#i say problem i'm sure there's a train i can hop onto

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

i love spanish conferences. for the london one the fee is £90 (£45 if you're a student) and i have no idea if as a speaker i also have to pay the fee or not. in this one in spain i'm planning to speak at attendance is free and if you want to be a speaker you have to pay a total of 10€ as fee.

#once again. southern europe supremacy #this is what we are talking about when we demand making academia and culture accessible #anyways i have no idea if i'll attend #because if they pick me. it's on may 3rd #i'm still in trento technically by then but. if i have that. idk what i'll do i'll have to consult my parents #cause i was planning on staying until may 8th cause there's a seminar on that day #but i could just leave earlier #the contract is for two months #beyond april i can stay until i want #moreover. the conference is in salamanca #so that's another problem. getting there #i say problem i'm sure there's a train i can hop onto #but it's one more variable to look into #whatever. i'll just apply and worry later #cause the conference is very cool. it's organized by a phd student organization and it is made to present your phd proposals to the public #mostly other professors #to get feedback and stuff #so that's cool i think

[moonlightpetalz6]

Always There

Character: Chichi

Reader: Female Reader

Warnings: Harsh language, Fluff laced with slight angst

Wc: 2,960

A/n: Hi I love Chichi so much so I wanted to make this fic about her! I hope you can enjoy it!

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The sound of an alarm filled your ears, causing you to let out a small groan as you slowly opened your eyes, grimacing at the bright rays of sun that filled the room of your small apartment. You reach over towards your nightstand to smack the off button before rubbing what sleep remained in your eyes. 'I guess I should start getting ready.' With a tired sigh, you sat up from the comfort of your bed, kicking the blankets off before heading towards your bathroom to start the day. After getting yourself ready and eating breakfast, the phone rang, causing you to stumble around the corner to answer.

"Hello, Y/L/N residence." You answered automatically. A familiar laugh sounded on the other end, causing a soft smile to grace your lips, eyes softening at the beautiful melody. "You sound like you just ran towards the phone, Y/n! How often have I told you that the call won't stop after just one ring?!" You just hummed, leaning your head against the doorframe. "What can I say, Chichi? I'm quick to act." You joked, a small laugh slipping past your lips. Chichi huffs on the other end. You can picture her form standing there, probably cleaning her hands with an apron as she shakes her head with a frown. "I swear I surround myself with impatient people!" She complains, causing your laugh to echo off the walls.

You and Chichi have been friends ever since you were children. The two of you had met during your first day of school when she had smacked a boy who had been picking on you for not having that big of a lunch. Since that day, you two were always seen with each other, your bond closer than anyone's. You were even her maid of honor for her marriage to Goku, that day being one of the happiest yet most painful days of your life.

"Anyways, I was calling to see if you could arrive three hours early for Goten's party! I'm a little behind on preparations, and the boys won't be home until the party starts!" Chichi spoke, her voice hopeful and bright, but after having known her for so many years, you can catch how tired she is. "Of course, I can head over there now if you'd like." You say, glancing at your watch. "Really?! You're my knight in shining armor, Y/n!" The woman cheers, causing a smile to form on your lips, accompanied by a slight blush. "I'll see you in thirty minutes." And with that, you hang up the phone, letting out a small sigh. "Once again, it's me to the rescue." You muttered while glancing at the picture frame by your front door.

The picture consisted of the married couple with you and Krillen next to them, all of you with bright smiles on your faces. You make sure to grab Goten's present, your keys, and anything else you need before putting on your shoes and exiting the small apartment. You hop onto your motorcycle and head towards your friend's home in the woods. 'How long have I been having to help Chichi out? Since their marriage? Or was it since Gohan's birth?' You shake your head at the thought, letting out a deep sigh. You held nothing against the Saiyan warrior, at least not anymore; you became terrific friends from the moment you met. However, there was one small problem. One that no one would ever know about so long as you lived. You loved Chichi. You don't know when those feelings of friendship blossomed into more, but you knew that it would never happen between the two of you as her heart became Goku's the moment they met.

Because of this, you couldn't help but hate him at first. You hated him always putting training and fighting before his wife and kids. You hated the days when Chichi would call you up or even show up to your place crying for her husband on the days he died from whatever danger there had been. You hated how his adorable sons had to grow up or go some of their lives without their dad. It drove you mad before, but now you see it as a regular occurrence. Chichi always told you that even though she had married an idiotic fool, she wouldn't take it back and always held such love in her eyes whenever she would talk about her husband. Because of this, you gave up on that hatred for Goku and focused on giving Chichi and the boys any support they needed.

Before you realize it, you're parking your bike in front of the small and quiet home. You turn your bike off, taking off your helmet with a satisfied sigh. “Y/n!!!” Chichi cheered, waving her hand as she ran from her home towards you. You look at her and smile, jumping off the bike and picking her up in your arms as you spin her around, causing her to laugh at your actions. "Haha! Y/n, it's so good to see you! It's been a while!" She laughed as you carefully put her down. "About three months since I've been here." You admitted while grabbing your things, following her into the home you had become all too familiar with. "So, where is everyone?" You ask, placing your things down while Chichi takes your jacket.

"Gohan is at home with Videl and Pan, Dad is out getting some last-minute things, and Goku took Goten to Bulma's so we can surprise him!" She said, making her way into the kitchen. You hum, nodding your head in response as you join her. "I see. No wonder you needed to call me in." You joked, causing Chichi to elbow you in the gut lightly. "Oh, cut it out, Y/n! You know you're always welcome to come over without having to help with anything!" She scoffs before the two of you get to work in the kitchen, finishing up some of the food. You listen as Chichi complains about how Goten is just like his father and neither of her kids ever wanted to study. This was the usual whenever you were around her. You just smiled, listening to every word, engraving it into your mind.

You loved how passionate Chichi got over her boys and how she only wanted excellent and prosperous lives for them all. "You're a good mother and wife, Chichi." The words slip out of your mouth before your brain can process them. Chichi stopped her rant and looked at you with that gorgeous smile you loved so much plastered across her face. "Haha! You think? Sometimes, I wonder if those boys think differently." She confessed, leaning against the counter while looking out in thought. You watched her silently, wanting to reach out and wrap your arms around her. Tell her she's perfect, strong, beautiful, intelligent, hard-working, but you know better. You know that if you were to do that, you would never be able to get over your love for her, so you remain strong, knowing that it's best for all of you. With a sigh, Chichi jumps up, smacking her cheeks with her hands, causing you to jump, looking at her surprised.

She shakes her head before smiling once again. "Enough of that! Come on, it's almost time!" She laughed, pulling you towards the living room, where the two of you set everything up. "Chichi! I'm back!" You heard her father call. "Hello Ox-King! It's been a while!" You greet the older man in the doorway, watching as a giant smile crosses his face. "Why if it isn't Y/n! It's been a while; come here, sweetheart!" He laughed, pulling you into a tight hug. You laughed lightly, hitting his chest. "Come now! You'll break my ribs if you hug me that tight!" You joked with both of you laughing. Chichi poked her head around the corner curiously before smiling.

"Oh good, you're back! Hurry, everyone will be here soon!" She rushed, pushing both of you further into the house. You roll your eyes at her. "Now look who's impatient." This, of course, earned you a smack to the head.

You watched as everyone started to show up for the party, each greeting you, wanting to catch up after not seeing you in months. You smile and greet everyone before your eyes land on Gohan arriving with his family. "Is that my little Pan?!?!" You cry out, causing the little girl to smile, holding her arms out as she squeals for you. “Y/n!” You scoop her up, nuzzling your nose into her cheek, causing her to laugh. Gohan looks at you and smiles. "It's so good to see you again, Y/n-san. Have you been well?" he asks, touching your shoulder. "I've been good, thank you. Work has been a little busy, though, so I haven't been able to see everyone lately." You confessed, body slumping in defeat. Gohan laughs, tossing his head back as he pats your shoulder. "I see! I see! That's such a relief!" He laughed, causing you to look at him curiously.

Gohan motioned for you to lean closer, which you did as he went and whispered into your ear. "Mom was worried that she did something to upset you, and that's why you hadn't been stopping by." Your eyes went wide at this as you looked at him in shock. "Mom cares about you, Y/n-san." He genuinely smiles as he ruffles your hair as if forgetting you are way older than him. "We all do!" With that, you smiled, nodding before walking back with him. Pan was rambling about something she did at school while you listened to her humming each time she said something that would require a response.

Soon, Goku and Goten arrived, causing Chichi to shush everyone quickly as she prepared to surprise her youngest son. The doors opened, and everyone yelled surprise at the young boy who stood there in utter shock. Goku laughed, asking if his son was shocked. You watched as Goten smiled, thanking everyone as the party started. You walked around talking to many people, enjoying catching up with those you had considered close friends. "Hey, Y/n!" You felt a tap on your shoulder, causing you to stop your conversation with Bulma. You looked to see Goku standing there with a piece of meat in his hand as he flashed his signature smile, giving you a small wave. "It's been a while! How's it been?!" He asked enthusiastically. You turned to Bulma, excusing yourself, to which she just smiled, nodding her head before walking away. "Hello, Goku! I see you're stuffing your face as usual!" You laugh, going and hitting him in the stomach. He laughs, scratching the back of his head shyly.

"I haven't seen you since I returned to earth. Has everything been okay? Do you have a boyfriend yet?" He teased, wiggling his eyebrows at you. This earned a glare as you held your first up vein popping on the side of your head. "Watch it or I'll beat you." You growled, causing the Saiyan to laugh as he apologized while smacking you on the shoulder. "I'm kidding! Kidding! It's just really good to see you! You should stop by more!" He laughed before taking a bite out of the meat in his hand. "And you need to stop dying on everyone!" You scolded, stepping on his foot and causing him to whine. This was the usual relationship between you and Goku. He would tease you with stupid words or pranks, and you would scold him while beating him up.

Goku scratches the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Oh, come on, Y/n, it's not like I do it on purpose." You felt your eye twitch as you crossed your arms, letting out a deep, frustrated sigh. "I understand that Goku, I do." You trailed off momentarily before looking up at him, eyes locking. "But you don't always have to be the world's hero. You can also be a hero for your family, ya know?" You sighed, defeated. Goku just smiled, his eyes filling with care and appreciation as he ruffled your hair like Gohan had done earlier. "You know me, Y/n, I can't help it." Before bending down to your height, he confessed, causing you to get irritated, but you knew it was so that he could whisper something to you.

"Thank you for caring for my family when I fail to Y/n. You've always been there for us, and I do appreciate it. So, whenever you need something, don't feel like you have to do it alone, okay? Just call one of us, and we'll be there!" He laughed. You just looked at him in awe, not expecting such words from Goku. From the moment you met the man, he was a complete idiot, and you told Chichi that when she first introduced the two of you. You shake that off and give a small smile. "Thank you, Goku." He smiled before running over to Vegeta, sitting away from everyone, looking annoyed.

As the party progressed, you sat away from everyone, tired of the day's activities. 'I should probably head back soon…Chichi seems busy, and I haven't been getting proper rest.' You thought while scanning over everyone. Eventually, your eyes land on Chichi, standing with her family, watching Goten go through his gifts with pure joy. You just stared at her, your chest and mind swirling with emotions before pinching the bridge of your nose and squeezing your eyes shut. 'Dammit…maybe I should try dating.' You mentally cursed a frown on your face.

This didn't go unnoticed as Chichi glanced over the crowd, her eyes landing on your tired form, taking in the frown on your face. She frowns at this, quietly excusing herself as she makes her way over to you.

"Y/n? Is everything okay?" Her sudden voice snapped you out of your thoughts as you looked at her internally, wincing as you took in her worried look. You pushed away all your thoughts and feelings as you looked at her, a soft smile replacing the frown on your face. "Hey! Everything's fine; I'm just a bit tired, is all." You hated not telling Chichi the truth, but you knew it was for the best. Chichi frowned at this as she leaned closer, her face inches from yours, causing a blush to appear as you avoided eye contact with her. "W-what is it? Do I have something on my face?" You asked nervously. Chichi doesn't say anything for a minute before she goes and flicks you in the middle of the forehead.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" You cried, rubbing the now irritated skin. "You need to take better care of yourself, Y/n! I swear, ever since we were kids, you never had a proper schedule or even a routine!" She scolded, pointing a finger at you. Surprised, you just looked at her as she went on a scolding spree, crossing her arms. "Honestly, how much longer am I going to have to take care of you?" She sighed, shaking her head. You soon smile as you go and wrap your arms around her shoulders, laughing as you poke one of her puffed-out cheeks. "Oh come on Chichi! I'm perfectly fine! Look, see?! My skin is as clear as day and my health couldn't improve!" You teased a sly smile on your face.

Chichi shot you an annoyed glance as she went and pinched your hand, causing you to whine as you tried to free yourself. "Hey! What was that for?!" You yelled lightly, pulling on her hair. "Ouch! Y/n, why you!" Before anyone could process what was happening a few feet away, you and Chichi were on the ground fighting with each other.

"Mom?! Y/n-san?!" Gohan yelled, surprised, not understanding what happened to cause this. Everyone watched in surprise while Goku laughed, walking towards the two women. "It's just like old times!" He cheered while separating the two of you, holding you both by the backs of your shirts. "She started it!" You both yelled, pointing at the other. Goku just laughed, rolling his eyes at the two. "Come on, girls! You two are too old to be fighting like that anymore." He laughed, causing everyone to go silent as a cold breeze passed, sending shivers throughout everyone's body.

You and Chichi looked at each other, faces blank as you nodded in agreement, causing the warrior to look between the two confused. "Eh? Did I say something wrong?" He questioned. You and Chichi just smiled before tackling Goku to the ground, earning a cry from him while everyone else laughed as they watched the two women tickle the Saiyan, who flailed around on the ground, begging for them to stop. You both just laughed, holding your stomachs in pain, tears in your eyes. You look over at Chichi, watching her beautiful smile fill your heart with pure bliss. You smile, a slight blush on your cheeks as you take her hand, causing her to look at you with a toothy grin as you help each other up.

'Chichi…even though we can't be anything more than friends in this lifetime.' You think as she pulls you towards everyone, her hand gripping your own with her delicate skin. She looks back at you, that excited glint of life in her eyes. "Come on Y/n I made sure to save you some cake!" She laughed as you smiled, running past her hand still in hers. "In that case let's hurry up!" You laughed, wanting to beat the Saiyan men to the last piece of cake that Chichi spent hours making.

'I'll always be with you…loving every second we spend together.'

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #dragon ball x reader #chichi #chichi x reader #fanfiction #fem reader #fanfic #dragon ball x female reader #x reader #female reader #dragon ball x y/n #chichi x y/n #dbz #dbz x reader #dbz x y/n #dbz chichi #dragon ball chichi

[jaybird-fanfics]

Villain Roommate |Chapter Sixteen|

(Everyone ignore the fact that I used Fuyumi's name in the last chapter, I totally forgot she was a Todoroki. It's been a while since I've watched the anime (as in I haven't watched it since season six came out and I'm still not watching it lol) So yeah...whoopsie)

You had notified your landlord that you were moving, and began packing right away. You practically forced Dabi to help you, since you couldn't move most of the heavier things. By the time everything was moved into the moving truck, the house was completely empty. You almost hated to leave, so you took one last look at the place before heading outside to the truck. "Hop in, we're leaving." You says to Dabi.

"Hold up, who says you're driving?" You gave him a look. "I do." You said with crossed arms. "Got a problem with that?"

"I do actually. You don't have a car, I can't imagine you can drive worth a shit...How does that work anyway? Don't you go places? Like work?" Dabi asks. "Everything is close by, my work, the store, I just walk or take the train. And I can drive just fine! It's just, been a while, that's all."

"Uh-huh. Anyway, get in the car. I'm driving." Dabi said as he got in the driver's seat. You went to protest but gave up, you were too tired from moving shit all day to care much. "Do you even know have to drive?" You asked as you got in the passenger's seat. "I'm a grown ass man, yes I know how to drive." Dabi said as he turned on the vehicle. He backed out of the driveway before driving off. You watched as the house grew ever distant. You sighed and slumped in the seat.

"I thought you'd be more happy. You don't have to pay that outrageous rent anymore." Said Dabi, his eyes focused on the road. "I am happy. But, I've been there for a while you know? It's like, kinda weird to just up and leave it you know?" You said while fiddling with your fingers. "I don't, I never like to stay in one place for too long."

You narrow your eyes. "Then why have you been staying with me for so long?"

"Because you're useful to me. Well, your quirk does. I'll tolerate staying somewhere when it's beneficial for me."

You huffed and looked out the window. "Whatever." There was then silence between the two. Dabi turned on some music to fill the awkwardness but it still lingered. After a while, you spoke up. "You don't have to sleep on the couch anymore."

"Oh? Offering me a place in your bed? How bold of you."

If you could punch him you would, but that would put you in danger too since Dabi was the one driving. "No, idiot. You'll have your own room to sleep in." Dabi glanced at you for a moment before looking back on the road. "What's the catch?" He asked. "No catch. You're just lucky, the house came with two rooms. I could be cruel and make it into an office."

"Buuut?" Dabi pressed. "But you're also lucky that I'm not cruel." You says, making Dabi chuckle. "Sure."

You and Dabi moved everything into the house by the end of the day, and they were both exhausted. You, not feeling like cooking, ordered some takeout before crashing on the couch. "What a day." You exhale. "Why are you so tired? You had me doing most of the heavy lifting." Dabi sat next to you. It was true, you had made him move a handful of heavy things. It's not like you could have afforded to pay someone move it for you. So, Dabi was your next best thing.

"I had you put your muscles to good use." You shrug. "And I helped out some, I helped you move the couch and my bed. Speaking of, you'll need a bed won't you?"

"No, I like sleeping on the floor." Dabi said sarcastically. "Alright, saves me the trouble in taking more money out from my bank account." You stood and walked away from the couch and into the kitchen. There were still a few cookware you hadn't put away yet. "Sleep on the floor then."

