#it isn't so much fear of injection as it is my hands don't work good and i'm scared a new angle will cause Big Problems

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

hello, absolutely love your writing, it's always such a joy seeing it!! i have a lot of fun reading your posts ^^

i have a request, and it's kinda inspired by the personality of my own farmer!OC: so, i was wondering if you could make headcanons about the bachelor(ette)s reaction with a farmer that is very emotional and cries way too easily at pretty much everything and anything — and how they would try to cheer them up? it can be in a romantic relationship, platonic, or first impressions!! any is fine :)

(P.S: if you included some Ridgeside Village characters, specially Blair, Daia and Jio i would be so, so happy ^^)

Oh my goodness thank you so much for the kind words ❤️❤️❤️ 🥺

I decided to make a separate story for each character, some already in a relationship with Farmer, some just friends. I hope you enjoy this form of headcanon!

I also added Jio and Daia, as they are the ones I've explored in the mod the best so far (well, not counting the Amethyne family). Thanks for asking, and enjoy!

SDV bachelors:

Shane:

Shane thinks Farmer is crazy, or an idiot, or both. Every time, he snaps at them and gets angry with them. Every time, after another rude remark, rivers of tears pour from Farmer's eyes and they run away. Every time, after all of this, they go back to Shane and try to talk, to become friends. And every time, Shane finds it harder and harder to chase them away. He just sighs tiredly and resigns himself to having a new friend. A vulnerable, whiny, but a friend. Shane thinks they're weird. Heh, just like himself... But a pretty good company, by the way.

Sebastian:

Sebastian kissed Farmer slowly, gently. Time seemed to have stopped altogether since they had come here, to the top of the mountain, where Zuzu City, shining with lights and billboards, was visible on the horizon. Where they were alone, where Sebastian had been brave enough to confess his love to them. Where he, under the influence of his tender feelings, took Farmer into his arms and kissed them. And was immediately frightened when he saw Farmer with tears streaming down their face. But when they told himself they were tears of happiness, Sebastian was ready to cry himself on the spot.

Alex:

Alex isn't the most tactful person himself, but even he doesn't wish harm on anyone, even if his actions aren't going to be very good. That's what happened on the beach with Farmer when Alex suddenly yelled at them to catch a grindball, but charged right into their faces. Mild worries quickly turned to panic as Farmer crying and sobbing. Thank Yoba, delicious ice cream and an ice pack from the kiosk where he works were able to calm Farmer down. Alex breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't know they were such a weakling.... No no no no, he didn't mean that! Don't cry, please- damn, he need more ice cream!

Harvey:

Harvey must admit: coming to him for a compulsory injection for illnesses in the face of intense fear of needles and doctors, was a very brave move on Farmer's part. Many patients, sensing anxiety and panic after any mention of hospitals, immediately ran away. But Farmer, though flooding the clinic floor with tears, kept a steady hand. Harvey would later steep Farmer in herbal tea to calm them down, not forgetting to praise them for their bravery and responsibility. He will also offer the help of a therapist he knows.

Sam:

Sam was returning from his parents back to his home on the farm, to his beloved spouse. Seeing the love of his life on the couch, Sam was already heading to the Farmer for his portions of hugs and kisses.... and found them crying, with headphones, from which muffled music was blaring. Sam, already knowing Farmer very well, only smiled when he saw their crying face, "Sad song again?" "Uh-huh," Farmer holds out one of the headphones to their husband. The young musician sat down next to them, putting his arm around their shoulder, listening to the lyrics of the song. "Very sad, you're right." What are they listening to? baby shark doo doo doo

Elliott:

The inhabitants of the Valley could not help but notice the Farmer standing near the Saloon, sobbing with a bouquet of flowers, together with Elliott, who was trying to comfort his interlocutor. The bouquet of flowers and Farmer's tears immediately suggested that everyone's favorite chaotic Farmer had a grief, that someone had died.... But it turned out that they were just very touched (even too much) by the attention of their, as it turned out later, boyfriend. After all, Elliott is so thoughtful, and these are their favorite flowers, and *sob*. Oh, goodness...

SDV bachelorettes:

Leah:

Oh, the talented artist experienced a whole spectrum of emotions over the course of the morning. First, enthusiasm as she added the finishing touches to her new sculpture. Then pride in the work she had accomplished. Later, the desire to give the sculpture as a gift. After that - the thrill of handing the sculpture to the surprised Farmer. Then came the anxiety, for instead of joy she saw tears on her friend's face. Then came surprise and relief when Farmer, still sobbing, thanked Leah for the beautiful gift. The red-haired girl stroked her friend's back for another five minutes, smiling broadly.

Penny:

Penny never thought that Farmer, her friend, would be crying so hard at the end of the movie "Brave little sapling". Although her own eyes were a little wet after the last scene of the movie, the red-haired girl didn't think that Farmer would sob so much. Luckily she had brought a few dry tissues with her (all of which she had to give to Farmer, by the way).

Haley:

"Ew, you're all dirty," was the phrase that became Haley's fatal mistake when she carelessly commented on the new Farmer's slightly stained clothes. The girl had to spend more than 20 minutes calming down a very vulnerable Farmer, trying to convince them that "stains like that are even in fashion!" (not too convincing). Haley didn't want to offend them, so as an apology, she offered her help to the Farmer in ordering great fashionable clothes, with discounts and promotions. Now they are crying tears of gratitude. Haley doesn't understand why she's having such bad luck today.

Emily:

When one day, visiting Emily, Farmer inquired what kind of parrot was in her room, the girl told the story of this poor bird, the broken wing, and how the feathered creature was now being treated here under Emily's care. The blue-haired girl's story was interrupted when she heard a loud sob from her companion, so Emily immediately ran to the kitchen to get napkins and tea for Farmer. She could truly understand Farmer: when that unfortunate bird banged into the window and broke its wing, Emily wanted to burst into tears, she felt sorry for the bird! But now the parrot is safe and they will help their feathered friend right? *Squawk*

Abigail:

Abigail jumped when she saw Farmer crying near the mountain lake. When she ran over to find out what was wrong, she could make out the words "bracelet," "drowned," and "sorry" from all the crying and whimpering. Oh yeah, Abby had recently given Farmer a handmade friendship bracelet. And Farmer, still crying crocodile tears, said they dropped the bracelet in the lake while fishing. Hey, no need to cry, it's no big deal. Abigail will make a new bracelet, even better! She'll even add an amethyst to decorate it!

Maru:

It's not every day that Maru gets the chance to enjoy stargazing with the love of her life (to be honest, the girl still can't believe her happiness). The vast night sky is studded with a thousand diamonds, blessing this quiet and beautiful night. And the Farmer, overwhelmed with emotion, began to let tears fall, saying how beautiful Maru is under the starry dome. After this, Maru did not hold back and her glasses became wet from her own tears as she kissed and hugged Farmer in a burst of passion. That night had become special for them.

Bonus + Ridgeside Village:

Daia:

Daia isn't surprised, though: after telling the Farmer about her orphan childhood, many people would have let at least a stingy tear fall. And though she turned the whole thing into another joke and tease, she was beyond laughing when Farmer hugged her tightly and began sobbing into her shoulder. Assassin only sighed and comforted Farmer, telling her that there was no bringing back the past, but now she had a close friend (or more?) in her life who had become the thread that connected her to the normal life she had dreamed of. It didn't help, and Farmer cried even harder. Oh my goodness, her whole shoulder is wet from their tears, hee hee!

