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marley-manson · 1 year

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Finally rewatched GFA and lmao I wildly overestimated how much screen time was dedicated to BJ and Hawkeye’s relationship, oops. I think it’s bc 90% of what they did get was dysfunctional, and they got the Final Goodbye of Greatest Emotional Importance, so it stuck out in my mind.

This time around I still loved Hawkeye’s plot for the most part. Had my take that once he remembers he’s fine talking about it confirmed with the casual way he asks if it’s couch time when Sidney approaches during his letter-writing, as well as him bringing it up later on multiple times, jokingly and not jokingly with Sidney. His reluctance to talk about the bus and his deflection was clearly intended to be a major Something’s Really Wrong Here signal, satisfyingly righted after the revelation with his more casual, in-character willingness to admit to and talk about his mental breakdown.

I am not a huge fan of Sidney’s method of throwing people back into the traumatic war zone asap lmao, I actually misremembered that as the army’s doing, but nope it’s Sidney. I know that’s the psychological theory they’re working with so I take it in the spirit intended, but thematically it kinda sucks and uhhhhh Hawkeye quits surgery anyway so they failed to make it seem successful even if he did operate a few times first.

BJ really is a mess of a character lol, I honestly have no idea what they were doing with him in the finale other than scrambling to find something for him to do, and like half of what he does is let Hawkeye down one last time. Also the reason BJ didn’t leave a note is because he chose to be pressed for time so he could land in San Francisco instead of Seattle, which was Klinger’s first suggestion for his travel itinerary. Plus his refusal to say goodbye functionally states the reason he didn’t leave a note, ie his emotional constipation, which is a very pointed flaw in this episode especially so I don’t think having more time would’ve made a difference.

Also relatedly BJ’s “I just thought there might be something we wanted to say to each other” came across even worse this time around because Hawkeye’s “Look, I know how tough it is for you to say goodbye, so I’ll say it,” calls back to it. It really genuinely was BJ demonstrating his inability to emotionally connect with Hawkeye without Hawkeye doing it first and wanting Hawkeye to read his mind and offer a heartfelt outpouring of emotion without knowing he’s leaving and while in a cell in a mental hospital and right after BJ, who should have more sense than to talk about babies in front of him since he was purportedly on that bus too, triggered him. Evil evil scene for BJ. Also probably my favourite scene in the ep, because I love Hawkeye’s rant so much.

“Would you hold me in your arms or would you let me lie there and bleed?” still works as a commentary on their whole dynamic, but lmao it really does come completely out of left field in the scene itself, Hawkeye went from 0 to 100 in like 2 seconds. It makes sense as an extension of the way BJ left the hospital and then left without a note too, as Hawkeye expressing how he feels about that after stewing for a while, but yeah the actual scene still made me go ‘well that escalated quickly.’ And BJ’s “you don’t even have a cold” response, just totally and probably willfully missing the point, gj guy.

BJ getting drunk and joking about running off with someone during the goodbye party is a bizarre choice lol, and I can see why people want to take it as an oblique confession re Hawkeye because at least it’s meaningful that way and not just making BJ’s scene there a dumb awkward joke. The other way it’s meaningful is if it’s a Sign of BJ’s impending domestic doom ofc, though I’m on the fence about intent there.

Hawkeye’s “I can’t say I loved you all either... but I loved as many of you as I could,” is such a good Hawkeye summation lol, in the jokey, flirty way intended, in the non-gendered way that’s probably unintended, and in a true-on-a-deeper-level way too.

Soon Lee was disappointing honestly. I thought she might have more personality here than in the last ep, but nah. The only moment she had where she showed any kind of personality was her line about wanting to see Klinger in a dress. That was a great joke though lol. I’m curious what she’s like in AfterMASH, but not enough to watch any of it. I do love Klinger staying in Korea for the irony, and I LOVE that it really is the same wedding dress from season 3.

Charles and Margaret were more entertaining than I remembered, I really enjoyed them rehashing old arguments here. I totally forgot that Margaret mentioned wanting to work in a stateside hospital at the very start of the episode before getting all the letters from her father. Definitely doubling down on my belief that she’s not retiring from the military at all, but rather just working at a military hospital. Love her speech to the nurses best.

Mixed feelings on the Charles and musicians plot. It’s fitting, but perhaps not solely in the way intended lol, in that it’s always always always Charles finding sympathy and attachment to someone only after they appeal to one of his pet interests or the sympathies he already has. He really doesn’t change that much - he gets friendlier with some of the other characters, and he reveals more complex and endearing sides of himself, but he doesn’t really grow lol, and once you notice that he only ever starts to care after he projects his interests on someone those moments get a little less endearing. I think he’s still a fantastically written, fun, and genuinely pretty interesting character, but he never quite achieves likeability on a personal level. But hey, maybe that is intended.

Mulcahy’s plot was honestly a little annoying lol, like, dude you made it worse by refusing medical help and keeping it a secret for the sake of like... one more week with the orphans? I do think it was appropriate that he managed to keep his hearing loss hidden though, because it mirrors the way he tended to miss jokes and references throughout the show, and I dig that angle. Also I love his little crisis of faith and the implication that there is no greater purpose or reason, shit just happens in a war zone.

What else... idk lightning round:

- loved everyone cheering for Hawkeye after he drives the tank to the garbage heap except everyone who was in the OR with him who are all concerned.

- also loved Hawkeye driving a tank into a garbage pile just as a piece of symbolism

- love everyone going back to work after peace is declared, that just sums up the show right there, perfect note

- still fucking hate that salute for Potter. it’s fitting, I understand why it’s there, it’s the most appropriate goodbye for Potter, I still hate it.

- that said I do love the like, 20 minutes worth of goodbyes lol. it honestly worked great, pacing, order, each individual exchange, the goodbye party speeches, all pretty damn solid.

- I did not remember that BJ got that motorcycle bc he just took it when the Chinese musicians surrendered lmao. love him driving Hawkeye up to the helicopter pad in it though as a call back to Yalu Brick Road and Blood and Guts w/ Hawkeye acquiescing for once.

- I think it was a mistake to include the forest fire. I know it happened irl, hence why they incorporated it, but like it adds absolutely nothing but an awkward continuity error where it switches from night to afternoon even though they should’ve been bugging out before that, and a melancholy moment where Potter looks at the burned up support poles, which sucks because that’s not a fond home for them. Like come on, if the 4077 burned down in season 3 the MCs would’ve roasted hot dogs over the coals. Also the military march verson of the theme playing during the bug out scene... yeesh.

- but yeah overall solid finale, pretty much what you need after 11 seasons, gj everyone.

#mash #marley on mash #mash s11 #ship hb #also i just got the aftermash/aftermath pun... still an awful show title but marginally less awful now

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owltypical · 7 months

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i've been grumbling about the branagh poirot movies a fair amount lately, and honestly i keep thinking about it in connection to that recent post about how differently and cynically movies are made these days, and how it all comes down to my big gripe that i've actually had for a long time now, about how modern media just doesn't trust the audience with adaptations of old books

it can't just be conversations and quiet thoughtful moments and characters acting like normal-ass people, there has to be ramped-up violence, gun fights, dramatic action, explosions, you gotta spice it up, and be sure to dumb down/minimize the dialogue

you can't have a full cast of characters of all kinds and let them be established and breathe, you have to get rid of a bunch or just combine them into fewer characters, and be sure to make them secret super criminals or turn them into something that has nothing to do with the source material at all, and make sure they've all been cast with generically attractive actors within a certain age range

like i remember a few years back trying to watch an adaptation of the bronte novel the tenant of wildfell hall because i'd liked the book a lot, and when it got to a part that had been relatively mild when written, suddenly it was a big violent fight sequence with intense dramatic music and was so wildly out-of-character and offbase that i immediately stopped watching

i have a strong fondness for the 2006 jane eyre miniseries, because the lead characters are so well-cast with good chemistry, but whenever i've gone back to watch it i actually just skip most of it to just get to certain scenes because there's so much that's just absurd and over-the-top and out of place

sometimes adaptations improve on books, sometimes greatly, but it's so tiresome to read something and then watch or look up info on the adaptation, and see how it's almost nothing like the source, it got changed around to something almost completely different because poirot needs a tragic origin story and a love interest and to stand in front of explosions, elizabeth and mr. darcy have to have an extended hot sexy half-naked makeout at the end of the movie so you can know they're truly in love, mr. markham has to scream and beat the shit out of a dude for the drama, even a bunch of poirot and marple tv episode adaptions i've looked up change things to an absurd degree and make it flashier and more intense

i think that's why knives out was so refreshing when it came out, it's just a fucked up family in a house and an eccentric detective, it has tense moments and confrontations but nothing super outrageous, it's going for an old school character-based whodunnit vibe and it nails it far, far more successfully than anything branagh's ever done with his own ostensible period pieces

glass onion is definitely a lot more absurd and even has a big explosion, but at least that absurdity is established as a very particular brand of modern absurdity with particular modern subject matter, and large chunks of the movie are still thoughtful and well-plotted and just feature a bunch of people in a house, or sitting and talking and having very interesting conversations

all this rambling to say: please trust the audience more, it's okay for something to be relatively quiet and character-focused, let things breathe, let things be expansive, give the audience room to think and take things in, inspire the audience to consume media more thoughtfully and with more literacy, you don't have to distract them every five minutes with an explosion or a tiddy

#poirot posting #movie stuff #rant stuff #long post

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authorangelita · 1 year

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I posted 400 times in 2022

That's 298 more posts than 2021!

138 posts created (35%)

262 posts reblogged (66%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@rosieblogstuff

@impossiblepluto

@appalachianapologies

@rosies-writealong

@nativestarwrites

I tagged 370 of my posts in 2022

Only 8% of my posts had no tags

#macgyver 2016 - 105 posts

#ask ang things - 39 posts

#rosies june macgyver flashfic writealong - 24 posts

#wip wednesday - 17 posts

#cold open challenge - 12 posts

#foster mac au - 10 posts

#febuwhump2022 - 9 posts

#rosieblogstuff asks things - 8 posts

#white collar - 7 posts

#drabble challenge - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#also i learned a lot time ago that i have more of a chance to remember what the fic is about if i title it something like hand+table+knife

My Top Posts in 2022:

Random poll that in no way has any bearing on a possible WIP idea:

If Mac were to have a twin brother, would he be:

A: a blind man who works with animals

B: a professional athlete

C: a therapist who was paralyzed in the same car accident that killed their mother

D: a secret agent for a different agency who is wildly reckless and doesn't have a Jack to watch out for him

E: none of the above

17 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

Happy Saturday! I had this scene pop into my head a couple of days ago, and I don't quite know what to do with it, so I'm posting it here for now. This is in the Reunited verse where Jack was captive for 5 years because Kovacs and Mac and Riley have a son named Jay.

Jack let himself into Mac and Riley's house and quietly closed the door. He'd heard from Matty that Mac took the day off because Jay was sick, and Riley was out on an op with one of the other teams, so he'd high-tailed over to the house.

Rounding the corner into the living room gave him his first glimpse of the situation. The TV was quietly playing an episode of Spongebob – a show he'd become familiar with recently while looking after Jay – and the couch was occupied by a MacGyver men blob.

Mac was lying on his side with his back pressed against the back of the couch, and Jay was curled up in front of him with his back to Mac's chest. They were still in their PJs and sharing a blanket. Jay was clutching the plush horse that Jack had gifted him, but he barely looked over at Jack when he sat in the chair by the couch.

"Mornin'," Jack said softly. He eyed the bucket he'd just noticed was set in easy reach by the couch, but it was empty when he craned his neck to peek inside. "Rough night?"

Mac looked over at him with bleary eyes and nodded slowly. "Jay caught a stomach virus, but I think he's getting better. He's kept down some meds and Pedialyte this morning."

Jack spotted the half-empty Pedialyte bottle and a sippy cup on the table and nodded. "And you?"

"I'm not sick, just tired."

Jack raised an eyebrow, but Mac met his gaze calmly, if a little sleepily. He seemed to be telling the truth. "Do you guys need anything?"

"Coffee?" Mac asked hopefully.

Grinning, Jack stood and headed into the kitchen, where he started a pot of coffee. He made it strong, and Mac usually hated that, but if he'd been up all night with Jay, he needed the caffeine boost. He also dropped a couple slices of bread into the toaster and poked around in the fridge to see if there were omelet ingredients.

He was debating how much sugar to add to Mac's mug when Mac walked into the room, yawning and stretching his arms over his head. He grabbed the cup and downed it black, which was very unlike him.

"How long have you been up, bud?"

Mac glanced at the clock and grimaced. "Twelve hours, give or take."

"I can stay with him if you want to go and get some actual sleep in a bed."

Mac looked over his shoulder to where Jay was sleeping on the couch. "I might take you up on that for an hour or so. If he feels worse or his fever spikes, just wake me up. There's a thermometer on the coffee table."

"One that you haven't taken apart?"

Mac rolled his eyes but replied, "Riley says the child thermometer is off limits. Always off limits."

Jack narrowed his eyes and stared Mac down for a moment. "And how many have you replaced?"

"About five, but don't tell her."

"Secret's safe with me. And don't worry. Jay and I will be out here, watching TV and drinking our breakfast beverages of choice. Do you want me to try and get some food in him?" Jack grabbed a piece of toast that had just popped up.

"If he asks for something, you can give him some banana or applesauce. He doesn't like plain toast." Mac grabbed the toast from Jack's hand and took a bite as he headed toward the master bedroom. "Thanks, man."

Jack took a minute to fix himself a cup of coffee before heading into the living room to sit back in the chair beside the couch. Jay, now awake, looked over at him and waved with the hand that didn't have a death grip on the plush horse.

"Hey, cowboy. Are you feeling a little better?"

Jay nodded.

"Good. That's real good. You want some more of this?" He leaned forward to grab the sippy cup next to the Pedialyte bottle. It was about half-full, which Jack decided was good enough for now.

Jay nodded again. This time he moved, sliding off the couch, walking to Jack, and climbing into his lap.

Setting his coffee on the side table, Jack helped Jay get settled in the crook of his arm. He could feel the heat of the little boy's fever and worriedly pressed the back of his hand to Jay's forehead. He was warm but not as bad as Jack first thought he was. He handed Jay the sippy cup and picked his coffee back up.

Jack stared at the TV, not really paying attention to it, while he thought about how good Mac was with his son. Jay adored Mac, and Mac cherished every moment with Jay.

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18 notes - Posted November 5, 2022

WIP Wednesday 9/21

Thanks for the tag @rosieblogstuff :)

A little more FosterMac here. I know where this first story is going to end, so I have a goal! :)

Jack glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Mac staring out the window. He was fiddling with something in his hands, but Jack couldn't see it from his angle. "What you got there?"

Mac held up a paperclip that had been twisted into the outline of a car.

"That's impressive, bud. What other shapes can you do?"

Riley looked over and rolled her eyes. "He does that all the time."

Mac glared at her. "It helps me stay focused. The paperclips." He slipped the car sculpture into his backpack and pulled out a new paperclip, which he quickly started to bend.

"Gives you something to do with your hands," Jack said with a knowing nod. "I knew some guys in the Army who twirled pens or made origami animals. Helped them think and kept them sitting still."

Mac dropped his paperclip and looked up at Jack in surprise like he'd never known anyone who understood it when he explained it.

Jack smiled and pulled into his parking spot in front of the Dalton-Davis house. Diane's car was in the driveway, and Jack was glad she was home. The three made a mad dash for the front door through the increasingly worse rainstorm.

If you have not been tagged yet and have a wip snip to share, please do!

18 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

I was rewatching Scissors (S01E11) tonight. Can we talk about how Mac got Jack a Snuggie for Christmas? Is Jack cold a lot during movie nights at Mac's? Or did Mac want to give him something that was soft and comfortable? Because Jack is so often jumping in front of whoever is after Mac and getting banged up, so he's sore and surly unless he has a nice soft blanket. Or was it a joke gift because Mac didn't know what to get Jack? There are so many possibilities!

25 notes - Posted March 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Meta: Mac's Army Service Uniform

I've been meaning to post this for a while, and I was finally able to finish up the last bit of research. I did a deep dive into Mac's Army Service Uniform because I was super curious what it would say about his Army service. These observations are based on screenshots from S05E05 Jack + Kinematics + Safe Cracker + MgKNO3 + GTO.

Beret

The flash is blue with white stars, which represents the Department of the Army. Source

The distinctive unit insignia on his beret is for the 1st Armored Division. The 1st Armored Division is an active unit of the US Army located in Fort Bliss, Texas. Known as the “Old Ironsides” and consists of over 17,000 soldiers. Source More info

See the full post

31 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #i'm trying to be consistent with tagging #also i'm not surprised my top post is a meta post #they tend to generate a lot of feedback #but i'm surprised by the others #i should go back to that twin idea thing

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harrygroves · 3 years

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part two of willing victim steve/lifeguard billy

part one is here

Steve’s topping off a double-scoop of vanilla with chocolate syrup and sprinkles when he catches him in his peripheral vision.

Billy walks right up to the counter, past the line Steve has waiting, ignoring the squawks of hey asshole! being thrown at him.

“Harrington!” He shouts, hands slamming down on the plastic counter-top, glasses pushed down his nose, throwing daggers at Steve. His skin is so sun-kissed that Steve can feel the heat rolling off of him threatening to melt the frozen goods behind the glass.

Steve finishes handing off the cone to the expectant girl over the counter who immediately rushes off, without paying.

“Hey!” Steve shouts at her but Billy’s waving a hand in his face and Steve pulls his eyes over to him. “What?” He asks loudly, aiming for annoyed finality but it doesn’t come out as fiery as he’d like.

Billy rounds the counter, getting all up in Steve’s face, and he reaches out, grabs something around Steve’s neck.

Steve looks down, confused. Apparently he’s wearing a lifeguard uniform, and Billy’s hand is wrapped around a whistle, pulling Steve closer and closer.

“You haven’t been back to the pool.” Billy says and Steve’s eyes find him again. Billy’s wearing a Scoops Uniform, but it’s got Steve’s name tag clipped to it, and Billy smells like marshmallow fluff and strawberry syrup, and he’s getting closer and closer, the pull from Steve’s whistle burning a line around his neck --

“Ahh!” Steve shouts, sitting up-right in his bed.

He glances around wildly, half-expecting Billy Hargrove to be standing, shadow-soaked, in the corner of his room.

