#her voice is very............I like it picasso

[ventiswampwater]

ELISHA CUTHBERT AS CARLY JONES IN HOUSE OF WAX (2005)

#she was the legitimately the only thing that made this mtv hell monstrosity watchable jhfdjhfsjhjfs #that and the 0.05 second clips of brian. which I was watching with Interest and Enthusiasm #her voice is very............I like it picasso #👀 as always #elisha cuthbert #carly jones #house of wax #house of wax 2005 #I’m legally mandated to put a shitty gifset in carly’s tag every so often #keeping the tag alive! for its many visitors (me) and frequent flyers (also me) #really catering to the target audience (it’s me again) #carly wip inspo #<-tagging this to bully myself #I need to get off my ass and finish this fic jfc.........literally what am I doing...... #mine

[unboundprompts]

prompts for two kids on the poor side of town trying to make the most of it?

-> feel free to edit and adjust pronouns as you see fit.

He didn't like to steal. She had convinced him to dine and dash only once before, but he made himself sick with guilt afterwards. In exchange for meals, he would do the dishes at the old diner after they closed. It was busy work, but the food was good and sometimes he would get paid under the table.

She found some abandoned sidewalk chalk at the park once. Bright colors with more potential than you could ever imagine. The sidewalk right outside of her apartment was always decorated with drawings and doodles that could make Picasso jealous. Sometimes, other kids in the neighborhood would join her when she was drawing. The street would be littered in art and she would begin to think that maybe the world wasn't so bad. But the rain would always come, washing away the colors.

"Wanna watch a movie?" "Sure, what do you wanna watch?" They laughed at the question, as if there were more options than the four movies they had on DVD.

They frequented the convenience store close to the edge of town. One of their closest friends ran the register in the late afternoons and there were no sensors by the door that went off if they walked out without paying. They would hang out, keeping their friend company while they worked and making a meal out of the gas station hotdogs that never got eaten anyway.

"What if we ran away?" she asked, her voice barely over a whisper. He had to strain to hear her. "Why would we run away?" "Because everything is terrible." She started to laugh at the very idea. "We could hop a train or something. Start over in a few towns over."

If you like what I do and want to support me, please consider buying me a coffee! I also offer editing services and other writing advice on my Ko-fi! Become a member to receive exclusive content, early access, and prioritized writing prompt requests.

#writing prompts #creative writing #dialogue prompt #writeblr #prompt list #story prompt #ask box prompts #angst prompts

[luveline]

Hii!!! This is a request for Steve zombie!au

I don’t know how you do it but this au (and everything you write honestly) ITS AMAZING!!!!

I read that you wanted to eventually write about Steve+reader having kids so I was wondering if maybe you could write something like them talking about what they think their future would look like or Steve seeing reader interact with children and it just warms his heart… idk

Again, your work is truly so so so good, I love it!!

Hope you have a beautiful day <3

hi! thank you 🥺 I hope this is what you mean!! steve zombie!au ♥︎ fem!reader

On a rare day where you have work to do in the community and Steve doesn't, he misses you like crazy. He'd complain profusely about this wicked scenario to Robin, if only Robin weren't on shift too. As it lies, Steve is alone, bored and restless with your pillow pulled against his chest. 

Steve is functional. Steve is a fully grown man, with hobbies, interests, and a personality outside of being with you. But Steve is in love, and he isn't ashamed to admit that his very favourite hobby is being with you. You are the most interesting thing around. 

It's cold today, though he wears two pairs of socks, denim jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a loose hoodie under the thick layer of blankets you keep on the bed. 

You must be cold. 

Your jacket's right there on the door. You'd forgotten to take it with you to the kitchen. 

Steve doesn't feel proud of himself, per se, but he also doesn't feel ashamed when he ends up in the doorway of the cafeteria. School is in session, their makeshift teacher Sammy standing near the dishes trolly with a whiteboard and pen. She's drawn a huge diagram of a piece of paper with cuts missing, and a smaller one of that paper seemingly after the cuts are made, labelled Origami Giraffe. 

He's surprised to see you near immediately, sitting at one of the cafeteria tables with a bundle of the community's youngest children (babies and toddlers not included). 

You're snipping at a sheet of paper slowly, hands held up so the dark-haired girl to your right can reach the crayons in front of you. 

"Will you cut mine for me next, please?" a blonde headed boy asks him. He's pale, and as Steve draws closer he can see the little boy's brown eyes. 

He kind of looks like me, Steve thinks, startled.

"Of course I will," you say gently. "You're a great artist, honey, I love all these purples and greens you're using." 

"It doesn't look like the driraffe." 

His mispronunciation has you smiling. It's an expression Steve knows well, your guilty bemusement. 

"That's okay! Do you know how many drawings of giraffes there are? Millions and trillions, and I bet none of them are as brightly made or as creative as the one you've made." 

"What about mine?" the dark-haired girl asks. 

You pause your cutting to peek at her giraffe. "That's so cute, I love it," you praise. "Wow, I'm sitting with the next Picasso's and I didn't even know it." 

Your voice… Steve's barely ever heard you speak like that. So soft, and so loving. 

Not that you don't speak to him sweetly, half the time he thinks your words are more love than sense, but this is new. That's how parents talk to their kids, how sisters talk to younger siblings, and aunties talk to niblings. It's a familial, mellow sound.

It kind of drives him crazy. He tightens his hands in the fabric of your jacket, head racing with thoughts he hadn't stopped to think of before. You with kids. You with a family, his family. Kids that look like you, that carry your features and your sweetness around for you when you can't.

Kids that don't look a thing like you, or him.

You put down the scissors and hand over a freshly cut, stand-up giraffe to one of the kids. It looks great, and the kid says thank you with a clumsy ardency that you clearly adore. 

"You're welcome, Nina," you say. "I'll do yours next, Hal, if you're ready." 

The blonde boy passes you his giraffe. Before you take up the scissors again, you look at the boy's front, and you laugh kindly. "Baby, your buttons are all wrong. They're wonky, see?" 

"Oh," Hal says, looking down, "I don't know how to do them."

"I can help, if you want." 

He nods voraciously. You start to correct his buttons in silence, and Steve isn't afraid to admit to himself that it's the last straw. There is something endearing, hypnotising about watching you take care of others, he thinks the forbidden words — you would make the most beautiful mother. 

You giggle and straighten Hal's shirt when you're done. "Tada." 

"Thanks," Hal says, sounding pleased. 

"You're super welcome. Stevie?" 

It takes Steve a second to realise you're talking to him. You're looking up at him where he's frozen, concern knitting together your darling brows. "Is everything okay?" 

"I just– brought your jacket. It's cold." 

You stand up from the table and pat Hal on the shoulder, a frown twisting over your face. 

"You look pale," you say, taking your jacket. You pull it on one arm at a time, and tilt your head back as Steve dives in to zip it up. "How are you feeling?" 

"I'm fine," he says. I'm going insane, he thinks.

"You caught me slacking off." 

"This is slacking off?" 

You huff a laugh. "Well, yeah. I should be checking the dates on a box of cornflour right now." 

"You haven't mentioned this," —he gestures vaguely at the table of art's and crafts— "before. Do you come in here a lot?" 

You hum as you wrap your hands around his wrists. You pull his hands to your shoulders, and grin when he gets the memo and gives you a hug. 

"Thanks for bringing my jacket." 

His hand scrapes up your back, trying to pull you closer when you're as close as you can possibly be. "You know how busy my schedule is." 

"I know." Your sarcasm is biting. "My poor boy." Less so. 

You pull away and he still can't believe it. You have an air of content about you, a lightness he's always amazed to see. 

"Sammy asks me for arts and crafts help all the time. The uh, apocalypse kind of threw a spanner into the works for most of these kids. Some of them don't know how to write, or use scissors. And we all know they barely need me in the pantry, they could replace me with a well organised book." 

"Do you like helping out here?" he asks carefully. 

"Yeah, I do." 

His head is reeling. 

The future is a long way away and right here at the same time. You and Steve could make something. 

He doesn't know what you want. Maybe you don't want kids, maybe you won't be ready for another ten years, but the possibility isn't something Steve can ignore. 

"You can stay and help if you want to?" you ask.

He doesn't have control over his own body when he nods, a panging ache in his chest for the possible future. You beam and lead him over to the table of children, taking up your scissors as Steve settles in a chair a ways away from you. 

"Hi, guys, this is my boyfriend, Steve. I bet some of you have seen him before. He's gonna help us with the cutting out, okay?" 

Steve smiles at the gaggle of little faces that turn his way. "Hey, guys. I'm a way better cutter outer than Y/N, so if you want the best giraffe you gotta ask me." 

Some are old enough to understand his sarcasm, and some aren't. He's delighted when Hal, the blonde-haired, brown-eyed boy, turns to you to stroke your arm. "It's okay," he says, "I still think you're the best one." 

"Thank you, Hal." 

#steve zombie!au #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x you #stranger things x reader #stranger things fic #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction

[justanamesstuff]

Say what's on your mind - All I Need blurb

A/N: I'm sooo happy to finally post this!! Thanks again for the person that requested it and their patience! You guys are the best ♥♥ Hope you like it...

(part of their past is mention but you can read it independly...or read the fic 😉)

Warning: ANGSTTTT, typos.

Word count: 3,5 K.

Blog MASTERLIST - All I Need MASTERLIST

“Oh, wow, Mel! That looks sick, baby!” 

Matty said while admiring Amelia’s painting as if it was an original piece of Picasso. Y/n and him can tell how much she enjoyed painting and drawing. It was a non verbal arrangement to encourage her. 

Amelia answered her father’s praise with a couple of giggles.

“Do you want to tell me what or who inspired it?” the singer continued. 

“A cat, daddy!”

“Oh…what if we draw a dog instead?”

“No, thank you!” Amelia said politely.

Y/n couldn’t help laughing, making Matty’s head instantly turn around and look at her.

“Hello love.” he greeted her.

Amelia’s mother approached the pair, running her hand through Matty’s curls, which were growing very long. Y/n love them because it reminded her how much similar father and daughter were. The same happened when she brushed Amelia’s hair. Matty hummed as an answer. Y/n had been out the entire morning and even the smallest gesture brought, knowing she was back, brought an immense wave of pleasure to him.

“Mommy, look!” Amelia exclaimed. 

Y/n did her best effort, sitting beside Amelia on the floor. Her belly was growing every day a little more, pronouncing how close they were to baby boy’s birth. 

“Did you pain that, baby?” Y/n opened her eyes, showing how impressed she was under Amelia’s scrutiny. 

“Yes!” the little girl said, proud of herself.

“Oh, you’re so talented, Mel!” 

Y/n brought her closer, kissing her chubby cheeks, which Amelia thanked enormously, sitting down on her lap. She missed mommy too.

“Thank you.”

“How is Grace?” Matty interrupted them, asking about Y/n’s friend.

“She’s alright. Doing all she can to move before Friday.” Y/n shared with Matty.

He answered with a quiet nod, watching how Amelia returned to her paintings. She silently asked for Y/n’s help. Without moving far, Y/n sneaked her arms around her daughter, drawing where she pointed. 

“Guess what?” Y/n told Matty.

Matty joined the drawing party before answering with a, “What?”

“I bumped into Paul.”

Matty quickly stopped drawing.

The silence was heavy between them, sucking away all the playfulness on Y/n’s voice when she mentioned her “ex”

“What?” she asked, searching for his eyes.

Matty faked not knowing, “What?”

“Handsome…” Y/n knew him like the back of her hand.

“Continue.” Matty replied, dryly.

Y/n stared at his side profile, since he refused to look at her. She felt the need to reassure him, “That’s in the past, baby.”

“I know it is for you. Is it for him?”

Y/n didn’t speak.

“Y/n…” Matty insisted, this time, looking at her.

“I don't know.” she shrugged her shoulders. “I don't care. Grace’s family was there. We chat for a bit, and then I was trying to help Grace the best I could-”

“Please tell me you didn’t lift anything.” Matty changed the subject for a second, worried.

“I can lie…”

“Y/n, you could’ve hurt yourself and the baby!”

Y/n lifted Amelia swiftly, coming closer to her boyfriend. Her hand went strictly to his face, caressing his cheek. “I was careful. I swear.”

“I should’ve gone with you.”

“To keep Paul away?” she tried to joke.

“Hundred percent.”

“Such a man.” Y/n left a kiss on his lips, sweetly. 

“Yes, your man. I’m your man.”

“If you wouldn’t be so cute while jealous, I’ll be telling you to fu- off.” they had to be very careful with swear words around Amelia since she repeated everything. 

“Words!” Matty said sarcastically

.

“Anyway, how did you do around here without mommy home?” Y/n teased them.

The question took Amelia’s attention, who started talking about what daddy and she did during the morning. Meanwhile, Matty couldn’t stop his mind from racing with thoughts. 

—-------------------------------------------------------------------

Few days later…

Y/n slowly opened the home studio’s door, admiring Matty’s back while his eyes were glutted to the screen with his guitar resting on his lap.

“Hey.”

“Hi, baby.” Matty greeted her, without turning around.

“How are you doing?” 

“This fucking song is driving me insane.” 

Matty pressed the bar of his computer, hearing the beat for the hundred times during that morning. His mind was still rushing with thoughts about Paul even though it had passed days and a lot of reassurance of Y/n in the middle. He couldn’t keep his mind away from it, so he believed work would help. Matty started to think that maybe it wasn’t just as good as he had thought.

“Take a break?” Y/n suggested, kissing the top of his head. 

“I can’t.”

“C’mon…we can go for a walk when Mel wakes up from her nap.” 

“Darling, I really need to finish this.”

“One hour away from it won't hurt anyone.” Y/n insisted, pushing on Matty’s nerves.

“Of course you’d say that.” he answered harshly. 

Y/n was taken aback by his tone, “Excuse me?”

“What?”

“No, tell me Matty. Enlighten me, please.” Y/n took a step back from him. Matty instantly felt the loss of her touch.

“You just don't get it.” Matty knew he shouldn’t take it out with her, but it was already out and he couldn't stop it. 

“What exactly?”

“This is fucking important, Y/n. I need to finish it…”

“Yes, I do get-”

“No, you just don't.” The condescending tone on his voice made Y/n want to cry. “You know nothing about the creative process.” Matty continued, feeling the blood on his head rushing all the way towards his feet after each one of his own words.

Y/n couldn’t come out of her stunned state.

“Right. I…maybe I’ll take that walk. Alone.” she started walking towards the door, undoing her path.

“Yeah, right. Alone.” Matty was being obviously sarcastic. 

She turned around, staring at him, “What's that supposed to mean? What got into you today?”

“Don't think I don't see you smiling down at your phone since you bumped…” and before he could finish, Y/n knew what got into him.

“Oh, god! Go on. Finish the sentence, Matty!” she dared him.

“Since you bumped into the asshole that dumped you for his secretary.” Matty finally clarified, making Y/n’s eyes burned with tears.

“That’s all you could think I was doing? Cheating on you?” Matty stayed silent. “Fantastic!”

“What else could it be? You came home all smiley and giddy, talking about Paul…” Y/n looked at him in awe. “And after that you’ve been glutted to your phone, smiling like a teenager with a fucking crush-”

“Before you waste more spit…do you want to know what I’ve been doing?”

“Please, tell me!” Matty said, a bit too loud.

“I’ve been…a) looking at the ultrasound of our baby boy…and b) getting advances of your fucking birthday present.” Y/n told him, and without breathing in once more she continued, ”I can't care less about the…how did you say it? Oh, yeah! The asshole that dumped me for his secretary. Nice blow, Matty.” she finished, clicking her tongue, very annoyed.

Matty stood from his chair, deeply embarrassed, “Y/n-”

“Oh, no. Fuck off. You’re a grown up man, act like one, Matty. Face the consequences of your words.”

Y/n was ready to leave the room, but took a turn staring at him. Her eyes weren’t showing emotions when she urged him, “Just to be clear. Ask George or one of the guys if you can stop by their houses…for a few days.”

“Y/n.”

“I don't want to hear it.” she closed the door, preventing him from following her, and running upstairs. Y/n craved the comfort of her baby.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Where 's Matty?” Grace asked suddenly, making Y/n’s heart stop, while she was playing with Mel.

“Why do you ask?” Y/n didn’t detach her sight from her phone.

“Why do you answer with a question?” 

Y/n took her phone away this time, taking in Grace’s face, patiently waiting.

“We fought.”

Grace sighted loudly. 

“What did he do this time?”

“He accused me of cheating….”

“No, he didn’t”

“With Paul.”

For once, Grace stayed silent, which made Y/n’s anxiety settle on her chest.

“What now?”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s the first time.”

Grace moved away from Amelia’s little painting station, “How are you?” he asked, touching Y/n’s belly.

“What do you think?”

“Oh, love…” 

Y/n’s friend's actions called Amelia’s attention. The little girl ran towards them, making grabby hands as a sign for her wishes. Graces pushed her in the middle of Y/n and her. 

“Mommy?” the sweet girl inquired. 

“Yeah, baby?”

“Daddy?”

Y/n has been telling the same answer for days now, “He’s working, baby.” and apparently it was enough for her. Mel returned to look at the screen a few feet away from them. 

Grace stared at her friend. “I’m half lying. He’s at the studio with George, I think. I haven't talked with G too much either.” Y/n shared.

“I can't believe he accused you. After everything you went through…”

“Yes…”

“What do you want to do then?”

“With what?”

“Y/n…”

“I don't want to think about that possibility.” Y/n. “I love him, Grace. He’s the man I chose, he’s the father of my babies…he’s…he’s my everything, and he swiftly accused me of cheating? Me? Cheating? Especially with Paul. I don't know what I want to do, what I should do.”

*ping*

“That’s him. He has been trying…” Y/n looked at her screen, turned on and off with every message. 

“Talk?” 

“Talk. Return home. See me, see Mel. Everything. But I can't face him, not now.”

“I get it.” Grace said, empathic.

“Do you?”

“I really…really trying not to say what I'm thinking because it won't help.” Y/n stared at her, smiling for the first time that day.

“Oh, this is new. Ross has changed you, ha?” she teased Grace, watching how her cheeks turned pink.

“Shut up.” 

“You guys are…so cute.”

“Hate to say right now, but this is thanks to you two.” Grace really meant it.

“I know.”

The silence wasn’t uncomfortable after that. Y/n thanked Grace’s presence every time she needed her. 

Grace broke it after a while, advising her, “I would say don't rush into conclusions, okay?” 

“Yeah.” Y/n could let out before choking on a sob. 

“Oh, sweetheart!” 

“Do you know what’s the worst part?” Y/n asked.

“No.”

“I miss him. I miss him so much, Grace.”

“It’s okay, you’ll figure this out, Y/n. You did it before.” Y/n’s friend rocked her slowly from side to side without disturbing Amelia.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One week later

During the week, Matty went several times to pick Mel or visit her, but –even though he expected every single time to see her– Y/n was never around. Grace was the one in charge to let him in and stay closer, just checking Amelia was alright until Y/n returned. Amelia’s godmother gave Matty the silent treatment as much as she could, although she acted normal in front of Mel.

“Where’s my mel-mel?” Matty said, opening the front door as always.

“Daddy!” he could hear her feet running, getting closer and closer. 

Amelia showed up with Grace close behind her. 

“Hello, beautiful.” Matty kneeled down to be at her height. He hugged her, kissing her sweet face all around.

“For me?” Amelia asked, pointing towards the bouquet of flowers.

“No, baby. These are for mommy.” and his sight went to Grace for some reason.

“Ohh…” Matty’s daughter pronounced, her face falling a little, breaking his heart. 

Matty took one out, “Here…this very very special one is just for you, my love.” Amelia giggled, grabbing it before running away with it.

“Do you know a bunch of flowers won't fix this, right?” Grace half asked, half informed him.

“So, now you talk to me?” Matty raised an eyebrow, still closer to the floor.

Grace chose to ignore him, “Do you know that right?” Matty sighed, lifting himself.

“I do. I’m just trying everything.”

“Desperate doesn't look good on you.”

“Well, I don't care how I look. I want to see her.” Matty tried to look stronger than he felt. Grace saw through him though. 

“She doesn’t.”

“Believe me, I know…” Matty’s sight fell while he walked away, trying to find Amelia.

*********

Hours later

Y/n and Grace were chilling on the couch after they put Amelia down to sleep. Y/n’s mind went strictly to Amelia and Matty.

“How was it today?” her sight was fixed on the TV screen.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Mhm.” she hummed, looking forward.

“He’s miserable, Y/n. He always looks absolutely horrendous to me, but today was beyond that.” Grace’s words made Y/n’s head turn to her side.

“Why?”

“He doesn’t know what else to do, Y/n.”

“About us?”

“He says he’s trying everything…and he wants to see you.”

“I don’t-”

“I told him.”

“I want to, but I don't know if I can…”

“Did you see the flowers?”

“Which ones?”

Since Y/n got home, she was on a rush, feeding Amelia and bathing her. Hence why, Y/n didn’t have a minute to admire the state of the house, less to notice flowers.

“Kitchen counter.” Grace managed to say before Y/n took a last glance at her friend and rushed towards the kitchen.

She stopped at the entrance, the flowers staring back at her in the middle of the kitchen counter. They were her favorite. 

Y/n walked slowly, almost scared. Once she was closer, she took the note hiding between the stems. 

“Words aren’t enough,  Actions less. I’m so sorry.  M”

Grace heard her friend sobbing alone in the kitchen.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Few days later

It was late, Y/n knew she should be sleeping because Amelia started to wake up earlier and earlier. She would be exhausted during the next day, although the baby was moving too much, pushing her internal organs all around, at the same time Y/n deeply craved food, one specific fruit she didn’t have in the house. The combo was keeping her away from sleeping.

After a few turns, Y/n decided to just give up and wait for the baby boy to calm down. She was reading another maternity book when her phone vibrated. ‘Who could it be so late?’, she thought. 

Matty: there’s a chance that we can meet soon, baby?

Y/n stared at it for more minutes than intended.

Matty: I can’t continue like this, Y/n.  Matty: I miss you, I miss Mel. I miss us.  Y/n: what are you doing awake? It 's late. Matty: did I wake you? Y/n: you didn’t. I was reading, trying to distract my mind. Matty: from what? Y/n: strawberries. Matty: what about them? Y/n: I need them 😩  Matty: frozen or natural? Y/n: both?

The conversation stopped there. Matty only reacted to it with a 👍 emoji and disappeared. 

—------------------------------------------------

Not even 20 minutes later. 

Matty: do you want me to leave them in the kitchen, or can I deliver them to our room? Y/n: Matty, it’s 3 am! Matty: and? Y/n: ??? Matty: what? You wanted strawberries, baby! Y/n: I didn't mean you to buy them.  Matty: oh. Y/n: where are you? Matty: outside the house. Y/n: come inside, please. Matty: okay

Y/n moved the comforters off of her body. 

***

She was walking downstairs when Matty turned around after closing the front door. He stopped, watching Y/n struggling while walking down. 

“Do you want me to help you?”

“No, it’s alright. Just the bump getting bigger and bigger. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Okay.” 

Matty couldn’t help but admire her. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, even walking down strangely since their baby boy was growing bigger. 

Once Y/n stepped away from the stairs, Matty and her were presented face to face.

“I can’t believe you did that.” she snorted, staring down at his shopping bag.

“It’s the least I can do…” Matty stated. “Here.” he offered.

Y/n took it, brushing her hand against his. “Thanks.”

“Better go.” Matty moved awkwardly, “Enjoy-” he started saying before she cut him.

“Do you want some?” she offered.

Matty stared at her, not fully believing what she was saying. 

“Can I?” Y/n smiled at his awkwardness. 

Y/n didn’t say a word, taking his hand driving them towards the kitchen. Matty felt like he could sob just feeling her hand on his.  

****

Y/n let go of his hand so she can wash the fruit, before placing them in a bowl. Matty watched every one of her movements.

“C’mon.” she shook the bowl offering some to Matty, who was sitting at the kitchen counter. 