Jio:

Jio is utterly confused and annoyed. Why the hell was Farmer crying over an accidentally squashed snail? Yes, it was a pity about the creature, but it was very small, the grass was tall, and it was already dusk, so you couldn't see anything. Stop crying! What, a funeral for a snail? Are you out of your mind? Kiwi, why are you sad? ...You two cannot be serious.... Okay, fine! Let's have a funeral for the snail. Elf doesn't understand how someone like Farmer can deal with the dangerous monsters of Ridge Falls, but whine and sobbing like a child over some snail.... Kiwi, don't even dare cry too, you're literally an assassin!

#stardew valley #sdv #ridgeside village #rsv #sdv headcanons #rsv headcanons #sdv sam #sdv shane #sdv sebastian #sdv alex #sdv harvey #sdv elliott #sdv penny #sdv maru #sdv haley #sdv emily #sdv leah #sdv abigail #rsv daia #rsv jio #thanks for asking! #rip to snail #it's 01:00 am so apologize if i did some grammar mistakes #well time to sleep 😴 #goodnight everyone

[aceofwhump]

Happy Whumpmas (੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭*🎅⛄❄️!!! You have just been snowballed by a secret whumper. Help to keep the snowball fight going by anonymously sending this to five other whumpers with a whump-related question of your choice: share a quote from your favorite whumpy book x

YAY IT'S WHUMPMAS!!! I love getting these snowballs every year! Thanks for thowing one at me!

Oh good question. Okay my first thought was to go to Reviver and it's sequel Lost Souls by Seth Patrick. They are SUCH a whumpfest. One of my favorite parts is this, from Lost Souls. Much more than a quote but you really need to read the whole part:

"You ever hear of the bullet ant, Jonah? They say its sting feels like being shot, hence the name. Trying to figure out is secret, they wondered if the jellyfish's trick couldn't be made to work alongside it. They came up with this. You know what you get? A thousand-fold increase. Don't even have to inject the stuff." Hopkins reached back to the table a moment later he returned holding a long cotton swab stick in one hand and a small glass beaker in the other. in the base of the beaker was some liquid. "When it soaks into the skin, any sensation at all makes your nerve endings scream. I've diluted this, don't worry. It's not full strength".

Hopkins dipped the cotton into the liquid and dabbed it on Jonah's cheek. For a moment it simply felt cold; then it was like fingernails digging into his skin, pushing harder, the pressure increasing until it felt like the flesh would burst. His hands struggled against the straps holding him down, urgently wanting to get at his offending skin and tear it away. Jonah heard himself start wail but all his attention was on the small piece of his cheek that was burning now, and intense, white-hot pain that--

It was gone.

Jonah breathed in short, stunned bursts. Hopkins smiled. "You see how it quickly it stops? The pain is extreme, but precise. The real beauty of it is that there's no damage, not even inflammation. It allows repeated use, even when targeting more sensitive tissue. This is best demonstrated by a single drop of a stronger solution, applied to one eye. Short-lived, but unbearable. Don't take my word for it, though." Smiling, Hopkins set the cotton swab and glass beaker on the table beside him, and flicked the intercom. "Take the word of your friend."

Jonah shook his head, the despair in his soul deepening with his fear fro Never. No, he tried to say, but it just came out as a moan, again and again, growing in volume while Hopkins turned to the inter com.

"Begin."

ISN'T THAT SO GOOD!!!!!!! And that's just one part of one of the books. There's a lot of great and very different whump in each book. Highly recommend.

#whumpmas #mod replies #ask #books #whumpy books #quotes #whumpy quotes

[clarissaexplainingitall]

finally rotating injection sites for my b12 like i am so brave and strong

#cw needles #it isn't so much fear of injection as it is my hands don't work good and i'm scared a new angle will cause Big Problems #90 degrees is so much harder than 45 for me #medical shitshow #also the needles cvs gives me suck so much ass they're fucking blunt as shit

[fang-natic]

Sing, Nightingale (part 1) - keigo tamaki x top!reader

You needed to know what he knew, but he wasn't going to give it up without a fight. Not that that matters. You know exactly what kind of fight to give him.

cw: kidnapping, noncon, bondage, mild knifeplay, orgasm denial, bdsm elements, humiliation, blackmail, drugging, needles, overstimulation, wing kink (is that what we're calling it)

an: i said i'd do it so i did. i dont know why i did it. or why it's so fucking long (gdocs says it's 1.3k, what the fuck). but i read some oneshots and did some limited browsing of the wiki so here you go. if you see something that doesn't make sense with the canon, no you don't <3

now i need to write a part 2 for this where you actually get to fuck him stupid. part 2 will probably establish reader to be amab, but you can read this part one as gn!reader

"So, who are you working with?" Hawk asks, cheeks still pink from where you'd ripped the duct tape off. "The Liberation Front? Some evil-League-offshoot? Or are you rogue?"

God, he's talkative. His wings are depleted to ragged, feathery stumps and ropes are criss-crossed over his arms and torso. He's on his knees right now, legs spread with shins bound to his thighs, and a bruise forming nicely on his cheek. Despite that, he still has the gall to mouth off.

You respond with another sharp backhand, this time across the other cheek, sending him careening to the side. "That's none of your concern," You drawl. "You're simply here to tell me what you know, and I'm here to learn it. However long that takes is up to you."

He slowly draws himself back up, shaking his head. He spits some blood onto the floor - "Damn, bit my cheek," he mutters - and looks up at you again. Still no fear in those golden eyes. A lazy grin on his abused face. "You get right to the point, huh? Damn, I like you a lot better than the other villains already."

"Then I take it that you'll be cooperative?"

"Ha, fuck no."

You kick him this time. Not hard enough to break his neck, but you catch him upside the chin, and hear the sharp clack of his teeth snapping together. His head almost droops to the floor in pain before he catches himself. "Almost felt that one."

"You're insufferable." You debate kicking him again, but you need his jaw intact so he can actually give you the info you need.

"That's what they all tell me," He laughs around the blood in his mouth. "Don't flatter yourself by thinking you're the first one to catch me. Plenty of other villains have tried the same thing, and none of them have actually made me sing. You're not gonna be very different."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

You crouch down with a knife in hand, and start the process of cutting away his clothes. He shivers as you make quick work of his shirt, and you can feel his heartbeat peak against his skin, though that doesn't actually stop the cocky lilt of his voice.

"Ah, classic, classic. The ol 'strip-and-whip' method. Most people buy me dinner first, but you're hot so I can make the exception-" He stutters a bit as you grab the waistband of his pants, jerking it upwards so you can drag the blade down the seams. "Phew, you're thorough, huh? Though I can't blame you, my ass is to die for-"

"You're rambling," You chide him. He's now entirely naked, save for his underwear and the shreds of his clothes that are still pinned do this body by the ropes. "Are you nervous, Keigo?"

"Hey now," He protests. "We're not on a first name basis. And this isn't my first rodeo, so..." He trails off as you pull at the elastic of his underwear so harshly it rips. "Whoa, okay, buy me dinner first." He laughs, but it's pitched a little higher.

