#i *let's have a snowball fight* into this mans heart

[awearywritersworld]

the three times gojo thinks he might be in love and the time he knows for sure

gojo satoru x reader summary: title says it all w/c: 1k tags/warnings: ft baby megumi. fluff, then some more fluff. gumi refers to reader as mom. one curse word. brief reference to canon typical violence. a/n: i am ridiculously soft for this man. he needs a hug masterlist check out my latest work for gojo here

the first time it happens, it's the dead of winter and you're both still teenagers. it's the year before the star plasma vessel mission, when everything in gojo's life feels like it's falling into place. he has friends, real friends, for the first time in his life.

you drag him, kicking and screaming (it's all for show, he'd go anywhere with you), out to a snow covered field. you innocently beg him to turn off limitless, and of course he acquiesces, only to be pelted in the face with a snowball.

he throws himself into the snow upon impact, arms flailing dramatically. "i'm dead! you've killed me!"

you join him on the ground, arms out stretched and nudging the fabric of his coat. "hm, then i guess i'll have to drink all the hot chocolate by myself-"

"i have returned to the living realm!!" he shouts, shooting up into a sitting position. "had to fight god for it, told 'im i couldn't bear to leave my (y/n)-chan!"

"oh, you are so full of shit," you accuse with an amused smile.

you gaze at one another as the snow falls around you silently, both somehow feeling warm despite the frigidness of the air. his glasses have slipped down his nose, giving you a glimpse at his eyes. you're thinking about how the flakes blend in with his lashes before melting away entirely. he's thinking that he might be in love with you.

~~~

some time passes before the second instance, which takes place in the spring. gojo makes his way around campus, looking for wherever you and megumi ran off to. the small boy has been attached to your hip ever since gojo brought him home two years ago.

when he finds you, you're both splayed out in the grass and pointing up at the clouds.

"that one looks like a dog!" megumi exclaims excitedly.

"and that one looks like it might be his ball, don't you think?" you question. he agrees wholeheartedly with an enthusiastic nod.

after awhile, megumi sits up, rubbing at his eyes. "can we go inside now, mom?"

there's a split second he doesn't realize what he's said, but when it dawns on him, he looks down right scared. "'m sorry!"

your features soften and your heart soars before you're gathering him up in your arms.

"oh, my sweet boy," you coo.

rocking him back and forth, you hold him for a few passing moments. he hides his face in your chest, his hands gripping onto your shirt as if it's his life line.

you pull away just enough to see his face. you'd do anything to stop the tears swimming in his eyes, just like any mother would. "you can call me whatever you like 'gumi."

"p-promise?"

"yup!" you assure, bopping his nose with your pointer finger. it earns a small giggle.

gojo watches as you rise from the ground, megumi's head now resting on your shoulder and his arms around your neck. you're humming as you walk back toward the buildings.

gojo's legs are like lead and his heart feels as if it's shifted up into his throat. for the first time, he thinks about getting married, about having a family. your face is at the forefront of every image that forces itself into his mind.

~~~

the third time happens in the dead of night. megumi is asleep and the two of you decide to watch a movie, but you're yawning before he even presses play.

you sit so close to him that you can feel the warmth radiate from his body and although you fight to keep your eyes open, you can't help but be lulled to sleep.

he tenses for a moment when your head lands squarely on his shoulder. it seems as if you're both frozen, but then you let out a soft snore as your body shifts and your hand moves to his stomach. he finally relaxes.

your hair had fallen across your face and he pushes it back behind your ear so that he can see you. he tries to ignore the urge to brush his fingers across your cheekbone, or over your bottom lip. he fails.

gojo remains still for hours, and it feels strange to the usually hyperactive man, but he's terrified of disturbing you. terrified that you'll pull away from him and he'll never get to feel like this again.

he lets that stupid movie play through twice, but he spends most of the time stealing glances at you. he does eventually turn the tv off and the only sounds that remain are the trill of summer crickets outside his window and your soft, slow breaths.

he has no idea what time it is when he falls asleep, but when he finally does, he dreams about that day in the snow.

~~~

leaves fall at your feet as the two of you make your way down the sidewalk. every now and then, your fingers brush against his and it makes his heart skip a beat. he wonders (hopes?) if anyone has mistaken you for a couple.

you come across a familiar mansion, one that the two of you exorcised together as teenagers. it feels like a lifetime ago. you stop at the gate, a bronze glint on the ground catching your eye.

crouching down, you brush away shades of orange and red to reveal a memorial for all the people who had died on the once cursed property.

"for the lives that were taken here, and for the lost soul who took them... may they rest now in the afterlife."

gojo scrunches his nose, about to make some comment about how pitiful it was to commemorate a cursed spirit, but the words die in his throat when you look up at him with watery eyes.

"this is so beautiful," you remark, turning back to the engraved words.

he shoves his hands in his pockets, peering down to read over the words once more. maybe he'd missed something?

"this community was so fearful, remember? people lost friends and family here." he nods even though you aren't looking at him, watching how your fingertips move across the words as if you're considering them further. "the spirit scared them and it stole from them, but they still regard it with sympathy and kindness.. it takes strength to do that, you know?"

he feels his chest tighten as he registers your words. for a fleeting instance, he feels like an asshole for ever finding it pitiful, but that was the thing. you have such an easy way about you, a sort of gentleness he had yet to find in anyone else. the time he spends in your company seems like the only respite he ever gets from the horrors of the world.

he hasn't answered you yet, so you look back to him expectantly. "don't you think it's beautiful, 'toru?"

god, he could fall to his knees right then and there. he could roll over and die on the chilly concrete and he'd consider it a privilege to have died by your side.

i love you. i love you. i love you. those are the only three words his brain can muster.

"yeah," he finally chokes out. "it really is."

#m!writes #gojo satoru #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru imagines #gojo #gojo x reader #gojo imagines #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jjk #jjk x reader #jjk imagines #gojo satoru fluff #gojo fluff #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jjk fluff

[blues824]

WAIT since its Sebek month rn, I'm requesting smth for Sebek as well‼️ its prompt #8 and #26~ 💚✨ (26 lowkey perfect for him bcs he cant handle the cold lol same sebek- ajdjs)

I love this man with my whole heart, and then some.

You requested: Snowball Fight + Cuddling Next to the Fire

Sebek Zigvolt

Sebek did not know how to have fun, and you were convinced of that.

He took no breaks when it came to being a knight or when it came to his school work. Even his extracurriculars were not something he took lightly, which made it really frustrating whenever you wanted to spend quality time with the one you loved.

Your relationship wasn’t doing super well… to say the least. This was his first relationship, so you gave him some leeway, but it eventually had to come to an end. It felt like you were romantically involved with a brick wall.

Because you didn’t want to end the relationship, you went straight to Lilia for advice, and he immediately said that Sebek would have the weekend off. Malleus walked in and heard everything, and he agreed with the bat fae, and he would even make it an official order for him to go with you for the remainder of the day. Well, it was a foolproof plan, and it worked.

Now, you both can be seen trudging through the snow as Sebek is yelling about how you had the audacity to go to the great Waka-sama just to get to hang out with him. If you heard one more word about Malleus when you two were supposed to be on a date, you swear you were gonna end everything.

So, you stooped down, gathered some snow in your hands, patted it into a ball, and immediately chucked it at the half-fae’s head. He turned with the most angry look on his face, but you were too busy laughing to see it.

Oh, so that’s how you wanna play?

With a smirk taking the place of the anger, he, too, stooped down, gathered snow in his hands, formed it into a ball, and threw it at you, hitting you right in the face. Your laughing, obviously, ceased, and a battle had begun.

For a whole hour, you both were throwing snowballs at each other, laughing at the other's misfortune the whole time. However, you both knew it was time to go inside when you let out a sneeze as well as a few coughs.

~~~~~~~~

Sebek grabbed the firewood that you had stocked up and started to build a fire in your fireplace. He was shivering as well as you, and you remembered that he typically liked warmer and more humid climates. Once the fire got going, he brought you one of your many blankets so that you might try and warm up.

However, as his arm extended to give you the blanket, you grabbed it and pulled him down beside you. It took him by surprise, but when he noticed the close proximity, he immediately froze up.

“H-Human, what do you think you’re doing?” He asked.

“I don’t believe it would be very fair if I were to be warm and you were to remain cold,” You answered, making sure that he got some of the blanket as well.

Upon seeing that he was still shivering, however, you decided to just lay on him. You put your hands on his shoulders to push him back into the couch, and you just plopped yourself right on top of him, bringing the blanket over you two.

“Y/N THIS IS ENTIRELY INAPPRO-” You covered his mouth, starting to get sleepy, and with how flustered he was getting, his body temperature was rising to a comfortable level. In a few moments, you were asleep.

The dedicated knight had no idea what to do in this situation… This was never a part of his training, so he just laid there like a plank until he eventually fell asleep as well.

#twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst wonderland #sebek #twst sebek zigvolt #sebek zigvolt x reader #twst sebek #sebek x reader #sebek zigvolt #twst sebek zigvolt x reader #twst sebek x reader

[thebisexualdogdad]

One piece preferences - snow day (GN!reader)

Luffy -

● starts the most intense snowball fight ever

● he's climbing into trees to hide and launches snowballs at you from above

● he accidentally hits Zoro with a snowball and yells “Y/N did it!” before falling out the tree and running away

● rolls a snowball the size of him that completely buries you when it hits

● builds a huge snow fort that resembles the

Going Merry

● “Luffy how did you get this so detailed”

● “I used to build a lot of sand castles when I was a kid”

Nami -

● wants to spend all day by the fireplace

● makes you guys hot cocoa with the secret marshmallows Sanji was hiding

● and you get snuggled up under some blankets

● Luffy begs you guys to come and play with him

● “no way Luffy I am not getting sick just because you want to play in the snow”

● “what about you Y/N??”

● “go out in the cold with you or stay in here all warm and cozy with my girlfriend… sorry Luffy gonna have to pass”

Sanji -

● spends hours making the best soup you've ever tasted

● you were busy outside playing with Luffy and Usopp and he yells from the ship deck “Y/N my love dinner is ready!”

● and you have nice hot soup to warm you back up after being out in the snow

● Luffy “where's our soup Sanji??”

● “Sorry, did you guys want some?”

● Luffy and Usopp look at each other dumbfounded and you laugh

● “I'm only messing with you guys I made enough for everyone”

Zoro -

● thinks the snow is a great opportunity to do endurance training

● he trains in the snow for hours in minimal clothing to build an immunity against the cold

● “Zoro please come inside you're gonna get sick”

● “I barely feel a thing”

● “that's not a good thing!”

● “yes it is it means I'm getting stronger”

● “no it means I'm going to have to take care of you when you catch the flu”

● “well you taking care of me doesn't sound like such a bad thing”

Usopp -

● immediately plops down into the snow to make snow angels

● you make one next to him and afterwards he draws a giant heart around them in the snow

● “aw how cute Usopp”

● but then Luffy goes running directly through your snow angels

● “Luffy what the hell man!!”

● “sorry Usopp let's have a snowball fight!”

● Usopp huffs but then you hit with a snowball and he laughs “game on!!”

Shanks -

● wants to spend all day in bed with you

● “where are you going love?”

● “to get ready before we set sail”

● “it's snowing outside we won't be able to sail until tomorrow which means today you and I get to stay in bed and do absolutely nothing”

● he pulls you back into bed with him and you only leave to get food

● and he shoos off any members of the crew that try to disturb you

Buggy -

● he doesn't just build a snowman he builds a whole snow castle

● and you don't know how he does it but he somehow makes working snowball canons

● he makes his crew run around while he's shooting snowballs at them

● “did you see that Y/N! I hit Cabaji right off his unicycle!”

● “nice shot babe let me have a turn”

● he comes up with an entire point system and you compete to see who can score more points

Mihawk -

● is completely unfazed by the snow

● “mihawk where are you going?”

● “I've got a man to kill”

● “but it's snowing outside”

● “so? Some pesty snow won't stop me”

● “can you at least wear a shirt under your coat so you don't get sick out in the cold”

● “... fine but only because you asked me to”

#one piece imagine #monkey d luffy imagine #monkey d luffy x reader #nami imagine #nami x reader #sanji imagine #sanji x reader #roronoa zoro imagine #roronoa zoro x reader #usopp imagine #usopp x reader #shanks imagine #shanks x reader #buggy imagine #buggy x reader #dracule mihawk imagine #dracule mihawk x reader #x gender neutral reader #preferences

[staywhore]

countdown to midnight

felix x reader

word count: 2009

genre: smut with a hint of angst?! (my first attempt so be nice)

warnings: friends to lovers, hot hot hot takeout sesh, biting, slight angst if you can call it that.

an: sorry there's not a lot here! this is part one of two so look forward to the next update to see what happens (eye emoji) I hope everyone had an amazing new year! I love you all, thank you so much for supporting me this past year despite my hiatus.

taglist: @mingigoo @ravenjoongie @wickeddarkness-place @whatudowhennooneseesyou @teezers99 @mirror-juliet

new years confession part one click here for part two

~

You ducked fast as a mis-shapen ball of snow is hurled towards your head. A pang of adrenalin strikes right through your heart despite the fact that there now is a small smile pulling at the corner of your mouth. You clutch the ball of snow in your beige mitten and prepare to throw it back at your attacker. Risking a quick look you see that he has his back turned to you and you take your chance to make your move. You quickly stand and throw the snowball with as much force as you can muster to ensure it makes its mark. Watching as the non lethal projectile flies across the imagined battlefield, you see as it connects with the neck of your blonde attacker. His head moves forward with impact, causing him to look as though he’s bowing. 

He turns to you with a shocked look on your face. The laughter fills your mind until you can’t help but fold as it erupts from you. With tears now in your eyes and the look on his face on loop in your mind, you don’t notice that the man is now running towards you. You look up right before he makes contact with you. His arms wrapping around your waist lifting you up slightly before you feel yourself falling backwards. You can’t help but let out a little scream at the feeling of falling. He tackles you into a pile of snow that previously was your attempt at a snowman before the snowball fight ensued. 

“How does it feel to lose to a girl?” You say a little out of breath from the adrenalin still pumping rapidly throughout your body. You can’t help but smile as you look up and see a matching grin paired with that oh-so-familiar sparkle of mischief in his deep brown eyes. The former flicks back and forth a few times from your eyes to your mouth. He just lets out a short throaty laugh as a response. 

“Are you going to let me get up?” You say, starting to feel the weight of his stare. His hand reaches out and he brushes some snowflakes that are collecting on your eyelashes. 

Felix has been your friend for three years now. You’ve stayed friends through drunken calls, colds, and breakups. Of course you’ve noticed his impeccable beauty. His deep brown eyes that glow in the sunlight giving the illusion of having dark chocolate for irises. The freckles that are splattered across his nose, cheeks, and a few on his forehead; it’s as if an artist took his brush and placed each one specifically. His full pink lips that you have only ever seen turned down in frustration or anger a handful of times. He is the image of beauty to you. Yet in these past two, nearly three, years you never let your feelings manifest into anything stronger. You’ve seen the girls he has dated, you look nothing like them. So you keep your love for him platonic, and lock up anything less deep within your heart. 

His gentle touch threatens to bring your bubbling feelings to the surface. The soft material of his gloved fingers moved from your closed eyes onto your cheeks, that are no longer flushed because of the cold. Sometimes you think he’s looking at you as more than a friend, but the thought leaves you quickly. Despite what happened a year ago. 

“I’m quite comfortable actually.” The corner of his lips turn up in challenge to your question. 

~

It was New Years Eve, everyone was drinking and having a good time playing games and sharing stories. Felix had not left you alone for the entirety of the evening, not that that was unusual. Usually you stick to each other’s side, but something was different. If you stepped out of arm's reach of him you could feel his stare following you throughout the apartment. Eventually you decided to ask what the fuck is up. 

You pulled him off to one of the two bathrooms in yours and your friends shared apartment. It just happened to be the smaller of the two, just enough room for a sink, toilet, and a small shower encased by frosted glass. Not totally realizing that we are now nearly chest to chest as you look up to him to confront him. 

“What’s wrong with you tonight?” You say a little too loud, noting to lower your volume from now on. 

“Nothing’s wrong y/n.” He says without looking at you. Seemingly focused on a very interesting spot on the wall no doubt. 

“Bull shit Felix.” Attempting to cross your arms at your chest, but can’t successfully without touching him. It feels weird to touch him tonight. You can’t figure out why. “You have been acting strange all evening.” You settle with placing your hands on your hips. 

After a few beats of silence Felix finally looks at you. He seems to be searching for something in your face. His chocolate eyes flicking to the different parts of your face. An unspoken emotion hanging in the air between the two of us. Maybe it’s the seclusion, or maybe it’s the drinks finally working their way into your system, but tonight he looks different. Your eyes dared a look at his lips, quickly looking back up to his eyes. His pupils dilated.

“Felix..” Now he looked at your lips as you spoke, but he wasn’t quick to look away like you were. He leaned forward causing you to step back hitting the wall. “What is wr-” He cuts you off with a finger shushing your lips. 

“Y/n, I know you feel it two.” You could feel yourself pale. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about Felix.” 

“I know this is sudden y/n, maybe it’s the alcohol or the fact that it’s new years eve, but I want to kiss you tonight.. I want you and I don’t wanna hide it anymore.” His hands found their way to your face, tilting it back slightly. Your mouth was suddenly dry and eyes wide at the confession. 

“But.. I- I didn’t think I was your type?” You barely manage to get your words out. 

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life y/n.” Past the pounding of your heart echoing in your ears you can hear your friends call for you. 

“It’s nearly midnight.” Your response to his second confession. 

“I know y/n.” He continues to stare down at you. Trapping you against the cool wall and his hard body. “I’d like to kiss you if you’ll let me.” 

Mind racing. You swear he could hear your heart beating. Your eyes roamed over his face, looking for any sign of deception. You could hear your friends starting their count down into the new year. 

"10"

"9"

"8"

"7"

"6"

"5"

"4"

"3"

“Kiss me felix.” His lips crashed onto yours as your friends finished counting down, and cheered as they rang the new year in. Hands found their way into your hair, pulling slightly, causing you to gasp. He took his chance to kiss you deeper. Felix consumed you wholly. His tongue explored your mouth as he continued to deepen the kiss. His hands roaming further down your body. They moved from your hair to your neck, then shoulders, and smoothed down your back softly causing you to shiver. Your own found their way to his shaggy blonde hair. 

Finally snapping from your stupor you tug at his locks softly. He moans into your mouth, sending a bolt of arousal directly to your core. So you pull harder. This time he growls as his grip on your ass tightens. He spins the two of you around so your back is now to the sink, lifting you, you now are sitting on the lip of the sink; wrapping your legs around his waist to pull him closer. His hand slid from your ass to your waist, fingers playing with the hem of your shirt. A silent request for permission, you respond by taking your nails to his broad shoulders and running them along his clothed skin. Cool fingertips slid up your skin sending goosebumps to your arms. The further north his hands went, the deeper your nails dug into his shoulders. 

He breaks away from the kiss to look into your eyes. His own half lidded with arousal looking at your lips that are no doubt plumped and a deeper shade of pink from the kiss. He lets out a deep breath before he leans in to kiss you gently. Staring at your lips then going to your nose and forehead. Moving to your neck where he places pepperings of kisses that once again cause you to shiver. All while his fingers are running along your rib cage, and just under the fabric of your bra. As his hands move up taking the silky material of your shirt with him he bites your earlobe. 

Pulling your shirt over your head he leans back slightly to take a full look at you. Chest heaving and knuckles gone white from the grip you have on the sink. One hand goes to your neck to pull you back into a deep kiss. His lips run down your neck this time he’s not so gentle. He leaves bite marks in his wake. Each time he sucks your skin you let out a little moan, and the next time he sucks a little harder. He does the same thing to your chest. Teasing you as he plays with the edge of our bra, not quite going underneath the fabric. 

“Please Felix.” You say breathlessly. He obeys and reaches behind to unhook your bra. The feel of it sliding against your skin only heightens your arousal. Without hesitation he takes one of your nipples into your mouth and sucks it. It was a struggle to not scream at the sensation. 

“F-felix.. Fuck.” You moan as he releases the first with a pop and moves to the second. Your hands find their way to his head once more, tugging as he moans around your breast. Your abs begin to burn trying to keep you balanced on the ledge. Releasing the second with a pop he looks up at you, this time with fire in his eyes. 

“Y/n…” Right before he can say anything else the handle to the door jiggles, shortly followed by a pounding fist. 

“Hey open up! I gotta piss.” Someone who sounds an awful lot like a drunken changbin shouts from the other side of the door. Heat instantly rushes to your face as you push Felix off of you and quickly try to make yourself decent. 

“Be right out.” You stammer, frantically searching for your shirt. Seriously, where did that thing go in such a small space! Only stopping when Felix's hands cup your face once more, causing you to look up at him. He looked like he had a lot to say, but he leaned in to kiss you. Flinching back not wanting to seem any more suspicious than you probably already have to the party, you regretted it immediately. The hurt that flashed across his beautiful features stung you. 

“Felix.. I didn’t-” He turned away from you picking up your shirt and handed it to you, his silence was deadly. He waited until you readied yourself, tucking you behind him while he opened the door. 

Feeling awkward and embarrassed you hid out in your room until the last of your party guests left, feigning a headache. Curled up in your bed scrolling through your phone, when Felix’s name pops onto your screen. 

[sorry for tonight y/n] Another ding sounds 

[maybe we should just stay friends, go back to the way things were before tonight] it’s almost as if a knife went straight through your heart. With tears in your eyes you begin to reply, but you can’t find any words so you just turn your phone over and quietly cry yourself to sleep.

#skz #skz smut #stray kids smut #stray kids #felix x reader #felix smut #staywhore

[emmitaaa4]

Azriel, you beautiful, complex man.

Anyone else ever lay awake at night thinking that it’s not that Azriel wants a mate, any mate: it’s that he believes only a mate—only someone who was meant to love him—could love him ?

Do you ever think about the fact that Azriel’s visceral response to Elain looking up at him with trust & hope, was to believe that there was no possible way she could ever look at him that way if she knew the things he’d done and been forced to do? If she knew that his scarred hands mirrored his marred soul? Yet we know Elain has never balked from him and has only ever seen beauty in his scars; in who he is.

Do you ever think about the way Azriel feels this need to prove himself useful—which is why he so clings to his titles and his job—for if he is needed, he cannot be abandoned?

Do you ever want to shout from the rooftops that Azriel is so much more than this « darkness » he cloaks himself in, and that he doesnt need someone to heal him & « handle his darkness ». Healing, for Az, does not mean fighting & ‘killing’ his demons, it means being at peace with himself & learning to live with them without needing to mask who he is. He needs to begin to believe that there is darkness and light in him to love.

Does your heart ever squeeze when you understand that allowing yourself to be loved, first means bearing yourself to another & willingly risking being hurt ? It requires an unparalleled level of emotional vulnerability from him. You ever realize that Az uses his shadows as an emotional crutch, that he so carefully masks his expressions, yet it takes but a look for Elain to read him? He, who finds his strength & perseverance in hope, found his match in her gentle, hopeful heart—and he physically has to keep himself apart from her, only allowing himself to act upon his feelings when she made the first move. Entitlement where?