Matty tried one. “Oh my god! These are so good.” he opened his eyes wide. 

“I can eat them for the rest of my life without getting tired of them.”

“I believe you.” he said, taking another. 

Y/n took the bowl, holding it closer to her chest, “My strawberries, Matty. Don’t eat them all.”

“You said we can share.” Matty laughed. 

“I can share with baby, that’s it.”

Matty looked down, touching her belly without stopping to think what he was doing.

“How is he? How are you feeling?”

“I-” Y/n started, swallowing a big lump, trying hard not to cry. “We’re alright, handsome. My back hurts, and it's getting uncomfortable, but nothing too bad.”

They stayed in absolute silence, meanwhile Matty continued touching her big and beautiful belly. 

“I’m so sorry, Y/n.” Matty kept his eyes on his hand moving around Y/n’s front.

“About what exactly?”

“Everything. I- There are no words to justify how stupid I was about Paul and everything.”

“I agree.” Y/n stated, making Matty’s eyes meet hers.

“I’ll do everything to redeem myself. The past few weeks have been hell, baby. Last time, I swore to myself this won't happen again, and I fucked it all. It was all me being an asshole.”

Y/n was confused, “Last time?”

“After Paul, after Daisy. I don't like being away from you, I don’t want to be far from you, Y/n. Never.”

“Ah.”

“I’m in no place to ask or beg, but please don't give up on us. Don’t give up on me.”

“I really wish it was that easy, Matty. Truth is…you hurt me, again. And you fully had the intention because you believed I cheated on you…”

“Y/n…” Matty started so say, before she lifted her hand in the air.

“With Paul out of the people in this world. If the cheating accusation wasn’t enough.”

“I’m sorry.”

Y/n narrowed her eyes a little, “I know you’re sorry, but it’s not enough.”

“I get it.”

“On the other hand, you’re my everything, Matty. You, Mel and this baby are the most important people in my life. Well, and Grace of course.” Matty nodded. “I don’t want to and I can not give up on that. I feel like I should probably kick you out of my life, but I don’t see myself without you.”

“Baby…” Matty pushed his body forward, their foreheads touching. 

The closeness brought tears to her eyes. 

“So, sort your shit out and be the man I know, the man I need…and stop caring about fucking Paul or any other guy. You’re my guy, you’re my person. You’re the man I chose to be the father of my children and the man I want to spend the rest of my life with but you have to earn it. Not like in a competition, y’know? Meaning, we…this family…is the best thing we would ever accomplish, okay? No money, no fame…nothing can buy or get this. So fucking make yourself worthy of it.”

“I promise. I love you, Y/n.”

“I love you so much, Matty.” 

Matty dared kissing Y/n sweetly. Her hands went to his hair, trying to bring him closer but the bump was in the middle. 

Y/n moved backwards, caressing her nose with his. “After everything we went through, do you really believe I would return to Paul? I’m not that stupid, Matthew.”

“I know, I’m the stupid. I can explain everything, although there’s no use.” Matty left a kiss on her forehead. 

“Well, you can try until I fall asleep.”  Y/n suggested, suggestively, taking his hand and moving towards the hall.

“Do you mean I can stay?” Matty sounded so innocent, making her giggle a little.

“Why are you so shy right now?”

“Not shy, just…”

“Let’s go to bed, Matty.”

Matty let out all the air he didn’t acknowledge before he was retaining, “Oh, thank god.”

“Although you have to wait until I climb the stairs, which can take a while. Maybe start talking now.”

Matty laughed watching Y/n take the first step. They were together, they’ll be alright. 

#matty healy #matty healy fic #all i need #the 1975 #matty healy x reader #matty healy fanfiction #matty healy x y/n #matty healy angst

[satansdarlin]

Pandoras box (Tsu'tey x reader)

chapter (1) (2) (3)

warnings for this chapter- cursing and a light bit of ooc for tsu"tey and death threats

word count- 3K

you are an artist who came to draw and record the flora and animals on pandora after your sister gets sick you are taken under the wing of the next chief of the omaticaya tribe.

this series is hopefully the beginning of many more when more movies come out. the reader is actually my own oc just with a name change. i haven't sene the second movie yet but I am very excited to see it with my boyfriend. no beta-read we die like men but did a Grammarly run through.

When the ship landed on Pandora I walked alongside a man I met on the ship, Jake. He was an ex-marine and was here to replace his brother who had been murdered by a man with a gun. I was no fighter or scientist like the others here, I was an artist. My sister was a scientist here and she had gotten into an accident that had put her out of commission since my DNA matched hers just enough they pulled me in to use her avatar, a pretty similar story to Jake except well Paige was still alive. The number of armed men and women around me was astounding and intimidating but my eyes were drawn to the huge arrows that were jammed into the wheels of a wheel loader that passed in front of us. The colors were unique with yellows and blues, an interesting combination. Jake and I were guided into the building where we were ushered to the safety meeting and after that ushered to different areas. So I found myself in Paige’s room she was hooked up to all kinds of machines that were helping her stay alive and she had deep circles under her eyes. 

"You look like shit" I spoke aloud as a threw my backpack onto a chair. She snorted at me before wincing in pain.

"No shit. I feel like shit." She wheezed out to me, I walked to her side and placed a hand on hers. "Listen, kid pandora is a beautiful place but it's still dangerous when you get out there you listen to grace okay? I know you aren't ready for this but they need you to help with this mission. Your drawing skills are going to take you deep into the forest to find plants and animals. You are going to be their eyes you've got to prove that the life out there is worth something to these corporate assholes okay?" 

I nodded in the affirmative, eyeing my sister with concern. A nurse came in and said I was needed in the science bay to test my avatar. Grace was eyeing me up and down, she had not talked to me as severely as she had Jake but it was clear I wasn't what she wanted. 

"An artist and an ex-marine when I need two scientists who studied for years to be here. Just great." She growled as she helped us get hooked up into our coffins like machines. "Just listen to the smart people and maybe I can keep you alive. Just clear your mind and relax got it, Picasso?"

I gulped and nodded again, grace was intimidating. The lid shut, sealing me in darkness with a light blue hue around me, I steady my breathing as I stared up trying to keep myself from panicking. My eyes fluttered shut as I took deep breaths which smoothed out almost like I was falling asleep. I jolted awake. I could hear more, smell more, feel more. The scientists above me spoke as they were checking my reactions and smiling at me as I became responsive. 

"Morning guys" my voice was like I hadn't spoken in days. A racket started to come from Jake's table I turned my head to see Jake ripping off the wires attached to his avatar body. "Jake? Hey, you should probably sit back- you can walk!" I looked in amazement at his legs and smiled at him. The scientist were getting things to sedate him but he was already out the door, norm and I were forced to catch up with him. Norm was shouting about us not supposed to be running but u couldn't help it. The colors around me were so much more vibrant and seemed to almost pulse with beauty to me. The smells around me were new and alluring I found myself running alongside Jake as we skidded to a stop in the garden. I admired the purple fruit growing from the vines.

"Hey, Picasso and marine. Good to see you are up and functioning well. Your motor function seems at the tip-top." Grace's voice came from her gorgeous avatar, I smiled at her. 

"Everything is amazing grace" I spoke with a gleeful tone. She nodded at me in agreement as she tossed Jake a fruit that he caught and began to eat. 

"Come on let's go eat." She tossed me a large sketching pad with some pencils. "Your sister said you'd need one of those." 

And the first night in my avatar body went over without a hitch. Soon after a morning of relaxing, we got our first mission. Norm and grace needed samples, Jake was there to guard, and I was there to sketch out and flora I found. I sat in my avatar body looking out of the chopper as we were in flight my pack full of my art supplies and some rations if I got hungry. Jake rested a hand on my shoulder 

"Nervous?" He had to speak loudly due to the noise. I nodded a bit 

"A little" I looked at him the placement of his white freckles were pretty to me. "You nervous marine?" I teased him a bit and he huffed at me. 

"Not at all" He shook his head as I laughed at him. I looked at my sketchpad and tore out a piece of paper handing it to him. 

"Here I drew it on my first night here. You are a good muse when you aren't looking." The paper had a charcoal drawing of Jake in his avatar form chatting with others at dinner.  He looked amazed as he looked over it 

"Damn you've got a real knack for this stuff huh?" He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket. "Thanks for the keepsake Picasso" 

We landed on the ground and grace lead us deep into the jungle. Once she and norm found their spot, I began to wander a bit looking for interesting flora which I found. It was shaped like a lily pad with more layers spiraling upwards. I crouched down and began to sketch it out as Jake looking bored found me sketching it up. He touched one of the plants only for it to shoot closed. He let out a surprised chuckle and I gasped in surprise before giggling setting my sketchbook in my bag as we touched more watching the shoot closed with a goofy sound. Jake touched one and it caused a domino effect to happen closing all the rest and showing us a creature, which looked like a cross between a rhinoceros and a hammerhead shark. The creature let out a bellow and stomped its foot towards us, as Jake took aim grace spoke up from the tree line. 

"No Jake don't shoot it, its skin is too tough for the bullets to pierce you'll just piss him off" She was watching with a worried look plastered on her face. 

"Well, what the fuck do I do then?" Jake whispered aggressively at her as his tail pushed me behind him. 

"Just stand your ground. Don't run or he will charge" 

The creature took more stomps towards us letting out another warning noise which Jake hissed back at placing an arm across me to protect me almost. The creature whimpered and suddenly ran off to its mother and Jake let out a slurry of curses at it but my ears picked up on something, a low growl. I slowly turned around to see a jaguar-type creature and let out a gasp hitting Jake's arm to make him realize. 

"Grace stand our ground or run?" I spoke loudly as I kept my eyes trained on the creature. 

"Definitely run!" She shouted at us and Jake took no hesitation in lifting me up and throwing me over his shoulder as he ran. The creature gave chase. Jake ducked under the roots before finally, the creature ended up snagging his bag, sending us to the ground. I rolled further from him. Jake uncapped his pack from around him and slipped out of the straps as he grabbed my hand and began draining behind him as we ran, jumping over the edge into a waterfall. Somehow his hand let go of mine and I traveled further downstream. My head bonked a rock at the bottom of the river and it all went black. 

When I came too I had been drug out of the water and it was nightfall. My pack was off of me and so was my knife. I sputtered up water as I coughed it all up out of my lungs. I looked around and my eyes fell on a strong na'vi man pulling my art supplies from my bag as his people stood around him except for the one that had a spear pointed at me though he seemed hesitant as I looked over my clothes I noticed jellyfish like seeds had landed all over me with a white glow surrounding them. The man looked over shocked before it turned to frustration as he growled something out in his native tongue. 

"Get up" He spoke gruffly as he shoved my pack to me. "Up!" He snapped again and I quickly got to my feet. 

"You speak English?" I asked in my daze and this made him more annoyed as he snapped something in his language again before he lifted my weak body onto the back of his horse as climbed on himself. I fell asleep again as he held me secure to his horse. I woke up as he threw me to the ground 

"Get up" He snarled at me as two of his guards grabbed my arms as I yelped. They drug me along through a gigantic tree where I saw Jake also being held by two other guards. 

"Jake!" I whisper shouted at him and he smiled seeing me 

"Good to see you still kicking." A woman stood before him and the man who grabbed me stood before me both looking disgruntled. The leaders came down from the spiral speaking in their languages before the woman circled us and tasted our blood. She came to the same conclusion both times it seemed. 

"What do they call you" She spoke aloud so everyone would hear. 

"Uh (y/n) (l/n)" I answered her question. She smirked a bit 

"Well (y/n) why should we keep you and jakesully alive? What is your purpose?" 

"I am an artist, I'm not a scientist or warrior like Jake. I am simply here to appreciate the beauty of your home and to try to get the Sky people to understand your home is beautiful and should not be harmed. My tribe is broken all that is left is my sister and me. Please I'm all my sister has left."

She nodded a bit at my story and gave Jake time to give his speech which all the na'vi seemed to enjoy except for the two in front of us. 

"Very well. Tsu'tey you will train the girl in the ways of our people as you found her and Neytiri will take Jake and do the same"

They both pitched a fit but knew it was already spoken. Tsu'tey eyed me before grabbing my arm and dragging me up the spiral to an area of hammocks. 

"Tomorrow you learn. Tonight we rest" He jumped into a hammock and touched the side of it and it closed around him. I slowly entered mine with a lot more fear and did the same and slowly sleep consumed me. And I awoke to Norm lightly slapping my face saying my name over and over again 

"She's back with us!" He shouted over to grace as she pulled Jake from his station. Norm eyed me as he helped me up "where were you?" 

"Their home" 

The next day was full of people looking at Jake and me. We had achieved what many of them could only hope to do so on a miracle. Paige was proud and also a little annoyed at my lack of self-preservation. Paige made me practice the names of the na'vi royalty. 

"Tsu'tey is the one who is training me. He's pretty rough but I think we can work out" 

I spoke to grace, norm was glaring at Jake they had been arguing. Norm was upset that jake with no training or knowledge was the one to get in good with the clan princess. Grace helped me into my pod and gave me a nod 

"Be careful Picasso. Tsu'tey could loose his temper on you and that would screw everything up" and she shut the lid before giving me a moment to speak. 

My eyes shut and I drifted back to my avatar body. I jolted up and Tsu'tey seemed annoyed that he had to wait. 

"Today we practice your riding skills." He stood up and began to walk away giving me yet again no time to talk. 

"Wait up!" I quickly clamored out of the hammocks. Tsu'tey whipped around, teeth bared at me. 

"No. You will do things quickly otherwise you will die and if you die my job is over." I put my hands up defensively as he snarled at me towering over me. 

"Okay okay. I understand I'll keep up" He nodded a bit grunting at me before turning around and continuing on his path. 

Eventually, grace moved us up to the floating mountains to continue our work in peace. Working with Tsu'tey was hard, Jake often said he seemed to run me harder than Neytiri ran him but I could see the change I'm myself. I had toned up, the soles of my feet were stronger and I could run faster and longer. I could shoot a clean kill but mostly I could see how proud Tsu'tey became. At first, he hated me just like he hated Jake then it turned into simple distrust and now we had a good friendship if I had to say. He still hated Jake though not much I could do to fix that. 

As I pulled the bowstring back with my arrow lined up I released a breath before letting go of it piercing my prey I quickly hopped down to finish the job whispering the prayer to my fallen prey as I stabbed it cleanly. Tsu'tey watched silently 

"Good. A good clean kill tomorrow you shall participate in Tsaheylu" He grabbed my bicep giving it a gentle squeeze of approval which made me smile at him, I saw the faintest glimpse of a smile on his cheeks before it disappeared. I walked alongside him now no longer at his back, he would hiss or growl at me before but now he welcomed it. 

"You know tsu' I think you might be warming up to me" I teased him lightly flicking his tail with my own. He scowled at me.

"Do not call me that" He huffed at me before turning his gaze back to the path. 

"You didn't deny it" I spoke with a smile and a hand pushed me to the side as he let out a "psh" noise. 

"You are annoying. Like a bug" as I was about to defend myself he continued "but you are fast and sharp like poison. You are like Kali'weya" 

I was touched by his words And bumped him with my shoulder. 

"Don't get soft on me now Tsu'tey" I teased lightly as we walked side by side back to hometree. 

"You are gonna be participating in tsaheylu tomorrow. You need to be prepared, lucky for you kid, that your sister wrote the book about tsaheylu. I suggest giving her a call" Grace spoke up as I was eating my food and I gave her a nod. I had met Tsu'tey's banshee. They were a gorgeous blue color with yellow eyes. They were rather gentle with me which seemed to surprise Tsu'tey. 

I clicked the button on the screen as my sister answered my call she gave me a weak smile to me. 

"Hey, squirt. I heard you are about to get a new friend. Let's talk" Paige explained the details of tsaheylu to me in depth to the point where my nerves were amplified but by excitement as well. As I followed Tsu'tey up the floating mountains I didn't look down once until I had to jump from one to a vine which I did rather poorly making Jake snort before he failed worse than me. The cave was beautiful. Jake and Neytiri went first and then Tsu'tey and myself followed with his other students behind us. 

We watched Jake try and find his banshee but I was watching Tsu'tey a smirk was plastered on his face as he watched Jake fail. "He is going to die trying this" he muttered to his students making them giggle his eyes caught on me as and looked at him with a glare before turning back to Jake 

"Come on soldier you can do better than that can't you!?" Jake flipped me off as he made the bond and began his flight. I was next I stepped down from the rock and grabbed my rope, walking forward the banshee hissed and would fly away til I found her. She was lavender with golden markings and grey eyes she hissed at me which was a hiss I returned she bared her teeth before trying to take a bite out of my leg which I narrowly avoided. I hopped on her back locking my legs around her snout and keeping it shut as I struggled her to the ground as Tsu'tey trained me for. She thrashed under me until I connected my braid to her neural link on the back of her head. The feeling of linking with another creature was hard to explain every time it was amazing though. 

"Fly Kali'weya. It completes the bond you must fly" Tsu'tey shouted to me from the rock and I did just that. Gliding through the air I found I was able to control her rather well and so I named her, Ome. The team took flight together once we all had our banshee as Jake and Neytiri played. I could see Tsu'teys approval in the gaze he gave me. Tsu'tey and I began to fly together from then on.

.

.

.

Part two

#tsu'tey #avatar #jake sully #avatar 2009 #neytiri #enemies to friends to lovers #alien lover #cat boy #blue people movie #future smut #fluff #angst with a hopeful ending #chapter 1 #tsu'tey x reader

[starfxkr]

painter! reader x rafe

She has been thinking about painting something on Rafe's back for several months (like the starry night or some painting like that) and he thinks it's stupid, but one day he finally lets her?

"don't know why i agreed to this shit, feels fuckin disgusting." you had rafe laid across a chaise in your art room face down. it had taken months for him to agree to let you paint on his back, claiming it was "stupid and "messy"

he'd roll his eyes, "you have a whole room filled with canvases, the fuck you need to paint on me for?" but eventually he relented-- with the caveat that he got to pick what you painted. the choice was very unlike him, vincent van gogh's irises

despite all of rafe's complaining he was arguably the most relaxed he'd ever been in his life. "you're doing just fine rafe it's already looking great.

the wide expanse of his back was covered in paint, and you were using each freckle and mole as an accent. both of you get lost in time, your music softly playing in the background and soon enough you hear soft snores coming from him.

"rafe?" you whisper. nothing. he's knocked out completely, and you let him rest, finishing up the painting.

"y'done yet?" rafe's voice startles you a bit and he starts to sit up.

"no but almost, lemme just take a picture." after a few polaroids you let him up to stretch. "why don't you take a look."

rafe's expression would be unreadable if you didn't know him so well-- the slight upturn of his lips and the brightness of his eyes tells you he's pleased.

"you're a little picasso y'know that?' he lightly pats your cheek in affection. "but you're never doing this again i think i drooled in my sleep.

#✨.txt #rafe cameron prompt

[hazbinhotelexpansion]

Oh I was BORN to answer your request, prepare for all of my random discord quotes

Are you climbing the inside of the elevator??? ..........maybe

"I want them Zoloft boys"

"ok I think the phone has been in the microwave long enough"

She could run a kingdom, people would listen to her, she's very loud!

I'll sop your wet! ... I'll wet your sop? No, neither of those sound right, joke canceled, goodbye

You know me I love dead people

You want me to go straight to bed? Why not gay to bed???

"this tastes like battery acid, but if battery acid was tasty"

Gusty showers sounds like a terrible name for a retirement community

What happens if you have nipple pasties that just look like nipples? "Then you need nipple pasties for your nipple pasties" Nipple-pasty-ception "Get a bra that looks like boobs and put nipple pasties on that"

Yeah I'm like canonically allergic to chihuahuas in specific

"Jesus told a tree to off itself and then he threw a table"

"am I a Honda or a person?"

"NOW GIVE ME YOUR FACE AND DONT ASK QUESTIONS"

Gasp! Someone cheesed him!

WHY WOULD YOU MAKE MY LITTLE BOY INTO LEMONADE

"using my telekinesis to lift my daughter out of her crib just in time for her father to see her levitating randomly"

"why are we talking about bacon now I thought we were talking about your daddy issues"

I do not have a gender, I have a question

oh pants stopped happening like 30 minutes ago

just calling me Charizard is unhelpful team

I AM THE PICASSO OF MEMES

Ope there goes angel climbing into the China closet again

EVIL JELLO MY NEW GENDER

"I have a *weird* problem, are you ready to hear about my *weird* problem" "always" "my brownies are too oily"

"Before I can own a pigeon, I need to get my bird permit" Your..... Birdmit

It doesn't have to be a bunch of sad white women drinking wine sitting in a rented conference room with a bunch of tables all done up in tablecloths with droopy streamers and half floating balloons

he can be a soft boi *and* a crackhead!!!

"they're Jean shoes" YOU GOT THE FUCKIN JHOES???

Please refrain from happy biting the cannibal

WOOHOO KEVIN GOT BOOPS

Two pigeons, chilling on the sidewalk, five feet apart cause they're not gay

"you're watching a weiner schnitzel be made? Isn't that a dog?"

"she wouldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo"

About husk: probably grumpy enough to overpower catnip by the sheer force of cynicism

About niffty being drunk: she's a spastic caffeinated squirrel in traffic that's just taken a nice long inhale of, uh, snow

no actually I think you're right! I like my impulsive, self destructive behaviors

don't turn yourself into one of those cooked children in the backseat you're always hearing about, Pls don't cook yourself over your trauma

YEAH WE HAVE CHILD LABOR ON THIS BUS!

Mickey mouse voice: you can't spell drunk driving without U and I!

He has the mcdonald's headset of infinite wisdom

*angrily* IM GONNA TURN YOU INTO TREE FOOD

Sudden vox in my head: and now introducing, this.... Fuckin thing..... *gestures to cursed cat alastor on a small runway behind him*

HOPE THESE HELP YOU GUYS IM LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THE NEW CONTENT!

Friend, I am

CRYING

#hazbin #hazbin hotel #charlie #charlie morningstar #lucifer morningstar #alastor #angel dust #husker hazbin hotel #alastor hazbin hotel #angel hazbin hotel #nifty hazbin hotel #vaggie hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #husk hazbin hotel #hazbin husk #hazbin alastor #hazbin lucifer #hazbin angel dust #hazbin vox #hazbin charlie #hazbin sir pentious #hazbin hotel sir pentious #sir pentious #egg bois #hazbin egg bois #hazbin hotel egg bois

[travlersjoy444]

On the Road to Nowhere

2012 Raph x Reader

Mutant Apocalypse timeline

Summary: After the mutagen bomb goes off, you manage to save Raph and Donnie. Sort of. Dealing with new bodies, memory loss, missing brothers and friends...was maybe not how any of you wanted your adult lives to go, but the world has changed beyond repair.

So with a heavy heart, you and your battered dream team set off onto the road to nowhere.

In other words, the early days of the Mutant Apocalypse.

Warnings: Angst, sadness, the characters cry a lot, bittersweet ending, really hefty word count, implied capriltello but it's in the background, Raphael is trans in this because it's my fic and my rules

Word count: 13.6k

***

Day 0.

  Donnie was hooked up to some machine of theirs, trying as hard as he could to save his brain as their body was mangled beyond repair, Casey was texting you nonstop, Mikey and Leo were MIA, Raph was curled up on the couch, and you were sitting on the floor trying to process everything.

CaseyjONES:

R you guys okay??? No ones responding. Me and april are at my house 

CaseyjONES:

(Y/N) seriously what’s going on? I know you can see this i see your read symbol

CaseyjONES:

Where are you guys???

  Oh yeah. Now that you were done attaching Donnie to his one shot at survival, you could stop ignoring Casey’s texts. Nice.

You:

Sorry Case’ I was kinda preoccupied for a bit there

You:

Leo n Mikey are missing. Donnie and I retreated back into the lair. Raph is freaking out, I think he hit his head. Would ask Dee, but Dee is compromised. 

CaseyjONES:

Compromised???