"I know the kind of villains you've dealt with, Keigo." You touch the knife under his chin and tilt him up to meet his eyes. Finally, some reaction - his pupils have gone small with poorly-concealed fear. "The ones that use electricity and knives to try and make you talk. But you're a spy, aren't you? You're trained to deal with pain. I could cut you up bloody and you still wouldn't sing."

Your other hand squeezes his thigh, traveling up to his hip, tracing along the curve of his hipbone. "But I'm not like those other villains," You say, voice low and murmured right into his ear, as you press your palm against his cock, feeling it twitch as he yelps. "You're going to wish I was."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You have him blindfolded now, and still kneeling in the middle of the cold, concrete room. His cock is stiff and drooling against his abdomen, leashed by a ring at the base. Vibrators hum from where they're clipped to his nipples, and stuffed deep into his ass.

His spine jerks as you play idly with the remote, a whine breaking out behind his clenched teeth. You've been at this for a while now, and he'd been mouthy at first, telling you how this was 'a normal Saturday night for him', and 'I don't need a safeword, don't worry' and 'can I call you daddy or is that off the table.' He'd shut up at the half-hour mark when he realized he was wasting his breath, and that you weren't kidding when you said you had no time limit.

Even so, he was handling things impressively. His bottom lip was bitten raw from where he'd tried to keep quiet, and not once has he begged or pleaded. You were going to need to step things up.

You turn the vibrations down, and he relaxes for an instant, before tensing up the moment he hears your footsteps approach. "What, bored already?" He rasps, making a grin that was more like a snarl. "And here I thought I was putting on a good show."

"I'm about to make it a better one, no worries." You pull the ring off his cock in one quick motion, and it bobbles obscenely. When you lift up a corner of the blindfold, a golden, watery eye blinks back. In your other hand, you hold a syringe, courtesy of Dr. Garaki himself (or pilfered from his laboratory, more like), and he darts between looking at you and it, eying the little needle nervously. "Don't worry, little bird. This isn't a Quirk-eraser or anything like that. It's just going to make you feel things." You pause. "Feel everything, in fact."

"Get away from me," He hisses, facade cracking as you bring the needle down near his neck. You fist your hand in his hair and force his head back, exposing the smooth contour of his throat. "Don't you fucking dare-"

"Whoops," You hum, as you inject him. "Too late."

His entire body shudders, and his eyes goes wide, pupil shrinking to a thin slit, and his mouth drops open in a shaky gasp. Garaki really outdid himself with this one, because the moment you release the hero he's curling in on himself, skin already flushing brightly in the cool air.

"What did-" He groans, throat working in a dry swallow. "What did you fucking do?!"

"It's terrible, isn't it?" You watch as he writhes, trying to position himself in a way that won't make him feel the ropes that are cutting into his skin, or the grit on the floor beneath his knees. "Everything that touches you is now amplified. Like so-" And you demonstrate and dragging one finger along the base of his wing, and he shakes like a leaf, a helpless whimper falling out of his throat. "Isn't that overwhelming?"

He growls, and flaps pathetically. "Don't you fucking touch them."

Ah, that's right. You remember he'd mentioned something about that. In some talk show or another; how he could feel things through his feathers, but only the ones at the base, and how he'd sometimes spend his free time combing through them.

You reach out now and grab one of his wings, squeezing and twisting, feeling all those little feathers tickle at your palm. Keigo, on the other hand, screams as if you shot him, and-

He cums just like that. Splatters white across the gray cement and onto his own stomach. His thighs shaking with the force of it, getting rubbed pink and stinging against the floor, and the blindfold darkens around his eyes with tears. He's gasping for breath like he just finished a race.

You can't help but laugh - one rough touch, and he was undone. You reach down and squeeze his softening cock, and he spasms, shaking his head. "Wai wait wait no, too much it hurts I can't-"

"Sure you can," You twist your hand, and he chokes on air. "Or do you want to be a good boy and finally tell me what I want to know?"

His jaw clamps shut at that, and you sigh. "Guess not." You shrug, and you squeeze a little tighter to watch him cry out.

#keigo tamaki smut #keigo tamaki x reader smut #hawks x reader smut #mha smut #dark mha #top!reader #dark fantasy #dark content #tw: noncon #bottom hawks #fang-natic works #im so glad i posted this the same day of bi mineta drop hslfkjalsdkfjlaskdjflaskdhglaksdjflaksdjf #i dont know who mineta is except i know i hate him and he's apparently bi in canon now LMAOOOOOOO #im so glad i dont care about mha

[softsebnbuckystan]

Soul ties - Part 12 (Bucky Barnes au)

“Send your dreams where nobody hides

Give your tears to the tide”

Rushing to the compound felt surreal. Sam was driving as fast as he could as you were already thinking of the most efficient way to deal  with the situation. You were a doctor in biology and chemistry. Healing was a piece of cake for you. This shouldn't be any different.

"What injury did he suffer?" you asked, hiding the panic in your voice and leaving a crack in the car window to get some fresh air.

"Stab wound. It's pretty bad."

You scratched your forehead, doing your best not to give any thought to the pain Bucky was most likely going through.

"He was injected with the same serum as Steve, meaning he has the same healing process as him. One simple stab wound shouldn't be 'bad', so it has to be more than that."

Sam's grip on the stirring wheel tightened. He kept looking straight away, but he squeezed your hand once.

"Steve was freaked out. He might've overestimated the damage."

"Or underestimated. They might be super soldiers, Sam, but that doesn't make them invincible."

"I know."

"Sorry. I shouldn't be so dry. I'm just thinking. If..."

"We're almost there," he said, cutting you off. "I know the way you work, and I'm convinced you'll know what to do as soon as you see him."

The wind in your hair wasn't enough to calm you down and Sam had barely stopped the car when  you opened the door and ran to the compound. You were moving so fast your throat and lungs were burning, as you were not used to such physical exercises. You'd never been shaped for the field, nor had you ever wanted to be. You barged in the lab and put your hair up in a ponytail to keep it away from your face. Bucky was lying on a metal table :  you noticed he was pressing the side of his abdomen. Blood had stained his tight grey shirt. The blood on his face and shoulders, however, you concluded came from Steve carrying him. His eyes were open : good. After putting on sterilised gloves, you grabbed a pair of scissors and cut through his shirt. You hadn't even noticed Steve and Bruce's presence.

"Go, both of you," you told them as you assessed the wound, ignoring how Bucky's mouth was twisted with pain. "I've got this."

Bruce didn't need to be told twice : he trusted your skills with his life. It might have been Steve's case as well, but leaving his friend's side seemed harder for him to do.

"Steve, go. I won't be able to focus."

Your stern voice was what finally made him leave the room, closing the doors behind him. Bucky, still lying down, grabbed your wrist, staining the white gloves with red.

"It's bad, isn't it?" he asked.

"Nothing I can't fix," you assured him. You'd switched to working mode as soon as you'd seen him, but totally getting rid of your emotions wasn't the easiest thing to do.

"Your voice is shaking," he noted. "I.." – He let out a small grunt. – "Are you sure you're okay?"

You let out a sarcastic and nervous scoff. "Yeah, my voice is shaky but my hands are not. I'm the one who should ask if you're okay. Now shut up, unless I ask you something."

You didn't pay attention to his furrowed brows or confused look. The only thing you were looking for, while applying pressure to his wounds, was any particular sign of pain. He wasn't hiding it, unlike some of your teammates (Natasha came to your mind).