Truly, how has the fandom decided that Azriel, who follows the sound of Elain’s laugh, who listened to her when no one else would & didnt let her be misunderstood, who trusted her with TT so she could protect herself & those she loves, who stayed up past 3am as she spoke of her passions, who made everyone wait for her to eat, who chooses to sun his wings next to her in peaceful, quiet company… is an entitled, flaky male that sees her as nothing but a sexual distraction?

Do people really not realize what it means for him to question the Cauldron, question the very core of his beliefs?

1) It is not his feelings he questions:

His mind is tortured by thoughts of Elain, so much so he can’t sleep;

They do not need words to communicate, indicating familiarity & understanding;

He IS showing more than “just lust”, it’s clear from their interactions since the first trilogy. There was something there before Nessian happened.

2) Not only does he believe himself unworthy of her, but that sentiment is reinforced by the fact that the Cauldron “broke the pattern”. I do not see the entitled man the fandom speaks of. What he is is a deeply traumatized man, who was abused as a boy by the people who were meant to love him & protect him.

The popular thought that Az would fold for a mate, regardless of who she (or he) is, is truthfully not attractive, not to mention that it implies he’d only risk love for a “guaranteed” happy ending.

=> “Az wants a mate therefore give him a mate” is counterproductive to his growth (tho to clarify, i am not saying he should not have a mate, just that there is a way the story should be told.)

We have seen him plan for snowball fights & tactical missions, yet never for his future: not with Elain—again, he never even actually allowed himself to consider pursuing her—but not in any other sense either:

Children? he tells Cass he doesnt know if he wants any—has he ever let himself imagine having a child? A house ? he has no place to himself. Remember that even after 500 years of existence, Az says he still does not know where he belongs?

Could you not imagine two people who make themselves what others need them to be, being brave enough to bare those hidden, repressed parts of themselves to the other. Can you not see the growth it would require from both of them should they give themselves a chance? To, on one hand, choose the other despite what is expected & the problems it would cause, and on the other, be vulnerable enough to receive that love & believe yourself worthy of it.

Love doesnt care for convenience. It could all go to hell but at least they’d know they had tried, and i do not see how that could ever make for a boring, 2 dimensional story.

#azriel #azriel shadowsinger #pro azriel #elain archeron #i love him and her and them #elriel #pro elain #azriel bonus chapter #acosf bonus chapter #acosf #acotar #azriel acotar

[stayteezdreams]

Hooked on You: Part One

Plot: When on a walk through the park, your day gets sidelined and possibly your whole life changed, when you suddenly get hit in the face with a snowball.

-Part Two-

Pairing: Jung Wooyoung x Gn!reader

-Meet-Cute Masterlist-

Words: 2.4k

As the snow crunched under your feet, you enjoyed the giddy feeling the snow gave you. You didn't care if you were cold, the beautiful white atmosphere around you warmed you from the inside.

Making your way through the park, you watched as kids, families, and couples walked along, some building snowmen, or making snow angels. Somewhere up ahead you could hear the sound of joyful yelling.

The yelling got louder as you rounded the corner, seeing the culprits appear from behind some trees. You were a little surprised to see three guys around your age, having a snowball fight.

Their laughs and yells met your ears, and you couldn't help but giggle and smile. They seemed to be having fun, and you couldn't help but feel a little jealous. It had seemed like forever since you had had that kind of fun with friends.

Most of your current friends were a bit more serious and "mature", you couldn't really picture having a snowball fight with any of them, and them enjoying it.

Though your eyes were still on the boys, your train of thought was suddenly sidelined as your vision was clouded by white, and your face shocked with the feeling of cold snow. Jumping out of surprise, and letting out a small yelp, you heard the gasps of the men nearby.

Wooyoung really didn't mean it, he hadn't even noticed you walking past. He was so preoccupied with trying to hit Mingi, who had just finished peppering him with snowballs, that he didn't care to watch what else he might be aiming at.

As he threw the snowball, he watched as Mingi dodged it, sending it flying past, and directly into the face of someone walking by.

Wooyoung's face contorted to surprise and guilt as he let out a surprised yell. Mingi and Yunho gasped and cringed with embarrassment as they struggled to hold back laughs.

Wooyoung quickly began running over to you, watching as you wiped the snow from your face.

Apologizing profusely as he approached you, he prepared himself for yelling, embarrassment, or even offense and cursing. What he was not expecting however, was laughter.

As you wiped the last of the snow from your face, you couldn't help but let out a bubbly laugh. It had caught you so off guard, and his obvious mortification as he ran up to you apologizing, sent a shock of amusement through you.

Looking up, you met the man's eyes as you continued to giggle. He was looking at you with shock, but it slowly morphed into a pleasantly surprised smile.

The others behind him stared at you in surprised as they gave each other amused looks.

Wooyoung let out a small chuckle "Are you okay?"

You nodded, letting out one last small giggle "Yes, I'm fine."

Wooyoung's fast-beating heart seemed to turn from embarrassment, to enticement. The second your eyes had met his, and your smile beamed, he felt butterflies. Not the mention your laugh was adorable.

The same happened to you when you looked up, meeting the bright startled eyes of the attractive man. Part of you thought you had seen him around, but you weren't quite sure where.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't do that on purpose." He said with a soft tone, though he was repressing a laugh.

"Oh, I didn't think you did." You said reassuringly.

Wooyoung looked you over, and seeing some snow stuck to your hair, he reached out and brushed it away, before suddenly realizing what he was doing and pulling his hand away. You brushed the rest away with a shy smile.

He wasn't sure what was taking over him, but he couldn't help but feel so drawn to you. Was it the way you acted? The way you looked? Your smile, or your laugh? All of it?

After giving a polite glance to the two men standing behind him, you cleared your throat, unsure of why the man in front of you seemed to be locked in on you. It was making you nervous, as butterflies rampaged in your stomach.

Yunho and Mingi could sense what was going on as Wooyoung stared at you. He thought you were cute. They smiled at you politely, wondering what Wooyoung was going to do.

"I should go" You said softly, ready to excuse yourself and allow the boys to get back to their game.

But as you started to walk away a hand suddenly gripped your wrist, not tightly, but it was enough to stop you.

"Wait!"

You looked at the man with a shocked gaze as his face broke into a smile "You should stay!"

You raised your brow in confusion, as you saw the other two glance between each other.

"What?" You said with a bewildered chuckle.

"Yeah! Come on, it's fun" His smile was contagious but you were still uncertain.

"Uhm, I don't know about that."

"Come on!" He continued, his voice almost turning into a whine "I'm outnumbered, I could use some help."

He gestured back at the two men before he looked at them, you couldn't see the look he gave them, but the others suddenly nodded and all encouraged you to stay.

You laughed again "I really don't know-"

Before you could finish, he began tugging you towards the others. You gave one of the men, a tall blonde, a look of confusion and he laughed "Best to go with it I think."

"Yeah, we'll go easy on you." the other said.

You laughed softly before speaking with a hint of challenge in your tone "Do I look like the type who needs pity?"

The man's face contorted to surprise before he let out a laugh, followed by the others laughing as well.

"See, I could tell!" The man who had dragged you into this said "You'd get along with us great! So stay, at least for a little!"

You looked at him and then between the other three, who just smiled at you. As much as you had intended to do today, you couldn't help but ignore the pull you had towards him, and you couldn't ignore how much you had been jealous of their fun before.

"O-okay, fine"

"Yes!" he cheered "You're on my team!" He stuck his tongue out at the others as he dragged you over to a bench. You heard the others laugh as you smiled in amusement.

Watching him crouch down and start to pile up snow, you noticed he had a grin on his face.

"I have a question." You suddenly said and he looked up at you, almost taking your breath away

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?" You let out a soft giggle.

"Oh!" He laughed as he stood up straight "I'm Wooyoung!"

"Y/n." You returned and his smile somehow got bigger.

Looking over at the others, he pointed them out one by one as they looked over, hearing their names.

"That's Yunho" he said pointing to the tall blonde from before, who waved at you with a big smile "And that's Mingi." The other tall one with bright hair waved at you as well.

"This is Y/n!" he called out as they greeted you with laughs.

"You know, you didn't consider I might have had somewhere important to be before dragging me into this." You teased.

He looked at you with curiosity "Did you?"

You hummed "No."

He let out a giggle before he started making a snowball, which you joined him in doing after a moment. He glanced up at you, and had to tear his eyes away before he got caught up in staring.

Wooyoung knew from the moment he heard you laughing after he hit you with a snowball, that you were special. And when your eyes met his he felt like he had gotten hooked.

"How good are you at snowball fights? After what you said to Mingi it seems like you've got experience." He joked.

You looked up at him and smiled, and he felt his breath hitch.

"I got banned from taking part in snowball fights at school because I was too good."

His eyes widened in surprise as you laughed and continued

"I got too into it and would take out my own teammates." There was a teasing tone in your voice as you eyed him.

"Is that a threat or a warning?" He asked with a raise in his tone.

"Well I do owe you one." You said with a blunt yet joking tone.

He let out a laugh that made you grin.

"That is true." He admitted before he giggled again.

Oh yeah, he was definitely hooked.

Everything you had planned to do today, had been pushed to tomorrow, as you spent the next two hours hanging out with Wooyoung, Mingi and Yunho.

You had gone from having a snowball fight, which you and Wooyoung won, though barely, to building snowmen.

You weren't sure how or why it happened, but you felt as though you had known the three boys your whole life. Especially Wooyoung.

You got along better with him, then half the friends you had known for years. You dreaded when you would part ways, but you hoped maybe you'd see him again.

The warmth of the cup in your hands sent a pleasant chill through you. The cafe you were now in was a bit crowded, but you didn't mind. Wooyoung sat in front of you, as Yunho and Mingi sat on the bar stools at the window nearby. It was curious you thought, since there were two seats at your table.

You glanced at Wooyoung, who gave you a smile, and your heart sped up a bit. Were they sitting further away on purpose?

"I already paid for yours by the way." Wooyoung said after he sipped some of his own drink.

"What? You didn't have to!"

He grinned at you "I know, but take it as an apology for hitting you with that snowball."

"I thought I already got you back for that?" You asked with a teasing tone.

He giggled as he nodded, recalling how you had gotten him with a snowball in the back of the head when he wasn't expecting it.

"I deserved that, but you also deserve this, I did sort of kidnap you." He said with an amused, and almost embarassed smile.

You laughed, hoping our face was not visibly flushing. "Well thank you. And as it turns out, I didn't really mind the kidnapping in the end." You said softly.

He giggled softly as he looked down at his drink, and you couldn't help but think about how cute he was. Your heart clenched a bit and you looked down at your own drink.

When your drink had been finished, you checked the time and let out a soft sigh "I really do think I should go now."

"Really?" He asked, with obvious disappointment in his tone that made your ears burn hot.

You nodded, though you felt it hard to leave.

As you reached for your gloves, Wooyoung felt panic rush through him as he reached out and grabbed your gloves first, stopping you.

You met his eyes and he smiled "Wait, before you go. I- would you... want to hang out again?"

Your heart jumped, and you could see the anxiety in his eyes as he asked.

Your stomach fluttered as you smiled "I'd like that."

His eyes widened, but he shook it off quickly, smiling as he took out his phone and set it in front of you "Can I get your number then? So we can plan something?"

You nodded as you took his phone, quickly inputting your contact info before handing it back and rising "I had fun today Wooyoung, thank you."

He grinned and nodded "Me too."

Watching you as you said goodbye to Mingi and Yunho before leaving the cafe, he felt his heart sink a bit as you left.

As Yunho and Mingi came over to the table and sat down, they eyed him curiously.

"At least tell me you got their number?" Yunho asked.

Wooyoung couldn't hold back his grin, as Yunho and Mingi shared a knowing stare before they teased their friend.

You had only been walking back home for about ten minutes before you felt your phone vibrate. Taking it out, you read the text and felt a giddiness wash over you.

[Text transcript if images don't load]

WY: 'Hey Y/n it's Wooyoung!'

Y/n: 'Hey Wooyoung :)'

WY: 'Oh good, honestly I was kind of afraid you gave me a wrong number'

Y/n: 'No! I wouldn't do that.'

WY: 'You know, I was going to apologize for hitting you with a snowball again, but I decided against it'

Y/n: 'Oh? Whys that?'

WY: 'Because if I hadn't hit you, I wouldn't have met you.'

You felt your chest tighten as you stopped in your steps for a second before taking a deep breath. Was this going where you hoped it was? Typing a reply, you held your breath.

Y/n: 'That's true. Though who knows, maybe we would have met anyways?'

WY: 'That's a nice thought!' 'I wanted to ask you something else though.'

Y/n: 'What?'

WY: 'I know you already said you'd want to hang out again, but do you think maybe instead, we could make it a date?'

Wooyoung stared at his phone, unblinking. Yunho and Mingi talked across from him, but he couldn't hear them, his heart was pounding so hard he could hear it in his head.

As your text finally came though, he felt as though he could pass out, he felt so excited.

Y/n: 'Yeah. That would be nice Wooyoung'

WY: 'Really!? Great!' 'Are you free this Saturday?'

Y/n: 'Yes!'

WY: 'Perfect! How about we meet at the park where we met? Say three?'

Y/n: 'Sounds good to me, see you then.'

WY: 'See you!'

You couldn't erase the grin on your face as you made your way home. Your mind immedietely started racing. You went over everything that had happened, and then you couldn't stop thinking about what might happen when you saw Wooyoung again.

He had actually asked you on a date!

Your day had started out well, but you never imagined it would get this much better. How could one random event lead to this? Three new friends, with one possibly becoming more?

The only thing that could get better, was for Saturday to come quicker.

xx

Let me know if you are interested in a part two (the date)~

A/ns: Yes I notice the typo in the text, no I can't be bothered to re-do it lmao Also, idk why but when editing this, I put the text images side by side and its fine, but when posting it they show up one after another as big images for me. Idk if it's appearing like that for you guys, but sorry about that.

Taglist: @bubblesreplies, @halesandy, @why-am-i-sad

#Jung Wooyoung #Wooyoung #ateez #wooyoung x reader #wooyoung/reader #wooyoung imagine #jung wooyoung imagine #ateez x reader #ateez/reader #ateez imagine #wooyoung fic #wooyoung oneshot #wooyoung one shot #ateez oneshot #ateez one shot #ateez fic #meet cute series #meet-cute series #wooyoung fluff

[merbear25]

For the event, Maybe kid (one piece) for #3. SFW and fem or gn is fine.

Hey, hey! Thank you for sending in this request! I haven't written much for him, so I hope I did alright. Hope you like it 💜💜

A love worth fighting for

CW: SFW, fem!reader, some angst, some fluff

You'd always been told to be less brash, that such behavior was unbecoming for a lady. Such comments made you scoff for you had no interest alligning with what others expected from you. Standing out from the crowd wasn't always looked on fondly; the glares from the crowd would morph together, not a single individual among them.

When you crossed paths with the Kid Pirates, their personalities were unlike anyone you'd ever met. To add to their uniqueness, the captain, Eustass Kid, was quite the character. Your encounter gave you something worth while, to strive for. Luckily for you, your boldness and abilities caught their eye, which led to Kid extending an invitation for you to join them.

With your time onboard extending, you'd earned your keep. Rubbing elbows with Kid came with flirtatious exchanges, steamy nights, but also flare-ups of anger and jealousy. The man had you in an iron grip, ringing out the heart you'd put on the line for him.

You'd had your fair share of problems when it came to your confusing relationship with him. You both had been dancing around the possibility of being exclusive for what seemed like forever; the hope you had was being dragged along, becoming tattered.

Yet you were drawn to his resilience, and despite the fact that he often acted before thinking, you could admire the passion which accompanied his recklessness. He was captivated by your unwavering devotion and even though you were frustratingly stubborn at times, you knew what you wanted and were goal-oriented enough to push for it.

That night was a rerun: a rehashing of old arguments, picking at each other's insecurities further snowballing towards the inevitable clash of your personalities. However, with the storm came the calm when you found yourselves wrapped up in the whirlwind of shared passion.

You felt torn on how you should continue this give and take with him. On one hand, he ignited a flame that, at the best of times, seemed it would burn for eternity. On the other hand, he was the only one to cause the world around you to come crashing down. Regrettably, you were leaning towards calling it quits, although the thought of it pierced your heart.

You bore your heartache to him, and uncharacteristically, he panic washed over him at the reality of you slipping away. He was noticeably distraught from your words, yet still attempted to push down any physical clues alluding to his innermost fears.

"You can't leave me."

"What do you mean I can't?" When he didn't respond, you doubled down, "It's not like this is going anywhere. You don't feel the same way as I do."

"That's not true!" The anguish and want he had for you mixed as he shouted, "I love you but I can't say those words."

His chest heaved at the raw display of his own vulnerability. "Do you have any idea how crazy you make me? How hard it would be to lose a woman like you?"

"Why are you just now telling me this?" The lump in the back of your throat was becoming more painful as you pushed through, "Now that everything has become so distressing between us."

Taking a brief moment, you attempted to shove the rising strife aside, "You must know what you do to me, you idiot." You couldn't help but let out a chuckle at your tear stained insult.

He brushed off the name calling, being able to pick up on the affection laced around it. Motioning towards you, he yearned to hold you closely but was still unsure how to properly comfort you.

Looking at him with dried tears speckling your cheeks, you gave him a quivering smile. Such a gaze made him throw away his prior hangups as he tugged you into his lonely arms.

As you stood there holding the other, the previous rows grew distant and time held no meaning―getting the chance to reveal your love for one another shook you to your cores. That being said, it was a risk worth taking for anything that came afterwards paled in comparison. Knowing where the other stood would serve as an indefinite source of faith, while you faired against all odds hand in hand.

#follower event #one piece #x reader #one piece x reader #one piece imagine #one piece x you #op #eustass kid #kid one piece #eustass x reader #kid x reader #kid x you #eustass kid x reader #eustass kid x you #one piece fluff #eustass kid one piece #eustass captain kidd #eustass kidd #kidd x reader #eustass kidd x reader #eustass kidd x you

[dvskf4llz]

HELLOOO!! Cloudy here!

Could I request some HCs for some of the hermits (Maybe Ren, Etho, Grian, Scar, Mumbo, Bdubs and Xisuma?) during Christmas w the reader (GN) who is there S/O?

Merry Christmas you wonderful being! Always take care of yourself <333

-☁️

CLOUDYY!! THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THIS IDEA

Thank u thank u everyone aswell

Merry (belated) crimus :3

I genuinely didn't have any ideas for the others so I couldn't do all of them sorry cloudy 😭

This is going to be really short cuz I'm writing this as I'm not feeling well so I apologize

(I'm literally just going to end each one of the HCs with a mistletoe kiss cuz why not)

Christmas HCs with the Hermits

𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵 (𝓼𝓮𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓮) 𝓗𝓮𝓻𝓶𝓲𝓽𝓼 𝔁 𝓖𝓝!𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻

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

(Not proofread)

Grian:

-Grian would be type of person to still pull pranks even if it's Christmas, he would try to make the pranks more festive and decrease the amount of tricks he'd pull atleast

-In the morning, you'd wake up to him standing infront of you with a mischievous grin on his face making it obvious that he had a few festive pranks up his sleeve

-When you went outside into the snow, snow immediately got dumped onto your head

-After you got most of the snow from your hair/clothes, you were immediately greeted by a bunch of snowballs in the face who were thrown by none other than Grian

-After a few light-hearted pranks, he'd stop eventually so that you could calm down

-You two of course would make a few gingerbread houses and some gingerbreadman cookies together, Grian would even sometimes throw some flour at you which ended up resulting into chaos...

-The kitchen ended up looking like it snowed inside, but you two teamed up to clean it together

-After all the gift-giving, snowball fights, the flour fights and pranks, Grian had one last trick up his sleeve

-He set up a certain something ontop of one of the doorways he was sure you would walk under, and to no surprise, you did

-You saw Grian standing right in front of you with the same mischievous grin he had earlier while pointing up, you instinctively looked up only to see a mistletoe, of course.

-In the end, Grian did get his kiss and was all happy about it as the two of you spent the rest of the day cuddling

Xisuma

-Since Xisuma was the prime admin of the server, it was a bit hard for him to get some time off to spend the holiday with you. But eventually he did end up being able to get off for a while just for his lover

-He was a bit tired but nonetheless still had the spirit

-You two would spend the day by making snowmen, attempting to bake cookies, opening gifts and cuddling

-Xisuma would definitely be making sure you were covered enough before you went into the snow so that you wouldn't get a cold, he was just concerned for you of course

-He'd let you throw some snowballs at him, eventually he would also throw some snowballs to you as well just to get back at you

-He helped you build a snowman, placing the main body of the snowman while letting you place the head and decorate it however you wanted

-With baking cookies, you both would have equally divided regular cookies so that you could decorate them

-His designs on the cookies were a bit wonky but nonetheless cute, he even tried to attempt to draw your face on the cookie with the icing but kind of failed, you still appreciated it though

-You also happened to set up a mistletoe right above one of the doorways while Xisuma wasn't looking, you lured him over to that doorway and stood underneath the mistletoe with him

-When Xisuma realized the mistletoe was there, he chuckled before lifting his helmet up slightly to give you a loving kiss

-At the end of the day, you two cuddled onto the couch and watched some Christmas movies together <3

Ren

-mans would definitely be waiting at your side for when you wake up, he was just so excited to spend the Christmas Day with his lover

-It would be 6 am in the morning and he would be absolutely energetic still (Dog thinhs /hj)

-Once you were awake he'd immediately rush you to get changed so you two could go out in the snow already, which of course you did change into some warmer clothes

-As soon as you were out on the snow, he'd pull you with him to have a playful snowball fight

-What Ren didn't know was that he underestimated just how good you were at snowball fights, he would be constantly getting hit by snowballs, only ever getting the chance to hit you with a few sometimes (or it can be the other way around if you aren't that good w snowball fights)

-You two would make a snowman together and call him "Renbob", you even got to hear a Renbob impression from Ren himself

-You two would definitely be making gingerbread houses together, Ren was trying to go for a more architectural house while you were just making a simple one

-Of course, you would also join in the fun in the Grand Prix boat race since there was no harm in doing it. Overall, you did have fun most of the day

-So by the end of the day, when you both arrived back to your shared base, you and Ren just so happened to walk under a mistletoe together

-Ren would not hesitate to make you face him and kiss you passionately, his tail wagging like crazy as soon as he felt you kiss back

-You and Ren did end up ending the day with cuddling and loving kisses <3

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

Yeahhh that's it, sorry it's rlly short

Not feeling too well so I had to make this short

I'll maybe edit this and make it a bit longer (maybe even add a few more hermits) when I feel better

Again, so sorry for forgetting this and so sorry for making it short TT

Happy (Belated) Holidays everyone!!

#dusk/diane chatting #dusk/diane updates #dusk/diane writes #dusk/diane request #x reader #dusk/diane asks #oneshot #x reader oneshot #hermitcraft x reader #rendog x reader #grian x reader #xisuma x reader #Hermitcraft x reader oneshot #MCYT x reader #Several MCYTs x reader #Dear god help me it's 12 am for me rn #hi #merry Christmas #christmas HCs #christmas hcs with the hermits

[britcision]

Guys I dunno how to tell you this this is my favourite fucking chapter so far and before this one the last one was

I know it looks like we’re getting distracted and side tracked off on tangents but I’m having the time of my fucking life and more than half of my favourite bits weren’t in the plan

(We’re still on track and makin’ our way but oh boy the funniest things are all accidents)

AO3 link is as ever still on the first couple of chapters!