"I can get my own bed. Worry about yourself." Dabi kicks his feet up onto the coffee table. "Right, because a villain can just walk into any mattress store and buy a bed." You crosses your arms, Dabi shoots you a look. "I have my own bed."

"What?" Your arms drop to your side. "So, you've had a place to stay this whole time!?"

"I never said I didn't." Dabi smirked. "Your old place was just a lot more...cleaner." If there was ever a time you wanted to strangle him more, it would be now. "So all the times you needed to lay low...you had your own place to do so?" Dabi nods. "Yep."

You wanted to slam your head into a wall. God you fucking hated him.

"Then why, may I ask, have you been mooching off me this whole goddamn time!?" Dabi lazily turns his head to look at you. "Because like I said, your place is a lot better than mine." He answers simply. "You are fucking unbelievable, you know that? This whole time I thought you were homeless or something. But you had a place you could have been staying at." Dabi lets out an annoyed sigh before standing and walking over to you.

"I thought I made it very clear that I had been using you this whole time." You glare at him. "No shit. You threatened to kill me if I don't do what you say."

"Hey, I've toned down the threatening." Dabi defends. "Besides, you held my life in your hands that one night. You could have just let me die right then and there, but you didn't. You could have freed yourself, could have blamed my death on self defense if someone found out. Yet, you gave in and healed me. Why's that?" A sick grin found it's way onto Dabi's face. "Don't tell me, you actually like me. You wanna keep me alive for something don't you?"

You frown. "I already told you why. You've forced me to care about you."

"Yeah fucking right." Dabi's smirk dropped into a deep frown. He was mainly just wanting to find out himself. No one could be that kind and caring, not even you. So he pressed further, not giving you the chance to defend yourself. "Are you lonely perhaps? I've noticed you don't have many friends, if any. We're you keeping me alive to fill that void? How pathetic."

You couldn't believe what this arrogant bitch was saying to you right now. "I may not have friends, not like that's any of your business, but I would sooner take a hot cast iron skillet to the face repeatedly, than ever befriend someone like you!" You pushed past him, but he grabbed your arm and pulled you back. "Then what?" He demanded. "Why did you keep me alive that night? More than that, why waste your time saving someone like me in the first place!?"

"Because I can't let my mother's words mean nothing!" You jerk your arm away. "From day one, my mother had shown nothing but kindness to the people around her. And yet, she was taken advantage of by everyone, even by my own father! She was quirkless for fucks sake, she had nothing but her kindness!" You continue.

"She was treated as less than by everyone, yet she still had the strength to smile and care. And there was a time when I thought she was better than any hero out there, she was my hero, and she was taken away by people like you!" Your voice cracked, not even noticing that you were crying until now. "But if she were still alive, she would have forgave them, because that's just how she is. And if I can't be half the person she was, then what's the point?"

"I have a useful quirk, a quirk that can save lives, but I'm no hero. I never wanted to be a hero. But I can still share this quirk with the people around me." That's what your mother had said while she was still alive. She was fine with you not wanting to be a hero, unlike your father, but she did want you to try and put your quirk to good use. To use for the betterment of the world around you. One could say it was a lot a pressure for a child, you wouldn't disagree. But what else could you do?

However, you were no hero, you've failed to become a doctor, and now you've gotten yourself involved with a villain. You felt that you were only letting your mother down day by day. You weren't bettering anyone's lives, or the world at that.

"I want to continue where she left off. I saved you, because I cared about you, about what might happened to you if I didn't act. I would have done the same for anyone else."

Dabi clenched his fists tightly. There was just no way someone could care about him, not you or anyone. It can't be this simple. "Yeah? And what if you knew it were me? A villain? Would your "kindness" shone through then?" He asked, a venom lacing his tone.

"I would have."

"You're lying!" He snapped. "You hate me! I bet it would have brought you joy to watch me die right then and there!" You shook your head. "It wouldn't have. In fact, I'd never stop thinking about it."

"I'm a villain you idiot!" Dabi exclaims. "I don't deserve kindness! I'm a killer, you think a killer deserves an ounce of pity? No, how about this? What if the villains responsible for killing your mother were here right now? What would you do then?"

You took a moment to think about your answer, but the only thing you could say was-

"I don't know. I doubt I'll ever cross paths with them again, and I've never thought about what I would do before. But, my anger doesn't come from hating villains. In fact, I could never say I hate villains. I don't favor them, don't get me wrong. But I have a feeling, the most of them, turned out the way the did for some reason." Y/n sighed deeply. "The heroes aren't necessarily the good guys either. I know a lot of them are just in it for the money and the fame."

Dabi didn't expect to hear that, he let her go on. "I know it because my father works with them. But I can't speak for every hero, so there's that. I don't know a thing about you, but I do know this, whatever you went through, why you turned out like this, I'm sorry that it happened." With that, you turned and walked away.

Dabi made his way to the front door and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him

He needed to blow off some steam.

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#dabi x reader #touya todoroki x reader #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

[obsidiancreates]

Not As Bad As It Could Be (Gradually Getting Worse) Part 3

Casey stashes his gear in the alley outside of the restaurant, and pulls the stained apron out of the trash. He slips inside, grabbing dirty plates off a random table and slowly making his way closer to the main event.

Vizioso slurps and bites and barely chews, eating as loud as humanly possible. Casey tries to remember that thing Donnie mentioned once, misophonia, maybe? If anyone had it and got within a foot of Vizioso, Casey thinks they might drop dead.

"So what's the problem, huh?" Vizioso says around a mouthful of the wettest spaghetti known to Earth.

"He says the subjects are too inconsistent, boss," one of the twins says. "Doc's havin' trouble telling which ones used to be humans and which ones weren't."

"So whadda we supposed to do?"

"He wants ones we know for sure about. So he can look for uh, identifiers."

"What, does he think we're takin' some of The Shredder's guys? Tell him he gets what he gets for now."

"Whatever you say, boss."

Casey drops the dishes off in the kitchen and bolts back out, throwing his gear on and skating away like his life depends on it. Because it very well might.

He reaches his bike and hops on, pulling his phone out as he gets pedaling. "Red! Oh, man, it's way worse than we thought. Yeah, put the guys on. But uh, might want to keep D out of this one..."

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

So. Everyone's hiding something from him.

He knows thanks to a few things. First, Mikey hasn't come into his lab once in almost a week. Second, Raph has also been avoiding him by pretending to read the same comic he's finished four times every single time Donnie enters the living room. Third, Leo keeps asking everyone else to go to the dojo with him for 'extra training', and saying Donnie needs to stay on bedrest. Which, yes. The pain is no better than last week with the bad street pain meds. But it's still an obvious attempt at hiding something.

Not to mention Casey and April. April whispered something to Leo an hour ago, and they all went to the dojo. Mere minutes later Casey burst into the lair and ran straight for the dojo without even bothering to say 'Hey nerd.'

Which would have been normal pre-farmhouse, but post? Casey always says 'Hi.'

So they're hiding something.

Donnie sighs, and winces. He's all tucked into the hoodie again. He's been wearing it nonstop since April gave it to him. It helps with not seeing the crack, but not with not feeling it. He hugs himself tightly, trying to push the crack closed, some small less-than-scientific part of him hoping it'll just click back together and be done.

But all it does is put pressure on his sides, which he thinks he might be bruising with all of his self-hugging. They're starting to hurt, a dull ache not unlike the crack itself. He stumbles over to the couch and eases down onto it, pulling himself into the hoodie like it's his shell.

Stupid shell. Stupid, useless shell. What's the point of it if it can't even protect him well? All it serves as right now is a remind of how he's a mutant Freak.

He whines as another sharp pain shoots through him, making him suck in a sharp breath which just aggravates his sides. Tears prick at his eyes as he tries to breathe through the episode, but the pain sharpens, his sides going from aching to feeling like- like the scalpel did-

He hears the dojo doors open and quickly wipes his eyes, hoping no tears fell into his mask. He focuses on breathing, gritting his teeth through it as Casey steps in front of him.

"Hey Don." Casey holds out some painkillers. "We uh, heard you from the-"

"I'm fine, Jones." It comes out harsher than he meant, and he sighs. "I- it was just a flare-up. I already had the maximum recommended amount of those."

"Oh." Casey pulls his hand away and rubs the back of his neck. "Uh, I could try to find some other painkillers for you."

"Yeah, that ended so well last time," Donnie mumbles. He's not bitter at Casey about it, just... bitter in general.

"Hey, Red and I did tests and everything! We thought it was fine!"

"It's not you he's mad at, Casey," Leo says, gently pushing his human friend away from Donnie. "He just wishes he was healing faster. Right, Donnie?"

Donnie looks to the side. "Sorry, Casey."

"It's all good, man. I know being sidelined sucks."

Donnie scoffs. Not like Casey seems to want to bring him back into the game. They're all still sharing looks. Leaving him out of something.

"Here." Raph picks Donnie up like he's a vase, holding onto his sides while the rest of Donnie stays tucked up into his hoodie. "How about today you do lunch in your lab, so you can do nerd stuff and not think about the pain."

"Raph-"

"Relax Leo, I'm just going to carry him in and bring him some food." Raph carries Donnie like a vase the whole way and sets him down on his chair, then ducks out and comes back in a few minutes later with some ramen.

"Thanks." Donnie lets the too-long sleeves continue to cover his hands as he takes the ramen from his brother.

"Listen," Raph says, looking behind them and then leaning in close. "Leo doesn't want us saying anything, but I think you deserve to know. Slash tipped us off about Vizioso doing something lately."

Donnie stiffens. "Wait, what? That's what everyone is hiding from me?"

Raph nods. "Leo's worried you can't handle it. But you can, right?" Raph gives him a friendly and light punch to the shoulder. "We don't know exactly what he's doing yet, but apparently some of Slash's mutant contacts have gone missing, and Casey said Vizioso might be behind it."

Did the ramen go cold, or just Donnie? He thinks his hand is shaking, but it's hard to tell through the tunnel vision. He swallows. "And you're all going after him?"

"Not right now. I keep arguing we wait for you to get better. I figure you probably want a chance to give the guy some payback."

Donnie's stomach twists. It's not really fear, not really anticipation, just... something. It makes his whole body ache, like he's been waiting to jump into a fight that hasn't even started yet. It's a startling feeling, a sort of cold, consuming rage that leaves him almost dizzy.

Yes. He wants payback on Vizioso. But at the same time he doesn't know if he can even look at him without breaking down.

"I guess," he says hesitantly.

"There he is." Raph pats his back with a smile. "I knew you wouldn't let this knock you out of the fight. We'll show that stupid crime boss exactly who he messed with!"

"A sewer-dwelling mutant geek freak?"

"An awesome ninja who's smarter than most of the stupid humans on the surface. Look, don't tell Leo I told you any of this, alright? He's worried you'll break or something."

Donnie laughs weakly. Raph gives him one last pat on the back, and leaves the room.

Donnie sets down the ramen and tucks himself fully inside of his hoodie, head and all, and tries to sort out his emotions without having another episode.

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

Raph gets into bed late that evening- well, morning. Maybe. He forgot to check the time, ad being nocturnal and underground make it's a little hard to guess. But it's probably sometime past sunrise already.

He knew Leo was being overprotective. Donnie had been fine. Donnie is fine. He got one bad injury, and- and something horrible done to him. Something that makes Raph's blood boil and his eyes do the glow thing every time he thinks about it, every time he sees Donnie wince or hug his sides. Something that made Mikey cry for hours until Donnie woke up after they'd brought him home from Vizioso's lab, and made Leo practically ban Donnie from any strenuous activity until he was fully healed. Something that made Raph so guilty and so angry he could drive his sai right into Vizioso's greasy sauce-stained face-

But that's not for him to decide on.

It happened to Donnie. So Donnie gets to decide what they do. And he can't get that chance if Leo keeps leaving him out of everything.

He's not broken. Vizioso didn't break him. His little brother is way stronger than that. He's handled all kinds of terrible torture and people messing with his mind and things like that, and he's always come out on top. This isn't any different. It can't be any different.

He'll be okay.

Raph shuts his eyes, repeating that over and over. He'll be okay. He'll be okay. He'll be okay.

He's almost asleep when he hears the whimpers.

The walls are thick, but everything echoes in their home. It comes again, and then-

A scream.

Short, sharp, and Raph bolts out of bed. Everyone else went to sleep ages ago as far as he knows, and he finds himself alone as he pushes open the door to Donnie's room.

Donnie is laying in bed curled into fetal position, hugging his sides as tight as he can. If he was human his fingernails would be digging into his sides hard enough to draw blood. Raph slowly inches closer as Donnie whimpers again, breathing too quickly for someone who's supposed to be asleep.

"Donnie?" Raph whispers, touching his shoulder.

Donnie shoots upright, eyes flying open and a scream ripping out of him! He starts shoving and clawing at the air in front of him like he's trying to fight something off. Raph tries to move in again but Donnie swipes at him. He catches his brother by the wrist and then grabs his other arm by the bicep, forcing it down. He does the same with the other arm, but Donnie keeps struggling and panting.

"Donnie, DONNIE! CALM DOWN"

His little brother gasps desperately for breath and only manages to suck in his own tears. Donnie's eyes are wide, pupils pinpricks, but they roam aimlessly around the room like he can't see anything-

Raph's heart pounds and he changes his hold on his brother. He grabs his hands instead, giving a firm squeeze to try and ground him. "Donnie, breathe! Oh, f- hey, snap out of it, what-"

"I don't want to be a mutant," he gasps out, like the words will keep him from drowning. Raph's thundering heart stutters. Donnie's eyes remain wide and unseeing, not focusing on Raph even once. His chest rises and falls so quickly that the crack in his shell click, click, clicks as the sides hit together and push apart.

"What're you talking about, man?" Raph's voice shakes. He's heard something once or twice, muttered or shouted from the lab, but-but everyone gets irritated about how they look sometimes-

"I don't want to be a mutant," Donnie croaks again. "I-I don't- help, help I don't want it anymore, I don't want it anymore-"

"Whoa, whoa." Raph isn't sure what to do, and suddenly Donnie snatches his hands out of Raph's and clutches his head.

"I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it," Donnie whispers over and over and over, still not here, still somewhere far away and Raph can't just leave him alone but what can he do without hel-

Donnie grabs at the crack and tugs.

"Get it off," he breathes out, and Raph's heart stops.

Donnie is trying to peel his plastron off. His hands are weak and fumbling but-

"Stop." Raph climbs onto the bed, his own hands shaking, and he pulls Donnie to his chest. He cradles his little brother, keeping his hands away from the healing crack. "Stop it."

"I don't want it," Donnie whimpers, a hiccupping sob following the plea.

"You had a nightmare," Raph says, rubbing the back of Donnie's shell. "Okay? Just settle down."

"I'm a freak."

"We all are. It's fine."

"I don't want it."

"... I'm sorry." Raph doesn't remember the last time his voice felt so weak.

Donnie keeps crying, whimpering, pleading, and Raph holds him, making sure Donnie's hands stay away from the tender healing wound. Eventually his little brother falls asleep, with one last pitiful clawing at his chest.

Raph stays on the bed for hours, holding Donnie, waiting for himself to stop shaking. He spends the whole time trying to process what just happened.

Donnie whimpers again, and Raph rubs the back of his shell, staring at the blueprints on Donnie's wall.

Maybe Leo was right.

This time IS different.

#tmnt 2k12 #tmnt 2012 #tmnt donnie 2012 #tmnt donnie #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt fic #fanfic #my attempts at fanfic #tw self harm

[capricornlevi]

PLS RA CHOSO♥️

hello lovely! this is another silly little fun fic I'm enjoying way too much, it miiiight be a multichap but we'll see! either way i can't wait to finish writing it, hope you enjoy! <3

R.A. Choso x Reader

“What’s Choso gonna do about it?” Gojo goads you with a toothy grin, “all we’re doing is having some drinks - it’s a Saturday! There’s nobody else here! And look, if we get reported and he shows up, we’ll just get you to answer the door - you can just bat your little eyelashes at him and our problems will be solved!”

“You’re annoying when you drink,” you mutter while passing him to go fetch your phone off the bed. “Well, more annoying.”

You hop onto the bed, Utahime sitting cross-legged beside you clutching a drink of her own. With a smile, you notice her throwing Gojo a withering look. 

It’s not that she disagreed with his general point - Utahime wanted to drink before the party, too - but she’d be damned if she let Gojo try to wind you up without coming to your defence. 

“Oh!” Gojo bursts out triumphantly. “Maybe you’re hoping he’ll stop by! In that case, we can turn on some music? I can ask Suguru and Riko to come by? Bringing in overnight guests without permission means getting written up, right?”

“Shut up, Satoru,” Shoko sighs from her place on the floor. 

“Yeah,” Utahime chimes in. “You either want us to get away with it or you don’t.”

“I’m just trying to stand up for a friend!” Gojo beams up at you all. “You know how the two of them get when they’re together. It’s cute, really. Heartwarming!”

“He’s our R.A, idiot,” you retort, but without much venom. “We haven’t even talked outside of this apartment.”

“Yet!” Gojo corrects you, gesturing dramatically with the hand not holding his beer. “But if my plan is executed just right-”

“-Ok, if you’re gonna keep on this, I’m going to head downstairs to get some snacks,” you reply, sliding back off the bed and throwing on a hoodie. You walk out the door to the sounds of your three friends bickering animatedly, and turn down the hallway to head to your building’s foyer. 

Except when you round the corner, not really paying attention to your surroundings, you bump into the very person that your friends are arguing about at this moment. 

He doesn't look surprised to see you. This means one of two things: either you've already been reported by someone on your floor (which seems unlikely given how it's still early in the evening), or Choso was on his way to come speak with you directly.

Both options make your stomach twist into knots, but for very different reasons.

Looking up at him, you try and look impassive. You try and look like you aren't focusing on him - on his soft but beautiful features that caught your eye that first day, on his hair tied up in that perfectly messy way, on that silver nose ring - piercings were never even really a thing for you before now, you're not sure why you're so focused on it - and on the heavy-lidded way he looks at you.