"It's deep," you explained. "Can you press this cloth for a second?"

He nodded and immediately got to it, allowing you to grab a scanner to see if any vital organs or blood canals had been severed. Locating the most damaged canal took you two seconds. You had no time for an anaesthesia ; you didn't have much doubt about Bucky's ability to bear pain. You used clamps to keep the wound open.

"This might itch," you said as you grabbed the electrocautery and applied it to the bleeding canal. You knew his face was contorted with pain, but you couldn't let your soft side win in those situations. Seeing people in pain was the hardest part of your job.

The rest of the surgery went on in silence, aside from Bucky's occasional grunt or sigh. Once you were done stitching the wound, you helped him sit up and bandaged the area. You wiped the sweat on your forehead with a towel, moving wet streaks of hair out of the way. Caring for this spectacular stab wound had taken around two hours, so you allowed yourself to drink some water before handing Bucky the bottle and tending to his other scratches. He probably didn't need this kind of medical assistance, but leaving him scathed was out of the picture.

"You need to hydrate yourself."

He took a long sip as you cleaned the multiple scratches he had on his right harm. His shoulder had taken the most of it, leading you to think he'd fallen from a higher place.

"What happened?" you finally asked. "I thought this was supposed to be an easy mission."

Now that you didn't need to focus as much and that the overall fear for Bucky's safety had passed, tears were threatening to come to your eyes.

"It was. Doesn't mean those guys weren't jerks."

"Bucky," – you carefully captured his chin between your fingers to make him look at you – "what happened?"

"Natasha got in harm's way. I knew she couldn't take it as good as me. It was the smart play."

"No, it was the bold, reckless way," you retorted. "You have no idea what Steve's call put me through. I thought..."

"Hey, I'm okay. Thanks to you," he whispered as he stroked your cheek. "I couldn't let them hurt someone who might've died. I knew I'd come out of this, that's why I did it."

You lowered your gaze and your eyes lingered on the numerous scars his naked torso displayed. You traced some of them with your fingers : on his collarbone, on his abdominal muscles, on his shoulders, and so on. You could tell there was a story behind each of these, and you assumed they were stories he would rather not talk about.

"I'm sorry you had to see those," he said. It was barely a whisper, so low you weren't sure you'd heard it right. "They're from my time with H.Y.D.R.A."

"Don't be sorry. Remember what you asked me about your arm?" – He nodded. – "This is no different. It's you, and that's all I care about."

You ran a hand through his hair : it'd been hardened by dried blood in some places. You closed your eyes and laid a kiss on his forehead before going to one of the cupboards to get him a lab coat. A warm sensation made its way to your stomach as you realised how easy it was being with him, how natural it seemed, how meant-to-be it felt, how...

"Wear this," you told him. "We need to do something about all this blood."

As if they'd been expecting you to come out, Steve, Nat and Sam jumped to their feet when you  opened the door. Bucky tried getting up on his own as well, but you grabbed his arm just as fast.

"You might be healing fast, Sergeant Barnes, but I'm not keeping you out of my sight just yet," you joked lightly.

Bucky was holding the coat closed over his chest, his other hand squeezing your back in gratitude.

"How are you, Buck?" Steve asked.

"Good, don't worry. 'T was just a scratch."

You gave him a grave look. "It was not a simple scratch," you corrected, "but he's fine. All I ask is that you rest for today. That should be enough, with your metabolism."

"Go rest, now, or you won't hear the end of it with this one," Sam said, gesturing in your direction.

"He's right," Natasha joined in. "She's secretly quite bossy."

You smiled to her. "I have to be! None of you listen to medical advice, so I have to be assertive. It's for your own good."

"And we love you for it," Steve added with a grin. "Now go put this guy to bed."

Bucky couldn't help but chuckle lightly, making him reach for his healing wound. It was obviously still hurting a little. You finally left the others and took him to your bathroom. Your bathtub was lower than the floor, which allowed you to sit on the edge as Bucky got in, after taking off his clothes, staying in his underwear. None of you spoke a word as you washed his hair and rubbed the remaining blood off of his skin. You ended up plunging your legs in the tub and let Bucky rest his head on your knees as you ran your fingers through his hair, silence embracing you both.

"Are you still hurting?" you asked.

"Only a little." He seized one of your hands and kissed your fingers. "Thank you," he added.

"Don't thank me, I'm doing what I vowed to do."

A smile made its way to Bucky's face as he sat up and turned around. "Do you wash every single of your patients' hair?"

You shook your head. "No. That's the unexpected, coffee-spilling, caring soulmate package."

He looked hesitant for the smallest second before extending his arms, waiting for a hug.

"You're soaked," were the only  words to come out of your mouth.

"Do you care? Your pants are already in the water, so..."

"Might as well," you said, finishing his sentence. You leaned on the bathtub's edge as your knees hit the bottom. Resting on your arms, you were only a few inches away from Bucky's face. You pressed your lips against his and closed your eyes, wondering what allowed it to feel so good. You didn't give a damn about your clothes anymore and they were bloody anyway, so you broke the kiss and laid in Bucky's arms, resting your head on his chest and your legs entangling. You'd made sure the water was warm enough and it still hadn't cooled off, thankfully.

"We probably shouldn't stay in here," you admitted. "We might just fall asleep and drown."

"Now that would be a shame," he agreed. "Just a few more minutes then. Please?"

You tilted your head up to look him in the eyes and smirked.

"I'll give you all the minutes you want, Buck."

--- Damn, I sure loved writing this part. I hope you liked it too! Part 13 will be the last one. :)

Tag list : @ginger-swag-rapunzel @joscelyn02 @bluemoon-icecream @writehistorynotthegrocerylist @lady-loki-ren @simplybombshell @lizajane3 @livingonkpop @kaitieskidmore1

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x y/n #sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan imagine #james bucky barnes #tfatws #catws #self insert #x reader #x you #x y/n #bucky barnes fluff #fluff

[teen-cups-au]

FOLLOWER'S SUBMISSION: 💊¡RECOVERY! 💉

😘Part 13 😘

Apologies if this chapter is shorter than the others.

Oh My God!! I almost send that to the asks 🤣🤣🤣

💉💊💉💊💉💊💉💊

When he reached their home he  entered inside, let the keys, ascended the stairs, knocked on the door and opened it.

He hadn't noticed Mugman because Andrea was in front of him. He was watching her back. When she left and he saw Mugman he froze.

"hey Andrea how is it go-...ing..?" he asked.

...........……………...........

.............. ...

Seeing Mugman with the IV (Intravenous fluids), the needles that were on his pleural space /cavity, the tubes, the fluid made his mind think the worst. 

WHAT WAS GOING ON?!

WAS HE DEAD?! WAS HE GOING TO DIE?!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

Fear paralyzed him..

"Wh-what...?!... He... Wha ...is  ..go-going.. .on.. Mu-Mu-mug?"  he stuttered.

Andrea  turned around and looked at him. Cuphead was at the verge of hysteria. "oh!" She took him from the hand and led him outside of the room.

She said "How about you take a rest and then we talk? You seem exhausted." Cuphead rubbed his eyes. All this was tiring.

"Just tell me he isn't gonna die!" he pleaded.  Andrea's eyes softened "No he is going to be fine! I promise!" she said. "What are all those things... Why he has them? Is it serious?" he asked tears threatened to fell from his eyes. "Allright Look. That is for his own good! He had fluids in the lungs. Im just removing it!"