First:

Previous:

———————

That’s Not A Twink That’s An Anime Girl

They did eventually have to let Dick out of his snow drifts.

As a former circus acrobat, Dick had the best excuse of all of them to use his vigilante training in public; he’d wormed out of Jason’s grasp, flipped over Duke and made a run for it.

Unfortunately for him, gravity was actually literally optional for Danny, and Danny didn’t even have a superhero identity to protect in Gotham.

He could turn a lot more easily on the slick ice and snow to give chase, a little flight added when friction failed him. On his own, Danny would have probably had to actually fly to take Dick down.

Of course, odds of eight-to-one would weigh on any man. Not a single member of the group wasn’t thoroughly soaked by the hour’s end, sweat under clothes and snow clinging over them.

The journey up to Wayne Manor ended up being done in chunks as the sun began to sink and the cold set in for their more human friends.

Jason, Danny, Duke, and Tim had to go back to the mall to retrieve motorbikes.

(Technically Danny didn’t actually need to, but what he did need was an excuse to get Jason alone for a minute, and he’d put up with snickering from Sam and Tuck to do it.)

Steph, Cass, Damian, Sam, and Tucker called for a cab rather than pack themselves into Dick’s now snow filled car, and their numbers were excuse enough for Danny to slip away.

Which is when Tucker realised he could have probably hitched a ride on Tim’s bike, and spent the whole journey hugging Tim Drake-Wayne.

Buuuuut it’d also mean riding a motorcycle through slushy snow. The dilemma on his face made Danny grin all the way back to the mall, despite the damp now clinging to his clothes.

Sure, the car might reach the manor first and they’d get warm and dry, but that just meant Tucker’d miss out on more Tim Time.

The snowball fight had clearly done Tim good too, he was much more energised as they walked back to the mall, complaining to Danny and the others about Amity Park’s underhanded tactics.

Danny sure as fuck wasn’t going to apologise, but he did have a much more important question: how the fuck did Jason do that landshark-disappearing-into-snow bullshit?

Which… well, was also a chance to fuck with Tim and Duke.

“Seriously Jay, I can go intangible but that snow trick was bullshit,” Danny complained with a wicked glee in his heart, reflected in Jason’s grin.

Tim nearly tripped over his own feet. Duke caught him, his own eyes wide.

“You can what?!” Tim asked in a slightly strangled voice, and Danny gave him his most innocent smile.

“Oh, has Dick not told you? Yeah, it’s one of my things, from the generic end of the list,” he explained casually, turning his arm intangible and phasing it through Jason.

Who made a face.

“Okay but why does it feel like that left a residue?” The larger man complained, scrubbing at his shirt.

Which. Danny paused, frowning down at his hand. Stuck it through his own chest experimentally.

“Y’know, I didn’t know it did that… not like I go through myself often, but I can definitely feel it,” he agreed, sticking his tongue out as he wiggled his hand around, then drew it back.

Duke and Tim looked fascinated and nauseated respectively. Danny gave them both a cheerful shrug and kept walking.

“It’s probably my pit water,” he theorised, and Jason groaned loudly.

“Danny, did you just fucking mix our forbidden smoothies?” He complained loudly, and Duke damn near choked himself on a strangled laugh.

Danny fully had to stop and turn to stare at Jason, delighted awe on his face.

“Oh, I’m calling it that forever. That’s my new favourite thing. Skulker is going to shit his entire liver when he hears “forbidden smoothie”,” he decided gleefully.

Jason smirked and bumped shoulders as he passed, forcing the others to keep moving to keep up. Duke almost jogged to lean around Jason and give Danny a curious look.

“Who’s Skulker?” He asked innocently and Danny grinned at him.

“Oh, one of my rogues. He likes to talk a big game but he’s pretty easy to deal with. All bark, no bite,” Danny explained cheerfully.

Honestly he was a little surprised Skulker hadn’t shown up in Gotham to bother him yet. He must have been having a hard time finding a portal, because it’s not like he’d stop.

Tim and Duke did seem a little reassured by his casual dismissal, but still concerned. Jason cut them off before they could ask anything that might be useful.

Yeah, Jason was kinda Danny’s favourite.

“So how the fuck do I get your smoothie out of my jug?” He asked with an overly disgusted face. Danny fought not to laugh.

“You are so asking the wrong person dude, I didn’t know it happened until just now,” he pointed out and Jason rolled his eyes.

“I’m taking at least six showers when we get to the manor,” Jason grumbled melodramatically, and Danny laughed aloud.

Then paused.

“Wait, how many bathrooms are there? Can we all shower?” He asked Tim and Duke.

Neither of whom looked ready to admit they didn’t know what was going on. Fuck Jason knew his family well.

Duke shrugged, the mall finally coming into sight, and diverted towards the underground parking.

“Well, there’s enough for one each. And Alfred could do laundry for you so you can change right after if you take a long one,” he offered, glancing down at his own now damp clothes.

Best part of a snowball fight: changing back into something warm and dry.

Danny snickered, plucking at Jason’s oversized sweater.

“The way you assume I’m wearing a single thing that I actually own is adorable,” he told the younger man sincerely, grinning as his cheeks heated.

Sure, it was more subtle on dark skin than Danny’s light tan, but he’d been friends with Tucker since he could walk. He knew exactly what to look for.

Was not quite ready for it to be combined with a sly grin right back.

“What, nothing of yours?” He asked suggestively and Tim laughed, quickly catching on.

“Did Jason give you everything?” He asked teasingly, both younger Wayne wards now grinning at their older brother.

Jason’s little pink blush was definitely still Danny’s favourite. He grinned right back, refusing to follow them to a place that didn’t exist.

“Some of it’s probably yours,” he told Tim blithely, tugging at his sweatpants. Which, as predicted, immediately changed Tim’s expression to annoyance.

“Why is everyone wearing my pants today?” Tim grumbled, and Danny’s grin widened.

“They looked a little tight on Tucker if you wanted to help him take them off,” Danny teased and Tim levelled a dry stare at him.

“I do have a boyfriend,” he pointed out coolly, like that was gonna stop turnabout from being fair play.

“Ask him to come help then,” Jason cut in, ruffling Tim’s hair, “you know Connor’s always welcome for dinner.”

For a long moment Tim’s expression froze, clearly actually considering the suggestion. Then he shook his head, sighing and calling the elevator.

“Probably not today. What floor do you guys need?” He asked as the doors slid open, stepping inside.

Quiet day at the mall. Probably the fucking cold, combined with hangovers from the new year.

And as much as Danny was thirsting to ask about that, he also very much needed Jason alone before they got on the road. Hopefully they weren’t on the same level.

“Two,” Jason said, and Tim nodded, hit two and then four. Looked to Duke. Who grinned.

“Three. Sorry Tim, you’re taking the scenic route.”

And for once the universe worked in Danny’s favour. Something fucked would probably happen soon to compensate.

He and Jason left the elevator together, waited til the doors slid back shut, and then headed off towards the bike. Danny didn’t make him ask.

“She’s definitely liminal. Not like, bad? Honestly she wouldn’t even register back in Amity Park. Damian’s is a bit worse, but he’s younger, it happens. Ecto energy likes kids,” he explained when Jason made an inquisitive noise.

He definitely wasn’t bitter or anything. He’d been just young enough to take it in like a magnet.

His parents probably wouldn’t have survived the same accident.

“It’s kinda the only thing horror movies get right. Ectoplasm can form from emotional energy, and little kids, they feel everything that much more. Tapers off when you get older, so Damian’s still a magnet. Cass is stable.”

He kinda wished he had better news, but honestly? After a dunk in the kind of rancid ectoplasm Jason described, Danny was taking it as a win that neither of the others were haunted.

Jason nodded gruffly, pausing beside his bike to pull his helmet back on. Not that it’d stop Danny from reading his mood; his aura pulsed stress-stress-stress-worry like a beacon.

Danny stepped closer, resting a hand on Jason’s shoulder, stilling the movement.

“They’ll both almost definitely become ghosts if they die again,” he explained softly, voice low enough to pass unheard in the echoing space, “but they’ll be fine. Think of it like insurance; you’re never going to lose them.”

Jason snorted, the sound distorting strangely through the helmet, but didn’t pull away.

“Is that what you tell yourself about Sam and Tucker?” He asked, trying to sound derisive but there was a tinge of hope there now.

Danny gave him a gentle wave of sorry-sorry-comfort back.

“Yeah.”

**

Back in the elevator, Tim looked at Duke expectantly. Who sighed.

“I am not a fuckin’ pokedex, Tim,” he reminded the older boy with a roll of his eyes. Which his brother totally ignored, still waiting.

Tim could fucking stare like nobody’s business.

The elevator chimed again and Duke stepped out, not the least surprised when Tim followed.

“I dunno. I thought I almost caught something in the park, but it was just a blur. Tucker and Sam both have more of an aura than Danny, but Danny’s clearly something. I just dunno if it’s a meta gene,” he explained reluctantly, and Tim nodded, already adding the information to his wrist computer.

Which he wasn’t supposed to wear out of costume.

Duke wasn’t gonna tell; he’d be a damn hypocrite if he did, he wore his Signal boots with the bike half the time. They were just much more responsive than normal boots.

“What makes you say that?” Tim asked, still typing away. It’d save Duke from having to add it all to his report, so it kinda counted as a favour.

Duke shrugged, still trying to narrow down the feeling.

“Honestly? Most people with the same meta gene fuck up a little the first time they show off around me. It’s the x-metals; I boost them, whatever they’re doing goes too hard.” Tim’d been the one to help him work that out, but it would all go in the report.

Tim nodded, gesturing for him to continue and Duke sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Danny… didn’t. Unless that’s the residue they were both talking about, and if the fucking Lazarus Pits can cause intangibility we have got to warn Bruce. But that’s not the only thing,” he added quickly, before Tim could speak.

The older boy quieted obediently, but Duke could see he had his thinking face on. Putting pieces together, all those wheels turning as one.

That was practically a fuckin’ meta ability, and it wasn’t like Tim got a boost from him either. Maybe Duke needed to do some more experimenting.

“Most metas, even the nonhuman ones, have at least some aura. Some of them can hide it, but I can get a feel for their powers from it. Danny… I dunno. I can almost feel something, but I can’t see it.”

That was the thing that unsettled Duke the most, honestly. Almost all of his powers were purely light based; seeing what other people couldn’t. Even his shadow manipulation still worked around light.

It was fucking weird for there to be anything he couldn’t see, and he could go way beyond the visible spectrum. Whatever Danny emitted, it went beyond even that.

For a guy who could even see a little into the future, it was weird.

And since Danny had showed off flight, super strength, and intangibility already? And called them the generic end of the list?

Duke was definitely leaning on the “extreme control of his aura” side of the equation.

Tim looked concerned too, which was kind of validating. It kinda sucked being the expert on things no one else could understand, because Duke always worried he was overreacting, but if Tim tagged it too? Well that was validation.

“The only bit of good news is that we can probably rule out the pits as the source of his abilities,” Tim muttered as he scanned back through his notes so far.

“They coulda been trauma activated by his death in the same way as a meta gene,” Duke pointed out thoughtfully, leaning back against the wall.

It wasn’t like they were racing home, and until someone else came down the elevator? No rush. Tim had another floor to descend anyway.

Tim himself shrugged, adding another couple of notes to his file.

“It’s definitely possible, but even if it was a million-to-one chance, I can’t imagine Ra’s keeping quiet about something this useful, or letting someone like Danny run around if he had any idea he existed,” Tim explained, making a face.

And… yeah, no point trying to argue with Tim about Ra’s al Ghul. Duke pulled a face too and sighed.

“Well, he still seems pretty sure we’ll know all about it if we can get into Amity Park. Or when Jason decides to fucking tell us,” he added with a roll of his eyes.

Tim glanced up at him, smirking.

“You noticed too?” He asked innocently, and Duke snorted. Reading Jason’s micro-expressions might not be a survival skill exactly, but it was still a bat family hobby.

“He definitely fucking knows!” He complained, the switch from Professional Hero to Baby Brother getting easier and easier as time passed.

He still had his own parents, he didn’t need Bruce to adopt him, but he’d been an only child for most of his life. Having a new army of big brothers and sisters? Kinda ruled.

And he knew most of the others felt the same. They’d all be alone in their own ways, and the stubborn independent streaks were still there, but…

It was good to know someone had your back. That no matter what happened, how the adults in your life fucked you over, you could always go to Dick’s in Bludhaven.

Could always call Jason to bitch about whatever you needed off your chest, and yeah, there was always the worry that he really meant it when he said he’d “take care” of your problem? But he also listened when they said no.

Hell, it’d been Jason’s couch that Duke had crashed out on about a year ago, back when Jason was still damn near on the Big Bat’s no fly list.

He’d been on his way to school for the start of his winter semester when an absolutely blinding migraine took him to his knees. For whatever reason, Jason had been close.

Duke hadn’t even been able to glance at his phone to call for help; even opening his eyes a crack felt like he was being blinded. He’d barely recognised Jason’s voice asking if he was alright.

Hell, back then he hadn’t known if Jason recognised him out of costume. They’d always had a more friendly relationship than Jay did with the other bats, but this had been just after Jason finally texted Dick back.

Back when Red Hood would take a casual shot at any mask crossing into his turf. Not to hit, but a definite reminder of the border.

And Jason had lifted him bodily and carried him into Crime Alley. Put him on his couch to sleep it off in pitch darkness, and made him some of the best home made soup Duke had ever had.

Duke got why the older teens were still a little wary. He’d seen the Pit Rage live and in person, and it was fucking terrifying. It just wasn’t all Jason was.

And yeah, the family also had a whole army of fellow teens who’d know exactly what you were talking about, between Steph, Tim, Cass, and Duke himself. Even Damian, as much as he pretended not to care.

Kate and Babs were always willing to spread their wings out and give them all a place to shelter. And hell, if adult supervision was needed, they even had Harley, Ivy, or Selina.

Duke may not want to be a Wayne, but he’d take everything the bat family offered with both hands.

Tim sure as hell had not adjusted from being the baby to being third oldest though. He gave a huge heaving groan to match Duke’s own, flopping back against the wall.

“I know, right! And he knows we don’t know shit. He’s just enjoying watching us scramble cuz he knows we can’t just tell Danny we don’t know,” he grumbled, scrubbing both hands through his hair.

Duke hesitated.

“We… probably could just tell Danny,” he said slowly, brows furrowing. “It’s not like he doesn’t want us to know.”

Tim gave him a sidelong look.

“Yeah, after we admit we didn’t even manage to google him. Y’know, the kid who clocked Dick’s identity from his ass,” he added dryly.

Duke hesitated again, brows furrowing.

He knew that shouldn’t matter. Knew the smart move really was to ask for help sometimes. Knew damn well that it was Tim’s stubborn streak that kept him in the cave all night, while Tuck, Steph, and Cass watched movies upstairs.

Finally he let his head drop, sighing.

“The longer we wait the dumber we look if we have to ask later,” he warned Tim but his heart wasn’t in it.

It didn’t matter that Jason was probably the only member of the family with all the pieces; whoever caved and asked for help first? Yeah, social suicide.

Tim shook his head, pushing off the wall and scowling out into the rest of the garage.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll talk to Tucker about the Amity Park problem tonight and we’ll know by morning.”

Which… Duke hid a smile.

Asking Danny? Definitely cheating, worthy of scorn and derision.

Asking Tucker? Apparently completely different. Although technically he wouldn’t be asking Tucker for the same information.

Just admitting the exact same fault.

Pulling his keys from his pocket, Duke turned and wiggled them at Tim as he headed for his bike.

“Hey, if you hurry you could try to beat Danny and Jason to the manor. Get to Tucker first,” he added, grinning as Tim hit the call for the elevator.

The shorter boy rolled his eyes, waving a hand in Duke’s general direction.

“I’ll get to him once everyone’s warmed up. He wanted a look at my set up last night anyway,” he said almost off handedly.

Duke’s grin spread.

“Oh hey, that’s perfect! Just take him to your bedroom after you’ve both just been wet and naked and show each other your most private parts!” He called loudly, wondering if any of the supers were listening.

They’d find out soon.

Tim choked, blushing cherry red and spun to yell something after Duke just as the elevator doors opened. Duke waved cheerily back, turning away to head for his motorcycle.

“See you at the manor Timmy!”

**

Reconvening at Wayne Manor was… well, chaotic. Even more so than the gala the night before, though that might have been because this time, none of them had a firm plan.

Jason and Danny arrived first, greeting Alfred on the way in. The butler was not hugely impressed by the “foresight” which had led to a snowball fight when Danny was wearing an oversized sweater, sweatpants, and little else.

Any protestations that Danny was fine and was normally this cold anyway quavered under an archly raised brow and Danny privately swore never to let Clockwork meet Alfred.

They would get along far too well.

And that’s how Danny ended up actually using one of the spare bathrooms while Jason, who had worn a proper coat and thus escaped Alfred’s wrath, grabbed him a change of clothes.

The fact that this once again included one of Jason’s shirts, when Tim, Dick, Duke, and Steph all existed and also had spare clothes here, felt a little targeted.

It hung from Danny’s shoulders like a kid in his dad’s clothes, but Jason was probably also the only one with a shirt that said “Soup Powered Fuck Machine”, and the bit was fucking worth it.

Danny tied off most of the excess fabric into something just a bit longer than a crop top and settled in to drink hot chocolate with Jason and Duke and wait for the others to come back down.

(Which, by the way? Best hot chocolate he’d ever tasted. He was stealing the recipe 1000%, it was so rich and creamy and thick and had grated curls of chocolate on top of the whipped cream.)

Any lingering questions Duke might have been hiding about the shirt? Answered themselves when Tucker walked into the room, saw Danny, and laughed so hard he wound up in the fetal position.

Yeah, Jason was never getting this shirt back.

This was Danny’s shirt now. He was gonna wear it for his next fight with his rogues.

Sam actually did have her own clothes, so she’d accepted the offer of laundry while she showered (though she was a little annoyed the laundry room was so far from any of the bathrooms that she couldn’t do it herself), so she’d rejoined them in a mix of Steph and Cass’s clothes while she waited.

She had also been unable to keep a straight face upon seeing Danny’s new country girl fashion statement, rolling her eyes and punching his shoulder as she dropped to sit next to him.

“We call the thermos Soup Time,” she explained when Cass cocked her head curiously… which probably actually confused the rest of the bats a little more.

“The thermos you threw at Killer Croc?” Dick asked, still towelling his hair dry.

Sam raised a very slow eyebrow at him, her smile toning down to a smug smirk.

“Yeah, sure, I definitely threw it at Croc,” she agreed dryly and Dick cackled, throwing his towel down on Tucker’s still curled body.

Without even seeming to open the door Alfred appeared with another tray of hot chocolates, handing them out to those who hadn’t yet gotten one and taking back empty mugs.

He even had a second hot chocolate for Danny, who was going to marry the man. Even if he was old enough to be his grandpa.

Maybe Tucker did have a point about trying to get into the Wayne family for the perks… which Danny was never going to stop teasing him about, now that he and Tim were getting on so well. Boy could make his own ins, he didn’t need Danny.

Even Tucker roused himself for a mug though, crawling out from under Dick’s towel, glancing at Danny, and bursting out laughing again. Still, this time he could keep himself steady enough to stand, take the mug, and join Tim on another couch.

Alfred gave a quick glance around the room, probably counting heads, and cleared his throat.

The assorted vigilantes quieted immediately, and Danny’s respect for the old man grew just a little. It was already pretty fucking high. Not much more room to rise.

And somehow that perfectly serene, composed face managed to convey a deep sense of satisfaction.

“I am afraid we are presently waiting only on Master Bruce to begin dinner. If you would all proceed to the dining room?” It was phrased as a polite request.

The Wayne brood leapt to like it was an order. Danny pressed his lips shut on a laugh as he followed, catching Sam’s eye to see her grinning.

Up in front, Dick hurried to walk alongside Alfred.

“Oh, is Brucie not home? Or do you want me to go dig him up?” He asked brightly, and Alfred gave him a tight smile, pushing open the door to the fucking plainest most normal dining room Danny’d ever seen in a mansion.

Sure, the table was huge, but rather than being ornate, heavy, or flashy, it looked to be hard wearing oak. Clean, well polished, and not even that polish could hide the dents.

The chairs too were comfortable, nice, and a lot more tasteful than the Manson’s or Vlad’s. Well padded, well used, but not… fancy. Even the walls were simple, the elaborately framed portraits and art pieces on the wall replaced with…

What looked like kid’s drawings. Framed, cherished, and it clicked.

No chance in hell that this was the manor’s formal dining room.

The table was huge, but not that big with the number of people in the room. More than half of it was filled with just the kids, and sure there was space for the Amity Parkers, but not a larger group.

This was the family dining room. And that was fucking adorable.

Steph’d definitely walk him through every picture on the walls to help him find Jason’s. Today was going to be great.

He almost completely missed Alfred’s reply to Dick.

“I’m afraid not, master Dick. He was expected back nearly two hours ago, and yet…”

Even deep within the manor no one could have missed the sound of the front door slamming open, and anyone who did would have been alerted by the bellowing yell that followed.

“OOOOOOOH BRUCIE! I TOLD YA WHAT’D HAPPEN IF WE HAD TO HAVE THE BOUNDARY TALK AGAIN!” An extremely loud, very chipper given… well, everything voice filled the room.

The Gothamites’ heads all snapped around with expressions ranging from delight to exasperation.

“How the fuck did she get here so fast,” Duke hissed, leaning in towards Tim, but not far enough that Danny couldn’t hear, “weren’t she and Ivy in Brazil?”

Tim, definitely the exasperated one, gave a helpless shrug. Whatever he replied with was lost under Dick, bellowing back with clear glee in his voice.

“FAMILY DINING ROOM, HARLS! FIRST HALL ON YOUR LEFT!”

So, they were all going to meet Harley Quinn today. That’d be fun. Danny had always wondered what she was like in person, and apparently she was a close enough friend of the Waynes to be welcomed in.

Sam and Tucker’s faces would be fun.

Alfred’s was a perfect mask of patience that even Clockwork would envy, and he had already pulled a new place setting from a chest of drawers.

It didn’t take Harley long to find them, striding down the hall wearing some fucking unseasonal shorts, a baggy long sleeved sweater, and her trademarked blonde pigtails with the pink and blue tips.

And a bedazzled baseball bat slung casually over her shoulder, just in case anyone missed the mark.

She greeted Dick with a kiss on the cheek, then chased down as many of the others that hadn’t immediately fled to the other side of the table. Barring Damian, none of them seemed to mind.

Jason had made an attempt to flee, but no. No, that wasn’t happening, and Danny “accidentally” got in his way. Boxed him in between chair and table, grinning all the while until Harley made her way to them.

“And there he is! My poor suffering boy!” Harley cooed, cupping both of Jason’s cheeks in her hands and yanking his head down with a lot more force than a woman her size should have been capable of, pressing a large smooch on each cheek.

For all the glares he shot Danny, he managed an almost sheepish smile for the woman herself.

