#my head. my whole right brain. it hurts. i'm dying

[al1fers-haven]

Hear me out, Alastor x Vox's wife

Basically, the reader was married to Vox when alive and hated him but couldn't get a divorce. When she died, she went to heaven, but then fell and was found by Vox, who promptly forced her back into the wife role

But, one night, the reader runs away and meets Alastor, and she instantly bonds with him over a mutual hatred of Vox, which turns into them falling in love

Sorry if the idea is too harsh on Vox, just a scenario I've been thinking about for a while

NO! Don't be sorry love. Its absolutely perfect.

"Oh Deer,"

Alastor x Vox's Wife!Reader

Nothing could have prepared you for the pain you felt when falling. The harsh searing pain that enveloped you as you hit the ground and heard that snap. Tears stained your cheeks as you glared up at the heavens. Too focused on your anger and pain to take in your surroundings and where exactly you were. Demons stared as you stood up, a loud groan leaving your figure as the bright gold blood dripped down your back, the sticky substance sticking to your palms as you tried to wipe it off of you. Vox stopped in his tracks, eyes a bit wide as he saw you drag yourself down the street. Valentino looked back at the TV man before following his gaze with a confused look. "Y/n...?" You stopped in your tracks, looking over towards the TV man and scowling. "Y/n? Is that you? What are you doing down here-" You yelped, trying to move away from him. One of the wings on your back flares up and makes you yell. Breathing harshly as you stared at him.

"Stay the HELL away from me you- you vile demon!" You held your palms against the dragging wing. Sobs wracking your whole form.

"Y/n...It's me. It's your husband...Don't you recognize me?" Your eyes widened, pure hatred filling your brain as you stared at him. "You- You nasty man! You horrible human! You are awful!" Vox stared in shock, your true feelings about him now out in the open. "Y/n...you're hurt." He reached his hand out and Valentino walked up to the two of them. All eyes turned to the pitiful display. "Come home, love."

~!~

"Do you even understand what I'm telling you, woman? Get my coffee. And make it the right way." You flinched, eyes looking toward the ground as your eyebrows furrowed. A small scowl on your face.

"I should've divorced you before you died. You cunt." You let out a yelp as he grabbed the neck of the shirt you were wearing, trying to keep you to 'today's time he shoved you inside of a tight outfit you hated. "Oh? Well, why didn't you." You shoved the TV man off of you. Fixing your shirt. "Because I thought maybe, just maybe. You'd leave me for another woman so I could raise our child ALONE." Vox's TC screen glitched, walking up to you. "Don't you DARE bring her into this!" You poked his chest, puffing your own out to seem bigger. "You don't understand how happy I was to hear you had died in that shitty bar lounge you always sat in! How happy I was for her to get to live without your influence!" You stepped forward, making the man step back. "I raised her all on my own and until she died and I did a wonderful job! Thanks to you dying she didn't have to witness that boring excuse of a thing you called love!" He grabbed your hand and threw you to the ground. Huffing as he stared at you with wide eyes. You obviously hit a soft spot. His eyes softened for a moment. "It's such a shame she died so young." Your eyes burned, Vox's eyes looking down on you. Pitying you for the death of your daughter. "." You stood up, storming out of the room and running out of the building. Vox's head turned to hs associates. "When did you have a kid?" Valentino broke the silence.

You sat on one of the benches in the more secluded part of the city, Your wings tucked into your back as you sat next to the little antique shop. Sobs left your figure as you sat there. Unaware of what to do in a situation like this. It was like you were alive all over again, crying over the loss of normalcy when Vox had died. "Hm?" A red-haired man zipped through the radio behind you. Leaning against the staff in his hand as you stood up and wiped your eyes, "Do my eyes deceive me?" The static startled you, jumping a bit before turning around to see the man. "Oh." You blinked a couple times at the odd figure. Huffing as you ran a hand through your hair. "Alastor, right? Vox's horrible horrible enemy?" You crossed your arms, trying to make it seem like you still had some control in your life. "Yes! And you are his....Assistant?" He waved his hand a little bit, trying not to hit a sensitive spot and deal with more of your weeping.

"Ex-wife." He blinked a couple times, laughing and grabbing your Backpack so he could sit down and leave you a seat. "Oh? Do tell more." His smile was eerily comforting, a sigh left your figure as you sat down. Obviously still upset. "I left, like i should've when we were living." The words spat out like venom. Eyes narrowing in on the ground. "He was an ass sure but at first he at least tried to pretend he cared. Just like he did here. I fell, he pretended to care for me enough to get me to call him my husband again and then boom. It was back to the same abuse i got out of in our 30's." You leaned back. The radio demon's frequencies stopped for a moment so he could listen. Anything he could use against Vox was a wonderful addition, no matter the baggage it brought with it. "He beat you?" Alastor tilted his head, mildly amused with this information. "Sometimes, not hard but enough to hurt. Slapping, name-calling, kicking. Things that wouldn't leave too much of a mark." You turned towards him. His smile was a bit tense. "When I had our child, my baby girl he changed a bit. Tried pretending a bit more while I was pregnant with her. He seemed to care for her. but just not for me." Your eyebrows furrowed as you continued. "She died when she was 2. About a year after Vox died from alcohol poisoning in that stupid bar."

Alastor put a hand on your shoulder. Now listening intently. "I'm glad she didn't have to deal with his constant fucking whining." Alastor laughed at that, his eyes closing a bit as he nodded. "Why yes, I have noticed quite a bit that he has a knack for whining and crying." You laughed a bit, finally calming down. "My name is Y/n, by the way." Alastor nodded, sitting up straight before sighing. "I'm aware...Alastor." He shook your hand, watching you laugh a bit more. "Y'know he wanted to name our kid Murphy?" Alastor blinked a couple times before laughing more, shaking his head no. It must have been hours, the two of you laughing in the street at all of the stupid things Vox had done before and after he died. Alastor filled you in on all of the stuff he knew while you told him about simple things.

The two of you calmed down a little bit, a smile on both of your faces as you stared off. The radio demon stood up suddenly and reached for your hand. "Well! Why don't you come to the hotel with me! I'm sure Charlie would love a new girl there!" You looked up at him, chuckling nervously. "Well...I don't know about that Alastor." "Cmon! Just for a night hm? Then we can see if we can make a deal." You grabbed his hand and yelped, suddenly being inside a random hotel with a blonde girl staring.

"Alastor! You're back....who is this?" She pointed towards you, a nervous smile on your face as Alastor twirled you a bit. Your laughter filled the room as you stopped spinning and suddenly appeared inside of better clothing fitting your time, an older 1920s-1950s dress fitting you perfectly. "This darling is Y/n! She was in quite the pickle and after...awhile-" You jumped in, hands clasped in front of you in a polite way. "2 hours." Alastor shook his head. "And after some time of talking I convinced her to take a shot at redemption, dear charlie." Charlie squealed, grabbing your hands and hugging you tightly. (Nearly till you died again.) "Welcome to the hazbin hotel!! I'm so glad Alastor brought you here!" Angel stared confused, looking as Alastor let you readjust his tie . A couple blinked of surprise leaving his figure as you walked away and towards the group. Immediately recognizing angel. "Angel!" He blinked. Staring at you. "Mrs? What are you doing here?" He waved his hand as you hugged him, a small frown appearing on your lips. "I left, me and vox got into another argument and I blew up on him." Angel laughed, hugging you again and sighing. "I wish I was there to see that asshole's face! Did'ya give him hell?!" You nodded excitedly. Looking around and taking a deep breath. "Oh, it feels good to be free again! Oh, how can I thank you Alastor!" Husker stiffened in his place, everyone expecting him to ask for her soul. "Perhaps you can tell me more about your dear ex-husband, hm? Seems like we didn't finish our little chat earlier dear." "Oh! Of course! You're such an angel puddin'! Oh, this is going to be so fun!"

#hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel #alastor #alastor x reader #soft alastor #angeldust #charlie morningstar #husker hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel vox #radio demon #alastor hazbin hotel #vox is horrible

[roguefankc]

It's Flu Season! And because Maverick would be the biggest baby if he got sick...

(Penny, Wolfman, Slider, Merlin, and Hollywood run though the front door of Iceman and Maverick house, with Iceman tiredly sitting on the couch in the living room)

Wolfman: Ice?! what's wrong?! We all got your message that you needed help!

Iceman: It's awful! The whole house is sick! First Hangman came down with the flu, then Phoenix, then Rooster, then Payback, and then all the rest of the Dagger Squad! I was running a sick ward all weekend!

Merlin:...wait, why isn't Maverick helping you?

Iceman (flatly): Because then came Monday...

(Maverick comes out in his bathrobe, hair tousled, pale, clammy, and half-asleep and in his hands a bottle of pills)

Maverick (whining): Ice, honey? Can you open the aspirin for me?

---

(The whole 80s Top Gun team and Penny stay to help Iceman run the house and take care of Maverick and the Dagger Squad)

(Maverick is in bed, weakly ringing a bell)

Maverick (ringing the bell): Slider...

Slider (in the next room helping Coyote): Give me a minute.

Maverick (ringing the bell): Slider...

Slider (in the next room): I said I'm coming!

Maverick (ringing the bell): Slider...

(Slider rushes into Maverick's bedroom in a panic): What?! What?! What?!

Maverick (weakly): My pillow needs poofing.

Slider (eye twitching):...Mitchell, I don't think you want to put a pillow in my hands right now.

---

(Maverick is in bed, whining and gasping for breath)

Maverick (weakly): I'm dying, Hollywood. I'm giving up the ghost. Every cell in my being is crying out in anguish. It was a good life while it lasted, but this is it. Hello, Grim Reaper.

Hollywood (with a bottle of cough syrup and a spoon in his hands): Cut the bullshit. The medicine doesn't taste that bad.

Maverick (weakly):...Goose? Dad? Carol? Is that you?

---

(Maverick is in his bathrobe, still sick, and in Iceman's home office while Iceman is frantically typing away on his keyboard)

Maverick: Ice, sweetie? Can you heat up some chicken soup for me?

Iceman (stressed): Mav, sorry but I'm really busy right now! I need to approve this contract in twenty minutes! Can't you just fend for yourself?

Maverick (whining): But I'm sick, honey...

Iceman: Mav, for fuck's sake, we're not talking brain surgery! All you have to do is open a stupid can and dump it in a pot!

(Maverick disappears into the kitchen and then come back a minute later. In his hands is a pot, and in the pot is a can of chicken soup. The can is open but the contents of the soup are still inside the can)

Maverick: Now what?

Iceman:...now, we talk brain surgery.

---

(Maverick stumbles in the kitchen where Penny, Wolfman, and Merlin are making soup and orange juice for all the Dagger Squad)

Maverick: Is it time for my aspirin yet?

Wolfman: No, Mitchell.

Maverick: But my throat hurts...

Merlin: Maverick, go back to bed. It hasn't been four hours yet.

Maverick: But my head hurts! My joints hurt! My eyes hurt! My body hurts! (in a baby voice) My itty bitty widdle pinkies hurt!

(Penny sighs and opens the aspirin bottle)

Maverick (smirks): I knew I'd win with that one.

Penny: These aren't for you.

(Penny gives two pills to herself, Merlin, and Wolfman and they all gulp them down immediately)

---

(BONUS)

(Cyclone is back at headquarters in his office, feet on his desk with a small glass of bourbon)

Cyclone (smiling): What a peaceful, quiet day.

#incorrect top gun quotes #incorrect top gun maverick quotes #tom iceman kazansky #top gun maverick #incorrect top gun #Leonard Wolfman Wolfe #Ron Slider Kerner #Sam Merlin Wells #Rick Hollywood Neven #Penny Benjamin #source: foxtrot #pete maverick mitchell #maverick would be the biggest baby #phoenix is threating to kick hangman's ass for infecting her #beau cyclone simpson #top gun 1986 #icemav

[mew-ya]

hello everyone! i'm proud to share my halloween-themed fic for raven's (@swampstew) event, where writers all incorporated a costume + a character into a fic! at the end of the month on October 29th, there will be a vote to see who wins the costume contest! check out the other fics and get ready to vote when the time comes!

character: Charlotte Katakuri

warnings/notes: no warnings (SFW fic), so fluffy it hurts, non-gendered reader, gender neutral reader, reader is average human sized

length: 4,016 words

summary: Your employer, Charlotte Cracker, Minister of Biscuits, gives you a last-minute invite to the Charlotte family's yearly Halloween party. As a newer resident of Totto Land, you'd not yet been to one of the Charlotte family's reputed parties, so your curiosity led you to the foot of Whole Cake Island on the night of Halloween.

You’d heard the Charlotte family threw a party for every occasion. And based on your arrival at the foot of the great Whole Cake Island, Halloween was certainly no exception. Hosted by Big Mom herself, every candied and frosted structure was painstakingly decorated by Streusen and his team of chefs. The cakes lining the horizon were decorated in the colors black, orange, red. Creepily smiling bats, balloons in deep red, and cotton candy clouds of a deep blue filled the darkening sky, contrasted brightly against the orange sunset. Fake blood oozed from the frosted fences lining the cracker-laden paths that led you to the delicious town of Sweet City. The singing, dancing homies you’d grown accustomed to seeing were eerily silent, silence a rare and disturbing thing in the archipelago you’d come to reside in. You spotted a few homies who took the shape of gravestones, attracted by the only sound in the whole area beyond the plodding footsteps of other partygoers. The gravestone homies sang a dark dirge as they sullenly watched a shovel homie dig up a fresh grave. Even the juice river had been dyed red to look like blood, deep red reflecting on the horrible grins of the trees peering from the edge of the Seducing Woods.

Having once glimpsed the true darkness of Totto Land, you couldn’t help but wonder if its morbid, Halloween-themed makeover was the truest reflection of its nature. Memories flashed back to your initial arrival to the archipelago. You watched the man in front of you die as Big Mom’s Incarnation swiped the final months of his life as payment for his residency. Vivid memories of him collapsing to the floor with a final breath danced in your brain, followed by the hollow smile of the creature with its white glowing eyes. The creature you’d come to pay twice a year for your ability to live here.

You shuddered at the thought, shaking away the uncomfortable memories. You’d lived here for about 3 months, happily, but saw the hints of darkness creeping behind the picturesque frame of the candy-encrusted landscape…

--

Inside Whole Cake Chateau, the highest of extravagance was on full display. The smell as you stepped inside the massive cake building was perhaps the most memorable—powerful, luscious notes of candy corn, lollipops, gumdrops, marshmallow, chocolate all tickled your nose in unison yet each distinct. The large buffet table to your right was a mountain of confections modeled after zombie parts, skeletons, bat wings. The serving dishes were massive and well-stocked, an army of chefs and rook knights replacing every calorie taken from the table with finesse and speed. To your center, a red velvet chocolate fountain so large that it rivaled an Olympic swimming pool. Guests dotted every corner of the ballroom to your left, dressed from head-to-toe in expensive costumes of classic horror creatures, characters from the latest trends, jokes, and other displays of amazement and fantasy.

You recognized some of the partygoers, primarily from your work as a baker in the cracker bakery housed on Biscuits Island. Visitors from across the entire archipelago came to your workplace to place orders for customized cracker flooring—the area’s edible replacement for tile flooring. While most often you’d seen the Charlotte family’s aides and assistants placing orders at your workplace, some of them preferred to complete the work themselves. Charlotte Katakuri was one of them—an ominous figure he painted against the colorful showroom, tall, dark and quiet. But his attention to detail and patience with ordering the perfect set of cracker floors for each of his projects made you come to realize that there was more than meets the eye with him. He was a figure that intrigued you more than you’d care to admit, but you’d only ever seen him in a work setting. He was a person that you looked forward to seeing, though you held your feelings about him deep within—he seemed too perfect, too unobtainable.

Until today. The most extravagantly dressed you recognized as members of the Charlotte family, who were both the children of the land’s queen as well as its appointed politicians. Charlotte Smoothie stood out immediately, tall as ever, effervescent in a red and blue princely outfit, epaulets encrusted with rhinestones and a beautifully detailed sword laying at her hip, her hair in a low ponytail like a fairytale prince. Charlotte Compote was next to her in a vampiress costume, signature bowl hat filled with a deep red liquid like blood, hair adorned in a slick black wig, fangs poking from red lips, and a beautiful blood red gown, and they appeared to be discussing the décor in detail. Young children in a rainbow assortment of costumes swarmed around their feet, and given their appearances, you could only assume those were younger Charlotte children as they ran in circles at Compote’s feet. From a distance, you spotted a tall figure dressed as Frankenstein’s Monster chatting with a woman dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, though most of their outfits were obscured by the crowd.

As you approached Compote, another regular of your cracker establishment, you heard Smoothie call out: “Katakuri!” and the Frankenstein’s Monster turned his head. You immediately saw that Katakuri’s skin was painted a pale green that made his pink hair, irises, and tattoo pop in contrast. Steel bolts were attached to each side of his head, and his mouth was covered, as usual, by a scarf, although this one was tattered and worn to fit the outfit. Before she could say anymore, Katakuri was there, crouching down and saying something to the children with a gentle, yet stern look in the eyes peering above his tattered scarf. The way they stopped and listened to him so intently was telling of their respect for him—could these be his own children? Ah, well. After he spoke to them, they became quiet and orderly, walking single file towards the pink candy spiral staircase leading up to the second floor. The woman dressed as his bride showed up behind him, cooing, “Oh Katakuri—you’re always so good with them.” With a nod of acknowledgement, he stood back up silently, and noticed you standing 15 feet from them, staring directly at him. He looked at you up and down, and blinked.