"Fluids?!" he panicked..

"Yes. Don't worry! It's okay!!"

"will he be allright after that? How long is he like this?" he asked. Andrea spoke softly.. It was normal for Cuphead to worry this much!  "Yes!! he is going to be okay! He's been like this for around 30 minutes." she said. Cuphead was silent ".... " he then spoke ".... Is.. Is it painful?" he asked  "I injected a sedative.. He feels nothing now.. Later I'll give him a painkiller..." she said. He nodded..  "Now why don't you take a nice hot shower and a goodnight sleep!" she said. He looked at her and back to Mugman.

He nodded "Will you wake me up if something bad happens?" She nodded. "Of course! Cuphead!"  he nodded and walked towards his room, took some comfortable clothes, walked towards the bathroom and took a quick shower... Then he walked towards Mugman's room and peeked. Andrea was working on something. Andrea saw him from the door.. She gave him a thumbs up 👍. He nodded.. Using his hands gave her a nod/signal that he will be to his room. She nodded and he left. He walked towards his bed, laid down and covered himself with his black bedsheet.

He cried himself to sleep.. He almost lost him so many times...

He had almost lost him before the Heartbroken Disease... He had lost him with the Heartbroken Disease... He almost lost him today.. With the side effects... He couldn't bear to lose him again.. Not again...

What if a time comes.. Where he loses him for good?

Thinking that brought more tears in his eyes..

He put his hand under his pillow.. He pulled out Mugman's shirt (the gray shirt) ..and hugged it.   *Sob sob hic hic sniff sniff *

He closed his eyes and fell asleep..

______

End of part 13! 💚

Thank you for reading!! 🧡

😘

_

MOD'S REPLY:

Doudy (mod): Yeah, that must be tough to see...

Ha! Now Cuphead is the one using the other's shirt as a plush X3

#submission #cuphead #mugman #cuphead au #teen cups #teen cups au #fanart #cuphead fanart

[fulcrum-agent]

002. Aberrant [FFXIVwrite2021]

He would walk into the makeshift lab where he had her strapped to a table, writing something down in a journal.

"Good morning!" He said in a false cheery tone, "No...that isn't right...Good morning, sister?"

He pondered, "Good morning, love?" He waves his hand. "So many nuances for a simple phrase."

The almost-familiar voice causes her to start to wake from her healing sleep. Light blue gaze shifts to the speaker, frowning at the way the once-familiar voice speaks before it all comes rushing back to her. "Who are you?" she asks groggily, attempting to reach up and rub her eyes, only to find she's strapped down. At which point, she panics. "What the fuck?!"

A slight smile comes across his lips.

"Shhh shhh shhh," He hushed before kissing her forehead. "We must begin at once. So there's no time to panic or get...angry? Yes, I believe that is the emotion, angry."

He moves around the table. "My name is Merrick...though in time I will become Liocyon....once I replace him and remove the blemish that Cicero put in your head."

She goes quiet and still as he moves to kiss her forehead, moving only if his lips near her third eye. His latter words are distressing, and she starts to struggle again.

"Replace him?! You can't replace Lio!" she shouts, trying to wriggle free from the bonds. "No one, not even a replicant, can replace my brother!"

He shakes his head.

"Tsk tsk, poor stupid girl." He mockingly laments, "Lio is a....kind, sweet boy but...utterly useless. Cicero knows that I know that, and deep down...you know that."

He smiles.

"But, that's for another time, first things first...getting rid of the 'cheat' that Cicero put in your head..this command word." He gives a disgusted look. "An unsightly blemish on an otherwise beautiful work of art."

"Which command word - there's so many we've already found!" she frantically questions, still trying to collapse her hands or feet enough to wriggle free from bonds. "How can you think anything Father did to me is art?!"

He shakes his head. "No, no no, you misunderstand, All the command words are blemishes, you are a work of art, something that can't be replicated, why he would choose to poison your mind with inane command words is beyond me...but I will remove them before moving onto my plan."

That sounds too good to be true and raises so many troubling questions.

"Tana seems to have turned out all right," she attempts to counter first before asking, "And what plan is that?"

He tilts his head.

"Tana? I'm not familiar with the name, but if she's another replicant, I suppose I'll have to remove her as well." He nods. "My plan? To take over the Aurelius household, remove that blight that calls himself a scientist and all its offspring...besides you, of course. You and I will create a new family...a superior family, and Garlemald will be all the stronger for it."

It's then that she starts screaming and struggling against the bonds harder, desperately trying to free herself. "I'll never-- NEVER!"

He would let out an almost dramatic sigh as she begins to struggle again.

"You people are so confusing; you want perfection but then fight against it when it shows itself." He shakes his head. "I don't understand you."

He moves over to a side table and picks up a syringe.

"But no matter, you'll understand soon enough." He says with an emotionless smile.

"There's no such thing as perfection!" she counters as she struggles further. "I don't want perfection - I want what's real!"

Her eyes widen at the syringe as she slowly begins to regress. She tries to shy away from the implement, a terrified expression crossing her features as she falls into silent horror briefly.

"No...please no...no more injections, Father...please..."

His demeanour seems to change at her sudden shift in mood. Excitement crosses his face.

"There you are! Such a beautiful expression!" His hand moves down to press against her breast, feeling her heartbeat. "Yes! Fear...a natural stress response. You wear the expression well."

She cringes away from his touch, trying to sink into the table she's strapped to. Fear may be an understatement for her feelings right now. Terrified whimpers escape her lips as she looks up at Merrick with the widest gaze, pale blue eyes stricken.

"...please no...please...not again..."

He grins.

"Again and again and again, until you understand, until you are pure until you are clean again." He holds the syringe in front of her face. "I'm going to hurt you first; pain will loosen his hold on you, make you more pliable...more susceptible."

He nods.

"Do you think when a caterpillar metamorphosis's into a butterfly that it is a painless process? Unfortunately, no...but it is worth it." He nods and begins to run the tip of the syringe down her arm. "You can scream, cry, close your eyes...but this is happening."

She goes still as the needle is dragged down her arm; she knows what happens when one struggles against a syringe while it's piercing flesh, and she doesn't know when he is going to plunge the metal through her skin.

"I'm...not a caterpillar," she whimpers with fright, "... can't be a butterfly... I'm just Aquila..." Her hands grip the sides of the table so tightly that her knuckles have gone white.

He shakes his head in an almost disappointed way.

"So much work left to do." He laments before slipping the needle into her arm, expertly locating the vein and injecting a sedative. "Just sleep, dear sister....everything will change soon enough.."

Oh, how she fights against the sedation, despite her fears and flashbacks. Her eyes become half-lidded time and again before snapping open wide, but she cannot will herself awake for long.

"You'll...pay...for this..." she whispers before the dark embrace of sleep takes her.

He tilts his head as she begins to drift off. "Shhhhhh", He whispered in an almost soothing tone, his hand moving down her chest to her legs, up along her inner thigh. "Much better.."

She goes limp against the table, hands slowly releasing their death-grip upon the sides of the table. Defenceless, she is at the mercy of the mad replicant, entirely.

((Adapted from an RP with Liocyon, Aquila's twin.))

#ffxivwrite2021

[ma-gic-gay]

Turns out that sometimes, she can keep her mouth shut.