“I’m fine, Harley. Really. You didn’t need to come,” he protested with absolutely none of his heart in it, a pink flush rising to complement the sparkly pink lipgloss smooch marks.

“Nonsense, baby boy, if Brucie needs his head pulled from his ass I’m always here,” Harley told him firmly, patting his cheeks and rounding on Danny.

It was kinda less funny now that she was bearing down on him, all of her airhead dramatics belied by the piercing, analytical stare she pinned him with.

“Huh, did Brucie pick up a new one while we were gone? It’s been like a week, we’ll talk about his adoption issues too,” Harley declared firmly, snagging Danny by his collar and yanking him in for a cheek smooch too.

And yeah, holy shit, she really was a lot stronger than she looked. Like, almost ghostly levels of super strength.

Batman’s “no metas in Gotham” rule was looking flimsier and flimsier, cuz while she’d been a rogue in the past, this? This was not a rogue’s welcome, and Danny actually did like most of his rogues.

Just not “kisses on the cheek”, although the grabbing and pulling was familiar.

Still, better not let Vlad know. Wouldn’t do for him to feel too welcome in Gotham.

Harley released him a moment later to give him a dazzling smile.

“Hi, you’re a little older than most of Brucie’s new kids but that’s fine, I’m your Aunt Harley now and if you ever need any help with anything, especially getting Brucie’s ass in line, you just call me, okay doll?” She told him firmly.

Jason was fucking grinning at him over her head, and it just plain wasn’t fair that he was a whole head taller than them. Danny flipped him off behind her back, and gave the woman herself a sheepish smile.

“Actually, I’m not one of Bruce’s, I’m just-“

“Jason’s-boyfriend,” Steph stage coughed behind him.

Harley’s eyes widened, Danny had a go at kicking blindly behind him and hurried to correct her.

“Just Jason’s friend,” he stressed the word and suddenly those almost frighteningly piercing eyes were roaming across his face again.

It was like if Jazz had been dunked in a vat of glitter but could still see right through him. Then Harley grinned again and patted his cheek.

“Sure thing, sugar. Still, if you stick around long enough Brucie’ll make a go of it, so be careful,” she warned him cheerfully, then lunged for Steph, got her in a headlock, and smooched pink lipgloss into freshly washed hair.

Danny couldn’t help chuckling softly as Harley scanned the room, clocked a bemused Tucker and wide eyed Sam, and her eyes narrowed for a moment.

Then she nodded, apparently deciding they probably also weren’t new niece and nephew, and skipped back over to Alfred.

“So! Not that this ain’t great, but ya clearly got some company over so if ya could just point me towards the B-man I’ll borrow him right quick?” She offered with a broad grin, not actually grabbing Alfred.

Up went the respect-o-meter again. Restraining Harley Quinn was hard for seasoned heroes, her restraining herself? None of the birds could claim that apparently.

Alfred gave her the same polite smile, setting her a place at the table.

“I’m afraid Master Bruce has not yet returned from his lunch appointment, Miss Quinzel. He should be returning shortly if you would care to join us for dinner?” It almost didn’t seem like a question, given what he was doing.

Harley waved a hand easily, making a face that was almost apologetic.

“Oh, nah, I’ll just go get ‘im for ya and send ‘im back over. Maybe with some new bruises,” she added almost as an after thought, then shrugged and grinned. “So! Where’d ya last see ‘im?”

It seemed like their missing Brucie problem was about to be solved, and the rest of the Gothamites were now taking their seats around the table.

Tucker, who’d cautiously followed Tim’s retreat around the table after Harley’s chaotic entrance, was now sat between Tim and Damian, and probably regretting his life choices.

Sam, whose parents hadn’t actually specifically forbidden her from speaking to Harley, seemed to be trying to make up her mind about something. Probably going to talk to Harley directly.

Steph and Jason had considerately left two spots in between them as they sat, and Danny let himself drop into the chair next to Jason as Alfred answered.

Well. Nearly into the chair.

“Master Bruce’s lunch appointment was approximately four hours ago in a private room at Chez Vous with one of our gala’s guests, a Vlad Masters.”

Yeah. Danny missed the chair, thunking all the way to the floor with a startled squawk.

“He fucking WHAT?!” He exclaimed, yanking himself back up, staring around the table at the equally startled Waynes.

Like they hadn’t spent the first part of the gala telling these people specifically that Vlad was a fucking mind controlling sociopath who was targeting their dad. What the hell.

Alfred raised an eyebrow very slowly at him, concern now creeping into his expression.

“He went to met Mr Masters in a private room for a late lunch, Mister Fenton. I am not aware of any other plans, but-”

And Danny was probably committing a cardinal fucking sin by interrupting him but he couldn’t hold in the groan, sinking down into the actual chair this time and thunking his head off the table.

Across the table, Tucker snickered at him.

“Let me guess. You forgot Vlad was still in town?” He asked, and Danny let out another utterly heartfelt groan.

“I forgot Vlad was still in town,” he whined as Jason stifled an entirely inappropriate bout of laughter.

There was one more important piece of business though, and Steph jumped straight to it.

“Wasn’t someone supposed to warn Bruce about Masters last night, so this couldn’t happen?” She asked in a low voice, leaning into the middle of the table.

Tim made a face, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I said I would, but… I got distracted…”

By beating his brains out against Amity Park’s ghostly firewalls apparently, and Danny did feel kinda bad for completely forgetting to mention that. In his defence, he hadn’t technically known that the Batcomputer was not ghost virus proof.

Should have guessed. Hadn’t known.

Tucker, who still had no idea about the vigilante thing, was quick to reassure Tim.

“You had a medical emergency, of course you were distracted,” he said quickly, patting the younger man carefully on the shoulder and glaring at the other assembled Wayne brood, “and any of them coulda mentioned it too!”

Dick raised a hand with a half smile that was mostly apology.

“Actually… Bruce went straight to Tim’s side after the gala. Think he stayed all night, but I never actually saw him. We coulda texted though,” he added sheepishly as the rest of the family made general noises of agreement.

Except Duke, who shrugged.

“I only learned about Masters when I met you guys this morning,” he pointed out, and Danny kinda doubted that but Duke had missed the original Masters debrief so he had the best excuse.

Alfred stepped closer to the table, and for the first time his presence actually registered as something other than the polite, nigh-unnoticeable model of efficiency.

Which probably meant he’d picked up on Danny’s super subtle hints that the situation was not fucking good. Good for him.

“And precisely what information was supposed to be shared with Master Bruce?” He asked, still politely, still calmly, but there’s a hint of warning that had most of the table stiffening up.

Tucker answered, giving Alfred an apologetic smile.

“Vlad Masters is a super creep and probably using his mind control powers to try and make Mr Wayne sign over everything he owns,” he explained easily, like it was nothing.

Harley’s eyes had widened, but she didn’t seem overly worried, just shouldered her bat again.

“So it’s also gonna be a rescue mission, huh? Vladdie a local boy or are they still gonna be in the same place?” She asked, the rest of the table tensing as one.

Because yeah. Next step was extract Bruce, and kick Vlad’s ass, and probably maybe try and get any contracts Bruce had signed in four hours? Which could now be anywhere.

Sighing heavily, Danny hauled himself to his feet. Feeling like a fucking idiot aside, he probably should have already left. He was pretty sure he knew where Chez Vous was?

“No, you guys stay put, I’ll go get him,” he said as cheerily as he could, cracking his neck.

Harley’s brows drew down in a frown and she prodded him with the bat.

“No offence kid, but ya look like a stiff breeze will flip ya over. You’re not going alone,” she told him firmly, and yeah, Danny could also feel Jason damn near vibrating from beside him.

Concern-worry-protect-coming too.

Putting a hand on the big guy’s shoulder before he could rise, Danny pushed just enough to keep him in his seat. Felt the moment of shock course through the much bigger man, and his grin became just a little more genuine.

“Sorry but if any of you come along, you’ll only make it harder for me to get Bruce back safely. Vlad’ll just take you guys over and make you fight me. I really wouldn’t worry too much though, he’s never actually beaten me,” he added with a reassuring smile.

Sam snorted a laugh, dropping into the empty seat beside Steph and crossing one leg over the other. Reassuring the Gothamites with her own complete lack of moving.

“Yeah, Danny’s been cleaning his clock since he was fourteen and it’s something like 700-5. You’d think he’d give up eventually,” she added, rolling her eyes.

Cuz yeah, Vlad might have gotten the upper hand through sneaky traps a bunch of times, but in a straight fight? Danny usually won, even before he had the power of the Infinite Realms at his back.

It wasn’t that all eyes turned to Harley. It was more that suddenly a bunch of them weren’t looking at her so pointedly they might as well have.

She regarded Danny and Sam a moment longer, then shrugged and dropped into the chair at the head of the table.

“Guess I’m stayin’ for dinner, or at least til Brucie’s back. And hey, it can be hard for folks ta come to terms with things like that. ‘Specially if they’re adults takin’ offence ta gettin’ their butt kicked by kids,” she added, a bright gleam in her eye.

Sam snickered, leaning back in her chair.

“Voice of experience?” She asked innocently and Harley tipped her a wink.

“Hell nah, you ever seen a Robin fight? ‘Sides, most of the folks who’ll shit a brick at bein’ beat by a kid get just as huffy at gettin’ beat by me,” Harley explained with a broad grin, flexing her own muscles.

It was just a little hilarious to see the differing reactions from the young vigilantes around the table.

Damian was still noticeably grumpy, though he almost felt more worried to Danny’s expert empathic eye. But then, his dad was in the lion’s den.

Dick and Tim looked like they were sharing an inside joke, and Danny had to figure they were the other Robins that went against Harley the most.

Steph, Cass, and Duke all looked decidedly self satisfied. Jason…

Jason was ignoring the rest of the table, still frowning up at Danny but not fighting his grip anymore.

“I should still come with you,” he argued like the rest of the conversation hadn’t happened, his voice low and urgent. And… yeah. Protection Obsession, 1000%.

And his Fright Knight now, fuck you very much Clockwork, but he was also not even fully formed. No way Danny was taking him to fight Vlad as his first ghost.

He gave Jason’s shoulder a quick squeeze, lowering his voice under the rest of the conversation.

“You’ll know if I need you, Jay, but Vlad used to be able to control me too. He’s not a great first run,” he explained softly.

Jason very clearly didn’t like it, brows drawing in even further, and Danny made his grin a little brighter by contrast. Brushed confidence-easy fight-be back soon across his aura.

“Besides, he’s more a sneaky fuck than an actual fighter. Not worth both of us heading out,” he tried, rolling his shoulders.

Jason raised an eyebrow, entirely unimpressed.

“By that logic it should be me going instead of you,” he pointed out, and Danny pouted. Fuck him for technical accuracy.

“Look, next time, okay?” He whispered, leaning in til his mouth was next to Jason’s ear. Tim was now watching them rather than Sam and Harley’s banter.

Perceptive little shit. But he wouldn’t catch shit if Danny covered his mouth to talk. For now, he had to persuade a cranky protective halfa not to go kick Vlad’s ass.

How the turntables and so on.

“Once you’ve got your powers in you can take him every time, alright?” He whispered, then leaned back and grinned at Jason. At least he wasn’t glaring anymore.

“I’ve got this. I’ll be fine,” he said as reassuringly as he could. And then. Pausing. “Uh… but I’ll probably… y’know. Do the thing to find him.”

Vlad couldn’t hide from Danny’s expanded aura, not without leaving this dimension. But that’d mean Jason also got another dose.

The understanding dawned across the big guy’s face, fell into a complicated expression. Finally he nodded stiffly.

“Fine. But leave it up so I know how it’s going?” He grumbled back, lips barely moving. Probably as a countermeasure for Nosy Little Brother.

Danny grinned and ruffled Jason’s hair, stepping away.

“Sure thing bud. I’ll be back with Bruce as soon as I can,” he said more loudly, more to the whole room, and let his aura flare out into the city until it touched Vlad’s.

Yeah, that beat trying to navigate the city from above for the second time ever.

A sudden absolutely awful impulse hit him, and his grin stretched just a little beyond what was humanly possible.

Why the fuck not? The reveal was gonna drop soon enough, Tuck and Sam already knew how much he wanted to show.

And most of the table were watching him.

Danny rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and had a brief moment of nostalgia. Because if he was being theatrical…

“I’m going ghost,” he called as loud as he could, letting the glowing rings of his transformation wash over him, changing him to Phantom in front of a table of gawking bats.

Then he jumped into the air and flew out of the manor through the wall, Sam and Tucker’s laughter ringing in his ears.

Now he just had to hope he could reach Bruce before Vlad did anything he couldn’t easily fix.

**

Tim was the first to speak. Other than the raucous laughter of the Amity Parkers the dining room had been dead silent since Danny’s… well, it was a transformation.

Reaching out blindly with his other hand, Tim caught Duke’s arm.

“You saw that, right?” He asked, his voice a little hoarse.

Duke nodded slowly, still staring at the wall Danny had just disappeared through.

“Not that I know what the fuck it was… but yeah…”

Because… yeah. They’d known Danny was some kind of meta at this point. Guy really wasn’t trying to hide it. But that was…

“What, you ain’t seen that before?” Harley asked from the head of the table, her voice filled with a sudden glee.

Across the table Jason snickered, and Tim’s attention zeroed back in on him.

He’d known. He’d stiffened up before Danny had transformed, still hadn’t fully relaxed and Tim could guess why. Whatever he’d told Danny to “leave up”.

It didn’t look like he was in pain, more like he’d braced himself for something that hadn’t fully happened yet. But since apparently all secrets were just on the table now…

Tim turned to Tucker.

“What the fuck was that?” He asked, and Tucker sighed happily, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

“An overdramatic little fuck?” Sam offered from the other side of the table, also still grinning. Tucker wheezed loudly, slumping back in his chair.

Tim shifted his attention to Sam instead, giving up on Tucker for now. To be fair, he was kinda surprised Jason wasn’t also laughing at them.

It must have made a comical scene.

“Obviously. But that… going ghost? What did he mean?” He pressed, leaning in across the table but not lowering his voice.

Sam and Tucker exchanged thoughtful looks, Tucker’s laughter fading to giggles as they clearly weighed their answers. Then Sam leaned in too, folding her arms on the table and leaning over them.

“How much were you actually able to look up about Amity Park?” She asked, and the rest of the table leaned in to listen.

Even Harley, thoroughly devoid of context, kept quiet for a change. She could smell a good story when she heard one.

And as much as it pained him to admit…

“Nothing at all,” Tim confessed with a brief shake of his head, eyes narrowed. “I couldn’t even find the weather account you showed us.”

Beside him Tucker took another deep, fortifying breath and steadied himself in his seat.

“Yeah… warned you about that. Any tech not actually from Amity needs a baseline level of ecto before it can get through the firewalls,” he explained, and as glad as Tim was to have him back in the conversation…

“But that isn’t how firewalls work,” he protested, knowing full well the other boy knew, “Facebook doesn’t have a separate server or separate firewalls for some small town in Illinois versus the larger world, and even if it has something to do with the IP…”

Tucker raised both hands quickly and Tim subsided, a little relieved to have been cut off. The frustration from last night was building again, and he really didn’t want to deal with that right now.

“Okay, you’re definitely right almost all of the time, but Amity Park’s is… different,” Tucker explained quickly, glancing around the table and almost immediately focusing his full attention back on Tim.

Dismissing the others as below the level needed to understand the conversation, or assuming they’d keep up on their own? They all could, none of the bats were slouches on cyber security, and the distinction didn’t matter to Tim.

Yet.

They were also probably all a little below Tucker’s own technical proficiency, from everything Tim had seen (and Steph and Cass’s admitted failure to break his server encryption).

(Oracle still hadn’t broken the same server.)

Tim nodded anyway, not willing to talk and slow the explanation any further.

They could have been doing this more than twelve damn hours ago.

“Firewall isn’t exactly the right term for it either, but about five years ago… well, we decided the rest of the world couldn’t know about a lot of things that happen in Amity Park. It wouldn’t be safe,” Tucker added, watching Tim’s face carefully.

He looked almost guilty. Like he could guess how much frustration this had caused Tim. Hell, if Danny knew their identities then Tucker, his guy in the chair almost certainly did too.

And since they weren’t pretending to all be civilians anymore…

“The GIW were already censoring the hell out of us,” Tucker continued, rolling his eyes, “it was actually really annoying. They actually did the IP thing, but you could VPN around that. But we didn’t want the rest of the world, other governments to come to the same bullshit conclusions about ghosts and keep causing trouble.”

“Ghosts like Danny,” Duke cut in, not a trace of doubt in his voice.

Tucker glanced past Tim for a moment and nodded.

“Pretty much, but Danny’s a special case. Most ghosts can’t actually do the magical girl transformation,” he added with a snicker, and Sam rolled her eyes, tapping the table for attention.

“What Tucker’s dancing around telling you is that what we call the Amity Park firewall is basically alive. It has nothing to do with IP addresses or any regular tech shit because it runs on ectoplasm.”

“It’s not actually alive,” Tucker cut back in with an exasperated huff, “it’s just something I came up with with some help from Technus. He’s the spirit of technology so he can possess computers, not people, and together we made a safety net.”

“All of Amity Park is saturated in natural ectoplasm,” Sam explained, ignoring Tucker’s pointed glare, “so now whenever someone’s trying to connect online to anything based in an Amity Park server, our ecto looks for your ecto in whatever device you have. No ecto, no data.”

“It’s not that simple,” Tucker whined, like this wasn’t already a level of complexity that made Tim’s head spin.

But it was the spinning that triggered an almost ignored memory.

“Ecto… that’s what Danny nearly said last night, when he was talking about the Lazarus Pits,” he said with a sudden sharp frown, attention jumping between the Amity Parkers and onto Jason.

Who shrugged. Like this wasn’t news. How the fuck had he even met Danny in the first place?

“Show of hands, who here’s surprised that the pit waters actually come from the land of the dead?” Jason asked dryly, gaze sweeping along the table.

Tim’s attention flashed directly to Damian and then Cass, the two of them sat on a full diagonal from each other. They were the closest thing the family had to experts.

Neither looked surprised, although Damian’s eyes were narrowed. New information then, and likely something he’d be looking more into. Cass just looked thoughtful.

Harley’s hand was up though, and the table gradually turned to its gravity. She shrugged.

“Had a bet with Ives that it was super tainted kool-aid. Not that we know much about it,” she added with a shrug, and Jason snickered.

“You’re half right anyway,” he told her and the raised hand was replaced by a pair of fists pumping into the air, but silently for once.

Even Harley wasn’t gonna interrupt a lore dump.

Jason returned his attention to Tim.

“Apparently the pits are made of contaminated ectoplasm. Super tainted,” he nodded to Harley, “because the regular stuff? Doesn’t bubble, doesn’t burn, and doesn’t kill people who touch it.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed for a moment, looking Jason over, hunting any trace of a lie. He’d made himself an expert on Jason’s features, on what every micro-expression might possibly mean.

Jason was a damn good liar, but Tim knew every tell that meant he spoke the truth.

Still, he glanced from Jason to Cass, sat on Jason’s other side. The Asian girl raised an eyebrow at him, then nodded.

Human lie detector confirmed. Good to know. Even if she was rolling her eyes at him for checking.

Duke leaned in further, half his body now hovering above the table as he grinned at Jason.

“So does that mean you’ve got ectoplasm in you, if you still have the pit rage?” He asked, which didn’t really seem like something to smile about.

Although not exactly worse than the idea of Jason just still having the pit in his veins. At least Jason didn’t seem to be really bothered by it.

He just shrugged.

“I guess so?” He offered suspiciously, his face still carefully neutral as he watched Duke. Whose grin broadened.

“So does that mean if you look up stuff on Amity Park you’ll get through?” He asked innocently. Jason rolled his eyes.

“I’m not a phone, Duke,” he said dryly, and Tucker snickered.

“It’s actually kinda funny you say that, cuz Danny’s been sucked into video games before,” Tucker said innocently, giving Jason a sidelong look.

Which… raised a couple of questions, since Jason didn’t seem embarrassed by it. Tim’s eyes narrowed for a moment.

“Is that something that could happen to Jason?” He asked cautiously, and for some reason Tucker actually laughed.

“Oh, it’s something that could happen to anyone,” he said sounding very smug, and Tim tore his attention off Jason to stare at Tucker, wondering what the hell he was thinking.

Tucker just grinned back and Tim’s best guess… well, it couldn’t have been a bad experience. It had definitely afforded him the full attention of everyone at the table.

Harley stuck a hand in the air again.

“Okay, I know I ain’t one o’ the kids, but I’m gonna need to know a whole lot more about that,” she declared, and Tucker laughed, shaking his head.

“Another time? I gotta get back to get ready for school early tomorrow at the latest but if you wanted to hang out again…” he trailed off hopefully, his attention slipping from Harley back to Tim.

Tim was not going to blush. This was a chance to gather more intel in future. And just hang out with a friend! There was nothing more to it than that.

He chuckled softly and nodded, settling back into his seat.

“Yeah, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see each other again,” he agreed, and definitely didn’t enjoy the way Tucker beamed at him.

Given their reactions, he probably did some kind of tech support while Danny… Danny was probably the ghost who’d protected Amity Park.

Had they always known who Jason and his family were? Tim knew he should reserve judgement until he could find an unbiased source and work out what had actually happened in Amity Park, but…

Well, it wasn’t like the Amity Parkers were hostile. There was always the chance it could be a long con, but Tim didn’t think so. They’d given too much away.

For now, it seemed safest to assume that they were fellow vigilantes, and were at least as aware of their identities as Danny. Tucker might even have been the one to work it out.

And if Tucker could solve their technical problems and give them open access to Amity Park, Tim could take that and confirm his theories.

If they had something to hide, Tim should be able to work out at least where to look based on what Tucker gave him.

“We’ve gotta wait for Danny to get back for him to infuse your tech, buuuut I can get you started on the data download if you can hook me into your set up,” Tucker said with an almost seductive smile.

Or maybe Tim thought it was seductive because it came with an offer of increased tech. And sure, he wasn’t hooking a stranger straight up to the Batcomputer, but…

Well, that’s what the fully isolated laptops were for. And Tim could bring one of those up from the cave, but… well, the Amity Parkers showed trust first. And they really had less reason to.

They’d been abandoned by the Justice League, and apparently personally picking up that slack. The least Tim wanted to do was promise them that it hadn’t been malicious; they really hadn’t known.

And to promise that he personally was going to find out how this had happened, and make sure it wouldn’t happen again. Last night wasn’t going to be in vain.

He’d ask the others about it, but as things stood right now, Tim would really like to see Tucker get a proper look at the Bat Cave.

**

Vlad was a little surprised to find he’d been having an absolutely charming afternoon with one Brucie Wayne.

He hadn’t expected to actually like the man, but one on one he had a kind of self effacing charm that Vlad rather appreciated. Far more tolerable than most of the arrogant rich bastards he had to deal with.

He had been so very interested in the running of Amity Park too, in the challenges of being a mayor and a business owner, and so few people really appreciated the struggle.

Of course, Vlad wasn’t going to out any of Daniel’s little secrets. It wouldn’t do to upset the boy more while he was trying to mend fences.

Even if he had left Vlad to the mercy of some hapless buffoons and the criminals they were chasing the night before.