You:

They fell off a building and got impaled. Is currently uploading his consciousness into an old Metalhead prototype. Very horrifying to witness. Status update, I feel like throwing up.

CaseyjONES:

…

CaseyjONES:

Shit

You:

Shit indeed

You: 

Anyways, I’m mostly uninjured. Arm mighta gotten mildly sprained but y’know what i’ll worry bout that later. Lair is a mess, only thing really salvageable was the lab. Probably gonna leave as soon as dee is stable. How are you guys?

CaseyjONES:

My sister got mutated. Last thing she touched was our cat so now she’s got claws. Shes freakin out and aprils trying to calm her down with empath powers or whatever. My dad is MIA but good riddance if ya ask me. Broke mty arm so im typing this with 1 hand, and april sprained her ankel. The cat has miraculously survived + is sittig w/ me on the couch wich is pretty cool ngl

You:

So youre all stable???

CaseyjONES:

Yea

You:

Oh thank god

You: 

Cas my phones about to die. Dee n i will contact ya soon as theyre stable. Love ya. Stay safe or i’ll kill u

CaseyjONES:

Cool cool. Love you too. keep everyone+urself safe. Hopefully we;ll see yo soon.

  You sighed as your phone clicked off, definitively cutting off your final connection to your friends.

  Raph whimpered behind you in one of the most un-Raph like ways you’d ever heard, and you turned around.

  “Raph? You okay?” You rasped.

  He was curled around himself tightly, rocking back and forth.

  “Who the fuck are you?” He whispered, tears in his eyes.

  You winced. You were guessing he had some form of amnesia, or some kind of damage to the hippocampus.

   “I’m (Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N). You’re my best friend, but I think you hit your head in all the chaos.” You said slowly, feeling your heart sink even further.

  He gave a strangled sob and shoved his face into his knee pads. “I hate this. Who the fuck am I?”

  “You’re Raphael Hamato. You’re the son of Splinter or Hamato Yoshi. You’re the brother of Donatello, Leonardo, and Michelangelo, and the father of Chompy Picasso. You’re the best friend ever to me. You hit your head when Leo saved us from the mutagen bomb. I’m pretty sure it is currently the end of the known world.” You answered slowly, robotically. You were half-aware of how you were saying it for your own sanity as much as you were for Raph’s.

  “Where are we?” Raph said, voice trembling in a way that seemed so out of character.

  “Your home. Well. Sorta. It kinda got partially destroyed, there were a lotta cave ins.” You said numbly, standing up. “D’ya wanna tour? See if it…I’unno, sparks a few memories?”

  He pressed his shell to the back of the couch, scooting away from you. “D’you think that’ll help? …How do I know I can trust you?”

  “...C’mere.” You said, waving towards Donnie’s bulletin board in the back of the lab. Hesitantly, Raph followed after you, though not without a groan of pain.

  “That’s you.” You murmured, unpinning a photo of a smiling Raph and Casey as they posed in front of a wall you’d all spray painted. “I took this photo when we were fifteen, about three years ago. That human is Casey Jones, our close friend.”

  Raph took the photo, squeezing it lightly in his shaky hands. “Show me another.” He demanded.

  “Here’s you and I at the farmhouse.” You smiled fondly at the memory. “I was bored and convinced you to let me give you eyeliner.” Photo-Raph was scowling at the camera, with his arms crossed and pointy winged liner around his eyes. Photo-you was grinning proudly, holding the eyeliner pen with one hand and giving photo-Raph a side-hug with the other.

  Real-Raph accepted the photo. “That’s me, then?”

  “Yeah.” 

  “Why don’t I look like you and this guy?”

  “We’re humans. You’re a mutant.” You said simply. “A turtle/human hybrid, like your siblings.” 

  You pointed to a group shot. “The one with the blue mask is Leonardo, orange is Mikey, and purple is…uhm. Well, purple was Donnie...” You said, trying to choke back tears as you stared at the photo. “I-is any of this…y’know, ringing any bells?” You managed to mumble out through your tears. 

  Raph shook his head. “No.”

  “Oh.” You said, feeling a fresh new wave of dread wash over you. You took a deep breath. “Well. That’s not ideal.” 

  “Where are the other…turtles?” Asked Raph, clearly hesitant to call these supposed strangers his siblings, which nearly broke you even further.

  “Mikey and Leo are missing, and Donnie…” You sighed. “Well, I’d probably better just show you.”

  You lead him over to the table where Donnies mutilated body sat underneath a sheet. Wires ran from underneath it and connected to a tiny Metalhead robot.

  “What’s…wrong with him?” Raph said softly, reaching for the sheet.

  “Don’t.” You breathed, brushing his hand away. “You don’t wanna see it, trust me. They fell off a building and got impaled by shrapnel and debris. Their body isn’t exactly pretty or…y’know. Recognizable as Donatello.”

  “They’re dead?” Raph asked, and the tinge of discomfort in his voice wasn’t nearly enough for the situation- the Raph you knew would be yelling and crying and screaming, not…not being mildly uncomfortable in the way that one is when a stranger dies.

  “Yes and no. He’s uploading his brain into that robot. There’s only about an hour left before it loads. After that, we’re outta here for good. The scavengers’ll be coming soon, so we havta get a move on sooner than later.” You said, an empty hollow feeling in your chest as you said the words ‘for good’. 

  It just felt so real.

  “C’mon. Let’s see if your room has anything salvageable.” You grunted, leaving Donnie’s body behind.

  Raph’s room had partially caved in, but the front of it still looked okay. His drum set sat undamaged in the corner, though you doubted there was room for it in the Shellraiser, so it was a moot point.

  Raph stared vacantly at the place that had once mattered so much to him, without a single hint that he recognized any of it in his empty features. You wanted to hug him so bad. Maybe more for your own comfort than for his. 

  But then again, you needed the familiar hug of your best friend…not this vacant eyed empty shell of a turtle who didn’t recognize you.

  “Oh hey look. That box says ‘photos’ on it.” Raph said lightly, pointing at a dusty shoebox that sat under the bed and breaking you out of your spiralling thoughts.

  “It also says ‘do not touch’.” You pointed out.

  “Yeah well, I think I’d want me to know what’s in my own ‘do not touch’ box.” Raph grunted, sounding like his old sarcastic self again for just a moment.

  You held your hands up and stepped aside, and Raph scooped up the box. 

  He took off the lid, and picked up one of the photos. “...Who’s Venus?” He said, holding up a photo of a little turtle in a red bow with the label ‘Venus De Milo’. 

  You frowned, staring at the photo in confusion. Judging by the line drawn over the word ‘Venus’, Raph clearly had not wanted you to know about it, but the name didn’t ring any bells. “Actually, I don’t know. I’ve never met a Venus. Maybe you guys had some long lost sister that no one told me about?”

  “Seriously? What kinda soap opera bullshit would that be?” Raph snorted.

  “I mean. It wouldn’t be the first time.” You shrugged. 

  “...Wait, really?”

  “S’okay, we’ll ask Donnie.” You said. “Now…I’m pretty sure you’d want me to save your sketchbook and paints. Your canvases too, but we don’t have room for that.”

  He swallowed, flipping through the sketchbook you’d handed him, tracing over the doodles on the cover. “Fuck. I…I don’t remember any of these.” He murmured, not even bothering to wipe the tears from under his mask.

  “And I…I can’t find Chompy.” You whispered, rifling around his room a final time. “Shit. Shit shit shit. M-maybe he ran away…” You trailed off, wiping your face with your torn-up shirtsleeve.

  “Chompy?”

  You looked away from him. “Chompy Picasso. Alien turtle. Your son, basically...and I-I can’t fucking find him anywhere. Hopefully he got out before we came here, otherwise…” You swallowed a sob. 

  Raph stared at you, looking sick. “I had a son? But aren’t we…teenagers?” He said, his voice devoid of the raging grief he would have felt before, and replaced with a look of discomfort and horror at being a stranger to his own life.

  “An adoptive son, practically, yeah. And you…you loved him so, so much…He was so fucking cute…” You cried, your voice cracking. “Shit, Raph. You don’t remember Chompy…”

  “Shit.” He agreed, staring at the ground.

***

  Donnie was stable now, opening and closing his new metal hands.

  “How’s Raph?” They said. Their voice had taken on a metallic ring, though it still sounded like Donnie at its core.

  “Brain damage. He’s got brain damage.” You answered, glancing over to the far side of the lab where Raph sat, flipping through his box of photos.

  “What?!”

  “He doesn’t remember anything. That’s why he's keeping his distance. Said it feels weird.” 

  “Memory loss.” Donnie said, and the creaking breathy sounds that followed could only be described as crying although his new metal face remained neutral. 

  You held out your arms and Donnie fell into them, shaking and sobbing but not really. They were so small now, which felt wrong, because Donnie had always been close to your height if not taller.

  Well, it didn’t matter. This was Donnie now, and that stranger in the corner staring at the photos was Raph, and that haggard looking human in the mirror was you.

  Day 0 of the apocalypse and you were already all falling apart at the seams.

  Nice.

***

Day 1.

  Raph forgot his own name for a few hours, and Donnie panicked. He’d say to you later that it was nice to know his circuitry was still capable of having a panic attack, but his voice would be hollow. Well, more so than it was already with that robotic tremor to his voice. 

  But at the moment, you were sitting with your arms around a trembling Metalhead who was actually Donatello, and making uncomfortable eye contact with Raph who sat across from you on the floor of the Shellraiser.

  His bright green eyes were narrowed in frustration, and his plastron rose and fell quicker than usual. He was probably hyperventilating. 

  You kept your distance. When you’d tried to comfort him earlier, he’d tried to shank you with a piece of glass he’d found on the ground. You didn’t hold it against him, really- he’d yelled “Who the hell are you?! Stay back!” first, so you at least knew it wasn’t out of malice.

  And it also meant that he was more damaged than you and Donnie had originally thought. 

  Probably permanently, Donnie had said through gasping breaths before he realized he didn’t actually need air anymore. 

  Fuck. 

  “I’m sorry, Raph.” You found yourself saying, because you were. It may have stung having him try to hurt you, but what stung more was the look of pure fear and confusion in his face. 

  He broke eye contact with you and dropped his face onto his knee pads again, slumping over in shame and sorrow. 

  “I’m sorry (Y/N), Donatello.” He replied, voice slightly muffled by his legs, which were pulled to his chest.

  “Don’t be.” You muttered. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t mean to.”

  Donnie nodded. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve treated you sooner, then you might’ve stood a chance-”

  “Shut up Donatello. If you had done that then you woulda bled out and died and you are not allowed to fucking die on me, we clear?” You hissed, squeezing his metal shoulders.

  “I did die, (Y/N).” Donnie said flatly, pointing at the bag that held their body.

  “Shit.” You said, letting your gaze follow his finger as you let it finally sink in that yeah you were talking to Donnie, but also that was his fucking corpse in the back of the Shellraiser. “Shit shit shit. You’re still with us, but like…man this is fucked up, huh? You’re not dead, Don, you’re still you, but…”

  “What if I’m not?! I’m a robot! Maybe the real Donatello is dead! What if I’m just a really good simulation?! What if I just think I’m panicking because it’s what Donatello would do?” He exclaimed, tugging on Metalhead’s antennae when he would usually tug on his mask tails.

  “Well if it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty sure human emotions are a physical chemical reaction too. So one could argue that I’m just freaking out because the chemicals in my brain are reacting rather than me actually feeling things, right?” You offered.

  “...I guess…Look I think I'm gonna go into sleep mode now, okay? It’s been a long day.” They sighed.

  “Yeah, okay. See ya tomorrow, Don. Love you.” You said, patting his shoulder. 

  “Ditto.” They said, and then the lights went out in their eyes.

  Raph sighed, staring at his sibling. “It feels weird being taller than them for some reason.” He grunted, breaking the silence.

  “Oh, you remember that?” You said hopefully.

  “Nah. I guess it just….feels weird. I dunno.”

  “Well…Yeah it really does. Donnie always towered over you and Leo. Mikey hit a growth spurt like two years ago and wound up almost as tall, and you nearly cried at that...” You rambled, smiling. 

  “Oh. That explains it, I guess.” Raph snorted. “Was I…taller than Leo? Just out of curiosity, of course…” He added, looking hopeful.

  “Nah. Leo’s 5’2ish. You are 5’1.” 

  “...Fuck.” Raph cursed. “That is unfair, y’know that?”

  “You complained about it often.” You smiled. “It was kinda adorable.”

  “Adorable?” Raph said, wrinkling his snout.

  “Yeah. Ha. I uh….called you that a lot, guess it’s kinda a habit. Not because you’re short but because I thought you were cute. Uh…by which I mean good-looking, not cute like a kitten or something.” You said with a shrug. “Not that it really matters.”

  “Oh. That’s cool then, I guess.” Raph said with a slight smile.

  You smiled. “So I can keep callin’ you adorable?”

  “Sure. Knock yourself out.” 

  You glanced out the window of the Shellraiser. It was still too bright out to travel safely to Casey’s apartment, with too many angry mindless mutants destroying everything in sight. You and Donnie had agreed to wait till the cover of night to head over there, in hopes that the new mutants would retain their usual sleep schedule.

  “Damn. How long’ll this take?” You mumbled. It was six in the evening, but still bright as ever outside…

  A pink thing slammed into the front camera, sending you falling back in shock.

  Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a once-human that had been nearly swallowed by brainy, vein-covered tendrils. You choked back a gag.

  Raph swallowed and clicked the camera off, looking greener than usual as the image faded.

  “Ugh. Gross.” You whispered.

  “So I’m assuming that things weren’t alway like this, right?” Raph said softly.

  “Nope. You, my friend, would much prefer the Old World…” You paused, having a realization. “Shit. I bet that if this were a transcript, ‘Old World’ would be fucking capitalized.” 

  “So….there’s no way to undo whatever happened?”

  “Nah. Dee’s run the numbers. The odds of the Earth bouncing back from this…are in the negatives.” You said, unable to summon anything other than an empty sigh.

  “...What was your Earth like?” Raph asked, raising his brow ridge as he stared at you gently, as if you were some sorta fragile ceramic that could break at any minute.

  Or as if you were a tearful human who’s world had just turned upside down.

  You heaved a sigh, and sat down next to him on the floor.

  “Well…there were trees yesterday. Green trees, not those crystal lookin’ things in Central Park that we saw this morning. And yesterday, this was New York, and it was full of people, not…those brain mutants and animal hybrids and…fuckin’  masses of organs suspended in jello. I dunno how far reaching the mutation bomb was, but Dee’s scanners have picked up on stuff as far as Florida to the south and Quebec to the north, and that’s not even counting the ones that went off on the West Coast and outside of America. Whatever it was that terraformed the Earth did a fucking good job.” You sighed, pulling your knees to your chest.

  “So the old world really is the Old World.” Raph breathed. 

  “Yup. I…I don’t think we’ll ever get our homes back, Raphael.” You whispered. 

  Yesterday morning when you’d said something like that, Raph had pulled you into a wordless hug and you’d pressed your face into his chest and cried. 

  This evening as you sat on the floor crying, Raph stared at you sadly but kept his distance.

  And you were reminded once again that you really were alone.

***

You: Casey we’re headed over

You: Read ya messages case

You: Dude seriously, are you guys okay?

Sent: 4hrs ago, unread

You: We’re here…

Sent: 1hr ago, unread

***

  “Case’? Casey?” You yelled, wandering through his apartment. “April…”

  “April! Casey!” Donnie yelled even louder than you. His face couldn’t emote, but his voice was high and desperate, and you were pretty sure they were twice as nervous as you were.

  “He hasn’t replied to any messages since like three pm, and we’ve searched this dump for like an hour. I don’t think your friends are here, guys.” Raph sighed, crossing his arms. 

  “Shut up!” You and Donnie chorused, and Raph rolled his eyes. 

  “Fine, whatever! We’ll just stay here forever then I guess!” He snapped.

  “Yeah well maybe we’re not being big babies, Raph! Don’t you care about finding Casey?!”

  “I don’t know who the fuck Casey is!” Raph growled.

  Donnie deflated. “...You’re right. I…I’m sorry, Raph. I forgot that you’re…y’know.”

  “Brain damaged? Nice. Can’t fucking relate.” Raph grunted.

  You exhaled through your nose. “Sorry Rafa. We’re just…we really wanted this lead…” Shit you were crying again. 

  “It’s just…I miss them so much. Casey and April mattered a lot to us, and to you, and we thought they’d….we thought they’d be here, but we’ve lost their signal and now I don’t fucking know what to do…” You whimpered, burying your face into your scarf.

  Donnie tried to pat you on the shoulder but only succeeded in reaching to the small of your back.

  “I miss  them too. Well Raph…Casey and April…well, they mattered a ton to me and it just…is so scary to consider that they might…” 

  They didn’t finish the sentence, but you knew what they meant. 

  That they might be dead. 

  Raph stared at both of you with a grimace, seeming to pick up on the meaning too.

***

Day 15.

  Raph stared at the photos a lot, not recognizing any of them.

  Sometimes he woke up on the floor of the subway car that you, his supposed ‘best friend’, and Donnie, the robot who claimed to be his brother, had dubbed the ‘Shellraiser’. He’d sit there trying to remember where he was, only for him to slowly remember waking up in rubble to a wide pair of (E/C) eyes.

  That was always what he remembered first. 

  Then he’d remember the smell of smoke and something he didn’t have a name for, and the feeling of someone hugging him close to their chest and whispering “It’s okay it’s okay-shit- Dee, he’s not waking up, he’s not- Oh my god Donnie, your- your plastron-”

  He’d opened his eyes a crack to see humans mutating, screaming in horror, before someone shifted his head, and then all he could see was fabric.

  Then he was on an unfamiliar couch with someone squeezing his hand. “Donnie…that’s a thing that’s possible?”

  “No, but do I have any other option?!”

  “...Shit Dee, you- you can’t die on me-”

  “I won’t. I swear I won’t, (Y/N). If my theories are concrete, which they have an-” The voice paused to take a laboured breath. “-an 86.3% chance of being, then my consciousness will- shit that hurts- my consciousness will be uploaded into Metalhead…”

  Raph didn’t remember how that conversation had ended, which he was very okay with. 

  Then after that the other things would begin to come back. Right. Right, he was Raphael, and these two people used to matter a lot to him in the Before Times, supposedly.

  He didn't remember either of you, if he was honest. But if the notes on his Past Self’s photos were trustworthy, then you especially meant the world to him once. 

  He held up a photo of you in different, cleaner clothes. Your eyes were brighter, and you were grinning harder than you ever had now. The note on the back read ‘Reference photo 4 drawing (Y/N)’ in a messy script with a heart drawn next to it. Below it, in smudged print, it said ‘I feel creepy for staring at this for so long… Shit why did I write that down?’

  He frowned and looked at another. This one was of a purple-ish pink turtle that gave the camera a wide smile, and the notation on the back said ‘Chompy I love you so fucking much but stop burning my paper please’

  The next photo wasn’t a photo but a drawing. It was a rough sketch of a human hugging a baby turtle that was drawn in pink, with soft shading and a lot of smudges. The back of this one said ‘Shitty drawing of (Y/N) and Chompy. Felt bad throwing it away though for some reason, idk’

  Raph wrinkled his snout. He disagreed with his Past Self, he thought the drawing looked kinda cute. Still, he’d respect Past Raph’s wishes and hide it away in the ‘Don’t Touch Box’. 

  He looked at the next picture. Venus again. 

  There were a lot of photos in the Don’t Touch Box of this ‘Venus De Milo’, and Raph hadn’t gotten any closer to an answer as to who she was. Heck, there were a few photos where she was completely crossed out with no further commentary. Not that it made much of a difference though, since the commentary that was there was ridiculously unhelpful. ‘Took another one of Sensei’s Venus photos. I wish he’d just let me burn all of them, but instead he just gave me this box and told me to hide them here instead of destroying all our childhood photos. Ugh. I hate them so much, obviously you know why, future me.’

  No, I do not. Why are you so cryptic, Past Me?! Raph clicked in frustration, throwing the Venus photos back into the box. 

  “Lookin’ at Sensei’s old photos, Raph?” Said Donnie, making Raph jump back in surprise. 

  “Dammit, you’re awake?!”

  “Yeah, just finished…charging.” Donnie sighed. “That still feels so weird to say.”

  “Well, you’ve only been like this for…what, a week? Two?” Raph said dryly. 

  “...Yeah. I miss being…tall.” Donnie said softly. Raph got the vibe that they’d actually meant something else, but he didn’t feel like unpacking that right now.

  “I miss you being tall.” Raph agreed. “Maybe that’s a good sign as far as memory stuff goes though.”

  “...Hey, maybe it is, Raph! That’s actually really good!” Donnie said, their voice perking up while their face remained uncannily blank.

  “...Cool.” Raph said. “...Hey, Donnie, who was Venus?”

  Donnie jolted. “-Oh. Right. You found those pictures… I actually forgot about- well. Venus… You’re a transman, Raph, and Venus was your name back before you realized you were a boy.”

  Raph frowned. “I’m a…what?”

  “Well…when we were kids, Splinter named you Venus De Milo because you were physically a girl. Then when we were like thirteen or fourteen you told us that you actually were our brother, not our sister, so Sensei changed your name to Raphael.” Donnie said slowly.

  Raph…did not like that information at all. “So…I’m not a boy?”

  “No you are, it just took a bit of time for you to realize it.” Donnie shrugged. 

  “Good. I…do not like the name Venus.” Raph grunted.

  “Yeah, when we were little you used to make us call you ‘Milo’ instead.” Donnie chuckled. “Splinter was so confused, but he just wanted you to be happy at the end of the day, really…”

  Raph swallowed. “Uhh…Donatello, who’s…Splinter?”

  Donnie’s neck sparked. “Right. Right right right…Raph, Splinter was our dad.” 

  “Oh.” He should know that. What kinda person didn’t even recognize their own father?! 

  Why couldn’t he remember the things that made Past Raph so happy?

  Well he didn’t even remember that he was a fucking girl, so clearly he wasn’t the best judge-

  “G’mornin’ guys” You yawned, leaning over the passenger’s seat where Raph had perched.

  Raph shook his head clear and looked back at you. “Hi.”

  “How’s the new body coming, Don?” You asked, stretching your arms.

  “I’m almost done with the shell. I’ve made it segmented this time so that I can actually bend over, see?” They said, bending the large shell made of sewer plates.

  “Oh. That’s really rad, Dee.” You said proudly.

  “Yeah, I’m sick of being shorter than Raph.” He chuckled. “I can't wait to finish this model.”

  “Wait, you’re making a new new body?” Raph frowned. “Did I know about that?”

  “Yeah, I told you yesterday, you must have forgotten... S’okay though. Here’s the design, I made these blueprints months ago.”

  “How come? What’s wrong with this robot?” Raph said, glancing over the taller, sleeker design sketch Donnie had handed him.

  Donnie shrugged. “I guess…this is Metalhead’s body, not mine. And I want my body to feel like mine.”   “Oh. Okay, fair enough I guess?” Raph shrugged, not sure how that made sense. Donnie was in the body, so that made it his right? Why’d they need a new one?

  Whatever, Donnie could do what they wanted, he supposed.

  “I think it looks great.” You smiled, though it didn’t reach your eyes the way it did in the Don’t Touch Box photos. “I love the purple LEDs.”

  “Yeah, it looks nice.” Raph agreed. It really did; it was cleaner than Donnie’s current body, and seemingly more combat-effective if all the hidden blasters in the concept art were any clue. Plus it just looked cool as fuck.

  “Thanks. It should be finished in a few weeks…in the meantime though, (Y/N), we should discuss plans.”

  You nodded, following Donnie to the back of the Shellraiser.

  “We should go on a supply run, we’re low on perishable food and water.” You said, writing ‘supply run’ on the whiteboard Donnie had set up in the back. 

  “Okay, noted. Do we have enough non-perishables?”

  “Yeah. The drawers in the back are full of instant ramen and canned food.” You nodded.