“Jesus Christ.” Steve heaves out, breath stuttering out of his lungs in a staccato beat.

He doesn’t get back to sleep.

Steve’s eyes are sleep-heavy and his head is throbbing. Saturdays are the worst day of the week, as far as he’s concerned.

Some kid is crying and here comes his mother, for the third time, to yell that Steve got the order wrong and do it again.

He hates this woman. More than any person he’s ever met.

Well, perhaps there’s one exception to that.

Steve mumbles to her that he needs to go get more fudge squares for her order and hustles into the back, standing in the freezer for a full minute, eyes closed, as if trying to squeeze in a thirty-second nap.

He grabs the bag of fudge squares and a tub of sprinklers and goes back up front.

When he pushes the door open his eyes immediately see that Billy Hargrove is in line.

Steve stalls when he sees him, the tub of sprinklers slipping from his hand, and the top of the tub comes off, exploding edible, rainbow confetti around him.

Robin swears from the opposite end of the counter, a mother yells at her to watch her language, but Steve is frozen, stock-still and staring, and Billy’s staring back at him, but not in the same way.

Billy’s look is more of a you fucking weirdo vibe whereas Steve is silently saying you’re here and i don't know why that’s making me feel something.

Robin slides in front of Steve’s field of vision and Steve startles. She’s pushing a broom around his feet, snapping at him to get out of the way and Steve stumbles to the side, leaving Billy a clear path to Steve.

But Billy isn’t moving and he isn’t saying anything and the rush in Steve’s ears is finally passing and he realizes someone’s smacking the bell over and over; there’s a line of people and he’s just standing there and fuck, he probably looks like he’s having some sort of episode.

He gets back to the counter and robotically goes through the motions of greeting, serving, and ringing up the customers, every single one a bell toll towards death as Billy gets closer and closer. His hands actually start shaking and he stammers, a string of panic starting to thread it’s way through his body. Robin finishes getting the sprinklers cleaned up but she’s not quick enough and Steve’s left to greet Billy as he saddles up to the counter.

“Ahoy.” Steve says weakly and he makes the mistake of glancing at Billy’s mouth and remembering the pressure and the curve of his lips, slippery sunscreened skin and the intense sensation of drowning -- and that only came after he was pulled from the water.

Billy catches this because Steve did it in a moment of panic and there was no way to hide it and instinctively flicks his tongue out, running it over his bottom lip, and why that makes something inside Steve jolt is a fucking mystery.

“So this is where you ended up.” Billy says, quiet in a way that it almost sounds threatening. He plants a hand on the counter and leans in, glasses tucked into his shirt pulling down the already low lifeguard top. He’s smiling at Steve the way he used to when they were in school together; that belittling poor you expression that makes Steve feel a foot tall, but it’s different now that they’ve --

It wasn’t like they actually kissed. A bunch. It was a training exercise.

So why was Steve’s heart thundering in his chest, why did this feel different? It suddenly didn’t look very poor you. It felt more like there you are, i found you, and Steve didn’t feel like he was going to get punched in the face, it felt more like a game had been won...and he was the prize.

Steve actually looks down to make sure he’s still wearing his uniform and the barrage of blue, white and red glares back up at him.

He moves his head back up and glances at Billy, opens his mouth, but he doesn’t know what to say and he just shrugs one shoulder, shaking his head a little, confused. “Do you want some ice cream?”

Billy’s found him, sure, but he’s actually starting to look...troubled. His smarmy, boarding-on-sweet smile has faded and he bites his lip. Like Steve is bothering him.

In a flash, Billy reaches out and grabs at Steve’s name tag and it comes off easily, pulling Steve’s shirt with it for the briefest moment.

Steve doesn’t...what the fuck?

Did Billy just come in here to bust his balls?

Steve can’t talk, can’t formulate any sort of retort because he doesn’t understand what’s happening and Billy doesn’t say anything, he’s just sunburned-red and clenching Steve’s nametag in his hand and then he just whirls around and leaves, stomping out of the store like he’s pissed off.

Robin didn’t see it happen, and the customers didn’t seem to notice because the next person steps up the counter and starts barking orders at him.

He looks down to make sure, and yeah, Billy just took his name tag?

It’s not a big deal, it’s a piece of plastic but something about it feels deeply personal and Steve can’t stop thinking about it for the rest of his shift.

The pool closes hours before the mall so Steve is at a complete loss as to what to do about this situation. His manager gives him shit for losing his name tag and he doesn’t know how to say that he didn’t lose it, some asshole took it, because what the fuck would his manager say to that?

So he has to get it back.

But like, Steve doesn’t want to see Billy.

He really doesn’t.

Plus, Steve’s never actually been to Billy’s house and that feels like too much. Too personal.

Steve’s trying to avoid getting personal. It just feels...like more, after…

He sits in his car, elbow on the window-ledge, slides a hand over his mouth, thumb and pointer finger stretching from cheek to cheek and he can feel how hot his face is.

He shakes his hand out, reaching forward to clench the steering wheel.

What is happening to him?

part three

#i know whats happening steve dont worry #i've been thinking about billy stealing steve's nametag for way too long #just storming in and trying to be an asshole but its not working and his only line of defense is to pull this shitty move #that neither of them quite understand #harringrove #my fic #also i was posting things maybe once every three months or so and all of the sudden i had about seventeen ideas pop up #and i’ve just been running rampant with them #so i’m sorry if i’ve been exploding all over anyones dash #but i certainly cannot contain all this shit and i need an outlet

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syllvane · 3 years

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muscle memory pt. 3- sylvie x reader

a/n: i said i was going to post tomorrow but i couldn’t help myself. anyways, spoilers for episode 2 and 3 of loki, minor spoilers for the beginning of episode 3. final word count is 1.7k words!

read the previous part read the next part read the series

“How is Loki doing?” You asked Mobius, walking with him to the mess hall.

“He’s doing great. Making real progress, I would say.”

“Didn’t you have to have a meeting with Renslayer this morning because of his actions?” You asked, raising your eyebrows. His face scrunched up for a second.

“It’s like every time he is making progress, he takes two steps back.”

“That sounds more believable. You still think he’s worth all the trouble though?”

Mobius sighed slightly. “I really do believe in him. It’s not just an issue of whether I believe in him though, it’s whether Ravonna and the Timekeepers do.”

“Oh, you’re on first name basis now, with Renslayer?” You turned and grinned at Mobius, who immediately flushed after realizing his mistake.

“Not a word of this to anyone.” He said strictly, although there was a smile on his face as well.

“Yeah, yeah.” You said, standing in line with Mobius as he ordered his lunch before sitting down at a two-seat table. “Ravonna and Mobius-”

“C-7.” Mobius said strictly, although you could tell he was partly amused by your antics.

You continued in the same quiet, sing-songy voice as before.

“-on a jet ski. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Mobius finished taking a sip of his drink and then applauded quietly, so as to not draw attention.

“Has anyone ever told you that you truly have all the originality of a grade-schooler?”

Before you could answer, you were interrupted by a tall man with long dark hair speed walking over to where Mobius and you were sitting.

Although he seemed to be in a hurry, you could tell that he was sizing up everybody in the room, including yourself.

“I found- oh, sorry. Didn’t see you there. Would you mind moving so that me and my partner could discuss something?” He asked politely, even smiling.

You locked eyes with him, smiling back at him.

“I’m good, thanks. You can just pull up a chair.”

His smile wavered and he maintained eye contact for a couple of moments longer before breaking it, going to a different table and pulling over a chair.

(You ignored the pointed look Mobius shot at you, like he was asking you to be the bigger person here. Unfortunately for him, you had no such intentions.)

“Right. I know how the Variant is hiding.”

Mobius leaned back.

“Talk about burying the lead. How?”

Loki smiled slightly, this smile much different from his last- he was proud of himself.

“He’s hiding in apocalypses.”

There was a moment of silence. You and Mobius exchanged a glance.

“Which one? There’s like a million all across history.” Mobius pointed out and Loki took a second to compose himself before starting his explanation.

You sat back as he explained his reasoning, watching with amusement as he put more salt and pepper into Mobius’ salad, handing him your own drink when he realized that Mobius’ drink was empty.

He gave you a nod of recognition and Mobius sent you another, even more exasperated glance as Loki poured your drink into the salad (although, in your opinion, seeing Loki grin like that made it worth it).

—— “How was Pompeii?” You asked, not even having to look up from the apocalypse case files to figure out that it was Loki who was approaching you.

He stopped for a minute, almost taken aback by your observation, before continuing and taking a seat in front of you.

“I was right, naturally.”

You scoffed slightly.

“Naturally.”

You looked up at him to find that his piercing eyes were already looking at you, almost curiously.

“You’re already sorting through the apocalypse files.”

“Naturally occurring disasters with no survivors, cross-referenced with the candy that Mobius picked up. You were confident that you were right so I figured I should start looking.”

Loki raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly.

“You’re smarter than you look. Could’ve saved me and Mobius some time.”

“He forgot to cross-reference?”

He nodded, hesitating for a moment before he grabbed some of the files that you hadn’t started looking over yet.

You looked at him appreciatively, though he wasn’t looking at you anymore.

The two of you sat there, looking at the case files in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes before Mobius walked into your office as well.

“What’s this?” Mobius asked, taking a cursory glance at the file on top.

“Kablooie.” You said simply and Mobius sighed slightly, frustrated that he hadn’t thought of it.

He grabbed a couple of files as well, standing up as he started reading.

“I think I have something,” Loki said a couple of minutes later, splaying the case out on your desk so that everyone could see. “Class ten apocalypse. Alabama, 2050.”

You looked it over and even just with a cursory glance, you could tell that this is where the Variant was hiding- you looked over at Mobius and saw pride on his face.

“You’re gonna take my job if I’m not careful.”

“Now to pitch it to Renslayer.” You said and Mobius nodded, already halfway out of your office. He closed the door behind him and you looked at Loki. “I don’t think I’ve seen him this excited in a while. In fact, the last time I saw him this excited, I think we saw a jet ski on a mission.”

Loki smiled to himself, though the expression disappeared when he looked back at you.

“And what about you?”

“Hm?” You tilted your head slightly, caught off-guard by the question.

“What excites you?”

You held his gaze for a couple of moments, feeling uncomfortable with how he looked at you, as if he knew something about you that you didn’t know about yourself.

You finally looked away, standing up.

“We should go meet Mobius. We’ll be heading out as soon as he gets the approval.”

“You say this like it’s a sure thing.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Renslayer say no to him. Come on.”

——

The rain sounded a hundred times louder when you were listening to it hit the roof of the Roxxcart, so loud that you could barely hear the sound of your own voice above the noise.

“What are you doing here?” You asked, positioning your reset baton defensively. The man standing by the plants seemed to hesitate slightly, although he was still much too calm for this kind of weather.

“Hurricane sale. Azaleas are half-off.”

“Could that be you?” You asked Loki, your eyes never leaving the man. Although his eyes continued to look between you and Loki, his gaze lingered on you longer.

“I… mean… I would’ve worn a suit, but it could be.”

You took a couple steps towards the man and he backed up, looking at you pleadingly.

“I don’t want to do this.” He said quietly and you tilted your head slightly, confused.

You took another step towards him.

“What-”

He grabbed your arm and a warm feeling came over your body.

A woman’s voice in your head lulled you to sleep, promising to bring you home and then everything went dark.

…

“Sylv, why are you acting so weird?” You asked, taking another sip of wine.

The blonde woman across from you smiled, although you could tell that she was forcing it for your sake.

“Another one of my suitors came and visited me today.” She said. You made a face and she laughed slightly.

“Complete fools, every one of them.”

“Fools for being deeply in love with me?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, almost as if she was allowing herself to play the part for a couple of brief moments.

“No, I’m above self-flagellation. They’re fools for thinking that they could ever win your heart.”

She laughed.

“And why is that?”

You leaned back in your chair.

“I have it on very good account that someone already has it.” You said and Sylvie‘s smile faded and her gaze didn’t quite meet yours, almost as if her mind was preoccupied elsewhere.

She looked back at you, her look apologetic.

The scene around you grew distorted, nothing quite clear anymore.

“I’m sorry.”

Her words repeated everywhere around you like you were in an echo chamber rather than…

Rather than…

Where were you?

The blonde woman that had been there a moment ago disappeared and with her, everything else.

…

When you came to, Mobius was kneeling beside you, waiting for you to wake up.

“C-7… are you okay?” He asked slowly, looking at you with more concern than you think anyone else ever has.

You propped yourself up and you looked around wildly for Loki or for the blonde woman- Sylvie- who had been in your head.

“Where are they?” You asked and you hated how desperate your voice sounded.

“They escaped. Take it easy, the Variant did a number on-”

“Mobius, I have to find her.” You said, trying to stand up only to be overwhelmed with nausea and dizziness.

Mobius supported you, keeping you from falling back onto the ground.

“I know. And we will, but we have more pressing issues right now. Come on.”

You didn’t protest, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to convince Mobius even if you promised to get him a jet ski afterwards.

What you had to do now, you would do alone.

He helped you through the portal back to the TVA and the rest of your team followed, all of them being immediately assigned to different Nexus events that were happening simultaneously.

You, being injured, were given the pass to stay back at the TVA.

You wondered if the Timekeepers knew what you were about to do, if they could’ve predicted it- after all, they were the ones who had made you, right?

You headed to the sector of the TVA where they issued TemPads, looking at the data of where all the TemPads were jumping to and from when you stumbled upon something odd- there was a TemPad that only had one jump registered in its entire history.

TVA to Lamentis-1, 2077.

Huh.

The Variant- Sylvie- whatever her name was, must’ve found out a way to stop the TemPad from feeding data into the system, but it must’ve reset when she jumped to the TVA.

You grabbed one of the TemPad’s that were out of commission for charging, unplugging it.

It was low on battery, but it would have to do.

You opened a portal for yourself using the exact same coordinates and time that they had put in and without any hesitation, you walked through.

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solalunar-eclipse · 2 years

Text

Sonic Boom - S3E6

Episode title: Roll With It

Word count: about 4200 words

AN: Thank you so much to everybody who’s left comments on this fic so far! Whether I’ve been able to respond to you or not, please know that your replies and tags fuel me and help me continue writing both this and my other stories :)

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Tails stalked back and forth across the living room of his house, both tails swishing wildly in agitation. “I can’t believe it!” he cried, turning to speed-walk back the other way once more. “Three times in one week already!”

Sonic sat (though the position he was in could only be called sitting with some significant stretching of the definition) upside-down on the couch, his feet thrown over the backrest as his eyes tracked his brother’s movement. “It’s not like they’ve actually taken anything yet, have they?”

“That’s not the point!” Tails insisted, whirling around to face Sonic. “The point is that someone is breaking into my workshop and moving things around! My workshop!”

“Maybe you oughta have a stakeout or something, then.” the hero suggested, his legs kicking idly.

“They’ll notice, since they’ve evaded my security systems this far.” Tails huffed, glowering irritably at the floor.

“Well….” Sonic said, swinging back to an upright (yet still lounging) position, “ooh, headrush.” He winced, lowering his head briefly.

“Anyway, what I was going to say was that since you’re so good at laying traps,” and here he leveled a distinctly flat stare at Tails, “maybe you could use that on this intruder.”

“You’re right!” the fox exclaimed, not even a hint of shame crossing his expression at the reference to his last attempt at trap-building. “I’ve gotta go do that right now!”

And so he sprinted off to the workshop, leaving Sonic still lounging on the sofa.

“This is gonna end well.” the hero muttered skeptically, looking directly into the camera.

[The same intro sequence plays as usual…with one minor change—all of Tails’s scenes are him interacting with Shadow in some form or another.

When Eggman’s villain reveal occurs, his background rapidly cycles through about ten different images (at least half of which are memes and one is a generic Windows XP wallpaper) before settling on a white background with a logo of two yellow tails. Eggman screams in rage before shutting off the camera.]

[The sequence then continues, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

That night, Tails slept peacefully in his bed while Sonic lay on the hanging couch out front, his feet propped up on a foam pillow. (It had taken them ages to get that way, though, since the fox had been fully prepared to stay up and wait for the intruder to try again until Sonic was forced to make him settle down and go to sleep.)

[Camera cuts to the inside of the workshop, showing a sliver of light on the floor with a shadow slipping across it.]

Meanwhile, the mysterious person snuck into the building once again. Carefully, they avoided the various cameras, alarms, and casually scattered electronics, sneaking towards a single shelf in the back. Hidden in the darkness, they didn’t make a single sound as they stepped closer and closer to their target…

…but, entirely without realizing it, they accidentally stood on a minuscule wire laid across the floor.

Machinery began to move in absolute silence as the person continued to creep forward. Well-oiled cogs turned and wiring unspooled as the intruder reached out their hand. Yet suddenly, despite all of the sensory evidence suggesting their safety, they stopped. Their ears twitched, and they tilted their head as though they had noticed something.

A single click rang out as a switch flipped, and the intruder startled violently…

[Camera cuts to the outside of the workshop as a half-stifled cry rings out for a moment.]

[Slow fade to morning.]

“Sonic!” Tails yelled, racing out of his room and shaking the hanging couch wildly. “Sonic, I caught them! I caught them!”

The hero looked up from where he had been thrown to the floor, limbs sprawled in a tangle of blue and sports tape. “Huh?” he asked intelligibly.

“I said,” Tails repeated impatiently, waving his Miles Electric around, “I caught the person who’s been sneaking into my workshop! We gotta go see who it is!”

That seemed to wake Sonic up a bit more, as he began to stand up with some urgency. “Alright then, Tails, let’s go.” he sighed, privately expecting it to be an irate villager of some kind or another who clearly hadn’t thought their actions through well enough.

Tails pushed open the door cautiously, revealing a perfectly normal workshop…given that the mess of machinery and the smaller version of Domepocalypse attached to the ceiling qualified as relatively “normal” for his workshop, of course.

The fox frowned. “I don’t see anything in here! It better not have triggered by mistake.”

Sonic squinted. All he could see inside the force field was some sort of ball, which almost seemed to be—

Black and red…

“No way.” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “No way!”

“For the love of Chaos if you want to keep your nose attached to your face you will not say another word.” Shadow snarled, uncurling and glaring down at the two through the purple sphere.

Sonic burst into laughter, making the other hedgehog growl and slowly drag his claws against the walls of the trap. “Wait, wait!” Sonic cried. “I’m not laughing at you, I’m not, I swear! I’m just…this is so not what I expected.”