So he kept it light, to issues like road maintenance, funding local fixtures like the library and the schools, things he thought Brucie had a chance of understanding.

Brucie had also noticed that their boys were becoming… close.

Well, it would be almost impossible for him not to have. And it was only natural that Brucie wanted to know more about the boy getting close to his son.

It was almost a little strange how easy it was to speak well of Daniel. For so long Vlad had been fixated on his inadequacies, on all the things he could fix if Daniel would just accept his help.

On wanting to mould Daniel into someone like himself. He hadn’t really considered that Daniel… might not want to be like him.

Vlad was rich, successful, on top of the world by every modern marker, but he was also alone. He had no one and nothing that he would call his own, that he could leave his fortune to.

Of course, as a half ghost it wasn’t like he was actually going to die, but not having a successor was part of what tugged at his core.

And Daniel… Daniel was much better at bringing people close than Vlad. He had dear friends, and easily found himself with new ones. Daniel was likeable, and Vlad had to admit that he himself… wasn’t.

People cozied up and tried to bribe Vlad, but perhaps it was the very things he’d seen as weaknesses in Daniel that made them actually like the boy.

So he focused on those instead, the qualities that had always baffled and confused him. The loyalty, the trust, everything he’d once tried to use to tear Daniel down.

And utterly failed at every turn. After so many years, yes, Vlad had detected the pattern. It was just so hard to keep from falling into it.

So when he felt Daniel’s aura wash out and across him, wary but amused on top of the aggression, he startled just a little. Made sure to obviously check his phone, and gasped when he saw the time.

It was obvious what must have happened.

“Oh my, Brucie, did you have another appointment today?” He asked in only mildly faked surprise, concealing his amusement expertly. “Dear Daniel has just contacted me, it seems you’ve been missed.”

Daniel likely thought Vlad was up to the kind of nefarious schemes that he… well, had come to Gotham to commit, in all honesty. But obviously those plans had changed with his little badger’s personal interest.

Perhaps he should have told Daniel that? Ah well, the boy would learn soon enough. He settled back in his seat, letting his aura broadcast his intent.

Calm-welcome-nothing to hide.

Felt Daniel’s disbelief, but that was fine. It was the truth.

Brucie visibly startled as well, taking his own phone out to check the time. Probably wondering why his own brood weren’t contacting him if he’d been missed so much.

“Oh… yes, I’m terribly sorry, I think Danny must have been invited to our family dinner, which I’m late to,” Brucie added with that lovely self effacing smile, shrugging. “I must have put my phone on vibrate. I’ll just tell them to start without me.”

Or his children didn’t expect him to check it, apparently with reason.

Vlad clapped his hands together and rubbed them a few times.

“Well, no matter. I do believe Danny is on his way to retrieve you, so we’d best wait where we are. I will pick up the bill, of course.”

They’d had the private room in the restaurant for around four hours now, which wouldn’t come cheap, but Vlad could be generous. Especially if Daniel expected him not to be.

Brucie made the usual noises of gratitude and appreciation, and mild confusion. Well, that would be answered by whether or not Daniel bothered to transform back before bursting in.

Either way, it wouldn’t be Vlad’s choice to reveal his little secret.

“I have my car with me, but if Danny’s on his way here…” Brucie trailed off, glancing to the window with a perplexed frown on that handsome face.

Whoever dealt with the man’s wrinkles for the cameras would be very upset, but Vlad got the feeling Brucie could afford the best. He had such an expressive face, and yet nothing was ever out of place.

Almost as good as ectoplasm for keeping one young.

He was probably wondering why Daniel was coming instead of one of his own children, and while Vlad could come up with an excuse about needing to see the boy anyway… well, he was bursting in on a very pleasant afternoon.

Vlad wanted to mend fences, not solve all the boy’s self inflicted problems.

Still, he gave Brucie a smile, touching the pad that would summon them a server again.

“Oh, you and Daniel can take the car I’m sure. He’ll just be here to make sure I’m behaving myself,” he added with a wry chuckle, settling back in his seat.

Something very much like alertness flicked across Brucie’s face, and Vlad could feel a flicker of suspicion for the first time from the other man.

Well, Vlad had baited him.

He certainly wasn’t as empathetic as Daniel, but he liked to keep an eye on his company, and this was the first trace of something more that he’d gotten from the man.

He waved a hand cheerfully, chuckling. The man likely had links to his city’s precious Bat and all his opinions on those more than just human. Best allay those concerns even if he was leaving.

“I have been known to talk peoples’ ears off if I get onto a subject like football, and four hours is surely long enough for him to suspect I’ve roped you into watching a game. Though if you did want to attend…” he let himself trail off, watched the man’s shoulders settle as he laughed.

“Oh, I’m not much of a sports fan myself, but I try to keep up with the Gotham teams when I can.”

The female teams at least, according to the tabloids, but Vlad wouldn’t judge. Much.

Brucie gave him that charming smile again, settling as well as the server came in and once again refilled their drinks.

“I didn’t realise Amity Park had their own teams in a league, though,” Brucie added with that softly furrowed brow. Like thought was such a strain for the man.

Vlad gave the server a quick smile and inclined his head.

“I will take the bill now, I believe we’re ready to go. And we don’t have our own teams in any of the major leagues,” he explained indulgently to Brucie, lips quirking up at the very thought.

Imagine trying to play a home game in Amity Park. It was hard enough getting the school teams out to their rivals.

And it gave him a chance to talk about his secondary Obsession.

“No, I have ownership of the Green Bay Packers, back home in Wisconsin. I really must warn you to stop there if you don’t want their full stats for the last four seasons or worse,” Vlad teased with a soft chuckle, taking a sip of his water.

Both of Brucie’s eyebrows rose and the man smiled back, settling into his seat.

“Well, Danny will be here soon to cut you off anyway,” he commented, that charming smile looking far too comfortable on him.

And he did have a point. Giving him a nod of acknowledgement, Vlad relaxed and let the gentle sea of Obsession take him, enthusiasm ramping up with every word he spoke.

It was nice to have permission for a change.

**

Despite his cheerful words, Danny couldn’t help but tense as he flew across the city. He’d make it within minutes, way faster than anyone trying to actually use Gotham’s streets, but…

Vlad had had Bruce for hours already. Danny was gonna hope that whatever he was doing, it was just more of his shady businessman bullshit.

He really, really, really didn’t want to fight overshadowed Batman.

Of course, remembering the looks on the flying furry brigade’s faces gave him a definite boost in mood. He didn’t actually wanna show up at Vlad’s giggling, buuut that was a problem for future Danny.

Present Danny was busy specifically not worrying so that he didn’t worry Jason into coming after him. Maybe telling the guy about Vlad’s lightning juice hadn’t been a great idea?

Of course, the good thing about the expanded aura was that he could still feel Jason’s like they were right next to each other.

And who’d have thought Jason was also a fucking mother hen? Poor guy was still tense, although at least Danny could still feel just a little amusement.

Yeah, Jason was getting to enjoy the full fruits of Danny’s theatrics. It wasn’t fair, but it made the whole thing better. Gave him something to keep his mind off Danny.

As if on cue, a strong spike of incredulous-funny-what the fuck came from his favourite non-clone halfa.

Danny was nearly at the restaurant now, and paused just above to send a questioning pulse back. Felt Jason startle, and could almost see him roll his eyes.

Later-come back-done?

The fuck were they talking about? Maybe the bats were right to always have their own little comms in. Danny sent a reassuring wave back.

Soon-anticipation-just arrived-curious.

And yes, Danny did expect the caution-stay safe-coming after you that he got back, but he wasn’t sure Jason would get the full effect of him actually rolling his eyes.

One last check for Vlad’s aura and Danny turned invisible, phasing through the roof and walls to have a look around.

Vlad was alone in a private room, with nothing but some glasses of water and a mostly empty bottle of wine. Alright, food was probably over a while ago, but the water might be a good sign.

Vlad wasn’t known to take care of the people he overshadowed.

Danny did a quick search of the rest of the building, stopping just shy of accidentally sticking his head through a bathroom wall when he felt a familiar presence.

Yup, Bruce was in the bathroom. Probably not overshadowed, which might just mean that Vlad was finished with him.

Not taking the risk, Danny made his way stealthily back to the private room, popping into visibility behind Vlad’s seat.

At least his aura being everywhere made it hard for Vlad to get a fix.

“What, did I not pay you enough attention last night, Vladdie?” He complained, draping an arm across the back of the man’s chair and noting the way he stiffened.

Also, these chairs? Much more pretentious. All carved and ornamental and bleh. Nowhere near as good as the ones at Wayne Manor.

Vlad didn’t actually turn to face him, reaching out and picking up his water glass instead. Filling his hands, so it’d be harder for him to take a shot at Danny?

Or just Vlad being Vlad and dismissing him.

Vlad took a long, slow sip before replying.

“While I would have preferred more of a chance to speak with you, Daniel, my presence here is solely to your benefit I assure you,” he said cool as a cucumber.

Danny narrowed his eyes, giving another poke of his aura. It didn’t feel like a lie.

“How so? Gonna rob Brucie blind and give it to the poor? I guess green also works for Robin Hood,” Danny mused, fingers drumming on the back of the chair.

Vlad actually looked at him then, a sharp sidelong glance before the man relaxed again, chuckling softly.

“Nothing of the sort. But if you and young Jason are going to be closely… connected, I will be seeing much more of Brucie, and I thought perhaps I could help lighten the… impression you left.”

Wait.

Was Vlad blushing?

Danny peered forward for a better look, utterly at a loss for what connection Vlad might be talking about. Cuz yeah, he and Jason were friends, but…

Oh.

Oh!

Vlad bought the closet scene.

Somehow that outcome had never even occurred to Danny and he felt himself flush, cheeks going green. Fuck, the goal had been to cause a scene, but Vlad actually thought…

Wait.

“So you’ve been here trying to convince Bruce I’m not an evil harlot corrupting his boy?” Danny asked, barely concealed glee rising with every word.

Because if this was funny, if this was fucking hilarious, he didn’t have to be embarrassed by it. Vlad didn’t need to know shit about his actual sex life, but if he’d actually called Bruce to try and polish up Danny’s new slutty reputation…

Vlad cleared his throat pointedly, still not looking directly at him.

“And luckily for you, he is somewhat willing to believe you have some good traits,” he said archly, and that fucking floored Danny.

“YOU think I have good traits?” He asked incredulously, cutting off whatever Vlad was about to say.

The man even took it pretty well, just one of those loud sighs like Danny was a particularly tiresome child, not a full grown adult man.

“I understand where you might have got the impression I don’t, Daniel, but if I thought you had none would I have pursued you so harshly?” He asked, finally turning in his chair to face Danny frankly.

Which meant he got both barrels of the sceptical face Danny was making.

“Dude, you say that like Obsessions are fucking logical,” Danny said dryly, and Vlad actually chuckled.

Not even condescendingly.

Like Danny made a point.

“Quite. Unfortunately for myself, the effects of my Obsession went into how I planned to achieve it, not in the goal itself. You have always been a remarkable young man, Daniel.”

And that was at least familiar ground.

Danny rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, and I’d be even more if I let you lure me off to your creepy castle in Wisconsin to become mini-Vlad. Brucie can’t ship me to Wisconsin,” he pointed out, just about resisting the urge to poke Vlad in the chest.

The old guy was being weirdly noncombative, but it had been a while since they saw each other. Actual years, which Danny couldn’t imagine would have been good for the other halfa.

Much as it sucked being someone else’s Obsession and he’d loved being free of the Fruitloop… he wouldn’t wish the ache of an unfulfilled Obsession on anyone.

Fuck did that mean Vlad had actually moved on? Was that something he could do? Please let it be something he could do.

The older halfa chuckled again and took another sip of his water.

“No, I’m well aware that he can’t. But our time apart gave me little to do but consider what I know of you. You have grown to a fine young man, Daniel, perhaps with all that I have ever lacked.”

He looked up again, their eyes meeting, and Danny very nearly recoiled. Almost stepped back and away from the other halfa’s aura so that he couldn’t feel Vlad’s pride seeping into his skin like grease.

“Okay, this is getting fucking weird. Do I have to kick your ass to get whatever contracts you made Bruce sign back?” He asked sharply, trying to get the conversation back to somewhere he understood it.

Vlad hesitated a moment, then settled back again, clearly reading Danny’s discomfort in his aura if not on his face because the pride settled away.

Back in Wayne Manor, Danny felt Jason keying up, the slow growing happiness cutting straight back to danger-warning-protect-need help?.

Danny forced himself to calm too, closing his eyes for a moment to focus on the feel of Jason, not Vlad.

He just.

He didn’t know what to do with Vlad being proud of him. That had only ever meant he’d fucked up somewhere horrible before.

Calm-safe-I’m safe-not hurt.

“Still in contact with young Jason?” Vlad asked, letting the subject change even if he didn’t answer Danny’s question.

Danny cracked an eye open to peer at him.

“Yeah, he wasn’t a fan of me coming to see you on my own. Not to pick up his dad,” he added before Vlad could get the wrong idea.

Actually. It was still kinda funnier if Vlad kept the wrong idea.

From what Danny could read of him, no worries about that. Vlad was amused, but not comfortable.

Yeah, well, he could join the club. Danny gave his shoulder a gentle poke.

“Anyway. What did you really want Bruce for?”

Vlad glanced at his watch, then at the door.

“Well he’ll be back any second to tell you himself, Daniel. I wasn’t sure if you’d shared this little secret yet so I didn’t mention any of our shared nature, but he was the one to invite me out.”

Which also felt like the truth. Both parts. Danny hesitated for a moment, not quite sure if he was ready for this particular secret to be out to the Batman.

It’d be out the second the man got home if no one had texted him yet, but that was a long car ride away unless Danny flew back, and he didn’t want to leave Bruce unsupervised again.

Just because Vlad was being weird didn’t mean he wasn’t being Vlad.

Still, he’d know if Bruce was overshadowed right away, and if he wasn’t he could ask the man himself what Vlad had been up to.

And Vlad was in human form. Not like he could transform any faster than Danny if shit was about to go down.

The decision pretty much took itself out of his hands when the door began to open and Danny jumped back out of grabbing reach (just in case) and changed back.

Which was when he remembered what he was wearing.

**

Lunch with Vlad Masters had been… informative, and Bruce was a little surprised just how much time had passed.

Masters might be an unscrupulous businessman but he was clearly devoted to the things he cared for; Daniel Fenton, Amity Park, and the Green Bay Packers.

He just couldn’t quite reconcile how those three pieces fit into the picture at hand. To hear Vlad tell it, nothing untoward had happened in Amity Park in his whole time as mayor. And yet… the calls were real.

Even if Masters hadn’t hit the button personally, someone in his office must have.

Was there a chance that Danny had some sort of mind control abilities? That he’d removed the memories of those in Amity Park who’d opposed him?

It would explain why Masters would so fervently champion a boy he’d had almost nothing to do with. Oh, Danny Fenton had been born to two of Masters’ college friends, but they hadn’t seen each other for years before Danny’s birth.

As far as Bruce could tell the two had never even met before Danny was at least fourteen; Vlad had lived in an actual castle in Wisconsin and been a regular on the gala circuit for his area.

Friend of the family or not, it was suspicious that the only adults he’d spoken to so far had such diametrically opposed views on Danny.

Vlad was obviously hiding something. About Amity Park, Bruce was completely certain. The man’s accounts simply did not add up with the evidence. About Danny…

Bruce had his suspicions, but there was very little clear evidence about the man himself. Danny was technically an unknown quantity. And the center of far too many mysteries for Bruce’s peace of mind.

Bruce slipped away to the bathroom to let his thoughts settle not too long into Vlad’s lecture on the history of the Packers.

If Danny was coming from the manor they had a while yet before he’d be there, so he could let Vlad ramble on for a while once he returned.

His cheeks hurt from keeping up Brucie’s smile, but that was nothing new. The gala last night was still weighing on him, but it made it easier to put the act back on.

If Danny was coming here, and would accompany Bruce back to the manor, they would have a while to talk in the traffic. Finally a chance to speak to the man himself and let Bruce get an unbiased read.

Something had happened before Vlad claimed to have received a message from Danny. Something that made him start, and while it could have been the man’s phone, Bruce doubted it.

Even silent vibrations actually made some sound, and Vlad had barely glanced at the device. Not long enough to read any kind of complicated message; he hadn’t even unlocked it.

Vlad must have thought he was hiding it, but he’d been amused by whatever happened. Amused, and known immediately it was Danny. That Danny was coming.

Whatever else he might be, Vlad was certainly not a particularly skilled liar. Not to Batman.

Washing his hands, Bruce wondered if he might not be able to get Vlad back onto the subject of how Danny would be coming.

On his own, or at least Vlad hadn’t mentioned anyone else. And using Bruce’s car to get back? There were hardly bus routes between the manor and the city.

Unless Danny had some kind of meta abilities. Damian’s report had included his suspicions, and Duke and Dick had both seen him fly away.

That would put him here sooner than expected, but Bruce was certain he’d have noticed a flying meta in his city. Unless Danny only flew for certain situations.

Bruce paused at the door to their private room for half a second, letting his Brucie mask settle comfortably into place. Letting the smile spread. And pushed the door open.

Something bright flashed inside and Bruce tensed, anticipating a trap. One he would have no choice but to fall into, as he was now. But as the door cleared, he saw…

Vlad at the table, just as Bruce had left him. And Danny Fenton settling like he’d just moved sharply, wide blue eyes and messy hair above a shirt that was far too large for him tied off at his waist, and.

And.

Impractical for the weather. The trousers were closer to the right size, but arms and feet were bare, along with a slice of midriff.

Completely dry. It was still snowing, and the streets were covered in snow and slush. There was a slim chance he’d left a coat somewhere, but even his hair was dry.

Windswept and dishevelled hair, suggesting flight. His boys were right, and Bruce made a note to check in with Oracle later. See if he had been detected in the air.

Startled by his presence. Likely not because he didn’t expect Bruce to be there, not if he’d come expressly to pick him up. More that he’d been distracted by whatever had him moving so sharply.

Staring at him.

And then there was nothing else to observe, except…

Wearing one of Jason’s shirts. One that Dick had given him as a joke. It hung off him, exacerbating their size difference.

Danny was small. Closer to Cass’s size, and this close up Bruce could see the lean muscle, but there wasn’t much of it.

In pure hand to hand Bruce could probably take him, but whatever abilities let him tank a fight with Killer Croc left the actual outcome an unknown.

Blinking hard to distract himself from just how and why Danny had managed to show up in Jason’s clothes, he pulled on his big happy Brucie smile for the room.

And suddenly Vlad was incensed.

Bruce would swear the man had been smiling when he opened the door, but at some point while Bruce gave Danny a quick once over his mood had turned to rage.

He smothered it down quickly, but his jaw was still tight when he spoke through gritted teeth.

“Daniel, I believe this is the first time you have met Brucie,” Vlad said, his tone so frosty Bruce nearly shivered.

Not controlled by Danny then. At least, not controlled in a way that made him deferential. Not unless this was a slip in Danny’s control.

The boy looked startled still, looking down at himself like he’d forgotten what he was wearing and giving Bruce a sheepish smile.

Honestly he could have been wearing the world’s finest suit and not allayed any of Bruce’s suspicions, but it wasn’t Brucie’s job to let that show.

Instead he cranked the smile up a couple more notches, stepping forward and holding out a hand to shake.

“Yes, Danny, my kids simply won’t stop talking about you! I was sorry I couldn’t say hello last night,” he added, wanting to see how Danny would react to a little dig.

Nothing he couldn’t deny as being purely sincere.

Danny made a face and then pulled a smile on over it, stepping forward quickly to shake Bruce’s hand.

Some people only needed touch to take control of another. Bruce felt nothing of the sort, but Danny’s hand was oddly cool. Not unaffected by his clothing then.

“Yeah… sorry about that. About… well, all of it,” Danny said with a sheepish smile and one shoulder shrug that nearly had the shirt’s overlarge neckline fall off his other shoulder.

He scrabbled to right it, and Bruce firmly stifled the impulse to relax.

It was familiar, something any of his kids might have done. It could easily be an act to lure him into a false calm.

Brucie laughed and clapped him on the other shoulder, keeping half an eye on Vlad, who was still stewing at the table.

“Oh, I certainly got up to much worse in my day. You’re only young once, right?” He offered jovially, tipping Danny a playboy wink.

The boy blushed to the roots of his hair.

Interesting.

As much as Bruce wanted to pull at Vlad a little more, try and work out his sudden change of mood, he would much rather begin his observations of Danny Fenton directly.

“Still, we should get going or we’ll miss all of dinner,” he said with a cheerful smile, nodding to Vlad. “Thanks for a lovely afternoon, Vlad! Maybe we’ll catch a football game before the season ends.”

The man’s disposition brightened like he’d flicked a switch, though he still shot Danny an almost smug dirty look.

“Oh, that would be charming, Brucie. I’ll get you tickets for the Packers’ next game, we’ll have a splendid time.”

Danny snickered beside him, shoving his hands in his pockets and grinning back. Not afraid of Vlad either, for all that the other man was older, richer, and more influential.

“Yeah, Vladdie here knows aaaall about packers,” he said with a sly smirk, looking down on Vlad from his standing position.

Vlad responded with a look that Bruce had previously only seen on Clark’s face, around when Dick started teaching Kon sex jokes. And in the mirror.

Steph called it the “your puberty was my death sentence” look and insisted every one of the mentors used it. Bruce personally wasn’t convinced Oliver Queen knew what shame meant.

He’d abandoned his son. Bruce would never forgive that until Roy asked him to.

Perhaps he did have more in common with Vlad than he’d thought though. Watching the children get old enough for innuendo sucked.

Luckily Brucie could pretend not to get it.

“I know, he was telling me all about their recent games before you arrived,” he said cheerfully, oblivious as anything. And watched how both responded to innocence.

Vlad still looked pained, possibly by the pair of them now. Danny… Danny was smirking, clearly not convinced.

That was concerning. The boy knew who Nightwing and Signal were, there was a chance he knew Bruce’s identity too and this at least pointed in the same direction.

Still, no need to confirm anything for him. With another cheery wave to Vlad he held the door open for Danny.

“So, shall we? Would you like to take my car or do you have your own way back?” He asked, subtly prodding to see what Danny might say. And perhaps a hint how he’d gotten there.

Danny hesitated for a moment, glancing at Vlad. Like there was something between them, something to do with him.

Yes, Bruce would have to meet with Vlad Masters again in future. After he’d gotten to speak to Danny.

“I’ll come back with you,” Danny said with a shrug, nodding towards the door and then moving through it at Bruce’s wave.

He kept half an eye on the boy as they headed down to the restaurant’s garage and the sleek black car Bruce had driven over.

It’d be at least twenty minutes to drive back to the manor at this hour, maybe longer. Time enough for a short interrogation.

“I already messaged the others and told them to get started without us, I hope you don’t mind,” he said in his best charming Brucie voice, beeping the car to unlock it.

Danny shrugged, moving around to the passenger door, apparently entirely unbothered by bare feet on freezing concrete. Bruce almost wished he had some spare shoes for him.

“Yeah, it’s cool. I figured. So, any idea how long it’ll be to get back?” He asked, slipping into the car and sitting cross legged on the front seat.

Bruce followed suit, turning on the car and then the heat right away. Doing what he could.