“You’re the one from Cracker’s bakery,” he uttered at you with the gentlest hint of a furrow in his brow. The woman dressed as Frankenstein’s Bride next to him grimaced, the wrinkles in her face scrunching to her brow as she failed to hide her frustration. You felt an ounce of hostility from her, and wondered if she had somehow noticed your fascination with Katakuri…

You nodded coyly in response and approached the group of large individuals, but before you could try to politely continue the conversation, you felt a smack on the flat of your back. A large figure leaned in next to you, grin penetrating a hole in the side of your face. “You made it! I’m so glad,” Cracker exclaimed a little too loudly in your ear.

Smoothie groaned, “speak of the devil…” and Cracker gave her a smirk as he acknowledged his siblings standing before him in a circle on the ballroom floor. You noticed Cracker wore a bordering childish lion costume with a mane created from craft paper. Compared to the other costumes, it didn’t make sense to you until you saw him later on in the evening next to the rest of the Wizard of Oz cast…Mont-d’Or in a scarecrow costume, Moscato in a tin man costume, and Poire in an adorable and well-crafted Dorothy costume. You had learned their names because they all stood together in a line to be judged at the costume contest you watched later in the evening.

The siblings bantered around you, discussing each others’ outfits, nearly forgetting you standing there, small in stature and already quiet to begin with. You craned your neck to follow the conversation going on in the air above you.

It struck you as a bit odd that Cracker invited you, one of many employees of his, to this party. There was no one else from your workplace you recognized. On top of that, the Charlotte family all in a single room was a party entirely on its own, without any need for additional guests. This party appeared to be much the same, thick with Charlotte blood, common folk mostly appearing in (Halloween-themed) serving garb, some friends and in-laws dotted between the unusual shapes and sizes of the Charlottes.

--

You mostly enjoyed yourself throughout the party, learning everyone’s names and becoming more familiar with Cracker’s close siblings. The woman Katakuri was with was named Brulee, though you spent most of the night averting your eyes from them, feeling awkward for having ever had a crush on him. Of course he had a wife, or a girlfriend, or whoever she was.

Instead, you paid attention to the costume contest put on by Perosperos and Charlotte Linlin. The contest’s comically large scroll full of rules that’d been penned throughout the years of their lives together as siblings was read through at the very beginning like a very boring educational speech. Poire explained to you that it basically boiled down to: “make your costume yourself, don’t use devil fruits, and anyone discovered cheating on either of those rules would be banned from participating in the costume contest forever.” After learning that, your eyes opened to the absolute craftsmanship of this family’s dedicated costumers. Even the worst costumes such as Cracker’s childish lion seemed less bad after considering the amount of work he had spent at a craft table, hot gluing whiskers to his hand-sewn furry hood.

You had come wearing a mummy costume, but it was store bought and nothing special. Just something cobbled together last minute in preparation for the party, so you had no reason to enter the contest.

There was no real prize beyond the ability to brag—but bragging rights were an incredibly important prize to the Charlottes, and doubly so when a party was involved. Even a cool woman such as Smoothie was swayed by its power, giving her all to craft the most beautifully detailed prince costume this year in the hopes of winning. A teenaged girl named Flampe was swarmed with chess knights all dressed up in the theme of her costume: a musician with all of her adoring fans. You weren’t really sure what popstar she was supposed to be—her skin was painted like a skeleton, hair curled densely, a large crown upon her head, heart shaped sunglasses resting on her head with an orange feather boa around her shoulders. She held a green guitar shaped like a shark that she never actually tried to play. Given how nearly everyone in the room watched her entrance and participation on the stage, you guessed it was someone famous.

Later on in the event, you noted that Katakuri and Brulee joined as a team with their matching Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein outfits. You wouldn’t have pegged Katakuri as the type to want bragging rights for anything, but the crowd’s response to them was incredible—for Katakuri in particular. Oven noticed your surprise. He leaned down to you and explained, “he’s been voted the most popular brother, after all. He’s cool, perfect, and utterly undefeated in battle.”

In the end, the costume contest voting boiled down into a popularity contest, as things so often do within the family’s politics. Charlotte Linlin, dressed in the most expensive and extravagant Queen costume, sat at the large chair behind the judge’s table and laughed her signature “mama-mama” when she counted the results. Flampe’s skeleton musician-themed group was the winner and she accepted the honor with the smallest amount of grace, followed by Katakuri and Brulee’s Frankenstein pair in second.

--

The party came to a close, its music dying down, the youngest children all retired to bed or gone home. You’d been invited upstairs into one of the many candy-rococo rooms in the upper echelons of the Whole Cake Chateau by Cracker, and sat on the floor with a grouping of older Charlottes and friends sitting in a circle, all laughing and chatting. Katakuri and the woman he was with were there.

You’d chosen dare. A bottle was spun in the middle of the group. Whoever it landed on would be the second player of 7 Minutes in Heaven—a game typically played by hormone-ridden teens looking to make out in a closet. But you were adults, joking around. You’d been recruited as the first player in a game of 7 Minutes in Heaven, which made you feel a bit uncomfortable—this was a party your boss invited you to, after all. You weren't usually a dare person either, but you’d never gotten to play spin the bottle growing up, so you figured why not. The gentle haze of an alcoholic beverage helped, too.

The bottle stopped. Of all the people in the circle, it pointed at Charlotte Katakuri. Brulee looked uncomfortable, but didn’t say anything—why would a married couple play this game? You thought to yourself. But in the single night you knew him, Perosperos was the one making up the rules, and he was a stickler for those.  You decided not to protest. Maybe you’d stand silently in the closet for 7 minutes with the perfectly terrifying Katakuri as he gazed down upon you in the darkness.

Words were exchanged, and you were both sent to the closet for 7 minutes of heaven.

You entered the dark closet, shuffling in and out of a multitude of large dresses belonging to Charlotte Linlin, the fabric nearly engulfing you. The door shut behind you both, and a voice rang out, “timer starts now! Don’t get too naughty, you two!” followed by Brulee’s audible groan.

You heard Katakuri audibly gulp above you. The feelings of shock and nervousness had blinded you to his expressions, so now that you were smashed together in the dark, you had absolutely no read on him whatsoever.

So you quietly asked, “Katakuri…?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“Why did you—aren’t you married? Isn’t this weird?” but you were interrupted by a large gloved hand on your shoulder, sending a wave of nervousness in a whirlwind through your body.

“I am not married,” he responded, simply.

You gulped, biting your lip.

“But, Brulee…?” you responded in your head, but the words didn’t come out. Somehow, he heard you anyway.

“Brulee is my sister. She likes scary movies a lot, so we dressed up for the contest.” He changed the subject. “I think your costume is nice,” he gestured, withdrawing his hand on your shoulder to touch the fabric with a respectful tap of his finger, unable to point in the darkness.

“Wait, then whose kids were—well...Okay. Thank you,” and you laughed a little as you went along with him. “If you’re wondering, I didn’t make it. The mummy wraps came pre-stained.”

“Oh?”

“I didn’t know you guys had all these rules. Hell, I didn’t even know there was a contest. I just grabbed something from one of the shops last minute. You did such a great job on your costume, I feel embarrassed for you to even have to look at me! Cracker didn’t even tell me about this party until the day before.”

Katakuri sighed. “Sorry.”

“What’re you apologizing for?”

“He invited you because of me.”

You didn’t understand what he meant. Katakuri continued.

“I…mentioned you once...” That revelation piqued your interest. He talked about you? Why?

Katakuri shifted his weight from one foot to another, causing some of the dresses around you to move. “Because I thought you were…cute.” The words choked out of him, you could almost feel the heat of his blushing cheeks radiating from above you as he spoke. He cleared his throat.

“Let’s talk about something else.”

An awkward silence filled the closet—he’d stunned you twice in a row, first with the truth about his relationship status, and second, that he’d requited your attraction. What to do?

Katakuri cleared his throat again, uncomfortable and trapped in a closet with his head nearly touching the ceiling, stuffed awkwardly against the shelf with the person he’d just admitted he liked. You wanted to respect his request to drop the subject, so you didn’t push it.

Following his earlier lead, you offered a compliment. “I like your costume too.” You lightly touched the thick canvas fabric of his baggy pants where they tucked into his heavy platform boots, outlining a patch stitched with wide embroidery thread. “You really made all this yourself?”

The leg under your hand shifted in its pants as Katakuri kneeled before you, pushing Big Mom’s hanging clothes surrounding you out of the way by sheer size of his frame. A protective arm rested on the floor next to you, and he uttered, “Yes. The rules are very explicit. You can incorporate basic, store-bought items such as shirts, pants, but they must be modified in some tangible way.”

“Is it okay if I touch?” you asked, not wanting to be too presumptuous. You continued, “I didn’t have much of a chance to look at your costume too closely, but it must be good if you won second place.”

“I worked hard on it, but I am not sure it was deserving of second place. You’re welcome to touch it.” The air felt less thick between you as the awkwardness simmered into a cool comfort.

You explored the details of his costume in the darkness, your hands small against the 16’ man’s frame. The large arm resting on the ground next to you was adorned in the sleeve of a thick blazer, artificially weathered by his own hands, its threads exposed and rough with rips and tears near the seams. Thickly woven patches were sewn into his entire suit using embroidery thread. The blazer was opened at the center to reveal his shirtless chest, and although you couldn’t feel it, you remembered how his skin had been carefully painted green around the pink tattoos, and how the juxtaposition of those two colors created such a bright and engaging contrast on his skin.

“Did you sew the patches with a machine? The detailing feels so even,” you asked as you felt the perfectly squared stitching, betraying the imperfect nature of the Frankenstein Monster.

“I sewed all of the modifications by hand, though the jacket and pants were something I had already owned. Have a couple of injuries on my fingers to prove it.” Katakuri replied as he twisted his wrist, opening his palm next to you.

“You? Injuries? One of your brothers told me you were undefeated. To think you’d been bested by a needle and thread…” Reaching down to his hand, you ran yours against his palm to the ends of his fingertips. He let out the lightest flinch when your hand pressed against a small needle injury at the end of his pointer finger.

“How the mighty fall,” he answered with a spark of amusement.

Resolving not to waste this private moment, he made a move.

Katakuri wrapped his hand around yours, and with the softest motion, pulled you in towards his body as he leaned his head down. You were close enough to him to feel the warmth radiating from his core. You swore you smelled a hint of fried dough. The ruggedly tattered scarf wrapped around his lower face tickled your skin as electricity grew between you and the seconds stretched into what felt like minutes. You were so close that you felt his breath on your nose, but the scarf stayed put as a barrier between you. You looked into the eyes you couldn’t see in the darkness, and yearned for the touch of his lips against yours.

Both yourself and Katakuri imagined the feel of each others’ lips pressed against skin, the taste, the touch, the smell—although you had no idea what his mouth looked like. He always covered it, so your imagination ran wild in the dark. You kissed the scarred and torn lips of the face you imagined in your head, then you kissed a mouth with sharp teeth so pointed that your own lips were cut in the process. Maybe he had big cute buck teeth under there that stuck through a pair of swollen lips. You kissed that too. Your imagination ran through the possibilities like a rolodex, and each was good, wonderous, and electric.

Meanwhile, Katakuri’s rolodex of imagined scenarios was not so idyllic. He imagined the multitude of ways in which you’d reject him, how you’d take his scarf from him and embarrass him, how you’d reveal the secret of his mouth to the entire world, painting a target on the backs of all his siblings. He remembered all of his past relationship failures, and most of all, he remembered the great bloody wound across his sister Brulee’s face as he stood there powerlessly. He froze.

The hesitation began to hang thick in the air like a fog, and you were nearly able to feel the discomfort circulating from his body. You weren’t sure what changed. Time had been dilating and you wondered how much longer the 7 minutes would last.

You took your chance.

You grasped his hand which held yours so gently but stiffly, and pulled it close enough to plant a sweet kiss upon the top of his painted knuckle. Underneath your lips, his body notably relaxed. The gesture brought him back to reality.

Katakuri’s eyes glinted with the color of the future, where he saw the moment the door opened to light, just moments away. In a flash, he pulled your hand through his scarf to his lips and returned the kiss so quickly that you could hardly process what might be under there by feel. He then stood straight up and gave you both a once over that lasted no more than a single second, any hair or mummy wrapping out of place put in its proper configuration by the quickest swipe of his finger. As if nothing had happened.

The door opened.

His siblings joked, poked, prodded, and laughed at what they thought may or may not had happened between the two of you. He spent the rest of the night avoiding your eyes, as if nothing had happened. Eventually, his siblings dropped the subject. Deep down, they were rooting for Katakuri—most of the older Charlotte children had already been married, through virtue (or iniquity) of arranged marriage. But perhaps the strongest and most perfect Charlotte, intentionally held from the world of political marriage, would be allowed to pick his own partner.

The party moved on. Other games were played, other topics broached, other siblings bullied and jested and the family was having a great time. Katakuri thought he’d gotten away with keeping up his perfect illusion that he’d kept his distance during the closet game, but sometime later, his eyes widened at you like plates, face turning red under his scarf, burning through the green face paint. He observed his hand and saw a hardly noticeable kiss mark on his knuckle. It’s already too late, he thought to himself.

Seconds later, Cracker’s burst of laughter turned the entire room to your face.

“Hold on, hold on! Your lips are GREEN!”

“GREEN?!”

“What did those two get up to…?”

“Katakuri! You DOG!”

Brulee looked concerned and attempted to play interference by standing between you and Katakuri to block the line of sight. She’d grown to be very protective of him, knowing that his hidden heart was kind and undeserving of the expectations those had thrust upon him. While she knew he was truly not the perfect being the world had decided him to be, she would do anything to help him protect that because it is what he had chose.

Despite Brulee getting in the center of it, the chatter raged on, the rumors spread, and you gained some kind of reputation. Your eyes met Katakuri’s as he leaned over Brulee to look at you. You furrowed your brows at each other.

The start of a beautiful relationship…

#charlotte katakuri x reader #multiple other charlotte family members appear as well! #one piece x reader #charlotte katakuri #katakuri #buggy's spooktacular special #mew writes

[calxia]

By chance do you have any thoughts on Aether and Phantom or anything with Phantom and the older ghouls? I'm quite curious to see your take on it.

I still have yet to give my anonymous self a name.

- Curious Nameless Anon

One day I'll actually learn how to control myself when writing asks but that day is not today so have almost 1k of build-up to Phantom meeting Omega for the first time Anon!

Phantom’s not very good at his quintessence magic.

He was summoned from the pit during a time when there were no quintessence ghouls in the abbey to teach him, and even back in the pit his magic had only just settled into being. There was Swiss, who knew some basic quintessence skills, but Phantom couldn’t ask him about it after the rough start he had with the others. It was fine. Phantom handled having little control of his magic just fine.

Like yeah sometimes he would accidentally jolt people with pure quintessence if they got too close, and yeah, he couldn’t even heal a papercut or slightly ease a headache, but he managed. He’d never accidentally scorched someone with it and he’d never melted someone’s brain accidentally so it was all good. And sure, he couldn’t really switch off the whole quintessence empath thing but it was only overwhelming some of the time. He had been handling it just fine for the tour anyway so who cared if he couldn’t do what others could?

Copia apparently.

When they returned from the tour for their winter break all the band ghouls got assigned their chores, but instead of getting a chore assigned Phantom was pulled into Copia’s office. Papa looked exhausted from the tour and seemed like he had aged 10 years from where he was sitting hunched over at his desk. The young ghoul stood in front of him nervously playing with his tail. He was too anxious to sit down. Why had only he been called into Papa’s office? And why did everyone else get their assigned chores but not him?

“Do you know why I’ve called you into my office Phantom?” asked Copia. The ghoul shook his head briskly and shifted anxiously where he stood.

“Normally, quintessence ghouls will help out in the medical wing while not touring,” started Papa,” However am I right in saying that you do not have the skills or experience to be of any use there?”

Phantom tucked his head down in shame. He knew that he wasn’t useful to the clergy outside of being a kind of decent guitarist, but Copia saying it out loud made it hurt even more. He was hardly even a good ghoul, let alone a good quintessence ghoul. He couldn’t even do the basic skills that most quint kits could do because he’d never had anyone to teach him in the pit.

“Aether and Omega are due back next week, so you will be put on cleaning duty until then and they will train you when you return. We need to get you all trained up before the higher-ups realise you are unskilled, si?” Copia said.

He froze. He’d heard so much about the older quintessence ghouls in their absence. He had been summoned to take over for Aether after a tuberculosis outbreak had decimated one of their sister chapels and the two elder ghouls had been sent over to help tend to the sick and dying. They had already left the ministry before he’d taken his first breath surface side so he had never met them. They were highly respected and loved by the clergy, and even more respected and loved by the current and past band ghouls. Phantom had been present for many of Special’s rambling speeches about how much he missed Omega and how Omega was one of his favourite ghouls.

He was nervous about studying under two such renowned ghouls, but it was necessary. If the higher-ups found out just how useless he is he’d be sent back to the pit no matter how well he played. He could only hope that they would be kind and patient with him.