“And what did you expect then, hedgehog?” Shadow sneered, though the rage in his voice began to subside.

“A villager or somethin’, mostly.” he admitted, while Tails hurried to the other side of the building and started fiddling with something on his computer.

“What are you doing?!” Shadow barked, a faint note of panic pitching his voice slightly higher than usual. His eyes fixed on the keyboard as his fists tightened helplessly.

Tails said nothing, but the striped hedgehog got his answer a second later when the force field dropped from the ceiling entirely without warning. A yell exploded from Shadow’s mouth briefly before he discovered that somehow, the force field had prevented him from breaking anything in his fall.

The two brothers made eye contact for a moment, surprised at the display of emotion, before turning to face Shadow. He seemed to be irate, embarrassed, and defensive all at once, but when neither of the two actually asked any questions, his face settled into a mask of indifference.

“Congratulations, you’ve caught me.” he said sarcastically. “Now what?”

“Why were you in my workshop?” Tails replied, hands on his hips.

“None of your business.” Shadow grumbled.

“Uh, it’s literally his place, dude.” Sonic replied, smirking. “I think that makes it his business.”

“Shut. Up.” the striped hedgehog huffed, folding his arms and looking away.

“I’m just sayin’, man—”

“Why do you insist on using those words?” Shadow interrupted, looking genuinely bewildered as well as irritated now. “Do you ever call anyone by their actual name?”

“I could ask you the same thing, hedgehog.” Sonic said smugly.

“That is an epithet! Those are entirely different circumstances!”

“Suuuure.” the hero said, making Shadow scoff in disgust.

“Fine then. Tails, I was here because I wanted to see what kind of technology you were creating in order to modify my combat techniques accordingly. Now will you let me go?”

“You didn’t take anything, did you?” the fox asked, but in a way that suggested he already knew the answer.

“No.” Shadow replied flatly.

“Then…no.” Tails said.

“What?” the hedgehog barked. “I just told you—”

“I know you didn’t! And if you had taken something, I would’ve left you in there longer than I’m going to. But as it is, the only thing I’m gonna subject you to is…friendship.”

Shadow raised a brow suspiciously.

“You’re going to spend half a day stuck with all five of us.”

“Let me out!” he barked suddenly, slamming his fists on the force field with increasing power.

Sonic, who had been watching this exchange with increasing amusement, suddenly stepped forward, all humor gone from his expression. “Hey, listen, man. I get it if you’re…what’s it called…classphobic?” he asked, frowning in confusion.

“Claustrophobic.” Tails corrected him.

“Whatever! I’m just saying, if you need more space or something, I bet we can figure that out.”

“It’s not that!” Shadow growled. “I merely refuse to be forced to endure your inane activities.”

“Oh! Well then trust me, Shads, there’s no worries there. You’re gonna have plenty of fun.” Sonic said, grinning.

“What did you just call me—!”

…

[Scene re-opens on Shadow inside the now moving force field.]

“Where did you even get those.” Shadow muttered, now resigned to his fate. He gestured towards the small machines attached to the bottom of Minidomepocalypse that kept it hovering an inch or two off the ground.

Tails looked back from where he was walking next to Sonic. The hero had attached a rope to one part of the force field and was now pulling it along with ease. “I reverse engineered it from old Ancient tech Amy found, actually!”

“Really.” Shadow muttered, one brow raised. “And how often, exactly, do you go searching for that kind of material?”

Tails shrugged. “Pretty often. Though I have to admit, we really did get lucky with Sonic’s mech.”

“Did you say you lot found an Ancient mech? Where?” Shadow asked, sitting up abruptly.

“Uh, just lying around in some cave—”

“Was it blue?”

“Maybe?” the fox said, wincing at Shadow’s tone.

“That was my cave, you know.” Shadow growled.

“Oops?” Tails smiled awkwardly.

“If you want, we can…we can give it back.” Sonic said reluctantly, clearly feeling a bit guilty now that he knew where it had come from.

Shadow frowned, thinking for a moment. “No. I’d have to actually find a place for it in my cave then. Just don’t blow anything up with it or I’ll take it away from you permanently.”

“Wow, bossy.” Sonic said, but it was punctuated with a wink and a quick smirk to show he meant no real harm.

Shadow merely rolled his eyes in response.

“Oh hey, look who’s over there!” Tails said wickedly, while Shadow groaned in despair.

“Ames! Knux! Sticks!” Sonic called, waving at them. “Check out who we got!”

Shadow leaned back against the force field with a sigh. (Leaning in exasperation was a carefully cultivated skill of his. There was an art to timing the movement and position just right.) “And yet, you still can’t use actual names.”

Amy’s eyes widened. “Shadow?! How did you guys get him in there?”

Sonic grinned. “It was all Tails, really. Turns out Shadow’s the one who’s been breaking into his workshop at night and moving stuff around.”

“Really?” she gasped.

Shadow frowned. “I left everything where I found it! How did you know anything had been moved?”

Tails’s eyes narrowed as he stepped up to the purple sphere. “I know where every single tool and every single piece of tech in my entire workshop is. It may not look like it, but all of the stuff in there has a very specific placement. If things are turned around or even on the wrong side, I know. Immediately.”

Shadow stood firmly in place despite the fox’s tirade, his arms folded protectively. “I believe that qualifies as overorganization.”

“Exactly!” Tails said proudly.

Shadow blinked twice, and then promptly gave up on trying to rationalize anything for the rest of the episode.

“So, what’re we doing today?” Sonic asked excitedly.

“What about the hunting game?” Sticks suggested, a dangerous glint in her eye.

“Uh…I’d do that, but I don’t think Shadow could follow us on his own.” the hero said.

“They hunt each other for sport. Why am I surprised….” Shadow mumbled in the background, his hands over his face.

“Let’s play soccer!” Knuckles suggested. “We haven’t done that in at least ten episodes, so it should be okay, right?”

All five were excited about that, so they started up a game—and nobody paid attention to Shadow’s grumbling in the background, of course. He remained on the sidelines while Sonic and Amy split the groups into ‘hedgehogs’ and ‘not hedgehogs’ teams, determined to prove that they could win against superior numbers.

By the time halftime came around, they were losing. Badly.

“Try kicking the ball at the goal more often.” Shadow said, his eyes glinting with amusement.

“You do it then, wise guy!” Sonic panted, hands on his knees.

“I would happily defeat you all in this paltry game, but as I’m sure you can see, I unfortunately cannot participate while inside this trap.”

Amy glared at him. “Are you mocking us?”

“Only a little.” Shadow replied archly.

“Well, at least he admitted it.” she sighed, turning to Sonic. “You ready for round two?”

“Yeah! Let’s do this!” he cheered, high fiving Amy.

They did lose in the end, but only barely, managing to scrape by with a score of 4-3. However, as the game had progressed, Shadow ended up beginning to participate as the referee solely out of frustration.

At first, he just called out a couple of times when the ball went out of bounds and it seemed like they were going to ignore it. As time went on, though, and the rules were not so much bent as twisted into a Möbius loop, he ended up shouting about the rules at every single one of them nearly all the time.

After they finished, he found himself yelling, “Do you always cheat this much?!”

(The resounding “YES!” he received in response did not improve his opinion of the team much.)

…

The team then dragged him along to the park, Sonic’s reasoning—paired with a particularly wicked grin—being that “Shadow could use some chill time in nature after that soccer game.”

The hedgehog in question had buried his face in his hands yet again and mumbled something about his sanity slowly draining away. Amy laughed.

“That tends to happen after a while.” she said, smiling sympathetically at him.

Shadow struggled to maintain his cool slouch against the walls of the force field in the face of his frustration, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes briefly before standing back upright. He scanned his surroundings in a desperate attempt to find some form of retaliation, and came to a rapid conclusion—evidently one he liked, too, given by his sudden smirk.

Suddenly, without warning, he curled into a ball and revved up a spindash, cycling around the sphere as fast as he could.

The rope attached to the force field tore out of Sonic’s hands and spun around so quickly it smacked him in the arm twice before he could even figure out what was happening. Shadow bounced back to his feet proudly, having switched directions halfway through to stop the rotation of Domepocalypse just as quickly as it had started.

“Hey!” Sonic pouted. “What was that for?”

“If you dare to mock me, you had better be prepared to face the consequences.” Shadow scoffed, looking down on the hero. “Even if I cannot move much inside this enclosure, I can still deal with you easily.”

“Man, you really need to calm down. Good thing we’re at the park already, huh?” Sonic shot back.

Shadow looked out over the crowd of shouting kids (and adults) currently occupying the space of grass within the confines of the village. Instantly, he turned his back on the scene, leaned forward until his head pressed against the force field, and sighed loudly in irritation.

Sonic then burst out laughing and remained that way for a good five minutes, at least.

…

“Okay, and that’s the town hall, where Mayor Fink does his work….” Amy said brightly. It had been her idea to take Shadow on a tour of the town, even if most of the others had grown rather bored by this point.

(“He’s never been here while not fighting before! This is a fantastic opportunity!” she’d insisted. “Yeah, an opportunity to make him want to burn the whole thing to the ground even more.” Sonic had said.)

“Your government is both corrupted and fails to perform its most vital duties. Excuse me if I am less than impressed.” Shadow replied drily.

Sticks gasped. “Finally! Somebody else with some sense about what really goes on behind closed doors! What kind of conspiracies do you think they’re planning?”

“Only ones that constitute a benefit for themselves and nobody else.” the striped hedgehog replied.

“Exactly!” the badger cried, instantly prepared to launch a single-person attack on the town hall. “We have to stop them!”

“Sticks, no!” Amy called, dragging them back to the group. “Nobody is destroying the town hall today!”

Sticks grumbled irritably in response.

“Anyway, over there is the library…” she continued hurriedly, only to receive another flat remark from Shadow.

“Yes, the library, whose librarian is both an active impediment to the distribution of knowledge and a failure of a pedant.”

Tails laughed at that. “He is, though! He keeps giving people looks if they say ‘who’ instead of ‘whom’, and I can’t even count the number of times he’s told me the ‘grown-up books’ are off limits.”

He turned away, muttering, “Actually, I can. It’s been at least fourteen.

“I just hide them in between some comic books and that works most of the time.” Tails added, shrugging it off. “At least those are fun to read too!”

“That is either incredibly clever or your librarian is incredibly idiotic.”

“Probably both, to be honest.”

“Aw, come on guys, I like the library!” Amy insisted, seeming disappointed.

“And you’re the only one who does.” Sonic replied smoothly, leaning on her shoulder.

“I never said I disliked the library, just the librarian.” Shadow replied, leaning sideways (since it was important to cross-train with different types of leaning) against the force field once more.

“You like the library? Lame.” Sonic shot back.

“I never said I liked it, either.”

Knuckles frowned, confused. “Wait…so you don’t like the library, but you also do like the library?”

“Exactly.” Shadow said, a distinct smugness in his voice.

Sonic and Amy both let out long-suffering sighs while Tails and Sticks fought back laughter. The fox in particular was surprised that Shadow was actually funnier than he had expected, and could in fact hold his own when faced with the combined chaotic energy of the group.

[Since it is impossible to properly convey what happened next through text, please imagine a really cool exploding noise here.]

Suddenly, an explosion scattered the five and sent Shadow’s force field flying. A maniacal laugh boomed across the street as the smoke cleared to reveal…

…Eggman, with bass-boosted speakers attached to his Eggmobile for the sole purpose of making his laugh sound more menacing.

Sonic snickered. “Speakers, Egghead? I think that counts as cheating.”

“Oh, shut it, you!” the doctor snapped. “I think they add a certain gravitas to my persona.”

“Oh wow, that’s a cool sound system!” Knuckles said, having missed the previous exchange entirely (although this time it wasn’t entirely his fault, as the explosion had left his…well, presumably he had ears that could have been ringing).

“Well thank you! At least someone appreciates my sense of taste.” Eggman said, still rather indignant.

“What taste?” Shadow scowled, stepping forward…minus any kind of purple shielding. “The only thing you’ll be tasting in a minute is the dirt, Eggman.”

“Wait—how did you break out of Domepocalypse?!” Tails cried. “I designed it to be indestructible!”

“It’s never held me before, Tails.” Shadow shot back, rolling his eyes. “Now then, doctor…” he cracked his knuckles. “…this is for trying to blow me up.”

He smacked the Eggmobile with a roundhouse kick that nearly sent it flying. (Which meant, apparently, that cracking his knuckles had been entirely for effect.) Inside, Eggman ground his teeth before roaring, “Robots! ATTACK!”

Amy sprinted into battle with a shout, swinging her hammer with forceful precision. Knuckles punched flying bee-bots out of the air while Sticks wielded her bo staff, fending off the ones on the ground. Tails took to the skies, defending the team from the robots nobody else could reach, while Sonic bounced around, spin-dashing badniks left and right.

Meanwhile, Shadow was…helping? Surprisingly enough, he actually seemed to be fighting Eggman as well, even if he abjectly refused to actively work with any of the members of the team. He mostly teleported around and used spindashes or kicks, but seemed to avoid performing any attacks like the Chaos Blast he’d used when angered earlier on in the season.

Whirling into another dash, Shadow ricocheted off a wall and nearly missed his mark—but then Sonic took it out instead.

Shadow was about to stalk over and yell at him when he noticed something odd: Sonic had left his own targets free for the other hedgehog to destroy in exchange. He attacked them entirely on instinct, but found that he couldn’t quite manage to work out what had just happened, somehow.

The striped hedgehog hardly had a moment to be confused, though, because soon enough, the battle had ended.

“Ugh! You just got lucky because Shadow was on your side this once!” Eggman barked. “Next time, I’ll win for sure!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Egghead!” Sonic taunted, grinning.

“When will he ever learn?” Amy asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

Tails smirked. “Probably never, honestly.”

As the others celebrated, Knuckles awkwardly inched over next to Shadow. “Hey, thanks for helping us out today.” he said, clearly torn between his usual friendly demeanor and his wariness at getting too close to the guy who’d knocked him—sorry, pummeled him—into a wall.

Shadow blinked, confused. “Oh. Uh. Whatever. I only did it because Eggman tried to blow me up, anyway.” he muttered halfheartedly.

“Yeah, it was great fighting with you instead of against you today, man!” Sonic called. “We should do it more often!”

Shadow’s eyes widened. He stared at the team as it slowly dawned on him that all of them felt this way. “W-well, of course it was easier to defeat him! Since I can best all of you in single combat.” he insisted, ignoring the slight stammer at the beginning of his words.

He quickly teleported away after that, heading back to his cave (to preferably spend the next half hour curled up as tightly as possible in shame).

“Aw man, he left already?” Tails said, frowning.

“I guess so.” Sonic shrugged. “He probably just couldn’t handle our combined awesomeness for such a long time.”

“Does this mean he’s part of the team now?” Sticks asked, confused.

Amy opened her mouth to speak, but then paused. “Actually, Sticks, I don’t really know.”

“If he isn’t now, then he will be soon!” Knuckles exclaimed.

“You know what?” Sonic said, looking off into the distance for a moment. “I think you might just be right about that.”

…

The next day, Tails marched into the library and started pulling not one, not even two, but five different engineering manuals off the shelves of the adult nonfiction section. Stacking them all in his arms, he walked boldly up to the front desk and dropped them in the checkout area.

“Only thirteen-year-olds and up can borrow books from the adult section.” Fastidious Beaver announced flatly.

“I may be ten, but I have an IQ higher than you could ever hope for!” the fox snapped. “I’m borrowing these books whether you like it or not.”

“Such language!” he cried. “You take after your brother in that, of all things?”

“Hey!” Tails barked. “I’m proud to call Sonic my brother, and you know what? If you’re not going to scan those books for me, then I’ll just do it myself!”

Suddenly, he snatched the barcode scanner from the desk and checked out all five books, a determined look on his face.

“That, young man, is against the rules!” the beaver shouted, but he seemed too nervous to actually do anything about it.

“I only follow rules if they make sense.” Tails replied smugly, pausing at the open door. “Otherwise…” and suddenly, he developed a wicked smile that struck terror into the librarian’s heart, “…anything’s fair game for me.”

And then he rushed out of the library and flew all the way back home, cheering excitedly as he went.

Before Tails would sit down to read his hard-won treasure, though, he headed for his workshop. Inside, he walked over to a machine that was analyzing Domepocalypse’s main power source.

On the readout nearby was a list of dates and times, and the fox studied them for a moment before frowning at the display, refreshing the screen, and reading them again.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” he muttered to himself. “This says he could’ve broken out at least an hour before the fight!”

Sonic burst into the workshop at that moment, skidding to a stop at the workstation. “Hey Tails, I heard you come back! What’s up?”

“I was just looking over some of this data from Domepocalypse. It says that Shadow figured out how to escape ages before he actually did!” the fox explained. “But if that’s right, why didn’t he leave sooner?”

Sonic grinned. “Aw, c’mon, you telling me you don’t think it was my winning personality?”

Tails swiped at his arm, snickering. “It was not!”

“Oh, I see how it is!” the hero cried. “Betrayed by my own brother, huh? Is that right?”

But he was smiling too much for even a complete stranger to think he was truly angry.

[Freeze-frame on the two standing together and laughing, followed by a fade to black.]

[roll credits]

#sonic boom #sonic boom: ancient secrets #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #knuckles the echidna #amy rose #sticks the badger #shadow the hedgehog #dr eggman #sol's fanfiction #wow that's a lot of character tags #anyway!#i just had to say:#that one scene with eggman going 'i have an impeccable sense of taste' and shadow saying 'all you'll be tasting is dirt'#i don't know what happened when i wrote that but whatever it is i hope it happens again #because that was awesome #also it is so weird to be posting this when i'm right in the middle of working on something completely unrelated #like i'm trying to wrangle this complicated plot into working #and then it's like 'oh right time for me to post 4k words of humor'#but anyway!#if you came this far then thank you so much for looking at my ramblings #and thank you as always for reading!!

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ectoentity · 3 years

Text

Warped Mirror

Decided to write something based vaguely on the “Spork AU” idea. Instead of Episode 1 Danny meeting Episode 50+ Danny, though, I was curious about a Danny who never became Phantom meeting one who had. This first part is just establishing Human!Danny’s world.

I’ll post it to AO3 when I have the rest of it finished.

---

Three kids stood before a giant machine in the shape of a door. It should have been humming along and glowing green, with a great hole to another world in the middle. Instead, it was cold and silent.