She hadn't told anyone what she knew about their relationship, him moving out and into an apartment she didn't recognize. It'd been over a week and still, she didn't snap and start screaming about how Sam should've thought it over in a better way, done this in a better way. She shouldn't have broken his heart like that.

Granted, the fact that Carly had managed to stay pretty clear of Sam didn't hurt.

She couldn't avoid her forever though, and that was proven when Sam walked into the Metro Court, asking to speak with her.

"What's up, Sam?" Carly asks, not in the mood for the conversation but knowing what's to come. She avoided her for a week, and so she'd had more time to think about what she would say.

"Did Jason not tell you?" Sam asks confused.

"About how you kicked him out? No, he told me," Carly tells her. "I understand not being able to deal with the mob lifestyle better than anyone, trust me, but you've known how he is for years. He never pretended to be anything else. For months before his crash, you two were sneaking around and now you've realized you can't deal with it?"

"Danny could've been killed in that explosion. Being with Jason, it made our lives more dangerous than they should be. So even though I love him, so much, I had to break it off for the kids. Danny and Scout don't need to grow up with guards around them constantly, wondering if he's gonna come home alive," Sam defends her decision, not entirely surprised at Carly's reaction. After all, Jason was her best friend. But Carly had also left Sonny before because she needed something safer.

"I know that fear, believe me, but he was gone for so long, Sam. Drew, I know you liked being with him because it was safe, but Jason's not like that. He's always been exactly the same way as he is now. The one thing that's changed in the years I've known him is that he became a husband, and had kids. If you couldn't deal with his lifestyle, you shouldn't have acted like you could for so long because now he's heartbroken and having to watch that is killing me," Carly snaps. "You had every chance to not be with him, but yet you pretended you didn't know what this life entails and got back together with him."

"Because I love him!" Sam exclaims. "I'm in love with him, and I tried to ignore it for months that he was like that but now you're acting like I'm a liar who strung him along!"

Carly chuckles to herself, surprised even though she knows she shouldn't be. "If you didn't string him along, Sam, he wouldn't be feeling like this. You know he's afraid now that you're gonna keep Danny and Scout away from him? No, because you're not the one who's been watching him heartbroken! I know what love can make you do but you told me you evaluated whether or not getting together with him was good and you realized it was good for you and the kids."

"I reevaluated it, Carly, and it wasn't the best thing anymore."

"You and him waited years to be together! Your parole for months was the thing keeping you two apart but now apparently you're not fine with the way he lives his life? There was so much time for you to realize it, so much. I know what it feels like, having your kids and wondering if they're okay but honestly? He'd give his life in a second for them or you. The danger doesn't go away just because you're not with him," Carly says, ending the conversation.

"So you won't even hear me out on this?" Sam asks, hurt. "You told me that you felt like there wasn't a way to deal with the mob before so many times so you left Sonny and now that Jason's hurt, you suddenly won't listen to anyone but him about it?"

"Don't make me take a side here, Sam, because you know I'll pick his," Carly warns. "He loves you so much, he stood there and took it while you word vomited and kicked him out of the house."

"Why isn't he telling me this? Why isn't he fighting for me?"

"He's got me to fight when he's heartbroken," Carly says simply.

"If he wanted to, he would fight for me. No matter what it meant for everything else in his life. Of all people, you know that," Sam reminds her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" The blonde asks defensively.

"In all the time you've known him, has he ever fought for you, or your kids? Because I know he has, before, for me, a few times, but if you threatened tomorrow that you were leaving Port Charles with your kids and never coming back, he'd fight you on it tooth and nail?"

"Of course he would! Sam, he's not fighting for you because you practically told him you don't want him anymore. So whatever he'd do for me is different," Carly explains.

"I kicked him out and he told me he wasn't going to fight me, Carly. He point blank told me he wasn't going to fight for me or the kids. I wanted, so badly, for him to fight for me, to come up with a miracle solution I know doesn't exist but he didn't, of course, and so he didn't fight for our relationship! Believe it or not, he is not the only victim here," Sam snaps at her.

"He didn't fight because you made him feel like all of you would be better off without him there! You love the money and the great, gorgeous guy on your arm, Sam, and you love him being with the kids but you don't like anything that goes along with it," Carly fights back. "Don't you dare act like you didn't cause your own heartbreak and his too. The only difference is that you're only a victim of your own actions, while he's a victim of you breaking his heart and I have to watch him ponder his life decisions."

"What did you just call me?" Jason asks, having apparently shown up while she was causing a minor scene in public.

"A great, gorgeous guy and a victim of her breaking your heart," Carly states. "Don't read into it."

"I'm not," he assures her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Jason, hey," Sam greets him awkwardly. "How, uh, how are you holding up?"

"Well, considering everything that's been going on, I've been doing pretty okay for myself," he smiles sadly at her. "Moved back into my apartment a few days ago, and I've been really focused on work. I get Danny next week, right?"

"About that-" Sam starts but a furious blonde cuts her off.

"You're going to keep his children from him? God, why don't you cut his heart out of his chest and serve it for dinner at this rate? They deserve to have their father in their lives!" Carly exclaims angrily. "He is a great father and they should grow up with him in their lives."

"Calm down, Carly," Jason calmly states.

"Calm down? She's trying to ruin your entire life, Jason! She's broken your heart and now she's trying to keep Danny and Scout away from you! You might be okay with just sitting back and letting her do that to you but I am not because you deserve better than that," Carly says, rage fizzing out of her.

"So first I'm a stupid heartbreaker, then I'm a vain bitch who only likes him because he's hot and has money, and now I'm a life ruiner," Sam chuckles sadly to herself. "It's good to know what you really think about me."

"You're everything I said, and you know it. Stop acting like you're perfect, and above everyone else. If you judge me for my actions that's fine but when I cast the same judgement upon you, suddenly you're this perfect damsel in distress who needs Jason to defend her honor. Jason, the same guy you gave up, the same guy who would do anything for you, for your family! Excuse me if I see through it," Carly defends herself and her friend.

"Anything but leave the mob, leave town, do anything really that involved ignoring you," the long haired brunette frowns slightly. "He's been standing here and I've been having to defend myself against you while he's there making sure you're okay! You, who he's supposedly just friends with! Like it or not, you're responsible for this too."

"How am I responsible? I didn't break his heart, tear his family away from him, you did!" The blonde shouts. "I, for once, am innocent. He is who he is and you knew that being in the business is a part of it when you had kids with him, fell in love with him."

An obviously uncomfortable Jason steps in here, "This is not your fault, Carly. It's not. Sam reached the point where she can't deal with this life anymore, and so she's done this. Does it hurt like hell? Yes, yes it does and I'm not gonna pretend it doesn't, but you're not going to start fighting her everytime you see her because of this."

"I'm getting it all out of my system now," she assures him, "but I'm still mad."

"This, this is what I was talking about! You're acting like somehow she's involved in this when she's just decided to inject herself into it because of you," Sam snaps slightly.

"She involved herself in this because she's my best friend, Sam, and she cares about me. Don't get me wrong, I know you care about me too, but she's been there for me while I've gone through some serious stuff and so I'm going to make sure she's okay because neither you or I are," Jason defends his actions.

"I'm okay, actually. Honestly, I'm happy I don't have to compete for your attention with her anymore," Sam smiles sadly at him.