The week passed quickly. Phantom spent his time flitting between his cleaning duty and practising what little he could do with his magic. He’d gotten to the point where he could form little harmless sparks of magic across his body, but this was hardly useful in the long run. The band quarters were empty. Everyone was busy greeting their returning pack members but Phantom had elected to stay in his lonely room. Why should he go and disrupt the reunions when he had never met them before?

A sharp knock echoed through his room, and Phantom paused where he was idly strumming on his guitar in thought. All the ghouls should have been celebrating the return of the quintessence ghouls so why was someone knocking on his door? He placed the guitar on his bed before opening his door.

A tall broad ghoul blocked the doorway. He rippled with millennia-old wisdom and power, yet still had a somewhat calming and kind air to him. Phantom shrunk back a little and peered up at the other through his salt and pepper fringe.

“They warned me that you were young, but they didn’t quite tell me that you were barely old enough to be separated from your birth pack.” Stated the ghoul, his voice rich and velvety in a soothing way.

“No wonder you don’t know any quintessence control then Kid.”

At that statement, he lifted his hand to let it rest between Phantom’s horns. The younger relaxed under the soft, familial touch and rumbled out a quiet purr. The larger ghoul chuckled and started to run his fingers through the soft curls.

“Don’t worry, me and Aether will make sure you learn everything you’ll ever need to know kit.” And with that Aether let the smallest trickle of quintessence touch Phantom and watched all the tension drain from his form.

Omega may not have been around for the quintessence ghoul’s first few months, but he sure as hell was going to make sure that such a sweet ghoul would be treated well from that point onwards.

#me x ending everything open ended #phantom ghoul #aether ghoul #omega ghoul #the band ghost #nameless ghouls #ghost headcanons #ghoul headcanons #calxwrites

[wwinterwitch]

questions — joel miller x fem!reader

summary: after a night at the bar, joel walks you home and you finally confess what has been on your mind since the night everything fell apart pairing: joel miller x fem!reader word count: 3.9k warnings and tags: doesn't really follow canon but sill minor spoilers for ep. 6 i guess?, angst with a good ending, alcohol consumption, reader is drunk, joel being joel, miscommunication, sharing feelings go wrong, i'm not used to write angsty fics i'm sorry if this sucks author's note: omg omg happy finale day!! i wrote this listening to question...? by taylor swift so that's what inspired this concept, also this was supposed to be a tiny little blurb idk how we got to almost 4k words but okay i guess

a reblog and/or comment on my posts really help me out as a content creator so thank you in advance if you take the time to do either!

navigation | pedro's characters masterlist

Before tonight you were fine.

You barely even thought about him in that way. You barely remember the way his skin feels against yours, or the way a simple kiss from him would leave you begging for more. It was like all those nights you two would stay up talking about whatever, his arms around you and your back pressed against his chest, never existed.

Training your heart not to long for him and your brain to keep him out of your thoughts was no easy job at first. It was almost impossible for your body not to want him close. Not being able to talk to him about whatever was on your mind and knowing he no longer will reach out to share even his most profound secrets was absolute torture. Walking next to him all day without being able to reach out for his hand or stop for a quick second just to hold him close to you was a living nightmare that you couldn't wake up from.

Because how could he be so easy to forget? Joel Miller. The first and only person you've fallen in love with. That special someone that opened up a door to a whole new world that you never realized you were dying to discover until he was standing in front of you, his extended hand being an open invitation to walk all these unfamiliar roads and witness the beauty of it all together.

It was new and scary and beautiful. You were addicted to loving him before you even realized exactly what it was. From the moment you were able to put a name to this new feeling he taught you, you vowed to be his for as long as he'll have you- but what a shame it was to realize that the ending to a seemingly long story was already written at the very back of the page.

Perhaps your love blinded you enough to believe he had fallen just as hard, only to realize he was still standing at the edge of the precipice, staring down as you fell into the darkness of the abyss. Perhaps it's the fact that death is all around that makes it impossible for anything to be born. Why would you be able to live a fairytale in the middle of a horror show? What could possibly make you so special?

At least he doesn't seem to be affected by the fact that you two drifted apart. It's not like he's the best at sharing his feelings to other people, his ever-frowning gaze always present in his face no matter the circumstance, but you were still hoping that maybe he cared enough to show you he's hurting even just a little bit.

That should be comforting, right? To know he's perfectly fine and that you never cross his mind in that way. He doesn't have the need to apologize or make it right. He doesn't regret what happened and it never plays back in his head as he curses at himself for not doing things differently. You and your...relationship? are that easy to forget.

No. It's not comforting at all. If anything, it makes everything worse.

You can still remember the night you told him you loved him. A moment in your painfully short history together that you wish you could erase. A disappointing ending to what could've been an absolute masterpiece.

Ellie was already asleep and the two of you were keeping watch. He insisted you should get some sleep but you wanted to stay with him. He wasn't a fan of showing you any type of affection since Ellie joined the two of you, so the nights are the only chance you have to be closer. It was like the moon and stars were your best of friends at that point, because they meant he could finally be yours.

The confession slipped from your lips in a quiet whisper. A simple and timid "I think I'm falling in love with you" was all you offered. It's not hard to remember the way your hands would slightly tremble, or the rapid beating of your heart. It's as unforgettable as the confidence you were feeling because despite being so nervous, you were certain that he'll say it back.

He never did. He didn't say it back that night, or the morning after, or any other morning that followed.

It was embarrassing to look back on it now that you know what happened next. You were snuggled up next to him, one of his arms wrapped around your shoulders. His eyes were fixated on the fireplace that helped to make the chilling air of the night a little more tolerable.

Staring at his handsome complexion without his permission was probably one of your favorite things to do. He had confided in you a couple of times that he couldn't understand why you enjoy it so much. That he's not this breathtaking sight that deserves to be contemplated in the way you do.

Truth is, he's the most hypnotizing sight of all. You didn't care about the roughness of his features or the years visible in the corner of his eyes, hair and beard. He's gorgeous and unique and yours. You could stare at him for hours and never get tired of it.

Like many times before, he caught you staring at him. And just like those times before, he made a gesture that should tell you he disliked that habit of yours, only to be betrayed by the smirk timidly forming on his lips not so long after.

It was then, with his eyes staring back at yours, that the verbal proclamation of your love for him invaded the quietness of the night.

And that's when his smirk magically disappeared. His eyes became dark with something you couldn't quite decipher at the time, still staring back at you but not really. It was clear he wasn't there with you anymore, too lost in his own thoughts to truly acknowledge your presence anymore.

Before you could even think of saying something else, he surprised you with an almost robotic "I think you should get some sleep".

Feeling more heartbroken and confused than ever, you did exactly that. You got up and joined Ellie, cuddling up in your sleeping bag with your back facing him. It's still a mystery to you how you were able to cry yourself to sleep that night without making a sound. How you were able to control the hurricane of emotions after telling the love of your life how you feel and him not caring about it in the slightest.

And suddenly, being in love was still new and scary but it had turned into something horrible.

You had to spend every second of every day with him after that, pretending nothing ever happened. He never brought it up either, so you decided to ignore it to avoid making a fool of yourself again. His reaction was enough to let you know he never really loved you, so you ran with it and tried to continue knowing whatever you two had or could have was no more.

But it was still difficult at times. Ellie kept asking you questions regarding you and Joel even weeks after the incident. She's not stupid. She could see you two weren't exactly friends, no matter how hard Joel tried to convince her otherwise. She's also not someone who settles for made up excuses or half truths, which made her push the subject until she got a good enough answer. That's why she continued coming to you for answers, because she knew he'll never talk about it.

It was only when you explicitly confirmed you two weren't just friends before quickly telling her it was completely over that she eventually let it be. After that, she also started to pretend nothing happened.

Jackson became pretty much the light at the end of a pitch back tunnel you thought was never-ending. You were excited to meet new people and have new things to do during the day, knowing it'll help to keep you busy, forcing Joel out of your head.

It was so exciting in fact, that it helped to make it seem as if the quick "she's the one I've been traveling with" that Joel used to introduce you to his brother wasn't that terrible.

Tommy, who much to your luck was nothing like his big brother, made sure to show you around and introduce you to a few people. He got you a house so you and Ellie could settle in and helped you find a job at the local library, officially starting your new life that didn't revolve around Joel.

In time, you found your place in the commune (as you and Ellie love to call it to tease Tommy). Joel was slowly becoming just a bad chapter in a much bigger story that you started to write for yourself, and you're loving the new plot that's unfolding across the blank pages.

However, all of that progress came crashing down tonight. Tommy's birthday was being celebrated at the local bar and there was no way you would ever miss it. Not only has he become a very good friend, but you also needed the distraction.

The familiar faces, the food and drinks made you forget about Joel's presence for most of the night and you barely made the effort to acknowledge his presence. Without being able to prevent it, your eyes accidentally met for a few seconds. It was almost sickening that everything about that half-a-second-look was so much like a movie. You were laughing at something a friend had said before you finished your third drink of the night, casually scanning the room to catch Joel already looking your way.

He smiled and you barely smiled back before focusing on the conversation with your friends again as if nothing happened. The alcohol might have motivated you enough to just not care anymore. To show him you really couldn't care any less to try to be nice after he was such an asshole when you were completely vulnerable before him.

The idea of not caring seemed tempting. Thinking the alcohol was helping, you continued drinking until you forgot about pretty much everything- which didn't take that long considering your alcohol resistance wasn't that good after a long time without drinking. You don't care about Joel, or the hours passing by, or the fact that you're probably making a complete fool of yourself giggling and dancing with a few friends that are probably as drunk as you are, if not more.

All the hype from being intoxicated started to wear off after a while, becoming more and more sleepy until you were practically dragging your feet towards the exit, putting on your coat and hat to prepare for the cold night outside.

"Looks like you had a good time," you hear Tommy comment in a mocking tone, sending a sympathetic smile your way.

"I did! Thanks for inviting me. And happy birthday to you again!" you exclaim cheerfully. "I hope I didn't make a fool of myself tonight."

"Oh, you definitely did," he mocked, chuckling lightly. "But hey, those dance moves you were pulling off back there? Best birthday gift I'll ever receive."

You looked positively embarrassed after his comment, but managed to laugh it off. "I guess that's good."

"It is," he immediately reassures you. "Let's get you home now, okay?"

"Oh, you don't have to go with me. You can't leave your own birthday party. It's okay, I got it."

"I want to make sure you get home safe. It's fine."

"Tommy, please. You should stay and have fun."

"I won't have fun if I'm worrying about you all night."

"I can take her," you suddenly hear Joel's voice behind you, which immediately made you roll your eyes because you really didn't want him around. He noticed the gesture but didn't seem to care about it in the slightest, putting on his jacket. "I was heading out anyway."

Tommy couldn't have known you really didn't want to be around his older brother, completely unaware of your history with him. Perhaps if you told him, he'll insist on going with you or find someone else that could walk you home. But you never told him what happened, so you're stuck with Joel. "Okay, great. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Thank you for coming," he says, allowing the two of you to leave.

The first few minutes outside in the snow have got to be the most awkward minutes of your entire life.

You tried not to stumble despite still being a bit drunk, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of him. You're mad that he's here with you and you can't stand being alone with him.

"Did you have fun tonight?"

Oh, and of course he had to open his mouth. Because when has Joel ever done what you want him to do? It seems like he'll always do exactly the opposite of what you expect from him.

"Yes," was all you said.

"Just yes?" he tried again.

"Yes."

You heard him sigh. "So, no talking?"

"I'd really like that, actually."

The tone of your voice would've been enough to make him shut up for the entire walk. Even he seemed to be a little taken aback by the honesty of your answer because you could feel him staring at you for longer than usual before he focused on his boots as they left marks on the snow.

He didn't ask what was wrong because deep down he must've known. He can't not know. And in that drunken state you allowed yourself to be pity as you wished that he thinks about it every single day. That it tortures him. That he despises himself for breaking your heart and not doing something to make it right. That he looks back on it and hopes that he could go back.

But does he? Does he actually think about it every single day? Does he regret what happened? And if he does, why is he not trying to say he's sorry? Does he even want to say something at all?

It was almost as if the alcohol betrayed you. Or maybe it was your head that just allowed every barrier you have built these past few weeks to crumble down. Not caring turned into caring way too much and it was like you couldn't stop thinking about a hundred questions without being able to find a single answer to any of them.

Joel turns to look at you once again when he notices you stopped walking. Your head is spinning as more and more questions fill up your mind and you get frustrated because you know there's only one person who has all the answers.

Should you say something? Should you make a fool of yourself once again? It shouldn't be you. Why is he not doing something? How come you're the one who has to speak up about this? It's not fair.

But it was late, cold and you were just so drunk. And you know that no matter how much you try to move on, you'll never be truly okay until you hear an explanation as to why he broke your heart in such a vicious way. Even if he lies or tries to sugarcoat it, you deserve even the tiniest of explanations.

"Is everything okay?" he eventually asks, which only frustrates you more.

"Do you ever think about that night?" you let out almost immediately after, feeling the way your heart was beating faster than ever. As fast as the time you confessed your love for him.

He was quiet, so you decided to continue. "Do you ever wish you could go back and change the way it ended? Does...does it ever cross your mind or you seriously don't care?"

After those questions, Joel seemed to finally react. "Are we seriously doing this now?"

"If not now, when? You were clearly not going to say anything," you accused him, leaving him completely defenseless because he was very much avoiding ever bringing this up and you just called him out on it. "I just need to know why, Joel."

"I don't- let's get you home, okay?"

"Stop doing that! Stop trying to avoid this!" you exclaimed with obvious exasperation, feeling the corner of your eyes burning due to the tears that would surely roll down your cheeks at any point. "I was in love with you and you weren't decent enough to at least tell me you didn't feel the same way! Don't you think I deserved at least that?"

"We can talk about this tomorrow..."

"No, fuck that. I waited long enough," you quickly interrupted. "I was so patient with you. I gave you your space when you said you weren't sure about us, I respected your decision of being discreet in front of Ellie, I stood up for you countless of times when I shouldn't have. I did so much for you and you can't even look me in the eye and give me an explanation!"

"It's not-"

"You've got to be the biggest asshole I've ever met. And you know what's the worst part of this? That I'm still expecting shit from you. I still hope that you'll say you're sorry for breaking my heart and acting like you never did something wrong. I'm so fucking stupid to believe that you actually-"

"I was afraid!" he practically shouted, hoping that would stop your rambling. It seemed to work, because you were silent as soon as he said that. "There. Are you happy?"

"Don't put this on me," you immediately snap back.

Joel sighs yet again and takes a second to calm down, knowing that if he gets defensive this will end much worse. It's time to accept he fucked up and stop trying to act like he didn't.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "For this and for what I said that night. I should've been honest with you."

Now it was you the one who was silent, taken aback by his reaction. Usually, he'll try to come on top by creating any type of argument until he's able to get the last word. An actual apology was definitely not something you were expecting.

"I don't like people. I keep my distance and everyone else stay away from me in return. I like distance," he explains. "But then you came along and it was impossible to stay away. No matter how hard I tried, I'd always come back to you. I started to need you and it was scary because I should be keeping my distance."

Silence. Absolute silence. You were surprised to hear him being so honest with you, but you were also feeling a bit nostalgic because deep down you missed being the person Joel would go to when he needed someone to talk to. Even when it was difficult for him to open up, he always tried his best to rely on you whenever he needed it. Needless to say, it made you feel very special.

"When you said you loved me I didn't know what to do. It felt so...definitive. Because I knew that deep down I was falling for you too and if I said something that'd mean I'd never be able to let you go. And it was so scary to think of giving in to that feeling because...because I couldn't allow myself to care again."

You knew exactly what he meant by that. His daughter is not a topic he particularly enjoys bringing up, but you've heard a few things about her. And honestly, you couldn't really blame him for being scared. Despite all these years, losing his kid in the way he did has got to be the worst pain he'll ever experience. Of course he'll want to run away in the opposite direction when he starts seeing the similarities.

It doesn't excuse the fact that he avoided you, but you would never pretend like his feelings weren't valid.

He was scared of loving you because with love comes the inevitable attachment to that person forever. You care so deeply, the mere idea of ever losing that person shatters your world completely. And he knows what that loss feels like. He couldn't experience that again.

"Besides, you know me. You know I'm a mess. I couldn't let you ruin your life by loving me, because I'd just let you down- which I did, so I was right. So instead of saying something, I just said what I thought would help to make you not love me anymore. If I couldn't keep my distance, I had to do something so you'll want to stay away from me."

Once again, Joel was doing exactly the opposite of what you expected. He poured his heart out to you, sounding so honest and vulnerable. You've only heard him being this sincere whenever he would mention Sarah or that one time when you both stayed up talking in depth about your relationship with Ellie.

Tears started to roll down your cheeks as predicted as you stared at him. You don't know whether to hug him or punch him at this point.

"You're such an asshole," was all you could say.

The comment made him chuckle, but it was evident he was holding back his own tears. "I know."

"But that's exactly why I loved you. I know what you've been through, I knew you were a challenge and I was willing to work on it for as long as it would take us. The decision of whether I wanted to love you or not was never yours to make."

"I was trying to save you from having to deal with me."

"What if I didn't want to be saved?"

"Well, I think it's already too late for that," he replied. There was another pause that encouraged him to ask, "Is it? Too late?"

"I don't know," you replied. It was the truth.

"I can work with I don't know."

"What does that mean?" you asked curiously, wiping your tears away.

"It means I'm willing to make it right this time," he replied. "If you let me."