“They spent years working on it,” Danny explained, “and then nothing. Mom and Dad have been moping in their room all day.”

Tucker looked around at the portal and the hodgepodge of computer parts attached to it. “It’s probably a loose wire somewhere. I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”

“In the meantime, this would make for an awesome picture,” Sam said with a smile. She held up her polaroid camera.

“Oh no, you’re not getting me anywhere near that,” Tucker immediately walked away from the portal.

“Come on! When they get this thing working we’ll never be allowed near it. Besides, it’s not like it’s going to do anything right now.”

“Then why don’t you get over there and let one of us take the picture?” Tucker asked.

“Because neither of you know anything about lighting or framing a shot. Please?” When she saw that Tucker was not going to budge, she looked over at Danny with wide, pleading eyes.

He looked anxiously at the portal. So far none of his parents’ inventions had really worked, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t dangerous. Still, Sam was right. It was pretty cool, and getting a picture with the thing could be a good way to keep a memory.

“Yeah, okay, let me put on a jumpsuit in case there’s a live wire or something.”

Ten minutes later he was suited up in the white-and-black safety jumpsuit his parents had made for him. It wasn’t really a hazardous materials outfit - there was no full hood or respirator, or even goggles. It was made of something that was supposed to repel ectoplasm and certain chemicals that his parents used and was insulated against minor shocks, so it would have to do.

“Oh, no no. I’m not taking your picture while you’re wearing that,” Sam announced. Danny was about to argue, but she reached over and pulled the sticker of his dad’s face off of the suit. “Now you’re good.”

Danny laughed. “Good thinking, Sam. Wouldn’t want to be immortalized in your photos with that on me.” He walked up to the portal. It was a massive piece of machinery, nearly six feet in diameter and deep enough to fit a car. He paused at the entrance. It was hard to imagine it as anything other than a creepy machine in the basement. If it had worked, it would have opened into a whole other world.

Tucker, meanwhile, was watching while anxiously tapping a foot. He had expected Danny to give in to Sam’s pleas. He was so predictable and utterly clueless. One of these days they would both realize that they were both desperately crushing on each other and they’d-

There was something plugged into the wall. Tucker wasn’t sure what it was, but he had a bad feeling about it.

“Hold up!” he shouted. Tucker went over and unplugged the cord from the wall outlet, and checked around for more outlets just in case. When he didn’t find anything else, he called back, “Okay, I think it’s alright now.”

“Good thinking, Tuck,” Danny’s voice echoed in the portal. “Hey, Sam, is this good?”

Sam set up her shot. “Looks great! Just hold there a second.” She counted down before the flash went off. The camera whirred and produced a polaroid. “Lemme take a couple more,” she said before swiftly doing so from slightly different angles. “That should be good!”

Danny started to walk out of the portal. Something caught his foot. He tripped and fell backwards, flailing his arms wildly in hopes that he would catch something. His right hand hit the side of the portal. It stabilized him for a second, but then the wall clicked. Danny stared down at his hand, a chill lancing up his spine. He hadn’t hit the wall. His hand was resting on a button marked “ON.”

“Oh my god,” he blurted.

“Danny? Are you okay?” Sam called. He could hear them both scrambling toward the portal.

“I’m good! I just tripped!” Danny got out of the portal as fast as he could. “My parents put the on/off buttons on the inside! If Tucker hadn’t unplugged it…” All three teens stared at the portal. Danny could have died, just for tripping over a stupid wire.

Finally Tucker gulped and broke the silence. “Want to see if your parents can get it to work now?”

Danny shook himself out of it. “Yeah! I’ll go ask if they forgot about that.”

They all but ran out of the lab.

---

The Fenton RV sped down the street, ghost alarms blaring. In the back, Danny got his weapons together as quickly as he could with all the jostling and swerving. They’d let Dad drive; time was of the essence.

“A level six!” Jack crowed from the driver’s seat. “Maybe even a seven! How long’s it been since we saw one like that?”

“About four months,” Danny grumbled. He still vividly remembered when the town had been drawn into the Ghost Zone and besieged with an army of skeleton constructs. He was not looking forward to a repeat of that hell. The Fenton Blaster in his hands whined as he attached the power source.

“We’ll have to be careful, Jack,” Mom cautioned as she always did. “We don’t have the Ecto-Skeleton this time.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t call in the Guys in White?” Danny asked. They might not be the best ghost hunters, but they did have a lot more firepower.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Danny! I’m sure we can take care of this before they even notice something’s happening. Besides, your mom and I are still dealing with the paperwork from the last time they showed up.”

Danny shuddered. He was extremely glad that he didn’t have to deal with that aspect of ghost hunting.

His dad pulled up to the mall with a loud honk of the horn and squealing tires. Danny and his mom ran out, blasters held at the ready. Dad backed them up with one of the Fenton Bazookas.

The mall was already evacuated. Some people milled around outside, anxiously talking amongst themselves. In the year and a half since the ghosts had started attacking the town, people had gotten frustratingly complacent about them. The invasion a few months back had shown most people just how dangerous they could be, but a stubborn few always were more concerned with getting good pictures than their own safety.

“Make way!” Mom shouted. “We’re here to take care of the ghost!” The crowd at least did part for them. A few people shouted at them. Some of it was words of support. A few tried to describe what they had seen - it was green, it was wearing all white, it was terrifying. Only a few made jokes or jeered at the Fentons as they passed. That was annoying, but it was a hell of a lot better than it had been a year ago.

The deserted mall was an eerie sight. Everyone had left in a hurry, leaving lights on and store music still echoing through empty halls. The Fentons’ footsteps seemed far too loud. The weirdest part was that everything seemed intact. When the technology ghost raided the mall he usually left trails of rubble and discarded packaging everywhere. The box ghost would leave piles of everything that he dumped out of his beloved boxes. Various other ghosts had attacked the mall in the past, and they almost always left signs of their passing. Why was this one different?

“Come out, ghost!” Dad shouted, his voice easily carrying through the empty mall. “Let’s make this quick!”

“Curious.” The voice was quiet, but had the same unnatural echo of all ghosts. Danny held up his blaster, but he couldn’t tell where the voice had come from. Beside him, his mom turned on her miniature Fenton Finder. It beeped alarmingly quickly.

“Two o’clock!” Mom shouted as she fired. Danny was only a moment slower, trying to fire a little ahead. The blasts didn’t connect with anything.

“I mean no harm,” the ghost said. Its voice was way too close for comfort. Danny turned to his right and shot where he thought it was, but he still missed.

“What do you want?” Danny asked. He didn’t really care. No matter what their obsessions were, ghosts only ever wanted to spread chaos and pain. Still, sometimes he could distract them by talking back.

The ghost appeared in front of them. It was tall, with dark, green-tinged skin and a lighter beard. Its eyes glowed a soft yellow. A white robe and hood covered most of its body, rippling in a nonexistent breeze.

A green beam from the Fenton Bazooka blasted towards the ghost. Its torso split apart to allow the beam to go through it. Danny grimaced. It was so gross when they did that. He followed his dad’s lead and started shooting the ghost. The ghost blocked all of his and Mom’s shots with a series of small green shields.

“This is entirely unnecessary,” the ghost huffed. It had the audacity to look bored.

“Then why not just go back to the Ghost Zone and leave us alone?” Danny shouted, annoyed. He ran off to the side, flanking the ghost. It finally started dodging the ectoblasts. If anything, though, the ghost just looked amused.

“Oh, I shall. First, though…” The ghost flung its hand out towards Danny. He winced, anticipating the burn of ectoblasts. He took a step back and his foot sank. With a shout, he fell into the glowing green portal that had opened right behind him.

#Warped Mirror #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfic #my writing

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ddaengyoonmin · 3 years

Text

-Hotel For Demons- (Intro)

Pairing: eventual ot7 x reader; the first few chapters are very Yoongi x reader centric.

Warnings/tags: Stripping, teasing, gambling, mentions of some dark/mob activity

( eventual )Smut-angst-fluff

Summary: You work as a stripper at an extremely secretive casino resort that caters to people of a dark nature. You are used to strange and ignoring your fears. Yet one night a man, more scary and more intriguing than any other seems to grow fond of you while you dance. You play a game with him that takes you away from everything you’ve known and into an even darker world than you’d ever known...and now he’s calling you his wife.

a/n: (this is very unedited sry for typos and things if they appear) taken some inspiration from the anime ‘Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits.’ It starts out a bit dark but it's going to be a lot more lighthearted in some chapters. Once I get the initial set up to the story, this fic will just be a bunch of short episode like stories with y/n having different moments with each member or a few members, not always directly connected to future chapters or the chapter before, just set in the same world. Let me know what you think!!

------

It felt to the men in the crowd like they were hypnotized watching you.

You were the one hypnotized though, by the music, and by the thudding of the bass in rap song you’d picked for your dance vibrating through the club.

You could feel it in your chest, each thump pushing your hips forward as you grinded against the pole, sticking your ass out as you jumped onto the pole and spun. You swore you heard one man in the crowd gasp as you did.

The purple stage lights flashed to blue as the song hit a slower beat. You slid down the pole slowly, your hands gently moving down to the floor with the rest of your body.

As you continued on with your floor work you could practically feel the eyes of one man in particular sitting on you with an almost unblinking stare.

You could only see his eyes, the lower half of his face was covered by a black mask with a pattern that made it look like blood was dripping all over it in a very cartoonish way.

It wasn’t uncommon for people to wear masks like that here, but his was quite an interesting choice.

You could see bits of black hair peeking through his black jacket’s hood, which was also strange. He seemed so secretive with his appearance. Maybe that's what was giving him the confidence to stare at you so obviously.

Most men tended to get shy when you stared them down.

No...maybe he really hadn’t blinked once…

You realized you’d been focusing on him a bit too long and quickly danced your way to facing away from him.

Though you couldn’t escape the powerful gaze that you felt on your backside the entire time.

You knew the ending of your song was coming up and you took to the pole again to finish the dance.

It might have been obvious to everyone in the club that whether it was intentional or subconscious, you had started dancing for him.

When you ended your dance, the last step you took had you facing right at him, chest heaving from putting a bit of extra effort into your moves than usual.

You weren’t sure why, it didn’t make sense. You never usually got this worked up over someone in the audience, but his attention was exciting.

Some men clapped, and a few threw some money on the stage. You gave a twinkle wave to no one in general as you turned to walk back to the dressing rooms behind the stage.

The girl that would come out and collect your money off the stage for you squeezed your shoulder as you walked by and gave you a smile.

“I haven’t seen you perform like that in forever!” she praised loudly over the song that was playing while they set up for the next dancer.

You mouthed a thank you and from the corner of your eye you caught the mysterious man standing up from the table and leaving.

Your heart dropped a little bit. You had a second song still later that a part of you had hoped he’d have stuck around for. He hadn’t even paid you. He paid the entry fee to enter the strip club area of the casino resort, bought one drink, watched just your song, and left.

It was strange.

You were used to odd people. Sometimes even dangerous people. The casino you worked at catered to a very particular crowd of very rich men.

They weren’t the type of rich men you’d see on the news or in magazines. They were all a very secretive type. You were told when you’d been hired two years ago that you weren’t ever to ask the men about what they did for a living.

It always made you wonder, but it never bothered you. The amount of money in their wallets was enough to make you not need to read too deeply into any of it. Why mess up a good thing.

It's not that you only cared about money...but everyone has their amount. Everyone has a number to where they’ll turn their eyes the other way.

At least that's what your boss had told you the first time he’d sat you down in his office and handed you a blank check with his name already signed on it.

The day that you’d seen something that you never want to think about again.

Now you don’t have to.

Aside from the anomaly that was that man today, the diamonds on your wrists that would dance while you did were enough of a distraction from the things you’d seen.

With some of the things you’d witnessed go down in this casino you were glad that your number was as high as it was.

When it was well past 3 in the morning and your shift was done you put on your coat and began to walk towards the main entrance of the building to leave. Almost everyone besides those who worked there had left for the night, either returning to their hotel rooms or getting up to some business you’d rather not think about.

Just before you’d walked past the last of the blackjack tables you heard a voice call out to you.

“y/n right?”

A chill ran down your spine. You never used your real name at the club, it was a rule that you’d never tell customers your real name.

Your head whipped around to see that same man from earlier sat down alone at the table, shuffling through a deck of cards.

On closer look the cards were definitely not ones from your casino, almost as if he’d brought his own with him, another rule broken.

“No…” You lied. “You must be confused.”

You heard a chuckle from behind the mask. “I’m never confused. Sit down.”

He spoke so sternly and with a low gravel that spiked some fear into your body.

But you sat anyway. Maybe it was fear of what he’d do if you said no, but more likely it was that you were still wildly intrigued by this strange man.

“How do you know me?” You spoke as you sat down in the seat across from where he sat in the dealers chair.

“That's not important right now.” He muttered. “Want to play a game?” He spoke those words with such a smooth and beautiful compelling tone.

“Why not.” You decided, shifting in your seat and trying to get a better eye on the cards he was still shuffling through.

You wished you could see behind his mask, but all you could see was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He laid out three cards in front of you face down. They were black with the images of blood dripping down them, the same as his mask.

“Pick one.” He demanded.

“Shouldn’t I know the rules first?” You cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Rules don’t really matter here do they. Surely you know that better than anyone.” He replied.

“There are some rules that matter.” You debated. “Like you calling me by my real name.”

“Not to me.” He then tapped on the table in front of him with a closed fist. “Pick a card.”

You sighed and figured ‘What's the worst that could happen.’

You stared at the cards in front of you, not sure if it even made a difference which one you’d pick, but still, you studied them before finally pointing to the one in the middle.

He then reached out and flipped the card, revealing a very detailed drawing of two golden rings intertwined together.

He seemed to sigh a big exhale of relief.

“Good.” he muttered.

“That's good? For me, or you? What game are we playing here!” You were starting to get frustrated.

He then flipped over the other two cards, revealing one that was a painting of a gravestone, and one that was a painting of flames.

“Good for both of us.” You could almost hear the smile in his voice, though you were only growing more confused.

“Pick up your card. Don’t touch the other ones.” He ordered.

With a small huff you listened to him, grabbing the card with the rings on it.

“In both hands.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.” he seemed to growl in an almost inhuman way.

Your fear now made your blood run cold, you didn’t want to anger him so you did as he said instantly.

As soon as you did, you felt a rush of wind hit you from behind. It was so strong the other two cards flew off the table. The man stood there with his arms crossed and started laughing a maniacal laugh.

The whole table then seemed to start to spin, you wanted to grip onto something but your hands seemed to be glued to the card you held.

Everything got faster and more blurry, everything except him. Before you could comprehend how, it seemed that the whole place you’d been in was starting to fade away into a bright white light.

As the spinning movements quickened you squeezed your eyes shut tightly and let out a small scream.

It only lasted a few more seconds before you felt everything still.

“Open your eyes.” His voice spoke to you much softer.

Slowly you did, opening up to a sight you were not expecting to see.

You were now in a large room with wooden floors and a wooden ceiling. Lots of art and architecture that seemed to be at least a thousand years before your own. It was very decorative and ornate, it seemed almost like a palace.

“Welcome to your home my wife.”

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skellebonez · 3 years

Note

I wish you would write a fic where Xiaojiao and Xiaotian try to convince Red Son to build a pillowfort with them for M A X I M U M S N U G G L I N E S S

I hope the wait for this was worth it, I was very happy to get such a nice prompt!

"You have to be joking," Red Son said with a groan as he looked upon the veritable mountain of pillows and blankets and a few scattered chairs. At some points in the pile he saw what appeared to be strings of lights and stuffed animals. "You really expect me to help you build a... what did you call it? Pillow fortress?"

"Pillow fort!" Xiaojiao corrected with a wide smile and a bounce in her step as she dropped even more pillows onto the pile. There were so many pillows. Who owned this many pillows? "Well, it's more a blanket fort with the chairs, but that's just for structural integrity. It's going to be way more pillow than anything else! And yes, we do."

"What is the point of a pillow fort?" Red asked in a tone of genuine confusion and frustration at his lack of understanding. "It's just... pillows! And blankets and chairs and-and stuff!" He waves his arms wildly in the general direction of the mountain of mentioned stuff that Xiaojiao had seemingly finally deemed enough. "What does it do?"

"Be comfy!" Was her answer, almost as perky as ever but with a soft undertone to it that matched her smile. Red could tell she really wanted him to do this with them. She only sounded like that when she was serious and concerned, and the fact that he acknowledged his recognition of this was testament to how much he had gotten to know the dragon before him. "It's just... comfy, Red. You build it and you sit in it and you enjoy the feeling of being in a pillow fort."

"That sounds-" He wanted to say stupid, but he stopped himself short. Xiaojiao seemed so excited to do this, and she and Xiaotian had been so insistent on including him in things they enjoyed. And he had not disliked most of them so far. If he was under threat of destruction he might have even admitted he found some of them... fun. So instead he sighed before continuing with "- ...like something you would think I'd enjoy."

Xiaojiao's smile softened even more at this for just a moment. Then there was a knock at the door and she smiled her usual wide and jubilant smile as she opened it to welcome the other member of their little trio.

"Sorry I'm late," Xiaotian apologized as he rushed in, bags and a cooler in his arms. "There was a lot of traffic and the store I usually go to didn't have that snack you asked me to grab, but I found it at another one so we're all good!" He paused, looking over at Red Son with a half smile. "We, uh... are all good, right? You're gonna..."

"I suppose if it will make you both satisfied in my progress on 'learning to chill out already'," Red Son said in a half mocking tone, earning a snorting giggle from Xiaojiao. "Then yes. I will help you build your Pillow Fortress."

"Pillow fort," Xiaotian and Xiaojiao corrected in unison.

"It is Pillow Foretress or Pillow Nothing."

It took a good minute for the duo to finally gather themselves back after that. Red Son's completely serious tone with his final declaration sent that both into a frenzy of giggles and full on laughter, and Red almost stormed off before Xiaotian insisted they were only laughing because the sentence itself with ludicrous and they weren’t laughing at him.

Red Son eventually conceded that, yes... that was quite the ludicrously bizarre thing to insist on. But the two did their model best to call their creation a Pillow Foretress (with more bit down giggles every time it was stated). And it was... enjoyable enough.

There wasn't much to it. They set chairs up in a very large circle. Placed blankets under and over them. Surrounded them in the absolutely mind boggling amount of pillows, making sure to make three little sections for each of them to sit in. There were stuffed animals in places that were almost deliberately haphazard, and Red realized he recognized one as Xiaotian's little monkey from his own apartment.