"Compete for my attention?" Jason asks, confused.

"She says jump you ask how high, Jason. No one else has this power over you that she does and now I don't have to deal with that. It's refreshing," she admits.

To be continued

tO bE cOnTiNuEd

[reeny-chan]

Hi all! Thought I’d share a snippet of my old (but still good!) fic, Persona 4: Simulacrum! It takes place 6 years after the Investigation Team solved the murders in Inaba, but despite their strong bonds, Souji returns to find that not a single one of his friends remembers him. Will he be able to solve this new mystery, or has he lost his friends forever?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nanako was flying toward Souji before anyone could even think, the knife's razor-sharp point at a direct line for his stomach. He instinctively side-stepped and thrust his arms out, trapping her wrist with both hands. He then yelped in pain and surprise as she drove her free fist into his ribs, his arms buckling just enough to allow her to bring the knife's edge to his cheek. He let go with one hand and slipped under her knife hand, the blade scraping his cheek as he tried to block her punches. She swung again, but he managed to deflect it while still holding tightly to her knife hand. At first he was trying to defend himself without hurting her, but the way this fight was going he had to concentrate nearly all his attention on keeping her from twisting out of his grip. He was surprised with just how strong and nimble she was, and wondered for a split second if he'd be able to stop her without hurting her.

She brought her free hand up to snatch the knife, which gave Souji his opportunity. He caught that hand, pulling it hard away from the other one, locking them into a face-to-face grapple. She screamed. “You're hurting me! I'm just a girl!” Souji said nothing in reply, concentrating solely on keeping her arms separated. “Not so dumb, huh?” she said, and she quickly head-butted him in the chest, bringing her mouth up and baring her teeth. Before she could bite down he brought up his knee to her stomach, resisting his instinct to kick and instead pushing her away. He tried to keep her arms closer together, simultaneously keeping out of range of her head and having to keep the knife away from his flesh. They were practically dancing in a circle now, Nanako trying every possible way to turn around his grip so she could slip free. She hooked a foot around his and yanked back. Souji quickly shifted his weight to the other foot so the one Nanako kicked could dismiss her attempt to throw him off balance. He found himself having to constantly shift his center of gravity between his feet to keep upright. If she managed to topple him, he knew she would quickly embed the knife into his flesh. She was growling and grunting like a wild animal as Souji did his best to protect himself without harming her in the process.

Taro had been trying to inject himself into the fight and stop it, but their moves were so unpredictable that the knife had almost slashed him several times. He took advantage of a momentary slowdown in the circular dance to try once more to grab Nanako, but she glanced at him and immediately forced Souji to spin the other way, slashing the knife across the air a centimeter in front of Taro's nose.

“Taro-san, stay back!” Rise said, grabbing his arm and pulling him away. “He's trying not to hurt her. We can't distract him!”

“I can't do nothing!” Taro said, pulling a card from his pocket and holding it up in front of him. “Guys, forgive me. Persona!”

Nothing happened. “Personas don't work in the real world,” Rise said, yanking him back further. “We can't do anything without hurting them both.” They heard a woman's scream, and Rise saw that they had been seen, and a crowd was starting to form. That could either be very good or very bad. If the police came, they would at least be able to stop Nanako, but would they all end up in jail?

Nanako heard the cries and, gritting her teeth in exertion, smiled. “Guess we've...got more attention...than I wanted...”

Souji was doing his best to ignore the audience. He was more worried about the knife blade that Nanako was still trying to worm her way into him. He wished he'd taken more self-defense courses when he was younger; he probably could have ended this fight by now. As it was, while he didn't note any particular style to Nanako's fighting, she was so limber that it almost seemed she was double-jointed.

Nanako took an aggressive step forward with her right foot, putting the knife closer to his face and forcing him to step to his right. She took a second forceful step, forcing him to step again to the right, and she repeated, starting a rapid spin. Souji, already tired from their trip into the Shadow World before this fight had even begun, began to lose his focus. His head began to feel like it was full of water, and it was enough of a distraction for Nanako to break the knife hand free. In surprise Souji brought up his foot to Nanako's chest and pushed her away hard, the knife slicing his jeans and nicking his shin. As he fell backward, his balance gone, Nanako stumbled and smacked her head on the upper frame of one of the TVs. Her torso still had momentum and kept moving backward, and she fell through the screen, the only part of her still in the real world being her legs below the calf. She screamed, her voice echoing as it passed back through the screen.

“Nanako, no!” Souji cried, scrambling across the floor and grabbing her ankles. Taro dove down and tried to help, but Nanako started kicking, one foot connecting with Souji's jaw, knocking him into Taro. Both her feet then disappeared into the screen, leaving only twin ripples behind. “I won't let you do this to me again, you demon!” Her voice started fading quickly.

“Nanako!” Souji screamed, diving through the screen after her.

“Oh my God,” Taro said. He turned to Rise. “Come on, we have to help them!” He jumped through the screen.

“Nanako, we're coming!” Rise said as she leapt in after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Souji tucked and rolled to the left as he landed, trying not to fall where he thought Nanako would be. Instead the floor in front of the TV was clear, and Nanako was standing frozen at the archway. There were quite a few swarms before her and she was panting heavily as she stared at them. The knife was gone from her hand; he saw it lying on the floor near where she had landed when she first entered.

“Nanako,” Souji said, just as Taro and then Rise emerged from the TV behind him.

Nanako spun around. Her eyes were wide, her skin pale. “N-no...not again...”

“Nanako, please calm down,” Souji said, taking a step forward. “Let me explain.”

She shook her head in rapid side-to-side jerks. “N-no!” she said. “This isn't...this wasn't...she can't...wasn't supposed to...come here!” She turned and charged her way through the swarms.

“Nanako, no!” Souji shouted. He started sprinting after her, ducking underneath one of the larger, thicker swarms.

“Senpai, wait up!” Rise shouted as she and Taro started to run after him.

“No, Nanako's...” Souji started, but he couldn't think how to finish that thought. He wasn't sure what was happening to her, except that she seemed to be coming completely unhinged. She was bad enough in the real world, but now, being in the Shadow World, this new Shadow World, he had no idea what to expect.

Nanako was running for all she was worth, but appeared to be in a panic and was tripping over things on the ground and her own feet. She managed to look back at Souji and scream, “You stay away from me, demon!”

“Nanako, please stop!” Souji shouted.

“Nanako-chan, it's me, Rise-chan!” Rise shouted. “Please, listen to me!”

“This isn't good,” Taro said. “If those Memflies get her...”

“I know!” Rise said. Her head was pounding with the exertion and her own overpowering fatigue, but she forced herself to continued on. “Believe me, I know!”

Souji burst his way out the front doors, just barely dodging a collection of swarms, to see Nanako standing in the middle of the parking lot. Once again she seemed to be frozen in place. He kept quiet as he approached this time, but she must have heard his footsteps and she spun around. “What is this? What have you done to me?”

“I didn't do this,” Souji said. “Please, let me explain.”

Before he could continue, though, he saw her head start to shake violently back and forth. It stopped a few times, and each time it did her expression changed from terrified to smug, from cheerful to furious. Eventually the shaking stopped and her face settled on a contemptuous sneer.

“So this is where you've been hiding,” she said. “Some kind of – what, a simulation of Junes? This your dream world or something? Got your own hookers to go along with it? Or maybe it's little girls with you. Yeah, that must be it, you hentai!”