You frowned just a little, failing to hold back the smile that appeared on your face just seconds later. "You know you'll have to really try if you want to fix this, right?"

"I know. It's okay. You're worth it."

So far, so good, you thought.

"This means no more hiding, no more trying to push me away, talking about your feelings..."

"I can handle it."

"Can you?" you asked in a much more serious tone. It sucked not being able to fully trust his word, but you both know you had your reasons not to. "I just don't want to get my hopes up again over nothing."

You watched as Joel took a step closer to you, reaching out to grab one of your hands. He examines your face, making sure you're okay with him touching you before he brings it up to his lips, gently kissing your knuckles. "I promise you this time will be different," he says, and he's looking at you with so much affection, it's impossible not to trust him.

#joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller fic #joel miller #joel miller angst #pedro pascal characters

[beanghostprincess]

Usopp is jealous of what Zoro and Sanji have. There's nothing romantic about it, but there is passion between them. And yes, Sanji and Usopp fight but not that much and never that way and they used to do it more when they weren't dating. And it's not like fighting has anything to do with passion or love or whatever, Usopp loves the way Sanji loves and the sweetness he always offers. But- But it's- It's a dumb reason. It's stupid. But Nami mentions something about Sanji and Zoro getting a room and Robin adds something about passion also coming from hatred and arguing. So Usopp tries to make Sanji mad. Again, stupid. But he tries. He tries to do everything on the list that makes Sanji lose control because he wants him to yell and fight with him and have the same back and forth they used to have, not the same he has with Zoro, but, you know. Something more passionate. But he never manages to make him angry. It's Sanji the one who's always either apologizing or holding himself back or trying hard not to say anything hurtful. And fine, okay, that's cute. That's so sweet. He loves Usopp so much. Too much. But it's a bit frustrating. So one day Usopp yells "Why won't you get angry at me?!" / "What? Why would you ever want me to do that? Did you hit your head, mon amour?" / "No! I just- Fuck. It's stupid. Drop it. It's dumb" / "It's obviously not dumb if it's bothering you so much. Tell me" / "I don't want to" / "Usopp" / "Nope" / "For fuck's sake, Usopp! Just tell me already or I will get it out of you!" But he grabs Usopp by the shirt while saying this like he used to do when they were just friends bickering, and it does something to Usopp. His heart is doing backflips. His blood is not, uh, in his brain precisely if you know what I mean. Sanji notices this after a few seconds and goes "Wait- Shit. Does seeing me angry turn you on?" / "Nope. Not at all. But if you could do it again that would be great-" / "Jesus fucking christ, Usopp, I can't stand you" / "You know, I'm not sure if you're truly angry right now or if you're indulging me. It's a bit confusing with, uh, the whole topic-" / "I actually don't know either. Let me think".

So turns out they end up talking about it before doing anything because Sanji is a romantic and he's all respectful and even if Usopp is dying there for more of that, he'll have to wait until they have the talk. Yay. Boundaries. Consent. Whatever, Usopp is stressed. "I just don't want to hurt you-" / "Damn, calm down. I'm not telling you to beat me up, I'm telling you to, like, I dunno-" / "Why would you even want me to get angry at you? Is- Is what we do not enough or-" / "No! Yes! I mean- It's amazing, babe, really. I was just considering... Other options... And... One of the options might be, you know..." / "I actually don't know" / "You're just so sweet to me and I love that about you, but you have to know-" / "It turns you on when I get angry?" / "You're extremely hot when you're mad. I just think a bit of... Passion? Would be good for us. For me, mostly. For my dick-" / "I get it, dear, you don't need to explain it".

And one thing leads to another and when they know, they know. Usopp will tease Sanji while he's cooking. Will bother him every now and then when he's busy. Will do things he knows he isn't supposed to do that make Sanji go insane. If Luffy did those things he would end up in the bottom of the sea without hesitation. But since it's Usopp doing it, they just end up arguing (Sanji is literally incapable of not asking every fucking second if Usopp is comfortable, but whatever, good enough. He's sweet like that even when he's mad) and then they make out wherever they are. And it's messy and intimate because they're disgustingly in love.

#i like seeing them argue okay i was rewatching some skypiea scenes and it's just so funny #the first time they saw each other they started arguing like 😭 they can't be normal people #usopp seeing sanji fight: he's so hot i wish he'd kick me in the ribs / nami: you'd start crying / usopp: probably. but have you seen him #sanji seeing overprotective usopp: i've never wanted somebody so bad in my entire life / robin: romantically or sexually? / sanji: both #one piece #black leg sanji #usopp #sanuso

[vargamornight]

angel and spike's relationship and their eligibility for the shanshu prophecy have got my brain on puree and i'm tossing episodes in one at a time

when spike was first turned, immortality was a gift. he could live forever! the first goddamn thing he did was go to his mother and turn her. he told dru the three of them can travel the world together! it didn’t go well, but that was okay, because he still had dru, and she was his everything. she was his whole world, his sire, the woman who gave him life. she was his destiny. spike-as-william was perfectly content to just live with drusilla, and angel and darla, because he loved dru, and she loved them. they were family, they were his home, and that was all he ever wanted. just somewhere to belong.

and that pissed angelus right the fuck off. angelus, whose first act as a vampire was to kill his father, whose love for darla was more like rage, who took every opportunity to slaughter and bathe in the blood of innocents, could not fucking stand that this guy was just like "hahaha that was so funny when you killed that guy. anyway, i think i'm just gonna go hang out with dru." angelus didn’t want love, or peace, or contentment. he wanted to rip heads off of shoulders, eat babies, and rape teenaged girls. seeing spike so well adjusted made him genuinely angry, so he did something that he knew would ruffle spike's calm: he slept with dru.

ever since then, they've hated each other. angel literally started it, but neither of them was ever particularly kind about their retaliation. angel tortured spike emotionally and psychologically for like a hundred years, and spike had angel physically tortured for like, three whole hours for information, plus spike definitely went after buffy (in more ways than one) just to piss off angel. but even without a soul, spike was never anywhere near as bad as angel. not even close.

so angel gets a soul. it's an enormous burden, because of how much of a shitstain he's been for the past 150 years or whatever, and he suddenly is capable of guilt again. it's a curse.

(but then he sees a 14 year old girl, the one girl in the world who might put him out of his misery, and he, a 27-slash-200 year old man, literally immediately decides he's in love with that 14 year old girl. okay dude. sure.)

angel becomes a good guy and joins the fight against evil, instead of just eating rats and not dying, because he wants the girl to like him. she does, they bang, he loses his soul again, tortures her psychologically, kills some people, gets sent to a hell dimension, gets out, and leaves. honestly, can't blame him for that one.

angel leaves buffy voluntarily so that he won't/can't hurt her by being a shitstain without a soul again.

and then there's spike. spike basically just noodles around, delivering threatening monologues from rooftops while watching one protagonist or another, and it's very cool and scary until it's time for the dastardly plan to kick in, at which point everything immediately falls apart like a cartoon car with no bolts, leaving spike blinking comically, holding a steering wheel and sitting on air. spike refers to angel as a drama queen several times, and he's not wrong, but he is very hypocritical.

spike gets to sunnydale and goes after buffy for fun, fails terribly, then succeeds at kidnapping angel, who he needs because dru, the light of his life, his moon and stars, his effulgent beauty, his destiny, is not feeling well and he needs the blood of her sire to heal her. that's it. no real ulterior motive, no "i'm gonna getcha" threats, just. business. his wife is sick and he's getting her magical chicken noodle soup. it just so happens that the chicken in said soup is angel, and spike has no problem with that.

then he continues noodling around, tortures angel about a ring, fails terribly, goes back to sunnydale, and immediately gets caught and collared by the literally underground military group operating out of a california college campus. and then he can't hurt humans anymore without getting a migraine, and he's the world's biggest baby, so he is effectively neutered from here on out.

gradually, he learns to be less of a shithead, and falls for buffy the real way, the long way, the hard way—he sees her, and he knows her, and he learns to respect and love her. he is dogged in his pursuit of her. relentless. because even when she tells him to back off, she kisses him right after. she's putting on a show for the benefit of her own pride, and he knows that, and he understands, because he believes it when she says he's beneath her. he knows it. he's not good enough for her, and he never could be.

but he could be better.

so he leaves. he goes and gets his soul back. he fights tooth and nail to get it, almost dying several times in the process. because he's not being cursed with a soul—he's earning his. he's proving, once and for all, to himself, to angel, to buffy, to everyone, that he is better than what everyone thought he could ever be.

and, just in case anyone had any doubt, he goes back to sunnydale and he does the one thing angel could never do: he gives his life to save the goddamn world. burns up, knowing he's leaving buffy behind, knowing there's no coming back from this. knowing, ultimately, this is the only thing worth doing. he dies, not for buffy, but because it's the right thing to do.

and that pisses angel off, too.

he's like, why the fuck should it be so easy for him? all he has to do is die and now suddenly he's a hero? a champion? angel's spent a thousand years suffering! that has to be worth more! that has to mean he's the better man! because if he's not, if spike can be weighed against angel and find a balanced scale, then he suffered for nothing! and spike barely suffered at all! (factually untrue, but angel doesn't exactly see clearly when it comes to his protege) so, no. he does not keep his cool when it turns out spike is eligible for the shanshu prophecy just as much as angel

and the reason for all of angel's dumbfuck behavior is made all too clear when he tries to convince spike not to claim the shanshu prophecy for himself: "it's a burden. a cross. you have to live."

diagnosis: terminal catholicism

angel is catholic and spike is not and that's why all of this happened the way it did.

p.s. also: SPIKE WITH A SOUL WAS NOT A DIFFERENT MAN THAN THE SPIKE WITHOUT A SOUL WHO LEARNED TO BE GOOD. he put the fucking work in, he just needed it to be official. like a high school diploma. "went through hell and here's the proof."

p.p.s. also: the initial angelus getting mad was because angelus totally wanted to fuck spike, took him on a date, and spike bailed to hang out with dru, so angelus had revenge sex with dru. canon.

#btvs #angel the series #spike btvs #angel btvs #spuffy #spangel

[ladyosiriscreates]

Goodness I just read your amazing Soap one shot! So good! Could I ask for Gaz taking care of an unwell female reader (totally not based on my current situation at all)? Thank you 🖤

I kept looking at this so many times in just pure disbelief. HELLO GREATSTORMCAT I love reading your drabbles they're truly a treat to read. Also I love Gaz he is one of my favorites. Rudy Parra is also my beloved. and if you would like something NSFW from him just leave another ask/idea and I will write it because I have FEELINGS AND IDEAS.

I'm in a Sickbed, but at least it's Yours.

Gaz x Fem!Reader for the opulent @greatstormcat (3.2k words)

Tags: Illness, insecurity, fluff, comfort, so much fucking comfort, this man was made to love someone, mutual pining that just boils over,

You had known it was coming. The dregs of winter that brought along pressure drops that threatened to blow your sinuses through the rest of your head. Fever, aches, chills and the incessant fog around your head that clouded everything and led your body to exhaustion… man fuck that.

For the first few days, you thought you might be dying.

But today, you certainly wished it was so. Because surely it would be a greater mercy than whatever fuckery your body was fighting off. 

And that was what led you to now, standing in the kitchen of an apartment that wasn’t yours, wearing soft pajamas that certainly didn’t belong to you, and staring at a fridge that looked familiar- but also wasn’t yours. 

“...C’mon luv, you’ve been staring at my closed fridge door for the better part of fifteen minutes. And as fucking hilarious as it might be to see you disassociate to the hum of it, I’m half afraid you’ll keel over if you take another step.” Came a kind voice, soft laughter permeating the hazy, unpleasant fog of ick that hung around your brain. Turning your head, you met the warm, impossibly dark eyes of one Kyle Garrick. Your long term friend.

Friend.

Why had he always been just a friend?

You two had revolved around each other from the moment you met, always within each others orbit though barely ever colliding.

For that matter… how had you gotten here? And when?

“Gaz?” You slurred, voice light as you grabbed onto the counter. “Don’t think I’m home right now.” Gentle arms encircled your body, coaxing you into his chest despite your weak protests. “No you can’t, ‘m sick, and if you get sick i’m damn near certain your team’ll hunt me for sport. And I promise that is not how I’d like to be hunted.”

But your protests fell on deaf ears as you were lifted into his arms. Which seemed to be for the better with how the room spun as he did. “S’alright, I’m on leave for the next two weeks anyways. I can afford a little bit of sickness. But I believe you when you say you’re not home.” He teased. “Not a whole lot goin’ on in that pretty little head?”

“Well it fuckin’ hurts.” You retorted with a scoff, arms easing around his shoulders as you nestled into the crook of his neck. The gentle scent of mint and earth churned at your senses, weaving their way through your stuffed sinuses to bring comfort to your humming mind. “You think my head is pretty?”

“That’s what you got out of that?” Kyle chuckled in return, shaking his head as he took you past the threshold of his own bedroom and laying you against his bed, sitting at its edge. But you didn’t let go. Like a lifeline you clung to his neck, keeping him bent over you before pulling your head back to meet his gaze.

Perhaps it was the soft light cascading through the window, pale gold in the setting sun, but he shimmered in your vision- elegance and refined beauty. “...If I were more selfish a woman, I’d tell you what I’m thinking.” you whispered, eyes flitting in a triangle between his own eyes, and the lips that were now pursed.

“If I were more selfish a man, luv, I’d keep you in this bed- my bed, and never let you up from it. But maybe that’s just your fever talking…” He soothed, reaching up to untangle your arms from his shoulders and laying you back down. When you protested, he cupped your cheek, thumb rubbing small circles into the feverish skin. “You don’t know how worried I was when you texted me.”

Your brows furrowed, lips parting slightly as you glanced around. “I… texted you?” Surely not- but actually… where was your phone again?

“I’m not sure what you were trying to say, but the words help, medicine and sick were all in it. And all misspelled. You had me worried, and the state I found you in wasn’t much better. Laying under a heap of blankets and groaning to yourself about how death would be better than this?” He teased, but beneath the lighthearted nature, even now you could see it, that concern. The genuine care he possessed. Selfishly, you wished it was only for you.

“So you came?” you asked, unable to hide your own surprise.

“Of course.” Gaz whispered, huffing out a small laugh. “I always come when you call. Kinda wish you’d call more, sweetheart.” 

Finally, you allowed yourself to surrender back into the softness of his bed, suddenly enveloped by an almost overwhelming sense of him. “I have a fever.” You explained quietly.

“Yes, I know this.” he replied.

“I’m hoping it’s high enough I won’t remember this tomorrow, depending on how it goes.” You muttered, lifting a hand to drag across your congested and stuffy nose- what a great way to start things. “...I hate you. No. wait. No, that's definitely not right.” You scoffed, clenching your jaw. “I hate… when you’re not around. I hate being apart from you. I hate the way you make me feel when I know you’re just being kind and genuine. I hate wanting you more than a plant craves the sun-”

Kyle’s eyes grew wider as you spoke, these words the clearest to fall from your tongue since he’d picked you up this morning. And though it seemed you weren’t done speaking, he carefully stole your hand from your face, placing your fingertips to his lips for a moment. “My turn?”

“Your turn.” came your reply, meek beneath the sudden warmth of his voice.

“I hate being apart from you too. I hate feeling like we’re in this dance but always with different partners, and at most I can catch your eye from the other side of a ballroom- but your card is always full and I’m never sure if there’s more room for me.” He hummed, massaging your palm as he held your hand delicately within his own. “I hate that you keep me at arms length because you’re afraid of seeming weak, that the world has made you so afraid to be vulnerable- while you still crave the ability to be so.”

His words floated through your sick-addled brain, finding yourself eager to drown in the sound of his voice. “It’s hard..”

“I know luv. But I want you to let me in. I want to be there for you. I’d drop everything and run if you called my name for even a moment.” He promised, reaching up to push sweat slicked strands of hair from your face.

“I’m a mess.” You argued.

“Then let me help you clean it up. I’m by no means perfect either, as much as you might try to put me on a pedestal. Seeing each other clearly is the best thing we could do, because…  I… I want more. Maybe I always have. But falling into step with you is easier than falling into anything else.” he exclaimed, glancing toward his window at the golden light that began to fade, growing warmer as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. “I won’t say I can fix you, because I don’t fucking think you’re broken. The fact you’re still here is proof of that.”

Tears stung at the corners of your eyes, the feeling dulled by the fog of exhaustion that had snuck its way around your body. “Am i dreaming?”

“Do you want to be?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“...I don’t know. I’m scared.”

“Me too, but honestly- I’m more terrified of going through life wondering what this could have been if I hadn’t told you.” Kyle admitted, his weight making the bed dip, your body rolling slightly in towards him.

“Kyle…” you breathed, forcing your eyes open, desperate to meet his. “Tell me again when I wake up in the morning. Promise me it isn’t a dream then… because if you say it again, I’ll believe you. God, I want to believe you.” You exclaimed, voice pitched as your lids fell heavy again. “My walls have always been made of glass when it came to you… and you, fucking… stupid, handsome, pure as sunlight you… carried a hammer with you all along.”

Kyle nearly gawked in return, your words painting a most vivid landscape and technicolor sky. A lilac sunrise when he hadn’t known purple was his favorite color.  “Luv, I’ll tell it to you every day until you have no choice but to believe it. So for now, sleep. I’ll bring you back some medicine and warm ginger tea…”

“But… you don’t even like tea?” you mumbled, a bit of surprise coloring your tone.