There's a part of you that hopes your roommates got reported, because that would mean you don't have to think of something to say to him right now. You could just go back to your room sheepishly and watch silently as you get written up.

It wouldn't be ideal, obviously, but at least it would be clinical. Impersonal. Less intimidating than this - whatever this is.

He interrupts your train of thought by clearing his throat softly, then starts to speak.

#may tries to write #choso x reader #choso ily #choso x you

[teenage-idiot]

In the Blink of an Eye - 6

Avengers Age of Ultron | Quicksilver x Female Reader Fan-fiction.

*WARNING SPOILERS*

Contains strong language, sexual references and mentions of death.

741 words

CHAPTER 6

I flung open the door to my room and kicked off my shoes, walked into the bathroom and locked the door. I stripped out of my dirty clothes and hopped in the shower. I let out a sigh as the hot water hit my back, relaxing me after a stressful day hard at work. I finished showering after what was probably half an hour, and got ready for dinner. 

Quite soon I was completely ready, and I still had some time before I had to be downstairs. I flopped onto the bed and just lay there for a few seconds, thinking about everything that had happened to me over the past few days. I was lost in thought, and then a loud knock at the door made me jump, bringing me back to reality.

I strolled over to the door and opened it, revealing none other than Hawkeye himself.

"Hi Clint," I said.

"Hi y/n. I just wanted to say that you did a great job at training today."

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem. I actually have something for you."

Immediately, I was incredibly curious as to what it might be, "Oh really? Okay."

"Yeah. This is for you." 

From behind his back he produced a long, black bow, and placed it gently in my arms.

"Wow, you didn't have to-"

"I know. I just saw what a good archer you are and I thought you'd like it."

"I do. I really do. Thank you so much," I smiled widely at him.

"You're welcome," he chuckled, "You can bring it to training tomorrow."

"I will. Thank you."

"See you at dinner," he nodded, and then walked away down the hall.

I shut the door and looked at the bow for a minute, admiring it, and then placing it away in the cupboard safely. No sooner had I done this than there was another knock on the door. 

I frowned, wondering who it could be this time, but nonetheless, opened the door to greet whoever was waiting on the other side.

"Uh, hi y/n."

It was Pietro, standing there rubbing the back of his neck with an awkward smile plastered on his face.

"Hey Pietro," I smiled, genuinely happy to see him.

"I was just curious to see if you might want to walk with me to dinner?" he raised his voice at the end, as if he was scared I might slam the door in his face.

"Yeah, sure. I would like that," I said softly, giving him a goofy grin.

He breathed a sigh of relief and cracked a smile, so that we were both standing there smiling like idiots in the hallway. I snapped out of my daze and turned to close the door behind me.

On the way to dinner we struck up a conversation about one another, and started to get to know each other a little better.

"So...super speed?" I asked.

"You only just noticed?" he smirked down at me.

I laughed with him for a few seconds, and then we began talking again.

"So what about you?" he asked, paying full attention to me as he talked.

"Well, you know I got my powers from Hydra, telekinesis and all that-" 

"No, I mean what about you. The real you."

I just stopped and stared at him blankly, slightly taken aback. No one had ever been interested in me before. If anybody ever did talk to me after learning what I can do, that was all they cared about, wanting me to show them a few 'tricks' or do something 'cool' for them. Nobody actually cared about me.

"Well, um, what do you want to know?" I asked, sort of unsure on what to tell him.

"Anything," he spoke in a gentle tone, smiling sweetly as he did so.

"Okay, um...My name's y/n, I have super powers, I'm scared of the dark and being alone, oh and clowns! Clowns are scary... Um, I love ice cream, and pizza, and I love to listen to music and sing at the top of my lungs. I also love animals."

I looked at Pietro, expecting him to say something, but instead he just smiled at me, looked down and shook his head.

"You are such a dork," he said whilst laughing at me.

I laughed too, and then opened the door to the dining hall which we'd arrived at, holding the door for Pietro behind me as I entered.

#age of ultron #agents of shield #avengers #black widow #bruce banner #captain america #clint barton #fanfic #fan fiction #fiction #hawkeye #hulk #iron man #love story #natasha romanoff #pietro #pietro maximoff #quicksilver #reader x character #romance #scarlet witch #steve rogers #thor #tony stark #wanda maximoff #y/n #marvel #imagine #marvel imagine #marvel x reader

[captainexplody]

Minibike Madness

Charles Gutteral is the Minibike King, man. He drives his minibike everywhere. If he has to go down to the shops and pick up some groceries or other goods, he hops on one of his minibikes, usually the one he's customised himself in order to add more storage space to the front and the back. Some naysayers would say it looks like one of those bicycles with the basket on the front, and he tells them to go fuck themselves, that's not what it's like at all. It's a cool minibike with loads of storage room and it's perfect for going to the shops with.

If he ever needs to pick up one of his friends from the pub or from the train station for example, he pops a side car onto his minibike and off he goes. Unfortunately he was unable to find a sidecar that would fit appropriately onto the side of his minibike, so he had to settle for a regular motorbike sized sidecar. Fortunately for Charles Gutteral, however, his minibikes are powerful enough to drive around with a full sized sidecar attached to them.

See, Charles Gutteral takes his minibikes seriously, man. Serious as a heart attack, get it? He has seventeen different minibikes that he's been working on for most of his life. He has a minibike for every occasion, so long as the occasion could conceivably involve a minibike into it somehow. He has a minibike for mountaineering, he has a minibike with skiis on it so it can go down a snowy mountain (or potentially drive across a lake or similar sort of body of water if he's able to reach the necessary velocity (which he often can because his minibikes go really fast) )

Sure, his wife left him because of all the time he spends on his minibikes. That's what he would assume would have happened if he had a wife, but he doesn't. He's too busy driving and/or working on his minibikes to have time for talking to a woman, much less asking that woman to live with him in his minibike house. I mean lets be honest, he lives in a really big garage, right? There's seventeen minibikes in it, for Gods sake.

You're probably asking yourself, does Charles Gutteral sleep with the minibikes? (I have a very limited knowledge of what other people might think, so maybe I'm making a really big leap here, but honestly I can't imagine anyone wondering anything other than this by this point) and the answer is yes, technically. I mean he doesn't fuck them or anything, he's not putting his penis in the exhaust pipe or anything, that doesn't happen. C'mon now man, what's wrong with you? Who does that? What I mean is, sometimes he's working on a minibike up in his 'bedroom' which is just another room like all the other rooms in his house, a room covered in minibike parts, and when it comes night time he just falls asleep where he is, pulling a grease covered rag over him to keep him warm, and yeah sometimes when he falls asleep there's a minibike beside him, and he puts his arm around it and cuddles it. Yeah sure, sometimes that happens. Is that a crime? You got a problem with that? It's people like you that make me disgusted in the human race, y'know. A man can't even go to sleep beside a minibike that he's been working on for days and put his arm around it while he sleeps to cuddle it but in a totally platonic manner anymore, huh? You sicken me.

Anyway so Charles Gutteral loves minibikes, is what I'm saying. That's it.

#52storiesthisyear #minibikes #minibike madness #here's number 31 #i knocked this one out quickly because its shite #flash fiction #short story

[peachiipark]

Adult Trio with a s/o who loves animals. I miss my cats...

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐨 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

before i even begin..

okikunorowa, i am SO sorry 😭 i've abandoned your request for this long! honestly, my only defense is that i've been getting into so many different things that i almost completely fell out of the hxh fandom. lately however, i'm back and better than ever! it's impossible to escape the show tbh 💗

i hope the characterization is okay since this is my first time writing for hxh in a WHILE. thanks again for requesting and i hope you can forgive my incompetence 😞

i wish i took a more "OH MY GOD THERE'S A RANDOM RACCOON IN THE STREET ITS MINE" approach now ..

chrollo-lucilfer.com

"chrollo, look!" y/n's eyes brightened as their boyfriend walked into the room. for the past few hours, y/n had been trying to train their pets to learn tricks that they thought fit each of the animals best. "i think they all got it down!"

"kiki, flip!"

"bonnie, spin!"

"bartholomew-"

"bartholomew?" chrollo questioned with a chuckle, slightly tilting his head at his lover.

"yes, the kitten, we've been over this!" y/n replied, frustration bleeding through their words since it seemed like the hour long PowerPoint on their pets had no effect on chrollo. "we'll save you for later, mewmew."

"why don't you come out with me, my love? it's been a while since you've left your room." chrollo gave y/n a loving smile, sitting down on their bed.

"but.. bartholomew just learned how to ride on a roomba! it's.. it's really cute! i wanna see how long he can stay onto it." y/n pouted a bit, averting their eyes from chrollo and back to the small kitten.

"how about this. we can take the animals out with us. i'm sure kiki might love a walk." he tried to negotiate with his stubborn s/o.

"what about bonnie? he likes to hop out of people's arms." y/n retaliated.

"we can make accomodations for bonnie and bartholomew as well, so no excuses for the kitten." chrollo stood up and opened y/n's bedroom door, reaching into the hallway and pulling out a gift for them.

"apparently, there's these.. pet strollers being sold for, well, pets. pet shops have started selling twin carts, so i decided to get one for you, my love."

".."

"chrollo."

"hm?"

"i have never been more in love with you than now."

"that's good to hear." he smiled softly, watching as y/n grabbed their coat.

illumi-zoldyck.com

y/n scanned their surroundings, swiftly re-entering the zoldyck mansion with their guard. thankfully, illumi was on a mission and was not aware of what they had done. "y/n, wait! perhaps we should ask for master illumi's approval.."

y/n spun around, placing down the contents in their hand onto their and illumi's shared bed. "don't worry, i'm sure he won't even notice."

"highly unlikely."

"huh— illumi?"

"m-master illumi!" the butler straightened up her posture, averting her gaze from illumi's dead stare. "my apologies, my lord. t-they really wanted to go the pet shop and i didn't want to abandon-"

"it's okay, you don't have to defend me." y/n turned to illumi, putting their hands on their hips. "yes, i have another dog. it's not like i have a problem or anything!"

"i do not understand the appeal of these animals."

"what about mike?" shifting their weight onto their other leg, y/n gave illumi a puzzled look. "mike's a good boy!"

"mike is a guard dog used for attack and defense. your.. fluffy thing cannot do any of that."

"lumi, don't be mean to him! apologize to coco. he's new here and facing aggression early on will make him more distant! i don't wanna have to try getting him used to me again.." y/n continued to ramble, covering coco's ears as illumi looked down onto him. "please.. say sorry for me? maybe pet him?"

"no."

"oh.." y/n made a sad expression, obviously exaggerating their emotions.

caving in, illumi placed his stiff hands onto coco's fur and stroked it. "i'm.. sorry, y/n."

"one more time!"

"and.. coco."

hisoka-morrow.com

"aren't you coming to bed, my sweet?" hisoka purred, leaning onto the doorframe and eyeing his lover. "i'm sure wigglesworth isn't a better partner than me."

but y/n was most definitely.. not listening! they sat in the low lit living room, their cat's LED bed being the highest source of light. despite sitting there for ages, y/n's thighs most certainly did not hurt. they were too busy admiring their pets to care anyway.

hisoka sighed dramatically, his face dropping into a blank stare. walking over to his s/o, he picked them up and threw them over his shoulder. "wait, put me down! i'll come to bed, i swear!"

"hm.. i guess it is quite nice to see you walk in all pretty. fine." hisoka complied, dropping y/n back onto the floor.

little did he know, y/n wasn't the only one looking all pretty.

".. must the cat really stay right there." hisoka spoke with a forced smile on his face, obviously frustrated by the fact that wigglesworth is getting more affection than him.

"hisoka, don't be a baby."

he let out a sigh, feeling wigglesworth's annoyingly warm body between the two of them.

accompany on: to the masterlist!

#hunter x hunter #adult trio #hxh chrollo #chrollo hunter x hunter #chrollo hxh #chrollo lucilfer #chrollo #chrollo x y/n #hxh illumi #illumi x reader #illumi #illumi zoldyck #hisoka x reader #hisoka morrow x reader #hisoka #hisoka morow #hisoka morrow #hxh 2011 #hxh 1999 #hxh

[nakachuchu]

Yearly Rut | Sub!Bunny!Hinata Shoyo (nsfw)

SYNOPSIS: Beast-people AU - Shoyo gets scared after a horror movie and wants to sleep with you.

READER: female

INCLUDES: mommy kink, mother figure, humping, somnophilia, sub/dom, femdom, praise, pet/master

WORDS: 1240

WRITTEN: 04/17/2021

NOTES: This started off with a thrist bc of @iwas-baby and now it's a fic 😋 I also blame @dilfhub bc I cant stop thinking about pet!haikyu men

Shoyo didn't grow up with a mother or a family. His parents and his sister were adopted before him, leaving him alone in the pet shop.

When you adopted him, you became his mother figure. You were the only constant in his life and he absolutely adored you.

He followed you around everywhere you went. If you needed to use the bathroom? He was going to follow you inside and wait in the corner. If you were cooking? He'd be waiting by his dinner bowl. If you were gardening? He'd be playing on the grass.

The only place he couldn't follow you to was your job. He would have hated it much more if he didn't sleep during the day. He was able to waste at least six hours by sleeping, and he would have slept more if he didn't wake up because of how much he missed you.

You worked eight hours a day, so he'd have to waste another two hours until you came back home. He usually pouted and huffed while curling up in your bed.

He technically wasn't allowed in your bed because he had a problem with messing up your bed by biting your blankets out of frustration, but he missed your scent.

"Shoyo, I'm home!"

You could hear the thumping of his feet as he rounded the corner, sliding and hopping toward you.

You laughed as you opened your arms just in time for him to collide against your body and wrap his arms around you.

His ears stood up, hitting you in the face as he rubbed his nose into the crook of your neck. He made sure to scent you after a long day at work.

"Sweetie, I still have to shower first."

He frowned at that. He didn't love showers because he hated how loud it was, but he wanted to spend as much time as possible with you.

"Can I shower too?"

You kissed his ear, chuckling when they twitched. "All right, sweetie."

He grinned and turned around, running excitedly to the bathroom while taking off his clothes—which was a simple oversized t-shirt. You could see his cute, puffy tail wiggling before he disappeared around the corner.

You followed after him and took off your clothes before turning the shower on. You washed his back and his hair for him, and he did the same for you in return.

Once the two of you were finished showering, you headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Shoyo sat by his dinner bowl the whole time, patiently waiting until you were finished making your meal so that the two of you could eat together.

His ears swayed side to side as he ate his meal with you at the table. He asked you the same questions he always did each time.

"How was work, Y/N? Did you miss me? Did you eat lunch? Did anything fun happen? Did anyone touch you?"

And you always answered the same way. "Work was good, Shoyo. I always miss you. Yes, I ate lunch. Work is never fun. I shook hands with a client today."

Once dinner was over, the two of you retreated to the living room to watch a movie before bedtime.

"I wanna watch a horror movie today!" he exclaimed.

You leaned in and kissed the tip of his nose. He smiled and held onto your waist, fists clenching around your pajama shirt.

"Are you sure? I don't want you getting scared later," you said.

He pouted. "I'm a big boy! I can handle it."

"Okay, sweetie, whatever you say."

And so, you scrolled through Netflix to find a horror movie to watch. Once you picked one and turned off the lights, the two of you settled down on the couch.

Shoyo sat next to you and there was a blanket covering the two of you. He was holding your hand, eyes trained intently on the television screen.

He would jump and his ears would flop down when a jump scare appeared, then he would cling onto you until he felt safe again. The cycle repeated itself, but you didn't mind.

"Y/N," he whined. "Can I sleep you with tonight?"

"I told you you would get scared, baby."

He pouted. "I know. 'm sorry."

You placed your hand on his head and gently rubbed his ears. He leaned into your touch, humming softly.

"Okay, let's go to sleep," you whispered.

He smiled and held onto your hand as you turned off the television and led him to the bathroom to brush your teeth before going to your bedroom.

He hopped onto your bed and slid under the covers, then waited for you to join him. You slid into bed and he covered you with the blanket before cuddling up against you.

"Good night," you whispered.

"Good night. I love you," he murmured.

"I love you too, sweetie."

The two of you slowly drifted off to sleep with Shoyo clutching your shirt tightly, afraid of the monsters under the bed.

He woke up in the middle of the night, feeling hot and sweaty. He kicked the blanket off, forgetting that he was sharing it with you.

He whined at the sight of your ass pressing against his hard cock. You were sleeping peacefully on your side, faced away from him.

He didn't know what day or month it was. He wasn't very good with numbers or keeping count, but it felt like it was time for his rut.

He panted as he gripped your hip with one hand. He started rubbing his cock against you because he couldn't help it. He was whimpering and whining, ears flopping around as he pulled your thigh back to splay across his hip. His hand now held onto your thigh, nails digging into it as he humped your ass.

With you being jostled around and the feeling of heavy breaths fanning your ear, it was no wonder you woke up.

You blinked a few times to get rid of the drowsiness. You could feel his hard cock rubbing against your ass, dampening your panties.

You looked behind you and saw his pretty tears staining his rosy cheeks that glistened in the moonlight.

"Shoyo," you called out.

He didn't even stop. He whimpered and looked at you, sniffling and crying out for his mommy.

"M-Mommy, it h-hurts," he cried.

You cooed. "I'm sorry, baby. I must have forgotten about your rut. Want some help?"

"Y-Yes, p-please."

You spread your legs and he crawled between them, pulling up his shirt to press his cock against your cunt through your panties.

He began to rub his cock against your cunt, scissoring himself with your legs. Your panties were damp because of his pre-cum and your cum.

Each time he rubbed against you, the head of his cock slid against your clit. He whimpered and sniffled, grabbing your leg to hold as support.

"M-Mommy—"

"Are you cumming? That's it. Good boy," you cooed.

He panted and his pace quickened as he sloppily thrust his hips back and forth, rubbing his cute cock against your panties.

"Nngh—"

His cum spurted out, painting your tummy in white. He panted, eyes heavy as his cock twitched.

" 'is not enough, Mommy," he whined.