  “So just the usual things then…shelter. What’re we gonna do about shelter?”

  “Yeah, I don’t really like it out here. Seems pretty sketchy.” Raph grunted, spinning around so that his plastron was pressed to the back of the chair and his head was rested on the top.

  “I vote we go to the farmhouse. You’ve run your scans, and I think we just needa….you know, accept that everyone is…out of range of the scanners. We’re just sitting ducks in New York, Don.” You sighed.

  Donnie clenched their fists. “I- I know, but like…what if they come back for us and we’re not here, (Y/N)? What if by leaving we forfeit our chances of finding Casey, April, Mikey, and Leo?”

  “Well what if we do? Who cares?” Raph argued. “They either left or they’re dead, Donatello! We should leave too if we wanna not be dead!”

  “Yeah well what do you know?! You don’t even know the extent of the damage!”

  “Yeah I do. Explode-y bomb things from here to the other side of the planet. Earth getting terraformed in some twisted reflection of the world you knew before. Humans turning into horrifying brainless monsters, and humans that turn into horrified monstrous mutants, and humans like (Y/N) who survived with trauma and dead friends. And friends that lose their memories. Yadayada, all that shit.” Raph said through gritted teeth. “Plus, I saw you guys fighting off those mutants in the last supply run, you barely escaped with your fucking tail attached. Long story short, I vote we get outta here as soon as possible.”

  You and Donnie looked at each other, blinking.

  “I vote what he votes.” You supplied.

  Donnie sighed. “You always did…fine. Fine, guys.  You win. But can we please just stay for one more night?”

  You shrugged. “Yeah, I think that seems fair. Raph?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Deal. We havta go on that supply run, anyways, so.”

  “Cool cool. So…farmhouse then, Dee?” You said hesitantly, as if you were afraid of hurting Donnie.

  Donnie just grunted. “I’m gonna go into sleep mode. You guys handle the supply run, I have to do some repairs from last time.”

  “Well that wasn’t really an answer.” You said flatly as Donnie’s lights went out again.

  “...No it was not.” Raph sighed. 

***

  “D’ya think I can pull off steel-toed boots?” You grinned, rapping your knuckles on the metal capped toes of a pair of leather combat boots.

  “Well…it seems efficient, so yeah, why not.” Raph shrugged.

  “Yeah, but would it look rad?” You pressed.

  Raph nodded. “It would look badass.”

  “Now that’s the answer I was lookin’ for.” You beamed, pulling on the boots.

  “Do you think I’d look cool in that jacket?” Raph asked, reaching for an aviator jacket. It was useful, from a practical standpoint, with tons of pockets and the ability to hold in warmth, but he didn’t really want it if it didn’t make him look like the characters on the covers of the comics he’d managed to salvage.

  “Raphael, you would look so cool in that jacket. You need it.” You nodded emphatically. “All we’d needa do is cut a hole for your shell.”

  “...Oh yeah. Forgot about that part.” Raph sighed, wrinkling his snout in disdain. His shell was kinda inconvenient. But then again, it did function as a fantastic natural armor, so pros and cons. He tossed the jacket into the hijacked cart anyways.

  You grabbed a tent from the shelf. “I think this’ll probably be useful down the line right?”

  “Well…it’s free, so might as well.”

  “Ooh, lookit this lifestraw!”

  “What the hell is a lifestraw?”

  “It filters water. Turns even the most contaminated junk into safely drinkable water. I’m surprised there’s even one left, this is gonna save our shells.”

  “You don’t have a shell, (Y/N).”

  “I’ve spent the past three years of my life surrounded almost entirely by people who do. Your jargon has worn off on me.”

  “What the hell is jargon?”

  “Your turtle-specific manner of speaking. Like swapping normal words for ‘shell’.”

  “Shit, we did that?”

  “Yeah. It was charming.”

***

  “(Y/N), what’s ‘feminine hygiene’?” Raph frowned, peering down an aisle.

  You glanced up, following his gaze. “Uh…y’know, girl stuff, don’t worry about it.”

  “Donnie said I’m a ‘transman’, so maybe I should.” Raph mumbled, feeling ill at the thought.

  You did a double take. “Wait what? Oh-kay, cool cool. Maybe you do need to worry about it.”

  Raph grunted and crossed his arms. “I dunno why, but I get a very odd, very uncomfortable feeling when you say that.”

  You swallowed, obvious nervousness in your eyes. “Well…that is fair. Raphael…allow me to remind you about the world of…feminine hygiene. Damn. I’m having to give my boyfriend- uh- my best friend- ‘the talk’, this feels weird!” You laughed. “Uh…so how do I put this. Once a month people with feminine body parts…bleed uncontrollably and you havta fix it with the stuff in this aisle! …Yayyyy!”

  Raph suddenly got a very vivid memory of sitting on the couch of the lair with a hot pack on his plastron and an angry feeling in his head.

  Shit, why was one of the few memories he had of the Old World one where he was bleeding in places he didn’t want to be?!

  He groaned and facepalmed. “This is shit, you know that? My life is shit.”

  “Periods ain’t fun.” You nodded. “I dunno if you turtles are affected the same way as humans though, so I could be totally wrong-”

  “No, no, I remember now. It’s the same. Basically.” Raph said, blushing bright red and glaring at the ground. “Aaand I’m calling it on that conversation.” He finished.

  You nodded. “I’ll allow it. Lemme know if you need any help figuring out what supplies you need-”

  “-nO I’m good!” Raph exclaimed. “How about you just get- get some other supplies right now?!” He grinned, trying to mask the discomfort that rose the longer he stood in this stupid aisle.

  You nodded. “Whatever makes you feel comfortable. I’ll be in the next aisle over, the first aid section, ‘kay?”

  “Great.” Raph replied.

  It was only after you’d left that he noticed that you’d called him your ‘boyfriend’ for a second there.

  Well. Well that was an interesting development. 

  Raph hated not having his memories. He was 99% positive that Past Raph would know exactly what you meant by that, but presently? Raph was just so, so confused.

  Maybe he had been your boyfriend in the Old World. If the photos counted for anything, Past Raph had probably liked you at some point- you showed up more often than anyone else, both in the photos and in his sketchbook. And he hadn’t even finished digging through them yet.

  And now instead of having good ol’ Past Raph to comfort you, you got this Raph. The Raph who had forgotten his own name a few days ago, the Raph who didn’t really know what to do when you cried, the Raph who was so sick of not knowing… 

  Heck, he was pretty sure you had been avoiding touching him, which felt just as weird as being taller than Donnie. Even in the photos, you always seemed to have an arm around him or a hand in his, but now you were careful not to stray within a few feet of him. As if he was some kinda ticking time bomb.

  Then again, he kinda was, huh? The last time you’d come near him, he’d tried to stab you in a panic. Maybe you were right to steer clear of him, though the thought of that just made him sad for some reason. 

  He paused and blinked at a mirror that sat at the end of the aisle.

  Huh. That really was what he looked like, all green skin and torn mask tails and neon eyes. 

  He looked tired.

  “Hey Rafa, lookit what I found!” You yelled, and Raph tore himself away from his reflection, dropping his armful of…feminine hygiene products into the cart before following your voice to the paint section.

  “Look dude! Spray paint!” You grinned, bouncing on your feet.

  Raph stared at you blankly, trying to understand your excitement. “Uh…did we…uhm…”

  An image flashed through his head of holding a can of spray paint and stepping back to look at a mural. 

  “...OH! Oh right! I used to like spray painting!” He exclaimed, pleased at the memory. “(Y/N) I remember it!”

  Your eyes widened. “You remember?! Oh Raph this is huge!”

  “...What d’ya say to painting a final mural before we leave the city, for….I dunno, old time’s sake?” Raph said with a hesitant smile.

  “Hell yeah!” You beamed, grabbing as many colors of spray paint as you could and dropping them into the cart. “Dee is in sleep mode so he can’t even stop us!”

  “Yes, I can.” 

  You fell back and dropped your phone. Raph’s fists flew into a fighting stance, observing the phone nervously.

  “Sorry ‘bout the scare guys.” Donnie’s voice chuckled, not sounding even slightly sorry. “I just discovered that I can access you through your phones! I’ll be back in sleep mode soon, I just thought that was a perfect time to test the audio feature.”

  “Wait, you can hear our conversations?” You frowned.

  “Uh….surprise?” Donnie said sheepishly. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t plan on stopping you from spray painting. It actually seems like it could both help Raph’s memory since it’s so familiar, as well as being just…a nice gesture. My one suggestion is that you add some way for Leo, Mikey, Casey, and April to find us, like a coded key to our whereabouts.”

  “Oh. That’s smart.” You said. “But can we get back to how you’ve been eavesdropping this whole time Donald?!”

  “Lalala, going into sleep mode, can’t hear you, lalala…” Donnie said, ever the terrible liar, and disconnected a second later.

  “That little shit.” You said fondly. “If you’re still listening, I love you, Don, but you’re a total jerk.”

  Raph shook his head, feeling the beginnings of a smile on his face. “If you’re still listening, then quit listening, Donatello.”

  But no reply came from the phone, so you shrugged. “Guess he actually is back in sleep mode. C’mon, let’s paint a mural.”

***

  Raph glared at the wall.

  The spray paint had gathered into a messy blob of color that did not look like a mural.

  The paint bottle felt natural in his hand, yeah, and his lines were steady, but they weren’t coming out right. He scowled and tried to cover the blob with a cloud of red, but then it didn’t look like a cloud, it just looked like blood.

  “AUGUHH!” He yelled in frustration, kicking the wall. He jumped back to hold his foot, which was now throbbing in pain. Shit, why was that his instinct?!

  “You good Raph?” You said, looking over from your side of the wall. Your mural looked nice, with a painting of two turtles, a skeleton, and a red haired girl with eyes that seemed to glow. They were all outlined in thick black and colored in vibrant shades, which made them pop against the gray wall.

  “Fine…” He grumbled, rubbing his foot. “I just- I can’t draw or something.”

  You followed his glare toward his bloody smear of a painting.

  “Oh…did you…”

  “Forget? Yeah. I fucking forgot how to draw.” He said with a humorless laugh.

  “Do you…want a crash course? We’ve still got an hour or so before we have to head out…” You offered.

  He shook his head. “No…we don’t have time. …Did you add the message?”

  You nodded, still staring at him sympathetically. “I wrote ‘guys, find us in the healing place- Red, Purple, and (L/N)’. They’ll know what I mean.”

  “The ‘healing place’?” Raph repeated.

  “The farmhouse.” You elaborated. “We went there back when the kraang invaded three years ago. Leo was in a coma for like three months, and y’know…healed. And I think we all kinda healed too. You were kinda the team leader for a bit there…” You trailed off, eyes glazing over as if you were reminiscing about something Raph undoubtedly wouldn’t understand. You shook your head clear. “...but you know, I think they’ll get it. More importantly, I don’t think anyone else will, so we can’t be followed. Not that we have any reason to be followed, I’m just paranoid.” 

  “Aren’t we like…ninjas with like a million enemies or whatever?”

  You snorted. “Kinda, yeah.”

  “...So the idea that we might be followed doesn’t seem that outlandish, right?” Raph ventured.

  “Hm. Thanks for justifying my paranoia, Raphael!” You exclaimed, not looking any happier.

  “...Uh…I’m gonna say you’re welcome, but I get the funny feeling that you don’t actually mean that, huh?” He said sheepishly,

  “No, I…I dunno.” You said with a humorless laugh. “I’m being weird.”

  “It’s literally the end of your world. You should be acting weird, right?” Raph snorted.

  You smiled half-heartedly. “Ya think?”

  “Donnie’s acting weird, I’m acting weird. You can act weird too.” He said matter-of-factly.

  You sighed. “But that’s just the thing. Donnie lost their body. You lost your past. What the hell did I lose? …You know, aside from my friends…and family…and my old life…but you guys lost that too!”

  “I really didn’t. You can’t miss what you don't remember, right?” Raph said with a hollow laugh. “I have no Old World. No old connections. The world we’re in now is basically all I’ve ever known, so if anything, I’ve lost…the least.”

  You stared at him, a discomforting sense of horror in your eyes. You raised your hands as if to set them on his shoulders, but then lowered them instead. 

  “Raph…Fuck. No! You’ve lost everything! Like, way more than I have! At least I still have good memories to go back to, o-of you, of Chompy, of Leo and Casey and Mikey and April…of Mona, Raph, I still have memories of Mona, and you don’t even have that…” You wiped your eyes with your scarf and shook your head. “Shit, man. We’re all going through hell, I shouldn’t bother comparing it.”

  “Yeah….yeah. That’s a good way of lookin’ at it.” Raph sighed.

  “...Who's Mona?” He asked lightly, after a beat of silence.

  You smiled slightly. “Mona Lisa? She’s this really awesome Salamandrian who we met in space.”

  “We went to space?!” Raph said, eyes widening.

  “Yup. It was very convoluted… Anyways, we both had this ridiculous crush on her…she was so cool. She could beat us at fighting easily, but she also was so sweet…ahhh, what a woman.” You said, perking up a bit more. “Anyways, at least she’s safe…She’s in space.”   

  “What else have you guys not told me about my life?!” Raph exclaimed.

  “I promise I’ll tell you everything once life has calmed down a bit, but there is some stuff that I genuinely believe is too much for you right now.” You shrugged.

  “Well it’s my memories, so I don’t think that’s for you to decide.” Raph frowned.

  You opened your mouth, glaring at him, before deflating. “...I…you’re right. It is your memories, Raph. You do deserve the truth. But the truth isn’t always easy or fun or any of that so can we make a compromise?”

  He gestured for you to go ahead.

  You squeezed your hands. “I’ll tell you what you need to know, and if you figure stuff out on your own- which is highly likely- I’ll give ya more details. Deal?” You held out your hand.

  Raph sighed. This was probably the best he was gonna get from you.

  …Also…what was with the hand? 

  Raph frowned, staring at your hand, and took it awkwardly. “Deal?”

  You blinked.

  He blinked.

  “Raph why are you still holding my hand?” You coughed.

  “Oh, was I supposed to-”

  “-Let go, yeah, this is a handshake.”

  “-Weird. You guys are weird.”

  “You still haven’t let go?” You said, but you were smiling.

  Would it be weird if he said he kinda didn’t wanna? Holding your hand felt nice…

  “Uh- right.” He grunted, wrenching his hand out of yours.

***

Day 16.

  “Well, I think we’re all set to go upstate.” Donnie said as he finished checking over the items Raph and you had taken.

  “Cool.” You said softly.

  You’d talked about going upstate for the past two weeks, but as Donnie closed the power-cell powered freezer box, it finally hit you that you were leaving. 

  Like leaving leaving. 

  It wasn’t like there was much of a choice. New York was dangerous, more now than before. You and Raph had even wound up in a mild tussle as you made your way back to the Shellraiser last night.

  There were too many scared humans and animals that had gained sentience and horrifying mindless creatures that looked like body-horror inspired abominations to go anywhere without a fight. And frankly, none of you wanted to deal with that.

  And it didn’t help that Donnie’s sensors weren’t picking up on any habitable land in the general radius. You were sure he wasn’t telling you everything, but he had mumbled something about the soil being full of toxic chemicals and unable to maintain life among…other things.

  Essentially, New York City was dying. But maybe if you were all lucky, the farmhouse would be habitable.

  By which you meant…with good soil. It’d be really really nice if you guys could just…plant seeds for food and hang out there for the rest of eternity. Nice, but unlikely, if you were realistic. Still. It was a spot of hope. 

  Raphael stared at you mournfully as you and Donnie finished preparing the Shellraiser. He did that a lot now, and it always stung about the same- he wanted to remember you, but to him, you were a stranger. 

  You hated feeling like a stranger around the person who’d been closer to you than anyone ever back in the Before Times. 

  Not that you’d told him much. You thought there was kinda a power imbalance now, since you knew so much about Raph and he now knew so little about you. He was vulnerable, and you, being one of the ones who had saved him, had a bit more sway over him than you felt comfortable with. 

  He was catching onto you though, you could see that. He’d understandably demanded answers last night, and although you’d agreed to his terms, you were dreading it. Because how could you tell him that he had been your boyfriend if he didn’t even know who you were? Worse, would he feel like he had to immediately go back to that just to make you feel better?

  You’d described your relationship to him as ‘best friend’, which was more accurate, honestly, considering both you and Raph had been a bit odd around romance, but still. It would probably be more to take in than he could handle right now…

  “So. We ready to get this tin can on the road?” You said finally, leaning over Donnie’s shoulder as they stepped away from the newly pumped tires. 

  “...I believe so.” Donnie said proudly, patting the side of the car. 

  And with that, you gave New York City one final good-bye.

  “Seeya, New York…you were one hell of a town to live in. We….had a lotta fun here.” You said, leaning against the Shellraiser to stare at the cityscape.

  “Goodbye pigeons and manholes and starless skies. I-I’ll miss you.” Donnie said fondly, leaning next to you.

  “And I’ll miss pizza gyoza, my fire escape- heck, I’ll even miss Shredder’s lair and TCRI.” You grinned.

  “What a town.” Donnie said, nodding.

  "Hey guys, this is real sweet, but it’s getting dark.” Raph grunted, poking his head out the door. “Let’s get this freakshow on the road.”

  “...Okay.” You said with a rueful smile.

  “...Yeah, we’re coming.” Donnie sighed, and the two of you headed into the Shellraiser.

***

  By the time the sun had set, you had left the city.

  Raph sat in the passenger seat, eating dry pasta like a heathen, and Donnie sat in the roof hatch running his scanners. You weren’t exactly expecting that he’d find anything positive though.

  As you silently drove up the road, you took note of a few things- first off, there were trees out here, at least. Dead trees, but still trees rather than alien shapes that had loomed over you in New York, which was some relief.  

  Secondly…there was no sign of life. The only noise you had heard since leaving New York was the quiet hum of the Shellraiser’s engine, punctuated by Raphael’s crunching on his fucking dry pasta. (Seriously, that stuff could not be good for his digestive system…)

  Thirdly…your hopes of finding an oasis in all of this were running as dry as the land around you. 

  New York was dead, and Earth wasn’t following too far behind it. 

  Donnie clambored back down from the top lookout with a heavy sigh. 

  “So Doc, what’s the diagnosis?” You said dryly, no bothering to turn around. “Lemme guess- we’re doomed?”

  “Well, my sensors have picked up nothing but toxic chemicals and mutagen. There's no living organic plant forms for miles. I’m not picking up on the signatures of Casey, April, Leo, Mikey, Karai, the Mutanimals, or the (L/N)s. I don’t think the Earth will ever heal from this, and our tech has been basically thrown back to the dark ages.” He paused to heave an even more dramatic sigh, before saying “So does that answer your question?” cheerfully.

  You whistled. “Ouch. So we are doomed.”

  Raph crunched on his pasta and glanced up. “Great. That’s….real great.”

  “Raph, are you eating straight up uncooked tortellini?!” Donnie said, gagging.

  Raph smirked and crunched louder, and you cringed at the sound. 

  “Ugh, must you do that?”

  “It tastes good.” He said innocently.

  “Well don’t come to me for help when you get a stomachache.” Donnie said, disgusted.

  You snorted, and refocused on the road as Donnie continued to complain about Raph’s apoca-licious eating habits.

  Because hey. Maybe you were just headed towards certain doom upstate. Maybe Raph would never remember the past. Maybe the fucking planet was mutated beyond recognition…But hey.

  At least you were with your best friends. 

  Heck, if you ignored the metallic tremor in Donnie’s voice and made Raph’s ever so slightly gentler, you could pretend that this was just another peaceful road trip. Just another night of smiling at Dee and Rafa’s antics, of choosing to unsubtly egg them on, of talking till morning with Raph about shit like life and the future and insecurities, comforting each other in that sweet way the two of you always had.

  Yeah, yeah. You’d pretend it was a night like that.

  And for a bit, you’re nearly convinced that when you woke up tomorrow, everything would be alright.

***

Day 17.

  Everything was not entirely alright.

  The farmhouse was devoid of people, and was shrouded in suspiciously pink clouds that hung lower than clouds usually did. Donnie scanned the air though and only got the usual amount of toxic chemicals, so you guys reluctantly decided it was safe.

  “Woah, looks like this place already got picked clean.” You winced, glancing around the main room. It was mostly empty- everything from the furniture to the photos on the wall had been taken.

   The stairs however, had caved in, but with the help of your grappling hook, you made your way to the top without too much effort.

  The top of the house, by comparison, was full of the homey clutter that you had grown to expect from the healing place. Just being there, surrounded by everyone’s old things and the memories around them, made you breathe a sigh of relief. 

  “Anything up there?” Donnie said from the ground level.

  You smiled, breathing in the air of the place you’d briefly called home. “Everything, Don. Case’s spare eyeliner pens, Leo’s matcha powder, Raph’s forgotten sketchbooks and acrylics…everything.”

  With a bit of effort due to Metalhead’s heavy clunky body, Donnie managed to heave themself upstairs too.

  “Woah. Weird being back here.” He said, and you got the impression that he’d be smiling if they could.

  “How’re ya doin’ down there, Raph?” You said, leaning over the stair rail to see him staring into the living room.

  “I…we watched a dumb cartoon there, right? Uh…Chris Bradford the…Barbarian?” He breathed, as if speaking any louder would shatter his ability to remember.

  You and Donnie glanced at each other, swapping a pair of grins. Well, metaphorically, in Dee’s case.

  “Yeah. Crognard the Barbarian…” You smiled. “But we did watch another show about Chris Bradford!”

  “Awesome, Raph!” Donnie said, pumping their fist.

  “...Cool.” He said softly, putting his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “So…this is the safehouse, then?”

  “Well, ‘safe’ is a strong word…there’s a heck of a lot of danger we got into here last time.” You said, sliding down the stair banister. 

  “Out here in the middle of nowhere?” Raph snorted, turning towards you. “How the hell was this dangerous?”

  “You got mutated into a plant once,” Donnie supplied.

  “Ooh, Bigfoot tried to marry Don,” You grinned.

  “Who’s bigfoot?”

  “This forest cryptid who had a crush on Donnie.” You said with a chuckle.

  “(Y/N), please know that I would be rolling my eyes at you right now if I still had them.” Donnie sighed.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” You said, giving them a mock-salute.

  Raph entered the dining room. “Did anything terrifying happen here?” He said curiously.

  “Hm…Oh yeah. We fought off mutant frogs.” You said, nodding at the memory. “They were all named after conquerors and they hated humans. …One of them talked like Napoleon Dynamite….not that you’d know that reference…”

  “Ha, what?” Raph chuckled. “Our lives sound weird. What other things did we do?”

  “Oh they very much were.” You nodded. “Let’s see…what other shit did we do? Uhm…there was this one time when you got your brain swapped with a kraang, that one was weird.”

  “What exactly is a kraang? You’ve mentioned them before, but…”

  “Oh, right. A kraang looks like- well, here.” You pulled up a photo of a snarling kraang that you’d taken a selfie with. “Voila.”

  “Eww.” Raph cringed. “Why is it like…all goopy and gross?”

  “Evolution, I guess.” You said, wrinkling your nose. “Gnarly, right?”

  “So you’re tellin’ me I got my brain swapped with that thing?!” Raph said incredulously. 

  “Yup. It was pretty freaky seeing your body completely…not-like-you, but hey, we figured it out.” You chuckled.

  “Hey Raph, you might wanna see this!” Donnie said, yelling over the stair rail.

  “Uh, okay…” Raph frowned, heading towards the rope you’d hung over the caved-in stairwell. You followed after him.

  “See, lookit this-” 

  “Hey, this- this is my room!” Raph exclaimed, shoving past Donnie and into the room. “I- I remember this place! I remember sitting there,” He said, pointing at the bed, “And coming this way-” He spun out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom- “And-....oh.” He frowned, opening the bathroom door. “I…I get the weird feeling that somethin’....happened here, huh?” He said softly.