“Yeah, but I like you. You’d be surprised at the pieces of you I keep with me when I wasn’t able to have the real thing.” He explained, resting a hand atop your head so that he might soothingly stroke at your hair, the repeated notion lulling you into slumber. “...but I’ll admit none of it compares to having you here and now.”

When morning came there was a soft weight on your chest- warm, but not unpleasant. Different than the weight of stuffiness and congestion, of the phlegm and cough that had been plaguing you. As your eyes opened and you shifted up to prop yourself on an elbow, you found Gaz beside you in a chair, his head resting on your hip as he slumbered. It couldn’t have been comfortable, draping himself over the edge of his own bed. But like a flood the memories returned, gentle touches and words spoken beneath a setting sun. Every piece of him draped in gold and idolatry.

You pressed your hand to his cheek, before turning your head into your shoulder and coughing. Not truly the way you would have preferred it, but the end goal was the same as he lifted his head, giving you a dizzying smile as he pushed himself up on his arms.

“Mornin’ sweetheart. Get some better sleep last night?” He hummed, voice a bit warmer and gravelly than usual.

For once you’re happy that you don’t currently possess a hold of all your mental faculties,  as otherwise you very well may have jumped him right there. But instead, like a reasonably more dignified moron, you found yourself nodding. “...I’m in your bed.”

“Astute observation skills, you should be a detective with that level of perception.” He taunted, reaching to the bedside table and bringing back a mug of now cooled, half drank tea. “It’ll be bitter as hell, but let’s get a bit of fluid into you before you try to get up, sweetheart.”

“Kyle, I'm in your bed.” You stressed again. 

“Yes and it’s about time, really.” He sighed, grin cheeky as he watched you go through phases of surprise and confusion. “Alright, alright, calm down Inspector Gadget. You’re gonna give yourself an aneurysm thinking that hard.”

With a steady hand you stole the mug of tea, that even cold, you could tell was your favorite, made just the way you’d prepare it- how long had he known such fine minutiae of your being. How long had he been memorizing the way you existed so he could mimic it for your comfort. “...am not.” You muttered, giving him a half-hearted withering glare over the mug of tea.

The bed dipped again as he sat upon it, pulling you forward by your shoulder before pressing his lips to your forehead. Time itself seemed to suspend, small bits of dust hanging in the air as you relished in the feeling of soft lips and a gentler hand upon your forehead. “I think your fevers finally broken… which makes sense, you seem a bit more with it this morning. I’m relieved.”

Dumbfounded, you lifted your gaze to his lips as he pulled back, before finding their way ever higher to meet the amused deep brown eyes that could churn you like the earth itself. “I feel a bit better today.” You finally admitted, finding your voice again- as thick as it was. “I can probably head home-”

“No.” He exclaimed, shaking his head. “Shoulda known the first thing you’d try to do is free yourself like you think you’re a burden at my side.” Kyle sighed, clenching his jaw for a moment before standing up. Fear struck you, like a white hot iron at your spine. You didn’t want him to leave.

The fear was only present for a moment before you were lifted by your hips and pushed back against the headboard, Kyle climbing atop the bed to straddle your waist and pin your shoulders. “I need you to pay attention, sweetheart.”

Inhaling sharply, you could do little but nod, meeting his gaze with wide eyes and blown pupils. If you weren’t still sick, the places your mind went would trail ever darker. Even now, you could imagine the feel of his lips attacking every sensitive spot from your throat to inner wrist.

“You told me I had to tell you this again, and I should have known you were serious.” He exclaimed, one hand climbing until he cradled your chin between his thumb, pointer and middle finger. “I’m in love with you- and trust me, falling in love with one of my best friends hadn’t been the plan, but God above it was so easy. You are so easy to love, not just for the positive attributes you put on display for everyone, but for the pieces of yourself you show me when we’re alone. For the way you allow yourself to crumble and break just a little bit when you’re with me. For being my safe space. So yes, I meant it last night when I said I wanted you to stay and be with me. Because I’m in love with your dense ass. Just like you’re in love with me. I hate being apart from you. And I hate that we overthink ourselves into these goddamn ruts and it’s kept us apart for even longer than-”

His words were more than enough, but the mounting desperation in his voice, his gaze was enough to spurn you, hands reaching up and cradling his cheeks. “You’re right.” you interrupted softly. “I’m in love with you. Your diligence, your determination… I love all of it, Kyle. When we’re out with friends all I care about is seeing you, because if you’re enjoying yourself then I feel like I can enjoy things too. You make my soul sing, and when it does it’s just trying to mimic whatever you’re humming.”

Kyle’s face broke into a grin, the corner of his eyes crinkling as he pulled your forehead to his. “We’re idiots.” He admitted. “Took us far too long to get here.”

“What matters is that we got here- and I-” unceremoniously the moment was shattered as you abruptly turned away and coughed, groaning through the interrupted moment. “Fuck.”

“You fuck?”

“I take it back, I hate you.” You groaned, hearing the musical rumble of his laugh as he let up off of you, popping out two pills from the packaging on the bedside table. 

“No you don’t.” Kyle teased, taking a sip from your mug and tossing the pills into his mouth before grabbing your chin and inclining your head. There was barely a moment to question it before you were met with the feeling of lukewarm tea and medicine pouring past your lips. It was nearly seamless, only a few droplets slipping from your lips as you swallowed back the tea. But for a moment, you both lingered there, the taste of ginger and orange stinging at your lips before leaning into him, unwilling to part with what you’d finally found.

No, you didn’t hate Kyle Garrick. There was little he could do to truly anger you, so hating him was out of the question. He accepted your surrender by wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you closer into his arms as he deepened the kiss. It was warm, making up for lost time. Like two galaxies finally collapsing into each other and spinning into something beautiful and new. You didn’t part until you were breathless, which was unfortunately much sooner than you would have liked.

“You’re gonna get sick.” you whispered.

“If that means I get to stay in bed with you for the rest of my leave, I think it’ll be worth it.” He promised, slowly slumping over onto his side before drawing you into his embrace. He massaged slow, soothing circles into your lower back, his other hand keeping your head tucked against his chest. “I made some soup for you last night, pots on the stove so I can get it simmering again soon.” Kyle murmured. “Stay with me? Ride this out- just stay for the rest of my leave?”

Your laugh, as small as it was, seemed like true music to his ears. A heavenly chorus to a man who hadn’t believed in years. “I’ll stay. Maybe I’ll get the turn to play caretaker once you get sick from kissing me, dumbass.”

“All part of the plan.”

“There’s no plan, Kyle.” You snorted, though your gaze was warm and soft as you both stayed trapped against the sheets.

“Well… just existing with you is good too.” He promised, lips turning up as he brought your foreheads together.

The next two days were spent in a most confusing sort of reverie. Anytime you moved, Kyle shadowed you, his hands covering and guiding yours. Grabbing things before you could think to want them, even carrying you from his bed to his couch as he bundled you up before situating himself beside you. He kept you hydrated, setting timers for your meds and keeping you nearby when your weakened body slept. But as your body grew stronger, the telltale signs of illness began to take their toll on Kyle.

You laughed, as three days later you were nearly normal, and he was standing in the kitchen, head bowed and lips pouty as he looked at you beneath thick lashes.

“I did warn you.” You chastised, moving forward to press a chaste kiss to his lips.

“No regrets.” He grumbled, spinning you in his arms to rest his head atop yours, and keep his hands on your waist. “Think of it as a return on investment.”

“Then I guess we’ll be investing forever, hm?” You teased, chuckling softly as you allowed your weight to lean back into his.

“Rich in love and rich in life… I love you.” Kyle sighed, somehow looking forward to the rest of the week and a half ahead of them, even with the misery of illness looming over him.

“I love you too, forever and always.” You promised.

“Forever and always.”

#cod mw2 #kyle gaz garrick #kyle gaz x reader #gaz x reader #gaz x female reader #fluff #comfort

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 10

Chapter 10 Beacon

As a great storm passes through confusion and fear rip through his heart, light is needed to find the horizon, can Yugi reach the light?

Yugi' sat in shock at her words; hot? The tea was hot? It couldn't be hot!

His eyes wavered as his mouth turned his shocked expression into a forced smile.

“Y-your joking right? This water is ice cold…” Yugi looked down at his lap and knee that had become wet form the spill then back up to his friends who still looked at him like he was crazy. “This is…this is just a big joke right? Right!”

“Yugi, you poured that cup yourself…” Joey responded now.

He looked at not only the other cups on the table but at the sitting tea pot in the middle of the table; visible steam raising form all 3 cups and the spout of the pot. That's when it hit him; he did pour out a hot cup didn't he? He saw the steam and knew it was hot but he didn't feel the heat…he just assumed form everyone else actions it was hot and acted the same.

His bottom lip quivered as he dropped the napkin, looking at the tea pot again he had to test this. Before any of his friends could talk again he pulled the top off the tea pot and shoved his hand inside the opening. He kept his hand submerged in the liquid making all this friends watch in fear and shock.

Tea screamed while the other two yelled at him, Joey grabbing Yugi's wrist and pulling his hand out of the pot before grabbing him by the shoulders and yelling.

“What the hell do you think your doing?!”

Yugi didn't look up at Joey he only focused on his wet open hand; he saw it was tinting pink and red a sign of burning, a sign his brain should be shouting up to him -You're hurt! You're hurt! This hurts! Stop!- but nothing…he felt numb and cold like there was no sensation, no feeling at all. He was drowning out the sounds of his friends panicked reactions and them calling his name over and over.

Finally Joey started to shake him and all at once he returned to the waking world; he looked directly into his eyes then back to the others who'd gotten up form their seats leaning close to him, all of them wanting to know if he was okay.

“Yugi! Are you okay?” was the question on all of their minds.

Yugi looked back down at his hand as it shivered softly, he let out another forced smile before answering.

“I don't feel it.”

This made his three friends confused, what did he mean he couldn't feel it? Feel what?

“The heat, the pain, nothing…my mind should be screaming out how much this hurts and yet…” Yugi's lips were whimpering as he felt tears grow in the corners of his eyes “I can't feel it…I can't feel anything anymore…”

“Even the food…I couldn't smell the burger or even taste it! It was like eating styrofoam!”

Yugi's whole body started to shake as he lowered his head, Joey let go once he felt Yugi's shaking prompting Yugi to hug himself for some comfort.

“…Is this what dying is?” he whispered lowly. “I'm… I already done for?”

When Joey heard the words “Dying” and “Done for” he once again snapped at him.

“What do you mean 'dying'? Whose dying?!”

Yugi slowly and calmly answered him.

“Me…”

--

There was so much confusion and anger and sadness coming form the once quiet night on the jet, it matched the raging storm they found themselves flying through currently. The pilot thankfully was experienced enough that he could guide them through the storm safely but there still was some turbulence to deal with, not only form the plane but form the 4 friends currently travelling inside.

Joey was pacing up and down the planes small and short hallway, Tristan sat on the armrest of a seat with his arms crossed. Tea sat right beside Yugi as best should could, her hand on his hand squeezing it gently. Yugi had just finished explaining the events that lead to him speaking out about his so called “death”. All of this information all at once made each of their stomachs sink and caused them to react in their own ways.

Joey of course was angered by Yugi keeping this kind of secret to himself, Tristan shared the same anger but was expressing it more calmly then his blonde friend. While Tea as shocked and upset as she was about the information, still focused her attention to Yugi and how depressed and sunken he was acting. She wanted nothing more then to comfort him, they all did but they just didn't know how.

“Yugi! Why would you keep something like this form us!?” Joey yelled not directly at him but more internally to himself.

“Joey clam down! It's not his fault!” Tea scolded

“My Best friend is slowly dying and he doesn't tell me! I think I'm in the he right to be a little pissed here!” Joey huffed crossing his arms.

“Yeah, we're all pissed dude. Yugi, keeping secrets form us doesn't help!” Tristan also said again not directly at Yugi but he was hoping he understood why they were angry.

“And yelling wont help us either! Yugi's upset and scared enough! The last thing he needs to guilt on top of it!” Tea angerly narrowed her eyes to Tristan who shot a glare at her.

“Yeah? Well maybe he needs to remember we're on his side! And to stop hiding things form us! We're basically on a timeline here! We can't just sit around and play anymore!” Joey growled stopping in front of the occupied seats.

“You need to clam down! We can't do anything until we land anyway!” Tea squeezed Yugi's hand again “So you being pissy isn't going to solve anything! Right now we need to be here for Yugi!” Tea let out an angry sigh and looked down at Yugi.

Yugi sat in his seat and sunk lower and lower the more he heard his friends yelling between each other. He knew this was all his fault, he did this to them! Why didn't he just tell the truth before? His heart sank lower into his stomach the more he felt the frustration fill the area. He pulled his legs close to his chest letting go of Tea's hand, and rested his face on his knees.

“I'm sorry…” he said weakly making all of them looked at him.

“I never wanted to make you guys upset by worrying about me…with everything going on I didn't want to make things worse but I did! I'm so sorry…” Yugi hugged himself more, hoping he'd curl up so small no one would notice him anymore.

All of their hearts sank watching him do this, Tea being the closest brought her arms around him and pulled him into a hug.

“Don't blame yourself…we're all just shocked by being told this so suddenly.” Tea rested her head on his hair and kept her hold on him.

Joey and Tristan both came closer, with the table out of the way it was easier for them to kneel down by his seat.

“Yeah sorry man, you know I always blow my top a bit too quick…” Joey had a soft smile on his face and reached out resting a hand on Yugi's shoulder.

“We just worry about you Yugi, with everything going on lately we just wanna keep you safe.” Tristan also had a soft smile on his face and rested his hand on Yugi's other shoulder.

Yugi looked up as best he could, with all the attention he was getting it made him a bit embarrassed but he still welcomed it none the less. He'd never thought but always hoped and wished for friends like them and now here they were in his time of need right by his side.

Yugi smiled softly as well with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you…”

-- The jet was once again quiet as the plane travelled through the storm; thunder booming outside as the winds blew rain all around, the crackle and flash of lighting as it nearly hit the plane. The clouds forming a tunnel which the plane was passing through almost like a portal leading to a whole new world. Not really though they where still on course to make it past the Pacific Ocean and soon land at the San Francisco International Airport in the next 6 hours. With that in mind the group had all decided to sleep and hopefully figure out a new plan in morning once they where all rested. Mai was still set to meet them at the airport, so they would have their ride as soon as they landed.

Joey and Tristan sat beside each other with their seats rested down flat making a cot for them to sleep on. A single blanket for each of them as cover with a pillow for extra comfort. Both had already fallen asleep quickly it was in their nature to find someway to fall asleep even with everything they'd just learned. Tea asked Joey to switch seats with her -he didn't mind- so she was seated next to Yugi.

Yugi was curled up in his seat with one arm out and reached holding onto Tea's hand. He too had fallen asleep, he seemed to be sleeping so much more these days. Tea on the other hand was still awake still keeping his hand in hers tenderly grasped. She was so sure if she closed her eyes for too long or let go of his hand he'd vanish form her sight, he'd be gone…

That thought alone kept her awake in fear; she wanted to sleep her eyes were closing and she could barely keep them open now. But she fought hard to keep them open and herself awake. She watched him slumber his breathing was soft and faint always so quiet…

//Just keep looking…just keep looking so he wont…// she blinked slowly her eyes shutting for a moment before opening again only to repeat the process again. Blinking then slowly closing then snap awake only to-

“Tea.” a soft whisper forced her eyes to open again and look over to Yugi but this time she didn't see Yugi's normal sleeping face she saw Yami Yugi's face greeting her. She raised her head slightly at the shock of seeing the pharaoh instead of Yugi, she rubbed her eyes with her free hand and whispered low

“P-Pharaoh?” she blushed as she realized the other Yugi was now in control of the shared body meaning she was holding onto his hand now.

He gave a soft smile to her “You need to rest.”

“I …I can't…” the words seeped out of her mouth “he…he might…”

She felt Yami squeeze her hand back which made her stop and look into his eyes, unlike Yugi's his were fully bright and purple.

“He's not going anywhere. I'm seeing to it. But you need your rest…you can't do anything if you're tired.” Yami smiled again making her heart flutter instantly, his words his voice it was so calming for her… “Please rest…”

Tea felt a small tear fall form her eye which she rubbed away “Please…keep him safe.”

“That's a promise.” He nodded to her, this finally putting her as ease enough to let her eyes properly close and for her to finally drift off to sleep.

Yami kept his eyes on her for a while his hand still clasped in her own. He wasn't going to let go, she really needed the comfort right now and he had slept enough today. He was going to keep his word and keep Yugi safe. Another flash of lighting filled the plane's fuselage with light for a fraction of a second followed by the dooming crash of the thunder once more. The storm seemed to just go on and on tonight…

--

As the storm raged on outside of the plane inside of Yugi's subconscious he found himself a drift on a small raft made of logs all tied together, a single sail was being battered by the howling winds as rain beat down around him. Yugi clung to the mast for dear life, he was trapped out in the middle of what looked like a vast endless ocean. It was so dark as the clouds in the sky made all the light vanish leaving everything bathed in a dark hue of grey.

“Seriously brain! Are we back to the whole horrible weather conditions thing again? I thought we fixed this!?” Yugi yelled to himself as his tiny raft swung and pulled being carried by the massive waves turning up around him.