You knew Shoyo could go on for hours during his rut. It didn't matter how many times he came. It was never enough.

"It's okay, sweetie," you reassured. "Mommy will help."

#haikyu x reader #haikyuu x reader #hinata shoyo x reader

[downwiththemutantnjnjaturtles]

We Met Within This Screen (chapt. 5)

[Donnie x fem reader]

sfw, chapt. 4 here

Just as Donnie had predicted, the night air was cold on his scales. Right upon leaving, Mikey brought up to Leo going in pairs this time, to cover more ground, he said. An extra thorough patrol. Donnie honestly couldn't make up his mind and so by then he was flying by the seat of his pants, not objecting to Mikey's plan, but also not agreeing. He doubted Leo would be convinced, anyway. They didn't do duo patrols that often. 

"I was thinking we could split up this time, you know, me and Donnie, you and Raph?" suggested Mikey, closing the manhole behind himself.

"I thought you liked it when we're all together," Leo commented. 

Donnie shot Mikey a look, trying to tell him to cool it, but he shrugged, "Come on, it'll be like some kind of training or...something," Mikey went behind Leo and shook his shoulders, "aren't you into that?"

Internally, Donnie facepalmed. Unless he actively tried to stop this, it was going to happen, wasn't it? One way or another, probably; it all depended on how Leo was feeling that night. Raph was indifferent. He didn't care whether they were all together or in pairs, just that he got to flex his combat skills some. If he could, he'd go out and do it on his own, even. 

Leo looked around, considering Mikey's suggestion. "Okay," he agreed, eventually. "You and Donnie take East, Raph and I will cover the usual route and then—" 

"No," Mikey interjected. Both Leo and Raph's brows furrowed as they stared at their brother. He motioned toward Donnie, "Me and Donnie can take that, you guys just go on ahead," he smiled. "You know I like checking out the skatepark!" 

"No skating," Leo said. 

"I'll just watch whoever's there, then." He pouted.

Raph snorted. "Yeah, make sure he actually pays attention, Donnie." 

"As usual," Donnie sighed, and looked at Leo. 

"Well, what do you think, Don?" 

The decision is up to me? 

Turns out it was his all along, but he wanted to feign innocence in saying that Mikey was the one to drag him through it. Easier to not take responsibility and let life happen at you rather than making a conscious effort, at times. 

"I guess we can do that," Donnie answered reluctantly. He could have said no. Why didn't he? In the corner of his eye, he saw Mikey beam, giving him a discreet thumbs up. 

"Alright, meet back here by four AM, and if either of you run into big trouble, call. We'll come," Leo said. "Same for us."

"Yeah, we'll holler for ya," added Raph dismissively. "And nah, a big dog doesn't count as trouble, Mikey." He sounded gruff, but in actuality, he was still chuckling to himself over that years later. After they got over being annoyed that he had called them from that far while they were on a supply run. Chased by a junkyard dog—some of their least favorite parts about visiting those places. 

"Hey, it was mean! And way fast!" Mikey protested as they parted ways, them taking to the East and red and blue the opposite way. 

As per course, Donnie and Mikey took their normal route, and his heart skipped a beat when they met the scene of their last run-in with criminals. Not because of them, no, but because of the familiar apartment building that was now more intimidating than he'd expected. They circled the area like they normally would have, but Mikey came to stop them on a roof just opposite of the complex, eyes searching each window. Obscured by the height of the building, he sat on the edge. 

Donnie didn't know what to do with himself. He stood back a good ten feet, somehow paranoid of being spotted even though he knew it was not possible from their angle in the complex. Mikey was comfortable, and weirdly at peace as he sat there quietly on the edge, assumed to be waiting for his brother to make a move. But Donnie was stuck in place. 

"What are you waiting for, D?" 

The sudden question broke him from his stillness. It was true; he didn't know what he was waiting for. 

"I—I don't know what you want me to do, what are you thinking?" Donnie asked in return, stepping back a little further as he noticed movement behind the curtains of a lit window. 

"Get your phone out and talk to her," Mikey told him, waving his hand at the apartments. "What did we come out here for if you aren't gonna make it right, bro? Do some smooth talk, tell her you're sorry and you wanna get to know her better…"

"This is absolutely a ridiculous plan," Donnie said, though as if his hands had thought of their own, they reached for his phone, and a moment later he was looking at the messages. Still nothing. Radio silence on both of their ends. How would he approach it? "I'm sorry I went from hot to cold so fast. Please talk to me again." Too strong. "Sorry, can we get a redo?" Too casual. "I'd like to apologise for being a jerk." Okay, that's just not good. Reconciling was going to be as difficult as he'd thought it would be. 

Mikey came over and looked at his phone screen and his brother floundering, thumbs stuttering across the keyboard, deleting the text, retyping it over and over again for perfection where he wasn't going to find any–

"I got this, let Love Doctor Mikey handle it," he said, taking the phone right from Donnie's hand. 

"You've never been in a relationship, not even talked to anyone, how would you—" 

Mikey shushed him. Donnie was going to snatch the phone away but he spun around, draping himself over his shoulder.  "Just let me work my magic, dude!"  

Donnie couldn't watch; he had to turn away. How sure he was that Mikey was going to say something uncalled for, something weird or bone-headed, and the wait was killing him. What if she didn't even respond? Was that better than doing damage control for Mikey's shenanigans? For someone usually decisive, he could not for the life of him make up his mind about what he wanted at that very instance. 

The phone vibrated. 

Mikey cheered. "Got her on the line, now you just gotta reel 'em in," he grinned, handing the phone back to Donnie. 

"Hey :/

I thought you wanted to stop?"

Mikey kept trying to lean over to catch a glimpse of the screen, but Donnie felt that it was a personal moment, so without skipping a beat, he activated the electric current in his staff and poked it behind him into his brother's plastron. 

"Fine," Mikey whined. He stepped in one last time, "But don't hold out on me here!" 

Trying to find an graceful way to patch this all up, Donnie replied: 

"I apologise for that, and I know you probably want an explanation, but it's hard to explain

Moment of weakness? 

I guess... 

Anyway. I'm not expecting you to suddenly be cool with it, if you don't want to talk to me I understand 

Sorry."

Mikey noticed Donnie's dismal expression and he mellowed out accordingly, standing close but not putting a hand on him, nor saying anything. He didn't watch the phone, but Donnie's face and slumped shoulders. He'd thought it would have been going better by now. 

"I won't lie, I'm still confused 

But if you're going through something, I'm right here for you

Don't worry about it. Just don't give me a spook like that again, I thought it was me  

lol 

Okay it's not funny but this is a little awkward" 

Donnie's heart sank reading that. He'd made her feel bad, even question herself over his problem. Never had he wanted to make her think it was her that drove him off. 

"No, no, it was never you 

Again, I can't really explain…

Is it okay if we just try this again? 

I understand if not."

"Jeez Bo, I already said it's alright 

I WANT to keep talking to you, you're cool

So let's forget about it, yeah? 

Friends again :) "

And like that, his heart took a leap. A smile slowly spread across his face, and without looking away from the screen, grabbed Mikey by the shell, pulling him toward. "Look at this!" he exclaimed. 

"You see it too?" he quirked, pointing at the apartment complex across the road. 

Donnie paused and looked over his shoulder at him, "What?" 

On one of the balconies sat a lone girl, on her phone, and if Mikey looked hard enough, he could see a smile. Definitely a smile. 

"Ah!" yelped Donnie quietly. He scurried back against the wall of the attached building behind him, as far as he could. 

"Dude! Come on, this is perfect!" Mikey nudged him, and when he didn't hop up onto his feet, dragged his brother near the edge of the roof. Donnie was boneless but unwilling, his mind stuck on the fact that she thought he was cool. Him, cool. Was he? She didn't know even the half of it. She didn't know he was a martial artist, technically a genius, and that he'd gone against some of the worst the city had to offer. And without that, she still thought he was cool, as an average guy. 

As average as what my circumstances will allow me to be. 

Feet dragging all the way, Donnie's stomach did a flip as they met the ledge, peering carefully over it in a crouch. They were prone, watching the girl who was completely unaware of their presence. He was, simply put, enraptured, for a second there, studying her features as much as he could from where they were. The details of her face were not distinct due to the distance, but he could tell she was both nothing like he'd imagined and so much more. For once, he didn't immediately question the validity of the situation; there was no "it could be a coincidence", or "it's too unlikely that she would be out just as they were". Not right away. But it hit him when Mikey spoke. 

"You're so lucky, D," he said wistfully. "Really." Head rested on his forearm, his gaze fell on not one thing, but the whole scene, a somber smile gracing him. He was excited, happy for his brother. But deep down, Donnie knew that though Mikey wasn't envious of him in a resentful way, it had to have stung to witness such a thing unfold for someone not himself. Their youngest had always craved connection the most. He looked away from the girl, "I wasn't gonna let you throw away an awesome chance, was I?"

Releasing a heavy breath, Donnie crawled away from the edge, but his eyes remained on that balcony. It was weird to watch someone who didn't know they were being watched. Not in that context. 

"I...guess I may be," Donnie responded. But it would only get more complicated from there. His phone vibrated, breaking his trance, and the message he found read:

"Anyways, with that out of the way, what are you doing?"

Just watching you from a roof, nothing much, Donnie thought. 

"Currently out enjoying the night" 

"Isn't it kinda cold?" 

"What about you?" 

He knew what he meant, because he was there watching her as a chilled breeze rolled through, but she told him she wasn't doing anything. Only relaxing and talking to him. 

It took him a few minutes to get his bearings. To know that he now had tangible evidence that she was a girl, an ordinary person, and that said person really thought he was cool. Worth the effort. He felt exceedingly difficult for not being able to give her a rightful explanation, but comforted by the fact that he wasn't being demanded of one. He felt light. Almost weightless, with Mikey next to him instead of his other cynical, skeptical brothers. For a moment, he had nothing to worry about. 

From across the roof, he could still see the yawn escape her mouth. Probably an indicator that it was time to wrap things up. He didn't want her to stay up too late; it was already odd that she was up at such an hour, almost two AM, but glad nonetheless. 

"Are you tired?"

"Yeah

I think I'm gonna hit the hay

So goodnight, Bo

Talk to you later (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞" 

She got up, leaning on the railing which faced them. 

"I want to stay up with you but—"

Donnie sucked in a sharp breath as she looked up, just barely able to see from underneath the balcony above her. He snagged the strap on Mikey's shell and yanked him back with him away from the edge of the roof, taking cover behind the wall. 

"Shit," hissed Donnie, "do you think she saw us?" 

These shells, they make us look so big! 

"Relax, bro, even if she did, it was only a little bit. Besides, we could be anyone from this far, they don't have pigeon vision." 

"You mean 'eagle vision'?" 

"They're both birds!"

Donnie deadpanned and peeked over the wall. She'd gone in. Three minutes later, he hadn't gotten any texts yet about something weird on the rooftops, so he could finally relax, groaning lightly. "Too close," he breathed out, "Mikey, we need to go, Leo's going to notice we're not back in time if we don't hurry up and get the rest of this route done."

"Already on it," he whooped, vaulting onto the next roof.

As Donnie was scaling the wall of the attached building, he felt his phone vibrate, and curious, he checked it one last time before getting on his way.

"One question before I go

You ever see stuff you can't explain but even if you did you'd sound crazy?"

Oh, no.

"No, I don't."

Chapter 6

#donatello x reader #tmnt donnie #tmnt fanfiction #donnie x reader #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt x reader #tmnt 2016 #tmnt 2014 #tmnt bayverse #donatello #leonardo #raphael #michelangelo #fanfiction #leo #donnie #raph #mikey #tmnt

[froodycartographer]

A Small Complaint About Mapping Systems

Sasha get your head out of the way, we need to talk about maps.

So there's something that's bugged me for a while about the toad rulership structure. We are initially presented with Toad Tower, overseeing the entirety of the valley. However, we find out in Season 2 that Toad Tower is actually the South Tower, one of four. Now, the name implies that this tower oversees the whole southern quadrant. So does that mean that the entire south of the continent is contained within Frog Valley? Should be a simple answer, look at any decent topographic map and we're done. But, no, of course its not this simple, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this.

This might not be surprising to you Apple Maps users, but maps aren't truth. Especially pre-flight, maps had to make allowances for surveyor error, logistical issues, and the math problems that arise from describing a curved surface onto a flat plane. The further you go back, the more having an accurate map becomes a luxury reserved for the rich. And in the weird feudal-adjacent society that Amphibia seems to be in, we could accept that, sure. But that's an excuse, really. I mean, Hop Pop is just carrying a valley map around in Season 1, and despite how useless it is (seriously, you could have just pointed at some mountains on the horizon, you didn't need a picture that literally just shows a town surrounded by teeth to illustrate that point), we will still call it a map for the purposes of this rant.

And what does it show? That we have a valley, and contained within the valley we have Wartwood, and a tower that we will eventually learn to be the South Tower. This matches up with what we seen in Hop-Popular, where the entire valley votes for Mayor Toadstool. (By the way, Amphibia has electoral districts apparently, I don't have that rant prepared yet but Someday)

However, then we get to Reunion, where Sasha states, outright, that the toads rule over the valley. Not the valley and surrounding neighborhoods. The valley and only the valley. And this makes sense! Because otherwise how could you maintain control over regions when you are cut off from broader Amphibia for an entire winter? Even if the South Tower predates Amphibian unification, it still doesn't make sense to have an administrative base (and an incredibly important one, since we've seen that the towers process taxes) cut off from its own territory, it would be considered a necessary expense to keep a pass open all winter if taxes were on the line. So, okay, let's allow that the South Tower only controls the valley, for whatever reason. Going back to the map behind Sasha, we see that there are three other villages in the valley. Okay, sure it would be weird if Toad Tower only ruled over Wartwood, but wait! Didn't the entire valley vote for mayor? The map only says Wartwood, but it covers a pretty impressive slice of the continent. Why did these other towns get a say in the mayor of Wartwood. I considered that the position of mayor could be more akin to a governor, but let's be honest, Toadstool is a mayor of Wartwood and its surrounding farms, not of some far-off village too. It wouldn't make sense for his character. And the fact that he, an administrator, would be approached for "promotion" to Toad Tower shows that the Mayor of Wartwood is under, either directly or indirectly, the leader of Toad Tower. (Which also raises the question, would that have made Toadstool a captain? Or was Grime's military rank separate from his administrative position over the valley?) Alright, maybe it's some archaic voting system, weirder elected positions exist. But we know that the other towns have been chafing under the rule of the toads, and that they know Hop Pop stood up to tax collectors. Surely some of them would have voted for Hop Pop during the events of Hop Popular, even as a protest vote if they weren't on the revolution train yet. No, let's be honest, as far as the frogs are concerned there is one town in Frog Valley, and as far as the South Tower is concerned there are four. Something isn't adding up, and this should be a simple answer because most of what I said can make maps inaccurate are on a continental level, a single valley should be easy to have consistent maps of. But for some reason Frog Valley just can't make it happen.

Okay, originally I had a further rant about the map on the f'wagon trip and how it also doesn't make sense, but let's be honest the entire timeline of the road trip is off. In Anne Hunter they state that the journey has gone longer than expected and they've run out of food, but in Truck Stop Polly (the next episode) we see Polly ruin a massive supply of dried foodstuffs, and then two episodes later in Quarreller's Pass they imply its been two weeks since they've departed, which matches up with Hop Pop quipping in S1 how they have 2 wacky adventures a week, making the Pass as the first part of Episode 4 the start of their third week of travel. So that's a loss and I'm going to accept that the map doesn't have any use. But go look at it, it's in the first 10 seconds of Truck Stop Polly, and it doesn't match at all what I expected, either from the previously established geography or from the macroview of Amphibia we get in the title sequence.

So where does that leave me? Well, I'm assuming this is intentional. Its pretty good to cover yourself from continuity errors by being abstract in how everything is positioned relative to each other. but this is a bit gratuitous imo. I started off trying to figure out how much territory Toad Tower rules over, and now we're in a question of what even is the valley, which is a problem because the existence of this valley, specifically the mountains that make it such, are what give us the plot of season one. I don't have much expectations for season 3 to resolve this, so this is more just rambling for catharsis than anything else. But I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled, hoping that we can answer at least one of these questions come series end.

#amphibia #mapping #geography #feudal governance #what is even going on here somebody help me #frog show

[joaquinwhorres]

hoax (Ch. 1) {Sirius Black x F!OC}

SUMMARY ››››› It started out as a simple bet: who could get the girl chosen for them first? After four years of half-hearted attempts, Sirius decides it’s time to make a concerted effort to win over the notoriously undateable Florence Saise.

WORD COUNT ››››› 4,100-ish

WARNINGS ››››› Pretty much every chapter is going to have mentions of sex. Including this one.

A/N ››››› I'm so thankful to every single person who responded to my incessant "does this line make sense?" or "can you read this to tell me what you think?" Without you guys this never would have been uploaded, and I'd never already have the start of a second chapter.

Series Masterlist | Read on ff.net | Read on AO3

Florence Saise was rather convinced that she was the only person not excited to find themselves back at Hogwarts. Everyone else seemed to be coping with the looming start of the school year just fine, if the laughter and shouts that greeted her as she flung open the carriage door was any indication. It was, by all accounts that mattered, (which is to say, hers) not fair.

The blonde haired girl jumped down from the horseless carriage, landing with a heavier thump than might have been expected from her small frame. Before her, masses of students cursed up the hill chattering to one another with smiles on their faces. Not one had the same little crease between their eyebrows that threatened to turn into a full-on scowl.

It was as if every single one of them had either forgotten the bullshit that came along with living amongst their peers or were still blissfully unaware of the curse that was adolescence. Even her friends, who hopped down out of the carriage behind her, seemed too entrenched in the debate that had stretched from the train compartment to the carriage, to fully register what being back at Hogwarts meant.

"You've been quiet, Lory, what do you think?" Marlene asked, throwing an arm around Florence's shoulder as the small group of girls joined the throng of students.

"If Sebastian doesn't know what to do with his tongue when kissing, there's not much hope for him using it elsewhere. You'd do better with Roger."