  You winced, reaching to put a hand on his shoulder, before thinking better of it. “Yeah. This is where Leo…was in his coma.”

  “...You sat with him every day, Raph, ‘till he healed.” Donnie said gently.

  Raph nodded. “Ha. I…ah…don’t remember that.”

  “Well, you did remember your room, and a piece of your old daily routine, so I’d say this is a win! Robo-high-three!” Donnie said cheerfully, holding up their hand.

  Raph wrinkled his snout “Uh…okay…” He held up his own hand, mirroring theirs,  staring at them with an awkward shrug. “Hello, three? Uh…satisfied?”

  Donnie lowered his hand. “...I shoulda seen that one coming.”

  Raph rolled his eyes, shoving his hand back into his pocket. “Whatever, Don. What was it you called me up here for, anyways?”

  “Your old sketchbook! I know you have the one from the lair, but this one  is full of all the stuff you did here!” Donnie said excitedly, handing Raph the book.

  Raph shrugged and accepted it, flipping through the pages. “Woah. These are pretty nice.” He said, starting to smile a bit.

  “Ooh, can I see?” You asked hopefully.

  “Sure.” Raph nodded, angling the book so you could see the art too.

  This page was full of the planning-stage-sketches for what you recognized to be the painting he’d done on the party van.

  “Oh dude, these rock.” You grinned.

  “Yeah…I just hope I’ll be able to…y’know.” He clenched his hand, giving it a sad stare. “Do them again someday.”

***

Day 20.

  “Well ladies and gentlefolk, turtles and others, I have gathered you all here today to present…The Donbot V.1!” Said Donnie, staring into the mirror. 

    It was a pretty nice design, if they did say so themself. It was taller than Metalhead’s model had been, standing at his usual height of 5 '6-to-5' 8-ish, and was made of a dark green steel he had salvaged back in the city. In a burst of inspiration, they had added purple accent lights.

  For the first time in days, they didn’t feel so wrong about looking into the mirror. The face that stared back at him wasn’t his, really, but it was…closer. The blank face felt somehow more comfortable than Metalhead’s imitation-turtle one.

They shook their head, chuckling to themself slightly. If only he were presenting his invention to a crowd of scientifically minded peers instead of to his friend and his brother. Then he might prepare something flashy and exciting, presentation-wise. 

  But alas, it was the end of the world.

  So instead, he simply glanced at themself one more time before leaving the bathroom, revealing his new body without any fanfare.

  You patted his shell and said they looked ‘rad as hell’. Raph shot him a wary look, but it went away fast, and soon enough Raph was congratulating him too- albeit, with a bit of mild confusion.

  Ironically, the brother that would have once understood better than anyone what it feels like to be in a body you don’t want….just happened to be the brother who had recently forgotten that he usually had dysphoria. 

  Donnie supposed that in a post apocalyptic world where gender was so irrelevant that Raph hadn’t even realized he was trans, it wouldn’t even occur to Raph to be dysphoric. (Hm. Maybe the end of the world had its good sides!)

  But secretly, selfishly, a twisted part of Donnie wished that Raph was still in the state of mind to relate to them. It was unfair, and a cruel thing to wish on his brother. Logically, Donnie knew that. But maybe a part of them wanted to just…feel a little bit more understood. Less like an alien. 

  It wasn’t like he didn’t notice the way you and Raph flinched when he entered the room, looking at them like he was some- some thing. Some freak. Maybe a cruel voice in the pits of his now-wire-filled stomach whispered things about how much he wished Raph remembered how it felt, how much a part of him wished you had been mutated in the explosion  so someone, anyone would understand the soul-crushing loneliness of not being in the right body-

  Shit. That was dark. Maybe he was losing more of his humanity than he’d initially theorized-

  Donnie swallowed their thoughts and opened the fridge, only to close it again upon remembering that he was physically incapable of eating,

***

Day 21.

  “AAAAUGHH!” Raph screamed, dropping to his knees on the dead grass. He threw his arms around his stomach- something in his guts felt like something had crawled in there and died and oh shit was this that girl thing?

  “Raph! Are you okay?!” Said Donnie, dropping his bo staff and rushing over.

  “Ow- ow- shit- Donatello, I-I gotta take a -oh- a -ow- a break from practicin’.” Raph grunted, using Donnie’s arm to pull himself up. 

  Time to go fucking deal with this now, he supposed. Just what his stupid life needed right now.

***

Day 24.

  “AAAAIIIEEE!” Raph screeched, chucking the stupid fucking salad prongs across the room.

  “Raph! Dude!” You snapped. “Look, I know you’re frustrated but ya can’t expect to get it right the first time!”

  “Well it’s NOT my first time using sais, is it? Aren’t I supposed to have some kinda muscle memory or whatever?!” He snapped back.

  “Raph, bud, bear with me- you lost your memory, hon’.” You sighed. “You gotta be patient with yourself.”

  “Maybe my self needs to hurry up already.” Raph said, crossing his arms. 

  See, it would be one thing if he’d entirely forgotten how to use his sais. But the thing was- he did remember. He remembered the feeling of their leather, he remembered spinning them and smirking at himself in the bathroom mirror, he remembered holding them in his fists and destroying things and how satisfying it was- but he couldn’t do those things anymore.

  It was just as fucking pointless to try as drawing had been.

  Shit, there were tears in his eyes.

  “You okay, Rafa?” You said gently, doing that annoying thing you did where you reached for him. He always let himself hope that you would actually follow through with it this time…he wasn’t sure why, exactly, but it always felt like a stab to his metaphorical heart everytime you lowered your hand instead of patting him on the shoulder or squeezing his hand or giving him a hug or anything oh good lord he’d take anything- You lowered your hand again, and yet again he felt something shatter in his chest. (Why did he still bother to hope? He’d just thrown his sais in anger. Of course you were nervous around him.)

  He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever, (Y/N). I’m fine.”

  “...Okay…well…I’m here to talk if you need me, y’know?” You said, smiling softly.

  “I don’t wanna talk.” He grumbled. I want a hug, I want warmth, I want someone to say everything is gonna be okay-

  You nodded, staring at him sadly. “...Okay.”

  You left the makeshift dojo, leaving him alone with the blank walls of what had once been a living room.

  Raph wiped his eyes and glared at your retreating figure, half-aware that his anger was misplaced. It wasn’t like you’d done anything other than be understanding and supportive…but still.

***

Day 25.

  “BACK OFF!” Raph yelled, glaring at the robot.

  “Raph, it’s okay, it’s me, your brother! Donatello!”

  Raph had brothers?

  …No, that didn’t sound right- this robot was probably here to hurt him- a vague memory of fighting a similar robot flashed through his mind, reaffirming his certainty that this thing was bad and dangerous and wanted to hurt him-

  He bit back a whimper as the robot got closer, instead snarling as viciously as he could. “Get away from me ya fucking toaster.”

  The robot stepped back.

  Huh. The…robot stepped back…?

  The robot in his memory shifted into a turtle with a worried look on his face and a gap in their teeth and a purple mask.

  Donatello.

  Oh…right. This was Donatello. His brother. He was at the farmhouse with you and Donatello….Donatello who was a robot now.

  “Shit.” Raph mumbled, staring at the robot that was Donatello. “I…I did it again, huh?” 

  “RAPH! DEE! Jeez, are you guys okay?! I heard yellin’ and-'' You said, slamming the door open. The kitchen door. Raph was in the kitchen. The farmhouse kitchen.

  “Just…another incident. Don’t worry about it.” Raph muttered sullenly, wiping the spit off his mouth that he must’ve gotten from all the animalistic hissing.

  “Ah.” You said. “Are you both…okay then?”

  Donnie nodded wordlessly, ducking out of the room with his head down and shoulders slumped.

  Raph scowled, hugging his knees to his chest. “Same as I usually am, I guess.”

  “So…not great?” You frowned.

  “Not great.” He confirmed.

  “Ah.” You leaned forwards hesitantly, hand outstretched. 

  This time Raph didn’t even flinch when you inevitably lowered it and followed Donatello out of the room. He just shoved his face into his kneepads and tried really hard not to cry.

***

  Donnie slipped outside, staring out at the wasteland that used to be a forest.

  Raph had forgotten him again. 

  Honestly, they didn’t know why it hurt so much. It wasn’t the first or even the second or third time Raph had forgotten him…but Raph went into the feral mode around Donnie way more than he did around you. 

  And logically, Donnie knew exactly why that was. You looked the same as you always did, albeit more battered and less smiley, while he, Donnie, looked entirely different. He was entirely different. 

  His sensors picked you up behind him on the porch.

  “Hey.” They said glumly.

  “Hey Dee.” You said, sitting on the porch steps next to him.

  “I don’t think the world will ever heal again, (Y/N).” Donnie said softly. 

  Your eyes grew glossy (although maybe they already had been), and you looked away from them. “...I know.”

  “I miss everyone so much.” He whispered.

  “Me too.” 

  “Casey and I first became friends in that barn…April kissed me by the stump…” He said, trailing off. He put a hand on his face, remembering where Casey had first kissed him. That had also been at the farmhouse…

  God, they missed Casey and April.

  You nodded. “Me and Raph once buried a dead turtle over there…it used to be the prettiest part of the yard.” You said bitterly, pointing towards the spot where the pond had been just a month ago. Now it was reduced to another patch of dry, dying grass.

  “So it was a turtle? I thought you guys killed someone.” Donnie said, only half joking- They remembered vaguely how he’d walked in on Leo lecturing a guilty-looking you and Raph on ‘honorability’ one morning. They’d glanced outside to see a suspicious grave outside that hadn’t been there the night before, and put two and two together…nice to know that it was just an unmutated turtle.

  “Yeah…Raph thought it was like, a blow to his masculinity or something to tell you guys that he cared about animals.” You said with a snort. 

  “Well that’s stupid, we all know he loved animals. He was like a Disney princess around them.” Donnie said, shaking their head. 

  “Yeah…very true.” You smiled. 

  “What do you plan on doing about your whole….thing with Raph, anyways?” They said, changing the subject in hopes of distracting their thoughts from existential dread.

  You sighed, running a hand down your face. “Fuck, man. I don’t know. Like…I love him so much, but it’s not fair for me to right now. He’s vulnerable and scared and doesn’t even know who we are half the time…how can I put the pressure of a relationship, or even the implications of a past relationship, on him right now? That’s just…so unfair. Plus, we’re the only people he has right now. What if he thinks not liking me will mean us…like, kicking him out or something fucked up like that? What if he tries to force himself to feel the same just out of guilt? What if-”

  “Well first off, overthinking things? That’s my job, stay outta my turf.” Donnie teased. You smiled slightly. “Secondly- who says you have to tell him? Because you really don’t.”

  “Well, he’s not dumb, Don- he’s figured out that I’m hiding something.” You said dryly.

 “Are you though? Because I’m pretty sure you’ve been fairly honest about things- he’s your best friend. He always was. Just say ‘yeah we were like close or something’, you know? It’s not like you guys ever kissed or anything, at least not much, so it’s not much of a stretch.” Donnie suggested.

  You nodded. “Yeah…I guess you’re right…who knew you were so good with relationship advice?”

  “Nah, I just know you and Raph pretty well.” He chuckled.

  You smiled, putting an arm around his shoulders in a side hug. “Thanks Don.”

  “Hey, thanks for distracting me from my existential dread.” They snorted, hugging you back.

***

  Day 35.

  “What if I can’t feel feelings?” Said Donnie, lying awake next to you.

  “Hnnghh…Go to sleep Donnie.” You grunted, pulling your blanket tighter around your shoulders.  It may have been more secure and safe to have all three of you stationed in the Shellraiser rather than the house, but man, between Raph’s snoring and Donnie’s shitty sleep schedule that you knew full well he had programmed himself to have, it certainly made sleeping hard.

  “But what if this is all a dream! What if I died and this is a severely messed up dream I’m having in my last few minutes of life?”

  “Shut up Donatello.” Raph groaned, trying to muffle Don’s voice with a blanket.

  “What if I'm in a coma and I’m dreaming this and the Earth is actually fine?”

  “Go to sleep, broooo…” You moaned, covering your ears with a pillow.

  “I don’t usually go into sleep mode for another…mmm…two hours.” Donnie said. “Damn…sleep mode! (Y/N), I’m not a person anymore, am I?!”

  “Donatello. Buddy. Pal. I love you dearly. You are a beautiful,  fantastic, brilliant person. Let me fucking sleep.” You hissed.

  “...Mmm…Okay. G’night.” There was a click, and Don-bot powered down.

  “Oh thank god.” Raph grunted, shoving his face into his pillow.

  He proceeded to snore incredibly loudly.

  You groaned. 

***

  You blinked your eye open at the sudden silence.

Raph had somehow wound up with his arms tightly wrapped around your arm in his sleep. He was shivering, which made sense considering the cold.

  You were tempted to pry him off so that he wouldn’t be awkward or uncomfortable when he woke up. But he looked so peaceful, and you missed this…

  Plus you were too tired to do anything. So maybe you’d let him stay…

  You’d pry him off before morning though.

***

Day 37.

  Raph was pretty sure that Past Raph had had the hots for you. He’d finished reading through his old sketchbook, and it was full of little paragraphs in the margins and crossed out text where he could just barely make out the word ‘(Y/N)’. 

  He supposed it made sense. He may not have remembered too much of his life, but he had a decent recollection of what pretty people looked like- and you definitely fit that category. Plus, you were funny and cool and sweet….not that it mattered much nowadays. 

  After all, Past Raph and Current Raph’s circumstances were vastly different. So maybe a part of him was tempted to bug you for more info…but he knew enough to just let it be. 

  That was the Old World. 

  In the New World, trivial things like relationship status mattered very little. 

  (Still, was it really asking so much to have someone who’d hug him? Was he so wrong to wish for a hand on the shoulder once or twice, the way you always were in those goddamned photos?)

  (Meh, probably.)

  He hugged himself, staring up at the ceiling. 

  “Oh hey, you’re awake!” You grinned, poking your head into the Shellraiser. “Mornin’ Sleeping Beauty! Breakfast is inside if you want it.”

  Raph sat up slowly. “Okay…”

  “How’re you doing?” You said as you led him across the yard. It was still cold and dark out, and Raph shivered.

  “...Tired.” He grunted.

  “Understandable.” You nodded. “I’ve been pretty tired too, but it’s so hard to sleep when it’s so freakin’ cold at night and like, a million degrees the instant the sun rises.” You complained, passing him a plate of eggs from the remaining unmutated chickens. 

  “Says you, the one who's warm-blooded.” Raph teased.

  “Oh shit, you must be so cold at night!” You said, seeming to have just remembered that Raph was a reptile. 

  “Freezing.” Raph nodded. 

  “Maybe Don can build a heat lamp!” You suggested. “They’re still in sleep mode right now, but we can ask when he wakes up.”

  Raph perked up. “Wait, that exists?”

  “Yeah, shit- I can’t believe I didn’t think of that like…forever ago. I guess I forgot that you’re cold-blooded…and now that Donnie is…non-blooded, it must’ve slipped their mind too…I’m so sorry Rafa!” You exclaimed.

  “Wait. So this WHOLE TIME I could’ve NOT frozen my tail off every night?!” Raph groaned.

  You shrugged weakly. “...Yup.

  “This is so stupid.” He sighed, stabbing his eggs with one of his sais.

  “Dude…you're using that as a fork?” You cringed.

  Raph scowled. “Well it’s not like I know how to use it as a weapon anymore.”

  “But…but…Raph you have stabbed through people with those! There is no way that that’s even slightly sanitary!” You squeaked.

  He shrugged and ate his breakfast off the end of the sai. 

  You looked ill. “You are… such a teenage boy. Please stop.”

  He sighed but swapped the sai for a fork. “Okay, okay. Jeez.”

  “Thank you.” You groaned, patting his shoulder unconsciously.

  And suddenly it felt like his brain had short circuited.

  Oh god, he remembered you. 

  How could he have ever forgotten you?! All the memories shot into his brain at record speed- sitting on a fire escape with your arm around his shoulders, spray painting the side of TCRI, making fun of Casey and Donnie’s crushes on April, beating up bad guys, the look on your face- that toothy grin that you never ever wore theses days, a familiar hand resting comfortingly on his shoulder- and oh god, he remembered you!

  “I- I…(F/C)!” He gasped. You jerked your hand away guiltily, but he caught it before you could. “(Y/N). Your favorite color is (F/C)!”

  “W-what?” You said, eyes wide.

  “(Y/N) I remember! I-I remember you! Not everything probably, but- but I remember you!” He exclaimed, gripping your hands in his.

  Your eyes widened even further. “Raph, you- what?!”

  He grinned and hugged you to his chest as tightly as he could. Tentatively, you relaxed into it, rubbing his shell gently.

  “I remember you!” He exclaimed. 

  You nodded, still looking baffled. “Like…what?”

  “I remember how we met- I fell onto your fire escape! A-and I remember eating breakfast here with you and talking about…well, something, probably, but it was definitely here at this table! And I remember…I had this pet turtle, right? I think his name was…Slash? No! Spike! Slash was the mutant…? Whatever! I remember you sitting….uh…there, by that broken window, and I drew this picture!” He grinned, holding up a page in his sketchbook. It was a portrait of you, with soft shading and a bold outline. 

  “Woah, Raph?! You just- remember all this?!” You said, still staring in disbelief.

  “Bits and pieces, yeah- I think it was ‘cause you…you know, touched me. It’s like…muscle memory? I dunno. Might hafta ask Donnie…”

  “Raph!” You grinned, hugging him tightly. “I just- wow! This is so cool, I-”

  “Woah, are we interrupting somethin’?” Said a familiar voice.

  You and Raph jolted into defensive positions, hopping up to face the person-

  And then your brain seemed to short-circuit.

  “Casey?” You squeaked. “CASEY!”

  “(Y/N)! RAPH! Dude I can’t believe we finally found you!” Casey shrieked just as loud, diving in to grab you and Raph in a messy group hug.

  You grinned, hugging your friends close. “Casey Jones, I’m so glad you’re okay- fuck man, I thought you must’ve gotten kraang-ifed…”

  Raph pulled away, staring at Casey. “You’re…the skeleton dude- Casey Jones?”

  “Uh, no duh- who else would I be?! Casey Jones is in the flesh babeeyy!” He grinned, pumping his fist.

  “Raph…uh…hit his head in the mutagen bomb, Case’.” You mumbled, and Casey’s grinning facade shattered.

  “Oh. Shit.” He said, staring at Raph. “Do you remember…like…anything?”

  Raph shrugged dejectedly. “...Some of it. I remember…you and I would spray paint, I think? I remember a lotta (Y/N) apparently…I’ve got some vague recollections of Donatello, mostly their nerd-stuff…”

  “Jeez man. That’s…depressing as fuck.” Casey said, blunt as he’d always been.

  “Yeah.” Raph grunted.

  “So…is it just you?” You asked, fearing the worst.

  “Naw, I just found you guys first.” Casey  smiled. “Red n’ Angel are searching upstairs…but I hear them coming down right….now.” He said, nodding right as the sound of two people tripping and falling off the treacherous stair-rope Donnie had installed.

  “Oooh.” You and Casey winced.

  “How ‘bout you? Any sign of the others? …Where’s Donnie?” Casey’s voice lowered for the latter, in an anxious tremor.

  “Dee’s….fine. They just…look different than they did last time…you saw them. And…they’re pretty insecure about it.” You mumbled.

  “Casey! Casey, we found evidence of someone upstairs- (Y/N)?! Raph!” April said, running into the kitchen as she noticed you. “You guys are here!”

  “C’mon O’Neil, rule one of bein’ a ninja is ‘Don’t ever question the vague instructions you get from graffiti’. Didja ever doubt it?” You teased, grinning.

  “I-I was so worried, guys! I thought that since my psychic powers stopped working-”

  “Woah, how’d that happen?”

  “Too many big auras now. They’re impossible to tell apart…trying just gives me a headache.” April explained. “But I thought it meant that you might’ve been dead…” She whispered, and Casey put an arm around her shoulders.

  “Woah. So this is your turtle, Case’?” Said a new voice, and a teenage cat mutant leaned into the kitchen. “Hi.”

  Raph only grunted in response, and the cat mutant that must’ve been Angel nodded. “Fair.”

  “So where is Dee then?” Casey said.

  “Shellraiser. In…uh…sleep mode.” You said. “I’ll go get him…but would you guys mind…shit this sounds wimpy. But could you guys…come with me?” You muttered. A part of you was 100% convinced that the instant you left them they would all fade away.

  But Casey, who would usually make fun of you for such a childish request, slung his other arm around your shoulders- and you realized he probably felt exactly the same. 

  “Sure thing.” He said, smiling softly.

  “Thanks guys.” You beamed.

  You were finally smiling the way you did in the photographs.

  Raph couldn’t help but smile too. 

***

  When Donnie woke up from sleep mode on Day 37 of the Mutant Apocalypse, he was greeted by four familiar faces- two of which were the only faces he’d seen at all in the past month, and two of whom were what convinced him that they were probably somehow dreaming. 

  But they were a robot, and dreaming wasn’t physically possible anymore.

  So that meant this must, somehow, be real.

  “Hey Donnie.” Said April, smiling at him, and he wanted to cry even though he didn’t have eyes.

  “‘Sup Don.” Said Casey, grinning his gap-toothed grin that looked so much like Donnie’s old one.

  “You’re here.” Donnie whispered, feeling his new antennae shoot up. “Holy chalupa you’re HERE?!” 

  You smiled, helping him up. “Hey Dee, I forgot to tell ya- we’ve got company.”

  Donnie stared at the humans. They were here. He had so many questions, but most importantly-

  “D’you guys like the new look?” He chuckled, only half joking.

  Casey shrugged. “It’s different, but it looks metal as fuck.”

  “Yeah that’s ‘cause it is metal, ya meathead.” Said Raph, smiling.

  “It looks so cool Dee.” April said, smiling warmly. 

  Donnie really really wished they could still emote right about now, because the dopey grin that they would have grinned for that was unreal.

***

Day 40.

  You and Raph lay on the roof of the farmhouse, watching the red sun set, leaving the sky that weird glowing purple color that it had begun to adopt.

  (It really did remind you of some of those old Space Heroes episodes.) 

  “I really miss the stars.” You said lightly. “But I guess this is sorta pretty too, huh? In like…a weird way.”

  “Hey, isn’t that true for all of this shit?” Raph said. “I really miss the stuff in those photos, those glimpses I get of the life we had before…but hey. In a weird…sort of fucked up way…this life is kinda nice too. Don’t get me wrong. It’s really frustrating, I hate my brain most of the time, and I’m like 90% convinced that I’ll never really be the same person…but at least I’m not alone in it, y’know?” He sighed.

  You took his hand, squeezing it gently, and he squeezed back, and continued. “I’ve got you and Donnie. I guess now I’ve got Casey, Angel, and April too, and if they survived, who's to say my brothers didn’t?”

  You nodded. “Yeah…I guess if we’re out here on this road to nowhere, there’s no one who I’d rather have on my side.” You chuckled half-heartedly. “Still sucks though.”

  “Yeah, it really does.” Raph agreed.

  You smiled and pulled him into a side hug, suddenly swallowed by bittersweet nostalgia for those days when the biggest threat was Shredder.

  But hey, Raph had a point. 

  At least the outcome, well perhaps a huge downgrade from the breathtaking beauty of the stars, was still sorta pretty.

  At least you were on the road to nowhere together.

***

Author's note: I am so glad that Mutant Apocalypse was made into an AU. If it had wound up as the canon ending, that would be...messed up, man. But I like it as an AU, and I hope you've enjoyed journeying through it with me- it's a sad sad ride, but boy did I have fun writing it.

#tmnt x reader #tmnt 2012 x reader #reader insert #gender neutral reader #gn!reader #tmnt raph x reader #tmnt 2012 raph x reader #raph x reader #tmnt 2012 raph #2k12 raph x reader #2k12 raph #mutant apocalypse #tmnt apocalypse au #trans raph

[rosie-b]

True Blue

Chapter 11: Going for Gold (in the bad luck tournament)

“You’ve decoded the Grimoire?” 