Xiaojiao had taken the lights on strings, a mix of soft pink and regular lights, and draped them around the chairs before pulling in her laptop on a little lap desk and some comics and other items. Xiaotian in turn set out what he had brought, a cooler full of drinks and buns and sandwiches and sweet and savory snacks from presumably a convenience store.

"Alright, climb on in Red!" Xiaojiao said with a gesture.

Red Son stared for a moment, looking at the two of them in confusion. "This... doesn't look finished."

"It's not," Xiaotian admitted, mimicking Xiaojiao's gesture. "But trust us, this will be way cooler seeing it from the inside!"

Instead of arguing, Red sighed and did as asked, finding it silly that he was sitting on the floor surrounded by pillows and chairs and blankets and-

They finally took a large blanket that Red Son swore could cover an entire average sized room floor span and draped it over him and the rest of the fort, moving the chairs so the feet holding down most of the corners, pulling some up to let in fresh air and leaving the front loose entirely. The top dipped a bit in the middle and Red realized the blanket was far thicker than he had realized. Then the lights went out.

Red Son had relatively good night vision, but the room they were in deep inside the Long estate had no windows. That not that it mattered, it was likely past dark by now regardless. Even to him it was pitch black, only the light of Xiaojiao's phone screen providing any illumination. He almost wondered if this was it. If this was some kind of prank and the two had finally grown tired of him and they were going to leave him here or dump water over him through the blanket or... or something!

Until the little lights inside the fort came on.

And it felt completely different in the dim light. It was... soft. Warm. Welcoming even. Like he was in a world entirely made of just these blankets and pillows and nothing else was outside of it. He finally took the time to realize how plush and soft the blanket and pillows under him were. How the pink light made the seams in the top blanket give off a sheen that he realized were woven bits of metallic thread.

"Whoa..." was all he could say as Xiaojiao and Xiaotian lifted the loose flap of the front of the blanket to join him. He felt completely out of his element, unsure of how to even react now.

"Comfy, right?" Xiaojiao asked, and he only nodded in reply as Xiaotian held out two things to him. His little stuffed monkey and a bar of spicy chocolate. Flame decal and hot peppers branding the wrapper. He took them both without question as the two made themselves comfortable next to him. Each pressed into one side slightly despite the room in the pillow fort. "Tonight we're just going to stay in here in our Pillow Fortress and relax. Stay awake, sleep, it doesn't matter. Just. Be comfy with us, Red?"

The last part was clearly a question. Both of them looked at him for a moment, waiting for him to react. He didn't for a moment, looking down at the items in his hands before moving the stuffed monkey to the crook of his arm and unwrapping the chocolate bar and taking a bite.

It was sweet. Bitter. Rich. And had almost enough spicy heat for him.

"... sure."

Xiaojiao smiled wide again and opened up her laptop to find that one show he told her he liked. The one about how different things were manufactured. He thought that they would both find it boring when he told them about it, but it seemed now that their interest in watching it with him had been genuine. In time they all laid down on their stomachs or sides to watch, drinks and snacks being eaten up by the minute.

Xiaotian nodded off first, though he lasted longer than Red Son thought he would. He seemed to have actually enjoyed the episode about vinyl disks in particular. And Red Son supposed that after a long day of work and his short personal training session he was bound to be more tired than the other two of them.

Xiaojiao lasted much longer, but it didn't surprise him that even she had to nod off eventually She loved every episode that had anything remotely mechanical.

Soon it was just Red Son and his show and the soft glow of the lights as he laid between the duo that brought him into a trio of sorts. Both pressed into his sides in some way (though Xiaotian had kind of starfished his way into his back and an arm laid over Red). And he gently tossed the little stuffed monkey over to Xiaotian when he started to reach around for something, smiling when the other held tight to his prize.

Red Son didn't think he'd... ever felt this comfortable. At least not in many centuries. And it didn't take him long to follow his friends into slumber with a soft, almost imperceptible rumbling purr in his chest.

He hoped they got to do this again one day.

#monkie kid #lego monkie kid #gen fic #mk #qi xiaotian #red son #mei #long xiaojiao #traffic light trio #not intended as a ship fic #but if you wanna read it as chimerashipping you can!#prompt fill #though it's slightly different from the usual request #as it was for an ask meme

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fanficsandfluff · 3 years

Text

That Damned Laugh

To the anon who informed me of Rainbow Rowell's RACISM, i am writing this for my love of the characters, not the author's writing skill or fame. fuck her. i am still very much aware of what she wrote about and how she portrayed a character, but i cannot stop this inspiration when it comes to me. (wait to be clear to everyone reading this who hadn't seen the anons and my discussion, carry on wasnt the accused racist book. that was something else.)

If you, anon, end up seeing this and maybe don't like what I'm doing or whatnot, I'd love to hear from you again.

For those of you who maybe do practice Death of the Author, I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Carry On