"Aha!" Marlene cried out triumphantly, pointing a finger at Mary. "That makes it two for Roger, one for Sebastian, and one for giving up on boys all together," she tallied as Florence shrugged out from under her arm. Lily appeared on Florence's other side, trapping Florence in the middle of the group.

"You can't just use physical stuff as the metric for whether or not a relationship will be any good," Lily asserted. "There's more to dating than snogging and sex."

"Says the person who's never properly snogged anyone," Marlene stage whispered to Mary.

"Exactly," Lily said, perhaps a little too passionately. "And look how fulfilled I am."

Marlene shot Florence a skeptical look, and Lily reached across her to smack at Marlene's arm. This started another round of fierce debating, Lily reminding Mary that Sebastian had written her once a week all summer whereas Roger had only written four times, Marlene reminding Mary that she didn't want to die a virgin, and Dorcas reminding Mary that she never had any of these problems with her girlfriends.

Florence felt a dull needling, like a knuckle digging into the side of her head. At this rate, she was going to have a headache before they even reached the castle.

The Gryffindor strode ahead of the group, near enough that she wouldn't catch any flack for abandoning them but far enough that she could more easily drown out their bickering. She would give anything for just a single moment of peace today. Between her father and brother waking her up with their argument to Lily and Marlene's stupid battle over who Mary should date, all Florence wanted was ten minutes where she didn't get roped into playing referee.

But as she looked up ahead on the path, her eyes landing on James Potter and his crew, it seemed like peace was not in the cards for her today.

The group of boys were laughing amongst each other as they subtly enchanted trees to tap students on the shoulder or grab an unsuspecting second year. It was, objectively speaking, rather funny to witness the reactions of their various victims. One boy let out a startled shriek so loud, Florence would have expected it to come from a banshee. Another girl was attempting to fight off a branch that kept pulling at her plait. The problem with Potter and them's joke was not so much the unrest it caused amongst the students ahead of Florence.

The problem was Lily.

"You have got to be kidding me," Lily sighed, cutting Marlene off mid sentence. "What's even the point in making Remus a prefect if he's going to let his friends get away with everything?"

Before any of the girls had a chance to talk Lily down, the prefect marched up the hill with impressive speed, her hair billowing behind her.

"I am not missing this," Marlene said eagerly, grabbing Mary by the hand and tugging her up the hill with her. Dorcas and Florence shared a look and a sigh, before following them after Lily.

"Potter!" Lily shouted, and the group of boys came to an abrupt stop, nearly causing the group of Ravenclaws behind them to collide with their backs.

"Ah the dulcet tones of Lily Evans," James Potter said as he turned around to face the fuming redhead, a smirk set firmly in place.

Lily pulled up right in front of him, chest heaving from her quick trip up the hill. "You are to stop using magic at once or else I'll be forced to give you detention."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Potter said, tilting his head and allowing confusion to overtake his features. Lily's scowl deepened, clearly not buying the act. "I think you and I are both aware that it's against the rules to use magic before term starts, and we're not even at the castle yet."

Behind him, Pettigrew and Black snickered. The sound seemed to bolster James Potter's already rampant egotism as the smirk returned once more to his face.

"Unless of course, you're saying that I've enchanted you. Do you find me bewitching, Evans?" Potter asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"I think I've made it quite clear what I think of you, James Potter," Lily snapped, her hands balling into fists at her sides. "10 points from Gryffindor."

"Ah, Evans," Potter tsked, as if regretting the fact that he would have to share bad news with her. "Prefects can't take points until the start of term. Learned that fourth year," he added on, dropping the sympathetic act.

Marlene nudged Florence with her elbow and held out her hand expectantly. Florence's eyes moved from the open palm to her friend's gaze, raising an eyebrow.

"I believe you owe me a hundred galleons," Marlene informed her, a smile tugging at her lips even as she fought to remain serious. "As James Potter has just confirmed that he has, in fact, learned something in his past five years here."

"That doesn't count," Florence said dryly, slapping Marlene's palm down even as Marlene grinned at her winningly. The stare off between a seething Lily and smug James was looking very much like it was about to end in a murder. Remus Lupin must have also caught onto this because he shook his head and finally stepped forward.

"Come on, let's at least make it to the castle this year before you and Lily have a row," he appealed, making a half-decent attempt at Prefect-like behavior.

Potter turned to his friend with a magnanimous smile. "Since you asked so kindly, Moony," Potter paused, shooting Lily a look. "I'll make sure there is no more confusion about whether or not we might have been doing magic. Watch carefully, Evans. I'm putting my wand in my back pocket. Feel free to track its progress up the hill," he added with a wink.

Lily let out a disgusted noise as Marlene snorted, and Potter turned to continue back up the hill with his friends, Sirius Black playfully pushing him as he rejoined the group.

"What a wanker," Lily murmured, watching the boys go.

"Maybe, but he's looking well fit," Marlene noted, taking Potter up on his offer to make sure his wand stayed in his back pocket. "You could do a lot worse than James Potter."

Lily whirled on Marlene, emitting a scandalized,  " Marlene! "

The dark haired girl laughed and shook her head. "Oh come off it, Lils, he's smart, funny, attractive, all of which is important to you, and," she looked around before leaning forward conspiratorially. "I've heard his wandwork isn't the only magical thing he can do with his hands." Marlene wiggled her fingers at Lily, who pulled back looking so pale that for a moment, Florence thought she might actually be sick.

Which was far too hilarious not to laugh at. So she did, earning a dark look from Lily and a shiteating grin from Marlene.

Lily rounded back on Marlene before shaking her head and starting back up to the castle.  "He's not funny; he's cruel. And he's only half as smart as he thinks he is."

"So you agree he's attractive?" Marlene asked, raising an eyebrow, and Lily's face turned bright red before she managed to sputter out a:

"Looks don't mean anything!"

"She's right," Dorcas added. Contributing to the conversation for the first time with the decisiveness that the girls had come to expect from her.  "Looks don't mean anything. But being good with his hands, well…"

Lily emitted a strangled sound somewhere between disbelief and mild outrage as the rest of her friends laughed at her and moved past on their way to the castle. A small feeling in Florence's chest loosened as she walked with them, the conversation alternating between teasing Lily and debating between Roger and Sebastian. Maybe this year wouldn't be quite as bad as the past five.

Naturally, the hope of a better year was squashed the very next day.

This, of course, should have been expected. After all, the first day of classes was primarily meant for overloading students with work they weren't yet prepared for and reminding them that their very futures depended on the mastery of the material. However, those spiels were not the giveaway that this year would be more or less the same in terms of teenage bullshit as the years prior. What it really came down to was her Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

The death of her hope began the moment she walked into the classroom and was faced with an obscenely tall and lanky man, dressed in a smart tweed suit with his chin length hair tucked behind his ears. A name was written in halting cursive on the chalkboard behind him.

Oleander Fernsby.

It was a ridiculous name for what was, by all indicators, a ridiculous man.

Although, as Florence watched the way his eyes darted around the classroom, shooting away every time a student got too close to making eye contact, she began to think that perhaps ridiculous was the wrong word. It suggested a certain confidence that this man in front of her was severely lacking.

It was painful to watch really, seeing him hoist the corners of his mouth up just to seem to lose his grip and have the smile come crashing down again. Both of his hands were shoved into his pants pockets, the right one fiddling with something it found in there so that the pocket almost seemed to flutter with his nervous energy. Even as she sat down next to Marlene, Florence couldn't take her eyes off of this clear disaster waiting to happen.

"This is going to be interesting," Marlene noted with raised eyebrows as she tapped her quill tip on the desk. "Reckon he'll make it the whole year?"

"Reckon he'll make it to the end of the month?" Florence returned, and Marlene snorted.

The last of the students shuffled into the room, claiming desks next to their friends and casting skeptical looks up at the unusual choice for professor. Even Remus Lupin looked unsure about Dumbledore's choice as he sat with eyebrows raised and a slight frown on his face.

The professor cleared his throat, which was completely ineffective when it came to quelling the murmurings of students sizing him up.

"Excuse me," he said, his voice dipping down into a mumble on the last syllable. As could be expected, the class' attention remained on their own conversations.

" Merlin's beard," Dorcas muttered under her breath from behind Florence. The professor furrowed his brow, a look of resolve on his face before trying again.

"Good morning." He had added a bit of volume and force assertiveness to his voice, but it wasn't until Potter hit Black on the shoulder and gestured with his head to the professor that the talking in the room tapered off. Faced with a room of quiet students, he succeeded in finally managing a weak smile.

"Good morning," he repeated, his voice soft but steady at least. "I'm Professor Fernsby, and I'll be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."

It was hard to imagine this particular wizard ever standing up against the dark arts. He looked like he could hardly manage a boggart let alone a hag or Lethifold. Even faced with a room full of bored teenagers, he was crumbling under the pressure. Across the room Peter Pettigrew snickered, and Fernsby's expression faltered.

"I know that I am a new face here, and you've had five other professors, but I hope that together we'll have a good year this year and learn a lot."

Florence snorted and either Lily or Dorcas (probably Lily) jabbed a finger into her back in scolding.

Fernsby's smile flickered, and he paused. "Erm, yes. I know that this is your second class of the day, and it's early. The first years were all practically asleep at their desks this morning, but this is an NEWT-level class, so we will be covering rather complicated and dark material--oh! Yes, you there," Fernsby said, gesturing towards a student in the back. Florence turned, watching as Cassius Avery lowered his hand, a self-satisfied smirk already twisting at his lips.

"Can you explain what you mean by 'dark,' professor?"

The classroom went so still even Fernsby seemed to notice, his pocket fluttering once more.

"Well, we'll learn about the Unforgivable Curses. How to battle Inferi--"

"Will we be learning more about the Dark Arts themselves?" Avery interrupted, tilting back his chair so that it leaned against Thaddeus Nott's desk.

Fernsby's eyes flicked around the classroom as if looking for help from one of the students, but everyone remained still and quiet, watching to see what would happen. Florence set her jaw as she looked back at Avery who was looking rather smug. Beside him there was a glint in Thomas Mulciber's eye as if he were watching an animal fall into a trap.  "I'm not sure that would be entirely appropriate--" Fernsby started.

"I was just thinking that we should know how the Dark Arts work and such so we can properly defend ourselves?" Avery clarified and beside him Mulciber smirked. Florence's hand curled into a fist on her desk. "I mean, you want us to be prepared, don't you, professor? We need to know--"

"Avery you smarmy little git, would you shut up?" Florence snapped, and the eyes of the class shot over to her. But she was just looking at Avery whose eyes flashed angrily. "Even he's not thick enough to teach you how to curse someone. Go ask your dad. Or is he too busy shagging his cousin--I'm sorry, your mum."

There was a beat of silence as the whole class seemed to collectively hold its breath before across the room, Sirius Black broke out into a loud barking laughter, muffling whatever Avery snarled at Florence.

"Pardon?" she asked, arching an eyebrow, and though he opened his mouth to say it again, it wasn't Avery's voice, but Fernsby's she heard next.

"That is--that is quite enough," the professor finally interjected, and Florence turned around, ready for her detention or points to be docked, but as Fernsby's eyes landed on her and she met them with a fierce unrepentance, he wet his lips and moved on.

"Merlin's beard," Marlene whispered to Florence. "Been holding onto that for a while, haven't you?"

"After what he and Mulciber did last year to Mary, he's lucky I haven't set him on fire," Florence mumbled. "Last thing we need is that lot learning about the Dark Arts so they can practice on muggleborns."

Marlene nodded her agreement, and the two focused back on Fernsby who was presently taking attendance.

Class continued and with it the growing feeling that someone was attempting to stare daggers into the back of her head. When she finally turned with a raised eyebrow, she found that not only was Avery glaring at her, but Mulciber and Nott had also joined in their friend's effort. She gave the three of them the most saccharine smile she could muster and lifted a middle finger towards them. When she turned back to Fernsby, he was in the middle of listing his credentials and previous places of employment..

He had just finished on how formative his time in the Azkaban processing unit was when James Potter began to loudly pack up his bag. "And erm..." Professor Fernsby stopped, watching as Potter corked his inkwell and dropped it into his bag. "Mr….Potter was it?"

Potter looked up, "Oh, I'm sorry, Professor," he said, his face genuinely apologetic. "I thought you were about done."

"Done?" Fernsby asked. While the word might have cracked like a whip from McGonagall or Kettleburn, instead it came out rather helpless as he looked appealingly to Potter for an explanation.

"It's just that usually professors keep class short the first. To get us acclimated to the school schedule again, you know."

Fernsby said nothing, looking out over the class to see nods of assent. Even Dorcas kept quiet.

"He's right," Marlene said from next to her, and Florence's attention whipped to her friend. "Although usually they make us stay at least half the block," she added with a reproachful look to James.

"Ah, well, I suppose here is as good a place to stop as any," Professor Fernsby said. "Come ready to learn, as I will be picking up the pace as the year progresses."

He seemed rather proud of himself, Florence thought as she along with her classmates scurried to pack up their books before anyone could possibly grow a guilty conscience. He probably thought the early dismissal was a sign of kindness and not what it really was: blood in the water.

Shouldering her bag, Florence headed out behind Lily and Dorcas into the hallway.

"We're not going to learn anything all year," Dorcas moaned, tossing her head back to stare miserably at the ceiling.

"It's going to be an easy O at least," Lily sighed. "And besides, next year it'll be someone new. Maybe they'll be able to catch us up."

Dorcas wilted a little, head coming back down to face forward with a pout tugging down her lips. "I suppose."

Marlene looked disbelievingly at the group. "Are we really not going to talk about Avery?"

"Do we have to?" Mary asked with a shudder. "He's so creepy. "

"That whole group is destined for Azkaban," Lily murmured, shaking her head.

"Not if Lory gets to them first," Marlene countered, smirking.

Florence shrugged, "I already told you I didn't think Fernsby had the backbone to tell him no."

"Right, but going after his dad like that?" Marlene pressed, raising her eyebrows at Florence as if to prompt an explanation.

"Everyone knows the Sacred Twenty-Eight's inbred," a voice drawled from behind the group. Lily rolled her eyes, letting out an annoyed sigh through her nose as Potter, Black, Remus, and Pettigrew interspersed themselves amongst the girls. "After all, you're looking at someone whose father shagged his cousin. Thankfully all of the negative effects of my parents' decision to procreate saved themselves for Regulus. Florence snorted at this, and Marlene barked out a laugh. Even Lily's lips quirked up into a reluctant half smile. "I have to say, Saise, that was a thing of sheer beauty in there. I think I might have even fallen in love with you a little," Black grinned.

Florence rolled her eyes and shook her head, even as the grin stayed on her lips. "I hope you're prepared for heartbreak then. Pettigrew, I'd start collecting chocolate frogs now, he's going to need them."

A quick confusion crossed Pettigrew's face as he darted a glance at Black, as if to ask if Florence was serious. But his friend was too busy throwing a hand over his heart and staggering back as if wounded.

"Should I get some chocolate frogs too, Evans? Or are you planning on sparing my heart this year?" Potter asked, grinning winsomely at Lily.

She gave him a tight lipped grin back, tilting her head towards him. "You should get as many as you can and stick them in your bag. That way, every time you have even the faintest impulse to ask me out, you can take one out and shove it in your mouth to save us both the trouble."

With that, Lily brushed her hair over her shoulder and moved forward to link arms with Florence, turning them both around to march down the hallway and away from their heartbroken boys.

"I think there was progress," James said, piling potatoes onto his plate once the boys had sat down for lunch. The past forty-five minutes that they should have spent in Defense Against the Dark Arts had been devoted instead to James' eternal pining over Lily Evans. "She didn't call me any names."

"Didn't need to, mate," Sirius said, snagging the serving spoon from James. "Her face and tone of voice largely did that for her."

"Yeah? What'd it say?" James asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched Sirius spoon potatoes next to his sausage.

Sirius straightened up in his seat, pointing the spoon at James. "It said, James Potter, you are a complete tosser," he said, mimicking Lily's high voice, much to the amusement of both Remus and Peter.

James looked down the table to where Lily tossed her head back laughing at something Mary Macdonald said. The lack of outright animosity had been progress, but she still didn't look at him with even a fraction of the warmth she gave to everyone else. Lily caught sight of him and the smile slid from her face, settling into a look of pure disdain before she turned back to her friends and said something that made Marlene McKinnon almost spit out her pumpkin juice.

"Well at least I can say I'm trying," James protested, turning back to face Sirius.

"Trying what? To get Lily Evans to hex your arse halfway 'cross the country?" Sirius asked. "Because that is about the only thing you're set to succeed at with her."

James scoffed before growing serious.  "I'm trying to win the bet."

Sirius raised his eyebrows at his best friend, and even Peter seemed to have checked back in to the conversation. Remus however let out a groan and set down the book he'd been reading so he didn't have to listen to James going on about Lily. "I thought you two had given that up."

"It was just on hiatus for a while," Sirius dismissed, picking up his fork to dig into his lunch. "Because unlike Prongs, I don't have to spend years just to get Saise to tolerate being in the same room as me."

"And yet," James said, picking up his own fork. "You still haven't won."

"Well, I've been a bit too busy with other matters to be worried much about the birds?"

"Like what?" Remus asked, picking his book back up.

"Largely, being the family disappointment," Sirius remarked with some finality as he bit into his sausage.

James just laughed at this. "Please, you have about as much interest in dating as Saise does. One of you is going to call it quotes before you can even go public--let alone last two weeks."

"All I'm saying is that at least Saise doesn't actively detest the very sight of me," Sirius shrugged, taking another bite of his food.

"I'm making progress."

"Of course you are, mate," Sirius nodded, navigating the words around the mouthful of food.

James shook his head at Sirius, "Padfoot, when it comes right down to it , I don't even think you could get Saise out of her knickers, let alone date you."

Sirius scoffed. "Everyone can get her out of her knickers. Everyone practically has gotten Saise out of her knickers."

Remus looked up from his book, a frown tugging at his features. "That's an ugly thing to say Sirius," he scolded, but Sirius looked completely unrepentant.

