requires immediate attention. He'd probably have the Human dragged to his office without telling them what was going on.

He'd probably try to sound as though he was aloof and casual about the whole thing, playing it cool so that the Human wouldn't know how nervous he is about the whole thing. He wouldn't tell them anything directly, just imply that he's been watching them (because Tal Shiar) and that they've impressed him. In the end he'd probably offer them a choice:

"You may go free. Or..."

"...Or?"

"Or you can stay tonight and have dinner with me."

He'd make it a small choice at first - an attempt to gauge what his chances of success would be if he pursued this. Assuming that the Human said yes, he'd offer another choice at the end of their dinner. Go free, or stay and go for a walk with him the next day. Assuming the Human kept staying, it would continue that way for a while until they got much closer. At which point, he'd offer them a final choice:

"You may go free. Or..." He hasn't sounded this nervous since the first choice. The Human can tell now. They know him better than anyone else.

"Or what?" They keep their voice gentle, encouraging him to continue because this seems important.

"...Or...you can stay here on Romulus...with me...as my mate." He can barely look at the Human he's fallen for - because definitely has fallen for them by this point - but when they kiss his cheek, he knows what their answer will be before they even say it.

OH NO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME. NOW I WANNA WRITE IT. *my wips come up behind me with a knife that's dripping ink*

#deepspacedukat asks #romulanhorsegirl