“Dartz!” Yugi yelled out looking around hoping for some sign of the teal haired man who always seemed to be around when he came into his subconscious mind but was obviously now absent.

“Please! Dartz I need you! I need you're help!” Yugi tried yelling again but his voice was drowned out by the storm raging on around him.

Yugi wasn't sure if he was crying or or if his face was just wet form the rain and salt water smashing against him. All he knew was he was terrified and alone…his terror only increased as he saw that right in front of him a massive 100ft wave was building up higher and higher ready to crash down on top of him.

Yugi could only brace for impact as the cold and powerful wall of water crashed into his tiny raft, wreaking it completely, the force of the wave dragging him under water. He only had a moment to hold his breath before the impact and now was being carried deeper underwater. The impact left him dazed and confused as he tried to find out which way he needed to swim to breach the surface. Looking up he did see the water was lighter meaning that was the surface of the water so he started to swim upwards towards it.

Just as he began his assent towards the surface something started to pull at his neck and in a instant he started to sink downwards. He was jarred by the feeling and looked down to see what could be pulling him down, he was shocked to find it was his Millennium Puzzle. It was shining and glowing as it did when it was activating it's hidden powers, but this time it felt like it weighted more then the 5 pounds it normally was around his neck.

Yugi pulled at the chain trying to keep it form sinking but he felt it only got heavier not only that it felt like it was forcing him down. Yugi started to panic once he realized it was sinking him, no matter how hard he kicked and pulled at the chain the hunk of gold kept it's decent. His rational mind told him to just remove the puzzle and let it sink, but his heart was screaming to him to not let go, no matter what don't let go!

If not for the fact he was under water one would be able to see the tears forming in his eyes as he desperately tried to pull the puzzle up with him. He tried to grab the puzzle itself hoping to lift it that way but gravity prevented him from reaching close enough to do that. Yugi let out a cry as the last of his breath left his mouth water now started to fill his mouth and lungs. Yugi lamented to his fate and finally allowed the puzzle and himself to sink into the darkness. His vision grew darker as he felt himself beginning to drown, his eyes started to close slowly.

As he sank deeper and deeper into the waters the last bubbles leaving him and floating back to the surface, something else around his neck started to glow. From under the neckline of his shirt the green shard necklace freed itself and emitted a powerful flash of green light and energy. Yugi's eyes started to open again as they focused on the green object floating before him, by instinct he reached out and took the green shard into his hand.

Yet another flash of green filled the area as the rumble of something huge could be felt all around the water. Yugi wasn't sure what it was but it was big and powerful, he could barely focus anymore so he closed his eyes for a second time just as the very big and powerful force he felt came and seemed to swallow him whole.

The next thing he knew he was warm, covered in warmth in fact. His eyes fluttered open he could see blurred images all around him. He blinked again trying to focus; he was in a room a cozy room. He looked below himself and saw he was covered in a soft and warm blanket, seated on what felt like a very comfy couch. There was a fire roaring in a fire place to one side, stone walls that rain up around 10 ft only to be replaced with windows that surrounded the circular room. In the centre of the ceiling above a giant green gemstone was hanging in mid air emitting the same green glow the shard on his necklace gave off. A powerful beam of light was shooting out in two directions and spun around almost like a beacon like something you'd find in a lighthouse…

He heard the sound of foot steps against a wooden floor that echoed in the room, turning his head to the side he saw his old-new friend wearing his signature purple suit and carrying a tray with two mugs of steaming hot what he assumed was tea.

Yugi tried to mouth his name but his voice was soft and crackled a bit. “D-Dartz…”

Dartz gave Yugi a gentle smile as he approached Yugi form the side of the couch and placed the tray he was carrying on a small table in the middle of the room.

“Ah I see you're awake, you gave me quite a scare back there you know.” Dartz sat down in a chair beside the couch.

“Yo-you saved me?” Yugi asked quietly trying to sit up only to feel Dart'z hand rest on his chest and softly push him back down, then it ran up to his cheek and rested there for a moment.

His mismatched eyes were looking down at Yugi.

“Yes. Now rest you nearly drowned you know. Luckily I managed to find you and bring you here safely out of the rain.”

Yugi's eyes snapped to attention the moment he mentioned rain making him sit back up quickly and yell. “What happened!? Why is my mind flooded like an ocean? You said the rain was good for me but now it made my mind like this!”

Dartz was caught off guard by his questions mixed with his quick movements.

“I thought I was getting better but I feel like I'm getting worse!” Yugi looked at his hands now they were shaking not form the cold but form fear. He clutched them shut as tears filled his eyes, he snapped his attention over to Dartz who only watched him with a neutral expression on his face.

“I hurt the other me! I yelled at him and I -I blamed him because of a dream!” Yugi was trembling all over and sunk his face into his hands “I'm awful! I'm a horrible friend! I lied to my other friends and now their upset and scared and I ruined everything!” Yugi started to sob. “I'm so pathetic…”

Yugi then felt a warm body embrace him wholly, he heard the quiet “shh” come form Dartz's mouth.

“Now that is not true. You're just upset with yourself. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Yugi still sobbed as he felt his tears kept streaming down his cheeks “My-My puzzled tried to drown me…why would it do that? Does it sense I'm worse? Am I not worthy of it anymore?”

“Shh…” Dartz released himself form the embrace and reached over to the small table picking up the mug and handing it over to Yugi. “Drink it, you'll feel better.”

Yugi opened his hands and took the warm mug, it felt good to have the feeling of warmth within himself again as he sipped the steeping hot tea form the mug. Dartz always prepared tea for him and once he drank it he always felt better… and this was no different. Almost like a blanket the warm beverage entered his body and immediately he started to clam down, he started to listen…he could hear the sound if rain hitting the windows of the building.

“There, much better now?” Dartz smiled softly as Yugi nodded to him not taking his eyes off the contents of the mug, his vision was so transfixed on the reflection of himself it gave of.

Once he knew Yugi was clam he spoke again “Now, do you hear the rain outside?”

Yugi again nodded not taking his eyes off of the reflection.

“I told you before rain is very important…Rain…Water is the source of all life. And while it can cause damage, flooding and the like, it plays a very important purpose…it cleanses us.”

Yugi looked over to Dartz now confusion on his face so he went on again “This same rain that falls outside that floods your mind…it falls all around the world; on rivers and sand, it feeds the forests and the land, giving plants and living creatures life…This is nature…this is life.”

“The rain will not last forever…but it is needed to help things…to help you grow.” Dartz looked at Yugi directly his gaze was serious as was his voice. “You need the rain Yugi. It is the only way for you to grow and change…Do you really wish to stay as you are?”

Yugi looked down keeping a firm grab on his cup “There's…nothing sadder then being stuck as you are.”

“The hardest thing in life is leaning to let things go…even if they give us comfort…they can still hurt us.” Dartz looked down at Yugi mostly staring at his puzzle, once Yugi realized that is what he was looking at, he rested the mug over it trying to hide it form his sight.

“I-I can't let it go… I wont let it go!” Yugi then shouted “I know he'll have to leave me someday but…I can't…I can't let him go…not yet…” Yugi rested one hand on the puzzle.

“It..had to be a mistake…it'd never-he'd never try to hurt me…” Yugi took another sip of his mug and sighed.

“You almost drowned.” Dartz said very directly towards him “You would have drowned were it not for me.”

Yugi looked over to Dartz who sat cross legged in his chair watching him with his mismatched eyes, Yugi looked away he didnt like it when he looked at him like that, he felt so uneasy…

“T-that wouldn't have been the first time…I almost drowned before because of a friend…” Yugi looked down at his mug again and finished his tea with one final gulp before placing it down at his side.

Dartz tilted his head resting it on his palm and asked “Is that so? Tell me more…”

Yugi's eyes were wavering as he started to tell him about his duel at the pier; handcuffs attached to chains leading form his and Joey's feet to a giant anchor hanging above their heads. Joey under the control of a psychopath forcing them into a life or death duel that would lead to nothing but pain and sorrow… a cruel game…

Yugi held his head as he remembered fainting at the firey blast that reduced his life points to zero, the explosion form above, the anchor falling into the ocean and dragging both of them to their deaths. He remembers the cold water filling his lungs as they sank deeper and deeper, finally the click form his leg shackle and his body floating away back to the surface…as Joey stayed below watching him.

Yugi broke down into tears again and started sobbing, pulling his knees up to his face and crying into them. He didn't need to say anything more for Dartz to understand how horrid this all was for him, just his reaction was enough for him to get up form his chair and hold him closely. As Yugi sobbed Dartz again shushed him and held him closely giving him all the comfort he'd need.

Dartz was smiling in pure delight, the dread and sorrow pouring out of Yugi was so delicious. To him this was one of the finest meals on earth and was going to be used as an oh so perfect topping to his plans…

“You don't have to say anything more…I understand it was so dreadful for you…No wonder you fear the water so much…”

Yugi sniffled but didn't let go, he couldn't let go he just dug his fingers into the back of his suit more and buried his face in his chest. Dartz allowed him too and kept him close stroking his hair softly.

After awhile Dartz spoke again.

“Yugi…I need to show you something.”

Yugi looked up at him confused as Dartz let go of him and stood up, he held out his hand and Yugi took it standing up as well. Dartz lead Yugi to a staircase inside of a wall and they both ascended it quietly, the stairs lead them to the stop floor of the building. Just as he saw before there was a giant green gemstone encased in glass and was spinning around like the beacon on a lighthouse. Yugi could see through the windows now ad saw the storm outside was still raging on, looking down outside he could see the tower they were in was built close to the edge of a large cliff with many jagged rocks below that the waves crashed into.

“So this is a lighthouse…” he said as Dartz stood beside him and nodded.

“Indeed, another wonderful creation of yours…” Dartz said with a slight smile

Yugi looked up at him and asked “I…I made this?”

Dartz chuckled “Why of course…I told you this is your mind! your wonderful creative mind…Everything here is your creation. You built this lighthouse as a beacon for yourself…”

“A beacon for myself…” Yugi closed his eyes trying to think of why his mind would do this… then it hit him. “Right! I was lost at sea! And lighthouses are there to mark land and rocks for sailors!”

Dartz smiled and nodded to him warmly. “A beacon to guild you home…but also a warning.” His tone shifted again to more serious note his hands folding behind his back once more and he gazed out at the sea.

“A warning?” Yugi looked up at Dartz again his eyes wavering he knew what he was about to say but he didn't want to believe it… “Please don't tell me you think the Pharaoh is trying to control me…trying to hurt me…” Yugi balled up his hands into fists. “He…is my friend…I have to trust him.”

Dartz closed his eyes and let out a sharp breath “I know you wish to trust him whole heartily, so I will not pressure you any further. All I ask is that you keep this in mind; Chains are very strong and good at keeping the things we love bond and safe…but we can become so entangled in them we don't realize those same chains can and will drag us down if we are not careful.”

He then turned back towards the beacon's light as it shown out again across the water. Yugi looked at Dartz then back at the water as he saw the storm was starting to clam down just a little. In his heart he did take in the words…the warning Dartz gave him. His hands went down along the chain of his puzzle before finally resting on the puzzle itself. His mind was so cluttered and scared, he just didn't know what to do anymore. Dartz was right…but he had to be wrong, right? His heart was crying so much now he just didn't know what to think…

Yugi closed his eyes letting out another breath. “I'll keep it in mind.” He said and turned to look at the beacon as well, Dartz put a hand on his shoulder and have him a soft smile.

“If you ever feel lost Yugi, the light will guild you back home…”

Yugi looked at the glimmering stone as it bathed him in it's light “Home…There's no place like home…” he chanted to himself.

In and instant he was gone again and Dartz stood in the tower alone, he let out a breath as his mouth twisted in to a wicked smile as he let out a chuckle. The storm outside seemingly disappearing as the clouds moved away and sun started to shrine over the now clam waters.

“I've set up port in your heart and now I know how to ensnare you…” Dartz reached out, his hand open before closing his fingers slowly like the claws of a trap. “It wont be long now Pharaoh…He's almost mine.”

--

The storm had finally settled and gone as the plane had come over the horizon; dawn peeking out form the clouds as they came closer to their final destination. Yugi slowly opened his eyes to see his hand was s till clasped in Tea's own, she and other's were still fast asleep he was the only one up. Yugi wasn't sure he wanted to be awake just yet he just wanted to watch her sleep a bit…

Then a wave of nausea hint him like a truck, his eyes bulging out and becoming watery as he pulled his hand form Tea's and used it to cover his mouth. The sudden jolt woke Tea up, she rubbed her eyes as she looked up and saw Yugi was fully sat up and holding his mouth with both hands now.

“Y-yugi?” she asked groggily trying to wake up.

Yugi couldn't hold it anymore so he jumped up form his seat and made a mad dash towards the washroom, slamming the door behind him. The motion and noise caused the other two form their sleep, Tea was on her feet and already heading towards the washroom door shouting Yugi's name. Joey and Tristan were still rubbing the sleep form their eyes as they too got up and stretched asking Tea what was wrong.

“I don't know! He just got up and ran to the bathroom!” She shouted making both Joey and Tristan grim and chuckle.

“Chill Tea, he's just taking a morning leek.” Tristan yawned.

“Yeah, don't you pee when you wake up first thing?” Joey rubbed his hair then gave himself a good stretch.

“Yeah but-” she was interrupted with the sound of wrenching coming form the bathroom, this made all of them worried now so they asked.

“Do…you think it was the food?” Joey asked worried as he heard the wrenching happen again.

“Jeeze I hope not we had two burgers each…” Tristan gulped a bit.

Tea had gone up to the door and knocked “Yugi, are you okay?” She was so worried now since he was panting as well.

Meanwhile inside the bathroom stall Yugi was clinging to what the toilet bowl was on a plane just a metal seat with a hole; as his body kept throwing up everything in his stomach into the bowel. Yugi was guessing it was the food he had the other day coming up on him but when he looked into the hole he didn't see the remnants of un-disgusted food…he saw what looked like sand.

He was in shock…why why was he throwing up- and again the nausea happened causing him to throw up even more sand into the hole. He panted again as he heard the voice of Tea outside the bathroom now asking if he was okay.

He tried to gather up all his chipper energy and answered

“I-I'm fine! Just some air sickness!”

Then he returned to the wrenching, this time he swore he saw some plant life in it? Flowers? Vines? What on earth was going on?! Another heave and there was water now!? Sea water? ARGH!!!

Yami watched in horror and he saw Yugi throwing up more and more, it made him sick to see him in so much pain, oh how he wanted to just comfort him and hold him right now. He reached but a shock entered his mind like before…the last time he tried to touch himYugi…He pulled his hand away just as he saw Yugi stand up slightly, his legs weak once more as he reached out to press the release button on the toilet.

Yugi looked in the small mirror and could see just how dishevelled he was looking; His eyes where more grey, his skin was moist and pale, his hair was unkempt. Yugi swallowed hard and turned on the tap, splashing water on his face and raising his mouth out as best he could. Once he was done he looked at himself once more…he looked just like how he used to look before he had friends before he had the puzzle; depressed, miserable and lonely…

Yugi sighed and forced a smile on his face, he put more then enough worry into his friends the night before, today was a new day! And they where going to see Pegasus! Everything was going to be just fine!

#yugi #yugi mutou #yami yugi #dartz #breaking the seal #yugioh dm #yugioh #au #waking the dragons #fan fic #fan art

[blackjackkent]

Starting Hector's endgame tonight, which understandably is taking up a lot more of my brain space than the actual work I need to be getting done.

-----

Karlach rolls over restlessly, then opens one eye, realizing that Hector is sitting up on the edge of the bed. His legs are crossed, his wrists resting on his knees; his shoulders rise and fall with steady, regular breath. She doesn't speak, not wanting to interrupt his meditation, but she does reach out and rest her hand gently on his back. Under her fingertips she can feel the reassuring thump of his heart, the shift of his muscles with each inhale and exhale.

It's comforting, and she desperately needs the comfort. In the morning, for better or for worse, they take the fight to the Netherbrain. And the pain in her chest is so constant now that she knows that her own end isn't so far beyond that either. She has been brave about both, for so long, but here in the dark, on the cusp, it feels all too real and terrifying.

As if it can sense the trend of her thoughts, her engine gives a particularly sharp whir and a stab of brighter pain lances through her torso. A soft whimpering noise escapes her, though she tries to stifle it.

Hector's head snaps around at once. He shifts, turning to face her, cupping one palm to her cheek and pressing the other over her heart. These days, even with Dammon's upgrades, the line of bone and flesh along her sternum is painfully warm to the touch, but he doesn't flinch. "I'm here..." he says softly. "It's all right."

"Sorry..." she mutters, though the apology is a little weakened by the desperation with which she closes her eyes and rolls her face more firmly into his hand.

"Nothing to be sorry for." He leans down and kisses her forehead, then between her eyes. "Pretty bad tonight?"

"Worst it's been..." she admits quietly.

She can see perfectly well in the darkness, and so the expression of pain on his face is clear as day. But he doesn't say anything, just kisses her again gently and rests his forehead against hers, his thumb stroking a soothing line along her cheekbone.

She starts to relax and she can feel him doing so as well, losing themselves in the moment of soft touch. How the hell do you do it, soldier? she wonders absently. Make me feel so safe, when I'm dying and the whole world is coming apart...

"You ready for this?" she asks. "For the brain?"