“Probably not more than twenty minutes. Your seat is heated too by the way, here. You made it down very quickly, were you in the area?” Bruce asked, watching Danny from the corner of his eye as he strapped in.

Would Danny just tell him?

He’d not been hiding from the boys. If he really didn’t think this had to be a secret, he could just tell Bruce.

Danny shrugged again, opened his mouth, and Bruce’s phone rang, cutting him off.

His phone should be on silent. Bruce gave Danny an apologetic smile, pulling it out and planning to push the caller to voice mail. Wondering if he might have turned the ringer back on without meaning to. Or if Oracle had pushed through.

There was no one else he needed to talk to more than Danny right now.

Of course the universe would mock him for that thought.

The caller ID blinked accusingly up at him from the lock screen.

John fucking Constantine.

Bruce hesitated for a moment. Torn. The mystery or the responsibility?

Any other member of the Justice League would be ranked as a more reliable source of information than a possible suspect, but after the night Bruce had had? After what he’d learned?

The problems in Amity Park may have begun or ended with Danny Fenton, but the problems in the Justice League traced neatly back to John Constantine.

When it came down to it, Bruce knew he had a responsibility.

He gave Danny another, more apologetic smile.

“So sorry… do you mind if I take this quickly?” He asked, holding the phone carefully so Danny couldn’t see the screen.

The boy’s face cracked into a grin and he shrugged a third time, getting comfy in the expensive leather seat.

“Hey, if you keep one eye on the road you’ll be the safest driver I’ve ever ridden with. You don’t wanna be too late though, you’ve got another extra guest for dinner and she seemed real impatient,” he said with a slight smile, turning on his heated seat.

About to get out of the car, Bruce paused again.

“Oh? Who was that?” He asked half rhetorically, already listing the women in his life who could possibly make this situation worse.

Top of the list…

“Harley Quinn.”

Of course.

What did she want now?

Bruce forced himself not to think about it, swinging up and out of the car and holding the phone to his ear.

One disaster at a time. No matter how many the universe was piling in his lap after nearly a month of nothing. He’d known it was too good to be true.

At least the garage was empty, and the car soundproofed. Danny wouldn’t hear a thing.

“Constantine. How did you get this number?”

**

In a secluded corner of the House of Mystery everyone’s favourite magical scapegoat stubbed out a cigarette and reclined back in his seat.

“Oh, is this not fun when people do it to you? And here’s me thinkin’ barging into other peoples’ business was how you lot showed affection,” he said dryly, fingers tapping off the glowing purple ward scrawled on the phone case.

Phone numbers were for plebs.

He could fuckin’ hear Bats grinding his teeth through the phone. And yeah, maybe winding him up further wasn’t the best idea, but fuck it.

If John had good ideas, he’d never have given the fucking Justice League his contact info. Case in point.

Winding up the big Bat was the price they all had to pay for royally pissing him off all fuckin’ night and all fuckin’ day.

Kept an impressive handle on the growl though. Must have been somewhere semi-private.

“Constantine. You’ve been out of touch for more than eighteen hours and there is a serious-”

John cut him off, waving his cigarette around as if he could shush the man from here.

“Oh no no, big boy, you’re not fuckin’ blaming that on me. You’re the one fucking up all my communicators, and you’re going to fuckin’ stop. Now.”

And yeah, maybe he did enjoy the very tiniest inhale of surprise he could hear. Or was that Batsy counting to ten?

“What do you mean.” The trademarked growl was definitely creeping in, private place or not. Well, good. John being too annoying to kill was what kept him alive.

Better spell it out for the fucker though.

“I’m a fuckin’ magician, Batlad. On a couple of Hell’s most fuckin’ wanted lists. I can’t be fuckin’ found by people fuckin’ wishing me fuckin’ harm, and let me tell you how goddamn delighted I am to learn that that now includes you!”

All he’d wanted to do today was drop off some results for the junior spandex brigade about some of the glyphs and wards they’d found at a dig.

Just trying to stop them from blowing their fucking hands off. A humanitarian mission. John fuckin’ hated kids. Handless kids only slightly worse.

And he couldn’t contact a single member of the fuckin’ Justice League because some asshole was trying to use them to hunt him down.

Zatanna had needed to come to the House personally to circumvent the wards she’d helped him build.

(Good to know how well they worked though. Assuming they were working and he’d done something to piss off the big Bat enough that he was out for blood.

There was technically a chance they’d been calibrated wrong and Batsy wanted to bring him ham. Less likely than harm, in John’s humble opinion.)

Still, the only way to unfuck his communications was to find and defuse whatever had pissed the skulky bitch off, and while Zatanna had agreed to drop off his work for the kids, he needed to know what else they’d found.

He so was not going to fucking Alaska in January.

And with that as his alternative, John forced his most chipper smile onto his lips. Apparently people could sense that through phones. Who fuckin’ knew.

“So. You’ve fuckin’ got me. What the hell do you want?”

—————

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Next Chapter:

#danny fenton dead and loving it #dp x dc #dpxdc #dead on main #dead on main ship #danny x jason #chapter 10 #that’s not a twink that’s an anime girl #i regret nothing #also i want the shirt #real bad #ghost king danny #halfa jason todd #fright knight jason todd

[starlostastronaut]

DAY 24 | YOUNG FOREVER

PAIRING: kim seungmin x reader

GENRE: fluff

WC: 1.07k

CW: the snow fight gets kinda violent, but it's a part of the game

PROMPT: snow battle

this is the last one!! we finally, finally made it to the end of mctc! woo! a little late, but i still have two hours before midnight so i'm finishing this still in 2023. i had so much writing this, so i hope you enjoy reading <3

title from alone together - fall out boy

general masterlist here

<< previous | mctc masterlist

“Oh, you’re a dead man, Seungmin,” Jisung whistled as the whole group watched the carefully put-together snowball fly across the field and right into the left side of your face. The hit was so strong that it made you take a few steps back. You wiped the rest of the snow off your cheek. It burned a little, and you were sure you were going to end up with a red mark. Glaring at Seungmin, you angrily wiped your hands on your pants and crouched down. With passion that could equal a bull that just saw a red flag, you began pushing the snow around you, compiling your own snowball with the intention of making it much bigger and firmer than Seungmin's.

Felix and Chan, who were on their way to make sure you were okay, immediately back away at the sight of the quickly forming snowball. As did the rest of the members. The whole group retreated into safety, with Hyunjin attempting to hide behind Changbin. At any other moment, that would be amusing, but now the dancer looked genuinely scared. He didn’t need to, though, because all your rage was directed towards a certain puppy-like singer.

To give credit where it's due, Seungmin realized his mistake fairly soon, shouting a quick “Sorry!” but to no avail. You had already gathered your snowball, and it would be sad to see it go to waste. When Seungmin saw you marching towards him, snowball in hand, he tried to run away. He didn’t get far because Minho suddenly emerged from the side, wrapping his strong arms around the singer. He kept Seungmin's hands locked to his sides, holding him hostage as he tried to break free. But Minho was too strong for him, so Seungmin had no choice but to await his fate. As you got closer, Minho ducked behind him to avoid the snow.

With a ruthless look on your face, you shoved the snow inside Seungmin's jacket. At that moment, Minho let go and ran back to hide behind Chan, peeking from behind his shoulder as Seungmin squirmed.

“It's on, darling,” Seungmin muttered when he managed to get out as much snow as he could from inside his clothes. He watched you carefully, waiting for a moment when you let your guard down. Feeling victorious, you turned away from him, intending to high-five Jisung and Jeongin, who were laughing at Seungmin's misery. And that was your fatal mistake. At that moment, Seungmin charged forward, launching himself onto you, and you both fell into the snow. You rolled around for a bit before Seungmin managed to pin you under him, sitting on your hips, smirking victoriously. Seungmin reached next to your head, grabbing a handful of snow and raising his hand to show you exactly what was awaiting you.

The members stayed aside, watching you intently. Even Chan, who was usually the first one to stop these kinds of activities, let you have your "fun," as you would call it. However, as soon as the air pierced a shriek because the snow somehow made it inside someone's pants, he had enough. Chan began walking towards you, intending to break the fight. “Okay, that's maybe-” 

“Just let the kids play, Channie.” Minho placed a hand on the leader's shoulder, clearly amused by the way you managed to switch your positions, now sitting on top of Seungmin. “Young love, how beautiful,” he sighed, placing his other hand over his heart, pretending to be touched by the rather violent fight breaking out in front of them as you and Seungmin were back to rolling around, shoving snow into your faces, behind each other's clothes, anywhere you could reach.

It was quite an interesting relationship that you and Seungmin had. It was a constant push-and-pull, with both of you being very competitive, so it wasn't uncommon to see you playfully fighting with each other even before you started dating. Because it was all just a game, no matter how violent it got. In Chan's eyes, it only worsened after you and Seungmin became official. Nowadays, there were absolutely no limits to what you could do. Of course, you knew each other's limits and when to stop. You and Seungmin placed absolute trust in each other, secure in the knowledge that neither of you would ever do something to seriously hurt the other.

You knew that after the fight, Seungmin would help you dry your clothes, wrap you up in a blanket, and make you a hot cup of tea to warm up. He would sit next to you, snuggle into your side, watch some shitty drama with you, and spend the whole time making snarky remarks about the plot.

Now, though, it was all out. It was a fight to the death, and you were determined to be the last one standing. However, Seungmin was set on the same. And so the members watched in part horror, part amusement, and part fascination, anxiously anticipating the outcome. It never came because Chan became fed up with your antics, and with Changbin’s help, he broke up the fight. He took one look at your drenched clothes before sending you back to the dorm to dry and warm up. With a disappointed look on his face, he watched you slowly leave the park, holding hands and giggling.

True to your prediction, as soon as you crossed the threshold of the dorm, Seungmin helped you take your clothes off, throwing them on the ground with his jacket. He went to his room and brought back loose shorts and a hoodie, handing them to you and sending you off to the shower, saying he would take care of the clothes. You smiled and thanked him, leaning forward to press a lingering kiss to his lips.

Later, he came to join you under the hot water, helping you wash your hair. Even when you were done, he stayed with you in the stall, partly because he wanted to enjoy the moment a while longer and partly to piss off Minho by using up the hot water. You smiled, pure happiness radiating from your face as he hugged you, peppering kisses onto your wet skin and muttering apologies for the snow, even though you weren’t really mad. Because no matter how far your games went, it was these small, gentle moments that truly defined your relationship.

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©starlostastronaut 2023 | do not repost/translate my work without permission

#moony's countdown to christmas #mctc #stray kids x reader #kim seungmin x reader #kim seungmin #fluff

[cacti-are-like-flamingos]

Привет! Может быть, еще рано, но счастливых вам праздников. Я хотел бы спросить адвоката дьявола, когда они празднуют Рождество. Отдельно с пиратами и адмиралами. Или все вместе.🐣

Christmas time w/ Law, Thatch, and Luffy...

**You didn't specify which pirates in particular so I chose three at random (the ones in my list at least)

Characters are age-up or aged-down

I chose the three characters who would have vastly different Holiday traditions and what-not

Monkey D. Luffy

...

Luffy would likely take the crew to some snowy island so that all of you can properly celebrate Christmas--- Luffy's enthusiasm for Christmas would be infectious, getting everyone in high spirits for the upcoming celebration. There's no actual plan, you guys just go with the vibe. Doing it is whatever you want to do.

He's generally excited at the prospect of exploring the island with you, the whole way there he'd be beaming with so much energy. Rambling on the various things the two of you might find together as well as do together

Upon arriving Usopp quite literally dives off the side of the ship and into a pile of snow, which prompts Luffy to do the same. But not before glancing your way with a mischievous gleam in his eyes ("No. NO! LUFFY DON'T YOU DA-AH!")

You can't even find it in your heart to be mad, especially when he gives you that goofy grin of his --- as I said, his excitement is just so infectious. So much so you might as well be declared the most deceased person in all of the Blue Sea.

Also they all regretted not wearing winter clothing. The moment their bodies hit thee snow, they were scrambling to get back on the ship to warm up, your partner looking at you with a very apologetic grin as you dragged him into your shared room to look for some warm clothing

Almost all of the men, Sanji (he's in the town picking up the latest ingredients for the Christmas feast) and Brook (who was busy caroling Nami's ear off), have settled for a snow man competition. And boy, does it get competitive. Usopp's teamed up with Chopper to create a giant sized chopper, Frankie's chosen to do something that I couldn't even be able to describe, and Zoro, who teamed up with Luffy. Even though, he didn't even want to play in the first place. The only reason he joined was because Chopper had taunted him into it, and we all know Zoro is a man of pride (at times) Anyways, they chose to build a giant amalgamation of numerous animals --- apparently, it was suppose to look like a giraffe ??? not even close

You're role was to judge, alongside Robin. Both of you easily chose Usopp's and Chopper's. Earning curses and protest from the losers with Luffy shouting how he was betrayed by his own person.

This would then cause a snowball fight, the losers way of getting revenge on the winners and judges

As expected, the field became the equivalence of a blood bath. Especially after Luffy began using his Devil fruit powers to completely annihilate everyone with accurate precision.

Afterwards, a small break is called. Thank god because if you ahd to continue against the boy made of gum, you might as well have jumped into the sea yourself.

As Christmas neared, he'd seek you out more (not to say, he hadn't previously. He's legit like gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe.) It's just that, now the two of you can have more privacy. The inhabitants of the island are busy with their winter festivals, there's no enemies to chase them away, no pesky marines to annoy the, and the rest of the crew were preoccupied with said festivals--- the perfect opportunity for a getaway

Their footsteps would leave a trail in the snow as they explore the tranquil winter landscape hand in hand, with him dragging you around like an excited child. Wonderment in his eyes as he gaze around his new surroundings, never once letting go of you

Eventually, he calms down. (I'd imagine you'd have to be someone rather composed. the type of person who could bring him down to earth when it was necessary but could easily jump as high as he could and reach for the stars with him.)

You talk about their dreams, hopes for the future --- he'll share stories about his childhood, back when he liveed with his brothers and Dan Dan. About some of the adventures you missed and of the people he's met, all while having you wrapped around him. (He's clingy)

I'll end this with you dishing out your revenge by puhsing him into the snow when he least expected it --- what you didn't but should've expected was him stretching his arm out to pull you to his side, laughing as you squealed.

You and Luffy laughed heartily as you both laid down side by side in the soft snow. An idea struck you, and with childlike delight, you moved your arms and legs in perfect rhythm, creating snow angels together. You enjoyed the simple pleasure of the moment, laughing and lightly poking each other, feeling the contrast between the cold snow beneath you and the warmth you felt for one another.

"We should do this again next Christmas!"

...

Thatch

...

Christmas with Thatch is both a curse and a blessing, mainly a blessing considering that he tries to make it fun for you despite it being a rather stressful time for him (from the ass crack of dawn to like the darkness of the night, he's up about slaving away in the kitchen to get the feast in order)

The Whiteboard Pirates don't do single-feast, that is a known fact. But even during the holidays, things become a bit more exaggerated than usual

A little tradition of yours includes a boat ride and fishing (I've never fished once in my life, all my knowledge comes from that the guy from River Monsters nor do I really like cooking but I used to watch MasterChef so like ye)

Thatch takes you on a small fishing trip just a ways from the ship --- you'd sit across from him, a beach hat over your head as you observe him fish away. Sometimes, you fish alongside him, and much to his surprise, the big fishes always seem to bite down on your line instead of his

(Side note: The crew have a designated boat for the couple that they like to re-decorate depending on the holiday. So rn the ship is decorated with Christmas colors and some ribbons here and there. It looks ridiculous but it's how they show their support for your relationship)

So much so that the crew has a little bet established every time they see Thatch with his fishing supplies --- everyone except a few hopefuls bet on you catching the most (the bet only occurs if they see you without the blue parasol. Having the blue parasol implies that you plan to laze around)

The two of you will talk about everything and anything while on your little fishing trip, from Ace's shenanigans to the craziest meals some of the crew have previously ordered

Once you both return from the fishing trip with a bountiful seafood haul in hand, Thatch leads you back into the ship's kitchen (which is completely decked out with Winter decorations, there's even a giant Christmas tree Marco had to bring it using his phoenix form since you were all still in the middle of the ocean), where the two of you would begin cooking under the soft glow of moonlight.

As your relationship first started, Thatch noticed how you enjoyed watching him cook, yet there was a desire in you to actively participate in his favorite activity. So he gave you a special role --- the keeper of spices and seasonings! (You're also like his Christmas radio channel, you're always softly singing while he's cooking. Sometimes, while he waits for something to cook, he'll pull you around the counter to dance as you sing. Him humming along to the song with a grin)

He'd line up the various spice containers on the wooden counter in front of you, and so, whenever Thatch asked for a particular seasoning, you'd happily give it to him. Over time, you've developed an intuitive understanding of his cooking needs, even predicting which seasoning he requires before he can say anything (an ability that makes him beam with great pride)

Although, the only time you get a more active role in cooking is when he starts making the desserts --- you literally jump out of your seat the moment you see him pull out the flour and sugar to make gingerbread cookies or what-not

Thatch playfully teases you whenever you add the spices, telling you you're not just adding seasoning but "a pinch of love" to the dishes

As a quirky and endearing tradition, Thatch always lets you take the first bite of any dish he prepared --- Haruta and the other division Commanders try to steal some cookies and sweets while Thatch is distracted with you, though it always ends in failure because somehow the man has eyes on the back of his head

Eventually, Christmas come around. Thatch is finally free from the kitchen so he'll come out onto the deck to find you. It's Vista who points him over to where you are, leaning by Pop's, re-telling a story from your past with a grin on your lips as you make the old man laugh out loud

Seeing his son come his way, Whitebeard would nudge you forward into the cook's direction, a knowing smile on his lips as he catches the eye of the ship's musician and make the go-ahead signal

Next thing you know, a slow song comes on

The crew had transformed the deck into a dance floor, most of the crew is drunkenly dancing around, alcohol in their hands as they laugh around

On the other hand, Thatch pulls you close for a slow dance, murmuring sweet-nothings into the skin of your temple as you sway about.

"Merry Christmas, sugar..."

...

Trafalgar D. Law

...

Christmas and Law had me thinking for a bit. On one hand, from what I remember about his characterization, he might not like it. On other other hand, I think he's gone through enough character development to give in into the crews desire to celebrate the holiday

Especially if you're also the one asking to celebrate it

Despite the limited space in the submarine, Law surprises you by bringing a small, decorated Christmas tree onboard. The crew helps in setting it up, and they all contribute tiny handmade ornaments (they had to get hella resourceful with this) to add a personal touch.

I don't know what they're called but Shachi and Bepo made those uh paper people shapes (?) While Penguin made snowflakes to hang around

The sight of his submarine decorated so ridiculously does irritate Law just a tad bit, but the sight of your smile is enough to ease it away

Bepo, Penguin, and the rest of the crew take it upon themselves to sneakily plant mistletoes all over the ship ---, in places you and Law are likeliest to cross at the same time

Whenever Law and Catalina share a kiss under the mistletoe, the crew cheers and claps. Wolf whistling as they blush like perverts warning them a harsh glare from their Captain, who holds you close to him in efforts to protect you from their unruliness

In private, Law decides to inform you that he's done a little something to make the holidays a bit more fun (he actually says this rather mockingly/teasingly) he's hidden all of your presents around the sub, and your job is to find them without anyone's help (you still find gifts even AFTER the holidays are over)

You surprise Law with a shit ton of gifts, with each one his eyebrows twitch uncontrollably. Face blushing a bright red as he loudly scolds you for buying him too many things yet, at the same time, he can't really complain because the things you got him are incredibly practical

Law doesn't like bread so you try your best to find Christmas recipes that don't involve it --- so Christmas time becomes the time where you make a ton of flans, puddings, meringues, and what-not. Although you do make him some onigiri painstakingly shaped into Christmas trees, which he is very appreciative of

After the festivities, Law takes you to the submarine's observation deck, where you gaze at the stars together. You sit between his legs laying your body against his chest, head on his shoulder as you murmur random facts about the stars whilst he tells you random facts about the human body. A little habit of you guys came up with long ago

"The amount of gifts you gave me was ridiculous, ya...thank you"

...

(A/N): I don't really celebrate Christmas so this was a bit of a struggle but like hopefully it still satisfy you. Also sorry for such a late reply, shit happened.

Anyways

Hope you enjoyed!

#monkey d. luffy x reader #luffy x reader #onepiece #thatch x reader #law x reader #law d. trafalgar #trafalgar d. law x reader #reader #reader insert #fanfic #fanfiction #romance #anime #one piece #op x reader #one piece headcanons #one piece x reader #christmas

[doctorcrowleywho]

December 7. Snowball fight (11th Doctor x reader)

25 Days of Ficmas - Day 7

Snowball Fight (11th Doctor x reader)

Word count -   1609  

Warnings - None just tons of fluff

Pairing(s) - 11th doctor x Gn! Reader

Summary - A trip home leads to a impromptu snowball fight

It was time to go home, not permanently. Like you would never give up traveling around in the TARDIS with the Doctor. There was no way, not even if River Song asked for your hand in marriage (which would probably be the hardest thing ever to turn down). But you needed just a quick trip home to see your family and stock up on a few human things. You know, the usual.

However, you really wanted to make sure you visited during this time of year because of the snow (also because of your family). When the holiday season rolled around back home it always brought the most beautiful white Christmas’ you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Sometimes you wondered if your time-traveling friend pulled a few strings in your childhood and made it snow for you every Christmas. He’d probably also tell you he was Santa while he was at it.

But, once you told the Doctor that you wanted to go home, you could have sworn you accidentally told him you were dying and there was no cure. He hung his head in defeat as you watched him sulk around the TARDIS console pulling nobs and switching dials. It was almost like he was putting on a grand dramatic show for you about how sad he was that you were going to leave, which by the way wasn’t true. 

You made a mental note to give him a nice smack up the back of his head later. 

“I guess there’s nothing I can really say, huh?” he sighed making you roll your eyes avoiding his sad puppy dog eyes. Gods, was he really milking this? “Well Y/N we had the very best of times I just wish it was longer. It feels like just yesterday you saved me from that cybermen attack-”

“Doctor I-” you felt like you had to interject. There was no way you were going to let him ramble on like this for ages, not when you had the winter snow to look forward to. 

“Not now Y/N I’m making a speech.” he placed a finger to your lips as his eyes frantically looked anywhere but at you. It was like he was trying to find the right words, which was so very unlike your Doctor. Usually, you weren’t able to shut him up. 

“Doctor I’m just going home for a quick visit.” you finally interrupted him grabbing his face in both of your hands so he was forced to look at you. 

As the realization slowly hit him his mouth dropped open a little bit as his finger dropped from your lips. “And you’re coming back afterward right?” he asked raising both eyebrows anticipating a response…hopefully a good one. 

“Yes! It was like I was trying to tell you before-” you started before he cut you off again a giant smile growing on his face.

“Right, perfect, yes!” he adjusted his bow tie “Of course, I knew that I’m kind of offended you thought I didn’t, but don’t worry I’ll let it slide just this once.” he poked you right on the nose causing your face to scrunch up. Then he was off fiddling with the TARDIS like a child on Christmas morning. 