"It's not like it's a secret that practically our entire year has shagged Florence. Everyone knows what she's like," Peter shrugged.

"Exactly. Thank you, Wormtail," Sirius said. "But if you're so certain I can't do it, Prongs, then you'd have no problem making a little add on to our bet. Right?"

"No problem at all," James said, smugly.

"Great," Sirius said, leaning forward on his elbows. "Let's talk terms."

#sirius black #sirius black x oc #sirius black x f!oc #sirius black fic #harry potter fandom #hp fandom #hp #harry potter fic #marauders oc #marauders fic #ship: florius #oc: florence saise #series: hoax #Marauders #marauders fanfiction

[degenerate-otaku]

Hey guys! Have another Future Gohan and Trunks oneshot!

TW: Self harm reference

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13896221/1/Before-the-Rain

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

Trunks buried his face in his master's chest, holding his hand that he had left, sobbing quietly.

 

“What's up, little bro?” A weary voice spoke.

Trunks lifted his head, the tears glistening in his eyes as he saw his smile.

“Gohan? You're awake?!” He blinked, not believing it, then hugged him tightly.

 

“Ow!” Gohan winced, making Trunks back away.

“Sorry...” The boy didn't look him in the eye.

 

“Where's your mom?” Gohan asked, slowly sitting up, Trunks giving him some water.

“She's...not home, but she'll be glad to see you.” The teen, laughed, then bit his nails, avoiding his true feelings.

“How long was I out?” Gohan observed his bandages and the machinery monitoring him.

“Few days...” Trunks shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed, still fiddling with his jumper and biting his nails.

 

“What's up?” Gohan knew when Trunks did that it meant he was anxious.

“Nothing...just...surprised.” The boy weakly smiled, then turned to look at the clock.

“Hey...we said no more lies, remember?” He reminded Trunks of their promise.

“I know...It's just...” The teen Demi-Saiyan's voice cracked as he sobbed again,

“It was my fault! If I wasn't so stubborn on going with you, you would have been ok, but now your arm is gone and-”

 

"Woah, woah! Slow down...I'm still tired, you know?“ He smiled, as if it wasn't that serious. Trunks felt like many downplayed his problems, saying he was only a kid.

 

”Look...please don't blame yourself.“ His voice was as soft as the lavender locks of hair his hand ruffled through.

”No one can see the future...hindsight really sucks, huh?“ 

Gohan pulled his student a bit closer and adjusted himself slowly, the boy helping him.

 

”Yeah...but I should have trained harder to be more useful!“ Trunks clenched his fists, almost drawing blood from them.

”Hey, now...thinking like that won't help...especially now its over.“ He reached out, grabbing hold of his wrist.

 

”Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. Remember...just try to be a little bit better than you were yesterday. You can't get stronger than them in the space of a few months, that's for sure.“ Gohan's words of wisdom were strangely comforting.

 

”I know...but still...“ Trunks rubbed his tired eyes that had visible dark circles.

”I get it...anyway,“ He tried to move things onto a lighter note.

”At least we're both alive. Here, let me see your injuries.“ He slid Trunks' stretched jumper sleeve over his forearm and saw the many bandages.

 

Trunks inwardly panicked, hoping he'd move on.

”Are...these all from the battle?“ Gohan asked, full of concern for his brother, who had been struggling with bouts of depression. He knew of his coping mechanisms.

 

”Uh, yeah.“ Trunks lied and Gohan saw straight through it.

”Hey. Remember: No lies.“ He gazed into the boy's sapphire eyes and it all came out from the teen,

”I-I'm sorry, I just was so alone, and I just fucking hate myself, I'm such an idiot, please-“ 

 

”Trunks.“ He grasped the boy's left shoulder with his right, and only, hand.

”You aren't in trouble.“ He told him, making Trunks sigh relievedly,

”Really? So, you won't tell my mom?“ 

”Well...I will, but that's just so she knows what's going on.“ He answered, trying to calm him.

 

”But she'll worry about me!“ Trunks argued.

”She's your mom...she's always gonna worry. By telling her you aren't coping, you aren't making her life worse...it means she gets to help you...Bulma loves helping people.“ He responded.

 

Trunks paused.

”Well, I guess...that's right...it's just hard to open up about it.“ He had another look at his cut up arms.

”I'll help you, don't worry...“ He smiled, offering Trunks a space on the bed. He hopped on, holding Gohan not too tightly as he stroked his hair.

 

”You're the one comforting me...but you're the one who nearly died.“ He sighed.

”Trunks, it doesn't matter to me...what matters is...you're safe and well. I really love you, you know?“ Gohan reminded him.

 

”Yeah...I know...I love you too...I was so scared, I thought you were gonna...“ Trunks worried again.

”I know...let's just stop thinking about it...I'm tired now, I'm sure you must be too.“ Gohan noticed the state the boy seemed to be in.

 

”Let's just go to sleep, alright?“ He suggested and his student nodded.

Soon, the pair were asleep, safe and warm in each other's embrace.

 

'Gohan...I'm not gonna let you down again!' 

Trunks thought before succumbing to sleep's comforting hold. 

#dbz #dragon ball z #dragon ball #trunks #future trunks #gohan #son gohan #trunks briefs #future gohan #fanfiction #ao3 #ff.net #dbz fanfiction #angst #tw: self harm #tw

[thejosh1980]

Little Wing

(Trigger warning: animal/pet death)

Today, right now, I am sat at the spot where Mijo felt his last sunrise, just 24 hours ago.

He was 28 weeks old, he spent 20 of those weeks with me, and my family. He was my family. He was thrust upon me by my wife and mum, who knew Mijo would be the kind of birthday present I'd want, but could never ask for.

When he arrived he was unexpected. Straight from the car, into my bedroom, onto my lap, what a surprise, it was love at first sight. Those eyes, that tail, that round belly, the fur, I was all in. I had to say goodbye to 4 beautiful pets whom I loved dearly when I left Germany, so then and there I made a quiet, whisper promise to Mijo;

“I'll never ever leave you”...

We began like any other Daddy and cat story, playing, eating, talking to each other. We may have made a few messes on the bed learning to potty train, but I couldn't really fault him, he was perfect. He loved cuddles, got under our feet all the time, talked to us a lot and wanted to be a part of everything happening around the house.

He meowed very loudly too. Sometimes he'd meow from the next room sounding lost and worried. That's when I started to realized something was very different about him. It took about 2 weeks, but then I realized, he was totally deaf!!!! No vacuum cleaner, loud bangs, claps, or door slams could get his attention. When he meowed loudly, it was either because he had to, to feel himself meowing in his head, or he was missing us and could smell us, but not hear us in the next room. I had never had a cat who couldn't hear me call their name, so this was going to be a challenge.

Mijo accepted that challenge...

In a short time I figured out how to clicker train him, using a torch. I love training cats. Most folks think it's impossible, but I've taught cats to fetch, sit and come on command in the past.... So, pretty soon I had him jumping up, over and across chairs and tables on cue. I also learnt a way to “call” him; assuming he could see me, if I knelt down and tapped my leg, he'd come a running. Every time. We had it all figured out.

Grab a harness and a lead, and off we go, walking around the garden. This wasn't a cat, this was a dog. He had very little fear, I mean, he couldn't even hear the birds making a racket or the car driving by or the dog barking next door. He was fixated on me.

I bought him a blow up boat, to use in the pool, to help him get used to floating on water. It was a huge boat for his little size, but he'd hop in, and I'd “treat” him while he got used to the motion. The plan was to build him up to a real boat, or canoe or SUP. I could imagine him walking on water.

He was also great with other cats, so I could take him to visit his cousin and they'd play all day (if we'd let them). He'd come with me to visit other family and then... well, then the real adventures started. Mijo and I could go to the river, the park and the beach. We also went for coffee at the busiest part in the local village, and he took it all in his stride. We took bike rides too, as he sat in a special backpack I had for him. I could hold him while skateboarding or put him on my shoulder as I walked around. He was chill, happy to see and smell his silent world.

When Alex or I came home, and he'd be in the bedroom snoozing or gazing out the window, we could come in, take off our shoes, put our stuff down, maybe run to the loo, then we could snuggle up with him, cause he hadn't heard us arrive. He would just be waiting... He'd just wait for someone to step close enough, blow on his ear, feel a vibration and then he'd meow a big BIG hello, purr and snuggle. He was a no pressure cat... But always ready for hugs and pats.

Besides being deaf, he just didn't seem like any other cat I'd had or even met...

But isn't the way it is with all pets? They're all unique.

He loved Alex. He always had a hard decision between my lap and hers, or sleeping close to one or the other. We had a son to take care of, to love and to enjoy. At the beginning, Alex wasn't sure about having a cat, she'd pretty much always been a dog person, but it didn't take long for Mijo to wrap her around his little paw. She was hooked.

We thought he was going to be grow up to become a big boy. You know, Maine Coon sized 5-6 or maybe 7 kilo. We had high hopes for a dog-like cat, big enough to take on the world. We wanted to show him the world too.

After he had his snip (desexing) in mid March, he wasn't very well, and it really traumatized all of us, we just weren't sure why he took it so badly. He was in a lot of pain, even though the operation itself was quick and really good, with no issues. He would spend the day, in his “bread loaf” position, with his nose to the ground. It was like he was conserving all his energy for when we came home or wanted his attention.

Eventually, after a few weeks he bounced back, back to being his usual self, for a while. He actually lost a lot of fur during this time, most likely due to a reaction to the antibiotics and pain killers. Where his collar and harness were, he lost all his hair. It only took a few days, a bit too quick to realize what was going on, he rarely wore the collar or harness after that. It meant we sometimes lost him in the house without his bell on to tell which room he was in, so I'd be running around turning on and off the lights to get his attention and a meow.

It was our fun game of “Mijo Polo”.

We had noticed he wasn't eating as much, and he wasn't as playful. In fact, all his toys were being ignored, and he rarely chased anything we teased him with. When we took him for playtime with his cousin, he wouldn't last as long play fighting. Something was up, we thought he'd bounce back by now.

Overall, he was a very chilled cat, having just had an operation and now with, ringworm, a tooth problem (one adult tooth was causing him problems and needed to be pulled) maybe that was why he wasn't too interested in food. Surely it wasn't bacteria, an infection or a virus in his blood.

In early May, Mijo developed ringworm, which, by the way, isn't a worm but rather a fungal infection. The vet already had us on anti fungal cream day and night. It's very unusual to get ringworm; it's all around us, but a strong immune system, actually, a decent immune system, would fight off any infection naturally. Cats generally just lick it all off their fur. Humans sometimes get it, from a scratch or a wound. It's in the soil, it's in the air.

When we got the treatment for the ringworm, we also gave him an appetite stimulant, to encourage him to eat, but it made little difference. As nothing changed, we went back to the vet a few days later, and did a hypothyroidism test; the results were borderline.

What could be going on?

At the time of his desexing operation, he was 1.7 kilos, a week later he was down to 1.5 and eventually 1.45 kilo. His body was growing a little, but his muscle and fat wasn't.

We talked to the vet and decided, even though his ringworm was infectious, the tooth had to go, sooner rather than later. It seemed logical that it was his biggest barrier to fulfilling his dietary requirements and his well being. We wanted him fattening up, growing up, and being his usual self again, ASAP. We needed to get him back on track towards good health, enough was enough.

On Monday 17th May I dropped the little guy off at the vet for the day. A check up and a tooth pull.

Before any cat gets an anesthetic, they run a simple blood test to determine if the cat is well enough. During the day we got a call that the operation couldn't happen, and that he'd have to stay in over night or longer, with meds to help him, because his red cell blood count was low. 10%. Most cats need around 40%, if there's any complication with the tooth pull, his blood may not clot.

It's official, he was very unwell.

I was at school when I got the news. I was in shock. Our little boy was that unwell? But he does eat (a little), he does walk on the lead with me, he's eating his treats... was he that unwell?

Suddenly we had to decide on some expensive tests to figure out what was wrong with him. I mean, the red blood cells were being eaten up by the white ones, but why?? We arranged the suggested tests and they kept him in over night.

I was very distraught. How can my little guy be so unwell yet behave well? With that blood count, he shouldn't be able to walk, he should be so lethargic that he can't keep his head up!! He should be in a coma.

All in all, theoretically, he should be dead.

So was it dwarfism, hypothyroidism, mycoplasma??? And and and?? Tests... Blood being taken.. Our boy in the vet over night, alone, worried, scared??? Will he make it through the night? I didn't sleep well...

On Tuesday afternoon the vet let us bring him home. His blood level was down to 9.1%. The idea was that, at least at home he'd have cuddles and love, and that might help his immune system. He was lethargic but not completely terrible. I would need to bring him in on Wednesday for another blood test, to see how he was doing.

On Wednesday, it didn't go well, Mijo had gone from 9 to 8.1% blood level. It was now becoming almost impossible to get any blood out of him. I saw how difficult it was 2 weeks earlier when he had the hypothyroid test, they had to try on both legs and his neck to get a half mil of blood! He was a champ and barely complained. But now, I couldn't imagine the pain he went through with even less blood.

He's been that sick for how long?? Why hadn't we noticed?

We were panicking.

The vet suggested we meet with a mature, more experienced doc, on Thursday. We should be able to figure something out, we had to. Each day = less blood = more chance of...

Well, I am a hopeful guy. I realize, I live on hope. I spent years hoping certain people in my life would change, or love me in a way that I feel some love. I always hope things will change for the better. I don't know why, but it's ingrained in me to feel hopelessness or hope... I think I'm never in the middle... or is that called acceptance? OK, maybe I do feel that too, eventually... But it takes a long long time...

I have videos of Mijo on Thursday 20th, he's cleaning himself in the sun, meowing and purring, happy to see me, walking around the garden with me. Full of life and adventure.

At lunch time, Mijo and I go to the vet. He is his usual cute self, always curious at the vets, and now there's a the new guy he's meeting, what an adventure.

Before he opens the cat box he said something along the lines of “Well, because his blood levels are so low, today is really about deciding if he goes to heaven or not...” I'm not sure, but I know I heard words like “heaven” and “euthanasia” early on in the consultation. Shock was setting in. I barely heard anything else he said, luckily we had Alex on the speaker phone.

Turns out, not only is our little guy deaf, he's an anomaly.

Any cat with 8.1% should be comatose. They should barely be able to walk. They certainly can't pee or poo without help and don't drink or eat much. Mijo came out of his box and sniffed around, was alert and ready to meet the new guy!!

The vet was stumped. He had never seen this before, in over 30 years...

We didn't know he was so sick, because, he was, overall, a well behaved cat. His weight he lost, sure, but he was now at least stable. He was eating, it just took a lot of creativity sometimes to spark his interest (mostly warming up meals and giving him treats).

The vet tried to explain to me, but I'm sure Alex on the phone understood it clearly, that we had very little time, well, no time. We had 3 choices that day. Go to a specialist an hour's drive away, give Mijo steroids and hope he had mycoplasma or Immune mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) or, lastly, euthanasia.

Wait???? What does that even mean??

The specialist would give him a blood transfusion, and some special custom drugs which should help him. The vet said it could cost in the 10s of thousands, and may help Mijo for a few weeks, but it's not a solution that we are sure would be long term or not.

Giving Mijo steroids would give him a fighting chance, or not... Basically it could cure or kill him. Because we aren't sure what is the cause of the low blood count, it could be IMHA, mycoplasma or something else, but it's a best educated guess at this rate. If it is the wrong choice, he may die quicker than expected.

Euthanasia, no explanation needed.

We decided on steroids. According to the vet, there was a 50/50 chance it would work. If the cause of the blood cells killing off each other was for or against steroids, we'd know soon enough. Still shocked I tried to understand it all. I'm so grateful Alex was on the line and knows this stuff through experience and study.

The idea of taking Mijo an hour's drive north to the specialist, to a cubicle, a place where we may not be with him 24/7, on the off chance that he wouldn't make it and die alone, we couldn't fathom that.

Mijo took the steroid injection like a champ, he always did injections well. He was given some antibiotics to also help. The vet said, that by Saturday we'll know if it was the right decision. We'd know if he would be getting better...

It was decided that on Monday 24th we'd go back in for a blood test to actually see if the steroids were working (cause apparently one can't really tell with Mijo's behavior, the cheeky monkey).

Mijo and I came home, and well, he ate, he was purring, sitting on my lap. The usual deal. When I went out to get the washing in, he tried to go out too, something we, as parents, have been very protective about. He doesn't go out alone, he doesn't go out without a lead or a bell. He's not an easy cat to find if he runs off, not that he has ever tried. He deaf, he can't hear cars or other dangers out there.

I promised him I'd take him out to that side of the house/garden that afternoon...

So we did, we went out, we sat down, he explored. He was well, good, better, best. He was my boy. He trusted me, I trusted him. I'm always amazed how well he walks by my side, like a dog, with loose leash... Taking my steps as cues when to walk, and when to stop.

We also met the neighbor's dog, which was a first, both were not really interested in each other... But still, Mijo knew there's a lot to live for...

Overnight he went great... Woke up with him on my chest relaxing waiting for me to get up and feed him, luckily I have a wife who had to get up for work at that moment. I remember she sang him a lullaby and held him like a baby. It was really sweet to see how much love they had for each other. Rock-a-bye Mijo...

We wanted to him feel as much love as we could. We felt that, if the steroids and antibiotics were doing their part, and we did ours, there's nothing he can't beat. And he sure felt the love...

I held him while doing some singing exercises, close to my chest. It was something we hadn't done before, and he purred. He'd look up and meow every time I stopped making vibrations. He felt it, I felt it, it was a connection.

We spent a lot of time, reading, relaxing and sitting on laps. Alex and I cuddled him, told him we loved him. He was really fighting. He was eating. He was a little more playful than in recent weeks. He wanted to live. We could feel it...

He went from eating half a packet to 1.5 packets a day, plus dry food. He always wanted treats, and I was always glad to oblige.

By Saturday he was wonder cat! Kneading... Purring... Chasing toys... Eager to hang out...