Marinette’s face grew warm as she tried to explain. “No, no, but I looked at the pictures in it and I think I managed to isolate the ingredients for a possible cure. M. Agreste didn’t want me to, so please don’t tell him,” she begged. 

Nathalie sat down. “But you managed to figure out a solution? How? Listen, I won’t tell M. Agreste, but it’s very important that you tell me exactly what you’ve been doing. I might be able to help you.” 

You can read the rest on AO3 or below!

It was becoming painfully clear that making potions wasn’t Marinette’s strong suit. 

She’d made several different versions of the rock/gold/feather mixture she’d finally determined was what the Grimoire’s pictures hinted to on several different days. She didn’t exactly have the right ingredients, but then, she couldn’t tell what those were without a written translation of the book. Instead, she’d tried mixing chalk dust or tiny pebbles, gold-colored links from old bracelets, and ground-up pigeon feathers in various combinations. 

So far none of her mixtures seemed to have worked, not that she’d had a real way to test them other than spooning a tiny amount into a vial necklace, wearing it all day, and seeing if it did anything to alleviate her symptoms. Which it didn’t. 

Marinette wasn’t going to give up! It was just... well, her methodology needed to change. If wearing her hodgepodge brews in a vial necklace wouldn’t work, then maybe ingesting the potions would.  

There was only one problem with that theory: Marinette did not want to ingest ground rocks, gold, or feathers. Maybe it worked for the witches of the past, but it just didn’t seem healthy to her modern sensibility. 

Well, maybe she could ask M. Agreste for the proper ingredients and get the potion to work that way!  

But he hadn’t been exactly supportive of her idea when she’d introduced it to him, and she didn’t want to upset him by insinuating that she knew more about the Miraculous than he did.  

Still, he had access to resources (like money) that she did not, and without his help, she honestly doubted that she would ever get her hands on meteorite dust, molten gold, or a peacock feather (although come to think of it, she could always steal one from the zoo). 

It was with this storm of nervous thoughts in her head that Marinette made her way into the Agreste mansion on Friday. Nathalie gave her the three pills she took every morning, and Marinette downed them without hesitation. She was used to the routine by now, and though it helped less every day, she was grateful to M. Agreste for his generosity in doing what he could to offer a cure. 

“Marinette,” a voice called, faint and far-off to Marinette’s ears. “Marinette,” the voice called again, and she looked up from the dark wood of the desk. 

“Hmm?” she asked pleasurably. 

Nathalie sighed. “I asked if you were feeling good enough to help M. Agreste with another akuma today. He’s tentatively scheduling it for an hour before Adrien comes back from school.”

Marinette squinted her eyes to keep Nathalie’s features from swimming together like a Picasso painting. “That sounds fine. You know I don’t have any reason to say no to helping.” 

Setting her tablet down, Nathalie looked closely at Marinette. “Maybe you’ve committed to helping M. Agreste, but you don’t need to do it at the expense of your health. You aren’t getting better, Marinette. You’ve been getting worse — don’t bother denying it. Don’t feel like you need to be in every fight, either; an irregular schedule keeps Golden Bug and Chat Grise on their feet. I can tell M. Agreste that you need more time to catch up on schoolwork, so you don’t need to worry about upsetting him, if that’s what’s keeping you.” 

I wouldn’t be getting worse if I could just get the cure to work, Marinette thought. 

It must have been out loud, if Nathalie’s face was anything to go off of. 

“You’ve decoded the Grimoire?” 

Marinette’s face grew warm as she tried to explain. “No, no, but I looked at the pictures in it and I think I managed to isolate the ingredients for a possible cure. M. Agreste didn’t want me to, so please don’t tell him,” she begged. 

Nathalie sat down. “But you managed to figure out a solution? How? Listen, I won’t tell M. Agreste, but it’s very important that you tell me exactly what you’ve been doing. I might be able to help you.” 

Marinette stared. Was Ms. Sancoeur lying to try to get some kind of confession from her? Was she going to be fired and summarily banned from ever talking to Adrien again for this? 

Nathalie held her gaze patiently, looking truly concerned about Marinette’s attempts. 

“Fine, I’ll tell you,” Marinette decided. “The ingredients are meteorite dust, molten gold, and an element from the animal represented by the kwami of the broken Miraculous; in this case, that’s a peacock feather. Since I don’t have any of those three things, I’ve been using substitutions. I ground them up, mixed them into a potion, and put them into this vial necklace. I wore it for days and tried different mixtures, but it hasn’t helped. I’m afraid that M. Agreste was right, after all.” 

“If you haven’t been using the right ingredients, then we can’t make that jump just yet. M. Agreste and I,” she said, and her voice trembled ever so slightly, “We’ve been trying to find a solution ever since Emilie fell ill. Any idea is a breakthrough worth considering and testing in full. If you could prove your hypothesis to M. Agreste, it would do more than guarantee your health. It could heal Emilie and remove our need for the other Miraculous! You would win the fight without throwing a punch. Well,” she snorted, “With a few punches. But I do think that this is the best possible outcome.” 

Marinette hesitated. “Really?” 

She wasn’t ready to take hope back into her heart yet. M. Agreste had been against her idea, and he had had a good reason for it. Who was she, a girl who’d only recently learned about the Miraculous’ existence, to advise Hawk Moth himself? To go against the wisdom of a man who had spent years in search of a cure for his beloved wife and son? 

But Nathalie, though she’d just looked more excited and energetic than Marinette had ever seen her before, looked solemn as she nodded. “Really. We’ll keep it a secret from M. Agreste for now, but I will provide you with the ingredients and we’ll finish making the cure. Then we can decide if it was a fool’s quest or not. You have found a new path to success, Marinette. That is no small thing.” 

Finally believing her words, Marinette let a smile creep across her face. Could she really have figured out the way to end this ongoing fight? Save Emilie, and maybe at least one of the other parents, too? 

There was still the matter of Adrien, and the other senti-children, too. But that was more a matter of protection than anything else. And Adrien might call himself her knight, but Marinette was the one fighting as his soldier, secret and steadfast in her mission. She would make sure no one hurt him or used his origins against him, ever. 

__*__*__*__*__ 

The ingredients arrived that afternoon, just before the akuma attack. Nathalie had the Gorilla, who did not know their purpose, deliver them to Marinette’s house, and reassured her that nothing bad would come from her trying to make the cure once again. 

Then it was time to face the so-called heroes. 

The akuma today, which Marinette had eventually convinced Nathalie to let her help with, was a little boy who had wanted a lollipop. “Gigantitan,” Hawk Moth had named it. 

Marinette privately wondered why Hawk Moth had bothered keeping this akuma, when it had been meant for the man across the street, not the literal baby. The butterfly had been diverted from its course by the strength of the baby’s emotions, and the baby had agreed to Hawk Moth’s offer of powers, so she supposed it must be okay. Still, something about it seemed off. 

“Hey, Miss Blue,” Golden Bug greeted her as she arrived on the scene of the akuma battle. “Skies been matching your color recently?” 

Chat Grise slid under the akuma’s giant foot as it stomped on a playground swing set and wailed in disappointment. 

“No, but I think her emotions have been. Look at her face,” she murmured in the same quiet voice as usual.  

Golden Bug clucked as Bluewing tried to steel her face and hide her emotions. “Oh, being a villain got you feeling blue? What a pity,” he remarked as he signaled some sort of plan to Chat Grise, who nodded and leapt off. “Maybe switching to the right side would let you feel light as a feather again!” 

He tossed his yo-yo towards Chat Grise, clearly intending to make a tripwire to bring Gigantitan down with.  

“Turn around!” Bluewing called up to Gigantitan. But Gigantitan must not have heard her, because he kept moving forward. 

Mildly desperate and doubting Hawk Moth’s ability to control a months-old baby, Bluewing rushed forward and shoved Golden Bug towards the end of his yo-yo string. The tripwire collapsed, but now Golden Bug was directly in Gigantitan’s path and would probably get smushed in a few seconds. 

Realistically, Marinette should be cheering about that fact, because hey, maybe he would give up his Miraculous after this to avoid getting stepped on by an oversized toddler again!  

Unfortunately, no one had told Marinette’s heart this. It was crying out in agony that oh, the love of her life was about to be crushed under that oversized toddler’s foot! Wasn’t that awful? How could she just let this happen!? and so she swooped forward, unable to resist the impulse to pull Golden Bug out of the danger zone, not that he needed her help. 

Before she could reach him, he was already pushing himself up, and he used his yo-yo to swing over to where his partner stood. They shot Bluewing twin scowls as she belatedly realized (while tripping over her disloyal feet) that she’d played herself, and now, lying on her back where her enemy had just been, she was the one about to get crushed by a toddler’s onesie-clad foot. 

Adrien, I’m so sorry, she thought, and hoped that getting stepped on by a baby wouldn’t hurt as bad as getting trapped under the Eiffel tower had. 

She never found out. 

Golden Bug’s yo-yo wrapped around her waist and pulled her out of the danger zone just before Gigantitan’s foot touched down. Bluewing had a few seconds to feel relieved, but Chat Grise immediately seized her fan and broke it, ruining the moment.  

She’d done that during nearly every single battle Bluewing had been in, and Marinette couldn’t blame her, although it was a little bit annoying. She’d finally learned a technique where a fan could be helpful in a fight (from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but who was counting), and losing her fan still made her feel like a failure. Well, more like a failure. 

 “Lucky Charm!” 

Golden Bug’s call snapped Bluewing back into action, and she dove to grab whatever object he’d summoned this time before he could. A giant plastic lollipop smacked her in the forehead, and she fell to the ground, dazed. 

“Sorry, Miss Blue,” Golden Bug chuckled as he bent over her to pick up the Lucky Charm, “I’m guessing this means you couldn’t tell the difference between good and evil if it smacked you in the face!” 

Bluewing groaned as Chat Grise and Golden Bug struggled to lift the fake lollipop up and wave it in front of Gigantitan. She could forgive a bad pun here and there, but did he have to look so stupidly handsome while he was telling them? 

The akuma was defeated before Marinette pushed herself up to stand on wobbly legs. A friendly swarm of ladybugs flew around her as Golden Bug’s Cure healed her injuries, and as they left, she saw the hero her enemy catch the baby who’d been akumatized as he fell from the air. 

“Ooh, was that an exciting big fall? Was that fun?” he asked the baby in a playful tone, and the baby gurgled happily. Chat Grise, standing by her partner, dangled a real lollipop she’d asked a vendor for in front of the baby, and he went cross-eyed as he grabbed for it. Golden Bug laughed and held the toddler close to his chest as they walked over to a woman who must have been his mother, and her grateful praise faintly reached Marinette’s ears as she turned to go back to the mansion. 

It was just another victory for the false heroes; another failure for the real ones. 

Marinette let herself fall along with her transformation as soon as she reached the safety of the mansion. 

Hawk Moth, frowning, informed her that she should come back for further training that night. 

__*__*__*__*__ 

It was almost dark when she reached the mansion that evening. The pale pink hue of the clouds was fading from them, and the sky was mostly dark except for a few pockets of blue near the clouds. 

Marinette watched the darkness spread and tried to hold onto the courage she’d found that afternoon, after the battle. She’d gone home and begun work on the possible cure with the ingredients from Nathalie; mixed the meteorite dust with the peacock feather and added gold, heated up by the Bunsen burner Nathalie had sent with it. 

This mixture didn’t come out looking like the others had. It was glittering gold, and there had been a little blue puff of smoke as Marinette added the final ingredient. After it had cooled down a little, she’d put some of the potion in her vial, whispering a short prayer — was it a prayer? — under her breath as she put the necklace on.  

Repair the damage, please repair the Miraculous damage!  

She’d felt a wave of relief hit as the vial brushed against her skin, and her legs had strengthened immediately. Suddenly, she wasn’t afraid of falling over at the lightest breeze; she knew that she could run and jump like a kid on a playground and not worry about her muscles suddenly weakening, or that a wracking cough would overtake her as she spoke to her friends. 

This time, the cure had worked. 

Now, she had to be brave enough to tell M. Agreste that it had. 

“I’m disappointed in your work today at the fight,” he began as soon as she stepped into the dojo, not even waiting for her to say hello. “It was sloppy on both of our parts, I suppose.” 

“It would have gone better if the baby hadn’t attracted the akuma to himself,” Marinette offered, keeping one hand in her pants pocket. 

Gabriel hummed. “It would have. But you should have protected yourself from the menaces better. The cat broke your fan, and you didn’t even make a move to stop her.” 

“I was still trying to process the fact that the akuma was about to step on me.” 

“And whose fault was that? Why did you bother trying to help Golden Bug? If he’d been crushed, then so much the better for us! We could’ve won the fight! But I know you are still adjusting to the demands of battle. You need more training, and we need a better plan. Have you ever thought about making a sentimonster of your own?” 

Marinette felt like she’d been punched. 

“What? We agreed that I would never, I mean, Adrien, and the other kids, and that’s too much power! I wouldn’t know how to use it!” 

“I could teach you. Not all sentimonsters look like humans, you know. You could have created a stick man out of lollipops, born from the akuma’s frustration, to help win the fight today. I know you’re nervous about abusing the Miraculous, but believe me, you wouldn’t be. Not under my guidance.” 

Marinette clutched a hand to her chest, where the Miraculous would rest were she wearing it. 

“But, the damage; wouldn’t the Miraculous poison spread faster if I used it to make a senti? And end up like—” she gulped, pleading with her eyes to understand what she was saying. 

Gabriel frowned. 

“Fine, you have a good point. We’ll table it for now. Back to the point of your visit, I have a new technique for you to study. It is called—” 

“I have something to tell you first,” Marinette interrupted, pulling out a second vial from her pocket. “I made it. I made the cure.” 

Eyes filling with fire, M. Agreste stared at the gold liquid held by the necklace in her hands.  

“I warned you not to do that,” he hissed. “You’ve endangered the entire mission!” 

Marinette swallowed. 

“Sir,” she started again, clenching her other fist at her side to keep calm, “I know you didn’t want me to look at the pictures—” 

“But you did. You went directly against my wishes. You disobeyed me.” 

Notgoodnotgoodnotgood—  

Marinette took a deep breath and remembered how happy Nathalie had been to hear that there might be a cure. She’d had faith in this solution, the best outcome. Marinette had to stand her ground, for herself and for Adrien. 

“I know there wasn’t a translation for the Grimoire. I know the pictures don’t mean much without words to go with them. But they were enough, after all! Sometimes a solution really doesn’t exist, and sometimes... you just need to find a new way to create it. Please listen to me,” she begged, holding out the vial in her hands. “I think that my cure can heal Emilie — it’s already working on me — and then you won’t even need the Miraculous, at all!” 

“Won’t need the Miraculous?” Gabriel roared, seething as he looked down at Marinette. “Have you forgotten about the other parents, the ones who have already died from the gruesome poison of your Miraculous? Do you think a witch’s brew is going to bring them back? No,” he spat out, and Marinette flinched. “And what of Adrien, and the other sentimonsters? Do you think some glittering sludge is going to cure them, too? Keep their souls safe from a world bent on destroying them? No, don’t hide it; give me your hand, Miss Dupain-Cheng.” 

She extended her hand again, trembling. “Please...” she whispered, unsure what to say. 

Gabriel snatched the vial out of her palm. Stuffing it in his pocket, he removed a silver ring from the same pocket, clutched tight in his fingers. This he placed in Marinette palm; folding her fingers around it, he offered her a stern frown. 

“This is Adrien’s amok.” 

Marinette would have recoiled, but M. Agreste’s firm grasp on her hand kept her standing in place. 

“So that you know the true weight of this object, I would like to tell you a story. Follow me, and put the ring on. Keep it safe.” 

He led her over to the elevator, down to the basement garden where Emilie’s bed lay, avoiding the stairs so that they wouldn’t disturb Adrien, who was studying in his room and didn’t know that Marinette was there. When they reached Emilie’s place of repose, Gabriel turned to Marinette and began to speak. 

“When Emilie created Adrien, she did it out of love. She knew that anyone who holds a sentimonster’s amok may use it to control them, and so in her wisdom, she split his in two. Now, no one can have complete control of Adrien unless they hold both halves of his amok. The ring I gave you holds one half of it. You can use it to control him, give him any order you wish, but I alone know where the second half of the amok is, and so long as I hold it, I can reverse your orders and protect Adrien from your control. Does that sound fair to you?” 

“No!” Marinette cried. “No one should be able to control him, ever! Why would you give me this?” 

“It is because I trust you,” Gabriel said solemnly. “I don’t think you are losing your battles on purpose. But perhaps you will try harder to win them if I remind you of what’s at stake.  

“Adrien’s life is bound to his amok. If that ring is ever damaged, the destruction will be reflected in him. If it is so much as scratched, he will suffer, just the same as he will if we do not win the Miraculous from Golden Bug and Chat Grise. It is our responsibility to do everything in our power to win, Marinette. Everything. Do you understand?” 

Marinette looked down at the ring she now wore on her finger.  

“I understand,” she said quietly.  

“I appreciate your trying to find a cure,” M. Agreste said in a calm tone. “But as far as I’m aware, the Miraculous is still broken, no? You may have healed yourself temporarily, but each time you put your suit on, you will be poisoned again. Your cure only works partway.” 

“But, Emilie...” Marinette’s voice trailed off. “Don’t you think it might help her, sir? I understand now that we need to make the Wish, but in the meantime, wouldn’t you like to have her back? You have the cure; won’t you at least try to see if it will help her?” 

M. Agreste pursed his lips. “It may have been too long since the poison took effect in her for it to help,” he said bluntly. But as Marinette’s face fell, he added, “I will see what I can do.”

Brightening up, Marinette threw her arms around him in a hug. “Oh, thank you, M. Agreste! Thank you!” 

Squealing excitedly, she wiggled as M. Agreste sighed and led her back to the elevator.  

“Pay extra attention to the lesson tonight,” he instructed her. “Now that you’ll be back to your former strength, I expect you to be even more effective in akuma battles. Don’t pull any of your punches, understand?” 

“Yes, sir,” Marinette said, and smiled to herself. Finally, she’d done something to help Adrien! 

“Oh,” she remembered. “The ring. Let me give it back to you.” 

She started to take it off her finger, but M. Agreste stopped her. 

“Keep it. I trust you won’t use it to control Adrien, will you?” 

She shook her head, anger flashing in her eyes. “Of course not!” 

“Good. Then by keeping it with you at all times, you may do more to keep it, and my son, safe than I could have by keeping it in the mansion. You have my blessing, Marinette. I only ask that you do nothing which could make you lose it.” 

__*__*__*__*__ 

The next day was Saturday, and Marinette was scheduled to help out with one of Adrien’s photoshoots. 

M. Agreste wasn’t there, but Nathalie oversawMarinette’s efforts. She’d felt nervous but excited as she laid out the different outfits Adrien would be changing into. So far, everything had gone swimmingly— that is, until the akuma struck.

Nobody had bothered informing Marinette that there would be an akuma that day. Or that Valentine’s had come so early this year! But here she was, running (possibly for her life) from a dark-colored, winged akuma who was shooting arrows at her and Adrien. 

“Chloe rejected me for you?” the akuma, who was calling himself Dark Cupid (and possibly used to call himself Kim) squawked. “I don’t know why she wasted the energy! It’s clear where your affections lie... for now, at least,” he finished with a chuckle. 

Adrien pulled Marinette behind the bushes in the park the photoshoot was taking place at just in time to avoid the latest barrage of arrows. 

“I really did not need this right now,” he muttered, keeping his arm raised as if to ward off another attack that way.  

Marinette nodded in agreement. “It wasn’t in my afternoon plans, that’s for sure,” she agreed, holding back a hysterical giggle.  

What was she supposed to do right now? Surely, Hawk Moth wasn’t targeting his son and apprentice on purpose! Should she rush back to the mansion, on foot if necessary, and transform? Or should she presume that this was an even worse rogue akuma than Gigantitan had been, and try to take it down before it caused more damage? 

She didn’t get any more time to think about her options, though. A winged shadow fell over their hiding spot, and she felt Adrien freeze next to her. 

“Did you really think you could hide from me in that scrawny bush?” Kim laughed and shot another arrow towards Marinette and Adrien, who glanced once at each other and ran towards the Gorilla’s car. Adrien pulled the door open for Marinette, who was about to crawl inside when she noticed Dark Cupid notching another arrow in her periphery. 

“Adrien, look out!” she cried, leaping in front of him just as the arrow flew home, striking her in the chest. She staggered forward, eyes drooping closed as she wrapped her fingers around the shaft, trying to yank it out. But before she could push past the pain blossoming in her chest, her world faded to black. 

__*__*__*__*__ 

When Marinette opened her eyes, all she could see was green.  

The vivid color belonged to a familiar pair of eyes — Golden Bug’s eyes — but the gentle pressure on her lips quickly proved that this was just another dream, just one more quiet moment of bliss before she would inevitably wake up and feel the weight of her guilt come crashing down on her. 

But this time, Marinette didn’t want to wake up, so she wrapped her arms around her forbidden love, eagerly pulling him closer, and pressed her lips more firmly to his. His green eyes fell shut as she deepened the kiss, and a shiver ran through his body as she tangled her fingers in his soft, golden hair. She thought she heard a moan catch in his throat, but she was too focused on kissing him to be sure, too wrapped up in this moment of perfection. 

It ended, of course. It always ended.  

This time, it just happened to be a little worse than it ever had been in the past. 

The boy who Marinette had been kissing pulled back, gasping for air, and his eyes blinked open, peering into hers. 

Adrien worked his jaw for a little before he pushed the question out. “Marinette, are you okay?”  

Ah. Of course, this kind of thing would happen. Of course, she kissed her best friend, thinking that he was someone else. Her friend, who happened to be her boss’ son!  

The same green eyes as before were still staring into hers, but this time she recognized them as Adrien Agreste’s, not Golden Bug’s. He was pinned to the ground under her, his back pressed uncomfortably against the wall of the Agreste mansion. When had they gotten there? Weren’t they just at the park?  

Marinette backed off of Adrien, giving him the space he needed to sit up and slowly begin to massage the sore spots on his wrists, the deep marks her fingernails had left on him. 

No. No, no, no, no, no!  

She’d just been entrusted with Adrien’s amok yesterday! She’d sworn not to misuse it, not to hurt him, and now—! Now, she’d done just that! And on top of whatever akuma-influenced scars she’d left on his body, s he’d just kissed him on the lips ! He was probably so freaked out! 

“I’m so sorry!” She spat it out, horrified, unable to look away from Adrien’s wide eyes, his reddened lips and hot cheeks. “Adrien, I— I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened, I swear!” 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Adrien murmured, bringing one hand up to lightly prod his swollen lips. “We didn’t know what the akuma could do. And it could have been worse.” 

How?  

This madness had to end. Marinette had to make sure the akuma’s reign ended, and fast. Luckily, she wasn’t that far away from the Miraculous which would give her power to do just that. And poison her. Again.  

Marinette, her mouth thinning, reached a hand down to Adrien. “I’m going to go inside,” she told him as she helped him up. “Stay sa— please stay safe,” she begged. Afraid that she’d keep messing up and control Adrien without thinking, she hurried around the corner of the mansion, taking the steps two at a time until she reached the door. As soon as she’d pulled it open and stepped inside, she slid down against the wall in shock. 

Oh, what had she done? But she didn’t have time to waste feeling guilty! Adrien needed his wounds to be healed, and that could only happen if the akuma was taken down. 

Marinette forced herself to her feet and marched towards the safe where the Peacock brooch was kept. She didn’t hesitate as she punched in the combination and pinned the brooch to her shirt. While the suit was still wrapping itself around her, she was already running to the side door, ready to jump into action. 

But first, she had a call to make. Putting in the earbuds that came with the suit, she pressed the button which appeared on the base of her fan and waited for Hawk Moth to pick up. 