Characters: Simon Snow, Baz Pitch

Words: 1,905

~~~~~

BAZ

Simon Snow does not laugh, full stop.

(Well, to be fair I'm not a cackler much myself, but I do at least guffaw from time to time.)

Snow spent so much of his youth being weighed down by the 'Chosen One' moniker and being tormented by yours truly. Still, I know of that little list he kept of things he liked about Watford and all its experiences and people. It seemed he did take joy in most of it all. After all, I'm sure he had fun at Bunce's house on many an occasion.

But just being around him and in this way for a while now, you start to notice. He's seen me laugh. A few times, in fact. And hard. I'm not very proud of it; what that man can do to me and make me do. He doesn't like when I cover my hand over my smile. It's habit, though, I've reminded him countless times. The fangs and all. We're working on it.

But Simon may just smile or huff. I've giggled with him on our particularly soft nights or togethertimes.

All this to say... I've found a new hobby/goal/obsession recently.

Make Simon Snow laugh.

My cheekiness all these years has kept my humor to cruel, lowbrow tones. Maybe it makes me less funny, I don't know. But once or twice I'd nail a comeback or snarky one-liner (of course with a bit of flirt thrown in) and Snow will giggle and shake his head. But that's all I've achieved! A small, pandering, boring -- though still admirably adorable -- (Damn that Snow) giggle.

I've moved on to physical humor. I tried throwing myself dramatically over him when he's in bed, but he just seems to think it's all part of my Pitch flair.

Today I made a minor breakthrough.

I was in the kitchen trying to mix myself a smoothie. Bunce has been gushing about a smoothie craze for weeks now, so I finally figured why not. The damn lid wasn't on tight enough. Not-yet-smooth smoothie shot everywhere. There was a pause as it happened, my one hand on the Liquify button, my other resting nonchalantly atop the lid that didn't do any lidding, dammit.

Snow looked up at me from his seat by the kitchen counter, eyes drawn from his phone. A beat. He barked out a laugh. A much louder one than I think I'd ever heard him make.

"Put a sock in it, Snow," I growled, to keep with my facade, though inside I was jittery with glee. I wanted to hear more.

Snow convinced me to binge a new show. Crime Minds. Something like that. No, criminal. It's Criminal Minds.

You wouldn't expect this to be a series fit enough for a cuddle, but Snow and I are an unexpected couple. So it works.

A few dumb jokes are littered throughout the show, in between corpses and the same police station set being reorganized and shot from different angles every episode. One such joke was so inconspicuous and so nothing that I cannot even recall it now. But both Snow and I chuckled at it. Then Snow made an additional comment to it, making me laugh. And soon we were both giggling together like schoolboys, like we had early on when we were maybe still a bit bashful with each other.

He shoved his face into my ribs and snorted when I whispered the new inside joke much later on in the episode. I was also grinning like a madman, but the soft tickle his action gave me didn't exactly---

Oh.

In bed. Perfect. Lovers fool around all the time in bed. Not fool around as in sex--well, no, of course sex, but I mean they also play around-- never mind.

SIMON

Baz has been acting off lately. I can't quite put my finger on what it is. He seems distracted. More like how I act. I'm always thinking of something else, not able to stay focused on one thing for long. He's like that, but trying to act like he isn't.

We're doing something odd today. We're in bed at sunset. It's hardly sunset, as a matter of fact. The sun isn't seeping orange and red into the flat yet. Penelope took us out on a hike today. It tuckered the both of us out. Baz drained a buck when we got home.

I'm laying perpendicular to Baz (or is it parallel? composite? I could never remember mathematics), my legs resting over his stomach. He's reading and I'm playing a puzzle app on my phone.

BAZ

Now's the time, Baz. Just do it, don't think.

His socked feet are right in front of me. There's only been a handful of times we've sat in this position, half of them being my lower half resting on Simon's sturdier upper half. It's now or never.

I stare at his feet for too long, zoning out and forgetting that I was left staring at them, so it definitely looked like I have a fetish for feet. Which I don't. Focus, Basilton.

I take a finger-- no, two fingers. I scratch quickly at his heel. His leg jerks, foot being pulled back.

"What?" he asks me, as if I hadn't been plotting this for weeks. As if I just did it to get his attention.

"Something on the bottom of your sock, love."

Simon went right back to his head hanging upside down off the side of the bed, phone held out in front of his eyes.

Well, that proved one thing. He's ticklish.

He places his ankles right back where they originally were, crossed, atop my stomach. I try again, this time on his arch. I apply more pressure.

"Bahaz!" Simon shakes his foot out, "Is that how you start a foot massage?"

"Would you like a foot massage?"

"No. Not if it's going to tickle like that."

My cheeks heat up. Damn that buck. I'm rosier than I usually am.

"You're ticklish?" I ask, coolly. I barely stuttered.

"I wouldn't try it," he's back to looking at his phone again, "Penny did once and I nearly broke her elbow or something. She wouldn't stop talking about it for days."

"So you're very ticklish, then."

"Don't," this is the first time Snow seems to tense up.

There's a moment of quiet between us. A tense quiet. I lunge for his ankles and he shoots up into a sitting position. I scratch at his arch with four fingers now and he screams.

"Baz!" Simon whines a bit and he somehow yanks his legs free, not without losing one of his socks in my grip.

SIMON

He's grinning at me. No. Sneering.

I still hate when he does that. Reminds me of back when I wanted to throttle him. Sometimes I still do.

"Baz," I warn. His whole posture changes into a predator's, like he's the lion and I'm his fresh zebra. The new stance sends a shiver down my spine, with his shoulders hunched and all, ready to pounce.

"Baz... Baz, Baz, Baz..." I say over and over again because he's smiling at me, and then I start to smile, too, "Bahaz!" I try once more, but his name is all that's coming out, and now I'm giggling. I'm nervous. He did this to me.

BAZ

He's already giggling and I haven't even laid a hand on him.

"Yes, Snow?" I respond to his many calls of my name before I lurch forward, sending my whole body crashing on top of his and trying to pin him. I dig my fingers into his sides and don't stop for as long as I can maintain contact through his squirming.

"Gehehet off!" he's already crumbling, words being broken up with short laughs.

I slide my fingertips to his stomach and scratch there; Snow bucks. It gets even better when my cold fingers make contact with his warm skin beneath the shirt he's wearing. He yelps like I've never heard him yelp (like he's burnt his finger, but he's also 11-years-old again), and he dissolves into loud, beautiful laughter.

"St-Stohohop! Baz! I'm going to end you!"

"Isn't that how we always said it would end? Snuffing each other out? I'm perfectly happy that it's now going to end in my favor. You should've told me you were this easy to defeat earlier on, Snow."

"Shut up!" he cackles, legs kicking wildly behind me, as my body is thrown over his torso. Now I have both my hands buried into his sides, squeezing and squeezing. I get curious, my cheeks still burning with blood, and I lean down to his neck and... (no, I don't bite) I start nibbling. Snow loses it.

His whole face scrunches up, as I watch when I pull my head back. His smile is huge and bright. And the laughs bubble up from his stomach, releasing softer into the air like he sucked a little of the joy from it before releasing to keep for himself.

"Dohon't do that!"

"I thought you love my kisses."

"Not tha-HAAT!"

He shrieks again, hands too slow to stop my face from moving in. I nibble and even lick a few times, careful not to touch him with my fangs.

Did I mention that my hands are still tickling at his sides and ribs while I'm nibbling? Oh yes, I've waited so long for this sound. I wasn't going to make it come out lightly.

I blow a raspberry and that's when Snow's laughter catches and turns all hiccuppy. The noises are infecting me, starting to make me giggle. I shift, and my face now descends towards his stomach, which is bared after I rucked the shirt up.

SIMON

"TYRANNUS BASILTON G-GRIMM FUCKING PITCH-- OR WHATEVER YOUR LONG STUPID ARSEHOLE NAME IS--"

He's laughing at me. I keep laughing even without him tickling me.

"I swehehear I'm going to fucking kill you and your whole family if you do that dohown thehere--" I'm hiccuping. Crowley, how embarrassing.

BAZ

He's got me. I can hardly breathe from laughter. I keel over into him or he into me, but soon we're a laughing pile together on top of the mussed up sheets on the bed.

I make a loud snort and that reels us both back in again, laughing til we're red in the face and til my cheeks hurt.

Simon is giggling away, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself, but he just keeps on giggling. I'm able to sit up a little more and Snow's head is in my lap. He's beaming and looking up at me through squinted, teary eyes.

"That was fun," I say, and I don't think it's the brightest or smartest thing to say. But I say it.

"I love you," Snow's smile is still wide, like he's drunk from it. There's a moment where I feel like I've died again, color drained from me.

It doesn't seem to bother him, that he's said that. For the first time. I run my fingers through his reddish curls once, letting them tangle in the locks towards the back of his head. I hunch myself down so I can kiss him.

"I've wanted to hear that for so long," I whisper.

"That I love you? You haven't figured it out by now?"

"No, you idiot," I say with nothing but fondness, brushing my nose along Simon's jaw, "Your laugh."

#carry on #carry on: the rise and fall of simon snow #simon snow #baz pitch #tyrannus basilton grimm pitch #snowbaz #simon/baz #simon and baz #fanfiction #carry on fanfiction #carry on fanfic #fanfic #ticklish!simon #ticklish!simonsnow #lee!simon #ler!baz

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sokkascroptop · 4 years

Text

traitor (sokka x f!reader) pt 18

part 1 | part 17 | part 19

A/N: ah, so the long awaited “The Puppetmaster” episode. This has always been one of my favorites ❤️ Take Y/N’s commentary at the beginning how you want. Either Hama got the idea from an old Fire Nation scary story... or she’s been at this a lot longer than we originally though 🤭

Y/N looked up fondly at Sokka as he recounted what he called, “the scariest story he knew”. It was not scary in the slightest and from the other disinterested looks Y/N got from Katara and Aang and the way that Toph lolled her head back in boredom, none of the others thought so either. Every now and then Sokka would glance down at Y/N and she would give him an amused smirk and however he took it spurred him on through the story. When he was finished, he waited with a sly smile like he thought the four of them were about to start screaming.

“I don’t know, I liked the story about ‘the man with the sword for a hand’ better.” Aang shrugged.

Sokka pouted and sat back down next to Y/N. “You thought it was scary, right?”

Y/N raised her eyebrows and nodded. “Terrifying.” She linked an arm through his and they both leaned back on the fallen tree behind them.

Y/N watched Toph wrinkle her nose. “Water tribe slumber parties must suck.”

“I have one. And it’s a true Southern Water Tribe story.” Y/N’s ears perked up at the sound of Katara’s voice. She hadn’t spoken all night and she was the only one who hadn’t recounted a scary story. Her knees were pulled up and she had her arms wrapped around them, and the light from their fire danced across her face.

Sokka seemed unperturbed. “Is this one of those ‘a friend of my cousin knew this one guy’ stories?”

“No.” Katara’s voice was sharp. “It happened to Mom.”

Y/N didn’t know what about Katara’s story scared her the most. Maybe it was her voice, or the way she told the story. Or maybe it was the way Sokka tensed underneath her arm that led Y/N to believe that there was more truth to this story than she originally thought.

But the thing that freaked her out the most and had her jumping from Sokka’s side immediately to Katara’s was Toph’s gasp.

Toph jumped to her feet, her milky eyes widening. “Wait. Guys did you hear that?!”

Sokka bumped into Y/N’s side, pressing her against Katara even more. Y/N wrapped an arm around Katara and grabbed onto Aang shoulder, pulling them all into an impossibly smaller ball.

“I hear people under the mountain! And they’re screaming!”

Chills worked their way down Y/N’s spine and she shivered between the two Water Tribe siblings. She recalled a story she heard at school, something about full moons and missing people… but it was just a story that little kids told to one another. Albeit, one that Toph shouldn’t have known.

“No, no… you’re lying. You don’t hear anything.” Y/N’s voice was shaking.

Sokka scoffed. “Nice try, Toph.” He started peeling himself away from Y/N’s side and moved back to their seat.

But the look on Toph’s face didn’t look like she was joking. “I’m serious! I hear something.”

Y/N tugged on Sokka’s arm and pulled him back, closer to her. “Uh, I really don’t think she’s kidding, Sokka.”

“Wait, you believe this?” Katara asked, her eyes wide with fear.

“Kids at school used to tell these scary stories about a witch or evil spirits who would take people and hide them in a space between the spirit world and our world. They’re everywhere around us but we just can’t see them.” Her voice trailed off as the wind picked up and began howling through the trees, almost as if it was in response to what she said. “But it’s a Fire Nation story, Toph wouldn’t know it,” Y/N said quietly.

Aang looked up to the tops of the trees above them. “Spirits aren’t evil,” he ventured, his voice small.

“Hello, children.” A voice said behind them.

---

Y/N didn’t think that she could scream as loud as she did. Aang, Katara, Y/N and Sokka, who had been huddled together on one side of the fire, holding one another as close as possible, suddenly shoved each other away, each of them trying to get as far away from whoever had just walked up behind them. Y/N in her haste, leapt over the fire nearly knocking Toph over in the process. Her heart was pounding as she stared at the woman. Y/N just kept telling herself, this is not the same as before, this is not the same as before. That, and she wasn’t alone this time. Aang could airbend the woman away or Toph could knock her off her feet before Y/N could even reach her sword. Nobody had to die.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. My name is Hama. You children shouldn’t be out in the woods by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don’t we go there for some spiced tea and warm beds?” The old woman had white hair and her shoulders were hunched but Y/N could see her bright blue eyes even from how far away she was. She seemed sincere. Y/N couldn’t find a reason not to take her offer. Normally she was suspicious of everyone, but this old woman wasn’t going to do them any harm.

“Yes, please.” Y/N said gratefully.

---

A couple of torches and the almost full moon lit their way back to Hama’s inn. Sokka was holding Y/N’s hand and she appreciated the contact. The trail, the cool night air, the darkness was eerily similar to that night that wasn’t so long ago. Every now and then she felt like she was transported back there; that she and Sokka were running through the woods back to Appa, stumbling over uneven ground, trying to get back to Katara so Y/N didn’t die. Then, a stiff breeze or a snap of a stick under their feet would bring her back to the present.

Sokka leaned over to whisper in her ear. “So we just trust anyone we meet in the woods now?!”

“I know it’s kind of weird, but she doesn’t seem that bad to me. Besides being in these woods is really starting to freak me out,” she admitted. “I think if she turns out to be some criminal mastermind, the five of us can take her.”

Sokka’s face softened. “Sorry. I didn’t even realize…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Y/N squeezed his hand, grateful for the comfort of her friends around. This time was different, that was for sure.

---

Y/N hadn’t slept in a real bed since she was in the Fire Nation palace. Sure, in Ba Sing Se, she and the girls had been given nice beds, but Y/N hadn’t done more than sit up against the headboard and worry all night before she left Azula.

Just as she was pulling back the covers she heard a light knock at the door. Y/N brushed it off as just the old house settling but then she heard it again, this time a little more forcefully.

Sokka was standing on the other side of her door when she opened it, clutching his pillow. She looked at his bare chest and his hair that was down and framing his face.

“Um. Whatcha doin’, buddy?” Y/N greeted, trying to keep her voice light despite her being a little breathless that Sokka was shirtless, in the middle of the night, standing in the doorway to her room.

“I’m freaking out.” Sokka didn’t wait for an invitation, just pushed the door open further and walked inside. Y/N shut the door behind him, only to open it once again to scratching on the wood. Momo ran around Y/N’s legs and jumped onto her bed, making a spot for himself on one of the pillows.

“This house is creepy. Can I sleep in here?” Sokka asked, looking at her hopefully.

“Yeah,” Y/N sighed. “But on the floor. I haven’t slept in a real bed in forever and I’m not about to give half of it up because you’re a scaredy cat-snake.” She tossed one of the spare blankets at the end of the bed at him and crawled under the covers.

Sokka settled on the floor next to the bed and Y/N moved to the edge so she could look down at him. She rolled onto her stomach and dangled one of her hands down next to him. “Night, Sokka.”

He grabbed it and intertwined their fingers. “Night, Y/N,” He yawned and snuggled his head into his pillow.

Y/N waited until she could hear soft snores coming from him before she let her eyes fall heavy and drifted off to sleep.

---

“So, Hama seems suspicious to everyone else, right?” Sokka leaned on the counter in Hama’s kitchen while they unpacked the food she’d bought at the market.

Katara exchanged a glance with Y/N who just smiled and shrugged.

“She reminds me of Gran-Gran,” Katara said.

“Didn’t you hear that comment that she made about us being ‘mysterious children’ before she left us to go run more errands?”

Y/N burst out laughing. “Sokka, she found five kids camping in the woods last night. That’s strange, don’t you think?”

“If we’re so strange and mysterious, why did she let us come back to her house without her?” Sokka pressed.

Y/N looked to Katara for help. “I guess that is kind of weird…”

“Yeah! So let’s go have a look around!”

The four of them followed Sokka as he picked his way upstairs peeking into every unlocked room along the way.

“Sokka! What are you doing?” Katara exclaimed.

“You shouldn’t go snooping around someone’s house!” Y/N echoed. She looked wildly to the front door, expecting Hama to be walking in on them wandering through her house at that moment.

Sokka slid open another door and stepped inside. “It’s fine, you guys.”

“She could be home any minute,” Aang warned. Sokka ignored all of their protests and went deeper into the house. He came across a cabinet built into the wall. He began pulling on the handles but it wasn’t budging. Y/N against all better judgement nudged one of his hands away and began pulling on one of the doors to help him.

Suddenly, the doors gave way and both of them stumbled backwards, Y/N falling to the floor. Katara was able to catch the dolls before they tumbled out. She quickly shoved them back into the cabinet and shut the doors but Y/N got a good look at what was in there. Puppets. And scary ones.

“Okay, that’s pretty creepy,” Aang admitted as he helped Y/N back to her feet.

“She has a hobby, what’s wrong with–Sokka, stop!” Katara jogged after her brother who was now climbing the steps to the attic. Toph, Y/N and Aang followed them and watched as Sokka yanked on the door handle.

“If she’s so ordinary, why does she have a locked door?” Sokka demanded.

“Probably to keep people from snooping in her stuff!!” Katara was getting increasingly louder each time Sokka said something new, so if Hama didn’t know they were skulking around her house yet, she would now.

“Guys, we still have time to go back downstairs and act like we weren’t looking through her stuff.” Y/N was trying to placate the siblings. She really didn’t want to get kicked out of the inn because Sokka’s curiosity got the best of them. That meant more sleeping in the woods. “Let’s just go and finish putting the groceries away–”

“Yes! I got it open!” Y/N watched Sokka sheath his sword that he had just used to pick the lock and she wondered why she even tried to be the voice of reason.

Sokka picked up the box that was sitting in the middle of the empty room. “What do you think is in it?” He asked the group.

“Treasure!”

“Toph, don’t encourage him,” Katara chastised.

“It’s locked,” Sokka said with disappointment. “There’s got to be a key around here.”

“Here.” Toph took the meteorite bracelet off her arm and melded it into a key shape. Sokka handed her the box and she began wiggling the key inside the keyhole.

Aang, who initially followed Sokka into the room, started inching back towards the door. “Guys, I don’t know about this…”

Katara joined him. “This is crazy. I’m leaving.”

Y/N was caught somewhere in the middle of them. Both siblings stared her down, trying to work out who she was going to ultimately side with. On one hand she wanted to see what was in the mysterious locked box that sat in this locked room. Hama was weird and Y/N was naturally curious. Who knows what she would keep hidden away? On the other hand they were invading this woman’s privacy. Even if she was strange she had taken them in in an effort to protect them from the angry spirits kidnapping people, and if they betrayed the trust she’d given them they would be back to sleeping on the ground outside.

Luckily, the choice was made for her. Y/N heard the pins click.

“Got it,” Toph smirked and gave them a thumbs up. All five of them rushed around her, trying to get the first look at what was in the box, when once again, they were startled by a voice from behind.

“I’ll tell you what’s in the box,” Hama stated.

Y/N bit her lip and looked down, not willing to meet the woman’s eyes. Sokka held the box out guiltily in front of him. Hama opened the top and pulled out a comb.

“This is my greatest treasure. The last thing I own from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe.”

---

“I’m excited for you to try Southern Water Tribe food.”

Y/N looked up from where she was setting the table for dinner. Sokka was fiddling with a spoon, messing up what she had just set out.

She giggled. “Excited? Why?” She slid the rest of the silverware towards him to finish and began working on setting out the plates.

Sokka spun a fork in his hand before setting it down. He moved it around until it was more than perfectly straight, ignoring her question. The tips of his ears were turning red. Finally when he spoke, his voice was sheepish. “Maybe you can come visit me. You know, if you like it.” He didn’t meet her eyes.

Y/N smiled. It was sweet that he was thinking of her, but he knew that just liking the food wouldn’t warrant a trip all the way to the South Pole, he wanted to know what was going to happen after the war. Y/N leaned across the table. “Even if I didn’t I’d still come visit you.”

---

Hama being a waterbender wasn’t surprising in the least to Y/N. The part that surprised Y/N–no, it was wrong to say that–the part that scared her the most, was that Hama then told them that the reason Katara had never met another waterbender from their tribe was because the Fire Nation had wiped them all out; stolen the waterbenders from their home.

Hearing the story Hama told about how she was the last waterbender to be captured, how she was led away in chains and taken to an awful prison, here in the Fire Nation, made Y/N want to cry. She wanted to cover her ears and leave the dining room so she didn’t have to know what her people had done to Hama.

And Katara and Sokka. Y/N reminded herself.

It was evil, what they had done. It was vile and Y/N felt sick about it. Oddly enough, as mad as those things made her–as awful as it felt to hear them–she welcomed the uncomfortable feeling it gave her. It reaffirmed that she was different. She had changed and that she was moving in the right direction.

Something that also soothed her was that while Hama was speaking, Sokka noticed the bouncing of her knee under the table.

Y/N always did it when she was nervous and what could make her more nervous than a woman sitting in front of her telling her story to all of Y/N’s friends about the viciousness of Y/N’s people.

Sokka reached under the table and tapped her knee with one finger. She slowed her knee to a stop and looked down at her bowl filled with soup, not able to meet his eyes, or the eyes of anyone at the table. Sokka didn’t care, he grabbed her hand from her lap and rubbed comforting circles on the back of her knuckles. On one hand she was thankful for it, but that little voice in the back of her mind told her that she should be comforting them. They were the ones that had been wronged. She should be begging for their forgiveness. The back and forth of it all was beginning to become exhausting.

---

Y/N caught Katara in the hallway before she retreated to her room. “Hey,” Y/N’s voice was quiet, even though it was just the two of them. It was the first private conversation they’d had since their fight a week ago. Y/N didn’t realize it would be so awkward. Especially, since before their friendship had been so effortless.

“What’s up?”

Y/N was at a loss for words, she had been since dinner. She knew she wanted to say something to Katara, but now in the moment she couldn’t even remember what she had been thinking about. Y/N dug her big toe into the wood floor. “I guess I just wanted to say that I’m happy for you. Finding Hama was a blessing but then, you know, she turns out to be from your tribe and it’s just really amazing–sorry I’m rambling–” Y/N pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to get back on track. “I guess what I’m trying to say is you should learn everything she has to offer to you. You told me the other day that you wanted more, more than healing, more than the fighting you knew. This is an opportunity to connect with someone who is special to you in more than one way. I’m excited to hear what you get to learn.” Y/N ended with a small, noncommittal shrug and an embarrassed smile.

Katara, however, was not embarrassed by Y/N’s awkwardness at all. She pulled her in for a hug. “Thank you, Y/N. It means so much to hear you say that.”

“I’ve missed talking to you,” Y/N mumbled into the other girl’s shoulder.

“Me too.”

---

“I think you might be lying to me,” Sokka stated as Y/N walked ahead of him.

She jumped up to pull down a dangling leaf and turned back around to see his skeptical face looking back at her. “I swear! As we were walking to Hama’s the other night, I thought I smelled firelilies! If I can just find the trail we took maybe I could find the patch!” Y/N had been itching to do something all day. Being cooped up in Hama’s inn after weeks of traveling and doing anything they wanted was wearing thin on her patience. Evidently Sokka’s too. All Y/N had to do was ask for him to come with her and he’d jumped at the chance.

“What’s so important about some flowers anyways?” He asked, catching up with her.

“Nothing really I guess. I just haven’t seen any in forever and they only bloom in this really short window so if I miss them I’ll have to wait a whole year before I can see them again.” Of all the problems they’d come across as a group, this was by far the silliest, but firelilies were so pretty. “Ooh, wait! I think I can smell them.” Y/N stuck her nose in the air and inhaled deeply. There was just the hint of a sweet aroma that reminded her of home.

Sokka sniffed next to her. “I don’t smell anything.”

“Come on!” Y/N took off running, every now and then sniffing the air like Momo did when they would cook dinner. And then there it was. And it was much bigger than just a patch, it was a whole field of firelilies. “I told you!” She socked Sokka in the arm and ran off into the field.

---

Sokka found her sitting in the middle, surrounding herself with the flowers. She reached for one and picked it, holding it up for Sokka. “Aren’t they pretty?”

“You’re prettier.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and smiled. She tucked the stem of the one flower she had picked behind her ear and patted the ground next to her. “Come sit.”

“Since I called you pretty, does that mean I get a kiss?” Sokka sat and smiled cheekily.

Y/N hummed in thought. “Can I braid your hair?”

Sokka furrowed his eyebrows. “If I say yes do I get to kiss you then?”

“Maybe!” Y/N said brightly. She moved to kneel behind him and pulled out his wolf tail. She raked her fingers through his hair before starting to braid close to his hairline. “I really appreciate you guys,” She said quietly.

“What do you–” Sokka moved his head to turn and look at Y/N but she grabbed the sides of it and forced it to stay forward.

Her deft hands moved halfway through the braid before she spoke again. “After everything you’ve heard about what we’ve done to you. None of you think of me differently. You look at me the same–well, I guess Toph doesn’t.” Y/N laughed quietly.

“You say ‘we’ like you’re still part of the Fire Nation. Y/N, you don’t still think that you’re like them, do you?”

Her hands lingered on the last bit of Sokka’s hair. “I am Fire Nation. I was just like them, Sokka. For a long time. It’s hard to separate who I was before and who I am now, because they’re almost the same person.” She tied off his wolf tail.

Y/N rested her hands on his shoulders and stared out into the sea of red. “After hearing Hama’s story, hearing what my people did to your people, I’m just surprised you can look at me; let alone come out here and sit in a field of firelilies or let me braid your hair,”– Y/N ran a finger down the center of the braid–”or say you want to kiss me.”

When she finally sat back down she noticed Sokka’s face was crestfallen. “I don’t care that you’re from the Fire Nation,” He stressed. “You didn’t do any of those things.”

Y/N let her head fall back. She closed her eyes and felt the sun warm her face. “I know. I do. I’m just so ashamed of it.”

Soft lips pressing against hers made Y/N crack open her eyes. “One of these days you’re gonna understand how we can’t hate you for things you haven’t done.” Sokka shook his head in disbelief.

What about the things I have done? Y/N wanted to ask. Instead, she stayed silent and licked her lips, the taste of Sokka’s still lingering long after he was gone.

---

“I want everyone to know–” Y/N panted “–that I do not like this plan.”

“We know!” Toph yelled from in front of her. Y/N wished she had seismic senses, Toph ran gracefully over the dark forest floor while the other three of them tripped over roots every other step.

Y/N sword thudded heavily between her shoulder blades, that and the darkness of the night flashed terrifying images behind her eyes. All she could do to keep herself from having a full on breakdown was focus on the ties of Aang’s headband flying in front of her.

She could tell they were getting higher into the mountain; the ground was getting steeper and the trees were thinning out, the moon lighting their way. They ran until they came to the mouth of a cave.

Y/N squinted into it. “I can’t see anything.”

“That’s why you have me.” Toph grabbed Y/N’s hand in her much smaller one. Y/N reached for Sokka’s and then they were running again, except this time she was relying on the girl next to her to tell her when to jump or dodge a rock in her path, because otherwise it was pitch black.

They spent so long running through the dark that when they saw light again, it burned Y/N’s eyes. In front of them was a reinforced metal door. Toph made quick work of it, folding it into a ball as easily as one could a piece of paper. Down a short, rocky corridor was a cavern with high ceilings. Y/N stopped cold when she saw them; inside the cavern were ten, maybe twenty people chained up to the rocks. The worry on their faces was quickly replaced with relief when they saw the four of them enter.

“We’re saved!” One of the men shouted.

“I didn’t know spirits made prisons like this,” Aang muttered to no one in particular.

“It was no spirit who brought us here, it was a witch,” Another man said.

“It’s a old woman!” A woman spoke up. Toph began unlocking her chains with her makeshift key. “She looks harmless but…”

Y/N’s heart stopped. Hama. That’s why she was out in the woods and that why–

“Hama!” Sokka growled next to her. “I knew there was something off about her.”

“You guys, Katara is with her!” Y/N yelped.

A look of fear passed through Aang’s eyes. “We have to stop her!”

---

The guilt was crushing Y/N’s chest as she ran with Sokka and Aang to find Katara in the woods. Toph had stayed behind to free all of the people Hama had captured but she would be on their tails soon. Y/N felt so bad. Sokka had known something was up and she had totally disregarded what he had said, even encouraged Katara to go out with Hama! Y/N should have known. If people were going missing from the woods, why was Hama out there alone two nights ago!

Just off in the distance, Y/N could see Hama and Katara squaring off. Katara knocked the old woman to her knees and she was just rising as the three of them ran up.

“Give up! You’re outnumbered, Hama.” Aang shouted.

“No,” she said sinisterly. “You’ve outnumbered yourselves.”

Y/N’s whole body tensed as her legs went numb. She slowly marched forward even though she was desperately trying to stop. By the looks of Aang and Sokka next to her, whatever was happening to her, was happening to them too.

Y/N gasped as her arm reached back and pulled out her sword. “No! What’s happening?!” She swung at Katara but was pushed away by a blob of water before she could even get close. Y/N’s movements were stiff and she teetered over like a falling tree but whatever was controlling her muscles had her standing back up in an instant.

Over her shoulder, Y/N could hear Katara dealing with Aang, but Y/N was more concerned with what was in front of her. Y/N’s arm straightened, pointing her sword right at Sokka’s undefended chest; his own sword dangling from the tip of his fingers.

His eyes widened just a fraction. “Y/N…”

“I–I can’t stop it!” She sobbed. Y/N fought against her own body so forcefully that she thought she was going to break her arm. It was futile, her arm drew back in what would be a deadly blow, and Y/N had no say whatsoever in it. Y/N was going to kill Sokka. Her nightmares were coming true right in front of her. She did the only thing that she could think of; called out for the only person she knew could come to her aid.

“Katara, help!” Y/N screamed. She squeezed her eyes shut. If this was going to happen she couldn’t watch it. She’d die before watching herself kill someone she loved. Just as her arm swung down, Y/N regained control. Y/N twisted her wrist and stabbed her sword straight into the dirt. She fell onto her hands and knees, her legs no longer able to hold her up.

Y/N looked up in horror to see that Hama’s body was contorting just as hers had been seconds earlier. Hama fought it, but much like Y/N, it was useless. She glared at someone behind Y/N. A shudder rolled through Y/N’s body when she turned to see Katara’s determined face as she used her bending on Hama.

Y/N didn’t move from her spot. She watched from her knees as Hama was led away in chains by her previous captives, sputtering drivel about how Katara had betrayed her culture by saving the little Fire Nation girl. Y/N was enraged. Most of her anger was directed at herself. She’d become complacent, she’d allowed even welcomed Hama into their lives and hurt Katara by doing it, judging by the crying she could hear behind her. Y/N had encouraged Katara to learn from her without even knowing this woman. The way Hama had used Katara, well, Y/N thought this might have been one time she wouldn’t have been afraid to use her sword on someone.

Over and over Y/N had proven to herself that she was the worst judge of character. When would she learn that trust was earned and not given freely to every person who asked for it?

---

A/N: because I always feel like I have to give a reason of why I do what I do, I know Sokka and Y/N hold hands in like every single scene together but I feel like they’re both young enough that 1) they feel like they have to show each other affection in some type of way and 2) it’s also really grounding for them? Sokka’s love language is touch (fight me if you think otherwise) and Y/N likes that he likes it/while also using it as a tool to calm herself in frightening or upsetting moments :)

Taglist: @myexgirlfriendisthemoon @reclusive-chicken-nugget @astroninaaa @aangsupremacy @beifongsss @crownofcryptids @welovediaaxx @littlefluu @lozzybowe @thebluelcdy @ohjustlookalive @sugarmoongey @fanficdepot @teenbiology @13-09-01 @riespage @davnwillcome @naanlianid @creation-magician @lunariasilver @vintagerose1014516 @bcifcng @rockinearthbending-marauders @francesciak @thia-aep @aphrcditeee @milk-n-cheese @solarsuki @sendnuwudes @humbleseame @my--shitty--art @lovingcupcake51002 @loganrwebb @celia-not-cecilia @treestarrrrrrrr @p--e--a--c--h--e--s@velveteencurls @izzieserra @oddment-nitwit-blubber-tweak @salsasadd @nataliahaslosthershit @awkwardnesshabitat @lanie103 @emogril @im-the-galactic-starfish @charlotteisabella @alienmotel @smarshere @crxsshatcht @starxtt @sugamonster22 @natsbelova @mellisophilia @calumsfringe @whatsuphoesandbros @samsmultifandomblogs @ask-kfc-siblings @i-love-superhero @justasukisimp @grouchiest-hufflepuff @zukostan221 @feverish-dove @catchingrhythm @zuko-and-sokkas-simp @euphoricmads @ivetoldamillionlies @fanficsformyperusal @mikxyu @someonekeepstakingmyusernames @earthtokace @bison-whistle @justamessandahalf

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brain-deadx0 · 3 years

Text

Virgil's Betrayal

Part 3 of New Big Brother

Previous Next

Summary: Remy meets Patton’s brother and kids and proceeds to get murdered.

Warnings: Food mention, play fighting including nerf guns, manipulation but for good stuff, let me know

Remy was not nervous.

When dad guy had asked him a few days ago if he would be ok with going to the man’s brother’s house for lunch that weekend, Remy had said, “Sure.” He’d agreed to it.

So no. Remy wasn’t nervous. Even as they pulled up to the frankly huge house in a neighborhood of huge houses.

Definitely not nervous.

Virgil was practically vibrating in his seat. He’d been telling Remy all about his uncle and cousins, and what games they could play together the entire drive.

“Everybody ready?” Dad guy asked as he turned the car off.

“Yep!” Virgil told him as he quickly unbuckled himself.

Dad guy sent one of his questioning looks to Remy via the rear view mirror. Remy ignored it and climbed out of the car to follow Virgil who had already ran for the front door.

Dad guy joined them at the door as Virgil rang the bell. Remy wasn’t trying to hide behind them. They just ended up closer to the door. There was the sound of a lock being turned before someone inside the house hollered for them to come in.

As soon as they walked through the door there was the sound of footsteps running down the stairs.

"Virgil! Uncle Patton!” A pair of voices yelled before two young boys were launching themselves off the stairs towards them. Dad guy yelped in alarm as he attempted to… catch them?

“Jan, your boys are going to give me a heart attack one of these days!” The man yelled through his subdued laughter from his place on the ground.

“And I’ll help them get rid of the body.” The voice from before called. A moment later a short man appeared from what Remy assumed was the kitchen. He looked a lot like dad guy save for the fact he was definitely older than the man. And the mild scarring on the left side of his face.

“Alright boys, that’s enough abunculicide.” The man told the kids who were laughing in dad guy’s arms.

“Aw…” The pair said before releasing him.

Dad guy smiled before standing up and ruffling their hair causing one grin and the other to balk and try to fix it.

“You must be Remy.” The man said, “My name’s Janus, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.” Remy told him.

Mr. Janus smiled, “You can call me Janus.”

Yeah that was not happening.

“The two terrors who ambushed you all are my sons Roman and Remus.”

“I’m Roman.” “And I’m Remus.” The two introduced with matching bows, “And together we’re-!” They spun in opposite directions before striking poses back to back, “-the creativitwins!”

Remy couldn’t help but laugh slightly at the theatrics as dad guy clapped excitedly, “Oh that was so cute!” Dad guy told them.

“No it wasn’t!” The pair told him pointedly, “It was cool.” Roman told him.

“Yeah!” Remus agreed.

“Well whatever it was, I loved it.” Dad guy told them.

“Lunch will be ready in about a half hour,” Mr. Janus told them, “So you can all make yourselves at home.”

“Can we go outside?” Remus asked.

“Yes, but-” before the man could finish both boys took off running.

“Come on Virge!” One of them called.

The next thing Remy knew he was being grabbed by the hand and pulled towards the back yard, “Come on Remy!” Virgil told him.

Guess he was going outside.

“-Don’t get too dirty.” Janus finished lamely as all the minors fled to the backyard, “Well I tried.”

Patton chuckled, “Probably should’ve started with that part.”

“How many sons did you want back alive?” He asked.

Patton laughed, “Come on, I’ll help make lunch.

Remy watched the younger kids from his seat on the porch steps. Roman suggested playing super hero’s and was met with agreements until he suggested Virgil be the villain. Which apparently happened a lot.

“Come on, Virgil.” Roman whined, “We need a bad guy!”

“But I always lose when I play the bad guy.” Virgil told them, “Why can’t you be the bad guy and we fight you?”

“Because me and Re are the heroes.” Roman said as if it were obvious.

“We could be bad guys.” Remus told him, “The bad guys are cooler anyway.”

“Noooo.” Roman told him, “We’re the creativitwins! We’re supposed to be the good guys!”

“But we’re always the good guys!” Remus replied.

“Remy!” Virgil called, “Tell them we wanna be the heroes!”

“How about…”

Patton jumped when the mostly silent backyard suddenly erupted in gleeful screams.

“Welcome to the world of raising multiple children.” Janus told him.

Patton smacked his arm lightly before going to peek at the yard. The three younger boys were running around the yard at top speed as Remy made a grab for whoever got closest to him. Patton smiled as Roman yelled for a retreat before all three kids ran for the treehouse. Remy stalked after them, giving the twins enough time to make it to safety, but grabbed Virgil before he could climb high enough.

Virgil squealed as he was pulled away from the tree and yelled for help through his laughter.

Patton cooed at the sight before reluctantly going back to the kitchen.

Virgil laughed wildly even as Remy used him as a partially successful human shield. If he had known there were fully loaded nerf guns, Remy would’ve made it harder for them to get to the treehouse.

“Don’t worry Virge!” One of them yelled, “We’ll rescue you!”

“Dead or alive!” The other added.

Remy laughed, “It’s not a rescue if you kill him!” He told them as they continued to shoot.

“Silence feind!” The first one told him before firing more foam bullets at them.

"Any ideas?” Remy asked Virgil quietly.

“I think there’s more guns on the porch?” Virgil whispered back.

“Perfect.” Remy grinned, “Muwahaha! You can’t defeat me!” He told the pair in the treehouse before running towards the porch with Virgil.

Once there he put Virgil down and the kid directed him to where the extra nerf guns were. The ones in the hidden storage bin were much smaller than the ones the twins had.

“Virgil! You’re not supposed to help the bad guy!”

“Ha ha! I put him under mind control!” Remy told them, “Now I have a minion.”

Virgil snickered before rushing to grab a gun of his own.

“You won’t get away with this, villain!”

“Let him go or face our wrath!”

“Never!” Remy called back, “Pick up as many bullets as you can, but don’t shoot too much, ok?” He whispered to Virgil, “When they run out we can go after them, cool?”

“Yeah!” Virgil whispered excitedly.

It took longer than Remy thought it would for the rain of foam to slow to a stop. “It’s over, heroes. Surrender peacefully and I might spare you.” He told them.

He could hear hushed laugher from the treehouse before one of the boys replied, “Okaay~ just a minuute~”

“Uh-oh.” Virgil said beside him.

“Uh-oh?”

He didn’t have to wait long to figure out what the kids were up to because a second later he was being pelted with various balls, ranging from ping pong to tennis. Before he even had a chance to recover, one of the twins was suddenly right next to him and whacking him with a foam sword.

“What the- hey!” He laughed before trying to fend off the nine-year-old. While he was distracted, the other one had made their way to the ground as well and ambushed him from behind. “Oh shhh-!” He cut himself off as he fell.

The second kid had hit the back of his knees with a foam club. This was definitely not a fair fight.

While the twins were busy beating him to death he suddenly felt the familiar sensation of foam bullets.

“Wha-? Virgil! I thought you were on my side?” He asked incredulously, causing Virgil to laugh, “Betrayed by my own brainwashed minion!”

The kid just giggled harder, “I was just pretending to be mind controlled!” He told him as he continued to fire the toy gun.

The kids screamed in delight as they assaulted him with their various weapons. Remy was ready to admit defeat and call them off when a voice interrupted.

“Alright, boys, that’s enough.” Dad guy said.

‘Oh shit.’

Patton’s heart broke a little as the joy on Remy’s face quickly melted away to something much more subdued. He sent him what he hoped was a reassuring smile but it didn’t seem to help any. “Lunch is ready.” He told them.

“Okay.” the younger kids chorused before dropping their weapons and racing inside.

“Are you alright?” Patton asked, “They might be foam but they can still hurt when the boys get excited.”

“I’m fine.” Remy said casually as he stood up and brushed himself off.

“Alright then.” He smiled, “Then let’s go eat some pizza bread.”

"Pizza bread" as it turned out, was bread with cheese and pepperoni inside. So, more sophisticated than the rolled up pizza slice Remy had pictured. Apparently you were supposed to dip it in some fancy tomato sauce which is why Remy was surprised when Mr. Janus had them all move to the living room to eat.

"Dad, can we watch Avatar?" Roman asked.

"No, let's watch dirty jobs!" Remus told him.

"How about mythbusters?" Roman countered.

"Ah, ah," Mr. Janus told them, "what's the rule for guests?"

"Virgil," They chorused, "wanna watch-" "Avatar?" "Dirty jobs?"

"Um… what about Most Extreme...?" Virgil tried.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Two to one, we win!" Remus cheered.

"Boys." Mr. Janus told them, "We have more than one guest, remember?"

"Remy, say no!" Roman told him, "Then we pick a different show."

"I don't really have an opinion." Remy told him, "What's "Most Extreme"?"

"They take all the cool stuff from animals like eyes and teeth and show what it would look like if humans had the same ability." Remus told him, "It's neat!"

"Its freaky is what it is." Roman told him.

"That's what makes it cool!"

"I'm gonna pass on the vote." Remy told them.

"He's impartial so we win! The Most Extreme it is!" Remus turned to high five Virgil.

Roman seemed a bit miffed at losing the vote, but it wasn't long before he was staring at the screen with as much interest as the other two. And honestly? Remy got it. The show was actually pretty cool.

Patton smiled as Remy seemed to settle in again and get pulled into the show. He waited until the episode ended and everyone was done eating before moving to collect the empty plates. Unfortunately, the action quickly caught the attention of the teen.

"Don’t worry, I got it." Patton assured as Remy moved to start cleaning up as well.

"It's ok," Remy told him, as he paused somewhat hesitantly, "I don't mind."

Patton smiled, "I appreciate it, but you don't have to. Janus and I are gonna clean up and then we'll probably be heading home."

"Oh," Janus said suddenly, "while I'm thinking about it, we packed up some of our old clothes to donate. You guys can look through them for some play clothes." He told him.

"Sure." Patton told him.

"I'll be right back to help clean up." Janus said before leaving the room.

Remy wasn't sure why he was suddenly on edge. All he knew was something felt off and he didn't like it.

Mr. Janus came back a minute later with three large bags. "Ok," he said as he set them down, "look through and take anything." He told them before pointing to the twins, "No dress up this time." He told them.

"Why not?" Roman asked.

"Because yesterday we had to cut your brother out of a shirt you both knew was too small."

"I was a mutant giant what was I supposed to wear?" Remus asked indignantly.

Remy bit back a smile.

"Preferably something big enough to get yourself out of." Mr. Janus told him.

"Boring~" Remus drawled.

Mr. Janus shook his head fondly, "No dress up." He told them again before leaving to help dad guy.

The second he was gone the twins shared a look before quickly opening the bags and digging through them.

Remy laughed slightly, "Didn't he just say "no dress up"?"

"He said no dress up for us," Roman corrected, "but nothing about us dressing up you or Virgil."

"And so long as he doesn't catch us too quickly we can do it too!" Remus grinned.

Remy quickly turned down any attempts to get him to play dress up, and delegated himself to watching as the older boys coerced Virgil into trying on just about every piece of clothing. They had quickly moved on from the kids clothes that Virgil could feasibly fit in, or at least grow into soonish, to going through Mr. Janus’s old clothes just to wear them.

Virgil was digging through the bag when he suddenly gasped, "Remy!" He said excitedly before pulling something out of the bag and bouncing over, "Look!" He beamed as he held up an old leather jacket, "It's like from the store!"

"Uh, yeah, kinda." Remy admitted.

"I don't remember that one." Roman told them, "It doesn't look like Dad or Noni's."

"Dad!" Remus called.

"What happened?" Mr. Janus answered as he came around the corner before huffing a small laugh, "I see you ignored the dress up rule."

Remus ignored the last part, "Whose jacket is this?" He asked; pointing to the coat Virgil was holding.

Mr. Janus glanced at the jacket Virgil was holding, "That's my old one." He told them, "I haven't worn it since… probably since I was about twenty or so. That's when Noni gave me my other one."

"How long ago was that?" Virgil asked.

Mr. Janus laughed, "Long enough to know I don't need it, let's stick with that."

"That's Dad's way of saying he's old." Remus whispered causing Virgil to giggle.

"I heard that." Mr. Janus told them with an amused eyebrow raise, causing the kids to laugh. Mr. Janus shook his head, "Anyway, like I said you're welcome to anything in the bags." He said with a glance to Remy, "Try not to smother your cousin in the clothes." He told them offhandedly as he went back to the kitchen.

Something was definitely going on.

"Try it on!" Virgil told Remy as he practically shoved the jacket at him.

"I don't know, kid." Remy told him. This whole thing felt like way too much of a coincidence. He wasn't sure how to feel about it. This had to be a set up, right?

"Why not?" Virgil asked.

"I already have a coat, remember?"

"Yeah but this one doesn't cost money." Virgil told him. Dammit. "And at the store you said these were cool."

Stop making good points.

"Oh! It could be part of your villain outfit!" Roman exclaimed, "All super villains need to look cool."

"Otherwise they're just regular villains!" Remus added.

"What's the difference?"

"Presentation!" All three told him.

Ok, well he definitely ran into something there.

"Pleeeease, Remy?" Virgil asked with wide eyes.

... Fucking puppy dog eyes.

Remy sighed, "Ok, fine."

Patton peaked around the corner and smiled. For once he was glad Virgil had learned to weaponize his puppy eyes.

Remy made sure that when dad guy and Mr. Janus came back that he was not wearing the jacket. Just in case.

Thankfully neither mentioned it as they packed up the clothes Virgil. Or as they resorted the rest the kids had used for dress up. They all said their goodbyes, with Mr. Janus saying he hoped to see them again soon, and the twins telling Remy they wouldn't be going so easy on him next time.

If dad guy seemed extra smiley on the way home, it was none of Remy's business.

Remy was not smiling to himself either.

…Whatever.