All the while, you continued to stare at him in utter amazement. So, this was the man your heart decided to chase after. As odd as the whole situation felt, it also felt so incredibly right. You never felt like you really belonged down on earth, even if that did sound a bit silly it was absolutely true. People down there would always overlook you no matter how hard you tried, it was honestly getting very discouraging. 

Then the cybermen came, and you were terrified that this was how your life was going to end. You wondered if your first real exciting moment would also be your last. However, out of the corner of your eye, you saw a strange man in a bow tie trying his best to fight off the men in metal. For a half second, you were mystified and maybe even a little impressed. 

You don’t know what really took over you because before you could even realize what was going on you were right by his side helping him the best you could. “I’m the Doctor by the way, lovely to meet you.” he gave you a quick smile before turning back to the task at hand.

To this day you still thought the Doctor was a weird name, but you got used to it very quickly. He was your cosmic mystery, one you’d happily keep trying to solve till the very end. 

“And we’re here!” he said cheerfully clapping his hands like the people who clap once an airplane lands. Lord this man will be the death of you for sure. “Home sweet home!” he beamed wrapping an arm around you and hugging you tightly. 

You couldn’t help yourself, you grabbed your coat and ran out of the TARDIS while still tugging it on. A soft blissful laugh left your lips as you observed your surroundings. It was a beautiful winter wonderland for as long as the eye could see. At that moment you let yourself be truly grounded. Closing your eyes you took in the smell of the beautiful pine trees and felt to refreshing cold air as the wind blew passed you.

The Doctor trailed behind you, watching you in absolute adoration. Propping himself against the door of the TARDIS a soft smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He watched you spin and twirl and even try to catch a few snowflakes on your tongue. He was in deep trouble, he felt it in his hearts. For he was madly in love with you, his free-spirited companion.

However, the Doctor being who he is couldn’t sit still for long, so naturally, he got an idea. Sneakily, he bent down and packed a small snowball into his hands. He tried his best to ignore how cold the snow was. When it was the perfect snowball he threw it right at your shoulder causing you to yelp in surprise. 

The force of the snowball snapped you out of your own little world making you jump. Your eyes grew wide as you turned on your heel. Shooting an icy cold glare right in the Doctor’s direction. “Oi was that you?” you called out waving a finger at him. 

“Who me? Why I’d never!” he dramatically gasped chucking one right at your chest “oopsie daisies” he giggled, yes that’s right literally giggled, as he ran around the TARDIS. 

“Oh, it’s so on!” You yelled collecting as much ammo as you could. You weren’t typically a competitive person, except when it came to silly little things like snowball fights. Then all cards were on the table, and you’d be damned if you didn’t defeat the Doctor in this snowy battle.

All hell broke loose as you two threw countless snowballs at each other. Grins plastered all over your faces as the battle grew mighty intense. Quickly, you put together a big one planning on sneaking up behind the Doctor. You spotted him, refreshing his stockpile in front of the TARDIS, and realized it was the perfect time to attack. 

Slowly, you crept up behind him trying your very best not to laugh. Which, would give away your entire plan. Then, you struck viciously crashing the entire massive snowball all over his head causing him to yell out. “OI, YOU'RE IN TROUBLE NOW!” 

Your eyes widened as you realized what you’d done, and you booked it. A symphony of giggles and cheers could be heard between the two of you as you chased each other round and round. This was exactly why you fell in love with the Doctor because even if he was a big scary time lord he was still himself. 

Suddenly, you felt a pair of arms wrap around your waist and you crashed to the ground falling on top of the Doctor. Your eyes blinked into his hazel ones as you both tried to catch your breath. You forgot just how utterly beautiful he was up close. All the little details that came together to make the Doctor, your Doctor. It was enough to make your heart swell with that wonderful kind of feeling. 

“Y/N did we just fall for each other?” he asked softly taking his chances, even though he was only ever good at being awkward. A relieved smile rose to his lips as he heard your giggle once more. 

“You know what Doctor I think we did, funny how things work like that,” you said brushing a few wet pieces of hair away from his eyes. If you could save this moment in time forever you could, but even the Doctor knew you couldn’t do that. Time was precious and you were so lucky you had this time together now. 

There was a moment when the both of you leaned in and you thought for a couple of seconds that he may even kiss you. But, something rang off in the Doctor’s head and he decided against it for now. So, instead, he helped you off the ground and started dusting all the snow off of you he could. Another gentle moment passed when he reached up and dusted off your hair. 

“Right, off to see your family, come along Y/N.” he said giving that good old bow tie one last fix. Confidently he grabbed your hand and pulled you away taking your heart right along with him.

#doctor who #eleventh doctor #11th doctor #eleventh doctor x reader #11th doctor x reader #11th doctor x you #doctor who x reader #doctor who fanfiction #doctor who fandom #matt smith #matt smith x reader #matt smith fanfiction #tardis #christmas #25 days of christmas #merry christmas #25 days of ficmas #happy holidays

[l0vem00nlight]

CHRISTMAS SCENARIOS: DAY 2 ~ MILES FAIRCHILD

♥︎ Miles Fairchild With an S/O Who Loves Christmas Music ♥︎

Oh lord…when I say you OWN his radio and his guitar you OWN it.

He loves you to death but man it gets him annoyed when you constantly ask him to play a christmas song instrumental or switch the music into some Christmas jam.

It’s a bonus for when you start singing along with the jolly music, whether his playing the instrumental or not he best believed that your gonna sing your heart out. It doesn’t matter if you can or cant sing he’s gonna hear those vocals.

Kate is so done with this. But do you care? No not really.

Miles just sits on his bed and watches you do whatever as the awfully loud christmas music plays in the background of your singing. He tries to hide that smile of his but he just can’t.

Sometimes you would start dancing and you would pull him to come join you on your excitement. He doesn’t really dance but he just kinda lets you take some control even though all he’s really doing is just swaying around and not putting effort into his moves.

He finds it a tad bit annoying when you tower control over his personal music items but yet you don’t care. You will do a jolly breakdance in his face whether he likes it or not.

Flora joins in on the fun and starts to dance with you IN HIS ROOM. He couldn’t even take yall anymore nor did he even bother to stop you two for the sake of his little sister’s happiness and your joy.

Miles now understands how Kate feels when he has his damn music up way too loud for her liking. He can’t blame her—it’s so annoying having that christmas music blazing in his eardrums.

Even after you are done with your christmas spirit unraveling he can still hear Mariah Carey echoing in his eardrums.

Once you even compared his and yours relationship to the song named Sleigh Ride in the few parts of the song much to his dismay.

Miles loves you, okay? But when you’re just spamming those songs every single day it just cuts it for him. The thought and the memory of having to hear so many christmas songs in one setting is ridiculous to him and also having to watch you breakdance to the songs is already too much. When you finally settle down he is glad. He is glad that you finally calmed yourself and now he gets to listen to whatever he wants to listen to. He loves you a lot to the moon and back but maybe calm down on the songs and not spam them over and over and over again and start hitting the whip and nae nae in his room…? But haters gonna hate anyway and he’s sadly one of them.

Again, he loves you so much but…come on. Just please lower it to a minimum.

I’m gonna add more than just some music because this is way too short-

During when you weren’t spamming christmas music you two are out building a snowman. It is really funny due to the fact that Miles was struggling to make the balls for the snowman. You did two and he did the smallest one which was the head because it wasn’t going too well for him and it was too cold for all that.

You two made Kate drive into town to get a carrot.

Snowball fights are like war. But Miles could’ve sworn that you at least put some rocks in your snowballs cause those should not hurt like that-

Miles could tell that you are competitive over snowball. Absolutely no reason as to why you ripped the snowman’s head off and threw it at him, carrot nose and pebbles and even the hat all came his direction. It was so foul…cause like damn..

You two have hot chocolate together and relax. This is probably his favorite time. Despite the christmas music playing quietly in the background it’s fine.

Other than that, he enjoys the holidays with you. As much as he dislikes the fact that you spam christmas music he enjoys seeing you all happy and dancing and it brings a smile to his face. When he sees you smiling all big like that he just can’t seem to stop the smile forming on his face as much as he tries to show his displeasure. To spend the Holidays with someone as happy and jolly as you can be tiring but also very nice as well and he hopes to encounter this every year during christmas…not the music though.

#finn wolfhard #reader insert #fluff #x reader #gender neutral reader #oneshot #miles fairchild #christmas #love #miles fairchild fluff #miles fairchild x reader #miles fairchild x you #Miles fairchild x y/n #christmas aesthetic

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Falling Snow And Heart-Shaped Waffles - Ryan!Ken X GN Reader

Title: Falling Snow And Heart-Shaped Waffles

Ryan!Ken X GN Reader

Additional Characters: No one else really?

WC: 3,500

Warnings: Nicknames, teasing, tiny tinnnny bit suggestive, Reader's human, Ken's human, post Barbie movie, clingy Ken?, Ken just loves you, very attentive Ken, mentions of sickness (none transpire in the fic), Ken's chest, mentions of food, a lot of fluff

You were softly awakened when Ken shifted in bed beside you, the arm around your waist tightening protectively. Turning around to face him, you cherished the peaceful atmosphere surrounding you, and Ken’s soft - adorable - snores that emitted from him. He slept soundly on his side, mouth slightly agape, his chest rising up and down. His blonde hair was everywhere, sticking out in random directions; it made you smile. Reaching out, you gently brushed his hair back away from his forehead, making him stir. 

Slowly, his ocean blue eyes fluttered open, a dopey smile gracing his features when his eyes met yours. “Good morning, babe,” He muttered, his voice raspy and rough with sleep.

You sighed, brushing your fingers along his cheek, marveling at the man before you. “Good morning, Ken.” Your fingers trailing to the back of his head, tangling in the soft hair at the nape of her neck, “I’m sorry for waking you.”

Groaning lightly from your ministrations, Ken shut his eyes, moving forward to nuzzle his head into your neck, “Mm, you didn’t wake me,” He murmured, voice slightly muffled as he pulled you closer into him; legs tangling with yours, “I was already awake.”

“Sure,” You mused, carding your fingers through his hair, lightly scratching at his scalp, earning you another soft groan. “I totally believe you.”

Ken only hummed, his eyelashes tickling your neck as he pressed multiple sleepy kisses there, “I love you.”

You tried to hold back a giggle, your smile widening as you dug your nose into his hair, taking in the scent of coconut and vanilla; melting at his soft words. “I love you more, sweetheart,” You whispered, tightening your hold on him briefly before caressing his hair back and kissing his forehead. “Do you want some breakfast?” You then asked, “I can make your favorite.” You sang softly, only for Ken to pull back to look at you.

“Waffles?” He asked, and you nodded, his smile widening at the movement, “With whipped cream?” He added, becoming more excited as you nodded once more.

“Yep, as long as we still have some left over.” You answered, which caused Ken to cheer, his arm lifting from your waist to fistbump the sky; a small ‘yes,’ escaping him.

Sitting up in the bed, Ken followed, letting out a yawn as he rubbed one of his eyelids with the heel of his hand. You admired him for a moment, thick fleece blanket pooled in his lap, sun-kissed chest exposed; flexing as he raised his arms up in the air; he was the definition of perfection, and would be the death of you eventually. Biting your lip, glanced away, hopping out of the bed, and walking over to the window to open the blackout curtains. Your eyes squinted at the harsh sunlight before they lit up when you saw the fresh pile of snow resting on the ground, snowflakes falling gracefully from the sky. 

Whipping around, you sprinted back to the bed, jumping and landing on your knees, making the bed bounce. Ken chuckled at your behavior, his eyes flickering from your large smile to your eyes, seeing them sparkle. “Kenny, it’s finally snowing!” You cheered, watching as Ken’s eyes widened.

“Real World snow?” He asked, and you nodded, trying to peer over your shoulder out the window.

“Yeah! New plan, after breakfast, we’re building a snowman.” You spoke, your excitement sort of getting the best of you, but you didn’t care. You loved snow. Ken only smiled, eyes softening as you began talking about all the things the two of you could do out in the snow. “We could also have a snowball fight, or build a Mojo Dojo Casa House out of snow, it'll be so cool…”

Ken watched as you, adoring how you spoke so animatedly. Ken couldn't help but think about how stunning you looked in his plain, pink shirt from the day before and black sweats that matched his.

He was so glad that he went back to the Real World after a couple of months of finding himself. He had learned so much from Barbie and the others. Traveling to the Real World for the second time, permanently, he never expected to run into you while rollerblading. Literally. 

Perfect you. You really helped him a lot after he had become human. With learning about how the Real World worked in general, and making sure he knew enough that when you headed off to work Ken wouldn't starve but he also wouldn't burn your house down. For that, for you just being you, for loving him, appreciating him… He was forever grateful, and forever yours.

He was so in love with you.

Reaching over, Ken placed his hand on your cheek, causing your words to slowly trail off, meeting his eyes, as his thumb brushed along your soft skin before he leaned forward to press his lips to yours. You sighed into the kiss, eyelashes fluttering as you closed your eyes, leaning forward to deepen it. Pulling back, Ken chased your lips, a lovestruck expression on his face; drunk on you and your love.

“Let's go make breakfast, yeah? The faster we eat, the faster we can go play in the snow.” You suggested, watching as Ken nodded eagerly. Slipping back out of bed, Ken followed close behind, his hand instantly holding yours. He placed countless kisses on your hand as you traveled through the house to the kitchen. One there, you leaning forward, you reached over and turned on the radio that was on the counter. Raising your intertwined hands, you glanced up at Ken, who had already been looking down at you; admiring you as always, “Ken, I need my hand.” You gestured to your hand, looking from him, to your hands, and back, “I need both of my hands to make breakfast.”

Pouting, Ken reluctantly dropped your hand, “Okay…” He lightly groaned, only for you to reach up and gently pat his cheek.

“Help me grab the ingredients?” You asked, and Ken was on it. He loved helping you with anything that you asked. And for the next ten or fifteen minutes, Ken helped mix the batter and set the small table. As you were pressing the batter into your heart-shaped waffle maker, you felt Ken's strong arms wrap around you. He nuzzled his nose into your hair before resting his chin on the top of your head, a content smile on his face. Reaching out for the plate on the counter, you stop, your fingers just brushing it. Turning slightly to look up at him, you gave him a small smile, "Kenny, honey, could you grab that plate for me? Currently, I can't reach it." You asked, your hands covering his hands on your stomach.

A smile on his face, Ken reached over. Grabbed the plate, he slid it over toward you, wrapping his arm back around you. Plating the first waffle, you poured more batter in the waffle maker, closing it. Ken hummed, taking his chance to turn you around in his arms, "You're so beautiful." He muttered dreamily, his blue eyes staring into yours. His hands trailed down your sides, his fingertips grazing the skin under your - his - shirt. 

You felt like you were going to melt right then and there. Your cheeks began to burn as Ken continued to stare lovingly down at you. He leaned forward again, pressing his forehead against yours, you breathed in deeply, enjoying the scent of him mixed with the sweet smell of freshly baked waffles. "You're too sweet." You whispered, wrapping your arms around his neck, playing with his soft hair. Ken hummed again, placing a gentle kiss upon your lips; smirking lightly. It was short, but it was perfect. "You're beautiful too." You added, your lips brushing against his as you spoke. 

Opening his eyes, he looked down at you with an adoring - yet shocked - gaze, "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Of course," You chuckled lightly, "You're perfect." Leaning forward, you captured his lips again in another sweet kiss, relishing the warmth he emitted. "I mean that. I love you." You whispered, holding his cheeks between your hands.