We'd overcome the problem! He was getting better. There's fight, love and life left in him. He was amazing. If it hadn't been for his ringworm (which was also healing very very well) I'd say he was perfect, especially once he put on another few grams...

We had 4 awesome days, loads of energy and love. He was never alone in the house, and rarely alone in a room. We wanted him to know, to feel, that we loved him so deeply and that all we want was him in our life, for adventures and cuddles.

On Monday morning, his appetite went down... He didn't really eat much...

We all left for the day, work and school. I think we were all worried, but he'd been so good and improved so so much, that we were sure he'd be fine. We have the blood test booked for the afternoon, I'm sure he'll pep up by then. The injection could be wearing off too...

Mijo and I went in to the vet, and his test came back at 14%!!! Damn, that's 6 points!! The vet expected 3 to be a big improvement. In fact, if he had 3 or less, euthanasia may have been the only option... Happy days! He was well. He's going to live! He'll be fine.

We're not out of the woods yet, but we are in the right direction.

All that love we lavished on him, not just in the past days, but the past 4 months. The adventures, the friends he'd made (both human and animal) the smells and sights he'd seen, the vibrations he felt, it was all coming together... He was a fighter with a lot of love to give...

We were over joyed. Really, I couldn't have been happier when I got the results. I gave a “whoop” and threw my fist in the air (I've never done that before in my life!).

We changed to tablet form steroids, as they'll be better long term, keep up the antibiotics and off we go...

But we all know, that often people and animals, when they know they are dying, they give it one last shot. And that was it... We didn't realize until Wednesday, that he wasn't actually going to get better...

Mijo stopped grooming himself, he slowly ate less and less... He became more and more lethargic, he started to sit in the “bread loaf” position with his nose on the ground, as he did after the snip, resting. We thought it was the change in steroids, and as I was at school and the girls at work, we just kept thinking he'd pep up eventually.

When I left for school Wednesday morning, he was alert, but lethargic. When I came home early to check on him, he had really changed again.

His belly was a little bloated, but he had hardly eaten. He had trouble walking, it seemed like it was a mix of muscle degradation/pain and confusion. His meowing changed to a high pitch cry, similar to that of a young kitten. He also stopped eating, he wouldn't even touch any of his tasty treats. He searched for any bit of sun to stand in, but he was looking so uncomfortable, his posture had changed, half sitting, half standing. I was grateful, when I carried him to his water bowl, that he drank a lot. He also went to the toilet, I held his tail so he didn't make a mess on himself.

We spent the afternoon outside, as the sun started to set. He loved the sun, I wanted him to feel warmth... I held him, talked to him. I don't know now many times I asked him to please hold on, please fight and that I loved him. He looked more comfortable in the sun.

I did film us walking around the pool. I am forever grateful for technology, so that I could just put my phone down, touch a button and record a moment. As we walked and talked, oblivious to the camera, I recognized a change in his breathing... I may have missed it previously, but for sure, his breath was becoming more and more labored. Every 3 or 4 breaths, he just had to try harder... His eyes were changing too... But I was sure he could recognize me, the way the vibrations from my chest reached his body and the way I smell. He would react from time to time, shifting or clawing at me.

He often touched my chest with his paw. Reaching out...

Mum and I went to the vet late Wednesday afternoon, the earliest we could. I explained it must be the change of steroids. No, it wasn't. They were the same type, it was just that he wasn't able to fight anymore. We discussed the specialist, called them and made a plan to go in first thing in the morning. I arranged for a friend to come with me, and Thursday morning bright and early, we were going up to get Mijo cured. Transfusion, drugs, you name it, we were going to do it. We had to, we told him we'd make him better.

There and then, Alex and I decided to trade in our honeymoon, you know from the wedding we had 13 months ago and still haven't done the traditional thing of a week or two away somewhere. We decided the money we had aside for that, would go to Mijo's specialist costs, because without Mijo, our honeymoon, whatever and whenever we decide to do it, wouldn't be worth doing, if he wasn't around.

I made a firm plan on how to help him through the night. We would hold him in shifts... All 3 of us... If one showered, the other held him. Dinner time, we shared the responsibility, not that we ate much anyhow. We cuddled, we talked, we purred, I would blow gently on his head... He was feeling love and he was fighting...

Because he hadn't eaten all day, we decided to try feeding him with a syringe, with success. With the tablets we were putting into his stomach, I felt he needed something else down there too... With a small syringe, he took it well, lapping up a tasty liquid treat.

When it was bed time, we put pillows around the bed, incase he fell, because he was very wobbly on his feet. He would cry out at random times, possibly from pain, but I think more from confusion. He sometimes wanted to get away from us, as we know, pets know when it's time and usually disappear, isolate.

We barely slept. I managed about 3 hours... But it was tough.. He wouldn't stay still, and eventually we put him in his little bed, near our bed... Of course he didn't stay there long.

At 4am I heard him crying... I found him under the bed... Alex woke up too... His breathing had changed a lot... Every breath was labored. He wasn't getting enough oxygen.

I laid on my back, and Mijo laid on my chest. This was how it often was, especially when I was reading... We did that until around 7am... Alex taking turns, holding him, talking to him, loving him. Mijo could barely hold himself up, he just laid in our arms... Breathing... His eyes began to glaze over...

We discussed our options, we felt the specialist was now a long shot. We didn't think he'd make the drive, he was near the end. Our little man had little fight left... And we wouldn't forgive ourselves for him dying in a foreign place. There were a lot of tears and back and forwards, including mum coming in for cuddles with the little guy at 5am...

Alex called the emergency vet, and we planned to go in at 8:30... Mijo's time had come...

When the sun comes up, if the blind is open in our bedroom, the sun shines right on through to Alex in bed, Mijo was in her arms, while she drank coffee as the sun rose.

Sometime later I took the little guy out to the pool, where we walked and talked, cuddled and loved, around and around, in the morning sun. I talked to him about all the adventures we had, riding bikes, visiting people, the beach and the river. I spent most of that hour, holding him, looking to his eyes... He gazed up, I just hope he knew it was me. I just knew he felt the vibrations of my words.

We both told him, it was OK to let go now. We were ready. But he kept on fighting for each breath... I think he was just like his Dad, always hopeful..

He last moments at home, where in the chair I'm sat in now. It gets the best light, first thing, even though it's inside the “catio”. Alex had sat down while I was walking outside, I seem to do better when I walk, and I brought him in for cuddles with her in the sun... He was bathed in sunshine, in Alex's arms... It was beautiful...

Actually getting in the car and going to the vet, was tough, but it really hit me when I walked in. I held the little guy, and just burst into middle-aged-man tears and sobbing... If you were there, you'd know I was my mother's son, cause she was sobbing too... I couldn't look anyone in the eye... I didn't understand what was going on, or about to go on...

I think I was in another place...

We went into a consult room, and I just laid the little guy down, not thinking of using the blanket we had... The vet explained the procedure and took him away for his catheter and first injection, some anesthetic? I don't know, but apparently it was the right thing, it helped with his pain.

I couldn't even look Alex or Mum in the eye... I just cried...

I still had hope...

When they came back, Mijo was wrapped in a soft blanket, what a great idea...!! He was quieter, more peaceful... The vet left to give us a moment...

He was still breathing, still fighting... I put my ear to his face, and heard him...

I kept making sure his eye lids closed from time to time. I remember back when Catalina, my little girl in Germany, needed to be anesthetized for a check up. The vet put some put liquid drops in her eyes and made her blink, so her eyes didn't dry out... So for Mijo, I did that every once in a while... I didn't want his eyes to dry up... I wanted him to be able to see me, because laying on that table, he couldn't hear me.

I begged Alex not to bring the vet back in for the final injection... I think I may have screamed something at her... I don't know... I wasn't me... I was trying to hold him in my arms, without moving him... I was trying to give him another chance...

I bawled...

I don't know if I have ever cried like that before... I thought I'd be all cried out... I thought all my tears had already left the building the previous hours and days... But there was more... a lot more... and more to come...

I know that Alex and I held hands over his body... I felt the love... I felt his warmth... his breathing... I know I cried tears onto him, there were tear drops on his lips...

I looked him in the eye as much as I could, but mostly, I cried...

I felt the liquid go into him, I felt it go around my hand into him...

I don't know much about what happened after that... I know I didn't want to leave him, I had promised him I would never do it. I regret not holding him once more... I know that at that moment, I felt the life drain out of me... I felt hope die...

I walked out, not knowing what to do, and flopped down on the grass outside... I never sit on grass, but Mijo liked it...

I managed to drive home...

That was yesterday...

Since then I've tried to rest, tried to come to grips with what has happened, tried to connect with a few friends, I've tried... I'm still trying...

This morning I got up wanting to do some sport, washing, then study and take on the day with confidence... It's a new day, I should take that opportunity to get back into my routine... It took all of 1 minute, from bed to bathroom, to be bawling... Except for the time I manage to calm down enough to type this blog, I've been crying... It's now 10am... I was awake at 6:15...

We are running out of tissues..

I felt so bad this morning, I wanted to plead with Alex not to go to work, because I just can't today. I just can't. We have discussed how she copes in these situations, and I know that's how she copes, by going to work, so I kept my trap shut. I just want her to hug me all day, so I can feel her warmth.

I cried so much on the drive to drop mum off at work this morning, she started crying too, and contemplated not going to work... She wanted to be there for me, but I told her, honestly, I don't think I'd be much company today.

I don't know the grieving process, we haven't learnt that in counseling school yet, but I do know, I'm feeling very lost... I feel very numb...

I can't explain it, and maybe that's why folks can never really explain how they feel after someone close to them, or their pet, has passed. We are just lost.

I also feel that I am grieving for my other losses in my life. It's a bit like, it's a culmination of all the others before him, plus him on top, making me feel pain like I have never experienced before.

Grief is just love, with no place to go... Alex and I talked about that quote last night. I used this quote to help me through leaving my 4 pets in Germany, I know I have to find a new place for my love, but for now, I just can't.

I know I couldn't have gotten through this without the support of my Mum and Alex...

While Mum cries at the drop of a hat, she is solid and thoughtful and loving. Alex is strong and experienced in these matters. She knew what to say, and when, even if I did yell back… Both have a lot of time and patience for me.

I know Alex and Mum feel bad, maybe even guilty, for choosing him. Mijo was a present, to give me joy and love and comfort. And he sure did, in multitudes, to all of us. I would never have gotten a cat back then, I didn't feel Alex or I were ready, we were still working through our issues with our pets in Germany.

Alex and I decided that we want Mijo home with us. He was only on this earth for 6.5 months, we expected him to be with us for 10+ years. Taken too early. Once he's cremated we'll have him in a little urn. He was so small, but if there's a little left over, we will either plant a tree with his ashes or sprinkle him down by the river, the first place he went to that was close to water.

The past day or so, I have shared what happened with some friends, classmates and family, and everyone has been so thoughtful and caring. Thank you, it's really helped to know you're all out there, thinking of the little guy. He would have loved to meet you all.

He was perfection. If someone else had gotten him, realized he was deaf, they may not have given him the adventures and life he had. Mum considers him a rescue cat...

So here I am, in the chair, his last chair in his last moments at home.

I can still smell him on my shirt. When I walk around the house, dazed, I sniff my shirt. He had a wonderful smell. The smell of love and adventure. I hope that smell lasts a life time.

I miss his warmth, his meow, which was damn loud!! I miss, that sometimes he'd get lost around the house... Or he'd lose me, around the house. He was gentle, and only bit me once, by accident, piercing my thumb a little. I miss the fact he had 1 tooth growing forward, directly out, making him a tri-toothed kitten with a protruding top lip! He took on the world without fear. I've never experienced anything like it in a cat. My girl Catalina did sit on my shoulder as I walked down the street in Germany, but Mijo, he let me go skateboarding with him, played guitar with me (he'd chew the strings) and one time, I even vacuumed his tail.

All trust. No fear.

Back when he lost all his hair around his neck and stomach after his snip operation, we were pretty concerned. Funnily enough, it grew back pretty quickly, but it grew back white, not grey. He had a ring around his neck and kind of marks on his back wrapping around to his belly. Alex googled it, and actually found out, cats can often have their hair grow back white after trauma or experiencing extremes of temperature if their hair was cut short or fell out.

About a month ago, I sent my dearest of friends, Sandra, a photo of his regrowth, and she commented looks like “little angel wings”...

Fly on little wing, fly on...

RIP Mijo Angus

12-11-2020 – 27-05-2021

Thanks for reading,

Josh

#pet #pet love #pet death #sad story #loss #griefandloss

[joezworld]

Fools in Love (8/10)

Double Date, Quadruple Header

1980

"And the last item on the agenda..." said the inspector as he assigned locomotives to trains. "There is a series of special trains going to Suddery from the mainland on this coming Sunday. 46 040, you and 35 102 will take the morning arrivals, and more engines will be assigned at a later time."

"Wow," said Delta with a healthy dose of sarcasm and faux cheer - she didn’t like this inspector and his clear bias towards steam engines. A special train from him could easily be carrying garbage. "A special! Is it a special special, or is it a really special special?"

"I hope it's a special special special, with special carriages." Bear said with equal sarcasm. "Then everything will be specially special!"

"Special has ceased to be a real word now." Duck said in a small voice while the inspector glared over the top of his spectacles.

"You will find out on Sunday." He said firmly. "Now get to work."

Bear and Delta arrived at Barrow on the front of separate trains - the Limited and the Express, to find the yard in disarray.

A seething Class 08 was shuttling back and forth while the trucks laughed at him. Bear, who had arrived second, watched as Delta didn't even try to help, and instead was mocking the 08 as he hurled insults at her, the trucks and the coaches.

This didn’t make the shunter any happier, and he began bumping and banging coaches until a particularly bold rake of third class carriages slipped their brakes on and refused to move an inch, trapping the disagreeable shunter deep inside a siding.

To make matters worse, none of the cars for the "incredibly special specials" had arrived yet. The trains were late arriving in Barrow, and the Yard Master was tearing out what little of his hair remained.

Noon arrived, and so did Edward, bringing a train of ballast wagons from Arlesburgh. "Oliver failed." He gasped, not having been remotely ready for a cross-island jaunt on a heavy train. "So this missed Bear's goods and- oh, hello Bear."

Bear grimaced. "There hasn't been a goods train yet - I'm still waiting on my special."

"Oh." Edward paled. "Well that would explain why BoCo was so frantic."

Bear and Delta winced. If a freight train was canceled it was usually folded into the next pick-up goods; BoCo was probably having to flat-shunt a quarter mile long train at each station, the poor engine.

After having a drink, Edward was drafted into helping out in the yard, and was soon sorting out the mess, although he did leave the 08 in the yards until last - the third class coaches had some choice words for him, and they were not brief!

At this point, BoCo finally arrived, or rather, his train did - Toad the brakevan was on the leading end, while a plume of steam wafted into the air from near the back.

"Mister BoCo had engine troubles." Toad explained. "So we left him at the works and Mister Henry had to push. His passengers aren’t pleased about that!"

They weren't. As Edward and the 08 sorted the massive train, the passengers swarmed out of the coaches, unsure of who to be upset at but hopping mad nonetheless.

"We've surely missed our connection!" They shouted at the stationmaster, who wrung his hands before telling them that the connection hadn't even arrived yet!

"There’s been a signal failure further up the line, " he said nervously. "So no train has been able to get through."

Strangely, this didn’t make the passengers any calmer, and Henry was forced to retreat to the sheds to escape their ire.

"Well, I suppose that this day can only get worse..." he muttered darkly as he looked out onto the empty BR line leading inland.

"What makes you say that?" Delta asked, not particularly upset that her "special" was late.

"The concert will be delayed!" Henry cried. "And I was rather looking forward to it - it isn't every day that you get to be tour support for Led Zeppelin!"

"What?" Bear was shocked. "Led Zeppelin is coming to Sodor?"

"Yes," Henry explained. "They're going to the Suddery fairgrounds. They did a show in Germany a few days ago, and they're coming here by train. I’m taking them."

"Really? The Suddery fairgrounds?" Edward asked as he shunted the last of the coaches into place. "But there's barely a gazebo there. How will they perform? It's all muddy!"

"I don't know how they plan on doing it, but my driver is certainly quite eager." Henry looked over at his driver, who was wearing an old band t-shirt over his normal work clothes.

"Make fun all you want, but I will get an autograph!" He yelled at Henry, who rolled his eyes.

"He's been like that all day."

---------

Several hours later, and the special trains still hadn't made an appearance. The stationmaster had attempted to quell the now-riotous passengers by showing a list of delayed trains to them, which did nothing but scare away Edward, who took one look at the large list of delayed goods trains and realized that the lazy 08 would try and make him shunt all of them. When nobody was looking, his crew connected him to an empty stock train and left for Peel Godred, leaving the 08 to have to work for a change.

And not a moment too soon. Edward has just barely disappeared into the distance when the BR home signal dropped, and a pair of furious Class 37s roared into the yard. Too angry for words or help, they banged and slammed their train into a siding by themselves, growled at the 08 as he brought their next train up, and seethed into the distance as fast as their wheels would carry them.

"That was ominous..." Henry said as the home signal dropped again to allow the next train into the yard.

It was... For the next 45 minutes, the yard was practically besieged by train after angry BR train - some over 4 hours late - who raced into the yard, dropped their wagons or disembarked their passengers, picked up new ones, and raced away again. The poor 08 was losing his mind as goods wagons built up around him. The three Sudrians couldn't even help - their shed was on the opposite side of the main line from the yard, and there was no time in between trains for them to wade into the fray and assist. Eventually, as a harried looking DMU rattled across the bridge to Sodor on a through train to Norramby, Bear and Delta were allowed across the main line to pick up their specials from the yard.

Bear had been given a short line of funny-looking vans, while Delta had a longer string of flatcars carrying lumpy shapes covered in tarpaulins.

Problems emerged before they were even coupled up.

"These hoses don't fit." Said one of the men as he tried to connect the brake pipes on Bear's wagons.