~~~~~notes~~~~~

For anyone who was wondering, Virgil 100% knows what he's doing when it comes to puppy dog eyes. He was raised by Patton Can't-say-no-to-cute Sanders. And yes. He does use this for evil.

#new big brother #brain dead writes #sanders sides #fan fiction #patton sanders #remy sanders #virgil sanders #child! virgil #janus sanders #trans! janus #roman sanders #remus sanders

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prose-for-hire · 3 years

Text

Guardian of the lost soul

Pairing: Spike x reader

Request: if what the reader dress as an angel (kinda like Supernatural angels) and she finds the scoobies gang in the haunted house with the costumes magically change them. (you know the episode ^-^) only this time , Spike sees her wings and in angel terms that's a soulmate.

Requested by: @everlastingartist

A/N: Kind of a soulmate au I think? I am not familiar with the Supernatural angels (yet - I plan on actually watching it soon) I did google them and I’m still none the wiser lol. So this is my own interpretation of what was requested! I chose a guardian angel, and twisted it in my own way. It is very made up but that’s what I’m here to do!

Also I mashed up two Halloween episodes together for this one but Spike doesn’t have a chip. Not even a soul. But he finds his soulmate.🖤🦇

You loved Halloween in Sunnydale, it never disappointed. The pumpkins were freshly carved, there was candy everywhere you turned and kids really did love dressing up and making a nuisance of themselves. Even when you were running for your life the mood always picked up somewhere after midnight. And hey, being friends with a very protective Slayer had its benefits.

You were basically skipping around the streets, you were excited about going to the haunted house. You had tried to convince Willow, along with buffy to take the ghost costume off but she flat out refused. Even when you begged all the way to the party. You wanted to get to the end so you could join the party with your friends and you waited briefly for everyone to show up so you could enter together. While you and Willow waited outside, a figure in a dark cloak pushed past you. There was something about them that you recognised but they muttered some insult at you for being in their way so you decided to just ignore them. Eventually, everyone arrived and you were able

You had chosen to dress as an angel. A guardian angel. Not the stereotypical kind, one you had read of in some of Giles’ thick mythology books. You had been bored and the passages had been surprisingly interesting in an I’m-so-bored-I’d-read-the-back-of-a-cereal-packet kind of way. It spoke of the kinds of angels, of the truth about how they operate rather than those spoken of in popular culture. Some of your costume was white however as you wanted people to at least recognise what you had come as (although nobody except Willow had got it).