Smiling brightly, Ken beamed confidently, "I love you too." He replied with such conviction, pulling you back into him as you finished making breakfast. 

~~~

"Kenny! Honey, you ready?" You called by the front door, finishing tying your boots. Hearing the soft thuds of feet, you looked up, watching as Ken walked over, fiddling with his blue gloves. You couldn't stop the smile that spread across your features at just the sight of him. Wearing a puffy, bright blue jacket, warm pants, and pink fuzzy socks; he gave you his charming smile. Resting your hands on your hips, you tilted your head to the side, "My, my, looking good, blondie." You cooed teasingly, watching as he blushed profusely, averting his gaze. Lacing his boots, you grabbed his pink beanie and blue scarf from the wooden shelf beside you on the wall. Ken fixed the gloves as you placed his beanie over his head, and wrapped his scarf around him. Your hand on his bicep, you reached up on your toes to brush his hair away from his forehead and eyes. Ken simply watched you do so, your touch sending shivers through his body, as well as a tingle that ran through his arm from your fingers. Shutting his eyes, Ken pursed his lips; immediately, you knew what he was asking. Letting out a breathy chuckle, you pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, a triumphant grin settling on his face. Stepping back to admire your work, smirking lightly. "So handsome and ready to head out into the cold."

Ken seemed to stand up straighter, puffing his chest out at your praise. An odd sensation settled in his stomach; it felt like butterflies. Taking your purple gloved hand in his, he interlaced his fingers with yours; mixing blue with purple. “Thank you, Y/N,” You giggled, gently squeezing his hand, and leading him out of the house.

Immediately, Ken's eyes widened as he stepped out into the snow. Now, he had seen snow before - though it was always plastic - he had never seen Real World snow before. And he was mesmerized by it all. He held your hand tight as he looked up at the falling snow, a grin forming on his lips as he watched the snow gently fall to the snowy ground; in awe.

Sprinting into the middle of the yard, you spun around, arms out wide as you stared up at the falling snow; a bright smile on your face, and a bit of laughter spilled out from you. A gust of wind blew past, chilling your skin, but you paid it no mind. Instead, you continued to gaze upward, completely entranced. Ken watched you silently, trying to soak in every detail of this moment, this magical scene. His heart fluttered, the way you laughed; carefree. It made his chest tighten with emotion.

"Isn't it pretty?" You asked as you slowed your spinning to a stop, a little bit out of breath, the smile on your face unmoving as you walked back over to him. 

"Yeah... Pretty." Ken agreed, but he wasn't talking about the snow.

Chuckling, you nodded, leaning your head on his shoulder. Moving further from the beach was totally worth it. You missed spending time in the snow. But you knew Ken loved the beach, so you made sure that you took him there whenever you could. When not working, you’d drive the two hours just to see Ken's smile and his eyes sparkle at the sight of the crashing waves. 

"Ken, I want to show you something." You said, tugging lightly on his hand, guiding him forward with you. Ken watched as you let go of his hand, and stepped back a few steps, before falling backward; starfished in the snow. 

A bit confused, but more so curious, Ken followed you. Falling down in the snow beside you. Looking over at you, Ken spoke, "This is nice," Ken spoke, making you laugh.

"That's not all," You began moving your arms and legs, creating a snow angel. Ken followed suit, mimicking your movements. After you were finished, you carefully stood before helping Ken stand up. "See?" You gestured to the two snow angels, "We just made snow angels."

"So cool," Ken answered, his arm wrapping around your shoulder, pulling you close to his side. Looking down at you, Ken spoke, "What do we do now?" 

"Hmm," You wrapped your arms around him, meeting his gaze, "Do you want to build a snowman?" You asked, and he nodded enthusiastically. "Then let's get started!"

"How do you make a snowman?" Ken asked, watching as you crouched on the ground, gathering the snow in your hands. This type of snow was far from what he was used to.

"Here, let me show you." You gestured to the ground next to you. Ken shuffled over, his puffy jacket scrunching slightly as he sat down beside you. "Okay, first you get some snow..." You trailed off, shoveling snow closer to you with your hands, "And then you pack it all together into a big ball, round thing." You rolled the large snowball in your hands, it was probably no bigger than a watermelon. All the while, Ken was comparing Barbie Land snowmen to Real World snowmen.

But Ken watched you, his eyes slowly trailing from your hands, up the arms of your puffy, green jacket, passing your shoulders, and up to your face. Ken was trying so hard to pay attention to you, he really was. But no sound escaped from your moving lips. And as the snow fell around you, catching on your shoulders, the top of your yellow beanie, and the tips of your eyelashes; Ken couldn't look away. The snow seemed to fall in slow motion, glittering and sparkling around you - the sun hitting your frame just right. Ken was completely enraptured by you - surrounded by the frozen paradise. 

He couldn't take his eyes off of you. Your smile made him smile, and you looked so incredibly beautiful, as always. You were his everything, Ken loved you, and you knew that. It was evident in every little thing he did, and pretty obvious because he told you practically ten times a day. He just couldn't get enough of you. 

"Ken?" You called out to him, looking up at him after he took a bit too long to answer your question. The expression on his face made your heart skip a beat. His eyes were full of love; pure and unadulterated. "Kenny?" You repeated, feeling quite warm even as the snow began to dampen your pants, seeping onto your legs. 

"Hmm?" Ken blinked, for a moment, he was at a loss for words, they seemed to have died on his tongue. "Sorry, Y/N. You're just so pretty, especially in the snow," He apologized sheepishly, smiling.

You felt your heart burst, leaning forward, you pulled him into a hug, wrapping your arms tightly around his neck. Kissing his cheek, you whispered softly, "Thank you." Pressing another, more lingering, kiss against his cheek; he sighed, happily overwhelmed by you. You pulled back, your lips curving upwards as he smiled widely back at you. "Well, while you were admiring me, I finished Frank." You continued, gesturing to the snowman.

Tilting his head, Ken frowned, confused, "Frank?" He asked, and you nodded, pulling off the beanie from your head and placing it on the snowman's.

"Yeah, I named him." Subconsciously leaning into Ken's side, "We don't have carrots, so we can't give him a nose. And I’m feeling a bit too lazy to find any rocks or sticks, so I guess Frank's not going to have a face or arms." You muttered with a laugh, "He has a killer hat though." Glancing up at Ken, you raised an eyebrow, "Do you want to give him a last name?" You asked, and instantly Ken's eyes lit up, and he nodded his head rapidly. 

"Horse." He answered simply, and you paused before agreeing. 

"Yeah, that's a great last name, Ken." You answered, your grin matching his, "Frank Horse."

Reaching up, Ken unwrapped his scarf and leaned forward slightly to wrap it around Frank the snowman. "I like Frank Horse," Ken grinned, sitting back, wrapping his arms around you once again, "And now he's perfect." He mumbled, as you wrapped your arms around his waist, resting the side of your face on his chest as you listened to his heartbeat; a small chuckle escaping you as he nuzzled his nose into your hair. As you let out a shiver, Ken’s eyes widened and he quickly pulled you up to stand with him. Looking down at you with the cutest face of concern that you had ever seen, he noticed that your eyes were beginning to droop and your breath had begun to swirl in the air. Tugging off a glove, he pressed his warm hand onto your cheek, and you instantly turned your head to nuzzle into it; pressing a kiss into his palm with your cold lips. "You're cold. Let's go inside. I don't want you to get sick."

Letting out a soft sigh, you reluctantly nodded your head, closing your eyes for a second. Opening them, they widened as Ken wrapped an arm around your back and under your knees, lifting you up into his arms; bridal style. "Ken!" You exclaimed, letting out a laugh as you looped your frigid hands around his neck, "I can walk, the door is only a couple of feet away." You spoke, but Ken only shook his head, a determined frown on his face.

"Nu-uh, I don't want you to get sick." He spoke as he began walking to the front door.

Gazing up at him, you sighed softly, not bothering to fight with him any longer; you knew he was stubborn, but he was too cute and you loved just being in his arms. Resting your head against his chest, you dug your cold nose into the side of his neck, making Ken suck in a breath.

Once inside, Ken sat you down on the small wooden bench, propping himself up on one knee as he helped tug off your snowy boots. You let him, your eyes half-lidded as you watched him unlace your boots, sliding them off of your feet and setting them with the rest of the shoes on the shoe rack. He then reached forward to unwrap your scarf before carefully unzipping your jacket, making sure the melting snow on it didn't touch you. You simply sat back and admired the man before you, a fondness spreading throughout your chest at how attentive he was being towards you. 

Once you were out of your winter attire, Ken did the same for himself before helping you up off the bench with an outstretched hand. "Guess we'll have to have a snowball fight tomorrow if the snow stays," You muttered, looking up at Ken with a sleepy smile. Spending time in the snow always makes you a bit tired. "I might take a small nap before making lunch. Do you want me to find that horse documentary I saw on Netflix for you?"

Looking down at you, Ken returned your smile, "Can I please take a nap with you?" He asked, and you chuckled, nodding your head.

Smiling wider, Ken led you upstairs and into your shared room. You laid back on the bed, unabashedly watching as Ken threw off his shirt - chest muscular and perfect - and joined you. Ken immediately wrapped his arms around you, pulling the blankets over the both of you before reaching over you; shutting off the lamp on the bedside table. 

Gazing at you, Ken's blue eyes shifted over your features; your soft lips, sparkling eyes, the wisps of hairs framing your face. Letting out a deep sigh, Ken grinned, "I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

"Oh, Ken," You gasped softly; melting from his words, not to mention the way he was looking at you, leaning up to gently brush your nose against his, "I guess that makes me pretty lucky too."

Wrapping your arms around his waist, you sighed; hands pressing into the warmth of his skin. Ken shivered slightly, a deep hum resonating from him - he loved it when you touched him - pulling you further into his chest, and lowering his head to nudge his nose into your soft hair again, inhaling your sweet scent; spellbound.

You closed your eyes, letting yourself fall deeper into the warmth of his body, taking a few moments to enjoy the peaceful silence around the two of you. A quiet yawn escaped you, causing Ken to tighten his grip around you, holding you close. 

Leaning forwards, he kissed your forehead, whispering, "I love you…"

Pressing a kiss to his chest in return, you sighed, "And I love you, Ken."

#cute #fluff #x reader #fanfiction #fanfic #x you #x y/n #x gn reader #ken x reader #ryan!ken x reader #ryan!ken #ken x you #ken x y/n #ken x gn reader #barbie movie #the barbie movie #barbie 2023 #ryan gosling

[factorialsotherfandoms]

The vibes on this got weird huh. The prompt is hypothermia, and it did spawn from that! But oh boy does it have a variety of vibes.

Why do Forever and Philza always talk so much, and why do they never quite stay on topic.

It doesn't snow on Quesadilla Island. There's sunshine most days, and rain when something is wrong, but there's never snow. At least, there isn't until December, as Christmas comes close as the Winter Holidays begin.

Forever was working on N.I.N.H.O. 2.0 when the snow began. Thankfully he had already made the building watertight, so he simply slams down a campfire as things get chilly, and continues wiring up the redstone; it's served him for the last few hours, and will serve for a few more before he returns to Richas, and Felps, and perhaps dragging Pac out of bed for some family cocoa.

He carries on working for a little while, but not even the allure of building and protection for the eggs can close his mind to the sound of tiny feet running across the floor. They're on the level above him, and he assumes it must be Richarlyson running over to convince him into a snowball fight.

Not that Forever would take much convincing - a little, because his work is important - but not much.

"I'm in the basement!" he calls, sure enough that his kid will hear him, and come down.

The feet pause, and then there's the bonk of two signs - did Richas bring Leo over too? - before the pattering picks up again.

Forever pulls himself out of the wiring just in time to see not Richarlyson but Tallulah come down the elevator, the little girl barrelling straight into his legs and clinging tight. He reaches down to pick her up, and by the time she is on his hip Chayanne is there too.

"Tallulah, Chayanne," he smiles to them both, trying to ignore the sharp twist of worry from the lack of parent following them. "Were you missing me that much? What will Phil say when he hears you ran off?"

Tallulah clings a little harder, and the worry bites in harder. Chayanne is already slamming down a sign, furiously writing on it.

There's still no indication of Philza giving chase, and it worries Forever... About as much as he thinks he should admit.

'Something's wrong with Dad,' Chayanne has written, and Forever lets his heart drop as he kneels to the boy's height. Already another sign is out, the boy ready to explain. 'He said he was just going to check something' 'twenty minutes ago' 'he still isn't back'.

"You want me to message him for you?" he asks.

Both of Philza's kids nods; he shuffles Tallulah around to free up his hands, and sends a message.

You whisper to Ph1LzA: heyyyyy where are you?

There's not an immediate reply, but then it's Philza - there never is. He gives it a minute, and then a second, and a third - gives the two eggs candy to distract them right up until Tallulah wriggles free, and writes a sign asking if he's heard anything yet.

Forever didn't hear a ping, but he checks anyway - no reply.

He types again.

You whisper to Ph1LzA: Where are you Phil your kids are worried

This time he only gives it a minute before checking whose communicators are online - Philza's still is, which he suspected, but its good to check. Skimming the map, he cannot see Philza around town... He'll check further out, and hope the man has his location on. And is near a warp...

Forever looks at Chayanne and Tallulah, and remembers terror, and Cucurucho, and how Philza dropped everything just because he was scared. How Philza promised he'd tried everything to come find him in the Nether, even after Forever tried to dodge around his questions.

You whisper to Feeeelps: Philza's missing. Can you watch his eggs while I look? Take everyone somewhere safe for hot chocolate until I'm back or something

"Chayanne? Tallulah?" he asks, not waiting for a reply. "I'm going to go look for you dad - can you two find Felps and Richas for me? Felps will look after you for now. He's at his Square."

The eggs are hesitant - Chayanne clings to him for a moment, before grabbing Tallulah's hand and tugging her towards the waystone.

Feeeelps whispers to you: we'll go to the Favela

Forever watches them safely away, then flicks back to the other set of DMs.

You whisper to Ph1LzA: I'm coming to find you

---

Philza has, thankfully, not turned off his location. He is, however, twelve thousand blocks out, and not especially close to any of Forever's waystones.

Forever is wrapped in a thick coat, a thicker scarf, and keeping himself warm by thanking the powers that be for motorboats, grapples, gliders, and how much faster the combination makes the trip than if he had to walk. Felps keeps sending him updates at random times, and Forever returns the favour by giving him a coordinates update each time.

Philza sends nothing.

He doesn't even move on the map.

Forever doesn't know if someone can freeze to death on Quesadilla Island, but neither does he want anyone to learn by experience - especially not such a close friend. Hopefully Philza is somewhere inside, whether that be a mud pile he built around himself after breaking his leg or a Federation torture dungeon or even just a spare house out here he got too absorbed into decorating. No option is a good one, and Forever will be furious if the man just forgot about both his eggs and his comms, but... It doesn't seem likely.

Eventually - he doesn't want to think about how long it takes him - Forever makes the coordinates.

The only wish he wins at is that the Federation is nowhere in sight.

There is Philza, knelt in the snow, dusted in snow that has made it through the leaf cover, staring at a giant wooden house with blank terror in his eyes.

It's just a house; Forever isn't sure what is so scary about it.

"Philza?" he calls, trying to draw attention to himself. "Chayanne and Tallulah are worried."

Philza doesn't respond. Forever spots the waystone not ten steps from where Philza is, and quickly registers it to his warpstone.

"Phil?" he comes closer, brushing his arm against Philza's head as he comes closer.

Still no response.

Forever worries on his lip, following Philza's gaze to the house, and then back to his friend's eyes. Still he can't make out the problem, nor work out what could possibly be wrong.

If the sight has his transfixed, though... Safer to break vision that to touch, right? Touching is the last attempt, no matter how much he wants to scoop his friend up and rush him away to safety.

Forever steps into Philza's line of vision, crouching down in an attempt to draw his attention.

It takes a little bit, but slowly Philza's eyes draw upwards and meet Forever's of their own accord.

"Forever?" Philza's voice is quiet, broken, pained. His skin is pale, his lips are bluing, and the lack of shivering is terrifying.

"I'm here," he replies, offering a hand. "What's wrong, Philza? Let's go back where it's warm."

Philza makes no move to take the hand, eyes drifting over Forever's shoulder, back to the wooden house and oh how that makes him want to scream.

"Phil?" he tries again.

It doesn't draw the eyes back, but it does pull out more, quiet words, "do you see that?"

"The house?" he asks. "With the wood."

Something both relaxes and tenses in Philza all at once, his head shifting to the side, "I- Are... you real?"

Forever doesn't like the question - he takes one of Philza's frozen hands, holding it tightly and promises "I'm here. Can't you feel me?"

Philza doesn't even look at their hands, "I could feel you before. But... But the birdhouse isn't real - it can't be real..."

"Do you want me to take a photo?" Forever asks.

There's a quiet laugh and a single shiver, "the photos vanish, Forever, shouldn't you know that? The photos don't stay because it's only a dream."

And Forever... he isn't sure what to do. So he moves his grip from frozen hands to frozen cheeks, only a little at peace with how Philza leans into the touch and hums.

"Why don't we go somewhere warmer?" He asks instead. "Chayanne and Tallulah are worried about you."

"Chayanne and Tallulah are dead," Philza replies, blank eyed and with absolute certainty.

Forever is very glad that Felps texts him with an update right there and then, confirming the two eggs are still safe and alive.

"No, they're with Felps," Forever tries.

"Felps?" that does seem to spark some life into Philza's face, confusion scrunching into his expression. "You... /Felps/?"

"He was the only other person awake," Forever shrugs a bit. "They're safe with him."

Philza hesitates, words on his lips but not his tongue. For all that seems to have knocked him a little more present, he's still not all the way there yet.

"They're at the Favela," Forever says. "They're safe; all of the eggs are safe."

"... You promise?"

"I promise."

The tension finally drains, Philza falling against Forever's chest. He catches him, and starts looking for something warm to drape over him. In his frantic search he almost misses the quiet, "even if this is a dream... there isn't a world in which I do not trust you, Forever."

Forever has no idea how to handle those words; he tugs Philza over to the waypoint instead, and feels his heart drop as he actually reads the name - 'Was this actually real?'. He swallows the feeling - once Philza is safe and warm and present, then he can ask - and instead presses his fingers to the stone.

Then he hesitates; Philza is in no state for the ladder down to his own home, but anywhere else... Who on the island even has a bed, warmth, and a change of clothes?

"Head to mine," he ends up saying, not having half of the things but at least knowing where the ones he has are.

Forever's hands hover ready to teleport himself as he watches Philza slowly scroll through the options, unsure if it is frozen fingers or a frozen brain that cause him to struggle. Once Philza vanishes he does check the map - making sure Philza got to the right location - before following.

"Come, come," Forever tugs on Philza's hand, doing his best to smile. "Just head down to the sitting room. Leave wet clothes by the door, and there's a blanket on the back of the couch. Nice and warm. I'll just get you a drink."

He does his best to trust Philza to follow the instructions - he makes the right room at least - as he hurries off to his storage. He remembers how Philza hated tea even before purgatory, and turned his nose at coffee, and so grabs the ingredients for hot chocolate. And a fire, and some string to throw their wet clothes over.

While he's there he sends a quick message to Felps, just letting him know.

You whisper to Feeeelps: Found Phil! Not sure what's wrong, but he's safe now

He doesn't check for a reply, instead heading back to the sitting room.

Philza seems to have done as he was told, there being a pile of black and green by the door and the man himself bundled in the corner of the couch and wrapped tight in a blanket. He is at least shivering now, though the entire act looks painful.

Forever carefully hands him the hot chocolate.

"Be careful, it's hot!"

Philza takes it, but just stares at the liquid rather than drink or reply.

Forever isn't sure what to do, his knowledge run to an end. Rather than panic he builds up a fire, and hangs the string high over it. Wet and muddy clothes from both of them are tossed over it to dry.

When he turns back, Philza is staring at him instead of the mug.

It's an improvement, or maybe not; he tracked as he goes over to the couch, and sits at Philza's side.

"Phil?" he begins to ask, his words cut off as a pile of friend and blankets flops onto his side. That, at least, changes his question. "Are you feeling okay?"

"... Just cold," Philza replies, and his voice is still too far away, but it's a little louder at least.

Forever isn't quite sure what to do with his arms, and so settles for the instinct - he wraps his arms around Philza, pulling him into a hug. Maybe, with the strange mood, it shouldn't be surprising that he doesn't pull away, but it still feels almost wrong.

Still, after so much time, it feels wrong - Forever knows Philza hugs people, and even hugs him, but something about it is always novel and strange.

Or maybe it's that Philza is accepting comfort, not comforting, that's so weird about it.

They remain in the warm and the quiet, watching the fire for a little bit. After ten minutes or so, Philza takes it on himself to break it.

"... The birdhouse was real, right?"

"Birdhouse?" Forever pauses, thinks about the building he saw, and realises - yes - that is what it was. "I saw it. Did you... not?"

The hesitation is audible, but eventually Philza says, "when the eggs were missing, something... I'm not sure if it did or didn't happen."

"That leads to you trying to kill yourself in the snow?" Forever's fingers brush Philza's cheek, and still find it terrifyingly cold.

"No! Well, yes, but... I wasn't trying to freeze," Philza isn't laughing - he is shuddering, though, and Forever pretends it's only the cold. "Tallulah's birthday. Maze day... Mexican Independence Day. I went home. There was a book, it said... It doesn't matter. I thought it was Tallulah, it wasn't. I followed the instructions, and found a bird house... Inside... There... A floaty, a red hat, a purple hat jeering at me for my part in lavacasting the presidential building. Cucurucho locked me in there. I slept, I dreamed, I woke and fell asleep and woke and feel asleep and eventually I awoke and the security door had become a wooden one, woven in flowers, and Cucurucho was at a desk outside, and he handed me a book telling me to wake up. I did. In my basement, my inventory same as before I found the book, but a potato in one hand and a poppy in the other. Tubbo and Fit had built me a grave. Took them back there, but... Nothing. Since there's been another book - and flowers, and a pencil drawing. Took photos of that. Turned my back to call Fit. When I turned back, it was gone. I don't... The birdhouse was full of birds. They follow me now, out of biome, out of place, appearing in cages in my house or on my doorstep and I'm not even sure the birds exist because I let them out and they just... fly away..."

"I believe you," Forever says - because he does, because he knows the power the Federation wields when it wants to, and just a glimpse of how many other powers remain at play on the island.

"That's funny," Philza's laugh sounds like death. "Because I don't."

Forever pulls Philza a little closer, trying to both reassure him and warm him up, "why did you go looking today...?"

"It was snowing," Philza replies, easily - easily. "It's not supposed to snow. I thought, maybe... I was dreaming again."

"I think it might just be the Federation getting ready for the holidays. Should I ask them? They don't like answering me, but eventually it must work, right?"

"Or get you kidnapped again," the scoff is more real, and one hand leaves Philza's cup to tuck behind Forever's back.

"You'll save me."

"I didn't last time."

"You tried. Where was I when this was happening to you?"

"Mate," Philza speaks in a complete deadpan. "You were in a fucking coma."

Forever runs the dates and... Philza is correct, at least for the start of it. He remembers a bit being worried, asking for his friend when he awoke. He also remembers asking Tubbo, who assured him nothing was wrong. "You could have told me."

"What? That I'd had a weird dream? You're my friend, Forever, I didn't want to put more on your plate than you already had. I think - thought - I don't know, that I was just... dreaming," he gestures a bit. "The other time... You were in the Nether, and you were so badly hurt by that, and I couldn't even find out what was wrong because one minute you were back and the next we were in purgatory, then the eggs were back but sick, and it's just... It's never really stopped, has it? And until today it'd been so long since anything like those happened to me I just... Wanted to think it was over with."

"Philza..." Forever tries to pull him closer, only to be pulled closer in turn.

"What even happened in the Nether, Forever?" Philza then asks. "You were scared, then determined, then we saw your death message and you were gone... And came back so long later, and so badly hurt..."

"Walter Bob was there," Forever says, like he wishes he could have weeks ago, but now it's old news, isn't it? His hair is still short but his injuries have healed, and so much has happened it's not even the biggest wound in his mind any more. "He said I wasn't supposed to be. We spent weeks on the run, realising we were trapped, lava and monsters and darkness, looking for anything that could help... We were hunted by the black cucurucho - the one they saw in the sewers, I think. Gave me a creepy book. I got out, Walter Bob didn't. It's... I don't know what it is, any more."

Philza reaches up, and cups one of Forever's scarred cheeks, "they hurt you."

Forever places a hand over Philza's heart, "they hurt you, too."

There's nothing much else to say to that; they both drift quietly into one another's company. Forever drink's Philza's concern, and the hugs he gives him, the gentle touches and the asks if he is okay. He gives the same, too, tapping Philza's cheek to keep him in the present, letting his sitting room provide warmth and light and safety.

Forever's almost starting to fall asleep, lulled by company and warmth, when Philza sits bolt upright.

"Shit, Chayanne and Tallulah! I left them at the house."

"It's okay," Forever tries to tug him back down. "They came to get me when you were gone too long. Felps is entertaining them."

"Are... Are they okay?" Philza's eyes are blown wide again - terrified - when he turns to Forever.

"Scared, but safe," Forever promises, cupping Philza's cheeks, because he believes in Felps' ability to keep three children entertained, and to scream if he actually needs help.

"I should see them," Philza says, already starting to get up.

"Wait for your clothes to dry first," Forever suggests. "Do you want to scare them more?"

"But-"

"Don't you trust me?" Forever tries to tease with the question, though he's sure he sound desperate.

"I trust you," no hesitation, not a fraction of a second. Forever's heart does funny things at that, and he thinks Philza might kill him even sooner than the Federation. "I just..."

"Message Felps?" Forever suggests, watching Philza's fingers and wondering if he needs to be worried about frostbite, and what he's even supposed to do if he is.

Philza does manage to type, though, so Forever is just going to hope he has the sense to take a potion if he isn't okay.

There's a series of quickly typed messages back and forth, before Philza relaxes again.

"All safe, see?" Forever says.

Philza nods, and slumps back against his side, "if I promise to sleep, can you go join them? I don't not trust Felps, I just... trust you?"

Forever isn't entirely sure if sleep is the best thing, but Philza is definitely warmer, and the room he's in will stay that way. He's coherent, and past the shivering, and now at a temperature of 'chilled' not 'frozen' so...

"Just let me get a hot water bottle. And I'll be back to check on you hourly."

"Fussy," Philza teases, sliding down to lie on the couch as Forever sits up.

"Worried," Forever shoots back.

"Because you care," Philza stabs him with. "It's why I voted for you. I knew even with power, you'd still care."

Forever isn't sure he's worth that much faith, knows what power has done to him before. So he just smiles, and wishes Philza a good night, and tries to remember where he left the hot water bottle - or perhaps how to make one; this is the first winter on the island, after all.

#qsmp fanfic #qsmp philza #qsmp forever #seriously why do these two never shut up when put together #hurt/comfort #once again I'm not sure what this fic is but they ran away from me #very surprised netiher of them bought purgatory up tbh #every time I think this is over they talk more #I didn't even want them to talk!!! #I just wanted them to cuddle!!!

[midwestmade29]

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? ☃️

Christmas writing prompt: #2 Playing in the snow together Word count: 739 Divider by: @firefly-graphics GIF by: @junglehooks Be sure to check out @madhatterbri's [full list] of Christmas and New Year writing prompts!

It’s my first Kenny Omega story guys! I’m so excited about it 🥳 I came up with this story idea not really having anyone in mind to write it about, but the more I thought about it…Kenny just made sense 🥰

All fluff for Kenneth Jerome 🙂

I adore him ❤️

You and Kenny Omega have fun playing in the snow together…

Kenny was used to the cold, having grown up in Winnipeg. No matter how low the temperature got, this man still thrived! The snow had really come down over night, fresh white powder coating every surface as far as the eye could see. Neither of you had anywhere to be today since your schedules allowed you to be home for the holiday! Kenny stood and looked out the window, an idea suddenly striking him. “Hey, Y/N! When was the last time you played in the snow?” He asked inquisitively. “What do you mean? Like, build a snowman or something?” “Yeah, exactly! Actually gone outside and enjoyed it. Snowball fight, sledding, snow angels, you name it! Let’s take advantage of the weather and have some fun!” His excitement was contagious, there was no way you could say no to him. “I haven’t done any of that since I was a kid. Let’s do it!”

Once the two of you were bundled up from your head to your toes, off you went! You stepped outside, the cool air kissing the bare parts of your face, making your eyes water a little bit. Kenny was a few steps ahead of you, eager to get this snow party started. “What do you want to do first, Y/N?” He asked as he sat down all the supplies he had collected from the house. Your heart melted at his eagerness, smiling at the pure joy on his face. “Um, why don’t we build a snowman first?” You suggested. Without missing a beat, Kenny grabbed everything you needed from the carrot nose to the black hat, and the pipe he took from a snowman decoration inside. You worked on rolling and packing the middle section of the snowman while Kenny worked on the base. The proportions were off between your two pieces, causing you to laugh at the very full bottom mixed with a skinny midsection. “I can’t wait to see how the rest of it turns out!”

“Would you do the honors?” Kenny asked as he handed you the final piece to the snowman. You smiled as you placed the black hat on top, completing your masterpiece. “So, what’s next?” you asked after kissing Kenny on the cheek. He advised you to stay where you are, chuckling to himself as he walked away. You thought he was just moseying through the stuff he had brought outside, but you were sadly mistaken when you felt the ice-cold snowball burst on your chest. “Hey!” you shouted in Kenny’s direction. “You’re going down, Omega!” Both of you landed several direct hits on one another with snowballs, even when you hid behind various objects around or used them as shields. The great snowball war eventually came to an end, and you and Kenny sat next to each other catching your breath. “Truce?” he asked while reaching his hand out for to you to shake. “Truce.” You happily agreed.

Sledding was next on the agenda, and thankfully no trip to the ER was necessary. During one trip down the hill, you ended up going a little faster than you anticipated, letting out a shriek in the process as you toppled off the sled towards the bottom. Kenny rushed over to you full of worry and was confused when he heard you laughing. “Are you okay?!” he asked as he knelt in the snow. “Never better!” you squeaked out through your laughter. Once Kenny finally exhaled, you grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him down to the ground, forcing him to join you on top of the wet snow. You started moving your arms and legs like you were doing jumping jacks while laying down, and Kenny followed your lead making the same motions. Neither of you got up to see how your snow angels turned out, only laid there next to each other before Kenny scooted closer and kissed you softly. “So, my little snow bunny, are you ready to go back inside?” he asked as he helped you to your feet. “Only if you promise to sit with me on the couch under a blanket.” Kenny kissed the tip of your nose and wrapped his arm around you as you made your way inside. When you snuck a quick glance up at him, he greeted you with a loving smile and you couldn’t help but wonder how you got so lucky to call this sweet kindred spirit yours.

#aew #all elite wrestling #kenny omega #kenny omega x reader #Kenny omega x you #Kenny omega x y/n #kenny omega fluff #fluff #kenny omega fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #christmas prompts #writing prompt #the elite