Souji had no response. He tried not to listen to the hateful words, but even after these days of hearing Nanako utter her bile against him, it wasn't any easier to dismiss them. No matter what she said to him, though, he still loved her and feared for her safety. He had no idea what had caused the Memflies to attack Rise, and was worried that they may do the same to his Little Sis.

“Nanako-chan, please,” said Rise, breathing heavily as she caught up to Souji. “This isn't what you think. Something's wrong with everyone. We're only trying to help.”

“Help?” Nanako said. She shook her head and looked straight at Souji. “If you'd wanted to help, Big Bro, you would've come back a long time ago.”

“I couldn't...w-wait, what?” Souji said. “You...you remember?”

Nanako opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it. She glanced around, and then down at herself. “I – I do remember,” she said, looking back at Souji. “There was always... something about you. Every time I saw you it kept fighting to come forward. It hurt a lot. But it doesn't hurt so much anymore. No, that's a lie.” She spread her arms out. “It hurts more now, because I remember. You left me, and you stayed away for so long. Kept breaking your promise to come back. Just like Dad, breaking promises all the time. I hate you so much. You and Dad. Both of you can go to Hell for all I care!”

“No, that's not true!”

That last statement had been made with Nanako's voice and had come from her direction, but her lips did not move while they were spoken. A blue aura suddenly appeared around her body, a heatless flame that flashed bright white for a fraction of a second. After the flash another Nanako stepped forward out of the first. She looked identical to the other, down to the heavy black clothing and clinging wet hair, but she was not surrounded by the blue aura. Souji could see that this one's eyes were not the empty, bloodshot ones he'd seen in Nanako these past few days but were very alive, and very frightened. She was walking slowly, her head bobbing lazily as if she'd just woken from a deep sleep. “Big...Big Bro, what's...what's happening...to me?” she asked.

“Big Bro, save me!” the other Nanako retorted mockingly. As the new Nanako turned to her clone and struggled to keep standing, Souji could see that the other Nanako's eyes had turned yellow. At that moment it all became clear. Somehow the other Nanako, the Nanako he'd dealt with since arriving in Inaba, was indeed Nanako's Shadow . “Big Bro, I need you so much! Please come visit me. I've been a good little girl for you! Feh!” Shadow Nanako spat on the ground. “Makes me want to puke.”

Rise's hands were at her mouth. “Nanako-chan, no...” When they'd rescued Nanako years ago her Shadow had failed to emerge. Ever since, Rise had come to think of the girl as more pure than any of the rest of them. Even after all that Souji had told her today, even after seeing the girl's behavior herself, Rise still had trouble believing it all. Now she had to make herself understand that Nanako had grown up and, like them, was a flawed human being. “Your Shadow,” she said.

“Oh, don't even,” Shadow Nanako said. “Little miss idol with the perfect life. Try coming down to earth and seeing what us little people have to live with!”

The new Nanako was staring at her other self. “What...what are you?”

“I'm you,” Shadow Nanako said, grinning. “I'm the real you, the one you don't let anyone see. You want everyone to like you so you hide me from them, but in the end you're just so disappointed in everyone. You can't count on anyone, not even Daddy, not even Souji, your 'Big Bro', because in the end they'll all break their promises and fail you.” She closed her eyes. “All these boys at school look at me like I'm some freak. They're afraid to come near me because they all know I'm the cop's kid, the girl who was kidnapped. The boys at school want nothing to do with me. Daddy wants nothing to do with me. Big Bro wants nothing to do with me.” She turned her yellow gaze to Souji. “You promised me! You promised ! You liar!” Tears started to run down her cheeks. “How dare you! Who do you think you are? Trying to teach my Dad how to be a father? You were always so much more concerned with your friends and your schoolwork and your job and your fighting Shadows than you were spending time with me! Well, I don't need anybody , least of all not a gray-haired selfish idiot like you!”

“No! Don't say things like that! They're not true. I – I don't feel that way...” Nanako said, her voice becoming less sure as she continued. She took a few tentative steps away from the Shadow.

“Of course you do,” Shadow Nanako said. “You're just afraid to admit it to yourself. You hate Daddy, and you hate Big Bro.”

“No, that's not true!” Nanako shot back in a screaming sob, sounding much more sure of herself now.

“Nanako-chan, wait!” Rise started.

“No, let her,” Souji said. “It's just like before, with the rest of us. She has to face herself like this. You know it just like I do.”

“What the hell is happening?” Taro said. He had remained silent and watched the whole exchange, but the sheer insanity of what he was seeing before him had become too much. Souji had mentioned something like this to him, about facing oneself in the Shadow World, but he couldn't have imagined just how surreal it was to see it happen to someone. It made his head swim.

“That one, the one with the yellow eyes, is her hidden self,” Souji said. “She has to face it. It's a long story.”

“Of course, you know everything , don't you?” Shadow Nanako said, her voice mocking again. Now, though, it was blended with another voice, deeper, with a growling to it. “Everything about love and life, cooking and killing. Big Bro, always so smart. Well, you're the stupidest one of all!”

“No, stop it!” Nanako cried. “You're not real! You're not me! You're nobody!”

Shadow Nanako looked at her, eyes wide. Then she threw her head back and laughed. “Yes, yes! Say it again!”

Nanako, however, couldn't find the strength to say any more. She started to back away as her Shadow's aura doubled, and then tripled , in intensity. Rise shouted, “No, they're being drawn to her!” Souji and Taro saw what she meant; Memflies were streaming through the air and collecting in the Shadow's aura, polluting the blue until it became pitch black. Glowing red embers rose from the ground and added to the aura, giving it the sooty, smoldering appearance of a coal fire into which her form vanished completely.

Souji tried to run to Nanako but was thrown backward by a sudden flash of energy from within the dark cloud. The Shadow's booming voice said, “Oh, coming to the rescue again? Well, this time I don't need it!”

Nanako crumpled to the ground as Souji, Taro and Rise were held back by the sheer intensity of Shadow Nanako's power. They could only watch as her body grew out of the black aura, the dark energies painting her flesh all different colors as they did so. As she expanded her hair spread out from her long, unkempt locks becoming a wild, stark white mane. Her face was streaked with colors that seemed to melt and flow downward, simultaneously evoking images of a punk rocker and someone who had been violently slashed in the face and was bleeding profusely. Her clothes turned so dark that they seemed to absorb the light around her, and spikes sprouted from all over her body. In her hand appeared a knife that was half as long as her new form was tall, with a jagged edge and dripping with a thick ichor that swirled red and black just like the liquid dripping from her face. Her outfit completed itself with gleaming black knee-high boots, the heels ending in points so tiny Souji couldn't even see where the tips touched the ground. She stopped growing when she was about eye-level with the tops of the light poles.

She emitted another burst of light, and when the light cleared they beheld Shadow Nanako's form in full. They could just barely see the girl's face in the painted one above them, though it was a perverted, twisted version of the girl they knew. It was far worse than the jaded, angry Nanako, for this one had apparently purged itself of the good, kind Nanako they knew. It was dancing in place, tossing the giant knife from hand to hand.

“I am a Shadow, the true self!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*gasp* Nanako has a Shadow? Will Souji, Rise, and Taro Namatame be able to rescue her? Come on over to AO3 and find out!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27876993