You went through the various rooms together and had a laugh at some of the more ridiculous spooks in the house. There had been a slight tension a few words exchanged but mostly you were having a nice time. Everyone was squabbling over which way to go next and you had lost interest, managing to break away from the others.

As you did this, you saw the hooded figure again. You were sure you recognised the flashes you had seen of the person’s face. You left your friends for a moment to tap them on the shoulder and who should turn to face you but the big bad of the moment. Spike. You hadn’t faced him alone yet but he had always singled you out when you were with the others. The conversation always turned suggestive, which annoyed Buffy to no end and made you try to hide yourself when you were with the others.

You couldn’t lie and say you didn’t love the attention though. Hope that he would catch your eye. You longed for even a moment alone with him, although you were well aware of the danger. You couldn’t help like him but there was no way you would ever admit that to your friends.

“What’re you doing here?” You asked, trying to suppress a smile.

“Thought I’d drop by… see what tasty… treats Halloween has to offer” He closed the space between you as his voice became a little huskier with every step. His hand was on the wall, palm flat against it. His arm blocking you in as he slowly scanned your body before returning to your face.

“What has the devil got in store for you this Halloween do you reckon pet?” He asked, the smirk audible in his voice, “Somethin’ naughty no doubt…” He added, biting his lip teasingly.

“I’m an angel. Always preferred them anyway” You shrugged. It had been a very low blow and when you saw his expression darkening into anger rather than lust, you backtracked – knowing better than to get him mad, “To the devil, I mean”

“Bollocks – where are the wings? The halo? And you’re not foolin’ anyone wearing that white-” he gestured wildly to the corresponding area where each item should have been with the hand that wasn’t leaning against the wall. You smiled, about to respond when someone interrupted.

“Spike!” Buffy shouted, having turned to find you in the haunted house. She was relieved to see you (as she had lost the others) but she was not pleased to see the vampire that still had you boxed in, pressed pretty close against you.

Buffy made light work of hauling him away and trying to throw him out of the house completely. She tried to find the front door but it had gone. You were now aware you were trapped inside this now truly haunted house. No, it was worse. It had turned into a murder house as half the student body upstairs had started to scare themselves to death almost before the real threat had.

Everyone was rushing past you and as Spike smelled fresh blood, he ran in the opposite direction to where the others were coming from, straight into the carnage. His stomach was rumbling and he was ready for a decent meal.

Everything was going on at once and you wanted it to slow down, or at least give you chance for a breather. There were too many threats at play tonight. As if the powers had requested it this way, a busy scene of threat and revelations for their own personal enjoyment.

As you tried again and again to leave and to help find the others, things started to get worse. You had now lost Buffy and were trying to find her by (you guessed it) calling out her name which was the best way to attract anything other than good luck. You had to fight off some cobwebs and now, your own body it seemed. You were hurting, doubled over. Something was happening. You sunk to your knees, grimacing. Nothing was going your way.

It was a strange night. The strangest Halloween you had experienced. The others were lost and at the same moment, Willow turned into a real ghost. Xander a real soldier and Buffy was now a genuine high society lady from the 1700s. It was spooky and not in a cute way.

You had managed to get to your feet, pulling on the cobwebs as they attacked your head again. As you looked down checking you had removed any stray webbing, you saw that you were glowing. Literally. You appeared human still - no wings or halos but there was a strange feeling that you had aged hundreds of years in just a few seconds. Not in appearance, that was still your skin and your face. But in knowledge. As if you had read every book known to man and then some. You felt powerful. Strange.

You walked around, able to know what was happening in every room. You managed to get places just by thinking about it. Able to protect people before they succumbed to the terrors the house had in store. You didn’t know how this was happening, but you knew better than to question it.

You had hope. You had a purpose and you were getting used to adapting to different people and their needs. That was until it came to something you needed. You turned and saw your friends through a two way mirror. They had all found each other but you couldn’t get to them. They were trying to remember who they were and come up with a plan. You started to panic, banging your fist on the mirror that you could see them through but they didn’t hear you. You hurriedly left through a side door to try and get to them seeing as your previous power wasn’t working. But you never made it to your friends. You had walked straight into someone. The one someone that you always managed to find, no matter what.

Spike had appeared. He seemed the same except... was that a heart beat? You frowned as he stepped towards you, the swagger still in tact.

“You listened to me then, pet? About time” He muttered as you looked at him confused. You didn’t understand. You looked around for some kind of clue until he spoke again, “The wings. You put ‘em on. Knew it would complete the look… not that you need to be wearing any more clothin’ items” He added, the trademark smirk on his face as he almost prowled towards you further.

“I’m not wearing any wings…” You said slowly as he came to stand right in front of you, leaving not so much as room to breath between you. He frowned, and looked behind you before looking back into your eyes. He could see the wings as clear as anything. They had a large wingspan, it was kind of impossible to miss. He reached out the touch them and you felt his fingers. You frowned, checking behind you. There they were, bat-like rather than the feathered kind you had expected and almost translucent whilst appearing closer to your skin tone. He found them aesthetically very appealing. Almost as if it were a part of you. He just stared, almost in awe as he felt they were warm the texture as soft as your skin.

It came to you suddenly. The folklore you had been researching. The mythology. The only one that may see the wings of the angel is their soulmate. Their one eternal love. It was said that every angel had a soulmate and that no matter how long they lived, they should find their soul no matter how seemingly impossible. No matter how many times they were lost, they would always be found. And you had found yours. Your love.

You and Spike had been less than useless during the fight to escape the haunted house and regain your own lives back. You were perfectly happy right here. Locked in each others gaze. A happiness neither of you had felt before until this moment. Until this revelation. You had been sharing. Talking so easily to one another. Him telling you stories of his past, and you surprising yourself with stories of your own. Ones that could match his. You felt an entrenched need to protect him. To hold you into him so that no harm could ever befall him.

The chaos going on around you was now secondary to your story. You holed up in a room together, Spike never looking away from you. The guardian angel in you was screaming for you to help the others again, but your heart was set on him. On relearning of your love. You had faith in your friends abilities anyway.

He leaned in, his thumb trailing your face and lingering near your lips. He had thought about this for so long. His usual crude quips had been founded in truth. Forged to both show how he felt and camouflage them at the same time. He felt for you so deeply his soul had made an unwitting appearance back into his life. Whenever you were around his heart felt as if it may break free from his ribcage in the hopes of greeting yours.

You closed your eyes as he did, the build up to this kiss achingly slow. You could feel his breath on his face he was so close. His touch was warm and familiar, his lips made for yours. You could feel it. The anticipation almost became too much as he finally grazed your lips.

But, just as suddenly as it was cast, the spell broke. The feeling of danger returned to your gut as you were in Spike’s presence. Your kiss never deepening. Your stomach flipping as you snapped opened your eyes. Spike’s vampire instincts kicked back in and it was resoundingly telling him that he was hungry. Your scent was so enticing to him, his face changed of its own accord. His fangs so close to you but you knew he wouldn’t kill you. You knew it as if it were fact. As if it were gravity or the colour of the sky being blue. Spike loved you and wouldn’t harm you. They were each true sentences, you had never been so sure.

Buffy, however, now fresh from being bound in the sensibilities of a woman with no aspirations other than to be pretty was ready for a fight. She had fought to escape the haunted house and now she would fight the nearest big bad in sight. Spike. She wrenched him from your neck.

But when he drew back, he had the same look in his eye as he had only moments before. Your soulmate was still right here in front of you, there was nobody that could convince you otherwise. And believe me, Spike really tried since then.

Buffy and Spike traded blows. Neither became victorious, but you were able to leave the house and Giles had somehow managed to force Ethan Rayne into reversing the curse he had put on your costumes.

After that long Halloween night, your mind barely stopped thinking about him. Sometimes you walked around after dark to see if he would come along and pretend to eat you as an excuse to just talk to you. He often wished to find an excuse to see you. Without knowing what it was, he felt it too. Deep within. Stronger since Halloween night. Sometimes he found himself standing around in places he knew you would frequent just so he could watch you. Catch a glimpse of you. Although, he had been doing this before Halloween as well.

You remembered so much more than that night, however. Memories that should have been long since buried of you and Spike finding each other over and over in other places and times still lingered as you wished his thumb still would along your jaw. You still remembered those memories and you wrote them all down before you could forget. They were like dreams, something you knew so well but struggled to recall in enough detail to satisfy.

You would forever carry a piece of his soul around with you now. That feeling just couldn’t go away, you wouldn’t let it. It was as if his soul were a locket hung around your neck. You would guard it with your life. Keep it close to your heart.

He would come back to you, you were sure of it and you were happy to wait until that day came.

#A very Buffy halloween #Spike btvs #Spike x reader #Spike x you #Spike imagine #btvs #btvs x reader #btvs imagine #btvs x you #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #buffy the vampire slayer imagines #gender neutral #gender neutral reader #gender not mentioned #soulmate au #kind of #Halloween #halloween fic #Halloween request

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rewriteverse · 2 years

Text

Stories from Rewrite!Verse

Some short stories!

Sibling movie night moments

Cross and Ink often have movie nights to bond with each other. Sometimes other AUs join in. Some of the Moons joined after the truce as well. A small headcanon of mine is that when Ink was "younger" (just a few months out of his AU and as a creator) he was curious about what the other creators would do when they weren't near any of the multiverse trees. One had explained there were many different trees that they visit. He asked to see them, they told him no, but gave him the ability to watch them if he wanted, like Error watching Undernovela. However, what Ink learned was there more multiverse than just Undertale's. (Read, he sometimes watches different fandoms and their AUs like a show.) So when he made a house in the Doodle Sphere, he made different discs for different fandoms. Cross thought they were movies and shows so that's what they bond over.

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

"Ink! InK! INK!" Cross comes running over to the couch. He kicks his shoes off and throws off his scarf and jacket before throwing himself over the couch. Ink stares at him as he pops popcorn. "It's time!" He grins wildly as he gesticulates wildly. "It's movie night!" Ink chuckles as he stares at Cross. He quickly looks away to fill the bowl with fresh buttered popcorn before shaking some salt into it.

"Cross. Do you really have to do this every time? Just a few days ago you threw poor Dust at the floor instead of the couch." Ink walks over to place down the popcorn before walking back into the kitchen for soda and candy. "Don't forget the time Killer broke his arm because he tried to copy you. Or the time you ended up kicking Blue in the face and broke his nose ridge." Cross scoffs as he looks back at the screen. He crosses his arms before turning on the TV. As he sets up the TV he shakes his skull.

"Nope. Not me!" Ink chuckles as he sets down the two drinks before mixing in half the bag of m&m's into the popcorn. Cross reaches for the chocolate bar. "Alright, what are we watching tonight?"

*Dream SMP (GhostDream AU)*

"Nooooo! Poor Fundy!" Ink cries as he watches Fundy sadly smile at the ghost hovering in front of him. He sniffles as he stuffs his mouth with more popcorn. His tears flow down his cheekbones as he sniffles.

"Come on, cheer up Ink. They're going to start over. It's going to be okay." Cross hugs Ink close before taking his own handful of popcorn. He's also crying, but if anyone asks he was not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What?! They can't end the episode on that note! What the fuck?!" Cross pouts as Ink takes out the disc. He looks back at Ink. "Write down the title of this one! I wanna continue wherever there's an update." Ink sniffles and nods.

"Yeah. This was good." Ink grabs his scarf and with a thin paintbrush, he writes Monophobia. "Let's go get something to eat. I'm hungry and it's going to be 11 a.m. in ten minutes." They haven't moved since the night before, they decided to binge the AU until they caught up.

"Fine... Can we have some tacos?" Ink chuckles as he nods. He grabs his portal scissors out of his bowl by the door before Cross follows him out to another AU for food. Cross can't stand portals from Broomie, not many AUs can. So, Ink is forced to use his portal scissors instead. He has to wait for Cross to at least get his shoes back on.

*DSMP (Different AU)*

"Ink, wake up please." Ink shoots up from his bed, on his feet in seconds before turning to Dream.

"Huh? What's going on?" Dream grabs Ink's hand and guides him down the hall to Cross's room. "Crossy?"

"He's had a bad dream. I think it was because of what you two watched yesterday."

Cross hides his face in his knees as he rocks himself back and forth. He was fine when they watched it, but the questions and thoughts came to his mind afterward. They turned his dream into something he wished to never happen. His dream mocked him, wavered his confidence, and crushed what he thought he knew. Suddenly he feels a hand on his skull and he looks up to see Ink softly petting his skull like he's done many times in the past.

"Heya there." Cross moves to hug Ink and Ink nods to Dream, letting him know that he can comfort Cross. Dream smiles before walking back to his room. "It's okay, Crossy. I've got you. It was just a dream. Alight?"

Cross slowly nods as Ink moves them back under the covers and holds Cross's skull to his rib cage. Where there was once silence, there's now a steady pulse. Cross focuses on the soul beat of his brother as he calms down. Ink waits as he gently strokes Cross's skull, he knows that Cross can't speak properly when he's this worked up. He softly hums to him before Cross tugs on his sleeve. Ink looks down at him to see Cross's puppy eyes and he melts a little.

"Ph-Phliza's song?" Ink smiles as he nods.

"Alright then."

Ink closes his sockets as he pulls Cross closer. He takes a deep breath in before singing Dawn of the 16th. He watches as Cross slowly drifts off to sleep before humming the rest of the song and falling asleep himself.

*Demon Slayer*

"Ink. I need to learn how to fight like this."

"Wh-"

"Imagine how quickly I could whip people if I learned breathing techniques!"

"Cross, that's not how it-"

"I wonder what would work with me... Water? Fire? Sun?" Cross starts to murmur about the different breaths he wants to learn as Ink rolls his eye lights and looks back at the screen.

"As long as you don't tape earings to your skull again." Ink takes a bite of his peppermint bark before smiling at the cute anime chibi forms of Tanjiro and Nezuko. "Cute!"

*Demon Slayer (Swap AU)*

"How do both of them look so cute like that?! I mean seriously!" Ink arches an eyebrow ridge at Cross.

"That's their creator's choice." Ink smirks as he watches his brother pout.

"I know that! But, how come I can't look that cute?!" Ink snorts before laughing.

"That's not what they wanted for X-tale! If they wanted you to be cuter than you are (sometimes), then they would've done so." Ink takes a sip of his cola. "Just like if they wanted me taller, they would've given me the damn extra height." He grumbles as he stares at the difference in lengths of his and Cross's legs.

"That's true, I guess. But that doesn't mean I like it." Ink sighs.

"You and me both."

*Avatar the Last Airbender*

Ink sobs into Dream's hoodie as they watch Uncle Iroh sing to his son's grave. The song is barely loud enough to be heard from the TV over Ink and Dream's sobs. Cross sniffles as he shovels more popcorn into his mouth so he doesn't sob or wail. His tears fall into the popcorn bowl as he eats it. Dream clings onto Ink, slightly curling around the smaller as he sobs as well.

"W-Why did *Hic* h-he ha-ha *sniff* have to d-die?!"

Dream tries to wipe his tears but fails to do so as he watches Iroh cry during the song. Ink sobs in return shaking his skull, he can't understand it either. Cross doesn't speak as he watches the scene come to an end. Needless to say, they had to stop for the night after that episode. Ink learned the lyrics to the song as well. which makes Cross and Dream cry every time they hear it, but in the right moments, it can calm them.

Cross and Ink promised not to watch it without Dream.

*The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (The third movie)*

Outer and Blue scream at the way the little boy contorted on the table during his exorcism. Lust just stares with wide sockets, unmoving but terrified.

"Oh, HELL NO! His spine would SNAP if he did that!"

"Ah! Ah!" Outer squeezes his sockets closed as he covers his skull with a blanket. "The bone-crunching sounds!"

"Blue! Ah!"

Dream jumps with a squeal of fright at the jumpscare before hiding his face in Blue's shirt. Blue holds onto Dream like a lifeline as he shakes. They all turn when they hear a loud empty sip from Cross. Cross stares blankly at the screen as he takes another sip of his empty cup before realizing he's out of soda. He sighs before leaving to get more from the kitchen. Ink takes his hand out of the popcorn, wiping it against his pants before facepalming.

"Are you serious?! Never do that! That how you fucking get possessed!" Ink groans as he stares at the screen. He turns to face Cross, who hands him another cup of soda as well. "Oh! Thank you." He takes another sip before sighing. "You see this shit, Cross?" He gestures to the screen before turning back to Cross. "This is why I don't let you go to paranormal AUs. You'd do something this stupid."

Cross studies the screen before gasping in offense. "How dare you!" He presses his hand against his rib cage with indignance. "I would never willingly let a spirit into my body. I already had one, lord knows that was a horrid experience." Ink huffs before taking another handful of popcorn. He watches for another fifteen minutes before tapping Cross.

"Bet you 15 G that he dies before the end of the movie." Cross nods.

"Bet."

The others stare at the two in confusion. How aren't they scared?! Sure the brothers watch anime and other shows or movies, but this was absolutely terrifying.

"H-how aren't y-you t-t-two scared?" Ink turns to Lust.

"Eh. This is okay. Doesn't bet The Heritage." Cross nods.

"Yeah, that shit was fucking traumatizing. I ain't going near another piano ever again." Cross shutters before letting out a whine. "Oh come on!" He hands Ink 15 G before pouting and taking a bite of his chocolate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't think I can sleep tonight." Outer barely nods his head in agreement before holding onto Lust tighter.

"Blue passed out a while ago from fear." Ink smiles softly as he takes a picture. He gets up and stretches before yawning.

"Alright, let's get to bed. We can clean this tomorrow. Alright?" No one really moves, a minute goes by before they nod. "Good. Well, goodnight then." Ink waves to them as he travels up the stairs and towards his room.

Bonus:

"Crossy~"

Cross groans as he rubs his socket. He blinks slowly as his vision clears. He looks towards the door, expecting to see Ink standing there, but no one was there. He frowns.

"C r o s s y~"

He opens his eyes again. He looks back at his door, not bothering to sit up in his bed. He frowns as he doesn't see Ink again. He sighs as he looks around his room, but no one was there. He sighs before staring straight up at the ceiling before his sockets widen. He notices something crawling on his ceiling, much bigger than a spider. He doesn't move in fear before hearing its neck crack and snap as it turns its head to stare directly at Cross. So Cross does the only thing he can do at that moment.

He screams.

#cross sans #ink sans #dream sans #Blue (Swap sans)#lust sans #outer sans #Oreo bros #rewrite!verse #StoriesofRewriteverse

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