“Marinette! I’m glad to hear from you. The akuma is—” 

“I know what the akuma is, trust me,” she said bitterly. “It’s out of control. It made me hurt Adrien.” Her voice caught in her throat, and she swallowed as she took a break from running to catch her bearings. 

“Dark Cupid wasn’t as effective as I might’ve hoped,” Hawk Moth admitted. “Still, the ring is safe, is it not?” 

Bluewing ran her thumb over the space on her finger where her— where Adrien’s amok had been when she transformed. She couldn’t feel it now, but she knew it was there, hidden under the suit like her clothes. 

“It’s safe,” she confirmed. “Now, where’s the akuma? We need to take it down!” 

Hawk Moth coughed. “Hold on, Bluewing. Adrien is no longer anywhere near the akuma. Golden Bug and Chat Grise finally showed up; Dark Cupid is distracted and there’s no need to recall the akuma at this point.” 

“Yeah, well, we still need Golden Bug to release his Cure,” Bluewing shot back. “Or did you forget the part where I said Dark Cupid made me hurt your son?” 

Hawk Moth was silent for a moment.  

“You don’t think I would leave him unhealed in my Wish, do you?” 

Bluewing scowled as she spotted the fight a block away and started heading towards it. “Fine. I don’t even know what the akumatized object is, so I’ll let it be for now. But this better be the last time you take risks with who you akumatize. If another akuma gets diverted by an unideal subject, don’t go through with the akumatization.” 

She leapt into action, tripping Golden Bug and then lunging towards Chat Grise. She managed to steal half of her baton and toss it away, but that still left her with two enemies to fight. Where did Dark Cupid go?  

Across the street, chaos was reigning; lovers, friends, and family were fighting over what seemed to be the akuma’s influence alone. 

Just like what I did to Adrien, Marinette thought with a shiver. 

“Hey, Bluebird! Good to see you!” Dark Cupid greeted her as he swept back onto the scene, somehow still with a full quiver of arrows. 

“It’s Bluewing, actually,” she corrected as she ducked under Chat Grise’s jab. “You didn’t teach him to call me that on purpose, did you, Bug?” 

Golden Bug only scowled in response. “Lucky Charm,” he called out. “I don’t have the time for this today.”

Chat Grise kicked Bluewing, sending her flying before she could try to steal the Lucky Charm again. 

She was quick to get back on her feet, charging toward Golden Bug while he was staring at the object which had landed in his hands. Dark Cupid was already notching a new arrow, preparing to let it fly. Good. The battle would be over soon.  

“Chat!” Golden Bug called out just as Bluewing got close to him, and the cat came flying out of nowhere, grabbing Bluewing’s wrist and sending her flying towards Golden Bug. What? How could that possibly help either of the heroes?  

Bluewing caught herself as she stumbled, pinwheeling her arms for balance, which she briefly regained for a moment before an arrow struck her right in the center of her back. 

“Come on!” she howled, because really, this was absurd. She’d never been hit by an akuma before, and for it to happen twice in one day was just unlucky. 

It was taking longer for the darkness to overtake her this time, a potential weakness of the akuma perhaps. She had time to notice the odd way Golden Bug was looking at her, then back at the candy apple in his hands. 

Bluewing swallowed. Could he somehow tell what she’d done to Adrien earlier, when she’d mistaken her friend’s green eyes for his? 

But why would she have kissed Adrien (ugh, she’d kissed Adrien) if she’d mistaken him for her worst enemy? Why hadn’t she pummeled him into dust while she’d had the chance? She should’ve ordered him to beg for mercy on his knees while she taunted him for all those stupid model poses he’d taken so much to heart that he was using them everywhere, even at home. 

And Golden Bug, how dare he smirk at her like that? She’d show him to curse the world with that disgustingly perfect smile! 

Dark Cupid was saying something in the background. He sounded pissed. Marinette was pissed, too. 

Stalking towards Golden Bug, she raised her hand and slapped him right across the face, or she tried to, anyway. He avoided her blow and hopped backwards to safety. His sneaky partner stood by him, ready to fight. 

“Ugh, you’re both so doggedly persistent!” Bluewing rolled her head backwards and groaned. 

“Isn’t that a compliment?” Chat Grise asked in a pathetically tiny voice. 

“No!” Bluewing yelled, snapping her head forward and glaring at her. “It isn’t! I hate you! I hate you both! And you won’t stop bothering me!” 

“Wait, what? What!?” Golden Bug was talking to her, but she didn’t care. 

There was a billboard with Adrien’s face on it behind the bratty ‘heroes,’ and Bluewing wanted to take it down. 

“You ugly-pretty model!” she shrieked, looking over and past the two menaces’ heads to address the offending advertisement. “There is no need for your face to be on this many billboards! We’re already plagued with your face from the moment we get up to the moment we go to sleep! I hate you!”  

“You hate Adrien, too? How do you feel about akumas?” Golden Bug’s voice interrupted her bloodthirsty thoughts. 

“Oh, Bratty Bug,” Bluewing crooned, lowering her gaze back to him and the other menace. “I think they’re the only sane people left on this earth. They can take over control of the place once I’ve watered the ground with your blood.” 

Golden Bug took a step back. 

“And... Hawk Moth?” 

“A terrible person. I’m going to kill him, too. I’m going to kill all of you! The whole planet! I hate everyone except for akumas!” She paused for a moment. That statement hadn’t felt quite right. “And Chloe Bourgeois!” she added triumphantly. 

Golden Bug dropped his yo-yo. In the sky behind him, Dark Cupid wheeled about, shooting his arrows and laughing victoriously. 

“Giving up already, coward?” Bluewing taunted, stepping forward with a glint in her eye. 

Chat Grise moved to stand in front of him defensively, holding her baton out at the ready. But he pushed her arm aside and stepped forward. 

“Hey, if you’re so powerful, and if you hate that billboard so bad, why don’t you go do something about it? You want to kill the whole world; why don’t you warm up by killing him?” Golden Bug gestured toward the billboard in a congenial manner. 

“Wow, that is the first smart thing I’ve heard you say,” Bluewing said with a cackle. “Stay here, so I can kill you when I get back. You can follow simple directions, can’t you?” 

“Sure can,” Golden Bug said, grinning tightly and wrapping one arm around Chat Grise. Bluewing shot her a particularly fearsome glare as she stalked past. 

And there he was: her enemy number one, Paris’ favorite golden boy, Adrien Agreste. 

Utterly ridiculous. 

She started work by hopping up onto the narrow platform and punching his well-lit face a couple times, sending sparks flying down to the streets below.  

“Go! Die! You! Ugly! Billboard!” she shouted, laughing when the perfume ad went dark and the metal squealed in agony from her hits.  

As she began tearing the billboard apart piece by piece, Marinette grinned to herself. This was good! She was saving Paris from this piece of scum, slowly but surely! And once she finished with this, she was going to kill that super-ridiculous duo! She was going to murder Gabriel Agreste and his son, and Nathalie, too! 

Grinning, Bluewing wound up her fist, ready to punch Adrien again, when suddenly a swarm of ladybugs surrounded her, releasing the curse and restoring her senses. 

What was she doing?   

Bluewing stepped back from the billboard, wondering how she’d gotten there. She’d transformed, headed to the battle to help Hawk Moth, and— oh, no. She’d gotten hit again. 

And it was even worse the second time, because she actually remembered some of what she’d done. She’d insulted Golden Bug, Chat Grise, and Hawk Moth, and threatened to kill the whole world! Then she’d tried to kill Adrien, even just a billboard version of him, because of how much she’d hated him! 

So much for the loyal soldier.    

Bluewing didn’t bother sticking around to watch her enemies celebrate their victory. She headed straight for the nearest empty alleyway and tore off her brooch. 

It glittered in the sunlight, proudly displaying its broken feathers and beak and heart. Marinette had to use everything she had to control herself and not dash the Miraculous against the brick road. 

Instead, she sank onto her knees and let a bloodcurdling scream tear out of her throat. 

#bluewing au #ml fanfic #rosie-b writing #miraculous ladybug #ooh what's this? an adrinette kiss? in my fic? #it's more likely than you'd think #*laughs evilly*

[urfavsho]

Hacketts Quarry summer love

Fluff

Rylan

2.2k words

Okay so i totally got this idea from this post!

I think it would be fun to try and challenge myself to write some bits and pieces i think would have happened to their relationship over the two month period!! So here i am..attempting that idea. It’s kinda in the form of multiple one-shots? However, it’s been a long time since i’ve written so if its horrible, i apologize profusely <3

Day One of Camp

Starting P.O.V: dylan

Dylans been on a cramped mini-van with the other counselors for about an hour or two now, Hes yet to learn all of their names yet, but two of the counselors stuck out to him. Ryan and Kaitlyn. They had a sort of enticing energy to them, the vibe where you could spend hours talking about how mysterious and interesting the two seemed; Kaitlyn had a very loud, spunky, and no cares given personality to her, whilst Ryan was a loner and rather vague dude.

Dylan looked around inside the mini-van as he soon realized that they were close to Hacketts Quarry, unplugging his headphones and turning the phone off to look out the windows at the scenery presenting itself before himself. The soft orange shimmer of the sun was beautifully illuminating the agricultural landscape, it was comforting to see the squirrels run across the bushes every now and than, to see all of the animals in the vast forest of Hacketts.

“ Wow..this is perfect!! ” a semi-loud voice yanked Dylan out of his daydreaming as he began to look around himself. Abigail, or Abi for short, was the one who broke the loud silence in the car; she grabbed her sketchbook out of her bag and started drawing away. Dylan decided to inch closer towards her and watch her etch away on the paper “ You know..you’re like..uh..Picasso! “ He said out loud, Dylan was trying to start a conversation, but with the snort and weird look she gave him..it’s a 50/50 chance on whether or not it was effective.

“ Alright counselors! We are here at THE Hacketts Quarry! “ Mr. Hs’ voice boomed and the van soon slowed to a stop infront of the lodge. Dylan waited his turn as everyone soon piled out of the van, the last one out before Dylan was Ryan. The pairs hands slightly grazed one another as they got out of the van, a rush of electricity bolted up Dylan’s body and he felt a hot blush rise to his face. This was the first time when Dylan could remember a deeper attraction developing on Ryan.

Week 2 of camp

Starting P.O.V: Ryan

It’s been about two weeks since Ryan has been at camp. As Ryan begun to teach the younger kids and campers about sailing techniques. However, today was different, he had to do some of the scheduling plans with Dylan. The loner woke up early today, around 6:15 am, and got ready. The duo decided to meet up in the library today, however, it was mainly Dylan who coordinated the meetup, Ryan had expected an outdoor area so he was grateful Dylan had chosen a calm area. After a few minutes of walking around the camp, Ryan soon made it to the library and saw Dylan waiting for him. Dylan had a flower-style hairpin in his hair to hold his bangs back, a bunch of notebooks scattered around the table ,and some apple juice boxes. It was a sight to see.

“ Yo Dylan, ” Ryan said as he approached him, the tall boy smiled and leaned back in his chair. “ Wassup, big guy! ” Dylan responded with a cheerful grin, Ryan rolled his eyes and sat down next to him before grabbing his own schedule book out along with pens and other various items “ ..So we’re scheduling out this week’s sailing plans right? ” Ryan asked as he soon trailed off and admired Dylan’s colorful organization of notes, they were color-coded, sticker coded in a way, and everything had little bulletin points underneath to explain something further; the organization wasn’t just for schedules, but it also was for improvement ideas for certain areas of camp, activities for the kids, gift bags to be made at the end of the summer, and even every counselor/campers birthday so he remembered. Ryan was sure there was more to be found within the countless books, but- “ Ryan! ”

Oh. Right. Ryan snapped back into focus and looked at Dylan “ Yes? ” Dylan rolled his eyes and laughed, his hands came up to slightly cover his smile. It was the sweetest smile Ryan had ever seen. “ Okay, so the reason you are here with me today is so we can get that messy brain of yours under control ! ” As Dylan continued explained why Ryan needed to be organized, Ryan felt himself getting lost more and more in the taller boys big, beautiful brown eyes, he had light freckles dusting his cheeks. Ryan had never noticed that til today. Their knees slowly grew closer and closer over the time they spent as the pair made sure to schedule the “sailing” plans.

Week 4 of Camp

P.O.V: Dylan and Ryan

Two weeks after their last encounter, Mr.H had announced to Dylan to promote the swim party happening tomorrow. Of course, Dylan broadcasted the exciting event during the daily morning announcements, he explained all of the details and fun activities happening at the party. The campers were eager for the next day to come, they couldn’t wait and kept pestering Dylan about what food was going to be at the party if they could do a bonfire afterward, and even asked if they could roast marshmallows! Ryan soon picked up on the consistent questioning from the ecstatic kids, he quickly stepped in to try and ease the pressure from Dylan.

“ Hey, if you monsters don’t stop asking about the party I might have to cancel it. So head out to the lodge for lunch. “ Ryan quickly remarked in a teasing tone, instant whines and groans came from the campers as they scurried off into the lodge. Dylan stared at Ryan for a second before he reached and gently patted the boys shoulder, a bright smile resting on the taller boy’s face. “ Haha..thanks for the help!! Those kids can be SO persistent. “ Dylan thanked Ryan and began to retract his hand before running a few fingers in his own hair. “ They just can’t resist Dylan. “ Ryan glanced up at Dylan slightly and let out a short chuckle, he shook his head and walked away.

“ Yup. “As dylan watched Ryan walk away he felt a quick increase in the patter of his heart, did he really just make THE Ryan Ezrahler laugh and smile? He must dreaming!! Dylan laughed to himself and patted his hands against the sides of his legs, he felt a heat rising to his cheeks as he indulged more and more into the thought of Ryan. “ Dylan! “ Kaitlyns loud voice awoke Dylan out of his thoughts and he cleared his throat before looking over at her. “ Oh! Uhm, yes? “ Dylan said as he saw Kaitlyn shake her head before she started to tell Dylan that he needed to come into the lodge and eat.

Week 6 of camp

Starting P.O.V : Ryan

The morning was easy and slow enough, Ryan didn’t have any “classes” starting til around 11:30 so he decided to take it easy and listen to his new podcast obsession, Bizarre Yet Bonafide. As Ryan started his walk around the camp he came across Dylan’s small group of counselors (around 8 kids) Ryan wondered what they were doing out and about on the rocky road trail, the nature walks weren’t planned for another two days.

Deciding to end his pointless wondering, Ryan walked up to the group and stood off to the side as he listened to Dylan ramble on about how the group was going to surprise Abi with the sticks, rocks, and leaves for some sort of art activity. Listening to the taller boy talk with so much passion was a new perspective for Ryan, most of the time Dylan could be perceived as a quick, witty, smart-ass so seeing him take a more appreciative approach to something was a completely unexpected experience to witness. Eventually, Dylan realized Ryan standing off to the side of the group and stammered mid-sentence. “ And that’s why- oh! Uh, hi Ryan “ The words came out as a jam before Ryan interrupted him. “ I was just wondering what you were doing, but after 5 minutes of you talking. I think i got my answer “ Ryan’s words came out rude, but his tone was rather sweet in a way. “Oh yeah, that makes sense..” Dylan diverted his eyes away from Ryan’s and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“ Well if you want to join us you can? “ Dylan’s suggestion of joining the group surprised Ryan, he stood for a moment before shrugging and walking up closer to Dylan and the group. “ Sure, why the hell not? “ The words spoken by Ryan made the youngsters gasp and make various Ooos, Ahhs, and giggles, Dylan himself joined in on the teasing and he gently nudged Ryan. “ That goes against camp policy sir, watch the tongue! “

The teasing normally would have been slightly annoying to Ryan, but he didn’t feel any discomfort from the comments, just more of a warm fuzzy feeling. The group, now with a new member, finished their scavenger hunt for the gift to Abi and headed their way to the Art Cabin. Ryan and Dylan unlocked the door, made sure everyone made it in and they started to put together the gift basket of various leaves, rocks, sticks, and flowers. Once finished, Ryan took a step back with the kids and smiled softly “ Nice. “ he said quietly before turning around and giving all the kids high-fives for their hard work “ Go to the cafeteria, I’ll get you guys some juice boxes for your hard work “ Ryans offer made the kids smile and cheer in excitement as they piled out of the room and headed over to the cafeteria. Sighing in relief, Ryan turned to face Dylan and leaned against one of the desks slightly. “ We did awesome huh? “ Dylan asked Ryan with a shit-eating grin, Ryan tilted his head slightly and nodded in agreement. “ Yup. “

And that’s it!! I could write way more, but i feel like i’ve already gotten sort of ooc for these two. I enjoyed writing it a lot, there’s so much fluff opportunities for these two dorks so i love mixing the pot and making some!! Hope you enjoyed and leave any tips or criticisms in the comments <3

#rylan the quarry #the quarry #miles robbins #dylan lenivy #ryan ezrahler #mlm fanfic #fluff #cute boys #fanfic #oneshot #hacketts quarry #hacketteers

[plasmasimagination]

Hi there! I recently stumbled upon your account and I must say that this is what I was looking for for quite some time. I am interested by your matching up event and was wondering if you're still up for it?

Fandom: Honkai Star Rail (and/or) Genshin Impact

Preference: women

Characters I would NOT like to be paired up with: men

(I am pretty much gay)

I am a cisgender woman, she/her pronouns. ENTJ, Virgo sun, Libra moon, Scorpio rising.

I am androgynous-looking, can easily be mistaken for a dude. My voice is deep and had a slight rasp to it. When it comes to clothes I present soft masc. I am 6', very athletic (as it is a big part of my life to stay active). I have brown eyes and wavy hair that is styled in a short wolfcut with a middle part and curtain bangs. No tattoos, but when I have the money I will get covered in designs.

I perceive myself as a calm and collected person who is more on the quiet and observing side. Which, close ones always tell me, makes me appear intimidating and judging (Scorpio rising). I like to keep my social circle small and trustworthy because I have trust issues. But around my friends I am friendly and always there to help out with the teenage dramas. I would say my top traits are sarcasm, assertiveness, loyalty, and adaptiveness. (Being an ENTJ and Virgo sun say enough about me, but I am softened up by my Libra moon.)

I am a very artsy person, but also very sporty. I am passionate about a lot of things (playing the guitar, drawing, writing, reading, acting, playing soccer, volleyball, training calisthenics, martial arts...) but in this short lifetime I had to choose one, and it is drawing - more specifically, becoming an Architect.

I've never been even close to catching feelings for someone. I've had barely any crushes, none of them real, none of them celebrities, just successful/badass/dangerous/mean women from fiction. I guess that puts me somewhere on the Asexuality spectrum, most likely Demisexual. I want to use my teenage years to work towards building a secure career for myself so that I could eventually spoil and take care of someone who deserves it.

I don't have much preference for looks, despite the fact that I am attracted to femininity, not necessarily someone stereotypically girly, but fem. For me, I need someone who will be able to match my energy and challenge me with playful banter and deep, meaningful talks. Someone who has a strong and unapologetic personality, (I am a sucker for mean fems), but knows when to stop and take a step back.

[Thank you, even if this doesn't get attention, which I completely understand. I will love to see your future works and posts!]

HEYYY DARLING ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ IM SO FLATTERED HIHI (*ˊᗜˋ*)

Anyways as for your matchup....hmhmhm...

Your match is....

.

.

.

KAFKA

OKAY OKAY let's be honest this was to be expected!

Scary looking girlfriend X equally as scary looking girlfriend (both can beat your ass)

I like the power couple dynamic here.

Plus I think she fits your type pretty well hmhm...

Kafka would be quite interested in your hobbies, she isn't very vocal about it but sometimes she just sits in the same room when you're doing something (drawing/playing guitar/writing etc...) and she'll just discreetly pay attention to it.

She also will kind of tease you about it, telling silverwolf and blade how good you are at your hobbies, and she'll intentionally do it in front of you

Chaining it to the one above-She likes showing you off, not only your hobbies...just you in general

She will also vibe with your attitude and find it amusing and definitely match it just as strong.

Also I think that kafka would also have equally trouble to completely warm up to you, yeah shes confident and flirty with people but I dont think she trusts people as easily,but when you guys spend more time together she would actually become quite fond of you

YAE MIKO

Honestly this is a pretty good pair, love it Picasso

I don't think miko is as outgoing and challenging as kafka, but she's there

It's just that miko is a bit more how do I put this ..dominant? Controlive? I know it sounds bad to put her up against kafka but I have a feeling miko is more on the serious dominant side while kafka is more playful, especially with their darling

Though yae miko is quite the person to talk to in moments of need, she's a good listener and gives good advice, she could simply talk&listen with you for hours on end

She, similar to kafka, would definitely match your vibe, just a bit more reserved type of sarcasm for example.

She's sly with it, just how fox's are eh?

Miko would take it slow to become closer to you, as she can guess you're having trouble fully trusting her, and she would definitely be less teasing at the beginning when you guys first met than when you're in an established relationship

#genshin fluff #genshin imagines #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact x reader #genshin headcanons #honkai star rail #hsr x reader #honkai star rail x reader #honkai x reader #honkai headcanons #honkai star rail x female reader #honkai star rail x you #honkai star rail x gender neutral reader #hsr x gn reader #hsr x y/n #hsr x you #hsr x male reader #hsr x gender neutral reader #kafka x y/n #kafka x you #kafka x reader #kafka hsr #hsr kafka #honkai star rail kafka #kafka honkai star rail #genshin women x reader #genshin women #yae miko x reader #yae miko x you

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

False Sunsets

Notes: Holy shit. OC story. Wacky, huh? This is around 1′300 words, and is about my 90′s game OCs, Lawrence and Miss Panack. I’ve been thinking of them a lot. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Miss Panack had lost track of how long she had been staring at the picture.

           She sat atop a round hill, the flat, low resolution texture on it making it appear to be grass and dirt. A pre-rendered environment surrounded her, lazily modeled trees and plants being placed next to the skybox, devolving into 2D textures of real trees the further from Panack they got. Behind the fake trees and grass however was the picture she had been staring at; the skybox she had become transfixed with. It was a pixelated photo of a sunset, peeking out above the tree line.

           It was beautiful; a bright yellow sun behind pink and orange clouds, the sky turning from a reddish orange to a deep blue-purple. The colors were entrancing to Panack, feeling like a painter’s palate of the best colors one could discover. She kept staring at the sunset through her 3D modeled eyes, her left one being green, and the other being completely orange, with a spiral swirling towards the middle of it, where her pupil would’ve been. Her low-poly hands were placed on her knees, both of the hands having only four fingers, being different colors from the other. She looked as though she was crossing her arms, if she had arms in the first place instead of disembodied hands. She always wondered if it was a purposeful design choice, or the developers being lazy.

           Panack’s entire body was a cacophony of different shapes and colors; deep red and white, purple and orange, blue and yellow. Her neck and head were mostly red, with stripes of blue and yellow going up her neck. Her face was white, with little features aside from the stripe of blue looking vaguely like a nose. Her mouth was full of flat, triangular teeth, turned downwards in a frown. Her body was made up of mostly simple shapes like cones and rectangles, though her upper body, neck, and head were vaguely close to a real person’s anatomy, albeit very simplistic. Panack often wondered why she was designed that way, almost feeling like she looked like a child’s drawing. Perhaps it was supposed to reference the works of Pablo Picasso, though Panack thought they did a pretty poor job of it.

           “Awful lonely…sitting here in silence.”

           Panack was nearly startled by the soft voice behind her before settled, sighing slightly. “Leave me alone, Lawrence.” She said quietly, looking towards her feet.

           Lawrence was an admittedly more simplistic looking figure, with his head being a simple black triangular shape with eyes on the sides of it, the pupils also being triangles. His torso was an inverted cone, and his long neck was just a cylinder with a white collar on it. His thin arms and legs were covered in a “suit”, which had a red and yellow striped suit jacket, along with blue pants, gloves, and a blue bow tie; however, most of it was just the textures on his model. A small red top hat with a white ribbon tied around it floated above his head, and he was holding a striped cane with one of his blocky hands.