He exhales softly in an almost-laugh; she can feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek. "Not in the slightest," he answers quietly. "Other than Ansur, I'm not sure I've been this scared since the nautiloid. Even at Moonrise."

She lifts one hand to bury it in his hair, keeping him pulled tight against her. "You've gotten pretty brave, all this time I've known you," she says. "But I think we're all terrified on this one. You're allowed." She kisses him again - against the corner of his mouth, along his jaw. "But we're going to rip that bastard apart. Nothing but grey goo by the time we're through, and it's never going to hurt anyone, ever again."

"Yes. Yes, we will..." His eyes drift half-closed and he rolls sideways, not letting go of her but shifting to lie next to her and pull her into his arms. Her face presses into his shoulder, her palms against his chest. Given her greater height, it's not the most natural position in the world - but he knows, without having to be told, that she needs it tonight, and she loves him for that too.

He rests his cheek against the top of her head and lets his fingers drift in slow, aimless patterns over her back.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks softly, after they have lain there for a while in silence.

"You wouldn't like it if I told you," he answers.

"Try me."

He hesitates. "Just... about strategies," he says. "For fighting the brain. What the battle will look like."

She rolls her head back enough to look up at him and frowns. "Hec... you never lie," she says. "Don't make this the time you start."

He flinches, not meeting her eyes. "I was thinking about how I'm scared because I could die. And then I thought about how perhaps there is a certain level on which that would be the simplest outcome."

Because you wouldn't have to go on living without me... "Oh," she says, not knowing how else to answer.

"Now you see why I didn't want to tell you."

"Hec, listen to me." She puts her hand to the side of his head, pulls him firmly to look at her. "I want you to live. Right? Don't you dare pull some sacrificial shit."

She tries to keep her voice steady, but in spite of her best efforts it cracks with sudden panic. Don't you dare die because of me... and don't you dare make me die alone... I can't bear it...

Whether he understands all this nuance, she isn't sure, but he lets her hold his gaze and nods slowly, firmly. "I won't." he says soberly. "I promise. I promise..."

"After all this is over, you have to see everything for me. This whole world we're saving."

He nods, draws a shaky breath in and lets it out. "I will." His eyes close and he leans his forehead against hers again, pulls her into his chest with savage pressure. "I swear it..."

Gods damn it... she thinks bleakly, and kisses him fiercely as if afraid one of them will slip away then and there. It's not fucking fair...

It's not fucking fair...

#bjk plays baldur's gate 3 #hector carlisle #drabble #karlach/tav #tav/karlach #karlach x tav #just giving myself sads at work no biggie #technically we have to go see voss before going to the brain but shhh #i'm still holding out hope that this is my preferred kind of angst where it is angst followed by a happy(ish) ending #but no idea what's coming at all eep #also i really wish i could draw #bg3 drabble #bg3 fic

[fullstcp]

"In Search of the Antidote" by Fletcher Sentence Starters

MAYBE I AM

"Here I fucking go again."

"I'm burning down my whole world again, just because."

"Your words are swirling in my brain, all I hear."

"You say that I'm a crazy bitch."

"I'm sick, I'm permanently numb."

"You say that I'm a narcissist, as if I haven't heard that one."

"You say that I'm ruining my life on purpose just because I can. Maybe I am."

"Maybe I am everything you say I am."

"Maybe it's the truth and I am delusional."

"I'm talking to myself again."

DOING BETTER

"Your girlfriend/boyfriend never thanked me for being such a pyro."

"I know you kept my number in cause you wonder, like, 'Where is she/he now?'."

"You say you wanna check in. You're only checking on how I turned out."

"I'm doing better."

"I don't know if you remember when I told you in September that you wouldn't recognize me."

"I always thought that I'd be happier if I could buy it."

"I've been looking for my center."

"Why does better feel worse?"

"After the glow up, I was learning how to grow up."

"I felt like I was flying, I felt the stars aligning."

"I always that if I ever got this high, I'd like it."

"Smiling on the outside, dying on the inside."

EGO TALKING

"Ninety percent of the time I'd say I'm pretty mature for my age."

"It's only half a lie when I say you'll find someone better someday."

"So, go, do it all, have the time of your life."

"If you're moving on, I'll still lie to myself that you'll never love anybody else."

"You'll never fuck someone hotter, right?"

"Hope my lips haunt you for life."

"Hope you stay brokenhearted."

"But that's just my ego talking."

"I'm happy for you if they look just like a version of me."

"If you fall for someone else, you're just killing time, right?"

"My heart is yours 'til I die."

"You'll never love anybody else, right?"

LEAD ME ON

"I was born to love you."

"You were born wild and free."

"I was made to find you."

"Your heart is constantly running, just never toward me."

"So why don't you just lead me on?"

"Something is better than nothing at all."

"The thought of you is torture."

TWO THINGS CAN BE TRUE

"Did we take it too far? Maybe."

"Do I regret it then? No."

"Do I regret it now that we don't talk? Yeah."

"Did I want more than friends? Maybe."

"Should I have gotten involved? No."

"Now you found someone else to hold you in all the ways I couldn't."

"It hurts, he/she/they make(s) you happier."

"You always wanted happier. I want that for you."

"Two things can be true."

"He/she/they can love you, baby, and, baby, I can too."

"He/she/they can still be the love of your life."

"You can ignore me in every room and still miss me."

"Did I expect this outcome? Maybe."

"Was I delusional in thinking I could be in your life after all this?"

"I still wanna be close to you, baby."

"I still wanna be known to you, baby."

"Everything you said, did you mean it? Cause I do."

ERAS OF US

"How are you doing?"

"Where have you been?"

"I've been practicing this moment for like twenty-something years in my head."

"It's nice to meet you."

"This is gonna be some movie shit we'll never forget."

"Forever we're young."

"Remember it just the way it was."

"I would fly across the country just to kiss you and be back in a day."

"We crashed just as quick as we burned."

"Now someone new gets a turn."

"I don't know you and it hurts."

"I didn't mean it when I said I was numb."

"I'm feeling every feeling, cutting straight to my guts."

"Lately I've been swinging fists and starting a fight."

"I've been trying to kill the memory of you in my mind."

"It's a cross I'm gonna bear until the day that I die."

"I've been practicing this moment, but I never thought I'd see you again."

ATTACHED TO YOU

"Come to think of it, I think I saw the end."

"You didn't get a chance to choose."

"There I go again, making up bad excuses so I don't get attached to you."

"I'd rather walk on glass than give someone the opportunity to hurt me."

"I'd run like hell and sabotage a good thing cause I'm so fucking afraid it could be perfect."

"I know myself."

CRUSH

"First time we cut was the deepest."

"Miss all the lies and the secrets."

"Call it quits, pull the tourniquet."

"You know I put you above me."

"Come on, I dare you to love me."

"It's a circuit. Looping around like a circus."

"I'm not really one that'll play it down."

"You're the only one that I think about."

"Part of me wants forever."

"You're hard-wired in my brain."

"Part of me knows better. Maybe I'll listen someday."

"Part of me knows letting you go will crush me."

PRETENDING

"We're catching up about all the bullshit trending."

"You crack a joke about kissing me, about going there, about loving me. I laugh it off as if that shit wouldn't wreck me."

"As if I'm not what you're waiting for, like I'm not in your ending."

"For now, we'll both keep on pretending."

"I say goodbye as if my heart isn't wrenching."

"You're everything."

"Turn back around, and never leave."

JOYRIDE

"Now you're getting in my head."

"How the fuck do these things go so damn good together?"

"You were in my dreams."

"Now I'm in your bed."

"Now I'm just forgetting all my exes."

"I think she's/he's/they're out of my league and I'm out of my mind."

"Steal the keys to my heart, take it out for a joyride."

"Nowadays, balance can be hard to find."

"You don't have to be the rest of my life."

"Love me forever like a husband, fuck me now like a boyfriend."

ANTIDOTE

"Launch me into your sky, remind me I'm alive."

"Let everybody know."

"Let everybody say what they wanna say."

"Let everybody talk."

"They all got their stories to toss."

"I know you're gonna find me if I lose my mind."

"You're my dopamine state."

"You're my sanity dose."

"You're the medication I wanna take."

"You are my antidote."

#rp memes #rp starters #rp prompts #rp lyric meme #lyric prompts #lyric starters #sentence starters #roleplay starters #roleplay prompts #not the old me. 2.0 me. no it's all of meme combined (ask meme) #when there was me and queue (queue)

[stacytea]

Let me drop some ideas that I haven't been able to kick out of my head lately

there we go

1 ) muchacho

so I've been casually doing my lessons on duolingo , when suddenly I've been blessed with this word being brought back around. Since my last encounter with this word had been while watching the movie ,,Coco" my brain quickly brrrrrrrrred and what came out of it is:

kindnap family in spanish

and yes I could say here how much I would love to see them in a setting similar to that one episode of ofmd where we have Jim's backstory and everyone is just so badass

but the truth is

what I desire is just to read a spanish fic where Mae calls teenage Elros muchacho , like idk , it's cute and feels like something Mae would say. Sure english ,kid' is nice

but muchacho @everyone

idk I've just grown to like this word a lot

basically could've just shortened it to ,Mae calling Elros muchacho' , but I'm in the mood for some ramble

2 ) ,,She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green" (from ,,The Last Great American Dynasty" by Taylor Swift")

so another idea that I bring to the table today is my favourite line from my favourite song (yes, I'm a swiftie)

now everyone close your eyes and imagine it with

Irissë

Celery

& Huan

basically story happens back in Valinor when they're still young and having fun

imagine Irissë getting angry at Tyelko because he's a dumbass (affecionate) or just wanting to mess with him or trying to win a bet with someone or whatever reason

just let's have it result with her stealing Huan for a day or a night and

KEY LIME GREEN HUAN!!!!!

by Irissë

and then Tyelko sees it the next day and falls down crying because ,,NOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOO , EVERYTHING & EVERYONE , BUT NOT HUAN, NOOOOOOO; IT SHOULD'VE BEEN ONE OF MY BROTHERS IRISSË! WHY NOT MAGLOR IRISSË?! "

(confused Maglor in the background)

two days later Celery is still trying to wash the dye off of his dearest friend ; ,,how could she do it to you? *crying intensifies

Note: no magical dog was hurt during these happenings ~ Huan didn't really mind this short change in looks

3 ) Argon and golden ribbons

here I just drop an image of little Argon braiding some stolen from Fingon golden ribbons into his hair because he wants to be like his big brother

and Fingon sees it and just melts

and this is because these moments where he feels like the big brother he is are so rare , mainly because he personally radiates this kind of younger sibling energy

Irissë treats him almost as if they were twins (they have very similar personalities and both of them are secretly dating a fëanorian cousin, just so many things in common between them) , Turgon basically took over being the oldest siblingTM in this family and he may not have told him that it's because he sucks at being an eldest brother figure, but Fingon doesn't need him to voice these thoughts to be aware of them

so yeah, Turgon steals the older brother vibe while Irissë and Fingon just vibe the younger sibling vibe together, but then Argon appears in the picture....

and by that time Fingon has grown up enough to pass the big bro vibe check

so Argon does acknowledge him as the big brother

and Argon wants to be like him

and Argon braids golden ribbons into his hair to look like him

and Argon looks up to him for all of his childhood and even a little longer

and then adult Argon follows him at Alqualondë

and Argon gets doomed

and Argon dies

and it's all because of him

and Fingon might've never agreed with Turgon's overall opinion of him not being a good older brother , but as he looks at his little brother's dead body he wonders

he wonders if Turgon might be right

(okay, enough angst for today)

(or is it?)

4 ) ,,Marjorie" by Taylor Swift

and as much as this whole song gives me the vibe of adult Elrond in Lindon reminiscing his fëanorian upbringing (don't get me started on the angst of him not being allowed to speak about his childhood openly because ,,wdym you consider those MURDERERS your parents alongside your actual parents?????? Oh you poor traumatised thing!!!!!" )

anyway

let me focus here on the

,,The autumn chill that wakes me up/ [...] / Long limbs and frozen swims/ You'd always go past where our feet could touch"

part

like

let's think about these autumn days that are awfully cold in the morning , but then at noon it's almost as warm as during cooler summer days

now let's imagine Mae taking E&E to a nearby lake , so they can learn/practice swimming

(I imagine Mae would consider swimming a potentially important survival-enabling skill and deem it important for E&E to learn it)

ofc they would have to bring a small troop with them because it's apocaliptic end of first age Beleriand and there are orcs everywhere , but still Mae bringing the kids to the lake would be a very fun ,cherished moment for all of them. Mae being tall and going far from the shore, Elros always trying to follow him without caring that water gets too deep for him, Maglor seeing this and having a heart attack Maglor repeatedly telling Elros not to go past where his feet can touch. Elros going anyway, because Maedhros is there, so even if something happens, it's not like he's gonna die dad Mae would save him. Maglor forbiding Mae from taking them to the lake because this little shit Elros is a menace to himself Mae secretly taking them to the lake anyways because ,,they NEED to know how to swim, Mags , you don't understand , what if they DIE someday due to not knowing how to swim????'' let me quote the song again ,,The autumn chill that wakes me up/ [...] / Long limbs and frozen swims'' Mae waking them up early, so they can leave before his little brother is up; and it's still quite early when they arrive at the lake, so the water is freezing And then, centuries later, in Lindon it's just Elrond and these memories because the rest of the family is dead, gone, dead

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #kidnap fam #maedhros #maglor #elrond #elros #valinor #years of the trees #celegorm #irisse #aredhel #taylor swift #taylor swift lyrics #the last great american dynasty #marjorie #key lime green!Huan #argon #turgon #nolofinwëans #nolofinwean siblings #fingon #russingon #celegorm x aredhel #I live for the messy relationship between fingon and turgon #lindon #turgon resents fingon and fingolfin wonders where did anaire and him go wrong until his death #he gets better after hearing that after all turgon did aid fingon at nirnaeth #sorry for such a long rumble I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had while writing

[justice4billiam]

Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character Warnings: Being buried alive, Deathy stuff, Sexual innuendoes, Eventual Smut, Blood, People being mean, honestly more warnings to come. Summary: Billy wakes up sometime after dying at the hands of the mind bitch. After taking a dirt nap, Billy finds himself wondering what the actual fuck happened. He watched as some ugly bastard tried taking Max before...Kate Bush...? Started playing, and suddenly, Max was returning to the real world. He treks across the disgusting and dangerous universe that shitbird called "The Upside Down" to get back in time to help her from becoming demon meat and finds help along the way. 1,429-word count

Chapter 1 ->

PROLOGUE

March 21st, 1986

My eyes burned..no scratch that; my whole fucking body burned.

Disoriented, I tried to rub the burn from my eyes, but my arms wouldn't budge. In fact, my muscles felt like they were on fire, burning from the inside out; I clenched my teeth from the pain. Teeth, oh good, At least I still have fucking teeth. There's hope for me yet.

My heart felt like it was gonna beat right out of fucking my chest from how hard it was thumping in my ribcage; I couldn't breathe; the atmosphere felt stale, and I felt like I couldn't get a full breath in; there were coming in short spurts and god my head…My brain spun inside my skull, you know, like how it feels when you go on that spinning ride, the ones at those shitty fucking fairs? Yeah, those ones.

The roaring in my ears was loud; I couldn't hear my fucking thoughts. Everything is wrong; it feels wrong. How did I get here? There was no light; I couldn't see a damn thing. I wouldn't know from an ass or a tit right now.

Minutes passed

Or maybe it was hours…

I wouldn't know.

Finally, for what felt like forever, the spinning quit, and the blood rushing in my ears was dying down. Being able to finally have some sense, I took a deep breath. Still stale.

There was a tingling throughout my body, like it was slowly coming to relax, so I tried moving my arms again, this time with some success, as I gradually raised my hands above my face.

Everything felt foreign, like these weren't my hands; this body didn't feel like mine. My fingers felt prickly as I flexed them in front of me, still unable to see anything. I felt so stiff like my body hadn't moved in a long time.

What the absolute fuck is going on? I can't remember anything; everything felt so hazy.

I spread my arms, trying to flex the painful muscles back into working condition; when my hands collided with a surface just a couple of inches above me, I thought the texture felt familiar, silk.

A silk wall? Where the fuck am I?

My anxiety increased as I blindly felt about in the dark, only to discover the wall reached around the sides and top of me too. That's definitely not good. Closed in…closed in what?

Alarmed, I thrashed around, legs and arms lashing out; as I attempted to sit up quickly, I smacked my head, slamming back down onto what I now realize is the same silk texture.

I swore, bringing my hand to my forehead. Jesus Christ, that hurt. I massaged the intense pain piercing my head as I looked around in the darkness surrounding me, hoping some light would peak through someplace.

"HELLO?! WHERE AM I?! GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" I shouted, my voice hoarse and cracking like I hadn't spoken in forever. I waited for any kind of sound or acknowledgment…

No reaction

I began bashing on the walls, wildly hitting anywhere I could reach. "I swear to god! When I get the fuck out of here, you're dead, you hear me? Fucking dead!!!" I persisted, my voice being swallowed up in the hollow abyss again.

Still nothing

Dropping my hands to my sides, I realize I'm alone. All alone.