Several more attempts were made before the problem was found: the vans were from Germany, and used air brakes, while the two diesels used British vacuum brakes. Neither system was compatible with the other, which meant that this train would have to go without brakes.

An inspection of Delta's wagons revealed that they were also German, and had similar brake lines.

-

"How are there two separate trains from Germany?" Delta asked. "Why didn't they keep them together when they got off the ferry?"

"Ve took two different ferries." Snapped the lead flatcar. "Und ve vere suppozed to be hier three hourz ago!"

-

Hauling an unbraked train was not a huge issue - it merely required more care and a brake van - but a much bigger issue arose when a search for brake vans found only Toad.

"Well that’s torn it," Bear said. "We can't share a brakevan unless we double head our train, and I don’t know where we're even going with these."

"Actually, Mister Bear," Toad interjected as the yardmaster frantically flipped through his train orders to see if the situation could be salvaged. "If you are double-heading two normal length trains, you would need two brake vans then, to counter-act the increased weight. Standard practices." He paused to inspect the train.

"And that's enough wagons that I would recommend a second van and a second engine in the name of safety."

The yardmaster cursed and threw his clipboard to the ground - all of these special trains were going to the same station and he still didn’t have enough vans!?

"Toad, does it have to be brakevans?" Henry called from the platform. His special train had arrived on the back of the most recent passenger train, and unlike the other specials, it was fully braked. "Could we just put it on the back of my train?"

Toad inspected the train - three Pullman carriages and a baggage car. "It's very unusual Mister Henry, but it should just work!"

-

The unusual cavalcade was quickly assembled - Henry and his coaches, then Bear, his wagons, Delta's wagons, Delta herself, and then Toad. This ensured that the unbraked wagons wouldn't slam together and cause trouble, while also providing enough braking power for the entire train.

The unusual makeup of the train attracted the attention of its passengers as well, and the members of Led Zeppelin came out to look at what was going on.

"You know that Rod is going to lose it when he hears about this?" One of them remarked.

"Oh yeah he will. That paint's not prototypical, oh no!" Another man with long blond hair said mockingly as he snapped pictures of Delta and Toad.

"Hey!" Said Delta. "My paint looks amazing!"

The rocker held his hands up. "I mean no disrespect, it's just that one of our friends is into really accurate model trains, and he's going to flip when he sees these pictures!"

"Oh," Delta blushed a little. "Well make sure to get my good side, which is all of my sides!"

The man laughed as he went down the platform to get more pictures.

"Excuse me, Mister Plant?" Toad asked as he came near. "Will you be performing Stairway at tonight's show?"

Robert Plant blinked. "Why yes we are! Are you a fan?" He asked the brake van.

"A little bit sir."

"Well I'll be! We have fans everywhere!"

---

Eventually, the strange train rumbled out of Barrow yard and across the bridge into Sodor.

It was slow going - they were using the path cleared for Henry's train, and it had been timetabled for a much faster speed than the unbraked wagons were allowed to travel at.

By the time they had arrived at Kildane, they were running quite behind even the most generous schedule, and had to wait for other trains to pass.

The electric branch had just received new electric locomotives, but they were nowhere to be seen. Edward was there however, sitting in the yard with a dazed look on his face.

"They're very chatty." He said, sounding quite overwhelmed.

After waiting at the station for about ten minutes, the station master came out and spoke to Henry's driver.

"We need this train taken to Suddery." he said, pointing to a line of ten wagons loaded with aluminum.

"You do know this is a special, right?" Henry’s driver protested. "We can't stop to pick up more cars at every station! Have Edward do it!"

"He can't. Whatever foul-up the mainland is doing has thrown off the schedule for the entire region. There isn't another path until nightfall.” He paused. “You'd probably need to take Edward with you as well, considering that he needs to be in Wellsworth by four."

The stationmaster had phrased this like a request, but it was actually a demand, and so the unusual train got even longer, with Edward and the (thankfully braked) wagons now in front of Henry. On the platform, the members of Led Zeppelin were taking a huge number of photographs, and one - Henry thought his driver had said his name was Jimmy - was at a payphone on the platform, describing the train to a friend. From the sounds of it, the friend was very displeased at the amount of work it would take to recreate this scene on his model railway.

-

After leaving Kildane, there were mercifully no more stops until Wellsworth, where Edward was uncoupled from the train.

Henry quickly realized that there was a problem as he tried to move the train out of the yard. "I can't see anything!" He called back to his driver.

It was true. The wagons stretched so far in front of Henry that it made seeing the rails ahead almost impossible.

Considering that all the aluminum wagons and the Pullman coaches were vacuum braked, it was decided to uncouple Henry and put him in front of the wagons.

This plan was working well, until:

"The coupling is stuck!" Shouted Sean the driver from between Henry and the lead coach.

The coupling links had jammed together at some point, and it would take heavy tools to separate them - heavy tools that weren't on hand, and more importantly, would have broken the links on the chain, meaning that they wouldn’t be able to couple the train back up again!

To make matters worse, neither of the diesels could be attached, as the station at Wellsworth had a single track leading onto the branch from the main line, with the yard beyond it. There was no way for either diesel to reach the front of the train.

Henry, having accepted that this day was going to be one of the longest ones in his life, sighed. "Am I just going to have to go very slow then? Will Led Zeppelin still be popular by the time we get to Suddery?"

"Very funny." His driver said as he tried to think of another way. "We can't even do that - we'd end up delaying Edward's commuter train, and that's about the only thing that hasn't been late tod-"

He was cut off as James clattered into the yard tender-first. "Those menaces at the docks blocked the turntable!" He growled as he was uncoupled from a rake of China Clay wagons, leaving little doubt as to the identity of the menaces.

"Good to see you too James." Henry chuckled at his friend's distress.

"Gah! Henry? What are you doing here!" James yelped. He hadn’t seen Henry.

"Oh you know, just being incredibly late."

"Well don't let me stop you, Old Square Wheels."

"Oh you won't be a bother," Henry said as an idea flew into his smokebox. "Actually, you might be able to help us..."

-

James had no idea who Led Zeppelin was, and quite frankly didn't care, but once Delta shouted at him to show a wheel, he quickly agreed to pilot the train, and they were soon underway.

Suddery fairgrounds had its own sidings and platforms, used for when the annual livestock show takes place, and the train was unloaded in short order. James quickly shunted the aluminum wagons to the goods depot, and then he, Toad and the other engines watched as the lumps under the tarpaulins were revealed to be parts of a massive stage that was rapidly assembled by men who came pouring out of the coaches. Then massive speakers were pulled out of the enclosed wagons, while a number of wheeled cases were removed from the baggage car.

The band, feeling somewhat superfluous, waited near the engines. Bear and Henry felt bad that they weren't bigger Led Zeppelin fans, but were comforted in the fact that they at least knew something about the band, unlike some engines they knew.

Toad, meanwhile, had proved that he was a blatant liar - there was nothing 'little' about his fan status, and he knew more about some songs than the band themselves!

-

Eventually, the stage was built, and the band retreated from the platform to go do a sound test.

The stage was quite close to the platforms, and nobody had been allowed into the venue yet, meaning that:

"Do you lot have any requests?" Shouted Robert Plant over the speaker system.

"IMMIGRANT SONG!" Toad roared before any of the engines could even open their mouths.

-

Night fell over the fairground, and Bear was thankful that none of them were needed for other duties - the fairground was charged with an almost electric atmosphere, and it felt like something special was going to happen.

He looked to Henry at his right, and James and Delta at his left, and realized something else.

"I think," He said slowly. "That this is technically our first date."

"You're right." Henry said with shock. "It's taken us three years, but you're right."

"And ours too..." said Delta quietly. "Jamie, isn't that great? We managed to go on a date!"

James blinked slowly. "Yes we did. And it's a double date at that. By accident no less. We certainly don't do things by half measures!"

He grinned. "If this concert is half as good as that last song, it might be the best first date ever."

"Oh it will be Mister James!" Shouted Toad, who was choosing to ignore whatever the engines were talking about in favor of watching the band tune their instruments.

-

The concert began shortly after 9:30, only slightly behind its posted start time.

The band came out to thunderous applause, and Jimmy Page made the introductions to the audience.

"I just want to thank you all for coming out here tonight - back in 1972, we said that we'd come out here and do a show during our last tour of the United Kingdom, but things happened, and we never made it out here. We said we'd come back, and we never go back on our promises! Even if it takes eight years!"

He paused as the audience applauded once again. "And I also want to give a special thanks to some of our audience tonight. We almost didn't make it here tonight because of some trouble with the train, but those engines back there," he pointed to Henry, Bear, Delta, and James. "Worked like mad to get us here safely and on time, so this first song is dedicated to you!"

The band immediately began playing a hard and heavy rock song. It was an incredibly powerful piece, and the engines looked at each other with glee - this was going to be a hell of a night.

-

Later

As Since I've Been Loving You echoed over the fairgrounds, James quietly whispered to Bear.

"Is this what it feels like for you?"

Bear looked over at James. Even while he directly speaking to another engine, his eyes were glued to Delta, who was enraptured by the music.

"Yes." Bear whispered back. He knew what James meant.

-

The end of the concert was approaching - or so the engines hoped, considering it was almost midnight. Kashmir had taken quite a long time, and while Toad may have been having the time of his life, the engines were feeling the late hour a bit more.

"And this song I want to dedicate - dedicate to a little brake van out there in the train yard," Robert Plant said into the microphone. "Cause he asked for it by name, which means that we've officially got fans everywhere!"

A very recognizable guitar riff began while Toad squeaked in delight.

Henry and Bear looked at each other, and then looked over at James and Delta.  The night could go on for a little bit longer - it wasn’t often you got to see someone hear Stairway to Heaven for the first time. 

#ttte #music #sodor #sodor shenangians #led zeppelin #ttte henry #ttte james #ttte edward #ttte bear #OC: Delta #ttte toad #this was the last LZ concert ever #hell of a first date #fools in love #fic #headcanon #long

[ivystjamess]

𝐈 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐈 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐌𝐘 𝐎𝐖𝐍

WHO: @jazziejazxo​ and ivy st.james. ft mentions of: davis, julien, joey, kenna, noah, sammy, otto, lemon, ruby, eli, and winnie. WHEN: fri night. 2/5. WHERE: north hills mall. WHAT: bumping into each other at the mall, jaz and ivy have a heated exchange turned dream sequence of p!nk’s ‘cuz i can leading up to new direction’s regionals competition.

IVY LIKED TO THINK SHE HAD THREE HOMES. her actual one, whatever stage she be performing on (whether that be field or actual stage) and north hills mall. since entering her teenage years, she’d spent about as much time at the mall as she did doing her morning and nightly routines. so naturally, she knew the busy and the less busy times to go on her bi-weekly shopping sprees. thursday night was always pretty mild, and ivy liked it that way. she didn’t want to deal with a bunch of other people while shopping, who would? as she stepped onto the escalator to head down to the main floor, she caught the unmistakable gaze of jaz evans standing by the fountain and glaring daggers up at her. at this realization, ivy expedited her time on the escalator by walking down to give jaz a piece of her mind.

jaz’s intentions weren’t malicious at first. part of jaz’s goal for this semester was to refocus on the things that really matter. She was helping ND win regionals, being the best possible friend/sister/daughter, and checking drama at the door. after spending an entire weekend in bed and in constant worry that her voice wouldn’t recover from her random weekend sickness, jaz was more focused on these goals than ever. she was at the mall searching for the perfect gift to thank her mom for both taking care of her all weekend and helping her prep vocally for her big competition debut. but when she spotted ivy, all of that focus went out of the window. suddenly she was feeling just as insecure as she did when vocal adrenaline stormed the auditorium. her gaze didn’t waver even as ivy picked up speed. who did she think she was?

stepping up to the other girl, ivy shrugged her purse up on to her shoulder and flashed the fakest of smiles, “jaz so funny to see you here!” she started mild before concluding with a blunt, “i like couldn’t help but notice that look you were giving me.” a signature ivy st.james condescending pout graced her lips before she continued, “all shook up from the fundraiser? or was it our performance last week?” she asked with the tilt of her head. relations between ivy and jaz hadn’t always been so tense, in fact, they had a pretty healthy relationship prior to the blow up in the green room at sectionals. jaz always encouraged ivy to maybe be a little kinder, and ivy encouraged jaz to trust her talent a little more. that was all well and good until jaz had made it personal. taking ivy’s spot as captain? doing that duet with julien on the ski trip? ivy figured maybe jaz was a little ruthless with all this effort clearly being put into making her angry or jealous and arguing with her. with all this pent up frustration toward her former friend, ivy had no problem letting venom flow off her tongue unrestrained. “well, i have to get going! good luck with like, buying new directions’ cheap-o costumes or whatever you’re doing here. hopefully you find something that can hide the inevitably horrible choreography you’re going to be doing tomorrow. bye!” and with that, ivy turned her back, ready to walk away.

in a few blunt and nasty words, ivy had somehow confirmed all of the misconceptions jaz had made about this girl. somehow this new ivy was so bitter about not getting her way at sectionals that she literally transferred schools to create a “aha i told you so” moment. jaz was suddenly extremely angry at ivy, more than just disappointed. could she have been the reason davis just stopped talking to her out of the blue? jaz’s mouth moved faster than her brain could process. “honestly, whatever, ivy. just storm out or something…it’s the only thing you’re good at.” jaz spoke, venom dripping off of her words. she rolled her eyes and turned around, mumbling. “how were we even friends?”

wondering if maybe she had been a little too harsh, ivy froze in her place. obviously she didn’t want things to be this way. but ivy made her bed and had no problem laying in it. sure, there were surges where she missed the team, or the little moments like going to the pumpkin patch with jaz. it was the same as she got her surges of missing julien. but those days were over and gone. now? they were at war. 

both still heated from the exchange, their backs still turned, suddenly rock music began sounding throughout the mall as the pair aggressively whipped around to face each other. speaking over the music, jaz began ‘Rock and Roll, Rock! And I drink more than you! And party harder than you do! And my car's faster than yours too!’ making disgusted vocalizations at each other complete with lots of eye rolls and aggressive expressions, ivy pushed past jaz and strutted to the bathroom as she sang ‘P.I.N.K. P.I.M.P I'm back again I know y'all missed me.’ 

as the bathroom door swung open, ivy was suddenly in a locker room, donning work out gear. in the locker room, ivy continued to sing as she sat down on a bench and began taping up her hands, ‘Yeah I talk shit just deal with it.’ hands now taped, ivy continued to sing hostilely, slamming locker doors shut as she passed, the final one slamming shut as she belted, ‘You can try and try you can't be me!’

at the chorus, ivy and jaz both sounded as they popped up in different locations. ivy could be seen doing a variety of activities such as jumping rope, doing laps around an empty boxing gym characterized by black and blue ropes and banners, as well as sit ups all while davis lingered in the background either timing her, egging her on, or sitting on her feet as she did her sit ups. jaz, on the otherhand, remained in a gym decorated similarly to the other one, but with red and white adornments. in work out gear similar to ivy’s jaz also did a number of training activities; push ups, speed punching a punching bag, and running up and down the stands while julien stood by encouragingly as her coach. as this training went on they sang in perfect harmony, “but it's alright, I don't give a damn, I don't play your rules, I make my own, tonight I'll do what I want 'Cause I can”

when the chorus came to an end, the focus was pulled to jaz coming up from a push up and looking directly forward and singing, “I know I'm rare, you stop and stare, You think I care, I don't You talk real loud, But you ain't saying nothing cool” rising to her feet, she passed julien and gave him a high five as she moved to grab a water bottle and continued singing. glistening with sweat and aggression in her eyes, she arrived to the end of her verse and dramatically dumped the contents of her water bottle over her head as she belted out, ‘You can try and try you can't be me!’

moving into the second chorus, ivy and jaz were suddenly in a filled arena full of cheering fans. in ivy’s corner, eli, winnie, kenna, and sammy could be spotted sporting their TEAM IVY shirts in the front row, while in jaz’s corner noah, otto, lemon, and ruby could be spotted wearing their TEAM JAZ shirts as they cheered for the impending match. cutting between ivy and jaz as they entered with davis and julien from their tunnels, their voices again joined as they eyed each other from across the arena and sang their angst out. 

jaz hopped into the actual arena first where joey stood center in a referee’s shirt, but ivy was close behind. they were both followed by their respective coaches. as the bridge arrived, joey called the competitors to the middle of the ring. ivy and jaz shrugged off their blue and red robes and made their way to the center of the ring. while joey soundlessly laid out the rules of the boxing match, ivy and jaz’s eyes narrowed as they stared each other down. jaz began singing ‘yeah I'm super thick, people say I'm much too chick’ now verbally competing, ivy tauntingly cut her off, ‘come and kiss the ring, you just might learn a couple things.’ they were equally matched though as jaz now jumped in with ‘i'm tryin' to school ya dogs--’ but was abruptly stopped by joey blowing his whistle (which sounded a lot like ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff) and signaling their conduct was disorderly. paying no mind to the ref, ivy got right back in on the action with ‘i'm your worst nightmare.’ followed by a ‘bring it we can take it there’ from jaz, then concluded with ivy belting ‘what are you scared?’ over jaz singing the chorus.

with the climax of the song behind them, the last two sets of the chorus were filled with cut scenes of ivy and jaz leaning up against the ropes and vocalizing individually, circling each other in the rink ready to strike, and retreating to their corners to talk to their coaches. occasionally, a fan or two got rowdy enough in the crowd that it cut to their equally as energized antics, but when all was said and done, ivy and jaz stood in front of the north hills mall fountain wearing their normal clothes, backs facing each other, and absolutely silent other than the water bubbling beside them.

eventually both seem to come to the conclusion, it wasn’t worth engaging with one another. it would only be trouble, and a stinging reminder of friendship lost. it was easier to say nothing at all. so ivy stuck her chin up in the air, and jaz pushed some hair behind her ears, and they carried on their separate ways. 

THE END.

#self para #jaz #davis #julien #joey #kenna #noah #sammy #otto #lemon #ruby #eli #winnie #i don't play your rules i make my own