           “Is something wrong, Miss P?” Lawrence asked, leaning over to look Panack in the face.

           “No.” Panack wasn’t necessarily telling the truth, though she wasn’t in the mood for another conversation that led nowhere.

           Lawrence remained silent for a moment before looking back at Panack. “You know…if there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m always here to chat.”

           “I…don’t want to talk right now.” Panack leaned forward slightly with a half-lidded, almost tired glare at nothing in particular. “It’s…been a long day.”

           “Really?” Lawrence asked, sitting next to Panack as he stared at her quizzically. “Didn’t think you were very busy. No one even played with us today.”

           “No one’s played with us for years, Lawrence.” Panack stared at her friend with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. “Have you been paying attention? It’s…It’s not 1995 anymore.”

           “Well, perhaps so. Though I still think there’s a chance to—”

           “God damn it, can you just admit that we’re irrelevant?” Panack interrupted, her “brows” furrowing and her green eye showing irritation. “No one cares about us anymore; we’ve been discontinued for years. We’re just in this bottom of the bin game you only find in some old box you forgot about.”

           Lawrence seemed stunned, though before Panack could think she made a good point to him, he began to speak. “Language! You do realize this game’s meant for children, correct?”

           It wasn’t even related to the matter at hand.

           Panack let out an annoyed groan before holding her knees even closer to her chest, looking away and back towards the 2D sunset in the distance. Lawrence’s eternally blank expression continued to be faced towards her before he too looked forward at the area around them. “…You…do like your job here…right?”

           Panack glanced towards him, his eye meeting her gaze before looking away once again. “I…” Panack thought for a moment before sighing deeply through lungs she didn’t have. “…Yes. Well…I guess so. I mean…I like being able to interact with them…the player I mean. Seeing the child we helped teach grow up. But…” She paused once again before shaking her head, deciding she didn’t want to go through the same conversation yet again. “…Never mind.”

           “…That’s good to hear.” Lawrence stated, not even noticing the defeated tone in her voice. He stood up, turning towards the doorway at the top of the hill, where he entered the “room” from. The doorway led to what seemed like a black void with orange and black tiled flooring, and a cityscape seemed to be the skybox of said void. However, before he entered it, Panack spoke up, her voice quiet.

           “You think they’re prettier in person?”

           Lawrence turned back towards her, tilting his head slightly.

           “The sunset.” Panack turned back towards the sunset in the distance, her voice somber. “…The colors of the clouds…the pinks, oranges and yellows…do you think they’re prettier in person?”

           Lawrence remained silent for a moment, thinking to himself as he looked at the ground. “Well…who knows, Miss P? It’s certainly possible.” Lawrence stated. “I’ve never seen one before. Though…the picture has to be just as good, right?”

           Panack didn’t think so, hunching over even more.

           Lawrence turned back towards the doorway before taking one last look at Miss Panack. “You know…you can stay here as long as you’d like, Miss P.” He said. “However, I must be going. Have to get everything ready.”

           “Ready for what?” Panack asked quietly.

           “In case anyone stops by!” Lawrence answered with his usual chipper voice. “Gotta be prepared in case the player does decide to drop in…whenever they do of course. Anyway, I’ll catch you later Miss P, and…remember I’m always here to chat. Toodleloo!”

           With that, Lawrence left, presumably to do…whatever he needed to do for the player that may never come. Panack continued to stare at the sunset in front of her, feeling a sense of sadness within her. She knew Lawrence wouldn’t understand her concerns; he never did. It was frustrating, though she knew he wasn’t a bad person. He was simply ignorant and willingly oblivious to the fact that things weren’t perfect in their little digital world. Panack was, and sometimes she wished she was as lucky as him.

           Panack sighed, lowering her head as she stared at her feet. She wished she could feel the cool air of the evening, and breathe in the fresh air. She wished she could take walks in nature, seeing and feeling the plants under her feet. She wished she could be out there, in the real world, where things weren’t made from polygons and textures. She wanted to see the sunset, she really did; and as she cried in the faint orange glow from the fake picture of one, she wondered if it was ever meant to be.

#shmorp writes sometimes #shmorps ocs i guess #lawrence (oc) #miss panack #No warnings for this one. just. pretty sad i guess #i care them. i care them a lot. #this is sorta testing the waters for more oc content. don't know if i'll write about them again #but hey. might as well i think. why not i like them #also yeah this is pretty short. just had this idea for a bit #if you're confused about the context of these characters. you can look through their tags or my oc tag for info

[freekzoutarchive]

@inrovina said: xeno has ushered ruth and funke over to the couch, encouraging them to sit down, relax, chill out. it looks like he’s about to make some dramatic declaration, until he pulls out two wrapped presents. for ruth, there is a small figurine, carved from ice, of a dragon with flames coming out of her nose. a juxtaposition — fire made out of ice — but that’s them. “it’s badass, right? like you! and it won’t melt, ‘cause i made it.” for funke, a small painting is presented of funke himself, made to look regal, the style intentionally replicating that once used for portraits of royalty. xeno thought funke might find it funny, but, painted by his own hand, it could also be considered a genuine masterpiece. “it’s you! professor funke! or king funke! do you like it?”

ruth's tummy flutters wildly as she and funke take their seats. she hears the blaster in her head, muffled and barely intelligible, wondering what's going on? and she's thinking back at him -- although she has no idea if hears her -- nor if he's even thinking directly at her, or just experiencing a thought in general, which is a thing people are allowed to do -- i don't know! but he's leaving! he's leaving us and it's probably because of you and your incessant need to deprive us of oxygen or maybe it's because of me yes i think it might be me and my nagging and my complaining and my temper and my fussiness and my and my and my

(she's like a record player with its needle stuck. no way funke's getting all of that.)

xeno hands over the goods.

funke gasps, then cackles joyously. "no way! is that... that's ME! did you make this?! no way! ruth! look at this! ruthie!"

ruth won't look, just yet. ruth is admiring the perfect little creature that sits so neatly in her palm. ruth is stroking her lovingly.

funke's stamping his feet. he has no other way to convey his excitement, since his hands are full of his portrait. "xeno, i have never looked better. we're hanging this on a wall! where should we hang it? guys? it has to be somewhere that everybody's gonna see it." a💡moment occurs. "above the toilet! everybody's gotta take a piss at some point. then they'll see it! and me!"

"no," ruth says, even though she's still not looking at it. when she does eventually prise her eyes away from the figure, she'll admire xeno's enormous multimedium talent, and she'll even chuckle at funke's uncharacteristic portrayal. but right now it's dragon time. she regards the other man so fondly. "xeno, she's wonderful."

"she's gnarly as hell. and i do look badass. you're good, man, so fucking good. this looks exactly like me." with a few adjustments, for the better. "wonder where i could get a robe like that..."

"you should really think about commissions," ruth advises.

"yes! xeno can do commissions, and i--"

"can be quiet."

he lowers his voice. "...can do emissions."

ruth considers their very own michaelangelo (and da vinci, and picasso, all rolled into one.) "can you carve me a knife, next? no particular reason."

#xeno!!! 😭😭 #inrovina #xeno & ruth & funke. #i'm obsessed with xeno doing one of those funny portraits like people get of their dogs. but it's funke.

[deldeldel90]

Another Lance's Guide post:

Frederick, about six year old, and Lance, ten years old, have playdates sometimes :D yk since the two live apart, they meet up sometimes and hang out and just share lil facts about their lives.

Isolde- Frederick's caretaker- and Blaine- as you know, Lance's incredibly indulgent older brother- awkwardly stand aside.

"You don't visit often," his mother says. She's wearing this waitress uniform, the apron stained with grease.

Blaine, 25- fifteen years older than Lance and nineteen years older than Frederick,- looks away. "I'm busy," he answers, not used to actually talking with his mother. "I've got a lot to make up for."

Isolde hums.

"You're a better man than he is, you know." Her eyes twinkle, pride shining in them. "You're doing a better job... than I did."

"I don't think I turned out bad," Blaine dryly comments.

Isolde shakes her head. "No. You didn't turn out like that at all... you... you're doing good, Blaine. With him. With your life. Despite everything, you're doing good."

Blaine opens his mouth. His mother is almost foreign to him, like he's talking to a stranger rather than just own blood. He doesn't tell her about the sleepless nights, how he agitated he gets, the times where all he does is stare in the mirror. He doesn't tell her how scared he is for Lance- how the world isn't prepared for his younger brother, how concerned he gets for him. How much he wants to repent for ever leaving- leaving Lance with---Leland.

But he doesn't. He simply murmurs, "Thank you, Mother. That... means a fair amount, coming from you."

Lance runs to him with a picture clutched in his fist, crumbling the crayon-scribbled paper. "Blaine! Blaine- bro- look!"

His childhood was spent learning how to be perfect, how to make his teachers like him, how to learn how to dodge objects and how to apologize right. He spent his childhood learning how to both hide and remain in the Spotlight.

...he won't allow Lance's to be the same.

Blaine takes the picture, seeing their penthouse drawn, with Batman and some weird turtle standing just on the rooftop. "Lovely," he says, feeling as if reviewing a work from Picasso. When he was a teenager, he used to roll his eyes at parents who praised their kid for every little thing and meant each word- but now, he understood where they were coming from.

The look of anxious wait in Lance's face, the glint of childlike wonder and curiosity. It was his little hands that brought crayon onto the surface and drew, it was his mind that came up with this picture. Lance made this, Blaine thought, and the paper was suddenly worth more than millions.

Isolde smiles at Lance- her middle child. Lance seems giddy at the approval. "You doin' okay, Mom?" He asked her, as though it were his responsibility, at ten years old, to check in with her.

Isolde nods. "I'm doing wonderful," she says back, voice careful. "But more importantly, this is a..." her eyes take on a shine. 'It's a very artistic piece you've made. The cremé burlee of art."

Lance grins.

Blaine can't help but smile at the two of them. You're doing good, his mother had said. All he could hope for was that to be the truth.

#Lance's Guide AU #goodnighy eceryone #:)

[jaynovz]

Hey, have this for the ask game: 🍌

Thank you 😘

🍌 In your opinion, what’s the funniest joke/reference/pun you’ve made in a fic?

oh boy oh BOYYY this is a fun one. HARD TO PICK. Okay okay it's a tie!

Cupcakes AU chap one:

“So... you are?” he says, his voice warmed to just above freezing. The guitarist extends a hand. “John Silver, musician and parrot enthusiast.” Musician is really stretching it as far as Flint is concerned, but he’s being polite now. He accepts the large, warm hand for a brief shake, letting go as quickly as possible and studiously ignoring the way his skin buzzes at the contact. And sure, maybe it’s been a while since anyone touched him with purpose (eight years, more or less; romance hadn’t exactly been a priority), but for heaven’s sake, James, it’s just a handshake. “James Flint.” Silver arches an eyebrow. “Baker and… conscientious neighborhood watch?” “Something like that.” There’s a teasing smirk on Silver’s mouth now, and his lips are very pink beneath his moustache. Flint wonders if there’s any cupcakes in the walk-in that need frosting away from the warmth of the ovens. Maybe he can make enough space in the chest freezer to curl up between bags of frozen fruit. God, this is already getting out of hand. “And who’s your musical, uh, partner,” Flint says as a distraction. He gestures at the parrot, which is climbing up Silver’s shirt to settle on his shoulder. It’s a striking creature, with turquoise wing feathers and a blood red accent above her beak. Flint might almost call it beautiful if it wasn’t so fucking loud. “MOTHERFUCKER,” shrieks the parrot. Silver doesn’t even flinch, despite the proximity of the noise to his ear. Well, being hard of hearing would certainly explain his guitar playing. He makes a little clicking noise at the bird, and it clicks its beak back to him. It would probably be cute if Flint hadn’t just heard it scream an obscenity. “Her name is John Silver too,” Silver says. He scratches the parrot under her chin as if it’s perfectly normal to name a screaming, swearing parrot after yourself. “It’s - what?” Flint manages. “Well, my truck is registered to her.” Silver gestures to an orange junker parked up the street. The fact that that truck belongs to the man sitting before Flint is the least surprising part of this whole ridiculous endeavor. “It’s for, y’know, tax reasons. But I can’t exactly register a vehicle to ‘Miss Feather Princess’ can I?” “How--” Flint starts, and then abruptly decides he does not actually want the answer to that question. “Your parrot’s name is John Silver.” “...Yes?” Silver’s brow is furrowed in confusion. Flint would suspect he is the victim of an unfortunate practical joke if he hadn’t been witness to a week of bad guitar playing and noisy parrot. “You can’t - that’s not - you can’t name your bird after yourself.” Silver squints, as if considering this for the first time. “It’s not like I call her that. Mostly I call her Miss Feather Princess. Or Precious Little Baby Girl.” The bird whistles in acknowledgement, and Silver gives her an adoring smile. “That’s right, who’s Daddy’s Little Feathery Treasure.” “SON OF A BITCH,” the feathery treasure responds, butting her head against Silver.

Break Up AU chap three--

“What do you think of the showcase?” Flint throws out. He usually detests this kind of inane chatter, though Silver seems like an avid talker who will need little prompting… and is a pleasure to listen to besides, voice smooth and cadence hypnotic. Silver doesn’t disappoint, scoffing loudly. "Oh it’s absolute bullshit. Have you seen the crowd? All these glitzy butterflies playing at knowing what the fuck any of this means. Much like your Picasso enthusiast over there. They pretend they’re here for a little culture, but we’re all really here for this." Silver pauses to toast and nod vaguely at the table of hor d'oeuvres. “And to have a place to wear this suit of course,” he finishes with a saucy wink that has Flint’s heart jumping in his chest. Whatever Silver is trying to sell Flint… Well, it’s not entirely unsuccessful. Flint is intrigued, face fighting a smile. It’s the most fun he’s had in ages, certainly at a mandatory promotional event. There’s no denying Silver’s the brightest thing in the room even (and especially) amongst the upper crust of NYC socialites. Silver continues riffing without further encouragement. “Most of this is garbage frankly. Dunno who they're trying to fool. This stuff makes me feel icky just looking at it.” Silver points at a sculpture a few feet away. “Like that over there? Dead baby statue. That's all I can see." Flint barks a laugh, shocked at the utter audacity. Silver is not being quiet, and his spiel is accompanied by dramatic and attention drawing gesticulations. Flint takes another drink of champagne to hide the smirk he’s unable to suppress, watching Silver’s one man act unfold with pleasure coiling warm in his belly. It’s more interesting than the entire rest of the evening combined. "And here?” Silver forges on, firing on all cylinders. “Somebody very impressively managed to find only the worst shades of every single color. Mustard yellow, puke green, eye melting purple.” The declaration is accompanied by an exaggerated face of disgust which still manages to look appealing on Silver’s handsome features. “Yikes."

--

Sometimes I think about these scenes and I just start crying laughing. GOD it's uproarious. I love writing little fucking shit Silver is the message here I think.

Thanks for the question <3333

#ask game #thoughts #my writing #break up au #all too well verse #gf cupcakes are a love language u homeless asshole #silverflint #silverflint mod au #long post #hms-tardimpala

[darkcat8]

I just finished rewriting chapter 4 of mutants of the future. one of thing mentioned in this chapter is a headcanon created by a great writer tmnt 2012 on here that goes by the name fabuloustrash05. go check her out and enjoy the rewritten chapter.

The turtles and hybrids were walking through the sewers in silence.

"So, you guys live down here?" Raphael asks.

"Pretty much. Although there's going to be a lot more mutants, living down here soon. "Irrilia answered.

"What do you mean by that?" Leo asked curiosity.

"Michaela's dad came up with the idea to rebuild an underground city that was abandoned below the sewers for mutants."

"An underground city for mutants? Donnie repeated, "This dimension seems very Interesting."

"You can say that again although it is not the only thing that is interesting about this dimension." Leo says as he looks towards the hybrids.

The turtles and hybrids walk into the lair. The first thing the turtles noticed is that the hybrids lair looks indistinguishable to their own lair back in their dimension.

Raphael saw something running towards him and tackled him to the ground. Raphael groaned and looked up at what a snapping turtle that was probably the size of a full-grown Hound. The turtle started licking your Raphael face like a dog.

"Chompy get off him." irrilia said to the snapping turtles.

The big snapping turtle got off Raph waddle towards irrilia and nuzzled his head on her hand " is this your pet?" Leonardo asks.

"Well, he is not technically mine. He's, my dad's." irrilia said.

"His name is Chompy, Chompy Picasso." Irrilia answered while Scratching under Chompy's chin.

Raphael's face turns pale and feels like he's about to collapse. He's trying his best to calm down. He clears his throat to their attention "um can you excuse us for a minute?" Raphael said while signaling his brothers to go aside and out of earshot.

"There's something wrong guys." Raphael said panic in his voice.

" I'm scared to say Raph might be right." Leo says.

"What makes you guys say that?" Mikey said cluelessly.

"Think about it." Donnie said, "they are mutants, they live in sewers, their lair is similar to ours."

"And a bigger version of chompy and their friends are called the mighty Mutanimals." Raphael adds.

"So, what's going on?" Mikey asked curiously.

"The kraang have not been teleported to another dimension. We might have traveled to the future." Donnie explained on the verge of a panic attack.

The turtles stood there shocked. " s-so those kids might be our kids.'' Leo points back to the hybrids "how is this possible?" Leo question still wide eyed

"I think I might know how." Donnie says the other turtles look at him while he explains "when we were fighting the kraang. I noticed there was some kind timer by the teleporter."

"The kraang were probably planning to come here." Leo says while still shock.

"Why would they come here?" Mikey asks.

"Were you paying attention to all shell brains?" Raphael said to Mikey "the kraang is harder to fight here, there must be something here that makes them stronger."

"Not to mention they have poisonous darts for mutants." Donnie added.

"Speaking of which, how are you feeling, Donnie." Leo asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Donnie says while holding his bandaged arm." That Henry boy definitely knows what he's doing."

" What do we do Leo." Raphael asked Leo.

"We pretend that we don't know that this is our future, we are working with our kids, and the Mutanimals's kids, and find a way to get back." Leo answered, trying not to freak out.

The Turtles turned back to hybrids two see now only irrilia and Hana were standing there.

"Uh Donatello, is it? '' Kohana says shyly '' If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to do some tests to see if There's any effects to the poison that was in your body.

Donnie replied, "yeah that sounds like a good idea."

"Follow me into the lab.'' Donnie follows Hana into her lab.

"Hey where's Kiba and Michaela?" Leo asked.

"Michaela in the kitchen and Kiba in the dojo." Irrilia answered.

"I'll go check on Kiba and Mikey will check on Michaela." Leo says going to the dojo. signaling Mikey to go to the kitchen while still trying to keep calm. Irrilia, chompy, and Raphael were now alone in the main room of the lair.

"Um so irrilia, how long have you known about Mamoru?" Raphael asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We grew up together." irrilia said, petting the chompy's head while smiling.

"Really?" Raphael said, trying so hard to keep his cool "h-how did you guys meet?"

"Our parents are good friends, and our dads are like brothers. Our parents were working on a mission together, so they left us with Michael's dad babysitting us. I was a little scared for my parents, then Mamoru came towards me. He didn't really say anything to me, he just looked at me like he understood." Irrilia smiled "ever since then we've been the best of friends. He could always understand me. He's my best friend."

"How do your parents and his parents know each other?"

"Uh well after a while they started dating. My mother joined my uncle's team. Then a while Later he met my aunt. It took a while, but he recruited her on to the team. As for how our dads know each other, they grew up together."

"Like how you and Mamoru grew up together."

Irrilia Chuckled "how they grew up was a little Different is how we grew up. Uh before Mamoru's dad was mutated, he was my dad's pet."

''Really?'' Raphael says, pretending to be shocked.

"Tell me more."

Leonardo walks into the dojo to find Kiba meditating under the tree. Leo walks in front of her and kneels down.

"My apologies, meditating calms me." Kiba says.

"It's okay." Leo said, "this place is nice."

Kiba replies" thank you. My grandfather trained our parents here." Kiba said, looking away from Leo to a photo on the shelf. " I never met him. but my dad says in some ways I'm like him."

"What happened to him?" Leo asked softly pretending not to already know the answer.

"He was killed. By someone named the shredder." Leonardo's eyes widened. He was expecting to hear this. "Our parents went after him. My dad was the one who defeated him to avenge our grandfather's death. My grandfather and the man were Once like brothers. That was before they met my grandmother. They were both in love with her. Years later shredder became consumed with rage and Bitterness...."It's one of the reasons I decided to be a peacemaker. I never want what happened to them to happen to my family again." Kiba looked at Leo. "That was the first time I ever told that to someone. I don't know why but I feel I can trust you."

"Well, I think your father would be very proud of you. For choosing your own path." Leo said smiling.

"Thank you." Kiba says smiling back showing her tiny snake fangs.

"Tell me more."

Mikey walks into the kitchen to see the freezer was open and Michaela standing in front of it.

"Michaela?"

Michaela turns her head to Mikey "hey didn't see you there."

"Um What are you doing?" Mikey asks approaching Michaela.

"I'm just checking on my dad's kitty."

Mikey turns his face to a feline made completely out of ice cream as the frozen feline licks Mikey's nose.

Michaela giggles "she likes you."

Mikey, smiling widely happy that his frozen feline recognizes him, said "She is so cute!"

"So, you and that gator dude seem close." Mikey asks as Michaela closes the freezer door.

"You mean kal." Michaela says as her face starts turning red "he's, my boyfriend."

Mikey trying to hold his excitement.

"How does your dad feel about kal?" Mikey asks while smiling.

"My dad loves kal." Michaela says smiling "our dad is very close. My dad actually helped name kal."

"Really?" Mikey asks, smiling widely.

"Yeah my dad is awesome at naming stuff." Michaela says with a grin.

"So how did your dad come up with an idea for an underground city for Mutants?"

"Yeah, My dad is the biggest activist when it comes to fighting for mutants being accepted into civilization. He's also the head of rebuilding this abandoned underground city below the sewers. The undercity will soon become a safe civilization for mutants to live away from humans who have yet ready to accept them." Michaela explains to Mikey.

"Does your boyfriend's family know of this underground city plan?"

Oh, the mighty Mutanimals actually play a big part in my campaign and organization.

"Tell me more."

Donnie and Hana in the lab

Hana checking up on Donnie.

"Impressive." Hana says removing the makeshift stethoscope from Donnie's plastron.

"Normally the poison causes the heartbeat to increase. But yours is beating at a normal pace." Hanna explains to Donnie.

"You seem to know a lot for your age." Donnie says.

"Thank you." Hana says smiling.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get so smart?" Donnie asks Hanna.

Hana answers while walking to her desk "My dad's a scientist. I learned Everything I know from him."

Donnie smiles "your dad must be so proud of you" he says while walking towards Hana.

Hana turns to Donnie and smiles showing her gapped teeth "he is." She turns to open one of the drawers. Before, Donnie heard something resembling metal feet hit the hard floor. Donnie turned around before the color left his face as his eyes widened, he felt just saw a ghost. Standing in front of Donnie was a robot turtle that looked like it had some new upgrades that made his upgrades look like junk in comparison.

"Metal head?" Donnie said under his breath in disbelief. "Uh Hana who is this?"

"Oh, that metal head. He's one of my dad's old Inventions. My dad let me add a few upgrades and Adjustments." Hana explained smiling shyly.

"So, these are your upgrades?" Donnie asks, amazed.

"Yes."

"This is very Impressive." Donnie says in awe. "Your dad must be very proud of you."

"He is." Hana shyly smiles Again. "Thank you."

"Come on, we got what we need. we should get back to the Mutanimals." Hanna says going to the doorway of the laboratory. Before Donnie followed Hana out of the lab, he looked back towards metal head with a soft smile.

"It's good to see you again, old friend." The metal turtle held a thumbs up to say he felt the same way.

#tmnt 2012 #tmnt next gen #tmnt2012 fanfiction #tmnt nex gen fanfiction