Dread crawled up my spine into my chest and squeezed my painful heart; terror began to set in. My body began to shake, and every breath became more difficult as the air seemed thinner, my head reeling out of sheer panic.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Alright, get it the fuck together before you pass out from being a pussy. Deep breaths…in…out…in…out…Think, god damn it. Where was I last? As I lay there trying to recollect my thoughts, the memories hit me like a semi… everything connected. The mall…

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. NO, NO, NO. Maxine. No! I have to get out of here.

Think, Think, Think. Ugh, what I do for a damn cigarette right now. I ran my hands over my damp face trying to focus. Reaching around and patting the floor below me, I searched the space for something useful; my hand brushed against an object. Taking hold, I quickly realized what it was. A flashlight. Fuck yeah.

Fumbling to turn it on, you turned it over a few times in your hands, trying to find the switch. Switching it on, the once-dark space now lit up. Shit! I accidentally dropped the flashlight on my face shielding my eyes. It felt like a damn flash bang. Judging by the stinging it brought on, I haven't been in the light for a long time.

After rubbing at my eyes for a minute, they adjusted; Squinting, I picked up the flashlight to get an actual glimpse around. This only confused me as I looked around at my cramped position.

Wait, I'm in a fucking box.

Everywhere I looked, there were dark blue silk-covered walls. No…why does this look like a..a..fucking coffin?! I'm in a goddamn coffin. Did I die? Am I dead? Maybe it's hell then..but my heart is beating. Did I get buried alive? I need to get the fuck out of here…if I am alive, I won't make it much longer once I run out of oxygen.

Fuck.

With a jagged sigh, I placed the flashlight facing up against the side of my leg and got to work, aggressively tearing the fabric above me. Pinewood, that's good; it means I have a chance.

Here goes nothing; I dig my nails into the wood, scraping and clawing at it. Ahh fuck! Splinters embed themselves in my skin, mingling with the sweat and blood that now coats my hands. Each scrape and tear fuels my anger as I refuse to let the pain stop me. Gritting my teeth, I kept going. My knuckles are raw and bleeding. "FUCK!"

The wood cries out in protest, its fibers failing to my persistent attack. A rush of adrenaline courses through me, and anticipation fills me at the small progress. I widen the gap, creating a small opening through which dirt starts to pour in. I thrust my palms against the weakened barrier—the wood splinters and cracks under the force of distress. I widen the hole; further, my heart pounding in rhythm with each labored breath. The earth was suffocating my air.

Muscles strained and quivering, I thrust myself upward, shoulders pushing against the confining walls of the coffin. I take one final inhale of air and hold it in as soil cascades around me, breaking free of the box. Forcing my feet up, I dug through the dirt, desperately trying to find the surface. Starting to feel lightheaded from holding my breath, I hesitated.

Come on pussy; you can do it! Keep going, Your Billy fucking Hargrove. You went down on Rachel Bennett for Ten fucking minutes in the 9th grade without coming up for air. This aint shit, you can do this!

A sliver of clear surface emerged through the soil above me; the still stale atmosphere carried a hint of freshness, a promise of fucking freedom. With a final surge of strength, I broke the earth's surface, gasping for sweet fucking air.

Taking large gulps of it, I dug my hands into the ground, clawing my way out and hauling the rest of my body onto the dirt floor. There, I fucking did it. Rolling over onto my back, I looked up at the sky…er…what I thought was the sky. It was dark and raining. No, not rain..something else that made breathing a bit hard, but nothing like being fucking buried alive puts shit into perspective, I'd say.

Taking in my surroundings, something caught my eye. My name. Sitting up, I came face to face with my tombstone. I sucked in a sharp breath.

WILLIAM HARGROVE

MAR. 29. 1967

JUL. 4. 1985

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

July 4th…

Flashes of that fugly fucking monster drilling me in the chest came to mind; I frantically felt around my body for the wounds.

Nothing. There was not even a scratch on me other than my bloody and torn-up hands from climbing out of my grave.

I don't understand.

"I don't understand!"

Thunder erupts in the clouds, illustrating the red skies.

"I don't understand!" "What do you mean? I don't understand!!"

I remember. The skies..this place. This fucking place. What did I overhear Max call it?… The Upside down? Yeah, yeah, that's it.

I'm in the fucking Upside Down.

Chapter 1 ->

#billy hargrove fanfiction #billy hargrove #billy hargove imagine #billy hargrove x original character #billy hargrovexoc #billy hargrove x female reader #billy hargrove deserved better #pro billy hargrove #billy hargove x reader #billy hargrove x y/n

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Rereading this article from back in September that first brought up the whole Carlos' secret thing (here referred to as "a big surprise for Carlos"). It's very interesting reading this now in the context of the additional teasing we've gotten since then--though I think "trips pretty hard" and "might piss off some people" have been burned into my brain since I first read this in September!

I find this particularly interesting:

Silva describes his character as someone who “tries to do the best he can,” but teases that he’s going to “trip pretty hard” at the beginning of the fourth season, which premieres in January 2023.

I feel like this really supports the whole work-related secret theory. Carlos "tries to do the best he can but trips pretty hard" makes a lot more sense in the context of Carlos trying to do the right thing by getting himself maybe too involved/recklessly involved in something to help people (Iris?) but then getting in over his head and...almost dying perhaps? Regardless, it definitely doesn't seem like "tries to do the best he can but trips pretty hard" would be an accurate way to describe "Carlos was actually secretly married this whole time" or anything like that.

The other very interesting part is this:

“It might piss off some people, it might not,” Silva says. “But I think it determines the tone as to how Carlos approaches the rest of the season.”

Of course, the whole "might piss off some people" has plagued me since September. I think that could fit into the work-related theory, but I don't necessarily have any specifics in mind. I also think the secret determining the tone as to how Carlos approaches the rest of the season makes the most sense if it's work-related. If Carlos was secretly married, or had been married in the past, or something like that, in what way would that possibly determine the tone as to how Carlos approaches the rest of the season? But if the secret is related to something major happening with his job or causes him to get hurt, I can see how that would affect Carlos long-term.

I've never been seriously worried about Carlos' secret. I'm 100% sure that Tarlos is endgame and they will be getting married this season. That's all I really care about. Even if the secret is something crazy or weird that I'm not expecting, I have faith that they will be able to bring it to a good enough resolution and then I can focus on things like hurt Carlos and the Tarlos wedding. But still, I'm simply dying to know what the secret is! And we're so close!!

#I can't believe I've spent 4 whole months wondering about this and now we'll know what it is in just one more week! #just watch the secret be no big deal at all 😂 #911 lone star

[amphiptere-art]

Kindling

I'm Blue Moon shrugged off the headache as he came back from one of his sporadic travels. Blinking rapidly hoping that the shutting shift in place would somber if they blinked enough. His brain catching up as he finally observed his surroundings. His whole body stiffening at the sight.

Oil. There was oil and scrap metal everywhere. From the balcony he could see the mess that was the living room. Couches scratched and things thrown about. Suddenly his attention realigned to moons entrance to his room. Listening intently. Which one of them was hurt. Where was that tiny imposter.

His body moved quickly as he jumped the rail and into the living room. Surveying the parts and smelling the oil. A part of his mind grew hungry with the smell. Instead trying to focus on the metal parts. Yellow and blue. Which one was more, which one was less. Trying to assess which one would need aid first. Coming out on conclusive as they quickly jumped into the tunnel leading to Moon's room.

He came out the other side with a defensive growl. One that thankfully was returned. Moon stood defensively as he took in his shape. Already seemingly halfway repaired himself. Clearly the victor. Blue Moon knew he could handle himself. He was the repairman anyways. Before Moon could make much of a protest Blue Moon left.

Scrambling out of a hole He quickly reoriented himself before reaching for the door to Sun's room and opening it. Oil littered the floor. Signifying the loser. Blue Moon quickly scrambling inside. Spotting the barely twitching corpse of his other brother.

Blue Moon spent no time summoning his runes. Metal reorienting itself as if going back in time. Sun's form gasping as they could suddenly breathe again. Blue Moon intensely watched every movement. Sun curling up as the rest formed and became more understandable. Blue Moon licked his lips.

Walk down to the lair of moving hands. The smell of oil is too much for my demands.

Sun barely had any glance of Blue Moon before he left the room. They grab their face. Forcefully shutting their mouth closed as they try to block out the smell of oil. His ray twitched as they registered a new sound. Hungry eyes quickly scanning the area of the noise came from. Barely seen in the small toy house was The imposter. The tiny Sun. The evil one.

Suddenly his attention refocused. His eyes pierced into the toy house. The TF sun dodges his eyes as if they were lasers. They prowled forward intensely. Eyes seemingly never leaving TF Sun. Rearing up beside the toy house. TF Sun staring fearfully at him. A rumbling growl turned into a roar as Blue Moon clutched the roof of the house and flung it off. The structure fell apart as TF Sun screamed.

They weren't given much time to flee as within seconds later Blue Moon had their neck. Lifting them off the ground before tossing them to the other side of the room. Slamming into the wall that led upwards into the balcony. Scrambling briefly before they were grabbed again. Raked up the wall before they felt the painful bang as their head hit the top of the railing. Practically being shoved between the bars with the force Blue Moon was exerting.

TF Sun opened his eyes to see Blue Moon staring directly back at him. They're right eye swirling with a red symbol. The other one matching the piercing color. Their teeth gleamed angrily as they got closer to his face. He could feel his breath on him. Coming out in little puffs as they held back their true anger. Their instinct.

You should have stopped them Dying Fire! You should have been able to quell their ire!

What? How would I have- are you mad! I would have died!

Blue Moon pushes them further into the bars. They whimpered as they uselessly clawed at Blue Moon's arm. Their airway closing up as he squeezed tighter. Leaning in as their fury grew.

Like a child. You are a child. Something that should have made them less wild.

But I'm not a kid! How would that have- I'm an independent adult! I'm-

They choked as Blue Moon squeezed tighter. His teeth showed more as he snarled.

Should have expected you would leave them to die. You have no care even for your own kind.

Wha- I care for a lot of people! How was I supposed to know I was supposed to stop them! You never told me! You never-

You did not care for the one you enslaved! You left him to rot while you all played!

That's not the same! I didn't do anything! He did simple tasks! Nothing like this!

Do not live a lie that you know is not true! He was made to do things much harder than what you have to do!

Well how was I even supposed to know I was supposed to do this! You gave me no instruction! You really expected me to do this!? Without reason!?

Blue Moon's eyes burned. They wordlessly stared at TF Sun. TF Sun breathing harshly as their neck was still held within his grasp. Their eyes shook with intensity before they narrowed and stilled. Their claws digging painfully into TF Suns neck. Causing them to whimper as Blue Moon lifts them out of the bars and closer to his face. Inches as they whispered.

Night was never given a choice. The little light forced to deal with the worst. Expected to complete with little a reason. Listening to commands that held barely a correction. In danger is something they lived. Completing tasks with little to give.

Blue Moon finally opened the distance. Holding them painfully, but they barely squirmed. Eyes widening as they pointed out everything they did to lunar. Fear crossing their features as they knew what he would say next.

Something you would punish him If he failed to complete. Even if it was something they weren't told to proceed.

Suddenly TF Sun was dropped. They fell to the floor with a breathless welp. They scrambled to flatten themselves against the wall as they tried to regain their breath. Blue Moon turned around. Glancing at the camera that blinked purple in the room.

Computer.

Affirmative.

TF Sun had barely any time to plead before suddenly he was shocked. A scream ripping from his form as he clawed uselessly at the ribbons on his neck. Hoping to remove them as if it would get rid of the digital pain. Instead only causing them to tighten. Burning his hands slightly as he screamed louder. Blue Moon turning around with a growl. Roaring out as he told TF Sun exactly how he felt.

This is his life you so willfully ignored! Something you could have changed but instead chose to endure! You engaged in the torment! You gave him no defense! You laughed at the jokes that clearly gave offense! I do not care whatever reason you give! This is something you deserve to live. I am your demon and this is your hell! A purgatory you will sit in until you are nothing more than a shell! I will make sure you know what it is to lose love! I will make sure you never feel loved,

ever again!

————————————————————————

Blue Moon

TF Sun / dying fire

Computer

Decided to turn this little reblog train into a story. Still trying to get back writing motivation. Right now I'm just choosing to reincarnate certain discussions.

The story probably feels a little bit more bare bones. But then again I was going off a tiny discussion that just sounded cool. The stuff in the beginning is mostly fluff. The rest of this is almost all dialogue. As it is the part that hits.

Hope you enjoy @madcatdaderpydrawer-blog

#red blue and black #crossover story #trapped forever au #tsams au #sams au #sams #tsams #blue moon #dying fire #TF Sun #RBB computer #story

[voxofthevoid]

JJK 216: Well, that's a lot less incest (zero incest, in fact) than what the post-leaks internet reaction led me to believe

I don't really avoid leaks or spoilers before I read the chapter over the weekend, so since Wednesday, I've been seeing everything from Reddit posts to wholeass articles on incest-related developments. I assume it's worse over on Twitter because I always assume everything is worse on Twitter.

Then I read the actual chapter and...what incest? There's not even a hint of it. Yorozu and Sukuna seem headed for a bloodbath, and though the two fighting while possessing siblings is extremely interesting in terms of what it'll do to the remnants of Megumi (and Tsumiki, maybe), I don't understand the "lovers in the bodies of siblings" reaction (I saw that caption with my own two eyes). Seriously, this is disappointing for anyone who'd be into the incest angle, and anyone who's outraged is making one hell of a stretch. The genre could take a hard left into hentai and Sukuna and Yorozu could start full-on fucking next chapter, and it still wouldn't be incest. I lost brain cells to this take.

Onto the actual content:

The bath and the protagonists

I'm very curious how long the bath took, plus all the travel time (Kenjaku's Flying Fishmobile seems... efficient at least). The ten months and ten days bit is for the original process, right? How long has Sukuna been in there? Days or just hours? I'm also dying to see the state of Megumi's soul now. I don't think it's the last we've seen of him as himself, but the longer Sukuna is in him, the more it seems to seal Megumi's ultimate fate. That said, jumping right into fighting/killing Tsumiki for good seems like it will backfire on Sukuna. I hope it will. It's been established that Megumi fights back the hardest when his loved ones are in danger, and while killing Tsumiki might destroy his soul (though it would be interesting if his reaction is unhinged rage rather than immediate grief), it also seems like the kind of thing that would make him fight back the hardest. Sukuna versus Yorozu is shaping up to be pivotal to Megumi's character arc, and I am buying popcorn as we speak.

I also wonder if the bath has taken a long enough time that Yuuji and Maki (and Takaba and...maybe the Angel, if she and Hana survived) have regrouped with Yuuta and Hakari + Kashimo. Yuuta's absence in Sendai hints at that, I hope. I don't know whether I want the next chapter to jump right into Sukuna versus Yorozu or pan back to Yuuji and co. dealing with this clusterfuck.

Sukuna's appearance

Sukuna being shown to retain Megumi's appearance on purpose also resolves my confusion about how Yorozu retained Tsumiki's looks. Guess there's more control involved in that whole process than I'd previously assumed. But Megumi's soul is clearly still kicking inside, so does complete eradication of the soul by the incarnated sorcerer forcibly reset the body? In the same vein, is preserving the original soul to some extent needed for the incarnated sorcerer to retain the vessel's appearance? The fight between Sukuna and Yorozu will be more interesting if there's some of Tsumiki left in there, rather than it just being about Megumi and his pain. It's a doomed end for her either way, I think, but at least give her a somewhat active role in this whole mess.

On a related note, I am cackling at how Yorozu apparently found the time to stop and find some makeup. Way to go, buddy. Fight and fall in style. In all seriousness, I do love how that hair and face make Yorozu look quite distinct from Tsumiki while retaining the same base design:

Hello <3

Also, Sukuna's line about preferring Megumi's face strikes me as particularly hilarious. One, damn, dude, you just won't let up on Yuuji, will you? Kenjaku doesn't seem happy. Hurt parental feelings, hurt mad scientist pride, or both? Who knows.

Two, fandom has been theorizing forever that Sukuna's original appearance kind of resembles Yuuji's (and what that may imply with regard to Kaori-Kenjaku's experimentation with fetus!Yuuji and Yuuji's body/bloodline overall), and from that lens, it's like Sukuna's giving himself a little impromptu makeover.

It's also interesting how his answer to Yorozu is so different from the one he gave Kenjaku. The latter is probably the more honest one, while the response to Yorozu is just Sukuna's usual battle persona, but that brings me to:

Sukuna and Kenjaku

I would read a whole arc of just these characters interacting. I low-key want a full-on flashback segment just to see more of OG Kenjaku's interactions with Sukuna (and OG Kenjaku in general).

I love them, your honor. Guess Yuuji inherited his mum's irreverence for Sukuna.

Seriously though, I think this is the most casual/disrespectful anyone other than Yuuji or Gojou has acted toward Sukuna without any consequences. With Gojou, Sukuna was outclassed, and with Yuuji, he seemed to have been biding his time while getting his kicks where he could. I'm dying to see how it will end with these two. Allies or not, I don't see their agendas, whatever the fuck they are, matching up in the long run.

Overall, I'm still not a fan of Megukuna, the plot continues to be extremely compelling, Yorozu is smoking hot, and I'd sell my soul to Kenjaku with the full awareness that it'll backfire on me.

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen spoilers #jjk spoilers #jujutsu kaisen #jjk 216 #I'm a lot less feral when the chapters don't feature yuuji #it's good i wasn't reading along when the shibuya arc happened #might have lost my mind for all of my blog to ser #*see